Kirishima's PoV

The next morning I woke up with a smile. I laid in Katsuki's arms, my head resting on his chest. He kept his face buried in my long red hair. With every breath he took warm air ran over my scalp and I got goose bumps.

I sighed. Apparently, I was the first of the group to wake up. But I knew that we shouldn't wait long to leave. Because of our little late-night adventure and our following conversation we had all been very tired. Therefore, the sun was high in the sky when I woke up.

I straightened up and immediately received an unwilling grumble from my mate as I wriggled myself out of his arms. I gently stroked one of the blond unruly strands from his face before bending down to him. "Morning, Kat," I whispered against his lips and gave him a soft kiss.

Kat's eyes opened fluttering in a mixture of anger because he was awakened and joy because of the way I did it. "Morning," the dragonslayer replied in a raspy voice. He raised one hand and buried his fingers in my hair before pulling me back down to give me another kiss.

"We should leave," I finally muttered, but still couldn't quite let go of him. I pulled his shirt aside a little and looked at the marks I had left on his pale skin yesterday. Satisfied, I ran my fingertips over the bruises before kissing one hickey and one bite after the other.

"I'll be glad when we get back home," I said as I reluctantly and finally leaned up to get up. At home, this little session would certainly have led to more. But now we were in the camp with three other people and we had a mission to complete.

Katsuki stood up as well and stretched heartily. "Me too," he muttered. "I want to sleep in a decent bed again. This hard soil is killing me."

"Aww Kat, are you getting old?" I teased him, a grin on my face.

"Tch," replied the dragonslayer, rolling his eyes. "As if you could sleep better. You used me as a pillow."

I just laughed and kissed him soothingly before I looked around at the others. We had woken Todoroki and Midoriya from our conversation. The other dragonslayer had sat up immediately. Todoroki had put one arm over his eyes, but his other hand rested on Midoriya's hip, clearly showing that he was awake but not yet responsive.

My gaze wandered to Kaminari, who lay a little bit apart between our two sleeping places. The owner of the pub seemed to still be sound asleep. He didn't let us disturb him either when we started to pack our blankets together and load the horses. We had four horses and were five people. In addition, due to the loss of his previous fellow travelers, Kaminari had no provisions, no blankets and nothing else that would be needed for a longer journey.

I was just sorting our things together with Midoriya to put some provisions aside for the pub owner's journey home when Katsuki's voice broke through the calm morning mood.

"Wake up, Sparky!" yelled my mate to the blissfully sleeping Kaminari. Like a flash he jumped up, his eyes widened and his blond hair stuck out in all directions. When he realized where he was and that there was no danger (except perhaps my mate, who stared at him with a fiery glare), he sank back into the blankets and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"No need to shout at me, Bakugou," the tavern owner sighed calmly.

"Tch." Katsuki replied. "Do you always let others pack up your stuff? Get the fuck up now!" he growled before joining me. Kaminari jumped up and helped the rest of us to pack.

"How do we do that with the horses?" Midoriya asked thoughtfully.

"I would suggest that we give one to Kami," I replied and looked over to Todoroki, who strictly speaking owned the horses.

The prince was sitting on the ground with a sheet of paper spread out on his lap. When he felt my questioning glance, he shrugged his shoulders. "It's probably for the best. After all, Kaminari is part of our mission, so it is also in my interest that he reaches Ariko safely and quickly. The sooner he can spread our message, the better."

"But how do you travel then?" asked the pub owner, scratching the back of his head embarrassed as he looked around.

"I could fly," I said thoughtfully.

Katsuki made an unwilling sound. "Far too dangerous. What if someone spots you in the sky?"

Before I could say anything back, Midoriya started talking. "What do you think of this idea: Shouto and I will take all our blankets and provisions. In exchange, you ride with Kacchan. If there's no risk, you can still fly."

"I think it's better that way too," muttered Todoroki, his eyes concentrated on the paper in his lap. "Kirishima and I have a lot to talk about, so it would be a good idea if he stayed on the ground." Then he rolled up the document and stood up. Without an expression he handed it to Kaminari.

He accepted it reluctantly. "What is this?", he asked with a frown.

"This officially puts you on my service. This also applies to your boyfriend Hanta Sero and the blacksmith Mina Ashido. With this, you should have no more problems with the law in the future and be able to carry out our mission without the military targeting you. Besides, Shigaraki will no longer have any power over you," said the prince seriously and Kaminari began to grin. "But," a stern undertone had settled into his voice. "No petty crime in my name, got it?"

Kaminari rolled his eyes but nodded. "I got it," he said with a wink.

Todoroki frowned a little but didn't comment on it.

Finally we got on our horses and Kaminari said goodbye to all of us before he rode off to the west. I had sat in the saddle behind Katsuki and put my arms around his stomach. Satisfied I pressed myself against him before we started riding off together.

---

Over the next few days we sank into a kind of routine. All day long we rode on towards the Order. Meanwhile, I talked a lot with Todoroki which brought the other prince a jealous look from Katsuki every now and then. But for our mission it was important to get to know him better. At the beginning I had the faint impression that Todoroki was maybe only interested in irritating his father. But the more we talked, the more I told him about the dragons and my ideas, the more I noticed that the prince was fully committed to the mission, which reassured me.

Little by little the landscape became more familiar again. We rode along the mountain foothills for a while before we spotted the Kuma, which flowed out between the mountains as if it were embedded in a green band of vegetation. Seized by the motivation of an early arrival we decided to ride on, although it would be late evening when we arrived at the Order.

When we reached the Kuma, we let our horses drink for a short time so that they could regain strength for the next hours. Then we rode into the mountains.

The royal palace horses were not as sure-footed as the small robust horses of the Order, but they still made it over the stony mountain slopes. We all fell into a blunt silence. We were tired and exhausted from the long journey and longed for nothing more than a bed and a little rest.

The sun slowly set between the mountain tops and bathed them in a soft orange light. This familiar sight was the reason why I suddenly sat up straight again. I knew what lay behind the next mountain.

And indeed, as we passed the mountain, I saw the familiar rocky overhang under which was the village of the Order. Some of the houses were already lit up in the twilight and there were still some people on the street who immediately spotted us as we rode towards them on the snow-white horses.

A commotion erupted. "Kirishima!" shouted some people when they recognized me. I felt the eyes of Midoriya and Todoroki resting on me. They knew my position in the order and yet they seemed surprised by the obvious general admiration for me. I couldn't see Katsuki's face, but I had the feeling that he rolled his eyes annoyed.

I waved to everyone with a smile and when we reached the edge of the village, I got off our horse. Just as my feet touched the ground and I was about to turn back towards the village, I saw a small figure running towards me out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't make out anything more than long raven-black hair as she wrapped her little arms around my waist.

"Eiji!" cried Tomoko, beaming with joy.

Surprised and yet happy to see her, I squatted down in front of her to hug her properly. As I looked over her tender shoulders, I saw the grey eyes of Miss Crownway, who smiled at me gently.