Chapter Text
“Oji,” Kurohato whined as her uncle pointed the camera at her again.
“But it’s your first day,” her uncle shouted loud enough for her to wince at imaginary ear strain.
Before she could respond, Midnight came up behind him and smacked him lightly with a folder. “You got enough pictures Mic. You’ve got another niece and nephew and I haven’t seen you following them around like paparazzi.”
“But I barely have any pictures of her before now. I’ve got to make up for lost time.”
“Having twenty copies of her in the same pose in the same place isn’t going to help.”
In the midst of their arguing, Kurohato slipped away and around the corner.
Despite the rocky start, the day was still looking up. Her first day of her first year of high school.
Considering she was the daughter of two high-class villains, it was a miracle she would even be considered for a hero course.
Considering she wasn’t actually sure she’d survive until high school, it was a miracle she was standing there.
Considering technically she didn’t survive until high school but was up, walking, talking and physically fit enough for a hero course was the miracle of all miracles.
She just hoped her classmates and teachers saw her at least in a neutral light.
Scratch that. All her teachers had met her at least once while her biological uncle (Aizawa not Yamada) had been juggling being her legal guardian with his classes and ended up dragging her up to school often during the day.
(Most likely because he didn’t trust her not to drop dead again. Not that he’d ever admit he had more than two emotions a year.)
The teachers did dance around her a bit. Those close to Aizawa especially. They knew despite the fact the pair had never met in person beforehand, Kurohato’s death had torn a hole in his heart and sent him into a short depression.
Her rise from the grave had flat out given him a heart attack.
(Not that she had been buried at the time.)
But anyway, they already had a strained relationship beforehand and her manner of death made him want to resurrect her and then kill her again. (Thankfully he didn’t actually kill her the second time around. Just chewed her out for being reckless with her life.)
But despite the strain of watching his supposedly quirkless niece stand between a raging villain and a little girl and dying because of it, they were integrating together semi-well. Thankfully, Yamada-Oji had been a good buffer between Kurohato’s bad sense of humor and Aizawa’s emotionless facade.
But the rest of that is a story for another day. Right now she was standing in front of the largest door she had ever seen and was trying to convince herself that her uncle wasn’t going to expel her on the first day.
...probably.
“Are you going to open it?”
Kurohato jumped half a foot in the air, turning around quickly to face who had spoken.
The first thing she noticed was her wings. White as clouds and large enough to justify the wide door. Otherwise, she looked relatively normal but kind of familiar. Kind of like…
“Yamada-san,” she said after a moment, surprising the student in question.
“I prefer just Yama...How do you know my name?”
“I literally took shrapnel to the face for you during the exam.”
Yama stiffened, her wings fluffing out in surprise.
“That was you ? I didn’t recognize you. You look a bit more...”
“Lively?”
Yama tucked her wings back and started stroking her crest the try and get the agitated feathers to lay down.
“Yes. I guess lively would work in this situation.”
Kurohato huffed a laugh before playfully punching Yama’s arm.
“Don’t worry about it. I ran off pretty quick and my uncle offered to do my makeup today so I don’t look like a walking corpse on my first day.”
“Right, that’s your quirk. My uncle told me you were fine because of it when I couldn’t find you after the battle simulation.”
“Uncle?”
Despite being cheeky and asking this, Kurohato knew Yama was her cousin, Present Mic’s niece. It was just funny to watch reactions to questions she already knew the answer to. Plus it was nice to keep some anonymousness before it was know she was the ward of two of the teachers.
“Uh, yeah. Present Mic-err-the announcer with the blond hair and loud voice. He’s the head of the english department and my dad’s little brother.”
Kuro hid her usually creepy smile and instead raised an eyebrow.
“If he’s a teacher we’ll be deaf before we learn the language.”
This seemed to surprise Yama for a second before laughing (Damn was that a musical laugh. If she saw Kuria today she’d have to nudge them together.)
“I’ll have to tell my uncle that one, but first we should actually get into the classroom before the bell rings.”
“Right.” Kurohato opened the door and stepped back to let Yama through. “I’m Deddo Kurohato by the way.”
Yama’s wings puffed back up as she spun on her heel to face Kurohato again.
“I am so sorry,” she babbled. “I was so busy thinking about my own day I forgot to ask.” She bowed her head slightly, giving Kurohato a view of her slightly floofed crest. “Forgive me.”
“It’s fine. I used to have to wear a bell so I didn’t surprise my mom or aunts when I was younger. I’m just a very quiet person when I want to be.”
Yama straightened up, shocking Kurohato a bit with how tall she actually was. “Regardless I should have at least taken an interest in you since you took an interest in me. May we start over?”
Kurohato raised an eyebrow but still offered her hand. “I’m Deddo Kurohato. I’m your new classmate. I hope we have loads of fun together,” she said in an exaggerated friendly voice.
Yama quickly caught on and grabbed her hand to shake it. “I’m Yamada Hanemi. I’m sure we’ll be great friends,” she responded in the same tone of voice.
They kept shaking hands and making eye contact way past what was proper but before they could take it too far, someone snorted behind Yama.
“Jeez, even when making fun of friendly people, you sound like a dweeb.”
“Shut up Otono!” Yama cried, whirling around to face him.
“Make me!”
As they dissolved into childish banter, Kurohato’s shoulders dropped slightly.
He was probably Yama’s other cousin who she actually knew about and had met before. At least their whole awkward generation of the family was present.
She looked for her desk and while she was kind of glad it was in the front row, she wasn’t looking forward to her uncle flashing his quirk at her to scare her into waking up.
Before she could make it over there, something bumped her ankle hard enough to make her jump slightly.
“Sorry,” came a soft voice from her right.
Another student stood there, looking downright mortified that he had hit her. Her eyes trailed down to his lengthy tail that was currently slightly curled around his own ankle.
“It’s fine. Barely even felt it.” She grinned wildly, trying to ease the situation. “You gotta put in more than that if you want to knock me down,” she said triumphantly, jumping into a mocking fighting stance. “Come at me!”
He seemed to relax a bit (What was with everyone and getting freaked out around her?) and smiled slightly. “I think I’ll pass for now. I am Kodai Shapuun.”
Something in his voice had her looking closer. She had seen and cared for dozens of children put in her foster home care. The general reluctance, the exaggerated apology for a small incident, and the refusal to make eye contact were definite red flags.
“Oh, I’m Deddo Kurohato.”
“Dead blackheart?” he translated without thinking, only to seem a little embarrassed afterward.
“Well, my mom had a really dark sense of humor. Considering my quirk literally raised me from the dead, it was at least fitting.”
He paled at the admission making the dark green scales stand out sharply, but before he could say anything, she waved her hand dismissively.
“And you’re one to talk Mr. Ancient Times. Is that even a real name or did your mom make that one up to keep with the dinosaur theme.”
At this question, she could almost see him physically shut down. The slight dulling of his eyes and inward curl made her heart ache for whatever pain he had apparently gone through beforehand.
“Hey, Kodai,” she said gently.
When he looked back up, she tried to smile as sweetly as possible. (Considering she’s related to Shota, it probably wasn’t that sweet.)
“I’m getting the vibes that there are some topics you’d rather stay away from,” she said as gently. “That’s fine. I’d just rather know what they are so I can stay away from them.”
The entire conversation was copied and pasted from what she went through with the new kids at each foster home but it seemed to work even just slightly.
When he didn’t say anything back, instead, started chewing on his lip, she reached out to gently punch his arm.
“I promise I’m not babying you. I’ve got psychological issues that would make most therapists cry. I just get angry rather than scared. My mom ruined a lot of things for me as a kid.”
Kodai finally looked her in the eye again, this time smiling back if only slightly. (With a mouth full of knife-sharp canines.)
“My mom ruined a lot of stuff for me too. Including my quirk.” He paused to look down at where his tail was uncurling and relaxed a bit. “I used to think it was cool but I wasn’t...a high class quirk.”
Kurohato winced in sympathy.
“Well, at least for now you’re safe. It’s hero school. Let your hair down a bit.”
Kodai’s hand immediately went to his short hair as he stared at her in confusion.
“Figuratively.”
He looked surprised for a moment before dropping his hand and smiling. He seemed to think for a moment longer before seemingly leaning forward.
Kuro stepped back, confusion marring her face as he settled into a posture more akin to an actual raptor. At least like this he was only a few inches taller than her instead of a foot.
Seeing her confusion, he explained. “I’m not allowed to relax in my house. My mom thinks I have bad posture, no matter how many doctors tell her she’s ruining my back by making me stand straight.”
“Ah,” she said for lack of a better response. “Considering so far I’ve seen a chick with angel wings and a dude with detachable hands and I’m a walking corpse, I’m sure you’ll fit in just fine.”
At this mention, his smile seemed to soften into something more natural. It was awesome to see.
“Thank y-”
The door to the classroom opened a bit louder than normal.
“Everyone get to your seats. Class is starting.”
Most if not all the students jumped and scrambled to get to their seats, including an apparently startled Kodai who straightened back up to Kurohato’s disappointment.
She was the last to her seat much to her uncle’s annoyance but sitting near-directly in front of his desk was enough of a punishment for the moment.
Today Aizawa-sensei looked a tad less scruffy than usual. His black hair was dotted by strands of white right at the part of his hair. Thank god he had at least pulled the monster of a mane back into a ponytail. No proper facial hair grooming though.
Maybe he was trying to make a good impression on his nieces and nephew?
...Nah. Mic probably got to him.
“I am Aizawa-Shota. Your homeroom teacher.”
She could feel the ripple of surprise behind her. No matter the hair tie and lack of a sleeping bag, Aizawa-Oji did not look like a teacher at the most prestigious heroics school in the country.
He walked over to his desk and pulled a set of gym uniforms out. (At least it wasn’t out of his sleeping bag.)
The memory of that story made Kuro snort and before she could hide her face behind her hand, her uncle zeroed in on her.
He let out a full-body sigh before pinning her down with a stare.
“I wanted to wait until tomorrow to say this because I thought it wouldn’t be logical to waste time on it today but apparently I was wrong.”
Kuro frowned. She knew what was coming but apparently a little giggle was enough to warrant getting called out.
“Deddo, Adiea, and Yamada.”
She knew the other two were probably wide-eyed and terrified of getting called out but she reminded herself her uncle was relatively harmless.
“Despite my protests, Principal Nezdu insisted that putting you three in my class would help bridge the gap between me and my new students. While this is somewhat rational, do not think that I am going to go easy on you.”
A soft whoosh sound behind her alerted her to Yama snapping her wings closed. Most likely she wasn’t used to the strict side of her uncle. Too spoiled by his softer home personality.
“From this moment on, in this school, I am Aizawa-sensei or sir. I will not tolerate unprofessionalism in my class from you three.”
Kuro’s eyebrow twitched as she remembered old training footage Mic-Oji had shown her from years ago. Two teenagers vs. Aizawa and Mic trying to run a three-legged race didn’t seem professional.
“I know your weaknesses, your strengths, what makes each of you tick. I will not go easy on you. If anything, I will push you ten times as hard as your classmates. Here I am your teacher . understand?”
It was silent for a moment before Kuro slightly raised her head and said, “Yes, sensei.”
He narrowed his eyes at her before relaxing a fraction of a centimeter.
“That goes double for you. You are going to suffer the nurse's wrath is you end up in office too much.”
Kuro raised her hands passively. “Take that up with her .”
Thankfully, he didn’t have a refute for that and moved on.
“And you two?”
“Yes, Aizawa-sensei,” came Yama’s softer reply.
“Yes, sensei,” added a voice Kuro wasn’t really familiar with but assumed was Aieda.
“Alright then. Everyone get your uniforms and get to the changing rooms. Be on the field as quickly as possible. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
Aizawa quickly pulled all the uniforms out of his desk before turning to the door.
He stopped in the doorway and turned back to the class.
“By the way…” He smiled in that creepy-ass way he did. “Welcome to the hero course.”
And he shut the door.
It was silent for a long moment before Kuro jumped up, grabbed her uniform off the table and ran out the room. She anxiety taking over when she felt too many stares on her back.
It was pretty obvious she had screwed up her first introduction to her class and her family by not introducing herself earlier. (Like, when she first was free from her mom, or when she first moved in with Aizawa, or when she bumped into Yama in the hallway. Or anywhere in between.)
What did they think of her now?