~Aizawa's POV~

Hizashi and I stayed late to go over the security footage from the day after the alarms had gone off during lunch. At first we'd thought some of the press had tripped it as they kept pressing too close to the entrance in their frantic attempts to try to talk to All Might. Then we started to wonder if it could be something else but couldn't find any clues. After coming up empty handed we called it a night and went our separate ways. On my way home, I passed by an apartment complex that had a wall of windows that looked in on a small gym. I paused as I spotted a familiar head of dark purple hair inside the gym.

Peering through the windows, I spotted a young woman in her early twenties with long silken dark purple hair and bright purple eyes with a faint pink hue. Her expression was dark and filled with rage as she threw a volley of punches at a giant punching bag. She seemed lost in a pain filled memory as she blankly kept swinging. It was heartbreaking and breathtaking to watch. Though she was petite every hit seemed to threaten to dislodge the hefty punching bag from it's stand. When it finally happened and she punched it off it's stand, she seemed unaware and continued punching. I winced sympathetically as she punched the concrete wall behind it before drawing her hand back and clutching it to her chest as she let out an enraged pain filled shriek.

A string of swears spilled from her lips and she pulled back a step and paused as her gaze drifted out the window to me standing on the sidewalk staring at her. Her eyes narrowed and I saw her mouth the words, 'you've got to be fucking kidding me.' before she flipped me a very rude gesture with her undamaged hand keeping the other cradled against her body.

Sighing, I rushed inside, crossing through the lobby to the gym to see if she was alright. As I opened the door, I heard her snarl of rage. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" She raged.

"Seeing if you're alright." I sighed.

"Fuck off!" She snapped, though it lacked her usual bite, as she clutched her aching hand to her chest and shot me a weak glare.

"Why is it so hard for you to accept help from people?" I asked as I attempted to approach her.

She leapt over a stand filled with weights and scowled at me, "why the fuck are you trying to help me? What do you want?"

"Do I have to want something in order to help you?" I asked curiously.

"Of course you do, nobody helps anyone for free." She hissed, her bright eyes filling with fire.

"Let me see your hand." I extended my hand to her.

"Go the fuck away." She grumbled before wincing in pain. Though I couldn't see very clearly from my current position with her shielding her injured hand from view by tucking it against her body, it did appear to be changing color.

I let out a sigh, growing tired of her constant combativeness as it was making it very difficult to see if she was okay. I loosened my scarf and hurled some of it in her direction. A soft gasp escaped her as I lassoed her in the scarf and pulled her toward me.

"What the hell do you think you're do-?" She began to snarl but her words fell away as I grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pressed her against the wall so she couldn't escape me. Her bright eyes grew wide and her body tensed. Her entire demeanor shifted, going from combative to vulnerable in the blink of an eye.

"Let me see your hand." I removed my hands from her shoulders and slowly held one out for her to give me her hand.

She hesitated for a moment before shakily placing her now purple hand in mine. She was quiet as I looked it over. It was starting to swell and the skin around her knuckles was cracked open and a steady stream of blood was seeping out.

"You might have broken it." I frowned. "What were you so angry about?"

"None of your fucking business." She huffed.

I lightly poked her hand and she let out a hiss of pain, "OW! That fucking hurt!" She swung at me with her good hand and I leaned back to avoid getting a black eye.

"You did punch a concrete wall barehanded." I pointed with a smirk.

"Go the fuck away before I punch you." She seethed with rage to mask her pain.

"Let me take you to the ER." I offered.

"I don't want your help." She glowered up at me.

"I don't want anything in return." I frowned, remembering her very jaded words about no one wanting to help for free.

"Everyone always says that and everyone lies, fuck off I can take care of myself." She attempted to shove me away from her with her good hand. I caught her by the wrist and activated my quirk as she tried to activate hers the moment I made contact with her.

She scowled as she realized I'd nullified her quirk.

"Fine, if you don't want to go somewhere, let me call a friend who can help." I sighed.

She roughly pulled her hand free from my grasp but stayed put, leaning against the wall with a sigh of her own. "Whatever makes you go away faster." She huffed.

I rolled my eyes at her and sent a text to Recovery Girl asking if she could help. She replied right away asking for my location. I forwarded it to her and kept an eye on Inari to make sure she didn't bolt or try to sneak attack me and control me again. Though I had to admit it had been amusing when she'd done it the last time. I'd expected her to do something positively evil but instead she'd just caused me a minor inconvenience. I had to change my dinner plans and go back to find more cat food.

Inari shifted uncomfortably, I could tell she was masking her pain not wanting to show any sign of weakness in my presence. She kept muttering curses under her breath anytime she moved her hand even the slightest bit. I suspected it was broken, she'd punched concrete with all her might.

I spotted Recovery Girl step out of a cab out front and turned my gaze to Inari as she tried very hard to mask a wince of pain as she accidentally bumped her broken hand. "Stay put." I warned her before exiting the gym to meet Recovery Girl. I could feel her glaring a hole into the back of my head as I left the room and couldn't help but chuckle under my breath.

"Aizawa, is everything alright?" Recovery Girl, a short elderly woman wearing a long white lab coat and a syringe in her tight grey bun asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, sorry to trouble you, a civilian injured herself and is being quite difficult." I sighed.

She threw me a curious look but didn't question me, "lead the way."

Inari was right where I left her, partially leaning against the wall and cradling her hand to her chest. It looked as if she had slumped a little from the pain but she stood straighter when we stepped into the room. Her expression was surprisingly polite as Recovery Girl followed me into the room.

"What happened, dearie?" Recovery Girl asked in a gentle voice.

Inari seemed to be struggling to put her trust in us but reluctantly extended her injured hand for Recovery Girl to see, "Workout accident." She mumbled, her voice nowhere near as hostile as when she addressed me.

Recovery Girl glanced over at the punching bag lying uselessly on the floor next to the concrete wall that now had a few splatters of blood across it. "I see." She activated her quirk and kissed Inari's injured hand.

Inari winced but didn't complain about the contact.

The discoloration on her hand began to fade away. Recovery Girl stepped back to admire her handiwork before offering Inari a smile, "you'll feel a little more tired than usual, try to take it easy for the next day or two."

Inari nodded, "thank you."

"You're very welcome, dearie." Recovery Girl gave her a pat on the arm before throwing me another curious look, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips as she took her leave. I wasn't quite sure what that was about.

When I turned to Inari, all pleasantness was gone and she was scowling at me once again. I couldn't help but chuckle, "now, what?"

"Now, you can go the fuck away!" She snapped and made a move to shove me out the door, but once she'd stopped leaning against the wall, she must have realized how drained of energy her body was from Recovery Girl's quirk, as she swayed unsteadily and dropped onto a nearby exercise bench.

"Let me help you to your apartment." I extended a hand to her.

She looked like she wanted to fight me to the ends of the earth, but she also looked exhausted and defeated. She was torn between defying me to no end and wanting to give in and accept my help. It was amusing and also a little sad to watch her wage this internal war within herself. Finally after a few minutes of silent battling she swore softly under her breath and placed her hand in mine. "I still think you're a freak and I'm only accepting your help so I can throw the stupid catfood I had to buy at your face." She huffed.

I chuckled softly as I pulled her closer so I could wrap an arm around her to offer her support, "perhaps you should have checked before buying everything."

"Shut up." Inari grumbled bitterly as she reluctantly leaned on me, though it was a bit awkward as she was leaning on me for support but also trying to pull herself away from me.

"How can you be in your profession and hate physical contact so much?" I pondered curiously as we headed for the elevator.

"I only have to hold hands with people." She rolled her eyes, "from there I can make them think whatever they wanted to happen happened. Also I don't hate physical contact, just stalkers."

I sighed, "this was all purely coincidental."

"Keep telling yourself that." She huffed as she angrily jabbed the button for her floor.

She seemed nervous as we stepped off the elevator once we'd reached the seventh floor. I had a feeling it was because she didn't want me to know where she lived. We came to a stop outside of her apartment and she disentangled herself from me and shot me a glare.

"Wait here." She grumbled before opening the door. It opened into a medium sized apartment with a small living room, average sized kitchen and dining room. Everything was spotless. Her brother was sitting at the kitchen table buried in schoolbooks and didn't look up as she opened the door.

Inari stepped into the kitchen,tousled his hair affectionately and slowly moved toward the kitchen counter where I noticed two cans of cat food sitting, looking very out of place in the spotless kitchen where it seemed like everything had a home where it belonged.

"Nee-san?" Hitoshi looked up from his books, his expression shifting to one of concern, "you okay?"

"I'm fine. Go back to your boring studying, I'll make you a study snack in a bit." She waved away his concern with a smile.

He frowned but didn't argue with her.

She grabbed the cat food before returning to me at the door and aggressively shoving them into my hands. It looked like she wanted to say something, but was having a hard time with whatever it was.

"You alright?" I pondered.

"...thanks for helping me..." She mumbled so softly I almost hadn't heard her.

"What was that?" I asked with a smirk.

"Guess your stalking is somewhat useful." She growled before slamming the door in my face.

I sighed and walked away.