Akabane Karma remembers dying. He remembers being surrounded by his friends who'd smiled and cried as all of them laid on the ground in their last moments. He remembers them all saying goodbye to each other. He'd died believing he'd see them in the afterlife.
So why did he wake up as a baby?
He wakes up crying in the arms of a woman who looks at him with cold eyes. He wakes up to somewhat see a man staring at him the same way the woman does. He can't really tell, because his eyes are shut so tightly he can barely open them, but he's pretty sure they don't like him very much.
He learns he's in a world where 80% of the people have powers they dub as quirks. He realizes he's been reincarnated, or reborn. Somehow, miraculously, he has kept his name, appearance, and birthday. One major change has happened though.
He has cat ears. And a tail. His sharp canines aren't a surprise, he had them in his last life, too, but- cat ears? And a tail?
He learns it's part of his quirk. Feline Mirage? Apparently he inherited the cat features from his father, who is a shapeshifter and can turn into any animal. Karma would find that cool, but sadly he can only turn into a cat, or stay in his half-human half-cat form. (A Neko?)
He inherits the other part of his quirk from his mother. Karma can create illusions. Images, dreams, nightmares of the sort. He can also create real, solid illusions.
So he sort of has two quirks. Sort of.
At the age of three, Karma's parents start raising their hands at him. They also raise their feet, and knives, and other weapons. They like to hurt him until near death. When he goes outside to play or escape or do their errands for them, the villagers in their small town don't say a thing.
At the age of three, Karma learns his parents are assassins.
At the age of three, before he learned of the illusion side of his quirk (because he'd been born with his cat features immediately), Karma meets someone familiar. Very familiar.
He meets a feminine blue haired boy named Shiota Nagisa.
Shiota Nagisa, who'd been born with a mother who wanted a girl (yet again) and a father who'd been so ashamed and disappointed the man couldn't even look at him without disgust curling at his lips. Shiota Nagisa, who'd been born with a fork tongue and barely seen scales littering at the corners of his eyes. Shiota Nagisa, who's parents are also, apparently, assassins.
They soon meet Sugino Tomohito, who is an orphan, who's disgraced an abhorred because his parents had apparently dumped him and deemed him as a curse, calling him an abnormal child and a demon. Sugino Tomohito, who loves baseball with a passion and who bounces around whenever the word is said.
The villagers ignore the mistreatment towards all three of them.
At the age of four, Karma discovers the illusion side of his quirk.
At the age of four, Nagisa discovers that he can see the statistics of any living creature and plant (such as trees, flowers, etc.). He also discovers he can turn his body from waist down into a snake.
At the age of four, Sugino (who they now call by his first name, Tomohito, or his nickname, Hito) discovers his quirk as the ability to teleport effortlessly anywhere he desires.
At the age of five, Karma is still getting beaten to near death by his parents, Nagisa is still forced to be feminine by his mother, and Tomohito is still disgraced and neglected by the orphanage.
But then, at the age of five, a savior comes.
Aizawa Shouta had stopped by at a small town to rest (and also because there'd been reports of strange happenings going on there). There, he bumped into a small child who looked at him with surprise before bowing her head. "Sorry," she mumbled. "It's fine, kid," he said, before walking off.
That leads to now.
"Nagisa!" Another child's voice squeals. The little girl turns to whoever the voice belonged to, and a small boy hugs her. "Nagisa, did ya hear? There's-"
The small child goes into a whole rant, but Shouta only hears the word baseball and other terms he doesn't understand.
A hand tugs at his pant leg.
Shouta looks down to see a small red haired child with cat ears and a tail, and slit pupils, though they only appear that way ever so often, switching from rounded pupils to slits.
"You don't look like the other adults," the red haired kid says. "Are ya new, mister?"
"I'm just passing by," Shouta replies. He resists the urge to start petting the kid, those cat ears twitching and looking so soft and cute and-
Damn it. Shouta loves cats. He won't ever admit it, not even to himself, but he has a soft spot for kids, too.
The cat child rubs his head against his leg, purring. Shouta's fingers twitch, and he stuffs them in his pockets.
"Karma!" A voice shouts, and it's that little girl, Nagisa, from earlier. "You shouldn't be rubbing on a stranger's leg! That's rude! And it's a stranger! Stranger danger, remember?"
The cat child, Karma pouts. "But Nagisa," he whines. "He's warm. And stranger doesn't always mean danger, ya know."
The other child, the baseball enthusiast, toddles up to them, tilting a head in curiosity.
"That's a dangerous way to think, kid," Shouta tells the cat child. He pats the kid's head, before gently rubbing before his ears. Karma purrs happily, tail swishing softly behind him.
That's when Shouta notices the bruises. He notices the scars and marks, the sickening colors, the suspiciously hand shaped bruise around the child's neck.
He notices how the baseball kid is skinnier than he should be (in fact, Karma is too), and how the girl constantly tugs at her dress in discomfort.
"Hey, kid," Shouta says casually (not how he's feeling at all). "Where'd you get those bruises?"
Karma stares at him, pouting. "Mom says I'm not supposed to say," he says.
Shouta breathes. "Look, kid," he says. "I'm not going to do anything. I'm here to help, so if you tell me, I'll make sure it won't happen again."
The girl's eyes widen. "Are you a-" she pauses, before whispering. "Hero?"
Shouta nods.
"Cool!" The baseball child yells.
Karma tugs at Shouta's sleeve.
"My mom and dad do it," he says quietly. "They don't like me. They use really pointy knifes or... guns. They don't like me."
Shouta's heart breaks and he feels a surge of anger towards the kid's parents. He turns to the other two. "Anything happening with you guys?" He asks.
The girl twitches. "My mom wants me to be a girl," she says, and that's when Shouta realizes the girl is a boy. "I don't wanna be a girl. I don't wanna wear this dress. Mom says I have to 'cause I'm a girl but I'm a boy. Dad doesn't like me, either. But... at least he doesn't hurt me."
Nagisa, the boy (oh god why is he dressed up as a girl what the fuck-) turns to look at Karma.
"Um," the baseball kid starts. "The... the orphanage lady doesn't like me. The kids there don't like me too. They say I'm cursed. The orphanage lady won't give me food 'cause I'm a bad boy and bad boys don't get food. The orphanage lady said that my mom and dad left me 'cause they didn't want me and that they said I was cursed and a demon and a bad boy and-"
He tears up.
Shouta crouches down and brings all three kids into a huge hug.
"What about the townsfolk?" He asks, keeping his voice calm for the sake of not scaring the children because what the fuck is up with these parents? Like seriously!
"They don't care," Nagisa says. "They ignore us and they don't like us too and the teachers and principal are always mean because Karma's a cat and I'm a snake and Hito's cursed and-"
Shouta shushes him. "Don't worry," he says. "I'll get you guys help."
Because Shouta will. He'll get all the damn help they need, and fuck all those people. Fuck all those teachers and the principal and all of them. Shouta's going to make sure they get hell.
"You will?" The baseball kid (who Shouta presumes is probably Hito, going from what Nagisa said) sniffs.
"Yeah, I will," Shouta nods.
"Be careful," Hito says. "The people here don't like heroes. And Karma and Nagisa's moms and dads are assa- a- a-..."
"Assassins," Karma pipes up.
"Mhm, mhm!" Nagisa nods his head.
Shouta's heart stops before beating again.
"Yeah! Assassins!" Hito beams.
"They kill people," Karma says, imitating the motion of stabbing a person. He even makes a little whoosh sound. "It's how they hurt me with their knifes and guns."
Nagisa is honestly impressed with their acting. Of course, despite the fact that they're adults in children's bodies, they are still children. They have to act as such. Which means their speech was not the best grammatically, and they did cry a little. Emphasis on a little.
Although, Tomohito's tears seemed a bit more real, though Nagisa couldn't blame him. He grew up with a loving and caring family in his past life only to be dumped by his parents and treated as a disease in this life.
Also, Nagisa's pretty sure they have gained the mentality of children, since they are children at this moment. After all, Karma once teared up for scraping his knee when he would have laughed it off before. Nagisa also started crying more whenever his mother forced him to be feminine, and Tomohito has been showing a lot more tears then either of them combined.
The man, promised them he'd get them help. Before he left, he'd asked for their names and ages.
"Shiota Nagisa," he'd replied.
"Sugino Tomohito!" the boy had chirped happily.
"Akabane Karma," the cat had said.
"We're five years old!"
Then the man left. Nagisa has no idea who he is, but the man had said he was a hero.
They'd learned about heroes as they were researching this world, and the three of them know not all heroes are to be trusted. But their gut instincts tells them he is trustworthy, and they listen to their instincts more often than not.
If he was honest, he didn't want the man to go.
He's pretty sure Karma and Tomohito didn't want him to go either. But that's okay.
The man said he'd get help, and they believe him. They're tired and annoyed of the life they're currently living.
They're ready for a new life. A better one than the same old they've had for the past five years now.
It doesn't matter if the man take days. or weeks, or even years.
He said he'd get help, and they trust him. They believe him. He'd said it with so much conviction and the way he'd acted so protective over them, so firm and caring, it reminded them of Korosensei.
So they'll believe him.
They'll be waiting.
Hizashi started his day off great. He did his radio show, Put Your Hands Up Radio, the night before and he had a great rest. He woke up refreshed and feeling energized, and went to work at UA. Class had gone without a hitch, and his lunch tasted especially great. Then his best friend Shouta finally gets away from his hero work!
Or so Hizashi thought.
"Hizashi," Shouta says. "I need help on a case."
Hizashi is especially disappointed that Shouta is still being his overworking overachiever self, but he ignores it and decides to help.
"What's the case?" He asks.
"You know that small town with the weird stuff going on? I visited there today," Shouta sighs, eyes heavy. "I bumped into these three kids. They're being abused, Hizashi."
Hizashi grimaces. Abuse cases always get to him, especially when the victims are children.
"How old?" He asks quietly.
Shouta purses his lips. "Five," he whispers. Hizashi digs his nails into his palms. "All three?" He asks. Shouta nods.
Hizashi closes his eyes and counts to tens. He opens them.
"Let's talk about it with Nedzu, yeah?" He says softly. Shouta nods.
When they explain to Nedzu, he calls for multiple heroes and two police officers.
The heroes and officers arrive, entering and mumbling together.
"What is the meaning of this meeting, Nedzu?" Endeavor asks grumpily.
"Would you do the honors of explaining, Aizawa?" Nedzu asks.
"I investigated the rumors of the strange dealings happening within the town Itami no Machi. As you know, the name itself is already suspicious. I visited and stumbled upon three small children," Shouta says. "I noticed bruises on one of them, and when I questioned them, the answers I found were shocking. The three of them are being abused- one physically, the others emotionally. The townsfolk don't care and ignore them, including school staff, and two of the children's parents are assassins."
A ripple of shock rushes through the crowd like a tidal wave. Murmurs break out.
"I researched the children after being given their names and ages," Shouta continues, throwing files on Nedzu's desk. "Shiota Nagisa, born July 20th, Sugino Tomohito, born August 23rd, and Akabane Karma, born December 25th. All three at the age of five."
A few gasps are heard.
"They're so young," Tensei mumbles.
"I promised I'd help them," Shouta says. "And I need need more people do help me do it."
"Of course I'll help," Nemuri says.
Firm mutterings of agreement ring from throughout the crowd, and the two police officers nod.
Shouta and Hizashi smile.
Tomohito was playing ball with Karma and Nagisa (Karma had secretly stolen the ball) in a field away from their town when the man came back.
"You're back!" Tomohito cheers, running over. "You're back, mister!"
He reaches his arms out, and the man hugs him before lifting him up. Tomohito squeals before giggling happily. He pretends not to notice the way the man's multiple friends eyes his frame in surprise and horror.
Karma and Nagisa come over. "Hi," Karma waves. Nagisa waves along with him.
The man nods. "Of course I'm back," he says to Tomohito. "I promised I'd help, didn't I?"
"Mhm!" Tomohito nods.
Karma tilts his head, his cat ears twitching. "Who're they?" He asks, pointing at the people behind the man.
"They're like me," the man says. "They're heroes too."
"That's a lotta heroes," Nagisa says in awe.
The man nods.
Karma walks up to a random hero, ignoring the way all the heroes stare at his bruises and scars and marks.
"That's a lotta red," Karma says, pointing to the man.
The man grunts.
Karma raises his arms, asking the red man to pick him up. He doesn't. Karma pouts.
A woman picks him up instead, cooing and stroking Karma's hair. He purrs.
Nagisa stares, before turning to the man they'd trusted in the first place. "What're you gonna do?" He asks.
The man crouches and Tomohito waves at another man in armor over his shoulder. The man in armor waves back.
"I haven't introduced myself, have I?" The man says. "I'm Aizawa Shouta, or Eraserhead, and I'm an underground hero. They're heroes who save people in secret."
"Wooaaaahhhhh," Nagisa and Tomohito gasp.
The heroes behind the man smile.
"Hey," a blonde hero steps up. "I'm Yamada Hizashi, or Present Mic. I'm this guy's friend-" he points to Aizawa. "-and we're going to save you, okay? We're heroes, after all, and we save people."
"Yeah," Karma nods. "You save people."
"I'm Iida Tensei, but you can call me Ingenium," the man in armor says. "We're going to save you and give you a better home, okay? Just believe in us!"
"Yeah!" Tomohito cheers.
"What about you, lady?" He hears Karma ask the woman holding him. "Who're you?"
"Kayama Nemuri, but you can call me Midnight! And aren't you just a cutie!" The woman coos. Karma smiles.
"The three of you stay here, alright?" Aizawa says. "We'll save you, but you need to stay safe here."
They nod.
When Nemuri saw those three boys, her heart broke at the sight. One was dressed as a girl, looking miserable, and the other two were for two skinny. One of the boys had covered in marks that screamed pain, and there was a hand shaped print wrapped around his neck.
When one of them saw Aizawa, he screamed in cheer.
"You're back!" He beamed, running over. "You're back, mister!"
He held his arms out, and Shouta hugged the boy before lifting him up to carry him. The boy squealed and giggled, and Nemuri refrained from showing her shock and horror better than other heroes when they got a closer look at his small frame. The other two boys stumbled over, and they both waved. "Hi," the red haired boy said. Shouta nodded.
He turned to the boy he was holding. "Of course I'm back," he said, and Nemuri has never heard him sound so soft and gentle. "I promised I'd help, didn't I?"
"Mhm!" The boy nodded, face open as if saying he'd believe anything Shouta would say, that Shouta would never tell a lie. It was cute, but also depressing in a way.
The cat child tilted his head, ears twitching. "Who're they?" He asked Shouta, pointing at Nemuri and the others.
"They're like me," Shouta explained. "They're heroes too."
"That's a lotta heroes," the boy-dressed-as-a-girl awed, eyes wide.
Shouta nodded as the red haired cat boy wandered over to Endeavor, oblivious to the stares on his person- or rather, the stares due to the proof of his abuse.
"That's a lotta red," he said, pointing at Endeavor.
Endeavor grunted.
The kid raised his arms in a silent plead to be held. Endeavor did not even touch him. The kid pouted.
Nemuri picked him up and held him instead, ignoring how light he was (because he was, he was light, way lighter than a five year old should be), instead cooing and stroking his hair. The boy purred in content, pushing his head against her fingers.
"What're you gonna do?" The blue haired boy asked.
Shouta crouched and the boy he was holding waved at Ingenium over Shouta's shoulder. Tensei waved back.
"I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Shouta said. "I'm Aizawa Shouta, or Eraserhead, and I'm an underground hero. They're heroes who save people in secret."
"Wooaaaahhhhh," The two boys near him gasped. The boy in Nemuri's arms stayed purring.
Nemuri and the others smiled. The boys were so cute.
"Hey," Hizashi approached. "I'm Yamada Hizashi, or Present Mic. I'm this guy's friend-" he pointed to Shouta. "-and we're going to save you, okay? We're heroes, after all, and we save people."
"Yeah," the boy in Nemuri's arms nodded. "You save people."
"I'm Iida Tensei, but you can call me Ingenium," Tensei spoke up. "We're going to save you and give you a better home, okay? Just believe in us!"
"Yeah!" The boy Shouta held cheered.
"What about you, lady?" The cat child in her arms asked her. "Who're you?"
"Kayama Nemuri, but you can call me Midnight! And aren't you just a cutie!" Nemuri cooed, lightly pinching his cheeks. The boy smiled.
"The three of you stay here, alright?" Shouta said. "We'll save you, but you need to stay safe here."
The boys nodded.
Now, in the present, Shouta is directing them, having been put in charge. He had lowered the boy back to the ground.
"Midnight, Ingenium, the two of you stay here," he says. "We need some heroes to watch over the kids and make sure nothing happens to them."
Nemuri and Tensei nod, before the others head off to Itami no Machi.
The three boys turn to them.
"I'm Shiota Nagisa," the blue haired boy says.
"Sugino Tomohito," the boy Shouta had been holding pipes up.
"Akabane Karma," the cat child in Nemuri's arms purrs.
Tensei grins.
"Alright then! Do you want to continue playing ball?" He asks.
"Yeah!" Tomohito squeals.
Tensei joins the two boys in playing ball as Karma dozes off in Nemuri's arms. It must be his feline traits.
Eventually, Nagisa and Tomohito tires and they instead talk about themselves and get to know Tensei, joining Nemuri and sitting down.
Tensei tells them about Tenya, and Tomohito talks about his love for baseball.
"Uh, I like snakes," Nagisa says plainly.
Tomohito goes on a rant about how Nagisa is practically a snake and how that didn't count, but in the end, he settles down.
Karma purrs contently in the woman- Kayama's- lap. His tail's curled around her arm- when'd that happen?- and her fingers feel so good running through his hair and lightly scratching his scalp that he can't pull away. He doesn't even try.
He mewls softly when she pulls her hand away (why'd she stop?) and opens his eyes to see what has distracted her so. Aizawa's back, along with his colleagues- but only a few, so others must have stayed behind.
Kayama and Iida stand up.
Tomohito pounces at Aizawa, and the man catches him and lifts him up.
He and Yamada reassure them that they are safe, they won't be going back any longer.
One of the heroes comment that they'll need to find a good orphanage for them.
Tomohito starts crying and whining, claiming he wants to stay with Aizawa-san.
Karma joins in just for the fun of it (and also because he sort of wants to stay with the man too), which startles Kayama.
He ignores her exclamation of "Jesus, kid, how long were you awake?" and instead continues to cry and whine.
Nagisa doesn't cry or whine, but he does quietly admit, from where he's now held in Iida's arms, that he wants to stay with Aizawa-san too.
The heroes hurriedly try to gently explain to them, panicking, but Aizawa says that he's fine with it. He'll adopt them.
Tomohito squeals with joy.
Karma throws his hands up with a grin.
Nagisa beams.
Aizawa ruffles his hair.
A loud growl is heard, before Tomohito sheepishly claims he's hungry.
Yamada laughs, and they pretend not to notice the sad undertone to it. He says he'll buy them food.
Karma demands that he wants fish.
Fish fish fish, his mind chants. It's his feline side, but who cares. Karma wants fish.
"Fish," Karma agrees with his mind, repeating it aloud. "Fish, fish!"
Tensei's heart breaks every time he looks at those kids. He imagines if it had been five-year-old Tenya. He would have been furious. He would have done everything in his power to bring justice against those who dare hurt his younger brother. He would have been heartbroken and absolutely worried for Tenya. He looks at these boys and-
They've done nothing but exist yet they've been shamed and scorned, revolted and abhorred. They've been harmed so much and it pains Tensei to see just how the cruel the truly can be.
At UA, the boys are taken to Recovery as the heroes and two police officers meet in Nedzu's office.
Shouta fills them in on the details- what happened at Itami no Machi. The school the boys attended have been shut down for not doing their job properly. Karma and Nagisa's parents have been arrested and dealt with. The townsfolk were interrogated and punished accordingly for neglect and failure to report child abuse, especially without threat or otherwise. The caretaker at Tomohito's orphanage has been replaced with a new one. The new caretaker has been warned with the closing of the orphanage if she fails to do her duties properly. Shouta had officially adopted the three boys.
The children had been absolutely joyous when given the news. Tomohito had cried. Nagisa had beamed so wide and asked for proper clothes for little boys. Karma had bounced on the beds in Recovery Girl's office despite the rags he wore.
The boys start calling Tensei and Hizashi their uncles. They deemed Nemuri their aunt. Hizashi vehemently denies the fact that he cried.
When everyone has settled and calmed down, Tensei grins.
"Would you like to meet my brother someday?"
"That'd be cool," Nagisa smiles shyly.
"Yeah!" Tomohito agrees.
"You have a brother?" Karma tilts his head in confusion and curiosity.
"Oh yeah, you was sleeping," Tomohito says. "He has a brother and his name's Tenya and he's 14!"
"Oooooohhhhhh," Karma nods like he's been explained the concept of the universe and has been given an epiphany.
Tensei laughs.
"You can arrange a playdate later," Shouta mumbles. "For now," he climbs into one of the beds. "We sleep."
He folds his hands on his stomach and closes his eyes.
The children giggle.
Karma stumbles over to Shouta. He pats Shouta's cheek. "Daddy," he laughs. Shouta's eyes fly open in surprise, causing Tensei, Hizashi, and Nemuri to cackle with laughter.
"Problem child," Shouta grumbles. "Sleep."
Karma snickers, curling at Shouta's side like a- well, cat.
Nagisa and Tomohito crawl to Shouta, too. Nagisa curls into Shouta's other side while Tomohito curls up on Shouta's legs.
Tensei, Hizashi, and Nemuri take a ton of pictures as the three sleep.