Chương 9: Rush
A nervous breathe escaped Midoriya. It sounded more like a shiver as he watched Todoroki lay unmoving on a bed of ice. Did he lose? At first, Midoriya hadn't been sure what to expect, but as the match went on, Todoroki had made it clear enough that he was plenty strong enough to contend with Hatake. He was able to keep him at a distance, force him to move according to their plan and pin him several times.
Honestly, he'd been the only one of the entire class of twenty to do so. It was an impressive feat. Still, a part of Midoriya knew it wouldn't be enough. It had been why he was so focused on the match, besides from Todoroki's mindset.
"He lost?" Uraraka muttered in between a breath. Seemingly, she too was also in disbelief.
The words from her seemed to wake the rest of the class up as they all began to voice their opinions. Most that weren't as perceptive had thought that Todoroki was a pretty good counter to Kakashi's style of fighting. It wasn't wrong fully, Kakashi did mostly fight with hand to hand from what they seemed and only used his quirk to enhance that. But they didn't look underneath all that. And no one was probably more suited to looking underneath than Midoriya.
He might be a nervous wreck most of the time, but when it came down to it, he was much more observant than most. He'd come up with about 10 theories on how Kakashi liked to fight, and seeing this fight now, he felt like one was more likely than the others.
Kakashi had been holding back the entire time.
He was subtle about it. It took him nearly 19 fights to figure it out, but it was very apparent that he was holding back. No one had been able to push him like Todoroki had. No one had been able to force him to make mistakes, like literally stopping himself from reacting to something in a certain way and suddenly change out of nowhere for no reason. It had happened twice, more than enough times for him to not write it off as coincidence.
Then that begged the question of why he was doing it? Why would he hold himself back like that? It didn't make any sense to him. Was Todoroki right?
"I can't believe it... wasn't he winning?" Mina asked.
"He was..." Tokoyami had cut himself off, shooting silence. He wasn't sure but something about the fight wasn't right.
The lightning that had been constantly surging around Kakashi had faltered with a deafening zap. The reason for it become clear to him immediately as he nearly collapsed, catching himself on his hands and knees. He'd run out of chakra.
He wasn't surprised. It was bound to happen fighting twenty opponents at once while holding himself back. He was going to run into one of them who was going to challenge him. Still, using this much wasn't good at all. He had one opponent left to fight which was the top of the class. If he was already huffing and puffing now he'd hate to see what would become of him during that fight. Though he could just quit, now that he thought about it. Second place was as good as it would get and he supposed having the attention of first place would bring too much of it. Though with all his actions during the fight he knew that regardless of his place, he'd still be on watch from the school. He wasn't too thrilled about it but honestly, he maybe could've gotten away with losing early matches. He wasn't sure.
Wobbling, he finally fell on the ground fully, barely catching himself with his elbow. He felt dizzy again. He had to stop using all of his chakra like this.
His ringing ears picked up the sound of talking but much of it felt far away and it felt as if he were listening through a tube. He looked up, ignoring his doubling vision while blinking rapidly to get rid of it quickly.
When his vision cleared, he couldn't believe his eyes. A couple of meters away from him was Todoroki. But he was no longer laying down unconscious. He was sitting up, staring into his eyes with wide eyes, looking as if he were scared or startled. But that wasn't all, surprisingly, his chakra was inside of Todoroki silently sparking around him in small doses. Nothing major but it was the fact that some his chakra was inside of Todoroki. But he was confused about how that could be. No here was born with chakra or even had a chakra network. How could it be possible for someone who never had chakra to hold it?
"You lost your father. He killed himself."
Kakashi froze like a statue, his one eye widening in shock. He hoped he heard wrong. Todoroki didn't just say that, did he? His hopes were dashed as the ice and fire user continued, despite Kakashi's visible reaction.
"He was a genius, a well respected member of your village, right? The strongest man besides the village leader."
"How the hell do you know that?!" Kakashi snapped, shooting to his feet despite the pain. His sharp grimace had so much killing intent that it felt as if time had stopped in the room and no one could move besides Kakashi and Todoroki.
"Why do you distance yourself from your father? He sacrificed himself for you." He continued despite the killing intent growing by the second.
"You don't know what you're talking about." A step forward, and his killing intent rose again. "Shut up."
"He sacrificed his life to bring honor back to your family."
"He left me is what he did!" Kakashi yelled, foregoing a slow approach and rapidly approached the older boy before lifting him by his shirt and bringing him close. "He killed himself like a coward and left me alone to deal with it by myself."
Todoroki's face remained unchanged as he gripped both of Kakashi's wrist. "He saved from all those people talking about you and your family! He wanted you free of the burden he brought onto your family! You should be celebrating him, not distancing yourself!"
"Worry about your own damn parents!"
Todoroki had seemed to have enough, lifting himself up by using Kakashi's arms and slamming his head into Kakashi's nose. Kakashi stumbled until he fell onto the ground, clutching his nose tightly as red liquid began running off between his fingers and onto the ground. He didn't believe he'd actually been blindsided like that but more was in store for him as Todoroki landed on him and putting his forearm across his throat, cutting off some of his air.
"Be grateful that your father thought about how his reputation was effecting you and tried to help! Most don't have that luxury!" Kakashi had to force his bloody hands away from his nose to try and force Todoroki's arm off him.
"Get... off... me!" He struggled to get out. Chakra seeped into his arms and he was suddenly able to turn the tables, turning them completely over and slamming Todoroki onto his back. His right fist flew out to finish him off but Todoroki inclined his head and his fist broke the cement under them a small bit. Todoroki's eyes widened before Kakashi was sent high into the air by a mountain of ice that froze the front of his body safe for his head and neck.
Todoroki huffed, breaking from his ice and and kneeling on the ground briefly to catch his breath. He had never been this angry at anyone other than his father. Kakashi didn't realize just how good he had it when it came to fathers. His father gave his life to protect Kakashi's future while his own forced his life ambition on his youngest son. His father loved him enough to value him over his own life, he should be grateful!
"Don't you get it, you damn idiot? Your father loved you enough to consider your future, and yet you..."
He had been forced to stop as artificial wind shot out in ever direction, forcing him to cover himself so that he wouldn't get hit in the face with all the flying debris being kicked around as well as the huge blocks of ice.
I thought he was too hurt to break out of that, dammit!
His thoughts drowned out the noise of his ice breaking apart and only came back when a patter of footsteps were getting closer to him. While he wished he knew where it was coming from, his senses hadn't fully come back and smoke surrounded him, but Kakashi made himself known quickly, leaping out from the smoke and tackling him to the ground. He raised his fist high and this time, slammed it square in his face, breaking his nose. He let out a loud pained grunt and covered his face in time for a second punch to slam into his arm.
He heard a angry grunt and Kakashi tried to use his left hand to remove his arm away, leaving himself open, and Todoroki too full advantage of. He slammed the back of his fist onto the side of a red soaked mask and Kakashi fell over off him. He caught himself with his hands though and tried to get to his feet but Todoroki had made it first and fire erupted from his left side, causing him to pause and stare.
They both were breathing harshly, at different times.
"This power you see right now is a result of my father." He gritted out with angry eyes. "With both of my powers, he wanted me to surpass All Might, but this isn't my ambition. It was his."
Todoroki looked absolutely disgusted.
"He didn't care for how I felt about it or what I wanted to do, unlike your father. All he cared about was himself. He's too damned self indulgent to ever consider anyone else's pain or anything but his own. He would never sacrifice himself like your father did."
Kakashi wanted to laugh he was so angry.
"You think that I wanted my father to kill himself. I was a child. He was my only lifeline and the only one I could come to when I needed help, and yet he didn't have the courage to take harsh words from a bunch of nobodies. He was the strongest in the village with the weakest will to stand against ridicule."
Sakumo had left him on his own. They had stopped talking about him after his father had died, but it wasn't out of respect for his honorable death. It was because of the sympathy they felt for him. All alone with two dead parents and no relatives willing to take care of him. It was nothing but sad. His father had caused the Third World War, and while Obito may have thought his as a hero, Kakashi thought he was nothing more than a coward he couldn't take proper responsibility for his actions. He was the reason all those that had died in the Third War died. Even Obito himself.
He couldn't forgive his father for that.
Todoroki's eyes narrowed into daggers and the fire seemed to burn hotter and cover more of his left side.
"It takes courage to put someone else's life before your own. He's a hero, whether you believe that or not."
"And you have the room to say who's a hero or not? None of you know what a true hero is. You all are fame seeking frauds who's only motivation for saving people is to see that next paycheck. Vigilantes are the real heroes. A real hero saves people despite what others may say about their actions because it's the right thing to do."
A small smirk made its way to Todoroki's lips. "Just like your father."
Kakashi snapped. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he was right. Kakashi didn't know what to believe when it came to his father. On one hand, his own views on his father was that he was a coward who killed himself and left him on his own. But Obito's view, a view he cherished, clashed with that. In his view, his father was a hero. And hearing that from someone again caused him to snap.
Lightning channeled in his right hand, but it was different than every other time. It was dense and heavy, entirely unlike any other time he'd used his Jutsu. His anger caused his chakra to flair, ignoring how low it had been, the Chidori cackled dangerously as he stumbled forward.
"You have no idea who you're messing with. I'll end you!" He warned lowly.
Todoroki only grinned. "Then come on! Let's make this the final clash of our fight!"
A second passed and they were staring at one another. Another second has passed, and then they were both running at one another, each weakened from going full power but both going at it with all they had. Like a bolt of lightning, Kakashi struck the stream of fire that had come at him and the gym floor exploded, the cement tiles jumping off the ground and flying away from the impact. The impact nearly reached the roof and the glass windows shattered.
Aizawa had barely caught the trail of lightning coming at him and just barely dodged being seriously injured as he leaped away.
The rest of Class 1-A was forced to get away as quickly as they could to avoid getting hit by almost endless debris and shards of glass flying through the air with incredible speed.
Dust and smoke was everywhere and as soon as it would lift, the winner of the bout would be shown to all.
XxX
A bloody excuse for a body dropped on the ground of a alley filled with shadows of surrounding buildings. Kakkō flicked his wrist, and the blood that had been on the end of his blade splattered onto the wall. He grinned, letting his blade back into their holders beneath his bandages.
"Oh, how I love killing the weak." He sang with glee and begun walking away from the body with the head of it in the palm of his hand.
He would get paid quite hefty for a score like this. Still, this was nothing more than a pit stop for his main goal. He needed to find the Shie Hassaikai and infiltrate their ranks. He hoped they actually existed though as he had yet to find any trace on them or even anyone who had heard of them. But he knew that he had only been able to get information from small fry and simple petty criminals. He was good at information gathering and he knew that killing anyone too influential in the underworld would make finding his target that much harder. He was still knew to this world; he had yet to figure everything about it.
He hoped it would change soon.
"So, it is you, Blade."
Kakkō immediately stretched his sensed from beyond him and then looked up immediately. He saw a man dressed in combat gear with white bandages on his forearms and around his face, covering his nose but holes for his eyes to see out of. And surrounding part of his long chin was a red scarf, wafting in the wind.
Kakkō was slightly impressed. Not only had he managed to sneak up on me but I can tell that sneaking isn't all he can do.
"You haven't tried to attack me when you had the chance. I'll assume that you don't want to kill me."
"I have bigger ambitions, for now." Even though he had said that, he leaped off the building and down onto the dark alleyway. "Still, I wanted to meet you. The man who's been making a name for himself as quickly as I have."
Kakkō smirked. "Heh, well, here I am. I hope that I wasn't looked for just to be viewed at. You have something you want to say, do you not?"
"Yes, I have one thing." The air has grew cold quickly, as if the weather had changed to winter in a split second. While others may have been bothered by the killing intent, Kakkō was barely even feeling it, though he was still impressed.
These fools with no chakra could actually release a pretty good amount of intent. He wondered just how much the man before him could use. Could he paralyze a foe with fear?
"What is your viewpoint on the world we are living in? What is your stance on this hero crazed society?"
XxX
How utterly joyous to watch.
Lounging back in his desk, Nezu stared at his computer screen with satisfaction and great interest. Kakashi had showed himself to be more than interesting. Not only him, but even Todoroki had his interest heightened. He wondered what caused Todoroki to know of his past like that. He didn't have a lot of time to review what could of caused it but he supposed he would have plenty of time for that for the rest of the day.
It was like Sir Nighteye's quirk in a way, but he was accessing Kakashi's past rather than the future. He mused, thinking that young Todoroki could've manifested a new quirk. An unlikely scenario but one fun to think about nevertheless.
Looking at the smoke clouding the camera, he decided that it would be finally time to go and send some of the other teachers there to end things. Class was going to end anyway and he needed to be sure that none of the them had hurt each other too badly. Aizawa, for his own reason, had yet to stop the matches when they were obviously getting out of hand. He wondered why, but Aizawa was likely to speak his mind about it later. Besides, his attention was now almost squarely on Kakashi.
A dead father by suicide who is scorned vs a father that is scorned because of the burden put on his children. Two past and one winner.
His eyes widened when he spot one of them standing and a smile crossed his face. Truly, the battle of children marked by their fathers was over, with the winner standing victories.
XxX
Cement crumbled to the ground and gray smoke covered it, hiding away all it entailed. The gym could barely be called that now as it looked like a building that had been in the middle of a war zone. A certain hero turned teacher would not like what he saw. Aizawa certainly didn't. He kept letting things get this far. The conversation had distracted him. But, even know, it was the only thing on his mind. How could Todoroki have known his past like that? And how did society let something like that happen to a child?
But, when he thought about, most of that didn't make since. That would mean Kakashi's father had to be some type of hero popular enough to receive scorn enough to want to kill oneself. Aizawa was no expert on feelings, but even he knew that despite who it was, little talk about drama wouldn't be enough to drive someone to suicide. It had to be more than that. And if he were a hero, with Kakashi's age in mind, he should've been around the time when Aizawa was either in UA himself or afterwards and he never heard of an event like this taking place.
Honestly, he was more confused than anything, but if he ignored context, it explained Kakashi's behavior to a certain extent. Why he acted the way he did. Why he was so skilled, to a degree. Some questions still needed answers.
The smoke began to clear, and in the middle of lie two individuals. Kakashi was standing, but so was Todoroki. Kakashi's hand was in the shape of a knife as if he would be cutting through Todoroki but he didn't have the strength to go through his heart, which he had been aiming for and it simply rested on it. But it was burned badly, his hand charred almost completely black with Todoroki's hand grabbing onto it as tightly as possible. But Todoroki himself wasn't without his own damage as he had lost his entire shirt and was slightly singed where Kakashi had struck him.
But they were both still standing somehow.
Aizawa felt himself take a step before he registered it. Before he knew it he was running. He slid to a halt and saw all the damage the two had done to one another. But one thing caught his attention, it was the fact that Kakashi looked like he was unconscious. His shown eye was blank and pupil-less. Not even grabbing his shoulder had given a response for him.
D-did he get knocked out and still stood? How?
"A Shinobi." He heard Todoroki mutter and he turned to his student. "He's—how is he a Shinobi?"
A Shinobi? Those haven't been around since the beginning of quirks except for the No. 4 Hero. But even then, they weren't seen much outside of media. He... couldn't have been right?
But it made too much sense. The sense of loss, his proficiency in blades, his top notch hand to hand, his experience in combat, his ability to keep his emotions in check and discreetly gather information, and how he was able to escape him. It all made sense if he were a Shinobi. But who would put a child through all this trauma this early in his life? Well, a lot of people would. He'd worked in the underground for a majority of his Hero career. He'd seen a lot down there. No matter the age, race, or quirk it was always the same. Everyone had a story, and this was Kakashi's.
I think I finally understand.
It seemed Kakashi's body had finally given out. His hand slipped down and he fell forward, about to crash into Todoroki who looked to be in a trance. Aizawa had decided to step in, catching the boy within his arms and laying him down slowly.
He heard a lot of wheezing and looked up to see Todoroki clutching at his heart, breathing heavily as if he were panting.
"His heart," his grip tightened. "I can feel it's pain. It's like a snake wrapping around my neck. I... can't breath."
He gripped Todoroki's shoulder, worry filling him. "Just try your best. Help is on the way, but I need to take a seat. Can you do that for me?"
Todoroki couldn't use words to answer. His rapid breathing had increased beyond control of him and he saw the face of his teacher begin to blur before his eyes. His head was spinning and at once, with a gasping last breath, his vision went dark as several patters of footsteps got closer to him.
XxX
Ryukyu hadn't expected to be called on her day off. She supposed she should've. Kakashi wasn't in his right mind at the moment, and it was his first day at school. She hoped he didn't break someone's bones or kill anyone. It had been the only thing going through her mind as she speed down a long back road to avoid traffic of the main streets. They hadn't given her anything to go on when they called her, so she had no idea what she was getting herself into.
She could only hope.
Ten minutes later, she was jogging up to the main school building and saw a familiar teacher standing guard beside the gate. If she remembered from the staff list she'd been given, this was Ectoplasm, the hero who could create clones of himself. She shortly wondered if this was him for real or not.
He seemed to take notice of her and recognized her as he immediately let her in through the golden gates. "Where is he and what's going on?" She asked as soon as the large gate closed behind her.
He pointed to the main school building. "He's been transferred to the Infirmary. There should be signs that lead there."
She nodded and muttered a thanks before racing off to the infirmary, following the signs as instructed. It didn't take her long to reach to the room as she went up some stairs that would lead her there. But when she heard voices in the hallway, she stopped and listened to them.
"I couldn't stop the fight, Mic. It was something about it—it needed to be finished."
"Don't you know the consequences of this?"
"I'm well aware, and I'm prepared to face them. If need be."
"You can't be serious about this, Eraser. Think this over one more time. I don't recommend it, but you can lie and say you were blown away and couldn't reach Hatake in time. He escaped you before, right? It wouldn't be that far fetched."
"You act like I'm fired for sure. It's undecided."
"But Hatake was nearly dead, Aizawa. Dead. And his situation remains unclear at the moment. It's very likely that he will die."
"And it's likely that he won't. The kid's stronger than you think. He's stronger than he should be at his age."
They continued to go back and forth, and Ryukyu had finally had enough of hearing it. She stepped out of the corner with large steps, surprising the two heroes. Her face was hot, probably red, something that happened when her anger reached a boiling point. Instead of lashing out at the two, maybe like she should've, she was more worried about Kakashi and glared at the both of them.
"Where is my son?"
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