Archive of Our Own

Eyes blinked open, immediately squinting at the bright white light that scorched their retinas. The stinging pain was the only thing acknowledged; a complete blank slate of existence, a past unremembered, a blanketing silence. A burdened exhale brought the existence of aching lungs, and with that, a warm, spreading tingling to dead limbs. Muscles ached down to the bone, and joints remained stiff and unyielding.

Eyes squinting, and mind coming back to himself, Yoichi remembered who he was. 

And what he wasn't.

Yoichi had not felt pain in decades - physical pain, at least, but wherever his brother is concerned, emotional turmoil was always on the table. Losing loved one after loved one - those he'd watch over and mourned over when they joined him in the quirk's vast emptiness, would rip and tear at the unhealed, sluggishly bleeding wounds of his heart. There was nothing he could do, and even now, getting to talk and plan and laugh with the current user, Izuku, he was still completely and utterly useless . He wished he could save the boy from all the pain this legacy brought, hold him in his arms when he cried and squash out his stupid brother and his stupid league , and all the other assholes who've wronged the green-haired teen under his heel like the vile bugs they were - but he couldn't. He wasn't physically able to.

He was many things: a brother, a confidante, a friend; but one thing he wasn't, not anymore, was alive .

So it came as a surprise that when he gained his bearings, blinking away the flares and spots that clouded his vision, he found himself sprawled out on a sidewalk, blue sky and white fluffy clouds above him. Pedestrians bustling past him, caught up in their busy lives - all looking quite gigantic from his position on the ground.

When he looked down, he saw white.

Mind in disarray and feeling a bit nauseous (a feeling he did NOT miss), he tried to scramble to his hands and feet, but that white shifted with him. His body felt wrong in a way he'd never experienced before, and he felt so, so small, and everything was so big. His hands - where his hands were supposed to be - were white nubs squished upon the pavement. His brain couldn't process what, exactly, he was looking at - all he knew was that his hands weren't there , and it was wrong, wrong, wrong - all wrong .

That nauseousness flooded him with a vengeance, the world spinning in a smear of colors as he retched on nothing - stomach completely empty but abs spasming inwards, jolting him like a punch to the gut every time he was forced to heave. After several minutes of standing there on weak, shaky limbs, drool dripping from his lips and eyes squeezed shut to ground himself against the horrible dizziness; he opened his eyes slowly to mere slits, believing (and hoping) he had rode out the worst of it. His muscles ached - his abdomen feeling like one big bruise. The sharp, pulsing feeling of an oncoming migraine sparking behind his eyes with every breath caused him to wince, but he straightened himself up as best as he could, willing strength to his small limbs. 

Looking down at his "hands" once again, his brain whirred to life, determined to understand exactly the who, what, when, where, and how of this situation he found himself in. He was Yoichi, of course, and he was dead. His spirit resided in a quirk given to him by his brother, which has lived generation through generation, passed along from person to person like an Olympic torch - only growing stronger as time passed. He was currently NOT in said quirk, which was in possession of a freckled boy named Izuku Midoriya, and was instead standing on the edges of a sidewalk, watching pedestrians as they walked by. He was clearly still in Japan, that much he knew, but he was also small , shrunken to a size half that of a toddler's - if he had to guess. He didn't have hands; instead he had white furry arms leading to... paws. Lifting up one appendage (which was weird to experience, as his arm did not move in the way he thought it would) he turned the paw over to find a baby pink pad surrounded by little toe beans, claws popping out above them as he flexed his phalanges. 

He...

...was a goddamn cat .

Bluescreening, Yoichi was only knocked out of his existential crisis when a small child - who clearly didn't understand the meaning of "boundaries" and probably had parents who didn't love them as the literal child of Satan they were - yanked on his tail like he was a goddamn beyblade. However, unlike a beyblade, the only thing that ripped was his fur as he howled in pain, scrambling forward and yanking his tail out the tight grip it was in. Turning around with hair bristled and claws out, he hissed at the small fist clutching at wispy strands of white, ignoring the whines and sobs bubbling up from the child that assaulted him. Yoichi was never particularly fond of children, with their sticky, gruppy hands and high-pitched wails of the damned that made his ears bleed and head pound; but this one - this one - was enemy for fucking life. Step aside, big brother - you've been upstaged by a five year old.

Darting away on wobbly limbs that he hadn't gotten the chance to get used to, he stumbled his way into a nearby alleyway, stopping to lean on the grey brick of a nearby building. He felt sick, he felt disoriented, and his lower back still twinged in pain. He didn't know how long he stood there, but when he finally made his way out of the alley, the sky was orange and the sun was setting. The sun hanging low on the horizon filled him with a sense of dread - that deep down, instinctual feeling that staying out here, outside at night when he was in such a vulnerable position, was not a good idea. But he didn't have anywhere he could go... he didn't even know where to start.

...Or, maybe, he does.

Yoichi had slowly wandered around the city, taking turns at random, cutting through alleyways and walking through bushes - just trying to find a place to settle for the night. He was walking past a shopfront when he caught his reflection in the glistening glass doorway. Fluffy white fur, a small pink nose, and huge green eyes greeted him - a frankly adorable appearance - only mitigated by the fact that it was him , a 26 year old ghost man, stuck in a cat's body. 

What the fuck was even his life.

He was broken out of his wide-eyed shock when the door was pushed out, making him dart to the side as a man in a brown coat bustled out of the store, totting a few paper bags. Taking that as a que to get his ass back in gear, Yoichi scampered off - heading further down the sidewalk.

After a few more minutes of meandering the streets, feeling lost and very alone, he spots a familiar street sign. Thinking hard, he squints his eyes, trying to remember why that street name was so familiar. And then it hit him.

He remembered it from Izuku's memories.

As spirits inhabiting the quirk One For All, they could "see", in the loosest term of the word, what the current holder sees, experiences, and remembers. It's almost like sharing a body and mind, all together, but there's a certain distance to it that Yoichi could never put into words. He was the first - and as the first, he was the ONLY spirit in the empty blackness for a while, watching as Kaiji continued on with his life without him - fighting a bloody and horrible war against his psychopathic brother and the thousands upon thousands who treated quirks like a disease - something to be culled . Saw through his eyes as the laughed, little cherished moments that were so so rare, to when he mourned, the bodies of comrades and friends beneath his feet, lost in the war for survival. He saw memories of his past when Kaiji, the second, recalled them - his childhood, his life on the streets, even some memories that they shared together.

He saw his death at the hands of his brother, but not before seeing him hand off his quirk to Sanzou, the third. It tore him up inside - he felt like he was dying again. He cried and screamed and raged , but no one could hear him. He didn't exist.

But then, suddenly, Kaiji was there, with him. And the process repeated. Over and over and over again - five more times. Eighth's ghost was with them, his brush with death leaving a bit of himself in the void, but he wasn't with them yet. Not yet.

He'd grown to love all the holders like a family, after years of seeing their memories, thoughts, and feelings through it all; despite his curse of a quirk taking their lives in one way or another. He'd tearfully apologize, every time, meaning every word - but he'd be forgiven, most never holding ill will in the first place. Then they'd all chat, make up games and stories to pass the time, or watch the current user's life like a TV show, each throwing out comments or starting arguments. So very different than the cold emptiness he could remember. 

You'd think, after a while, that things would get boring after spending several decades with the same few people, not being able to touch, feel, or even leave ; with nothing to keep eachother occupied than their own voices or ghostly visages. But time was very... warped in the void. Hours would feel like minutes, minutes like days, years like seconds. Their only sense of progression was through the current holder's eyes, and when they slept. Sometimes they would meet the current user, swathed in shadow and oftentimes still asleep, but they would wake up and remember nothing the next day. The only one to actually remember speaking to them was Izuku.

Speaking of Izuku, Yoichi may be able to find him!

Granted, he was a cat with no real way to tell the kid " Hey, it's me, First! Remember me? Yeah I'm a cat now! ", without maybe looking like a powder puff with rabies, but he was going to take his chances. He didn't really have any other options, anyway.

Following the street signs, he ducked into another alley, going off the vague memories of Izuku's route home, hoping to cut through a few more streets without getting trampled in the foot-traffic. He had taken a few steps into the dark alleyway, the sky already turning a purplish color and making the shadows more tangible, when he caught the sounds of the hushed whispering ahead of him. Deciding to play it safe, he hurried behind a garbage can - his ears flicking towards the hush tones (and having something move around on his head was so weird, don't even get him started) .

It was two distinctly male voices, one a more mellow rumble while the other had a harsher, more pointed tone. Thinking he may have stumbled across a drug deal or something, Yoichi tried to inch his way back out of the alley.

Until his stupid hind leg hit an empty can, making it clatter and roll away - alerting the two of his position.

" WHO GOES THERE? " was barked out by a gruff voice, the sharp sound reverberating in the close space and sounding very much like a sergeant general barking out orders to their troops.  Which wasn't very far off, Yoichi realized, when he recognized the familiar voice fairly quickly after hearing it properly for the first time.

"Kaiji?"

Stepping out from behind his cover, Yoichi came face to face with two other cats - one with spikey blonde fur and a large scar across its face, and the other with a lithe black body, dark fur puffing up around its neck and shielding half of its face from view. 

"Yoichi, that you? Did you wake up close by?"

"Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one," Yoichi sighed out in relief, feeling very thankful that he wasn't alone in this weird ass fever dream they've found themselves in. The black cat spoke up, voice soft but firm. "We were only a few streets apart when we woke up, and we found each other fairly quickly. It seems that we all may have been turned into cats."

Yoichi nodded to the black cat, now identified as En, Sixth, and mulled over the theory. It would make sense that all the past users have been turned into cats, as 3 out of 7 were looking like pretty good odds. Yoichi, Second, and Sixth were all in the same city, but not exactly together. Were the others close by as well? Were they even further away, in different countries? What if they were deposited in the ocean?  There were so many unknowns.

"I was about an hour or two away - probably the city over, but I wasn't walking that fast," Yoichi replied, feeling his headache start to creep back in behind his eyes. "I was on my way to Ninth's house... I can still remember some of his memories. He might be able to help us."

After a bit of planning (and grumbling on Second's part), they all left the alleyway, following the vague flashes of memory Yoichi was able to remember. Neither of the other two were able to recall the memories in a near screenshot-like way like he could - but they figured it was because he was the original holder of the quirk (or well, two quirks that had merged together), so they didn't get too caught up about it. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out where they were going- everything looked a lot different when you were so small.

Along the way, they had found Sanzou, Third, with his head stuck between the bars of a stair railway, desperately trying to free himself by thrashing his body every which way. The fact he didn't break his goddamn neck was a miracle.

After Third was freed (by Second mercilessly shoving the tortoiseshell's head back through the bars with his front paws while Sixth and Yoichi both bit on his tail and pulled ), Nana, or Seventh, had found them . The Russian Blue was hopping across the rooftops when she happened to hear frantic and agonized howling, and - after sprinting towards the noises when her hero instincts kicked in - she found the four "idiots" (in her words) "still managing to fuck up an already shitty situation" (also her words). Second calmly licked his paw, looking smug all the while as the other three groaned in a pained pile of fur -  Third having launched back from their combined efforts, causing him to land on top of the other two. It was a goddamned mess. 

When the three managed to get themselves standing again, they filled Seventh in about their plan. Apparently, Seventh had thought of something similar, and was on her way to a past friend of her's place - Gran Torino's. Apparently, she didn't need Izuku's memories to recall that he still lived in the same apartment - of which she knew the location of by heart. However, they all figured that traveling together was the safer bet, so they all set forth together towards the Midoriya home. If all else fails, they at least had a backup plan.

The sky was almost pitch black now - a sea of stars dotted across the inky expanse, twinkling in unperturbed tranquility. Part of the sky was still purple - the last dredges of the sunset that had already slipped below the horizon. A soft wind blew, colder now at night, nipping at their ears and wet noses; tussling their fur about. They were all roof-hopping, lingering pains from the transformation slowly slipping away in the adrenaline of it all; much like old times, for some. 

After making steady progress, they were once again interrupted by unintelligible shouting - which seemed to be the unfortunate theme of that night. Was it just human nature to be incredibly loud? Yoichi's life, for the most part, was quiet and hushed; raised voices were always a bad sign. But then again, he never had a lot of people in his life, AND it was an incredibly unhealthy and toxic environment, so he really didn't have much to say to the truth of that. His afterlife, however, was a different story.

...At least Fourth and Sixth were quiet.

They had all stopped their journey, peering down at the roads below as a large man, face red with rage and shouting curses all the while, stumbled and chased what looked to be a thin white cat, throwing rocks, bottles, and whatever else he could get his hands on from the garbage spilling out from the alleyways. The cat would dodge with ethereal grace, despite not once looking behind itself, causing the man to foam at the mouth in blustering, drunken rage. 

The thin cat sharply turned into the alleyway across the street from the past wielders, hoping up onto a trashcan and leaping to the building's fire escape - not once giving pause as it darted its way up the stairs, paying no mind to the hollering and fuming man below. Making its way up to the roof of the building, the cat looked over the building's ledge, posture straight and tail curled around its legs, when it happened to look up and see five other cats staring at it from across the street. 

From here, they could see that the white cat had huge ears and a long, gaunt-looking face - an oriental shorthair, most likely. (Yoichi was really obsessed with cats when he was younger, and as much as he wanted to become one when he was younger, he was not having a great time, like at all.) The two black markings taking up the right side of its face, however, reminded them of a very certain someone.

" FOURTH!? " Seventh shouted, walking closer to the roof's edge and setting her two front paws on its lip, getting as good of a vantage point as she was going to get. "IS THAT YOU?"

The shorthair perked up, eyes going wide before it nodded its head. Hikage, Fourth, surveyed his surroundings before looking back at them, jutting his head and directed their attention to  something down the road. There were a few more buildings on either side of the street, but what caught all of their attention were the neon signs of a convenience store, located right at the bend. They looked at each other once again before Fourth made a headstart, running and jumping to the neighboring roof. 

This, in turn, triggers everyone else to start moving, all focused on getting to the bright building quickly, and quietly. If anyone happened to see six cats roof-hopping like a single unit in the middle of the night and almost have a mental breakdown because of it, well...

They just blame it on drinking too much coffee and walk away.

After everyone had found their way to the back of the store, gathering around the back entrance like they were about to start a shady drug deal (would catnip count?), they had filled Fourth in about the whole situation - or, at least, what they knew about it so far. 

Apparently, Fourth had been walking the town in search of a temporary shelter, much like Yoichi had been, when he stumbled across an attempted sexual assault just a few feet from the main road. Unfortunately, with it being so late, there weren't a whole lot of people around, and the ones that were didn't seem inclined to involve themselves with the situation; which made Fourth sick to his stomach, to see the complacency , the blasé attitude people could have to this sort of thing happening right in front of their eyes . 

So, Fourth took it upon himself.

Though he may have been a cat, and any prior fighting knowledge he had was thereby ineffective considering his new body, he knew how to exploit weak points. And the back of the drunk man's neck seemed like a pretty big weak point to sharp claws.

This led to the enraged man, now sporting several razor cuts along his face, neck, and arms, to abandon his victim (who had then quickly ran away) and start chasing him up and down the street; shouting and throwing things at him all the while. While Hikage did not have Danger Sense to help him as he did when he was alive, his reaction times were still sharp as ever. There was no point in knowing when danger was coming if you couldn't escape it, afterall.

While everyone would have liked that man to have faced a deeper punishment than just a few scratches (ranging from jail time to outright death - which was, surprisingly, Sixth's input, with absolutely no elaboration after the words "gut him"), they could only hope that the woman was able to report him to the police. And that he gets caught before it happened again.

They all set off once more, only one member of their undead team still missing - Banjo, the Fifth. Considerably the loudest of them all, it was surprising that they hadn't run into him yet. Though  the thought that they all woke up relatively close was a reassuring one, they were all very small, and Fifth could be anywhere in this metropolis. They were incredibly lucky to have even found each other the way they had. 

If Fifth went outside the city, the chances of finding him were slim to none. 

With this heavy image in mind, Yoichi jogged a little faster, leading the rest to the bakery Izuku liked to go to when he had a little extra spending money - windows now dark and foreboding - when he had spotted it. From there, they turned left and took the second right, eventually finding themselves running down the street Izuku lived. Yoichi could see the house - soft yellow with white trim, a dark gray, slated roof - oh so welcoming and oh so close .

He forced himself to run faster, despite the aches in his joints.

Darting up the driveway, the six cats stumbled to a stop at the front steps, coming eye-to-eye with yet another cat, sitting by the front door. A haggard-looking brown Maine Coon, with fur sticking out in disarray; a part of it's right ear seemingly torn. It looked homeless - and maybe a little feral.

"Well, I'll be!"

And it was also Fifth - who somehow got here before the rest of them had... Did- did he retain some of Izuku's memories too? But that didn't seem quite right... Why could no one else remember?

"How... the hell did you get here before us?" he asked, because Banjo may have been chaos-incarnate, but this was just flat-out ridiculous . What were the chances they'd meet here of all places?

But Fifth stayed silent, baring his teeth in a really weird way that made them think he was trying to grin, but it only made him look like a taxidermy project gone wrong - or maybe that one cat from Pet Sematary. 

Any further prodding was just met with blanketing silence and that eerie expression, mischief twinkling in his golden eyes, so the others were willing to drop it just so he'd stop making that face. There was probably a reasonable explanation anyway. 

Probably. 

...Maybe.

But now they've encountered another problem. It was now late at night - around midnight if Yoichi had to guess - and both members of the Midoriya family were most likely in their beds, sleeping. While a good number of them knew how to lockpick, they didn't exactly have hands to do so right now. Second cased the house, trying to find some kind of open window or a hole in the siding that they could sneak through, but the house was secure. Knowing how paranoid both the Midoriya's were (and for good reason), it wasn't a huge surprise - but it was a let-down for them in this moment. After several more minutes of brainstorming and trying to find someway to either get into the house or get the occupant's attention (one notable moment being when Third had climbed up the nearby tree and flung himself at the upstairs window, his whole body impacting the glass with a muted THUNK as he desperately tried to cling to the sill with his claws, scratching all down the side of the house when he fell. Luckily, cats were quite durable when falling from great heights, so he didn't suffer any lasting injuries - besides his pride); they decided to call it quits.

They were all tired, sore, and agitated, so they all collectively settled down near the bush closest to the front door, utilizing the coverage the leaves provided as they curled their warm, furry bodies together for the night. Second and Seventh would keep watch for the next hour, rotating the duty of guard-dog(cat) every so often so everyone had a chance to rest up.

It had been a few hours after the sun had risen from the horizon - the sky turning from a violet to a nice candy blue - when the front door opened. Yoichi and Fifth had been the only ones awake at the time, but when they caught sight of a familiar freckled face, their cries of exclamation roused the others fairly quickly. 

Red shoes had paused on the front step, the boy's green eyes widening at the sight of seven cats rushing towards him, meowing incessantly all the while. His keys dangled in his weak grip, slackened with surprise. 

"Uh..." he uttered, brows scrunching as he looked down at a sea of wide eyes and mournful cries. Izuku had no idea where all these cats came from, or what they wanted, but their faces were just too adorable to ignore.

Smiling, he crouched down, offering one of his hands to the hoard as a sign of trust. None of the cats seemed wary or tried sniffing at his hand, as many strays Izuku encountered had before. Instead they all crowded in closer, some of the cats falling silent as a few others meowed louder. 

"Aww, you guys must be hungry, huh?" Izuku said, his heart going out for the poor, needy, really really cute cats. "We don't have any cat food but… we might have tuna in the cupboard!"

With renewed energy, the green-haired boy sprang back up, scooping up as many of the felines he could (with only the spikey tan one, the fluffy black one, and the sleek white one jumping out of the way in time) before heading back inside - the other cats calmly following through the open door. 

Stepping into the kitchen, Izuku comes face-to-face with his mother, who was still groggy from waking up and was currently nursing a cup of fresh coffee at the dinner table. While not a super great time to bring up his spontaneous adoption of seven cats, Izuku might be able to use her tiredness to his advantage.

"Hey mom!" he chirped, a large smile overtaking his face. "Look what I found!"

His mom looked up at him, eyes slowly blinking in half-aware exhaustion for a few seconds before widening in shock. "Izuku, what- why are there so many cats!? "

"I found them outside! Oh, you should have seen them mom - they were all sad and they were meowing and they all came up to me and they looked hungry so I was getting them some tuna to eat." He exclaimed, grin stretching even wider, making his eyes crinkle and gleam. "Is it alright if they stay? Please mom?"

Inko was obviously hesitant to let seven random cats into her home ( oh - they might have ticks, and the cost of taking care of so many cats would out a dent on their income, not to mention the messes they might make...) and she was about to protest, citing all the reasons why it would be a pretty bad idea, when the unfiltered sunshine being blasted into her face made her squint. 

Being faced with eight sets of sparkling doe eyes (well, six, with one cat staring listlessly into nothing and one seemingly glaring at her, which almost counteracted the cuteness assault), she found herself crumbling. 

"Oh, alright. But we don't have any supplies to take care of them, and they all need to be looked over by a vet as soon as possible. Are you sure you can handle this responsibility? It's going to be all on your shoulders..."

"M-hm!" Izuku hummed, nodding his head in vigor, squeezing the furry creatures a little tighter to his chest.

"If you're sure honey," she smiled, getting swept up in her son's enthusiasm. She'd always wanted cats, anyway.

Doing a little shimmy dance in victory, Izuku bent over and let the four cats out of his arms. He wasn't allowed to have any pets after he taught his hamster how to hack into government databases as a child (which resulted in a LOT of legal trouble, as Mr. Snuffles didn't cover up his tracks like Izuku had taught him to do), so as the proud new owner of seven cats, he couldn't be happier.

After setting down a plate of tuna fish - which he had scooped out from their last remaining can - on the floor for the cats to enjoy, his mother reminded him of what he was about to do before he got so thoroughly distracted. "Are you still stopping by the store today, honey?"

Pausing, Izuku hummed to himself before nodding. This was their third day without milk in the house, which was simply inexcusable. Izuku needed his late night chocolate milk fix.

He had tried visiting the grocery store the day before, but after the incident , he didn't feel well enough to continue shopping. He was only able to check out with about half of what they needed.

He was standing in the produce section, looking for the freshest zucchini he could find. Many of them had bruises and gouges, which was frankly unappealing and diminished their shelf-life significantly. Just as he was about to come to a decision between the slightly pale one and the pudgier one, a small weight crashed into the side of his leg. Looking down in surprise,  Izuku came face to face with an orange-eyed little girl. 

Then everything went white.

Coming to, Izuku found himself with his back to the floor; desperately trying to blink the  large black spots out of his eyes. Sitting up, he groaned at the all-encompassing ache of his body, lifting a hand to rub at his temple. He felt dizzy and sick - like he had the flu without the runny nose and congestion. 

Hands started to help him onto his feet, the world tilting at an abrupt axis as the world spun. He felt like he was going to throw up. Muffled voices reached his ears, and just as his sight started to clear up - seeing the little girl in the arms of her presumed mother as a few bystanders looked over at him in worry - so did his hearing.

" --id, he- kid , are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Blinking up at the man who helped him stand, he managed to steady himself, giving a wobbly smile to the kind stranger. "I-I'm alright - thank you." The man looked skeptical of course, but after a few seconds Izuku could feel himself become significantly better. The jarring difference from feeling overwhelming discomfort to nothing at all left him feeling awkward in his own skin... a little off-kilter.

Apparently the little girl had thought he was a family relative, an older cousin of hers, but when she saw that it wasn't who she thought it was, she panicked and activated her quirk for the very first time. Izuku was happy for her of course, and was quick to reassure the crying girl that he was unharmed, and that he wasn't angry with her. While no one knew exactly what her quirk did, the mother wanted to exchange numbers in case anything happened, and to quickly get in contact with him once the girl, Hina, had undergone quirk testing. 

Feeling it best to play it safe (and still feeling a bit displaced), Izuku thought it best to check out with what he had and head on home (but not before tossing that shorter zucchini into his cart). When he told his mom about what happened, she fretted over him for several minutes, and after being unable to find any apparent issues she confined him to the living room so she could keep an eye on him. That was fine by Izuku, of course, as they ended up just snuggling together on the couch, sharing a blanket as they binge-watched a new show together. It was pretty late when Izuku decided to turn in for the night, but his mother was already asleep against the cushions. He already knew that it'd be impossible to wake her back up again. Feeling bad that she would most likely wake up with back pain in the morning because she was so worried about him, he resolved himself to make breakfast for her when she woke up.

"Is there anything else we need?" he asked, pulling the crumbled list out of his back pocket, giving it a once over. "No," his mother replied, "...but you should pick up a few things for our new friends."

Giggling to himself and still riding the high of having seven cats now, he agreed and headed back out the door, singing out a goodbye before closing the door behind him. Grinning to himself, he set off to the nearest store, a pep in his step as he made a mental list of all the things a cat would need, x7. 

It's a good thing he lost that bidding war for those super ultra limited edition All Might curtains he saw on eHero the other day - he now has a good chunk of pocket change to get what he needs.

But that doesn't stop him from cursing out his arch-nemesis 'Bespeckled_Oracle39', whose purchase put them one point in the lead - 48 wins to Izuku's 47 - despite it turning out in his favor. 

Curse you and your seemingly bottomless wallet, 'Bespeckled_Oracle39'. Curse you.

Ninth had shut the door behind himself, leaving all the ex-users of One For All alone with his mother in the kitchen. When they saw him stepping out, they all ran towards him, shouting over each other, trying to explain the situation and convince the teen that “ it's us, it's really us! ". The shock on his face was to be expected after being bombarded like he was, but what he said next, after crouching down closer to them, was not.

"Aww, you guys must be hungry, huh?"

... Nani ?

It didn't take long for them to figure out that he couldn't understand them, most likely sounding like a bunch of screeching cats to his ears. After being brought inside (Yoichi was scooped up by scarred arms, squishing him next to Nana, Banjo, and Sanzou - the other three looking quite smug from down below) they were provided with canned tuna, which was pretty much heaven to their starving bellies, as humiliating eating from a plate on the ground was.

Now, it was just them and the mother.

"So, what do we do now?" Third asked, looking down at his paws. "We have a place to stay for now, but how do we convince Ninth that we're the past users? We can't exactly talk to him..."

"We're soooo-ho-ho lucky he was okay with taking in seven cats," Seventh piped up, sheathing and unsheathing her claws. "Imagine that - just taking in seven cats that show up at your front door. Just like that. Wow."

"We shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," Seconds grumbled out, looking much more annoyed with the situation than he had previously. "We might not have our bodies, but we still have our minds. We can orchestrate something to convince the kid that we're not actually cats . It shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah, but it would be creepy as fuck and could get us kicked out. Who the hell would want possessed cats in their house?" 

They might not have known at the time, but they would later think back to that one statement and laugh. And laugh . And laugh .

The kid's mother was the sweetest woman alive, and Kaiji would fight anyone that tried to dispute that. She had taken to all the "cats" fairly quickly - giving neck scratches that made their bones feel like jello (Third was still sprawled out on the floor unable to move), giving them endearing little nicknames (as much as having a cutesy nickname like ' Noodle ' annoyed him, getting to call First " Snowball " and seeing that green glare whipping towards him at mach-speed was fucking hilarious), and even letting about of half the users curl up next to her on the couch; everyone getting pretty invested in the romantic drama of some American show called "Make It or Break It". Kaiji wasn't really that interested in some girly gossip show... but it was obvious to anyone with two fucking eyes that the guy was a goddamn prick and she deserved someone way better. Like that one brunette, Tony - he seemed like a good guy.

The green-haired woman was absently brushing her fingers through Seventh's fur when a knock came from the door. Nudging the others off of her, she stood up to see who it was, shuffling out of the living room and down to the foyer. None of the felines could see her from where they lied, but they figured that it was none of their business and returned to watching the TV; keeping one ear out, just in case. The deep rumbling tones of a man made themselves apparent, and whoever it was seemed to have made the lady really happy, if the exclamations of joy were any indication.

But the hairs on the backs of their necks stood on end, their tails puffing up in distress.

No... no it couldn't be...

Laughs ring out from pleasant conversation, a beaming Inko dragging the person's arm behind her. The man takes a step around the corner-

Whistling a cheery tune, Izuku skips back home, the several brimming grocery bags lining up and down his arms jostling with each movement. Everyday he found himself thankful for All Might's strength building plan (besides when he was actually doing it), and today was just one of those instances - carrying 25 pounds of kitty litter ON TOP of everything else would have killed him just a few years ago.

Ahh, how time flies.

Hopping up the front steps, he finagles with the doorknob - the shiny plastic handles wrapped around his palms making it increasingly difficult to get a grip on the brass handle. Just as it got to the point where he seriously debated calling out for his mom to open the door, it finally opens with a push of his shoulder. Stumbling inside, he lets all of the bags drop from his arms and crash onto the floor, several items tumbling out as he announces his presence. 

"Mo- om ! I'm back!"

Tip-toeing over his bounty, he makes his way to the living room, hearing his mother call out to him. The sight that greeted him came as a surprise.

His dad was sitting on the couch, looking like he got into a fight with a tangle of barbed-wire...and lost. His suit was torn and his skin was scratched up - bright red gashes littered his face and arms, contrasting with his bright white hair but matching his wincing eyes. Sitting next to him, his mom dabbed a cotton ball on one of the bigger cuts on his face, face pinched in worry. In the far corner of the room, he could see all seven of the cats huddled together, ears back and growling.

Izuku wondered what the hell happened in the hour he was gone.

Second had immediately launched himself at the monster's face, Third, Fourth, and Fifth following soon after. First clung to the nearest leg and started biting ruthlessly, teeth sinking past cloth and into flesh; green eyes glinting with unrestrained mania. All the while, Sixth and Seventh did all they could to get their murderer to trip while he was screaming and deperately trying to get the very sharp demon-cat unattached from his face. 

What a time to be alive again.

+++++

Omake 1: No Cats on the Couch

When Hisashi was around, they usually weren't allowed to lounge on any of the furniture. As much as Inko and Izuku had no problem with it (letting them lay on the couch, chairs, or bed when the big man-baby wasn't around), he kicked up a big fuss about "all the cat hair" and his "allergies" (Yoichi knew he was bullshitting, neither of them were allergic to cats - and from the looks of it, Inko wasn't buying it either). Nowadays, they were usually nudged back onto the floor if the man had returned from one of his numerous "business trips". As payback, Yoichi decided to use the, from what he could tell, very expensive couch as his own personal scratching post, right in front of his brother's stupid, enraged face. 

Karma, bitch.

As fantastic as it felt to one-up his brother, he still hung his head in shame when Izuku scolded him. Apparently, his mother also quite enjoyed that couch, having picked it out herself, and the guilt of having wronged the Mamadoriya was like a punch to the gut. Later that night, Yoichi climbed into bed with her and loafed next to her thigh, letting out rumbling purrs in apology as she reached down to pet him. Yoichi didn't mind pets, but he'd much rather hide away in a small corner - away from the prying eyes of his brother - to safely plot from a distance. But hey, if it just so happens to get cat hair on a certain someone's side of the bed, well, Yoichi’s not complaining.

Omake 2: What Kind of Monster

Falling to his knees, Hisashi Midoriya mourns. He almost lets out a sob - almost, but spite keeps his tears at bay. His closet door was ajar when he stepped into the bedroom and, growing suspicious that one of those little demons had wandered in, he had checked inside.

All of his suits. All of them. Destroyed.

They were torn to shreds. The Armanis, the Brionis, the Zegnas; all gone. Hundreds of thousands of dollars - handcrafted suits made from artisans decades ago, all dead and gone. Irreplaceable. 

A wave of anger falls over him - the burning hot coals of hell fueling his lungs as he stands up, teeth grit as he walks into the living room, eyes narrowing onto the two culprits. Blonde and white hairs were left at the scene, and while there may have been two white cats, one of them was currently shut inside of Izuku’s room. So now it was down to one - the one with the ugly black stripes. 

Grabbing them both by the scruff as they spit, hissed, and growled, he summoned a kitty crate, shoving the two inside and locking them in. The other cats, seeing what he was doing, tried to attack him as well; but a simple sleep-inducing quirk fixed that problem real quick.

It was raining outside, a drizzle now but soon to be downpour from the weather reports they've been getting. A “bad thunderstorm,” they said. 

Hisashi grinned.

—

When his son noticed the cat’s absence and asked him where they were, he put on a worried face and simply said, “I don’t know” (resolutely ignoring the sweat trailing down his neck). When the boy thinks to check outside and finds them soaking wet, huddled together and shivering inside a cage they’ve never had before, he knows he’s in huge trouble.

—

Later that night, he stares at the ceiling from his position on the couch, listening to the little fuckers sharpening their claws right next to his head as they tear at the fabric and padding he had paid thousands for. He goes to sleep with the sweet thoughts of sugared gumdrops and cat homicide dancing through his mind.

Omake 3: A Nya -ccident with Unforeseen Consequences

Although the students had all gone home for spring break, all the faculty were still hard at work; roaming the halls of UA and trying to get everything together for the upcoming months. Papers were graded, lessons were planned, and precautions were implemented in the hopes that everything would go as smoothly as possible when all the kids came back to learn. Yagi was currently hunched over his desk in the teacher’s lounge, nursing a headache as he shuffled through his papers. He may have had a year under his belt when it came to this sort of thing, but his colleges had years, almost decades worth of experience, not to mention the proper education , that he did not. When Nezu had recommended a teaching position at this school, Yagi was a bit weary, but altogether optimistic about guiding the future heroes of tomorrow to an even brighter future. In retrospect, he should have been downright terrified. 

The headache steadily built up, to the point it became an agonizing migraine within minutes, throbbing behind his temples; his white-knucked fingers creaking from the grip he had on the edge of the desk. The pale light shining through the windows could be felt behind his eyes as burning trails of corrosive acid, so he squeezed them shut and prayed for the pain to stop. He had no idea how long he rode out the pain, panting and coughing around the blood in his lungs, but he could instantly feel when it started to ebb away, leaving him in almost euphoric relief. When he opened his eyes, everything seemed to be a lot sharper - more crisp in a way he’d only experience after an intense battle; adrenaline still thrumming beneath his skin, an underlying tremor throughout his whole body. Rubbing the sweat from his eyes, he reluctantly stood up, grabbing his empty coffee mug to fill up in the sink. The stress must really be getting to him… maybe he could ask young Yamada for help again.

Hearing the door open behind him, he turned to greet the newcomer, putting his mug on the lip of the sink.

“Ah, young Aizawa! How are you doing today?”

The man looks up, about to say something in response before going stock still, jaw slack and his usual half-lidded, torpid eyes widened, the light catching off of them in a startling way. After several tense seconds of the dark haired man not uttering a word, Yagi nervously shifted on his feet, shakily calling out once again.  “...A-Aizawa?”

The man’s eyes visibly sharpened, and before he could even process it, the underground hero was right in front of him, inches away from him and intensely staring… at his hair?

“Y-Young Aizawa, I- what-”

“You…” the man started, hands slowly creeping up to the top of his head, frankly freaking him out because what the fuck was going on- 

“... are a cat. ”

The hands landed on something atop his head, some weird bundles that Yagi knew for a fact were not there this morning, and he came to the horrifying realization that he could feel it. Feel his coworker’s hands like they were touching him, touching a part of him that didn’t fucking exist three minutes ago.

Startling back, he crashed against the sink behind him as the door swung open again, a cheery Present Mic waltzing in before taking stock of the situation. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion when they saw Aizawa, but soon they too widened, vibrant green eyes becoming visible as his sunglasses fell askew. 

“HOLY CAMARO!” he screeched, quirk activated as he lunged for the sleep-deprived man, grappling him by the shoulders as he dragged him back, kicking and hissing. “You best get out of here yo! I don’t know how much longer I can hold him off!”

Taking that as his cue, he sprinted out of the room. Catching his sight in the hallway window’s reflection gave him a small pause, but he resumed running for his life when he heard a crash from behind him.

Because on his head were two fluffy, yellow cat ears.