Rating: T for language
#3 Jolt!
She had always wanted to see the ocean. They weren't supposed to go alone, of course; but he was nine now, certainly grown-up enough to take care of his seven-year-old sister by himself and take her to the beach. The bus ride wasn't that long and they would only have to transfer once.
"Won't Mom be mad?" Shizuka asked.
"Let me worry about that," Jounouchi replied. (No one except Shizuka or his parents called him Katsuya anymore. He was nine after all.)
It was too cold for bathing suits, and he didn't want Ma to get suspicious anyway, so they just went in their street clothes. The bus took them up a long winding cliff-hugging road and let them off about five hundred meters from the beach. He took her hand as they walked the rest of the way up the road, their walk turning into a run when they could see the ocean sparkling in the sun just beyond the top of the hill.
Most of his school friends would make fun of him if they saw him now, holding his little sister's hand, taking her on a trip without being forced to by his parents. Younger siblings were to be treated with disdain; pests whose sole purpose in life was to make older brothers miserable. Especially younger sisters, who had the double curse of both being younger and girls. I mean, who would be caught dead hanging out with any girl, let alone your kid sister? So when they were at school, Jounouchi acted like all the other kids and did his very best to pretend his younger sister didn't exist. And when he did have to acknowledge her presence, that she was an annoyance to him, like a fly at a picnic.
But his school friends weren't here now and Jounouchi was free to be the Big Brother he was supposed to be. He and Shizuka were different from other brothers and sisters, and although he knew instinctively the boys at school would never understand this, she would always be the most important person in his life. He had to look out for her; who else did she have? Their mother, yes, but Ma had worries of her own. She spent so much time fighting with Dad over Shizuka… fighting over money for more doctors' appointments or new and experimental treatments for her vision that was oh so gradually getting worse. Fighting over whether or not she should go to a special school (Dad didn't want to spend the money on the private school in Domino where they could work with her individually when there was a perfectly good public school in Tokyo for blind kids, but Ma didn't want to send her away for ten months out of the year). Fighting over whether or not Shizuka's very existence made their lives hell.
Jounouchi clenched his fists just thinking about their father and the way he blamed Shizuka for everything that was wrong in his life. Like it was her fault he spent all his money on booze and gambling and couldn't hold down a decent job because he was always drunk.
So while his parents battled it out, it was Jounouchi who took care of the day-to-day. He was her Big Brother, her Onii-chan. He made sure she didn't listen to the horrible things her father would say. He made sure she had everything she needed. He helped her with her homework if she had trouble seeing the questions or if the print was too small. And if she wanted to see the ocean, then by God, he'd be the one to take her. Sure, he'd be grounded for a week, a month maybe, when his mother found out, but it was a small price to pay for this moment of bliss for Shizuka.
They spent their day playing in the surf (Ma was going to kill him for getting his street clothes wet!) and building sand castles. The sun glistened on Shizuka's shoulder-length auburn hair, making it look redder than usual, and her hazel eyes danced in glee when a wave got Jounouchi, dousing him from head to toe as he tried to scramble up the beach away from the water. They didn't even think about leaving until the sky was turning pink and the sun had disappeared behind the cliff. He couldn't remember ever seeing Shizuka so happy.
"We'll come back here again," he promised, pinky swearing to her.
It was the loud crash that awakened him, and then he heard his father's low growl. He and Ma were fighting again. Big surprise, that. Jounouchi grimaced, but immediately crawled out of bed and crept next door to Shizuka's room to check on her. He poked his head in the door and could tell immediately she was still sound asleep. Both she and he had become quite accustomed to sleeping through any ruckus his parents created. He wasn't sure why this one woke him, and he was about to go back to bed when his mother's words froze him in his tracks.
"You know what, Raidon? This just isn't worth it. You wanna drink your life away? Fine. But leave me out of it. I'll take the kids to Tokyo and stay with my mother. Then you won't have to worry about Shizuka or her vision problems affecting your pathetic little existence ever again."
"Like hell you will!" his father roared, and Jounouchi jumped. Glancing once more into Shizuka's room to make sure she was still asleep, he crept further down the hall to listen. "You can do what you want with the girl, but no son of mine is gonna be raised by a bunch of women. He's already turning into a fucking girly-boy, the way he dotes on that girl."
Jounouchi clenched his hands into tight fists and bit down on his lip. He was not a girly-boy!
"Oh yes, God forbid he actually care about anyone, that would be tragic," his mother seethed. "Not that you have anything to worry about. I've spent the last three out of four weeks in the principal's office at school because of Katsuya fighting on the playground. Believe me, Raidon, the one thing you don't have to worry about is that Katsuya is becoming too… I don't know, whatever you think being a decent person is. You have done quite a good job into turning him into a little clone of you!"
Jounouchi stiffened, his heart beating harder in his chest. Like his father? He was nothing like his father! Yeah, he got in a fight or two at school, but that was totally not his fault! Those guys were asking for it, making fun of him or Shizuka. And he loved his sister! His father? He didn't love anyone but himself. Jounouchi was nothing like him!
Was he?
He didn't want to hear any more. The blood pounding in his ears, he slipped quickly back to bed, only half listening as his father shouted, "So help me, Mine, if you take that boy away from me, I will hunt you down!"
He'd gotten into another fight at school. Ma had kept Shizuka home for another doctor's appointment and one of the boys from another class had started singing "Three Blind Mice" on the playground and Jounouchi gave him what for. When the teacher came to break things up, rather than face another trip to the principal's office and another phone call home to his mother, he bolted. He was still stinging from a few nights ago when she'd said he was like his father. He was not and a few fights with jerks who deserved it didn't make him so. He ran off the playground as fast as he could, out the school gate and toward home. If he could get to his mother first, if he could explain what happened before the principal twisted everything to make him sound like the bad guy, maybe she'd understand. Maybe she would see he wasn't like his father at all. He loved his sister, that's all.
And the way Ma had been this morning when he'd left for school, all girly and junk, bolstered him. She'd hugged him and told him that she loved him, that she'd always love him, then had even kissed him on the cheek, which he so couldn't stand—he was too old for that mushy stuff! "Be good," she'd said after that, but in a mom kind of way, not in an angry way. In that kind of mood, he was certain she would listen. She had to.
When he got to his street, he saw Ma's car parked out front. Not surprising, she was taking Shizuka to the doctor today, right? Only… something wasn't quite right. Ma was loading up the trunk with suitcases. Lots of suitcases and Shizuka was standing next to her. It looked like she was crying. Since when did you need suitcases to go to the doctor's?
He started running down the street just as Ma slammed closed the trunk. She took Shizuka by the hand and led her around to the back seat of the car. "Mommy, I don't wanna go!" he heard Shizuka cry, "Not without Katsuya-chan!"
His mother knelt down to his sister's eye level. She had to shout so Shizuka could hear her over her crying, so Jounouchi could hear her, too, even though he was still pretty far down the street. "Shizuka, quiet! I told you, we're going to go see Grandma, just us girls. Katsuya has to stay here with Daddy." She wiped the tears from Shizuka's cheeks. "Now be a big girl and get in the car."
Shizuka nodded and climbed in. Jounouchi's heart started beating faster, his mother's hug and kiss and everything she'd said that morning suddenly taking on a new, more ominous tone. I love you, Katsuya, remember that. I'll always love you. Be good.
They weren't going to visit Grandma; Ma was taking Shizuka to live with her! Without him! He knew it!
"Shizuka!" he screamed, racing down the street as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Katsuya?" His mother looked surprised. She would stop and talk with him and realize she had to take him, too, if she was going. She wouldn't, she couldn't leave without him!
But she didn't stop. As if he were a wild animal bearing down on them instead of her own son, a terrified look came to her eyes. She quickly got into the front seat and slammed the door shut and turned over the ignition.
"Shizuka!" he screamed. "Ma, no, wait!"
He saw Shizuka's face in the car window. "Katsuya-Onii-chan!" she shrieked.
"Shizuka! Don't go! WAIT!"
"Onii-chan!" he heard her call again, and then the car pulled away. He ran as hard as he could, but he couldn't catch up to the car and soon it was gone and he came to a stop, panting in frustration, tears streaming down his face.
His mother, he noticed, hadn't even looked back.