Chapter Thirty-Seven

~Shina's POV~

Shina hadn't been expecting to do anything after Parent's Day except pack a light bag. Of course, then she remembered just who she was going to be visiting and that plan was scrapped as she figured if she was going to be crashing at her grandmother's place for a while, she may as well pick up some gifts for her grandmother. It wouldn't be enough to make up for not visiting more but with 'work' and what the past year had put them through, her grandmother would understand. She hoped anyway.

Despite being an avid online shopper Shina resolved to brave the masses and shop in stores for her grandmother. This decision hadn't been made lightly as Shina had gone back and forth a few times before the inevitable conclusion was reached. Anything she ordered online wouldn't arrive until later so that left her with the one option. Shina travelled from one store to the other looking for unique mugs, blankets, jackets and stationary supplies.

It wasn't until an hour later when Shina was in a sweets store that she felt something tapping her shoulder. When Shina turned around she didn't see anyone there. Her other side didn't reveal anyone hiding there so Shina shrugged and moved onto another display case. This one was decorated with chocolates in all sizes and shapes with boxes higher up on the shelves if someone wanted more than the table minis. The shelves had mirrors inlaid in them making the store look brighter and bigger. It also gave Shina a good view of the red feather hovering over her shoulder.

Shina tilted her head as she watched the feather tap on her shoulder again. She slowly turned to look over her shoulder, but the feather had hidden quickly. This let Shina know that Hawks was somewhere in the vicinity, and he was watching her. Shina turned in a circle, slowly eyeing everything before she decided to stop him messing with her by returning to her browsing. The feather had popped back into her reflected view once she had turned around.

She put her shopping bags down, safe on the floor and pretended to reach for one of the larger boxes on the higher shelves. She had easy access to move now and before the feather could tap her again, Shina quickly turned around and slapped the feather down to her shoulder. It wiggled under her palm as she carefully but firmly grabbed the feather and brought it to her eye level. Since she'd managed to catch it she guessed Hawks was going easy on her. She'd fought his feathers and knew they could move so much faster. Guess he was taking it easy on her civilian reflexes. Shina blew cool air onto it the feather making it vibrate before it went lax in her hand. Shina allowed a small smile to cross her face as she put the feather in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

She found the number easily and dialed it. The phone rang once before Hawks voice came on.

'To what do I owe this phone call?'

"Even in public you continue to be a menace to me." Shina huffed as she bent to get her shopping bags. "Do you know how hard it is to carry six bags and have a feather poking at me?"

'Aw is the baby overwhelmed by my presence?' Shina rolled her eyes as she turned to the large windows that showed the entire city outside. Shina looked up at the buildings. It took her a second to see the familiar birdman lounging on top of the building.

"Not really. Your presence was too small for me to see until now. May want to fix that." Shina's dry tone made more of an impact as she heard the quiet chuckle.

'Ouch, cutting me deeper every time.' Shina stuck her tongue out at him before she turned back to the store.

"And yet you keep coming back. You a masochist?" Shina asked as she caught the store attendants eyes.

'Possibly.' Shina snorted.

"That explains so much." Shina switch to the woman. "Can I get two of the boxes please?"

"Yes miss." The woman nodded.

"Thank you."

'Two boxes of sweets? Are we finally gonna have a movie date? Cause I have some suggestions.' Shina sighed at the dramatics.

"Its for my grandma. I'm going to America for the next few days for some personal stuff and I figured I'd try to bribe her into thinking I'm still the favorite grandchild."

'Aw that's nice. You're sweet. If it's any consolation you're my favorite person in the world.' Hawks voice dipped low, making Shina freeze for half a second as she grabbed her credit card. Her mental walls slammed down a second layer making her suspicious.

"You can't have any sweets." Shina stated in an amused voice. She swiped her card and the woman smiled.

"Thank you come again!"

'But it's candy! And you gotta share candy!' Shina waved as she exited the store quickly, getting back into the sunlight that gave a jolt of energy.

"I don't think so. Besides I haven't heard from you in a few weeks. Thought you would have forgotten my civilian self." Well that was true, she hadn't heard from him since the Faery Godmother incident with Sunfire and the UA kids. Hm, best not bring up those memories.

'As if it would be easy to forget you. I have a free evening, what say we share an early dinner?'

"I'm pretty sure I said I didn't want to date." Shina looked up at the rooftop. She couldn't help the smile as she saw Hawks wings flap. Apparently a few other 'fans' saw Hawks too as they started to call out.

"Hawks!"

"It's Hawks!"

"Where?"

"Besides, I wouldn't want your fans to be getting the wrong idea." Shina stated as she turned away from the growing crowd.

'Hey!' Hawks call could be heard without the phone as the fans behind Shina grew louder. 'You know it would be just as friends.'

"I know this." Shina stated as she turned into a perfume store. Her grandmother loved the expensive stuff despite telling Shina to just get her the cheap kind. "But your fans don't and I'm not willing to end up in the tabloids as your potential 'lover' or worse, 'gold-digger'. They're not very kind about these kinds of things."

'You read those?' Hawks amused voice alerted Shina to the fact that she may have just told him something she hadn't intended to. Shina slowed her perusing to go back over what she'd just said but she wasn't sure what could have caught his attention.

"You know I do read magazines from time to time. The last one was about the uh, fire or light Villainess you arrested who got away for the second time. She got nothing but nasty comments for what did it say? 'Daring to injure the angel among the masses'?" Shina snorted. "No offense but I don't need or want that bad press. My board of directors would never let me live it down."

'Well, you're hardly a villainess. And she's a thief, not a villain.' Shina caught onto the wording.

"Hmm." Shina hummed as she continued to look through the perfumes. "I apologize, I didn't mean to insult her reputation. I had no idea it was serious between you two."

'Ha ha very funny.' Shina chuckled at the deadpan tone. 'What if I promised you a private date? Away from the paparazzi and any of my fans?'

"That's a pretty tall order there, bucko." Shina stated. "I'm a bit curious on how you're going to get me somewhere private. I don't like heights."

'You like being difficult don't you?' Hawks sighed.

"I'm not going to lie, it is pretty fun." Shina smiled. She picked up a random perfume, took a sniff and immediately started to sneeze. "Ugh, no definitely not." She put the perfume down.

'That was a bit dramatic wasn't it?' Shina looked around the store before she shrugged and headed for the exit. She wasn't going to find anything here.

"Maybe but I didn't like the look of it before I grabbed it." Shina muttered. "Should have gone with my intuition about it."

'… Why won't you agree to one date?' Shina came to a stop as she stared directly ahead. 'I can promise I'll be a perfect gentleman. Yuto can vouch for me.' If anything, Shina herself could vouch for Hawks. Granted there was that one time he'd accidentally shoved her off a building which resulted in bruised ribs but that was something she also considered her own fault as she'd always told the kids to be aware of their surroundings and look where that had landed her. But that was another tangent altogether. They did have good chemistry when it came to wordplay but that was just in her opinion because she didn't have to be with him 24/7 like she did with the LOV. Would they still have that chemistry in person? Probably. The issue was, Sunfire and Shina weren't all that different, what if Hawks realized it himself?

There was too much about this that she didn't like. So instead of agreeing or denying Shina paused as she slowly asked,

"Can I ask you to be honest with me about something?" She didn't give him a chance to make up some deflecting response. "We've only met once. Granted it was a very memorable meeting because of the villains holding us captive, but I'm sure I'm not the first or the last woman to keep you company during a hostage situation. If you even stay long to deal with those, self-proclaimed 'fastest man alive'. So why me?" What had she done to garner his interest? Had she slipped up and he'd somehow managed to connect the dots? Considering all she knew about him; she could honestly expect this being one of the plausible answers. The question was, what had she slipped up on?

'I'll tell you what,' She could hear Hawks shifting before whistling could be heard. She looked up to see him flying away. Probably to a villain who was up to no good. 'If you say yes to a date, I'll tell you.'

"I thought villains were supposed to be cruel." Shina sighed. Shina looked up at the cloudy sunset as she weighed the consequences. In the end her curiosity was too damn high for her to refuse. "Alright. One date. But only after I get back."

'When will you be back?' She could hear the amusement in his voice at her agreement. Shina grumbled under her breath.

"Probably in a week."

'Oh to go so long without you.' Shina rolled her eyes.

"You'll live KFC." Shina ended the call as Hawks laughed. She refused to think about what she'd just agreed to as she turned and headed for the car.

When Shina had arrived back to the Ugly House Claude was outside. Shina had barely parked when he opened her door for her.

"You know I can open the door."

"Yes miss I know." Claude responded curtly. "But your associate Shigaraki has asked for you a multitude of times since you dropped off Kira and Kai earlier." Shina grumpily groaned.

"I have a phone he can text me."

"Yes I was under that understanding as well." Claude stated simply. Shina practically melted out of the driver seat and onto the gravel driveway.

"Fine. Fine, it's fine." Shina snapped before she looked at Claude. "I apologize for my outburst. Please take the bags to the airfield. I need to take these for my grandmother in the morning."

"Your apology is under review." Shina sighed. She suspected that was as good as it would be from him. Claude drove off as Shina hopped onto the porch. She hesitated before she opened the front door. The inside hall and beyond were empty of people which meant that everyone was either in their own rooms or out doing something. Shina looked in the dining room before going to the living room for Shigaraki. He wasn't there so Shina figured she may as well check her office before she headed upstairs to see if he was in his room sulking.

Shina pushed her door open not turning on any lights as her own body started to shine, allowing her to see in her almost dark office. It was lit by the desk lamp that was on and currently shone on Shigaraki who was crouched on her desk chair like L from Death Note.

"You know if you start talking about 'my precious' I'm going to start calling you Smeagol." Shina stated as she slumped into the cushy chair opposite her desk.

"I expected you back sooner." His tone wasn't the usual annoyed or irritated tone which set her on alert. A calm Shigaraki was a dangerous Shigaraki. She could handle the irritable or annoyed Shigaraki, but the calm Shigaraki almost scared her.

"Yes but as I told you earlier, I'm going to be going to America for the next few days to deliberate on a situation concerning family drama."

"You'll be taking Yoshi and the baby." He stated. Shina nodded. "Kira and Kai will remain."

"Is there a question here?" Shina asked wanting him to get to the point. "I know I told you all this earlier today. Are you just verifying everything?" Shigaraki clicked his tongue at her.

"I know I have your loyalty Shina. But what concerns me is your 'family' loyalty." Shigaraki hissed. "I don't like it. It's a link tethering you from going full villain." Shina frowned.

"And as I've told you before I'm not a villain. I'm a thief. I'm not understanding why you keep insisting on me turning against my morals."

"'Morals', 'ethics'… these are the same things that the heroes like to call their excuse to avoid certain truths." Shigaraki's red eyes seemed to glint in the lamp light. "Yes you say you're only a thief, but my concern is what's stopping you from turning against me if you still have these 'morals' and 'ethics'? "

"Money." Shina stated bluntly. "Blackmail. Survival instincts. Pick one, they're all true."

"I don't think so." Shigaraki stated. "You spend a lot of your time running to do the League's bidding. When you're not doing the League's bidding you're with your kids. Living here with you, I've seen the way you weasel out of certain things. I also see that you've taught your children this skill as well. So forgive me, or don't, for having second thoughts about allowing you to leave for a few days." So that was it Shina mused. He wasn't keen on her leaving after all.

"As long as my kids are here in Japan I will come back." Shina stated. "I would think you of all people would see the sense in that."

"Hmm... very true. But then I have to also think about the fact that one of your kids is able to teleport anywhere she wishes."

"Kana knows her mission as do her siblings." Shina snapped harshly. "As do I."

"Then you won't have any arguments about allowing Dabi to come with you." Shina blinked, caught off guard at that. Shina spent several moments blinking and trying to wrap her head around that before she blurted out,

"I'm sorry did you just say Dabi is coming to America with me?"

"Yes." Shina wondered how Shigaraki had managed to do that. "It's curious isn't it? The level of unease having you leave can do. Even Dabi can see the sense in making sure you return." Shina raised her hand to raise her finger before thinking better of it and just rubbed her head.

"I don't fully believe that and I don't want to know what you bribed him with. All I want to know is why Dabi?" Shina looked at Shigaraki. "I'm going home to a culture where only family is allowed because it's a family affair. I can get away with Yoshi and Kaito being my adopted kids because I have the paperwork for that. But Dabi? I can't claim to have adopted him."

"So call him a cousin." Shigaraki stated. Shina snorted.

"Yes because we look alike!" The thick sarcasm was more than Shina would ever allow around Shigaraki but in this instance she felt it was required. There's no way her grandmother or even her extended cousins would ever believe Dabi was related to them. Maybe if she'd had her original hair… no, no one would buy it. She could say he was from her grandfather's side but she didn't know that much about them to lie to her grandmother like that. Not that it would work anyway, being related through her grandfather still wouldn't warrant Dabi being able to intrude on their affairs. "Why Dabi?" Shina groaned.

"And here I thought you'd be happy to get me out of the dark castle." Dabi's growl came from behind Shina making her let out a mirthless chuckle.

"Oh, this is fantastic." Shina muttered. She really, really, really hoped her Hero grandmother would buy the story that Dabi was a bodyguard at the very least. She hated lying already, but to lie to her grandmother, good gods. She felt like she was about to commit treason.

~Kira's POV~

Kira was busy lounging on Shina's Queen bed scrolling through random TikTok's when Shina came in the room muttering under her breathe in Russian.

"Can't believe that ashy, chapped, eczema riddled scarecrow did this. Just because I'm going to be going out of town for a few days. What the hell have I done to make him doubt me? Nothing. Can't believe he- urgh!" Shina flopped onto the bed beside Kira. "Either he's a mind reader or there's a mole in my facade. I don't believe for one second he'd be able to see through me."

"You don't lie very often but when you do it's pretty obvious." Kira murmured.

"And that's why I don't lie." Shina cried out. "And hey, I do too lie. Quite well in fact."

"Not going to get into that. What's going on?" Kira asked in Russian.

"Dabi is going to America with me." Kira hummed as she swiped to the next video.

"That's unfortunate."

"He's going to meet my grandmother." Shina moaned. "My grandmother isn't a killjoy but if I come home with two kids and a guy… Even she's bound to get suspicious about my life."

"Why would she be suspicious?" Kira asked. "She knows you guys are thieves doesn't she?"

"No, she doesn't." Shina sighed. "Considering we don't live with her, I've found that its best to keep my 'job' a secret from her. She may suspect something, but I haven't outright told her."

"Why?" Kira asked as she put her phone down. "Again, you're not typically a liar so why are you lying about this?" Shina had her hands over her eyes as she responded.

"My grandmother is a Hero. The less she knows about her international grandkids thieving ways, the better." Kira's brain clicked as she realized why Shina was stressing about this. Still, she wasn't exactly sure why Shina was acting like this was the end of the world.

"So just don't tell her."

"I can't exactly not tell her." Shina stressed. "I'm going to be living with her for the next few days, granted it's only a visit but my grandmother will notice something is up especially if I waltz in there with Dabi." Kira sat up, cross legged as she assessed Shina's form. She was tense and back to muttering under her breath. "Nothing against Dabi but my grandmother is a feisty, strict 68-year-old woman. I can't go home with Kaito, Yoshi and Dabi in tow!"

"Not to be mean or anything, but I'm very glad I'm not you right now." Kira stated. Shina held up one hand to glare at Kira.

"You are so lucky you don't know who your parents are." Kira smiled.

"I know." Shina groaned. "So how are you going to introduce him? Your bodyguard? Your boyfriend? Cause honestly if you walked into the base with Kaito and Yoshi in tow with Dabi, I'd honestly think you and Dabi were a thing. Hell, I probably wouldn't have even looked twice at your little family." Shina sat up, grabbed a pillow, and slammed her face into it before she let out a muffled scream. "There, there." Kira reached out and patted Shina's head when she'd stopped screaming.

"I'm screwed." Shina whimpered.

"Well, the best thing you can do now would be to prepare Dabi." Kira stated as she laid back down and started to scroll through TikTok again.

"Do I have to?" Kira shrugged.

"Not if you don't want your grandma to kill you." Kira stated. Shina groaned before she got up. Kira glanced at her as she seemed to simply stand there, her eyes unfocused before she knelt back down against her bed.

"I can't do it." Shina groaned. Kira sighed as she got up from her bed.

"Good luck on not dying." Shina groaned again as Kira left her bedroom. Kira walked to the staircase, slowly descending it before she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Shina. Kira continued walking as she saw her intended target coming up the stairs. The glare on his face wasn't enough to deter her as she called out, "Dabi, Shina needs to talk to you about your trip."

"Hn." Kira continued past him when he paused on the 2nd floor.

"She's in her room. I suggest you listen to what she has to tell you. If not for your sake then for hers."

"…" Kira's phone chimed with a text from Shina.

'I'm putting you up for adoption.'

'You need to get it over with. Don't procrastinate.' Kira replied.

~Shina's POV~

The skyrocketing anxiety and adrenaline coursing through Shina was on par with when she was in a fight. She didn't want to have this conversation with Dabi. She didn't EVER want to have this conversation with ANYONE. And yet, here she was.

The knock at her bedroom door had Shina's heart doing a hard thump as a lump formed in her throat. Good gods this was worse than any conversation she'd ever had about the birds and the bees with the kids. Shina forced herself to get off the floor and take calming breaths as she walked to the door. Another knock sounded before Shina opened it. Dabi towered over her as he boredly looked down at her.

"You wanted to talk." Shina nodded.

"Might as well come in." Shina allowed him to enter her room.

"What do you want?" Dabi asked when she closed the door. Shina sighed before she turned to face him standing a few feet away.

"Are you willing to go against Shigaraki and allow me to go to America alone?" Shina asked. This was something she needed to know before she went down this road. Dabi's glare darkened.

"Unfortunately, what the boss wants, the boss gets." Shina nodded as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Fine. I want to know if you'll do me a favor on this trip?"

"You really think I'd do anything for you?" Shina gave him a dull look.

"No I don't. But honestly if we're going to be sleeping in the same room for the next few days we may as well have some guidelines." Dabi frowned.

"Explain."

"The reason I'm going to America is because a group of men decided they wanted a foothold to join my family through marriage. I'm not sure what their motives are but I suspect it's based on greed. Unfortunately, I'm not about to allow that to happen since the marriage proposal is for my charge Kana. She's only 16 and not ready for this. I don't appreciate anyone using my kids as a pawn in their games. My goal is to get this contract broken or at least rescinded. However, to do this, I'm going to need to talk with Kana's father who is in jail for murder."

"Hmm, Kana's back story is getting interesting." Shina rolled her eyes at the observation.

"Only family can see him since he's being held at a prison that abides by independent laws from America. It's going to take me a while to get permission to talk with him. In the meantime, we need to stay with my grandmother who does not know anything about her thieving grandkids or our current job. My favor would be that you refrain from saying anything about this to her." Shina honestly did not know why she was borderline begging Dabi for this when she could have just ordered him to go along with it, but free will had always been something she was adamant about besides telling the truth. Not that that would be present on this mission much.

"…You want me to not spill the beans to your grandmother about your business?" Dabi repeated slowly before a wicked smile crossed his face. "Why would I do that?"

"I figured you wouldn't honestly." Shina stated. "In that event I could always ask for someone else to come along."

"Shigaraki did, I was the only one who stepped up." Shina narrowed her eyes at that information. Shigaraki words played in her mind about Dabi joining her. Trust these idiots to confuse the hell out of her like this. It didn't matter though, Dabi would never tell her something like that so casually, not with what she'd witnessed from him the last few weeks. Either he had his own agenda, or he was going to blackmail her as well. Great.

"Fine, your motives are your own." Shina didn't want to fight on this. If Dabi wouldn't do this favor for her, then she wasn't going to force him. She would just have to suck it up and tell her grandma about the true nature of their job. This was going to hurt.

"You said we're going to share a bedroom, what exactly," Dabi started to move closer, but Shina flashed her eyes at him making him stop four feet away. "Does that mean?"

"Like I said, my homeland is independent from America's government. As such there are, certain things, that we don't have. Mansions and large houses being one of them. My grandmother lives in what would be called an open floor studio apartment. No walls separating her kitchen, bedroom, living room or dining room. The only thing separate is the bathroom."

"How antiquated." Shina shrugged.

"It's how we lived. There is no room in my grandmothers home for all of us, so we'll have to make do with the house next to hers. Yoshi, Kai, you and I will be sleeping in this house." Dabi scoffed. "Well, you could sleep in the truck, but you won't be able to sleep comfortably with the shadows watching your every move. It's… better if you stay in the house with us."

"Fine. Anything else I need to know?" Shina nodded before she grimaced.

"If you won't do me a favor then I suggest you at least get used to the fact that everyone we encounter in my homeland will think we are a couple. They will think Kaito, and Yoshi are our children." Shina scoffed. "Safe to say my homeland is very big on assuming things."

"I had no idea you held such feelings towards me." Dabi mocked. Shina rolled her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong Dabi, I do find you attractive, but I would rather everyone think I'm single than think I'm married." Shina looked out the balcony windows at the moonlight shining in. "Marriage hasn't exactly been kind to me in the past." Not that she'd had a chance to walk down that aisle thankfully. Shina cleared her throat. "I suggest you at least introduce yourself to my grandmother. I don't need her reporting us to the police at the very least."

"She would betray her own kin?" Dabi asked. Shina met his eyes.

"She did once." Uncle Edward had been screaming and yelling when he'd been taken away after my grandmother had called the local police on him. She hadn't wanted anything to do with him for the longest time. Shina wasn't entirely sure when that had changed. "Oh and, don't walk in the dark alone." Shina opened the door to her bedroom indicating that she was done. "I know you have your flames but not everything you encounter will be afraid." Dabi eyed her for a moment longer before he started for the door. He didn't say anything else as he walked to the staircase.

Shina didn't expect him to as she closed her bedroom door.

In the morning Claude had already gotten their breakfast made and the car ready by 7am sharp. Since she'd need to come back from the airfield in a few days Shina had simply figured she was going to leave the car there. No one would come and take it. Shina left Kira and Kai with firm instructions to keep up the rotations to check on the League and do some side jobs for her while she was out of town.

Kaito and Yoshi weren't happy being woken up so early but once they had their apple juice and their technology they both settled down right away. Shina cackled at the fact that Yoshi was as way to appease as a three-year-old toddler. A fact that he didn't appreciate much if the look he gave her was any indication.

The car ride to the airfield the was spent in relative silence. Yoshi and Kaito sat in the backseat while Shina drove. Dabi sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, lightly breathing. Shina had been around enough carsick kids to have an idea of what was going on with him, but she wasn't going to bring it up unless he did. Their conversation from last night still played in her mind, leaving her to wonder if she'd done the best thing in trying to warn him about their destination. She hoped so but the dread in her stomach didn't help to alleviate her fears.

For her part, Shina had been thinking about the visit that she had been looking forward to as a mission that she needed to now get done as fast as she could. There was no way she was going to be able to survive her homeland with Dabi in tow.

'Stick with her Dabi. Make sure she comes back in one piece.' Shigaraki's order still rang in her ears after their meeting last night. Honestly, the thought that she needed a guide to return to Japan was laughable.

About ten minutes later Shina came to a stop at the airfield. The private jet was ready and waiting. Two of the flight attendants were waiting patiently as they exited the vehicle.

"Good to see you again miss." The pretty brunette known as Mei smiled. Shina returned the smile.

"Nice to see you again Mei. I see you have a recruit?" Shina indicated the new attendant. Mei nodded.

"Chiyo is a fast learner. Please let us get the bags and we will join you shortly." Shina nodded before she turned to help get Kaito out of his car seat. "Kaito, hold on to your tablet. You can watch it again when we get you in your seat."

"Juice?" He asked looking around for his sippy cup. Shina held up the cup that almost fell out of the car when she'd opened the door.

"It's right here. Come on child we need to go."

"Okay." Shina helped get him up the stairs to the jet. She made note that Dabi had already taken a chair in the back of the jet, near the bathrooms while Yoshi sat on the other side of the aisle. Shina turned her back on Dabi to take a seat with Kaito on her lap. She gently pulled his tablet from him and looked Kaito in the eyes.

"You need to leave your tabby off until we get in the air okay?" He immediately widened his eyes.

"But tabby!"

"I know, but it's just for a little bit okay. You can have tabby back when we get in the air." She could see his eyes getting watery, so she started to tickle him making him laugh and squeal.

"We should be in air shortly miss. Do you need anything before takeoff?" Mei spoke. Shina stopped tickling before meeting her gaze.

"Thank you Mei I'm fine. If you could get me a refill of apple juice that would be awesome!" Shina held up Kaito's sippy cup for Mei to take.

"Of course, miss." Shina settled in her seat before she started to mess around with Kaito by tickling him and distracting him. The announcement from their Captain about take off came. Yoshi powered down his holograms before he asked Shina,

"I know this is late and all but do you by any chance have anything for motion sickness." Shina frowned as the plane started to move.

"I didn't know you got sick. You should have said something earlier."

"It's not full motion sickness, more of a slight nausea that creeps on me the longer I'm in the air." Shina nodded slowly as she thought of what was in her bag. She held Kaito firmly against her with one arm while she opened her bag until she found the meds.

"Here." Shina tossed him the bottle. "Take two, should help you."

"You're a lifesaver Shina." Shina smirked.

"I should have let you get sick. James and Yuto would have paid good money for it." Yoshi wrinkled his face at her.

"Well now they'll never know." Shina chuckled before she glanced behind her.

"Do you need anything Dabi?"

"I'm fine." He snapped. Shina and Yoshi shared a look before Shina shrugged and went back to distracting Kaito. They stopped playing once the plane started to get into the air as Kaito started to freak out about the sensation. Shina held him and whispered into his ear until they finally levelled out. Once Shina made sure he was okay she had him sit beside her and gave him his tablet. She didn't hear another word from him after that.

"How long is this flight?" Yoshi asked.

"It's a 12-hour flight." Shina answered.

"Oh cool, I can get in some sleep." Yoshi muttered. Shina snorted.

"Lucky." She glanced at Kaito who was numb to the rest of the world. Shina got comfortable in her seat and pulled out her phone to check her text messages.

'Looking forward to seeing you!' Hawks wrote. Shina rolled her eyes at that before she saw the next round of text messages from the group chat.

'We're finally getting our hero licenses!' James wrote in their family chat.

'That's what's up!' Kai wrote.

'They gave you the hero license after 5 weeks of training? That doesn't add up.' Kira wrote.

'What he means to say is, we're going to do the exam that will get us our license.' Kana explained.

'Watch James be the one that fails.' Yuto wrote. Shina snorted softly to herself.

'Be nice Yu. Kitty boi will pass…. Hopefully.'

'Your faith is touching.' James responded quickly.

'He will pass! If not then I gotta pay Kira 40.' Kai wrote.

'You bet on this?' Yuto responded.

'Of course we did.' Yoshi wrote. 'We're Russian, we bet on everything.'

'Can you claim to be Russian when you weren't born Russian?' Shina asked.

'Why not? Everyone else does it.' James wrote.

'True.'

'Are you already gone Shina?' Kana asked.

'Yep we just reached cruising altitude. Gonna be a long flight there and a long flight back.'

'I could have just teleported you, you know.' Kana wrote.

'Yeah I know. I should have, but it's too late now.' Shina quickly turned on her camera and took a picture of Kaito on his tablet. She took another one of Yoshi playing an online game. Of course, she then took a selfie making sure to get Dabi half in the shot before she sent the pictures.

'Kaito is so cute!' Kana and Kira were no doubt cooing over their phones.

'Uh… anyone else seeing the dark specter behind Shina?' James texted.

'Yeah, Shigaraki appointed him my… den mother for this trip.' Shina wrote.

'What?'

'What?'

'I'm surprised you didn't tell them before this." Yoshi murmured in real time.

"I wanted to surprise them." Shina shrugged as she let the chat continue with her input for another minute before she did damage control. The flight was a lot more fun after that.

~Kana's POV~

'Another day of training' Kana mentally sighed as she pulled her outfit off. Thankfully with all the changes she'd made to her outfit, it was no longer bright white. She pulled her thin black jacket off before she unbuttoned the collar of her jumpsuit. With how open it was in the back Kana was easily able to shimmy out of the jumpsuit before she stretched her body. She'd gotten used to the harsh training after the first few weeks and now, she was no longer sore. She kind of missed the feeling if she was being honest. Of course, after that thought she immediately tossed it aside. Aizawa was liable to hear her thought and make her training worse.

"You did good today Kana." Kana looked up to see Momo smiling at her. Kana nodded.

"Thanks, you looked like you were giving it your all as well." Kana stretched once more before she started to pull on her pants.

"The girls and I are going to have some tea later if you want to join?" Momo asked. Kana slowed getting dressed to frown at Momo. "I know we haven't really extended an invitation or talked with you much before but, we figured since we're going to be living together we may as well unite against the boys and their brash acts."

"Uh, sure I guess?" Kana honestly hadn't given it much thought to how isolated from the girls she'd been. She still saw them every day, granted they didn't stop and talk when they did see each other. Kana was more introverted and only came out of her shell because her brothers knew how to draw her out. It was just sheer dumb luck that every time they did, they were around the other 1A boys.

"You don't have to join if you'd rather not." Momo offered. Kana hesitated. Her mission was to gather intel on 1A. This could work to her advantage, as Kira would say. Kana plastered a smile on her face.

"No I would love to join you girls." Momo's beaming smile almost had Kana retract her acceptance. Kana finished getting dressed and started walking back to the dorms where she could finally shower and join the girls.

"Kana!" Kana paused her walking and looked up. Sero was waving at her. Behind him the other boys were just getting out of their own changing room.

"Hey Sero." Kana greeted. "What's up?"

"I was going to ask if you could give me the number for your elder sister?" Kana blinked at that question. Why would Sero want Shina's number? Kana knew Shina's presence had been questioned by the students parents who had seen her but no one had outright approached them about it. Kana guessed their classmates had told their parents about the Nara's situation. Still, that didn't warrant Sero wanting to talk with her.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously. Sero started to walk slowly towards their dorm which prompted Kana to follow beside him.

"I want to ask her about that box of food she brought for you. The bread? It tasted amazing!" He spread his arms outward like he couldn't contain his enthusiasm. Kana herself was even more confused. The only bread in her care box was frybread. Which, honestly Kana could believe he wanted to know about it. But if anyone should be asking for recipes it should be Sato, he was the cook/baker in their class.

"Wait when did you eat the bread?" Kana asked. She didn't remember Shina bringing more than three boxes for Kana and her brothers. Kana had hoarded her box but she wondered if Yuto had shared some of his.

"James shared some with us in his room." Kana's mouth opened in shock.

"Eh? You actually managed to get in James room? How?" Sero shuffled as he nervously chuckled and avoided looking at her directly.

"Well we saw him in the hallway uh, me, Denki and Midoriya after Parent's Day ended. He and Bakugou got into an argument." Kana nodded slowly as her eyes narrowed. She took in Sero's twitching form and wondered about it. There was no chance James would have blabbed… who was she kidding, that furry fanged mop bucket just would open his big mouth. It would explain why Denki was acting odd, Kana had just assumed he'd taken too many bolts of lightning to the head.

"I see. I'm assuming that since the dorms are still standing they just ended up talking it out?" Sero chuckled.

"Well not exactly. I mean it's Bakugou. But uh, do you mind giving me your sisters number? I promise it's only so I can beg for her recipe." Kana tilted her head as Sero continued to twitch.

"I'll text it to you." Kana couldn't help her suspicions any longer as she asked him point blank, "Sero you're not being very subtle. You know, don't you?" He froze for half a second letting Kana know. She sighed, hanging her head. "James shouldn't have said anything."

"He didn't want to." Sero stated quickly. "Bakugou grabbed his tail and wouldn't let go because James was obviously upset about it, so he ended up telling us." Kana groaned as she realized Denki, Midoriya, and Bakugou knew. They knew she was engaged! This was equal parts mortifying and embarrassing for her. "I promise I haven't said anything to anyone." Sero stated. Kana forced herself to put all her emotions on hold as she really just wanted to get back to her room. She didn't want to come out for the next century.

"Thanks, Sero." Kana mumbled. "I'll text you Shina's number. Thank you for not saying anything."

"Sure, uh Kana?" Kana hesitated before she looked up as Sero fidgeted. He gave her an awkward smile. "If you need anything, let me know?"

"Sure Sero." Kana automatically replied. She walked past him into the dorms and to the stairs. She didn't acknowledge anyone who called out to her as she really just wanted to hide.

'If you need anything, let me know?' What would be appropriate to ask for when you were in an arranged engagement? Shina was already flying to America right now to get this taken care of. What more could anyone offer her except to give her pity or to gossip about this?

"Hey idiot!" Kana paused at the voice. She looked up to see Bakugou clearly annoyed as he walked towards her. "Jiro said you left this behind earlier." He tossed something in the air that Kana automatically reached out to grab but she missed. She watched as the small plush softly hit the ground. "You freaking klutz. It was right there!"

"Sorry!" Kana snapped back, not looking away from the cute white and black shark. It wasn't one of hers that was for sure. Still Kana bent down and grabbed it. "Jiro said I left it behind?" Kana asked, meeting Bakugou's red eyes as he rolled them.

"I'm not a dang messenger so just keep your eyes on your stuff alright idiot?" Kana nodded. "I have more important things to do than return your things." Kana nodded again before she snapped out of the dumb stupor she'd fallen into.

"But… this isn't mine." Bakugou seemed to bristle up at that so Kana quickly backtracked. "Never mind I remember him now. Sorry I'll make sure to take better care of him next time."

"Damn right idiot!" Bakugou grumbled as he turned and started to stalk away. Kana glanced at the sharks black eyes and the black markings on it before she blurted out,

"I'm going to the garden tonight, if you want to come." Bakugou stopped walking so Kana quickly continued. "You don't have to come, just… just forget I said anything." Kana quickly opened her door. "Thanks for the shark. I'll take care of him." She quickly entered her room and slammed the door behind her, pressing her back to the door. "The fudge did I just say that for?" Kana groaned as she slumped down to the floor. "Stress… I blame stress. It's a killer."