I Need Your Heart

Eleventh Chapter: Worry

Lying down on the bed, Juli heard someone walk around the room. As his protective instincts turned on, he sat up and scanned the entire bedroom. That's when he spotted Ema making her way towards the door.

"Chi," Juli asked his owner. "Where are you going?"

As he looked at her, he could see tears falling out of her eyes. After all, her boyfriend had died earlier that night. While she was looking at him, he could see that pained look in her eye.

"Goodbye, Juli..."

"Chi! Where are you going!" Juli screamed at his owner, who quietly closed the door behind her. Running towards that door, he tried to chase after his owner. "Chi! Chi!"

All of a sudden, Juli woke up from his dream. Looking at the window, he could see the sun as it rose. Then, looking for his owner, he realized that she wasn't there. As he looked around the room, he noticed that he was no longer in her room. Looking around a bit more, he noticed that Louis was sleeping soundly beside him.

"Louis-san, wake up!" he squeaked at the other person that could understand him. As he tried to shake him, Louis' eyes started to open.

"Juli," Louis yawned, standing up to fix his hair. "What is it?"

That was when Juli dashed towards the door while Louis followed the squirrel as he ran towards Ema's room. As he sprinted, he noticed that someone was standing outside the door. Running a bit closer, he realized that it was Iori, who was knocking on her door.

While Juli began to squeak at him, Louis picked him up and walked slowly towards Iori, who also noticed the two come towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Louis yawned while he tried to keep Juli from attacking him.

"I wanted to talk to her about what happened yesterday," Iori replied while Louis went towards the doorknob. Giving it a quick twist, they were all surprised when the door opened, since it was usually locked.

Walking inside the room, they noticed that everything was a mess. After all, Ema wasn't in the best mood, since Fuyuki died because of Tsubaki and Fuuto. Then, as they looked around, Juli found an envelope on her bed, running towards it, the other two follow.

"What's this?" Iori picked it up from Juli's tiny hands. Opening it, he took out a letter and the room key. As he opened up the letter, he started to read the first line. Then, at that exact moment, his eyes widened.

"What happened?" Louis asked his younger, who looked at the letter in shock. "What does it say?"

"Louis-nii!" Iori screamed suddenly, shocking his older brother. "Call Natsume-nii and Hikaru-nii! Now!" As he said that, both Louis and Juli were able to tell that there was a sense of urgency in his voice. Thinking it was really important, he suddenly took out his cell phone to call both of them while Iori ran outside the room to wake up the others.

As Louis opened the door for two of his older brothers, Iori finally managed to get every other brother into the living room. While everyone was trying to stay awake, Natsume and Hikaru took a seat while Iori held the letter in his hand.

"Why did you call us here?" Yusuke complained, feeling really tired at the moment. As the others nodded in agreement, Louis stood up and went to Iori, who had tears running down his face. While his brothers went to see what was going on, Louis snatched the letter from his hand and read it. After doing so, he, too, also began to cry.

"What's going on?" Wataru innocently asked his older brothers. Noticing what was going on, he became even more curious. That was when Masaomi took the letter from Louis.

"Masaomi-nii," Iori told his older brother, who looked at him with concern. "Just read it out loud." As Masaomi unfolded the paper, he began to read the words that were hastily written on the letter.

"If you're reading this, I'm probably dead by now..." he read as the brothers looked at him with both shock and pain. As sadness began to fill the room, some of the brothers began to cry a bit.

"You're kidding, right?" Yusuke screamed, while Azusa tried to hold him back. "She couldn't have written that!"

While Masaomi looked at his younger brother, he had a hard time holding back the tears that were pooling in his eyes. As a result, Yusuke ran up to Masaomi and snatched the letter from his hand, while many of the others gathered around him.

"If you're reading this, I'm probably dead by now...

I know that you may be wondering why. Well, the pain of losing Fuyuki was too much for me to handle. When I first met him, I fell in love with him at first sight. Then, when we started dating, it seemed as if we were going to be together forever. However, on that day, he was run over by the family car.

I didn't think that would happen. I couldn't believe that Fuyuki was really dead. I thought that it was just a nightmare and that when I woke up, everything will be alright. Then, as time passed, I was sure that Fuyuki was dead and that he was never coming back...

As I was thinking, I realized that I wouldn't be happy without him. Sure, I have you guys, but still, I miss Fuyuki so much. I would do anything to be with him again. That was why I decided to do this...

I'm sorry for being such a weak person... I know that this was a selfish decision and that I would hurt a lot of people by doing this, but the pain was too much for me...

Papa, I'm sorry for doing this... I'm such a bad daughter for deciding to do this, but, as I said before, I'm in so much pain. I also want to say that I'm glad to have you as my father, even though you adopted me. Thank you for everything, papa...

Miwa-san, I'm sorry for doing this... I know that you always wanted a daughter. I feel as if I failed you, and I'm sorry! I hope you can move on without me.

Juli, I'm sorry... Thank you for protecting me ever since I was born. You've taken care of me whenever I felt lonely or whenever I was really sick. I really appreciate all that and I hope that you would be able to live on without me.

Masaomi-san, Ukyo-san and all my other older brothers, thank you for looking after me all these years. I know that I wasn't much, but I still want to thank you for looking out for me. I know that I would make you sad by doing this, but I hope you will be able to move on...

Yusuke-kun, thank you for being my friend and brother. You've been so good to me ever since we were classmates. I was even more surprised when we ended up becoming siblings. I hope that you would be able to be happy when I'm gone.

Wataru-chan, I'm sorry for being such a weak older sister. I want to wish you good luck as you grow older and I hope that you end up being a responsible, young man in the future. I hope that you will be able to be the best you can be. Please do it for me...

Then, there's Tsubaki-san and Fuuto-kun. Even though I was angry for what you did, I still wanted to say goodbye to you. Even though I can't bring myself to forgive you, I still wish you happiness.

So, I guess that I've made you cry and I am deeply sorry for doing this. I just hope that you would be able to forget about me and live on. Thank you for everything.

Ema Hinata..."

At this point, every single brother, even Tsubaki and Fuuto, were brought to tears. They couldn't believe that this was written by her. Maybe she would walk through the door and tell everyone that she's alright. However, the more they waited, the more they began to realize that she might've went through with this.

As they sat on the couch, Wataru cried into Masaomi's shoulders as the latter was hugging and comforting his little brother. They didn't think that she would kill herself and they were sad about all of this.

"Ma-kun!" Wataru cried to his big brother. "Please tell me that those are all lies!" When Masaomi hesitantly shook his head, Wataru began to sob uncontrollably, while Masaomi was holding onto Wataru as tears began to fall from his own eyes.

Meanwhile, Ukyo had a dejected look on his face as he looked at the letter that was on the floor. He knew that he wasn't there for Ema as much as he'd like. That was his only regret. As tears fell from his eyes, he noticed that Hikaru also had a pained look on his face. Walking over to his younger brother, he comforted him.

At the same time, Iori was crying his eyes out. This was the second time someone he deeply cared for had died. The first time was with Fuyuka. That time, he didn't take it well, but it felt as if he was taking it harder. As he tried to wipe the tears away, Kaname walked over to his younger brother and pulled him into a hug. He, too, was sad that he lost his precious little sister. Even though he always was flirting with her, he deeply cared for her. As they comforted each other, they were glad that they were able to stop fighting.

As the others were grieving, Subaru was trying to hold back his tears. Like everyone else, he greatly missed Ema. He remembered all the things that happened between them, including those awkward moments. While his eyes were getting watery, he felt someone's hands on his shouler. Turning around, he noticed Natsume as he had a downcast face. Even though he wasn't physically crying, it still hurt him that this happened.

While that was happening, Juli was deeply saddened by this. He felt as though he failed to protect her by letting this happen. As he started to tear up, he noticed that Louis was trying to comfort the squirrel. He, too, felt as if he failed his sister. Both of them made up the "Protect Chi-chan Club" and yet this happened. When this happened, they were deeply hurt and wondered what would happen now that she died.

While that was going on, Fuuto, was starting to feel sad. Even though he usually was a jerk, he still had a heart. When he heard the news, he felt like punching the one who was reading the letter, believing that it was all lies. However, as he read the letter, he realized that this was all true. As he started to feel hurt, Yusuke went up to him. Since he was in love with Ema for a long time, he was bawling his eyes out. That was when they began to cry with each other. Even though they were usually fighting, because of what was going on, they had to comfort each other.

While the others were crying their eyes out, Tsubaki and Azusa stayed in each other's arms. Even though Azusa couldn't believe what Tsubaki did, he couldn't bring himself to hate him. Throughout the times, they were fighting over Ema, causing a tense relationship between the twins. However, as this was going on, they had to comfort each other and stop fighting. After all, it would hurt Ema if all they did was quarrel. Hugging each other, Tsubaki was crying loudly while Azusa had a lot of tears flowing out of his watery eyes.

This was, by far, the Asahina family's saddest Christmas. Of course, it was because their beloved sister decided to give up her life. While they were all grieving the loss of their love, they felt as if something else happened. Normally, the siblings will quarrel over her, but now, they were just comforting each other as they went through this hard time. As they began to accept the fact that this happened, all they hoped was that Ema would be able to watch over them from above.

As the sun shined over the snow, Aiko was taking a walk in the park. Since her only brother died, she had to do something that would calm herself down. After all, she was the only remaining sibling. Feeling some tears form in her eyes, she looked at the river that was continuing to flow.

As it was running through the park, she started to think of Ema. She was aware that this was the place where Fuyuki confessed to Ema, so she wondered how she felt now that Fuyuki had died. Wiping a single tear from her eyes, she suddenly noticed something by the edge of the river.

Normally, she wouldn't care at all, thinking it was just a random pile of snow. However, she felt as if she had to see what it was. Cautiously taking a step closer, she soon began to run when she realized that it was a body.

"Are you okay?" she asked the body as she started wiping the snow off of it. As the removed all the snow, her eyes widened when she realized whose body it was.

"Ema-san?" She said in shock as she tried to check if she was still alive. Checking her pulse, she sighed in relief when she found out that her heart was still beating. Looking at the unconscious girl, she noticed that her hair was soaking wet.

"Don't tell me she tried to drown herself in the river..." she thought as she took the body and carried her on her back. Walking through the streets, she made her way towards her house so that she could take care of the girl.

A lot had happened these past few days. First, Fuyuki died after being run over by a car and then, Ema tried to kill herself by jumping into a freezing river. While Aiko was starting to think more about what happened, she also began to wonder about what will happen to both her and Ema in the future.

Author's Note:

Me: Wow! I didn't think I would make it this far! I only have one more chapter to go until this volume is finished!

Brothers: Congratulations!

Me: That means that there isn't much time left to vote on the poll. As I said, when the next chapter is posted, the poll will close. The poll is on my profile page.

Hikaru: I wonder what is going to happen in the next volume...

Me: There's a lot in store... Anyways, thank you for sticking with me this far and I hope you will look forward to the conclusion of the first part. Bye bye!