i will not be tamed by the dark
chapter two
Inko wiped the sweat from her brow, eyeing the redhead helping her plant the burning heart seeds in shadier areas around the perimeter of the house. The rain had been drizzling lightly off and on all day, but the clouds had eventually dissipated. In the heat of the sun, he'd removed his shirt and revealed the tattoos that signified his tribe and location. Her eyes widened when she saw it, having never seen a wolf in these parts of the land. Even when she had lived down south with her husband, wolves hardly ever left the mountains.
"Kirishima," She started, removing her gloves.
"Please," He interrupted, smiling brightly, "Call me Eijirou!"
She smiled, "Eijirou. Would you mind helping me with dinner?"
"Sure!" He agreed, swatting at a mosquito, "It's the least I can do since you offered me this job. Plus, I wanna meet your son! He sounds hilarious!"
Inko nodded, eyes lingering on the tattoo that wrapped around his neck and dipped towards his clavicle. "I think he'll want to meet you too," She said, humming in thought and forcing his shirt back into his arms. He laughed, accepting the fabric and pulling it over his head like the very action was the silliest thing he'd ever done.
Inko picked up the basket of vegetables they'd harvested that day and nodded towards the house. They meandered inside, dropping their gardening shovels into a wooden pale near the door.
Kirishima followed Inko into the kitchen where she handed him a knife, a cutting board, and the carrots from the garden.
"Wash your hands first, since you insisted on not wearing gloves," She told him, putting the plug into the basin and ladling some of the water Izuku had fetched for her that morning into it. She shoved a bar of lavender soap into his hands, when he set up his station on the counter.
He brought it up to his nose and sniffed. His grin widened, delighted at the pleasant smell.
"Wow!" Eijirou exclaimed, "This smells way better than the soap we have back home!" He dipped his hands into the water happily, rubbing the soap around and cleaning his hands and forearms. He unstopped the plug when he was finished and brought his clean hands up to his nostrils to take in a long, deep whiff.
He got to work with a smile on his face, and humming a tune that Inko had never heard before. She leaned over the basin, opening the wooden doors of the window—the rained had calmed down to small trickles of rainfall. The sun had nearly disappeared behind the hilly horizon, painting the landscape a rich blue as the light grew dimmer.
"What brings you to this part of the country?" Inko asked, retrieving a pot from one of the cupboards and beginning to measure water into it.
Kirishima smiled, "Just thought I'd enjoy some new scenery!"
Inko raised an eyebrow, "Your pack was okay with that?"
"Of course," Eijirou responded, not missing a beat even when he hadn't been expecting for Inko to catch on so quickly. Katsuki had told him that the assholes inhabiting the southern lands never got called to the Woods of Remembrance, so they were probably safe in having a pretty vague cover story. No one here should know much about wolves or packs.
Inko shrugged. "Well," She said thoughtfully, thinking of her son and his many theories about the land, "I suppose you seem nice enough." She lit a fire on the iron stove, placed the pot of water onto it, and started chopping potatoes directly into it
"Eh?" Kirishima voiced, unsure of what she meant by that.
"Nothing."
Eijirou shrugged and turned back to his carrots.
Inko stared through the window at the setting sun.
A gust of wind shook the trees outside, and the bushes and vegetation brushed against each other. Eijirou figured that the sound it made was something that these villager's were used to, and he had to admit it would be pretty relaxing. But something in the whispering wind sent a shiver up and down his spine, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.
Kirishima's ears twitched, the hairs of his arms standing on end.
He wondered if Katsuki was okay, but then remembered that the Beast King could take care of himself.
»»-¤-««
"What the fuck," Izuku whispered to himself, having never—in his fifteen years of life, ten of which were spent in the more dangerous parts of the country—had he ever seen a monster of darkness. Not like that. That was literal darkness, amassed together in some entity that—if he wasn't mistaken—had ignored the literal beast of a predator and zeroed in on him.
"What the fuck," He repeated, pushing his legs harder. Behind him, he could hear the vicious growls of the wolf fighting that thing and Izuku quietly told himself that the beast could handle himself just fine. He was a wolf.
»»-¤-««
What the fuck, Katsuki thought to himself, clamping his jaw down on the darkness. The entity shrieked, tendrils of darkness angrily whirring through the air. Katsuki backed off, satisfied that he finally had its attention. Which was why he'd even bothered getting in its way—the dark entity fucker seemed to care more about that pathetic human than the fucking Beast King. That was unacceptable, and Katsuki would show whatever the hell this thing was just what he was made of.
The darkness continued to shriek and, to someone of a lesser mind, the noise probably would have been unsettling. But Katsuki stood his ground, and growled back with the same ferocity that had made him alpha and king of his pack.
The darkness whirred and shrunk, seemingly morphing into something other than a mass of blackness.
Katsuki blinked stupidly when the shrieking stopped abruptly and the clearing become eerily quiet. The sudden stillness that penetrated the chaos left in its wake a small black rabbit, unnaturally dark like the moonlight hitting the creature couldn't escape its clutches.
Ha, he thought, eyes glinting in the moonlight, I eat fucks like you for breakfast.
The little fucker snarled and lunged for the wolf, faster than lightning.
Katsuki yelped in pain, shaking the creature off of his front leg and whipping around to prepare for the next attack. The thing was fast, but seemed to be nothing more than a ball of animalistic instincts. It went for a direct attack again, which Bakugou barely dodged in time. Katsuki snapped his jaw at the small rabbit, but it was much too fast.
Bakugou contemplated howling—Kirishima would hear it, but then the redhead would have to jeopardize his cover to come help him and Katsuki honestly didn't want to deal with that.
He was on his own.
Which was more than fine.
He could handle this.
Whatever the fuck this thing even was.
Katsuki snapped at the rabbit again, but clamped down on nothing but air. Then the wolf blinked and the rabbit had jumped and Bakugou felt a heavy weight on his back. The rabbit was on him and was a lot heavier than it looked and, damnit, it was clawing at his back.
"Get away from him!" A voice thundered from nearby, and then there was even more weight on his back and that was the tipping point; Katsuki collapsed. The wolf couldn't see what was happening behind him, but it didn't sound pretty. The clawing stopped, but the shrieking returned.
Katsuki was released, and he whipped around to ram the shrieking rabbit with his body. And, honest to gods, it felt like ramming into a stone wall at full speed. He yowled again in pain, but shook the pain away. He growled at the rabbit, but froze when he noticed that the fucker's attention wasn't on him anymore.
"You want me, right?" The same boy from earlier inquired of the rabbit, pushing himself to his feet and dusting himself off. The rabbit must have thrown the kid at least twenty feet, but despite that the idiot still raised his fists and lowered himself into a shit fighting stance. He cupped one hand and made the come hither motion, "Come and get me."
Katsuki snarled, not exactly sure which one he was snarling at, but the rabbit paid him no mind. For as fast as the damned thing was moving earlier, it sure was taking its time creeping towards the green haired boy. It hopped, but its movements were jittery and inconsistent. And, as it got closer and closer to the boy, its mouth opened wider and wider and its fangs grew longer and longer.
The pathetic human gulped, shutting his eyes.
Really, Katsuki sneered at him, you're just going to die?
The boy shook, but never retracted his raised fists.
Katsuki huffed, then die already.
The rabbit's head whipped back, and just as Katsuki thought it was about to sink its fangs into the idiot's jugular, a bright light broke from the east—it illuminated the entire shore and sparkled off the water to blind them all. The dark creature shrieked more loudly and desperately, shrinking away from the bright light and bounding into the forest to the west faster than any movement Katsuki had seen from it their entire fight. The shrieking continued and that eerie whirring sound shook the trees—startling birds from their perch—until the dreadful sounds faded into the darkness of the forest. The blinding light quickly retracted itself into a nymph, illuminating just enough for Katsuki to make out the ball of light's companion.
Fuck, Katsuki thought. His chest was heaving from exertion, and he quickly scrambled to run from the new arrivals. Fucking creatures of darkness were no fucking problem. Aizawa? Yeah, fuck that. Time to leave.
"Ah," The spirit's lazy drawl called out to him as the light subsided, "The King of Beasts. To what do I owe the honor?"
Bakugou settled back on his legs, ready to use that momentum to push himself as far out of Aizawa's reach as possible. Before he could react, the white bindings around the spirit's neck were already trapping him—holding him back from moving his legs.
"Let's have a talk, Beast King," Aizawa said, tightening his hold on the wraps, "Transform."
Katsuki glared defiantly at the spirit, and then glanced over at where the useless boy was busy talking to what had to be the Great Spirit of Harmony. The Great Spirit was energetically gliding around the green haired fuck and painting a stark contrast to the creature Katsuki'd been dueling with not even moments ago. The wolf narrowed his eyes and returned his gaze to the grumpy guardian of the woods.
"Transform," Aizawa commanded, pulling even tighter on Katsuki's bonds.
Even Katsuki understood when he absolutely had to accept defeat.
He transformed, naked as the day he was born and he was, thankfully, released from his bonds. Aizawa chucked his satchel at his face and Bakugou barely caught it in time.
"I sensed your presence the second you stepped into this region," Aizawa said, glaring at Katsuki, "Now put your goddamn pants on."
"You're a fucking asshole, same as always," Katsuki remarked, pulling his pants out of his bag and sliding them on to cover himself, "Still watching over this lame ass village like the pussy you are?"
"Still damning the world to save your own skin like the coward you are?" Aizawa countered, his wraps floating up around him ominously, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your selfish reign right here and right now?"
"I haven't played a single part in your damned war, you bastard," Bakugou answered, getting back up to his feet and curling his hands into fists.
"Not directly," Aizawa agreed, and the light coming from the Great Spirit flittered around his silhouette as the Spirit of Harmony danced around the human—making tinkling sounds that sounded like quiet giggles, "But your self-centered actions are erratic and troublesome and as detrimental to the land as if you were playing on their side."
Katsuki snarled loudly, taking a violent step forward. "I'm not on their fucking side!" He yelled, never having been one to try and keep his anger in check. The sudden silence on the shore following his outburst turned all eyes on him. The tinkling of the Great Spirit had stopped and Katsuki could feel the powerful entity sizing him up. More annoyingly, he could feel the useless human sizing him up as well.
»»-¤-««
The light that had driven off the monster was brighter than even the sun, at least from this distance. For a moment, it had looked like high noon, except that the shadows of the wolf and the trees were exaggerated beyond anything you'd see from the light of the sun. Izuku watched with wide eyes as the monster of darkness escaped into those shadows—almost afraid that it would dive into Izuku's own shadow and somehow devour him that way. But it just shrieked and disappeared into the trees to the west and away from the Village of Remberance.
And then the light waned, and a small ball of light was blinking up at him. Izuku blinked at it, eyes squinted. Ever curious, he extended a hand to touch but the light ducked out of the way. As Izuku's eyes tried to make sense of what he was seeing, he noticed that the ball of light was actually, in fact, a nymph with pretty wings. And she was smiling up at him like she was happy to see him.
"Uh," The boy managed, stooping down onto his shaky legs to be on her level, "Hi?"
The nymph giggled, or at least Izuku was pretty sure that she giggled. It sounded more like chimes bumping up against each other in the wind. The creature of light tilted her head to the side at the sight of Izuku, as if she were considering something. Then Izuku's breath caught as all the light she was emanating seemed to gather at a single point. The boy watched with rapt eyes as the creature transformed into a small furry animal of light. A rabbit. Similar to the rabbit of darkness, but also entirely different. It bounded around Izuku excitedly, making the boy dizzy just watching it run literal circles around him.
Izuku couldn't help it—he laughed at the sight.
He was well aware that the guardian spirit was having some kind of conversation with the wolf, and he'd usually be trying to eavesdrop and analyze every detail of an interaction like that. But the nymph turned rabbit of light had transfixed him entirely.
He extended his hand again, palm facing outward, and the rabbit skidded to a stop in front of him. She regarded his hand, whiskers twitching as her nose sniffed at the hand. She never touched Izuku directly, almost making it a point not to make contact with the boy. Which was fine by Izuku—he was enjoying just watching the creature's excited antics.
He couldn't explain it really, but it kind of felt like this rabbit of light was so excited because she was getting to meet someone she'd been wanting to meet for a long time. And that someone was him.
"I'm Midoriya Izuku," He said to her softly, retracting his hand and smiling at her, "Nice to meet you."
The rabbit tinkled again.
And instantly the moment was shattered by the sound of vicious snarl coming from the blonde haired wolf that had saved Izuku earlier. He whipped his head over to where the wolf was debating something with the guardian of the woods, and Izuku rose back to his full height so as to be prepared for whatever may happen next.
He wondered idly when the wolf had put on pants, but was thankful that the man was at least somewhat covered. The muscles of the man's exposed torso spoke volumes of the blonde's strength and would be distracting to even the purest of souls. The older ladies of the village would be in an uproar over this man's immodesty
"I'm not on their fucking side!" He declared, stance low and aggressive like he was about to pounce any second.
Izuku has never seen the grumpy guardian of the forest look scary before. But the expression on the spirit's face was nothing short of murderous, mirroring the expression of the man he'd been arguing with. Izuku's gaze bounced back and forth between the two of them, the rabbit at his feet mimicking his actions.
"Oh?" The spirit inquired, voice low and dangerous and sending a shiver down Izuku' spine, "You pretend to fight for the Great Spirit of Harmony? When your purpose for finally making your descent down the Mountains of Fire was to submit her very power to your will?"
"You don't know shit about it—"
"Was or was not your half-assed plan to create a blood bond between yourself and the vessel of the Great Spirit's power?"
Izuku tilted his head in thought, eying the wolf up and down—he knew there was no way a wolf would come to this part of the country without any ulterior motives. He wasn't entirely sure what the grumpy spirit was talking about concerning the Great Spirit of Harmony—not that he'd ever let the grumpy spirit know of his confusion. It was accepted throughout the land that the Great Spirit resided near the capitol of the country. At least the king of Endeavor's Mansion always boasted of using the Spirit of Harmony's power to settle disputes and protect the land.
The wolf sneered.
"Your connection to the Great Spirit is annoying as hell," The wolf muttered.
"I didn't need the Great Spirit to know what you're planning," The guardian spirit countered, "You're a powerful man, Beast King." Izuku's eyes widened—this man was the King of Beasts? "A skilled hunter and lethal warrior. It's both your strength and your weakness. Your reliance on your power makes your plans straightforward and predictable."
"Your smug superiority makes you an ugly bastard spirit," The Beast King responded childishly, leading the spirit to sigh in exasperation.
"I'm going to kill you now, Beast King," The spirit said, "I'll spare your loyal subject in the village so long as he promises to leave back to where he came from."
"Tch," The wolf grit his teeth.
"Wait!" Izuku called frantically, running forward and placing himself in front of the wolf—arms and legs outstretched in an attempt to look as large as possible, "Don't kill him!"
A hot hand grabbed the side of his face and threw him to the ground.
"I don't need a piece of human shit thinking he can save me," The man snarled, spitting at Izuku's feet.
The rabbit of light bounded over to the guardian spirit's heels, jumping up and down in front of the spirit as if trying to get his attention. The grumpy spirit regarded it, eyes twitching as they shared some kind of silent communication. The rabbit stood still for a moment, whiskers twitching as the guardian continued to look more and more frustrated.
Finally, the spirit sighed.
"I can't believe this," He stated in frustration, raising a hand towards the Beast King.
"You wanted a name Midoriya?" The spirit addressed him. Izuku jumped, never having heard the spirit actually use his name before. "Well, I have one for you. It's not my name—it's his." He nodded at the blonde wolf, whose eyes widened.
"What the hell are you doing?" He growled at the guardian spirit.
The spirit's hair lifted up from unseen power, his eyes glowing red.
"Remember this name, boy," He continued as if the wolf hadn't interrupted at all, "Protect it. The name of the Beast King—Bakugou Katsuki."
Izuku blinked.
»»-¤-««
"Hmm," Inko hummed to herself as she watched Eijirou finish off his third bowl of stew, "It's not like Izuku to be out this late."
"You know how kids are," He stated happily around a spoonful of carrots and beef, "He's probably out having fun with his friends!"
"He did mention Ochako inviting him to the lake at sundown," She eyed the darkened sky in worry, "But that was hours ago."
As if on queue, the door slammed open. Inko heard the rustling of Izuku taking off his shoes and then the boy was trekking into the kitchen. His eyes were half open, and he was rubbing the muscle on the back of his neck like he'd had the longest day of his life.
"Hey, mom," He said, trudging to the stew like a zombie and dishing himself up some mindlessly, "Yagi murdered me today. Then brought me back to life just so he can murder me again tomorrow. Food smells good." He brought his bowl over to the table, sitting down. He started in on his food eagerly, not even registering that there was a guest at the table with him.
Inko cleared her throat.
Izuku glanced up.
Inko sent a meaningful and exasperated glance towards Kirishima. Izuku looked over, saw the tattoos on the redhead's forearms and jumped.
"You," He started vehemently, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Izuku," Inko reprimanded, "That's no way to speak to a guest!"
Izuku's eyes widened at her words, "Guest? No. I've had enough of wolves today to last me a lifetime. Have you mentioned to my mother that you had another wolf buddy watching our village on the outskirts of town? No? Thought so." He sent his mother another pleading look, "Mom, please. They're up to no good."
Inko raised an eyebrow, "But Eijirou here has been so helpful to me. And what could you have possibly been up to come to this offensive conclusion about this kindhearted wolf?"
Izuku bit his tongue.
The redheaded wolf sniffed the air around Izuku thoughtfully, "No, for real, what she said. You smell like—"
Izuku surged forward, leaning across the entire table to force his hand over the wolf's mouth.
"I smell like I've been to hell and back today," He stated cheerfully, something in his cautionary smile making the wolf gulp in trepidation, "Because Yagi worked me to the bone. Right?"
"R-right."
Satisfied, Izuku plopped back into his seat and shoveled more food down his throat.
"Your son is kind of scary, Mrs. Midoriya."
Inko sighed, "I love him, but he can be a smartass."
Izuku finished off his food, and then went back for seconds. Then Inko put them both to work cleaning up the kitchen, while she ventured off to the shop connected to their house so that she could prepare for tomorrow. Izuku waited until she was out of sight to turn on the wolf.
"Why are you after the Great Spirit of Harmony?" The boy growled.
The wolf blinked at him, stunned.
"Why do you smell like my king?"
Izuku bristled at that.
"I smell like your king?"
Eijirou nodded.
"Hell if I know, now answer my question."
"Er," Eijirous started, rubbing the back of his head as he halfheartedly scrubbed at the kitchen table, "I don't pretend to know all of my king's motives. But I do know that everything he has ever done has been to protect our clan. The increasing trouble in the south has forced him to come to this land seeking out the Spirit of Harmony's help."
"Bullshit," Izuku growled, "He wants to force the Great Spirit into his control. Through a blood bond of some sort."
"One thing that my king fails to understand," Eijirou explained calmly, "Is that a blood bond cannot be forced. And even if he were to succeed in creating this bond, it would only grant him access to the recipient's power if they choose for it to be so."
Izuku blinked.
"Huh," He said thoughtfully, "You're just here to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, aren't you?"
Eijirou laughed, "You met him?"
"Unfortunately," Izuku grumbled, hostility gone. He extended a hand for the wolf to shake, "I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way."
"Kirishima Ejirou!" The redhead replied, eagerly accepting Izuku's hand and giving it a firm shake, "But please just call me Eijirou! Or Kiri!"
Izuku tipped his head to the side in confusion.
"What is it?" Kirishima inquired, glancing down at himself, "Did I spill something on me?"
"No, no," Izuku said, shaking his head, "It's nothing. Sorry I yelled at you."
"No worries!"
Izuku smiled at the cheery wolf, "Come on. We better clean up fast before my mother gets back. She'll murder us if we aren't done by the time she gets back. Are you staying at the Iida's inn tonight?"
Kirishima nodded.
Izuku hummed as he began gathering all of the dirt dishes. He told Kirishima to pick up one of the barrels of water he'd fetched that morning and follow him outside through the back door. He kicked open the wooden doors protecting a couple of iron tubs and instructed Kirishima to dump half of the water into each other them. He dropped the dirty dishes into one of them and lit a fire underneath the other.
"Can you get the soap from inside?" Izuku asked Eijirou, as he set to work scrubbing down the dirty dishes in the cold water.
Eijirou nodded eagerly, setting down the empty barrel and retrieving the soap from inside. When he came back he took the soap to the dishes that Izuku had dropped into the hot water and cleaned them off, humming.
"I'm gonna have to be honest with you," Izuku said quietly, "I more than met your king."
"Hmm?"
"I kind of…own him."
Eijirou gaped at Izuku.
"The guardian spirit of the woods must have cast some spell on him?" Izuku shook his head, "I don't really know what's going on. All I know is what that spirit told me. And he told me that Katsuki's mine now. I'm not entirely sure what that means? But when I told him to return to his clan with you, he kind of begged me to stay here. Looked really ugly when he did it—like he hated that he had to resort to something like that. And as much as I don't want him here…and even though he's a gigantic jerk—I-I well—" He inhaled deeply, turning his green eyes on Eijirou, "That spirit may have given me your king's freedom, but I don't really want to control him or anyone. So I said that you guys could stay as long as you didn't harm anyone in the village."
Eijirou sighed, "It's only been a day and Katsuki's already in trouble."
Izuku shrugged, "He probably should have been more conscious of the guardian spirit of the woods."
"I told him that too!"
Izuku smiled, "So you understand my plight?"
Kirishima smiled right back, nodding, "I'll try and keep him in line so you don't have to force him to do anything against his will."
Izuku raised an eyebrow, "You believe me that quickly?"
"How else would you know Katsuki's name?" Eijirou inquired, reveling in the feeling of the hot water around his hands.
"You told me your name," Izuku pointed out.
Kirishima shrugged, "Because I can?"
Izuku's eyebrows scrunched together, "That doesn't make any sense, whatsoever. Plus you know his name."
"Because I knew him before."
"Before what?"
"Now, now," Kirishima smirked, "We can't let you in on all of our clan's secrets."
"You wolves are infuriating."
Kirishima laughed.
