The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 6: Taken

Deku nodded, "Yeah, it makes sense. We should try and pay more attention from here on out."

"Agreed,"

The pair continued their journey making sure to check for hidden traps everywhere they went. Despite the trouble, they ran into earlier though the rest of the day went by smoothly. As the day dragged on and the sun sank lower and slower to the horizon the two realized they needed to set up a camp for the night. They picked a small clearing in the trees large enough to set up a comfortable place for the night.

"I'll go collect some food for a fire. You think you can hook us up with something to eat?" asked Todoroki.

"Yeah, I can do that,"

A few minutes later Izuku was standing above a small body of the water clutching a long stick he had acquired from a nearby tree. His eyes were trained upon the fish swimming lazily a few feet away from him. He very carefully stepped towards him being extra cautious to create any loud splashes. Once he had approached his prey and felt he was close enough he plunged his makeshift spear into the water.

Todoroki was walking back to the designated campsite with a bundle of wood in his hands when he noticed Midoriya crouched down next to a tree a couple hundred feet from the camp.

"Midoriya? What are you doing?" he asked.

The boy made sure to finish what he was doing before dusting off his hands and standing up proudly.

"I'm setting a small trap here. I caught a big fish we can have for now but we're going to need food tomorrow. That's where this comes in."

"Huh. Smart."

As they both headed back to camp Todoroki couldn't help but wonder about his fellow classmate. At this point, Bakugo's angry yelling had already informed the class that Izuku was quirkless, yet he had somehow managed to land a spot in the top hero course in Japan. He was curious about him.

Once arriving back at their camping spot Todoroki arranged the wood in a circle of stones he brought over and ignited the fire with his quirk. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Midoriya was looking at his flames with an expression he couldn't quite name. Was he sad? But when he turned to face him, Izuku was working on preparing the fish with his eyes concentrated on his task. He was probably just imagining it he decided. They cooked the fish Deku had caught over the fire thoroughly before beginning to eat it.

They finished quickly and just as they were silently gazing up at the sky when Todoroki spoke up. "Thanks for the save back there Midoriya,"

"What?"

"Pushing me out of the way of the trap I tripped this morning,"

"Oh, no worries. We're classmates, right? We help each other out,"

"Yeah, we do. Well, goodnight,"

"Goodnight,"

With that, they both fell into an uncomfortable but peaceful sleep.

Izuku suddenly snapped awake and looked around. The moon hung brightly overhead and the dead embers of their fire sat silently. What had woken him up?

He silently got to his feet and looked around. Nothing. Just as he was about to dismiss the whole thing he heard branches snap in the woods. He froze. The noise had come from somewhere ahead of them. He couldn't risk not checking on it.

He slowly began to creep his way towards the noise. Each step felt like an eternity to him and his beating heart felt like a hammer pounding on the inside of his rib cage. Despite every instinct in his body telling him to run he forced himself to stay calm and keep moving. As he approached the place he thought he had heard the noise from he saw something.

About fifty feet away, standing next to a tree with their back to him was a person. Any features they might have had were obscured by a midnight black cloak that looked like it was fashioned from a single tattered rag that flowed with the wind. He was getting a very uneasy feeling from the person. He wasn't exactly sure why, but something about them didn't quite feel right.

As he stared, the person's head suddenly jerked up. Izuku forced himself to stay very still, but then the cloaked figure turned and faced him. He gazed into the hood and saw nothing but shadow as he felt the cold gaze of unseen eyes boring into him.

Izuku ran, he ran as fast as he could back to the camp, nearly tripping several times as he did so. He could hear branches snapping behind him as whoever that was he had seen began chasing him. He rushed into the camp and woke up his companion.

"Todoroki we have a problem!" he said quickly. "Someone's coming and I don't think it's a teacher."

Todoroki jumped to his feet and lit his left side on fire. Both teens stared in the direction Deku had come from, waiting for Deku's pursuer to appear.

Several moments went by but nothing appeared. Every second felt like an eternity as they stared into the darkness. But no matter how hard they looked, they saw nothing move.

Then they heard a raspy breath from right behind them. They wheeled around to find the cloaked figure standing to more than 3 feet away. They both jumped back and Todoroki let his right side blaze before launching a jet of flame at their foe.

The flames engulfed the hooded figure, but as the fire dissipated the person wasn't there.

"You certainly are interesting," a menacing female voice said from right behind him.

Todoroki immediately tried to freeze the ground behind him but we stopped when he was suddenly levitated in the air. His arms and legs were completely immobile as the person behind him continued.

"However, you're not the one I'm looking for."

A second later Todoroki was flung away from the camp where he slammed into a tree and hit the ground dazed.

Deku watched this, horrified as he could do nothing to stop it. He charged at the cloaked woman only to have his body freeze in place. It was as if the air had solidified, no matter how much he tried to move, he just couldn't

"You, however, I am looking for." said the woman with a chilling laugh.

Todoroki recovered quickly and within a few moments was already running back to the campsite. He roared as he let his left side blaze and barreled into the clearing. Only to find that no one was there.