It was a typical late evening at Privet Drive. The sun was setting and the moon was slowly rising, families were getting ready for dinner, and at 4 Privet Drive, A small child was getting beaten by his uncle after he came home from work.
Harry let out strangled gasps of agony as his uncle violently slammed a metal baseball bat all over his tiny fragile body. Magic alone was the only thing preventing his skull from caving in from the blows.
The little boy whimpered in pain.
"I...I wanna be somewhere else...I wanna be loved..."
Vernon stumbled back as a flash of light filled the room. When he opened them again, Harry was gone. Snarling, he went to look for Harry, expecting him to have teleported nearby.
He couldn't have been further from correct...
Meanwhile, at Honno City...
A young woman with black hair with red high lights was absentmindedly flipping through channels on her small TV. "Boring, seen it, lame, outrageous." The women said in a bored monotone. Ryuko sighed. "Why does cable suck so much?" She was currently living in a small house in the zero star district. Her sister, Satsuki, had offered her a house in the three star district, but she had declined. She wanted to earn that right for herself. Otherwise she'd feel like she was leeching off of her sister's success.
She was about to shut off the TV and head out for some fresh air, when a bright flash of light engulfed the room. Ryuko cursed and covered her eyes until the light faded.
"Ugh...What...What was that?" She mumbled. She heard a small whimper, and blinked. Looking in the direction the noise came from, she saw a small child lying on her living room floor.
She just stared at the boy for a few moments, blinking a few times in confusion. Then she screamed and ran around like a headless chicken. "OH MY GOD|! WHERE DID THIS KID COME FROM AND HOW DID HE GET LIKE THIS!?" Ryuko yelled out as she started to babble random nonsense, not knowing how to deal with the situation.
Harry cringed from all the noise the woman in the house was making. He was bad...He was in her house without permission...He was going to be punished for sure... He weakly forced his upper body off the floor, then slowly began to crawl away. He got about two feet, before falling flat on his face, whimpering as he hit his already broken nose against the floor.
Ryuko immediately stopped her yelling and rapid pacing. 'What was that?' Ryuko asked herself as she turned to face where the noise came from only to see the kid that appeared out of nowhere on the floor, whimpering and with blood leaking out of his crooked nose. 'Oh God! I need to do something!' Ryuko thought to herself as she ran towards Harry.
Ryuko gently moved the child so he was on his back, and got a better look at the injuries.
He was bruised like an apple that had fallen down eighty flights of stairs, and the bruises were all painted with a thick coat of blood. His limbs and nose were twisted at slight angles, his lip was sliced open, there were patches of skin missing, there was a permanent burn mark on his chin, and he was covered in horrible scars. She grabbed at his hand, and felt that it was oddly rough. Afraid, she looked down to see that his hand was charred black...
Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank into pin points at the sight of all these injuries.
"What the hell happened to you...?" Ryuko said softly as she looked over the injures again, clarifying that the injures where real. Harry kept his mouth shut. ''If I tell her, Uncle Vernon will hurt me more, or kill me...' Harry thought to himself before feeling the sensation of being picked up.
Ryuko didn't waste time waiting for an answer. Without a word, she scooped Harry into her arms and sprinted out the door as fast as she could.
It was quite a sight to see, a young woman sprinting down the street, leaving a trail of dust in her wake, carrying an injured child and muttering "Hospitalhospitalhospital" under her breath.
Harry was confused. What was the woman doing? Was she taking him somewhere where she could hurt him more? He would understand if she was. He deserved it for being a freak.
He suddenly felt her grip on him loosening slightly. Out of a subconscious fear of being dropped, he clutched tightly to her shirt to steady himself.
Ryuko tightened her grip on Harry when she felt a tug on her shirt, making sure that he didn't slip out of her grip, thus causing him to get even more injured.
Two minutes more of running like a rocket to the moon, and Ryuko made it the hospital that was run by Barazo Mankanshoku, the father of her best friend Mako Mankanshoku for the past few years ever since Mako's family earned the money to run genuine businesses. She didn't stop and plowed through the door, slowing down when was inside. She stopped in front of the front desk. Ryuko noticed a service bell on the desk and started to ring it again and again in rapid succession.
After five rings, a brown-haired young woman zipped up to the front desk.
"Hi, Ryuko! What brings you here? Are you hurt or something? You look okay to me. How've you been? I'm just dandy lately, the hospital's been earning plenty of money, and we're getting by great, so how's life down on the zero-star district...uh...no offense or anything, I just wanna know if you're happy, cuz if you're not you can come and stay with me and-" Ryuko put her hand over her friend's mouth, and she continued talking, her words now muffled.
"NOW'S NOT THE TIME! NEED HELP NOW!" Ryuko yelled out in frustration.
Mako pouted at being yelled at. "Well, why didn't you say-" Mako was beginning to say when she finally noticed the severely injured child in Ryuko's arms. "OHMYGOD!WHATHAPPENEDTOHIM?!WHYISHESOINJURIED!?WHEREDIDYOUFIND-" Mako yelled rapidly until Ryuko put her hand on her friends mouth again.
"Mako...I need you to get your dad. Can you do that for me?" Mako nodded. Ryuko sighed. "Thank you."
"Don't you worry, Ryuko! Dad'll have him back on his feet in no time!" Mako saluted, and without another word, dashed out of the room to find her father.
The young woman let out a deep sigh and collapsed into a waiting chair, tired out from the night's events. She looked down at the child in her arms. He looked back up at her, confused.
She noticed that his eyes were almost completely swollen shut and grimaced. 'Guess I didn't notice before because his eyes were closed...' She mused. The two continued to look at each other.
Ryuko forced a smiles and rubbed his head. "Don't you worry, little guy. After my friend Mako gets her Dad, we'll see about getting you fixed up." Ryuko told him. Then Harry hissed in pain when Ryuko's hand made contact a part of his head that was injured.
Ryuko pulled her hand away immediately from his head when she heard him hiss. 'Crap...Didn't mean to hurt him...] Ryuko thought. Then she felt something wet on her hand.
She slowly drew her hand back, and her eyes widened when she saw fresh blood.
"Aw geez..." She mumbled. "Sorry, little guy..." The child mumbled something quietly. Ryuko raised a brow and leaned in closer.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you. What was that?"
"Um...c-can you do that again please? ...It felt nice..."
This caused Ryuko to blink a few times in shock. "Um...Okay. I'll try not to touch anyplace that'll hurt you this time. Okay?" Ryuko told him. Harry looked nervous but nodded his head in agreement. After that, Ryuko looked over his head and found an area that wasn't damaged.
She started rubbing the spot, avoiding hitting the spot she touched before. While she was rubbing his head, Harry closed his eyes and started to hum inaudibly in content. 'This feels nice...' Harry thought as he placed his head on her chest.
Ryuko smiled slightly, and continued to stroke his little head.
"Heya there, Ryuko!" Ryuko looked over to see Mako's father smiling and waving at her. The aforementioned girl leaned in from behind her father's back.
"Sorry it took so long! Dad was on break, and it took FOREVER to find him." Barazo chuckled.
"Yeah, sorry about that. So, uh, where's the ki-OH MY GOODNESS!"
The large man's yell surprised everyone in the room.
"What happened?!"
Before Ryuko could answer, Barazo Mankanshoku interrupted her. "Please follow me to an examination room, you can explain on the way!" Barazo told Ryuko as he rushed away, forcing Mako and Ryuko to rush after him.
"Ryuko, where'd you get that kid, anyway?" Barazo asked as he led his daughter and her friend to the examination room.
"I don't know where he came from." Ryuko shrugged. "I was just...in my living room, minding my own business, then there was a bright flash of light, and he was just...there."
"Wow. That's kinda weird." Mako commented.
Harry's eyes widened. He did the freaky stuff again! He bit down on his lip to keep from blurting out his apologies. They hadn't deduced what it was yet. If he didn't say anything, maybe he wouldn't get punished.
They made it to the table and Barazo turned towards Ryuko. "Alright then, Could you gently sit him on the table so I can examine him, Ryuko?" Barazo asked her. Ryuko nodded her head. She walked to the table and lifted Harry up, then gently sat him down. She backed up and Barazo got in front of him to examine him. "Okay little guy, what's your name?" Barazo asks him as he looked over his arms and head.
"H-Harry..." Harry replied softly.
"AWWW, HE'S SOOOO CUUUUTE!" Mako gushed.
"Hey there, Harry! So, I'm gonna have to take your shirt off real quick here...I need to see how things are under the clothes." Harry hesitated, then slowly pulled the oversized t-shirt off of his upper body, revealing his bare skin to everyone in the room.
Everyone was dead silent as they stared at his mutilated body.
No one said a word. Even Mako, who looked like she was seconds away from crying. Harry was very nervous under everyone's gazes and tried to make himself smaller. After a few moments, Ryuko slowly walked over to him and stopped when she was half a foot away from him. She looked down at him with horrified eyes.
"Who did this to you?" She breathed out softly.
Harry was horrified. Oh no, Uncle Vernon was going to find out for sure! What would he do to him? Would he make him drink bleach? Would he hit him with the metal bat? Would he leave him in the rain, or burn him on the stove, or hold his head under boiling hot water?
Harry tried to answer the woman's question, he really did...But all he could bring himself to do was let out little nervous stuttering sounds.
Seeing the little boy's fear, Ryuko bent down to his level. Without a moments hesitation, Ryuko envelopedHarry in an embrace. Harry stiffened from the contact. 'W-Why is she hugging me...?' Harry though to himself. After a few moments, Harry relaxed into her hug and dropped his head onto her shoulders.
Ryuko ran her fingers through the little boy's messy black hair to show that he was safe with her, and that she would never hurt him. Harry closed his eyes and let out a small hum of content. Ryuko smirked in satisfaction at the noise, content she had made progress. Then, Mako spoke up.
"Aw...That's adorable..." She cooed.
Her father chuckled. "It sure is adorable, but uh Ryuko...maybe you should save the hugs until after I patched up his wounds." Barazo told her as he gestured towards Harry's injuries with his hand.
Ryuko blushed in embarrassment. "Of course. Taking care of his injuries is more important right now." Ryuko said as she slowly let harry go, much to his dismay.
Ryuko caught the sad expression on Harry's face, and with a smirk, patted the top of his head. "Don't worry, kid. Once you're better, I'll give you all the hugs you want. Does that sound good?" Harry looked up at her with a soft smile and nodded.
"Okay...Thank you..."
Barazo smiled at the two before speaking up. "Alright then, if you let me handle Harry, I'll get him done in a jiffy." He told her. Ryuko nodded, then looked towards Harry.
"Okay Harry, I'll have to go so Dr. Mankanshoku can help heal your injuries. But when he's done, I'll be back for you." She said with a smile.
Harry hesitated, then nodded. He looked over to the doctor, who smiled back.
"Come along, little buddy, let's get you healed up, okay?" And with that, Ryuko and Mako watched the large man carry the child away.