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The Beginning

Fingers locked together behind her back, the girl hummed cheerfully as she walked along the sidewalk. The small figure closed her eyes and tilted her head back, grinning as she felt the pleasant warmth of the sun bathe her face. 'Today,' She thought, cheerfully, 'Our already-large family is going to get even bigger.'

Opening her eyes, Kaiyumi turned her eyes back to the path she walked on. "Lets see," She said, outloud, "Where is it again? 6th street...6th..." She trailed off as she found the building - the Lost Star Adoption Agency. This was it, wasn't it?

The smile on her face grew as she strode up towards the door, without a moment of hesitation. Pulling it open, she poked her head in first, before slipping into the building. "Hello!"

Noting the man, Kaiyumi tilted her head slightly. Was she supposed to dress up for this? She glanced down at herself - all she had chosen to work today was a white blouse, and a pair of jeans. "Am I underdressed?" She asked, furrowing her brows. Removing a hairtie from her wrist, she pulled up her long, black hair quickly in an attempt to appear more...well, dignified.

That being said, she was probably a somewhat odd sight to see here anyways. The girl appeared too young to be adopting a child - her small stature made her look more like someone who needed taking care of herself, rather than someone who was capable of taking care of someone else.

Still, there she stood, beaming. "I'm here to adopt a child."

The Lost Star Adoption Agency was as familiar to Yamaguchi Kumiko as any of the other buildings were on her walk home from the bus station. She passed it each and every day, morning and evening, first in one direction and then the other. At the same time, it was as unfamiliar to her as any of the other buildings, for like any of the others she had never stepped inside or even paid it any close attention.

Day after day she had trotted past, wearing her formal skirt and blouse in the morning, sweat pants and sneakers in the afternoon, bag over her shoulders like a school girl, and day after day she had thought that her life was fine. Sure, with rimless glasses and two low ponytails, she looked much younger than her twenty seven years, but what did that matter? She had a good job and a lovely house.

But she was lonely.

The day she noticed this was the day she finally spotted the sign for the adoption agency. Adopt a child, she had first thought. Why? But as the days went on, she found the idea growing stronger in her mind. Yes ... to adopt a child would be a wonderful idea ... but would she be able to care for it as was necessary? Would she have enough time to spend with it?

Him, she found herself substituting one day. It had to be a him. She didn't know why, she just knew it had to be a boy. She didn't know what kind of boy - though she thought it would be nice if he could be active, like her ... they could go to her self defense classes together, wouldn't that be sweet? When he was old enough of course.

She argued with herself every day after that, trying to convince herself to take the leap and step into the agency and, at the very least, check it out. After all, just going in and learning about the process didn't mean that she had to actually go through and adopt, did it? Of course it didn't!

Weeks passed, until finally, she stopped just outside the door and refused to let herself go anywhere else until she stepped inside. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she tapped her sneaker on the sidewalk, but every time she stepped forward to enter, she stopped. Over and over again, she practiced the little speech she had prepared for whoever was inside, and she nodded to herself and stepped forward to go in - but it wasn't until she tripped over her own foot and stumbled against the doors that she actually ended up inside.

Once in the building, she righted herself, her face flushing with embarrassment. She hoped no one had seen her rather ungraceful entrance. Over by a desk, she saw someone who looked as if they knew what they were doing, and she passed by a girl - she assumed one of the orphans - and headed to the desk.

"Hello my name is Yamaguchi Kumiko or Kumiko Yamaguchi in the English format and I was wondering what the process is of adopting a child," she blurted before letting the woman say anything. Her speech given, she folded her hands in front of herself and waited - and only then did she notice that she had apparently butted in front of someone else. She froze, embarrassed, but said nothing, hoping that he would just ignore her.

Kumiko's brown eyes lifted to the ceiling as she heard the strange noises coming from above. What sort of place was this? She couldn't help but wonder if the children were in more need of saving than just plain adopting for the sake of having parents. Her tongue ran over her thin lips apprehensively as she thought about the possibility. Yet how could an adoption agency give out children who were abused? How could they even let something like that go on? They would be reported to the police immediately, they would be shut down.

No, she decided, there had to be some other reason for the screams and the apparent violence. She was about to ask about it when the receptionist apologized and ran from her seat, and then the next thing that she knew she was left with nothing but a sheet of paper that she was supposed to sign.

She stared at the paper. She still had the chance to turn around, to run out - and she was a good enough runner that she knew she could make it quite far before the receptionist returned if she tried ... but something was stopping her. More than just her determination. More than the fear of being called a coward. More than the fact that she had given her name and feared being hunted down with the news that she had abandoned her new child, despite never having seen him yet.

The woman had told her she was soon-to-be parent number three.

And that was sticking in her mind.

Well, what the heck, right? Only live once and all that. And she could afford it. And she had the space. And she knew she wanted something more in her life, something that would give her a sense of satisfaction, that she meant something to someone, and that someone finally meant something to her.

With this thought in mind, she lifted the pen from the counter and leaned over to read the contract.

It seemed straightforward enough. Nothing in there that raised any alarm bells, anyways. And it was just to make sure that the child would be properly taken care of, wasn't it? Of course it was.

She had no trouble signing her name at the bottom of the contract, first in Japanese characters (which were more comfortable for her) and then in the English format. That done, she sighed and put the contract back on the counter. She was committed now. She had done it. She was going to adopt a child.

Bounding up towards the desk rather cheerily, she tilted her head back a little to look up at the man. "Here to adopt a child as well?" She chirped, asking the obvious. Kaiyumi would have asked more, if not for the screaming and crashes that came from above. She stared up at the ceiling bankly for a moment, before giving a little grin. "Sounds like my house." Turning, she then offered Lucien a smile and a quick 'thank you' when she was handed a pen.

Staring at the contract, the girl seemed to suddenly hesitate - would she really be able to take care of another child? Her family was large enough as it was. Still, she was already here, pen in hand. Besides, it wasn't as if her family could get too big - the more the merrier, right?

Chewing on her bottom lip, she gave herself some more time to think by waving as another woman entered the agency. Finally, she scanned the contract quickly, and signed it before she could hesitate any further.

"There!" She pushed the contract and pen back towards the receptionist, before paling suddenly. Did...did she say something about a blood sample?

Shrinking back behind the other two a little, she peered out from behind them. "A...blood sample? Will this involve needles?" She squeaked, losing her cheerfulness.

Having missed the strange noises from above would probably be best for Spice. The young woman was currently running late, by her own time-clocks. But, seriously, when you had to deal with siblings that decided to get into a food fight - weren't they old enough to know better by now?- and didn't want to go into an adoption centre covered in spaghetti sauce, you tended to run late.

The young woman had ignored motorized transportation in favor of her own two feet, which tended to dodge better between cars. Their drivers honked and swore when the woman dived over their hoods, but they meant nothing. She was late, and she'd always been taught that it was important to be on time.

Of course, one could say, the agency wasn't expecting her, so how could she be late? Psh. She was late by her own time clock!

Spice peered anxiously at her watch and straightened her suspenders, smoothing a bit of errant hair behind one ear. Breathe deep, be calm. She smiled and strode up the steps, opening the door and stepping inside. She was smiling, looking calm, and certainly nothing like a woman who had been so recently diving between cars to get there.

The needles made her raise one eyebrow. "Oh... My. Did I come at an odd time?" She asked, still smiling. Interesting.

Growing up as she had, blood had never been a trouble for Kumiko, and though she wasn't fond of needles (but then, who was?) she didn't mind giving blood. Without hesitation, she rolled up her sleeve and put her arm forward so that the woman could take the sample that she needed.

She couldn't help but wonder, though, why all of this was necessary. After all, it wasn't as if they had to test and see if these three parents to be were the blood parents of some of the children, was it? Would they try to match them by blood type?

"Excuse me," she tried to ask what this was all about - but she was interrupted by the arrival of the fourth potential parent. She shut her mouth once more and decided to wait to ask her question. She didn't know when she could ask, but she would keep her eyes and ears open and take in what information she could.

She looked curiously at the woman who had arrived before her. She didn't appear to be able to handle needles very well ... would she be all right? While the receptionist was busy with the woman who had come down from upstairs, Kumiko headed over to stand next to the other woman.

"Excuse me," she said softly, "my name is Kumiko ... and ... please forgive me if this is none of my business ... but are you all right? You seem ..."

She trailed off. Nervous? Scared? It was obvious that the woman didn't like needles, her voice, her question, and the look in her eye confirmed it. Perhaps she could use some help ...