Alrighty, here is chapter 9! Also, I will be gone on vacation for the next week and a half so updating might be a bit rocky. I'm bringing my laptop though so I can still update, but I'll be in a different timezone so that'll be interesting. Enjoy and review if you liked it!

"Todoroki, you don't have to go out hunting on your own," Izuku pressed. "I can help!"

Todoroki raised an eyebrow in response. "You fainted earlier. I hardly think you should be moving around anymore."

"I know, I know…" Izuku bit his lip. Since that time earlier, they'd walked a little further to find a more shaded camping spot, and as of right now, it was sunset. Todoroki was still worried that he needed to eat something so he was about to go out and look for animals to hunt. "But I did do a lot of research on the desert before we came here and I know what kind of wildlife is out here!"

"Midoriya, I can handle myself," Todoroki said with irritation. "I was raised practicing my quirk and I can very well kill anything out here with no problem. Earlier, you mentioned that most of the desert animals are nocturnal so now should be the perfect time to hunt. And you need to eat."

Izuku sighed. Although he didn't want to admit it, he still felt dazed since he'd passed out and knew that something in his stomach would make him feel better. Todoroki was going either way, so there was no use arguing any longer.

"All right," he finally relented. "I-I'll stay here."

Todoroki nodded. "Good. I'll be back within an hour. Oh, and keep the fire going." He gestured to the campfire he'd made for them out of what little burnable cloth they had left. "Once it gets dark, it'll be hard to find my way back without it."

"Another reason why you shouldn't go on your own," Izuku said quietly, but Todoroki ignored him.

"Just don't move around much. You shouldn't strain your arm."

"I know! And don't strain your head, either."

Todoroki sighed, clearly done talking. "My head is completely fine. And it's getting dark quick- I need to leave now."

"O-oh. Right." Izuku swallowed. "Good luck!"

"Thanks." Not waiting any longer, Todoroki turned and began to walk off.

Izuku exhaled and shook his head to himself. Todoroki was stubborn, that was for sure. He wasn't going to give up until he killed something. He only hoped he would be able to find his way back after he did.

"That was quick!" Izuku remarked as he spotted Todoroki's figure approaching through the firelight. He'd sat down next to the campfire and occupied himself with admiring the stars while he waited. He was surprised that it had only been half an hour. "Did you get something?"

Todoroki raised his right arm which was holding some kind of dead animal. "Yeah. A fox."

Izuku's eyes lit up. "Wow! An Arabian red fox! You know, they're a lot like the original red fox but their ears have evolved to be much larger and its body is smaller. Even though it's mostly a solitary animal, it'll sometimes form groups with a few others too! And they don't just live in the desert, they can also live in the mountains, coasts, cit-"

"Well, it's dead now," Todoroki cut him off as he came to a stop in front of him. "I'll cook it now and then we can eat."

Izuku blinked, something suddenly occurring to him. "Wait… what are we even going to cook it with? We don't have any sticks."

Todoroki raised his left hand. "With this. I won't get burned."

He slipped the dead fox from his right hand to his left and Izuku watched in amazement as it burst into flames. Todoroki kept a stoic expression the entire time until he seemed to deem it finally ready to eat, then receded his flames. "Done."

"...good job," Izuku said slowly.

"Here, I'll break you off a piece," Todoroki said, and before another moment passed he ripped off the animal's hind leg. He held it out to Izuku. "There you go."

Still stunned at Todoroki's method of cooking, Izuku quietly took the fox's leg and swallowed. "Thanks. It… it looks good!"

"I cooked it at the correct temperature so it should taste good as well. I just wish we had some kind of side to go with it. Soba, for example."

"Right. Well…" Izuku glanced down at the meat in his hand, mentally preparing himself to eat it. "Let's eat!"

Once Todoroki had sat himself down as well, both of them dug into their meals. Izuku couldn't quite place the taste of it but at least it didn't taste bad. But to Todoroki, however, he had no idea. The other boy simply ate with no emotion.

As soon as they had finished, Todoroki wiped his hands off with the pack of tissues he'd taken out of his backpack (he'd also given one to Izuku) and glanced at the rest of the meat placed near the bottom of the fire. "Do you want anymore?" he asked, and Izuku quickly shook his head.

"No, I'm good! I feel a lot better now!" And he wasn't lying.

"Well… this meat won't be good for tomorrow so…" Todoroki sighed. "I guess I'll just leave it here tonight and we can leave it behind tomorrow."

Izuku rubbed his chin. "Don't you think another animal might try to get it tonight?"

Todoroki's brow narrowed. "If it does, then it's not getting past me." However, he still raised his left hand again and aimed it over the animal carcass. "But just in case, I'll burn the rest of it." Quickly, he lit his flames back up and watched as the meat roasted in front of the campfire. Once it had dried up, he pulled back, satisfied. "There. I don't think any animal would want to eat that."

Izuku laughed. "Yeah, me either." After a few moments of silence, he cleared his throat. "By the way, I meant to ask earlier… how did you learn to hunt so well? I wouldn't be able to find and kill something that quickly."

It was hard to see Todoroki's expression in the darkness, but Izuku could tell that the question was a bit sensitive to him.

"I…" Todoroki looked down. "When I was eight years old, my father took me to a forest a few hours away from my house. He told me that it was part of my training."

Izuku didn't like where this was going. "O-oh."

"Once we arrived, he dropped me off in the middle of the woods and told me I had to survive for three days on my own. I only had a backpack with a small tent in it. He didn't think I needed anything else."

Izuku's mouth gaped. "Todoroki…"

"My father taught me how to hunt beforehand, but this time it was different. This time, I had to do it to survive." Todoroki sighed. "It's not very hard, especially with my quirk. I learned fast. When the three days finally ended, I was much more skilled than before and I've remembered how to do it ever since."

Blinking, Izuku's gaze dropped to look at his lap. He already knew that Todoroki had far from a pleasant childhood, but the more he learned about it, the more he was shocked. He couldn't imagine growing up like that- with no one to care for him, either. Because even though he'd been quirkless, he had his mother. That was something Todoroki had missed out on.

"I'm really sorry that happened," he said slowly. "Your father, he-"

"That bastard doesn't deserve to be talked about," Todoroki hissed, and the campfire almost seemed to reflect his anger as the flames jumped around.

"Sorry…" Izuku swallowed. "So, I guess this doesn't seem all too bad then. Us being stuck in the desert, I mean. It's not like you haven't been through this kind of stuff before."

Todoroki looked up at him in surprise. "No, this is very different. The forest was full of animals to kill, and it was easy to get out of the sun with all the trees as cover. My father never put me through anything like this… especially not injured." His eyes lingered on Izuku's arm, but a moment later they pulled away. "Anyway, that's enough talking about that. We should try to get some sleep and leave at dawn tomorrow."

"Right!" Izuku nodded. He did his best to push Todoroki's story out of his mind, but it didn't seem to want to move. It'll probably have gone away by tomorrow, he thought. I just hope Todoroki doesn't dwell on it, too.

But looking over at his friend, once again his emotions were hidden by a cold expression.

Crunch. Crunch.

Izuku woke in a cold sweat at the sound of something near him. It sounded like footsteps against the sand, but they were too light to be from a person.

An animal?

His heart began to thud in his chest as his eyes flew open. He still felt half-asleep and was too groggy to move, but at the same time every part of him was awake. Something was definitely wrong.

The crunching sounds returned, and slowly, he began to lift his head a little off of his backpack (which he was using as a substitute pillow). However, it was so dark that it was hard to make much out. The sounds were coming a few yards away from Todoroki and it bothered Izuku that his friend was still asleep. Mostly because if something really was out here, he wasn't sure he could handle it alone.

Gulping, he used his right elbow to prop himself up and squinted into the darkness. Their campfire had long burned out with only wisps of smoke as evidence left behind. Past that, he made out something moving towards him.

An animal.

Eyes widening, Izuku's mind began to race as he formulated a plan. What kind of animal even was it? Another fox? Sand cat? Maybe a wolf? He shook his head. It didn't matter which, he still had to find a way to scare it off. One For All was limited since he'd been injured so he wasn't sure he'd be able to fight if it attacked, which meant he'd have to wake up Todoroki.

As he sat the rest of the way up, he heard the animal suddenly stop. He froze as well. He must have made too much movement. Whatever this creature was, it now knew he was awake.

"Todoroki!" he whisper-shouted. "Todoroki, wake up!"

To his dismay, Todoroki remained asleep.

Izuku bit his lip. He'd have to face the animal himself for now. So, he'd need some kind of weapon to scare it off. What would be a good-

He paused, an idea coming to him. His backpack. He'd used it on the sludge villain to save Bakugo, so why not use it to fend off a wolf?

He reached his hand behind him and fumbled for the straps of his book bag. When he finally gripped around it, he pulled it towards him before pushing himself to his feet.

"Hey, get out of here!" he called, waving it in front of him. He could see the animal better now; it was standing in front of their dead campfire…right where Todoroki had left the meat. Burning it must have not been as effective as they thought it'd be.

When the animal let out a low growl, Izuku swallowed and wavered while shaking the bag in front of him. "I-I said get out of here!" he warned. "I mean it!"

The animal took another step toward him, and this time, Izuku could finally see what type of creature it was. It was a wolf. An Arabian Wolf, to be specific (he had done extensive research on all the animals here), but it was too dark to make out any more than that.

"Todoroki!" he yelled. There was no time left for mistakes. "Wake up, now!"

At last, he saw his friend slightly turn over out of the corner of his eye, but it was clear he was still half asleep and would need a little more time to react. Meanwhile, the wolf was only getting closer.

With no other choice now, Izuku bared his teeth and launched the backpack at the wolf. It went sailing towards the creature until it slammed into the side of it. The wolf whimpered and took a few steps back, but still, it didn't retreat.

"Midoriya…?" Izuku heard Todoroki's groggy voice ask. What's going on?"

"There's a wolf!"

Almost immediately, Todoroki sat up and looked around wildly, red and white strands of hair falling around his face. "What? Where?"

A growl answered his question. The beast was coming back, and this time it looked angrier. The backpack idea hadn't worked after all.

As it began to prowl towards Izuku, Todoroki pulled himself off the ground and lit flames in his palm. "Get away from him!" he yelled while marching forward, and now the wolf turned to face him.

While it was distracted, Izuku started to back away, however, the wolf's attention almost immediately came back to him. Alerted now, it began to run towards him and Izuku desperately tried to power up One For All in time.

"Midoriya, watch out!"

As the wolf jumped up to attack, Todoroki's flames surged through the air. The wolf yelped and dropped to the ground but it was unhurt. Todoroki was still coming forward when, quite unexpectedly, it decided to change targets and attack the source of its problems.

Todoroki.

In a blinding instant, the wolf was suddenly on him and Izuku gaped in horror as they fell to the ground. They both wrestled for dominance and it was hard to tell which one was winning. Izuku lunged towards the battle with One For All lighting up his body and was horrified to see the wolf already shredding Todoroki's shirt to pieces.

"Todoroki!" he shouted, and he tried to grab the wolf by the leg to pull him off. However, the animal got angry at this and hissed as it swiped a paw at Izuku's face. Crying out as its claws cut through his cheek, Izuku stepped back.

That seemed to be all the time Todoroki needed to recover. In a roar, he exploded the scene with orange flames and the wolf shrieked as its fur began to burn. Picking itself off of Todoroki, it began to run away into the night.

"Todoroki, are you all right?" Izuku exclaimed as he turned to help his friend.

"I'm fine," Todoroki grunted, waving away Izuku's hand. "My shirt, however…"

Both of them looked down at Todoroki's torn uniform. It wasn't just the tears that had made it so bad, it was also the burns. He'd used his fire through his clothes to get the wolf off and nearly half of the fabric was burnt off in consequence.

"Are you sure you're all right, though?" Izuku pressed. "That wolf tackled you!"

"Midoriya, believe me," Todoroki breathed as he sat up. "I'm fine now. I'm just as surprised that claws didn't get past my clothing." His eyes paused on Izuku's face and his brow lifted. "Your cheek. It's bleeding."

"Bleeding?" Izuku felt the stinging wound the wolf had left and was surprised to feel blood there. Huh. He hadn't realized it had cut that deep. "Oh yeah, it scratched me a little. But it's nothing really. I'm… I'm just glad you're all right."

Todoroki nodded. "That wolf caught me off guard."

"It was here for the food," Izuku explained. "I know that it was burnt, but it still smelled it somehow."

"It's a good thing you woke up then," Todoroki noted. "If you hadn't, who knows what it could've done."

"Yeah… that was…" Izuku gulped. "That was close."

As he stood there panting, exhaustion began to sink in and the toll of using One For All finally started to take effect on his body. His arm began to throb and his legs swayed under his weight. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore it all.

Todoroki seemed to notice this as well. "Are you all right?"

"Uh, I… I think so." Izuku gave a pained smile. "Just tired. My arm hurts a little from all that moving around."

Lines on his forehead creasing, Todoroki looked alarmed. "Did the wolf-"

"No, it didn't touch me! Well, besides scratching my cheek." Izuku rubbed his temple. "I just need to go back to sleep."

"I'll keep watch, then," Todoroki told him. "One of us needs to make sure that mutt doesn't come back for seconds. I'm not taking any chances."

Feeling guilty, Izuku shook his head. "No, I can keep watch too! You don't need to stay up alone."

"Midoriya, you already said yourself that you needed some sleep," Todoroki pointed out. "A few lost hours of sleep isn't going to make much of a difference. Making sure that the wolf doesn't attack again does."

Izuku frowned. He didn't want to force Todoroki into doing a night watch, especially after just being attacked by a wolf…

"Go to sleep," Todoroki ordered. "Your arm needs the rest."

Unconvinced but exhausted, Izuku finally gave in and nodded. "Fine." He looked up. "Oh, I have to get my backpack first though."

Todoroki cocked his head. "Your backpack? Wait, where is it?"

"I kind of threw it at the wolf."

After a moment, Todoroki let out a low chuckle. "That's one way to scare it off. Do you need any help?"

"No, it's just right over there!" Izuku sighed, his shoulders relaxing as he turned away and began to trudge towards his fallen backpack.

He thought that he'd have a peaceful night of sleep, but apparently, the world was angry with him and had decided to keep slapping him with misfortunes to keep him on his toes. He was so tired by now that he thought he might fall asleep as he walked. I can't wait to get out of here, he thought. And maybe tomorrow's going to be the lucky day.

At that hopeful thought, he finally reached his backpack and leaned over to pick it up. One more day… and maybe they would be out of here.