I woke up laying on something soft in a dark room, but strangely, I didn't feel any confusion or fear of where I was. I had slept on the same bed for twenty-odd years.
I was back in my family's home.
Rubbing my face deeper into the faint scent of lavender that remained on my pillow, I took a deep breath before sitting up and looking around. The bedroom door was cracked with light streaming in from the hallway, the clock on the bedside table showed that it was nearing 3am. I moved from my bedroom and into the hallway before I realized that I was still dressed in Todomatsu's suit. Grabbing one of my spare hangers in the closet, I put the suit and shirt on it neatly before slipping on the extra large bathrobe that I had forgotten to pack.
Draping the suit over one of my arms, I left my bedroom and walked towards Todomatsu's bedroom that was near the basement tech lab he loved to occupy. After hanging it on the inside of the door, I yawned as I made my way from the basement to the first floor kitchen, hoping to grab a light snack before looking for my brothers. As I walked closer to the kitchen, I heard voices growing a little louder and pressed myself against the wall next to the kitchen door to listen in.
"...such a fuck up," I recognized Choromatsu's voice, "It could've gone so much smoother than it actually did."
"You heard (y/n). He forced our hand tonight, and that's all it was," Osomatsu paused a moment before I smelled cigarette smoke, "We're not the best at impromptu reactions. If we were, we'd be in a lot less trouble."
"I still think we acted rashly," Karamatsu chimed in, "Especially when Akumatsu showed up. We should've let (y/n) go back home with Atsushi, and just tried to smooth things over before they got too severe on her side. We've done it before."
"Yeah, sure. Let her go and suffer the consequences of our actions? I don't think so. Our little sis has been through enough shit, and I'll be damned if something happens to her that I could've stopped."
"Osomatsu, think rationally. At what point do you stop protecting her and start smothering (y/n)? She's a grown woman!" A few chairs protested against the floor as there were sounds of a small scuffle, a few grunts before there was only gasping coming from the kitchen.
"I'm not smothering her! I know damn well that she's a grown woman, we can all see that! She's still our little sister regardless if she's a Kanemochi or Matsuno, and I made a promise to her -- to all of us," Osomatsu growled as another chair moved, "She stays out of the family business and gets to live how she wants. This fucking joke of a marriage was forced, and we all know it!"
"Oso--" Ichimatsu started.
"I have spent weeks trying to find a peaceful way to bring her back home. Atsushi sent assassins and hitmen instead of lawyers and judges. He is nothing but scum, and has made it very clear to each and every one of us that he's on top of the world, with (y/n) behind lock and key," Osomatsu became quiet before I saw a shadow in the doorway. I looked up to see Osomatsu leaning against the doorway with his left forearm high above his head, a lit cigarette between his lips curled in their signature smirk, "But we wanna hear what you've been through in your own words, (y/n)."
He reached out to me with his right hand, and I took it with embarrassment written all over my face. As I was escorted into the kitchen, I saw five of my brothers sitting at the informal dining table, all dressed down for the evening. Karamatsu had a reddening bruise on the edge of his jawline, near his mouth. I guessed that the scuffle was indeed the older two fighting, and I moved to the chair Osomatsu motioned towards. Without the masquerade masks, I could see their faces and realized that they all had scars in some form on their faces or necks.
"What...what happened to all of you?"
"Your husband," Osomatsu's answer was gruff, "You overheard me, but we didn't really want to tell you. We became a thorn in his side, and he tried to pull us out. Let's just say: it didn't work."
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to overhear. I was just wanting to get a snack before I started looking for you all," I bowed my head in apology.
"Well, you found us," Choromatsu chuckled and stood up to go to the fridge, pulling out a few of my favorite snack foods, "How did you sleep?"
"Not long enough, but I think that's okay for what was going on," I thanked him for the plate and began nibbling away on the food, "Is Todomatsu all right? Have you heard anything from him?"
There was a shifting of looks between my brothers before Choromatsu spoke, "No, he hasn't gotten back to us for any kind of update. I'm sure that he's okay, though. He may be the youngest of us, but he's more than capable of holding his own."
"We want to know what was going on in the Kanemochi manor, (y/n). Totty had told us that you were being very quiet with updating us, but then Karamatsu overheard someone commenting about some various...things...in regards to you," Osomatsu sat down heavily, drawing my attention away from Choromatsu, "Karamatsu also made it known that you wanted to know more about Akumatsu and his correlation to us."
"Well, partially...I feel left out from certain things. I know you don't want me to be involved, but things have already happened that I don't know how to react to. Do I have a seventh brother, or even more? Why was I the one forced into a marriage?" My mind reeled as it tried to form questions, "What can I do to get out of it?"
Silence fell in the kitchen as my brothers looked between one another, more than likely using that non-verbal communication of theirs. I glanced between them all before slowly lowering my eyes to my plate.
Minutes passed and I didn't feel hungry anymore -- just looking at the food in front of me made me feel uncomfortable. I was about to excuse myself and apologize for overstepping my boundaries when I felt a hand on my right shoulder.
"It's a lot to share on our part, but we'll tell you what we can," Karamatsu sighed as he settled into his seat, removing his hand from my shoulder as it left his reach, "This whole mess started about a year ago, when Yowai and his wife made it known that they wanted to arrange a marriage between either Osomatsu and their daughter, Totoko, or you and their son who is known as 'Fighting'. The first mention you probably heard of this was at that family dinner meeting with them and Atsushi. Osomatsu had kept you off the table by dangling the proposal of Totoko and himself, but they obviously got tired of waiting and took matters into their own hands, bringing up that at the dinner without prior warning.
"We reacted as you saw, but that seemed to only open the door to Kanemochi Atsushi and his schemes. What happened during your live rehearsal was entirely our fault. There was a distraction a few blocks down from the plaza and we fell for it -- hook, line, and sinker. That allowed Akumatsu to slip in and shoot you without drawing suspicion since he looks so similar to Osomatsu. We should've told you about him beforehand, but business had been so overwhelming that it slipped our minds until it was too late. While you were recovering from the operation, we were trying to come up with various ways to ensure your safety while at the Kanemochi manor.
"All that Atsushi would allow us to do was hire a maid out of our own pocket, and assign her to be your personal helper while there. Her job was to keep an eye on things, and to try and divert any kind of negative attention that our actions would cause you. As far as her reports go, her efforts were mostly successful -- until Todomatsu got a phone call from you out of the blue."
"It kinda scared him until he mentioned the orchestra that would be playing, and told us that 'if our sister can perk up that quickly, then there's nothing really we should be worried about'. He did spoil the surprise of my rescue plan, though," Osomatsu crossed his arms in front of his chest, "But he told us that we had the option of seeing you at the Gala tonight, and that brings us to now. It's not exactly as we planned, but that's usually how it goes for us."
"I can answer the question you had in regards to Akumatsu," Ichimatsu leaned forward, distracting me from Osomatsu and Karamatsu, "There's really no definitive answer, as we're kinda confused on this, too. The best we could come up with is that while we were in our early twenties, some deity decided to have fun with our lives and gave us a seventh and eighth brother at nearly the same time. Kamimatsu had all of the positive attributes that we had, and Akumatsu had all the negative ones. They arrived shortly after your week-long orchestral training trip started, and left the day you arrived, which is why we were a little out of it when Franky brought you home. As far as we know, they went their separate ways and joined different families as mercenaries."
"Akumatsu told me that he killed the 'good version' of him," I thought back to the dance.
"Sounds like something he'd do," Osomatsu muttered, his dark hues lowering to the table in front of him.
"And what about me being able to do something to get out of this marriage?" I looked at each brother in turn. They stayed silent for a little while before Jyushimatsu looked at me.
"That all depends on Todomatsu."