Protecting You (Katsuki Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 19- Fear of the Unknown

Edited 5/17/23

Stain was staring at you. Not in fear nor in awe. He stared at you like one would do a mirror. You both were on each other's list, yet one could say your ideologies were extremely similar. You recognized what real heroes should do...you didn't claim to be a hero. Stain was a man that idealized heroism too, that only a person with a pure persona like All Might could ever truly call themselves a hero. Perhaps in another life, the two of you would have been allies, possibly friends.

"Who would have thought that Shinobi was a young girl? That quirk, a blade like mine, and eyes like yours...I know exactly who you are." Stain stated with a grin on his crazed face. Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida looked at you shocked, they were unaware you arrived on the scene. They were frozen in place somehow, and the hero that was injured was also cemented in place close to the brick alleyway wall.

"H-his quirk-!" Midoriya started to say but you cut him off.

"Don't worry, I know exactly who and what Stain is." You walked forward, unsheathing your blade.  The hilt had two long scratches etched in, a mark of a familiar training blade you used in your village as a child. You immediately recognized it and held the katana in your hands as merely an extension of your own arms. The familiarity of a blade can mean the difference between life or death, and for Stain... this difference meant death.

"You've avoided my list for far too long Stain. Picking on school children? I thought you had higher standards than that?" You spoke with narrowed eyes. Your presence alone was strong and powerful, your eyes a blazing scarlet red that shone through the shadows of the alley. Stain gripped his blade, slight nervousness coming through his hands. He stopped shaking immediately, recognizing the pathway to your defeat lingered within a single drop of blood.

"You are making a mistake by challenging me, just as your little friends did." Stain gripped his blade much tighter and grew a more confident expression on his face. Todoroki looked at you in fear, his cyan eye and reddened facial scar exposed.

"(Y/n)! Get out of here!" You flashed Todoroki a smile, stunning him as if the sun was peaking through raging storm clouds. The rays of your confidence and brilliance were nothing like the you at school, or the you he burnt at the sports festival. It was like you were finally unleashed to perform to your full potential.

"It's alright, Shoto. I won't let you or anyone else die tonight. Trust me."

He wanted you to run. Desperately, he wished he could move his feet so he could take you away from here in payment for his debt of hurting you.  You still had a chance compared to the rest of them. Shoto wanted to protect you so you knew he meant it when he said he wasn't like his father. He would correct his mistakes.

"Oh so now you're playing hero now for your little friends? You're no hero, Shinobi." You walked in front of your friends to defend them, Iida beginning to protest but was silenced by Midorya speaking calming words. You gripped your katana and fell back into a defensive stance, your red eyes illuminated in the night.

"I don't need to be a hero to kick your ass. Deku, the moment you are free from the confines of his quirk, get the rest of them out of here. The fewer distractions the better," your voice declared unwaveringly. Iida chimed in protest of your statement.

"But what about you?! He fought all of us and we all got caught! You can't take this on alone!" Iida gritted out. Your eyes turned to look at the navy haired hero in training. The irony of Iida's idiocy was genuinely amusing.

"Iida, I am more capable of defeating Stain than any other pro-hero is right now. Todoroki was right from the beginning and I wish I could have told you the truth...but it is my job to protect you all." Todoroki remembered him questioning you and the hurt expression on your face...you were protecting him? From what?