Chapter Text
Izumi had been just 5 years old when her mother, who was no longer able to take care of the both of them, had taken a hold of her wrist and took her to her workplace, the bar.
“Mommy, where are we going?” she asked, her green gem-like eyes, big and wondering as her mother smiled at her, soft and kind just like always.
“We need to go now sweety...” Inko began to say, before kissing Izumi’s hair and taking a hold of her hand, leaving their small apartment once and for all.
“Shouldn’t we say ‘goodbye’ to Kacchan?” asked the small voice of Izumi, and Inko just sighed, hoping that Mitsuki would be able to forgive her in the future. She held her daughter's wrist tighter, not wanting to let her go too.
“No sweetie…” she murmured and watched as her angel just nodded with a sad smile.
Inko sighed and the two started walking away, her daughter with a little skip in her steps and a little smile on her lips.
Inko knew that if she left her daughter to the Bakugous, that they would take good care of her but… she looked down at her baby angel and her eyes blurred at the thought of leaving her behind.
Maybe she was acting arrogant, maybe selfish but… could she really survive without her baby by her side?
Without her smiles or her beautiful gem-like eyes, her little freckles?
Could Inko really survive without her baby girl by her side?
The answer was no… so for once in her life, Ino acted selfishly and took her daughter to her second home, praying to Kami that this would be better for her girl than being separated from her…
“Inko!” Izumi watched as a pink-haired and a pink-eyed lady opened the door. She was beautiful, with her pink-hair in a braid that came to her waist. Her light blue gown shining thanks to the moonlight that shone upon her. Izuku knew what her quirk was after looking down to see the lady’s bare feet not touching the ground. “What brings you here? You weren’t-” the lady stopped and Izumi hid behind her mother as the lady looked at her.
“Wha-” the women began, looking baffled and Inko let out a small chuckle.
“Izumi,” Inko began, softly petting her daughter's hair, “Meet Aoi, she’s a friend of mine.”
“Hi Miss Aoi, I’m Izumi,” she said and bowed down towards the baffled lady, who fell down to the floor.
“I-” the lady stopped, and shook her head as her body floated once again.
“Inko! Did you tell anyone?!” she said and Izumi looked back at her mother who shook her head.
“She was my little secret… I- if Yuka-san sends us away, I might-”
“What’s this about me sending one of my… holy mother Maria...” Izumi looked towards the next comer and bit her lips at the sight of the black-haired snake-like lady who looked down at her.
“Yuka-san!” Izumi watched as her mother bowed alongside her and felt fear swarm her insides when she saw the unknown emotion in her mother’s eyes, “I- I am… if you tell us to go somewhere else, I’ll understand…” as soon as her mother uttered those words, silence overtook them, making Izumi truly afraid of the lady that stood in front of them.
“Inko, my dear child…” the lady’s soft-yet-stern voice murmured, “Come inside, I am sure that the little angel must be freezing by now.”
“I- Yuka-san I am so sorry, thank you so so much, I-”
“Inko, deary.” the woman repeated, making Inko go silent and bow down her head.
Izumi looked up at the lady and the small smile made her smile back.
Izumi’s insides filled with warmth as soon as she was inside, making her sigh and clap her hands looking at her mother, who just smiled at her.
“Miss, who is it at this goddamn hour?!” a man stopped at the beginning of the stairs staring at Izumi as if her very presence was bothering her by just being there.
“Who the f*-”
“Asa!” the male stopped what he was saying and the by turned towards the elder lady with big eyes.
“But-”
“Aoi, can you be a sweetheart and take Inko’s daughter to meet with the other girls?” Izumi looked at the lady, who was now holding onto her mother’s arm.
“I- of course…” the pink-haired lady said and Izumi tilted her head, taking the lady’s hand when the lady reached for her.
“I can carry you if you want?” the lady offered but Izumi just shook her head.
“Mommy’s back hurts whenever she carries me, so I must have become too big for someone to carry me!”
“Izumi!” she looked at her mom and wondered how thin her mother’s outfits were because of how red her cheeks were. She wasn’t feeling that cold...
“Yes mommy?” she asked and saw her mother just shake her head.
She watched as the arm that was linked to her mothers became tighter and the snake-like lady let out a laugh “She sure is your daughter Inko.” she said looking at Izumi, before once again turning towards Inko, “I’m guessing that you guys will be staying for a while… considering the bags?”
“I’m sorry, but can we maybe talk somewhere else?”
The lady looked at them, before sighing.
“Alright, Aoi I believe that I asked you to take little sweetheart to meet with the others?”
“Of course,” the pink-haired lady smiled down at her once again, “Shall we go Izumi?”
“Okay!” Izumi looked back at her mother with a big smile, showing her missing tooth, “Bye mommy!” she said, somehow warming the hearts of all four of them before leaving with the pink-haired girl, who had already taken the liking of the older girl.
“Miss,” Inko began to say, as Yuka-san took her place and sat down,” I am so sorry, I know that I shouldn’t-”
“How old is she?” the older woman asked, cutting her off.
Inko sighed and sat down where the other woman was pointing at, feeling her heavy heart beating in her chest.
“Only 5…”
The snake-eyed woman sighed, the small, almost invisible scale’s on her cheeks glinting as she did so.
“Are you two going to be staying for a while then?”
“I-” Inko sighed and looked straight into the dark eyes of the woman, who had become like a mother figure to her after all those years, “Izumi, she is quirkless…”
Silence filled the small room, causing Inko’s insides to be swarm with fear.
“I- everyone in the neighborhood knew… and I just- the ask for more money wherever we go in our small neighborhood, I can’t afford the rent anymore because the owner raised it to two times the amount of the old rent and I can’t let her grow up like that...I can’t let- I can’t let my baby to go through all that stuff…”
Her green forest-like eyes shook as she looked at the other woman’s dark ones, feeling relief when the woman’s soft eyes stayed on her.
“But… Inko, do you really want her to grow up here of all places? With us ?” she asked, because this was not what a child deserved. A child deserves happiness, with their parents, they deserve to be spoiled a bit, to be carried around, to be arrogant, to be curious...
“In a cruel world like ours…” the Inko began to say, and smiled, “There’s no one better that she can learn from…” she finished and Yuka-san sighed, letting a small tired but fond chuckle leave her lips.
“Well then,” the snake-like woman got up, Inko following her movements, “it might be best if we go to the girls to tell about the little cupcake, right?”
“I- Thank you so much…”
“No need,” the woman let out a sigh, “I am just bitter of becoming an aunty this young…”
Inko laughed at that, and the two left to go to retrieve the smaller girl.
Izumi watched, mesmerized as the black cat stood straight with pride, walking between the railings of the bed without even missing a beat.
“Show off!” the blonde man from earlier growled and Izumi turned towards him, making him blush and look away.
“Izumi-chan!” a blonde girl said, gaining Izumi’s attention, “Look here, look here!”
Izumi’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as she watched the way that the daisies sprouted out of the lady’s arm. Izumi’s eyes twinkled in amazement.
“Those are so pretty!” she whispered in awe and heard a familiar laugh, making her turn around and jump to her feet at the sight of the newcomer.
She ran towards her mom as fast as her small legs let her and the woman petted her head in approval.
“Well, Izumi?”
She raised her head which had been buried in her mother’s side and looked at the snake-like woman, who had crouched down to her level.
“May I ask how old you are?”
She grinned, once again displaying her missing teeth and held her hand up, showing 5 fingers.
“I am 5! But Kacchan said that we were going to be 6 soon because our birthdays were getting closer!”
“So you’re a big girl now, right?”Izumi tilted her head, before shaking her head.
“Mommy says that I’m not big enough to know much stuff, but I am big enough to do most things on my own!”
“Izumi!” her mother squealed, which went ignored by the black-haired woman.
“Oh! Really?”
“Yes! Last week, mommy was hurt so I made her a sandwich for breakfast and dinner!”
Inko sighed at that, feeling somewhat embarrassed at the fact that she remembered what had happened the night before, but not her daughter’s attempt to take care of her.
“Hmm, that means you are a real big girl! Does it not?”
“I guess?”
“So, can I ask you to keep a couple of promises, so that you can stay with mommy here?”
Izumi tilted her head for a bit, before shaking her head ‘no’, making the woman baffled for a second.
“Can we make the promises tomorrow? I know that I should keep them but I don't know if I can if I don't write them in my notebook!”
“She knows how to write?!” was heard from the blond boy.
The snake-like woman gave her a bigger smile, along with a fond sigh.
“Of course cupcake, how about you go and sleep with your mommy then? I have a feeling that it is way past your bedtime, right?”
Izumi nodded and her mother sighed, taking a small note of all the things that Izumi had done for her lately and promising to repay them to her one day...
Inko took a hold of her baby’s wrist, and the two left to go to the room where Yuka-san had told them to go to sleep…
Yuka Imai was a smart 30 years old woman, smarter than most others that had the same job and age as her.
Her smile left her face as soon as the two green-heads were far enough not to hear them and she looked at the black cat, who got the hint and went to close the door.
She sighed and looked at the four of her coworkers with a tired expression.
Yaku massaged her brows and sighed, before motioning towards the sleeping three and the four of them went to wake up the rest of the group.
It took a while, but soon all of them were awake and in front of her.
“I know that it has been a rough day girls,” she began to say, before sending a look at Asashi, who just huffed,” I would like it so that all of you know, tomorrow Inko will start staying with us…”
The black cat, Sora, returned back to her human body, her arms gathering in front of her as she stood in front of them, naked.
Asashi, the blonde boy growled and threw the first thing that he could get his hands towards her. which happened to be one of his big sweaters.
She ended up catching it gracefully before it could touch the floor.
“I hear a but in your voice…” Saeko said, white strands of hair escaping her messy bun and falling down in front of her.
“With her daughter.”
Asashi growled and looked away, while the others just looked at her with astonishment.
“Inko actually had a daughter?” the red-haired, Maemi said, her red eyes focused far away as she hugged her arms close to her.
“It turns out so… and she’s only five,” exclaimed Hanami, as she plucked out the flower that the other girl had marveled over scrunching her eyebrows from pain as blood came out of where the flower used to be.
Maemi waved her hand around, “Holy… How has Inko been hi-”
“You can’t possibly let the girl stay here!” Asashi yelled, making all of them flinch except herself “She’s too young!”
“KIDS!” Yuka yelled, her eyes shining yellow as she did so.
All of them stopped talking and looked towards her.
“Izumi is only five years old, she doesn’t have a father and they’ve been literally kicked out of their neighborhood, and I am not even gonna talk about how the rents were higher for them, and how they weren’t able to buy anything from people that knew them…” Yuka sighed.
“Isn’t it too much,” Saeko began to say, and brushed a strand of her white, long-hair behind her ear, “For someone to get that kind of treatment just because they work as a prostitute?” She asked and Yuka sighed once again.
“It wasn’t because of Inko’s job…”
All of them frowned.
“Izumi, her daughter is quirkless…”
Silence washed over them once again, only breaking when Asa growled once again.
“Those fucking bastards!” the blonde boy growled, slamming his hand to the side of the door.
“Asashi!” Sora exclaimed, scolding her twin brother who just looked at her with the same angry eyes.
“What? You are fine with this?!” he waved his hand around, “A little girl! Only five years old and she already has to deal with this fuc-messed up world?”
How is she gonna take it? Hmm? How is she going to take asshole customers pushing her around? And what will happen when she-”
Asashi stopped when Yuka raised her hand up.
“I know, that is why we will be setting down some ground rules, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already aware of where she is, what her mother does for a living, and what we do for a living, and I am also sure that she realizes that her mother didn’t have any other option if she was going to take care of both o them.” she stopped for a moment and watched as all of them took in what she had said.
“Asashi,” she began to say, and looked at her only male co-worker, “I will be trusting you to look after her most of the time?”
Asa stopped for a bit, before giving her a stiff nod.
“Okay, and I hope that you guys are more careful with your surroundings from now on, this might be a bar, but it sure is not a darn cowshed, no swearing when she is around, no walking around naked,” she stared at the black-haired girl who just sheepishly shrugged, “and you guys better look at where you take your customers from now on, there will be certain safe grounds that all of us will make sure that no costumer, nor brute can enter!’ they all nodded once again.
Yuka’s shining yellow eyes trailed over every single one of them, before they turned into their original soft brown color.
She smiled at her younger co-workers, “Alright, now go to bed! The last one to wake up will be responsible for washing the dishes!”
With that, they all ran to their beds, making the eldest woman smile.
It would be alright, they would be alright…