#BNHAPR

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 17: Hair Day

“No, no, no. Like this,” Neito said as he took a handful of Eri’s shoulder length silver hair and gently parted it in half into a pig tail on each side of her small head. The toddler giggled to herself as she stared up at her older brother and his other friend, Denki.

The two humans had, as usual, invited themselves over to Hitoshi and Eri’s house with no regard for whether Hitoshi might have something else planned for the day. Not that he did, but he didn’t need to tell the two of them that.

“Aw that’s even cuter!” Denki cooed, leaning in towards Hitoshi’s baby sister, his hands resting between his crossed legs. Eri giggled louder with how close Denki got to her before the two of them bumped the tips of their noses together. A little ritual the two of them had created between them.

Neito smirked to himself, straightening his back as he sat there in all his confidence, glad that he won their little spat about how best to tie Eri’s hair for the day. Personally he preferred his sister’s hair to hang loose, but as long as she didn’t have a problem with his friends playing with her hair, then he didn’t either.

“I told you,” Neito said proudly as he reached over and took one of the ribbons Hitoshi had been made to hold for them at some point. With expert hands, Neito pulled the girl’s hair up high and tied them gently before he picked her up under her arms and held her in the air victoriously. “Tada!”

Denki clapped his hands together as Eri squealed in delight, kicking her small feet about as if she could run on the very air she was held on. Hitoshi couldn’t help but smile as he reached over and took his sister in his arms, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“You look very pretty, Eri.”

The pure love the girl held in her big red eyes was enough to melt Hitoshi’s heart as he held her to his chest for a moment before he set her down on the floor so that she could stumble over into Denki’s hold, who caught her just as she toppled into him.

“Easy there,” Denki chuckled, helping her upright before he took her hands in his and enticed her into a performance of a dance he had taught her when no one had looked. One by one Eri kicked her feet into the air as she held onto Denki’s hands to keep her balance.

“She really is too adorable,” Neito said as he sat back, his hands resting on the floor behind him as he watched the two of them perform their little dance.

“She is,” Hitoshi agreed, popping a nearby apple slice in his mouth from the plate that had been placed in the room for them to share. Ever since she had gotten all her teeth, Eri had developed an addiction to the bright red fruit.

Apples were in constant supply around the house nowadays, so much so that Hitoshi felt that he should be sick of them, but oddly enough, he enjoyed the sight of them. A big, round, healthy red apple meant a big, grinning little sister.

And that, he wouldn’t change for the world.

“No, no, no. Like this,” Neito said as he took a handful of Eri’s shoulder length silver hair and gently parted it in half into a pig tail on each side of her small head. The toddler giggled to herself as she stared up at her older brother and his other friend, Denki.

The two humans had, as usual, invited themselves over to Hitoshi and Eri’s house with no regard for whether Hitoshi might have something else planned for the day. Not that he did, but he didn’t need to tell the two of them that.

“Aw that’s even cuter!” Denki cooed, leaning in towards Hitoshi’s baby sister, his hands resting between his crossed legs. Eri giggled louder with how close Denki got to her before the two of them bumped the tips of their noses together. A little ritual the two of them had created between them.

Neito smirked to himself, straightening his back as he sat there in all his confidence, glad that he won their little spat about how best to tie Eri’s hair for the day. Personally he preferred his sister’s hair to hang loose, but as long as she didn’t have a problem with his friends playing with her hair, then he didn’t either.

“I told you,” Neito said proudly as he reached over and took one of the ribbons Hitoshi had been made to hold for them at some point. With expert hands, Neito pulled the girl’s hair up high and tied them gently before he picked her up under her arms and held her in the air victoriously. “Tada!”

Denki clapped his hands together as Eri squealed in delight, kicking her small feet about as if she could run on the very air she was held on. Hitoshi couldn’t help but smile as he reached over and took his sister in his arms, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“You look very pretty, Eri.”

The pure love the girl held in her big red eyes was enough to melt Hitoshi’s heart as he held her to his chest for a moment before he set her down on the floor so that she could stumble over into Denki’s hold, who caught her just as she toppled into him.

“Easy there,” Denki chuckled, helping her upright before he took her hands in his and enticed her into a performance of a dance he had taught her when no one had looked. One by one Eri kicked her feet into the air as she held onto Denki’s hands to keep her balance.

“She really is too adorable,” Neito said as he sat back, his hands resting on the floor behind him as he watched the two of them perform their little dance.

“She is,” Hitoshi agreed, popping a nearby apple slice in his mouth from the plate that had been placed in the room for them to share. Ever since she had gotten all her teeth, Eri had developed an addiction to the bright red fruit.

Apples were in constant supply around the house nowadays, so much so that Hitoshi felt that he should be sick of them, but oddly enough, he enjoyed the sight of them. A big, round, healthy red apple meant a big, grinning little sister.

And that, he wouldn’t change for the world.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Neito Monoma/Phantom Thief, Eri, Hitoshi Shinso and Denki Kaminari/Chargebolt © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 18: Admiration

Pure, no holds barred admiration was all Tenya Iida ever knew, especially when it came to his older brother, Tensei.

For years Tenya was taught by his family that pride and prestige would get him anything he wanted. If he took everything he did with an equal dose of seriousness and pride, then he’d get far in life, almost as fast as his legs could go.

Because of the metallic pipes protruding from his calves, Tenya was no strange to being mocked by those who didn’t know how fast those pipes could force him to run when the need arose. When push came to shove, Tenya had no trouble showing just what his legs were capable of.

Because his family had been one long generation of knights that served the heirs of the Yaoyorozu rulers. At the age of seven, he was going to meet the current heir to the throne, Princess Momo Yaoyorozu.

At first he had been unsure about the possibility, but his brother had quickly reassured him that the sooner he met the princess, the sooner he’d be able to form a strong enough bond with her to help him climb his family’s social status ladder.

It wasn’t quite the way he wanted to go about it, but if his brother reassured him that it was the right way to go about it, then he would do so without question. His brother was usually right.

Standing proudly in his best formal wear, Tenya looked across the ballroom, standing beside his brother as they waited for the king and queen to make their appearance with their daughter.

It was the first time the princess would meet the nobility of the people she would one day rule over. If he felt nervous, he couldn’t imagine how she felt. Yes, if he made a mistake, he would be mocked for it, but it would be forgotten within a week. If she made a mistake… well, she wouldn’t have time to live it down.

That was a fate he wished on no one.

“Hey, stand still. You’re going to run out of the room at this point.”

Tenya paused as he looked to his brother, who wore a sheepish smile as he gently patted his brother’s back. “S-Sorry, big brother. I’m just a little nervous.”

To his surprise, Tensei gave him a gentle, knowing smile. Unlike him, Tensei had already met the princess, seeing as he was already a knight in the royal family’s service. He already knew what to expect.

Each time Tenya had tried to get any information about the princess, his brother had simply smiled and told him to be patient. It made him question whether he’d like the princess in the first place since his brother never spoke about her.

Granted, he was technically forbidden from speaking of the royal family outside the confines of the palace, for their and his sake. If he was caught conveying the Yaoyorozu family’s secrets, or even so much as details of what they did in their private time, then not only he, but his whole family, could be sent to the dungeon to await some or other trial.

Before he could try to ask his brother a question about when the announcement ceremony would begin, a fanfare of horns sounded, drawing everyone’s attention as a man and woman dressed in fine clothing walked over to a set of identical thrones as a young girl around Tenya’s age followed them, her long black hair tied back from her anxious face.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Tenya Iida/Ingenium, Tensei Iida/Ingenium and Momo Yaoyorozu/Creati © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 12: Days Of Future Past

“Touya!”

He could still remember the sight of the white haired boy turning to face him whenever he heard his name, a smile on those pale lips of his. Different from the red head he had gotten to know when they first met, Keigo had felt nothing but intrigue towards the young prince.

He didn’t know much about how the hierarchy amongst royals worked, but after Touya’s youngest brother had been born, it didn’t take long for the news to reach the village that Touya Todoroki was no longer the crown prince, instead said title had fallen onto the shoulders of young Shoto Todoroki instead.

Having thought that Touya would want to be the one to tell him, Keigo had kept quiet about the whole affair, but the words just never came. Instead, the previous crown prince had taken his parents decision to heart and lashed out far more than anyone in the castle had expected.

Blessed with the ability to create and control blue coloured flames at will, the young prince had worked day and night in an attempt to perfect his power, sometimes injuring himself to the point where his skin turned an unsettling purple hue.

He still remembered the first time he walked in on Touya practicing with his flames. The moment he had heard his name, he turned to face Keigo with that same, sad smile and a blue flame raging in the palm of his hand.

“L-Look Keigo. I d-did it. I c-can control it.”

Those four words had been the last thing Touya had told him before the king had stormed in. Horrified by the sight of his son’s skin peeling clean off his body, the king had grabbed his hand and called for all the doctors within the kingdom’s border, each sworn to silence about the eldest prince’s condition.

For months Keigo had been forbidden from even laying an eye on his friend. Whether the princess or the second eldest prince were allowed to see their brother, he didn’t know either. He had never had an opportunity to speak to them.

When he asked the king about Touya’s condition, he was merely told that the prince would not return to training, so the day he saw Touya in the training room after that, he was sworn to secrecy by the blue-eyed boy. He had never felt comfortable about it but had chosen to keep his lips sealed shut for the sake of their friendship.

Not a day went by that he didn’t regret that decision.

If it hadn’t been for that promise, Touya would have been forbidden from practicing with his ability and then maybe… just maybe, he would still have been alive.

The day Touya died, he had been there. He had seen it happen. The only thing he hadn’t seen was the body.

One moment Touya had been standing in the middle of a flame engulphed room, daring his friend to use his red feathery wings to attack him so that the prince might attempt to defend himself.

Keigo had been about to call out to him when the creaking wood caught his attention. It had all happened so fast. One moment Touya stood before him, the next the two of them had barely looked at the room’s roof before it all came crashing down.

By some freak miracle or curse, he had managed to get away from the debris before they landed, but Touya…

Keigo clutched his chest, all too clearly remembering his best friend’s face the moment he realised what was about to happen. They had only but a second to lock eyes before the moment came that would separate them for eternity,

He hadn’t even had a chance to call his name one last time.

For days after that, the castle’s personal guard had searched for the prince’s corpse for days to no avail. Eventually it was called for the prince’s name to be stricken off the royal registry and for the princes and princess to forget their eldest brother’s very existence. If anyone so much as mentioned the previous prince, they were thrown into the dungeon without a second thought.

For months the loss of his friend had haunted Keigo, which was why he had chosen to become a squire with the hopes of entering knighthood one day. It had originally been Touya’s dream ever since he was stripped of his previous title. If he couldn’t be the crown prince, then he’d simply become a knight.

It had been such a simple dream, even now it was deemed that by most, but to him, it meant everything. If he could become a knight, a famous one at that, then maybe, just maybe, he could ease the burden, the need to protect, from other knights and then perhaps one day they wouldn’t be needed anymore. Perhaps one day they could simply live as people of the village without the fear of losing anyone ever again. With that dream in mind, Keigo shut his golden brown eyes falling shut as the same dream since that day enveloped him, the dream of a purple scared arm draped over his side, clutching him close.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Touya Todoroki/Dabi, Keigo Takami/Hawks, Shoto Todoroki, Enji Todoroki/Endeavor, Rei Todoroki, Fuyumi Todoroki and Natsuo Todoroki © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 11: Squire To Squire

“Keigo, there you are.”

Blinking out of his trance, Keigo turned to face the bird-headed boy that approached him. Ever since moving out of the village and living in the barracks with the knights, Keigo hadn’t seen the other boy nearly as much as he would have liked.

Despite all his chores at home, Fumikage Tokoyami always made time to go visit him whenever he had the chance. At first Keigo originally thought it was because the other wanted to learn how to use his power to fly, to control the demon within himself, but the more time they spent together, the more he realised that the reason why Fumikage stuck around was because he liked being around him, just like he liked being around him as well.

When Fumikage’s power first manifested itself as a second entity, most of the village children ran in fear from the boy until Keigo found him one afternoon. The boy and his… demon, for lack of better wording, were hiding in a dark corner, crying together over the lack of acceptance those that dared to call themselves his friend refused to show him.

Unlike those children, Keigo had found the demon interesting, so much so that he had insisted the boy name the creature. After much deliberation and quite a few laughs, the three of them had decided on Dark Shadow. Keigo had even gone the extra mile and ‘knighted’ the two with a wooden branch he found nearby.

Ever since then, the three of them had been as thick as thieves, almost like he and someone else he had once called friend. Unlike Fumikage’s friends though, Touya hadn’t turned his back on him willingly. He had been ripped from him before either of them had realised. Before even the king had realised.

“Hey there Tsukuyomi,” Keigo smiled at the childhood nickname he had given Fumikage the day Dark Shadow had gotten his name. The boy went still as his cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

“I’ve asked you not to call me that,” Fumikage muttered to himself. Keigo didn’t miss the way the edge of his beak twitched upwards. Smiling to himself, Keigo motioned Fumikage over to join him. Fumikage obliged, and a moment later the shadow demon spurted up from the boy’s naval.

“Hawks!”

Keigo grinned at the name the two of them had given him that same day, claiming that his red wings reminded them of the predatory bird.

“Hey Shadow.”

The shadow knocked his forehead against Keigo’s open palm in their version of a high five. Keigo held his hand out to Fumikage a moment after. A second later, he received a flat palm against his.

Without a word, Fumikage pulled over the brown leather satchel hanging from his shoulder, pulling out pieces of fried chicken. Keigo nearly squealed at the sight. He didn’t know how, but someone in the village was somehow able to make chicken in a way that left it crumbed on the outside, yet perfectly cooked on the inside. If he hadn’t pledged his allegiance to the current king already, he wouldn’t have hesitated to proclaim said chicken fryer his new sovereign.

“Ah! You remembered!” Keigo grinned, grabbing one of the pieces and eagerly popping it in his mouth.

“Of course I did. It’s not difficult to remember,” Fumikage pointed out as he pulled out one for himself. Dark Shadow preoccupied himself by swaying nearby, watching a butterfly testing the safety of a flower not so far from them.

“You’re the best Tsukuyomi!”

“It was Dark Shadow that suggested we stop there along the way.”

“And you wonder why you’re my favourite demon,” Keigo hummed, happily taking a bite. A glance over to Fumikage showed the boy’s unease over the subject. Keigo swallowed what was in his mouth. “People still giving you a hard time?”

Fumikage only nodded. Even Dark Shadow seemed to lose his usual chipper. Keigo let out a sigh, running his free hand through his hair. Sometimes he just didn’t understand people. When people found out that he was the son of a thief and had been rescued from his situation at home by the King, they had fawned over him for days, but because Fumikage had been born differently, he was practically shunned.

Frowning to himself, Keigo got to his feet, drawing the attention of the other two. Fumikage blinked. “Keigo?”

“I’m going to change it.”

“Change what?”

Keigo spun so fast on his heel that he practically fell backwards, using his wings to help steady himself. "This whole world.”

Fumikage raised a brow at him, curiously awaiting an explanation as Keigo proudly knocked the nugget against his chest.

“I’ll follow the king and become the best knight out there! When I do that, people will have to respect me and everything I say, right?”

“I mean, I guess so? But what does that have to do with anything?”

“If they have to listen to me, then I’ll make it a rule that no one is ever allowed to bully anyone ever again. If they refuse to accept you and Dark Shadow then I’ll tell the king to throw them out of the kingdom!”

The younger boy’s entire face lit up so fast that Keigo nearly yelped when Fumikage jumped at him, wrapping his arms firmly around the older boy. He had to scramble to keep his food from jumping free from his hand but the moment he felt Dark Shadow wrapping himself around his shoulders from behind, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you Hawks! Thank you!”

Keigo’s smiled as he gently rubbed the boy’s back, feeling his shirt turning wet from a fresh set of tears as the smaller body trembled against him. He made a silent vow to keep his promise, even if it cost him everything.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Keigo Takami/Hawks, Fumikage Tokoyami/Tsukuyomi/Dark Shadow, Touya Todoroki/Dabi and Enji Todoroki/Endeavor © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 16: Home

After he left Thirteen’s house, Shota headed back home, stopping by an apple orchid along the way.

When he stopped at the end of the hill, a soft smile spread across his usual scowling face. As expected, the cottage home was dark, save for a couple of candles burning in the living room. Before he left, he had asked his husband, Hizashi Yamada, to see to it that their children were already in bed by the time he got home. As expected, the usually energised blonde hadn’t listened to him. Or more likely had been twisted around their youngest’s pinkie. Not that he’d be surprised.

Because they were both naturally males, conceiving had been… a struggle at best. Eventually they had decided to adopt, which even in the elf community had been a pretty hard thing to do, until one day they were allowed entrance to the orphanage where they met an indigo-haired boy. He had such bags under his eyes that Shota had to blink to make sure that he wasn’t staring at a younger version of himself.

As it turned out, the boy had a gift for controlling others with his mind if they responded whenever he asked them a question. Most of the children at the orphanage had been terrified of him because of it, but as expected, Hizashi had been drawn to the boy immediately and within less than five minutes he got the boy laughing, a feat no one else had ever been able to do apparently.

Since that day the two of them had bonded with the boy as much as they could. It wasn’t until Hitoshi, who still went by his original last name, Shinso, for reasons he refused to tell them, was nine years old when Shota had lost his balance out of nowhere that it had scared Hizashi into a pure, no-breaks panic when he saw his usually fleet-footed husband down on the ground, vomiting whatever they had for breakfast that morning.

After a trip to the local healer, the three of them found out that Shota was carrying. Not a disease or something violent that caused his body to give in on itself, but instead something both he and Hizashi had considered nothing less than a blessing since day one. A baby.

When they told Hitoshi, he had worried that they wouldn’t want him anymore, and as usual, it had been Hizashi that had calmed the boy down and reassured him that no matter what, they would always want him as their son. The relief on his face had nearly broken Shota’s heart over how scared the boy had been about possibly being abandoned. On that day he had sworn to ensure that neither he or the baby ever felt that way again.

The nine months that passed had been both good and bad, the worst part being the constant nausea and of course physically pushing the baby out, but the early morning kicks that he had felt during those months and the first moment he took Eri into his arms, he had felt love in its purest form.

Hizashi had taken to being a natural diaper-changer and bottle-feeder whilst Hitoshi instantly snapped into the role of an older brother. Shota still remembered the day he went to check in on Hitoshi and Eri when two of Hitoshi’s friends came over, Denki Kaminari and Neito Monoma.

Hitoshi had been sprawled out on his back, exhausted after a night of Eri’s late-night crying so Denki had thought it a good idea to paint his sleeping friend’s face whilst Neito had shown Eri that he could replicate the small horn she had on the right side of her forehead.

Needless to say, Shota had left Neito and Eri alone, however Denki had received a bit of a talking to about what he had done. When Hitoshi awoke and found out what his friend had done, he held Denki down whilst Neito took to painting on Denki’s face on Hitoshi’s behalf, leaving Eri giggling and applauding her elder brother’s revenge.

Even though the human and elf realms were fairly separated, Denki had lived close enough to the orphanage that he had become quite close friends with Hitoshi, so when he found out his friend had been adopted, he had dragged Neito with him to Hitoshi’s new address and the three of them had simply continued being friends.

At first Shota had been worried that Neito would say something to upset Hitoshi with the way he usually talked, but it seemed that both Hitoshi and Denki knew better than to take Neito’s words to heart. And the moment that Neito saw Eri for the first time… he nearly had to beat the blonde boy off with a stick to keep him from snatching the new born from her crib whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Remembering all those moments, Shota had to blink the second light suddenly shone in his eyes. It took a couple of seconds before he realised that Hizashi was standing in the doorway with a smile and a sleeping silver-haired toddler resting against his shoulder.

“Are you coming in?” Hizashi asked in that smooth sing-song voice he knew sent a shiver down Shota’s spine. Shaking his head in response, Shota made his way to the door, stopping briefly to kiss his husband. “Mmm welcome home mama~”

Shota smiled as those words instantly warmed his chest.

“I’m home.”

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Thirteen, Shota Aizawa/Eraserhead, Hizashi Yamada/Present Mic, Hitoshi Shinso, Eri, Denki Kaminari/Chargebolt and Neito Monoma/Phantom Thief Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 10: To Swing A Sword

“Lift your sword higher, Shoto!”

Shoto nearly flinched at the tone his father, King Enji Todoroki, used as he held up his own sword. The two of them had been, under his father’s consistent insistence, training ever since the sun rose that morning. From his lessons, he was able to tell that it was roughly around noon from where the sun claimed its place in the sky.

He narrowed his eyes at it. That same infernal sun was the reason why he was in the training room, going over his sword training, that with no doubt in his mind, would be followed with practicing his level of control with the powers that resided within him.

A smart man would have taken advantage of those powers to overthrow the man before him, but he was still just a child. What chance did he stand against the tall, muscular man waiting with his arms crossed? If he were lucky, he’d be able to leave a similar scar of his own on the other man’s face.

His left hand heated with the thought though. Perhaps if he were lucky, the kingdom would deem him unfit and choose either the other prince, or even the princess, to take over from their father in his stead. They might even keep him out of the dungeon out of some filial sense of loyalty. Who knew, maybe they’d even keep it from the rest of the kingdom if he were truly the one to rid them of its ruling tyrant.

“Shoto!”

Snapped from his thoughts, the boy turned to face his father fully, seeing nothing but annoyance in those hating eyes. He nearly flinched at the sight. Those eyes, whilst a different colour, held similar, if not identical, hatred as another pair he knew all too well.

He had never asked, but there was almost no doubt in his mind that the hatred he saw in his father’s eyes were the same as his mother’s. Remembering the scalding water’s heat, Shoto nearly flinched on instinct, holding his arm up as if that might somehow protect him if his father chose to unleash his wrath.

A tear nearly broke free. Why did his parents hate him so? He wasn’t the one that chose to enter this world. He had never asked for any of this. Not once. In fact, he had only ever asked for the opposite, constantly begging his father to seek another successor, pleading with his sister and brother to take the reins from him that weighed so heavily in his hands.

If Touya… if Touya was still around, would he have done it? Would he have taken the reins and become their father’s successor? Or would he have simply shrugged his shoulders and told him to simply deal with it on his own. The thought was nothing less than a way for his eyes to damper in despair. How could his family be so cruel?

“Lift up your sword.”

The words were clear. Precise. Demanding. Terrifying.

With what he was certain was an audible gulp, Shoto did as commanded, trying to steady the trembling steel between his hands.

Another sword struck down, towards him. There was no hesitation. It all happened so fast. He was barely able to shut his eyes in time just as the sword was knocked free from his hands, the tell-tale clatter of steel meeting wood announcing yet another defeat at the hands of the king.

It took nearly all his courage to open his eyes once more to look up at the man glaring down at him with eyes as blue as the ice power his mother wielded.

“I-I’m s-sorry, father,” were the only words the young boy was able to set free.

“‘Sorry’?” his father’s face filled with nothing but pure disgust at the word. “Is that what you plan on saying to your enemy when they’re ready to strike you down?”

“N-No, I-”

“You what, Shoto?”

I’m scared.

I want mother.

I don’t want to be the prince anymore.

Leave me alone.

Shoto could only look to his father in frozen fear. Enji parted his lips to demand another answer when a knock on the room’s door interrupted him. Enji spun to face the door so fast that Shoto nearly thought he’d send a trail of fire to incinerate whoever had been foolish enough to draw his attention away from another scolding session.

“What is it?”

“Your squire has arrived, sire,” the king’s advisor said from where he stood beside a young boy that was obviously older than Shoto despite their nearly similar height. The small, scruffy hint towards a growing beard was indication enough.

Shoto felt his tears blossom once more. The boy was at the age to become a squire to the king. That must mean that he was about Touya’s age, at least the age he would have been, had he still been amongst them.

“It’s good to see you again, Your Majesty,” the boy said with a small, respectful bow at the waist.

His father huffed at the sight of the boy. From how the boy stood back up with no fear in his bright eyes, Shoto had to keep himself from screaming at the older boy, demanding to know how he could seem so at ease before the man dominating over the room. What was wrong with him?

“Take him to the throne room. I will join you shortly,” Enji instructed, and with a bow from the advisor as well, the two headed off in unison to await his father. When Enji returned his attention to Shoto, Shoto nearly wet himself in response. “I will return shortly. I expect you to be able to hold your sword on your own by the time I come back.”

No words of encouragement. Just an outright, clear order.

All Shoto could manage was a small nod as he watched his father leave the room. Once he could no longer hear the man’s footsteps echoing on the hallway just outside the door, the young prince felt every ounce of strength drain from his body as his knees met up with the floor.

It wasn’t long until his tears took their chance to appear as he fisted his hands in his hair and wept.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Shoto Todoroki, Enji Todoroki/Endeavor, Fuyumi Todoroki, Natsuo Todoroki, Rei Todoroki, Touya Todoroki/Dabi and Keigo Takami/Hawks © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 09: Growing Pains

Meanwhile not so far off from the barbarian kingdom and the forest surrounding it, another Prince was hard at work to take over from his father when the day arrived.

Prince Shoto Todoroki sat in his room, idly scratching at the unrolled scroll on his small, wooden desk. His father, King Enji Todoroki, also known as Sir Endeavor by their people, had ensured that all his children, even his daughter, Princess Fuyumi, had the best education possible.

The scholars their parents had employed each made certain that they earned their month in wages, barely granting any of the three siblings a chance to participate in anything else. There used to be four siblings, an eldest brother, Touya. They were forbidden from talking about him ever since the accident that took the young prince’s life.

Like many in their kingdom, the Todoroki family had been blessed with powers, which had led to their father and mother’s union, and eventually their births. According to the head scholar, his parents had no love for each other, butt both agreed to the marriage in the hopes of creating the ultimate children.

They had stopped with him. He was their ultimate creation. A prince who had the ability to control both ice and fire. The perfect combination of their abilities, as his hair loved to portray with the left side being a dark red and the right side a pure shade of white.

That’s where the young prince envied his older siblings, both Touya and his other older brother, Natsuo, had pure white hair whilst Fuyumi only had small traces of red in hers. Unlike them, he had been cursed to wear his shame on his entire side.

He had once taken great pride in his dual hair colour, especially the day his father told him that he would grow up to be his successor, passing his brothers and sister by without even having to fight for the right to claim the throne. That was until his mother looked at him with nothing but hatred in her eyes. A hatred that had nearly cost him his own.

Whether it was the heat of the moment or simply her hatred for her husband, the Queen had taken a bucket of warm water and dumped it over her youngest child’s face. He couldn’t even remember how terrified he had been that day, listening to her mother saying how unsightly his left side was before his face came to know the burning sensation his right side could produce when warmed enough.

Luckily a couple of maidservants had rushed in and kept the Queen from doing further damage. That didn’t mean that the most damage hadn’t been done already. What his father’s reaction to the news had been, he didn’t know, nor did he care.

Out of fear that his youngest might be harmed further, the king had ordered both the other prince and the princess to be kept from Shoto’s bedroom. Neither had understood why only Shoto’s scholars and a doctor were the only ones allowed to see him. No one told them either.

Thinking back on the incident, Shoto curled his fist around the quill in his hand. It took all his concentration not to simply freeze the room around him as he thought back to his mother’s face that day. The horror and disgust was something he knew he’d never forget, not now, not ever. His face was a clear reminder.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Shoto Todoroki, Enji Todoroki/Endeavor, Fuyumi Todoroki, Touya Todoroki/Dabi, Rei Todoroki and Natsuo Todoroki © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

[fang-wolfsbane]

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 02: Building Bridges

“Come on you guys! Stop being so lazy and get up here already!” Katsuki commanded the children from his clan, watching two of the boys pant as they grasped onto the grassy hill, trying to catch up with their energetic prince.

“Don’t move so fast!” the older boy complained, nearly toppling back down the hill to where some of the older children were sitting, eagerly discussing how they couldn’t wait to become grownups so that they could help the adults in their village. Katsuki scoffed at them, finding them to be about as interesting as worker bees.

Finding himself bored of waiting on his friends, Katsuki started down the opposite of the other hill. Because of his status, his parents often made a big deal of it about keeping him close to the village until he was older, but being the rambunctious scamp he was, Katsuki often found himself disobeying his parents’ orders and travelling over the village borders.

There wasn’t much out there, save for woodlands and wildlife. He had often heard stories of other clans and even kingdoms residing on the other side of the forest, but even he had his limitations with going out that far without at least one adult staying close by enough to help him climb over any fallen trees or cross the raging rivers. He had heard that his father planned for a bridge to be built over one of the rivers to open up new possibilities for their clan to trade.

He didn’t personally care about the trade route but had been curious enough to listen to its location. That was the whole goal behind the excursion today. His and his friends’ fathers were to go to the location to see if it would be suitable to build the bridge there, and how well they would be able to guard it should things take a turn for the worse.

As usual the children were ordered to stay home and play, but being the future prince and all, Katsuki had definite other plans. He was going to take on the role of a leader and lead his small group to the bridge, where they would be the ones to determine its worthiness. One of the older children had stopped them along the way to ask where they were heading, only to walk away in laughter once they had their information. It had originally been meant to be a deterrent, but instead had fuelled Katsuki’s determination.

Walking quickly turned to running down the hill, nearly causing the young prince to trip over his feet and tumble to the bottom, but with the last few steps, he jumped and landed safely on both feet, even though he had to spread and roll his arms about to help his second foot join the first on firm ground. His friends followed him down in a similar fashion, keeping their prince from showing any embarrassment over his possible mistake.

Puffing his chest out proudly, Katsuki grabbed a nearby stick, half his height in terms of length and held it up towards the sky like a magnificent sword made for the only purpose of cutting down any that stood in his way.

“Let’s go!”

A glimpse behind him informed him that the other two boys were giving each other confused looks, but they knew better to question Katsuki’s decisions, s they got up, dusted themselves off and marched on behind him, filling him with a sense of pride over their loyalty in following his decision.

The only other outcome was both of them gaining a fist to the back of the head. If he didn’t that, he’d risk a scolding from his mother, but she’d eventually get over it and apologise to the other boys on his behalf, after nearly breaking his neck by pushing his head so far down that it would feel like it was going to snap if held for another second longer, not that he was going to admit to them the real reason why he was holding himself back on acting on his instincts. How would he look in front of his friends if he admitted to being scared of his mother’s temper?

Standing before the entrance to the woods, Katsuki felt a little uneasy. He had often heard tales of the creatures that dwelled within the woods. Things like fairies, bandits, were creatures, and even dragons! At least, that’s what the elders used to tell him around the campfire.

One of the older children had once told him it was nothing but bedtime stories the elders used as a way to keep them from wandering away from the village. The kid’s father’s missing arm proved otherwise a week later. He had never heard the full story of how the hunter had lost his arm, but one of his companions had claimed that it was because of something unnatural roaming around within their sacred grounds.

The barbarian clan knew that they weren’t the only ones within the area, hence the potential trading route, but they were all taught from an early age to respect the forest and whatever it hid within its safety. Before they were allowed to enter its dark embrace, they had to promise not to take more than they needed and to return the forest’s favour by thanking it for whatever it was that they took.

With a deep breath, Katsuki bowed his head in thanks to the large tree that marked the beginning of the road with an orange ribbon tied around its bark. He had heard from his father that once the route was open, there would be other trees marked in a similar manner to keep those who entered from getting lost along the way.

Looking ahead, he didn’t see any of those ribbons yet, but the footprints of his and the other men his father had taken with him, still remained on the ground, as clear as day, or for as long as the sun stayed up in the sky. A glance upwards revealed the sun to still be up high, giving them a couple of hours of sunlight, long enough for him and his friends to catch up with the bridge building party.

Relying on what some of the older children had told him about tracking hunt through the forest, Katsuki led their group through the narrowed pathway into the forest. At first it was relatively quiet, so quiet in fact that Katsuki began to doubt all the stories the elders told, until the forest announced the life it held within.

It started with the chirp of some birds, but as they went in even deeper, other sounds such as the hissing of snakes, the howls of wolves, and even the cry of some injured animal off in the distance was enough to make the boys’ knees tremble.

“Katsuki, l-let’s go back. I’m scared,” one of his friends whimpered, clinging to the back of the one before him. Katsuki knew he could claim that they returned for the sake of his friend’s sanity, and not be called a coward for choosing to do so, but he would know. He would know that he chose to turn back because he himself was too afraid to take a step further.

Staring at the dark depths before him, Katsuki felt his knees shiver. He tried willing them to stay still and would have done so if the friend that had been complaining the whole time didn’t grab onto his hide cape, nearly choking him by pulling it back as hard as he did. If it weren’t for their other friend interfering, Katsuki was almost certain that he would have been claimed by the forest’s soil then and there.

Trying to inhale the air he had lost, Katsuki held his throat, rubbing at the sudden soreness residing against his skin. A glare back to his friend gave him a silent warning that if he ever tried the same trick again, he’d end up with a Katsuki special knuckle sandwich in return.

“Katsuki, I w-wanna go home! I want my mommy!” his friend tried again, safely standing a couple of feet away from Katsuki this time. Frankly, his expression alone was enough to annoy Katsuki into turning his back towards the other two and continue his march.

“Then go home! I’ll find the bridge by myself!”

The boys must have debated their chances of getting out of the forest by themselves against how they would be scolded for leaving their prince to wander off on his own. He didn’t mind the thought of travelling on his own, but for once was thankful that his mother didn’t approve of the thought of him wandering about without an escort of some sort. The patter of their feet rushing up behind him confirmed as much.

***

“This should work just fine. Let’s mark the area and return bright and early tomorrow morning to get started,” King Masaru Bakugo said, flashing a prideful smile to the men that were with him. When he had gone into the forest, he had taken three men with him, one to gather food for them along the way, one to figure out what and how much supplies they would need for the bridge, and another to discuss the plans for how their clan might benefit from forming alliances with any clans that might live nearby.

Neither he nor those from his family have ever crossed the wide river that divided the forest in half, but after long, delicate talks with his wife, the two of them had decided that it could only prove advantageous to open up their borders to those on the other side. Not only would it be good for the village, but it would also prove to be an empowering experience for their son.

Once they gathered up everything they needed, the four men turned to head back to the village, each of them mentioning what they were looking forward to the most when they returned home. The one in charge of handling trade was due to become a father soon, if all went well, so he had requested to be excused from the physical labour the bridge would require. Masaru had happily granted him leave from the project for it, remembering all too well how excited he had been when it was near the time for Katsuki to be born a couple of years ago.

Saying that the young boy was a handful felt much like an understatement, but there wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t give thanks for his son’s existence. He only hoped that his friend gained a much calmer child than he. He was almost certain that the whole village wished the same. One overly confident rowdy boy running around the village was enough for him.

They were just about to head back to the village when shrill screams echoed from ahead. Without thought, the three men surrounded the king, each holding their weapon of choice ready to protect the king, even if it would cost them their lives. Masaru appreciated the sentiment, but when the screams came again.

“Wait,” Masaru commanded, holding his hand up for emphasis as he tried listening to the screams more closely. From the sounds of it, there were at least three voices, all three versed in their language. One of them in particular sounded all too familiar.

“I want to go home!”

“Then go! I’m not leaving until I find it!”

“But Katsuki-!”

“I said no!”

“Lower your weapons men. There’s no threat,” Masaru reassured them, keeping the rest of his sentence to himself, ‘at least not to you three.’

Almost as if on cue, the three boys burst through a bush, covered from head to toe in twig scratches and a couple of bumps and bruises, or minor battle wounds as his wife would put it to try and comfort Katsuki after he had gotten a thorn stuck in his hand once when he was two years old.

“Katsuki, what are you boys doing out here?” Masaru asked, going down on his knee to be closer to the boy’s height. If there was one thing Katsuki hated, it was being looked down on in any form or manner. He had even gone so far once to demand that an elder bow before him because he hated how short he was compared to the elder. Trying to explain that he would grow into his height hadn’t help calm the situation either.

“We… we came to build the bridge!” Katsuki declared, shoving a stick up into the air, his small chest rising and falling from the excursion. The travel so deep into the forest was quite a trek for such small legs, but as usual, it seemed like his son’s determination was all he had needed to convince himself into attempting the journey.

Masaru couldn’t help but smile with pride at how far his son’s determination had gotten him. The two boys behind him looked like they had used up every ounce of energy their bodies possessed from trying to keep up with their wilful prince. Luckily for them, their fathers had been with Masaru, both of them letting their sons collapse into their arms after offering them freshly caught river water from their waterskins.

He offered Katsuki his, but instead of accepting, the boy pushed past his father and made his way up to the riverbank where the water was shallow enough for him to enter safely and began filling the waterskin he had strapped around his waist. It seemed the boy had made sure to prepare for his journey. He couldn’t say the same about the young prince’s friends though.

When he finished taking such large gulps that Masaru was worried he might choke himself, Katsuki surveyed the surrounding area with his hands resting on his hips like a true little king. “When do we begin?”

“Only a week from now,” Masaru informed his son as he got to his feet, watching the shocked small face turn to him.

“What?” Katsuki asked, almost as if horrified. It didn’t take long to put two and two together enough to understand that Katsuki had been under the impression that the bridge was already meant to be in progress.

“Well, first off we need to make plans and get all the supplies. We can’t simply start chopping down trees and using them to build.”

“But… but why?”

The way the boy’s face fell in disappointment, Masaru felt his sympathy grow for his son, resting a hand on his small back. Most would have tried to explain it in a different manner in the hopes that their son would understand the meaning better, but Masaru knew his boy was smarter than that. It was simply confusion clouding his understanding for the moment.

“Come, let’s head home. I’ll explain it on the way, alright?” Masaru offered, waiting for a confirming nod from Katsuki before he turned to head back out onto the trail. A light tug on his pants drew his attention back down to his son, shifting on his feet as if ashamed to ask something his friends had already accepted without protest.

Masaru followed Katsuki’s eyes to where his friends laid passed out in pure exhaustion in their fathers’ arms. If there was another thing Katsuki hated, it was seeming weak, but considering how long the trail to the river was, as well as a possible detour here and there to drag the boys off course, it was fair to assume that Katsuki’s feet wouldn’t be able to carry him for much longer.

Smiling to himself, Masaru kneeled once more, his back to Katsuki, “how about I give you a ride back? Then you get to see the view is from up in the trees?”

The grin on his son’s face was enough for Masaru’s smile to grow as Katsuki hooked his legs in between his father’s arms and torso, grabbing not his cape to help steady himself as the world became a little higher for the boy.

“Onwards to the village!” Katsuki proclaimed, jabbing his stick forward as if to lead them on some magnificent quest. Smiles were exchanged by the four adults, and with vocal salutes, they headed back in the direction the boys came from earlier.

***

“Poor boy. He’s simply exhausted,” Mitsuki sighed, a hand resting on her chest as she watched her husband put their son to bed. Katsuki had never given them problems like most children around bedtime, mostly because he preferred going to bed early under the guise that he needed plenty of rest if he was to be the village leader one day.

“He had a long journey,” Masaru agreed, pulling the hide skins up to Katsuki’s shoulders, tucking him in and watching that charming, sleepy smile spread across his lips, revealing a gap where one of his teeth had gotten lost at some point in his adventure. Mitsuki only giggled at the sight, knowing that it was the only moment she would have to laugh at the comedy behind it.

“So I see. He wanted to help with the bridge, didn’t he?”

“That he did.”

“Then you best take him with when you start construction. It’ll be good for him.”

“You think so?” Masaru asked, surprised that Mitsuki was willing to let Katsuki so far from the village. She nodded, that same smile as Katsuki on her lips, except she still had all her teeth.

“I do. As the future king, he’ll need to lead at some point, which he already tries to do, so the next step means that he’ll need to learn to build bridges, perhaps even physical ones.”

Looking down at the boy, Masaru found himself agreeing with his wife’s reasoning. Being king was never easy, but if things proceeded well with the bridge, then maybe their village would benefit more from it than they thought, and if their future king already understood the requirements for building metaphorical bridges, then the village could only prosper from it in the future.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Masaru Bakugo, Mitsuki Bakugo and Katsuki Bakugo © Kōhei Horikoshi

Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

[fang-wolfsbane]

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 01: Even Princes Have Responsibilities

“Katsuki Bakugo, get over here right now!” Mitsuki called, angered fists resting on her hips as four year old Katsuki came slumping into his room. The young barbarian prince had his arms hanging at his sides and his back slouched forward, a nasty habit he had picked up from some of the older kids within the clan.

“What?” Katsuki pouted, making sure that he pressed his bottom lip out as far as he could, a poor attempt at showcasing rebellion.

“Do you mind explaining this?” Mitsuki asked, nodding over to the pile of clothes left behind by her son that very morning during one of his rushes to get dressed and lord his position over the other children. She was certain that he still didn’t quite understand the meaning behind what his title meant, but that didn’t stop the little tyrant from ensuring that everyone around them knew who and what he was. Young Katsuki Bakugo, Prince of the Barbarian clan of the North. Unchallenged and ruler of all, or at least, that’s how he saw himself; the rest of the clan, not so much, but no one really saw the need to try and correct the prince’s behaviour either, mostly out of fear for who his mother was.

“It’s my stuff, so what?” the barely five-year old tyrant retorted, slumping forward a little bit more. Mitsuki felt her eyebrow twitch as she straightened her posture.

“First off, stand up straight. That’s no way for a prince to stand, and secondly, why is your ‘stuff’ all over the floor and not where it should be?” Mitsuki questioned, expecting a clear cut answer, and apology. She received neither.

“I left it there, so what?” Katsuki challenged, though he did straighten his back, similar to how his mother had done. The attitude still remained though. If the situation was different, she might have applauded his defiance, but when it came to blatantly disobeying, or ignoring his mother, she didn’t take kindly to it.

“So what? You were supposed to put your toys back where you got them when you were done playing. You know the rules, Katsuki.”

“Tch,” the youngster tsked, earning another twitching brow from his mother, “that’s what your there for, isn’t it?”

“Excuse me?!”

“You’re my mom. You clean it up,” Katsuki said, and with that, turned on his tiny heel and made to leave his room exactly like he had left it in the first place. A lesser woman might have gone to her husband and demanded something be done about the boy’s attitude, but not her. Oh no. She was Mitsuki Bakugo, Queen of the Barbarians after all. She bowed to no man, king or prince, husband, or son.

Without another word, Mitsuki reached out, grabbed her son by the back of his bright orange cloak that he had barely taken off since receiving it on his fourth birthday, and dragged him back into the room, being careful not to choke him with the fabric. Katsuki on the other hand made his distress clear by yelping in response to her action when he landed on his backside on his bed. She kept herself from making a quip about him needing to be grateful that she didn’t just toss him on the floor instead.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing, you old hag?!” Katsuki growled, balling his small hands into fists. The action would have been cute if circumstances were different.

“What I’m ‘doing’ is telling you to clean up your room. You can choose to do it now and still have time to go outside and play, or you can stay in here until you decide to clean it and then waste a beautiful day like this,” Mitsuki made clear, emphasising the day’s appearance with a sweep of her hand towards the wooden window that overlooked a field of green grass and grazing livestock.

“Tch, there’s no way I’m doing something like this. You’re the woman, you clean it!” Katsuki demanded, pointing a trembling, toddler-sized index finger towards her. He was a cocky little shrimp when he wanted to be, but he was still young enough that he knew how to show some form of respect towards the woman that carried him around for nine months inside her belly.

When it came to trying to intimidate his family, Katsuki easily trampled over his father, so much so that it was almost a wonder that he hadn’t taken over the throne already. Sometimes she wished her husband knew what the meaning behind a backbone was, but she supposed that was one of the reasons why she liked him so much. His meekness wasn’t always the best when it came to asserting his authority over the rest of the clan, but it did provide its own allure for moments when she, the raging queen, just needed a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen.

Where Katsuki’s father failed to assert his authority over his son, Mitsuki stood in double for the both of them, thus why Katsuki’s tiny ego was struggling to hold up against her. She didn’t raise her hand often, but a light smack to the back of the head was in order at times. Luckily Katsuki was a tough child, so he never held it against her, even if he threw one of his tantrums over it. She shook her head at the attitude he currently displayed, but knew she had to push through if she was going to get her message across.

“Oh? So because I’m a woman, that means I have to bow and scrape to your every whim simply because you were born a little differently to me?”

“Y-Yes! I’m a man, you’re a woman! That means you’re below me!”

“And what basis do you have for that?”

“B-Basis?” Katsuki repeated, his face drawn in confusion. He never liked it when someone used a word he didn’t know the meaning of. All in all the expression itself was one of his cuter attributes. It helped that his competitive nature showed in his willingness to learn new things.

Sighing, she took a seat beside her son on his bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in close against her chest. He always pretended to hate the action, but never struggled against her too much when she did it with him.

A smile lifted itself upon her lips. It seemed like only yesterday that she held the small bundle that was a new born babe to her breast and watched him gaze at her with wide-eyed wonder. She missed those moments, the pure and simple bliss of knowing that the child she held had nothing less than affection towards her.

That didn’t mean that she missed the constant demand to be fed or the inability said baby possessed with cleaning himself. One thing about his ageing she was grateful for was his willingness to learn to clean himself up with the rest of the men when they went to the cleaning pools. She hadn’t been worried over his first time like most mothers. She knew his independence would serve him well and judging from how he bragged at dinner that night about how he had been complimented on how he was able to keep clean at such a young age, her assumption had been no less than spot on.

“What is your reason for why women are inferior in your mind?” Mitsuki calmly asked, watching her son’s face as it contorted as he struggled to find an answer for his stereotypical statement.

“Well, uh, because… because… you look different!” Katsuki announced, seeming quite pleased with himself, only to have his expression drop when he noticed his mother shaking her head in disbelief over his childish answer. “What?”

“Is that truly your reason, Katsuki?” Mitsuki asked, casting a gentler, sympathetic gaze over her son’s face.

“Uhm… yes. You’re a woman, and a woman is a girl and girls are… gross,” he said, his tiny shoulders shuddering. Of course, she had to keep in mind that he was at that age where females meant another being he wasn’t allowed to like because it would make him appear weak in front of his friends, something he, as the prince, couldn’t afford under any circumstances. She pitied him, she truly did.

“And men are what? Big and strong?”

“Yes!” he grinned, his enthusiasm rejuvenated with the assumption of his mother agreeing with his point.

“And why do you think that is?”

“Because that’s how we were made! Men were made strong and women were made weak!”

“Do you really think that, Katsuki?”

“Mhm!”

“Do you think I’m weak?”

For the first time ever, Mitsuki watched her son’s face pause in contemplation, something she had never expected to see in all her years as his mother. All she had done was ask him a simple question about his theory, and he had gone as silent as a mouse. She awaited his answer, soon thinking that he didn’t have one before she saw the shake of his blonde hair.

“No.”

That brought an affectionate smile to her lips, giving her son an affectionate squeeze. “And why is that?”

He looked up at her, his red eyes akin to her own. “Because you’re my mom.”

Mitsuki was never one to cry easily, but within that instant, she felt her eyes tear up like they had the day she first held the small boy in her arms. “Not because I’m the Queen?”

Katsuki shook his head. “You’re my mom. You’ve always been strong.”

“How? I am a woman, you know. I’m not a big, strong man like our clansmen.”

“Nuh-uh! You’re way, way stronger than all of them!”

She chuckled softly, kissing the top of his head. If they were outside their comfortable little hut, he would have fought tooth and nail to try and get away from her, but behind closed doors, Katsuki let his mother show her affection without an inch of some retort or comment about how ‘gross’ it was to show affection in the first place.

“Say Katsuki, if things were reversed, would you say it was fair if women treated men like they were weaker if women were physically stronger than men?”

Once more she watched his face pull into concentration before he shook his head, sending his spikey, blonde hair shaking like quills.

“Why not? If men are allowed to treat women as something that can’t be equal to them, then it would only be fair if the same applied in reverse roles. But you wouldn’t like that, would you?”

He shook his head again.

“Why is that?”

She didn’t really expect an answer, but once again her son amazed her by answering with something she didn’t expect.

“Because… because then I’d feel weak, and… and I don’t want to feel weak. Ever!” Katsuki announced, worry setting in over his eyes. “I don’t want to be treated like I can’t do something just because of what I am!”

“Do you think women like being treated like they aren’t equal to men just because their bodies aren’t naturally as strong as men’s are?”

“No!” Katsuki said, turning his small body to face her more, his fists digging into the furs on his bed as if trying to clutch onto something for comfort, as if the current possible fear would manifest itself in the blink of an eye.

“Then how do you think they should be treated? Should men and women be treated differently or the same?” Mitsuki asked, letting the boy think his answer over by himself.

She waited for him to speak, but the boy remained quiet for a while longer until he eventually hopped off his bed, picked up a wooden carving of a dragon that laid discarded on the floor and placed it on the shelf above his bed after climbing onto it by himself. Mitsuki blinked, then smiled as she watched her son start to clean his room all by himself.

“Do you need help, Katsuki?” Mitsuki asked, moving to pick up another carving, a squirrel that looked like it had just gotten away with some act of mischief. A second later the figure was snatched from her hands and nearly placed beside the beforementioned dragon.

“No. I… I’m a big boy. I can do it myself,” Katsuki said, a smile of his own on his lips as he hopped from the bed once more to pick up the rest of his toys. Mitsuki’s hand curled as she tried to stop herself from helping her independent son.

Pushing herself upright, Mitsuki made to leave the room, but not before she knelt beside her boy and pressed an affectionate kiss to his temple. “Alright. I’ll leave you to it, my big, strong princeling.”

[fang-wolfsbane]

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Chapter 21: A Warm Hearth

“Tsu. Tsu. Tsu!”

Tsuyu Asui blinked out of her trance the moment her mother tapped her on the shoulder. Looking to the woman beside her, Tsuyu gave a sheepish smile, her long green hair falling over her face as she rubbed the back of her head in a show of embarrassment over having been caught daydreaming – again.

“Sorry mom, ribbit.”

Beru Asui let out a sigh as she rested her hands on her hips and arched a brow at her daughter. “You’ve been thinking about that again, haven’t you?”

Her mother didn’t need to so much as wait on an answer. Ever since Tsuyu had seen the first explorer since she started working in her parents’ tavern, The Lucky Hop, she had been fantasising about going out one day and joining their ranks.

Usually she could catch an interesting story from one or two of them. Her parents complained that she annoyed the customers with her constant questioning, but most of the adventurers didn’t seem to mind telling of their exploits.

In fact, many welcomed the chance to simply lean back and tell of what had happened to them on their journey to the tavern.

Granted, there were a fair share of would be adventurers that told a tale that was a bit too tall for her liking. Usually she could weed them out pretty quickly the moment a mischievous gleam caught their eyes.

She left those tables for her parents to deal with. They weren’t all that interested in the customers’ tales unless they brought a shiny coin in exchange.

It wasn’t that they didn’t support their eldest in her dreams of becoming an adventurer herself, but while she lived under their roof, they had made her promise not to simply grab her things and run off into the woods like one of the maidens in her story books.

In all honesty, she loved her family and enjoyed her time in the tavern, but there was only so many jugs of ale and loaves of bread that a girl could carry after someone else that lived her dream on a daily basis. She wanted that life for herself, and frankly, she was getting tired of waiting on it.

“Oh Tsu, what are we going to do with you?” her mom asked, a look of defeat on her face, accompanied by the remnants of an ale stain on her skirt from when one of the customers accidentally bumped into her while she was on her way to put down an order.

“I’m going to assume that I’m not going to get my tip from table seven anymore, ribbit?”

Her mother only shook her head as she held up a tray with a loaf of bread and some fresh milk for the stableboy that worked just outside the tavern, near the local inn. “I might reconsider. Now go and take Koji’s food to him. The poor boy must be starving by now.”

“Ribbit,” Tsuyu hummed as she took the tray from her mother and greeted a couple of the regular customers on her way out into the bright afternoon sun.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Tsuyu Asui/Froppy, Beru Asui and Koji Koda/Anima © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 20: Not So Different

Tenya took a deep breath as he stood out on the balcony, observing the night sky on the horizon. He had never been one for staying up past his assigned bedtime but when it came to high-end parties like the one he was currently at, he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Sir Iida?”

Tenya nearly froze at the sound of his name on the princess’s lips. Spinning around so fast that he nearly toppled over the edge of the railing, Tenya’s hand flew to his chest as he bowed at the waist in a clear sign of submission to the young girl – no, woman – in front of him.

Granted she wasn’t any older than he was, but she did possess a higher rank, one that was impossible for him to obtain unless he married into it. And even then he wouldn’t possess the same rank whatsoever.

“Your Highness,” he said with as much respect as he could convey his voice to portray. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any respect for her. Respect for those of higher rank had been drilled into him from a young age, but so had the need to question everything around him.

For a moment the princess looked stunned before a soft smile crossed her lips as she lifted the skirt of her dress ever so slightly so that she could approach him. “Please, call me Momo.”

For a minute he stood completely frozen in place. Who was he to call the princess by her first name? Much less at her request.

He shook his head. “I cannot do that Your Highness. It would be nothing if disrespectful of your rank, my lady.”

The smile faded from her face temporarily before it spread across her lips once more, this time not seeming as intimate as it had been a second ago. “O-Oh, I see. Thank you for your consideration.”

“It is nothing if not my pleasure, Your Highness!”

She took a step back, reminding Tenya that others didn’t respond as well to his direct behaviour like his family did. He quickly lowered his bow as instinct took over.

“My apologies for frightening you, Your Highness!”

“N-No, it’s perfectly alright,” she said with that nervous smile on her face as she stood beside him. “You’re quite a direct person, aren’t you Sir Iida?”

He took that as his cue, standing up to his full height. He towered over her by only a couple of millimetres, not much but enough that she had to tilt her eyes up ever so slightly to look him in the eye. He was by no means a short boy, but even at his age he towered over male children his age, so to find a female taller than most boys he met before, he was sufficiently surprised to say the least.

“Please, call me Tenya, Princess,. My brother is Sir Iida.”

She tilted her head ever so slightly. “I thought you aspired to be a knight as well.”

The statement caught him by surprise, but he quickly regained his composure as a smile of his own crossed his lips. “I do, but I still have a long way to go.”

This time her smile brightened ever so slightly into an actual smile as she turned her gaze to where he had been staring at earlier. “Then I suppose we both have a long way to go, Sir Iida.”

Tenya parted his lips to remind her of his name, but before he could stop himself, he smiled in return, his gaze refocusing on the same scenery as well.

“It seems like it, Princess.”

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Tenya Iida/Ingenium, Momo Yaoyorozu/Creati and Tensei Iida/Ingenium © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 19: Introductions

Staring at the princess, Tenya patiently, obediently waited his turn as the princess’s parents to introduce her to him, and his brother to do the same. The moment they stopped in front of him, Tenya found his spine straightening to the point that he nearly felt it snap.

A soft sound caught his attention as the princess gave him a soft, playful smile. Against his better judgement, he found himself returning her smile. It was only after his brother lightly bumped his arm that he remembered how someone other than another royal looking a royal in the eye could be seen as disrespectful. He nearly launched himself forward with his bow.

“Your Highness! I am Tenya Iida, the second son of the Iida family. It is a pleasure to meet you!”

Looking at the floor, he caught sight of the tip of a red shoe scuttling back in surprise. For a second he feared that he might have scared her. It wasn’t until a light chuckle brought his attention back up to the king and queen that stood on either side of their daughter.

The king looked to Tenya’s brother, giving him an affectionate clap on the shoulder. “A fine younger brother you have there, Sir Tensei.”

Tensei bowed slightly at the waist, enough so that it was a clear show of respect, but not so low as to make himself seem unworthy of their presence. “Thank you, my king.”

With an approving nod, the king stood aside as he placed a gentle hand on his daughter’s back, urging her forward. “Momo, introduce yourself.”

The tall girl in front of Tenya slid her perfectly manicured hands over her dress, lightly pinched the fabric and lifted it ever so slightly off the floor as she went down into a curtsey. “I am Princess Momo Yaoyorozu. It is pleasant to meet you as well, Sir Iida.”

A jolt of happiness shot through Tenya so fast that he could barely keep the grin off his face. Even with his family’s last name, he was too young to apply for a full knighthood, so of course he lacked the title she had called him by, but it made him feel happy nonetheless.

Her father chuckled good naturedly. “Sir Iida, hm? What do you say Tensei? Do we have another Iida knight in our presence?”

Tenya’s eyes widened as he looked to his brother to gauge his reaction. Usually one knight in a family was already a prestige, but whenever another knight came from the same parents in that family, it was seen as an insult for there to be more than one. For a heartbeat he feared his brother’s scorn, even mockery. Instead his brother flashed him a gentle smile.

“I believe so, my king.”

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Tenya Iida/Ingenium, Momo Yaoyorozu/Creati and Tensei Iida/Ingenium © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 15: Start

“That’s it for today you two. Don’t forget to practice at home too,” Thirteen’s last words had been to her two students as she watched them head down the path, back to their homes. With a smile on her face, she turned and gathered up her books.

With a wave of her hand, she teleported herself back home. The moment she did, a familiar feeling crossed over her. A feeling that only ever appeared when he did. Waiting until she was inside, Thirteen pulled the black veil away from her face, revealing the smile beneath it.

“You know, for someone as sneaky as you, you’re not very good with hiding your presence.”

Shuffling behind her confirmed that there was indeed someone else inside her home. Normally if something like that had happened while she was out, she would have already been weaving signs all over the place and blasted them out a new makeshift exit. Except this intruder she knew. She trusted.

As predicted, Shota Aizawa stepped out from behind the shadows. Dressed in black on black, the black-haired elf looked her over with a droll stare, those black eyes of his seeming almost as lifeless as the way he slouched forward ever so slightly like he was carrying the weight of the whole realm on his shoulders.

“That’s only because you have a tracking spell on me,” he said in that deep voice of his, an arm rubbing at the back of his neck as if trying to rid himself from some sort of stiff feeling. Of course he knew that she would never place a tracking spell on him without his consent, but that didn’t stop him from attempting what he deemed to be a joke.

“Now how else would I be able to keep an eye on you?” she went along with his tease as she began putting her books back in their shelves. Shota crossed the room in one long stride of his legs and helped her with the shelves that she just couldn’t quite reach. She flashed him an appreciative smile. “Shall I make us some tea?”

Shota nodded his answer. With a wave of her wrist, Thirteen listened to the kettle warm up on the opposite end of the wall. With that done, she picked up a jar from the middle of her dining room table and held it out to him.

“Cookie?” This time he only held a hand up in decline. She shrugged and took one out for herself, daintily biting into it as she motioned to the nearby couch for him to sit. He did so, stretching his long legs out to their full length. It wasn’t long until his head tilted back and his eyes shut. “Long day?”

“You could say that,” Shota confirmed, tilting his head back a bit further, “the fire king has been causing trouble again.”

Enji Todoroki, the hellfire king, or Endeavor as he was more commonly known. She didn’t know him personally, but she had heard enough about him to know who and what he was, mostly anyway. She didn’t know much about the man, but there was always something about when people talked about him that left her with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“What is he up to this time?” she asked, half expecting Shota to simply say that the king was simply working on his last nerve. What he said next, she couldn’t have prepared herself to hear.

“He’s after the dragons.”

The kettle screamed.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Thirteen, Shota Aizawa/Eraserhead and Enji Todoroki/Endeavor © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 14: Training

“That’s it Hanta. Aim before you swing!” Hanta and Ochaco’s teacher instructed as she watched Hanta use the sticky substance that flowed from his elbows stick to the nearby trees to help him move around the area.

Thirteen was a fully qualified mage with years of experience in the field under her belt. Her own specialised magic consisted of using her own body to pull objects towards her and causing them to disappear. She was a small woman, but one no one dared to get on the wrong side of.

Just because she was nice, didn’t mean that she was going to let anyone walk over her. Not only had her magic assured that, but her involvement in helping to keep the peace between kingdoms. Their own kingdom owed quite a lot to the mage, but she never claimed recognition. All she asked was for time to spend training her students, namely Hanta and Ochaco.

With a smile behind the veil she usually kept over her face to keep her identity a secret, even from her own students, Ms. Thirteen went by her alias number, never so much as telling anyone her actual name. Both Hanta and Ochaco had tried various methods to find out what it was, but around every corner, their teacher avoided the subject.

In fact, she encouraged the two of them to use pseudo names as well. She claimed that it was for their own protection in the future should they choose to serve their own or another kingdom. Neither student took serving the kingdom as a serious goal, but they had, as usual, taken their teacher’s words to heart.

Hanta had chosen Cellophane, whilst Ochaco went by Uravity, each basing their protective identities on the magic they were most qualified in. Thirteen had recommended the method for making it easier for those who required their services to know what they were more or less capable of without revealing too much. They assumed she spoke from experience given the fact that she had chosen a number as her own protective name.

Listening carefully to her instructions, Hanta had learned to practically swing from one branch to another like one of the spiders he sometimes saw when he swung past certain trees in the area. At first he had nearly been frightened half to death each time he encountered one that seemed to appear out of nowhere, but by now he had learned to recognise which trees to avoid.

He wasn’t as worried about the arachnids anymore. He just found it safer – for all of them.

“Excellent! You’re showing vast improvement Hanta!” Ms. Thirteen called up towards him before she turned to face her other student.

Because of her specialty in causing herself and the objects around her to float with barely any restrictions, Ochaco often opted for a pair of pants instead of the traditional skirts female mages wore. Even though it was frowned upon, Thirteen was often seen in a pair of pants more than a skirt, claiming that it was far more comfortable and far less restrictive in terms of fast movement.

When Ochaco first began experimenting with gravity magic, Hanta had to often help her by trying to catch her with the tape from his elbows. It had been good practice for the both of them, and now they were nearly completely independent of each other in terms of requiring assistance from the other mage-in-training.

She still remembered the time Hanta had gotten himself stuck between three narrow trees and had to rely on Ochaco to float up and help to cut him loose. Unlike most, Hanta had taken his mistake in stride and helped Ochaco in turn when she nearly floated away from their training area once.

Currently Ochaco was upside down, trying to keep herself from feeling dizzy whilst staying in one place. It was a tricky training trick on its own, but Ochaco had insisted that she wanted to try it. Just like her male counterpart, she was an adaptive person. Her students brought her nothing but pride, and for that she was grateful.

Naturally she had other students that she trained on a daily basis, but every morning since their first requests to train them, the two of them had been the fastest to improve, and the ones to take her training to heart.

Unlike most of her students, they didn’t compete for her approval either. Instead, when they felt they needed it, they were quick to help each other. If they kept up their progress, she had no doubt that they could make it big in the mage world when the time came. The only question she had was whether they would want to do so in the first place.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Hanta Sero/Cellophane, Ochaco Uraraka/Uravity and Thirteen © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 08: Small Allegiances

“Hi Kacchan!” Izuku greeted the moment he stood beside his mother, nearly grinning from ear to ear at the sight of a blonde boy his own height standing beside a woman who was clearly his mother, or at least older sister. The two seemed nearly identical, save for the height difference.

“Kacchan?” Inko repeated, trying to remember why that nickname sounded familiar before her eyes widened in recognition. Kacchan was the prince Izuku said he befriended. That meant the woman beside him was- “Your highness! I mean Your Majesty! W-Welcome to our home,” Inko found herself saying, bowing at the waist as lowly as she could in a show of respect.

Who would have thought that Izuku’s princely friend and his mother would show up at their doorstep? As that realisation hit, Inko felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. The house was still a mess. She hadn’t had a chance to clean today. Why of all days did they have to decide to visit?

“P-Please, come in. Excuse the mess. If I knew you were-”

A hand raised itself into view, silencing her on the spot. Inko looked up at the smiling face before her hesitantly.

“Please, calm yourself. We’re the ones that should be apologising for showing up on such short notice,” the woman said, her other hand resting on the top of her son’s head as he tried swatting it away like it was some pesky fly. “Katsuki, be nice and greet our hosts.”

“H-Hi, Deku,” Katsuki greeted back after a jab to the back of his head by his mother’s hand. It seemed the young princeling wasn’t quite fond of greeting others. From the look on his face, it was clear that the impromptu visit hadn’t been his idea.

“I-Izuku, greet the Queen,” Inko found herself telling her son, her hips wavering over the prospect of letting herself stand upright in the face of the other woman. Izuku followed his mother’s example with the bow.

“Hello, Your Majesty,” Izuku greeted politely, far calmer than his mother.

The Queen smiled at the green haired boy. With her hands on her knees, she even hunched down to be closer to his level. “You must be Izuku. It’s nice to meet you.”

Izuku stood up proudly as if the Queen had just given him the biggest compliment he could ever receive. Well, all things considered, she knew she couldn’t blame him. Who wouldn’t be happy over a Queen saying that it was nice to meet them?

“Please, come in,” Inko managed to say properly this time as she stood to the side with her arm outstretched to the inside of the small house.

“Thank you,” the other woman said as she took a step inside, her eyes scanning the inside as if amused with how little it held. Inko felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment. Neither she or her son ever had much to their names to begin with, but it was still their home. She only hoped the Queen didn’t judge them too harshly. The words she said next nearly swooped Inko’s feet out from under her. “This is a lovely home you have.”

A hint of pride filled her chest at those words. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Izuku must have gotten some thrill over having his princely friend in their home that his patience must have run out as he looked to his mother. “Mom, can I show Kacchan my room?”

Inko’s face flushed at the thought of how messy her son’s room still was. She had been planning on tidying it up after dinner, but now… “Uhm, I-”

“Let’s go. I want to see more of those books you’re always bragging about,” the prince invited himself. Izuku’s face brightened and with a firm nod, he led the way, leaving the two women on their own.

Inko found herself shifting on her feet, unsure of what to say next. What did one say to a Queen in the first place? Did she keep bowing and hoping that she didn’t say something idiotic? Oh, how she wished she’d at least had a couple of hours to prepare for something.

“Uhm, would you like something to drink, Your Majesty?”

“Please, call me Mitsuki,” the Queen – Mitsuki – smiled, turning to face Inko in all her regal glory. “Only those who get on my bad side call me by my title. And as a matter of fact,” Mitsuki smiled, holding up a white clay bottle that hung by her hip, “I brought a little welcome gift. Do you drink?”

Inko eyed the bottle.

“Uhm.”

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya, Mitsuki Bakugo and Inko Midoriya © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane

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Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Primal Roar: Chapter 07: Bright Prospects

Warning: mention of bullying

“A-And then, he swung it like this! And it hit the apple right off the branch!”

Inko Midoriya patiently listened to her only son excitedly chattering about his newfound friend he recently met in the nearby woods. When she first decided to move out deeper into the forest, Ink had been worried about Izuku having trouble making friends. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case.

The first day Izuku had been a little reluctant, so she took him by the hand and they walked alongside the wood’s edge, pointing out anything they could find. The things Izuku knew about, like certain types of flowers or animals, he eagerly gave her the facts on what they were and what they could be used for. Most of them were of common knowledge, but she let him enjoy the moment, praising him along the way.

Where they originally came from, people all had some or other special power that some had decided to call quirks instead of magic. Magic, the mages claimed, was something completely different. Something about how magic wasn’t as restricted as only being restrained to one type like quirks were.

The way the village healer had explained it was that someone who possessed magical properties could manipulate different things to their bidding. For instance, they could raise a boulder from the ground with their mind yet grow fresh flowers where the boulder had been a second ago. A quirk was something that would only allow one of those to happen.

When Izuku listened to the explanation, he was all too excited to begin his training, with a quirk or magic, whichever he was blessed with. When his quirk didn’t manifest at the end of his fourth year, she took him to the same healer, to try and see if something was perhaps interfering with the process. The healer told them that Izuku possessed neither. The boy had been nothing less than devastated.

As a single mother, Inko had always tried her best to try and encourage her son, prompting him to discover his quirk to see what he was capable of. That night when she went to check in on him, the boy had been curled up beneath his blanket, not making a sound. A wet spot near the top of the blanket told her all she needed to know. He had been crying. Before she knew what she was doing, she sat beside him and just held him for the rest of the night, apologising left and right for instilling false hope within him.

The first few days of the beginning of the year had been quiet, with the mother and son pair celebrating how they always had until one of the children of the village found out about Izuku being quirkless. If it had only been the one child, she might have been able to convince their parents to encourage their child not to tease Izuku about it, but before she knew it, Izuku came home each day in tears, telling of how the other children in the village mocked him for not having something they all possessed.

It had been the last straw. On a whim, Inko began packing their things one day and by the time Izuku came home, she took his hand and left the village behind. Leaving came with its own challenges, mostly because she didn’t know what they would do so far from the village, but luckily for them, the two of them had taken up gardening, something she planned for them to make a living off just like they had done back in the village. Everything else they had figured out along the way once they moved into the small cottage home an old friend of hers found shortly before the move..

The day Izuku came up to her and said he had met someone along his journey into the forest, her first instinct was to think of somewhere else they could go next, but for the first time in nearly a year, Izuku was smiling. No, not smiling. Grinning.

Her concern faded as she sat him down and listened to Izuku go on about a boy – a Prince – named Katsuki Bakugo. Ever since moving to their new home, Inko hadn’t gone into the forest nearly as far as Izuku did, but from what she understood, a bridge had only been recently built to allow visitors from the other side of the river to cross over and mingle with those further away from their lands.

Of course this brought up other concerns, but from the sound of it, this prince hadn’t brought up any mention of a quirk or anything like it. Perhaps their village didn’t possess something like it. Perhaps if Izuku met more children from the prince’s village, there would be less people judging him for something he couldn’t control.

There was a chance that they might judge her for her quirk, perhaps even call her a witch, but if it meant that Izuku had finally found a place to be happy, then she would endure it, for his sake. Luckily her quirk was easily hidden. Because of the reality of Izuku being quirkless, she had refused to use it whenever he was nearby so that he didn’t have to witness someone doing something he knew he wasn’t able to.

“Oooh, that sounds amazing!” Inko cooed at her son’s smiling face. Despite her warnings, he had stayed in the sun a little too long that his cheeks had become a soft pink from the sun burning his skin. She had him wash his face as a precaution. From what she could see, at worse his skin would keep its pink hue for a couple of days until it peeled to a new layer.

“It was! Oh, and we read about more knights! There’s this one-”

“Hm, let me guess. It wouldn’t happen to be Sir All Might, would it?” she smiled, watching her son’s cheeks darken with an embarrassed blush. Ever since she got that book of knights for him, he had practically memorised who they were and what they were capable of. That had been before they found out about Izuku. If she had known about it earlier, she never would have bought the book in the first place.

When they moved, she purposefully left the book behind. It wasn’t until they were halfway out the village when Izuku asked if she had packed it. When she said no, he had turned and ran back to their old house just to get it back. When she tried convincing him to leave it, he only held it tighter as if it were some kind of lifeline. She didn’t stop him from carrying it the rest of the way, accepting that the book was perhaps a means of getting closure over the whole ordeal.

The nod Izuku gave was all she needed to know. He and his new friend had a common interest. At least now she knew that her son wouldn’t have to grow up isolated from the rest of the world like she originally feared he would be. From the sound of it, this young prince was only too glad to have a friend as well, especially one that could teach him to read, something that was a rare skill even in their old village.

Smiling to herself, Inko gently patted her son’s mop of green hair, trying to smooth it out against his head. He only giggled at her touch. She kissed his warm forehead gently, glad to see him looking so happy again, just like he had been at the beginning of the year before.

She was about to get up to wash their dinner bowls when there was a soft knock against the old wooden door. The two of them stilled, looking to each other as if one of them knew the reason for it.

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia, Inko Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo and Yagi Toshinori/All Might © Kōhei Horikoshi Primal Roar © Fang Wolfsbane