Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 5 ~ Part 3||

The following days bled together. Yaoyorozu spent most of her time mixing medicinal pastes or healing Tokoyami, who had periodically began to wake up. Shouto, for his part, would watch, or find himself unconsciously offering assistance, but mostly he tried to ignore the aching sensation in his chest and strategize how to break the annoying spell. What he had found instead, was that Bakugou was wrong. The curse wasn't based on pure lust. It was a possessiveness that boarded on the brink of obsession.

Shouto ground his teeth in frustration as he watched the sea. Bakugou had been true to his word and given them his biggest trireme and a crew to sail them back to Sparta. The ship was larger than the standard 40 meters ship, but otherwise was a typical trireme, with two large masts and two floors, the rowers sitting on the lower level.

The ship rocked against the waves, and water sprayed up to mist Shouto's face as he watched the ocean.

The world had rules.

Even a god's curse had limits, and Shouto had tested those to exhaustion over the last two days. He'd practiced, seeing how close other men could get to Yaoyorozu without his heart speeding up and his sight going red. He'd left her in the house to test how far he could walk before he was overcome with worry and rushed back to her side. In the end, the answer was the same.

Whatever magic Kaminari had struck him with was strong, and he'd have to wait for the effects to wear off, if they ever did.

Unconsciously, Shouto's eyes slid to the side, to the subject of his thoughts. Yaoyorozu sat beside him on the ship's deck, her posture straight, formal as she ground herbs and grasses into a medical paste. She was dressed in a clean, white chiton. Her long black hair had been washed; it curled around her in dark waves.

His fingers twitched. He wanted to touch it. Twist it around his fist and pull her head back to lay kisses along her neck. Shouto frowned at the thought and looked away. It was Kaminari's curse, he reminded himself. Sure, she was pretty, obviously smart, and strong, but he had never felt such an overwhelming desire to touch another human being. Least of all in the way he was imagining.

His hands tightened into fists at his side.

It wasn't fair, but then, when had anything involving the gods ever been fair? Shouto sighed quietly. The fact that his attraction to Yaoyorozu was based on a curse was difficult to reconcile. It didn't feel like something he was doing primarily because of Kaminari's arrow. He tried to think of kissing any other woman. Like the Trojan girl that Bakugou had sent to bring them food, Uraraka Ochako. She was small and cute, but he couldn't imagine feeling the same desire he felt for Yaoyorozu.

Shouto rubbed the bridge of his nose. Now that he was aware of Kaminari's curse, he was constantly looking for signs of the magic influencing his thoughts. It was a difficult task.

'Act first, question later.'

It had been his creed during the war, and it had kept him alive through countless battles. But now, trying to separate his thoughts from the fabricated feelings the curse inspired, Shouto wished he had more practice deciphering the mixed feelings swirling through his chest.

His fingers touched the small bag on his right hip. It contained the few belongings he had brought from home. Shouto closed his eyes and quietly exhaled, wishing his sister was there. She was good at these kinds of things. She would know what to do, maybe even a way to break the curse, but she was a long way away. It would be at least another two weeks or longer before he was able to see her again.

Warm wind blew across the ship's deck, mixing his red and white hair. It filled the twin masts, propelling the two-tiered trireme back to Sparta.

Movement in the corner of Shouto's eye caught his attention. He looked back at Yaoyorozu. Her lips thinned as she pulled her hands away from the stone mallet to inspect her palms. She had taken off her wrist bindings in order to work and Shouto's eyes narrowed on the red, angry blisters that lined her palms. He was reminded of her fight three days ago.