The flowers were piled up. A banquet of lonely roses laid against an urn among with the sorrows of a poor girl. Eyes as weepy as a willow, she stared blankly into stain glassed window of the Madonna and child, little droplets of rain pouring from the woman's eyes like tears. Perhaps Yuri could've said a word to the woman's ashes, but her state of woe denied her any room for emotions.

There was a table before the alter where Mrs. Hatori's ashes rested. The priest was gone, and the audience wasn't but a few neighbors from Yuri's little street corner. They, of course, had left after the service concluded. It was likely a miracle that Hatori's neighbor offered compensation for the woman's death and had her body burned for her. As for now, as Yuri stared at the urn in aimless emotions, it began lightning outside.

Her forehead crinkled in a strange way as the sounds of footsteps from the back of the church made their way closer and closer towards the alter. Yuri was incapable of gaining the courage to turn to see what awaited her, and subsequently, a soft palm with maroon nail polish grabbed her shoulder.

"Miss Hatori?" The woman said, looking down at the girl of small stature. "I do believe it's time to leave," she stated. Yuri quickly turned her head around and looked up at the tall woman of thirty-five-ish. Without a word she nodded, taking an oath of silence in respect for the holiness of the church and the deceased woman.

The church was empty as they made their way outside and into the rain that seemed to lighten as Yuri stepped into the woman's automobile. Offering a tissue, she started up the vehicle and began to depart from the beautiful, sacred place, and Yuri could feel a sense of tears prick her eyes.

Clouds covered the sun as despair covered Yuri Hatori's heart. She once more resumed her calm demeanor, utterly perplexed at her existence. As the car passed many things reminiscent of her childhood, including places she struggled to find food or money,  swept the porches of the elderly women, and the gardens she once played in only years before. It was strange how only days ago Mrs. Hatori had been alive and smiling, looking warmly at her granddaughter.

It confused Yuri, but she took the sorrow with great strength. She hadn't cried since the woman's passing; her hands were still covered in scratches fresh from days before, and hadn't had tears stain her palms since that Sunday night. Her silence hid her pain, it hid her distress and mourning spirit. The woman in the front seat had spotted Yuri fumbling with a tissue in her hand, turning a simple cloth into a marvelous swan.

"Quite the talent, young lady." Mrs. Caraway said as she looked at her in the mirror. Yuri looked up from beneath her hair and back down again.

"Thank you," she found herself replying in a sad, monotone voice. Caraway sighed, feeling a bit depressed at the mood Yuri had set off in the car. She understood though. She'd dealt with a great many orphans in her lifetime that all responded to the unfortunate fate of death differently than their peers. Some would weep uncontrollably, others would laugh and joke, and some would swear themselves into solitude.

The crippling leaves blew down from the trees as the rainwater drenched the windows of the car; Yuri wouldn't look up but every now and then to inspect their location with a faint sigh before she'd return to her art. It felt like centuries before the car came to a rolling stop into a large, gated building, surrounded by a large grassy field. It wasn't especially fancy, but the sign in the front demonstrated itself as a home for unfortunate souls. Caraway unlocked the car and whipped out her umbrella, ready to venture into the cold November rain. Yuri set the swan on the seat of the car and took her small case of things as Mrs. Caraway opened the door for her.

The inside of the building was red to say the least; the foyer had bright maroon wallpaper and dim lighting. A staircase was planted against the wall in a tight fit, and a small door leading to the office awaited them. It took Yuri a moment to blink her eyes and look at the various paintings on the wall and the cobwebs dusting their corners. Caraway was still putting her umbrella away as she cleared her throat.

A little bench was waiting outside the office, it was mahogany and wooden of course. Yuri set her suitcase down on the floor with her eyes cautiously observing everything. There were cobwebs and windows, and she quickly caught sight of each crucifix planted before every door. "You can have a seat and I'll be back in a moment," Caraway smiled, opening the door to the office. Yuri caught a glimpse of a tall woman with emerald eyes and felt chills shoot down her spine. She didn't like it one bit.

They must've been there for an hour as Yuri found herself sitting there, tensed up with the occasional door creaking and whispers. Her fingers were laced underneath her sweater nervously, and her emotions were a total whack as she anticipated the worse. In a moment's notice, the door opened and Mrs. Caraway was waving goodbye to the tall, older woman.

"This here is Yuri Hatori," she said, smiling and lifting Yuri up by her arm. "She's just lost her grandmother I'm afraid." Her voice seemed as though it had disregarded any respect despite the polite words Mrs. Caraway had said anyway. Yuri could sense it, but she rejected her desire to say a single word of discontent.

"Ah yes, of course. Yuri Hatori, fourteen years old, correct?" The other woman stated as she glanced at a pocket full of papers and social documents. "January 2nd?" The woman said curiously, her eyes glancing at Yuri with a displeased look.

Yuri nodded, pushing her pale, ghost white palms into her pockets again. Mrs. Caraway smiled and ruffled Yuri's hair as she opened up her umbrella again and opened the door. "I think you'll enjoy your time here," she said, smiling widely and waving goodbye to the instructor. "Bless you, Hatori, and you too Yakimura." The rain was still drizzling outside as though God had been mourning the loss of a soul, and Mrs. Caraway disappeared from sight for good.

The clock on the shelf in the instructor's office was ticking past six as Yuri sat in the chair before her desk. Her confused, depressed persona was masterfully disguised behind a facade of nervous and uneasy feelings, thus the instructor was unable to detect it. "You may call me Miss Yakimura," the woman ordered, setting the papers aside in a hidden folder. "I am the head of this establishment, and from this day forth you are to respect me with every ounce of your being." She ordered as she took a sip of her tea.

Unable to reply, she nodded sheepishly as Yakimura's overbearing amount of strict confidence intimidated her. "We must begin now. Your grandmother's lack of finances are certainly evident here. A woman of fifty dying so soon is quite a tragedy for your future; she had barely anything saved up for her retirement." She was browsing through a briefcase of documents now, furrowing her eyebrows. "Mrs. Hatori was an unfortunate soul, she passed without a will," she explained. "Thus you are officially orphaned I suppose. No father, cousins, aunts or uncles. What a tragedy."

Yuri could feel her mouth go dry; she didn't like those words, most of a all she didn't like the woman with the grey bun explaining her unfortunate fate with such a lack of sympathy in her tone. Her palms were sweaty now as she looked at the flowers daintily designed on her dress.

"You must be quite confused at the circumstances of this," she sighed, standing up and straightening out her pants. "You see, Hatori, the times we live in aren't kind to the lower middle class. Dozens out into the street, just like that. You must realize you are quite fortunate to be sent to this place. Therefore, you are not to say a word of complaint here. You will work for your keep until someone comes along seeking for a child. I will inspect your belongings, now." Yakimura took the suitcase resting beside Yuri's feet and set it on the desk; her wrinkly, pale fingers unlatched the hinges and she caught a sight at the few items inside.

A few days before the Hatori residence was seized by the bank for foreclosure; Yuri was permitted very few items from her house, just a few clothes, a single case of prescription pills, and a book were lying on the top. Yakimura narrowed her eyes at this and sighed quietly. "Only fourteen and you've already got an addiction to prescription pills," she scoffed. "I'll be sure to inform Dr. Hojo about this one!"

Yuri could find herself too shy to talk before she sputtered out quietly, "T-they're for my Anemia..." She murmured, her hands outreached to take them back. "They produce more iron...or something like that," Yuri tried explaining to the best of her ability with no avail.

Yakimura smacked her hand away and held her head up in disgust. "You disgust me," she said, putting them away in her drawer. Yuri winced slightly at her scolding and decided to not even bother taking them back. "I'll give him a ring. I won't allow something like this in my business," she scoffed as she picked up the black telephone sitting on her desk and dialing a number in. Yuri wasn't sure what to do about the entire situation; she needed those tablets. Everything had gone downhill with malnutrition and debt years before her grandmother's departure, causing Yuri's health to slowly decline.

"I've received a young girl here, fourteen or so, and it appears she has these pills that she's smuggled in her suitcase," Yakimura said over the line. "Of course not, she still needs a physical done to check her work ability."

Yuri's eyes went wide in fear. She hated doctors, more importantly hospitals. But her adamant fear for the men and women dressed in white coats all stemmed from her repeated visits for the past three years of her life. Mrs. Hatori had fallen ill with bronchitis and was bed ridden for months up until her death. She spent a great many days and nights in the cold rooms inside the dreaded place. Even Yuri objected herself to hospital stays as a child; her malnutrition and lack of iron and food causes her frequent fainting spells and tiredness, alerting the attention of neighbors. She found a reoccurring string of hospital visits since she was ten.

Yakimura was murmuring now and Yuri was still in a daze, petrified over the fact that a doctor had been summoned to settle the entire misunderstanding. Seeking comfort, she searched the room with her eyes for a gentle embrace. The bookshelf had various religious articles on it; statues and prayer cards. She could barely understand them, more or less understand religion as a whole. Her grandmother had those things in her house, too. Glancing back to Yakimura, Yuri's hands were trembling now as the woman hung up the phone and stared at her from a bleak distance.

"Come, leave your things here. It's time for your examination." the woman walked to the door as Yuri rose to her feet in an attempt to follow her from the room and into the hall. The faint sound of whispers could be heard from up the flights of stairs that made Yuri uneasy to say the least. Her heart felt as though it would burst from her chest in anxiety; she watched Mrs. Yakimura pull a string of keys from her pocket and unlock a creaky, old door.

The inside of the room revealed another set of stairs that lead down to the basement, cobwebs and spiders hanging from the ceiling. The dust caused Yuri to sneeze, and she covered her mouth with her hand. The woman disregarded her and unlocked another door that Yuri followed her inside of. She remained quiet now, Yakimura lighting up a little lantern in the bottom. The room itself was disgusting, and Yuri couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the entire situation by now.

"Take a seat up here," Yakimura pointed to a cot up beside a window covered in bars. Yuri shook her head and, tensed up, felt her hand be snatched by Yakimura. "I said sit down!" She hollared now; Yuri could sense the woman's annoyance in her voice and obeyed this time. She found herself pulling her dress over her knees and sighing, staring at her hands as Mrs. Yakimura opened the door again. "Wait here, I'll return with Dr. Hojo," she reminded her. Thus, she shut and locked the door, walking back up the stairs and leaving Yuri to contemplate what she could do.

The bed sheets she had been sitting on were covered in dust and what seemed to be blood stains; this made her even more uneasy, but when she looked at the shelf full of medical instruments and a screen up with towels on them, she felt ready to pass out. A lump was in her throat when the door opened and a tall man of stature lead in front of Mrs. Yakimura into the room. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and glasses covered up the majority of his face. As a doctor, he was wearing a long, white, medical coat with instruments in his pockets. Yuri could feel her heart ready to leap from her chest, her face looking down nervously.

"Hatori, this is Dr. Hojo," Yakimura said, her arms folded. "He's been practicing his profession for twenty years," she reassured Hatori, who was verging on tears now. The man leaned down and observed Yuri, who was wiping off her eyes now.

"Pale skin, weak eyes," Hojo examined. "Wipe your eyes again, child." He instructed as Yuri looked up at him and brushed off the tears in the corners of her eyes. She refused to cry, especially after the funeral. Despite her wishes the tears flowed anyway. Hojo lifted up her jaw and shined a bright light into her bloodshot, brown eyes. His eyebrows furrowed and he huffed. "Perhaps her medical record is with you?" He asked, putting away his instruments.

Yakimura sighed, her arms still crossed. Yuri had managed to calm herself down a bit, aside from the fact that she had a massive headache. "I'm afraid most of the documents were seized," she replied quietly. "Most of them won't be mailed for a while longer." She said as she opened the door again. "I'll fetch what I have."

She disappeared up the stairs as Hojo wrote something down in his tablet now, a vast array of shaky breaths emitting from Yuri's mouth. "Say, child, the pills Mrs. Yakimura took from your suitcase were iron tablets, correct?" He said as Yuri nodded and rubbed her hands together. "You're weak, unsuited for labor," he said as he wrote something down for a second. Yuri looked up from under her long, brown, bangs to him, nervously looking at his figure. His shirt seemed slightly un-tucked and his belt was wrapped around his thin figure. She concluded he must've been in a rush to hurry over there since his appearence wasn't exactly well-kept.

"What do you mean...?" She found herself saying, holding onto her knees tightly, making a little confused face now. The man looked up at her from behind his glasses and sighed.

"Your anemia will prevent you from working," he replied. "Now, we're going to begin a physical examination to determine your health status. It's mandatory for every female here." He said as he walked across the room to pull a variety of instruments from his bag. Yuri felt horrible; she felt as though she was ready to throw up, and longed to be anywhere else in the world now. Her eyes shifted over to the screen in the corner of the room as she looked back to Hojo in major anxiety.

"A-an exam?" She mumbled underneath her breath, holding her sweater tightly against her chest. The door rattled after a moment and Yakimura came back in, holding a folder in her hands. The doctor ignored her as she gulped, her hands shaking and sweating nervously.

They whispered in the dimly lit room as Yuri raced every thought and meaning of an exam; Hojo and Yakimura flipped through a variety of documents that caused Yuri nausea and immense discomfort. "E-excuse me but may I.." Yuri started to speak up before Yakimura shot her an unnerving glare.

The two whispered quietly for a few minutes before the woman cleared her throat. "I seem to have made a mistake."