Popped Knuckles, Dry Eyes, and Burnt Hands

4

*Aizawa's POV*

I took a walk through the boy's locker room, lost in though about Akahana's situation. I barely knew her, and I already knew she was going to be too stubborn to convince to leave. I made it out on the other side of the locker room to find the class sitting in group to the side as two of their class mates sparred. I walked over to the group and stood further back so I wouldn't be a distraction. I would've paid more attention, but I was too caught up in the day's events. What does one do in that kind of situation? My thoughts were cut short by Akahana walking up to the group and standing by one of her class mates. Her outfit was bright pink with black lines going down both sides of her shorts and one up the front of her top and onto the mask that looked to be connected to it; the mask only covered the bottom half of her face. She had on long pink fingerless gloves that stopped at the top of her bicep and they also had black lines. Her hair was still in the piggy tails she had fixed high up on the back of her head. The boots she wore went up to her knees and were unsurprisingly the same color with the same black lines on the front. She was turned around so I couldn't get too good of a look, but I could see that the bottom of her suit's shirt stopped just under her ribs. I could also see more of the burn marks I'd seen when I was carrying her and her head fell back. I remembered seeing her neck from under the turtle neck she was wearing and how scarred her skin was, that's what made the whole Toya situation clear to me. There weren't just burn marks on her back and stomach, it looked like there were some on her shoulders. Who knew at that point how scarred she really was.

"Akahana, pair up with Kaoruko. Both of you do your best." Hatake gestured for Akahana and the girl next to her to walk to the fighting area. I didn't know this Kaoruko girl's quirk but Akahana seemed unbothered. I watched her tap one of her ear buds with the pad of her index finger twice as she walked to the open field. The other girl looked nervous as Akahana turned to her with a glint in her eyes. Is this what she'd meant when she said she had a split personality? She slid back into a fighting stance, a serious aura surrounded her as she held up her arms, open handed, in a defensive form. One of her arms in front and one pulled back over her head. It was evident she knew martial arts, but to what extent? She had a long distance quirk at her advantage, but she was right about seeing the limitations. She could pop as many joints as she would like on one person and win, but if she's trying not to damage the other person too bad it wouldn't work. In a fight against more than one person she wouldn't be able to immobilize them all and win so quickly with just her quirk.  So what was her solution to this limitation? The only way I could've thought for her to minimize limitations is to do what I did and learn how to fight physically. My thoughts were cut short by movement; Kaoruko had created some kind of bubble in her hands and began to run for Akahana. I looked to Akahana's eyes and she looked excited, almost sadistic in a sense. She didn't budge until Kaoruko was right on her, and she swiftly dodged the bubble. Akahana grabbed the other girl's wrist and spun around, yanking her over her shoulder and throwing her to the ground. If I had blinked I would've missed it; she was fast as hell.

"Come on, Kao. I know you can fight better than that." Akahana taunted as the girl sprang to her feet quickly. Kaoruko seemed really nervous, almost like she dreaded this fight with her. I could understand intimidation, but it was almost like she hated Akahana in that moment. Which was disconcerting since she seemed so nice to her moments before while waiting. I watched the girl make another bubble, putting all her concentration into it as Akahana readied to attack again. This time Kaoruko made a bubble the size of her head and reared back to throw it at Akahana. She threw it and Akahana tried to dodge, but she wasn't fast enough so the bubble hit her shoulder. It shattered on impact and pushed Akahana back from the force; she staggered and started gagging, pulling at her mask to get fresh air. Her head whipped around to look at Kaoruko with a snarl and it startled me because her teeth were as sharp as razors. She lunged at Kaoruko and tackled her, sending them rolling a few feet; there was incoherent yells as Kaoruko threw Akahana off of her and crawled away. They both got to their feet and lunged at each other again but with punches and kicks. Everything was going really fast and I watched in disbelief as Akahana sent the girl flying with one swift kick. It took a second for Kaoruko to get up, holding her side as her free hand held a bubble ready to throw.

"I've had enough." The girl yelled and she charged at Akahana full force. Akahana met her speed and they clashed, Akahana taking the initiative and swiping the girl from under her feet. She grabbed the girl's arm and twisted it behind her back as she fell and knelt onto her back; she took her free hand and grabbed Kaoruko's other wrist. She had her pinned to the dirt, the other girl wincing and yelping in fear; Kaoruko tapped her hand on the ground to signal that she gave up, but Akahana didn't move. I looked at her face and it was stressed it both anger and pain; that's when I noticed that the bubble Kaoruko had made was shattered on the ground.

"Akahana, you can let her go now." Hatake called, but once again she didn't move. I started walking closer to the fight, standing a few feet in front of the group of students.

"How," she growled out, pressed harder on the girls back, making Kaoruko squeak, "How did you make that smell?" she spoke through gritted teeth and they were bared like that was the only thing keeping her still, "You've never made other people's smells before, where did you learn that?" She growled the last part and the girl gave in.

"I'd been practicing it all summer, please let me go." The girl pleaded, struggling a little.

"Akahana," I stated, taking a few steps closer. She whipped her head to the side to look at me, her face screamed absolute rage. In my mind I was taken aback by the raw emotion I saw, but physically I didn't let it show, "that's enough. The match is over; you won. Now let the poor girl go." I watched all of the emotions drain from her face as she looked down to the girl then back at me. She slowly stood and helped up Kaoruko, a blank expression on her face.

"Sorry, Kao." She stated softly after they were facing each other. She didn't give the girl time to respond before she turned and walked off to the girls locker room.