#[sigh] i don't even think if i changed jobs suddenly that I'd find or qualify for anything that'd pay me much more than I'm making now

[sleepinglionhearts]

Can the house stop falling apart for five fucking minutes,

[stickswrites]

Hey, One Question: What The Hell? (Her Shadows Ch. 4)

As soon as I opened the door, Makoto and I were met with a few teachers sitting on the couches and talking. Dad was one of them. He was standing by the coffee counter with Hizashi, or Present Mic, and talking. They were probably talking about the quirk assessments we just did and how they could get all of us to push our limits.

"Hey, you two," Cementoss said as he walked up to us. "How was your first day?"

"Do you want the clean or explicit version?" I asked, arms crossed and glaring at Dad.

"The clean version please," he responded with a laugh.

"It was annoying, infuriating, and exciting in the worst way possible," I said with a huff.

"That bad, huh?" he asked.

Makoto chuckled at my reaction and put an arm around my shoulders.

"She's still annoyed that Aizawa didn't tell us he's our teacher," he told Cementoss, not adding in the fact that he was just as annoyed as I was.

"Ah, I see," Cementoss said with an amused smile. "Well, I'll leave you to it I guess."

Cementoss left the room, and Makoto waved goodbye to him. I was still glaring at Dad, who finally noticed our presence and had a look of worry cross his face. He set his coffee cup on the counter and excused himself from his conversation. He walked over to us, a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey, you two," he said as he walked up to us.

Makoto crossed his arms next to me. There was a tense silence as we stared him down. Dad finally got sick of the silence and started talking again.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was your teacher," Dad said with a small smile. "But you should have seen your faces." More silence. "What do you want me to say? I thought it would be funny if you two didn't know I was going to be your teacher."

"Oh we're only a little annoyed about that," I said. "What we're more annoyed by is the fact that you lied to everyone about lying about sending someone home."

"BUUUUSTEEEED!" Mic boomed, having heard our conversation.

"You two caught that, huh?" he said, ignoring Mic and putting a hand on the back of his neck. We nodded, our arms still crossed. "Why don't we talk about this in the car. I'll grab my stuff and we can head out."

"Alright," I said, conceding to his terms.

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder while Makoto and I waited for Dad to grab his stuff. He grabbed his sleeping bag and his bag that held all of the papers he needed. After grabbing his stuff, he walked back over to us. We said a general goodbye to the teachers in the lounge and walked out to the staff parking lot at the back of the building. We all climbed in the car and Dad started it. The car was silent as Dad pulled out of the parking lot and drove off. Once we were on the main road, I spoke up.

"So?" I prompted. "What was that all about?"

Dad sighed and there were a few more moments of silence. I knew he was gathering his thoughts to speak and didn't say anything to him.

"Well," Dad said. "Like you guys said, I was planning on sending someone home when I said that at the beginning of class."

"You probably already knew that someone would be Midoriya, didn't you?" Makoto asked.

"I figured he'd be in the bottom spot," Dad said, confirming our suspicions. "And I was right, but he definitely surprised me."

"With his throw, you mean," I said.

"Yeah," he replied. "Up until that point, I was already planning his expulsion. He didn't perform that well on any of the other tests. However, he did figure out how to use his quirk in a way that he was able to continue and complete the other tests."

"In other words," Makoto started. "He showed potential to grow."

"Exactly," Dad said. "Despite his inexperience, he's smart and showed real potential to be a top student here."

"So you went soft," I teased. "I thought you only did that with Mako and I?"

"Call it what you will," Dad responded with a chuckle. "One day I'm sure you'll thank me for keeping him in the class." There was a pause as Dad rolled his eyes. "And I don't only "go soft" with you and Makoto. I just do it most often around you two."

"Whatever, Dad," I said with a small laugh.

"All of that being put aside," Dad said. "You two did very well today in the quirk assessment test."

"Thanks," we said in unison.

"And Makoto," Dad started. "What you did for the ball throw was really clever. Good job."

"Thanks, Mr. Ai-... Shota," Makoto said, catching himself. "That means a lot."

The rest of the car was idle chatter, a few laughs or chuckles thrown in here and there. Soon enough, we got back to the house and Dad parked in the driveway. He shut the car off and we all got out, grabbing our stuff as we did. Dad and I both gave Makoto a hug before he walked back over to his house, even though we knew we would likely see him later that night. Mine and Makoto's rooms were on the sides of our respective houses that were closest to each other. There was also a tree in between our rooms, so most nights one of us would climb out our window and go to the other person's room to hang out. We'd been doing it ever since the tree was big enough to climb. Some of our deepest conversations and secrets had happened on those nights.

"Alright, let's get inside and feed the cats," Dad said, walking to the front of the house.

"Feed them?" I asked, walking behind him to the front door. "As in dinner? It's only 3:30, though."

"Is it?" Dad asked, pausing from unlocking the front door. "Seems like it's later."

He opened the door and we both walked in, immediately greeted by our needy cats circling our feet. They meowed at us as we took our shoes off and set them by the door. I closed the door behind me to make sure they didn't get out as Dad continued to the kitchen to see what food he could find.

"I'm gonna go shower, Dad," I called to him as I walked down the hall to my room.

"Sounds good," Dad responded, sounding like he had food of some sort in his mouth.

I walked into my bedroom and tossed my bag onto my bed. I closed the door so that I could shower and change in peace. I turned on my shower and let the water get warm as I undressed. Stepping into the shower, the water cascaded over my back and shoulders, relieving my muscles. I stood in the water for a few minutes before actually cleaning myself. Once I was done, I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. I dried off with my towel and put my wet hair in a french braid before I went and got changed. Deciding I didn't want to put my pajamas on just yet, I grabbed a red hoodie that I had commandeered from Makoto two years ago and a pair of black sweatpants. I got changed and then put my school stuff away in its proper place.

"Kiki, I made food!" Dad called from the kitchen.

I glanced at the clock and it had only just turned 4:00, nowhere near time for dinner. I sighed and grabbed my phone as I walked back out to the kitchen. I saw Dad at the counter, working on some food he had made. When he stepped away, there was a plate of cheese and crackers sitting on the counter. Dad looked so proud of himself for putting it together, but we both knew it wasn't going to qualify as dinner.

"We're ordering takeout tonight," Dad said. "Let's plan on getting groceries tomorrow after school."

"Sounds good to me," I responded, grabbing a cracker and putting a slice of cheese on it.

"Also, Makoto can come over for dinner tonight if he wants to."

"I think he already knows," I started. "But I'll tell him anyway."

Dad and I sat at the kitchen counter, laughing and talking about nothing of importance. At some point, I had texted Makoto telling him he was welcome to come over for dinner, to which he responded that he was already planning on coming over. The rest of the evening was fun. Makoto came over and we ordered some takeout from our favorite restaurant. After dinner, we sat and talked a bit, with the tv playing some unimportant show in the background. Around 9:30, Dad decided he was going to bed and told us to not stay up too late. Makoto and I both told him we wouldn't but we all knew that was a lie. Once Dad had gone to bed, Makoto and I moved to my room, where we sat on my bed and leaned against the wall. Yuzuki had forced himself in between us at some point in hopes of being pet, which he was.

"So," Makoto started.

"So?" I asked, wondering what he was going to say.

"What do you think of our class?"

"They're..." I paused, trying to think of how I would describe them. "Interesting. Powerful, but interesting to say the least."

"I'd have to agree with you," Makoto said. "Bakugo and Todoroki are probably going to be the top of the class. Yaoyorozu is definitely a contender though."

"I don't know about her," I said with a chuckle. "She did think that Dad was lying from the beginning about sending someone home."

"To be fair," Makoto started. "She doesn't know him like we do. None of them do."

"I guess that's true," I responded, petting Yuzuki as he purred contently.

There were a few minutes of comfortable silence before either one of us spoke. I think we both knew what the other was going to ask, but we also wanted to see who would cave and ask first.

"Was there anyone that caught your interest?" Makoto rushed out. "Like, any boys you thought were cute?"

"Oh sure," I said, thinking about how the majority of the boys in class were fairly attractive. "Lots of them are cute, but none of them are boys I'd want to date."

"How do you know that?" Makoto asked with a laugh. "You haven't even talked to any of them!"

"That's not important," I said while laughing. "I'm not enrolled at UA to get a boyfriend. If I happen to get a boyfriend while I'm at school, then that's fine. But, I'm not going to actively try to get one. It's a hero school, not a real life dating app."

"You make a good point," he responded.

"Of course I do," I said with a snort. Makoto pushed me over on my bed and I made an undignified noise in protest. "Rude," I said while sitting back up. "Anyways, what about you?"

"What about me?" Makoto asked, suddenly becoming very interested in the strings on his hoodie.

I looked at him pointedly and he just shrugged. I laughed and leaned against the wall again. Yuzuki crawled onto my lap. There was silence as I stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Finally he caved and started talking.

"Well," he started. "Uraraka is pretty cute. She seems really nice."

"It probably helps that you two both have quirks that have something to do with gravity," I responded with a smile.

"Yeah," he said. "You're probably right."

I didn't push any further and he didn't offer any more information, so I left the conversation at that. So we just sat on my bed, talking and goofing off in a way we hadn't been able to since we started training for UA. It was nice to just let loose and talk and laugh the way we used to. It was around midnight that Makoto decided he would head home.

"I should get going, Koko," Makoto said softly. "I don't want Shiore and Ichika to worry."

I groaned, but didn't try to stop him as he got up. I got up as well, going over to my window as he put his shoes on. I unlocked and opened it so he could get back to his house.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning," I said, giving him a tight hug that he returned.

"Yup," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Koko."

"I don't like that nickname," I grumbled. "I'm not even that short."

"You keep telling yourself that, Koko," Makoto teased.

We stopped hugging and Makoto started climbing out the window onto the tree. I watched as he climbed over to his house, making sure he didn't fall. When he got back to his house, he climbed into his room through the open window. He turned around to look at me and waved.

"Goodnight, Mako!" I called softly, just loud enough for him to hear it.

"Goodnight, Koko!" he called back. "I'll see you tomorrow morning!"

I nodded before closing my window and shutting the curtains. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head. I was more tired than I thought I was I guess. I sighed and changed my sweats into a pair of shorts and slipped my bra off underneath the hoodie, not wanting to change out of it. I turned off my light and crawled into bed, trying to not think of anything that might keep me awake. I don't know when I fell asleep, but I wish I never did.

As soon as I was asleep, my nightmares started. I'd suffered from really bad nightmares for years before and after Aizawa adopted me, but they'd lessened over time. I still got them, but they were infrequent and usually weren't that bad. Tonight's nightmare wasn't awful, but it definitely could have been better.

I was in my childhood home, which was not a pleasant sight. It was a small apartment with fast food wrappers and trash everywhere. My biological parents weren't big on hygiene. Or caring about anything other than themselves for that matter. I slowly walked around the room, taking everything in. I was nervous about what was going to happen. Very few memories I had of this place were good. I kept looking around, on guard for what would inevitably happen.

The door slammed open and two people walked in. Amaya and Takumi Tanimoto, my biological parents, stood directly in front of me. They stared me down and I was rooted to my spot in fear. Everything they'd ever done to me came rushing back. I got the sense to run away, but my father, Takumi, used his quirk to teleport directly in front of me. I raised my hands, trying to summon my shadows, but my quirk wasn't working. I walked backwards as Takumi stalked toward me as if he was a predator and I was his prey. I stopped when I bumped into Amaya, my mother. I whipped around and was about to run to the side when she gripped my wrist so hard I thought she might break it.

"Let me go!" I shouted, trying to yank my arm out of her grasp.

"Sweetheart," she cooed in a sickening sweet voice. "Come now. You ran away from us. You know we can't just let you go unpunished."

Tears started falling from my eyes as I continued to try to get away from her. Takumi walked up behind me and grabbed me from Amaya's grip. There was only a short moment of relief before he tossed me into a stack of boxes. I groaned as I rolled over and tried to get up, but Takumi was on top of me in an instant. He put his foot on my back and shoved me back into the ground, making me cough as the air was knocked out of me.

"Come on, kitten," he said. "You know we don't like to do this any more than you like to have it happen, but you broke the rules. That means you have to face the consequences."

"This isn't real," I whispered to myself. "This isn't real. You two are in jail. I'm not here. This isn't happening."

I kept mumbling those words over and over to myself, hoping it would snap me out of this nightmare. Eventually, after getting a few more kicks from Amaya and Takumi, my words got through to my brain and I woke up.

I shot up in bed, breathing heavily with sweat and tears on my face. It felt so real.

"They're gone," I whispered to myself, hugging my knees. "Dad put them away for good."

I looked over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was only 1:30 am. I hadn't been asleep for very long. I sighed as I flopped back onto my pillow, Yuzuki coming up and laying right next to my head, sensing I needed the comfort. I smiled as I pulled him closer to my chest and pet him. He fell back asleep rather quickly, but I couldn't. I traced my fingers over the scars that marred my face, angry at the people that put them there. They were supposed to be my parents. You know, unconditional love and all that jazz? Well, they did everything they could to be the exact opposite.

I shook off those thoughts as I closed my eyes, still petting Yuzuki. I fell back asleep eventually, hoping and praying that I wouldn't have nightmares twice in one night.

I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I did.

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A/N

"Koko" means small or short in Japanese, so that's why Makoto calls Keiko 'Koko'. I hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter! Sorry it took so long to get it out!

-Sticks

Word count: 3022 words