A/N: Thanks to Littlest1 for her ideas regarding this chapter Also, to the person who said I hadn't updated in a week, I updated Sunday and Wednesday of last week…either you missed two chapters or are confused

Chapter 11: Prince Natsume

"What are you going do now, Ema?" Wataru asked as the two had tea and sweets in the sitting room of Wataru's quarters. "I heard Ukyo and Hikaru saying there's civil war in Istain…Are you still going to stay here?"

Ema stared at her tea silently, not knowing what to say. Wataru watched her in concern. He ducked down, trying to catch her eyes as he said, "I'd love it if you stayed with us in Koukidan. I like spending time with you and having you live at the palace."

Ema smiled sadly at Wataru. "I like spending time with you too. I've enjoyed staying here and getting to know you and your brothers, but…I never intended to stay here. I'd hoped that I'd be able to go home soon and see my father and—" Ema broke off, trying to stop her tears from falling. She knew that Wataru had invited her here and had treats brought to cheer her up. She didn't want him to see how sad she felt.

Wataru pouted and looked at the floor, trying to be mature about all this. "Were you at least planning on visiting us with your dad when he came to do ambassador things? Or are you tired of us?"

"Not at all!" Ema rushed to assure Wataru. "Of course I would miss you and want to come back to visit, Wataru. You and I have become good friends."

Wataru beamed at Ema, pleased with her words. "Will you at least stay here until the civil war is over?" His eyebrows wrinkled as he thought back to everything he'd heard his brothers say about Istain. "I think that it would be dangerous for you to go back right now."

"You're probably right," Ema said softly. "Unless my father requests for me to return to Istain, I'll stay here at the palace." What Ema didn't tell Wataru was that she'd been hearing from her father less and less. She feared he was involved in dangerous things that he didn't want to tell her about. Every night she prayed he was safe and that she'd see him again soon.

~.~

An empty carriage with a driver and a man sitting next to him trundled along, nearing the village closest to Koukidan palace. The man next to the driver sighed and looked around at the familiar surroundings, entirely unhappy to be there. The driver cast him an amused look. "That's the hundredth time you've sighed on our journey, my Lord. Are you sure we shouldn't turn back? I'm afraid you may end up losing all your air and perishing on the spot. The Queen wouldn't like that much."

The lord shook his head. "I'm sure Queen Miwa would rather I perish on the way to the palace than ignore her summons. I already told her I was coming. It'd take a long time for her to forgive me if we turned back now. Besides, Queen Miwa normally leaves the affairs of Kishu Province entirely up to me, so I owe her for that."

The driver nodded and adjusted his hat against the slight wind. "She has been very generous towards our province in that regard. Do you know why she wants you at the palace?"

The Lord shook his head. "I rarely understand anything that woman wants. She's a clever one, hiding motives within motives. I've found it's best not to ask."

The driver nodded again sagely, thinking that the Queen of Koukidan was a very formidable woman.

They entered the village and soon had to slow their horses. A crowd of peasants blocked the street. The Lord craned his neck to find the source and saw two women handing something out to the peasants. The sight was odd enough, but what really surprised him was the fine dress of one of the woman. She either had to be the daughter of a wealthy merchant or a noblewoman.

The Lord watched as the finely dressed woman turned and lifted a crate stacked higher than her head, then nearly toppled under its weight. Immediately, he leapt from the carriage and ran to her, steadying her before taking the crate from her hands. Inside the crate he saw piles of fruit. "Are you all right?" He asked her.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," she said, taking him in before suddenly bowing. "Thank you so much for your help! I'm sorry to cause you trouble."

"It's no trouble at all," he assured her, setting the crate down at her feet. "Can I ask what it is you're doing here?"

"There's been a terrible rash of fevers lately," she said, a look of concern on her face. "We're passing out medicine to the villagers." She turned to the woman helping her and said, "Would you please steep some more yarrow root, Imai?"

"Yes, my Lady!" Imai said cheerfully, turning and disappearing behind the pile of crates.

"I see," the Lord said, nodding and noting that the peasant had called this woman 'my Lady'. She was a noblewoman then. "And the fruit?"

"To aid in their recovery, of course," she said simply. "It takes more than medicine to get better. They need the nutrients in fruits and vegetables and don't get enough of it." She bent to reach into the crate and then handed a handful of fruit to an old woman.

"Thank you, my dear," the old woman said, patting the noblewoman on the cheek. "It's always nice to see you around the village."

"And you funded this?" The Lord asked in amazement as he gazed at the large crowd of peasants, all of whom seemed genuinely pleased to be around the noblewoman.

"Well," the young woman said, bringing his attention back to her. A light blush covered her cheeks. "It's money that my father sent me, so technically he's funding it."

"My Lord!" A voice called. He turned to see his driver waving at him before pointing significantly at the position of the sun. Right. He had somewhere he needed to be.

"Excuse me, my Lady," he said, bowing to her, "I'm afraid I must be off." He turned to go before pausing and pulling a purse full of a few gold coins and holding it out to her. "If it would not be too much trouble, please use this to help purchase your supplies. It would be a shame if you ran out before everyone was taken care of."

A radiant smile covered the young lady's face. "Thank you, my Lord!" She exclaimed, curtseying to him.

He smiled in return before going back to his carriage. His driver now stood at the door and opened it for the Lord, gesturing for him to go inside. "Perhaps you ought to ride within the carriage since we're almost there." He lowered his voice. "And perhaps I should start calling you prince instead of lord since we're practically in the capital and all."

"Don't bother," Natsume said, walking passed the man and swinging himself back onto the driver's bench. "It's not like my brothers aren't aware that I rule over Kishu Province as a Lord and not a prince. They know I've no desire for the title."

The driver smiled and nodded before hoping up beside Natsume and urging the horses on.

~.~

Natsume stood outside the palace, his driver taking the horses and carriage to the stables. He tried to will his feet forward, but was struggling to do so. He only came here when he absolutely had to, and he wished he knew why his mother wrote insisting that he come.

The whole ride to the capital Natsume had been trying not to go over exactly what he would have to deal with while here, but it was hard not to since it was always the same. Masaomi would sneak off to help villagers, then Ukyo would criticize him for it. Hikaru would likely be running around in the guise of a woman. His triplets would be corrupting some young lady and harass Natsume for being pure compared to them. Kaname would pay more attention to his harem than to governing. Yusuke would be going on about Subaru and trying to train as a knight to be just like him. Iori would be perfect and go to every meeting and solve every nobles' problem, while Fuuto would pretend to care about all the people trailing him around. His brothers never changed, which was part of the reason Natsume had to leave. He wanted progress, not stasis.

Eventually he sighed, glad his driver wasn't there to hear it, and forced himself inside. He'd only been in the palace a few minutes when from around the corner he heard a familiar voice saying, "The villagers in Josit want to expand their industry. They've developed some innovative farming tools and are trying to find out how best to share them with other villages. The money would really help with them with repairs from the floods that happened this spring."

"I see," a calculating voice responded. "There are some minor noblemen and some relatively well-off merchants in the area. I'll arrange for them to speak with the villagers and see what can be done."

The speakers came around the corner and Masaomi and Ukyo came into view. He watched in shock as the pair continued past him, not believing his own ears. Had Masaomi just told Ukyo concerns about peasants…and had Ukyo responded with a solution? Since when did Ukyo ever encourage, let alone support, Masaomi's interacting with the peasants on the intimate level that he did?

"Uh, hi," he said awkwardly.

Ukyo stopped, turned his head and said, "Oh, hi Natsume," before turning back and continuing his conversation with Masaomi. Masaomi gave Natsume a friendly wave and smile as he walked away with Ukyo.

Natsume blinked numbly as he watched them walk away, then shook his head. That had been weird. He started walking again, figuring he should let his mother know he'd arrived before he did anything else.

He'd almost reached his mother's office when he turned a corner and saw both Iori and Fuuto.

"I'm sure that everything would go smoothly with your help," a nobleman was saying to Iori, giving an oily smile as he spoke. "Nothing that the perfect prince touches fails." Out of sight of the nobleman, Fuuto rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse," Iori said and the nobleman's face screwed up in confusion.

"What?" He asked, as though he must have heard Iori wrong.

"I'm glad you feel that my aid would be beneficial," Iori explained, "but it's also good for you to learn to rely on your own merits as well."

The nobleman blanched and Fuuto smirked, grabbing Iori's arm and pulling him along. "We're very busy at the moment. I'm sure you understand."

"H-hi," Natsume said when his younger brothers reached him.

"Oh, it's you," Fuuto said, looking Natsume up and down. "Good to see you're still alive, I guess. Congrats on not screwing up your own fiefdom so much that they rose up in rebellion and killed you."

"Thanks," Natsume said dryly, then turned to Iori. "I've never seen you turn down anything before. Not joining a meeting, resolving a dispute, or even taking tea with a noble family to discuss anything from politics to art."

Iori shrugged; another thing Natsume had never seen his brother do. "Not even I can handle everything that comes my way. I need a break too sometimes. Being the 'perfect prince' doesn't stop me from being human."

Where were these words coming from? Natsume had been concerned about Iori more than once, afraid that Iori took on more than he could handle. It had seemed like Iori was too afraid to tell anyone no; too afraid of letting someone down. "And what about you?" Natsume asked Fuuto. "Are you joining in Iori's experiment of joining us mere mortals and taking time to breathe?"

"No," Fuuto answered shortly. "I'm looking up traditional Koukidan songs. They're not nearly good enough, but I need to know exactly what they're like before I can improve them. Iori is going with me to the library to help me look them up." Fuuto pulled on Iori's arm again and they kept going.

Natsume watched them walk away, wondering what was going on. Had he fallen asleep on the carriage ride to the palace? Maybe he was dreaming. He pinched his arm and shook his head. Definitely not dreaming. If it wasn't Iori and Ukyo acting out of character, Natsume would wonder if his brothers had decided to prank him, but neither Ukyo nor Iori would ever participate in something like that.

Dumbfounded, Natsume went to the Queen's office and knocked. Kota, the Queen's top advisor, opened the door. When he spotted Natsume, he turned and said something to the Queen who responded with something he couldn't hear. Kota opened the door wider and let Natsume in before leaving.

Queen Miwa sat behind the desk, one elbow propped on the desk with her face resting in her hand. She looked as regal as ever.

"Mother," Natsume said with a nod. "Good to see you looking well. Is there something I can do for you?"

She scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "You're always so stiff, Natsume. You're almost as bad as Ukyo." She paused and a smile curled her lips. "Though he has been a bit better lately." Natsume's mind flashed to the conversation he'd heard between Masaomi and Ukyo a few minutes ago and he wondered what had brought this change in his strictest brother. "But there is something I'd like for you to do. Do you remember Ambassador Rintaro?"

"Yes," Natsume said, wondering where Queen Miwa was going with this. Kishu Province was close to Istain and the Ambassador often traveled through Natsume's province and took the time to say hello. Ambassador Rintaro was a good and hardworking man.

"Good," Miwa said, looking pleased before her face became sympathetic. "I'm sure you've heard of all the trouble Istain has been facing lately. Before civil war broke out, I insisted that Ambassador Rintaro send his daughter to me for safe keeping. Thank goodness I did, or who knows what situation she'd be in now. Anyway, she's staying here at the palace and I want you to make an effort to befriend her."

Natsume blinked slowly. The Queen had called him to the capital, away from his province and his duties to a place he did not like to be, for a girl? Natsume didn't remember how old the Ambassador's daughter was since he hadn't seen her for quite some time, but he knew that she was a fair bit younger than him.

Anger bubbled up inside Natsume. So much for Queen Miwa leaving the affairs of Kishu Province alone. If the Queen had called him all the way from his home to the palace for a girl, she obviously hoped that Natsume might take her as a bride. Unbelievable. "Is that all?" Natsume asked in a clipped voice. "Or is there something you want me to do while I'm here that isn't a waste of my time?"

Miwa sighed. "You help govern a part of this country and this is the center of government, where you can discuss, learn from, and form alliances with others in a similar position to you. Not to mention the fact that all your family lives here," she added dryly. "I wouldn't think either of those would be considered a waste of time."

Natsume clapped his arms to his side and bowed stiffly. "Of course not, my Queen. I will endeavor to learn from your sycophant aristocracy and my talented brothers." He turned and left before he sarcastically listed the 'talents' of some of his brothers.

"I mean it about the girl!" The Queen called after him and he shook his head angrily, stalking away. He kept going until he reached the training yard and saw Yusuke swinging a sword at a practice dummy.

"How's your training for becoming a knight coming along?" He asked.

Yusuke looked up in surprise, and stopped his practice. He walked over to Natsume, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I'm not training to become a knight anymore. I need to find my own path in life."

"Then what are you doing out here?" Natsume asked, confused and surprised.

Yusuke blushed as he looked off into the distance. "I still think it's good to know how to defend yourself and the people you care about. And there's…someone I want to protect." He scowled and glared at Natsume. "Why's it any of your business anyway?" He asked before going back to his training.

"Yeah, nice to see you too," Natsume muttered under his breath. He wondered what had happened to change Yusuke's mind. Yusuke had wanted to be just like Subaru for as long as Natsume could remember. This was yet another brother acting out of character. Natsume had visited the capital just half a year ago and everything had been the same as always then. What in the world had changed in the last six months?

~.~

Two days later found Natsume back in the village. His brothers' changed attitudes were weirding him out and he had no desire to run into the Ambassador's daughter. What was she even like? He could only imagine a weak, frightened little girl who'd fled from Istain at the first sign of trouble. Certainly not someone he wanted to deal with. What could his mother be thinking?

Thoughts of the Ambassador's daughter flew from his mind as he found what he'd been hoping to see. The young noble lady from a few days ago. She was playing with peasant children. Natsume smiled as he watched her running around with them, apparently playing some sort of tag. She would let the children catch her before chasing after them. Eventually, a middle-aged woman came and gathered the children, taking them away. He heard them loudly complaining as they walked away, turning back to wave at the noblewoman and making her promise to return.

The young lady began walking up the street and to Natsume's surprise and secret delight, her eyes lit up when she saw him. "It's you!" She exclaimed. "I was hoping I would see you again. I wanted to thank you for the gold you gave me. We were able to buy more medicine and pass it around to all the sick villagers. We would have run out if not for your help."

"I'm glad," Natsume said, meaning it. "I was hoping to see you again too. I realized after I left that I never learned your name."

"I am Lady Ema," she introduced herself. "I don't think that I've seen you around before." Her voice had a question in it, as though she weren't entirely sure.

"You probably haven't," he agreed. "I'm the Lord of Kishu Province and don't spend a lot of time at the capital. I prefer to be among my people. That's where the real work gets done." A part of him felt reluctant to give her his name and have her connect him to the Princes of Koukidan. A giving woman like her who spent time among the peasants might not have the best impression of the princes. True, there were the good ones like Louis, Masaomi, and Subaru, but then there were the ones like his two triplets and Kaname who did nothing but fool around.

"I agree," Ema said, her face lighting up again. "I'm always happiest after being in the village. I feel like it's the most productive use of my time." She paused before asking, "If you don't normally spend time in the capital, is there a reason you've come here?"

Natsume turned his face away, not wanting Ema to see the anger in his eyes. Once he got his face under control, he turned back to her. "My mother called me to the capital. I'm here at her behest."

"Are you staying at the palace, then?" Ema asked, tilting her head. "It seems to be traditional here that all visiting nobles stay at the palace."

Natsume wondered at Ema's words. It almost sounded like she was a foreigner, but maybe she was just referring to the capital. If she'd never come here before, she wouldn't know that visiting aristocracy lived in the palace for the duration of their stay. "Yes," he answered. "I am staying at the palace while I'm here."

"Then perhaps we'll see each there," Ema said, gracing him with a smile. "If you'll excuse me, I promised to meet a friend."

Feeling disappointed, Natsume waved as Ema left. He hoped he'd see her again at the palace.

~.~

The next day, Natsume finally ran into his triplets. He'd known it'd only be a matter of time. To his surprise neither of them paid any attention to him. They didn't even seem to be aware that he was there. Instead, they were in deep conversation with each other.

"Lord Asako said that he'd be pleased to issue a personal invitation to the peasants of his domain to visit the theater," Tsubaki was saying. "He even offered to help pay for the tickets to give them a lower price so that more could attend the theater."

Azusa nodded like this was welcome news. "Ukyo had a great idea when he talked about the theater bringing the different classes together. He's really happy with our idea of taking advantage of that fact and trying to make it happen more. And…she'll be really pleased with it."

Natsume could hardly believe his ears. Where his two triplets actually talking about trying to improve relations between peasants and nobles? Since when did the two of them do any work? Natsume couldn't ever remember either of them having the slightest bit of interest in government. Maybe he was misunderstanding the conversation? And who was the 'she' that Azusa was referring to?

"Yeah," Tsubaki agreed, blushing and scratching the back of his head. "She's really into the aristocracy trying to understand peasants better, and theater and culture is one of the best unifiers we have." Suddenly, a manic light entered Tsubaki's eye. "Hey, maybe we could perform in the theater! We're pretty good at acting. We do it all the time at court. I'm sure it'd attract even more people to the theater, nobles and peasants, if we were in a play."

Azusa looked slightly horrified at the idea. "Maybe we shouldn't go quite that far."

"Come on," Tsubaki cajoled. While the twins spoke, a young noblewoman with her hair pinned up in curls and a dress hanging off her shoulders sauntered past Tsubaki and Azusa. Just as with Natsume, the two seemed completely oblivious to her. Natsume had to force himself not to snicker at the look of indignation on the young woman's face as she turned and sauntered past his brothers again. Again, she got no reaction. This time, the woman put a possessive hand on Tsubaki's bicep and squeezed.

"Prince Tsubaki, Prince Azusa," she pouted, "I've been here for two whole days and neither of you have come to see me. You're not bored of me already are you?"

Tsubaki and Azusa both stared at the woman in blank surprise, as though she'd appeared out of nowhere. Gently, Tsubaki took hold of her hand and removed it from his arm. "You were a lovely distraction," Tsubaki told her softly, "but I'm afraid we have more important matters to attend to right now."

The woman gaped at them before her face reddened. She fisted her hands at her side and stuck her nose in the air before stomping away.

"All right, I can't take this anymore," Natsume said, drawing the twins' attention to him. "What in the world is going on here?"

"What do you mean, Natsume?" Azusa asked. "And when did you get here?"

"That's not important," Natsume brushed off. "Ukyo is supporting Masaomi sneaking off to the villages, Iori is refusing nobles' requests, Yusuke has stopped trying to become Subaru, and now you two are actually talking as though you're trying to do something productive. As though you're actually working. And you refused the advances of a woman. I want an explanation. What in the world has changed in the last six months?"

Azusa and Tsubaki exchanged surprised glances. "All that has been going on?" Tsubaki asked. He exchanged another glance with Azusa, this time looking unhappy. "I bet it's her doing," he muttered. "We should have figured those losers were moving in on her too. I knew that Yusuke was interested, but he's such a child that I didn't think she'd give him the time of day."

"Of course she would," Azusa said with a sigh. "That's who she is. It's no surprise that our brothers have taken notice as well."

"Notice of what?" Natsume asked, irritated at being kept in the dark. Were Tsubaki and Azusa insinuating that all the changes he'd seen in his brothers was because of a woman? Who was this woman? And how had she made all these changes in brothers Natsume would have sworn would never change?

Tsubaki pursed his lips and looked Natsume up and down. "None of your business. What are you doing here anyway?"

Natsume sighed, used to this treatment from Tsubaki. At least some things hadn't changed. "Mother summoned me. Trust me, I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Then do whatever it is she wants you to do and then go back home," Tsubaki said dismissively, turning back to Azusa. "Thinks are complicated enough without adding you to the mix."

~.~

The next day, Natsume tracked down Louis, hoping to get some answers out of the one the more rational of his brothers. He'd planned to speak to Louis the night before, but, to his delight, he'd run into Ema after dinner and spoke with her instead. They talked for an hour under the warm starry sky about their views on the aristocracy's responsibility towards peasants. Natsume didn't think he'd ever find anyone who agreed with him so closely. Or who seemed to eschew court politics as much as he did.

His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted Louis cutting flowers and arranging them in a vase. "Louis!" He called, getting his younger brother's attention.

Louis smiled when he saw him. "Natsume, it's been a while. What are you doing at the capital?"

Natsume's eyes narrowed in anger at the reminder of why he was there in the first place. "Mother's matchmaking attempts," he said with a grimace. "She's apparently taken a liking to Ambassador Rintaro's daughter and wants me to meet her."

Louis gave him a disapproving frown. "Ambassador's Rinator's daughter is kind girl. You wouldn't talk about her like that if you'd met her."

"Kind?" Natsume asked.

"Yes, kind," Louis said firmly. "I think that her being here is very good for our family. She's someone who understands what happens when royalty and nobility become too selfish and full of themselves. Because of that, because of her kindness and her understanding of the darker nature of power, she's been able to help some our brothers become better people."

Natsume paused for a moment. He'd heard that the aristocracy were worse in Istain. He wondered if perhaps the Ambassador's daughter was the 'she' Azusa had mentioned and if she was really the one who'd caused all these changes in his brothers…but he found it hard to believe. "I'm sure that she's been kind," Natsume scoffed. "If she wasn't she might be sent packing back to Istain. It's in her own self-interest for everyone to like her. It's more likely that she's a weak and frightened girl who ran away from her country and is now conniving her way into staying here."

He heard a gasp and turned to see Ema, pain in her eyes and a hand over her mouth. When Natsume looked at her, she turned and fled.

Natsume cast a bewildered look at Louis who gave Natsume a disappointed and disproving look.

"What, that's the Ambassador's daughter?" Natsume demanded. "Lady Ema?"

Louis' look told Natsume that clearly that was the case. Natsume turned and chased after her.