DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BROTHERS CONFLICT IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM
"Mmm," Ema moaned happily as she stretched her arms and then twisted her body from side to side. She looked outside and could see a bright blue sky with the sun shining through her window.
"What nice looking morning," she said out loud to no one in particular.
She was distracted when she saw Juli suddenly jumping up onto the window frame and looking out as well.
"Hmm, it is a nice morning I supposed," he agreed, "A nice morning for a wolf to feel the need to make an attack."
"Oh Juli, every other word out of your mouth is wolf-wolf-wolf," Ema said as she climbed out of bed, "How many times do I have to tell you, my brothers aren't wolves. They're good and loving men and I love being here with them. I'd wish you let up on them."
"Hmm, you're too naïve Chi," Juli said, "You've got to learn to put your guard up more, especially around them!"
"Oh Juli," Ema said patting his head. She dressed herself and headed out of her room, making her way to the stairs. Just as she reached them, she happened to noticed Yusuke also heading towards the stairs.
"Oh," he said when he saw her, pausing, "Hey, morning."
"Morning," Ema said with a smile, walking past him and down the stairs.
'Damn!' Yusuke thought, 'Why does she always look so cute, especially in mornings?!'
It was then he noticed Juli hissing at him from Ema's shoulder.
'Damn that rodent!' Yusuke continued to think as he finally started to follow her down as well.
"Please! Please! Please!" the two heard Wataru calling over and over again as they came to the dining room table. There they found their youngest brother jumping up and down next to their oldest brother who was sitting at the table attempting to read a newspaper over Wataru's shouts.
"I told you, I'll try and think about it. There's a lot to consider before going on a vacation, especially one overseas," said Masaomi in his usual gentle tone as he kept reading his paper.
"What's going on?" Ema asked.
"Big Sister!" Wataru said, running over to her, "Big Sister you've got to help me!"
"With what?" Ema asked.
"You've got to help me convince Big Brother Masa we should take a big vacation over seas! I want to go on a vacation overseas! Especially with a school break coming up!" Wataru begged.
"And I've already told you, I'll think about it. There's just a lot of things to consider, particularly with some of us being able to get time off of work for such a vacation," said Masaomi.
"That just means no, doesn't it?" Wataru said, looking sad.
"Not necessary," Ema tried to console Wataru, "It just means we need to see how many of our brothers could come on such a trip before we pick a date."
"You think?" Wataru asked.
"Yeah sure, whatever," Yusuke said as he brushed Wataru aside and took a seat at the table.
Wataru looks a little calmer, and finally sat at the table to eat his breakfast.
Ema noticed Masaomi look out from his paper at her, "for the record, I think a trip would be a good idea, it is just a matter of seeing who's available," he whispered.
"Oh," Ema said, starting to feel a little more excited. It would be nice to finally get to take such a vacation with her brothers.
"So you really want to go on a vacation?" Yusuke asked as he and Ema made their way to school.
"Yes actually, the trip to the cabin was nice, but it might be enjoyable to go to on a big family vacation with more brothers, including you," Ema said.
"Me?" Yusuke said.
"Well, you didn't get to go on the last trip out of town sine you wanted to catch up on school work. It'd be nice to have you along for a change," said Ema.
"Oh, right," Yusuke said. He turned his face fast, hoping Ema didn't see the blush appearing on his cheek.
"So was Wataru still bugging about a vacation over seas?" Ukyo asked Masaomi as he cleared the breakfast table.
"Yeah, he really wants to take one. I think he got over excited with some of the pictures Mother and Rintaro sent us from Italy," said Masaomi.
"Did he say where he wanted to go?" asked Ukyo.
"No, but maybe that's just as well. Maybe someone else will have a good idea of where to go," said Masaomi.
"Hmm, good point," Ukyo said.
Just then Masaomi heard his phone going off.
"Hello?" Masaomi asked as he answered.
"Hello Masaomi, good morning," Rintaro said on the other line.
"Oh, hello Rintaro, how are you?" asked Masaomi.
"I was just calling how everyone was. How's Ema doing?" Rintaro asked.
"She's fine, everyone's doing real fine. Wataru's nagging to want to go on a vacation, particularly overseas," said Masaomi.
"Is he? The little scamp," said Rintaro, "Say, can I ask you something? It may sound weird but I need to know it's happening."
"Okay, what is it?" asked Masaomi a little confused.
"I need you to promise me something, do not allow Ema to go anywhere alone for a while, even if it's just down the street to the corner store or something," said Rintaro.
"What?" Masaomi asked.
"Don't let her go anywhere alone for a while, no matter what. Make sure she's never alone," Rintaro said urgently.
"Um sure, but why?" Masaomi asked.
He heard Rintaro sigh a little, "I don't think I should tell you really just yet. I don't want to really get you and your brothers more involved in this, especially if it turns out I'm just being paranoid. Just please honor my request and do your best to not make her suspicious about it either, if you can."
"I can certainly try, though I really would like to know what's going on exactly," said Masaomi.
"I will try to explain more, once I know for sure this whole thing has passed," Rintaro insisted.
"Alright," Masaomi said.
"Thank you, I'll call you later," said Rintaro, "Oh and expect a special thing in the mail from your mother meant for Ema."
"Oh okay, we'll be on the look out for it," said Masaomi.
"What did Rintaro want?" Ukyo asked.
"Something about making sure Ema's never alone for a while," said Masaomi, still sounding confused.
"Did something happen?" Ukyo asked concern.
"I'm not sure, he didn't really give me too much details. He said he didn't want to really drag us into whatever is going on. Just to make sure one of us is always with her and to try not to let her know about it," said Masaomi.
"That is odd," Ukyo.
"He said he may try explain more once he sure whatever is going on has passed, but in the meantime," Masaomi pulled out his phone, "I'm going to text Yusuke to make sure he walks Ema home, even if he has to stay late for some make up work, find some excuse to have her wait for him."
"This feels beyond weird," Ukyo said, "Rintaro's never been this cryptic before, at least not that I've known of."
"Yes, this a little out of character for him," said Masaomi, as he finished sending his brother the text.
"So today we are going to discuss some of the lesser known countries and regions of our world. Places that don't show up usually in the news or in text books and would have to squint your eyes to find on a map," Ema and Yusuke's teacher said pulling down a big world map.
"And why are we learning about such countries?" the teacher asked, "It's mostly because a lot of them affect your lives and the world without you evening realizing it. Who can actually name a lesser known country?"
Several hands shout up, including Ema's. Yusuke however, was one of the few seem to not want to raise his.
'Why or how would I want to know about a lesser known country?' he thought.
However he felt his phone buzz in his pants. He took advantage from most of his classmates trying to answer their teacher's question to pull it out.
He was surprised to see it was text from Masaomi.
make sure you walk Ema home no matter what,
if need to stay after school, try and get her to stay with you and then walk home together
Rintaro asks us to
thanks, Masa
'What?' Yusuke thought a little confused as he tried to reread the text. 'I guess I can try that if it calls for it.'
"Mr. Asahina?" his teacher suddenly said, calling for his attention.
"Huh?" Yusuke said startled looking up from his phone.
"Perhaps you can favor us with a small country on the map?" the teacher asked, smacking her pointer stick hard against the map. A few students jumped at the motion.
"Uh, um well," Yusuke sputtered.
"Elence," he suddenly heard a soft whisper. He cast his eyes over to Ema who was trying to help him out.
"Say Elence," she tried whispering again.
"Uh, Elence?" he said out loud.
"Elence," the teacher said, backing down a little, "Very good. Elence is a small country in Europe, near the Asian border." She started naming off facts about the country. Yusuke however looked over at Ema and gave her a thank you smile. Ema nodded before looking back to the teacher and her lecture.
"And of course that's just to name a few things," the teacher finished, "Now then, for your homework assignment. I'm going to pair you up into teams of two and assign you a small country I want you to come back by the end of the week to present a full report on. And we're going to decide who's-who's partner by drawing a name from the bowl. Please pass the bowl around to every other person until at least half the class has a name and that name will be your partner. And if you draw your own name, you'll just be assign to a person whose name didn't get drawn."
The students started passing the bowl around. Yusuke watched as Ema took a name out of the bowl and read it. She look over at Yusuke with a smile and held up a note that said his name.
'Yes!' Yusuke thought.
"Once you have your partner, please move over to them and once you're with your partner, I'll start handing out your countries."
Ema quickly hurried over to Yusuke's desk, making sure to secure herself next to it so the teacher knew they were together.
"It's amazing how often you two get assaying together," their teacher said as she walked over to them and handed them a pamphlet, "here's your country. Please don't make Ema do all the work, Yusuke."
"I won't do that!" Yusuke insisted.
"It's true, he's a hard worker," said Ema.
"Yes, you have been improving your work since you gain a new sister. It's as almost as though having a female influence over you has helped."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Yusuke muttered as the teacher walked away.
"What country did we get?" he asked.
"Elence," Ema said looking over her notes.
"Elence? Are you serious?" Yusuke asked, "What are the odds?"
Ema giggled at his comment.
"Well, I bet we could find some interesting books on the subject," said Ema.
"Yeah, we can do that together," said Yusuke, remembering what Masaomi had text him.
"Hmm, I'm afraid I don't have any books about Elence," the school librarian said looking over her computer, "And any other books I have that has info on it doesn't seem to have much."
"Damn!" Yusuke muttered.
"I can give you some names of books that have more info about the country that you can look up at the local library or a bookstore," qthe librarian offered as she typed some things up on her computer and printing a piece of paper.
"Thank you very much," Ema said bowing to the librarian and left with her brother.
"So where should we head to?" Ema asked as she and Yusuke prepared to leave.
"On, are you two off to some romantic escapade?"
"Huh?" Ema said as she and Yusuke turned to see their other brother Futo coming out from behind a tree, "Futo I didn't realize you were here today."
"I was only here for a half day," Futo said, "Anyway, where are you guys headed?"
"None of your business!" Yusuke asked, "We have to get something for a class assignment okay?"
"Is that really what you're up to?" Futo asked.
"Yes! Now go away, go do some pop idol thing!" Yusuke snapped.
"What, surly you wouldn't mind having your brother tag along. For all you know, I have some homework assignment I need to take care of as well," Futo said.
"Do you?" Ema asked.
"Well," Futo started to say, only to have his phone go off. He pulled it out and frowned, "Oh shit! No, I guess I don't! I'm needed for a photo shoot! My manager's on his way to get me! Excuse me!" He brushed past the pair mad and hurried on his way just as a fancy car pulled up next to the sidewalk outside the school grounds and Futo got in.
"Thank god," Yusuke muttered.
"Well, let's get going," Ema said as she took Yusuke's hand and led him away, off school grounds.
'She's holding my hand! She's actually holding my hand!' Yusuke thought with slight delight.
"So is that her?"
"Yep,"
"She looks more like her in person!"
"No shit!"
"So we're really doing this?"
"Yeah, I think we have no choice now,"
"Who's the guy with her?"
"Hang on a second, oh one of her stepbrothers, the one that's roughly her age."
"Well how are we going to get her if he's with her?"
"Hmm, let's just take him too,"
"What, are you serious?"
"It's probably our best bet if we are to get this done as soon a possible. Besides, she might be more willing to cooperate with us if she knew we have someone she cares about in out clutches as well. We can use him to help control her,"
"Ah good idea, so when are we going to do this?"
"Let's see where they're going first and see if there's a way to get them alone somewhere,"
"Yes sir,"
Ema and Yusuke were soon able to find a book store that had a few books they were looking for and soon were heading for home.
"I hope these books are worth it," Yusuke muttered as they left the store.
"Well the teacher did say we needed to get some of our research from a book," said Ema as she looked thought the book, "Did you know that Elence's main export is plants and flowers? They have some of the most beautiful green life in the world?"
"Sounds like Iori's kind of place," said Yusuke.
"Hey, what time is it?" Ema asked, "Do you want to stop somewhere for dinner?"
"You mean, you and me together?" Yusuke asked.
"Yeah, look, there's a nice ramen house," Ema said, heading towards the shop.
'We're having dinner together alone, Yes!' Yusuke thought with delight as he followed closely behind her.
The two ordered their food with problems and took a seat alone.
"So if we do go on this vacation like the twerp wants, where would you want to go?" Yusuke asked.
"Well to be honest, after looking at this book of Elence, I'd kind of want to visit there," said Ema, "It looks so homely and welcoming."
"Does it have anything fun to do?" Yusuke asked.
"Oh yes, there's a lot of famous gardens and historical locations to visit. Plus there's a lot of beautiful lakes with some famous beaches," said Ema.
"That doesn't sound all that great, no offense, it sounds like more like a place only Iori or Ukyo would want to visit," said Yusuke.
"Yeah, you may be right," said Ema, "Well, maybe a nice tropic place might be nice to visit. There'd be a lot more to do and some lovely tropic beaches."
"And a real excuse to wear swimsuits!" said Yusuke excited.
"Huh?" Ema said.
"Oh, nothing," said Yusuke, "So anyway, is there anything more about that country?"
When Ema and Yusuke finished their dinner and left the restaurant, they both sound themselves walking a little slowly, to work off their food.
"That was nice, we should hang out more often don't you think?" Ema asked.
"Yeah, I'd like that," said Yusuke, "We can do that with this report."
"Of course," said Ema.
They turned down a side street to get closer to their house. However as they walked down the street, they were surprised to see a boy close to their age walking around with a book looking confused.
"Uh, can we help you?" Yusuke asked.
"Uh," the boy seemed to sputter in broken in language, "do, you know, where to, get to, Penn street?"
"Yeah, just down this way here and at your first left, it'll take you straight there," said Yusuke.
"Thank you, is there a Crazy Cami suvoiner shop there?" the boy asked.
"Yes I think so," said Ema.
The boy breathed a sigh of releife, "Oh good! I got lost from tour group and was told to met up one of those in such a situation."
"Well we can show you where it is," Ema offered as she started to led the boy down the street with Yusuke not too far behind.
"Thank you so much! I really appreciate this!" the boy said.
'Boy his words don't seem so broken now,' he noted in thought, not sure what to make of that.
"I feel so stupid I did this!" said the boy.
"It's okay, it happens, and at least you know how to get back with your friends," said Ema.
"Yeah, my friends sure would like to meet you I'm sure," said the boy suddenly looking a little less friendly.
Suddenly two cars seemed to appear out of nowhere, both in front and behind Ema and Yusuke, blocking them off.
"What the hell?!" Yusuke said in confusion.
"What's going on?!" Ema asked as she back up next to Yusuke, a little scared.
"Oh, these are just my friends," said the boy, suddenly smiling with an evil looking smile.
Suddenly, a bunch of men bolted out of the car and ran at Ema and Yusuke.
"Get behind me!" Yusuke insisted as he tried to shield Ema from their apparent attackers.
"Get them! get those bags on their heads, now!" someone ordered.
"Get what?!" Ema said. Before she and Yusuke could react, they were both grabbed and black bags were thrown over their faces.
"Get them in the car!"
"Yusuke! Yusuke, what's going on?!" Ema tried calling out as she felt herself being forced to walk towards a car.
"Don't worry, I'll get this out of this!" Yusuke tried to insist.
"Shut-up!" a deep voice bellowed, "stop talking both of you! If you stay quiet and do as we say, I promise no harm will come to you!"
"But where are you taking us?" Ema tried to ask.
"None of your business! Just stay quiet and do what I saw without argument! I guarantee you, you'll be much happier if you do!"
"But!" Yusuke tired to say as both and Ema felt themselves being forced down on their stomachs and felt their hands tied up behind their backs.
"Yusuke, please, don't do anything to make them mad. I don't want you to get hurt!" Ema pleaded.
"You should do what she says boy!"
"You better not hurt her at least!" Yusuke whispered one last time.
"I'll be okay Yusuke," Ema said. She tried to move over as close as she thought she could and tried to reach over and link one of her fingers with his.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you no matter what," Yusuke promised, though neither one still knew what was going on.