His Other Half (KiriBaku)

Chapter 8

September 28, XX84
-18 miles from the Bakugo Palace-

        Rat awoke when the cart hit a rock. How long had he been asleep? He shook his head, trying to remember. He was moving? How? He shifted to push himself up, but his hands wouldn't budge, chafing against his restraints.

        Instantly he panicked, pushing himself up with the sheer strength of his abdominals and pulling his knees underneath him to give him some form of balance and--

        And there was a blade of his throat. "Don't move, you filthy dog."

        "Todoroki, there's no need to be mean."

        Rat growled, the noise bubbling up from his chest and leaving far more menacing than he'd ever heard it before, causing the men that had taken him to back away cautiously. Maybe it was because he'd just woken up. He noticed that the white stallion had been found, and it along with the brown mare and two others pulled the cart, and they seemed to know where they were going. A majority of the weapons, with the exception being Shoto's rapier, were lumped into a bag where the driver would have sat.

        A closed hand came down on the back of his neck and he choked on the noise, twisting to glare at the pink-skinned girl that had hit him. "Bad boy," she admonished, wagging her finger at him. "We don't growl at little Izuku. That's mean."

        Mean? Rat was bound and muzzled, taken to some far off land who knew where for who knew how long, and this woman had the audacity to claim he was the mean one? Inconceivable. However, he noticed that the siren woman was nowhere to be seen, nor was the woman with straight black hair that had attacked him, so a very large threat had been removed from his immediate area.

        "Mina, let up on him, alright?" Izuku sighed. Of the others, he was the only one that actually moved closer.

        The others settled down and Rat eyed this scrawny green-haired man. The others listened to him, and Rat had felt the effects of his magic firsthand. He was strong and fast, and probably smart, but the gladiator couldn't shake the itching urge to punch him straight in the face.

        He smiled when he noticed Rat watching him. "Hi! I'm Izuku. I know my friends and I here probably aren't anyone you'd want to talk to, but... what's you're name?"

        Rat stayed quiet, glaring at him. It was unlikely, but maybe if they thought he was absolutely stupid, they would let him go. The pink one already thought as much.

        After waiting a few more seconds, Izuku shrugged, shifting closer. Rat shifted away. "That's okay. It's fine to not have a name. We'll just call you something, then. Any ideas?"

        "How about Fido?" The dark-haired man yawned. Rat remembered his name was Hanta. "He acts just like a dog."

        Rat did not want to admit that he had no idea what a dog was. He did know that he did not want to be called Fido, because he sensed it was an insult even worse than 'Rat'. 

        "You don't talk much," the blonde one observed, "do you, Fido?"

        "I talk," Rat snapped through the muzzle, his voice grizzled and rough. "And my name not Fido."

        "Oh?" Izuku perked. "What's your name then? I'm sure the castle will let you go if we can convince the prince you're not insane or something."

        Free.

        Shoto apparently thought that was a preposterous idea, and snorted, causing Izuku to glare at him.