Chapter Text
[For as long as he can remember, Izuku Midoriya has had a cat. He was told the cat grew up with him, and the two did everything together. Eat, sleep, school. They were constant companions.
When Izuku turned 13, which was old enough to notice these kinds of things, he began to see that his cat, fondly named Mikumo, was... odd. He never paid much heed to it, though. He was just a cat after all!
Occasionally his cat would disappear for hours or days at a time, before waltzing on home like he had never left. Even stranger was the fact that he was the same color as Izuku's hair, and had almost identical big, green eyes. He was smart, too. Sometimes he seemed to understand commands given to him, and he didn't act very catlike.
But after the first time Mikumo saved his life, Izuku began to look a bit more closely.
-
The first time Shouto Todoroki saw the cat, it was the morning after he got his scar. He was crying in pain and fear on his bed, when he heard the window squeak open. He looked up to see a small, dark green cat standing on the windowsill. While Shouto sat petrified, the cat soundlessly padded inside and curled up next to him, pushing it's tiny little head into his hands. He paused, and began to pet it softly.
As he sat there a couple hours later, a purring cat on top of him, he realized that while he still hurt, he had never felt better.
Over the years, the cat would come sparsely, but that simply made his visits better. Mikumo, he read from the collar, never failed to improve his mood, and always seemed to know where he was hurting. He also had a strange knack for coming when his father was out, so he was never caught. Shouto always wondered who owned him, and why they let him wander freely, but he never received any answers, not even for how old the dark green cat was.
Mikumo was odd, too. Smart, and uncannily knowledgeable about Shouto's schedule, but he was always too busy petting the cat to wonder too much.
That changed when the cat set an elaborate prank for his fa- Endeavour for the first time.
-
The only times Hitoshi Shinsou saw the cat was when he was running. The first time was when he was running from his newest pair of foster parents (no better than any of the others) and he had gotten lost. So there he was, sitting at the edge of an alleyway when a little shape sidled up next to him. They sat like that for a while, watching the people as it got dark. Eventually, the cat got up, waving its tail as it strode forward. Hitoshi was used to it, but the cat leaving still sent a twinge of pain through his heart. As if listening to his thoughts, the cat stopped and looked back at him with big, green eyes as if saying 'what are you waiting for?' He smiled softly and slowly got up, careful to avoid his injuries, before following the cat.
They walked for awhile, until it the moon was high in the sky and the streets were empty. Soon, though, the cat paused and sat in front of a nondescript door. Hitoshi stared at him until the cat, still not breaking eye contact, tapped the door with his paw. The human sighed and knocked, mentally cursing whatever instincts caused him to follow a cat to random stranger's doors.
He was surprised when the door actually opened to show a tired looking man with black hair and eyes staring at him. Without a word he left the door open and went inside. Hitoshi followed quietly, closing the door behind them. By the time the man had made two cups of coffee and gotten medical supplies, Hitoshi was comfortably seated in a chair by the small kitchen table. The man sat.
"Call me Aizawa. I don't know how you found this place, or why you came here, but you might as well get something out of it."
After that first occurrence, Mikumo showed up whenever he was lonely or in trouble, but always away from home. He never came out when he was with his multiple foster parents, but also seemed to know whatever was wrong. When Hitoshi changed addresses, the cat found him again. He never really thought much of it, at least before Mikumo somehow called Social Services the first time after particularly biased fosters almost killed him from starvation.
Then he thought about it a lot.
-
The only times Katsuki Bakugo saw the cat was when he was beating up Deku. The annoying little thing always got in his way or meowed loud enough to bring an adult. Although, he never really paid much attention to the stupid cat, so he probably saw it by itself too.
Admittedly, the thing creeped him out. It was always watching him, almost judgemental, with that weird look in its eyes like it was disapproving of his actions.
So, naturally, he ignored it until he absolutely couldn't anymore.
He stopped that after the idiot animal led a police officer to him after a car almost ran him over.
Yes, he stopped ignoring it then.
-
Shota Aizawa was so done with this cat. Just. Done. At least once a month, at random times of the day (but suspiciously only when he was home, how in the world-) strange kids would show up at his door, looking confused and hurt.
At first, he didn't ask how the kids had gotten there, just treated them and let them stay the night. But around the 5th or 6th, he got curious. He asked a purple haired kid covered in bruises who brought him there, and the boy responded with 'a small green cat'. After fact checking and getting the same answers from a couple more strays, he decided he simply had to know more. So the next time a kid showed up, he ignored them.
That plan was scrapped after he came home from patrol to find at least 20 stray cats filling his studio apartment. He never ignored kids after that again.
He always wondered how the cat knew how to lead kids to his home, or how it knew the way, but he never actively investigated it.
That only lasted until he saw the cat stalking down the UA halls outside his classroom.
He told Nedzu everything later that day.
-
Naomasa Tsukauchi would see the cat on his desk at least once a week. The first time, he had been getting coffee while working on a robbery case and had come back into the room to find Officer Tamakawa sitting at his desk, in a staring contest with a small cat.
When Naomasa closed the door behind him, the cat-headed officer jumped up, the bell on his neck jangling cheerily as he looked at the detective.
"I didn't know you had a cat! Is he even allowed to be here?"
Naomasa sighed. "Tamakawa, I don't own a cat. It must be a stray, but I am confused as to how it got in..."
At that point, another officer poked her head in.
"Oh, that's Mikumo. I'm surprised you haven't seen him yet. He's the neighborhood cat, smart little fluffball, yes he is..."
As the woman devolved into meaningless cat noises in the background, Naomasa looked back at the cat. For some reason, the cat seemed to be reading his case papers, before letting out a loud meow at the suspect list. Naomasa watched in utter confusion as the feline firmly sat on one of the pictures, then put his paws on two more.
Tamakawa had shushed the lady already, and was by that point staring at the cat. "Are..." he asked hesitantly, then swallowed. "Are those the perpetrators?"
The cat purred, then slowly got up and stalked past the dumbfounded police and out the door.
No one stopped him.
Two weeks after that, the day after the three criminals had been tried and convicted, Naomasa decided he would always leave the window open in his office. He thought about following the cat and talking to it's owners, but he decided not to look a gift cat in the mouth and not investigate it.
Of course, he revisited the topic when, a couple years later, the cat single handedly solved one of the worst serial murder cases in the Musutafu area ever recorded.
-
Deku had died. He was sure of it. Absolutely positive.
He supposed it could be worse. He had lived to the ripe old age of 89, a retired hero who had been the number 1 hero for decades. He had a wife, kids, grandkids, a new protege who was the new number 1, and few regrets.
He was at peace.
So, he was not expecting to wake up next to his own crib as a kitten. Baby Izuku gurgled at him before falling silent. A cute hero calendar on the wall nicely informed him that it was 3 days after his birthday. As in, the date of his birth.
'The HELL?'
When the implications washed over him, he almost fell over. He could fix things. Make things better, help people, his FRIENDS, and make everyone's lives better.
'This time,' he vowed to himself, 'I won't ever be too late. Although... to whatever celestial being thought it would be funny to do this, excuse me, but how the fuck am I supposed to change my future looking like this? THIS ISN'T GODDAMN FUNNY.'
Cat or no, he would save everyone this time around.