Year 3 Chapter 1- Sayuri

Sayuri "Yuri" Morton stared in awe at the vastness of the New York Skyline. She sat in the back of cab nervously chewing on her fingers. The cabbie was staring at her strangely. She wasn't sure how common it was to have a 12 year old Asian girl with no parents in the back of his cab. But since she had proved she could pay the fair, he had agreed to take her wherever she wanted to go.

She had wanted to come to NYC ever since she had been able to remember. Technically, she had been born in New York City, but she didn't remember it. She and her mother had moved to Chicago when she was 3 months old. Thinking of her mother, Nozomi, brought a small tear to her eye. She had always thought her mother would be right by her side when she went to New York for the first time, but it wasn't going to be that way, not ever again. It was hard to be in the city now. She wanted nothing more then to look at the statue of liberty and see every site 12 year old girls dreamed about in the big apple, but she wasn't here to see the sites of Manhattan, She was here to find her father.

Samuel Morton had been an unbelievable father to Yuri, She had loved him with everything she had. He had adopted her when she was four, but he had been there for both her and her mom even before that. Sayuri's mom had been a 22 year old girl, when a work visa had brought her from her native Japan to New York. She had admittedly rebelled against her conservative Japanese parents upon her arrival. After a one night stand, Nozomi Kinsa had found herself alone and pregnant in a country she barely knew. She had never told the man she was having his child. After Yuri was born, she had taken a job at the university of Chicago, where she had met Sam Morton.

For Nozomi and Sam it had been love at first site. Despite objections, she and Sam had gotten married a year after they had met. He had adopted Sayuri and raised her as if she was his daughter, they would have been married 10 years in August.

They had given Yuri a relatively normal life, until 8 days ago. Then everything had changed. She had just come home school, and expected her mom to be home in a few minutes. She almost always beat her mother home, but not by much. She was cutting up an apple to have apples and Peanut butter when her Grandma Morton had knocked on the door. She had sighed. She didn't much care for Sam's mother, the woman treated her as if she were some sort of abomination, not a child. She definitely didn't think of Yuri as her granddaughter. Yuri hadn't noticed the man with the child protective services badge until it was too late. Her parents had been going back to work after a lunch date together, when they were t-boned by a public bus. Both of them had been dead by the time the cops arrived. The man had come to take her to a safe place where they would take care of her. Her grandmother hadn't cared that she cried, and begged her to stay. She had left before the man had even helped Yuri collect her things. She had stuffed a hello-kitty suitcase Sam had gotten her 2 years earlier with a few toys, her clothes, and her mothers diaries before they had left. She had no idea what would happen next.

The first night she stayed in a facility were there were two of three other kids. It didn't take long for them to place her with a temporary foster family. The people were nice, but they treated her as if she were stupid. She wasn't stupid. She had the highest gpa in her class at her middle school. She also played the Violin really well. She was feeling more and more isolated every day. It was then she had begun reading her mothers diary. Inside she had found the first beacon of hope she'd had in days, in the form of man named Barney Stinson, the man her mother had believed was her father.

It had only taken her a day to find him. He had been married for just over 3 years and was living in the same apartment he had been in when he and her mother had met. His wife was a big time New York newscaster name Robin Sherbatsky. As soon as she found them she had used the emergency credit card Sam had given her the year before, and booked a ticket to New York. She hadn't told anyone what she doing, especially not Barney. She was afraid he wouldn't want to know her. Now here she was, sitting in a cab going in the circles around her fathers house not sure if she even wanted to get out and go in. If she didn't, she wasn't sure where she would go. Her grandparents didn't want her, as far as they were concerned she wasn't even their granddaughter. Her mothers family in Japan had disowned her after she had given birth to child out of wedlock, somehow she didn't think they would welcome that child with open arms. She barely even spoke Japanese. These people were her only hope.

"Pull over." She said to the cab driver finally. He had given her a very strange look when she had asked him to pull around the block a few times and reminded her of the meter.

"Okay kiddo." He said. She pulled out the cash she had gotten using the card at the atm machine. She wondered a little when it would get cancelled, because after that she would be on her own.

"Thanks." She said as the man pushed her blue Hello-kitty suitcase to the curb for her.

She pushed her dark black hair behind her ear and took in a deep breath. She was about to buzz herself into the apartment with a lump in her throat. When an attractive tall brunette appeared and opened the door for her. She smiled at the woman instantly recognizing her but not saying anything. She gave her a thank you nod as Robin walked to the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. She grabbed the small suitcase and decided to take the stairs. Hoping to clear her head before she reached the top. It was lots of floors. Her legs were wobbling by the time she reached the correct one. Robin wasn't in the hallway, meaning she had already made it inside. Yuri stared at the door for several seconds and started to walk away. Then she got back up her courage walked to the door and rang the bell. The door opened and a tall attractive man with blonde hair stood in the doorway. He looked just like the photos she had seen of him on the internet. Behind him she could see Robin, pretty and tall, looking as confused as the him. She started to speak as her knees gave out and everything around her went black.