Dancing Shadows

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bakugou's POV-
   Cherry moves with careful, calculated steps. It's our first time sparring with quirks since the very first time and I can tell she's nervous by the way she fiddles her fingers of her left hand, yet determined when she clenches her right into a fist. Good. I need something real to distract me right now.

   I go to make my first move, a solid right hook, but she teleports out of the way just in time. I can't help but scoff, "Really, Cherry? Another game of cat and mouse? I thought we were past this."

   She chuckles from a few feet ahead and I feel my chest fill with warmth at the sound. "Never. Now come and try to catch me."

   I roll my eyes as she steps forward. "You know how this went down last time. How do you expect to win this time?"

   She grins. "Why don't you get over here and find out?"

   I do exactly that. It's the same as last time. Even though she's much better at switching up her positions this time, I still have the advantage of light over her. Once I figure out her pattern, it only takes one blast to stop her from escaping and within moments I have her pinned to the ground. I look down at her and she's smiling back up at me, an excited sparkle in her eyes. "Why the smile, Cherry? You've lost."

   "You wish." She replies.

   With a sly wink, she's gone. I realize my mistake: I extinguished my blast too quickly. She could still escape. I look up and around to find where she's gone now when I hear a sound above me. I immediately roll to the side and Cherry falls and lands on her feet right where I previously was.

   I raise an eyebrow at her. "Not too bad. But still not good enough."

   Suddenly, she's gone again and this time I immediately look towards the ceiling. Nothing. Just as I turn to look behind me, she's already landed a kick to my back. I fall a few steps forward and turn around to see she's already disappeared. I find her on the other side of the room now. Yet another game of hers. I decide to play into it. She finds my blind spots and uses them to land a few hits. She's lost the pattern. I feel pride bubble up inside me at this reveal of such impressive progress.

   Of course, I don't have much time to think about it because I am still in the middle of a fight. A few more hits and I've grown annoyed. I realize her breath staggering. She must be getting tired. I think back to how she told me that teleportation requires great focus and that sometimes, by accident, she'll teleport things that are touching her when she loses that focus. That's the way. She still doesn't want to use her quirk on me in any of her direct physical attacks but they aren't strong enough on their own yet to take me down. She's waiting for one of my blind spots to provide a better angle because hitting me in the right spot is the only way to take me down. But she's getting tired and I'm not. She'll grow impatient, lose focus, and eventually slip up. I just need to catch her in that moment before she finds her angle. Then, she won't be able to get away.

   She lands another hit. And another. And another. She speeds up the process as she grows more and more exhausted.  Finally, I catch her slipping. As she teleports behind me, her foot hits a rock and she stumbles forward. She realizes but it's too late. I've already grabbed ahold of her arm with one hand just before she's managed to teleport. I use my other hand to create small, consistent explosions in my hand as we reappear on the other side of the room.

   The shocked look on her face is priceless. "Any other tricks up your sleeve, mouse?"

   Her shock turns to a smile as she laughs. "Whatever, Baku. Let me go."

   I let go of her arm but don't extinguish the flame. "Okay. But the light doesn't go out until you admit that I beat you."

   She rolls her eyes and says, "Make me." as she starts to run away.

   I quickly run after her, keeping the light as close as possible so that she can't use her quirk. It's only a matter of time before I catch up to her and grab her again, this time by her hand. She turns to look at me as I pull her into me and screams in laughter as I use just one arm to hold onto her. "Just say it!" I shout.

   "Fine!" She says as she finally escapes my grasp. She turns to face me and grabs ahold of my shoulders as she says, "You beat me. You are absolutely amazing."

   What started out as joke suddenly doesn't feel that way anymore. Her comments hits me so hard I struggle to breathe for a brief moment. "What?"

   She seems confused at the question. "What do you mean what? You're incredible!"

   I can't help but smile at her. She's so genuinely kind that it seems impossible. "Thanks." I let my light go out.

   With her hands still on my shoulders, she gets on her tip-toes and places a kiss as far up as she can reach, which would be my jaw. My heart skips a beat. She pulls away and smiles back at me.

   In that moment, I barely even have time to think about what I'm doing before my lips are on hers. I feel her smile even wider than before as she kisses me back. I place my hands on her waist as things heat up more quickly than usual. She steps closer to me and lightly bites my lip. I gasp in surprise. She takes it as an opportunity to fight my tongue with hers. For the first time, I don't care that she wins. She pulls away and I open my eyes to look down at her. She's breathing just as heavily as I am. Her eyes are flickering between their natural color and the black color they turn when she uses her quirk, something I've never seen happen in moments like these.

   Her eyes lock with mine as she bites her lip and uses her quirk to push me up against the wall behind me. She seems shocked by her own actions and I can tell that she is about to apologize but I pull her in for another kiss before she has the chance.

   One of her hands drags down to rest on my chest as her other hand moves up to grab me by the back of the neck. With only a few movements, she already has more control over me than anyone ever has. Once again her tongue is slipping into my mouth and a groan slips out of my mouth at the feeling.

   I feel my face flush red as she breaks the kiss for a moment to giggle. "You are so cute." She mutters. I realize I've never had anyone call me cute before. I don't mind it from her.

   As her lips grace mine again, I pull her as close to me as possible and feel myself melt under her touch like putty.

   We continue like this for a few minutes more. Then, her lips leave mine. Before I even have the time to wonder why, she's leaving soft kisses along my jaw and eventually down my neck. They become gradually more and more intimate and as they do, I become more and more breathless. As she reaches my collarbone, I can feel her smirk against my skin just before she gently bites it. I have zero control over the gasp that leaves my mouth, nor the breathy moan that follows when she places an open-mouthed kiss on the same spot.

   It takes all of my self control to push her away from me. She looks up at me, waiting for me to say something. "Don't think that I'm not fucking enjoying this, because that is definitely not the case, but this feels too public. We should head back to the dorms."

   She nods and pulls on my arm to check my watch. "You're definitely right. We need to eat anyways. It's almost three pm and we haven't eaten at all today since we ran late this morning." She sighs before adding in a disappointed yet teasing tone, "Too bad. I could've stayed liked this all day. Another time I guess."

   I match her cocky grin and reply, "I'll hold you to that."