rubatosis | s. todoroki

29 | right here

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Saito Emi

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Emi huffs and wipes the sweat off her face after pushing another slab of a wall that almost crushed another civilian.

It's been two hours since the attack in Hosu began. Ever since the internship with Endeavour started, he's been helping her practice quick responses so when she is ordered to help the evacuation, her legs moved faster than ever and she only looked back once to see Shoto looking at his phone with a frown.

She never thought of him being the type to have the world collapse around him and still want to check his phone.

Grateful words are yelled out desperately from every civilian freed and Emi barely focuses enough to reply back. At one point, she continues to run through different streets, straining her ear for any screams of help until she finds a whisper.

Following it, she takes the chance to pull back her hair in a ponytail and runs faster after the nuisance is removed. She enters under a skeleton of a doorway and yells out for anyone to hear.

"Please," she hears again, fear coating the quivering of the voice. It sounds young, boyish even.

Then she sees it. A glinting knife and a pale hand holding it loosely. She nears it and groans and pants until the huge piece of cement was off of the kid.

"I tried to protect myself," the boy cries and Emi gets straight to work on his damaged back. "Now everything hurts."

"It will be better. I promise I'm doing everything I can," she mutters, tearing what's left of his shirt off and trying not to flinch at the blemished skin she saw. Rubbing every gel and cream she has on her, she let her green flames light up the darkness they are strangely surrounded with. For some reason, this building is very far away from the fires but it got smashed to bits and pieces anyway.

She chews on her lip, trying not to lose focus. Something is not adding up.

"Who were you trying to protect yourself from?" she ventures, looking at the currently peaceful features of the boy.

He has floppy brown hair and reminded her of sweet little Takumi. Her heart aches when she imagined this boy for a second as her former neighbour.

"Some guy," he grits out. "He took my dad many years ago and now he wants my mum. I tried to protect her and now she's gone." He's now screaming in pain and anger and she couldn't even bring herself to try to quiet him down. All she can do is heal him until he can get on her back and take him to the nearest hospital. She barely understands the story behind what he just said but she's sure the police will be interested.

Her phone vibrates momentarily and she slips it out quickly to check if it's something important. She feels her legs regaining strength she never knew left her and the boy on her back doesn't question it.

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"Are you okay?" is the first thing she says when she enters the room but she's not sure where to look; at Izuku's busted limbs or Iida's bandaged chest or Shoto's guilty look. God, so many options.

"Hello, Saito-san."

"Emi-chan, you're here!"

After handing the kid to the nearest doctor and answering endless questions, all Emi wanted to do is bawl like a baby then sleep so she just ignores them all and starts the process of calming herself down. One by one she checks up on them even after being reassured multiple times that they are well taken care of. The deadly glare that they receive from the blonde girl shuts them right up. She doesn't even ask what happened; she'll care later after she gets some sleep and food in her.

When she reaches Shoto, her eyes are already filled with tears so she closes them tight and palms her heated face. She barely hears Izuku and Iida make half-assed excuses to get out of the room before she gets pulled into a warm chest. Her sobs spill out. She doesn't even try to talk and explain herself because she will only blubber like an idiot.

Shoto just wraps his arms around her and sits her on the bed next to him. She can feel one of his arms heating up and she knows he's doing this to settle her down. He doesn't try to say anything and when she pulls back she sees it's because he was crying too.

"Wait," she says, "I know why I'm crying. Why are you crying?" She gently wipes his tears away and her heart aches for the second time today. It's not easy seeing tears leave his beautiful eyes or trail down his perfect face. His thin lips twist in agony and his entire being trembles with contained sobs.

"I actually thought I was going to die and I'm just processing it," he whispers shakily, holding her hands tightly and setting them the sides of his face. "Thought I wouldn't get to properly make up with my dad, see my mum, my siblings, my friends or you again." He gulps harshly and straightens up.

"I'm sorry, it just settled in when I saw you crying."

She clicks her tongue, trying to regain composure and she can see him attempting to do the same thing. "Don't apologise. That's stupid. And you're not stupid. You're the sharpest, kindest and most beautiful person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I don't know what the hell happened to you three but you look like you desperately need to sleep so please just..."

She jumps off and pushes him down underneath the covers, glad that he's cooperating. He looks at her expectantly and she sighs when she finally understands what it means to have her heart swell.

Pulling a nearby chair as close as she can to the bed, she sits down and starts running her fingers through his hair. "I'm staying right here." The whisper resounded in the room and his eyes fluttered shut. Emi can see the exhaustion lining his face and keeps one of her hands engulfed in one of his. Holding his hand is one of the best things they do together and she loves the secrecy of it all. It means everything is just between them.

So I'm back, hopefully for good. I've been kinds busy with another project so if you guys are interested in teenfiction stories, it's on my other account moveuranus. Anyway, thank you for reading this story and being patient with my shitty updates ❤.