It's HIMITIME! Chapter 4

Tetsuo woke up to a very familiar ceiling, which was good, because if he didn’t that would mean that he was in the wrong room. Which, granted, when you shared your body with a discorporated remnant of a past life, was a more likely occurrence than you might think. Still, he felt rested, one of the small bonuses of having said remnant floating around, and with the upside of not having to deal with the usual discomforts one might have. In fact, thanks to Finch, he can, and has, fallen asleep in some of the most uncomfortable places one might imagine.

But that was neither here nor there. Finch had stepped back the moment Tetsuo had come back to the land of the living, but even he could feel the unease the shadow was feeling from the back of his head. It made him dive into the memories that Finch had made while keeping an eye on their bedmate (and boy, wasn’t that friggin weird) and… yes. Yes he can see why Finch was feeling a bit offput in retrospect.

Himiko Toga was far more observant than either of them gave her credit for, which was idiotic in hindsight. Predatory obligates tended to get secondary aspects to their quirks meant for easing the acquisition of food, and say what you will, Himiko was built like a hunter. Given her prey consisted of humans, by and large, micro-expression observation would have been useful, and last night the girl had confirmed it.

Tetsuo wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In his decade and some change of living, nobody had ever actually twigged onto his secondary personality, or at least he didn’t think so. There had been some odd moments here and there, yes, when he was younger, but those had been dismissed as the foibles of a child. Himiko had just lain in wait and then when Tetsuo was out like a light, had pounced on Finch.

Well maybe that was a bit dramatic. She hadn’t actually moved, and hadn’t tried to either. He was, according to her, ‘comfy’ to lay against, which, fair enough? But she was interested to get a chance to ‘talk’ to Finch, if only because, according to her, she never met anyone that was actually as crazy as she was. Different crazy, she was clear, but crazy, which paradoxically seemed to make her relax more around him, not less. Go figure.

Either way, the two had chatted mostly about what it was like to be the alternate version of someone, never outright touching on the reincarnation aspect, but rather treating it as both sides of the same coin. She was glad that Tetsuo had Birdy-kun to keep him grounded, just in case all those pie-in-the-sky ideals got his ass in trouble, she says as she is actively the trouble he got his ass in, though she was a bit less crass in her wording.

Slightly.

Tetsuo sighed to himself as he leaned back into the bed, somehow unsurprised that she managed to suss out his little secret. Apparently she had some kind of microexpression sense, likely an extension of her predatory nature, to help her with finding either willing or vulnerable donors to feed the need. So when he was switching off between himself and Finch in some vain attempt to keep control of the situation, he might as well have stood up and screamed it into her face for all the good it did him. At least when he tripped her off it was more in a strange not-able-to-square-that-circle way as opposed to the THREAT! kind of way. Which he was ultimately very, very lucky in that regard. He’d seen what she was like when she was having her instincts go into defensive mode.

That said, he needed to get up, much as he hated to say it. Aside from needing to pee quite desperately he wanted to get moving and it was already past seven. Small mercy that it was summer break aside, he was still a creature of habit, and he liked to have a big breakfast before getting into any trouble. He still had to check out that hidey hole in the junkyard, find out what the story was behind their now mutual felony, and see about solving a number of those ‘early days’ projects before he figured out just how to help Himiko.

But in order to do that, he needed to wake the catlike girl, who had decided to octopus around him like he was the last life preserver in the ocean. Admittedly, feeling a pretty girl functionally coiled around him was pretty great, more than he’d thought it would, but tragically this one was crazier than a looney toon. He had no idea what a looney toon was, being one of Finch’s Americanisms, but it felt like an apt description.

Gingerly, like poking a surly bear, he nudged her. Himiko gave a squeaking groan and waved his hand off, coiling around his waist tighter. Say what you will, for a five foot nothing slip of a girl she had some grip, Tetsuo thought as he winced, before trying again. This time she gave off a tired groan and tilted her head up at him with a squinty, suspicious glare as he met her single cat’s eye. He’d thought he’d succeeded when she shifted, but all she did was tangle her legs around his and close her eye again.

“Himiko, it’s time to get up.” He tried, shifting, only for her to bat at him like an itinerant kitten. She mumbled something he had no doubt was profound as she shifted again, and Tetsuo’s glare bore down on her. This was already way too much energy for the asscrack of dawn before he got a meal and all important caffeine into his system, so he decided to skip right to the nuclear option.

Shifting, he rolled his entire ass out of bed, dragging the girl with him as he chucked his covers off and put his feet on the ground. To his vague amazement, she actually bent and twisted in a way that absolutely couldn’t have been comfortable to keep her grip on his midsection from slipping, stubbornly clinging onto him like a limpet. She stared up at him with an annoyed frown on her face as he proceeded to give no fucks and start making his way out of the room.

“Really, Tetsuo-kun? You couldn’t sleep in just this once?” She groused, as he tried to shake her off his leg. Prying her off wasn’t working either, and he was rapidly approaching the point where the bit was played out.

“Early to bed, early to rise, Toga.” He grumbled, rubbing his face. “I know Finch told you that I woke up early, and we have quite a lot to do, so…” He motioned for her to get off, but she shot him a challenging look.

“I think we should go sleep for another two hours, Tetsuo-kun. I don’t have anywhere to go today. Besides, that was a really comfy bed.” She grumbled cutely, but the large boy was unmoved by her ardent plea.

“Nothing is stopping you from going and getting another hour or two, Toga.” He sighed, but she shook her head.

“Come on, Tetsuo-kun. You’re warm, and comfy. It’s not the same without you.” She said, wrapping her arms and legs tighter. “Don’t you wanna cuddle some more?”

“Toga, you’ve known me for two days. There’s no same to be without.” He grumbled as he reached the bathroom. Having a fifty kilos of female limpet on his leg was rapidly losing its charm. “And I’m going to tell you right now if you don’t hop off you’re going to get a face first demonstration of those bits you seemed so ardent about getting at yesterday.”

She looked between him and the bathroom and then back again, before souring slightly and dropping off, sliding to the floor and scurrying away. He sighed in relief as he got the function of his leg back. Strong as he was, that wasn’t a first thing in the morning activity. He watched as she stepped back, giving him a vaguely grossed out look.

“Look, go lay down, get some more sleep. I won’t be in here long so it should be free once you get back up. After that I’ll make some breakfast, and then we’ll see where the day takes us, alright?” Tetsuo asked, almost pleading. Eventually Himiko nodded, and he offered a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was listening before shutting the door behind him. He didn’t see the suddenly sly look that crossed her face, or her walking past the bedroom door.

000

Himiko slinked into the kitchen as she heard the shower kick on down the hall, and wanted to pat herself on the back because she’d had a great idea on how to repay Tetsuo-kun for all the kindness he’d shown her so far. She! Was going to make breakfast! Probably! She’d never cooked a day in her life, not in any meaningful way, but how hard could it be? She had this.

Yup.

Hundred percent.

Now if only she could find the- ah, there it was. And the- yup. Oh, and some of those, and this and that. She grinned to herself. This was a great idea, she concluded. It was a wonder what a genuinely good night sleep could do for a girl, and while it was wildly inappropriate for her to spend the night with a boy, (not that her Mother said anything when one of Father’s politician friends took their liberties) she found that she really did not care what her parents might think about her lifestyle choices.

Besides, Tetsuo-kun was a perfect gentleman, and with Birdy-kun keeping an eye on him, she really wasn’t too worried. Besides, even if he wasn’t, he didn’t strike her as someone who would hurt her- whups! She cut that thought off at the root. Right now was cooking for her newest most interesting friend time! Not for thinking about Shunji-sama’s grabby hands or Kenji-sama’s penchant for- nope! Not going there at all.

Honestly, she had more interesting things to think about, anyway. Meeting Birdy-kun last night was interesting, in a vaguely terrifying sort of way, but also in a very reassuring way. It was hard to describe as she let her mind drift.

Himiko smiled gently, letting the warm feeling of being cuddled up like that, no restraints, no strange aches or chafing or uncomfortable stretching, trying to keep her limbs from cramping. Just warmth, and softness, and the protective hand of Tetsuo’s other-dad watching over them while they slept, safe and sound in the knowledge that in this place, at least, maybe she could find a bit of peace.

She blushed, as she pushed the unknown and unknowable sensation down. She needed to get things moving instead of daydreaming, and so she would. Still, she really did like feeling Tetsuo-kun’s arm around her… nope! Instead, she decided she would focus on getting the eggs in the bowl. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to do that after she whisked it or before, but it probably didn’t matter. It was probably fine, and did she need salt? Or, uh, sugar? One of the two. They were both white and sandy, so they were probably fine. And the milk! She heard that baking things needed milk. Or was it cream? Soul cream? She’d never heard of sour cream, but cream was cream, right?

She hummed to herself pleasantly as she stirred away, letting herself get lost in the cooking, another thing Mother would have a conniption over if she saw it, since that was for Servants and not the daughter of a Councilman. The thought brought a pause to her baking storm, as a sharp frown graced her lips. She didn’t like that thought. She didn’t like the idea that Mother and Father were still dictating what she was going to do. They’d made their feelings on that quite clear when they tried to send her back to the Dark Room after the incident that set everything off to begin with.

She’d just been… so hungry. More hungry than she’d ever been, even with the supplements she’d been getting at school, but they were always too little too late, and she hated getting the shakes from it. Just that feeling of weakness, that ache in her tummy that never went away no matter how much other stuff she managed to get down. Himiko closed her eyes as she tried to force the memories away.

She hated how they always seemed to live just under the surface, whispering to her, making every happy thought she’d ever had hurt. Always taking her back, even though she swore she never would go willingly. It was… it was a lot. It was half of why she clung to Tetsuo-kun’s leg the whole night, shivering like a newborn fawn, and why Birdy-kun let her without ever saying a thing about it.

It was the first night in what felt like months that she was safe. Tetsuo-kun was big, and strong, and he listened to her, even when he didn’t have a reason to. Her talk with Birdy-kun had been very much to the point, there. She knew that the only reason she was where she was right now was exclusively because of him. Birdy-kun was more wary, and hadn’t been subtle in telling her so, but was willing to let Tetsuo-kun make the choices there. It was a show of almost blind trust that had been a bit shocking to her from someone as down to earth as the older, harder version of her friend was.

It went unsaid that if push came to shove, he would be the one handling her too. That… had been more along the lines of what she’d been expecting. Tetsuo was a big bear, warm and cuddly, but capable of being very strong when he needed to be. Birdy-kun was a wolf, lean and dangerous and cautious, and she had no doubt, much meaner than Tetsuo-kun when he needed to be. It honestly did a lot to assuage her worries. Both of them were too too honest, even when they didn’t think they were. Compared to professional liars like her Sister and her parents, neither man really held a candle.

It made them precious in a way. It was why she wanted to stay, despite having been given every chance to hare out again. Unlike almost everyone else in her life, she suspected they wouldn’t hurt her unless she made them, really made them. She would endeavor to keep that from happening as much as she could. Whatever the cost.

She couldn’t be alone again. Not out there.

She was also vaguely sure that the pancakes she was trying to make weren’t supposed to be that color. Or on fire. On a lot of fire.

Shit.

000

Tetsuo was a man of great patience. It wasn’t a boast, either. A lifetime of having a sarcastic asshole living in his head had given him an almost preternatural level of the stuff, good intentions or no. Himiko had tested those limits a few times, but for the most part, she wasn’t the most difficult person he’d ever had to deal with, which was saying a lot considering she tried to knife him the first time they met. Not a great first impression. Not the worst, though. Fucking Kaneda.

Still, he found himself blanking when he walked into the kitchen to find it devastated. Now, when he used that word, one might conjure a mess, piles of dirty dishes maybe, food debris, maybe a charred pan or two. One does not conjure the image of a five foot nothing teenager trying and failing to put out a pillar of blue fire taller than she was by hosing down something that might have once been mistaken for food but now resembled a tire on fire. Smelled like it too.

“Well.” He said, striding in and in a flash a pot cover made of glowing incandescent white energy sat in his hand, which he then used to tamp down the flame. “I would ask what happened, but honestly I don’t think there’s any explanation I would accept as to why there was rainbow-colored fire about to burn my house down.” He hummed, and Himiko, to her credit, looked a combination of ashamed and embarrassed that Tetsuo just… couldn’t hold against her. Much.

She was scrubbing all that crap off his favorite skillet, to be sure, but that was for later. For now… “So, I see someone decided to try their hand at breakfast.” He said, looking over the utter ruination of his parents’ kitchen, just knowing he’d be deep cleaning the hell out of it just to get rid of the smell.

“Uh… yes!” Himiko chimed in, sounding nervous as she used a pair of tongs to fish out a disk of pitch black carbon, dropping it on a plate and offering it to him with a shaky smile. He looked at it, then at her, and she offered him a fork. Because that was what was missing. Yes.

He poked it, and it split neatly down the middle, pouring a glob of liquid goop that could, at its most generous, be described as slurry, onto the plate like some kind of demented egg. For the life of him he had no idea just how she’d accomplished this, and from the look on her face, neither did she. Slowly, she reached up and took the plate from him, before shuffling over to the garbage can, toeing it open, and dumping the whole mess into it without turning or shifting herself from a perfect one hundred eighty degrees, facing him directly. It was almost as impressive as the food.

“...I appreciate the effort.” He said, finally, as she shot him a genuinely pleased expression. Giving another quiet prayer to whoever was listening, he pulled the can over and popped it’s lid, before unceremoniously sweeping the remnants of everything piled up on the kitchen counter into it. Just as quickly he wiped down the counters, scraped off the carbon from the burners, got the dishes into the dishwasher, got the carbon-charred pans into his own special solution for getting that caked on hellscape off the stainless steel, and then proceeded to fish out two bowls, dump cereal into them, and place them before the two of them.

Himiko sat there with a dazed expression on her face as he did all these things in a fifth of the time it took her to lay waste to the kitchen and then manage to succeed where she’d failed in getting them both fed. “And once you finish, go brush your teeth and we can see about getting your other need sorted.” He finished as he poured most of a gallon of milk into the salad bowl-sized portion he’d made himself.

‘Think of this as a learning experience.’ Finch said with a grin in his voice as they watched Himiko shuffle somewhat defeatedly out of the kitchen. Sometime in the next two days he would have to find the time to repaint the wall to hide the carbon scoring, and scrape off the stovetop, and maybe do a bit of grocery shopping because that was the last of the eggs gone up in the pyre. ‘At least her heart was in the right place?’

Somehow that wasn’t much of a comfort. Sighing, for what had to be the fifteenth time in the last hours, he ran his hands over his face. ‘Credit where it’s due, it was. She’s mellowed out some since yesterday, thank god. She was all over the place before.’ He finally hummed as he scooped up his shovelful of Proty-Os, enjoying the semisweet rings with a quiet satisfaction.

Getting something in his stomach helped. That was one of the downsides of his quirk, like Himiko’s obligate hematophagia, he actually did need to pack in the calories to keep his hyper-efficient metabolism under control. It was enough of a concern that his parents got a small support stipend from the Bureau of Quirk Affairs to help supplement his and his mother’s dietary habits. Especially since he’d packed on the muscle in recent years, all in favor of his chosen career.

He’d need to see about an early lunch, later, maybe out on the town somewhere. He was hesitant to take Toga out, given her dubious wanted status, but given that she had basically nothing to her name before stabbing her way into his life, she’d need at least some clothing and toiletries. Maybe taking a day trip out of Musutafu would be the way to do it. Or at least it would be safer in another precinct, presumably. They weren’t the best at sharing information, so what had happened a day ago might not have made the headlines yet.

God willing.

Leaning back after finishing his cereal he spotted a certain blonde not-cat standing half-hidden in the doorway. She had that worried look on her face again, though he didn’t know if it was from the kitchen disaster or some other thing eating her. Could be either or at this point, even though he really wasn’t mad about the former. Shit happens, after all.

“Just gonna stand there looking pretty?” He asked, giving her what he hoped was a relaxed smile. “I promise I won’t bite.”

That got a reaction out of her as her eyes narrowed and she stalked from around the kitchen doorway. “Ha ha, Tetsuo-kun. Nobody likes a smart alec.” She said, somewhat hotly but losing momentum as she got closer. “But uhm, speaking of-”

He pulled his sleeve back and offered his arm again. Different arm, this time. The bite marks hadn’t exactly faded since yesterday, he wasn’t that good at regenerating, but they were smaller. “Here. Take what you need, alright?” He said, resisting the urge to snark back at her.

It was pretty clear that the topic of her nature as an Obligate was… touchy, to say the least, and he was more prepared for the lamprey routine this time around, so he let her feed in silence. Still hurt, but not as bad as he would have thought. Her fangs were definitely purpose-built and closer to stabbers than rippers, and he was glad she wasn’t one of those that really bit down with everything they had. Four small holes were easy to hide. Four whole-ass bite marks less so.

Himiko for her part kept her eyes closed, savoring the taste, as that itch in the back of her stomach finally quieted. The cereal had definitely helped, and didn’t taste terrible for something so incredibly high-protein, but this? This was what she always wanted. Just to not feel hungry all the time. It was a terrible thing, feeling peckish no matter what you put in your mouth, and she’d had to resort to… things… on occasion to get a decent meal.

She was careful though. Last night she gorged herself, and he let her, despite her taking way, way more than she needed. So much so that she felt like she could take on the world. So much so that her quirk could have borrowed Tetsuo-kun’s face for the better part of several days, even, if she wanted to really empty the tank.

She didn’t but it was nice that it was an option.

“Feeling better?” Tetsuo asked once she let go. He quickly covered up the holes in his arm, mopping up the droplets that escaped in the moment she let go, to her quiet disappointment.

“Mmmhmm! Thank you for the meal, Tetsuo-kun!” She said with a bow, clapping her hands together in front of her face with a silly expression plastered on. Tetsuo gingerly raised her back up, a bit uncomfortable.

“Uh, glad you enjoyed it.” He said, unsure for a second, before firming back up. Much as he hated having uncomfortable talks, he couldn’t put this off any longer. Easier said than done, though, as the silence stretched on long enough that Himiko shifted in front of him, her expression slowly falling. “Look… take a seat. We need to talk.” He finally started, folding his hands in front of him.

Himiko only hesitated for a moment, before shuffling back to take the chair she’d vacated earlier, growing more nervous by the second. He’d almost forgotten she could read him like a book, which made it so much worse, he was sure, but he powered on.

“I wanted to give you some time to… relax, I guess? You’re pretty wound up, and I don’t blame you.” He scratched the back of his head, uncomfortably. “But… I don’t want to put this off any longer. I need to know why you killed that guy. I figured you tried to kill me because I was collateral, but… how did you wind up in that alley, Himiko-san.”

She shifted, feeling a bit odd at hearing him add on the honorific. That was one of his quirks, she noticed. He seemed… kind of rough around the edges, like that, so she appreciated the attempt at being serious. And it was a fair question, looking at it from the outside. She’d definitely killed that man, and then tried to drink his blood when Tetsuo stumbled on her. Kind of in the worst way possible, too, and if he hadn’t been just that good, she probably would have added a second body to the mix.

There would be no coming back from that.

There still might not be.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself, surprised that she was shaking. She hadn’t remembered when that started, but she forced it down, the fear, the nervousness, all of it. He deserved to know, there was dancing around that, after he fed her, opened his home to her, cleaned her up and even let her into his bed when she wasn’t able to handle being alone after it all, and… and she also wanted to tell someone. After everything, she just… didn’t want to hold it in any more. Even if he was a nominal stranger. An acquaintance at best.

“He tried to take me back.” She said, after a long, drawn out quiet. “He worked for Father, and was there to take me back to that place. And I… I couldn’t go back, Tetsuo-kun.” She sniffled, hating herself for her weakness but unable to choke it down anyway. “Father… father is important. He’s a Councilman. He’s…”

“Hanzo Toga.” He finished, and she blinked. Of course he would have tried to research her a bit, that wasn’t the surprising thing. It made things much easier, really. “So your dad is a member of the Diet, huh?”

She nodded, continuing when he fell silent. “Yes, he is. Father is… obsessed with image. Perfect wife, perfect children, perfect image. He always used to say that we were important, and had to be held to a higher standard.” She shifted uncomfortably. “My… need…” She gingerly stepped around the word, “Was a threat to that image.”

And that was it. The floodgate opened up, as she slowly began to explain it all. The restraints, the early attempts at ‘correcting’ her, the ostracisation, the punishments, the ever-increasingly strict rules she had to follow even as her sister was exempt from them. The favoritism, the hate her mother seemed to develop, the starvation, the… the prostituting her out for favors and clout, all of it. She talked for hours, just letting it all out. A lot of it was incoherent, interspersed with bouts of sobbing as she had to stop, over and over again.

Tetsuo had offered to break off, several times, but she refused. She had to, she said. If she stopped she’d never be able to start again, but for someone like Tetsuo, who had lived a genuinely good and privileged life, it was a horrifying reminder of just how lucky he was. More than once he’d had to let Finch sub in just to process the sheer terror Himiko had lived under for her entire life, the paralyzing fear that her parents put her through.

It was necessary, she said, because she wanted him to understand. Needed him to, even when he didn’t, or couldn’t take it. He’d cried with her, he could admit that. He’d wept with her when she broke down, for the pain she felt, for the violation of it, the viciousness, the malevolence. Because at the end of the day she had been subject to a targeted, focused campaign of torture and brutality that echoed of the darkest days of the Chaotic Century, inflicted on a school girl, just because she had an inconvenient Quirk.

He had asked, tentatively if she’d tried to talk to someone, her school, the police, anyone at all. Her derisive laugh was all the damning truth he needed. The school, the police, her councillor, even the local Quirk Affairs office had sold her out. Hanzo was their guy. Doing their things. And for all that Japanese culture had changed over the years since the bad old years leading up to the collapse, the conformity culture was still going strong in its oldest institutions. They hadn’t just failed to help her, they let her in, told her to trust them, and then stabbed her in the back. And the punishments she got for trying would have made a tinpot dictator puke, made all the worse when he realized that her mother’s quirk, Impulse Control, operated on the nervous system. There is pain, Himiko said, and there is pain. He didn’t ask her to elaborate.

There was evil in the world, Tetsuo knew, but he never really knew, not until today. It was an intellectual knowledge, detached, removed, hidden behind impersonal screens and words. Himiko was as real as it got, and she opened up a string of horrors that made Pandora’s box look like a mild bout of bad weather by comparison. The fact that it was done by a parent to their child, done so for no reason other than optics, no reason beyond it being inconvenient… and then just… piling it on after. The way Himiko talked about it sometimes, it sounded like she even really believed what she was saying, sometimes. That she had somehow deserved it, that her breaking was just validating all of the things her parents said and did to her.

Tetsuo thought he understood hate until Himiko Toga waltzed into his life with her meat cleaver in hand. Thought he understood what it was like to see evil, to empathize with a victim, to see hurt and pain and cruelty.

He was such a fucking child.

And he understood why she killed that man.

Because if he was faced with the same life, the same pain, the same torture? He would have split that guy from neck to crotch without a second thought. That she was probably in late-stage starvation at the time only made it worse.

If there was ever anyone who was more deserving of victimhood, he couldn’t think of them, but she told him to stop that before he began. She wouldn’t let him define her like that, but looking at her, he could tell that she was barely holding on.

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? This was her last chance, her hail mary. In front of him Tetsuo could see two roads stretching out behind her. One was a bad path. Alone, abandoned, with a body on her already and her needs left to squander, she would fall deeper and deeper. She would need to start making choices, ones that led her down the path, one covered in bodies, a Villain in every sense of the term, molded by a consistent, mounting failure of everyone and everything around her until she either wound up dead or rotting in a cage until old age and malnourishment took her.

That was the first path. One that turned the schoolgirl named Himiko Toga into a lifelong criminal while the people who made her that way walked away scott free. The thought of it sickened him. The other?

The other wasn’t so clear. But it started here, with him.

She was desperately screaming out with every word, every tear, every pained gasp and whispered sob, please, believe me. Please help me. Please save me.

Please.

Deep down, something in his soul clicked. She would never have to beg for someone to help her ever again. It was as simple a statement as that. He would do everything he could to make that a reality, because he was a Hero goddamnit.

And Heroes saved people.