Chocolate Chip

Ame was annoyed that the sun had gone down completely by the time she managed to make it home. It did get dark very quickly during winter, and all streetlights were all on. The whole of the town was covered in Christmas decorations even though it wasn't even December yet, but Ame appreciated the sentiment and shared the excitement. Christmas was one of her favourite holidays.

She exhaled softly just to see her breath puff out in the cold late evening air, and made her way up the driveway to the house. She was surprised when she almost bumped into Tsubaki. "Tsubaki-san?" He kept walking as though he couldn't hear her, and she frowned after him until he disappeared around the corner. "What's his problem?" She muttered to herself, just as Azusa came flying out as well. "And what's his problem?"

When she got inside, Ema was standing by the door holding the mail, which was just one large white envelope with orange lines going up the sides. Ema smiled when she saw her. "Ame! You're home! Do you know what's wrong with Tsubaki-san and Azusa-san?"

"Funny, I was just about to ask you the exact same thing," Ame replied, walking over and glancing curiously at the slim package. "What's in the envelope?"

Ema blinked, her mind turning away from whatever drama was happening with the fraternal twins. "Oh! It's a demo of the game Natsume-san said he would send me!"

"Panzer of the Dead. Oh that sounds cool!" Ame grinned, letting the shoulder-strap of her bag slide off her shoulders and to her elbow. "Wanna go play it now? I'll allow it, since it is a Friday and all."

"How generous of you," Ema giggled. The two girls skipped upstairs, after gathering the necessary amount of snacks needed to pull off an all-night gaming marathon (Ame was under no illusions about what this night would turn into), and settled down in front of the TV in Ema's room to watch one of them blow up zombies from tanks.

An hour later, they both found themselves utterly entranced by the plot and characters. "I didn't expect to feel so emotionally moved by a zombie game," Ema murmured, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"Me neither," Ame replied just as quietly, reaching blindly for the half-empty bowl of chips. "I think the voice acting makes it flow well."

Juli nodded sagely, impressed in spite of himself. "Truly, this is the power of superb voice acting."

Ame wasn't sure what happened next, only that she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, it was morning, and her hair was filled with crumbs from sleeping on the floor. She yawned widely, and felt her jaw crack. "Someone needs to clean this up. And by someone, I mean you," she turned to Ema, who clearly hadn't slept at all. "You have messed up your sleep schedule for the foreseeable future."

Her sister made a sound of obvious frustration, and dropped her console in despair. "I keep getting wiped out in the Desert Zone! I've tried so many times!"

"How many times?" Ame rubbed her eyes and grimaced at how gritty her face felt. This was the last time she went to sleep on the floor. Washing her hair was going to be such a pain.

"I don't know, maybe 15? Probably more," Ema replied, reaching for the console again so she could restart the level. "Maybe I'm not using the right strategy for this…"

"How about you think about that problem later, and get some sleep now?" Ame got to her feet and stretched hard enough that she felt several bones crack and pop back into place. "Or help me wash my hair? That's something we haven't done in a while. Come on," she wheedled, when Ema looked hesitant. "I'll let you use my lemongrass shampoo~."

An hour later, the two girls made their way downstairs smelling brightly of lemongrass and rose. Ame had a towel wrapped snugly around her head to prevent water dripping onto the floor. Blow-drying was for when she was in a hurry.

"Maybe Natsume-san will know how to win that level," Ame suggested as she toasted and buttered slices of bread for breakfast.

"I don't want him to tell me how to win," Ema sounded so softly scandalized Ame had to laugh. "I just want to point it out to him."

"Maybe it's a bug in the game?" Ame suggested. She carried the plate of warm, buttered toast over to the counter, along with a mug of peppermint tea for Ema, and then turned to retrieve her own mug of milk tea.

"No, a bug would be something like the graphics glitching out if you made it to a certain area, or something like that," Ema took a frustrated bite of bread and groaned quietly. "Or maybe it is a bug. I defeated all the mobs, but I didn't gain any XP or levels. Ugh, this is so wrong," her head thunked softly against the tabletop, making the plate rattle. "I thought I was good at games."

Ame watched her with an amused smile on her face. "Wow this is really taking a toll on your self-esteem, isn't it?" She commented as she stirred more milk into her tea. "Can I come with you when you visit Natsume-nii? I'm not busy today." It was a Saturday, but most of the brothers were out except for Louis, Iori, Yuusuke, and Wataru who were probably still asleep.

Masaomi was at work, Ukyo was at the nearby library, Kaname wasn't home yet, Subaru was off training, and neither Ame nor I had seen Azusa or Tsubaki since last night.

Ema swallowed her sip of tea. "Yes, of course! We can both visit him together!"

Ame smiled at her, and took a sip of my tea while her sister and pet squirrel demolished most of the toast. "Oh…?" Somebody yawned from the top of the staircase. "You're…still…home…" Louis stared down at the two girls through bleary eyes. Beside him was an equally sleepy Iori, but his nose twitched at the smell of melted butter, and his eyes sharpened a little at the perceived presence of food.

"Good morning Louis-san! Iori-san!" Ema greeted happily while Ame ducked back into the kitchen to plate up more food. When she stepped out again Iori was by the window carefully spraying the indoor plants with water, while Louis was sitting at the table, smiling sleepily at Ema and Juli as she told him about their plans for the day.

Louis hummed quietly in response to something she had said. "I…didn't know…you liked video-games…that sounds…fun…" his gaze drifted when Ame put a plate of warm ham and cheese sandwiches in front of him. "Thank you…Ame-chan…"

"You're welcome!" She chirped and tweaked his hair. It was out of its usual artful style, and instead fell about his shoulders in loose, messy curls. It reminded her of what her hair had been like at that length, only his looked much easier to manage. She wondered what kind of conditioner he used, and whether he would let her borrow it if she asked nicely. "Iori, I made you some too! Come over here!"

He blinked, his grey eyes wide, and nodded. "Oh…thank you."

"You're welcome too," she smiled. Ame waited for him to sit down, and then placed a plate of sandwiches in front of him. She caught the faint blush on his face when she did.

A hand touched the towel wrapped around her hair. "You…washed your hair…?"

Ema giggled into her tea. "She fell asleep on the floor of my bedroom."

"You washed your hair too! Mine just happens to be longer, and therefore takes much longer to dry!"

"I would…have washed it for you…" Louis actually looked hurt by this, and Ame felt her heart twist a little.

"We didn't know you were awake," she replied. "Sorry. Next time we need something done with our hair, we'll come to you." Louis looked mollified by her words, and slowly scarfed down the sandwiches. Iori ate faster, but more methodically. He ate each sandwich the same way – edges first, and then everything else. Ame thought it was cute.

He caught her watching him, and she smirked when he immediately ducked his head, the blush spreading. Boys…

oOo

Ema decided to invite Natsume to the café Ame worked at, which made her roll her eyes. Honestly, her day off and she ended up at work anyway. At least it was funny watching her workmates run around while trying to pretend like they weren't watching their table covertly. '

"I'm so nervous for some reason," Ema murmured. Ame arched an eyebrow at her in question over the straw of her drink – Ema had wanted to wait for Natsume to arrive before ordering anything –and then her eyes snapped to the door when the little bell above it jingled. Natsume walked into the little café. There was a light dusting of snow on his hair and shoulders, and he'd already taken off his coat and scarf.

Ame waved to alert him to their presence, and he walked over to them. "You both got here awfully early. Did you wait long?"

"Oh, no…" Ema replied nervously as he sat down. Ame glanced at her sister, lips still firmly attached to her straw. Her ears picked up the beginnings of the hushed conversation behind them.

"No, we just got here a few minutes ago anyway," she told Natsume, easily ensuring that her sister did not hear the rest of it. "Ema wanted to ask you about the game you sent her."

"Oh?" He looked surprised. "I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about it. Ema-chan, you haven't ordered anything yet though," he looked from her empty place setting, to Ame's whipped cream and chocolate-chip concoction-in-a-cup, and back again. "What would you like?"

Ema looked surprised by that. "Don't worry, I'm the one who invited you, so I'll pay!"

Ame tensed, prepared for the whole oh no, but I'm the man here, I'll pay spiel, and was surprised when Natsume just grinned and nodded. "That's a good attitude to have. If you'd planned to make me pay from the start, I wouldn't have stood for it. It's fine though, I'll treat you both."

"How about I treat the three of us?" Ame piped up. "Sora can put it on my tab, can't you Sora?" She grinned at the waitress who was just walking past.

Sora rolled her eyes. "Yes, o' esteemed guest. You're working overtime tomorrow for this."

"I love you!" Ame grinned after the older woman, and went back to sipping contentedly at her straw while Ema and Natsume began to discuss game mechanics. Most of it flew over her head, but she always liked seeing her sister animated and happy.

Natsume's phone rang, interrupting the conversation. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked surprised by the caller ID flashing. "Azusa? Hello? Yeah, it's me…huh? Tsubaki?" The sisters perked up at the name, and Ema shot Ame a worried look. "No, I don't know. He hasn't called me either… Fine, if he calls I'll-"

The phone-call appeared to cut off abruptly. "Did something happen to Tsubaki?" Ema asked.

"I don't know," Natsume replied, putting the phone down. "Apparently Tsubaki didn't come home yesterday, and Azusa seemed worried. Do you know anything about what happened?"

Ame took a sip of her drink. "I saw Tsubaki leaving the house yesterday evening. He looked pretty lost in his own head. I thought Azusa followed him."

Natsume's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yesterday evening…I wonder if it's about that..."

"What? What is it?" Ema leaned forward. "Do you have some idea? Please tell me."

"Well, I overheard something at work," Natsume laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them as he thought. "It was about some upcoming anime show. Since we're a videogame company, a lot of our work requires voice actors, so news tends to travel quickly through those lines. Anyway it hasn't been announced yet, so I won't give away the title, but a certain anime is the reason Tsubaki got into voice acting, and a new series for it just got greenlit."

Ema's eyes widened in recognition. "They told us about that! They both said that they were auditioning for roles!"

"Tsubaki mentioned wanting to play the lead too," Ame added, and then she frowned. "Do you think…?"

Natsume nodded and sighed. "The producer seemed enthusiastic about it, and he's popular right now, but when the cast list was announced it turned out that someone else had been chosen for the lead. He didn't get it."

"What?" Ema sounded personally offended on Tsubaki's behalf. "Why not?"

"A lot goes into things like this," Natsume explained. "Like how his voice balances with the other actors."

"Tsubaki really wanted that role too…" Ema stared down at the table sadly.

Ame realised that she'd been sucking on air and removed the straw from her mouth. "So who did get the role?"

"Azusa."

"Azusa?!" They exclaimed simultaneously. "B-But I thought he'd auditioned for another role!"

Natsume shrugged again. "It's not unusual for actors to be given a different role than the one they applied for. That's just how it is in the business."

"Yes but they're brothers," Ema looked distressed. "And if it's a role that has a special meaning for Tsubaki, it can't be easy to rationalize it that way…"

Ame huffed quietly, drawing their attention. "That's true and all, but at the same time…agonising over it isn't going to solve anything, is it? Tsubaki and Azusa are professionals, and they are brothers. Isn't it kinder and more mature for Tsubaki to congratulate his brother on his success instead of disappearing for over 24 hours?"

"Ame-chan!" Ema looked horrified.

"What?" She blinked innocently. "Too harsh?"

Natsume hid a chuckle behind his fist, "I won't say I'm unsympathetic, but Ame-chan has a point. Azusa has been chosen, so it's his duty as a professional to live up to those expectations. Just leave them alone for now anyway. There's nothing big brotherly or mature about two guys in their 20s having their little sisters worried for them."

"I think Kaname-san would beg to disagree," Ame snickered to herself. Ema was silent though, and she was quiet as they left the café.

She perked up as they walked down the brightly lit street. Christmas was definitely in the air here. "I feel bad having you walk us back," she told Natsume shyly.

"Just until we reach the station. Don't worry about it," he replied kindly. "It's dark already. I could hardly abandon my little sisters alone in the streets." Ame appreciated his protective instinct. She let her mind wander as she took in the reindeer-shaped lights and the bare trees with their branches glowing blue and red. It wasn't snowing anymore, but the ground was still covered in a light coat of powder. "Do you two have plans for Christmas?" She heard Natsume ask behind her as she spotted the station in the distance.

"Nope, none at all," Ema replied. "Ame and I planned to stay in."

"Hey now," he said jokingly. "I don't want to hear such lonely words from a high-school girl and a university student."

She whirled around, cocking an eyebrow and grinning. "Lonely? What about you then? What fun plans do you have for this magical season?"

"Me?" He laughed. "I'll be busier than ever. These kind of occasions are when business rake in the most profits. There's no way I'll be able to get time off."

Ema giggled. "I guess you're just as lonely as we are then."

"Touche," he smiled wryly, and then cocked his head at Ema. "Do you always wear your hair up like that?"

Ema touched her hair self-consciously. "I guess I do. It's the easiest way to keep it neat, so I…"

She trailed off and her eyes widened as Natsume draped his scarf around her neck and looped it securely. Then he turned to Ame, slipped off his gloves, and placed them on her own hands. "They're a little big, but you weren't wearing any. It's a little early to consider them Christmas presents, but since I won't be able to do anything for you on that day, they're for my lonely little sisters with nowhere to go on Christmas."

Ame blinked down at the too-large maroon gloves. They were much warmer than the ones she had at home. "We don't have anything to give you though."

"Like I said," he smiled and swept Ema's hair out of her face with a friendly flourish. "Don't worry about it. Well then, I should go. I can't afford to catch a cold at this time." He patted Ame on the head and walked off.

The two stared after him, and then Ema sighed happily and tucked the scarf tighter around her shoulders. "I didn't know it would be this nice to have older brothers."

"Yeah," Ame muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Neither did I."

I was hoping to get to the Tsubaki thing but I guess we'll get to that later!