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Patience sighed as she leaned against the wall of the Japanese diner her and Hanzo had just finished eating at, waiting for the Valet to return her car, a blue sleek Firebird she had worked hard for two years since her joining of Overwatch to get.
She never knew what true love meant, never having known it herself. Patience was used to constant pain, the internal and everlasting struggle to accept how she could never know her family again, how she was used to being constantly alone and unable to be loved, yet wishing so much she could, despite Tracer saying that Patience had Hanzo`s eye, as tonight showed and that gave her hope, if only a little diminished from the betrayal of her parents.
Looking at Hanzo, her Overwatch partner of these past two years, she was only a little jealous of how he stood tall and with the knowledge he could talk to his brother, but also happy he was her partner, although when they first met, he was a bit aloof towards her, not unexpected since she did her best not to talk to anyone except for Zenyatta, the omnic Guru who had saved her from full and total depression and wrong, and terrible, thoughts.
Gazing at him, Patience didn't notice as he quietly watched from the corner of his eye her looking at him and gently smiling as she looked at him, his right side facing towards the sunset. His sun kissed skin had a subtle glow about it while he stood there, as they waited for the Valet to return, each muscle on the part of his exposed chest accentuated by the glow, causing Patiences` breath to quietly hitch in her throat.
Lost in thought Patience was startled when Hanzo asked, "Enjoying the view, Mai ritoru hāto?*" She jumped and quickly looked away blushing harshly. Ever since he saw how short she was, he always called her that and she shyly enjoyed it very much, knowing what it meant.
"Sorry, I was just thinking." Patience replied as she heard him moving closer to her, still refusing to look at him. She started to take a few steps away when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder, stopping her from moving farther away, and she gently shuddered from the warmth and budding hope it caused her to feel.
He lifted her chin up slowly, bringing Patience`s still blushing face up towards him, although she still didn't look at him directly. In a gentle, sweet tone he whispered, "Shin'ainaru amai ai*, please look at me and tell me what is wrong. You look so lost."
She looked up at him and chuckled painfully, knowing he couldn't possibly know the pain she felt. "It`s nothing," She sighed as she pushed the pain away and leaned into his chest, breathing in his scent which always smelled like cherry blossoms and rain, a breathtaking scent to her, "I hope we can have more dates like tonight."
He chuckled as he wrapped his arms warming Patience from the cool air of the evening, "We shall, but tonight is still young and I have one more thing planned for our night together." As the Valet finally pulled up beside them, the driver parked it and stepped out of the vehicle. She was a pretty japanese young woman, probably twenty-three and, obviously attracted to Hanzo, smiled at him as attractively as she could while pushing her chest out more than she needed to, an obvious flirt and troublemaker.
Sadly for her, Hanzo wasn't interested in her and brushed off her flirtations with a terse nod as he opened the passenger door for Patience and gently held her hand as she sat down, and winked at her, the signal we used when one person was being too upfront about things.
Before he closed the door, I peeked out to the young lady and spoke as fluently as I could, " Ima kaesu `t o ka watashi wa seiteki iyagarase no tame ni anata o hōkoku shimasu, watashi no kuruma no sewa o shite itadaki arigatōgozaimasu.*" and smiled as Hanzo closed the firebird door.
The last image I saw was of her looking pissed that I had called her out, yet a little afraid that I would do so if she showed her face again. I felt the car shake a little as Hanzo slid in and closed the door, now busying myself with the seatbelt as he started the car and started driving with one hand as he buckled up with the other, all in one smooth motion. Smiling, he praised, "Very well done Mai ritoru hāto. Fluent and not a single word mispronounced."
Patience blushed from the praise but smiled, "Well, I have the best sensei one could ask for." Patience`s heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour, she was impossibly, finally falling in love with Hanzo, despite her best efforts and promises to never do so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hanzo`s POV
He had never intended to fall in love with anyone, never intended to find another person who could help him heal from once killing his brother some years ago. But that all changed the day Patience walked in to Winston`s home where they had been waiting for what he called 'A hidden cherry blossom, Waiting for a patient hand of molding into strength and beauty unknown to the world.'
He could still see her walking in that day, two years ago today, wearing an orange shirt with a fishes skeleton on it and a japanese symbol in the background and charcoal grey cargo pants that were too long for her short possibly barely five foot height and some light grey shoes that she had obviously worn for quite some time. On her hip was a light brown messenger bag that held many small pins on the front of it, all of varying things, and some were metal while the rest, many of them in fact, were made of paper-like material and a circular baggage claim tag that was red with dark yellow accents and the numbers nine and three quarters on the front was held held on by a clear mini strap with the strap of the messenger bag across her chest, obviously comfortable wearing it for long periods of time.
Patience`s hair was cut close to her head, although the left side of her bangs were as long as her face, and just reaching past her chin. Her hair was a bright dirty blonde and shone in the light Athena subtly cast on her, bringing her whole being into relief, and giving her hair a golden halo, making her look more like an angel who did not believe herself to be beautiful. She wore dark blue wireframe glasses, which matched her ocean blue eyes, and that was what captured him immediately, not that she was trying to be out of place but her eyes, which when she finally stepped close to them, he saw held more pain then one could possibly imagine, held back only by how hard she tried to appear uncaring and laid back, and they were immediately drawn to him, not quite what he was expecting at the time because of Winston being there, a gorilla wearing armor and square black glasses.
That day was the day he felt the stirring of something deep inside, which he later would discover to be love for someone who wished to heal the world by taking all the world's pain inside herself no matter what costs she paid alone, a trait he admired deeply but never said so, wishing her to live as happily as possible. He vowed that day to never let her feel pain again.
As he looked over at her now for a few seconds, she was entirely different from that first day. Patience now wore her hair just past her shoulders, both sides of her bangs now past her chin. He had slowly convinced her she would look much prettier with her hair grown out, which had taken him months to do and now she let it be except for the occasional trim to remove dead ends.
Patience now wore a beautiful dark purple Kimono with varying flower bouquet designs spread over it with a light purple bow in the front of it. It had a matching fan but Patience was keeping that hidden in pocket hidden in the waist just behind the bow, in case it got too warm for her, and she wore a matching set of shoes to her kimono, all of which was fitted exactly to her. A gift he had bought her last month, in an effort to woo her and fill her with self confidence.
The sky slowly darkened as they continued to drive out of town, to a place only Hanzo knew of and slowly the buildings were replaced by trees, rolling hills and the occasional winding river. He hadn't told her of his plans to give her one full night to just them, and he had planned it perfectly so that by morning he would propose to her and he had a feeling she would say yes.
He owed Winston, and quietly owed Zenyatta for saving her mentally, very much for bringing them together and giving both this chance to redeem themselves through another they never knew they needed.