Hello Everyone, so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out.
I really tried to get another one done for today, but I only managed this one. It's not the best chapter but we are getting closer to the best part of the story, and will be focusing on building more the relationships of my OC's.
Thank you projectzer0 for the kind comment ! Glad to see you're still enjoying my story :)
Hopefully I'll be better at posting next week.
Chapter 22:
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" A familiar voice snapped, forcing Aizawa to look up.
Dr. Yaeko Imai stood at the door of his room, hands on her hips, with a severe glare on her face. No doubt the nurses that had been trying to get him back into bed had gone to get her.
He mentally swore, annoyed that he hadn't gotten more time to stretch his newly reconstructed limb. He had only woken up 20 minutes ago and had immediately felt the soreness in his newly reconstructed leg.
Although he knew it was probably stupid, he couldn't stop himself from trying to get up and walk on it. Part of him had been terrified it was a dream, and he needed to confirm that it was real. It was almost worth the mixture of concern and anger on Yaeko Imai's face.
It was a little amusing since she was so tiny but had this aura that made her seem bigger. Aizawa had no doubts that she would give him a run for his money if they ever sparred.
"Testing out your work." He answered automatically, wishing he could rip off the wrappings covering his eye.
It was also aching, which he took as a good sign, at least he hoped it was a good sign.
"Still doubting me I see. But as you can see, it went perfectly fine, so get back into the bed." Aizawa blinked, a little thrown off by the bite in her tone.
"If I doubted you, I would have never consented to the surgeries. As is, I feel fine, just restless. I need to walk a little."
She walked further into the room, pulling her white coat off to reveal the dark green silk button up blouse, tucked into form fitting black trousers. His mouth dried up as his single eye trailed over her, watching as she unbuttoned her cuffs to roll up her sleeves.
"I'm not in mood to repeat myself, Aizawa. Get back into bed." Her voice didn't soften, which had him raising an eyebrow.
A look at her face told him everything he needed to know. She was exhausted and stressed. Glancing out of the window of his room, he knew it was late, but wasn't sure how late. Since she was still in the same clothes as the morning of the surgeries, he deducted that it had probably been a few hours since.
"Have you rested at all since the surgery?" He asked, still not moving to lay down.
"Are you hard of hearing or am I not speaking Japanese?" She snapped, moving until she was standing in front of him.
"I told you I was fine."
"And I told you I wasn't in the mood to be repeating myself."
Before Aizawa could think to respond, he found himself sprawling back onto the bed. Dazed, he could only blink up at the ceiling, confused as to what had happened. Most of his body had landed mostly on the bed, while his legs were hanging off it.
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't just see you assault your patient, who just happens to be a fellow pro-hero." A new voice rang out, amusement clear in his tone.
Aizawa pushed himself up on his elbows to see who it was and was surprised to find Hawks closing the door behind him. He watched as the Pro shot Yaeko an amused smirk when she didn't turn to acknowledge his presence.
"And I'm gonna pretend you didn't force your way in here after I specifically told the nurses no one was allowed in here." Yaeko shot back, moving closer to Aizawa's bed to reach for the wires he had ripped off himself.
"Would you rather it be me or a HPSC goon?"
"Preferably, neither." Yaeko responded, raising an eyebrow at Aizawa, who was still frozen from the shock. "Either you willingly give me your arm to re-attach these wires or I force you to cooperate."
Aizawa glowered, but fixed himself so that he was properly laying in the bed and shoved his arm in her direction. Smirking, Yaeko started working on putting everything back while turning her head slightly in Hawks' direction when he started speaking again.
"Hey Doc, why don't you have one of the nurses finish up here? The little chickadee finally fell asleep, and now it's your turn. I know we woke you up earlier."
"No, I'll finish up myself. If I brought a nurse in, Eraserhead here would probably intimidate them until he gets his way. And I will be doubly pissed if I'm woken up because he got up again."
"I'm right here." Aizawa growled, annoyed that she had referred to him by his hero name.
"Oh, I'm aware." Yaeko replied breezily, finishing up her work and only then looking directly into his eyes. "If you even think of getting out of this bed again, I will have you sedated."
"Are you threatening me?"
"It's not a threat, it's a promise." Yaeko shot him a dark look. "And I dare you to try me."
Aizawa had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping, while Hawks sniggered in the background.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Aizawa snapped, glaring at the winged hero.
"Not really, no." He answered cheekily at the older pro before turning back to Yaeko. "I know you didn't want anyone in here, Doc, but I just got off a call with Endeavor and Best Jeanist. They both agreed that Eraserhead needs to be part of the meeting Little Chickadee requested."
From the corner of his eye, Aizawa saw as Yaeko froze at the hero's words. Looking between the two, Aizawa couldn't help but feel like he was missing something.
"What meeting? And what the hell is a chickadee?"
"It's a nickname Hawks gave Noriko. She hates it by the way." Yaeko answered, throwing in the last comment over her shoulder, at Hawks.
"And that's why I keep calling her that." Hawks chuckled. "And the meeting we will be having tomorrow morning. Noriko Imai and Class 3A had an encounter with a Nomu earlier this evening. Imai-san was the target it seems since a Nomu directly signaled her out and took her back to an abandoned warehouse where Dabi was waiting for her."
Aizawa's heart dropped, his eyes immediately turning to look at the young Doctor. Yaeko wasn't looking at him anymore, instead looking out the window of his room. She didn't seem to be staring at anything, seemingly lost in thought.
"She's fine, Bakugo went after her and sounded the alarm. She's resting, and I'm assuming he went home?" Yaeko spoke up after a short silence, glancing over at Hawks questioningly.
"Yes, he stayed until he made sure she was out cold, but then headed out. I'm sure Class 3A is also worried about her. They wanted to follow us back to the hospital, but I managed to talk them down from that." Hawks sent her a half smile. "I also need to ask to borrow your office to have this meeting since I know Eraser here won't be discharged until after the weekend is over."
"That's fine, what time should I expect you all?"
"As early as possible. Just call me when Noriko is awake, and I'll gather everyone up."
Yaeko made a sound to indicate her agreement, turning to look back out of the window. Hawks sighed dramatically, eyeing her wearily.
"Doc, please go get some rest. I can stay with Eraserhead until he goes to sleep."
"Even if I wanted to, I won't be able to sleep. Go on and head home or wherever it is you need to be. I'm gonna take this moment to examine my patient." She indicated to Aizawa with a tilt of her head.
Hawks stayed silent for a moment before he decided he wasn't going to win an argument with her. He'd make sure to let Akari know Yaeko would continue working. If Yaeko will listen to anyone it would be Akari.
"Very well, have a good night, both of you." Hawks bowed before leaving the room silently.
"Is there anything bothering you? Any pains I should know about?"
"Aside to my pride and ego?" Aizawa raised his eyebrow at her.
"Pardon?" Yaeko turned to blink at him, confused as to what he was talking about.
"You physically attacked me." Aizawa retorted dryly.
"You shouldn't have been out of bed. Your surgery was less than 5 hours ago." Yaeko responded indignantly.
"So, you weren't taking out your frustrations from what happened with Noriko on me?"
"My frustration was purely because of your inability to stay still and take it easy."
"That warranted physical abuse?"
"Physical abuse would have been me actually hurting you, and the only one that was hurting you, was yourself." She sniffed, moving closer to the bed. "Now quit avoiding the question, is anything bothering you?"
"No… my leg and eye are sore though." He answered slowly, reluctant to say anything in case his answers meant something bad.
"That's to be expected. I'm not gonna remove the covering on your eye because it's still probably too sensitive to the light." She reached for the binding son his leg. "But your leg on the other hand, I need to double check since you decided to ignore medical advice." She griped, sending him another dark look.
"It feels fine." He grumbled but laid back and allowed her to unwrap his leg.
He held his breath as she got closer to where his stump had previously ended. An ugly scar ran the circumference of his leg, marking where it had previously been cut off. That didn't bother him half as much as he thought it would have.
Aizawa was used to scars, having one right under his eye, and plenty scattered throughout his body. But he was still a little self-conscious of what Yaeko Imai would think of it.
Looking up at her face, he noted that she didn't even flinch as she unwrapped his leg. She was concentrating, her eyes glowing as she ran her left hand across every inch of newly revealed skin.
Once he realized what she was doing, Aizawa couldn't help but tense. Her touch was featherlight, sending tingles throughout his leg. He willed himself to not react as he felt his face flush.
"I know this must be uncomfortable for you but try and relax for me. I need to physically touch you to get a feel for the muscles, arteries, and tissue in order to determine how your leg is healing." Yaeko glanced up at him.
"I know it's ugly and probably uncomfortable to look at." Aizawa blurted out, not wanting her to know how turned on he was getting from her innocent touch.
Yaeko's eyebrows furrowed, her hand pausing on his calf. "What are you talking about?"
"The scar." He could feel himself blushing, feeling ridiculous after blurting something so stupid out.
She blinked, glancing down in surprise, as if she hadn't even noticed it. "I forgot all about it, honestly." Her hand trailed up to run across the scar, which caused his breath to catch in his throat. "I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. My quirk doesn't often leave behind scars, but it was a pretty traumatic wound, and crudely cut. Though I know you had no choice but to cut it yourself in the middle of a fight! So that was to be expected and not your fault at all!" she rushed to the say the last part, flushing as she realized what she had said.
"I'm used to scars." He assured her, smiling briefly. "I'm covered in them; I just know they make most people uncomfortable."
"I'm not like most people." She smiled back, her eyes dimming slightly. "I have my own you know, so I can relate."
"Your own?" He questioned, confused, his eyes trailing over her as they scanned her from head to toe.
"They're not easily visible, but that's a story for another day." She looked back down at his leg, finally removing the last of the wrappings. "As for your leg, everything seems to be going well. I'll check again in the morning."
Yaeko patted his leg reassuringly, straightening next to him.
"Thank you." He mumbled quietly.
"You're more than welcome." She smiled, her eyes lighting up sincerely. "Can I trust you to stay in bed and actually get some rest or should I sedate you?" She raised an eyebrow teasingly.
*
"Yaeko!" Noriko hissed, shoving her sisters hand off her. "I'm fine and was cleared an hour ago!"
Noriko had slept for a straight 8 hours, waking up with enough time to take a shower and change before the meeting that had all three sisters on edge. Noriko and Akari were better at hiding their nerves, while Yaeko managed by fussing over her baby sister.
"I'm just making sure! You've never overdone yourself like this before!" She argued, struggling to stop herself from reaching over to use her quirk to re-examine Noriko.
"Yeah, well I've also never been targeted by a villain group before."
"Are you two going to argue all morning?" Akari drawled from her sprawled position on the couch in the corner of Yaeko's office.
She had barely slept at all last night, her mind unable to stop thinking about today's meeting. She also had to make sure Yaeko slept after dragging her out of Eraserhead's room. Which had only happened after she sedated the stubborn pro herself, otherwise Yaeko and him would have gone off and spent the rest of the night arguing.
"We wouldn't be arguing if Yaeko would take a chill pill." Noriko muttered, glowering at her older sister.
When Yaeko's hand twitched, Noriko shot out of the chair she was sitting in to go drop into the couch Akari was in. When her older sister didn't move to give her room to sit, Noriko simply dropped down on her. Akari's eyes shot open as a pained grunt escaped her lips.
"You stupid bitch!" She gasped out, shoving Noriko off her.
"This could have been avoided if you didn't ignore me." Noriko smirked back, unbothered as she lifted enough to allow Akari to sit up.
A knock sounded just as Akari threw a punch at Noriko's stomach, which initiated a scuffle between the two sisters. Instead of answering it, Yaeko turned to look at her sisters incredulously.
"There's no way you two are seriously doing this right now?!" Yaeko hissed, rushing to grab Akari by the collar of her shirt. "She was just cleared this morning, stop messing around!"
"Is everything okay?" Hawks sweat dropped as he took in the scene before him.
Noriko was sprawled on the office couch, arms crossed behind her head and a smirk plastered on her face. Meanwhile Akari was seething, trying to break out of Yaeko's hold to get to the younger Imai. It was a little amusing considering Yaeko was casually holding Akari back while in ridiculously high heels and a form fitting midi dress.
"It will be after I teach my baby sister some manners." Akari called out, reaching for her surujin tattoo.
He watched as she pierced her palm, but nothing happened. Blinking in surprise, Akari stopped struggling, and turned to face the door. He glanced over to his companion, who was still in the hospital's patient clothes, but no longer had his eye or leg covered in wrappings.
"Nice to see that the surgeries were a success." Akari grumbled, stepping away from an overly cautious Yaeko.
"I had the best surgeon in Japan work on me." Aizawa responded back in his usual monotone, but his eyes were shining.
Yaeko felt a blush spread across her face, avoiding both her sisters' stares. "You're still not supposed to be using your quirk."
"Isn't enough that I'm forced to be in a wheelchair?"
"I'm sorry for trying to make sure your recovery goes smoothly." Yaeko snorted, turning to send him a reproachful look.
"Where are the rest of the heroes?" Noriko interrupted, not wanting to watch her sister and teacher flirt for the next few minutes.
"They should be here shortly." Hawks answered, stepping further into the room, wheeling Aizawa further into the room. "Best Jeanist is downstairs waiting for Endeavor and the Big Three."
"I thought we could get Aizawa fully caught up on what happened last night." Hawks said cheerfully.
Noriko sighed but sat up on the couch to give both her sisters space to sit with her. She went straight into the details of what happened with the Nomu's and Dabi. She finished retelling the story just as another knock sounded at the door.
Best Jeanist, Endeavor, Midoriya, Todoroki and Bakugo stepped into the room after Yaeko let them in. Bakugo stared intently at Noriko as they all settled in, making sure to lock the door. Thankfully, Yaeko's office was large, allowing them to be comfortable, because the once empty office was now packed.
"Imai-san, how are you feeling? We were all worried about you last night." Midoriya said sweetly, frowning with concern.
"I'm okay now Broccoli head." She sent him a half smile. "At least as good as can be."
"You don't have to do this Nori." Akari said, sending a worried look at her sister.
"I know, but I'm gonna… they deserve to know the truth. So that they don't doubt who's side we're on." Noriko straightened and lifted her chin in defiance.
"I'm not sure I'm understanding." Best Jeanist spoke up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Not everyone in the HPSC was okay with us coming back, even if the majority of the board voted to let us come back to Japan." Yaeko said coolly. "Because of what they think they know about our past and my record."
"With the Paranormal Liberation Army making it clear that they are targeting us, there is no doubt that people will probably assume we'll join them because of how we're viewed and treated by the Heroes and HPSC." Akari added, looking more serious than anyone has seen her.
"In order for you understand why Dabi went through so much trouble to get to me, and for you to trust us to cooperate with whatever you plan to do, you need to know what really happened 4 years ago." Noriko concluded, looking everyone in the eye until she landed on Bakugo. "And hopefully, we can stop the villains together