Birds of a Feather

Why am I so easy to leave?

カラス
          "There he is." Karasu landed on top of a building, folding her wings above her head to shield herself from the rain. To say she had a bone to pick with her brother was something of an understatement. She watched him speaking with Endeavor and- Midoriya?! No. I can't waste time trying to talk to him right now. I'm only here for Hawks. The conversation below clearly dissipated as All Might and Midoriya spoke with each other on the other side of the street. She poised herself to flit down when she saw a nomu- this one was just a small one, probably a straggler from the hospital fight- using the rain to conceal itself as it dragged itself along the ground. Then it began sprinting. Karasu leapt down, flicking her staff open and striking it across the head. It was so weak that it crumbled to the ground, dead from just a single strike. That, or she was just that mad. Perhaps both.
"Kara?!" Hawks jumped up in surprise when he saw her. "You're supposed to be at UA!" He stepped over the unconscious Lady Nagant and walked towards his sister quickly.
"Then you should answer your phone!" Karasu snapped at him, wiping the rainwater off the front of her flight glasses.
"Seriously?! That's why you risked your safety to come out here?!" Hawks stared at her in shock.
"Not the only reason." She tugged at her hair and looked away. "I figured out your plan, Hawks."
"What do you mean, 'plan'?" Hawks tried not to roll his eyes. I don't have time for this. Now I need to get her back to school. "Look, Kara. I'm sorry I haven't responded to you but I've got-"
"You haven't responded to the date's they've offered for our hearing at UA." Karasu raised her eyes to look at her brother again. He'd never seen so much anger in her eyes before- especially not directed at him. "You're not planning on coming, whenever it is, are you?"
It isn't really anger, Hawks realised, that I can see in her eyes. It's hurt and fear she's just using anger to hide. He took a step away from her now. "How'd you figure it out?"
"Do you just wilfully forget how smart I am?" Karasu quipped back. "Answer the question, Keigo. Are you going to show up at the hearing to maintain custody of me?"
"No. I'm not." Hawks didn't meet her eye.
"I deserve an explanation. You know I do." Karasu's hand clenched into a fist. "You owe me that much."
"It's for the best. I'm doing what I need to to keep you safe." Hawks looked back at Endeavor, All Might, and Midoriya. Thankfully Best Jeanist had already taken Chisaki away- he couldn't imagine the kind of terror she'd have experienced if she'd seen him. I need to get her away from here.
"Karasu, just go back to UA." Midroiya spoke up as he walked towards them.
"Oh- don't even get me fucking started on you, Midroiya!" Karasu shouted as she turned towards him. "Just stay out of it or I'm gonna yell at you, too!"
Midoriya held his hands up in surprise, stepping back towards All Might.
"Good choice!" She turned her anger back to her brother. "Now, Keigo! Why were you going to abandon me?!"
"It's what's best, Kara." Hawks insisted.  "Just being my sister puts you in extra danger, but I'm trying to limit that in any way I can. Letting myself lose custody of you will help separate us."
"It'll help you, you mean. Because it sure as hell won't help me." Karasu's face was full of anger but her voice gave away that she was fighting breaking down in tears. "It'll help you do whatever you want and be wherever you need to be. I'm not useful to you anymore, so you're dropping me out of the sky."
"Karasu, that isn't what it's like." Hawks said as he took a step towards her. "I- I'll admit, I need to be able to fly more freely these days. That doesn't mean I'm just dropping you. You're still my sister. We'll still get to see each other, and when work studies start back up you'll still be with me, and-"
Karasu shoved him back, tears running down her face now. "Don't do me any favours!" she screamed at him. "If I fit so poorly in your life, then just ditch me! Just fly away! It's the same thing Mom did!"
Hawks stumbled slightly, he hadn't expected her to lash out like that. I had planned to make the same move Mom had back then, it was the only way to make sure the break was clean for her. I never thought she'd do something insane like this. "Kara-"
"No! I thought you chose me, that you wanted us to get to be the family we couldn't have been any other way." She wiped at her tears furiously. "Was it all just you thinking I was some hero duty for you? Another victim to save, and now that mission is over? Was something like this always your plan the second UA had dorms?" Karasu shoved him away for a second time when he walked towards her again. "No. Absolutely not. Don't touch me." She kept her arm out to keep him at a distance. "You told me that all of the things you did as a pro were for me- but I guess that was just an HPSC line I was fed to make me trust you."
Hawks was about to contradict her, but he stopped himself. All he wanted to do was comfort her- but Dabi had been right. He had promised to keep her safe and completely failed. His little sister had had her bones broken and been stabbed and captured and lost an arm piece by piece, all thanks to his plans for her. He would never be able to take any of that back. He would never be able to trust himself with her again. He'd even lied that she'd be at his work study again if they revived that program- he was planning on passing her off to Endeavor. If he just forced her back to UA, she'd just do this again. I need to break her heart to make her stop.
Hawks lifted his head and locked eyes with her, sliding his glasses up into his hair. "Maybe Mom really did have the right idea, leaving you the way she did."
Karasu's blood ran cold as soon as he said that. Her hand was shaking as she stumbled back now and her breathing started to speed up as panic began to rise in her chest. He can't- he can't mean that- Keigo... She'd been desperate for him to deny her accusations, but that was worse than anything her imagination had come up with. I can't let him see me cry again. It'll be something else for him to point to, that I can't handle the emotions of hero work so I can't be around him anymore.
The look on her face told him- he'd gone too far. He wanted to take it back, to rewind time to a moment before and just yell at her. To drag her back to UA and tell Nezu to find a way to ground her for a while. He couldn't, though. Like he was on autopilot, he stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder. She slapped him across the face as soon as his hand touched her.
          "Go to hell, Hawks." Karasu told him hoarsely and kicked off into the air. She was flying as quickly as she'd flown during the Paranormal Liberation Battle- like her life depended on it. Tears were streaming down her face and off into the air as she flew back to UA.
Todoroki was at the door of the Barrier, waiting to let her in. His expression quickly became one of panic when he saw his girlfriend stumble in as she sobbed. "What happened?" He caught her as she dropped to her knees, wrapping his arms around her protectively as he slid down to the ground with her. "Did you find Hawks?"
"He isn't- he isn't going to try to keep custody of me." Karasu sobbed, holding on to her boyfriend's arm tightly. "He wasn't even going to show up- he's leaving me behind completely."
Todoroki pulled her closer, holding her tightly. For Hawks to push Kara away like this, something Dabi said must have really gotten to him.
She clung to him desperately. "How can he do this? How can he just- toss me aside like this?" She shook her head and covered her face with her hand. "I know he has a duty to the world right now, and that has to be his priority- but this- it's too much, Shoto. After everything... I can't bear this."
"Let's get back to the dorms, okay?" Todoroki said gently. "You need to get changed out of these wet clothes. Come on." He stood, holding on to her to help her walk as she sobbed. I've never seen her like this, he thought worriedly. "The common room is empty," he confirmed as opened the door and they walked in. He kissed her temple as they got into the elevator, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"There isn't much to talk about." She said weakly, leaning her head on his chest. "I slapped him. I shouldn't have, but I did. He said-" she closed her eyes, "he said that maybe my Mom had the right idea when she left me."
Todoroki picked her up carefully as they left the elevator. He was silent. He had no idea what to say, or how to say it. He wanted to promise her he'd never do that to her, but that felt too self serving in the moment. All he could do was hold her and let her cry. "We'll go to my room- you can wear one of my sweatshirts tonight, and I think I have a few of your clothes in there anyway."
Karasu nodded, leaning her head against his chest again. Being in his arms felt safe- but she didn't trust the feeling of safety anymore. Hawks had been her safety, and he was lost to her now.
          Todoroki set his girlfriend on his bed gently before crossing to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of her shorts that had been left in his room while she was staying with them, and a sweatshirt. He handed them to her and kissed her softly. "I'm going to get changed too. We can talk as long as you need."
Karasu looked at the clothes in her hands and took a deep breath. She changed her clothes quickly and leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling. "Shoto," she curled into his body when he sat beside her. "I-" she was terrified to ask what she was thinking, but she had to. "Why am I so easy to leave?"
Todoroki looked down at her, putting a hand on the side of her face. "I don't think you are."
She pushed his hair off of his face and let her hand trail down to his chest to rest over his heart. "My mom and Keigo. Both of them just... left me behind. I read the note Mom left for him, she didn't even mention me." She sighed and leaned her forehead against his. "One of Dabi's goals with Keigo and I was to break us apart... I guess he won, after all." She sat up again to make eye contact with her boyfriend. "It won't work with us, though. He wants to break you by using me- it won't happen."
"It won't." Todoroki agreed and kissed her again, holding her close. "I love you, Kara. More than anything."
"I love you too, Shoto." Karasu kissed him back. They laid back on his bed and she wrapped her arm around him as he held her close.
Todoroki pulled his blanket up over them and kissed her forehead. "Let's get some sleep. We'll come up with a plan in the morning, yeah?"
"Yeah." Karasu nodded in agreement. She closed her eyes, but her mind was still racing. Keigo... I need you. Please don't do this. You still have time to change your mind, to fight for me. I can't believe you'd do what Mom did to me... You saw what it did to me, how it destroyed me back then. I don't want to ever think you'd do that to me... but then, I guess you kind of did. You looked me in the eye and said what you said, knowing what that would mean to me. The scene played on repeat in her mind, the anger in his eyes when he had said that. The vitriol in his voice. It feels like he's been completely lost to me. She opened her eyes and looked at Todoroki, he was already asleep. I've had my story told by Dabi, and by Keigo... and always, I've just been a side character. A minor detail dragged around by pros who thought they knew better. The only person yet to tell my story is me. That's what I'll do. She kissed her boyfriend's shoulder and closed her eyes. If Dabi can make a broadcast, I'd bet I could get news stations to take my side of things- especially for free.
カラス
          Hawks leaned back in the front seat of Best Jeanist's car, checking his phone for the hundredth time in two days. Karasu hadn't contacted him once. He wasn't surprised- he'd seen her face. He knew what saying that did to her. The worst part was, he knew that if he called her- if he apologised, explained his fears and his feelings about the current situation, she'd forgive him. She'd stand beside him through anything. That was exactly the habit he was trying to break.
The song on the radio ended and the announcer came on. "Ladies and gentlemen who are still listening, we along with our sister news station have been given a video to broadcast."
"Oh, god. Hopefully not another Dabi video." Hawks groaned, reaching to change the channel.
"My name is Karasu Takami, I am Keigo Takami's little sister- my brother is better known as the pro hero Hawks," came his sister's voice over the radio. "There has been much discussion about my life lately. Many stories and angles spun to make Hawks seem like a terrible villain who kidnapped me, or that he saved me from abject poverty, or that he's responsible for my very well known injury. I'm here to set the record straight, and if he hears this- to make my brother see reason."
Hawks' eyes widened and he sat forward. "Kara..."
"I was born a few months before my father's arrest, I have no memories of the man, thankfully. When I was around a year old, Hawks was taken in by the HPSC. They worked to erase him from our lives- my mother and me. They gifted my mother a new house and paid her more money than anyone could have spent in a lifetime."
Best Jeanist pulled the car over, he knew there was a chance Hawks would burst out of the car at this and preferred not to risk a major accident.
"None of this solved the demons my mother was facing. My childhood was not one of the joy and love of a mother and her daughter as many have spun the story. It was one of me desperately trying to find a semblance of family. My mother would vanish for days on end- and I was then forced to learn how to feed myself and keep a house at the ages of five and six. Neighbours would help sometimes, but because the HPSC required us to say nothing about Hawks- Mom was afraid to risk them coming over much incase she slipped up. When I was eight years old, I found a photo of Hawks upstairs hidden in the attack. A boy who looked like me, with wings, who I didn't know holding me as a baby. I found it because we had nothing in the house for me to do and I had gotten bored with flying in a circle above the living room. I pestered my mother for three months with questions about that photo- until one morning she was so hungover she told me the truth of who he was to make me shut up, in her words. She told me about my big brother who was becoming a hero- a secret I had to keep in order for us to stay safe. I wasn't satisfied with just that. I snuck out one evening and went to the HPSC housing block, and found my brother's home. I used part of my quirk to sneak in and found him inside. I'd never been so happy as when I saw my amazing hero big brother. He was who I'd been missing my entire life. He had insisted on me staying with him right then and there- but his HPSC representative hadn't allowed it. They took me home and I'd assumed I would never see him again. Just before I turned twelve, shortly after Hawks turned nineteen, he filed to gain custody of me citing my mother's various issues. When my mother received the summons to court, she threw the bottle she'd been drinking out of. As I was cleaning it up she begged me not to go with Hawks- but I encouraged her to reach out herself, that the three of us could have a life together. I remember accidentally cutting myself on the broken glass I was picking up because she kept grabbing my arms to try and hold my attention."
Hawks pulled his phone out, quickly pulling up the video. It looked like she'd taken it the morning after she had confronted him- her face was still clearly tear stained and she looked as though she had barely slept.
She looked directly into the camera, making Hawks flinch with guilt. She'd never told him this story.
"When my mother saw my hand bleeding, she immediately ran out of the house. I never saw her again. In the courtroom, I thought maybe she would come. Hawks was there. Hawks took me home. Hawks made sure I had the best education in Japan, on top of making sure I had a wide range of training. Hawks is one of two people in my life I can say truly saved me. The media, the court of public opinion, and the mass murderer called Dabi have driven him away from me in fear." She took a deep breath and sighed. "So many things have happened as of late, to all of us. I'm calling on the courts of Japan not to waste time and money on a matter that not only has been legally settled already- but has also suited me and my life and my needs in ways I can never describe."
Hawks knew what she meant by 'things have happened', she meant their argument a few days prior. That had been the catalyst for this broadcast. "Smart move, kid." Hawks sighed, leaning his head back. "Puts me and the court system into a corner." I'll need to find time to see her soon.