Chapter Text
Aizawa was deeply unsettled. Ever since the entrance exam, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very off. He was currently gearing up to go on patrol. He fastened his sword to his waist and placed his capture weapon around his shoulders. A soft meow came from the folds of the weapon, and the head of a white cat with ruby-red eyes raised from the scarf, and then it kept raising. It rose higher than any cat's neck would allow. His cat could care less about what nature thought of its anatomy. It had a snake quirk.
Suddenly, somebody burst through the front door, causing a massive ruckus. Aizawa sighed. Nemuri was his lifelong friend. The two were pretty much inseparable from the moment they met. They were kindred spirits or something. Contrary to what his coworkers thought, they weren't interested in each other romantically. Nemuri was actually aro-ace. Her hero persona seemed to contradict that, but she could only pull the stunts she did because she wasn't attracted to anyone she made advances on. It was all business and acting and nothing personal.
"SHOTA," Nemuri yelled through the house. "I'M BACK FROM PATROL!"
"QUIET DOWN," Aizawa shouted back. The scruffy man shuffled into the main room of the apartment, where Nemuri was removing the heeled boots of her hero costume.
Her costume was a black, sleeveless leotard with a clover-shaped cutout, giving a clear view of her cleavage. A short, pleated black skirt was layered over the leotard, and a white haori made of thin, breathable material covered her shoulders. Her spiky, plum hair was pulled loosely into a braid with two strands of hair framing her face, and a pink belt secured her whip and fans to her waist. She had green eyes, and an angular pink mask rested on her face instead of the glasses she wears out of costume.
Aizawa's costume was far more modest—a black jumpsuit with black boots, a utility belt, and goggles. The belt and goggles were white. The belt had thin black vertical stripes, and the goggles had slits to resemble the stripes. Behind the slits were plastic lenses to prevent dust and debris from getting in his eyes. He also had a sword that curved like a snake and his capture scarf. His cat, Kaburamaru, was also a fixture of his costume because the cat-snake hybrid was almost always draped over his shoulders. Apparently, the cat's quirk gave it an incredibly long lifespan because it was nearly as old as Aizawa and was far from the old cranky thing you'd expect of a twenty-something-year-old cat.
Shaking his head fondly, Aizawa moved to the genkken and pulled on his boots. "I'm going out on patrol."
As the underground pro-hero leaped from rooftop to rooftop, he scanned the alleys beneath him. There have been reports of a new vigilante duo with suspiciously similar descriptions to the two kids who were rejected on technicalities. The listed addresses were already checked, but both leads came up dry—one led to a brick wall, and the other to an empty apartment. Now, they were in a completely different part of the city than their original addresses, and all their appearances were squarely within his patrol territory— problem children.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Within two weeks, the vigilantes had already made names for themselves. They went by the Demon and the Demon Slayer, a strange dynamic for the two, but they seemed to make it work. The reports about the Demon were far more detailed than the ones for the Demon Slayer. The Demon had wild purple hair and little regard for his own safety. He had unnatural strength and durability, a ridiculously fast healing speed, and claws. The Demon Slayer was shifty and slippery. He wore dark clothes, had long, dark hair, and was skilled at using a wooden sword, but one report claimed he had another sword he left unused.
The first time Aizawa witnessed the vigilantes take down a criminal, he was returning home after his patrol. He heard the unmistakable sounds of a back alley scuffle and moved to investigate. Peering over the edge of the roof overlooking the alley, he saw the glint of claws in neon light and the flashy, purple appearance of the Demon. An animalistic growl and a scream preceded the final blow for the thug. Another thud signaled the takedown of the other thug… There were two thugs?
The Demon Slayer walked over to the criminal the Demon took down and zip-tied the unconscious body to a nearby light post. The two conversed, but Aizawa couldn't hear what they were saying. The reposts failed to include the Demon's sharp teeth and animalistic fight style. Watching them for a moment longer, Aizawa was hit with an intense feeling of deja vu. He shook the feeling out of his head. He had a couple of vigilantes to bring in.
With the stealth of a trained professional, Aizawa wrapped his capture weapon around the fire escape and swung down to the ground level. They were both melee fighters, and the Demon most likely had some kind of mutation quirk, so the pro directed his gaze to the Demon Slayer and activated his quirk: Erasure. The Demon Slayer did not react to the nullification of his quirk.
Aizawa shot his capture scarf forward to catch the vigilante. The vigilante turned to meet him head-on. Green hair, teal eyes, freckles… With a superhuman reflex speed, the Demon Slayer drew his sword. Okay, just wrap your weapon around the wooden sword and wrench it out of his hand. Sparks and the sound of metal scraping on metal flew through the air as the Slayer's white sword carved through the carbon fiber and metal alloy weave of the capture weapon like butter.
Not missing a beat, Aizawa drew the sword at his waist to defend himself from the kid who was definitely using a real sword now. The vigilante's eyes lit up in recognition, and he muttered something under his breath. The pro did not have the time to unpack the reaction's implications as he surged forward with his sword in his right hand and what remained of his capture weapon in his left. The two swordsmen clashed. While the kid had an alarming speed and strength, Aizawa had the advantage of height and experience.
"Mist Breathing: First Nonleathal Form…" the kid muttered, and all of Aizawa's instincts lit up with the knowledge that he should recognize the words and the danger they precede. "…Cloud Cover." With a jaw-dropping level of speed and precision, the kid cut through the air and twirled in graceful arcs. Dust and water vapor clumped into thick clouds, completely obscuring his view of the vigilante.
Kaburamaru gave him a warning yowl, and Aizawa ducked. Razor-sharp claws sailed over his head, and the Demon twisted midair to face him. After having a second-long staring contest, the Demon darted backward into the cloud cover. The vigilantes were long gone by the time the clouds cleared.
-x-x-x-x-x-
"The Glaring Hero: Basilisk" was the hero alias of 1A's homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, and he was making good on his name as he stared down the bus full of his students. All nineteen of his students sat frozen at attention under his gaze. One was expelled on the first day.
"Behave," was all Aizawa had to say to his students as they disembarked and entered the USJ —no Kaminari, not Universal Studios Japan.
The first red flag was All Might's absence. According to Thirteen, he used all his time heroing around town and couldn't maintain his appearance for his teaching job. Typical. The unsettled feeling in his gut was the second red flag. The third and final red flag came during Thirteen's spiel about the dangers of quirks when Kirishima excitedly exclaimed that UA hired fake villains for their training exercise.
"Thirteen, protect the students. Get out of here!" Aizawa commanded. His eyes glowed bright red, and his hair floated with the power of his quirk, his pupils narrowing into snake-like slits. Pulling his goggles on and drawing his sword, he leaped into action. Some of his students shouted in surprise at the sight of the sword, but they had bigger fish to fry than their teacher wielding a lethal weapon.
With a combination of flailing his capture weapon and swinging his sword in practiced arcs, Aizawa plowed through the ranks of the villain horde. Most of the villains backed down when their quirk stopped working, his capture weapon used them as a projectile, or his sword cut them. He made quick work of the mob and was down to the last dozen when the supposed leader finally joined the fray.
The leader had greasy pale blue hair, wore all black with red sneakers, and had preserved hands all over his body. He stank of formaldehyde. Shigaraki, as the mist villain called him, had an open-palmed fighting style, and the way he grabbed for Aizawa as much as possible must have something to do with his quirk. With this in mind, Aizawa deftly dodged the villain's strikes. Aizawa went to attack with his capture weapon, but the villain caught it. Shigaraki was counting under his breath, and when Aizawa blinked, the weapon began to decay away.
Aizawa rushed in to counter with his sword, but before he could cut into the villain, a larger villain with a bird beak and exposed brain jumped in to act as a meat shield. Aizawa's sword carved through the villain's flesh with ease, and the pro watched in horror as its flesh knit itself back together. Kuburamaru's hiss was the only warning he got before the bird villain punched him cleanly across the plaza where they were fighting.
Aizawa groaned as reality shifted back into focus. Water was dripping on his face from a… fountain? Yes, a fountain. He grunted in pain as he tried to sit up. I definitely have a cracked rib. Where am I? What was I doing? It took a second for him to notice he was using a strange breathing pattern, but it felt right… like this was the correct way to breathe. Then he heard maniacal laughter and was on his feet in seconds. He was in the middle of battle!
He gripped his sword tighter and heard the handle creak under the added pressure. The Serpent Hashira made eye contact with the dull eyes of the demon before him. "Serpent Breathing," Aizawa grunted, shifting his battered body into a new but oh-so-familiar stance. "Forth Form: Twin-Headed Reptile." The gruff man lunged at the demon and cut through its abdomen. "Serpent Breathing, Second Form: Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head." Aizawa dashed behind the demon as it cried out in pain from its fresh wound. With blinding speed, the Hashira decapitated the demon.
The plaza was silent, all for the twin thumps of the demon collapsing. Aizawa waited for the demon to disintegrate, but it never did. It wasn't a Kizuki. There wasn't any kanji in its eyes… How is it still alive? The demon let out a pained gargle, and Aizawa glared at it. He walked over and stabbed it through its exposed brain. It was very dead now, but it was yet to disintegrate. Weird.
"Hacks! I call hacks!" Shigaraki howled. The man completely forgot about the two students he threatened to throw a temper tantrum. "Nomu was supposed to kill All Might! Basilisk was just supposed to be an NPC, not a mini-boss! HACKS!"
Aizawa blinked in confusion and took note of his surroundings. He was in the USJ. He was in the middle of the plaza and a pile of unconscious villains. The villains' leader was throwing a tantrum next to the mist villain. Behind the villains were Asui and Mineta. The students were as pale as parchment. They were probably scared of the villains and the demon… shit… was the thing I just killed a demon or just some random joe-shmo villain. Aizawa would have a mountain of paperwork to fill out if it was a human villain and not an unholy monster. At least he couldn't be charged for excessive force if it really was strong enough to kill All Might.
"It was made to kill All Might! Sensei gave it shock absorption, regeneration, and all the strength it could ever need! How was a hobo with a sword able to kill it!" Shigaraki ranted.
…That answers that problem.
Aizawa moved to sheath his sword when the doors exploded. All Might entered, yelling his iconic "I AM HERE!" then he saw the carnage, and his smile dropped. Shigaraki grumbled and complained for a moment longer before the mist villain teleported the two of them away.
The number-one hero lept from the entrance to the plaza and landed next to the blood-soaked underground hero. Basilisk muttered something that All Might couldn't quite make out. He thought he heard something about "feeling like a wet cat" and "why couldn't it have been a normal demon?" He did not want to unpack that. The last thing All Might wanted to do was trigger the sword-wielding, carnage-covered, potentially homicidal Basilisk.
"Are you alright, Aizawa-san," All Might asked.
Aizawa blinked up at All Might and slowly removed his goggles. Kaburamaru meowed. The snake-like cat was somehow free of blood despite his human's current state. Aizawa nodded to himself as if he was confirming something.
"Blood's mostly not mine," Aizawa grumbled. He began walking to the exit. "I probably have a cracked rib… maybe a fracture in my left arm," Aizawa added as if it was an afterthought. All Might was left utterly confused by his coworker's ability to walk off such painful injuries as if they were only a mild inconvenience. All Might wondered how somebody could still walk after aggravating multiple lacerations, broken bones, and god knows what else.
-x-x-x-x-x-
The castle's rooms twisted and folded in impossible ways as gravity shifted like it had a mind of its own…
Cold steel sliced through my cheek as…
Kuburamaru guided me through battle after Muzan took out my eyes…
Laying in a tree as a new recruit fought the Wind Hashira about the fate of his demonic sister…
The feeling of malnourishment as I clawed out of that hellhole…
The light green eyes of the most beautiful woman…
One of the Sound Hasira's wives yelling at me…
My tainted blood keeping me from confessing my feelings…
The regret of not telling her until it was too late as she died in my arms, the sun warming my back as I drifted into oblivion…
-x-x-x-x-x-
Aizawa shot awake with a pained cry, tears streaming down his face. He took a few deep breaths and sighed. Reincarnation was real… what the hell!? Groaning and planting his palms in his eyes, Aizawa tried processing all the information that had just been dumped on him.
He was the reincarnation of the Serpent Hashira, Iguro Obanai. However, it was clear that Obanai and Aizawa were different people. It was most likely a "same soul, different people" type of deal. That did answer why he and Nemuri gravitated to each other and where his weird preference for blade came from. Should I tell Nemuri about this?
It also explained the deja vu he felt while fighting… "THAT FUCKING PROBLEM CHILD!" Aizawa shouted while pulling on his hair. "No wonder why he seemed familiar! How did the Mist Hashira end up traveling around with a demon like that Kamado brat!?" He flung his hands in the air with anger. "Where did the demon even come from!? They should all be dead!"
"Aizawa, calm down!" Recovery Girl chided.
The underground hero slowly allowed himself to take in his surroundings. He was sitting in one of the beds of the UA infirmary. He blinked a couple of times and looked down at Recovery Girl. "You heard all of that… didn't you."
"Yes, I did. Perhaps your concussion was worse than I originally thought," she replied.
"No. No. I'm fine. It was just a… weird dream that dredged up a few old memories."