AN: Professor Donger: Behold a new chapter. We hope you guys enjoy it.

Damian: It's amazing what sleep deprivation and drugs can accomplish, huh? ...Anyways, enjoy!

Inko took a deep breath to calm herself. A noise from in front of her had her open her eyes and gratefully smile up at Jin as he set a cup of tea down in front of her. Breakfast was great, though a little awkward as Izumi refused to come down for it, instead opting to take breakfast in her room with Melissa.

After breakfast had wrapped up, Himiko left to drag Hisashi to look at UA's support department and eventually to meet with Nezu to set up some donations for the school. Jin, after giving Inko her tea and placing some snacks on the table, had decided to multiply himself and go treat all the dorms to breakfast… again. Honestly, Inko really thought he should just open his own restaurant at this point, he loves cooking so much.

With all of them off to do their own things, that left just three people in the building. Inko, Melissa, and… Izumi.

Jin had just left a minute ago, and Inko was already wishing that at least Hisashi had stayed, but it seemed his weak spot for Himiko that she had been told about was not exaggerated. He caved extremely quickly when she asked to show him the support studio.

Noise from the stairs drew Inko's attention, and she watched as both Izumi and Melissa came down hand in hand, Cat trailing behind them.

Izumi was trying to keep her eyes on the ground the whole time, but couldn't help but glance up, immediately regretting it when her eyes met Inko's. Multiple different emotions flashed across the gunslinger's face as she winced and looked back down, not seeing Inko's own pained expression.

Melissa sighed through her nose. She knew the coming conversation would be difficult for Izumi, but knew she needed it. And Melissa knew she couldn't be a part of that talk, for multiple reasons.

She squeezed Izumi's hand to get her attention, and once her green eyes were looking up at her, Melissa gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I'll be downstairs working," Melissa told her, "okay?"

Izumi took in a shaky breath as she briefly glanced in the vague direction of her mother, before looking back at Melissa with a pleading look. "Please don't go?" Inko noticed that her voice sounded a bit scratchy, and rough, probably from the shouting yesterday and she felt her heart sting a little more at that.

Melissa tried not to let the desperation in her girlfriend's voice get to her. Needless to say, it was a difficult task, but Melissa managed. "No, hon, you have to do this alone with her."

Izumi sighed but nodded as she looked down. "Okay…"

Melissa gave Izumi a smile and a peck on the cheek before motioning for Cat to follow her to the armory. She glanced at Inko and gave her a soft supportive smile.

It helped Inko more than she thought it would.

After a moment of staring at the door leading to the basement in longing, Izumi reluctantly sat down. Her hands were in her lap and her eyes were down as she fidgeted.

Inko wasn't much better. Her hand was slightly trembling as she thought about the whole reason the two were having this talk. Honestly, it terrified her to think about how this could end. It could end with Izumi resenting her forever, and Inko didn't think she could survive knowing that her daughter hated her. Or, it could end with them hopefully beginning to repair their relationship properly this time.

That was assuming the silence didn't kill her first.

Clearing her throat, Inko finally began to speak. "Did… um, did you sleep well last night?"

Izumi was still looking down but shrugged. "Kind of… not really."

Inko hummed tinkering with her teacup. "Me neither, which is odd considering how comfortable the bed was."

Izumi huffed out a quick laugh. "I know, right?" She finally looked up, though her eyes were closed with a slight smile. "UA's beds are the best."

"An absolute paradise."

"Like, I never want to get up."

"Can I just live the rest of my life here?"

Mother and daughter shared a quick laugh at their joking, the tension between them lightening up just a bit.

Inko sighed silently through her nose and looked down at her cup of tea, before sliding it over to Izumi. Izumi looked at her with a confused frown, though Inko just gestured to her throat. "You need it a lot more than me, you sound a little raw."

Izumi stared at her for a few more seconds before slowly picking up the cup. "Thanks, Mom." She rasped before taking a sip and was immediately grateful as the warm tea began to soothe her throat.

She sighed as she lowered the cup, and stared down at the tea, before getting tired of the silence as she went to open her mouth.

"Mom, I'm-"

"I'm so sorry." Inko cut her off, confusing Izumi. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that last night…"

"Mom-" Izumi tried but Inko continued unabated.

"It's just…you're my baby." Inko tried desperately not to cry. "You mean the world to me, you have since the day I found out I was having you, I just-" She took in a shuddering breath, "I just worry that one day you're going to go fight some super villain and end up coming back with even less of yourself than you have now, or worse!"

"Mama-"

"I was so close to losing you that day, I was terrified. And I try, I really try not to think about it, I try to tell myself that you're safe," Inko's voice was cracking, "but every time the subject of heroics comes up, I'm always reminded about how close I was to losing you, and how close I always am to losing you when you're fighting all these dangerous villains, and, and-"

"Mom!" Izumi shouted with a wince, she honestly tried not to yell but she had to raise her voice to cut off her mother from spiraling. She took another sip of tea to calm her nerves and soothe her throat again before continuing.

She sighed and stood up. "Give me a sec," She quickly raised a hand to get her already rising mother to sit down, "I'm not leaving, I just need to go up to my room to get something Mel put together. I didn't want to bring it out… but I think it'll help calm you down."

She quickly walked back upstairs, before returning moments later with a laptop under her arm.

"So, Melissa kinda already knew about your reservations about me being in heroics, apparently she shares some of them, and her anxiety is a lot worse than yours is on a good day, so to help herself out she compiled a…" Izumi paused as she pulled up the file, "...a PowerPoint? Really, Mel? Who the fuck still uses…?"

She shook her head as she sat down in the seat next to Inko. "Okay, it being a PowerPoint aside, she apparently made this to remind herself that I'm not in as much constant danger as she thinks. I haven't looked at it yet, so, let's take a look at it."

"You don't even know what's really on it?"

"I just know that it has a bunch of graphs outlining my case files and that's pretty much it." Izumi shrugged and then laughed at Inko's raised eyebrow. "I don't snoop on Melissa's stuff and she doesn't snoop on mine… well, most of the time. Granted when half the things I use are things she invented, I kind of don't have a say in the matter."

With that, she clicked on one of the slides and raised an eyebrow at what she saw.

"Holy shit she wasn't kidding when she said she made graphs."

"Izumi!"

"What!" She gestured to the computer. "Look at this!"

"Language!"

"I'm twenty-three!"

"I know, I just don't like hearing you curse!"

"Okay, okay," Izumi sighed, "I'll tone it down." She smirked. "...Fuck."

"IZUMI!" Inko yelled, but couldn't help but let out a laugh at her daughter's antics.

"Okay! That was the last one I promise!" Izumi giggled. Things may have been tense, but she still enjoyed making her mother laugh.

Inko took a look at the laptop and blinked at the number of total cases Izumi had completed. "That's… That's a big number."

Izumi took a look as well and blushed. "Yeah," she tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled, "your girl's been busy."

"You didn't even know you had this many solved cases or apprehended criminals, did you?"

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Izumi had no retort for that.

"I'm surprised this is in Japanese…" Inko muttered, causing Izumi to chuckle.

"Mel stayed up last night rewriting this before we went to bed. Pretty sure Cat helped her."

The two looked at the charts on the page and tried to figure out Melissa's thought process. The graphs were separated into three categories: Civil Service, Criminal Apprehension, and Counter-Terrorism.

Izumi at least understood the classifications, but noting Inko's blank look she translated the terms.

"Civil Services are just things like helping out in accidents, rescue operations, missing people, cats in trees-"

"That actually happens."

"More than you think. But yeah, that's the stuff that doesn't usually involve criminals, just unfortunate circumstances. Now Criminal Apprehension does involve, well, criminals. They're cases like bank robberies, assaults, drug busts, serial killers, basically anything that isn't terrorism."

Izumi paused. "Also for future reference, America doesn't do categories like Spotlight, Underground, or Rescue Heroes. Everyone is trained to do anything a hero would need to do. We're basically jack-of-all-trades when it comes to the emergency services."

Once she got her mother's nod of understanding she continued. "Counter-Terrorism is what it sounds like, basically stopping large-scale attacks that involve military grade weaponry, explosives, or highly destructive quirks." She tapped her prosthetic. "What happened to me all those years ago, and the USJ would qualify as these."

Inko, upon receiving this information, looked at the graph for Counter-Terrorism and saw that the numbers were shockingly low.

Izumi took notice of her confusion and decided it was the perfect opportunity to drive home the whole point of the graph. "Cases like Counter-Terrorism rarely ever happen, Mom. I'm not facing a highly dangerous villain every other week or anything. And the Criminal Apprehension cases aren't as dangerous as you think. Most bad guys are smart enough to surrender because they know that any force they try and use we have then the authority to respond with in kind, and no common thug wants to try and push a highly trained hero, they know they'll lose that fight, if they're smart that is."

Izumi paused and awkwardly scratched at her cheek. "Anyway, terrorism still happens, but I'm only called to help with situations that my skill set is needed for, or I get involved when I'm in the area." She grinned. "Most of the time though my jobs are pretty standard drug busts and organizational takedowns, like one time we had to go deal with the last drug cartel in Mexico, and they asked me to go deal with it. That was fun."

"Taking down a drug cartel is fun?"

"I mean, I got to wear a poncho, speak Spanish and decimate a drug cartel inside and out? What's not fun about that?" Izumi grinned and pointed at the computer. "And look, it's under Criminal Apprehension too."

Inko squinted at the computer "What was the name of that Cartel, sweetie?"

"The Mexico City Cartel, why?"

"What you're pointing at is about some drug bust in El Paso."

Izumi squinted at it and frowned before snapping her finger. "Oh, I remember." She turned to her mom to explain. "So this instance was the Mexico City Cartel, they got caught trying to smuggle drugs into the US. That's when US officials offered to send me down to Mexico to help deal with it." She clicked on the graph showing Counter-Terrorism. "Yep there they are, though honestly they were pretty easy for us to deal with, so I wouldn't really consider it counter-terrorism."

"Difficulty doesn't affect its classification, Izumi. You literally just explained how these worked!"

"It's the principle of it!"

Inko gave her an unimpressed look before sighing. "I… I don't know honey," she frowned, "I know you said extremely dangerous instances don't happen as often, but I still worry."

Izumi looked down at her hands, specifically her prosthetic one, and remembered what Hisashi had told her last night. "I know, Mom. I know you worry about me because you love me, it's just… I'm not made of glass. I'm not weak. I know what I'm doing, I just…" She sighed as she looked away, "I just wish you'd be able to trust me after everything."

Inko felt a bit of panic rise within her. 'No, I'm losing her! Pull her back in!'

She reached out and grabbed Izumi's prosthetic hand with her own. "I-I do trust you, sweetie. That doesn't mean I don't worry about you, you're my baby, like I said. I don't like seeing you get hurt or thinking about you getting hurt, and you have no idea how hard it is not being able to do anything about it. Hisashi can make you a new eye, or any support gear you need, and now you even have Melissa for that. But me?" Inko looked down and felt a tear roll down her eye. "I'm useless to you. I've always been."

Izumi's eyes widened and she spun her head around to look at Inko. "Mama…"

"I have failed you your entire life, I let you go to that horrible school, face horrible discrimination, and let you feel like you were all alone. But then when you moved away when Hisashi told me how you were doing, he said you were happy. You were happier in America," Inko hiccuped as her voice cracked, "happier without me."

Through the tears in her eyes, Inko saw Izumi shift so that her body was facing her as she reached out and clasped Inko's hand in both of hers. "Mama, I cried sometimes at night while I was in America because I missed you."

Inko wiped her tears away with her free hand. "What?"

Izumi blushed as she looked off to the side. "Yeah… I cried myself to sleep sometimes. I didn't really miss Japan," she looked back at Inko and smiled, "I just missed the people I left here."

Izumi paused to take a deep breath, steeling herself. "I know I may have said some… things to you, things I said out of anger, things I never should have said, but I want you to know that what I said wasn't true. You are a great mom, you're my mom. You raised me, without you, I probably would have become… I don't know, some hateful bitch or something."

"Watch your language in front of your mother, young lady," Inko gave a wet chuckle, "I raised you better than that."

Izumi gave a laugh of her own, a few tears leaking from her good eye. "You did… sorry."

The two sat there in silence for a moment, before moving at the same time to wrap each other in a hug.

"You're an amazing mom, okay? I'm sorry I said all those things to you." Izumi said as she tried to hold back her sobs.

Inko wasn't as successful as her daughter, sobbing into Izumi's shirt as she said, "It's okay, sweetie. You were angry and I didn't do enough to help you when you needed me most. I'm so sorry!" She held onto Izumi tighter. "I want you to know how proud I am of you. You're an amazing young woman, and an incredible hero too, and you'll only become even more amazing because that's just what you do, you'll never stop impressing everyone."

Izumi sniffed as she also held Inko tighter. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Izumi."

They stayed like that for a little longer, enjoying each other's company and letting everything that had happened wash over them before Inko spoke once again.

"Your father told me you have a therapist?"

Izumi nodded awkwardly "Melissa kinda strong-armed me into it after we became friends… It was one of her stipulations for working with me."

"Good girl."

"Mom!"

"What? She seems like a great girl!" The two chuckled before Inko got serious again. "What are you going to do now that you're here? I assume your current therapist is back in the States."

Izumi frowned. "We called mine before we went to bed last night, because of the time zone differences, and she basically told me that she can't do phone therapy, so…"

"So what? Are you gonna get a therapist licensed in Japan?" Inko asked.

Izumi shrugged, "Hound Dog is a certified therapist, so I could go to him if I wanted to…"

'Which I don't want to.' It went unsaid, but Izumi didn't like the idea of a new therapist, let alone one that was her coworker. She didn't like the thought of unloading all of her baggage on someone she hardly knew. Hell, it took her a while to start opening up to her old therapist, and she only did it because of Melissa.

Inko, through mother's intuition, knew Izumi was holding something back, and opened her mouth to question her-

And then the front door burst open as the giant form of the Symbol of Peace came sliding in.

"I AM HERE! To collect Young Midoriya!"

Inko nearly jumped out of her skin at All Might's bombastic entrance. "All Might, you scared me!"

Izumi was trying not to laugh. She failed.

"My apologies, Missus Midoriya," All Might said, "but Nezu has requested that I come and retrieve Izumi. She is needed."

Izumi was confused by that. "Wait, now? What for?"

All Might may have had on his permanent smile, but the light of it dimmed just a little as he said his next words.

"A representative of the Hero Public Safety Commission is here."

Izumi stared at All Might for a bit before finally finding her voice.

"Mother fuckers."

"Language!"

Izumi had changed out of her lounge clothes into something more presentable before leaving with Toshinori, promising to her mother that she'd set up therapy with Hound Dog as well as do something together with her when she had free time, and leaving Inko to continue looking through the PowerPoint.

Currently, Izumi and Toshinori were both at the main building of UA, taking the elevator up to Nezu's office.

"Is it me," Izumi sighed, "or does it feel like this elevator is going slower than normal?"

Toshinori was currently in his skinny form to save energy, his awesomely bad yellow-striped suit seeming too big for his skinny form. "Knowing Nezu, he probably messed with it.

"Probably. Don't know whether to be thankful for that or not." Izumi crossed her arms and tapped her finger against the material of her prosthetic. "Fuck, this is gonna suck."

Toshinori chuckled, "At least you are not gonna have to worry about keeping yourself from deflating like I did during my meeting."

Izumi looked over and raised an eyebrow. "You already went through yours? How'd that go?"

Toshinori sighed, "Tiring."

Izumi hummed as she looked forward. "...I fucking hate politics."

"I'm not exactly sure this is gonna get that political, Izumi."

"I'm about to deal with a representative from a bureaucratic branch of the government, it's politics in my book."

"Just, try not to be cracking jokes constantly. It won't end well with these people."

"Oh, don't worry," Izumi shook her head, "I'm not exactly in a joking mood right now."

Toshinori glanced at her, before looking forward. "That concerns me more than it probably should."

The elevator doors finally opened and the two heroes stepped out and headed towards Nezu's office, Toshinori shifting into his buff form with a grunt as they neared the doors.

They stopped just before the doors, and Toshinori looked at his honorary niece. "Are you ready?"

Izumi held up a finger. "One second, I need to get this out now."

She walked over to the wall, leaned her forehead against it, and let out a long and loud groan as if she were some child being forced to do chores.

Toshinori felt a bit of sweat run down his forehead as he watched Izumi finish clearing her system before, as if a switch was flipped, she was standing up straight and looking professional as ever.

"Okay, I'm ready." She said with a completely calm voice.

Toshinori coughed into his hand nervously, worried for the sanity of everyone involved in this meeting, before opening the door.

"Ah, Miss Midoriya," Nezu greeted from his desk, and Izumi already took notice of the woman in a suit sitting in one of the chairs in front of the principal's desk. "I'm glad you could join us so suddenly. I hope this wasn't an inconvenient time?"

Izumi shook her head. "Not exactly inconvenient, more surprising," she walked over, standing next to the only other empty seat instead of sitting just yet, "I thought this would be happening later."

"Yes, it was supposed to," the woman, who Izumi already guessed was the HPSC agent, said, "but I was sent here sooner than planned since the commission is rather busy with this whole… fiasco."

"I suppose that's one way to describe it," Izumi deadpanned.

Nezu looked towards Toshinori. "Thank you, All Might. You're excused."

Toshinori nodded and gave Izumi a pat on the shoulder before he left the office.

Nezu gestured to the empty chair. "Please, Midoriya, sit."

Izumi took the invitation and sat down without comment

"Before we begin would anyone –" Nezu began only to be cut off by the agent.

"Principal Nezu, while I appreciate the hospitality, now isn't the time. We still have to interview Thirteen and Eraserhead. I would like to get the more problematic of the trio out of the way while we can."

Izumi turned her head to the agent and raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her voice remained perfectly calm despite her already growing annoyance.

"Well, correct me if I'm mistaken," the agent began, "but out of the three teachers present at the USJ, you are were the one who has caused the most problems with your actions, Flintlock."

Izumi hummed, tilting her head as she feigned ignorance. "Could you elaborate?"

"Gladly." The agent looked down at what appeared to be some notes on a clipboard. "To put it plainly, showing up late to your own class, distributing firearms to unlicensed individuals, students no less, getting said students involved in fighting the present villains, oh, and of course, killing a villain right in front of students." She shrugged as she looked back at Izumi. "Now, I'm sure you're at least smart enough to understand the issues here, correct?"

Izumi nodded, all the while having the lovely fantasy of shooting the bitch in front of her with rubber bullets.

Nezu thankfully interjected. "I will be frank with you, most of those issues were already covered in the report on Miss Midoriya that I sent to the Commission. Miss Midoriya had a family emergency that she was taking care of at the time of class, once that was handled she notified me and was already on her way post haste which was why we even discovered the problem in the first place. With regard to the firearms, she is licensed to distribute firearms to any hero or student she deems necessary within NATO-aligned countries, which we are part of, might I remind you."

Nezu took a sip of the tea he had on hand and pushed a cup toward Izumi, who accepted it with a small smile. He then continued. "As part of her contract, which I also sent you, she is allowed to single out any student that shows an interest in firearms as a whole and train them in their use, she is also the primary heroics instructor after all. In addition, the guns she handed out were modified not to fire live ammunition, only capture rounds or rubber bullets, so therefore they could be considered, and have been registered as support items."

If looks could kill Nezu would probably be dead as the agent glared at him, and Izumi was immensely grateful to him for getting some of the heat off of her.

She chose that moment to speak, rather than let the government stooge get a word in. "I have a list of every firearm I've brought to the country as part of my armory, I can provide it to the Commission, it has the serial numbers as well as pictures and descriptions for each gun."

"And how many guns did you bring into the country, Miss Midoriya?"

"...uhh." Izumi paused as her cyber eye started taking inventory. She opened her mouth to say a number but stopped as the number kept climbing. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

"You can just put 'a lot' in your report." Nezu's smile widened slightly as he sipped his tea, knowing he annoyed the agent by doing that and taking immense pleasure in doing so.

"She cannot-!"

Nezu ignored her. "As for the students fighting villains, they are heroes in training and were thrown into a situation where they needed to defend themselves or die. Even if self-defense laws didn't cover situations such as this, which I assure you ma'am, they do, UA's charter as not only a hero school but a hero agency in its own right would." Nezu took a sip of his tea once more. "Miss Midoriya giving them permission was just a formality at that point."

"That's not –!"

"I assure you, if you look at the Charter this school was founded on, the Charter the Diet itself signed, you will find that students when given permission by teachers, pro-heroes, other emergency officials or in instances of life or death situations, have the right to defend themselves with any means necessary, with UA taking full responsibility for any damages caused by their lack of training." Nezu's air of geniality was gone and was replaced by something that even sent a shiver down Izumi's spine. "I swear to you, drop the matter of my students, or you will not like what happens next, Madam."

"Are you… threatening me?" The agent asked incredulously.

"Yes." Nezu once more sipped his tea.

"...fine." She huffed as she looked down at her notes.

'Well, at least she ain't a complete dumb bitch.' Izumi thought as she too drank her tea. Nezu may have been a very intelligent animal, but he was still an animal. False threats were not a concept he subscribed to.

"We still need to talk about your use of lethal force." The agent said.

"Oh, that's an easy explanation," Izumi began, "A villain was killing one of my students, and the only way to save him was to kill the villain."

"You're certain about that?" The agent looked at Izumi.

"Absolutely. There was no guaranteed way I could have taken the villain down non-lethally with the position I was in."

The agent clicked her tongue as she looked down at her clipboard. "Don't know what I expected from a quirkless." She muttered.

Izumi blinked. "...Excuse me?'

Nezu slowly put his cup down and his frown could freeze water. "Ma'am, that-"

"No, no," Izumi waved Nezu to stop, "let her continue."

"I'm just saying," the agent shook her head, not seeing the dark aura starting to seep out from Izumi, "a hero with a good quirk would have been able to save that student without resorting to such lethal methods, unlike you who probably has to kill every other villain you come across because you simply don't have the power to take them alive. How someone of your kind is allowed to be a hero is beyond me."

Izumi continued to stare at the HPSC agent, and Nezu honestly thought he was about to witness a murder. Nezu thought about his options and came to a conclusion…

He liked Miss Midoriya far more than he did the HPSC.

So, he decided, if Izumi did end up killing the agent in his office, he'd help her hide the body and become an accomplice instead.

Luckily for the agent, Izumi decided to choose mercy. She didn't even threaten the agent. Instead, she did something that confused Nezu.

She laughed.

It started with a small huff, then a chuckle, and progressed until Izumi was bent over in her seat laughing.

The agent looked up from her clipboard, visible confusion on her face.

Izumi eventually managed to speak through her laughing fit. "Oh, I get it! You're an idiot!"

The agent once again looked outraged. "Excuse me?!"

Izumi was happy to continue. "You think every hero is perfect." She spat, the happiness gone from her voice. She resisted the urge to stand up and instead gripped her seat hard enough with her prosthetic hand that the wooden arm cracked. "Your tiny little bigoted brain just thinks 'if the right quirk was there the situation would have been handled non-lethally' and you know what's great!?" She turned to the agent and scowled. "You actually believe the shit you're peddling."

"Now see here –!"

"Outside of All Might, because let's be honest he's amazing, how many of your precious pro heroes could have ended that situation non-lethally?" Izumi growled. "Show the footage to the top fifty and ask them what they could have done to end it without the student in question dying. I can only think of maybe three off the top of my head that could have maybe gotten up that mountain fast enough and stopped the villain before the student died."

"That's no –"

"Hawks could do it, no doubt, he's fast, and his wings have a ranged option so he doesn't need to be directly on top of someone. Maybe Miruko, if she was quick enough." She grinned. "What about Endeavor? Man does solid work but that mountain would be molten slag if he let loose his quirk and he's not fast enough to scale it before, again, the student dies." Izumi loosened her grip on the chair, pieces of metal and wood falling to the floor.

She shook her head. "Actually I rescind my statement, you aren't an idiot." She paused for a second before nodding. "You're a religious idiot."

"Wh –"

"You believe heroes are perfect paragons." This time Izumi did stand and leaned to look at the agent, eyes wide and angry. "You believe they are like those old comics from pre-quirk times. Living for truth, justice, the American Way and always saving the fucking day." She flexed her prosthetic. "You don't notice our failures, and if you do you just spit them back at us because heroes can't fail."

"And you're right, we can't fail, because people count on us to keep them safe. That's why I had to kill that villain because if I didn't if I let that bastard kill my student because of some moral code all heroes must abide by, then I failed at my job, maintaining law and order, and more importantly protecting the innocent."

Izumi looked at Nezu and bowed respectfully. "Sorry about the chair, take it out of my salary." She then turned to the agent once more. "Know this, I am not officially under your jurisdiction, I am on loan to UA and Japan by the United States Government. I answer to the HPSC as a courtesy, not out of obligation. I follow Japanese laws and procedures when I can, but ultimately I am beholden to NATO's Charter for Global Heroics. If you continue to have issues with the way I handled the situation at the USJ you can take it up with them, or you can deal with my lawyers. Your choice."

With that Izumi left, not even bothering to wait for permission.

The agent sat there, stunned and silent.

The only noise was Nezu gingerly drinking his tea before he gave her a wide smile.

"That went rather well."

Izumi would be the first to admit that she lost her cool back in that office but in her defense…

Okay, yeah, she had no defense except that the agent just struck the wrong cord and pissed her the fuck off.

She didn't want to go back to the dorm. She didn't want to go back to her mother, angry as she was, so she decided to go for a walk.

A walk far away from UA, taking her motorcycle out to a quiet neighborhood and parking it in the street before just wandering. She wasn't exactly sure where she was, and she didn't really care. She just needed to clear her head.

'Come on, Midoriya.' She mentally berated herself. 'You've been losing it lately. Fuck, it's like this country just brings out the worst in me.'

She missed home…

She let out a long sigh as she fiddled with one of the tightening strings on her jacket. She needed to get her shit together, she couldn't be blowing up like that. It must have been the stress of the last couple of days, what with the USJ, the fight with her mom, and the meeting she just had.

She needed a distraction.

And that's when she felt something run into her leg with an "oof!"

"Hm?" Izumi blinked as she turned to her left and saw no one.

Then she looked down and saw a little white-haired girl on the ground. Poor thing must have fallen on her butt after bumping into Izumi.

"Oh, hello there," Izumi said in as soft a voice as she could muster as she bent down to help the little girl up.

The little girl shook out of her daze and looked up at Izumi with red eyes before flinching away from the hand, scared.

Izumi hesitated before slowly crouching down to appear smaller. "Hey, it's okay," she gave a kind smile, "I'm not upset, it was an accident. They happen. I won't hurt you."

Izumi held out her hand for the little girl to take when she felt ready to. The girl stared at the offered hand for a little bit before slowly taking it and allowing Izumi to pull her up to her feet. Izumi also stood up and moved to release the girl's hand.

Only the girl didn't seem to want to let go.

"Uhm…"

"Eri!" Izumi looked up in the direction of the alley the girl had run out from, hearing a man yell out a name.

"Brat, where'd you go?!" She heard another man yell.

For a split second, Izumi thought maybe they were the little girl, Eri's parents. That was until said little girl started trembling and clung tighter to Izumi's arm, trying to get behind her.

That's when Izumi finally noticed Eri's apparel. Her clothes could barely be considered such, they were filthy, probably from her tumble but even the "dress" Eri wore was super worn down. Her hair was dirty, it was a mess of tangles and knots like she hadn't showered in a while, which would also explain the smell.

And then Izumi noticed Eri's bandaged arms and legs, and the lack of any footwear.

Add all that on top of her seeming to be running scared of the men calling out her name…

'Oh… oh fuck no.'

Izumi already knew what was happening, and already began to get ready.

Unfortunately, her mark 1 arm didn't have the inventory function her mark 2 had, so she didn't have her guns, and the teleport functionality wasn't working, so she couldn't call on any.

'But… I could call on something else though,' she thought as her cyber eye flashed green.

Meanwhile, she gently began to push Eri so the little girl was behind her. "Just stay back there, okay sweetie?"

Eri didn't say anything, just whimpered and clung to Izumi's leg.

"Honey, I'm gonna need you to not hold my leg so tight," Izumi said as she saw two figures approaching her from the alley, "I need it."

"There she is." One of the men said as he pointed to Eri.

"Ah, finally. Eri, come on, now's not the time for games." The other said, trying to sound like he was simply Eri's caretaker.

Izumi felt Eri tighten her grip on her pant leg and knew she needed to stall. "Morning fellas." She smiled.

"Hey, sorry about Eri," one of the men said, "she's being a little brat right now. Didn't get her way, you know how kids are."

"Well, I guess we were all bratty kids at one point." Izumi resisted the urge to frown.

"Yeah, well, we'll just be on our way." The man held his hand out. "Eri, come. Your… father is waiting for you."

Eri flinched and whimpered once more as she tried to merge with Izumi's leg to get away.

Izumi raised an eyebrow "You aren't even her dad?"

"We're babysitting. Look, lady, it's none of your business." He glared at Eri. "Eri, now!"

This time, Izumi frowned. "Hey, I know you're babysitting but you really shouldn't be yelling at her like that. You're scaring her."

"I don't give a damn." The man said.

"And now you're cursing in front of her." Izumi clicked her tongue. "You know, I'm starting to think you're not babysitters."

The man groaned, and his buddy glanced around the street before speaking. "There's no one here…"

"Yeah…" the other guy smirked.

"I know, pretty quiet street, huh?" Izumi continued to banter, and her eye momentarily glanced at the alley behind them before she looked back at the men, her smile widening just a little.

"Okay, look here lady," the man stepped forward as he reached behind him, and started to-

Pull his spine out… gross.

The bone started to shift and eventually resembled something close to a sword.

"We don't have time for games. Hand over the girl, or you'll get hurt."

Izumi's face had settled into a neutral expression as she nodded. "Mm-hm, okay, first off that." She gestured to his spine sword, "is cool and gross. Secondly," she lifted her hand and pointed behind the "babysitters". "You might want to take that up with her."

The other guy blinked before he turned to look into the alley they had just come from. In the dark, he saw a few red lights and a shadow that was vaguely in the shape of an animal.

That's about all he could process before some sort of mechanical panther pounced on him with a roar.

"Holy shit!" the bone guy shouted, he turned to help his friend only to flinch as Izumi pried Eri off of her leg and kicked him behind the knee.

He tried to scream, but Izumi slammed his mouth shut with her biological hand before grabbing his throat with her whole prosthetic arm, choking him out.

"Shh, shh." She whispered as he struggled, trying to hit her with his bone sword but because of the angle, he couldn't reach her. "No fear… Only dreams."

Okay, she had a bit too much fun at that moment, but she deserved a bit of fun dammit!

The man conked out a moment later, Izumi checked his pulse, but honestly, at that point, she really didn't care if the scumbag survived or not.

She then looked over to see how her feline companion was doing and chuckled when she noticed that the other guy was busy getting tazed by an electric bite to the arm.

"Cat, don't kill him," Izumi said. "We need him alive for questioning."

Cat looked up at Izumi and didn't break eye contact as she let go of the man's arm, but the guy was already incapacitated.

"Good girl, now call the police, I gotta check on the kid," Izumi said as she looked over to where she left Eri, who was standing there frozen and looking at the unconscious bodies of the thugs who were chasing her.

Izumi walked over and crouched down. Eri looked at her with wide eyes, though surprisingly they were no longer scared.

"Hey kiddo, sorry you had to see-"

Izumi was cut off as Eri surged forward and hugged Izumi's leg, returning to where she had left off, not letting Izumi go.

"...that." Izumi finished her sentence, a little stunned.

"...Thank you."Eri whispered into Izumi's leg, Izumi chose to ignore the wet patch that was starting to form and just ruffled the girl's hair softly.

"It's what heroes do, kid." She continues to gently pet Eri's hair before once more frowning at the little girl's abysmal attire.

"Here," Izumi took off her jacket and wrapped it around Eri, "it's just a jacket, but it's better than whatever that is you have on."

The sound of air displacing caused Izumi to look up and smile as her eye locked onto the rapidly approaching form of All Might. She picked up Eri and held her close, showing Eri that she wasn't afraid of the newcomer, so Eri shouldn't be either.

"I AM HERE… again!"

"Hey All Might, I thought I told Cat to call the police?" Izumi glanced at Cat, who had transformed back to her non-combat state and had jumped up onto Toshinori's broad shoulder.

Eri was staring at her with wide eyes.

"I was closer." All Might nodded while Cat nodded along in sync.

Izumi sighed and was about to say something when Eri tugged on her shirt. She quickly glanced at the little girl who pointed at All Might.

"C…can I hold… Cat?"

Izumi felt her heart both melt and break simultaneously, she quickly walked over to Toshinori and lifted Eri so she could pick Cat up off his shoulders. She was grateful to her honorary Uncle for toning his normally boisterous personality down a bit in front of the obviously struggling girl.

Eri held Cat in her arms, the two staring at each other before Cat mewled in Eri's hold. Eri then hugged the robotic feline close.

"S…soft."

Cat looked smug.

Izumi pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, Uncle Might just take these goons to the nearest police station." She paused "Tell them Flintlock would like any information they obtain from them pertaining to who they work for and so on."

All Might picked the two up without complaint and chuckled. "Are you that bored of teaching already that you're taking on investigations again?"

Izumi huffed. "Yeah, as if I need to give Melissa an excuse to plug back in the coffee machine." Izumi shifted Eri and Cat's weight in her arms and frowned "But yeah, at least for now. I want to figure out why these idiots were after such a sweet little girl, and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."

All Might nodded "That's understandable, I'll take these two and get someone I know to look into the case, he's good at getting to the truth of the matter."

"Thanks, now, I need to get back to my bike and figure out how I'm getting us home," Izumi mumbled as she turned to head back.

"'Us'?" All Might chuckled. "Young Flintlock, don't tell me you ate about to adopt another sibling into your family."

"What? It wouldn't be the first time I've falsified a record for someone." Izumi grinned and looked at Eri who was dozing off as she finally started to relax in her arms. "And besides, that's not the plan this time."

"Ah, I see." All Might nodded as if he was some sort of great sage. "You plan to adopt her as your daughter then!"

Izumi froze in her tracks, Eri stirring in her arms at the sudden jolt before she once again started to go to sleep.

Izumi turned back to look at All Might, her face red with embarrassment. She started to stutter a response, to try and tell him off, but the Symbol of Peace was already soaring through the air with the unconscious criminals, laughing loudly now that he wasn't directly next to them and at risk of scarring Eri.

Dammit.

"Cat get started on those records, before doing anything try and find any info you can about her. I gotta think of a way to explain this to everyone else…"

Cat nodded from the comfort of Eri's arms, the little girl's grip not loosening much despite her being asleep. Izumi sighed as she walked back to her bike, trying not to let Toshinori's words mess with her head.

She was not adopting…

No matter how appealing the idea was to her.

Eri snuggled into the crook of Izumi's shoulder and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep.

…Oh fuck.

She was screwed, wasn't she?

And so it was a little while later that Izumi was sitting on the couch of her living room, both Inko and Hisashi standing up in front of her, their gazes fixed on the little girl wrapped in their daughter's jacket as Izumi held her in her arms.

Izumi had the decency to at least look embarrassed. "Uhm… I can explain."

Inko put her hands together and held them in front of her face as she took a deep breath. Beside her, Hisashi crossed his arms as he looked at Izumi with a raised eyebrow.

"Firefly," Hisashi was giving Izumi a knowing smile, "we already know where this is going."

Jin could be heard yelling from the kitchen, "I am preparing a 'Welcome to the Family' dinner right now! It's going to be my best work yet! I'm putting in minimal effort!"

"First off Jin, it's barely the afternoon, too early to start dinner. Secondly, that's not what's happening this time!" Izumi tried to defend herself, not yelling too loud so she didn't scare Eri.

Unfortunately, her little sister wasn't so subtle.

"Wait!" Himiko yelled as she leaned over the back of one of the nearby chairs, her eyes wide with excitement. "Does this mean I get to be Big Sister Himi?!"

Izumi groaned.

Inko exhaled as she too crossed her arms. "No, Himiko, you will not be Big Sister Himi."

"Aww!" Himiko whined.

Izumi sighed in relief. "Oh, Ma, thank you. Finally, someone who-" She was cut off by Inko continuing.

"You're going to be Aunty Himi," Inko said with a straight face, gesturing at Izumi. "Clearly Izumi is planning on adopting this little cutie as her daughter!"

"Yay!" Himiko cheered.

Izumi yelled, "Mama, no!"

Inko yelled, "Mama, yes!"

Izumi was about to continue arguing when Eri let out a small noise in her arms. She looked down and saw that Eri was trying to hide away from everyone, trying her hardest to seemingly merge with Izumi as Eri pushed against her chest.

"Okay, you all are scaring her," Izumi said as she stood up. "This little thing is nervous, tired, and dirty. I'm gonna go give her a bath. Jin, have a plate ready for her and just take hers and mine to my room, I don't think she'll be comfortable eating around people." She paused "Don't overload it with food, we don't know how much she can eat,"

"You got it!" Jin gave a thumbs-up before disappearing into the kitchen.

Izumi smiled down at Eri. "Alright, you, let's get you all cleaned up." She moved to go up the stairs before she paused. "But first, what's your favorite food?"

Eri didn't answer immediately, instead, she rubbed Cat's head, who purred at the contact.

"...Apples." She quietly answered.

Izumi smiled at that and looked back to tell Jin, but Hisashi waved her off, silently communicating that he'll let Jin know and that Izumi could continue getting Eri cleaned up.

Izumi started walking upstairs. "We'll be down in a bit. Has anyone seen Mel?"

Inko shook her head. "I'm pretty sure she's downstairs working on your suit, I'll go down and get her."

Izumi chuckled with a shake of her head. "Good luck, she's like Pa when he gets an idea, honestly just tell Jin to bring her a plate and leave her be, make sure to hide the caffeine from her, that'll get her to stop…" Izumi paused and frowned, "...eventually."

She then looked back to Eri who was still nervously petting Cat. "Let's get you in the bath, little cutie, gotta get you squeaky clean for dinner."

With that Izumi, Eri, and Cat walked upstairs, leaving the rest of the family to their own devices.

Silence hung in the air, with the only sound being Jin at work over in the kitchen.

Himiko was the first to speak as she looked over at her parents. "She's got it bad doesn't she?"

Hisashi just snorted out a laugh, some embers leaving his nose and causing him to cough while Inko just nodded.

"We'll get Cat to file the adoption papers after we get her records sorted out."

He heard a sniff from his side and turned to see that Inko was on the verge of tears.

"Inko? My love, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.

"I'm a grandma!" Inko wailed.

Hisashi shook his head and gave his wife a pat on the back while Himiko giggled.

At least she and Izumi weren't fighting anymore, that was something, right?

Izumi ran a warm bath for Eri as the little girl sat on the counter, holding Cat close.

"Okay, that should be good. Not too hot…" Izumi muttered to herself, she then stood and turned to Eri. "Alright, sweetie, you're gonna have to let Cat go."

Eri frowned and held Cat just a bit tighter, the robot not minding the attention one bit.

Izumi sighed. "I know you don't want to, but you have to. Cat doesn't like water," she looked off to the side and grumbled, "Even though the little turd is waterproof."

Cat gave an annoyed meow.

"Don't back sass me Cat, you literally can't be hurt by water, your frame is vacuum sealed."

Cat's response to that was to look away and lick at her paws.

Izumi shook her head, "Yeah, that's about what I expected. Okay, getting off track. Eri, honey, please let go of Cat, you can snuggle with her after your bath but you have to be cleaned up, I don't like seeing you so dirty."

Eri gave out a soft whimper but nodded and let Cat go as she leaped down to the ground.

"Thank you, Eri." Izumi looked at Cat. "Go to my room and see if you can find anything she can wear, yeah?"

Cat nodded and immediately left the restroom so that she was no longer at risk of getting wet.

Nodding in approval, Izumi turned back to Eri. "Let's get you ready for your bath." She reached over to one of the little girl's arms and started to pull at the filthy bandages. "We'll start with these-"

"No!" Eri pulled her arm away and curled in on herself. Izumi frowned at the fear in Eri's voice.

"Honey, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just taking the bandages off. I need to so you can take a bath, and besides they're filthy."

"...the marks," Eri whispered.

"Oh," Izumi hummed, "you don't want me to see your scars? Are those what you have underneath?"

Eri sniffed but nodded.

"It's okay. Hey, I have scars too." Izumi told her with a smile.

"You do?" Eri looked up.

"Yeah, look, got a few small ones on my face, and this one by my eye," Izumi pointed at each of her visible scars, letting Eri get a look before she looked at her prosthetic. "And… I have this one too."

Izumi held her arm up for Eri to see, and only now did she seem to realize that Izumi's arm wasn't fleshy like her other one.

"I lost my arm to some bad people who wanted to hurt me," Izumi explained. "I had to get a new one."

Eri stared at the prosthetic arm, reaching out and touching it gently with her small hand.

"We've both been hurt, Eri. I won't be afraid or disgusted by your scars if that's what you're worried about." Izumi smiled at her. "It just means you've survived some scary things, and that you're tougher for it." She tilted Eri's face up to look at her, "And hey, after the bath, we can get you something nice and soft to cover them up with, that'll be better than these gross bandages huh?"

Hesitantly, Eri nodded and lifted her arms, letting Izumi unwrap the bandages, which the young heroine did gently, so as to not startle the little girl. After getting those done she helped Eri get out of her "dress", before unwrapping her legs as well.

After that was done, Izumi frowned as she looked at Eri's messy hair. "Okay, sweetie give me one sec." With that she stood up and began to strip down herself, putting her clothes in the hamper that was next to the door while throwing Eri's into the trash (not like she was ever gonna put those back on). She then searched under the sink and grinned as she found the bucket that she was looking for.

"Alright!" She pulled up a stool and quickly sat Eri down on it, before filling the bucket with some water from the bath. "I'm gonna dump this on you okay? Close your eyes?" Eri looked up at Izumi with wide eyes and she immediately realized her mistake. "How about you do me first?" Izumi grinned, leaning down and holding the bucket out for the little girl.

Eri hesitated for a moment but nodded in agreement. Izumi knelt down low enough and held onto the bucket, positioning it just over her head, helping Eri as she tipped the bucket over and dumped the water over the top of her head. Eri flinched when Izumi opened her eyes and smiled at her, her green hair soaked. "See? It's not so bad."

The gunslinger refilled the bucket and motioned for Eri to turn around, which the little girl did. "Be strong, okay? This is to make you nice and clean." When she received a nod of affirmation from Eri she dumped the water over her.

Eri quickly opened her eyes and shook her hair out, while Izumi smiled at her. "Now that wasn't so bad huh?"

Eri nodded. "...warm."

Izumi's smile widened as she pulled out two of her favorite shampoos and body washes, a lavender-scented hair wash and a sage body wash.

She took a sponge and started softly lathering the body wash onto Eri, making sure to get her clean everywhere she could before then taking the hair wash and rubbing it into the little girl's hair, careful not to touch her horn since she didn't know if it had nerve endings or not.

"Keep your eyes closed, sweetie, I don't want the soap getting in them okay?"

Eri just let out a hum as Izumi's fingers worked their magic through her hair, she seemed to be enjoying the feeling so Izumi took that as a win. After a few more minutes of rubbing Eri's scalp to make sure the shampoo did its thing Izumi once more filled the bucket and dumped it over her. Cleansing the soap and dirt from her.

Her hair no longer looked like a brown gray mess but closer to what Izumi assumed was its natural white coloration, which made her happy.

"And upsy-daisy!" Izumi lifted Eri into the air, the little girl letting out a "whoa" at the sudden movement. Izumi dangled Eri just above the water, saying, "Let me know if it's too hot or cold, 'kay?"

Eri nodded as she was gently lowered into the water. Izumi had filled the tub to be about chest height for Eri, so the moment she was fully in her eyes widened as the warm water washed over her. She looked up at Izumi with her red eyes that were just too adorable for a child with so many scars.

Izumi was going to find whoever hurt this darling child and have words with them.

She may even have to borrow Sweet Business back from Pony for said "conversation".

She quickly washed her own body and joined Eri in the tub, mainly to make sure she wasn't going to drown but also because honestly after the day she had, Izumi needed to relax too.

She took her prosthetic off as she entered and left it on the side of the tub, She'd need to clean it later but right now she was more focused on Eri, who she sat behind, making sure to give her plenty of room to play around if she wished.

…maybe she should have gotten a rubber duck?

She resisted the urge to close her eyes like she normally would in the bath, instead focusing on Eri who in turn was focusing on her stump. Izumi lifted it and waved it at Eri with a grin. "I told you, I have my own scars too, no need to worry."

Eri silently touched Izumi's arm, running her hand over her elbow with wide curious eyes.

"Let me know when you want to get out okay?" Izumi prompted. "Don't want to get wrinkly in here."

Eri nodded and turned back around, leaning against Izumi's chest and closing her eyes as she let the feeling of the warm water calm her down.

Izumi ran her hand through Eri's hair as the girl relaxed. She was so glad that she had taken that walk…

She just needed to find a proper home for her an –

"Mmm," Eri mumbled as she leaned into Izumi's touch, consciousness slowly leaving her. "Mama…"

Izumi felt her heart stop and she stopped running her hand through Eri's hair for a second before continuing, her cheeks flushed red.

Oh.

Oh Izumi was fucked, wasn't she?

There was a knock on the door to the bathroom and a familiar voice followed it.

"Hey, babe?" Melissa asked as she entered, "Not trying to interrupt your bath, but I wanted to ask why Cat teleported away earlier so… suddenly…" Melissa trailed off as her eyes widened at the sight of her girlfriend and a little girl that wasn't here earlier bathing together.

Thankfully Eri had fallen asleep in the bath, so Izumi quickly lifted a finger to her mouth and shooshed Melissa.

She opened her mouth to try and give an explanation of some sort, but the only thing to leave Izumi's mouth was, "...I can explain?"

She wasn't even sure she could at this point.

She sighed. "Can you just get me some clothes? And find something for Eri?" She gestured to the sleeping girl in front of her. "Something soft like pajamas? And something to cover her arms and legs? She's self-conscious about them."

"Y-yeah," Melissa nodded dumbly, "I'll uh… I'll see if Army-chan can fabricate something."

Izumi nodded and gave Melissa an appreciative smile before it turned into a slight smirk. "Mel, you're staring at me an awful lot over there."

"Sh – shut up!"

"It's the abbs isn't it?"

"It's definitely not your tits, c-cup!"

"That's normal size darn it!"

The banter would have continued, but Eri groaned and looked like she was about to wake up so it had to end. Izumi reached back over and reconnected her prosthetic arm, before lifting Eri softly out of the tub. She glanced at Melissa. "Yea, Ima need those clo –" A hole in the wall opened up and a pair of children's pajamas plopped down onto the sink.

"Uh, thanks Army-Chan?" Izumi asked, not even sure if the Armory's AI had that level of access to the dorm.

"Oh no Miss Midoriya that would be me." Izumi turned and saw Cat walk into the restroom and bounce up onto the sink, her eyes white. "Your little friend here came to my office and requested some of my clothes, luckily I wear children's sizes."

"You know, I'd feel uncomfortable right now talking to you naked if I didn't know that you were an animal and that you find the human body weird."

Cat shrugged, "Humans are strange, I admit." Cat paused before continuing. "All Might filled me in on what happened, her case is yours, when you call Mustafu's police department for information talk to Agent Naomasa he'll be your main point of contact."

Izumi nodded, quietly handing Eri to a nervous Melissa who quickly wrapped the sleeping girl in a towel.

"I've taken the liberty of ordering more appropriate clothing for her, and you have a checkup with Recovery Girl tomorrow evening, we need to record any injuries we have for her case." Cat's nose twitched. "I've found that she has no information in the system, so I've taken the liberty of creating a set of documents for her that no one will look twice at. That's the other reason for her visit to Recovery Girl tomorrow, we need to know what her quirk is for registry purposes."

"Oh, yeah, I can take her during my free time." Izumi nodded and accepted a towel from Melissa, beginning to dry herself off.

"Very good, I'll leave you to it." Cat once again paused before looking at Izumi. "Keep up the exemplary work, Miss Midoriya." With that, the robotic cat's eyes turned blue once more and Izumi shot Melissa the biggest grin.

"Did you hear that? I'm exemplary."

"As if your head wasn't already big enough…" Melissa grumbled. "Help me get her changed? I, uh… don't know what I'm doing here."

Izumi nodded, taking Eri from Melissa and motioning for her to get the clothes. She took the little girl into the bedroom proper before placing her on the bed. She gently tapped Eri's face with her hand, waking the girl up who grumbled and rubbed her eyes.

"Eri, this is my girlfriend Melissa." She gestured to the nervous blond behind her, Melissa waving. "Is it okay if we help you put on these pajamas? You can go back to sleep after."

Eri looked at Melissa with wide eyes, though she wasn't scared, which was something Izumi was thankful for. She looked between Izumi and Melissa before nodding.

As Eri was helped into her clothes, the little girl couldn't help but tiredly ask, "What's a girlfriend?"

Izumi chuckled as she helped Eri into her shirt. "She's like… a very close friend. Like, super close… uhm…"

Izumi looked over at Melissa, "How do you explain this concept to a six-year-old who doesn't know anything about it?"

"You're asking me?" Melissa shook her head. "I don't know, you're the one who said I was your girlfriend, you figure it out."

"Thanks, Mel, really helpful." Izumi turned back to Eri and rubbed the back of her head. "Uhm… I'll explain when you're older?" She tried.

Eri stared at her for a long, long, long while before nodding. "Okay."

Izumi sighed in relief. "I can't believe that worked!"

Eri's stomach growled at that moment and Izumi chuckled. "Let me get dressed and Melissa can go get you some food, JinJin makes the best food."

Eri nodded again and Izumi quickly moved to her dresser to get her own set of pajamas on.

Izumi decided that silence was overrated and opted to banter with Melissa some more.

"You know, I'm surprised you were able to go through most of that with a straight face, considering…" Izumi let the words hang in the air as she shimmered her pants on.

Melissa's face went crimson. "...You couldn't let me have the win, could you?"

"Nope!" Izumi threw her shirt on. "Alright, I'll be right back with food. Keep Eri busy."

Melissa nodded before her eyes went wide. "Wait, what?!"

"Thanks, hon! You're the best! Byeee!" Izumi quickly said before she left the room.

"Izumi, wait-" but her girlfriend was already gone. Melissa turned to look at Eri, who was sitting on the bed and looking up at her. "Uhh, hi?"

"She's coming back, right?" Eri asked, looking worried. "She's not gonna leave, right?"

Melissa shook her head, frowning when she saw Cat calmly jump up onto the bed and walked onto Eri's lap before curling up and laying down. "She's a dork, but she won't just leave you. Knowing her you're stuck with her for a good long while."

Eri nodded and absently scratched Cat behind the ears.

Melissa shuffled awkwardly before moving to sit on the bed. "Do you want to watch some cartoons?"

Eri looked at Melissa in confusion, it would have been cute if it wasn't so heartbreaking, and Melissa didn't even know the full story about why her girlfriend had a kid just chilling in their bedroom…

After a moment Eri nodded and Melissa pulled up a remote, pointing it at the television mounted on their wall, she turned it on with the press of a button.

Luckily for Melissa, Izumi was a Disney fan, and the two of them had been watching Gravity Falls the night before to calm her down. She flicked back to the first episode and let it play, chuckling softly as Eri immediately became captivated by all the colors and sounds coming from the TV.

About ten minutes into the episode Izumi came back in, softly nudging the door open while expertly balancing a food tray on her arm. "Jin made burgers!" She gleefully exclaimed. "Well, burgers for us, some chopped-up hotdogs, and apple sauce for the little lady. Oh hey! You guys are watching Gravity Falls! Sick!"

Izumi, with the help of Melissa, managed to set up a small table to hold their food so they could eat while watching the show. Eri munched on her food while she leaned against Izumi, humming happily with each bite, as to be expected from someone who enjoyed Jin's food. Though… she didn't smile.

Okay, screw-talking, Izumi was gonna beat the shit out of whoever hurt her baby girl!

Wait…

Okay, yeah, she was screwed. And if what Nezu said was true then Eri didn't have a family to go back to.

Which means she'll need a caretaker.

Eri nuzzled against Izumi's side a bit more.

"Mel."

"Yeah, Izu?"

"I'm screwed."

"You're just now realizing?"

"Screw you."

"Do it yourself, coward."

"Not in front of the baby!" Izumi hissed.

"She's six, Izu, she's not a… oh is this how you were with Himiko and Jin?"

Izumi pouted at Melissa, blushing.

That just acted as confirmation and caused the older woman to laugh. "Oh my God it was!"

Izumi's pout intensified, and Melissa kept laughing. Eri just looked up between the two of them and asked, "What? What happened?"

Izumi took her attention off her cackling girlfriend and looked at Eri. "Nothing, honey. Hey, can I ask you something?"

At Eri's nod, Izumi continued. "So, we tried to see if you had any family that we could return you to, not because we don't like you, we adore you, but because they might be worried."

Eri gasped as her eyes went wide. "Did you find my mama?!"

Izumi felt her heartbreak at the answer already on her lips. "No, we didn't. I'm sorry, Eri."

"...Oh." Eri's somewhat hopeful expression immediately died, and she sunk back down into the bed.

"But…" Izumi looked up at Melissa, who was giving her a knowing look, Izumi gave a quick scowl at her girlfriend before looking back to Eri. "If you want, I could look after you. I know you don't know me that well, but I promise to take care of you and-"

Izumi was cut off as Eri jumped her and wrapped her tiny arms around Izumi's neck. "Please… please don't leave…"

Izumi didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around the little girl. She felt Eri start to cry in her arms and she nodded. "I won't, I promise."

She felt Melissa put a hand on her back and Izumi just kept whispering calming words into Eri's ear as she petted her hair.

'Oh yeah,' Izumi thought.

She was fucked.

But if she was being honest with herself, she didn't really mind it all that much.