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Spring
A few hours later
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You'll like my home," Kirishima began - again - his hands moving through the air as he rambled, "It's amazing. There are really big trees and the food is amazing, the people there are super nice too. One time-" Katsuki tuned out of the conversation, the two of them had been walking for hours and Kirishima hadn't shut up not once - not even when Katsuki gathered his things and made the red-head put on some of his spare clothes. Even then he chattered on and on about his home as if Katsuki cared.
"What's your home like Katsuki," Kirishima questioned after taking a breath, a curious gleam shining in his reptilian eyes - that was one thing that didn't change, the other still had peculiar eyes.
"Don't have one," Katsuki replied through a mouth of clover petals, the sweet taste calming his annoyed nerves.
"Of course you have one," Kirishima laughed, "Anywhere can be a home if you like it enough!"
Katsuki shook his head, "Haven't stayed in any one place long enough to like them. I like the lake though."
Kirishima nodded, "Then the lake is your home." His eyes lit up and he turned to Katsuki excitedly, "There is a lake at my home, maybe you would like that one!"
"Maybe," Katsuki agreed, if only to please the red-head who seemed to be going off on a tangent once again. Katsuki looked around him, a low sigh forming in the back of his throat. It was a nice day, the sun warmed his skin even through the canopy above and the sound of animals burrowing into wood and dirt was audible.
Poppies bloomed from sprouts of green leaves that grew close to the ground and the smell of sap seeping from the cracks in pine bark partnered with damp moss permeated the air.
Next to him, Katsuki realized that his companion had stopped talking and was now examining his surroundings with a look of wonder ablaze in his eyes. Katsuki himself was curious about the mysterious Kirishima; it wasn't a frequent occurrence that he would meet a dragon who could turn into a human. The red-head veered off the path, crouching by a patch of dandelions, their bright yellow petals a stark contrast to the green foliage around them.
"The flowers where I am from are different from this," Kirishima said quietly, a wistful look in his eye as he snapped the stem of the plant and brought the flower to Katsuki. "For you," he said with a smile, offering the plant to the blond.
"Why are you giving me a flower," Katsuki asked, taking the flower and examining it with interest.
"Because it looks like you," Kirishima laughed cheerily, evading Katsuki's attempt to hit him.
"Anyways," Katsuki grumbled, ignoring the patronizing look Kirishima gave him as the blond shoved the flower into his pouch - it would make for a good salve or tea. "Where exactly are we supposed to be going?"
Kirishima winced, "Well, I don't exactly… know."
Katsuki groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezing shut in an attempt not to self-destruct. "How do you expect me to help you home if you don't know where we are going?" Katsuki looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Do you want me to magically become a compass or something, lead you home?"
"You can do that?"
"No I can't do that," Katsuki shouted, ignoring the way his raised voice caused a bird in a nearby bush to flap noisily out of its hiding spot. "I was being sarcastic, dumbass. I can't turn into a compass let alone some magical navigation device. I don't know what type of people you live around but people don't magically turn into furniture or animals here."
With pursed lips, Kirishima hummed in thought. "That's kind of boring." Katsuki didn't bother responding to the quip and instead pulled a small leather-bound journal out from the pouch that sat snuggly clasped to the waist-band of his pants. He ran a hand over it's cover, as if wiping away dust, and examined the stained leather that rippled beneath his fingertips. He hadn't opened the journal for a long time and it was likely that some pages would stick together once he opened it, the ink lettering his father had scribbled on the parchment clinging to each other. His father would frequently write about his travels in the journal and Katsuki could vividly remember the times his father would sit at the fire, flames illuminating the edges of his face as he wrote.
With a heavy sigh, Katsuki unraveled the thin twine that held the journal closed and flipped open the book. There was a certain thing he was looking for: his father's map. It was tucked between two pages of his father's ramblings and when he pulled it out, he could see the ink that bled through onto the back of the parchment.
Carefully, as not to rip the paper, he unfolded and presented the hand drawn map of Saren to the red-head, watching as his eyes flashed a glowing red that said the parchment had definitely caught his attention.
"Did you make this," Kirishima questioned as he brought his fingertips to the surface of the paper, its texture rough against his fingertips.
Katsuki shook his head, "My father did. He was really obsessed with the whole 'exploring the world' thing." A bitter smile crossed his face and he shook his head, "He thought there was something more out there, like magic."
"There is," Kirishima said matter-of-factly, eyes going from the ink lines on the page to Katsuki.
Katsuki shook his head, "Yes, maybe there are creatures like you but something like the magic he described couldn't really exist. There is a difference between a dragon and a spell." For a moment, it looked like Kirishima would object but instead, he simply grinned and turned his attention back to the map. Katsuki pointed to a spot on the map that showed a mass of trees with a small house in the middle. "This is where we are right now, the house represents the town we just left."
Pursing his lips, Kirishima stared at the map contemplatively. "I live far away from here, they captured me days ago."
Katsuki sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, "Okay, so, do you remember any places you stopped at on the way? Surely the knights needed supplies." It was a long shot to ask Kirishima this seeing as he seemed to hardly know anything about his predicament. If Katsuki didn't need the money then he definitely wouldn't be here right now. He swore he was going to develop an ulcer.
Kirishima blew air through his lips before shrugging, "I heard the name Druing frequently in the beginning of my trip. Nothing else. The knights didn't like to stay around my cage."
Druing. Druing was one of the largest port town's north of the kingdom, just about every ship that wanted to make good cash on trading went there. Katsuki had never been there, but he had heard from passing merchants that it happened to be packed to the brim with people - which meant a shit ton of knights and a shit ton of eyes that could catch them.
Katsuki groaned and ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the way his finger caught in tangles and pulled painfully at his scalp.
"Okay, so we're going to Druing," Katsuki said, feeling more than a little helpless. He carefully tucked his map away with a sigh and regarded Kirishima with tight-lipped frown. "Pack your bags, lizard-boy, we've got a long walk ahead of us."
"I don't have any bags."
"You know what I mean, dumbass."
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Spring
A few hours later... Again.
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"How much farther do we have to walk," Kirishima whined from beside Katsuki, lazily leaning against the blond's shoulder. "I want to eat." The words were drawn out, like a spoiled child begging for just one more piece of candy.
Katsuki ignored the others' whinings and instead kept walking, stepping over twisting roots and spiraling ivy that grasped at the toes of his boots and tried to hold him in place. The sun was low in the sky and the blue canvas above them had been painted an eye-catching pink and orange that served as a beautiful backdrop to the heavily leaved branches of trees that stretched out and towered above them, the contrast making their silhouettes a figure of black. Soon enough, the only light that was left would be gone and they would be forced to call it a night.
Katsuki sighed, "Let's stop for the night. The ground here is flat enough for a fire -"
Kirishima interrupted with a content sigh, dropping lazily onto the ground with his arms behind his head as he used a tree stump as a headrest. "About time, I thought you were gonna walk me until my legs fell off. Seriously," he chastised through a yawn, "who would have thought that you would be so straight-laced. You're no fun."
"... and there's no point in dragging it out when you're sitting here complaining like a mewling cat." Katsuki's teeth were clenched to the point his jaw ached when he sat down, back against a tree opposite from Kirishima who had now peeled his eyes open and was pouting at Katsuki.
"I probably deserved that but that's rude."
"I don't care."
Kirishima scoffed, playfully, and closed his eyes once again, head angled towards the canopy above them. Katsuki watched him.
The sunset light forest cast a warm glow over the red-heads face, making it seem tranquil and unbothered. One of Katsuki's old, dark red tunics (he'd stolen it) rose and fell with each breath the other took, fitting tight around the stomach and arms. Katsuki had also made use of an old pair of trousers and given them to the dragon-human, to which Kirishima had promptly taken the ripped fabric from Katsuki's cloak and tied it around his waist. His wrists were still red and slightly bruised, a light yellow discoloration that Kirishima didn't seem to pay any mind to. It really baffled him how someone could heal so damn fast.
Katsuki huffed out a breath, eyes following the way Kirishima's long hair fell over his face, laying across his forehead softly. He chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment before he held back a groan and angled his head back to stare at the sky that peeked out from behind the cover of the dancing leaves.
There was a moment of silence that brought the smell of coming rain and the sounds of birds, and then, when Katsuki thought he might just drift off to sleep, Kirishima spoke up.
"Have I told you about my home?"
Katsuki debated not answering but gave in at the thought of the extra pestering it would bring. "Yes. You have." He opened an eye and glared at Kirishima, "You haven't stopped."
"Ah," Kirishima said as he returned the glare with a playful grin, "but you weren't listening to a word I said, were you, Dandelion?"
Katsuki resisted the urge to say unsavory words and instead seethed quietly. Kirishima was right for the most part - when Katsuki had had enough he eventually grew deaf to the red-heads ramblings and hadn't heard most of the words that poured out of his mouth.
"Well, listen this time," Kirishima chastised gently, "it's very interesting." Katsuki didn't offer a verbal reply, only a half-hearted shrug as he closed his eyes once again. "It's a wonderful place actually. The water that surrounds the island is crystal blue and you can even see the fish that swim near the shore."
"Island?" Katsuki was only now aware of this.
Kirishima huffed, "You would know that if you paid attention. But yes, an island with beautiful plants and people. You can see everything from the shore and when you fly over it, it is a new type of beauty. Albeit you can see the small crater that Kaminari managed to make on the far east of the island. He's not allowed near Mina's elixirs anymore."
Katsuki opened his eyes and was surprised to see Kirishima sitting up, wide eyed. "Am I going to lose an arm and leg simply trying to get you home? I don't think the people you're talking about seem to be the most responsible of people."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about getting hurt, I'll be protecting you - and Kaminari is practically harmless, he mostly stays in the lake anyways so you'll probably be saved from his… lack of maturity."
Katsuki raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Why do I feel you only enable his idiocy? And when did I ask for your protection, I'm perfectly capable on my own." Kirishima rolled his eyes,
"Yes, you might be capable but I'm still going to at least try to keep you unharmed." Kirishima saluted awkwardly, "You have my word."
Katsuki stared at him for a moment before laughing with a shake of his head. "I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with you but I don't like to go back on my promises." Mocking Kirishima's sloppy salute, he bit down an amused grin. "If you're going to protect me, then I'll protect you as well. You have my word." Kirishima laughed delightedly, falling backwards against the ground with a quiet thud.
"I'm exhausted," he said simply, "I think we should rest for the night."
"That's the plan," Katsuki said as he pressed back against the bumpy ground.
"Goodnight, Dandelion," Kirishima snickered.
"Don't call me that."