Bakugou's PoV

Two days. Two fucking days I was now on the road with those two and I was gradually on the edge of my patience. They couldn't understand why I was in such a hurry.

"Kacchan, if Kirishima isn't with the Order yet, there's no need to hurry!" "The horses are nearly at the end of their strength; we shouldn't rush like that!" "It's unreasonable to leave the Kirano so soon!"

Deku had been talking to me like that constantly. Tch. I could have handled it better if he had been wrong with his statements. But I simply wanted to head north as fast as possible. I just wanted to go back to Red. But my pride forbade me to explain this longing for my mate to them.

I gritted my teeth and peeked over to the couple by my side. They were immersed in a quiet conversation. Deku held the reins of the packhorse with one hand and Todorokis with the other. His horse trotted along with long reins and I was tempted to push them all forward again so that he was forced to let go of his partner's hand to reach for the reins. But I held myself back. We had been on the road for several hours and the horses deserved a break.

I knew that my reaction to the couple on my side was nothing but pure jealousy, but I couldn't help it. Every tender gesture they exchanged reminded me of my red-haired half dragon.

The marking tinged strangely and involuntarily my hand glided back to the spot on my neck. From the corner of my eye I noticed Deku giving me a worried look, but I ignored him. I looked around attentively, I had the strange feeling that something was coming towards us. Instinctively I stopped my horse because I couldn't place what a feeling it was. I didn't feel threatened, but rather as if a burden was being taken off my shoulders.

"Everything all right, Kacchan?" I heard Deku ask, but I continued to ignore him and scanned the area.

What for a feeling was that? Then I turned my eyes to the sky and my heart started to race. Regardless of the other two, I spurred my horse. I heard their confused and surprised shouts, but I ignored them. Because even though he had been only a dark spot in the sky so far, I was sure.

Red. Red flew towards us and suddenly all my bad mood was forgotten. I didn't care what it meant that he came back from his mission earlier than expected. The only important thing now was that I hold him in my arms again soon.

My horse raced along the plain and I leaned close over its neck, always looking at the dark spot in the sky. When I was already very close, Red finally pushed down from the sky. The mighty red dragon shimmered in the sun, but still in flight he shifted back into his half dragon shape.

Even before he landed, I jumped off my horse and hurried towards him.

Only ten meters left.

Only five.

Three.

Two.

One.

Then I held him in my arms. His familiar scent surrounded me and I pressed him firmly against me.

"Katsuki," I heard him whisper quietly. "My Kat."

Carefully he detached himself a little from me and looked at me with a smile. His warm red eyes sparkled with joy. He put a hand on my cheek and wiped away a tear that was about to run down. When had I started crying? Then he leaned forward and placed his lips on mine.

Longingly I returned the kiss and enjoyed the gentle movements of his lips against mine. I pressed myself against the so familiar warm body and buried my hand in his red hair. Satisfied I sighed. I had missed him so much.

After a long lasting moment we separated from each other again, but Red didn't want to let go of me so quickly and spread small kisses on my cheek and on the line of my jaw. I kept my eyes closed and put my head to one side as I felt his sharp fangs on my neck. His hot breath on the sensitive skin gave me goose bumps.

The slight familiar pain set in when he marked me and carefully pierced the thin skin on my neck with his teeth. I shuddered again as he carefully began to lick the blood from my neck.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let him go!" I suddenly heard Deku shouting.

I growled in a way that could compete with Red. How could he dare to destroy that moment? Annoyed, I turned to him, just to see that he and Todoroki were about to get off their horses and came running for us. Deku had drawn his sword.

"Oi! Put the sword away, idiot!" I snarled.

Deku looked at me confused, but lowered his sword. "But Kacchan, you are hurt!"

"So what, shitty nerd? What do you care?" I hissed. But I couldn't prevent the redness from rising into my cheek. I hadn't explained the marking to the others and still found it a little too private. I was about to attack the other dragonslayer, but Red took my hand and held me back.

"Oh!" Deku suddenly made as if he had suddenly understood the situation. Smiling, he put his sword back into the sheath on his belt. "You are Kirishima, aren't you? I'm sorry, all we could see from our point of view was a creature that shot down from the sky at Kacchan and bit him in the neck. I came to the wrong conclusions," he scratched the back of his head a little embarrassed.

But Red didn't seem to mind at all. He laughed his enchanting laugh and grinned at Deku. Todoroki had positioned himself behind the nerd and looked at Red without any expression. I noticed that his gaze clung to the sharp fangs of the half dragon.

"What are you looking at?" I snapped at the prince.

Todoroki only raised one eyebrow, but didn't answer. Red put an arm around my hip and pulled me a little closer. "It's okay, Kat. After all, he has never seen a half dragon before." Soothingly he stroked his hand over my side. Satisfied I leaned against him and immediately I didn't care that the others were there. But Red flinched a little as I touched his side and took a half step to the side as if the touch had caught him off guard.

I frowned and moved a little away from him. "What is the matter?" I asked him worriedly. He didn't answer directly and avoided my gaze. I reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up. As if frozen, I looked at his exposed upper body.

It looked terrible. As if someone had ripped his whole side open recently. Starting from the wound, three long stripes ran under his ribcage almost to the middle of his belly. Most of the wound had already healed. Thin pink skin had spanned over the injured flesh, but I could well imagine that the spot was still very sensitive.

"Who did this to you?" I asked him whispering. Anger was raging in me and I felt the urge to kill personally the one who had done this.

"It's okay, Kat. He didn't come out of the fight unscathed either." He gently reached for my hand and loosened my grip around the hem of his shirt so that it slipped down again and covered the maltreated skin.

"I hope so." I grumbled and pressed his hand briefly. "Is that the reason why you are already back from your mission? Did you get into a fight and had to flee?"

"No, no. My mission is done," he replied with a smile. "But a lot has happened.

"Tell me about it when we've set up a camp," I said and gave him a short kiss on the lips.

"Didn't we want to get to this Order as soon as possible?" the prince asked suddenly. I had almost forgotten that he and Deku were still there. When I turned to them, Todoroki had tilted his head asking.

"He's hurt, you emotionless bastard," I growled at him. "We take a rest!"

"Hey, Kat! It's all right, we can move on," said the half dragon at my side quietly, but I could hear how exhausted he was.

I turned to him. "Fuck, no. How long has it been since you got injured?"

"About two days."

"And how long did you fly to come here?"

He hesitated and looked away embarrassed. "About two days."

"You're unbelievable," I mumbled, shaking my head. "You need to rest." And when Red didn't resist, I knew how exhausted he really was. Otherwise he would surely have discussed more. This selfless idiot couldn't handle it well if others had to show consideration for him.

We set up a camp and I made sure that Red could lie down quickly.

To be close to him, I sat with him and stroked through his long red hair. We exchanged a few loving words, but Red's eyelids quickly became heavy and he fell asleep with a smile on his lips. And also I smiled happily. Finally we were reunited again.