Chapter Text
My dearest Inko,
To ask this of you is too much, I know that and I hope you know that this was never the plan. There is so much I cannot tell you, so much you cannot know, but please believe me when I tell you it’s for your own safety. By now I’m sure I’m gone and you are confused, maybe worried. I cannot apologize enough to you for this terrible burden I’ve placed on your shoulders. But Inko, you have been and always will be my closest friend. I trust no one more than you, so please know that you were my only choice. I trust you to take care of Katsuki, as I’m afraid I cannot.
What I can tell you is a bit about myself, and what to expect as my son grows.
I come from a very traditional family with very pure and spiritual blood. I wish I could give you exact details, but I fear you would not believe me. You’d think me mad. Please know that if I could tell you, I would. Regardless of this, I escaped that family when I was very young. It was overbearing and I was rebellious. You know me, nothing could tie me down. I wanted something normal, something human. And in doing so, I found a friend. I found you. I knew eventually they would track me down, I knew I would have to go home, but you held me here. You gave me something to fight for. I’d never had a true friend before, not like you.
And with you came Masaru. I still remember when we’d met him in your Art History class. He was lovely, pure, unabashedly human. And I fell in love. Katsuki was an unexpected side effect of that love. I don’t regret him, I never could, but I regret what may become of him in his future. The struggles he will have to go through. What I’ve sentenced him to without his knowing.
Masaru is a good man, please remember that, but he is not strong. Not like you are. He could not handle the truth of what I am. What Katsuki is. Do not blame him for leaving, I don’t. But you Inko are probably the strongest person I know. And I know that doesn’t make this fair to you. I know you could grow to hate me for this, that you may never forgive me, but please know that this was my only choice in keeping my son safe. Safe until he is old enough to make his own decisions.
Katsuki is not like other children, Inko. You’ll see that soon enough. He will be strange, and I’m afraid since he is only half of me, I cannot give you a clear warning of what to expect. You will have to learn him and he will have to learn you. He will have instincts that neither of you will understand, abilities that he will struggle to control. They’ll be similar to quirks, but do not treat them as such. They will be so much stronger than he will ever know.
I beg of you Inko not to abandon him. I know I have no right to ask that of you. I know you will look at him and think him dangerous one day, but please love him as you did me. Love him as if he were your own. Protect him when I can’t.
You most likely will not see me again, and that hurts my heart to say, but it’s for the best. If my family found out about Katsuki, I’m afraid of what they might do to him. I know that makes no sense to you, but I cannot allow them to know about Katsuki. They’ve gotten too close already and I have to leave before they learn any more. I’ve left you all the money I have, though I know that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the debt I owe you for this. Masaru has left to America, but the house is free for you as well if you like. I know your apartment is not large enough for two growing boys. I’ve already signed the lease to you and arranged paperwork for Katsuki’s adoption. When the time comes, when you start to notice that Katsuki is too much for you alone, there is a shop on the corner of Sobetsu and Norsa. Ask for Auntie Hinko. She will know what to do.
Please do not look for me, Inko.
~ Mitsuki
PS. When he asks, please tell Katsuki I love him. He won’t believe me, I’m sure, but I need him to hear it anyway. I need him to know that I wouldn’t have left if I had the choice.
Thank you, my friend.
A letter and a bundle of awkward limbs wrapped up in blankets. That’s all Inko got the day Mitsuki disappeared and Katsuki was left on her doorstep. A lawyer called later in the day, between her frantic unanswered calls to her friend’s phone and her hundredth re-read of the letter, to discuss signing the adoption papers and to hand over rights to Mitsuki’s accounts. She wasn’t quite sure when she’d agreed to meet the lawyer at the Bakugou’s home, but before she knew it there she was… standing in the living room with two little twin bundles wrapped against her torso, held up only by cloth and a mother’s love.
It all felt like too much, like it was a dream inside a dream. Unreal.
Mitsuki was gone. Just like that.
If it weren’t for the tiny blonde swaddled up against her chest, his fingers wrapped tight around Izuku’s, Inko might have thought her friend never existed in the first place. Their house was empty of anything that wasn’t furniture or Katsuki’s things. There were no pictures, no files, no clothes. No sign that anyone but a baby might have ever lived there. Even the lawyer came and went with an air of nonexistence. The ink stains on her fingers from his pen the only reminder that he’d been there at all.
Katsuki grumbled from his blanket, shifting enough to draw her attention down to his little blonde head, watching in amazement as he snuggled up against her own son, pressing his face into the soft green curls that were forming on his head.
It was then that she realized… it had never even crossed her mind to say no to the boy. While everything was moving so quickly and she wasn’t quite sure what was happening, she’d signed the adoption papers without a second thought. She’d grabbed the little boy and held him tight without thinking twice.
Because of course, she would care for him. Of course.
He was just a baby. How could she dare to turn him away?
And Mitsuki was her friend, her closest friend- maybe her only friend. Taking Katsuki in didn’t seem like a big deal. Her worry sat more with what had happened. What Mitsuki meant when she worried what her family ‘might do’ to Katsuki. Her worry sat with the strange implications of Katsuki being different. Of the way Mitsuki had said the word ‘human’ in her letter like it was a stranger to her.
And still yet, she held both boys tight as the day drifted into night. She smiled at the little red and green eyes that blinked up at her in confusion when she set them in a crib so that she could pack. She cooed at them as she hung All Might posters on the walls of their new room and hung her own photos on the bare walls of her friend’s house. She rocked them to sleep as she signed an early release on her apartment.
Because Mitsuki had asked her to be strong, so that’s what she was going to do.
Any photos she had of her and Mitsuki were kept in a locked drawer at the bottom of her desk along with the letter that started all this. She vowed never to open it until Katsuki was old enough, until he started asking questions she couldn’t answer fully.
Some part deep inside of her worried. Some part knew that there was danger behind what Mitsuki was involved in and that it would be risky to leave any trace of the woman out in the open. That fear and worry had her changing the blonde’s last name to Midoriya, had her filing divorce papers with a man across the ocean that she hadn’t seen since Izuku was conceived. Their marriage was one born of necessity when Izuku came along, and their divorce was the same when Katsuki came along. He didn’t seem to mind.
And something in her settled in those next few months. She had never necessarily wanted more children, and it’d always been a given that Katsuki and Izuku would be friends, as their mothers were so close, but it warmed something in her regardless to know that Izuku would never be alone. That he had someone there to love him and protect him. The boys were barely months apart, but they were practically inseparable.
They’d be okay, she decided when she watched Katsuki curl protectively around Izuku as they slept. They’d be okay, she decided when she walked in and heard a strange sort of purring through Katsuki’s chest, dulling Izuku’s cries before they could grow.
They’d be okay. Because she would make sure of it.
As the boys grew older, Inko began to understand what Mitsuki meant when she said the blonde would be different from other children.
When he was still tiny enough to swaddle in her arms, he would nuzzle her. It wasn’t unheard of for babies, but Inko knew better than to think it normal in this case. He would bury his face in her neck, or in Izuku hair, rubbing and rubbing until his cheeks were red and he was satisfied. When he was upset he’d dig his fingers into her shirt and pull her closer and closer and closer, like just her scent would calm him down. It reminded her of a kitten in ways, the way they’d find solace in the scents of their family.
It only grew from there, the things that made him unusual.
Katsuki was… wild. Animalistic almost at times. He’d started walking long before Izuku, toddling around the house with too much energy and never failing to drag his green haired best friend into all his trouble. Neither boy could talk yet, but it didn’t stop the strange, yet adorable, sounds that escaped the blonde’s lips. She’d managed to figure them out for the most part. Most common were the yips. Little high pitched barks that little boys shouldn’t be able to make. Then the purring, always when they were asleep or someone was upset. It was calming, comforting. And finally there were the growls, low in Katsuki’s chest and rumbling through the air like thunder. Always when he was upset or disgruntled. If someone he didn’t know got too close to either Midoriya’s. Izuku found them absolutely endearing, giggling and gurgling anytime Katsuki did it, which of course made the proud little boy do it even more.
With the walking, however, came the disappearing. Inko was lucky to be able to work from home, though with Mitsuki’s fortune that was left to her, she didn’t need to. Still, she needed something to do during the day, so she had decided to teach English to students online. The boys would usually be in her eyesight during her ‘work hours’, set up on a little blanket nearby with toys and games to keep them occupied.
But as soon as Katsuki was able to walk he was able to… vanish. It’s the only word Inko could think to use. One moment she could see the boys in the corner of her eye and the next, Katsuki would be gone.
He was never far. Usually curled up, giggling, under a table or cupboard. Sometimes she would be looking right at him, but all it took was a blink and he was suddenly behind her, cackling like it was the funniest thing in the world. Inko’s poor little heart couldn’t help but disagree. Luckily for her, Katsuki never seemed to wander far. He kept them in his sight for the most part, or in his vicinity. Inko learned very early on that Katsuki did not like being apart fromher, but especially didn’t like being apart from Izuku. (The doctor’s visit for their shots and yearly check in was a nightmare and a half when the doctor tried to examine them in separate rooms.)
It was this reason and this reason alone that she didn’t scold him for his strange… ability. Though she did set up ground rules, areas he wasn’t supposed to hide (the oven, the washer or dryer, etc). She also made sure he knew never to do it while they were out in public. She wanted him close because she couldn’t live with herself if he got lost or taken during one of his little hide-and-seek games.
She couldn’t help but wonder what other abilities he’d get as he grew older. Whether he’d have a quirk or not, if it would somehow relate to whatever… this was that Mitsuki had warned her about. Whether she’d be able to handle it all on her own.
“Kat!”
“Kat!”
Inko jolted awake almost instantly, head foggy but eyes already zoning in on the baby monitor next to the bed. Izuku was there, standing with the help of the crib’s bars, waving a pudgy little hand in the direction of the camera. His eyes were bright on the screen, a wide grin on his face. Katsuki was no where to be seen.
“Kat!”
Her son’s voice met her at the door when she finally stumbled in, tripping slightly on her indoor slippers and Izuku giggled at the display, hands reaching for her already, babbling and cooing. “Izuku, sweetheart,” she said quietly, frantic eyes searching the crib for Katsuki but seeing nothing but rumpled blankets and their All Might stuffies. She ran a hand over her son’s green curls, kneeling slightly with a shakey smile. “Can you tell me where Katsuki is?”
Because Katsuki had a habit of disappearing throughout the day to hide, but it’d never been at night. Never when she wasn’t there to find him. He’d never left his shared crib.
Izuku giggled, and if he wasn’t so young and barely able to talk, she might have thought there was some sort of mischief in his eyes. Still, he smacked a tiny hand across her cheek eagerly before turning and stumbling his way to the other side of the crib. “Kat! Kat!” His foot caught on the blanket and he laughed as he tumbled, landing on his hands and knees. It didn’t seem to bother him though as he grabbed on of the blankets in the corner, tugging it to reveal-
A fox?
The thing was about the size of a full grown cat, though she suspected it was nothing more than a kit, with sharp red and orange and black fur, curling over it’s little body like flames in the darkness. It’s ears twitched, bright red eyes blinking open as Izuku fisted his fingers in the soft-looking fur. A contented purr escaped the fox and Inko jolted at the familiar sound.
It couldn’t be…
Without really thinking, Inko lowered the front section of the crib and placed herself on the floor beside it, her head resting on the matress and fingers reaching forward slowly. The fox stared at her, disgruntled at being woken, but not antagonistic, so she sank her own fingers into the fur behind it’s ears. The fox melted almost instantly, his purr growing louder and eyes blinking sluggishly.
“Katsuki? Is that you?”
She felt a little ridiculous talking to an animal, but those red eyes were so familiar, so intelligent. She had no doubt that the little creature before her was in fact her own hyperactive blonde ward. No wonder Izuku had been so excited. “C-can you change back?” She asked, voice shakey and heart pounding. She still wasn’t completely convinced this wasn’t a dream, but the texture under her fingers was much too real and the giggling of her son as he crawled over and laid his head on the fox’s- on Katsuki’s- body, was too real.
Katsuki stared at her for a moment before huffing and turning his head back into his curled body, his nose nuzzling into Izuku’s neck and making the other boy giggle sleepily. They stayed like that long after Inko was sure they were asleep, long after her heart had calmed and the panic had ebbed away.
Human.
Mitsuki had written the word like it was foreign to her. Now she knew why.
Katsuki was too young for a quirk to manifest. Sure, signs physical quirks could manifest early, but the quirk itself? Never. This wasn’t a quirk. Mitsuki had even told her so. It was something more. Something not entirely human.
What, though, she wasn’t sure.
The next morning found Inko waking up with a crick in her neck from sleeping leaned up against the crib, two sets of red and green eyes blinking down at her. Katsuki was still in his fox form, but he was clearly more awake, his little black paws batting at her face until she was fully awake. She’d hoped he would be back to normal by the time morning came but… apparently not.
She waited three days before she cracked.
Katsuki wasn’t as calm in his fox form. He had too much energy like this, running and bouncing, pawing at her legs for attention, only to crash an hour later across her shoulders like a contented house cat. It was adorable, but worrying. She wasn’t sure what would happen next, if he would stay like this forever or be able to turn back. Had Mitsuki been able to change into a fox as well?
That question is what had her packing Izuku into his carseat and Katsuki into an oversized purse she dug out of her closet. He had glared at it in question, but once inside seemed perfectly contented to take a nap on the drive.
The shop on Sobetsu and Norsa wasn’t far from Mitsuki’s home. It was a humble little building just out of the way to not be noticed much with trinkets and spiritual oddities in the window. A little bell sounded as she pushed open the door, Izuku holding one of her hands and Katsuki secured in the purse over her shoulder. The inside of the shop was darker than she expected, the sharp scent of incense abusing her nose and the sound of water trinkling through the isles, though she couldn’t see a fountain anywhere around.
“Hello dearie, what an adorable little one you have there.”
Inko jumped in surprise, turning on her heel to see a tiny woman behind her.
The woman was ancient, her skin wrinkled and sagged, her eyes nothing but two pale, sightless orbs. Her silver hair was tied into a large bun atop her head, thick enough that Inko wondered if it might touch the floor if she let it down. Her yukata was set in deep orange and golds and reds. It reminded Inko of Katsuki in a way.
“I am so sorry to intrude,” the mother stuttered, bowing slightly at the older woman. “I am looking for Auntie Hinko, a friend of mine sent me here. Or rather- she told me to come here if- if I needed any help.”
The old woman nodded, turning quickly to lock the door and turn the sign to ‘closed’ before waving to Inko. “Come then, child. Let us find somewhere more comfortable for you to sit and tell me your tale. If Mitsuki has sent you to me, it must have been for good reason.”
Inko didn’t question how the old woman knew it was Mitsuki, instead following her through the small shop until they came to a small living area in the back of the building. A kotatsu sat in the center of the room, a tea set already sitting atop it, two cups steaming with hot liquid. The green-haired woman wondered if Auntie Hinko had been expecting her already.
“Sit, sit. Introduce me to your little one.”
Inko did as she was asked, pulling Izuku onto her lap and turning him to face the woman who sat on the other side of the table. “This is my son Izuku,” she introduced and the boy giggled, clapping his hands. “Izuku, say hello.”
The boy grinned. “-Tie ‘nko!”
A laugh poured from the woman’s mouth, the sound like crinkled paper and yet… not unsettling. “Yes, little one. Auntie Hinko. It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I suspect you are not why we are sitting here today. You seem perfectly normal in every way,” she observed, her pale eyes turning towards Inko once more. “There is another, yes?”
Inko nodded, setting Izuku on one of the cushions beside her before opening her purse. Katsuki glared up at her as the light streamed in, a low warning growl rumbling from his chest. She clicked her tongue at him and shook her head, reaching her hands in to pluck the little fox out of his hiding hole. “Now Katsuki, don’t be rude,” she scolded him, holding him in her arms as she turned back to the other woman. “T-this is Katsuki. Mitsuki was his- ah… I’ve adopted him but- well… he’s special. As you can see and- well… um…”
Auntie Hinko hummed, interrupting her stumbling and leaning forward slightly. “Well, this is a wonder isn’t it. Come here boy, let me see you properly.”
Katsuki glared at the woman before turning his little head towards Inko as if in question. She tried not to show the worry on her face, nodding instead and placing him gently on the floor, ushering him towards the woman. The boy scoffed before trotting over to the woman. She plucked him easily from the ground and placed him on the table in front of her to have a better look, completely ignoring the surprised ‘yip’ he let out at the action.
“Oh look at you, absolutely gorgeous,” Auntie Hinko crooned, fingers tugging softly at Katsuki’s ears as the fox preened at the words. “A bit young for a full transformation I would think, but isn’t that just like you. Your- ah, that is to say Mitsuki,” she said, sparing a glance towards Inko before continuing, “was just as beautiful and just as headstrong. She was always ahead of everyone else. It does not surprise me that you are as well.”
“So-“ Inko swallowed, fiddling with the strap of her purse as she glanced between the old crone and her adopted son. “Mitsuki could do this as well? Transform into- into a- a fox?”
“It was a bit different,” the woman hummed, scratching behind Katsuki’s ears until the little fox curled up and rested himself on the table, perfectly content and lazy with the attention. “There was much Mitsuki couldn’t tell you, but I am under no such obligation, so I will tell you what I can. Then, I will help you change this little one back. Have some tea dear, this will be a long story.”
A Kitsune.
Katsuki was a Kitsune, or half of one rather, as his father was, as Mitsuki had said, pure, unabashedly human. Not only that, but he was Kitsune royalty. Or as close to royal as he could get. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her adopted son was in fact half fox spirit, she couldn’t seem to even fathom the yokai hierarchy right now.
Fact of the matter was Katsuki was not completely human. She’d known this, deep down whenever the boy did something strange that wasn’t quite explained by a quirk. But it was different hearing it. Confirming it.
Looking at the boy now, his blonde hair wild around his little face, his body curled up around Izuku as they took a nap in the living room, she could almost pretend that he was just… a little human boy.
She wasn’t afraid of him, of course not. It was more that she was worried. Worried about why Mitsuki didn’t want her family knowing about him. Worried about his increasing abilities and how a quirk might play into it. Worried about Katsuki in general.
But never afraid.
“Kitsune are extremely powerful spirits, mind you,” Auntie Hinko had told her during their talk. “They can be dangerous, but they can also be benevolent. I sense no darkness in your boy, though I expect him to be a handful. The fact that he is a hybrid is what concerns me most. They are not common. In fact, I know of none in recent history, so he may experience many things I will not have answers or solutions for. We will have to learn as he does.”
The transforming was apparently something all Kitsune could do, being able to take the shape of a human- though in Katsuki’s case, shifting between his two different bodies. Auntie Hinko had told her that she wouldn’t expect Katsuki to be able to do it so young, as many Kitsune struggled to appear human until later in their adolescence. As such, she’d given the boy a little bracelet that fit perfectly around his tiny wrist, a ceramic leaf attached that was charmed to assist in his transformation. He would still need to learn to control it, but the charm would help remind him that he was not only a fox, would help him channel his energy into the act of physically changing back.
The disappearing was explained as more of a… blind spot. Inko was still a bit hazy on the details, but Katsuki seemed to be able to shift between her fields of vision, in that little speck of time when her mind was elsewhere and he could vanish from sight.
The nuzzling was a way of marking his scent, telling anyone else in the vicinity that Inko and Izuku were his and were not to be messed with.
“This will be important later, Inko, so keep it in mind. Kitsune are very possessive creatures,” the woman told her as she was packing the kids up and leading her towards the door. “Your boy will be protective of you both. Extremely so. Remember that when dealing with strangers, or if you decide to send him to school. I suspect he will be even more so over your other little one. Kitsune run in skulks, or packs as you might say. They imprint on their family, on the ones they care deeply about. They will protect them no matter what.”
“What does that mean for us?” Inko had asked, frowning down at the sleeping blonde in her arms.
“Mostly that he will be wary of strangers, perhaps even antagonistic towards them when it comes to the two of you. I suspect he will however begin to grow attuned to your moods and emotions. He will know when you’re sad, worried, afraid. Katsuki has very animalistic instincts, and this is going to be a part of that. You’ll need to be prepared to deal with it.”
The old crone suspected he’d have many other abilities appearing as he grew older, which did nothing to settle Inko’s nerves at all. Still, she was confident that they would figure it out. They would work through whatever fate or spirits or quirks had to throw at them and they would be okay.
They would be okay.