"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

Rocketing through the air towards the wooden mannequin in front of him, Katsuki Bakugo thrust his hand forward and released his Quirk.

The force of the explosion shook the whole arena, and the noise was deafening.

He landed on the ground smartly, his chest heaving. The destroyed mannequin fell to the ground in a pile of blackened fragments, rich with the smell of burning wood.

It was currently the day after the U.A. sports festival, and all students had the day off. Most of Class 1-A were using their free time to relax, but Bakugo had other plans. He had chosen to spend his morning at Training Ground Beta, not just to hone his Quirk, but also as an outlet for his rage.

The reason for this rage - the final match of yesterday's tournament, when Shoto Todoroki had refused to fight him using his fire powers. After that complete disappointment of a fight, Bakugo had been dying to let off some steam - and therefore came to the training ground to vent his anger in the best way he knew how.

By blowing up everything in his sight like a maniac.

It was working quite well.

"Tired..." he muttered to himself. "...got to take a break."

Having blown off most of his anger by now, he felt a little calmer. Still breathing hard, he headed out of the arena and started to walk around its perimeter to cool off.

With no lessons taking place and almost nobody in the school grounds, the usual people were, mercifully, not around to annoy him. No Shitty Hair, no Tape Face, no annoying Deku - he had a rare moment of silence all to himself, and he intended to make use of it.

However, his silence was disturbed when he passed by Training Ground Delta, and he heard some faint crashing sounds and dust being kicked up.

"The hell?"

He found it strange that someone else was using the training grounds when he was always the only one around at this hour. He went to take a look. The arenas were barred to all students who weren't in the hero course, and the seniors didn't use Ground Delta, so it had to be either one of the extras from his class or someone from 1-B.

Once he got close enough to take a look, he found that it was the latter.

A girl with long green vines for hair was standing in the middle of the arena, using her thorny hair like whips to perform a series of attacks on various targets.

She sent some of her vines slashing through the air, striking four or five mannequins and sending them flying into a wall. They then shot forward and stabbed through a thick wooden board. Finally, she used them to ensnare some blocks of wood, leapt up, and flung them forcefully into the mannequins.

Damn, that's lethal. Bakugo thought as he watched her.

He recognised this girl from the day before. She was one of the competitors during the final stage of the tournament, and...

What the hell was her name again? Shimari? Shimazaki? Whatever. All he knew was that she had beaten Denki Kaminari in about two seconds flat.

He still remembered how blindingly fast that match was. All it had taken was one quick restraining move, and Kaminari was left unable to fight.

And from what Bakugo was seeing, she had even more abilities than the binding move she had used on his classmate - she was probably trying not to hurt Kaminari too much back then.

Her Quirk was really powerful...with attacks like that, Bakugo found himself wondering how well he would fare against her.

With his explosions, there was no doubt he could destroy the vines with ease - but the sheer number of them would make defending himself consistently a challenge. The different nature of their Quirks also meant that Bakugo would have to move around more than her, and tire out quicker. On top of that, she had the advantage of range - all of this making it nearly impossible for him to find an opening to attack.

Blood rushed to his head as he realised that she might be able to defeat him. However, far from feeling threatened or enraged at this, this idea made him feel...eager.

In a fight between the two of them, would he find himself taken down within seconds like Kaminari, or would he be able to beat her, even if he had to go all out?

He was itching to find out.

Bakugo took a step forward, and flung open the arena doors with a loud bang.

"Hey you, with the vines!"

Startled, Ibara Shiozaki paused her training and looked up - and her face darkened upon seeing Bakugo.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"You got time? Fight me."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said, fight me." Bakugo said as he descended the steps to the arena. "I want to see how good you are."

Shiozaki's cold gaze didn't soften. She didn't know Bakugo very well, but she disliked him greatly for how aggressive he was. His scarily violent tendencies, as displayed during his matches yesterday, plus the way he had resisted being chained to the podium, had cemented Bakugo as someone she wanted to avoid as much as possible. She was not at all pleased to see him here. What on earth did he want with her?

"Why me?" she asked coldly. "Don't you have friends to train with?"

"Damn, you ask a lot of questions. You're really strong, aren't you? I just want to see how good I do against you."

Shiozaki still felt on edge. Despite his (somewhat) nice remark, she was still wary of Bakugo, and the idea of fighting someone so violent made her skin crawl.

Still though, it seemed like a good idea to her. She had come to train because she wanted to get better at fighting, and the champion of yesterday's tournament had just offered to spar with her. She could hardly ask for a better opportunity.

"Alright, I accept." Shiozaki said, finally dropping her hostile tone. "Do you want to do this somewhere else, or-"

"No, here is fine." Bakugo replied, striding across the arena and kicking aside wooden blocks and mannequins.

When he reached the opposite end, he bent down and picked one of the wooden blocks. He held it up in his hand for her to see.

"First one to stop the other from-"

He paused, and glared at her.

"Hold on. What's your name again?"

"Ibara Shiozaki."

"Too long. I'm just going to call you 'Vines'."

Shiozaki gave an indignant twitch in response to his attitude. Bakugo didn't react.

Holding up the wooden block again, he said, "First one to stop the other from moving wins."

He tossed the block into the air. Both pairs of eyes were on it as it rose - then fell - then hit the ground.

In an instant, Bakugo crouched down and fired off two explosions, launching himself straight at Shiozaki.

"Die!"

He swung at her with a right hook. Shiozaki dashed aside, evading the blast - but as she did so, she shut her eyes and flung an arm over her face in alarm - which Bakugo instantly recognised as a beginner's mistake.

His eyes flared. If she couldn't fight, then her incompetence would be her downfall.

He lunged again and fired off a second blast. She leapt back to avoid him one more time, and stumbled slightly.

Furious that the opponent he had such high hopes for was acting like a complete novice, he yelled, "Come on, use your goddamn Quirk!"

Seemingly spurred on by his taunt, Shiozaki regained her balance and sent multiple vines flying towards Bakugo like striking snakes. He felt slightly more eager at this.

He countered with an explosion, and the vines were destroyed. Barely a second later, more shot towards him. He blocked again - they continued to regrow.

Bakugo gritted his teeth. This was just like his fight with Shoto - he couldn't defend against a continued onslaught.

He continued firing off explosions, torching vines with every hit, but there were too many to keep up with. Eventually, two vines snaked around Bakugo's wrist and bound it tightly.

Damn!

He tried to use his other hand to free himself, but the moment he stopped fending off the other vines, three or four of them wrapped themselves around his body and pinned his arms to his sides.

He struggled, but the vines didn't relent. As he looked up, he saw a dozen more approaching, and knew that he would lose if he didn't act quickly.

Hoping his next move would get him out of this, he forced his left palm outwards, and released a bright blast of light in a weaker version of his Stun Grenade.

It worked. Shiozaki shut her eyes and staggered, and the vines holding Bakugo came loose. He wrenched his arms free and destroyed them with explosions.

Not wanting to give her another chance to win, he pounced, and the next instant, grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground forcefully.

Pinning her down, he watched her struggle for a moment, then go still.

"I win." Bakugo breathed.

Shiozaki groaned in defeat. She knew he was right. The only reason she was still conscious was because they were just sparring. Had they been fighting for real, he'd have already knocked her out with an explosion.

Looking up, she caught a glimpse of Bakugo's vicious expression, and her intense dislike of him came flooding back.

She closed her eyes and braced herself for an insult or cruel remark...

"You're strong."

Her eyes flitted open.

"Excuse me?"

"Girl, is there something in your ears? Only because that's the second time you've asked me that today." said Bakugo, a hint of mirth in his voice. "Yeah, you heard me, you're strong as hell. Probably almost as good as Icy-Hot."

Shiozaki waited for further explanation on his mysterious comment, but Bakugo didn't say anything. He was looking at her up and down, like he was carefully debating what to do with her.

Eventually, he released his grip on her neck and stood up.

"Come with me. I want to talk to you." he said, before walking over to a corner of the arena.

Shiozaki stared after him, utterly perplexed. Was Bakugo being...

...actually civil?

She had totally expected him to berate her for losing so quickly. Instead, he told her she was...strong? Was he just trying to be nice, or...? No way, this was the same insufferable jerk who made a mockery of her entire class yesterday. Surely he was up to something.

"Oi, Vine Head! How long are you going to lie there?"

Grumbling, Shiozaki got to her feet and walked towards Bakugo. For whatever reason he was being courteous to her, she preferred it that way and would rather not set him off.

She stopped in front of him, and he stared at her calmly with his back against the arena wall. They were both glaring at each other before they realised it.

"What?" Shiozaki was the first to speak.

"Why is it that you can't fight well?"

Shiozaki nearly responded with 'excuse me', but she figured that Bakugo would probably get angry if she said that a third time, so she bit back her tongue and chose her words more carefully.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean?"

"From the second I attacked you, you kept making stupid mistakes. Flinching, losing your balance, blocking your own view. A dead bird can tell you don't know how to fight. Kids who want to be heroes usually learn how to fight a little before even joining a hero school. So what's up with you?"

Shiozaki shifted uncomfortably. Bakugo's question was making her feel nauseous. Telling someone she barely even knew - or liked - about why she couldn't fight well was one thing. More importantly, the reason behind her shortcomings...was a subject she despised thinking about, and she was never keen on disclosing it to anyone.

Suddenly, she felt a surge of frustration and exasperation.

"And...and why should I tell you?" she said hotly. "You...I barely even know you! And whatever you're trying to pull, I don't want to be involved."

She rarely ever shouted like this, and she was aware that Bakugo hadn't actually done anything wrong so far, but she was just totally unprepared for his question, and she was already wanting to leave.

She actually turned around and took a few steps towards the door when Bakugo gave a reply that made her stop abruptly.

"Too bad. I can help you with what you lack, you know."

She turned to look at him, her gaze slightly softer. But she kept her lips firmly sealed.

"Come and train with me, once or twice every week, whenever you want." Bakugo said. "I can show you how to fight better, do some hand-to-hand combat, and help you find better ways to use your Quirk when you're not fighting a human charger that goes flat in five seconds."

"It's better than throwing mannequins around, anyway." he added, jerking his thumb towards the training dummies that lay scattered on the ground.

Shiozaki stared at him, completely taken aback by his offer.

"I-I'm sorry, why are you being so...nice?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, this is for my own good." Bakugo said sharply. "Going up against someone with a Quirk as good as yours over and over is a great way to get to the top. And yours is freaking strong. If you knew how to counter a punch, you'd be a real challenge for me."

"So in other words, you want to make me better at combat so that you can use me as your personal practice doll." Shiozaki said darkly.

"Yeah, that's about right." said Bakugo without a change in expression.

Shiozaki frowned. Now that she heard his motives, she felt like livestock being raised for slaughter. It was not a pleasant thought, learning and improving with Bakugo's help just because he wanted to knock her down.

Still, she couldn't deny that training with the school's top fighter was a highly appealing concept. It was a terrific way to hone her skills. Furthermore, who said Bakugo had to beat her all the time? If she learned whatever she could from him, she could see herself eventually defeating him and putting him in his place.

Maybe she had something to gain from this.

"Alright, I accept your offer." she said. "I don't know when I'll be able to meet you, though, since our internships are supposed to start soon."

"That's good enough for me." Bakugo said, shrugging. "I'm done here. See you at school tomorrow."

He turned and made his way towards the exit, but just as he placed his foot on the first stair, he looked back over his shoulder at Shiozaki.

"By the way, why did you come here today?" he questioned. "I've been here a dozen times and I've never seen anyone here so early."

Shiozaki looked at him.

"I wasn't satisfied with my results yesterday so I came to improve myself. And I hate to admit it, but I was feeling frustrated, so I had to let off some steam."

"Heh, I think we'll get along well."

And on that enigmatic note, Bakugo left without another word, and Shiozaki now stood by herself in silence.

She felt like this was the start of something she had never expected.

X

All my thanks to Erin Tesden for being the beta reader for my fanfic!

Hello, and welcome to my first attempt at a multi-chaptered fanfiction for My Hero Academia. As someone who loves fluff and rarepairs, Bakugo × Shiozaki is my favourite ship for this series and when I discovered that the tags for this pairing are almost completely blank on both FFN and AO3, I felt compelled to try my hand at it.

My rarepair-loving heart aside, the other reason I wanted to write this fanfic was because I was inspired by massively popular stories like Awkward Energy by QuirkQuartz, which I really recommend checking out. Oh, and I should probably make it clear now that I intend to turn this fanfic into something like that - following HeroAca's canon story while exploring any changes that take place due to the presence of the main pairing.

As I continue to write and post chapters for this fanfic, I hope you will enjoy what I have in store! (I have fifteen more chapters written out already. I'm not kidding. It took me over a year.)

See you!