Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya was 5 years old the first time he met a villain.
Of course, he didn't know that's what the sad little girl would become at the time. But he was no stranger to criminals, he lived in the red-light district after all. He knew not everyone was fortunate enough to get food or other necessary materials. He knew some people had to take them by force.
So he really should have recognized the warning signs for what they were when he saw her the first time.
He was exploring the streets of the neighborhood where he lived. Probably not the smartest idea considering that he lived in the neighborhood with one of the highest crime rates in Mustafu, but hey, his mom wasn't there to stop him, so that was, in his opinion, an open invitation to do whatever he wanted.
Anyway, back to the little girl. He was wandering through the streets of Mustafu’s red-light district when he heard sniffling, so being the naïve and compassionate little gremlin that he was, he looked around for the source of the noise.
He stared into the alley, which seemed to be where the noise was coming from. There, at the end of the alley! There was a slumped figure on the ground that appeared to be a little kid about the same age as him. A small part of his mind told him it was an absolutely horrible idea, and that he was just begging to get hurt. But, ignoring the part of his brain that was probably the most logically sound, he inched closer.
Upon closer examination, it appeared to be a little girl who was maybe slightly older than him? In the dim grungy light of the alley, he couldn't really tell.
That annoying little voice in the back of his head returned, whispering that it could always be someone with A transformation quirk. The hero fanboy part of his brain screamed back that it would be SO COOL if he got to talk to someone with a quirk like that. The more pessimistic (logical) part of his brain sighed back that in a situation like this, he was more likely to get raped or mugged and left for dead. He once again chose to ignore it and get closer.
By now he was so close to the little girl he figured he had no choice but to try and communicate with her.
He gently tapped the slumped form of the little girl on her shoulder.
“H-hello miss,” he stuttered out, nervousness suddenly overtaking him. This was a bad decision. Maybe he deserved to get hurt. If he was stupid enough to do this, he was basically aski-
He was suddenly startled out of his spiral when the little girl startled and attempted to scooch back even further into the corner she had curled herself into. He frantically attempted to undo his mistake by stumbling backwards a little bit, out of her space.
“D-dont hurt me!” The little girl frantically squeaked.
“Oh sorry!” he exclaimed, “I didn't mean to scare you! I just wanted to check that you were okay!”
The little girl finally lifted her head, and something in Izuku died as he examined her bruised and blood-crusted face, her eyes puffy from crying. In fact, Izuku noted, now that he was looking at her, her entire body was black and blue, and covered in small cuts. He huffed out a shocked breath. Strangely, his first reaction was anger. He'd never been an angry person, but seeing someone so young have their childhood ripped away and replaced was sadly all too relatable. The starburst burn scars on his chest and shoulders throbbed in sympathy. He made his decision. He would bring her home, and take care of her until she was all better, and then he would- do something. He wasn't really sure what, but that was a problem for future Izuku, wasn't it!
But first, he had to gain her trust enough to actually get her to come with him.
“Don't come near me!” The little girl (hmm he really had to learn her name, didn't he) screeched once more, “I'm dangerous! All I can do is hurt you!”
His heart broke once again for this little girl. Obviously someone had told her that stupid idea enough times that she had started to accept it. That wouldn't do.
“Hey, hey hey, that won't do!” he chastised gently, “why do you think that?”
The little girl began to cry. “I can't tell you! You'll get scared and hurt me like mommy and daddy!”she sobbed, and hid her head in her knees once more.
“Oh, it's alright!” Izuku frantically reassured, “I promise I won't hurt you!” He gently peeled back the collar of his shirt to reveal a multitude of burn scars and the bandages covering his nastier injuries. “People have hurt me too, see?”
Once the girl had peeked her head out and took in his various wounds, she visibly calmed down.
“Okay,” she stated hesitantly, “but only if you pinky-promise not to hurt me. She then held out her pinky shakily, and Izuku hooked his in hers, both of them being careful not to put pressure on the others various abrasions.
The little girl took a shaky breath, preparing herself to be injured.
“My quirk is called Transform, and it lets me turn into anyone whose blood I drink. My parents didn't like it so they didn't let me drink anyone's blood, but sometimes I couldn't resist, and then they would hurt me.”
Izuku could practically hear the emoticons in her voice. The hero fanboy part of him reared its head once more. He was right! It really had been a person with a transformation quirk in the alley, just not exactly the kind he had been expecting. He was shaken out of his muttering stupor when the girl spoke again. “Now tell me why you're hurt. Because I swear to Kami, if I ever see the person who hurt you, I will stab them so har- no! Mommy said not to talk like that! It will scare the other kids!” She now seemed to just be mumbling to herself.
“Umm,” Izuku whispered, “my friend Kacchan doesn't like me that much. He calls me a quirkless Deku. When I say I want to be a hero, he gets really angry and tries to make me stop wanting to be a hero by using his quirk on me.” He stated, once more garnering the little girl's attention.
“He, umm he has a really cool quirk, he can make explosions out of his sweat ‘cause it has nitroglycerin in it,” he continued “it's really not his fault that he hurts me though, cause everyone always tells him he has a great quirk, and everyone always tells me I'm useless, and everyone saying that stuff has made him think it too, but it's really not his fault!”
The little girl seemed to consider his words for a minute before mumbling,
“Still kinda wanna stab him though,”
Izuku had absolutely no idea what to do with that information, so he just ignored it for now.
“Anyways, my name is Izuku Midoriya!” he stated, “what's your name?”
The little girl paused for a moment. She seemed to consider her answer, because she obviously didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth
“You,” she started, “can call me Himi.”
“That's a really cute name!” Izuku cheered, “is it because you have a blood quirk?”
She paused for a second “I.. actually didn't think of that, I just really love red!”
Izuku could see her getting more animated the more he talked to her. He was glad to see the shine returning to her sparkly ruby eyes.
Himi stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes. It was getting late. Izuku could see the small strip of sky at the top of the alley painting itself with watercolor splashes of sunset. Himi stretched once more, and this time her shirt lifted up just a bit. But it was enough for Izuku to see her hollow stomach, and her ribs sticking out under her skin. Spiderweb veins painted her thin skin. Izuku frowned gently. Himi noticed though, and frowned wider.
“What's wrong?” She asked gently, fearfully awaiting his response. In the silence that followed, both of their stomachs grumbled.
“It's nothing,” Izuku eventually responded. “just hungry. There's a cafe not far from here, and they don't particularly care about the state of their patrons as long as they don't cause much trouble. You seem hungry, too. Wanna come with me? I can help you get cleaned up in the washroom.” he offered softly, hoping he didn't sound like the predators that lurked too often in these very same shadows.
After a moment of hesitation, Himi nodded tentatively. She must have been even hungrier than he was, and she was probably pretty excited to deal with her wounds. You can't show any sign of weakness on the streets or you'll be torn apart. Luckily, Himi wouldn't need to worry about that any more.
Himi looked like she was struggling to get up. Izuku offered her his hand, and she accepted it gratefully. As soon as she stood up, she immediately leaned against the wall once more, upright this time. Izuku immediately went to steady her. Once she was sufficiently stabilized, Izuku examined her worriedly.
“You okay?” He asked softly, looking her up and down once more
“I'm fine bush baby,” Himi replied, “just dizzy.”
Izuku held his hand to his chest in mock offense.
“Bush baby?” He asked incredulously, “I'll have you know-” he cut himself off with laughter. “You're right, I have no idea how to deal with this stupidness.”
He gestured to the wild mess of tangles and curls that could kind of pass for hair.
“Anyway,” he muttered, “let's get to the Cafe, shall we?”
-
When they arrived at the Cafe, Izuku felt Himi hesitate. He could figure why, as the exterior of the restaurant was about as far from welcoming as possible. This was, however, to ensure the privacy of the patrons, because as Izuku had mentioned before, the cafe gave absolutely zero craps about the potentially less than legal pastimes of their patrons as long as the patrons were chill and didn't try anything in the presence of the owners. This was a pretty much universally known fact within the patrons, so as long as you didn't bug the druggies, it was one of the safest places you could find in the red-light district. The exterior was to make sure that heroes didn't go poking their noses in where they did more harm than good. It wasn't like there were many heroes around here anyways except the unders, Izuku mused, and they knew not to bother them, but he digressed.
He nodded to Himi in reassurance, and they entered the Cafe without much more fuss.