[Chapter 18]: Saya

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     Aizawa was quick to exit the room after that, claiming he had to make some calls.
     Nonetheless, he instructed us to head to U.A. to begin training. He expected us to do a six hour workout—ten minutes of recovery between each set, forty minute lunch, and finally some sparring to end the day.
     "Don't even think about slacking off," Aizawa said sternly.
     "I wouldn't dream of it."
     He scowled at my sarcasm and I forced a smile. Truthfully, this entire situation was already getting out of hand. Not only was there a spy lurking around U.A.—the thought of it being any of my friends made me dizzy—but Hitoshi had an internship right here in Musutafu.
Exactly where All For One was supposed to be in three day's time.
     "Shinsou," Aizawa directed his attention to the stone-faced boy beside me.
Upon having the unwavering gaze of Dadzawa fixed on him, Hitoshi tensed and his expression tightened with nerves. The sight was enough to have me coughing into my hand to disguise a condescending laugh.
     I didn't want to give anything away after all—Aizawa still didn't know that we were a little more than friendly now. For the time being, it would probably be better this way.
     "Make sure she stays in line." He concluded.
     I gawked in disbelief. "Oh, come on! That's it?"
     But Aizawa was already walking away, waving flippantly over his shoulder. Sneering, I stuck my tongue out at his back only for Hitoshi to casually ruffle the top of my head. He was grinning like a fool, clearly smug about the fact that Aizawa had explicitly given him permission to 'keep me in line.' Flustered by the thought of what that may entail, I batted his hand away and whined like a child.
     "Let's go," I grumbled.
"Sure thing, babe."
I quirked a brow. "Seriously? 'Babe?' That's the best you can do?" A lazy grin curled my lips. "Try for some originality, Bedhead."
With a challenging gleam in his eye, Hitoshi wrapped his slender fingers around my wrists and pulled me forward until I was stumbling into his chest. Startled, I tipped my head back to stare at him which evidently pleased the smug bastard—curse his height.
He slowly laced our fingers together, raising them upwards as he began to speak.
"How about I call you Kitten instead?" He inclined his head, gently nibbling at the lobe of my ear. "If I pet you, will you purr for me?"
Heat immediately rocketed straight through my entire body, nearly knocking me off of my feet in the process. It quickly settled for pooling in my lower abdomen, creating a needy and uncomfortable itch that could only be satisfied by him. I let out a shaky breath.
Damn right, I will. Was what I wanted to say.
"I'll throat punch you." I snapped instead, but the tremor in my voice took the edge off.
Oh, fuck off. I chided myself. Really voice? Now you betray me? Win argument now, give in later. Now is not the time!
"You've got the attitude too," he smirked. "I like it."
"Bite me."
Hitoshi grinned like a fiend.
"Gladly," he purred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The walk to U.A. was relatively quiet. Well, about as quiet as Hitoshi and I could be that is. Thankfully, not many people were loitering around at this hour. Just a few runners here and there and the odd old woman walking her dog.
When we arrived, the gates were closed and locked tight.
I shrugged, "Trespassing it is."
"Wait—"
But I was already climbing. Hitoshi cursed under his breath and quickly began to follow me up.
It didn't take long for the both of us to scale the fence surrounding U.A. and make our way into the building. Technically, we weren't breaking and entering. We did have permission from a teacher on staff after all... even if I did have to pick the lock...
Hitoshi seemed exasperated, but genuinely unsurprised. "How do you even know how to do that?"
"Years of practice, my friend," I waved him off, not bothering to elaborate. Maybe living as a villain wasn't a complete waste of time—I did pick up a few skills.
After we finished scanning the halls for any potential stragglers that might've stayed behind to do some work, we went to set up in the school's fitness centre. Luckily enough, no one was there. Everyone was well on their way to their internships by now, so the teachers must have decided to take a break.
When we finished setting up the equipment to begin training, I really wasn't expecting Hitoshi to immediately turn to me and demand a sparring match.
"Already? That's supposed to be the end of the day." I commented wearily.
"Since when have you ever followed orders?" He countered.
My eyes narrowed. Slowly, I slipped out of my shoes, kicked them aside, and squared my stance.
"You've got me there." I mock-pouted, tilting my head to the side in feigned confusion. "But aren't you the one that's supposed to be keeping me in check? 'Cause you're doing a pretty shit job, so far."
"That is exactly what I'm doing," he said nonchalantly. "I think you've gotten a little cocky, (Y/N). It's about time someone knocks you down a peg."
The mischievous smirk dancing at the corners of his lips promised trouble. And I lived for trouble.
"So you think that you're gonna be the one to do it?" I scoffed. "Please. You're on, Shinsou."
He used his teeth to tighten the bandages wrapped taught around his left hand and shook himself out, never breaking eye contact. "No quirks allowed, just straight forward hand-to-hand combat. That's it." His eyes sparked with excitement. "And don't hold back."
My knees bent, preparing to spring. "Works for me. Not so sure about you though—you really think that you can beat me without an ace up your sleeve?"
"Who says there isn't?"
A grin crept onto my features as I said, "Then let's do this."
We exploded into action, simultaneously striking out at the other.
My fist connected with his jaw right as his foot made hard contact with my side, sending me sprawling. I rolled into a crouch and was back on my feet in an instant.
Shit, I left myself exposed. I grit my teeth. No matter. He's leaving me openings all over.
I paused a beat as I realized that he was indeed being very sloppy. Is this a trap?
Quickly, my brain scanned every possible angle that he could be working, but nothing seemed to fit. There was no possible way that he could dream of beating me in the position that he was in—he must know this—yet the sly curve to his mouth told me otherwise. What was he playing at?
Deciding to test the waters, I ran towards him. With lightning speed and the precision of a predator, he swung out at me, but I managed to duck under his arm. Seizing his wrist in my tight grip, I twisted it until his hand was pinned between his shoulder blades—just like the first time. I smirked victoriously, but it faltered once I saw the sinister twinkle in his eye.
"You should know better than to let your guard down." He winked.
My body was forced to retreat backwards when Hitoshi viciously whipped his head back to crack against my own. I scowled.
"Rude." I hissed, rubbing my forehead.
He shrugged, licking his lips as he stared me down across the room. "All is fair in love and war."
"You can choke."
"Shouldn't that be your job?" He asked innocently.
Before he could react, I was swinging behind him again. With a hard smack to his temple from the flat of my hand, he was toppling over. I followed in stride and straddled his hips.
"Maybe it should," I purred, tracing my finger from his jawline, down to his throat, and all the way to the defined V of his abdomen. "At least you wish."
Truth be told, so did I.
     Even through his shirt, I could feel his toned muscles. I could see his body in high definition where his sweat was sticking the thin cloth to his skin. Every dip and curve.
I swallowed thickly—this might've been a bad idea.
He gripped my hips, squeezing just enough to make me squirm and lose my train of thought. I blushed as he propped himself up on his elbows, lips barely an inch from my own. The soft caress of his breath fanning against my cheeks instinctively made me close my eyes. I leaned into kiss him—
And suddenly, I was on the ground.
In my distracted state, too busy ogling Hitoshi in a way that I had never allowed myself to do before, I was flipped onto my stomach with my arms pinned to my sides.
"Gotcha," Hitoshi grinned. "I told you that I'd get you back."
"You cheated!" I gasped as I strained against his hold.
"Really?"
I couldn't even gain my bearings before I was being crushed against a hard chest, arms locked around my neck in a chokehold.
"Tap out," he breathed in a sultry manner. I could feel his hot breath tickling the hairs at the nape of my neck.
How the hell did I get here?
"This is dirty," I wheezed. "You tricked me."
"I have no idea what you mean," he snickered.
Oxygen running out, I swallowed my pride and hurriedly tapped his arm to signal my defeat.
     He released me, swiftly rocking onto his heels and offering a hand to help me up.
"I'm never letting you live this down," he chuckled darkly.
"Then I guess I'm just gonna have to beat you senseless until you forget." I retorted, swatting his hand away. "Rematch?"
"Bring it."
We went back and forth like that for hours until we were both dripping sweat and exhausted to the bone. Splayed out on the floor and breathing heavily, I stated, "I win."
"In your dreams," he scoffed.
"Hitoshi, one match does not classify as an overall victory." I said bluntly. "I obliterated you in every other match."
"Still a win in my book." He teased, his head lolling to the side to grin at me. "I shattered your pride."
"I shattered your bones. What's your point?"
He chuckled tiredly. "Touché. You can definitely pack a punch, damn."
"You said no holding back," I reminded him. "So I didn't."
"I can tell," he winced as he stood up and stretched his aching muscles. "You know we still have all of our reps to do, right?"
A loud groan escaped my lips. "That bastard. Aizawa better be making me the best damn waffles this planet ever did see for when I get back or I will be pissed."
"It's not his fault that you couldn't accept defeat."
"You're right," I nodded. "This is your fault. I blame you."
That evening, Hitoshi and I didn't leave U.A. until seven—way longer than six hours. We still had to report back to Aizawa on the day's activities and pray to whatever God there was that he wouldn't make us do anything else.
"Hitoshi," I started sheepishly. "You've really improved your technique. I'm surprised how well you held up against me today."
He gave me a shit-eating grin. "Is that a compliment?"
Sticking my nose up, I said curtly, "No. Not even slightly. It was more of an observation than anything else and honestly, it's not hard to be better than you were before because before you fought like a child—"
His lips sealed my own in a chaste kiss. I froze, but swiftly melted into the feel of his mouth against mine. My tongue swiped across his bottom lip, feeling bold. He hummed in response, but didn't concede and I pulled away with a glare.
"You left me with a huge bruise on my forehead, today! The least you could do is give me a proper kiss," I said childishly.
Smiling softly, Hitoshi placed his lips firmly against my forehead. "All better."
"That's not what I meant," I murmured.
However, I couldn't be mad because the heartbreaking smile on his lips made me forget about everything else. He was illuminated by countless shop lights that surrounded us, the colourful glows sharpening his features into something ethereal. But I could only see the way his mouth curved, somewhat awkwardly and a little crooked, as if he were not used to the feel of his lips turning upwards.
"Hitoshi," I breathed. "I—"
"Shinsou?" A small voice piped up.
Furrowing my brows, I turned to see the tiny blue-haired neko girl that Hitoshi had been helping out in class. She looked frightened, her eyes wide and glancing anywhere but at the two of us. Briefly, I considered the fact that she might have witnessed us kissing just prior to approaching and felt awkward about intruding.
"Tanaka? What are you doing here?" Hitoshi questioned in confusion. "Shouldn't you be at your internship?"
"Well, actually, I-I enrolled too late and there was no one willing to take me," she said sheepishly, fidgeting with a loose string on her sweater dress.
A swell of kinship and pity swelled in my heart for the girl. We would've been in the same boat if Aizawa hadn't stepped in.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I frowned. "Hopefully, next year will be different!"
The girl turned to me with her mouth agape. "O-oh! Thank you so much!" She bowed respectfully.
I waved my hands around, not used to this kind of behaviour. "N-no! There's no need to bow."
She straightened instantly, a blush evident on her features. "Sorry," she rushed.
"I'm (Y/N), if you don't remember." I extended my hand. "We met at school the day you first met Hitoshi."
"I do remember!" She grasped my hand in hers. "I don't think we ever properly introduced ourselves. I'm Tanaka—oh wait! You must know me by my middle name, Aerith. That's what everyone calls me—" She cut off, seemingly embarrassed by her newfound enthusiasm.
Hitoshi watched the awkward exchange with thinly veiled amusement. "What are you doing for the week then?"
"Just some errands..." Aerith stated shyly. "My boss really knows how to keep a girl busy."
"I was actually thinking about getting a job too," Hitoshi said casually. "Is your work hiring, Tanaka?"
"Funny you should ask! We actually are hiring, right now. I'll be sure to put in a good word for you," she chirped. "And please, I told you before, Shinsou... just call me by my first name."
"What is your first name?" I questioned curiously.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The small girl apologized again. "I got sidetracked and didn't tell you my full name!"
"It's fine," I assured her. "If you would prefer me to call you Aerith anyways, then there's no need to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable."
"No, not at all! It's just that the only people who really call me by it are close friends and relatives, so I sometimes forget..." With a beaming smile on her face, she bowed once again and said, "I'm Tanaka Saya."

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