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Shigaraki was not stupid, it was his personality that was a bit... Childish. But he certainly was smart.
He knew that Izuku was basically a soldier child, the only thing that didn't stop him from attacking the boy, was that he was in the way of taking down All Might.
Now, that didn't me at that Tomura was going to be a stupid cheater and attack the child while he was sleeping. He was a villain, not a monster. That was the first lesson from Sensei, to see the difference between being a villain and a monsters.
Basically, Monsters attacked innocents by raping, killing or torturing them. Their only objective was to destroy any happiness, brightness or even innocence from people without any reason. Those people were the scum of villains, they weren't accepted in the underground and they were mostly killed.
Villains only used innocent to threaten their enemy, most villains would never touch a child with other objectives more than threatening a hero or some minister. There were cases where villains saved people from abusers. Villains had an objective, often used against the society of heroes for justice, never against children. Some of them would even confirm that they wanted a better future for those people.
Of course, there were villains that killed, those would join the group of monsters, no matter if their objective was on heroes.
So of course. Shigaraki wasn't going to go and fucking kill a kid who probably had a lot on their shoulder.
Izuku was a teenager, already a hard phase, and he was the next user of One For All, he had the objective of taking down the most dangerous villain in the world.
Shigaraki knew that, and since he wasn't a fucking cheater, he decided that there were going to be rules if they are going to fight.
He was the only villain allowed to fight against the kid. The only exceptions were if he sent people behind him.
The reason? He didn't trust anyone to understand the problem behind the kid. Most villains thought that the boy was just nosy and wanted to fight Shigaraki to prove himself, Shigaraki knew that it was not true.
Second rule. No killing any kids. Only immobilize them. It didn't need any explanation. They were heroes IN TRAINING, they didn't know how to fully defend themselves.
Third rule. No attacking if there is any unfairness. The only time he attacked the kid was when he got into some rage attack. He attacked Izuku when the boy was fully distracted being a normal teen in a mall with friends. He wasn't going to do that again. It was stupid, it wouldn't even count as a win since there would barely be a fight.
For Izuku, these rules were basically the same but in a more heroic point of vision... Or something like that.
Izuku knew that the League wasn't mentally well, and after noticing some patters, he got to a conclusion with some rules.
First rule. He was the only one allowed to get close to Shigaraki without the man getting into a rage fit. People accepted it... Or at least understood the point.
Second. No attacking when they saw them buying things at shops or malls. They were people too, it wasn't fair that heroes could eat outside without fearing that they were going to be detained. And it could make them weak since they wouldn't be able to eat and then, the win was going to be in vain.
Third. No killing. For obvious reasons.
People around them accepted the sort of... Win-win relationship? It was safer for everyone and it made sure that there would be any unnecessary deaths or any death children.
A lot of them had their hesitations, often questioning the two leaders of the battle. But eventually they all got used to the dynamic.
Or at least most of them...
It was a freezing Friday. Shigaraki was at the bar with the whole League, they were relaxing after doing some jobs.
They hadn't heard from Izuku in almost a week... And it was strange... Usually villains would come in and inform some movements from the kids, if they went to the cinema, if they already bought the weekly food, if they had an encounter with another group of villains or things like that.
But they were strangely silent...
But nobody worried a lot... At least not enough to show it. The weather was becoming too cold to the point that nobody liked to be outside, so it could be understandable that they didn't go out the school. But it still have Shigaraki a bit of... Anxiety....
"Tomura, did you hear me?" The voice of Kurogiri took him out of his thoughts.
"No"
A small laugh disguised as a cough could be heard around the room.... It sounded a bit too much like Spinner.
"I said. We must not go out today, there is a storm coming and it will be too dangerous to even step outside."
"Mhokay" he grumbled.
"Where is Toga?" Dabi asked, coming out from the hall, probably coming out from the shower.
"She went with Magne to the shop, we need some food for tomorrow, why?" Kurogiri raised a... Invisible brow.
"That brat cut my shirts after trying to "use them as a fake target"" he mocked with a fake girly tone.
Kurogiri sighed, very tired of their foolishness.
The door slammed open, the two members coming inside, their face pale.
"I- I- something happened. He is outside! He is Hurt!" Toga babbled to Shigaraki.
"Toga, what the fuck are you saying? Calm down" Dabi growled, already putting on his hoodie.
"Who is hurt?" Kurogiri camly asked, trying to maintain the peace in the bar.
"Deku!"
It was like the time stopped, questions appeared in Tomura's mind. Why was he outside? Why was he hurt? Who hurt him? How badly? What if it was a trap? What if he is already dead?
Dabi, Tomura and Compress rushed out, signaling the other to stay inside and ready in case anything happened.
They walked out, a snow storm already forming, a light cape of white droplets on the floor. They walked out and looked around. There were light drops of pink forming a path to the alley next to their building. Tomura was the first to rush in, freeze at the sight of the green small teen, shaking and apparently panting. His clothes looked like pajamas, but they were all bloody and torn up.
Tomura got closer, hands reaching for the boy hurriedly. Another hand grasped his wrist, stopping him from touching the body.
"Careful handjob" Dabi grumbled, putting on a pair of gloves, then he let him go again and this time Tomura reached two fingers to put over his neck.
The faint thumping of his heart. His shoulders almost slumped in relief.
Slowly he held the boy up in a bride style, studying his body. He found various wounds and scars.
"There is a box here with a letter" Compress informed, but Tomura didn't hear.
Who in their right mind hurt Izuku? Who hurt him while sleeping? Who was the coward that didn't face Izuku while the boy was up? Who was the rat...
"Handjob, let's go inside. The brat is going to freeze to death"
Tomura didn't say anything, he held Izuku close and walked back to the bar. The storm seemed to get worse. The cold was now freezing his fingers.
When he got inside he stood there for a minute, Deku's eyes were open, he seemed to want to talk, his mouth move a bit, but no sound came out.
What should they do? Kurogiri's quirk didn't really work when there was a storm, even worse with snow. Maybe try to contact UA? No... That wouldn't work.
"Young master?" Tomura looked up, the room was silent, Toga seemed bout to jump in and grab Izuku. Kurogiri got closer, hand extended. "We should tend his wounds and take him to UA when we can..."
Tomura tightened his grasp. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kurogiri... But the man was basically the loyalest servant of Sensei... All For One could order Kurogiri to bring the boy to him.
"I will take him" and nobody dared to interfere. Kurogiri followed him to the bedroom.
He let Izuku on the bed, the boy was still awake, shaking and whining. He seemed exhausted, why didn't he sleep?
"He was kidnapped days ago..." Kurogiri declared.
"How do you know?" These wounds are old... There is a crust forming that shows he got cut at least three days ago" the man showed him while signalen a deep wound running down his back.
Before Tomura could say something, there was a knock on his door. For some reason, a strange aura of protectiveness washes over him, ready to crush whoever wanted to take Izuku.
He opened the door, behind was Compress without his mask on, he seemed strangely stressed.
"You should come and take a look at the box"
Tomura looked back, Kurogiri was gently bandaging Izuku, whi was still awake.
Tomura sighed and followed compress to the bar, where they were crowding around a laptop. Dabi let Tomura sit in front of it.
"First you should read this letter" Magne said while giving him a small paper.
Tomura read and frowned. "The predators... Isn't that the group who... Why would they have Izuku... And why would they "gift" him to us? I thought I made it fucking clear..." Tomura grumbled, now more anxious than before.
He was given a small pendrive to connect on the laptop. He slowly did, trying to think what might be in the pendrive.
When it loaded, he saw five folders. Every folder named with "Day" and a number, from one to five. He choose to follow the order.
It had a video and some photos. The first photo showed Izuku tied to a chair, pajamas on, his usual determined expression. The second photo made him freeze, Izuku was still tied, but he only had boxers on, his face was pale in fear.
The series of photos were grotesque, most of the league walked out, not wanting to see them or just trying to respect the body on Izuku. The photos showed how the group assaulted him. The video was a lot worse. They talked "to Shigaraki" telling him how they were weakening his mind and body.
They sexually assaulted Izuku to get Shigaraki's approval. They kidnapped the boy while he was on his most vulnerable state, and then just broke his spirit. They starved and tortured the boy for five days, as a deal for the League's friendship.
Tomura was not angry. He was livid. He hated cheater. He wanted to fight Izuku when the two of them were at their best state, they would have a fair fight, and the winner would have it deserved. But, weakening his rival before the fight, and even going to the point of abusing him, was very low in his standard, it was even unimaginable, he took it like an insult to himself, did they think it was necessary?
The last archive showed a note. "Hello Shigaraki, we hoped you enjoyed the fun, we really did. That's not the point. We have more images and videos of the sweet hero, if you accept or deal, we could destroy him physically, emotionally and socially, if you accept the deal and want the videos, you can meet us at xxxx this Friday. Thank you for your attention. The predators"
Tomura was fuming. Of course he was going to meet with those fuckers. He was going to fucking destroy that stupid group of monsters.
But first....
He took a deep breath, got up and walked back to his room. He felt some eyes on him, but they knew not to disturb him when he was this angry.
He entered his room and saw the green boy, still trembling. He had bandages everywhere, his body was thinner than the last time he saw him, and his eyebags were darker than Eraserhead's.
Kurogiri got up from the chair next to the boy, who was shakily fiddling with the blanket.
"Shigaraki... We should give him back tomorrow when the storm stops, he isn't in a good shape, and from what I can see, his mind isn't okay either..."
"Good, you can go now, bring dinner here when it's ready" Shigaraki said, looking from the corner of his eyes to his... Enemy?
Kurogiri nodded and teleported out to start dinner. Dhigaraki stood there a few moments, he knew that Izuku was focused on him, probably scared.
"Deku..." Shigaraki mumbled, trying to have Izuku's attention on him.
The named boy flinched, his shaking worsening.
"You know that I won't touch you. I am not a cheater" Shigaraki grumbled, walking closer to the boy, thinking of a solution to get the kid tired and sleep. He was going to get sick.
The young boy mumbled something. And Shigaraki couldn't catch it. "What did you say?"
"I'm n-not scared o-of y-you" Shigaraki knew what was Izuku implying. He was scared of monsters... Never villains.
"Well. Then don't be so scared, you are fucking here" Shigaraki grumbled as he looked for something around his room.
Izuku looked at him, his mind was lost in thoughts, flashbacks and nightmares of the five days before. He could feel hands and knives around his body.
He was going back to his mind, but suddenly something was shoved in his hands and something soft put on his ears.
He heard the muffle voice of Shigaraki while focusing on what was him his hands... It was a Nintendo switch. And there were games thrown around him.
"You can play with it, I barely use it" and with that, he sat on a chair in front of a very nice computer.
Izuku shakily inspected the games before choosing Animal Crossing. He always wanted to play with a Nintendo, but his mother was never able to pay for one... So Izuku was very pleased with it.
Minutes passed, and Shigaraki noticed that the boy was a lot more relaxed, he even got a small smile, his eyes seemed to drop a little, apparently relaxing for the first time in all day.
Kurogiri gave them two plates of soup. Izuku's one had some supplements to help his body get more stable.
When it became late, Shigaraki got up and Izuku's attention was quickly focused on him.
"Do you want me to sleep in another bed?" Izuku shook his head.
Shigaraki got in the bed and under the blankets, he out on a movie and relaxed. The movie got Izuku's interest, he turned off the Nintendo switch and focused on the movie.
Shigaraki didn't understand why his body seemed glad that Izuku was relaxing. But he wasn't going to ruin the moment.
At 2 am, Shiharaki noticed that the boy was starting to get very tired, but he refused to let his eyes closed. That's something Shigaraki noticed in the videos. After the first night, that had a part cut out, the boy never let his eyes close for more than 5 seconds. Shiharaki could imagine why...
"Just sleep brat, I can keep watch, and the League is two steps away." Shiharaki grumbled, gently patting the green curly hair.
Izuku took a second before closing his eyes, sleepily moving around tog etc comfortable and then falling completely still, his breath was steady and his shakiness disappearing. He went completely vulnerable. And Shigaraki just watched him for a minute, noticing how small Izuku was.
How could anyone just kidnap him while sleeping. Interrupt the calmness of the boy, and they destroying anything of calmness that was left behind, filling him with fear, anxiety and despair...
Only monster did that, Shigaraki wasn't going to do anything of that. He was going to make sure that his enemy would go back to his safe place and he was going to maintain a close eyes on the monsters of society.
After all. He hated cheaters with all his will.
Izuku woke up at 4 am, with a small gasp, his skin itches with the feeling of the horrible grip of hands. He was ready to run or scream, until he felt a small and gentle touch.
It was then when he noticed that his face was close to Shigaraki's chest. His hands were grabbing the clothes from the older boy, and Shigaraki had an arm over his shoulder, petting the back of his neck. But instead of feeling ashame or afraid. Izuku let himself relax at the gentle touch and the reminder that he wasn't in that bare horrible room. He was in a safe place.
After some minutes he went back to sleep.
The next morning. When he woke up, he had a fever, he was more tired than before.
"I still have the coordinates of Nedzu's office, we should take him back so they help him"
"Yes, I will give them the note and the pendrive in case they think that we had him for so long" Kurogiri agreed.
Shigaraki gently grabbed the boy, putting a fluffy blanket around him and giving Kurogiri a bag, the Nomu seemed to raise an eyebrow, Izuku didn't have any bags when he was discover.
Kurogiri opened a portal and then Tomura slowly moves with Izuku. The boy groaned, but didn't complain.
After a second, they stood in front of the table where the principal of UA and the homeroom teacher were staring at them, the black haired man was ready to jump at them, but stopped instantly after spotting Midoriya in the blankets.
"Midoriya!" The man gasped, his arms extended to take Izuku, he realized late what he did and prepared to be attacked by one of the two, but instead, he was met with the bundle of blankets in his arms.
His student was alive, Aizawa almost cried in relief.
Nedzu, was staring at Shigaraki and Kurogiri. Waiting for something.
"He was left outside our place yesterday, we know who kidnapped him and we are dealing with those cheaters tonight, here is the evidence" Shigaraki grumbled, handing Nedzu the pendrive and the note.
Then, after taking one last look at Izuku and Aizawa, he went back to the portal. Kurogiri put the bag on the floor and turned to look at Nedzu. "Tomorrow you will have the kidnappers outside of UA to deal with them" and with that Kurogiri left too.
Aizawa was hugging Izuku close, the boy was awake and crying, holding onto him and pleading the man to not let him alone.
Nedzu frowned, what happened to Izuku for him to act like that? The boy was one of the most brave of the school.
With a nod, he let Aizawa take the boy away while reviewing the pendrive.
Nobody would notice if five members of a rape group came to the police station in the brink of death, nor somebody would notice if they disappeared once entering jail.
After all... Not even villains wanted a world with monsters...