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“It's a wondrous thing.”
Izuku pauses his sniffing, glancing up and up and up at Toshinori, who’s lounging along one of the garden walls. From this angle Toshinori is more intimidating than he’s ever been, because all Izuku can see are paws the size of a man’s head, claws like daggers, and a mouth that can bite with a force of 182 kilograms per six and a half square centimeters. His lips are drawn back in a smile, thin and needle sharp, and those teeth are curved like wicked blades —
No. Izuku shakes his head, long ears flopping. He closes his eyes, tries to ignore the way Toshinori’s gaze burns into his pelt as he breathes deeply, doesn’t think about how he can surely hear the rabbit fast thudding of his heart. One For All reaches out to him, warm and understanding, and he shivers as the power washes over him, molding him into something new, something powerful.
When he opens his eyes again, Toshinori is still watching, still smiling softly. Izuku’s front paws have grown, his body has lengthened, become stronger. His prey instincts have been pushed back, tempered with the cunning of Nana’s fox and the devotion of Toshinori’s wolf.
Before, he had been wary of Toshinori in his natural soulshape — the massive golden-gray timberwolf that made All Might’s watered down wolfdog look tiny in comparison.
Don’t worry my boy, Toshinori had said the first time they’d shifted together, leaving Izuku cowering in a burrow of trash, it’s alright. It’s natural to be frightened — but I will never hurt you.
Shame bubbles up in Izuku’s chest. He should be used to it by now but sometimes, when Toshinori sneaks up on him, the sight of a predator hovering above him, thin and hungry-looking —
“I’m sorry, A— Toshinori. What were you saying before?” he asks instead of following that particular train of thought, bouncing up onto the garden wall and settling into a low crouch.
Toshinori huffs, rolling his jaw along the top of Izuku’s head until he sinks into him, his fluffy, rabbit-like tail wagging. “I said,” he begins once Izuku’s dark fur is thoroughly mussed (and Izuku isn’t sure why he does it, because he isn’t quite used to these strange new instincts and communication behaviors, but he can vaguely hear Nana laughing and his heart feels warm, and oh, he’s getting distracted -) “that it’s a wondrous thing. Your soulshape, that is.”
He blinks down at his paws, confused. “My soulshape?”
It isn’t exactly something he’d call wondrous. Sturdy, maybe — his body is packed with muscle, even though he’s only a whopping 53 centimeters at the shoulders. Quick, certainly, because he’s been blessed with a low center of gravity and the ability to make hairpin turns with ease. Unique he could see — with his coarse, dark rabbit undercoat and the lighter shaggy wolf fur over it, his strong hindlegs and little tail, and the strange looking ears, one flopped over, the other pricked and erect, he looked like a child’s drawing of a particularly ill-bred Australian Shepherd.
A solid tail thumped against his back in tandem with a large paw pressing into the back of his skull. “Stop that,” Toshinori growled, not unkindly; Izuku could feel the rumble shaking his bones, turning him into a puddle under his mentor’s stern gaze. “You look great. People love your new soulshape. It has character.” He pauses, nudging Izuku back into position under his chin. “I meant your normal one, anyway.”
His normal one? “It’s just a Japanese hare though,” Izuku protests weakly, confused, because hares are — well, they’re hares. While they’re great runners, jumpers and swimmers, they don’t make very impressive fighters, and those talents are only useful if you intend on running from whatever’s hunting you, and Izuku doesn’t run.
At least, not away.
“Just a Japanese hare?” Toshinori scoffs. “It is not just a Japanese hare, my boy! It’s remarkable! Your eyes, for example — they’re made so you can see in almost any direction, except for a tiny blind spot in front of your nose, and that’s why you have that increased sense of smell. Your ears, too: they’re built to be able to hear from almost any direction by funneling the surrounding noise into your eardrums. You’re highly adapted for defense! And if you want to talk about hero work, you could easily sneak into areas, or in places where the infrastructure is in danger of collapsing if you use your Quirk, you could slip through rubble easily. You’d be able to hear anyone calling for help, slip through and comfort them until it’s safe to take them out — not to mention that that’s your soul! That’s the shape of your soul, Izuku. Adaptable, remarkable, a true survivor.”
One For All drops, leaving a tiny hare sitting in the shadow of a wolf, stunned into silence. Toshinori smiles, rolling his jaw against Izuku’s head until the fur of his ears is soaked in his scent and drool. Izuku doesn’t race away, doesn’t duck away from sharp teeth, doesn’t even move.
“Remarkable, my boy,” Toshinori says again, rumbling with suppressed chuckles when Izuku buries his face into his fur and starts to cry.