Masaomi
"Waaa! Fresh air is the best," Wataru said, throwing his arms wide and inhaling deeply. "I wish that Mao-nii could have come hiking with us today rather than having to work."
"You wish that Masaomi was everywhere you went," Yusuke said, passing Wataru on the trail. "You're in junior high now, you should try being a little more independent."
"I'm independent," Wataru huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "I make my own lunch for school once a week."
"Wow," Yusuke said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Guess that means that you'll be ready to move out soon."
"You guys, don't fight," Ema said, following along behind them. "Especially not in front Masato-kun." Ema, Masato, and Yusuke had been planning this hike all week, and when Wataru found out, he insisted on coming. While Ema hadn't minded, Yusuke had been angry and refused to let him come. Then Ukyo got involved and declared that Wataru needed fresh air and should go with them.
"It's okay," Masato said, walking next to Ema. "Siblings fight all the time. What would be really weird was if they always got along. I'm sure that it's hard with there being such an age difference between Wataru-kun and Yusuke-kun. Do you remember when Haruka-chan used to throw mud at me?"
Ema giggled. "Yes. Every time she got mad at you she'd try to lure you outside so she could either push you in the mud or attack you with it. And then she'd always tell your mom that you got dirty all by yourself."
"Who's Haruka-chan?" Wataru asked, turning to look at Ema and Masato rather than watching the trail ahead.
"Haruka-chan is my big sister," Masato explained. "And she bullied me a lot when we were little."
"Your big sister threw mud at you?" Wataru asked, wide-eyed as his gaze moved to Ema. "My onee-chan would never do something like that. She always—"
"Wataru, look out!" Ema cried, pointing in front of Wataru. Wataru turned, but not in enough time to realize that the trail curved. With one foot already in the air over the steep embankment that led down to a river, Wataru lost his balance and fell forward.
Yusuke was just turning back to see what was happening behind him when Ema lunged for Wataru, trying to grab him and stop him from falling into the swift rapids of the river. Ema grasped the back of Wataru's arm, but the weight of him pulled Ema over.
Ema pulled Wataru close to her, shielding him as they slid down the embankment. Twin cries of "Ema!" echoed from the trail as Masato and Yusuke watched them fall.
Thankfully, the two skidded into a thick bush, stopping them from sliding into the river. Ema breathed a sigh of relief as she stared at her little brother in her arms. "Wataru-kun? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Wataru said weakly, barely daring to peek through his closed eyelids. When he realized that they'd stopped and were safe, he turned to look at Ema. He was about to thank her for saving him when his eyes went wide and he gasped. "Onee-chan! Your arm!"
"My arm?" Ema asked, turning to see what Wataru was looking at. While one of Ema's arms was wrapped around Wataru, the other arm had caught on a small, dead tree right above them. Or, more accurately, the tree was caught in Ema. The tip of a sharp branch was inside Ema's arm and small trickles of blood dripped from the puncture wound. The moment Ema saw it, the pain hit. Her eyes widened in horror and she was pretty sure she would have screamed if not for the thought that doing so would scare Wataru.
A moment later, Masato appeared with Yusuke right behind him. Masato paled when he saw Ema's arm, but he immediately reached for her, warning, "This is going to hurt, Ema-chan." Ema shut her eyes and grit her teeth, but could still feel the branch leaving her arm and she hissed in pain.
"What happened?" Yusuke demanded before he saw Ema's arm bleeding. With the branch tip no longer inside her arm, blood pumped more freely. "Ema!" Yusuke exclaimed, the panic in his voice clear.
"It's okay," Masato said, sounding mostly calm as he helped Ema to her feet. "The hospital isn't that far. We'll get you there soon. Yusuke, give me your jacket so I can wrap Ema's arm." Yusuke quickly took off his jacket and tossed it to Masato, who tied it tight around Ema's arm.
"You take care of Wataru-kun," Masato instructed Yusuke. "I'm going to get Ema to the hospital as soon as possible." Masato didn't think that Ema was in real danger of blood loss or anything else, but he didn't know for sure and it looked really painful. He just wanted to get Ema to the hospital immediately. If they had to wait for Wataru to get down the mountain too, he would slow them down and it would take even longer to get to the hospital.
Yusuke wanted to argue with Masato that he would take Ema to the hospital, but they had come in Masato's car and Yusuke could hardly ask Masato to take care of Wataru for him.
"I'll come back to pick you guys up after I take Ema to the hospital," Masato promised as he helped Ema climb up the embankment.
"Don't worry about us," Yusuke said, helping Wataru to stand and checking his little brother for any scrapes. "I'll just call one of our brothers to come get us. You take care of Ema."
"Okay," Masato agreed, giving Yusuke a single nod before he and Ema hurried back down the trail, Ema's hand clutching her opposite arm. Masato noted Ema's pale face and tried to hurry her faster.
~.~
When they reached the hospital, a nurse immediately took Ema back, telling Ema that first they'd need to make sure the tree hadn't left any bark or other bits inside her, and then they would need to evaluate how much damage had been done and whether Ema would just need stiches or surgery in case any nerves had been damaged.
"I want Dr. Asahina," Ema said as she stumbled after the nurse, feeling sick to her stomach because of the pain. She felt selfish and childish asking for Masaomi to be brought when he was undoubtedly doing something else important. But Ema had rarely needed medical attention in her life. She'd never had a broken bone or stiches and she was scared. Plus, her arm hurt and she felt miserable. She wanted the comfort of knowing that it was Masaomi working on her.
"Dr. Asahina?" The nurse asked in confusion.
"He—he's a pediatrician here," Ema said. "But he should be able to take care of this. I want Dr. Asahina to take care of my arm."
"I know who he is," the nurse assured Ema, still surprised that someone was requesting Dr. Asahina for something like this. She wouldn't be surprised for one of his patients to request him if they needed stitches, but this young woman was too old to be one of Dr. Asahina's patients. "I'll go see if he's available."
"Thank you," Ema said sincerely.
~.~
"Dr. Asahina," a nurse called lightly, knocking on the open door of the exam room he was in.
Masaomi had just finished examining a patient and was expecting his next one in fifteen minutes. "Yes?" He asked.
"There's a patient in need of at least stiches, if not something more drastic, and she's requesting that you take care of it for her."
Masaomi's eyebrows knit together in concern, wondering which of his patients had hurt themselves. Little Rae-chan liked to climb trees and was often getting scrapped up from her adventures. "Who is it?"
"Um, it's a young woman named Hinata Ema," the nurse answered. "Maybe she's a former patient of yours? She's definitely too old to be your patient right now. Doctor?!" The nurse exclaimed in concern as Dr. Asahina paled and stumbled backwards, grabbing onto the exam table to keep his balance.
"Ema?" He asked, as if hoping that the nurse would tell him that he'd heard her wrong.
"Yes, Hinata Ema. She came in just a few minutes ago."
Dr. Asahina seemed to visibly collect himself as he pushed away from the table. "Tell me what happened while you take me to her. And ask Dr. Rao to cover my patients while I'm gone."
~.~
Masaomi hoped he didn't look as pale as he felt as he walked into the exam room with Ema. His heart clenched painfully at the sight of Ema lying on the exam room table, her hair plastered to her face with sweat and a grimace of pain on her face.
"Masaomi-kun," she greeted when she saw him, the relief on her face plain, though the pain never left her eyes. "I'm sorry to ask this, but could you please take care of my arm? I want it to be you."
Bile rose in Masaomi's throat at the thought of seeing Ema's wound. True, he'd come far in overcoming his fear of blood, but seeing blood on a patient wasn't the same as seeing blood on the woman he loved. Still, Masaomi's heart skipped a beat at Ema's words and he knew there was no way he could refuse her request. "It's okay, Ema," he assured her. "It's no trouble for me to have another doctor look after my patients for a while, and I'm much better with blood than I used to be." At least he could use this opportunity to show Ema how much he'd grown thanks to her help and support.
The nurse removed the temporary bandage from Ema's arm and Masaomi's head spun at the sight. Just hearing the story of the branch piercing Ema's arm had been bad enough, but having to see it…Masaomi shook those thoughts off as he ordered the nurse to anesthetize Ema and went to work. Ema needed him. That meant he couldn't think about anything else right now.
~.~
Ema didn't know how much later it was that she came to, but she woke up to an empty room and a white bandage covering her arm. Ema breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that it was over and the pain in her arm had become only a dull ache. The pain would probably get worse as her anesthesia wore off, but for now, Ema would take what she could get.
She looked around and was surprised to see a pretty young woman standing tentatively in the doorway. The woman was well-dressed, so couldn't be a nurse.
"Hi," Ema said as she carefully sat up in her bed. "Can I help you with something?"
"Oh, not really," the woman said, walking into the room. "I just heard that the stepdaughter of Asahina Miwa was here and since I happened to be here checking on some of the medical supplies donated by my family, I wanted to come by and say hello. I am Uhara Keiko, the daughter of one of Miwa-san's business associates."
"Oh," Ema said in surprise, trying to straighten her posture and hoping that she looked at least somewhat presentable. "I'm Hinata Ema, it's nice to meet you." Ema did her best to give a little bow from her seated position.
Keiko bit her lip to stop herself from giggling at Ema's attempts to be polite even from a hospital bed. The young girl seemed as delightful as Miwa made her out to be. "I hope that you're doing okay," Keiko said. "I'm not sure what happened other than that you needed minor surgery."
"Oh, it's nothing too big," Ema said, glancing at her bandage. "I just got hurt while hiking with some of my brothers and a friend."
Kieko nodded sympathetically. "It's nice that you could have your older stepbrother take care of you. He's a very good man."
"Yes he is," Ema agreed, before tilting her head and asking, "Do you know Masaomi-kun?"
Kieko blushed and said, "We had an arranged marriage meeting once, but he refused me because he was already in love with someone. Did he ever end up with her?"
Ema stared at Kieko in shock. Of course she remembered Masaomi's arranged marriage meeting, but he hadn't said a word about refusing it because he was in love with someone. He just said that he refused it because of Ema and Wataru.
Kieko tsked and shook her head. "From your reaction I guess he didn't. He told me that he'd yet to tell the woman he loved how he felt. I hope he hasn't lost all chances with her by keeping his feelings a secret." Kieko's phone rang and she glanced at the caller before saying, "I have to take this. It was nice meeting you, Ema-san."
"Nice to meet you, too," Ema called as Keiko left the room. She stared at the empty doorway to the room, still in shock over Kieko's words. Masaomi was in love with someone? Or at least, he had been as of two years ago. Why hadn't he done anything about it? Guilt burned inside Ema as thought of Masaomi ignoring his feelings so that he could take care of her and Wataru. That wasn't right. Masaomi deserved to be happy with the one that he loved.
Masaomi walked in a few moments later, relieved to see Ema awake and sitting up, though everything with her arm had gone very well. "Ema, how are you feeling?" He asked, stopping next to Ema's bed.
Ema stared down at her bed, too guilty to look at Masaomi as she asked, "Are you in love with someone, Masaomi-kun?"
"Wh-what?" Masaomi stuttered, taken completely off guard by Ema's question. He felt himself blush as he became completely tongue tied. "Wh-why would you ask that, Ema?"
Ema looked up at Masaomi, concern and regret shining in her eyes. "You should be with the woman you love, Masaomi-kun. You do so much for our family, but we can take care of ourselves. Wataru and I will be fine. You should focus on your own happiness a little more instead."
"What are you talking about?" Masaomi asked, wondering if Ema's mind was still muddled from the anesthesia. Her eyes looked clear, but looks could be deceiving.
"Uhara Keiko is here and stopped by to talk to me," Ema explained. "She said that you refused the marriage proposal because you were in love with someone, but that you hadn't told that person you loved them. Masaomi-kun, what if you've already lost your chance with this woman? I know that I told you I wanted you home, but I'd hate it if you missed your chance to be happily married because of me. You should be with the one you love, Masaomi-kun!"
"I am," Masaomi blurted out, wanting to stop Ema's agitation. Masaomi's blush deepened as he realized what he'd said and Ema looked at him in confusion. Masaomi frantically wondered what he could say to make Ema stop without lying. Why did Keiko have to be visiting the hospital today of all days?
"I mean…I mean…I'm by her side. I'm not with her, but I'm near her and I can watch over her. That's good enough for me."
"It's not, Masaomi-kun," Ema argued. "Not unless you're in love with a woman who's with someone else." She paused, shocked at the idea. "You're not, are you?"
"No!" Masaomi exclaimed, wondering if this conversation could possibly get any worse. What must Ema be thinking of him? "She's not with anyone."
"Then what are you holding back for?" Ema asked, determined to get to the bottom of this. Masaomi was so kind and couldn't seem to see himself for the amazing man that he was. Ema was afraid that he would hold himself back from what he really wanted either because he didn't think he was good enough, or because he was afraid that he would be a bother to the other person. "Is it a nurse at the hospital? Are you afraid you'd be taking advantage of your position?"
"It's you!" Masaomi resisted the childish urge to cover his mouth with his hands after those words left his lips. Ema stared up at him wide-eyed and Masaomi felt sick, wondering if Ema would feel betrayed by this revelation.
"It's…me?"
"I'm so sorry, Ema," Masaomi said, his shoulders slumping. "You—you can just pretend that you didn't hear that. I never had any intention of telling you. I'm family to you—I understand that."
"All this time," Ema mumbled. Her voice had no tone, making Masaomi feel even worse. What was Ema thinking right now? "All the way back to when Mom made you go to the arranged marriage meeting?"
"B-before that," Masaomi admitted. "You supported me despite my pathetic fear of blood as a doctor. You stayed by my side and didn't think less of me. And you always put family first. I've always loved that about you Ema. I—I'm sorry, you don't need to hear any of this."
Masaomi turned to go, but felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked back to see Ema holding onto him. To his surprise, she didn't look upset, instead she looked…amazed. Masaomi held his breath, not daring to try to guess or hope what Ema might say next.
"I…I…" Now it was Ema who was blushing. "I always want you to be by my side, Masaomi-kun. When our other brothers dated, I didn't care, other than wanting them to be happy. It was only with you that I was afraid of losing you. I selfishly hoped you would turn down the marriage proposal. I was so happy when you said that you'd stay by my side."
"What are you saying, Ema?" Masaomi asked carefully, trying his best, and failing, to not get his hopes up as he moved closer to the bed.
Ema looked down at the bed. "I don't think I'm mature enough for you," she said quietly. "Are you really sure that I'm the one that you want?"
Masaomi stared down at the top of Ema's head in shock. Could she really be asking him that question? "Ema," Masaomi breathed, sitting down on the side of the bed. "From the moment I fell in love with you, I've never even noticed another woman. I can't imagine ever wanting anyone else. I'd hoped that after you found someone to love and were happy that maybe then I could move on and find someone at least half as good as you."
Ema looked into Masaomi's eyes, the beginnings of tears in her own. Masaomi was so devoted to her…and that was without them even being together. "I can't imagine a better man than you," Ema told him. "Not as a husband or as a father." Ema blushed at her words, thinking that maybe that was saying too much too fast. She wasn't trying to propose marriage or anything like that, though she found it interesting that she was essentially echoing Miwa's words from a little while ago.
Masaomi's hands cupped Ema's face and he swooped in to kiss her on the lips. Ema inhaled sharply, surprised at how forward this was for Masaomi, but immensely enjoying it. Sadly, Masaomi pulled back a second later. "I'm sorry," he apologized, his face red. "I didn't mean to do that. It was just—"
"Don't apologize," Ema interrupted, taking Masaomi's hands in her own. "I'm happy you kissed me."
Masaomi looked relieved as he leaned his forehead against Ema's and smiled shyly at her.
~.~
Ema waited until the end of Masaomi's shift so that the two of them could go home together. They entered the house holding hands and Ema was immediately tackled by Wataru. "I'm sooo sorry, Onee-chan!" He cried. "It's all my fault that you got hurt!"
"Careful, Wataru-kun," Masaomi said gently. "You don't want to jostle Ema's arm."
Wataru gasped and backed up. "Sorry, Onee-chan!"
"It's okay, Wataru-kun," Ema assured him. "Masaomi-kun made me all better. My arm will be just fine, and it's not your fault. It was just an accident."
"I know but—" Wataru paused and cocked his head, staring at Ema and Masaomi. "Why are you two holding hands?"
The two glanced at each other, neither not knowing what to say. Wataru studied them before gasping. "Masaomi's like the knight in shining armor who saved the princess and then you two fell in love?!"
Masaomi raised his eyebrows at his youngest brother, wondering what kind of things Wataru was watching to come to a conclusion like that.
Ema coughed trying to hide a laugh as she said, "Yes, Wataru-kun, something like that."
"Yaaayyy!" Wataru exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and twirling in circles. "This is so wonderful!"
Masaomi squeezed Ema's hand and turned to her to say, "Well, at least one of our brothers is happy about us being together."
"One down, eleven to go," Ema said, knowing that it wouldn't be easy to tell the rest, but they would do it together.
