Till Death do us apart

Chapter 3

If anyone would have asked Aizawa why he became a hero instead of something more normal (and less nerve-racking) profession, he would say he choosed to do this, because he wanted to help people.

At first he too, like many others of his generation, wanted to be a hero because it was the best thing that one could achieve. Becoming a person that others could look up to, giving hope to the hopeless, doing something good in this tainted, ungrateful word.

Looking back at those times, he was just too naive. But who could blame him for that? A child (an abused one especially, like Aizawa was too) was supposed to have dreams. Those dreams were the only things keeping him going, even when noone had believed he could make them come true.

And even though he knew he was naive, and wrong in so many ways possible, he just couldn't get himself to regret his choices. He couldn't imagine being anything other than what he was now.

Because he liked being a hero. He loved the way helping other people felt like. He liked giving hope, even if it was only a little, because even those little things could change many lifes of those that needed it the most.

Like the people that had to live in the streets.

Those people were the very bottom of society, and the sad truth was that noone really bothered to help them. Heroes too, like other civilians choosed to ignore them, as long as they didn't broke the law.
And if one of those poor, outcast people had died from either the weather, hunger or were killed by some criminal, it didn't really matter to anyone, because they weren't worth the effort. (Well. For most of them anyways)

It was like they weren't even humans.

And it wasn't the worst of all.

No. The worst thing Aizawa had to see was when he first came across the lifeless body of a kid on the streets a few months after his graduation. It was a terrible, horrifying sight.

He could never forget it.

That poor, innocent child had to perish by hunger, without ever experiencing any kindness from the word, because of their own ignorance.

Because there were things that they choosed to ignore instead of doing anything they could to help.

And it was a really upsetting fact. And it made Aizawa reconsider many things in his life.

He made it his life goal to help them too. To save the outcast, so they could also have some hope to live. So they could be safer, happier.

He wanted to change the way society had treated them, but it wasn't an easy task. It wasn't something only one person could achieve.

One person could only do so much. And sometimes it was too little too late.

But at least he had tried. He showed them kindness, gave them food and helped them whenever he would find someone in need. It really wasn't much, but it always made him feel warm inside.

And those people were far from being ungrateful.

Even though people considered them useless, in reality it wasn't the truth. The opposite, actually. They seemed to know much of the way the underground had worked. They knew of villain organisations, wanted criminals, and whenever he was in need they were happy to give him information of those things.

He didn't do it because of that of course. But the help was much appreciated, and in exchange he would help them wherever he could.

(Like with this little problem.)

Truth to be said, homeless people seemed to have a thing for children too. They didn't like that kids had to have such hardships in life too, so whenever they could, they would ask Shouta for help.

And Shouta was more than happy to give them all the help he could.

xXx

Shouta knew about two kids -a younger one and an older one- living in the streets. They didn't seem to be siblings, but they were spotted together more often then not.

Aizawa knew it from one of the homeless man he had helped a while ago, and though he was yet to encounter the two troublemakers, he promised the older man to keep an eye out for the boys.

But it was easier sayed than done.

Because he was yet to encounter them, what did actually happen sooner than he thought it would.

The first time he came across one of them happened before one of his night patrols. He was inside a store when he caught the glimpse of a boy with fluffy, pale white hair. Which wouldn't have been anything suspicious, but the kid was wearing shabby, oversized jumpers with a pair of ripped, worn down red shoes and grey trousers.

All in all, he looked like he didn't have a good bath (or a meal for that matter) in a good while.

So Aizawa, acting on his instincts, followed the child to the other side of the store, right in time to catch him stealing from the food, putting some of it into his small bag.

Narrowing his eyes, Aizawa stalked behind the boy, slowly closing the distance between the two of them. The boy seemed to notice his sight that were fixed on his back, quickly turned around, and for a moment Aizawa could feel his blood running cold as intense, poison green eyes bored into his owns.

He could recognize the look in those eyes.

It was the haunted look of someone who had to experience too much, too soon, too young.

And for a moment, he was back in his younger self, standing above the corpse of the child he had failed to protect.

Who he had failed to save.

And the boy ran from him. Like a cornered wild animal, afraid of being caught, of getting hurt again, and Aizawa Shouta just couldn't. He couldn't let another child suffer, die in the streets alone, hopeless and broken.

So he followed the kid, chased after him, desperately trying to catch him.
He didn't think about what would happen after. He just needed to help the kid, before it would be too late. Again.

But the kid seemed to be clever, and he knew what he was doing, so before Shouta could even think about it, he was led to a dead end.

With the kid nowhere to be seen.

And for the first time that night, Aizawa Shouta smiled.

'You tricky little piece of shit.'