Thread by @honeybreaths

#sakuatsu // hybrid weaselomi, hurt/comfort, angst
tw: blood, injury, mentioned death, mentioned past abuse
@sktsweek
#sakuatsuweek2023 | day 8 (free day)

Atsumu had always been someone to enjoy the quiet. Not that 𝘩𝘦 was quiet, oh no. He didn't have many friends in middle

and high school, so he was alone rather often and because he didn't want to look like a loser, he always spent his free time in school at deserted places. Be it under a tree, on the rooftop, in an empty staircase or next to a vending machine.

He came to accept the apparent silence, sooner or later he even came to love it.

Which is why he had told his parents he wanted to move out when he was 20 years old. At the age of 21 he finally moved to the mountains, an Akiya being his new home.

His parents and brother had often come around during the weekends to help him repair the old house, sometimes they'd even brought spare furniture and decorations with them.

Now, four years later, Atsumu couldn't be more happy because to him there couldn't be any better life. He could live just like he had always wanted. He could decide when to get up or what to cook, he could relax all day or could go for a walk to the nearby river.

It was amazing, especially because it was quiet. Some people claimed that humans could only ever truly be happy when they live together in a society, but he had never been 'normal', he figured. These days it was only him (including the talks he had with himself)

and nature - no soul ever bothering him.

It was heaven.

----

It was currently winter. The snow laid in a thick layer all around his house and he chose to wear the sweater his mother had knitted him - just for extra comfort and warmth.

Even though it was freezing cold outside, it didn't stop him from taking his daily morning walk.

It became routine - to walk across the meadow, then a bit along the river only to take a break at the edge of the nearby forest before turning around to return back home.

With the help of his boots he managed to get through the snow; somehow. "This is more like a workout than a relaxing morning walk," he panted but since Atsumu was Atsumu, he was also way too stubborn to turn around and leave it be.

When he arrived at the forest, he could already feel his thighs starting to get sore, his nose was running, too, and his cheeks felt all puffy.

He looked up at the clear sky, the sun was just peeking over the horizon. He sighed. This, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 is exactly what he had always dreamed of before he went to sleep as a kid. He sighed happily again and this time, he watched his breath in the cold morning air.

Atsumu was just about to walk back to his house when he saw something red in the corner of his eye. Abruptly he turned his head around and he gulped at the sight which greeted him: blood.

It was a small trail which led to the forest and Atsumu cursed for not noticing it earlier.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵.

He swallowed drily. Should he check? But what if this was the doing of a black bear? The only weapon he had on him was a knife; would that be enough?

Atsumu shook his head and looked around. He listened carefully but there was only silence.

Osamu once said that his curiosity would kill him one day and Atsumu had to wonder whether this day would be today or not.

With a heavy breath he walked up the slight hill, his heartbeat quickening with every step he took. What would meet him at the end of the trail? A dead animal? A dead...oh god. This was not the point where he'd get involved in a fucked up crime or something, right?

𝘈𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘶, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, he cursed himself.

So yes, he didn't know what to expect or what he'd hoped to expect. But for the trail to suddenly stop was definitely not one of those things.

"What the..." He looked around once more but still saw nothing. "Huh."
Atsumu scratched the back of his head.

Then, suddenly, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 leaped out of the snow directly in his direction and Atsumu was more glad than ever that his twin wasn't here to witness the embarrassingly high-pitched scream he let out.

He fell back in shock and watched with wide eyes as the brown 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 stilled again seconds later.

What 𝘸𝘢𝘴 that? At first glance Atsumu would've said something like 'worm' but it was a little bit too hairy for that. And too big.

"A big alien worm maybe?" he thought. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵, Osamu's voice echoed in his head. Ah, right. But then what...?

"Holy hell, is that a 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭?!" Atsumu hurriedly got up and walked towards it. It definitely was one. But it was still way too big to belong to a local animal.

Only now he remembered the blood which led him here and so he quickly got down onto his knees to dig out the hurt creature which must have gotten snowed in overnight. ...Right?

And nobody would ever believe him if he told them what he found underneath it. It wasn't an animal, however it wasn't human either. No, it was 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩. ++

"A hybrid," he whispered to himself, flabbergasted. He was so confused. How did it get here? Why was it hurt? Why was it 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭?

"Oh no," Atsumu gasped as he saw the wound at the side of its body. "Someone got you real good."

Looking around one last time, Atsumu did the only thing he could think of at that moment - to help it.
He carefully picked up the hybrid and 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬, it was taller than him. And it was heavy too!

"This," he wheezed as he walked back to his house with a half-dead hybrid on his back. "This is not exactly how I imagined this morning walk to go— 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬," he almost dropped it. "You better be grateful and not try to kill me later," he mumbled.

----

The first thing he did was treat the hybrid's wound. It was deep and ugly but the hybrid would survive - at least that's what Atsumu hoped for. He also changed its clothes and wiped the body down with a warm cloth

to clean it a little bit before gently laying it down in front of his fireplace.

"There you go," Atsumu whispered as he placed a blanket over the hybrid. "Rest and wake up soon, please."

In the meantime, the blond took this chance to look at the hybrid more properly. It had black, curly hair and twin moles above its one eyebrow. Its skin was pale and Atsumu was surprised how long its eyelashes were and how sharp its jaw line was.

The hybrid had small brown ears on top of its head, sharp nails - claws?- and a long tail.

Atsumu glared at it for scaring him that much earlier.

("You're glaring at a 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭—" "Shut up, Samu!")

The hybrid's features looked more masculine but then again, Atsumu had now idea about hybrid biology - heck, he didn't even know they were real until an hour ago!

Yet he couldn't help but smile. The hybrid looked so peaceful as it was snuggling his blanket and Atsumu wanted to pinch its cheeks and scratch it behind its ears. He had to grab his hand in order to prevent him from doing so. 𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘵.

----

A few hours later he heard noises coming from the living room. Atsumu had been in the kitchen to prepare lunch and he was quick to check up on the hybrid which finally seemed to have woken up.

"Oh, you're awak—" Before he could finish his sentence there was a loud hissing reaching his ears. The hybrid looked at him with sharp eyes and bared teeth.

"Woah," Atsumu threw his hands up, "calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." The soothing fell on deaf ears.

Atsumu tried to step closer to it but that only seemed to worsen it. The hybrid hissed once more and backed away. "Okay, okay," Atsumu started again and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm really not going to hurt you, okay? It's more like the opposite, you know?"

He didn't even know if the hybrid understood anything he said.

"If it weren't for me, you'd be freezing and, or bleeding to death right now." He crossed his arms and threw an expectant look to the hybrid which 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 seemed to calm down a little.

A whine reached his ears and before Atsumu could react, the hybrid collapsed again. "No, no," he hurried to the mewling hybrid. "Shit, I think your wound opened again."

Atsumu failed to notice how the hybrid looked at him with hazy eyes, its breathing slowly evening before it lost consciousness once more.

----

Kiyoomi didn't know where he was, only that it was nicely warm. His eyes were heavy and to be honest, he was too scared to open them. What if they had managed to catch him after all? What if the pleasant warmth he currently

felt was all in his head and in reality he was back in the cold, wet and stinking cage?

No, that was impossible. Because he remembered the blond human talking to him in a soothing voice, he remembered the pained and worried look on his face as he hurried to Kiyoomi's side.

He remembered, he 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. And yet...and yet...

"Hey, are you awake again?" there it was again, that voice. "I know you can hear me." He flinched when a hand suddenly touched his ear - even if it was a feather light touch, probably meaning no harm.

"Sorry," the voice whispered and Kiyoomi felt how the blanket he was curling up under was carefully pulled up to his neck. "I hope you've calmed down for real this time," the voice continued. "I don't want the wound to open again.

Maybe I also don't want you to tear down my home," the voice laughed and Kiyoomi felt the uncomfortable pressure in his chest easing.

"Whatever happened to you must've scared you quite a lot, huh." Scared? Kiyoomi tightened the hold of the blanket. Was he supposed to say something? Was he supposed to justify himself? To explain himself?

"You don't have to answer me," the voice said as if it could read Kiyoomi's mind. "I just want you to get better, that's all."

Just who was this human? Why didn't he want Kiyoomi's fur? Why didn't he lock him up like every other human had done before? Didn't he want to sell him at the black market? Kiyoomi was a Japanese weasel hybrid - those were rare.

Kiyoomi hated himself for acting so feral earlier. The human next to him clearly had no bad intentions and yet he growled and hissed at him. He wanted to say sorry, really, but there were no words coming out of his mouth. Only pathetic whines. ++

"Hey, hey," the voice soothed. "You're safe here, remember? Nothing will hurt you anymore." And Kiyoomi hoped so desperately for it to be true.

----

The next day when Atsumu woke up, the hybrid was already awake. It looked calmer and more collected than yesterday but his eyes still narrowed him carefully.

"Hi," Atsumu greeted and raised his hand to wave. He was just about to make his way to the kitchen when suddenly—

"Hello." It was a small voice, a whisper, barely even there. But he heard it.

"Oh," Atsumu stood there, dumbfounded. "Uh..."

The silence which followed was awkward. Atsumu stared at the hybrid and the hybrid tried looking everywhere 𝘣𝘶𝘵 him.

"I, um," he started again. "I was about to make breakfast. Do you, perhaps, want some, too?"

Finally those dark eyes looked at him. Maybe it was because he wasn't fully awake yet but he could've sworn he saw them sparkle for a split second.

"That would be...nice."

"Alright then," Atsumu smiled.

----

"Say," he said as they were both enjoying their breakfast. "What's your name?"

The hybrid looked at him wearily before his features went soft again.

"My name is Kiyoomi," and the hybrid's tail swayed left to right. 𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺? Atsumu wondered.

"It's nice to meet you, Kiyoomi," Atsumu grinned, "my name is Atsumu."

The hybrid nodded acknowledging. "It tastes good," Kiyoomi started, "the breakfast I mean. Never had it before."

"You've never had boiled eggs before?"

"No, I've never had breakfast before," Kiyoomi clarified and his ears flattened slightly.

"O-oh."

"I..." Kiyoomi trailed off, "I wanted to say thank you, too. For helping me, I mean. And I'm sorry I hissed at you."

"That's no biggie!" Atsumu exclaimed. "And don't worry about that, it's long forgotten already!"

"Maybe not for you, but to me it means a lot."

Atsumu was at a loss for words. Just what in the world happened to this hybrid?

It was weird. He had never craved the company of another being before, he was a loner after all. But when he looked

at the hybrid - 𝘒𝘪𝘺𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪 - in front of him, it was different. Suddenly, the idea of living together with someone else sounded more appealing than ever.

"Did you know that there's an entire black market just for dealing with hybrids?"

Ah. 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦.

"Even though we're part human we're treated like animals - or maybe even like objects," Kiyoomi looked down, "I managed to escape by pure luck." He saw how the hybrid swallowed thickly. "I— they hurt me. I just wanted to be free, that's all I ever wanted."

Tears started to form at the corners of Kiyoomi's eyes which he tried to blink away.

Atsumu's heart clenched. How could they do this to him? To 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮? He stood up from his seat and walked around the table to kneel down in front of the hybrid.

"Hey," his tone was gentle yet serious, "no living creature deserves to be treated like this."

"I left them all behind," thick tears rolled down Kiyoomi's cheeks, "all of my comrades. I left them because I couldn't take it any longer. I'm so selfish," he

sobbed, "I deserve to die."

"Hey! No! Don't you ever say this again!" Atsumu was mad. Not at the hybrid in front of him but at those assholes who did this to him. "You deserve happiness, Kiyoomi. You deserve to be selfish about it. Okay? You 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 it.

I don't care what these fuckers have told you, it ain't true, alright?"

Kiyoomi hesitantly nodded. "You're so strong. You survived a night out in the freezing cold, you managed to escape from that hell-hole. And you're also strong because you just told me

about the burdens you've been carrying around all alone," Atsumu placed a hand on Kiyoomi's thigh carefully, "but you know what? You're not alone anymore. Because now you have me."

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.

"You?"

"Yeah," Atsumu smiled. "You can stay here as long as you like. And together, only if you want,

we can try and save your friends, too."

"What...? You...," Kiyoomi was shocked, scared and just...𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵... "You really want to help me?"

"Everything for a new-gained friend, right?"

𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥. They were 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.

Atsumu gently wiped away the falling tears and Kiyoomi leaned into the touch.

"Alright,"

"It's a promise then," Atsumu smiled and Kiyoomi could really get used to it.

Because Atsumu was someone who taught him how to live and love. A someone who had saved his life back then and a someone Kiyoomi never wanted to lose.

Kiyoomi would forever be grateful for his new-found family.

// fin
this got...longer than I expected 💀