Rescue // Shoto Todoroki x OC Fanfiction

Chapter Four

Twelve Years ago - Katsumi Age 11

"You have to get up, hon," her mother said in a sweet voice. Katsumi lay on the ground in a heap, tired out from the overuse of her light quirk. Her skin burned, and even calling in her shadows did little to satiate the aches all across her body. Despite the sweetness in her mother's voice, Katsumi knew what she'd see if she were to look up at her mom's face. 

Pure coldness and disinterest. She didn't know why her mother was doing this to her. 

Well, she had the reasons her mom told her, but it still didn't make sense for her to be pushed so hard when she was barely able to control her quirk yet. Her mother would tell her over and over again why she was born. Why she was 'created'. 

Her mother didn't love her--no. At least, Katsumi didn't think so. She'd heard the other students in her class talk about their families in loving ways, but her home life had never been like that. Her father, completely withdrawn, never spoke to her. Her mother ignored her unless her mom decided it was time for another practice session. 

She was a disappointment. She knew that. Her mom made sure to tell her that every single time she lay in a heap on the ground, rendered useless by her own quirk. 

"Get up, Katsumi, get up!" Her mother whipped at her with her shadows, causing the child to cry out. She only whipped her again. "Get up, we're not done yet!"

* * *

Present Day

Katsumi woke up with her face resting against the cold glass of the bullet train window. Shoto sat across from her, giving her a puzzled look. She averted her eyes and focused on the darkened landscape out the window. 

"How close are we?" she asked. 

"About thirty minutes out." Shoto crossed one of his legs over the other, and with a side-eye glance, she saw that Shoto was still staring at her. "What?" she asked sharply. 

"Is no one allowed to look at you now?" he prodded. 

"I certainly don't want you staring me down all the time." She stuck her tongue out at him and frowned. He rolled his eyes and fixed his gaze out the window as well. 

They arrived at the station thirty minutes later as promised, and entered the city. Shoto looked down at the map on his phone and led them to the rendezvous point sent to him by the sidekick currently following their target. Walking through the city side by side, they finally came up on the meeting location. 

"He's currently in the bar right across the street there," his sidekick told us. "The place is known for a lot of under-the-table villain activity."

"Thank you," Shoto said. Then, he dismissed them. 

They stayed in the alleyway across the street, eyeing the entrance to the bar, waiting for their man. 

The target was a man in his mid-thirties who was registered with a shielding quirk. Not much on its own, but it definitely could pose an issue if used in conjunction with their main target, Mind Maker. It could make it more difficult to make an arrest if they got that far. 

"How long do you think he's going to be in there?" she asked Shoto, breaking the silence that had grown between them. They sat behind a dumpster, keeping their eyes on the entrance of the bar. 

"Growing impatient already?"

"I'm just curious what his patterns are." Katsumi shifted her body and crouched down on the balls of her feet, stretching her arms over her head. 

"So far, he hasn't frequented the same place twice. No patterns." Shoto looked down at her with his arms crossed over his chest. 

"You're staring again," she stated. "Shouldn't you be keeping your eyes on the target?" 

He didn't respond but instead turned his gaze back to the bar. Right as he did so, the man stepped through the entrance and started to walk down the street with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. After waiting a second to create some distance, they headed off down the street after him. 

The first night on the job warranted no results. The man made a few more stops before checking in at a hotel where he stayed for the remainder of the night. On the rooftop from where they watched the hotel, Shoto and Katsumi took turns resting while the other kept their eyes on the building. 

In the morning, the man left the hotel, got a coffee, and did nothing strange or noteworthy. He went to a shopping center and bought a change of clothes which at least told them that he was traveling, had the hotel not told them that already. He had yet to lead them anywhere of importance. 

"Are you sure this is the right guy?" Katsumi asked her partner. She leaned against a brick building and stuck her hands in her pockets. 

"Are you doubting my intel?" he retorted. 

"No, I'm just saying--he hasn't done a single suspicious thing for hours."

"We've only just started." Shoto pulled the beanie from his head and raked a hand through his matted hair before putting it back on. He wore a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses much like the ones Katsumi wore, which shielded their recognizable eyes. "There's still plenty of time for us to learn something. Patience must not be a trait of yours, then?"

His saying they've only just started is what annoyed her. She didn't want this dragging on any longer than it had to. She had no interest in spending her time with Shoto. He was annoying just to look at, let alone talk to. She sighed and adjusted her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose. "I'm patient. I'm just not fond of being here with you."

"Do I really bother you that much?" he scoffed. 

"Yeah," she stated plainly. 

"Like I stated, I'm able to be professional about this, but are you? You've been acting extremely bothered this whole time. I don't want your attitude problem to get in the way of this mission. This is important."

"I don't have an attitude problem," she frowned. 

"Yes, you do."

"And you don't?"

"I'm a professional. I don't let feelings get in the way of my work." 

Katsumi rolled her eyes and looked back to the restaurant that their target sat in, eating a bowl of noodles. Her stomach growled, and she rubbed her abdomen with her hand. If she didn't get something to eat here soon, then she would start to have an attitude. 

"I don't have like you," she told him. "Let's just get through this, okay? I won't cause any issues if you don't."

His jaw twitched in annoyance. "You always start the issues." His eyes narrowed at her, but she brushed him off, focusing back on the target. 

"He's on the move again," she stated, changing the subject. Once again, they walked down the street together, tailing after the thug. 

When the guy stopped again, Katsumi turned into a convenience store and purchased some food for the two of them that they could eat while they worked. Shoto took it from her with a quiet thank you and trained his eyes back on the target. 

This was going to be a long and boring mission, Katsumi thought.