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Himiko was in love again. She knew she was. He was all she could think about, and it wasn't her fault, after all, he'd offered her his blood! He wasn't really cute, but when he bled, she felt her heart swoon, so she supposed she could look past it. She'd run into the man in an alley near the home she was currently living in, looking like he'd been in a fight, and instantly been drawn in by the blood dribbling down his face.
Of course, she wasn't silly, Himiko knew she was very smart for a twelve-year-old, thank-you very much. So she'd been careful as she approached him. She kept a fair distance as she handed him her handkerchief to dab at his wound. He noticed this and gave her a small smile.
“Heya kid, thanks for that. Say, how'd you find me back here?” The man asked, gesturing to the alley they were pretty far into.
“You smell like blood, sir! I just wanted to see…”
“Oh? Do you have some kind of blood quirk, then?” Himiko hesitated for a moment, people weren't very nice about her quirk, but he didn't seem grossed out as he asked it, so she decided he must not be upset.
“Yeah!”
“Do you want this handkerchief back then? You can keep any blood on it, if you'd like?”
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Himiko had agreed to meet the man again in the park that weekend, and he promised to bring her some more blood! He didn't hate her for her quirk! She'd even gotten butterflies when he described her as cute! She was so excited to go and meet her new friend again!
The week flew by, and before she knew it she'd gotten dressed into a dress she'd found in the back of her draw, and was rushing towards the park. This meeting had been the only thing she had been able to think about all week, so she wasn't all that surprised when she bumped into a woman. The speed she was running at meant that she fell over as she hit the lady's legs, landing on the ground behind her.
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Nemuri was just waiting to cross the road when she felt something hit her legs from behind. She was surprised when she turned around to find that it had actually been a young girl that had hit her legs, and that the girl was now sprawled on the ground.
“Oh gosh, sweetheart, are you okay?” She asked, noting the small tears that had appeared in the girl's eyes. She took a moment to look around for her parents, but there were not many people out this early. The hero then wondered if maybe she could be lost.
“I'm okay, sorry for running into you, but I have to get goin',” The girl said with a toothy grin, showing off her fangs before springing up and running across the road as soon as the lights changed. For a moment, Nemuri debated on just letting the girl go, especially since she was off duty, and she didn't appear to be in any danger, but a weight in the heroines gut led her to tail the girl. A few moments later, Nemuri was glad for her decision when the girl took a turn into a run-down park. The weight in her stomach doubled, then tripled, as the girl ran up to a man Nemuri recognised as a suspect in a trafficking ring her agency had been working to dismantle for several weeks.
The heroine made a quick call to some of her sidekicks as a request for backup when she noticed two other men on the only other park entrance. This poor child had just walked into a trap. Nemuri quickly began to walk towards the girl.
“Heya kiddo, you ran off quite quickly, you sure you're alright?” The girl looked over at her quickly and smiled sweetly.
“I'm all good ma'am, was just a little fall! Thank you.”
“Who's your friend, kiddo?” The heroine narrowed her eyes at the man now looking a little nervous. She knew he wouldn't have recognised her yet, though. It was one of the benefits of having such an iconic hero image, you're much less recognisable out of costume.
“Oh! This is mister, um, sorry sir, I forgot your name! I'm so sorry!” The blonde girl looked very nervously between Nemuri and the man, almost as if she expected to get in trouble.
Sirens began to approach, and the nervous man began to excuse himself towards the two others Nemuri had seen, just as her two sidekicks entered behind them.
“Stay here, okay, kiddo?” She didn't want to leave the girl alone for long, but she knew her quirk would make this arrest much easier.
Once the blonde nodded, she walked towards the three men, rolling up her sleeves as she walked. She began to release her quirk as she approached the men. They circled her expecting a fight, and her sidekicks backed out of range of her quirk. One of the men suddenly darted forward, stumbling and falling down unconscious before she'd even had to dodge his attack. She saw realisation dawn on the faces of the two men who remained, and smiled darkly at them, darting forward as they attempted to escape her quirk. They fell quickly and at that point her sidekicks returned with the police. Kayama left them to do their job, heading back over to the blonde girl.
“He wasn't going to give me blood, was he?” The girl asked once she could see the hero again.
“I'm afraid not, kiddo. What's your name?” Nemuri could notice the fangs now she was looking closer and with the comment about blood, she wondered if maybe the girl had some kind of vampire quirk.
“Am I in trouble too? I promise I've been good, miss!” The girl seemed panicked, and the heroine couldn't help but feel guilty for frightening her.
“Oh, you're not in any trouble sweetheart, that man was a bad man, but you're safe now, okay?” She placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “I need your name since we will need a statement from you and I need to be able to escort you home to your parents.”
“My name is Himiko Toga. Who are you, miss?” Nemuri noticed she was still nervous, but she at least had relaxed a little.
“Nemuri Kayama, or you might know me better as Midnight! It's a pleasure to meet you, sweetheart.”
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Taking Toga's statement hadn't taken long, and before she knew it, Nemuri was being led out of the park by the blonde. The two made their way back to the home where Himiko had been staying, Nemuri speaking with the staff and making a meeting to return to check on her the next weekend.
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Himiko smiled to herself as she remembered the first day shed met her mother. Nemuri had returned to the home weekly, just as she promised, for a while. They had worked together with a quirk therapist on ensuring she would be able to differentiate between the obsession her quirk caused and her actual feelings towards people. It was for her safety, Nemuri had explained, it meant people would not be able to use her quirk to manipulate her, something she had not realised was actually pretty common with blood quirks.
A few months later, Nemuri had seemed nervous at their weekly meet up and Himiko was expecting her to announce she was leaving now since she'd helped all she could. Instead, the hero had brought out some papers, and offered to take her in, permanently.
By the time her twelfth birthday had come around, Himiko was settled in at her mother's house. In fact, that year she'd met her uncles Shota and Hizashi and their son Shinso when they'd been invited over for her birthday party. Her mom had also introduced her to someone else with a blood quirk who was even a pro hero! Sekijiro was super cool and had introduced both Himiko and her mom to a few safe blood alternatives to sate her appetite, and helped them also find safe blood suppliers!
As she stood in her room looking at the pictures scattered on her wall, retelling the story of the past few years, she couldn't help but smile. Especially when her eyes landed on the newest addition to the wall. Her UA acceptance letter.