Notes from the Author: This chapter was, I must say, fun to write both the first time around and now. This time, I just changed some details of the Hana story as I went along.
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Chapter 2: Hana
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"What?"
"Rafael hates Christmas." Alister repeated.
"Why?"asked Mai, surprised with the thought of hating the time of year most people (including she) cherished.
"I dunno. Valon and I asked him all the time, and even Dartz did, once, but he just wouldn't answer. So we stopped asking."
"Then he must have a good reason." said Mai, more to herself than to Alister.
He raised an eyebrow curiously. "You're not thinking of asking him, are you?"
"Maybe.." said Mai with a mischievous smile.
"Go ahead, but he's not gonna-"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Alister!"
Alister shook his head hopelessly and laughed.
0o0
Remembering the places where the group had gone just to think and talk when she was part of the "Doma Gunmen", Mai searched for Rafael.
After over half an hour, she was walking up to the bench in Domino Park where she'd found him sitting with his arms folded. "Hi," she said, filling the spot beside him.
"Hi." he said, his voice stiffer than the wood of the bench. That made Mai a bit nervous, but she was desperate to know his reason for hating the approaching holiday. What could possibly make one upset every Christmas season? If he was just lonely, maybe she could help him... "Why didn't you respond to me earlier?" she asked, keeping her tone mild. "I had a question."
"Well I'm right here! Ask!" he snapped, unfolding his arms and glaring at her.
"All I wanted to know is why you're such a Scrooge!" Mai shot back, her temper rising.
The eyes that met hers were like icy blue fire, glinting in the sun with a transfixing aura that she couldn't seem to tear her own eyes from. "I had a feeling that's what you wanted to ask me." he said, startling her back to reality.
She opened her mouth to spew a hot-blooded remark back at him, but to her surprise, he began to tell her what she came to hear without further argument.
"When I first made it back here from that island, I was completely alone. Christmas was coming, but my family was dead, I had no friends, and I hadn't met Dartz yet, so I didn't feel like celebrating alone.
"But then one day, a freezing, snowy day, I was sitting on this very bench, colder, broke and starving enough to eat a whale, when a beautiful girl walked by, and I guess she saw me suffering there all alone. I could see the pity in her eyes, and sure enough, she came up and asked me if I needed some assistance.
"At first I was annoyed, I didn't want anyone's charity! But before I could respond she started laughing at herself, saying 'how dumb' that'd sounded' and how dumb she was to just come up and ask a complete stranger such a stupid question.
"That's when I looked into her eyes and truly saw them, saw just how sparkling with.. sweetness and.. life they were... Instantly it changed something in me, melted a bit of my hard bitter heart.
"So I told her I could use some assistance. She laughed again, and said her name was Hana, and I told her my name.
"Eventually, she let me live with her and helped me with money when I needed it. I tried not to burden her as much as I possibly could, but she would say if she couldn't help me when I needed it then she didn't deserve me. I thought that was absurd...
"She loved Christmastime dearly, and, despite my troubles, she and I had a wonderful time with each day that came closer to Christmas. By Christmas Eve we felt like we had known each other for years, and busy with preparations for the next day.
"When we got home from shopping that evening, she stopped outside our house and declared it wasn't decorated enough. So she went into the garage, and came out hauling this big angel decoration for the roof. She'd been keeping it as a surprise.
"The ladder she was going to use looked old, so I warned her to be careful, but she just chuckled and said she'd be fine. And of course, I thought so, too. . Once she got the angel up there, it took her a long time to set it up. And I admit, once she lit it up, it looked beautiful. She looked down at me, beaming, and asked how I liked it. I told her it was the most lovely thing I'd ever seen, so could she please come down now?
"She laughed and began moving toward the ladder. . But the roof was more slippery with melting frost than she'd thought. . .
She... she fell... from the roof. .. and on the way down, hit her head on a wall-fence in the back. . . her scream was short, but it was burning in my ears..."
Staring straight ahead, lost in his story, Rafael's eyes that had gone from cold and sullen looked now as if they were seeing the tragedy unfold again, perhaps not even feeling the trickle of tears moving steadily and unstopped down his cheek.
"I was devastated as much as her parents, who ended up moving far away, because everything here reminded them of their sweet daughter. On Christmas Day, all I wanted was Hana back, but that could never happen... all Christmas did was remind me, mock me, that it had cost me the love of my life!"
Mai sat speechless, her own eyes tearful, thoroughly shocked to her core by Rafael's misfortune. When she found her voice, all she could say was "I..I never knew.."
Her voice bringing him to the present, when he turned to her, the look on Rafael's face was terrible. "Well now you do, so can you leave me alone!"
He rose from the bench so sharply that it wobbled, and stormed away.
Mai, though, sat a while longer, frozen with mixed shock, pity and horror at her friend's tragedy. As she sat longer and longer however, her emotions turned to thoughts. Deep thoughts.
Eventually she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She saw Joey approaching, Duel Disk on his arm, and snapped out of it, forcing herself to focus solely on him, and went off to watch his duel in the park at his insisting. No one could know she had done anything out of the ordinary. If Rafael had never spoken of this, then of course she wouldn't, either.
She did have a good time, but all day there was something brewing in the back of her mind: brewing when she got home, brewing while she ate dinner, brewing when she went to bed. And when she reached over to turn her alarm clock off the next day, she was sure of what had been brewing.
0o0
"So did Rafael ever tell you his reason for hating Christmas?" asked Alister on the way to school.
Mai groaned inwardly; she'd been trying to avoid him for this reason. She groped at words for what to say, and decided it was best to say as little as possible.
"Yes, and it was horrible." Mai answered firmly. Alister looked shocked, but she continued, "And I've made a decision. Alister, I'm going to give Rafael some Christmas Spirit!
