"𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸?"
"𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗽, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁."
𝗙𝗲𝗺! 𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱! 𝗞𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘆𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝘅 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿
(tw: one mention of human tr@ff1ck1ng)
𓃠 𓃠 𓃠 𓃠 𓃠
Pitter...
Patter...
Pitter...
Patter...
The soft rain made a pattern on the roof of your small house.
The sun's tucked away, leaving the deep abyss of the dark blue, almost black sky.
You enjoyed the rain..
Thought it was peaceful, and brought a sense of tranquility to your evenings.
But all good things must come to an end.
The end being the doorbell of your home ringing extremely loud, and interrupting your reading.
"Goodness fucking gracious.. who is it!?"
When you got no answer, you walked the short distance to the front door and looked through the peephole.
Nothing there?
Hell no.
You went back to the living room and turned on the lamp in fears of getting attacked by some demonic creature.
You're not one to investigate.
But when you sat down, there was a flapping sound outside your door.
Maybe a flier?
"You've got to be fucking kidding me. I want to die by my own damn hands, not some kind of fucking monster!"
Nonetheless, you looked through the peephole once again and indeed saw a flier right on one of the pillars decorating your porch.
You quickly opened the door, snatched it, then closed it right behind you.
"Phew! Didn't die."
Then, after your small victory, you looked at the paper in your hands.
It was a very.. cheap looking poster about killing circus animals if they weren't adopted.
As soon as you saw "executed" you grabbed the keys near the front door and ran to your car.
"Damn assholes.."
The flier said that the execution started at 9:30, and it's 8:00 now. Good thing you live 3 minutes away.
While driving down the street, you grimaced at the image of all of the poor hybrids shaking in cages..
And actually being there didn't change that either..
The entire circus was littered with cages and kennels..
It was heartbreaking.
You started tearing up slightly at the abuse the poor people must've gone through.
"Ma'am, do you need anything?"
You swatted away the ringleader's hand as he tried to put it on your shoulder in comfort.
You knew that he was behind this.
"Am I okay!? ASK THEM THAT! You're such a heartless asshole to abuse and hurt these people both physically and mentally! I outta sue your ass for hurting them like this...!"
The hybrids all watched in interest as you screamed and lectured the ringleader mercilessly.
Even though the man towered over you, the way that you exerted confidence and utter disgust made him seem like the dirt on the bottom of your shoes.
Of which he was.
"Ma'am-"
"NO! Don't ma'am me! Let me finish!"
As you continued to point your finger at the man's chest, a panther hybrid watched you in interest.
And as she never would've done before, the hybrid stalked towards the opening of her kennel to peer at you.
She was amazed.
No one had stuck up for them like this, let alone such a pretty woman.
And when you were done, after 10 long minutes, you exhaled and put a smile on for the people in cages.
"I'm very sorry about- Oh man, I sound horrible, don't I?"
You showed a gorgeous smile to them, that made most do the same, and sat in the middle of the kennels.
"I'm so sorry that this isn't illegal... Um, how would you feel if I called all of my friends to help adopt you guys?"
The hybrids all stared at you with hope.
And that gave you the signal to post on your socials and text everybody.
As you were doing so, a whine came from a kennel in the back.
<<<<1ST PERSON>>>>
I went to check the noise out to make sure that the poor hybrid was okay, and met eyes with a panther hybrid.
A beautiful panther hybrid.
She just continued to whine, the closer I got. It seemed that she needed something.
So I took the key that I secretly picked up from the floor earlier and hoped that it went to the kennel.
It did!
I stared at the tag above carefully as I twisted the key.
「TOBIO KAGEYAMA - PANTHER - SHOWSTOPPER」
As soon as it unlocked, she cowered into the corner.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you, I'll give you your space.
I just want to ask you one question: are you okay?"
I waited for about 30 whole seconds until she answered,
"... No."
I looked away and sighed.
"Oh. Do you have any injuries?"
I ignored the many others that arrived at the front entrance and kept my eyes on Tobio- who couldn't keep her own eyes off of me in fear.
"I have... bruises. And my head's bleeding, I think."
I couldn't help but notice her unfocused gaze either. Well, now that I payed attention, Tobio seems very dazed.
She must feel dizzy from her head injury.
Then, I saw my Mom and waved her over.
She works in a hybrid protection agency, and always has to empty out places like this and get hybrids adopted.
It seems that she brought more people along too.
It was needed, seeing the 20+ hybrids littered around like strays.
"Hey Mama. Thank you for coming down."
"No need to thank me, baby. Who's that?"
She motioned to Tobio and smiled.
"Poor baby... she seems hurt."
"Her name's Tobio Kageyama. And I figured that out. Can you get me a first aid kit please?"
Mama nodded quickly and pulled one out from her bag, to no one's surprise.
"Thanks. Kageyama, you're going to have to come out if you want me to patch you up. Take your time."
<<<3RD PERSON LIMITED POV>>>
Tobio was going into an overload. Take your time? Space? Patch you up? I won't hurt you?
And the way that you spoke to her so casually yet gentle.. it was like the two of you were equal.
She'd never heard these things before.
Everyone has treated her poorly here, even the other hybrids (since she was treated the best, being the greatest attraction and all). So when she looked into your eyes then saw you smiling at her reassuringly, she knew that she was finally safe.
When your Mother walked off, Tobio slowly crawled out of the kennel and looked at you worriedly.
"Don't rush. Move slowly."
When she reached you, is when you began to open everything.
"I'm only going to clean and bandage your head, and ice your bruises. Can you press on this for me?"
You handed Tobio an icepack that you had to continuously smush in your hands in order for it to get cold.
"Yes, I can..."
As you were helping Tobio with her injuries, you were telling her what you were doing and asking to do everything.
It eased her to know that you cared.
"Can I touch your ears for a second?"
"Yeah. One of them is bit off though.. so please be careful."
You nodded and were very cautious when wrapping around that specific ear.
And after cleaning it, you were all done.
"Do you feel any better?"
"Much. Thank you..."
"I'm Y/n L/n, but call me whatever you want."
"Then you can do the same.", Tobio whispered.
Tobio stood up fully after you and started cracking all of her bones like some kind of contortionist.
Something she had to learn during her years here.
But to Tobio's surprise, you didn't look fazed, and instead led her to the food area.
It was a load of ramen from a shop downtown, according to your Mom, and it smelled more delicious than anything that Tobio has ever smelled.
"Can I eat?"
"Of course.", you answered with a smile.
Tobio immediately all but choked on the food as she scarfed it down like she hadn't eaten in weeks.
No one would be surprised if that was the case..
"Don't eat too fast, now. Drink some, too."
Tobio listened to your Mother and had some of the tea prepared.
But she stopped abruptly when you had gone out of sight.
The hybrid's head whipped around in search for you, as her breathing began to pick up speed.
She only trusts you, so having so many strangers around, slowly started to bring her out of her euphoria.
What if she had lost you?
What if you went home and weren't going to adopt her?
What was Tobio going to do?
"Hey, I'm sorry for leaving like th-"
Before you could finish, Tobio barreled into your arms.
The look on your face hadn't left until Tobio's tears dropped onto your upper chest.
"Whoa whoa whoa... why are you crying?"
All that the hybrid could do was hold onto you longer.
She knew that she had to stay with you for as long as possible.
"Please.. adopt me. Please."
<<BACK TO 1ST POV (YOU)>>
"You don't have to cry, Tobi. I was planning on taking you home with me anyways, to your consent of course."
I gave her a huge smile as Tobio began crying tears of joy.
I mean crying.
Everyone around was looking to see what was wrong.
"She's fine. Just happy."
The adoption truck sat outside and was just waiting for someone to approach.
How it works is, you file the paperwork and they run your background check right then and there. It's for situations like this.
The crowd began getting smaller as more hybrids were going home with what will eventually be their new owners.
And we were next in line.
"Hello ma'am! Um.. are you adopting an invisible hybrid?"
I stepped out of the way of Tobio, and smiled. "Nope, just a shy one. How fast can we get this done?"
"Uh.. 2 minutes. If you sign that fast."
Well, that's not really a challenge for me, having worked in an office for a majority of my life.
"Sure."
The stack of paper was plopped onto the table, and I got to signing.
Tobio was busying herself with my phone.
When everything was signed by my hands and hers, I clicked the pen and set everything down in preparation for my check.
My wage, salary, living conditions, and even phone number to make sure my area code isn't in a sketchy place.
I sat in boredom until Tobio stood in between my arms that were leaning straight on the edge of the truck table.
"Look, I found out how to type numbers!"
I smiled, but couldn't help but feel horrible.
She wasn't even taught what a calculator was! Tobio will have to go through that program mom told me about..
I stood there with Tobio gorilla glued to my side until the tab was exited out of. "You're good. There's a fee of ¥32,710 ($300), then you can leave."
I handed the woman my debut card silently and watched her swipe it across the slot.
"Alright. Here's your receipt, have a good day."
I cringed at the word receipt.
It felt like human trafficking..
"I won't be needing it. Have a fine day.."
"You too, thanks."
I pushed back on the table and began my walk to the entrance with Tobio behind me.
"Hey Tobi."
"Yes?"
Even though she was in the middle of a timed game, her head snapped up to me, phone dropped to her side.
I guess she's so used to being forced to be so obedient.
"Ah, I just wanted to ask, have you been outside?"
Tobio hesitated for a second, then lowered her gaze back to the phone. "No.. I've tried to run, but got thrown into the dungeon for a week."
The look of disgust and surprise on my face made her whimper as I grabbed her hand.
I didn't want her having a part of anymore of this.
"Y/n, are you mad at me?"
"No no no, of course not. I'm mad at how you were treated in the past. Just know that you'll never be treated that way with me again. Got it?"
Tobio looked up at me in adoration, then nodded. "Okay. I'm ready to go, too."
When I opened the entrance to the tent, Tobio looked outside like she had never been in her life.
Oh wait.. she hasn't.
"It's so.. beautiful."
I started tearing up a bit. We're in a sketchy part of town with dark, dirty alleyways and trash littering every square foot of the broken pavement.
Beautiful, she says.
I guess that anything beats the worse conditions of those kennels.
Atleast now, she'll be free.
()--()--()--()--
pt 2?
lol.
Im coming out with polar baby 2 soon, i hope.
i'm having a conflict on ideas, since it's currently written as a lime, but would you wanna read that?
or should i bump it up to a lemon?
🙃