Nemuri raised an eyebrow as she walked into the teacher's lounge to find everyone crowded around the edges of the room, trying to be comfortable as they could as they worked on grading papers or setting about making their lesson plans. Occasionally someone would glance over to the center of the room, where Obi-Wan was seated at a table, head down as he worked.

"I've heard of 'a mountain of books' before but I think that's the first time it actually wasn't being overblown and dramatic," she said to Yamada who was sitting on the floor next to the couch, upon which Shota was curled up in his sleeping bag.

To her surprise the normally boisterous man darted his eyes in Obi Wan's direction before wincing and going back to his work. "Shhh… he might notice you."

"Okay, do I want to know?" she asked.

"Everyone is scared of Kenobi," Shota stated, his words muffled thanks to how bundled up he was.

"Oh, and you aren't?" Yamada complained.

"Zzzzzzz."

"You aren't asleep," the blond complained. "You just said Zee zee zee zee zee."

Shota mumbled something that sounded like 'talking in sleep' and then rolled so his face was pressed into the cushions of the couch.

"You coward you are just hiding too!"

"Okay, so what has everyone scared of Kenobi?" Nemuri asked when Shota didn't respond.

Yadama shuddered. "It started innocently enough. He came in here to get some coffee, though he called it 'caf', and overheard Shota and Kan talking about the Shota's latest 'logical ruse'."

"Do I even want to know?" she asked.

"Probably not but it helps you understand what happened," Yamada stated. "Apparently his class has been having problems with instinct vs. factual reasoning."

"You mean 'okay, there is no logical reason someone would do this but my gut tells me they did'?"

"Exactly. So he decided to give them a test. Multiple choice."

"And?"

Yamada smirked slightly. "Every answer was B."

"…oh that is just cruel."

Yamada nodded but his smile quickly fell as he looked over at Obi Wan. "That's what Obi Wan said… to clean it up."

"To clean it up?"

Yamada nodded. "I don't know what language he began to speak but I could tell from the tone those were curse words." He let out a huff. "Alien swears… what a world we are living in now."

"Shhh!" Higari hissed.

"Sorry," Yamada whispered, looking to make sure Obi Wan hadn't noticed him. But Nemuri could see that the Jedi was engrossed in his studies. "So anyway after he gets done swearing he marches up to Shota and says he's a horrible teacher."

"…what?"

"Yeah, shocked all of us too. Said that to train someone you have to have a foundation of trust and that Shota was making it that his students wouldn't trust him if he lied to them like that."

Nemuri grimaced; honestly she hadn't ever thought about that but there was a logic to it. She wondered how many times a student had been going through a hard time and wanted to turn to their homeroom teacher for advice… only to feel they were unable to because he had shown himself not to be trustworthy. UA already had a problem with students feeling like they had to never show weakness; Nemuri had dealt with it when she'd been a student and she knew it hadn't gotten any better. The feeling that the adults not only wouldn't care but would use your 'weakness' against you. She knew back when she had been a student there had been times when people thought because of how she dressed that meant she was 'easy' and tried to force her to do things… how many of their students now dealt with the same thing but didn't want to admit it because they feared Shota wouldn't keep his word to stay quiet.

Suddenly Shota's 'logical ruses' that the teachers always chuckled over didn't seem that funny anymore.

"Shota didn't like that, I take it?" Nemuri asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah and he did the normal Shota thing: scoff, roll eyes, explain how Obi Wan didn't know what he was talking about."

"Except he does," Nemuri stated. "He trained a Padawan." She'd made sure to learn what the terms the Jedi used meant; it was only polite.

"And apparently taught a bunch of classes too at their temple. He… honestly at first I kind of wanted to record it because he began to just tear into Shota like… well, like how Shota tears into people most times. It was the oddest sight in the world." He shook his head. "Laid out everything wrong with the logical ruses, how they were massive mistakes in teaching a student. Said that a teacher should always be honest about why a student had to do this thing or that, so they understood the purpose. At some point Snipe decided that it wasn't any fun anymore and tried to come to Shota's defense, asking if Obi Wan was just a perfect teacher." Yamada frowned at that. "The look in his eyes when he said that no, he had failed Anakin many ways and he was trying hard to make up for that…" Yamada shook his head, banishing those thoughts. Nemuri didn't blame him; whenever she heard about a young pro getting hurt she took it as a sign she had failed at being a proper teacher. "Anyway, after that Obi Wan began to ask all sorts of questions to each of us and our answers… weren't to his liking."

"Thus the avoiding him."

"Yeah. He left, came back with all the text books we use to teach the kiddos, and began to get to work. On what… well, I'd ask but he already attacked me for how I teach English…" He grimaced, not wanting to get into it any further. "The worst part is that he never raised his voice. I mean… it was like getting scolded by your dad."

"Well, maybe YOUR dad," Nemuri teased. "My dad liked to have family therapy nights where we sat around and he played the bongos." With that she got up.

"Where are you going?"

"To join Obi Wan's bongo circle," she said with a smirk before walking over to where the Jedi was hard at work. "Mind if I sit here?"

"By all means," Obi Wan said, waving at the chair. "Also Yamada is exaggerating. I didn't scold him at all. Merely suggested that it would be wiser to use texts that his students would actually enjoy."

Nemuri blinked at that. "You heard that?"

"When one spends several months on the battle field and ten years dealing with the scum of the galaxy one learns to keep their senses open." He paused, looking up at her. "It's how one stays alive."

"Situational awareness. Shota is always preaching that."

"Does he lie and say it is worthless and then scold his students for listening to him?"

"You are being unfair."

"Or perhaps I am speaking for his students who have been too beaten down by him to respond back."

Nemuri held up her hands in surrender. She knew Shota was a great teacher, that he did all he did because he loved every student and just wanted them to survive, but she could tell that Obi Wan wasn't in the mood to hear that at the moment. "Not looking for a fight." Obi Wan nodded and returned to his work. "So… texts the students would enjoy in English class?"

"When Anakin came to the temple he only knew Hutt and Basic. There were several other languages he needed to learn." Obi Wan pressed his lips together. "My mistake was trying to teach him how I was taught, with dry bland text books. He struggled greatly for a year or so until I noticed him looking at podracing article written in Bocce, which he DIDN'T know at that point. But he was familiar enough with the topic…"

"Ah," Nemuri said, nodding her head in understanding. "So basically use something the students understand already to teach them."

"Correct. I merely suggested that instead of using the works of some dead playwright that he might select a novel they would enjoy. Perhaps a biography on a hero they all know. Something where they have a basic understanding…"

Nemuri finished, "…so they can build on that to learn the language." She huffed. "Huh. That's a good idea."

"I don't know why Yamada is so scared about it."

"I get the feeling you didn't explain it as politely as you did with me."

"I am nothing BUT polite," Obi Wan said with a stern yet teasing tone.

Nemuri merely chuckled at that. "Well, perhaps the rest of the teachers aren't secure enough to ask but what could I do differently in my class?"

Obi Wan merely stared at her. "To help with that I'd need to know a bit more…"

"I teach Modern Hero Art History."

"That… is an interesting topic. What is the purpose of it?"

"Image," Nemuri said. "Society runs on how it views its heroes… and the best ones learn how to manipulate how others view them in order to get the narrative they wish to be told. By having them study how heroes have been depicted in different mediums such as paintings one can learn the patterns and how to tweak them."

"Hmm," Obi Wan said, leaning back in his chair. "Something I would have never considered but it has potential."

"Many of my students fail to see that until they've already graduated," Nemuri said with a smirk. "I admit I get a bit smug when they tell me how much they wished they had paid attention in class."

"I don't see why. If it were me I'd be shamed and humiliated."

"Oh, they are bothered by it-"

"I meant you."

That caused Nemuri to pause. "Pardon?"

"A teacher who cannot get their student to see WHY something should be learned has failed on a fundamental level. A teacher doesn't force knowledge into a student's head and expect them to retain it. OR rather I should say that GOOD teachers don't do that. No… a student is like a loth-cat, who must be lured from its hiding spot with scraps… but when you do they will curl up in your arms. You must tease your students to get them to want to learn and then feed that desire till it becomes their addiction."

Nemuri could see why Yamada and the other teachers had been so leery of Obi Wan. While he never came off as rude the way he spoke… it made her feel like a student again, having made a fundamental mistake and been forced to deal with a favorite teacher explaining their error. It was… humbling. And annoying. And anger inducing. And a touch terrifying.

But Nemuri also ran around in a modified dominatrix outfit; she had a high threshold for all those emotions.

"Well, any suggestions on how I could get them to see that sooner? Because I do explain all of this to them the first day. Usually they are pretty good but as we go on they get bored and forget."

Obi Wan pressed his lips together. "Do you merely study art?"

"That is the class. What do you-" She blinked. "Oh. Oh! You mean make art themselves?" He nodded and at once her mind began to race. "Of course! I could ask them to do some art themselves, to try and tell a certain story about themselves, and let them see how difficult it can be… but also beneficial! Or maybe get in contact with local artists and ask them to help… UA could pay them and offer to display their work. Artists who capture the first images of famous heroes become in demand… maybe get the business class involved…"

Obi Wan smiled at her excitement. "There, that wasn't as terrible as the rest of them made it out to be."

Nemuri nodded, Obi Wan already holding out a pad of paper and a pen, and she quickly began to scribble down ideas while he went to back to work on whatever he-

"What are you working on, anyway?" she asked.

"Ah, yes… well Shota did make a good point right before he grew tired of talking to me and said he was going to take a nap. He said that it was easy for me to judge when I didn't understand just everything he had to do. So I am going through all the text books you use to teach future heroes so I might better understand what UA does so I might make better informed suggestions."

"Really?" Nemuri said, surprised. "I would have thought you'd be too busy trying to build up your career as a hero."

But Obi Wan shook his head. "Before the Clone Wars broke out I had told Anakin that I was ready to take a sabbatical from being a wandering Knight. I wanted to teach more at the temple… some of my fondest memories are of Master Yoda teaching us all when we were younglings and I would have rather enjoyed doing that. Perhaps not the infants… but some older younglings. Yes… I remember how life was like back then and think I could help."

"How interesting!" Principal Nezdu exclaimed, popping up from between a stack of books on the table. Nemuri jumped but Obi Wan merely raised an eyebrow at the principal and his appearance. "You know, Obi Wan, I have been thinking that UA needs to change a few things when it comes to teaching students… the school board is so focused on flashing quirks and loud special attacks. They forget that a hero must be sly and smart as well! Now I can't just make the changes… but if enough teachers made small alterations…"

"I'd be happy to help advise, Principal Nedzu."

But the rat-mouse-bear-dog merely smiled, eyes gleaming. "I have a better idea…"

"Oh no," Ken whispered.

"…did you know…"

"Please don't," Yamada whispered.

"…that we need…"

"Principal…" Higari moaned.

"…a new Heroics Teacher?"

~MC~MC~MC~

Padme frowned as she looked over the newspaper before finally giving up and turning back to her meal. Glaring at the paper and sifting through its contents for a fifth time wasn't going to change anything, something she was just going to have to accept.

Even if she didn't like it.

'This world is far too focused on heroes,' she thought to herself as she stabbed at the salad she'd decided to try out; it resembled one made on Naboo except the leafy bits were green rather than purple, which was just odd. It tasted good though, so that was all that mattered. She tried to focus on her meal only to slowly find her eyes sliding back towards the newspaper she had grabbed, scowling at the headline that talked about 'The Dashing Hero-Danger Tooth' opening up a new agency in the area. The article dominated the entire front page, though the rest of the paper wasn't much better as it had taken her till page 6 to finally find an article not about heroes and villains.

And she'd asked the newsstand for a paper that focused on politics.

'He didn't lie though,' she thought as she speared wet looking red slice of something and drew it to her mouth. It tasted a bit like an Alderan Tomato only it was far smaller. 'This paper is all about politics. It's just everything is couched in relations to heroes.'

She'd wanted to find out more about this world and its political climate at the moment. What the system was like, what it focused on, what was being done for the poor and needful? Who exactly WERE the poor and the needful? Where was this society failing and what could she do to help improve it? Maybe not as a Senator or whatever their equivalent was but she was sure there were plenty of charities and outreach programs that could use her help. It would be nice to get her hands dirty again… or at least dirty with the right things. The last few years she'd been stuck dealing with bills and committees and meetings. But before the Senate, before being queen, Padme had been working with relief groups and planting trees and delivering aid to the needy. She wanted to do that again here!

But her search had led her to find nothing more than a society that seemed to revolve around heroes. Not even quirks… heroes.

'Bills being passed are either directly about heroes and villains or are discussed only if they matter to them. Raising taxes? It's to allow for heroes to build new agencies or to repair damages from fights. Foundations to help at risk youth? It's a hero doing it. Elections? Which candidate has gotten the endorsement of a hero or worked for them or went to school with them!' She shook her head in disgust. 'This is everything the Separatists claimed about the Republic when it came to the Jedi made true: the entire world stops and waits to see what a handful of people with amazing abilities can do.'

Padme sighed and shoved the paper away. It would do no good to get upset… even though that was exactly what was going on.

'I'm bored,' she thought morosely. 'Obi Wan is happy enough going over the history of this world, Ahsoka spends her time studying because she wants to try to get into UA so she can get her hero license…' While Anakin, Obi Wan, and Rex had been able to just take the exam Nedzu had said that Ahsoka would have to do it like most children did in this world; the padawan was actually rather excited for the challenge. 'Anakin is working on… something.' Her husband had come back a few days ago saying he had a project in mind and disappeared for hours on end to work in the lab the school had given him for his own tasks. Honestly Padme wasn't for sure if she wanted to know why he needed different metals, plastics, and crystals. It was better than him telling her the latest theory he'd learned about when it came to mind healing; someone, she blamed Yamanda, had shown him streaming audio books and now he listened to them while he worked. 'And Rex is out training that boy he met.' Padme sighed. 'And I don't have anything to do.' She stabbed at the last bit of her salad. Today she had lain in bed till ten and then just wandered around. While it was nice to finally take a break and be lazy after years of rushing about that just wasn't her and-

An explosion filled the air and at once Padme was on her feet, scanning about for danger.

To her left she heard people crying out, another explosion going off, and Padme raced forward, nimbly weaving through the confused and panicked onlookers, twisting around a corner only to stare in shock at the sight before here.

Buildings were on fire all around her, the heat of the flames striking her in the face as the wind blew into her. People were looking on, unmoving, at the sight of a large black muddle of black slime that twisted and swayed in the middle of the street. People were crying out about how horrible it was and for a moment Padme didn't understand… until she saw part of the mass shift and she spotted a set of overly-large teeth and sickly yellow eyes. She leaned back, appalled at the sight of the creature; normally Padme tried to not judge beings by their looks, as there were plenty of aliens that looked so vastly different from her and she knew in their eyes she was hidious. And yet there was something in the way the slime creature's mouth twisted that made her skin crawl…

"Somebody save him!"

At the same time the onlooker said that bits of the slime shifted and she saw that the… person? There weren't aliens on this world only people. People with quirks. This was a person with a quirk, that was all. A person… who was in the process of suffocating a blond boy with his body.

And seemed delighted doing it.

Padme's eyes darted around. Everyone was just standing there, watching. She spotted three people in wild clothing that might have been heroes but they couldn't have been because they were just standing around doing nothing. No… something else then. She thought about calling Anakin or maybe the school but… they wouldn't get there in time. She could tell the boy was flagging, having clearly been captured by the slime being before Padme had shown up and thus been suffering from a lack of oxygen for a while.

Someone had to do something.

'Mom,' Anakin, little Ani, when she had first met him, back when she was a queen and he was just a slave boy who wanted a friend, said in her memory, 'aren't you always saying the biggest problem in the galaxy is no one helps one another?'

Padme burst out of the crowd.

"What are you doing?!" one of the garishly clad onlookers called out. "You're going to get yourself killed."

She ignored them. She'd survived facing off with Sith Lords she would survive this.

The road was torn up a bit because workers had been doing repairs, she could see that now. They had left their tools out, probably hurrying off when the fires had started. Which worked perfectly for Padme. She grabbed a large wrench and moved towards a fire hydrant, thankful that Ahsoka had asked Hizashi what it was during one of their walks around the city.

Her childhood spent playing around the lakes of Naboo and dealing with the goo-spitting frogs that loved to spray their sticky glue-like mucus on anyone that got near flashed through her head.

'Only one way to get rid of slime safely,' she thought to herself as she slammed the wretch's head onto the nut on the side of the hydrant. "HEY!" she shouted.

The slime villain turned towards her and leered. "Hey…" he said lustfully.

Padme merely glared and pulled with all her might.

The fire hydrant exploded with a blast of water that struck the slime villain dead on. At once the creature cried out, body rippling and growing clearer as water mixed with its sticky body. Bits and pieces of it flowed away and while much of it got larger and for a brief moment Padme feared she'd made a mistake… only to see that no, while it was getting bigger its body was becoming less solid, less sticky. The blond boy was water logged and looking very angry but he still was able to begin ripping himself free.

Padme moved again, leaping over puddles and grabbing his wrist.

"Hold on!" she roared and braced her legs before giving a hard pull.

"I can… I can do it myself!" the boy shouted by Padme refused to listen, instead pulling with all her strength…

And suddenly she was falling back, the boy landing on top of her as the two of them landed hard on the ground, making Padme's vision swirl for a moment. She groaned, shaking her head, only to look up to see the slime villain towering over her, glaring at her now with enraged eyes. He was working to expel the water, to return to his original form, and because some fool had closed off the fire hydrant, thus allowing him to begin to refuel.

"You want to die with him?!" he roared. "Let me help you!"

A large form suddenly dropped between Padme and the slime monster.

"You… will not harm her!" the muscular new arrival declared. "For I am here!"

"All Might…" the boy Padme had saved coughed.

"DETROIT SMASH!"

The blow he delivered splattered the slime villain against a wall and caused every fire to whiff out from the winds he created with a single punch. The smoke cleared and the sky even seemed brighter after the strike.

And then the cheering started.

"All Might! All Might! All Might!" the crowd roared and Padme looked around to see more heroes had arrived but they were just as focused on Japan's Number 1 Hero. She couldn't blame them… he was an impressive sight, all things considered. The boy she had saved was looking at the hero with wide eyes, for a moment his emotional shields down before they snapped back in place and he did his best to look aloof and uncaring. But Padme had seen it. He-

"What were you thinking?!" someone shouted and Padme found herself spun around by one of the garish onlookers. "You run in there without thinking? You should be arrested for interfering!"

Padme stared at the man, confused and annoyed. "Excuse me?" she snapped, forcing his hand off her shoulder.

"You had no right to rush in here! You civilians need to learn your place and let us heroes handle things! Look at all this water… you going to pay for it? And what if-"

She cut him off. Her body ached from being thrown, she was drenched, there were bits of slime clinging to her face and hair… and now the man who it turned out WAS a hero was trying to lecture her?

No… no she wasn't going to put up with that.

"Better than what YOU did!" she roared, startling the hero and the other two that had been gearing up to lay into her. "At least I tried to do something rather than stand around!"

"It wasn't a good matchup," a woman in a purple skin-tight outfit set.

"Oh, would you have told that boy's family at his funeral that you were sorry but it might have strained you to TRY and do something?" The third hero opened their mouth but Padme just scoffed. "You made mistakes and now you're upset because you got shown to be playacting at being heroes."

"We are heroes… where is your license?"

"I'm not a hero," Padme admitted. "But neither are you. A hero… a real hero? They don't wait around when people are in need. A real hero races towards danger, without thought, while others run away. They don't stand around and give lectures after everything has been done. They don't care about ensuring they get an easy victory. They save people."

The crowd was stunned. The heroes quiet. The boy she saved staring at her with a look of… well, she couldn't quite place it.

"That… is enough," All Might said, walking up to her and wrapping an arm around Padme. She let out a squawk of protest but he was already speaking again. "I will handle this one… please see to the crowd."

And then the Number 1 hero JUMPED into the air, dragging Padme with him, and it was only all the times she'd flown with Anakin and he'd forgotten that she didn't really enjoy going into death spirals that kept her from screaming.

Thankfully All Might quickly landed on a roof and Padme yanked herself away, placing her hands on her knees and sucking in several mouthfuls of air.

"I… I am very sorry," All Might said. "But I needed to get you away from all of them and that was the fastest way to do it and to ensure we weren't followed. After that speech everyone was going to want to talk to you. The press, government officials, the heroes' PR firms-"

"…okay," Padme admitted. "Not happy but I see your point." She shot him a dark look. "You going to get mad at me too for what I did back there? Tell me that I should have waited for another hero-"

"No," All Might said softly and then he slowly slid down, sitting on the roof, back against the small wall on the lip of the building. "Years ago a… very important person in my life told me what you told those heroes back there. That a true hero races towards danger. They do it without thinking. It is as natural to them as breathing." He smiled but unlike how it had been after the battle or in the photos she'd seen of him or on all the merchandise… it was a genuine smile. Soft and sincere. "I have lived my life by her teachings." He glanced up at her. "You remind me so much of her."

"Thank you?" Padme said softly, not sure what else to say.

"Hmm… Nighteye would be very cross with me for being so brazen. I don't even know your name. But… well, I am not a subtle person."

All Might gestured at the spot next to him and after a moment Padme moved to sit down next to him, feeling utterly tiny next to his massive form.

"I'm Padme," she said. "Padme Amidala. Or I suppose Amidala Padme in Japan."

"Hello Amidala. I am Toshinori Yagi. I would let to tell you a story. I am the 8th Holder of my Quirk, One For All. And… I hope…"

He paused.

"…that you might honor me in being the 9th."