Chapter Text
Sure, running off like a skittish cow was a bit cowardly. But who could blame her? She just fucked up her first impression with her classmates and cousins. Who wouldn’t bolt after embarrassing themselves like that?
Despite her hasty exit, her classmates trickled into the locker room after her while she was still trying to get her locker open.
“You’re doing it backward.”
Kuro didn’t jump but she did flinch when Yama suddenly spoke up beside her.
“What?” Kuro mumbled, looking up slightly.
“Your lock. You’re supposed to turn it left first. See?” She quickly twisted her own locker open.
“Oh, right. But you know you shouldn’t show people your combination.”
“I know but it’s not like you caught the numbers.”
“Fifteen, nine, nineteen.”
“Or you did. Am I going to need to be worried about my valuables?”
It was a harmless jab but one that went straight through Kuro’s heart.
“I dunno. Do you trust someone with a criminal history?” She bit back too quickly to think about what she was saying.
Yama stared at her for a long moment, drinking in the information but before an awkward conversation could ensue, Kuro ducked her head back to her locker and started to shove her blazer into it.
“How does Aizawa know you anyway? He kinda put you on the same level as me and Otono but I’ve never heard of you before.”
Kuro was glad her face was hidden by the locker door because she was grimacing at the moment. “I’m his niece as well. His sister’s kid. They hadn’t talked since they were kids so he didn’t even know I existed until he got the report that I was dead.”
She didn’t even need to look up to know Yama’s eyes were wide as saucers as she took in that fountain of information.
“I probably would have cushioned that a little more. Huh?”
“Yes…” Yama says in lieu of anything else.
When she tried to say something else, she was interrupted by one of the other girls who started questioning her about her quirk and making very baldly hidden hints that everyone was wondering if she was related to Hawks.
Successfully free of attention, Kuro slipped off her tie and was starting on her shirt when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was one of the other girls.
She had a distinctive mutant type quirk that left her with lion-esque legs and a slightly altered facial structure. Her expression was one that reminded Kuro of what she felt when she was exhausted.
“Can I borrow a hair tie? Mine broke.” She said in a heavily accented voice.
“Um,” Kuro paused to ruffle around in her bag before she snatched up a stray tie. “Sure. And you can keep it. I buy too many because I’m always losing mine to my cats.”
She froze when that last comment registered but apparently, the other girl hadn’t heard or made the connection. Instead, she simply nodded and went back to her own locker.
The interaction seemed odd and out of place but it was probably the first interaction with a classmate that had been instigated by them instead of her. So she counted it as a win.
She had barely pulled off her button-up shirt when Yama gasped sharply next to her.
A short glance at where Yama was looking told her that the cause was her scars.
“They did an autopsy before my quirk kicked in. It doesn’t hurt in case you were wondering,” Kuro explained plainly.
Yama quickly looked up to her face before looking away just as fast.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”
Kuro shrugged before slipping on a camisole and then her gym shirt.
“It’s not a big deal. Visual deviations from the norm attract eyes even if you don’t mean to. And these are pretty obvious scars anyway.”
Yama said nothing else and Kuro took that as a cue to go back to her own stuff again.
If this was an indication of the interactions she was going to have to go through with her classmates, this was going to be an awkward school year.
-----
She could feel Aizawa’s eyes on her as the rest of the students trickled out behind her. It was easy to pretend to be interested in Kodai’s funny anecdote over a trip to a museum turned bad.
Not that she was avoiding her uncle or anything.
“Um, Sensei? Are we not going to the opening ceremony?” One of the boys Kuro hadn’t met asked despite obviously being scared of Aizawa and his demeanor.
Kuro tuned out the next minute or so. She had heard this speech over “frivolous ceremonies” at least twice since she came under his care.
Honesty she disagreed. Yes, ceremonies, interviews, parties and the like shouldn’t interfere with actual hero work but unlike Aizawa, most people need to relax a bit after almost dying several times a day. To comfort the public and hero’s own mind.
She snapped out of her daze when one of the girls, almost six foot with violently purple hair, stepped up to the pitcher’s box.
The ball stayed in her hand barely a moment before she stepped into a pitching stance and throwing the ball into the stratosphere.
Kuro blinked and she missed it.
“And that,” Aizawa droned, “Is what you’re up against. Do your best on all eight trials and you might make it to half her score.”
Despite lacking the ability, Kuro felt a drip of sweat run down her face.
-----
Overall, Kuro wasn’t paying attention for most of the other student’s trials. She’s a little busy trying to figure out what the hell she’s supposed to do most of the trials with her unhelpful quirk.
50-meter dash?
The meaning of dead weight rang loudly in her ears as she watched the other students rush past her even as she ran as fast as her body would allow. Eleven-point-whatever seconds was not a great score.
Some girl with pale hair she couldn’t remember the name of spent a moment rapidly running in place before the start was called. She shot off and practically tripped head over heels when she had to stop once she crossed the finish line. (Some sort of Energy quirk?)
Another girl was simply at the start one second and at the finish another. She would be someone to watch carefully. The dark purple cracks along her skin made her seem even more dangerous. (Teleportation quirk? Short distance?)
Grip test?
This was a bit more Junia’s speed. Reinforced muscles, skin, and bones near-doubled her original grip strength. It was kinda nice to see the hand guy gaping at her score before shyly showing her his slightly lower score.
Hand guy still did pretty well. Apparently, he could grow his detached hands large enough and strong enough to grasp someone around their waist and pick them up. But the grip testers were only large enough for average hands, so he had to deal with two fingers.
“You’ll do good on other stuff!” one of the other girls said, sounding much more cheerful than Kuro felt.
Her classmate smiled sadly more mumbling, “thanks” and walking around them.
Long jump?
It was actually kind of funny to watch. (Not so much to try as a short, chubby girl though,)
First Yamada-san managed to get enough force through her wings to sail over most of the allotted space. Even Aieda couldn’t help but cheer with Kuro much to Yama’s embarrassment.
What threw a lot of people off was when the girl that had asked Kuro for a hair tie pulled off her shirt to show off bird-like wings. Much like Yama’s except for their much smaller size.
They weren't super useful at first glance but she used them to slow and angle her decent which gave her a better distance.
And a better score than Kuro’s.
The sidestepping thing?
It wasn’t a secret that Kuro had slowed down with the awakening of her but trying to keep up with some of the more energetic classmates was exhausting.
At least villains don’t typically require sidestepping to defeat them.
It was hilarious when their one American exchange student suddenly ran off to touch the wall across the courtyard.
“I have to touch brick to pull it!” She said to those who were staring. Her Japanese wasn’t perfect but she seemed so cheery no one minded. (And damn she had some serious muscles. Kuro had to whisper a prayer of thanks that she likes girls.)
It took her a moment to get her rhythm once the competition started but she was decent on her feet.
No one else really stood out.
Ball Toss?
By this time some kids looked like they were slowing down.
Not that pitching a ball took a lot of energy.
Some of the strength quirks were interesting to watch but her attention was drawn to the one quiet boy who surrounded the ball with a handful of water and just pointed before the ball went sailing into the unknown.
When no one really made any noise of congratulations, Kuro tried to smile at him and offer a fist bump. She looked surprised but smiled back and returned the gesture.
Halfway through the round of students, one girl stood up to the plate and picked up the ball with a waist length, black braid of hair. Kuro was distracted by the idea of how many foreigners were in her class before the ball was rocketed across the field. Interesting.
Sit-ups?
Boring. But great for her score. She doesn’t get tired.
Toe Touch?
Hilarious when she dropped into a perfect side split just to show off.
Even while dead and slow, she had to keep up with her flexibility. Even if it was just to keep her muscles from (very slowly) entering rigor mortis.
Folding herself in half to touch her toes was easy.
Long distance?
The best trial so far.
Half-way through, most of everyone was slowing down due to exhaustion but Kuro was exhilarated to be running at full speed for a long time.
Raptor actually managed to catch up to her at the last second. She had been lulled into enough of a false sense of security that he brushed past her just in time to reach the finish line.
-----
And then they were done. Exhausted but done.
At this point, there were several students she was really worried about.
Aidea couldn’t use his mind control quirk on a test like this. There was no way he could be helped by harming others chances.
The one kid with dark red hair and a medical mask on had slipped her notice for most of the events but the one she saw, he was probably in the bottom. (He kept slipping off to whisper to Aizawa for some reason though.)
Another kid who just looked constantly pissed had probably the best physical fitness without a quirk but whatever they could do, they weren’t doing it.
Same for another whose arms were bandaged up to the elbow.
One of the shier boys seemed to have a matter-state changing quirk but it didn’t seem that useful.
The last guy was obnoxiously beefy and boastful and though she wasn’t really worried about him, he hadn’t used his quirk yet.
She estimated half would be kicked out before the end of the week.
“Alright, look at your scores. It’s your fault if you’re in the lower half. Don’t complain to me.”
Kuro swallowed heavily and scanned the scoreboard for her name.
9) Deddo Kurohato
She almost passed out from relief. It was good that her strategies worked but she had a long way to go. Ninth place was a passing score at least.
Down at the bottom of the list was Aidea.
Kuro’s stomach dropped, and she winced in sympathy. Her gaze gravitated toward her cousin and she watched him shrink back before Yama curled an arm and wing around him.
Before she could try and offer condolences or get the moxy up to tell Aizawa off for judging against non-physical quirks, Aizawa smiled.
“And I was lying. The test does not stop here.”
Everyone paused to stare at their teacher in a mixture of horror and relief.
“Those who have nonphysical quirks and/or couldn’t show off their quirks in these tests have a new challenge. And just so you know, if you fail this challenge, and it doesn’t matter how many people do, you will be expelled.”
He started calling out names Kuro forgot almost instantly. But on the list were, Yama, Aidea, the mask kid, the shy kid, and the beefy guy…
And her.
“Hey! I did pretty good. Why am I on that list?”
Aizawa shot her a cold ‘shut up’ look before sighing, “You did not show me your full potential. Just by the results, I can not judge you. Either suck it up or be expelled on the spot.”
It took every ounce of self-control not to start swearing like a sailor. Instead, she just nodded curtly and stood back to watch the first kids.
Mask kid and Aidea were up first. They stood across from each other in a crude ring and took stances.
“Go!”
While Aidea was a little startled by the abrupt start, Mask kid immediately went sprinting forward. Aidea spun and managed to roll away from the attack. They danced around each other, mask kid obviously trying to make physical contact while Aidea avoided.
A quick faint to one side and Aidea got enough distance.
He quickly braced himself and inhaled as deeply as possible.
“Stop!”
The ground shook with the pure volume of the command. Not bad enough to damage bystanders but with his quirk activated, it threw mask kid off long enough for him to sway on his feet.
“Turn!”
The second command was not as strong or clear but his opponent turned away anyway.
Aidea looked a bit winded and as he started to inhale for the next command but was cut off as mask kid suddenly turned back. Aieda couldn’t move fast enough or catch his breath before a fist connected with his gut.
Self-defense training kicked in and he rolled backward with the punch. He caught the guy with his foot against his leg before catching his breath for another command.
*Squeak*
Kuro slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from howling with laughter as she saw Aidea’s face when he realized he could no longer speak or use his quirk.
Another minute of quirkless fighting before Aizawa called the fight.
“Alright. Enough. Hina, give Aidea his voice back and anything else you took.”
Hina stood up, carefully leaning on his right leg, and bowed low to Aidea and then to Aizawa.
He offered his hand to Aidea who took it despite the confusion. A shiver rushed through both of them before Aidea hoarsely said, “What the hell?”
Hina just shrugged and limped back over to the other group.
Mark one erasure quirk. Removal quirk? Don’t touch him during a fight at least.
Admittedly, she zoned out for the next fight. Yama and the shy kid were up and neither was all that interesting to her at the moment when she had her own fight coming up.
She tried to carefully side-eye her competition only to see that he was staring her down like the muscly giant he was. He caught her staring and just smiled before slipping around the group to her.
“You’re Deddo, right?” He asked once he was close enough to whisper where she could hear it.
“Yeah, I just do by Kuro though. Pretty sure we’re supposed to be watching silently right now.”
As she mumbled this, a well-placed dive knocked the shy kid on his ass while Yama struggled to right herself with the water weight weighing down her wings.
“I just wanted to talk for a bit. I’m Suzuki Akihiko by the way,” he said like she was supposed to be impressed.
“Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you,” she mumbled and turned away. It was ten seconds into the conversation and she was getting creepy vibes from him.
“So were you like, actually in the warehouse during the Nagoya incident? I heard they staged some of it to make the heroes look bad.”
A dark cloud settled over them as Kuro turned to stare him down with the most deadly look a person could manage.
“I was there. I saw the heroes show up. I got shoved into a back room to watch the hero they were holding hostage. I had a fucking burning ceiling fall on me because I couldn’t undo her restraints in time. I watched her die because I was too slow. Don't try this high and mighty act on me. It stopped working a long time ago.”
Suzuki actually seemed to be pondering this for a moment before saying, “I heard that you made that part up for sympathy.”
“Well, I didn’t burn a large portion of my face and leave scars for funsies!”
“Kuro!”
She looked over to see her uncle/teacher staring her down along with the rest of the class.
“Sorry,” she said slowly, taking a deep breath before shrugging it off. “Can we just get to the match? The less time talking to this meathead the better.”
For a moment, it looked like Aizawa was going to say something but closed his mouth at the last second before opening it again.
“This isn’t time to have petty conversations. You two just lost out on valuable information that could eventually have given you an edge in combat. I’m being nice by not expelling you two on the spot without hesitation.”
Kuro shut off a snappy retort before she could make that threat a reality.
“Yes, sensei. May we get started on the match now?”
He observed her for a long moment, looking for a hint of insincerity, before nodding and gesturing towards the open area.
Kuro ignored Suzuki roughly brushing by her in favor of getting the stupid UA jacket off. The sleeves were too small for a full range of motion without ripping them and damaging the only athletic shirt she owned. So now she was down to her camisole and track pants.
With this ensemble, she wasn’t showing off her autopsy scars but any and all faint burn scars were visible in the bright morning light. Maybe she looked intimidating, maybe she looked like a victim. Either way, she was glad to be able to move comfortably.
They waited only a moment, both shifting into a fighting stance before Aizawa called it.
“Start!”
The chill of adrenaline that shouldn’t have been able to happen washed over her as he flicked his wrists and long metal sword-like protrusions forced their way out of his arms. Of course, he had a similar quirk to that ass who killed her.
Oh dear.
He charged her before she could shake it off and she barely had time to duck under the first swing before she jumped away and raised her arms in an X to stop the next swing coming down over her.
A solid hit jerked her arms down and she ignored the numb pressure of a blade digging into her right arm so she could push back, get a solid punch to the chest in then grab for his wrists.
Something in the last action threw him off enough for her to launch herself forward and throw him backward. A deep buzzing feeling ran through her whole body and she saw his arms start to strain with the force of keeping his blades out.
Secondary quirk for the win.
Enough force from her secondary quirk and she managed to force his blades back into his arms. A quick twist of her own arms and she had him pinned to the ground with one hand forced into a painful position behind his back under her knee and hand. The other arm was pinned away from his body under her other hand.
“Alright, enough!” Aizawa’s voice portrayed no hint of emotion even as his niece easily scored a victory.
Kuro sighed and relaxed as she pulled herself off the ground. After a moment of stretching, she offered a hand to her opponent who was still prone.
He just bared his teeth at her and pushed himself up. Roughly, he shoved by her and stalked back towards the group.
“And again!”
Suzuki froze and turned to look at their teacher. “Wha-“
But Kuro knew this trick. Her mom loved to use it all the time to fool her when she was mad.
Only pure training kept Suzuki on his feet as she tackled him from behind. Her legs pressing his arms against his side and her arm wrapped tightly around his neck.
He made a gasping, choking sound as she cut off his air with as much strength as she could without crushing his windpipe.
She held it only for a moment before letting go and jumping away.
Suzuki dropped to one knee before turning and growling at her. “What the hell was that for? Are you fighting or not?”
A smile, reminisce of the shiver-inducing grins Aizawa did sometimes, crept onto her face. “We’re supposed to be showing off our quirks. I’m not giving you a fighting chance. So, I thought I’d back off.”
Without so much as a response, he charged again, blades still swinging like a mildly uncoordinated ninja.
It became a game of duck and dodge for Kuro with only the occasional strike grazing her arms or glancing off the thicker skin of her palms and knuckles.
Eventually, one wrong step put him in the perfect place to pin her in a chokehold similar to her’s only this time with a blade pressed to her neck.
“Nice move. Where’d you learn it fro-“
Her voice squeaked as he squeezed hard enough to cut off more of her air.
“Kinky,” was all she could gasp out before he completely cut it off.
Now, this wasn’t really a problem. Dead people don’t have to breathe, and Kuro was no different. The thing was he just had to think she did and he had her cornered.
A few more seconds of struggling just to sell the act before she slowed dramatically then fell limp.
It took only a few seconds for him to be convinced (amateur) before he relaxed his grip slightly.
Now, Kuro would be the first to admit she wasn’t great with planning ahead. For most of her life, her plan was "survive and get away". So in a fight, she thought on her feet most of the time.
Which led to impulses.
Which were inspired by bad horror movies and her own sense of humor.
So, she bit him.
The shrill scream of surprise he made and the threat of a blade coming down on her wasn’t enough to make her let go the inhumanly strong grip she had on his arm. (Away from major veins. She wasn’t a monster.)
After a moment, she spotted her chance to get away. A solid backward kick shoved him back far enough that she let go and jumped forward into a roll before coming up on her feet facing him again.
They stared each other down for a moment, ready to spring forward at the drop off a hat but they were cut off by their teacher.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
Kuro relaxed into a standing position and her hand immediately went to her mouth. A decent amount of blood had made it to her lips and chin, enough to up her creep factor but not enough to worry about her opponent.
Speaking of which, she glanced up to meet Suzuki’s livid stare.
When he actually had the gall to grit his teeth at her, a small bubble of anger popped and she bared her teeth right back.
“Do you expect villains to play fair in a fight? A small bite is the least of your worries. Don’t forget you have giant swords in your arms and you tried to take my head off a couple times-”
“I said that’s enough!”
A wave of wrong came over her as her muscles stiffened and her eyes glassed over.
It went away after a moment and she had to take a knee before she straight up fell on her face.
“Shit!” She hissed in the general direction of her teacher. “We weren’t even using quirks. Did you have to do that?”
Her uncle ignored her, more interested in getting his eyedrops in and settling his scarf back in place.
“Oi! Oji-“
She was cut off by a harsh glare from him but it didn’t curb her frustration.
“You two are going to spend a lot of afternoons with me and Hound Dog figuring out what this-this animosity is between you two. And considering you met ten minutes ago and are already getting this violent, we have a lot to talk about.”
It was quiet for a moment as Kuro settled and managed to calm a bit. The other kids seemed almost too scared of the particularly volatile students and their teacher.
When no one argued, Aizawa sighed and pulled out a little notepad, pen and a roll of gauze and scribbled something on two pages.
“Get over here, take these passes and go see the nurse. Suzuki, if your arm starts bleeding worse, fix it until you get there. Anything happens with you two between here and her office and you will be expelled. Am I clear?”
Already done with the whole situation, Kuro nodded before walking over to get a pass. She hesitated a moment afterward before bowing her head and mumbling, “Sorry I lost my cool. I know I’m supposed to be over this by now but-“
“That’s what we’re going to talk about,” he sighed before mumbling, “Just get going before I ground you too.”
She glanced up at her uncle to see he looked less dead-set on expelling her and more concerned.
“Right. Thank you Oji-“ He cut her off with another glare. “-err-I mean Aizawa-sensei.”
Ignoring Suzuki as he came up to get his own pass, she slipped around her teacher to give at least a little wave at Yama and Kodai who both looked floored and maybe a little proud.
The last thing she heard before grabbing her gym shirt and slipping away was Aizawa calling out, “Everyone else, get changed and get back to class. It isn’t my fault if you’re late.”