Crossing Fates : Special Story 3 - The Bean Starts School (BakuDeku)

1 - Spy Nyr

The tricky thing about using a cloaking spell is that cloaking spells are tricky.

Iori snickered to himself as he tiptoed around the patio furniture and changed into his dragon form.

His dragon had grown to the size of an adult lion, and he had to be careful not to knock over the furniture as he shapeshifted.

He also managed to hold on to his cloaking spell, which was a big fat win.

Dad had said Iori's cloaking ability was one of the best he'd ever seen, although it was difficult to stay hidden while changing forms.

But since his dad could do it, Iori felt sure he would be able to do it also.

Eventually. Sometimes.

If he kept practicing, pretty soon he should be able to stay cloaked all the time if he needed to.

Iori was playing his favorite game, Spy Nyr, which he had totally made up himself.

When he grew up, he was going to be a secret sentinel.

Uncle Eijiro would send him out on missions, and when he returned after saving somebody, or maybe even after saving everybody, Mom and Dad would be really proud of him.

Of course, because it was undercover, Dad would have to give him medals in secret.

Sometimes they might be silver and bronze ones, or when he did something amazing, they might be gold. Or maybe when he did something really outstanding, Dad would give him a sparkly medal with diamonds on it.

Then Iori would have to find a super-secret place to hide them.

His dragon side liked the sound of that. It made him feel growly and fine.

By day, Iori would be, oh, maybe an singer.

Singers traveled a lot, so it would be a good cover, and besides, it would be fun to sing all the time, so that would be a big fat win.

Hi, my name is Iori, Bakugo Iori. My code name is Double Oh Bean, but you can call me Rock Star for short.

Snickering again, he started climbing the house.

It was a big house and there was a lot of brick on the outside. If he had been in his human form, he wouldn't have been able to climb it, but in his dragon form, he could get a good grip by digging the tips of his talons into the brick.

One of his favorite things to do was sit on the roof and look around.

Tetsutetsu said it was his perching instinct. Dad said he would have to get the roof reinforced because Iori was going to get a lot bigger before he finished growing.

It was mid-August, but the day was nice and cool for a change, so lots of windows were open. And even though it was Sunday, there were always plenty of people about.

Hesitating as he clung to the side of the house, he tried to decide who he wanted to spy on next.

Mom and Dad were hanging out in their rooms... They had been relaxing a lot since Dad got hurt the month before.

If Iori could sneak past Dad's superpowers of detection, he was pretty sure he could sneak past anything.

That might go a long way toward convincing Uncle Eijiro to hire him for spy missions when he got bigger.

Once the idea occurred to him, he couldn't shake it loose.

Giving into temptation, he climbed sideways to the end of the house, around the corner and up to Mom and Dad's balcony.

It was a lot more work than he had anticipated, so he got tired, and he was glad to reach the point where he could cling to a support beam on the underside of the balcony.

From overhead came the sound of quiet rustling and the creak of furniture.

Mom and Dad were outside on the balcony. They sounded like they might be cuddling.

Iori loved to cuddle with them and sprawl in a big heap to watch movies or football games.

As he thought of joining them, he started to lose interest in playing Spy Nyr.

Then Mom said in a quiet voice, "I feel like it's all my fault."

"You know that's not true," Dad replied. "He was growing quickly before you said anything to him."

Iori started to get a hot, tight feeling somewhere in his middle.

Were they talking about him?

"I know, but I'd give almost anything to turn back time and take back what I said."

Iori's wings and tail drooped.

He knew exactly what Mom was talking about. They were talking about him, and Mom sounded really sad.

Last month, when Dad had gotten hurt so bad, Mom had said to Iori, "You need to be a big soldier now."

And Iori had thought, I can do that.

He had pushed to get bigger, because Mom needed him to be strong.

Getting bigger wasn't hard.

It was kind of like shapeshifting, and his dragon form wanted him to be big anyway. He could feel it inside, straining to encompass all of his Power.

And, as Dad had said, he was growing awfully fast anyway.

But for some reason, when he had gone through that growth spurt, it had hurt Mom, and the last thing in the world Iori wanted to do was hurt him.

For the first time ever, he thought, Am I bad?

Asking that question made the hot, tight feeling in his middle worse.

"I can't believe I'm going to take him to school in the morning," Mom said. "Even though he's tall like a first grader, he's only six months old."

"We've talked about this," Dad replied. "We agreed that he needed school."

"I know and I was even the one who argued for that, but I have to ask- are we going about this the right way? He's already far past what a normal first grader knows anyway. He's read through a third of our library, he writes in complete sentences, and he's been learning high-school algebra from Tetsutetsu."

"Never mind the academics," Dad said. "You were right. He needs the socialization. The only people he interacts with are adults. He has to learn to relate to other children too, while he's still a child."

"I agree," Mom told him. "I'm just fretting, Kacchan. He's so innocent."

"I know, but that innocent boy is also a dangerous predator. He can already take down animals that are more than twice the size of his Nyr form."

It was only one cow, Iori thought.

He hadn't thought it was that big of a deal. It happened a week ago and he was hungry.

Dad was still talking. "When he killed those cows, Tetsutetsu said he went into a complete frenzy."

Okay, Iori might have forgotten about the other cows. His snout itched, and he rubbed it on one forearm.

"He needs to learn how to control himself," Dad said. "And for that, he needs to develop social ties. Relationships will be the only real check on him when he grows to his full size. He has to care enough about other people so that he controls himself. For their sake."

Mom whispered, "Like you?"

"Yes," said Dad. "Exactly like me."

They fell silent.

Iori suspected they might be kissing, which they liked to do a lot.

From around the corner, in the direction of the kitchen, Tetsutetsu called out, "Iori, come on in. It's time for lunch."

He heaved a sigh. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to listen to Mom and Dad talk until they said something that made everything better.

Iori wanted that hot, tight feeling to go away.