Set Me Free

Chapter 26. Reunion

---I-AM-A-LINE---

"You're entangled in my soul; I could never shake you."

---I-AM-A-LINE---

Kirishima had torn every single scale off the armour she had collected. Originally, she intended to keep some intact to give to her guildmates, but she had seen the way people looked at anyone wearing this armour.

She wasn't an expert by any means, but the way they were attached to the armour was hideous; each scale was attached in a sharp, protruding pattern. She could only imagine what it would be like to accidentally run into one of them. It kind of reminded her of the creature that shot spikes at you if you tried to pet it, though she couldn't recall the name.

Kirishima ran a finger over the smooth surface of one of the larger scales; she personally thought it would be far better if they showed the smooth surface in place of the jagged side.

"Eh..?"

She frowned at the small cut that appeared when she touched a particularly sharp spot. Her human skin was still rather sensitive and a tad red, but save for a few burns, she had almost completely healed. Her hair had even grown back, now reaching her chin.

Despite Kirishima ditching everything other than the scales, she almost had enough scales to fill a small cave. To her surprise, it wasn't only her scales she had collected. The scales of both black and gold joined her growing collection.

She couldn't help but wonder if the owners of those scales were still alive. It was possible that dragons typically had a higher life expectancy than humans. Kirishima felt something weigh on her heart as she realised she hoped that they were not still alive because if they were, she was sure they were living in the same conditions she had.

If she caught wind of anything about them, obviously she would try and help, but the odds of finding them were not favourable, and she was sure that Endeavour would be keeping them in the darkest corners of the continent, as he had with her.

---I-AM-A-LINE---

You would think tracking a large fire-breathing reptile would be easy; hell, the blonde had travelled with her for weeks, and he knew firsthand that she was anything but stealthy, so why the fuck couldn't he find her?

Bakugou was convinced she was doing it to piss him off, as illogical as it was. At this point, Kirishima would be lucky if he didn't tie her up out of spite when he found her.

The blonde knelt down to inspect the remains of a makeshift campfire, running the ashen powder left behind between two fingers—cool to the touch. Bakugou used a stick to push the ashes aside, hovering his hand over the once-hidden coals to find the deeper parts warm. Tracking was nothing new to him; no sooner had he lost her trail, than he picked it up just as fast, his momentary frustration transforming into a smug smirk.

It didn't take long to find her from there; it felt anti-climactic to find his 'prey' after all this time, and when he finally laid eyes on Kirishima again, he did nothing.

Did he storm over to her and let her have it? She was the one who spouted all that stuff about being his 'steed' and then ran off on a solo quest on the next continent over. He should be furious; he was furious, but the second he laid eyes on her, all those feelings vanished.

In the end, he went with what he knew.

---I-AM-A-LINE---

Kirishima was conflicted: on the one hand, she was uncontainably stupidly overjoyed; on the other hand, the reason for her joy was cramming her face into the dirt.

"Bakugou, how-!?"

The seething blonde didn't let up an inch. "About fucking time." The hand on her head wove into her hair with a gentleness that Kirishima hadn't been expecting and had her looking into his eyes. She saw anger and frustration, and emotion made her giddy inside because that was when she realised he was happy to see her too.

A shit-eating grin spread from ear to ear, and the redhead couldn't stop herself from jumping on him. Bakugou, in turn, was forced to release her hair to avoid tearing it out, instead switching to gripping her cheeks between his hands to stop her full-body tackle.

"Hew dij yo geh her?"

Bakugou was more surprised that he understood that than he was at her overexcited actions. His expression softened none, but something inside did. When he saw how happy she was to see him, he had to stop himself from reaching out to wipe the dirt off her cheek and reminded himself why he had pounced on her like that in the first place.

Kirishima stared at the glowering man crouched in front of her, and she wondered if he was as stumped as she was.

"Well, don't just stare," Bakugou said. "What should be done to a steed that fucks off on its own?" She had done that, hadn't she? In truth, Kirishima felt terrible about how they had parted ways, and obviously so did he.

"I missed you too." This time, he didn't stop her when she leapt at him.

Kirishima rubbed her cheek on Bakugous's chest, taking a deep breath and inhaling him. She wondered if anyone else knew that beneath the smoke, Bakugou actually had sweet undertones to his scent. She wasn't completely convinced this wasn't just a bittersweet dream, so she pushed her luck and did something she had wanted to do since the moment she met him.

Bakugou froze, swallowing thickly as the redhead came nose to nose with him. Crimson threads tickled his cheeks just long enough to brush against them lightly. She was close enough for him to see the light dusting of pink on her cheeks—not that he thought it was cute.

Kirishima didn't stop there; moving down to run her nose to the base of his throat, she trailed up to below his chin, and there she rested her head, tucked into the curve of his throat.

The blonde gritted his teeth, gripped her hips in his hands, and in one quick motion reversed their positions. "Fuck," Bakugou buried his head in her shoulder, "do you even understand what you're doing?"

Kirishima grinned up at him, and he frowned down at her and even further down. Of course, she was naked; why wouldn't she be? Bakugou sat up quickly and unfastened his cloak, throwing it over her before climbing to his feet.

Now believing this wasn't some brazen daydream, Kirishima had an overwhelming urge to show Bakugou all she had been doing these past months.

"You're going to love this!"

---I-AM-A-LINE---

A/N: How long has it been, and do any of you still follow this story? Sorry guys, it has been a rough year for me. I won't bore you with the details but thank you for your understanding.

I'm still writing, little by little.