I own the artist a full apology. My previous post on this commission was said in frustration and anger as I have been screwed on pre-paid commissions before and just thought this was another one.
However, I must take some of the blame as I also didn’t remain in contact as I should have and I didn’t add in my previous post on the subject.
So MasterHatterMonster/YeDG. I’m making a full public apology for what I said and how unfair it was to you.
Izumi Midoriya. I never got to know my Great-Grandma like my mother did yet her effect on my life was profound. I can honestly say that without her my mother and I would never have progressed as far as we did. Nor would we have known the cost of what we’d been given. It might be nice to eat anything you want and be able to stay trim with just a bit of effort, the heightened strength, the sharp senses, and all. Be that as it may, the bill for all of it had yet to come due and during that last hazy summer weekend while I was playing in the woods, my mother, as she told me years later, was having her world turned on its head. She come to Great-Grandma’s house to relax and yet got the worse shock of her life, one that was probably echoed by me when I had our family history explained to me.
I will not detail what I, and by association, my mother was told about ourselves in this book as that would counteract the point of this book. After all, I’m sure another scientist can explain the intricate nature of genetics and DNA in ways I cannot.
-Izuku Midoriya, My Mother The Warrior
Chapter 3
“So we’re going to Grandma’s house?”
Izuku asked the question through the slightly open backseat door as Inko put the second and last suitcase in the trunk. She was surprised with how light it felt or maybe she hadn’t packed as much as she thought. With a push, she closed it and went to the door, shaking her head but planting a kiss on her son’s forehead. “No, we’re going to your great-grandmother’s house.” She corrected gently. “She’s my grandmother. Now legs in and check your tail.”
And how odd is that to say? The tails weren’t inconvenient per say, hardly noticeable, at first. Yet, they were a detail that couldn’t be ignored since they’d basically had an extra limb. Being right at the base of the spine, underwear and pants required modification or else there was a constant sensation of pressure there. She’d done what she could in the time she had, cutting holes for them…but it was basic and haphazard work. The hole in Izuku’s shorts and her sundress weren’t cleanly done. Izuku’s shirt hid the hole and for her part, she just wore a long jacket for hers. She’d need to get a professional tailor eventually. One who worked with Quirks that forced wardrobe changes.
Izuku complied, sitting in the car properly and holding his tail close to his chest so that she could shut the door. As she walked around to get to the drivers side, she couldn’t help but feel baffled and a little awed, not only with how the week had gone but just...everything.
Everything that had happened, she’d spent most of the night telling her grandmother about it. The gasps of horror and the shocked silence came at the points where she’d expected them to. It was once she’d exhausted every last detail of what her week had been like that she’d asked if they could spend the weekend at her house. Her grandmother eagerly said yes, which lifted a weight from Inko that she hadn’t noticed until after she’d hung up the phone and went to bed.
In all honesty, the discussion to make the trip to her grandmother’s home in the country was about the easiest one she’d ever had made. Musutafu, the city she had been living in for years and had planned to raise a family in, suddenly seemed too loud, too big, and far too stifling.
She’d never noticed her neighbors before but when she’d gone to sleep, it had been an effort not to notice the sheer presence of bodies around her. Arriving home yesterday had been like walking into a closet, shutting the door, and then noticing only then that people were crowding around outside.
Yet among one more another unusual in a week of extraordinary ones, the fact she’d decided to drive to her grandmother’s house was probably the one that was the most unexpected.
They weren’t even that far from the train station and, in particular the most direct rail line to get there, five blocks if that. They could make it if the changed her mind right now.
She quickly shrugged off the unpleasant thought like an itchy coat. Daunting as a four hour drive was, though good sense told her the train ride would be faster on top of convenient, the idea of doing so was enough to make her inwardly cringe.
Whatever cabin fever had followed her out of the hospital yesterday clung to the back of her mind like a leech and refused to leave. It had been what had woken her up at 4:30 this morning and like an irritated nerve, throbbed at her to get up and do something.
So she took the time to pack for the visit, thinking that it would burn some energy.
It didn’t.
So she cleaned the apartment. There was no need to leave a mess to come back to later. It was actually the vacuuming at the end of her cleaning spree that had woken Izuku up. So once she’d wrapped up her work, she helped him pack everything he would need.
Still, it didn’t go away.
By the time they had left, she’d been seriously considering if running up and down the stairwell of the entire apartment building. At that point, it was obvious to her that she wouldn’t get through the trip by rail with her sanity intact. Just the bus ride to the garage where the car was stored had been enough to grind her teeth and the wait for the car had been even worse. Her husband had it in the biggest, most up-to-date garages in the city which was completely automated save for a single attendant in a booth near where the cars exited. The employee, a woman about her age with an exceedingly professional bearing, requested her name.
When she’d given it, the woman typed it into a computer and, smiling, confirmed that she was on the list and that the vehicle would be down soon.
The rapidity of the whole thing caught Inko so flatfooted that she had asked, in retrospect, some exceedingly simple questions since she barely knew anything about the place. The employee if they had been nonplussed or annoyed by them, they didn’t show it. In fact, she seemed all too eager to answer her, an attitude explained as Inko listened. Essentially, this garage used records given by the vehicle’s owner in order to know who was and wasn’t allowed to remove whichever vehicle they had stored here. And the car itself had the most meticulous record keeping Inko had ever heard of.
Nothing went unregistered or un-updated: times the vehicle was driven.
Who drove it.
How long the car wasn’t present in the garage counted to the second.
The current millage, before and after its return.
The psi in each tire.
The level of gasoline in the tank. Again, before and after it’s return.
And more that Inko was sure she was forgetting even now as she walked to the driver’s side door, being careful not to bush against the polished to a mirror-shine paint. She knew, just knew, she’d looked like a fish by the time the employee had stopped speaking. Mouth opening and closing, she had to ask what kind of garage was this to have such a level of meticulous care. She’d only been struck silent at the answer.
This garage was used by the rich and famous and everything from classics worth millions to the most recent hyper sports cars were cared for here. The reason for such a high level of service was because they paid for such an expense.
An expense that Hisashi was clearly paying for. An expense that, when Inko asked about, opened up a whole world of questions she didn’t want to think about. Oh, her husband had an ever growing list of things she was going to get answered. For now though, this trip was her priority and nothing was getting in the way of that.
She left the man a note anyway so if he did show up… he wouldn’t worry. A kindness she hadn’t wanted to give, at first.
The door opened with a soft click and barely made a sound as she shut it behind her, her tail lying across her lap.
Still long drive or not, it would be a quiet and somewhat pleasant one. Besides, she knew where she was going. At the time of her first visit to her grandmother’s, there had been no tracks near where she lived. The choice back then was drive or get off at the nearest train station and walk for 2 hours. It wasn’t a hard choice. Even now she could still remember every sign along the trip, every turn to take, and the view from the backseat of…
She quickly swept that thought away.
While Inko didn’t drive often enough to self-justify the expense of owning a car, she was well aware of the quality of automobile she was seated in.
The two-tone black and gray Toyota Century was owned by her husband. The irony that she was now driving it wasn’t lost on her. Swallowing the bitter sadness that came with that thought, she looked over her shoulder at her son and smiled. “All buckled in?”
“Yes, Ma’am!”
“Then let’s go.”
The engine came to quiet attention as soon as she turned the key. Not even a hiccup or a wait for it to turn over.
Outrageously expensive with a service bill to match, she never understood why Hisashi bought it. Leaving out him never being here to drive it, this was the kind of car you hired a chauffeur for to get the most enjoyment out of it. Then again her husband’s tastes were odd and, as she was beginning to figure, not cheap. He’d even splurged for a crew to come clean and detail it once a week, a service the garage provided.
Closing her eyes, she shoved the subject of him out of her head like the glowing coal it was. The note had been left f if he did bother to show up. It was after a deep breath that she noticed Izuku’s voice. “Sorry, honey. Could you repeat that?”
Her son fiddled with the All Might figure in his hand. A light flush touched his cheeks and brightened his freckles. “Have I met Great-Grandma before? I don’t remember.”
“You have.” Inko said, putting the car in reverse. “Though don’t feel bad about forgetting. You were only two years old the last time we visited.”
“Really?” For some reason he seemed awed by that.
“Really.” Inko nodded. She grew concerned when an uncharacteristic look of determination came upon her son’s face.
“Then I won’t forget this time.” He made his statement with the conviction only a child his age could pull off.
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she turned the car out onto the empty street.
“Stop laughing, Mommy. I mean it!”
“I know you do.”
The first five minutes of the drive were all Inko needed to confirm that her instincts had been right. Pulling out into the street and right into city traffic, she felt that ever present itch for activity fade. While still fairly early in the morning, the traffic was already picking up as the city came to life. Inko didn't mind, a hurry was the last thing she was in.
She planned to make this as fun as possible and there was no point in hurrying since the goal of the trip wasn't the destination. While she did want to see her grandmother again and get out of the city for some peace and fresh air, the main reason was for her son.
Inko glanced in the rear view mirror as she guided the car to a stop at the red light ahead. Izuku was playing in the backseat, humming to himself and fiddling with the All Might action figure in his hands. Smiling, like Inko hoped.
This week, starting as horrible as any could, got worse and the last thing she wanted was her little boy to dwell on it.
Those two teenagers in the store had been killed right in front of him and then he'd been put in the hospital. Those things would be traumatic for any child but on top of that, his father hadn't showed up. It was that last thing that hurt Inko the most, she was still trying to come to terms with it herself. How do you explain to a child why their father didn't come when they were hurt? It wasn't a question to ask while you were alone in bed or, even worse, asked by a tactless child when you go back to school. It going to take some careful explaining, hopefully her grandmother could offer some wisdom.
However, that unpleasantness could come later. She focused back on her driving as the light turned green which took her mind off a great deal.
There was a heightened awareness she felt, a blooming of details from everything around her that centered her mind. While this car was all but a literal island of luxury, details from the outside were slipping through. The suspension was soft enough to glide over every bump and pothole in the road and yet she could still feel them, smoothed out as they were. The road noise, which should've been near impossible to sense, droned in her ears quite clearly. When she turned the radio on, she'd had turned the volume down low because it just seemed that little bit too loud.
Telling where cars were before changing lanes, noticing motorbikes in between the cars, even being able to feel the rising speed of the car and just being able to tell how fast she was going before she glanced at the speedometer, it was as if she'd been driving all her life instead of this being one of the few times she'd put her license to use.
One reason she didn't drive was because traffic made her nervous. It was difficult to focus when you were on edge because someone was riding your back bumper like they were glued to it. A nervous feeling was absent during her drive, no matter who honked or rolled in far to close at a light or sped by on a bike, she barely felt anything more than a slight bit of exasperation at the rudeness of one driver who flipped her off when she didn't immediately peel out at a particular light.
Her composure remained as they hit the freeway and quickly made distance between the city and them. It was only when the environment outside began exchanging urban buildings for more bushes and flat green scenery that Inko pulled off the road to an exit for a break.
It was about an hour and a half in but she nor Izuku had eaten breakfast that morning, so a quick rest was needed.
Parking at the first convenience store she saw, at first she’d bought just two sandwiches for them to snack on while stretching their legs. However, like when they first got out of the hospital the snack turned into a meal. She bought out nearly a quarter of the store before the edge was taken off their hunger.
Every sandwich, burger, and steamed bun was eaten in their impromptu picnic near the car. Finishing it all off with a sweet Onigiri for her and a jelly doughnut for Izuku before they continued on.
That was another thing to be addressed later, Inko knew as the pulled the car back onto the freeway. This increased appetite would become a financial problem later on. She’d never been able to eat like that before in her life, not when she was a teenager and not at her current 27. And Izuku, growing boy or not, really had no excuse for putting just as much down. Considering the idea, would’ve made her nauseous last week. Neither of them should’ve been able to attempt to do so, and yet they did it.
And had left room for desert, this time around.
Her son’s question came a little more than an hour or so after their meal, just as she was exiting the highway that took them out of the city proper and onto the back mountain route, she was all to familiar with.
“What’s she like?”
“Izumi Midoriya...” Inko didn’t really need to think long to answer. “She’s nice. Strong. Motherly like me.” ‘Motherly’ was far to light a word for the woman who raised her but simple was good for now.
“She’s like you?” Again, that tinge of awe in his voice. “Did you live with her?”
“Yes. I lived with her in a big house and played on land behind it when I was a little older than you.”
“Behind it? Like a backyard?”
“The biggest one you’ve ever seen. The biggest in all of Japan. With a garden where she grows her own food.” Again, she was practically trivializing the facts. Her grandmother had a backyard like Izuku had a slight interest in Superheroes and All Might in particular. True but far more to be told. If Inko ever met anyone who thought of 60 full acres of land as a backyard, she be shocked. Her grandmother had come into a lot of money decades before Inko had been born and used the money to build a house and buy the land around it.
Focusing back on the near bone-white asphalt as the incline began, she was reminded that once it had been pale gray so long ago and like catching the whiff of a favorite childhood dish, remembering the color also led to the last time she’d seen the road in this direction.
It had been after things had gone bad.
The road had been a pale yellow that night, illuminated by a pair of headlights so bright that in any other situation, she might have looked for familiar shapes as they past. But she hadn’t, her eyes hurt from crying so long and so hard and her vision was still a little blurry anyway. It was awful because she could’ve used the distraction from the other pains she was feeling. The road wasn’t smooth and it seemed like every bump in it went right from the wheels to the backseat to everything that hurt...and it seemed like everything had been hurting
Inko blinked, coming back to her present and rubbed her eyes clear of the tears building there. Thankfully, enthralled by the idea of ‘The biggest Backyard in Japan’ began rapid firing questions that not only had her bringing up the good memories but got so detailed that she had to think hard and dig deep on them. Hard enough that it kept her distracted for the rest of the trip.
Izuku’s questions were not a bottomless well and the car eventually lapsed into silence, right around the time they reached to outskirts of town.
As she turned the last bend, Inko was struck by a sense of nostalgia upon seeing The Crossroads, which she certainly hadn’t seen for awhile, not even when she’d come for a visit over two years ago.
The Crossroads were just a nickname that she and the other children had given the spot years ago. In actuality, the single road crossed nothing but split into three distinct directions.
One continued straight ahead, passing the town she’d grown up in completely and continued to go down the other side of the mountain. The left fork went further up and led straight into town. To the right, the road curved down in such a way that it was impossible to see what was on the other side from the road. However, she knew that it lead to a dead end not but a fifty yards from the crest, the isolated spot having served as a private playground away from adult eyes.
Turning left, she wondered if children in town were still using that road to gather. Driving through town was a trip down memory lane and she for the first time, felt like everything was finally okay. So many good times were tied to this place that just seeing it again had been like wrapping up in a warm blanket. She’d even go so far as to call it a salve to her soul.
One thing that stuck out in her cursory scan as they passed by was the General Store. Run by Mr. Riku and his wife, both had to be getting up there in age like her grandmother now that she thought about it, Inko couldn’t help but notice it was closed. Unusual for that time of day, especially since their joint-candy store right next door was clearly open.
Inko made a note to stop by and say hello before they left. Hopefully, they’d remember a little girl who’d spent far too much of her hard earned money from chores on junk like Pocky and Botan.
“Wow.” Izuku said, awed as he craned his neck to see further ahead.
“Yep.” Inko confirmed. “That’s it up ahead.”
They were about a mile and a half out of town when her grandmother’s house came into sight. The trees parting like a curtain to reveal the house, almost a mansion, in the distance.
It was a grand construction that was quite breathtaking from a distance which grew more so as they got closer. If memory served, her grandmother had said the style was ‘Queen Anne’ Victorian. Whatever style it was, it was an very loud one.
The woman had once joked that she should’ve been born European, she was so obsessed with Western culture. It was an obsessing that shined through, announced through every brick and beam of that house she’d built. In all honesty, Inko had always thought it a bit garish though she’d seen the place as a fantasy castle on the hill when she was a child. Even as she looked at it now, she couldn’t shake off the sense that the house, it’s owner, and the land around it was meant more for a fairy tale book. Something that Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty used as vacation homes, not a widowed retiree's residence in the mountainous Japanese countryside.
It was a building that was bursting with decor, from the green paint on the wood, the dusty pink of the bricks, and the intricate carved roof finials and cresting which Inko had lost hours staring at over the years, it was a home that not only stood out in its surroundings and, specifically one’s memory as it was not a place easily forgotten.
Inko pulled off the road and onto the long gravel drive which, once it reached the house, curved in on itself to make a circle so that someone could simply stop their car in front of it and not be further than a stride from the porch steps and then pull away to go right back down the drive without having to do a three-point turn.
Standing there, framed by the pearl white front door ready to greet them, was her grandmother, Izumi Midoriya.
The first thing Inko noted as she parked was how unbowed she was. Her back was straight and she stood tall and welcoming in defiance of her age. She had no idea if the hand of time was treating her grandmother exceptionally gently or if it was something in her lifestyle but for a woman pushing the better part of seventy, Izumi looked remarkably well. A fact exemplified by her clothing, or rather how well they fit her.
Dressed in a pair of denim pants and a blue long sleeved blouse, they hugged close to her body and pretty much told Inko that Izumi still took good care of herself and hadn’t slipped in her habits since she’d last seen her. Now that she thought about it, her grandmother always had a spryness that gave her the air of women half her age.
Her short hair, tied in a tight bun still had a few strands of green among the silver and her face, weathered but not worn, brightened as Inko got out the car and opened the door for her son.
She didn’t say anything at first. Grabbing and pulling her into a tight hug, she only spoke then. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Her voice was equal parts relieved and happy and even though the embrace pressed into her wound, Inko hugged her back before stepping away.
“It’s good to see you, too.”
“And this,” Izumi gasped, bending at the knees for a better look, “must be Izuku! Come, let me get a good look at you.”
Inko only noticed then that her son had tucked himself behind her legs, his previous excitement gone and his tail twitching in what she could tell was nervousness.
However, when she looked back to her grandmother, she recognized the mischievous gleam in the woman’s eyes and, smiling herself, she quickly stepped aside. “Come now, I won’t...”
“BITE!” Izuku barely had a chance to squeak before Izumi pounced. Both hands shooting out, she caught her great-grandson under the armpits and started tickling.
The four year old squealed, trying to get away but Izumi, refusing to be denied her due, swept him off his feet and into the crook of her arm.
Arms flailing, legs kicking, Izuku was helpless against the assault on his belly, sides, and neck as she went for every weak spot she could. Izuku would cover one, only for the experienced woman to go for another and Inko couldn’t help but be impressed that she still had the strength to hold him in place.
It wasn’t for very long though. The tickling finally stopped a few seconds later and Izuku, face flushed from so much laughing, wrapped his arms around her grandmother’s neck.
“Okay.” Izumi huffed, apparently equally worn from the effort “I’m gonna have to put you down now. You’re already too big for me.” Lowering him to the porch, she gave his nose a gentle pinch. “Why if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re almost an adult.”
The complement made Izuku flush a little brighter as Inko mussed her sons hair. “Not quite though, you have some growing to do, young man.”
“Mommy!” He said, trying to shoo away her hand, clearly embarrassed.
Her grandmother and her shared a laugh as they walked inside.
“I knew you two would be hungry, so I spent all day cooking,” she announced, kicking off her shoes before stepping onto the wood floor of the foyer. “And don’t tell me you’re not hungry.” Leading her son by the hand, Inko followed her grandmother who was already speeding down the hall, past the living room and towards...the dining room, if she was right.
She took her time, taking off her shoes and following at a sedate pace. Mostly for Izuku as her little boy’s head seemed to be on a swivel as he looked around with wide eyes at the pictures and antiques lining the wall, clearly trying to take in as much as he could. She giggled at that, since apparently Izuku forgot they were here for a whole weekend. The other reason she took, her time was...well, her grandmother was more right that she suspected. Their breakfast might as well have been yesterday’s memory, her stomach was already doing the mental equivalent of tugging on her sleeve for attention.
She went for her pocket, halfway through pulling out a cellphone she no longer had, and then once she realized what she was doing, checked her wristwatch instead.
11:39. Almost lunch.
With her son and her’s new appetite, she knew for a fact that even her grandmother’s prodigious portion sizes were going to be more a snack than a meal but they should eat something and she could explain to her grandmother later.
“You grew up here?” The awe was back and as Inko looked to her son, she could see a shine in his green eyes as if he’d been told his mother had come from royalty and only now was having it confirmed.
“Yes, I did. In fact, my-” She was cut off as Izumi’s voice, warm but stern. Her ‘You’re lollygagging and it will stop now’ voice.
“Child, you better get in here. I didn’t work my hands to the bone and sweat in front of a stove for this to get cold.”
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s eat first.” Inko said, picking up the pace ever so slightly. Her son must have been peckish too, since at the mention of food, he forgot his fascination with the house and was hot on her heels.
XXX
“Grandma...” Inko’s voice faded into stunned silence. Her son’s eyes again wide in shock but now edged in a bit of eager joy.
They’d stopped just before the sill of the open dinning room. Much like the house, it was huge western ideal of what a family gathering place was. A big room lined by large windows with a sliding glass door that faced west and lead out onto the porch and into the backyard. The massive solid wood dining table took up the entire middle space of the room, long enough to sit sixteen people with 8 on each side and wide enough for two people to sit on either end if they didn’t mind sharing elbow room, that wasn’t what had Inko struggling to find words to say. She’d lived here once, knew the table well. In fact, she even remembered the spot where she’d accidentally scratched the wood hard enough to leave a mark with her knife.
Although, finding it now would be a challenge considering that the table in question looked ready to fold under the weight of the food placed upon it.
Before them was a staggering number of dishes in exceedingly staggering amounts. Each main dish looked more like it was meant for a buffet than for any setting in a house. Even the side dishes were massive. The rice had so much prepared that it alone could’ve fed an entire family.
Not an inch of space was wasted or lacked something, the only spots left vacant were where three chairs sat scooted back from the table to give it’s would be occupant space between itself and the table to sit.
“I..uh.” With an effort Inko wrangled her tongue and looked and her grandmother, as bug-eyed as her son.”H-how? Where did all this come from?”
“Where did it come from?”Izumi echoed, frowning as if she’d just been asked the dumbest question she’d ever heard in her life. Standing next to a chair at the head of the massive table, she put her fists to her hips, an expression on her face that, for a brief moment, made Inko actually think her question indeed was as stupid as her grandmother thought.
“Where do you think, Child? From my kitchen.”
Inko shook her head, refusing to be put off. No warning of ‘Cooking all day’ explained the All-You-Can-Eat spread she was looking at.
“You cooked?” Inko stated flatly, pointing at her grandmother, who’s knowing grin had come back but now focused on her.
“All of this food, by yourself?” Using both hands, she gestured at the table in a motion that said ‘Look at what I’m seeing here.’
A nod.
“In one day? As in today?”
Inko put a great deal of emphasis in that last word and apparently that was just the thing she needed to get the impossibility of such a task through to her grandmother.
Izumi’s smile left her face, eyes widening slightly before she shook her head. “Oh no. No. No. Dear me, Inko.” She said with a laugh that rang through the room like a bell. “All day is just a turn of phrase, Child. You mustn’t take things so literally.”
Inko hardly thought that was fair and as she approached the table, she said as much. “Its not like you told enough for me not to take you completely at your word. I have to assume you meant exactly what you said.”
That got her another laugh.
Guess I’m a comedian today.
You know what they say about assumption. They make an a-” Her grandmother stopped, laughter dwindling to chuckles when she glanced down at Izuku, then back up to Inko and gave a conspiratorial wink. “Well, you know what they say.”
For Inko’s part, she gave a nod of gratitude and then turned to the food, breathing in deep. That single whiff almost had her falling upon the meal like a wild animal right then,
Smells of clean steamed vegetables mixed in her nose with hearty fatty meats. Fresh bread and sliced fruit combined with dishes of strong spiced curry and the tang of smoked sausage.
It stirred her appetite from an attention seeker to a near primal singular need to be satisfied.
Remembering herself, Inko seated Izuku first who was openly drooling and she couldn’t find it in herself to reprimand him on his poor show of manners. Sitting down, she focused back on Izumi, who was just about in her chair. “So who helped you?”
Her question got a raised eyebrow. “No one, Inko. All done by these.” She raised her hands and waggled her fingers in a surprising display of dexterity.
Now, she was confused again. “Then how did you cook all this?” The only explanation she could think of was that her grandmother had planned for more company ahead of time, but it had been made quite clear that this food was for her son and her. Leaving out that Inko knew Izumi Midoriya had never been one for parties.
Since the party idea wasn’t likely, then this meal should’ve been impossible. This visit was spur of the moment, an emotional decision to close out one of the most emotional weeks in her life. Coming here was meant to unwind both physically and emotionally.
In short, unless Izumi could see into the future, she’d need to have a fair warning to prepare this much, especially at her age.
Her grandmother clicked her tongue, picking up the empty plate in front of her and a pair of tongs that had been between the rice and spare ribs. “I started cooking the moment, I hung up the phone.” She answered.
If it hadn’t been for the armrests, Inko would’ve fallen out of her chair. “What?”
“It gets lonely for this old woman way out here. Not to mention boring. So I went a little overboard, I’ll admit.” She finished with a wave of her tongs, as if shooing away the idea that all this being cooked in such a short time was any big idea. “Indulge your grandmother’s want to provide for her granddaughter .”
Overboard, she says.
Inko had to wonder her a dictionary somewhere in the world had just cracked into pieces under the strain of such a massive understatement.
She was yanked out of her contemplation by the sound of chewing beside her. Izuku’s patience had run on and even her grandmother had started plating some food in the brief pause.
With a sigh of surrender, Inko began picking out what looked best from the table.
She’d planned on questioning her grandmother further after lunch but all it took was once bite of the still hot bread rolls and the lingering subject of how the food get here fled before the ravenous craving to eat as much of it as she could.
Though it did stick out even in her preoccupied brain just how normally her grandmother treated the whole meal. Not a look of shock, quirked eyebrow, or even a comment as she and her son tore into everything before them. Stripping every bone clean and clearing every platter like locusts to an unprotected field of wheat.
With her attention on her grandmother, she also managed to notice that she’d eaten quite a bit as well. Not as much as her but still, she’d put down two fairly full plates within the time they’d finished eating.
It was Izuku who announced the end of the meal. He leaned back in the chair, contented smile on his face and a deep sigh. “That was great. I’m full.” Inko, while agreeing that indeed the food had been wonderful as Izumi was a great cook, couldn’t help the smirk at the irony that there was nothing more to eat. The table, once a picturesque sumptuous smorgasbord, now lay heavy with empty plates, bowls, platters, and glasses.
For her part, her full belly had lifted a weight from her, a prickling that she had only realized now followed her out of the hospital as well. It was enough to dishearten her. She’d known the need for food was going to hit her hard financially but if it took eating this much then...Well, buying in bulk was an option but even that was more of a stop gap than anything long term. Could Hisashi even support them with just his paycheck… That question put a sour taste in her mouth that certainly hadn’t been there before. Of course he could. An expensive car that he barely used kept in an expensive garage for the elite with insurance and everything else. And if he somehow couldn’t, then she…
“What are you doing, child?” Inko jerked and realized with a jolt she was on her feet, hands gathering up the plates and silverware.
Her answer was instant. “Going to wash the dishes.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Her habit, one her grandmother instilled over the years she’d lived with her, was to clean after every meal. Dirty plates were hard to clean if the mess on them was left to dry and apparently even with her mind wandering out afield in her own world of worry and frustration, her body followed what was comfortable for her. Familiar was comfortable. That’s why she was here, after all.
“Oh, please. We can take care of that later.” Izumi motioned for her to put the stuff down. “Right now, I want to talk to you, Inko.”
With that, her grandmother stood up as well and looked to her son. “Izuku,” she said, getting the four year old’s attention. “after you rest for a bit, why don’t you go play outside? I’m sure you’d like the forests around here just as much as your mother.”
“But, don’t go very far.” Inko cut in with a warning. She knew the forest well enough. Where the dead-end road had been the town’s private playground, the forests here had been hers. Every trip in there had been an adventure with tall trees to climb, creeks to splash in, and interesting rocks and bugs to find. “There are wild animals out there.”
Her son’s eyes grew wide, though not in fear. There was almost an anticipation to his look as if he wanted to see what kind of wild animals there were. She wasn’t sure why but it was unsettling enough that her first instinct was to go with him. A tiny pit twirling around in her stomach made her not want to leave his side, just in case he did run into something out there. Yeah, the more she thought about it, the more she felt she should be out there. Any beast that dared to try and lay a claw or tooth or paw on her son, would soon find themselves dealing with her. And she’d be more vicious than any-
“Yes, your mother is right.” Izumi nodded sagely, her voice snapping Inko back to attention. “Up to a certain point is a wire fence that keeps dangerous animals out. There is a tall pole with a red flag on it that marks where the safe zone ends. Wild animals are past it, so if you see it, go no further.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her grandmother smiled even wider and ruffled his hair. “Such a polite boy.” Izuku blushed slightly, freckles standing out on his cheeks and giggled.
Inko followed her mother out the room, hesitating halfway down the hall when she heard the sliding glass door open and shut.
Izumi, noticing she’d stopped after a few more steps, turned to her and beckoned for her to follow. “He’ll be fine, dear. I had the fencing upgraded last month and a couple of inspectors checked the property within to make sure we didn’t have some uninvited guests lurking around. Such young strapping men, too.” She put a hand to her mouth in a vixenish way that was so fake Inko had to laugh at the act.
“Oh, if I was just a few decades younger.” The lament was uttered with a sigh, with Izumi gazing off into space with a love-struck pout that was so out of place on her face that Inko laughed harder, just managing not to bend double and followed after her.
She knew where they were going right away. Located on the north side at the end of the hall was the biggest room in the building, the study which as they entered, she could tell it hadn’t changed. Save for the new desk and the computer that was tucked in the left corner, taking up the final bit of vacant space along the walls. “Still dark as ever, I see.” She observed, looking around.
With each wall lined with near ceiling high bookshelves including two which covered the only windows in the room, the place was cast in shadows that were barely held off from the light coming from the hall and a series 4 of lamps, placed in strategic spots around. The only lamp that caught her attention was the one on the mantelpiece above the fireplace.
She walked closer towards it to get a better look. Next to the lamp which was on the far end were a row of pictures in variously sized frames. These hadn’t changed either. The first one was of a much younger looking Izumi Midoriya in a school uniform. Smiling and with a black tube in her hand, she was posing in front of a school’s grounds with a group of other girls, all of whom were smiling as well with a tube in their hand. Yet even if Inko would’ve somehow not been able to distinguish Izumi’s face which was impossible, the girl in the photo stood out.
A lot.
Out of all five girls who were doing some silly pose or had their head turned in some way, waving to the camera or the person behind it with peace signs, she was the only one who stood straight. Ramrod stiff, a statue standing proud among everyone else, her presence and propriety oozed through the frame.
The picture next to it was a different story altogether. Her grandmother, now a totally mature woman, wasn’t standing. Instead, clothed in a stunning white gown was being carried bridal style in the arms of a large man with sharp features in a black suit. Or was it a tux? Inko could never tell the difference and she could tell that the distinction wouldn’t have mattered to either. The picture had been snapped while they were both in mid-laugh and the joy on her face made the high school one look like she’d been grumpy during her graduation. Inko could feel it, she’d felt it when she’d gotten married. A twinge of sadness curled in her chest as she looked at the man, her grandfather, smile glowing and softening what would’ve been a hard countenance. Inko had never gotten the chance to know him but the stories Izumi told her painted a picture of dutiful, gentle soul who’d sooner kill you with kindness as hit you square in the jaw if you pressed his buttons long enough. And you really had to press them.
He’d died long before she’d been born and she’d never asked her grandmother how. She continued down the row but stopped at one that had been placed face down on the mantle, hiding the picture inside from sight. Inko didn’t lift it up to see, she knew what it was of and as she inspected it, a gratified ease at the thick layer of dust on its back made her smile.
“Come and sit, child.”
A massive carpet covered the wooden floor a safe distance away from the fireplace, upon which sat two well used linen armchairs with a small circular table between them. An electric kettle shared space with an antique lamp and two blue china teacups and saucers.
“Now,” Izumi sat down in the left chair, knees together and facing her as she took the much less worn right one. “How are you doing, Inko?”
She was in the middle of opening her mouth but whatever she’d planned to say was halted by her grandmother’s raised hand. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. The hand had been little more than a twist of her wrist. What did make Inko pause was the change that had taken Izumi Midoriya’s face. There was concern there but it was mixed with a hardness in the eyes that Inko had only seen once before, and she quickly averted her eyes.
Her desire to unload everything that had been on her mind warred with just wanting to keep it to herself, to talk about something other than about her. The weather... heroes... did Takumi; that drummer in town, ever get a break with the band of his? Some idle chatting like she was used to. Her leg tingled and her back throbbed like a nasty memory.
She wanted… needed something familiar. Too much had happened and too much had changed far too fast. Her apartment was too crowded, her husband was too distant, her body had become anomalous, she’d even grown a tail. A secondary quirk that she’d never known she had.
Inko chewed on her lip, having all this time to think and having no clue where to start. Her grandmother waited patiently while when she managed to compact all her thoughts down into into a single sentence. “I don’t know.”
Those three words were so factual that Inko was initially embarrassed that it had taken her so long to say them. She had no clue how she was doing and thinking back to every conversation and thought between waking up and getting here, she wasn’t sure if she ever would.
“In this one week, I’ve been hurt, nearly killed, could’ve lost Izuku and got a lesson in embarrassment and shame so thorough that I’d probably be able to teach a course on it at Todai,” she pushed forward, more words coming to mind as she simply let herself speak. Still not quite able to look straight at her grandmother, her eyes swept along the shelves around her. This place was almost like a university’s library. “But above all that, I’m angry. I’m so angry and I just want to...” A reluctant urge edged it’s way to the front of her mind and it was only then that she recognized she’d been clenching her hands together so hard her knuckles were turning white. She didn’t want to say it out loud, like if it was addressed the thing she was pushing back would leap out like a living creature. The urge wanted action, movement even. For her to DO something, anything.
“I guessed as much.” Izumi’s tone was equal parts sad and resigned. As if she’d expected as much. It was enough to make Inko finally look at her.
Now her grandmother wasn’t looking at her. She was looking away towards a shelf and the emotion in her eyes confused Inko more than anything else. With a sigh, she stood up and moved to the bookshelf she’d been focused on. “Inko, I’d hoped to never had this conversation and in that I failed myself and I failed you and Izuku.”
Her confusion only deepened but Izumi continued before she could ask what she was talking about. “I thought it would be best to keep it from you. You were living a safe and happy life and I thought the burden of our family curse had ended at… well, myself.” Pulling a book out of a line of unmarked ones, Izumi’s hand trembled slightly as if the novel-sized book weighed a great deal. Slowly, with a gaze akin to a judge about to deliver a sentence, she turned and looked at her. A building silence grew between them and Inko was sure that if her grandmother looked at her any harder the floor between them would catch fire.
When she did finally speak, her voice had such a melancholic tone as if she was just a step away from tears.
“Inko. You, your son, and I, are not totally human.”
XXX
A cheer split the air. It was a whoop of such joy and childish glee that it managed to drown out the cicadas whirring around. The air was thick with the sent of moist grass and the air pulled even more fresh scents of the forest into his nose as her rushed around.
Izuku being the shouts source didn’t notice nor care as any skittish animals nearby fled at his announced approach. The boy’s legs pumped hard as he crashed through the brush and weaved in between trees. This was the most fun he’d ever had.
Well… not as fun as playing All Might with mom but it was very very close.
He thought for a moment if they could play that again when he got back to the house. He barely began wondering if they could get Great-Grandma in on it then he saw a low branch on a tall tree. All thoughts flew and left just action.
He leaped for it.
For an average adult, it wasn’t that high, barely a struggle to reach but Izuku wasn’t an adult.
Normally, he would’ve bounced and hopped as hard as he could, missed and probably crashed to the ground or into another tree.
‘Normally’ no longer applied.
His jump carried him up and his arms reached, hands grasping. Catching it, he gripped so that he could swing up but his fingers tightened so hard that the branch crumpled with a few woody pops. The energy left over from his sprint did the rest and halfway through his swing, the limb snapped.
He was sent into a spin, falling towards the ground which came to a stop with a sharp tug from the base of his back. Held in the air and upside down, he got a perfect view of his tail hooked tight around a higher, shorter, but much thicker branch.
His tail had caught him! That hadn’t happened before, not even when he was showing off for Kaachan.
The boy giggled, giddy with excitement. It only took him two tries to pull himself up and from there, again without a second thought, began climbing up the trunk.
His little heart pounded in his chest. Not from fear but excitement. A rush ran through him like nothing he’d ever felt before. Injury and, what would be to anyone, the concerning and still growing height between him and the ground were the furthest things from his mind. His smile only grew as he ran out of handholds near the top.
Crouched on a limb, he looked around. To his right was a tree about as tall as the one he was on but the one after that had a trunk thicker and taller than either. In fact, it looked like if he climbed to the top of that one he would be able to see everything.
However, he could tell just by looking at it that there was no way he was going to make a single jump to that one. So, sighted on his goal, he aimed for the strongest looking branch on the tree between with a moment to bend just the right way to get the most out of his spring and went for it.
Catching by his tail, he made one full twirl around the tree limb and vaulted for his target. He was only as he’d already let go and was too far away grab for anything when he recognized the spot he aimed for had nothing to grab.
A wall of solid bark was coming to meet him.
Instinct took over and he spread his arms out wide as if going in for a hug and, on the moment of impact, dug his fingers in with every bit of strength he could manage. A series of pops followed the sensation of rough wood around his hands and then the pressure of his own body weight.
That had been close.
Breathing hard, smile a little less wider than it had been a moment before, he hung in place and looked around the best he could. Just out of reach, up and to the left, was a branch he knew would hold. He made for it or tried to. His shoes dragged along the surface for a push but got the sound of crumbling and snapping bark for his effort. Even his tail waved frantically as Izuku’s sweaty hands began to slip out of their holes. He couldn’t risk letting go to reach.
Gravity was trying its best to pull him down, his fingers were starting to ache and in frustration he kicked the tree.
The impact was enough to bounce him off his hold… high enough to put that limb just within his grasp.
He reached as far as his arm would go and caught it in one hand, then the other. He quickly scrambled up and wrapped his legs around it as hard as he dared. Sweat streamed down his face and his breaths were hard and fast but after an extra long moment to rest after all his hard work, he looked back up the tree and, carefully this time, picked his next spot and continued up.
And up.
...and up...
XXX
Inko waited for the punchline and when none came, searched for that hint of humor that showed when her grandmother about to spring a joke. Nothing of the sort revealed itself, only a look of such grim seriousness that it actually make her shy into her chair. Izumi was only slightly taller than her, yet even from across the room, her whole presence loomed. The study remained hushed. A grandfather clock somewhere in the building ticked away, it's inner workings a hammer to the silence filling the air to every last crack of space.
She blinked and for the first time in her life, worried. Maybe all this time alone, near the forests had affected her grandmother. God forbid, that age was having its much more silent, much more awful, way with Izumi and as terrible as that was to consider, as much as it hurt her heart to think it, there was no other way she could reason to herself why her grandmother would say something so absurd and mean it.
“What are you talking about?” she finally responded, leaning forward to hear her grandmother better. Surely she hadn’t heard that right.
Izumi crossed back to her chair in two quick strides and lowered into it with a fluid grace that made Inko blink again. Before when her grandmother had walked around, her movements had been smooth but with a slow methodical care as if to be sure of what she was doing before being committed. Her walk firm to make sure her feet were stable, her sitting aimed right at the center so as to not bump her hips or place herself on the edge of the chair. Yet just then, her care left as if it had never been, replaced with a confidence and poise that Inko had never seen from her before.
Ever.
“I’m talking about that tail and what it signifies. What it means for your future.” Flipping through the book, Izumi’s answer came with no preamble to the build up. She spoke plainly with a certainty that made it clear to Inko that she was far from addled. “We aren’t completely human, at least my side of the family isn’t. And just in case you’re thinking of asking, no, I don’t know what we are. Our family has been researching this for generations, longer than you or I or even my great-grandfather, and even with modern science none have been able to agree if its genetic mutation, something supernatural, some unique evolution, or just straight up magic.”
“Oh lord, you’re serious.” Inko hadn’t meant to say it, hadn’t meant to be rude, but the words slipped off her tongue as if they’d been greased.
If Izumi took insult though, she didn’t show it. Instead, she nodded opening the leather book that Inko now realized was much thicker than she’d originally thought. “I said something to that effect, when my father told me. Mind you, I was a child when he did so and if a child thinks you’re fibbing than how can an adult accept such a fairy tale as gospel? And I would still not have believed him, if quirks hadn’t suddenly appeared on the scene.”
Inko frowned at that last remark, quickly doing some numbers in her head. “Grandma, you do know that was twenty years before your time, at least.”
The amusement came back to Izumi’s eyes and for a moment she thought there was about to be a ‘I had you going for a moment, didn’t I?’ out of her mouth. Instead, she asked. “Inko, how old do you think I am?”
That was an odd question. “Seventy…sixty-eig-” Her mouth shut with a click. She knew her grandmother’s birthday, certainly but she was coming to realized that she actually didn’t know Izumi’s age. “You’ve told me before, right?”
“I have and I was lying. Mostly for the same reason I didn’t want to tell you about our family’s checkered past.” Her grandmother’s admission of lying hit her harder like a slap across the face. The shock at those words would’ve been total to Inko but like a boxer taking a viscous combo, her brain was already reeling and so didn’t have time to prepare for the follow up. “I’m actually one-hundred and twelve years old. My twelfth birthday had been less than a two weeks away when that historic case in China happened. Oh, the Chinese government tried to hide it, I’m sure, but no political body has the power to hide something like that unless they’re prepared for it.”
Inko sunk into the chair, its overstuffed cushions doing nothing to help with the pressure suddenly weighing her down. “That’s… th-that’s…”
“Impossible.” Her grandmother finished for her, pulling out a folded worn rectangle of paper from between the pages of the book. “Yes, I’m sure most would say that. But here.” The paper was passed over and Inko numbly took it, her fingers moving pretty much on autopilot to unfold it and it took a full minute of staring before she understood what was in her hands. An icy chasm opened in her stomach at the date on the page.
When it did, she gaped back at her grandmother. This couldn’t be fake, but it had to be. “Your birth certificate?”
A sardonic smiled touched the woman’s lips. “Got it for my birthday.”
Inko’s hands trembled as she passed it back. 112...the woman who’d raised her, the grandmother she thought she’d known better than her own parents, was more than a century old. Izumi would’ve looked great for a seventy year old woman. For someone more than a decade past their centennial, her looks were unnatural. There was no plastic surgeon that good, no quirk that could hold back someone’s age, no amount of good food and good air that could do this.
“However, this isn’t so much my proof.” Her grandmother, her over a hundred year old grandmother, picked the certificate between two fingers, folded, then tucked it back between the pages of the book. “This is me making my case, the proof is in you, Child.”
For the first time in her life, Inko flinched at her nickname. Izumi’s moniker for her now felt...patronizing and deceitful. So many questions marched through her head, all trying to force their way out like a mob rushing a single exit. Her grandmother’s statement made a path for one though. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, Inko. Your reaction to my question said as much.”
“Noticed what?”
“Don’t avoid the subject, Inko. You may be an adult but I can still read you like a book.”
The confusion, what was turning out to be a constant state for her now, must’ve shown because Izumi, patiently continued. “I saw the look in your eye in the dining room, Inko. Izuku didn’t but I did. Tell me, did you want to go out there with Izuku?”
Inko nodded, slowly coming back to herself. Her brain, no longer dazed from surprise after surprise, finally changed into gear, “Yes, of course. There were possible animals out there.”
“And what would you have done if your son and you had happened across a dangerous wolf, lets say?”
“I would’ve fought it to give Izuku time to escape.” She wouldn’t allow anything, much less an overgrown dog, get near her son if there was anything she could do about it.
“Would you have done that a week ago? Fought the wolf, I mean?”
“Yes. With my bare hands if I had to.” She answered through clenched teeth, muscles in her jaw tight and fingers twitching for something to hold. To grab. To tear.
“That’s funny,” her grandmother said, looking back to the open book and rubbing her chin in thought. “because you didn’t mention anything like scaring it off or backing away or equipping yourself with some kind of repellent or even a knife. Not even picking up a heavy stick, just fight it with you bare hands.” Izumi focused on her as if viewing her through a scope with her next question. “Does that sound like something you ever would have done, Inko? You? Who wanted to be a housewife? The woman I remember leaving this house when she graduated, didn’t so much as tell off her own school bullies but now your first solution to fend off a wolf is using your hands?”
Inko was about to point out that it was only if her son was in danger, yet the sentence died before she’d breathed in to say it, gazing off into space. Back at the robbery she’d run, fully planning to escape. Just thinking about it, made her shoulder sting. Looking at it now, would I have run?
The idea she had to even ask herself such a fundamental thing was enough to form knots in her belly and ice on her skin. Worse, she couldn’t answer the very question she’d posed and the agitation left her like a deflating balloon.
Dread flowed through her thoughts, sliding over where confidence had been like oil and she looked to her grandmother who now was looking solemn again, all traces of humor gone. The book placed on the table between them.
“It’s as clear to me as the sun is on a cloudless day. It’s in your eyes. It’s in Izuku’s, though for him, he’s expressing this more as wanting to play around. For you, child, I bet before this conversation is over, you’ll be near to exploding out that chair.” She began, indicating the seat with nod. “You’ll be itching to climb a tree or run. Like a pot ready to boil over, you’ll feel ready to run half way across the world. Maybe a quarter if you didn’t sleep well last night. I can tell you now, it won’t help. I wasn’t being dramatic when I said it was a curse. While I can’t trace our family line back further than the late 1800s, I guarantee what you’re feeling has cost some of them their lives.”
Even though Inko knew the feeling, the odd sensation that had followed moments when she’d gotten angry, it was only when her grandmother said it that she truly had the words for it.
“The desire for battle, Inko. That’s what those tails mean. ‘Destruction and feral savagery,’ I think one ancestor wrote. It’s one reason why all the other branches of this tree are gone now, pruned by the rush to war or a duel or even some bar fight that has gotten plenty of them killed.” Izumi stated, her voice touching an edge that Inko would only recognize later as a sob. “This is why I beg your forgiveness.” Staring into her lap, hands clasped she turned to her grandmother. Unable to speak, she stared as her grandmother cupped her face in her hands, clearly ashamed. “My empty hopes for this never to happen doesn’t excuse the fact that I could’ve gotten you and your son killed.”
If Inko wasn’t already feeling like she was lost out to sea, she’d have been swept away by that statement. As it was she stood, more unfolding from the chair than rising out of it, and her grandmother jumped slightly as if expecting some violent reaction. Indeed, Inko didn’t know what to do. Emotions warred in her mind, crowding her thoughts until it felt that no words nor any amount of them would ever be enough. Even standing, staring blankly off into space was an effort to decide. What could she do?
Scream? Cry? Call the woman who raised her after the hell of her early childhood a liar and stomp out like an immature child?
For a many hard ticks of the grandfather clock, she was a living statue. Not moving, not sure if she was breathing and finally, said the only thing she could. “I need a moment. To think. And some space. To think.”
Without waiting for an answer, she spun and left the study. However, the hall wasn’t enough space. Her old home felt even tighter than her apartment, too much stuff on the walls and not enough open air. She continued to the front, throwing open the door and stepping out onto the porch, the Toyota Century still parked a few feet from the steps, it’s polished paint and chrome gleaming in the midday sun.
Still, it wasn’t enough. The house had a physical almost unnatural presence at her back, like it was going to fall upon her. She didn’t look back to it as she marched past the car and onto the drive. With how her week was going, she’d only be mildly peeved if she turned around to see the house teetering like a stack of papers near an open window. She didn’t so much a glance over her shoulder as she continued down the drive, gravel crunching with each step. There was too much to think about and if she had to listen to anymore of that… that… what even was that? Crazy, was what it was. Her grandmother had totally lost her mind, that explained it all. Extra insanity to top off the several helpings of it she’d gotten back in the city and there STILL wasn’t enough space.
Picking her pace up to a jog, she passed from the gravel and only paused long enough to take the direction away from town, and continued down the road. The muscles in her jaw worked as she thought, not even realizing face now had a determined glare. In fact, if this was true, how had no one found out about it? A family with monkey tails popping up would make news no matter what century it was. She’d have known about them, an old cousin or a grand-aunt or someone! Hell, this was something even he would have mentioned.
Oh great, now she was thinking of that man. A growl rolled from her lips and she picked up the pace even more. Still wasn’t far enough. She didn’t even want to see the trees around the house. The asphalt ahead of her passed by, the summer heat waves making the furthest point in the road seem ethereal and unreal. As if, when one reached it, they’d come to the end of reality itself. Inko was ready to take that challenge. Her pace rose, the wild storm of her thoughts the only opposition. The road was clear, a country lane on the weekend was sure to be lacking cars for miles and at that she moved from the side to the center of the road. Her run increasing to a full on sprint along the white line. Each step devoured the distance before her, one foot tramped in front of the other, arms working back and forth like a steam locomotive and eye glaring ahead but not quite seeing.
Quite literally running on autopilot, Inko ran for that insubstantial finish line, some illogical place in her brain telling her that if she could reach it then the world would suddenly be sane again. That her grandmother’s story wasn’t true. That a murderous criminal was already in jail. That Hisashi was here with her and not...who knew where. That the robbery had not ever happened, she’d bought that ice cream pop for Izuku, and left. She had sense enough to know she had much chance of making it to that haze as she did not having this week happen, but damn if she didn’t try.
XXX
“Wow.” Izuku could see the whole world from here, her was certain. He stood bent low, heels flat and body crouched on the thickest and tallest branch of the tallest tree he’d ever climbed, feeling the breeze cool and unrestrained across his skin. It was high enough that he could make out the red flag from here, his view clear above the canopy.
He was indeed quite a distance from it though, so far in fact that it didn’t looked like a flag pole but more like someone had stuck a gray toothpick with a tiny rectangle on the end, in some moss. The forest, green and unbroken, flowed with the shape of the land to the horizon. Shading his eyes with a hand, Izuku followed its contours. It was amazing. He’d never been this high before without being in a building. Taking a moment and combing a hand through his mossy green hair up to get his bangs out of the way, he leaned forward to scope out more details in the greenery before him. Tongue out and eyes squinted in concentration, the four year old focused as hard as he could, both on climbing tree and now trying to take in the forest and thus missed the nest of spotted brown green eggs tucked between the trunk and limb.
The harsh croak made his heart leap in his chest and he snapped his head around in time to see a crow swoop for his face. It’s black wings spread wide and flapping, it looked even bigger as it closed on him. He jumped, trying to ward the animal off then whirling his arms as his heels shifted just enough to put off his careful balancing act. Wobbling, Izuku’s internal gyroscope worked overtime to keep him from pitching over, feet shuffling. The crow in a series of outraged caws backed off for as long for it to reorient itself to buzz him again.
It didn’t get the chance. A deep low-pitched groaning of wood met his ears and made Izuku freeze. All too late, he figured that the branch, thick as it was, only stayed stable as long at the weight on it wasn’t being thrown around.
The Crack was like thunderclap to his ears and his stomach rose as the rest of him dropped. Tumbling through empty air like a stone, he desperately clawed for something...anything but he was too far from the trunk. Fear tightened his chest and choked any screams he would’ve made into small whimpers. Tiny noises which went silent as he crashed through thin branches, swatting at his body like whips hard enough to sting yet so weak they barely slowed his fall.
He yelped. A particularly firm branch struck him across the chest hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs before his momentum snapped it like a twig. It bounced him further away from the tree and stopped his wild spin, giving him a clear view of the rising ground and shrinking empty air in between.
He had to stop! His sharp eyes were able to easy make out the thin blades of grass sprouting between heavy roots and smooth moss covered rocks. Izuku was a smart child but even if he wasn’t, he knew hitting that wouldn’t be good. He needed to stop! If he didn’t-
The ground closed in on him like a wall ready to crush far too fast. The trees roots looking more deadly with every passing second.
The four year old threw his arms forward, palms forward to brace and as his breath came back, screamed as loud as he could. “STOP!”
By all rights, Izuku should’ve hit the ground and been lucky if he lived through it with just a broken arm. He was fully aware of that and, many years later when he thought back to this moment, remembered the fear, the near blind icy panic that pounded his veins and tightened his chest. He would indeed remember and be unafraid to look into the empty eyes of a threat much greater than the memory and try what he’d done again.
The scream ripped through the tranquil forest atmosphere like the crack of a gun and just before he hit the ground, the four year old felt a shock run through him from tongue to tailbone. An impact ran through his arms, a jolt the reminded him of the time he’d pushed on a heavy door just as it was swinging closed. The curtain of dust and dirt flung him and he felt his stomach twist slightly at the intimidate change in direction.
Landing at an angle and much slower speed, he hit the ground with a small grunt rolling to a stop a good distance away from the tree he’d fallen from.
Curled into as tight a ball he could managed, Izuku lay on the ground shaking, short panicky breaths making his voice squeak with each on he took. His head felt like it was bobbing in a tub, ears rushing, and seeing spots even though his eyes were screwed tight. The ground under him felt like it was turning slowly and he could feel his heart beating against his ribs, making his breaths vibrate in his lungs.
When he tried to stand, he was shaking so bad that his arms and legs wobbled like that jelly he’d eaten earlier. They gave and he fell onto his butt. “Ouch,” he hissed rubbing the sore spot
Should he tell his mom? He shook his head as soon as he thought about it. He shouldn’t have been in the tree in the first place and he didn’t want to disappoint her when explaining what he’d done.
He walked his way back to the house, stopping for awhile at a creek that he’d past in his headlong charge. He only planned to throw two or three stones in the water before leaving. That changed when he skipped his first stone, a smooth river rock, hard enough to clear the water in two skips and just barely miss the trunk of a small tree on the bank.
Trying again, the third rock grazed his target, going off to the side somewhere and into the grass. The fourth hit dead center and from there he made target practice of it, every stone tossed with a little more force behind it. By the time he felt it was time to go, the tree had so many stone stuck into it, he’d been forced to angle the last throw higher to avoid them.
As he left the riverbed and went back to his Great-Grandma’s house, with no clue of the depth of the crater he’d left near where he’d fallen.
The property inspectors would bring the ditch to Izumi’s attention a month later and theorize that maybe someone was breaking onto her property looking for something and that cameras might need to be set up near the boundary. The woman in question would smile sweetly, say she’d take their advice into consideration.
XXX
How far had she gone? Inko had no clue but gave no effort to guess. Her heart slammed against her ribs, lungs working like a bellows, and sweat had long past beaded on her skin and was streaming down her face, but she didn’t let up. Her sprint carried her further and further, trees passing by as indistinct blurs at the edge of her vision as she focused on the goal ahead. When her body began to ache, she powered through it. The muscles in her body tightened. Just a little bit at a time until, right as the sun began its journey from noon to evening, both legs folded under her.
Managing one step in an attempt to catch herself, she fell hard. Her body unable to keep up with the monumental strain she’d forced it through and barely managed to not smash her face into the road. Pain snapped through her arms as she caught her right elbow on the road. With a cry of pain, her one extra step and momentum carried her from the center of the narrow road and into a low ditch leading into a clear and open field.
She landed back first, her shoulder and thigh singing the high notes in the symphony of agony playing through her, and was left staring up into the sky. Blue with streaks of white puffy brushstroke clouds lazily drifted above. Sweat, soaked through her shirt, stung her eyes and made everything hard to see. Her hard heavy breathing was balanced on a knife point from hyperventilating, sounding both raspy and wet. Her temples throbbed and her skin pulsed, and her injuries were making her pay, the fire paving white hot tracks between her shoulder and thigh where supernovas seared their mark in her nerves. Her fingers twitched and she barely felt the cuts she knew were on her elbows. Was that good or bad, she didn’t know. What she did know was, right now she could barely move, was bleeding at the side of the road in a field with no cellphone and quite unable to crawl, much less stand.
That wasn’t why she began to weep though. The pain in her body couldn’t match the gaping hole of dread in her chest, the terrible certainty that her grandmother was telling her the truth. She cried for herself, for Izuku, for the end of their simple lives. Inko mourned for it all because, she felt that itch in the back of her mind. A desire that, even with her in such a sorry exhausted state, reared in her mind like a ghost returned for the grave. It had been given a label by her grandmother and now, Inko truly understood the depths of her change.
Her grandmother was telling the truth.
Inko was sobbing so hard that she barely noticed the sounds of someone coming through the grass, the shape of a man leaning into her sight indistinct with her blurred eyes. “Jeez, are you okay, Ma’am?” The words dripped against her senses like light rain.
Her answer was to weep harder.
No. No, she wasn’t. Maybe she never would be again.
It took a great deal of convincing, once she’d gotten control of herself, for the man who apparently owned the land Inko had taken a tumble into, to take her, a strange injured, hysterically crying woman he happened upon to her grandmother’s house and not the hospital. Or to the local police. Thankfully, while the man didn’t know Izumi personally but being a neighbor of sorts, he knew where she lived and believed her when she told him she was her granddaughter. His concern clearly wasn’t eased since when he asked what happened to her shoes on the drive over, Inko had given him a confused look and with effort, looked down at her bare dirty bleeding feet.
All that running and it took a stranger for her to notice she hadn’t put her shoes back on before leaving the house. Upon arrival, the man knocked at front door and when her grandmother opened it, had a short discussion that ended with the man looking more mollified than before. Clearly, Izumi had put him at ease and held the door open as the man helped Inko out of his Daihatsu truck.
With painful effort on her part, Inko was helped to the upstairs bedroom, the guest one, not her old one. Once she was seated on the bed, leaning into the headboard for support her grandmother thanked the man, told him she could take it from here, and led the man out.
A short minute later, Inko heard her grandmother’s footsteps on the hardwood stairs, coming up fast and steady and entered the room. In her left hand was a green medical kit, a large one with the symbol of the red cross on its side and tucked under her right arm was a set of towels and washcloths. “First,” she began in a voice that spoke of experience and brokered no argument. It wasn’t angry, though that’s what Inko had expected. A scolding reprimand for doing something foolish and stupid. Instead, there was that kindness and patience that her grandmother carried like a wallet. “we need to get you out of those clothes and clean up your wounds before they get infected. Next, tomorrow you’re coming on a hike with me so we can cover the rest of what you need to know.”
The thought of doing anything tomorrow was enough to get a groan from her, knowing that her body was going to pay her back double but she refused to complain. She’d just given herself a hard lesson which luck had saved her from an even harder one. She would have still been out there baking in the sun and there was no point complaining.
Taking her grandmother’s hand, Inko was pulled to her feet and leaned against Izumi for support who barely seemed bothered by burden and helped her into the large guest bathroom. It was more than a little infantilizing to need her grandmother’s help to undress but not only did she accept the help, she was glad for it. Every limb and muscle barely cooperated when she wanted to do something. Twisting or bending was out of the question and trying to pull off her shirt had been more than difficult. So much so, that Izumi had to used the medical scissors to cut them off after the fifth failed try.
Once everything was off and she was seated on the bathtub edge, Izumi used a detachable shower head to began rinsing the dirt off. Starting at the feet and then up the body, making specific care of her elbows. To Inko’s relief, the fall had hurt much more than the cuts made. The lukewarm water stung where it touched, aggravating but clearing away the dirt and sweat, a murky runoff flowing down the drain. After it was all off, her grandmother opened the kit and with rubbing alcohol soaked cotton balls and a pair of tweezers, dabbed the open wounds.
Soon, even that was done and Izumi after rinsing out the tub, plugged the drain and began filling it was warm water. The bath was relaxing, quick, and once Inko dried off enough, Izumi dressed the cuts in gauze after one last rub down of alcohol. Then she left to bring in the suitcases from the car.
The whole affair had been silent, save for an exchange of yes-no questions like ‘Does this hurt? Do you think you can reach there?’ or instructions to follow such as ‘Bend your arm like this. Relax your hand, Child.’ Nothing more than that.
Inko spent it thinking and Izumi gave her time to think. The air wasn’t tense but vacant of inevitable discussion like two people at a dinner table knowing an unpleasant subject needed to be brought up but there was no need to ruin a good meal, it could wait until then. When Izumi came back into the bathroom with a set of clothes in her hands, Inko asked the only question she could as she put on her clothes, an exercise in trial and error to figure out what did and didn’t hurt. “How bad will it be?”
Her grandmother said nothing for a long moment and Inko worried that she wouldn’t answer. “It’s not going to be easy. For me it was like a craving, one that I worked hard to not to indulge but others in the past have described it as an addiction comparable to a drug and like a drug, you have to keep seeking more and more of to satisfy. If it’s like a drug, then I guess it depends of your willpower.”
Inko nodded silently. She only noticed the black book in her grandmother’s hands. Izumi set the book down on the end table next to the lamp. “Read this. You won’t get through it all tonight so I think you should start with my entries.” She said, making a point to tap the red bookmark inside. “They pertain to the more present issues and don’t read like some Shakespearean play.”
Inko nodded again and she nor her grandmother broached the subject any further. They both knew what had to be done and there was no point beating it in any further.
By the time Izuku had bounded back in, she’d managed to get back downstairs and had turned on the TV to some random channel. It was easy for her to put on a brave face for him as, after she got him to take a bath since he looked like he decided to roll down a few hills, he tried his best to tell her in a single breath how great the forest was.
“And the trees are so tall!!!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up to give scale. His wild gesture caused him to bounce on the living room couch a bit. While his enthusiasm was infectious, helping Inko smile through the sharp deep pains in her muscles, her chest ached. A mournful leftover for a past that was never going to come back and the fear of an unknown future tugging at her heartstrings. “You can see everything from up one of them.”
That got her to lift an eyebrow. “And how do you know that?”
Her son got very quiet, a shocked look on his face that steady turned guilty. “Just guessed, you know?” She didn’t believe him. Her son was bright but he never ‘just guessed’ anything. The lie was only made more obvious by the sudden clinical interest her son picked up in the few blank spaces of wall in the living room. Coincidentally, it also happened that the wall kept him from looking at her.
“Young man.” She said, putting just the right tone to it and her son jumped a little at her voice. “I’m going to let it go, but don’t lie to me again.”
The chapter isn’t out yet but I HAVE to share this brilliant picture done by @rutbisbe. I sent her section of the scene and gave her the details and she came back with a beautiful. I will ALWAYS commission her because she always gives the piece her best!!!
As for Chapter 3 of Family Matters it will be out soon.
“Izuku, don’t believe a word of what the doctor says.” That’s what my mom had told me the day I was diagnosed as Quirkless. The same day of the robbery, ironically enough. “You won’t develop a Quirk, but he is talking nonsense when he says it’s impossible to be a hero. He doesn’t get to decide who gets to be a hero or not. No matter if you have a quirk or not, heroes are not decided by their power but by their character. All Might is always ready to help, just like you are and no doctor can say you don’t have that quality. Quirk or not, Izuku, you’re closer to All Might than most.”
As wise as those words are, I know now that she was trying to make me feel better. What good mother wouldn’t? I had all but gotten my dreams of being a hero smashed that day and she pulled me out of what could’ve been the start of a nasty depression. Still what she said stuck with me and even if she was trying her best to make me feel better, she didn’t pull that out of whole cloth. She recognized something in me that, even years later I had only just begun to grasp about myself.
Of course, after that she’d taken me to the corner store near where we lived and the rest is, as they say, is history. Our lives ended that day. She and I were changed, though we didn’t know how much at the time and the first domino in a long line of them was flicked and began to tip.
-My Mother The Warrior
Inko blinked as she looked down her son’s back.
A tail.
That’s what it had to be. It was furry, brown, and thick like large snake and it was moving just behind him.
A pressure at her back, one that she hadn’t quite registered, shifted and she nearly jumped out of the bed with her son in her arms. “What?!”
She looked down to see a small fuzzy nub sticking between the sheets and her bed. She then looked at the hero in shock.
For her part, Recovery Girl looked unsurprised. “Well, that was the other thing I wanted to mention, dear. It seems as if you’ve developed a secondary quirk. The tail grew on you and your son apparently grew while in transport to the hospital.”
Izuku pulled away sightly, his face, while still wet with tears, glowed when he smiled. “I’ve got a quirk now, Mom! You were right, the doctor was wrong!” In a movement so quick that Inko was surprised she could follow it, Izuku let go and backflipped off her bed. This time everyone yelped at the unexpected jump and she was about to leap off the bed to catch him. Her shock was doubled when instead of smacking face first into the floor, Izuku landed gently on his tail with legs split and arms spread for balance. Giggling, he did a few hops, bouncing around in a circle like his tail was a pogostick before dropping to his feet as the nurse who’d brought him in told him to stop. “You’re not in shape to be doing that,” she scolded in the exasperated way Inko recognized as an adult having repeated themselves several times.
Her son looked back at her, smile wide and happy. “See, Mom?”
She did. And she could barely believe it. That day… the day she’d thought couldn’t have gotten worse until the robbery.
Not for Izuku, though that was enough of a surprise, but her own tail.
“How?” She asked, completely confused. “This...”
Suddenly, the comment about wagging made more sense. She bent forward off the bed enough to feel the whole length of the tail. It moved like a living thing, squirming under her touch as she traced it all the way up to the base of her spine. “This makes no sense.”
“It’s quite possible that this quirk lay dormant for your son. It’s quite possible this Quirk also came from your or your husband’s grand and great grandparent. While it’s not unknown for a person to be born with multiple quirks, it’s rare and in your case, Mrs. Midoriya, it’s quite unheard of for anyone to develop a quirk this late in life.”
“But, his toe joint...” Inko faded, she didn’t want to sound like she was unhappy for the development. Her son wasn’t Quirkless and that was great but… this was a lot to process. She had a dormant Quirk? She reached out to the empty cup she just drank out of and pulled it towards her like she’d done so many times over the years. It floated into her hand without issue.
Apparently guessing at what she was doing, Recovery Girl nodded. “There shouldn’t be any complications between your Quirks, don’t worry.
A knock at the door cut off any questions that she wanted to ask and the want to do so left her as soon as she saw who entered.
Two men made their way in. One was obviously a police officer; his dark blue uniform, peaked white cap, and badge pinned on his chest while the other was in a trench coat and matching fedora. The latter was tall, so much so, that when he leaned over to Recovery Girl, he had to bend quite a ways to meet her like a grown adult addressing a child. Inko found it difficult to keep a straight face, it looked so ridiculous.
Her attention was taken by Izuku as he bounced from his tail back to the bed, turning a full flip in the air and landing on the rail so gently that she barely felt the impact. It was enough to shock her into action. “Izuku,” she warned, her voice firm but not harsh. Guiding him off the rail by his hips, she patiently swept him up with both hands and onto her lap. “You need to calm down.” Before you give the nurse a heart attack. The woman in question looked like she was on the edge of fainting from that last stunt.
Her admonishment seemed to calm him down just enough before his face lit up. “Hey. Hey, mom. I can feel things too.”
“Like what?” She wanted to focus back on her son but couldn’t help but notice the man in the trench coat had raised his gloved hand to cover his mouth as he whispered in the heroine’s ear. It was odd at first but as the other’s face began to frown at whatever she was being told, it became clear that something was wrong.
“Mom. You’re not listening.” Izuku moaned, his hands patting against her chest for attention.
She looked down at her little boy who was giving her a grumpy look, cheeks puffed out in childish frustration.
After another minute of mumbled conversation that she couldn’t make out, the man stood straight and at a wave from Recovery Girl, approached her bed. “Ma’am,” he greeted, taking off his hat and bowing slightly. “I’m Detective Tsukauchi. How are you doing this morning?”
Inko hesitated only a moment before speaking. “I’m fine. And you?”
“The same.”
An awkward moment followed as Recovery Girl, asked the nurse to take Izuku out in the hall for a little while.
Izuku looked at her then his mother and his little arms tightened around her, fingers gasping as if she were the only handhold on the edge of a cliff. Inko could see that all traces of that happy energy had fled and the beginnings of panic tinged his eyes.
“I’ll be fine, Izuku. It will just be a moment.” She soothed, putting on a smile that she didn’t feel. She’d expected to be questioned by the police at some point but this was early and she was getting a bad feeling about what they were about to discuss. It might be best that he wasn’t here for this.
Reluctantly, he let her go and allowed himself to be guided out of the room.
The police officer exited with them, leaving her with the detective and hero. As soon as the door shut, she spoke. “May I ask what I can do for you, officer?”
Stepping forward, he pulled a digital recorder and notepad out of his pocket and, setting the former down on the side table, turned it on and stated. “I am her to take your statement of the incident that took place three days ago.”
It was a simple enough request, she figured. So, she told him everything about what happened; how she had got to the that store to buy her son a treat, that she’d avoided the boys who been making noise at the magazine racks, how she’d idly noticed the backroom door was open and how odd that had seemed at the time, and that she’d just been about to pay when the attack started.
It was in the middle of her telling, the part where she’d grabbed her son and the other man whose name she didn’t know and had made for the only escape available, when the enormity of what she’d survived finally sunk in. Maybe it was just in the surreal nature of saying it aloud but it finally clicked into place.
Someone had tried to kill her.
Someone nearly succeeded in killing her.
A murderer was out there. It twisted her stomach into hard nauseating knots and she had to grip the handrail of her hospital bed to fight off the dizziness that followed. Could this get any worse? How was he still out there?
“Ma’am?” Tsukauchi’s voice snapped her back to the present. “Are you well?”
“Yes.” Clearing her throat, she hoped to pass it off as a moment of distraction. She didn’t know if she was convincing but the man thankfully didn’t pry any further and nodded. “Please continue.”
She gathered her thoughts then shook her head. “There is not much to continue after that. I know I planned to go for the door but it gets fuzzy even before that. Guess I didn’t make it.”
A few more notes were jotted down and then the notepad was shut and the recorder pocketed, most likely now off.
The moment it was, Inko wasted no time.
“Now that we’re off the record, what exactly is going on?” Throughout her entire statement, the suspicion of something being off had hung around. It actually grew harder to ignore as the detective hadn’t asked her anything. Beyond the initial request for a statement, he hadn’t asked for clarifications or for a little more detail. “Something tells me that you came here for more than my statement.
The man hesitated, not expecting to be called out and clearly hesitant to respond.
Recovery Girl recovered for him. “I’m afraid that one of the villains who attacked you at the store has escaped.” Moving closer to stand next to him, the tap of her cane was a counterpoint to Inko’s stunned silence.
With a short cough that she figured was less clearing his own throat and more signal he was taking back charge of the conversation. He seemed more willing to speak straight with her now that the unpleasant news was out in the open. “Um, yes. He’s still at large. The whole city is on high alert and searching.”
He said this like it was meant to make her feel better.
It didn’t.
A villain who’d killed two people like it was nothing, who’s attempt to kill her had balanced on the edge of a cellphone of all things, couldn’t be found? “It’s been three days, right?” she asked, if only to make sure.
Not just that but the equivalent of an army of heroes and police searching for three days hadn’t turned him up yet?
No, she wasn’t feeling better at all.
“We have everyone available combing the city, ma’am. He won’t escape.”
He said something more but by then she’d stopped listening. He mind spun, struggling to understand it. If he had escaped, what did that mean for her? For her son?
In a flash, she recognized the true import of that other police officer leaving the room. It hadn’t been for privacy. He was a guard. She put a hand to her face, her thigh and back tingling for some reason. “Detective Tsukauchi? Be honest with me, do you think he might come after us?”
The silence that followed and the look she caught them sharing in the corner of her vision made all clear. “It’s unlikely but we don’t want to take any chances.”
She almost laughed. Unlikely but enough of a chance that they thought her son and her needed a guard? A voice in the back of her mind said that they were just doing due diligence.
And yet… it was irritating. Her jaw tightened at the disrespect, the sheer gall of the insult dropped into her lap like a rotten piece of fruit. Why wouldn’t they just be up front with it? Did they think she couldn’t handle telling her straight that she might need a guard? Was she that useless in their eyes? Who were they to talk down to her? Was she, Inko Midoriya, so pathetic in their eyes that they thought she couldn’t protect her own son?
Again, as when she’d nearly unconsciously strangled the doctor, the thought of her son brought a ferocious calm upon her. Instead of a crashing wave meant to bowl her over, it was an embrace, warm and under pressure, a simmering displeasure that turned from them to the probable threat.
A squeak came from somewhere in the room but it was a distraction she refused to entertain. She wasn’t going to be cowed, by these two or by a...by a…
An animal. A wild butcher and nothing more. A rabid wolf that, if it did come would be expecting a lamb.
She found her mouth forming the words before she realized what she said. “No, thank you.”
“I’m sorry?”
With quickly eroding patience, she spoke again, looking up and right into the eyes of the police detective who…
Had he flinched?
“Don’t bother with the guard. We won’t need it.” She spoke carefully and calmly, enunciating her words. “I won’t need it.”
The man opened his mouth as if the argue but Recovery Girl tapped him in the leg with the butt of her syringe cane and he nodded.
After a quick discussion about remembering things and calling, he passed her a white card embossed with his name and number before he left, the heroine following right behind. She gave another kind smile and a wave, saying how Dr. Shirokuro could take it from here.
And indeed he did and thus distracted Inko to the point that she never noticed the slight warp in the hospital bed handrail where her own palm would’ve fit into surprisingly well.
The next two hours were filled with nothing but one test after another. The only one who found them more annoying that she did was Izuku, who had a hard time keeping still for most of them even with her coaxing. While Inko had never seen her son so foul tempered, not all of his irritation was from the tests.
The good doctor seemed to be trying to be as obtuse as possible and when, after what had been promised to be the very last test, a knock sounded on her door, she was this close to shouting go away at the top of her voice.
Her bad mood fled quickly in in a flurry of flowers, balloons, and the smiles of the three people who carried them in.
“Mitsuki? Masaru?”
“KAACHAN!” Izuku sprung to his feet and tackled the other four year old in a hug, very nearly taking him off his feet. “Hey. Hey. Guess what? I got my Quirk!” He announced, letting the other boy go and turning around the show off his tail. “Pretty cool, huh?” All of this was said so fast and so loud that, there was not even a moment for the other boy to get a word in.
“Inside voice,” Inko warned.
Izuku flushed slightly and gave her a fast nod that had his hair bouncing. Still, it hardly mattered as her son took Bakugo by the wrist and they both took off for the hospital playground as fast as their little legs could carry them.
She knew that was where Izuku was going because that was all he could talk about during the tests, all but getting on his knees to beg the doctor to let him go play. Now that he had a chance to leave, with his best friend in tow no less, she’d be stunned if he went anywhere else. She didn’t miss the look Mitsuki gave her own child just before they sped out the door.
The blonde woman spoke first as she handed over the flowers while her husband set the balloons on the side table. “How’re ya doin’, Inko?”
“Just fine.” She answered, slipping a side hug around her as she took the bouquet. “I figure we’ll both be out of here by this evening once the test results come in.”
Both husband and wife stared at her, eyes wide. “That fast?”
She covered her mouth, holding in a laugh. Of course, they wouldn’t know. They were probably stunned that she could speak much less be able to walk out of here on her own two feet before the day was out.
“Recovery Girl made a personal visit.” She explained. “She’s not known for half measures.”
Nods of understanding followed and Masaru smiled, pushing his glasses a little higher up his nose. “So, clean bill of health?”
She shook her head, lifting the sheets the show her thigh and then turning around so they could see her back. A gasp accompanied each one. “Both sting like you wouldn’t believe but they look worse than they are.”
“But they’ll heal?”
Inko nodded as she got herself comfortable again. “It’s good to see you two.”
Masaru rubbed the back of his neck and Mitsuki seemed to struggle looking her in the eye.
She didn’t know how but something in her statement must’ve made things awkward. Which wasn’t right because nothing in that statement should’ve been worthy of awkwardness.
Seconds passed, her genuine comment curdling in the silence. “Inko...”The blonde faded clearly having something to say but not able to phrase it right. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Umm...I guess?”
“Like very personal?”
“I’m...” Suddenly, Inko wasn’t quite liking the direction this was going. But certainly it couldn’t be that bad? “Go ahead.”
Mitsuki paused and glanced and Masaru nervously before she finally looked her in the eye. “Where is your husband?”
Inko’s entire world froze. Her breath caught in her throat, the words hit her like a spike of ice driven by a sledgehammer.
Not until now, had she realized just how hard she’d been trying to ignore it. The police and drama and questions and everything had been one great distraction from the fact that Hisashi wasn’t there when she’d woken up. It had been three days and yet he wasn’t here. She knew the hospital probably called and the Katsuki family clearly had, otherwise why ask. So why…?
Only when she was certain that she could trust her voice, did she answer. “I don’t know.”
She wanted to say more but what could she?
“He’s...” Even trying to say the word ‘busy’ took that spike and twisted it.
“Maybe...” She knew what a lie ‘he is on the way’ would be. If he wasn’t here by now, then he wasn’t coming.
“But-” Her attempt at digging an answer that wouldn’t carve her to the bone was cut as Mitsuki leaned in and hugged her.
“Inko.” Her voice wavered slightly as she squeezed her tight. “Inko, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I didn’t mean...”
Why wasn’t he here?
The question remained unanswered.
It was 6:37 by the time they were released and the first thing Izuku said when they exited the hospital couldn’t have been more apt. “I’m hungry.”
Inko was starving as well. She’d been to a hospital before in her younger years and somehow between then and now, the food had gotten worse. Though she’d only got some steamed bun, it had somehow managed to taste plasticy and stale though it was warm. She ate it, though.
She thought about how much food was in the fridge at home and then thought about how much she felt like shopping and cooking right now. “So am I, let’s go to that diner near the house.”
“Yay! Can I have...”
“Anything you want, Izuku. As much as you want.”
The trip over there was quick, even with her slight limp. The place was on the way home so it was also not an extra train or bus away. The only hitch in it was the waitress’s reaction when they placed their orders.
“So you want; 2 large orders of buffalo wings, two double cheeseburger combos one of which will have an extra order of chili fries, one plate of french toast, a short stack of pancakes, a spaghetti combo with extra garlic bread, a chocolate milkshake with the works, a patty melt on Texas toast, a Katsudon bowl, and 10 pieces of bacon?”
The waitress, looking rather shaken then turned to Inko. “And...uhm...what...?” She cleared her throat, and put the pen to the paper. “What will you be having, Ma’am?”
She made her order as well. The pen fell from the woman’s fingers as her eyes bulged even wider than when Izuku had placed his order. To her credit, she recovered quickly. “That...ahem... Is quite a lot of food. I don’t mean to be rude but this is over 33,000 yen worth. Can you pay for it?”
Inko didn’t take offense as she’d probably have said the same if the roles were reversed. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her card. “I can pay now if you like.”
It took the waitress, the head cook, the manager, and the owner – who was apparently there that afternoon – coming to her table to confirm that yes, she could pay and no, this wasn’t a joke and yes, they were eating here. At that point, they had attracted some attention from the other customers who noticed the commotion happening in that part of the restaurant but it was nothing compared to when the food started coming out.
They began to eat, Inko paying no mind to the cellphones and chattering as her and Izuku tore into the food with wild abandon. She hadn’t realized how ravenous she was until she’d taken that first bite of her salad and, after that, mother joined son in falling upon the food like wild animals. She did her best to mind her manners but the tomato soup was just so much better then the watery sop they served at the hospital.
Plates clattered as they were stacked. Forks and knives flashed, and chopsticks clicked. What would have been enough food for a party of 20 with seconds and thirds left over, was demolished over the course of three hours.
Inko hadn’t noticed until she’d finished the last sip of her tea and a final bite of her whole cake, that not only did they have an audience but a local news crew had set themselves up at some point. Izuku, who scooping what was left of his milkshake in his mouth noticed all the eyes on him as well, and flushed. The both of them hadn’t been entirely clean while they ate and it was probably hitting him that they’d been watching for awhile.
It was seeing the looks on the faces of the people that she realized and was amazed by the massive meal they were wrapping up. And in her case, she was still a little peckish. Maybe another slice of- She shoved the tantalizing thought from her head and watched as her son nibbled away on her last slice of toast.
Some people applauded then as they left. Other wanted to stop them for a picture but, again, she ignored them all. The food coma was setting in, Izuku’s eyes were already drooping when they arrived back home. Unlocking the front door, her son stumbled in ahead of her, went to his room and dropped into bed without even changing. She wanted to join him, to fall into her own bed and sleep the rest of the evening away.
But the question remained. She felt a flutter of hope when she noticed the answering machine blinking at the phone.
However, it was after nearly going through the entirety of them that the flutter began to die. It was after another message left by Katsuki that she heard a voice that she’d certainly not heard in a long while.
Her Grandmother’s.
‘Hello, Inko. I tried calling your phone but I couldn’t get through. Your phone is disconnected apparently. So I’m calling you on your other line. I know it’s been some time since we’ve talked but I wanted to talk whenever you have the time.’
Inko sat at the table as the message ended with a BEEP and thought. It had been quite a bit since she’d talked with her, even longer since the last visit. She couldn’t call right now, her grandmother was no doubt already in bed but it would be good to ta-
End of new messages.
The automate voice brought everything to a halt. So, not even a message. A phonecall? No explanation?
She snatched up the receiver and got as far as pressing the first button before ending the call. What if he picked up? What on Earth could he even say that would make any of this okay?
Her finger dialed four numbers before she shut the phone off again. What if something happened? An emergency of some sort? Here she was riled up and angry and her husband could be in a hospital or dead for all she knew. What if… she closed her eyes to calm herself but her thoughts charged ahead heedless of what she wanted.
But if there was no accident, no excuse, what then?
The entire number was dialed, several ringtones all of which Inko wasn’t sure if she wanted it picked up or not, and then his voicemail.
She sat at the table silent, trying to think of something to say. When her mind stayed blank, she forced herself.
“H- hello...um. Hisashi?”
She almost hung up again, hating how tiny and fragile her voice sounded. That was so stupid. This was his voicemail, he wasn’t going to just pick up. Quickly, she rallied her mind and spoke. “Our son and I are out of the hospital. We were there for three days. I...”
Where was he?
“Where were you?”
And with that drop, what she wanted to say flowed through her.
“Where were you? She asked again to nobody. “Where are you, Hisashi? Near half a week, Hisashi. More than three full days your son and I spent in that hospital. They called your cellphone and your assistant’s number. The hospital even told me they tried the business number as soon as I was brought in. Why haven’t you called? Why aren’t you even here?”
At some point, she stood up and made for the balcony so that if she raised her voice, which was as tight as the pain in her chest, she wouldn’t wake her son. “Did you even check your phone?” she hissed, voice rising as she shut the sliding glass door behind her.
“Where are you? You tell me nothing about your work and even less about where you are. I’ve been taking the initiative to keep you up-to-date with Izuku. You haven’t tried to call once in months. I had to call you so Izuku could talk to you on his birthday. I’ve been making sure you keep contact with your son, and the one time you should’ve called, when our little boy and I are nearly killed, you can’t even bother to pull your nose out of the dirt long enough to check in? You know our little boy has his Quirk now?”
She fumed as she glared at the evening city skyline before looking up at the orange clouds. “You’re so out of contact that no red flag was registered when I hadn’t called you. Did you even think it was odd that Mitsuki, of all people, was blasting your phone non-stop? And forget about how I’m feeling about this, do you think that just because Izuku is a child, he won’t remember this? The time he nearly died and his father didn’t even bother to call?” Izuku was still riding on that happiness of getting his Quirk but eventually, he’d think back to this moment and ask questions that made Inko’s heart ache to even consider.
“I highly suggest you make the effort to actually be a part of Izuku’s life. You need to really sit down and think about what is truly important. It doesn’t matter if you’re still sending money, you should’ve been here.”She hung up after that, anger and heartache building in her chest. The city below grew fuzzy and she wiped away the tears with the back of her hand and then dialing another number, held the phone to her ear.
To her surprise, it was picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”
Inko smiled in spite of the tears running down her face. “It’s me, Grandma.”
XXX
Shota Aizawa was officially too tired and too old for this shit. "So what you're telling me," He started as he scratched at his scraggly beard. "Is that you lost these maniacs near an international airport and didn’t think to… I don’t know? Put out an ABP through Interpol?"
The face of the American hero on the screen, which had already been tightened in irritation, pinched further as if Aizawa personally shoved a lemon into his mouth. The hero in question was known as Apollo, the head of one of the government-sponsored hero teams in the states, and the man’s mood was just as sour as his expression.
Good, about time someone else’s day was soured. He wasn’t dealing with one of this year’s biggest damn messes. He’d already had people breathing down his neck to find out where the hell this guy came from but then as it always happened, the footage from inside the store had been leaked to the media and, before they could even put out a statement, the vultures started circling.
He hadn’t even had time to rest since yesterday after being dragged out of his bed to start searching through every file they had to identify who these villains were. It was a monumental task made worse by the fact they had nothing. Nothing when the media was calling on the heroes and government to do SOMETHING was about the worst scenario he could’ve imagined… right up until a call from the Americans had called. The reason why he and his team couldn’t find anything in the archives was because the suspect wasn’t from Japan. He didn’t have any records because he wasn’t even a damn citizen.
And again, he had been thinking it couldn’t possibly get worse and was proven wrong as Apollo explained the Bonnie and Clyde pair had been blazing a trail of killings from the East to West coast and somehow kept getting away, both of them evading local and federal law enforcement for nearly a month before getting trapped somewhere in Los Angeles. Only when the noose had started finally tightening, had the pair, as Apollo succinctly put it, ‘just up and vanished.’
“We did as soon as we suspected he’d hitched a ride out of the country but we’ve had his face plastered on the news for months as well as had both border crossings alert and ready. Hell, even if this guy or his girlfriend had a passport, they should’ve been stopped before they got near an airplane.”
‘But they weren’t,’ was what Aizawa wanted to say but there wasn’t any point rubbing salt in both their wounds. The villain duo had even somehow got through Japanese Customs as well. No, what was really a bur in his mind was the fact things seemed to be playing out in tandem to what the Americans were going through.
No one had found the bastard yet. They had patrols on the street pulling double, police were on alert, and every CCTV camera in the city was sweeping the streets, trains, and freeways for him. That was leaving out how the media had his face up everywhere a screen played the news.
All this… and they still couldn’t find him. It was like he ‘just up and vanished’ from the building after the explosion, other cameras on the street caught footage of everyone present during the crime entering the store. The school boys, the mother and her child, and CrossCheck were all recorded entering the building. The explosion that blew out the windows with such violence that it sent shards of glass across the street to the other sidewalk had shaken a few of the cameras but hadn’t caused any glitches in footage. Luckily, no one was near enough to get struck by the debris though some pedestrians were close enough to be knocked off their feet He could even read the licence plates of the cars driving past slamming on their brakes and even saw the slightly bent form of the store manager exiting the smoke calling for help. People, rubberneckers and good samaritans alike, closed in. One young woman even guiding the store owner away from the smoke. Yet nothing of the male suspect, no sight of him running or sneaking away in the chaos of the gathering crowd.
When the police vehicles had begun to roll in, he’d been certain that he’d have seen someone suspicious right then. If this had been easy he’d have marked a lone figure stooping, turning his back to the officers closing in on the scene and walking away from them in that ‘Please don’t notice me, I’m doing nothing wrong’ body language most every criminal did when trying to be unassuming.
There was no figure. There was no one leaving the scene who was even dressed like the suspect, much less acting oddly enough to be picked out by his eye and by the time Endeavor arrived, so had the media with their camera vans pulling up outside the police line.
All and all, a fat wad of nothing to show for hours of combing footage frame by goddamn frame.
It was frustrating enough to make him scream.
Instead of doing that, Aizawa leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh, rubbing his temples with one hand and drumming his fingers in thought on the arm of his chair. “We can send backup if you require it.” Apollo began but was stopped by a raised hand from Aizawa. American heroes on the ground was the last thing they needed. Their media already was having a field day and if they accepted, the ammunition they’d give them would be like cannon to the walls of their good standing.
Just imagining the headlines made his head pulse.
And that was leaving out the political bureaucracy and red tape that came with buddying up with supers from another country.
“Your offer is welcome but we can handle it. We’ll call you back, if we need more information.” He tapped a button on the laptop before him and the screen blacked out, only to be replaced with dossiers on the two villains that he’d been sent. With a heavy look, he raised his head and swept the room with his eyes.
The conference room he sat at the head of was silent. A long table had filled in the space, five chairs on each side each one with a hero seated. Each one had their own laptops which were built into the table and linked to his. All of them had seen his conversation and none looked happy.
Even those with their face covered by their costume had a tell in the way their eyebrow furrowed, a cheek twitched or a hand clenched an armrest. The tension in the room was thick enough that he could chew on it. Everyone was frustrated by the lack of evidence to track this murderer down and by the fact that essentially, the American’s had simply dropped the ball so hard that it might as well have broken bones as it fell into their lap. They all wanted to be out there to for a chance to make an arrest, to keep him from doing what he’d done again.
Hell, even as tired as Aizawa knew he was, if he knew what hole this son of a bitch was lurking in, he’d find the energy to arrest him after beating his ass. Or maybe that was just an itch for vengeance talking. Speaking of, his eyes paused on the only empty chair in the room. It was seated next to Yagi but he didn’t need the seating order to know who was still on the streets right now.
“Okay. All of us are familiar with the footage at the scene,” Aizawa announced, exhaustion making it more of an sigh. “So, I’ll get the quick and obvious out of the way ‘cause I want to get this covered in one take.”
All attention came to him breaking the tension a little as he tapped away on his laptop and pulled up the files the American's had sent along with their own. The girlfriend was pulled up first. Her mugshot from the files along with the charred remains that had been removed from the scene. It was an example of sheer opposites. The girl in the photo was young and could’ve been considered pretty but for a very disdainful look on her face that seemed to age her considerably. Her blond hair was short, dirty, and her sneer showed off gap in her front teeth. Next to it, the corpse on screen wasn’t recognizable in the slightest. Aizawa honestly couldn’t tell if it was male or female, the form so badly burned.
“Sahara Burns,” he began, pausing to blink as he began to read off the file. It took three scans of it before he was certain his eyes were working correctly. “15 years old.”
While everyone could see it, Aizawa had to guess that his saying it aloud made it real in some way. The effect it had was varied. Some cursed under their breath, some sighed as if disappointed at the state of the world, most were silent and still like they were poker players in a tournament.
“Quirk: Dehydration through physical contact. Ten confirmed homicides through its use.” He tapped again and brought up the photo of CrossCheck – Yoshida Takuya out of costume – up. The letters KIA under the tab labeled ‘Status,’ and left the confirmed tenth death unspoken.
He’d met the guy once, too energetic for his tastes but a good heart nonetheless.
Heart or no, he was gone now and the last thing Aizawa wanted to do was ratchet up tensions again by showing the marred body of a fallen hero. “Killed in engagement with CrossCheck.”
“Are we sure?”
He looked up to the hero who’d spoken and nodded his head. “Everyone but the other criminal has been accounted for, injured and dead.” He looked back at the file and began to close out the pictures. “While it’s not confirmed, we have her dental records now and a comparison is being made as we speak.”
Apparently satisfied, the hero leaned back in his chair.
‘Then we have a bigger damn problem but one disaster at a time, please.’ Instead of snapping that off, he took a deep breath, reaching for his cup of coffee, sipped the cold brew, and pulled together his nerves. “We’ll deal with the results later. For now, lets focus on variables we know.”
And so, he brought up other the villain’s profile. The Americans had sent over everything they had;from school records to criminal history to psychological diagnosis. It was the latter of which that served as his current focus. If they could understand how this man thought, then certainly it would be part of the first steps when it came to tracking him down… At least, that was the thought.
Alan Blane was a 17 year old basket case with a versatile electricity Quirk. Expelled from three schools by the time he was twelve, the last of which mainly had him institutionalized for burning out the eye of a girl in his class. Spent pretty much the entire rest of his life in a ward until he was given an early probationary release for ‘Good Behavior.’ Said ‘Good Behavior’ apparently lasted a surprising twenty-four hours after his release upon which he murdered his family and started his near month-long killing spree. Oh, and of course, he broke his girlfriend out of the female section of the ward like this whole situation was some kind of sappy romantic comedy. The kind Fukukado would be first in line at a movie theater for.
Then there was their list of crimes going from one place to the next. It was clear they didn’t care about stealing so much as causing as much death and destruction as they could manage. They’d hold up a store and one by one, kill those they took hostage no matter if they complied or defended themselves.
He’d gotten to the point where they had been tracked down near the airport when another question came up, this time from Yoroi Musha. The man’s antique armor clinked as he shifted forward, apparently so he could be heard better, because he raised his voice just loud enough that it skirted on the edge of painful for the other’s headache.
“How did they even get in the country in the first place?”
“The police are questioning Customs Officials and are trying to track down all of those people who were on that flight.” Aizawa shrugged with the statement, bringing up another bit of camera footage as he did so. This was from the airport from three days ago, it being the only gate that had a departure from LAX around the time the two had vanished from American soil and had landed within the hour of their attack on the store. There was not a single camera view with them leaving the plane, from the gate or tarmac, and certainly not exiting the terminal.
Flight 2055. According to Flight Control, that particular plane and it’s pilots and staff were already on their return trip. Apollo had made promises that they’d be questioned when they landed. “My current theory is that they stowed away.”
A snort followed from someone else. “Where? The luggage compartment? For an 11 hour flight?”
He narrowed his eyes, trying to keep a hold on his flagging patience. He was giving it his best here really as the tone was uncalled for. “I said, its a theory.” Theory or not, truthfully, Aizawa didn’t think it held any water. More than a day, in an unpressurized, unheated section of a plane more than a mile in the air? Neither villain had the power set that would’ve allowed them to survive that and even if they did, the ground crew would have had to see them exit. “I didn’t say it was a fact.”
That set the tone of the rest of the meeting. It was clear that he didn’t have much and, with tensions high, he wasn’t surprised when things fell apart. Soon,snide comments turned into insults, from there into arguments, and further into accusations of incompetence at everyone from the police to customs. He had to call a break to things when someone made a comment about Endeavor’s absence that would’ve forced the man to spend time regrowing his eyebrows at the very least.
That is, if Endeavor had been present.
As people left, the hero known as Eraserhead rubbed his head. Eyes burning from all the time he’d been staring at a screen and pulse of the beginnings of a headache behind that, he relaxed as best he could as the door shut.
“Do you think it’s him?”
Aizawa nearly fell out of his chair in shock at the voice. Sitting up straight, he looked to see Yagi still there. His arms were crossed, face serious as he looked at him. Normally, his friend would have probably made a joke or commented on his reaction and the fact he’d let it pass without comment was unusual. His gaze was hard, determined and focused and it was then that he realized that Yagi had been the only one silent this whole time.
“Who?” He finally said, his nerves raised just a bit higher by the other’s behavior.
“Him.”
A single word said but its meaning enough to make his heart tap dance in his ribs. It took him longer than he wanted to to find the strength at the thought. “Don’t know but I think not. This is too bold for him.”
“Think?”
“Yes, think. In all our time, he’s never openly done anything like this. Adding in agents from the United States? That’s absurd.”
“Those two got in someway. Either they’re both geniuses smart enough to get in undetected only to have a sudden stroke and walk into a random store to rob it or someone helped them.”
“Which means this supposed ‘help’ had to have been aiding them in America.”
“And I hope you’re wrong. Because for god’s sake, Yagi, what you’re suggesting is that his influence crosses borders,” Aizawa stated as he stood up and moved to the window. The room overlooked the city and the hero couldn’t suppress the horror at the idea of what he said. All for One with a reach like that, it made his knees feel weak. He couldn’t believe he’d ever hope that Japan was the only one who had to deal with the monster hidden in their backyard. “I’m so tired right now and your idea just took away any chance I’d be able to shut my eyes tonight.”
Whatever mirth could’ve been dug up from his joke was cut at the knees, when his phone rang. He checked the number, the Chief of Police, and answered it. “Yeah?”
“We managed to track down most of those on the plane and it’s not good.”
“How not good?” The throb behind his eyes pulsed just that little bit harder.
“We found the passenger in question in his hotel room closet, dry like he’d been left in the sun too long. I just sent you the evidence.”
A sigh. Aizawa tucked the phone to his chest to block the microphone and answered friend’s question before he had a chance to ask. “Another victim.” He put the phone back to his face and went for his laptop as it made a far too cheerful BING. “Okay, so what else you got?”
“Well, our victim was a businessman and he had his laptop on.”
“So?” The hero snapped, his thin patience being sawed at with the sharp scissors of not-getting-to-the-damn-point.
“With it’s camera recording.”
It didn’t take even a moment to find the video file and Aizawa with Yagi looking over his shoulder, both watched it.
The video wasn’t even halfway done before both were sprinting out the door. Eraserhead, already dead tired, didn’t bother using any of the extra energy that he’d gotten from the shock of adrenaline to his system to speak. He just bowled his way through the hallway, around office workers and heroes alike. He felt so stupid now, his theory hadn’t been exactly right. If he’d just taken the thought to its most logical conclusion, it wouldn’t have felt like being caught so flat-footed when the truth came.
He didn’t need to look back to know people were giving him odd looks as he sprinted for all he was worth. However, Yagi was doing the explaining for him, bellowing in his All Might voice. “GET BACK TO THE SCENE!!! NOW!!”
XXX
“Only five minutes. Don’t know how stable the building is.”
Misuki nodded. That’s all he really needed. He considered himself lucky he was being allowed in at all, honestly. It had been three days, and if he had to guess, his store was still a crime scene.
He gingerly stepped under the lifted the police tape, and nodded thanks to the police officer that followed. The younger man passed him a spare flashlight. “Here you are, sir.”
The elderly man took it. “Thank you kindly,” he responded. It wasn’t night yet. The sun had cast the horizon into a multicolored haze of orange clouds and blue sky and the larger skyscrapers that had office lights on were only just starting to be noticeable. “Gotta say I’m a little surprised by the ‘sir’. Ain’t too often you younger folks are respectful to old fogies like me.”
“I’m just doing my job, sir.” The young man said with a nod. “But I really must ask that you hurry, I’m supposed to be guarding you at your home.”
“I will, just one thing I need to grab.” It had been an effort and a half to convince his escort to even allow him out of his home, his pleas falling on sympathetic ears instead of bouncing off senses numbed by duty. He had to put it on the officer’s youth. If this had happened back in his day, he’d most likely would’ve gotten some hardline, unbending veteran of the law who wouldn’t have let him walk down the block much less back the the scene of the crime.
Glass crunched under his shoes as he stepped through the broken warped doors of his store and he couldn’t help but feel his chest ache at the sight of his life’s work.
Thirty two of his sixty years on this earth had been in this place and now it was all gone. He swept the place with the flashlight settling on the bits of wall over the refrigeration units, the photos that once hung there had been of him and his family; of him and his late wife when they first opened, of the first Yen note they made, all huge moments in his life shattered or burned.
The shelving was warped, bent, and all around the place, like a giant hand had uncaringly swept everything aside.
The explosion had taken apart the place like a firecracker in a fruit bowl. The scent of burned plastic from the sealed snacks was still thick in the air even though a breeze had been coming through the windows. Truthfully, it turned his stomach slightly. He remembered back when he thought the worst smell he had to deal with was cigarette smoke and trying so hard to keep the delinquents who bought packs and packs of the stuff from smoking on his front step.
He chuckled as he reminded himself that he had to hurry and made for the counter. Yet, he stopped when he nearly stepped into a dry but dull red stain on the white tile floor. Even three days later, he could tell that it was blood.
Their blood.
The blood of Endo Kazuki and Ota Ren.
The two boys had been coming here for years since they were little. Misuki had practically watched them grow up and knew their families well. They were the typical best friends and they’d always spend and hour in his store after school even when they’d started playing baseball at their high school. Their club activity took up so much of their time, he knew. They’d complain about it to him every chance they could. Yet, they’d still found time to come here and mess up his magazine organization.
One of them was thinking of going to professional baseball in college. The other had been planning to try for Harvard or Oxford. For the life of him, Misuki couldn’t remember which was gonna do which.
Now they were dead. Not even given a chance, just ended the way he would smack a spider with a broom. He hoped the heroes found that man… no, that creature and threw it down a deep hole where it would rot for the rest of its life. Too good for it, maybe but better than what he gave those poor kids.
What he gave that woman with the green hair.
It hadn’t clicked until later, but that woman had saved his life. He’d been so confused, so horrified by what had happened that he’d never considered running until the woman had dragged him along. Now that he thought about it...
“Officer?” He began as he stepped around the stain that made him shiver to look at. “What happened to the woman and her child? Do you know?” He glanced at the man over his shoulder, in time to make out the tail end of a shrug.
“I don’t know. Probably still in the hospital, if I had to guess.”
“Shame. I hope she recovers. I’d like to thank her.”
Misuki moved around the counter and had to step over the cash register to get to the drawer. The only one on the counter. He shuffled around in his pocket and pulled out the key he always kept with him. Unlocking it, he pulled it open and was just about to reach in to take what was inside when he heard a rattle.
It sounded strange like the clinking of change and the vibration of plastic against… something. He was about to look around for where it had come from when he noticed his arm. He’d pointed the flashlight down to better see inside the drawer and with his hand reaching in, got a perfect view of the thin hairs on his arm beginning to rise.
“Of...fic..er?”
The noise grew, a vibration that grew into a drone behind him and he whirled around the face the source. Or as best his old joints could manage and was met with his cash register. The thing was moving along the ground now, it’s electronic display active but flashing nonsense. It shouldn’t have been on in the first place, the power had been cut to the building, he was told. The police man had long since pulled his sidearm and had come around, aiming down at the register and speaking quickly into his radio before addressing him, his voice sharp and commanding. “Sir, you need to leave.”
He was already going to the other end of the counter when droning turned into a banging, the machine going into some sort of seizure as it bounced up and down on the floor. Crackles of electric charges began playing along its surface, melting the plastic and causing the metal to glow with heat.
Then a glowing lightning bolt rose out of it, blue and brilliant and so bright that even when Misuki closed his eyes, it left a corona of sunspots.
The officer screamed, the gun fired and the light vanished. The old man tried to rub the spots in his vision away unable to see. Terrified, he stepped back and fell, his heel catching on something. He landed hard, his breath getting knocked out of him as he crashed into the floor.
He never got the chance to see what killed him. But he heard it.
Or rather, him.
A hard angry growling voice that dripped hatred in the single word it said. “Gotcha!”
It has taken me a long time to get up the courage to write this. For many reasons, I’ve delayed and postponed the publishing of this book. Mostly because of its subject matter: Inko Midoriya. I can easily imagine the reactions I’ve already gotten from that name alone.
Disgust. Admiration. Curses. Maybe even a bit of hero worship. Its a name that stirs up many feelings and even more names. Monster. Destroyer. Invader. Hero. Idealist. Wild Card. The number of pedestals that she’s been put on or forced into as some see it, is as numerous as they are vague.
I think the main problem people have with her is that she is not a clean subject. Not Black-and-White and can’t be slipped into a slot that perfectly wraps her entire being up in a little bow. Coming off the heels of massive characters like All Might and All For One, it was undoubtedly hard for her to be put into one camp or the other.
Was she a villain? No, she saved lives. Was she a Hero? No, she’s taken lives as well.
To me though, she was my mother.
So many people have gotten caught up in the results of her actions that they’ve forgotten that most of the things blamed on her were far out of her control. From the activation of our family genes to the incidents during my time a UA to our fights against the Villain Alliance to the rise of the JJE to HIM breaking out of prison, were not her fault. I know no matter what fame or infamy that these events gave her and I, my mother would’ve rather had a normal happy life. Would’ve rather had me have a normal happy life.
Instead, we both had to become strong to face what was ahead.
-Izuku Midoriya, My Mother The Warrior.
Chapter 1
Seeing the scorched blown out front of the corner store, Yagi wondered if there was ever going to be a time in which he wouldn’t be shocked by the random acts of violence he had, would, and knew he’d continue to come across.
He sighed behind the smile he forced to make as genuine as possible for the cameras around which had been, before he’d arrived, trying to get a better look at the crime scene but were now squarely focused on him. Between the click-flash of photos being taken and the rush of questions from the news anchors trying to crowd around him, he was tempted to simply make a statement on how the situation was handled and exit as quickly as politeness would allow.
Hell, this wasn’t his scene. Heroic involvement had ended when the commission of the crime had and even more so now that the police were investigating but he wanted to offer a helping hand, especially considering who’s Hero Firm was involved. But he was here now and leaving as soon as he got here would cause an unnecessary media stir.
Giving the crowd a small wave of acknowledgment, he strode through the police cordon, and only barely managed to not completely halt when he got inside.
What he saw was enough to turn his stomach which was good, it meant that he wasn’t completely jaded but that was the only positive thing he could pull from the horrible sight before him.
The store was totally wrecked. Shelves of snacks and other things knocked over and scattered. Chunks of the cashier’s counter were smashed into pieces and in the very rear of the store, the refrigeration units were cracked with glass, warped by heat, scattered everywhere on the cracked floor glittering like little round diamonds among the debris.
It would almost be bearable to look at if it wasn’t for the bodies. Two boys, teens really, still dressed in their school uniforms were sprawled out over the shelves. With their closed eyes, Yagi could easily imagine that they were just asleep or out cold if it wasn’t for them being cut in half.
Cleanly sliced at the waist with a massive pool of blood under them.
With the shelves down, he got a clear view of the next victim who was... Male? Female? A body was all but planted into the far wall, clothes burned away and surrounded by scorch marks.
The last body was without a doubt the worst. The man was identifiable as a hero, his black and white checkerboard suit hanging loosely around his curled shriveled husk of a body. Yagi was grateful that it was a full body suit that covered even the face because he didn’t want another horrible sight etched into his memory to follow him to sleep.
He hadn’t known the young man well, he was a Member of the Rakka firm, One of Endeavor’s people CrossCheck. He didn’t know the young man’s actual name.
Endeavor, Japan’s Number 2 ranked hero, stood over the body with his usual scowl even fiercer that usual, and raised his head to look at him as he entered. Yagi wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but it seemed that the flames that he wore dimmed slightly. The death of any hero was one the affected them all, even more so when you’re responsible for them and it was clear by his body language that he was just reining himself in. He wanted to lash out but had no target...at least until he showed up.
“What're you doing here?” He began as he stepped around the body, putting himself between Yagi and the rest of the store. “This is my scene and if you think-”
Yagi raised a hand to hold back the argument and was rather surprised that the Number 2 Hero actually stopped. “I’m just here to help. I was in the area when I heard the sirens.” He couldn’t help the second glance at CrossCheck and winced. “I’m sorry.”
Endeavor scoffed and looked away, his fists clenching even tighter and making the material of his gloves creak. “The idiot was supposed to be off duty. Don’t even know why he was here, damn it. He knew my rules and now...”
Yagi knew. While Endeavor called them ‘his’ rules, they were pretty universal for hero firms all across Japan. Interns were NEVER to patrol alone.
“What happened?”
The other man looked back at him with a glare, his mouth working as if chewing on something unpleasant. He sighed and then pointed at a old man with white hair that Yagi had passed right by without noticing. The man was being questioned by the officers over at nearby ambulance, a blanket around his shoulders. “A robbery gone wrong or just gone violent. The cashier, Mitsuki, over there was ringing up a customer when a young man and a young woman in hoodies and facemasks came in and told everybody to get down on the floor.” He waved in the direction of the two teens that had been sliced in half. “Those two were unlucky. According to our witness the our murderer at large simply cut them down as soon as they'd entered. No warning or anything.”
Yagi felt his blood run cold. There weren’t many who could just kill like that. His surprise must’ve shown on his face because Endeavor nodded. “Yep. And if it wasn’t for th-”
“Uh, Sirs?” They both turned to look at a female officer, who crisply saluted them then waved over to the backroom of the store. “We’ve managed to pull footage from the cameras.”
Yagi turned back to Endeavor. “You mind if I stay?”
The man’s response was another snort as he spun on his heel and made his way to the indicated place.
Yagi motioned for the officer to lead and with a grateful nod, she paused as they reached the battered looking door. The smell of burnt everything from the body on the wall, while not gone, was still strong enough to unsettle the stomach. “Do we know who did this?” He asked, hoping to distract her.
She jumped at his question but shook her head. “Not yet, All Might sir.” She twitched her head in the direction of the burned body just enough to indicate it but keep it out of sight. “We know that is one the girl. We’ll have to use dental records to ID her. We have an APB out for the other but...”
She didn’t say more. She didn’t have to.
The male was in the wind...for now.
When they got to the backroom, she stepped aside for him to get a view of the computer that sat at a desk tucked into the corner of the room among the shelves of products. Two other police officers with Endeavor looming over the one who was working at the keyboard, gave him enough space to see clearly. “We’re going to start, at least two minutes before the robbery.”
“Play it.” Endeavor snapped and with the click of a mouse, the video began. The camera angle was perfect and gave them all a full view of the entrance, Cash register, and the store as a whole. The second camera was of the backroom they stood in now, with a view of the door the led into the store proper.
“-ou boys better be planning’ on buying what yer readin’.”
The slightly balding owner, Mitsuki, was pointing squarely at the two teenagers who, Yagi hated to remember, were dead on the floor in the next room. The two boys were standing by the magazine racks flipping through ones they had in their hands. The one closer to the door, shrugged, mumbled something and waved off the old man.
It looked like the man was getting ready to kick them out when two people entered the store. A woman and a boy who couldn’t be even ten years old. From their similar green hair and facial features, they were certainly mother and son. The woman held her son close, guiding him to the fridge section in the back, past the teens.
“Whi-...on...nt?”
“-at one...”
The microphone wasn’t clear but snatches of what she was saying painted enough of a picture, a picture that that was even more solid after the boy pointed at a frozen ice cream treat of some sort and she picked it up. The pair made their way over to the counter and it was at that time the two boys lost interest in whatever they’d been reading and, putting the magazines up in the wrong spots, made for the exit
By all rights, in Yagi’s opinion, that’s where it should’ve ended. The obvious school friends should’ve left, the mother should’ve been able to buy the treat for her son, which, now that the pair were closer to the camera than anyone he could see that the treat in question was his All Might Special. It made him think back for a moment about the commercial he’d done for it more than a year ago now. ‘Red, white, and blue-berry’ if he was remembering the line right.
Then his attention was grabbed by a fast shadow of movement by the entrance, in the far left corner of the video. No one saw it happen. The boys were fooling around like teens do on their way to the door, with roughhousing shoves and laughs and the man and woman were focused on the purchase as the little boy was just beginning to pull the wrapper off.
The doors were thrown open with such force that the glass cracked and a new pair filled the space. The noise was enough to make everyone jump. With bulky gray hoodies and fully matching outfits of loose jeans, Yagi had a hard time at first figuring out who was who until the smaller of the two raised her hand and shouted. “ALL YOU DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!! NOW!”
There was the expected moment of disbelief which was followed after by GREAT and unexpected violence. Even with preparation, even with seeing the bodies first hand, Yagi barely held back the jump of surprise as the male stepped in around her and sliced his hand right at the school kids even as the boys were in the process of raising their own. His fingers wreathed in energy of some sort, lightning from the look of it and it smacked both boys clean off their feet and sent them crashing into a shelf right behind them. When their bodies settled, they did in two pieces. Neither moved after that and Yagi hoped that the shock had knocked them out.
The streak of power continued like a wave, knocking over row after row of shelves and smashing the refrigeration units in the back of the store. There was no sound from the video, the microphone was unable to record all the noise for the moment.
However what he saw next amazed him. The mother scooped up her child in one arm, who was screaming when the sound came back, and with her other, grabbed for the store owner. He had been nearer to the end of the counter and was dragged along as she ran for the backroom.
It caught the criminals off guard as neither of them reacted until she was just getting to the door.
“Where you going?!” The male shouted, coming around the destruction her created with his hand cocked back like he was about the throw a pitch. Energy...no, it was electricity, wrapped around his hand and he flung it just as the woman had let go of the owner and grabbed for the door. She’d been so close, Yagi was certain that had the villain acted just a second of two later she would’ve made it. Hell, if she had been alone, he was certain she’d have made it.
But between her just putting her son down at the same time, she was reaching slowed her just enough. Plus, the little boy, like any child in this situation, clung to his mother and so was holding her hand as the ball hit her square in the back.
Again the sound cut though in time with the flash as she and her son were smacked down as if they’d been shoved, the concussion that followed sent the two rolling across the floor in different directions. This put the shop owner into action and he hurriedly threw the door shut and locked it. Not a moment too late, as another cracking blast crashed into it.
The man seemed to struggle, looking from the mother to the son as if not sure who to help first.
“Pause it.” Endeavor instructed. The video paused with the old man in mid-scramble, the male villain in mid throw and his partner barely having moved up to now except to get, what he guessed was, a better view.
“The woman and her son?” He asked. From the fact that their bodies weren’t still on the floor, it gave Yagi a little hope.
The one of the officer’s nodded though his face was grim. “I was here when they were taken to the hospital. The mother in particular was in critical condition, last I heard.”
The video continued and Yagi noticed right away that there wasn't a decibel of sound coming from the speakers. He found out later that the microphone had been blow out, the blast had been so close to it. The man charged for the door and the hero had to bite his tongue to keep from cursing. However, Endeavor growled his characteristic grumble. "Can't be 18, if a day." The criminal, in his rush for his victims, had not only closed in to the camera that gave them a better view but let his hoodie slip off his head. He was young enough to be a classmate of the students he killed but that's where any consideration of youth flew out the window. It was silent but Yagi could easily read the bellows and shouts from the way he blasted at the door, an expression of seething rage. When it was becoming clear that his Quirk alone wasn't getting through, he began to beat on it with his fists.
"Officer." Yagi said, putting a hand on the shoulder of the nearest police officer, a woman with a tight bun of hair pinned down. "Make sure to update the APB with this face before we leave."
If the other hero had a problem with him taking even this little bit of initiative, he didn't show it.
It was a movement near the counter that reminded the hero about his accomplice. The woman, possibly girl if the age of the male was any indication. She was leaning over the counter reaching for the cigarettes but froze, clearly seeing something that the camera and the man couldn't.
If there had been a warning, Yagi didn't know. But a form crashed through the glass window closest to the counter, and in one smooth movement landed and body checked the girl. Half-bent over a counter, she had no chance to defend herself and was knocked clean off her feet and into a shelf. CrossCheck, his hero costume perfectly fitting him, was aware enough to not look at the criminal he'd knocked over and spun to face the other one. His right hand snapped up, palm up and forward. A huge circle of energy sprang up in the air before him. A black disc-shaped shield. Not a moment too soon. The other villain's reactions were just as sharp. There was no hesitation or pause. He just swung around, arm leading and fired.
The power hit the shield, which held the ball against it for a brief moment, then the color flashed to white and the villain's own attack fired back at him. Much faster than when it had come at the hero. So much so that, the man had to throw himself to the floor in order to dodge. The ball of electricity splashed against the door in an shower of sparks, buckling it slightly.
Yagi glanced over to Endeavor, the question obvious. The Number 2 Hero's ever present frown had etched deeper lines in his face at the appearance of one of those under him. "His Quirk is called Reflect. Any attack taken on his shield gets bounced back with twice as much force."
Nothing else was said nor did Yagi want anything to be said. The next minute of video led to the death of a hero in training. Even the police officers who were watching the video with them shared grim expressions.
CrossCheck was on the man before the sparks had touched to floor. His lunge carried him clear across the space between them. He not once lowered or dispersed the shield, instead using it at a battering ram to pin the criminal to the floor.
The blow was powerful and savage. Meant to take down right away before the criminal had a chance to adapt.
It had been working. Two more swings of the shield, the force of which was doubled as it changed color. The young man's face was bloody and there was a hazy unfocused look to it that anyone who'd ever really had their bell rung could recognize.
Then CrossCheck stiffened in the middle of cocking his arm back, half turned, and looked down. He shifted his leg as if he'd snagged his foot in the debris around him. It was only when the hero in training actually stumbled that Yagi noticed that a hand was wrapped around his ankle.
The girl. He saw her now. She'd crawled from where she'd been thrown and had grabbed him while he'd been focused. As CrossCheck began twitching and then shaking, it was apparent to everyone that this was the moment when everything went wrong. His arms went limp, his shield present but with his sudden forced paralysis, useless.
The state of that young man's body must have been from whatever her quirk was. And no doubt it was painful, to what degree Yagi didn't know. The only pain he was sure of was the sting in his chest as he watched. And he knew it had to be worse for his fellow crime fighter.
In the time that CrossCheck was held in place her partner, face dripping blood and beginnings of bruises starting to color his skin, began to stand.
He raised a hand and the biggest electric blast yet flew right at the Hero. Somehow instead of striking him, most likely because of the beating that he’d been on the receiving of Yagi supposed, the aim was off and it caught the very edge of the shield.
The shield that was hanging low.
The energy rolled along the edge of the shield in the same way a glass filled right to the rim would hold that little bit more before spilling.
The shield turned black just as the power curved down its edge.
Right into the other villain’s face.
The video cut then. The explosion that followed or the concussion that came with it too much for the kind of security camera that would be used by a convenience store.
“I’ll get the bastard.” Endeavor’s voice was the first roll of thunder before the hurricane makes land. All threat and menace. With a quick step, he marched for the exit but the stopped as if he forgot something. He turned a fierce gaze at Yagi and pointed. “He’s mine. If you find him, back off.”
He then left without another word. Yagi couldn’t blame the man for wanting revenge. A charge of his was killed but that wasn’t what worried the hero.
He took one last look at he blank screen, chewing at his bottom lip in thought. No, it was the condition of the villain still at large.
If he was somehow uninjured by that explosion, which he doubted then he was working himself up for nothing. Any criminal with any sense would find a place to lie low. Yet that face, the man’s expression twisted into such hatred, quickly shoved aside his hopes for a rational mind. Which made the more possible situation, that they were currently dealing with a desperate INJURED unbalanced murderer who was now doing God knows what.
It was that very idea that put an extra bit of speed into his step as he left the building to start patrolling the streets.
XXX
Darkness and cold. Drifting and weightlessness. No air to breathe or anything to hold.
That was all that Inko felt at first. A numb empty nothing that flowed across her being and clawed away at her rising consciousness. The more she became aware, the more information followed. Bit by bit, her senses came back. She felt gravity finally settle around her, her back pressed into the soft surface of a bed, a blanket over her. The chill on her exposed skin told of air conditioning and let her know that her arms were on top of the blanket, not under it like she normally slept. A tightness on the back of her skull and a pressure on her face was another warning that something was off.
A steady thrum from deep in her chest was matched by a noise that felt distant yet closer than she thought as if hearing through a long tunnel. Then someone somewhere turned up the volume and she was able to clearly make out what it was.
-EP.
HISS.
BEEP.
HISS.
BEEP.
HISS.
BEEP.
She moved to turn off what she thought at first was an alarm or rather...she tried. Barely had she worked her unbelievably tired muscles to move her body in the direction of the sound when pain lanced through her. White, hot, and pure, the darkness before her exploded into fireworks.
The pain made her open her eyes and, after laying still until the fire searing all the way to her bones cooled, it took her bewildered mind a long while to figure out that the white void before her eyes was a tiled ceiling.
The realization came upon her suddenly and violently, not as a comforting revelation but a hollow horrific flash that yanked her sluggish mind up by the neck and throttled her. With it, all details that had been distant snapped vividly into place. The beeping was a heart monitor.
The hissing? A breathing machine.
The pressure on her face and head? The strap and warm plastic of a breathing mask.
The bed? A hospital one.
Opening her mouth, which felt dry and filled with too much of her tongue, she coughed. Doing so made her whole body throb and the sound that came out was raspy and scratchy.
“Oh my god.” The unexpected voice just next to her would’ve made her jump if she’d had the energy. Instead, she twitched as a familiar face came from her left to peer over her. Mitsuki Bakugo’s expression was a mix of things, shock mainly as her hand covered her mouth. It was around that moment that Inko realized the gasp she’d heard wasn’t her own.
“I’ll get the nurse.” Another voice, Masaru’s she realized, quickly said, followed by the sound of quick footsteps around her and of a door opening.
“Stay with us, Inko.” Mitsuki pleaded, her red eyes looking at her with more worry than Inko had ever seen from the woman in the years she’d known her. She felt the woman’s hand close around her own as if she needed to hold her in place to keep her here.
The open concern was a relief...
...at first.
Then worry followed and it made her stomach twist into knots as it slowly hit her that she hadn’t really seen herself yet. She could barely turn her eyelids in any direction without pain coming in like a slap across the face and the numbness was fading so SO slowly. With a cold vice closing around her heart, she began to think of what she would do if the numbness went away but left something...lacking behind it. What could she do if something was missing?
What had happened to her? She wasn’t given time to search her memory before the footsteps came back followed by more than one set. For the next few minutes there was nothing but frantic activity around her. Too many voices, too many questions, too much to try to process. She squeezed her eyes shut and tired to block out the sound as her head began to throb. She just needed a moment to think about what happened. How did she get here? What time was it?
“Mrs. Midoriya?” This was a new voice. Male and tentative. The speaker leaned into view and judging from the lab coat, he was the doctor. A man with an obvious quirk, his ears were the shape of a stethoscope and his salt and pepper hair was combed over in just the right way to barely hint at a bald spot.
He also had what Inko had to assume was supposed to be a comforting smile on his lips. It wasn’t comforting at all and didn’t help the worry building in her stomach. “Ah, Mrs. Midoriya. Good. Good. I apologize for the disturbance but we are glad to see you’re awake.” He pulled a clipboard from under his arm. “I understand you probably have questions but first, can you speak?”
She tired to say ‘Yes’ but instead of words, a dry croak left her throat.
Luckily, that was all it took to communicate to the doctor that she couldn’t. “Okay, here’s what I’d like for you to do, Ma’am. I will ask you some simple Yes or No questions. Just blink once for Yes, Twice for No. Can you do that for me?”
She blinked.
“Good.” The Doctor said, writing something down on his clipboard. “My name is Dr. Shirokuro and you are in Musutafu General Hospital. Do you understand?”
Blink.
Another mark. “Can you move?”
Two blinks.
“Is it because of the pain?”
Blink.
“Do you know what happened to you?”
Inko was about to blink twice, she hadn’t had time to mull over the blank spot in her memory, when the blank filled in. The store, the attack, the pain, IZUKU!!!
She sat straight up and the room began to tilt in response. Her vision flashed white as the pain savagely reminded her of its existence Her skin burned as every muscle and fiber and joint screamed protests but she grit her teeth and bore it.
Dr. Shirokuro jumped slightly, mouth dropping open. “Uh, Miss- Ma’am! You must lay back down! Your back-”
His frantic face paled as she snatched off the oxygen mask and spoke, her voice barely recognizable as her own. Her tongue felt like lead, thick and heavy but she forced her words out.“Wuh...Where i-is muh...my son?”
“Ma’am, you need to-ulp!” His words were ended with a yelp and splutter as Inko reached out and snatched the man by the collar and with strength that surprised both of them, she dragged him towards her until he was bent at the hips over the rail on the hospital bed and looked him dead in the eyes. He needed to understand that her bed could be about to fall of the edge of a cliff right now and it wouldn't matter if she fell or not until she got her answer “Whe-re is meh...my son?”
There must have been something in her eyes because Shirokuro, rallied his mouth. "Your son is-"
Inko, so focused on listening, she didn't hear the short commotion in the hall but the doctor did and glanced to it. A flash emotion washed over the woman. She was so close, not even a full sentence away but this...this idiot couldn't even complete the sentence without getting distracted. Even with her so close that she was right in his face? Demanding it?!
The bundle of feelings in her mind uncoiled into...something she didn't recognize and even as frantic as she was she didn't like. Yet, they came upon her in that moment like a tidal wave and washed away at her hesitation. Hands trembling against the collar, she settled into the foreign yet somehow familiar thoughts as if she'd suddenly gained a new perspective on some idea she'd known all her life. This man wasn't taking her seriously. When someone demanded an answer, did anyone with the slightest bit of respect for the one asking answer the question halfway? No. She just needed to-
“Mommy!” The door slammed open and in that moment, not only did those thoughts flee but she let go of the man's collar.
Izuku, small hospital gown fluttering, sprinted in so quickly, she barely had time to react as he clambered up onto the bed and threw his little arms around her. The blooming pain in her back from the jostling had nothing to do with the tears building in her eyes as she hugged her son back. Her little boy was alright! She couldn’t help but see the red zigzag-ing lines on his left hand going halfway up his bare arm but he was up and talking and ALIVE.
Her little boy was alright. Inko couldn't stop the tears spilling down her face not that she would've tried. Her eyes burned, her body ached in ways that warned her to stop what she was doing but she ignored the way her muscles twinged and pulled her son closer into a hug.
He pulled back from her with tears running down his round face and soaking into his own hospital gown. Her little boy was alright. That was good...great...yes. Now that the fear was gone, things were becoming just a little fuzzy. The bed began slowly turning under her. She tried to tell whoever was pushing the bed to stop but her mouth suddenly wasn’t working at all.
“T-they told me you weren’t waking up and-and-and...” Inko wasn't quite able to read his expression as he looked up at her but that didn’t matter. “M-Mom-my?” Her little boy was alright. He was walking and talking so that meant...
“Mrs. Midoriya?”
Her...her...little...
“Mommy?!”
...boy...was...
“Nurse! Get him ou… f here-”
“MOMM-”
Alright...
XXX
"MOMMY!! MOMMY!"
Izuku's wails tore at Mitsuki’s heart. The boy was wailing, inconsolable as a her and a nurse had to pull him from Inko's arms. What made it even worse was the woman, her friend, was slumping over so slowly. Her face which had been so sharp and then so happy to see her son, was going slack as if deflating. The doctor with the help of a few other nurses he was calling in rushed to her side and helped lay her down and my god, Mitsuki had never seen Inko look so small. So fragile. All the while, Izuku hadn't stopped crying, struggling and pulling with all his might against them to get to his mother. To her and probably the nurse's shock, he was actually gaining a little ground, little bare feet somehow gaining traction on a tile floor with two full grown women holding each arm. Had he always been his strong?
It was Masaru who'd been the deciding factor though. He swept Izuku up into his arms and carried him out. The boy's cries reached a new pitch of desperation Mituski knew in her soul no child should ever make. It took the work of two other nurses, her husband, and her to get him back to his room in the pediatric ward. Somehow, Izuku had managed to not only get out of his room but find his way to Inko's room near the ICU, another surprise to her since she'd never have found her way to his without the staff guiding the way.
Luckily, and Mitsuki felt a pang of self-loathing at the thought, Inko's boy had cried himself out. She sat with her husband on a pair of overstuffed yet somehow still very uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room that was near between both rooms. Masaru had his head in his hands, glasses pinched in his fingers and she was near to tears. This couldn't have happened to two people who deserved it less. There were no updates about Inko and a horrible thought came to her, one that brought back another bit of loathing for even considering it and a pang of sadness so great that she caught herself clutching at her chest. Would she make it? People had survived worse, she knew of many stories of people surviving falls from high places, bullet wounds through the head, or any number of things. What those stories rarely covered though was the life of the victim after. If Inko did pull through, would she even be able to live normally?
"It's been two days."
That comment put the brakes on her grim thoughts. Mitsuki looked at her husband who was still bent into his palms as if it was some kind of prayer.
It had been two days since the attack. The first she'd been made aware of it was on the TV that day, a day which had turned surreal as a call from the hospital informed her that her Best Friend and her son were in Urgent care, the former in critical condition. They'd come as soon as they could but were directed away when they first arrived, and now this afternoon with it's roller coaster of events happened. Now here was her husband stating the time that had passed as if she hadn't been here for it. She was about to say so when he raised himself up from his hands, a coolness in his eyes she'd never seen before. It wasn't for her, not even when he turned to meet her eyes. No, her husband was clearly angry...but not at her.
His next words had made it clear just who he was angry at though. "So where the hell is he?"
It was said like the curse it was and Masaru’s out of character near swear had the effect of stirring a little heat in her chest. If she were honest with herself, it had been a thought she’d been avoiding.
The ‘He’ was Inko’s husband. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, it wasn’t where he should’ve been doing what he needed to be doing like being here for his family. Mitsuki didn’t know what Inko’s husband did for a living. ‘Working abroad’ was all that Inko had ever disclosed and she’d never pressed the woman for more details. It was clear that the man was providing for his family at a great sacrifice. Until today, she’d actually admired the man for his dedication. To be so far away, all to be a good man of the house.
Now, however she was wishing she’d had. It had better be something damn important because this situation was inexcusable.
There was no way the man was unaware, between everyone who had his contact information which included calls from the police and the hospital. She had no doubt that calls had been made to the company he worked for too. The only fucking way anyone could do any better in getting the man’s attention was to carve a message into the goddamn moon.
And at this point, she was starting to doubt if that would even get his ass in gear. If it were her and she ever got a phone call like the one she’d made to his phone, her ass would be in a plane seat so fast it the friction would light it on fire.
His absence was now was like salt in the wound. “I don’t know.” If Inko recovered, Mitsuki wasn’t even sure if she should tell her or let her figure it out by herself. No, she’d tell her. A realization like that shouldn’t be suffered without friends around. And Izuku...Oh, god. How would Inko even begin to explain that to him? She imagined trying to even broach the subject with Bakugo and she had to physically shake the idea off, it was so depressing.
If she didn’t make it though...
That thought lingered with her even as visiting hours closed out and the two of them were courteously shown the way out.
It must’ve followed Masaru as well because when they picked up their son from daycare, he gave an extra long, extra big hug and then on the way home, between the two of them picking their words carefully, they began to explain where they had been going for the last two days and why when he saw Izuku he’d have to be extra nice since he’s had a hard time.
Either way this went...they’d at least be there for the Midoriya family, no matter if only one member walked out of that hospital.
XXX
There was no gentle floating this time. There was only the sensation of falling, a void of black speeding past her as she tumbled through an empty nothing. The only way she was even able to recognize that she moving was the streaks of white lines that passed before her eyes in chaotic swirling curves. She flailed her arms wildly in a vain hope to catch herself. Nothing happened as she tried to call for help. Her voice was silent even though she knew she should've been screaming at the top of her voice. Then...the white lines began to shrink, resolving into dots and the sinking sensation of plummeting stopped.
However, the decelerating descent became a peripheral concern when the realization hit her that the dots surrounding her were stars.
But that was insignificant compared to the massive orb that loomed above her. Even as she looked at it, she knew that it was a planet but it was unlike any she'd ever seen in a textbook. It was so crimson that if it hadn't been for the streaks of yellow that she could only guess were clouds or land or something, it would look more like a giant ball of blood hanging in the void of space.
That's where she was, it had to be.
She felt the heat before she saw the flash, it was as if someone had shined a light directly into her eyes while walking into an oven. What had just happened...what-
CHU~
There was no slow pull out of the light closing in around her, just a snap to alertness as the pain and wooziness broke away like a hangnail. She straightened, half-sitting up and was just recognizing the sensation against her cheek as lips, which pulled away as she flinched awake.
“Looks like I got here none to late, dear. Looked like you were having a nightmare.”
Still trying to adjust to the sudden explosion of clarity, Inko slowly looked to the voice next to her hospital bed. “Huh?” The question tumbled from her mouth as she registered who it was. She knew this hero, a name big enough that even she knew her name
The elderly woman looked down at her through a visor attached to a pink helmet, a white lab coat open to slightly show a more colorful outfit underneath.
Recovery Girl.
“Good morning.” The woman greeted kindly. “A little confusion is expected after what you’ve gone through, dear.” She began, leaning her slight weight into her syringe-shaped cane. “Sorry for being late.”
“Sorry?” While she was now alert, her brain was still trying hard to catch up with her mouth.
“I should’ve been here yesterday but things have been hectic for the last week.”
"Yesterday?" If Recovery Girl was irritated by her echoing, she didn't show it. In fact, she gave her a gentle smile. "Don't worry about that. I'm here now and I suspect you're quite thirsty." The woman nodded, only now noticing that her tongue was dryer than she’d ever remembered and a the small pressure in the small of her back.
The hero moved to the side table next to the bed and picked up a cup. Coming back to over to her, she hesitated for a moment. "I must ask this so please don't take offence but do you need help to drink?" Inko shook her head, gingerly reaching out for the cup, taking it from the woman's hands and being care not to spill it as she sipped. The water was lukewarm, she noted but to her parched throat it might as well have been the spring runoff from the snow melt it was so refreshing.
The hero's smile brightened, as Inko set the now empty cup down. “Good. You’re able to hold down water.” She took a seat on the doctor's stool nearby, all good cheer and almost motherly presence. "So first things first? Any lingering pain?"
With her tongue moistened and brain finally catching up, Inko took a moment to check herself. She moved robotically, first flexing one hand then another, and then moved her arms. It was when she began moving her left shoulder that a sting shot across it and, as if the nerves were following a road-map, ran a path down her back to her left hip and ending at the meat of her left thigh.
Her wince must of shown because she got another nod from the hero but her smile was less cheerful. "Well, that is good. Pain is a good sign." Standing up, she went over to the foot of the bed and picked up a clipboard. "Dr. Shirokuro, who I should mention I'm very annoyed with that he started questioning you when you were in such a state, informed that you remembered what happened. Do you still remember?"
She did. It wasn't hard. "There was a robbery. The details are a bit fuzzy though."
"Take you time, dear." Recovery Girl soothed, flipping a few pages. "I'm not here to take a statement, that is a job for the police. I just want to make sure that you can recall." Her lips pressed into a line which tightened the wrinkles on her face as she stared on what was on the page. It was enough to make Inko nervous. "The reason why the pain is good is because you and your son were on the receiving end of a massive electrical attack. I checked in on him first and neither of you haven’t suffered any nerve damage which is a good sign for injuries like these.”
As she said this, she flipped the clipboard around so that what had removed the smiled from her face could been seen. Inko's jaw dropped.
It was a set of two pictures. One of what she knew was her back and another of her thigh. The angry crimson scar on it stood out, an angry inflamed red. Like a bolt of lighting mixed with frost, it started as a central splash right at the top of her shoulder that spread in cracks and branches some of which ended in red tendrils so thin that the could’ve been drawn with a pen. It curved along her hip and to her side which ended at her thigh. The picture of her back didn’t have a good angle on it but the other one did. The jagged shape was stamped there, tiny cuts and scrapes having opened up tiny wounds. It took her awhile to find her words and when they came she couldn't hide the waver in her voice. "How did that happen?"
"I won't mince words. Your cell phone saved you life." She began, lowering the pictures to the sheets. "The shock was dispersed and your cellphone took the brunt of it. It exploded which is why you have cuts on your thigh. By all accounts, if you hadn't had it, all that charge would've passed through you heart or some other major organ."
Inko glanced at the pictures again, not liking the idea of some as simple as a cellphone having been the only thing that kept her alive. A shiver ran up her back. Nope, she didn't like that idea at all. She continued to look and something caught her eye about the photo.
"Unfortunately, I can't help with wounds that are deep, Mrs. Midoriya. Some I can completely heal but even so there are remnants of it left." The hero continued speaking and Inko was listening but...she picked up the picture of her back and peered hard at it.
Something was on her, a brown strip lay flat across her right hip, in her initial shock she'd passed it off as a piece of cloth but it just didn't look right.
"...seems like you can handle some visitors." The hero's voice came back into focus and Inko twitched in surprise. Looking up, she saw the woman had the smile again. "Someone has been quite frantic to see you."
Recovery Girl made her way over to the door and opened it just enough to stick her head out. “You can come in now.”
She stepped aside and Izuku shuffled quietly in with a nurse in tow, looking more nervous than she’d ever seen him. His green eyes looked to her the to Recovery Girl as if asking for permission, his hands working at each other. The hero gave him an encouraging nod and Izuku inched closer, clearly afraid of doing something wrong.
Inko helped her son up as he got to the bed and held him in her arms. This time there were no words from him, she could feel his little body trembling against her, hear the muffled sobs, she could feel the same pain.
“I’m awake now, “ She soothed, patting his head. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
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Happyhoganon: Is there a DBZ villain you love to hate?
Well I could be classic and cliché and say Frieza but it has to be Frieza. No other DBZ villain got the time or development like him. The androids, Buu, Cell and even the saiyans of the saiyan saga didn't get much time to really mature and make their presence known like Frieza did. He had the menace and no Villain in the series made the main cast work so hard in order to beat them before or since.
I should apologize to @rutbisbe for not posting these sooner. Part of the reason is that my computer and Tumblr barely get along and it’s already crashed once (THREE TIMES NOW!) as I tried to put this up. But I just gotta tell everyone the talent of this artist. These commissions I requested for my fanfic The InBetween was not only worth the money but made me so happy to see. GUYS, commission @rutbisbe if you want some fantastic art. While she’s great at VegeBul, she just has a way of making a scene come to life in all those little details. LIKE LOOK AT THE SCOUTERS, THE SCOUTERS HAVE MARKINGS ON THEM. She could’ve just slapped the scouters on and that was it but those little details!!!
You know what I don’t get? When fanfic authors apologize for long chapters. It’s like? You gave me bonus content, for free, and you’re sorry about it? Bruh. I have already named my firstborn after you. Dude.
You know what else I don’t get? When they apologize for short updates. It’s like: look at these new words I gave you! Sorry I didn’t give you even more free words. Bro, that’s at least two words that I did not have yesterday. For free. Dude. Thank you.
And another thing: when people drop out of nowhere with a surprise update and then apologize for it taking a while. Like, dude, I wasn’t expecting anything, and you gave me words. I thought this fic was abandoned, but wait: there’s more. You just popped in and reminded me that this is a Good Fic that I should probably reread. You made my goshdarn day.
Basically fanfic writers are under no obligation to publish anything so when they do update it’s always a net positive because the story is longer now, and I have something to read, so thank you so much to everyone who writes fic at whatever pace or quantity they want.
The Saiyan woke with a curse on her lips, the sensation of cold knives on her skin being the cause. The woman hated this frontier planet, Planet-555, so much even before they'd arrived to clear it out. The sneering PTO officer, a yellow bug creature she hadn't bothered to learn the name of sent her team here specifically because the alien knew how much she personally hated the cold. Oh, she was going to kill that bastard when they were finished on this godforsaken ball of ice.
However, her desire to blast someone in the face wasn't aimed at the petty scum Frieza hired for his army. No, she dearly wished to snap the neck of the three other low-class warriors that were currently snoozing away on the other side of the room as if the snow building up in the middle of the hole was a comfy fire-pit. She turned on her side and looked in it's direction and Oh, wait...
That HAD been their fire-pit. Now it was buried under a spreading mound of icy terribleness. And as she moved her head to look, she felt a distinct firmness in her short curly locks of hair that had to be ice.
'Don't level the city entirely,' she'd said.
'We need somewhere to sleep so we don't freeze our tails off,' she'd warned.
But what did they do? Leveled the city to the point where this derelict hovel with a hole the size of a pod in the ceiling was their only choice so as not to freeze for the night. And a hovel it was. It had been some sort of shop for the natives. Scattered items and broken shelves littered the room, the walls were covered with posters and signs in a language she couldn't nor wanted to understand. The only upside was that they were able to use some of the wood scattered around to make a fire last night but that was little comfort because she'd gone to sleep pissed at them and woke up in hardly a better mood.
She growled, her gloves creaking under the strain of her grip. It would be so damn easy. Just a foot on the neck and an a quick stomp down. Hell, with the way these lazy asses were sleeping she could probably kill them all before they woke up.
Yet a part of her mind noted that if she did kill them, she'd have three times the work to do on this planet and that also meant three times as long on this icy ball of shit. Fuck, because of the constant nightly snowfall since they'd landed they couldn't even use the moon to change into their Oozaru forms and cut their time on this planet in half. If there were some of this species that could actually put up a good fight then maybe it would be worth the trouble but... Well, that was wishful thinking.
Throwing off her blanket, she quickly got up from her spot on the floor where she'd gotten rest and swore again when she nearly slipped on a patch of thin ice that certainly wasn't there when she'd gone to sleep.
It was bad enough, not being able to sleep in a place fitting for her high birth but the indignity of nearly getting hurt by frozen goddamn water was enough to send her over the edge. Since they were all sleeping like fucking unblooded newborns even through her not very quiet cussing, she was going to give them all a damn wake up call.
Marching over to the largest of her team, Totoma, a saiyan with a fairly large build for such a low class warrior and the sloppiest out of all of them, Haba brought her foot down on the Saiyan's tail.
She did it as a form of revenge since it was mainly his fault for leaving only this place as an option to shelter in for the night, but also as a lesson. Every saiyan was taught as soon as they were old enough to guard their tail, to wrap it around their waist like a belt to keep them clear of enemy attacks.
Totoma's inability to follow instruction must have started from the moment he was popped out of his lowborn mother's snatch because he protected his tail as often as he thought before acting and it was a problem of his that she'd been losing patience with for almost a year now. By the law's of their people she had full right to, in this very moment, make sure her stomp snapped off his tail at the root. A shameful punishment that if she decided to follow up with a energy blast to sear it, would follow him for the rest of his life.
And, yet again, she was reminded that a weakened and in pain teammate, was only a little less useful than a dead one and she would not stand spending anymore time on this planet that she had to.
So using only enough force to only nearly break bones, she crushed the Saiyan's tail into the floor.
The effect was immediate.
Totoma clenched up and screamed as if he'd just been electrocuted. The sound of his pain was enough to wake up the other two. Escar with her long shoulder length hair, and Collar with his face barely free from baby fat of his young age, went from sleeping to on their feet so quickly that they actually aimed balls of energy in her direction and were about to fire before they realized who they were about to fire at and released them.
However, she never gave them any notice, she just lifted her foot and allowed Totoma to move. As soon as she did, the saiyan whipped around with look that said he was ready to kill whoever did that. A look that crumbled under the weight of her own glare. However, just because his actions were cowed didn't mean his mouth was. "What the hell, Haba?" He hissed, rubbing his tail to get rid of the pain. "What did I do?"
"Do I really need to explain?" Baring her teeth to make sure not only Totoma but the others understood how pissed off she was, she loomed over the larger saiyan who had yet to get up. "I'm cold, uncomfortable, have frost in my hair, and very fucking angry about the fiasco yesterday."
If it hadn't been clear from the confused looks she was getting from all three of them, then the question that came out of Escar's mouth, the only other female on the team, was enough to make it more obvious that they had no idea why she was angry. And that upset Haba even more. "But yesterday went great, even better than the day before. No survivors to track down this time."
With a deep breath that showed she was barely holding on to her self-control, she spoke slowly as if teaching her own offspring who was just learning their language. "I told you all to keep at least one building standing. I wasted my breath to explain to you that we needed decent shelter so that we don't wake up cold and with frost in our hair. I said this because unlike trash like you, I actually care about where I close my eyes at night."
"But instead, you decide to ignore my orders?" She phrased it like a question but her voice rumbled, low and dangerous enough to get through even Totoma's thick skull. All of them stiffened at that. They knew well the price of disobedience against a high class Saiyan like her.
"But...we thought it was a..." The look Haba leveled at Escar was sharp enough to shave molecules. It dared her to finished the sentence.
"A what?"
"A suggestion?" Totoma finished, reminding everyone that he was indeed the dumbest of the group.
At first, Haba didn't react. Instead, she stared at the large Saiyan for an uncomfortably long amount of time.
Then a smile cracked the stone that had been her face. It was so unexpected that it actually had everyone lower their guard for just a moment.
The movement that followed was almost too fast to see. Haba's arm lanced out and grabbed Totoma by the hair with such ferocity that he didn't get time to yelp as before the elite yanked him face first into the space where her knee had come to meet in the middle. It was only luck that didn't have the scouter he was wearing crushed into his eye.
There was a crunch of cartilage and the saiyan dropped clutching his bleeding face and cursing. "It seems that we've been away from our Homeworld too long," Haba simply stepped over him, her smile gone just as fast the attack and replaced with a deadly scowl. " since apparently you three have suddenly gone insane and forgot how things work around here."
The other two saiyans took a step back as Haba closed in on them, fists clenched.
"I will make this as clear as the scouters on your face. I do not give suggestions. When I tell you to do something, it better be done because if I have to waste my breath again, it will be the last one you ever get. I won't care if I have to stay on this planet for a year to finish the job, I will kill all of you. Do I make myself clear?"
All of them nodded, even Totoma, who was holding his face like it was about to fall off as he slowly got to his feet.
This time Haba's smile was genuine, sharp and cutting. "Good, now one of you find us some food." Even though her command had been phrased in a way that could have been taken by anyone, all eyes, even her own went directly to their most junior member. Collar, at thirteen years old knew the pecking order better than his much large senior and without even asking for confirmation, bowed and flew out the open hole in the ceiling. In fact, he’d remained quiet while the grownups talked, a sign of good sense which was rare for most of the mid-class on a good day. Hell, the kid was handling his first purging mission well. Most brats his age would get caught up in the rush of the hunt and do something stupid that would get themselves killed… Still, good head on that boy’s shoulders. Maybe picking her little brother for this mission wasn’t a mistake.
“Escar, how many more cities are left on this ice ball?” She asked, going over to one of the wooden shelves and breaking of a sharp piece of wood about as long and thick as her finger. “Since we can’t use the moon, we’re going to be doing a lot of search and destroy.” She thought about it for a moment, before sighing. “More search than destroy.”
The saiyan in question tapped her scouter and read the text that flowed by. “Data provided says that we have at least five more megacities to go, save a few towns here and there. The cleanup crews can handle the re-”
Escar stopped mid-sentence and Haba paused in the middle of picking her teeth. “What is it?”
“I...I’m sorry, Ma’am. Just an error with my scouter.” Was the answer she got, but Haba kept her gaze locked on the saiyan, eyes demanding details. Sure, she knew their equipment was indeed faulty pieces of junk at times but she wasn’t in charge of her own squad for the hell of it. “There was a ping last night. A power level far above what any of the local in inhabitants have registered. Much higher than any of the info that we were given.” Escar fiddled a little with the button. “It’s just not going away.”
“Finally.” Totoma growled, smashing his fists together already spoiling for a fight he’d never have, his busted nose forgotten. “I’ve been getting bored.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, you damn idiot.“ Haba held back a snort and pressed her own scouter. Even if there was a high power level on this rock, which there wasn’t because TPO’s equipment was shit, she was getting first crack at it. “There’s nothing here but us and a few million more we have...to...” She faded, her toothpick slipping from her fingers as the data rolled across the lens. Exactly 9 hours, 3 minutes, and 15 seconds ago a power level of 2,000 popped up out of no where and then that power level almost an hour later peaked at 600,000 before dropping off to a measly 1,029. “Escar, what reading does your scouter say this power has right now?”
The saiyan stopped fiddling with her scouter, her face paling slightly at the look Haba had. “Uh, hovering around 1,029 and 1,030.”
Haba grunted in reply, not happy in the slightest. This peons on this planet were barely above 150 and yet something appeared in the night that was more than 6 times that. She pushed off the 600,000 as an error, it had to be. There was no way a power level like that could’ve been on this planet before they’d arrived and didn’t have the Ginyu Force being sent to investigate and press into service or kill, whichever came first. That aside, a power level of a thousand was something to investigate. A little challenge would be enough to get the blood pumping.
“We’re eating on the road.” Haba announced. “When Collar gets back, we’re heading to that power level.”
“Ma’am.” The other two said in unison.
“Anything else?” Escar asked as she bowed at the waist.
The saiyan commander thought about it and then smiled. “Scorch the earth. Any gatherings of locals large enough that we stumble on, we blow ‘em to bits.”
XXX
When Krillin came to, the room was spinning. No, actually, his mind was spinning, twirling out of control as he tried so very hard to process what in the hell was going on. If he hadn’t had the last few hours etched into his mind, he would’ve been sure this was a nightmare or just a really crazy dream. However, his tail… his saiyan tail for it couldn’t be anything else, was twitching against the bathroom tiles. He could feel the fur against the chill of ceramic and that wasn’t the only thing that came to mind
Slowly, he stood and reached around to grip his tail. It was brown and fuzzy and was bringing back memories from years ago. The first tournament and the final match, when Bulma explained what Goku could transform into and the nervousness when he met Gohan for the first time. The frantic use-every-second-you-can year of training before the saiyans showed up. The terror of facing down Nappa and then realizing that he was subordinate to Vegeta. Facing Vegeta’s massive ape form like a half-remembered nightmare and… and...
A sudden shock and then horror rolled over Krillin as he looked himself in the mirror, bringing all his memories to a shuddering halt as last night came to mind. The first thing he’d seen when he opened his eyes was the sky, moonlight filtering through dark clouds like a thick curtain on a clear sunny day. How close had he come to it? He had no idea what would’ve happened… if he would’ve even survived the transformation but even if he had would he even been able to find what was left of the time machine? He certainly wouldn’t have found the Capsule case. He’d probably still be outside, cold, alone, and thoroughly screwed.
Wouldn’t he? Certainly a giant ape would’ve gotten the attention of someone and maybe the rescue party would’ve found him before he froze. Wouldn’t the chance of getting home be worth the risk of keeping it? Maybe purposefully going outside in the middle of the night and looking up?
Releasing his tail, he let it sway in the air and watched it’s movements in the mirror. It gently wagged up and down, completely unassuming, and by doing so, gave him his answer. No, it wouldn’t.
Opening his palm, a yellow disc of energy formed above his hand. He curled his fingers and constricted the energy to the size of a dinner plate. As if knowing what he was about to do, his tail flailed around wildly as if trying to leap off his body. If only it could. Krillin knew this wasn’t going to be painless no matter how quickly or cleanly a Destructo Disc would cut it off. If what he’d felt when he carelessly sat on it was any indication...
The bathroom was stocked with clean towels and washcloths and with his free hand he grabbed a hand towel from it’s folded place on the sink and stuffed it in his mouth and closed his eyes to calm his now racing heart. He gripped in firmly to hold it in place.
The buzz of his Ki shredded through the silence and had his guts doing back-flips. He was already in pain, this would just be that little extra… cherry on top. Yeah, a simple cherry on top. It’d be quick. Like ripping off a bandaid… certainly. He opened his eyes, breathing hard and quick a few more times and on the intake of his 15th, raised his disc, grabbed a firm hold on his tail and...
And… and he didn’t need to cut it off now. Not right now. What if he screwed up and sliced into his spine by mistake? That would be worse, not to mention a strong possibility since he couldn’t see it’s base.
Yeah, best not to do something stupid and mull over it for a day… or three. He’d certainly make a decision by the end of the week. Maybe ask 18 when he got back, yeah.
He released the hold on his Ki and the disc spun into sparks as he leaned against the sink, more exhausted than he’d ever felt in his life. With a hiss, he yanked the towel out of his mouth and tossed it aside. Okay, he just needed to think.
Hunger long forgotten, he left the bathroom and went over to the hallway closet next to the bedroom and, weakly smiling that his hunch was correct, pulled on of the bed sheets out and ‘dressed’ himself. Once he’d tucked the sheet in the approximation of a robe, he went to the living room and sat down on the sofa. It was only half way down that he reached for his tail and move it out of the way.
The moment he did, he deflated as he slumped into the cushions. Okay, so he had a tail...and was alone in the wilderness. He couldn’t fly very far with his lack of clothing, not without risking a repeat of last night. There hadn’t been a rescue party sent to the site of where the Time machine engine crashed and the satellite phone had no signal and he had a tail.
He had a tail… that didn’t have to mean anything, right? He was human for Kami’s sake, not a saiyan. He laughed to himself feeling silly over his panic. No, he wasn’t a saiyan and even though it had hurt when he’d sat on it, wouldn’t the be the same for most limbs that anyone dropped their full weight on carelessly? After all, weren’t humans close cousins of monkeys? Surely, that explosion had done something screwy to him and maybe he’d sprouted a tail as a result? Yeah, it had to be that.
Right?
Okay, this was wild even by the high standards of his life. He could only hope that once he got home-
It was at that moment that Krillin felt it. A slight tingle at the back of his skull yanked hard at his attention like the reins of a horse, making him snap straight.
It was distant. One the edge of his senses really, but as he closed his eyes to focus, the more recognized what he was suddenly feeling.
Ki presences?
No, a sudden gap in them. The background buzz of lives being lived suddenly gone all at once. Hundreds...Thousands, had just perished. Winked out like a candles in a storm, so quickly that once that he couldn’t help but notice the lack.
Then the vibration followed.
Again, it was slight and distant and had he not been focused or even moving around, he wouldn’t have noticed. With his mind in height alert though, the minuscule tingling running from the floor through the soles of his feet, screamed an express warning straight to his brain that something very bad and VERY huge just happened.
At first, his thoughts jumped to an earthquake but that idea was thrown away just as quickly as it came. Natural disasters had a way of ramping up. Killing people unlucky enough to get caught in them a few at a time before building up to a massive body count.
Like a set of dominoes tipping over more and more.
This was entirely different and horribly familiar.
He twitched as another chunk of lives were snuffed out. Just feeling it brought to mind Cell blowing up those… islands...
It hit him like a punch to the gut.
Cities. Someone or something was destroying entire cities.
Another threat to Earth? Now of all times?
It had to be. Which meant, pain or no, he was going to have to do something... Fight, really. He was going to have to fight.
Leaping to his feet, he made for the front door and only opened it about a foot before the cold smacked him in the face and reminded him why he hadn’t gone out to survey the land yet. It was midday with no wind or snow or clouds but the temperature had barely improved.
The chill in the air was quick to numb him through his bed sheet robe and stung his skin.
He couldn’t risk flying out there and he greatly doubted that who or whatever was killing people right now wouldn’t be generous enough to fight him in the comfort of his house.
He wasn’t give much time to think about it because another huge amount of lives left at right at the moment. “Shit!” He hissed and shut the door. This sheet wouldn’t do, he was going to need more, if he didn’t want the weather to do half the work for the enemy.
Had he not been so frantic and hurried as he threw open the closet door in the hallway, he might have noted the thin dim line of energy that squirmed it’s way through the ceiling of his home, coming towards him almost aimlessly like it was drifting on a faraway wind.
He didn’t even feel it when it phased right into his back but maybe, just maybe if he’d gotten the chance to look into a mirror in the fractions of seconds it took for the energy to settle, he might have noticed a small pinpoint of light in the center of his pupils.
XXX
Android 18 flew. Just flew. She had no direction and she couldn't care to follow one if she had. Her mind was throbbing, thoughts spinning like top on the edge of a knife. Krillin was gone. Dead or not, he was gone. Just thinking that made her stomach unravel and, even with it long taken out, made her heart hurt. She gripped her chest and took a deep breath that while she didn't physically need, was necessarily for her to organize her thoughts.
She prayed that he was still alive somewhere...just not dead. She'd been on the lookout that day when they wished for Goku back. The Dragon had made it clear that the saiyan wasn't going to come back because he'd already been wished back once before. Her Krillin had died twice and even with her loose data on the Dragon Balls knew that it would be foolish to hope for a third time.
He just had to be alive somewhere. Alive and needing help.
The only thread she could hold onto like a lifeline was that Krillin wasn't dead. That hope pounded the inside of her skull, drummed on her electronic brain and pushed the spinning top to swirl even faster. Circuits reminded her of the improbable fact that she'd sent Vegeta to his knees, but the organic part of her brain also brought up the the Prince was an Ass of the highest order and that she should've done worse. A still simmering anger of years past, roiled and frothed in her head and swirled with the blend of desperation of even thinking of the possibility that her husband… no, they weren't even married yet.
A ragged sob tore itself from her chest and once it started, heavy weeping cries flowed out of her like a waterfall. She’d thought she had long run out of tears for her losses...but this wasn’t pain of her years being stolen from her or morning a life she’d never get back. No, this was Krillin.
Her Krillin.
He couldn't dead. He shouldn't. It wasn't fair. It wasn't 66 61 69 72 her. It 77 61 73 6e 27 74 fair to him. It wasn't fair to their child.
It ju01110011 01110100 wasn't fair.
"IT WASN'T FUCKING FAIR!!!"
He has to be alive, she just had to… to what? The Android slowed down in the air, coming to the realization that she had no idea where the hell she was going. She wasn’t heading to Kame House... No, the internal GPS had her travel pattern going in a V-like direction from Kame House to Capsule Corp and then away from West City...and she had no idea what she was doing. She rubbed her face and groaned at her own impulsive stupidity.
She’d left without the Dragon Radar, she’d literally charged out of there without the one thing she needed. How fucking stupid was-
CRA-click.
18 felt that. It came from inside. right from the center of her skull and it pulsed out with such violence that she felt it right down to her augmented skeleton. It stopped her on the spot. She didn't even get time to understand what just happened before text messages flew before her eyes. It was so rapid, gone so quickly that if she hadn't been what she was, she'd never had gotten a chance to read it.
Even as she deleted the new messages as quickly as she could to clear her optics, a new one would take its place. She was nervous at first, nothing like this had ever happened before but as she deleted the text a cold dread began to coil her lungs.
Milliseconds of work would have a flood of more in nanoseconds and soon so much of it filled her vision that, as even more came it, they began to cross over each other lines of zeros and ones stacking and criss-crossing over and over with more and more.
She clutched her head, it filled to bursting with a message she hadn't had time to translate. It was clear to her though that whatever this was would cause a massive error in her electronic brain if she didn't do something quick. Unable to see and panicked, she turned in the air to blast away from whatever or whoever was doing this only for something to...
CH-KILC.
Her arms went numb and the dropped to her sides, limp as dead wet leaves.
CH-KILC.
Her body simply stopped and she fell out of the sky like a puppet with its strings cut. She strained trying to move, to stop her fall but she continued, spinning end over end the text still coming in to blind her eve, though she’d given up deleting it.
That last one didn’t come from her, it came from what had to be a thick branch of the tree she crashed into. The weight of her body tore her through limbs of the tree and she slammed into the ground with a THOOM.
Whatever was happening to her had apparently not liked the disruption because, everything came back. Sensation, control, even the text was simply wiped away with the impact. However tone line of text did stay in her vision.
18 didn’t understand what it meant until she lifted her head from the dirt. As she looked around where she’d fallen, she did indeed crash into a tree but the tree was growing out of a large red wall that had faded pink with age.
As she stood up, it hit her that she’d fallen so hard that she’d crashed through a broken concrete path. Weeds and grass growing through the cracks of it, told her that this place hadn’t been used for awhile. When she saw the massive red roofed building before her, placed right in the center of the path, she thought it was a mansion. Some abandoned family estate in the country but not only did this place look fairly new but as she stepped closer to the central building, the half-crumbled pillars, looked less like tasteless lawn decor and more like ruined guard towers. Not naturally ruined either, the telltale searing marks of Ki blasts spoke volumes.
CRUNCH. She paused and looked down at what she’d stepped on. She through it was a fragile bit of stone, until she lifted her foot and saw the familiar shape of a bullet casing. In fact, the ground was littered with them, not only on the stone but in the grass. There had been a battle here. A massive one
She continued forward and opened up the front door which was surprisingly unlocked. Inside was what had once been a lobby, the stench of rotted wood, the broken furniture, the signs of looting, and the craters of bullet impacts did nothing to obscure the faded red bow tie in the center of the floor with the letters RR.
Suddenly, it made sense where she was and she couldn’t help the growl. THE FUCKING RED RIBBON ARMY.
Welcome to ERROR, Android ERROR%@!
Anger filled her to the brim, she just couldn’t get away from Gero and his sick fucking games. First, turning her into a weapon then Cell and now this?!? This was just a extra pile of shit on the landfill she was dealing with. She raised a hand, ready to do what nature and time couldn’t and erase this place from the face of the planet but as she charged her databanks brought something to mind and she flinched.
The red ribbon base had a dragon radar.
It didn’t take much thought but a lot of effort to lower her hand. She didn’t want to be neck deep in this anymore, but it was either search this place or go back to CapCorp and eat crow...
She tightened her fist, leather glove creaking. No. Krillin was worth any risk. She knew if the roses were reversed, he’d do the same for her.
She marched through the place, on a mission to find this Global Dragon Radar, her data was saying was here. It was during her search that she could see how complete the damage was. Bullets had been fired and high caliber ones at that, there were wrecks of flying vehicles and military craft. There were even parts of one of those bubble cockpit robot suits scattered over the place, like it had blown up in mid air.
It took her no time at all to find the base computer. A massive room filled wall to wall and ceiling to floor with computers and screens, clearing it had been a command room of sorts but now it was dark in more ways than one. Dust motes twirled in thin lines of light from the cracks in the ceiling and even with the entrance wide open it seemed like the evening light barely would cross the threshold. All computers were unpowered with cracked screens and smashed boards but something told her she wouldn’t need most of this crap in one pieces. However, as she entered a chair in the center of the room spun around to face her and the door behind slammed shut.
She spun around to look behind her, before the chair had fully rounded and saw… a woman with a device on her face. It looked like someone had taken a pair of headphones, broke it in half and wore the result. For a moment, the Android was hit by the fact she’d seen her before. The blonde hair was tied up in a bun but her face stuck out to her. Yet her focus was drawn away from her features to the battle armor she was wearing. Because it couldn’t be anything but.
Armor with stylized TP on the chest like a badge.
“I’m sorry.”
She turned back to the chair and knew the face at once. Though the thick winter coat with a fuzzy collar was a little off for the warm weather but it was the exact same face of the child who’d told her to step back from his mother only hours ago.
“Sorry, 18.” Trunks repeated, as he stood up and his sword clattered. “I can’t allow you to do what you’re planning.”
“What are you talking about?” She said, positioning her body in such a way that she could keep both Trunks and the unknown in her line of sight. This was one of those moments she wished she could sense Ki. She wouldn’t have gotten caught on the backfoot. “Matter of fact, why the hell are you here, Trunks? Didn’t you go back to your own time?”
The half-saiyan nodded. “I did but right now, that doesn’t matter. What matters right now is you. I need you to give up and go home.”
“You must be out of your damn mind.” 18 scoffed, taking another sidestep to get even more space. “Krillin is-”
“Alive.” This time is was the woman that was speaking and 18’s full attention was on her now. “We are fully aware of his situation but he’s alive.”
“Then if you know that, then bring him here.” She began. Now that she thought about it, Trunks was a time traveler and he had to have gotten here with that machine of his. “Bring him back. Hell, stop what put him where he is in the first place and I’ll leave this place at a full sprint.” She hated every second that she was in this place anyway. She would bomb this place from orbit as soon as she got what she came for anyway but if...
Again, her hope was crushed from the very recognizable way the woman...that secretary wasn’t meeting her eyes. She sneered, angry at them as much as herself for even thinking a solution was just gonna fall out the sky for her. It had never happened when she was young, it wasn’t gonna change now. “If you can’t bring him here then I need the Dragon Balls and the only way I’m getting them now is from these computers.”
“Look, 18.” Trunks looked truly apologetic. “I understand what it’s like to loseloose someone and I know how you’re feeling right now but you understand that we can’t let you use these computers here for a reason. I wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t.”
“I have no other choice.”
The man gave her a look as if she had just said that through the use of a sock puppet. “Do you really? My mother has a radar that’s much more accurate and she wouldn’t hesitate to use the Dragon Balls to get one of her best friends back. What could possibly make you think otherwise?”
18 opened her mouth to snap a response then froze. Now that she thought about it, Bulma was not the kind of person to let the actions of someone else dictate her own. Sure, 18 clocked her husband but that had nothing to do with Krillin. The heiress would wish back Krillin just as quick as 18 would. So why did she think otherwise?
Yet… when she left that room, she’d been so convinced that Bluma had been the one to murder her husband. That she wouldn’t help. She’d been so sure that-
CRA-CHIK.
-bitch had done it on purpose. 18 gritted her teeth, her jaw so tight that she would’ve cracked diamond. Why in the FUCK was she making another Time Machine in the first place? No, better yet how in the hell does someone as goddamn smart as her forget not to put liquids near electronics. That’s baby’s first lesson kind of crap. Now that she thought about it… she still hadn’t gotte an answer as to why Trunks was here. Unless... “You can’t hate me that much.”
“What?” The saiyan in question looked over to the other woman in the room, as if she’d clear up his confusion.
The android continued. “I know the other 17 my other self fucked up your world, and I know you killed her. That was your whole goal with the time machine in the first place but you can’t blame me for that. You can’t be so cruel as to think I deserve to be punished for something I’d never done.”
Realization spread across the man’s face and he looked horrified for a moment. “No, 18 this isn’t about the future. It’s about the Red Ribbon computers. I’d never-”
“Then tell me the reason.” She hissed, cutting him off. “Tell me why I shouldn’t use what I can to get my boyf...my HUSBAND back.”
The half-saiyan dropped his gaze to the floor and 18 knew that he knew his answer wouldn’t be satisfactory. “I can’t. It’s classified.”
“Then fuck you.” She turned to reach for the nearest bank of computers but froze when she heard the sound of steel hissing against leather. Lifting her arms, she twirled back around to face him as the man made a lunge that carried him clear across the room. 18 didn’t even get a chance to defend herself but instead of the sword slashing for her, the blade came down on the computer she had barely touched. “Suzy!” He bellowed as 18 looked on in shock. “Blow up the computers!”
The woman quickly raised a finger like a child playing at being a cowboy and fired three red beams that blew out the banks of the computers on one wall.
“NO!” 18 hadn’t even realized it was her voice, until she opened her palm and fired a blast point-blank in Trunks’ face. He wasn’t ready for it and his surprise showed ad he was knocked clear off his feet. 18 didn’t plan of giving him another thought for the moment.
She charged Suzy and the woman gave a small yelp that was cut off with a gurgle as the Android drove her fist into her stomach, being careful not to kill her. The woman went flying, bouncing off the nearby wall and into another bank of computers. The way she fell into it crumpled the thing, cracking it like an egg and exposing...
That looked like a hard drive. 18 leapt for it and was promptly shoulder checked into a massive screen by Trunks. Suzy had recovered much quicker that what she thought possible and was on her feet, firing a beam right into the hard drive. “18! Listen, I-”
She didn’t really know why. For all her desperation in trying to grab it, she was fully aware that that it could’ve been someone’s porn collection but it was the thought, the very idea, that maybe that drive had been the Radar data that made her livid. It must have shown in her face because Trunks stopped talking and powered up, not quick enough to not get shoved off.
18 stepped in like a boxer and threw a right hook that was caught before it got even close to the half-saiyan’s face, and he made it look hard. 18 knew better though. His free hand lashed for her face and she barely managed to block it. And suddenly they were locked in place, each trying their best to overpower the other with the sheer power in their arms alone. Their fingers locked and the stone cracked under their feet but the sound of Ki blasts never went away.
18 could see each computer being blown to slag but as much as she wanted to do something, if she tried to break off now, Trunks would be right back in her face before she knew it. Worse, this was a battle she was going to lose and he hadn’t even gone super saiyan yet. She could tell from the way she was feeling the pressure from him pressing her feet deeper into the floor.
Again, she knew that fighting him would be futile. He was stronger than her even before he’d gone back. He was certainly stronger than her now. Her mind ran through the her databanks, all the combat information that Gero implanted, all the techniques that Goku and his friends used, and searched of anything to distract him.
Then it was obvious. So much so, that she felt stupid for even having to think so hard to remember.
She let her arms go slack and leaned back, and had Trunks been thinking he’d have just let her but his mind was so focused on keeping her where she was while Suzy did her work that he was caught off guard. He fell forward and 18 snapped her head forward and headbutted him square in the face. The shock of it was just enough that his fingers slipped from hers and she raised her hands up, fingers splayed out above her forehead.
Suzy turned to Trunks’ yelp, saw 18’s hands and the Android could see the shock build in her eyes.
“SOLAR FLARE!”
The light went off like a flashbang and had the effect of a lightning strike in the dim room. 18 saw both of her opponents clutching at their eyes and she, seeing another computer torn open by the struggle ran over, snatched the hard drive, wires and all, and launched herself up.
The ceiling was no barrier and she kept the bulky piece of equipment tucked under her arm to protect it. Once she was free on the building, she too a moment to shake the debrere off her and then moved to pour on the maximum speed.
She barely heard the words, ‘Suzy’ and ‘Out.’
She had no direction this time.
Anywhere was perfect. Away was the point. She pointed herself in a direct-
WHAM.
There was no warning. The knee had come up with the full speed of a rising Saiyan. She only idly recognized that he’d gone super. But the blow had taken all of her attention, the hard drive slipped from her fingers and again, she only idly recognized the blade of a sword passing through it like it was butter.
And at that point she didn’t care.
Because in that moment, bent nearly in half by a strike she never got the chance to dodge, 18 felt her already splintered heart shatter as something, that the human, electronic and especially, mother in her, gave under the knee.
She fell from the air without a sound and didn’t see Trunks fade away in a mass of blue curricular energy or the last Ki blast he fired that
Back in the Time Nest, a scroll’s edges blackened, unnoticed by a the Kai of Time who was screaming, “Bring him back. GET HIM BACK HERE NOW!”
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