Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Hero Academia. This story is purely for fun and in my case a creative and emotional outlet.

Chapter 9

Dabi shut her eyes tightly and discreetly pinched herself hoping that this was all a bad dream. Opening them again the cremation user still saw the kid Shigaraki was obsessed with staring back at her in civilian clothing with a slack-jawed expression on his face.

Of course, the Creep had giggled like the mad man he was when he returned to Kurogiri's bar after their little meeting at Kiyashi Ward shopping mall and told her and Himiko all about what sort of world he was working towards now. Then after the League had heard about the same brat's run-in with Overhaul, they all joked over a couple of bottles of stolen liquor that the kid might actually have two quirks and one attracted villains to him like flies to shit.

But it was just supposed to be a joke … right?

Nonetheless here Dabi was four months pregnant, on vacation from all villain activity and she runs into the second coming of All Might well out for an evening stroll to a bookstore. And the worst part of it all was that the villain wasn't sure whether it was because of her own rotten luck or his.

"Come on Rei," Eri beamed up at Dabi grabbing her hand as she started pulling them towards the escalators. "My friends are waiting for us."

"I can see that Eri," Dabi said walking behind the girl as slow as possible. "Um … Eri,"

"Yes." The girl turning to look at Dabi with those big innocent eyes of hers that almost made the villain want to do whatever she asked.

Looking down towards where the hero was Dabi gulped when she realized that the brats weren't there anymore. This meant only one thing that they were probably coming to them now and wouldn't be too happy if they figured out who Eri was with.

"You just never told me that your friends were …. boys."

Eri looked confused. "What's wrong with boys?"

"Nothing!" Dabi responded holding her hands up and feeling stupid.

"Do you not like boys?" Eri asked wondering if Rei liked girls like Momo and Jiro liked each other. "Nemuri says that its ok if a girl likes a girl or a boy as long as their conbenting."

"Consenting," Dabi corrected wondering what the hell this Nemuri woman was teaching the little girl for a topic like consent to be brought up when a lightbulb went off in her mind. "It's just that I had a bad experience with a boy recently and well here let me show you,"

Unzipping her jacket so that it was completely open Dabi showed off her pregnant belly to the girl. "I've had trouble talking to them since. I'll take you to your friends and we can go get those pencil crayons like I promised but I want you to know that I might not talk to them much, alright?"

"Why is your stomach so big?" Eri examined poking Dabi's tummy softly and wondering why it felt so firm when Fat Gums tummy was always so squishy. "Did you eat too many sweets? Shouta says that eating too many can make you fat or worse."

Dabi cursed herself mentally. "Eri do you -"

"Excuse me," a cold voice interrupted them. "What do you think you're doing with Eri?"

Flinching at the familiar icy tone Dabi turned and saw her youngest brother standing there.

"Todoroki," Eri smiled letting go of her new friend to run to the two-toned male hugging one of his legs. "Tell Rei that eating too many sweets is bad for her."

"Rei?" Shouto said looking at the woman who was wearing a rather curious outfit for the hot summer night. A thick looking white top that covered the upper part of her face, gloves and sunglasses completely hid her identity from the hero-in-training. Looking down to where Eri was pointing Shouto immediately understood why she thought 'Rei' was fat, she was pregnant.

"Eri?!" Shinsou and Izuku's voices came as the two other students joined the trio.

Izuku immediately dropped to his knees and hugged the girl tightly. "Oh, thank goodness we found you."

"Why did you run off like that?" Shinsou asked taking the role of bad cop since he doubted Midoriya had a mean bone in his body unless you were a villain. "Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

"I'm sorry," Eri said softly realizing just how badly her actions scared everyone. "I got scared."

Watching the scene Dabi hesitantly approached the heroes stopping just behind Eri. Slowly the cremation user raised her hand and placed it on top of white hair remembering the day when her mother was behaving especially erratic. She and Fuyumi had snuck their two younger brothers out to get ice cream only to get caught coming home by Endeavor.

Natsuo and Fuyumi had just been sent to deal with their mothers' hysteria after finding her children, especially young Shouto, missing the eldest and youngest of the four were all but dragged into the dojo for a rather brutal round of Endeavors training. By the end of the session neither she or Shouto could move much, though her youngest sibling could still to muster enough strength to cry and apologize claiming it to be all his fault they were caught because he was too small to climb back over the tree they used to escape without help.

Dabi had dragged her bruised and beaten body across the dojo to the boy and gathered him in her arms holding till he fell asleep. That incident though was the straw that seemed to break their mother's fragile grip on reality because a few days later she poured hot water on her youngest sons face much to Dabi's horror when she ran to the kitchen and realized what happened.

"She saw someone who scared her," Dabi explained thankful that the thick fabric of the shirt muffled her voice just enough to disguise it. "We were coming to find you when your friend here found us."

"Thank you for finding her," Izuku smiled looking at the woman trying to see her eyes behind the tinted lens as he extended his hand. "I'm Izuku, and these are my friends Shinsou and Todoroki."

Dabi slowly extended her own hand in return and gave the hero a weak shake. "Rei."

"It's nice to meet you Rei," Shinsou spoke extending his own hand looking at the woman suspiciously. "You have to let us buy you a meal as thanks."

"No, no," Dabi exclaimed taking a slight step back ready to run away if she had to. "I actually need to be going soon I just need to find something to colour with first … I promised Eri you see."

"I don't know," Izuku frowned looking down at the girl with concern. Very few people scared Eri enough that she would run away from her U.A. family and most of them were either in jail or dead. However, one according to their homeroom teacher had escaped and was currently at large.

Could Eri have seen him? "Aizawa was pretty clear about us taking you shopping Eri."

"I know," Eri nodded walking over to the undercover villain and slipping her hand back into Dabi's gloved one. "But Rei's like me, she's never coloured before either and she already helped me pick out some books."

Holding up the two colouring books she had, none of the males were surprised that one was all cats, clearly Eri's choice. The other one, however, had a large skull on the cover with designs added inside of it that gave the macabre image a unique look. The trio turned towards Dabi as the villain coughed in embarrassment and showed her own colouring books to them, Eri having convinced her to get the same cat colouring book as and her own choice of a gothic fantasy one.

Izuku felt conflicted now wanting to let Eri go to the art section with Rei glad to see that she was getting more comfortable talking with people in public. But Mr. Aizawa was also very clear that if anything happened well the were out the group would immediately have to return to the school.

"Don't worry Midoriya," Shinsou said putting a hand on his fellow heroes' shoulder as he kept his eyes firmly trained on the undercover cremation user. "I'm sure Rei here wouldn't want to do anything that might hurt Eri's feelings."

"I agree," Todoroki nodded trying to figure out what it was about Rei felt so familiar. "And it's not like we can't follow them and make sure nothing happens."

Dabi gulped and looked at the pair knowing that she was screwed if the figured out who she was well Eri oblivious to the tension hugged her new friend in joy. Thankfully for Dabi it seemed that Izuku was just as oblivious and tried to exchange in small talk as everyone walked to the art section.

As soon as they arrived Eri and Izuku shot off down the aisle completely entranced by all the different types colours and medias that could be used. Dabi meanwhile followed at a much slower pace feeling weighed down by the two shadows that seemed to have attached themselves to her.

"Rei look," Eri grinned running back up to Dabi with something clutched in each of her hands, her own books now added to Midoriya's assortment of new notebooks and writing supplies. "Look at all the colours."

Accepting one of the packages Dabi read the label before opening it up to make sure that none of the so-called 120 coloured pencils was missing. Dabi tried to open the other package as soon as she made sure the first was full only to run into problems when she realized she didn't have enough room in her arms. The villain was just about to put everything down when her brother reached over and plucked from her arms before she could stop him.

"Your checking to make sure they're full right?" Shouto asked moving the books just slightly so that Shinsou could memorize the titles on the spines.

"Yeah," Dabi nodded wondering when her brother had gotten so tall. Last year during the Vanguard Squads first mission Shouto was barely eye level with her, now it seems Dabi was soon going to be looking up to him soon at the rate he was growing. Looks like Natsuo wasn't the only one in the family to inherit Endeavor height.

Opening the pack and seeing it full also Dabi turned it over to read the back again, all in all, they seemed like a good set for her and Eri to use but she had also found something well looking that might make the girl even happier. Reaching over next to her Dabi picked up another set, this one had thirty more colours than the one Eri had chosen, plus they were the watercolour type.

"Those are some great pencil crayons Eri but look at these," Dabi praised earning a shy smile from the girl as she handed Eri the slightly larger pack. "If you ask someone to help you, you can add water to colours after your done and make the pictures even more beautiful."

"Really," Eri gasped looking at new colours in awe. "Wow … Deku can we get these ones?"

"Sure." Izuku nodded smiling at Dabi and mouthing a 'thank you' to the villain.

"Rei are you gonna get a pack too," Eri asked looking back at her friend as she reclaimed her books from Todoroki awkwardly. "We can share this one if you want."

"Thanks, Eri but I can get my own," Dabi replied looking at the girl and feeling a slight twinge in her heart. "I should be heading home now though late nights aren't good for me anymore."

Eri felt her lower lip tremble at the words. "B-but I wanted to colour with you, I thought … I thought you could come home with us and we could try it together ... and you can meet Shouta and Acorn and -"

"I know kid," Dabi leaning down slightly and placing her hand on Eri's head. "Remember how you think I'm fat, well the truth is that I'm going to have a baby."

"A baby?" Eri said looking Rei's stomach and wondering how a baby could fit inside.

"Yup, I got a priceless piece of treasure growing inside me which is why I can't go back to U.A with you," Dabi nodded standing up straight again and putting her hand on her belly realizing for the first time that this baby actually was a treasure, her treasure. "But don't worry I'm sure will see each other again someday."

Eri wiped her tears away and held up her hand pinky extended. "Your promise."

Dabi laughed and linked her own pinkie. "Hasn't anybody taught you Eri, a pinky promise is forever."

Shouto froze at the words remembering his eldest sisters' laughter from many years ago. 'Haven't those two snowflakes taught you yet Shou that a pinky promise is forever'.

Snapping out of it quickly Shouto looked to where Rei had been standing only to find her gone, looking around he tried to pick her bright blonde hair out of the crowd but was unsuccessful now that more and more people seemed to have arrived to do their own shopping.

"Shouto," Izuku said noticing his friends' distress. "What's wrong?"

Shouto ignored his friend and instead looked at Eri. "Eri listens to me, this is very important. Did you ever see Rei's face?"

The last time Shouto had felt this heart-wrenching feeling was back when Bakugou had been kidnapped and Dabi had called him by his full name. After Kamino, he had gone home and practically torn the house apart looking for a photo of her hoping that one might have escaped his fathers fire.

After all the person in them was supposed to be dead according to Endeavor. But was she really?

The ghost from Shouto's childhood who left a hole so big in each of their lives that even saying her name would lead to heartbreak. Shouto had wanted to ask Fuyumi or Natsuo if they had saved any pictures from Endeavors fury but didn't want to give them false hope either.

Eri gripped the pencil crayons slightly and nodded remembering the painful looking purple skin and blue eyes that Rei kept hidden.

Kneeling down Shouto placed his hands as gently as he could on Eri's pencil crayons not wanting to scare the girl even though he knew he needed to catch up with Rei as soon as possible before she disappeared again. "I need you to show me exactly tell which of these colours they were."

Eri thought back to Rei's eyes and lifted one hand hesitantly but instead of choosing one of the colours from her packet the girl pointed right at the blue eye lodged in deep within Shouto's skull.

"They were that colour."

Dabi leaned against the elevator trying to catch her breath, the pregnant woman had all but run back to the apartment after she had left the bookstore. The villain was afraid the entire trip back to the apartment building that a hero would jump out at her from the shadows to arrest her.

When she had successfully made it into the elevator Dabi was glad that she had the foresight to stock up on more food than normal, especially to feed her every growing craving for anything chicken and strawberry flavoured,

Dabi sighed when the familiar elevator ding sounded and made plans to put these new colouring books to use over the next few days not planning on leaving her apartment any time soon.

At least that should have been the plan but instead of an empty hallway like normal for the private residences of the building Dabi was greeted by a young woman with loose chestnut coloured hair and a black and red dress leaning against her door looking at something on her cell phone. Getting closer to the woman, well also maintaining a safe distance, Dabi cleared her throat and got the can of pepper spray from Giran ready in case she attacked.

Golden cat-like eyes hidden behind a pair of red glasses snapped up as Himiko dove at her fellow League member pulling her into a tight hug.

"Welcome home Sis."

*Notes*

Ok so this chapter was actually going to feature more Himiko originally but after writing the bookstore scene I decided to split my original chapter into two parts so that I could expand on both of them. This means that a few other things have been pushed back slightly but don't worry readers Hawks will be making an appearance real soon.

I would, however, love to hear what everyone thought of Dabi and the U.A. students. Did anybody notice that slip she made?

Polls still running for the gender(s) of the Twins so don't forget to cast your vote so far, we're leaning towards boys so unless inspiration hits me hard this is the direction we will most likely take. That of course doesn't mean you still can't vote or send me your descriptions of what you think Hawks and Dabi's babies will look like, everyone's all got such great and unique ideas that I'm sad that I won't be able to use them all

Or if you just want to drop me a review telling me what you think of the latest chapter I would love that also since your reviews not only make me happy but also make me want to write and post the next chapter sooner.