Self-reflection was something that came hard to Mitsuki, and she couldn't blame anyone else for it, mainly because she could own up to it when she fucked up, but accountability didn't make her feel any less like a guilty fuck up.

And that was never clearer than when Inky broke the news to her about her son, she had spent a couple of days just trying to figure out how she could've missed her son's behavior when they were in the same house, and she eventually had to swallow the fact that she just wasn't close to her son in any meaningful matter.

Something she had to beat herself up over because how does such a major disconnect happen under your nose when you live in the same house and see each other nearly every day, much less one you don't even realize is happening?

And there was little she could do to fix it after the fact because she was an emotional mess who was likely to do something horrible if she stewed on what Katsuki did, she couldn't even look at Katsuki for months without shame and anger welling up under her skin, which only made her more pissed with herself because she should be an adult and help Masaru with setting their son straight.

Because nearly two decades ago she was the very same and Inky had suffered a lot of grief to help her be a respectable member of society, and knowing Katsuki was only doing all this crap because he was trying to help only made her angrier with herself being unable to control her emotions so she could comfort Katsuki.

Once she did manage to put a lid on her anger, she had her work cut out for her trying to build a relationship with Katsuki from the ground up which was considerably harder after giving him the cold shoulder for nearly a year, finding common ground was hard as she quickly realized they didn't share any interests

And it wasn't for lack of trying to find out Katsuki's hobbies but because her son's life had previously revolved solely around training for his dream future in heroics, it had gotten better since Katsuki started doing pottery, but her son still didn't have much going on in his life other than preparing for heroics.

Something she knew couldn't stand because her son needed something to help him separate himself from his work so Mitsuki tried to find something he might enjoy, it took some time but she eventually found something and on the plus side it was an activity the two of them could do together.

Hiking was something she had picked up back in middle school and she had enjoyed for years now at this point, Katsuki had been tense for the entire time the first time she had dragged him along with her, the fact that he expected her to do something to him once they were alone greatly disheartened her but was something she wouldn't blame him for the feeling after everything that had gone down.

Katsuki wasn't completely at ease going out for these hikes for the first few trips and it was admittedly awkward since the two of them still weren't quite talking yet, even though Katsuki was getting better at talking with them it was clear that he was avoiding going to her about things and mostly went to Masaru, she had bit her tongue on the matter knowing that she shouldn't force him to come to her.

But Mitsuki could tell there was still an underlying tension that was keeping her from really connecting with Katsuki and that if she wanted to get through to her son, and that she'd need to do something to address it before it festered into something neither of them could handle.

So Mitsuki probably spent just a little too much time trying to give herself a pep talk and tried to make herself as calm as she could be since she knew this time her emotions were going to run high, which is why she chose a day Masaru would be home all day and forced a satellite phone onto him and would be giving one to Katsuki when they headed out just case she did lose it, she wasn't expecting to but with her anger issues, it was better to not risk it.

She knocked on Katsuki's door "Oi brat, you ready to go?" she called already dressed and ready to go, she could hear the shuffling on the other side of the door stop "Just give me a second." He said after a long pause and she deflated a bit hearing the considerably respectful reply, maybe it could be seen as disrespectful, but she enjoyed the sharp and snappy comebacks she always got from her son before.

Katsuki opened the door after a few moments and silently followed her to the car and sat in the front seat leaning against the car door, Mitsuki sighed but didn't mention how he was walking on eggshells and just drove the car, to their destination, Sekibe.

There weren't any "official" trails there but if anything, that would probably excite her son given how often he and Izuku would get lost in the woods nearby, the area was a bit more dangerous than most people would consider for off-trail hiking, but she had been traveling to different points on Sekibe since she was sixteen, so she felt safe enough to lead Katsuki around the place.

Sekibe held a very important place in her heart, and she often came here during tough times in her life, and she'd need the comfort of the area to keep herself in check and help her talk with her son the way she knew needed to do.

With the car parked she and Katsuki waited for the cars on the highway to stop and they began to climb the rough terrain, this was the first time Katsuki was climbing an uncleared path and she could tell he was enjoying the increased difficulty of the whole thing much more, at some point Katsuki took the lead from her and she was following his for a while.

After a couple of minutes Mitsuki got them back on track and led Katsuki to the spot she had carved out for herself on Sekibe, the spot was noticeably more developed than the rest of the area given she had cleared a small bit of the place so it could be a bit more hospitable rest spot given how much she came to visit here over the years.

Katsuki got the hint they were taking a break and sat himself down by the cliff-face ledge and began drinking from one of his water bottles while staring at the ocean, knowing that this was probably the best time to have this conversation and took a big swig from her massive water bottle in an attempt to swallow her nerves.

Then Mitsuki walked over and sat beside Katsuki, something that made him flinch and she could see the hairs on the back of his neck were raised, she tried to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't raise his head and she sighed also turning her gaze to the ocean.

Taking a moment to consider how things were between them right now Mitsuki considered that starting this indirectly might be best "Have I ever told you how Inky and I met?" she asked catching the boy off-guard "No?" Katsuki replied and she could basically feel his confusion, Mitsuki closed her eyes digging the nails of one hand into her arm to keep herself grounded.

"We first met back during high school," Mitsuki told him "Eh? I thought you and auntie have been friends since diapers." Katsuki said surprised and she scoffed "I fucking wish we were, I wouldn't be nearly as fucked up as I am if I did have Inky around to be my big sister." She responded, she had thought about all the regrets she wouldn't have if Inky had been by her side from the start, and she made up plenty of bitter-sweet fantasies of what her life could have been with Inky as her sister.

"Inky's two years older than me and she only moved to the area I grew up in after middle school so we couldn't have met before that." Mitsuki briefly explained before getting back on topic "I… wasn't the best person back then Katsuki and Inky put up with way too much of my crap, I still have no idea what the hell she saw in me back then that made her think I was worth keeping around." She said her eyes guiltily falling to her lap.

"What?" he quietly asked and Mitsuki chuckled letting her head hang "It's ridiculous how people can't see past first appearances… I know you've only known me as your mom, someone confident with their shit mostly together and a successful business with a shit ton of connections, and there ain't any reason for you to think otherwise." She mused the smile she forced onto her face not reaching her eyes.

"But back when I was your age I was a fucking nightmare of a child, I wasn't on any meds and I didn't have any way to control or vent my anger so I lashed out at everyone, one second I could be sitting class and the next I could be throwing a massive hissy fit and throwing chairs at people," she elaborated and glancing at Katsuki she saw he was looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Back then the kids I grew up with just knew me as "little mad dog Mitsy", the sweaty rabid bitch that was constantly losing her shit and would beat you bloody if you looked at her wrong. And they weren't wrong… at that time in my life I was so stressed that anything could set me off and I usually got violent during those fits." She admitted, her childhood was chock full of painful memories of her doing things horribly because of her uncontrollable anger.

Mitsuki forced herself to breathe evenly as one figure kept popping up in her mind "And there was one girl who'd taken advantage of that… I knew her since I was six and she used my issues to egg me on then would make it look like I was the one bullying her and given my track record no would ever believe me, the violet girl with a stupid quirk that made her sweaty all the time, over the girl that looked and acted like a damn angel." She told him hugging herself as for the first time in years she let herself remember… Ashley.

The girl had made her life hell and did it all with an innocent smile because her quirk always made her look like a flawless angel, but Ashley was incredibly sadistic, and she reveled in all the attention she got whenever she got Mitsuki in trouble.

"And when we got to high school, I thought nothing was ever going to change, that bitch got me cornered on the first day and when I lost my shit, she cried to some second years who forced me into the girls' bathroom to "teach" me a lesson… which was how I met Inky, having my head dunked in the toilets'." Mitsuki said morosely because as great as it was she met Inky, she would never look at a public restroom without gagging.

"I didn't really know her at the time and with how meek she was I just expected her to buy into the two-faced whore's story and not to do anything about it… but she didn't." Mitsuki scoffed shaking her head then gave Katsuki a sly grin "Ya know what she did do?" she prompted, and he shook his head after a second.

Mitsuki smirked "She ripped out the brat's two front teeth with her quirk then grabbed me when everyone was panicking, and we high tailed it." She explained and laughed when Katsuki mouth fell open from his shocking "Auntie did what!?" he exclaimed.

"Teeth count as a small object so Inky just had to pull a bit harder to rip 'em out but she wasn't planning on doing it, so she was freaking out about it as much as the girl she ripped the teeth out of, I actually had to calm her ass down because she was balling over it." Mitsuki replied and huffing with small smile as she was sure the two of them were quite the image.

"Did the two of you get in trouble?" Katsuki pressed "For once in my life no, Inky was just as much of a jellyfish back then and the teacher's pet to boot so she just had to keep balling and no one could believe she'd ever do that, and after that the two of us were kind of inseparable because she just kind of clung to my side despite my personality being mostly garbage at that point." Mitsuki said fondly looking back at that time though she wished she would have appreciated it for what it was.

"It wasn't long after she graduated and was getting ready for college since she was in her third year… and I was thrown out of the house by my parents." She told him causing Katsuki's eyes to widen "They… did?" he asked, and she wasn't surprised, she had never really told him anything about her parents due to their… strained relationship.

"Neither of them had ED like us, whenever I did anything, it was always my fault I couldn't control myself and they made me feel like there was something seriously wrong with me because 'everyone gets angry, deal with it like a normal person.' Was something they constantly told me for years whenever I snapped… And they never said it to my face, but I know they said they couldn't understand why I couldn't be a "normal" child." Mitsuki explained digging her nails deeper into her arm to distract her mind from her old memories.

"And after sixteen years of dealing with me, admittedly being a nightmare child after another fit they decided they wouldn't put up with me anymore and disowned me, I barely had time to pack a bag before I was on the streets alone and I tried to make the best it for the first few days." She elaborated shocking her son, he likely would have never believed she was homeless if she hadn't been the one to tell him.

Those days weren't quite her worst since she had been lucky to have enough yen to eat one meal a day and some snacks from the spare yen she found, even if she spent the rainiest time of the year in a park "I wasn't homeless for long maybe three days before Inky found me in a gas station and forced me to stay with her, even though she was busy with medical college and working her ass off to afford it she refused to leave me without a roof over my head." Mitsuki said grimacing as she thought of that partially rocky point in their friendship.

"It wasn't smooth sailing for us during that point, I was a drop out working a crappy job so the two of us could make ends-meat and didn't have anything going for me, my head was pretty fucked up at that point so it was only a matter of time before I had a blackout when I was staying with Inky, she had dealt with my fits before and didn't complain when I trashed her apartment but I really fucking lost it this time." She told him letting her head hang as that night returned to the forefront of her mind.

"When I came to there was a lot of broken glass and I had broken Inky's arm in three places, I've hurt people before, but this time was different, Inky had done so much for me and has put up with me and all of my shit and how the hell do I repay her? By breaking her arm and destroying her chances in getting the career she always dreamed about before it could even start? I… couldn't handle it." She confessed tears angrily pricking at the corners of her eyes.

Katsuki sat in shocked silence staring at her in disbelief so after counting down from ten she continued her retelling "So I ran away, I wandered around for a bit before I found a mountain and in that state, I thought it was best if a stupid bitch like me just to disappear so I just started climbing until I was too tired to move."

"I was in a pretty dark place than, sitting on some mountain in the middle of the night having dragged myself through the underbrush and wondering why the fuck I was such a fucking screw up and just what the fuck was wrong with me… " Mitsuki admitted her eyes going to the tree she had broken her hand on, because dumb hormonal teenage her thought that was the best thing to do at that moment of self-loathing.

Then she scoffed "And I don't know how, but somehow Inky tracked my ass down in the middle of butt fuck nowhere just to bust my balls for running off like that and making her worry even though I fucked up her arm, she didn't even go to a hospital first, I mean her first thought after that shitstorm I caused was to find me and make sure I was safe." Mitsuki spat still in disbelief by the audacity of the greenette's mind sometimes.

"I told her she was a complete fucking moron, but she didn't care because she said she knew I needed someone to be there for me and she kept trying to tell me she didn't blame me for what I'd done to her because she understood that my brain was screwed up. That was first time that had ever happened since I was what… Three? It was a real kick to the head when I realized that in one year Inky gave more of a fuck about me than either of my parents ever did." Mitsuki commented with a hollow chuckle rubbing her eyes.

"She eventually talked me into coming back and after that night she pushed to get me the help I needed, she talked to a bunch of the people in the psychological courses to find someone for me to go to and that's how I ended up going to the guy I've been seeing, Inky even paid for all the drugs trails I had to go through before I found the meds I needed." Mitsuki explained, her hand falling from her arm.

"During that time, I got scouted and Inky encouraged me to do it since she knew I took a liking to makeup when my head was settling down, and after my debut in the fashion world everything just seemed to be going uphill until sometime after I turned eighteen and was doing a big interview on a talk show." She couldn't help scowling as she thought back to that moment and wished she was more confident and had the backbone she did now.

"The idiotic host was fed some sob story about how we got "separated" by my parents and they appeared halfway through for us to reunite, I should've been happy to hear them say all the things I always wanted to hear but I didn't want them anywhere near me but I couldn't move… Then like a damn Valkyrie Inky stomped out from backstage and slapped my mom before telling them both since they were clearly just there because I had money and fame now." She recalled grinning when she remembered she had the moment saved on her phone.

Mitsuki exhaled leaning back a bit "That's just a short list of shit Inky and I went through, and each time something happened I knew I could always fall back on and trust Inky to be there to support me or give me a kick to the teeth when I needed it because for a long ass time, she was the only family I had." She concluded looking up at the sky then turned to Katsuki "Do you know why I'm telling you this crap?" she asked, and he swiftly looked away from her.

She took that as a no "Because I want you to know I'm not blowing smoke up your ass when I say I understand how it feels to have royally fucked up and that you can one day, make up for it and move pass it." Mitsuki told him and leaned forward with her elbows resting on her legs.

"I know I didn't react the best after all the bullshit between you and Izuku came out and that I probably can't give you the same kind of support Inky gave me… But I want to try Katsuki." She said reaching deep into whatever part of her she could to try and explain to him properly "You fucked up… majorly, but you're still my son, I'll always love you and I want to help you through this clusterfuck just like how Inky helped me because I know this might be the worst point of your life." Mitsuki told him hesitantly bringing her hand up to ruffle Katsuki's hair.

He flinched but didn't pull away, but she noticed his hands were shaking, making a bold move Mitsuki wrapped her arm around her son's shoulders and pulled him to lean against her "I am complete dogshit with all this emotional stuff Brat, there's a reason I normally leave this for your dad and Inky to deal with. And I don't know if this will make you feel better, but I want you to know you're not as mentally screwed up as you think you are." Mitsuki said, hoping she hadn't screwed up in her attempt to connect with Katsuki.

The only emotional shit from other people she was actually experienced to handle was when Inky was crying solely because she's dealt with it so much, they did live together for nearly seven years so it would be impossible for her not to know, on the plus side Mitsuki knew how to save carpet from being irreparably water damaged which was more helpful knowledge than it had any right to be.

*Fucking hell why couldn't I have picked up on any of that empathy Inky's dripping in after all these years.* Mitsuki thought feeling sort of stupid and about to let go of Katsuki when he suddenly pressed against her harder with a tsk "Cram it with the emo crap, Auntie is supposed to be the one who's blubbering about the past you old Hag." Katsuki spat though it was a bit forced compared to his normal quipping.

But that wasn't the point because she knew he was trying to reach out to her, and she scoffed "Oi I'm trying to have a fucking moment with you, you ungrateful brat." She replied squeezing him closer and Katsuki crossed his arms with a huff, not making any move to pull away from her and she smiled, happy to have made some groundwork with her son and planned to keep up the good work by building on this.

Already making plans for more hiking trips where he wouldn't have to worry about being so open, and who knows maybe he can get rid of some of his stress through some good old' fashion scream therapy, mountains were great for screaming out your feelings without the cops being called in her experience.

Inko walks into the bathroom and seeing Mitsuki being harrassed:...

Ashley: Why do I hear boss music?

Two years later...

Inko proudly proudly watching Mitsuki from backstage until dumb and dumber appear:...

Inko watches Mitsuki's ex-parents acting all sugary sweet and trying to take advantage of her sister: I see you have chosen death