feeding the fire | kiribaku

0 - tragedy

"and that," his mother spoke clearly, as she pulled the blade back out of the beasts forehead. "is how you finish a beast," she said, wiping her bloodied blade onto the grass. the beast she had 'killed' was already dead to begin with. it was a beast she had captured on her own, to sell later on. the beast was a class C beast, one of the weakest types, it had the appearance of a deer, with dainty claws and four eyes. they were slow, bakugo had caught many on his own as well, but never finished them off.

"right," bakugo muttered, watching her place the blade back into her bag.

"if you don't stab it in that spot, it might not die right away, and you'll have to stab it again," she said as she stood up from the ground. she was showing him these techniques in their own backyard, which was already covered in dry blood due to the fact that she always brought her fresh kills here.

"right," he repeated, absentmindedly. he simply stood up, averting his eyes from the dead beast then looking over at his mom. "am i excused yet?"

"well, i'll have to contact a messenger so they can drag this thing to the market and make me some money, then we'll go train," she said, draping her arm over bakugo's neck. she ruffled his hair roughly, he huffed and pushed her arm off of him. then she grinned widely at him walking into the house through the backdoor.

"training? we just went training a few hours ago," he groaned. he crossed his arms over his chest as he followed her into their home. they lived in a relatively middle class home, a nicer home than those around them since they tamed beasts for nobles, who paid more. their house was made of wood, unlike the mud houses which surrounded them. they were dressed in traditional beast-slayer clothing which consisted of mostly furs and wool. bakugo, like his mother, never really wore a shirt anywhere he went. he was never cold, which was something he obviously got from his mom, since his dad used to wear double layers all the time.

"you're turning sixteen soon," she said, "you need to start getting excited about this stuff, son," she spoke, "this is your future!" she proclaimed. "now, grab your blades, lets get going," his mother spoke, tossing him his bag of essentials, filled with medicine and snacks.

"how long are we going to be out?" bakugo asked, "i'm already tired,"

"quit whining," she said, firmly grabbing onto his shoulder, "i was thinking, maybe, two hours but now i'm thinking four," she said, with a wicked smile. "we're going out now because i heard rumor of a dragon passing through the forest near here,"

"a dragon? what the fuck, i'm too tired for that!" bakugo groaned, swatting her hand off of his shoulder.

"if we come across the dragon i'll be acting alone, obviously, you're too young for that," she said, "and if you're so tired you can just pass out in the forest, i'll leave you there and you can sleep all you want!" she proclaimed, grabbing onto his shoulder again just to push him out of the front door. "the beasts'll eat you and then you can sleep forever!"

"finally,"

*

once they had gotten to the edge of the forest, they heard a low growling coming from the east. they hadn't even set foot in the forest and yet it was obvious something didn't want them there. "bakugou!" his mom called out to him, from a few feet in front of him.

"huh?" he replied.

"did you hear that?!" she nearly screamed, as if she were excited.

"obviously," he narrowed his eyes slightly. he couldn't recognize the growl, so he wondered if it was some sort of rare beast and that's why his mother was near fainting.

"you know what that was?!" she turned to face him completely, walking up to him and digging into his bag. she pulled out a small tube filled with a shiny liquid.