Upon her return home, Nikita spent the entire weekend cooped up at home in the dark to lick her wounds. It was what she always did when she was injured, go somewhere lonely and dark, it was in her nature. Shoto had tried to stop by a few times but after her release from the hospital and regulated around the clock care, she took matters into her own hands to hide herself away from the world. Her new unorthodox family tried to check in on her to no avail, she'd resorted to hiding in the attic and no one could find her.

Monday morning, her injuries were healed though her ribs were still a little tender, bones always took longer to heal. It wouldn't be very wise or safe to do any full body transformations for a few days. Nikita heard her front door open, she listened intently and heard the familiar heartbeat pattern of her brotherly neighbor, Craven.

"Nikita? You going to school today? We're all pretty worried about you-." He cut off as Nikita dropped from the ceiling dressed and ready for school.

She landed swiftly in the living room before stretching her arms up over her head as she let out a soft yawn. Her ribs protested the action but she managed to keep a straight face. Craven's obsidian gaze fell on the cat like girl, his lips pulling into a frown. He could see the pain reflected in her golden eyes.

"Sorry for worrying you, Craven." Nikita apologized politely as she stiffly skipped to the door readying to step into her shoes.

Craven reached out as she was about to pass him by and caught her by the shoulder. "Sorry, squirt, you're not going anywhere."

"Huh? What? Why?"

"You're still in pain."

"I'm fi-OW!" Nikita let out a roar of pain as Craven lightly prodded her in the side barely applying any pressure to her tender ribs.

"You're staying home." He folded his arms in front of his chest and fixed her with a stern look. "I'll call the school."

Nikita wrapped her arms around herself with a soft whimper of pain, "I'm fine." She attempted to straighten herself but her body protested too much and she stood half slumped over.

"What if you accidentally get elbowed in the side in the hallway or during lunch?" Craven retorted.

Nikita opened her mouth to protest further but cut off with a squeak as he swept her off her feet. Her side protested the movement. Wincing and trying to fight through the pain, Nikita allowed herself to be carried to her room. Craven gently set her on the bed before pulling out his cell phone.

"Stay put and rest." He grabbed the oversized UA t-shirt she often wore to bed that was draped over the end of her bed and tossed it to her before stepping out of her room and shutting the door behind him to call the school.

"Sho-chan will be worried if I don't go to school." She mumbled aloud to herself before grabbing a spare pair of shoes from her closet and scurrying out the window.

Her ears and tail shifted to the jaguar pattern slower than usual and she was able to land swiftly on the ground below. Her ribs protested as she dropped into a crouch. Shrugging off the pain her ears and tail shifted to a cheetah pattern and she took off toward school as fast as she could not wanting to risk Craven's wrath when he inevitably discovered she'd run off.

It took her longer than usual to get to school, even in cheetah form she wasn't running at optimum speed and managed to make it to class just as the bell rang. Nikita slid into her seat receiving looks of awe from Tenya, Izuku and Shoto who'd all seen the cat girl wrapped head to toe in bandages only a few days prior. She offered them a bright smile and waved at the trio who were all still sporting bandaged arms of their own.

Mr. Aizawa looked to her curiously, "I just got a call saying you weren't going to be here, Nida."

"Must have been a mistake." Nikita shrugged casually and held back a wince as her ribs ached at the action.

Shoto threw a worried look in the cat girl's direction. He knew she healed much faster than most people but she'd been in critical condition, she shouldn't be healed yet. As close as he was to the cat girl, he could see the strain in her gold eyes and knew the smile on her face was forced. She was still injured and trying to hide it. In the early hours when Shoto had overheard the conversation between Nikita's surgeon and his father he'd heard another alarming piece of information, Endeavor was Nikita's legal guardian until she was of age as she had no living relatives. Her parents had ensured it in their will long ago. Though he hated his father, he knew he could and would help the girl. Stealthily he texted his father under his desk before returning his attention to roll call.

Halfway through the first class of the day, there was a knock at the door. Nikita looked up from her notes as she heard several gasps as the door opened. She looked up and felt her tail bristle as she spotted Endeavor standing in the doorway. She chanced a glance at Shoto readying to put herself between them but Shoto didn't look surprised to see his father and wasn't nearly as tense as he usually was when his father was concerned, though his heartbeat was sporadic giving away his anxiousness.

Endeavor looked to her with his arms folded in front of his chest, "Let's go, Nikita."

"What?!" Nikita yelped, "Why the hell should I go anywhere with you?!" She recovered from her shock with a snarl of rage that set everyone of her classmates on edge. They'd never seen the chipper cat girl this angry.

"Shoto said you're still injured-." Nikita didn't hear the rest of what he had to say as she was slapped in the face by his words and felt a sudden gut-wrenching sense of betrayal shake her to her core. She turned to look at Shoto. He avoided her gaze.

"Sho-chan?"

"Sorry Niko, you're still hurt..." Shoto said softly.

Nikita frowned before violently swinging her bag onto her shoulder and storming past Endeavor, her tail was puffed up and flicking violently and her ears were laid back showing her displeasure. She marched ahead of him keeping her back straight refusing to show any sign of weakness or pain.

Endeavor kept a few paces behind the irritable cat girl, giving her space to seethe. He watched her carefully, her steps were determined and angry but there was a slight recoil with every step, she was in a great deal of pain and trying her best to hide it.

"Your doctor told you to take it easy for a few days." Endeavor noted calmly as they exited the main building.

Nikita didn't answer him as she continued toward the main gate. Her tail and ears began to shift to cheetah pattern. As she prepared to dash away, a hand clapped down on her shoulder keeping her in place. A soft hiss escaped her but she wasn't strong enough in her current state to put up much of a fight and reluctantly allowed Endeavor to steer her to his awaiting car with a polite driver who offered her a warm smile and opened the door for them both without a word. Of course, he had a driver. He was everything a hero shouldn't be, vain, greedy and power hungry.

"My internship is over, you have no obligation to give a damn anymore." Nikita grumbled as she took a seat as far away from him as she could possibly get.

"On the contrary, you're legally my responsibility until you're 18." Endeavor replied simply.

Nikita scoffed at this, "Funny-." She cut off as he handed her a folder sitting on the seat next to him. "What's this?"

"Your parents' will."

Nikita shot him a glare before snatching the folder from his hand and flipping through the documents inside. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she saw various documents with her parents' handwriting. He was telling the truth. Tears welled in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat before she swallowed it down and choked back her tears.

"It doesn't mean anything. I don't want anything from you." Nikita huffed and folded her arms in front of her bumping her tender ribs in the process. She bit her lip as a hiss of pain escaped her and she crumpled into a ball on the seat.

Her ears and tail shifted to her default black panther form as she reached her limit. Nikita's eyes fluttered closed as she gave in to the pain in her ribs. She'd tried to do too much too fast and made things worse.

Video- "The Censor" By Devour The Day (Because pandora is random lately)