Apathy At Its Finest - Saitama and Desdemona -

Desdemona had just begun her career as a C class hero, so far she hadn't had much luck getting any big jobs done but she didn't mind. Helping out every day people with every day kinds of problems was just as rewarding to her without having as much of the risk as the heroes in the ranks above her had to endure.

She thought that it was very odd however when she was told by the heroes guild, that she was going to be under the instruction of a B class hero for a short while.

While she wasn't going to cause a fuss about it, after asking around some of the other heroes, she had found out that this wasn't a common practice at all. It wasn't mandatory. Desdemona had to wonder whether it was something that had come about because she had done something wrong - or maybe they saw some potential in her to come up to B class fairly soon. As great as that would be, she doubted that, she'd not gotten very popular yet and she certainly wasn't as good as some of the other heroes at the top of class C.

Today was the day that she was going to be meeting the B class hero, Saitama. She had been given the address that he lived at and told when to be there. She was slightly early because there had been absolutely no traffic at all in City Z. It was very strange! There didn't seem to be anyone around the area that this guy lived. Why, she supposed she'd find out. Hopefully it wasn't because of anything that this hero, Saitama had done.

Approaching the door to his apartment, Desdemona did have to wonder about what kind of person would choose to live in a place like this when it seemed the apartments all around them were free. It spoke highly of their character to not try and live rent free somewhere they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

A little nervous, Desdemona wrapped her knuckles on the door and waited to be allowed inside.

(OOC: Outfit - http://cdn.i.ntere.st/p/19058650/image)

Oh yeah... he was supposed to be getting a new 'student' today for some reason. Something about the hero association wanting him to try and pass on his skills. They seemed to be putting an awful lot of attention on how strong Genos was and the fast that the cyborg had managed to catch Saitama off guard enough to name him his master. Not like he had anything to do with Genos' strength - the cyborg man was a strong hero all on his own after all.

And it was hard to use the Ultimate Training when your body was made of metal.

He should probably get dressed then...

"Oh?"

A knock at the door? Or was it some kind of fly hitting the wood on it's way to freedom? Could have been either, the sound was a rather quiet one after all. Dressed only in his sleeping trousers, Saitama yawned a little bit before wandering over to his front door, opening it and looking around his head height. Not seeing a fly, he shrugged a little bit and closed the door again immediately.

Must have flown off.

Now what was he going to be having for dinner today? None of his local stores were having a sale today were they? Saitama went to check his sale coupons where they were clipped on the fridge. Wait... could it be...?

"YATTA!"

Dressed in his hero costume in the blink of an eye, Saitama appeared at his front door, opening it with unintended drama as he held the coupon tightly in his closed fist, his muscles tensing as he stared out at the horizon,

"I need to get a move on if I'm going to be there in time." he thought aloud before glancing down slightly, noticing the rather short young woman in front of his flat, "Ano... are you lost little girl?"

Desdemona got a shock as the door opened a few moments after she had knocked upon it, she had thought for a moment that he hadn't been in there had been such a pause between her knock and the door being opened. As she opened her mouth to greet the man who would now be her mentor for the foreseeable future, Desdemona found the door being shut in her face after the man didn't even seem to see her standing there.

She knew that she was short but she didn't know that she was so small as to not be seen.

Swallowing lightly she floundered outside for a few more moments. How was she to approach this now? She felt like she should knock again and after a while she would do, but she was dealing with the embarrassed flush to her cheeks that she had before doing so. That was not what she had been expecting and now her already growing nerves had taken a large leap up.

Before she could knock on the door again, it flew open and the same man who had been looking out before appeared. He was bald and had a serious expression on his face, clutching a small piece of paper in his hand. It looked a little like a shop coupon but that couldn't be right - who would be so serious about a coupon?

A sweatdrop appeared on Desdemona's forehead when he called her a little girl, but in an effort to be polite she took it as a compliment. She was small it was true and petite in places but, in others it was decidedly the opposite.

"Ah, no." she replied with a small nervous laugh "I'm Desdemona. The C class hero who you're mentoring? Sorry I'm a little early." she stated, directing her gaze to the floor in shyness.

Huh.

Little girls these days were sure budding quick!

Oh... okay. She was the C rank hero they had assigned to be his student for the forseable future. She wasn't a cyborg like Genos though... which meant he was likely going to actually have to try and teach her something! Unlike with Genos he couldn't just count on her to come back stronger after a trip to some doctor he had never heard of either! So in order for her to get stronger he would actually have to teach her!

Well... that was an issue for another day.

He still had an important quest to be completed no matter what! He pointed right at her with a stern expression on his face as he formulated a plan to get across town in time to get the deal on offer,

"Desdemona! We are on an urgent, time sensitive, quest!" he declared to her with utmost seriousness, "Will you accept that your first act as my new student is to aid me in this quest?"

His eyes darkened as he looked down at her,

"Or will you ignore your master's distress and do nothing?!" he nodded once, "Now, answer quickly!"

He pointed at her again,

"Beef... or chicken?!"

Desdemona was surprised to hear that they were both going on a new quest so quickly together, but she was sure now that had been the reason for the serious expression on Saitama's face when he had opened the door a second time. He must not have seen her the first time he looked out as he was so pre-occupied with whatever trouble they were going to go and face right now.

The thought of working together so quickly both thrilled and worried her.

After all how were they supposed to know how to work together when they had barely spoken? She was sure however that they would get to know each other a lot quicker when they had been thrown into the deep end with having to face this struggle together.

Nodding her head in a cute manner, Desdemona readied herself to answer the question that Saitama was about to put to her. She didn't want to disappoint her master so soon into meeting him and she was hoping that she would show through her eagerness to learn that she wasn't going to be a burden during the time they had to spend together.

"Oh." she stated before she could stop herself, deflating slightly at the actual question she had been asked - so it had been about a supermarket coupon all along "Uhm...both?" she answered with an uncertain expression "I mean, if you're going to use a coupon, might as well buy both, maybe you can make something with one today and then the other tomorrow?"

Standing up on the tips of her toes she tried to glance at the coupon; "It depends what kind of coupon you have though, I suppose."

She seemed disappointed.

Did she not understand? If he was able to get to the store in time then he would be getting some lovely stir fry going on and he would know what he was going to be doing tonight - cooking and eating the stir fry. After all, he was a B rank hero now! He didn't need to go out and find crimes to stop, he was free to just show up when he met someone who could actually take a punch from him without the enemy immediately either dying or being knocked out.

He blinked a few times as he looked at the small woman for a moment before humming in agreement,

"Ano... you're right."

He straightened out the coupon to read it a little bit better,

"Here... says "Half Price Meat Monday! 12th only!" he read out happily before blinking a little bit, something telling him that he was actually forgetting about something. Something to do with his calendar or something? He shrugged, it was obviously nothing important! He turned to Desdemona,

"So... what do you do?" he asked blankly, "Will you be able to keep up on our way to the store?"

He shrugged a little bit, disappearing in a flash of raw speed to appear at the bottom of the stairs,

"Ano Des! Hurry or we will miss the sale!"

Desdemona was glad to hear that her idea would be a possibility given the fact that the coupon was for half price meat, they could get both beef and chicken for the same price as just getting one of them would have been. That however all went through the floor when he told her what date the coupon was valid on. Unfortunately it had expired a few days ago and that meant that they wouldn't be able to get the deal that he wanted.

Swallowing softly she wondered how best to break the bad news to Saitama but before she had even registered that he was moving he was down the stairs and shouting up at her to hurry up. A small squeak of surprise left her lips as she hurried to the bottom of the stairs to catch up with him. If he moved that fast then she was going to have issues keeping up with him.

When she reached him again, Desdemona cleared her throat and addressed the potentially sensitive issue about the expiration date on the coupon;

"Uhm, Saitama-sama?" she ventured "The coupon expired a few days ago, today is the 17th...I'm sorry. Maybe we could still go and see if they have any meat reduced? It might be the same price as it was when the deal was on?" Desdemona offered.

While she thought that there were more important things that they could be doing then going to do his shopping, she did realise that it was a daily essential that would need to be done while they were working and living together. It would give them a chance to bond together too, she thought, so it wasn't all as bad as she had thought it was. Saitama seemed like a fun guy so far too, which was nice.

"I don't think I can move as fast as you either Saitama-sama. Is super speed your power? It is very impressive!" she exclaimed, complimenting her new mentor on his obviously well trained ability.

He was going to get his deal and that was all that mattered right now! It would give him something to eat tonight and it would also allow him to feed his new student. Just so long as she didn't end up staying in the apartment like Genos had... his apartment was two small for two guys to be sharing space. He didn't want to be sharing his apartment with some girl! It would be even harder to avoid all the drama and such.

Plus it would give him some time to actually think about how he was going to teach this woman... she either had some kind of ability or she was a martial artist. Maybe both. But either way, it didn't change the fact that he didn't have the faintest idea how he was going to be teaching her!

Maybe she would be able to take on board his advise about training? Somehow he doubted it would be that easy.

Wait... wait.

"Hmm..." Saitama rested his chin against his hand as he thought aloud, "If the Monday sale was five days ago... then that means... that means..."

He clenched his fist with a little smirk,

"Then that means it's Saturday!" he declared, "And the Super Duper Mart has super Saturday sales! Come Desdemona-san! We must away to catch this new sale!"

He paused for a moment, scratching the side of his head as he looked back at her blankly,

"Power? I don't have a power." he shrugged a little bit, "Are you slow? Do you need me to carry you or something?"

Desdemona was constantly surprised by Saitama, something that she thought would have completely knocked him off course - the fact that his coupon was no longer valid - didn't seem to bother him at all. He just came to a compromise which made him just as happy. It was an infectious sort of happy too which had her smiling shyly up at the older man, she was glad that there was somewhere else that they could go to get something for dinner.

She did however find it very hard to believe that Saitama didn't have a power.

From what she had seen he was very fast and if he was offering to carry her while moving that fast he had to be pretty strong as well.

Compared to him Desdemona had to admit that yes she was slow, although she was reasonably faster than a citizen there was no way she was going to be able to keep up with him while he was moving as fast as he had done before. It made her feel a little unhappy to admit, but she nodded her head with a bright pink flush on her cheeks at having to ask for help so soon into her partnership with Saitama.

"I'm sorry Saitama-sama, but yes I will need some help. I cannot move as fast as you and I don't want to make you miss your sale if we move at my pace." she replied , closing her eyes as she spoke, ducking her head down in shame "If you can, I would appreciate the assistance in accompanying you."

Hopefully he wouldn't think badly of her for having to ask him for help, Desdemona was good at many things although compared to Saitama it was obvious that she had a lot to learn. Maybe he would teach her the secret of how he came to move as fast as he did? She was sure it would give her a great advantage in combat.

Ok.

So all they had to do was make it to the Super Duper Mart before the sale ended at 1pm... it was around 11am now and it was clear across the city, right on the outskirts. They were going to have to be pretty fast to make it to the sale - of course he wouldn't go too fast. There wasn't any reason for him to go all out to get there after all. Instead he just hummed in vague interest as Dedemona admitted that she couldn't run as fast as he could so would need his assistance to reach the mart before the sale was over.

Nothing wrong with admitting your weaknesses, just so long as you actually worked on improving yourself despite your weaknesses. Some of the people he knew were a little from column A and others were more from column B. Either way, he had her permission to help her with arriving at their beloved sale!

"Ok."

Scooping her up in his arms almost immediately, Saitama raced forwards, dust from the concrete breaking under his feet raising up behind him as he raced through the empty streets that surrounded his apartment. Now that he thought about it, his neighbourhood had gotten incredibly quiet in the recent months... maybe people were saving right and getting out of this low-income housing?

That was as good an answer as any as far as he was concerned.

Saitama immediately came to a stop, setting Desdemona down on her feet even as he swept a small child up off the ground to help it avoid the strike of the monster currently attacking the street with the Super Duper Mart on. It was a giant fox with six tails, the size of a building at the very least.

How had he missed that when he was running again?

Either way, it was burping out flames and trashing the place so it would be fair to assume that he was to fight it off. He blinked once,

"Ano... Desdemona..." he jerked his thumb at the six-tailed fox which was currently destroying a building, Saitama completely ignoring a brick that smashed against his head, "You want to try this one?"

Desdemona felt a little sick to her stomach when they finally stopped running towards the market that they needed to go to. Never before had she travelled that fast. She must have moved several miles in just a few minutes - something that couldn't be done even in a car or by train. Regaining a little bit of her composure when she was placed down, she immediately picked up on the sounds of screams and breaking building structures when she got a chance to focus on the surroundings that she was now occupying.

A soft gasp left her lips when she saw the giant fox that was causing so many problems in this area.

It was touching that Saitama thought that she could handle this and thought it would be a good chance for her to show off what her powers were. Maybe through observing her and how she handled this fox thing he would know where the areas were she needed to work on. This could only be a good thing and if she couldn't handle what was happening then Saitama would step in and aid her. The two of them together would definitely be able to stop this creatures reign of terror over the streets.

"Er, sure. I'll try." she stated firmly, noting how the brick that had smacked him in his head didn't even seem to phase him - he definitely had some form of invulnerability.

Turning she faced the fox and dashed up to be closer to it, while it wasn't as fast as Saitama could have done it, Desdemona arrived in but a few seconds. As soon as she was at the creatures feet she activated her sight, it allowed her to see the weak points in the creatures body before her and the energy that she could manifest at her fingertips and hands would help in targeting those weak points effectively shutting the creature down.

Sometimes it was hard to get to the first weak spot, however, there was one on the paw of the beast which she promptly slammed her energy surrounded fist into, sending the beast howling and lashing out with it's other paw which was not currently out of it's control.

Gritting her teeth Desdemona clambered up it's leg to strike out at another weak spot, clinging on tightly while it tried to wiggle her off as this was the leg that still currently had a working foot attached to it. Sucking in a deep breath to avoid breathing in too much of the creatures smell, Desdemona smacked her energy covered fist into the next weak point, halting the movement of the creatures front legs.

It gave her time to climb up onto it's back where in quick succession she ran down it's spine hitting several of it's weakspots - effectively paralysing the beast. When she was sure that it was completely unable to move, she hopped off the now still laying fox and to be on the safe side went around hitting the rest of it's body until it was all permanently shut down.

Blinking rapidly now her sight was no longer needed, Desdemona jogged back over to her mentor with a cute expectant look on her face;

"So, what do you think Saitama-sama?" she asked eagerly.

The fox didn't look all that dangerous to be honest - looked more like it was annoyed about something to be honest rather than being some malevolent trickster demon like some of the townsfolk were saying it was. Honestly, foxes might be known in folklore for being tricksy but this one seemed to be a rather straight forward beast to be honest. If he was right then the only reason it was even attacking with a little needle he could see in one of it's tails.

Maybe this big guy hadn't always been a big guy?

Eh, he'd wait until Desdemona was done before he did anything. If she went to kill the thing he might get involved but so far it looked more like her power allowed her to paralyse parts of her enemy's body. What a strange power! And yet it still seemed to be something that was based on martial arts. With a touch of 'magic' or something. Her hands had been glowing a little bit after all and he wasn't sure how that was even possible.

Sure, his own hand had caught fire some times but that was due to the speed on it rather than anything else.

He watched with a slightly blank expression, mouth slightly open, as Desdemona took down the giant fox without much trouble with her abilities. When she was done the fox stopped dead where it was. He smiled a little bit,

"Ah, Desdemona-san!" he greeted her again, "Good fight! You're quite strong you know!"

He raised a finger,

"Ah one moment..."

Withdrawing the needle from one of the fox's tails, Saitama watched in slight bemusement as the beast began to steam. As more steam was let off, the fox seemed to get smaller and smaller until it was nothing more than the size of a small cat, six tiny, puffy, little tails. The fox whimpered in pain from the steam so he picked it up. The fox licked his face once before he offered the now happily yipping fox cub to Desdemona,

"You want a pet?"

Desdemona flushed a bright pink when she was complimented by Saitama, she was glad that he could see potential in her and was aware that her power was one that could be very useful. She hoped that through their time together as master and apprentice he would be able to offer insight into how she could get better, maybe work on aspects of her training that she wasn't very good at, like her speed and other physical elements of fighting.

"Oh, ah, thank you Saitama-sama." she replied shyly curling a strand of her hair about her finger "I am glad that you see potential in me."

When he approached the downed fox, she had to admit that it looked pretty cute when it wasn't attempting to destroy the city they were in. People had gathered around them now to look at the heroes who had saved the day - this only made her blush even worse as she heard people commenting on her. Her appearance and her skills mostly.

Trying to focus her attention on what Saitama was doing instead of the whispering, Desdemona was surprised when the fox seemed to disappear in a cloud of steam after a needle was removed from it's tail. Unable to stop herself feeling quite bad when the fox then reverted into a normal sized and rather sweet little thing, she bit her lip shyly as she regarded Saitama handling the small cute creature.

"Uhm, well...it rather depends if you want a pet." she reminded gently "The heroes association did say that I had to move in with you while I am under your guidance - so I can be with you whenever you're needed on missions and such."

Gently she took the cub from Saitama and poked it on the nose, before nuzzling it slightly;

"I'm sorry little guy, I'm sorryyyy." she chanted in a sweet tone "But destroying the city is a bad thing, yes, yes it is."

Eh?

Another freeloader?

At least this time it appeared that he would get paid for the student living with him. The Hero Association was paying him a wage as a B Rank hero after all so there was nothing to stop him from getting paid for having Desdemona around at his flat. Of course he would like her to get the one next to him instead - he didn't exactly want to be sharing such a small space with someone like her - she was a woman and he was a man and they weren't married so it would be weird to spend so much time together in such a confined space after all.

He wouldn't be surprised if her female hormones made her want to jump into his bed!

"Je ra, je re." he assured her that it was nothing before humming a little bit, "Well there are some rats in the neighbourhood... I'm sure a fox that will grow up strong will be able to take care of them."

He ignored the crowd and entered the now half-destroyed Super Duper Mart, rummaging around in his wallet for some change as he did so,

"What will you name it?" he asked as he rummaged for money, "It's got to be something cool I think... but not anything related to foxes. That would be lame."

Desdemona hummed to herself when Saitama asked her what she was going to name the little fox that they were going to take back home to their flat complex. She had no doubt that living in the flat next to Saitama would be just as good as living in his own, she'd be right next door and they wouldn't have to worry about living in together. It might be seen as weird and while she was sure that Saitama was a gentleman and wouldn't try anything, it was probably for the best that they keep separate just in case.

There were a few things that came to her head immediately and she decided that she would lay out all the options for Saitama to pick one that he liked from as well.

"I think Naruto would be a nice name, or maybe Ichigo or Eevee. Which one would you like to name this little guy?" she asked, holding the fox cub tightly to her so that it wouldn't be in danger of falling or getting picked up by a passerby and killed because technically, it did just destroy some of the city in which they lived.

It didn't feel right though thinking of killing the poor thing. It had obviously only been doing what it had been because of that needle that had been in one of it's tails. Now that it was removed it was just a playful, normal, fox cub that deserved a good life.

Watching Saitama rummage around for money, Desdemona felt kind of bad. She was intruding on this guys home and he wasn't in the most financially sound situations it would seem. She smiled lightly and placed a soft hand on Saitama's.

"How about I get this? My treat for you! To celebrate the start of our new relationship together." Desdemona suggested.

She was coming up with names for the fox and Saitama was keeping half an eye on the crowd of people around them. He knew from experience that people tended to be stupid bastards when they were upset after all. They still blamed him for the damage the remains of the meteor had caused because of what those stupid tank top wearing heroes had said about him because they'd been jealous of how he had handled the entire thing.

Not that he cared but he wasn't looking to fight the whole crowd of people just because they felt the need to fight his student - even if he hadn't really wanted to take her on as a student in the first place.

"Eh?" he sweatdropped slightly, "Don't take this badly but... 'fishcake'? 'Strawberry'? And a pokemon name? You really suck at naming things you know that Desdemona?"

He blinked a few times before shrugging,

"Fishcake sounds cute."

He tilted his head to the side slightly as he thought about taking her up on her offer. He hadn't been paid by the hero association for that alien thing yet - something about them wanting to try and verify what he'd actually done - so he was a little bit low on funds to be fair. And she was going to be his student so...

"Hai. You can get it this time my cute little student!" he declared with an exaggerated, boisterous, laugh, "To the meat aisle! Assuming your pet didn't break it..."

If it had then they might be eating fox.

Desdemona flinched slightly when Saitama told her that she really didn't do a very good job of offering up names for the little fox that they were adopting together. It was kind of sweet, a little mascot for the two of them. She hoped that even after they stopped training together they would continue to be friends, this little guy would just be one reason to make sure that their friendship was cemented and would last longer than however long the Hero Association told them they needed to train together.

"Ehhh I'm sorry." she replied with a fierce blush "I guess I am not the best at trying to come up with things on the spot."

She was glad however that he found a name out of the three that he had liked, it seemed like Naruto it was. While they approached the meat aisle, Desdemona tickled the fox cub under the chin and peeked at what was still available for them to buy. Thankfully the aisle was still intact after the rampage not far away from here, so there were many selections for Saitama.

"Naruto it is." she agreed with a large smile, nodding her head and giggling slightly when the little fox cub yipped in response "Naruto seems to like that choice."

When he referred to her as cute though, Desdemona blushed again and averted her eyes to the floor for a few seconds. It was a sweet compliment although she assumed he hadn't meant it as a reference to her appearance.

"What do you think about getting some beef?" she asked, picking up one of the lean selections and peeking through her fringe at the price, still flush about the little off hand compliment that she had been paid "Maybe we can make a stew, or I could make crispy chili beef if you like that? Over rice?" Desdemona suggested.