"Hello, Mom." Shoko placed her bag down as she sat in the chair nearest to her mother. Somehow, despite the years Rei hadn't changed. At least on the outside, she was the same beautiful woman with long white hair she always was. And on the inside, on the inside, she was completely different from the woman she was all those years ago.

But then again, so was she.

"Shoko!" Her mother's face lit up as she smiled at her. "It's been a while since you last visited. But that's to be expected, you must be busy with exams before the summer."

"That's right, it's our last year at U.A, so the exams were rougher than normal." She pushed a strand of her red hair back behind her ear. She used to hate that part of her body. That ugly reminder that she was her father's daughter. But now, just like her quirk, it was a part of who she was. "I passed."

"I never had any doubts. You're well on your way to becoming a hero. Well, an official one at any rate, I'm sure you're already somebody's hero." Her mother placed a hand over her mouth and laughed. "Fuyumi certainly thinks so."

She doubted it, but she wasn't going to show that. "Thanks, Mom. She told me that they're going to be releasing you soon?"

"That's right," Rei clapped her hands in front of her as though her entire body was sighing into a smile. "I'm going to be moving in with Fuyumi this summer. And it's all because you came in that day."

"What do you mean?" She leaned forward placing her elbows on her knees.

Her mother smiled, and joined her in leaning forward, reaching out to touch her knee, then moving up to touch her face. To touch her scar. "You've grown up into such a beautiful woman, Shoko. I thought you hated me for giving you that scar. But when you showed up and forgave me that day. I started to realize something. As much as I might have hated your father, he did give me my children. And I wouldn't trade you for the world."

She grabbed her mother's hand tracing over her mother's cold knuckles. Rei was always slightly cold due to her quirk, but she didn't mind it. "I'm glad I could help you like that mom, but I was only able to come see you that day because of Izuku."

"And how is Mr. Midoriya? Did he pass his exams as well? I saw his fight during the sports festival. He seemed strong. And tall." Her mother didn't retreat backwards, instead she leaned even further in and began to move some of her red hair. "I'm so happy you're growing your hair out Shoko, it really is beautiful."

"He's doing well, and yea, he hit a growth spurt this last year, I think he's over six feet now. I'm still used to him being the short one though." It seemed like whenever she bumped into him in the hallway she'd forget that Izuku was now much taller than her as opposed to shorter than her. "As for the exam, he was actually my partner during part of the exam. It was difficult, but we managed."

"Oh your partner? I bet you two have great synergy." Her mother continued to play with her hair.

"Our quirks aren't really compatible, so I had to be mindful of him during the exam, I almost froze him twice and nearly burnt him once." Izuku was a lot faster than she thought he was, and his movements were nearly as erratic as Katsukis. He could probably take an ice blast from her easily enough but she didn't want to hurt him. "But once we developed a strategy, it wasn't a problem. I think he covers my weaknesses."

Her mother switched sides, now focusing on the white side of her head now. She looked to happy to bother stopping. "That's very important. But what kind of a person is he? And what kind of a hero is he?"

"He's amazing. Always kind, and he's mostly gotten over his nervousness, so he's easy to talk to. And he's willing to help with just about anything. He holds his ideals tight and never stops giving it his all. I respect him a lot. And as for the kind of hero he is, he's the kind of hero I want to be."

"Do you think he'd be able to come here? I'd like to meet him." Her mother hummed softly, this was reminding her of the few times when they would sit on the couch watching TV, while her mother braided her hair and just made her feel pretty.

She almost nodded, but didn't want to ruin her mother's work. "I can ask him. He'll probably agree. But why do you want to meet him?"

"Well, whenever you talk about him, your face lights up and you just look so happy, Shoko." Her mother finished, letting her hand's drop and tilting her head to look at her handy work. "Besides he might become my son in law, so I'm going to have to meet him eventually."

Son in law? What did she mean by that? Fuyumi didn't know Izuku. And she was dating Hawks. Probably. But she wasn't allowed to tell anyone that because their father might not react well to it. "Why would he be your son in law?"

"Because, I can tell that you really like him Shoko, you might even love him."

"What?" Her in love? With Izuku? Sure he was one of her best friends. But that couldn't be it. Could it? Her mother was probably just reading too far into things. "He's just a friend, mom. That's all."

"Oh," Rei's frown still somehow seemed happy. "Well, if you say so."

XXXX

Her mother was wrong. There was no way that she was in love with Izuku. Sure she could probably say that she loved him, but not romantically. She just didn't really see herself in that kind of a relationship. Ever.

Let alone with Izuku.

Shoko, walked into the common room, the early summer sun was already setting, leaving her with a few precious hours until it was time to sleep. She needed to stop thinking about her mother's ridiculous notion that she liked Izuku as anything more than a-

"Oh! Shoko!" Izuku called over to her a giant smile on his face as he half jogged over to her. His messy green hair was wet, a towel around his shoulders and he was wearing a plain dark green tank-top that could barely contain his muscles. It looked like he had just recently gotten out of the shower. "How was your mother?"

She stared at Izuku, noticing that height difference and then, the way her cheeks were burning, and the way her heart was pounding. Why was it pounding? Had it always done this? Izuku was just his same, friendly, adorable, handsome, attractive self. And now what was she thinking? "She's doing great, Izuku. Thanks for asking. She actually wants to meet you soon."

"Huh? Why does she want to meet me?" He looked cute when he was confused and panicking. "I mean I'd be happy to go with you sometime, but. I. Just why?"

"Oh," Dammit, why was her mother putting her through this? "Well, I told her a few times, that you're the reason, I am who I am today. So, she, I think she wants to thank you. Or um, something."

"Oh, well, I'd like to meet her then. I want to thank her for giving birth to one of my best friends." Izuku nodded. He scratched the back of his head, so that his arms flexed. Okay, so his muscles were attractive. That was perfectly normal. Muscles were technically an attractive feature. And so were smiles. Especially Izuku's.

"Thank you Izuku, I'm sure my mother will be happy to hear that." She placed a hand over her chest and let out a sigh to try and calm her beating heart. She didn't have romantic feelings for Izuku. She just didn't.

A night out with Izuku, eating dinner with him, holding hands with him, kissing him, it wasn't something she really thought about. But now that she did think about it.

"I'm pretty tired tonight." She lied, stepping to the side of Izuku. "I'll talk to you later Izuku. And we can decide a date-"

Date? A date? No that's not what she meant!

"Yea, sure thing Shoko. See you later." Izuku nodded still smiling at her. "By the way, I like your braids."

Once she got to her room, she lost control. Ice and fire shot out from her body, burning the paint and ruining the tatami mats of her room with shards of ice. She placed her back against the door and let out a long groan on her way down to the ground.

Fuck. Her mother was right.

AN: Sup... Fem Shoto? After like a year of promising to write this. It's finally here!