8 Chapter 8 : Both

*A/N*: Just like I said in the previous author note from last chap, the settings of this fic are very far back before canon. And there are a lot of holes, lacking contents, or simply the author of MHA not bothering on writing backstories. So I had to make up a lot of things, which makes a lot of elements AU. Anyway I tried to be as logical as possible while modifying things to match what I wanted to do! I hope you enjoy it!

****

Still on the road to Saitama. Kurai was sleeping, since his reincarnation, and mainly his new cat body, he was fast to fall asleep.

It wasn't his fault though, at the beginning he was enjoying the passing scenery through the window, but it got boring very fast when the car joined the highway.

It should be noted that Aichi was around 350 km away from Saitama. And Nagoya, the city Kurai was residing in, 380 km away from the mall the family wanted to go to.

The 3 others were quite silencious too, so he wasn't even able to distract himself from the sound of their conversation. Well Kunishe never talked first without a good reason, so his silence was quite reasonable.

But it appeared that both Miku and Akio were busy.

From the extensive amount of curses Akio was muttering under his breath, Kurai understood it was something work related.

Miku looked occupied, texting with one of her friends from another prefecture of Japan.

This was also why he held his tongue and didn't even meow. They took a day off just for him after all.

So without much surprise, and only after 1 hour of traveling, he drifted to the dreamland.

They still had 3 long hours to go, the day announced to be long.

***

"Mama! Mama! Say, are we going to meet Nemuri-chan again?!" Cheerfully asked a little girl, holding an older one's hand, probably her mother, seeing how they looked similar.

The little girl had relatively long hair considering her small height. And like her mother she had voluminous and creamy blond hair. Though, she had two bangs framing her face with their ends curling into a beautiful spiral, compared to her mother who had it all attached in a bun.

Another striking feature differentiating them was their eyes, while the daughter had astonishing purple eyes with white irises, which was pretty uncommon. The mother had blue eyes, giving her a more serene and calm vibe.

The mother was busily looking at her phone while holding her daughter's hand, she nonetheless answered, albeit a bit dismissively. "Yes, yes, Yu-chan. I have things to do this afternoon."

Her response didn't dampen the little girl's mood at all, she stayed as cheerful as ever.

"Yaah, finally! It has been too long already, Mama!" She let out a joyful shout at first then tugged on her mom's sleeve with a cute pout.

This earned her a look from her mother who couldn't help but let out a small smile. "Long time? You saw her only 2 months ago!"

"See! See Mama! 2 months! That's like super duper long!" Said Yu with an aggravating tone.

"Yes, yes, I got it, anyway here, go with the butler, you'll have a few minutes of road. I already sent a notice to Nemuri-chan's mom." She pointed toward a gentle looking old man patiently waiting near a black tinted car.

That worked pretty well and diverted the little girl's attention back to the old man, she even ran toward him screaming "Ojii-chan! Ojii-chan!".

*Sigh*

While she didn't want to think of her daughter as a weight pulling her down, she couldn't help but think of times where her household was 'normal'. Before everything fell apart. But that was also what made her persevere and go forward.

She sighed again remembering those times, 'Fortunately I still have you Yu, or I don't know what I would do.' It was thanks to the difficulties of raising a daughter alone, thanks to the struggles she encountered as she raised her kid that she still lives on. Even if she wanted to just abandon, and be free of all her responsibilities.

For Akemi, that was her name, it had all started a few years back, before Yu was even born. At the times where she was a maiden, only finishing college. Where she thought that HE was the man of her dreams. 'What a fool I was!' She still had resentment to this day.

But as a naive young girl, who grew up in a well-off family, Akemi didn't know yet how cruel the world could be. At first, they had a normal relationship, but after a while he started to work abroad more often than not.

Those trips only got longer and more frequent.

'Tsk, I can only blame myself for being naive.' Thinking back at those times, she was very thankful for her family's help, the Takeyamas.

Being lonelier each day made Akemi snap, it was the water that broke the camel's back. She didn't want to remain a single second more alone, so she used her family influence and researched him behind his back. While at first she was quite distraught about her methods, after learning the truth she could only snort at her kindness.

The man already had a girlfriend somewhere, and was actually two-timing her behind her back. Learning that the 'love of your life' was never yours was quite harsh for Akemi. But after swallowing the bitter pill and calming down, her sadness left anger rampaging. The first thing she did was tell that bastard's other girlfriend the truth. And then spreading the story, thus leaving him alone without women for a while.

This greatly satisfied her, and gave her enough courage to restart anew, she thought that everything would be fine, and that it was all but a small set-back in her life.

Until the news came, she was pregnant. Starting from there and for the next 9 months, it was the worst and best time of her life simultaneously.

Like every young girl, learning a pregnancy so soon made Akemi even more scared. And even more, after knowing that the cheating bastard that impregnated her won't ever appear in her child's life, or hers.

So the fear soon let disgust come first, she absolutely didn't want to bear his child. 'I don't want to ever be like that again.' Even now, she was repulsed, but this time, at HERSELF for thinking that back then.

She even thought about aborting, 'Fortunately it is during your darkest times that true friends can shine the brightest.' Akemi rejoiced. Though, she still is, and would ever be, thankful to them.

They were her family, the Takeyamas, but mainly her mother, who supported her wholeheartedly during the pregnancy. And her high school best friend, Yuna Kayama. 'I don't know if I would've made it back then, and alone without them.'

Having her mother and best friend giving her both financial and psychological support was a huge boost to her. Particularly Yuna's help, since they were both the same age and trusted each other a lot. And amazingly, fate played such tricks that a few months later Yuna was pregnant too.

Which bonded them further, since they shared something more in common, something way deeper than ever.

Their meeting actually goes back very far, and they always stayed close to each other, so much that Yuna was also affected when Akemi discovered the truth about that bastard. Well Yuna was mostly angry. 'A real furry!' Akemi chuckled remembering her best friend's tantrums.

She helped her get back on her track and helped her accept the baby wholeheartedly, she also helped her getting prepared to be a lone mother by reserving her a job at her dad's place after her birth. Yuna's family, the Kayamas were well-off too, that's also one of the reasons the girls hit off so well in the beginning.

After getting back on the track, with a better mind-set, Akemi followed Yuna's advice and moved out from Japan's mainland to Hokkaido. Being in a new environment, with new people helped her move on from that dark past.

Therefore she gave birth to her daughter, Yu Takeyama, in Hokkaido as planned. Fortunately she got Yuna accompanying her because her parents couldn't make it in time.

That was a painful moment to go through, but it stays, still to this day, as one of the best moments, if not the best, of her life.

After that she did her best to be a good mother alone, handling both work and taking care of her baby daughter. Most of the time it was very hard on her, like today, where she had an unplanned meeting call minutes before her shopping session with her daughter.

Fortunately, during those last few years, Yuna also gave birth to a girl, a little baby carbon copy of herself too, whom she called Nemuri, Nemuri Kayama. That helped Akemi a lot since Yuna proposed to her, a few times, to keep their kids when she had too much work to handle alone.

That must be also why the little girls became best friends like their mothers. Yu being the cheerful and outgoing girl she is, didn't have any problems with that. And if she had to be honest, Akemi was very proud and happy to have an understanding girl like her. 'She was never one to ask for something or whine when I was working too much.' She thought seeing her girl climbing on the car.

But she was human too, getting angry, in a foul mood or just tired was normal. Though she still tried her best to not show her weakness to her girl. 'She'll be 4 years old soon, and her quirk will appear too... Will she inherit it...?' Akemi losing herself in her thoughts, waved at her departing daughter.

***

In the car.

Yu was pretty excited. "Say! Say! Ojii-chan! When will we arrive?!" This much could be seen.

"Soon you'll see your friend Nemuri and her mom, little miss." She was answered politely by the butler, who let out a small chuckle at her antics.

Yu started swinging her legs and waving her hands upwards, "Yahoo! Finally! I'll be able to meet her!" She let out a sort of war cry with her little voice, sounding more cute than anything.

And he was right, it didn't take them too much time to reach the Cocoon City facilities in Saitama.

They passed the JR Saitama - Shintoshin Station and arrived before the big shopping facilities of Cocoon City, which consists of 3 buildings respectively; Cocoon 1, Cocoon 2 and Cocoon 3.

The butler drove toward Cocoon 1; where there are around 100 shops from clothing stores, cosmetic shops, to cafes and restaurants, and even bookstores, supermarkets or drugstores.

Reaching the parking lot arranged for cars, Yu excitedly looked outside and saw her best friend Nemuri waiting with her mom quietly, while they held hands.

She giggled seeing her best friend's appearance, but not out of mockery. She personally loved to wear dresses like a princess but Nemuri was more of an introvert, and her clothes show it too: simple jeans and a pink hoodie.

"So cuuute!" Exclaimed Yu.

The butler smiled and stopped the car. "Here please, little Miss." He opened her door and reached to hold her hands.

"Hihi, thanks Ojii-chan!"

Yu then ran as fast as she could toward the pair of mother and daughter. The butler watched her getting closer to them, he then saluted Yuna after she saw him and proceeded to go back to the car.

Yu was waving her hands with great motion. "Nemuri-chan! Nemuri-chan!" She shouted.

Her cute shouts attracted the attention of the nearby people, which embarrassed Nemuri who was watching her coming closer with a smile. 'Geeez couldn't you be more reserved like me…' She sighed, but she was still glad to see her best friend's energy.

Passers-by observed with a smile the cute sight of a creamy blond hair little girl hugging to death another small girl, who looked as cute as the first one.

While they were relatively the same height, their hair was pretty much the opposite. Nemuri had spiky neck long bob cut hair, framed by a set of bangs, 2 on the sides and one in the middle. Her hair colour was a beautiful dark purple, compared to Yu's creamy blond hair, the contrast was striking. She also had astonishing sky blue eyes and a mole under her left eye, enhancing further her cuteness.

Except for her mole and eye colour she looked exactly the same as her mother.

After Yu finished the greeting hug to Nemuri she started doing the same to her mother, who accepted her gesture with a gentle chuckle. "It has been a long time, right Yu-chan?" On the side, Nemuri kept her smile, and her blush. But she quickly recovered and returned to her meek behaviour.

"Mommy, where are we going?" She quietly asked, tugging gently on her mother's sleeve.

After Yuna ended her hug with Yu, she also took her hand, having both girls on each side, and answered her daughter. "To the mall of course! To dress my little princesses! Ahaha!" She started walking. Yu let out a joyful shout while Nemuri glanced shyly at her best friend, with a happy smile.

*****

On the other side of Cocoon City, a black tinted limousine just arrived.

"So that's the Cocoon City you were talking about, Darling?" Inquired Akio, turning his attention from his phone back to his wife.

"Yes, it's a new shopping facility in Saitama!! Just look how big those buildings are!"

Miku continued her enthusiastic talk, "Today, we'll go to Cocoon 3, the most modern looking one. It's where the sportswear , pets and bicycles shops are!"

Kunishe parked the car and got out to open their doors already, Miku and Akio took their things.

"Come on! Wakey! Wakey! Sweetie we arrived!" She profited from the time her husband took to get out and started rubbing Kurai's back gently.

The latter felt her gentle caress and woke up slowly. "Meowm!" Kurai stretched his limbs while letting out a cat-like yawn.

'Dang it feels so good to sleep, and the time passes faster.' He thought, and followed Miku outside the car.

But when he saw the mall outside, his paws were rooted to the ground, 'Each day I'm amazed at something new in this world…' He sighed.

Miku glanced back at him and confused his immobility for fear. "Oooh Sweetie, come here to Mama! Don't be afraid!" She said, kneeling down and offering her hands.

Kurai naturally climbed, 'Mmh this way I'll be able to observe the surroundings to the fullest without bothering to look where I go.' He nodded to himself, finding a good resting place in her bosom.

Akio looked at them and said, "Alright! Let's go, it's already afternoon!" Miku, hearing him, joined her husband.

"Yep Dear! We shouldn't waste anymore time!"

And the little family entered the mall together.