Birds of a Feather

I don't care who she is.

          Tomie Takami stepped out of the elevator, looking surprised to see everyone standing in a ready fighting pose. "One of the PI's that was hired to find me gave me this address, and the code..." she said carefully. "I didn't realise you'd need authorization."
"Well you do." Hawks said with a tone of disbelief from where he stood.
Tomie's eyes perked up when he said something and she walked towards him, passing Karasu without a second glance. "Keigo-" she said quietly as she looked up at him. "I can't believe it's really you... after all these years."
"Wait- so- one of the PI's I hired just gave you the address and code to my agency?" Hawks said, staring at his mother in shock. He took a wary half step back as she approached him.
"I didn't know if I'd want to come," she admitted quietly. "So he offered me the information to reach out when I was ready- and when I saw the news about your father... I felt like it was time."
Karasu turned around at that statement. "Mom?" She said again, her voice markedly weaker now.
Tomie barely glanced back at her without a word. "Keigo, is there somewhere we could go to talk?"
Karasu's eyes widened and she quickly walked past everyone back into the halls leading back to their rooms.
"Shit," Hawks turned as she walked away. "Kara-"
"I've got it." Todoroki said, already following after his girlfriend.
Hawks sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tokoyami, find an available room for- my mother tonight. I actually need to go check on my sister." He glanced down at Tomie again before walking after Karasu and Todoroki.
          "Kara-" Todoroki caught her arm as she walked down the hall quickly. "Hey. We'll figure this out. Okay?"
Karasu's eyes were wide as she immediately clung on to him, burying her face against his neck. "She- she wouldn't even look at me, Shoto. She-"
"I know," he murmured into her hair, wrapping his arms around her protectively.
"Kara!" Hawks came running down the hall after them. "I'm so sorry- I had no idea she'd act like that."
"It isn't your fault," she shook her head without looking up. "There was no way you could've known."
"Do you want me to send her away?" Hawks asked genuinely. "Because I will- I don't care what time it is, I don't care who she is. Say the word, and it'll happen."
She was silent for a long moment now. "No. She can stay," she finally lifted her head. "I want to know why she acted like that... why she's never tried to reach out. I want to get mad at her for abandoning me." She looked from her boyfriend to her brother. "I want her to see what she's missed out on by not trying with either one of us."
Hawks nodded, looking back down the hall. "Let's not have this out quite yet- you two just head back to Kara's room. We'll have enough going on tomorrow that we should be able to avoid her."
Karasu nodded, her gaze falling to the carpet. She felt her boyfriend slide his hand into hers before they started walking back down the hall.
Hawks sighed as he watched them walk away, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is gonna be bad," he muttered to himself.
カラス
           Karasu checked the timer she'd set on the wall as she finished another round of hologram practice. Only a few seconds faster to knock out all the assailants than the last round. "Dammit," she muttered and closed her staff before walking over to where her water bottle was.
"Dammit?" Togata was leaning against the doorframe. "Your timing was great in there!"
"I'm slower than normal." Karasu said as she took a seat. "One of the benefits of wings is it keeps us fast, and I'm being slow." She leaned her head back against the wall.
"Well what's got you slow?" He sat next to her on the little gym bench.
"Oh, we don't have time for all of that." She stared up at the ceiling.
"No, seriously. You can talk to me." He nudged her side.
"I've gotten slower each time I've lost part of my arm, for one. Losing almost all of it is harder to recover from than just the half." She took another breath. "My mom also showed up last night."
"Your mom?" Togata blinked in surprise. "That must be intense."
"I haven't actually talked to her yet." Karasu said, lowering her head down to look at him. "When she showed up out of the blue last night, she barely even looked at me. She didn't say anything to me or really even acknowledge me outside of a glance when I said something directly to her."
"Mirio, they're calling for everyone." Amajiki said as he stepped into the room. "Oh. Raven. Hi."
"Suneater!" Karasu smiled as she stood up. "It's nice to see you again."
"You too." He looked away awkwardly.
She smiled as Togata clapped his shoulder. "You didn't stutter! That was awesome!"
"We should head up to the meeting." Karasu said, pushing her hair back out of her face. "If we're even close to late we risk Hawks, or worse Endeavor, coming to find us."
"Shouldn't you like Endeavor?" Togata mused as they walked. "You are dating his youngest kid."
"You know, you'd think." She raised her eyebrows momentarily and smiled slightly. "I did my internship with him- let's just say some things were said by him I'm not quite over."
"Yeah, he isn't known for having the best attitude." Togata said as they got into the elevator.
"To put it lightly." Karasu said quietly, picking at a few pieces of dust in her feathers from her training.
"How's UA?" Amajiki offered a very welcome change of topic.
"It's good. Weird to be class 2-A now- especially with all of us in mandatory work studies, so we're all there like half the time." She turned her head to look at him. "How is it being out in the real world with your full hero licence?"
"Hard. But really rewarding." Amajiki smiled at her. "It's nice to really be able to truly use everything we've learned."
Karasu returned his smile. "And Hado?"
"She's doing awesome! She's a sidekick with Ryukyu, but we're planning on forming an agency together - all three of us, in a few years!" Togata said excitedly.
"That's a great plan, Lemillion." She said as the doors opened and the three of them stepped out.
          "Were you training?" Todoroki stood up off the wall as the three of them walked into the waiting room outside the Meeting Hall.
"I needed to clear my head," she said as she slid her hand into his. "Were you waiting long?"
He shook his head and kissed her cheek. "I just wanted to make sure you're alright."
She smiled slightly and leaned her head against the side of his face, squeezing his hand gently.
"All the work study students," Hawks said as he walked into the waiting room. "We're having all of you wait out here- each of your pros will debrief you specifically after the meeting. Pros and sidekicks- head inside."
"Odd." Karasu whispered as she frowned slightly after the door closed.
"Why do you think they won't let us in there?" Kirishima said from where he was sitting, a frown on his own face.
"No idea," Bakugo grumbled. "But I'm going to find out."
"I think I know why Hawks would want to keep me out," Karasu murmured to her boyfriend. "Because of my dad."
Todoroki looked down at her, searching her face. He was worried about her- but beyond that, he was suspicious about how it was that both of her parents had shown up at roughly the same time. The timing could just be a coincidence... but he wanted to look into it. He didn't want to express this to her just yet, he wanted to have more of a theory or evidence before he did so.
          "Oh-" Tomie paused as she appeared in the doorway to the waiting room. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise people would be here-" she glanced around at all the students. "I was looking for the kitchen. I don't really know my way around here."
Todoroki's eyes narrowed slightly.
Everyone was silent, all of the students who didn't know she was here were staring at her in shock.
"I can show you the way." Karasu spoke up, watching her mother.
Tomie looked at her daughter. "I can find my own way," she said curtly and turned around immediately. She left the room without another word.
Karasu deflated almost immediately. She hadn't expected her mother to fall down crying at her feet- but with her mother refusing to actually even acknowledge her, it was worse than if she'd never shown up. She could feel that the rest of her classmates were now staring at her in shock.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Todoroki whispered against the side of her head. "We can, if you need to."
Karasu just nodded, and left the room ahead of him quickly.
"That was her mom, right?" Sero spoke up before Todoroki left.
"Is she alright?" Kirishima asked, looking after his classmate.
"No." Todoroki responded honestly. "I'm trying to help her with that, though." He quickly left the room, shooting a text to his father explaining why they probably wouldn't be there when they finished their meeting.
          Karasu was sitting in a tiny annex of a waiting room at the end of the hall, her hand clenching the edge of the bench tightly.
"Hey." Todoroki knelt in front of her. "Talk to me."
Tears started running down her face. "Why-" she started hoarsely and paused to take a deep breath. "Why doesn't she care?" She covered her face with her hand. "I'm not saying she shouldn't be concerned about Hawks, too. But she raised me for twelve years- she wasn't very present for all of it but she was still my mom. So why does she show and barely look at me? Barely speak to me? Doesn't she care at all?"
Todoroki gently pulled her hand away from her face and stood up. He took a seat next to her and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her. "We'll figure it out," he murmured against her temple. "I know we will."
She slid her hand around the back of his neck and kissed him. "Thank you," she whispered as she pulled away slightly.
He smiled and kissed her back. When they pulled apart he leaned his forehead against hers.
"We'll talk to Hawks," she said quietly. "I think that'll be the best way to... go about this. She won't talk to me, but she's clearly interested in talking to Hawks." Karasu let out a tired sigh, tugging her boyfriend closer. "Shoto, it means... so much that you're willing to help me through my family drama, despite being in the middle of your own."
"I'd do anything I could to help you, Kara. Always." He met her eyes, folding his fingers together just below her wings. "You're the love of my life."
She smiled, a happy brightness returning to her eyes as she kissed his cheek. "You always know just what to say, you know?" She mused, raising her hand to rest on the side of his neck, her thumb brushing the side of his jaw. "You're the love of my life," she said as she kissed him again, letting out a small laugh as he lifted her up slightly to tug her even closer. He lifted her chin, pressing light kisses to her neck.
          "Should the two of you be doing that?" Tomie was standing at the end of the hallway that led to the small sitting area they had tucked themselves into.
Karasu pulled back, at first she felt embarrassed- and then anger rose in her chest. "Excuse me?" She said without moving from her boyfriend's arms.
"I'd imagine you were all gathered in that waiting room for a reason." Tomie responded. "Is Keigo aware that the two of you sneak off to do things like this?"
"Yes." Karasu stood up now, clenching her fist. "He's very aware. He's very supportive of our relationship. You have no say in anything to do with it, however."
Tomie looked surprised. "I may not have legal custody of you, but I'm still-"
"My mother?!" Karasu finished her sentence furiously. "My mother who, until she caught me kissing my boyfriend, hasn't acknowledged me!"
Tomie looked away. "You just don't understand-"
"Yeah! I don't!" Karasu threw her hand into the air and turned back towards Todoroki. "I shouldn't have to. You're my mother. You left me. How dare you step into my life again and ignore me and then turn around and try to tell me anything I can or cannot do."
Todoroki took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. He pressed a kiss to her palm, his eyes fixed on his girlfriend worriedly.
Tomie stared at her, then looked down to Todoroki, and then she walked away.
"Are you feeling alright?" Todoroki asked his girlfriend gently.
"No," she hung her head as tears began to run down her face.
"Let's head back to your room," he stood up and pulled her close. "I'll tell Hawks what happened, he'll probably want to talk to you about it anyway."
She nodded, kissing his cheek quickly as she followed him out of the room.
カラス
           "Hey." Hawks leaned against the doorframe that led to the balcony of Karasu's room at his agency. "Heard about your... talk with Mom today."
"Did Shoto tell you or her?" Karasu asked, she was sitting on the floor huddled in the corner of the balcony. She had her arm wrapped around her legs and her chin was resting on her knees.
"Both, actually. Mom thought it was inappropriate that you were kissing Shoto while I was in a meeting, and I think she was saying I shouldn't let you be on your own with him but honestly I tuned her out." Hawks stepped onto the balcony and sat on the ground across from her. "Timing wasn't something I approve of, but Shoto mentioned that it happened because you had another- terse interaction with Mom."
"Yeah." She lifted her head. "I know we shouldn't have done that during your meeting. But, yeah- she came into the waiting room lost and I offered to help and she refused me immediately."
"I'll ask again, do you want her to leave? I can and will kick her out. I don't really know what to do with her at this point." He spoke gently. "I put out feelers for you, Kara. Not for me. If you say yes- she's gone within the hour."
"I want to try to talk to her one more time." Karasu said carefully. "I want to know why. Why she left me. Why she ignored me until she saw me making out with my boyfriend. Just why." She turned her head and looked out at the sky, leaning back against the window.
Hawks watched his sister carefully. He knew she'd had these questions for some time now- and he knew she'd questioned if it was something within her. She'd never expressly told him as such- but he knew her. He also knew how much their fight weighed on her, and what he'd said during their fight. He knew he never should've said that- that when he had taken on the job of raising her, he was taking on the good with the bad. That was part of the bad, and he had tried to run away.
          "Kara." Hawks said gently.
"Hm?" Karasu turned back towards him.
"Maybe we should talk, too? About our fight." He sat forward, his tone apologetic.
His sister flinched slightly.
"I know you must be thinking about... what I said to you." Hawks looked at the floor between them. "I can't even begin to imagine what me saying that must've really felt like to you. I mean, she did sort of leave me- but not the way she left you. No one's ever indicated that it was my fault, either. I know I apologised for it but... it doesn't begin to cover it."
Karasu was quiet for a long moment. "I know you said it because you were desperate, you thought it was the only way to get me to stop trying to force you to talk to me. But-" she took a breath. "I can't stop thinking about it. The look in your eyes. The tone of your voice. You-" she dropped her head forward to hide that she was crying again. "You sounded like you meant it. I felt like everything in my life was just crashing down around me in that moment. I had relied on you for four years, you saved me. So to hear you say that-" she lifted her head and looked at her brother. "One of my biggest fears for a long time was that you only got me away from Mom out of a sense of duty, that you never wanted to but felt like it was a requirement. That I was a burden you wanted to unload."
Hawks pulled his sister into a tight hug, tears running down his face now. "I'm so sorry, Kara." He said, closing his eyes. "You're not a burden. You could never be a burden. I've never regretted bringing you to live with me. Not once."
She hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder as she just let herself cry. She'd been keeping the feelings regarding their fight hidden within herself since they had made up after her classmates had brought Midoriya back. She'd never truly allowed herself to feel it. To know that Hawks hadn't moved on from it- that he was still feeling the effects of that fight actually gave her some comfort. Almost like it was the proof she'd been so desperate for in that moment that he did love her.
"I shouldn't have slapped you. I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"It was pretty understandable, given what I said and did." Hawks responded, putting a hand over the back of her head. 'I should make sure Mom can't be around her without me. The timing of all of this feels... very off to me. Maybe it's just my own negative feelings towards my mother, but it can't just be a coincidence.'
"Keigo," Karasu used his name for the first time since their fight. "I want to talk to Mom."