My Hero Zero

A/N: Yeah..., sorry about the corny title, but nothing else seemed to work. This has been a plot bunny for awhile now, so I thought I'd go with it. Oh, and this story stars the son of Kaname Ohgi and Villetta, who will go unnamed because I liked another's fanfic enough to make it my own personal canon, and I don't want her to think I stole her idea. I OWN NOTHING!

It started as an ordinary night, as Kaname Ohgi and Villetta sat watching the news with their son, now eight years old. Everytime Zero came up, the little boy would start clapping and cheering. "Man, Zero's the greatest!" he would say, again and again, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could meet Zero? I'd love it if he'd rescue me!" He stared at his parents with a wild expression. Both of them laughed softly.

"I don't think that'll happen anytime soon, though," said Kaname Ohgi. Meanwhile, Villetta shot a quick look at the clock.

"Would you look at the time?" she said urgently to her son, "You've got Hebrew school."

"Aww, can't I stay and watch Zero a little longer?" her son begged.

"No, because you need to get over to the temple," Villetta retorted, handing him his bag, as well as an apple and a few rice crackers to eat in case he got hungry. "Go on, get your things together."

"Okay," her son murmured, shoving his workbooks and snacks into the backpack and heading toward the door. "Bye, Mom, bye, Dad!"

"Have a good time, son!" said Kaname Ohgi.

Because the synagogue the family attended was so close, the boy could reach it easily with only a short walk. However, sometimes he wandered around back roads, since they were different and thus exciting. This time, he peered down an alleyway he had always ignored before, and decided to wait to explore it on the way home so as not to risk being late for his class.

The boy went to Hebrew school once every week. Most of the children in the class were Britannian with no Japanese family. Of course, this particular child was not full-blooded Japanese either, and neither was his father.

After the lesson was over, the boy kept his eyes peeled for the alleyway and walked down it. He found it led him to a whole labyrinth of forbidding back streets. He kept walking around in them and by the time his mind caught up with just how creepy the streets were he was lost. Shivering, he began to retrace his steps, hoping to see a way that looked familiar. The moment he turned, he saw a familiar-looking silhouette on the building, and then Zero dropped right in front of him. "Don't move!" he ordered.

The child stood quite still, paralyzed with shock. "Z-Zero?" he whispered.

Zero gave a brief nod, before jumping over his head. Finally the boy got enough courage to turn around, and he saw two really nasty-looking men whom Zero was now descending upon. In a flash of a sword and a few gunshots, the men lay bleeding in a pile on the ground. Zero then turned to the child. "So, where did you come from?"

"I... I've just been to Hebrew school," the boy stammered. "I... wanted to see what was over here but I got lost. C-can you please help me get back home?"

Zero seemed taken aback at the request; he paused for a moment and put a hand on his mask. Finally, he said: "Yes, I suppose I can do that." And in an instant he had grabbed onto the little boy and was running with him over rooftops. "Lemme see," Zero said, "You're the son of Kaname Ohgi and Villetta Nu Ohgi, aren't you?"

"I... yeah," said the child, "Wow, how did you know that?"

"I know just about everyone around here," said Zero, "And I used to work with your father, back when he was Prime Minister. I can see you have his curly hair, though it's silvery-blue, just like your mother's."

As Zero walked him through familiar streets back toward his house, the child said: "You're my hero, Zero. I wish I was just like you."

Zero stopped short, then, and didn't reply for a long time. The child was puzzled. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"No," said Zero, "You don't want to be like me." That was the last thing he said to him that night. Finally, Zero arrived at the house of Kaname and Villetta, and left shortly after ringing the door bell.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" the boy called excitedly.

Both his parents opened the door. "Oh, you're back!" his father exclaimed, pulling him into a hug, "What took you so long? We were so worried about you!"

"What happened to you?" asked his mother.

"I... I sorta got lost on the way home."

"You got lost?" said Villetta, "How? It's only a ten-minute walk home!"

"I... well, like, I sorta... y'know..."

"You didn't get yourself lost again, did you?" Villetta sighed.

"I... ah... okay, so I did," said the child, "But... but... I'm okay now! Zero saved me!"

"Zero saved you?" said Kaname.

"Yeah, he did! He showed up and killed a bunch of bad guys! And then he helped me get back home!"

"Be that as it may," said Villetta, "You're not to wander around the streets at night again, do you understand? It's dangerous."

"I know, I know," said the son, "I won't do it again."

"Maybe one of us should walk him to Hebrew school for awhile?" Villetta asked Kaname. "Just to make sure he doesn't get into any more trouble?"

"No!" protested the boy, "I'm not a baby, I can go places myself! I'm eight years old!"

"I think it's okay," Villetta," said Kaname, "He hasn't gotten lost for awhile, he's probably learned his lesson." His son beamed at him.

"Well... I can only hope so," said Villetta, with a shrug.

That night, as Kaname tucked his son into bed, the child said: "Hey Dad, I just thought of something."

"What is it, son?" asked Kaname.

"Well...," said the boy, fishing his Zero action figure ("Complete with gun and limited-edition sword!") off the floor, "When I told Zero how much I wanted to be like him he said, 'You don't want to be like me.' Why? Why wouldn't I want to be an awesome superhero? Superheroes are cool."

"Well...," Kaname Ohgi fished for the right words to say to his son, "The thing is that being a superhero isn't always as much fun as it seems. I know Zero... better than some people. He's not like the superheroes you see on those cartoons you watch, who can switch between being superheroes and leading perfectly normal lives like you or me. Zero can't... actually be anyone else, ever. Think about it, would you like to kill criminals and stop disasters and rescue children all day, every day, for the rest of your life and never do anything else? Not even have a family or any friends?"

"Well... I guess not," said the boy, "That does sound kinda boring. And Zero must be so lonely, if he doesn't have time to meet people normally." He reflected for a moment, "Maybe he'd feel better if he had a friend. If you know Zero, could you introduce me to him?"

Kaname Ohgi froze, not sure how to answer. "He's... he's not really the easiest person to get to know," he said, "He doesn't allow anyone to meet him, except on official business; and he won't tell you anything about himself."

"Aww, come on, please?" his son begged, tears forming in his eyes.

"Besides," Kaname Ohgi continued, "I don't even know where he lives."

Just then, Villetta walked in. "Hey, guys, what's going on?"

"Mom, Dad isn't letting me go see Zero," her son whined.

"Well, you shouldn't," said Villetta. "Zero's too dangerous."

"Yup, like your mother said," said Kaname Ohgi, suddenly more forceful, "You're not going to see Zero, and that's that."

"But he's a superhero," the boy continued to argue, "How dangerous can he be?"

"Well...," said Villetta, "Nobody knows where he lives, but it's been said some people have stumbled across his home, and none of them were ever seen again."

"Wow, that's creepy," said the boy, not sure if he believed it. Why would a superhero, who was constantly saving people's lives and working for the greater good of all, kill innocents who just happened across his home? "Oh, well," he said, "Good night, Mom. Good night, Dad."

"Good night, son," said both parents, who then departed, turning off the light in his room and closing the door behind them.

But the child tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Ultimately, he made up his mind to track down Zero, somehow, and meet him firsthand.