~BNHA~ Everything That I Am

Chapter 23

"Ow! Kacchan, that hurts!"

Izuku pulled away from Kacchan's rough handling as he attempted to help in pulling out the splinters of wood that were still lodged throughout his body.

"Don't be such a Deku." Kacchan grumbled.

Izuku flinched as he used the small, cheap, quality tweezers to yank out another splinter from his torso. The sudden jerk only made his ribs ache in protest.

The blonde looked rather pale as well. Kacchan's shoulder was still bleeding, a sluggish pool of red dampening the last of the gauze. Izuku considered returning to the pharmacy to restock now that they had won.

Some part of him protest it wasn't a rather heroic act to steal from them after they had killed some of Hachiro's men, but Izuku brushed the thought aside since they had attacked them first. He didn't have time to be mulling over the moral good or bad of stealing from their enemies.

"Can you still not move your arm?" Izuku asked.

"No, it's pretty useless, hurts like a bitch, not that I'm complaining like a certain crybaby."

Kacchan made a point of attempting to move his arm, but he couldn't do more than clench his fingers into a weak fist.

This worried Izuku.

If Kacchan's wound was serious enough that it damaged the nerves, then his quirk may not work properly anymore. That would put the entire group at a disadvantage if their strongest fighter was out of commission.

"Don't be mean." Chieko said.

Izuku and Kacchan both turned at the same time to look over at Chieko, who was lingering over by the door. She looked better than she had been earlier when they first found her, so that was one good thing to be relieved about.

"Hey." Izuku whispered.

Chieko didn't smile.

Her lower lip jutted out in a worried pout as she eyed their wounds. Izuku said nothing, knowing she was struggling with the fear of using her quirk over helping with their injuring and Izuku would be lying if he said he didn't want to ask her to help them. Logically, it was the better option since her healing quirk would heal her at a faster rate. It could keep Kacchan from having any permanent damage, since her shoulder would recover easily from the injury.

Logically, it was the best option.

The flashing image of Chieko in the hospital room sitting alone in that wheel chair lifeless and covered in bandages came to mind.

Izuku analyzed everyone's quirk this way. Their advantages, their disadvantages. It was second nature to him and was the best thing for their group to survive, but every time he tried to consider the benefits of Chieko's quirk.

That image would come to mind, and Izuku would stop in his tracks. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. So, Izuku would rather deal with the pain than to give in and ask Chieko to take it upon herself.

"Hey.." Chieko said.

"Don't linger over their like a creeper, just come in already." Kacchan said.

Kacchan's face didn't show it, but Izuku could hear what he was trying to hide. Kacchan's voice was harsh, but there was a slight twinge of worry to his words that Izuku wasn't sure if anyone would have picked up unless they knew Kacchan as long as he did.

Chieko lingered another few seconds before she hung her head resigned and moved to sit down next to Kacchan. Her fingers pulled at the end of her new hoodie as she bit into her lip.