Devotion

Chapter 34: Old Scars

When Christina walked into class 1A she was greeted by a group of classmates surrounding her. Mina was in front looking over at her previously injured arm. Feeling a bit uncomfortable being surrounded by that many people the brunette took a step back towards the door way.

"Are you ok, we heard you got injured" Mina asked, Christina let out a sigh and smiler at her classmates.

"I'm fine" she said motioning to her arm,

"It's all healed up" she continued. The group backed up leaving the girl room to breath. At that moment a heavy silence washed over the room. People were not only glancing at Christuna but Shoto, Iida, and Midoryia as well. There was no doubt in the brown haired girl's mind that it was due to the incident with Stain. Just thinking about it made her angry.

"It must have been really scary" Urararaka commented. No one really said anything.

"I heard Endevor saved you guys" another student commented. Christina cursed under her breath, how she hated hearing that man's name. What she hated even more was the fact that he was getting praised for something he didn't do. Hell, if it hadn't been for the laws the heros put in place he wouldn't be getting the undeserved praise. Christina looked over at Shoto, he was visibly tense and there was a look in his eyes. A look of resentment and anger, she couldn't blame him.

"He did" Shoto confirmed a tiny bit of anger in his tone. The brunette could tell he was holding back his emotions. Meanwhile Midoryia was sitting at his desk with a blank expression on his face. She frowned looking around the room.

"So Urararaka, how was your internship" she asked changing the subject.

"It was really helpful" thr girl cheered,

"I really learned a lot" she continued.

"I'm glad to hear that" Christina responded smiling. The class seemed to cheer up talking about how their internships had gone.

"Christina, may I speak to you outside" Iida asked.

"Sure" she said as the two of them left the classroom.

"So, what do you need to talk about" she asked,

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry" the blue haired male said with a remorseful look on his face.

"Hey, there's no need to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong" she said.

"But, because of my actions you ended up getting injured. You could have died" he said. Christina was surprised, she had never seen Iida act like this before.

"We're training to be heros, it's expected for us to get hurt every now and then" she said.

"Besides, I don't blame you" she continued. Iida looked at her wide eyed.

"After what happened with your brother I can't say i don't understand why you did it." She finished.

"My actions were foolish" he said, Christina nodded.

"Everyone makes mistakes. That doesn't make you a bad person, it just makes you human" she told him before pulling him into a hug. He looked at her surprised,

"Thank you" he said. She let go still smiling.

"Now, don't blame yourself." She told him, he nodded as the two of them reentered the classroom. That's when she was approached by Kirishima who looked at her right leg with a curious glint in his eyes. Christina raised an eyebrow confused,

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something" he said.

"What is it" she asked,

"Why do you limp like that when you walk?" He asked. It was at that moment Christina froze. She had almost forgotten about her permanent limp, though the injury that had caused it had happened when she was a little girl she could remember it clear as day.

Shouting filled the home as a man stood over the much smaller, shaking figure of a little girl. Her dark brown hair hung in front of her face as she held her arms up.

"I want you out of my sight" the man yelled his words slurred. The stench of alchohol wreaked, he held a half empty bear bottle in one hand while using the other to grab the little girl by the arm. Christina cried out begging and pleading only for her pleas to fall on deaf ears. Her mother was too busy smoking a cigarette in the kitchen as she listened to the cries of her daughter apathetically.

"Shut the fuck up, you're giving me a headache" she yelled. The crying became softer as the brown haired little girl was dragged to the basement door, she began to thrash in her father's grip.

"Please, I don't wanna go down there" she begged. Ignoring her the man who she knew as her father slammed the door open shaking the walls of the house. Without a second thought he tossed his daughter down the stairs not caring what injuries it would cause. Her small body tumbled down each step leaving bruises on the skin that came in contact with the floor. Suddenly, as she hit the basement floor there was a loud crack followed by a terrible pain in her leg. Tears blurred her vision as the door above was closed and locked leaving her in the dimly lit basement.

Christina looked down at her right leg quickly regretting doing so. It was bent at an angel that was not normal, it throbbed with pain causing the girl to cry. She used all the strength she had left to drag herself over to the dirty mattress that was her bed. Sitting down she reached for a box, it was one of the few things her parents had given her. It was filled with medical supplies, knowing she wouldn't be taken to a hospital the little girl closed her eyes and put the broken bone back into it's place. It looked normal enough. She then pulled out what she would need to keep her leg straight. The pain was still there although it had subsided a bit.

For the next three weeks Christina was left in the basement unable to walk due to her leg. To her surprise her mother never demanded she do any chores and her father left her along for the most part, except for yelling and insulting her when he was drunk.

Christina gasped pulling at the ends of her hair, her leg healed eventually, but it didn't heal correctly resulting in the brunette having a permanent limp. It was just another reminder of what her life had been like, something that made those awful memories come flooding back no matter how hard she tried to bury them.

"Hey, you ok" Kirishima asked, she looked up at him.

"Yeah....." she trailed of quietly. Her classmates looked at her concerned but she simply waved them off.