Sakura surveyed the boats currently docked. Dawn was approaching and there were several boats ready to dump trash to the Satellite. She crouched down as a few dock workers walked past the crate she had been hiding behind. She peeked above to make sure she was safe before running along the crates, making sure to try to stay out of sight.
She stopped behind one crate, which was in front of a trash boat ready to leave the dock. The were several dock workers surrounding it and for a moment Sakura was rethinking her plan. She sat down, her back against the crate. She took out her dragon card and looked at it. She nodded to herself and turned around, watching the workers. She glanced at the other boats and saw one ready to take off, but there were no workers around it.
Sakura crouched and ran for the boat. She climbed into the boat and curled under a tarp. Not long after she heard the motor and felt the boat move. She peeked out from under the tarp and watched the waves pass. She pulled back under the tarp and took out her card. She smiled and held the card to her chest.
Sakura waited a moment after the boat stopped. She crawled out from under the tarp and stood up, coming face-to-face with the garbage man. They stared at each other in shock before the man moved to grab her. Sakura back up and jumped off the boat, running into the Satellite.
"Get back here!" he shouted. Sakura ran into the wreckage, trying to get away from him as quickly as possible. She ran into a building. Not a moment later, the man ran buy. Sakura looked out the door and ran the opposite direction, smiling.
"What do you guys want to do?" Kalin sighed as Crow asked that question once more.
"There isn't anything to do," Jack said, tossing a pebble off the roof they were on.
"We could duel," Crow said.
"Yeah, like we haven't done that before," Kalin said with a huff.
"Maybe we could use Sakura's deck," Crow said.
"Good luck getting it away from him," Jack said. The three of them turned around and looked at Yūsei. He had Sakura's deck in front of him, looking through the cards carefully.
"He hasn't let those things go in a month," Kalin said.
"Think he's gonna use them?" Crow asked.
"I'll laugh if he does," Jack said bluntly.
"Yeah, Yūsei using a flower deck? That's hilarious," Kalin snickered.
"You know that I can hear you, right?" Yūsei asked, not looking up from the cards.
"Come on Yūsei, why don't we just split the cards and be done with it?" Kalin asked.
"As if, I'm not using a flower deck," Jack said.
"Then we'll give them to some of the other kids," Crow suggested.
"A near complete deck? No one will take it," Kalin said. "They'll think we stole it and they won't want anything to do with it because they don't want to get in trouble."
"Well we have to do something," Jack said. "We can't just hang onto it forever. It's not like she's coming back for it."
"Yeah, her dad seemed pretty pissed," Crow agreed.
"She's from the city, what do you expect?" Kalin said with a huff. "We'll never see her again and she'll probably never think of us again."
"What, did you get a crush on her?" Jack teased.
"No! It's just the truth!" Kalin said quickly. "I just think some of us need to realize that." He glanced over at Yūsei. Yūsei rolled his eyes and gathered the cards. He stood up and walked over to his friends.
"Fine, then what do you want to do with these?" Yūsei asked.
Sakura frowned as she looked around. "I have no idea where I'm going," she said with a sigh. She sat down and sighed, looking up at the sky. "How am I ever supposed to find these guys?" She blinked as she saw a card flutter down to the ground. She stood up and grabbed the card, looking at it.
"My Flower Maiden," Sakura muttered. She looked up as another card fell down. She turned around and back up, seeing the heads of four boys.
"HEY!" The boys jumped as a third card came down. They rushed to the edge of the roof and the five kids stared at each other in shock. There, above her, were the four boys Sakura had been searching for.
"You're back!" Crow said in shock.
"Yes, I am," Sakura nodded. She picked up the third card and looked back at them. "And what are you doing with my cards?"
"You're back," Kalin said in amazement.
"No, I'm just a figment of your imagination," Sakura said with a huff. "Yes I'm back, now answer the damn question!" Sakura jumped as a pile of rubble collapsed behind her. She ran forward to avoid the debris.
"Are you okay?" Yūsei asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sakura said.
"Stay there, we'll be down in a moment!" Yūsei shouted.
"That's not an answer!" Sakura yelled back as the four boys disappeared. Sakura huffed and looked around nervously, eying the rubble that had fallen. A rock fell from the top of the pile and she flinched. It rolled over to her feet and she glared at it.
"How dare you mock me," she said quietly. She heard the four boys come running up to her, surrounding her.
"What are you doing here?" Crow asked.
"I...I just came for my deck," Sakura said, holding the straps of her backpack.
"Then what's with the bag?" Jack asked.
"I didn't know how long I would be here," Sakura said, her cheeks turning pink. "I didn't know how long it would take to find you guys!"
"So you're leaving again?" Yūsei asked. He actually appeared to be quite sad at the thought.
"It depends," Sakura said, shifting nervously.
"Well if you're going to be here you've got to meet Martha!" Crow said.
"Martha?" Sakura asked.
"She's our foster mom," Yūsei told her.
"Well, it would only be polite," Sakura said.
"So how'd you do it?" Kalin asked.
"Do what?" Sakura asked.
"Get back to the Satellite. How'd you do it?" Kalin asked.
"Now, now Kalin, let her eat something first," Martha said. "Did you even have breakfast young lady?"
"No," Sakura said sadly. "I haven't eaten much the past few weeks."
"Well no wonder you look so skinny," Martha said, matting her head. "How about I make some lunch for everyone?"
"Yes please," Sakura said. Martha smiled and went into the kitchen. "You still haven't answered my question."
"What question?" Crow asked.
"Why were you throwing my cards off a roof?" Sakura asked.
"We thought you were never coming back," Kalin said.
"We weren't going to use the cards, so we were giving them away," Jack said.
"And you didn't just give them to someone?" Sakura said with a huff.
"They would have been suspicious," Jack told her. Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head. They sat quietly for a few minutes. Sakura shuffled through her cards, looking them over.
"Do you have the rest of your deck?" Jack asked suddenly. Sakura looked up from her cards and nodded. "Well then let's duel."
Sakura's eyes widened and she looked around nervously. "I don't think so, I'm still not really good."
"Well that's okay, we're not expecting you to be the greatest duelist ever or anything," Yūsei told her.
"I'd really rather not," Sakura told them.
"Aw come on, it'll be fun!" Crow urged. "Plus we still have a lot more to teach you."
"Look I said I'm not gonna play and I mean it, so just drop it!" Sakura shouted.
"Are you boys harassing this poor girl?" Martha scolded. She set down a plate of sandwiches.
"We were just asking her to duel," Kalin said.
"And I said no!" Sakura said.
"Well why not?" Jack asked.
"Boys!" Martha called, grabbing their attention. "She said no and you have to respect that. No means no, no matter who it's coming from. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Yūsei answered.
"Good." Martha nodded at the boys and turned towards Sakura, who had taken a bit of her sandwich. "Now, how did you end up in the Satellite?"
"I went to the docks and stowed away on a garbage boat," Sakura answered. "I'll just take the next one when it comes and go back home."
"You're leaving again?" Crow asked, frowning.
"I'm afraid she can't leave," Martha said sadly.
"Why not?" Yūsei asked.
"Well, so many people have been using those boats to try and sneak off the Satellite. So, they've built a pipeline to handle the garbage drop off. I'm afraid that the boat you took was the last one," Martha told her. Sakura looked at her and absorbed the information. She looked down at the table, her grip on the sandwich tightening.
"What are we going to do?" Kalin asked.
"I don't know," Martha said sadly. "I can try to talk to sector security and explain the situation but I don't know if they'll believe me."
"I don't care," Sakura said suddenly. Everyone looked at her in shock. "I'm not going back! I don't wanna!"
"But dear, you have to," Martha said, kneeling so she could look Sakura in the eyes. "You belong in the city, not here in the Satellite."
"But this is where the garbage goes," Sakura said. They looked at her in confusion. "I'm garbage. I'm broken. My parents think I'm trash, I'm broken, and I'm garbage." Tears fell down her cheeks. Sakura set her sandwich down and wiped her eyes.
"Oh sweetie, you're not garbage," Martha said, holding her close.
"I don't wanna! I don't wanna go back!" Sakura cried, hugging Martha.
"Then you'll stay here!" Crow said suddenly. Sakura looked at him in shock.
"Huh?" The boys shared a smile.
"Yeah, you can stay here!" Kalin agreed.
"I guess it'll be a bit of a hassle, but we'll get used to you," Jack said, shrugging it off and trying to play it cool.
"Boys, I appreciate your effort but she can't-"
"No means no Martha," Crow said smugly. "No matter who it's coming from!"
"There's no talking you boys out of this, is there?" Martha said with a smile.
"Nope!" they chorused.
"Well, Sakura, what do you say?" Martha asked. Sakura sniffed and looked at the four boys that she barely knew. All she really knew was their names. They were practically strangers. But then again, so were her parents. These boys were more to her than her own mother and father.
What did she have, going back home? A mother and father who would be furious with her? Scared of her? Locked in a room with no way out? But here, here she was being offered so much more. A home, a safe place, and people who actually seemed to care about her.
Sakura smiled and wiped the tears off her face. "I'd love to stay here." It wasn't that hard of a decision to make.
"Now, about that duel," Crow said mischievously.
"My answer is still no!" Sakura said quickly.
"You bounce back fast," Jack muttered.
"You wanna go blondie?" Sakura hissed.
"Think she'll be fine here?" Yūsei asked Martha.
"She'll fit right in," Martha told the young boy, a smile on her face.