Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia: Inked Feathered Flame By Fang Wolfsbane

This was it. All it would take was one step over the threshold of the large, intimidating gate and he'd officially be on the grounds of the prestigious pre-hero academy, Ultimate Academy.

It was a dream come true for most, but for him, it was terrifying. Beyond terrifying. So terrifying in fact that he felt like ducking tail and running straight on home and hiding beneath the covers, begging never to be found. He was about to do that when a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He nearly yelped, would have squealed like a kicked puppy, if he didn't recognise the owner of said hand.

Standing proudly beside him was his cousin, Momo Yaoyorozu, with her charming smile and long black hair swept elegantly off to the side to show of her face, save for the stray fringe that she just never seemed to be able to get under control. She was pretty, that much was obvious, and judging from the stares she was receiving from their fellow male U.A. students, as well as a couple of females here and there, it was obvious that she would grow to be an attracted topic during gossiping sessions.

"Akuriru, I'm so glad that you decided to come!"

There it was. The usual, cheerful Momo. Akuriru nearly found himself whimpering in response, not sure how to tell his cousin that he had wanted to run off with his tail between his legs. He would have too if she didn't put both hands against his back and propelled him through the gates.

Taking that first, forced step, Akuriru felt what little pride he still had remaining drain clean out of him. Unlike most of the students at U.A., he, Momo and a selected few, had gotten into the academy based on recommendations from fulltime professional heroes, except unlike his cousin, Akuriru's recommendation hadn't been official. It was forged.

He hadn't asked for it, in fact, he had begged Momo not to, but through some kind of need to please, she had recreated an exact forgery of her own recommendation letter, replacing the copy's details with his instead. She had told no one about it, save for him, a secret he wished she'd kept to herself. How no one in their family had questioned his sudden acceptance into a high school he hadn't had the guts to hope to get into was what surprised him more than his cousin's blatant dishonesty.

In a way he supposed he owed her for what she had done, except the differences in their quirks was enough to cause doubt in anyone that they were related in the first place. Hers was something big, something creative, something useful. His was no more than decoration at this point. If he even survived the first term at U.A., he himself would be more than surprised. He supposed he owed Momo's sponsor a thanks as well. If it hadn't been for Momo's sponsor's credibility then the arrival of a second recommendation letter might not have gone over as smoothly as it did.

"Come. We can't be late for our first class, can we?" she asked, taking his hand in hers as she hauled him up the stairs with her. The pull nearly yanked him clean off his feet, causing him to stumble behind like some puppy on a leash. Compared to her, that was probably all he was really. A puppy that had gotten something that could open doors for him in the future simply because his cousin had felt sorry for him. The weight in his chest became heavier, enough so that he had to clutch onto his chest to try and push back the heart that felt ready to jump free from his chest.

She must have noticed his reluctance because one moment they were rushing up to one of the higher levels in the building and the next they stood deathly still, Momo clutching his hand in both of hers. Her voice was so gentle, so patient that he nearly broke out in tears just hearing it.

"It'll be okay. I promise," she said, the corners of her lips pulling up into their comforting smile, one she knew could calm him in a heartbeat. He appreciated it, but he also hated it. Despised it.

Ever since they were children, barely knee-height in comparison to their parents, Momo had always been the one to protect him. She had been the one to look out for him. Hell, she had done it practically their whole lives. In his eyes, the teenage girl in front of him had always been a hero. His hero.

She reached one of her hands out towards him, sweeping aside his hair, their black locks the only indication that they were indeed possibly cousins. Brown eyes met grey, and with an unsteady, but firm nod, Akuriru followed his cousin in through the overly large door of class one-A, the most prestigious first year class on campus.

What he saw next, he hadn't been expecting. More than half of their new classmates were already gathering in groups, happily chatting away like old friends, whilst some seemed to be feeling out the future potential competition. He supposed that was one thing U.A. wasn't going to let them forget. It might be an academy, but it was also a training facility on its own. His uncle had been certain to remind both him and Momo of that looming fact.

For a second he thought that they might have walked into the wrong classroom, possibly a third year one. He was about to suggest his thoughts to Momo when she did something he hadn't expected to see otherwise of. Within a second, she straightened her back, squared back her shoulders and took a big, confident step inside as if she'd been attending class at U.A. for years and led him straight to the back of the class, somewhere he had always felt the most comfortable in whenever he attended school. The fact that she remembered that had him smiling enough to pull his own shoulders back some, taking pride in the fact that he was the cousin of Momo Yaoyorozu, future pro hero.

As expected, Momo took the initiative to talk to a boy beside two open desks. His appearance was interesting to say the least. Akuriru would have found himself staring at the nearly perfectly divided red and white hair scheme he had going on, secretly wondering if it had been dyed that way or if it was simply some birth mutation. His heterochromia eyes indicated that it was possibly the latter. Akuriru found the floor to be particularly appealing to the eye in an attempt to avoid looking straight at the burn on the left side of the other boy's face.

"Excuse us, but do you mind if we sit here?" Momo asked, indicating the two open seats beside the boy. The boy only shrugged, letting them sit at his silent go-ahead. Once they did, Momo flashed that smile of hers again, except this time it was aimed at their new classmate. "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, and this is my cousin, Akuriru Iro."

"H-Hi," Akuriru greeted, figuring that at the very least he could try and be nice to his new classmates to try and figure out who he'd get along with the best. If he could make one more friend besides Momo then he'd be able to breathe a little easier.

"Shoto Todoroki," the boy introduced himself with an incline of his head, easing the situation for the two of them a little as well.

Akuriru was about to reach into his bag to pull out a notepad when one of their other classmates raised his voice, a pair of glasses threatening to slide down the bridge of his nose.

"Get your feet off the table!" he demanded, waving a stiff arm at another boy, this one blonde with his legs casually resting on top of his desk like he owned the very furniture he was being scolded for.

"Oh my, how vulgar," Momo muttered to herself, a hand raised to try and subtly cover her mouth. Akuriru found himself smiling at the familiar sight.

'Always the lady, huh Momo?'

The two boys bickered between each other until out of nowhere the one that had started the argument dashed back over towards the door. At first Akuriru reckoned that he was about to go and inform a teacher of their classmate's 'disrespect for the furniture their upperclassmen and women had used before their arrival', but instead he, and a bubbly personality girl were excitedly chatting to a green-haired boy that had just entered. It was then that Akuriru found himself smiling a little more. It seemed like he wasn't the only nervous first year student.

A part of him wanted to get out of his seat and introduce himself in the hopes that the two of them could possibly become friends, if only because of their similar seeming personalities. Perhaps they could ease the tension for each other.

It took some personal convincing, but just as Akuriru was about to rise from his seat to do what he felt needed, the class door opened again, and this time, there stood a tall, tired looking man that seemed to have one foot in the grave already if his posture had anything to say about it.

In the end it turned out that the surprisingly intimidating looking man was Shota Aizawa, pro hero Eraserhead, and their homeroom teacher. He had barely spoken more than a few words to them, handed them their P.E. uniforms and ordered them to meet him outside for a testing session of their abilities.

A glance towards the green haired boy confirmed that he definitely wasn't the only one nervous about his first day. There was a possibility that the school had found out that his recommendation was a forgery, and now they were going to make him suffer for it, if Momo didn't go down with him for literally creating the forgery in the first place.

He let out an inward sigh, thinking that it had been fun while it had lasted, however brief that time had been. With both hands on his desk, Akuriru pushed himself to his feet, picked up a uniform, his gaze temporarily meeting Momo's own worried eyes, and followed the other boys to the boys' changing room.

M omo had gotten him this far already, far further than he would have gotten himself. If it came down to it, he'd take the blame on himself, save her from sullying her future good name. He only hoped that juvenile criminal jail would be kind to him.

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