Mating season

by Wavre13radieuse

Summary:

Katsuki, a beautiful mare with a coat lighter than her spiky blond mane, was also in heat.

Yet, despite what her instincts urged her to do, she had no desire to be drawn into those mating games — the flirting and
posturing she found utterly ridiculous to watch, whether from up close or afar.

What she loved more than anything in the world was her freedom.

And the very thought of carrying a foal made her both curious and hesitant.

She had always wondered, while watching young mares spend half the year pregnant, what it must feel like to carry and give
birth to a foal of her own.

But she had never carried nor given birth to one, which made her a young, inexperienced mare — especially when it came to
motherhood.

That inexperience stirred within her a deep, lingering fear.

For she was afraid of failing in that realm, just as she had failed in so many others before.

Chapter 1: The time of their annual heat

The mating season had finally arrived in the vast, verdant plains of Yuei, where Katsuki and Izuku had lived since their
earliest days.

Both were young wild horses, around twenty years old, living within a herd led by Katsuki’s parents since the day they were
born.

The fresh, pure air of the prairie carried the sweet scent of wildflowers that had bloomed just a few days earlier, their
petals drifting on the wind and giving the atmosphere a distinctly romantic touch in this season of love.

As the sun began to rise gently over the horizon, its rays slowly but surely warmed all living creatures still numb from the
coolness of the night.

Everyone here had lived for years in this beautiful meadow, where the grass was the greenest, freshest, and most delicious in
the world.

But today, nature seemed to thrum with a new kind of energy — a restless, feverish energy whose origin the wild horses knew
all too well.

For all the mares of the prairie, the time had finally come.

It was the moment of their annual heat — a period when instinct often took control over reason.

It was a time when every stallion in the region sought to court and win over the mare of his choice, fulfilling one of his
natural roles as a stallion.

A role that meant mating with a mare in heat so that a new generation of foals could be born the following year.

Katsuki, a beautiful mare with a coat lighter than her spiky blond mane, was also in heat.

Yet, despite what her instincts urged her to do, she had no desire to be drawn into those mating games — the flirting and
posturing she found utterly ridiculous to watch, whether from up close or afar.

What she loved more than anything in the world was her freedom.

And the very thought of carrying a foal made her both curious and hesitant.

She had always wondered, while watching young mares spend half the year pregnant, what it must feel like to carry and give
birth to a foal of her own.

But she had never carried nor given birth to one, which made her a young, inexperienced mare — especially when it came to
motherhood.

That inexperience stirred within her a deep, lingering fear.

For she was afraid of failing in that realm, just as she had failed in so many others before.

And yet, all around her, the other mares could not hide their growing restlessness.

They were often chased by impatient stallions eager to mate, who sniffed them all over and tried to court them far too
insistently — a behavior that sorely tested the nerves of the young, inexperienced mares in heat.

Fortunately, during this exhausting season, Katsuki was not alone.

Her friends from the Bakusquad were always by her side, making sure that no stallion, driven by testosterone, invaded her
personal space or tried anything on her.

But this year, things were even more complicated because of Izuku — her childhood friend, her best friend, a strong and
intelligent stallion the same age as her.

For several days, even before the mating season began, he had been following her everywhere, marking his territory with
sprays of urine at every spot where Katsuki stopped to eat, drink, rest, or even sleep.

As if to signal to the other stallions that the mare belonged to him — or at least, that he had no intention of letting
anyone else have her.

At first, Katsuki believed Izuku was simply acting this way to protect her from other suitors, since her scent already
carried pheromones that told any nearby stallion she would soon be in heat.

But his behavior carried a very different kind of intensity.

A certain boldness — unexpected and new — showed in everything he did.

Each time he acted in a way he never would have outside this season, Katsuki found herself stunned.

So naturally, seeing Izuku bite another stallion so viciously, fighting him nearly to the point of blood just to keep him
from getting close to her, was something she would never have thought possible from her childhood friend.

But that morning, as she was quietly grazing the fresh, dew-covered grass of the meadow while other mares around her were
already mating with stallions, she suddenly felt Izuku’s presence behind her.

And before she even had time to turn her head — still chewing the fresh grass she had just pulled up — to understand why
he had gotten so close behind her…

He mounted her without warning, towering over her with all his weight and height, his movements calm yet confident.

Surprised by the sudden gesture she hadn’t expected at all, she didn’t move an inch.

She remained completely still.

But, as strange as the moment felt to Katsuki, she was torn between apprehension and acceptance, for it was the very first
time in her life that a stallion had ever mounted her.

But not just any stallion.

No.

It was Izuku.

A stallion she had known since she was just a little filly, who used to constantly tease her for no reason at all.

A colt who, back then, could sulk for days just to make her stop annoying him.

And it always worked, much to the delight of the young Izuku of those days.

She slowly turned her head, struggling to swallow the grass still in her mouth, toward the stallion on her back.

Her blood-red eyes immediately met Izuku’s.

She tried to understand, in the dark green eyes of the stallion, the meaning behind this sudden boldness.

But she found nothing in his gaze that could reveal the reason for this sudden change in behavior from her childhood friend.

After a few more seconds, the stallion slowly climbed down from her back, his expression calm but filled with a desire he
was struggling to hide, to contain.

And yet, even though that desire was there — ardent, burning for the mare — he hadn’t made a move.

He hadn’t done anything sexual with her.

Katsuki, her whole body trembling from that warm and unexpected contact, silently wondered what had just happened.

But above all, questions quickly filled her mind.

Was it a confession of love?

An invitation to mate with him?

Or simply the result of mating season, which made them both act strangely because of their boiling hormones?

Unfortunately, she found no answer to her questions.

And the stallion didn’t help her understand what he was trying to tell her — without words.

Especially since that very stallion had only moved a few meters away to quietly graze the grass, keeping a careful eye on
the other stallions lingering around the mare.

Katsuki sighed, desperate, before returning to the appetizing grass waiting for her, hoping to fill her stomach so she
could begin what promised to be one of the longest — and most complicated — days to handle.

Chapter 2: He had already chosen his mare

Summary:

She immediately felt her stomach tighten, twisting in every possible way as she became aware of that revelation.

A truth so obvious, so close, right in front of her muzzle, that she felt a little foolish and stupid for not having seen
it sooner.

But despite that, something deep inside her began to grow little by little.

It wasn’t fear, nor rejection, but a strange mix of dizziness and warmth — a sensation she had never experienced before in
her entire life.

Yet, ever since what had happened with Izuku, time seemed to move so slowly — far too slowly for Katsuki’s liking.

But despite that slowness, she kept watching the stallion in the distance, her gaze fixed intensely on him just to make the
time pass.

After all, the more she observed him with each passing second, the more she noticed that something felt off in the way
Izuku looked at her whenever he sensed her eyes on him.

And how could she tell that something was wrong — or not — in each of the looks Izuku gave her?

Well, simply because she had known him since their very first meeting, back when they were still just little foals.

She had even grown up by his side ever since he’d been introduced to her and her mother by Inko, just a few days after his
birth.

She had also run with him across the plains and meadows, while their mothers galloped behind them to make sure they weren’t
in danger or straying too far from the herd.

She had seen him many times playing alone, a little apart from the herd, trying to touch the butterflies fluttering around
him with his tiny muzzle, while her own mother scolded her harshly for wandering away from the herd after spotting a cloud
of butterflies flying toward a place full of flowers of every color she had never seen before in her life.

She had also seen the little stallion neigh excitedly one day because a blue butterfly had landed delicately on his small
muzzle while he was drinking from the river to quench his thirst.

From that day on, he never stopped talking about that “historic event,” as if it were something far more important and
precious than his own existence.

She had seen him kick fiercely against the wind one rainy day, for no good reason at all, while she, on her side, was doing
everything she possibly could to avoid getting wet.

So when she finally managed to take shelter under a tree that completely protected her from the raindrops, she truly
thought the stallion had lost his mind, galloping like that under the pouring rain.

But at the same time, back then, nothing really surprised her anymore when it came to the little stallion that was Izuku.

After all, Izuku was a stallion well known for his madness — for that fierce desire to accomplish or attempt things that
other wild horses would never have dared to do in their entire lives — things that she herself would never have had the
courage to even try, not even to survive in this world.

Was she afraid of doing the things Izuku did?

Yes, and quite a lot.

But she also knew that, for the stallion, it was the only way to prove and show his worth to the leaders of the herd — who
happened to be his own parents — as well as to the other stallions who constantly surrounded the herd to protect them from
predators.

He wanted to show that he was neither weak nor vulnerable in the face of the dangers that constantly threatened them, but
that he was ready to do anything to protect the ones he loved most in the world.

However, Izuku had one major flaw that Katsuki could never tolerate — not physically, nor emotionally — especially since it
stirred up all sorts of emotions within her, both positive and negative.

And for good reason: Izuku’s greatest flaw was that he was completely unaware of the danger he put the other horses in with
his utterly reckless, sometimes even nearly suicidal ideas, whenever it came to chasing predators off their territory.

But the stallion had also been unfailingly innocent and naive ever since his youth, particularly when it came to the clear
and unmistakable intentions of the mares around him — something that often made Katsuki sigh from afar whenever she
discreetly watched him out of the corner of her eye.

In any case, that was Katsuki’s point of view.

For the mare still saw Izuku as the little foal she had always known in the vast green plains of their homeland, ever since
he had been introduced to her by Inko — and not as the strong, sturdy, and handsome stallion he had become.

But ever since mating season had begun, she had quickly noticed that the stallion was no longer quite the same as the one
she had known all her life.

And with good reason — Izuku never strayed from her side anymore, even when other mares in heat — beautiful, slender,
graceful in their gait — trotted up to him, necks stretched and tails quivering with a suggestive flick to catch the male’s
attention.

Yet, despite the mares many attempts to win his gaze, the stallion granted them only a distracted glance, never failing in
his main task: keeping other stallions away who dared to approach his beloved with the intent of claiming her.

But although he knew what he had to do, he would still allow the mares in heat to come near him, to sniff him all over,
even to try rubbing their muzzles against his muscular flank — which had grown more sensitive because of the season.

He preferred that to constantly pushing them away, which would have tired him out for nothing, since they clearly weren’t
ready to leave him alone anytime soon.

They desperately wanted him to accept mating with them after offering him their favors, yet he never reacted to the touches
or brushes they gave him in hopes of winning his affection.

Because for him, there was only one mare in the world who had that right.

Only one.

But that mare didn’t know it yet.

And Katsuki, she could see perfectly well what was going on between him and the other mares.

However, she could clearly see that every time her gaze — involuntarily — drifted down to the stallion’s lower belly, his
sex was swollen with desire, and there was every reason to swallow hard upon realizing that the stallion’s member was
large, broad, long, and heavy with need.

But above all, the stallion’s erection was very visible to all the mares and stallions present in the meadow, not far from
him.

And that deeply displeased her, for she did not like seeing the other mares — whether intentionally or not — ogling the
erection of her childhood friend, just as she sometimes did herself, despite her best efforts.

At least, one thing was certain to her: her childhood friend was ready to mate with a mare of his choosing in order to
start his own family.

How could she be so sure of that?

Well, because she had living proof that the stallion’s body was strongly feeling the effects of mating season.

So then… why didn’t he respond to the advances of those beautiful mares in heat, willing to do anything to mate with him
and start a big, beautiful, and wonderful family?

That was the question Katsuki kept asking herself.

Yet, she was not naïve.

She knew perfectly well what a mare’s heat did to the males.

But the more she watched Izuku, the more she wondered.

Because the stallion’s gaze never lingered long on the mares begging for his favors and attention.

No.

He was looking at her, with a heat and intensity so fierce that it made her heart beat a little too fast.

It led her, without even realizing it, to turn her head away by reflex whenever her eyes met the stallion’s deep, green gaze.

And each time she shyly looked away, blushing — without even noticing it herself — he allowed himself a discreet smile, just
enough for the mare not to see it when her beautiful, blood-red eyes would fall upon him again.

Katsuki was well aware that Izuku never stopped looking at her.

Even when he kept a respectful distance, careful not to intrude upon her personal space, and even when, by reflex, she
turned her head away after catching his magnificent green eyes — he still kept watching her with the same intensity as
before.

He kept looking at her, even when other mares tried to draw his attention and win his favor.

Just knowing it sent shivers down her back, spreading through every fiber of her mare’s body.

She could also feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest — all because of the stallion.

This inner turmoil only heightened her body heat, already burning from the effects of her heat cycle.

So, to calm both her racing heart and herself at the same time — to lower that feverish warmth, if only a little — she
decided to lift her eyes toward the sky.

Today, it was a beautiful shade of blue, as if that brightness itself wanted to whisper that the day would be splendid.

But Katsuki couldn’t have cared less.

Because after several long minutes of intense reflection, staring up at that clear blue sky, she made a decision: she
would no longer look away from the stallion’s eyes.

And for what reason?

Because she wanted to study him from every angle.

She wanted to observe and understand his every step, every movement, every act of marking his territory… but most of all,
to understand why the stallion kept following her — always a few meters behind, never forcing contact, content simply to
remain there, walking after her, stopping whenever she stopped.

And all this, even while beautiful mares in heat, eager to mate, were constantly circling around him.

She also wanted to understand why he kept staying by her side, no matter what happened around them — like a warm, heavy
shadow that refused to leave her… for a reason she still didn’t know.

Yet she could see very clearly, through Izuku’s behavior, that he was truly waiting for something from her.

But she had absolutely no idea what that could be.

So, in an attempt to understand what the male was trying to communicate to her, she began to observe him throughout the day.

And the more she watched him, the more she sincerely wondered if Izuku had changed his behavior solely because of her.

Because she had quickly noticed that the stallion wasn’t marking his territory against the other males roaming around her.

No.

He was openly marking his claim on her: his right to approach her, to court her, to protect her… but most of all, his
right to mate with her.

And that was precisely why he ignored the other mares — not because he didn’t want to mate with them…

No.

He ignored them almost completely because he had already chosen his mare.

And that mare — the one he had desired more than anything else in the world since the start of mating season — was none
other than her.

She immediately felt her stomach tighten, twisting in every possible way as she became aware of that revelation.

A truth so obvious, so close, right in front of her muzzle, that she felt a little foolish and stupid for not having seen
it sooner.

But despite that, something deep inside her began to grow little by little.

It wasn’t fear, nor rejection, but a strange mix of dizziness and warmth — a sensation she had never experienced before in
her entire life.

And that revelation… unsettled her more than anything.

Because despite her initial refusal to mate… despite her desire to remain alone, surrounded only by her friends during this
season that was always so burdensome for her…

A small part of her, buried deep within, was growing stronger with each passing minute — that part of her wanted to
understand what it truly meant to be chosen by a stallion.

But most of all, to be chosen by a stallion like Izuku.

Chapter 3: It should have been him

Summary:

But for Mina, on the other hand, she considered Katsuki her best friend, even a confidante, because Katsuki was not the
kind of mare to reveal or expose other people’s secrets.

As a result, Katsuki was generally seen among the mares as someone you could tell anything to without fear that it would be
disclosed or repeated to other mares or stallions of the prairie.

So naturally, in Mina’s mind, it was quite obvious for her to go see Katsuki to talk to her about something important
concerning both herself and Kirishima, knowing full well that what she was about to tell her would never be shared with
anyone else.

Yet after a while, within Katsuki’s body, her heat intensified so much that she let out a pained sigh before going to
lie down in the grass, her legs trembling slightly under the weight of that heat.

She moved away a little — barely — from the herd and from the stallion, who kept watching her with that same burning
gaze fixed upon her.

Her breathing was short and uneven, her chest rising faster than usual, and her belly… was caught in a vise that made
her suffer terribly.

It was as if something, deep within her body and her very being, was calling, screaming, demanding that one thing only
the stallion could give her.

And that, she did not want — or rather… she was not yet ready to have it inside her by mating with the stallion.

But her body was beginning to stop asking for her opinion when it came to its desires, to what she wanted or did not
want to do, which frustrated her and filled her with anger.

A soft whimper slipped past her parted lips, muffled into a rough sigh as she lowered herself onto the grass, first
onto her knees, then slowly and completely onto her left side.

She sighed in relief, despite the fact that her fur was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and the touch of the air
against her damp skin made her shiver.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to think about what was happening between her thighs.

The moisture there grew more noticeable with every passing second.

It was sticky and painfully stimulating, within her swollen vagina that pulsed gently in waves, as if it were seeking
a very specific kind of contact — especially one coming directly from the stallion’s erection.

She clenched her teeth as a cramp shot through her lower back.

It was sudden and brutal, to the point that she held back a plaintive whinny.

But what she wanted least of all was to appear weak under the stallion’s gaze.

Yet she was suffering so much that she had no choice: she appeared as weak as a mare at the end of her life beneath
Izuku’s insistent stare, especially since her pain was dull, deep, and almost animal — that of a body ready to welcome
the erection and be filled with the stallion’s sperm in order to finally carry life… but which, for now, was still
waiting for all of that.

She suddenly felt a presence slowly approaching her, as if it did not want to frighten her or make her flee from where
she was lying.

So she immediately opened her eyes, unsure whether that presence belonged to a mare in heat coming to check on her because
she had lain down in the grass, or to a member of the Bakusquad who had come to make sure she was not suffering too much
from her infernal heat.

And when Katsuki opened her eyes and immediately turned her head toward that presence to see who it was, she was surprised
to discover that it was none other than Mina.

A young mare the same age as her, whose coat was a lighter shade of pink than her mane, and who was just as deep in heat
as she was during this difficult period for every young mare of the prairie.

The reason Katsuki was so surprised to see her approaching was that Kirishima had formally confessed to her just last
week that he intended to try his luck with Mina during the mating season.

She had therefore expected Kirishima to flirt, court, and fight the other stallions of the prairie to have Mina all to
himself, to make her his mare.

But it seemed that something had gone wrong between the two of them.

And unfortunately, she did not know what had gone wrong, as she had been far too focused and fixated on Izuku.

It was precisely because of that, at that very moment, that she felt guilty for having neglected her friends and for
having thought only of herself and the stallion all day long.

Katsuki sighed in pain, blinking several times to chase away the throbbing pulsing between her thighs, so she could focus
her gaze on Mina, who was approaching her very slowly, her ears slightly pinned back.

She never would have believed she would see Mina there at that moment, especially since she sincerely thought Mina would
be by Kirishima’s side as usual — and even more so on this special day — but that was unfortunately not the case.

And it made her sad, because she knew that Kirishima had been in love with Mina for many years already, and that he had
been so afraid of breaking their friendship and ruining everything between them that he had never dared confess his feelings
to the one he loved, for fear of losing it all.

So of course, when Kirishima had admitted to her that he was going to try his luck with Mina, she had nearly galloped across
the entire prairie, so happy and overjoyed she had been to hear something so wonderful come from Kirishima’s mouth.

And she truly believed that Kirishima and Mina would end up together afterward, once they had confessed their feelings to one
another at some point, because she — and the entire Bakusquad — knew that those two had feelings for each other, and that this
was precisely why Kirishima and Mina spent so much time together.

But it seemed that the scenario she had imagined in her mind was not the one actually unfolding in reality, and that made
her sad.

Yet something deep within her tightened despite what was happening at the moment.

Because she had so badly wished it were Izuku who had come closer to her to check whether she was all right or not, when she
had lain down in the grass because of her heat, which was causing her terrible pain throughout her body—so intense that she
struggled to hold back her moans.

But unfortunately for her, it was not the stallion who had come to make sure she was okay, but Mina, a member of the Bakusquad
she was unfortunately not very close to.

She could, however, understand Mina easily in certain situations that were rather difficult for stallions to grasp, which had
brought them somewhat closer… but nothing more than that.

Which meant that, from Katsuki’s point of view, Mina was simply a friend—and nothing more.

But for Mina, on the other hand, she considered Katsuki her best friend, even a confidante, because Katsuki was not the
kind of mare to reveal or expose other people’s secrets.

As a result, Katsuki was generally seen among the mares as someone you could tell anything to without fear that it would be
disclosed or repeated to other mares or stallions of the prairie.

So naturally, in Mina’s mind, it was quite obvious for her to go see Katsuki to talk to her about something important
concerning both herself and Kirishima, knowing full well that what she was about to tell her would never be shared with
anyone else.

Not even in Kirishima—which reassured her greatly.

Because she absolutely did not want Kirishima to know how unready she was to mate with him.

Not because she did not like him, nor because she did not want to do it with him.

No.

It was because she was afraid.

And it was perfectly normal for a mare like Mina to be afraid: just like Katsuki, she was a virgin and inexperienced in that area,
which could frighten any mare or any stallion who was about to do such a thing for the very first time in their life.

And she knew perfectly well that Katsuki would understand her and would not judge her in the slightest for it, which made her want
even more to go to Katsuki and talk to her, one-on-one, about everything she was feeling at that very moment.

But seeing the disastrous and worrying state Katsuki was currently in, she sincerely wondered whether she was really all right.

When she stopped a few steps away from her, her breath trembling, her flanks rising rapidly under the effect of her own heat,
she quickly noticed that the look Katsuki gave her was filled with curiosity.

But she also felt another gaze—oppressive and unpleasant—resting on her, a gaze that was not that of the young mare lying in
the grass… but that of someone else.

And it disturbed her deeply.

Yet she knew, as well as anyone else in the prairie, that there was nothing she could do about it.

For when her eyes fell briefly on Izuku, she felt every hair on her body bristle as she met the threatening, dark stare of the
young stallion, who was watching her as if she were a threat to Katsuki.

She swallowed hard under that silent threat, then decided to turn back toward Katsuki quickly, so as not to pay any more attention
to what she had just seen—and above all, to stop thinking about the fact that Izuku was there, not far from her, watching her
like that.

But Katsuki, who had been watching Mina closely ever since she had approached her, missed absolutely nothing of what had just
happened.

She especially did not miss the brief flicker of fear that Mina had just sent her way again.

But she did not know why—nor even the reason Mina was looking at her with that hint of fear—and it made her narrow her eyes.

"Why… are you looking at me with that look of fear?"

Katsuki asked the question in a broken voice, which made her grimace, because she hated it.

Mina swallowed hard, flicking her ears as if she had just been caught doing something wrong.

Which was true—but she absolutely did not want Katsuki to notice her fear because of the look Izuku was giving her—and
unfortunately, that had failed.

"I-It’s nothing… it’s just that… Izuku… he… he’s watching us."

Katsuki felt something bitter rise in her throat upon hearing Mina say such a thing, because she resented Izuku terribly—and
bitterly—for not having come to see her after she had lain down on the grass because of her heat.

But she had to force herself to inhale and exhale slowly, gently, to calm her ragged breathing: she had to stay calm so as not
to worsen her heat.

But above all… she still wanted to believe.

To believe that maybe Izuku would come closer to her to check whether she was all right.

So she turned her head, full of hope, toward the stallion… and when her eyes landed on Izuku, she felt a wave of cold anger
wash over her.

Because the stallion who had chosen her was staring at her, watching her from afar, without having made even the slightest
attempt to come over and see if she was all right when she had collapsed onto the grass, trembling.

He had stayed there.

Standing like an idiot, watching her suffer, while Mina had been the first to come see her—and she had absolutely not
expected that mare to approach her, because Mina should have been elsewhere, with someone other than her.

So inevitably, realizing this made her clench her jaw involuntarily, her anger rising dangerously fast, which began to
worsen her heat and make her suffer even more.

But despite that, the very next moment, she shot Izuku a dark, violent glare, burning with a fury that even her own body
could not extinguish—an inferno that was becoming dangerously uncontrollable.

Izuku flinched the instant Katsuki cast that dark look at him, filled with nothing but anger directed at him, which
immediately made his tail lash about in nervous movements.

His ears lowered slightly, and his posture shifted, adopting a stance that made it very clear he had just taken a blow—not
a physical one, but an emotional one—from Katsuki.

And that blow hurt throughout his entire body… and in his heart.

His chest rose with a rough, almost heavy breath, as if a sudden weight had just been dropped upon him.

Because even if it did not show, Izuku was torn: between his instinct, which relentlessly urged him to go to his mare, to
be at her side, care for her, and protect her from the threats around them… and his own restraint, for he did not want to
hurt Katsuki in any way because of the mating season.

And the mere thought that he could wound her in any way fed a fear within him that he struggled to suppress, a fear
intensified by the period they were going through.

But because of that fear, he had not gone to see how Katsuki was after she had lain down in the grass, shaken by her heat—and
that filled him with a deep sense of guilt.

For Katsuki had every right to be angry with him, even to resent him, since he had not come to her to make sure she was all right…
when it should have been him, the stallion who had chosen her, who should have gone to her.

Not Mina.

That was the very reason he understood Katsuki’s anger toward him, and he did not blame her at all for feeling that way about him.

After all, it was his fault that he had not gone to her when she had most certainly needed him.

And he would have to, one way or another, make up for the mistake he had made toward Katsuki.

Even if it meant enduring the mare’s anger, no matter how she chose to express it.