A/N: This fanfiction has been a ton of fun to write and I can't deny I'm sad to be posting the last chapter. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed! I really appreciate the support

Natsume

"Are you still enjoying your internship?" Natsume asked Ema as they walked down the street together. They'd just left the gamer themed amusement park. It was Ema's first time back there since that fateful trip with her classmates almost a year ago. Part of Ema still wondered how their family drama would have played out if Ema hadn't gone that night, or had gone with Yusuke instead of Sasakura.

"Yes!" Ema said enthusiastically. "I'm learning a lot and my manager tells me that I'm doing a good job. And Iori told me that he'll be coming back to Japan soon, so I'll get to help manage his publicity, which I'm excited about."

"Good," Natsume said, smiling at Ema's excitement. "I hope this internship has helped you conquer your fears about not living up to the rest of the Asahinas with your future career."

"It has," Ema admitted, becoming thoughtful. "I'm still not sure if I'll want to continue to work for Star City after university, but I at least have the confidence to say that I can try new things and do well at them. In the meantime, I am considering getting a degree in communications because I really enjoy working in social media."

"I'm glad," Natsume said. "But don't be afraid to take your time. Remember that you don't need to decide everything right now. You still have time to explore your options and figure out what you want to do."

"I know," Ema said. "It's just nice to have some direction. Yusuke-kun keeps alternating between not caring at all, and freaking out that he has no idea what he wants to do yet."

Natsume sighed and shook his head. "Unlike you, I think that Yusuke could stand to be a little more stressed about the future. He's never taken school very seriously."

"But he did get into college," Ema argued, standing up for Yusuke. "He studied really hard to be able to get in. And I think he's taking university more seriously than he did high school. Sometimes, anyway."

Natsume seemed unconvinced as he checked the time on his watch. "Well, I've got to meet my coworker to work on our project now. We've run into some unexpected problems and we're worried that we might miss our deadline."

"Okay. Good luck, Natsume-kun. And thanks for going with me to the amusement park today."

"Anytime," Natsume said, waving as he left.

Ema smiled as she watched Natsume walk away, grateful she'd been able to spend part of the day with him. Spending time with Natsume always lifted her spirits and the two of them could talk for hours. Ema was beginning to realize that she didn't think of Natsume in the same way she did her other stepbrothers. When Ema thought of Natsume, Hikaru's question of whether or not Ema could honestly say she thought of all the Asahinas as brothers rang through her mind.

Being with Natsume was different and Ema wondered if it had always been that way and she'd just ignored it, or if her feelings had changed recently. Either way, Ema didn't want to rush into anything and planned to give herself some time before she said anything to Natsume.

~.~

Though Ema wanted to spend more time with Natsume so she could figure out her feelings, the next month only led to disappointment. Every time Ema tried to schedule something with Natsume, he had to work. Even when Natsume set aside time to spend with Ema, some emergency would come up at work or something would go wrong and he'd have to stay later. He was always apologetic, and Ema assured him that she understood. Though, truth be told, she was beginning to feel depressed and she wondered if it was because she hadn't been able to see Natsume for so long or because she was frustrated that her attempts to figure out her feelings were all failing. If it was the former, then Ema already had her answer.

Ema was wandering around town on a Friday night after being told once again by Natsume that he wouldn't be able to see her. She'd offered to make him dinner that night, figuring that he had to eat anyway and hoping she'd be able to see him for at least a little while, but he'd told her that he'd probably pick something up from his work's cafeteria so that he could work longer.

Ema sighed and dug her hands into her jacket's pockets. Fall was here and it was starting to get chilly in the evenings. She knew that she should head back home soon, but she was worried that her brothers would be able to pick up on her melancholy attitude and she didn't want to explain or make them worry. She'd wait to go home until she could do so with a smile on her face.

Ema peered through the brightly lit windows of a café as she walked along. What she saw made her do a double take and then freeze on the sidewalk. She saw Natsume…sitting with a woman. Even worse, they were talking and laughing. The sight made Ema's heart squeeze painfully and she felt sick as she watched them.

Was this what Natsume had been doing all month long? Canceling on Ema to spend time with another woman? Ema tried to swallow passed the lump in her throat. Why hadn't Natsume just been honest with her? It wasn't as though he owed her anything. He'd confessed to her months ago and the only thing Ema had told him was that family was too important for her to date any of her stepbrothers. Ema had no right to expect Natsume to wait around pining for her.

Not wanting to see anymore, Ema turned on her heel and ran in the other direction as tears started to fall. Ema angrily wiped them away, dodging through the people on the streets and barely bothering to apologize when she knocked into a man.

It looked like Ema finally found the answer to her feelings about Natsume, but now it was too late.

~.~

Throughout the next week, Ema couldn't hide how depressed she felt, despite her best efforts. When any of her brothers asked what was wrong, she brushed them off with a smile telling them that she was just having a tough week, but she was sure it would get better. Her brothers didn't seem convinced by Ema's words, but they just watched her with worried expressions, wishing that there was something they could do for her.

At the end of the week, Ema received a text from Natsume asking her if she'd like to come over and try a demo for a new game his company was working on. Ema's heart ached as she stared at the text, thinking that she'd gotten so many texts like this from Natsume through the years and they'd always made her excited.

Now…Ema wondered if Natsume planned to finally come clean about the woman he'd been seeing. Maybe tell Ema that he thought of her as a stepsister now, or just a friend, so she didn't need to worry about his feelings anymore. Her vision blurred with tears at the thought and she texted back that she had too much homework and couldn't make it.

~.~

The next weekend when Natsume texted her that his project was finished and he had more free time now, Ema texted back that several celebrities were debuting in the next while and that she'd be really busy at her internship. Natsume texted back joking that the two of them couldn't catch a break since it seemed like either one or the other of them was busy these days. Ema didn't bother responding.

~.~

Two weeks later, when Natsume texted Ema again asking her to come over, Ema decided that she needed to stop being immature and running away. It wasn't fair for her to throw a fit like this and avoid Natsume when he had done nothing wrong. From his perspective, they'd been friends for years and it'd be weird for Ema to suddenly refuse to see him. She texted back that she was free and would see him Saturday night.

~.~

"It feels like it's been forever since we've seen each other," Natsume said as he set the table for dinner.

"Yeah," Ema agreed quietly, trying to smile as she carried the salad from the kitchen. "I guess this is what life is like when you're an adult. Always busy with work and stuff."

"It's not all bad," Natsume argued. "I promise there's fun things about being an adult…I just can't think of any of at the moment."

Ema knew this was the part where she was supposed to laugh, but she couldn't make herself do it. How could she pretend to be happy and light-hearted when she felt so heartbroken?

"Is something wrong?" Natsume asked in concern as they sat down.

"No," Ema said as she shook her head, offering up a tiny, sad smile. "It's just been a long week is all."

"Are you too tired to try the demo tonight?" Natsume asked. "You didn't have to come. I don't want you to ever feel pressured into coming over. We can always do it some other time."

"Okay," Ema said, feeling depressed. She'd really wanted to come here and be supportive and be Natsume's friend, but she just couldn't do it. She couldn't make herself be okay with watching Natsume with another woman. She'd just have to use school and her internship as an excuse to not see him anymore.

There was awkward silence as they ate and Ema wanted to kick herself, knowing that the silence was her fault. Out of desperation to break the silence, Ema ended up blurting, "Congratulations on your relationship." She immediately felt her face flame up and wondered if she could have said anything more embarrassing than that. She wasn't supposed to know since Natsume hadn't said anything about it yet.

"My relationship?" Natsume asked, his brow furrowing.

Ema felt her face burn hotter. "Yeah, I kind of saw you with her a couple weeks ago. I swear I wasn't meaning to spy on you, I just happened to see you."

"Saw me where?" Natsume asked. "And with who?"

Ema shrugged awkwardly. "It was in a café on a Friday night. I saw you two eating together." She didn't add that it was the night she'd offered to make dinner for him.

Natsume stared at Ema with a blank expression on his face until a light finally went on in his eyes. "Oh, you're talking about my coworker, Tetsu-san." Then he looked horrified and shook his head. "No, no, you've got the wrong idea. I would never date Tetsu-san. She's crazy. And scary. We'd been working on our project for ten hours straight that Friday and both agreed that we'd go insane if we spent one more moment staring at our computer screens, so we went out to eat before going back to work. I promise you, there's nothing romantic about my relationship with her."

"Oh," Ema said, staring at her plate and feeling stupid. All that anguish and angst…over seeing Natsume eat with a coworker who he had no romantic feelings for. Why couldn't she have just done the mature thing and asked him about it? Natsume didn't know that Ema had feelings for him, so why would he have bothered hiding a relationship from her? Even if he didn't want their brothers to know, he still probably would have told Ema.

"So, you're not seeing anyone?" Ema asked, looking up at him.

Natsume stared at Ema, stunned. After several moments, he carefully answered, "No, I'm not seeing anyone." He seemed like he wanted to say more, but then stopped himself.

Ema tried to gather her courage as she said, "That's…that's good. I mean, I—" Ema blushed furiously, staring down at her hands and wishing that she could be more eloquent. Ema sighed and tried to start over. "I love being with you more than anyone else. I don't know how long I've felt that way, but I do know that I want to be with you. As your girlfriend…If you still feel that way about me."

Ema heard the scrape of a chair and the next moment, Natsume was beside her, pulling her up and placing one hand on the back of her head as his lips went to hers. Ema gave a muffled gasp and Natsume pulled Ema closer, his free arm going around her back. Ema wrapped her arms around Natsume's neck, tangling her fingers in his hair.

She couldn't believe that she was doing this, but it felt so right to be kissing Natsume. She remembered how much better she felt the night she found out she was adopted after Natsume kissed her. After that moment she'd finally been able to calm down and think a little more rationally about the situation.

Natsume slowly slid his hands up Ema's back and she shivered, pushing herself against him. Natsume moved one hand to the back of Ema's head again and deepened the kiss. After several moments, he pulled away. "Ema," he breathed, before kissing her once. He pulled back to look at Ema, studying her before smiling and saying, "I love you, Ema."

Ema blushed as she looked into Natsume's eyes and confessed, "I love you, Natsume-kun."

~.~

Natsume came over to the Sunrise Mansion the next day, telling Ema that he wanted all their brothers to know that Ema was his. Ema was nervous about telling everyone, but after how jealous she felt about seeing Natsume with another woman, she was more than willing to do whatever he wanted about their brothers.

They were standing in the living rrom and had just declared their relationship when Tsubaki interrupted by saying, "You rat bastard, you're the reason that Ema's been so upset, aren't you?"

Natsume turned to look at Ema, who he had his arm around, in confusion.

Ema blushed and said, "I told you that I thought you were dating that woman I saw you eating dinner with. That was a month ago and I've…been really upset about it."

Natsume smiled as he bent down to kiss Ema's forehead. "Just come and talk to me when things like that happen so that there aren't any misunderstandings, Ema. My feelings for you have never wavered."

"Yeah, yeah," Tsubaki said, crossing his arms as he glared at Natsume. "Don't blame this on Ema. You better not mess up again. I swear you'll regret it if you make her cry."

"That's right," Azusa agreed. "Don't forget that there are plenty of people willing to take your place if you can't make Ema happy."

Natsume glared at his triplets as he pulled Ema closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. "I won't make her cry again and I will make her happy. You two better watch it or I might just take Ema away from here. Or move back into my old room."

Ema looked up at Natsume in surprise and he smiled down at her before bending to kiss her lips.

End

A/N: I don't know when/if I'll do this, but I'm tempted to do a fic where Miwa is the queen of her own country and her thirteen sons are princes. Ema is the daughter of ambassador Rintaro, who frequently travels to Miwa's country. When Queen Miwa meets Ema, she decides that Ema would make an excellent wife/princess and should marry one of her sons. Many of the princes, after getting to know Ema, agree. It's just a thought for now, but I think it'd be fun!