~Shota's POV~

I woke with a start as I felt someone jolt beside me. Opening my eyes, I glanced over and spotted Miki sitting up in bed next to me looking out of sorts. Her breathing was labored and there was a faint tremor in her hands.

"Miki?" I groggily sat up, fighting back a yawn, it was the middle of the night.

Upon closer inspection I realized she was having a panic attack. My heart fell, she must have been so freaked out by whatever scary movie she'd seen, it triggered her PTSD and she dreamed about the fire. I wrapped my arms around her. My heart fell, she was shaking like a leaf.

"It's alright." I held her trembling frame close, "I got you."

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued hyperventilating. My heart clenched tightly in my chest, I hated seeing her like this. I hugged her tight and laid back on the bed with her in my arms. "You're safe." I gently rubbed her back trying to pull her from her panic attack.

After a few minutes she calmed down and drifted back to sleep in my arms. I closed my eyes once I was sure she was alright and fell back asleep.

...

We slept in till almost noon which was rare and delightful. Miki seemed a little embarrassed when we'd woken up and scurried off to her own room. I changed and stepped out of my room. Grey was sitting outside of Miki's door. He barely cast me a second glance as I headed toward the kitchen. He was probably angry with me for sleeping in and not feeding him breakfast.

"You going to sit there and keep being angry at me until she lets you in or you going to get breakfast?" I pondered.

His tail swished irritably before he reluctantly got to his feet and trotted after me. After feeding Grey, I went to the kitchen to see what I could find to make for brunch. The only ingredients we had was for the dinner Miki and I were going to make the night before, guess it was time to go grocery shopping.

Miki emerged from her room in a cute lavender dress with a bright mint green ball of yarn that seemed to roll around the hem with a cute little grey cat chasing after it. Grey abandoned his food as he heard Miki approach and began winding through her legs and meowing up at her cutely. I felt mildly insulted that anytime he meowed at me it seemed filled with disdain and anytime he meowed at Miki it was cute and chipper.

Miki nearly tripped as Grey continued winding around her legs and rubbing up against her bare calves. She smiled and let out a silent giggle before bending down to scoop him up. He purred loudly and flopped against her once she picked him up. He hated being held; anytime I'd try to pick him up, I got bitten or scratched.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked Miki curiously wondering if she'd remembered any of her traumatic nightmares.

She nodded.

I wasn't sure if she remembered waking up in the middle of the night and having a panic attack. It didn't seem like it. I smiled, "good. I need to do some grocery shopping, want to tag along?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically before scampering off to her room setting Grey down near his food bowl as she passed by. A moment later she returned with a cute Hello Kitty Purse. I frowned, I didn't want her to think I expected her to buy her own groceries.

"If you want something, I'll buy it for you." I pointed as I erased her quirk so she could speak freely.

"I wanted to get Grey some new toys." She said softly.

"I'll get them, save your money for something you want to buy."

"But it is something I want to buy." She protested.

"For yourself." I said while trying to hold back a laugh as she tried to argue with me. Miki wasn't one to argue and when she did it was usually over something silly and quite amusing.

"I don't ever need anything for myself because you and Nii-chan spoil me." She pointed.

I chuckled, "you're right, we do, and we will continue to do so."

Her cheeks flushed with color.

I deactivated my quirk as my eyes began to dry out and Miki handed me my eye drops looking as if she felt guilty. After applying my eye drops, I pocketed them and headed for the door, "let's go." I held the door open for her.

She stubbornly kept ahold of her purse and adorably held it away from me as she stepped through the door. I couldn't help but laugh as I followed after her.

Since it was a nice day, we walked to the store. Miki stuck close to me. Anytime we walked near an alley that seemed even remotely creepy, she'd inch closer to me. I was a little worried about what sort of movie my class had taken her to the night before and if it was going to cause permanent damage. As we approached the final alley we'd have to pass by, I draped my arm across her shoulders. Her sweet aroma enveloped me and I felt her relax against me.

We passed the alley and I smiled faintly as I realized she didn't tense up when we got too close as she had before. My heart stuttered in my chest as she nestled against me, and I grimaced. Was that idiot's sister complex seriously contagious?

I awkwardly released her from my hold once we reached the store after receiving a few strange looks. I picked up a shopping basket and noticed Miki about to reach for one. I shook my head and caught her hand in mine, keeping her from getting a basket of her own and headed into the store. Miki looked a little flushed as she trailed after me. It was happening more often.

I released her hand and headed toward the pet section first since she'd wanted to shop for toys for Grey. Her face was still a bit red. Concern bubbled up inside of me and I placed a hand to her forehead, "you feeling alright?"

Her cheeks reddened and she took a quick step back and nodded adamantly before rushing away to inspect the toys. I watched her for a long moment, my concern turning to amusement as she seemed to be taking the toy inspection quite seriously. She picked up a few toys and compared them. She was hyper focused.

I held back a laugh as she shook a few of the toys with bells as if trying to find the one with the most perfect ring. The serious look on her face as she continued testing and inspecting the toys was enough to break me. I tried my hardest not to laugh, but failed.

She looked to me curiously before realizing I was laughing at her and she quickly put the toys back on the shelf, embarrassed. Her gaze dropped to the floor, avoiding looking at me.

"Sorry." I chuckled, "it's cute. I'm sure Grey appreciates the care you put into selecting his toys." I attempted to make her feel better.

She slowly glanced upward and I felt something stir within me at the look in her bright emerald eyes and the faint pout of her lips. My heart skipped a beat and I felt a strange fluttering in my chest. That seemed like cause for concern.

"Why don't you stay here and pick out some toys, I'll get the groceries and meet you back here when I'm done." I suggested as I tore my gaze away from her. Without waiting for a response, I exited the aisle and went to get the rest of the groceries.

She didn't follow me for which I was grateful. I was starting to question myself and my intentions. I thought back on the night before and grimaced. I shouldn't have let her sleep in my bed without Hizashi, no matter how scary the movie had been. It was still a tad inappropriate even when her brother was there as I wasn't related to her. From now on, the Yamada siblings would have to deal with their horror movie night terrors on their own, it wasn't right, Miki was too old for that now. I didn't like how stirred up and conflicted I felt.

It took me a while to find all the groceries as my thoughts were a mess and I kept forgetting items and had to backtrack to sections of the store I'd already been through. It was definitely my least efficient shopping trip yet. Once I finally found everything I needed, I headed back toward the pet aisle. As I drew nearer I heard a few voices from within the aisle.

"What's the matter, babe? We not good enough for you to give us the time of day?" A cocky voice sounded from the pet aisle.

I sprinted for the pet aisle and felt a flood of emotions: rage, concern, hostility and panic. Miki appeared to be trapped in the aisle by a handful of university aged boys. "Unless you punks are looking for trouble, I advise you to walk away, now." My voice came out sharper than I'd intended as I was having trouble staying calm and collected.

The punks turned to look in my direction, giving Miki a small opening to escape. She bolted away from them once she had an opening and sprinted toward me. I was relieved to see she wasn't hurt and was able to calm a little the moment she threw her arms around me.

The punk who appeared to be the ringleader, with his slicked back bleach blonde hair and 'something to prove' attitude shot me a dark look. I felt a strange sensation as he glared at me, did it have something to do with a quirk? He clenched his fists and for a moment I thought he was going to try to attack me, but he relaxed. "Tch, cute but not worth the trouble. Come on." He ordered his posse and they exited the aisle knocking a bunch of things off the shelves as they went.

I looked down at Miki, her face was buried in my chest, "you hurt?"

She shook her head.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded but didn't let go of me.

"Need a minute?" I asked.

Another, meeker, nod.

"Alright."

After she calmed down, she released me and went to pick up the things the delinquents had knocked off the shelves. I set down the basket and went to help her. She seemed a bit shaken up but otherwise alright. Guilt made my stomach churn, if I hadn't been such a mess and taken forever to get the groceries none of this would have happened.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked softly as I erased her quirk.

She shook her head.

"Well, I do. What happened?" I asked.

"I heard them talking about stealing beer, one of them noticed me listening and they asked me to come to a party, but none of them knew sign language and thought I was pretending." She said softly. "I tried to leave but they cornered me and then you showed up."

"I should have punched them." I felt that same spark of rage from before.

Miki looked to me warily, "Nii-san?"

"Don't worry about it." I tried to shake away the anger, "did you find what you were looking for?"

She shyly held up a few cat toys she'd carefully selected.

"Good, let's get going." I stopped using my quirk and snatched the toys from her hands delighting in the adorably flustered look that crossed her face as she tried to reach for them to get them back.

Realizing she didn't stand a chance at winning a game of keep away with me, she gave up and stomped her foot cutely. I chuckled and we headed for the register. She tried once more, and failed, to get the cat toys back from me once we got in line.

As we exited the store, I started to feel somewhat stiff and rigid as if all my joints and muscles were starting to lock up. Trying to shake it off, I continued on the way home. Miki kept throwing worried looks in my direction as it became more difficult for me to hide my obvious discomfort as I kept clenching and unclenching my fists trying to keep them moving so they wouldn't lock up.

"Hold on a minute." I paused as we reached an alleyway and stiffly stepped into the alley. "It feels like I pulled a muscle." Or ten. "I'll be alright in a minute." I tried to reassure Miki.

She frowned, not seeming reassured. Her bright green eyes darted around the alley and I mentally kicked myself as I remembered the scary movie she'd seen last night had made her wary of alleys and I'd just made her go into one.

I tried to shake off the strange tight feeling beginning to seep into every muscle and joint in my body. It most certainly had to be a quirk of some kind which meant there was likely to be an ambush. I needed Miki to get away.

"Text Hizashi, send him this location and run straight ho-." My words fell away as I suddenly found myself completely paralyzed.

Miki jumped as I froze up. She tried to shake me to get me to move but it had no effect. Tears welled in her bright green eyes. I saw movement behind her but had no way to alert her as I was completely frozen.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" The blonde with the slicked back hair smirked as he stepped out of a small alcove into the alley behind Miki.

Miki's eyes grew wide with terror and she turned as the punk and his posse drew nearer.

"Isn't she a bit young for you?" The blonde threw me a smirk.

I attempted to activate my quirk but was incapable in my current state.

Miki needed to run. Why wasn't she running?! She looked back at me, her eyes filled with fear and determination and I realized then she didn't want to leave me alone.

"Fun isn't it?" The blonde grinned at me, "feel like you're turning into stone, yeah? Don't worry, it doesn't last long. Just long enough for my friends to rough you up a bit."

They advanced.

"...don't..." I heard Miki's whisper soft cry.

Everything glass within the alley shattered from the sheer force of her quirk as she spoke. The delinquents seemed to be hurled back from the shockwave and hit the ground, unconscious. As soon as they were out, I could move normally.

Miki sank to her knees fearing she'd killed them all.

I looked them over, they were all breathing normally. They were bleeding from the ears but otherwise seemed alright. Her quirk had done quite a bit of damage but it somehow managed to completely avoid harming me. I hurriedly called the police before kneeling next to Miki.

"Miki, they're just unconscious." I tried to reassure her.

She glanced up at me, her bright green eyes overflowing with tears.

"It's okay." I erased her quirk.

"I'm sorry!" She choked, "I didn't mean to hurt you, Nii-san."

"You didn't hurt me at all." I pulled her in for a hug and rocked her in my arms in an attempt to calm her down.