My Auburn Vampire Princess

Chapter 1: Are you serious with that?

Author's POV

Natsume gets up lazily, staring at the open window where the bright light originated from. His crimson eyes darted to his phone which was vibrating on top of his cabinet. Natsume stands up and picks up the call.

"What the hell is with the call so early in the morning!"Natsume said as he picked up his phone.

"Finally! You picked it up! Do you know what time is it already?"Ruka's voice over the phone said.

Natsume glanced at the clock which was hanging on the wall. "It's only 30 minutes after 6 in the morning, Ruka! And curse you to hell for waking me up this early in the morning!" Natsume's voice had a hint of annoyance as he spoke at Ruka over the phone.

"Well, sorry for cutting your beauty sleep, mister but you have to come here fast!"

From what Natsume heard of Ruka's voice, it sounded quite alarming. He was about to panic when he realized he should be composed and not lose his cool even if it is in front of his bestfriend.

"What the hell, Ruka! You know that I'm the nocturnal type and waking me up this early in the morning is a bad idea! What's wrong over there, anyway?" Natsume's annoyance is hitting the mark inch by inch as seconds pass.

"Well, you see—"

"Hand me the phone, Nogi. Let me talk to that stupid cousin of mine." Hotaru's voice from the other line had a hint of annoyance as well as anger. Natsume noticed this and knew what was coming after it.

"Hand the phone to her, Ruka."

"But Natsume, she will—"

"Don't mind it. I know what to do with her."

"Well, if you say so—"Ruka wasn't able to finish what he was saying because Hotaru yanked the phone from him. Before he noticed it, Hotaru was already on the phone.

"So, finally wide awake, are you?"Hotaru said calmly.

"What do you want, machine-freak?"Natsume's cold voice reached the other side of the line.

"Are you having amnesia or just a natural idiot? How could you forget that breakfast meeting you were assigned for Wakako-san? Are you really that eager to earn a free ticket to your mother's sermon?"Hotaru sarcastically said.

"Heck, that meeting is not even half an hour before the designated time. What's with the hurry? If you want me to go that badly, why don't you go instead?"Natsume smirked as he knew that his cousin was ticked off by what he said.

"Listen, Hyuuga. If you don't get out of that fucking room of yours right now, I swear. I'm sending one of my inventions to pick you up by the butt and haul you to your bathroom and let it have its way and drag you here. Which do you prefer, dragging you here by force or let you prepare for yourself?"Hotaru's ice cold voice was audible even though it's only from the phone.

"Tch. Fine. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

Natsume knew better, of course. Why would he let that stupid robotic maid of that machine-freak cousin of his to take over his stuff, specifically his personal things? He vaguely remembered the last time his cousin dumped that robot in front of his house. That stupid robot messed up his room (in a nice way—or let's say—too clean for a guy's room) and Natsume had no choice but to throw the poor robot outside the window and clean his room until it reached his standards.

"Then, we'll be waiting for 15 minutes. Don't you dare be late even if it's only a second, Hyuuga."

"Whatever." Hotaru hanged up a second after that as Natsume glanced again at the clock.

'…6:45 in the morning, huh? We talked for only 15 minutes when it seemed forever to me. *sigh* Better get ready already.' Natsume thought as he ready himself for a bath.

After his bath, while putting his tie on, his eyes caught attention of the picture frame which was standing on his mini-library. He saw himself and a girl with light brown hair, tied into pigtails. The photo was taken 8 years ago under the sakura tree at the central park. However, no matter how he looks at it, only he was clearly shown in the photo but the part where the girl is was blurred, leaving him clueless of who the girl was in the photo. Forgetting her name and face, he can only refer her as his first love and crush.

*AT THE RESTAURANT*after 10 minutes

Natsume looked over the few people in the restaurant and saw Hotaru and Ruka in a table, facing each other as if talking about something serious. Natsume silently walked towards them.

"What's with the tense atmosphere?" he asked with a smirk. Obviously, his mind was up to something now that seeing his cousin and bestfriend having a serious talk and being alone altogether.

"Natsume!"

"Hyuuga."

The couple looked at him and then they looked at each other and turned away immediately, their faces being being painted with deep shades of red.

Natsume found this weird but at the same time, amusing. "So, what do you want to tell me that I have to go so badly?"

Ruka spoke up first."Well, you see, Natsume… Wait. Which one would you want to know first, the first or the second news?

"Whatever. Just get on with it."

"Then, we'll go with the good news first. Actually" Ruka blushed different shades of red "I and Hotaru, uhm, how to say it…" he stammered.

"Hmm?"

"We're already a couple!"

"Hn" That didn't surprised Natsume. He was already expecting that these two will become a couple

Hotaru then spoke up.

"The second news is, in order to be together, I have to transfer to your school."

That news surprised Natsume. "What!"

"I knew it."—both Hotaru and Ruka exclaimed.

"And when are you going to transfer there? Next week? Next month? Or worse, tomorrow?" Natsume found himself curious as well as confused about the topic. The last thing he ever wanted was for him and his cousin to be going in the same school and now it happened. He shot a bloody glare at Ruka but Ruka shrugged.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm 3 minutes before my meeting with a certain someone which is also here. So, I have to go and have that fucking contract sealed and signed before 8."

"Before 8? What else must you do after the signing?" Ruka asked out of curiosity.

"Probably going back to sleep cause I had only a blink before you called and I badly need to sleep because I stayed awake doing something for the company. AND don't you ever dare to disturb me, or else."

Natsume left the couple alone and went to a table, waiting for his client. The couple looked at each other and Ruka gasped.

"The heck! I forgot to tell him that he was meeting with his dad later at their mansion. Ioran-sama won't forgive me if he knows about this!" Ruka stated worriedly.

"Just mail him. That's better than telling him personally and get a free ticket to the hospital." Hotaru was fully aware of what Natsume's attitude is when woken up in such an early hour.

"Yeah, I'd better do that."Ruka smiled at his girlfriend warmly and went on to mail Natsume.

Ruka didn't know that the effect of that warm smile of his was, making Hotaru's heart flutter inside but she managed to keep her stern look rather than give it away. After all, her boyfriend was her long-time crush ever since they were kids.

After a few minutes, Ruka managed to contact Natsume.

"What the hell is it again, Ruka! You were the ones who told me to attend this meeting and now you call me as if I wasn't in a middle of that meeting! Just what is wrong with you?"Natsume yelled over the phone.

"Natsume, I'm really sorry for the bother. I forgot to tell you that our father wants you to meet him later at the mansion. Any time will be fine. Well then, have a good day."Ruka hanged up immediately.

Hotaru looked at her boyfriend and then went back on looking through the window. Ruka noticed Hotaru's behavior and suddenly knew that she has something on her mind.

"What's the matter, Hotaru?" Ruka asked Hotaru worriedly.

"N-nothing. It just seems like we forgot to tell him when I will be transferring." Hotaru said plainly without looking at Ruka.

"Well, I guess that can wait. Anything else you'd like to say?"

"My bestfriend will be transferring along with me. I do know that you know her."

Ruka smiled with the news. "Speaking of that bestfriend of yours, I would like to visit her. It's been a while since I saw my dear cousin."