𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 71 - The Pain of the Past

"Ya gotta slow down," he rushed to her side, holding her by the shoulders to help her balance. "It's been over two hours."

She ignored him, punching the air in another rigid form.

"I havta be strong," she huffed, "Good girls havta be strong and pretty."

The phrasing threw him off. It sounded rehearsed and robotic. As if they weren't her words at all.

"Who told you that?"

She wrinkled her nose and paused her stance from kicking the air once more. Her eyes darted to the floor, not trying to meet Katsuki's.

That only worried him more.

"Well?" he asked.

"Papa said I havta always be a good girl." Again her voice was monotonous, rigid even. "I havta behave, or papa is upset."

Katsuki's heart sank and his anger plumed. Hina, as a child, was given expectations of what is a "good girl"?! As a toddler?

He was grateful that she couldn't feel his emotions as of now; that little innocent Hina will remain oblivious to the inner turmoil. That she won't feel just how his anger was simmering, scalding, right under his skin.

And thanks to the scent patches plastered on his glands--those itchy bastards—she couldn't smell it off him either.

So with the very thinly wired patience he had—and for honoring someone she loved and who was deceased—he swallowed his words, letting them sink into the pit of his stomach. And he crouched down, making himself eye level with the girl.

"You don't havta be anything right now," he whispers, holding her fist, gently uncurling her finger, "You're just a kid, Firework. Ya can have as much fun as ya want."

That was the wrong thing to say. Because as soon as he'd finished, her big blue eyes started to swim.

"My Papa is right," she pouted while her shoulders shook from a cry that was begging to escape. "I need to be a good girl," she insisted.

This restraint of emotion, the way her little four-year-old frame was trying so hard to not give in—to dive into her sorrow—broke Katsuki's heart. It doused the anger and helped steer away from the clearly uncomfortable conversation.

"It's okay to let go, Squirt," he said, pulling her into his chest. "It's okay."

Her body quaked, soon the floodgates were broken. She wailed, louder than the first nightmare he'd helped her wake from as a child. Louder than any cry she's ever let him witness.

With every wail, he squeezed her with more comfort, trying to shield her from all that was hurting her.

But how could protect her from her own thoughts?

The rest of their day was slow. After the training fiasco they had their lunch and then Katsuki took her out to play with Shoto's twin boys in the park, to hopefully cheer her up. But that only acted as a buffer from her sorrows and the energy she still hand in her limbs. She played the role of villain well and it only ended with one of the boys, the one with white hair and gray eyes, was hurt with scabbed knees.

She'd apologized for the rough-housing, and he accepted it with a reluctant nod. However, when the other twin, the half-red and half-black haired with black eyes, decided to exact revenge with Hina getting scabbed knees, both Shoto and Katsuki thought it best to cut the hangout short.

She didn't complain about her pain. Rather, she wore it like a badge of honor.

I was brave wasn't I Tsuki? She said into his hair as he carried her on his shoulder, his hands resting on above her wounded knees.