A True Hero

                                    

                                          
Focus was never something Katsuki struggled with, but things were... different these last few days.
He had dragged himself out of bed just hours after his patrol ended, determined to spend his morning combing through case notes, again. Digging for any shred of evidence those worthless investigators missed. As if he didn't have enough work as a hero, now he was doing their job too. But instead of focusing on the thing that forced him to forego a homemade meal from the gourmet kitchen he blew an entire paycheck on and settle for something that barely passed for food from the agency cafeteria, the thing that made him swap the heavy metal that normally powered him through his morning workout for the nasally drawl of an investigator's audio notes, his focus had wandered to that stupid scrap of paper again. The one that somehow took up more space on his desk, and in his mind, than all the case notes he had sprawled out. 
He didn't remember shoving it in his pocket. Why the hell did he even keep it? It was just a stupid note from a stupid villain who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Katsuki would have caught the thief either way. And now that he thought of it, why had he felt eyes watching every step of his patrols since then... and a cold blast of air when he was alone that was absolutely not refreshing. Did that villain seriously have nothing more... villainy to do than follow the number two hero around like an irritating pest? 
He groaned and slumped down in his chair. That arrogant bastard had wormed his way so far into Katsuki's mind, he was going to charge the idiot rent when they finally caught him. He'd had enough. 
He would blow the note up. Obliterate it. Destroy it so he could finally fucking focus on something other than the villain he wasn't allowed to go after. He shot forward and snatched it off the desk. Holding it between his fingers as sparks prickled just under his skin and his palms grew hot. Smoke clouded the air around him and that familiar smell of burnt caramel filled the small office. With a wicked grin he called on the spark. Ready to ignite. Ready to blow. Ready to burn. Ready to ... set the paper back down. 
He just... couldn't do it. 
But he couldn't look at it anymore either. Not if he wanted to have anything ready for the investigator when he stopped by in... oh shit. With way more force than necessary, he yanked open the drawer under his desk, shoved the note inside, and slammed it shut. Only 5 minutes left until his meeting. 
With a heavy sigh he ran a hand through blond spikes. He really needed to focus on this case, and villain he could go after. 
The Zurui case was huge, bigger than anything he'd taken on since becoming a pro. If the scum he was after wasn't proof enough of that, the fact that Endeavor himself hand delivered the thick case file to Katsuki's desk a few weeks ago was. He was happy to take the case, ready to shove another reminder that he deserved the number one spot more than Deku in the public's face, but this case was.... complicated. 
Swiping the stupid stress ball Dunce gave him off his desk, squeezing it so tight it nearly burst, Katsuki thumbed through the latest surveillance photos from the investigator. Stopping on the very last one. There wasn't much that unnerved him at this point in his hero career, hell, he'd been dealing with shitty villains since before he even stepped foot on UA's campus, but those calculating amber eyes, the carefree smile the man in the photo wore in spite of what he'd done – a shiver made its way down Katsuki's spine that had nothing to do with the ridiculously low temperature Endeavor insisted they keep the building at.  
This was a villain no hero training could have prepared him for. 
Katsuki stood to pace his small office, thinking over what they knew about the monster in the photo - Niko Zurui. Only a few years older than Katsuki himself, but already running with a crowd whose influence rivaled even the highest ranked pros. A UA graduate who chose the business track even though he had the scores, and the quirk, to make it in the hero track. To Japan, Zurui was a highly celebrated, well liked, eccentric international businessman who kept strange hours and even stranger company. To Katsuki he was nothing more than the scum of the earth. Worthy of nothing but a one-way trip to hell. Downright evil.