"Dad!!"

I heard him from outside, scrambling when he heard me.

"What is it?" he demanded, his quirk activated, turning on the light. I flinched, but didn't complain.

He looked at the end of the bed, where he saw what I saw.

"Princess is having her kittens."

The tension left him and he turned to me. I thought I was going to die from the glare he gave me.

He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath in...and out…

"It startled me," I said meekly. "I didn't know what to do…"

"It's alright, honey," he said quietly. "You did the right thing."

Aila-Chan was at the door as well, her long-sleeve P.J. shirt slipping off her tan shoulder.

"Let's stay calm…" he said. "I'm going to find a shoebox to put her in. Aila-Chan, can we keep Sleepy in your room with you for right now?"

"Of course."

"Alright. Samiko, carefully get out of bed and get sleepy into Aila-Chan's room, please."

"Yes, sir."

I did as he instructed immediately. I was emotional--scared--at the moment, and read his mind when he busted in, during the split second where his quirk wasn't activated. He was just having another nightmare. Which was also probably why he wasn't in his room earlier. I probably didn't help. I felt so guilty...I was so careless.

I grabbed Sleepy and shoved him into Aila's room, and she came up to me, following me. She put her hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. I felt an immediate sense of relief, and could tell she used her quirk on me.

"You're doing good, honey," she said. "You didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

I nodded idly. She was probably lying.

Everything ended up to be okay. Dad found a big shoebox and put some blankets and Princess's cat bed into it, then gently set her into it. She cried out again, and Dad stroked her belly lovingly.

Dad also took the kitten from my bed and set it in the box with its mother. It was pretty silent, but Princess began licking its head and cleaning them off. Then it started screeching.

"Look, Sami," Aila sat down with me in front of the box, a decent ways away from my Dad so he could care for her and watch and wait for the litter to be born. We didn't know how many she was having, so this was new to all of us. "Here comes another one."

I looked, and sure enough, another little kitten was born. During it all, Dad was stroking her swollen stomach soothingly. Princess reached with her paw and dragged the baby forward, licking them as well.

It was such a unique experience. I'd never seen anything like this before in my life. Princess seemed to have just wanted attention more than anything, which would make sense, since she's Princess. She looked like she had it in the bag, ironically.

"At least we know she trusts you," Dad said softly, looking at me. I looked at him, slightly confused. "She went into labor in your room. Cats go to where they feel the safest to go into labor, and she chose your room. That's a symbol of high trust in cats."

Aila looked at me with a wide smile. "Isn't that cool, Samiko? Your cat actually trusts you!"

I also smiled, and so did my Dad. It was quite the feeling.

.o0o.

It only took a solid 20 minutes from me being woken up by the cat to her finishing labor, with five little kittens in the end.

I wanted to approach her, and pet her, touch one of the kittens, but the look on her face prevented me from doing such a thing. I did not want to lose a hand, no matter how much she trusted me.

No one said anything for a minute or two. We just listened to her purring at her babies, and watched the babies knead and nurse their mother.

The first words spoken since they were born were from my father.

"I figured she'd be a whore."

Both Aila's and my eyes snapped up to him. He was standing there in normal Shota Aizawa fashion, looking at us out of the corner of his eye.

"That was uncalled for, Sho," Aila laughed.

He shrugged. "It's true. There were at least four toms she was with when we weren't looking."

I looked at the kittens. One of them was a calico, another one looked pretty much like Princess. There was a light tabby looking one, but it could be a maine coon kitten. We wouldn't be able to tell for another little while anyhow. One of them was bigger than the rest, just a little bit, but noticeably enough. He/she/they/(potato) was grey and white, and the last one looked strangely like Sleepy. It was all black and had white little whiskers.

Every kitten was from at least one tom. So there were around four toms. Probably five.

Dad was right.

Aila shook her head.

.o0o.

We left the cats be for right now, and we all went to bed. I was so excited. Oh my gosh, we had kittens! They were all so cute! I wasn't sure what we were going to do about Sleepy, though. He didn't seem aggressive, and he almost never was to any of us, but we couldn't tell what he would do now that there were little mouse-looking things infesting our home. Once again, he's never been very hostile, but you could never tell, especially with un-neutered toms.

I think that we were going to get him neutered now. Because that one black kitten looks a lot like him.

Naughty, naughty...

.o0o.

Aizawa P.O.V.

We settled the cat and made sure she was in a peaceful spot. Samiko took Sleepy's food and water to him in Aila's room. I got her tucked in and told her to head to sleep as soon as she could. We would be training tomorrow, and Shinsou would be joining us.

Aila was still sitting on the floor where she was with Samiko, looking all sad and forlorn. I couldn't help but feel a pang in my chest. With this moment of silence we had, I kept my face even.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her quietly.

She only blinked, taking a heavy breath in and out. She shook her head slowly, subtly.

I didn't expect her to say anything, but I sat with her nonetheless, squatting in front of her.

She ran a hand through her rich hair, forcing herself to look at me. Her golden eyes were filled with tears, but her face was blank. Devoid of almost all emotion.

The look didn't suit her.

She sighed and forced herself to smile, laughing unamusedly.

"It's just that...with the kittens being born, I…." She took a deep breath in and out. "I can't help but be reminded of what I lost."

I nodded sympathetically.

"I mean...How ironic that….that happens, and I move here, and Princess has her kittens?" she laughed spitefully. "It...It hurts...more than I thought it should…" she said quietly, bringing her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Aila-Chan," I said softly. Her eyes flicked up to me. "Everyone makes mistakes. What happened is in the past. There is nothing you can do. There is nothing that he can do about it. Any of it."

"I know," she said, sniffling deeply. "It just….the pain...it hurts so much. Why did I do that? Why would I let Mother make me do that? Why didn't I know…what it would feel like afterwards? Why would no one say anything?"

"You love your mother very much," I said rationally. "You just wanted her approval."

"But it wasn't worth it…" she hissed. "It's like Mira all over again."

I almost gasped. I haven't heard her name in a long time.

"When she died," she continued, "Mother didn't want us to talk about any of it. Not her name, not her agency, not her daughter…I couldn't even see anyone or tell anyone about it. I had to be strong, because that's who we were.

"And...And now this? It...it just repeated itself--I was losing my mind...And sometimes...I feel it slipping from me, even now. I don't know how to...heal from all of it now, and I...I'm sorry."

I didn't say anything. I knew she had more to say.

"I'm such a burden on all of you, and I...I shouldn't be here."

"Aila, you are right where you need to be," I said.

She stopped talking and looked at me.

"God knows you needed a break from your mother and brother. And I know it isn't my place to say anything, so I won't, but we are in your debt. You got Samiko out of there when I wouldn't let her come home. So, let's call it even."

She smiled wanly at me and wiped her eyes.

"And since you're obviously struggling, we can sign you up for counseling here at U.A. You don't even have to leave the campus."

She nodded, seeming to contemplate everything.

"There is nothing you can do about the past. You know what you did, the mistakes you made, the people you should and shouldn't trust. What are you going to do about it?"

She looked down, her mouth twitching like Samiko did when she was thinking.

"You should have a few days to process what's been going on," I said reasonably, "But after that, I want you to go in for therapy. You and I both know you need it."

She nodded, laughing in spite of herself.

"And when you're done with that…" I said carefully. Better now than never. "Are you ever going to tell him?"

She seemed to freeze, but not in fear. More in pain.

"I...I don't know."

"He deserves to know." I was speaking from experience. "Don't run from it."

"But it's not even--"

"Aila," I said, "I'm not saying right now. I'm saying when he starts asking questions. You have to tell him."

"He'll hate me," she said.

"Who, Tsukauchi? I've seen that man truly hateful maybe once in my life. And that was when I partnered with a vigilante once."

She went quiet again.

"I'm not telling you to do it now. Take all the time you need to gather your thoughts and deal with your grief. You need that at least. Let's focus on that for right now, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

I rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Everything is going to be okay. We're here for you. Everyone is here for you at U.A. Most of us know who you are."

She nodded again. "Thank you, Shota. It...It really helps."

I smiled at her. "Do you need help getting up?"

She looked at her legs, and subconsciously traced the scar that ran down her knee.

"Yeah," she said, laughing awkwardly.

"'Kay."

I stood up and then grabbed her arms, basically lifting her up. She had issues with her muscle tissue, and in my opinion, the heels she wore all the time probably didn't help.

Either way, she steadied herself, using me as her crutch.

"Thank you," she said.

"Try not to let Sleepy out of your room," I said. "Are you sure he's okay to be in there for now? Until we get him fixed?"

"Oh, of course," she said, wiping her eyes. "He can stay with me as long as you need. It might be nice to have some company."

"I just don't want him to wake you up in the night," I sighed.

"Nah, don't worry about it," She said. "I'll be okay."

"Okay. Get some sleep."

"I will. Thank you...for talking to me. I...I'll seriously consider these things," she said quietly.

"Of course. Goodnight, Aila-Chan."

"Goodnight."

She smiled at me once more and went into her room.

God, relationships were hard.

.o0o.

A/N: I thought about not updating for a little while but y'all convinced me otherwise.