-Aizawa's POV-

Since this year I had expelled my entire homeroom class on the first day, I had a bit more time on my hands than the other teachers at UA. As such, I was spending my extra time patrolling and subbing for other teachers when necessary; however, today was my day off, and since I had drank my last juice pouch last night while on patrol, I found myself having to make a grocery run; however, as I was getting ready to checkout, I was jarred by a loud scream that shook the building. The only time I had experienced shockwaves from a shout like that was from Hizashi using his quirk, but he was working today.

Preparing to use my capture weapon, I ran out of the store and used my capture weapon to get on top of a nearby roof. As I looked into one of the alleyways, I saw a girl with a gun pointed at a guy who had bleeding ears. Before she could shoot, I used my capture weapon to grab the man and hit him into the wall, effectively knocking him out. As I jumped down from the roof into the alleyway, I used my capture weapon to take the gun from the young woman in front of me. It was then that I noticed who it was as my gaze was met by a terrified set of bright green eyes.

"SHINOBU?!" I yelled out in shock and to snap her out of what was sure to be an oncoming panic attack as I noticed her shirt had been cut open and that there was a long gash down her torso that was bleeding quite heavily though not enough to be immediately concerned. As Shinobu squeezed her eyes shut, I noticed blood starting to fall from her eyes. She must have overused her quirk. I took this moment to do a quick survey of our surroundings.

Including the man I had knocked out, I saw 7 men, a couple of them had knives and all of them were knocked out. Sending a quick text to the police with the information on where to find the men and the likely crime that took place, I slowly approached the now trembling silver haired woman in front of me. Since I didn't know whether her quirk had activated involuntarily or not, I reached up and gently gripped her chin to get her attention and to get her to look at me. The small smile on her face surprised me since I knew she had to be terrified. Being a hero didn't make one immune to fear in the face of something like what I assumed had occurred.

"What happened?" I asked, keeping my voice soft as I wiped away the blood that was trailing under her vibrant green eyes.

"Th-they attacked me and told me they wanted to-. I didn't know what to do. I was too scared to fight- but they said- targeting young girls- I had to do something- And they almost-" she couldn't get a complete thought out at this point as she seemed to have fully realized what almost happened now that the shock was starting to wear off a bit.

After giving her my jacket to cover herself, I made sure she was okay to walk with me back to my apartment since it was nearby, and although she was clearly shaken up by what happened, she still managed to walk back to my apartment with me. When we reached my apartment, I asked her if she wanted to shower, telling her I had some clothes she could wear. She seemed a bit confused about that, but although I was a bit taller than her, I figured my clothes wouldn't completely swallow her, and it would be better than her being in bloody and destroyed clothes.

After making sure she was okay when I brought in the clothes and a towel to her, I went back into the living room to wait for her, keeping an ear out for if she called for help, not that I expected her to. Despite her quiet and shy demeanor, Shinobu had proven to be quite determined in her at the very least attempts to be strong and independent.

After our patrol together, I had done some research on the silver-haired underground hero. Her previous mentor, Nightshade, was an underground hero who was not known to take on many sidekicks, and despite being top of her class in grades at UA during high school, she seemed to constantly struggle with finding an internship which I could only imagine was due to the nature of her quirk and her reluctance and lack of control regarding her voice quirk. All of this being said, her success rate for missions was a staggering 95% despite working almost entirely by herself. Other than that, there wasn't much else on her. My reflecting on all of this was interrupted when I heard the shower shut off and shortly after was almost startled by Shinobu's soft voice ringing out into my living room.

"I-I apologize for the inconvenience, Aizawa-san," she stuttered. I looked up at her and saw her shaking. Trying to calm her down and once again not knowing if she ended up accidentally cancelled her hearing again, I patted the seat beside me on the couch so she would know I wanted her to sit down. The underground hero did so, keeping her eyes glued to her hands which she was currently wringing in her lap. Wanting to snap her out of what I was sure were dangerous thoughts, I placed a hand firmly on her shoulder causing her to look up at me, tears falling from her panicked green eyes. The sight hurt a bit to see. Sure, I was very good at coming across as an unemotional and apathetic hero, but it doesn't matter if someone is a hero or not. Being a victim of what I was suspicious had happened, or almost happened, was something that would shake up anyone. However, it was irrational to assume things, so I had to clarify.

"Yamada-san, what happened?" I questioned, my voice soft, but firm, knowing that being demanding and authoritative in this case would do her absolutely no good. She took a deep breath before clearly steadying herself to relive what had just happened.

"Nii-san asked me i-if I could go g-get groceries since he-he wasn't able to… Being in public g-gives me really bad a-anxiety and p-panic attacks, but I-I wanted to prove that I-I could do it…," Shinobu started, signing nervously as she did so, "I-it was okay until I l-left the grocery store. I-I cancelled my own hearing on p-purpose so I wouldn't have a panic a-attack. W-when I did that, s-some thugs pulled me into the alleyway and put a g-gun to my head a-and told me to s-s-strip…"

The last word came out as barely a whisper from Shinobu, but the story so far already had my blood boiling. The world is a sick place where thugs will prey on women like that; however, I was slightly impressed with her drive to try and overcome what sounds like pretty debilitating anxiety, though it begged the question as to why she became a hero in the first place. Not showing my anger at the event, I nodded reassuringly, urging her to continue.

"I asked w-what would happen if I-I r-refused… They said they would k-kill me and would g-go after some of the girls from the nearby junior high and high schools," she continued, her stuttering completely stopping and her voice strengthening as an angry glint filled her green eyes and her hands stopped signing and clenched into tight fists as she explained the rest of the attack, clearly pissed about the men threatening children. The change in her demeanor was unexpected. It was almost like I was listening to a different person as she recounted using her quirk and taking down the men using the pistol and pressure points to knock them out. That strength seemed to fade when she got close to the end of her story.

"There were three men left, w-when one of them managed to hit me in the head hard enough to force me to d-deactivate my quirk. Th-that's when one of them caught m-my arms behind my back and they b-blindfolded me so I couldn't use my quirk," Shinobu was back to signing again as tears started to flow from her eyes again, "Th-they cut my shirt open and b-began to k-kiss me and b-bite my neck and g-grope me…" The woman in front of me was managing to stay together despite recounting what had to have been a horrifying and violating experience. Suddenly her trembling slowed to a stop as a sort of calmness fell over her once again as her fists once again clenched.

"But they were planning on doing this to anyone else, especially children, and that is not acceptable. So as a last ditch effort, I used my voice quirk though I had almost no control of it, knocking out the two men who were in front of me and knocking the man behind me back, allowing me to get free. I picked up the pistol that was on the ground and took off the blindfold to cancel his sight once again as I got ready to use the pistol to knock him out," she finished, her voice strong at the beginning but gradually quieting as she got to the end and began signing once again, "Th-that's when you arrived, Aizawa-san."

This woman in front of me was really something else. Despite dealing with crippling anxiety, she managed to not only defeat 7 fully grown men by herself, but she also did so without her weapon of choice and pushed her quirk to the absolute limit to do so. She even used a quirk she seems to really hate, and after all of that, she still managed to walk to my apartment and recount the whole story without completely breaking down. Just what the hell was this woman…? Looking over to her, my eyes narrowed when I noticed the shirt that I gave her had blood seeping through it.

"You didn't bandage your wound, Yamada-san," I pointed out bluntly. She looked at the shirt, her eyes widening in shock. I sighed as I got up. Shinobu did as well.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," I ordered firmly as I quickly went and grabbed another shirt for her as well as a roll of bandages and some antiseptic before returning to her, "Alright. I'm going to help you since you moving too much could just aggravate it more. You'll have to clean it yourself first though." Her eyes widened a slight blush dusted her cheeks.

"B-but my wound is in a s-sort of p-private place," she pointed out nervously, cancelling my sight as I heard the sound of the shirt being removed. I rolled my eyes despite my sight being gone.

"I'm not going to do anything, Yamada-san. You're going to guide the bandages over your front until I get to your ribs so you don't feel so uncomfortable, but you do need help to wrap these bandages without aggravating your wound," I pointed out, my voice sounding disinterested. Don't get me wrong, Shinobu Yamada was an attractive woman, but there was no way I would try anything like that.

"O-oh okay. Sorry, Aizawa-san… I didn't mean to i-insinuate anything like that…" she stuttered, her voice indicating that she was worried she had offended me as my sight was suddenly returned, her back was in front of me, "I also already cleaned my wound, so we can start now."

"Alright," I said boredly as I started to bandage her wound, starting at the top, giving the bandage to her when I reached her side until I got to her lower ribs, which at this point, I walked around to her front to be able to see the wound I was bandaging. I noticed her cheeks were slightly flushed from what I'm guessing was embarrassment as I reached behind her to grab the roll of bandages and guided it around her, my fingers just barely ran over her ribs and she jumped and yelped. I just looked up at her questioningly, worried that having a man touch her bare skin at all at the moment was triggering a fight or flight response in the silver-haired heroine.

"Sorry, Aizawa-san… This is really embarrassing…" she started, her face getting redder by the second, "But I-I'm actually really ticklish around my ribs." She gave me a small apologetic smile, and I felt my face heat up a bit but fought it back. Damn this girl was resilient. She was just sexually assaulted and something that would have triggered most people after an occurrence like that had her laughing. I just shook my head, sighing in exasperation.

"Well, Yamada-san, please try and stay still so I can bandage you correctly," I requested, my bored tone staying ever present, but as I continued to wrap the bandages around her, anytime my fingers would skim across her skin even slightly, she began to actually giggle. I looked up one of those times and was shocked to see a real smile as she giggled. Her laughter was light and airy and almost melodic sounding.

I turned back to the task at hand, smirking slightly to myself at the sight of the normally quiet and shy heroine laughing and smiling despite what happened during the day. Finally, I finished and stood up. This time, Shinobu gave me a full smile, a slight blush on her cheeks still as she put on the fresh shirt that I had brought for her.

"Thank you, Aizawa-san! I'm sorry for the trouble," she said, her voice quiet but steady as she let out a large yawn. I gave her a small smirk.

"No problem. Even heroes need saving sometimes," I stated reassuringly, "Yamada-san, you should take some rest on the couch. Take a nap until Hizashi gets here. He'll get off of work soon, and I'll call him and let him know what happened." I turned to head back to my room to call the loud blonde and fill him in.

"Shinobu…" she said, almost so quietly I didn't hear it causing me to stop and look back at her as she clarified with a slightly louder voice, "Yamada-san is what everyone calls my aunt, uncle, and parents. Shinobu is fine. Actually, it's preferred." The last part was muttered almost like an afterthought that wasn't supposed to be out loud as her gaze darkened slightly.

"Alright. Then, drop the -san on my name. Or call me Shota. Your idiot of a cousin does anyways," I responded, not really minding if the small heroine called me by my first name since Hizashi was always yelling it anyways, "Shinobu, get some rest. After the day you've had, you need it. If you need something, my room is down the hall, the last door on the left." Shinobu smiled again and nodded before going and laying on the couch.

Continuing my way back to my room, I opened my door to be greeted by an angry little white ball of fluff that immediately jumped on my shoulder and swatted at my face.

"Sorry, Shiro. It took a bit longer to go to the grocery store. Something came up," I apologized to my white haired, green-eyed cat who just pushed her nose into me in response, demanding to be petted. I reached up and grabbed her from my shoulder, setting her in my lap as I took my phone and called Hizashi. He picked up after the second ring.

"Heyyyy Eraserhead! You almost never call! What's up?!" Hizashi's loud, enthusiastic voice blared through my phone speaker causing me to groan inwardly. Did he have to be so damn loud all the time?

"Hizashi, are you still at work?" I asked, ignoring his jabs and wanting to get straight to the point.

"Just left! Fixing to head home and see my favorite little cousin in the whole worrrldddd!" he responded happily, and I felt bad for what I was gonna have to tell him now.

"You need to come over to my apartment. Now. Shinobu is here. She was attacked in an alleyway today," I said, deciding to rip it off like a bandaid, turning my sound down in hopes of saving my eardrums.

"WHATTTTT?! IS SHE OKAY?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?" he yelled angrily, his quirk activating, and turning down my phone did little to actually quiet the sound.

"Hizashi! Keep your quirk in check! She is asleep on my couch right now, and the last thing she needs right now is to know you're freaking out!" I scolded angrily, "She has a black eye and a large cut down her abdomen, but it's not too deep. We cleaned and bandaged it. The thugs have already been arrested and charged with battery, sexual assault, and attempted rape-" Oops… Didn't mean to let that slip out.

"ATTEMPTE RAPE?! That's it! I'll be at your apartment in 10 minutes!" Hizashi yelled angrily before taking a breath, seeming to really process the information before saying in a much more fearful, normal volume, "She is okay, isn't she? She's already been through so much, Shota… I don't want her to be hurt anymore…" I sighed. I figured as much, but Shinobu… this woman was strong, stronger than I think just about anyone realized.

"She's alright, Hizashi. They did manage to touch her a bit, but she took all seven of them out by herself. I happened to hear her use her voice quirk and got there in time to knock out the final guy because Shinobu looked like she was about to shoot him," I reassured my panicking friend.

"Should've let her," he muttered under his breath, and I sighed once again honestly agreeing with him; however, Shinobu had told me when she told me what happened that she was gonna use the pistol to knock him out. Either way, kind of wish I hadn't intervened at this point.

"Either way… Thanks, Shota… For helping her… You have no idea how much this means to me. I owe you big time," my usually joking friend said, uncharacteristically serious and somber, "I'll be there soon."

"Alright. When you get here, do NOT use your quirk and keep your voice DOWN. She is sleeping and frankly she needs it. I also need to talk to you about an idea have for her for helping her find a job here," I stated calmly, emphasizing the part about him being quiet for once in his life.

"Alright, Eraser. I'll be there soon," Hizashi said before hanging up. I quickly picked up Shiro and put her on my shoulder before quietly leaving my room to check on Shinobu who was now passed out on my couch, her breathing steady and her expression relaxed and peaceful. Seeing that she was okay, I quickly returned to my room, making one more call before Hizashi arrived.

"Ah… Aizawa! I really wasn't expecting a call from you on your day off!" the cheerful and high voice of the Principal of UA greeted kindly.

"Good afternoon, Principal Nezu. I wanted to call you about a potential new staff member for UA…" I stated bluntly, but respectfully.

"Wow! How uncharacteristic of you, Aizawa! Who has caught your eye?" the sable responded, curiosity evident in his voice.

"Yamada Shinobu, hero name: Muffle," I responded, waiting to hear his reaction before I continued.

"Ahhhhh! Now that is a name I have not heard in quite some time! Care to explain your proposal, Aizawa?" he responded, clearly interested now. I took a deep breath before explaining my plan to him.

"Hmmmm… I must say that is an interesting and potentially very beneficial proposal for everyone involved, though a lot more work for you from the sounds of it. However, the decision must ultimately be up to Muffle herself. Be in my office tomorrow at 10am with Muffle and PresentMic as well. Remember, she must agree to this herself or else any and all steps forward that could be made will be for not," Principal Nezu responded after hearing my plan. What did he mean by all of that?...

"Yes, sir. We will all three be there. Thank you, sir," I said respectfully as we said our goodbyes and quickly hung up the phone.

When Hizashi arrived, he took a look at Shinobu who was resting peacefully on the couch and was thankfully silent until we reached my room where we discussed my plan, which he enthusiastically agreed to. Now, it was all up to the silver-haired, green-eyed heroine currently passed out on my couch.

Song: Weak by AJR

A/N:

What does Aizawa, Principal Nezu, and Hizashi have planned for shy little Shinobu? (That will be revealed in the next chapter.)