atrament. (mha x reader)

7: Hideaway

"It's really been 7 years since you got recruited by the League, eh, Y/N-chan?"

You slapped an ace of spades on the table, cocking a brow at your blonde-bunned colleague. "Recruited my ass. You mean kidnapped?"

Toga grinned at you, shuffling her cards, and hummed. "It's not kidnapping if you chose to stay~"

You rolled your eyes and scoffed lightheartedly. Yes, you, Y/N L/N, the person who disappeared 7 years ago, had been recruited into the League of Villains. After the incident with Monoma, Nezu, and your past trauma resurfacing, you had little to no objections when asked to join.

It didn't take much convincing, in fact, considering that you believed everyone hated you, and you hated them.

You had cut off all your connections with your classmates at UA, even going as far as to fake your own death. It was quite funny to you; since your quirk produced ink from your own body fluids, all you had to do was draw a fake corpse and plant it in the river near UA. It worked like a charm, since all of the DNA matched with yours. Your quirk wouldn't last forever though. Of course, no one caught on when the body was mysteriously replaced one day with a puddle of ink.

The only person who knew your whereabouts was Sakura. You couldn't stand the thought of her having to live with the trauma of you being kidnapped and dying, so you made arrangements to meet with her once a week. You trusted her enough to not snitch on you.

"You know how scandalous it would be if a pro hero was found fraternizing with a villain, right?" You asked her one day, amused at the thought of everyone panicking. There was silence for a minute, the only sounds surrounding you coming from crickets and passing cars. Sakura laughed softly, a wan smile on her youthful face.

"You're my kid, Y/N, you come first before anyone else."

The second week that Sakura had met up with you is when you had decided to change your identity. You had dyed your hair F/C and cut it, had a fake ID made under the pseudonym "Akira Hakozaki", and wore a black surgical mask in public settings under the pretense of "keeping the germs away".

Sakura said that the new look was "edgy", which meant she liked it. And you liked it too.

"You're meeting up with your mom today, right?"

You snapped back to attention as Dabi sat down beside you, kicking his feet up on the table. You swatted his feet off and placed down another card, humming softly. You knew Dabi's aversion to interacting with heroes unless you were killing them. But you had made it perfectly clear that if he even touched Sakura, he was going to be in a lot of pain.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"No need to be hostile, I was just asking."

"You take things too personally, Dabi."

Dabi chuckled a bit and rested his chin on his hand, eyeing you. "Even after seven years, you're still hard to figure out, Inkjet."

"And after seven years, you're still as annoying as I remember." You replied flatly, getting up out of your seat and stretching. Dabi stared at you and smirked, tapping his fingers on his chin.

"Quite cold, considering our little escapade a few years back~"

"You mean our little mistake? Yeah, I remember." You pulled your mask over your nose and mouth as Toga burst out laughing, Dabi sitting at the table with an amused look on his face.

"Gosh, Y/N-chan, you know that he's just trying to get a rise out of you!"

"Oh, I know what he's aiming for. I'll be back in a few hours, Goldilocks." You ruffled Toga's hair and slipped out of the base's secret exit, slinking your way through the shadows to meet your stepmother.

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You met Sakura at your usual spot, on the roof of the now-abandoned ramen shop where she used to take you from time to time. She turned to meet your gaze, her normally sparkling pink eyes now tired and sunken in. She smiled languidly, and you suddenly had wondered just how long she had spent worrying over you. You could only imagine what was going through her head when her stepchild disappeared.

"Hey, you little stinker."

You smiled as she greeted you in her normal, quipping fashion, sitting beside her and pulling your mask down. "Hey, grandma."

Sakura laughed loudly at this, shaking her head and staring out across the street. "You're such a brat..."

You hummed, resting your head on her lap. She played with your hair adoringly, sighing. It was weird, really. Sakura was only about five or six years older than you, and yet she felt more like a mother to you than your birth mother had been. You couldn't bear the thought of losing her. It just couldn't happen.

"...Izuku Midoriya paid me a visit today." Sakura said absentmindedly, twirling a strand of your hair in her hand. You flinched a bit, inhaling deeply.

"...Yeah? That so?"

Midoriya had taken your "death" the hardest. According to Sakura, he made sure to visit your grave every time your death anniversary came up. Even when he became a pro hero, when countless press representatives followed him to the graveyard, he would just sit at the tombstone. Silently touching his forehead to the slab of stone as he set a bouquet of daisies down.

And funnily enough, today happened to be the anniversary of your fake death.

"He just came by to check on me, that little idiot. Almost had me crying. He's a sweet kid." Sakura chuckled, shaking her head as she let your hair fall through her fingers. You stayed quiet, staring faintly up at the starry night sky.

"My heart hurts for that guy, you know. He still thinks you're dead."

"Yeah, whatever. And he leaves me flowers on my grave every year. He's only doing that to get rid of his guilty conscience." You scoffed, waving your hand dismissively. Sakura gave you a pitiful frown, sighing.

"I really wish that you had more faith in the people who care about you..."

You sat up, giving her a cold stare. Ah yes, this would happen every time that you and her would meet up. Which is another reason why you chose to only meet up once a week. You braced yourself for her next words, which you had practically heard on repeat every time.

"...When are you coming home, Y/N?"

You had prepared yourself. This would be the last time that you would meet with your stepmother. It wasn't that you didn't love her, you loved her more than anything in the whole world.

That's why you had to cut things off here before you were swayed by her words and put her in danger.

"I already came home a long time ago, Sakura." You pulled your hoodie over your head, then pulled your mask up with it. You needed to be blunt with her today. It would hurt the both of you, but you had convinced yourself that it was for the best.

"And Y/N L/N doesn't exist, as far as you're concerned. My name is Akira Hakozaki."

Sakura's eyes widened and filled with tears as you started to walk towards the edge of the roof, her lips trembling as you hopped down. There was no sound of your feet colliding with the ground, but Sakura could still hear your footsteps as you left the apartment that day. The strawberry-blonde woman closed her eyes, tears dripping down her face and beading at the tips of her eyelashes.

Sakura knew that this was your last meeting together. She had known it for a long time.

She also knew exactly where you were planning to go after your meeting, and she had subtly told Izuku that the new ramen shop near her apartment was worth trying out.

As your friend, she felt guilty for not telling you.

But as your mother, she hoped that Izuku, if anyone, would help her child's tormented soul.