Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the original character mentioned.

A/N: So I know that this chapter is short but a short chapter is better than nothing. I would like to apologize for not updating earlier but I will try and update this story as much as I can.

"Naruto, are you okay? You've been very quiet."

For the first time since she entered the car, Naruto turned to Aizawa and let out a sigh. Her mind buzzed and her heart began to ache with sadness as the words of the villains echoed in her ear. I know I could have been like them but their stories were similar to mine. Twice was particularly similar to her.

"My parents died when I was 12 and none of my relatives wanted me, so I found myself living in an apartment by myself."

Loneliness made him join the League of Villains.

"You heard their stories, didn't you Aizawa-sensei?" her voice was soft, softer than even the silkiest of silks, and Naruto forced herself to look at the window. Buildings passed by her, blurred together until it was one blob. It didn't look anything interesting but nothing was interesting now. "I can see myself in almost every single one of them…especially in Twice. He probably joined them because of his loneliness."

Her teacher kept quiet and turned the wheel. The signal beeped, sliced through the uncomfortable silence between them and the enginee went quiet when her teacher killed the engine. He cleared his throat but kept his gaze on the screen in front of them. "Were you lonely growing up? You had Hyuga and I can't imagine that you were lonely."

"I was always lonely," she confessed. "I could be surrounded by millions of people, by people who care about me and still feel like the loneliest person in the room. Throughout my childhood, all I ever did was pretend to be something I am not. I played the idiot, the clown and so many other things because…people expected me to be someone I'm not."

She was herself around Hinata and even around Sasuke but there were few times when it felt like they couldn't understand her.

'What do you know about family? You never had one!'

He didn't know what it was like to be alone since the beginning. Did not know how hard she strived to get the level of acknowledgment that have been gifted to him. He didn't try to understand while Hinata was too busy with her own problems to realize the full depth of my issues. But she should have tried to explaining things to her friend.

She should have let her in earlier.

"And now?" her teacher asked, tilting his head up. "Who are you? Who are you when you are around your classmates?"

It was a very good question. One that lurked in her mind since she began to open herself up to her friends and family. Who was she? Who was she, exactly? She had always known she wasn't an idiot. Always knew and had the confidence to believe she was meant for something bigger then what her teachers in the Academy believed.

"Now, I think I'm being purely Naruto."

There was a tiny smile on Aizawa's lips. If she had to put a name on the emotion in his smile then she would describe it as proud. He is proud of me. The knowledge brought out a smile from her and her stomach curled up with joy. But her joy faded when the various members of the League Of Villains came to her mind.

"You should always be yourself," he advised, looking up at the car ceiling. The man clasped his fingers together and offered her a glance before looking to the window. "When you try to mold yourself into being something that you are not, then you will end up resenting yourself and the people around you."

There was no point in arguing with his words. He was right. Completely right because maybe she carried a little bit of resentment towards the village, towards her own team and…she didn't want to think about it. I am going to be the best version of myself because I deserve it. My family and friends deserve it. Naruto exhaled and looked up at the ceiling.

"You know those villains wouldn't have become villains if things have been different."

What would happen if Toga's parents had found another way to deal with the girl's craving for blood? What if Twice had found friends and didn't get fired from his jobs? Shigaraki couldn't remember anything but she doubt he had good memories. None of those villains seemed to have had a happy childhood.

"Society can't be perfect even if you spent a lifetime trying to make it perfect," Aizawa commented. His black eyes showed no emotion and the man curled his hands around the steering wheel. "Do you know why society can never be perfect? It is because humans aren't perfect either. We make mistakes and we can't do everything by ourselves…so society can't be perfect."

I know society can't be perfect.

She thought that only Konoha had the problem with the lack of foster systems but it turned out that Japan also had this problem. Japan and maybe even the other countries, had problems when it came to weird Quirks like Toga. No society can be perfect. She lived in a society where it was okay for the Number One Hero to abuse his family.

"Shouldn't we at least aim to make a society that is close to perfect?" she inhaled and curled her hands into a fist. "Those villains probably wouldn't have become villains if the system had been better. We should try and save the children like them before they ended up in their path."

Her teacher quirked his lips into a bitter smile and placed his hand on top of her head. "The whole changing the system isn't something that lies on us but the policymakers, the citizens of this country but…not on us. We can't protect children from discrimination, stop them from living in the streets if citizens don't do their part."

What happened to those villains is also the fault of this twisted society. That was what the message seem to be and it was a painful message for her to swallow. She could try and fix their problems through rehabilitation but it won't end the problem. How could she fix the damn problem? How could they fix the root of this problem?

Even if they fixed this then what happened if a bigger villain came?

How do they fix that?

"Aizawa-sensei then how do you get citizens to do their part?" she whispered. He gazed at her with thoughtful eyes and Naruto waited for him to give her some kind of clue. What could they do to prevent the next villains to come? How do they prevent the next set of villains from being born? She didn't want kids to feel like that this was their option. "What is the point of being a hero if we can't save their childhood selves? The representation of their childhood?"

Her teacher leaned his whole body and rested his head on top of the wheel. "You know what is the good thing about being a hero? You can use publicity to try and educate the citizens but you can't force them to take responsibility."

I wish we could because why should we deal with everything?

She exhaled and closed her eyes. "Aizawa-sensei, do you think with enough love, support and help then those villains could re-enter society again?"

The Underground Hero frowned and furrowed her eyebrows together. Naruto turned her head away from the man, ignored his scrutinizing eyes. It was stupid of her to have doubts now. Stupid because she had hope to change them. That she could do the same thing like she did with Gaara, but what if she didn't do well?

No, she couldn't think of the possible failure.

"I could lie to you and give you some misguided hope and tell you that the answer is yes," he replied after ten minutes. She twisted her head and met the blank eyes of her teacher. "But I don't believe in lying so I can tell you this: I can't determine if those things are enough for a villain. I can't tell you that friendship and love is enough to change a person because only God could answer those questions."

That's the difference between you and Kakashi. Kakashi preferred to avoid admitting the truth. Preferred to think she was some kind of idiot then to think she could understand everything. Aizawa-sensei was different from Iruka-sensei too. He tried from the very beginning to be there for her and sometimes he acted more like…

Now I'm being ridiculous to put that kind of title on him.

It was ridiculous for her to think that Aizawa-sensei was the closest thing she had to a Dad.

"Thank you for being honest, Aizawa-sensei."

And for always being there for me.

Those words couldn't be uttered now but maybe one day, she would have the courage to express those words to him. Maybe one day she could tell him that out of every adult in her life, he had been the one the closest that she could have a father. Because father reassured, gave advice and just be there for their children and that was what Aizawa-sensei had been doing for her.

Yes, one day she could express her gratitude more openly to him.

(Next day)

"You're going for a run?"

Naruto took a bite of her cereal and stared at the blue and white tracksuit jacket that belonged to Shouto. Her boyfriend sat on the couch, upper body bent down as he tied up his sneakers. From the window, the morning sunrays offered almost a faint angelic glow to him. It made his red-half looked like it was on fire.

She shook her head and made her way to the sink. From behind her, she practically felt those heterochromatic eyes inspecting her. It was like he was trying to mesmerize her movement. It shouldn't make her shiver but it did. Her whole body hummed from the intensity of his gaze and she nearly jumped when he cleared his throat.

"I need to improve my stamina," he explained. She nodded and turned around, only to blink at the sight of her boyfriend standing behind her. His eyes seized her, inspected her hair before it moved down to her eyes and then finally landed on her lips. For a few seconds, his eyes lingered there before moving back to her eyes. "I can't just let you, Midoriya and Bakugou be the only ones getting stronger."

There was almost a competitive edge to his tone and her lips twitched into a smile. It was cute. Really cute if you asked her because she rarely saw this side of him. He is always so calm and collected, almost like a man sculpted from ice. But he was anything but ice. There was a heat inside of him as well, a heat that sometimes threatened to overwhelm her.

"Who knew you could be so competitive?" she smiled and placed her hands behind the counter. Shouto raised his eyebrows and then quirked his lips into a tiny smile. For just a brief moment, her stomach fluttered and twirled like it couldn't stop dancing. His smiles are going to be the death of me. She always acted like a lovesick idiot whenever she saw his smile.

She should hate it but if anything, she liked how he brought this side out of her.

"Maybe you rub off of me," he suggested, leaning just a little bit closer to her. "Or I just don't feel the need to show off that part of myself like Bakugou and you."

Naruto quirked her lips into a smile and darted her eyes around the empty common room before wrapping her hands around him. She tucked her head against his chest and met the slight amused eyes of her boyfriend. "You know I'm glad that you can control your needs compared to me and Bakugou. Can you imagine how competitive we would be if you made everything a competition?"

"If everything was a competition then we will be more exhausted trying to prove who is stronger," he mused.

And we both know that I would win that competition. She shook her head and stared at Shouto's eyes. His eyes kept darting around the common room, lingered on the shut doors of the elevator before it landed on her lips. His eyes emitted so much heat. A heat that made her throat dry up and brought out an insane desire out of her.

With a shaky breath, she tiptoed and pressed her lips against him. Warmth flooded her system as Shouto kissed her back with a desire that made her knees wobbled. His cologne, his strange mixture of heat and cold and the taste of orange juice. All of those things were things she felt, could sense and she wanted to feel him even more.

They only stopped kissing when her lungs screamed for air.

"That felt more…intense," Shouto heaved, pressing his forehead against her.

She brushed her fingers against his chin. "You didn't like it?"

Pinkness crept up on his cheeks and he turned his head away from her. Now that is the side of him that I like to see the most. Even though his head was turned away from her, she could see the bright pink tips of his ear. This wasn't the first time they kissed but maybe things were different because she admitted that she liked him.

That she hinted her feelings were more then a simple crush.

"I like it," he admitted, clearing his throat. "I really like it but your cousin is going to kill me if he sees that I am tempted to more than just kiss you."

Since when did he get so bold? Desire curled up in her stomach and her legs almost squirmed from the emotion shining through his eyes. It wasn't just lust that shone through his eyes. It wasn't just care and tenderness that barely came through his eyes. No, it was the same emotion from yesterday. The same emotion that have been burning inside of her as each day passed.

"Katsu-niisan will scream at me more then you," she admitted because it was her that initiated the contact. When it came to their public display of affection then everyone knew that she was the one that instigated their kisses in public spaces. "He knows you are way too private to kiss me in public…even if you are now getting comfortable to kiss me in public. Although, he should be glad that I kiss you instead of saying how much I like you in public."

Shouto nodded. His cheeks burned a bright shade of red and Naruto furrowed her eyebrows together. Why was he blushing? Did she say something wrong again? Nope. The words had been comfortable. Nothing inappropriate but why was Shouto trembling at her words? Was there something that she missed?

Seriously, she couldn't think what was wrong.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Naruto blinked and shook her head. Shouto relaxed his shoulders and pressed a kiss in the corner of her lips before he hovered his lips against her ear. "Then can we have a date after I come back from my meeting with Touya? I miss our dates and miss…this. I really miss our time together."

She smiled and nodded. "I don't have any work today so you have the honor of having me to yourself for the whole night."

Shouto smiled. It was small but the genuine, fond smile on his face was enough to make her smile stretch even further. It is going to be hard for me to leave him when the time comes. It was stupid of her to think that they could last that long. That by the time they graduated, they would still be together but she wanted them to last.

He was the first boy that she loves and hopefully the last boy she would ever love.

With a quiet shake of her head, Naruto followed behind Shouto and stared at his back. His back is getting broader. It was one thing for her to feel it whenever she hugged it but a whole different thing for her to see it. It wasn't going to be long before it became difficult for her to look at him. All of his siblings were tall and Shouto was no different.

I'm not short but I'm going to feel like a shortie by the time we are 18.

A tiny laugh came out of her mouth and she watched with a smile as Shouto opened the door. The cold wind brushed against her cheeks as the bright sunrays shone down on them, offering a kind of sparkle to the lush grass. Today was a beautiful day. It was also going to be her final day of punishment and…

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Shouto growled. Naruto frowned and moved closer to her boyfriend, hovered behind him and her heart stopped when she saw Kakashi standing before them. His single eye couldn't meet her boyfriend's gaze, couldn't meet her own eyes and just seemed more fixed on his own hands.

There was a thick envelope in his right hand and a silver locket in his other hand.

She shook her head and cleared her throat. "Kakashi wanted to have a talk with me before I had my work but I told him that I didn't want any distractions, which is why I told him that we could talk after I did my job."

Her former teacher bobbed his head and looked almost small that her stomach curled up with worry. Why does he look like that? No, what concerned her was how his chakra pulsed with guilt. Why did he seem even more guilty than usual? She let out an exhale and Shouto glanced at her with concern before he glanced at Kakashi.

He turned towards her and leaned closer to her until they were only a few inches away from each other.

"Do you want me to stay with you while he talks with you?" he asked softly. "I will stay if you asked me, if you think you need me to be here then I will stay."

I have his support no matter what. She had alwaysknown that but the fact he asked her, told her that he learnt from their discussion. That he could trust her mental strength. That was…good and relieving but did she need him for this interaction? Could she maintain her composure around Kakashi? She wanted to say yes.

She wanted to claim that she didn't need him for this but it would be a lie.

"Can you stay?" she requested, linking their fingers together. From behind her boyfriend, she could almost see the uncomfortable look on her teacher's face. His visible eye lingered on her hand and then her former teacher looked away from her. "I don't want to risk having some kind of breakdown or having doubts about my decision."

He nodded and offered her a slight smile.

"As you wish."

Now all she had to wonder was what Kakashi wanted from her.

"You have got a very supportive boyfriend, Naruto."

Shouto kept his expression blank as Kakashi darted his eyes between him and Naruto. For the past ten minutes, there had been no exchange of words. No attempt to break the stony silence between the two of them and if he was like his girlfriend, then he would attempt to do it himself. But he had no desire to interact with the man that allowed his girlfriend to be abused.

The man that forced her to be something that she was not.

"Shouto is the best but I guess it helps that we were friends first, right Shouto?" Naruto smiled politely at Kakashi and shifted her eyes to him. Her pretty blue eyes wavered just a little bit and the tiny wrinkle on her forehead told him that she wasn't comfortable. He bobbed his head and linked their hands together.

He squeezed it and looked at Kakashi. "Before I'm her boyfriend, I'm her friend and I learnt to support my friends."

The visible eye inspected him, looked at him like he wasn't worthy of Naruto, and he bristled. The older girl could do better than him. Someone that probably had less trauma then him but he was better option than Sasuke. Nothing in the world would make him want to hurt this wonderful person beside him.

"Her parents would have approved of you if they were alive," he commented.

From the corner of his eyes, Shouto could see Naruto had stiffened from those words. Her whole body trembled like a leaf and without a second thought, he squeezed her slender shoulder. Do you really think you should bring up her parents? The irritation coated his tongue, the desire to lash out at the man was great but he had to be supportive.

He had to remember that Naruto could defend herself and that she wasn't fragile.

That she had more strength then him.

"You have some nerve to talk about my deceased parents," Naruto said, unhappy and irritated. She tightened her grip on his hand to the point that his bones threatened to crap. "In all the time that I know you, not once did you try and tell me about them. Instead all you ever did was…"

She trailed off and pursed her lips before looking away from the man. Nothing was said between them and there was a growing tension between them. A tension that threatened to explode. He definitely shouldn't have come here. The moment Naruto made the signal, he would ask Hyuga to talk some sense to the man.

"You have every right to be furious with me but I didn't know what to talk about," Kakashi said, ducking his head. "It seems like we can't talk without you being upset."

There was no answer and no protest from Naruto. She only offered him a stiff nod and crossed her legs together, lips pressed into a thin line. She is definitely upset. The blonde always made those expressions whenever she was irritated. Usually, he had seen her direct those looks to Mineta whenever he made a lewd comment about her body.

The silver-haired man exhaled and pulled two things out from his pocket. It was silver-heart locket that seemed to have a diamond placed in the center of the heart as well as a worn-out envelope. The older male slid the locket first to the blond-haired girl and gazed down at the envelope with a heavy visible eye.

"If you are giving me a gift for my birthday or anything then—"

"—This is a gift your step-grandmother wanted you to have when you turn 16," Kakashi explained quietly. His girlfriend loosened her grip on his hand and leaned forward to pick up the necklace. She dangled it up in the air with eyes filled with wonder. "I know from your step-grandmother that your grandfather bought it for her after they got married."

Naruto frowned and looked at the necklace with conflicted eyes. "Why would she give this to me? Shouldn't she have given this to her other female family members?"

"She always considered you as her granddaughter," Kakashi replied, looking straight to the window. "And any loving grandmother, biological or not, would want to gift their possessions to their grandchildren."

It was logical. They all knew that but the man's voice was so devoid of emotion, talked about the whole thing like it was nothing special and Shouto released his breath. He couldn't get angry. At this moment, he had absolutely no reason to be furious. Naruto didn't even seem furious, more content with inspecting the gift with sad eyes.

"She…considered me as her granddaughter?" she asked. "Did she raise me at all?"

Kakashi offered a small nod and couldn't meet Naruto's eyes as he slid the envelop to the blonde. Why can't he meet her eyes? Something didn't make sense. A couple of weeks ago, the man had been able to meet her eyes. The few times he saw the man, he had been somewhat capable of looking his girlfriend in her eyes.

"Keisuke loved you so much, always talked about how smart you are for a toddler," Kakashi replied softly. Shouto blinked and jerked his head while his girlfriend lifted up the envelope from the ground. "No matter how much the villagers badmouthed her and glared at you, Keisuke would never abandoned you. She was so excited about your birth and treated you like you were her whole world."

The words seemed choked up as if admitting those things was painful for him, and Shouto felt his stomach twisted with discomfort. What could he say to them? What did he do? As much as he wanted to become angry, it was difficult. No matter how horrible the man had been to Naruto, Kakashi was still human.

He also had feelings.

"What happened to her?"

His girlfriend's question lingered in the air and Shouto stared at Naruto. Tears glimmered behind through her eyes, threatened to fall like waterworks. Just the knowledge that someone loved her is enough to bring her to tears. No one could blame her. Not when they knew just how difficult her childhood had been.

His arm wrapped around her shoulders and Naruto automatically placed her head against the nook of his neck.

"There is no way for me to tell you this but Keisuke was murdered on the night of your second birthday."

Water soaked his neck but the most painful sound was the sobs coming out of Naruto's lips. Her sobs sliced through the air and his heart clenched with sadness and pain for Naruto. He rubbed her back and hugged her even tighter as Kakashi stared at them. I don't think it is going to be an easy day for her. Maybe, it would be a good idea for him to cancel on the date.

To give her space and…

"What the fuck are you doing here and what the hell did you do to make my cousin cry!"

Well, it looked like Bakugou had chosen the worst of times to come down for his own run.

A/N: So do tell me of your thoughts about the interaction between Aizawa and Naruto in this chapter and how do you think Bakugou will react to what was happening? Also would you like a flashback of Keisuke and Naruto's grandfather? Or would you rather prefer to hear the whole content of her reaction to Minato's situation from her letter?

Please do tell me of your thoughts about this chapter.