"The HPSC will take this girl off of your hands for you and we'll even pay you for bringing her to us, if you would like." the older blonde woman appraised the two parents standing in front of her. "We don't want compensation, we are in no way hard up for funds just take this…this demon child away. We have tried since she was young to fix her and she has never changed, never improved. Maybe you can do what we cannot." The girl's father spoke and the small blonde child stood away from the adults looking out a large glass window on a beautiful cityscape. "Alright if you'll just come with me and sign these documents we will transfer custody of Raye to us." They made their way away from their youngest child, there was no goodbye, her mother was the only one who looked back to her. But she was quickly ushered away by the girl's father. "Come on problem child, let's go get you set up." An older man in a suit extended his hand and she flinched a bit before realizing that he meant for her to take it. She did and made her way with him, she was scared. But maybe…this wouldn't be so bad.
Years had gone by since that day, she was still considered the problem child of the HPSC, she would never be a hero but rather support for them. The healing aspect of Rayes quirk, Blood Manipulation, was considered helpful. The way she herself could use offensively though was considered dangerous, she was functionally immortal but if she over used her quirk she'd begin puking blood and depending how bad it was would need a transfusion. She was forbidden from using her quirk offensively unless it was deemed absolutely necessary. She was allowed to heal herself with it only. The HPSC had trained her well and if nothing else she no longer had to deal with the abusive methods her parents had used to control her, though the scars that wrapped around her neck were a constant reminder of the life she had escaped.
"Hey kid, we got work to do." Her sky blue eyes slowly moved to her "caretaker" Hawks. It had been decided by the HPSC since he was their golden child, a prodigy of sorts, that they would work best together. Raye rolled her eyes slightly, shaking her head. "Nah I'm good if you need to get healed up you can just come find me here." She turned her focus back to looking out the window in front of her. "Sorry kid you know that isn't how this works, come on." If nothing else Hawks at least wasn't a total cunt to her, granted they hadn't really gotten along the best as young children.
Despite only being a year apart they couldn't have been more different as children. He was apathetic, emotionally distant, but diligent in his training. Raye was aggressive, emotionally volatile, and was generally a nuisance. Now being eighteen and nineteen respectively they still had a plethora of differences. Hawks had covered his emotional damage with an air of nonchalance, generally good attitude in public, and a generally friendly demeanor. While Raye had covered hers with sarcasm, apathy, and general disinterest.
Moving to stand slowly she groaned, twisting left to right quickly to crack her back. "Alright golden boy where the fuck is the commission of wind bags sending us now?" She looked up at him rocking on her heels, now impatient to get moving. "Nothing too big, just a general check of the city. Guess trends in nearby cities suggest crime is rising in frequency so they want us both out there to deal with anything that may or may not come up." He looked down at her and could see the discontent brewing in her. "Listen when we're done with the job as long as you behave yourself we can go out to dinner or something alright?" Her eyes lit up at that, she hated that he knew just how to motivate her but food was good. "Ok but you're paying for the food and I'll buy the drinks." She pointed a finger at him, she had been fooled by Hawks more than once into a dinner that he would eat on her the second she looked like she may be done whether she was or wasn't. "Sounds like a deal, let's get going kid. I'll allow you to use your quirk say 4 times if it's necessary alright?" She nodded, thankful that Hawks was a lot more liberal with letting her use her quirk more than the HPSC might like him to be. "I'll cover the North and East side of the city, you cover the South and West, if you need me call me over the radio and I'll fly on over." With that they split with Hawks leaving from the window and Raye making her way down to her motorcycle, figuring it would be easier to drive around looking for trouble instead of running or walking. She started up to bike and took off, she weaved in and out of traffic keeping her head on a swivel looking for any signs of trouble. Thankful that so far the South seemed clear. 'Hey just dealt with a bank robbery over in the North, how's everything on your end?' Raye would never understand how he dealt with things so quickly, she had come to realize very early that Hawks was very efficient with his work no matter the job. In his own words the quicker he got things done the quicker he was home relaxing and doing what he wanted to do. 'So far nothing.' she called over, of course as soon as she did she noticed two men getting into a scuffle with one clearly trying to take a briefcase from the other. She quickly jumped off her bike, parking it right next to the sidewalk. "Hey assholes, what seems to be the problem here?!" She yelled as she came up right next to them "Oh shit." The man trying to take the briefcase hauled ass away from her, using his quirk to throw a few projectiles at her that just bounced right off of her without really hurting too much in spite of the fact that she was only wearing bike shorts and a blue sports bra. "Damn it why do they always run." She took off behind him and bit down hard on her palm, she quickly threw the droplets of blood which turned into blunted blades that tripped up the criminal by smacking into the backs of his legs. Once he was grounded she dove on him, knocking him down and falling on top of him. She punched him mercilessly in the back of the head, feeling annoyed she'd chased him at all. "I don't know why all you criminals always think you can run away, it's so annoying!" She emphasized her annoyance with one last hard punch which knocked him out swiftly. The authorities showed up quickly to cart the man off and they looked at her with a moderate amount of disdain, they would have to take the man to the hospital to be healed before they could book him. She merely smiled at them with a wave of her fingers as she hopped back into her bike and sped off. 'Dealt with some small-time thief, the cops got him now, they didn't seem super happy with me.' She radioed over, she could picture him shaking his head at her statement before he paged back. 'Good job just next time don't beat them up so much kid. Cops don't like extra work as much as we don't.' Raye groaned to herself and continued driving, thankfully she didn't encounter anything much worse than people trying to steal things and a few kids who tried crossing the street without looking for oncoming traffic. She'd never understood why but small children always seemed to like her, despite not being a hero or really anyone with any level of repute. One little boy hadn't wanted to let go of her hand after she helped him not get hit by a car, she may or may not have smashed the car's passenger side door with a blunted blood blade for it. She paged Hawks again. 'Everything seems all set over in my section, food now?' She was so hopeful he would say yes. 'Sounds good to me kid, just meet me over at the takoyaki shop.' she dropped the small radio that was attached to the strap of her sports bra, relaxing slightly on her bike as she whipped over to meet him as fast as she could. She was absolutely famished despite not working particularly hard.
Unsurprisingly when she arrived Hawks was already there and he'd already ordered food for both of them. She sat down across from him eyeing her dish and him. "How'd you know I'd want beef ramen and gyoza?" She asked with a raised brow and he smiled at her as he finished a bit of his chicken ramen. " It's what you always order, and you rarely deviate." He smiled putting his head on his hand and she furrowed her eyebrows but took a bite. "I don't like how closely you observe my habits, it's weird." She said as she chewed and went for another bite. "I mean we've basically lived together since we were like what five and six? Don't think it's that weird." He commented as he returned to eating his own food and Raye rolled her eyes. "Yeah I like to forget the fact that you're my longest standing companion. Despite the fact that we could not possibly be more different." She grumbled taking a sip of the drink he'd ordered for her, she was surprised to find it was a Shirley temple yet another thing he had managed to notice about her apparently. "Opposites attract you know." His aureate eyes were full of mischief and hers flat and bored in return. "You talk a big game but I see the women you bring home bubbly, air headed bimbos who can't see how full of shit you are. I'm not your type at all and we both know it." She took another sip of her drink but he just smiled and took a bite of his own food. "Aww that kinda hurts kid. You know somehow in all these years I've never once seen male or female caller come for you. I wonder why that is?" Her face burned hot for a moment, she didn't like how observant he was. "Shut up. That's none of your damn business bird face." She took an aggressive bite of one of her gyoza and looked away from him observing the other patrons of the shop they so frequently came in order to try to ignore the smug smile Hawks had on his face. "You're far too easy to rile up kid, always have been. I'm just saying being with someone can be nice, you should really put yourself out there more." He pointed his chopsticks at her before he took another bite of his food. She took one more bite and pushed her unfinished plates to him. "Suddenly I find myself lacking an appetite, the rest is all yours." She drank the rest of her drink and placed a bit of money on the table as she stood. "Awe come on kid don't leave I was just playing a bit, you're no fun." She looked at him in irritation as he stuck one of her gyoza in his mouth looking rather disappointed she was leaving. "I got better shit to do than sit here and take pointers on my love life from you. Here's some food for thought Hawks maybe instead of putting up whatever bullshit persona you put up to get those bimbos into your bed try being yourself for once. But we both know you won't. You're emotionally detached from existence and putting on a fake front and fucking a different woman every other day doesn't change that you will probably never truly have love to give to someone because you don't even know what the fuck it feels like." She spat straight venom at him and she could see, despite his smile never faltering, that her words hurt. She walked out without another word climbing on her bike and taking off, she just wanted to go home but even that wasn't a safe space considering he lived right across from her. Instead she made her way to a nearby pier, living in Kyushu there was plenty of ocean nearby.
She pulled up to the pier with record speed and stopped her bike quickly, happy it was almost sunset at this point. She grabbed her headphones from her pocket and stuffed them in her ears and the cord into her phone. She pulled up a song quickly and turned the volume up as loud as it would go. She listened to the song as she watched the waves, trying to clear her mind, Keigo was a fucking idiot. She almost felt kinda bad for what she'd said but he'd pushed and pushed and she had just lashed.l and ran away. He knew she was the type to lash out when an issue was pushed past a certain point and to a degree he seemed to enjoy pushing her buttons, as he had since they were kids. Not like she hadn't been exactly the same way. She slammed out a quick angry apology text to him. Raye-You're a fucking dick but I'm sorry. She shoved her phone back into her pocket with a huff, she hated that she felt bad. It was true, neither of them knew what the hell love was. From what she knew about him his mom had given him to the HPSC and never looked back, took the money they offered and ran. Meanwhile her own parents had abused her for years and apparently at some point they had decided to give her to the HPSC, hoping maybe they would fix her and she would no longer be their problem. They both grew up with no love and as much as he was a lower ranked hero and he had fans that adored him Raye had seen time and time again that Keigo wouldn't be anything more than detached. It was weird but the closest she saw him to anything loving was when he dealt with her. He remembered foods she liked, checked in with her to make sure she was ok, hell they even spent holidays together. Thinking about it she found herself doing the same with him, more often than she would like to admit. She remembered his fondness for chicken, she tried to have dinner with him at least once a week, she'd more than once given him small gestures of physical affection. She'd always just kinda played it off in her mind as being something she'd do for anyone she was this close to but that was bullshit. She cared about him in a way different from friendship and definitely nothing like the few happy memories she had with her parents. At one point she'd had a huge crush on him but she put it aside when they started working together. He could never know, and in her mind he never would. Opposites attract you know his words rang through her mind and she sighed, it was too risky. She'd just be content with whatever the hell they were doing.
As the sun made its descent Raye came to the realization that she should probably head back home. She took out her headphones and ignored the text she saw from Hawks, she didn't want to read it right now. She climbed onto her bike and made her way home slowly enjoying the early evening drive. When she finally arrived at the building she made her way up the elevator, she was thankful that she hadn't run into Keigo. With any luck at all he was still out, maybe trying to pick up the bimbo of the evening. She made her way into her small studio and closed the door without even bothering to lock it and emptied the contents of her pockets on her small table as well as her helmet. She laid on her bed and turned the TV on for background noise. She very quickly fell asleep to the nature documentary she had put on.