Notes

Rule 63 (aka, gender swapped) alternative universe.


It was on Thursday afternoon when she realized what happened.

Guren, as true as any university student in the weeks before finals, walked to the station sleep deprived and in need for curry. She had no class for the rest of the day and all she wanted to do was to pass out on her bed and wake up weeks after finals over.

Really, it wasn't her fault she wasn't conscious enough to what's happening.

For two days, she'd been receiving purple tulips on her desks in almost every classes she was in. It would be cute, if the purple tulips didn't mean that her stuff went missing. Her pens, used tissues, papers full of her doodles, even the empty paper cup of her coffee this morning was gone and replaced by the purple tulips.

Now, her instinct told her that she was being followed. Guren didn't know who was following her, especially since the station was so packed, but hell if she wouldn't do anything.

She just wanted to sleep and not to be stalked!


The police said they were going to investigate and told her to stay with her friends until the stalker was handled.

"Are these all, Guren?" Mahiru asked her, heavy box full of her textbooks in his hands.

Guren nodded at him distractedly, still trying to stop the hurricane in the form of silver-haired girl. "Shinya! Stop it!" She tried to grab the small wrist of her so-called bestfriend but the humongous black and white stripped cat of Shinya's chose to appear on Guren's feet, glaring menacingly at her.

Guren wouldn't admit it, but Byakkomaru scared her bad.

Another t-shirt was flung from her dresser. "Guren, your fashion choice is really bad. Why would you even still have this shirt anyway?" Shinya plucked a ratty used-to-be white shirt with big bold Captain America graphic in the front. "Or even worse, this?"

Mahiru chuckled behind them and Guren could feel her cheeks heating up. "Shut up Shinya!" She grabbed the pink Patrick star boxers from her hand. The blue eyes just twinkled at her teasingly. "Move your ass. I still have to pack!"

She gracefully rose to her feet. "Yeah, yeah. Only pack the clothes in the dresser. I'm not accepting you in our house with any of those garbage." She flicked her finger in distaste.

Then Guren was left alone in the mess of her favorite ratty clothes all over the room.


She'd been friends with Hiragi Shinya since freshman year.

The first time they met was in the library, Guren was hogging on her laptop writing analysis about competition law which she chose to give a figurative finger on Hiragi Kureto, the super-eyebrows TA of her class.

Guren innocently took the coffee she put beside her books. Her sleepy mind registered how different her coffee tasted, and since when she had a white tumbler?

The next thing she knew was a blur of black and white that scratched her face.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" The girl took the small tiger in her hold. Her pretty face furrowed in regret while the demon hissed menacingly, still out for Guren's blood. "I'm very sorry for what Byakkomaru did! And your face is bleeding! We have to go to infirmary!" A pale wrist grabbed Guren's hand and they were out the door in no time.

"What is that?" Guren stared at the mini tiger demon in horror.

"Byakkomaru is my cat." The girl carefully put a bandage on Guren's cheek. "My name is Shinya from Mechanical Engineering, what's yours?"

"Guren, from Law," She replied. "Are you sure that cat isn't actually a tiger?"

Shinya giggled. "Silly Guren," She said. "Of course Byakkomaru isn't a tiger. He's too small."

But seriously, that cat was huge. Guren wouldn't be surprised if the black and white stripped cat was a dwarfed tiger. Or just a mutated cat from crossbreeding with a tiger.

"Wait a minute." Guren shook her head in confusion. "Why the hell do you bring your cat to a campus library?" Was that even allowed?

But Shinya just winked at her and Guren didn't want to know anymore.


"Have you got any idea of who's stalking you?"

Guren shook her head. "I have no idea," She replied Mahiru. "It started since two days ago, I've been receiving purple tulips on my desks and some of my things were missing - even used tissues. I also felt I'm being followed to the station this afternoon."

"Well," Mahiru glanced from behind the wheel of the overpriced car he had. "Stalkers collect used things sometimes."

Shinya nodded beside him. "Mahiru is an expert in being stalked. He's always had one or two stalkers following," She said. "I think the last time was three months ago. The girl from English major, right?"

"No. Remember two months ago of the guy who kept sending me poems along with his briefs?" Mahiru supplied.

Shinya grimaced. "Oh yeah, him."

Guren wasn't surprised. Mahiru was practically a super-human. Handsome, a Master student at the age of 20 while being one of the Hiragi heirs. Everyone would want a piece of him.

"It's fortunate that none of those things ever happened to me." Shinya pet the tiger demon on her lap.

Of course nothing would ever happen to Shinya. Not that Shinya wasn't a catch, because she was. Long silver hair and blue eyes, Shinya was one of the most gorgeous person in the campus (then again she was a Hiragi, and Hiragis were gorgeous. Even Seishiro who was born eyebrow-less). She was a smart, fashionable, and charming young lady.

However, Shinya also had the most reliable and angry bodyguard in existent, aka Byakkomaru.

The girl always brought Byakkomaru everywhere and that demon cat had protective instinct over Shinya miles wide. Guren remembered once when she accompanied Shinya to the shopping center, a bunch of guys catcalled her and in a flash a very angry demon cat introduced them to his claws.

It was a bloodbath single-pawedly won by Byakkomaru.

"So what did you do to the stalkers?" Guren asked.

"Dispose them, of course," The siblings answered in unison.

What the fuck.


They arrived in the high-rise penthouse overlooking the city. It was two stories with windows-to-ceilings, five bedrooms, and fully furnished with modern style furniture.

Shinoa, the youngest sibling of the Hiragis was lying face down on the sofa, muttering how hungry he was.

"The chef didn't come again?" Shinya asked.

Shinoa pouted. "No, she messaged that she was still in the hospital for recovery," The twelve year old replied. The boy then took a look at the baggage Guren and Mahiru brought. "What the hell?"

"Language, Shinoa-kun." The silver haired girl sat on the couch. "Guren is going to live with us for some time, remember?"

"Oh yeah. The stalker problem, right?"

Shinya nodded.

"I wonder..." Shinoa muttered when Mahiru and Guren finished putting down the baggage in one of the guest rooms. "Why would anyone stalk Guren anyway? She's so plaaaiiinnn."

"Shut up, pipsqueak." Guren gave him the evil-eye, but Shinoa just grinned and raised one of his eyebrows.

How annoying.

In actuality, Shinya's penthouse wouldn't be her first choice if it wasn't the only place possible. Both Sayuri and Shigure lived in dorms, Goshi lived alone in a small apartment but Guren wouldn't impose a stalker problem to her, and while Mito could bench-press Guren's stalker with his fist - he also lived in a gym more than in his apartment.

The Hiragi penthouse with their high-level security would be the most sensible choice, if the people living inside weren't insane.

The only saving grace was only three of the Hiragi siblings lived there. Kureto lived with her servant, Sangu Aoi, in another penthouse - and the three siblings didn't care where Seishiro was living.

Sometimes Guren couldn't believe how fucked up this family was. Five kids born from different mothers? What the hell.

"Now. What are we going to eat for dinner?" Mahiru asked them.

They stared at each other awkwardly, none of them could cook. The siblings probably never graced their presences in the kitchen except for Shinya whose hobby was to make latte art. Guren herself, practically lived from cafeteria and take-outs - and sometimes Sayuri's heavenly curry.

"Pizza?" Shinoa asked hopefully.

"Pizza."


"A stalker?!" Sayuri gasped.

Guren nodded, his mouth full of curry.

"But what happened?"

The dark-haired nudged Shinya with her elbow.

"What?" White brow arched. Guren widened her eyes, trying to communicate that Shinya had to be the one telling the stalker story because Guren was too busy eating curry. Shinya snorted, "Fine." Then proceed telling the story - which she exaggerated to Guren's annoyance.

"Oh My!" Sayuri clutched his chest. "That's awful! You can't be alone with such a creep around!" He grasped Guren's hand, his brown eyes wide with anxiety.

Shigure nodded. "You shouldn't stay in your apartment alone for some time."

"Yeaaah." Lean fingers stroked Byakkomaru's fur. "Guren will live with us until this stalker problem is solved," Shinya smiled.

Guren couldn't blame Goshi's horrified face at that statement.


That afternoon, Guren had to get some textbooks required for finals from her apartment.

"Whoa, look at these flowers!" Goshi exclaimed. In her hands were purple tulips they found in front of the apartment door.

"Some of these withered already." Sayuri looked at bouquets of flowers. "But some are freshly cuts."

"It seems the stalker came twice since yesterday," Mito said.

Guren grimaced as she organized her textbooks, once in a while checked over the list of required books.

It wasn't until she went to her room when she noticed a strange glint from the building across, right on the rooftop where a garden was built. Carefully, she walked to the window and it seemed the glint was from a binocular held by someone wearing a black cap.

What the hell.

"Everyone," Guren called. "There's someone using binocular in the building across."

"What?" Mito rushed to her side, his eyes narrowed at the binocular. "Shigure! Let's get this asshole!" He quickly ran from the apartment with Shigure and Goshi in tow.

Her trembling hands gripped Sayuri's, who was trying to calm her although he was just as terrified.

Guren couldn't believe that someone actually use binocular to spy on her. What if the stalker did that even before today? Guren had a habit to never close her curtains, and the thought that someone might watch her sleep across the building was terrifying.

It felt like forever until a very angry Mito came back. "That asshole was gone, we couldn't catch that shit." He punched the wall.

Guren hoped there wasn't a crack in the wall from his punch.

"We asked some tenants," Shigure said. "It seems they didn't recognize him and just assumed that he was a guest, since there was a party in the rooftop garden yesterday."

"Him?" Guren asked.

He nodded. "One said the guy wore black Nike cap, a brown leather jacket, jeans and white sneakers." Shigure sat on the couch, his fingers brushed the dark strands from agitation. "A girl who bumped into him said he was tall, probably over 180 cm, quite lean and had brown eyes."

"Mr. Dark and handsome told me that when he approached him at the party, the guy just told him that he was just bored and wanted to be left alone. The Nike guy didn't tell his name though." Goshi said. Everyone stared at her with eyebrows raised. "What? The person who arranged the party yesterday was really hot, okay."

"Do you get his number?" Mito asked sarcastically.

"Of course." Goshi winked. "He said he will call me if the guy came back."

"Well, at least it's better than no information at all," Guren sighed.


It was the smell of smoke that greeted her when she came to the penthouse.

"What. Is this smell?" Wide violet eyes stared at the three siblings seated in the dining room, two boxes of pizzas on the table along with plates and utensils.

"Ah Guren! Welcome home!" Shinya waved at her. "Here have some pizza!"

"Don't mind the smoke, it's from the kitchen," Mahiru said.

In trepidation, he turned to kitchen... or used to be a kitchen. The expensive appliances looked like they got hit by a truck and burned in revenge.

"... What happened?"

"We didn't know for sure." Shinoa shrugged, "We just tried to make grilled steak for dinner then that happened."

"So we ordered pizza instead," Shinya cheerfully added. "You want some?"

Guren wondered if it was safe to live with them for awhile.


If there was one thing she hated the most from this stalker situation, it was the need of the so-called babysitter to accompanied her everywhere.

Today's babysitter, Guren scowled at the boy beside her, was Mahiru.

... And that was almost like doubling the stalker situations, because not only the guy stood out like sore thumb among plethora of commoners - he also had his own stalkers.

Guren tried to slunk herself away, she'd been the target of evil eyes from Mahiru's fans ever since she stepped out of his Ferrari. There's no need to add more enemies - after all, she already got so many enemies from mouthing off Kureto on weekly basis.

"This is your class?" Mahiru asked.

Guren nodded, feeling her energy depleted. After all, this was the class TA'd by Kureto.

"What is Kureto doing here?"

Startled, Guren looked around and there was Kureto. Dark hair brushed the pristine blouse, her thighs were covered by knee-length dark skirt and matching platform heeled shoes. By her side was the servant, Sangu Aoi in button-down shirt and red tie, with his black slacks and Italian leather shoes.

Guren groaned, here she was hoping that they wouldn't meet in any way.

"Mahiru," Kureto acknowledged her rival for Hiragi's throne.

"Kureto." Same cold tone uttered by Mahiru.

"... And Guren." Kureto glanced at her in afterthought, then her brown eyes went back to stare the matching brown eyes of her brother.

Oh, well. Whatever. "I'm out of this." Guren turned to get into class.

They probably would stand and stare at each other for another 10 minutes anyway.


"A letter?" Shinya asked.

Guren nodded, showing Shinya the letter she found on her usual table in Jurisprudence class along with another purple tulips.

Blue eyes read the letter while Guren looked around Shinya's bedroom.

Just like the rest of the penthouse, it was luxurious. In the middle of the room was a queen-sized bed, with white draperies and pink sheets. The walls were covered with lavender wallpaper, while the windows-to-ceilings was layered with white and pink curtains. Near the door to her closet room was a white cat castle where Byakkomaru slept inside.

All over, it was the most perfect Princess styled bedroom Guren had ever seen. If, there weren't papers and books spilled from the overcrowded table and the bookshelf - or the mechanical parts all over the fluffy carpet.

Curiously, Guren poked at the blue furred robot before Shinya. It seemed she wanted to make a guardian cat robot which will shoot people with pink screws.

... And roar like a lion. Violet eyes stared as the robot spun around and roared, its blue fur bristled threateningly.

"This stalker thought Mahiru is your boyfriend?" Shinya asked, her fingers absentmindedly pet the still roaring robot whose fangs looked as sharp as knives.

"Yeah. Today Mahiru was the one accompanied me to classes, after all." Violet orbs eyed the robot warily. "Probably because he knew Mahiru wasn't one of my closest friends. After all this stalker didn't mind if I went out with Shigure, Mito or Sayuri."

In the letter, the stalker threatened her to stop hanging with Mahiru or what he called as the purple bitch-faced bastard - and that Guren was the most beautiful person he'd ever meet. The guy also included five pages long poems with plethora of metaphors.

"Well, we could use this to find the asshole." Shinya tucked her long silver hair behind her ear.

Guren nodded absentmindedly, her eyes following the white strands from the slender neck, to the lithe back. "Yeah, we could."


Shinya and Guren walked across the campus to where Shinya's red Lamborghini was parked.

Halfway there, Shinya opened her expensive tote bag to find her iPad was nowhere to be found.

"I forgot I put it in the lab today!" Shinya whined. "Stay there Guren, I'm gonna get it first." The blue eyes turned to the demon cat. "Byakkomaru, stay with Guren."

Then she was gone, leaving Guren with the mini tiger as a guardian.


Guren huffed as she sat on the grass. The campus was quiet that evening, there were barely people left. Especially in the garden, only Guren, and some insects that Byakkomaru hunted for sport.

Shinya took too long to find her iPad. Knowing Shinya, she was probably side-tracked by some robots in the lab.

Footsteps could be heard behind her, and she turned her head. "Shinya?"

The one in front of her, wasn't a girl with silver hair. It was a brunet wearing brown leather jacket and a bouquet of purple tulips on his hand.

"Guren-chan," The boy spoke.

... Guren-chan? What the hell.

Quickly, she went to her feet.

"Guren-chan," He continued. "You're so beautiful, please marry me!" He offered the bouquet to Guren who warily took the bouquet.

"... Who are you again?"

Well, there goes her plan to be as polite as possible.

"You know me!" The guy tried to grab her shoulders but she evaded. Still he caught her wrist. "I was there when you stood up with your outstanding presentation about competition law!"

Wait, wasn't that the topic she chose to fight Kureto?

"I was captivated by your beauty and intelligence ever since then, but I haven't get the courage to approach you until now." He shook his head in remorse. "I know we're a match made in heaven. You're the soulmate I've been waiting for so please marry me!" Brown eyes implored on her.

Guren tried to twist her wrist but damn the guy had a strong hold on her hand. "I'm sorry but I have to decline your proposal for marriage," She said politely even though her insides screaming to yell fuck off.

"Is it because of that bastard?" The brown eyes darkened. He grabbed her shoulder tightly, his hands trembled from anger. "Just dump him! That guy is a playboy with nothing but a pretty face!" Guren winced, her hand and shoulder would be bruised from his hold. "We'll be amazing together, I know it you and me-"

But he never finished telling what he knew because at the same time, her hero came in a blur of white and black armed by claws and fangs.

That evening, it rained blood on the grass.


"I see, we could detain him for some time with these evidences."

They were in the police station, Shinya clung on Guren's side. While both Mahiru and Shinoa sat on the chair calmly, bringing the evidences from the penthouse. The rest of her friends were sitting outside, waiting anxiously.

The stalker was sitting on the chair with his hands handcuffed, looking like he was through hell and back with ripped clothes and blood dripping from his injuries. They probably didn't need the handcuffs, Guren thought, because those brown-eyes still wide in terror staring at Byakkomaru - who sat on the table and calmly licking the blood off his claws.

"All of you can go home for now." The police smiled, "We'll inform you further later."

Guren sighed in relief, walking outside where her friends were waiting.

"Guren!" Sayuri exclaimed, throwing his arms around her. "I'm so worried!"

Mito tightened his hold around Guren, which wasn't funny for her ribs. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

She maneuvered herself to breath. "... Can't breath..."

Thankfully, Goshi and Shigure pried Mito and Sayuri from Guren - which left Shinya's pale arms around her.

"Heard Byakkomaru was the hero today." Goshi eyed the mini tiger in awe. "Good job, Byakkomaru."

The demon cat purred happily, as if he understood.

Well, maybe he could. Guren didn't know anymore.

"Guren..." Muffled voice on her neck said. "I'm so scared! I thought something would happen to you!" Shinya wailed.

Awkwardly, she patted the long silver hair. "Yeah, but I'm fine," She said. "Your cat saved me, right?" Guren glanced at the demon cat. "Yay for Byakkomaru."

Shinya giggled. "Of course, Byakkomaru is the best." Still, she kept sobbing on Guren's shoulder.

So Guren did what she wanted from a long time, she kissed Shinya's lips.

The blue eyes widened, tasting the mix of curry and her own strawberry flavored lipstick. Then Shinya closed her eyes, tightened her hold on Guren's body and shoved her tongue down Guren's throat.

And Guren grinned into the kiss.


(Guren bought expensive cat food for Byakkomaru as a thank you gift.

Also, as a bribe because Guren dated his master and she'd rather to be not clit-blocked by a demon cat - whether he was her savior or not.)


Notes

I made this story because I was annoyed at the cinema when one guy took my photo without my consent.

Stalker is a big problem (catcalls are also a rape culture).

I have a very pretty older sister, and while it meant chocolates (which she wouldn't eat because of principle. So I eat them with gusto - I mean some of them were expensive!), plushies, flowers, filled our house every Valentine - it also means she had lots of stalkers.

My father even grew scary mustache and assuming threatening stance to fend off potential creepers, he also picked up my sister to and from school everyday. Even myself, never forgot to bring any sharp object if I were together with my sister.

However, creepers were persistent sometimes. Our telephone rang a lot from these people, and my sister would never let herself without her phone wherever she went. Sometimes she wouldn't go to school because she was afraid of her stalkers (my father was really angry about this. What even were these guys?), I even remembered one guy from another school threatened her to be his girlfriend.

So please, if any of you ever feel you're being stalked, talk to someone. Don't ignore your instinct and stay cognizant of your surrounding.