Eijiro Kirishima sat on the ground in front of his mother's rickshaw with his brother Tetsutetsu. Their mother, Hana, sat in the rickshaw clutching her threadbare blanket so hard, her swollen knuckles were turning white.
Eijiro's eyes were fixed on the back of his sister Momo's head. She stood several dozen feet in front of him in the crowd, where she stood among the rest of the village's virgin women.
On a raised platform at the front of the crowd, Lord Enji Todoroki stood with his youngest son, Shoto standing impassively at his side. The lord wore a dark blue suit on his large frame that probably cost more than the Kirishima family's farm was worth.
"Welcome, everyone!" Lord Enji boomed. "The summer solstice draws nigh, and this is the year our great fae protector, the explosion lord Bakugo, demands an offering. I know this is a day all of you dread, but it is a grave responsibility and a great honor for one of our young women to offer her life in exchange for the continued safety of our village."
Eijiro swallowed. He hated this. Every five years, the names of all of Musutafu's unmarried woman over the age of sixteen were carved into wooden chips and placed in a basin that Lord Enji would choose the offering from. This was Momo's second season as a candidate.
"Now! I will draw the name of the young lady who will offer herself up to our protector this season," Lord Enji said, dipping his hand into the basin before him. The entire crowd held their breath as wooden chips clacked against each other.
After a long moment, he withdrew a chip. "The solstice's virgin offering will be..." he paused for dramatic effect, "Momo Kirishima!"
"No!" Eijiro cried, as his mother screamed and burst into tears. Tetsutetsu leapt to his feet, his hands clenched into fists.
Eijiro scanned the crowd and saw that Momo had dropped to her knees. He shoved his way through the crowd towards her. A couple of the women beside her were consoling the now sobbing woman.
"Momo!"
Momo raised her head and looked over her shoulder. She forced her trembling lips into a smile when she saw her little brother. Eijiro dropped to his knees and embraced her.
Eijiro lay a protective arm around Momo's shoulders as he guided her out of the crowd and up the path towards where Tetsutetsu was standing, holding the handles of Hana's rickshaw.
The crowd parted with sympathetic murmurs as they passed.
***
Back at the Kirishima farm, the family sat in heavy silence. Eijiro sat cross-legged next to the stove, while Tetsutetsu paced the short distance between the front and back wall of the cottage. Momo and Hana were huddled together on Hana's cot; Hana rubbing comforting circles on her daughter's back. Momo's tears were still flowing silently.
"I'm sorry," Momo whispered.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, dear," Hana said.
"Yes I do!" Momo said. "When I get burned up, you'll forever be known as the 'whore's family'! I'm so sorry..." She buried her face in the fabric of her tattered skirt.
"Wait what?! You're not a virgin?" Eijiro asked, eyes widening.
Momo shook her head without raising it.
Tetsutetsu growled. "Who's the bastard? I'll pulverize him!"
"It was consensual, Tetsu," Momo said.
Tetsutetsu looked chastened but still pissed. He looked like he was about to say something else when there was a knock on the door.
Eijiro stood up to answer it and found himself face-to-face with a thin young man with half red and half white hair and a large burn scar over his right eye. He was holding a parcel fastened with ribbon.
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I'll Be The Last (Fae!Bakugo x Human!Kirishima)
FanfictionKatsuki is a cursed fae, banished to a pocket realm and forced to use his magic to protect a human village until he dies, unless he can earn his freedom by falling in love with a human and earning their love in return. He has had 49 human wives, but...
