Chapter Text
It didn't take long for Izuku's and Inko's floppy ears to return to normal and the remaining spirit features to disappear, and their home world wasted no time in welcoming them back with the heap of problems Inko had inadvertently left behind when they had disappeared into the spirit realm. The fact that her car with their travel bags was still there and that the engine actually ignited when she turned the key happened to be a small blessing.
Still, no matter how much she wanted this crazy adventure to be over, she could not simply drive them home. Hisashi had overtaken her apartment three weeks ago and was very likely still there. Worse still, her aunt, with whom Inko had planned to stay, was no longer expecting them and must've reported Izuku and her missing. Frustrated, Inko banged her head on the steering wheel and wondered whether it wouldn't have been easier to remain a sheep scrubbing bathtubs than having to deal with this mess.
And then she asked herself what Toshinori would do if he were with her.
He would never take the easy way out. He would fight for what's right with all his strength.
Surely, Inko could do the same. If she could survive as a sheep among dragons, she could take it up with that pathetic excuse for a husband and set things straight. A fire had been lit in her soul. Inko turned the car around and drove back to Musutafu, back home.
Hisashi, as it turned out, had been entirely unprepared for her return, or rather, the way Inko descended on him. She complained, yelled at him, shouted, about what she thought of him having been absent in Izuku's life, of his stupid job abroad, the meager alimony he'd sent and his unjust claim of her apartment. In hindsight, she was glad to have asked Izuku to wait in the car. As far as verbal fights went, she had taken Hiashi apart. And all that, while fighting down the urge to headbutt him to the floor – a remnant of the spirit form she'd only lost a little over an hour ago.
Instead, Inko ended up throwing a few of his things after him as her ex-husband had fled the building. Her last words to him had been the advice to fight with her over the property like a normal human being, – that is, in court. Not once in her entire life had she lost her temper like that, but really, Hisashi had it coming for twelve years, and besides, with her amount of good karma, as Yoichi had called it, she could probably afford it.
To Izuku's and her luck, Hisashi had been too lazy to get rid of their stuff during their three weeks of absence. Even so, it took some time to settle back in, to sort out the mess their temporary disappearance had created and pick their lives back up. She had a hundred missed phone calls from relatives, neighbors and the police. Bills had kept piling up, and her employer had been about to terminate her work contract. Thankfully, her boss took pity on her when Inko made up a story about how the whole mess with Hisashi had put her out of commission for a while. Naturally, she couldn't tell people she'd been stuck as a sheep in a strange world. They'd call her nuts, and rightfully so, because she wouldn't believe it, either, if it would've happened to someone else.
Izuku went back to school starting the very next day. From time to time, he and Inko still talked about the spirit world over breakfast. They often wondered how their friends were doing, and what had become of the bathhouse children. It was in those moments that Inko felt like her son had been robbed of a chance to connect with like-minded children. She was certain he would've enjoyed their company just as she had.
Were they missing the spirit realm? Not if they thought of Lord Akatani's oppressive rule. During the first week since their return, Izuku had slept in the living room, and Inko had deliberately left all the doors open. If she could have reported Akatani to the police for keeping her son locked up, she would've done so immediately.
Still, Inko couldn't deny that she felt incomplete. A piece of herself had been left behind in the spirit realm, and no, that piece wasn't the sheep part of her soul. It was the part of herself that had become attached to the sickly-looking dragon spirit with the immeasurable strength of will and the summer sunshine aura.
There were times when Inko intentionally consulted her memory of Toshinori to help her with the challenges the life of a busy single mom presented to her. The key question always was “What would Toshinori do?” and the answer came in the form of “Stay positive, stay determined, and keep going” every time. He became her inspiration, and a well of willpower for her to tap into.
Other times, Inko simply wondered if he was alright, and whether the people at the bathhouse would take care of him when he pushed himself past his limits again. She briefly even considered setting up a small shrine for him at home, in hopes that her thoughts could turn into energy that reached him in the spirit realm. Eventually, however, she discarded the idea, since house shrines were usually set up for dead family members, and Toshinori most certainly wasn't dead. Besides, she didn't have a picture of him, and how was she going to explain potential guests in her home who he was?
Truly, the worst part of having gone to the spirit world was that neither Izuku nor Inko had someone they could talk to about it. And that was what caused Inko to think of Mitsuki once again.
Maybe the fact that the spirit world had made her think back to her school days had been a sign for her to get back in touch with her old friend. And maybe, just maybe, Mitsuki and her could grow so close again that Inko could tell her about everything that had happened, about the horrible dragon lord who'd taken her son, the friend who'd fought for her, and that salamander boy who possessed a temper so much like Mitsuki's.
It took less than an hour of searching the web and making phone calls to get ahold of Mitsuki.
Inko's former school friend was overjoyed to hear from her. They spent hours on the phone, reminiscing, catching up, and exchanging photos. It was then, as she saw Mitsuki again in a recently taken picture she had sent, that Inko noticed the uncanny resemblance in appearance between the salamander spirit Katsuki and Mitsuki. They hadn't spoken much about children and family yet, apart from Inko's marriage having been a complete failure, and thus, she couldn't help but ask:
“You don't happen to have a son about Izuku's age, do you?”
All of a sudden, Mitsuki's voice was shaking. “I do! He would've turned twelve this year! How'd you know? You didn't see him, did you?”
Inko froze for a second, too stunned to answer. She couldn't tell her … Not yet. “O-Oh no, I was just … wondering. It would be nice if our children became friends.”
Mitsuki practically broke down in tears at the other end of the phone as she told Inko the story of how Katsuki had gone missing during a vacation to the infamous Yakushima forests.
Throughout the entire rest of their call, Inko had to hold her breath and bite her tongue. Your son is alive, was what she wanted to tell her, but how was she to explain Mitsuki that he was in a place she couldn't reach? All she could do was to promise Mitsuki she would keep an eye out for any mention of Katsuki.
“He's a strong boy,” Mitsuki had said before she hung up. “I just know he's still out there somewhere.”
That day, a decision was made.
Inko had to go back to the spirit realm. Not for herself, not because she was missing Toshinori, but because someone had to tell Katsuki that his mother was still looking for him, and that he could come home. It was the right thing to do.
When Inko told Izuku about Mitsuki and Katsuki, he was eager to accompany her, and despite of the risks, she was okay to let him come with. That way, if she ended up stuck in the spirit realm for longer than expected, Izuku wasn't left behind. However, as the two of them wandered around the forest they had originally gotten lost in, looking for a tunnel, Inko discovered that just having the will to return wasn't enough for a passage to the spirit world to appear.
She did a bit of research afterward, asked around the One for All café for Yoichi, – signed the petition and took a few pamphlets with her while she was there, – and ended up none the wiser on where to look for a rift.
Yet there was one more location she hadn't considered up until that point. The area around the holy cedar she'd visited on her school trip to Yakushima island. If more than eight people had vanished from that place over the past two centuries, Inko figured the chances to stumble upon a rift were higher there than anywhere else.
Since all she could do was try, Inko booked two weeks of vacation and traveled with Izuku to Yakushima.
~~ ~~
“So this is where you disappear to around this hour.”
Shota had found the dragon man standing in front of the broken railing at the edge of town and overlooking the seemingly endless waters.
In the distance, the moon slowly rose on the horizon. The lanterns around the town had already been lit, and spirits were gathering in the streets.
Toshinori turned around to him. “Shota. Shouldn't you have left already?”
“The rift didn't appear where it should have. I meant to tell you that Tsu and I will have to stay for another day.”
“Will you be spending the night at the bathhouse?” Toshinori asked with an expression of worry on his face.
Shota shook his head. “Akatani might've stopped terrorizing the town and his employees, now that Yoichi's up there with him, but I don't the trust the quiet. I was hoping we could stay at Nana's mansion.”
“Of course,” Toshinori replied. “Just, uhm, watch yourselves around the collapsed part, I haven't quite been able to …”
“Finish the repairs?” Shota guessed when he hesitated to speak.
“Get started on them,” the dragon spirit admitted, and sheepishly rubbed his neck.
“I see.” Shota leaned to the side so he could glance past Toshinori. “The railing looks like it's in need of repairs, too. Are you feeling nostalgic about the damages?”
Toshinori didn't reply right away, just cast a look at the broken wooden bars behind him, and Shota gathered from his reaction that his assumption had been surprisingly spot-on.
“This is where I first saw them. Inko and Izuku, I mean,” the dragon spirit eventually explained. “The boy had been on the run from Akatani. He pushed his mother over the railing and jumped after her.”
“Not a very logical move,” Shota commented and joined Toshinori at the railing. “It's a long drop into the water.”
“That's why I swooped in to save them.”
“Inko had already turned into a sheep at the time?”
A soft smile tugged at the corners of Toshinori's mouth as if he was reminiscing. “I still find myself wondering just how she was able to change this place for the better.”
“I don't know the answer to that, but I can tell you that the kids won't shut up about her. She's set quite the standard for their real parents. Even as a sheep.”
Toshinori chuckled at that.
“Are you sure you'll be fine looking after Katsuki?” Shota asked, switching to a more important topic.
“He'd insisted to wait until everyone else had left. After everything he's been through, I figured I owed him to handle his case personally.”
“Alright, then.”
On a whim, Shota lifted his eyepatch, blinked, and the human realm appeared before him. He had to close his left eye so that his view of both worlds no longer overlapped, and he could search for the souls he wanted to see. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually discovered the Midoriya apartment and its residents. Apparently, Inko and Izuku were packing up for a vacation.
“They are doing quite well, you know.”
“Hm?”
Smiling, Shota placed the eyepatch back over his right eye. “Your sheep and the little dragon.”
~~ ~~
As coincidence would have it, Inko and Izuku arrived on Yakushima island the same day a shrine festival took place. The inn she had intended to check in at was packed with tourists, most of them wearing traditional clothes for the occasion. In this rural environment, and with the age-old cedars surrounding the village, it seemed like they had taken a step into the spirit realm already.
Inko held tight onto Izuku's hand as she tried to push through the crowd. Which was really easier said than done, given her slightly-shorter-than-average build and plain appearance. Stuck between people that were all far taller than her, she couldn't even see if she was going in the right direction. Inko was still straining to find the check-in counter when she caught a glimpse of an all too familiar, yellow-and-orange patterned haori.
She stopped struggling forward.
“Mom!” Izuku sounded a little distressed, since the crowd had already begun to push them back out of the entrance area.
“It can't be,” she uttered quietly. What was the likelihood of meeting him here? Surely, she'd just seen someone who owned a similar haori. Inko considered picking the fight for the check-in back up, but some small voice in the back of her head told her, if she didn't go now, if she didn't check who it was, she might regret it for all eternity.
Ready to face a huge disappointment, Inko walked into the direction she had seen the person with the haori. Thankfully, the crowd streaming in and out of the adjacent room wasn't as tightly packed as the one in front of the counter, but still tight enough to block her view.
Izuku and Inko had taken only a few steps inside when two voices stuck to her out from the indistinct chatter.
“Why the hell didn't you talk to Shota before we left?”
“I did. Just not about money. Or travel options.”
All of a sudden, her heart pounded in her chest. “Izuku …!” Frantically, Inko began to look around for the spirits those voices belonged to.
“Was that ?” Her son didn't get to finish the question.
Inko grabbed his hand again and dragged him with her through the room, keeping her eyes peeled for the familiar and vibrant pattern. Under her breath, she cursed the people blocking her way.
“Yea, great. I thought you had a plan,” the first voice continued. Although the constant chatter in the room threatened to drown him out, the boy it belonged to couldn't be far away. “You could've asked him to give you a contact, a number, an address, fucking anything. If we'd have a phone at least, I could search for my mom's number online.”
“Don't worry. I might've been away for a couple of decades, but I'll figure something out.” The second voice sounded so much clearer, closer and more beautiful, than it had in her memory.
In her growing despair to find them, Inko ducked beneath the crowd and spotted two pairs of feet in wooden sandals. Her heart beat so fast and loudly, that, if it didn't jump out of her chest in anticipation, she might lose consciousness instead. At this point, the disappointment, if it came to it, could probably kill her, but she needed to know. It was too late not to.
“Excuse me!”
When one voice rose above all others, the entire room fell silent and the people stopped moving. It didn't help Inko to see past them, however.
“Is there, by any chance, someone who knows a woman by the name of Mitsuki Bakugo?”
“I do!” Inko cried out as though her life depended on it.
Everyone turned around to her, stepped aside, and eventually, a path opened up in front of her.
At the opposite end of the room stood a twelve-year old boy and a middle-aged man. The boy possessed the red eyes, spiky, light blonde hair and scowl of his mother, even if he looked a little perplexed at this moment. The man next to him was tall and skinny, all skin and bones, really, with a with a mane of blonde, disheveled hair and frayed bangs framing his face.
They weren't spirits. Or rather; not anymore.
Blue eyes stared at back Inko while both of them simply stood there, too stunned to speak.
The entire world seemed to hold its breath for a second. Then, the dams broke.
“Toshinori!”
Before she even knew it, Inko was running towards him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She fell into his open arms, and he embraced her just as tightly as she embraced him.
“Inko.” His tone of voice sounded quiet and slightly shaky.
It might have just been her imagination, but wrapped up in his arms, it felt to Inko as if she could still sense a little of his sunshine aura, pouring into her heart, mending it and making it whole again. She was still crying, but she didn't care, since she was crying for all the right reasons.
The crowd around them suddenly started cheering and clapping. Albeit oblivious to the story that had brought them here, they were celebrating their reunion.
Toshinori pulled away to glance around, and when Inko looked up to him, there were tears of happiness spilling from his eyes as well.
“Hey, dragon boy,” Katsuki addressed Izuku, who'd followed his mother hesitantly.
“Hi.” Her son timidly raised a hand to wave at the other child. “You must be Katsuki?”
“Tell me one thing,” Katsuki prompted him, “How'd you get to be a dragon spirit when I was just a salamander?”
Bonus:
