Thank you so much to @satanspawn_draws on Instagram for the lovely banner art of Izumina using her fire quirk. Be sure to give him a follow and send me some fanart of your own to be featured with credit in future chapters.
Trigger Warning: mental distress and sensitive topic areas such as racism and abuse. Please read at your own discretion.
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The night air was brisk as Izumina lay in her bed. Her little hands, typical of the average child, clasped the edge of her sheets as she listened attentively to the sounds beyond her room.
It had been a few months since she'd arrived in Québec. She'd yet to adjust to her new home and the loneliness that came with it.
Yet to master the tongue of her classmates and neighbours.
Yet to grow accustomed to the quiet sobs that echoed from the living room downstairs.
The light from the hall broke through the crack in her door and caressed the floorboards of the room with gentle affection. As Izumina watched the light, eyes filled with an intensity beyond her years, she pulled her covers off. All Might plushie in hand, she crept to the door and peeked into the hall.
No one.
She shouldered the door and squeezed her small frame through its opening. The grandness of the house still astounded her. The wood decorum and rural atmosphere, so strange in comparison to her two-floored home in Japan.
With childlike dedication, Izumina clutched her stuffie and tip-tied to the top of the stairs. Crouching, she peered through the banister rails into the living room below.
Her mother sat on the couch, her silhouette outlined by the dim lighting from the lamp on the side table. Her shoulders were hunched and her back was to Izumina. She appeared to be looking at papers of sorts, rummaging through a whole folder, as though contemplating what to do with them. Izumina inched down the stairs to get a closer look.
"Mommy," she whispered once she'd gotten close enough.
Her mother flinched before whipping her head around and meeting Izumina's gaze. "Oh, mon trésor." She fumbled to wipe her eyes as she hastily tucked the pages into the folder. "What are you still doing up?"
Izumina bit the inside of her cheek, not wanting to confess to the obscenities and horrible names her peers had berated her with that day.
"I couldn't sleep."
She wasn't necessarily lying. She'd often lie awake at night reflecting on her days, sometimes going so far as to look up the insults she hadn't understood in her French-to-Japanese dictionary. She often wished she hadn't. It was hard to sleep when she felt like such a fool. She couldn't speak French and she didn't have a quirk. Her classmates thought she was a freak which caused bullies to target her.
She pulled at her sleeve to keep her mom from spotting the bruises from that week's games of 'slap the jap' and 'beat the bozo'. "What's wrong?"
Her mother sighed as she pushed the folder aside. "Nothing mon bébé just... grown-up things."
"Are you missing Daddy?"
"Goodness no," her mother bit, an inexplicable darkness shrouding her tone.
Izumina's eyes fell as her hair shielded her face. "Then why were you crying?"
Her mother's features softened, a sigh escaping her lips as she massaged her temple tiredly. "Gosh, Izu..." she exhaled as her lip trembled ever so slightly. The tears she'd tried to siphon reformed, glossing her eyes. "Come... ici," she spoke, patting the cushion next to her.
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Becoming a Hero (bnha x OC)
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