Shadowfire - OC x Shoto Todoroki

Chapter 18 - The Training Camp

[Author's note: Yes, I know the Exam Arc comes before the training camp but I wanted to switch them so I did.]

Surely there must be some law against forcing students to go to a training camp during the school holidays. There must have been a way to squeeze it into the semester without taking time out of their very important break from studying, fighting and being caged in a classroom with 19 other idiots for months at a time.

Unfortunately, the UA teachers didn't seem to feel the same way the majority of class 1-A and 1-B did, and in the first few days of the school holidays, both classes were seated on stuffy buses taking them to god-knows-where to be beaten, battered and berated even more than usual.

Kaida was sandwiched between Katsuki and Mina at the very back of the bus, scrolling through her phone as Katsuki slept with his head against the wall behind him, refusing to use neither Kaida nor Kirishima's -who was seated on his other side- shoulders for pillows, and Mina's head rested comfortably on her shoulder. The two girls had spent the first few hours of the drive being screamed at by Katsuki for being too loud, before Kirishima had successfully calmed him down, and the ash blonde had aggressively crammed a pair of headphones over his ears to block out the chatter before falling asleep.

She shot an occasional glance towards Shoto, seated towards the front of the bus with Midoriya's group. He had wanted to sit with her, but Mina had claimed her for the Bakusquad first, so Shoto had to settle for the wink she directed at him every so often, usually responding to the gesture with a pink-cheeked smile.

Kaida's eyes snapped open when the bus jerked to a halt, the motion making her head slip off where it had fallen onto Katsuki's shoulder when she had drifted off to sleep. She arched her back, hearing several satisfying cracks before standing up at Mr Aizawa's instruction that they were stopping for a rest break. She blinked groggily at the scene outside the bus, her eyes squinting against the unwelcome sunlight. There was no bathroom in sight, instead, two women dressed as cats stood in front of the sleepy students, saying something that Kaida's hazy mind couldn't bring itself to listen to as she rested her head between Shoto's shoulder blades.

"What are they saying?" She mumbled into his shirt.

"Well..." He started. "I don't think we're getting lunch."

"You have three hours to reach the base of the mountain using your quirks as you please. Anyone who is late will not be fed!" The cat-women laughed, their voices sounding far too excited for the pain they were putting the group of teenagers through.

"Kisaragi." Mr Aizawa called across the class, and Kaida's eyes widened at her name. "No shadow-travelling to the end. Put in a bit of effort."

Kaida opened her mouth to protest. But her words were swept away as the ground fell out from under them, tipping the students off the edge of the cliff and sending them sprawling onto the ground below.

Kaida coughed as she lay on her back, trying to regain the air that had been swept out of her lungs by the impact. A calloused hand stuck out in front of her, and she gripped it automatically, being hauled to her feet by Katsuki, who already looked fed up with the exercise.

Several students went racing into the trees, desperately in search of a bathroom after the long bus ride, but slammed to a halt when thundering roars shook the dirt under their feet, and the cracking of tree branches alerted the class to the fact that they were not alone.

A towering hound made of crumbling dirt and clay barred their path through the forest, snarling and snapping with rocky teeth.

"Huh." Kaida tapped her chin. "It's kinda cute."