I know this chapter is a bit late but with all the holiday drama, I didn't have a chance to post this until now! But... wow. Thank you so much for all the support so far, guys, I really didn't expect many people to like this!

So this chapter didn't turn out as good as I hoped and I feel like Bakugo's reallyyy OOC in some parts, but you guys can be the judge of that. I hope you like it all the same and please let me know if I can improve anything in the future!

SPECIAL THANKS TO REVIEWERS: Myherogal22, SweetWritingIsMyLife, ThePhoenixGirl, katurdi, FanWriter02, Electrikitty, Guest, YamInari, Wolfaint, HankFlamion18, Sixxel, Guest #2, and another piece of anime trash. You guys rock and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Two: Obscure

"HURRY UP ALREADY! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SLOW US DOWN MORE THAN YOU ALREADY HAVE?"

Deku quickly finished tightening the bandage he'd made with a strip of blanket around his side and stood back up, wiping his hands off. "S-sorry! I'm coming."

"We could've be further along by now if you hadn't gotten yourself hurt in the first place," I snapped.

"You were the one to attack me."

"Whatever." I shoved my hands back into my pockets, swerving around. "Let's go. And don't slow me down anymore- I'm already pissed off enough."

"I won't," Deku said, if not a little irritably. "I just needed to bandage it up. I don't want it to bleed anymore."

I didn't respond, only keeping my head high as I marched forward. Just because he was injured, it didn't give him the right to slow us down. "Hurry up or I'm leaving you behind," I growled, even though that would be impossible. If Deku failed the exercise, so did I. We had to finish together whether I liked it or not.

Quickly, I heard Deku scramble up to catch up with me, following closely behind. "Hey, Kacchan? Where are we looking to camp?" he asked. "I was thinking we could find an empty grove somewhere in here and get some firewood from the trees-"

"Shut up," I snarled. "I told you to follow me."

"And Aizawa said that we're a team. I-I know you don't like me, but right now we're going to learn how to work together! It's going to be hard, I know, but we can do it." He came up beside me, looking determined. "We have to be able to talk to each other."

"Talk?" I stopped abruptly, forcing Deku to as well. "And just why would I want to talk to someone like you? I hate you."

He lowered his head. "I know."

"Then we're clear: you don't talk to me, you don't walk around me, and you don't share any of your little ideas." I started walking again, jaw held stiff. "You might think that because we're on a team that we're suddenly 'friends' but we're not, and we're never going to be."

I looked back at him with a black glare.

"You don't matter. And if we don't finish this exercise, I'm going to kill you."

Pushing ahead, I left him to follow behind.

I didn't know how long we had been walking before I realized that we both hadn't said a word in over an hour.

It was the silence that was the most disturbing. After our fight, I'd expected some silence, but it was no secret that the nerd couldn't keep his mouth shut. Except, he hadn't spoken yet. Normally I'd have relished the quietness, glad that he'd finally shut up, but for some reason, it almost bothered me.

No. He was fine, just being slow. I could barely even hear his footsteps anymore because he was so far behind.

I clenched my jaw and pulled to a stop. It was time to see just what was slowing him down. Angrily, I swerved around, ready to yell at him for not keeping up when my body froze.

Deku was obviously struggling to keep standing, swaying on his feet and practically having to lean against trees as he stumbled along. The blood was drained from his face and his knees bowed beneath his weight.

I hadn't expected this. What had happened to him in this last hour?

"Deku," I said gruffly. "Why are you being more useless than usual?"

Deku's gaze came back from whatever he had been staring at and focused on me. "What did you say, Kacchan?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What the heck is up with you now?"

Deku's fingers brushed over his side and he winced, looking down. Even I could see the red stained through his shirt. "It's… um…" He closed his eyes. "I think it's my side."

My eye twitched. You think? "You're not going to need another break, right?"

"No, I'm fine," he managed back, and for a moment I almost believed him by the way he made it sound true. If it weren't for his gray skin and all that blood, I might have even been able to believe that he really was fine.

I shook my head. I wasn't his babysitter- I didn't need to monitor how he was feeling. He could take care of himself.

"Then let's just go already," I snapped. "If you're so fine, then we can walk further before dark."

He didn't say anything else for a long minute before he looked down with a grimace. "I think I… I might need something to help me walk. My side, it… it really hurts..."

"We don't have time for this. Grow a pair, loser!"

"Come on, Kacchan. It-it'll just take a minute!"

I stared at him pointedly. This was going to waste even more time now. But then again, if I wanted Deku to keep up, I'd have to make it happen myself.

A growl escaped my lips as I marched over to a cluster of leaves and branches and then promptly grabbed a very long stick from the ground. He was going to owe me for this. I stomped back over to where Deku was standing before shoving it in his face. "There's your walking stick, you wimp," I growled. "Now let's go already."

He looked at it for a long moment before his gaze was back traveled back to me. "That's, um, a big stick."

"Yeah. So?" I narrowed my eyes. "Do you complain about everything?"

"N-no! It's just… I don't know if I can-"

I interrupted him with bringing the stick down on my knee and watched in satisfaction as it cracked in half. Rolling my eyes, I held it out to a wide-eyed Deku and cursed aloud when he still didn't take it. "You are the most annoying person I know," I snapped. "If you weren't injured right now, we'd be having a very different conversation."

He finally took the stick, rather meekly, before looking back up at me. "You're very good at snapping things."

"Limbs are good practice. And I'm going to snap yours if we don't get a move on, nerd."

I was about to turn around again when Deku called me to stop. I snapped back to him, eyes blazing. "I already gave you your walking stick, loser! Don't bother me anymore!"

"No-no, it's not that! I.. um.." He gave a weak smile. "Thanks."

We stared at each other for a second before I shoved my hands into my pockets, glaring in his direction. "Whatever. If you weren't slowing us down, I'd never have given it to you in the first place." I took off again, leaving him to catch up.

I expected us to have another hour or so of silence as we walked, especially since he now had help to walk, but it seemed like I was wrong. Deku almost made a point to drag his feet as he walked and loudly smacked his walking stick down with each movement. I hated myself for giving him it to him in the first place.

And then the coughing started.

If I wasn't ready to kill him by now, this ensured that I was. My palms started to burn at the sound and my teeth were clenched tightly. I was about ready to shout out a curse when suddenly Deku called me to stop.

I swerved around, eyes flashing. "What?"

"Sorry… just need to… catch my breath for a second," he gasped out. "My side… just hurts..."

I didn't know what to say. If he was looking for sympathy, he was asking the wrong person. "Again? Are you kidding me?"

He looked at me pointedly. "I just need… a minute."

"You already had a minute, you wimp. And a walking stick."

Deku wiped a few beads of sweat off his brow. "I'll be ready to go… in a minute..." He coughed once, then twice, before it looked like he was having trouble to keep a fit from coming on. He took another few seconds to regain his breath before leaning against a tree heavily. A minute later he nodded and cleared his throat. "Okay… sorry, ready. I'm good now."

Even as much as I wanted to, I couldn't deny that Deku looked anything but good. His face was drawn pale and his body was shaking like a leaf. I knew it was only a question of time before his body gave out on him.

No. He's fine. Don't let him slow you down more than he already has.

"About time, you nerd. Let's go."

"Okay… but, Kacchan, wait," he said, and I turned back towards him with a glare.

"What now? I already gave you your freaking break and I'm really getting pissed off!"

"I know... but with my side, I don't know if I can…" There was a silence so still that I could almost hear a pin drop. "...last until the end of the exercise."

That was it. The exact words I'd dreaded to hear. I could feel my heart start to pound faster and heat rose in my palms. "Are you kidding me?" I demanded. "It's just a scratch."

"No, Kacchan, it's…" He swallowed. "It's not."

My glare blackened and I turned around, storming away. "I don't have time for this. If you want to be weak, go ahead! But I'm not a loser like you, and I'm going to finish the stupid exercise!"

"Kacchan, wait-" Already having run up behind me, he jumped out in front of me and forced me to stop.

"Stop following me," I hissed.

"Just listen to me for once." He put his hands up in the air. "I-I know this training is important but I'll make both of us fail at this rate. If we turn back now we can make it back to Mr. Aizawa and maybe ask for an extens-extension on the exercise." He broke down coughing again before taking a moment to catch his breath. This time, his words were weaker. "I don't think I should do anything more with m-my side like this-"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FAIL?! YOU BASTARD, THAT WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG, WASN'T IT?"

"No, o-of course not!" He wrung his hands together. "I-"

"Just shut up," I snarled, shoving my way past him and scowling when he gasped in pain. A stain of red on his shirt caught my eye but I ignored it. "Don't be a baby! It's just a flesh wound."

"W-wait-"

"JUST HURRY THE HECK UP ALREADY! THANKS TO YOU, WE STILL NEED TO FIND A PLACE TO CAMP TONIGHT!"

All went silent behind me as I stormed past him, anger coursing through my veins. Who did he think he was, telling me what to do? He was a weak, useless, bastard, who couldn't even keep up with me on a simple exercise.

You injured him.

"It wasn't that bad," I growled, shoving my hands into my pockets. "He can take it."

I knew he'd lost some blood, but it wasn't like he was going to drop dead anytime soon. If he was so smart then he could figure out a way to close up the wound himself. I wasn't in charge of him or his stupid side.

Satisfied, I continued forward.

It didn't occur to me for another minute that the footsteps behind me had stopped. Silence replaced the drumming of Deku's walking stick and I stopped when realizing it. What was he doing now? Taking another little break?

I angrily swerved around, ready to give him a piece of my mind when I saw him and pulled to a stunned stop. There he was, a little over ten feet away, face-flat on the ground and laying eerily still. My heartbeat sped up. What had happened?

I waited another few seconds and felt myself tense when he still didn't get up.

"What did you do this time, trip?" I asked. "You can't even walk right, can you?"

He didn't answer me or even look up to acknowledge I was there.

A low growl escaped my throat. "Deku. Get up."

Silence.

"Deku."

He still didn't move. My heart missed a beat.

"Deku?"

I tentatively stepped forward, approaching his still form on the forest ground with caution. My body tensed when I saw his side stained with red, some of his blood already pooling onto the ground.

"Deku," I hissed, dropping down to my knees and pulling him upward by his collar. His head fell backward, green locks of hair hanging loosely. "Get up, you bastard!"

He groaned at the movement, brow trembling as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

Looking closer, I could see that he was unconscious. He'd fainted, I realized. All the blood he'd lost, the pain, the pressure- I guessed it had all been too much. Something stirred inside of me. I'd done this to him. I'd used my quirk on him and he'd gotten hurt; I hadn't even bothered to see how bad the injury really was.

Who cares? I thought. It's not like it matters whether he's hurt or not anyway. I clenched my jaw. All he was doing was slowing me down more. He was so useless that he'd fainted.

I looked back down at him but soon saw that he still showed no sign of consciousness. "Deku," I said, shaking him more fiercely now. His head lolled back limply and I gritted my teeth. "Just because you're injured, it doesn't give you the right to go and freaking faint! Wake up already, loser!"

This time, Deku did stir. His eyes flickered underneath his eyelids and he let out a weak groan. "K...Kacchan?" His eyes peeked open and he blinked slowly as his gaze focused on me.

I released my grip and let his head fall back to the ground. He grunted loudly and I leaned back, satisfied. "About time you woke up."

"What-" He coughed loudly. "What… happened?"

"You fainted. I guess your little weak body wasn't as strong as you thought." I stood back up, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Well? You gonna stand up already?"

"I-I don't…" He sucked in a breath as he looked down. More wetness seeped through the fabric of his shirt and the size of the red stain covering his side took me a bit by surprise. "It hurts." I could hear the crack in his voice, and suddenly I began to understand how very bad this was. I'd seen him break his whole freaking body before with little concern for the pain that followed afterward. And even then he was still trying to fight afterward, not caring about his injuries.

But not now.

Finally, he looked up at me with a tired expression. "I guess can try."

I let out a sharp breath. "Then do it already."

Carefully, he tried to sit himself up but ultimately failed when his arms gave out on him and his head landed back in the dirt. I saw that he was shaking, tremors running up his arms and spine.

I locked my jaw. "You look like an idiot."

"Gee, thanks," he muttered before trying to sit back up again. Beads of sweat clung to his brow and he looked as if he was about to be sick. "Just give me a minute or two and I'll be ready to go. I'm fine."

"Don't give me that crap," I snapped. "You sick or something?"

When he didn't respond, I rolled my eyes. "Now, this is just great. Now I have to flipping babysit you." I slapped my hand against his forehead. My eyes widened at the heat that radiated back and I pulled my hand away. "It's been like two freaking hours, Deku!" I cursed. "How the heck did you get yourself sick so fast?"

He looked down. "Sorry..."

"I'll kill you."

My mind raced. Now what? He was obviously just going to get worse from here on out, which meant finishing the exercise was not likely. I held back a growl. Two nights together - just two nights - and he was already ruining it for us. Just like he always did.

But I couldn't erase the fact that he was injured this time, and it was clear he wasn't getting much further before dark. We'd have to camp out early so he would be ready for tomorrow. Maybe then we'd be able to finish the exercise.

I clenched my jaw. One night. I'd give him one night and if he wasn't better by then, I was leaving him behind.

"We need to camp soon," I said dryly. "Then your stupid injuries can heal overnight and we can get a move on tomorrow." I dug my hands deeper in my pockets. "Now come on, we can camp up ahead. And don't slow me down anymore."

"Yeah," Deku whispered, wiping away the sweat on his brow as he pulled himself to his feet. His legs bowed under his weight but he managed to keep standing. "Sounds good."

Shoving my way past his quaking form, I trudged forward, fists clenched at my side.

There was no reason to baby him. He would be better by tomorrow and it would be like the whole thing had never happened. And if he wasn't, well…

I'd be finishing the exercise alone.