AN: Flashyyyyyy - At least Izuku didn't break any bones this time?

InfinityMask - thanks for the reviews! Lets just say when we finally get there 1-A is going to look a little bit different.

SwordOfTheGods - Finally, somebody who caught the reference! Glad you're enjoying the story!

LEGOBRICK13 - Indeed. Ochako has legitimate reasons to be wary of the person Himiko could become, but they also have a chance to prevent that from happening. She is just having a hard time coming to terms with that given what happened to her.

Inko sat in the apartment, listening to the rainfall outside while enjoying a poetry book when she heard her phone go off. Picking up her phone, she felt a chill run through her when she saw it was the hero Midnight calling her. Fearing the worst, she put the phone to her ear.

"H-hello?"

"Mrs. Midoriya?" Midnight's voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"Yes."

"It's about your son. When we were out - he was attacked."

Inko froze. "Please tell me he's ok!"

"He is ok, but he got hurt. While patrolling we were ambushed, and he got several cuts before we were able to subdue the attacker. Unfortunately, he also got caught by my quirk and is asleep, otherwise, he would have called you himself. But I had to use it to subdue the assailant."

Inko released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "So where are you now?"

"We're on our way to Mustafu General Hospital. We have reason to believe the girl who attacked us isn't well. Since we're heading there anyway, we'll be sure to get your son patched up."

"Thank you, I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone, Inko didn't waste any time, grabbing her coat and umbrella, and leaving for the hospital. Despite the storm outside, nothing would stop her from making sure her son was safe.

And that was how Inko found herself rushing through the streets towards Mustafu General Hospital.

Thankfully, by the time she had arrived, Midnight had sent her a message explaining which room he was in and that he was awake. Sighing in relief, she checked a map before heading deeper into the hospital.

When she arrived at the room, she saw Izuku sitting off the side of the bed shirtless, his left arm wrapped in bandages. She saw his bloody shirt discarded on a chair; with Midnight standing there, talking to her son.

"Izu!" Inko rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her son, mindful of his left arm.

"H-hi mom." Izuku used his right arm to return his hug.

"What happened? You promised me you were going to be safe!"

Izuku laughed nervously. "There was this girl… we thought she was in trouble, but then she attacked me with a box cutter."

Inko glared at her son, turning to Midnight. "What really happened?"

Midnight sighed. "Midoriya's telling the truth. We were looking for someone who may have been suffering a quirk backlash. It was supposed to be an easy case, but we didn't realize she was disguised as someone else. By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late. We restrained her as soon as we could, but he received some nasty cuts in the process."

"They aren't that bad!" Izuku insisted. "They've already patched me up and I'm free to go! Isn't that right Kayama?"

Midnight shot Izukuk a look that said 'don't drag me into this.' She turned to Inko.

"They bandaged his arm and then discharged him into my care. However, I wasn't going to let him go without you here."

"Thank you," Inko gratefully said, glad that the hero at least had some sense.

"Well, I am sure you two have a lot to talk about. I'm going to go see our other patient." Midnight turned towards Izuku and gave him a knowing look. "You better rest and take care of yourself. You want your injuries to heal properly if you want to be a hero."

Izu at least had the good sense to look chastised. "Yes ma'am."

Satisfied, Midnight turned and walked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"Izu, when they called I was so worried about you!"

"S-sorry. I wanted to tell you, but Kay-Midnight had to use her quirk to put the girl to sleep, and I got caught in it."

"Is this what it's going to be like when you're a hero?" Inko asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat. "Sometimes."

"I didn't expect it to be this hard," Inko professed, sitting down on the bed next to her son. "I know when we watch the news, the heroes always win, but sometimes they get hurt. I just - I never realized that meant that you were going to get hurt until today."

Izuku put a hand on his mom's shoulder. "I-I never really thought about it as much as I should have either."

"Are you ok with this? Putting yourself in danger?"

Izuku looked at his mom and gave her a warm smile before nodding. "Yes. Because saving people is worth it."

"And what about you, Izu?"

Izuku kept his gaze steady. Inko could see the fire smoldering in his eyes. "I-I need to work on keeping myself safe. After all, if something happens to me, how can I see the smiles of the people I save?"

Izuku watched his mom's eyes water before she engulfed him in a hug. "Oh Izu."

A few minutes later, Inko separated from Izuku, allowing him to stand up. He trudged over to the chair that held his discarded shirt and put it on, looking awkwardly at the blood on his sleeve.

Turning to his mom, he took a deep breath. "I want to go see her."

"See who?" Inko asked.

"The girl who attacked us."

Izuku didn't need to be an expert to understand the distress on his mother's face. "Why?"

"I want to make sure she's ok."

"Izu… she attacked you," the disbelief in Inko's voice was evident.

"She wasn't herself," Izuku defended, looking down at the floor. "Her parents - they did bad things to her, and I think maybe her quirk was influencing her? I want to make sure she's ok."

Inko warily looked at her son. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Vlad King is down there. And that's where Midnight was headed. We'll have two pro heroes with us!"

"But you had two pro heroes when you were out earlier!"

Izuku shook his head. "This is different! We're in a hospital and she's under observation."

Seeing the look on her son's face, Inko finally relented. "Ok, let's go see this girl."

Izuku gave his mom the best hug he could, considering his condition. "Thanks, you're the best!"

Inko smiled proudly. Her son was so brave and selfless. She just hoped that he would be more cautious when he became a hero.

Himiko Toga awoke to the sound of a heart monitor. When she looked around, she observed she was in a hospital bed, several wires hooked into her arm.

As she looked around, she felt disoriented. Something didn't feel right.

Then it hit her. She didn't have a headache. It had always waxed and waned, but for as long as she could remember, it was always there. This was the first time she could think clearly, and she didn't even notice.

"Ah, little Toga, you're awake."

Himiko jumped with a start when she realized she wasn't alone. She saw the same two heroes from earlier, as well as two green-haired people. Instinctively, she tried to curl into herself, making herself smaller.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sekijiro Kan, also known as the hero, Vlad King." He held his arm up as he went around the room. "That is Nemuri Kayama, also known as the hero, Midnight. And those two are Izuku and Inko Midoriya."

Himiko focused on the ragged and bloody holes in Izuku's shirt.

"I- I stabbed you, didn't I?"

Izuku merely nodded at her.

Himiko felt the blood rise to her face as she covered it with her hands. He probably hated her for being weak and weird. And the woman who was his mother probably hated her as well for actually attacking her son. She could only hope that putting on a mask would make the scolding not too severe.

But it never came. Instead, she felt a gentle hand on her arm. Looking up, she saw Kan towering over her.

"Tell me, how are you feeling?"

"Better than I can ever remember." Himiko slowly lowered her arms. "It feels weird!"

Nodding, Himiko watched as Kan walked to the cabinets and retrieved a disposable cup. As she watched, he pressed his gauntlet to the cup and filled it with blood. She couldn't help but salivate as she watched.

Turning around, Kan offered her the cup. "Now little Toga, I want you to promise me two things. First, that you will drink this slowly, and second, that you won't use your quirk with this blood."

Looking at Kan, Himiko still wasn't convinced this wasn't a trap. "My parents won't lock me up if I drink this?"

She heard horrified gasps from the Midoriyas, but she was too focused on the cup in front of her.

Kan frowned and shook his head. "No, they won't. I will explain."

Hearing that, Himiko nodded vigorously before taking the cup and slowly taking sips, relishing every mouthful.

Kan proceeded to kneel next to her and began talking. "It's your quirk. Because your quirk is dependent on blood to use it, that means that your body needs a regular supply of blood in your diet."

Himiko paused, a look of horror visible on her face. "So my quirk is a curse! My parents were right!"

Kan reached out and put an arm on her shoulder, steadying her and preventing her from spilling the cup. "Your parents were wrong. Having special dietary requirements is a perfectly normal thing. For example, one of my co-workers needs to eat rocks every day."

That had the intended effect and caused Himiko to giggle. "At least it's easy for him to find snacks!"

"Indeed." Kan supplied a smile. "There is no shame in needing blood as part of your diet. If your quirk was registered properly, your parents could even sign up for programs with local butcher shops to get animal blood for your diet."

Kan paused, looking at Midnight.

"When pulling her files, the doctors checked with the quirk registry. She was registered as having a minor cat mutation."

"My parents hired a quirk counselor to help teach me how to suppress my quirk, but couldn't hide my eyes or fangs. So they decided to pretend I had a cat mutation because that would have been a cute, harmless quirk, one they wished I had instead of… this." Himiko indicated the cup she held.

When she looked up, she saw the dismay on Inko's face paired with the anger on Kan's face.

"Little Toga, if that is true, then I am going to make sure that your parents will never be able to harm you ever again."

Seeing the look on his face and hearing the sincerity in his voice, Himiko felt hope well up in her chest.

She watched Kan's face, waiting for him to do anything that would crush it, disappointing her like all of the other adults usually did. But he refused to waver. Finally, she dared to ask the question.

"Can you really do that?"

Kan looked at Kayama and then back to Himiko. "Yes. It will be hard, you are going to have to talk to the police and lawyers, but everything your parents have done to you - a lot of which is illegal. We have laws against quirk suppression and we have programs specifically to prevent what you did today from happening."

"Really?"

"Yes," Kayama agreed, turning towards Izuku and Inko. "You two may want to leave. I'm not sure you'll like what you hear."

Izuku looked at his mother, who already looked on the verge of tears. "Yes, I believe I have seen enough. Come on Izu, let's let the heroes do their job."

Izuku nodded before cautiously approaching Himiko. She tried to flinch but stopped when he didn't hit her, instead slowly reaching and laying a hand on hers.

It felt warm.

"For what it's worth, I don't blame you for attacking me today."

Himiko's face heated up once again. "I-I-"

He gave her a soft smile. "I know it doesn't mean much because we just met, but these heroes are good people. They want to help you."

As she stared into Izuku's eyes, she could see that he believed what he was saying. He was different from everyone else. He saw her at her worst and still wanted to forgive her. She looked at the heroes and didn't see any of the usual signs she saw from adults that pretended everything was perfectly normal.

For the first time, instead of being crushed, Himiko felt the spark of hope kindling into something new.

Maybe she wouldn't have to take matters into her own hands.

"Izu, I'm going out for a bit," Inko called from the hallway.

"Ok, mom!" Izuku answered from the living room, listening to the apartment door lock closed.

Izuku was busy adding notes to Himiko Toga's entry in his future journal. Last night was the first time he heard her story, and it was horrifying. No wonder she turned to the League twice.

It seemed to affect his mom too.

He wanted to talk to Ochako about it, but she ignored answering his calls or responding to his messages. He would be worried, but Kayama assured him that she was fine and was just mad at him. Izuku couldn't blame her. He just hoped she would talk to him sooner rather than later.

Left alone with his thoughts, Izuku continued to write in his notebook until he heard the doorbell ring. He stopped writing, walked, and opened it.

He hadn't expected to see Ochako standing there. As soon as she saw him, she reached out and grabbed him, pulling him out of the apartment before he had any chance of escaping. And then he felt a sudden stinging on his cheek as she slapped him.

"H-hi Ochako."

"Izuku Midoriya, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!" Ochako demanded, still firmly holding him in place.

Izuku reached out and wrapped his hands around the hand holding his shirt.

"I'm sorry."

"Why- why did you do that?" Izuku could see the tears clouding Ochako's eyes as she spoke.

"Because I wanted to protect you."

"You- you knew what happened! What Toga did to Analyst! What Toga did to me! Did you ever stop to think how I would feel if you ran off like that!"

"That's why I didn't tell you."

"You- you stupid- You could have died! What would have happened if Kayama wasn't there? Or Kan?"

Izuku felt Ochako's grip on his shirt loosen. "And I - you would have left me all alone."

Izuku managed to gently pry her hand off of his shirt and pushed it away from him, never letting go of it.

"Ochako," Izuku softly interjected. "I know what I did was wrong. While we were driving, all I could think about was you." He tenderly squeezed her hand. "And it made me realize something important. For the first time since I received One For All, I wasn't willing to sacrifice everything to achieve my goal."

"Izuku, what are you saying?"

Izuku beamed at Ochako. "I left here with my old mindset."

He saw Ochako's expression and winced. They both knew what he meant.

"But as we were driving, I realized that I was wrong." He held up their joined hands. "I don't need to shoulder everything alone because I'm not doing this alone anymore."

He offered her a caring grin. "Because I have a partner now. And as we were driving, I promised myself that I'm always going to come back to you."

Ochako took a deep breath. "You hurt me. When you didn't tell me what you were doing you - you hurt me. I felt like you didn't trust me. And you didn't give me any reason to trust you, either."

Izuku held his head. "I know."

"I know I have trust issues, and I need to work through those, but it's hard." Ochako took a deep breath. "And what was worse was that you ran off to go after Himiko Toga. Of all the villains you could have gone for, you chose her! You know I still have nightmares about that."

Ochako fought back tears. "And I still have nightmares about that stairwell encounter. And for the last few days, it wasn't Analyst I saw lying there on the ground… it was you."

That revelation hit Izuku like a punch in the gut.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Ochako looked away. "I thought I was worrying too much, that we'd find her before - before yesterday happened. And that I wouldn't have to worry. But then you had to go off and chase after her." She looked into Izuku's eyes. "And when you lied to me on the phone, I had to sit there helplessly wondering if that was the last time I was ever going to speak to you."

"You're right. I didn't consider your feelings. I was too focused on protecting you."

"And I need to trust you more," Ochako realized. "It would be silly if we always went on the same mission together. I need to believe that you'll succeed and come back afterward." Ochako sighed. "It just is going to take time."

Izuku pulled one of his hands away, using it to rub the back of his head. "We've got a lot to work on, don't we?"

Ochako giggled, ending in a hiccup. "I guess so. Good thing I'll be moving to Mustafu soon, right?"

Inko sat down at the table in the cafe and ordered a drink. As she waited, she thought about the girl from the hospital - Himiko Toga.

She couldn't get her out of her mind. Even though they left partway through, she heard enough to break her heart. Raising Izuku had been a struggle since he was quirkless. That girl didn't have that problem. She had a quirk. And yet, seeing how the girl was acting was enough for her to realize exactly how her parents treated her, just because she had the 'wrong' quirk in their eyes.

And that so many people were complicit in that behavior that she just accepted Inko's initial hostility as normal. It bothered her.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Inko's thoughts were broken by Nemuri Kayama standing next to her table, a playful smile on her face. This was the first time Inko had seen her out of her hero costume. Instead, she dressed in a blue suit with a white undershirt and bright red tie. The outfit, paired with her red-rimmed glasses, changed her appearance enough that Inko almost didn't recognize her.

"Not at all."

Kayama grinned, taking a seat. "I see where your son picked up his habits."

Inko gave the hero an embarrassed look. "I'm sorry to take up your time. But yesterday bothered me. I'm happy you are allowing my son to learn from you, but getting hurt like that… I want you to tell me more about what happened."

Kayama gave Inko a knowing smile. "I think I can help with that."

"And that girl - Himiko Toga. What is going to happen to her?"

Kayama thought carefully about her answer. "She needs help. You heard what happened to her. She is going to need a lot of therapy and counseling, at a minimum."

"What about her crimes?"

"For the student she attacked at school, if what she told us is true, we can hopefully get her a reduced sentence, putting her on probation and, if she can avoid any other incidents, her record will be wiped clean. There is also the issue of your son, but I am confident he is going to insist we ignore that part. Unless you wish us to report it, that is?"

Inko shook her head. "No, if that's what Izuku wants, I won't have you press charges. What about her parents?"

Midnight gave Inko a devilish smile that made her shudder. "After we got the report, we contacted some of UA's lawyers. When they are done with her parents, they'll be lucky if they aren't in jail."

Inko felt relieved by the answer. but she noticed the hero left an important question unanswered.

"Who is going to take care of her while she receives help?"

"We don't know," Kayama disclosed. "She is a very delicate case."

"She can live with us."

Inko's eyes went wide, not realizing what she said until the proposal had been said aloud. Midnight seemed equally surprised, staring at her with wide eyes before she recovered and offered her a smile.

"Are you really sure you want to do that?"

Inko took a moment to think about it. The hero was giving her a chance to take back her words but did she want to? Raising Izuku alone had been difficult, but between becoming friends with Ochako and opening up to her about Aldera, it had become a whole lot easier.

Having another child of her own was out of the question, not since Hisashi left, but does she have room for someone else in their small family?

Inko thought about her conversation with Izuku at the hospital. If he was willing to put himself at risk to help people, she could handle being a mother to someone who desperately needed one, couldn't she?

Inko didn't need much time to answer that.

With a determined look, she nodded. "I need to go talk to Toga first before I can agree to anything, but I mean what I said. Almost every day I think about everything Izuku has been through because he's quirkless. No child should go through anything like that. To hear about this girl being treated the way she has, just because her parents didn't like her quirk? It breaks my heart."

Midnight gave her a sly smile. "I see. It seems the apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all."

AN: Of course, capturing Toga was the easy part. Now comes the real work.