Izuku and His Dragon Maid

Chapter 20: Awakening

It had been less than a day since Izuku, Tohru, and Kanna have come to Mythra and already things had gone wrong. Kanna had been missing ever since he regained consciousness. He found Tohru, but he felt as it was a bit too late. Even as she laid down next to him, the glassy, distant look had never left her eyes. From the moment he rescued her from those nasty dragon-like creatures, she had that look. It was obvious that she was traumatized, but he had absolutely no idea how to help her. Or if he could even fix her...

He shook his head free of any dreadful thoughts about her future, instead focusing on the present. Night had fallen and he had easily secured a place for the two to stay. If Izuku were to find Kanna in the morning, then he'd have to get some rest. Which was why, when he laid down in the bed, he pulled Tohru along with him. She emotionlessly fell onto the bed next to him causing a rather large hassle to occur when he tried position her comfortably. His arm calmly wrapped around her, pulling her in close as he tightened his grip on her. I'm never letting you go again. The feeling of the pillows only lulled him into a dream quicker. It was like nestling between two fluffy peaks of down.

It only felt like a couple of minutes passed by when he woke up. Between falling asleep and waking up, he felt that the process was no more than 15 minutes. He wanted some more sleep, but there was a point that he had to open his eyes, unless he wanted to waste a day. Knowing he would feel guilty if he gluttonously gathered more sleep, he opened his eyes. Instantly, his ears were flooded by two familiar cries for his name. The shadows casting downwards were blinding; it took him a few seconds for his eyes to gather the blurred details in front of him. With a few blinks, he could see that Tohru and Kanna were hovering over him.

He barely had a moment to register what was going on before two sets of arms wrapped around him. Enveloped in a warm hug that he gingerly accepted, Izuku tried to wrap his mind about the situation he was in. There were two answers: One was he was dreaming about the previous day's events. The second, was that he was currently trapped in a dream...although, now that he thought back on it, yesterday really felt like a nightmare. And his assumptions were only reinforced as Tohru spoke, albeit muffled. "I'm so happy, you're finally awake, Izuku!"

After relishing in the warmth of their combined hug, along with Tohru's constant gushing, Izuku finally got the chance to speak. "What exactly happened?" With lightning fast reflexes, he grabbed Tohru's hand as it shot like a bullet for the bottom of the shirt he was wearing. But where did the white shirt come from? They hadn't packed much clothing, only the essentials. As he thought about it, he hadn't noticed that her fingers had extended enough to hold the hem with two fingers. With unprecedented force, she brought her arm up, with another she gestured to his stomach.

"This," the shirt had no time to come off of him before it tore, "is what happened." His head reared back before shooting forward, prepared to yell at Tohru for tearing off his clothing...especially because Kanna was around. But his attention was torn away by three long, crimson marks brazenly blazing on his chest. It was as if seeing the wound registered the pain that came along with it. With every weak beat of his chest, with every breath he took, with every bead of wind that came his way; pain writhed within him. It was like a brand constantly marking him for death, the boiling feeling pressing into him with every small thing he did. "You shouldn't move around too much, you might reopen your wounds if you're not careful."

"Didn't you," Izuku bit his lip after he took a breath, "didn't you two grab on to me the minute I woke up? And just now? Wouldn't that be jostling?" A warm, viscous feeling ran down his stomach. He ran a hand through the bleeding fluid, "see? You two jostled me," he held up a bloody hand before falling onto his back, "now I'm going to die." He stuck out his tongue and tilted his head to the side, faking his death.