A Puppet's Twisted Mind

"Go on Hibiki, you can do it!" He heard his mother say as he crawled towards his as she encouraged him to make it to her.

Even though she didn't know why her son had gained the quirk that he did she would still encourage him to be a hero even if his dad said that he shouldn't. He didn't understand what they meant.

Him?

A hero?

What utter nonsense.

Did he know what they meant by that? No not really. He had no context and he didn't know if the word hero held the same meaning as it did back in his world. Hell, it could be an occupation.

However, that would bring up the question of what kind of job being a "hero" would even entail.

He was grateful to them for bringing him into this world but couldn't really say that he knew them enough to call them family. If he could help it he would try and help them once he's older though he wasn't going to promise this. He did though wonder how he would be able to get a job given how he looks.

He tried not to cause trouble for them since his leave from the hospital six months ago. It was only logical to not bite the hand that fed him, though that wasn't saying given how he didn't need to eat, drink or sleep. And since he didn't have any need for such things he could always focus on his "Quirk" as the people of this world called their powers. Though the name did intrigue him.

Such a specific name, while it wasn't impossible that they named it as such there usually were names before one became fixed. And that got his inner historian buzzing.

He tried to figure out the other abilities of his body but as of late, he couldn't figure anything out. He didn't really care about where he was born as he didn't plan to become a hero, whatever that was. He had however thought about being an entertainer but quickly shut that idea down as just the sight of his future self would scare a lot of children. Well, that and such a role wouldn't fit him.

A while later his father came back from work, his dad was a tall man with tanned skin, white hair and eyes, wearing a black and white striped suit. Something Hibiki appreciated.

His father didn't look particularly happy but then again Hibiki couldn't remember the last time his father looked happy. Hibiki's mom got up to hug him and welcome him home.

"Ah Kumagawa you're back, how was work?" His mum asked. She was a rather cheerful woman. Even when she had hurt herself while making food or doing something she always held that cheerful demeanour of hers. He would have called it admirable or cute if not for the half of his body that would be repulsed to say such a thing.

"It was... stressful to say the least." The dark-skinned man narrowed his eyes as he recalled his day before closing his eyes and sighing. "I just want to lie down and rest for the time being." Kumagawa opened his eyes slightly after speaking - evidently still tired and spoke with an apologetic look on his face. "Oh yes, don't worry about dinner. If you haven't made anything we can just get takeaway."

"I've already made something." She replied letting him go and skipping to the kitchen. "Do you want to eat now or later?"

"I'll eat something later Aimi." Kumagawa tiredly responded.

Kumagawa went to lie down on the couch and turned on the TV. A little while later Hibiki crawled towards his father, Kumagawa noticing his son, picked him up and set him down on his lap.

Hibiki was a little annoyed by this but accepted it nonetheless. And besides if he was lucky, the history channel, or its equivalent in this world, would come on.

------

It had been a few days since then and Hibiki was currently looking at a small elephant plush that his dad bought for him not too long ago. He didn't expect another toy to play with since he already had blocks to play with. Though he supposes that his new family is different from his old one so such things shouldn't be as unexpected as they should be - A generalisation on his part.

As Hibiki stared at his new doll thousands of thin, small strings came out of his body, slowly they approached the elephant before wrapping around it.

Slowly and clumsily the elephant rose up into the air. It would have brought a smile to Hibiki's face if it was capable of being any expression other than happy.

It may not seem like it to an outside observer but Hibiki has been struggling to lift his blocks since a week ago. So when he saw that he, even if a bit clumsily, was able to lift his plush he was ecstatic. Even if it was a little childish from his end.

Kumagawa was happy seeing his son happily play with his new toy, it was his day off so he wanted to enjoy the day with his family. As Kumagawa began planning the day he saw his son's head snap around 180 degrees. Well, to be more accurate he heard his son's head snap.

No matter how many times he saw that Kumagawa could never get used to his son's unnatural ability to twist and contort his body. The doctors had told him that there was nothing they could really do considering it was just a part of his Quirk's functionality. However, the way they said it and the looks they were giving his son weren't the most... positive.

He had half the mind to put them in their place. Though that would be an issue all in of itself.

Kumagawa and Aimi took Hibiki out to a nearby park, Aimi wanted to meet up with some of her friends and introduce them to the new member of their family.

As they were walking towards the park Hibiki noticed a tech store, he wasn't really interested in the store since he couldn't read the language yet, that was until he saw phones and laptops on the display.

He didn't know why but he felt a sort of pull and connection towards the devices, he however had to divert his attention as they were nearing the park. Something his body let him know that it found displeasing.

------

Hibiki was quite surprised as to what he was seeing, a girl, not even a month older than he was, was staring at him as he stared back. Now this in and of itself wasn't what shocked him but what about her was her appearance.

She had chocolate brown skin, dark blue eyes and black and blue hair which, while interesting was not the main reason he was interested in her but rather her extremely sharp teeth, and gil-like organs on the side of her neck. He wondered what had caused her to have that.

Looking at her parents gave him information as to her biology. Her mother was quite a tall woman. If he had to guess, somewhere around 7'2 to 7'5 feet in height. A dark grey completion with sharp blue curved lines and swirls decorating her skin.

However, the most interesting thing about her was her... extra features. She had a large tail, just over half her height in length. And adoring her tail was a caudal fin. That and her shark-like features such as her dorsal fin and face.

Hibiki wasn't too shocked at her appearance, mainly due to all the other weird and inhuman bodies he'd seen on his way here. Though most people did look normal or at the very least, looked/retained more human features.

Ibuki was no different though her complexion was a simple chocolate brown. Her arms and legs though faded into her mother's dark grey colour as they got closer to the tips of her fingers.

Hibiki didn't understand the cause of such a strange combination. It was obviously genetics but the question was on how. How was such a thing even possible? What allowed people to be even capable of these things? The ability to control or create the elements or have bodies that by all means should be biologically impossible to maintain. He wasn't an exception to this.

At some point in his analysis of the mother and daughter pair, Hibiki had started to touch her face trying to see if he was dreaming or not. Not even realising that he was invading her personal space - not that he would have cared.

As he was feeling her face he noticed that what he first thought was skin, felt more like rubber. Though it did have the standard roughness that sharks naturally have. Though not as rough as the sharks from his world were. It was kind of sad. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, she bit his right hand.

Hibiki didn't even flinch as she bit into his hand, all that was going through his head was slight shock and confusion as he looked at the way his own body acted and moved. Nothing up until this point had penetrated his skin. So for it to happen so quickly was a little jarring.

It almost struck her, if the half of it that cared for kids did restrain the other half. His body would have ripped her limb from limb, torn off her flesh or something else that it found as a fitting punishment.

Although... this would have been the case if his body's hateful side didn't hold itself back.

"Ibuki, don't bite Hibikis' hand!" Her mum yelled at her. Not that he understood why. It wasn't hurting him. He didn't even feel it let alone register that it happened. Though that was mainly due to him being preoccupied with her skin's texture.

The movement she went to bite him - instinctual or other her skin turned from rubbery to a rough, hard sandpaper feel.

"Sorry about that Aimi." Ibuki's mother said apologetically as she picked up her daughter from the blanket all four of them were sitting on. "She's been biting everything she's seen for a while now."

Aimi waved her off as she picked up her son. "It's fine Nami, besides it Hibiki kinda asked for it." She said with a wry smile before a realisation hit her. "Wait. She's chewing already?!"

Nami gave a tired smile and nodded before responding. "Yeah." She said with a sigh. "Her teeth are already growing out." Nami had a very nostalgic look on her face as she said her next sentence. Something Hibiki took note of.

"My parents often told me how much of a pain it was to raise me due to my energetic nature and how many toys they had to replace as I had chewed through them all." A soft chuckle escaped her lips before she continued. "When I got older they said 'Watch when you have a kid. You'll understand how much of a pain you were.' And now... I get it. It sucks!"

Aimi chuckled at her friends' despair. "Don't they have any sturdier chew toys? I haven't looked into any since...well, Hibiki won't be needing them and all." She said with a questioning face. She had genuinely never done any research on the subject since they rarely had to get Hibiki anything other than toys of course.

Another sigh escaped from Nami's mouth as she spoke. "It's not that simple. Unfortunately, there aren't many that people like us can get. Unless I get her something metal but then she risks hurting herself. And besides those aren't meant for us. I've seen many Mutant Quirk holders asking for more accommodation for them but it seems it will be a while before we start to get anything like that."

Aimi sadly nodded. "My step-sister said something like that, she's got a rather...unique kid that'll rip through anything he gets his little hands on like a frenzied tornado. Got the claws and body for it too."

She looked off into the park before a wave of enthusiasm washed through her as she remembered something and her face brightened. "Though I heard that some Mutant Quirk holders were getting together to make an organisation to improve the lives of those and treatment of those with Mutant Quirks. Don't know how well it'll turn out but I'm hoping for the best." She said smiling brightly.

Nami sat silently for a bit before laughing heartily. "Sure, sure." She waved off. "While I don't see it happening anytime soon I don't see any reason to not have a little hope."

Her friend was always so upbeat and wishful Nami couldn't help but laugh at it. Even after all these years, she had never changed.