Notes: So this is my entry for Kacchako Bittersweet Week! I'm...honestly not sure where this is going. I've only finished three of the prompts so far and am literally winging it. Whatever the next prompt says takes the story to the next place. There is no plan for this and I'm probably in over my head trying to write a murder-mystery type story inside of a Modern Fantasy setting, but well, such is life. I borrowed the world I created for my sorta Izuocha fic, "The Mythical Kind". Yes, a bit cheap, but I really loved that world and felt like I could explore more of it. More characters, relationships, and tags will be added as I finish the prompts. Like I said, I have no fucking clue where this is gonna end up. Such is life.

Disclaimer: I don't own shit.

DAY ZERO: AU

No amount of tea could keep her awake, which was near impossible considering the amount of herbs she had put in that last batch. That stuff should have been able to keep her bouncing off the walls for days, not just a measly forty-eight hours. Was she getting weaker? No, that was her tried and true recipe. She was simply that exhausted after working for almost three days straight. This case really was getting the best of her. Maybe she should've taken a break like Deku had suggested.

Uraraka was staring hopelessly at her computer, woeful over the old case files that she had yet to comb through, when a paper bird began to flutter around her desk. At first she ignored it, used to the old things. Eventually it would settle down and perch on her desk until she was ready to unfold it and read the note. However, this one had other things in mind. It quickly turned into an origami nightmare and began to actually peck at her hands.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, oh impatient one!" Uraraka snatched the bird out of the air between her two hands, which proved to be a mistake when it gave her a papercut on her palm, causing her to wince. It soon calmed down and when she finally opened her hands, the bird slowly unfolded itself into a creased, harmless note.

You're going to be useless if you keep going like this. Take a damn break!

Uraraka's eyes almost rolled out of her head. Of course the violent note was from Bakugou. Did he have to charm them to be so vicious if ignored? He probably wanted to get his point across. Looking at the red spots on her hand and the cut on her palm, it had certainly done the trick. She set the note down and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes with a fist. When she stared back at her computer, its dull glow only stared right back at her. The files would still be here when she got back. Besides, she couldn't do much without her partner here anyways.

Dragging herself out of her chair, Uraraka groaned and pressed her hands to the small of her back as she stretched. How long had she been in that chair? And how had Bakugou known that she was running herself ragged? He could have called her. It wouldn't have had the same effect as coming to the station and sending her a very aggressive paper bird to attack her into taking a break.

After sweeping her long coat off the back of her chair, she threw it over her shoulders and slipped her arms into the sleeves. She snagged her hat off the side of her desk and plopped it on her head as she walked over to her Captain's office and knocked on the door. "I'm heading out for the night."

"Got anymore of that tea?" Aizawa looked about as exhausted as she felt as he set his glasses down and pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe he hadn't been working as long as her, but he dealt with the higher ups and the public, which was even worse. Neither had been kind to them recently with this case in the headlines.

Uraraka smiled apologetically. "All out, I'm afraid. I don't think it was doing much good anyway at this point."

Aizawa sighed. "I hate when things get political. It's so exhausting." He waved a hand at her. "Get some rest. I would rather you be well-rested than hopped up on something."

"It's an herbal recipe," Uraraka reminded him. Before he could make another smart remark, his phone rang and he answered it without hesitation. He was a stronger man than her. Every time the phone at her desk rang, she shrank away from it for a few seconds. If she heard one more tip about how it was aliens, she was going to lose it.

Witches, werewolves, trolls, dragons, orcs, vampires, elves, and more? That was regular life.

Aliens though? Absolutely absurd.

That wasn't even counting the many calls of people proclaiming it was werewolves. She'd hung up on the last person that had started on a rant.

The ride to the left and down the elevator was quick, but Uraraka still spent half of it slumped against the wall with the side of her head pressed against the cool metal. If it went on any longer, she could probably fall asleep here and wake up about ten hours later wondering where she was. She did have something of a bad habit of falling asleep in places around her apartment that weren't her bed. Tired as she was, she didn't even bother lifting her head when the doors opened, despite knowing full well who would be on the other side waiting for her.

"Took you long enough," Bakugou snarled, arms folded across his chest.

"Aw, you really do care," Uraraka teased, although she was too sleepy to push it even further.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he reached into the elevator to grab her by the arm and pull her out. "Deku sent me a text asking if I could check on you. He must be out of it too because I think he meant to send it to Iida."

Uraraka paused to blink at him before stepping outside. "And you came anyways?"

"Yeah, apparently you weren't answering your phone," Bakugou pointed out. That was surprising since she'd had her phone on her the whole… She fished it out of her pocket and looked down at it. Dead. Well, that answered the question of why Bakugou had sent her a murderous pigeon note. "You need to keep it charged. Shit is real dangerous right now and you're running around with a dead phone."

"And a wand," Uraraka added, flicking her sleeve so that her wand slid into her hand. He scoffed, but didn't argue the point. He knew that she could take care of herself, but he could also see the exhaustion written all over her. The thing about magic was that the stronger it was the more energy it took out of a person. Uraraka considered herself to be stronger than the average witch, at least by a hair, but fighting in this condition could knock her out cold. "You don't need to worry about me so much. It's not a witch hunt."

Bakugou didn't appreciate the pun at all, judging from the unimpressed look on his face. "I'm serious, Uraraka. You need to be more vigilant. Whatever is going on, we're in the shit right now."

He was right, of course, and Uraraka didn't have to say anything for him to know that. She sighed and nodded her head before choosing her exit and stepping through the sliding glass door. There wasn't just one entry port to the police department. There were a number of entrances across the city that a person could choose from, as long as they had a passcode. She and Deku had given Bakugou theirs just in case ages ago.

When she passed through the glass door and came out the other, Uraraka was first hit with the smell of smoke. It was a familiar scent in this area, reminding her of childhood. Growing up, her home had been permeated with the smell of whatever was being cooked in the cauldron, but the smoke from below was always there as well. This was a different kind of smoke, but she would take what she could get.

Glancing over, she caught Bakugou wrinkling his nose in distaste. It wasn't near the full moon, but his sense of smell was heightened regardless of the day of the month. He didn't like her neighborhood. Granted, it was fairly sketchy. On a scale of one to ten – where ten was a bunker warded to the teeth with protective spells and one was a flimsy wood shack – her neighborhood was about a four. He, Deku, and Iida had been harping on her to move, but it was easier said than done. Maybe when she got her bonus…

"You didn't have to walk me home," Uraraka said as they walked down a dimly lit sidewalk.

"And risk you falling asleep in an alley?" Bakugou shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Now it's my turn to be the serious one." Uraraka stepped ahead of him and turned on her heels so that she was facing him, stopping him cold in his tracks. "It's not safe for you out here."

He rolled his eyes. To get his attention, she reached out and snagged the strings of his hood, pulling it tighter around his head. He instinctively lifted his hands to make sure that the hood was covering him properly. It wouldn't do good for his ears to show. His long green coat was able to hide his fluffy tail well enough, but the ears would be a dead giveaway. She could still remember her surprise when she'd met Bakugou for the first time. Werewolves in her part had been hunted down, but in the city, they roamed freely, if not without prejudice against them.

"I can take care of myself," Bakugou quipped, baring his teeth in a vicious smirk. His canines gleamed dangerously under the flame of the streetlamp. Not as sharp as a vampire's without it being the full moon, they were still capable of puncturing a man's jugular should he be so inclined. He could kill her quite easily if he was in one of his frenzies. Even without the influence of the full moon, he had superhuman strength and many people said the bloodlust was still strong in them too.

Uraraka knew that he would never hurt her though. They might've gotten into some pretty heated arguments, but she had never once been afraid that he would attack her simply to hurt her.

"Even so, like you said, we're in the shit, but especially werewolves," Uraraka said gently, smoothing his hood down. She could feel his ears twitch underneath and pulled her hand away before he could tell her off. "I'd rather not get another call from Kirishima asking if I can bail you out. Everyone at the station thinks I'm dating a ruffian."

Bakugou's face flushed pink. "We're not–"

She couldn't help but laugh at his reaction, folding her hands behind her back and taking a few steps back. He spent so much time teasing her that it was nice to get one over him every once in a while. "I know. You'd never be interested in a cop, much less a low level witch." He narrowed his eyes at her, but chose to say nothing as he started to follow her again. She knew that she could be stronger. Deku constantly reassured her that she was one of the strongest witches he knew, but then she'd remind him that he'd only met three witches total. "I'm still allowed to worry about you, aren't I? Especially since you won't let me give you that enchanted watch."

"You know I don't fuck with magic," Bakugou told her.

"You fuck with me," Uraraka shot back mockingly. He stared at her for a beat before his lips pulled up into a smirk and his red eyes glittered. This time, her face burned red and she spun back around so that he couldn't see her face. She hadn't meant it like that, especially after that last comment. "What I mean is: it's me – it's my magic – and the watch only has a protective spell on it. Okay, that's a lie. It's also enchanted to always have the perfect time. What's the point of it not being functional too?"

Bakugou opened his mouth to argue with her when he suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed and his smirk turning into a frown. "Do you smell that?" Uraraka looked around and shook her head. Maybe it was a little smellier because the garbage man was late picking up the trash, but that was all she could think of. "It smells like something's burning."

"Something is always burning around here." True, the scent of smoke was heavy in the air, but she didn't think much of it. Smoke was a part of the aesthetic at this point. That was the price of living by a factory that mass-produced magical potions. They weren't anywhere near as potent or good as home-brewed ones, but those were much harder to come by. She usually stuck to making her own since it was cheaper in the long run.

"No, it's…" Bakugou broke into a run, leaving Uraraka in the dust.

She took off after him and shouted, "Wait!" but he was much quicker than her. Even if he didn't have a werewolf's unnatural speed, he would've beat her. She had always been a slow runner. He passed two blocks before she had even made it down one and then disappeared around the corner. "Bakugou, stop!" Her coat was flapping behind her like a cloak and slapping the back of her legs. When she rounded the corner, she ran smack into Bakugou's back. He was so solid though that she didn't knock him over. "What are you–?"

The rest of her question was snatched right out of her mouth as she caught sight of the scene Bakugou was staring at. A large building was on fire. Her apartment building was on fire. There were dozens of fire trucks, cop cars, and ambulances surrounding it in an attempt to put it out and help any of the victims, but it was no use. One second it was a regular fire and the next the fire burned a bright blue and grew exponentially like it was a hungry, living monster. As the flames ate every inch of the building, black smoke billowed into the sky.

When she'd said that something was always burning, she hadn't meant her home.

"Did you leave a cauldron simmering before you left?" Bakugou asked.

"What? No!" Uraraka was almost insulted that he'd even insinuated such a thing, but he didn't seem to be aware of what he was saying. "That's not from some slow simmering potion gone wrong or someone leaving their crockpot or coffee maker plugged in." She pointed an accusing finger at the burning building. " That ...is magic."

Any decent witch could've spotted the most subtle magic a mile away. Now that she was watching it three blocks down, she could feel it pulsing in the air, breathing life and death into her at the same time. If she had ever been tired before, she was alert and awake now, although that might have been because she'd fallen into a state beyond exhaustion. Her eyes were locked onto the red and yellow flames, taking in how alive they looked. Fire was a beast in its own and the creatures capable of it fiercer than most. Not all of them were as mild as Todoroki.

Bakugou turned to her. "Uraraka…"

Hearing her name in that wary tone made everything come crashing down on her all at once. Her apartment was gone. It was destroyed, turned to nothing but ash and soot. "I… Everything I owned was in there…" Luckily she hid her money in a safe elsewhere, but it wasn't nearly enough along with what she had in the bank to replace all that the fire had taken from her. She had insurance, of course, but only the bare minimum that she could afford. "What am I going to do?" She wasn't thinking properly. The alertness she felt only seconds ago began to evaporate, replaced by a bone tired exhaustion that made her want to cry. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"Uraraka," Bakugou repeated. She snapped out of it and glanced at him. There was a fire in his eyes that matched the intensity of the burning building. "I'm pretty sure you've got bigger problems that that." She blinked thickly, her thoughts muddled at best. "If this was done by magic, I don't think it was an accident." He pointed at the buildings next to hers. "Look; they aren't catching. It's just your building. No one on the force has the ability to create a barrier like that but you. It was targeted."

That took Uraraka back. "Targeted?"

"You're in danger," Bakugou growled, his hackles practically raised. "That case you're working on? It must be a lot worse than you thought."

Uraraka's eyes swept from Bakugou to her apartment. Judging by the state of the first responders and the building, it had caught on fire suddenly and spread fast. As much as it pained her, she knew that it was impossible to expect that everyone had survived. How many people had died? What for? What was worth ending so many lives just to get to her? Had they thought she was home? Or had they known she wasn't and did it as a threat to stop her? And if they had attacked her place, who wasn't to say that they wouldn't go after Deku, Aizawa, or anyone else on the case?

"We have to call Deku," Uraraka decided, eyes snapping back to him.

Bakugou's nostrils flared. "No shit." He tugged her witch's hat off her head and threw his arm around her, pulling her close to him and guiding him back around the corner. In her case, the signature hat she wore would give her identity away. Without it, she looked like the average civilian. She another woman on the street. Huddled so close to him, his familiar scent washed over her and the heat of his body burned through his coat. "But first we gotta get you out of here. There's a chance whoever did this is waiting for you to show up on the scene. Best not give them the chance."

"Where are we going?" Uraraka asked worriedly. Back to the police station? It was difficult for people to get in there.

Bakugou didn't answer her though as he pulled out his phone and clicked on Deku's contact. Uraraka glanced back one last time, taking in the sight of the smoke reaching into the heavens. What the hell was going on? Magic was supposed to be used for good, not this, not the crimes that she'd been investigating since transferring here into the city. It was unnatural. It was wrong. Even the dark arts wasn't always bad, but this? Oh, this felt like a sickness and it was growing as surely as the flames.