Monoma Neito was born in a small hospital, in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The son of a woman with a quirk that allowed her to memorize fighting styles, and a man with a quirk that allowed him to copy speech, as well as writing styles.
Two copycats, having a child who was the biggest copycat of them all.
And since the first day he was born, Monoma copied something- A person's memories.
Born with blond hair, and a thin scar-like birthmark over his left eye, he opens them to reveal purple with white pupils.
And so, the Copycat-nin became the copycat boy.
_()_
Monoma Neito opened his eyes to a blurry world of bright lights and white ceilings, to people clad in hospital gear, and to a man and woman leaning over him with tears in their eyes.
He wakes up a world he knows isn't his, to a world he knows he doesn't belong in, to a world where shadows dance in every corner.
He wakes up to a world where people have powers (quirks?), wakes up to people wondering and expecting- What will his quirk be?
He is born to a couple, of a woman who tries her best to give affection, but doesn't have the time. To a man who is not home, and looks ahead with a blank stare.
His first years were full of negligence, of sitting in a room with no one there, just stuffed animals to keep him company.
He doesn't speak for two years, opening his mouth only to ask- What's a quirk, Mother?
It reminds him of the days where his father left, gone on a mission.
His second years are filled with small books, videos, and a new discovery. He wakes to a world where once again, not all men nor woman are equal, and where everything is dependent on one single factor. One you cannot control.
Monoma wishes he'll get a moderate quirk for a moderate life, but he knows its only wishful thinking.
A sharp kunai in hand, his father running toward him with panic.
His third years- whispers of 'What will it be?' and 'I bet he'll have a copy quirk like his mother and father'.
He ignores the whispers and continues to read, read, and read on about a new world, of other worlds, and of the past.
Not his world's past. Of the new one. About wars, human experimentation, of the standards passed on by society. He stops and stares, holding his mother's hand as she brings him with her to shop- at a costumed man fighting someone who robbed a bank.
Heroes are the reality, and shinobi are a long thing of the past.
"Father, I want to be a shinobi."
He is four, and now the owner of a copy quirk that is as powerful as it used to be.
He activates it, in view of both of his parents as they wait.
He gazes up at them with one purple eye- and the other a red that spins with a distinct flower pattern. *
The next day he names it something simple, 'Copycat'.
Whispers of 'Prodigy' wring the streets.
He is five, and he now goes to school. Other children stop and whisper, looking at him with weary eyes. Nobody even lets him get close enough to copy something.
Adults whisper behind his back, 'A perfect combination.' and 'Did you hear he could copy quirks too?'
Monoma copies his first quirk when he is five, a quirk which allows you to manipulate paper to an extent.
His mind is filled with memories of blue hair, a paper rose, and an angel as a paper butterfly dances in his palm.
He uses the quirk, red flower spinning, generating hundreds of paper origami, one minute, two minutes, three, eight, ten-
He passes out and doesn't wake for two days.
His memories are filled with chakra exhaustion.
"What a disgrace, your father." A man sneers down at him.
Monoma is six, and his mother cries for him when he doesn't wake up for seven days. She begs him to be more careful, and he promises, because even if his mother is negligent- she tries, and brings home all she can.
He doesn't like his father.
He hadn't come home in two weeks now.
He goes back to school, ignoring whispers and stares again, and trudges through life how he is.
Books are his escape, escape from here, escape from his mind, and escape from his thoughts.
A paper butterfly dances across his fingers, and he can feel his stamina slipping away.
It's small enough that he can spend half the day with the paper butterfly dancing around his fingertips, stopping when he knows that his stamina has dipped under three fourths.
Monoma hadn't tried to go down three fourths in a long time, and instead spends time training as he can with his small body, building up stamina for the future.
He finds his father on the mats of his house, tanto through the stomach.
He is seven, and a paper butterfly can dance across his fingertips for a majority of the day.
He copies his second quirk, a simple water manipulating quirk, one that can direct a small stream. Paper butterflies nestle in his hair and water dances across fingers.
He takes a thirteen-hour nap and wakes up still exhausted. The girl he copies the quirk doesn't know- he brushed by her in the hallway.
He liked to play with the water, letting it spray in sunny days to make a small rainbow as he reads his books.
A yellow-haired man, beaming down at him as he ruffled his hair.
He is eight, and his father is gone.
Monoma had come home, to his mother crying. She had taken one look at him, and pulled him into a suffocating hug, sobbing into his jacket. "Oh Monoma, your father is gone."
Dead, or left?
Dead. He was dead.
His mother had grown more fragile, spending more time at work to support their family. Yet she still smiled at him when he showed her how well he was doing in school. Her lavender eyes dulled as she became more and more exhausted.
He copies another quirk- enhanced speed, then another- claws.
He becomes more isolated as paper butterflies fly around his head and fingertips.
"He's going to turn out like his father." They whisper in the streets as the war rages on.
He is eight, and he is at the top of his class.
Other students look at him with jealousy, spreading rumors and attempting sabotage.
The first time somebody tries to bully him- taking his lunch money. Monoma swept a leg out, sending the bully flat on his back. Nobody tried to bully him again.
He copies again, and gains a chain quirk.
White chains weave through the air, and Monoma is reminded of golden chains whistling through the air as they wrap around the Kyuubi.
A paper butterfly floats through the air as mist creates a rainbow.
Lightning sparks through the air as he charges toward the bandit.
He is nine, and he makes a friend.
His name is Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and his quirk is Steel. Monoma askes to copy it, and Tetsutetsu allows him, only telling Monoma to call him Tetsu.
They sit by the tree where he usually reads, and a paper butterfly nestles into Tetsu's hair and small white chains wiggle through the air.
His mother is happy for him, and Monoma gives her a soft smile as he makes dinner.
"Pakkun, please track this scent." A small pug nodded and began to sniff the ground.
He is ten years old, and his mother is sick.
"Poor child." They say. "Haven't you heard? His mother is extremely ill."
He ignores them, ignores the pity, and ignores everything.
He sits with Tetsu, and lets paper butterflies dance across blades of grass, as he reads through a book.
"I'm sorry, I had to help an old lady with her groceries and then-"
He is eleven years old, and his mother is yet to leave the hospital.
She's alive, but the doctors say she may not live another two years. He'll take the two years, and care for his mother.
The next day, he brings in ramen so she could have something other than the bad hospital food.
Monoma remembers blond hair and whiskered cheeks and smiles with Tetsu as he introduces someone to him. Her name is Itsuka Kendo, and her quirk lets her hands turn big.
She lets him copy it, red-eye spinning as he tests out the quirk.
He gains a new friend, and her name is Itsuka.
A paper butterfly now nestles in all of their hair, and Monoma is reminded of orange goggles, a medic pouch.
"Here, let me patch this up for you." A green glow from a pair of caring hands.
He is twelve, and his friends want to be heroes.
"You should become one with us!" Itsuka grins at him, chopping her hands through the air as she imitates a karate move.
"I'm not the hero type," Monoma says, a paper butterfly on his finger.
"What? Bro, you're so manly, you'd be a great hero!" Tetsu cheers, grabbing Monoma by his shoulders. "Your quirk is manly, and you're a great friend! Come on', be a hero with us!"
He reluctantly nods, and the paper butterfly flies into Tetsu's hair. "Okay, for you guys."
His mother congratulates him through light coughs and smiles at him. "You're going to be a great hero, Monoma."
He has more than one hundred quirks, useless and strong, under his belt. He's smart with his quirk and makes sure to keep his training up to keep his stamina high.
"Here, take my Sharingan."
He is thirteen, and he can do tricks that his peers can't do.
It isn't muscle memory, Monoma knows how to do them, but doesn't have the muscle memory. So, he trains with speed and agility quirks, until he can finally do something like what he used to do. Large leaps, impossible twists and flips, fancy footwork. He relearns it all.
During the time he trains, he exhausts himself out more times than he has ever. He worries his friends by slipping under for two weeks. He wakes up and is in the hospital, and Itsuka hits him lightly for worrying her.
He had so much homework to do.
Birds chirp as blood drips from his arm. "Ka...Kakashi."
He is fourteen, and he spends many nights in water, or in the sky.
He copies quirks, sometimes even tagging pro-heroes so he can use their when it comes to it. Like the year before, some of his time is spent unconscious, from three hours to a week.
He is fourteen, and it's two weeks until the exam to get into U.A.
He is fourteen, and his mother dies.
He is fourteen, and he goes and takes the exam.
"This is the jinchurriki of the Kyuubi."
He dashes through the fake city, using his quirk as few as he can. Instead, he uses a long spear, found in one of the buildings. Monoma doesn't question why it is there, just takes it, and uses it stab a robot in the chest.
He is at thirty-four points, and he dives to save a girl from meeting the concrete. He quickly checks if she is okay, before moving off and knocking the head of a robot.
Monoma jumps and lands in the middle of a group of robots. He quickly takes them all down and decides to hang back.
He is at forty points, and the giant zero pointer arrives.
When seeing all the exam takers run, and not bother to help the ones left behind. Monoma grits his teeth, and gets to work.
He uses a clone quirk he had copied from Ectoplasm, swooping down and scooping up the ones left behind, darting quickly away from the zero pointer.
Monoma finishes the exam with forty points, lower than he would've likes stamina, and a good mood.
He gets one hundred on the written exam.
"Kakashi, you are now Inu of ANBU."
"Young Neito Monoma! Congratulations! You have achieved beyond standards! You gained forty villain points taking down them mostly quirklessly, as well as thirty rescue points! Giving you a total of seventy points. You are the second highest score! See you at U.A, Plus Ultra!"
Monoma watches the hologram close and picks up the letter in the envelope.
The next week later, he moves out of his apartment and makes his new home at the U.A dorms.
He is in 1-A, and both of his friends are in 1-B. They make him promise that they'd remain friends.
A paper butterfly dances through the air.