Rebirth and Blood

Izuku had no hatred of security guards. He didn't loathe them or their profession, they did honest hard work like everyone else and provided a needed service for the world. Yet as he sat at his desk in the office of his day job, Izuku was doing everything in his power not to lose his composer like he had for the past three hours. A goddamn knuckle dragging idiot who didn't even have a college diploma managed to find the fucker he had spent weeks trying to figure out his identity! What was worse was that this bastard actually managed to catch the SOB by tackling him when he had to come back inside for his ID badge!

Yet nobody praised it massively, there wasn't a segment in the news or even a hint online. It came and went without anyone caring. The only reason he knew was because Rikido called him late last night to let him know the case was closed and they were free to move on to other stuff. He wasted so much time, lost so much sleep and nearly pulled his hair out trying to help fix this ridiculous issue that had been placed upon him, only for it to mean absolutely nothing!

He wanted to scream, to bash his head against a wall, but he couldn't. He was at his job which allowed him to stay in his apartment and fed. So he bottled it up like he was taught through years of pressure and put on a mask of professionalism, typing away at his keyboard despite the demon screaming in his brain. 

Izuku was not an angry man usually since his anger was mocked at best and ridiculed at worst. He never could shout and scream and have things go his way like that asshole did. He was just a basic, simple man and that was it. Thus he had to follow the rules because he wasn't special like the great Katsuki Bakugou. 

Sighing in his quiet torment he lowered himself closer to the screen, dumping his emotions and part of his personality to nowhere as he continued to input data and fill out forms. "Five more hours to go, then I can scream." He thought to himself as the clock ticked away.

It was his lot in life for this to happen now that he thought about it. He was Deku, people always called him that, deemed him worthless even if he was trying his damndest to renew his lease on life. The universe or rather fate decided to have the coin land tails instead of heads. Two steps forward one step back.

Still he found himself wanting...something. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but as he held in the emotions there was a desire to distract. To escape the bad luck that plagued this current attempt. The scene changed in his head to Himiko's apartment where he could train and laugh and relax instead of this quiet hell. In a strange way he found himself missing the woman's presence since he was allowed to be angry and honest around her.

Lately Izuku had not wished to return to his own apartment like he used to. There were so many things to do and get done that it was a mute point when he had a far busier life now. Heck maybe he could show up to the agency and throw a couple rounds with Sato in the ring, sure he may lose, but it would make him feel better.

What did it matter? Sure his life was certainly better than before, but only in that he had more things to occupy his time. Everything else was the same, he was the same person in body, in soul and in mind. Granted he no longer wanted to throw himself off a bridge anymore, but that wasn't something grand and massive, it was him getting better. Part of him wanted to be someone else, to be a person like he fantasized about being. 

Maybe if he had been born with that explosion quirk instead of Kacchan, he'd be the one in the history books and that sham would be in this chair writing away numbers. He was The Limit Breaker, but without any real attempts of pushing pass barriers or proof of it having weight behind it, it was nothing more than a meaningless title made and given to a weakling. Yet with that in mind, how could he make that mean anything?

The only thing people valued in this world or rather the hero world, was results produced by violence. If he was tenth dan in judo or a master of boxing or any other fighting art he'd still be less in sheer destructive potential then someone like Elemental or Kacchan by the simple fact of their quirks. They were literal gods on the urban battlefield and at the very least could single handedly take on the entire police division and likely win. And he knew he was far from ready to actually take on a villain. 

As he continued to tap away on the keyboard the quirkless office worker found his mind drifting to an old, seemingly irrelevant piece of info he saw years ago before the war. He was sixteen when he first heard of Stain and like most people without a massive chip on their shoulders considered the slayer to be little more than a psychopathic murderer with a flare for twisting words to justify what he did. However looking back Izuku remembered reading about how the man took down over forty pro heroes with nothing more than a sword and a few pocket knives. That was impressive no matter how it was looked at and the man only had a quirk that brought a minor edge to combat, the rest was him being willing to put his life on the line for his insane philosophy.

Perhaps he could be that good. His goal wasn't murder of course, but he wanted to be a phyiscal threat in a fight instead of a deadweight or a victim. He was quirkless after all, so naturally he would be given more leniency in the possession of a weapon, especially if it was registered as a tool for hero use by the Sugarman Agency. Izuku pictured himself with a sword and shrugged. If it helped so be it, he still had to train physically to really get anywhere like he wanted.

When lunch time rolled around he sat alone like he had for the past fifteen months, content to consume his shitty cup ramen before returning to work. Yet this normal state of affairs would not be when one of his coworkers approached his table. A tall man of lanky build with dyed red hair which matched his lava colored eyes came forward. Dressed in the required grey suit of the company was Mushi Tensen, a fellow drone who had less seniority then Izuku by only two years. In his hand was a premade bento that one could purchase from any convenience store in the nation and a smile on his face.

"Hey Midoriya, mind if I take a seat?"

The two of them were not close. Izuku had no great dislike of the man, nor did he think Tensen had any reason to be against him. They were simple work colleagues who shared a word every so often about meaningless things. Putting his chopsticks to the side, Izuku gestured to the empty seats around him.

"Help yourself."

Tensen took the chair and began to lay out his meal while his face was unusually cheerful.

"Sweet, I just thought to give you some time since you've been eating by yourself for the past couple of months. So what's new with you? Nobody really knows what you're up to since ya barely talk most days."

The green haired man shrugged, not displeased by the turn of events nor glad for them. He took a bite from the ramen cup and figured out the most natural way of speaking.

"Nothing much, been working out a little more."

Again the redhead laughed as he pointed a finger at his senior's arms.

"That's obvious, you look like a bodyguard under that suit. So I gotta ask dude, what's your deal? You've been here for over two years but there's nothing big about you."

He extended a fisted hand and slowly began to count off the fingers.

"You never say more than ten words to anybody in a day, you never talk about anything going on in your life with anybody here, not once have you gone out drinking with us, you eat the exact same thing everyday and nobody knows a damn thing about you."

The younger man leaned forward in a conspicuous manner, looking around like he was about to share a deep secret.

"Honestly, people around here are starting to think you're a serial killer with how withdrawn you are and frankly I'm getting concerned with how often you seem to get angry. Like you don't outwardly show it, but I see how your face gets red every so often when you think nobody is looking."

Izuku stared at the man, not sure on how to take this information. He had been accused of being many things, but a killer was not one of them, even as a joke. Surely it was a hyperbole, yet he could understand where his coworker was coming from. Setting his meal aside, he leaned back in his chair and felt the air rush out of his spirit.

"Truth be told Tensen, I just try to get by one day at a time. I keep to myself because it's the best thing to do, it keeps away unneeded drama and lets me live an easier life. I have a few things going on in my life, but the reality is that I'm just a very boring person. I work eight hours a day, then I go to a gym or I spend some time at a friend's place until I have to sleep and do it over again. That's my life in a nutshell."

The concern remained on the younger man's face as he also leaned back in his seat.

"So why do you get so angry? I've seen your face go cherry red before and you just hold that in. You have to be hurting quite a bit to that point."

Izuku pursed his lips and shrugged once again.

"Well, I can tell you neither I or anybody else I know are or were serial killers. I just got a lot of stuff from my past weighing on me at times."

Those red eyes suddenly blazed with a deep sympathy, the causal tone of his voice shifting to one more swelling with a shared emotion.

"Have you thought of going to therapy?"

Izuku waved a hand at him, finding the statement utterly ridiculous for what it was.

"It's not that bad, I wasn't abused by my parents or anything massive, I just got bullied a lot in school. I should have gotten over it already, really."

A hand was placed on his shoulder right as the bell sounded for them to return to work.

"That stuff can still leave a scar."

Izuku rolled his eyes at the man and left for his desk.

Later on a torn sofa in a place reeking of copper and cigarette smoke, he kept his gaze even as a sweaty arm wrapped around his neck. There was no fighting to be had, not after a two hour sparring session which drained most of the fury from his body. She had won by eight to two in their stick matches and as was her right by victory, taunted him endlessly. Yet now Izuku simply brought her closer, almost wishing he could reach a hand around her belt line or inside her shirt for no other reason than he wanted to. 

Himiko was a beautiful woman in her own right and the proximity they shared almost daily made him notice the more femine aspects of her. And if he believed that she would have tolerated such risque behavior from him, he would. After all, the woman teased him with offers like that often, perhaps he should take her up on one of those just to see the look on her face. But he didn't want to press the blonde into disliking him, given her active dismissal and outright hostility to the concept of anything semi sexual in nature happening in reality.

He was happy here, best not to ruin it. So Izuku ran a hand down her long hair and enjoyed her closeness. Cat-like eyes stared up at him curiously yet Himiko wasn't the first to break the silence as she planned. Instead Izuku caressed her bare arm in an almost possessive manner and asked without hesitation.

"So...do you know where I could buy a katana?"

She continued to stare at him wordlessly with the expression of one confused. Izuku clenched his teeth at her expression, hoping he hadn't crossed an unknown line.

"Legally of course."

The blonde reclined into the couch cushions and brought him tumbling down on top of her with a yank to the neck.

"Of all the things to ask me, why that? You wanna go cosplay as a ninja or something?"

His head rested in a cradle just below her chest, the tight fitting exercise wear doing nothing to conceal the pleasing bends in her figure as he climbed up to her side, putting an arm around her belly to enjoy the sensation of holding someone while his back was to the rest of the sofa.

"No, I...this is gonna sound weird and I swear I'm not going to start slashing people, but you remember Stain, right? That first hero killer from back when we were kids?"

She turned her head to him with a raised eyebrow and a well concealed hint of guilt in her voice.

"Yes?"

Izuku brought a hand down the side of her cheek, much like she had done for him the previous night.

"Well, he managed to take down almost fifty heroes with one of those swords despite having no physically enhancing or offensive quirk. It was all him so-"

She cut in, almost shell shocked with the words she put in his mouth.

"So you wanna get one to pay homage to him while you're doing hero work?"

He scowled at the assumption with a visible look of disgust on his face. Still he rubbed her back, feeling every twitch and dive made with each breath she took.

"No, It's that he was practically quirkless and he still was a massive threat in a fight. He nearly took down eight heroes at once and would have won if Lamillion hadn't been there to stop him. So maybe I can be that dangerous in a fight if I had one."

Himiko smiled at the statement, her eyes looking far away at something Izuku couldn't start to guess at.

"If one of my old buddies was still around he'd probably start preaching for fucking hours about that. Stain was a big inspiration to him and he practically worshipped the dude. I remember one time our boss said something crass about swords and, by god did lizard boy go off on him."

Her arms closed tighter around Izuku, uncomfortably tight like he was about to vanish. His ribs ached as a glassy quality overcame her yellow eyes. There was a quiver to her voice that sounded close to breaking.

"I miss them."

She said not to Izuku or anyone else, but rather the universe itself or perhaps the spirits of the long dead to let them know they weren't forgotten. This state lasted for five good minutes until Himiko all but buried herself in his chest, her nails digging painfully into the skin of his arms and drawing thin, fine lines of crimson. Izuku said nothing and let her be, only caressing her back in an attempt of providing comfort to one who had done such for him. Eventually she did come back up with a slight wetness on her face that was quickly wiped away.

"I know where you could get a couple swords for free. My buddy kept caches all over before he passed on and they weren't used for anything, so you could register them as support items. Knowing him he'd probably be thrilled to have somebody using his gear for "heroic purposes" as he put it."

She squinted at him for a moment, checking his arms and feeling the quality of his chest muscles with a hand before getting up from the cuddle. Without a word Himiko retreated to her room and returned with a long, slender piece of wood carved in the shape of a sword. Izuku recognized it as a Boken and he mentally frowned at the serious look she was giving him.

"Though I also know that he'd haunt me to the grave if somebody without proper dedication took up his tools. Have you ever handled a sword before?"

Himiko scoffed at her own question and took up a stance with both hands on the stick.

"Oh who the fuck am I kidding, of course you haven't. That would be actually useful for a hero to know."

He rolled his eyes at the insult and remained where he was, envibing the feel of a lazy person to a tee. A quality entered his eyes, a coy, playful one that made him smirk as he felt his hands flex.

"What exactly would I need to say to get you to lay back down?"

She scowled at him, pointing the fake sword meaningfully in his direction.

"Nothing because I owe it to my friend to make you worthy enough to hold what he held, besides I thought you wanted to be a hero. Heroes don't slack off."

He grinned at that.

"First off, yes they do. Secondly, I do wanna be a hero, but I already did my rounds today and I can't risk having an injury from overdoing it. So what I want now is to lay down with you while my body recovers, is that so wrong?"

A soft wack came from the weapon hitting him in the side as she continued to bubble in anger at his words.

"You're being a lazy piece of shit right now. You have to keep pushing if you want results, my friend trained day and night for years to be good enough to fight and you aren't willing to do the same? How can you call yourself a man if you aren't willing to chase after what you want?"

Izuku shook his head joyfully as he sat up with a light bruise developing on his torso.

"What I want, Darling, is to relax. To be more honest, what I really want is to run my hands up and down you again, but since we've come to an impasse, how about a wager?"

The boken lowered in her hands at the proposition. Her usual violent reaction to such a statement was subdued, if only because they'd known each other long enough to know Izuku wasn't the sort to be forceful with such wants.

"I'm listening."

He stood up from the sofa, stretching as he watched her stare with that feral indignation.

"This is the game, you try to stop me from pulling you back to the couch and if you do, then I'll train with you right here, right now. If I manage to get you back to the sofa, you gotta put it up for the night and we sleep together like usual. You can use anything at your disposal except blades and you can hit anywhere except my balls, neck or face while I can only use my hands, deal?"

The woman studied him for a minute, studying his expression before firing off another question.

"You want something else, don't you?"

Izuku flinched at how she seemed to penetrate his thoughts. A heavy blush filled his face as he looked away in shame.

"Y-Yeah, but that's not at the top of my priorities. It's just…"

He rubbed an arm in embarrassment, wishing he could wave it away like any other uncomfortable conversation through white lies or diversion, but he knew Himiko wasn't the sort to not notice such misdirection. Part of him thought to actually leave, so ashamed he was of the thoughts and how it could ruin their relationship, but another, more desperate part almost screamed for him to say it, rejection be damned. 

Slowly they made eye contact once more since he was fearful of her lunging with that practice blade. Pursing his lips he decided to be a man and say what was on his mind.

"...when we hold, can I grab your chest?"

It sounded even worse out loud than it did in his head. There was never a time in Izuku's life where he knew he sounded that pathetic, minus that meeting with All Might on the roof. At this point he almost wanted to be hit for requesting something so vulgar, but to his surprise Himiko didn't have a look of anger about her. In fact she looked deep in thought.

Soon a grin crossed her face, one that was exact in every way to the strange joy she had when they fought. Quickly the boken went to her right side as one hand held it before the handle was tossed up in the air and caught.

"Somebody's learning~"

She said in a sing-song manner that made Izuku both cringe and hope. A finger was raised in a wagging fashion that hinted at some demeaning thing from how she held it.

"If you just tried without asking, then I would have had to punish you. But since you asked like a good boy, I think I'll allow it, heck you can even suck on 'em whenever you want. It's your reward for being so good for so long."

Instantly Izuku's eyes became the size of saucers and his heart skipped a beat. This was actually happening? He was going to get what he wanted? He wasn't being rejected? He took a step forward, feeling more motivated to win than ever before in his life. The only way he could think to describe this sensation was akin to being a raging bull and he loved it. But Himiko wagged another finger at him.

"Nuh-uh, you don't get that unless you win the game, otherwise I get to whack you over and over with this thing until you do or you give up."

Everything inside Izuku screamed at him to charge, to use his superior size and muscle to brute force his way to winning, but he took a step back and exhaled, feeling less blinded by his testosterone as he stared at the woman.

"You sure you're okay with this, because my dumbass knows I'll take it too far and might hurt you."

She grinned with every ounce of meek slyness as her fangs were bared in a wide smile while the wooden sword hung loosely at her right.

"Oh I'm more than okay with it, but I see your point. How about we make a tap word? Something either of us can say when things get too rough to stop the fun. How about….pineapple?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow, becoming slightly off puted by how much she seemed to be into this idea.

"Pineapple?"

She nodded, flipping the piece around in her hand.

"Yep, Pineapple. You say that and I'll stop hitting, but you also lose the game and the reward. So if you really want what you say you want then you're gonna need to endure a bit of pain."

Quickly her smile faded and she put her hands forward as if to discount what she said.

"But, if you really do need to stop or if I go overboard then say it. We can try again if you really do get hurt. I won't accept it if you just bitch out due to discomfort though."

This was beginning to sound a lot like something other than martial arts training and Izuku didn't know if he liked that or not. Still he pursed his lips once more and put an unconscious hand over his crotch.

"Alright, but you aren't going to hit me in the balls are you? Because I can't handle that sort of pain."

Himiko shook her head solemnly.

"I give you my word I won't. I'll just hit your upper torso and the outside of your legs, deal?"

He nodded, removing the hand from his groin and taking up a fighting stance when a thought popped into his head that made him smirk.

"Deal, but I'm wondering since I get to grope and suck your tits, what exactly do I need to do to get permission to eat you out? Cause I can see that being a great stress reliever after a hard day."

She glared at him with more edge than before, like he had insulted her or crossed a line he shouldn't have.

"Don't push it. Now, repeat after me. Pineapple."

He recoiled a little at the harshness of her tone, but complied.

"Pineapple."

She followed suit.

"Pineapple."

He copied it again.

"Pineapple."

Himiko repeated once more for remembrance's sake

"Pineapple."

Izuku finished the line and loosened his stance.

"Pineapple."

The blonde lowered her weapon with an undeniable glee in her. She was going to enjoy this, every last second of it. Her breath got hot and she saw the need in him, the desire to win that she wanted to nurture and grow by choking and pushing it enough that it swelled like a fire. Even still was the fact that it was because of her that he was doing this in the first place, he wanted to touch her like it was some high trophy worth the pain of getting abused. Despite her therapy teaching her that she had value as a human being, it made her flood with joy at the thought of being desired by someone who wasn't insane. Part of her wanted to tease and flaunt herself more to him, to show just enough to have him entranced and wanting while keeping her dignity. Yet another part of her wanted to recoil and hide from the chance he might reject her for her tastes.

Regardless, if she was allowed to exercise some of her more sadistic tendencies without being abandoned or in prison, then she'd take it. It wasn't like anyone else would want to deal with this for such a worthless prize after all. Steadily her grip on the handle tightened and she gave a predator's glint, Himiko watched Izuku respond with an adorable tenseness of his body while he was determined to win as only a man can when pleasure was on the line.

"Ready?"

She said with a far more eager frill to her tone as the stave was moved to the middle guard.

He paused for a second, apprehension coloring him for all of five seconds before he stared at her golden eyes and the smile under them. He took in the whole of her body and felt the long, cold sting of his loneliness. He knew this was not how normal people acted, but he was a reject and she was an outcast so this was good enough. Besides, Izuku couldn't ignore the tingle at the base of his skull that came with the prospect of winning. He will be physically better and get rewarded for once with something other than money, then this could open up a whole new world of possibilities. It was then he knew he shared the glint in her eyes.

"Ready."

In less than a heartbeat Himiko lunged forward with the boken, stabbing with the point at his stomach which would have knocked the wind out of him if Izuku hadn't dodged to the left. He avoided the stab and made to grab the weapon since it was blunt to the touch, yet she expected this and rolled her arms back to deliver a chop with the upper part of the "blade" to his lower leg which hit a pressure point and made him yelp. She struck him hard to the sides, striking to the area around his ribs likely four times each if she had the mind to count. Izuku was defenseless against the sheer speed Himiko attacked at, but he persevered for both his hallowed prize and a burning sense of pride to not surrender to the woman.

She raised the boken over her head to strike down near his left shoulder, but right as it began to descend, Izuku sprang up like a rabbit with his arm extended. The weapon was now in his iron like grip and it was then the difference in physical strength became apparent when he moved her, not to the sofa which would have won the game, but to the wall a few feet behind her. Himiko held on to the wooden object when her back made contact with the wall and stared up at the man pinning her to it. He had a look of joy about him, not a secret arousal at such things, but more of a man enjoying a game with someone he cared for.

His teeth were bared in a grin and he spoke in an almost flirty tone that didn't really fit his persona of a straight laced, goodie-goodie.

"Seems like I'll be making the rules now."

Without a thought Himiko released the weapon, allowing it to remain suspended in the air by his grip and ducked down to deliver a knee sweep with one of her legs, causing Izuku to tumble down and hit the floor. He landed with a hard Thud! that was followed by Himiko climbing on top and throwing an elbow right to his solar plexus. The boken fell out of his hand as the wind left him, leaving the girl to scoop up the tool and put the point right on his windpipe. However, Izuku grabbed the tip of the sword and rolled away to the left while pushing the object in the other direction, gaining enough distance between them to breath.

He was huffing like he already winded as he held his belly. Himiko had lost some of her smile and devolved into a nearly cold professionalism before grinning at his performance.

"Looks like I'll still be making the rules around here Greenie. Gotta say though, you've really improved since we first fought. Color me proud Baby Boy, I think you might just deserve your reward."

The sword slapped loudly in her hand as the flat hit against her palm.

"But, you still need to earn it."

Looking up, Izuku felt forced to smile as he watched her. There came a tenderness to him that wasn't good for the setting, but he did anyway. His hands were loose and his body wide open as he walked forward.

"Then I'm all for that."

A stab came instantly as he departed from the wall that Himiko shot directly at his belly. Izuku stepped to the side once more and broke into a run, putting all his weight ahead of him. Only to have the woman slide to the floor and whack him above the feet in a slashing motion. He tripped again, hitting the floor as Himiko dove in for what would be a killing blow. So in one swift motion, he launched himself upright with his arms to either side and grabbed her in a bear hug while the point was sticking out of the space below his left armpit. He acted on instinct, sweeping her up before she could bite or kick and slammed her petite frame on the sofa, ending the game in his favor as he breathed like he ran a marathon.

Himiko looked up at him confused, before she realized the feel of the old leather. Blinking, she stared up at him with disbelief at the fact he won the first time around.

"Did you really wanna feel me up that badly?"

He grinned and plopped himself down next to her, enwrapping her in a hug despite the many painful bruises on his body. 

"More than you could believe."

She was silent for a good five minutes after that. Sighing in defeat, she undid the straps to her bra and let it fall to the floor, exposing the black fabric to the world as she leaned into him.

"Fine, I gave my word. Just don't be creepy about it, alright?"

Izuku grinned at his triumph, but didn't reach in. Instead he squeezed her more and threw his back to the seat cushions, lifting her up in the air. A hand caressed her back and before long one caressed his as he continued to squirm to inch a little closer. Himiko didn't scowl at him, she merely rolled her eyes at the look of happiness he had upon getting to cuddle. Then Izuku stopped suddenly and managed to stand up with her still wrapped around him. His arms supported her like she weighed nothing and to his credit, the woman only weighed one hundred and ten pounds.

He looked at her with another gleam of hope as he stood above the couch.

"Do you mind if we do this in your bedroom since the springs hurt my back?"

She shook her head at his request, finding him to be more hopeless by the minute. 

"Fine, just don't break my shit."

Izuku smiled the silliest looking grin Himiko had ever seen and carried her off without another word, laying her down on the red sheets of her king sized mattress before moving to turn the lights off and climb in himself. The room was a plethora of martial arts weapons tacked to the walls and bad movie posters, some cheesy and some horrifying. It had a blacked out window to the left of the bed that rested above an overflowing clothes hamper while the right side of the room had a closet blocked off by the door. 

It was the only room in the whole apartment painted a different color, which happened to be a bloody, dark red. Yet for Izuku none of this mattered as he brought a comforter over him and the girl this room belonged to. The only thing he wanted was to hold her until he fell asleep and to his delight Himiko merely chuckled and let him have his way. He grabbed her, running his hands up her back as they became entangled. Her legs locked behind him and he twisted and turned until they got a comfortable position. Eventually he felt her back touch up to his chest, so he put a hand across her belly and one right under her chest. Only to have her move his hand inside her shirt and around one of her breasts.

"Enjoy it Greenie, you earned it."

She said with her voice echoing out into the darkness.

Izuku smirked at her tone, letting his fingers sink in for a few seconds before relaxing his body and closing his eyes.

"I will. Goodnight Himiko."

The room was silent for a heartbeat as the two began to quickly fall asleep in the warmth of each other's arms. At last Himiko surrendered to her drowsiness, finding herself a little upset that he didn't take more advantage of the opportunity as her eyes finally closed for the night. She was glad for the physical contact with someone she trusted more than anyone else who might have shared such an intimate moment with her before. She knew she enjoyed feeling him touch her so gently, it made her feel good in a way nothing had for a long time. But it was just that, touching. If he got a kick out of feeling her boobs or...sucking them potentially, then so be it. Her chastity was still intact and that was still her's.

Running a hand up the arm stuck in her shirt, Himiko relaxed in the comfort of knowing she wasn't alone for the time being and had someone else she could trust to not hurt her. It was the most she could hope for now since all that was left was to keep moving forward.

"Goodnight Zuzu."