Three

"This is the place," murmured the gruff Nergal lackey who was accompanying her.

Ruri slowly turned her head to look out of the car window, almost reluctant to stare at her new home. The sign at the gate read Seven Oaks Orphanage. Beyond the sign Ruri saw an old long red-brick house with two storeys, surrounded by the seven colossal trees after whom the place was named. In the dreary day they looked especially sinister, stark black shapes against a bleak grey sky. They were almost like prison guards, Ruri observed. The building itself was in a bad state of repair, but the golden tulips in the garden and children's paintings in the windows made it look slightly more welcoming. Only slightly mind.

The car pulled up just outside of the orphanage, but Ruri didn't move. She waited for the door to be opened for her by the driver until moving. Childish, she knew, delaying the dreaded moment for as long as possible.

"Come on," growled her escort impatiently as he hauled out her small suitcase. He seemed embarrassed to be performing this duty.

The pale eleven-year old followed him up the path into the orphanage grounds, every step taking her a pace towards a dark, uncertain future. Her mind was clogged up with useless thoughts and wasn't operating with its usual competence. For now, she was resigned to her fate and automatically walking ever onwards towards it.

Once they were halfway along the front path, Ruri saw a couple of children, a boy and a girl, neither more than five years of age, playing together with a ball. They were smiling and laughing, content in the innocence of youth. However, when they noticed the intruders and met Ruri's blank stare, they stopped and fell silent. Their faces suddenly became cheerless as they watched this newcomer enter the building's reception.

The hallway was dank and unwelcoming, doing nothing to improve Ruri's first impressions. Grubby hand marks marred the walls and frenzied shouts came from unseen sources. A musty smell hung in the air, giving the place an inhospitable atmosphere.

"Ah, you must be Ruri!"

The woman who had approached them was somewhere around the sixty year borderline by Ruri's guess. Her dark hair had been lost to greyness and her form was plump with age. Wrinkles lined her merry face, and her petite eyes smiled along with her mouth from behind her tiny pair of spectacles. She had taken Ruri's hand and was shaking it gently.

"Welcome to Seven Oaks, Ruri! I'm Miss Nishida and I run the orphanage. We're very glad you've come to stay with us and we'll do our very best to make sure you're comfortable here."

"Here is her personal information," replied the Nergal man, shoving a few papers into the old woman's face. He was obviously eager to get the child off his hands and leave as soon as possible.

"Thank you, good sir!" replied this Miss Nishida person, taking the papers and giving them a brief look-over. "Now Ruri, how about I show you up to your room and then afterwards you can meet the other children!"

Ruri replied only with the tiniest tip of her head. Her face remained impassive and her mouth stayed shut. Miss Nishida remained smiling as helped she helped the child haul her suitcase up the stairs – it was clear Ruri wasn't the first unenthusiastic orphan to come here.

"Did you have a nice trip?" the old woman asked, hoping to get the child to talk a bit more.

"It was fine," Ruri replied dully.

The landing was long, with five doors on each side, each one presumably leading to a bedroom. The door outside which Miss Nishida stopped was the second to last on the left wall before the corridor ended in a grimy window.

"Now then. This'll be your room Ruri!"

As the elderly woman pushed open the wooden door, Ruri looked through to her room and her worst fears were confirmed. There were three beds and many signs of occupancy in this room – stuffed animals sat on two of the beds and clothes were strewn across the floor. This was a shared room. She couldn't tolerate that, she craved privacy. On the Nadesico she'd been lucky enough to have her own quarters, so she'd had ample personal space. But here, sharing with two people who she didn't even know? How could she deal with that?

"I know it's not exactly five-star, but this room has a nice view of the back garden and Tina and Mikoto are such nice girls! Your bed is over there, by the wall."

"It's great," she replied without enthusiasm. She slowly walked in and dumped her suitcase on the bed that was to be hers.

"You can keep your clothes in the closet over there, and there're a few drawers in the bedside table if you need to use them for all your little things!"

"I see,"

"Now Ruri, the house rules are written here," Miss Nishida gestured at a sign posted on the back of the door. "You seem like a sensible girl, so you shouldn't have any trouble with them. Breakfast is at 7:30 am and supper is at 7:30 pm. We made it those times so it's easier to remember! The bathroom is midway along the landing and there's warm water from 6:30 am if you want a shower. Those are all the basics."

"Thank you," murmured Ruri, desperately hoping that this woman would give her a peaceful moment alone.

"How about I make you a nice cool drink and then take you to the games room and introduce you to the other children?"

Looking to one side, out of the window, Ruri said, "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather unpack first." She needed time to herself, time to think.

"Well, if you're sure," Miss Nishida beamed back at her. "How about we introduce you to everyone at dinner then?" Mercifully, she walked over to the door. "If you need anything at all, I'll be down in the office. It's just at the bottom of the stairs. Now are you sure you're okay, dear?"

"Yes," Ruri stated heavily.

"Then I'll see you later, dear!" Mercifully, the elderly woman disappeared.

For the first time since this morning, Ruri was alone. With that woman gone, she turned her attention to the room she was standing in. It wasn't a particularly large room, but there was enough floor space so that it wasn't cramped. The wallpaper was a faded blue and was peeling hideously in places. As for furniture, there were three beds, one each against opposite walls and another in the centre. A small closet of light wood stood beside the door, looking out of place in the room. Two large windows, on the long wall opposite the door, gave a view to the back garden below, as Miss Nishida had said.

Sighing deeply, she turned back to her bed. Her eyes fell upon her suitcase lying there. It was time to unpack, but she felt a strange reluctance to do so – as if that would confirm the fact she was staying here for the rest of her childhood. She eventually decided that she should at least unpack her clothes, if only to give her something to do for a few moments.

She opened her suitcase, and took out her Nergal uniform. Although she would be no longer required to wear it, she found it comfortable so she might get some more use out of it. Handling it with care not to crease it, she hung it up in the closet, where several other articles of clothing had already been stored by her roommates. Next she took out her mobile, the one with the colourful fish. She'd packed it between two sets of clothes so that it wouldn't be damaged while they were travelling. For now, she set it gently to one side.

She unpacked her other clothes and put them away. At the bottom of her briefcase, underneath her blue towel, was her laptop, which she'd managed to smuggle out of the Nadesico. In theory it was property of Nergal, but she felt that after a decent year's service, not to mention Akatsuki's filthy betrayal, it was the least they owed her. Besides, she would go insane without a computer to mess around with. For now, she left it under the towel in the case, for safety's sake. She's just finished pushing the nearly empty suitcase under her bed when she heard the voice.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ruri looked around to see a slight girl, around her own age, with shiny purple hair tied in two long plaits ending in buttercup-yellow bows. Her small face had high dimples, and was currently displaying an expression of outright hostility, her small mouth down-turned and her eyebrows sternly knit.

Ruri replied, her voice strictly neutral. "My name is Ruri Hoshino. I am new here."

"Oh you're the new girl," The girl strode into the room as if she owned the place. "I wish Miss Nishida had told me that my new roommate was a zombie."

Puzzled by this girl's unjustified aggression, Ruri struggled to think of something to say. Did she truly think she was the living dead, or was she just being offensive? What basis would this offensiveness have? Ruri had never met a normal girl of the same age as her and didn't know what to think. Instead of a response, she tried a friendly question.

"What's you name?"

The other girl, now rummaging through a bedside drawer, replied with an acidic glare. "Why would I tell a zombie?"

"I assure you that I am human," Ruri said levelly. "My pale complexion is a result of genetic modification conducted before I was born."

The hostility in the girl's large blue eyes turned to utter disgust now. "What are you talking about, you freak?!"

Ruri couldn't find anything to say to that, but as it turned out she wouldn't have had a chance to anyway since the girl continued talking.

"Let me get one thing straight," she said. "We don't want you here."

"Fine," replied Ruri calmly. "If we are being honest with each other, then I don't particularly want to be here either. But since we're sharing a room, I suggest we don't waste our energy on arguing."

"Hmph." The still nameless girl wrinkled her nose at her and strode out of the room. Ruri was left a little disturbed by this encounter. Had she done something to offend her? Were all the other children here just like her? She shook her head clear of those thoughts. She was only worrying because she was bored. With a brief, characteristic sigh, she lay back on her bed with one of her books, savouring this moment to herself.