She did feel bad when it happened. When her temper gets the better of her and she punches Tomo, she does feel guilty. For all of two seconds, then Tomo goes and opens her mouth and she has to hit her again.

Why the hell are they together? Why have they been together for eight years?! These are the questions she has asked herself every day for 2920 days and 70080 hours…she wasn't good enough at math to mentally calculate the minutes. She would ask Chiyo-chan the next time she saw her.

But really, beating the crap out of her partner was not on. In fact it was illegal, but she are sure that if the guy that came to arrest her was left alone with Tomo for five minutes he would actually reward her for not killing Tomo.

It wasn't healthy. Sometimes when she came home from work and saw Tomo sprawled out on the couch (because she got fired again from another low paying job) she just wanted to take the pillow she's relaxing on and smother her with it. Yomi doesn't imagine there would be a difference in how she would thrash underneath her during sex, though it might be more satisfying.

Then, to make matters worse, Tomo would grin up at her with an orange mouth. Her cheeto fingers would slide out of the bag all over her couch making ugly streaks. "Yomi! There's a great show on! Come on!" And she would sit up and push herself over leaving an orange handprint on the cushion she expected her to sit on.

It got to the point that her doctor was recommended weekly massages for the tension. Her muscles were so tight from restraining the urge to smack Tomo smart. Instead of Sakura's wonderful nimble hands smoothing away her pain, it was only when she grabbed Tomo's shoulders and slammed her against the wall to see that stupid stunned face of hers, that Yomi felt any relief.

It was wrong.

She didn't want to beat her girlfriend.

The thought sickened her. She really did sit in the small cubical at her office and think that her prison cell wouldn't be much bigger. How could a decent, normal, person beat the one they loved? Did she even love Tomo? How could she when she hit her?!

"Yomi we need more beer and I ate the last of the cake. I was doing you a favour since you're still carrying a lot of that holiday weight," and suddenly she didn't feel so guilty about the fist curling urge to ram a heavy oddly shaped object up Tomo's ass.

She took a deep breath, her therapist recommended the exercise. "Tomo I think we should break up," there. She said it. Her therapist had been telling her to severe her ties with the destructive relationship for months now. It was for the best.

Tomo looked at her blankly then turned back to the TV and brought up the text. She frowned "odd, it's only a Tuesday."

"What?" Yomi said in confusion. Maybe she didn't hear her right?

"She usually try to break up with me on Sundays. Just after the news," Tomo said absently.

"I do not!" Her indignation knew new bounds.

"Yes you do," Tomo sighed "what happened? Did you see a kissing couple or something?"

The vein in her forehead started to throb but she wasn't going to get angry. She was going to calmly and rationally explore their problems and issues until they each reached the conclusion that the destructive path they were on was wrong and should be cut away. They would then be free to redirect their time and affection to a more secure and appropriate expression of love with different partners. She explained all this to Tomo's sceptical face.

"You've gone to a therapist again haven't you!" Tomo accused.

"Dr. Reignstein has highlighted some very essential issues-" Yomi recited.

"And I bet he's gay. Those damn gays," Tomo growled believing every word out of her own mouth "they have a weird idea of what's normal and try to press it onto other, decent, folks."

She can just tell by the crap that she's spouting that Tomo had been watching the Christian God channel again. It also told her that Tomo didn't go to work since it was only on in the afternoons. Her anger bubbled violently under her steady breathing. "Tomo-" she began.

"No, I'm not listening Yomi," the other women even held a cheeto stained hand up as she turned away "there's nothing wrong with us and we're not breaking up."

She would have been impressed with the finality of Tomo's tone since the parasite opposite her usually had trouble deciding between fried or boiled rice, but Tomo had grown a back bone at the most inconvenient time. "Nothing wrong with our relationship?! Tomo I regularly hit you! I gave you a black eye two weeks ago."

"You mean when I pushed that granny in a wheel chair down the hill so I could get the parking spot before her?" Tomo said raising her eyebrow not at all ashamed of herself "some might say I deserved that."

"But I shouldn't hit you!" Yomi wailed wondering why she was having to explain why domestic abuse was wrong. Every other normal person on the planet just knew that!

"I like it when you hit me," Tomo said "Like when you spanked me with the hair brush last Friday, that was hot."

"You couldn't sit down for two days!" Yomi pointed out desperately.

"But it was hot," Tomo said like it was Yomi who was missing the main point "you're very sexy when you're mad. All your cuddly bits wobble and your breathing gets crazy which makes your chest bounce and the way you glare at me makes me think I'm going to come just from leering at ya."

Yomi flushed in embarrassment and a little bewilderment "...but I hit you," she said feebly.

"Yes, yes. You hit me and I mentally abuse you because I know you have low self esteem and a poor body image. We both bully each other," Tomo patted Yomi's hand gently. "That's called love Yomi."

Her mind was a swirling mess of confusion because Tomo actually started to make sense. She knew something was wrong when that occurred. "But it's not normal..."

"Yomi if you wanted normal you would never have let me feel you up in Nyamo's swimming class," Tomo pointed out as she dug deep into the packet of cheeto's deathly afraid she had let one escape.

Yomi sat quietly on the couch not sure what to do now. She thought for sure things would have gone differently this time. Breaking up was logical. It was what all her past therapists had been telling her. Tomo licked her fingers and began to eye her in a speculating way. Yomi stared at her stupidly. She was, this entire thing was, messed up. Tomo finished sucking the flavour from her fingers and pulled Yomi to her feet. Yomi snapped out of her daze when she realised she was being pushed onto their bed and Tomo was stripping "wait! We have to talk about this," though she wasn't sure what she should say.

"Yes you're evil and this is abnormal," Tomo rolled her eyes and didn't believe a word she said. She pushed down her jeans to reveal that she wasn't wearing underwear "I'm a poor abused spouse and we should see other people. But I don't share my things so you're not going anywhere and since we love each other its okay. Now strip, we're having sex."

"But..." Yomi was effectively gagged by her shirt being pulled over her head and flung behind her. Where had her business jacket gone!?

"Nope, not listening anymore, we're having sex," Tomo said and they were both fully naked. She pushed Yomi down and gripped her wrists.

"This is...it's not right," Yomi tried again "this is horrible and abusive. We should stop-oh! That's too much teeth!"

"Then shut up and let me get on with it," Tomo growled.

"But!"

Tomo thrust herself up to glare at Yomi in exasperation "Yomi I'm going to bite you in a nasty place if you don't shut up and get let me off or kiss me so we can make love."

"How can this be love?" Yomi said and her voice was small and lost.

The words tugged at and reached into Tomo and hit a place where her common sense flees the insanity that usually rules her. It made her look gently at Yomi and her caresses soften "because you big fat idiot, I've never looked or wanted another person in the same way I've wanted you since I was five years old. When I go somewhere or do something, I'm usually with you or thinking about you. You feed me and keep me and let me be selfish and I more or less do the same for you. How is that not love, thunder thighs?"

"Oh Tomo," Yomi smiled then savagely whacked her upside the head as she scowled "don't call me thunder thighs."

Domestic abuse; she honestly didn't know how their relationship could function without it. But even more importantly she didn't know how Yomi would function without Tomo. And it may not be normal. And it may not be right. But it was love and she wouldn't give it up for the world.

XxXx

A/N: And no I don't support domestic abuse but it certainly fits this couple!