One Late Night
“I’ll see you guys around! I’m gonna go smoke for a bit. Don’t wait on me and make sure you all get back to your rooms before lights out. Takeda! Make sure you shut down the house before you head out,” Ukai yelled back into his house, not waiting for a reply as he pushed the front door open.
Once he was outside he walked to the opening of an alleyway nearby. The only thing providing light was the weak street lights that were surrounded by small moths. Once his cigar was lit he brought it out to his mouth, the feeling of nicotine filling his lungs numbing his brain. When he let out a sigh a trail of smoke followed, rising into the air in front of him before disappearing. The older man closed his eyes as he let his mind clear, his body relaxing for the first time that day. Ukai looked up to the sky to see crows and other birds flying back and forth across the sky, reminding him of the thirteen teens he takes care of.
Ukai didn’t have a normal human job… He was one of the rare cases and took up a job that most didn’t know existed. He took care of hybrids. Bird hybrids to be exact. There were other people who took care of other types of hybrids but Ukai was willing to stick with what he had. His hybrids were a handful but he honestly didn’t mind. He truly cared for those kids that were back inside of the house even though he didn’t show it much. He even cared for his very helpful assistant Takeda, he could have never taken care of those hybrid teens. Even with an assistant, Ukai can barely take care of them. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ukai didn’t think this was going to be his future…
But life had other plans for the man…
But it’s not like he regretted any choices he has made.
After learning what some people do to hybrids, Ukai couldn’t just stand and let it slide. He knew that he had to do something since others weren’t willing to help. Ukai took up the job after older friends of his talked about hybrids and the horrors that they went through. So he made a safe haven for hybrids. A place where they could be safe and just have fun. After getting his first few hybrids, Ukai realized how badly they were being treated out in the real world. Abuse and hybrid trafficking was just scratching the surface of what people do to hybrids. When Ukai got his first traumatized hybrid it took days to get them to open up. Even if Ukai has gotten many injured and tramazied hybrids, it still hurts when he sees them.
And that’s how the Karasuno Hybrid Center was born…
‘Ugh… I think it’s gonna take more than just one cigarette to get rid of this never ending stress. Those boys are a handful,’ Ukai thought with a sigh as he let out another puff of smoke.
“Ahh! Dang it!”
A small voice called out from inside of the alleyway and Ukai immediately dropped his cigar and stomped on it. He didn’t know who made that sound but they sounded like they were in pain. They were scared and Ukai had heard that tone of voice before. His head immediately turned into the alleyway. The man was quick to take his phone out of his pocket, turning on the flashlight and facing it towards the sound. The alleyway reeked of trash and rotting foods. But Ukai could hear the panicked flapping of wings, the sound of feathers cutting through the air. As the sound became more frantic as Ukai kept moving the flashlight.
Soon Ukai’s eyes landed on a small boy with bright orange shaded hair. He was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and brown shorts. He looked on the smaller side but he had to be at least fifteen years old. But behind him were huge bronze wings, stretching out multiple feet from his small body. The patterns on the boy’s wings showed Ukai that he had the wings of a Red-Tailed Hawk, a very powerful bird of prey. But he didn’t look like a bird of prey at that moment as his amber eyes were filled with fear and pain. When Ukai stepped closer he was able to see the boy’s right wing that was bent at an odd angle, clearly broken.
“Ah! Get- Get away from me! Leave me alone! Get away!” The boy yelled as he scrambled back, trying to wrap his wings around himself. But he flinched and cried out when he tried to fold in his right wing, grabbing the single wing and holding it close to his chest in pain. Ukai could hear the bones shifting and snapping as his wing moved and he flinched at the sound.
“Hey- Hey ginger. I won’t hurt you, I promise. Don’t move that much… That wing looks pretty bad. Why don’t you come with me so we can fix it up and get you to some place warm. Get you cleaned up and out of the smelly alleyway,” Ukai said but the boy was stubborn, curling up tighter into a ball.
Ukai just sighed and pulled up the messaging app on his phone. He tried texting Takeda first and then immediately texted someone else. Ukai just sat down crisscrossed on the alleyway ground in front of the small boy. He didn’t say a word and just kept scrolling through his phone, waiting for his back up to arrive. But Ukai also knew this was a way to earn the ginger’s trust. Letting down his guard and showing the small boy that he could be near him. The comfortable silence seemed to do the trick. The ginger was starting to stand up and Ukai watched his slow and hesitant movements from the corner of his eye. When he moved Ukai could see the boy’s wrists, broken chain links hanging from them.
But then the sound of footsteps echoed through the alleyway making the ginger curl back up into his protective ball...
‘Dang it… He was starting to feel comfortable too. I should have told them to be quiet so they didn’t scare him,’ Ukai thought as he let out a sigh and slowly pocketed his phone, slowly getting up from his spot from the floor and stretching his back.
“We came as fast as we could. Where is he? How bad is his wing? Do you know where he came from?” Takeda asked as he gripped a medical kit in one hand and a flashlight gripped in the other. Ukai took the flashlight from Takeda’s hand and flashed it on the small ginger, who flinched at the brighter spotlight.
“He was like that when I found him. I don’t know anything about him but he seems really banged up. I’m guessing he either escaped from a hybrid raid or got away from some human traffic ring due to his clothing. He still has chains wrapped around his wrists so we’re gonna have to get those off as fast as possible. We should try and get him inside first then patch him up. What do you think Swallow Tail? Do you think you can calm him down? I did call you out here for a reason,” Ukai told the teen who had followed Takeda outside.
Standing there was Sugawara, a Swallow Tail hybrid. He was one of the first hybrids to arrive at Karasuno. He had white and light grey wings and long matching tail feathers. He was wearing a light baby blue short sleeved shirt and plain black shorts. He was able to grab slippers on the way out of the house and it clicked on the ground as he walked. He looked tired, as he was getting ready for bed moments before Ukai called him outside. Suga took one glance at the ginger and sighed. He could clearly see the boy’s broken wing and Suga knew that it hurt a lot. Suga had broken his wing once and a while and it’s one of the worst feelings ever.
“I’ll try my best Ukai… But this might take me awhile, He seems really scared and I can feel the heavy emotions rolling off of him. Even if I’m also a hybrid I don’t know if he was attacked by other hybrids before you found him here,” Suga explained and Ukai just nodded and stepped aside to give the hybrid space.
“It doesn’t matter how long you take. We just need you to get him inside so we can take care of him. Take your time and make him feel safe. I know you’re the one who finds helping others easy so I thought you would be the best for this situation,” The older man told the teen and they just nodded, taking his time as he walked over to the small ginger.
“Who… Who are you?” The boy asked as soon as Sugawara was in ear shot.
“I am Sugawara… I’m a hybrid just like you! See? I’m a Swallowtail. How about you?” Suga asked and let his wings spread to their full length behind him. His wings were shining in the moonlight and were all in all beautiful.
“I’m Hinata and I’m a Red Tailed Hawk,” The boy said as he let his wings unfold a bit and spread to half of their full length. For someone so small his wings were actually on the larger side. “Are those two humans your keepers? Are they keeping you captive like everyone else?” The older couldn’t help but frown at the ginger’s words. When he saw a human did he immediately think they were keeping hybrids?
“No! Not at all! They took care of me and gave me a home when I needed it. If you come with me we can heal up that broken wing of yours and you can stay with me as long as you want. I live with other bird hybrids and those two humans over there give us food and everything you could ever need. They could help you like they helped me. You could live a happy and safe life. So what do you say?” Suga asked and Hinata just looked at the older teen then back at the two humans standing a few feet behind the hybrid.
“You promise they won’t hurt me if I come with you?” He asked and Suga couldn’t hold back anymore. The ginger sounded so hurt and in pain, so Suga slowly shuffled forward and hugged Hinata close to his chest. As he hugged the ginger he wrapped his wings around the smaller boy, covering him completely.
“I won’t hurt you and neither will they Hinata. I promise that I won’t let any human hurt you ever again,” Suga said into the boy’s shoulder, gripping at the back of his messy shirt. At that moment Hinata felt completely safe, and he even let down his own walls. The ginger let out a painful wail, gripping at the back of Suga’s shirt and burying his face into his shoulder. Minutes past and after a while Hinata stopped crying, and went limp in Suga’s arms.
“Hey Takeda? Do we still have those fence clippers? The chains look really tight and he’s starting to bruise,” Sugawara mentioned as he held the frail boy in his arms. Takeda was quick to walk over to the silver haired teen, the clippers in his hand. He was quick to break the chains, allowing Sugawara to pick the boy up and bring him over to Ukai. The man looked down at the sleeping ginger and let his hand run through the messy red hair.
“Let’s get him inside. We’ll inform the others about the ginger tomorrow morning.”