The Animal Is Being Stalked

They say in fairy tales that the walls have eyes and the trees have ears.

If you find yourself of any self worth you should think before you speak. Only then will you truly be safe. At what cost?

Complete dissociation of your own personality. But freedom doesn't matter if your safe.

These words were most likely spoken by a free man.

League of Villains Current hide out; Two days later.

"Your followers are beginning to get uneasy Shigaraki. It's only a matter of time before they lose faith." Kurogiri stated, cleaning out a shot glass.

"Mind your tongue. The plan to recruit Bakugou would have been the perfect chance to spit in the face of the hero society. And you know I dislike when things don't go according to plan." He said scratching vigorously behind the hand clinging to his neck. He began to pace, slowly. Scratching back and forth, quick, quicker, stopping for nothing. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. This was supposed to work. So why didn't it? Why does nothing work properly when those damned kids are around!?" He mumbled to himself, over and over. Kurogiri found his eyes straying to the security screen in the corner of the room,

"Sir. Come look at this."

"Can't you see I'm busy!?" Shigaraki spat. Kurogiri moved around the bar, not daring to remove his eyes. It took Shigaraki a moment, but when he finally looked up at the screen, he grew excited. While Bakugou was in their captivity, they had planted a tracking device on him, as well as a camera that he was unaware of. From here they saw quite the odd sight.

"Who is that?" Kurogiri asked, referring to the girl with black and white hair. "And why is she in the same dorm as 1-A?" Kurogiri looked down at his ally. His face had lit up, if you could call it that.

"Last time I checked U.A. has a strict policy on no transfer students, and no visitors." The villain smiled, his eyes growing thin. "There must be something incredibly special about her... Contact the master. Tell him to get information on the girl. I want everything. Health facts to every past event you can find." He said watching with utter fascination. Kurogiri looked doubtfully at Shigaraki.

"This is awfully bold of you. We don't even know why she's there. Don't you think we should investigate a bit first?" Shigaraki contemplated more a minute. Scratching. Scratching. Scratching.

"Go get Himiko Toga. I have a job for her." He said biting his disgustingly chapped lips.

"Himiko Toga at your service." Toga giggled, faking a salute. Kurogiri watched in disgust. He still for the life of him couldn't understand how someone so giggly could be a sinister villain.

"When we were able to kidnap Bakugou... You were able to get the blood sample, correct?"

"Yes! I was able to take a sample. Why do you ask?" She questioned clearly excited over the job she was about to receive. Shiguraki looked thoughtful for a moment.

" I need you to infiltrate U.A. High school and meet with someone disguised as Bakugou. Have I made myself clear?" He asked, still staring at the screen.

"Let me guess, it's her? Awww that's boring." She whined staring the girl on the screen up and down. Clearly she was expecting someone less feminine.

"Have I made myself clear?" He asked this time through his teeth. Somehow almost everything that came out of his mouth sounded venomous.

"Yeah..." She pouted sitting on the top of the bar and swinging her legs to and fro.

"Perfect... Everything will go perfect. This time I'm positive. This time it has to." Shiguraki scratched and scratched, until the skin on his neck had turned leathery.

Anzu flashed her eyes open as a roll of thunder crashed from the sky. It had been raining and thundering all night. Despite the coming of the morning, the sunrise was shielded by the thunderclouds. It remained an ugly, desaturated gray color. It sucked the color and life from everything. The sleepy soon-to-be hero sat up out of her make shift bed. She was still exhausted. Two days had passed since her first day. Most of the aching had stopped, but a twinge of it still remained, every moment begging her to refrain from using her quirk again. She twisted around and looked upwards. Bakugou was sprawled out starfish style. One of his pillows had fallen on top of her, and he had completely twisted around. Now his head was where his feet were supposed to be. She suppressed a snicker. Today was Sunday, the previous day she had spoken with some of the girls in the dorm and taken some old clothes off their hands. Now she at least had things that fit her body type. She knew Bakugou said to give the hoodie back once she had decent clothes, but now that she had them he hadn't said anything. Because of this she found herself sleeping in it. The thick fabric certainly made up for the lack of warm blankets. Especially since he kept the AC ridiculously high so he wouldn't generate any sweat in his sleep and accidentally explode something. Anzu picked herself up off the floor and changed into one of Mina's old graphic T's and a pair of Momo's old blue jeans. The T-shirt said 'Thug Life' In white print on the black shirt. She had no idea what that meant, but something told her it was out of context. She was about to step out the door, but when she looked back, Bakugou was sitting up. He took in a sharp breath and stretched his arms.

"Morning." She said, her hand still hovering over the door knob. It took him a moment, but then be replied

"Morni'n" In a drowsy voice. She suppressed another snicker. So the tough guy forgets to be a jerk when he's not fully awake? That's good to know. Anzu thought closing the door behind herself.

Momo and Todoroki were the first ones out of their rooms. They were having a conversation about whether Momo could create food, and use the food to fuel her creation ability. The conversation seemed a little too in depth for the morning. But she supposed they were early birds more than night owls. Meanwhile, Anzu felt like she had been hit by a bus. She removed a water bottle from the fridge. She really wasn't big on breakfast.

"Anzu! Come sit with us." Momo called from across the room. Her level of cheeriness was blinding this early in the morning. She took a seat across from the two.

"Do you guys know what were doing today?" Anzu asked sipping the water slowly.

"Well, because it's so rainy out we thought we could all watch a movie. The problem is we can never decide on one." Momo said fretfully. Anzu swore she could see something similar to war flashbacks in Momo's eyes.

"Well you said that you guys go in a cycle of who gets to choose what you guys eat, so why don't you just do the same thing with movies?" Anzu suggested. Momo looked thoughtful for a moment. Everything grew silent.

"That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that!?" She said, her eyes sparkling. "But who will go first?" She questioned Todoroki this time. The conversation went on for a while, and slowly but surely more and more people had come into the kitchen. Soon enough, the only ones missing were Tokoyami and Bakugou. She almost laughed at the irony that Tokoyami wasn't an early bird. Tsu offered to go get Tokoyami, and Anzu was practically the only one Bakugou would allow in his room, so she offered to go as well. As Anzu climbed the stairs she realized how impractical this was. He wasn't going to want to watch a random movie with him classmates. That was absurd. She couldn't help but wonder what she had signed up for.

Anzu lightly knocked on the door with one knuckle.

"Bakugou? Um... The class was planning on watching a movie and wanted everyone to join them." She said, worried over what his reaction would be. There was nothing but silence, but she jumped backwards when the door opened up. He was wearing a camouflage hoodie and black sweatpants. Geez you'd think he'd have more than one color scheme. She thought to herself.

"What movie?" He asked passing by her and stepping down the stairs.

"I don't know yet, they haven't decided who's choosing."

"Tch." Was all he responded. Why did everything always have to be such a nuisance to him?

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tokoyami had finally arrived. All of them crowded into the living room, and Momo passed out tea and coffee. They all took a vote and decided Midoriya would choose the movie. He seemed fairly popular among the class. He wound up choosing The Avengers, which wasn't a bad choice seeing as everyone agreed on it. Everyone brought blankets from their room and paired up on the couch. Anzu had no idea how to feel. It was like they were their own little family. She felt incredibly out of place. Like her very presence was intruding. She knew the others didn't feel the same way, but somehow she still felt awkward. She wasn't allowed to see many movies in the past, but when she was allowed to watch one, she would dream about it for months on end. They were so interesting and different from real life. They excited her like nothing else. As the movie continued, she was introduced to pop-corn which was one of the best things she'd had in years. She did feel pretty lucky to be accepted in such a tight knit community. The thunder continued to roll and the rain grew heavier. It was kept cold in the dorm but everyone snuggled up in blankets made up for it.

When the movie ended, half of the class was asleep. Uraraka had fallen asleep on Midoriya's shoulder, and Kiri had fallen asleep on Mina's. The rest of the class was sprawled all over the place, some on the floor, some on the couch. Some even on the opposite side of the couch. Anzu smiled to herself. This was the closest she had ever come with a group of people in her life. And this was probably nothing to them but to her...

"Why the fuck are you smiling? It's creepy." The crabby blonde sitting next to her whispered. She gave him a glance from the corner of her eye, but didn't say anything. This really seemed to rub him the wrong way.

"Hey! You should respond when people talk to you!" He said in a form of loud whisper. She forced down the urge to laugh.

"Well maybe you should take some of your own advice." She said, acting confident but not daring to look at him. He looked like he was about to say something loud, but stopped himself. As if what she said had just sunken in, he rose up off the couch, barely avoiding Kaminari's face.

"Tch Whatever." He grumbled, walking into the kitchen. A little bit of anger rose up in her. He was like a constantly angry child. She got up too and headed towards the stairs. How was it that even laying around all day made her tired? The human body made no sense. She Slid into Bakugou's hoodie and landed face first on top of her pillow. She willingly allowed herself to fall into a light sleep. She had had enough interaction for a life time.

Anzu woke up in pitch black. She had no idea where she was. She couldn't identify anything in the room. She forced herself into an upright position. She still couldn't see anything. Her heart started to pound. Shit how many hours till the lights turn on? Was it all a dream? She couldn't be back in the white room. There was no way. No it couldn't be. No. She couldn't possible make up all those people. Could She? Her breathing was like shallow rasps for air. Not again. I hate this damned place. I thought I was free. She was being unrealistic. She got up off the floor. She had to find something. Anything. She had to know. She began reaching around in the dark, feeling for something. Anything to tell her. Tell her she was free. Something! She was practically begging. If it was all a lie... What would she do? That's when a thought occurred to her that she would like to forget. She stopped and put her hands to her side. If this wasn't the white room, she would've hit something by now. Was she jumping to conclusions? She took one more step forward, and smacked her head into something. At first she thought it was a wall. But as the sound echoed, she identified it as the window to the terrace. Relief washed over her, as she opened the curtains and stared out. She opened the terrace as quietly as possible and walked onto the balcony. She shut the glass doors behind her and turned around. Her hair was swept up by the night wind. She looked out over the lighted campus, buildings upon buildings and streets. Her adrenaline was still pumping a million miles a minute. Well that as terrifying. It's my own fault for jumping to conclusions so fast. She thought, calming her racing heart. Now that she was out here, she could see how pretty it was. There was no moon out, explaining why it was pitch black, but even without a moon, thousands of stars were lighting the sky. The dark purple and blue night sky, flecked with little dots of white. She had dreamed of seeing this as well. It was even more breath taking than she had thought. There was so much she had to learn. Not only how to be a hero, but basic things that normal people grew up with. Anzu was already fifteen and she felt like she had just arrived in some strange foreign country. All the customs were different, and she had been taught all of their history and language and mathematics, but that was such a small portion of everything she missed. It was so unfair. She jumped when the door behind her opened. She whipped around and planted her back against the railing.

"What the hell are you doing out here at two in the morning?" He asked, his voice recovering from being pulled out of deep sleep. He rubbed his eyes and stood next to her, looking down towards the ground.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you up." She said, avoiding eye contact. She wasn't mad at him anymore but she was still a little agitated by his tone.

"What did you expect when you pop up out of the blue, panting like you ran a marathon and run to the balcony?" He said, his voice clearly a little angry. Softer than usual though. She thought she sensed worry, but realized that was stupid. Someone like him wouldn't feel that way. She blamed it on the sleep.

"Sorry." She said, discreetly glancing at him. They met gazes for a split second, but she ripped her eyes back to the scenery. The tension was so thick she could cut it with a knife.

"Whatever, I couldn't sleep anyway." He said this without any trouble, but she knew he was lying. She could hear it in his voice. She appreciated the gesture though. "So what got you so freaked out?" He asked this so quietly she actually felt shocked. She honestly didn't know herself. She assumed that she associated pitch black with the white room at night. She remembered waiting hours in the dark for the lights to turn on. She just stared at nothing, thought nothing, waited for nothing. It was terrible. And the walls seemed to cave in every time. And the room always grew too hot during the summer. She blinked away the memory.

"I just... Didn't remember where I was... That's all." She said this even quieter. She could see him out of the corner of her eye. He shifted his stance, looking baffled. She didn't know what she expected. To him, she was just some random, american transfer student with rich parents. She couldn't blame him for being confused. Hell, she didn't even understand.

"You should go back to sleep. We have class tomorrow." He said, turning to go back inside. "Look I know you're hiding something and it's not my place to say this but, wherever you used to be is gone now. You need to wake up to reality and put it behind you or your not going to make it at this school." He said, closing the door softly behind himself. He was right. She went back inside as well. She managed to leave a crack in one of the curtains on her way out. Bakugou seemed to notice, but didn't say anything. With that, she climbed back into her covers. This time sleep didn't come as easy. About an hour later it took her under. She couldn't say she was excited for tomorrow.