war of hearts | bakugou katsuki

chapter three

Fuck the north , Bakugou arbitrated internally. It was a wasteland to begin with, winter reigning supreme and killing any farming soil within its rimy grasp. The only thing out here worth his time was the wild game and a few trading routes that proved beneficial on exceedingly rare occasions. Everything else was just fucking irritating.

The journey to an old village his clan had run across during one of their outstanding expeditions up here took longer than he had anticipated. The blame fell to the aftermath of a blizzard. The white bedding slowed the horses and covered the dirt roads, making what should've been a two-hour ride into nearly a day's worth of one.

He hated the cold with a passion, but snow ? Snow could just go to hell.

The weather wasn't the only component to accuse as the leader of that meager village had died two moons ago, leaving Bakugou to remind the new, uppity headman of the peace treaty they had signed a decade ago. No one had expected his clan to be passing through after such a prolonged silence, ergo no one had educated the bastard just who the Tatsu were. That, and the village had remembered his old hag as the chieftain. It was a pain in the ass making a name for himself when hers kept fucking popping up in places he was in charge of now. Their dumbasses best realize he was the leader of the Tatsu for the unforeseeable future or they'd be in for it.

Inhaling a deep breath, Bakugou released a short burst of flame from his nostrils to regulate his temperature. The heat of it warmed his chest and hands as he steered his horse through the last bit of evergreen forest. One of his soldiers trotted along behind him on their own steed. Their camp wasn't far off now. He could finally leave all the snow behind and hole up in his tent and get some damn sleep. The last two days of travel had been infuriating enough, but today was just the fucking cherry on top of this shit sundae and that was where he was drawing the line. If one more thing got in his way of resting, someone or something was going to be eradicated.

Ducking under a low branch, the chief went still atop his horse as a sudden cloud of white encased him. From behind, his soldier had the balls to snicker as the snowcap settled at the feet of the stallion. Steam lifted from the snow covering Bakugou's head and shoulders, divulging just how hot he ran as he snapped his head towards the muted laughter. The damn ashinaga-tenaga just kept on, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to hold it together. It didn't do shit.

"You wanna fuckin' die , long legs?" Bakugou growled, holding one hand up to extend his claws in preparation to slice the man open. He would be all but glad to take out his pent-up aggression on the bastard.

"Oh man," Sero sighed, wiping at his eyes as he ducked to avoid the now snowless branch. "That hit the spot after all the tension back in the village."

"Shut the fuck up before I cut you to ribbons."

"C'mon, Bakugou, the camp's right around the corner then you can take a nice long nap!"

A hefty snap reverberated around the forest and Sero could only chuckle as he dodged the burning tree branch thrown his way. It had him pulling his horse's reins taut to keep her from rearing up in fright. He made sure the forest wasn't in danger of catching fire behind him before kicking the mare's side lightly. She sped up until he was slowing her to trudge alongside the vexed chieftain's prized purebred.

"Think the princess came to while we were gone?"

"Like I give a fuck."

" Riight . That's why we rode all the way out to the village instead of taking Kirishima like normal."

"You got something to say, taffy limbs?" Bakugou questioned, left eye opening wide to glare at his third in command. He was this close to going off—he was this close .