"Take these as prescribed and the results should be evident in a weeks time."

Ane took the bottle of pills from Sensei and smiled. "Thank you Sensei, I hope this wasn't a bother."

"No need, the doctor was able to procure them easily."

Ane's smile was somber as she looked at the man in front of her; Sensei was sitting straight up, looking poised and dignified even with being hooked up to so many machines meant to keep him alive. She wondered if he was in any pain just sitting there and felt guilty for taking up his valuable time.

"Sensei, I...thank you."

"For what?"

Ane approached his chair; the room's lighting was dim enough so she had a hard time making out his features. The light emanating from the monitors and computer screen showing the League's base shone behind his head and cast the front of him in shadows. It served to make him look all the more ominous; even Ane could never shake the gut feeling that she should be rightly terrified being in his presence.

"I apologize for having to meet in the middle of the day when you're already so busy. Tomura would have been so upset he knew I came...Sensei, do you suppose he knows...well…"
Sensei silently relished in Ane's stumbling; not for the first time, he wished he could see her face. It was not every day Ane was flustered and it would seem he was the only person do be able to do something to make her unflappable demeanor crack.

"I doubt it. I suspect your loyalty to me makes his faith waver, but give it time Ane. Although, I can't help think you bring some of this on yourself with how you indulge him. You realize the more you allow Tomura to dictate your conduct with others, it will only encourage him to tighten his hold. I daresay he'll end up refusing to let you so much as leave to get groceries or run errands at some point if this keeps up."

"Oh no Sensei, that won't happen. It's like you said, Tomura just needs to keep building faith in me. I'm sure soon he'll see how willing I am to belong to him, and he will accept it wholeheartedly without doubt." Ane smiled somewhat bashfully. "I suppose you do have a point though...I simply can't help giving in, at least when the matter isn't too serious. Sometimes it saves future trouble."

"How so?"

"Well, if I refuse him anything, he gets angry, yet then he feels guilt for being angry with me and lashing out. When this happens, Tomura becomes worried I will abandon him and he becomes more restrictive, which in turn makes me try to put my foot down." Ane chuckled softly, her calm expression returning and her voice taking on her familiar soothing lilt. "You can see where things become difficult. The phrase 'pick your battles' definitely comes to mind here. I apologize though if my indulgence has made him disobedient towards you in anyway though Sensei."

The only time he had seen her genuinely scared or wracked with concern was when it came to his failing health.

To ease Ane's mind, he would lie to her. Sensei didn't think Ane would receive the news that Shigaraki had walked in on them well; she would most likely be wracked with guilt and he knew his successor would try to use that to his advantage to keep Ane bound to him.

It was funny. Ane's loyalty to himself was already spread thinner every day Shigaraki made her cling to his side, effectively sticking himself to her in the process. Truth be told, Sensei had toyed with the idea of killing Ane and making it look like a tragic event caused somehow by a hero. It would drive Shigaraki forward and Sensei honestly wasn't sure sometimes if Ane's influence was always the best thing, even if she wasn't attempting to make Shigaraki stray from his path in the slightest.

Still, Sensei didn't know the extent to the attachment. What would Shigaraki do if it meant keeping Ane? What would he promise or sacrifice if it meant they would not be separated? He did not like the idea of his student's progress being stunted, his motivations being muddled, or his decisions swayed because of the fear of losing Ane.

Sensei knew that was exactly what it was. For all Shigaraki Tomura's strengths and growth and his willingness to take risks and put himself in danger, Sensei knew this weakness might very well indirectly end up either pushing him to ruin or victory someday along the line. Killing Ane, elevating Shigaraki's wrath and hardening his heart in the process would be the best possible route.

"Sensei, may I...I don't want to presume...but I feel like your experiments with the Noumu have been very steady as of late. It feels as if you hardly get any rest and-"
"I am fine. There's important work to be done. Don't tell me you're doubting my ability to-"

"Oh no, never Sensei!" Ane's smile was gone. "You're so amazing and strong, even with your injuries now, it's just I-I can't help feel worried seeing you work so hard with little time for breaks in between, and then you take the time to take care of my requests…"

Ane held the bottle of pills in her hands tightly to her chest; tears of gratitude were threatening to escape the corners of her eyes as she took a few steps closer to where Sensei sat, rigid and imposing in his wheelchair like a king in his throne.

"And you've been working so tirelessly and the League's invasion will take place any day now...I can't help wonder…"

"There's no need to be hesitant. What is it on your mind?"

Sensei was not surprised to feel Ane's trembling hand on his forearm.

"Sensei...when Tomura goes through with this and succeeds in taking Bakugou Katsuki captive, the county's eyes will be on him and the League. All Might and many others will take action and you seem so determined to take care of unfinished work here...Sensei, do you believe you will be taken from us soon?"
The only sounds in the room were the humming and gentle whirring of machines and the deep, shallow breathing coming from the man in front of her. Ane held her own breath, the silence making her dread worsen second by second.

"If measures had to be taken and I was to be imprisoned or defeated, would you try to steer Tomura away from this course?"

Ane's hand tightened just so on his arm.

"No, I would never. But if that were to happen...Sensei, I would work hard to help Tomura's growth and look after him, for me and for you. I just...Sensei, if you died, what on earth would I do?"

Sensei said nothing as the hand over his arm shook and his hand was tickled by drops of wetness from an unseen source.

"I had nothing...I was nothing, and I-the thought of being given away like a trinket and trapped...I wanted to die. I was already dead. But then you saved me and even though I'm not able to do anything to repay you, you still-you speak to me as if I already have."

Ane was not stupid. She was not insane or delusional. At heart, she wasn't even very cruel. But she was desperate and hollow and when the day came for someone to bestow her the chance to fill that inescapable void, she jumped on it. It didn't matter how many people Sensei had hurt, how many lives he had destroyed, because Ane couldn't simply forget that he had saved hers, no matter what his intention.

Ane didn't care what the cost. If she had to throw away her own soul and steel her heart, then so be it if it meant she could stay by this man's side and mean something to someone.

"Lovely Ane."

He means these endearments, truly. He can picture her in another life, another reality, as a lovingly devoted wife and a warm, caring mother. For all her inability to fight or do much of real use, even for her contentment to stay on the sidelines and allow such horrible things to unfold before her eyes, the truth is Ane shouldn't be there. She didn't have to be there. Sensei could have easily taken her Quirk and at some point down the line relocated her somewhere far away under a new identity, given her a second chance among civilians. Ane could have achieved true happiness while not having to adapt to their world, to the world he has brought her into.

But he didn't. Ane's obedience, her reverence was too amusing. Sensei thought it might have been a waste not to take advantage of it. He took a sadistic pleasure in knowing she would kill herself with one word from his lips. For all intents and purposes, he owned her and he felt no regret in ruining her chances at a peaceful existence or essentially leaving her to the mercy of his unhinged and steadily possessive successor who might kill her just to keep her his alone.

And yet, Sensei had never so much as raised his voice to her; granted, Ane had never given him reason to lay a finger on her, but it was also not necessary that he treat her as a beloved pet and a trusted aid. Harming someone incapable of doing a thing to fight back wasn't in his tastes, but that didn't mean he had to put on a show and grant Ane any affection and definitely not respect. A weak person willing to follow someone like him out of a desperate need to have some sort of purpose instead of fighting against her conditioned state was not worthy of his consideration.

The night Sensei claimed her body, Ane had trembled under his hands, her heart beating a mile a minute, her voice breathless and weak. He could have brutalized her, violated her anyway he wished and Ane wouldn't have been able to do a thing to stop him.

The thought of Ane losing her composure, tears streaming down her agonized face as he tormented her, made the young, naive woman wish for death like he had so many before her, was nothing short of blissful.

But he didn't.

Sensei had taken her with slow, gentle force that only intensified once Ane had assured him she wanted nothing more than for him to enjoy her body to the fullest.

"Ane, you have no reason to feel in debt to me, not after all you've done to see to an old man's needs and comfort." Sensei's warped mouth twisted into a leer. "Come closer my lovely Ane. Is there a chill in here? I can sense you shivering."

"No Sensei, I don't feel cold." Ane took a few steps closer to his lap before just settling in. She felt his hand skim her bottom to tug her to his chest and she whimpered softly.

"There's no reason to be shy….that's right, come closer my dear, my pretty pet…"

"Oh, what do you know?" Ane chided weakly as Sensei played with the ends of her loose hair.

"Are you contradicting me?"

Ane bit her bottom lip to stifle another sound when his hand traveled under her sheet of hair to squeeze lightly at the nape of her neck.

"Sensei, you have no idea what I look like….there are many women more worthy of being called lovely by you…"

"And many are tedious and unreasonably ready to step out of line. You are sensible and you do as you're told. It's only a plus you've allowed me to use you for...other means."

Ane was squirming in his lap. "Sensei please…"

"What is it?"

His hand was under her skirt now, between her thighs. The tips of his fingers were sliding back and forth around her wet pussy.

"You can't, please Sensei…"

"Did I ask you to wear nothing under this flimsy skirt for our meeting? You wanted this."

"No, no, please Sensei-"

Ane let out a weak cry, falling into his chest as he plunged three fingers into her.

"Don't lie to me. Look how needy you are just from my fingers, like you haven't been satisfied in weeks…"

"That's not true. Tomura-ah!"

His thumb stroked at her clit, the int pressure maling Ane writhe and almost push against him for relief from the relentless pleasure.

"I bet he can't keep his hands off you. How often does he touch you?"

"I-I didn't have panties to wear. Tomura has been insisting on me not wearing them. He says they get in the way. He's destroyed most of them, he tears them right off me before he-he-!"

Ane's head falls back onto his shoulder in a silent scream as Sensei effortlessly positions Ane to sit so her back is to his chest. Her legs are parted wide, hanging off his thighs, skirt hiked up to her waist, pussy soaked and obscenely displayed.

It's true. Shigaraki is insatiable. Bath times are spent with Ane's naked and bent over the rim of the tub, meals are interrupted in favor of devouring her lips where anyone could see, naptime and cuddling is either preceded or ended with Shigaraki ruthlessly pounding away at her aching, raw pussy until Ane is nearly ready to pass out.

Sex is new and Ane is willing, so Shigaraki finds no reason to hold back. She reasons he will calm down eventually once he is more occupied or when the thrill of having someone to use like a living sex doll has worn off.

"I see. And yet, it's still not enough to satisfy you?"

Ane only cries out wordlessly in response; the hand forcing her thighs apart is on her breast now, under her blouse, as he tweaks and toys with an already swollen nipple. There are bite marks, round circles of red and purple all over her chest, her neck, her inner thighs, even her stomach.

"Does my successor know what a shameless slut my pet is? Look at your body...it was made to be ruined. Why is it that even my student with all his eagerness can't satisfy you? You're hardly putting up a fight…"

"I...Sensei, I can't s-say no to you."

"Whore." He breathes into her ear. "That's what you are. Even if you're not quire in love with me, you won't refuse me a thing. My beautiful whore, my pet...well, at least until I die."

Ane stiffens and suddenly she is twisting out if his hold to embrace his broad shoulders.

"Sensei, no. Please, don't even say that. I can't-"

Ane's words die in a muffled sob of grief. He feels her head duck into his collar, the hot wet tears streaming down her face and neck. She clings to him and her sorrow is almost tangible, even though Sensei can't see the expression on her face.

Maybe he finds the lingering humanity in him might enjoy feelings her smile against him more than anything else.

"Sh...no, don't cry. You need to be strong. Tomura needs your strength."

"I'm weak...I can't do a thing for you or him...Sensei, do you really believe you might be leaving us in the near future?"

"You are resilient in another way than I or anyone else here. No one can live or triumph forever. When my time comes, I will only regret I didn't have you longer before your heart was stolen."

Sensei brings his loose grip to the back of Ane's hair and pushes her lips to what's left of his own. His hands could cover her whole face, could hold her down without a chance for her to escape. Not that she would want to.

Maybe a big part of this is just the fact Sensei has so much control over Ane and it serves to add to his hunger for power. Maybe he can't help feel fond when someone is so openly and unapologetically longing for his approval and hanging on his every word. Ane is such a pitiful thing, he can't help show her mercy.

"I love you."

Ane presses a chaste kiss to his deformed remains of a cheek.

"I know."

Sensei smiles and it's mostly genuine. After all, it's unlikely they'll be this close to each other ever again. A storm is on it's way and Ane will have to sink or swim on her own this time around.

A few minutes later, he lets her go.

"My Ane, take care of him...and yourself."

It's the last time Ane smiles at him and he regrets he can't see it.