"Shinobu," my mom signed waving to get my attention before she continued, "Can you try deactivating your quirk again dear?" Tears filled my large, green eyes as I shook my head.
"Sorry, mommy! I'm trying really hard!" I signed, trying not to cry, considering it could activate my secondary quirk. My mom ran to me, engulfing me in a warm hug, but I could feel the tension in her shoulders. Tension caused by me, and the fact that I couldn't control my primary quirk. Why couldn't I have just been burdened with one quirk like Zashi-nii? It's not fair!
Suddenly, the feeling of a strong wind into our apartment alerted me to a now a broken window as my mom slumped onto the floor beside me, unconscious, blood pooling from her ears. Panicked, my bright green eyes darted to the window, which was now broken… Oh no! I must have panicked and activated my second quirk! With this panicked feeling, my eyesight went blank as well followed quickly by my sense of touch. There was nothing but darkness and emptiness until I heard someone calling my name…
"Shinobu… Shinobu!... SHINOBU!"
I woke with a start to find myself not in my childhood home, but instead on a couch, face to face with a pair of green eyes that matched my own and a head of gravity defying blonde hair. Beside him was a tired, scraggly looking male with black hair, black eyes, and some unkempt facial hair. Panicking, I realized the blonde in front of me was still moving his mouth, but I couldn't hear anything.
"Zashi-nii!" I signed nervously, "Stranger danger!" That was our code phrase for whenever I got panicked about coming face to face with someone I didn't know. It also was a pretty good indication that my quirk had started to go haywire. Suddenly, Zashi-nii, or as he's known to others The Voice Hero: PresentMic or Yamada Hizashi, turned to the dark haired man and said something that I of course could not hear. The man raised an eyebrow before his eyes turned red and his hair began to defy gravity.
"... I told you she'd get nervous! We're just lucky she didn't cancel our senses too this time!" Zashi-nii was saying animatedly as he smiled at the man I'm assuming was his friend. I frowned. Sure my quirk control wasn't perfect, but I had gotten a lot better about not accidentally cancelling other peoples' senses. Now, if I panicked, it usually just caused me to cancel my own hearing.
"You know she can hear you now, right?" the black haired man pointed out as he blinked, his eyes returning to their previous black color and his hair settling back, causing Zashi-nii to look at me apologetically.
"I've been working on it, Nii-san. Now, I usually only cancel my own hearing, and even that is only when I panic," I stated quietly as I also signed what I was saying, my expression clearly sad as I looked at my feet.
It was a habit I picked up when my quirk had first manifested. I had accidentally cancelled my own hearing for over a year at age five when my quirk showed itself. Coincidentally, at that same time, my secondary quirk, voice, had also manifested when I panicked and was trying to hear myself as I attempted to explain to my parents I was so scared. Warm arms wrapped around me as Hizashi gave me an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, my number one listener! I promise I meant it as a compliment! Sounds like you've gotten much better control of it since the last time I saw you! What about the other quirk? Wanna show me what you got?!" he ranted excitedly and I quickly shook my head no at the last question.
"I don't use that quirk," I mumbled, unable to sign as my arms were currently being held at my sides by my loud blonde cousin.
"You have two quirks?" the black haired man asked, getting both mine and Hizashi's attention.
"Who are you?" I asked apprehensively, my voice barely a whisper. I didn't know this man, and I was not the type of person to just trust someone. Nii-san was one of the only people I trusted and could relax around.
"Oh yeahhh! I forgot to introduce you two! Nobu-chan, this is my best friend Aizawa Shouta, also known as the pro hero Eraserhead! Shouta, this is my baby cousin Yamada Shinobu. She's known as the silent hero, Muffle!" Zashi-nii introduced excitedly as he released me from his death hug to lean on his friend's shoulder. I stood up and bowed politely.
"Nice to meet you, Eraserhead-san," I said while signing, my voice still quiet as I spoke, "Also, yes, I do have two quirks."
"Likewise, Yamada-san, and Aizawa is fine," Aizawa stated calmly, his eyes narrowing at Nii-san, "Now, I came because you promised there would be food. Otherwise, I'm going home and sleeping before patrol." At that, my eyes widened as I realized I forgot to heat up the food I had made earlier for Nii-san for when he got home from work. He told me to make extra so he could take it to lunch tomorrow, but I'm starting to think that was just his way of getting me to cook enough for Aizawa without me knowing that we would have a guest.
"Relax, Shouta! I told Shinobu to make extra, so I'm sure there's plenty, right Imouto-chan?" Zashi-nii asked hopefully with a smile in my direction which I returned with a glare but nodded. I didn't take well to being tricked, especially not by someone I trusted so much. Not to mention, he kept talking about me like I was a baby. I was so irritated and focused on my work at the stove as I worked on reheating the stirfry I had made earlier that I didn't notice the tall man leaning on the counter and watching me with a sigh.
"Sorry about this. I should have realized something was up with him when he volunteered a home cooked meal," Aizawa apologized, startling me as I splashed some of the hot oil on my arm.
"FUCK!" I screeched, my voice quirk activating temporarily in my shock in the pain as my arm began to bubble with a burn. Aizawa flinched before grabbing the wok and setting it safely on the stove and turning off the gas. Then, he grabbed my wrist and looked at my forearm that now sported an ugly bubbling second degree burn.
"I would say the stir fry has heated up enough now," he muttered almost like he was trying to make a joke before calling out to Nii-san who had gone back to his room to change out of his hero costume, "Hizashi! Get your first aid kit and some burn ointment if you have any extra!" With that, he walked me over to the sink and ran cold water over my arm which caused me to flinch slightly.
"I-I can handle it, Aizawa-san," I tried to state firmly, but he just ignored me as he turned off the water and dabbed around the burn with a dry wash cloth before leading me over to the couch where Nii-san was now with the first aid kit.
"I-I'm fine! It's just a small burn," I asserted, trying to grab the burn ointment from Nii-san who just moved it out of my reach and handed it to Aizawa causing me to get irritated, "I'm not a kid. I'm a pro hero dammit. Let me do it!" Aizawa sighed.
"I have no doubt you can clean it by yourself and apply the ointment, but how do you intend to bandage your own arm?" he challenged, a bored and tired expression on his face.
"With great difficulty. Like I do everything else," I muttered sarcastically causing Zashi-nii to snicker.
"Well at least you admit you make everything more difficult for yourself, Imouto-chan! Now let Shouta do this. Consider it him earning his meal!" the blonde joked with a large smile which I still returned with a glare, "Awwwww come on, Imouto! If I brought him here and gave you a warning you would've disappeared and avoided us!" I nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. I'm not a people person," I whispered, flinching as Aizawa had started wrapping my arm, chuckling at my last comment.
"Well, looks like we have that in common," he pointed out with a small smirk. My face started to feel warm. He looks nice when he smirks… Wait! No! Bad Shinobu! Nii-san noticed my face and grinned wildly.
"Hey, Shouta! I just had an idea! Why not have Nobu come and patrol with you tonight?" Zashi-nii suggested with a grin causing my face to heat up even more and me to shoot an even more intense glare in the direction of my older cousin, "What? You prefer to patrol at night and this will allow you to relearn the area in a safer way." I sighed. I hated when my cousin actually showed that he had some intelligence.
"As long as she doesn't get in my way, I don't really care," Aizawa stated plainly, throwing a distrustful look in my direction. At this point, I glared at him as well. These two have done nothing but underestimate me since they got here.
"Screw this," I muttered and signed, "I'm going to go hang out with Kuro." Kuro is my black cat. He's the cutest little cat with big red eyes and a sleek coat of short fur. I went to open my door, and to my surprise, Kuro darted out of my room and into the living room. I sighed before following him back there to find Aizawa crouched down scratching him behind the ears.
"So I'm guessing this is your cat?" Aizawa asked, his tone much less harsh and bored than before. I simply ignored him before clicking my tongue and calling Kuro over to me as I got his food out to feed him.
"Nobuuuuuuuuu! Come onnnnn! Why are you so pissy today? Especially towards your favorite older cousin?" Hizashi whined, still loud despite the fact that he hadn't activated his quirk.
Finally, I turned to him and his friend and activated my sensory cancellation quirk, causing my eyes to go black and black veins to crawl down the sides of my cheeks looking almost like black tears. This didn't always happen when I activated my quirk, but it did if I cancelled more than one sense at a time on anyone other than myself. This time I had cancelled everything except their hearing.
"Listen well both of you, especially you, Nii-san. I am a pro hero in my own right, the same as both of you. I am also barely younger than you are. I've had enough of both of you underestimating and treating me like a child. Now, I'm going on patrol," I seethed, my voice still quite quiet, making me sound all the more eerie as I deactivated my quirk and walked to my room, changing quickly into my hero costume and jumping out the window.
-Aizawa's POV-
I noticed Hizashi's little cousin's eyes turning black and veins starting to go down her cheeks, but before I could erase her quirk, my vision suddenly went dark, and I couldn't feel or smell anything. It was very disorienting, but I was still able to hear.
"Listen well both of you, especially you, Nii-san. I am a pro hero in my own right, the same as both of you. I am also barely younger than you are. I've had enough of both of you underestimating and treating me like a child. Now, I'm going on patrol," her voice was still quiet, but her anger while calm was still very evident in what she said. And then, as though nothing happened, my vision, sense of smell, and sense of touch all returned at once right as her door slammed.
"Damn… She's really mad. She hasn't cancelled my quirk on purpose like that in years," Hizashi muttered, uncharacteristically quiet for him as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"She's done that to you before?" I questioned, my curiosity getting the better of me. Hizashi nodded before picking up a photo on his end table next to his couch and tossing it to me. I caught it and saw a picture of Hizashi from our first year in high school, and next to him was a girl with dark brown hair and bright green eyes that matched his. Hizashi was doing one of his signature finger guns with one hand while the other arm was wrapped around the girl who had a shy but bright smile on her lips.
"That's Shinobu. Before her quirk went haywire. Her parents had her on experimental quirk suppressants. Apparently, the suppressants caused her quirk to build up, so when she was unable to take one of them on time, her quirk essentially bursted free and cancelled all the senses of both her and her parents for almost twenty four hours. It caused my aunt and uncle to go insane, and the stress caused Nobu-chan's hair to turn gray like that," Hizashi explained, his usual excited and happy demeanor all but gone, "Despite all of that she managed to go to U.A. and become a hero, but now, the hero she was a sidekick to has retired. They asked me to bring her home and try and get her involved with teaching or something, but as you can see, she doesn't exactly warm up to new people easily." I nodded, lost in thought. This girl had had it rough.
"You keep calling her your baby cousin, but she seemed pretty annoyed with that. How old is this kid anyways?" I asked curiously, depending on her age would depend on what kind of job she could get at U.A. or maybe find a job as a sidekick to a nearby hero. Hizashi chuckled.
"Why, Shouta? Think she's cute?" he teased as I glared using my capture weapon loosely around his neck, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding. She's 24! Why does it matter?!" I released him from my capture weapon.
"I was thinking of what kind of job she could get at U.A. or if she should just try and find a job as a sidekick to a hero around here," I answered honestly, at which Hizashi shook his head with a frown.
"She's an underground hero. She hates the spotlight. She wouldn't fit in with most heroes around here. Besides maybe you, Shouta. That's part of why I invited you over tonight. I was hoping if anyone would be good for her to meet here first, it would be you. However, you saw how that went," he said dejectedly. I rolled my eyes at him.
"You literally told me she had anxiety, and you thought that bringing a new person over with no warning was a good idea? Seriously…" I muttered irritatedly as I grabbed a bowl and chopsticks and put some of the beef and cabbage stir fry as well as the rice that Yamada-san had made earlier. Taking a bite, I closed my eyes and had to fight back a moan. Her cooking was heavenly.
"Nobu-chan's an amazing cook, huh? Makes me want to go…" Hizashi started and I opened my eyes to activate my quirk as he yelled, "Yeahhhh! Oh thanks, Shouta! Her cooking just makes me really excited!" I rolled my eyes as I blinked and continued eating before putting my bowl in the sink and walking towards the front door.
"Leaving already?" Hizashi asked curiously. I nodded.
"Yeah. You said Yamada-san isn't familiar with the area. The last thing we need is a hero in the area getting injured due to them being irrational," I stated plainly. Hizashi chuckled at this.
"Ya know, Eraser, you could just admit that you're worried about her," he teased as he started washing the dishes, "But if you do run into Nobu-chan, can you let her know I feel really bad about upsetting her like that? And maybe try and help her get used to the area?" I hummed in response as I walked out the door with the intention of patrolling and keeping my eye out for a certain irrational silver haired hero.
Song: The Sound of Silence (Disturbed Cover)