Do you regret it, mom?

You always leave

Kairi sighed, face buried in her hands while she was sitting in the kitchen with a glass of gin and tonic on the table,  which she probably shouldn't be drinking in the middle of the night but it had been a rough day, hell it had been a rough few years and it didn't show any signs of getting better.

She downed the rest of the gin and then cringed at the hit back from the taste. "Ugh..."

Gakuhou was probably upstairs still awake, waiting for her to go back.

She grimaced and felt her skin crawl. "Fuck..."

Things were now so bad she didn't even want to share the same bed as her husband, everything was twisted up.

Kairi rubbed her eyes tiredly, slumping in her seat.

She felt like she was sinking deeper into a mess she couldn't lift herself out of...

Then, there was a pitter patter of small footsteps that made her look up, the footfalls too soft to be her husband's.

"Hm?" She frowned and stood up, the steps coming from the stairs as little feet made a faint creak. The steps were quiet, like the person was trying very hard not to be heard.

She realised it was Karma even before she saw him round the corner on the landing, but what caught her off guard was that the bedsheets he was struggling to carry were the fresh ones only put on today. He'd also changed into different pyjama shorts than the ones he'd originally worn for bed.

"Baby, what are you doing?" she whispered, standing in the archway of the kitchen while Karma froze on the spot like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "You didn't have an accident, did you?" she sighed, barely smothering a groan since cleaning up that was not what she needed right now and Karma was supposed to be fully potty trained since he was seven!

Kids had accidents, though, it happened. No use getting upset about it...

Karma's eyes were wide, fists scrunched up in the bundle of sheets. "...Don't tell dad," he whispered very quietly, catching her by surprise since she'd never heard him sound so meek before, like he was terrified. Terrified like Hayashi had been. "Please."

(M'sorry...don't...sir, please...don't...sir, please don't.)

Kairi's throat burned like she'd vomit up the gin and tonic she'd had. "...Give it here." She took the soiled sheets from him. "Where are your wet shorts?"

Karma pointed at the bunched-up sheets, embarrassed. "...I put them all together."

"Right." She heaved a sigh, giving the bundle of sheets a quick look over. "Well, come on then. Let's clean this up."

A look of relief washed over his face, like he'd expected her to be angry instead of helpful.

That thought made her frown deepen, but she pushed it away so she could focus on cleaning up this mess.

The laundry room was a small room down in the garage – a new dryer and washing machine fitted last year since the old ones had broken down after it couldn't keep up with the load of repeated washes of the boys' club kits and uniforms.

Their new maid had complained that Karma was always the worst at keeping his white karate robe clean, that it was always getting stained with grub and blood... other students' blood, she'd been reassured by Gakuhou who'd almost sounded proud. Like that little detail was supposed to make it any less disturbing.

Karma had excitedly claimed it was the blood of his enemies...

Kairi grimaced and shook the memory away.