Golden Touch (BnHA)

Chapter 29: Time for a Change

"Mrs. Saito." Kula said cooly.

"It hurts me that you don't call me mom." She said, a sad look appearing on her face.

"Yeah and it hurts me when you punch my face with a gold covered fist. Guess we're even, may I go to my room?" Kula asked. She was tired and didn't want to have to deal with the woman standing in front of her. She just wanted a nap and to be alone.

"Yes yes. Though, I want you to do one thing for me." Her eyes landed on the medal that was around Kula's neck, and an all too familiar look of greed appeared.

"No." Kula said, placing her hand over the medal almost protectively. She had earned this medal herself, she had earned it alongside Mika. It held value to her. "You can take other things to sell, but this is mine. I earned it, I keep it."

Her mother sighed as she crossed her arms, "Kula, sweetie. You're not in a position to defy me, you know this." Gold slowly started to spread over her fingers, and the smile on her face became tense.

"Yeah? Well I don't care anymore." Kula said. "Please, just leave me alone." She started walking past her mom, only to receive a hand on her shoulder. As she turned to look at her mom, a hard fist made contact with the middle of her face and she stumbled back.

Reaching up to her nose, she felt the wetness of blood starting to run down, and a stinging on her upper lip told her that it was busted. She looked at her mom with pure anger and lunged forwards, punching her in the cheek. She watched as her head snapped to the side before she slowly turned back to look at Kula.

"Darling. Sweetie. You Know I love you, so put your fists down and just do this small favor for mommy." She said, her tine dangerous.

"Make me." Kula challenged, widening her stance.

The expression on the woman's face turned sour— more so than before. She lunged forward and landed a harsh blow on Kula's gut, before harshly grabbing her neck and dug her fingers into it, the gold on her hands sharpening. Kula punched her mom in the gut and felt her let go and she stumbled back until she bumped into someone. Looking over her shoulder, she made eye contact with her dad, who had his hand on her forearm. It happened in less than a second, she felt her whole body tense unnaturally.

"Honey, you know to listen to your mother." Her dad said softly. "Now, let's give your mother that medal of yours, hm?"

Kula felt her arms moving to grab for the medal around her neck and she slowly started taking it off.

No. I can't let her have it— this medal is proof that I can amount to something! Kula thought, gritting her teeth. Suddenly, she stopped moving, much to the confusion of her parents. "I'm not going to let you win again." She said, her voice strained. The amount of energy it took to resist the effect of her dad's quirk was immense, but she had finally had enough. Holding her breath, she reached her hand up and bit on the fabric of her glove, pulling it off. Looking at her dad through the corner of her eye, she reached behind her with her ungloved hand, grabbing a fistful of his shirt.

Her mom was behind her in an instant, grabbing onto Kula's wrist, her grip tightening by the second. "What do you think your doing?" She asked cooly.

"You guys love gold, right? Then why don't you wear it. I would turn you to gold, but that would be too nice for you." She growled. Wincing as her mom's grip on her wrist tightened even more, stronger and heavier than the average person due to the coat of gold. Her father shifted slightly before he fell back, weighed down by his now pure gold shirt. Feeling the effects of his quirks drop she turned to her mom, ignoring the sharp pain and popping sounds in her wrist as her wrist was snapped to to the side by the older woman. Fighting through the pain, Kula reached her now limp hand forwards and forced herself to grab a handful of her shirt.

"You're going to regret this." Her mom said, "You have nowhere to turn to. Nobody will want you because of what and who you've been involved with. We saved you from the streets, you belong to us."

"I belong to myself, and nobody else." Kula said, pushing her hand forwards once her mom's shirt had been fully covered. She watched as her mom fell back, pulling Kula down with her, the wrist she was holding now starting to discolor and bleed— her wrist was definitely broken. Pulling away, Kula stood up and backed away holding her wrist close to her chest.

"You're going to regret this." Her dad said.

"The only thing I regret is not doing this sooner." And with that, Kula turned and walked out of the house.

***

Instinctively, Kula walked towards U.A. She didn't know why she was heading to the school— most of the teachers there were probably already out of the building and doing hero work. The only teachers that might be there would be ones who worked overtime.

Walking up the hill towards the school, Kula received a few glances from passerbys. She didn't really judge them for staring, she probably looked like she crawled up from hell and fought a few demons on the way up. He'll, that's pretty much what happened. Stopping in front of the gate, she looked up at the school. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to walk forwards towards the door of the building. Forcing herself up the stairs, she reached forwards for the door with her uninjured hand, only to have it open before she could even reach the handle. Kula looked up to have her eyes meet Erasure Head's.

Relief washed over her, as well as exhaustion, pain, and overwhelming panic. The adrenaline that had been keeping her going had finally died down, and she scrunched up her face, her eyes watering. She took in a stuttering breath, "Sir, I know you don't like me, but please, I need help."