Kuwabara's shoulders sagged as he followed Shizuru through their front door. The day had been awful. Not only had he lost the race to Urameshi and badly hurt his nose, all the boys at school (except for Kuwabara's friends), had laughed at him all day long.
Shizuru hadn't made things any better. She'd almost fallen to the sidewalk laughing when she'd seen Kuwabara's swollen nose and found out how he'd gotten it.
"We're home!" Shizuru called.
Their mother bustled out of the kitchen at the sound and smiled brightly at the two, her blue eyes dancing. "Welcome home, you two!"
Then she caught sight of Kuwabara's nose and her eyes widened. "Oh my! Kazuma, what on earth happened?"
Without waiting for a reply, she scooped a protesting Kuwabara up in her arms and set him down on the kitchen counter.
"Mom! I'm too big for you to pick up!" Kuwabara complained.
"You most certainly are not," his mother said, wetting a wash cloth and gently laying it over his nose. "Now tell me what happened, and you had better not have gotten in another fight."
Kuwabara hunched over in shame. "I tripped during a race and hit my nose on the ground."
His mother's face softened then. "My poor baby; don't worry, Mama will make you feel better. How about I make your favorite fish for supper tonight?"
That did make Kuwabara feel better. "Will you?"
She laughed, and brushed some strands of orange-red hair from her face. "Of course, baby. Now you keep that cloth on your nose, and go start your homework, okay."
Kuwabara hopped off of the counter. "Yes ma'am."
As Kuwabara walked to his room though, Shizuru said something that made all his good feelings go away.
"Just wait until Dad gets home."
Word Count-297