𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 | 𝙗.𝙠𝙖𝙩𝙨𝙪𝙠𝙞

𝙏𝙄𝙀𝙎

The only good memory Kou had of her father was from when she was 5 years old. Well, maybe it wasn't exactly a 'good ' memory but it was certainly the least negative one.

It had been a weeknight near Christmas, her older brother Gou and her in their shared room in the crappy apartment they'd been staying at. Their father had never really been around much, preferring drinking with his friends or just disappearing for days at a time with no explanation to spending quality time with his kids and their mother.

He'd stumbled in their room, waking them up from their sleeps. "Kids, kids- w-wake up. Dad has something important to tell you."

Groggy and slightly confused, Kou rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "What is it, dad?"

Their father dropped to the floor on his knees, propping himself up with a flimsy arm. Looking back, he was probably black out drunk. Not that the kids noticed at the time. "This world...doesn't care about you."

Wonderful advice to give a couple of kids. Especially in the middle of the night. "What?" her older brother innocently asked. He had always looked up to their father, cherishing the few moments they had with him. Not that any of them were pleasant.

"I said-" he hiccuped, "I said, the world doesn't care about people like us. They don't care about nobodies like us- we're just tools for them. We're going nowhere!" the grown man almost giggled, landing to lie between the two kids. He put a hand on each of their heads, pulling them closer. He smelled like sweat and booze; this was probably the first time he'd touched them affectionately. "If you wanna get out of this shithole one day you guys need to understand this- you gotta take before they take from you! Just- just keep...just keep taking. Just-"

He'd promptly passed out beside them, never finishing his speech. His snores filled the small room, and Kou shuffled away from the man. She didn't know what the hell he was talking about; who was 'they'? What did they have to take? Why was he saying this all of a sudden?

A couple months later, her dad had been arrested for a bunch of charges-including second degree murder-leaving her with only that memory and a bunch of trauma. Kou never really even got to feel his absence (not that he was there much in the first place) since her mom quickly moved on.

Yamaguchi Katsuro. The burly, tough looking man clearly did not wait around for long before swooping in and marrying her mom. Kou had seen him a couple times before her dad was arrested; they were actually colleagues and drinking buddies. He'd always scared the little girl; his stare was hard and fierce, his stature broad and confident. Maybe that's what her mom wanted; someone that could protect her.

Kou's mother wasn't exactly the smartest woman. She'd had her older brother at only 15, and Kou four years later. She'd never finished school, and couldn't seem to hold down a job for too long. Her mom much preferred staying home and drinking all day; a great habit for raising kids.

Kou wasn't sure if it was due to her mother's lack of intelligence or just a general lack of empathy for her children, but when Katsuro took it upon himself to 'discipline' Kou and her brother, she turned a blind eye.

Katsuro was a ticking time bomb. Speaking out of turn led to a bitchslap to the face. Making any noise he deemed a disturbance was basically a federal crime, and don't even get her started on what happened when you accidentally broke something.

The worst thing was his quirk- named 'Pain'. It was a pretty straightforward power- he could make you feel unbearable pain with a simple stare. It was like being burned alive and trampled by a horde of elephants, all in one. That seemed to be his favourite way of getting what he wanted, and he did not hold back just because someone was a kid. If her mom wanted someone that no one would want to mess with then she'd definitely picked the right guy.