Chapter Thirty Seven: Animals

Katsuki had never been so baffled and furious at the same time in his entire life. He wasn't even sure if he was actually awake at this point. Maybe he was having some freaky dream in a half-awake state and he was going to open his eyes any second to find out he had to take the whole goddamn Provisional License Exam all over again.

Unfortunately, it was looking more and more like this bizarre concoction of his imagination was, in fact, real.

He could only stare at the two figures asleep on the bed in front of him—Izuku face-up on the right and Himiko lying on her side at the left. Izuku looked like he'd been mauled by a really big cat, with all the scratches and that one big bite mark on his shoulder. Katsuki had snatched the first-aid kit from Kurogiri and treated his friend himself, but he was still unconscious from blood loss. At least his color was slowly returning.

If that had been all, Katsuki would have waited until Izuku woke up, walked his friend out, called the heroes on the place, and then left Himiko to whatever fate insanity had in store for her, but that was not the case.

Because as soon as Himiko had stumbled off of Izuku's prone form in the bathtub a little over an hour ago, she had let out the most hair-raising cry he'd ever heard in his life before collapsing and vomiting blood all over the floor. Hence the reason she was lying on her side, so she didn't throw up again and choke herself to death in her sleep.

Katsuki's rage had frozen for that moment she started throwing up copious amounts of red, because he knew for a fact whatever was going on was not something that was supposed to happen. Izuku had told him that she would mellow out and calm down after exposing her five senses to blood, not start having an episode disturbingly similar to a seizure.

He'd expected to deal with some crazy bitch on a high after she got what she wanted, not a girl who looked as pale and lifeless as his friend did.

Kurogiri had been as shocked as he was, and neither of them were quite sure what to do but make the two unconscious teenagers as comfortable as possible. Katsuki was still coherent enough to not trust the gassy fuck any further than he could throw him, but he didn't make a big deal about it for Izuku's sake.

So here they were an hour later, Katsuki sitting on the end of the bed and watching for any sign of movement. Kurogiri had decided to leave for the time being and had left Himiko's phone in the kitchen in case they needed to get in touch with him.

Katsuki was tempted to blast the device into smithereens out of spite.

His eyes flitted to Izuku as the boy's face scrunched into a pained frown, and then familiar green orbs slowly opened up. Katsuki stood and walked over to him quietly, glancing at Himiko, but seeing no sign of her waking.

"Uhhh…" Izuku groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his hand against his forehead. "What…"

"Welcome back to the world of the living," Katsuki said dryly, reaching over to a small desk by the bed to grab an energy drink he'd found in the fridge. His friend needed electrolytes and sugar after losing blood so quickly. He waited until Izuku managed to sit up before shoving the bottle into his hands. "Drink."

Izuku took the drink without complaint and almost chugged it down. He didn't realize until after the cherry-flavored liquid touched his mouth how thirsty he was. After almost draining the entire bottle, he swallowed and looked up at Katsuki. "What happened?"

Katsuki nodded his head towards the opposite end of the bed, where the blonde girl was still unconscious. Izuku followed his gaze and froze. "Himiko?"

"She's out of it right now," Katsuki muttered, walking to the front of the room to grab Izuku's shirt and hoodie off of a coat rack hanging on the door. He tossed them at his friend. "Freaky shit happened. After she bled you into passing out, she threw a bunch of blood back up and keeled over. It was fucking weird."

Izuku threw Katsuki an alarmed look. "Is she okay?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know, but she hasn't woken up since then. I thought she was having a seizure, but she's been fine for the last hour."

Izuku shifted over to sit by Himiko and set the back of his hand against her forehead, frowning slightly for a few moments. "She doesn't have a fever. Did Kurogiri say anything?"

"Nope. Foggy bastard didn't know what was going on, either."

Katsuki waited in silence for a minute as Izuku worried over Himiko, but he eventually rolled his eyes and sighed. "Hey, we gotta go."

"Not until I know she's alright."

"We have no idea when she's gonna wake up," he pointed out. "And I still have no idea how we're going to explain what happened to you."

Izuku placed a hand on his chest and winced slightly. The wounds were obviously still bothering him, fresh as they were. He knew they couldn't afford to spend a lot of time here, and Katsuki was right. If he just went back to U.A all scratched up, there would be questions he needed answers to. In hindsight, he should have planned ahead for this situation, but he'd been too stressed to really think this far.

He was snapped out of his still-sluggish thoughts by a slight twitch from the girl in front of him.

Himiko's eyes opened blearily and flicked up to look at him, taking a few seconds to focus. As Izuku and Katsuki watched (the latter visibly tensing), her hand dragged across the sheets to grasp his shirt a little. "Izu?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he offered her a small smile. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," she admitted, obviously fighting to keep her heavy eyelids open. "But I feel a lot better…I can think…"

"That's good," Izuku sighed in relief. He glanced over his shoulder at the blonde boy watching them warily. "Do you remember Katsuki?"

"Kinda," she groaned, twisting her head to look at the scowling teenager. "'M sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"Not for lack of trying," he muttered.

Himiko let her head fall back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. "What about you, Izu?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "A little scratched up, but it's not bad."

Katsuki scoffed and Izuku shot him a warning look, which the blonde returned with his finest scowl. Himiko made a small snort. "Izu, I don't remember much, but I'm pretty sure you're not just 'a little scratched up'."

"I'm fine," he insisted before standing up slowly. "Hey, um…Katsuki and I need to leave now, okay? Before someone misses us."

"Go," she waved at him half-heartedly. "Don't let me get you in trouble. I'm fine now."

"When should I come back?" Izuku asked.

"Dunno. I'll text you. It'll be a little bit."

Izuku lifted his hand to brush aside a strand of blonde hair that had fallen onto her face. "Rest up, okay? Just text me if anything goes wrong."

"Uh-huh," she managed, barely coherent as she started to doze off.

Katsuki jerked his head towards the door and Izuku followed him with an exasperated glance, but his best friend was having none of it. With one final glare amidst the apartment to ensure Kurogiri wasn't lurking somewhere, Katsuki led Izuku out.

The blonde teen shoved his hands into his pockets as they left the apartment complex, scowling in silence. Izuku frowned at him, expecting an explosive rant any second, but it seemed like Katsuki was content to stew for the moment.

Eventually, Izuku couldn't take the silence any longer and broke it himself. "How much trouble am I in?"

Katsuki huffed and didn't look at him. "I don't know. Enough for me to be pissed, but not enough for you to die."

"…That doesn't tell me anything."

"Shove it," the teen was fuming as they walked absently down the street towards the nearest subway station. They had enough time left to go visit the Midoriya household for a few hours before they would need to leave for U.A. It was only early-afternoon. Despite everything that had happened, not much time had passed, Izuku realized.

It felt like a week had gone by and he was so drained that he could drop at any minute.

"I need to think about it some more," Katsuki said finally, jerking Izuku out of his tired daze. "But I still think it's a horrible idea. It's way too dangerous with that warp fucker around, and I'm not convinced she actually wants help."

Izuku frowned. "But—"

"No, don't try to change my mind. I need to process it all, first," he interrupted his friend with a scowl. "I was ready to murder her after what she did to you back there, but then she seemed to be doing a great job dying on her own, so I'm a little confused, okay? I can kind of see that she wants to get better, but it doesn't change how dangerous this whole thing is. And what if that foggy bastard gets new orders that involve capturing you? It's really risky and I refuse to go in there blind again, so let me just think about everything."

Izuku dipped his head, sighing as his shoulders sagged. He winced as his scratches ached more and gingerly rubbed at them beneath his shirt. "We still need an excuse to cover all of these cuts I got…"

"About that," Katsuki stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at a certain store on the other side of the street, an idea coming to his mind. Izuku froze at the wide, fiendish smile growing on his friend's face. "You're about to be several thousand yen lighter."

Izuku followed his gaze and paled as he caught on. "Katsuki, no!"

"Katsuki, yes," the blonde cackled, throwing his arm around Izuku's shoulder and dragging the feebly protesting boy to the future ruin of his wallet.

And probably more scratches.

Kurogiri waited patiently for a response on the other end of his phone call, sitting at the table of their temporary hideout. Tomura and the others were out somewhere meeting some other group of villains, but his charge insisted that he could handle this particular event. That was fine; the villains in question weren't very dangerous and Tomura needed to learn how to be independent, anyways. It just made things more convenient for Kurogiri—he didn't have to worry about someone listening in on a conversation they weren't privy to.

After a short time, Hijack's voice finally came through. "I don't think there's much to worry over. Her reaction was likely caused by her body taking in too much blood after going without it for such a long time."

"You're certain that's all it is?"

"Never certain, but almost positive. Do tell me if anything else changes, though."

"I will," Kurogiri nodded. "Thank you for your input. I admit, I was caught off-guard."

Hijack chuckled, a wheezing laugh from lungs that had seen their fair share of use. "You're getting sloppy, Kurogiri."

"I hope not."

"Ah, there's one more thing I need to tell you," the Chimera added. "It would seem Sin Eater is currently lurking around your location."

Kurogiri paused. "Should I be concerned that he'll find us?"

"I think not, but be wary when venturing out at night for the time being," Hijack warned. "He'll probably hunt for a week or two and then move on as he always does."

"Mugetsu is really letting him get around these days."

"I'm not entirely sure she's 'letting' him do anything."

The implication of that statement made Kurogiri uncertain whether he should feel relieved or more uneasy. "Very well. I'll inform Tomura and the others to keep an eye out for him. What of Himiko? He may be drawn to the scent of blood, right?"

"He's not that close to U.A. I've been watching his tracker and he seems more intent on remaining closer to the edges of the city."

"Would it be too much to ask if you could—"

"I've already hacked into the security cameras in the apartment complex and its surrounding area. If anything off should appear, I'll be alerted to it."

"I appreciate it."

"Now, you might see to inform Hisashi first. However, do try to keep him oblivious to my involvement, will you?"

The threat was well-concealed as usual, but Kurogiri knew just how real it was. "I wouldn't dream of telling him such a thing."

Inko and Eri weren't sure if they were supposed to be happy or concerned when the two teenage boys showed up at the door. Izuku looked a little too pale and seemed to be in pain, whereas Katsuki had an enormous, shit-eating grin on his face. Both were carrying bags of supplies from a pet store.

The source of all this seemed to be linked to the carrier in Katsuki's hand, which contained something that sounded exceptionally displeased.

Inko half-blocked the doorway as she stared at the hissing carrier. "Katsuki…what is that?"

"I think it's a cat," he replied cheerily.

"You think."

"I'm pretty sure."

A deeper growl had them all glancing at the carrier, to which Katsuki shrugged. "Okay, I'm like eighty percent sure it's a cat."

Izuku rubbed his arm, which had fresh scratches covering it. "We stopped by a pet store on our way here and they had an adoption event going on for homeless pets…Katsuki saw this guy and said we had to have it. No one else wanted him."

She couldn't imagine why, Inko thought as she stared at the box with growing apprehension. Eri shrank behind her as what sounded like a miniature roar echoed from it, only to change into a low purr a moment later. "What is it?"

"It's a cat," Izuku sighed, giving the carrier a defeated look. "You know how more and more animals have been showing up with Quirks? This guy has one and well…we were told he was gonna go to a kill shelter if they didn't find him a home soon, so Katsuki volunteered to take him. We didn't even have to pay for it."

"What kind of Quirk?"

"You'll see," Katsuki said, shuffling into the apartment with Inko's permission (albeit, given hesitantly). "He's not bad, he just clawed up Deku."

"You picked him because of that," Izuku complained as he followed Katsuki and his family inside.

"Shush," Katsuki set the crate and all of his supply bags down before moving to the front of the carrier with a grin. "Hey, big guy. That looks kinda cramped. Ya want out?"

The residents of the apartment all flinched as long, razor-sharp claws stabbed out through the wire door. Katsuki cackled. "Oh man, you're so pissed off. Alright, out you get."

Before Inko could open her mouth to protest it, he opened the door and a black blur shot out, diving under the table and releasing a constant, deep growl.

Eri practically jumped into Izuku's arms, refusing to stay on the ground. "I'm scared!"

"T'Challa, cool your jets," Katsuki ordered the angry (feline?) creature as he shuffled through the bags and pulled out cat food and a bowl, pouring some for his unwilling pet.

"Katsuki, he doesn't know his name yet," Izuku pointed out, shifting Eri so that she wasn't leaning on some of his more painful scratches. The boy took a few steps back as the cat snarled angrily upon hearing his voice. It sounded like there was a jaguar underneath the table with how deep and fierce it was.

"Well, he's gotta learn," Katsuki muttered, placing the bowl of food just outside of the table and then backing up to sit down. The cat growl again, displeased by his food waiting such a distance away. The blonde teen rolled his eyes and scowled. "Don't give me that. Get outta there and eat."

After a few tense minutes, during which the creature beneath the table subjected them to no small amount of displeased noises, the cat came out. Inko and Eri gasped at the sight of it.

But not out of fright, because the cat in question was significantly smaller than they expected.

What walked out was a tiny, jet-black kitten no bigger than one of Izuku's shoes. Actually, with his fur puffed up as it was, he was probably even smaller than that, but it was hard to tell. Pale yellow eyes glared at them, stalking over to the bowl of food and sniffing the food without taking his gaze off the humans.

He opened his mouth and instead of a little mew, what sounded like a tiger growling echoed through the room, making everyone sans Katsuki jump. The kitten sniffed at the food once more before scrunching his nose up and glaring at them, as if he was offended that they were bribing him with such food.

Izuku watched the pale claws flex on the floor warily. "He probably needs the replacement formula, Katsuki. Remember? The lady said he was barely old enough for dry food."

"It was worth a shot," Katsuki grumbled, fishing out the bottle of formula from one of the bags while the kitten just growled, the sound going right through them.

Inko was torn between finding the little creature to be adorable and worrying it might suddenly explode into an actual panther at any second. "You still haven't told me what its Quirk is."

Izuku shrugged helplessly. "The lady trying to adopt him out just called it Big Voice. He can make sounds that really big cats make. She picked him up off the streets, so they think someone's cat had kittens and when his Quirk manifested, they freaked out and ditched him. He's not actually dangerous, just…"

"Loud?"

"Yeah."

"Right," Inko sighed. "Okay. He's cute and just sounds scary. That's okay."

Eri blinked at the kitten curiously as the small feline gazed around the apartment, looking unimpressed. "Oh, so he's like Katsuki."

Inko and Izuku both suppressed snorts at the comparison, and Katsuki just rolled with it. "Dang right, squirt. He's awesome and terrifying."

The kitten mewed, a small sound this time, before looking at Katsuki and roaring like a full-grown lion. The teenager sniggered as the Midoriyas all jumped once more.

He was going to take sick satisfaction seeing what mayhem his little monster would create at the dorms.

"Alright, T'Challa, drink up," Katsuki poured some of the formula into a small bowl and waited until the kitten decided it was worth tasting. A small, pink tongue flicked out and then he was drinking, a deep purr rumbling out of his tiny body.

Relieved that their newest pet was currently satisfied, Izuku bounced Eri in his arms and looked at her with a small smile. "Well, what do you think, Eri? Wanna eat with the kitty?"

She gave him a perplexed tilt of her head. "But isn't cat food for cats?"

"Yeah, but we can have some people food while he eats," he pointed out. "Pork cutlets?"

The hopeful look he gave his mother had her head shaking in amusement before she answered his question and watched his face light up. "Pork cutlets."

It didn't take long before the four of them had full bellies and took to relaxing in the living room. Izuku, Eri, and Inko sat on the couch together while Katsuki claimed the love seat and watched as little T'Challa set about grooming himself on the floor once he was done eating.

Eri curled up in Izuku's lap and leaned into his body, content with the way he absently ran his fingers through her hair. She was relieved that she'd be seeing him more often once school started again. She was due for at least two lessons at U.A every week, and they'd toyed with the idea of her spending some time with Izuku and the others after classes. The details of that would be sorted out once they got into the swing of things, but she was just happy to see him.

Inko, Izuku, and Katsuki chatted for a while, talking about the Provisional License Exam and what the test had consisted of. Inko couldn't really imagine everything the two boys had done, but she was relieved to hear they both passed and had earned their licenses.

It meant less legal problems for her to worry over, but the flip side was the boys could now officially do hero work, which was just as dangerous as ever. Especially given the rising crime rate—no doubt they'd hit the ground running as soon as possible.

Listening to the boys talk, however, Inko was quickly becoming aware of some kind of tension between them. Izuku and Katsuki were normally at ease around each other save their usual banter, but now…something was off. Every now and again, they'd throw one another a dirty look that seemed less playful and more serious, like they'd had a serious argument that wasn't yet resolved…

"Boys?" Inko decided to intervene after catching that exchange for the fifth time that hour. "Is everything okay?"

Katsuki's eyes flitted to her and he seemed to be debating something, to which Izuku watched him with wary eyes. Having been a mother to both of them all their lives and plenty familiar with all their shenanigans, Inko caught onto what was happening immediately.

Izuku had a secret and Katsuki knew what it was.

"Eri, sweetie?" Inko got the little girl's attention with a soft word. "How about you go grab your art supplies and bring them out here? You can make your own hero license with the boys!"

Eri lit up at the idea and leapt out of Izuku's lap before running out of the room in a blur of white hair and excited giggles. With their youngest member now out of earshot, Inko gave the two boys a careful look. "Tell me what's going on."

Katsuki and Izuku exchanged a glance that was more like a glare and Inko felt her stomach clench. That couldn't be good.

"Boys," she interjected before it could get worse. "I don't know what's happened between you two, but maybe I can help if you just talk to me. Did you get in a fight?"

"Sort of," Katsuki muttered, crossing his arms and leaning back into the chair with a particular displeased scowl on his face. "More like a disagreement."

"About what?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "It's…it's hero stuff."

The blonde teenager turned his scowl towards his best friend. "No, it's not."

"Yes it is," Izuku snapped back, looking a little angry. Katsuki's scowl darkened.

"This is not hero stuff!"

"Just because we aren't fighting someone doesn't mean we aren't doing our jobs!"

"This isn't our job!"

"Helping people is our job!"

Inko didn't like how secretive they were being, but she refused to demand an answer from them. Force was not something she thought made a good parent, but she wasn't going to lie down and let them do whatever they wanted, either. "Enough. No yelling."

The boys leaned away from each other, refusing to look one another in the eye as they took deep breaths to try and cool their tempers. Inko shook her head slightly and sighed. "Look, I don't know what has you both so worked up, but at least consider telling someone about it. If it's…'hero stuff' that I'm not supposed to know, talk to All Might or your teachers. Don't bottle it up and let it tear your two apart. You're stronger and happier together, and you both know it."

She would be calling Toshinori anyways to ask him to keep an eye on the boys and maybe talk to them about this. Izuku rarely kept secrets from her, but when he did, they were usually big secrets.

Like how he had trained under All Might and received One for All right under her nose.

The fact that he was the one who seemed to be so determined to keep this secret worried her. Obviously, Katsuki didn't like whatever they were doing, and that concerned Inko, because the blonde teen was usually game for anything. Him being so opposed to whatever their "hero stuff" was meant it was either incredibly boring, or incredibly dangerous.

She was leaning towards the latter, because Izuku wouldn't mind telling her about something that was boring. It wasn't something embarrassing, otherwise they wouldn't fight and the vibe they gave off would be more uncomfortable than offended.

Even if it was just a guess, Inko had a growing suspicion that the two of them were involved in something they shouldn't be.

Yes, she'd be telling Toshinori to watch her boys carefully.

"I think that's enough fighting for today," Inko sighed, realizing that the boys were going to be stubborn and refuse to agree right then. "Just…whatever it is on your minds, put it aside for a bit and spend some time relaxing, okay? Play with Eri, play with the kitten, eat some more…But no more fighting today. Can we do that?"

"I guess so," Izuku mumbled. Katsuki just nodded sharply and let his shoulders lower fractionally.

Luckily for Inko, their resident ray of sunshine ran back into the room at that moment with her arms full of art supplies and blinded them all with the light of her smile. "Izu! Katsuki! Let's draw! I want a hero license, too!"

If there was one thing Inko could count on to make the boys settle down and put fond expressions on their faces, it was their precious little one. So as she walked back to the kitchen to find her phone and message Toshinori, it brought Inko some relief to see the two boys moving to the floor with Eri and pulling out their hero licenses so she could make one just like theirs. Even the small black kitten, rumbling in the back of his throat like a miniature lion as he watched them from underneath a chair, couldn't shake that feeling.

And for that moment, any darkness in their minds was no longer present.

The darkness was his greatest comfort. He couldn't remember how long it had belonged to him—or he belonged to it?—but it was always where he felt most secure. Not bathed in the blinding, painful rays of light he saw when there were so many people around, making it hard for him to spot his next meal. No, it was always easier to find dinner that didn't blind him when he was in the dark.

The sliver of moon above him was of little consequence as he stalked through the alleyways of the city, sniffing, sniffing. His head throbbed painfully as it always did and he growled, disappointed in the brightness of that scent. Still hungry, his slightly elongated head flicked down one alley and then another before deciding to take the route on the left.

His luck was in—he could smell the comfort of the dark. Growing excited, he leapt up to the wall, claws digging into the bricks as he crawled closer to the source of the scent. He turned a corner and looked down, eyes focusing on his target and half-wincing. There were two of them. One of them was his beloved darkness to his eyes, the other a bright light, burning his retinas.

He had to silence his grumble for fear of alerting his dinner. He'd have his darkness and then leave the painful light alone.

Creeping down from directly above the two people was easy. The dark one had the light pinned against the wall and was yelling, obnoxiously loud while the light cringed away from it. So many of the painful light ones feared the dark ones, and he struggled to understand why. The darkness was so comforting.

And it tasted delicious.

His hand reached out, long, clawed fingers moving with steady ease to simply grasp the dark one by the throat and pluck him off the ground. The yelling from dark one stopped and became a shocked wheeze while light one suddenly shrieked, jerking away from the wall and backing off to stare at him. He didn't pay attention to light one and just looked at the comforting dark, which whimpered and struggled in his grasp to little effect.

He dropped down to the pavement and kept dark one aloft, watching the human's comparatively larger hands feebly claw at his own. His eyes slid from dark one's face to the human's chest, where he could see the steady pulse of this one's source of darkness. The elongated snout moved down and opened in a single smooth move. Teeth simply pushed past clothing and flesh and bone to find the delicacy waiting for him to seize it.

Light one's screams were drowned out by the pleasantly warm feeling of dark one's source sliding down his throat. He dropped the convulsing shape and basked in the sensation as light one ran away from him, blissfully unaware of her racing away.

Unfortunately, his bliss was cut short by the growl of his stomach. He was dragged out of his happiness and made an annoyed rumble, realizing that the meal had far from sated his hunger. He cast his gaze after light one and debated eating her source as well, but decided against it. Light sources made his stomach upset.

Irritated, he scaled back up the wall to the rooftop, leaving the corpse of dark one to whatever fate awaited it in his search for more prey.

Sharp emerald eyes watched the hulking shape in silence as it reached the rooftop not far away, silent in his observations. Hisashi almost found it comical how easy it was for him to find the creature, but not the authorities. Then again, the creature was drawn to his kind of people and not theirs, so he supposed he had a slight advantage in locating it.

He remained seated on the edge of the tower, watching the creature from sixty feet in the air. Even as he heard the familiar sound of a warp gate opening behind him, he didn't turn around.

"Kurogiri," he greeted simply.

The misty villain materialized several meters behind him and paused as he realized what his colleague was onto. "Ah. I see you've already discovered the reason for my visit. As expected of you, I suppose."

"Sin Eater isn't hard to find if you look in the right places," Hisashi shrugged, eyes locked onto the creature as it easily leapt from rooftop to rooftop, peering into the alleys in search of more prey. "Especially these days."

"The heroes haven't located him after all this time," Kurogiri pointed out, moving a little closer to the edge of the roof to watch the creature with his ally.

"He's had a nest to run to these past years," Hisashi dismissed. "I do wonder what's prompted Mugetsu to give him so much more freedom. He is…irritating if not kept in check."

"Do you suspect she's simply letting him roam free?"

"Perhaps. But I find it more likely that his hunting range has simply expanded," the villain replied. "I think if he were given enough reason, he'd run to ground and lead me to Mugetsu."

Kurogiri paused. "What reason could prompt him to do that?"

"The same reason any animal needs," Hisashi said. He paused for a moment and then whistled, a sharp, long, and loud sound that carried across the open air.

Kurogiri froze as Sin Eater stopped moving on a rooftop just a few blocks away and lifted his head in search of them. It was almost mechanical how he locked onto the two villains and with just a slight hesitation in his step, bounded over the buildings towards them with eerie silence for something so large. "Hisashi."

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

Kurogiri backed away as the sound of claws scraping stone became more audible. But not out of fear. Hisashi's tone was enough to tell the misty villain that he was in a playful mood. "Shall I tell Tomura to disregard this threat?"

"Nothing so boring, Kurogiri," Hisashi chuckled, his gaze rising as two massive, clawed hands gripped the bricks of the roof on either side of him and a blood-covered muzzle slowly towered over him. The pale eyes focused on his chest and a deep purr echoed from the beast as it moved to seize yet another delectable morsel.

Sin Eater paused however, as a hand rose up to touch his lower jaw, slowly sliding up towards his throat and then neck. His eyes rose, puzzled and slightly irritated by the unusual behavior of this dark one.

It wasn't the sudden shrieking of his instincts or the hand clamping on the back of his neck with unnatural force that made the predator's blood freeze in his veins. It was the expression on Hisashi's face.

He was smiling.

Toshinori stared through the vehicle window with a blank expression as Tsukauchi drove him back to U.A. Following his meeting with the imprisoned All for One, the former hero had gone from angry to deep in thought, though he still seemed more annoyed than anything. Toshinori was rarely silent unless he was seriously debating something or upset, and Tsukauchi couldn't tell which one it was, for once.

The Detective frowned as the traffic up ahead suddenly jumped drastically and his radio crackled. "Alerting all available officers to a villain attack on the Kamagawa-Huhi intersection. Heroes are on the scene, but the situation has yet to be resolved. Please go about redirecting traffic and escorting civilians from the immediate area…"

Tsukauchi sighed and glanced into his rear-view mirror before shifting lanes. "I'll take a detour."

Toshinori grimaced. "Never thought I'd see the day I'd be moving away from a situation like this. The evening's just started and they're already out and about…"

"It's not your fault the villains are growing bolder," Tsukauchi admonished him. "One way or another, the age of All Might would have ended someday. It's better for you to be alive and guide the next generation through these rough times."

Toshinori didn't seem inclined to agree, but he grunted in response and returned to staring out the window. Tsukauchi glanced at his friend for a brief moment. "What's got you so worked up? All for One, or something else?"

"A little bit of everything," the former hero admitted. "I thought we'd stamped out organized crime while I was active, but it seems that they were just hiding underground, biding their time."

"The smartest villains are always the ones who hide in the shadows," he agreed. Looking to steer the conversation away from a subject Toshinori had no power over any longer, Tsukauchi decided to finally touch on something All for One had brought up. "What do you think about the situation regarding Himiko Toga?"

Toshinori shook his head slowly. "I don't know. I think there are benefits to it, but I don't think those benefits outweigh the risks."

"Ah. So it might be better not to mention it to Izuku at all?"

"I'll tell him a bit of it, I suppose. But I'm not keen on him interacting with her while she's so close to Hisashi, no. It'd be different if she would come in…"

"Do you think there's a chance of her doing that?"

Toshinori let a long breath leave him and glanced at Tsukauchi with a slight shrug. "I don't know. Do you?"

Tsukauchi merely inclined his head. "No way of knowing without talking to her."

Toshinori nodded and returned to looking out the window, pondering it all. Even with All for One behind bars, he'd left the pro hero scene with some very dangerous villains still roaming free. All six of the Chimeras were loose and who knew what other dangerous characters were lurking in the darkness, ready to emerge now that he was retired.

Staring out into the fading light, he couldn't help but wonder where Hisashi was now and what he was doing…

Kurogiri watched tensely, his gaseous body unusually still as he listened to the pained whines just meters in front of him.

It never failed to disturb him how incredibly powerful Hisashi was with his enhancements active. He had Sin Eater pinned face-first into the pavement of the rooftop, not even bothering to use his flames. Many painful bruises were already forming over the beast's pale flesh from the one-sided beating, turning ugly shades of black and purple. The Chimera had his victim's arm twisted at an unnatural angle and no amount of struggling from the beast, despite being four times Hisashi's size, could give it any leeway to escape. The most serious injury was a splintered rib protruding from Sin Eater's torso, but his attacker paid it no mind.

"Poor thing," Hisashi sneered at the creature in disgust, eyeing the emaciated figure. "Mugetsu hasn't been feeding you properly. Shame. But I suppose you're more willing to cooperate if you're hungry, aren't you?"

Sin Eater shrieked in pain as Hisashi squeezed a little harder, prompting his thick arm to make an audible crack. The predator-turned-prey scrabbled to escape, only for the Chimera to suddenly shove his face further against the concrete. He leaned down, snarling into Sin Eater's ear dangerously.

"Run along to your master, now," Hisashi ordered, uncaring if the monster couldn't understand him. A wordless, vicious growl ripped from Hisashi's throat as he released Sin Eater and made a mock lunge at him to send the beast scrambling away, leaping from the rooftop to get away.

Hisashi grimaced and dusted his hands off. "I should probably bathe in alcohol after touching that thing."

Kurogiri watched as Sin Eater bounded over the rooftops in the distance and dove into a nearby alleyway to disappear. "Do you think he'll really lead you to Mugetsu?"

"Who knows?" Hisashi shrugged, crouching on the edge of the building. "I'll keep him on the run for a few days, see where his blood trail leads. If he doesn't take me to her, I'll find another use for him. Tell Tomura and the others to stay away from this area at night. Even a cornered rat will show fight when it's life is at stake."

"You don't seem to mind that."

The Chimera half-turned his head to smirk at Kurogiri, emerald eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "No amount of fight will save a rat from me, Kurogiri. If I let him live, it's because I don't feel like he's completely useless to me, yet."

Hisashi launched himself into the air with his supernatural strength, rocketing after Sin Eater at a distance to track his quarry to its lair. Kurogiri watched him disappear after a couple of seconds and decided to warp back to see how Himiko was doing. He paused for a moment and chuckled to himself unexpectedly.

A rat indeed, he thought with amusement. Heat Viper was not some common snake, after all. Kurogiri knew that All for One had a code name for each Chimera, different from their villain names as a way to disguise their individual information at times. Maybe it was simply a way for the Arch-Villain to express his pride in each achievement, but whatever the case, Kurogiri couldn't deny each title suited its owner.

Hisashi's name in their databanks was Apophis for good reason.

A/N: So with this chapter, we've reached several milestones!

First and foremost, as of this past Thursday, Viridescent is now one year old! Woohoo! I think this was a good year seeing how much you guys seemed to enjoy the series thus far! Here's to hoping the next year will be even better! Plus Ultra!

Secondly, this chapter marks Viridescent's rating changing to M. This is for the reasons I've stated previously, mostly language and violence, and the possibility of some sensual content in (much) later chapters. I'm going to let this run for a little while and see what people think. Depending on the reactions, I may switch the rating back to T, but we'll see what happens.

Thirdly, the discord for Viridescent is live! I made it pretty discreetly following the last chapter and it's been relatively successful, so I think I'll go ahead and invite anyone who wants to participate in the discord to join us! I'll provide a link to the discord to anyone who asks, so be sure to message me or leave a review with your request in it, I'll try to get to you as soon as possible!

Speaking of the discord, it was suggested that I host a Q&A event on it for Viridescent's first birthday, so if anyone is interested in that, the event will likely be this Monday sometime in the afternoon. I will post more information regarding it over the next day or so, and we'll find a concrete time for anyone who wants to participate :)

This chapter was originally going to be longer and include some fluff, but with the darker tones I've introduced, I've decided to save most of the fluff for next chapter. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this foray into the dark themes and prepare yourselves for more. It's almost October, after all. Reference to the upcoming Halloween in case any of my readers have no idea what that means.

I think that's it, so as ever, please review and thanks for reading!