16 Chapter 16: Shorts 5

A new world.

Izuku loved quirks.

Despite his lack of one, he'd always had an appreciation for their power, their uniqueness, and all the ways they could be used.

For example, right now Izuku was watching as Sansan held the new boy in place while Kioku used her quirk on him.

The boy was feral. Raised in the woods his whole life. He didn't understand a single thing about language, or how to act in a civilized way, or anything like that. And teaching him would likely take a long, long time and a lot of painstaking effort.

And while Izuku wasn't averse to hard work, but he had a lot of work to do.

So he decided to cheat.

Kioku's quirk lets her insert years worth of memories, within a few hours. Essentially letting him cram a lot of knowledge directly into his head.

Of course, this did have a few issues. For one Kioku couldn't teach him anything she herself didn't know, but that wasn't really an issue here as he only wanted her to teach him basic Japanese and how to act in civilization.

They also had to erase some memories of his. The brain could only handle so many memories, so in order to cram this much knowledge into him, she had to remove some other memories. But since most of his memories were just him trying not to die in the wild, Izuku didn't have an issue with this.

It took hours, many, many hours. But by the time the sunset, they were done.

"Finished." Kioku sighed. "Daddy I'm tired."

"Thank you Kioku. Here." Izuku handed her her favorite treat. Chocolate with nuts.

The girl quickly took the candy bar and started unwrapping it.

Izuku turned his attention to the boy.

The boy looked...overwhelmed. His red beady eyes looked around the room constantly, although he was no longer struggling against Sansan's grip.

Izuku walked in front of the boy, whose eyes focused on him.

They just stared at each other for a while, before the boy tried to talk.

"Da...daddy?" The boy spoke words that were foreign to him. His mind had been properly taught them, but his body had never even tried to say them before. "Daddy give food? Daddy give...home?

It makes sense that the first thing he would ask about is that. He's been trying to survive for his entire life after all so food and shelter have always been on his mind. Izuku gave his best smile, to try and reassure the child. "Yes, I'll give you all the food you want. And you can stay here for as long as you want. If you want, that is."

The boy's eyes shined. He was aware now of the new situation he was in. He would no longer have to look for food day by day, he would no longer have to sleep on a cold cave floor, he didn't need to fight animals anymore.

The boy felt something. Something he did not recognize.

He searched his new memories for context.

Peace. That's what it was. He felt at peace.

The weight of having to worry about his own survival...was suddenly gone.

For the first time since he could remember, his body relaxed.

"Oh, I forgot. You need a name." Izuku said. "I already have one in mind, but if you don't like it you can always just say no...I was thinking...Yami."

"Y-Ya-Yami." The newly dubbed Yami tried out his name.

He was Yami now. This would be what he was referred to in this...new life.

Because that was truly the only way the boy, no, Yami, could describe it. There was so much new that had been put upon him.

But so long as he was fed and given shelter, Yami would be more than happy to cooperate.

New food.

Yami looked at his plate oddly. Inspecting it thoroughly.

On his plate was meat. Apparently, it was called steak and was the favorite of his silver-haired sister.

He was familiar with meat, but it didn't look like any meat he'd ever seen before. The new memories he'd been given, told him that cooking food made it taste better and made it safer to eat. But seeing something in a fake memory and seeing something in real life were very different.

"Is...something wrong with it?" Izuku asked the boy. "I thought you might be more comfortable with meat, so I just made Kiba's favorite and hoped you would like it."

"It was truly a smart choice, Caretaker!" Kiba said while gobbling her steak down in huge pieces. "This is a fine dish for anyone to start with! You are truly blessed brother!"

"Stop eating so fast you're going to choke," Fu told her while eating at similar speeds.

"Just because you can't die from choking doesn't mean you shouldn't follow your own advice, Fu," Izuku told them sternly.

As his father was scolding his new siblings, Yami sniffed his food.

His eyes widened in surprise. It smelled good! Really good! It was the best thing he had ever smelled in his life!

Almost immediately his instincts took over, and he grabbed the steak with both hands and bit into it.

The taste was divine. Yami nearly cried from how good it was. He had a hard time believing this was meat at all from just how different it was. Juices flowed through his mouth and flavor burst from the steak.

As soon as he swallowed it, he knew he needed more.

He savagely tore through his steak, eating it like a wolf ate his prey. Large chomps tore the steak apart, juices flying all over the table, floor, and Yami himself.

Barely a minute had passed, and he was already done with his meal. Much to his chagrin.

"More more!" Yami demanded, looking at his father with desperate eyes.

Izuku looked at the child, who had gotten food everywhere making a mess of both the table, floor, and his new clothes, and sighed. Guess I should have seen this coming.

"I'll give you more, but first, you need to remember to say please," Izuku told the child. "It's the polite way to ask people for things."

"Please please more more!" Yami begged.

"Second, if I do you need to eat with a fork and knife this time," Izuku told him. "You made a big mess and someone is going to have to clean that up...and by that I mean me."

Yami looked around him to observe the mess he made. According to his new memories, people didn't like it when there was mess. Which he just made.

The boy turned a bit sheepish, having accidentally wronged the person who was now feeding him. What was the word to use after doing something like this?

"Your welcome," Yami said, confusing everyone around him. This tipped him off that he had said the wrong word. "Ah, ah...sorry?"

Izuku still gave him a confused look, until he realized what happened. He must have mixed up the words. We did force an entire language into his head. It makes sense he would get a few things confused.

"Apology accepted." Izuku nodded, letting the boy know he chose the right words. "Just make sure to help clean up after you're done with the other steak."

The boy nodded rapidly, happy his mess up didn't mean he wouldn't get more steak.

Vampire vs Spider

In the backyard, Kiba and Fu fiddled with a camera.

Izuku had given them instructions on how to set it up but didn't go with them due to the fact that he was not ready to be on camera anytime soon.

"Fu is it on!?" Kiba asked her minion/brother.

"Should be," Fu said, looking at a laptop that displayed the chat.

"Brillant! Good evening my minions! And behold! My backyard!" Kiba said, moving the camera around so it could get the best view possible.

"Holy shit."

"I knew she was a rich girl!"

"Is that a backyard or a public park?"

"Parents must have dough!"

"Correction, parent. I only have a father." Kiba corrected after Fu showed her the chat.

"Oh."

"What do you think happened to the mom?"

"Wealthy single father!"

"So the dad is single then?"

"Begone THOT!"

Fu smirked for a moment in amusement. "I don't think dad's getting in a relationship anytime soon."

"New voice, who that?"

"Brother?"

"Minion?"

"Boyfriend?"

"Yes, yes, ew," Fu said.

"This my minions, is my right-hand man...and also my brother. Fu introduce yourself." Kiba ordered, turning the camera to him.

"Hello, random strangers," Fu said in his typical monotone with his typical expressionless expression.

"He looks so bored!"

"Is he ok?"

"I've never seen a child who looks so dead inside."

"Someone meme that face."

"Oh don't worry about him. His emotions are kinda...barely existent. But he's fine." Kiba said. "But more importantly, it is time for me to show you the true extent of my power!"

"Oh, we're gonna see her quirk!?"

"I bet it's turning into a bat!"

"Today I shall-" Before Kiba could finish, she was interrupted by a newcomer.

"Kiba are you streaming out here?"

Fu and Kiba looked to the side and saw Shiruku holding Eri and Kioku.

"Spider girl!?"

"Ah, spider! Kill it with fire!"

"Ah, quirk discrimination! Kill with fire!"

"And banned," Fu said, banning the second commenter. "No quirk discrimination allowed here."

"Good."

"Preach!"

"POG"

"Also are we not gonna look at the two other cuties?"

"They're so cute!"

"Adorbs."

"More siblings?"

"Behold minions, a glorious day for you to be sure, to meet four of my siblings in one day. A shame Yami, Kei, and Sansan are not here. Then I would be able to introduce you to my entire family...for now." Kiba said. "But for now behold my sisters, Shiruku, Kioku, and Eri. Say hi to my minions."

"Are we on camera?" Kioku realized, squirming to get out of Shiruki's grip and hide.

Eri just froze up after realizing she was being looked at by a bunch of strangers.

Shiruku realized that the two girls would be uncomfortable in front of an audience.

"Wait one moment." Shiruku suddenly jumped forward, leaping many feet into the air and causing soft winds to kick up around her.

Once she was in the air she shot a web at the house and pulled herself towards it.

After reaching the wall, she crawled on them at max speed, getting out of sight in only a few moments.

Kiba made sure that, of course, this was all caught on camera.

"Spider girl!"

"Insert Spider Dance."

"Can she use her quirk like that without a license?"

"Their house is a place they can use their quirks freely. That includes their backyard."

"Also holy crap that house!?"

"House? Where? I see no house? Only a castle fit for a queen."

"Hail the queen!"

"Hail the queen!"

"Hail the queen!"

"So the dad is single right?"

"Begone THOT!"

"Begone THOT!"

"Begone THOT!"

"But I mean she has a point."

By the time the chat finished freaking out, Shiruku had returned, now without the other two siblings.

"Did daddy not tell you two to tell us before you started streaming?" Shiruku crossed her arms and glared at her two siblings. "You know those two are shy."

"Sorry." Fu apologized.

"Apologies, it slipped my mind," Kiba said, blushing with embarrassment.

"Of course it did." Shiruku gave Kiba's head a flick. "Please try and think before you do things."

"Naturally," Kiba said as if that was a thing she did regularly, receiving a deadpan stare from her sister.

Fu frowned. While not many people left discriminatory comments, he did notice that the view count did go down noticeably after Shiruku arrived.

Even if we escaped from the city. They're still out there. It's just a reminder of what everyone is really like. Fu thought as he continued to ban people.

"Although now that I think about it, why were you here sister? You're normally up in your room knitting." Kiba commented.

"Those two had fallen asleep in the greenhouse again, and daddy asked me to take them to their rooms," Shiruku answered.

"Doesn't he normally ask Sansan to do that?" Kiba asked. Sansan was typically the person Izuku asked for when it came to performing tasks, as she never ran out of stamina, and her ability to shapeshift made it really easy to do things.

"Yes but I'm faster and I was close by so he asked me instead," Shiruku explained.

Suddenly, Kiba had an idea. "Speaking of speed. I was about to display my suburb speed to my viewers, in a little exercise! Since you are the only one here who could potentially rival my pace, would you like to participate in a little race?"

"Oh, this can only end well," Fu said sarcastically.

"Hmmm." Shiruku thought about it. "What's in it for me?"

"If you win, I'll let you eat Fu's insides while they're still attached to him." Kiba offered.

"Agreed," Shiruku responded.

"Wait what?!"

"What the fuck?!"

"NANI!?"

"Oh yeah, spiders are cannibals. So if she's a half spider she would also be a cannibal."

"Should we call the police?!"

"Run Fu!"

Fu facepalmed. "You forgot to explain my quirk!"

"Oh right." Kiba realized. "Don't worry my loyal minions! Fu's body is undying and will restore itself almost instantly! And he is immune to pain. Quite useful for blood sacrifices."

"Ohhhhh."

"An infinite supply of meat!"

"Still gross!"

"Are their parents ok with this!?"

"Quirks that force cannibalism are unfortunate, but it's not like the users can help it. That is the reason why legally selling human meat is allowed. People like Fu have been selling their body parts ever since regeneration quirks came into existence. It's perfectly fine."

"Alrighty then let us take out places!" Kiba declared.

The two of them stood right next to each other, getting into running positions.

"Ready! Set! Go!" Kiba shouted.

The two of them immediately blasted off, at speeds that only pro heroes could keep up with.

Shiruku and Kiba were neck and neck, as they ran all around their backyard.

As they approached the finish line, Shiruku suddenly jumped, and shot a web past the line, and pulled herself past Kiba, and right past the finish line.

"Ugh! Hey, no fair!" Kiba protested. "This was supposed to be a contest of speed!"

"And it was. My web lets me move faster than you." Shiruku said smugly.

"Hmph! Well, I was only at seventy percent power!" If I was at a hundred percent, I would have won!" Kiba said. "I demand a rematch against my full power!"

"Can I still eat Fu's insides?" Shiruku asked.

"Fine!" Kiba agreed.

"Than ok," Shiruku said.

"Could you please ask me before you offer my body to people?" Fu asked.

"Oh please Shiruku isn't people, she's family! You should always be willing to offer your body to your family. Like right now." Kiba said, walking towards the boy.

"That sentence is so very wrong."

"What a strange family."

"Wait, is Fu about to get eaten right in front of us?"

Realizing that her sister forgot she was being watched, Shiruku moved the camera away from Fu.

All the audience heard was the sound of flesh ripping, blood gushing, and some sucking noises.

"Gross gross gross gross!"

"So I'm guessing her quirk has something to do with eating people as well?"

"I think it's blood-related."

Kiba came back on camera, wiping some blood from her mouth with a handkerchief.

"I'm so glad you took my lesions on how to cleanly eat someone seriously." Shiruku praised.

"Of course. I couldn't get blood on your wonderful dress. And thanks for the handkerchief." Kiba said as she folded and put away said handkerchief. "Now are you ready to get properly trampled?"

"Fu?"

"Is the boy ok?"

"Oh, Fu is fine. Once his neck grows back he'll just reattach his head." Kiba explained.

The two of them got into position.

"To make me use my full power. I suppose it is to be expected of my siblings." Kiba spouted. "But now you see my true strength. Be in awe of my excellence and-"

"Can we go already?" Shiruku interrupted.

"Fine. Go!" Kiba signaled.

VROOM!

Kiba sped off at full speed, going much faster than she did last time, and leaving Shiruku definitively in her dust.

By the time Kiba was halfway around, it was obvious she was going to win.

So naturally, she had to show off.

Instead of going right for the finish line, she decided she would take a detour around the pool.

She leaped over the pool, which was a considerable distance considering how big it was, in one leap, before leaping over it again, and again, and again.

Shiruku rolled her eyes, as she started gaining on the show-off.

Kiba, still fully confident in her ability then went to the greenhouse, and took a mighty leap, intending on landing on the roof and then jumping off of it back onto the track.

However, she lept far too high causing her to go soaring into the sky, before coming back down.

And while the impact of the fall wouldn't damage her, it would certainly damage the glass roof.

BREAK!

Kiba went right through the roof and into the greenhouse.

Uh oh. Was all Kiba could think as she went through the glass.

CRASH!

Kiba fell face-first onto the floor of the greenhouse.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." She groaned.

Landing from the high she jumped, onto the roof wouldn't have hurt. Falling from that height, through the ceiling on her face. It did sting a bit.

After taking a few seconds to recover, Kiba started to pull herself off the ground.

Only to feel a sharp pain in her right arm.

She looked at her shoulder and saw that there was a shard of glass of not insignificant size embedded in her arm.

"Uh oh," Kiba repeated, this time out loud.

Shiruku came rushing through the doors, looking around until her eyes landed on Kiba.

"Kiba!" Shiruku crawled over quickly and went to inspect both Kiba's wound and the hole in the ceiling. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. It hurts but I'll be fine!" Kiba blinked away a few tears. She had been through a lot in her time on the streets, so she was used to having to deal with pain to some extent.

"You don't look fine!" Shiruku pointed out. "We need to get daddy, right now!"

"No!" Kiba panicked, dropping out of character. "No, no, no, no, no! If dad finds out about this he'll flip!"

"How do you think daddy won't find out about this! You've been stabbed and there is a hole in the ceiling!" Shiruku shouted.

"Uh, maybe we can use your webs to fix the roof, and hide the cut!" Kiba responded.

"Wait!" Shiruku suddenly thought of something. "Does dad watch your videos?"

Kiba's eyes went wide with fear, as she suddenly heard the greenhouse door open.

A few minutes later, in the medical room.

"So, what have we learned?" Izuku asked her, with his arms crossed and an angry expression on his face.

"Not to use my quirk without knowing how it might break something," Kiba repeated the line that Izuku had spent the last half an hour drilling into her.

"I keep telling you this over, and over again, and now look! You managed to hurt yourself!" Izuku scolded, pointing to her wound, which was fully bandaged up. "You could take a hit from Death Arms and shake it off! And you found a way to hurt yourself! Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw you go through the roof!?"

Kiba looked down in shame. Izuku almost never got angry at them. But when he did, it was deserved, and they knew it.

After all, the only things that really made him angry, was when they hurt each other, or when they hurt themselves.

She could see him crying again. He did it often. Very often. But this time was different. She made him cry. And not a happy cry. A sad, upset, concerned cry.

"I'm sorry." Kiba apologized.

"I mean-I mean what were you thinking! I've told you over and over not to jump from high places because the thing you're landing on may not be as strong as you, and not look! You're hurt!" Izuku repeated, he was so swept up in his rant that he wasn't even looking at Kiba anymore.

"I'm sorry." Kiba sniffled.

"And it was glass! Glass! Sure it's less fragile than most types of glass but it's still glass! It got stuck in your arm! It went through your arm!" Izuku cried. "Your...you're…"

Izuku stopped when he noticed Kiba's sniffling.

He looked at the vampire girl. She was crying. It was much softer than his crying like she was still trying to keep a cool front but just couldn't stop the tears from falling.

"I'm sorry." She repeated, her voice wavering as she tried her best not to cry.

Without any further hesitation, Izuku wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I-I didn't mean to yell at you. I was just...I can't stand it when you get hurt! You guys mean everything to me! I don't think I could take it if anything happened to you!"

This ironically only made her feel worse.

Up until she met Izuku she could barely remember what it was like to have a parent. Let alone one that cared.

For that reason, she never liked taking him for granted. He was precious to her. So making him upset, disappointing him...she hated it.

"I'm sorry!" Kiba cried. "I-I won't let it happen again! I promise!"

"It's ok. It's ok." Izuku soothed the sobbing girl while he himself was sobbing. "I'm not mad anymore!"

"I-I-I don't like...making you cry," Kiba admitted. "It makes me feel bad!"

"Oh." Izuku realized what she meant. He was touched they cared so much, after all not many people did, and he couldn't stop a few more tears from coming out. "Kiba. You and the others have made me feel happier than I have in...well...a long time. Seeing you all happy gives me purpose. It's more than worth any tears or hardships I'll have to go through to watch you all grow. Plus I uh...cry very easily."

"But I still feel so bad! You give me food, blood, siblings, and everything I could ever want! I have no right to upset you!" Kiba protested. "And I keep breaking things and making mistakes!"

Izuku frowned. Kiba was certainly the most troublesome out of the children. Her overly energetic nature, combined with her eccentric personality and her ridiculous strength and speed, made it so she tended to cause some sort of trouble on an almost regular basis.

But Izuku never held it against her. And he certainly never loved her any less for it.

"Everyone makes mistakes Kiba. Even vampire queens." Izuku told her. "It's not your fault that your quirk makes it hard not break things. That's why you're all here. And just like all the other kids, I love you. No matter what."

"Even if I keep breaking things?" Kiba sniffed.

"Even if you keep breaking things," Izuku reassured her.

The two hugged, and Kiba's crying eventually stopped.

"Thanks, dad...Uh, I mean Caretaker." Kiba said, getting back into her persona.

"No problem," Izuku told her. "But, I am going to increase fragile objects training."

Kiba grimaced. Out of all her training, fragile objects training was her least favorite. It was basically training revolving around not breaking easy to break objects. Paper, eggs, styrofoam, thin planks to of wood.

More often than not, she tended to fail this type of training, a lot.

"And I'm making you take physics lessons on weakness," Izuku told her. "If you're going to use your quirk, then I'm going to make sure you know how to use it."

Kiba groaned. She didn't hate when Izuku did their lessons, but she didn't love it either. And she looked at physics once and it looked extremely complicated and boring.

"And also you are banned from streaming for three days," Izuku explained.

"Oh come on!" Kiba complained. "Aren't the other two things punishment enough!"

"Those two weren't punishments. Those are to help you control your strength. That last one is a punishment." Izuku said. "And if you do any more dumb things for views, I will take your recording equipment for a lot longer."

Kiba pouted. "Fine. I suppose my minions will have to wait."

"That they will." Izuku picked Kiba up. "Now let's go, you have to apologize for worrying all your siblings."

"Humph! I suppose I'll have to remind them that the great Kiba is invinc-" Kiba stopped and looked at her bandages. "Nearly invisible!"

"Invincible or not, we'll always worry about you," Izuku told her with a genuine smile on his face.

Kiba pouted and tried to act like she wasn't touched by their care.

But despite it being her favorite color, the red on her face betrayed her completely.