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Chapter - 07

Izuku sat there with Aizawa steadily calming him through his almost panic attack. The gentle way in which he stroked his fur with his warm hand was grounding him in reality. The tightness of that patch of skin on his side wasn't so constricting anymore. The smell of burning fur and melting flesh giving way to the aroma of floral tea. The cruel gaze of fire is no longer in the forefront of his mind.

Once he was back to himself fully he looked at the Nezu creature again. "Do you think it's possible to figure out where I come from?" he asked, even if he still wasn't entirely sure even now if he actually wanted to know.

Nezu gave him a smile so much softer than the one he's been wearing unwaveringly all night before he spoke. "You've given me plenty to work with Izuku, it might take some time though." he said, picking up his tea again and gently sipping before continuing calmly "I'm sure you're well aware how violent humans can be and sadly domestic abuse isn't all that rare."

Izuku was indeed familiar with how violent those two lumbering beasts were. This term domestic abuse was new to him though. He had enough context clues to hazard a guess that it meant when a human's mate hurts them. He'd seen it plenty of times in his nightmare and even in real life when that human kitten had him for a few months. The female would yell and the male would strike her.

Nezu seemed to see Izuku was deep in thought again so he gently cleared his throat to draw Izuku's attention, giving him a small nod with that same smile earlier. "Don't lose hope though, the fact that fire was involved does narrow it down some."

This was the longest he's talked with anyone in years. The most other alley cats would talk about is a bird they'd recently caught or the amount of mates they had. Something that never seemed to interest him, the mates that is. Izuku is quite proud to say he was able to catch a rather large pigeon once. The old neighborhood record amongst cats was a fat swallow until that day.

So to have conversation partners who have the capacity to think beyond just two things was somewhat intoxicating to him. Izuku couldn't help but share a worry he had about this whole situation he had just shared with them. "What if it's just a dream though?" he sighed, looking ashamed at the prospect that he's made this much of a fuss over a dream.

Nezu gained a somewhat distant look in his eyes and when his eyes met Izuku's again there seemed to be an almost deep sadness behind them. "I'll be looking into more than just this possible memory of yours, like at all labs who were conducting quirk experiments with animals about . . ." he said then paused and seemed to be assessing something as he looked Izuku over. "ten to twelve years ago. Most of them are already in my files." He finished with an even stranger look than earlier.

It reminded Izuku of someone angry but he felt no malice directed towards him specifically. It made him kind of wary to keep asking questions but the anger that appeared was gone just as soon as it appeared. Much like earlier tonight though his mouth was faster than his common sense and had already asked before he could reign himself in. "What are the chances you'll actually find something though?"

Izuku wanted to sink into himself for such a brash question, it came off condescending to his own ears so he wouldn't blame the Nezu creature if he was offended. It wasn't so much that he doubted Nezu himself but this would be the first time someone other than himself cared about anything to do with him. It remains an odd concept and he certainly wasn't going to just blindly believe it in the span of a few hours.

"That's guesswork and that's something I like to avoid if I can." Nezu informed him calmly with that same smile from earlier. Izuku couldn't detect anything resembling hostility coming from the Nezu creature as it spoke, so he cautiously accepted the answer.

"Oh, okay"

"Izuku?" Aizawa's voice reached him making him slightly jerk at the sound of it, he's been remarkably quiet during his and Nezu's exchange. Izuku also couldn't help that it felt weird hearing a human say that. It's literally been years or possibly even the first time if it was just a dream the whole time.