Red Sword & Gentle Flower [Miku]

Kenshin smiled when Miku called his quirk cool. He thought he was blessed with an awesome quirk, not that he would ever say so out loud. It was like a perfect blend of his mom's blade hands transformation quirk and his dad's armor mutation quirk.

After telling Miku his story, Kenshin was a bit surprised that Miku did not begin sharing her own. Did she not have any stories she thought were worth sharing? Or did she not want to? Kenshin decided not to press the issue. If she did not want to talk, he would not force her to. The two could always talk about something else.

Before they had the chance to talk about anything, Kenshin became alert upon hearing the sound of someone screaming. Damn it! Kenshin's mother always warned the boy not to go looking for trouble. However, trouble was usually the one who found him. In any case, that did not matter. What was important was that someone was in need of saving, and Kenshin was not going to just ignore a plea for help.

"No rest for us heroes, right? Anyway, someone needs our help! Let's go, Miku!" Kenshin began to run towards the source of the screaming.

Meanwhile, a woman was afraid. She was being held in the hands of a giant man whose body seemed to be made entirely of soil and rock. Try as she might, she could not free herself from his grip. "Please, just let me go! Can't you take the hint? I'm not interested in you, and I never will be! Now put me down!"

The man just looked furious. "Kagura, you know I'm the only one for you! That Shusuke guy is a joke! He doesn't deserve you! I'll treat you right, unlike that cheating scumbag! I actually love you! Come on, we're perfect together! Just come with me!"

Once Kenshin and Miku made it, the giant earth man just glared at the two. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to have a nice time with my girlfriend?" The woman immediately shouted. "Hey! I am not your girlfriend, creep! Now let go of me!"

Kenshin had absolutely no experience with romance, so he could not exactly understand the man's motives. There was one thing he could understand, however. When a woman tells someone to let her go and they don't, then they were going to be on the wrong end of Kenshin's blade. "She clearly has no interest in you. Let her go and just get over it, man." The earth man just glared at Kenshin. "Mind your own business, kid! Or do you want to see what happens when you piss off an adult?"

Kenshin smiled. It was beginning to look like he could show Miku his quirk in action after all.

Word count: 469

Notes: And suddenly we have a battle!

Before Kenshin would go in swinging his sword hand, he decided to be fair and give the giant earth man one chance. "I'm only giving you the one warning. Let the woman go and walk away. Now. I'd rather not have to kick your ass if I don't need to." The guy laughed. "Wow, how adorable! The little child is trying to play hero! Go away, kid. Or else I will hurt you." Welp, Kenshin tried. Ass-kicking time it is, then. Transform!

The grid of green lines immediately covered Kenshin's body. Then, his armor materialized on top of the grid. Once his transformation was complete, Kenshin extended his right arm. Focusing on his right hand, Kenshin transformed it into his signature red sword of hard light. With that done, it was now time to fight!

Turning to face Miku, Kenshin smiled. "I'm gonna free the lady now. While I deal with Mister Dirt and Rocks, you keep her safe, okay? I'm counting on you."

Dashing at the speed of a moped, Kenshin rushed in towards the man. The giant tried to punch Kenshin with his free hand, but his punch was far too slow. Circling around the man, Kenshin began to swing his sword at the man's hand, trying to make him let go of the woman he held.

However, Kenshin needed to be careful. His blade's durability was only about the same as that of a wooden sword. He would not be able to cut through the rocky portions of the man's body. In fact, Kenshin could risk damaging his sword (and by extension, his hand and fingers) if his blade hit the rocks too hard.

Aiming for the man's thumb, Kenshin moved in to strike. Kenshin assumed (and hoped) that despite having a body made of earth, the man would still feel pain like any other person were he struck with enough force. Well, there was only one way to find out. Kenshin swung with all his might and struck the man's thumb with his sword. Fortunately, Kenshin was right. The man began yelling and wincing in pain when his thumb was struck, and he dropped the woman he was holding. "Argh, you little shit!"

Unfortunately, part of Kenshin's blade struck a section of the man's thumb that was made up of rock. It was not a light hit either. It was struck with a lot of force, causing a small crack to form on Kenshin's blade. "Damn it!"

Despite his sword hand hurting quite a lot, Kenshin had no time to deal with the pain. He needed to get the woman out of harm's way before the man grabbed her again. Gritting his teeth and doing his best to ignore the ever increasing pain, Kenshin grabbed the woman's hand with his left hand. The two began to run away from the earth man and towards Miku.

He could tell that Miku saw him get injured. Still, Kenshin had more important things in mind at the moment. "Don't worry about me. Just keep her safe. Leave earth man to me!"

Word count: 512

Notes: Ouch

Damn it! Kenshin looked at the crack in his blade. He was not looking forward to seeing just what his hand would look like once his transformation was done. His mother would no doubt scold him or something. That was gonna suck. However, Kenshin had more important things to think about, like how in the hell he was going to take the earth giant out without damaging his sword any further.

After carefully observing his opponent, there was good news for the boy. The rocky sections and the softer soil portions of the man's body were easily distinguishable. Kenshin could easily tell each one from the other, since the rock was much lighter than the soil in color. All he had to do was aim for the darker parts of the guy's body to avoid damaging his sword further.

The earth guy began to ignore Kenshin and began walking in Miku's direction. More accurately, he was heading towards the woman Miku was protecting. "Kagura! Nothing and no one can keep me from you! We're meant to be together!" Kenshin sighed. This guy just did not know the meaning of the word no.

Meanwhile, Kagura sighed and turned to Miku. "I'm so sorry to have brought you into this mess. I don't want trouble for anyone. If only he could understand that." She then turned to the giant and yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you before you get it through that thick skull of yours, Gio? I. Don't. Like. You! And I already have a boyfriend!"

Kenshin sighed. Was romance always like this? So weird and confusing? Or was this just the exception and not the rule? Oh well, it didn't matter. As the earth giant, whose name was apparently Gio, continued towards Miku and Kagura, Kenshin aimed his sword swing at a soft part of Gio's left leg.

However, Kenshin used too much force. His sword cleaved through the soft soil, severing the man's leg completely. As the giant tripped and fell to the floor, he began screaming loudly. "OH GOD! MY LEG! Y-YOU! YOU PSYCHOPATH!! WHAT IS W-WRONG WITH YOU?" Kenshin was utterly horrified. No. No, this couldn't be happening! What had he done? Did he really just...

Gio suddenly stopped screaming, and then smiled. "Gotcha, bitch!" Before the boy could respond, Kenshin met with the guy's fist, sending the boy flying back a few meters. As Kenshin groaned, he watched in surprise as Gio began to literally eat the ground. As he did, a new leg began growing out of where the old one was sliced off. "Ah, nothing like some good old regeneration. Pretty handy trick! You should have seen the look on your face when you thought you actually sliced my leg off, kid! Priceless!"

As Gio laughed, Kenshin got up from the floor. He was pissed beyond words. "You bastard. You cruel sadistic son of a bitch!" Whatever tiny speck of mercy Kenshin had for the guy was gone. "I'm gonna enjoy wiping that smug look from your face, you prick."

Word count: 510

Notes: You were expecting a creative and unique name, but it was me, Gio!

Gio just laughed upon hearing Kenshin's words. "Oh, you're gonna wipe the smug look off my face, are you? Well you're welcome to try, kid. But just know that whatever you do is useless!" Jeez, this guy was arrogant! As Gio continued to laugh, Kenshin noticed Miku. Wait, when did she change out of her clothes? Did she have a hero outfit ready from the start? Looking at the outfit itself, Kenshin was impressed. It looked really cool.

He then noticed Miku throwing something at Gio's freshly regrown leg while the giant was distracted. Was that a seed? That's right! Plant manipulation! She could make that seed grow into vines to slow down the giant if not outright restrain him. Gio's body was part soil, so it would be perfect. Miku's quirk would really come in handy against this opponent.

That's when Kenshin noticed something else. The leg that Gio had regrew after Kenshin cut it clean off. It looked different from the other leg. The other leg still had rocks along with the soil. However, the regenerated leg was almost all soil and very little rock. Did this mean that when Gio regenerated, the soil regrew much faster than the rock? Kenshin decided to put that theory to the test.

Dashing towards Gio, Kenshin looked around his body for spots he could cut without coming into contact with the rocky portions. After seeing some, the boy began to hack and slash at the soil parts. Gio watched as Kenshin sliced away at his fingers, toes, parts of his hands and feet, and other various parts of his body, all while avoiding the stone portions.

Gio then laughed. Eating the ground once more, the lost parts began to regenerate. As Kenshin thought, there were far more soil in the regrown parts than rock. However, Gio had not caught on to Kenshin's plan. He just thought the boy was uselessly hacking and slashing away with no method to the madness. "You idiot! Like I said, you can go ahead and try anything you want! But at the end of the day, your efforts are..." He then slammed his fist on Kenshin, knocking the boy down to the ground. It seemed that with far less rock on his body, Gio moved much faster, so the boy could not dodge in time. "Useless!" He then kept repeatedly yelling "Useless!" for every time his fist slammed on Kenshin. Fortunately for the boy, he was being hit with soil rather than stone. Unfortunately, that did not make it painless.

Kenshin just hoped that it would not take too long for Miku's seed to grow. He did not have much time left before his transformation would end. He also began to wonder if Gio would notice the seed growing in his leg. Considering that he was still slamming his fist on Kenshin, it seemed as though he did not notice yet. Otherwise, he would begin to wonder why his leg was feeling very ticklish all of a sudden.

Word count: 502

Notes: Miku's got this! Gio will never see it coming!

After continually being pounded by Gio's earthen fist, Kenshin was relieved when it finally stopped. Standing up, Kenshin looked to see what had made the giant cease his attack. To his surprise and relief, Kenshin saw Gio immobilized by vines and other various plants. There was even a tree growing out of the man's leg, acting as a shackle. "Awesome work!"

Gio was surprised to see these plants covering and immobilizing him. They came seemingly out of nowhere. "H-hey! What the hell?! Where did all this shit come from?" He tried to move his arms to free himself, but he was restrained too much to be able to move his hands even a centimeter.

Suddenly, the emblems on Kenshin's chest and non-sword hand began to flash in a red light. They kept flashing faster and faster, until the emblems stopped flashing. Immediately, Kenshin's armor began to dematerialize. It vanished until only the green grid of intersecting lines was left on the boy's body. This too faded away, marking the end of Kenshin's transformation.

Kenshin winced in pain. Looking at his right pinky finger, the boy saw that it was broken and bleeding badly from when his sword hand cracked. Shit! Mom is definitely gonna kill me when she sees this. Still, it could have been worse. At least his finger did not come clean off or anything.

Doing his best to ignore the pain, Kenshin went to Miku and Kagura, hiding the hand with the injury behind his back. "That was great, Miku! Gio been taken care of, thanks to you. Nice work!"

Kagura took out her phone. "Thank you two so much! I'm calling the police on this creep. He won't be bothering me or anyone else again." Crap, as if things couldn't get any worse for Kenshin. Being a vigilante, the police were the last people the boy wanted to see.

"Ah, yeah. I just realized I have somewhere I need to be. Also, I'm covered head to toe in dirt, so I should probably go take a shower back home. I should probably be on my way right now. Bye!" Kenshin took out his hand to wave goodbye. Unfortunately for him, he extended the wrong hand. Now Kagura and Miku both saw his damaged pinky. Damn it!

"Woah, wait just a minute, mister! That pinky looks really bad. Like, I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to bend that way. And I see your face clearly wincing in pain! Maybe you should stay here. I'll call an ambulance and have someone get your finger looked at."

Just when everything was looking good, things just had to go all wrong, didn't it?

Word count: 443

Notes: End of one problem, start of another?

With Kenshin's obvious attempt to leave the scene, it did not take long for Kagura to guess that he was a vigilante. She smiled at him. "It's okay. I'll explain to the officers what happened. You were just defending yourself and trying to protect me as well. I'm sure they can't find fault in that." Were Kenshin not in pain, he would have scoffed. He doubted that the police would be that understanding.

Miku had also made it clear that she was not supposed to just do things like this either, because stupid laws. "Don't worry, hon. I won't. If you wish to head out now, then go ahead. But I must insist your friend stays here. He really should get someone to look at his pinky."

Kenshin sighed. He supposed that there was no getting out of this. Quickly taking his phone out, the boy began to call his mother, telling her what happened. Naturally, his mom began yelling into the phone, her worry and concern being made quite clear. In fact, despite the speaker volume not being very high, Miku and Kagura had no trouble hearing Kenshin's mother's voice on the phone. Kenshin did his best to alleviate his mom's worries, with little success.

"Mom, I swear it's not as bad as it looks, okay? Now please stop talking so loud. They can hear you, and the phone volume isn't even that high!"

After the scolding, the worrying, and the praise of a job well done, Kenshin's mother informed the boy that she would come see him at the hospital before finally hanging up. Kenshin sighed. It could have been far worse, he supposed.

After the call, Kenshin turned to face Miku. "Hey, despite Gio and my finger, I had a fun time hanging out with you today. We should talk again some time, if you want to. You're a pretty cool person, Miku. Just as much of a badass as your dad in my opinion." Kenshin really did not have any friends, but he would be honored if Miku would become one. Even if Kenshin decided not to try to reapply to UA, he hoped that this was not the last he would see of Miku.

Word count: 369

Notes: lol, poor Kenshin

Upon being hugged by Miku, Kenshin looked away in embarrassment. It was not because he disliked hugs, but rather because the boy just wasn't used to being hugged by people outside his family. The hug was thankfully a short one, as Miku pulled away after saying she had fun as well.

After assuring the boy that he'll get better and to not worry about the hospital or his mother (that, Kenshin could not do, as he always worried about his mother), Miku asked if they were friends. Kenshin smiled as he replied, "Of course! It's an honor to call you my friend, Miku!" Miku then joked about making a pinky swear. Kenshin sighed and then chuckled a bit.

Sadly, Miku did need to leave now. Kenshin waved his uninjured hand as he bid his new friend farewell. "Ciao!" Hopefully, they would get to meet again, to talk again, and the boy would hopefully not break his pinky again next time.

After Miku left, the boy waited for the police to arrive. About fifteen minutes later, a large police van and an ambulance drove in. As Kagura spoke to the police about what happened, Gio was cuffed and moved to the police van by several officers. Meanwhile, Kenshin was moved to the ambulance to be taken to the hospital to get his pinky looked at. Hopefully, recovery would be swift for the boy.

While lying down inside the ambulance, all Kenshin wanted to do was go to sleep. That and take a shower. With all that dirt he was covered in, he needed one badly!

Word count: 264

Notes: All's well that ends well. Mostly.