25/12/2021

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You are the greatest!

The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 32

"You're not going to like it," Giran said before his host could say anything.

It was a tribute to the importance of his information that this conversation was in person. All For One did not allow many people close to him these days. His presence here was a sign that he had been forgiven for allowing Juhin to track his business.

That would never happen again, and not just because Juhin was dead. All For One had not been subtle with telling him that.

"I am aware of that," the Emperor of the Underworld told him. "But that does not negate my requirement to know."

Giran nodded before he flicked his eyes towards All For One's son.

"My Little Dragon can hear this," the premier villain in the world said.

The broker wasn't sure how the man had seen his eye movement. He knew that All For One had a sight quirk, and possibly more than one, but he didn't believe they were that precise. Without eyeballs it was hard to know what the man could see.

"All right," Giran said softly. He took a deep breath, and sorted the information in his mind. He sighed. "The investigation was led by Sir Nighteye," he told the ancient supervillain.

"I thought as much but I wish to know the details," All For One said.

Giran nodded again. It had taken him a while to consolidate this information. He almost wished he hadn't been able to. This was a job that would have been given to Nasutto, if he'd had survived. Amongst information brokers the man was still considered the best and no successor had emerged to take his place. The information community was still fractured, thus he had been given the job. "He was tracking you down via your business identities," the broker explained, "but he kept running into blocks."

All For One tilted his head forward to acknowledge the statement.

"Then, he began looking into his highness," Giran said. He really didn't want to say it and had to remind himself that All For One did not kill messengers. He saw the way All For One's knuckles went white at the information.

Izuku's eyes went wide but he remained silent.

"What did he find?" came the demand.

"He found a record of a record from Niigata," Giran reported.

He saw the way the Emperor of the Underworld was slightly confused. "A record of a record?" The question highlighted All For One's curiosity.

"Even as a Hero, and All Might's sidekick, Sir Nighteye can't access the records about children but he could access some of the administration records. He found a message from a Principal from Niigata suggesting child abuse, and then he contacted her."

"Child abuse?" All For One growled.

Even His Highness seemed angry at that.

"The note was about a report, which was submitted highlighting discrepancies between enrollments."

"No!" His Highness moaned, almost as if he was in pain.

"My Little Dragon," All For One said, gesturing to his son. The boy rose and moved to stand beside his father. All For One looked at his son and even though he didn't have eyes, Giran could see that he was looking into his son's eyes. "It is not your fault." The statement was clear and unequivocal.

Izuku shook his head.

"Your Highness," Giran said. "It really wasn't your fault," he confirmed All For One's words. "While Sir Nighteye found the record of the record, he should not have been able to find out what was in it. That is the Principal's fault."

At that statement, there was a huff from All For One.

Strictly speaking, Giran was not a betting man. He made his money by offering good deals, not risking it on chance, but the Principal's fate was not chance. He had a feeling the woman would be getting a visit soon.

"Then he connected Hisashi Riji to JBQC and to an incident in China. I couldn't find out what happened there."

At that statement, All For One nodded. No doubt the man knew exactly what had happened. The ancient villain sighed. "Thank you for the summary," he said. It probably wasn't something he wanted to say.

"I'll leave the full report," Giran indicated.

"Your payment has been made," All For One told him.

"Thank you. I'll be here next week for the practice session," he said before he nodded his head and stepped back from the table. Giran let himself out. That had gone better than he believed, but he already knew, there were going to be consequences.

Just not for him.

-ted-

"It's my fault," Izuku said as soon as the broker was gone.

"No, my Little Dragon, it was not," Hisashi said firmly. He took a deep breath. "It was mine," he said. He did not need Izuku carrying this blame. "I should have been more thorough with that incident," he said.

Except he had been. Koichi was still loyal then and had cleaned up the records. Which meant… The Principal had done something.

The record of a record.

"Izuku, it was not your fault," he said again, focusing his sight quirk on his son.

"But-"

"I had the records cleaned up." Hisashi left the statement at that. Izuku was getting to an age where he needed to be encouraged to make his own deductions, with the appropriate inputs.

He knew what it meant. Koichi had done what he could but it came down to the Principal. That woman… It was all down to that woman and her vendetta against a quirkless child. He should have remembered the war, and the irrational hatred those without quirks had for those with quirks. He should have known it would be no different when the situation was reversed.

People proclaimed to be better than they were. That was a lie. People didn't change.

He knew that.

Izuku blinked at him, thinking. "She…" he began, his voice trembling. "She put another note in my file, didn't she? After you'd cleaned them up."

"I believe so, my Little Dragon." All For One agreed with his son's assessment. "Which makes it her fault."

He saw the way Izuku shivered and waited to hear what his son would say. It would be enlightening.

Izuku remained silent for a few moments, thinking. "What do we do?" He asked finally.

At that, All For One smiled. The expression surprised his son. "For the moment, Izuku, we do nothing," he replied. "I will make further enquiries to find out if it is true," he explained.

At that, Izuku nodded. That was important. It was one thing to suspect, but it was another to know, and All For One had not maintained control over the Underworld, even now, by acting solely on suspicion. It was too easy to be led astray by those with ambition.

"Then, if it does turn out to be true, I believe, you and I will visit your Niigata school again," he concluded and waited for Izuku's response.

He knew his son had promised to help Tomura kill All Might, in exchange for Tomura's assistance against Toxic Chainsaw but that was a promise made in the aftermath of his injuries. He needed to be sure Izuku was still committed.

And if he wasn't… No. All For One pushed that thought aside.

He didn't see his son's smile, but he did see him nod. "We will," Izuku agreed.

All For One smiled and nodded his confirmation. Izuku was not his brother. He would not betray him. But he was not yet fully committed. He was on the way, and a few more pushes would see his position cemented.

All was as it should be.

-ted-

"Happy Birthday, Izu," Himiko said, looking down at her phone.

She smiled at the message there.

There's nothing wrong with you.

It was one of the last things Izuku had sent to her. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said. She shook her head. This was Izu's day. It was his birthday and while Himiko couldn't contact him, she would know that she'd wished him a happy birthday. She put her phone down on her desk and pulled out the pendant and card he'd given her a few years back. She only wore the pendant on special occasions. Her birthday and Izuku's.

Himiko put the pedant on, tying the thin strip of leather at the back of her neck before she picked up the card. The two marks were discoloured now. They had been a brilliant red when the card had arrived. Slowly, Himiko brought the card to her face and breathed deeply.

It had faded again and it was only her memory which let her smell the scent of blood. Izu's blood. Even though she couldn't smell it, the card was still special to her. No one else had ever voluntarily given her blood. Just Izu.

She wanted blood. She needed blood.

Himiko lifted one finger to her mouth and bit down. Her tongue rasped at the cut. Her blood wasn't right. It didn't taste good, not like other blood. It just left her wanting more.

A drop of Izu's blood would be nice. Just a drop. She didn't want any more than that. Everyone else could bleed for her. She'd already concluded they would look far better covered in blood. Izu was fine just the way he was.

Her parents didn't like that she thought that. They didn't like that she needed blood. They wanted her to be normal. They'd always said that. That was why she'd been talking to Izu. That's when he had sent that text.

There's nothing wrong with you.

Himiko looked at the words. Izu knew her so well. There was nothing wrong with her. Her quirk needed blood to function so of course she liked it. Everyone liked their quirks. Her's was no different but her parents wouldn't see that.

She didn't know why. Himiko put the card back in the drawer and touched her fingers to the pendant as she stood.

"Happy Birthday, Izu," she said. "I miss you."

In another year, once she finished middle school, she could get a job or something and start looking for him. And even if she didn't find him, she knew that eventually he'd do something. Izuku might be quirkless but…

He was going to do great things. She knew it.

-ted-

"Happy Izuku's Birthday, Inko!"

The cry was a bit jumbled but Inko smiled at the words. Her work colleagues insisted that she not spend today alone. Each of them had a day that was not a good one for them in the year, and it didn't matter what day that date fell on. They made sure they weren't alone then. For Meigo it was the last day she'd spoken to her mother, for Ume, the day her husband was declared missing and for Setsu it was the day her brother's birthday as well. For her, it was Izuku's birthday, not the day he hadn't come home. That date was hard, but it didn't hit her the same as Izuku's birthday did.

Setsu held out a folder.

"What's this?" Inko asked.

"It's a little something we pulled together for you," Meigo told her.

Inko took the folder and opened it. She half expected to be greeted by a photo but there wasn't. That was good. She wasn't sure that she'd have been able to handle a photo of Izuku staring up at her. Instead, Inko recognised a summary page for a missing person's case. There was Izuku's basic information there.

Name: Izuku Midoriya

Birthdate: 15/07/2XXX

She closed the folder again. The summary was just as bad.

Ume took the folder from her before she dropped it. "Why don't we tell you what we found and you can read it on another day?" she said.

Inko nodded as Meigo pushed her down into a chair. She took a few deep breaths. Over the years, she'd learned how to cope with almost everything and how to recover… not instantly but quickly. "All right," Inko said finally. A cup of tea was thrust at her.

"We found a lead on your husband."

Inko almost dropped the cup.

"What?" The police hadn't been able to find her husband. Hisashi, whatever his name was, had disappeared with Izuku as if they'd never even existed.

"It was a long shot, Inko. It had far more chance of failing, than working," Setsu told her. "Which is why I never told you. I did it for my brother, and found nothing."

The other ladies nodded, indicating that they'd run the same type of search. "So we didn't expect to find anything but we did," Ume said softly. Her voice was gentle.

"How?"

"We searched through the records of hero activity," Setsu told her. "Usually, when there's a disaster, or a hero fight, even if there are fatalities, everyone is accounted for, eventually. The bodies are found."

Inko nodded. She knew that. It had been a bit of a surprise for her to find out what the real statistics of heroes were but it was something that was reality, and she'd learned that reality was not as nice as it appeared to be.

"So we looked through the records of hero activity since your husband took your son. There was no record of Izuku but… we found Hisashi."

"At first, we weren't sure it was your Hisashi. After all, people in hiding change their names, but they don't change their appearance much. At least, they don't after a while."

"And you found him?" Inko dared to ask. She felt light headed. If they had found Hisashi then maybe they could find Izuku.

"We did, but-" Ume didn't continue the sentence.

Inko knew what that meant. They had found Hisashi but the lead had gone cold.

But it was a lead. It might have gone cold but it was more information than she had had for years. "What did you find?" Inko asked, fighting back tears.

"Hisashi Riji," Setsu said. "Owner and Director of JBQC. Still officially a missing person as a result of the chaos and destruction caused by All Might's fight with Toxic Chainsaw."

"Hisashi Riji," Inko said the name. That wasn't Hisashi's surname. He'd taken hers, but he'd been named Seki when she met him. "How do you know it's him?" she asked. The ladies would have a reason.

Meigo took the file from Ume and opened it, flipping through the pages quickly until she found the one she wanted. She held it up. There was a picture there. Inko was ready to see it. It showed her standing next to Hisashi with Izuku in front of them. It was the family portrait she'd managed to convince Hisashi to take. His reluctance now made a lot of sense.

Next to that photo was a screen shot from a website. She didn't recognise the site but could tell it was government one. A headshot of a smiling Hisashi was there. It was the same man.

"It was a long shot," Ume reminded her. "We didn't think he'd still be using the name Hisashi."

"But when we found the name Hisashi we figured we would look into it."

"It's not like there are many Hisashi's going missing during hero work anyway," Meigo finished for them.

Inko smiled and nodded. "So, he was definitely in Tsu during that fight?" she asked.

"Definitely. This comes from the Commission's records and they wouldn't list him there if they weren't sure he was there. It's not as weird as you might think," Ume told her. "That fight between Toxic Chainsaw and All Might broke out at JBQC's headquarters."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, all they say usually is that it happened in the business district of Tsu, but if you look through the records, it was at JBQC and spread from there."

Inko nodded again and took a large sip of her tea. If Hisashi was truly the owner of that company, then it was possible he was there.

Except now he was missing. "Could he have used that fight to cover up another disappearance?" Inko asked.

The ladies looked at each other before Setsu nodded. "The thing is, JBQC still exists and what is one of our rules?"

"Follow the money," Inko replied.

Meigo nodded and gave her a small, almost hopeful smile. "We can't be sure, but we think JBQC is still paying the owner his salary."

They couldn't get the records but it was possible that the Police could. She gave the ladies a tremulous smile. "Thank you," Inko said, putting down her tea cup and taking the file again. She didn't open it. She couldn't. Not today. Tomorrow, when the hurt wasn't as raw, when she could think about it as being just another case, not her case, then she could look at it.

Even though she knew that the lead was just Hisashi and that he was missing, it was something. That was more than she had.

"Thank you." Inko repeated as the tears she had been holding back fell.

-ted-

It's the Baby Jesus' birthday and Izuku's! Except of course to make them share a birthday requires some creative posting timing! Of course, this birthday for Izuku is a bit different since it's most about what others are doing on his birthday but that's still important!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday period, even if they don't celebrate Christmas.

I haven't had the chance to do review replies, and I probably won't be able to do them this time either but please know that I do read them all and appreciate them all! So thank you!

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!