Focus: Rain/Crow

Time Period: Team Satisfaction/Pre-Canon

Salty/Sweet

I hummed a tune as I strolled through the grimy Satellite streets. The constant, gray sky above was starting to feel like home. I twisted my bracelet around my wrist as I approached the Daedalus Bridge, a stretch of wood reaching towards New Domino City across the ocean.

The shout of my name captured my attention. Crow sprinted at me, and he had a gigantic grin on his face. He halted and caught his breath. I noticed patches of white powder curiously reminiscent of flour on his skin. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm so glad you made it! Everybody else ditched!"

"You mean… I'm the only one?"

Crow stuck out his upper lip. "Yeahhh. Kalin had some excuse about scouting, Yusei's chasing a tip about a runner frame, and Jack's Jack. But, hey! Who needs them anyway! Follow me."

We ducked into his nearby apartment. I kicked aside brightly colored spheres on the ground when I entered. I picked up a pink one and muttered, "You should really clean up better."

"Oh, har har, good one," he said with an eye roll. Crow watched my bemused stare. "You weren't kidding? Uh, they're balloons. For the birthday party."

"R-right." I squished the balloon in my hands. "I, uh, don't think I'm the best one for this."

"Nonsense!" Crow set something on my head, and the strap snapped against my chin. I reached up and felt the tip of the party hat's cone. He was wearing one, too; it was shiny gold with red and blue bubbles of color spotting it. "You'll be perfect! She loves all you guys!"

"I've never met her, though." I lowered my head. "I'm not good with kids."

Crow was bustling in his tiny kitchen. "Don't give it so much thought. Just treat 'em like little people. They absorb more than you think. They need some extra attention and explaining is all."

"Huh. So…" I watched the balloon drift to the cluttered floor. "How do you talk to people?"

"How're you talking to me?"

"You do most of the work."

He broke his concentration to laugh. "Fair enough. Get over here."

I moved to the counter, where he was finished the pale blue lettering on a brown cake. It said, "Happy Birthday, Annie!"

"It looks nice." I licked my thumb and scrubbed off one of the flour patches on his cheek. He watched my white thumb in bewilderment. "Might wanna be more careful next time, though."

Crow's face fell, and he smacked his forehead. "Ah, shit! I probably look like a coke addict!"

"A… what?"

"Uh, don't worry about it!" He scanned his bare arms. "Are there any more?"

"Yeah. On your neck." He rubbed at it with his hands. "You… know that's not gonna make them go away, right?"

"Then what do I do?"

"Just… stay still." I wet a paper towel and scrubbed away the flour. He was oddly still when I was close to him. For Crow, anyway. When he was clean, I backed away. I swore I caught a hint of red on his cheeks.

"Uh, thanks. Thanks, Rain."

"So… How old is she?" Crow shrugged his shoulders. I said, "You don't even know?"

"How are we supposed to know? I bet you don't even know how old you are." I balked, and he snickered. "I knew it! I could make my best guess if it would make you feel better."

"Try."

Crow turned on his heel, closed one eye, and aimed his cake-stained knife at me. The point moved up and down as though he were sizing me up. "I'd say you're twelve, give or take a few months."

I shouted, "I was talking about her, not me! I am not twelve."

He laughed and said, "Right, right. I hope you like chocolate, by the way."

Crow went back to touching up the frosting. I couldn't make my pout go away. "I'm… I'm not twelve…"

"I thought girls liked being called young!"

"I get the feeling you don't know the first thing about girls."

He opened his mouth to argue back, but a shrill voice stopped him. "Crowww! We're heeere! Huh? What are all these balloons for?"

Crow jumped into the other room and yelled, "Surprise!"

I blinked. He glared back at me, nudged me with an elbow, and whispered, "This is the part where you shout 'surprise!'"

"Uh, 'surprise.'"

"Shout it, I said!"

"SURPRISE!"

He covered his ears with his palms and said, "Okay, dial it back a bit!"

Annie jumped up and down. Her oversized pink shirt and red ponytail flopped with her hops. "Oh my gosh! You remembered, you really remembered! And you got Rain to come, too!"

She ran forward and hugged my legs. "This is the best day of my life."

Her genuine excitement warmed my heart. It was a shame I could only manage an awkward smile and a head pat. "Happy birthday, Annie."

Crow handed a pair of party hats to Annie and her friend. The other little girl tossed her short, black hair. "Where's the cake? You said there would be cake."

Annie gasped. "Cake? Really?"

Crow set his fists on his hips and shook his head at the other girl. "You spoiled the surprise, Ellie! No cake for you!"

Ellie's mouth dropped open, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Then I'm leaving!"

"Yeesh, it was just a joke."

"That's not funny!"

"Wow," I muttered, "you really don't get girls."

"Oh, shut it! Look, the cake's in here, and everybody gets as many slices as they want."

Annie slapped her hands to her cheeks. "As many as I want? What if the cake runs out of slices?"

"Then I'll make another just for you, kiddo."

"Just for me? Really?"

"Really."

The shine in her eyes grew with her smile. Ellie crossed her arms. "Can we get to the cake already?"

I was starting to like these kids.

Crow cut us each a slice. Annie's was twice the size of everyone else's. She peeked at the other plates and gave an equally big smile. Crow said, "Okay, everybody on three! One! Two! Three! Happy birthday to you…"

He glared at my blank look and Ellie's pursed lips. "Why aren't you two singing?"

I asked, "Singing what? I don't really sing."

Ellie commented, "I don't sing, either."

Annie held my hand, smiled, and said, "You don't have to sing if you don't want to. Like Crow always says, you should respect what other people want! Right, Crow?"

"Stop using my own words against me!" Crow said. "Whatever. Just eat it!"

The three of us raised our forks at the same time, and Crow looked on in anticipation. I bit down. The instant the cake touched my taste buds, my face twisted. I spat it out and cough. Annie and Ellie had the same reaction. Ellie exclaimed, "This isn't cake! This is a lie!"

"Water!" Annie cried. "I need water!"

I wiped at my mouth in an attempt to hide my disgusted expression. "Um… a cake is supposed to be sweet, not salty. Did you mix up the sugar and salt?"

"I didn't have sugar. I figured the chocolate would be sweet enough. Is it really that bad?" He tried his own cake. It lasted a couple seconds in his mouth before his composure broke and he spit it out. "Eugh. I really botched that, huh."

"It's okay!" Annie said. "It looked real pretty!"

"Which is why we were so easily tricked," Ellie said.

I gave a thumbs-up. "I'd say it's the effort that counts! Maybe don't make any more cakes, though."

Crow frowned. "What would a twelve-year-old know, anyway?"

Really? After I'd done my best to show up and be supportive, he went for the low blow? I grabbed the platter holding the rest of the cake and shoved it in his face. Crow fell back on his butt. His stupid salt cake fell on the ground in crumbles. Annie and Ellie were giggling like mad as Crow wiped at his face. "Hey! What the hell, Rain?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Seemed like something a twelve-year-old would do."

He picked up a handful of cake and threw it at me. It hit me square in the face. I hollered, "Agh! My eye! The salt burns!"

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry-"

I laughed. "Juuust kidding."

"…You're the worst."

I grinned. We cleaned up the cake together, and Crow moved on to give Annie her gift. It was a card called Catnipped Kitty. She ran to me and pushed it in my face. "Look, look! Isn't it cute?"

"Um, real cute," I said.

"Did you bring me a card?"

"Um, uh, yeah, of course." I pulled my deck out and sifted through the cards. I didn't have many that could be described as… "cute." Oh, but there was that one. I handed her the Effect Monster. "Here's one just for you."

"Decoy Dragon," she read. "Wow! Thanks, Rain! It's adorable! When I get a few more cards, I'll have a deck of my own. I used to think only guys could be duelists, 'cause Crow only talked about his team… but when he told me about you, I thought I could be like you, Rain."

I laughed a little. It was all I could do, really. I couldn't imagine someone I'd never met could look up to me. "You can be whatever you want to be."

"We'll duel together someday, right?"

"For sure."

After that, Crow showed his final gift for Annie: a bubble blowing set. She used it to chase around Ellie, who was yelling about soap being poison or something. Crow sat down beside me, brushed some salt cake off my face, and adjusted my hat so it sat on the crown of my head. "Sup?"

"I like them."

"Ah! I knew you would!"

"Also, you're banned from the kitchen."

"Hey!" he whined. "I did my best! I've only made spicy food. This was my first try at something sweet."

"Why didn't you ask someone for help?"

"Pffft. I didn't need help." My expression flattened. He said, "Oh, fine. I thought I knew what I was doing. And, I mean, it did look good."

"That doesn't matter if…" I sighed. "Well, you know what they say. You cannot eat your cake and eat it, too."

He gave me a funny look. "You mean 'you can't have your cake and eat it too?'"

"What? That doesn't make any sense. Why would you not eat a cake you have? Unless it tastes bad, like yours. Oh, is that what it means?"

Crow laughed at me, saying, "You're somethin, you know that?"

"This is news to me."

"Seventeen," he said.

"What?"

"I would bet you're seventeen. Annie's probably nine, by the way. She thinks the bow and arrow is really cool, so she wished she was a Sagittarius. I asked her what day she would like for her birthday to be. She said November 27th. That's how this whole deal came about. Since she's an orphan, she doesn't know when her birthday is, so… she gets to choose it."

"You made her really happy today."

He watched them running in circles. "You think?"

"I know."

Crow's smile wrinkled the M-shaped criminal mark on his forehead. "I appreciate you coming today, Rain."

"I'm glad I did. Hey, when's your birthday?"

"I dunno. Never celebrated one."

I stood up and brushed some cake off my pants. "Well, whenever you decide it is, I'll make some real sweets for your special day."

"Wait! You, you should come around more often! Because… they really like you!"

"I'll think about it. Only 'cause it's what they want. Not you or anything."

"As long as we understand each other," Crow said with a smirk.

I understood well enough.