A/N: Credit for the scene with the little kid goes to xsafyx
Chapter 24: New Year
"Going to a shrine is the best way to start the new year," Tsubaki said cheerfully as the family walked through the shrine grounds. "And finding out your fortune for the year."
"I don't know why you find that exciting since you almost always get great misfortune," Natsume commented.
Tsubaki shrugged. "It never seems to affect me. Either I'm just that lucky, or my innate awesomeness is enough to overpower any misfortune. Last year was great and I have faith that this year will be even better." His eyes slid over to Ema, but her attention was caught on something else.
"I think that little boy is lost," Ema said, her brow wrinkled in concern. She was staring at a young boy who clutched a stuffed rabbit as he looked around searchingly. His lower lip started to tremble and Ema strode over to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, getting down on her knees so she was closer to eye level with him.
The boy shook his head and his eyes filled with tears. "I can't find my mom," he said in a wobbly voice.
"Where did you last see her?" Ema asked.
He shrugged, clutching his rabbit tighter. "She was holding my hand over there," he said, pointing at the entrance to the shrine. "And then—and then I wanted to see the doggy statue." He lowered his head and whispered, "I thought she was right behind me."
"It's okay," Ema said, gently wiping away his tears. "I'm sure your mom is just as worried about you as you are about her. Let's go back over to the gate and see if we can find her. What's your name?"
"Mizunagi."
Ema stood and held her hand out to Mizunagi. Wataru popped up on the boy's other side, startling him. "I got lost once too," Wataru assured him. "It was scary, but my brother Mao-nii was looking for me the whole time. He'd never let me stay lost and you're mom won't let you stay lost either."
"And you're not totally alone, Mizunagi-kun," Ema said, pointing at his rabbit. "You have your little friend with you." A small, tremulous smile appeared on his face and he grabbed Ema's hand.
Ukyo watched Ema, Mizunagi, and Wataru walk away, surprised by what he just saw. He'd thought of the kind of wife Ema would make plenty of times. How could he not with all the time they spent together doing domestic activities? But he hadn't thought a lot about what kind of mother she'd make. She always took care of the Asahina brothers, but that wasn't the same thing as nurturing a child. His heart warmed at the thought that Ema would make just as good a mother as she would a wife.
Kaname wondered how it was possible for Ema to be any more perfect than she already was. The only fault he found in her was that she kept her pain and her troubles to herself, despite him pushing her not to. He could easily picture her as a stay at home mom, lovingly cooking meals for her family and taking care of their children. Her children, he quickly corrected, flushing over his mental blunder. He hadn't meant to think of the two of them as married.
"You seem quite good with kids," Azusa told Ema when she and Wataru returned, apparently having located Mizunagi's mother. "I'm kind of surprised since you don't have much experience with them."
Ema shrugged, looking self-conscious. "I just do what feels natural."
"Do you want to be a mother?" Natsume asked, and Subaru's eye shot to him, narrowing in suspicion as he wondered why Natsume would care.
Ema smiled and nodded.
"Do you want fourteen kids?" Tsubaki asked jokingly.
Ema laughed and shook her head. "I love having thirteen siblings, but I think that would be a bit much."
The atmosphere became awkward after Ema mentioned siblings. No one said anything until Tsubaki clapped his hands and declared, "All right, let's go see what our fortunes are for the year."
Since not everyone cared about finding out their fortune, only the triplets and Ema went.
Tsubaki sighed as he looked at his fortune. "Great misfortune again."
"Same here," Natsume said, staring down at the little paper.
"I got good fortune," Azusa said.
"I got great fortune this year," Ema informed them, wishing that it would come true and that everything would work itself out for the best this year.
"Maybe it's a sign that we should be together," Tsubaki joked. "Our fortunes will cancel each other out and together we'll have an average year."
"By that logic Ema should be with someone with a better result so that she'll have a great year," Azusa said in irritation.
"Are you saying I couldn't make her happy?" Tsubaki demanded.
Natsume watched his triplets in surprise before he caught the miserable look on Ema's face. No wonder she was so stressed and upset. His brothers were fighting and Ema undoubtedly blamed herself for it.
"Maybe we should rejoin the others," Natsume suggested. He put his arm around Ema and started leading her away, ignoring the glares from Azusa and Tsubaki.
"I hate it when they talk to each other like that," Ema said quietly.
The atmosphere didn't get much better when they rejoined the rest of the Asahinas. The others were less than pleased to see Natsume with his arm around Ema's shoulders. Natsume felt a flare of jealousy at seeing how many of his brothers were upset at the sight, but he removed his arm, not wanting to cause any more problems for Ema.
The family was discussing what they wanted to do for lunch when a voice called, "Ema-chan!"
Ema's eyes lit up at the sight of Masato. "Masato-kun!" She said. She and Masato had met up only a handful of times since the start of the school year. Both were busy and Ema had been hiding these meetings from her stepbrothers because she knew it would upset them. Masato felt like a breath of fresh air to Ema because he was completely uncomplicated. He just wanted to be her friend like he had been when they were little.
"Happy New Year," he said, giving her a hug.
Natsume felt like someone had punched him in the gut as he watched Ema with this guy he didn't know. Some of his brothers looked similarly confused, but the rest looked ticked off. "Who is that guy?" He asked no one in particular. "He's not her—" The word boyfriend was on the tip of his tongue when he thought that this group looked volatile enough without him throwing oil on the fire.
"Not what?" Subaru demanded, whipping his head around to glare at Natsume. "Not her boyfriend? What's it to you?"
"Nothing, Subaru," Natsume lied, shaking his head.
"Really?" Subaru demanded. "I saw you with your arm around Ema. You like her too, don't you?"
Natsume said nothing, not sure how to answer. His silence was answer enough and Subaru grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer. "You stay away from her, you bastard! She doesn't need a quitter like you."
Subaru's yelling drew the attention of the others and Ema and Masato looked over in shock.
"Is everything okay?" Masato asked hesitantly. "Your stepbrothers seem…kind of on edge."
Ema stared at Natsume and Subaru in dismayed surprise, wondering what had set Subaru off. He'd said something about 'her'. They couldn't have been talking about Ema, could they? Was Subaru angry that Ema had gone to Natsume's apartment? He was still so angry at Natsume for quitting track, but Ema hadn't thought that her spending time with Natsume would somehow make Natsume's and Subaru's relationship even worse. Ema felt like she couldn't do anything right these days. And spending time with Masato right now would only cause more problems at home.
"There's just some family drama going on right now," Ema said quietly. "I should probably head back home with my brothers."
"Okay, Ema-chan," Masato said, staring at Ema in concern. "Call me if you need to talk."
Ema gave him a melancholy smile and left. Masato wondered what kind of family drama they were going through and wished he could do something to help Ema.
~.~
Spring semester had just started and Iori was idly thinking about the homework he had to do when the sight on the living room couch caught his complete attention. Ema. Sleeping. Iori's breath caught in his throat and he quietly made his way over to her. She looked so beautiful and peaceful. So innocent.
He slowly sat on the couch beside her, trying not to wake her. Some hair had fallen over Ema's face and he gently brushed it away, caressing her face as he did so. He was happy to see her sleeping face, but also angry to see her sleeping out on the couch. She was too innocent to understand that it was a bad idea to fall asleep out in the open in a house full of men. Why didn't she understand that only he was allowed to see her sleeping face?
Iori lightly ran his thumb over Ema's lips, wondering what it would be like to kiss her. He'd held back for more than long enough. Moving his hand to her shoulder, he gently shook her awake.
"Mmm." Ema scrunched her eyes shut tighter before opening them and stretching, looking around with a dazed and confused look. "Iori-kun? Am I in your way?" She asked sleepily as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry for waking you," he apologized. "When we went to the beach house during the summer we said that we would discuss our future plans. Since it's the new year, I thought now would be a good time to do that."
"Sure, Iori-kun," Ema agreed. "Are you thinking that you don't want to stay at your current college?"
Iori shook his head. "I don't think that staying in Japan is the right thing for us. I think that Britain would be good though, and you were saying the other day that you wanted to learn English. I've already been accepted to Oxford, but it doesn't have to be there. I have a list of colleges that would be good and I'll help you apply for them. Later we can decide which one would be best."
"Britain?" Ema asked in confusion, barely following what Iori was saying. "I…if you want to transfer to a college in Britain I think that's great, Iori-kun, but I plan to stay in Japan."
"How are we supposed to be together of we're in different countries?" Iori asked, cupping Ema's cheek with one hand. "You'll graduate from high school this year. It's time for us to be together. I've already waited a long time for you."
The confused look in Ema's eyes turned alarmed as she gently took Iori's hand off her face. "What do you mean, Iori-kun?"
"You promised to stay with me through everything," Iori said, turning the hand that Ema had grabbed to grip her hand. "We promised. I made that same promise that day to myself that I would never leave your side."
"I—" Ema opened her mouth to talk, but nothing else came out. She didn't understand what was going on. Iori was acting like they'd already had conversations like this before. Like they were already a couple. Ema thought back to when she would have said that to Iori and remembered that it was right after Fuyuka broke up with him. Could he somehow have mistaken her words from way back then? But why not bring this up until now?
Iori's attitude made her nervous and she tried to pull her hand back, but Iori only tightened his grip. "I meant that as your sister, Iori-kun," Ema said gently. "I want to be here for you as your family. I want to be there for everyone as family."
Iori's eyes darkened and Ema flinched when he stood up suddenly. "So you lied then?" He asked coldly.
"No!" Ema denied, also getting to her feet. "I didn't! You were hurting and I wanted to support you as your sister—I do want to be there for you through everything Iori-kun, but not as—"
"You lied!" Iori yelled. "Just like Fuyuka. She told me she'd always love me and that we'd always be together—but then she left me. Are all girls the same way, just playing with guys' feelings?"
Ema flinched back from Iori's anger, her own pain and frustration rising. "Family is important. Family is the most important thing to me, that's why I want to be there for everyone. To support our family as a sister that they can rely on."
"You're just playing games!" Iori declared angrily, gripping Ema's shoulders. "That's why everyone is falling for you. It's your fault!"
Ema tried to pull away from Iori, but he held tight. Tears pooled in Ema's eyes as she curled her arms protectively around herself. "I was always alone before," she whispered, her breathing becoming ragged she was so upset. "All the time I went home to an empty house. I woke to an empty house. I lay in bed too sick to move with no one there to help me." Tears fell as she started to sob. "Dad loved his job and was happy, so I couldn't complain, but there was no one there for me! I had no other family, I had no one else to rely on! You don't know what that's like, you'll never know what that's like!"
Iori stared at Ema in shock. He'd never considered what her life had been like before she came to live with them.
"I don't understand why everyone is doing this," Ema cried. "Gaining a family meant everything to me. Having brothers made me so happy, and now it's all falling apart."
Suddenly, Kaname burst in between them, pulling Iori away from Ema. "Can't you see that you're hurting her?" He demanded.
Iori stepped back, looking guilty as shame overcame him. What was he doing? He covered his face with his hands and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ema," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I—I don't think I ever got over the pain of Fuyuka leaving me. I never dealt with it. I just channeled all my pain from that and focused it on you. I truly loved her and would have done anything for her, but that wasn't enough for her." He lowered his hands. "I didn't mean those things, Ema. Please don't think badly of me for what I said."
Ema nodded numbly, her arms still curled around herself and her tears still falling.
"I think I do need to leave Japan. I need time to truly get over Fuyuka. The right way this time." Iori apologized once more before leaving the living room.
Kaname looked at Ema, his heart aching for her, before he gently pulled her into his arms. She clutched at his shirt, her body trembling as she tried to stop her tears. "I wish you wouldn't hold so much pain inside you," Kaname murmured, rubbing Ema's back. It was the first time he'd heard her confess how hard her childhood had been. It had taken extreme duress, pain, and confusion for her to finally say anything about it.
Ema said nothing and the two of them stood there long after Ema stopped crying.
~.~
"Why don't we take a trip to visit Hikaru in Italy this summer?" Masaomi suggested one night at dinner a few weeks after the incident with Iori. Iori had already left, opting not to do spring semester at his current college. No one knew where he had gone. He hadn't told anyone or contacted anyone since he left. Only Kaname, Ema, and Iori knew what happened, but Masaomi and Ukyo suspected that something bad had happened. Everyone else was in shock that Iori chose to ditch out on his second semester of college with no explanation and barely any word to the family.
"An international vacation would be fun," Tsubaki agreed. "We haven't done one of those since Dad died."
"This is a little sudden, Masaomi-kun," Ukyo said, thinking that going to Italy would be a lot of planning and a lot of work to go see a man who would probably just stir up trouble.
"I think it'd be fun to get away for a while," Masaomi said. "A change of scenery might do us all a little good." He was mostly suggesting this for Ema's sake. He knew that she'd been under a lot of stress lately and she seemed listless in the days following Iori's departure. He wanted to give her something to look forward to.
"It'd be fun to have Hikaru-nii show us around Italy," Ema said. "He's always talking about the food and the fashion. I'd love to see the places he talks about."
Masaomi beamed. "It's settled then. Whoever can take time off this summer will go and visit Hikaru in Italy."
~.~
The next day after school, Ema filed to renew her passport and on Friday, went to pick it up. She was really excited about this trip. She was sure that Hikaru would make an excellent tour guide and it had been so long since she'd been out of the country with her dad that her passport had expired.
Ema wondered what kind of information was needed to approve something like this since in the past her dad had always handled everything. When Ema stepped outside of the office and opened up the packet that contained her passport, her family registry fell to the ground and she bent to pick it up. Glancing over the information, her eye caught on a particular word and she froze.
A/N: Yes, we have FINALLY reached the 'Ema is adopted' plotline. Also, Ema apparently didn't need a passport to go on the cruise since I'm making her get one here.