Fireborne (bakugou katsuki)

iii

The next day, the students of UA high school class 1-A followed the normal, standardized high school curriculum. The day started with English, through which Aone snored in the back seat, only being startled awake once or twice by the sheer volume of Present Mic's shrill voice.

Next, the lunch break rolled around, and the trio of best friends sat together with Ashido Mina, Sero Hanta and, much to Aone's distaste, the ash blonde who shared her last name. Needless to say, the two bickered back and forth for the entire lunch hour, adding more pressure to the collective headache their friends harbored from Present Mic's English class.

Then finally, as the second half of the day rolled around, Basic Hero Training had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation. "I AM..." They heard the rumble of his voice long before the bulky red figure sprung into their class. "walking through the door like a normal person!"

Aone muffled a snort into her fist. Murmurs of the amazed students flew around the room, 18 pairs of doe eyes glittering up at him with wonder. "It really is him," they marveled, as the No. 1 Pro Hero in all of Japan marched to the podium with a comic-like stance. "I will be teaching Hero Basic Training; it is a subject where you train in different ways the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject! Now," With another ridiculous stance, "We'll begin with this! COMBAT TRAINING!"

At this, even Aone perked up and grinned, hands balling into fists and igniting in excitement. "Yosh!" She cheered, along with a few other students, before she caught the manic gaze of Katsuki, smirking at her as if thinking the same thing. 'You're bouta get it.'

"And along with that, come THESE!" All might gestured grandly to the wall, where one by one slides of briefcases emerged from the wall, each baring a number. Yet, the only one Aone could see, as if baring a spotlight, was the neon yellow No. 8.

Even before All Might finished his sentence, Aone was out of her seat and cradling her supersuit in her hands like one would a newborn baby. She zoomed out of the classroom, and at record speed arrived in the changing rooms.

As All Might waited half-patiently for a solid fifteen minutes before the silhouettes of his students began emerging from the dark tunnel.

Leading the group, just as she leads in other aspects of her life was Bakugo Aone, dressed head to toe in something that looked like it was made for the leader of the Triad. Her skin-tight, Chinese styled dress was black in color, with intricate, neon-orange dragon prints stitching into it all along her body. It ended mid thigh, and each side held a slit cut from the top of her hip. Two arm bands circled around her biceps, identical in color and make to the accented thigh holsters that sat right above where her thigh-high boots ended, covered in part by the very end of her dress. In each holster, a custom-made pair of twin knives, so she wasn't handicapped in the rare case of quirk incapacitation. Flame colored hair that seemed to flicker from a vibrant tangerine to a blood red swung hypnotically along her waistline, and two space-buns ensuring that her bangs were not in the way sat on either side of her upper head. She'd made sure to specify that all material had to be both fire resistant and insulated in order to maximize her control of her heat and not accidentally harm any civilians.

Needless to say, her appearance garnered a certain reaction from her companions, the girls fawning over the detail and design, while the boys, namely Kaminari and (ugh) Mineta (that plum-fucked raisin-balled piece of human garbage) tried their best to keep their drool inside their mouths. Kirishima swung an arm around his shamelessly gawking best friend, before Kaminari snapped back to reality, turning an icy glare towards Mineta. "Have you no shame?!"

While Aone chatted with Mina and Momo, both of whom had become her fast friends, she was painfully unsuspecting of the appreciative gaze of one Bakugou Katsuki, who'd taken his sweet time wracking his eyes up and down her impressive frame. Ever since he'd become an unwilling party to her rescue in the entrance exam, Katsuki admitted to himself that she was perhaps the most gorgeous person he'd ever set his eyes on, but that did little to deter him from his usual, aggressive front. He was still very much aiming to wipe the floor with her face, except now he had the added bonus of watching her jump around in that sinful little black number.

"I didn't know you were so taken with me that you'd copy my color scheme."

He snapped out of his daze when the very girl he was contemplating stood inches away from him, a smug smirk on her sleek features. He didn't fail to notice the ridiculous fullness of her lashes and rosy lips.

Katsuki snarled, clenching his fists before facing away from her with a scoff. "You have to be a whole new level of conceited if you think the world revolves around you." He bit back, crossing his arms over his chest, unconsciously flexing his biceps from the rather particular frustration only Aone ignited in him.

The unnerving grin never left her lips and Aone stepped even closer now, successfully invading what was left of his personal space. "From my understanding, that is exactly what you think of yourself, Ka-chan." Her murmured words and the way she enunciated that godforsaken nickname had his blood boiling, his scowl deepening and an unfamiliar sensation making its way down his spine. He then turned to her, an enraged pair of scarlet eyes narrowing in on her golden ones. His fingers gripped her face, freezing it inches from his own as he growled in reply. "Let's see what you'll be calling me when I'm done handing your ass to you, princess."

"Kinky."

With a low 'tch' and a sideways glare, Katsuki released her face just in time for All Might to begin his terribly scripted speech.

As fate would have it, Midoriya and Katsuki were pitted against each other, and Denki, Eijiro and Aone were all split into different groups. However, seeing as there were an odd number of students, and coincidently the last name that had been pulled was Aone's, she was left alone to conduct the assignment one-on-one with a willing volunteer at the end of the class.

She paid close attention to all of the matches, completely silent, to the astonishment of her class and All Might, as she analyzed each pairs cooperation, strategy and combat style.

By the end, she felt she had a good understanding of all of their basic principles, and was sincerely looking forward to expanding her knowledge over the course of the next three years. In particular, however unsurprising it may seem, her interest was peaked during the first and third match.

Aone was frankly very impressed with Bakugou's innate ability to adapt and alter over the duration of the fight, no matter how reckless and emotion-driven his motives are.

Midoriya, on the other hand, seemed the polar opposite, reserved in his quirk usage and calculative in his approach. Until the very last moment, where even Aone was shaken by the force of his vertical punch that practically decimated the building with its wind pressure.

The third match, between Ojiro/Hagakure and Todoroki/Shoji, had Aone frowning in distaste at the big screen. She didn't like it when Todoroki took the duty on himself, nor when he almost patronized the poor, traumatized Ojiro. Aone wasn't a fan of his quirk either. As a very obvious fire-wielder herself, ice was a sore subject. But what dug deeper into her pit of frustration was the duality of his quirk, and his reluctance to engage his fire abilities, instead relying solely on his cold side. No matter the reason for this decision, and Aone was sure there was one, that kind of imbalance was sure to have its repercussions the longer he continued to neglect half of his identity. Yes, Todoroki Shouto, Aone decided, was not her type of person.

"And finally," All Might began, once everyone was gathered in the observation deck, "our final match of the day, between Young Aone and--" Aone froze in anticipation, yet simultaneously certain it was either Kaminari or Kirishima who'd volunteered for the opportunity to spar with her, something they were always eager to do (or even Katsuki, who'd made her promises he apparently couldn't keep). However, to her utter surprise, All Might named perhaps the last student she'd wanted (or expected) to fill the position, "--Young Todoroki!"

'Ah, shit.'