A Work In (No) Progress…

The woman's angry eyes searched the room for anything amiss and landed on the shattered picture frame on the floor. Her expression somehow managed to grow even more angry as she turned to the two children in the room, looking for one to direct her wrath towards.

"I'm sorry, Yamaguchi-san," Hitomi stepped forward and bowed apologetically, "I made a mistake. It was an accident-"

She expected it when Yamaguchi grabbed a fistful of her hair, but it still hurt, and she still cried out as her foster mother yanked her around by it.

"You stupid girl! Talking out of line! Wrecking my house!" Yamaguchi ranted, using her other hand to deliver sharp smacks to Hitomi's head, neck, and shoulders.

In all the chaos, as Hitomi did her best to endure the attack, she surreptitiously signaled to her foster brother to leave the room while Yamaguchi was distracted.

Her foster brother hesitated for a moment before scurrying out of the room, tossing one last guilty look at Hitomi as he did so.

He was the one that actually broke the picture frame. It was by complete accident, of course. He knocked it loose while dusting it as the two of them carried out their daily mountain of chores. Hitomi wasn't about to let him face Yamaguchi's wrath for it. He was just a kid, only eight years old. He didn't deserve to be treated like this.

She was older, she could take it. This wasn't the first time she took the heat for a younger foster sibling, and it likely wouldn't be the last.

Yamaguchi flung Hitomi into a wall. The remaining picture frames on the wall rattled from the impact, nearly falling as well, and wouldn't that have been a kick in the ass? Hitomi fell to the ground, nearly landing in the broken glass. She held back her tears as her foster mother loomed over her, strands of purple hair still clenched in her fist.

"Clean this mess up!"

And so she did.

---

The sounds of shattering glass filled the apartment.

"What was that?" Yamada's worried voice came from the master bedroom, brisk footsteps growing closer.

Hitomi carefully nudged Eri behind her as Yamada entered the kitchen, tensing when his eyes locked on the remains of Eri's drinking glass at the two girls's feet.

"I'm sorry," Hitomi said, bowing apologetically. "I made a mistake, it was an accident." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eri open her mouth to speak, but Hitomi subtley motioned for her not to. Eri frowned, but remained quiet, watching the interaction with a worried pout.

Neither Hitomi nor Eri had been staying with Yamada and Aizawa for very long, Hitomi a short amount of time than Eri. Hitomi still wasn't sure what to expect from living here. Learning all the unspoken rules and nuances of a new home was always nerve wracking, and here it was even more so for her. She liked Yamada and Aizawa, respected them even, but she had no idea what they were like when angry, especially behind closed doors.

She just knew that they'd probably hit way harder than any foster parent she'd had before.

Eri had been coloring at the table while Hitomi did her homework across from her. The younger girl had left her drinking glass just a little too close to the edge of the table, and when she reached for another crayon, her elbow had bumped it off. It was an accident, and Hitomi didn't think Eri should have to deal with any punishment for that. Eri had already been through too much in her young life.

Besides, Hitomi was older, she could take it. Just as she had so many times before in all of her other homes.

But Yamada didn't grab her by the hair, he didn't grab her at all. Or slap her, push her, he didn't even yell.

He just brushed it all off.

"Hey, hey, accidents happen!" he said breezily, his hand waving through the air like he was shooing away the apology. "Neither of you are hurt, are ya? Here, come away from that broken glass and we'll get it all cleaned up."

With Yamada's direction, the three of them worked together to clean up the glass. Yamada and Hitomi doing all of the sweeping and gathering of the pieces, while Eri made sure to keep the cats away from the kitchen and occasionally held the dustpan for them.

The whole time, Yamada was his usual, upbeat self. He wasn't even irritated over the loss of the glass or having to clean up a mess that wasn't his own.

"There we go!" he said with a satisfied sigh once everything was nice and neat. He reached out, patting both girls on the head. "See? No harm, no foul! Just be more careful next time, 'kay, listeners?"

And strangely enough, that was the end of it.

No, really.

Hitomi would eventually come to learn that that was just how it was in this house. No matter what mistake or mess was made (because this wasn't a one time thing, accidents happened) Yamada and even Aizawa never hit them or screamed at them or pushed them around. They responded…reasonably, Hitomi thought. With patience.

Yamada and Aizawa sat Hitomi down a couple of times, explaining to her that they knew when she took the blame for Eri, and it had scared her at first. She thought for sure they would punish her for lying, and then punish Eri for her mistakes, but all they did was explain to her that she was safe. That Eri was safe. That neither girl would ever have to feel fear living in this house.

It was crazy, receiving that reassurance. All her other foster parents put in effort to make sure that the children under their roof, her especially, feared them to keep them in line. She'd never been faced with people who didn't want her fear.

Crazier still was the fact that they actually meant what they said to her.

There were no empty promises with Yamada and Aizawa. They were men of their word, steady and consistent.

It was… nice.

Hitomi didn't notice when exactly she stopped putting herself in front of Eri whenever something happened, when simple mishaps stopped sending her heart into her throat. It was a gradual transition where messes turned from something that could ruin a whole day to minor inconveniences. Where her shoulders relaxed and her breathing came easy.