AN: A little short again I'm afraid, but it's all about quality not quantity right? =p. Thanks to Crimson Darkness, BubblySunshine190, XxFairytailLuverxX, xoxAmuto4everxox and De Entertainer for your reviews. I'm happy to hear the last chapter made you smile because that makes me smile =D. Also if it seems like the story is going nowhere I can kind of understand why you would feel that way as it is kind of at its end...not to many more places it can go, but I hope you enjoy what little is left!

Natsume sat down at the breakfast table and stared directly across at a face he hadn't seen properly for weeks.

"What do you want?" Tsubasa asked tiredly, swirling his cereal around with his spoon.

Natsume cleared his throat, he suddenly felt a little nervous. He hated asking favours but this was for his step brothers own good.

"I need your help," Natsume said vaguely, trying to sound a bit more friendly than usual.

"With what?" Tsubasa replied, meeting Natsume's eyes with his own.

That was the thing about Tsubasa, Natsume suddenly realised. No matter how much Natsume rejected him, he was always willing to try and put the effort in to try and get along. Natsume sniffed, he was a jerk and he knew it.

"Aoi's cabin needs to be cleaned up a little. It's got some cobwebs and I seen a wasps nest on the side but the walls definitely need to be scrubbed down. Just to keep the dust level down and everything."

"Yeah okay, I'll help you," Tsubasa agreed. "Thanks," he said swirling his cereal again.

"For what?" Natsume asked surprised.

"For allowing me to help you," he replied, before gazing off in another direction.

Natsume nodded and then went to fix his own breakfast. He knew he couldn't expect an instant brotherly bond, Rome wasn't built in a day...but this was a start.

"Look Natsume," Aoi cried out, holding up a worm for his inspection. "It's so wiggly."

"Leave it in the ground," he told her, "it's good for the soil. Where's Bear?" he asked noticing the little guy was nowhere to be seen.

The little girl just shrugged which Natsume found very interesting. He wondered if she'd finally given up on toting him everywhere.

"Am I doing a good job?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts whilst wiping her hands on her overalls. She had once again been tasked with 'gardening' so she wouldn't feel left out. Her brothers had been sure to take care of the wasps nest before they let her out of the house though. It had turned out to be empty but no point in taking the risk.

"Hey pumpkin, you wanna come here for a second?" Tsubasa called out.

"Do you need my help?" she called out, nearly tumbling over in her excitement to run over to her eldest brother.

"Yeah, I need you to go and get the brush and pan for me," he replied.

"Okay," she agreed, running back in the direction of the house.

Natsume and Tsubasa continued to work in silence. It was more awkward than Natsume had anticipated. After racking his mind for some sort of topic for some small talk, he only came up empty. He suddenly realised how little he knew about his step brother.

"You did a good job," Tsubasa finally said, breaking the silence. "Building this I mean."

"Thanks," Natsume replied, surprised by the compliment, "Ruka helped a lot though."

"Aoi really appreciates it too," Tsubasa went on, "she's a sweet kid."

"Yeah," Natsume agreed, not knowing what else to say.

"You know.." Tsubasa started before falling silent again.

"What?" Natsume prodded.

"Well, it's just I kinda wish that you'd asked me to help you with this," he confessed. "You know as something we could have done together for Aoi."

Natsume didn't know what to say. It had never even occurred to him to ask Tsubasa to help but now he thought of it he couldn't find a good reason not for asking.

"I didn't realise," he replied honestly.

"I understand," Tsubasa said quickly, "I mean we don't really get along or anything so it would have been awkward trying to build something together."

"No I should have asked you," Natsume said, feeling like the worlds biggest asshole. "I know Aoi means just as much to you as she does to me. I'm sorry...not just for this but also for how I've been acting lately."

"Only lately?" Tsubasa grinned widely.

"I mean about Misaki. I was cruel, I have no defence," Natsume said, his voice devoid of emotion but Tsubasa could pick up from his body language that he was feeling a bit out of his depth. Apologising for things wasn't really his style so this was quite a big deal.

"It's okay," Tsubasa replied kind of quietly.

"You really loved her huh?" Natsume asked, almost overwhelmed by the sheer awkwardness of this conversation but he was determined to get through it.

Tsubasa didn't say anything but Natsume could tell he would still listen to anything else he had to say.

"I seen her the other day," Natsume said cautiously, knowing it really was none of his business but he couldn't help himself. Surely Tsubasa would rather know now rather than later. "She was on a date I think."

"Oh," Tsubasa said trying to play it casually, "what makes you think that?"

"She kissed some guy," Natsume replied, sighing heavily.

"That's nice for her," Tsubasa said, his voice going slightly higher than usual. "Seriously, I'm happy for her."

"You're not angry?" Natsume asked, a little surprised.

"No, I'm not angry at her," he said as though he was paying attention to something else. Then he snapped to attention. "You love Mikan huh?" he asked, "I mean that's what you told me."

Natsume shifted awkwardly, he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about the elephant in the room.

"I'm happy for you Natsume," Tsubasa said, sitting down on the wooden floor. "Truly, I mean, you're so much happier now. It's been a long time coming," he smiled briefly.

"You were right you know, I used her. It was wrong of me to try and use her as a substitute for Misaki," he started tracing a pattern on the floor with his index finger.

He looked up at the sound of Aoi running back toward them and got back to his feet. He walked back over to the broom again before turning to Natsume one final time.

"I know we aren't real brothers," he started, "I mean biologically and everything, but I still care about you Natsume. I want you to remember that."

Natsume nodded before walking back through the cabin's tiny door.

"Hey!" Mikan called excitedly, waving to Natsume who was walking to her front door.

"Hello," he replied with a smile before pausing to kiss her briefly.

"Why are you covered in dirt?" she giggled at the sight of him.

He explained to her what he had been doing all day, including the conversation with Tsubasa.

Mikan smiled widely. "I'm so happy you are getting along with your brother," she said, and for once in his life Natsume didn't rush to correct her.

"Where's your Dad?" he asked suddenly, running his hand down her back.

"He went over to that man's house for tea," she said happily.

"Really?" Natsume said, cocking his eyebrow suggestively before leading her indoors.