51

Kacchan's POV

Deku won't let either boy come anywhere close and alarm bells were going off in my head. Deku is never this cautious around kids, on a mission like this he SHOULD be but I know that's not the case. Something isn't adding up.

"Deku?" I asked but he still didn't look at me, keeping himself between the rest of us and the two boys that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"The lady in the hood said to beware the boy with the something hair. No matter how hard I try to remember I can't figure out the hair color. I even got a nose bleed trying to remember," I heard him whisper back to us in Japanese. I gently pushed the girl behind me and in front of Toshi and Kaminari.

"Do you know either of these boys?" I whispered down to her and she shook her head no, I could feel her nails digging into my arm, not willing to let me go. What should we do? We can't just ignore both boys, one might actually need our help! Fucking damnit!

"Trinity? Is that you? I jumped ready to hit whoever it was but it was yet another boy, this time with green hair.

"Are you three related?" Kaminari asked but the boys just looked at him confused, not understanding the Japanese that he spoke but the alarm bells in my head were only getting louder.

"How are all three of you identical? The only thing different about you is the color of your hair," I demanded and all three boys started to laugh in unison. Their voices echo together, unnaturally.

"Oh? Did you figure it out already? That's a shame," he kept laughing and it was disorientating mostly because they were taking turns talking. Yes disorientating and creepy too.

Something must have spooked Deku because he spun around and reached out for me, horror filled my very core as the scene of him pushing me out of the way of the bullet all those years ago came racing to my mind. It was nearly identical to back then. He pushed me, and there was a loud POP sound. The face Deku made was nearly identical to the day he was shot. I reached out behind him and set off an explosion, not knowing where to aim, only to scream out at the pain radiating from my opposite shoulder.

The arm that the girl was holding onto for dear life was now a couple meters away and the girl was laying on the ground still clutching it. The pain was unbearable. Toshi cried out and when I turned a saw blood dripping down his face from the eye he was covering while Kaminari was laying on the ground obviously where Toshi had pushed him out of the way. Deku screamed out and I couldn't turn back to him before there was an explosion much like Mom's, sending a green net of energy out and the three tri hair colored boys cried out, knocked back. Before they had a chance to hit the ground two of them disappeared and the third was much larger and older and now had tri-colored hair, blood trailing out of his mouth.

Aunty Flame arrived and the look of horror on her face when she saw us can't even be described. I could hear her shouting instructions but not what they were. I could only focus on Deku who was demanding to know why.

"Why send us here if it'll only hurt us?" He demanded, tears streaming down his face. "Why would we die? How could-" he cut himself off, he was obviously talking to someone and the lady in the green hood flashed across my mind.

"If you're there, remember our deal!" I shouted and Deku looked up surprised but someone came running over from the Italian team to work on healing my arm. Thankfully I happen to remember this extra, they are good at healing and I just might get my arm reattached. Maybe.

The pain was too much though. In moments everything went black, the last thing I saw was Deku seemingly talking to himself trying to pry answers, probably from the lady in the green hood.

***

I kept waking up, screaming in pain while they were reattaching my arm. It was a slow process and it wouldn't take long before I would pass out again. My quirk making it to where they couldn't use anesthesia on me at all, only made things more difficult. By the time they were finally done and I was able to wake up, I found out that it had been months since the mission. Italy had even made a public announcement about the mission and how we had sacrificed ourselves to save hundreds of children, maybe even thousands, most of which had been kidnapped from right here in Italy. The local government decided to build a statue in our honor and they were knee deep in construction already but I don't actually care one way or the other. Kaminari thought it was amazing and he was chatting away about how amazing we all were but I also saw his gaze going back to Toshi's eye patch again and again while he talked, his own eyes darkening with guilt.

They were able to save his eye but only barely. He will have to wear the eye patch for at least another couple months and only that short if Recovery Girl uses her quirk on him every day. Otherwise it's still six months. No one here has been brave enough to give me a time frame for my arm yet though so for now I'm just looking at the six months. I have to look at something, at least for now.

Deku has been stone silent since I woke up, his eyes never leaving me but also never meeting my gaze. The red rims on both eyes told me exactly how he spent the time I was unconscious but when I tugged on the hand he had in mine he easily climbed up next to me and cuddled into me. His face now hidden from me again I could feel him sobbing into my back.

Toshi and Kaminari didn't say a word so I only wrapped my one good arm around him and I didn't bother to ask what the Lady in the Green Hood said. I don't really need him to tell me. I can already guess that there is another mission we need to take, I can only imagine what we'll be asked to do though. I would honestly rather not think about it at the moment.

Another three days passed and Deku still hasn't said anything. He sent a message in the family chat that we were going to Turkey but he never said why. It wasn't until we saw an accepted mission in our shared file that we figured it out. The mission is to basically to backpack through the country for a month, patrolling as we raise awareness for pride. I mean is this a mission or a charity? But the actual mission is to protect the participants so I mean it is an actual mission still. Somehow.

But nothing we said or asked was ever answered. He simply hugged me tight, not letting me go.

"Okay, we'll do whatever you say," I kissed the center of his palm and he cried hugging me again. The tears never seemed to stop but the fact he refused to let me go pretty much told me why. He feels guilty. I would catch him caressing my arm whenever he thought I was sleeping and I hated the silence. In either life he has always had so much to say, his thoughts overflowing to the point of spilling out of him in the form of muttering and mumbling but there was none of that now. At most there were whimpers when his crying was really bad but that was it.

The mission went by really fast, Toshi and Kaminari flirted and generally dated throughout the whole thing which at least made Deku smile at times but there was no point that he would let my hand go. The fact that this was a pride event made it difficult to remember not to show my feelings. So there was one night at dinner in private; candles lit, sweet juice in our cups with a kind of spiced chocolate dessert in front of us that I reached over and caressed his face.

The gesture startled him but when he looked up I couldn't stay back anymore and kissed him. It was sweet and slow and even with his recent guilt he was able to relax into my kiss.

"I love you," I whispered, searching his eyes wanting to beg to hear his voice after all these weeks of silence. "More than there are stars in the sky or grains of sand at the sea, more than time could ever tell or show; I love you "

I watched as a tear slid from his eye but he kissed me back before I heard a strained whisper, "I love you so much it hurts." His voice was weak from the lack of use but it was there. The voice that has been my everything for so long that if it weren't for the Lady in the Green Hood showing herself to Deku that I would have believed it was a shared nightmare with Mom and Dad.

Why did she have to appear now? Now that things were finally settling down? Now that I could properly start to show Deku my love for him? Is this a type of torture? A way to not only remind me of my sins but also of what I have to lose still?

There was a crash outside the door and I heard hushed cursing. Deku looks so defeated right now but he motioned for me to go ahead.

"Toshi, Dunce Face, what the fuck are you doing?" I groaned. I mean, did they have to show up right now?