The hounds are on the chase
Everything's erased
What you gonna do?- Run by Foo Fighters

Katsuki

I jerked awake, suddenly unable to breathe. I heard the grunt that exploded from my nose before I felt my mouth was forced closed. My mind whirled as I realized that they'd duct taped me! I slammed my shoulders to the side, thrashing in my bonds to test their knot tying skill. Up to par, I thought sarcastically. I could feel my heart hammering as my breathing came though my nose at a fast rate. Too fast.

I forced myself to calm, noticing that I wasn't alone by the sound of even breaths next to me. I turned, it was the girl, the pirate with poor instincts. Forgotten trash, but here, and her mouth was unbarred. Tied as handily as I, and quite asleep.

I floundered until I was rubbing up on her arm and I growled as loudly as I dared, not knowing if anyone else was here. Her eyes shot open, and she turned to face me, her cheeks white, and her eyes wide with fear. I'd try and fix that later, right now, I needed her to help me. I stared at her, moving my eyes from her lips to her big brown eyes.

She blinked, "You wouldn't shut up," she said with a tart bite, but still quiet. I grunted again. "I can't move either. My dress is even more restricting." It was rucked up around her thighs showing knees bound together with four loops of rope that I assumed were anchors for her ankles and wrists. "And I can't move my hands. It feels like they put gloves on me. I can't use my quirk." Her lips twisted into a frown, "Not that it'd do any good here, now."

Well, I had to talk to her. I had to know if she knew where we were or how many we were fighting against, or even if she had knot experience. Even what her useless quirk was! I grunted at her, words that weren't. She raised her brows, a smile curling her full lips. I was incensed. She was laughing at me!

I tested just my wrist bonds, finding that my hands were tied close together. Neither of us could use our quirk. We'd been kidnapped, tied up, and in my case, duct taped. I let myself float in that cool space just before action. I cooled off, feeling the tension slide away for a moment.

I snapped my eyes to hers, hoping she'd understand the depth of this situation. Her smile disappeared, and had I been able, I would have replaced it with my own. Seems like she wasn't a useless rag after all. Very deliberately, I scrunched my nose, feeling the tape pull across my face.

I saw understanding flare in her eyes. "You want me to remove the tape?"

She stared at my mouth, her eyes full of dark determination. That was much better. I wasn't sure what she should do exactly, but I knew out of the two of us, she was the least hampered right now. She flopped closer, our breath mingling together as she bent her mouth toward mine.

"Don't get any funny ideas."

She licked the corner of the tape, and I wished she'd never told me not to get any ideas, because I had one just then. I squeezed my eyes closed. I would not be betrayed by a body too long in the air. She drew her tongue over the edge of the tape again, pressing harder. Then again, allowing the muscle to dig harder at the tape. Had I just been thinking this woman was trash?

My entire body tensed again as she straightened, saliva making her lips shine as she surveyed her work. She bent to me again, this time scraping her teeth on my skin, nibbling on the edge of my cheek, feeling like a hungry kiss. Her nibbles ceased, thankfully giving me respite, before she jerked her neck, ripping the tape from the corner of my mouth.

If my mouth hadn't been closed, I would have cursed the air blue. Instead, I trembled and felt my eyes sting with pain tears. But part of my mouth was free, thankfully, as I poked my own tongue against the tiny opening, "Tear it off." It came out as a rusty rumble, but she understood.

"You asked for it." She wiggled closer, almost laying flush against my body, our faces mere centimeters apart as she lowered her mouth to mine again. She grabbed the tape with her teeth, and pulled as hard and fast as she could. I hissed instead of screaming, and I praised whatever god there was that I'd been able to keep my wits. Not all of them, as I found myself tracking her as she spit the tape out. Her saliva was cooling on my face, and I had to keep myself from licking it off my lip.

"Thanks." I tried to sit up, just to re-discover that we'd been rather expertly hog tied. "Get down on your belly. I'm good at knots. I'll get yours with my teeth. Then you untie me, deal?"

She actually seemed to hesitate before cooperating with me. What did she have to think about that wasn't escape? Finally, she lay prone and still on the ground next to me, "Deal."

I twisted my shoulders and hips to throw myself belly down before I could move to her knees. I looked around, wondering where we were, if there were weapons we could use once we were free. Even if there wasn't, I was weapon enough to please anyone. It must have been a mechanic's workshop or something similar. The hay smell was coming from a pile that was probably used to soak up excess oil or cushion sensitive parts.

I re-ordered my mind, looking at the knots. "Talk to me, tell me what happened after take off."

"We flew for a few hours after they knocked you out." She said simply, and I studied the knots on her knees. We'd lucked out, they were figure eights, possibly the easiest to untie, though great for holding things. I smiled and attacked the knot with my teeth. I felt the knot pull, and used my tongue to trace over the rope, accidentally running it over the pit of her knee as well.

"Ah!" She giggled unsteadily, and I looked up in confusion, "Please don't do that."

"Keep it together." I hadn't even had a tie-up fetish that I'd known of, but my heart was absolutely beating it's way out of my chest and it wasn't just adrenaline. I steeled myself, "Tell me about your quirk."

"I can..." She paused, and I wondered how our captives had known to keep her hands tied together of she was so closed mouthed about a quirk. "Energy manipulation."

I pulled, the first rope coming undone. I lifted my head and looked at her. She looked defeated. "I don't think so," I countered, "Or you'd have tried it in the alley. What is your quirk, pirate?"

She huffed, but I ignored her and bent to work on the last knot before she could pull her wrists apart and could work on me. I almost didn't want to finish. For all that her tongue was soft and hot, she was a lying pirate who couldn't even trust me with what her quirk is. Could I trust her to untie me once she was freed?

She seemed to reach the same conclusion, "I have no choice but to trust you." Her resignation was clear as glass. She wiggled her gloved fingers, "We can't play this captor and captive game anymore. We have to get away. I propose we agree to stop."

"I will trust you. But you can't lie to me, even once. I hate liars." I wiggled the rope, feeling it give as it slipped free allowing her feet to drop. "I won't hesitate to leave you here."

"It's an accord," She started shaking, "Oh, that was hurting, thank you, thank you." I could hear her weeping start.

"What is your quirk? I have to know."

"Gravity." Her voice was weak, I could hear the tears even if I couldn't see them, "I can negate gravity for a little while. As long as it's not too heavy."

"I do explosions. Big and small." She nodded as I moved closer to her hands, "What will happen if I remove the gloves?"

"Nothing. Just don't touch all five fingers on the same hand at once, and things will be fine."

That was an easy decision. I'd let her remove the gloves herself. I bit into the knot, this one was just a giant double knot that made me think of the crazy blond girl from earlier. I pulled on all the bumps until I found the one that would unknot the first.

She settled, her breathing returning to a slightly fast normal, "I'm really scared, Katsuki."

"You know my name," I pulled on the next knot, making it unravel, "but I don't know yours."

"Ochaco." She swanned her neck to look at me, "I'm Ochaco."

"Where are the pirates? I assume you were awake?" I pulled the last knot free, and her arms sprung apart. I heard the thud of her gloves hitting the ground. I rolled back to my side and she scrambled to my knees to start on my knots. "Do you know much about knots? If the same guy tied me as you, then the knees are figure eights. Just find a piece and pull, you'll eventually figure it out."

"Okay." I could feel her tugging on my ropes, "I don't know if there are any here, but I heard the ship leave." She pulled one off, and started on the next. "I was so relieved, I fell asleep. Sorry."

"How long were we in the air?" She pulled again, and my feet dropped down, "Help me stand."

She came around front, and hauled up my shoulders as I scrambled to get my feet beneath me. "There," she smiled, "Let me get your hands." I turned, and she lay soft fingers on my wrists, "What will happen when I loose your hands?"

"Nothing. Yet." I took a deep breath, "We're on the same side. Now, answer my question."

"I don't know." She plucked at the knots, "It took about an hour, maybe, for you to wake up the first time. When we were questioned. Then maybe 15 to 20 minutes after that, they took me to a stateroom where you were... asleep." My hands were suddenly free, and I turned around rubbing my wrists, and scanning the room for the door.

She pointed at the door, "I fell asleep again, but they came in with dinner, and the man, Jin?" I crept up to it and she copied my movements, "He said it was seven."

"Just wait." I lay my ear on the door to silence. I didn't even hear footsteps or voices of any kind, "I don't hear anything. You?"

She again copied me, sweeping her hair behind ears that looked like they'd seen better times. My eyes widened, she'd been wearing earrings when I saw her the first time. They were missing now, leaving a series of four red holes. I pressed a hand to my tattoo, where I knew an almost worthless ruby was embedded. It was still there. I almost groaned in relief.

"Not really, but I can't believe they'd just leave us here. Even tied up. They wanted you for some reason."

I looked at myself. They'd likely gotten what they wanted. I was wearing jeans that had probably been clean once, and the white undershirt I always had on under my uniform. The jeans were longer than I usually wore and were bagging sadly around my knees and ankles. No shoes, either.

"They were probably after my gods-damned uniform." I tried the door, it wasn't locked and I swung it open as slowly as I could. "We'll assume there's people here, but we need to escape. You need clothes you can run away in, and we'll need whatever supplies that are close to hand. Be sneaky."

She nodded, her hair swinging, and her eyes flashing around the room. I led the way though a kitchen that had the scents of food clinging to the space. Our heads turned at the same time, tracking a noise in another part of the house.

"Check the fridge." It was a near silent order, but she obeyed with alacrity. I stalked to a wide-open doorway that led to a dining room and the rest of the house. She opened the icebox and scanned the interior before picking up the hem of her dress and dropping a few apples, a bottled water and a glass jar of what I hoped was milk into the fold. She shook her head, and I retreated from the doorway toward another set of stairs.

I started up them, Ochaco at my heels, moving quieter than I thought she'd be able to. At the top, I stopped at a hallway that had two doors on one side, three on the other. I motioned to the closest, the door was ajar, and the hallway silent.

It probably belonged to the man Ochaco had called Jin. The jeans had probably come from him since he was maybe a handful of centimeters taller than me. Well, a few more of his clothes donated to me wouldn't hurt. I pointed at the next door and Ochaco crept up to it, obviously listening carefully. She nodded, and we both disappeared in to respective rooms.

Jin's looked like it belonged to at least two people, and I was heavily reminded of his odd way of talking. I grabbed a pair of boots that looked not too bad off, and shoved my feet into them. Not a horrible fit, but I wouldn't be running for long. I swept my eyes over the rest, looking for my uniform, but there were only a few scattered laundry piles that looked pretty stale.

I kicked over one pile, scaring a mouse, and fought the urge to run from the room in distaste. Instead, I opened the closet hoping against hope that he'd have some cold weather clothes, maybe even a heavy jacket stored and ready to wear. I was almost in luck. A black flannel jacket with a quilted lining was hanging from the bar, and I slipped it on.

On the way out, I checked the dresser, finding a pack of unopened cigarettes, which I pocketed, knowing that I could sell them easily in the next town we came to. There were three one credit coins, and I took them too. They might have even been mine. I opened the door, and went to the next room.

Ochaco had her hands stretched over her head, a ivory cable-knit sweater sliding over her flesh, and I backed out, but wished for a moment that I had taken advantage to stare. Instead, I cleared my throat, and when I head the rustling of her picking her things back up, went in.

"I think the girl was around my size." The sweater was a little large, but looked good otherwise. She was wearing khaki knickers that buttoned above the knee. "Sorry I couldn't find anything warmer. It was this or a thicker dress. I've lived in worse."

I shook my head, she looked...cute. "Is there a jacket?"

"No." She indicated the room, dominated by a bed with expensive silk coverings and plump pillows. She reached down, gathering her dress, "I was able to find my pins, though." She sighed, looking sad, "We can sell them for warmer gear down the road."

"I'm starting to feel exposed." Those silk bed clothes weren't for camping, and I wanted to sleep in Jin's blankets just slightly more than without on the cold, hard ground. "Let's just grab a blanket from the other room and leave. We need to be as far from here as we can get."

"It's night." Ochaco frowned, "How far will we get?"

"Farther than if they capture us again. We both got some sleep." The moon illuminated the world, and I pointed at the winter sere grounds. "I doubt they're eager to check on us and do their turn-down service. We have time. Let's use it."

She glanced out the window, and her face crumpled again. She swung her eyes back to me, "We'll get away?"

"I promise. We will leave here." I gave her a tight nod, and waited for her to calm once again. "Ochaco, trust me." I stuck out my hand, "You don't know what I can do, but I guarantee, if it comes down to it, I will blow up this entire house to keep you safe, partner."

"Partner." She shook my hand, and then squeezed her bundle tight to her body. "Get a blanket, and go. I'm ready."


AN/ No beta today! I'd love a review. :)