Conflicted (Brothers Conflict)

Chapter Fourteen

Natsume had gotten back later than I had expected. He said he'd gotten caught up with his siblings as everyone had been worried about my disappearing act, but I had a feeling he was up to something. His apartment was a small studio apartment, but it felt like home. His cats, Tsubaki and Azusa were sweet on me. I played with them the whole day until the three of us passed out on the floor basking in the sunlight pouring in through the balcony doors.

I scrambled to change once Natsume returned, I had a class starting soon. There were a few missed messages on my phone, but they'd have to wait. As I was about to head for the door, Natsume caught my wrist stopping me in my tracks.

"I'll drive if you let me sit in on your class." He was definitely up to something.

"Are you volunteering to be my ragdoll, I mean assailant, for the class?" I smiled sweetly.

Natsume chuckled, "Sure, why not."

We got to the gym and as I was about to rush to the usual class space, Max called out to me. "Hey, Hinata-san you have some new students so I moved your class to the bigger training room today."

"Oh, okay." Something was going on.

I turned to Natsume, but he avoided my gaze.

We made it to the bigger training room a few minutes before class was supposed to start and I froze as I spotted, Ema, Wataru, Yusuke and Fuuto sitting off in a corner chit chatting. What were they doing here?

I greeted the students who greeted me as I made my way over to my younger siblings, "What are you all doing here?"

"Evie-nee!" Ema hugged me.

"Kana-nii, brought us with him." Yusuke said with a shrug as Wataru tried to tackle me with a hug.

"Excuse me?" I turned and scanned the room, sure enough Kaname was shamelessly flirting with Jade in the middle of the room, I shot a look in the direction where I'd left Natsume only to realize he was missing. "What the hell is going on?"

"Natsu-nii was really angry when he stopped by earlier and told everyone to be here or they were in big trouble." Yusuke said nonchalantly.

"He did what?" I turned to my younger siblings as my jaw nearly hit the floor. "Stay put." I bolted for the door only to freeze as Masaomi, Ukyo, Subaru, Iori and Louis stepped through it.

Subaru looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here. Masaomi and Ukyo looked a little wary. Iori was his usual quiet reserved self not seeming phased either way by his location. Louis offered me a warm smile.

"Are you feeling okay, E?" Louis asked me worried.

I took a step back, "Okay, this is definitely a dream. Maybe a hallucination. Did I take too many painkillers? Am I still taking painkillers?" I muttered to myself as I continued backing away only to stop and jump as two sets of arms slid across my shoulders as Tsubaki and Azusa appeared behind me.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Tsubaki teased me as he squeezed me against him.

"Ugh, this isn't a dream is it?" I groaned.

Azusa chuckled, "I don't think so."

"Natsume put you all up to this didn't he?"

"Yep." Tsubaki and Azusa answered in unison.

"He's dead." I grumbled and headed for the front of the room as class was about to start only to pause as I spotted Hikaru chatting with one of my students. He was dressed as a male today and had his hair pulled back in a ponytail that suited him really well. He offered me a smile as I stalked by in annoyance.