Mind of Mine || ʙᴀᴋᴜɢᴏ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

chapter 7

By the time you finished with training, the sun was setting. Not that you could see it or anything. Grabbing the towel from the rack, you wiped the sweat that was dripping down the side of your head. Putting on the mask, you walked out the training room, heading towards Eri's room.

Opening the door, your gaze fell on the small girl, who was sleeping soundly under her covers.

But what caught your attention were her arms. Those bandages were too fresh, small blooms of red staining parts of the bandages.

no no no no no no

Your eyes widened in horror as the realization settled in. If those bandages were fresh... then that means he took her again and cut her open. Again you failed.

Clenching your fists tightly, you walked into the room silently, trying to not wake her up. Leaning down, you lifted the mask up before placing a soft kiss on her forehead and heading out the room. Once a good distance away from the room and with no chance of waking her up, you turned towards the nearest wall and banged your head repeatedly.

stupid stupid stupid stupid

You should've known better. After the last stunt, Chisaki was sure to come after Eri again. It was inevitable and yet you should've known. You should've stayed glued to her side.

Stalking down the white corridor and up a set of stairs, you punched in the code to the locked door, entering the private training room. Only select few had access to these rooms, meant for only the inner circle. Eri's grandfather provided you with all the codes in the building, reminding you that you were family.

And in a way, he was family.

Your earliest memory was of you living within these walls, training in these very same rooms and learning from the boss man himself.

He took you in, or maybe your family gave you up as payment, but he was always in the picture. He taught you the basics, math, how to read, how to write, languages... and when your quirk finally manifested, training was thrown in.

But you weren't the only one he taught.

Chisaki Kai was there too. Although a couple years older, you both were the only kids in the area. Each with villainous quirks, each rejected by society, each labeled as evil.

But he never believed in that. He embraced you both as you were and taught you to not be afraid of your quirk.

He didn't exactly succeed in that. While Kai grew infatuated with his quirk and power, you grew wary of your own power, swearing to not use it unless absolutely necessary.

Everything changed when he introduced Eri to you. She was a small thing, her horn only a small bump on her head. You were made her protector, since she had no other family. But once Kai took notice of her quirk... the dynamic changed.

He became obsessed with getting rid of quirks, once and for all, thinking they were the root of all the problems. With no quirks, everybody would be equal, no more discrimination. The organization would seize the control they had before, becoming the once legendary group again.

The only problem, was that the boss rejected the proposal. Nobody could believe how off the deep end Kai was.

And so he kept his distance, he isolated himself.

When the old man passed away, it was only you three and Kai took the spot as the next leader of the organization, and without anybody in his way, he could move forward with his plan.

Except, you were in the way.

He knew you would never let anybody harm Eri, you were fully capable of overpowering him if you wanted to. But he used Eri to threaten you, stating that you should protect Eri from outsiders or he'd kill her if you failed.

To take it a step forward, he had Kurono create a device that would suppress your powers. It was a bracelet, nothing special looking. It allowed Chisaki to have full control over you, so you couldn't do anything without your quirk.

It remained on always.

And so Eri and you became trapped in this cycle.

There was nothing for you out there, nobody knew you existed. Who knew how long you could survive in the streets if you ever ran away. It was a suicide mission. Chisaki would never let you run away.

You groaned in anger, just thinking of all Eri had to endure alone in that cold, white room.

Without hesitation, you stood in front of the hanging punching bag, letting your fists do the talking. The skin on your knuckles were already red from earlier training, but pain was what you needed to ground your thinking.

All the frustration, the helplessness, the anger that was consuming your insides, began to pour out with every punch.

You felt so fucking useless.

If the boss could see you, he'd be disappointed in you. For letting his little girl get hurt.

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

The sound of your fists slamming into the leather of the punching bag echoed through the empty room. The chains creaked from the force as the bag swung back and forth. But your hits never got slower, even as your knuckles began to split and small drops of blood began to smear on the punching bag.

After a few minutes, you finally gasped as you hunched over. Your hands holding the punching bag steady.

Your hands softly hit against the padding, wishing you could stop feeling so worthless. You had one purpose, to protect Eri from the monster that lurked in these hallways, and yet you couldn't even do that.

What was the point of all this training? What was the point of having a quirk if you couldn't even save the one small person that depended on you?

You were weak.

There was no denying that.

The word echoed through your head, a voice reminding you that nobody wanted someone weak. Your soulmate didn't need another burden.

Your nails sunk into the material of the punching bag due to how tightly you were holding on to it. The harsh reality was a wake up call. Letting go of the bag, you slowly sunk down to all fours as you looked down at the floor. The tears dripped down from your face and onto the floor, creating tiny salty puddles. Your fists clenched as your body shook.

You were so fucking tired of feeling weak.

You screamed as you slammed your fist down onto the floor and the machines in the room flung back. You weren't one to lose control, always aware of your quirk and conscious of the power that brewed under your skin.

But in this emotional state, everything was just flowing. Waves of energy radiated off your body, wild and crazy as you tried to get a grip on your feelings.

The bracelet tingled as shocks raked through your body. If you were to fight against the device and use even a bit of your power, the bracelet would shock you as a reminder that it existed and to never try it again.

Biting your lip at the pain, your hand reached up and twirled the metal piece around your wrist.

I promise, I'll get you out of here Eri.

A spark of determination bloomed within you, lighting up a torch inside. No more holding back, no more taking orders. Hell, you will break Eri out of here on your own if that's what it takes. Nobody will hurt her again.

I promise.