Tiger Cub

by Alatus

A locked door stood between them. But for Kotetsu it might as well have been a chasm, with Kaede on the other side. Didn't she realize her announcement at dinner had taken him by surprise? The dinner table she threw at him certainly had. One Shot. Post Series.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tiger & Bunny, which is property of Sunrise and their respective reactors. This was purely written for entertainment value alone.

Summary: A locked door stood between them. But for Kotetsu it might as well have been a chasm, with Kaede on the other side. Didn't she realize her announcement at dinner had taken him by surprise? The dinner table she threw at him certainly had.

Big thanks too my beta reader Panther Moon for all her help with this one shot!

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Wild Tiger, retired hero, and a proud father, drew a deep, deep breath. He raised a hesitant hand toward the locked door before him– a door that now stood between him and his daughter. He knocked tentatively. "Kaede?"

Nothing.

He tried not to grimace. Why on earth had his mother allowed Kaede to have a lock on her door anyway?! "Kaaaaaede."

Still no answer.

He blew out a slow breath, running a hand through his hair. "Look, Kaede sweetie–"

There was a loud thwam as something impacted with the other side of the door. Kotetsu stumbled back, startled. An angry shout came from within. "I'm not a little girl anymore!"

At least he knew she was in there now. He wasn't certain what he would have done if she'd gone out the window again. Mentally he started running through a list of what she could have thrown. With him being the last person she'd touched, anything in her room was fair game. He grimaced again. "Kaede listen–"

"No, you listen! I'm going and that's final!" There was a loud WHAM as her foot connected with the floor causing the whole house to shake. Kotetsu held his breath hoping she hadn't just sent her foot straight through the wooden flooring. He hated trying to repair that.

Silence settled uncomfortably once more.

"Kaede, I just…" he trailed off, struggling to find the right words this time.

It had only been a few months since the whole mess with Maverick. Even with everything cleaned up, and his name cleared, Kotetsu's secret identity had been blown sky high. From all over, reporters had swarmed to their quiet in-the-middle-of-nowhere hometown, hounding at the door of the Kaburagi household. Each had wanted an interview with the now unmasked Wild Tiger and, sadly, ignoring them wasn't an option.

Kotetsu hadn't minded the questions and milling journalists; he was far too used to them from his line of work. Sadly, he'd never been concise in his answers and most of them came out sounding far more awkward than what he'd intended. It had annoyed his latest interviewer who had been looking for that juicy new detail to give his article a flashy new angle. Kotetsu hadn't even been aware of the powered keg that reporter had lit until Kaede had figuratively exploded at him. Which brought him back to the locked door that now stood between them.

He drew a deep breath, determined to not to let his mouth get ahead of him this time. "Kaede, is this really what you want to do?"

"Of course it is!"

Kotetsu drew another deep breath. How was he supposed to get a serious answer from her when she was still furious at him? It didn't help that he knew he deserved her anger. "And what about your ice skating? Are you going to give up on that?"

Silence.

When it stretched on a little too long, Kotetsu continued. "Kaede, being a hero– not just a good one, but a great hero– is more than just a full time job."

"Blue Rose handles it just fine," came the defensive retort. Kotetsu didn't miss the words she muttered after that. "Unlike some people."

He shut his eyes, biting back the pain her words caused. He knew full well that barb was meant for him. "And how often does Blue Rose release albums compared to other artists?" No hint of his hurt came through in his voice, but his heart was twisting in his chest.

Kotetsu knew that Blue Rose had only started as a hero because of the record deal her mangers had offered. Karina dreamed of becoming a singer and, at first, all her focus was on that one goal. Her work as a hero had suffered for it.

"Her new single came out just last week," his daughter answered promptly. "Or have you already forgotten about the signed copy she gave you?"

Kotetsu cringed. He had kinda forgotten about it. "Oops."

"You did forget about it!"

"Not on purpose!"

"Daaaad… She went to all the trouble of sending it to you as a thank you gift!" Kaede had become a big fan of Blue Rose after everything that had happened. The fact Kaede found Karina's power to be super cool after having borrowed them didn't hurt, either. It seemed that admiration was also enough to cool her temper slightly toward her Dad.

"I know! I know!" He ran a hand through his hair. "But so has everyone else!" He'd been inundated with thank you's and well intentioned gifts, not only from his fellow heroes but also from a large portion of Hero TV's viewership. "Heck! Even Bunny gave me something!"

The blond had handed over the package so seriously that when Kotetsu opened it, he'd found himself biting back a laugh, afraid he'd insult his partner. In what had to be Barnaby's first attempt at humour, he'd given Wild Tiger an over stuffed orange tiger doll. One that matched perfectly the shape of a certain stuffed pink bunny rabbit.

He shook his head furiously. Focus Kotetsu! FOCUS! "That's also one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you, Kaede." He needed to get this conversation back on track. "You can't let all this media attention go to your head."

Ever since the first story about Maverick hit the air, Kaede had been getting looks of awe from her classmates, not only because of who her Dad was but also because Agnes, in a bid for more ratings, had awarded Kaede 3500 hero points for her capture of the mad roboticist and rescue of all the other captured heroes. Kotetsu couldn't help but discreetly notice that the ultimate fate of the crazed scientist, Rotwang, had been quietly swept under the rug.

"You think that's what this is all about," shouted Kaede, sounding madder than before. Oops. Well that just backfired. "I don't care about the points!" Kotetsu let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "I don't even care that it's made us famous! Even if my friends–" She stumbled over her words, before murmuring softly, "even if my friends have gone all starry-eyed." She fell silent.

Kotetsu shut his eyes, rested his arm against the door, and felt the cool surface pressing against his flesh. What could he say to that? He was just as new to this whole everyone knew his face thing, and it made him just as uncomfortable. Maybe he should ask Bunny for tips… not that Barnaby was a social butterfly by any means.

"Gah!" He roughly mussed his hair up. All this worrying was driving him crazy. "Kaede," he began a moment later, voice subdued. "I know I can't say sorry enough times because of what I said at dinner." Even now his mother and Muramasa were probably still cleaning up the overturned dinner table. Kotetsu hadn't spared the wreckage a second thought as he'd chased after Kaede. "I put my foot in my mouth, and I'm not going to offer any excuses for that. But I am, truly, sorry for what I said."

They'd been at the dinner table. Kotetsu had been half way through chewing on a piece of fried beef when Kaede had abruptly announced that she was going to become a hero. He'd choked on his dinner. After a mad grab for his water glass, and chugging it, he'd been assaulted by visions of his sweet little girl parading around Sternbild in a hero costume skimpier than Blue Rose's outfit.

He'd ended up spitting out most of the water he'd just inhaled across the table. Coughing, spluttering, and wheezing more than talking, he'd said those dammed words. "No way… no way am I letting that happen!"

Everyone at the table had frozen. The next thing he'd realized was that the dinner table was flying at him. Finely tuned reflexes had kicked in, and he'd dodged the oak table effortlessly. Eleven years of being a hero far outweighed his few months of retirement.

The guilt over what he'd said, though, made him wish that he'd just let it hit him.

He leaned just a little heavier against the locked door. "I'm sorry, Kaede," he repeated, knowing the words weren't going to be enough.

She didn't answer him.

Staring at the polished floor of the hallway, he drew a deep breath. "You took me by surprise. I wasn't even really answering to what you said." He shuddered again as the image of his little girl in that horrible, horrible imaginaryoutfit danced across his mind once more. "I mean, I was thinking about what you said, but not about what you said. Like, in the way that you meant, but what I meant was…" he paused. This was not coming out right. "Let me start over." He draw a deep breath, centring himself for a moment. Then he straightened as though she were right there in front of him instead of on the other side of the locked door. "Kaede, if being a hero is what you truly want to do, then you have my full support."

He fell silent, hoping for an answer.

Several minutes passed and nothing was said. Kotetsu's heart fell. Of course it was going to take more than a few words for her to believe him.

He was starting to wonder if he should just leave her alone, when she spoke up again. "The Hero Academy offered me a scholarship." Kotetsu blinked, surprised. Before he could think to offer a congratulations, Kaede rushed on. "Said they'd show me how to control my powers properly. Not just the fits and bursts that have manifested depending on my emotions." There was shuffling on the other side as Kaede drew closer to the door. "I don't… I don't want to hurt anyone else."

Kotetsu would never blame her, but with the burst of emotion she'd used to restore all his fellow heroes memories of him, she had also seared his true identity into the mind of every single person who had been watching the broadcast. Every single one of those viewers could now tell you without a flicker of hesitation that Wild Tiger was one Kotetsu T. Kaburagi.

No one was quite certain what other information about Kotetsu had been included in that package yet. But the unnervingly large pile of 'thank you' gifts that he was still receiving made it almost certain there'd had been something else in there.

"I think I understand a little better now," Kaede spoke up suddenly, her tone subdued.

"About what?" asked Kotetsu when she didn't elaborate.

"Why you had a secret identity." He wasn't certain why but the emotions in his daughter's voice made his stomach plummet. "It must have been nice."

He opened his mouth intending to say something, but all the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.

"I know it's not your fault, Dad, but now… now everyone knows I'm the daughter of Wild Tiger." There was a slight pause, but with the door between them he couldn't interpret it. "There's no way of hiding it."

Kotetsu felt his heart tighten in his chest. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding more and more like a broken record. He slowly leaned his head against the closed door. "I never meant for my reputation to drag you into a situation like this."

She hesitated before answering with firm conviction. "I know that. I also know my Hero Academy scholarship is only thanks to that stupid idiot."

That 'stupid idiot' was the reporter who'd been looking for a juicy tidbit. He'd been unsuccessful in finding one by the time Kotetsu had wrapped up their interview and the journalist hadn't been shy about letting Tiger know about his displeasure either. Kotetsu had been peppered with very personal questions all the way to the door, which he'd done his best to laugh off or deflect.

The questions had gone from, "How did your powers first manifest?" All the way to, "Was your wife aware that you were a hero?" The final question, however, had hit a nerve. "Your wife, Tomoe, she died while you were on duty. If you had been there, what would your last words have been to her?"

The loud bang of the front door being thrown open had distracted the reporter away from Kotetsu and the old wound he'd just torn wide open. Kaede had marched in, anger burning in her eyes. She'd dropped her school bag to one side of the entrance hall, before rounding on the intruder. The reporter had pounced on the chance to get a quote from her for his article.

"Kaede, are you going to be a hero just like your father when you grow up? You already have fair sum of points racked up, not to mention a captured criminal to your name."

"No comment," she'd ground out. Kotetsu had given her a crash course on how to deal with the media when it became clear the reporters weren't just going to trickle off anytime soon. "I think it's high time you left mister." The dismissal was apparent and the wrath of an eleven year old N.E.X.T. was more than enough to send the guy packing. The reporter had published his article though, and he'd used Kaede's future as a hero as his hook line.

Kaede let out a soft sigh. "I wish I had a mask that I could take off. I'm sick of the awe and everyone staring." Her sigh was heavier this time. "My friends… they keep asking to see my power."

Worry flickered across Kotetsu's face. He tried to keep his voice nonchalant. "And what do you do?"

She made a rude sound with her lips. "I know my control isn't anywhere near good enough to show them anything. I might have improved using hundred power," she commented, trying to sound cheerful. "But… I'm never certain what I'm going to get when I activate my ability. There are way more N.E.X.T. in town than I ever thought. I'm lucky that I haven't caused more damage than I have." Kotetsu grimaced. It hadn't been too bad so far, but the house had been taking a fair beating recently. Of course, he'd been the one saddled with doing all the repairs, along with footing the bill for them. "Were…" there was a hesitant pause, before Kaede asked quietly, "were your powers like this, when you first got them?"

He blinked, surprised by the question. "Well, I err–" he stumbled, his mind suddenly unable to recall a single instant. Kaede had never asked him anything like this before. "Well," he started to babble. "Muramasa was certain I was going to bring the roof down on us." A weak chuckle, but an even sadder attempt at humour. "That's actually how the garden got started in the back; Mom thought tiring me out with all the manual work would help preserve the house a little longer."

He paused to scratch his head. "You know, Kaede, just learning to control your powers, is very different from learning how to use them to protect, and… as it sometimes is with being a hero," he admitted reluctantly, "learning how to use them against others." He swallowed hard, not really wanting to dwell there. "Just because you want to learn control so that you're not putting holes through the house doesn't mean you have to go all the way and become a hero. There are quite a few N.E.X.T. out there who have done things that have nothing to do with being a superhero."

"And how many of them actually use their powers and not just hide their abilities away?"

Kotetsu opened his mouth, only to hesitate. He cleared his throat. "I don't know…" he trailed out, wondering what he could say. "For me, it's always… I wanted to be a hero." He paused, a thousand different memories passing through his mind. "Saving people…" A sad wistful smile over took his features. He stared down at his very ordinary human looking hands. The rough palms of his hands even now were starting to show signs of their age. "One minute Wild Tiger, huh…" he muttered to himself.

But apparently not quietly enough. "Dad?" Kaede's voice trembled. He looked up at the locked door. There was another beat of silence before she spoke again. "Have you ever wondered …how N.E.X.T. powers work?"

"Ehh…" Kotetsu blew out a breath, stalling. He resisted the urge to scratch his head. "Well, there are scientists looking into that stuff." He frowned. Quite a few of them had wanted to poke and prod at him as a matter of fact. They considered his 'condition' fascinating. Some were even hypothesizing that there might be a DNA or chemical switch they could flip and purposefully cause a N.E.X.T.'s power to burn out. Kotetsu hadn't wanted anything to do with them after that.

"No, I mean more than just…" Kaede fell silent, leaving him to guess the end of her sentence.

Kotetsu scrunched his face up in concentration. "You mean like the mechanics behind N.E.X.T. powers, or the emotional triggers that start them off?" Most of that stuff went way too far over his head for him to understand it properly, if at all.

Her answer was so soft he almost didn't hear it, "no." He started to say something, only to have her speak over him once more. "Haven't you… ever thought my power was… weird?"

"Huh?" He'd not been expecting that.

"I mean… what if– what if I'm doing more than just copying powers?" There was panic in her voice now. "What if your powers disappeared because I actually stole them?"

"What!? Hold on–"

"Your powers only started disappearing when– when I started getting mine. It can't be a coincidence!" There was a longer pause, before Kaede admitted almost too quietly for him to hear, "Not when I'm still getting the full five minutes."

Wild Tiger squeezed his eyes shut. That– that was…

"I–if it's true, I have to get control of my powers. Otherwise… otherwise I'm dangerous to every single N.E.X.T. that I come in contact with. I don't want to hurt anyone else!" A sob escaped her throat. "I don't want to steal anyone else's dream!"

His voice shook. "Kaede, you never stole my dream, do you hear me? You never–" But it was a struggle to swallow passed the lump in his throat. His hands curled into fists. Dammit. Why was it suddenly so hard to speak? He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting to find his voice again. "I…" His voice wavered. "I always wanted you to say I was cool."

"What?"

He glanced up at the locked door, embarrassed that he'd said that aloud but not willing to take it back. It was the truth after all. "You know, the awesomely cool dad that everyone likes. Okay, maybe not that far with everyone saying that, but you get the point," He laughed, but there was still an edge to it. "And... you did. You said I was cool." He tried to smile. "I'm perfectly happy with that. I got to be the hero I wanted, and now I get to be the full time dad I always wanted to be." This time his grin was full and powerful. "I've already got my dream." He tapped the door with a knuckle. "Don't you dare think for a moment that it's your fault I retired, got it?"

There was a soft, "'kay." from behind the door. She didn't fully believe him.

"I mean it, Kaede. N.E.X.T. have been loosing their powers long since before you were born. I'm not the first, but with some work," from the right scientists, he added silently, "I will be the last."

"Is that what you've been up to? I thought those science-jerks were trying to come up with a way to destroy N.E.X.T. powers."

He fought to hold back a grimace. Of course she would notice. "Eh…heeh… Well, not all of them are like that…" hopefully…

"Never mind," declared Kaede, surprising Kotetsu. "They try anything and I've got the whole of HeroTV plus reinforcements on speed dial." He did not want to know how she managed to get all those numbers. "Besides," she continued. "They'll also have us to deal with, and no one has even begun to hear this tiger's roar."

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, retired hero and now full time father, felt a warm emotion swell up inside his chest. "I'm proud of you, Kaede." The words were easy to say this time and he meant them with all his heart. He smiled again at the door. "Regardless of what you choose to be."

"…Including joining the academy?"

"Including being a hero," Kotetsu assured.

"Do you swear?"

"On my honour as a hero, and as your father," he answered promptly and was pleasantly surprised when there was a click of a lock being undone. He quickly stood back from the door, expecting it to open, only to keep waiting as it never did. After several more minutes passed, he hesitantly asked, "Are you going to come out?"

There a single beat before Kaede admitted with embarrassment, "I would but… I threw my desk at the door, and my five minutes are already up." Kotetsu blinked with surprise. "I think I'm stuck in here."

"Okay, right," answered Tiger. There were probably a million different solutions that didn't involve what he was about to do, but he couldn't think of any of them. Oh well. He'd be doing the repairs anyway, even if it meant replacing the lock too. "Stand back a moment, Kaede." A simple shove of his hand with hundred power and the door splintered as it knocked the desk aside. Kotetsu peered cautiously inside. "Knock, knock, am I allowed in?"

He gave a very undignified squawk as his eleven year old daughter pounced on him. It didn't bother him though, not when she was grinning ear to ear. "You won't regret this, Dad!" she told him enthusiastically. "Just you watch, I'm going to be a crusher of justice!"

"Crusher for justice," Tiger immediately corrected, easily swinging his little girl around. "You don't want to go around hurting the good guys."

"Right, right," she agreed. "I'm going to need a cool superhero name! Something like…"

"Tiger Cub?" Kotetsu couldn't help but offer. The way Kaede's face scrunched up, he knew that one was a no go. "How about KittyCat?"

"Daaaaaad, I can't go around with a name like that! That's just awful." She shook her head. "How did you ever manage to come up with a decent superhero name?"

A sad smile came to Wild Tiger's face. "Your Mom actually came up with it."

"Oh," Kaede answered softly, hugging her Dad a little tighter. "It's a good name."

"It is," he agreed just as softly. There was a pause of silence as both were lost in their own thoughts, only to be broken once more.

"I've got it!" Kotetsu shouted with a grin, setting Kaede down so that she was standing before him. "Hold on a sec." He galloped off down the hall, only to come barreling back a few moments later carrying back his lucky hat. "I now pronounce you…" He reached up, holding the hat aloft like a crown before gently setting it onto Kaede's head, "CopyCat."

Silently Kaede mulled the name over before giving a nod of approval. "I accept, Wild Tiger." She adjusted the hat so that it wasn't falling into her eyes as much. Kotetsu grinned toothily at her. "I also accept that I've got a dinner table I need to clean up." She ducked her head. "I'm sorry about throwing it at you… and for what I said about you not being around." She chanced a glance up at him, expression guilty. "I'm sorry Dad." Wild Tiger startled, realizing he hadn't been giving his daughter enough credit. She had noticed how much her barb had hurt him.

Kotetsu knelt down, drawing her into an embrace just as his one minute time limit on his powers gave out. Kaede held onto him tightly. "Just watch," she said into his shoulder. "I'm going to make you proud."

Kotetsu smiled, drawing back just enough so he could see his daughter's face. "You already have, Tiger Cub."

She poked him lightly on the arm. "CopyCat!" she said, only to have Kotetsu's old hat slide back down into her eyes.

Kotetsu clutched at his arm, faking a pained expression. "Ack! I've been mortally wounded!" He grinned back cheekily at her. "How can you be so cruel to me, Tiger Cub?"

"Daaaaaaad!"

He laughed, springing back to his feet as she tried to prod at him again. She scowled, scrambling after him. He let out a whoop, bouncing off down the hall with Kaede in hot pursuit. He might be retired, but he could still easily out pace and out dodge his daughter. "Catch me if you can, Tiger Cub!" he called out, grinning like a cat.

"It's CopyCat! Get back here!" she shouted, as he bounded down the stairs three at a time. "When I get my hands on you!" He couldn't help but laugh.

"You have to catch me first!" He sang back. And chase him she did, even as she clutched the hat to her head to stop it from flying away. It would serve her well, Kotetsu was certain. It was lucky, after all, had been since Tomoe gave it to him, and now it belonged to the next generation of Kaburagi. Kaede was still young, she might not even become a hero, but the title CopyCat, and his personal favourite, Tiger Cub, would always be hers.

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi was a retired hero, and he was happy with that. After all, he was now full time proud father and had never been happier.

THE END

AN: This, I have to say, was quite a fun one shot to write. Not only was it interesting to flush out post series Kotetsu's and Kaede's relationship (not counting him coming back out of retirement in the very last scene of the show) but also just playing with ideas for Kaede's power. Personally I find the most chilling part in this one shot (even when I wrote it) is the tiny part (which I might go into more detail in another one shot) where it's revealed that Kaede didn't actually restore the heroes memories of her father being Wild Tiger, but rather overwrote the information into everyone watching the broadcast's brain that Kotetsu is Wild Tiger. Plus, as Kotetsu suspects, his sudden popularity coming from that as well. Brrr!

I guess the idea for this one shot popped into my head originally as a single image of Kaede getting onto the train to start at the Hero Academy in Sternbild and Kotetsu presenting her with his lucky hat before she leaves. Though sadly that scene didn't exactly make it in, I'm still happy with the above result. Plus I do enjoy writing conflicts between characters. I'm sorry Kotetsu why do I do this to you?!

The title "Tiger Cub" also came along originally with that initial idea of Kaede heading off to the academy and as much as I personally love that as a superhero name, considering Kaede's power (and her personality) she'd more likely go with something like "CopyCat" than the other one. T,T there, there Kotetsu we can both just keep calling her Tiger Cub anyway. She'll be an awesome crusher of justice, just you see. (I owe really bad subtitles for that joke, changing 'for' to 'of' really changes the meaning of that line, ouch.)

Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed my one shot and many thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated and as Sky High would say, Thank you! And thank you again