The Shadow Kingdom

Dragon Country

Shoto had only been unconscious for two minutes. It took those villain bastards two minutes to take Izumi from him.

He'd never forgive himself...Izumi had seen his resolve weaken and had taken it upon herself to make sure he wouldn't give in. Now she was gone... kidnapped, and alive...but gone nonetheless.

"I ought to kick your teeth in you damn useless noble. How dare you take off with what's mine and then lose her to a bunch of scum?!"

"She's not yours!" Todoroki grit his teeth. "You took yourself out of the picture. You pushed her away!"

"Tch I wouldn't have if she'd told me the damn truth!" Bakugo shouted at him and then turned up his nose. "I don't know what possessed her to lie to me, but I know the truth now and I'm willing to forgive the stupid rabbit providing she behaves herself."

"You're still treating her like she's your property and she's not. Go back to your village, barbarian, my group and I will find and save her. Your assistance is not needed."

"Tch, I'm the one that'll save her, and I'm not entrusting my mate to you or this lame group of yours! Droopy eyes!" He whirled on Shinso who was adjusting his bow. "Find us some horses or something. We're going to Dragon Country!"

"The name is Shinso and find horses where? The nearest town is another day's walk and frankly I'm not taking another step until I've gotten food, and a nap."

"You want to rest after we just found out Izumi's been captured? What kind of a-"

"Look, hot head..." Shinso shouldered his bow with a sigh. "I want to find Izumi as much as you do but we won't be of any help to her if we're worn out before we can get to her. I say we stop for the night, and reconvene in the morning." Shinso said logically.

"I'm with him," Sero put in. "Not everyone has your stamina Bakugo. We need a break."

"If that's the case," Toshinori stepped forward. "Come rest at my home. I need to assess the damages these mercenaries have done. Our wagon and the horses we bought in Kamino are located there as well."

"There," Shinso motioned to Toshinori and walked over to their side. "Sensible."

"Tch fine but I'm warning you, if anything happens to my offspring I'm completely blaming you lot!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Shinso waved him off.

"You sure we should wait?" Todoroki murmured to Toshinori.

"They may be mercenaries but they took Lady Midoriya as a valuable hostage. They'll keep her confined, and in good condition."

"I hope you're right." If anything happened to her... Todoroki thought with a sorrowful expression... I'd never forgive myself.

~Meanwhile~

Izumi wished they'd at least let her wander around. It's not like she knew where she was or could escape with the entire camp eying her. The various deadly eyes left her feeling shrunk and intimidated and the queasiness refused to let up.

"Man..." she sighed heavily and let her eyes wander around. The cavern at least was interesting to look at. It was very warm which made her wonder whether or not there was a dormant volcano beneath the mountain.

There was scripture on the wall which told her this used to be home to primitives and probably one of the first signs of man. She eyed her book bag and bit her lip. She made a grab for it and yelped when a hand slapped over hers on top. She jerked her head up and went tense staring into a pair of intimidating blue eyes hidden under a thick black hood.