The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 14: Silence

Kaminari's words echoed in Izuku's ears but their meaning wasn't registering in his mind. That could be true, it just couldn't.

"What, that can't be right!" said Izuku in complete disbelief.

"I don't know what to tell you, man. I don't have much info about it. I heard it was Kirishima who first spotted the intruder though. If you want to know more, you should probably ask him," Izuku agreed silently and then focused on making his way to the common room as fast as possible. The two of them arrived shortly to find that most of their other classmates were already there. Izuku searched the crowd for his redheaded classmate. He eventually spotted him off to one corner, he looked pretty rattled. Izuku approached him and sat down next to him.

"Oh, hey Midoriya," he greeted passively.

"Hey Kirishima," he said back. For a moment, no one said anything else. They simply let the silence drag on before Izuku gathered the courage to ask what he had come to ask about.

"So, I heard that you saw someone here?" The boy nodded solemnly but said nothing.

"Do you mind telling me what you s..."

"I was woken up about twenty minutes ago by a noise," he interrupted suddenly. "I wasn't sure about it, but it sounded like someone was creeping down the hall. I could hear the creak of the floorboards. So I went to the door to check who it was. I opened my door and stepped into the hall. I could hear someone walking silently and I could hear the sound of their breathing, it was too dark to see anything though. It's a new moon tonight so it makes sense. I called out to them, and as soon as I did all the noise stopped instantly." the boy shuddered. "I couldn't hear breathing or anything. I was confused for a moment, thinking maybe I had imagined someone being out there, but then I did hear something. It sounded like a growl. It was super quiet at first, but quickly it grew louder. It was then I realized it wasn't someone I knew. I don't know what it was, but it didn't feel human, it was too primal, too animalistic. It jumped at me, and I guess my reflexes kicked in because the next thing I knew I was swinging my hardened fist at whatever was on me. I'm not sure where I hit it but I definitely hurt it because it jumped away and ran. You pretty much know the rest from there,"

"Wait, Kirishima, which side of the hallway was this thing from your room?"

"On the right, why?" A sinking feeling came over the freckled boy.

"No reason. I should probably give you some time to recover from the shock," he got up and walked over to the other end of the room. This was bad he thought to himself. Tokoyami's room was further down the hall from the right of Kirishima's. No doubt the intruder Kirishima had encountered had actually been a demon. If he had been roaming the halls at UA so near to Tokoyami then they must suspect him too. He had to act fast. Maybe he should just talk to Tokoyami and confess to him the entire situation.

'No,' he thought to himself. That would be a bad idea. He didn't know Tokoyami's motives and for all, he knew he may want to ally with the demons rather than side against them. That was a risk he couldn't take. He would simply have to speed up his attempts to find proof Tokoyami was the Nexus.

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Izuku hugged the branch below him firmly. The dark clothes he had picked allowed him to blend in with the shadows around him in the late evening. Pinpricks of moonlight gazed at him from between the leaves. It was quite peaceful near the top of the large tree. Despite the altitude, Izuku felt serene and calm. The sound of footsteps broke in suddenly, dissolving the illusion of peace that had been there a mere few moments ago. Despite the quiet and the relaxation of his muscles, Deku had a task at hand. He took care to move as little as possible, but still keeping his muscles relaxed. A sudden tension in his muscles might make the branches sway beneath him, and he didn't want that. It was risky being up in a tree, virtually any movement could give away his position due to motion and noise, but there were perks to it as well. From up there, he had a very good vantage point of the terrain beneath him plus he was concealed nearly perfectly. The visibility that might have given him away due to gaps in the leaves and branches was more than made up for with Izuku's dark clothing though. He smiled to himself. His training was finally coming along. He waited up there in the tree as the footsteps drew closer and closer. They weren't hurried footsteps, the opposite actually. Like someone who had more time, they needed to get somewhere. He was patient though, one of the first things one had to learn about stealth was patience. One couldn't rush these things, in order to go undetected one had to learn to wait. As his quarry grew closer Izuku made sure to regulate his breathing and heart rate. Slow breaths in, and out, in, and out. Quiet as he could. Finally, his target came into view below him. He was easy to make out with the light half of his hair shining like a beacon in the moonlight. He was looking around cautiously. He didn't seem concerned, but he didn't seem completely relaxed either. Izuku smiled again. Now was the hard part.

Very slowly Izuku lifted himself to his feet on the branch. He moved very slowly and deliberately, careful to ease his weight off slowly as to make sure there was no visible motion or any sound from his action. He grabbed onto the base of the branch and hopped onto a lower branch. He carefully made sure he was putting his feet as close to the trunk as possible as he descended, every once in a while glancing over at his target to make sure he knew his position. As he neared the bottom he took care to make sure he would reach the ground behind the tree and not in front of it. If Todoroki saw him simply drop out of the tree that would be the end of that. His feet touched the ground silently without a noise. He had been practicing that as well. Todoroki's back was to him at that moment, he seized the opportunity at left the cover of the tree to reach a patch of shade closer to Todoroki. As he reached it and crouched down Todoroki's head suddenly turned in his direction. Izuku froze. Every muscle in his body was immobile as for what seemed like an eternity Todoroki gazed in his direction. Izuku was certain he had been spotted but still remained still. A moment later Todoroki turned back and resumed his walk. Izuku was glad to see that technique worked. He had earned recently that even if you thought you might have been spotted it was better to stay still. If you hadn't been spotted then him moving would certainly draw their eye. His target continued his route completely unaware of how close he had been to finding him.

Izuku moved up again, finding cover he could use to hide and moving when Todoroki wasn't looking he was gradually getting closer and closer to Todoroki. Finally, he had nearly caught up to him. This was where the really hard part came in. He was crouching behind a trash can with Todoroki only a few dozen feet away, but there was no other cover around so Izuku would have to clear this distance together. He reached down and carefully grabbed a medium-sized stone from the path. Peeking carefully he aimed for a bush Todoroki wasn't looking at currently but also in the opposite direction from his own position before hurling the rock. The stone made a small crack noise and rustled the leaves as it hit the bush. It wasn't much but it worked as he had wanted, Todoroki immediately focused his attention on the sound and movement holding perfectly still in the process. Izuku stood up and ran. With his back turned Tdoroki wouldn't be able to see him coming and after so much training to listen to the sound of his footsteps, he wouldn't be able to hear him coming either. Fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet.