Hey everybody! I took a little time off to catch up on other non-writing projects and realized when I came back that I wasn't completely satisfied with how I was writing this story. So I've decided I'm going to edit the chapters I have up now before I continue any further! I'll leave the current chapters as they are until they're ready to be replaced, and then continue with the story when I catch up! To everybody who has been reading this story and keeps up with my posts, thank you so much for your support! Any and all reviews are appreciated and it just inspires me to keep writing knowing that there are people reading and really enjoying this story!

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"Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself." – Mohsin Hamid

CHAPTER 1 – CAUSE FOR CONCERN

Naomasa sighed and pushed the last of his case files aside for the night. The pile of finished paperwork swayed as he slapped the last file on, threatening to dissolve into a heap on the desk. The minor catastrophe contained itself, however, and Naomasa heaved a relieved sigh as he leaned back in his chair. The rather large pile of case files sitting on his desk was one of several cluttering his office, nearly a week's worth of paperwork lying around from an uncharacteristic bout of anxiety. He was sitting one collapse away from an avalanche of case files and incident reports. He shot another desperate look around his office, smothering the overwhelming urge to up-end some helpless piece of furniture out of sheer frustration. His partner had taken pity on him sometime around mid-morning, waltzing into his office to nab a stack of nearly week-old incident reports and leaving with a half-hearted reproach and a teasing warning about slacking.

He sat back in his chair, leaning back as far as possible to stretch his back. He hazarded a glance at the clock hanging above his office door and groaned. Twelve minutes past midnight. Feeling depleted Naomasa shuffled a few remaining papers around his desk, slapping them around impatiently before setting them aside. He pushed back from his desk, pulling open a desk drawer as he unfolded himself from his chair and snatching a small envelope from inside. Unassuming and otherwise unremarkable the envelope had arrived nearly a week ago and had, over the course of a handful of paragraphs, managed to derail the entirety of his work week. Naomasa shoved it into his pants pocket without delicacy, hoping to smother the words concealed inside and the mountain load of concerns that had come with it.

Moving across the room as quickly as he could while dodging paperwork, Naomasa shut off the lights and collected his trench coat and hat from the hook by the door. He shut off the lights with a flick of his wrist and shut the door behind him. He cringed at the sound of paper sliding and falling. Hand on the knob he forced a deep breath in through clenched teeth, resolving to deal with that monster in the morning. He made a conscious effort to loosen each finger from the doorknob without throwing a fit. Congratulating himself when he succeeded in walking away from his office without dissolving into a total meltdown. The split level that separated the detective's offices from the officer's main bullring was nothing more than glorified step running the circumference of the room. And while the desks cluttering the primary office area were more or less deserted at this hour of the night, Naomasa was not keen on losing face in front of the few junior officers still putting in late hours in the hopes of rising in the ranks.

Suppressing a yawn, Naomasa set off along the split level. He passed a handful of offices long since abandoned for the night, the silver plaque beside each door announcing their occupant's names. Sawamura Shuzo. Futakuchi Kaito. Matsukawa Aiko. Nishikawa Yanagi. Naomasa stopped. The door to the last office stood ajar, light spilling out from the crack along with the faint sound of pen on paper and the faint, herbal smell of tea. The sound stopped as Naomasa pushed the door open to stand in the doorframe. His partner was sitting folded over her work, pen still poised against the paper, but her eyes flickered up to his own through the curtain of her short unruly hair. A smile, halfway to a smirk twisted her lips. Naomasa registered mischief beneath the resigned exhaustion in her amber eyes. He rolled his eyes at her good-naturedly.

"Don't give me that. I've snuck up on you plenty of times."

She laughed, finishing off her current file with a fluid flick of her wrist. "Lucky for me I was just finishing up then."

Naomasa shot a doubtful look at the piles of work still littered across her desk. Her workload, unlike his, had yet to engulf the entirety of the space surrounding her desk, but he had no doubts it was only a matter of time. Not for the first time he felt a dull pang of guilt at the amount of work she was doing to make up for his own slacking. If the current situation was not testament enough to the amount of work she was taking on his behalf, the dark circles beneath her eyes and unusual paleness of her complexion did a decent job of filling in the blanks.

Nishikawa collected her thermos off the desk in a fluid motion as she stood. She moved around her office busily, tidying some of the clutter before joining him at the door. She pulled a navy police bomber-jacket from the hook and pulled it on, taking half a second to pull her dark hair from the collar and stuff her thermos halfway into a pocket. She levelled him with a flat look, flapping her hands at him when he continued to stand in the door frame. He shifted, and the two detectives stepped slowly out of the office. Nishikawa shut the door behind them, shooting him a half-mocking pleased look when nothing inside collapsed at their exit. Up close, she seemed even more exhausted; radiating tiredness in a way that was not entirely unrelated to her quirk. The guilt spiked again.

"You know, you should really work on the whole 'self-guilt-trip' thing. One of these days it'll give me a migraine."

He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. "You sure you're not a mind reader?"

He was met with a lazy eye-roll as she gently ushered him toward the elevator. "Believe me, I'd know. Besides, dealing with other people's emotions is plenty for me, thank you very much. Particularly your worrying. What's gotten into you lately?"

Naomasa sighed, struggling to compose his thoughts for a moment. No point in hiding his emotions from an actual empath. He waited for the elevator doors to slid shut firmly behind them, taking the opportunity to structure his thoughts into coherent phrases beyond raw worry and mild panic. He rubbed his fingers circularly into his temples, wondering at how easy it was for a single person to up-end his life.

"A good friend of mine sent me a letter recently that he'd be coming to town soon. He wouldn't say what for, but I'd wager our jobs are about to get a lot more hectic. He's supposed to have arrived sometime today actually."

Nishikawa snorted, the dark hair falling over half her face whipping up with the harsh gust of wind. "Can't say that's exactly good news, but it's not as bad as what I'd imagined given all your worrying."

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you'll understand my worrying when he gets here..."

Naomasa made of point of crooking his fingers in air quotes, pitching his voice a few octaves higher in a mockery of Nishikawa's voice. His partner laughed outright, pulling her jacket tighter around her shoulders as the elevator stopped on the ground floor and the door slid open quietly. They stepped off together into the stillness of the main lobby. A few officers sat dozing behind the service counter, and a middle-aged man bundled into an oversized trench coat sat uncomfortably hunched into a plastic waiting chair. The officers stirred slightly at their arrival, nodding drearily at them in greeting. The detectives returned the gesture as they crossed the lobby. The older man shifted in his seat, sighing shortly in the impatient, annoyed way of someone who wanted desperately to be elsewhere.

At the entrance, Naomasa and Nishikawa paused. Outside, the sky was overcast and threatening a deluge. Despite that, the city was as alive as ever. Workers coming off their late shifts trudged home sleepily, a few miscellaneous drunks stumbled through the streets, and further out of sight heroes patrolled keeping the city safe as people slept. Naomasa caught a faint flicker of motion on a rooftop in his periphery and turned just in time to watch a shadow disappear towards the mouth of an alley. Nishikawa caught his eye and shook her head.

"Eraserhead. We should probably just hurry up and go home before we get dragged into writing up more incident reports."

They pushed open the doors, stepping out into the night air together. The wind was whistling through the streets, strong and forceful enough to push through jackets and rob those unfortunate enough to be outside of what warmth they had. Naomasa checked his watch out of habit, knowing full well that he had already missed the last train. Sighing, he pulled out his phone to call a cab. Beside him, Nishikawa offered him a tired wave as she wandered away down the street. He returned the gesture, looking up from his phone to see her off. He waited until she disappeared around a corner before returning his attention to his phone. Behind him, the police station doors opened, and the old man hurried out in a huff. He knocked shoulders with Naomasa as he passed. The detective turned to say something but stopped short and turned back to the road with a dismissive shrug. The man disappeared into the night, just another blurred interaction in his sleep-deprived mind.

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Nishikawa yawned as she wandered down the street toward her apartment. Despite the late hour, the city was alive with people and Nishikawa felt the dull hum of her quirk like pressure in her eardrums. Her apartment was close enough to the station. Not a short distance, but close enough that the prospect of walking was a welcome chance to stretch her legs after a full day behind a desk. She stifled another yawn. The dull pulse of her quirk was quickly transforming into a full-blown headache. She grimaced, rubbing the heel of her palm into her temple. Ahead, the glowing neon sign of a convenience store beckoned. She ducked into the store, making a beeline for the coolers on the back wall.

Automatically, her quirk zeroed in on the other occupants of the store. The clerk was a middle-aged man, with skin an oddly matte shade of green; like a cartoon-colored in with crayon. Half-asleep at the counter, he raised his head slightly in what might have been a nod or a sleepy attempt at attentiveness. His emotional feedback was just as weak; sluggish and dazed with sleep so that Nishikawa was left feeling like she was chewing a mouthful of molasses. The other occupant of the store was completely different. Tall but stooped, with a wild mane of blond hair and skin stretched taut over bone, he loomed over the shelves in the store like a sunflower grim-reaper. His presence was a constant thrum at the back of Nishikawa's mind; a baseline of goodwill smothered beneath bone-deep exhaustion and sad resignation. She considered him distractedly in the reflection in the cooler glass. Shaking her head, she swung the door open tiredly and plucked an iced-coffee from a lower shelf praying the caffeine would give her enough energy to wrangle her quirk back into submission.

She paid for her drink, feeling the dull hum of the clerk's boredom leech into her through proximity. She clamped down on the creeping invasion of emotion and hurried toward the door. Behind her the skeleton man sighed heavily, coming sharply back into focus in her mind with a spike of exhaustion. He made his way toward the door and Nishikawa stopped to hold the door for him. He slid past her out the door with a grateful nod of his head just as another figure materialized out of the darkness. Swathed in a baggy black jacket, hood raised over their eyes, the figure marched past the pair into the store. Nishikawa, tired and sluggish from a combination of exhaustion both foreign and her own, was a half second too slow squeeze out of the way as the man stormed past. Her quirk leapt to the forefront as their shoulders knocked. Her perception blurred slightly around the edges as the stranger's emotions punched her in the gut; determination tamped down beneath desperation and fear. Nishikawa felt it like a cold shock in her jaw. Felt her muscles clench with frustration not her own.

She turned, watched the stranger storm into the shop, felt her body's rhythm change to the flow of foreign emotion. The mugger was standing level with the cashier now. Nishikawa felt her gut clench. She watched the scene in what felt like slow motion, the feedback loop of intention and emotion twisting her perception. The shopkeeper glanced up at the same time as the other man pulled one of his hands from his jacket pocket. Nishikawa felt the cashier's panic like the sudden onslaught of a migraine as the mugger's hand raised level with his face, fingers twisting together until his hand had warped into the deformed shape of a gun. Faintly, as though through deep water Nishikawa heard the click of the mugger's firearm preparing to fire. Her mind snapped back to the present. She lurched forward back into the shop with a yell.

The mugger turned, startled. Nishikawa ducked sideways out of the way as his gun-hand fired blindly. The cashier ducked beneath the counter, shielding himself with his arms. Relieved, Nishikawa turned her full attention back to the would-be-mugger. The man's attention was now riveted to her as he realized his odds had just shifted. Nishikawa winced as a spike of frustration and anger rocketed through his body. Nishikawa had a moment to wonder at the unnaturally fierce shift in emotion before he lunged. She twisted fluidly out of the way, narrowly dodging an arm-now-a-dagger as it swung by her face. She stepped backwards and sideways smoothly. Her assailant followed with wide, clumsy sweeps of his weapon arm. She ducked under a particularly aggressive swing, catching his elbow as it passed over her head. With a smooth twist of his arm, she unbalanced her attacker, sending him stumbling away. He caught himself against a shelf, knocking half an aisle of potato chips and candies to the ground. He lurched toward Nishikawa with an animalistic snarl. Startled, she twisted out of the way a second time, shoving the man firmly in the back with one palm as he went past her. Too late she realized the man was falling too close to her body.

She felt her feet go out from beneath her as the man tumbled away. She threw her weight sideways, rolling away from the general direction the man had fallen. Her back collided with the corner of a shelf, and she winced as the edge bit into the soft flesh beneath her shoulder blade. Nishikawa pushed up quickly, propping herself on her forearms and readying to jump away. She stilled halfway through the movement, staring dumbstruck at the sight before her. A giant of a man was standing between her and the would-be thief, who was on the floor one arm twisted behind his back. He squirmed futilely where he was pinned beneath one of the stranger's hands. She had a moment to take him in; a tower of pure muscle, before the ridiculous signature blonde hair came into focus as he turned to address her with his trademark grin. She stared back from the floor, mind reeling as she struggled to process the information whirling in her head.

"…All… Might…?"

The next moment the shop's front door was flung open and several police officers rushed in weapons raised. They processed the situation quickly, and a moment later they dispersed into a well-practiced routine. Two men stepped forward to cuff the attacker and cart him away, while two others approached the counter to speak with the still cowering shopkeeper. Two others walked forward to debrief the hero looking more than a little starstruck as he turned the full force of his megawatt smile on them. Nishikawa blinked as a hand came into view in front of her face. She glanced up the outstretched arm, into the face of a junior officer she vaguely recognized. She took the offered hand gingerly and let the younger officer haul her to her feet. She dusted some dirt from the back of her pants as she straightened, taking in the damage to the shop with a sweeping glance. When her eyes landed back on the officer nearest her she offered him an appreciative nod. He saluted stiffly, and she laughed.

"No need for that with me. Unless the Chief's around."

The man fumbled awkwardly. "Oh-…O-of Course. Yes, ma'am."

Nishikawa snorted again. "Remind me what your name was again? Sorry, I'm sort of terrible for that… Faces stick but names, not so much."

"Himuro Taketora, ma'am."

"Well, thank you Himuro. I'm assuming the shopkeeper hit the panic button?"

The other police officer nodded. "We got the alert and rushed straight over. Not what I expected on my first night shift, but I suppose as far as the big city goes this is pretty tame."

Nishikawa smiled reassuringly. "You'd be surprised. This city's usually quiet, what with UA and all the pro heroes in the area."

She was about to say more when a sudden spike of panic drew her attention away. The shopkeeper was still huddled behind the counter, shielding his face and breathing heavily. His oddly matte skin slowly turning an alarmingly dark violet. She offered the younger officer a tight, apologetic smile as she stepped past him in the direction of the counter. The clerk's near-manic distress thrummed steadily beneath her skin like a second heartbeat. Quietly, she signalled for the other officers to step away. It took a few minutes to coax the clerk into standing and shuffling to the back room, and even longer before he accepted the cup of water she offered from the small tap at the back of the room. He slumped, boneless into a stool near the door, hands fidgeting around the plastic cup. Nishikawa pulled a stool up across from him, smiling gently as he shifted nervously in his seat. The remains of his abrupt adrenaline rush sent tremors through his frame as he sat folded in on himself. Nishikawa offered him an apologetic smile, shifting into what she hoped was a non-threatening position.

"I know that must have been a terrible experience for you, but if you can manage it I'd like you to walk me through what happened from your point of view."

The man fidgeted some more, before downing the entire glass in one go. Nishikawa gently took the cup from his trembling fingers and stood to refill the cup. He drank deeply again the moment the cup returned to his hands. After his second drink, he seemed more settled. His skin was beginning to settle back into its unnatural matte tone, though it settled somewhere between amber and grey instead of returning to the strange green she remembered from before the assault. Nishikawa offered him an encouraging smile. He sucked in a deep breath before beginning.

"I-I don't really know… One second it was dead quiet, the next some man is pointing a weapon at me!"

"You've never seen this man before? Any chance there was a motive here beyond simple theft?"

The clerk shook his head. "He might have been in before. We don't really have regulars here."

"And you have no reason to believe this was a personal attack?"

She had phrased the question carefully, but the colour drained back out of his skin almost immediately. It edged closer to violet then. Nishikawa offered a placating gesture with her hands and back-pedalled as best she could.

"We don't have any reason to believe it was a personal attack at the moment, sir. But we need to cover all our bases before launching a full investigation."

This seemed to calm the man marginally. He shook his head slowly, tiredly. "I have no reason to think this was about me, no."

Nishikawa nodded gently. "Alright then. That's all we need for now. Most likely officers will be in touch in the morning for any details they feel are pertinent. I think you should consider closing early and getting some rest. You're looking… well, purple."

The clerk shook himself, shaking his whole body against the idea. "No, no I'll be alright."

She watched him dubiously. "Are you sure? I can ask an officer to stay with you a little longer if you need."

"No! No, I'm fine. This is natural for me. My quirk makes my skin act as a mood ring."

Nishikawa nodded carefully, still watching the shopkeeper carefully. Through the small door leading out into the store, Nishikawa could just see officers not occupied with the suspect gathering by the door. All Might stood a few paces away, studiously replacing the junk food that had fallen from the shelves. She stored that odd detail away for later, turning back to the shopkeeper carefully. She leaned over carefully to offer her hand palm up, manoeuvring so her back was to the door and shielding the interaction.

"If you insist on keeping your store open, at the very least let me help."

He shot her a confused look and she continued quietly, "My quirk is empathy, I can sense and influence emotions. If you'll allow it, I'd like to calm you down enough that you don't go into shock. But only if that's alright with you."

He shot her a sudden, guarded glance. Nishikawa tried not to let her friendly, unassuming smile falter as he edged his entire body away from her. "Can't you just do that without touching me?"

She shrugged gently, struggling with her smile. "I could, but that seems kind of invasive to me. I'll only do this with your permission."

His face went through a range of emotions, wrestling with himself before he seemed to steel himself and dropped his hand into her open palm. Nishikawa blinked, steadying herself as his emotions whirled into full focus. She took a moment to take stock of his mental state before carefully sifting through his emotions. She pulled the residual calm from before the attack back to the forefront of his mind, carefully dulling the intensity of his panic and distress. A moment later she watched his shoulders relax as the tension drained from his body. The next moment he stood, offering her a polite smile as he moved to set his cup back near the sink. She took that as her cue to leave and stood as well. The other officers and hero followed her out of the store and into the street. Outside the wind had picked up, and she struggled to yank her hair away from her face long enough to have a normal conversation with the officers.

"You can leave the paperwork on my desk, I'll fill in my bits when I get in tomorrow morning."

The officers nodded, stepping into the waiting cruisers. Himuro offered her a friendly bob of his head as he moved past her.

"I hope the rest of your night is less eventful."

Nishikawa laughed. "So do I."

When the cruisers drove off, she turned to face the hero still standing awkwardly in the street. "Thank you for stepping in. I'm glad that was resolved before things got out of hand."

"No problem! After all, it is my duty to help!"

She jerked, startled and a little put off by the sudden loudness of his voice despite talking to a person less than two feet away from him. "Well thank you anyway. I hope the rest of your night is a peaceful one."

She made to step away, but he stopped her with an awkward gesture. She blinked, waiting.

"How did you know?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Sorry, I don't follow…"

"The mugger. How did you know? You reacted almost before he pulled his weapon… or quirk, I suppose."

Nishikawa tensed, unpleasantly aware of how the next few minutes would go. With a resigned sigh, she pulled one hand from her pocket and motioned vaguely at her own head.

"I'm an empath. I'm usually pretty good at blocking other people's emotions but he knocked into me on his way in."

All Might's face morphed quickly from curiosity to understanding, to a strange kind of furtive paranoia. She might have found it funny. This mountain of a man able to take on the worst of the worse looking hunted at the prospect of her quirk, but the reality that this was how people, even the Symbol of Peace, would always view her was a heavy one. Even without her ability, the sudden suspiciousness radiating off his person was palpable. His smile never faltered, and she admired the effort he put into politeness, but it suddenly seemed more strained and Nishikawa shifted uncomfortably. Electing to save whatever dignity she might have, she offered the hero one final half-hearted smile. She bid him a good night before ducking her head and marching off quickly without looking back. She refused to stop, or even think until the door to her apartment was safely shut behind her.

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