Juli was silent as he watched Chi get ready. She was meeting her father for a mini-adventure. Rintaro had loved hearing about Louis and Ema's adventure trips around Japan and said he and Ema should do them too. Ema would have to ride the train for an hour to get there, but then they'd spend the afternoon and evening together before Ema came home. It was a way for them to be together even while Rintaro was out filming.

Chi seemed happy to be spending time with her father . . . but just happy. Not bouncing on her toes excited like when she went to Azusa's and Tsubaki's events. Not pumped up like when she played video games with Natsume. And not unable to stop talking about it like when she went hiking with Subaru and Yusuke.

He'd been relieved when Rintaro returned. Grateful the man finally had enough sense to realize his daughter should be with him and not living with a bunch of hormonal wolves. But Chi had clearly been devasted to leave the Asahinas. He'd hoped she'd come out of her depression after living with her dad for a while. After remembering how much she loved sitting and talking with him.

But she hadn't. It didn't help that Rintaro wasn't around any more often than he'd been when Ema was little. But after not being alone (ever, like ever ever) for a whole year, being alone seemed to weigh on her more than ever. And now she was spending hours at the Asahinas after school without Juli around. He'd hoped that Rintaro coming back to Japan would make things better, but it hadn't. Not one little bit.

~.~

Ema had been sitting on a bench outside the national park for half an hour waiting for her dad when her phone rang. She had a sinking feeling when she saw it was her dad, but hoped he was calling just to tell her he was running a little late and would be there any moment.

"Hello?" she answered.

"I'm so sorry, Ema. I wanted to call you earlier, but didn't have any reception. The camera crew had an accident—an intern who didn't know what he was doing—and we lost all of today's footage. We need to spend the afternoon re-filming everything and I won't be able to meet you. I'm so sorry. Let's try again in a couple weeks, okay?"

Try again. Not go together in a couple weeks. Try. "Okay," she said, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. She could have spent the whole afternoon gaming. That would have been a better use of her time than running around Japan trying to see her dad for a moment. And she would be feeling a whole lot better right now. "I hope filming goes well the second time around." And then she hung up. It was rude—but so was ditching your daughter after supposedly coming back to the country to be with her. She knew the filming accident wasn't his fault and that he would have come if he could. The show was his job, his passion. He couldn't just blow it off.

But she'd spent her entire life rating just below her father's career. That was easier to take when she had people around her. And harder to take when she had no one to go home to. She knew the Asahinas would let her come over whenever she wanted. But she didn't want to abuse their hospitality or overstay her welcome. When she lived with them, she'd helped out and contributed to the household. Now she was just a neighbor mooching off them. Plus, most of them were adults and had their own lives. If Ema spent all her alone time there, they'd either be worried or annoyed. She didn't want to trouble the Asahinas, especially not after everything they've done for her.

Slowly, she trudged back to the train station. It took her a while to come out of her self-pity enough to realize the train station was far more packed then when she'd arrived here half an hour ago. It was a Saturday, but this wasn't normal. She looked up and around, trying to figure out why there was such a crowd. Then she noticed the electronic board that normally listed arrival and departure times listed something else. The train back to Tokyo had been derailed due to a major car accident. They didn't expect to have it back up and running until almost midnight. Ten hours away.

Ema slumped, unable to stop a small part of her from wishing her father wouldn't invite her out places if it was just going to end up like this. Here she'd just been thinking she didn't want to trouble the Asahinas—yet her first thought was to call them for help.

Driving an hour out of their way to pick her up wasn't a small favor to ask. But they'd also always been adamant that she not be out alone after dark. They'd always been very sweet about wanting her to be careful. And she knew at least some of them would be unhappy with her if they learned she let herself be stranded for hours and then walked home alone from the train station at night. So, she mentally went through the schedules of the Asahinas to determine who would probably be the most available.

Kaname often didn't work until evenings, so she called him.

~.~

"Mm, no one makes me feel like you do, Kaname," Ino said, threading her hands through Kaname's hair as he kissed his way down her neck.

"Are you saying I'm not your one and only?" he teased against her skin.

She laughed. "Maybe you'll convince me to be true to you if you decide to be true to me."

"Give me enough incentive to drop my other girls then," he said, before gently nibbling her ear and making her gasp.

Then his phone rang. Ino let out a sigh of disappointment when he pulled back.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I can't believe I forgot to put that on silent before coming here." He pulled his phone out to turn off the volume, but hesitated when he saw the caller was Ema. It was unusual for her to call him.

"What, is it another one of your girlfriends?" Ino teased. "You're not thinking of abandoning me to spend time with one of them instead, are you?"

"No, of course not," he said, shutting off his phone and pulling Ino to his lips. A niggling voice in his mind told him that Ema wouldn't call him unless it was important, but he'd call her back later.

~.~

Ema sighed when the phone went to voicemail. Maybe Kaname had to go into work early today or was busy with something else. She called Natsume next.

"Hey Ema, what's up?"

"I'm stranded," she said with a sigh before explaining the situation. "I'm really sorry, but could you come get me?" She felt a little awkward calling him since they hadn't spent much time together since their fight over Subaru, but she had texted him to let him know that Subaru apologized over forcing his feelings on her. Natsume had seemed really happy about that.

He was silent for a moment and she worried this was too big a favor to ask. She was about to tell him never mind when he said, "I'm stuck working overtime today and won't be off for another two hours, so it'll be three hours before I can get there. I'm really sorry, but is that okay?"

Ema relaxed. He didn't think she was an inconvenience. He just felt bad he couldn't come immediately. "Being picked up at five is a lot better than waiting until eleven PM for the train," she assured him. "Thank you, Natsume."

"Of course. I'm glad you called. I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

~.~

Natsume rushed through the rest of his work, wishing the time would go faster. He hated that Ema was waiting for him with nothing to do and nowhere to go. But he was happy she'd called him.

They'd been careful around each other since their fight over Subaru, so he was relieved she'd come to him for help. It was possible his brothers just weren't available and that was why she'd called—but he hoped her first thought had been to turn to him.

~.~

"I can't believe I haven't tried this game yet," Ema said as she and Natsume battled later that night. Since it had been so late when they got back to Tokyo, Natsume took Ema out to eat and now they were playing games at his apartment.

"It's from a rival company," Natsume admitted. "I feel a little disloyal playing it, but a friend recommended it and the first time I played it, I knew you would like it too."

Ema laughed. "Don't think of it as disloyalty. Think of it as research for work. You need to know what your competitors are doing if you want to continue being successful. Otherwise, you'll fall behind."

"Right," Natsume said, his voice amused. "I'll just bill this as more overtime then."

"Might as well!" she agreed when her phone rang.

Natsume paused the game as she reached for her purse. She felt petty, but she hoped it was her dad, calling to apologize again and tell her that he really would have rather been with her than filming if he could have helped it. But it was Kaname.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, I missed a call from you earlier. Do you need anything?"

She'd been having so much fun with Natsume she'd forgotten that she called Kaname first. "Oh, I was stranded. I took the train to meet up with my dad—but he ended up having to cancel. Then the train was derailed and delayed until eleven PM. I just needed a ride back to Tokyo. Natsume came and got me though. Thank you for calling back!"

"Was he able to come get you right away?"

Ema hesitated, then admitted, "No, he had to work today. I only waited three hours though, which is a lot less than the ten hours I would have waited for the train."

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long." His voice sounded heavy.

"That's okay. It all worked out. And now Natsume and I are gaming, so you can't really end an evening better than that, can you? I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." He paused before adding, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer, but call me the next time you need something, okay? I promise I'll come."

"Okay," she said, wondering why he sounded upset. "Good night, Kaname."

~.~

Kaname was a jerk. A massive, giant, selfish jerk. He'd been so concerned about his growing feelings for Ema, so determined to stay away from her, that she'd had to sit around waiting for someone to come save her for hours. After being stood up by her own father. He could have gone to get her right away. Who knew how she was feeling during all that time alone when she'd expected to have time with her dad?

And she'd trusted him. Had called him even before Natsume, who he would have guessed she was closer to. That wasn't any way to treat a friend, even one you were trying not to fall for. He hoped she really would call him the next time she needed help. He wouldn't let her down again.

~.~

The next weekend, Ema expected to be alone. But she didn't expect the sudden thunderstorm. She huddled on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her. She hated thunderstorms. Hated, hated, hated them.

Not that they were scary in and of themselves—but loud noises are scary when you're young. Especially if no one is there to comfort you and tell you that the noise can't hurt you, that the storm will pass and it will be okay. She'd always been alone during storms as a child.

Another peal of thunder rumbled and she flinched. Juli pressed tighter against her side, but, though Ema appreciated his presence, his small form wasn't much comfort.

There had been storms while she lived at the Asahinas—but she hadn't been alone. She'd been able to contain her fear so long as she'd been with others, hanging out in the living room or watching a movie together. Tsubaki would laugh when she jumped, thinking she was just surprised rather than scared, and promised to protect her from the nasty weather.

She let out an 'Eep!' of surprise when the doorbell rang.

"Don't answer it, Chi!" Juli cautioned. "Only weirdos would be out in this weather! It might be a psychopath seeking shelter from the storm."

"I need to stop letting you watch horror movies," Ema mumbled as she left her blanket to answer the door.

"It's not horror movies, it's those games you play that fills my head with these thoughts!" Juli shot back. "And they take inspiration from real life for those games!"

Ema answered the door to find the twins. "Tsubaki! Azusa!" she exclaimed. "What are you two doing here?"

"We've been waiting for your call," Tsubaki pouted. "I told you to tell us when you were available on the weekends, didn't I? Natsume let slip that your dad wouldn't be home this weekend. Why didn't you call us?"

Ema didn't know she could feel so warm and so guilty at the same time. "I didn't want to trouble you. You're both so busy with work these days. I didn't want you to feel pressured to be with me if you wanted to rest instead."

"Rest?" Tsubaki said. "Are you kidding me? Why would we want to waste our time on something like that? And you know me, do you really think I'd offer to spend time with someone if I didn't want to hang out with them? Since when are you an imposition? It totally sucks that we can't see you ever day now. We're going into Ema withdrawals. How could you let that happen to a couple of friends?"

Ema smiled, about to apologize when the thunder rumbled again. She flinched, every muscle tensing as she made a small sound of fear.

"Ema?" Tsubaki's voice was surprised. "Are you afraid of thunder?"

"Only when I'm alone," she admitted quietly.

The next moment, Tsubaki's arms were around her as he and Azusa came into the apartment. Azusa shut the door behind him and Tsubaki pulled her closer. "Well, you're not alone anymore," he murmured in her ear. "So, it's okay."

They ended up on the couch with Ema between the twins, Tsubaki's arm around Ema's shoulder while Azusa held her hand. Juli ran back and forth along the top of the couch, waffling between rage that these two boys were taking advantage of Chi's weakness, and gratitude that she wasn't alone any more. These boys had some uses. But they'd have a lot more if they had all their hormones medically extracted.

"You should have called us," Azusa said gently, squeezing her hand. "Moving out doesn't mean we're not friends anymore, Ema. What's the use in living so close if we don't still see each other?"

"I just don't want to trouble anyone," she said quietly. She loved being with the Asahinas. Felt accepted and cared for with them. But not living there anymore felt different. And it seemed impossible to shake the truth she'd encountered so often while traveling—the feeling that she was nice enough to spend time with while she was there, but she wasn't worth keeping in contact with once she was gone. Except the Asahinas had kept in contact with her the whole time she was gone. But moving out brought back all those thoughts and insecurities.

"Are you sick of us?" Tsubaki asked, his voice only half-teasing.

"No!" Ema cried, whipping her head around to look into his eyes "I'm afraid you'll get sick of me."

Her confession stunned the twins into silence.

"I'm sorry," Tsubaki said after a moment, removing his arm from her shoulders to grab her chin and make her look into his eyes, "but do I really need to remind you that we're both in love with you?"

"What?!" Juli shrieked, several thoughts flashing through his mind at once, crashing into one giant jumble of confusion, rage, and concern. When had they confessed to loving Chi? What had they done to her when they confessed? Had they been making moves on her all this time? Why hadn't she told him?! He pulled back a claw to strike, then feared if he moved too soon, Ema would lock him in the bathroom. He held back, breathing heavy. He needed to be here to protect her. He'd wait until they made a move. Then he'd strike. He gritted his teeth as he thought that clearly holding her hand and putting their arms around her was putting the moves on Ema, but she seemed to disagree.

"Ema, I want to be with you every minute of every day," Tsubaki said. "The only reason I haven't asked you to be mine—over and over—is because you're not ready to date. Believe me, it's not always easy holding back." He wanted to kiss her. To push her down and smother her with all the affection and feelings he'd been holding back. He wanted to show her how much he wanted her and how not sick of her he was.

"I feel the same way," Azusa said, gently moving Tsubaki's hand away as he cupped Ema's cheek and turned her to face him. He rubbed his thumb over her skin as he spoke. "Living with you and getting to see you every day was amazing, Ema. It helped us keep our feelings in check because at least we got to be near you. Now . . ." he gazed into her eyes. "It's hard not seeing you and getting to be with you the same as before. At home, you're always doing homework with Yusuke and Wataru, or making dinner with Ukyo. Won't you still spend time with us too?"

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, feeling her cheeks heat up. Was it insensitive that she'd almost forgotten about their confessions? They hadn't brought them up again—which she appreciated—but it seemed she'd underestimated the depths of their feelings for her. She wasn't used to being wanted. "I never meant to make either of you feel like I didn't want to be with you. I love spending time with you, I just—" She was about to confess her feelings of inferiority, but Azusa's kind, intent gaze made her lose track of her thoughts. It was like what she was saying was of the utmost importance to him and he didn't want to miss a single word. She wasn't used to Azusa focusing on her with such intensity. It flustered her.

She stared down at her lap. "There were a lot of people when I was traveling who felt I was good enough to be friends with when I was around, but not worth keeping in touch with once I was gone. I know the Asahinas aren't like that, I just—it's just been a struggle moving out. I don't know why all those feelings came back suddenly."

"Well, you'd better not forget again that we're not like that," Tsubaki warned, dropping a kiss on her cheek. "Or we'll be forced to show you just how much we want you around."

"That's right," Azusa agreed, taking her hand to kiss the tips of her fingers.

"Watch it!" Juli hissed, his fur standing on end. Why wasn't Chi fighting back? Why wasn't she objecting to this?

"S-sorry," she stuttered again, wondering if she could get any redder. "I promise I won't."

"Good," Tsubaki said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders again. "Then let's put in a movie and see if we can't drown out the sound of this storm. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," she said, taking the hands of both the twins and squeezing them. "Thank you, Tsubaki. Thank you, Azusa."

"Anytime," Tsubaki promised, kissing her cheek again.