A/N: Sorry this post is a bit late from my usual. Work has been crazy. I'm hoping to still post at least once a week.
kikurie Thank you for your review! I'm glad the last post ended up being close to your birthday :)
Chapter 27: Beach House
"Isn't it refreshing to be out here on the beach?" Tsubaki asked, throwing an arm around Ema's shoulder.
"We're not on the beach yet," Ema said, half-laughing.
"We almost are," Tsubaki argued, taking Ema's hands in his. He walked a couple steps backward, bringing Ema with him. He stopped once they stood on the sand. "See? Now we're on the beach."
"Hooray!" Ema exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.
Tsubaki laughed and taking just one of Ema's hands this time, ran toward the beach.
Ukyo watched them disapprovingly, an anxious feeling growing in his chest. Was it possible Tsubaki did have feelings for Ema? It was difficult to tell when he had always been affectionate with her. Ukyo was willing to admit that his jealousy might be making him see things that weren't there. After all, Tsubaki hanging over Ema while they were fully clothed was very different than him doing it while he was in swim trunks and she was in a bikini.
He wondered if it was just his imagination or if Ema had looked a little uncomfortable when Tsubaki put his arm across her bare shoulders. Whether Tsubaki was romantically interested in Ema or not, he should pay attention to the fact that being in a swim suit might make Ema uncomfortable with some of his normal actions.
Ukyo was surprised when he noticed Azusa standing by him. "Why aren't you down by the beach?" He asked. Ukyo would feel much better about Ema and Tsubaki at the beach if they weren't alone down there. Azusa's presence would ensure nothing happened.
"Well, it looks like I'm not really wanted, doesn't it?" Azusa snapped.
"You mean because Tsubaki went to the beach without you?" Ukyo asked, looking in the direction Ema and Tsubaki had gone. It was true that it was odd for Tsubaki to leave without Azusa, but the beach was just twenty yards or so from the house. It wasn't as though Tsubaki had truly left without his twin. "I'm sure Tsubaki is waiting for you to join them…Unless he said something to you?" If Tsubaki held feelings for Ema, surly, Azusa would know.
"No," Azusa said, shaking his head. "Sorry, I'm just being dumb."
Ukyo frowned as he watched Azusa trudge toward the beach. Had the twins gotten into a fight?
~.~
Azusa stood a little back, watching Tsubaki and Ema splash each other and laugh. Was he just being stupid? He knew he didn't like his sudden attraction to Ema. It was too complicated, and probably just a result of him confusing his own feelings with Veeto's. He and Ema had been spending a lot of time together, so it made sense that he was paying more attention to her now and thinking of her more. It didn't mean he was developing feelings for her.
Thinking someone was attractive didn't mean you wanted to be with them. Neither did being jealous when other guys touched them.
He felt another spike of resentment as Tsubaki picked Ema up and dumped her in the water. Why was Tsubaki acting like this? Azusa was pretty sure it wasn't his imagination that Tsubaki had been staying even closer to Ema than usual for the last couple days. Again, it made sense that the two of them would become closer with all the time they were spending together, but Azusa was afraid it might be more than that.
Didn't Tsubaki see the problems a relationship with Ema might cause? Or was he oblivious to anyone but himself?
When Tsubaki glanced up and spotted Azusa, his face lit up. "Dude, what are doing up there? Come join us!" He waved his hand for Azusa to come down. Azusa felt some of the ache in his chest ease, though he found Ema's welcoming smile less comforting than Tsubaki's.
His relationship with Tsubaki was the most important thing in the world to him. He didn't want anything to come between them. As he joined them, Azusa hoped he was being ridiculous and that nothing was really changing between any of the three of them.
~.~
"Do you mind if I join you?" Ema asked, Kaname, standing next to him on the beach that night. "Or would you like to be alone?"
Kaname smiled up at Ema and patted the ground next to him. "I never say no to a pretty lady. Take a seat."
"Thanks," Ema said, dropping down. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she watched the stars appear over the ocean and listened to the waves. It was peaceful here and she hoped to be able to come out to the beach house again sometime.
They sat in silence until Ema asked, "How did you decide to be where you are now? I mean working as a monk."
Kaname raised an eyebrow at Ema. "Are you wanting to learn how to break into the host club business? I think you might break my heart if that's your goal."
Ema laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm just struggling to figure out what I should do with myself. People keep asking me what my plans are for when I finish high school and I don't know. I figured I would ask you how you decided what you wanted to do after."
"Not that I'm complaining, but why ask me? Masaomi and Ukyo are the responsible ones. They seem like the more natural choice to have a conversation about your future with."
Ema sighed. "They're too serious about it," she confessed. "It stresses me out. So many of the Asahina brothers have asked me what I'm going to do after high school." She knew it was natural for them to ask, but for every one of the brothers who'd asked, she felt like they were hoping for a particular answer. She didn't know what that particular answer was, nor if it was the one she wanted to give. She looked at Kaname. "You're one of the few who hasn't asked me. I don't feel any pressure talking to you about it."
"I'm happy to hear you don't feel any pressure from me," Kaname said, patting Ema's hand. "Don't ever let anyone pressure you into making a decision you're not ready for. If you need to, just walk away." He shrugged. "But I'm still not sure I'm the best person for you to talk about making future choices with. I would think you'd figured out from my brothers' comments about me that I just do whatever I want. I chose a job that lets me play around. My decision to become a monk wasn't really a serious one."
Ema knew Ukyo complained that Kaname's shrine was really just a host club in disguise.
"Are you sure playing around was the only reason?" Ema asked, tilting her head as she studied Kaname. "You and I just recently had a conversation about how caring you are with your brothers. I have a hard time believing that your caring side doesn't extend to people outside your family. What all do you do at your shrine?"
"Why don't you come and see for yourself?"
~.~
The words were out of Kaname's mouth before he thought about it. It was almost a reflex. The thought of inviting Ema to the shrine hadn't occurred to him before now, but they did have a fireworks event coming up. "Our New Year's event is pretty spectacular. There will be lots of booths with food and a fireworks show as well."
"Okay," Ema agreed, looking surprised, then her face lit up. "We can invite everyone else too!"
Kaname chuckled. "It's always on your mind to include everyone, isn't it? It's almost like you're our older sister working to keep the family close together."
Ema blushed. "It just more fun if we have everyone, don't you think?"
"I do enjoy spending time with family," Kaname admitted. "But did it cross your mind that it might be rude to invite other people when a man gives you an invitation?"
"Why?" Ema asked. "It's not like it's a date. And you still haven't answered my question about how you ended up where you are now."
Kaname had to laugh at Ema's frankness. He felt a little pity for the man who fell in love with her.
He had mostly told Ema the truth about why he became a monk at the shrine. It had been a friend of his from high school who had invited him to apply at the shrine, assuring him that he'd get to meet lots of cute girls. What better job to have then one where you were surrounded by women who wanted your attention? He had decided to work at the shrine to play around, but he hadn't originally intended to work there for more than a few months. He agreed with Ukyo that it wasn't a real job, so he'd only planned to work for a little spending money as he figured out what he really wanted to do.
However, the job had turned out to be more than just spending time with pretty women. There were people who came to the shrine who were in real anguish seeking solace. Kaname liked being able to help them, and so he had stayed. The pretty women were a nice perk too, of course.
He found himself not wanting to tell Ema the whole story. She seemed to have a higher opinion of him than most of his brothers and he didn't want to spoil that. He liked having the little girl who'd always visited them as a child admire him now that she was growing into a kind and lovely young woman.
"All right, you caught me," he told her. "I only joined the shrine because a friend invited me and I didn't know what else to do with myself at the time. Figuring out your future is a huge and intimidating decision. I wanted some time to figure out what I wanted, so I said yes. I found out that I could help people who really needed it at the shrine. It does resemble a host club far more than a real shrine, but I'm still able to do some good. I enjoyed that, so I stayed, but it's still not what I plan to do forever."
He bumped Ema's shoulder with his own. "Remember that any decisions you make right now don't have to be forever decisions. You can always change your mind later."
Ema smiled. "Thank you, Kaname. That does make me feel better." She bumped his shoulder back. "See? You were a good person to talk to about my future. Maybe it's all that practice from helping people at the shrine."
Kaname shook his head at Ema. "Careful, Ema. Hearing compliments from a beautiful woman can be a heady thing. You shouldn't hand them out so carelessly."
Ema smiled and stood. "I don't need to worry about that with you, Kaname. I've seen the women you go out with and I'm not nearly as pretty."
Kaname was so shocked at Ema's words, he almost let her walk away without saying anything. Luckily, he recovered himself in time and gripped her hand. She looked back at him questioningly.
"There are many types of beauty, Ema," he told her seriously. "The women I go out with are very outwardly beautiful, but inside…" He shrugged. "Let's just say they tend to be more concerned with their outside selves than their inside selves. You?" He squeezed her hand. "You are lovely on the outside and your kind personality makes you shine that much brighter. The women I go out with don't compare to that."
Ema gave him a shy, rueful smile he didn't think he'd seen from her before. "Thank you, Kaname," she quietly before squeezing his hand back and returning to the house.
He watched her go, wondering if she'd believed him and what had been done to her that made it so she didn't seem to believe in her own beauty and worth. She had insinuated so casually that a guy like him wouldn't have any interest in a girl like her. He didn't like that one bit.
~.~
"Here, Fuuto, would you like some?" Ema asked, holding a dessert out to him. He was sitting on the beach house porch under a patio umbrella doing homework. Iori had been with him, but Ema wasn't sure where he'd gone. "It's flavored ice."
"Sure," Fuuto agreed, taking the bowl from her. He looked her up and down as he did so. "You know, you look surprisingly good in a swim suit. It must be all that hiking you do. I admit that I'm impressed."
Ema flushed in embarrassment and anger. Tsubaki and Kaname had also told her she looked good in her swim suit, but it was very different coming from them than from Fuuto. How did he manage to turn every compliment he gave her into an insult?
"Since you don't think I'm pretty to begin with, why would you even bother looking at me in swim suit?" She demanded, placing her hands on her hips. "Aren't you surrounded by enough pretty girls in at your job?" Sometimes, she hated how polite she was. There had been no need whatsoever for her to offer Fuuto the dessert she'd made for everyone else. Sadly, after being left out so many times in foreign countries around the world, she hated to do the same thing to anyone else. Even Fuuto.
Fuuto looked surprised. "Did I ever say you weren't pretty?"
Ema opened her mouth to retort that, of course, he had, but paused. Had Fuuto said that to her? He seemed to have insulted pretty much everything else about her. It seemed hard to believe he hadn't at least insinuated it at some point. However, nothing came to Ema's mind.
Fuuto adopted a wounded look. "You shouldn't accuse me of saying things I haven't. I would never tell a pretty girl she's ugly."
Ema folded her arms and scowled. "Well, you've given me plenty of other insults. Is it a surprise I thought that one was among them?"
Was it Ema's imagination, or had Fuuto winced?
"I just needed time to get used to you living with us, that's all," Fuuto said. "I wasn't even part of the discussion about you moving in with us. Can you blame me for struggling to adapt?" She could when she'd done everything within her power not to be a bother to him and he'd still gone out of his way to be rude to her. "I can admit when I was wrong. The cooking in the house has improved since you arrived, and it's nice to come home to a pretty face instead of just my idiot brothers." He smiled.
Suddenly, a picture of Carlos flashed through Ema's mind. He had Fuuto had a few similarities. They were both good looking and so sure that if they flashed their charming smiles and said a few complimentary words, any girl would fall at their feet. But Ema wasn't fourteen anymore.
"I see," Ema said, putting one hand on the patio table and leaning on it. "You're in disbelief that there's a girl out there who isn't attracted to you. I've made it clear I'm not interested, so now you have to prove to yourself that you can get any girl to be interested in you. That's what's behind your sudden change in attitude."
Fuuto looked surprised before turning angry. "Hardly. My ego isn't so poor that I think less of myself just because one girl isn't falling down at my feet. What's wrong with you that you can't accept one compliment from a guy without attacking him? No wonder you don't have a boyfriend."
Ema jerked away from the table, about to shoot something back when a gentle hand landed on her shoulder.
"Is there a problem?" Iori asked.
Fuuto rolled his eyes, going back to his homework. "No, everything's fine."
Iori pulled Ema back a little and asked, "Are you all right?"
Ema let out a slow breath before giving Iori a tight smile. "Yes, I'm okay. I just need to do better at not letting myself be bated."
Iori kept his hand on Ema's shoulder as he gave his younger brother an unhappy look. Fuuto pretended like they weren't there. "You know that if anyone is bothering you or if you have any problems you can talk to me about it, right?"
Ema smiled, more genuinely this time. "Yes, I do. Thank you, Iori."
"Good," Iori said before dropping his hand. He gave Fuuto one more unhappy look before joining him again.
Trying to shake off her exchange with Fuuto, Ema went inside to grab another bowl of flavored ice.
"Azusa, would you like some flavored ice?" She asked him. He was sitting on the living room couch, probably waiting for Tsubaki. "It's blueberry coconut." She knew it was one of his favorite lavors.
"No thanks," Azusa said, barely glancing at her to give her a fleeting smile.
Ema paused, unsure of what to do next. She had been so sure Azusa would say yes. He and Masaomi had just been talking about how nice it would be to have a frozen treat in the hot sun, which was why Ema had gone to make the flavored ice. Why had Azusa changed his mind so fast? Was he just not in the mood for blueberry coconut?
"I'll take it," Tsubaki said, appearing behind Ema. He wrapped one arm around her waist and kissed her cheek as he took the bowl. "You are an angel, Ema. Thank you."
"Sure," Ema said distractedly.
"We're going out to the boat," Tsubaki told her. "Do you want to join us?"
Ema glanced at Azusa. "No, thank you. I still have a few more desserts to make."
"Okay. We'll see you at dinner." Tsubaki waved as he and Azusa left.
Ema still stood there, wondering if she had any reason to feel hurt or if it was her imagination. This was the second time she'd felt that Azusa wasn't happy to see her. Refusing the dessert someone made didn't mean you were upset at the person…but this was the second time within a week Ema had gotten the sense that Azusa wasn't happy to be around her. What was going on?
