Chapter 11: Jealousy

"All right, class," the teacher said, clapping her hands together, "this assignment is going to count for ten percent of your grade this semester, so I suggest that you pay attention to what I'm saying."

Ema straightened up and focused on the teacher. Her first semester in high school was almost over and her grades were already good. If she did well on this assignment, she was sure to get an A.

"You're going to be assigned a partner and you and your partner are going to research the culture of an ancient civilization. You'll need to prepare a five page paper and a poster on the topic, and then you and your partner will present. The partnerships are as follows, Asahina Yusuke with Imai Mahoko."

Yusuke slumped in his chair, disappointed. He'd hoped to be paired with Ema. It would be so much more convenient for them to work together, and then he'd get to spend more time with her.

The teacher continued down the list until she said, "Hinata Ema and Kazuma Sasakura." The only thing Yusuke knew about Sasakura was that he was a star on the soccer team and that he seemed like a nice guy. Yusuke looked over at Sasakura and saw him glancing at Ema, a blush on his face. Yusuke sat bolt upright in his chair, glaring at Sasakura. What the hell? Why was he blushing? Did he like Ema? Yusuke clenched his fists as he glared at the guy, already imaging him trying to get close with Ema as they worked on the project.

He could see exactly how it would play out in his mind's eye. They'd be sitting in a dark corner of the library and Sasakura would act like he needed help. "Ema-chan, I don't get this part right here. Could you please explain it to me?" Ema would lean over to point something out in the text book in front of Sasakura, and then he would slide his arm around Ema's shoulders, and she was so quiet and nice that she probably wouldn't say anything about it.

"I won't accept it!" Yusuke shouted, slamming his hands on his desk.

The teacher paused before placing her hands on her hips. "Well fine then, Asahina-kun. If you're so against learning about Rome, you and Imai-chan can study ancient Egypt instead." Yusuke flushed and sunk down in his chair, feeling his face flame as brightly as his hair.

The teacher continued to explain the assignment and Yusuke sunk deeper into his depression, his mind coming up with ever worse scenarios of what might happen between Ema and Sasakura.

~.~

"So, Ema-chan," Sasakura began when he came up to Ema at the end of school, "do you want to get started on the assignment now? We could go to the library and see what books they have on ancient Assyria."

"Sure," Ema agreed, smiling up at Sasakura. "I'd love to get started right away."

"Great!" Sasakura exclaimed, his face lighting up. "Oh! Would you like me to carry your bag?" He asked as Ema hefted her bag up, heavy with books from all her classes.

"I've got it, but thanks for the offer!" Ema smiled at Sasakura again. They didn't talk very often, but he always seemed really nice. Ema was happy that she was partnered with someone who seemed eager to work on the project. In junior high whenever the teacher assigned project partners, it always seemed like Ema got stuck with a partner that made her do all the work.

"Yusuke-kun!" Ema called. Yusuke looked over, his bag already slung over his shoulder. "Will you tell Ukyo-kun that I'm going to be late getting home today? Sasakura-kun and I are staying late to work on our project."

Ema wondered why Yusuke looked so unhappy as he nodded his head and sent a warning look at Sasakura. "Yeah, I'll tell him. Text me if you're not going to be home for dinner, okay? I can come pick you up if you want me to walk home with you."

"Thanks, Yusuke-kun!" Ema said, waving as he left.

"You and Yusuke-kun live together?" Sasakura asked.

"Yes. He's my stepbrother."

"Oh! I guess that's why you two are so close." Ema wondered why that seemed to make Sasakura even more cheerful as they left the classroom.

They chatted about school and soccer as they walked to the library. When they got there, they paused as they read the sign posted on the library doors. CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION. DO NOT ENTER.

"Um, I guess that we can go somewhere else to work on the project," Ema suggested, not sure where they should go.

"Geez, I guess we'll have to," Sasakura said, looking unhappy as he stared at the sign. "I wish that the teacher had told us the library was closed right now."

"We can go to the public library," Ema suggested. "I'm sure we'll find some good books there."

One train ride and twenty minutes later, the two teens stood outside the public library, looking at the sign in disbelief that declared the library closed for renovations.

"What is up with this?" Sasakura asked. "Are all libraries worked on at the same time? Maybe we should just look up information online for our project. We'd probably find more sources that way anyways."

"Okay," Ema agreed. "Where would you like to go to get started?"

"Well," Sasakura scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "My house is being fumigated for termites right now, so that's out. Maybe we could go to your place?"

"Okay," Ema said slowly. "It can get pretty noisy at my house sometimes, though I can ask my brothers to try and be quiet. Would that bother you?"

"Not at all," Sasakura assured Ema cheerfully. "I've got two little brothers who make a ton of noise. I can do homework through almost anything."

"Oh…that's great," Ema said hesitantly, thinking that two little boys couldn't possibly make as much as noise as all her brothers. Hopefully, most of them wouldn't be home right now.

~.~

Yusuke looked up from the TV in surprise when Ema walked in. "You're already done?" He asked before he noticed Sasakura behind Ema. What the heck was he doing here?

"No. The school library and the public library were both closed, so we decided to come here to work. Do you mind if we work at the table?"

"No, that's fine," Yusuke answered, relieved. First he was relieved that Ema hadn't brought Sasakura home just to hang out with him. Second, he was relieved because now he could watch them as they worked together and make sure that Sasakura didn't do anything weird to Ema.

A half hour later, Yusuke found his head being repeatedly poked from behind. "What?!" Yusuke demanded whirling to find Tsubaki and Azusa standing behind the couch.

"Who is that boy sitting next to Ema?" Tsubaki demanded.

"Kazuma Sasakura. He's in our class and he and Ema are partnered together for a project. That's why he's here."

"Does he need to sit next to her?" Tsubaki asked, crossing his arms and glaring as Sasakura said something that made Ema laugh.

"People normally sit next to each other when they're working together on a project, Tsubaki," Azusa said, laying a hand on Tsubaki's shoulder. "Ema's just being a good student, like usual. You do notice the laptop sitting between them on the table, right?"

"It still pisses me off," Tsubaki grumbled, continuing to glare.

~.~

When Masaomi and Ukyo arrived home, they both paused when they stepped into the living room. Masaomi looked in confusion between Ema and the boy sitting next to her. Ukyo looked over at the couch to see a pissed-off looking Tsubaki and Yusuke. Azusa had a long-suffering look on his face.

"Ema?" Ukyo asked lightly. "Who's your friend?" If the answer was anything other than a partner for a school project, the boy was in for a world of trouble. Bringing boys home at Ema's age was not okay. Admittedly, most of Ukyo's brothers had already had a girlfriend by the time they were fifteen, but this was different. Ema was their only sister, after all. They had to take more care with her and protect her.

"Oh, hi, Kyo-nii! Hi, Mao-nii. Welcome home. This is Sasakura-kun. He's in mine and Yusuke's class. We're working together on a project about the culture of ancient Assyria. The school library and the public library were both closed, so we came here to work. We're hoping to get most of our research done tonight. "

Masaomi relaxed at Ema's explanation and smiled at Sasakura. "Well then, I hope it hasn't been too noisy for you two to get some good work done."

"No, not at all, Sir," Sasakura assured Masaomi.

"Will Sasakura-kun be staying for dinner then?" Ukyo asked.

"If that's okay with you, Kyo-nii," Ema replied.

"That's fine. I'll just set out one more plate."

As dinner grew closer, the living room couch filled with more upset males.

"What do you know about this guy, Yusuke?" Subaru asked, trying to be unobtrusive as he threw unhappy glances at the young man.

Yusuke shrugged, tired of being asked the same questions over and over. "He's on the soccer team and he's supposed to be really good. I don't know anything else about him." He lowered his voice so that just Subaru could hear him. "I think that he likes Ema, though."

Subaru's hands fisted involuntary as his eyes shot to Ema and her classmate, as though he might be able to tell whether or not the guy liked Ema just by watching them. He really didn't like the idea of some guy he didn't know getting close to Ema. Not that he had any official right to get upset by it, of course. But still…Why did Ema have to go to a different high school from him? This wouldn't be happening if they were in the same school, and then he could have gotten closer to her.

"Iori," Tsubaki hissed, "go over there and ask if they need any help."

"Ukyo already said that we have to leave them alone," Iori responded, trying to keep his tone even. "I would think you'd understand that since Ukyo has already hit you three times with the frying pan for interrupting them to ask Ema some inane question."

"Yeah, well, you could legitimately interrupt them," Tsubaki argued. "You're taking world history this year, right?"

"Yes, Tsubaki," Iori sighed, "but that doesn't make me an expert on the culture of ancient Assyria. Just let Ema and Sasakura-kun work. The sooner they get done what they need to, the sooner he'll leave."

~.~

Ukyo kept on eye on Ema and her partner as he prepared dinner, trying not to feel irritated. He understood the need for her to prioritize homework, of course. That's what he wanted her to do. But still, he enjoyed the time he spent with Ema every night preparing meals together. It helped him to unwind from a hard day at work to talk with Ema. Sometimes they talked about their days, about other meals for the week, or about their brothers. Regardless of the topic, Ukyo always enjoyed that time.

And it didn't help his irritation that the Sasakura boy seemed overly interested in Ema and everything she said. If Sasakura were just Ema's project partner, Ukyo would be fine, but he didn't think that was where the young man's feelings for Ema ended.

Heaven help the boy who eventually decided he wanted to date Ema. Ukyo couldn't speak for the rest of his brothers, but he knew that personally, he'd be putting any boy that tried to date Ema through a strict cross-examination.

~.~

"Why are you so irritated, Tsubaki?" Azusa asked with a sigh, trying and failing to get his twin to stop glaring at their sister's project partner.

"I don't know," Tsubaki said. "That boy is just acting really familiar with her, that's all. It pisses me off." Truth be told, Tsubaki was surprised himself at how irritated he was at seeing Ema with a classmate. Tsubaki wondered if maybe it was because he wasn't used to the sight of seeing Ema with an unfamiliar boy (young man at this point, his little sister was already in high school now and no longer a girl). Tsubaki was fairly certain that he'd never seen Ema with any guy outside of the Asahina brothers. She valued family above everything and spent most of her nights and weekends either hanging out with the family, or playing video games. He didn't like this change at all, but reminded himself that Ema was just doing schoolwork, like Azusa kept telling him.

~.~

"That's not our Imouto-chan's boyfriend, is it?" Kaname asked when he arrived home.

"No," Yusuke groaned. "He's just a classmate that she was assigned to work on a project with. Why does everyone have to ask that? Do I need to put up a sign?"

"What was I supposed to think when I saw you guys over here glaring daggers at the poor boy?" Kaname defended. "You're all admitting such a killing aura that I thought for sure that young man had gone and stolen our little sister. You should all calm down."

"Yes," Azusa agreed. "Honestly, what are you all going to do when she brings home a real boyfriend?" While Azusa wasn't bothered by Sasakura's presence, mentioning Ema with a boyfriend made an unfamiliar tight feeling coil in the center of his chest. He didn't like imagining her kissing and being held by some faceless figure. Maybe he was more protective of Ema than he thought.

"Now that will be a sad day," Kaname said. "Of course, any young man who wishes to date our dear little sister will have to get our approval first."

"I'll never give it," Tsubaki immediately declared, crossing his arms. "I won't hand over my little sister to anyone."

~.~

The Asahina brothers breathed a collective sigh of relief after dinner when Ema walked Sasakura outside. Thankfully, they had gotten most of their research done. Most of the brothers hoped that they wouldn't be seeing Sasakura again.

~.~

"Sorry about tonight," Ema said as she and Sasakura reached the front porch. "Usually only a couple of my brothers hang out in the living room. I didn't expect so many of them to be there tonight."

"That's okay," Sasakura brushed off. "We got done most of what we wanted to, that's what matters. I'm sure your brothers were just concerned about seeing you with a guy they don't know. I think it's sweet that they're so concerned about you. Though I hope that the library will be open the next time we get together to work on our project."

Sasakura waved goodbye to Ema and began his way home. Though he had enjoyed working with Ema, part of him felt relieved to be leaving. The atmosphere inside that house had been way too heavy. He glanced back at Sunrise Mansion with a discouraged sigh. He'd had no idea that Ema had so many siblings. Correction, so many brothers. He'd have to be something really special for all those guys to let him date their little sister.