Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope you are all having a wonderful winter break! I happened to have some down time, so I thought I would post this today. I will get chapter 13 out soon, because I am half way done (plane flights give a great required spot to write). Let me know what you think of this chapter. I love all your thoughts and opinions. Remember to tell your loved one that you love them!

Traditional Twist

Chapter 12

Bakugou was too tired for this shit. He also was too tired to think anything through. Sora was a smart kid. She knew when her brother was upset. Why else would it be Bakugou who came up to trade with Shoji? Bakugou didn't want to explain because he didn't really know. After much prodding, Bakugou became infuriated.

Telling a seven-year-old that her brother "was crying like a bitch" wasn't what he meant to say but it was what came out of his mouth. He immediately regretted it. Sora began to cry herself, climbed up Bakugou's lap. The blonde did the only reasonable thing he could think of; spark his hand and lite Sora on fire.

The small girl turned to ash, and ash she stayed. Bakugou stared at his lap. Any second, Pipsqueak would pop back up, right? His lap was filled its dust. Thoughts began to run through his head. What would happen if he spilt some of her? Is she supposed to be able to Ashes this long? If dust gets mixed with her, will she come back changed or disfigured?

So, there he sat, until Tokoyami opened the door to the room. "It's about Goddamn time!"

"I apologize." Tokoyami looked at Bakugou's lap to see the mountain of ash. "How long has she been like that?"

"Twenty minutes? I don't know it feels like fucking forever!" Bakugou growled. "I didn't do anything I had t done before!"

Tokoyami shook his head. "Sora! Enough of this. You can just stay in ashes because you are upset."

"SO, SHE IS DOING THIS ON PURPOSE!" Bakugou yelled!

"She is throwing a tantrum," Tokoyami explained. "Sora, something big has happened and I need to talk to you about it."

The ashes remained on Bakugou's lap. "I just want to go to sleep!" He yelled.

Tokoyami sighed. "Fine. I'm just going to tell you. And if you are not back to yourself after I explain, Bakugou's going to brush you off. You may be shorter when you come back if not all your ash is there."

A light glow started from the Ashes, but it stopped and remained its grey shell.

"The teachers were talking to me. They think that if I fill out a law case, that I can get mom and dad to not be our parents anymore. That means we'd move, have to possibly change our names, and it may be a really tough law case."

Bakugou's eyebrows arched with surprise. No wonder Tokoyami had been a mess. That's a lot of pressure for one person to deal with.

Tokoyami continued his explanation. "Hawks, the hero I'm training under, he says he is willing to adopt us." Tokoyami sighed, taking a moment to collect himself. "I honestly don't know how to feel about this entire situation. I don't like making a decision like this either. It is going to impact us both. I want to talk to you more."

"Shit, is that why you were crying?" Bakugou asked.

Tokoyami nodded. The ashes in Bakugou's lap began to glow. Sora emerged from the ashes. "Fumi?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"Your serious?"

"I am."

She hopped off Bakugou's lap made her way her brother. Her arms reached up and Tokoyami bent down to lift her into a tight embrace. "If we lived with Hawks, would we get to see mom and dad again?"

"I don't know," Tokoyami answered.

Sora paused. Though the room was silent it was not still. A moment passed before Sora spoke again. "Will mom and dad hate us?"

"I don't know."

She squeezed Tokoyami harder. There was an even longer moment of silence. "What happens if you try and it doesn't work?" Sora's eyes glossed over. Her voice was small and frail.

"I'm not sure," said Tokoyami shakily. "This is why I want us to talk about this."

As Sora wrapped her arms around Tokoyami's neck, Bakugou finally stood from the bed. He didn't want to learn more than he had. He walked out of the room, closing the door most of the way and heading to his own room to sleep.

Tokoyami sat down on the bed. He pulled Sora from his neck setting her beside him. He wiped a few anxious tears from his sister's face. "Sora, I don't want you to be upset, but I think you should have a fair day in this as well. I don't like that this option was just thrown at us."

"How else could we have presented this to you?" A voice from the doorway spoke.

Hawks gently pushed the room door open, walking into his pupil's room. "I hope it is alright that I'm just coming in. You really should work on keeping your door closed all the way."

"I suppose knocking would take up too much time," Tokoyami said in a snide remark. "Though you did choose to listen in."

"Aren't parents supposed to be all up in their kids' business?" Hawks replied with a smirk.

"Are you here just to annoy?" Tokoyami asked.

"Kid, I'm here to check on you. You kind of ran out of the conference room. It's understandable. That wasn't the best presentation." Hawks laughed. "Who hands a teen a bullet point hand out?"

Tokoyami didn't respond. He simply looked and the ground. He was too ashamed to look at Hawks. Sora noticed her brother's reaction to the man. She didn't look at Hawks either.

Hawks felt the cold shoulder from both teens. "Come on. I'm not that bad, right?"

"Is Hawks bad?" Sora asked Tokoyami.

"No, Hawks is not bad," Tokoyami said looked up at his mentor.

"Then what is with the cold shoulder?"

Tokoyami Sighed. Dark Shadow peered from the teens back. "Previous court experiences were not so fun."

"Pervious?" Hawks questioned. He thought for a moment. "You mean… with your grandmother?"

"The report of sexual abuse caused a large rift with in my family," Tokoyami admitted. "My mother was a wreck, and my father was more furious than I have ever seen him. Then when my grandmother returned, it was even worse."

Hawks hummed. "So, you fear this will happen again?"

"My grandmother was arrested and still returned home." Tokoyami looked up at the pro hero. "Even if the I were to file all the case, how am I supposed to trust that the court would work in my favor?"

Hawks' cool composure left his face. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… I, uh."

"If the court doesn't like Fumi, Dad and Grandma will be really mad." Sora wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Look, you need to trust that U.A. isn't going to push you in a path that they won't be able to help you with," said Hawks. "I'll be filing my own papers as well. It will be like a joint case or something."

"What is the contingency plan if this doesn't work?" Tokoyami asked.

"Contingency plan?" Hawks blinked.

"If the court doesn't allow this, then what will happen? There is no way I can send Sora back with them. In fact, I can't send Sora back to my family at all, now. Dad isn't there, my mom is wasted, and my grandmother is probably the only one who noticed she was gone." As Tokoyami talked, Sora dug her hair into her brother's side. Tokoyami wrapped his arm around the small girl and stroked her feathers. "If I'm not there to protect her, then they will retaliate."

Hawks ran his hand through his hair. "What do you want me to say, Tokoyami? I can't make the court say yes. I can tell you there is a large probability if this won't move past the conciliation portion because we have data proving neglect. It wouldn't make sense for a judge to agree for you to go back with either parent. What can I do to prove this to you?"

Silence fell as Tokoyami took the time to think. "It shouldn't it be my lone decision. Sora will be impacted by this as well."

Hawks nodded. "Okay. So..."

"Sora needs to spend time with you before deciding if you would be a good guardian for us."

Hawk clapped his hands together. "Done."

"If she doesn't feel comfortable, then we need another solution," Tokoyami declared. "Including the idea that I drop out of school to make sure Sora is safe at home."

Hawks raised an eyebrow. He could see now how serious Tokoyami was on making sure Sora was safe. He would give up being a hero just to protect her. It was stupid, but honorable.

"And if she does feel comfortable, you will file the case," said Hawks. Tokoyami nodded in agreement. Hawks smiled. "Then it's a deal."

Sora poked her head up. "Would you come too, Fumi?"

"No," Tokoyami shook his head. "You need to get your opinion without me there. You can trust Hawks."

Hawks knelt beside Sora. "Don't worry my little red. I look after my birds. We've already had some alone time together."

Sora pushed off Tokoyami and dropped to the floor. She stepped up to Hawks, and in swift movement, wrapped her arms around Hawks' neck in an embrace. "Please don't let anything worse happen. I don't like worrying Fumi."

Hawks smiled, and gently wrapped his arms around her. "I'll take care of you two, don't worry." He looked up at Tokoyami. The teen had a worried look on his face. "I really will. How is tomorrow for the whole day?"

"That soon?" Tokoyami was shocked. "Shouldn't it get approved by Aizawa "

"I'll take care of that," Hawks said with a wave of his hand. He removed Sora from his neck and bopped the end of her beak. "And you, my little red bird, should get some sleep so we can have an exciting day."

"Okay," she squeaked.

Hawks Saluted two children and left the room. Tokoyami made sure to lock the door as he left. He then turned out the lights and crawled on the bed with his sister, falling asleep faster than he had any other night.

Sora woke up and the room was still dark. She looked at the clock to see that it was three in the morning. She turned her head toward her brother, who was lost in a deep sleep. She sighed. Sora needed to use the bathroom.

The small girl could have woken her brother up. He would have gladly walked her down to the bathroom, but as much as he tried to hide it, Sora knew when her brother was stressed. She didn't like causing him trouble. So as carefully and quietly as possible, Sora pulled herself out from Tokoyami's grip and crawled out of the bed. She tiptoed to the door and out into the hallway.

Once the bedroom door was closed, Sora realized how big the dormitory really was. The hallways were long, dark and narrow. She gulped as she ventured towards the elevator. Pressing the button was a tad challenging, but on her tippy toes, she managed to open the doors and send herself to the main floor.

She exhaled as she stepped out of the elevator. She didn't remember this floor being so dark. Where is she supposed to go? Sora hesitantly glanced down each side before choosing a direction. If she kept walking, she would find the bathroom, right?

Ten minutes may not seem like much time to an adult, but to a young girl who just wanted to find the bathroom, it was an eternity. Her eyes began to water. Sora didn't know where she was. Suddenly she bumped into something, it was hard yet warm. She fell the ground and began to sniffle, wiping at her eyes with her hands.

"Woah! Hey there! Didn't see you." A bright cheerful voice said. The hall light turned to on review that Sora had run into the leg of Kirishima.

Sora stared at the red-haired teen. Could he be trusted. He was Bakugou's friend. "I'm sorry."

Kirishima squatted in front Of Sora. He flashed his sharp and pointy teeth at her. "It's no big deal. I was just coming down to get something to eat. Extra weight lifting is kicking my butt." He laughed before reaching a hand to the girl. "What are you doing down here?"

"I was looking for the bathroom," Sora whispered. She grabbed Kirishima's hand and stood up with him.

"Good news! We're both heading in the same direction. Why don't I show you where we are heading and then, if you want, you can join me for a snack. You like beef, right?"

Sora nodded, and Kirishima quickly lead her to the bathrooms. Sora emerged from the restroom and walked over to Kirishima. He had warmed up some fried noodles with beef in a pan, and he split the portions onto two plates.

"Here you go," Kirishima said handing the girl the plate. He walked over to the couch and took a seat. Sora followed, accepting assistance when she couldn't quite climb up on the cushion with the plate in her hand. Finally, comfortable she carefully navigated the noodles and beef into her mouth.

Sora's eyes lit up. "Yummy!"

"I know, right!" Kirishima spoke with a mouth full. "Bakugou cooks this like once a week and he usually have leftovers for the week. Whenever I'm hungry, I sneak down and eat some."

"Bakugou made this?" Sora asked.

"Yep."

"Wow! He really is a much better person than dad."

"Why is that?"

"Dad says cooking is a woman's job. Whoever his girlfriend is usually has to make food if the spend the night." She looked up at Kirishima. "That's not normal, is it?"

"Well, uhm," Kirishima quickly filled his mouth to stall for thought. It didn't fool Sora.

"It's okay if you don't want tell me. That usually means it's not normal." Sora sighed. "That's what all the teachers normally do."

Kirishima swallowed with a large gulp. "That's not very manly of your teachers. I don't really know how to respond. Bakugou is honestly just great at everything. Comparing him to anything or anyone is a really hard thing. The truth is Bakugou is usually better than most people at everything, so he's not the best standard of normal."

Sora nodded. "I really like Bakugou. He's like a second Fumi."

Kirishima laughed. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Do you like Bakugou?" Sora asked.

Kirishima's face flushed at the question. "Well... umm… of course. Bakugou is the manliest dude I know! He's also one of the most passionate." Kirishima hopped up into a manly pose. His fists were closed and punched the air as he talked. "He is going to be one of the best heroes out there. You can tell! I hope to be right there with him."

Sora hummed with agency. The finished eating and Kirishima took care of the dishes. "Let's get you back to bed, okay?"

Sora nodded. "I'm starting to see why Fumo likes it here."

"Oh?" Kirishima hit the elevator call button. "And why is that?"

"Everyone is just nice."

Kirishima smiled. "That's part of being a hero kiddo." The elevator doors closed and the two head upstairs for bed.