bury a friend

Chapter 11

It rained the day when the world's number one hero passed away. The funeral rites were grand and heroes from around the world came to attend the burial. All Might now turned to Bakugou as the next successor for One For All. People cried a lot, especially Mrs. Midoriya, who lost the only family she had. Bakugou's parents comforted her and asked if she would be okay living alone, offering that she could rent her house and move in with them. She agreed since she went over there a lot anyways after Izuku moved out. Bakugou and Tatsugami were the ones who felt the most guilty. Bakugou never wanted this to happen to Deku, no matter how much they fought and disagreed in the past. He kept a stoic face in public but cried to Keiko at home.

"I was always jealous of him since the beginning! But that fucker still stayed by my side and made a better hero, no person! I had finally started treating him as a friend and then this happened! I was so furious when I got to know he was your soulmate but I still didn't want him to die! I didn't hate him! I never hated him! So why did he leave??! WHY?!!"

Keiko just held him as he sobbed and trembled.

"Damn nerd always messing my life up!! He just keeps doing it!"

"I'm sorry, it's my fault isn't it..."

"Shut up! It's not your fault and it's not his fault! It's, just..", he trailed off from his loud talking. Tatsugami's eyes started burning suddenly and broke the tension between them.

"Katsuki it's burning! It hurts!!"

She dashed to the kitchen and poured water into a large bowl messily. She put her face in it, her eyes completely under water. She heard Bakugou who had frozen in shock scramble to his feet and get behind her. He felt a familiar heat emanating from her and realized what was happening.

"We gotta go under the shower, now.", he said picking her up.

Bakugou turned on the shower at the coldest setting available made Tatsugami stand under it. He removed her clothes to reveal her skin that was now covered with dark orange scales. Her eyes bled with the heat of the transformation as the whites of her eyes turning yellow and her pupils narrowing to slits. Neither of them could do anything except let Tatsugami sit in the floor of the shower as the water over her skin formed fog, cooling her down little by little. Her quirk had been developing slowly every time she had an 'attack' like this. Painful as it was, it was the only thing keeping the two heroes distracted from the recent passing of the hero Deku. The doctors had told them to extend their breaks so that they could recover properly and then re-join their hero duties. She was trying to cope up with the quirk's manifestation as a kid would, while Bakugou took care of her as a parent would. He had to constantly keep a check on her temperature so her body wouldn't overheat. He had not tried activating his acquired quirk yet, something he was keeping for when Keiko would be better. And she did.

A month later, she was fully recovered and healthy. The roots in her lungs were burnt away during one attack where her nails transformed into thicker and much sharper claws and her knuckles and other joints developed a hardened, scaly skin permanently. She also could turn into a dragon but her form was that of a baby. There was a long way for her form to go. Bakugou, once he was sure of his fiancé's well-being, began training with Toshinori. Tatsugami accompanied him to train her own quirk as well. Dragon Pro Hero Ryukyu offered to train her since she 'wanted a dragon quirk wielder to be trained well'. She agreed immediately after being told that Tatsugami could turn into a full-fledged dragon. She did put a condition that Tatsugami would have to become a hero that the public could see. She agreed, having nothing to lose. People would finally know about the 'woman' in Bakugou's life.

"So, before you come to the public, remember to keep things ambiguous. We still want to use you for stealth missions in the future, just like before."

"Okay."

"All the best, Pro Hero Dark Dragon."