Sakura POV
"TIMES UP!"
'Oh thank the lord.'
Everyone froze when Present Mic announced that the event was over. It became absolutely silent throughout the whole arena.
I saw Katsuki absolutely face plant onto the dirt and Todoroki swiftly jump off his teammates shoulders.
"That's the end of the second round, the cavalry battle!" Present Mic announced. Then the silence was broken with the loud screams of the crowd.
"W-we did it," I choked out as I felt my barrier fall and I suddenly felt all the pain in my body. My legs gave out and the next thing you know, my team started to tumble down.
"W-woah!" Izuku cried out before hitting the ground with a thud.
I slowly stood up somehow and looked at my team. We all looked so shocked. We won. We had somehow managed to defend all those points the whole game. Then, we bursted out laughing.
"We did it you guys!" Ochaco smiled so brightly.
"Thank you so much for being such a great team!" Izuku then started crying. There were literally fountains of tears spewing out of his big green eyes.
Ochaco, Tokoyami, and I looked at each other for a moment before laughing. Then we were all squished together as Izuku wrapped his arms around us.
"Uh Izuku? Is this really necessary?" I asked uncomfortably.
"Yes! I'm so grateful for you guys!" He cried out.
I chuckled before patting his head. I peered over his shoulder and met eyes with a certain heterochromatic-eyed boy. I looked into his eyes and realized they weren't angry anymore. They looked sad. I smiled slightly at him and bowed my head to him out of respect. I saw the corners of his mouth tilt up a bit and he did the same motion.
My attention was brought back to my team as Izuku finally let us go.
I glanced back at Katsuki and rolled my eyes. He was throwing a temper tantrum like a little kid. 'Oh boy.... really?'
"Now, lets take a look at the top four teams right away! In first place, Team Midoriya! They had managed to defend all their points! And did some crazy stunts during the battle!" Present Mic laughed. "In second place, Team Todoroki! In third, Team Bakugo! And in Fourth, Team Tesute-" then he stopped. "Huh? What, it's Team Shinso!"
I looked over at the fourth place team and frowned. Ojiro and Aoyama were on his team, but they looked so fazed, like they didn't know what just happened. I saw Shinso smiling creepily and I shuddered. 'I don't know why, but that guy gives me the creeps.'
I felt a presence behind my back and I turned to see who it was. It was dark shadow. I smiled and pet his head, "Thanks so much for you help, we couldn't have done it without you both," I said as I looked at Tokoyami and flashed a smile at him.
Tomoyami shook his head. "I believe we should be thanking you, Sakura. You were the one who had all the plans and saved us from that move Iida did," he said. Then they all did something that shocked me.
"Thank you, Sakura!" They exclaimed as they bowed towards me. I saw that all the others teams had faced us.
I felt my face turn bright red. I put my hands up. "W-what are you d-doing? Stop that! We won because of what we all did," I smiled at my team. Then Ochaco and Izuku pulled me into a hug again.
I glanced at Tokoyami and saw him standing there awkwardly. I reached out for his shoulder and pulled him into the group hug.
After we hugged it out for a few more seconds, Ochaco suggested that we should go rest and get some lunch.
I turned to see Momo, Kaminari, Iida talking amongst each other. But Todoroki was facing against them. He was glaring at his left arm. 'That was the first time I ever saw him use his left side. Why doesn't he use it more? Is he afraid to?' All these thoughts were running inside my head. I just wished he would talk to me.
"Ready to go, Sakura?" Ochaco asked snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," I said. But when I took a step towards her, my ankle totally gave out. "Agh!" I cried in pain as I lost all control of my legs. Before I hit the ground, I was caught by Izuku.
"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" Izuku asked worriedly. He carefully set me down on the ground.
"Yeah, it's just a small sprain," I said through gritted teeth.
"Let me see," Izuku said softly. I rolled up my pants and revealed a very swollen, and very purple ankle. 'That's definitely more than a sprain.' I thought as I cringed from the not so pleasant sight.
"Let's get you to Recovery Girl so she could fix you up," Izuku helped me stand and put my right arm over him shoulders. "Tokoyami, can you grab her other arm?"
Just as Tokoyami was about to help me, I saw Todoroki came up to us. I almost glared at him, remembering his dirty move that he pulled on me. But as I studied his expression, there was guilt written all over his face.
He burrowed his eyebrows worriedly and his lips turned into a straight line. "Here, I'll help you, Sakura," he offered to put my arm around him.
But Izuku cut in, "No thank you, Todoroki. Tokoyami and I can handle this," he muttered.
As I was being helped out of the stadium, I looked back to see the bi-colored hair boy. He was staring after me with a pained expression. I smiled back at him to let him know that I wasn't mad.
He managed to smile back at me. And at that moment my heart fluttered. It was almost like what had happened between us before didn't happen. But then his words came back to my mind. 'I don't need anyone and I don't need you.' I turned my head and stared at the ground sadly.
'But, I need you, Shoto Todoroki. More than you know.'
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After Recovery Girl healed my ankle, I went out to find Izuku. He said he was going to the bathroom, but he's been gone for awhile now.
I walked to the bathrooms, but he wasn't there. I also checked the locker rooms, the rooftop, and basically every part of the arena. But no Izuku. I was starting to get worried.
I was walking down one of the dark corridors, when I spotted something a familiar ash blonde boy. But he was acting strange. He was peeking around the corner.
"Katsuki? What are you do-" but he cut me off by grabbing my arm slamming me against the wall. He put a hand over my mouth.
Then, he put a finger to his mouth to signal me to be quiet. I slowly nodded, slightly shaking from his weird behavior. He leaned his head to the side to look behind me. I wanted to see what he was looking at, but I was trapped between his arms. 'What is he even doing?'
Then I heard a familiar voice.
"So....What did you want to talk about?" It was Izuku. 'Who was he talking to?'
There was no response from the other guy.
"Um if we don't hurry, the cafeteria will probably be overcrowded..."
Then a monotone voice I knew so well spoke. "I was overpowered so much that I broke my pledge." My eyes widened. 'It's Todoroki.. Why is he here with Izuku? And what pledge?'
Todoroki continued, "Iida. Kaminari. Yaoyorozu. Tokoyami. Uraraka. None of them felt it." He stopped for a few seconds. "The only other person that probably felt it is Sakura. I don't know if she's somehow all connected with this, but I don't want to involve her with this mess," he finally said.
My eyes widened at the hearing of my name. 'Felt what?' Katsuki narrowed his eyes at me when Todoroki stated my name.
"At the last instant, I felt how strong your power was. It reminded me of something I experienced up close before. All Might's power."
I almost choked on air right there. 'Shit, he's connecting the dots. What if he finds out?'
"W-what are y-you saying?" Izuku stuttered.
"It means I felt something similar coming from you," Todoroki's voice was now even more serious.
I felt Bakugo's hand on my mouth stiffen. I studied his expression and saw that he was thinking hard. 'Shit, shit, shit! Please tell me that they both haven't figured it out.'
"Midoriya, I want to ask you something..." Todoroki paused for a few moments. I held my breath in. I was scared of what he was going to ask.
"Are you All Might's love child or something?"
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'Oh my god.......'
If it wasn't for Katsuki's hand covering my mouth, I would have bursted out laughing. 'Izuku? As All Might's love child?! That's the best he could think of?!'
I let out a small snort which made Katsuki glare at me. I stared in his crimson eyes and saw that he was super serious. 'Oh my god.. This idiot too thinks it's possible.'
"Well are you?"
"Th-thats not it! I mean, even if I was, I wouldn't say I wasn't, so I don't think you'd believe me!" Izuku frantically said. "But anyways, that's now how it is!"
'Ahh Izuku stop freaking out!' I wanted to mentally slap myself in the face so bad.
"But, why did you that about me?"
"Since you said, 'that's not how it is,'" Todoroki's voice was raised. "So that means there's a connection between you two that you are hiding, right?"
I stood there not knowing what to think. Todoroki definitely knows there's something up with Izuku and Toshinori. And know so does Katsuki. This was all becoming too much. 'Damn Toshi! You should have acted more natural with Izuku like with all the other students!'
"Endeavor's my old man. I'm sure you know that's he's been stuck as the number two hero forever," he coldly stated. "So, if you have something from the number one hero, then I have even more reason to beat you."
I closed my fists. I'm so tired of hearing this talk about beating people and becoming number one. The whole point of becoming a hero is to help people. It's not a goddamn competition to see who's the strongest. It's sickening to see becoming heroes just to be number one.
And Todoroki declaring war on Izuku is the same as Endeavor always threatening Toshi that he would steal the number one spot from him. That's all Endeavor even cares about. He doesn't even seem to enjoy being a hero.
If I let Todoroki go down this road, he will lose sight of what the true meaning of being a hero is. And I cannot let this happen. He's not his father.
As I was thinking about this, Todoroki continued. "My old man has a strong desire to rise to the top. He used his strong power to make a name for himself as a hero. But no matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to best All Might. And that proves he's a failure."
"But since he couldn't surpass All Might, he moved onto his next plan."
'Next plan? What is he talking about?'
"What are you talking about, Todoroki..?" Izuku questioned. "What are you trying to tell me?"
Todoroki didn't speak for a few moments. I finally pushed down Katsuki's arm and glared at him to not do it again. Then, I looked over to see his expression.
He was calm, as always. But his expression seemed so sad.
Todoroki then stared at Izuku, his expression was now disgusted. "You've heard of Quirk marriages, right?"
I stiffened at his sentence. I knew exactly what those were. And I have always found them sickening.
"The thing that became a problem for the second and third generation after quirks appeared. Choosing a spouse based only on strengthening your own power and passing it down to your children, forcing people into marriage," Todoroki explained.
"My father was a rich man who had won over my mother's relatives and got a hold of her quirk. He is trying to fulfill his fallen desire by using me to bypass All Might," he spat. His face was contorted and dark.
And that's when it hit me. How both of us were so similar. 'Todoroki and I were both raised to become some kind of object or weapon. One to destroy All Might and the other to surpass him.' This thought made me sick to my stomach.
"It's so goddamn annoying," Todoroki growled as he closed his fists. "I won't become the tool of scum like that."
I shuddered at his harsh words. I always knew Endeavor was a cold man, but I never thought he would be capable to do something terrible like this.
"In my memories, my mother is always crying." Todoroki then raised his hand to slightly touched his scar. "She said my left side was unsightly and poured boiling water on my face," his voice was low.
I put my hand on my mouth to mask my gasp. Now I understood why, why he wouldn't use his left side. Because of everything happened with his mother. Because she saw him as some kind of monster. But how could mother treat her own son like that?
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I processed all this information. Todoroki and I were exactly the same. Both of us having such dark and broken pasts. And swearing to not use the one power that we both feared. I felt all of his pain and suffering. And I couldn't be there for him when he was clearly hurting.
"I picked a fight with you to show my father what I can do, without using his damn quirk," he let his hand drop and glared at Izuku. "No, I'll reject him completely by winning first place without using it."
I felt Katsuki's body stiffen. I looked over and saw that his expression was serious.
Todoroki then started to walk away, his footsteps echoing in the hallway.
"I don't care if you can't tell me how you're connected to All Might. If you are somehow related to him, it just gives me more of a reason to crush you with just using my right side," the bi-colored hair boy coldly stated as he walked away to the opposite direction.
Then, I saw Izuku chase after Todoroki. "Todoroki wait!"
"I am only here because of the support I got from others," Izuku said sadly as he studied his right hand.
I stared at my friend sadly as he looked down on himself. He wasn't here because of people's support. He was here because of his own work.
"All Might," Izuku started. "I want to be like him. So in order to do that, I have to be strong enough to become number one."
Then he looked up to face Todoroki. "But I won't lose, either. I have to live up to the hopes of those who supported me. I will beat you too!"
I saw the two boys part ways and turned to see the boy next to me. Katsuki was still standing there beside me, with his hands in his pockets.
I turned to leave, not knowing what to say, but he grabbed my arm and made him face me.
His eyes were now different. They were almost glowing with anger.
"What did that IcyHot bastard mean about you might being connected to this somehow?" he asked, his voice was dangerously low.
I stared right back at him, my gaze not faltering. "It's nothing. I don't know what he's talking about," I had managed to say the lie perfectly.
He narrowed his eyes. "Do you happen to know how that worthless Deku got a quirk?" His grip tightened on my arm.
I glared at him. "No, I don't know. I don't know anything about this. So stop asking," I hissed.
Then he released my arm, which was now throbbing from the stern grip. "Tch whatever. I don't know what you're hiding or why you are protecting damn Deku, but it doesn't matter." He then turned to walk away. "I'll crush you all."
After he left, I stood there alone with my thoughts. I leant against the wall and slid down to sit and pulled my knees to my chest. I slammed the back of my head, hard. Then, I buried my face in my hands, ignoring the pain in my head.
I was so tired of living like this. Pretending like everything is okay, when I felt like I was drowning. I felt like the insides of my body were burning and I felt my lip quiver.
I really, really wanted to cry. I wanted to break down right there and let it all out.
But for some reason, I couldn't. It just felt like it was stuck inside me, begging to come out, but something was blocking it.
I sat there for a little while processing everything Todoroki said. I thought about how much we were so alike. How he went through so much pain, but always puts up a strong front to hide it. How he feels so lonely, but acts like he doesn't need anybody. And because of his past, he's so afraid to let anyone in.
I remembered when I told him about my past, he seemed so understanding. It's because he knew exactly what I was going through. And he had reached out to help.
But I didn't when he was clearly hurting. I slowly stood up and brushed my bangs away from my eyes. I shook my head and slapped my cheeks and put back on my normal expression, pretending I was alright.
'I might not be able to save myself but I can save him. No matter how hard he tries to push me away, I'm not backing down anymore. I'm not leaving you to suffer alone, Todoroki. I promise.'
A/N: sorry this chapter is kinda boring and sad since it's basically a repeat of the scene where todoroki talks about his past. so basically sakura wants to save todoroki and ignoring the fact that she also is in pain.