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

9 - Fear And Truth

Katsuki changed into his dragon form, since flying directly to the school was much faster than driving on the winding country roads.

Izuku rode on his back, muttering worriedly. He asked, "Did he tell you what happened?"

"No," Katsuki said, which was the strict truth.

He didn't mention what Tetsutetsu had already told him about Iori's two confrontations at recess.

While Katsuki planned on telling Izuku everything, he still hadn't figured out what to say about those incidents.

He was proud as hell of how his son had handled the bullies, and he was both surprised and intrigued at Iori's newly emerged talent for breathing fire in his human form, but Katsuki wasn't sure that Izuku would feel the same way.

Sometimes, family dynamics were an interesting puzzle.

He also planned on having Orito and his family investigated. As Tetsutetsu pointed out, the boy might need counseling or even special schooling.

Katsuki kept his cloaking spell tight around them until after he had landed and shapeshifted back into his human form.

Taking Izuku's hand, they strode quickly into the school building and to the administrative offices.

The school secretary escorted them into the principal's office.

Inside, the principal, Leslin Aiko, waited with an older woman, and with Iori.

Katsuki took in everything about the older woman at a glance.

She was of mixed race, part human and part Dark Fae, and she wore a tight-lipped, self-righteous expression.

He turned his attention to his son, who sat with such quiet dignity that it took Katsuki a moment to realize Iori was trembling. He clutched his phone tightly in both hands and didn't look at either the principal or the older woman.

A silent snarl built at the back of Katsuki's throat.

As Izuku rushed to Iori, Katsuki rounded on the two women.

He said in a quiet, rigidly controlled voice, "Fucking explain this."

As the older woman had caught sight of him and Izuku, her expression had changed.

Clearly she recognized them.

Instead of looking self-righteous, she started to look worried.

She should.

Leslin walked around her desk, hand outstretched to Katsuki.

She said, "Lord and Deva'i-rani Bakugo, this is Iori's teacher, Mrs. Olie Dyer. I owe all of you a profound apology. You see, we have a policy that children aren't allowed to have cell phones at school... And with everything involved with the start of the school year, I simply forgot to tell Mrs. Dyer that we would make an exception in Iori's case."

Katsuki ignored the principal's outstretched hand. Instead, he focused on Iori's teacher. Not only had her expression changed, but she was starting to smell nervous too.

On its own, that wouldn't be enough to pique his interest, because people smelled nervous around him all the time.

However, when he combined her nervousness with Iori's upset, he didn't like the picture that was starting to emerge.

Mrs. Dyer's chin came up. "Lord and Deva'i-rani," she said stiffly. "Had I been told that your son would be in my class, things might have gone very differently. As it was, I insisted he give me his cell phone, and he growled and snapped at me. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this is not acceptable or safe behavior-"

Tuning her out, Katsuki turned to Izuku and Iori.

Whispering soft words of comfort, Izuku squatted by Iori's chair. His head lowered, Iori turned in his chair to lean toward his mother.

Izuku slipped an arm around him, cupped his shoulder and squeezed. With an indrawn hiss and a grimace, Iori pulled away from his mother's hug, and everything in the room changed drastically.

Iori never pulls away from Izuku, ever, specially from his hugs and kisses.

Frowning, Izuku asked him sharply, "What's the matter, sweetheart- are you hurt anywhere?"

Iori muttered, "Not really. It's okay."

Izuku's eyes flashed to Katsuki. Shifting so that he crouched in front of Iori and block him from the rest of the room.

Izuku went silent. Iori looked at Izuku, nodded then shook his head.

They had gone telepathic.

Izuku eased the neckline of Iori's shirt to one side to reveal bruises in the shape of fingermarks on one slim shoulder.

"Oh my gosh," said the principal, blanching.

Katsuki's silent snarl turned audible.

Izuku whirled to face Mrs. Dyer, his expression blazing with incredulous rage.

"You put your hands on him. You shook him?"

The teacher's nervousness turned to outright fear, and her gaze darted around the room.

"Everything I did was in self-defense. Your son snarled at me- he acted like he would bite me. He had partially shapeshifted, and he had claws and teeth-"

Iori said in a clear, strong voice, "You're a liar. You're lying."

Sliding out of his chair, Iori stood beside Izuku's crouching figure and put his arms around him.

To Katsuki's eyes, it clearly was a protective stance.

Iori was guarding his mother.

Reining in his own rage so that he could at least appear calm, Katsuki asked Iori, "What really happened?"

Iori said, "Well, first she said, you couldn't have read all those books, you're a liar. And I said, I did too read them, but she never asked me about learning methodology or first-grade literacy, or anything about what was really in the books. Then she said, it's against the rules to have a cell phone, so you give it to me right now, young man, and I said no, I can't do that, it's against the rules. So she grabbed me, and I tried to fight her off, and she shook me, and that's when I got toothy, and she said, don't you dare bite me, you little animal."

His son was breathing hard, and his green eyes flashed with dark gold fire. "And she got my phone out of my pocket, so I said, give it back. And she gave it back. That's when I called you."

When he finished, a stark silence fell as everyone stared at Mrs. Dyer, who stood with her back pressed against the wall.

"That's not what happened," she said faintly. "He growled first. He snapped at me. He thought the rules didn't apply to him!"

Katsuki could hear the lie in her voice.

It was so apparent he felt sure the occupants in the room could hear it too.

The principal's expression was appalled while Izuku looked more murderous than Katsuki had ever seen him, and he knew fully well that he had the teacher's death stamped in the lines of his own face.

"This is so far beyond anything appropriate or acceptable, I have no words," breathed the principal.

"Well, you'd better come up with a few," Izuku snarled as he surged to his feet. "And 'I'm so desperately sorry' and 'We're going to press charges' better be some of the first words out of your mouth."

It was so charming how Izuku's thinking went straight to the justice system, while the dragon in Katsuki thought of things like vivisection and dismemberment.