Chapter Text
Prologue
“If someone told me I’m going to love rain this much, I'd probably laugh in their face”. Hanako thought to herself while looking through the window. It was cold and the air was moist. The window was slightly cracked, so Hanako could feel the breeze of air touching her tanned skin. Her brown braided hair was passing over her right shoulder touching her collar bones while she was playing with it. It wasn't actually raining, it was pouring heavily and that made her very happy. Rainy days somehow made her feel comfortable and she didn’t feel alone with only herself around. She enjoyed a good company but at times like this she preferred being alone, “It’s just me, myself and I”, she whispered as she was now caught in her own thoughts. “I don’t even remember when I became like this”, she lifted her head up to see the sky but it was all blurry; completely grey bursting in sadness, so it somehow managed to drown Hanako in its mood and she got lost in her imagination…
“Up here all alone again, are we?” She heard a familiar male voice behind her back that managed to take her out of her dreamy world back into that cold and monotonous reality.
‘’Is it a bad thing to do?’’ Hanako’s voice reached the surface.
“Not at all!” She could feel that smile showed on a male’s face.
“You know I like being alone sometimes, Crow!” She turned to him returning the smile.
‘’Sometimes? It’s like all the time!’’ He looked at her like he was irritated but then they both started laughing when their eyes met and after a few moments, Hanako remembered how she was alone before a few seconds ago, so she started wondering why Crow was even looking for her.
‘’Is there anything you wanted to talk to me about?’’
‘’Actually: no. Kids are downstairs, we’re about to start with the goodnight story, so I was just wondering if you’ll be joining us today’’, he somehow seemed embarrassed and shy at the same time, which isn’t like Crow at all. The tone of his voice made her wonder what could be the reason of this strange feeling she was getting from him.
‘’And that’s it?’’ She raised one eyebrow judging him with her look.
‘’That would be all, ma’am!’’
‘’Stop with that silly jokes’’, his idea of calling her ma’am made her smile once again.
“You laugh so rarely that seeing you smile is like seeing a rain in the desert!”
‘’It’s not true!’’ Hanako curled her lips as her face turned red.
‘’Sorry… I just wanted to see you smile’’, he said gently scratching the back of his neck.
‘’Let’s go see the kids, Crow’’, she was still wearing a smile on her face when she grabbed Crow’s wrist and pushed him forward running towards the kitchen.
It was under the Daedalus Bridge they were living... Crow kept his hideout there ever since Team Satisfaction split up, taking care for orphans; children who lost their parents after the Zero Reverse incident or were discarded by others because they were from Satellite. For Crow and Hanako, Satellite was their Hometown, a place they grew up in, so they never disliked it even though the place itself was very dark, cold and could be very lonely at times.
Crow kept stealing cards from Sector Security just to bring a smile on children’s faces; he was marked few times, so his face was covered in yellow marks from his forehead to his chin. One arrow under his right eye was there because he was trying to protect Hanako and ever since that happened, she started blaming herself for it even though Crow never looked at it that way. He himself would do anything just to protect her and other kids. He was always putting them first without even bothering about himself and his needs and that is why Hanako cherished his friendship so much but she couldn’t stop blaming herself for that one mark because she got caught in an incident almost a year ago and Crow had to take all the responsibility for it. It was her first and last time she did something law-breaking and promised to Crow she’ll never be involved in crime again but he didn’t take it as something bad; he was rather happy to have her by his side especially after Pearson’s death, when she kept upgrading his Blackbird and was taking a good care for it. She gathered all materials, sprayed a new colour on it, upgraded its wings and even added few gadgets that were missing from its inner system. She would go crazy just by seeing screws, hammers and wrenches...
Other kids used to play with cards and toys but not Hanako; she would have that huge smile complimenting her face while she was keeping gears in her hands, which made Crow wonder how she could be just one year younger than him, when it seemed she’s still a child. Even Pearson told Crow that she’ll be a great mechanic in the future. She loved Pearson even more than she realised and would spend days and nights with him in the garage upgrading and building duel runners and soon, before she knew it, it became her hobby and obsession. In fact, she’d get so obsessed with duel runners, she’d sometimes forget to sleep or eat, which was giving Crow a hard time dealing with her.
There were countless of times when he found her sleeping on the floor in the middle of Pearson’s garage or even in front of their house under the Daedalus Bridge and she would always keep holding her lucky wrench in her hand while sound asleep, so Crow had to carry her in and take her to her bed. It was his luck, that she was almost his height, just slightly shorter than him, so he had no problems carrying her from one place to another. Seeing her lovely and adorable face while she was sleeping made him wish for others to see how much she grew and how much she improved; he missed his old friends Jack, Kiryu and Yusei...
He missed those times they spent together; moreover, he was sure that Hanako missed them even more than he did; she just never showed it and it just gotten worse two years ago when Jack left Satellite and went to Neo Domino City. It was then when Hanako stopped coming to Yusei’s hideout and rather chose to be with Crow to help him take care for the kids and now it all made perfect sense to him: it must be the reason she stopped smiling so often…