NeonHorizon: Grayscale. Final name is Tsukihara Nozomi. I mean, she's trying to start over. Yori was a villain. Nozomi is just a sweet manga artist that's afraid of heights.
"Tsukihara Nozomi sounds cool, right?" Hawks stared down at his roommate expectantly. He had spent all day trying to think of a good name and that was, by far, his favorite. Mostly because it just sounded like the name of a manga artist. Not to mention that the other names just failed to flow as smoothly.
The ex-villain lifted her gaze from the sketchbook, raising an eyebrow. "Hm? The characters all have names already."
He saw her push up her glasses with one finger as her tails twitched in irritation beside her. After living together for a few weeks and watching her like a hawk, he was becoming pretty good at reading her moods and what certain movements of her tails meant. Like how they twirled around each other when she was super flustered. Or how they swatted against the couch or wall when she was frustrated. He was starting to really enjoy having a roommate.
Hawks held up the plastic shopping bag and shook it a little, grinning. "I meant for you. You need an alias for your new identity."
"What are you chirping on about?" She winced, as if regretting her choice of words. The pale-haired girl looked away when he leaned down closer.
"Well, you can't submit a manuscript as "Grayscale" or whatever your name was. You need a new name. And a new look~" He shook the bag again and nodded toward the bathroom. "Meet me in there in a few minutes."
The hero stripped off his jacket as he walked to his room and tossed it onto the bed, beginning to unbuckle his belt with his back to the open doorway. His wings rustled softly as he moved and when he had put on some comfortable clothes, he grabbed one of his old shirts and carried it with him to the bathroom. All the while, a big smile was in place on his mouth.
It would be an understatement to say that Hawks had been excited about this. It had been on his mind all day and it took all of his self-control to not hurry home to start early. What was her name though? He rubbed at his chin while he waited for her to put on the old shirt, standing outside of the bathroom. Yuri? Yuki? Miyuki? Mayumi? Was it Yumi?
When she opened the door, she looked irritated. As if she would rather be working on her manga than doing whatever it was that Hawks had planned. To be fair, he had yet to actually explain himself to her. "So what are we-? Hey!" She snarled when he pulled her glasses off and her tails swished back and forth. "I need those," she grumbled.
"You're fine!" He saw her lift a hand toward her neck and quickly caught her wrist with his free hand. "None of that, okay?" He kept his tone gentle, but firm when he said this. The hero leaned in closer so she could see the stern look on his face. "Okay?"
"Tch." She lowered her hand and he released her wrist. "So…you said something about a new identity? What exactly are you thinking?"
His expression brightened again and he held up the plastic bag from before, his wings flapping once in his excitement. "Ta-da! I got a box of hair dye and some sunglass clips for your glasses."
Her eyes narrowed slightly and she crossed her arms. "What kind of birdbrained scheme…?" she murmured.
"Hey. I was really excited about this," he half-pouted. "I'm not letting you dampen my feathers. Look, if we color your hair, we can go out." He saw her tails sway a bit with excitement. "You know, it'd be fun to go out for dinner, right? How about this? You let me do your hair and I'll take you out for dinner tonight."
Shift P.O.V
I don't understand him. I really don't. Yori sighed, running her fingers through her snow-white hair and deciding that it might not be so bad. She had colored her hair before with temporary color spray; this was just more permanent. If I let him do this, I can start going outside. I won't be stuck in here all the time.
She attempted a half-smile, but it inadvertently looked kind of menacing. "I guess…just call me "Nozomi"."
Hawks grinned so brightly that it made her wince. "Alright. So I should probably read the instructions first…"
New identity…Now that Hawks had brought up changing her appearance and name, it felt more real than before. Like redemption was actually within her grasp. As if she might really be able to recover from her past and start over.
Hawks began the process of coloring her hair, the instructions sitting crumpled up on the edge of the bathroom sink. It was pretty clear that he was having fun with this. "We can go out more now. So that's pretty cool. What do you want to do the most, Nozomi-chan?"
Nozomi…She bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged. "I guess, maybe, it would be cool to go to a book store. I want to get some manga to read."
His reflection grinned behind hers in the mirror. "Oh yeah! You probably need some research material, right? We can go to a book store on Sunday." The hero finished adding the color and leaned back against the wall, planning to wait with her while it set. "I have to work pretty much every day this week." This was said in a slightly frustrated way and his eyes narrowed a bit.
She was anxious to leave the apartment, but also fearful. It had been weeks since she was last outside. The thought of going out there and potentially crossing paths with a hero or, worse yet, a member of the League of Villains, made her stomach twist in knots. A hero would take her to prison. She had no idea how the League of Villains would react to finding her; it could be good or bad.
Needless to say, she stayed close to his side when they went out. With her new hair color, she did look pretty different. White-haired ex-villain Yori was gone and replaced by blonde manga artist Nozomi. She mouthed the name as she walked alongside him out of the building.
Hawks gripped her hand tightly, smiling now that they were out in the open. There was a certain mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he looked up at the starry night sky. "So what do you think? Want to get some yakitori? I know a good place."
Always yakitori. But…at least he seems pretty happy. She shrugged, wanting to play cool despite her absolute unease at being out in the open. "Yakitori sounds good," she agreed. If she had been looking up from the sidewalk, she would have seen the way he grinned. She might even have had time to back away quickly.
Since she was looking down, she was taken completely by surprise when Hawks scooped her up in his arms. Both of her arms wrapped around his neck, clinging tightly as he abruptly became airborne. As soon as she felt the rush of air blowing through her hair, she began to tremble.
Few things could terrify her the way that heights could. As a villain, she was able to avoid situations where she had to be too far off the ground. It had never really been a problem until she met Hawks. Now he was the only thing between her and a horrific, death-dealing impact with the street far below them.
The hero's grin only grew as he felt her arms tighten around him, her face burying in the space between his neck and shoulder. "Hey, it's fine, Nozomi-chan. Look! You're missing the view from up here; it's awesome!"
"P…put me down…" she mumbled, heart racing and tears swiftly forming in her eyes. "Put me down, put me down, put me down! I can't…stand it…being up this high! I hate it! I don't want to die! Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!"
He felt her start to thrash and tightened his hold on her. "Nozomi-chan, calm down! You're going to make me drop you!"
"Put me down, put me down, put me down!" Panicky, high-pitched wheezing could be heard coming from beside his ear as her thoughts filled with the terrible sight below her.
Hawks, wanting to just get them to where he planned to take her for dinner, began flying forward instead of continuing to hover. He could feel her still squirming in his arms, but refused to loosen his hold. On one hand, he knew that her fear was perfectly rational. On the other hand, he wanted her to get over her fear so they could go out more. It was just easier for him to fly with her instead of trying to navigate the sidewalks while keeping her face hidden.
"I…I'm so…scared…I don't even know what to say…" She could feel her tears sliding down her cheeks and dotting the hero's jacket. Her nails were digging into the back of his jacket, doubtlessly leaving marks.
In her panic, she lost control of her tails. In his haste to get dinner, Hawks had failed to wear any sort of protective gear. When her tails wrapped around his left leg, he had only a brief second to even notice before her stingers pierced the fabric of his pants and into his flesh. Hawks jolted at the sensation, his vision quickly going blurry and colorless as his heart carried her venom through his veins.
His moment of panic, his abrupt jolt of alarm, had caused his hold on her to slip. Hawks blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision as he saw her plummeting toward the ground far below. She stared up at him, the wind blowing through her hair wildly as she sped downward toward the concrete. Her lips parted, issuing a horrific scream as she fell.
He started after her, hands reaching for her frantically to try to stop her descent. His vision was still blurry, but he saw the look of utter despair on her pale face and it, in turn, brought on his own despair. She waved her arms, trying to grab for him, but he was too far away. The ground was coming toward her fast.
Shift P.O.V
The past few nights, he had begun to patrol in different areas. Since the usual area turned up no new sightings, it only made sense to try to move on. Though he had a nagging feeling that she would emerge again now that he had stopped searching in that neighborhood.
Aizawa rubbed at his eyes, grimacing to himself. He was beyond tired and considered calling it a night early. If he did, he might actually get a decent amount of sleep for the night and possibly even function like a normal person the next day. I can't give up, he thought with a grumble. It would be the one night she went out.
He looked down over the edge of the building, watching passerby and scanning for a woman in her mid-twenties. A woman with long, straight pale hair. A woman with glasses and two tails, with stingers. It was extremely unlikely that he would cross paths with her that night. It would have to be fate for that to happen.
A hoarse scream was heard off to his right and Aizawa moved on pure instinct. His capture weapon wrapped around the nearest light post and he was soon swinging through the air to catch the damsel that was hurtling toward the concrete. An arm wrapped around the slender young woman to hold her steady as he found a safe place to set her down, but she had both arms tightly wrapped around his neck already.
She was sobbing, trembling, clinging to him even after he had set them both down on solid ground. It should have felt awkward to have a complete stranger hold him and cry. A blonde stranger, wearing a men's jacket with slits in the back. A blonde stranger that had a pair of white tails that were tipped with curved, black stingers.
His eyes widened when he saw this and both hands gripped her shoulders to pry her away from him. Long, messy locks of blonde hair were falling over her pale face and glasses, but Aizawa knew those sharp amber eyes anywhere. His pulse skipped a beat as he stared down at her.
She seemed to take a moment to register who he was, still coming out of the shock of nearly dying. When she realized who he was and that this was not a dream, she took a step back and flushed bright red. "…Sh-Shouta…?!"
"Where have you been?! Do you have any idea how long I looked for you? Why is this the way I have to find you again? Just what do you think you're doing?" he began scolding her.
When he finished his rant, she bowed her head and pushed up her glasses. "I…it's…complicated," she mumbled.
"In what way?" he demanded through gritted teeth. The man's grip on her shoulders tightened and he pulled her forward sharply. She stumbled forward, falling against his chest, and he slid his arms around her before she could put distance between them again.
Not knowing if there were villains nearby, he decided that he had to get her away from the area as soon as possible. That was when he heard the flapping of wings. His arms tightened around her as the winged hero landed a little ways down the sidewalk. Aizawa's eyes narrowed upon him, not exactly thinking clearly in his extremely sleep-deprived state.
"Hey, Eraserhead. Thanks for catching her; she got loose and…" It became apparent that Hawks was aware of the fact that Aizawa had recognized her. He rubbed the back of his neck, half-grinning. "Nozomi-chan and I were on our way to dinner. Why don't we talk about this tomorrow, yeah? I can-"
"She's coming with me. I don't know who you're trying to fool by calling her "Nozomi". I know who she is." Aizawa would know her anywhere. Even now, feeling her trembling against him, he was remembering how he had held her in the past.
"You say that, but…" Hawks pushed his hands into his pockets and took a few steps toward them, head tilting and an eyebrow raising. "How're you going to explain it to people? She's a wanted villain." He paused a few steps away from them, holding out a hand toward the woman. "I'm rehabilitating her so I have to keep an eye on her. Why don't we talk about this tomorrow, Eraserhead?"