Rintaro made it to his apartment late Friday night rather than Saturday morning like he was supposed to. He wanted to talk with Ema as soon as possible.

He was partly surprised that Ema wasn't home when it was so late—but less surprised after his conversation with Miwa. She'd come home late the evening he'd texted her he'd made it home early too. She enjoyed the Asahinas, he knew she did, but perhaps she was also returning home late because she didn't want to be in an empty apartment.

He slumped on the couch, dropping his head into his hands as he sat in the dark living room. He'd been angry and hurt after his conversation with Miwa. Mostly because he was worried she was right and his pride as a father had been hurt. Had he been selfish in taking Ema away from a place that made her happy? He hadn't thought for one moment that she'd want to stay with the Asahinas over living with him. They were family, after all.

Hearing chittering, he looked up to see Juli on the floor staring up at him.

"Hey, little guy," he said, giving the squirrel a tired smile. "I bet you've been lonely too with Ema being gone so much." He paused. "Do you also miss living at Sunrise Mansion? You probably got lots of attention there."

Juli tilted his head, as though listening. The squirrel had always had an odd way of reacting to conversation, as though he really was listening and wanted to participate in the conversation.

"Miwa Asahina gave me a talking to. She thinks I'm not doing what's best for Ema."

Juli held his tongue, though it didn't matter since Rintaro couldn't understand him. He wanted to argue that Rintaro both was and wasn't doing what was best for Chi. Clearly, not being surrounded by wolves should be a superior position to be in. But leaving your daughter alone so much obviously wasn't what was best for Chi either. He wished Rintaro would give up traveling for a year and then go back to it after Chi was in college. But he knew that wouldn't happen. Even if Rintaro wanted to, he was under contract for his show.

But seeing how depressed the man looked, Juli couldn't help having some sympathy for him and put a paw on his leg. Rintaro gave him a sad smile then though both looked up as they heard the door. It sounded like Chi was talking to someone, her voice bright, though she came into the house alone.

She flipped on the light, then jumped, her hand going to her heart. "Dad! What are you doing sitting in the dark? I thought you'd get back tomorrow."

"Who was that?" Rintaro asked, looking at the door behind her as though he could see through it.

"Oh," she looked back too. "That was Natsume. We were playing games at his apartment tonight and he drove me home." Thank goodness she hadn't accepted his offer to stay at his house. They'd had so much fun gaming that night she'd slept over that they'd talked about doing it again, but Ema had been worried she'd sleep in past when her dad got home and wasn't quite sure how her dad would feel about her having a sleep over with a grown man.

"Oh. I see." He patted the seat next to him. "I wanted to talk to you if you're not too tired. But if you are, this can wait until morning." Part of him didn't want to know if he'd hurt her. If he'd taken her away from somewhere she'd rather be. But he needed to know. And he needed to do what was best for Ema.

"I'm fine," she said, her eyes curious as she sat next to him. "What is it?"

"I've been worried lately that you're not very happy," he began.

"I'm fine," Ema immediately said.

He noted her use of fine. Not happy, not good. Fine.

He sighed. "I don't want you to be fine, Ema. I want you to be great. I've missed you so much this past year. I thought this was the perfect solution—me coming back to Japan to live with you your final year of high school. But I didn't consider how you might feel. I came back and dictated everything about your life after you made a new home without me. I was the one who let us be separated—and then I expected everything to just go back to the way it was. I'm sorry."

Ema said nothing, but her hands clenched into fists on her lap and Juli jumped up to snuggle next to her.

"You keep your feelings to yourself way too much," Rintaro sighed. "Ema, in this moment I need you to think of just yourself and not me. Don't worry about my feelings, just tell me how you feel."

His heart clenched painfully when her eyes filled with tears.

It was several minutes before she whispered, "You left me alone. You took me from a full, vibrant home where I was surrounded by friends and then you left me alone."

His heart dropped. Miwa had been right.

"Why don't we try something else then?" he suggested gently. "You go back to living with the Asahinas, and come visit me on the weekends when I'm available."

She blinked at him. "But I can't just leave and go back. I already moved my stuff out." She'd even gone back and gotten all her decorations and posters. But she hadn't put them back up here.

"Really?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Because Miwa recently had a long conversation with me about what might be best for you—a conversation we had because of discussions some of her sons had with her about them thinking it might be best for you to stay with them."

Her jaw dropped. "Who spoke with Miwa about that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't think they'd object to you returning any more than you would." He paused. "Is that what you would like, Ema?"

She stared down at her hands, tangling her fingers together. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. But I don't want to be alone either. The Asahinas are my best friends. Living with them was kind of like having a large extended family."

"I'm sorry," he said, covering her hands with his. "I never meant to hurt or upset you, Ema. You were unexpected in my life and I'm worried I haven't always handled it well or done what was best for you."

She blinked at him. "You mean unexpected because you thought Mom would be here to help take care of me?"

For a moment he couldn't breath as he realized what he'd just said. He must be really tired and upset to slip up like that. "Y-yes, I did think she'd be here to help care for you." It was technically a true statement. He never would have guessed that his best friend's young, healthy wife would die due to complications from childbirth.

"That's okay," Ema said with a smile, forgiving, as always. "I'm sure every parent feels like they don't do as good a job as they would like."

He felt both relief and guilt at her words. He squeezed her hands, saying, "Let's call the Asahina brothers in the morning and talk about you moving back, okay?"

Her answer was the brightest smile he'd seen from her since he came back.

~.~

"Hell yeah!" Azusa heard Tsubaki yelling outside his door Saturday morning.

"What's going on?" he asked, poking his head out and seeing Tsubaki talking with Masaomi.

Tsubaki turned to him, his eyes bright. "Ema's moving back in!"

Azusa was speechless for a moment. "Why? When?"

"It seems that mom had a talk with Rintaro about what's best for Ema," Masaomi explained, leaving out that Miwa had spoken to him and some of their other brothers about the matter. "Since Rintaro is gone so much, he decided it would best for Ema to continue to live with us and visit him when he's available."

"That's wonderful," Azusa said, sagging against his doorjamb in relief. The whole house had felt like a tomb whenever she wasn't visiting since she'd left. "When can we go get her?"

"Right now," Tsubaki said, holding out his hand for Azusa. "She needs someone to pick her up since her dad doesn't have a car. She talked to Masaomi this morning about coming back and was planning to take the train with her stuff. Luckily, I walked in and nixed that idea. Let's go get her."

"Perfect," Azusa said, taking his brother's hand. "Let's go."

"Man, I wish we could take her out to dinner to celebrate her coming back," Tsubaki said, folding his arms behind his head as they went to the car. "But I'm sure everyone will want to see her."

"Of course they will," Azusa agreed. Having Ema gone reinforced that several of their brothers also had feelings for Ema, given how despondent they'd been and how everyone radiated around her as though she were the sun when she visited. That or they just really, really loved her as a friend, but Azusa suspected the former. "She's like part of our family now."

"She sure is!" Tsubaki agreed. "One that will be eighteen this spring and then no one can take her away again."

"Unless she chooses to leave," Azusa pointed out dryly.

"But we'll make sure she doesn't ever want to leave our sides, right bro?" Tsubaki asked, tossing him a smile.

Azusa returned his smile. "Right."

"What are you two making such a fuss about?" Yusuke asked. He and Wataru were coming from the other direction, a basketball in Wataru's hands.

"We're going to pick up Ema," Tsubaki bragged. "She's moving back in."

"What?!" the two younger brothers exclaimed.

"Hooray!" Wataru yelled, throwing the ball in the air before running around with his arms up high. "Hooray, hooray, hooray!"

"Why's she coming back?" Yusuke asked.

Tsubaki shrugged. "Her dad's not around enough, so she'll live with us and visit him when he's available."

"Oh, good," Yusuke said, looking relieved. "That's good to hear."

"Whatever," Tsubaki said, looking down his nose at Yusuke. "You got to spend way more time with her than the rest of us the past couple months, so we get to monopolize her now."

"No you don't!" Yusuke shot back. "It's not my fault we're in school together, it just worked out that way. Besides, you don't get to decide who she spends time with, she does."

"Can I come up with you to pick her up?" Wataru asked.

"Sorry, squirt, but we need to make sure we've got enough space for all her stuff," Tsubaki said, ruffling Wataru's hair. "You can see her later, okay?"

"That's not fair," Wataru pouted, crossing his arms. "I want to see Ema too."

"She's literally moving back in today and you saw her two days ago," Yusuke said, picking up the basketball. "Come on, let's go play. By the time we're done, Ema will be back."

~.~

"Did someone order a taxi?" Tsubaki asked as he and Azusa entered Ema's apartment. Well, Ema's former apartment.

Ema smiled at the two of them, her eyes full of joy and shyness. "You didn't have to come pick me up. Dad would have helped me get everything to the train."

"Are you kidding?" Tsubaki asked. "Why would we let you do that?"

"It's no trouble for us to come get you," Azusa assured her. "We wanted to pick you up."

"I appreciate you coming to get her too," Rintaro said, his eyes sad as he smiled. "We owe the Asahina family a lot."

"No, you don't," Tsubaki countered, waving his hand dismissively. "We're practically like family. Ema's way more help to have around the house than any of our brothers except maybe Ukyo. If anything, we owe you guys."

"Are you sure you have everything?" Rintaro asked Ema.

She nodded. "Juli double-checked for me!"

Juli, sitting on her shoulder, crossed his paws and grumbled under his breath. He was sure the twins had an ulterior motive for picking up his Chi, but since she was so happy, he'd let it pass. For today.

"Is this everything?" Tsubaki asked, grabbing her suitcase while Azusa picked up her backpack.

"Oh, you don't have to carry those!" Ema said. "I can take them."

"Don't you know the point of having guys around is so they can carry the heavy things?" Tsubaki joked. "Let us spoil you just a little today."

"So, she's as bad with you guys as she is with me about things like that?" Rintaro asked.

"You mean never complaining, always helping, and being generally all around perfect?" Tsubaki asked. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I'm glad you guys appreciate her so much. Take good care of her okay?"

"Will do, Sir," Tsubaki said, giving Rintaro a salute.

Ema hugged her dad and he squeezed her tight.

"Let me know when you'll be in town next, okay?" she told him. "We'll get together for lunch or dinner."

"I will," he promised.

~.~

It felt weird walking back into the Asahina home now that it was her home again. She'd been gone for about two months, but it felt like so much longer.

"It's good to be back," she sighed as the twins dropped her things off in her room.

"I'd tease you that we saw you most weekdays, except it wasn't the same," Tsubaki said, folding Ema into his arms. "We missed you a lot," he whispered in her ear, tightening his hold on her. "It really sucked having you move out."

"I didn't want to," she confessed, hiding her face against Tsubaki's shoulder. "I love my dad, but—"

"But you belong here," Azusa said. "With us."

For a moment, Ema wondered if 'us' meant the twins or all the Asahinas, but she decided not to ask.

"That's right," Tsubaki sang, pulling back. "Speaking of which, keep your schedule free the weekend after next. We have to work next weekend, but you're ours the one after that. You owe us time for how long you were gone and how much time you spent with Yusuke and Ukyo. It's not fair that they got to spend the most time with you."

"Okay," Ema agreed. "The weekend after next is yours."

~.~

"Oh, Ema," Ukyo greeted her that evening as she was making dinner. "I haven't seen you here on a weekend since you moved out. Did something happen?"

She stared up at him. "Have you not heard yet?"

"Heard?" he asked, then he shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I was working overtime for a high-end client. He insisted that no electronics be allowed in the building so no pictures or recordings could be taken of him. I haven't checked my phone all day."

"Oh." She'd assumed all the Asahinas knew by now that she was moving back in. "Um, well, I'm back. As in, I moved back in today."

"You did?" Ukyo asked, blinking at her.

"Yes. My dad isn't really home enough to spend much time with me, so I guess he and your mom talked about me living with you guys and visiting my dad when he's available."

"Did they now?" Ukyo asked, raising his eyebrows. For a moment, she was afraid he was upset she'd moved back in, but then his face broke into a smile, his eyes gentle. "I'm thrilled to hear that. I think this arrangement will work out much better."

Ema breathed a sigh of relief, returning Ukyo's smile.

"Besides," he added, "I've missed having my cooking partner with me all the time."

She flashed him a bright smile. "Me too! Cooking is so much more fun with you and I get to learn about all sorts of things talking with you."

It was an effort not to gather Ema into his arms. He wanted to tell her he'd been the one to ask his mom to speak with Rintaro, but he didn't want to sound like he was taking credit for Ema coming back. Even if he was the one who'd set the events in motion.

"Let me put my briefcase away and I'll be right back to help you," Ukyo told her before leaving.

The elevators dinged and Masaomi came out. "I see you've settled back in just fine," he said, smiling at her.

She grinned back. "Of course! I haven't been gone for too long. Though it felt like a long time."

"It felt like a long time for us too," he said. "We're glad to have you back." He hesitated, watching her work on dinner. "Ema?"

"Yes?" she said, glancing up at him.

"Welcome home."

Her mouth trembled and her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, Masaomi," she whispered