Birds of a Feather

I'm sorry.

          Karasu watched as her father continued stalking back and forth in a line, watching both of his children. She carefully followed his path as he walked out in a line, and as soon as he turned to stalk back towards Hawks she kicked forward and flew behind him.
Takami turned and followed her movements. "Do you have some kind of plan, little girl?" He almost spat at her.
She felt like she almost couldn't wrap her head around the depth of her father's hatred, especially because the origin of it was simply that she was his daughter. Her only crime was being born- and because of that, he wanted to kill her. He seemed to have no qualms about fighting or killing either of his children- which was one of the only things keeping him on any even footing in this fight. He had killer instinct, killer desire, and they didn't- couldn't have that. On top of that, both of them had various qualms regarding fighting and arresting their father.
"Dynamight and I have apprehended two villains on the second floor," Best Jeanist said over the comms. "Including Okabe Hakura. We'll have to ID the second one at a later time."
"Tsukuyomi and I got one on the second floor as well- uh, Ogata, the blur one, and saw the two that Raven and Shoto got as well." Shinso answered. "How's everyone else doing?"
"Hawks and I are dealing with Takami." Karasu said, spinning her staff in her hand.
"Endeavor, Midoriya, and I are fighting Uehara, and an unknown man with a quirk that lets him breathe smoke." Shoto reported from the other side of the first floor.
"So that means the fish out of water and the circle boy are the only ones left on our list!" Bakugo said so loudly, she could hear the echo from where he was above her.
"And whoever else could be in the building," Jeanist added. "Koe, Tsukuyomi. Rendezvous with me and we'll conduct a thorough search of the rest of the building.
          Hawks glanced back at Karasu and nodded, both of them diving forward.
Karasu opened her wings to pull her body back vertical as she reopened her staff and let her father slam into it as Hawks grabbed onto him again.
He let out a cough as she heard his back crack.
"Damn brats!" Takami growled as both of them tossed him into a wall together. He scrambled to his feet and dodged to the right as Hawks came at him again.
Karasu flew around the two men and hit him across his ribcage, gritting her teeth.
He turned and brought his arm down, catching her staff between two of his feathers. He jerked his arm towards himself, forcing the staff to flip out of her grip and knock into a wall.
She grabbed his wrist and twisted it over when he moved to bring his arm down on her, shoving him to the side before diving for her staff.
Takami moved to strike her again, managing only to hit one of her wings- she could feel the force of his fathers against her own, but not a scratch or dent or bruise left on them. She flapped her wings out and knocked him and turned around, hitting him across the back again.
Their father stumbled forward and Hawks kicked him back into a wall again, locking the cuffs onto his wrists before their father dropped to the ground unconscious.
Hawks let out a long breath. "Okay. I need something to replace my defensive feathers," he said decidedly.
"Definitely," she nodded in agreement.
He turned and looked back at Endeavor and two of his work study students as the three of them stepped away from their own restrained villains.
"Perfect timing," he said as he turned towards his sister. "How'd this happen?" He gestured to the side of his own neck and nodded at her now large bruise.
"I sensed him coming over the railing at Shoto, and sort of... put myself in the way. I guess I sensed it wasn't a fatal attack? His boots are reinforced, which is why it's bruising so much." Karasu said as she closed her staff and touched it carefully, wincing. "Kinda worried he might've cracked my collar bone."
"I need to get these taken care of, so let's meet with the police and then we'll head to a hospital." Hawks nodded as they walked to join Endeavor, Todoroki, and Midoriya in the centre of the ground floor. He and Endeavor stepped aside to speak to each other quietly.
"That looks like it's getting worse." Todoroki said as he looked at his girlfriend's wound.
"Well, yeah. It's a fresh bruise, it's probably not even fully formed yet." Karasu touched it again and winced. 'Why did I do that?'
Todoroki reached out and pulled his girlfriend close to look at it worriedly, glancing carefully between it and her face. His fingers brushed against the back of her neck, normally that would send shivers down her spine but he seemed genuinely worried about her which kept her from really even noticing it.
"I'm fine, Shoto. Really." She told him softly, putting her hand on his arm gently. "Come on, this isn't even like... top five worst injuries for me."
He glanced up at her face momentarily again but didn't say anything.
"We should round up the villains for an easier arrest on the part of the police." Midoriya said as he looked from unconscious villain to unconscious villain.
          "The rest of the building is clear." Jeanest said as he jumped to the ground. "We know that Ide Iwao and Doi Madoka escaped, so-"
"And Kido Takami."
The group all turned and lunged forward to attempt to spring into action just in time to see Doi Madoka crouched beside Takami and throw what looked like a marble down and in a flash- they were gone.
"That must be a quirk either All For One has stolen, or of someone following him." Hawks sighed and shook his head. "That's how he got away last time too, I'll bet."
"Let's get everyone outside and make our report." Endeavor said gruffly.
カラス
          Todoroki was standing on the other side of the large room that both Hawks and Karasu were getting examined in after their mission. For Hawks, they seemed just to be using one of the doctor's quirks to heal the cuts on his face.
For Karasu, another doctor has his hand floating above her shoulder. He said a few things to her and she nodded with a smile before sliding off the bed. She walked from the doctor to her boyfriend and his father.
"Not broken or cracked, apparently," she reported. "He said that they don't really have any quirks that heal bruises like this here so I might need to get it healed by Recovery Girl if it doesn't stop hurting but he said he thinks I'll be fine before I get back to school."
Todoroki let out a relieved breath as his girlfriend kissed his cheek.
"I'm going to go check on Hawks now," she said as she turned to look at her brother. "He said we're all heading for all three of you to fill out the report, right?"
Endeavor only nodded, and she walked away from the two of them.
"You need to get that under control." Endeavor said to his youngest son.
Todoroki looked up at his father. "What?"
"If seeing her get hurt is going to be such a source of worry and fear for you, it'll be something villains can and will recognize and exploit." Endeavor said, returning his son's look. "One of the reasons most pros aren't in relationships with other pros is this exact reason. Minimising the amount of clear weaknesses you have is important. If she is a weakness and a distraction for you all that will happen is you and others get extremely hurt."
Todoroki didn't respond. 'I hate to admit it, but it makes sense. If that villain hadn't removed me from the situation, I don't know what I'd have done. I've seen her get hurt before- and I've seen the after effects so many times. After everything that happened with Hawks and now her father... It scares me more than usual. Her father said something similar as well. I understand why Hawks said what he said now- her safety is so important to me, and it terrifies me to think I'm painting yet another target on her back.'
          "Alright. I'm all patched up so let's head back to my agency." Hawks said as he walked over to them with Karasu. "I'd honestly like to try and turn in early today," he said with a small sigh. "Today has been a special kind of exhausting."
Endeavor nodded once and walked into the hall ahead of the other pro and the work study students.
Karasu slid her hand into Todoroki's as they stepped into the hall. She smiled at him wordlessly as they followed behind the pros.
Todoroki quickened his pace and pulled his hand out of her grasp quickly.
She paused, looking after him. He'd never done that before. Is he angry with me? She took a deep breath and followed after the three of them, tugging at a piece of her hair. 'Shoto...'
"Endeavor and I are going to be in his car." Hawks said as they reached the front door. "Jeanist is already at my agency with the rest of the work study students, we need to call him and talk some official pro stuff. You two take my car."
Karasu nodded, glancing at her boyfriend. "Okay. We'll see you at the agency."
Normally she'd have been thrilled about this, taking it as an opportunity to cuddle up the entire drive back- but she had a feeling he wouldn't be very receptive to that for whatever reason. She was almost scared to be alone with him in the car- 'what if he breaks up with me? It feels so out of the blue, but... who knows.'
He opened the door of Hawks' car for her and stepped aside to let her in first.
She kissed his cheek quickly as she moved past him, it was almost a reflex for her. Oh God, what if he didn't want me to do that. She palmed her staff nervously as he slid in beside her.
He was scrolling on his phone as the car began moving.
          Hawks' words from their fight played in Karasu's mind again, and then the same question she'd had afterwards bubbled up as well. 'Why am I so easy to leave?'
She reached across the seat carefully, and brushed her fingers against his. He almost jerked his hand away, again without so much as a glance at her. Her hand was shaking as she pulled it back and rested it in her lap.
Todoroki looked over at her and saw the look on her face, and then saw her hand shaking. He reached out and brushed his fingers against her cheek.
She almost jumped when he did that, looking up at him. "Oh- um-" she looked at her hand, forcing it to be still. "It's fine. I'm not- you don't need to do that, if you don't want to." She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. "You don't have to stay the night at Hawks' agency, either, if you don't want to. I won't force you."
"I shouldn't have walked away from you," he said gently as he lifted her chin. "I'm sorry. We'll talk about this." He leaned his forehead against hers.
"Are you breaking up with me?" Her voice was small.
"No." He kissed her softly, holding the back of her head.
Karasu tried to relax into his kiss, sliding her hand into the opening of his costume over his heart. When they pulled away she leaned her forehead on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I love you, Shoto."
"I love you too, Kara." Todoroki whispered back, wrapping his arms around her. He looked out the window behind her. The words of his father, of her father, were playing in his head- but just as they would start almost to win, he'd hear the first time she'd told him she loved him. He'd remember their first kiss on the rooftop. He'd see the face she'd just made when she felt him pulling away from her. He couldn't do anything that might chance hurting her. He closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath.
'I need to stop relying on people,' Karasu thought as she felt his heartbeat. 'I won't beg him to stay if he does decide to break up with me- I want him to want to be here, not see me as an obligation he can't get out of.'
          The car came to a stop and they got out together, Todoroki taking Karasu's hand this time. He didn't say anything as they walked into the building together, he didn't know what he could say.
They stood together in the elevator, still holding each other's hands.
She suddenly pulled hers away and hit the stop button for the elevator and turned to him. "I can't wait. What was that just now?" She asked him directly. "You pulled away from me, you barely looked at me at first in the car- and then it was like a flip switched suddenly and you were holding me and saying you love me."
He blinked in surprise. He'd never been at the receiving end of any of the confidence she had the ability to find in hurt- the same confidence that had led to her confrontation with Hawks a few months prior.
"W- I-" Todoroki stumbled for words. "Your father said- well, a lot. But what he said to me was that you'd been hurt because of me. Then, at the hospital, my father unknowingly said something similar- but told me that I couldn't let you be my weakness like that. Every time you've gotten hurt, it has been in place of someone else."
"Every time a hero gets hurt, it's for someone else. That's a major part of hero work." Karasu responded.
"I know it is." Todoroki put his hands on her shoulders and turned her so she was directly facing her. "I just- I'm so in love with you I find it hard to focus if I'm too near you. You are the wheel that my life is turning on now- and the idea of you just becoming injured again and again and again terrifies me. It doesn't help that this is your father and he literally wants to kill you." He hung his head. "I panicked. I thought- maybe if I pulled away from you, from us for a little while... Maybe if I got my feelings in check, it'd be easier. Then I realised how much I'd hurt you if I did that. It also just... wouldn't work. I care about you too much for it to. I love you too much for that."
Karasu reached up and slid her hand just under his collar, pulling him close. "I'm okay. I promise- I'm okay." She kissed his temple gently, ducking down to press a kiss to his lips.
He kissed her back, taking her waist gently. "I'm sorry," he whispered against her lips.
She smiled slightly and kissed him again. "We should get up there," she said with a small smile at him.
Todoroki nodded and hit the button to make the elevator move again, keeping one arm wound around her.
          "There you two are." Hawks said as they stepped out of the elevator.
"We'll be staying here tonight." Endeavor informed his son. "Hawks said he'll assign us the empty rooms here and training clothes so we don't have to wear our pro costumes tonight. I'll have a private debriefing with you, Dynamight, and Deku before that, though."
Todoroki nodded, pressing a soft kiss to Karasu's temple before he followed his father.
"Lucky you two." Hawks teased as he stood next to his sister.
カラス
          Karasu smiled to herself as she followed Todoroki through the halls of Hawks' agency to the little kitchen he kept stocked for his sidekicks and work study students. It was late enough that everyone should be asleep- and if anyone did see them in the kitchen together, it was plausible enough that they'd have gone there at the same time by chance.
"I'm glad you got to stay," she said softly as they reached the kitchen and she pulled the fridge open.
"I'm glad, too." He kissed the back of her neck, making her blush. "I'd hate to have left things like that after I panicked."
She grabbed two of the juice bottle Hawks had stocked the fridge with before turning back to him. She kissed his lips quickly, "open this for me? Hawks doesn't have much one-hand friendly stuff in here yet."
He opened hers and handed it to her before opening his own.
"I do forgive you for this afternoon, you know?" She said gently as she took a sip. "I'm not angry with you- if the situation were reversed, I'd probably have freaked out a little too."
Todoroki leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes. "I promise I'll talk to you about stuff like that from now on."
"Good." She kissed his cheek, wiping the small juice stain she'd left from her lips off quickly with her finger. "I promise, too. Always."
He pulled her into a kiss, setting his juice bottle aside before sliding hers out of her hand and setting it beside his.
She kissed him back, sliding her hand into his hair as she smiled against his mouth.
          "You two are so lucky it was me," Hawks yawned as he stepped into the doorway to the kitchen.
Karasu pulled back and blushed, picking up her juice bottle again. "Why do I feel like this is becoming a pattern?"
"Because it is." Hawks responded as he pulled his bag of apple chips, labelled across the front in sharpie reading 'KARA, DO NOT TOUCH THESE!'.
"I am curious," Todoroki asked as he leaned against the counter beside his girlfriend. "What made Endeavor decide to stay here tonight? He never told us."
"He is kind of a 'don't question me' kind of boss, huh?" Hawks sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "We got reports of other pros encountering similar hideouts and strongholds- so a few of them, sidekicks, and other work study kids are heading here in the morning."
"Oh! Who?" Karasu blinked a few times in surprise.
"Uh," he rubbed his face. "Centipede with Lemillion and Bubble Girl, Fatgum with Suneater and Red Riot and Real Steal, and Team Lurkers with Chargebolt and Cellophane and Vine and Grape Juice."
"Oh, man," Karasu dropped her head forward. "If Shiozaki tries to hand me one more pamphlet about the virtues of chastity, I swear-"
"I'm surprised you're not complaining about Mineta." Todoroki said.
"Crap- that's right. It'll be both of them." She sighed heavily. "If you don't see much of me tomorrow- say nothing."
          Hawks smiled slightly, pulling out his phone as he got an alert- seconds before an alarm overhead went off. "Someone's in our elevator-" he said as he rushed out of the kitchen.
Karasu and Todoroki rushed after him as well, and they could hear the commotion of everyone else getting ready to do the same coming from the other rooms as well.
The three of them came to a stop in the entryway of the agency, and quickly Endeavor, Midoriya, Bakugo, Shinso, and Tokoyami were behind them. Karasu was standing just in front of her brother and slightly behind her boyfriend. She flicked her staff open quickly- one thing she never took off was her bracelet, for moments exactly like these.
The doors slid open and all of them stood there, staring in a silent shock.
Karasu was the first to speak up. "Mom?"