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Hitoshi took a cautious step forward. That motion made the child flinch harshly, hitting their head on the box behind them. Eli put her hand out in front of Hitoshi, making the boy look at her, concern coating his features.
She gestured behind them and didn't waste any time taking Hitoshi by his shirt and pulling him from the crack between the brick wall and the dumpster.
"There's no fucking way that we just found a child behind a dumpster," Hitoshi said in a panicky tone. His hand clutched the plastic bag tightly as he paced as silently as he paced i.
Hitoshi wasn't dumb, he took one look at that kid and knew. There was too much blood on their arms, their legs... They were too thin, super frail, and smelled god awful. He'd been homeless before.
He'd been homeless on and off ever since he discovered his true hatred for the foster care system. Sometimes he'd just leave homes and live on the streets until they found him and re-homed him, sometimes they'd end up kicking him out so leaving wasn't even necessary.
He knew what it was like to have to fight against the cold, hide in bushes to conserve heat and hunt through trash cans for any source of food. And with the number of wrappers he'd seen on the floor surrounding the kid, he figured they'd been there a while since they knew where to look.
"Eli? E-Eli!" Hitoshi squeaked in shock.
He turned around for one second, literally one second, and she wasn't there
because she was back behind the dumpster.
Eli had a similar situation, the only difference between them was that when she ran away or got kicked out, the system (at the time) had no issue putting her right back where she was. So, of course, she recognized this situation and despite how much it made her skin crawl and her throat choke up and her eyes tear, nobody else gave a shit when they saw her starving underneath a park bench in 90-degree heat, and she didn't want to be that person.
The least she could do is get the kid to a police station.
"Um, hey?" Eli called, completely ignoring Hitoshi, who she'd vaguely heard call her name.
She saw the child flinch back, their red eyes peaking through their hair.
"Are you cold?" Eli asked, going to take off her zip-up jacket as slowly as possible.
They watched her with wide, terrified eyes, flinching just a tiny bit less every time Eli made a faster movement. She didn't try to touch them, instead, she just held out the jacket. She awkwardly shuffled toward her, which was required due to the small size of their environment, not to mention Eli's wings were not helping at all.
Her wings were smooshed against the dumpster and the wall, but still, Eli gently held out the jacket, and dropped it, letting it fall on the child's shoulders. Eli huffed as she inched away again to give them their space, still struggling against the tight squeeze.
'I'm gonna have to soak my feathers aren't I?' Eli sighed inwardly.
Giggles filtered through Eli's ears, the winds around her laughing as if they'd heard her. She couldn't help but smile a bit as she waved the winds away, but not before they blew against the small child's face making a red glow appear on their cheeks. Also, giving Eli notice of the horn on their head.
"Oh? You have a horn? I have them too?" Eli said almost too fast, pointing at her head and looking down to show her.
'Ugh, this is so stupid-'
Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of pressure on her horns, and she opened her eyes to see the child gently touching one of her horns. Once they saw Eli looking at them though, they gasped and inched away, only for Eli to erupt in giggles. They blushed again from the sudden laughter, pulling the jacket closer to them.
Eli peered behind her to see Hitoshi behind her, unable to get past her wings so instead was standing up a little outside of it.
"Call Dad or Mom, somebody," Eli told him.
Once the child remembered that there were not one, but two people there, their mind began to race. They inched back further, going back towards the box behind them making Eli tense significantly.
"That's just my brother," Eli told her, waving her hands slightly.
"He doesn't have horns like us, but he's still cool, I promise," Eli urged.
She smiled as softly as she could, nervous suddenly. She didn't know how old the kid was, but they looked about 4 or 5. It was hard to tell since their hair was so long, basically down to their waist, but they were so frail and small, that she honestly didn't know what to think.
But from their appearance alone, Eli knew this wasn't just another homeless foster kid. The hospital dress really gave that away.
'Well unless they ran away from the hospital. I've done that once... but they're too young aren't they?' Eli pondered.
Sighing inwardly, Eli reached her hand out as slowly as possible. She couldn't go far since she was kind of stuck, but after watching How to Train Your Dragon enough times she figured this should work. The child nervously stared at her hand, holding the jacket even closer to her.
"You mind helping me, my wings are stuck?" Eli asked, nudging herself a bit forward to show her.
They gasped as they looked up and saw the huge black feathers. Their eyes seemed to sparkle in wonder at the feathers. They shuffled, hastily but cautiously pulling the sleeves on their arms, scrunching the long ends along their arms before they inched forward toward Eli.
They carefully placed their hands on Eli's shoulders, trying to nudge her out. Eli almost laughed at their attempt, how sweet it was. She took a breath and stepped back, nudging their shoulders and wings backward. It strained her legs and back, but she still pushed herself out.
She had half a mind to just push the dumpster away but not only was that kind of gross, but she also didn't want to scare the kid.
With a final push, Eli fell backward into Hitoshi. He fell to the floor, instantly being smothered by Eli's feathers. He sputtered and moved away, huffing as he moved to the side, to see if Eli was okay, despite her just almost killing him. But he was surprised to see Eli with the kid in her lap, who Eli had expertly pulled out once she was out.
The panic set in quickly.
"I-I have to hide, h-he'll see me!" their voice squeaked, fighting to move back into the 'safety' of the dumpster.
Eli's wings extended, completely covering the girl in his wings.
"Don't worry," Eli said with a nod.
Wonder danced around them as they looked around at the feathers surrounding them. Hitoshi poked his head through the wings, not hesitating to shuffle inside and hunch over them with his hands on his knees. He too had a nervous, almost uncomfortable look on his face.
He didn't know what to do, but he'd already texted their parents and let them know what was going on. And I mean at least 20 back-to-back text messages. He sent his location like 5 or 6 times to both of them, yelled about finding a child, and sent the word 'help' a couple of times as well.
"I texted them, they should be on their way," Hitoshi told them, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.
Eli quickly let go of the child, aside from the fact that they were steadying themself with her leg.
"Um, when our Dad gets here, we'll make sure they feed you before we do anything else. Trust me, I know mold doesn't taste good," Hitoshi spoke up, to which Eli nodded quickly as well.
"Y-yea, we even have leftover red bean paste dumplings," Eli spoke up.
"Right!" Hitoshi said immediately.
The child's eyes shimmered in wonder, and a pale red blush appeared on their cheeks at the thought of it. Would it be warm? What would it taste like? Hitoshi noticed the look on their face and nodded along quickly.
"And noodles, lots of noodles, and shrimp!" he added trying to encourage the child further.
He knew that when talking to strangers when homeless was a big no, no and anything could lead to either his death or him being injured back when he was on the streets, so he was very unsure of how to approach the girl, but offering food is always a good idea.
Although they were scared, their mouth salivated at the thought of it. When they were allowed to watch TV, there were all types of animations with all types of food, and man did they want to try it all.
"So, what's your name?" Eli asked, snapping Hitoshi out of his semi-dazed state.
"Um, Eri," the child answered timidly.
"Oh? Well, that's a pretty name, my name's Eli," she introduced herself quickly.
She wanted to seem like she was telling the child as much as possible, to at least get her to not be so on guard. Eli of all people knew what that was like and she also knew how taxing it was.
It wasn't like she wanted to be this way. For her breath to hitch just a little bit every time someone was suddenly too close to her, to pay attention to everything and everyone in the room, to have to constantly be in survival mode...
It made you so tired after a while.
"And this is Hitoshi, my brother," Eli introduced again, only to realize that she'd already said that. She huffed in annoyance at herself, only to see Eri looking at them with huge red eyes.
A thud was heard outside the little cacoon Eli had created. Eri gasped and flinched, her hold on Eli's leg getting tighter and tighter.
"H-He's found me," Eri stuttered out. A jaded look appeared on her face as her entire body began to tremble. Tears pricked their eyes and not a second later big fat tears were flowing down her chubby face.
"S-shit," Hitoshi muttered, both of them instantly shooting forward to comfort the child, only for their hands to freeze before they could.
'Is it okay to touch them?/Should I touch them?' Eli and Hitoshi had variations of the same thought.
Hitoshi grimaced, and didn't even look at Eli before he inched closer to her to whisper in her ear, thus missing the look on her face.
"That's gotta be Dad, I-" Hitoshi began, only for Eli's hand to shoot to his mouth.
It was then he noticed how wide her eyes were, how her face began twitching, maybe she was thinking? But all she did was raise her finger to her mouth. The winds whispered in her ears incoherently, making her anxiety skyrocket.
Somebody was out there, and it wasn't Dad either.
She was sure that whoever it was had seen them from their little cocoon. She looked at Eri, who still had tears dripping down her face. If the person out there, was the person that this little girl was so afraid of, then they had to get out of here as quickly as possible.
Did she have to fight this guy?
Eli made a choice at that moment. She reached forward to grab Eri, this time with no hesitation, for she knew they probably couldn't afford it. She handed her off to Hitoshi, who knew not to argue at the moment.
She felt her body begin to shift. Her nails grew and she felt her feathers raise a bit. Inhuman sounds came from her mouth. Although she was afraid that she might scare the kid, she could care less a the moment.
"Run as soon as I move," she muttered, although it was harder to understand from the growth of her canines.
And that's what they did.
The minute Eli unwrapped her wings from around them, Eli's hands clawed through the dumpster beside them. Growls escaped her mouth as she lifted the dumpster above her head with little effort. Looking forward, she saw a peculiar-looking man. He was tall, kinda lanky, but you could see the muscle underneath the bandages wrapped around his arms.
He had a dirty white mask wrapped around his eyes and a red bandana on his forehead. There was a matching red scarf around his neck. Not to mention that Eli could see the many swords and knives adorning his body.
Eli eyes him curiously and hears something behind her making her still. The winds picked up and the winds whispered to her.
"Toshi," they told her making her furrow her eyebrows.
Hadn't she told him to run away?
Stress swirled around her body as she stared at the man before her. He smirked at her, which was odd considering there was no way he knew who she was. Her blood was pumping at an alarming rate, and for some reason, it felt like she could feel it moving underneath her skin.
"Oh, a little hero?" the man suggested.
Eli sneered at that and launched the dumpster before the man could say anything else. She saw the man's eyes widen drastically before she turned on her heel and took off. She busted the corner she knew Hitoshi was at and saw him trying his best to awkwardly comfort the little girl.
His eyes widened as he saw her coming at him at full speed.
"Eli, w-AHHH-" Hitoshi yelled.
She'd scooped both of them up before either of them could say anything. The winds pushed them forward and with a strong flap of her wings, they were off the ground and soaring through the air.
Without a second thought, she began flying home. Of course, she didn't fly straight home, and she asked the winds if he was following them.
"He lost sight of you not too long ago, though his pursuit was short," the winds whispered.
'Hm, maybe that wasn't the guy Eri was talking about then...' she thought.
She didn't think the person she was so afraid of would give up so quickly, but then again Eli was quite literally flying right now so...
"Let's just go home," Eli offered to Hitoshi, who had been sitting comfortably in the bridal position with Eri curled in his arms. He wanted to be ashamed of how comfy he was, but Eli had already called him her brother twice.
'I'm her problem now' Hitoshi thought with an inward grin.
Plus, it was cold up there and since she was so frail, it wouldn't do them good if she caught a cold.
Hitoshi adjusted his hold on the girl and shifted the bags in his hands which made Eli chuckle a bit despite the unfortunate situation.
At least they didn't have to repurchase the shit they just bought.
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The first thing Hitoshi did when he got home was rush to the kitchen. They had loads of leftovers, so Hitoshi gave the wide-eyed girl to Eli while he went through the fridge to find something for the girl.
"So, um, was that the man you were hiding from?" Eli asked the girl, snapping her out of her marveling of the place.
Eli wanted to laugh in amusement, but maybe this wasn't the best time, so she kept it to herself as she let the girl answer. Though it was funny to know that all three of them had the same reaction to such a nice place.
She shook her head.
"Does that mean you threw a dumpster at an innocent man?" Hitoshi asked, poking his head out of the kitchen briefly. Soon his body followed, plates of food in his hand as he set the food on the table.
Eli stilled at the question before sighing and shaking her head.
"There was still something off about that guy, I could feel it, no matter who he was," Eli suggested. She was strangely sure of herself, maybe it was the winds that fluttered around her. They encouraged and reassured her.
Eli didn't often trust her own judgment too soundly, but this wasn't her judgment, it was the wind's. Why else would they alert her like that when the man appeared behind them? They never react like that with anybody else, it was like they knew the man was dangerous.
Hitoshi looked at her strangely but the small breeze of wind on his face made him rethink asking any further questions. He'd trust what she said for now, plus, with the winds on her side maybe that's why she reacted like that.
Eli snapped out of the small trance, looking back at the little girl who was looking at the food Hitoshi had brought out longingly.
"Oh, shit," Eli muttered, inwardly cursing herself for zoning out before she quickly placed the girl down in front of the warmed-up food.
He gave her 3 full onigiris and a bowl of miso soup.
She was so thin that he didn't think he should give her anything too heavy. Her body could full-on reject the food if they weren't careful. Imagine his surprise when she scarfed down the onigiri with the speed of a cheetah and slurped down her soup faster than most men shotgun beers.
Eli sputtered with laughter and the Eri blushed profusely as she tried to clean the rice off her face.
"No, no, don't worry about it. You just eat good," Eli told her with a shrug. Eri paused, still blushing before nodding nervously.
"You still hungry?" Eli asked with a small smile.
The girl nodded slowly, deciding to be honest.
She'd seen the way the girl had thrown that dumpster and confusion muddled her. The same confusion that filled her when the purple boy held her so close when they flew through the air because the heights were scary.
And that confusion produced one simple question.
'Why?' Eri thought.
Why would they go to such lengths, why were they giving her food, and telling her she ate well?
And why did feel so good to be a priority?
Not her blood, not her curse, but her?
"Wanna watch some TV? Papa says MasterChef is good for the soul," Hitoshi said with a laugh as he got up to get the TV remote, remembering when Eli found it and put it on.
It didn't take long for his Pop to become obsessed with both MasterChef and its Jr. after Eli exposed him to Gordon Ramsey.
Eri watched curiously, and Eli came in with some red bean cakes, offering them to the girl silently. Her small nose caught the warm smell, but she was torn.
She had the smallest of TVs back at the lab. The smallest and one that could easily be pushing 200 years old. The cord that allowed her to watch things was hooked up in the room beside her, which she didn't know, hooked up to a laptop that broadcast specific things. Shows Overhaul believed that would make her further docile.
She couldn't but fixate her eyes on the biggest screen she'd ever seen. It was her height, and a whole lot wider than her.
Eri was in awe.
And the two of them noticed.
They grinned cheekily at each other before they rushed over to the couch, Hitoshi patting the seat in between them with an awkward smile.
"C'mon, we can watch whatever you want," Hitoshi offered next, wanting to put the decision in her hands. Eli nodded in agreement, still holding the warm plate, offering it to her as she inched closer to her.
Shy, but willing, Eri slowly made her way over to them, sitting where they suggested. She didn't want to anger them or anything by doing otherwise. Eli placed the plate on the girl's lap, and the girl smiled as she instantly began to dig in blissfully unaware of the number of crumbs she was creating.
"We can go down the line huh? So look we've got Spongebob, oh we just got Wow Wow Wubbzy, which is actually really good but whatever. Uh TMNT, but it's just the 2009 movie, Sofia the First which is another banger, uhm we got Winx Club-"
Eri actually has a physical reaction to Winx Club. The bright colors filled up the TV screen, and their sparkly wings made Eri's eyes sparkle like little stars. Eli cheesed and almost cheered out loud. She had a nostalgic love for the show because she and her moms would watch it every Saturday morning to noon.
"Oh god," Hitoshi groaned.
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4 episodes in, Hitoshi was invested and Eri was so on the verge of falling asleep, mostly likely from finally digesting all the food she'd eaten. Everybody knew sleep was easier to find with a full belly.
Hearing Eri yawn for the 2nd time, like clockwork, Eli yawned as well. She leaned her head down to see Eri's eyes drooping significantly, her body swaying just a bit as she tried to stay awake. Though not a second later her little head leaned back and hit the back of the couch.
Hitoshi had to cover his mouth to keep from reacting out loud.
He couldn't help himself, the girl was too cute.
Eli was in a similar position.
They both watched the girl with soft eyes, and a nice breeze crept through the slightly ajar window, creating a calm serene setting. Eli found herself a little calmer, no longer so anxious to be around the girl.
Truth be told she was just afraid of scaring her or even hurting her.
'Man I have got to do something about these nails,' Eli thought.
But she didn't seem to find her scary, which was a relief. She knew the eyes could be intimidating, and the sharp teeth didn't help either and Eli had tried her best not to let the new insecurity get the better of her. Eri's comfortability with her was certainly helping.
Eli peered back down at the girl, seeing that she'd slumped further into her slumber and was now fast asleep on Eli's feathers.
Eli felt her face get warm, delighted at the girls' presence.
Hitoshi smiled at the scene lightly before he suddenly gasped. He pulled his phone out from his pocket quickly only to raise an eyebrow as he saw the lack of response from his parents.
He'd sent those texts for help like 3 hours ago...
Where could they be?
Then he got a text from Mezo. Well, he and Eli did.
Text Thread: group chat un-named
tallboi:
ARE YOU GUYS ALIVE??
tallboi added legalizeNUCLEARBOMBS to the group chat.
tallboi:
BKUGO HAVE YOU TALKED TO EITHER OF THEM SINCE WE LEFT THE MALL??
legalizeNUCLEARBOMBS:
SPELL MY NAME RIGHT 4 ARMS
hito(not the fish)
we're alive...
tallboi:
...
oh
well...
you may want to turn on the news then
blackmaleficient:
i'm a bad bitch you can't kill me
Hitoshi rolled his eyes at his sister and went to turn on the news, only to see both of their faces plastered on the TV. The photos moved, and a camera directed them to the alley where they encountered that weird guy. Almost every UA teacher seemed to be on the scene, while their parents were nowhere to be found on the television.
The headline? 'UA Faculty in a frenzy over missing student and TA near Stain sighting. Turbo Hero: Ingenium in critical condition...'
Eli's jaw dropped.
"Oh, shit..." Hitoshi muttered.
"We fucked up," Eli finished.
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hi...
if you are here for family, i am updating it currently and im doing my best.
at the latest it should be out by the end of this week. sorry again for the long wait, im still doing lgbt shit, im in school, and i got kids (brothers) lmaooo
anyway, i love you guys!
make sure to eat and drink lots, and be careful out here! ik the heatwave kind of passed but, still, be careful, and drink LOTS of water okay ?????
rip lizzie ig ? (hope she's been reunited with her husband/cousin <3 --> if you have a problem with me saying this, exit the book. the queen benefit from 100s of years of colonialism and indigenous genocide .)