Kaori smiled as she walked home with her friends, Kiku-Chan and Aki-Chan. She didn't go to school like her friends because she had Ani-Chan and Midoriya-Chan to teach her, but she loved to go to her friend's school and walk with them back, she got to see so many things she'd never see where she lived.
Like the street signs that hung over the roads! Ani-Chan told her they were supposed to change colors, but she has never seen what colors before, or so many buildings without the pretty markings she's seen her downstairs neighbors do occasionally. There were even things like pretty flowers and some duckies in a pond once back in spring, and it was like she was walking through a whole other world!
Even when it was really cold and there was snow everywhere, it was so pretty! So even though she didn't like leaving the house during winter because of how sleepy and slow it made her and the rest of her family, Kaori still loved walking with her friends. But wintertime had been better since Midoriya-Chan brought them all big fluffy clothes that were so much warmer!
She couldn't help but grin and snuggle into the collar of her coat to warm up her cheeks and keep herself awake. They were only halfway home, and she needed to be awake enough to not get hit by a car or a bus. That was another thing she noticed when walking with her friends, there were way more cars and buses than she thought ever existed.
Though to be fair to her, Aki-Chan's story about all the things she learned today was super cool and she couldn't wait to ask Midoriya-Chan all about it next week. She had to know if flamingos were pink because they ate so much shrimp. If so, does that mean she could grow blue scales when she was older if she ate a ton of blueberries? She hoped so because she'd love to have blue scales!
Well... she'd love to have scales in general, so she'd look less weird and more like the people around her... But blue scales would make her look so pretty! And she told her friends as much "Maybe, but wouldn't you have orange, black, or white like your family?" Aki-Chan pondered one of her long antennae flicking more wildly, Kaori-Chan pouted at that.
She wouldn't mind having scales like Ani-Chan or Papa, but she would still like to have blue scales. Kiku-Chan shrugged "I don't know, Deku-Sensei should though. You would look nice with blues ones Kaori-Chan." he told them, and Kaori instantly cheered up and hugged the monochrome boy. Kiku-Chan's arms shot up to the air to keep his quirk from activating "Thanks Kiku-Chan!" She said making his face turn grayish.
That made the two girls giggle as Kiku-Chan was acting like how Midoriya-Chan used to when he first started helping Ani-Chan. The three had to stop as they reached a crossing and when they looked for cars Kaori spotted someone shivering in an alleyway, the sight wasn't something odd but the thing that stood out to the young girl was that the person had scales all over just like Ani-Chan.
Of course, Kaori had to meet this person because she had never met anyone that was fully scaled other than Ani-Chan, so once it was safe Kaori rushed across the street to go say hi to the person "Kaori-Chan!" Aki-Chan cried when she had left them behind.
Standing in front of the person Kaori noticed a few things about the reptilian person she hadn't been able to see from across the street, like how they had pink hair hidden under the hood covering most of the person's face. She didn't know fully scaled people like Ani-Chan could also have hair too! Did her brother have hair once?
She must've surprised them because she could see their wide pink eyes and Kaori couldn't help being envious of the other person. After all, their eyes were her favorite shade of pink. She was also curious if the person had cold blood like Ani-Chan did because Midoriya-Chan said most fully scaled people do and the person wasn't properly dressed for winter if they were.
She knew she had been staring at the person for a while, so she decided to speak "Hi, what's your name?" She politely asked and the person sluggishly blinked at her and then answered with a bit of confusion "Iguchi." The person sounded like a boy to her, but she was more concerned about how he slurred his name. He sounded just like Ani-Chan did when he got too cold, and his eyes had the weird look too!
She frowned walking closer and rubbing her mittens against the boy's face, Iguchi-Chan flinched back but leaned into her hands when he understood what she was doing and let her warm his face "Kaori-Chan?" Aki-Chan called, and Kaori looked over her shoulder to see her two friends had caught up to her "I found someone like Ani-Chan! His name is Iguchi-Chan." She told them and her two friends approached Iguchi-Chan.
Her friends both examined the sleepy, green-scaled boy that was letting Kaori try to warm him up with her gloves "Why does Iguchi-Chan look so sleepy?" Kiku-Chan asked, "Is he sick?" Aki-Chan inquired leaning in and letting her antennae repeatedly tap against Iguchi-Chan's face as she always did when she thought someone was sick. Considering that Iguchi-Chan could hardly keep his pretty pink eyes open she understood why they were both concerned about her new friend.
"I don't think so. I think Iguchi-Chan has cold blood like Ani-Chan, and Midoriya-Chan said people with cold blood always get sleepy when they're cold. We probably just have to get Iguchi-Chan somewhere warmer, and he'll wake up." Kaori told them feeling disappointed she couldn't help him before she gasped as she had the greatest idea "Ani-Chan has a special blanket to keep him from being super sleepy. We just have to get Iguchi-Chan to my house, and he'll wake up!" She cheerfully exclaimed.
Kaori took one of Iguchi-Chan's clawed hands and tried to pull him up "Come on Iguchi-Chan! Follow us!" She told him and even though Iguchi-Chan was sleepy he managed to shakily get to his feet after Kaori's prompting "That's it! This way Iguchi-Chan!" She instructed gently leading the boy to the sidewalk "Kaori-Chan are you really going to take this guy home with you?" Kiku-Chan whispered, his gaze going from her to the boy trudging along with them.
Kaori smiled nodding "Of course! Papa's still at work and Ani-Chan wouldn't mind sharing his special blanket, he lets me sleep in his bed all winter sometimes!" She answered adjusting her grip on Iguchi-Chan's hand so he wouldn't get any colder. They didn't have far to go but Iguchi-Chan didn't have any gloves and she was sure it was because of his claws, it took Midoriya-Chan a while to find good gloves for Ani-Chan.
The last thing Shuichi could remember before his hindbrain had forcibly taken over was trying to find somewhere warm to stay for the night. It was all hazy after that and he couldn't remember anything from that time even if he wanted to, his hindbrain wasn't going to waste the energy to make any memories when it needed to conserve all the resources it had left.
So, when he "woke up", Shuichi was understandably frightened when he realized that he was in someone's room. He looked all over for any sign of what could have happened during his fugue state and while he hadn't felt anything other than the usual tight pinching all over and a headache from being unconscious, that didn't mean something hadn't happened to him.
The dingy room admittedly wasn't much help with how bare it was. A couple of boxes with books on top of them, the large mattress he was currently sitting on, and a door that presumably led to... Somewhere else.
None of this helped Shuichi but he could at least think straight again thanks to a very large and warm electric blanket that had been draped over him. As much as he didn't want to stick around for whoever lured him, the chill in the air and the idea of becoming unconscious again frightened him. The door opened suddenly, and he wasn't sure what to think when a young blonde girl with slit eyes peeked inside "Iguchi-Chan, you're awake!" The little girl cheered running over to him.
Did he know this girl? This girl knew his name, but he couldn't remember the girl for the life of him. She didn't seem very dangerous as she beamed up at him... Even with four sharp tiny fangs "I knew Ani-Chan's special blanket would help you! It always helps Ani-Chan when he gets sleepy." The girl told him with a little giggle.
She probably meant the electric blanket that covered him, and Shuichi wondered if he had somehow lucked out in being found by someone with reptile mutations and they had taken pity on him. It wouldn't be the first time he's found a sympathetic shoulder from another mutant quirked individual and just as he was about to ask the girl, another figure far more intimidating entered the room.
Despite the multiple layers of clothes, he could tell the scaled figure was likely much stronger than him from his much larger frame. The person was even crouching slightly to keep their head hitting the patchy ceiling. Most of their face was covered but he could see two piercing golden eyes staring at him intently making Shuichi feel incredibly small where he sat.
"Ani-Chan! Look, I found someone with scales like you! His name is Iguchi-Chan." The girl exclaimed excitedly as she threw herself at the towering figure. "Ani-Chan's" eyes flicked down to the little girl making grabby hands at him and he surprised Shuichi by kneeling and pulling down the thick scarf covering his similarly reptilian-shaped face "Kaori, you shouldn't bring strangers home just because they have scales." He softly explained, if a bit flatly due to his monotone voice.
"But Ani-Chan, Iguchi-Chan was all sleepy like you used to get! And he doesn't have one of the big fluffy coats Midoriya-Chan got us." Kaori protested getting a trill-like hum in return before his eyes were on Shuichi again "I apologize for the scare my sister no doubt gave you Iguchi-San. She's mostly warm-blooded and has never had a hindbrain take over." He told Shuichi, his lisp more pronounced as he spoke.
"I-it's fine, r-really... " Shuichi replied, pausing as he didn't catch the man's name "Miyake Masao." The other reptile mutant provided for him and then placed his backpack by the door "Do you have someone we can call to get you Iguchi-San?" Miyake asked sitting next to the mattress. Shuichi curled in upon himself and averted his eyes "N-no." He answered and it wasn't a lie either, the foster family he was staying with had kicked him out since he was "eighteen" now.
He wasn't though, he had only turned seventeen last August, but his foster family very much didn't give a damn and tossed him out the morning of his birthday since he was an "adult" now. Kaori tilted her head at that "You don't have any family?" She innocently questioned the way most toddlers do when they didn't know better "Well... No." Shuichi painfully admitted. His father had been very clear he never wanted to see Shuichi again.
Kaori blinked then her eyes went wide "Does that mean we can adopt you Iguchi-Chan!?" She gleefully asked shocking Shuichi and Miyake "Kaori-" Miyake tried to speak but the little girl cut him off "Do you know what that means Ani-Chan!? I'll have two Ani-Chans! Oh, oh! Iguchi-Chan can I call you Igu-Chan? Or should I call you Oniichan?" Kaori said practically bouncing from her sheer joy at the idea.
Shuichi himself felt rather overwhelmed by the little girl's energy and the idea of being adopted stung a bit since it would be really unlikely to happen "Kaori." Miyake repeated a touch more sternly and the girl stopped and turn back to the man "Even if Father agrees to let Iguchi-San live with us, we can't force him to stay." Masao laid it out for the young girl and Kaori deflated.
"But he can... right Ani-Chan?" She asked close to pleading but before Masao could answer her a second, no less intimidating man entered the room. Masao stiffened "Papa?" Kaori called but Shuichi was more focused on the man's fierce glare at him, the man's tongue flicked out and his eyes furrowed "Boy," he said, and Shuichi felt his body tense up.
"You're Acacia's brat... " the man added, his words more of a statement than a question, and a large part of Shuichi wondered how this man knew his mom's name "Let me guess. Acacia kicked the bucket, and your old man didn't want the extra mouth to feed." The oldest Miyake continued to correctly surmise about his family, but Shuichi flinched at the last bit as that was one of the things his father had said to him all those years ago.
Miyake tsked "Warned that dumb bitch not to stay with that bastard... You got a name brat?" He questioned, scaled arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame "I-Iguchi Shuichi." Shuichi timidly offered and Miyake nodded "Right. Hatchlings, help the brat get settled." Miyake told the siblings before he left and Shuichi was going to ask what the man meant by that, only to be interrupted by Masao "I think Father agrees we're keeping Iguchi-San." He commented causing Kaori to cheer and hug him.