bakugo and camie had made their way to the edge of the forest. he stood in the same spot where he found himself three years ago. feeling as though he'd hear that low rumble of a dragon any moment, he shook his head, shaking off the memories. bakugo wasn't one to reminisce, he hated thinking about his problems. so he didn't. he pulled out camie's clothes, knowing she'd want to shift as soon as they got into the forest. he draped the cloth over his shoulder and made his way into the forest. once he was completely out of view from the outside world, camie hopped off of his shoulder, shifted and dressed herself. "so, you really know how to use that thing?" she asked, referring to the searching stone.

"it worked back at the shop, so yeah," he said simply watching as camie hopped up onto a tree branch. "i'm pretty sure i'm gonna have to close my eyes and walk to make this work-" camie immediately let out a laugh, then covered her mouth. "what?!" he barked.

"nothing- i just-" she laughed a bit more, "nothing, nothing, i'll help you walk with your eyes closed," she said, waving a hand towards him, gesturing for him to go on.

"if you mess around i'll kill you," he growled before huffing and shutting his eyes. he focused on the thought of kirishima, which wasn't hard, ever since he saw kirishima's human form he couldn't get the boy's face out of his mind. the stone's temperature began to slowly rise, then it stopped, it was mildly warm. he couldn't see any foggy auras, frustrated, he opened his eyes. "what the fuck, it's not working,"

"you literally closed your eyes for like three seconds," she said amusedly.

"shut up," he replied because she was probably right, he needed to focus for a while longer. he shut his eyes once again, thinking of kirishima. the image of kirishima's piercing blood red eyes came to his mind, and he instantaneously felt a warm and fuzzy feeling wash over him. his skin seemed to heat up and buzz as he felt himself being pulled towards the west. he took a step forward. "you better keep me from falling, cat," he began to walk forward at a normal pace, trusting camie would stop him if he were in trouble. he heard branches rustling and assumed camie was climbing through the trees over him.

"you're gonna bump a tree! move a little to the left," she said, so he did, and he tripped.

SPLAT!

he fell face first into a mud puddle. camie began to laugh hysterically as bakugo scrambled up to his feet. he wiped his eyes clean of mud, and looked at where he had fallen. she had just purposely made him walk towards and trip over a tree root. he had scraped his hands.

"OW! YOU STUPID FUCK!" he yelled, picking up some mud and chucking it towards her. she meowed loudly as she dodged the mud. he wiped off his hands, the left one was fine, the right one was scraped and bleeding a bit. he ripped apart of his bag off and wrapped it around his hand. she began to laugh even harder as bakugo wiped the mud off of his face and clothes. then she lost balance and fell out of the tree, landing on her feet with an 'oof'. then she looked up at bakugo and began to laugh uncontrollably once again. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, DUMB CAT," he barked, then lunged at her. she yelped and jumped up onto a branch but he got ahold of her leg. "c'mon! i can't be the only one walking around covered in mud!" he snapped, pulling her down and wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"NO! no! no! wait! i was joking! i mean-" she yelped, "it was a mistake! i didn't mean to!" BAKUGO!" she was half-laughing and half-pleading as she begged bakugo to let her go. then just before he pushed her into the mud, she shifted into her beast form, dashing up the nearest tree.

"agh!" he growled, then looked at the clothing in his hand then at the mud puddle. "you'll have to put this on eventually," he narrowed his eyes at her and dropped the clothes into the mud puddle. she shifted back into her human form.

"BAKUGO, WHY?!"

"FOCUS!" he yapped. "we need to find kirishima!" he said, kicking mud over her himation cloth.

"i hate you," she whined, hopping down from the tree and grabbing her mud-soaked cloth. she slapped his back with it, receiving a death glare in return. "alright! i'm done, i swear!" she yelped.

"since i can't rely on you, i'll do this myself," he said.

"you can rely on me, i swear it was just that once," she protested as she dressed herself. "plus!" she chimed raising a finger towards the sky, "i only did that because i thought it was funny,"

"me falling in mud?"

"no, no, the fact that you thought you'd have to keep your eyes closed to make that work," she said gesturing towards the stone as she began to walk in front of him.

"how else would it work, smartass?" he asked skeptically.

"well, when you're using a compass you don't just stare at the compass and walk blindly," she said with a snicker, earning yet another glare from the other blond. "you look at the compass, then walk, then check the compass again," she said. he thought for a moment then scoffed,

"whatever,"

"you're saying 'whatever' because i'm right!" she proclaimed.

"whatever," he said, then closed his eyes once again. he focused on the thought of kirishima, then felt that familiar tugging on his spirit, to go west. he turned to face that direction then he opened his eyes, "this way," he muttered.

*

after almost two hours of following the searching stone, camie was beginning to grow impatient. "bakugo, can't you just use the dragon tears you have," she whined.

"what?! no!" he snapped, "i'm never opening that bottle," he said.

"then why do you carry it," she groaned, dragging her feet as she walked.

"emergencies,"

"this is an emergency!" she whined.

"shut the fuck up," he said, then shut his eyes and gripped the stone to confirm their direction. he saw a small flicker of light, then a very muffled and foggy figure appeared. he opened up his eyes, "he's really close," he said. "you should start climbing," he suggested, pointing at the branches above them, "i don't want him to see you right away, he panics easily," he said. camie climbed up into a tree. bakugo took a step forward but then camie abruptly swung down, hanging onto a branch with her tail and her legs, she hung upside down in front of him.

"i have a question," she said.

"can't you save it-"

"no, bakugo, it's serious," she said, furrowing her brows slightly. bakugo crossed his arms over his chest.

"okay," he replied simply.

"why didn't you ever tell me about kirishima?" she asked. bakugo furrowed his brows, averting his eyes from hers.

"hm," he hummed for a moment.

"i mean, shinso and ibara knew about him," she said, "do you not trust me?" her eyes began to water. "you're the only family i've got, i'm sorry if i ever made you distrust me,"

"no, camie," bakugo began, unfolding his arms from his chest. "i didn't tell you because i had no idea how you'd react," he responded truthfully. "i mean, maybe i should have,"

"i would've understood," she said.

"i know, i'm sorry, i never thought about it," he admitted. he paused and wiped her tears with his hand, "hey, idiot, stop crying," he said.

"right, lets go," she said.

"right," he said, yanking her hair.

"ow!" she yelped, trying to push him but he rushed out of her range. she climbed back up into the branches as he began walking towards the spot where he saw the fog. in the distance he could hear the sound of water. they were approaching a waterfall. the sound got louder as they walked towards the waterfall, eventually finding it. bakugo leaned behind a tree, peeking his head out to try and spot kirishima. he didn't see him. he grabbed ahold of the stone and focused once more, he saw the glowing and foggy mist right up ahead but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was the base of the waterfall. "psst," camie called out towards him. he looked up in the direction where he heard the sound to spot camie sitting in a branch. "i know this spot,"

"eh?"

"lots of beasts used to come here," she said, hopping out of the tree, "but since humans settled close by, beasts stopped coming here," she said, walking towards him.

"what're you getting at?"

"he's gotta be inside the waterfall," she said confidently.

"in...inside the waterfall?" bakugo asked.

"yep, literally just walk right through the waterfall,"

"are you sure you're not just saying that, and you're going to make me walk into a rock wall," he asked, studying the waterfall.

"i swear," she chirped, placing her left hand on her hip and using her right hand to cross over her heart. bakugo sighed.

"fine," he said. he took off his bag and handed it over to camie, he didn't want all of his stuff to get soaked. then he made his way over to the water edge, picking up a stone and tossing it in to see how deep the water was. the water was crystal clear and he watched the stone sink after three seconds. "three feet," he said, picking up a few more stones and walking into the water. the ground of any pond could trick anyone, it'd look like the pond was merely a foot deep then you'd walk in and trip into eight feet deep water. he tossed another stone in and counted fourteen seconds, damnit, i have to swim. so he swam towards the water fall, reaching out and eventually hitting something. he felt around and could feel that there was a ledge in the waterfall. he shut his eyes tight, holding his breath and went through the waterfall, climbing the ledge clumsily and crawling past and through the water. he opened up his eyes, breathing heavily to catch his breath.

"bakugo!" he heard the familiar voice of none other than kirishima eijiro. he looked up, squinting to see in the dark cave this waterfall led him to.

"kiri?" he called out. bakugo stood up, and shook his head to get his wet hair out of his face. then he pushed the hair back and looked around aimlessly in the dark.

"oh, right, you can't see," the dragon said. then he grabbed a tree branch from the ground and breathed fire onto it, creating a small torch. "how-" he began, "how the heck did you find me?" he asked. "how'd you find this place?" he walked up to bakugo, "and are you alright?" he asked taking the boy's hand. the cloth he had wrapped his hand in earlier had fallen off, and his hand was bleeding again.

"i just fell and scraped myself, it's nothin-" before he could finish his sentence, kirishima raised bakugos hand up to his mouth and licked the boys wound. "agh!" bakugo yanked his hand away, "kirishima!" he felt his face heat up furiously.

"what?!" he yapped, "i was cleaning your wound," he replied innocently, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"you can't lick other people!" he scolded the boy.

"i've licked you before," kirishima was confused by how the blond was behaving.

"you can't lick me in your human form, it's weird," he said, flicking the dragon boy's nose.

"ouchie," kirishima mumbled.

"lets go home," bakugo said.

"but-" he began, pouting in protest, "you're leaving anyways," he said.

"kirishima, we've been over this, i'm going on the assignment,"

"you already confirmed it with the king?" kirishima asked sadly.

"well, no-"

"then you can stay!" kirishima chimed.

"no!" he snapped, to which kirishima stayed silent. "kiri, this is my first real assignment," he said. "if i don't go they'll give the job to someone else, to a different beast slayer, and i'll lose my title," he said, in the softest tone he could muster. "i'm sorry," he said, "it'll only be a few months,"

"okay,"

"huh?"

"you're right, i'm sorry," kirishima spoke timidly. the fire he had been holding grew dim. "i'm sorry i caused a big fuss and you had to come look for me," he said as the flame went out. "i wasn't thinking about how you might lose your job, i'm really sorry,"

"kirishima, it's okay," he said, reaching aimlessly in the dark to grab kirishima's tail. "what is this?"

"thats my wing," bakugo fumbled around some more. "that's my ass,"

"fuck! sorry!" bakugo yelped. kirishima licked his own hand then blew fire onto his hand, lighting it aflame.

"what were you looking for?" he asked.

"y-your hand," bakugo admitted embarrassedly. "but it's on fire now,"

"i have two," the dragon laughed as he raised his free hand.

"tch! i knew that!" he grabbed kirishimas hand hastily and began walking towards the water.

"bakugo, there's a different exit,"

"eh?"

"at the back of the cave, there's a tunnel, look!" he turned, and blew a puff of fire towards the back of the cave, revealing a short tunnel for a moment.

"oh,"

"c'mon," kirishima pulled bakugo towards the tunnel. he closed his hand into a fist, putting out the fire in his palm then he let go of bakugos hand and crouched down. "follow me," he said.

"well, duh," bakugo mumbled as he crouched down and followed after kirishima, crawling into the tunnel. the dragon boy's tail whacked bakugo in his face. "oi! watch the tail shitty scales!" he said, shoving the boy's butt. kirishima's tail began to wag, thudding against the walls of the tunnel. "stop that!"

"i can't help it!" kirishima snapped back in an obviously embarrassed tone.

"well, help it!"

"shut up! we're almost there!" he said as they crawled towards the exit. they made their way through the exit, standing up as soon as they got out of that cramped tunnel. they were at the back of the water fall, in a heavily bushed area where no one would be able to find them. "c'mon," kirishima led bakugo through a small trail through the bushes. they eventually made it back to the front of the waterfall, where bakugo had first set foot into the water.

"kirishima,"

"yeah?"

"i brought camie with me," he admitted, "she's probably hiding in a tree right now or something,"

"the cat?!" he jumped, his shoulders tensing up. "why?!"

"hey! relax!" he said, raising his hands defensively and gesturing for the boy to breathe. "she came to apologize,"

"apologize?"

"for that," bakugo said, gesturing towards the cut along his right eye.

"really? she's okay with me now?" he asked, "what if she tries to kill me again,"

"simple, then i'd kill her," bakugo replied, to which a voice in the trees scoffed.

"harsh!" camie called out. kirishima tensed up once again, jumping behind bakugo. camie hopped out of a tree, hands raised towards the sky. "hi..." she greeted the dragon boy hesitantly. "look, my hands are up! no tricks! i just want to apologize," she said as she walked towards the two boys. bakugo moved out of the way, pushing him gently towards her.

"i'd kill her for you, don't worry," bakugo half-joked.

"bakugo! again! harsh!" camie huffed. she lowered her hands slowly then waved one at the red haired boy. "hi," she repeated.

"hi..." kirishima replied.

"i...i like your wings," she complimented him awkwardly.

"thanks," he said, "uh, i like your...tail," he gestured towards her fluffy tail.

"yours is cooler," she replied, pointing at his red and scaly reptile tail.

"no way, yours looks soft!" kirishima chimed.

"no, yours look deadly!" camie purred excitedly. both of their tails were wagging as they spoke.

"yours is probably way more useful!"

"no-"

"alright!" bakugo barked, "you both have cool tails!" he pinched the spot between his eyes, annoyed by their chatter.

"someone's jealous he doesn't have a tail," camie said, tilting her head and looking over at kirishima. kirishima nodded in agreement.