Rating: M (for language... and what does it say about Jounouchi's dad that a chapter where Jou is all of five gets an M rating just because of his dad's mouth?)

#2 News

Mommy had been crying all day.

It had started in the parking lot of the doctor's office. They'd been coming to this doctor since as long as Katsuya could remember. About as long as Shizuka had been alive. There were colored blocks in the waiting room and he and Shizuka would build towers as tall as they were and laugh when they came tumbling down. They always came tumbling down. Shizuka would get frustrated sometimes. She was only three and little, not a big five-year-old like him, so she couldn't ever seem to get her towers quite as tall as his, but he would help her. It's what Big Brothers do. They would build the towers together and knock them over and laugh, her red head bowed against his blond one, until the nurse called "Jounouchi Shizuka!" and then they would go into the doctor's office and he would use all the funny machines to look into Shizuka's eyes. Katsuya wanted the doctor to look into his eyes, too. Sometimes he did.

But not today.

Today he didn't look in Shizuka's eyes, either. He just talked to Mommy using big words Katsuya didn't understand and Mommy held Shizuka tighter and tighter, kissing the top of her head. Katsuya tried to climb into her lap, too, but she pushed him away. "Not now, Katsuya!" she said sharply. Mommy was rarely sharp. Daddy, yes, but not Mommy.

After they left they doctor's office, she bundled them into their seats. Shizuka had a regular car seat, but Katsuya was a big boy, big enough for a booster with the regular belt. When they were in the seats, Mommy got into the front seat and started the car, but she didn't drive. She just sat there at the wheel and then she started to cry.

"Mommy?" he asked. "Why you crying?"

She sniffed and took a great shuddering breath. "It's nothing, Katsuya-chan." And then she started the car and drove them home.

At home she put on the television set and let them watch longer than she usually did. Mostly she sat in the kitchen and cried. Whenever he tried to go to her, to try and find out why she was crying, she would turn away and pretend she wasn't crying at all.

Dinner came and went. Daddy didn't come home for dinner, but Katsuya was just as happy when Daddy didn't come home. He was always grumpy and smelled real bad and would say bad words and yell and make Mommy and Shizuka cry, so dinner without Daddy wasn't so bad. After dinner, Mommy gave them baths and read them stories and tried to pretend she wasn't crying.

Not long after they went to bed, he heard Daddy come home. He slammed open the door and stomped in, throwing his shoes against the wall.

"Shizuka had her doctor's appointment today," their mother said in a flat, tired voice.

"Yeah?" came their father's reply.

"Aren't you the least bit interested in what he has to say?"

There was a loud bang, like someone pounding on the table. Katsuya jumped. "Goddammit, Mine!" Daddy shouted, his words slow and slurred.

"Shh! The kids are sleeping!"

"I don' give a shit! I'm so fucking sick of this bullshit! The whole fucking world don't revolve 'round fucking Shizuka an' her fucking eyes!"

Katsuya cringed at the bad words, then suddenly his mattress sagged under additional weight. He opened his arms and Shizuka climbed up and settled there, clinging tightly to him, her face buried in his chest.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that we're done, then," they heard Mommy shout back, her voice very high-pitched and tight. "The doctor said there's nothing left that can be done, not unless we suddenly win the lottery. She's going to go blind, Raidon! Completely blind by the time she's a teenager, do you get that?"

"Is this news to you? We've known this since she was fucking born, and our lives have been fucked up ever since! Let her go blind and be done with it for Chrissake!"

There was no answer from their mother, and then their father grumbled, "Fuck it. I need another drink."

Katsuya could feel Shizuka shake in his arms as she began to cry. "Shhhh," he soothed, "don't cry, 'Zuka. It's okay." They didn't know what any of that meant, but Daddy was often shouting about Shizuka and the doctors and her eyes. "It's not your fault," Katsuya croaked into his sister's hair, his throat forming an angry lump. It wasn't fair that Daddy was always mad at Shizuka! It wasn't her fault she had to go to the doctors! It wasn't her fault they were always looking at her eyes! She would've been just as happy never going there again, even if they did have those cool blocks.

"Katsu," she whispered, crying into his chest.

"It's okay, 'Zuka. Big Brother is here."