I own nothing except Ame!

At Work

Ema and I woke up at the same time the next morning, although she was bathed and dressed while I was happy to walk around the place in my pyjamas since I didn't have to go anywhere until late afternoon. I rubbed my eyes with my shirt-covered hands as I made my way downstairs, just behind her.

"Good morning!" Tsubaki greeted from the sofa. Azusa was beside him tapping at his phone, although he looked up and smiled when he noticed our presence.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out Ema's soft pink mobile phone. "Sorry about yesterday," he apologised, handing it back to her. "You forgot your cellphone, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes. Thank you!" Ema smiled with relief, taking it and holding it to her chest.

I stretched lazily, arms above my head. "Good morni – why is there an unconscious person behind the sofa?" I lowered my arms and stared at the half-revealed figure just behind the other sofa. "Is that...Subaru-nii?"

The twins followed my gaze, and Tsubaki grinned. "Oh, I took revenge for you, so you can rest easy about that!" Ema gaped in surprise, and he smirked. "It might have been a bit severe, but you reap what you sow, right?"

I covered my mouth to hide my grin. "What did you do to him?"

Tsubaki winked and placed a finger over his lips. "It might be better if you don't look."

"I agree," Azusa nodded. Oh, now I was just curious, and I puffed out my cheeks as I pouted, which just made both of them laugh.

"Good morning," Ukyo came around the corner. He was wearing the cute green apron with the cats motifs that he normally wore, and was carrying a basket of damp bedclothes and covers, fresh from the washing machine. He asked us to hang them all up, and we were only too happy to help.

It was a cool, but sunny morning, so being on the roof felt really nice. The gentle wind and sunlight meant that the fabrics would dry quickly. "I'm so happy he asked us to do some housework," Ema smiled happily. "It makes me feel like I'm a member of the family."

"Ukyo-nii is so nice," I reached up to pin one of the sheets in place. "They're really nice people. Well," I amended with a shrug. "With some exceptions."

Juli folded his arms across his furry chest. "Mai-chan is right. That may be, but that ninth son Subaru is unacceptable!" He leaped up at the proclamation, fur almost standing on end in his fury.

"Yes, yes," Ema giggled. "Thank you both for worrying about me. Still, I hope Subaru-san accepts me as a member of the family one day."

I rolled my eyes and squeezed her cheeks between my palms. "You're so cute, Ema-chan~!" I sang, making her yelp and puff her cheeks out in response to my teasing. "As long as none of them ever try anything like that ever again, I'll be fine," I grabbed another sheet to hang up. "If they do, I'll just punch them. Really, really hard."

"Ame-chan..." I blinked at her innocently, and she sighed. "By the way, have you apologised to Fuuto yet?"

"...who?" At her pointed stare, I sighed and looked away. "No...but I will, eventually..." Darn my inability to say no to Ema.

My sister left for school half an hour later, with Yusuke on her heels. His hopeless crush on her was kind of funny, but only because I knew he was virtually harmless in spite of this hot temper and wouldn't hurt her. Now, if the person in question was someone like Fuuto...

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when I heard said idol strolled in early that afternoon. He was on the phone talking to someone, and I was in the kitchen making a snack. I had bathed, and everyone else had gone out to work or school, with the exception of Kaname, but he was asleep since his job required him to work at night and basically be nocturnal.

On that note, I had to figure out exactly what he did. All I knew was that it required him to be seductive and 'entertain' women. So far, my ideas were a bit less than savoury.

Anyway, back to Fuuto.

I felt bad for whoever he was talking to considering his tone, but couldn't help hoping he'd be too into the conversation to talk to or even notice me. Unfortunately he ended the conversation just a few seconds before coming down the stairs and spotting me. "Oh, if it isn't my big sister."

"Hi Fuuto-kun," I sighed as I whisked the separated egg whites. A bowl of crushed kaki peanuts sat beside the bowl of yellow egg yolks, and beside those was a batch of already fried fish on a tray. "No one's home by the way, unless you're here to see Kaname-nii."

He came around the lowered wall separating the main room from the kitchen and leaned against the entrance. "You're so cold, big sister~" he smirked as he watched me coat the fish fillets first in the egg whites, and then roll them in the crushed nuts. "Especially after what you did to me. I'm an idol, you know. You shouldn't treat me so roughly~."

I scowled and turned to glare at him. "Then don't touch my little sister," I snapped, tossing the breaded fish into the pan. There were loud crackles and pops as the fish began to fry in the already hot oil, and I wondered if I should have worn longer sleeves.

"You're so motherly. It's cute." A weight landed across my shoulders, and I noticeably tensed when Fuuto peered over my shoulders at the contents of the pan. "What're you making?" He asked, a hint of genuine curiousity mixed in with his usual conceited tone. Compared to the rest of his brothers, Fuuto was actually quite short, being pretty much a centimetre taller than Ema.

I sighed, shoving down my annoyance. "Char okaki-age," I replied. "It's something I saw in an anime I watched."

He hummed thoughtfully, and I wasn't watching him to catch his expression. Turning my head at that moment would have put his face uncomfortable close to my own, but that also meant I couldn't tell what he was thinking when I removed the cooked fish from the pan and he said, "I want some."

"What?" I did turn my head then, eyes wide in surprise.

"I want some," he repeated. "And I want big sister to feed it to me."

"What?!" He opened his mouth expectantly. I stared at him blankly, no longer as annoyed as I should have been. In fact, I suddenly felt amused. He reminded me of a baby bird. "You know what? Fine," I picked up a piece and held it up so he could take a bite of it.

Fuuto chewed slowly. "Not bad," he mumbled. Alright, why did this suddenly strike me as vaguely adorable? I covered my mouth to hide my giggle. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know," I replied, still grinning behind my fingers. "You're acting so spoiled that it's looped back around and become kind of adorable instead!"

He frowned, and I noticed a piece of the breading on the corner of his mouth. "Oi, don't treat me like a kid-!"

I happened to glance up at the clock and notice the time. "I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR CLASS!" I interrupted him. The sudden yelp caused him to release me, and I quickly switched off the stove and emptied the bowl of already made fish into my food pack. "You can have the ones in the pan since they're still hot!" I called over my shoulder as I hurried to clean up the bowls and utensils I'd used, before rushing up the stairs to change and grab my things. "Save some for Kaname-nii! He missed breakfast! Bye!"

oOo

I managed to not be late for school, thank goodness. The moment I walked into class the following day, I was immediately set upon by my classmates – mainly the girls – who wanted to know who the sexy, gorgeous, and incredibly beautiful (their words, not mine) guys in my photo were. Was I dating one of them? Which one? Could I hook one of them up with someone?

"It's not fair to keep them all to yourself!" One of the girls whined.

I placed a hand on my chest. "I just spent the past few days moving into a strange house, and none of you want to ask how I am? I'm so offended right now."

One of the girls, not quite a friend but not a stranger either, snorted. "Well you're clearly not doing too badly if the picture you posted up has anything to say about that."

"So very offended," I laughed. After classes – I was still stumped for a research topic – I headed for the cafe to buy some more bubble tea, and also two packs of miniature cupcakes. There were about six in all: two chocolate, two vanilla, and two marble, all with icing and sprinkles.

I had promised to apologise to Fuuto, but I considered the events of the morning sufficient enough to show that there were no hard feelings between us. Therefore, these cupcakes were just for me to share with whoever happened to be home at the time.

I got the same reaction that I'd gotten at school at work. You'd think fully grown adult women would be far more serious about their work, and far less interested in the affairs of an 18 year old girl, but nope.

"Ah, so they're your brothers?" One of my fellow waitresses, Yomi, sighed to herself as we changed in the locker room for our shift. "Pity..."

"Stepbrothers though," another waitress, Sora, waggled her eyebrows at me lecherously. "There's no blood between the two of you, right? It's all fair game!"

"My god Sora, you sound like such a pervert," I groaned, tying the strings of the frilly white apron in a neat knot at the base of my spine. The uniform was simple: a short black dress with a flared skirt, a white apron, and black shoes. Tights were optional, but some of the patrons were somewhat mischievous so that was an option I chose to take. "I literally just met them like two days ago."

"The place was nuts with you gone," Yomi smiled as we stowed our clothes in our lockers and walked out of the changing room. "So, what are they like? I can't believe you're living with thirteen boys. Isn't that dangerous?"

I waved a hand, brushing away her fears. "We're fine. They're all actually really nice!" With the exception of Fuuto, but I had promised to apologise and I would get to that. Eventually. "Besides, I'll take care of Ema and make sure none of them hurt her."

"Sometimes you talk as if you don't exist," Yomi said to me. "Who's going to take care of you though?"

Before I could answer, our boss appeared and snapped at us to get to work. I could take care of myself though, was what I would have said though. Ema was my younger sister, so it was my responsibility to make sure she was safe at all times.

About halfway through my shift, the bell above the door rang as a new person stepped inside, and I looked up from where I was cleaning one of the tables with a practiced smile, the restaurant's memorised greeting on the tip of my tongue. Then I grinned happily at the familiar figure walking through the door. "Ukyo-nii!"

"Good evening, Ame-chan," he smiled at me in that characteristically bashful manner of his. I abandoned the table and skipped over to him. I was nearing the end of my shift, so I didn't expect to get into too much trouble for slacking off.

I hadn't expected to see him, or anyone for that matter. He was dressed in his typical business suit, the jacket hanging off his arm. There was a briefcase in his other hand. "Did you just get off from work?" I tilted my head to the side curiously. Wasn't this rather late? Of course, I didn't know anything about his work hours.

"I had to stay a little later than expected," he explained. "On my way home I passed by here, and you mentioned that this was where you worked..." he was blushing now. "I saw you through the window..." he tailed off here. The blush was in full bloom now, and he'd dropped his eyes.

I couldn't stop the grin on my face. I lifted my hand to hide my giggles, and he blushed even more. "Thank you. I'm glad you stopped by!"

The red receded a bit, and then he blinked at something behind me. "Are those your co-workers?" I turned and spotted several girls, Sora and Yomi amongst them, peering out from the curtain separating the main area from the kitchen. Two had their phones out, and seemed to be looking from the screens, to us, then back again. Rinse and repeat.

I grinned. "Yes," I waved at them sweetly, and they immediately disappeared behind the curtains once they realised that they had been spotted. "They're curious about you, since I told them about the moving and everything. I also posted a picture of Subaru-nii's birthday online," I paused and gazed up at him worriedly. "I hope that was okay?" Some people didn't like having their pictures taken and put online without permission.

The blonde shook his head and assured me that it was fine. "When does your shift end?" In about fifteen minutes, I told him. "When you're done, would you like me to give you a ride back home?"

"Yes please!" I beamed and threw my arms around his waist in an impulsive hug.

My manager yelled at me from the kitchen. "If you have enough time to hug your boyfriend, then you have enough time to clean the tables!"

I released Ukyo and spun around to call back. "Okay!" I glanced back at my stepbrother and began walking backwards to the kitchen. "Wait for me, okay?" I barely noticed how red his face had become.

The second I reached the kitchen, I was accosted once again. "You didn't mention that he was so good-looking! Do they all look like that?!" Sora hissed at me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me in time with her words. "You. Lucky. Girl!"

"Ow?" I blinked several times to clear the colour spots from my retinas, and arched. I quickly finished up my shift and changed. Ukyo was still standing by the door, apparently not noticing the appreciative stares being tossed at him by other patrons. I dashed over, my ponytail messy and loose, and bounced on the tips of my toes. "Ready!"

The ride home was spent with me talking about my day, and asking Ukyo about his own. Ukyo was a somewhat reserved person, I had noticed, but I liked the way he looked when he smiled. I managed to draw him out a bit with my questions and comments. I was curious about his job. I thought it was cool that he got to do something so prestigious and classy, and also help people.

When we arrived home, it was around quarter to seven, and Juli was up in the tree for some reason. He looked like he was sulking about something. "We're home!" I chirped as we walked into the house, arms above my head as I stretched. I was immediately tackled by Wataru.

"Big sister's home!" He sang, face half buried in my stomach.

"Eh, you and Kyo-nii came back at the same time," Tsubaki noted, grinning. "Did he give you a ride home?"

I nodded, still patting Wataru on the head. "Yep! He actually came by the restaurant where I work at the end of my shift!"

"Oh?" I hardly noticed the insinuating tone of Tsubaki's voice. "I didn't know he could be so forward about it~."

"Nothing happened!"

"Eh? So you were all alone with my precious little sister and nothing happened?" Tsubaki wrapped his arms around me like he was trying to protect me from Ukyo. "Don't worry Ame-chan, I'll keep you safe~."

"I have no idea what's going on," I mumbled from where my cheek was smushed into his chest. "But I brought home cupcakes. Who wants some?"