22/03/2022

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 57

Inko had been fighting a rising sense of hope the entire week. She wanted to feel it, but she didn't want to feel it too much, just in case things fell through as they had in the past. Once she got the dispensation from Hisashi's estate, and the case was in full swing… then she could feel hope.

She might not have Izuku but at least she'd have some answers. It had been hard waiting all week to return to the lawyer but the women at work had been supportive and they'd smiled and almost cheered yesterday when she'd signed out. They knew that today she was seeing Watanabe and when she returned she'd have a new law firm representing her, one that wasn't afraid of the Commission. One she could fund.

Watanabe had been waiting for her and rather than going to his office, the lawyer had indicated he'd had the papers laid out in the boardroom. She'd followed him without thought.

Even when the door closed behind her, Inko wasn't worried. Watanabe probably got a phone call he had to take and she wasn't meant to hear it.

She'd instead turned to look at the room, noting absently that only half the lights were on. But then…

"Inko, my dear, it's been too long."

That voice.

It couldn't be. Her eyes snapped to the back of the room where she thought the voice had come from. It was dark… actually it wasn't that dark. The lights in the front were aimed at her, so she couldn't see.

"Nothing to say?"

The taunt followed after a few seconds.

Inko stared and then shivered. She wanted to yell. She wanted to scream. She wanted… She wanted to hurt him! Except… Her eyes glanced around the room. There were papers on the table. There were chairs around the table. She could lift them but… They were not behind him.

"I know how your quirk works, my dear," he said mockingly, knowing what she was thinking.

"You can't be here," Inko snarled. She didn't move towards him. Hisashi was a large man, larger than her and once, she had thought he would never hurt her. She knew better now.

"Hawein, Mori and Nishimura are my lawyers," he pointed out, entirely too reasonably. "But why don't you sit down?" He made the suggestion as if she would obey.

Inko felt a moment of oddness. It was as if something had tried to grab her but had then fallen away. Or as if she'd stumbled through a spider's web. It couldn't hold her, but she felt a slight moment of resistance.

"Interesting," Hisashi murmured.

"What's interesting?"

"Oh, nothing," he dismissed her question. "You really should sit down. We have much to discuss."

Inko growled. Is that what he had to say? He stole Izuku from her and now said they had things to discuss? "What is there to discuss?" She hissed. "You kidnapped Izuku!"

At that she heard a deep breath. "I removed him from a toxic environment," came the reply.

"You what?" she shrieked. Izuku had not been in a toxic environment. He was loved. He was supported. He had friends.

"I removed him from a toxic environment," Hisashi repeated before he sighed again. "You refuse to see it even now. Izuku's quirkless diagnosis marked him as a pariah. His so called friends treated him differently. The child care did. Even you."

"I did not!" Inko objected. "I would never," she growled.

"Ah but you did," Hisashi sounded sure. He sounded confident. "What did you tell him when Izuku told you he wanted to be a hero?" Hisashi asked.

"What did I tell him when?" Inko retorted but her mind was trying to recall. It was horrifying to realise she'd forgotten so much in the pain of losing Izuku.

"You don't remember?"

"You seem to remember for us both," Inko snapped.

"Someone has to," Hisashi retaliated.

"Then what did I say?" she demanded. There was no way she wouldn't have supported Izuku! He was her son.

The question earned a chuckle from Hisashi. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. How much easier it will have been for you all this time believing you were the one wronged, when it was Izuku who was in pain. You told him 'I'm sorry,'" came the almost triumphant reply.

"I did not!" She objected.

"You did," Hisashi replied with authority. "Do you remember what I once promised you, before we were married?" he asked.

Inko wanted to say that he'd promised never to kidnap Izuku but that wasn't the case. He'd made a couple of promises when they were married which should have seen to that but Hisashi was referring to another time. Something earlier. She remembered this promise. "You've already broken that one," Inko growled.

"I haven't, my dear. I have no need to lie to you. I find that the truth has far too many possibilities. And before we are finished today, I will tell you why the Commission does not want you pursuing your line of questioning."

"Because you are a villain," she spat.

"Ah, ah, ah, my dear. You know that villains are only a construct of society's expectation, which is a shame really when there are so many more deserving of that title." There was a note of accusation in his voice she didn't expect.

Inko frowned to hear it. She knew what Hisashi was implying. "You mean me?"

"I do," he responded without any trace of guilt or feeling. "What mother tells her son that she's sorry when he asks if he can be a hero?" he questioned her.

"Izuku's quirkless! You can't be a hero without a quirk. He would have gotten hurt!" She objected. It was a mother's job to protect her son!

"He was four!" Hisashi snarled. She could hear the growl in his voice. "He needed support and compassion, not to be ground down like everyone else had. Not to have his own mother make the same assumptions as everyone else, that because he was quirkless, he was worthless. But you-" he spat the word. "You simply confirmed it. What were you sorry for? For the fact that you wouldn't support him? For the pain you might feel if he got hurt? Because you gave birth to a quirkless son?"

"So what should I have done?" Inko yelled back. She vaguely remembered this now. "Said yes and then watched him fail, again and again and again because the world isn't so nice? Said yes, and then if he somehow became a hero, watched as he died? Or before that, say yes, and subject him to a lifetime of ridicule?"

"That was already happening, my dear," Hisashi said seriously. "The fact he was quirkless had already turned the world against him. He needed support. He needed someone to believe in him. Even if he failed. Even if he died. He needed to know that one person, one person who's meant to love him, would support him through everything. And you…" he sighed.

Inko didn't really hear it. Her mind was stuck on one word he'd said previously. 'Was'. What did he mean was quirkless?

"At that moment you rejected him. You showed him that you cared more for yourself than for him. And I was right to take him away."

"What do you mean was quirkless?" Inko whispered, trembling. The word was past tense. Izuku was quirkless. Hisashi's doctor had confirmed it! He had the two joints and… was quirkless. Did that mean Izuku was dea- No, she refused to think that. If Hisashi was here then Izuku had to be alive, somewhere.

"I mean was quirkless," Hisashi said, though the slightest trace of confusion marked his sentence.

"Is he de-?" She couldn't say it. Not here. Not now.

"Ah!" Understanding came to her husband. "He is not dead, my dear."

Inko felt a rush of relief that threatened to overwhelm her. Whatever further Hisashi said didn't matter. Izuku was alive. That was all that mattered. Anything she had said or done in the past could be made up for. She wanted to make up for everything and anything. It didn't matter. She just wanted Izuku.

"But he might as well be dead to you because I refuse to let my son be in such an environment."

"I'm his mother! I deserve to-"

"You deserve nothing," Hisashi was cold. "But you might be able to make it up to him, and to me."

No, she wasn't going to play that game. Inko knew how that went. Hisashi would offer something. She'd have to do something, or give up something and in return he'd let her see Izuku. As much as she wanted, as much as she needed, to see Izuku, she couldn't play that game. It gave Hisashi the power. It admitted she was wrong. It gave him control. And that wasn't right. She wasn't going to become his pawn for something that was her right! For something Izuku deserved as well.

"No," Inko growled her reply. "I am not going to play this game. What I am going to do is walk back out this door, and report you. Then I will watch as you are arrested and Izuku is returned to me as he should be, given you kidnapped him."

Hisashi actually had the terminacity to chuckle. "No, you won't."

Once again, Inko felt that moment of oddness. It really felt as if something had broken over her and then flowed away.

"Still nothing, but there are other ways," Hisashi muttered.

"What are you trying to do?" Inko demanded. That feeling had to have come from Hisashi. She had no idea how, but it had to have. Once, it might have just been her feeling odd at being here. But twice… with the exact same feeling? Hisashi had done something.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he said easily.

Which meant it was something she should be very concerned with. "Don't lie to-" This time, she felt something. It wasn't the same as last time. This was like a huge blanket being dropped over her mind. She cut off mid sentence.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Hisashi repeated, sounding smug. "So for the moment, just stand there... Though I suppose I should be thankful that the Russian quirk didn't work. It means you truly feel nothing for me except hate. That's good. It means Izuku can release any feelings of affection he has for someone. Thankfully though, my dear, I have other means to make sure- Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself."

Inko just stared into the dark area of the room before the blanket disappeared. She didn't stumble but she felt oddly discombobulated. She shook her head slightly, trying to get her bearings.

"My dear, when you leave here, you will simply forget to tell anyone about me," Hisashi told her. "But it's okay, they already know I'm alive, so it's not like you will be deceiving them." He almost seemed to laugh as he said that.

"I will be," Inko growled, not believing that she'd just forget. There was no way she'd forget Hisashi had been here! Inko tried to move. She tried to turn to the door but something was holding her in place. Not physically. She couldn't feel anything against her but… she couldn't move.

"Well," Hisashi said in that voice he used when he knew she was right, but he didn't want to admit it. "Maybe a little. But it's for a good cause," he added. "Because if you do well with what we will discuss today then I may be inclined to let you see Izuku. Supervised, of course," the proviso was added as if he'd just remembered it. Inko knew better.

"Bastard!" She snarled, still trying to move. What had he done? How had he done it?

"No, no, my dear. I promise you, as much as I hated them, my parents were married," Hisashi replied.

He might have just been speaking but Inko could tell he was laughing. It just confirmed he'd done something to her. What had he done? How did she get out of it? Could she get out of it? This entire thing was obviously a set up. The hope she'd been holding on to all week had long gone and now left… It made her feel empty.

Inko sighed. "Why did you pick me?" she asked. Why had the villain who was Hisashi picked her, of all people, to marry? It was obvious he felt nothing for her. She thought he had. She wouldn't have married him if she hadn't thought he loved her but standing here, right now, right here, it was obvious it had all been an act. She was… what? A convenience? It made no sense.

While Inko still couldn't see Hisashi with the lights pointed at her, she got the impression that he was examining her again.

"For your quirk." His reply was different this time. It was serious. He'd stopped playing. "My son-"

"Our son!" Inko interrupted. No matter what Hisashi had intended with her, he couldn't change that. Izuku was their son.

"My son," Hisashi repeated, "got a brilliant merger of our quirks."

"Izuku is quirkless," Inko retorted. "Your doctor told me that-" she didn't bother finishing the sentence. She could feel the amusement from Hisashi. His doctor… she should have known the moment she realised that earlier. His Doctor had told her what he'd been instructed to say.

"My son has an almost perfect combination of our two quirks," Hisashi repeated. "Attraction of small things from you, and the ability to give and take quirks from me."

"Your quirk is Fire Breath," Inko felt obligated to point out. Whatever else Hisashi had done, she knew that. She'd seen it. She'd been burnt by it once or twice too.

"One of my quirks is Fire Breath," Hisashi corrected.

Inko was forced to wonder if she'd known her husband at all. Was any part of him real? "My original quirk is called All For One. I can take quirks from people and use them, or give them to other people," he explained.

It was fantastic. No one had that ability.

Except…

Except she knew when Hisashi was lying to her and… well, she knew he meant that promise, the one to only tell her the truth and he'd confirmed that today. The villain he appeared to be would take the greatest pleasure in telling her the truth, and in making sure that truth hurt her the most of anything she might have known.

"My son can do that from a distance. It's wonderful." Hisashi was pleased.

Inko shook her head. "You've made him a villain!"

At that Hisashi chuckled again. "No. He's not a villain yet but society has moulded him. I expect he will take the next few steps soon, in High School probably, when he fully realises how things really are, and can see how that will have long term, life long consequences for people. At the moment, he's still just that little young to truly see and understand that."

Inko trembled. He was so clinical about it. "Monster!"

"No." Hisashi was firm. "Society is the monster. I am the correction," he told her. "And you, my dear, will be a part of that with your justified case against All Might's Agency." He paused. Inko had no idea why. "I commend you for that, by the way. It isn't something I would have thought of but I like it. And Watanabe didn't lie to you, you will get your answers about why the Hero's did not pursue Izuku when they could have. I will fully fund your case, because seeing the Number One Hero's name dragged through the mud is somewhat carthic to me. It's not complete joy, that will come later, but it is a beginning."

Inko blinked. She felt relieved and cheated at the same time. Relieved because she would get answers but cheated because the man with all the answers was before her but refused to give her anything more. "Why?" She asked. Why would pursuing her case, which Hisashi no doubt already knew the answers for, be pleasing for him? Wouldn't it be dangerous to reveal himself?

She wasn't ready for the lights at the other end of the room to come on so it took her eyes a moment to adapt.

Hisashi was sitting there. She recognised his suit but… Covering his head was a black mask. There were various tubes and pipes running all over it. With a practiced movement, Hisashi reached up and there was a hiss of air as he flicked at some hidden latches on it. Then he pulled it off.

Inko gasped. The top of his head was… it was there but at the same time it wasn't. It was just a mass of scar tissue. He had no eyes and no nose and… "What?" She managed the word. How had that happened? How did anyone live through that?

"That is what your precious heroes have done to me," Hisashi explained, putting the mask back on.

Inko was somewhat thankful for that. She didn't want to see the damage a body could take so graphically.

"I think it's time we discuss exactly what will happen now."

"I walk out of here and-" She didn't get to finish the sentence. That blanket came back covering her mind completely. Inko stared at Hisashi while a part of her screamed. It didn't do her any good.

"Izuku has such useful friends," Hisashi murmured before the mask turned to stare straight at her. "Now remember, my dear, with all my instructions, if you do well, you may be able to see Izuku."

-ted-

Just because AFO is struggling with his parental love for Izuku, doesn't mean he's going to let Inko know that! In fact, in front of others, he's going to double down on his plans.

And yes, unfortunately Inko was never going to come out of this conversation ahead. She wasn't ready to face her husband and she certainly didn't know who he was really. AFO doesn't care about Inko but if she's hurting All Might, then she can continue, so long as he controls the situation.

There are two Omake's about this confrontation, one where Inko wins and one where... well probably what might have happened in that situation.

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

-ted-

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