From the Ground Up: Kacchako

Chapter 1: Final Exams

The U.A final year exams were tough on their students. They alternated between paper exams and the physicality's of being a hero in a dangerous situation.

Uraraka scratched at her head and stared down at her test on the desk. The first few questions were answered, but the rest she couldn't even remember studying for. Only a few of her classmates were in the room with her, the rest were taking their physical. She glanced over at deku, but he was lost in his muttering way and too focused to notice her. She could hear bakugou in the distance and his explosions. He must be doing exceptional, she thought.
An hour later she handed in her paper and thought over her answers. She wondered what her first-year self would think of her now, if she would've done anything different. She toyed with her hair and walked towards the changing rooms to get her costume. It was longer now, her hair, past her collar bones.
Bakugou. She thought she would change how it went with bakugou. They'd dated in their second year, but ended it badly when she gained higher Hero-popularity and called him insecure when he'd blown up about it.
It had completely ended there, to say the least.

His fault, she thought. It was his fault. Insecure- he was! He is! All he ever did was rant to her about beating midoriya and becoming number 1. He didn't care that he was ever her number 1, he wanted to be the world's best. She opened the door to the changing rooms and stopped dead for a few seconds. Bakugou was sitting on a bench and unlocking his gloves. He glanced over at her once and didn't bother doing it again.
She huffed and walked over to her own costume locker. For some reason her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her chest.
"How did the written exam go?"
Her fingers froze their movements on her costume case as his voice echoed through the room. It took her a while to figure out how to use her voice again.
"It was- I could barely think. How did your physical go? I could hear you all the way from the classroom"
He chuckled from the bench behind her.
"I fuckin' nailed it. Aizawa sensei said he was proud to see me graduate"
"Well, you're not graduated yet, you still have to take the written"
"Is that an insult or somethin'?"

She looked over her shoulder at him.
"Did I say it was, Katsuki?"
He stood up in an instant and took a step toward her. She was about to turn around and face him when the lights suddenly went out. They both looked up at the ceiling.
"Bakugou, What's going-"
"Shut up. I'm trying to focus"
She closed her mouth and stood still, trying to listen for something. An announcement, anything. He lightly hit her shoulder before walking towards the door.
"Get changed, something might be goin' on. I'll be outside"
The last thing she saw was him yanking his glove back on before the door closed behind him. She sighed and got changed as quickly as she could. She carried her helmet by her side and stepped outside to meet bakugou. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, lost in thought.
He pressed a finger to his lips before nodding for her to follow him. The halls were dark and quiet, deserted. They both kept alert.

No one was in the classroom, or outside. The windows were all black and covered by something outside. They eventually found everyone from their class in the cafeteria. All were in their costumes. They'd either come back from their physical or had changed to take that test. They rushed into the group. They were all muttering and gossiping about what had happened and what to do.
"Where are the teachers?"
"What about the others?"
"What happened to the windows?"
Uraraka could feel bakugou getting angrier as the muttered nothings continued. She took a conscious step away from him as his arms began to shake.
"Oi! All of you! Shut it!"
They all quieted immediately and faced him. Shirikima pushed to the front of the crowd.
"What's going on? Did you hear anything? Where were you when the lights went out?"
He was about to answer when Todoroki stepped forward.
"All of the teachers and other students have gone missing. It's only us. All of the exists and windows are sealed off and unavailable. There is no service, which means we are isolated from the outside world"
"Is this part of the test?"
Todoroki locked eyes with uraraka.
"I doubt it. The teachers here are unpredictable, but they would not have had the opportunity to evacuate the rest of the school without us noticing. Something has gone wrong"

Bakugou stepped forward and cut in.
"Deku"
Midoriya snapped to attention with a straight back.
"Yes?"
"You're the damn nerd, what's your best guess?"
Midoriya scratched the back of his neck.
"I'm not sure. If it were a surprise test at least one of us would have gotten some sort of clue. And the other Hero class isn't here. We would have all been here together if it were really an exam. Which means this is some sort of attack from the outside"
"You mean a villain, you fucking idiot"
"Yes, Bakugou, a villain"
"If that's sarcasm you'll be sorry for it later, deku"
Midoriya swallowed and looked away. Uraraka lightly nudged bakugou on the arm. He glanced down at her from the side and tightened his jaw, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"We split up"
Todoroki said, and everyone seemed to tense.
"It's the best option. We search for any entrances left unlocked, and to see if any hostages have been taken in the building. We go in pairs, and search the building by each floor until we find anything"

Kirishima stepped forward.
"I'll go with bakugou"
"No. You two are too violent when you're agitated"
Shouto scanned the crowd until his eyes landed on uraraka.
"Uraraka, you'll go with bakugou"
"Me? Why?"
Bakugou bent down to her.
"Is that a problem or somethin'?"
She swallowed.
"No I- why me?"
Todoriki had a look on his face as if it were obvious.
"You clearly have the highest tolerance of him. If something were to anger him you have the best chance of keeping him in line"
Bakugou held up a hand.
"You half'n half son of a-"
"Exactly my point. Now, leave and search the top floor while the rest of us sort ourselves into teams. Try and hurry, we don't know how much time we have"
Bakugou turned without another word and walked off leaving her behind. Uraraka waved to the group before she hurried off to his side. They took the stairs in two's and reached the top quickly. As expected, the windows were blacked out and the halls were dark.

Bakugou held his hand out in front of them, a soft glow emitting from his palm. As if his skin had a light from within.
"Is that heat?"
"You didn't know I could do that?"
"I didn't know you knew you could do that"
He paused for a second.
"Damn you're such an idiot-"
She kicked the heel of his shoe. A dangerous look flashed over his face. She tried to stand up to his height, but he'd gained too feet in height on her. His 5ft 8 had turned into 6ft.
"You would've never treated me like that when-"
"What? When we were dating? News flash, Uravity, I'm over you. Besides, I treat everyone like this"
He walked in front of her. Uraraka blinked a few times.
"You never used to"
He stopped and half way turned toward her.
"When I 'never used to' I had a reason to be nice, in other words, shut the fuck up and get over it"
She scoffed and walked past him.
"You haven't changed since you were sixteen in your first year. Always above everyone else, looking down. I guess this 'reason' to be nice to me must have disappeared since last year"
He leaned down to her ear from behind, and her body locked up.
"You were just fucking me, so I guess you could say that niceness disappeared"

A shiver licked up her spine when his breath spread across her neck, and a heavy blush rose to her cheeks. He chuckled darkly and walked ahead of her.
"Come on. We have the rest of the floor to scout. Try not to be so much of a useless sidekick if something happens"
She screwed up her face and walked past him, muttering to herself. For some reason she felt wary of him walking behind her.