~ Aizawa's POV~

As I was finishing up a very late dinner with my cat, Mochi, my phone chimed with a text from Inari. I opened it and felt my heart drop as I realized it was just her location and nothing more. I tried to call her but the phone went directly to voicemail.

"Shit." I shoved away from the table and ran for the door. I quickly stepped into my shoes and took off. I wasn't even sure if I locked my door behind me or not. The only thing I could think of was Inari, hurt or dying in an alley all alone.

I got to the business district in a record eight minutes and tore down the alley where her location had been before her phone lost connection. My heart fell as I spotted her sitting on the ground with her legs pulled up to her chest, her head laying across her knees. She was shaking.

"Inari?" I rushed to her side and felt anger and worry well up inside of me as I spotted some fairly deep scrapes across her bare upper back that were oozing blood and more scrapes on her arms and the back of her right hand. Her left upper arm was entirely black and blue. Most alarming of all was her left hand that appeared to be badly burned and was now a gory mess of blood and charred flesh.

She didn't react in the slightest to my voice.

"Inari!" My voice rose in a panic as I dropped down beside her.

Slowly she lifted her head, her bright purple eyes were filled with tears and wide with terror. There were more tears clinging to her cheeks. "...you came..." She said in a faraway voice.

"What happened?" I asked her softly, she seemed to be in a very delicate state.

"...I was scared..."

"Why?" I probed.

She shook her head.

"...who did this?" I asked.

She shook her head again.

"...alright..." I frowned, unsure of what to ask to try and find out more. "Can I take you to the hospital?"

She shook her head again.

"I can call Recovery Girl agai-."

She shook her head again, adamantly.

I held back a sigh of frustration. She was in a fragile state and I didn't want to upset her but she needed medical attention, fast.

"My place isn't far. Can we at least go there?" I asked softly. Perhaps I could take care of what I was able to and then be able to convince her to let me take her to the hospital or call Recovery Girl.

She was still for a moment before she nodded.

"Can you walk?" I asked unsure. She was shaking so much I didn't know if she'd be able to or not.

Inari stubbornly shoved herself up off the ground. She righted herself though after only a few seconds of being upright, her knees buckled. I reacted quickly, catching her in my arms before she could come to any further harm.

"You could have just said no." I chided her softly and carried her back the way I'd come. I didn't make it more than a step away before I felt something strange under my foot, it was hard and made an odd crunch sound. I glanced down and saw her phone. It was very broken and looked as if it had been in contact with something of high heat as it had melted in some spots. I bent down and struggled to keep her in my arms and pick up the phone all at once but somehow managed to pick it up and tuck it in my pocket before continuing on my way.

Inari was quiet. Her body was still shaking though it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when I'd first found her, alone.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked after a few blocks.

She shook her head.

We made it back to my apartment in fifteen minutes since I was no longer running for my life and currently carrying a somewhat catatonic Inari. The door was unlocked but at least it was closed all the way. I opened the door. Everything seemed to be in order, my mostly finished dinner plate still on the table, my utensils appeared to have fallen off the table either in my rush or from Mochi helping himself to my plate after I'd taken off.

Mochi ran out of my bedroom and let out a loud meow of protest, probably for startling him with my abrupt departure. He was a very fluffy large house cat with a calico patterned coat. He jumped up on the kitchen counter as I set Inari atop of it so I could get a better look at her in the light.

"Mochi." I groaned as he immediately flopped across her legs and rolled onto his back exposing his very furry belly to her.

Inari blinked a few times and looked down at him. The corners of her lips twitched slightly upward as she gently tickled his belly with her fingers. "Why the name Mochi?" She asked distantly as she continued petting him with her good hand.

Mochi purred loudly and threw me a smug look.

"I found him in an empty shipping box of mochi." I shrugged.

She accepted my answer with a nod.

I left her on the kitchen counter and went to find a first aid kit in the hall bathroom and sent a text to Recovery Girl. When I returned to the kitchen, she and Mochi were right where I left them. She didn't react as I cleaned all of her scrapes and bandaged the ones that were still bleeding. I did my best to clean her burned hand and wrapped it in sterile gauze in an attempt to prevent it from getting infected. I looked at her black and blue arm and frowned, I didn't know what to do with it and resorted to wrapping it lightly in an elastic bandage and pressing some ice to it. She stiffened when I touched it but made no other reaction.

Once I got her injuries taken care of, I took a seat beside her atop the counter. Mochi ignored me for Inari. Whenever she'd stop petting him, he'd squeeze her hand between his two front paws and try to pull it back toward him. Everytime it made her smile a little and resume with his belly rubs.

"Did you want to talk about it now?" I pondered.

She shook her head.

"If you did...I could help." I offered.

"It doesn't matter. It won't happen again." She said softly. Her voice still sounded distant and guarded.

"The sofa is much more comfortable if you want to sit there?" I watched her carefully for a reaction.

She struggled to scoop Mochi up. I saw her wince as she utilized her bruised arm which made me think it was something worse than a bruise, possibly a break or a fracture. Once she had Mochi in her arms she clumsily hopped down from the counter and quietly moved to the living room.

I frowned and followed her to the living room. "Will you answer a question if it's not directly about what happened?" I pondered.

She turned to look at me.

"...why me?"

She hugged Mochi against her. "...you're safe..."

Though I was still desperately trying to piece Inari together I knew that was not something she felt often, if ever. Inari was used to providing safety and comfort for others but I wasn't so sure anyone had ever provided those things for her. From what I could gather, the Shinso siblings' parents had failed them completely in that regard. It was Inari who took on the parent role for her younger brother and provided him with someone who would always be there to love and protect him. Was there ever anyone to love and protect her? Or had she always had to go everything alone? Her combative nature and constant fight or flight attitude answered that question.

"Even if I'm a stalker..." I began. She threw me an amused look, "I'm owning it now." I sighed, trying to conceal my embarrassment, "you're always safe with me."

Her cheeks flushed with color and she looked away from me, "...thank you..."

I smiled.

"...you can call Recovery Girl...if you really think it's necessary..." She grumbled.

"I already did." I smirked.

She shot me a scowl, back to her fiery self. "What the hell?!"

"You're welcome." I patronizingly pat her on the head and held back a laugh as she let out a snarl of rage. Mochi, not knowing what was going on, attempted to mirror her snarl with his own disgruntled meow aimed at me. "...traitor..." I grumbled.

"Ha! I got Mochi to turn on you, that makes the score Inari: 3 Stalker: 1." She pointed.

"You've had a rough day, I'll give you the win." I chuckled.

"Don't patronize me!" She swatted at me with her good hand. She glanced at the clock on the wall and paled. "Shit. I need a phone and some terrible loud music."

"Excuse me?" I frowned.

"Phone and club beats, stat!" She snapped.

I rolled my eyes and handed her my phone. She grabbed the remote for my TV and turned it on before finding the Spotify app. She searched up Strip Club Beats.

"I really don't need that saved to my Librar-." I began but cut off with a sigh as she pressed play.

She dialed out as a private number and threw me a warning look to keep my mouth shut. I folded my arms in front of me and sat back to watch whatever deception she was up to. Mochi seemed content with her chaotic energy and resumed snuggling her.

"Hitoshi...you were right...I totally got roped into covering for someone. I'm sorry. There's money in the junk drawer in the kitchen, you two go see the movie without me. I'll see you two in the morning. I love you." She hung up and turned to me as I threw her a pointed look. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why did you lie to your brother?" I sighed.

"I can tell him tomorrow, no sense in putting a damper on their night. They wanted to go see a movie, if I told them the truth they wouldn't go see that movie like they wanted, they'd just be worrying over me. This way, they get to go have fun and just be mad at me in the morning. It's fine."

Before I could offer my opinion, Recovery Girl knocked at the door to announce her arrival. I got up from the couch and went to answer the door. She looked past me to Inari sitting on the sofa then looked up at me with a knowing look.

"Sorry to contact you so late, Recovery Girl." I apologized.

She walked past me without a word and joined Inari in the living room, "hello again, dearie."

Inari offered her a polite smile, "sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all." Recovery Girl smiled and began to look her over. She frowned when she got to Inari's burned hand. "I can help with everything else, but this...I can only speed up the healing, the body cannot heal what is dead."

"I understand." Inari nodded.

"So it's my professional advice that you go to a doctor." Recovery Girl scolded her lightly as she administered her quirk over Inari's bruised arm where it was sure to be tender.

Inari grimaced at the pain but didn't complain, "I'll keep it in mind."

"Talk some sense into her, Aizawa." Recovery Girl sighed before recleaning and rebandaging her burned hand.

"I've been trying." I chuckled as Recovery Girl finished up and headed for the door.

"Try harder." She pointed before taking her leave.

I turned to Inari once Recovery Girl was gone only to realize she was missing. "Inari?!" I checked the hall bathroom but she wasn't there. I checked my home office but she wasn't there. I checked the small library but she wasn't there. As I reached my bedroom, I found her in the middle of changing into one of my shirts and hurriedly averted my gaze so as not to ogle her naked form.

"What are you doing?" I sighed.

"Same question." She laughed as she spun around.

"What?" I snapped and looked up at her only to look away abruptly as I realized she was standing there shirtless.

"Why are you looking away? I very obviously do not care as I do this professionally." She laughed.

"It's the polite thing to do and you're not working now." I pointed, "now, what are you doing?" I chanced a glance after I heard the rustling of fabric and found her in just a pair of lacy panties and one of my t-shirts.

"Staying the night. Thanks for having me." She smiled before hopping onto my bed. Mochi scrambled up after her.

I sighed though I wasn't exactly unhappy with how the evening had turned out. I wish it had been under different circumstances but I liked having her here. Mochi seemed to like having her here too as he plopped on the bed beside her and exposed his belly for more belly rubs. "Goodnight, then." I turned to leave.

"...Aizawa..." Her soft voice halted me at the door.

I turned to her curiously.

"You don't have to go."

"It seems the polite thing to do." I noted. "You two take the bed, I'll take the couch."

"Don't be polite with me." She said softly.

I felt my heart stutter in my chest before it began to pound incessantly and loudly as I realized she was inviting me to join her. "...are you certain?"

She nodded.

"Alright. I'll be back." I grabbed my pajamas from the foot of the bed and went to change in my bathroom before going to turn off the lights and make sure the door was locked.

When I returned to my bedroom feeling nervous as I wasn't quite sure what to expect, I saw Inari sound asleep on her side under the covers with Mochi sprawled out against her, wrapped in her arms. I couldn't help but smile. They were cute together and it was the first time I'd seen Inari in such a relaxed state of being. I crawled into bed beside her and turned off the light on my nightstand.

"Goodnight, Inari." I said softly as I wrapped my arms around her.