[OP: "Torches"--The Oh Hellos]

Tsunade took over in the hospital after that, though she did intend to keep it brief.

It was getting late anyway.

It was almost nice to have her there though; it took some of the attention off Team Zoe, and the Cloud were more amiable to them with a Sannin to watch them.

They at least respected Tsunade. She'd been important in the war, and they knew Ay had even let her visit the Village in the past. She was basically "in" already.

"I guess this can only help us." Gaara tried to be philosophical about it.

"I hope so," Temari said. "It didn't before, but she seems to have learned from that. I still don't like it. I intend to earn my own stripes."

"Yes, sister, but we can't save everyone," Gaara said. "But now I will take whatever we can get by way of success. Maybe I've been humbled by the many difficulties so far... For 3 months, we've had a lot of trouble."

"Yes, the longest 3 months of our lives," Temari agreed. "But, impressive..."

Dabi almost forgot that Karin was monitoring Mabui, till she said something to him as they were getting ready to go home.

"When the Hyugas followed her, she didn't go home, right?" Karin asked.

"No," Dabi said. 

"Right, I think it's the same direction," Karin said. "She just left."

"So what?" Dabi said. 

"Nothing... You just seemed to be paying attention, so I thought you'd like to know," Karin said.

"All of you are the same," Dabi said.

The others headed back to the house. Shine wanted to check on Hanabi. She'd been left there with Choji and Hinata to keep an eye on her. Hinata wished to avoid the eyes of the Village as long as she could.

Karui, who seemed to feel guilty still, had stopped by with some cooked dishes by a way of an apology, since she wasn't much for worded ones.

This didn't appease Hanabi much, but it won her points with Choji.

Karui told them that they should try authentic Cloud cuisine instead of what Bakugo made.

"I knew you were a nice person," Choji said amicably. 

Karui was almost offended. "Of course I am! I just...don't like problems in the Village, that's all...but...uh...I mean, I guess they didn't really mean to start it... Lord Bee is always giving people the slip, so I get trying to pin him down in a bar. It's nothing I haven't done... Didn't end well."

"Well, this is good," Choji said. "Is this Cloud cuisine?"

"Yes..." Karui said. "It's pretty spicy... We like our flavor here."

"It's very colorful." Choji didn't have a problem with spiciness. [Obviously, considering his taste in women.]

Hinata listened to them and thought Camie would have been sorry to miss it. Also, since when was Choji so good at talking to girls? She never remembered even having a conversation with him.

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked Hanabi for the 100th time.

"Stop fussing," Hanabi said. "I'm just sore, but other than that I'm fine. Those mooks hit hard, but they didn't aim well. I just...kind of wish we weren't in this Village. I like Rain better, honestly."

"We have to try to give it a chance," Hinata said gently.

"We did... They almost killed us."

"But it's not really all of  them... Some ruffians are not the whole Village."

"Well, neither is our clan, but that didn't stop them from attacking us specifically!" Hanabi was determined to be angry it seemed.

Hinata wasn't sure what to tell her.

The others got back soon after that, but the medics had lingered a little behind to finish up with Tsunade, and Dabi had lingered mainly to see if Karin would tell him anything else.

And he was rewarded because once they came out of the hospital, and Sakura and Ino had started towards the house, Karin paused and inclined her head.

"I could follow her now," she said, "if you want to...but the idea of doing it after last night creeps me out."

"Yeah, well, it's no picnic," Dabi said. "But let's just find the right neighborhood, and that's close enough for now. You could tail her from that point if we had to go there."

"Fine," Karin said. "Just the two of us?"

"We're just going part of the way," Dabi said. "Do we need everyone for that?"

"I guess not if I mask us from anyone's notice," Karin said. "They won't notice you anyway, since you don't emit the same signature, so we should be good."

She headed for one of the bridges.

"This is stupid at night." Dabi glanced over the edge and shuddered.

"I thought this before, but I think her house must be high up," Karin said. "Which I think means she's well off... Funny, she doesn't dress like she is."

"Neither does Tsunade," Dabi said.

Karin adjusted her glasses. "So what's your obsession with this woman? Why do you care so much?"

"I want to know if the Village is going to try anything more," Dabi said. "If it does, we can talk ol' Ay into taking more action. Once it's his own people, he'll care."

"Oh...that's a good idea." Karin was almost impressed. "And I thought it was just some weird, meaningless interest in bullying someone else."

"Is that really what you think I'm like?" Dabi actually took offense to that. [What I want to ask the current show MHA writer.]

"I don't know...you're mean all the time." Karin rubbed her arms. "Sometimes I think you might not be so bad, but you act as if you look down on us all for being ninja...for being what we are...and we can't help that. So yeah, maybe you are a bully."

Her working it out that way hit Dabi differently than before. She sounded so skeptical.

Was he just bullying them? He'd never thought that much about it.

"I didn't think anyone took me that seriously," he said.

"At first no one does," Karin said. "Because I assumed you were an idiot. But I do notice you have some intelligence at times. That makes it sting more. But I don't really care what you think that much. I just wonder if you need new victims to torment when the rest of us catch on to your game."

"Is that really who I am?" Dabi wondered. "I never thought I was capable of bullying anyone before... I looked down on people sure, but...well, I guess setting them on fire is more than bullying them."

"Don't say that so casually. It's creepy."

"I was kind of creepy back then... It wasn't that long ago," Dabi said. "I changed in a short amount of time because I had to...but old habits die hard... Whatever." He shrugged. "If I'm sane now, mostly I just talk like that because it's funny."

"To you."

"Maybe only to me, but what do you expect? I was alone for a long time," Dabi said. "And I never had that many friends even when I wasn't evil. The team is a new thing for me, and maybe I don't fit the mold well."

"So how many of us do?" Karin snorted. "I think this is the most honest you've ever been with me. Is it because no one is listening, so you don't have to show you think I'm some kind of freak? The whole Orochimaru thing is why, isn't it?"

"Oh, relax, Hot Pocket," Dabi said. "I worked for AFO...I'm not judging that hard, here. Still, there are lines I didn't cross--and others I did that maybe you didn't. Maybe we suck in equal but different ways. No one expects me to be any different."

"I think they would, if you wanted to be different," Karin said. "I don't know... I wish I understood you better sometimes. You're an a--h--- most of the time. Then you do something nice, and it's confusing. Your brother doesn't understand you either." 

"Shoto doesn't understand many people that well. That's nothing." Dabi didn't notice he used his real name.

"I think you like him more than you let on," Karin said. "Maybe you like a lot of people more than you let on...I hope, anyway."

"I haven't thought about it for a long time. I don't know." Dabi shrugged again. "Why does it matter? We're doing a job here, not winning popularity points."

"I should expect you to think that way--" Karin suddenly stopped, as she was getting off the bridge.

"What?" Dabi tensed. He knew Karin wouldn't have stopped without a reason for it.

"I've been tracking her the whole time," Karin said, "and she's been alone...but I sense more people in the area, and a bunch of them just moved in close behind her...not too close, so it seems likely she hasn't seen them yet, but, it was odd that they did it so fast."

"As if they did on purpose," Dabi said. "But Ay said those guys wouldn't be let out...unless he lied, just like Onoki did."

"It can't be the same guys--I didn't get the same feeling from them when they weren't too distant," Karin said. "I can't be sure until I get close. The point is, it could be trouble... Could be nothing..."

"We'd better get a closer look," Dabi said. "If it's nothing, then we leave. If it's something, then we'd better call for help. If we catch them red-handed, Ay will have to take this seriously now."

"Okay," Karin said seriously. "But we won't fight if they're hostile, right?... Right?"

"Whatever." Dabi was increasing the pace.

Karin could've outpaced him if she tried, but she had no desire to pull ahead of him under the circumstances, so she just kept quiet.

It wasn't that far to catch up to if they hurried.

They had to cross more bridges though, and they led to a rocky area that had a much bigger house on it. It was more of a cliff than just a pillar. It actually had a whole neighborhood on it, a high class one. The houses were large.

The bridge that led to it looked just like an escalator if you didn't know, and had railings that were so high up that you couldn't fall over the edge.

"The layout of this Village is so weird," Karin complained.

"Are they still there?" Dabi said.

"Yes...they are," Karin said. "And getting close now... There won't be many witnesses up here--I can tell it's not as thickly populated... I think this is only a few families with large properties... She lives here, huh?"

"Probably rich if she works for Ay," Dabi said. "Okay, we're pretty sure this is shady...but we still have to see before we do anything."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just get them now?" Karin was worried.

"Don't be such a pansy, Karin. You need evidence first." Dabi headed onward, and she followed him.

"This way." She turned left suddenly and then right at the next street.

This one went a long way down, and, in fact, ended only at the edge of the cliff.

There was one house on the left that was almost a mansion, for a ninja anyway, though it wouldn't have been compared to Dabi's own family house.

And ther was another larger mansion on the right side, though it was still small compared to modern worlds...but for something sitting on a rock pillar, not bad.

[Multilevel mansion on a cliff image. Creator's name not given.]

"That one." Karin pointed at the one on the right. "They're hidden in the vapor...otherwise we could see them. I don't know if she can. She's nearly to the door of the house, I'd say, based on how big it is."

"Well, this got interesting," Dabi said. "Where can we hide to see what happens...?" He saw that one of the walls outside the property had a dip in it that could hide two people from view of the gate, so he headed for that.

Karin followed again.

They were out of sight of the people following Mabui, but they could see her now.

She didn't seem to be aware of it still, as she wasn't hurrying...unless that was a ploy.

She was going through her purse, looking for keys, by the gate of the large house.

There were streetlamps on this street, but only a few, as the weather here likely made it hard to maintain all of them, and they only lit it up a little.

Dabi squinted at the mist that was rolling down the street. He couldn't see through it as easily as Camie or Shine could, but he wasn't as fooled by those tricks either... He thought he could make out shadowy figures.

Karin tensed more. "I think they're armed," she said. "I mean, I can't be sure, but the way they're standing...seems like it... Okay, we need to call the others."

"Yeah, but I'll hide here by the light," Dabi said. "I'll assess the situation to see if it escalates. If I signal you with fire, you'll know something changed. Go get her just in case though."

"Okay." Karin slipped away.

Dabi hoped she'd hurried back. He had no wish to fight 4 or 5 people at once.

* * *

Mabui only just realized she was being followed when she got on the street.

The mist looked too thick...the mark of someone using it to hide in.

Was this about the arrest? Perhaps because she'd called Ay?

She tried to not look like she was worried when she finally reached her outer gate and tried to unlock it, but her hands were slipping off the keys.

Before she could get it to the lock, a shuriken flew past her and clashed into the gate's bar and fell to the rocky ground.

She turned around warily.

Out of the fog, the silhouettes of three shinobi materialized. They were wearing masks though...over at least half of their faces.

Cloud didn't usually do this, so they wish to remain anonymous for good reason.

"What do you want?" she said, backing up and then finding she couldn't back up any farther.

She slowly dropped her purse through the bars to free up her hands.

It was a shame she'd shut off the electric shock on the fence... She didn't worry about burglars because no one ever came here, and she didn't want to get fried by it one evening by accident, but now she wished she'd left it on...

"Tsukura Mabui?" one of them said in a harsh voice that sounded like they were trying to speak too low; maybe that made it harder to identify who they were.

Mabui knew she'd heard the voice before...not at the office, though, somewhere else.

She didn't answer them, she just stared.

"It's her all right," said another voice. This one sounded feminine. "Look, she's not even trying to get away."

"Why are you here?" Mabui said. "At this time of night, too? If you have something to discuss with me, make an appointment to do it."

"Hard to do that when you're so busy watching out for the strangers who have been assaulting our people," said a third one.

The sound of the third's voice jarred her mind.

Mabui's eyes widened.

She recognized them...

It had been at the memorial service for the fallen warriors after the war, whom they'd buried inside the Village... A group of ninja had been around the Intelligence Division's shrine, since they couldn't bury their actual bodies...

Mabui had gone to pay her respects, and some of them had looked at her, and she had registered the suspicion in their eyes.

And then suddenly they began yelling at her.

"How are you still here?"

"What did you do to escape?"

"Why did you leave the others behind!"

"Traitor!"

Ay had intervened before anyone could do anything to her then, and he'd told Mabui that they would all come to their senses after a few weeks to think about it.

She'd hoped he was right.

It didn't look like he had been.

She swallowed.

She knew they weren't just here about her finking on the others. They were angry.

"Yes, you know us," one said, who must have seen it in her eyes. "It wasn't enough that you let our respected friends and our brothers die, but now you still defend the people who helped you betray them. The Raikage lets you get away with treason just because you're useful, but some of us do not accept that."

"You helped them accuse our own people," another one said, sounding upset. "Lord Ay only had to take action because of you. Why didn't you keep your mouth shut?"

"I did what I had to do in order to keep the other party from attacking us." Mabui knew it was useless, but she had no other ideas for what to do here. The only way anyone would even have heard her from this street was if she screamed at the top of her lungs...and that would probably make these people attack her faster.

"That's a load of s--t!" one of them snapped at her. "You did it to save yourself, just like before. Well, the Tsukuras always were a selfish clan."

"They were not!" Mabui rushed to their defense. "They have served the Village for generations, and I do the same! You're allowing your anger and sadness after the war blind you to the foolishness of this. If you lay a hand on me, it will not end well for the Village."

"So now you're hiding behind that?" One of them held out a sword now. It glinted in the faint moonlight and lamplight.

Mabui swallowed.

She had learned Sword Style, but it had been a while since she'd fought anyone with it... One person, maybe she could have handled, but not 5! If that was even all there was of them.

She could use her family jutsu, but it would take too long to really work, and she needed to have something big enough to be worth summoning... Was there anything nearby that would work...?

Her mind was racing, and she wasn't given the chance to decide, because the attackers grew tired of waiting.

"Enough talk. Someone needs to do something, and we're going to do it... Lord Ay will know now that the Village will not negotiate with traitors, even if he chooses to," they said.

They leapt swiftly and slashed at her with their own sword.

Mabui just had the presence of mind to duck and they hit the bars.

She'd kept up with her training at least. She used chakra to boost herself and then sprang over them. She wanted to get over the fence; her odds were better in her own yard than out here.

But then Lightning Style hit the fence as she was attaching to it and ran over the metal bars.

She let go in a hurry, but it still zapped her, and she fell to the street.

Since she was a Lightning shinobi, the effect of lightning on her was not as bad as on other ninja. She could still move, but it had hurt, and she felt her limbs were weakening.

They were taking turns because they all wanted to enjoy this. They were angry and spiteful. But it was probably good for her if they didn't use their jutsus all at once--she'd be dead in seconds.

Her hands suddenly latched on to a loose stone in the street, and she raised it and threw it at one of them before they could see she had it.

It nearly hit one of them when they fell back.

"She's fighting back now," the other shinobi declared. "This will be more fun this way."

"This is a mistake." Mabui knew she wasn't convincing them, but maybe she could stall them. "You haven't assessed the situation... Lord Ay will know it was you."

"Shut up!" they cut into it, with a voice dripping hatred. "Just shut up, you b--h!"

Mabui had never heard that tone used on her before, and it scared her more than their attack did.

They weren't kidding. They were going to kill her...

What if she was wrong to come here alone after all...? She should have seen this coming after the posters...

She realized she should just run.

She lost no time attempting to take off down the street where she could find cover.

But they leapt over her head and in front of her. The female attacker grabbed her by her hair.

"Just hold still. The more you struggle, the more this will hurt," she said in a poisonous tone, yanking back.

Mabui gasped, but she suddenly yanked a kunai out and slashed across her assailant's hand.

"Ah!" The female attacker let go, more from surprise than because she'd cut that deeply.

"Oh, now you've done it," the man said.

Mabui began to run at once. She didn't have a second; they were surrounding her...

Lighting flashed from one of their blades again...causing her to jump out of their range.

She weighed her options.

Right when it seemed they would just run her through, the last thing she expected to happen happened:

Out of nowhere, blue flames just rolled over the street and began to burn up the vapor on it.

The attackers all stopped to stare at it.

Then one of them yelped as the flames curled towards their feet, and they stumbled back.

Mabui dodged the fire, but her mind went blank... What...what was going on?

It was Dabi, all right, though it was hard to see him in the night...and no chakra signature at all.

The fire blazed up towards the sky oddly high...as if it was a beacon.

"Who are you?" one of the attackers demanded, angry.

Dabi didn't seem very worried about them, for someone who was outnumbered.

He just shrugged as if this was normal. "Nobody," he said. "But I was taking a little stroll out here, and this didn't exactly look legal, so I came to check it out."

Mabui already knew that was a lie but was smart enough to realize that showing she knew him would be a mistake at this time.

"Well, move along," said the woman nastily. "This is Cloud business, and you don't look like Cloud to me--hey...wait, I know you!" she snarled. "That's one of them... Not just any one of them either, one of the big ones."

"That's real flattering," Dabi said dryly. "Well, if you know who I am, then you know that you can't attack me without an international incident. So maybe you should move along instead."

"Do you think we care about that?" one of the men leered. "We'll kill you too. Actually, this is perfect. Both of you can pay for our losses."

"I'm so tired of hearing that kind of crap," said Dabi. "Okay, you have 5 seconds to run. After that, this is self defense. I'm sure my boss will understand that. After all, 5 suspicious people sneak-attacking a woman at 10 p.m.? That's not gonna look good."

"Only if you live to tell her about it!" One of them charged and slashed at him.

Dabi wasn't as fast as them, but he didn't need to be. Flames just rose up from the ground, and the man saw his weapon melt...

He gasped and then jumped back.

Mabui finally snapped out of her daze.

It would be time to ask why he was here later. She had to use this.

She dashed first down and then across the street--about 8 meters away.

Dabi wondered if she was ditching him... That did seem a little out of character, but then, under the circumstances, she might just be looking out for herself.

He doubted he could take all these guys though, if they were like the ones before...

Where was Karin, though?

He'd forgotten that half of the Cloud could use Lightning Style.

One of the attackers blasted him with it from their sword.

Dabi was not immune to electricity any more than he was to blue flame--in fact, it was worse than fire. It took a specific kind of resistance only electric types had.

It was very painful, and, with the impact of the hit, he was blasted into the wall behind him.

That didn't help either.

"Well, he went down easy for all that," one of them said, and Dabi didn't even respond to it. His head was buzzing.

Right...he had forgotten that he was kind of a weakling... Why had he thought this was a good idea to do alone?

He struggled to sit up, and his limbs weren't cooperating with him.

But before they could blast him again, suddenly something fell out of the air and landed on at least three of them.

It appeared to be a bench of some kind, a heavy, metal one.

"What--?" The other two looked back.

Mabui was standing there, holding her hands up.

She frowned at them. 

"Next one will be lethal," she said.

"You witch!" one of them said, leaping at her anyway.

Mabui didn't have time to attack again, so she had to dodge.

She ducked and then tried to run.

The one who'd yelled at her shot lightning, and it kind of made a semi-circle that fenced her in on one side.

She moved again.

The third grabbed her by her arm before she could get out of his reach.

"You're so weak," he said disdainfully. "No wonder you couldn't save them. Maybe you're too weak to do your job."

"Let go of me, you scoundrel!" Mabui struggled to free herself, but before she could, he threw her to the ground hard enough to make Dabi wince in sympathy. He'd been tossed around like that a few times.

Mabui tried to push herself up, but her arms were shaking now.

Maybe using her power had taken it out of her.

Dabi didn't think this was going to stop them.

"Here, move." He stepped in front of her and moved her closer to the wall, which was a lot more difficult when he was still half numb.

His hands were still hot from the fire, and Mabui almost screamed, but she bit it back.

"Stay behind me," Dabi said, holding his hands out, fire emitting from them. "This could melt you if you don't."

Mabui, alarmed, huddled as close to the wall as she could.

Three of the ninjas were knocked down by the bench--one of them had been knocked out by it, could have been killed, honestly--and it was pinning them down.

The other two took out their swords, more lightning crackling.

"I guess it's a game then," the one nearest to Mabui said. "Which of us can strike first, Fire Boy? Lightning is faster than fire."

Dabi smirked dryly at him. "Yeah, it is," he said. "But I can light myself on fire so that it spreads all over and kills you even if you fry me."

This was only bluffing. He was 100% sure he couldn't do that without killing himself...but he hoped they didn't know that.

"You're bluffing," one of them (a different one) said.

So much for that.

"He might not be," said another. "I dunno his powers, but, it's 5 to 2. And she's not that tough."

Mabui finally moved and pulled something out of her belt again.

"Can you aim that?" she asked in a low voice.

"Only a little," Dabi said. 

It was taking a lot to keep his fire up for this long.

"Nevermind, I've got it." Mabui drew the last weapon she had. It was a paper bomb.

She carried those?

Well, most ninja did, Dabi supposed.

She lit the end of it on his fire.

"Was that--?" One of them saw it.

Mabui threw it at them and then moved her hands again.

A huge piece of rock fell in front of her, missing them by half a meter away.

"Holy s--t!" Dabi pulled his feet back anyway.

The bomb went off.

The ninjas had scattered, but it still knocked some of them over.

Mabui stood up, leaning on the rock, and looked around it.

"That was a warning," she called. "Come near again, and it'll be worse."

They picked themselves up.

"You think you've won this one, Tsukura!" they called at her hostilely. "But you haven't. Your new friends can't protect you forever! Scum."

Dabi got up slowly, and fire blazed over the ground at them again.

One of then hissed as it bit into his leg.

The others all backed up and picked up their injured friends, ran, and faded into the night.

Mabui immediately sank to the ground. Her head was spinning.

Dabi sank down also.

"Blast it, Karin, why didn't you back us up...?" he muttered. "What is she doing anyway?"

Karin had been too scared to join the fight. She'd started to signal the others instead, but before she could actually finish writing out what was happening, the fight seemed to be over.

She hid anyway, not wanting the attackers to find her.

Mabui had to wait a while for her nerves to settle before she could talk without thinking she was going to throw up.

"What...what are you doing here?" she finally said. "Did you follow me again?"

"It wasn't going to be all the way here," Dabi grumbled, sounding strained. "But Hot Pocket realized there was someone following you, so we checked it out."

"So you were following me again."

"Geez, grateful much? You really know how to kick a gift horse in the mouth."

"What?"

"Can we argue about this after we get off this street?" Dabi said. "I can't..." He started to get up and fell back down at once. "Uh oh...s---t...."

"What is it? Are you injured?" Mabui asked, more subdued.

"Those b-----ds fried me--what do you think?"

"But...aren't you resistant to lightning? Usually fire users can also use lightning--"

"Well, I'm special, all right?" Dabi didn't like her rubbing it in, or at least it felt like she was. "Probably not just the lightning, but I think I'm burned, all right... I feel a little feverish..."

Mabui looked at him in the dim light.

He already looked kind of flushed, she thought.

"You'll never make that back to your building like that," she said. "I hate to say it. but you have to come inside... There's supplies in the house..."

"What's that going to do?" Dabi said. "Anyway I'm betting that Karin will eventually show up here."

"Better to wait for her inside than outside. They may come back, though I don't think they will after that." Mabui stood up shakily. "Come on. I'm not standing out here anyway..."

"I don't know if I can actually...get up..." Dabi said, more embarrassed than before.

Mabui sighed. Then took his arm and pulled him up.

"I can't believe I'm doing this...but it would be unforgivable to leave you out here alone after that...and I don't want to be the one who will explain that to the Kazekage later..."

Dabi didn't think someone her size would be strong enough to help him, but somehow she was.

He forgot that shinobi were all stronger because of their weird chakra powers.

Mabui half dragged him to the gate. Then she opened it after fishing her purse from the other side.

"That'll take a while to walk to that big house..." Dabi stared at the house queasily.

"I don't live in that house." Mabui went down the right side of path--after letting the gate clang shut behind her.

Which was really loud in that quiet.

She led him to a small building that looked like an apartment out of a picture book, only more modern.

She unlocked the door and turned on the light inside.

"Sit." She gestured at the sitting room to the right of the entry way.

There were a few chairs in it and a small coffee table and a few lamps.

Dabi sat down in the least comfortable-looking chair, just to be edgy.

Mabui went into the kitchenette that was next to this room, her heels clicking on the tiles.

She opened a cupboard and then hissed in pain. 

"What?" Dabi asked.

"Nothing...the adrenaline is wearing off." Mabui examined her hands.

Dabi finally saw the problem.

She had burns on her fingers.

Oh...when she'd lit the bomb she must have gotten too close his flames.

"I warned you about staying away from the fire," he said.

"Yes...well, I didn't have time to find a match," she said with gritted teeth.

Dabi knew personally how burns like that could be excruciatingly painful. He wouldn't have blamed her if she'd started crying right about then, but she didn't. She slowly reached into the cupboard she'd gone to and pulled out a medicine jar.

She started to open it but then winced.

"You want me to open it?" Dabi offered. "I'm fine...sort of..."

"If you can," Mabui said coolly and passed it to him.

Dabi did it easily enough. "You know, you can get infected by burns from blue fire, so--"

"Shut up," Mabui cut him off. She put her hand into the jar (turned out it was a salve) and started to spread it on her hands.

After a second she seemed a little less pained. "I assume you want to do it yourself, but put this on the electrical burns," she said, turning her back. "It helps...special Cloud formula, designed to work on electric burns... Usually only new trainees need it, but I have some just in case."

Dabi had a difficult time applying it to himself, but he wasn't about to ask her to do it for him. This was already awkward enough as it was.

But he rolled his shirt up and wasn't surprised to see he had a pretty decent sized burn...and after his skin had healed up so nicely, too...

"I guess I can't avoid being burned," he muttered to himself. "Maybe there's a better story in this one at least..."

Mabui paced while she waited and looked towards the window like she thought someone might be watching her...which they might have been.