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Spring
30 minutes later
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Katsuki sat with his back against a tree, breathing in greedy gasps of air - not from exertion but from the panic and fear that was making his heart flutter like a hummingbird's wing beat in his chest.
Tonight was all just a little too much for him it seemed.
He looked up, hands folded close to his chest as he scanned the trees. The sky was a dark blue now and without the option to spark a fire lest he want to be caught, he could barely see a thing. Though, if he strained his eyes hard enough, he could just barely make out the hulking figure that crouched low to the ground, its muscles taunt and threatening even in the dark.
For a moment, all Katsuki was looking at was the silhouette of the dragon and then, like his attention had sparked something, two carnelian eyes blinked into existence.
A shiver ran down Katsuki's spine and he looked away, not wanting to bring any more attention to himself then necessary. It was true that the dragon had saved his hide before - and by saving his hide he meant scaring the ever living daylights out of him as it dragged the boy through the forest by the hood of his cloak - but the beast was under no obligation to keep him around any longer.
It was funny in a not so funny kind of way. He had saved the dragon and the dragon had saved him, almost as if it had a sense of honor.
Katsuki shifted, testing the waters. Nothing. The dragon simply stared at him, blinking slowly. That's a good sign, I guess.
Ever so carefully, Katsuki got to his feet, leaves and dirt crumbling beneath the soles of his shoes. With every move he made, every shift and tense of muscle and bone, those glowing eyes followed him - he felt as if he were playing a high stakes game of cat and mouse. At this point it was obvious who was who.
Testing his luck, he opened his mouth to speak. "Thank you," he said boldly, effectively ignoring the tremor in his voice. He didn't receive a response, just the sounds of the wind ruffling tree branches and the labored breathing that belonged to the beast. He remembered the blood in the bottom of the cage - the blood that currently soaked into the cloth of his trousers and stained the skin beneath. "Are you hurt," Katsuki questioned gruffly, trying to keep up his tough guy facade. Don't show fear, fear gets you killed.
There was a low growl, not a threatening one it seemed but it still made the hair on Katsuki's arms stand on end. Before he could say anything else, the dragon rose to its feet, twigs and plants breaking beneath its feet. It was only now that Katsuki seemed to realize just how big this creature was - albeit smaller than the stories had described it. As it approached, it's head stood about five feet over Katsuki's own, making him feel small even with its leathery wings folded against its back.
It stared a Katsuki with glowing eyes, unblinking. Dread filled and overflowed in the pits of Katsuki's stomach, making it hard to swallow. His breath stalled in his chest as he stared back, eyes roaming over the slick scales that framed the reptilian features of its face. One second, two seconds, three. That's how long Katsuki stood there, breath held and yet it felt like hours, days. Then, with a huffed breath from the beast that sounded suspiciously like a sigh, the spell that had been cast was broken.
The dragon didn't look away, no his eyes were still on Katsuki, but they seemed much less oppressive now, less like sentries and more like warm suns that existed even at night. It pushed its head forward, towards Katsuki and the blond had to resist the urge to jump away like a startled cat. Tentatively - and against his better judgment - Katsuki reached forward and patted the top of the dragon's snout as gently as he possibly could. The scales were as smooth as they looked and warm to the touch, like a furnace top that hadn't quite cooled off completely.
"You're weird," Katsuki commented, eyebrows furrowed as he gauged the dragon's reaction to his touch, hopeful to keep his hand. "But I guess I'm no better."
With a sigh, Katsuki crouched low and examined the beast's wounds - rings around the dragon's ankles, areas rubbed raw by constant pulling against its chains. There were missing scales that revealed tender and pink flesh, reddened by blood. Katsuki winced. He could do his best to help, though not much - he knew of medicinal poultices from the things his mother had taught him, thyme and lavender being one of them, though he didn't exactly expect to find lavender in the woods. He'd settle for just one now.
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Blood was warm when it was fresh. When it flowed freely from newly inflicted wounds and spilled onto flushed skin.
Feet flattened leaves and dirt. The sound of heavy breathing ripped through the quiet of the night, falling into unison with the chirping of bugs. He was already far enough away to have left the screams behind.
His legs hurt, his thighs burned with exertion and his ribcage felt like knives as it sent pangs of sharp pain down his sides. His hands were slick with blood, warm with it. His clothes were stained with it, permanently dyed a deep red. It dripped down the side of his face, burning his eyes as he blindly ran through the forest, resisting the urge to turn back.
He couldn't turn back, his legs wouldn't let him and he already knew what he would be there. Blood. Fire. Vomit rose in the back of his throat and for the first time in hours, he came to a stop only to heave his lunch onto the dirt. He gasped, hands clutching at his sides. Sweat rolled down his face and back, making his shirt cling to his skin uncomfortably.
He was terrified as he looked over the trees around him, searching for any sign of pursuers with frantic eyes. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, nearly throwing up once again when he tasted the iron of blood in his mouth.
He looked down at his hands, covered in blood. Bright and crimson red. Tears welled in his eyes but before they could manage to fall, he heard the snap of twigs. Within an instant he was on his feet with trembling legs, his hands clutching uselessly at the front of his shirt as if to ground his spiraling thoughts. And yet, spiraled they did.
Spiraled down…
Down…
Down…
Katsuki jerked upwards, chest heaving. This dream was familiar, reoccurring, and though it was simpler than others, it always brought the haunting smell of bloody earth and smoke. It used to leave him curled into the fetal position, hands trembling against his chest but now it was almost like clockwork - that didn't mean he had grown completely immune to the heart seizing panic they tended to bring though.
There was a huff of breath that drew his attention and when he looked over, Katsuki was surprised to see the dragon sitting a few feet away from him, iridescent scales gleaming in the faint rays of the early morning sunlight that streamed through the pine leaves above them. It sat between two trees, watching him silently for the most part, his sides rising and falling with each lumbering breath. Shadows danced on the ground in the space between the two and Katsuki found himself evaluating the creature for a moment too long - he was surprised he was still alive.
"Don't look at me like that," Katsuki huffed as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking out whatever leaves and twigs had found their way into the nest of blond tangles. In response, the dragon huffed again and turned his head away in what Katsuki assumed to be the equivalent of an eye roll. "I don't appreciate the attitude either." A snort of a reply.
Getting to his feet, Katsuki stretched, groaning as his bones cracked and the tension in his muscles eased. He had a long morning ahead of him but first there was one mandatory thing he had to attend to: breakfast. He didn't have much with him - everything he owned was back at his previous camp - but he did have a small hunting knife and skills. So, with a spare glance at the dragon, he set off on his mission.
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Spring
Hours later
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Katsuki hummed quietly as his teeth ripped into the tender flesh of wild rabbit, the smokey taste familiar on his tongue. He'd set up a small fire, one that would hopefully not draw any attention if the guards were still looking for him. Katsuki scoffed at the thought as he ate - of course they were still looking for him, there was no way that they would give up on finding him after he stole their prized possession.
He looked up at the dragon with an eyebrow lifted. He didn't see why they would go through so much trouble - it was a dragon, the best they would get from it would be bite wounds and missing arms.
Sensing his stare, the dragon's eyes fluttered open from their early morning nap and stared straight back at Katsuki - or well, at his food.
"You're hungry," Katsuki huffed, more of a statement then a question. "Can't you hunt?"
The dragon made a noise, something close to a whine with a hint of a characteristic baritone as it pushed itself to its feet, eyes dropping to land on its wounds. Katsuki had wrapped the tender areas as best as he possibly could - a sliver of cloth ripped from the bottom of his cloak could only cover so much of a dragon.
Sighing, Katsuki rolled his eyes and tossed what was left of the rabbit at the dragon's feet. "There, that should be enough for now, I'm not hunting down a horse for you to eat." Sparing no time to actually taste the food, the dragon devoured the food happily, flashing sharp teeth as he did so. When he was finished, he turned to Katsuki with an excited chirrup that made the blond raise an eyebrow. He was feeling very conflicted - was he supposed to be intimidated by the dragon or was he supposed to compare him to a puppy?
"Anyways," Katsuki began as he got to his feet, "I'm just going to go. Thanks for saving me or whatever, you can go back to wherever the hell you came from. I'm not gonna stop you." Katsuki turned his back to the dragon, fully intent on leaving and going to get his stuff before getting far away from here.
"Well, about that," a voice began, nearly making Katsuki jump out of his skin as he jerked around, heart hammering in his chest. "I don't know where I am." There was a boy sitting cross-legged on the ground, watching Katsuki with a curious gaze. "What?"
Katsuki balked. "What."
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Spring
...15 minutes later
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"Okay," Katsuki began as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're a dragon that can turn into a human, you don't know where your home is, and you want me to help you get back?" He looked up at the grinning human in front of him with an incredulous look. "Did I get all of that?"
The boy beamed. "Yep!"
"No."
The smile on the boy's face fell, "Why? You helped me once, why not now? It'll be fun!" Katsuki appreciated the sentiment of it being fun but he was inclined to disagree with the truth behind it. Ever since he'd met this weird dragon, human, whatever-the-fuck, he hadn't had a lick of fun.
"Because I have stuff I need to do," Katsuki grumbled as he walked away, hoping the boy wouldn't follow him. No such luck.
"Like what? Maybe I could help you and then you could help me," he offered, trailing close behind Katsuki as he picked his way over tree roots.
Katsuki glared straight ahead, "I don't like owing people so no."
"But it'll be an adventure!" Katsuki winced, angrily kicking out when his foot got caught beneath a rope of ivy.
"I don't do 'adventure', it'll just get you killed," Katsuki said gruffly. The boy huffed and stepped in front of him, arms crossed over his chest as he regarding Katsuki with a tight-lipped frown.
"Please?"
"No."
"Oh, well, it was worth a try," the boy said, a smile twisting the corners of his mouth once again. Katsuki went to step around the boy with a roll of his eyes but was stopped when he stepped into his path once again.
"Get out of my way," Katsuki threatened, wondering just how dangerous this dude was when he was anything but a hulking mass of muscle and danger.
"One more thing," the boy said with a smile, "What if I paid you?"
Katsuki looked over the boy with a raised eyebrow. He didn't look like much, just some dude around his age with long red hair that fell down his back in a mess of tangles and knots. He wore the bare minimum considering Katsuki had had to lend his cloak to him earlier just so that he could stay modest. His stance had enough openings that Katsuki could probably knock him out right now if he had the same pain tolerance as humans.
"You expect me to believe that you have money? You don't even have pockets."
An embarrassed flush crossed the others face and he looked away, "Well, I obviously don't have the money on me right now but at my home I have enough to pay for your troubles."
"How much," Katsuki questioned, cursing himself for even considering going along with this ridiculous plan.
"How much do you want?"
"One thousand gold," Katsuki said smugly, expecting the dude to blanch and deny his demands. Instead he was only met with a wide grin.
"Deal!" The boy stuck out his hand, "I heard humans shake hands when they make a deal so I would like to shake!" Reluctantly, Katsuki took the boy's hand, regretting it immediately when the boy shook his hand with much more enthusiasm than his shoulder could take. "I'm Eijirou Kirishima, son of earth and fire! I am very pleased to have you as my travelling friend."
"I'm Katsuki," he said begrudgingly, ripping his hand from the others grasp, "Try not to annoy me."