Amaya's name was in the semi-finals, it seemed unreal. After Iida and Todoroki's fight, she'd be up against Bakugo. She paced in her little corner trying to calm herself down.

"Um are you alright A-Amaya-chan?" Midoriya's soft voice called out.

Amaya immediately stopped and turned, surprised to see the green-haired boy up and about. Without thinking she rushed over to him, making him squeak in place.

"Are you alright? Shouldn't you be resting right now? How's your arm? Do you need help right now?" Amaya bombarded Midoriya with questions, making the poor boy's head spin.

"N-no I'm okay! Really! I want to watch everyone's match! I was just worried about you because you were pacing in place," he explained turning towards her and staring delicately into her gold eyes. Amaya felt herself blush at his concerned gaze and moved her eyes to his chest.

"I'm just a little anxious. I'm going against Bakugo and well he's… Bakugo," Amaya poorly explained but Midoriya immediately understood.

"Yea Kacchan's really strong. N-not that you're not strong either! I'm just— I-I know what you mean…" Midoriya mumbled his eyes looking anywhere but Amaya's.

Amaya stared at his fumbling self for a moment before letting a small giggle escape. She tried to stop it by clamping her hand over her mouth but that did little to muffle the noise. Her giggles turned to right-out laughter and she grabbed onto her stomach unable to keep herself standing upright.

Midoriya stood still staring at Amaya in shock. Her laugh was so pretty. He was mostly sure he never heard Amaya laugh like this. She looked so cute, laughing carefree, he hoped to see her like this more. Without noticing a gentle smile appeared on his own face, his green eyes softening.

"Sorry Midoriya. It's just, you're so funny and sweet. It looks like you're okay. I'm glad. Thank you for this. I needed to get my nerves out," she thanked him, smiling lightly.

Midoriya nodded dumbly, still in awe at seeing Amaya laugh. Amaya felt her cheeks warming as she turned to walk towards the waiting room.

"A-Anyways wish me luck I guess!"

Midoriya shook himself out of his stupor and nodded.

"Good luck Amaya-chan! I know you can do this!" Midoriya yelled out his encouragement, smiling brightly.

Amaya nodded as she walked indoors.

Sitting right in front of her was Bakugo, staring boredly in front of him. At hearing her enter, he turned, smirking when he saw her.

"Guess the pipsqueak didn't run away like I thought she would," Bakugo haughtily remarked, any sort of friendly competitiveness that might've occurred between the two disappeared, now that they actually had to fight.

Amaya kept her face blank, merely raising a brow at the tease.

"I could say the same to you. I would've thought having to fight a Hitachi would be too scary for you," she tutted, staring at him as if he were a child, not letting his words get to her.

Bakugo growled, standing up before she could blink, his large body towering over her. He slammed his hand mere inches away from her face, into the door beside her. He moved his head down to stare at her short stature and gripped her shock collar tightly, bringing her even closer to him.

Amaya gasped, choking slightly from the pressure and grabbed his wrists, using her claws to dig into his skin a little as a warning.

Bakugo merely grunted, gritting his teeth, "Runts like you should know their place. You better still act like this even when the fight begins. Don't you dare hold out either. I'm expecting to see that little quirk of yours come to life," he threatened, his voice a low growl.

Amaya tried to remain calm but hearing him express his desire for her to show her quirk caused fear to shine clearly through her trembling gold eyes.

No.

"Yes."

She couldn't fight with that. She was trying to be a hero and if she let Yajū out, any progress she made would shatter.

She shook her head, trying to keep her voice strong despite its cracks, "N-no. My quirk is not something to parade around. It's too dangerous to use, especially for something as silly as a sports festival."

Bakugo's red eyes darkened, his nostrils flared, he tightened his grip on her collar and brought her nose to nose with him. Amaya could feel the heat come off his hands, as if he was ready to let a small explosive go off if necessary.

"Don't underestimate my own quirk, extra! I don't care how dangerous you think your quirk is, I'll still beat you," he snarled, glaring at Amaya.

He let her go and walked away without looking back. Once Amaya knew she was alone she slumped down to the ground, too mentally exhausted to pick herself back up.

Why the hell did Bakugo want her to use Yajū? Couldn't just fighting her be enough?

"He's not an idiot you know. He knows that you're weak and can't beat him on your own. Seriously kid, you know it too."

"Hey! I'm not that bad! I held my own with Todoroki, I can take a beating and my reflexes and agility aren't something to be taken lightly!"

"You only held your own with Todoroki because that was a damn exercise, he didn't use both sides and you had your katanas dumbass. You're a fucking weakling without me."

"I don't need you."

"Yes. You. Do. And hothead might not know what I can do, but he obviously knows that if you go in and fight him how you are now it'll be an easy fight for him, and he'll hate that."

Amaya gripped at her hair tightly, a scream was crawling its way up and she so badly wanted to let it out.

It didn't matter. Maybe she was too weak to fight Bakugo just like this. Maybe he would sweep the floor with her, but she couldn't risk hurting him. Or scaring everyone.

"You're such a dumbass. You wanna be a hero so damn bad but you can't even give someone a fair fight."

"Fair? How the hell would using you be fair?!"

Yajū surprisingly didn't respond to that. Amaya felt alone for once, with only her own thoughts.

She gritted her teeth, annoyed and angry at Yajū for ignoring her. At Bakugo for bringing her quirk up. At herself for being so damn weak.

As Amaya slowly treaded down the tunnel, the usual cheers and loudness from the crowd seemed to dissipate. Bakugo was already waiting on stage, his usual scowl there but Amaya could see the boiling anger in his eyes from where she stood.

Taking a deep breath, she marched forward trying to pump herself up.

Fighting Bakugo was going to be hard but not impossible. She might not be faster than him, but she was still fast, plus she could deal with inhaling his smoke. Smoke burning her lungs wasn't something new to her.

He was definitely stronger than her though, so she had to be wary of his hands picking her up. She was pretty confident she could handle his punches, but she still wanted to avoid a beating if possible. Her slightly throbbing tail warned her of that. Amaya had to try and attack him first if she wanted to have any grounds on winning this fight. She looked up at the sky and hoped that at the very least she didn't make a fool of herself.

"You won't if you let me out and play. C'mon! It's even consensual this time!"

Amaya ignored Yajū and walked with her head held up high, face blank, gold eyes determined. Standing on the other side, she held eye contact with Bakugo, shaking her head.

Even from a few feet away she could hear him snarling and forced herself to remain calm. He was very pissed now. She knew he was never going to go easy on her considering what Uraraka told her, but she wouldn't be surprised if he tried to break one of her body parts.

"Trying to show the world her name, she's won her two matches with that wicked choke of hers'. Can she dig her claws into this next opponent? From the hero course, Amaya Hitachi!"

The crowd stayed mostly quiet, a few boos here and there but most didn't react. However, Amaya could clearly hear class 1-A cheering and felt her cheeks heat up.

"He's explosive and powerful, never holding back on any opponents, from the hero course, Katsuki Bakugo!" Present Mic announced and for once Amaya felt slightly bad for Bakugo.

The crowd wasn't nearly as encouraging as they were for the other students, Amaya obviously excluded, and Amaya swore she heard some light boos. Bakugo didn't seem affected nor did he look like he cared but Amaya still felt bad for him.

He was abrasive in every sense of the word, but he was also hard working and determined to be the best; that much was clear. While Amaya could understand it was hard to watch some of his fights, as pro-heroes these pricks should've been used to it. It only went to show how good Bakugo was as a fighter.

"And I'm going to fight him now… Fuck."

"Fuck indeed."

The gunshot fired, scaring Amaya into sprinting like her life depended on it, which it kind of did.

Bakugo moved into a defensive stance, hands raised ready to fire off explosives.

Amaya felt the pain before it hit, but she bore it. Explosives set off near her face, instantly filling her lungs with thick black smoke, searing heat stinging her cheeks. There was an agonizingly loud ringing in her ears that she forgot to account for. Amaya forced down pained whimpers, jumping back, barely restraining the coughs that desperately tried to escape.

Having put some distance between him, she raced across the stage again, this time swooping down low. Not that it did much to stop the next explosive hitting her face but at least the sound didn't leave her wanting to cry and she inhaled less smoke.

A curtain of black smoke covered the stage, surrounding Bakugo, limiting his vision. Bakugo growled, understanding her plan. She was trying to do what Uraraka did. If Round Face couldn't distract him, neither would this bitch.

Amaya kept lunging, forcing Bakugo to set off more and more explosions. The smoke had thickened considerably, yet the crowd could still see Amaya covered in scratches and burn marks, patches all over her uniform.

Bakugo was done waiting around, he wasn't going to give this runt the chance to attack. He raced towards the direction of her heavy breathing, saw her pale wrist, and reached for it.

Amaya's ears heard light stepping near her and turned to see Bakugo's large hand aiming towards her, but he caught her before she could move back. He had a death grip on her small wrist, his hand hot and most definitely leaving a mark.

Amaya tried to ignore the pain, showing a brave face even as Bakugo literally picked her up from only her wrist, forcing her to meet his angry burgundy eyes.

"Maybe I should listen to Shinso and eat more…"

"Not the time stupid."

"Are you fucking messing with me? What kind of half-assed plan is this? Use your quirk dammit!" Bakugo yelled, snarling into Amaya's ears, making her turn her head away.

"No! I can't! I'll hurt you!" Amaya cried back, begging Bakugo with her eyes to try and understand her fear.

Bakugo did not like that answer. In a fit of rage, he flipped the petite girl over his shoulder slamming her into the hard concrete. The air left Amaya's lungs and she desperately tried to catch her breath, wheezing as she tried to crawl away.

Bakugo didn't let her go far, catching her skinny ankle and dragging her back to him, straddling her waist, pinning her arms to the ground.

"Either you start using your quirk and treat me like an opponent or get blasted and lose this match like a lil bitch," he growled, keeping his body hovering over hers.

The smoke had cleared away and Amaya felt everyone's eyes on them. She hated the vulnerable position Bakugo just placed on her.

"'Treat me like an opponent'? What the hell does he think I'm doing right now?!"

"You dumbass. He's saying he knows you're stronger than this, which you're not, but I am. I would've thought you'd catch on by now. This hothead wants to be a hero more than anyone, so he wants to beat you at your strongest. No wonder he's offended right now, he should've blasted you already."

They were both panting heavily, Amaya stared into Bakugo's fired up eyes, recognizing the frustration in them.

Fine.

He wanted to fight her at full power. He would.

"Don't you dare regret this."

With accurate aim Amaya kneed Bakugo in the groin, the other not expecting this at all. He grunted and fell to the side, unable to shake off the pain.

Amaya rolled away and speedily stood to kick him, but even while wounded Bakugo managed to block it.

"Tsk. You win," Amaya sighed, already feeling guilty about what she was about to do.

Scratching at her tattoo, she looked away as she felt warm blood drip from her wrist. Her body shuddered, and a tingling sensation ran through her.

Familiar smoky tendrils surrounded Amaya, creating a wall of protection and her eyes coated over white, veins blackening.

The crowd gasped in shock, most never having seen Amaya's true quirk before.

"What is that! What's happening?"

"I knew letting a demon child like her in to U.A. was a bad idea!"

"GET AWAY FROM THE STUDENTS!"

The crowd was in uproar and from the back of her mind Amaya flinched, but all the people saw was a proud smirk.

"Class 1-A's Hitachi seems to have been holding back on us! What's this quirk she's exhibiting? Seems dangerous folks, good thing her opponent likes a good fight!" Present Mic yelled out, though there was a hint of caution in his voice.

The crowd didn't care, only screaming out to stop the fight and to arrest Amaya.

"Would you all shut up? As pros you should all already understand that any quirk can be dangerous. Just because Hitachi has a powerful quirk means nothing. All that matters is how she uses it," Aizawa bit out, voice grating, silencing the shouts.

Aizawa stayed quiet after that, wanting to lash out at the crowd more but he worried about Amaya. They had agreed for her to not use her quirk. He didn't understand why she was using it and if things went south, he could stop her if needed. However, she deliberately used her quirk, so he decided to trust her right now.

Shinso stared at the cat-girl in mild shock. The cute little Amaya he knew was gone and in her place was this fierce, dangerous woman. She looked so different, but it wasn't bad. In fact, he felt pride at watching her unleash her quirk. She was strong and it was about time the public saw that, their opinion be damned.

Midoriya heard Uraraka and Iida gasp beside him, then having heard about Amaya's quirk but never seeing it live. She seemed to have slightly better control over it than last time and if she was using it now that had to mean she was serious. He whipped out his notebook subconsciously and began adding the tendrils to his design of Amaya. Although he was concerned, he couldn't deny his new found excitement to watch her fight.

Todoroki felt his eyes widened as he stared at the dark form of Amaya. He didn't think she'd show her quirk. He knew she had one but didn't realize it required for her to transform. She seemed powerful and even from where he was standing, he could sense her bloodlust. It was as domineering as it was attractive. Though he couldn't explain or even understand why he felt anger at the fact that she was using her quirk with Bakugo. For some reason it just left a bad taste in his mouth.

"About damn time. Heya hot stuff. Wanna play with me?"

Bakugo stood still, forcing a blush down and stared at Hitachi. He took in her transformation, her words and tried to analyze her quirk. This wasn't the little pipsqueak from before, there was a new confidence in her. She seemed more dangerous than before too, the air already felt different; this Hitachi wasn't trying to just win.

She was taking this seriously; she was taking him seriously.

Good.

Smirking he got into his defensive stance.

"Show me what you got extra."

Amaya smirked and stood back, her tendrils shot out of her body at inhumane speeds, creating a circle around the two. Miasma stronger than before, probably pent up, began to fill the air.

Bakugo had barely been able to glimpse at her quirk before, so he didn't realize just how strong it was. He paused for a moment watching the petite girl staring at him expectantly, smirking.

"Heh. Not bad extra, but that's not enough to stop me!" Bakugo cried out, his adrenaline pumping him up.

He dashed over, fists raised but a tendril managed to brush his wrist and he felt a burning sensation. Jumping back, he looked at the pink, raw burn marks in surprise. He stared at the runt curiously. So, these black wispy shits not only poisoned the air but could actually cause some damage as well. Not bad… for her.

Amaya stared at the scene before her from the back of her consciousness in terror, looking at Bakugo's bleeding wrist made the little lunch she had before rise up.

No. Not again.

"No! I didn't want to hurt him! Dammit why did I listen to that stubborn ass! What the hell is wrong with me? It's just a stupid sports festival I didn't have to go this far!"

"Would you shut up and just look at his face?"

Amaya squinted and stared up to see Bakugo absolutely gleaming. He had a predatory smile, but his eyes looked so much lighter than she had ever seen them. Amaya would even go as far to say that he had a childlike happiness to him. It was actually really cute.

"He's happy?"

"Hell yea, he is! This dude has some kind of inferiority complex going on I think, that's why he always wants to be the best. And you letting me take over shows him that you believe he's worth going against."

Amaya stayed quiet and put herself in autopilot voluntarily for once. Did Bakugo really think of himself as inferior like Yajū theorized? But he was so strong and powerful… it didn't make sense.

But watching how he was acting now and looking back at his behavior it wasn't such a bad hypothesis. Bakugo hated going easy on people because he never wanted to be played with either.

Especially in this world where having a good quirk makes you seem like a god and heroes are treated as such. Amaya couldn't blame Bakugo for how he felt.

Alright. She didn't want to disrespect him, so she'll let Yajū fight. She didn't worry about percentages or care about how much poison she was letting out. This time she wasn't going to hold back.

"But don't hurt him! I'm serious, if I don't like what I see I'm going to try and take over again!"

"Whatever, shut your trap will ya? I won't kill the boy."

Amaya flipped back when she sensed a punch near her face, the remnants of gas from the explosion catching her off guard. While having her internal conversation Bakugo had snuck up on her, his face covered to block out the miasma.

"Hey! Don't space out on me and fight!"

He slammed his palms on the floor and created a powerful explosion, causing an earthquake effect to occur on the stage. The ground cracked and groaned beneath her before completely crumpling.

Amaya flew into the air, crashing hard into the floor. She wheezed, trying to greedily suck in air when she felt a piercing weight on her tail.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

Yowling, Amaya immediately grabbed on to the heavy piece of concrete and tried to lift it. It wouldn't budge, her body was sore and while the adrenaline helped, she could feel herself peaking. Too weak to push the slab of concrete, Amaya started clawing at it widely.

Blood escaped her claws, some cracked at pressure, but Amaya didn't stop. Her tail was pinned and due to stupid sensitivity, the pain was intense. She heard Bakugo's light steps, no doubt he heard her cries and she watched as his red eyes stared at her small form hungrily.

Shit went from zero to a hundred real quick and Amaya felt cornered. Her black wisps surrounded her in a whirl of dark gas, and she could feel Yajū's nervousness.

"Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck him. Get away. Get away."

Amaya's body quivered and she felt Yajū slipping, instincts taking over.

Shit.

The tendrils began to spin widely and aimed themselves toward Bakugo. Amaya could feel the poison rising in her own body and felt tears prick her eyes.

"Get away," she cried out.

"You think you can beat me…"

Amaya couldn't hear him anymore; the tendrils were too close to his body.

Gold eyes wide, she screamed at him.

"Get away. I said GET AWAY!"

The tendrils wrapped around Bakugo's body without remorse and Amaya could see his skin melting off from where she sat. Screaming, she tried to back away which was impossible considering she was trapped.

Bakugo felt like his skin was crawling away and immediately used his explosions to fly into the air, gasping at the fresh air. Gritting his teeth, he felt his heart clench a bit at the absolute panic the tiny teen was exhibiting from having hurt him.

He understood why she was worried about showing her quirk before but at the same time she only needed to learn how to control it. Though right now he had to finish this match before Hitachi could actually hurt him again.

Ignoring the stinging and the twitches of his muscles, he powered through and used constant blasts to distract the girl. It wasn't too hard as her eyes were glazed over, muttering apologies. The tendrils stayed hovering near her as a form of protection.

This was going to hurt like a bitch. Bracing himself he swiftly used his hand to hit her in the back of the head, ignoring the burning sensation and watched as her eyes rolled back, tendrils disappeared, and she fell to the floor.

Bakugo quickly lifted the concrete off her tail and without thinking picked the small girl up in his shaky arms. She was so small and light, and he gently placed her in the nurse bots hands, not listening to how he won or the crowd's noises.

He was more focused on that girl right now. Even though he won, Bakugo could tell that once she learned to control her quirk, she'd be a real threat.

A small smile fell on his face without permission and he quickly rubbed it off with a smirk instead.

She wasn't bad for an extra, Hitachi was definitely something. Until she could use her quirk, he was definitely going to have fun with her around. She better wake up for his last battle because he wanted to show her he could be much better now that he fought her.

Bakugo couldn't wait to fight. He couldn't wait to win.

"You better watch me, runt. You'll see just how good I can really be."

A/N: Hey guys so I'm going to be posting every other Sunday now because adulting is getting to me and I'm having trouble writing. Right now I'm going to be editing stuff and take my time with new chapters. Hope y'all understand. Thank you for reading and stay safe!