Mom was very sick.

"Mom! It's bath time!" said Mob through mom's bedroom door. Mom had been in there for a really long time. She came out, sometimes, to go to the bathroom or to take very long baths. That was something that you did when you were sick, took long baths, to cook the germs out of you. Mom had been sick for a while and Mob knew that they weren't supposed to bother Fukuda for every little thig but this seemed liked a big thing.

Mom had been like this for a very long time.

"Skip it tonight!" said Masami, her voice muffled by her pillow. The kids never liked taking baths. They always splashed and kicked and screamed and made little terrors out of themselves. Well that was mostly Sho. She, Shigeko, just sat there until she flooded the bathroom. She never gave any indication of when she would flood the bathroom, and anything from soap in her eyes to being splashed by Sho could trigger it, and Masami did not feel like cleaning up a flooded bathroom.

"But mom, my hair has knots and Sho's all dirty." Said Mob. They had been outside all day. They hadn't gone to school or the library or the animal shelter or the pool or anywhere else. They had gotten up, had their cereal, and played in the yard all day. Mom made them sandwiches for lunch and then went back to bed. Now it was late, they'd missed dinner, and it was dark out. They had been playing in the yard all day and Sho was covered in dirt. Mob was less dirty but her hair was still uncomfortably knotted. Mom hadn't done her braids in a while so she had just let her hair be loose. The knotted mess that it had turned into was driving her crazy.

But she didn't know how to wash her own hair.

"So go take a bath." Said Masami. Shigeko was not a child, not a child in the sense that Sho was. She could do things for herself. She had always been very advanced for her age. She spoke in full sentences by two and could write in perfect hiranga by three. She knew how to count by twos and tie her shoes. She could life her own brother with her powers and could do very fine movements, too, according to Touichirou. Shigeko was his pride and joy. Well if Shigeko was so capable then there was no reason why she couldn't run her own bath.

"But you said that me and Sho are too little to take baths by ourselves. You said that we would flood the bathroom. You said that-" said Mob

"Shigeko…just…you and your brother are now, officially, old enough to run your own bath." Said Masami

"But I don't know how-" said Mob. She and Sho were now, officially, old enough to do a lot of things. They could have as much media and tablet time as they wanted to now, let themselves out into the yard, make their own cereal, and put themselves to bed. Mob read their stories, now, as best as she could. She knew more kanji than Sho. She was getting tired of their books, though, but mom was too sick to take them to the library. Mob wondered if they were old enough to go by themselves. She knew where it was…

She wished that mom would get better soon.

"You turn the tap and water comes out, Shigeko, that's pretty much it. You've been taking baths for your entire life, you know how it works, ok? Now let me sleep. Mommy…she's not feeling too good." Said Masami. That was who she was. Mommy. Mom. Mother. Wife. Mrs. Suzuki. Suzuki Masami. She had things to do but…but she just couldn't. Not now. They were fine. They were Touichirou's children, they were capable. Sho was…she needed to…Sho had Shigeko. Her father in feminine miniature. Small but capable. Logical. Untethered to the world of love and affection and emotions. Even now her voice was flat. Any other child would have been the least bit concerned. Not Shigeko. She didn't sound like she cared whether or not Masami lived or died, just that she kept up with all the things that a mother was supposed to do. Such a selfish child. Selfish like her father.

"Ok…I'll do that…but will you give us a bath tomorrow? And make breakfast? And…and take us to school? And the library? And…and play with us?" asked Mob. She wondered how long mom was planning on being sick for. This was getting weird. She wanted mom back. Even when she told them what to do and made them do extra school work and stuff she was…she was their mom and it was weird to be without her.

"Let me rest, Shigeko." Said Masami. There. That was all that mattered, wasn't it? What she could do. How she could be of service. What about what she wanted? What about who she was? This was her life, now. She existed in service to the children. In service to her husband. She had been doing this for years and years. Years and years of thinking that it could get better, of thinking that her husband would…would appreciate her….would care for her. But he…was he even capable of that? He had been so cruel…and he would come back and continue to be so cruel…and his children were, his daughter was, jut like him…

She was a sweet girl now but she was getting older.

She hadn't expressed any concern at all towards her mother. Sho, at least, asked her if she needed medicine and if they needed to call Fukuda. Shigeko just asked what Masami was going to do for her. Children were supposed to be selfish by nature, so maybe Shigeko was normal and Sho was unusually selfless, or maybe Shigeko had the same whatever it was that made Touichirou, well, Touichirou. Maybe it was an esper thing.

She was so glad that Sho was normal.

"Ok…I'll do that. Goodnight mom…" said Mob before she walked away. She went to the bathroom and turned the taps on. They were kind of stuck so she used her powers. She turned on the hot, only, because she knew that the bath was supposed to be hot. Mom…she couldn't remember how far mom turned both taps…but she knew that it had to be hot.

"We're not supposed to play with the tub." Said Sho as he came into the bathroom to see what his sister was doing. There was a black mark on the wall from where he touched it. They'd been, well he'd been, playing in the dirt patch in the back yard. She'd just been telling him not to get too dirty. That was how girls were, they never liked to have proper fun.

"I'm not playing, mom said that she's too sick to give us our bath so I'm…she said that we're old enough to take our own bath." Said Mob as the tub filled up. This wouldn't be so hard. She just had to…to remember all the steps. There. There was the bar of soap and the shampoo, that went first, and then the conditioner and then rinse and…and then comb her hair and braid it…

She didn't know how to braid hair.

But she was big, now, and she had to figure it out. She wasn't little anymore, she was capable. Dad was always saying that she was capable. She may have been little but she had to ignore that, like dad had always said, because she was Suzuki Shigeko. That meant that she couldn't be like the other kids. She couldn't be afraid or not able to do stuff.

"I don't want to take a bath!" said Sho. He wasn't that dirty and, besides, big sis was not mom! She didn't get to tell him what to do just because she was older!

"Sho, we both have to. We haven't taken a bath in days and we could get really sick." Said Mob trying to make as much sense as she could. She knew that she could get sick but that wasn't why she wanted a bath. She just felt gross. That was a girl thing. Boys never felt gross, in fact they liked gross things, and Sho was a boy so he didn't mind being all dirty….or that they were still in their pajamas from days ago. They knew how to dress themselves but mom usually set their clothes out for the day.

"I don't care. You're not mom, you can't tell me what to do." Said Sho

"I know that I'm not mom but I'm older and I think that we need to take a bath." Said Mob

"Well I think that we don't." said Sho crossing his arms. What was with her? They'd only gone a few days without taking a bath, it wasn't like there were flies stuck to them or anything.

"Please?" asked Mob. She mostly just didn't want to take a bath alone. He didn't care if she was dirty but she was…and she didn't want to be alone. Mom was sick in her room and dad was far, far, far away and now…now it was just her and Sho.

"Just take a bath by yourself." Said Sho

"I don't want to be alone." Said Mob

"Why? Do you think you'll drown?" asked Sho

"No, I just don't want to be alone." Said Mob

"…are you scared?" asked Sho. He wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything, neither of them were. Dad said that fear was just a sign of weakness. He didn't want dad not to like him…but sometimes he still got scared of things. The castle was their home and he couldn't ever remember living anywhere else but sometimes it could be scary. Like at night. Or sometimes during the day. Even though it made no sense. Nothing could hurt them, dad had said so, and anyway nothing had any reason to try and hurt them. Big sis said that any spirits that they saw were the kind the just wanted to be left alone.

"…kind of…and also we need to take a bath. Mom's sick so she can't take care of us so that means that we need to be able to take care of ourselves. Like Dad always says, we aren't little anymore and we need to be strong." Said Mob

"…so it would make mom happy if we took a bath?" asked Sho

"I think so, yeah. She can't help that she's sick so we should at least try and take care of ourselves. Besides, she said that we're old enough to take a bath on our own now." Said Mob

"We've been old enough for a lot of stuff lately." Said Sho quietly. He was bigger, he was five now, and he still hadn't gotten his powers…but at least he was old enough to make his own breakfast. That was something that mom was supposed to do…but she was sick and he was big enough to take care of himself. Dad would be happy that he was taking care of himself.

He still wanted mom back, though.

"I know. It's not fair because you're a year younger than me so you get to be old enough before I was." Said Mob

"Maybe I'm just more awesomer than you are." Said Sho

"Awesomer is not a word." Said Mob

"You're just saying that because you know that I'm awesomer." Said Sho

"We're equally awesome." Said Mob

"You keep telling yourself that, big sis." said Sho

"Are you going to get in the bathtub or not?" asked Mob

"Fine, fine, I'll get in." said Sho. If it made mom happy then he'd do it even though he wasn't that dirty. Mom was sick so the least they could do was make her happy. He didn't know why mom didn't just call Fukuda. They weren't supposed to call him for every little thing but mom had been sick since dad left. This was not a little thing. He hopes that it's not serious. He's never been to a hospital but he's seen them on TV and he knows that he never wants him mom to ever go to such an awful place.

Ever.

"Do you want bubbles?" asked Mob as she put her clothes in the hamper. It was kind of full and she had to use her powers to get the top to stay down. Maybe mom would say that they were old enough to wash their own clothes next. She could do that. She could do whatever mom wanted her to do. It was easier, doing the things that mom wanted her to do.

"No, but I want the colored stuff." Said Sho

"Eww, no, I hate taking green baths." Said Mob shaking her head. Mom may have always said that life was full of compromises and all of that but there were some things that you just could not compromise on.

"We have other colors." Said Sho kicking his clothes over to the corner. Big sis used her powers to put them into the hamper. He wanted to kick the hamper over.

"Anything but green, I hate green, it makes the water look gross." Said Mob. She used her powers to get their bucket of bath bombs out from under the sink. She hoped that mom got better soon so that they could make more. They didn't have to make more, though, they could do whatever mom wanted.

Mob just wanted her to get well soon.

"Do we have any more with glitter in them?" asked Sho even though glitter was for girls, everyone said. He still liked it. He wanted green, though, even if it didn't have any glitter. He was going to compromise, though, which mom was always telling them to do. She said that life was all about making compromises whether you felt like it or not.

"Just pink ones." Said Mob taking out the bucket and shaking it. Sho made a face that Mob thought was quite uncalled for. Pink was a lovely color. Mom said that it was Mob's best color and bought all of her clothes in pink. Sho's were mostly blue. It made sorting the laundry easier.

"Any more red?" asked Sho

"Pink is kind of like red." Said Mob hopefully. Sho stuck out his tongue. Great, just great. He has to take a bath and it's not even the color he wants.

"We have blue, too, and purple." Said Mob helpfully. She didn't want to end up in a fight with Sho. They almost never fought for real and she hated the rare times when they did. They were brother and sister, they had to get along. That was why she had a little brother, so she could have a friend that would be with her always and forever.

"Do the purple…and I changed my mind about the bubbles!" said Sho. Well then if he couldn't have glittery then he'd have bubbly. Even though the bubbles sometimes got in your eyes and made you cry and stuff.

"I think I should have added them before." Said Mob as she turned off the hot water tap. The water level was kind of high. She knew that it got higher when there were people in it, too. She hoped that the bathroom didn't flood. Mom said that when the floor got wet it was bad for the house. Mob didn't want to ruin the house, it was their only place to live.

"Just pour a whole bunch in now to make up for lost time." Said Sho. He wanted to get this whole thing over with so he could get back to playing before it was bedtime. Mom hadn't been making them get in their beds since they got sick but maybe she might this time. He hoped that they got to stay up late again. Last night they stayed up so late that the bad words shows came on. He didn't get what was happening in them or what most of those words meant but it was still fun to stay up late…but he did kind of hope that mom busted them again, too, because then that would mean that she had gotten back to normal.

"Are you sure that's how it works?" asked Mob. She thought that it was the water pouring in that made bubbles, not just putting the bubble potion in…but she wasn't about to flood the house and make the family live outside in the playhouse in the yard or anything like that. They wouldn't all fit. She and Sho barely fit these days.

"Would I ever steer you wrong?" asked Sho

"Yes, yes you would. Like remember the time when we tried to paint the bedroom wall because you said that it would be a good idea? Or the time when you made me catch those squirrels with my powers and we tried to hide them in our room? Or the time with the raccoon and the cakesters-" said Mob

"Just pour the stuff in, big sis…" said Sho. What was this? An acquisition?!

"Ok, ok." Said Mob. She poured in a good amount of bubbles, she thought. Mom usually measured it in capfuls but Mob just poured it in with her powers. She made sure to use a lot, and then put in their bath bomb too. It looked kind of ok. She knew that it was the water moving that made the bubbles grow but there wasn't a lot of room left for more water. Well she could let some out water out but she had already filled the tub with hot water once, she wasn't sure if there was enough water left in the water heater for two baths' worth of water.

"You go first, I'm gonna get toys." Said Sho as he ran out of the bathroom in search of his plastic zoo animals. Mom usually only let them pick two toys each for the tub but mom wasn't there right now. He was going to bring the whole menagerie! It was going to be awesome!

"Bring my mermaid cats!" said Mob as Sho ran down the hall. She heard the door to their room slam opened and then shut. She decided to get in before he dumped all of their toys in the tub and there wasn't enough room left for her.

She swung one leg over and dipped it into the water.

And screamed.

Masami had been drifting in and out of consciousness when a loud scream brought her, permanently, back to the land of the living.

First there was a scream, then the house shook, then the sound of something shattering a million times, and then the rug by the doorway began to chance colors…because it was wet. That was water seeping in from under her bedroom door.

She jumped out of bed and ran down the hall. She slipped, once, and went tumbling into the hall wall. Some plaster gave way due to her foot hitting it and her leg got cut in the wall hole. She barely felt it. Something was wrong, very wrong. Sho could have been hurt!

They both could have been hurt.

That was Shigeko who was screaming. That wasn't normal. Shigeko was not, and had never been, a screamer. Neither was the hallway being flooded with water…warm water. Hot water. The bathroom was not far from her bedroom. That was where the water was coming from…water and…Masami felt something under her palm. She lifted her hand up and saw blood….and white slivers.

Porcelain.

"Mom! Mom, come quick! There's blood EVERYWHERE! The bathroom EXPLODED!" shouted Sho as he ran from the bathroom. His feet hurt a lot but big sis was doing even worse! She was all bloody!

"Sho! Get away from there!" said Masami. She climbed to her feet and shoved her son down the hall and away from the bathroom. Bits of broken porcelain poked through her soaked socks as she ran to the bathroom…or what was left of the bathroom….

Exploded.

The bathroom had exploded.

There was nothing left. Nothing. Just twisted metal and broken porcelain and water…so much water…flowing from everywhere…

And in the middle of it was Shigeko.

"Shigeko…." Said Masami. Shigeko was crying in the middle of the floor completely naked. Sho had been naked too…a bath. She had told Shigeko that she was old enough to take a bath and…one of her legs was red. Red collected at the edges of a large, white, blister…a scald. That was why there was so much hot water….Shigeko had scalded herself…because she was six years old and could not be trusted to run a bath on her own.

She had dropped the ball.

Sho could have been hurt.

"Sho! Are you ok?" asked Masami. She tuned so fast she almost slipped again. She had pushed Sho away to keep him safe…but she may have pushed him too hard.

"My feet hurt and there's stuff stuck in them but I'm fine." Said Sho. It hurt but he'd had worse pain in his life before. He just wanted to know if big sis was ok. She was hurt worse than she was and it was much worse because she was a girl and girls were super sensitive and stuff.

Moms too, apparently.

Mom had run over and picked him and was asking over and over again if he was ok even though he just said so.

"Thank God you're alright!" said Masami as she held her son close. She was never, ever, ever leaving him alone like that again.

"Mom, forget me! What about big sis!?" said Sho as he pushed his mom away. He didn't know what happened but he knew that it had to have been his fault. He was the one who left her all alone. One minute everything had been ok and the next there had been that loud sound and the house shook and then the whole hallway was flooded…and big sis was all bloody and she had the red and white thing on her leg that looked like it hurt a lot…

"Shigeko…" said Masami. Right. Her daughter….her daughter needed her. Her daughter had done…this…but she needed her. She knew that she should have been there, she should have been the one to run them a bath…and now she was paying for it. Shigeko was hurt, badly, and had been hurt badly enough to lose control…and she could have so easily lost control again…

And Masami had no way of stopping her.

Or fixing this.

The burns, the scalds, the cuts, or the bathroom. There was nothing that she could do for…for any of this. She could only hold Shigeko until she calmed down and…and then she had no choice but to call Fukuda. She didn't want to, she didn't want this to get back to her husband, but she had to. The one thing Touichirou cared about was psychic powers and the only time he had ever gotten even the least bit frustrated with Shigeko had been when she lost control of her powers.

She had no choice.

She made the call and then after that all they could do was wait. Get as dressed as she could get them and wait. She managed to calm Shigeko down enough just by holding her. Calm enough to get her into a nightshirt and to get one of the kids' shows on the TV while they waited. Fukuda was close. Touichirou hardly ever took him with on these long trips of his. He liked having someone close by in case something happened. Something like this. He didn't want them going to the hospital. He hadn't even wanted Sho to have been born in the hospital. Just another thing about her husband that she could not even begin to understand.

Fukuda was better than a hospital, anyway.

"That looks like it hurts." Said Fukuda as he ran his hand over Shigeko's leg. The girl nodded and buried her face in her mother's arm.

"The water was too hot." Said Mob simply. What else could she say? It hurt a lot and she couldn't remember what happened after she stepped in to the tub? That once dad heard about this he would be so mad at her for losing control? That she felt awful because Sho had gotten hurt? That she had ruined the good bathroom and now her mom would be mad at her for that and dad would be mad at her for losing control?

Maybe they would send her away.

Where had that thought come from?

"Well luckily for you, little lady, this is going to be a quick fix." Said Fukuda. A scald. A bad one. The cuts and scrapes had been easy. She just had a lot of them, that was all, and so did her brother. Apparently a bathroom had exploded…and she had been responsible for that. Her. A six year old girl.

"It hurts…" said Mob. She could feel her hair starting to float. Mom stopped breathing for a moment and Mob kept her powers quiet. It was easier, now, because she had done all of that. She was tired, too, very tired…and it wasn't even that late…

"Fix it! Fix it!" said Sho as he shook Fukuda back and forth. Big sis needed him!

"Sho!" said Masami

"It's alright, he's just worried about his big sister." Said Fukuda before he got to work. He was tired, they had so many cuts…but he had to do this. This was…this was bad. He didn't fault Shigeko one bit for what had happened. She had an accident with her powers, that was all, and it was to be expected from someone as young as her. She was more powerful than most adults and she was only six years old. He read the same reports Suzuki got, he knew why Suzuki had taken in the girl, and he knew exactly why Suzuki should have been at his daughter's side.

Masami couldn't handle it.

She looked awful. She always taken such good care of herself, before, and he had never seen her like this. Bags under her eyes, hair greasy from not washing, and in her pajamas…pajamas that it looked like she had been wearing for some time. The house was a mess, too, which was odd. She was usually so good about picking up after the kids but there were toys and cereal pieces everywhere…and the faint stench of sour milk…oh. That would be the pile of half eaten bowls of cereal in the corner. There were chips everywhere, too, and what looked like the middle of a loaf of bread just sitting out on the rug…and that made no sense. Masami…she never would have let this happen.

What happened?

"Stay! Stay and play! And help mom, too, while you're at it!" said Sho after big sis was all healed up. He didn't want Fukuda to go, he never wanted Fukuda to go. He played with them and he talked to them and stuff. Mom wasn't even doing that anymore because she was sick.

"Masami?" asked Fukuda. She averted her eyes and tucked her leg in close under herself.

"It's nothing." Said Masami softly. She just wanted all of this to be over. She had messed up. She had dropped the ball and now her children had been hurt but she was fine. It was just a scratch. She wanted to be alone.

She was never alone.

"No it's not! Mom's been sick for days! Right?" asked Sho. Mob nodded.

"She's been stuck in bed since before dad left…and her leg has blood on it." Said Mob softly. She pulled up Mom's nightgown so that Fukuda could see the cut. Mom pulled it down really fast.

"It's really nothing." Said Masami

"Then let me fix it, Masami, please." Said Fukuda

"It's…I'm fine. I don't need help." Said Masami. She didn't want any help. She didn't want anyone. She just wanted to be left alone. This was her life. This was her house and these were her children and she Mrs. Suzuki.

"Masami, please, let me fix it. Let me help." Said Fukuda. Something was not right. A lot of things weren't right. His job was to help the Suzuki family and that was what he was going to do.

"Mom, please…you've been sick for so long." Said Mob. She put her hand over mom's. She had been so sick…and now she wasn't letting Fukuda help her…she didn't get it.

"Come on mom, let Fukuda help. It doesn't hurt or anything!" said Sho

"There's no helping this." said Masami softly. She felt a hand over her cut. A warmth started in her cut and spread through her entire body. She closed her eyes but she could still see the slight, green, glow of Fukuda's powers.

"See mom! Fukuda can fix anything!" said Sho. Masami didn't say anything, she just smoothed down his hair. A futile gesture as, even as filthy as it felt, it still defied gravity.

"I can't fix anything…but I can try. If you'll let me." Said Fukuda. He didn't know what had gone wrong, here, and he knew that he was probably overstepping but…but he couldn't just leave this be. He had been leaving things be with this family for years…ever since Suzuki first had him patch his son up. He knew that bad things happened to people who defied the boss. He knew that, for all of his talk of a better world, Suzuki didn't much care who he hurt or how…and he knew that he couldn't be selfish. Something had gone wrong and it needed fixing…so why not…try…at least? For the sake of the children, if anything.

"I don't know." Said Masami pulling away from him. She had a house to take care of. She had to have the repairmen, no, the contractors come around tomorrow…and she had to clean up this mess…and get the kids cleaned up…she had so much to do.

And she was the one who had to do it whether she liked it or not.

Life was a series of compromises after all.