A key thing to note about Hanako's parents was how they didn't attack her (physically or verbally) without reason. Most commonly, it was because she'd done something to upset their up-tight rules. She, of course, never went out of her way to break those rules, or to offend them in any way. 

But that never worked, did it now?

The main kicker for most of her  parents' actions were her grades. They weren't awful, ranging from 59s to 79s, but that wasn't good enough for them. And considering the grades never changed, her parents' attitude didn't either.

(Maybe her parents should've thought that it was them that way causing these bad grades)

But it wasn't always the grades, coming home late from being outside, making (accidental) snarky comments, not doing the washing up nor the chores she was set to their standards. Basic things, and yet the punishment wasn't exactly normal.

Hours of screaming and lectures from her father's end, the occasional gaslighting from her mother, all while Hanako did and said nothing. Because if a person's quiet, they're learning, right? At least that's how schools see it, so if she's quiet at home, maybe her parents will leave her alone.

It didn't work. But the smidge of hope was still there, she was cradling it like a small flame in the rain, everything was working to drown it out and kill it, but she covered it with her hand, protecting it. Though the rain got too hard, the weather too cold, and now that flame of hope was gone.

No more warmth and light.

********

Don't estimate the lure of darkness, even the purest of hearts are drawn to it, like a moth to a flame because darkness gave people hope. Hope that it would shade away their fears and worries. But it only makes it worse.

Her soul felt numb, and she's so desperate to feel. In the times of distress and sadness, mornings are no longer forgivable and waking up is no longer ideal. And whilst she thought she could distract herself from these melancholy thoughts by spending her time doing things that made her happy, it was simply impossible; it was a constant lingering thought.

And as she sat on the concrete floor outside of her apartment, not having moved since being pushed on the floor, that thought was all she could think of. All she could obsess over.

She moved from her seated position and knocked on her front door. Her voice was quiet when she spoke "Hey, let me in." She repeated these words until she even said please. Her voice grew quieter as the cold began to possess her body and force goose bumps to be visible almost all over her skin.

It was freezing, it was raining, hard at that. And she was outside in shorts and a T-shirt. She wasn't affected by the rain yet, the outside of her apartment building had a roof over the front doors. But that didn't mean that shivers wracked her body.

She decided that after however long of waiting, she should at least think of leaving, it was clear that her parents had no intention of letting her in, and the pain was beginning to become more and more evident as the minutes passed by.

She couldn't remember what happened, but she could register that she was hit with something. That something was a blunt object and she couldn't remember for the life her what it was, but she knew that her abdomen was hurting like hell right now, along with her cheek and oh-

Her nose was bleeding. That wasn't the only thing, her lip was busted, and the metallic taste of blood was in her mouth. Now that Hanako thought about it, what was the point of cleaning up all the blood, or even just trying to stop the nosebleed? There wasn't a point. The worst it would do is stain her shirt -which wouldn't bother her- and if she just kept her head bowed, she'd be fine.

Pouring rain pounded on her head and back as Hanako bowed her head and took in a deep breath inhaling the cold air and chilling her lungs. As she exhaled she shivered and wondered if her father had finally broken him enough that she was crying; it would be impossible to tell in the downpour. She stood outside her house, her brain stunned by the shock, and every fibre of her muscles tense. This was  the first time she and her parents had got into a fight so intense they had kicked her out of the house, and she hadn't expected them to kick her out whilst it was raining. 

A rumble of thunder travelled through the air, the flash of lightning followed.

So it wasn't just raining.

Hanako began to walk. She didn't know where she was going, or where she'd end up, but she didn't care. But the more she shivered and the cold leaked into her soul she came upon the horrifying realisation that she was going to have to ask for help.

Her neighbourhood friends were off limits, it was a silent pact they'd made a decade ago. It's not that she didn't trust them, but it was made obvious that their home lives were great. And if Hanako had to put herself in their shoes, it would be incredibly awkward for someone to walk in her home because she didn't know when her parents would lash out.

She had her phone, and on top of that, she had everyone else's phone numbers. She could do something with that. So as she stood in the road that held so many memories that was now creating one she'd come to hate, she opened up her phone and began to scroll.

She knew that phones weren't supposed to get wet, but it wasn't like she had any shelter. She let out a jittery sigh as she saw that her phone was low on battery; 3% to be exact. She had one chance to call someone. One chance to live really. Hypothermia wasn't great, and it was only worse as her quirk made her go into a hibernation of sorts, making her movements slow and her reactions delayed.

Her phone screen was so bright compared to the street she was on, the street lamps had broken years ago. She looked at her contacts, and to be honest, she only really had three options.

Katsuki

Shinso

Or Aizawa. Aizawa had given her his phone number and address for 'just in case you're in trouble' moments. And to be honest, it was the most logical option. But logic wasn't something Hanako had right now. Besides, wouldn't it be a little weird just to show up at your teacher's door and ask to stay the night? Yes, yes it would.

Shinso, valid option, but the boy deserved sleep and Hanako didn't feel like giving him any more stress than needed. 

So that left only one option, Katsuki. She pulled up his contact, Hanako having to press harder than usual because the water was making her phone's screen act up. It was only then that she saw the time.

12:30 am

How long had she waited at the door? She shook her head, droplets falling off of her head as she pressed the call button. Hanako brought the phone up to her ear, her hands and body shivering as she waited.

Now that she thought about it, what if he didn't pick up? He was probably still sleeping, which was something Hanako hadn't thought of; at least not for Katsuki. Though after ten seconds of ringing he did in fact pick up.

"Why the fuck are you calling me at midnight?" His voice was thick with sleep, and he spoke without the usual bite to his words.

"W-well, I need to ask something." Hanako proposed, stuttering from the raw air.

"Shoot." Katsuki sighed in a tired way.

"Would it be fine if I could stay at your house? Just for the night I mean." Hanako asked, her voice was quieter than usual, and Katsuki picked up on that almost immediately.

"I mean, sure? But why the fuck could you not stay at your own- oh, right." He came to realise why when his brain connected the dots "Why the hell did the police even let you go back to your parents? That's fucking stupid."

"Apparently they needed more evidence that they were villains, which is bullshit in my opinion. And- oh fuck." Hanako stopped herself.

"What?"

"My phone's on one percent, send me your address."

"Fin-" His sentence was cut off as her phone died, her screen having gone black and her spirits dropped. She now had many regrets. She sighed, placing her phone in her back pocket. She still couldn't tell if she was crying, maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. The at lump the back of her throat and the stinging of her eyes was almost a constant for her at her house, and now, she didn't know anything.

Except for one thing (that would come to be the only reason she's alive). That being Aizawa's address. It was given to her and Katsuki when they were in the hospital as a precaution, meaning that it was recent, and as Hanako was bored, she learnt it. Of course that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, but she was curious one day, and went on Google Earth (She's not a stalker, honest) an learnt that it was just over and hour's walk.

And so she began to walk in the direction that she thought was correct. The downside, she also was without her wallet and couldn't pay for public transportation to get there. Which meant she'd have to walk for miles. Another downside was obviously her quirk, it made her more susceptible to hypothermia than others; and so she wouldn't really be able to fight. So, she found herself quirkless walking for miles in the rain like a loser to ask her teacher for help. 'Help,' a word she could not recall using in her entire life; at least not in a serious situation, it was always like a joke. Arguably this was the lowest point in her life. She'd take being kidnapped by villains over this any day. She felt utterly humiliated. 

Okay, maybe it wasn't the lowest point in her life, but that's what she thought. After all, if someone were to ask her what actually happened when her mother and father were mad, she wouldn't be able to tell you because she. Didn't. Know. Or more accurately, couldn't remember.

The entire trip she was beating herself up for being weak and useless. Her mother and father's voice ringing in her ear about how she was pathetic and that she was useless, that was just about the only thing she could remember. By the time she got to Aizawa's she couldn't feel her fingers or feet anymore and she had convinced herself she was such a horrible excuse for a human being that she half expected her teacher to turn her away. She could practically see the bored scowl forming on her gloomy teacher's face when Hanako explained she was not here for a villain emergency, but due to a family squabble.

She froze at the doorstep. She had no idea how late it actually was, but it had taken hours to get across town, so she imagined it was probably closer to daylight than she wanted to admit. Her teacher was probably fast asleep. Maybe he wouldn't even wake up?

Her brain was getting kind of foggy. She stopped shivering and was still alert enough to recognize that as a sign of hypothermia. Taking a shaky breath, she steeled herself with resolution reminding herself that she didn't have a choice. She was faced with knocking on the door loud enough to wake her teacher or death by the elements. She put all her strength into a firm knock on the door and braced herself for whatever came next. 

Surprisingly, she was greeted by her loud blond English teacher and immediately thought in her hazed state that she must have remembered the wrong address. Yamada Hizashi answered the door with a yawn, his hair looked odd without all the gel, just flowing down his shoulders like a soft blond waterfall, unlike usual. He was wearing baggy blue sweatpants and a soft plain white shirt. His shoulders sagged with sleep and he looked half-awake. Soft, sleepy, and quiet were the opposite of everything Hanako had ever seen the pro hero display. It was beyond weird. Yamada didn't look like her teacher, pro hero Present Mic, he looked like a regular Joe human, which was weird considering most teachers at UA weren't usual people.

When he saw Hanako, his eyes looked wide with shock and he said, "Yamikumo? What on earth? Get inside, you look half-drowned. What happened?"

Hanako stepped within the threshold of the house, and didn't really notice the warmth that blanketed her because she still felt bleak. "Umm, nothing much, uhh is Aizawa-sensei here?"

Yamada yelled behind them towards the living room as he shut the door behind them, "BABE STUDENT HERE!" He was so loud Hanako wondered if he hadn't lost control and put some of his quirk behind that scream. At least her teacher seemed more like himself now. But the whole 'Babe' thing made Hanako suppress a snarky smile.

Yamada stated to Hanako, "I'm going to grab you some towels. Stay right there." He quickly turned around and started walking toward the heart of the house, before he disappeared around a hallway, he looked back at Hanako and nervously repeated, "Stay right there, I'll be right back." He looked sad to be leaving her alone in the doorway as if turning around for a moment would cause Hanako to shatter into pieces. She didn't understand? Maybe he cared?

Hanako could hear soft voices as Yamada ran into Aizawa in the hallway. Quick words were exchanged before Aizawa appeared in the living room. He was wearing all grey baggy pyjamas and looked just as tired as he normally did in class. He approached Hanako with concern and said, "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Is anyone following you?"

"I don't know, yes, no." Hanako said, only now realising that the fog was affecting her speech, making it slightly slurred with the cool.

"Okay then, why are you here?" Aizawa asked tenderly, more tender than Hanako had ever heard him be.

"Can I...I need someplace to stay tonight." Hanako asked, Aizawa didn't like how quiet she was being, it was creepily unusual.

Aizawa nodded, "Hizashi will bring you dry clothes, you can borrow our son's and some towels. Once you're dry, we can contact your parents and let them know you're safe and you can worry about telling us what happened after you've gotten some rest."

Hanako nearly broke down and cried at the mention of her parents. She shook her head and immediately felt dizzy. Her head didn't move normally, her limbs felt so heavy and sluggish as if she was trying to move underwater. "No," She managed to say, "No, you can't call them. My parents...they kicked me out. If they found out I involved anyone in this family shit, they'll kill me."

"Hey," Aizawa put a hand on her shoulder. Hanako couldn't help but lean into it, she was barely standing at this point. "Deep breath. Let's get you cleaned up okay?" She tried to follow her teacher's instructions for once but quickly found that taking a deep breath was a hard task. She had not realized she had been breathing funny. Now, she couldn't seem to focus on anything but her breathing. Why was it so hard to take a deep breath? Shit, was she hyperventilating? When did that happen?

Yamada appeared in the living room at that moment carrying clothes and an entire stack of towels. He handed them to Aizawa then turned to Hanako and said, "I'm going to put a kettle on, get you something warm. Tea? Yeah? Maybe some soup? You hungry, kiddo?"

"I'm fine!" Hanako reiterated, she hated being referred to as a child. She hated that she was so weak, tired, and helpless. She didn't need handouts...though she was starving. The noisy hero wasn't phased by her obvious lie and simply responded by stating he was going to make food and tea before walking off.

"We have to get your clothes off, you're freezing. Hizashi's in the kitchen and won't come back till I tell him it's clear. The kids know to stay upstairs. It's just the two of us here. You comfortable changing here? I'll hold a towel up so that you have some privacy."

Hanako nodded. She didn't exactly feel like walking into the house, dripping wet, looking for a bathroom to change in soaking the carpet along the way. Besides, she wasn't sure her legs would move if she tried to walk another step. She fumbled with trying to take her shirt off, but her muscles were so numb she couldn't control her movements that well. Her shirt got stuck halfway over her head. 

Whilst somehow still holding a towel up, Aizawa did help to remove the towel. Hanako was a person who didn't care much, and if she were to ever get too hot whilst playing soccer, she'd just take her shirt off whilst playing. Obviously she'd be wearing a sports bra underneath, but to her, now was a similar concept but instead of being hot, she was cold.

Suddenly, Hanako remembered her souvenir from her last fight from her parents when Aizawa's eyes briefly froze on Hanako's right side. There was a giant black and blue bruise covering her abdomen from where her parents had obviously hit her with something. Aizawa's eyes drifted from the wound to Hanako with a questioning look.

"It was my fault," Hanako said, "It's not that big a deal. I'm fine."

Aizawa sighed with a long knowing look. Hanako instantly knew she'd given away too much and her teacher knew this bruise wasn't a simple training mishap, but an intentional attack from a parent. She was grateful however when Aizawa didn't press any further. Instead, he returned to the task of helping Hanako out of her wet clothes whilst still being respectful of her privacy with sad knowing eyes.

That was a very common thing these days.