Chapter 41.1- One Thousand Hands

XXXXXX- IZUKU

He stared at her. She had managed to stand and pull his body to a tree until he was prepped up against it, and now she sat across from him, leaning on a tree of her own.

“Can you-“ he tried to gesture with his hands to her wound, only to come face to face with the stump, and drop the hand again. She’d stemmed the bleeding a fair bit but he knew it had taken a lot out of her to do so.

“Not enough chakra” She said. Both their wounds were weeping freely. There were techniques they both had been taught as children for situations just like this one. They could slow their heart rates at will so they bled little, but it didn’t matter either way- they were going to die here. There was no two ways about it. This would be where they died, alone and left to be forgotten. They could hope someone would come find them, but that was less and less likely/

“Damn.” He replied.

“Did I ever tell you the secret I found out when we wee children?” Izuku asked.

“Which one? We found a lot of secrets sneaking around the clan compound” She replied. He smiled, it was true. He remembered those days vividly. Before the academy where Uzume had built her obsession with Shorirama, they had been inseparable. She was the only one exactly his age, and as an orphan, it meant they spent more time together than anyone could really realise.

“I found out who my father is” He said. He still remembered it like it was yesterday. The cold steel of a kunai pressed against his throat and the warning under threat of death never to reveal what he had overhead.

“I’ve known, dumbass” She replied with a smirk.

“Not even cousins look as similar as we do- and the old man is terrible at keeping secrets”

“You knew? Then why say nothing? Why leave me-“ he killed the word in his throat there and then. Even on his deathbed, he couldn’t say it.

“Alone? You were never alone, Izuku. You had Shori for whatever you needed- he was a much better sibling than I could ever be. And whenever you needed someone, I made sure I was there, little brother” She said with a smirk.

“I’m older than you” He refuted.

“So? You’re still little” He wanted to debate, but instead just fell into a coughing fit.

“There- there was another secret I found” He said next, once his coughing had stopped. The pain in his stomach came to the forefront of his mind again.

“What?”

“The mangekyou” he said, and her head snapped to him, her eyes showing more awareness. She knew about it already then.

“Kill me now and awaken it” He said to her.

“You’re not my best friend, Izuku.”

“We both know you love Shori more than a friend loves a friend. I’m the best friend you’ve got, Uzume. Kill me now and awaken your mangekyou”

A/N: Izanagi is a secret technique so they don’t know it. How do they know about the mangekyou? Well, there’s a giant stone fucking tablet in the temple.