Been Too Long

The next Monday, Kit found herself sitting next to Tokoyami Fumikage as they made their way to Kyushu district. The train ride was several hours long, but teen was actually quite entertaining as they spoke quietly to each other.

He was a short boy with the head of a black bird, reminding her of either a crow or raven. He has a hooked light yellow beak and thin red eyes on each side of his head. Even though his head was that of a bird, the rest of his body appeared to be humanoid with fair skin. What was even more unique about him was that when he activated his quirk, a dark shadowy figure emerges from the center of his trunk that he could battle with.

"Ms. Kit?" Her attention was drawn to him, "We only have a short time before we get there, but it seems that the closer we get the more you… twitch."

"Sorry if I worried you, Tokoyami." Kit looked down at the tails in her lap, and then gave a nervous laugh, "Don't worry about me, though." She ran a hand across her tails, ��I just have a job to do in the same place you're going and I'm not exactly looking forward to it." She laughed when his Dark Shadow gave her a look of sympathy, "Thank you for letting me join you."

"This would've been a long and lonely ride without someone." He scratched the end of his beak, then tilted his head at her, "Sometimes I forget that you're actually a few years older than we are." He almost looked embarrassed, "You're more relatable than some of the other teachers are. Even the others talk about how you're almost like one of us."

Kit gave him an awed look, "Thank you. I didn't know you all thought that way." She gave him a bright smile, "I feel much better."

As they walked through downtown Kyushu, she noticed that everyone in the streets seemed to be pretty happy and carefree. Hawks' agency must be doing well in the area, but then again, he wasn't in the top three for nothing.

After roaming around for a while, they finally came to Hawks' agency building where she and Tokoyami were signed in and scanned through. Tokoyami was immediately escorted away by one of the sidekicks, she assumed, and Kit went over to the secretarial desk. The woman behind the desk eyed her as she walked up and seemed to try to end the conversation quickly.

She finally hung up the phone after a few minutes and looked up at her, "Can I help you?"

"Is there a way I can speak with Hawks?" Kit asked after a moment, "I have potential business with him…"

Kit wanted to roll her eyes when the woman eyed her skeptically while she picked up the phone again to talk to someone on the other line, "Hey, is Hawks still in the building? … Does he have time for a guest? … Okay, I'm going to be sending someone up then. Thank you." She put the phone down and picked up a badge, "Put this on." She then leaned over to point out an elevator, "Take the elevator up to the top floor and check in with his assistant."

"Thank you." Kit walked away and clipped the badge to her top before she reached the elevator. The trip up the many floors was oddly fast considering how tall the building was and soon she found herself standing in front of an older woman behind an assistant desk, "I'm here to speak with Hawks."

"Ah, okay. Please have a seat. He is currently busy with another…" Her face scrunched up for a second, "…client. Hopefully he will be finished in a few minutes."

For some reason, the way his assistant spoke made her almost queasy, but Kit gave her a smile as she went to sit in a chair, "Thank you."

A little over ten minutes passed before she heard a feminine laugh sound from behind the door. Kit's ears darted forward when the laugh was followed by a chuckle from a male's voice. After a moment, the door cracked open and a beautiful woman walked out, the door not fully open to show the inside as she turned to seemingly finish her conversation.

"Wanna go for dinner next time? I know a place that makes perfect chicken teriyaki." The male voice was loud and clear from behind the door, causing her ears to droop.

"Sure! It's a date, Hawks!" The woman winked and called back at him as she began to make her way towards the elevator, "See ya!"

Kit's eyes were wide now and she slowly stood, but instead of walking forward, she turned, but came to a stop when the assistant called out to her, "Miss? Where are you going?" She could hear the confusion lacing the woman's voice, "Didn't you want to speak with Hawks?"

"I've, uh, changed my mind." Kit turned slightly to look back towards the woman, "I'm sorry to waste your time."

The door opened all the way then, showing a curious Hawks looking at his assistant, "I have another visitor?"

"You did…" The assistant nodded towards her and Kit quickly turned to press the button for the elevator, "But I guess she isn't interested anymore?"

"Hey, kid!" He called out to her, clearly not recognizing her, "Is there something wrong?"

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, "Don't worry about it." She was almost disappointed that he didn't recognize her from her fox features even from behind; how many people had a fox quirk with multiple tails?, "It was a misunderstanding."

Just as the elevator 'dinged', she looked back to get a final look of the boy she loved to commit to memory, but that was a mistake when she noticed he was openly staring at her, "Kit?" He paused and took one step forward, "Kit, is that you?" Before he could say more, Kit dashed inside the elevator and began to mash the button to close the door, "Hey! Wait!" He sent out several feathers, but the elevator door shut before he could reach inside and she still heard him yell, "Damn it!"

Kit pressed her back against the wall of the elevator, her chest heaving as she muttered to herself, "This was a mistake…"

Once she reached the bottom floor, she already had the badge off and practically threw it at the secretary who had a phone in her hand, "Wait! Hawks wants to speak with you!"

"I don't want to speak with him anymore!" Kit threw herself through the door.

She was quickly trying to make her way back to the train when suddenly he dropped from the sky to land in front of her, "Kit!" He went to grab her, but she jumped back, landing in a crouched position, "It's been so long!"

"I guess it has been too long." Kit's eyes were narrowed on him, "So much for waiting, huh?"

"Waiting?" He looked confused for a moment and she swore she saw the light bulb flash on, "Oh...! No, it isn't what it looks like!" He reached out for her again, only for her to recoil more, her tails flicking, "Wait! Let's just talk this out!"

"I think I'm finished talking or thinking about you." Kit's eyes began to glow and in a flash, her body was enveloped into flames matching the color of her eyes, "I think I've wasted enough time doing that…"

"No! Stop!" He sent his feathers out again, leaving enough on him to dash forward as well. Again, his feathers were just a tad short on timing cause when the flames vanished, she so did she, "Kit! Come back!"

Kit rushed down the sidewalk, knowing he could sense her since the feathers were following close behind along with Hawks, and searched for a way to get him off her tails. Noticing a man in a business suit lock his car with a key fob, she darted that way. Just as the feathers were about to catch up to her, she bumped the car hard enough that the lights and siren began to blare.

Looking back, she nearly screamed when she came face to face with a feather that seemed to be pointing at her. Hawks quickly zeroed in on her and so she eyed the feather in front of her for a moment before remembering something from when she was younger with him. She quickly grabbed the feather and nearly slammed it down on the hood of the car close to where the siren sound came from.

Yelling out, Hawks grabbed the sides of his head, his feathers falling to the ground, "Goddamn it!"

Kit hesitated, looking over at his pained form before hardening herself and quickly making her way to the train station.

Stepping off the train back in Musutafu, Kit's tails hung limp behind her as she began to make her way home. She couldn't help but be disappointed; she wasted a lot of time and thoughts on that red winged man. But she didn't know what to really think. Did she really expect him to wait like that for as long as they have? He was a man, after all, and they say that men have needs… Then again, women have needs too and she put hers off in hopes of saving herself for him. Honestly, all she felt at the moment was numbness.

It didn't take her long to get to her house, but was more surprised when she saw Aizawa standing outside the gate to her house, "Shouta? What are you doing here?" She tilted her head, "I wasn't supposed to be back until tonight…"

He held up his phone, "You left your location on that temp phone you have and I just happened to notice your location at Musutafu station."

"Ah…" She motioned for him to follow her inside, "I'm going to get me some iced green tea… would you like some?"

"Sure." He went to sit in her sitting room.

She gathered two glasses of the tea and brought it out to him, "I'm going to order in. Do you want to join me?"

"Yes, but I'll pay." She went to argue, but she shrunk a little when he threw a solid look her way.

She sent in their order and sat across from him to sip her tea, "Tokoyami is a very polite young man…"

He eyed her for a moment, "How did it go with Hawks?" She opened her mouth for a moment, but had to close it when no words came and the stinging in her eyes started, "Kit…" He called her name softly, "I knew I should've gone with you."

She hiccupped, "It's probably better this way…"

He stood from his seat and came to sit next to her, "He doesn't deserve you, Kit."

"Thank you for saying that, but maybe I just don't deserve anyone…" The tears pooled in her eyes and flowed down the corners of her eyes.

He looked over Kit's face, a distressed expression on his own, before he forcefully pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, "That's not true."

"But…" She moved her hands up to his chest to lightly push.

"But nothing!" He held her tighter, "That… boy is a fool, Kit."

She stopped struggling against him with a sob and pressed her face into his chest, her hands coming up to grip the back of his shirt. She clung to him like this for several minutes, but all the while, she couldn't help but notice how solid he felt. It was comforting to feel such a strong person hold her and she had to resist the urge to bury herself deeper, so she settled on taking in a deep breath of his scent.

There was a knock on the door, which caused her to pull back from him, "Um… that must be the delivery." She stood and went to answer the door, but on the other side wasn't anyone with food, "Master Mera?"

"May I come in?" He asked lazily.

"Oh, of course." Kit stepped to the side so he could pass and then lead him into her sitting room to where Aizawa looked up towards the man, "Shouta, this is Mera Yukumiro…" She then looked back at her former host, "This is Aizawa Shouta."

"I recognize him." Mera looked over at him for a moment, greeting him with a nod, then turning his attention back to Kit, "I attempted to reach you several times over the last few days, but I had been informed that your cell phone had been… damaged?"

Kit could feel her cheeks heat up, remembering how the phone became damaged, "Yes, sorry." She rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm borrowing a temporary phone from the school, but I haven't had time to go get it replaced."

"No need to now." He pulled out a box from his inner jacket, "This phone has already been set up with the basic contacts you need." He put his hands in his pockets after she grabbed the box, "You have an email from two days ago that you need to review."

Kit looked up confused, but noticed that Mera's eyes flashed towards Aizawa for a second, making her understand, "Okay, I'll look at it as soon as I'm free."

"Good." He pivoted towards the door again, "I'll see myself out. Have a goodnight."

"Thank you, Master Mera." Kit watched as he left out the front door and then turned to Aizawa, "Sorry about that."

Aizawa eyed the box in her hands for a moment, "Is he like some kind of father figure?"

This caused her to laugh, "If he was like any type of family, he would be the lazy uncle."

"Interesting." He shifted himself as she came back to sit next to him.

"I guess." She pulled out the phone from the box and turned it on, "Sorry, give me a second so I can check that email or else I'm afraid I'll forget to."

"Sure." He leaned forward towards the coffee table to reach across for his glass of tea.

She quickly pulled up her emails and scanned through them to find the one Mera mentioned and eyed the subject line that was titled, 'Internship Review'. She nodded to herself, almost forgetting that they did this every year to talk about the students across the country about their improvements during their internships. Basically highlighting the ones who they needed to keep an eye on or finding future agents for the HPSC.

Thankfully, they only went over ones that stood out in some kind of way, if any did. She looked at the date for the meeting and mentally noted it would be that Sunday, the day after each student finished their internships. She personally wasn't a fan of committee meetings, since she usually just stood around while the big wigs talked.

Her shoulders lowered and she looked at Aizawa who looked rather relaxed next to her, "Sorry." She put her phone down on the coffee table, "Did you do anything special today?"

Aizawa shrugged, "I caught up on much needed sleep." He cracked a smirk at her, "I take advantage of their internships."

Kit could only shake her head at him as she leaned back on the couch to look at him better. Maybe since Hawks was clearly looking for love in other places, she could too?