They would always meet outside beneath the hedge behind the building, sitting together, whispering quietly to each other.
Illya refused to tell her his past, there had been too much suffering and he hid his camp tattoo, wanting Natasha to like him for himself with no pity.
Natasha, like Illya, had lost her parents during the war while traveling to Moskva where their daughter attended school; she never saw them again.
All they owned belonged to the state and she was sent to the orphanage, though she wasn't one of the besprizornykh detyeĭ_street children like Illya, she was very different.