Kurogiri was designed to help Shigaraki.
From his first conscious thought, that had been his priority. It had been all he had ever known, to the point that he didn't even question it.
The sky was blue, the sun was warm, and Kurogiri was the one that protected Shigaraki Tomura.
It was simply a fact of life.
That being said…
"Kurogiri!"
The man stifled a sigh as he put down the glass he was cleaning.
There came a point when even the most generous of souls would hesitate.
Kurogiri teleported into his ward's room. "Yes, Shigaraki?"
Taking a quick glance around the room, Kurogiri was glad for the dark mist that covered his form.
It hid both his expression and wince.
The room was filthy once again. Discarded crumbs and dirty plates placed haphazardly, dirty laundry covering enough of the floor to function as a (filthy) futon, the bed didn't even have a sheet. Probably disintegrated, along with half the blanket he could see.
(He didn't begrudge his charge for his quirk - but there was a reason they kept multiple spares of both sheets and blankets in his closet. Constantly breathing in the decayed dust was undoubtedly a health hazard.)
Instead of staring at all that, Kurogiri looked towards his charge who was playing a game of some sort.
"I'm hungry Kurogiri," the man grumbled without glancing away from the screen.
"I was planning on having something ready in an hour -" Kurogiri began.
"Well, I'm hungry now. Just order burgers or something." Shigaraki interrupted.
Kurogiri paused. "You've had fast food every day this last week. If you can wait a moment I can -"
"Did I ask you?" Shigaraki snarled as his typing became more frantic. "Just order some freakin' burgers already!"
Kurogiri breathed out before bowing. "Very well."
Teleporting back to the main bar area, Kurogiri stood still for several moments.
Every quirk had their limits, including mind control quirks. Mental conditioning and drugs could only do so much, and the brain was far more flexible and adaptable than people gave it credit for.
At that moment, something inside Kurogiri snapped.
With a large growl, the mist covered man snarled as he slammed his fist down on the bar, his mist billowing out and writhing like dark flames.
Kurogiri was the one that protected Shigaraki Tomura, that was law. But here and now, he could admit to himself if to nobody else…
He hated Shigaraki Tomura.
Shigaraki was in his twenties, and yet one would never know from his temper tantrums and childish demeanor. His complete lack of hygiene or concern for his health, his constant swearing, the complete disregard for Kurogiri or any other potential ally.
And who else but Kurogiri to clean up after him when he destroys the bar in a fit of anger? Who else but him to clean the boy's room as he refused to do so? Who else but Kurogiri to arrange the purchase of a new console because Shigaraki would rage-quit and destroy it during one of his games?
Kurogiri had no problem helping others, especially as it related to his prime responsibility. He had no issue in going the extra mile if somebody truly needed it (and lord knew that Shigaraki needed help).
But Kurogiri hadn't just gone the extra mile, he'd run the entire marathon!
Yet this was how he was treated? He who was built to protect Shigaraki and given the power to do so. A valuable asset, one crucial to the master's plan… Yet Shigaraki couldn't even be bothered to glance at him while ordering him around.
Like he was inconsequential.
Kurogiri finally managed to get his breathing under control, reeling his mist back under control.
He… He needed a break.
Not a long one, he assured himself. He just needed to get away for a moment.
Usually he would simply arrange for food to be delivered to a separate house several miles away, and he would teleport over to pick it up.
He needed air anyways… Why shouldn't he? So long as no hero saw him he'd be fine. He knew the hero's patrol patterns, and he wouldn't be gone long.
He just needed a small break. He'd get his head back on straight after.
With that in mind, he absently created a portal and left, not really focusing on where.
Kurogiri blinked in confusion as he looked around.
Why had he teleported here?
… And where was 'here'?
It was a modest, well to do part of town, but not over the top. The type that might have a patrol a day, but was otherwise quiet.
He might not have been focused on anywhere in particular, but it was incredibly odd for it to bring him someplace he hadn't been before.
Not that it particularly mattered, he supposed. His goal was to simply get away for a time. It wasn't like this place was as bad as any other. At least it had released in him some alley, so nobody had seen him arrive.
He straightened his suit as he walked out into the street and began meandering. His looks garnered some attention, but he paid it no mind, simply enjoying the freedom of simply walking.
Before he had realized it, he found himself walking into a cafe, halfway to sitting down before he caught himself.
What am I doing?
The action, this place, just seemed so… Familiar.
[My Home?]
It was currently devoid of customers, but it seemed like a relatively homey diner. Small, but warm and inviting all the same. He felt something like nostalgia well up inside of him, but he brushed that aside as something these places were designed to invoke.
In moments a waitress came up with a smile plastered on her face.
"Hello! Welcome to The Hodgepodge! What can I get for you this evening?"
Glancing at the waitress was the natural thing to do. You look at people you talk to. It's simple courtesy after all.
In this instant it was a mistake.
Looking at the girl (teenager, bright blue hair that swayed in a breeze that didn't exist, her eyes the same color as her hair, her expression cheerful) Kurogiri felt a surge of longing, affection, and protectiveness that took him off guard.
[my family, my sister]
W-what was this? Was something wrong with him? Perhaps a visit to the Doctor was in order, as clearly this wasn't good.
Kurogiri was quiet for too long, wrestling with feelings he didn't understand, and the girl's smile faltered.
"Sir?" She asked cautiously, and Kurogiri felt a surge of guilt for making the girl feel awkward.
"Ah, I apologize Miss…" he glanced at the name tag for a name he felt like he already knew. "Azure. It's just, ah, been a rough day."
She gave a reassuring smile in response. "I can understand. Haven't had the best day myself. But I don't have much of an excuse other than the date itself." She shrugged in a 'what can you do' gesture. "Anyways, can I get your order?"
Kurogiri glanced at the menu and hesitated slightly. He hadn't even planned on coming to get something to eat, but if he was here anyways…
"Burgers?" Kurogiri asked tentatively. He did need to bring something back for Shigaraki after all. "Ah, just a couple burgers and fries. One for myself, one to-go."
"Sounds good!" The girl chirped. "Hey Mom! Two orders of burgers and fries!"
He turned away and began attempting to figure out what was wrong with his emotions when the girl spoke up again. "So what's got your day in a tussle then? Just the daily grind wearing you down?"
Kurogiri… He should ignore her. He really shouldn't associate more with her. It would increase the chance of her remembering him, which could devastate their plans in the future.
But a larger part of him wanted to talk with her. And would it really matter if a random person from some random diner recognized him?
"I am a… Caretaker." He eventually settled on. "The one I am taking care of can be rather… Trying at times."
To put it mildly.
"Ah, I gotcha." She nodded in understanding as she cleaned up the other tables. "Still, I'm sure they appreciate your efforts."
He gave a huff, "If only that were true."
It was a nice sentiment. Yet he had been around Shigaraki long enough to know that wasn't true.
A nice sentiment all the same.
Azure laughed at his expression, "Maybe not now! But give it time for them to grow up, yeah?"
Kurogiri idly wondered what exactly it would take for Shigaraki to truly grow up. Clearly not anything so ephemeral and inconsequential as 'time'.
"I suppose you are correct." Kurogiri reluctantly lied, not willing to give more details into why that would be impossible to the girl.
His personal feelings would hardly interfere with his duty.
"What about yourself?" He cut in before the girl could ask any other questions. "You said the date itself was bad."
"Yeah." Her smile slipped. "It's just, today is the anniversary of my brother's death."
"Ah," a feeling of grief and pain ripped through him, causing him to clench his hands. "I'm… sorry to bring it up."
"You're fine." She assured him, though if he were reading her right it was far from 'fine'. "It's been years since it happened, so it's gotten better I guess. And, well, being a hero is a dangerous occupation, so we should have known it was a possibility, right?"
He very carefully didn't react, ignoring the storm of feelings that he should absolutely not be feeling.
"Nobody is truly prepared for death I suppose." He said in a noncommittal tone.
She let out a small scoff, "I suppose not." She noted glumly.
[idiot. A brother shouldn't make his sister cry]
Kurogiri wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to give her a hug, to comfort her, which he would absolutely not do. He, a stranger, giving a hug to a teenager? He was a Villain, not a creep, thank you very much! While her mother was in the back no less? Oh that would go just fine!
He upped the urgency in his mind to talk to The Doctor as soon as he got back.
Thankfully the girl seemed to bounce back quickly and gave him an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, you've got your own problems, you certainly don't need to be listening to mine."
"I did ask," Kurogiri pointed out.
"Well yeah, but most people don't actually mean it!" Azure said with a smile.
Kurogiri shrugged. "It is a distraction from my own issues. And…" he hesitated for a moment. "While I obviously didn't know your brother, I'm sure he'd be happy knowing his family was doing well."
Her lips quirked up for a moment before she tilted her head curiously at him, eyes suddenly intent. For a moment Kurogiri worried she had figured something out about him.
"Are we related by any chance?" Azure asked out of the blue. "The Shirakuma's? I mean, you've got the whole cloud - mist - thing going on, and our family all has weather related quirks. And you feel familiar…"
Kurogiri blinked in surprise before chuckling. "I rather doubt it." He replied dryly.
By that, he meant impossible. He had been created by the Doctor after all.
"Hmmm…" she gave him a considering look when a bell rang, followed by a voice that caused another intense feeling of longing.
"Azure! Stop bothering our customers while you're working!"
"'Kay Mom," Azure called back, giving him an apologetic smile. "Let me get your meal real quick."
She had just returned with his food when the bell at the door rang once more.
Relieved that he would not be the sole recipient of the girl's attention, he glanced at the newcomers and nearly did a spit take.
[Friends]
"Aizawa! Yamada! Kayama!" Azure greeted cheerfully, quickly being engulfed in a hug by the woman of the group.
"Oh my, just look at you!" The black haired woman purred as they seperated. "You've grown so much, I barely recognize you! You're probably turning heads left and right at school, aren't you?"
A scoff sounded from the kitchen, and a woman with glowing blue hair, looking like an older version of Azure.
[Mom!]
Kurogiri had to actively force himself to not react to seeing the woman in front of him. More than the girl, it just felt that he knew her. That she was familiar in a way that nobody else was.
What was wrong with him today?
"Don't go feeding her ego like that, she spends too much time in front of a mirror as is."
"Mom!" Azure cried out with a blush.
The black haired man gave a grunt. "I still think the amount of time you spend with makeup is irrational."
"Oh hush, Shouta." The woman still hugging Azure whacked him on the arm. "A woman's allowed to look pretty if she wants to!"
The blonde snickered, "I don't know why you keep on bringing up that argument if you know you aren't going to win. Isn't that illogical?"
"That just goes to show how irrational women's obsession with makeup is." He returned.
The woman sighed dramatically. "Boy's will never understand." She said sadly to Azure and her mother.
Kurogiri paid scant attention to all of this, too busy panicking internally.
How on earth could he have the bad luck to choose a place frequented by not one pro-hero, but three?
Of course he recognized [Shota] Eraserhead, [Hizashi] Present Mic, and [Nemuri] Midnight. Out of costume they might have been, he still knew very well who they were!
[Of course. Why wouldn't he recognize his friends?]
He couldn't leave yet - nothing was more suspicious than leaving immediately after a hero arrived, especially after just getting his food. He'd have to pretend he was just another customer, finish his food, and then he could leave.
Azure immediately set to getting their orders, and he settled for ignoring them and just enjoying his meal.
Which he would have done. If they would just stop talking.
It should have been easy enough to ignore. He had long grown accustomed to filtering out useless prattle like that. But their conversation of choice seemed to be about a friend of theirs that died some years prior, Oboro.
And for reasons he couldn't discern, he couldn't help but perk up a little every time that name came up, not unlike when you hear your own name by another.
It was an aggravating process.
By the time Kurogiri finished with his meal he had to restrain himself from rushing as he paid.
"What about you stranger?"
He stiffened as he was addressed by [Zashi] Present Mic. "Pardon?"
The man leaned back in his chair with an easy smile. "This is an age-old argument we've got going on with Shota here." He nudged the black haired man. "What do you think is the most important thing for young heroes to remember?"
Kurogiri should have given some meaningless platitudes. There are so many things he could have said. But he was so desperate to get out of there, surrounded by heroes, his mind was in turmoil from all the unfamiliar emotions…
He was hardly paying attention to the words as he walked to the door.
"Just keep calm, carry on, and don't freeze up. Even when you screw up, just keep smiling as usual. That's been my M.O.."
The atmosphere shifted.
Kurogiri could practically feel the three stares at his back. He had no idea why what he said was a mistake, but he intrinsically knew that it was the biggest one he had made that evening.
"Where did you-"
Kurogiri ran.
It was, perhaps, a poor choice to run. But not nearly as bad as it would have been to stay.
"Hey! Wait!"
Of course they ran after him. Heroes were a bit like dogs in that respect. He really shouldn't have expected anything else.
Kurogiri couldn't warp out - they'd see. Bad enough for them to have seen his person already, he couldn't let them know his Quirk. But at the same time, he knew he couldn't outrun them.
He needed to throw them off his trail…
"You aren't in trouble, we just have a couple questions for you!"
That was a couple questions more than he was willing to answer.
"Cloud Cover…" he murmured. His mist expanded out rapidly, covering the three heroes chasing him and himself in a thick mist.
Kurogiri might be restricted from using his warp function, but he could use the mist portion of his quirk with ease. The downside to that was that he couldn't see either… Perhaps he would ask the doctor for some support gear for that?
Kurogiri dove inside the closest alley, running a hand alongside the nearest wall to keep himself from getting lost.
He'd lay low for a couple minutes, then warp out. Simple.
So he really shouldn't have been surprised when the blonde came out of the mist in front of him.
"Hey man," Hizashi gave a bright smile with his hands carefully up. "Sorry about scarin' you like that, we just -"
Kurogiri threw up another dense wave of mist and ran, following along the alleyway…
And nearly ran into the woman.
"Attempting to run out on a woman after saying something like that?" Nemuri asked archly, but outside her hero uniform she looked far less intimidating, and instead looked rattled for some reason. "Look, we just -"
Kurogiri mentally cursed as he ran the opposite way, narrowly avoiding Hizashi as he ran by him. Things were too close. He'd need to risk a warp.
As subtle as he could, Kurogiri warped himself to the nearby roof. Crouching, he peaked over the edge into the haze of fog his quirk had created…
And had to dodge as the form of Eraserhead jumped out and landed on the roof next to him, looking just as surprised as he was.
Kurogiri quickly backed away as Shota stared back at him, both seemingly reluctant to break the silence, and Kurogiri could practically feel as Shota analyzed him.
"Not very logical to run away like that." Shota commented eventually. "It makes you look guilty."
Kurogiri forced a scoff, "some would say that to run when being chased is simply human nature."
"But we didn't start chasing till you ran." Shota returned.
They stared at each other some more. "This would hardly look appropriate, you know." Kurogiri mused. "Hero's chasing down a random civilian despite having done nothing to deserve it?"
Shota raised an eyebrow. "How did you get up here?" He asked blandly. "Not exactly an easy feat. You'd need some kind of platform almost."
That was exactly what Kurogiri was NOT going to answer. "If you wish to arrest me for quirk usage, I would simply say I feared for my safety, being chased by three strangers."
Shota was quiet for a while longer. "Where did you hear that saying?" He asked instead.
Kurogiri raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"That phrase, those exact words, were said to me years ago by a friend." Shota stated while narrowing his eyes. "A friend that's been dead for years."
… Is that what this was about?
"May I ask what you are implying?" Kurogiri asked stiffly.
"That's what we'd like to figure out." Shota grumbled. "We, admittedly, got carried away. I will apologize for that. But your own reactions aren't exactly above reproach."
Kurogiri cursed himself for many things. He cursed Shigaraki, who drove him here. He cursed himself for choosing this place, however inadvertently. He cursed the curiosity of the heroes…
He was at his limit. He would take a risk to get out of there.
"I'm afraid you'll have to stew in the unknown for a bit, Sho." He huffed back, unaware of the familiarity he put into the words.
As Shota's eyes widened, Kurogiri jumped over the edge of the building, releasing another cloud of darkness, thus hiding himself as he warped.
Kurogiri practically collapsed at the bar, letting out a shuddering breath.
This was… Far more excitement than he had expected. And something that could have resulted in catastrophe for the Master's plans. [would that be so bad?]
He needed to talk to the doctor, and yet a part of him was mortified by the experience. Of the series of errors and mistakes on his end that resulted in this.
He would need to talk to the Doctor. [But did he really?]
But… Perhaps he could delay for a time? Minimize his own mistakes, perhaps not mention that he left, or his feelings regarding Shigaraki?
His plans were interrupted by the shrill shout of "Kurogiri! Did you get food yet?!"
Plans abandoned; he sighed in frustration.
He dropped the takeout bag as he was running away, didn't he?
Author's Notes:
This was just an idea that I had that wanted to get written. Set before the events of the show, I wanted to write a little something where the mental conditioning on Kurogiri had begun to wear off. I'm not sure whether it will be continued or not - I have enough stories on my plate as it is, lol. But we'll see what my muse has to say. It's the one that's actually in charge, not me.
As usual, I'd like to thank those who are currently supporting me on pa tr eon; Adam Costello, cameron ngo, Jacob, TheHydra77, Marcus Jamieson, and Amphidsf. I'm truly grateful to them for being willing to provide support. For anybody that is interested or would like to support me, the link to that page is P a treon . com (slash) shdowstep. (remove the spaces).
I'd like to thank everybody for being willing to read this little story of mine, and I hope you all enjoyed it. To those of you who celebrate Independence Day, I hope you have a good Fourth of July! And I'll see you in the next chapter, whichever story that is!