AN: Alrigth, things are starting to heat up. Enjoy ^^

The next morning didn't turn out better for Katsuki's hopes. Still remembering that he had cuddled up to the younger during the night, he was surprised to wake up to an empty bed. Normally he was a light sleeper and would have woken by the slightest movement of the other. Judging by the light slipping through his tent flap he had not only missed Shuichi leaving the bed, he had also overslept.

Grumbling he stood up, pulled over his clothes and cloak and made to find Shuichi so they could grab breakfast together. But apparently the man had other things in mind.

Walking out of his tent Bakugo noticed the slight commotion at the main gate immediately and went to check it out first. He was greeted with the sight of Shuichi and his mother being armed up with bows and a short spear each, ready for a hunt and discussing with the guards at the gate, which seemed to be unhappy about something being outside in front of the gate. There were also a lot more guards than before on the walls upper rim, armed with bows and spears.

"The hell is going on here."

"Dear, what is this commotion about?"

Katsuki looked to the side at his father, who had joined them just this moment. Everything was quiet but for Mitsuki's exasperated sigh. The barbarian looked back to his mother and Shuichi and took notice of the ominous smirk growing on his face. Whatever was going on the younger seemed confusingly pleased by it while the tribes people definitely did not.

"I wanted to go hunting today, but everyone besides your mother seems to freak out about my hunting companions. She even wants to accompany me, if they will let her, but the guards seem to object …"

Katsuki interrupted him, pointing towards the grey sky heavy with storm clouds.

"Hunting? You do remember the storm I told you about which is the reason why you had to stay here in the first place. And you want to go hunting?" He pointed towards his mother with a look of utter disbelieve on his face. "Both of you?"

Mitsuki only regarded him with a raised eyebrow as if she didn't care for the weather. Katsuki bet she didn't but it still was a crazy idea going hunting in a snow storm. Not that he had never done it before just to prove he could. It had been in fact him and his father doing it as he had been younger. They had gotten the scolding of their lives despite the deer they caught that day but it was worth it.

"That little storm won't bother us and you two better not say anything against it, right dear."

His father slightly twitched at his wife's razor sharp grin, probably remembering the scolding and refrained from objecting to their plans. Katsuki didn't know what she had done to punish his father that time and fuck he did not want to know. His ass had stung for days after the beating it got and he was fourteen, too old to get his behind beaten by his parents as punishment but his mother hadn't cared.

Any argument she had brought up against hunting during storms as he was still a teen didn't seem to matter now as this time it was his mother wanting to hunt during a storm. He needed to think about a way to stop her from taking Shuichi on one of her insane hunts but was smart enough not to try using her own arguments against her. It had never worked before. Katsuki completely disregarded Shuichi's remark that he was the one wanting to go hunting and Mitsuki being the tag along.

Growling darkly Mitsuki stepped up to the gates once more and Katsuki was still thinking of a way to stop them without being too obvious as he looked to his father for help. But his old man only shrugged his shoulders. Masaru knew he might be the only one Mitsuki would listen to but he saw no reason to stop her.

"I will tell you this one last time: You will open these gates or I will throw you over them. Now. Open. Up."

Swallowing hard the guards looked to Masaru and Bakugo for aid, but none of them still had any idea what all the commotion was about nor a plan to actually stop them from going out. Sero and Denki had by now mounted the fence only to jump back down with pale faces and drawing their weapons. It was now that Katsuki remembered Shuichi mentioning hunting companions and he froze in his thoughts. The guards were already listening to their leader's orders not wanting to test her patience even further and pulled one of the double gates open.

It had not been the weather having the guards reluctant to let their leader leave the camp. Bakugo was hardly spooked but the sight of about a dozen dire wolves standing barely meters from their now open gates had his skin crawling. They were bigger than a bull, with thick winter fur in different colors and keen, intelligent eyes. Some of them were eyeing the humans with lips peeled back over sharp, big fangs and with snarling growls rumbling from their chests.

All he could think was 'what the fuck' and only now did Katsuki come to regret leaving his weapon in his tent as he watched the wolves twitching ears and tails trying to read their body language in case they decided to attack them. His father next to him sighed, crossing his arms.

"If that's all this fuss was about I will be going back to the tent."

Then Masaru voiced a series of throaty yips which had the wolves turn their heads towards him and wag their tails a little. And just like that he turned around to the stunned faces of his son and the tribe's people, wishing his outright grinning wife a good hunt, remembering her not to hit them on their heads with a spear this time and vanished between the tents. Katsuki was dumbstruck, even more so as both Shuichi and his mother boldly walked up to the pack of wolves cooing in the same unknown language his father just used.

He did remember the stories about his mother hunting with wolves in her younger years, but there seemed to be more than just a story behind it. His hand was twitching with the loss of a weapon as he kept a nervous eye to the wolves while trying to look unafraid in front of the tribe. It didn't go well.

"Wolf whisperers, both of them. The young one perhaps more than that."

Katsuki startled, barely refraining from jumping a mile high as their witch suddenly appeared besides him. He hated it any time she did that and she seemed to love doing it to him especially. She was brisk, besides her age and it would be his fucking death one day, either by a heart attack or other things. Like a dire wolf misjudging his jumping form for prey and sinking their fangs into him.

The people closest to the gate shuffled around nervously weapons in hand and he could practically feel the dire wolves violent response to it, besides the obvious increase in low growls and fangs displayed. He gave them a sign to lower the weapons as his mother didn't seem to care about it, but was met with understandable reluctant.

Grinding his teeth Katsuki walked through the gate himself trying to be a good example for his people. He would not be afraid by a pack of dirty mongrels, however big they may be. He hunted dragons and demons for fucks sake. Though those hardly ever came knocking on their doorstep in packs. His skin still crawled with adrenaline as he stopped a good distance from the whining and growling wolves, which had effortlessly surrounded both Shuichi and his mother.

From this close he easily spotted Shuichi's much smaller dogs between them and they seemed to have spotted his stiff form too because they danced towards him now, licking his hands, winding around his legs and staying there. He wouldn't admit but he never had appreciated an animal's affection more than now. It helped him calm his nerves and made the absence of his sword less heavy.

"Let me ask again. What the hell is all this about?"

Shuichi's smirk at this moment very much matched his mother's as he stroked the muzzle of a particular big, black colored female wolf as said wolf was growling at Katsuki, teeth showing. Katsuki held its gaze, he had a point to prove after all. A small peek over his shoulder told him that most of the tribe present had come to their senses and lowered or even completely let go of their weapons as to not infuriate the wolves further. The atmosphere was slowly relaxing by the way the two humans seemed to handle the creatures.

"As I just told you I am going on a hunt. You remember the last time I, ehh … visited you and how we were howling with the wolves? Well it was this pack and they had invited me to go hunting with them then, but since I couldn't at that time I promised them to take up the offer next time. Which is now. Your mother just wants to tag along and apparently these big guys don't mind."

He harshly tapped the strong shoulders of another wolf, a gray one, having snuck up to his side and didn't even twitch as the black female dove at the gray, teeth and all, to shoo it away.

Taking a closer look at them now, Katsuki believed them to be more bark than bite and visibly relaxed. Their behavior wasn't aggressive or threatening and he had dealt with normal wolves often enough. Most times it was easy shooing them away from their animals without the need to kill them knowing how to read their behavior. Having set his mind he pointed a warning finger at Shuichi.

"Fine, but I will accompany you. I don't trust these furballs."

His mother only snorted and the wolves seemed to growl at the insult. The black one slowly approached Katsuki, tail high and hackles raised. Its snout was but a hair's wide from Katsuki's face as it sniffed the man up and down. The barbarian held perfectly still, he never was this close to a dire wolf before without a weapon. He had killed some, aimed his sword right through their bodies but this was different. He wasn't scared anymore but thrilled at being even regarded by the big animal for it to come closer. He had spiked its interest and could feel the grin forming on his lips. His hands twitched wanting to touch its fur but he would probably lose them to sharp teeth for the rudeness of even trying.

"The fuck will you do, you weren't even invited and you could never keep pace."

With an angry glare Katsuki moved his head to the side around the big beings muzzle to glower at his mother, all remaining caution towards the possible threat forgotten. His mother had this effect on him and she could see the tail of the wolf wagging just the slightest. She wasn't scared for her son's well-being. The wolves would be able to identify him as her offspring and a well-placed bite or puff with a giant paw might be able to shut up her ungrateful brat. She found it harder and harder to do so.

"As if I would be slower than you, you hag and that pretty ass over there has no stamina to speak of in the first place. He will be the one to be left behind."

Now it was Shuichi's time to snort. He cooed something to the black wolf which returned to him and probably everyone in the camp looked in awe as the big animal lowered itself to the ground letting Shuichi climb onto its back. Mitsuki wasn't far behind having selected a gray colored wolf for herself and settling on its broad back, mindful of the spear she was carrying. Shuichi's grin only widened at the realization in Katsuki's eyes, feeling only a little bit smug that he could outplay the barbarian on this.

"Sure, you try to keep up with us and you can tag along, slow-poke."

Katsuki wasn't given any time for a reply. With an ear ripping war cry from Mitsuki the great animals speed down the road and out of sight in a flurry of snow and fur. It took some moments for the people to register what the hell just happened but slowly they went their own ways again. And the second time this winter Bakugo had to refrain from making a fool of himself by jumping like a surprised cat. That witch would be the death of him.

"If you think you can do that too, forget it. It needs a wolf whisperer and a kind soul to appeal to dire wolves and let you ride on their backs. Your mother might teach you how to hunt with normal wolves, but dire wolves are another number. They will eat you alive if you even dare try it on your own ..." She glared at him. "… or even try to touch them. Your only chance to ever feel the joy of riding one is if a whisperer speaks to them in your place … like your mother did for your father one time."

And again he is dumbstruck. His fucking father had fucking ridden a dire wolf? Why didn't he know of that? None of the tribe ever talked about his parents riding dire wolves. Katsuki stomped off determined to interrogate his father about it and teach him all he knew about wolf whispering. Masaru did speak to the wolves some minutes back and Katsuki knew he wasn't a whisperer. It shouldn't be too hard learning it to some degree. Thinking about it he might consider begging to Shuichi later to let him ride one. He wanted that experience but he would never beg to his mother. She wouldn't help him anyway.

The storm didn't turn out as bad as they had thought. The wind picked up throwing up some snowbanks but the amount of snow pouring from the skies stayed at a moderate level for this time of the year. They still pulled the big tent up around the fire place in the middle of camp wanting to eat without the wind cooling their meals. It would stay this way for the rest of the cold season, the cooks having started to complain about preparing the meals outside since last week.

Shuichi and Mitsuki were gone the whole day and only returned after nightfall, each pulling a hind leg of a mountain boar behind them which were just as big as dire wolfs but rarely sighted outside the dragon's territory. Katsuki asked if they had been too weak to carry the whole boar but Mitsuki's just flipped him off.

Having talked with his father Katsuki knew that the wolves might hunt with humans but never for them. The humans got their share, but the bulk of the catch always went to the wolves. He just wanted to tease his mother a little bit for not telling him about her youth escapades. The stories he had wrung from his father were as adventurous as his own travel experiences with Eijiro. At least they would eat well tonight and he especially liked the new aura around Shuichi.

The barbarian had always been frank with his flirtations having grown up this way but till now Shuichi would not let himself get overwhelmed by his play, always resisting. Tonight was different, he actually flirted back and more aggressively than the times he had turned Katsuki down. Seeing him now Katsuki was even more intrigued than before.

He was sure that if Shuichi still decided to turn him down he wouldn't do so with a minor threat about how he would have him castrated but he could rather imagine Shuichi would kick him out of his very own tent and not let him back in. This was the aura he currently held, the aura of victory and it would be even more thrilling to make the black haired male succumb to him now. He might still end up with a black eye instead and he absolutely loved the risk.

Shuichi was, like last time, still on his first mug of ale. He was a lightweight in that case and didn't want to push his luck, even if he felt euphoric. Hunting with Mitsuki had been 'wild', he was used to silently stalking prey but the woman wasn't what one would call 'quiet' and the wolves were soon infected by her aura. Instead of carefully stalking the boar they kept chasing it up and down the hills and he had no idea where Mitsuki and the wolves took the energy to actually kill the thing after hours of wild running about, or rather playing with it.

He nearly fell off at least thrice, Mitsuki actually did once but only because she and her wolf had gotten to close to the boar and the grey had to make an awkward leap to escape its tusks. One of the other wolves had to pick her out of the snow with its fangs for her to escape the boar as it had turned its anger at the woman, but she was only laughing about it.

Currently Mitsuki was entertaining the tribe with the exact same story. Shuichi giggled along with Katsuki at certain parts even if he already knew them. In her story most points sounded funnier than they actually were, Shuichi pointing out that the wolves had called Mitsuki probably a dozen different variations of 'clumsy pup' for chasing away game with her behavior. She just shrugged it off as her husband broke into a full out laughter, remembering the wolves from her past hunts having said just about the same and Katsuki tried to hold his own laughter back.

It was then that Shuichi noticed Katsuki's usual earring on his left ear had been replaced by something else: his black opal. He glowered at him after the realization and Katsuki, needing a moment to realize why he was looked at that way, couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. It was the first time Shuichi had seen him laugh in full and he was too perplexed to give a good retort to counter Katsuki's flirtations afterwards, but only for a while.

As the night bore on their flirtations grew heavier making some of the others roll their eyes. Katsuki just gave them a look, they could leave if they didn't like it. Eventually everyone parted ways, Shuichi followed Katsuki back to the tent after some minor business. He barely made it through the flap before he was grabbed in a heated kiss and roughly pushed into the bed. A moment he thought about resisting again, simply to annoy the blond and see how far he could push his luck, but the moment didn't last long. He was more than thrilled this time.

They got rid of each other's clothes really fast, though Katsuki removed Shuichi's 'spirit-bag' more carefully. He did wonder about the feeling, there seemed to be something big in there, but at the time he couldn't care less and just laid it to the side where their clothing had went.

They were busy kissing and feeling each other up but a low scratching sound made Katsuki halt. Shuichi gave him a weird look and Katsuki beckoned for him to be quiet. They listened but moments passed without another sound but the usual. Shrugging it of as either his imagination or one of the dogs outside of the tent Katsuki went back to caressing Shuichi's skin with kisses, pressing their bodies closer together. Shuichi didn't object to the weight on top of him.

Another scratching sound, this time louder and followed by a low whining made both men flinch. This time Shuichi had heard it too and whatever it was, it was inside the tent. They went still and carefully looked around in the dim light. The same sounds and the sight of Shuichi's 'spirit-bag' moving ever so slightly had the young man bold up, slamming into the cursing Katsuki. He moved himself into a sitting position and pulled the bag over, slightly opening it and peeking inside only to pull it close again, letting go of his own string of curses.

"Of all the fucking times for this shit why the fucking shit now and why the fuck here!"

Still nervous and ready to grab his sword at any time Katsuki edged closer to Shuichi again peeking over his shoulder as the black leather pouch continued moving. The scratching he realized sounded more like a cracking than actual scratching and the whining was more kind of a high pitched trilling. Sometimes the movement and sounds stopped only to resume with more vigor and remembering the feeling of the bag as he held it some minutes before, the barbarian realized that it must have been an egg and that something was hatching out of it.

He had no idea how long they sat there in silence, Katsuki leaning on Shuichi to get a better look and only slightly wondering why the younger wouldn't open up the bag. Perhaps he didn't want to disturb the hatching process as he just held the bag in his cupped hands, staring intently. After an especially loud crack and kind of victorious trilling sound the bag went still for a while.

Then something started to wiggle itself up to the pouch's opening and Katsuki breath caught as the small head emerged from the bag. Even in the dim light he knew right away what it was: a celestial.

Katsuki made to scream at Shuichi as to why the hell he had a celestial's egg but the black haired male only clamped a hand over his mouth glaring and hissing silently at him.

"Shhh, do you want the whole camp to know? I can explain and it isn't as bad as you probably think it is. First I need you to take a look if the adult pair is somewhere outside. I don't want them to fly right into camp for them to get their young one back."

Katsuki removed Shuichi's hand from his mouth, still looking at the young dragon trying to wiggle itself completely free of the bag and making low trilling sound. It was a deep color of black and gray, a bit wet from hatching but otherwise it looked fine, it could easily fit into his hand with how small it was. They were speaking in hushed voices, not wanting to disturb it.

"You're giving it back to them?"

"Of course I am, why would I want to keep it! And don't you dare think about taking it. I will have the wolves at your throat faster than you can scream for help!"

Katsuki nodded slowly, he had no intention of keeping the young dragon. More so, the faster it was gone the less trouble he had because of it. He stood up and carefully peered through the flap of his tent at the sky. It was empty of any movement. Lowering his gaze to look around camp he flinched as he saw Shuichi's pack sitting on the ground. They were eerily silent and observing the sky. Katsuki had no doubt they would inform them the moment the adult celestials came close and went back to his bed to tell Shuichi.

The younger nodded, cradling the young creature to his chest while trying to clean it with a soft rug. The dragon had now fully emerged and was looking around the tent curiously. Feeling bold Katsuki held his hand up for it to sniff. Shuichi didn't object, though he kept a close eye on them as the dragon, still a bit unsteady on his feet, clawed its way up Katsuki's arm. The barbarian didn't mind the slight sting of the sharp claws digging into his naked skin.

Its claws and fangs had the color of silvery pearls and its eyes were a deep purple. Hints of dark purple and blue coloration could be seen on the furry parts and lonely scales, the rest of its skin was a dark black lightening to a soft, dark gray on its belly and legs. Katsuki felt enchanted but the weight of the situation came rushing back all too soon.

"Any idea what we should do now? Or when the parents will come to get it? What do the young ones eat and should we feed it at all? And how the hell do we keep it from running off and making too much sound?"

Katsuki felt a headache blooming and groaned. Shuichi poked his side with an elbow as he remained silent, wanting an answer to his questions.

"How the hell should I know all that? You are the one that carried it around."

"Not that I had much of a choice about it. And you are the dragon slayer, share your knowledge!"

Katsuki halted what he wanted to say, an idea forming in his head. They needed help with this. He carefully grabbed the young being of his shoulder, hissing as its sharp claws dug into his skin and gave it back to Shuichi before hurrying to put on some decent clothes. The dragon was squawking at him with reproach after being handled this way, before Katsuki went for the tents flap.

"Wait here and pull on some clothes."

Shuichi wondered for a moment. As if he could leave anyway. He already had an idea who Katsuki would get for help and he wouldn't object. The dragon trilled a question at him and Shuichi looked down into its smart predatory eyes, sighing. He bet it was hungry but he had no idea what would be good for him. So he waited for Katsuki's return trying to entertain the dragon for the time being by giving his neck a good rub. The young one seemed to like it as it settled itself on his arm.

It took some minutes before Katsuki came back ushering a sleepy witch and his growling parents into the tent. They sobered up the moment they saw the half asleep little dragon in Shuichi's arm. Shuichi had spiked up the fire a little, so they could all see but not so much that it would get suspicious for those outside the tent.

Masaru had his hand over his wife's mouth fast, deafening her cursing while the witch made to smack her walking stick into Katsuki's leg, making him lowly swear at her.

"The hell? I have nothing to do with that! Ask the idiot why he has that thing and leave me out of it!"

"Don't call it a 'thing' you brat."

Mother and son continued bickering silently while Masaru and the witch settled themselves across from Shuichi on the ground, patiently waiting for the two to finish while observing the young celestial with a mix of awe and worry in their eyes. It took some moments but finally Katsuki let himself flop down onto his bed next to Shuichi while his mother sat beside her husband.

The dragon having woken from the slight commotion was now intently gazing at the witch making a series of trilling sounds. The witch stuck out a hand cooing in return and the little being waddled over to her, settling there while she inspected him, or her.

Katsuki nudged Shuichi with his shoulder not looking at him but rather having his gaze still fixed on the celestial. The witch had given him a piece of jerky he could chew on.

"How about you start telling from the beginning? I bet it is a good story."

Shuichi sighed, he would love to not have made this experience as he observed the barbarians expressions. They went from outright wonder to slight distrust and he wouldn't bear a grudge about it. He understood it and was glad to finally be able to talk about this problem with someone.

"I did not steal the egg if that's what you thought and I would have been happy to give it back to its parents sooner. I was already done with my gem hunting for the year about three months back and nearly home when my good for nothing dogs decided to pull me down a different route. We were travelling at night since it was easy with the full moon and I trusted they knew what they did, so I followed."

"We turned around a bend in the road and there it was: a celestial. I nearly walked right into it and god was I shocked by it being so close. I had never seen one from afar, less this close and only heard stories about how they looked like. Which is why I didn't turn tail right away. It watched me for I don't know how long and then it made this trilling sound. The next moment a second, bigger celestial had dove beneath me and scooped me into the air."

"I was horrified as it went higher and higher and simply clung to it as good as I could. I might have enjoyed the flight more if I hadn't been so tired and surprised from the start. We flew some hours and just as the sun barely rose it dropped me into some brush vanishing just like this."

Katsuki snorted at the image being rewarded with a fist to his side. Frowning Shuichi continued his story.

"That's not funny you asshole. How would you react if a dragon picked you up from the ground to give you flight lessons? I had no idea where I was and my dogs weren't even with me. Luckily I still had my backpack. I went to the nearest path, took a look around and noticed that I was at Fairbanks, meaning I was on a fucking isle miles from the coast."

Katsuki winced, all right that was unfavorable. It was still in the northern oceans but quite a distance from Windfall and even further from the mountains. How did Shuichi even manage to get back here in this short time?

"Having nothing better to do and thinking the celestials might have a reason to bring me there, I walked into town, rented a room and tried to sell my loot. The prices were reasonable enough and I wouldn't be home anyway before all the dealers had left. I walked a bit around the harbor market and after eating breakfast found a gem shop to my liking."

"It was this gem shop I found the egg in labeled as 'black opal geode' and I had to give that greedy bastard of a dealer all of my current loot and some of my saved back money to buy it. Don't ask how I knew it was an egg, I didn't want to leave it there though. The same night I tried to give the egg back to the celestials but they just flew around me for a time sniffed at the egg and then left."

"Somehow I knew that the young in the egg was still alive and that perhaps the celestials wouldn't be able to hatch the egg this late in the year on their own. They looked pretty young. So I succumbed to being their babysitter, spending my last money on the necessities and the ship ride back to the coast and this is how I ended up here."

"I had to at least try and find more gems, I was simply out of money. I had the feeling it would hatch soon which is why I stayed as long as possible in the mountains. I didn't want it to hatch back in the village … or inside the dragon slayers camp as it did."

Katsuki had his arm propped onto his knee, hand holding up his head and snorted.

"Well that worked out pretty good. It hatched just at the right time … little beast."

The last bit was added after he remembered what kind of act the dragon had interrupted by its hatching. Speaking of it …

"How did you even manage to get the egg to actually hatch?"

His mother was faster than him. The little dragon had by now decided to curl up on her leg, letting itself get petted. Shuichi leaned over and grabbed the little black pouch in which he had kept the egg, spilling its contents on the earth before the bed and explaining. Katsuki could identify the moonstones Shuichi wore around his neck during night. There was also black, coarse sand with small, orange to red stones in it and what he believed to be the remains of the egg: pieces of shell which were a beautiful white opal on the inside and on the outside deep black with misty veins of purple, deep blue and silver color.

"Well, I knew from one of the village elders that celestials would lay their eggs into warm volcanic soil and not burry them so that the moon and sun could shine on them. I took some black volcanic sand from the coast of Fairbanks and added small fire opals since they are energy stones. I knew I couldn't leave the egg out in the open with the current weather. I bought the pouch and a variety of moonstones and sunstones. I would carry half of the sunstones on my neck over the day to let them store sunlight, while the other half was in the bag. The same I did with the moonstones at night and apparently it worked. The pair of celestials would always follow me around and they never complained about how I handled their egg, so I thought I was doing good and as you can see it worked out somehow."

They fell silent after that watching as Mitsuki continues to stroke the now sleeping dragon. Masaru sighed, hating to break the relaxed atmosphere.

"What do we do now? We definitely can't have more of the tribe knowing about this. It would be too dangerous."

He gave Katsuki a pointed look which only Shuichi didn't seem to understand, but they all agreed on this point. Mitsuki said while she did trust most of her people with her life, she did not do the same with a dragons life. Celestials weren't known for aggressive behavior, an egg thief or the like only had to fear the spirits wrath not that of the dragon parents themselves and trying to steal and sell it would be far too alluring for most of the barbarians, even if their leader objected.

"We should consider the parents wanting to take back their young soon after it hatched now. It would be safest for them to approach Shuichi outside of the camp. Not that I want to throw you out or anything, but the sooner you leave the better."

Mitsuki sighed and Shuichi only nodded. He was ready to leave in a haste the moment he realized the hatching had started. His still aching and tired body would be an obstacle, but he could rest the moment the young one was back with its parents.

"As much as I would love to keep it around longer, I too don't want the adults anywhere near the camp. I would hate to leave Shuichi on his own with this in the middle of the night and I believe the celestials are smart enough to wait. Shuichi will stay the night and leave tomorrow."

Masaru nodded and their witch tapped the ground with her walking stick, deep in thought.

"But leaving Shuichi alone might not be smart now. Mitsuki and Katsuki should accompany him till the adults take it back. Me and Masaru will be able to lead the camp while you're gone."

Mitsuki couldn't keep the grin from her face while Masaru only shook his head displeased by his wife's behavior. She hardly ever managed to keep her feelings from her face. Mitsuki hushed any complaints they wanted to voice about her having too much pleasure with the situation by bumping her fist over her husband's head and giving her son a glare.

Shuichi was fine with the decision and the details they continued discussing, like the reason for leaving with him. He needed to make haste if he wanted to be home before spring and couldn't wait for the celestials to find him in one spot. They would have to track him while he was on the road like they had done the past weeks. His family was probably already worried about his late arrival anyway.

"Can't we have Kirishima accompany us?"

"No."

Shuichi twitched as all three, Mitsuki, Masaru as well as the witch, answered in unison to Katsuki's question. He did understand it, but only partly. Katsuki had grounded Eijiro to duties inside the camp for two weeks, forbidding him from leaving as punishment for his try to leave in a search for Shuichi. It would seem suspicious if they let him tag along now. What Shuichi didn't quite understand was the reason why Katsuki would want to have Eijiro know about the dragon, besides them being close friends and he could always tell him later.

"Fucking fine, but what do we do if the parents don't take their young back while we are still traveling within the mountains? Our excuse of mother teaching me wolf whispering outside camp while accompanying Shuichi back to the kings roads will only work so far."

Feeling another headache coming Shuichi let himself fall back onto the bed in a theatrical way, groaning loudly. The last think he wanted is to take care of a young dragon. An egg, difficult but fine, but an actual living dragon, no thank you. Grinning Katsuki used his flat hand to slap the youngers belly turning the exasperated groan into a pained one and earning himself an evenly painful kick into his ribs.

"It's not like you have much choice about it. As much as I would like to do it, a dragon slayer camp is, like you already mentioned, not a favorable place for a young dragon."

"Still better than a village in the kings realm. How do you suppose I hide it? In my closet? Give me a break already."

The witch's walking stick hitting them both on their heads had them shut up. After low apologies for being too loud and nearly waking the dragon they continued discussing and came to a solution. Sort of.

Since the celestial main diet was composed of marine beings having Shuichi and the dragon stay in the mountains hidden in some old hut wasn't favorable, much to Mitsuki's disappointment. The only way for Shuichi to properly feed the small dragon till the parents took him back was to go back to Windfall which was close enough to the coast.

The witch was positive the parents would take the young one back, at the latest in spring when it would be easier for them to care for it. Like Shuichi had predicted it was much too late in the year for a celestial's egg to be laid or even hatch. Whatever the reason had been, the dragons had sought his help to not lose the hatchling.

One of Shuichi's friends, Camie, which lived on the way back was a witch with strong illusion magic. Using his black opal earring, which he had snatched back from Katsuki earlier that day, he was sure she could create a spell to hide the dragons form by giving him the seeming of a cat, just in case someone stumbled into Shuichi's room atop the smithy unannounced. He also was sure that the woman could be trusted with this secret and would help him out further if needed.

With all this settled they went back to bed to catch at least one or two more hours of sleep before sunrise and their attempt to smuggle the little being out of the camp unnoticed. For now the little one was quiet, having found shelter in the nook between Moros paws and her head. Begrudgingly Katsuki had agreed to let the dog into his tent, since she seemed to understand the situations as well as the other half wolves and would be able to keep an eye on the young dragon while the humans slept. Katsuki still wondered if the keen intellect of these dogs might be magic, but Shuichi wouldn't answer him.

Having no hope to continue their doings from earlier, the barbarian relented to muttering curses under his breath about the whole situation, before he could finally fall asleep besides the already deep slumbering black haired. He did however cuddle the other in his arms before that, just to proof he could do it in spite of the ominous wolf eyes staring at him from next to the fire pit.