MHA Collection

Not Heartless <K. B.>

While she was distracted he fired off a wickedly harsh AP shot. She caught it in time, before it burnt her, but the power of the shot hit her hard. Hard enough, she couldn’t move. She was laying down on the edge of the line, on the inside, but she couldn’t move.

She wasn’t doing so hot. She knew he got her good that time. She was able to dull out the blow with a shield of air, but the force of the blast hit her harder as a result. She blew herself up in an upright position. He was seething. That was supposed to be the final shot, yet she was still standing. He came at her fast and hard, not wasting a single moment to strike her.

She dulled all of his hits, but they all landed. Some not as hard, others kept up in intensity, she was hurting at this point. She was hurting badly. There was no way she knew that she could keep this up. The only thing that she could do was to buy herself a little time. She hauled him backwards, nearly out of the ring, if not for a reasonably powerful blast that sent him careening back into her.

She could taste the blood in her mouth, feel it in her lungs, she wasn’t hurt on the outside. Every hit she took, she took internally. Bakugo couldn’t see the damage he was causing so he kept up with his onslaught.

Bakugo was getting tired. He was getting reckless. This is what she wanted but not like this. She wasn’t supposed to be this hurt. She was supposed to be fine. She knew that she couldn’t make it. He was getting more dangerous and she just couldn’t keep up. Maybe second place for her wouldn’t be that bad. I mean she just wanted the title. She didn’t need it like he did. She didn’t need to prove herself to anyone if she really thought about it. She knew that if she kept this up she wouldn’t live long enough to see herself become a hero.

Bakugo sent the most violent AP shot he could force, and then another particularly strong explosion right after that. In a cone of air, Rai avoided all of it. It kicked up enough dust to completely cover the arena and no one could see a thing. This is what Rai had wanted. A way out. She knew that she wasn’t strong enough to beat him, and there was no way that he was going to go easy on her. So during her window, she stepped right out of the ring. When the dust settled bakugo saw her wilted form.

He didn’t feel this way when Todoroki passed out last year. He felt..bad. He stormed over to her, furious that she was out of bounds but she was flat on her side. The thing that Bakugo didn’t understand was that she looked fine. She had no visible injuries, other than a little dirt on her face, she was fine. He had watched her in training and even now, he knew that she was so much better than this. “Why’d you stop? HUH?! Why did you give up?” He yelled, pulling her up by the collar of her uniform.

She fluttered her eyes open, and…..smiled at him. “Congratulations, you win.” She said weakly. He was going to yell at her more, demanding to know why she quit but he was cut off by a nasty cough. But not from himself, it was Rai. She turned her head in time to not spray him with the blood that shot out. She coughed more, more blood coming. “Hey, Hey! It’s ok. Just calm down, you're ok.” He gently picked her up, ran off the arena before he was even declared the winner. He didn’t care about it any more.

Bakugo thought she was always going to be with him. He was rude, mean to her. But she always stayed. Why was she trying to leave now? He was running as fast as his tired legs would go, right into the nurse’s office. He ran up the stairs with her, his classmates confused if they should congratulate him, or ask him why he was caring so much. He pushed past heroes, wanting to offer spots in their agencies, he pushed past his parents, who were there to congratulate their son on his second victory.

His second one. He didn’t deserve it. She did. She was laying down her life for this. All for him to think that he was good enough to take it. He didn’t deserve it. SHE didn’t deserve this.

“HAG! She needs help, she can’t breathe! She keeps coughing out blood, HELP HER!” He screamed, he was pleading for anyone to listen. To hear him. His shouting caught the attention of Recovery Girl and he gently set her on the table. His parents were in the doorway watching all of this happen. His mother, holding onto his father, because she had never seen her son..care..this much. Bakugo was crying… He had tears falling quickly down his face, leaving trailed from where it was washing the dirt away.

She saw how Rai’s fist was so clenched around Bakugo's bicep it would leave bruises. She also saw that he didn’t care. He wasn’t stopping her. He was holding onto hers, he was telling her it was going to be ok. That she was going to be ok. When her chest started to spas, he gently pulled her up, letting her cough the blood onto his uniform, so she wouldn’t choke. He was running his hands down the back of her hair, matted now and coated in blood.

Mitsuki watched as Recovery Girl tried to push him away, but they both held onto each other tighter. She watched as her son, the ruthless, heartless, egotistical, hot-headed son she raised, was gentle. Kind. Loving. He held onto her hand as Recovery Girl saved her, and then he didn’t let go. He stayed by her side, she was passed out, her body doing overtime to try and save itself. "What happened son?" His father asked softly.

“What happened?” Bakugo’s voice rang out. It was dull, had no fire like it normally did. He was scared. He was never scared but right now he was plain terrified. “What happened..?he took too many hits to her stomach, internal bleeding. She looked fine from the outside, but she was losing blood fast, choking on it. I'm what happened.” His face went pale. The shots he took did hurt her, this whole time he thought that they missed.

Bakugo gently brushed the hair out of her face, and he looked at her. Her face was pale, but slowly looking healthier as the recovery quirk worked. He cried more. “I’m so sorry Rai. I’m so…” he wept. His mother came and wrapped her arms around him and held tightly. She held onto Rai's other hand. “Did someone call her parents?” She asked the nurse. She shook her head. “She doesn’t have any.”

As a protective mamma bear, that tore at Mitsuki’s heart. “She doesn’t have parents? So she is just on her own?” She asked, a little upset. The nurse nodded sadly.

“She wanted to prove that she could do it.”

Bakugo’s voice rang out once more. They all turned to him again. “What do you mean son?” His father asked. “She wanted to prove that she could do it. That she could do whatever she wanted. That she didn’t need anyone. She gave up because she knew I wanted it more.” He cried. He was filled with guilt, he cared for her and now she might..she might…he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“She will make it out of this.” His momma said. “I hope so.” He said softly, “I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t” He admitted. “Let’s go get some rest, it’s been a long day.” His father tried to say. Bakugo just shook his head and held onto her hand tighter. “I’m not leaving her. I caused this, the least I owe her is to stay.”

“You have to do the awards ceremony. You placed first.” Rai’s voice, weakly called. Bakugo wiped his head to her so fast. “What? No. I won’t leave you. I don't want to leave you.” He pleaded. “I don’t deserve it. I-..You almost…” Bakugo stopped speaking. Rai squeezed the hand that he was holding. “But I still made it. You still won. Go get your medal, Kats.” She said looking at him fondly.

He shook his head. “Not unless you go with me and you are not supposed to move around at all. So no. Those damn extras can wait. They don’t matter to me.”

“But I do?”

“You matter to me more than anything. You matter to me more than being a hero.”