The Marksman and The Warrior

Swords and Bloodstains

Izuku dropped down next to Katamina, "You okay?"

"Worry about yourself. Get Iida-kun and Native-kun out of here, quickly." Katamina shot back, gripping her blade with both hands, turning it so that the blade of the sword was over her shoulder and the tip was pointed at Stain.

Stain growled, "You idiots. Our society today is nothing like it used to be. I need to cleanse the filth contaminating it, and you're protecting that filth?"

Katamina scowled in response, "So your solution to everything is killing, killing, and more killing, huh? Look, humans are naturally selfish, it's in our nature to be. It doesn't matter how many heroes you kill, more will take their place. You'll be in a never ending cycle of vengeance and death, and you get nothing out of it."

"I don't need naïve children like you lecturing me!" Stain roared, rushing at Katamina, blades drawn. 

"And this is why your mission will never come to fruition." Katamina muttered, swiftly blocking Stain's strikes.

She countered with a quick two-hit combo, slashing diagonally downwards, then horizontally. The strikes were delivered with enough force to slash through brick walls, yet Stain deflected the attacks without much problem, and more impressively, without damage to his blades.

'This guy's good. I gotta focus.' Katamina inwardly grumbled, 'Am I gonna have to resort to that?'

But Katamina then realized that Izuku was gone, heaved a sigh of relief, and attempted to retreat, but Stain cut her off, "You're not going anywhere."

"Look, I'd love to continue playing with you, but I don't really have the authority to fight and injure you. I've gotten your victims away from your vicinity. My job here is done." Katamina groaned, "Besides, I doubt you'd wanna stay here for long. Blade Sensei is coming, and he certainly won't go easy on you."

Stain narrowed his eyes, but instead of retreating, he questioned her, "Why are you telling me to run? Would you not rather capture or kill me?"

Katamina snorted, "Oh, trust me, I would love to, you hurt my friend, after all. But right now, I don't really have permission to do so. Since I'm not your target, I can't fight back in self-defense, and unlike other people, I know when to and when not to raise my blade."

Stain stared at her with bloodlust in his eyes, "So you're being held back by the law, then."

Katamina shrugged, "Not particularly, I'm just way too tired to deal with you right now. Whilst it would be ideal to capture or kill you to make sure you don't kill anyone else, as long as I can prevent you from killing someone right now, it's good enough. Even the most dangerous criminal cannot do anything if there's always someone to stop them, after all."

Stain huffed in what Katamina decided to interpret as contempt, but he sheathed his blades, "If you truly have no intention to fight me, then I will not kill you."

Katamina shrugged, "Suit yourself."

But when Stain tried to leave, he found himself unable to.

Katamina smirked, "As if. You really thought I'd let you off the hook like that? You've killed more heroes than the number of years I've been alive for. I don't think anyone in their right mind would just let you walk away like that. Not even someone as lazy as I am."

Katamina raised her hand, pointing a finger gun at Stain, "Checkmate."

She angled her fingers upwards, signifying the firing of the finger gun, and Stain passed out, a tranquilizer dart in his neck.

Katamina deactivated her quirk, blood running down her cheeks, leaking from her eye sockets, "Man, I should really stop overusing my quirk. I'm gonna lose my sight forever."

Izuku chuckled, "You can say that again, but hey, we wouldn't have captured him if you didn't, so it's fine."

Blade and Snipe joined them in the alleyway as well.

"Honestly, kid, you really shouldn't just run off like that." Snipe sighed, shaking his head, "But since you did just stop the Hero Killer, I'll let you off the hook. Just this once."

Blade, on the other hand, clapped Katamina on the shoulder, "Good work, Senkiru. Your instincts are on point, as usual."

"I sensed you guys coming, is all. I just stalled him as much as I could without using my quirk that much." Katamina sat down heavily, "I'm really tired now, so go help out the other civilians. I'll join you later."

...

"So, in short, we cannot let the public know of your involvement in this case." The chief of police stated, it wasn't firm, nor was it commanding, but it had a certain urgency to it.

Katamina and Izuku barely reacted, as if this result was well within their expectations.

"Yeah, I figured you couldn't. It's fine. I'll let Sensei take the credit for this one. I don't really care about the publicity anyway." Katamina shrugged, then turned to Izuku, "You okay, Izuku?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I-it's just... I... I can't help but think about the bloodlust Stain had in his eyes when he was attacking Iida-kun and Native-san. W-what would've happened if we didn't get there when we did?" Izuku stuttered, barely moving at all, "If we had gotten there any later, I don't think Iida-kun would've survived."

Katamina grabbed one of Izuku's hands, holding it in both of her own, "It doesn't matter what could've happened. It didn't. We have a happy ending here, and we didn't need to hurt anyone to get it, either. You should be happy about this. No-one died this time around."

"I-I guess you're right. I really shouldn't have been worrying about this..." Izuku muttered.

Tsuragamae cleared his throat, "At any rate, on behalf of the police force, I thank you two for your service. Had it not been for the two of you, I don't think we would've been able to apprehend the Hero Killer."

Katamina and Izuku saluted the officer, and left the station to check up on Iida, who had been admitted into the nearest hospital.

A/N: Sorry I've been dead for weeks. It was the autumn holidays for us here in Australia. Anyway, I should be getting back to schedule for the next... 8 weeks, I think. 

Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, consider voting and following for more. Peace out, everybody. Goodbye.

Timeless_95, signing out.