Author's Note:

Hello! I know people don't usually read author's notes but please take the time to read this!

I'm Amabel and this isn't my first time posting on this website. I haven't finished a single book, but I'll try to finish this one, depending on the feedback. Anyway, this is my take on the Aizawa-adopts-a-kid troupe you commonly see in BnHA fanfictions. I know I might make my OC a Mary Sue because of this troupe but hopefully, it wouldn't be the case.

Updates are every two weeks since I'm both a student and a clinical lab intern. If I end up not updating, I'll make my next update longer. In turn, if I update earlier, it'd probably be shorter. My chapters usually run 2000-3000 words if I update normally.

Anyway, please do leave remarks on things I need to improve on and I hope you'll enjoy reading Chatoyant!

Sidenote: I've added Iida's older brother Tensei to Aizawa's list of former classmates back in their highschool days at Yuuei. Though I'm not sure this is canon, I added Tensei for plot development reasons.

Disclaimer: I do not own Boku no Hero Academia. I only own my OCs and their background stories.

chatoyant. adj. iridescent
like a cat's eye

1

"From now on, I'll train you myself.
Think you can handle it?"

AIZAWA DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK when he saw a miniature version of his best friend hiding behind the lab coat of his former colleague.

He thought he was hallucinating; Asami was dead, wasn't she?

Although he wasn't there when it happened, he was there when Hizashi broke the news to the rest of the faculty of Yuuei. It was a villain—of course, it was a villain—who murdered her. He saw the clips; it was all over the news, social media, on newspapers, everything. He was there during the funeral, right in front of the casket, right in front of her body. He never would've guessed she was pregnant. She never even told him; no hint, no anything. And he was her partner, her best friend, the closest thing to family that she had!

Aizawa felt betrayed. How could she hide this from him?

But then again, how could he call himself her family when he couldn't even save her?

"Eraserhead," his former colleague spoke, catching his attention immediately. He knew he masked his expression just in time when his colleague didn't acknowledge it.

He cleared his throat and nodded subtly. "Dr. Yamamoto."

Yamamoto Kaito was in Aizawa's class back when they both studied in Yuuei, alongside Hizashi, Iida Tensei, and Kurehashi Asami. The professor didn't stray from his highschool appearance nor did he look older, making Aizawa wonder if time ever worked on him. He donned his usual white button-up shirt and black slacks underneath a wrinkly white lab coat with pens lining its coat pocket. Though his head was clean shaven, his chin bore stubbles which ran up the length of his jaw to his ears. The way his glasses glinted under the laboratory's fluorescent lights made Aizawa slightly anxious.

And he thought he looked creepy, with the dark circles around his eyes and his permanent scowl. Yamamoto stole that crown easily. Not that Aizawa needed it.

"It's good to see you again."

"I would say the same, if only the situation was different."

The professor cracked a smile. "Would you have preferred meeting in a battlefield then?"

"At least I know what to do in a battlefield. This, however, is a different matter." Aizawa's gaze swept towards the child, who continued to cower behind the professor. He didn't need to confirm if she really was Asami's kid. They had the same dark hair cut in the same style and the same brown eyes. The only difference was the pair of glasses perched on top of the little one's tomato nose, making her look more mature for her age.

He wanted to confirm something else though. "Who's the father?"

The professor shrugged. "Take a wild guess."

Aizawa resisted the urge to sigh.

He wanted this entire ordeal over and done with. In fact, as mean as it may sound, he wanted nothing to do with the kid. She looked so much like her mother, it almost pained Aizawa to even spare a single glance.

He knew where the conversation was headed. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Dr. Yamamoto wanted him to look after the kid, probably at Asami's request before she passed. And he didn't like the idea at all. Besides, he can barely take care of himself. How much more with a child under his wing? He'd probably feed her instant ramen and let her sleep in her own sleeping bag. The girl is better off at an orphanage than with him!

He looked at her again, ignoring the hauntingly familiar features of his dead best friend, before answering. "Central Nerve?"

When the girl perked up at the name, Aizawa knew he got it right.

Dr. Yamamoto made a noise of agreement. "It was an easy guess. The bottom half of her face looks exactly like his. Plus the ears are a dead giveaway."

Aizawa caught a glimpse of the child's slightly pointy ears before she patted them down beneath her hair. He would've quirked his lips at her red face but he kept his expression neutral. She looked just like her, even when she's embarrassed.

He knew of Asami's relationship with Watanabe Gou, another one of his former colleagues who went pro-Hero and carried the name Central Nerve. However, he had not expected the relationship to reach this level of intimacy. He went AWOL shortly after Asami's death and was presumed dead after another massive villain attack in his city.

Asami had never mentioned wanting children, but Aizawa guessed there was more to his best friend than he realized.

After dragging the conversation for so long, he decided to take the bull by its horns. "Dr. Yamamoto, I know why you brought me here. And I know why you wanted me to meet the child, who I surprisingly never knew existed until now. And you know what my answer is."

The professor sighed. He crouched down to the kid's height and whispered something into her ear. It must've been something she wasn't comfortable with since she shook her head quickly.

When Aizawa saw her take a cautious step forward, he raised an eyebrow. "What is she doing?" He directed the question to the professor. He didn't move back though when she finally stood in front of him, her arms winding behind her back and her feet tapping anxiously on the ground.

"Showing you her Quirk."

"I don't think that's necessary—"

Dr. Yamamoto didn't give him a chance.

When the words left the professor's mouth, Aizawa felt a small hand on his cheek, not really cupping his face but just enough for him to feel awkward. He had to resist using his Quirk on her, lest something bad happened. Of course he knew his former colleague wouldn't put him in any kind of danger but in the world they were living in now, anything and everything could go wrong in a split second.

He took in a quick breath when he began to feel something from the little girl's fingers. Straightaway, calmness rippled over him like a cool winter breeze. It soothed him, eased his tension, reminded him of his favorite type of tea. He doesn't even have a favorite. He doesn't even drink tea.

It relaxed him so much, he didn't remember closing his eyes. His breathing evened, his shoulders sagged, his feet rocked back and forth. Was he about to lose consciousness? Was he about to topple over? He reached forward, flailing around to grab something to balance him. When he finally touched a chair—or was it a table? Or a table top?—he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

It suddenly dawned on to him that he wasn't closing his eyes, and he wasn't touching a chair. In fact, he didn't know what he's feeling under his fingertips.

Panic replaced the calm.

He couldn't see.

He couldn't feel anything.

The kid just took away two of his senses.

After an entire minute, Aizawa regained his sight. It took a while before the feeling returned to his fingers though. His instincts kicked in and he began to wonder about the details of the child's Quirk. How long would it take for the senses to return? Can she take away all five senses or just two at a time? Is the Quirk only limited to taking away or does it also enhance? Does she need to be touching a person for it to work or not?

He gazed down at her. He wasn't surprised to see her already staring at him, as if waiting for some form of approval. He can't really say anything though; he's not even sure the kid knows what to do with it. Does she want to be a hero like her mom?

"How's her control?" Aizawa asked the professor.

Dr. Yamamoto sighed heavily before shaking his head. "Not that good. She can't choose which sense to take away from a person."

"Just sight and touch?"

"Yes. Kind of like a default option. She can't control how much she can take away either. One small touch and you'd be blind and numb for about a minute or so."

"Does she need to be touching you for it to work?"

The professor shook his head. "It works as a registry. She touches you once and her Quirk registers it so that she can control your senses anytime she likes. So far she's registered mine, yours, and Present Mic." Dr. Yamamoto must have noticed the tiny sliver of surprise on Aizawa's face so he continued. "He was here yesterday afternoon. I initially thought you'd come together but he was very curious why I invited him over all of a sudden so he went ahead."

Aizawa's eyebrows raised just the slightest. No wonder why Hizashi burst inside his house unannounced last night. His loud rambunctious colleague sputtered nonsense throughout the night, talking Aizawa's ear off. He kept his sentences vague, only mentioning how Aizawa needed to see Yamamoto immediately and how the Erasure hero would drop-dead (his words) at the news. Too bad for him, there was no dropping of the dead. Just surprise, and even a bit of fascination for the child's Quirk.

Aizawa went over the details again.

It's a nullification Quirk. Common and not at all flashy. Unlike his Erasure that nullifies Quirks, hers renders a person's senses null and void. Though Aizawa isn't sure if he should call it a Sense Nullification Quirk when it only works on sight and touch. Unless the kid can completely shut down all five senses, her Quirk isn't that much of a big deal. It's a basic practice for heroes—and villains—to rely on their instincts, which are entities separate from the five senses. Blinding someone momentarily might disorient him for a second but unless she has a weapon of her own, similar to Aizawa's steel wire alloy cloths, she can't hold her ground in battle.

"It has potential," Aizawa stated as he stared down at the kid. He held eye contact with her for a second before he turned back to the professor. "You need to find someone to train her if you want to keep her alive."

He knew Asami's killer was still out there. Weak but still dangerous. If the villain knew the kid existed, she'd be his next target. It would take years for the revenge to happen though; Asami did a great number on him before she died. But looking at the child's current state—a five year old orphan with a Quirk she can't control—Aizawa can't help but feel slightly worried.

But why should he worry? The kid's not his responsibility.

"Ah, well. . ." Yamamoto scratched the back of his neck. Aizawa narrowed his eyes, already expecting the next sentences. "I initially thought you should train her, Eraser."

"No." The answer came swiftly and without hesitation. It wasn't a surprise to see the professor flinch at his bluntness. Even the kid looked visibly hurt by the sudden rejection. But Aizawa did not have time for this; he was a pro-Hero, not a babysitter!

"Why not? You were Asami's bestfriend."

"Exactly," growled Aizawa. He had no idea why he was suddenly feeling hostile. "I was her bestfriend. Yet she didn't tell me she had a child!" He glanced at the girl, scrunching his eyebrows together. "What month were you born, kid?"

She must've not been expecting him to address her directly since she did a double take. "September," she murmured softly once she got over her initial shock.

"And you're five. . ." Aizawa did the math in his head. When everything clicked together, his eyes widened. He glared at Yamamoto, who flinched once more. "Asami was in her first trimester and the agency thought it was a good idea to let her fight?! Aren't pregnant women suspended from duty until they bear their children?!"

He was irritated. How could they? If they suspended her temporarily, just until she gave birth, she could've still been alive! He pictured his late bestfriend on the hospital bed, just minutes away from death, keeping herself together for the sake of her child.

Aizawa stilled. Her first trimester. Three weeks pregnant. Which means she didn't give birth yet. He felt light-headed. If Asami died in her first trimester of pregnancy, with the fetus still in the womb, then the child shouldn't have survived, right?

With a hand on his head, he glanced at the girl. She abandoned her post behind Yamamoto's lab coat. Instead, she stood just a few steps away from him. He watched her tilt her head sideways, obviously noticing Aizawa's discomfort. She looked like she wanted to help but didn't know what to do.

And yet here she is. Alive and healthy.

"How did you do it?" he asked Yamamoto, visibly astounded. Ignoring his dizzy spell, he snapped his head towards the professor. "How is the kid alive without staying in the womb for a complete nine months? What did you do?"

Yamamoto must've realized it was all too much for Aizawa. He walked forward, placed a hand on his former colleague's shoulder, and said. "Alright, Eraser. You need a drink. Come on."

"Yeah." Aizawa breathed out. A drink sounds nice.

The Erasure Hero did not like tea.

But it did calm him down.

He placed his cup back on the saucer, exhaling slowly. The dizziness left him, but his questions continued to roam freely in his head. He wanted explanations for a lot of things but he decided to be patient. He knew Yamamoto would give him the answers he needed.

And the professor did not disappoint.

Before beginning his explanation though, he motioned for the child to come to him. "Do you want to stay here or do you want to go outside?" he asked her with a gentle tone.

'He's letting her decide,' Aizawa thought. 'He knows that whatever happens after this conversation, she's directly involved in it. But he's letting her choose to stay and listen or leave and wait for the conclusion.' His respect for his former colleague grew as he realized this.

"Here," she replied softly. She looked over at Aizawa and, with slight hesitation on her face, walked towards where he sat on the couch. She appeared to be silently asking permission to sit beside him. Though he felt odd about it, he granted her request with a tiny nod.

"She seems to be growing comfortable around you, Eraserhead."

Ignoring the obvious teasing, Aizawa leaned forward, threading his hands together. "Explain, Yamamoto."

The professor sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you everything."

He stood up and went over his desk. "Your guess regarding Asami's pregnancy was almost right; however, she wasn't in her first trimester when she died. She was almost finished with her second, about twenty-three weeks in, though it wasn't physically obvious. She hid it pretty well, even going through desperate lengths such as binding her stomach. She's tiny to begin with so it wasn't difficult to trick people."

Yamamoto brought out an envelope from one of the drawers. "You see, when a baby is at its sixth month and is born prematurely, it may survive with intensive care. In Hitomi's case, since she's extremely pre-term, which means she was born at or before 25 weeks of pregnancy, it was difficult to keep her alive until she underwent all the necessary growth changes. I had to seek help from other doctors with various healing Quirks from all over the world."

Hitomi. Aizawa realized he hadn't known what the child was called until Yamamoto brought it up. Hitomi, as in 'pupil of the eye'. He resisted the urge to scoff. How fitting.

Yamamoto opened the envelope and brought out sheets of paper for Aizawa to inspect. They contained progress reports on the child's fetal development.

Breathing problems, temperature problems, an abnormally low level of blood sugar, anemia, newborn jaundice—the list goes on and on. Dates were stamped beside each complication, together with the countermeasures Dr. Yamamoto and his colleagues did in attempt to relieve each problem. Follow-up observations were listed underneath them—one of which caught Aizawa's attention.

"Retinal detachment?" he asked.

"Her retina was pulled away from the back of her eye by abnormal retinal vessels. Thankfully, we detected it earlier before it did major damage to her vision. That explains why she's wearing glasses." Yamamoto gestured to the girl, who kept quiet throughout the entire thing. Her expression didn't change though, making Aizawa wonder if she already knew everything surrounding her growth.

"And you managed to fix the rest of the complications?"

"Every last one. She didn't develop any chronic health issues, which I'm grateful for."

Aizawa felt Yamamoto's eyes on him, scrutinizing his every action. He finally understood why he wasn't aware of Hitomi's existence until now.

Yamamoto pushed him to a corner.

"You kept her a secret until you were finally confident she can live outside your lab," Aizawa concluded, setting the files down on top of the table. When he saw the professor nod, he continued. "When you discovered her Quirk, you realized it was similar to mine. That's when you thought it's finally time to let me know, so that I can train her."

He leaned back. How could he get out of this one?

"She requested it, actually."

Aizawa was startled. "What?"

Yamamoto smiled. "I wanted to tell you immediately but Asami specifically told me not to. She said I should wait until the child manifests her Quirk. She knew her death would take a toll on you and she didn't want you to add to your plate." The professor leaned forward to pour himself more tea. "She initially wanted me to not let you know. Ever. But I convinced her otherwise."

He brought his cup to his lips and blew on the surface. "I'm not forcing you to take Hitomi under your wing, Eraser. Sure, I suggested you to train her because that's the best option for her Quirk but you are free to say no. . . well, you already did."

After he sipped his tea, he continued. "I invited you here simply for you to meet each other, not for you to feel responsible for anything." Yamamoto then cracked a grin. "Plus, Hitomi's been pushing me to introduce you to her ever since I told her about her mom's friends."

At the corner of Aizawa's eyes, he watched the girl redden at Yamamoto's claim.

"I wasn't pushing," she muttered in annoyance. Then, she fully pivoted her body to catch Aizawa's gaze. "I wanted to meet you because Yama-jisan said you knew my Mom best, which is really unfair because I'm her daughter. I should be the one to know her best."

Aizawa was surprised by her explanation. It had nothing to do with developing her Quirk or demanding for a parental figure in her life. She genuinely accepted her mother's death and her father's absence. What she didn't accept was Aizawa's upper hand when it comes to memories about Asami, and it baffled the Erasure Hero completely!

"I want to know more about my mother, Eraser-san." She wasn't asking him for a favor. She was demanding him to tell her everything he knew about her late mother.

She wanted to be the one to know her best.

Aizawa took it back. Yamamoto wasn't the one pushing him to a corner. The kid was.

"And I'm not letting you leave until you tell me everything about her."

"Ah," Aizawa didn't know what to say. This five-year-old was really testing him. "That. . . would take a long time, kid."

"Doesn't matter." Her voice was firm. A complete one-eighty of the shy attitude she displayed earlier. "You aren't leaving. You sleep in a sleeping bag, right? We have tons of that here!"

How did she know about the sleeping bag?! Aizawa glared at Yamamoto who looked away, whistling. He scowled. "You knew she'd react like this, didn't you?"

"I did say I wouldn't force you. I never said anything about her forcing you."

Aizawa cursed under his breath, mentally groaning. Yamamoto's going to make him say it. He knew he was fighting a losing battle—against a kid! The situation felt frustrating and yet, it was oddly endearing. She wanted to know more about her mom, huh. . .

"Alright fine!" Aizawa stood up. He turned towards the kid, his hands folded in front of his chest. "I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Her eyes sparkled behind her thick-rimmed glasses. "Does that mean you'll live here with Yama-jin and I?"

Aizawa scoffed. "Of course not." He caught Yamamoto's eyes for a second before returning his gaze to Hitomi. "You'll live with me, brat."

The sparkle never dulled. Her lips curved into a familiar grin.

'Just like her mom.' Aizawa couldn't help but think.

"And her training?" Yamamoto brought up, appearing beside him. "Do I need to get someone else? Present Mic?" He rubbed his chin stubble with his fingers. "Or maybe I can contact All Might. . ."

"You don't have to." The Erasure Hero slumped his shoulders. He did not like eating his words. He stared down at the determined look on Hitomi's face, already feeling tired for the next few years. He can't help the upward quirk of his lips though. "From now on, I'll train you myself," he directed the sentence to the kid. "Think you can handle it?"

"I'll try my best." She grinned cheekily.

Aizawa scoffed again before shaking his head wordlessly. He contemplated letting his guard down for a second just to pat the kid's head, but he decided otherwise. There will come a time and place for that, just. . .not now.

'Me too kid.' He thought as he turned to Yamamoto to talk further about the entire living situation. He could've sworn he felt Asami's presence somewhere behind him. Or maybe it was just his imagination. Who knows?

But what did Aizawa know was that things are about to get even more complicated, now that he has a kid in his life.