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crikeygatormate · 3 years ago

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I Will Always Return (Pt.3)

Summary: You were the daughter of the mayor of Wrywood back when the wild west was more than just a movie genre. Your father was a sly politician who managed to find himself stuck between a rock and a hard place with a large crime group that resided in the city and the west’s most notorious group of outlaws. Somehow you find yourself stuck in the middle.

Warnings: PLEASE READ!! This chapter is much darker, so please be cautious, gun violence, death, graphic description of someone dying by a gunshot, dark themes, mentioned loss of family, implied violent father, typos (if I missed any please let me know!)

This chapter was really fun to write :) I'm also so happy about all the feedback I've been getting, it makes me happy to know y'all like my take on western bkg! Also, Keigo’s family is not canon btw just a heads up, same with Bkg and Kiri! This is a bit angsty lol I like angst makes me sad in a good way lmao

Word count: 9k ish???

Part 4!

Part Three

Bakugou and you rode up the mountain for the remainder of the night. Granted, you both were expecting to be followed, but at least you were far enough up now that he could come up with a better plan.

“Should we just go to the town you were heading to anyways?” you asked, shivering a bit as the cool breeze from the top of the mountain seemed to cut through your cotton shirt.

Bakugou shook his head, “no, don’t wanna bring them back to the others. We’ll lose ‘em.” He looked back at you, narrowing his eyes. He had a plan, but he wasn’t sure if you were ready for something so daunting.

“How are we going to lose them then?” you asked, leaning forward in your saddle as your horse trotted up a steep slope.

“Well, they can’t come after us if they don’t have horses right?” Bakugou said, watching you closely for a reaction.

You stiffened in your saddle. The thought of killing anything was totally adverse to you, let alone a horse. “I don’t know if I can do that,” you said honestly.

Bakugou sighed, “yeah I figured as much.” He looked back at you over his shoulder again, “you’ll have to join us down in the mud sometime soon, you know that right?”

You nodded, looking away from him and out into the span of evergreen trees, “I know.”

Bakugou huffed, “good, cause there's no gettin around it.”

You frowned, glancing back at him. How was he able to be so cold, so devoid of emotions when it came to taking something’s life? You wondered what made him like this? How weathered down he had to get before being able to fire his weapon at someone without blinking an eye.

There was a burning question in your mind that you wanted to ask him. You knew better now, he had already told you his past was a touchy subject, but none the less you wanted to know more.

More importantly, you wanted to know where Keigo fell into Bakugou’s story? The blonde soldier was so confident in his story and so bitter towards Bakugou. It was obvious to you that they did know each other.

“Awful quiet back there,” Bakugou’s timber voice cut through your thoughts.

You looked back at Bakugou, he wasn’t looking at you but you could tell he was frowning. “Just thinking,” you responded, watching him roll his shoulders. Morning light silhouetted his figure and illuminated his horse's tail swishing a few stray flies away.

“Got somethin’ to say?” he asked, now sparring you a quick glance. His vermillion eyes almost glowing from beneath his hat.

You furrowed your brows, a little taken back with his softer tone and word choice. Before he would have said something smart, like what crawled up your pants or something like that. “Well,” you began, wetting your lips with your tongue as you rode up next to him, “I’m curious about somethin’.”

“And what would that be, princess?” Bakugou drawled. He looked tired, dark circles were heavy under his eyes.

“I was, well, don’t get mad at me for asking,” you quickly said before continuing, “I was wondering what happened between you and Keigo? You do know him, right?” you asked. Your heart was racing in your chest as you waited for him to yell at you or flip you the bird, but to your surprise all he did was sigh.

“I guess since you’re ridin’ with me now, you oughta know,” he said, his shoulders beginning to bunch up due to him growing more uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you said quickly.

Bakugou shook his head, “it’s fine, you should know. We’ll be fightin’ with ‘em pretty soon.” He let out another tired sigh before speaking, “I did grow up with Keigo. Kirishima did too. All three of us were neighbors in a sense. Kirishima’s family and my family lived on the land Keigo’s family owned. We helped them push cattle, break horses, maintain the ranch, so we could live there for free. When the three of us were all young we played together, learned how to rope, hunt, and tend the cattle.

It was a good deal, really. Both our families were dirt poor and Keigo’s dad was a generous guy. He was always tryna help out, take the less fortunate under his wing. Growin’ up there was easy, simple, we never went hungry, never got cold. That all changed when Kiego’s dad passed. He had caught a fever and passed almost instantly. Keigo was eighteen at the time and took over the household. Practically destroyed his father's legacy in a matter of weeks.

Keigo, well, he was always a little different. A little brasher, he liked to see things suffer. Caught him kickin’ the shit out of my herdin’ dog one summer, he paid for that. It got worse the older he got, and Kirishima and I began to avoid him, which he didn’t like.”

You listened intently, growing more horrified as Bakugou continued to talk about how violent Keigo was.

“Then one year a really bad winter came, I was fifteen, Kirishima was fourteen. Food was practically non-existent and our families were starvin’. Keigo didn’t offer any help, so Kirishima and I went hunting for a few days. When we came back, our families had passed. Keigo told us a fever had taken them, and I believed it. Blamed myself for leaving in the first place, and taking Kirishima with me.

Soon, the three of us were recruited to be a part of the military, and I wanted to be number one. It became an obsession of mine, I wanted to prove that even after letting my family down, I could still be good. That’s where I met dumbass Deku too.”

“The sheriff right?” you asked, unconsciously leaning closer to him as you listened to him talk. You liked to hear him talk, his voice was deep and strong with a rough undertone, but it was somewhat comforting to listen to.

Bakugou nodded, “yeah, that’s him. As much as I hate to admit it, Deku is a good friend of mine now. Definitely wasn’t when I first met the brat, he was thin as a pole and cried almost daily.” Bakugou snorted, lost in his memories before he continued, “anyway, I stayed with the military for four years, up till I was around nineteen, or close to it. Was real close to getting promoted past a grunt.”

You rose a brow as he trailed off, looking ahead of you both. He seemed conflicted to continue talking, “you don’t have to finish, I can tell Keigo’s just spreading dirt on your name from what you told me.”

Bakugou nodded, not sparring you a glance, “yeah, okay.”

You felt a wave of guilt roll over you as you watched his upper lip twitch up into a sneer. He looked disturbed, and you realized you probably should have never asked him something so personal. “Are you okay?” you asked gently, hoping he wouldn’t snap at you in defense.

“‘M fine,” he muttered, his vermillion gaze cutting over to you. He took a short breath before pushing his emotions away. “So what about you?”

Your eyes widened, he wanted to know about you? You could imagine your sister grinning at you like a maniac at the thought of you ever getting giddy over a man wanting to know more about you. You cleared your throat, “oh, I don’t think my story is really interesting,” you said, turning your face away from him so he wouldn’t see how flustered you were.

“Hah, that’s bullshit, obviously someone as prissy as you wantin’ to turn away from a life of comfort to ride with criminals is more than interesting.”

You shrugged, peaking back at him before looking down at your horse's red mane. “Well, okay, I guess it’s only fair if I return the favor and I'm not prissy."

Bakugou snorted, shaking his head as he listened.

“As the mayor's daughter, I did grow up in a nice place, never needed anything,” you began, hating how snooty you sounded, “I was taught to sew, cook, bake, clean, all that stuff, and it’s great to know, and admittedly fun sometimes. But, it was all in preparation to be married off to some man. I think my father started bringing suitors home when I was fourteen? It always went pretty badly.

I mean you saw what happened with Monoma, that’s pretty much what happened with everyone else. I told them off, and they thankfully turned tail pretty fast. No one wants a wife that’s gonna cuss ‘em out, right?” You said with a small grin, glancing at Bakugou whose lips were twitching up into a small smile.

“You do have the mouth of a sailor,” he said.

You snorted, “it’s come in handy over the years, but really I spent most of my time outside. Back home I have a huge garden, it’s taken forever to get so big, but I’m proud of it. I’d also spend most of my days at my neighbors. He’s this old rancher, Gran. He hates my guts, but after years of begging him to let me ride, he’s grown to appreciate my help with his cows. That’s pretty much it.”

“That’s it?” Bakugou asked, shaking his head, “what about your piece of shit father? You left that part out.”

You stiffened at his words, of course, you didn’t want to bring that up. But he was honest with you, so you might as well be honest with him. “Right, my dad. He was suffocating. Probably the most two-faced person I know. He was great when I was young, but as I got older I guess I began to see him for who he really was, which wasn’t pleasant.

He’d get so angry sometimes, and there were plenty of times I thought of running away, but I couldn’t leave my sisters. They were too timid and they needed someone to stand up for them, so I did. I would do it again too. As mayor, he had this persona he showed to the public but behind doors, he was terrible.

Honestly, it was really terrible of me to stay for so long, but being a woman is hard. I can’t own land, can’t open a bank account, I can’t do anything without a husband. But I’d rather suffer at home than be married off to some stranger.” You explained as you fiddled with your horse's mane again.

“I think, when you showed up that night, it felt like a prayer had been answered,” you admitted, continuing to look down at your hands, “I’m not sure what would have happened if my dad found out I told off Monoma like that.”

“Well, you don’t ever have to worry about any of that shit when you’re with us,” Bakugou said. “Mina came from a similar situation, and she’s just as free as me. You are now too.”

You looked at Bakugou, and gave him a lopsided smile, “thank you.”

He held your gaze a moment before nodding as he rode up ahead of you again, “gotta get goin’ more, we’ve got to stop soon to let the horses rest.”

—---------

The sun was starting to begin its descent from afternoon into the evening by the time you stopped riding. You kept your tack on your horses, but loosened their girths and unclipped one side of the horse's bits so they could drink and eat. It was clear that you had to be ready to quickly escape if need be.

Granted Bakugou was not planning on escaping. He told you earlier that you needed to be ready, and he was holding true to that.

You looked at the pistol in your hand. It was heavy. It was always heavy, and to you, the weight of it would never grow lighter. Over the past few days, you had practiced a lot with it. You had grown to respect the weapon, but you hoped you’d never have to use it.

“Here’s the plan,” Bakugou said as he walked back into your little makeshift camp, “I’m gonna come at them from one side and you will go in from the other. Chances are they won’t hurt you, so you can take a few horses out easy, I’ll handle the rest.”

“I’m not sure-”

“You have to be sure,” Bakugou snapped, his eyes flashing with mild irritation. “You’ve seen how these men work, they don’t mess around. They want me dead.”

Adrenaline instantly spiked inside of you, making your stomach and heart jolt. They did want him dead. You couldn’t have that happen. You wouldn’t have that happen. So you nodded, swallowing the lump in your throat.

“Good,” Bakugou said and clapped you hard on the shoulder with his good hand, “I’m countin’ on you princess.”

You gulped as you stared up at him, he was counting on you. So you had to follow through. You weren’t going to let him down. You couldn’t. He squeezed your shoulder roughly, making you hiss as you moved to get away but he held you in place.

“Wanna see that same spirit you had when you were runnin’ away from me yeah?” he added, before removing his hand from your shoulder to go and get his horse ready.

Spirit.

Right, in such a short time your fiery spirit had been tame. Still strong, but content you suppose. You stood up and rolled your shoulders, you could do this. You had to. So you got your horse ready and then followed Bakugou back down the mountain.

According to him, the convoy would be tracking yours and his horses' hoofprints, so if you traveled down parallel to your tracks you would eventually run into them. The plan was once you both encountered them, you would split and you were to shoot as well as you could into the group and then book it back up to camp before dark.

It seemed like a good plan, but you felt wildly unprepared. Which was valid, you were.

You kept a sharp eye out for any familiar figures and after a good hour of riding, you heard some chatter. They were close. In fact, you could see some flashes of horse flanks through the trees.

Bakugou clicked his tongue and gave you a half smile before silently separating from you to go to his side of the convoy.

Your heart was thumping against your ribcage as you got closer and closer to the convoy. You could see them better now. Colonel Aizawa was in the back talking to a soldier with black hair. Lieutenant Endeavor was up front with Keigo, and a few others were staggered in the middle.

A loud whistle cut through the pine trees and you knew that was your cue. You let out a quick breath before all hell broke loose.

You yanked out your pistol and shot off into the group six times. You used all your bullets which was your first mistake, but you weren’t thinking too clearly. Someone shouted and you heard the heartbreaking sound of an animal dying.

You let out a hiss of anger, mostly at yourself, as you turned your horse around and spurred him on. There were more pops from pistols shooting off and a few more shouts before you heard the unmistakable sound of hooves pounding behind you.

With a panicked gasp, you turned around to see that it was Keigo who was riding after you. His grey horse was splattered with blood and he was grinning at you.

“Playin’ outlaw, huh?” he shouted as he yanked his pistol out and aimed it towards you.

Your eyes widened and without much thought, you quickly dismounted your horse while he was still moving. It was risky, but it would be terrible if Keigo killed your horse. Well, he wasn’t even yours, but you couldn’t bear the thought of anything else dying because of you.

You hit the ground with a grunt, rolling for a moment before you caught yourself and instantly looked up to see that your horse had got away. You let out a sigh of relief and moved to run away but you were promptly knocked over by a fist hitting you in the temple

“Shit,” you hissed, landing back against the forest floor, pine needles poking up into your clothes. You blinked hard as black spots swam in your vision. Then, a hand wrapped around your throat and yanked you up.

“I can’t tell if your just stupid or seriously fucked in the head to be runnin’ with Bakugou,” Keigo spat.

You clawed at his hand as he grinned at you, blood was steadily dripping down the side of his face, which made you wonder if he got grazed by a bullet.

“What made you even think that was a good idea? You know how easy your life could have been if you had just come back with us?” Keigo asked, tilting his head.

You garbled out a ‘fuck off,” before spitting into his face.

Keigo laughed, wiping your spit off his cheek as he slammed you back into the ground. “You know, if your family wasn’t paying us so much money, I would just shoot you dead right here.”

You stiffened, eyes wide as you watched Keigo pull out his pistol again. With slow shaky hands you brought your hand down to your waistband, your pistol was still there you could pull it out, you would have to, or he would hurt you.

With bated breath, you yanked the pistol out and pointed it at Keigo making him quickly release your neck as you pulled the trigger. Both of your eyes were trained on his face as you held the pistol out, but to your horror, it only clicked.

You were out of bullets.

“Well, I guess you are just stupid,” Keigo mocked as he pointed his pistol at you. “You know, maybe you fell off your horse. Got hurt during this little fight, right?”

You scrambled back, fear freezing your limbs as Keigo walked towards you, glaring down at you. “You wouldn’t, no one would believe you.”

“You really think that? I’ve got away with it before, who says I can’t get away with it again. Plus, who wouldn’t believe a silly girl like you falling off her horse and dying? It’s a believable story.”

Dread washed over you from his words. He’s done this before? Immediately you thought of Bakugou and Kirishima. Did Keigo do this to them? Was this the part of Bakugou’s story that he left out?

Keigo held out his pistol, lining it up with your forehead, but before he could shoot, the black haired soldier you saw earlier burst through the undergrowth.

“Keigo! We’re retreating, we’ve lost three horses and Bakugou shot Endeavor-” he paused, his red eyes cutting between you and Keigo. “What’s going on here?”

You gulped, your gaze cutting between both men. The tension in the air was thick and for a moment you felt like everything you’ve ever known was resting on the edge of the blade.

“Tokoyami, you really have a knack for showing up at the wrong time,” Keigo said with a sigh, and then without blinking an eye, he shot his comrade right in the chest.

You screamed as Tokoyami crumpled to the forest floor with a grunt.

Keigo sighed, “shame, I liked him, and you,” he paused to smile, “well you’ve just become a murderer. The post will eat that up, yeah? Guess you live to see another day,” he concluded and left without sparing you a glance.

You rushed over to Tokoyami, a complete stranger, but a familiar face. With shaking hands you rolled him over, trying not to look at the thick streams of blood gushing from his bullet wound. “I’m sorry,” you croaked as you looked into his red eyes.

Tokoyami wasn’t able to talk, but he didn’t stop looking at you until his last breath. You held his hand the whole time, crying over this man who had unknowingly given his life to save yours.

You weren’t sure how long you sat kneeled by him, but it was dark by the time Bakugou found you. It was cold too, your nose was running and the wind was starting to pick up. You weren’t even able to hear him talk until he was shaking you.

“Hey!” Bakugou shouted before reaching down to grip your cheeks between his fingers and turn your head towards him, “the hell is wrong-” he paused. He didn’t notice what you were kneeling by, who you were kneeling by.

You sniffled, tears rolling down your cheeks and over his fingers as you cried. “H-he shot him.”

Bakugou’s expression soured. He was well aware of who you were talking about. “C’mon,” he urged, dropping his hand from your face to grab at the collar of your shirt.

“Wait!” you scrambled, pulling back from his hold on you, “we can’t leave him here!”

“He’s fine, we have to go,” Bakugou growled as he yanked you up to your feet. He refused to look at the body on the ground as he practically dragged you away, trying to block out your cries and whimpers.

You soon found yourself back at camp, sitting in front of a fire. Your horse was tied. A little cut up, but good. Alive. Your hands shook as you looked at the food Bakugou had warming over the fire. He had already eaten long ago. In your still shocked state, time was moving too fast and too slow all at once.

“You gotta eat,” Bakugou said sternly.

“M’ not hungry,” you replied hoarsely.

Bakugou sighed heavily, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“It was supposed to be me, not him,” you said, your voice was small.

“Cut that shit out, part of you has to be relieved that it was him instead of you,” Bakugou said, his voice harsh.

You looked up at him through narrowed eyes, “can’t you let me grieve-”

“You didn’t even know him,” Bakugou interrupted.

“Doesn’t matter if I did or not, he was murdered by that psycho,” you hissed, furiously wiping away a few stray tears.

“Yeah well now that Keigo’s got his eye on ya, that’ll happen again. So you better get used to it. Like I said, it’s better that the grunt died instead of you,” Bakugou explained as he crossed one ankle over the other.

You grit your teeth, hot anger rolling in your tummy as you stared him down. Whatever soft feelings you were beginning to harbor for him seemed to evaporate instantly. “I’m leavin’” you spat as you stood up and turned on your heel to stomp through the woods to who knows where.

“The hell?” Bakugou shouted after you, “the fuck is your problem!”

You bristled, irritated at his voice as you shouldered your way through the bushes. He was insufferable, cold, and certainly desensitized to death. How he could have no empathy or emotion was beyond you.

Maybe you bit off more than you could chew. Maybe you should have just left when you could and gone home. Suffered in your own little enclosed world, where things were out of your control, but at least they weren’t spiraling.

You were spiraling, in fact, the world really did seem to be spinning. The dark forest seemed to warp as you leaned heavily against a dead tree. Your temple was throbbing with the beat of your heart and you suddenly became aware of the memory of Keigo hitting you on the side of the head.

A soft whine escaped your lips as you slid down the side of the tree, the old bark cutting into your skin through your shirt. The last time you felt this bad was when you were thrown from Gran’s old ranch horse and had to stay holed up in your room for a few days.

You lifted your head a little at the sound of boots stomping towards you and you sighed, feeling too bad to snap at Bakugou.

“What makes you think you can run off, huh?” Bakugou said angrily as he squatted down in front of you, “look I know you’re hurtin’, but you gotta brush this off. It wasn’t your fault.”

You looked at him, while breathing heavily through your nose. The vertigo you were experiencing was making it hard to even comprehend what he was saying, but deep down you knew he was right about you letting it go. “He said,” you began, your mouth drying, “he said he was gonna tell the post I murdered Tokoyami.”

“Well shit,” Bakugou grumbled, “how no one has picked up on this guy's lies is astonishing.”

You nodded, shutting your eyes as a wave of nausea rolled over you.

Bakugou clicked his tongue, he had almost gotten Keigo today. He just had grazed the side of his head, not enough to take out the fucker, but enough to make ‘em mad enough to act out. Which was something he did not want to deal with again. “Look, no one’s gonna believe that shit-” he paused as you groaned. “The hell are you groaning about?”

“He got me-”

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything?” Bakugou interrupted, immediately grabbing at your clothes, his red eyes wide as he felt around for any blood.

You hissed, “no my head, I almost shot him but I ran out of bullets, then he hit me,” you explained quietly.

“Told you to never have an empty pistol,” Bakugou chastised as he let his hands drop from your sides. “Can you stand? Need to get a better look.”

You attempted to stand but you immediately fell back down, your legs were weak from the nausea. “No,” you croaked.

“Alright,” Bakugou sighed, “don’t kick me this time,” he added as he easily picked you up. He kept a hand firm under your thighs and the other supported your side as you slumped against him.

Your eyelids were heavy as you pressed your cheek against Bakugou’s chest. The starch of his shirt was itchy against your skin, but it was better than the tree. Had you not been feeling so bad, you probably would have been a stuttering mess. No one has ever held you like this, not that you had ever willingly let someone.

“Keep your eyes open,” Bakugou said from above you as he stepped over a fallen log.

You huffed, feeling another wave of nausea roll over you. You were tired. It has been about twenty-four hours now since you last slept. Bakugou set you down against the log he was leaning on earlier and you felt your eyelids flutter close. If you could sleep for just a little bit, you’d probably feel better. But a light slap on your cheek had your eyes flying back open, and you glared up at Bakugou, “that hurt.”

“No it didn’t,” Bakugou said gruffly as he sat down next to you. “Quit lookin’ at me and turn your head.”

You exhaled heavily through your nose as you looked away from him and let out a yelp when he prodded his fingers against your temple. “Ouch!”

“Quit squirmin’,” Bakugou muttered, narrowing his eyes as he pushed some of your hair back to look at your wound. He sighed after a while and removed his hand, “he got you pretty good, surprised that you didn’t pass out. Gonna have to stay here for a few more days, you’ll need to sleep it off.”

You nodded, shuffling back against the log as you went to close your eyes. Sleeping it off didn’t sound too bad, “alright.”

“But not yet,” Bakugou quickly interjected, “you have to stay awake till morning at least.”

You folded your hands over your stomach as you slid your gaze to him. “And why would I need to do that?”

“Cause ya’ might not wake up,” Bakugou replied nonchalantly as he grabbed a piece of jerky from his bag and took a bite.

Your eyes widened in mild horror. “Huh? I might not wake up?”

Bakugou nodded as he put his good hand behind his head, “yeah when I was in the military this one guy got clocked over the head with the butt of a pistol. Medic told him to stay awake for the remainder of the day, he didn’t listen and that was the last we saw of ‘em.”

You furrowed your brows horrified that Bakugou was even telling you this. “So I’m gonna die?”

He snorted, “no, I never said that-”

“But you implied it,” you interrupted, voice shrill.

Bakugou looked at you through narrowed eyes as he took another bite of his jerky, “you’re not gonna die. Just stay awake.”

“What if I fall asleep?” you asked, sitting up a little bit.

“You’ll be fine, and I don’t think you’ll be able to sleep now,” he replied, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

You frowned at him. Was he just trying to make you scared so you’d stay awake? “You’re despicable, you know that?” you huffed as you folded your hands over your stomach again.

Bakugou shrugged, returning his gaze to the fire, “whatever.”

“Well, now that I know you’re bluffin’ I’m going to sleep,” you muttered and promptly turned away from him to lay on your side.

“I wasn’t bluffin’,” Bakugou replied as he roughly yanked you back on your back. “You do need to stay awake.”

You let out an exasperated sigh, “fine, I’ll stay awake.” You grumbled something under your breath before a shiver wracked your form. You were pretty high up in the mountain now so it was much colder now.

The pine needles lightly rattled against one another as a gust of cold wind cut through the woods. It smelled like winter so far up in the mountains. In fact, you were curious if it would snow instead of rain. You liked the snow, but not when you only had a shirt and a pair of jeans. “It’s cold,” you said aloud, mostly to yourself.

Bakugou hummed, glancing up at the sky. It was cold, he had seen some birds flying down the mountain earlier, so he figured you’d both be running into some snow soon. Which he for once, wasn’t prepared for, but it’s not like he had planned to be on this mountain for so long. He looked back down at you, the last thing he needed was you or him getting sick on top of you both being injured.

You sniffled as you continued to stare into the fire. Your thoughts briefly wandered back to your sisters at home. What would they think when they heard the rumors that Keigo was about to spread. Surely they wouldn’t believe it.

Your father, however, was a loose cannon. There was no telling what he was gonna do once he heard the apparent news of you murdering a soldier. You huffed, you could expect the worst from him.

There was some shuffling next to you and you glanced over to see that Bakugou was yanking his blanket out with his good hand before he practically threw it at you. You recoiled and pulled the thick fabric from your face, “what’s this for?”

“Just use it, can’t have you gettin’ sick too. I want off this fuckin’ mountain,” Bakugou grunted as he tipped his cowboy hat down over his eyes.

“But you’ll get cold too,” you said, your voice small as you spread the blanket out. It was warm and smelled like leather and some of the medicinal herbs he had stuffed in his bag. It wasn’t a bad smell, you found it sort of comforting because it smelled like him.

“No, I won’t,” Bakugou grumbled.

“Your nose is pink,” you pointed out.

“It’s always like that,” he argued.

“No it’s not,” you shot back, shaking your head slightly. You weren’t even sure why you were arguing with him. You should just roll over and try to ignore him. He’s been an ass anyway, right?

Bakugou yanked his hat back from over his eyes and shot you a nasty glare before roughly scooting himself closer to you and tearing the corner of his blanket from your hands. He yanked the green wool over his lap while muttering something under his breath before leaning back against the log and pulling his hat over his eyes once more. “Is that fuckin’ better, princess?” he snapped as he folded his arms over his chest.

Your face was practically as hot as the fire in front of you. “Yeah, that’s better,” you replied, your voice wavering a bit. He was so close now, his shoulder and thigh were now pressed against yours. He was warm too, much warmer than the blanket he had given you. You gulped, there was that stupid feeling fluttering in your chest, which made you squirm.

“If you keep squirmin’ I’m moving,” Bakugu said roughly.

You stilled, glancing up at him from next to you. His breaths started to even out and before you knew it he had fallen asleep. It was almost shocking to you that he was letting himself fall asleep while being so close to you.

Did that mean he was comfortable around you?

Obviously, he was. You have been with him for a while now practically attached at the hip. He’s probably the only person besides your sisters who knows so much about you. You let out a sigh, fighting off sleep. There were so many new emotions you were facing, and they were hard to unpack.

You let out another soft sigh before leaning back against the log and looking up at the sky. Your eyelids were so heavy and for a brief moment, you shut them.

—--

“Get off me, you little leech,” Bakugou’s gruff voice sounded far away in your mind. The heavy blanket of sleep was still weighing you down, not giving you the opportunity to open your eyes.

“Damn it, get it off!”

You blinked feeling strong hands trying to pry yours off of something. The world looked fuzzy for a moment before you realized you had yourself completely wrapped around a body.

Your arms were tight around Bakugou’s waist and you had one leg curled around his. All at once you jolted and became hyper-aware of him yanking your arms off of his waist.

Within the next second, you had scrambled away from him uttering a million apologies as you tried to calm your erratic heartbeat.

“Whatever, just don’t do it again,” Bakugou snapped, quickly turning away from you.

You cringed at yourself. How that even happened was beyond you but you didn’t miss how the tips of his ears were bright red with blush. At least that made you feel a little better not being the only one embarrassed.

“I’ll be back” Bakugou announced suddenly, his voice cracking a little as he stood up. He then stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“Okay, sorry again, I guess I was cold still,” you said, trying to come up with an explanation for why you practically spooned him.

Bakugou huffed, his back was still to you. “First thing we’re doing once we get to town is gettin you your own blanket.”

Your cheeks warmed, you were so embarrassed you didn’t even want to respond to him.

Bakugou wasn’t even planning on waiting for your response anyway as he was already quickly walking away from you. His shoulders were just about bunched up to his ears as he disappeared into the undergrowth.

You rubbed your eyes, wishing the earth would swallow you whole. Perhaps you should go after him and apologize again? But the pounding in your head became apparent again causing you to rethink getting up.

You grumbled, feeling guilt gnaw at you even more and with a sigh you stood up, swaying a bit as you found your footing. Maybe you could go back by the river to wash off again. It was cold, but it would be nice to be clean again.

The world blurred for a moment as you took a step and then another one. Before you knew it you were out of camp and walking through the pine forest. It never occurred to you how dense the woods were the further up the mountain you traveled.

The trees were massive too, they stretched about thirty feet into the sky and their trunks were so large you could easily hide behind one and no one would be able to see you.

Your thoughts then turned back to Tokoyami.

The last thing he ever saw was this forest, these trees, and you. A knot formed in your stomach thinking back on his final moments. A life that was cut too short all because you didn't keep track of how many bullets you had left.

You sighed, remembering how cold Keigo was as he shot his comrade without blinking an eye. It was disturbing that he’s done something like that before.

To Bakugou and Kirishima.

The thought of whatever Keigo had done to them was almost too much to even think about. So instead you turned your thoughts back to the forest around you.

You started to notice that there was an abundance of berry bushes around. From what you could see there were a few raspberry and blackberry bushes close by. Which you took advantage of, you snatched a few off their branch and continued searching for Bakugou while snacking.

“Bakugou?” You said aloud in between bites. He couldn’t have gone far. Maybe you should have just stayed at camp.

You pushed past some branches that led you to the river and you stopped instantly. The raspberry that you were about to chew instantly got sucked down your throat as you sharply inhaled making you double over coughing.

Bakugou promptly turned around to see you hacking up a lung and he did a double-take. You followed him all the way out here? “The fuck are you doing here!” He shouted, cheeks flaming.

You slapped your hands over your eyes, not even able to form a coherent sentence. All you could do was stutter out some words and blindly try to turn around.

Apparently, he had left to go bathe, which was valid. He didn’t have to tell you that. Now you really wished the earth would swallow you whole.

“I’m sorry!”

“Sorry, my ass!” Bakugou said back, his voice cracking again as he stomped into the water.

“I really am!” You said again and then proceeded to blindly, turn back around and scramble back to camp. Blood was pounding in your ears as you booked it back to camp as fast as you could without falling over.

How you could mess up badly was beyond you, but twice in one day? That had to be a new record. Once you finally reached camp you promptly laid back down and shut your eyes, hoping that you would fall asleep before he got back.

But you couldn’t. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t fall asleep. You were surely tired enough, but the butterflies in your tummy were acting all weird.

Granted you didn't know much but you knew whatever feelings Bakugou was stirring up in you, they were bad. And they only seemed to be getting stronger.

You were so caught up trying to squirm away from your butterflies you didn’t even notice him walking back to camp. Or see that he hesitated by the tree line, trying to cool his cheeks with the back of his hands.

He cleared his throat, making you jolt from under the blanket.

You didn’t dare look at him. Just seeing him would bring that image of him back into the forefront of your mind. You gulped, he was a big guy, you knew that. Obviously, you knew that you saw him shirtless before, but this time… you shook your head, trying to not let your mind wander.

“So,” Bakugou coughed lightly, “your head still hurtin’?”

You exhaled sharply before turning over and looking up at him. He was sitting weird, and far away from you. Which made you feel like a total idiot. Now he was clearly uncomfortable with you. Did you just ruin the barely budding relationship you had with him because you walked in on him naked?

You sighed, probably.

“It’s better,” you replied, letting your gaze drop from his.

“That’s good, we should probably get goin’ then. Wanna get down the mountain before it snows,” he said. He then stood up, shooting you one more passive look before going to tack up his horse.

—-----------

The ride down the mountain was tense. There was a new sort of tension between you two that you couldn’t put your finger on. Bakugou kept his conversations with you short and sweet, well sweet was an understatement. He had turned back to being brash towards you again.

Which was better than nothing at all, you supposed.

When you finally reached the town after four more days of riding, you had never been so happy to see buildings in your life. The little town was small with only a courthouse, the sheriff's office, and a large market where some of the locals sold their goods.

Your horse whinnied as you came to a stop outside of the sheriff's office and you squinted at Bakugou, watching him dismount his horse. “Why are we stopping here?”

Bakugou looked up at you and shook his head, “just wait here, okay?”

You furrowed your brows as you watched him tie his horse and then walk into the sheriff's office. You only waited a few minutes before he was walking back out, this time there was someone behind him. This must be Deku.

Deku was tall, just a little taller than Bakugou and he had the greenest hair you’ve ever seen. It reminded you of the color of the evergreen trees you saw up in the mountain. He had a smattering of freckles across his face and a broad smile. It was almost shocking to see someone who looked so friendly with Bakugou.

“Y/n,” Bakugou began, “this is Deku, you’ll be stayin’ with him for a while.”

It was then your little world you had built with Bakugou shattered. Your voice caught in your throat before speaking, “why am I stayin’ with him? I thought that was only when I was your hostage still?”

Bakugou bristled, he looked irritated with the question you asked. He knew you were gonna ask it, but it still bugged him when you did. “I got some things to sort out with the rest of the group. You’ll be safer here.”

“But I-”

“No, you’re stayin’ here,” Bakugou growled, “I’ll be back in a few days. Don’t do anything reckless.”

Before you could even speak he had already untied his horse, got on, and promptly rode off as fast as he could, leaving you and Deku in a cloud of dust.

Hurt bloomed in your chest as you watched Bakugou’s figure grow smaller in the distance. Did he not trust you anymore? Maybe you really did screw up. But then you remembered how much your personality has seemed to have changed for him. You were not even acting like yourself recently. Maybe this break was good.

You huffed and looked towards Deku who was shielding his face from the sun. “So, where should I tie my horse?” you asked the sheriff.

“Oh,” Deku replied a little caught off guard, “here, we can take him to my place. I’m done for the day.”

You watched Deku lock up his office before getting up on a large buckskin mare next to you. He did seem nice, and from what you could tell so far he was the exact opposite of Bakugou.

“So, Kacchan told me a bit about you, you’ve got an interesting story,” Deku said as he led you down the main street of the town.

You blinked, “he did?”

Deku nodded, “yeah, I gotta say I’m a little surprised you’ve put with him for so long, Kacchan is about as prickly as a porcupine.”

You laughed, “he is a little prickly, but overall he’s been nice.”

Deku looked back at you and raised an eyebrow, “nice?”

You nodded, “yeah, he’s been attentive I guess. He did most of the hunting for the both of us, he gave me his blanket, taught me how to shoot. I mean I was surprised too, I heard from the post that Bakugou was pretty much the most dangerous outlaw around.”

Deku hummed, “interesting.”

You rode up next to the sheriff, “how so?”

Deku shrugged, “never heard of him doin’ anything like that for anyone besides Kirishima.”

Your cheeks warmed, but you shook your head, “I think he just feels sorry for me. I keep messing up around him,” you admitted.

“Right,” Deku replied before he stopped in front of a large barn. “You can put your horse in the empty stall and your things in the tack room. I’ll be back in the house. Feel free to use anything.”

You nodded, deciding to keep silent as you got off your horse and led him towards the empty stall before untacking him. You ran your hand down your horse's flank, he was soft and steady. He was probably the most consistent part of your life right now.

You finished brushing him off and getting the tangles out of his tail and mane before tossing some of Deku’s hay into his stall. You gave him one last pat and then headed towards Deku's house.

Deku had a nice house. It was small, probably had about two bedrooms, and was painted yellow. He had a few vegetables in a garden close by and a chicken coop around the back. As you walked closer to the front door, a large white dog bounded up to you, panting as you bent down to pet him.

After a few small pats, Deku’s dog wandered off back to the coop to watch over the chickens. You then walked into Deku’s house and to your surprise, he was cooking something.

“Oh hey, you’re back, I hope you’re okay with steak and potatoes?” he asked, looking back at you over his shoulder. He was wearing an ivory shirt that he had rolled back past his elbows paired with an apron?

“That’s fine, thank you,” you replied, and then glanced around the interior of his home. It was sparsely decorated, but it was comfy.

“Your room is off to the left, there’s a tub in there. I already filled it up for you,” he said, giving you a warm smile before returning to his cooking.

Your eyes widened, he did that for you? “Thank you, Deku, really.”

Deku laughed, “of course, and you can call me Izuku.”

Izuku? You furrowed your brow, why did Bakugou call Izuku, Deku? You shrugged and then headed to the bathroom.

———

After you had bathed and ate you told Izuku that you were going to head to bed. It would be good for you to rest after such a long time on the road, to which he thankfully agreed.

He was kind enough to give you an extra set of clothes and a large shirt to sleep in, which you were thankful for too.

You should have felt relieved to be in a warm house with a full belly, but you found that you missed being outside and sleeping under the stars. You missed the crackle of the fire and the smell of smoke.

But most importantly you missed him.

To even acknowledge that you were attached to Bakugou in any way would have made the old you turn up your nose in disgust. How could you ever miss the company of a man? A man as brute and brash as Balugou?

But you did. You missed him and a small part of you hoped that he might be missing you too.

#iwar #Bakugou x reader #character.death #.violence #.gun mention and violence #tw.character death #tw. gun mention #tw. violence #outlaw!bakugou

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