🌸Before you read 🌸

🌸Continuation of the previous crossover part.

🌸Muay Thai is a form of fighting that is used frequently in sd1229 's story, being that is what Kita trains in. I know very little of this fighting style and had to do a lot of research. Please forgive me if I mess things up with it because research and interpreting it doesn't always equate to accuracy. Regardless, it is pretty interesting to learn about.

🌸Now, to those who have read KL, you may notice that there is something very wrong with the following. This is an A.U., and after talking to the author, for this story only, Achara's gym is located in the same city as U.A., not in Osaka, Japan, where it's supposed to be located in KL. Trust me when I say it works better for everyone that I do this.

🌸Also, naming one-shots and the three chapters to this little short fic is hard! This is honestly why my chapters are just numbered.

🌸Regardless of that last fact, I hope you enjoy.

🌸Kita's Muay Thai Lesson🌸

When Kita said she'd teach me some Muay Thai, I honestly thought it was just going to be a series of kicks. Guess that was more kung fu and karate than it was...this. Muay Thai was more than just using the legs; it was using the entire body as a weapon.

In order to use the body in such a way, we had to warm up. Honestly, the first time Kita and I warmed up, I thought that was going to be the training for the day. She forced me to do fifty reps of kicks on each side, along with punch and elbow a punching bag one-hundred times on each side, along with some other arduous exercises. Needless to say when she took me into the ring that first day, I felt as if I was going to die.

Which was how this training session felt.

My body slammed down on the mat once again, causing my ears to ring. I winced in pain. Just like I had always told Raiden during our training sessions, I told Kita not to hold back too much. Of course, I should have realized being placed in 1-A, she was a bit stronger than Raiden. Well, she was stronger than him when Raiden didn't use his Quirk as I think it would be impossible to go up against that. He never used his Quirk on me when we did spar, but I couldn't tell if Kita was doing the same or not.

"You did much better that time," I heard Kita's instructor, Achara, praise. "In fact, you held off for a full five minutes, and that's not easy."

I turned my head to see the octopus-like woman standing outside the ring. Well, she didn't really look like an octopus, but every once in a while, she'd have one of her tentacles sprout from her back. Other than that, she liked pretty much looked like everyone else with her red hair pulled back, showing off her dark colored skin.

Kita and I had to do the Muay Thai training at Achara's gym, which was probably the largest room I had ever been in. I was honestly intimidated by the amount of people here, especially since they all looked powerful enough to knock me off my feet with one swoop. Kita told me that Achara had the largest Muay Thai gym in all of Japan, as it had seven different raised boxing-like rings scattared around the room and fifteen punching bags on the far end of the room. With the amount of people that could be training, the gym had a high celing and a huge door that almost always stayed open.

It was probably a good thing too, otherwise the stench of sweat would be overpowering.

Now, Kita and I probably could have gone to the school to train, but Kita was more comfortable training me here. With all the equipment, it made sense why. I mean, there was only so much she could teach me on the mat, and even then, I had to learn some other stuff before getting in the ring. Regardless, I somewhat wondered if there was another reason Kita wanted me to train here.

While I knew Kita wasn't the type to gloat, a part of me wondered if she just wanted to show off to her instructor by how good she was. I knew that wasn't really the case, but gosh. I was extremely outmatched by her array of kicks and punches she threw at me. Had it not been for the ropes that wrapped around the ring, I probably would have been thrown out of there a numerous amount of times.

Kita's hand appeared in front of me, offering to help me back up on my feet. I didn't hesitate to grab onto it, letting her help me back onto my feet. Once I was stable, the pink haired girl handed me a bottle of water, almost knowing I needed a break from it all.

"Achara's right you know," Kita told me. "I wasn't really holding back that time either."

Part of me wanted to question Kita, but I didn't. I just followed her out of the ring and onto a bench, feeling the sweat collecting all over my body. That was a good thing though. It meant that I was working hard. I just wish there was a way I could work hard without feeling as if I was pushing myself too far.

The moment we found an open bench, I laid my head back on the wall and squeezed my eyes shut.

"So, is tonight the night?" Kita asked.

"Tonight's the night for what?" I asked, before taking another sip of water.

"The night Yamamoto comes back from his internship trip, so you get to show off all your Muay Thai training," she teased.

It took everything in me not to choke or spit out the water inside my mouth. My head snapped down as I pulled the water away and covered my mouth with my other hand. After training with Kita, I had totally forgotten about Raiden's internship that made him go somewhere else. It still made me curious what he was up to or where he was at, but in the line of hero work, you can't always ask them questions for everyone's safety.

Even if tonight was the night he was coming back, it didn't really mean that Raiden would ask me to train with him right away. I mean, it could be late that he got back, or something could have happened that he needed a break. For all I knew, he could need the whole weekend off, meaning I wouldn't be able to train with him until Monday.

I took in a deep breath. "He comes back tonight, but that doesn't mean he'll want to train. Even if he does I...I don't know if I'm ready."

Kita didn't say a word for a moment, but I didn't mind. I just watched a few other people who were training inside their rings. Everyone was so experienced, but they all have probably been doing this for ages now. For me to think I could even do well against Kita was a bit far fetched. I mean, she was probably the best one here. She could always sense my attacks before I could even land them.

Guess it made sense since she was going to become a Pro Hero someday.

"Hey, you'll get there," Kita encouraged. "It just takes time."

My lips pressed together as I looked down at my blue colored shorts. There were a few bruises up and down my legs, but none of them were horrible. At least, most of them didn't hurt unless something made contact with it, like one of Kita's kicks.

What was I even thinking that I could do this?

"Mind if I ask you something?" Kita asked out of the blue.

I snapped my head up at her, seeing her yellow eyes staring at me. I didn't say a word, and after a moment of silence, Kita took that as a yes.

"Why did you apply to U.A?" Kita asked.

Her question took me by surprise. Everyone at school seemed to know I transferred to 1-D just a few months after being there. True, they never knew the exact reason. Even if it was asked, I always kind of waved the question off or tried to change the subject. The last thing I wanted was to relive what happened.

It all started when I applied to U.A.

Even though we only got to know each other through this internship, I knew Kita would have understood the truth. Still, there was something that made the entire thing uncomfortable to talk about. I should have expected the question sooner or later, but I took a second to tear my gaze away from her as I looked down at my shorts, tugging the end of them.

All I knew was that I didn't want to lie to Kita.

"Honestly," I told her. "I-I thought it was what was expected from me. That wasn't the case, and of course I realize it now, but at the time, I-I just couldn't see it." I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it anymore, even if I was leaving out a ton of details. "Why did you apply to go to U.A?"

Looking back at Kita, I noticed her face falter a bit. It was the same look my friends told me I had every time someone nearly forced me to talk about my own past. Seeing it, I regretted asking Kita.

Whatever her reason was, I could tell it wasn't a fond memory.

"I-I'm sorry if I—you don't have to answer, I mean, I don't—" I started to say before Kita shook her head.

"It's fine, honestly. U.A. is the best place for anyone to become a Pro Hero, and after—after my sister was killed, I figured it was the best place to become a hero, a hero that could have saved her," Kita explained as she dropped her head.

Her words cut through me like a knife. This whole time, I had never heard her talk about her sister, but hearing that she died, no, that she was killed, it resurfaced some unwanted memories.

A few months ago, I could have easily lost my own brother due to a group of villains. If something were to happen to him that I lost him forever, I don't know what I would have done. Well, I knew one thing. If something happened to my little brother, Ollie, I wouldn't have ever forgiven any of the heroes for being there to stop the villains.

I probably would've detest heroes forever if something like that happened. There was no way I could have become a hero because of it.

Knowing that, I asked Kita a very hard question. "What—what exactly happened? If you're comfortable saying—er, telling me. If not, that's okay. We can talk about something different if you need to."

"Honestly, Tami, it's okay," Kita told me, but her tone of voice said otherwise as I heard it shake. The girl hung her head, so I couldn't see how she really was. "It all happened at a festival. This villain attacked. Aratani pushed me out of danger, but...she was killed in the process."

Kita paused after saying that, and hearing her story, I couldn't help but to feel my chest growing heavy. Her sister was killed right in front of her eyes. That couldn't have been easy. She had to have been scared, and yet, here she was, becoming a hero because of it.

It took all the strength I had in me to lift my hand and rub her shoulder for comfort. While I was hesitant in doing this for many reasons, the small act didn't go unnoticed. Behind the mess of pink hair that fell in front of Kita's face, I could see a faint smile on her face.

That smile didn't last long when Kita grew comfortable talking again.

"I want to be the kind of hero that cares more about saving people than about being a celebrity because the hero that day, she didn't save my sister," Kita explained. "She only cared about how heroic people saw her."

While I never saw her facial expression, I swore I saw a tear drop onto her shorts. Of all the things I could have asked, I wished I didn't ask that. I mean, I probably brought up some unwanted memories. Those were never good.

The hero in training rubbed her eyes before she looked at me. As I had thought, her eyes were red and stained with tears, but not in the way that she was crying hard. I guess that was a good thing, but I still hated to see her tear up about that. Kita had every reason to since she witnessed it all, but I just wished I didn't cause it all.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that," I apologized. Part of me wanted to add more to that comment, but I bit my tongue in fear. If Kita knew more about my past, I wasn't so sure she'd be so nice. Maybe she would be, being how kind and encouraging she was, but I didn't want to take my chances.

So, instead of saying anything about my own past, I talked about hers. "I'm sure Ari—uh, your sister, I'm sure she'd be proud of you. I mean, I didn't know her, but if she saved you, and you plan on doing the same for others, I'm sure she'd be impressed. I mean, look at what you did earlier this week! If it wasn't for you, the kids at Umbra's Agency and me would have been in big trouble," I explained.

A small smile crossed Kita's lips as she rubbed one of her golden horns. "Thanks, but you helped out too."

"But you had so much Muay Thai training that you really showed that villain who was boss," I exclaimed.

Kita's face blushed at the compliment, but it was all true. For the most part, I stayed back and made sure the kids were away from the villain, while Kita would kick and do all sorts of Muay Thai moves to keep him away from us. Even as I remembered the attack, I could tell the villain was having a hard time keeping up with her half the time.

"Thanks. You just have to remember what you're fighting for," Kita said, returning back to her old self as her eyes brightened for a moment. "That reminds me, I think I know what's going wrong with your fighting style. You need to keep an eye out for my movements and dodge when you see an attack coming because Muay Thai isn't about attacking; it's about defense too."

My eyes widened a bit as she said that as my hand fell from her shoulders down to my lap (as I figured she probably didn't need comfort anymore). Defense, not attacking. That was something Raiden told me over and over again during our self-defense training. He knew that I didn't want to be a hero, so learning how to attack wasn't what was necessary. What I needed to do was dodge the attacks. From what Kita just told me, Muay Thai was no different.

If Raiden would have seen me now, he'd be so disappointed that I didn't realize that sooner. When that thought came in my mind, I winced.

"I guess you're right," I said as I scratched the back of my neck. "To be honest, I just thought it was about attacking. Then again I-I thought it was all about kicks and stuff when you first mentioned teaching it to me."

My words caused Kita to laugh. "No worries, a lot of people think of stuff like that. In fact, my friend, Misaki, first called it a mai thai by mistake."

Mai thai? I blinked in confusion as to what that was. Hearing Kita giggle a bit at what her friend said about it, I guess it was some kind of joke. Her giggles died down when she realized I wasn't laughing with her.

"Mai thai, you know, like the mixed drink?" Kita explained.

"Oh," was the only thing that could come out of my mouth.

To be honest, I had never heard of that before, so however Kita knew about it, I wasn't sure. Still, the way she laughed at it before made it seem like it was something many people knew about. It made me wish I had just laughed along with her instead of being confused like I was.

"Kita, Tami, don't you think you've had a long enough break? Get your asses back into the ring," Achara reprimanded causing me to jump up a bit and look up. The Muay Thai master was standing in front of us, with her hands on her hips. She didn't look angry, but I figured sitting here, chatting with Kita for a bit, wasn't really going to make her happy either.

We stood up and walked to the nearest ring. I glanced over at Kita, who stood with her fists in front of her chest, ready to fight. She looked born to fight, especially since her pink top didn't look as drenched as I felt in my black one.

Just remember what you're fighting for, Kita told me moments ago. Keep an eye out for my movements and dodge. Remember, Muay Thai isn't just about attacking; it's about defense too. Sure, Kita tried concentrating on the attacks I could use to disarm someone, but in order to even get to use an attack I needed to learn how to dodge hers.

Achara gave us the cue to start, causing my heart to race a bit. I looked up at Kita, noticing her knee starting to move upwards. I quickly dodged out of the way, causing her to stumble. Before Kita could turn around, I brought my elbow in front and tried jabbing it to her back.

Whether this was legal or not, I wasn't sure, but Kita and Achara said it was fine being that I was just doing this for self defense. Unfortunately, Kita seemed to have anticipated my movements because before my elbow could hit her back, she swung her leg around forcing me down on the ground.

Two attacks, and I was down. Usually, it took a few more attacks than that for her to knock me off my feet. Well, with the exception of the first day when all it took was one move for Kita to push me down to the ground.

The pink haired girl looked down at me for a moment before reaching her hand out, when her words rang in the back of my head. Just remember what you're fighting for.

If this was a fight, and I gave up just then, I'd be doomed. My little brother would be worried once again about what was going on with me while I could see my friends frantically looking all over Japan to make sure I was okay. I couldn't have them worry about me anymore. I needed to be the one to defend for myself.

Kita was my friend, but if this was a situation where she wasn't, I had to think fast. I quickly swung my legs from underneath her, taking her off guard as she fell down on her butt.

To my surprise, instead of yelling or getting mad at me for cheating, Kita just laughed.

"Gotta admit, I didn't see that one coming," Kita admitted. "You know, I think you're ready to face your boyfriend later."

Hearing that, I curled up in a ball to hide my face. Despite that, I could feel Achara looking at me, probably wondering what the heck Kita meant by that.

"He's not my boyfriend!" I claimed.

Kita just laughed.

🌸🌸🌸

When we were done with training, I noticed I had a few text messages from my friends. My eyes scanned the messages that covered most of the screen. Most of them were from Sakura, who was texting to ask if Raiden made it back yet. Why she texted me and not him was beyond me. Actually, no, I did know why. Just like Kita, she was convinced there was something more going on between us, no matter how much I tried to say otherwise.

There were a couple texts from Kaito, Daigo, and some from some students from General Studies. Some were just saying hi while others were asking about homework assignments and if I could help. That was why Daigo texted me. While we were in different classes, I always seemed to excel in standard classes, so I offered to help anyone in my free time. Seeing that Daigo needed help understanding a basic history unit, I was about ready to shoot him a text when I saw a new text message flash on the screen.

Raiden.

"What does it say?" Kita asked, reminding me she was walking beside me this entire time.

I didn't answer as I just opened up the message.

Up for some training tonight

My eyes widened when I saw those words light up on the screen. In all honesty, from the training I just did with Kita, I really couldn't afford anymore beatdowns or training, but, at the same time, his house was on the other side of town. It'd take me a good forty minutes to walk there. I could probably cut the time in half if I called for a taxi or looked for a bus to ride on, but walking there would be a great way to give most of my muscles a break.

After all the training Kita put me through, I was just eager to show off how hard I was training. It was nothing more than that.

"Awe! He's asking you to train. See, I told you he'd be up for some training," Kita teased.

If I wasn't too tired from all the training we did, I would have disagreed with her. Instead, I just shook my head. "You're crazy."

"Just stating the facts," Kita said as we came up to the sidewalk, where we'd have to split ways. "Call me as soon as you're done though. I want to know how it all went."

I shook my head at her as I waved back at her, taking off. She was going to be very disappointed when all she heard was that we trained because I could almost guarantee that was all that would happen. Despite that, I would still call her. I mean, if it wasn't for her Muay Thai training, I probably wouldn't stand a chance against Raiden during our training.

Looking back at Kita as she walked away, I smiled. Kita didn't have to take some time to give me some Muay Thai lessons. She could have just simply let me on my own to just worked on the exercises Raiden wanted me to go through. But she didn't.

If anyone was going to make a great Pro Hero someday from 1-A, it was going to be Kita. There was no doubt about it. Someday, everyone will know of Kita, the Ram Hero. When that day comes, I was certain she'd become one of my brother's favorite Pro Heroes.

If our world would be in the hands of people like Kita, heroes who wanted to help others just because it was the right thing to do, then I knew everything was going to be fine.

🌸End of Part 2🌸

🌸Character Spotlight: Tami Smith🌸
Quirk: Bio Change
Book: I'm No Hero

🌸Character Spotlight: Kita Yukimura🌸
Quirk: Ram
Book: Kita's Legacy

Special thanks to Shelby for getting our characters commissioned! And a huge thank you to _Sspiinch_ on Instagram for bringing our characters to life!

Song: Reason and Strength from Haikyuu