My New Hero

31: Nightmares

"Are you feeling okay?" 

"Huh? Oh- yeah, I'm fine, just spaced out." 

"Uh- you shouldn't really be doing that when you're in the middle of cooking, Kacchan." 

"I'm fine, don't worry about it."

But as much as she didn't want to worry about it, it seemed like Katsuki continued spacing out around her for the next few days to the point that he would actually avoid her. Even though she was trying to think that maybe he'd go back to normal soon, it eventually started to annoy her that Katsuki was starting to ignore the kids a little bit. 

After a week of almost practically ignoring her, he told her that he didn't want to take the kids with him to work for the week, and so that meant she had to take them with her to her own work. And though he'd still make breakfast and dinner like usual, he wouldn't put the kids to bed, he wouldn't say goodbye to them whenever he had to go to work, and things were getting worse from there.

One night, Izuku woke up in the middle of the night to find out that he wasn't asleep, or even at home. She wanted to follow him to find out where he'd be going so late at night, but she knew that would be a terrible idea since she'd leave the kids at home, alone, not what she wanted to do. 

But soon she realized that he was possibly hurting himself, she'd see how bruised and blistered his hands were as he didn't really properly clean them or dress them to heal. It didn't help that Katsuki's complexion seemed to also be getting worse, as he'd had bags under his eyes and his skin was getting pale as each day went by. 

"Kacchan, are you sure that everything's okay? You're not acting like your usual self." 

"I'm going, see you later." 

"Wah- Kacchan, wait!" But he didn't turn back and left the house like nothing was wrong. 

'What is going on?'

When Katsuki arrived at his agency, he went straight to his office and tried to lie down on the couch, but the second he closed his eyes, he saw that same nightmare that he'd been dreaming of for the past 2 weeks now. His eyes burst back open and he rubbed his eyes from how physically drained he was. 

He hadn't had a proper sleep for the past 2 weeks because he'd been having the same dream no matter where he was. He'd try to take a nap at work, but that wouldn't work since he'd get the same dream there, and it was getting pretty frustrating for him. He thought that if he went to the gym every night after Izuku was asleep, then maybe he could work out his frustrations from this same dream, but that had only been making him even more tired.

'Damnit, why can't I just get some fucking sleep? I know Deku's bothered about it, I've been ignoring her all week. But I can't tell her...' he thought as he got a flash of a memory that he hated from years ago. 

He shook the memory out and sighed as he rested his arm over his eyes. 

'Should I ask Takashi what it could be? I'm losing a lot of sleep because of it, and I can't even focus on Deku or the kids because of it. Hah- Sorry Deku... I just need a little time to figure out what's wrong with me, and then I'll be back to normal.'

'What could it really be that's bothering Kacchan so badly? He's never ignored me like this in the past, so why now? This is gonna keep worrying me because I wanna help him, but if he doesn't tell me anything, then I can't help him.' 

"IZUKU, FOCUS!!!" 

The greenette batted her eyes a few times and realized she was in the middle of training with Emra; who was about to attack her with her Katana. Izuku jumped back into focus and sprinted backwards to get away from her cousin's sharp blade. 

'Phew, that was close.' 

And just when Izuku thought the training would continue, Emra sighed and looked at her.

"Hah- what's the matter with you? You don't usually space out in the middle of a fight." Emra noted. 

"Ah- s-sorry Emra, I just-" 

"Let me guess, this has something to do with Katsuki, and because of that, it's influencing you to space out. Correct?" 

"I- Mn hm." 

"What's he done this time?" Emra asked, annoyed. 

"Well... He's been acting pretty weird lately." 

"How weird exactly?" 

"He's been... ignoring me." 

"Ignoring you?!? And what makes him think I'm gonna let him do that?!?" 

"C-Calm down, Emra, it's just- I don't know all the details exactly, but something's off. He's been spacing out a lot, and he's been asking me to take the kids with me to work this week when it's his turn. He's not helping me with putting the kids to bed, he doesn't say goodbye to me when he leaves for work, and now he leaves the house when it's late at night. I don't know what he's been doing late at night, but every morning when he's back, his hands are all swollen. I'm really worried that something's happened to him, and he's not telling me." she explained.

"So not only is he ignoring you, but starting to get back to ignoring his own kids, and he's also going out late at night? Have you asked him where he's been going?" 

"I've tried, but he just ignored my question and left to go to work when I did. I've even asked him if he's feeling alright, but... nothing." she answered. 

"And what about his complexion?" Emra asked. 

"Hm? His complexion?" 

"Has his appearance–besides his hands–been any different in the past few days?" Emra asked more clearly. 

"W-Well..." 

The greenette paused to try and think of what else had been different and remembered how she saw the blond that morning and how physically drained he appeared and how he had dark circles under his eyes.

"He does appear really tired, he has bags under his eyes. And he did seem a little paler than usual." Izuku answered. 

'Dark circles and a pale complexion, that sounds like something that someone I know very well could be causing. The problem is, I don't know how it's possible for her to have appeared around Katsuki and place her quirk on him without him noticing. I'll have to ask Cole if he's found anything dealing with it.' Emra thought as this only reminded her of a certain person in her distant family. 

"Um... E-Emra? Are you okay?" 

"For now, all I want you to do is keep track of if Katsuki's physical appearance gets any worse than now. The second something like for instance; him passing out, you need to let me know." Emra stated. 

"Ah- huh? P-Passing out? Is Kacchan okay?" 

"He will be, for now, but let's hope that doesn't happen." 

"W-What exactly do you think Kacchan is going through?" 

"I'll let you know if his situation gets any serious, but just keep tabs on him." 

"Ah- m-mn." 

The greenette already thought things were getting scary, but this was only just the start.

Note: Hello My Little Emeralds!

Sorry this chapter skips around a bit, but it's all for good reason in what's about to happen.

Gonna post 4 more chapters later today!

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Happy Reading from me, My Little Emeralds!