"That stupid villain just had to show up when I was already running late," I grumble to myself as I fly towards the private school where the Hero Commission has my son learning for the day. "I'm not going to have much time with him."

As I shoot past an alley, I see a flash of flames. I want to ignore it, let another hero handle the situation, but my intuition says I have to check it out myself. Sighing in exasperation, I land on a nearby roof top and send a few feathers down to check on the situation. Through the vibrations that my feathers feel, I can tell that there's a little kid down there crying, and a couple feathers are burning, telling me that the fire isn't out.

Without any further thought, I swoop down to see the situation for myself. What I see, breaks my heart a little.

Sitting there, curled up as much as she can manage, is a little girl no older than four or five. Flames are radiating off of her in different sporadic places, and it honestly looks like a child just coming into their quirk. She's scared and alone, and I just can't leave her that way.

"Are you okay?" I ask her in a tone that I usually use after my son has had a particularly bad day with the Hero Commission. It usually calms him down, so I hope it'll do the same for her.

The girl slowly lifts her head as if she's unsure whether to trust me or not, but the moment her eyes land on my wings, her head snaps up letting me get a better idea of what she looks like. Tear tracks run down the girl's delicate face from her chocolate brown eyes down to her chin.

"D-don't let mommy find me," she stutters out in fear, the flames on her silky black hair growing along with her unease.

"Calm down, you're okay," I coo at her, crouching down to her level. "What's your name?"

"Mi-yumi," she replies slowly, the fire on her still not going down any. "I-it b-burns."

I reach out a hand, not caring that her quirk will burn me. All I can see in those terrified eyes is the reflection of Touya. He must have been the one who led me to her so that I can help her.

Miyumi jerks back away from my hand. "D-don't. You'll get b-burned."

I give her a reassuring smile. "All you have to do is calm down. Once you're calm, your flames will be too."

She gulps and does her best to settle down. I assume, based on the direction of her gaze, that my wings are something that brings her comfort. Does she like birds, or are my wings just the most noticeable thing to remind her that I'm a hero? I don't have time to ask as she launches herself at me the instant her fire has completely died out. At first, I think it's because she feels that I'm safe enough from her flames now until I hear someone behind me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, brat!?" A woman's voice echoes behind me. "First you fucking burn all my hair off, and now you're talking to strangers! You know what this means!"

"I-i didn't m-mean t-to." Miyumi mumbles out, trembling in fear. "D-don't hurt m-me."

I don't know how the woman hasn't recognized me by my wings yet, but I choose to keep my back to her, focusing on the girl who's currently burying herself between my leg and my wing.

"Come here now!" the woman screeches. "For this, you won't be getting anything for dinner!"

"Cover your ears," I whisper to Miyumi before picking her up and turning around. "Can't you tell she's terrified!?" I yell hoping that the girl in my arms listened to me about covering her ears. "This is no way to treat your child!"

The woman glowers at me. "As if you'd understand. When you become a parent, Hawks," she practically spits my hero name, "you'll understand why I'm like this. You can't raise a child with nothing but rainbows and unicorns."

The woman raises her hand as if she plans to slap me. I immediately maneuver some feathers out to lift her into the air. I'll get these two to the precinct, then, hopefully, I'll have some time with my son before he has to go stay at the Commission building while I take care of things with my new intern from UA.

When I finally make it to the school, my son stands against the building with his arms crossed. You're late. He signs, uncrossing his arms.

"I'm sorry. There was this little girl who I had to help."

I was thankful when we arrived at the precinct to find Miyumi's father already there pressing charges against his wife for how she was treating their daughter. The little girl was so happy to see her father, and I was glad that I was able to help her get back to him.

Kaito shakes his head at me knowingly, then points to the car that we're supposed to get in.

The entire ride to the house is silent, neither of us wanting to talk in the presence of any Commission employees no matter how insignificant their position. You can never be too careful.

Once home, I ask him about his day getting a less than enthusiastic response in sign language. I get it though, the school that the Commission sends him to is the absolute worst. I used to hate it just as much as he does now.

I tell Kaito about Miyumi and my investigation into the string of murders where people have been being turned to ash, as if they've been cremated, as I pack a bag for him. The murders, according to what I've gathered in my investigation, seem to be the work of a vigilante who's going after domestic abusers, and it makes me think of the kind of hero Touya would have become had he not died on the hill that day.

Kaito just watches me silently, nodding his head on occasion, obviously wondering what I'm doing, but opting not to ask. All too soon, the woman who drives us everywhere returns to the house to pick him up.

Why is the Commission lady here, momma? My son signs towards me.

I look up into his inquisitive face. Every time I look at him, all I see is Touya from his white hair to his bright blue eyes. Even his wings, which should remind me of myself, reminds me of the blue flames that took Touya from me, from us.

“I have an intern coming to my agency for the week.” I shake my head hating that I have to send him to them. “Let me know if they go too far with your training again, okay?”

Can’t go much further than taking my voice away, mom. He rolls his eyes. Don’t worry about me. Just be careful on your patrols.

As I toss him his bag that I packed for the time he’ll be stuck with the Commission, my worry only grows. I know the kind of training that the Hero Commision seems to think is okay to subject a child to. That training method took my son’s voice away from him, his frost breath quirk having paralized his vocal chords. They’re lucky that it didn’t paralyze more in his throat. What if they had kept on with that level of training? He might have even lost the ability to breathe at all. Kaito is all I have left of Touya, I have to protect him, no matter what.

“Text me every night,” I demand of him. “I might not be able to answer right away if I’m doing a night patrol, but I will check when I have the chance.”

If it weren’t for the Commission's obsession with keeping the world from knowing about Kaito’s existence, I wouldn’t be sending him away while I work. I’d be able to send him to a regular school instead of the private one that the Commission has set up for their special project kids that I had to go through. He wouldn’t have to go through training anywhere close to what Touya and I each went through, Touya’s training having been through his father and mine the Commission.

Once Kaito has left with the Commission, I fly off for my agency ready to greet the 1A student who I happened to send an invite to, Tokoyami Fumikage. Part of me wishes that Shouto would have chosen my agency as well instead of going to his father’s agency. If he had chosen to join me, I would have broken the Commission’s rule of keeping Kaito a secret because if there’s anyone who deserves to know about my son, it would be the other side of his family, his father’s side.

Next chapter will be posted on 's copy of the story.