Chapter Text
It feels like deja vu watching a dark void swirl open in the middle of her bedroom, even more so when a cadaverous man in dark clothing appears through it. The man looks similar to when she’d seen him only days prior although, very thankfully, he's only wearing one of the disembodied hands which currently acts like a mask. Tsuyu knew the man she’d made a deal with was a villain and a well-connected one at that but she had no idea it was someone from the newly dubbed League of Villains. As they say, though, hindsight is 20/20 and now with all the facts laid out in front of her, the connection is obvious. A villain looking for someone to watch over their kid reached out to her specifically when she’d recently reunited a villain’s child with his family. Coincidences happen but not like this.
Despite all the facts and despite the evidence that the man is not completely heartless he did try to attack her class—now ex-class—earlier that week and while he didn't succeed in killing anyone, he did do his damnedest up until the end. Honestly, if she wasn't cautious at the moment then she'd be a fool, which she isn't, or more worse for the wear than she'd thought. “You," she practically hisses at the man.
“It’s Shigaraki Tomura,” he says flippantly and otherwise ignoring her in favor of her locked door. “Sensei told you what to do so get moving.” He presses one of his hands flush against the thick wood, his touch acting like a blight, eating away at the material. The decay continues even without his influence until the only thing remaining of her once sturdy yet roughed-up door is two small chunks of wood still connected to the doorway by metal hinges. “You have ten minutes.”
The man steps over the line of dust he’d made and strides deeper into the house, his gait long and comfortable like he owns the place rather than the intruder that he is. Her heart leaps to her throat at the thought of someone so dangerous stalking towards her younger siblings who had already been through enough for a lifetime let alone the night. “What are you doing?” She speed walks to match him and keeps her voice even as she asks. Tsuyu may be protective but she's not stupid. With her father there had been some chance she could've stopped him from taking out his anger on her siblings and she knows the man cares too much about his reputation to even come close to killing one of them but Shigaraki isn't bound to the same social pressures though she can say their morals are likely in line with one another.
Shigaraki doesn't acknowledge her in anything but a response, “I’m going to send a message. Nobody messes with my party members,” he says, an eerie grin spreading under his mask with the ominous statement.
Like she said, Tsuyu isn't stupid so it doesn't take long for her to figure out what the man means and when she does she points a finger in the opposite direction, “My parents' room is that way.”
The man turns to her, crazed eyes peaking through the mummified hand and his grin grows wider behind his mask so she can still see the edges of it even with the mask now hiding it. “You might not be so bad after all, little hero.” She watches as the villain walks in the opposite direction and for a moment she thinks about the fate she just sentenced her parents to but for how kind she prides herself on being, not one of those thoughts is of guilt.
Remembering the limit she'd been given, Tsuyu shakes herself out of her stupor and continues the way she'd been. She gets to her younger brother's room first and unlocks the door as all of their doors only lock from the outside. Normally she'd knock and wait for permission before entering either of her siblings' space but even with Shigaraki... handling both of their parents she doesn't like the idea of waking them before he does.
She slips into the dark room, the only light in the room being from the already dim hall light. It isn't too inconvenient though because while Samidare isn't held to the same cleanliness standards as she and Satsuki are, his floor is still clean save for the occasional piece of clothing or action figure. Once she’s by his bed, though, she flips on the lamp which sits on his neighboring desk. The lamp sheds light on her brother's sleeping form allowing her to see his red and swollen eye which will definitely develop into a nasty black eye within the next day. She doesn’t like it but right now she has to focus on using the little time she was given to the full extent. “Wake up, Samidare.” The boy mumbles and shifts but settles back down so she lightly shakes him, calling his name again. “Samidare, you need to get up, buddy.”
The boy opens his eyes and slurs, “Tsu?” blearily blinking to adjust to the light behind her.
“Yeah, it’s me. You have to get up, okay?”
“Why? What’s going on?” He sits up and sucks in a quick breath from the movement but is otherwise silent in his pain.
“I know it hurts and I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, but now I’m going to make sure he never lays a hand on any of us again.”
Samidare crosses his arms and essentially pouts at her. “You don’t have to protect me, I can take it.”
She hates the mindset that’s been drilled into the nine-year-old's head but she can’t fix anything at the moment just as she hadn’t been able to fix it with toxic words and ideas being repeated to him every day. Right now she just offers a weak smile and nods. “I know but you shouldn’t have to.” He opens his mouth to fight but she kindly cuts him off him, “We don’t have time to talk about this right now. We have less than 10 minutes to pack. Grab your clothes and everything you don’t want to leave behind. I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait leaving, leaving where?”
“I’ll explain everything soon but right now I need you to trust me, can you do that?” His face is still screwed up in confusion but he nods and stands from his bed to start doing as he was told.
Confident her brother will stay awake to pack, she leaves him to do just that and repeats what she'd just done, walking to her sister's room, and unlocking her door although this time there are some added screams that echo through the house which she choices to ignore. The loud noise causes Satsuki to stir but not yet wake so Tsuyu makes her way to the girl's bed with the aid of a little night light brightening the room ever so slightly. Squatting down to her level Tsuyu gently shakes the girl to rouse her. “‘Suki, it’s time to wake up.”
Satsuki shifts at the call but whines with the movement. “Hurts," she tiredly whines.
“I know, I’m sorry. You don’t have to move but I need to turn on a light, okay?” She gets a hum of understanding so she pulls the blanket over the little girl’s eyes before turning on the main light, the only other in the room. She grabs the younger girl's school bag and packs it full of her favorite toys and books so they are easily accessible. Once there is no room left in the bag she leaves it by the door on her way back into the hall. Passing by the final bedroom in the house she sees the doorknob is gone and there is a pile of dust on the ground just below. In a moment of bravery but more curiosity she pushes on the door. The room is dark but even without being able to see well she knows the room is devoid of life. She closes the door and puts off any thoughts surrounding that until later. Finally, she gets to her goal which is the trash bags from under the kitchen. She could find real bags but it would take up time she doesn’t have.
The kitchen is close to the front door so she grabs her siblings' shoes from the rack but pauses in picking up her own. It's a dumb thought, but the thought alone brings a smile to her face so she drops her shoes to the ground and slides her feet into them then walks back through the house, disrespecting the place with every step she takes. She makes another stop in the bathroom where she gathers up everything they might need from brushes to body wash and throws them in one of the bags. On the way back she also checks on Samidare who had already stuffed his school bag full so she hands him two of the plastic ones from her hand. “Here. We won’t be back so take as much as you can.” He doesn’t argue, just takes them. She’s honestly kind of surprised he’s taking this so easily. The two of them aren’t the closest but she supposes he’s old enough to understand she always has their best interest in mind.
She ends her round trip back in Satsuki’s room and starts setting her folded clothes carefully into the bags. Once all shelves and drawers in the room are empty she ties them up and sets all the bags together. She walks back to the girl's bed again and lowers the blanket from her eyes. “I’m going to pick you up. It will probably hurt a bit but I promise I’ll be as careful as possible.”
“I know,” she mumbles half asleep, “Tsu doesn’t hurt.”
She kisses the girl's head and holds back tears at the heartbreaking but entirely true statement. “You’re right, I’ll never hurt you. You can go back to sleep now, I’ve got you.”
She slowly wraps her arms around Satsuki's body and begins to lift her up but she's stopped by a sudden and coherent request. “Wait, Froppy.” Tsuyu stops and puts the girl's favorite stuffed animal in her arms which is instantly hugged tight to her chest. Carrying the girl in one arm she slings the backpack over her other shoulder and picks up the final bag in her other hand.
Once she's adjusted to the weight she makes one last trip to her brother's room. “Are you ready?” He yawns and nods tiredly. “You’ll be able to sleep soon. Can you carry all that?”
“Course I can, I’m strong,” he says defiantly.
She smiles softly. “I know you are.”
He drags his own two bags out of the room and follows her down the hall. Kurogiri still stands in the middle of her room like he had been a minute before. “Are the three of you ready?”
"Almost." With the little girl still on her hip Tsuyu quickly grabs her own essentials though it's not nearly as much as she'd made her siblings grab. She ties up her bag and turns back to the flickering man, "Okay, we're ready."
Kurogiri nods (at least she thinks he does, his cloudy form makes it hard to discern purposeful movement from a flicker) and opens a portal, “Then you may leave your things with me, Sensei would like to speak with you first.” He gestures to the portal, “If you would.”
She leads her brother into the black abyss and they all emerge in a large, open room. The lighting is purposefully ominous in a way that keeps the ends of the room unseen and acts as a spotlight for the faceless man seated before them. The portal cuts off behind the three of them and leaves them alone with the man who exudes power which manifests as a thick oppressive air that feels like a weight in her lungs. For a moment the tension is a steady force against her and with the way Samidare shutters beside her she can tell she's not alone but the feeling dissipates when the man smiles. “Asui Tsuyu, so we meet at last.”
She bows her head to the man in gratitude and out of what is almost compulsion, "Thank you for this opportunity, Sir, and just Tsuyu is fine. I'd rather not be attached to that name now that I don't have to be.”
“As you wish Tsuyu, you may call me Sensei and I am the one who should be thanking you. You returned my son to me and for that, you have my gratitude, something that is not often won.”
“I would have done it for anyone if their intentions were right,” Tsuyu admits.
The man chuckles quietly but even that sends a shiver down her spine. “You will do well with us, Tsuyu. Now it appears you and yours are injured. If you'd like I could heal you, I'm sure your siblings would appreciate a restful night.”
She thinks of the stabbing pain in her side she'd been doing well to ignore this whole time and imagines her siblings who are much less used to the feeling experiencing the same. "We would appreciate that, thank you." The man beckons her closer and she complies stepping forward until she's within arms reach at which point the man lays a hand on her forehead. With a low hum and a dim glow she can feel the pain in her torso dissipate and not only that but she feels rejuvenated as well. From that alone she can tell it's an incredibly powerful quirk and while she doesn't believe in heroic or villainous quirks it is odd for someone with such a dynamic healing quirk to turn to villainy. She lets the man repeat the process with Satsuki who sighs and slumps further into her side as her pain is taken away. "Your quirk seems very powerful."
"It isn't actually," he says while placing his hand on Samidare's head almost dwarfing the nine-year-old. "It's a handful of minor, mostly useless healing quirks that work well together and none of them are mine."
"So you're saying you have multiple quirks? How is that possible?" Tsuyu asks.
"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. For now, though I'm sure the three of you could do for a good night's sleep,” he says avoidantly then snaps his fingers and the sound is quickly followed by a dark portal forming to their right. "Kurogiri will handle everything from here but this will not be the last time we speak, Tsuyu."
"Of course, thank you again, Sensei." She bows her head again and guides her brother through the gate which leads into a smaller room with three laid-out futons and the bags containing all of their possessions. Once inside the bedroom, she quickly realizes she is still wearing her shoes so she quickly slips them off and sets them on top of a bag to keep them from tracking in anything more. She lays her sleeping sister on one of the futons and the girl easily settles into it. She tucks Satsuki in and turns to her brother who has already laid down in one of the other beds.
"Goodnight, Samidare."
"Night, Tsu," he mumbles and turns to the wall.
She takes her place on the last futon and quickly finds herself drifting off. It's odd that in this largely unknown place with the only known being that there are murderous criminals somewhere close by she is able to sleep easier than in the house she'd lived in her whole life.
Tsuyu wakes up to something incessantly poking her cheek. “Tsu.” She takes a breath as the finger pokes her again, “Tsu.”
Finally, Tsuyu yawns and peels open her eyes. “Good morning to you too, Satsuki.”
“Tsu.” The voice warbles and suddenly Tsuyu feels much more awake. She sits up and looks at her sister who has fat tears welling up in her eyes and desperately clings to her favorite stuffed animal. “Where are we?”
“Oh hey, it’s okay. We’re safe.” She opens her arms and the girl climbs into her lap. “It must have been scary to wake up somewhere new but it’s okay. I’m here and Samidare is here too, see?” She points to their still-sleeping brother. “And I’m sure you feel a bit better too, right?”
She looks down at her wrist in amazement and rolls it around, “It doesn’t hurt anymore, how did you do that?”
She smiles softly at the little girl in her arms. “I didn’t but I did get help and now mom and dad can’t hurt any of us anymore.”
“Really?” The girl asks in awe.
“Really,” Tsuyu confirms.
“Can we still see them though?” She asks hesitantly and Tsuyu stops herself from wincing.
“...Not right now but we can talk about that later. For now I bet you’re hungry. Did you get to have lunch yesterday?” She asks.
“Uh-huh. Samidare made onigiri.”
“Good. Why don’t you get changed and I’ll wake Samidare then we can find some breakfast.” I hope, she finishes in her head, still very unsure of their current situation. They’d been treated well thus far but in the few hours they’d been with the newly dubbed League of Villains almost all of them they had been asleep although nothing happening while they were in such a vulnerable state may be more of a testament to their plans.
“Okay!” The girl goes through the quickly put-together bags as Tsuyu wakes their brother, telling the boy to do the same thing. Once her siblings were in, as far as she knew, clean clothes she leads them out of the room. She hadn’t been given any information on what they could or should do, but her siblings haven’t eaten in over 12 hours and she was closer to 24 so wandering was a risk she was willing to take.
The group makes their way down a straightforward hallway. There are a few rooms branching off it but they don’t stop to check any of them out so they quickly find a staircase leading down with something lighting up the bottom brighter than the dim lights of the hall do. She takes the lead and walks down the staircase, Satsuki holds her hand which makes it a bit awkward but still doable.
As soon as they emerge from the stairway a voice greets them. “Good morning Asuis," he addresses them all, "We have not formally met, my name is Kurogiri and I am here to assist you in anything you may need.”
“Thank you,” Tsuyu greets and bows politely, “I'm Tsuyu and this is Satsuki and Samidare.”
“I am pleased to meet you although I already know who you are. Sensei did his research,” Kurogiri replies.
Tsuyu really needs to figure out what's going on with all of that, that being the reason she and thus they are here, but she doesn’t need to worry her siblings about it. Instead, she looks to the open kitchen the man is talking to them from and asks, “Could I use the kitchen? None of us have eaten in a while.”
“There is no need, I made food for Master Izuku earlier, it is staying warm on the stove. If you take a seat I can serve you some.”
“Thank you.” She moves cautiously to the bar, her siblings feeling less weary. Once there, she makes sure Satsuki doesn't lose her balance while climbing onto a stool and then hops onto one beside it. The man, who Bakugou and Kirishima had fallen right through during their initial attack at the entrance of the USJ, somehow holds then places a bowl in front of each of them. She wonders how he can control when he is tangible but not enough for that to be the question she asks. “Is Izuku the boy who was at the USJ?”
“Yes. Master Izuku has a tendency to get into places he shouldn’t. It’s part of the reason you are here although we can discuss that in more detail once you have eaten.”
The three siblings begin eating and Kurogiri turns back to the kitchen, this time cleaning thoroughly and methodically. They all work in near silence aside from the clinking of dishes being cleaned and used. Samidare finishes first and is quickly offered seconds by the man which he accepts. When he asks her, Tsuyu also accepts the offer of more food, her siblings hadn’t eaten since lunch but the last time she'd eaten was a quick snack before her meeting the morning before. Once they all fill themselves with good, warm food Kurogiri directs them to the bathroom, warning them that the older boy, man really, was still asleep in his room and likely would be for at least another hour. She collects their toiletries and inspects the room before they take turns using the facilities. While they are all clean and healed there is something about a shower that washes the emotions that come with such a stressful night away.
The three of them are efficient, especially herself and Satsuki, and finish using the room in just under 45 minutes. Cleaned, dressed, and with no other instructions she guides the three of them back downstairs… to where Kurogiri is still cleaning the kitchen. Weird but while she is often critical of others Tsuyu has never been one to judge. She clears her throat, “Excuse me, sir?”
“Kurogiri is fine.”
“Kurogiri,” she restarts and after a moment of deliberating decides to be straightforward, it’s her preferred way of going about most things and from the little she has seen of him Kurogiri seems the same. “You said you’d tell us why we’re here.”
“So I did,” the man puts down the cleaning rag in his hands, “Would you prefer we speak in private?”
"Yes, please."
He turns to her siblings and addresses them which is also odd, most adults don't talk directly to kids because they don't care to see how smart they can actually be when given the chance. "Then you two may entertain yourselves as you wish though I would suggest you not touch Master Tomura's gaming consoles, he is very protective of them."
Samidare heads to the couch and turns on the large TV and Satsuki follows his lead. With them distracted she follows Kurogiri back to the bar where he puts a tea kettle on. “The attack on your school and attempt on All Might’s life was only the beginning of Master Tomura’s plans," The man begins impassively. "I attend to the needs of both Master Tomura and Master Izuku, I act as Master Tomura’s right-hand man and as Master Izuku’s primary caretaker. Master Tomura currently calls for more assistance only I can provide and as I’m sure you’ve seen Sensei is not in the position to care for Master Izuku constantly so outside aid is necessary. You have already met Master Izuku while proving yourself to be impartial and in addition to that Sensei has done extensive research into you all. Everything was taken into consideration before you were asked to do this job which, in short, will involve caring for Master Izuku where I cannot, and in exchange, you will receive safety amongst other things.”
“So I just… watch over him?” She asks, suspicious of how simple and perfect it all sounds.
“Along with your own siblings, yes. I will continue to provide meals and clean but most needs specific to Master Izuku will fall upon you.”
Tsuyu practically raised her siblings when she was much younger than she is now and she'd guess that Izuku is already around Satsuki's age. That alone made the job sound easy but add in the fact that she also had to do most of the cooking and cleaning back at their house and it sounded simple, simple and too good to be true but haven't their lives been bad enough to earn a stroke of good luck? "Okay, I accept."
"A wise choice and now that it's been decided I think it's time you formally meet Master Izuku. I will return shortly," he says then disappears into one of his own portals.
She shakes off his quick disappearance and calls for her siblings, "Sam, 'Suki can you come over here?"
"What but we just started watching something."
"It won't be long, there's just someone you need to meet."
"Fine." Samidare relents and walks over with Satsuki once again on his heels.
"Thank you,” she says and almost immediately after the stairs behind her creek. Tsu whips her head around to see as Shigaraki steps into the light and for the first time since she'd met him he only had two hands. "Good morning, Shigaraki."
"No,” the man snaps, voice raspy from sleep as he heads over to one of the kitchen cabinets. He pulls out a cup which he then starts assembling tea in. It's odd, she knows tea is a widely enjoyed drink but this homicidal man making a cup of tea right as a means to wake up, that or it's to soothe his throat which sounded bad with the single word he said, isn't something she'd ever imagined before. Shigaraki sips the steaming drink and Tsuyu suddenly realizes she was staring so she turns back to the spot Kurogiri disappeared from. It doesn't take long after that for a portal to open up again and for the man to reemerge through it. Kurogiri steps aside and looks down as he leaves the portal open for another few seconds before closing it. Tsuyu follows his gaze in confusion but sees nothing other than empty space.
“Master Izuku this is Tsuyu, Samidare, and Satsuki,” he gestures to each of them in accordance with their names and she can tell Samidare is close to speaking up though Kurogiri continues before he can start, “Asuis this is Shigaraki Izuku.”
Not a moment after the introductions are complete a youthful voice chirps up, “And this is Burt.” Suddenly the familiar boy is standing in front of them although she thinks the only thing that has changed is he is now visible. The boy smiles widely, his chubby cheeks impeding his ability to see but the cute expression is then replaced by a larger set of sharp teeth as he lifts something in front of his face.
Dangling from the boy’s hands is a dark creature the size of a cat with cracked skin, disproportionate extremities, and two bulging eyes that make it look eerily similar to the thing she’d seen smash her ex-homeroom teacher’s face into the ground days before. To her right, she can hear even the older Shigaraki make a noise of discomfort at the sight of the thing. Both he and Tsuyu had at least seen something similar before and she still felt sick to her stomach at the sight of it so it's no surprise that her younger siblings who have had the privilege of never being exposed to something like this before have stronger reactions. Both of their eyes widen at the disgusting sight and Satsuki's even begin to water then the room which had been at a silent standstill erupts with noise as Samidare screams and Satsuki screeches.