Hello again!! Welcome to chapter 2!! This one is gonna be heavier I can feel it.. even though I only have a few sentences done at the time of writing this. Anyways, CWs: physical abuse (towards Shizu), pregnancy, insecurity, verbal abuse (towards Sanemi), guilt. With all that said, please be safe!
—
Sanemi was in the midst of handing his mother laundry from a basket. It was a nice, breezy day.. so she'd wanted to hang up some clothing to dry in the cool air. Sanemi had noticed that his mother was getting rounder, just like miss Amaterasu.. he didn't want to hurt her feelings by pointing it out, so he stayed silent, staring, looking away quickly whenever she’d notice. It had been about a month since his mom started to get sick, a month since she’d figured out she was pregnant, and a month since she’d asked Sanemi if he wanted a little sibling. He’d nodded, but hadn’t gone crazy with excitement or anything. He’d been too shocked by the events of that day, from start to finish, to be too ecstatic about the idea of having a baby brother or sister. He’d just said whatever he could to make his mama feel better.
His mom hung up the last of the laundry before glancing towards the house at the sound of a door slamming shut. Sanemi looked as well, knowing all too well what it meant. His father was home, but unlike the past few days where it had been late at night, at a time where the giant man would only stomp towards his futon and go to sleep. His footsteps might’ve woken Sanemi, but that was all. That was the worst of it. Now, it was daytime, and his father sounded like he had more energy.
Sanemi stepped away and grabbed his mom’s kimono, watching the shoji door. He looked up at his mother, searching her face for her emotions. She immediately noticed, and looked down at him before a smile spread across her face. It was soft and warm, like a gentle hand on his face or a small squeeze against his mother’s newly washed kimono. It soothed his anxiety, even when he heard his father’s rage-filled voice erupt from the house.
Sanemi winced, frozen in place. His father was stomping around the house, asking about dinner, asking where they were.
His mother set a hand over Sanemi’s and started to pry them from the fabric of her clothing. Sanemi frowned, clenched his fists tighter. His mom crouched and grabbed his face. “Mommy’s going to talk to your father. Stay outside.” She pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, then pulled back and brushed some hair from his eyes.
Sanemi protested: “I wanna go with you. I don’t want him to hurt you, mommy.” His eyes started to well up. His mother’s smile began to crack and wilt, the space between her brows wrinkling. Her own eyes got teary, and after she reached up to wipe them away, she smiled again.
“You’re a very brave boy.” She used her thumbs to wipe the wetness under Sanemi’s eyes.
The door flew open.
Sanemi clung onto his mother.
—
Sanemi sat at dinner that night. His father was gone again. He’d come earlier to eat and look for money. However, despite the lack of his suffocating presence, Sanemi couldn’t bring himself to eat, nor could he bring himself to look up from the table. His mother sat across from him, chewing on rice slowly because her face was probably sore. Her appearance as it was now was incredibly difficult to take in, so he didn’t look at her.
She set down her chopsticks slowly, he could see in his peripheral, he glanced at her hand before looking downwards once more.
Silence hung heavily over the table, with enough pressure to make Sanemi feel like he was being crushed. He could feel his mother’s gaze burning holes through him, but still stubbornly refused to look up at her. After a long, drawn in breath from her lips, he exhaled and reached towards him.
His eyes flitted upwards, staring at her outstretched hands. Then, slowly, they climbed up to her face.
One of her eyes was swollen shut, and her usually soft lips were busted and chapped with some remnants of dried blood left behind, but despite all of that, despite how much it probably hurt, she was offering him a smile.
“C’mere..” She whispered, voice scratchy. Sanemi’s lips began to tremble, as did the rest of his body, as a wave of sadness, so horrible that he thought he might throw up, washed over him. He stood up and rushed around the table, his mother’s arms tracking him until he barreled into her, where they then embraced him. He began to let out soft, drawn out cries into her chest, tears welling in his the back of his closed eyes before they surfaced, seeping through his lashes and forcing him to blink them away. All the while, she squeezed him and pet his hair.
“Why.?” He hiccuped.
“Why what?” She murmured back.
“Why does he come back and just.. and just..! He just hurts you!” His voice wobbled with every forced out word, his mom just shushed him, rocking side to side as though he were a small baby. She pat his back in a made-up rhythm, listening to his cries get softer and softer.
Sanemi wouldn’t know this now, and maybe not ever, but his mother was very angry. Mostly at herself. She was pregnant, doing everything on her own, unable to protect her first son from seeing all of the abuse she continued to endure. His father never stopped, no matter how much she would try to reason with him, he was far too belligerent, too far gone.
Another part of her was angry at her own son, because he hadn’t been able to look at her. She’d wanted to cry that he was hurting her, but hadn’t dared to open her mouth until she could force anything else out. It was hard to think rationally, it was hard to be stable, but for her son, she’d do anything to give him as happy of a life as possible.
That she promised.
—
Sanemi’s mom made sure to take her baby into town as often as possible, to get snacks, to make friends, to get out of the house.. He could be a kid this way, without anyone yelling at him to be quiet, or threatening to punch his teeth in. Sanemi was smiling now, carefree, happy, just as he should be.
2 months since she’d found out she was pregnant, and Sanemi had grown attached to miss Amaterasu’s baby boy. His name was Masaki, and he looked strikingly like his mama. Sanemi had been allowed to hold him for a little bit every time Amaterasu and his mom would cross paths.
It all started about a month after Masaki was born, that’s when he’d been outside for the first time. Sanemi had been staring at the baby boy, and as soon as Miss Amaterasu noticed, she eagerly asked if he wanted to hold him.
Since then, Sanemi had been politely asking. Like now, he shyly walked towards the woman, who had her son in her arms, and wordlessly reach out. Amaterasu smiled wide, cooed at him (which made his cheeks heat up), and slowly crouched down to his level. “Remember to hold his head, okay?” She said softly as she placed the baby into Sanemi’s arms.
She stood up after that and looked at his mother. “He’s a natural!” She beamed. “He’ll be so gentle whenever your baby is born!”
His mother smiled slightly, “Thank you.” and set a hand over her stomach.
“What gender are you thinking it’ll be?” Amaterasu tilted her head.
The other woman shrugged. “I feel like it’s going to be another boy..”
“So he’ll have a baby brother! That’s perfect!” She pressed her hands together. Upon noticing her friends halfhearted laugh, she blinked and frowned a bit. “..Are you okay, Shizu?”
“Oh,” she sighed. “I’m alright.”
Amaterasu smiled at her, then reached up to delicately brush some fly away hairs from her face. “..It must be your pregnancy,” she nodded. “I promise it’ll be alright.”
Sanemi’s mom, Shizu, looked at her son, who was smiling down at Masaki tenderly. He adored that little boy, and she was pretty sure Masaki adored him back.
However, she wasn’t worried about Sanemi not being a good older brother. She was scared of having two young boys. Two young boys, witnessing the wrath of a man.
She looked back towards her friend, who she knew meant well, but it was like she didn’t understand.
“…Yes. It’ll be alright.” She replied finally.
—
Hey… It’s me… I’m sosososo sorry if this sucks. I promise little Genya will be born soon!!! Maybe in chapter 3… probably in chapter 3. I just Sanemi and Genya to have cute brotherly moments alreadyuhhh. Anyways, thanks for reading!! Ilyyy!!
