Chapter 3: Scars Where There Shouldn’t Be
"Please except my letter!"
This is the fourth time, and I haven't even begun my walk out of the building.
Frankly, Yuno hated it when people approached him, or if they even spoke a word to him. "Strangers are untrustworthy, no matter how kind they are when you become acquaintances," being one of Yuno's quotes he keeps written in a notepad. The fact that girls of all sorts have been coming up to him and giving him love letters irritates Yuno to his very core. Why the hell were they coming up to him with these childish things?
Don't you have anything else to do with your time. Yuno thought to himself as two more girls got up in his personal bubble.
Yuno just wanted to go home after his "pep talk" with Power Loader, he was in no mood to be dealing with more. As soon as he left the workshop, not even five minutes into his walk, he was bombarded by girls who each held a letter in their hands.
"Please! Personal space!" Yuno pushed the girls in his path away from him, attempting to be as gentle as possible. Although that went down the drain when one of the girls fell. He sighed, and helped the girl back up, offering a hand as he knelt down to a knee.
He's like Prince Charming. The girl, being a fan of Yuno like the others, could practically see stars and roses around Yuno, a complete fantasy came to life. She took Yuno's hand and stood up with his help. She squealed with overexcitement, holding her cheeks and blushing. She then ran off, holding her wrist and looking at her hand.
"He touched me! He touched my hand!"
Yuno deadpanned at the sight of the girl screaming in joy, all because he touched her hand. Oh well, as long as she left him alone, he's fine with that. Except now...
All the girls around him were now jealous. Their arms were crossed as they stared daggers into the girl's back. Yuno took that as his chance to slip away from the crowd. Keeping his head down and ducking, Yuno managed to escape the group of crazed first and second years.
"Good riddance," Yuno sighed.
"There you are!"
"Get away from me for the love of god!"
With a flick of the wrist, Yuno dropped a vial of his blood and sent a wave of red liquid at the one person he actually trusts, drenching her.
"Ew! Yuno! What the hell?!" Kisu shouted, shaking some of the blood off her sleeve. "Did you ever think about the mess that could occur? Now I'm going to smell so bad now! I don't know where your blood has been! People are going to think I just committed murder!"
"Maybe don't scare people like that." Yuno spat back, the blood soaked in Kisu's coming off and scooping up the glass on the ground. "And quit whining. You had it coming when you first thought it was a good idea to jump out like that at me. And my blood isn't that gross, it's basically just water, but red, and thicker."
"You just carry those vials around? Weirdo."
"It's called self-defense, and if you don't shut up, I'll make you shut up."
"Stingy."
"Geek."
"Faker."
"Thief."
Kisu huffed and crossed her arms, surrendering to the name calling battle. What started the name calling again? Oh, it was when she jumped out and scared him. He never liked being jumped and yet, she still did it. It was just a harmless prank, surely he wasn't mad at her, right?
"Alright, I get it," Kisu looked away as she broke the silence. "I'm sorry, for jumping out at you and, whatever."
Yuno paid little to no attention to Kisu as he manipulated the blood to hold the glass vial together, making it seem like the vial had never shattered.
"I'm trying to apolagize and here you are, ignoring me."
Yuno tucked the vial into his bag that hung by his waist, gave it a small pat and proceeded to walk past Kisu like she wasn't even there.
So much for that, jerk.
—————
"Hey, Kisu!"
"Oh, hey, Uraraka."
With Kisu at Yuno's side and the girl, Uraraka, quickly catching up, Yuno wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Maybe he should've stuck Kisu in a closet before he left.
No, that would just cause other problems.
Right as Yuno and Kisu were going back home, Uraraka, she reminded Yuno of strawberry mochi, had come shouting, flailing her arm around.
"You left without so much of a word." Uraraka spoke, still catching her breath. "Deku wanted to ask you a few questions." Uraraka then turned to Yuno, tilting her head at seeing a new person. "Sorry, didn't see you there. Are you Kisu's friend? I'm Ochaco Uraraka, nice to meet you!"
Talks a lot. Annoying. Looks like a mochi cat. Acts like a six year old. Of course she's friends with Kisu, or, at least they seem to be friends.
"Pleasure's all mine," Yuno put on his charming smile, never making contact with Uraraka. "You seem to need something from Kisu, I'll leave you two be. Catch up later, Kisu?"
Before Kisu could answer, another voice came into play. Yuno recognized it as a certain boy who breaks his limbs all the time.
"Uraraka!" Midoryia shouted.
"Oh, hey Deku!"
"You run really fast."
"I wanted to catch Kisu before she leaves UA grounds."
"Tsumuyuki-kun! I didn't think I'd see you so soon!"
They're all so loud, it's overbearing.
"Yuno?" Kisu waved a hand in Yuno's face. "You good?"
"Keep your hands to yourself." Yuno pushed Kisu's hand away. "And yes, I'm fine."
Like a little puppy, Midoryia waddled up to Yuno with a notebook in hand and eyes sparkling. He looked about ready to explode with curiosity.
"It's, um, nice to see you too." Yuno stuttered at first, overwhelmed by Midoryia's curious mind.
As Midoryia pulled out his pen, Kisu grabbed the back of his collar and pulled, slightly choking him but he would be fine.
"Personal space, Midoryia." Kisu said. "Yuno doesn't like it when people are in his bubble."
"Oh! So sorry! I'm just- I was really glad to see you here. I didn't get a chance to see your Quirk in action when I first met you. I've been wanting see it in peson." That's what all this was about, he would've done it a while ago if Midoryia had just simply asked.
I guess he's asking now.
"Another time," Yuno waved his hand dismissively, making his way off UA grounds. "I have a few things I need to do, I'll show you later."
Midoryia was left confused, his expression that of a clueless puppy, holding his notebook and pencil and Uraraka patting his back pitifully.
Kisu apologized, albeit, halfheartedly, and followed after Yuno. She figured Yuno must've been desperate to get the hell out of there, he always had a knack for avoiding people, no matter what.
She turned the corner of the UA gates to find Yuno, finding him just outside the grounds, an exhausted expression splayed across his features. He put a hand on his chest, taking in deep breaths.
"Hey," Kisu startled Yuno, she could tell by the flinch and the immediate reaction to fix his uniform of any creases. "You okay?"
"Fine," he answered quickly, picking at the bandages on his arms, or anywhere he had bandages. "Let's get going, I just so happen to lack the currency for a new moniter."
Of course he's using his PC as an excuse to avoid things. Kisu mentally rolled her eyes.
"If you say so, chicken."
"Don't call me ridiculous names."
"You never stop me."
"Because it's not worth doing so."
"Sure, you just like having me around."
"I don't know what put those ideas in your head."
Yup, he loves me.
—————
In their free time, as said before, Yuno and Kisu need to make money. The two live alone, so they must find ways to pay for bills, food, clothes, etc. A simple solution is earn rewards and bet money.
Normal jobs are boring, according to Yuno, so they earn all their money in an underground arena where villains can fight in tournaments, bet money, and more importantly.
Destroy each other.
There's always something about a villain's mindset that makes killing and fighting fun. Perhaps it's lack of entertainment and they're bored, or they are quite frankly just looking for attention.
Yuno tends to fall under the group of the latter.
His life as a student at UA is, putting it nicely, boring. As a boy who was raised with the phrase, "never make mistakes, you must be perfect," he aced every exam, every pop quiz; physical or written. As soon as he received his license, he suddenly quit putting in effort, a waste of time, anyone could achieve such pitifully easy requirements, he would say. He began to come off as arrogant, selfish, and stubborn in the eyes of many teachers.
Power Loader would state otherwise. A story for another time.
Where this started though, this underground arena was nothing but an escape, just a place with four walls where Yuno could be blocked off from the outside.
Blocked off from things he hates.
Blocked off from the rest of the world.
And all he had to do was walk in and the gates would close.
"You're really taking forever," Kisu said as she entered the room Yuno was changing in, a bandage roll in hand and a shirt draped over her arm.
Once the door closed, she fixed her eyes on Yuno, sitting in the bench and staring off. She took note of the hand fiddling with the bandages on his neck and rubbing at it.
Quietly setting the shirt and bandage roll on the bench she placed her hands on Yuno's shoulders. He flinched and tensed at the feeling of her calloused hands on his skin. Kisu could feel how his muscles tightened and she could hear the hitch of breath escape Yuno's lips.
"Quit that," she rubbed small circles with her thumbs into his shoulder blades. "If you keep messing with the bandages, I'll have to change them over and over again."
He didn't answer, but he did wince at the feeling of her thumbs digging into his shoulder blades. He definitely had terrible knots in his back, Kisu could tell just by feeling a bit.
"You should fix your posture." Kisu suggested, delicately pulling his shoulders back. Not far, but enough to make a small difference.
Yuno just kept quiet, like he had lost his voice. Kisu proceeded to rubs his shoulders, going slow and steady so she didn't put to much pressure and hurt him. She eventually let go and grazed her fingers over the bandages around Yuno's neck. He didn't seem to notice, so she began undoing the clip that held it together.
That's when Yuno finally reacted.
He smacked her hands away, whipping his head around and giving her a slight glare, all while resting a hand on his neck. Kisu pulled her hand back, shaking off the sting that came after the slap.
"Yuno," she said firmly. "I need to change them, their old and you can't keep using the same ones, even if there's no injury."
"Don't touch me," As if his voice came back, he spoke with spite. "I can change them myself."
He reached for the new roll, then took the clip off. The bandages around his neck fell loose, no longer hugging tightly around his neck.
When he began to unwrap the new roll, his hands fumbled and dropped it. The bandages looked like a carpet rolling out as it unfolded from its cylinder shape, right under the bench in front of him. He bent down to reach for the roll, to try again, and wrap it around his neck.
He hadn't even gotten the one currently around his neck off yet.
Kisu sighed, in pity. Yuno hated that. She picked up the new roll, set it on the bench, and kneeled down in front of Yuno. She held his hands, his slender fingers in her's, rubbing his pale and scarred knuckles.
"Relax," she said gently, unusually so. "I'm right here, and they are not. They're in Kyoto, not here."
Yuno stared at his hands in Kisu's. So helpless, he kicked himself, and tried pulling his hands away. No. Kisu gripped his hands, she wouldn't let him run away that easily.
"Yuno, look at me." he looked up at her. "You're okay. I'll change your bandages, and you can go. That's all I'm going to do."
He visibly gulped, then nodded ever so slightly. He sat on the bench again, putting on the shirt Kisu brought him. It was black and fit him snuggly, it pressed against his body so you could clearly see his features and physique. You could definitely tell he had a more slim and tall frame, and at the same time, he was small and petite.
Kisu soon had the new roll in her hands, and began to officially take his old baadages off. She never enjoyed changing them, but she was the only one he trusted to do so. Although, it didn't seem like that since he'd always try and shoo her away. It wasn't a conscious decision, but it still happened.
All the scars she would find around his neck would frighten any other person so deeply. Kisu would be lying if she said it didn't at least disturb her the slightest. Those scars shouldn't even be there in the first place. If it weren't for the way Yuno talks about about them, one would think that Kisu despises his parents more than himself.
Not wanting to look at them any longer, she wrapped the new roll around Yuno's neck, tight, just the way he liked it. She's not sure why, maybe it's a comfort thing. Could he even breath half the time?
With a final move of clipping the bandages in place, Kisu took the old ones and threw them away.
"There," she put her hands up, indicating she wouldn't touch him anymore. "See? Don't you feel better now that those old bandages are gone? Brand new and clean!"
He rubbed at his neck, feeling the smooth fabric of the bandages. It was no longer rough against his fingers, and it didn't itch his neck as bad. Yes, he was grateful to Kisu for helping him.
"Thank you," Yuno spoke, barely above a whisper.
"No problem," Kisu smiled a gentle smile. "We both know you love me anyway."
"Don't get ahead of yourself now."
"Oh come on, you just had a breakdown. Can't I get
some credit for dealing and sticking by your sensitive butt?"
A joke of course, Kisu isn't that heartless, and Yuno knew. He never took those jokes to heart, she always had a problem with boundaries.
"You ready for your match?" Kisu sat in the bench and crossed her legs, rocking back and forth in her tail bone.
"If I can get some money, and get the hell out of here, I'll get it done faster than one could say 'you're my hero.'"
"Wow, and I thought I had dark humor."
Kisu leaned on Yuno's shoulders, giving her closest friend the comfort he needed.
"Just don't hurt yourself, alright? I'd hate to see you in a small white room connected to wires again."
Yuno winced at the statement. He'd rather avoid that conversation.
"Don't worry," he lifted a hand to pat her head. "I'll be fine."
They sat there for a few moments, relishing in each other's presence. Kisu physically jumped at the loud voice coming from the speakers. Yuno let out a laugh, which he quickly stifled.
"Well, 'fine' is a dirty four lettered word that starts with F. If you really can't do it tonight, I'll step in. I could use a good fight anyway."
"Pipe down, you're already on the heroes hit list. If a well known wanted villain goes missing because you killed them, they'd probably find out it's you with how stupid you can be."
"Hey! I'm not stupid! Y'know what, shoo! Get your ass out of here if you're gonna be mean after I just helped you."
"Kisu."
"What?"
"Thank you."
For always sticking with me.