Consequences
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, this is just something that came to me on a sleepless night.
"Mommy, why do you hurt daddy?"
Naru Urashima looked down at her six year old daughter in surprise. "What's that, Yume?"
The little girl hugged her stuffed kitten doll, fidgeting, "Why do you hurt Daddy so often?" She straightened her glasses, looking questioningly up at her with her father's eyes.
"I don't know what you mean." She said shortly.
Yume paced a little, nervously, in her fuzzy purple pajamas, little pajama footies making little sounds on the floor. "There's a girl in my class who said her daddy used to do stuff like that to her mommy, and her mommy isn't alive anymore." She sniffled, "I'm scared, mommy, I don't want daddy to die."
Naru smoothed her hair, "Don't be silly, sweetheart, Daddy isn't going anywhere. Mommy just has to make sure he doesn't cross any boundaries and that he behaves."
"Oh…." Yume looked up at her again. "Do you love daddy?" She knew daddy loved mommy. Daddy loved everyone. He was always so nice to people!
"Of course I do. We have a perfect marriage!" She said cheerfully, "We're the envy of all our friends here, aren't we?"
The little girl thought. Everyone loved mommy, and the other girls looked up to her, but she was so much nicer to them than to daddy. The Aunties were so different with their boyfriends, but some of them hit daddy a lot too. "I guess so, mommy…It makes me sad to see him hurt, though. I get scared he won't get up or he'll go away. I don't know why mommy's only scary with daddy, but you said it's to help him so maybe it's not bad…" She hugged her. "Night mommy."
Naru kissed her daughter's hair, a little stunned, "Good night, Yume, baby."
Yume padded down the hall to her parents' room, snuggling up to her daddy.
Keitaro yawned, "Yume? What's wrong, sweetie?" He'd tucked her in hours ago.
"I had a bad dream…"
He hugged her, "What happened?"
"I dreamed you didn't wake up when mommy hit you." She whispered, starting to cry.
He rocked her, holding her close. "It's alright, Yume, I'm not going anywhere, everything's going to be okay."
"Can I stay with you tonight?"
"Of course." He said.
Keitaro held his daughter until she fell asleep, then carried her to her room and tucked her in. When he went out to the kitchen, Naru was still working at her desk, fingers tap-tap-tapping at the keyboard.
"Naru? We need to talk." He said seriously.
She turned, and he was surprised to see tears running down her face. "We really do, Kei…."