AmyFanfiction207: Assuming the translator translated your review correctly, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story J

Chapter 22: Overnight Hike

"Here's your coffee, Asahina-san," the secretary, Hinata, said. She put the coffee on his desk carefully, making sure she bent at just the right angle so Ukyo could see down her too low shirt if he looked. He didn't.

"Thank you, Hinata-san," he said, barely taking his eyes off his computer to give her a grateful smile, then he went back to the case he was working on. He wondered if it was just his imagination, or if the clomp of Hinata's stiletto heels on the floor was louder than usual. He wouldn't be surprised if she was walking off in a huff since Ukyo hadn't obliged her.

It was becoming well-known around the office that Hinata was looking to seduce one of the lawyers working for the firm in the hopes of catching a rich husband. Ukyo was not her only target, not by far. He only hoped she wouldn't find out about the money the Asahina family had on top of his generous salary as a lawyer.

From day one the woman had worn short skirts and low-cut shirts, which certainly hadn't been what she'd worn to her interview. To be fair, she was a beautiful woman. She had clear skin, long hair, and large curves in all the places most men hoped for. She was well aware of her beauty and her assets and knew how to use them ruthlessly.

As difficult as it was to admit, not that long ago Ukyo would have easily been pulled in by Hinata. Not to marry her, perhaps, but he certainly would have been tempted by her looks and her fragrant attempts to seduce anyone. It took will power to refuse a woman like that. Will power that Ukyo only had thanks to the newest addition to the Asahina home.

It was a little odd to think about. Hinata was Ukyo's normal type. Women who wore sexiness like a cloak around them that followed their every move were the kind he had pursued in the past.

That was probably the opposite of who Ema was. She was innocent, and would never think of using anything she had to manipulate another person. Maybe that was what was so refreshing about her, that she was so different from the other women he'd let into his life.

He'd learned the hard way that dating women who matched his normal type was a mistake. But Ema…the two of them enjoyed such peaceful times together. They shared a love of cooking and learning. They never ran out of things to talk about as they cooked together, whether it was Ema's experiences abroad, or a case Ukyo was working on.

His tastes seemed to have done a one-eighty. At least, so far as Ema was concerned they had. Maybe she was the only exception. Regardless, she was the only woman on his mind now. It was an attraction strong enough for him to block out Hinata's most bold attempts at luring him in.

Now if Ema were to wear something like Hinata did…A picture of her in secretary clothes with a tight skirt and a blouse unbuttoned just a little too low popped into his head. He felt his temperature increase at least five degrees as the back of his neck warmed.

He shook his head and made himself type a few more sentences regarding his briefing. There was no point in thinking such things right now.

There was a twelve year difference between he and Ema and while that wasn't an insurmountable problem, it was a problem while she was still in high school. She was too young right now and he would just have to wait until she graduated to tell her his feelings for her.

In the meantime, he needed to convince her to choose a college in Japan to attend.

He sighed, remembering that he wouldn't get to see her that night. Louis had taken her away for another one of their silly trips, and Ukyo was unable to attend this time.

~.~

"Thanks for inviting me," Subaru said as they carried their bags inside the inn.

"Of course, I'm glad you could come!" Ema said. "You too, Yusuke. I'm glad you didn't have soccer practice or make-up courses this time."

"Yeah, lucky for me that it's predicted to rain back home tomorrow and Sunday. That combined with the fact that we won our last game made Sasakura decide we could have the weekend off."

"Yeah, real great that he could make it," Juli huffed in Ema's ear. He was riding on Ema's shoulder and less than pleased that Subaru and Yusuke were joining them. However, he promised he would behave himself. The fact that Ema had refused to take him on the last trip because she was afraid of what he might do gave him good incentive to promise to be on his best behavior this trip.

"Why don't we have dinner first thing?" Louis asked. "It's a little early, but this place is famous for its hotpot and it might be nice to eat before there's a crowd."

"I'm fine with eating after we put our bags in our rooms," Ema said. "It's a little chilly out, so a hot pot sounds like the perfect thing."

~.~

"Man, this is good!" Yusuke said for the fifth time. "I don't know that I've ever had hotpot this good before. We should try some of this at home, right, Ema? Ema?" Yusuke looked around confused, then turned to Louis.

"Where did Ema and Subaru go?"

Louis smiled. "They left five minutes ago to go hiking. You were too involved in your food to notice. They talked about it before dinner."

Beside Louis, Juli hissed, his fur puffing out. Louis pet him, trying to calm the squirrel down. He knew Juli was upset about being left behind, but Ema had confessed to Louis her hope of maybe being able to bring Subaru and Natsume together at some point through hiking. She couldn't do that if she didn't establish a good relationship with Subaru first. If hiking together was a normal part of their relationship, it would be easier for Ema to bring up the idea of them going with Natsume.

Ema had been concerned that Louis would feel left out being given the task of watching Juli, but he'd assured her that hiking for exercise like she and Subaru planned to do wasn't his thing. If he hiked, it was to take his time and enjoy the sights. Unfortunately, while this made Ema happy, it made Juli unhappy. Juli felt like Louis wasn't doing his duty as a member of the 'Protect Chi' organization. He would just have to explain it to Juli later.

"Well, yeah, but I thought they weren't going until later," Yusuke said, slamming his fork on the table and standing.

"It's not like they sneaked away," Louis said, blinking up at his younger brother. "They said they were going and I heard Ema invite you to join them."

"Yeah, but—" Yusuke looked down at his bowl and blushed. "I was distracted. You shouldn't ask a man important things while he's eating a good meal."

"Is that so?" Louis asked. "I don't think I've ever heard that before."

"It's just what you deserve, you stupid punk," Juli chittered at Yusuke. "You spend too much time with Chi as it is. There's no need for you to run off and spend even more time with her."

Louis gave Juli a disapproving look, causing Juli's ears to droop. While Louis felt Juli had possible reason to be concerned about Ema living in the Asahina household, he didn't appreciate him talking badly about his brothers. Or rejoicing when they missed out on an opportunity they wanted.

"Why don't you and I play a card game until they get back?" Louis suggested.

"I wanted to see if I could catch up with them," Yusuke said, his eyes going to the door leading outside.

"I heard there's multiple trails in the mountains behind the inn. Do you know which one they planned to take?"

Yusuke deflated and sat back down. "No," he said dejectedly.

Louis didn't miss Juli sticking out his tongue triumphantly at Yusuke.

~.~

"You're kind of quiet today, Subaru," Ema said as they walked. "Is everything okay?"

Subaru felt a flush crawl up his face. It was all stupid Tsubaki's fault. Since he'd told Subaru he only talked about basketball with Ema, Subaru figured now would be a good time to talk about something else with her. Except, he couldn't think of anything to say.

Realizing it had been too long since Ema had spoken and she was giving him a concerned look, he blurted out, "I'm impressed with how well you're doing. I know you go hiking a lot, but you seemed worried about keeping up with me. From what I can tell, you're doing just fine."

Ema smiled brightly and Subaru felt relieved. He'd said the right thing. See? He could talk about something other than basketball. He'd talked about hiking and complimented Ema at the same time.

"Thank you! I'm glad I'm not slowing you down too much."

"Not at all," Subaru said, shaking his head. Admittedly, if he'd been hiking for training he probably would have been running, but for just hiking he was genuinely impressed with Ema. He would never have guessed that she was so fit. He wondered if she would enjoy playing basketball with him sometime…

"I love the fresh air," Ema said, tilting her head back and taking a deep breath. "I wouldn't want to live too far from a city." She flashed him a grin. "I did enough of living in log cabins and out of the way places with my dad, but I do enjoy getting out here regularly."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Subaru agreed. "People talk about nature calling you and when you spend too much time in the city, it really does."

The conversation went flat after that and Subaru felt himself panicking. At least he knew this wasn't a date now, or Ema wouldn't have invited Yusuke to come with him. But if he couldn't carry on a conversation, why would Ema want to go on a date with him?

He stopped walking.

"Subaru?" Ema turned back to look at him, pausing on the trail. "Is something wrong? Do you know feel good, is that why you've been so quiet?"

Mutely, Subaru shook his head. "Um, no, I just—it's just—" He just barely realized he wanted to be on a date with Ema and he had no idea how to deal with that realization. How were you supposed to act around the girl you liked? What were you supposed to talk about? How were you supposed to get her to like you back?

"When is your next game?" Ema asked.

Stupidly relieved, Subaru started talking about how the team was doing. On the one hand, this was easy to talk about. On the other hand, what girl wanted to date a guy who could only talk about one thing?

"That's wonderful that your team is doing so well!" Ema exclaimed. "I saw that you team was featured in a magazine about college basketball. That's really exciting. Our high school soccer team is doing well. I don't know if you like soccer, but Yusuke's one of the star players. You should come watch him sometime."

"Yeah?" Subaru said. "I knew he was having more fun on the team than he thought he would, but I didn't know he was playing well."

Subaru felt proud of his little brother before another thought occurred to him. Yusuke and Ema spent a lot of time together, and Ema went to a lot more of Yusuke's soccer games than she did Subaru's basketball games…Did she like soccer better than basketball? He mentally smacked himself at the thought. That wasn't the concern here. The concern was, did she like Yusuke? She might only go to more of Yusuke's games because Yusuke's school was also her school. If that was the case, maybe if Ema went to Subaru's college, she would go to all his games.

"Hey, what college are you planning on going to?" He asked. "Have you thought about it yet?"

"Not as much as I should have," Ema admitted, looking both wistful and anxious. "I know that as a junior I should be putting more thought into it, but right now I'm just enjoying having a steady home life for the first time in years."

"Well, let me know if you ever want to talk about it," Subaru offered. "It wasn't that long ago that I was deciding which college to go to. I know it can be a hard decision."

"Thank you," Ema said, flashing Subaru one of her easy smiles. Subaru was coming to really like those smiles.

"Should we turn back now?" Ema asked, looking up at the sky. "It's starting to get dark and we wouldn't want to get caught on an unfamiliar trail in the dark."

"Yeah," Subaru agreed reluctantly. "Maybe we can come back out tomorrow morning."

"And then Yusuke and Louis can join us!" Ema said.

"Right," Subaru said, far less enthusiastically.