Chapter 21: Fallout

Tsubaki tightened his arm around Ema's waist, pulling her closer and burying his other hand in her hair.

Ema gripped the sleeves of Tsubaki's jacket, unable to think clearly. The moment Tsubaki's lips touched hers, Ema's mind went blank. She didn't know what to think or feel, or what she should do. She'd never been kissed before and she didn't expect it to feel like this.

Tsubaki turned them so that Ema's back was to her door and backed her up to it, pushing himself against her. He lifted his head for a moment to breathe and Ema let out a soft gasp, then Tsubaki lowered his head again. The hand in her hair moved down to brush against her neck and Ema shivered at the touch. Her mind flashed to a few weeks ago when Fuuto tried to kiss her (thankfully, he was on tour and she hadn't seen him much since then). She'd immediately pushed him away, but he had been cocky and flirty. Tsubaki had seemed sad and desperate tonight, and it threw her off guard when he told her that he was in love with her. Still, remembering that night with Fuuto helped Ema recall her strength from then and she moved her hands from Tsubaki's arms to his chest and pushed him back a few inches.

Tsubaki looked down at Ema with heavy-lidded eyes as they both breathed heavy. Ema could feel that her face was flushed red and she didn't know what to say.

Tsubaki looked sad as he cupped Ema's face with one hand, keeping the other around her waist. "I can't be your brother anymore, Ema. I didn't mean for my feelings for you to change like this, but they did. I am sorry for springing it on you like this, but when I heard that you were on a date tonight, I lost all control."

"I was just out with friends," Ema said in surprise, wishing that Tsubaki would give her more space so she could think more clearly. "There wasn't anything romantic about tonight. We all went out together because we wanted to go to the opening of the new amusement park. If I was dating, I would have told all of you. That's not something I would keep from my family."

Tsubaki shook his head as he rubbed his thumb across Ema's cheek, giving a sad laugh. "You're obviously not very skilled at telling when a guy is in love with you, so you have no idea what your date was thinking tonight. He might have a very different perspective of it from you."

Ema blinked in surprise, wondering if Tsubaki could be right. She thought that she and Sasakura were just friends, but she also thought that Tsubaki saw her as his little sister.

"Are you angry?" Tsubaki asked.

"I don't know," Ema admitted, still trying not to be distracted by the feel of Tsubaki so close to her. She'd been close to him plenty of times. Why did it suddenly have to feel different? "You're my family, and I thought you felt the same way about me."

"I did," Tsubaki said, pulling Ema closer to him again. "You are one of the most important people in my life, whether I think of you as my sister or as a woman." He stared down into her face for a moment before finally letting her go and stepping back. "I'd better go to my room or I might start kissing you again. I didn't intend to pounce on you like that, but I am serious about my feelings for you, Ema. I want you to think about what I said."

~.~

Ema felt dazed and distracted on Saturday. She was grateful that Tsubaki and Azusa had an event to promote a game they were voicing that day. She didn't want to run into him until she thought of something to say to him, but she was sure that was impossible. She was too blown away by Tsubaki's confession to come up with any sort of an answer soon. At least, not one other than asking him to just go back to thinking of her as his little sister, which she didn't think would go over well.

As much as Ema wanted to, she didn't have the right to simply ignore Tsubaki's feelings and pretend like they weren't there. On the other hand, she had no idea how to process this information. She hadn't really been thinking about dating and she certainly hadn't considered any of her stepbrothers as potential boyfriends. She thought that all of them were amazing and any girl would be incredibly lucky to end up with one of them, but they were her family. At least, they were supposed to be.

"Ema?" A quiet voice asked.

Ema jumped and turned to see Subaru, looking at her nervously. She was sitting by the tree in the center of their courtyard and hadn't noticed him come up. "Yes, Subaru-kun?"

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You seemed pretty deep in thought."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ema said, nervously brushing hair away from her face and looking at the ground rather than at Subaru, as though if Subaru looked into her eyes he'd be able to tell that Tsubaki had confessed to being in love with her last night.

"That's good," Subaru said, shifting his feet awkwardly. "Anyway, I was wondering if you would come to my game tonight."

Ema looked up at Subaru in surprise, then immediately felt reluctant to go. She had so much to think about with Tsubaki and Fuuto. She had avoided thinking about what Fuuto said to her, trying to brush it off as Fuuto's new way of teasing her or something like that, which was entirely possible given Fuuto and his personality, but now that Tsubaki had also admitted to thinking of Ema as a woman, she had to wonder if she'd been doing something wrong as a sister. And her mind kept flashing back to Tsubaki's kiss from last night. She didn't want any of her brothers to see her face turn red and wonder why.

When Subaru saw Ema's reluctance, he said, "Please, Ema? It's really important to me that you come tonight. I want to talk to you about something after the game."

"Okay," Ema agreed quietly. Maybe it would be good for her to get out of the house and focus on something else.

~.~

Subaru played amazingly, as usual. Ema had to admit that it was exciting to see him dominate the court and work so well with his teammates. Basketball was his passion and his performance showed that.

After the game, Ema waited on a bench outside for Subaru since he said he had something he wanted to tell her, though she couldn't imagine what he wanted to talk to her about or why he wanted to do it after a basketball game. She knew that he had to meet with his team after every game, but she hoped he'd come soon. She tried to focus on what she and Ukyo were making for dinner that night rather than on Tsubaki or Fuuto.

Finally, Ema saw a dark-haired figure striding towards her. Ema stood up to greet Subaru and was surprised to see him looking nervous and fidgety. "You played really well today, Subaru-kun," she complimented. Maybe bringing up basketball would help calm him.

"Thanks," Subaru said before lapsing into silence.

"Is there something—" Ema started to say before Subaru interrupted her. "I need you," he burst out, and then his face turned red. "I mean I—I care about you, Ema. A lot. I know that I've become a better player because of your support and because I wanted to become better to impress you. I—I want to be your boyfriend."

Ema stared up at Subaru, stunned. There were candid shows like this, weren't there? Where unbelievable things happened to the victim being filmed and only the audience and the other actors knew the truth. She almost felt like that was happening here. How could three of her stepbrothers confess to having feelings for her within two months of each other? Although Fuuto hadn't so much confessed as said that he wanted Ema, which wasn't quite the same thing.

"I don't know what to say, Subaru-kun," Ema said helplessly, not understanding at all what was going on here. At what point had some of her stepbrothers stopped looking at her as a sister? And why?

"I've cared about you for a long time," Subaru said. "I just didn't know how to tell you. I understand if you need time to think about it."

~.~

A short while after Subaru's confession, the family received an email from Miwa. She was being awarded Business Woman of the Year. The award ceremony was being held in Tokyo and she wanted every one of her children who could attend to be there. Miwa had also taken the liberty of buying Ema a dress to wear to the event, sending a letter that it was so beautiful she simply couldn't resist and was looking forward to seeing Ema wear it.

Since the event was that night, Ema currently had the dress laid out on her bed and was staring at it in trepidation. The dress was gorgeous, no doubt, but it was also…grown-up. A network of black lace covered a deep blue dress with beads on the bodice. It would have felt weird to wear such a grown-up dress regardless, but in light of Tsubaki's, Fuuto's, and Subaru's confessions…the idea of wearing the dress made her a little nervous. But she didn't want to refuse to wear a gift from her stepmother, especially not one that looked so expensive.

Sighing, Ema put the dress on, then she blushed and put a hand to the top of her bare chest. The front of the dress had a wide, low neck and the sheer sleeves barely touched her shoulders. The back of the dress dipped lower than the front, exposing the top of Ema's back.

She jumped when a knock came to the door. "Yes?" Ema called, her voice squeaking.

"It's Louis," came the answer. "Are you ready for me to do your hair?"

Ema hesitantly opened the door and Louis smiled down at her. "Look lovely, Em-chan."

"I don't know that it suits me," Ema confessed, moving back to let Louis in before shutting the door behind him. "It's too grown up for me."

"I don't think so," Louis disagreed. "You're a young woman now, Em-chan. I know that it's a hard transition to go from child to teen to adult, but I think that it suits you just fine."

Ema sat down in a chair, holding still for the next hour as Louis did her hair and make-up. "There, all done," Louis said, standing back to admire his work. "Take a look and let me know what you think, Em-chan."

Despite Louis' amazing talents, Ema didn't want to look. She was sure she'd find a young girl looking like she was playing dress-up with her mother's clothes if she looked in the mirror. Still, Ema didn't want to hurt Louis' feelings, so she turned and looked. Ema gasped at what she saw. Definitely not a little girl wearing her mother's clothes. She looked like a woman. Mature and poised. Lois had done her hair in a complicated braided bun. "You really are amazing, Louie-nii," Ema complimented. "I don't even look like me."

"No way," Louis said, appearing behind Ema in the mirror and gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're always beautiful, Em-chan. I just highlighted what's already there." He gave her shoulders a pat and said, "Well, I better go change. See you in a few minutes."

"Right," Ema murmured absent-mindedly before putting on the choker and the blue heels that went with the dress. The heels matched perfectly, but Ema didn't have much practice walking in heels and hoped she wouldn't trip.

Ema went to the living room to wait and found Azusa already there wearing a black suit with a blue tie. His eyes widened when he saw Ema. He opened and closed his mouth once before saying, "You look amazing." His heart raced as Ema walked towards him and he thought that he'd never seen anyone look so beautiful in his entire life.

"Thanks," Ema said when she reached Azusa, looking down with a blush on her face. "You look really good to."

Unable to help himself, Azusa reached out and lightly ran his fingers across the exposed skin of Ema's back. "Did Mom get this dress for you?" Azusa asked.

Ema shivered at Azusa's touch, her eyes shooting up to his in surprise. Tsubaki and Azusa shared so many things. Was it possible that they shared the same taste in women too? The urge to ask almost got the better of her, but she shoved it down. It was probably arrogant and conceited to assume that Azusa liked her just because Tsubaki did, and Ema already had enough problems without going searching for more. "Yes," Ema finally answered Azusa. "I think that she got it in Russia."

Azusa wished he could hide Ema from the sight of his brothers. He didn't want them seeing her like this. He could barely keep his hands off her (well, technically he hadn't, he supposed). What were all of them going to do?

A/N: To be continued…