Rejected Stones

Born of Battle, Born of Blood

This document Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

23: Born of Battle, Born of Blood

Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.

-Homer, The Iliad

Bakugo stalked off alone after dinner, still angry. The others were going to do that stupid test of courage. Well, he wasn't going to play their silly games. No damn point. He wasn't scared of dumbass tricks or weird noises. And he was still too pissed off about Hatsume to be around anyone anyway.

"Sometimes getting away from everyone can help you blow off some steam, ruff. Exercise is good too. Bark! If you get so mad you can't think straight, get alone, and literally explode, Katsuki."

"Oh screw you, Ryo," Bakugo muttered to himself. He ground his teeth, shoving his hands in his pockets. He found himself hearing Mr. Inui, better known as Hound Dog, in his head whenever he was getting cheesed off.

He thought back to dinner. Sitting with Uraraka. Bakugo would have died if anyone had realized it, but he thought she was kind of hot. Especially after her time with Gunhead. She'd gotten pretty ripped, and she had kicked his ass in that hand to hand fight in their last training session before school ended. Sure, losing had pissed him off, but he'd never met a girl who was actually decent in a fight before. Well, except maybe the rest of his classmates. Most of them weren't complete losers.

"But that damn brownnoser Iida was there as well," Bakugo muttered. Girls would go for the straight laced nerdy type. Midoriya! Weak, worthless Midoriya had a girlfriend, the quirkless loser who-

Bakugo stopped, putting his hands to his head, gritting his teeth. "I'm strong," he whispered to himself. "I'm stronger than my anger. I don't need to put others down to make myself strong. I make myself strong by making others stronger too. To be strong, you have to test yourself. Losing doesn't mean you're weak, it means you can still get stronger. Winners are not born, winners are made."

Things had gone downhill so fast after the Sports Festival. First, Iida had lectured Bakugo, in front of half the class, about beating up disabled people and discrimination. He could have tried to explain that he'd beaten Mei bloody not because she was autistic or whatever but because she canceled his quirk and broke his damn nose, and that he hated Izuku for looking down on him, not for being quirkless, but what was the point? Bakugo didn't need to justify himself. Or, he thought he hadn't. After that, no one would speak to him unless forced. Not even Kirishima, who before had acted like a lost puppy or something.

And then came the requests by agencies after the Sports Festival. Todoroki was showered with them, but chose his father, the spoiled brat. Ashido got several dozen. Tokoyomi got one from Hawks, a top ten hero. Uraraka, damn her for being so nice, got ten. Even Iida, who hadn't even placed, got a few as did several others. But how many did Bakugo, the second place finisher get? None.

Because he was weak. Not because his quirk wasn't strong. Not because he couldn't fight. Not even because he had lost to a quirkless boy. But because he had beaten a girl bloody, when he could have found another way. Because he had ranted, and raved, and boasted, and bragged. Because he was proud. He was weak. And he needed to find a way to become strong again.

After repeating the mantra to himself a couple of times, Bakugo was still royally pissed off. But not at Midoriya or Iida. At himself. Bakugo had been mad at himself a lot in the last few months. Really, he'd been mad at himself for a long time. Mr. Inui had helped him see that.

"Dammit, All Might." Bakugo started jogging through the woods, not really sure where he was going. He was following a sort of path up a hill, and he knew he could make his way back if he needed to. He'd always had a great sense of direction.