Flames (A Hawks X OC story)

Chapter 18

Mai's P.O.V 

Izuku stood before me fully powered up, I tried not to chuckle at his fighting stance as I remembered teaching him how to throw a punch when he was still in primary school. He had altered it to be more his style, a marked improvement from what I taught him. I'd had to adjust my fighting style to support my leg injury, making the way I hold myself completely different from someone without a limp. 

"Please try not to kill me" Izuku let out a nervous laugh as I took my own stance. 

I watched him try to decide whether he really wanted to fight me or not, trying to analyse if I would take it easy. Realistically, I had no choice but to pull my punches... I wasn't fully healed from my last real fight and no one was allowed to know I was related to Allmight so showing off had no logical use, 

A jolt went through my body as he raced towards me, exponentially faster than before he started high school. I caught his hand as he tried to land a punch, smirking when his face dropped. He tugged on his hand trying to get free while I stood unmoving, watching Katsuki try to hide his laughter at the back of the room. I pushed my hand forward watching Izuku stumble back slightly. 

"Word of the wise, if you're going to attack someone do not assume how you saw them fight before is the only way they can." I took a step back as I spoke, laying the pro hero persona on as thickly as possible while I dodged Izuku's punches. 

He smirked as he swiped at my leg suddenly, expecting me to fall or stumble. Instead, he was met with a small blue circle stopping his leg just before it touched me. He let out what I could only call a childish giggle under his breath as he looked between me and my shield. He returned to swinging at me after a moment, muttering patterns under his breath. 

"You're overthinking it young Midoriya! Don't spend the entire match looking for patterns and start looking for weaknesses" Dad's voice sounded out as I jumped, landing on a platform I created just above Izu. 

"Allmight is right, you're too focused trying to predict my next attack. I haven't even broken a sweat and you're running out of ideas Midoriya." I leaned down to look at him from my position. "I hope you like running drills" A wide smile built up on my face as he looked at me annoyed.

Suddenly, I felt the same tug from earlier and Izu grasped onto the top of my suit, throwing me across the room with as much might as he could safely muster. I turned my body in the air as I broke through one of my own glyphs, landing safely on one knee across the room from him. The electricity sparking around me matched him for a second before it dissipated. 

I hadn't actually thrown an attack at Izuku the entire time he had been sparring with me, electing to train my intuition further whilst throwing the occasional bit of smack talk at my younger brother. However, when he let out a cheerful fist pump at successfully throwing me, I decided that it wasn't fair not to fight back at least a little. 

Izuku braced himself as I ran forward, quickly settling myself behind him. He swung around as I disappeared from his sight, eyes widening as he saw how close I had gotten. He took a step back before bracing himself for the attack. He dodged my first punch and my second as he sidestepped away from me. 

"The best skill I learned at school - " Izuku let out a grunt as my leg landed against his side, sending him sprawling on the ground "Is that sometimes going back to the basics is your best option" I held my hand out to Izu as an offer of a truce. 

Turning to the rest of the class I watched them groan as Aizawa announced Izuku's loss. Pushing my brother back toward his class I smiled down at him for a second. 

"If your punches are working, sometimes it's better to trade for a kick here and then. Your legs will always be a lot stronger than your arms." I turned back toward where Dad was standing, eventually taking my space next to him against the wall. 

The class had been separated to work on their special moves, each student having their own space to further strengthen their quirk or develop their own unique way of fighting with it. Izuku was deep in thought talking through how he could change his fighting style to protect his arms. 

"You've got a new suit?" Dad turned his head to me, glancing between the changes I had made. 

"Yeah, I wanted more support during bigger fights. You know, in case my little brother gets himself into trouble in my town." I let out a half laugh at the sentiment. 

"How are you feeling? We haven't had much of a chance to interact since the fight." Dad's eyes softened as he looked at me, and they had the same worried glitter in them as when he looked at the scar on my head. 

"I'm okay, I didn't have to retire after the fight." I sent him a pointed look. 

"Besides, I'm not 10 years old anymore, Allmight. I can handle myself in a fight, even against All For One. Honestly, I'm just glad the students all got away without being hurt." I looked back toward the training, focusing on each individual student as they worked to better themselves. 

"They're all going to make amazing heroes. With students like this graduating from UA, we heroes might finally find ourselves with too much time on our hands." I squeezed Dad's shoulder before pushing away toward the exit. 

I swung around to face him once more, smiling brightly as I stepped backward toward the door. With a mock salute and a wink toward Dad, Aizawa, and Cementoss, I stepped backward out of the building and started my trek back to my office to get changed. I washed the green spray out of my hair in the bathroom, and my costume folded up into a duffle bag for me to carry home. 

I was just walking down the road when a burst of red feathers clouded my vision. The familiar smell of moss overwhelmed me for a moment as Hawks landed beside me. He walked beside me silently for a few seconds, glancing around cautiously before handing me a folded piece of paper. 

"I think you dropped this miss..." His voice trailed off with a questioning tone as he stopped walking. Obviously trying to get me to introduce myself as if we had never met, the league is watching his every move for him to not even risk calling me my civilian name without an introduction. 

"I'm Mai." I trailed off mid-introduction, staring at him. " I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought... You're Hawks right, that hero from a few cities over." I pretended to be completely starstruck at the interaction, my face turning bright red. He nodded his head before walking off with a smirk.

 I forced myself to act flustered at the interaction - which was easy after I remembered the last time we spoke - and turned towards the train station. Placing the piece of paper in my handbag to read later.