What Could Have Been (vigilante deku)

67

"Why'd you want to come here?" Aizawa asked softly, unwilling to disturb the peace of those who were slumbering beneath their feet. He watched carefully as Shinsou placed the flowers Aizawa and Hizashi had bought down on Inko's grave. He stayed crouched in front of her grave for a second, just letting his eyes explore the stone that he had never seen before. He sighed and raised his hand to lightly trace over the glassy picture of Inko.

"I just.." he trailed off. "I don't know." He admitted and stood back up once again. "I..I love Izuku. I want to know all of him. Sadly..I will never know this part of him. I wanted to at least know a little bit. I feel like...she deserved better, just like Izuku does. I can't say she wasn't a hero, because she was Izuku's. She gave him life and helped him through so much. She was a good person from what I've heard and...and now she just lays here."

It was a lot more personal than that, but he didn't want to put himself out in the open too much. That's all they had to know. He knelt down again and fixed the flowers he had just placed on the dirt in front of her grave and took a deep breath, reading the words over and over again.

They didn't pressure him further on the matter and quickly realized that this was a him thing. So without another word, they turned to walk away, giving him a little space while they headed to the car.

Left alone, Shinsou sat in front of her grave and picked thoughtfully at the grass. He didn't know what to say, but he knew they were waiting for him so he had to hurry. "I never believed.." he began nervously and took in a shaky breath. "I never believed that if you talked to someone's grave, that they could hear you, so I really don't know why I'm doing this but..I wanted to.." he sighed in exasperation. Why was this so hard?

"Your son..is amazing." He breathed out. "Life is made up of meetings and partings. People come into your life everyday, you say good morning, you say good evening, some stay few minutes, some stay for a few months, some a year, others a whole lifetimes. No matter who it is, you meet then you part. I'm so glad I met Izuku; I'll thank my lucky stars for that. I think I wished for him my entire life." He whispered. "I really wish I could've met you too."

He took a deep breath and looked up, squinting his eyes as the sun beamed down on him brightly. "Call me selfish or obsessive, but I would like to take a walk through his past. I would want to go to the start and see everything he's been through. Good and bad. I want to help him through all the pain he's suffered. Because..gosh, he's been through so much. I want to make those things right. For him to be happy and get his childhood back. I mean, he's strong enough to go through this all alone, but I would still go through it all with him." Shinsou's eyes watered as he remembered how hurt Izuku had gotten and how close to death he is. "I love him so much. I love your son more than you could ever know..."

The tears slid down his cheeks and a warm gust of wind blew by. His hair blew with it and he breathed the fresh air in. "I wanted to let you know that if he survives, you don't have to worry. I'll take care of him. Again, he doesn't need it, but... I can't help myself. You can rest easy. And if he goes to you before he comes back to me...tell him I love him?" Shinsou couldn't hold back the wave of tears that escaped after that.

There truly was a possibility that Izuku would be gone soon, and that was a hard pill to swallow.

He placed a shaky hand on the grave one last time before getting up to go join everyone in the car. He walked the path they had taken to the tombstone and piled into the running vehicle and got situated while Hizashi took the wheel and drove them to their final destination.

There wasn't much Shinsou could say to Inko when he didn't know where her soul resided. Besides, the person would would have wanted to be there with him, the person who would've had way more things to say to her than Shinsou ever could, wasn't there. Shinsou didn't share any connections with her like Izuku did. He was the one who should've been sitting there at her tombstone, not Shinsou. But Izuku wasn't guaranteed another chance to visit her for the last time, so Shinsou did it for him.