One in a Billion

Chapter Three - Back Then

"Woah, woah! Slow down, kid." The blonde pro hero tried to convince Hina as she finally reached the staff room, loosening her grip. Midnight, King Vlad and Thirteen were already in the staff room finishing off their paperwork for the day when they saw their colleague being dragged in.

Once he got his footing, Hina kindly greeted the other pros in the room and proceeded to pack up her things, ready to go home. "Hey, what was that for?" Mic asked her as she clearly showed no remorse for what she'd just done. "What happened?" Thirteen asked. "SHE DRAGGED ME ALL THE WAY HERE FROM 1-A'S CLASSROOM! and she won't tell me what I did wrong." He ended his explanation with a pouty face as he dramatically fell to the floor.

Aizawa then walked into the room, watching this 31 year old pro hero whine on the floor like a newborn. He rolled his eyes and squatted to the ground to be eye level to him. "She dragged you here because you were going to start talking about all the student research she's done in front of said students. God, you're still the air-head I went to school with." He flicked Hizashi on his forehead and went over to his desk.

Hina walked to Hizashi's desk and put some paper down. "Here's this weeks quirk report. Nothing much happened anyways. Well, I'll see you on Monday." She said as she made her way to the door, receiving goodbyes on her way. She walked up to Hizashi as he finally got over himself and stood up. She gave him a hug, which he wasn't really expecting. Naturally, he hugged back. "See ya" he said as the hug loosened. "Oh and next time, try not to be so butt-hurt." She giggled as she slammed the door behind her, leaving the staff room filled with chuckles from the pros at her remark.

"She can really be something else, can't she?" Midnight said, smiling at the girl's spunk. Hizashi walked to his desk and starting skimming though the report she left. "She's really grown. Especially from the first time I met her."

Ten years ago. A rather uneventful afternoon in the city. Weekends normally had the most villain activity but it had been rather calm, nothing too big. I was doing my patrol as usual.

"AAAAAAAAA!"

The scream was blood-curdling. I immediately traced where the scream came from to find myself running down a dark alley.

Four. No, around six men crowding around someone. Based off the scream, very fair to assume it's a rather young girl. Just as I was about to make a move, the men went silent. Then they started screaming. This was different. Their screams were fuelled by pure pain. They tried to run away but they fell to the ground, still exclaiming in agony. I called for backup and went in for a closer look.

Thorns were sticking out of the men. Or rather, the thorns were stuck in the men. He then saw the source of the first scream. A little girl, thorns covering her forearms. Her clothes were slightly ripped, must be due to struggling. She's obviously crying, it seems like her legs are bruised. She looked down at her arms that were covering her face. She let out another loud scream. Luckily the backup pro heroes and police heard the scream and came down the alleyway. I went over to the small girl to get her out of the situation.

She saw me approach her. I tried walking slowly to her.

"It's ok. You're ok now"

She tried to get up but her legs were pretty badly damaged. I caught her and picked her up. Without a second thought, she wrapped her arms around my neck. This caught me off guard. This little girl has had to go through this terrible event at such a young age. God knows what kind of an effect this could have on her. I decided not to overthink things. Not right now. She needs comfort right now. I held her tighter as the offenders were being detained.

We took her back to the police station. The whole time, she stayed by my side. She didn't want me to leave and I didn't want to leave her. We questioned her about the event and who she was with before it. She answered calmly and they managed to get in contact with her big sister, who was with her till she was taken. Recovery Girl managed to heal her legs but she was given a wheelchair. I waited with her in the guest room until her sister came to pick her up. She sat in the wheelchair, looking around herself.

"Hey. Katsu, is it? Was that the first time you used your quirk?" I asked. She nodded in response. Her face dropped at the mention of it. I thought of how I could possibly lighten the mood. Then it hit me. "Hey. Y'know when I first used my quirk, I shattered all the windows in my neighbourhood at the time." This got a smile from the girl. This made me smile too. "You should've seen everyone. They were so mad at me. I didn't even know I done it." I laughed out. She started laughing with me. But soon her laughter faded.

"But, I used mine to hurt people." She meekly stated with her head hung down. This upset me. I got on one knee in front of her, making her look me in the eye. "But they were hurting you. Those are very bad men. You're a good girl for taking care of them. Never feel like you have to be sorry for standing up for yourself. Do you want to be a hero when you grow up?" She nodded lightly. "Well, I'm sure you'll make a good one. You have the courage to stand up for yourself. I'm sure you'll make a great hero with your amazing quirk." I smiled at her. I got a smile back as I noticed her hand. It was growing daisies from it. This fascinated both of us. "I was just thinking about daisies!" She exclaimed, with a bigger smile on her face.

The door slid open and we both looked up to see a young lady with tears in her eyes run into the room and fall to her knees in front of us. "The police told me what happened. I am so incredibly sorry! We were walking down the street and I take my eyes off her for one second and she's gone. I'm so sorry that I caused you so much trouble. The Hina family will be forever in your debt!" I was flustered by this act. "No please, you don't have to apologize." I tried to reassure the grovelling girl. But she insisted. "No. It's my fault she ran away. I wasn't paying attention."

"She didn't run away." My statement made her raise her head from the ground. "One of the men involved in the incident has a quirk that can be used to attract anyone in by showing them their deepest desire. They lured her against her own will. So, please. Don't blame yourself." She arose from the floor and walked towards me. She stuck her hand out. I shook it as we bowed."Thank you for saving her." She then looked over to Katsu to see her growing multiple daisies out her arms. "WHAT! HER QUIRK DEVELOPED?!" I chuckled in response. "Yeah. In actuality, she saved herself. I saw the men surrounding her and the next thing they knew, they were covered in thorns made by her. It obviously scared her but I made sure she was ok. She's really strong." We both looked at her as she plucked the flowers from her arms and started fiddling with them.

"Well, thank you so much for your support." we bowed once again. "My pleasure..." I stopped my train of thought...I didn't know her name. "Oh! How rude of me. My name is Ibuki. Ibuki Hina." She smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, Ibuki." She went behind Katsu to wheel her out. "No, wait!" She whined. "Just gimme one second." She demanded as she continued fiddling with the daises. Her tongue was sticking out, emphasizing the focus she was putting into whatever she was doing. "Done! Mr Present Mic, please kneel." She commanded as I followed her request, quite confused. "Now bow your head." I did what I was told. I felt something slide down my hair. Ibuki awed in response to the action. "There you go! I hope you like it. Bye, hope to see you soon!" She said with a smile as Ibuki wheeled her out of the room with one hand, waving with the other.

I looked at the mirror on the wall opposite me. A daisy crown laid on my head. I couldn't help but smile. "That kid is too cute for her own good."

"Mic? Present Mic? HIZASHI!" He snapped back into reality to find Aizawa next to him, hunched over. "YEAH I'M HERE!" He yelled, trying and failing to play off the daydreaming that clearly happened. Aizawa simply sighed. "Anyways, just reminding you to hand that report to Nezu before you leave. I'm going now. I'll see ya soon." He patted Hizashi's shoulder as he made his way out. He didn't even notice but while he was daydreaming, everybody else had left, leaving him alone in the staff room. He looked around and noticed something on the floor, under the couch. He got up to get it and it was Hina's biology books. He sighed.

"I'll just give them to her on Monday. Wouldn't wanna get in the way of family."