Mob and Sho hadn't taken a bath together in a while.

Not since they had been little…well not little-little but younger. Not since they were eight and seven….maybe. She didn't have an exact date for their last bath…and that was sort of sad. Their last bath had happened and she hadn't even noticed. If she had known that they would have been taking their last bath together then she would have done something special. Put in a cool bath bomb or poured in a whole bottle of bubble bath or just let him skin his hair or something. Their last bath had come and gone….and she wondered how many other 'lasts' they would have without her even realizing it. The last time they played together or…or ate together…or watched TV together…or even saw each other…

Mob didn't like to think about that.

She didn't like to think about how fast things could change between them without either of them even noticing. One day they would be too old to play together or….or eat together…or just…be together. They didn't have forever. They would grow up and Sho would rule the world and she would be with dad…and she doesn't like to think about that. She doesn't want to think about how things will change in the future. She had enough changes going on right now.

Too many changes.

Too many changes with herself. Things, changes, that she didn't want people to know about. She knew that she would always have to wear socks, long socks, and shirts with sleeves…so no more trips to the beach for her. That was fine. She could live without going to the beach. She could live with always having to wear long socks or tights, too, and she could live with never wearing a sleeves shirt or dress again in her life. Minori said that her arms were chubby anyway. Yes, Mob could live with being…like this. All….well she had no idea why she was suddenly turning into a werewolf or something but she could live with this….she had no choice.

Sometimes things changed….that was just how life went.

Mob assumed that this was just how life went. She knew that mom, when she had been around, had shaved her legs and armpits sometimes. Mob had seen her do it. That was just a part of getting ready like doing her makeup or brushing her hair. So Mob wasn't too worried about turning into a werewolf….mostly. She had never seen her mom naked, at least not when she had been old enough to remember since there were pictures of mom and Baby Sho in the bathtub together so there must have been pictures of mom and her when she had been a baby too, so she couldn't speak to if everything about turning into a werewolf was normal….and there was no one she could ask. The only other girl around, well person who had been born a girl, was Minegishi and she didn't want to ask them about this…then they would KNOW if she asked them about this…and also she didn't want to ask Google either because Hatori could go through people's search histories, he did it for fun even though it seemed sort of nosy, and then he would KNOW and if he knew then she would just die on the spot.

She'd had had no choice really.

So she couldn't ask anyone. Well maybe Minori because she knew a lot of things about a lot of things…but if this was as weird as Mob figure it was then Minori would have made fun of her, she had a bad habit of making fun of her friends, so she probably wouldn't ask Minori either. She probably would have had no idea what Mob was talking about, anyway, since she wasn't anything like a werewolf. She could wear shorts and short skirts and no socks and sleeveless shirts and dresses and stuff…not that Mob was jealous. She was how she was. She mostly just wanted to know if she was normal…jealousy didn't come into it at all. She wasn't jealous of people who weren't getting all werewolfy. She wasn't jealous of people who could look at themselves naked in the mirror without freaking out. She wasn't jealous at all in any way.

She really wasn't.

Change was just….a part of life. Sometimes you knew what changes were coming, like when you were going to move or when they were taking your favorite kind of strawberry milk off the market, and sometimes changes made no sense at all and came out of nowhere. Like when you got out of the bath and you had to dry off and get dressed quickly without looking because if you did look then you would see what else was different about you and then you would worry because you had no idea if you were supposed to look like that or why you looked like that all of a sudden and you wish that you could ask someone but you can't because this is private, the most private, so you just have to wait and see if it'll get any worse. If you'll wake up one morning all covered in hair like a werewolf….or something.

Or maybe this would be the end of it.

She didn't know. All she knew was that she was taller and she sort of had breasts now, they were there and they hurt when she touched them, and also she was all werewolfy now….and maybe this was just what happened to you when you grew up. She didn't know. She wished that mom had been there. Mom would have told her if she was normal or not. It was ok if mom saw her naked, she was her mom and moms gave you baths and stuff, and then she could have told Mob if she was supposed to be like this or not…and then Mob could have stopped worrying and been able to look at herself naked in the mirror again and stuff…

But she didn't have a mom anymore.

Mom was gone. That was a change that she had gotten used to. Now she was the one in charge. That was another change that she had gotten used to. Things in life changed sometimes and you had to get used to them. If they were outside of your control. Sometimes things were outside of your control. Sometimes your mom left in the middle of the night, sometimes your dad left you permanently in charge of your little brother, and sometimes you woke up one day, went to take a bath, and then got a little freaked out because all of a sudden you were turning into a werewolf and stuff. Change was just…something that you had to get used to…especially since there was nothing at all that you could do about it.

Things changed all the time.

Some things hadn't changed. Sho still really hated bath time. She knew that something bad had happened to him when it came to water but…but that did not mean that he got to just not bathe anymore. He would be sick and dirty and stuff. Also he had been to the beach that day and that meant that he smelled like the beach and also he was covered in sand and she could not just let her little brother get away with being all covered in sand and beach smell and stuff. She was just…she was just not going to let that happen. She was going to be a good big sister even if it meant that she to stand outside of the bathroom all night waiting for Sho to take a bath.

At least she had her DS to keep her busy.

She loved the game that Hatori had gotten her. He knew a lot about games and it was amazing that he had found a game with no fighting at all that wasn't a puzzle game or something. He was so smart like that. He was so smart and thoughtful…one of the most thoughtful people she knew…and she needed to stop thinking about Hatori. She needed to focus on Sho, on making sure that he took his bath…and also about how she couldn't hear any water moving at all.

She really didn't like it when he did things like this.

"Sho, are you actually in the tub?" asked Mob. She felt like she already knew that answer to that question. She couldn't hear any water moving. The facet was off and Sho…she knew that he was still in there. He hadn't climbed out the window and run away, she could still sense him, so he must have been out of the water again….

She really didn't want this to turn into one of those all night things.

She would have to text with Minori later. She was mad at her dad because he was being all unfair and talking about not going back to Japan once her school started up again even though all of her friends were there and stuff. Mob knew how she felt. It was hard being moved around all the time and stuff. She knew how bad Minori must have felt so she was happy to have been there for her friend….and she would have been there for her friend if her little brother hadn't decided that this would turn into an all night fight sort of thing….

But that was a mean way to think about her own little brother. She loved Sho more than anything.

"Yeah, totally!" said Sho. She didn't hear any water moving….but maybe he was just being super still. Maybe he was in there and taking a bath and….and she looked down at her DS. His guy was in her house…and his guy couldn't do things on his own, computer people weren't alive in there contrary to what a lot of movies wanted you to think, so Sho must have been playing with his DS…but she had checked his pockets before he went in….but maybe he had hid his DS in the bathroom again….

Sho was a very smart person like that….but Mob wished that he would have done more to use his intelligence for good.

"But Sho…then why is your character in my Animal Crossing house?" asked Mob. She wished that he would have just taken a bath already. It had been a lot easier when they had both been small enough to fit in the tub together. Then she could have washed him herself and then that would have been the end of it….but they were too big to take baths together these days…and also even if they had both been able to fit she still would not have wanted him to see her naked. They must have taken hundreds and hundreds of baths together before but now…

Now she got the feeling that they might have been too old to be taking baths together.

"Because…um….I'm playing DS in the tub." Said Sho. Mob…hoped that he had been lying to her. If that DS fell in the water then he could have gotten very hurt if not killed. Also the DS would have been ruined but she could always go to the store and buy him a new DS. She couldn't just go to the store and buy herself a new little brother. There was only one Sho in the whole world and he was irreplaceable.

"Sho! You could get electrocuted and then die!" said Mob. She didn't hear any water moving….so hopefully he had been lying to her though. She didn't want him to tell lies, telling lies was very wrong, but she also didn't want him to die of electrocution….or of anything. She wanted him to live for at least a hundred more years.

"That's a risk that I'm willing to take." Said Sho. He wasn't afraid of taking risks. That hadn't changed. He had been little, very little, and he had been able to walk on top of the garden wall without being even the tiniest bit afraid of falling. He had fallen so many times, though, time after time after time…and then he had always been able to get back up again. Even that scary time when he had broken his arm. She had seen it…and if she closed her eyes she could still see it…and if his DS fell into the water with him in the tub then he would have ended up with way worse than an arm with extra corners in it….and Mob didn't want that to happen.

Well she could always call Fukuda.

But then that would involve going over to Fukuda's house to talk to him….and she would do it if it were life or death…but she would have preferred it if Sho didn't end up in any life or death situations. Fukuda would have told dad that she had messed up. That she had let something bad happen to her little brother. Yes, that was why she didn't want to talk to Fukuda. That was the only reason. It didn't have to do with the fact that she sort of had breasts now, they were tiny but they were there, and then he would see them and then he would say something mean about her breasts like he had said about Minegishi's breasts. Mob didn't want him to say mean things about her breasts…or anything at all. She didn't even want him to notice that she had them at all. She didn't like the idea of him…or anyone really…looking at her breasts and then talking about them….even though she knew that they were unusually tiny, Minori had said so, but so were Minegishi's and he had still made fun of them….

So she REALLY hoped that Sho wasn't doing anything that would get him so hurt that she would have to call Fukuda.

"Sho….please stop playing DS and just bathe. You have to take a bath…come on. You can play Animal Crossing with me after your bath is done with." Said Mob. She really wanted him to just….listen to her. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn't. This was one of those times when he didn't. It would have been a lot easier if she had been in the bathroom with him…but then if she had been in the bathroom with him then he would have wanted her to take a bath with him and she couldn't do that. She knew that it wasn't weird for brothers and sisters to take baths together, and that they had taken plenty of baths together when they had been kids, but they…they were still kids but they were not little kids anymore…and she maybe felt like they were too old to be taking baths together like that.

"I can do two things at once." Said Sho. She knew that he could do two things at once, like when he did his homeschool work and watched TV at the same time even though she wished that he wouldn't have…or when he ate dinner and drew at the same time even though she wished that he shouldn't have…or all the other ways that she wished that he just…would stop trying to multitask. She loved him, she really did, but sometimes she wished that he would have listened to her more…even though that made her a very bad big sister, maybe, because sometimes she was…not all the way happy with the way he was acting….like now.

"But…why not just do one thing at once? I feel like that would be easier." Said Mob. She tried to sound patient. She was patient. Even though she wanted to take her own bath. Even though she wanted them to have some time together before is bedtime. Even though she wanted to be able to do something besides sit outside the bathroom all night…and even though she wanted to be able to feel less…unhappy….right now. Frustrated…but she couldn't be frustrated with him. He was her little brother and she loved him and when you loved someone then you were nice to them and stuff…and she was not being very nice right now….

In the way that she felt.

Sometimes you had to be hard on someone. That was also a sign of love, Minegishi had told her, which was why they never forgave Shimazaki easily when he really messed up. But that was them. They weren't brother and sibling like she and Sho were brother and sister. Mob was a big sister and she had a little brother and big sisters always had to be nice to their little brothers. They had dad and dad was mean enough to Sho for at least ten people if not more. She had to balance dad out like mom had balanced dad out. That was something that hadn't changed since they had been little. There had to be someone there to balance out their dad and stuff and before mom had left she had been that someone...but now that someone was Mob.

"You'd think so but no." Said Sho. Mob….she loved her brother so much. She made herself stop being frustrated….even though she knew that he was still playing DS. Mom had never been frustrated with Sho, not once. So Mob couldn't be frustrated with Sho ether. That was just how their family worked. She had to be the nice one because mom had been the nice one. Dad could be nice too but he had never learned how to be nice to Sho…even though he'd had ten years to figure out how to be nice to Sho…so it fell on mom to be nice to Sho when she had been around and now that she was gone the responsibility fell on Mob.

"Little brother….please just take a regular bath. Please just scrub with soap and then use shampoo and conditioner and then….and then you can come out and we'll play Animal Crossing together. How does that sound?" asked Mob. There. She had been nice there. She had done her very best to sound nice and maybe now that she had sounded nice then Sho would listen to her and then they could just stop fighting and being frustrated….and stuff….

"I'll use soap but if you want me to wash my hair then you're going to have to come in and take a bath with me like when we were kids because I am not washing my hair tonight. I washed it last night and then two nights before that. It's clean." Said Sho. Mob wanted to tell him that hair was not something that you could just…not wash. His hair was going to get all greasy…and also it had been plenty dirty when he had gone in. He'd spent the day at the beach with Shimazaki and while Mob had no idea what it was that they had done there, she couldn't go to the beach anymore for reasons, she did know that he had come home smelling like the beach and totally covered in sand. So he really needed a bath and he could not skip his hair tonight like he had in the past….and also he should not have been skipping washing his hair on those past nights either.

"Sho…you were at the beach again today. Your hair is all sandy." Said Mob. He couldn't argue with that. He knew that his hair was sandy and he knew that he had to wash it. These were facts, not opinions, and Mob had not gotten her facts and opinions mixed up. That rarely happened to her…and she still thought that it was a fact that strawberry milk was the best kind of milk in the world even if Minegishi had said that it was just Mob's opinion that strawberry milk was the best and that, as mammals, they should not have been drinking milk past the point of being weaned and also that they should not have been drinking the milk of other animals because they were humans and not animals. That had been Minegishi's opinion…and also that had been the closest that they had ever come to having a fight in their whole friendship.

"It comes out on it's own. It always does. It's not like I glued the sand in my hair or anything. Gravity is going to make it all come out on it's own." said Sho. Mob sighed and made her aura stay still. Yes. She knew that gravity made things fall, she was the one in charge of homeschooling them, and she also knew that nobody like it when there was sand all over the house. She hoped that the next place they lived was far from the beach…and also that Sho stopped being bothered by the water. It was just a bathtub. It was too shallow for him to drown in and also if anything happened he knew that she would save him. She was his big sister, it was her job to save him, and that included saving him on the off chance that he actually ended up drowning in the bathtub….and also she had to save him from whatever the long term consequences of not taking baths were.

She was responsible for him. she was his big sister.

"I know it does. All over the house and dad complains about there being sand on his socks and also it gets all over you when you're asleep and then you wake up and you can't get back to sleep. So please just wash your hair on your own." Said Mob. If they had been younger then she could have just washed his hair on her own. She knew how to go really fast, so fast that it was done before he even knew it, and she knew how to use her powers to keep the water off of his face too. She could have gone in there with him and stuff…nothing was stopping her…well she was stopping her. if she went in there with her clothes on she would get wet and if he felt like taking a bath with her then she would end up hurting his feelings by saying 'no'….so she would stay put out here where she belonged.

"Nope. The only way my hair is getting washed is if you do it." Said Sho. Mob…knew when she had lost. Sometimes you lost and you just had to accept it and wait to try again another day. She knew that she would have to wash his bedding tomorrow because it was going to get all sandy, now, and it was going to smell like that beach…and also she knew that he was going to be itchy all night…but she didn't want to fight with him…

She loved him and when you loved someone you hated fighting with them.

"But….fine. At least….at least run a wet washcloth through your hair….I guess." Said Mob. She just wanted him in the tub at this point…but she still didn't hear any water moving. Well she had tried. She would try again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day until they grew up and Sho's wife became the person who had to give him his baths. There was always tomorrow and tomorrow…they would fight again. Sometimes they fought. They had fought for their entire lives, sometimes big fights and sometimes little fights, and that hadn't changed.

Well they fought less.

That was a thing that changed. Sometimes things changed, sometimes they stayed the same, and sometimes they stayed the same in their changes. Like how she had changed. Like how she was older and taller and her body was being all weird but she was still Mob. She was still the person who loved her little brother and took care of him…and would take care of him until…until whenever the last time she had to take care of him would be. She didn't know. She didn't know when their last bath time fight would be. She didn't know when their last dinnertime fight would be. She didn't know when their last fight over changing clothes or doing homeschool work or going to bed would be…but she did know that she wouldn't notice. She wouldn't notice just like how she hadn't noticed their last bath, either. It would pass her by…and she would be sad when she did notice….but maybe she would just had to either start noticing things or start getting used to being sad…or maybe she should just accept change.

Changes happened.

Sometimes things changed suddenly like you woke up and your mom was gone. Sometimes things changed gradually like you woke up and you had turned into a werewolf. Sometimes things changed quickly but you didn't even notice….like when you and your brother took your last bath together. Change was a thing that happened and you had to get used to it. No matter how much you hoped and wished things were always going to change….and you had to get used to the changes….even if they were unwanted or you didn't know why they were even happening….

Because, really, you didn't have a choice.