Shiina Yuuki was a simple person. She had very simple tastes and didn’t demand much from life. That’s probably why she got what she wanted whenever she asked for it—Good Karma and all that. But sometimes she wondered, if Karma was real, then what had this boy in front of her done to deserve all this?

“Doesn’t talk much,”  the woman said, arm encircling the boy she had pressed to her side, “doesn’t seem scared either. Just…you know.”

He was ten? Eleven? Thin, pale even for a mixed kid. Unusual-looking.“What’s your name?”

“Yoshida Rein.”

 “I’m Dr Shiina,” she said, taking her lab coat off. It was freaking hot. “Thank you, Kaede. I will take it from here.”

The boy grabbed Kaede’s wrist, eyes wide. “It’s okay, Rein. Dr Shiina helps all of us girls. She will take care of you too. Don’t be scared.”

“Come on,” Shiina tapped on the exam bed she had set up in her basement clinic. “It’s just a little check up to see how you’re doing.”

Kaede tapped his head, and mouthed a thank you to Shiina before she left, stilettos clacking. The boy shuffled to the exam bed. Shiina didn't have any stairs to help him get on it—on account of all her patients being adults, of course. 

With the Yakuza, discretion mattered more than medical licenses, and she had become the unofficial medical support for the Yakuza in the area. She'd treated lacerations, fractures, the occasional gunshot. 

But a kid? 

“Here, let me help you up,” she said, “there we go. You’re pretty light, aren’t you?” 

He was clean. Trimmed finger nails, healthy hair. “How’s school?”

“Okay,” he said.

“Not much of a talker, eh?”

“Sorry.”

Shiina blinked. Now why had he gone and said that? Pulled right at her heart strings. “Don't be sorry…” She cleared her throat, “Uhm…say aah…” Premolars were starting to come in, no tooth crowding, a loose canine that was nearly ready to come out.

A light bruise on the side of his jaw. The round imprint of someone’s thumb. 

Shiina swallowed.

His hoodie and sweatpants covered every other inch of skin. Shiina would have to ask him to take it off, to make sure he was not hurt elsewhere. 

How did one even ask a kid like this to do that? 

“So uh, where are your parents? Sisters, brothers?” she said, watching for any tells about his feelings for them. 

His heart, predictably, was racing. “They are at home. My sister is at the Orphanage.”

Shiina took her stethoscope off, and stood in front of him with her arms crossed. 

The orphanage? That usually meant money—or behavioural issues. Sometimes both. “And where do you live?”

“I used to live at home. But now I live with M-Masahiro-San.”

Shiina tapped her foot. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

How was the Oyabun allowing something like this? They were married, but Masahiro-San lived in a separate house a short distance away from the Oyabun’s mansion. She mostly let him do as he pleased as long as he did the tasks assigned to him. Prostitutes of legal age came and went, but to keep a boy at his house?

He had not sunk this low before. 

“Yoshida-Kun, do you know why Kaede brought you to me?”

The boy had his fingers interlocked on his lap.  “I need to get some vaccinations,” he said, “Kaede-San and her friends said you keep them healthy. I know you can catch diseases from…that stuff.”

“What stuff?” Shiina pulled her chair closer and sat down.

The boy searched her eyes. Too assessing for his age. “I know you know.”

Shiina huffed a wry laugh,“And why have you not asked Kaede or me to help you get back home?”

“Because I made a deal,” he said, squeezing his hands together, “and to keep my family safe.”

Shiina raised an eyebrow, “Won’t the Police help you with that?” 

“They haven’t.”

“I see.” Shiina said, strangely intrigued by how smart the kid was. She leaned forward, “Tell me this, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Rein gave her a confused look. Like he hadn’t thought that far yet. Then he frowned, thinking hard about his answer, “A Lawyer.”

“That’s a good one,” Shiina nodded, “you remember that goal, okay? That’s what you want to be, you’ll have to focus at school. Study really hard. No matter what. Understand?”

Rein  nodded. 

Shiina took a deep breath, “I will need you to take your clothes off,” she said, “is that alright with you?”

He nodded again. 

Shiina swallowed. The signs were unmistakable. 

Shiina might put Kaede at risk, but she would have to let the Oyabun know what was happening. She called Kyouya, and decided to keep the boy there till he came by in the evening. He was the closest to the Oyabun, and would know the right way to break it to her.

Rein didn’t flinch when she gave him the shots. Not even when she drew blood. He didn't seem psychologically traumatized, and yet, his responses to things were anything but typical. 

Intriguing. 

“Listen here, my pretty,” she said quietly, “I want to see you here at least once a fortnight, for medical check-ups. And none of this ‘I can’t tell you what happened’ bullshit. You will need to answer me honestly. I am a psychiatrist by training. The kind of Doctor that helps heal minds. Forty-five minutes, every two weeks, you spend here, got it?”

 “Okay.”

“Good.”