Hi guys. I'm back. :) And here's an omake for you.

This is connected to the dare Tsubasa gave Hotaru and Ruka during the previous chapter. I'm sure very few of you got it so here's an in-depth story about their relationship and first meeting!

Hope you enjoy! :)

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

First Impressions

TEN YEARS AGO, Summer

"Mmm," a thirteen year-old blond lad remarked as he peeped over the windowsill of the classroom, overlooking the entrance to the Academy. "Your guards are rather early today, Subaru." He said with a hint of curiosity and amusement.

Students were starting to pile in front of the sleek black BMWs that bear the crest of the Imperial Family parked outside the main doors of the campus. It has always been like this since Subaru transferred into the Academy. Every afternoon, as the classes finish, everyone would rush towards the black cars awaiting Subaru's appearance as if he was some sort of an idol. Well, he supposes that his best friend is, considering the fact that he is a member of the Royal Family but sometimes Shuiichiro just wishes that Subaru was born normal.

He finds the high-pitched noise the mob was emitting unbearable for one. Second, he cannot bear to see these supposedly elite people making a huge fool of themselves for a dorky nerd like Subaru. And no, he isn't jealous. He just can't stand something so illogical as this. And yet, as irritating as he finds this curious phenomenon, he also finds it amusing. Ah, what a twisted personality he has.

Turning his back to the windowsill so that he was leaning on it, he looked at the black-haired boy with the eyeglasses who was busy assembling his things to order. "Is there an event in the Palace today?"

Subaru looked up. "Not that I know of." he hastily replied, resuming his work. Once done, slung his bag over his back and turned to go.

"Your actions say otherwise though," Shuiichiro smiled, catching up to his friend. "Or are you eager to be feasted upon downstairs by your fangirls?" he teased. Well, it was true. About half of the female population in the Academy has their eyes on him. He doesn't deny that Subaru has looks not to mention brains and of course, his social status also added to the status quo.

Subaru simply thew him half a glare. He was distracted. "Speak for yourself, Shu." he muttered, then smirked. "We both know half of them are yours."

"True, true," the other nonchalantly said with an air of pride. "All thanks to my awesomeness."

"Or your uncle," Subaru coughed.

Shuiichiro feigned offense. "You did not just say that!" he crossed his arms sulkily as his friend smiled at his act. "Uncle has nothing to do with this, Subaru. You and I both know that Uncle has no jurisdiction over the middle school part of the Academy. He's the high school principal, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," the Royal replied. "And we also both know that your family owns the Academy."

"Whatever," Shu replied, dropping the subject. Well, it was true. Their family owns the Royal Academy aka Alice Academy but it doesn't mean that it was due to this that he was elected as the Student Council's president. Besides, Subaru was elected as the vice-president so he really has no idea why he was yakking in the first place.

By now, they were already in front of the main doors and people were starting to notice that they were there. Even before the mob could wrap their selves around them, Subaru's bodyguards quickly positioned themselves around the boy, protecting him from rabid fangirls while he, Shu, has to defend himself through charisma and a charming smile.

"See you tomorrow, Subaru. Are you sure there's nothing going around in the Palace today?" he asked, putting both his hands inside his pockets.

The purple-eyed lad pondered for a while. "Right. A new critter's arriving today from France."

That made Shu chuckle. "Don't you have a lot of critters to take care of in the Palace already? If I hadn't known better I would say that you're more of a Palace babysitter than a prince."

Subaru inclined his head sideways to think, then smiled. "I would think so, too. But you're not one to talk. You yourself has a critter to babysit."

"Ah, but mine goes in the name of Mikan and she's just one cute kit!" Shu exclaimed, waving his friend goodbye who has begun to walk away.

Subaru would really make a good father.

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

"Tsubasa!" Subaru heard his mother, Hiyori, scream after a nine year-old mischievous boy who was running around the Palace parlor, chasing his little sister, Hotaru, who was, as what Subaru presumes, running away from a big brotherly hug. "Stop running after your sister this instant!"

"But mom!" Subaru heard his half-brother whine in protest.

He really fancies the little girl. It's been two years since they moved in the Palace, being illegitimate children of the current king's sister. Starting off, it hadn't been that easy for both of them since their grandmother, who is the secret power behind the Palace isn't exactly fond of them. But they managed, nevertheless. Aside from the old witch, everyone seems to fancy them anyway.

"I'm home!" Subaru shouted above the racket his little family is making, informing them that he was, well, home.

"Onii-chan!" Tsubasa cried as he ran to his brother who welcomed him with a pat on his head. "Welcome home!" the little boy grinned. "You know what, Hotaru's been avoiding my hug today too," he pouted as he crossed his little arms, looking pointedly at the little girl who was hiding behind their mother's skirts.

Hiyori laughed. "Well, you should stop scaring your little sister with your big hug, Tsubasa," she scolded, patting Hotaru's head. The kid is as stoic as ever.

Subaru squatted and opened his arms for his little sister. "Come here, Hotaru," he called. The little girl hesitated for a while, looking back and forth from the curious Tsubasa behind Subaru to her oldest brother. Subaru looked up to Tsubasa then back to Hotaru and smiled. "Come on, Hotaru. Tsubasa-nii won't bite. Don't worry," he smiled assuringly.

Carefully, the little girl walked over to her oldest brother's opened arms and was carried to the nearby couch so that as her brother sat, she settled herself on his lap. She looked at him stubbornly. She knows very well what he'll tell her.

"Are you afraid of Tsubasanii, Hotaru?" Subaru asked her who was looking at him with her big purple eyes.

She nodded.

"Why?"

For a moment, Hotaru looked confused. She frowned as she looked at Tsubasa for a few seconds. Turning back to her oldest brother, she said, "He's scary."

"Eh?" Subaru asked, trying his best not to laugh. He looked at the poor Tsubasa who now resembles a crestfallen pup. "Are you sure? Look at Tsubasanii now, Hotaru. Doesn't he look harmless?"

Hotaru swished her head to look at him and Tsubasa put on his biggest puppy-eyes. She frowned even more. "He looks like a pervert."

This time, Subaru broke into a laugh. "A pervert!" he chuckled. "What a wide vocabulary you have." he commented as he stood up and stopped, facing Tsubasa. "Ah, but Subarunii's tired now, Hotaru so I think I'll be giving you to Tsubasanii. Don't thrash okay? He's no pervert, you'll see." Subaru reassured as he settled the six-year-old Hotaru in Tsubasa's arms.

The boy looked overjoyed. Looking up to her older brother, Hotaru said, "Don't harass me."

Hiyori and Subaru choked back their laughs as a blushing Tsubasa replied.

"I-I won't."

Suddenly, a knock resonated in the room as a maidservant entered and informed them,

"Your Royal Highnesses, the Emperor wishes to see you in the Palace Gardens. The Princess and her son have arrived."

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Dear Diary,

Today has been an exhausting day. While it is true that everyday in the Palace has been so far, exhausting, today was exceptionally so. Shu has no idea how much I have to endure living inside this big Palace and how much I have to suffer watching over six little critters. Sometimes, I really do think that he was right when he said that I was more of a Palace babysitter than a prince.

Another critter has arrived today from France. It seems that he is the only son of that illegitimate daughter of the former King. Whatever. In my opinion, the Royal Family is teeming with illegitimacy. I and Hotaru for one are evidence of this claim. Anyway, he was the same age as that brat Natsume. It seems that his father was an aristocrat from the Nogi family and that they have been living in Paris until now. But for some reason, the boy asked his mother, Aunt Camille, as Okaa-sama wants us to call her, to let him stay here in Japan.

The boy has blond hair and blue eyes although he is only one-fourth French. He speaks good Japanese though. I find it funny how he seems to fancy Hotaru. My sister meanwhile, being the cold little person that she is, is slowly breaking the boy's heart. After arriving at the Palace Gardens a while ago and paying our respects to the elders present, Okaa-sama and Uncle sent us inside the parlor. When I say 'us', I meant me and the six other little critters. This quickly translates from 'Subaru, look after your siblings and cousins while we go have our elderly talk.' to 'Subaru, babysit your siblings and cousins, please.'

Of course, I cannot do anything but to obey and sigh, having to deal with the little demons again. So, being the good kid that I am, I led the little army to the Parlor and tried to keep them out of trouble. By the way, Tsubasa was still holding Hotaru at this point, having her sit on his shoulders and ride him like some sort of vehicle. That kid is smitten by the little kit.

"Alright," I told them, having closed the doors and secured them inside. "Don't do anything troublesome, okay?"

I know that it was of no use to tell them since my younger half-brother would still find ways to make some commotion but I still told them anyway. Mainly because I was hoping for some sort of miracle, like Tsubasa acting mature for once as Hotaru's still perched atop him and two because perhaps having a new critter to take care of would make a heck lot of difference. It didn't. Not that much anyway.

As soon as we were settled, that brat Natsume stalked off to his corner with his little sister, Aoi and that kid Youichi tagging after him. He seems like a mother cat to me with two kittens. I let them be. They don't cause that much problem although I must confess that that brat's cockiness does piss me off sometimes. Ah, but he is the crown prince so I suppose it comes with the 'Almighty Package'. Whatever. That new kid, (Now that I think about it, he is our first-cousin) stayed by the entrance, looking a little lost.

I was about to approach him when he walked near Tsubasa and Hotaru who were already starting to bicker. My guess was that Hotaru already wanted to come down but Tsubasa won't just relent to it. Nevertheless, I decided to observe what would happen instead of interfering.

"Bonjour," the kid, Ruka, greeted in perfect French. The two stopped bickering and looked at him curiously as if seeing an alien. I wanted to laugh. First time someone shut both of them. "Je suis Luca Nogi. Enchanté." he continued with his heavy French accent. He was friendly enough but the thing is, he stumped both of them. One because both my little siblings have no idea what he just said. Two because Hotaru's not just the friendliest kid in the neighborhood and Tsubasa's one big overprotective bear.

So yes, they ignored the poor boy.

"Onii-chan," Hotaru whined in her own way. Believe me, you will never hear desperation in this kid's voice even when she's exasperated. "Put me down now."

"But," Tsubasa began to protest, looking up to Hotaru who was already clutching a handful of his raven hair.

"Now," my little sister urged on.

I guess Tsubasa didn't want to push it since he was afraid that Hotaru would never go near to him again if he becomes possessive so he knelt down like a good knight and let the six-year-old kit on her feet. By now, I must say that the French boy was looking really upset for being ignored. He must have poured all the courage he has to make the first move to introduce himself just to be crushed by my heartless siblings of a monster. I could have interfered then and told him that both the little monsters don't understand French but something stopped me. I guess there was that gut feeling that it's better to let the little guys be just to learn on their own.

Hotaru looked at him weirdly and I thought I saw a spark of admiration in my little sister's eyes. Perhaps she was awed by Ruka's splendid appearance. After all, it was not everyday that Hotaru sees a fine golden-haired boy with startling aqua pools of eyes. But then, she turned around and crossed her short tiny arms and said,

"I don't understand what you said earlier. This is Japan, not France. Not everyone here would learn French just to make friends with you."

I choked back a laugh. Sometimes it really amazes me how mature Hotaru is. She doesn't speak like a normal six-year-old at all. But then again, no one said she was normal anyway. Besides, I should think that I am not the best judge as to how normal six year-old kids should talk seeing as we don't have any in the house. Natsume doesn't speak normally either, being some sort of genius. Anyway, by the time my little sister said those mighty words of her, Ruka looked more upset. I was fairly sure that he would cry except that he didn't.

"Ru-chan knows how to speak in Japanese, you know." Aoi said from the corner as she cuddled her big teddy bear.

Hotaru looked at her then back to the blond kid. "Oh yeah? I'd like to hear that."

Ruka brightened up at the sound of that and looked much better compared to his self seconds ago. It seems that he really fancies my little sister which I find weird. I mean, Hotaru is really a bright child and a beautiful one but I've always thought that if ever there would be guys who'd be interested in her, they'd be discouraged the moment she talks to them. Tsubasa seems to sense Ruka's affection for our little princess. He was about to drag her off when I caught his arm and stopped him. It's about time a guy gets near to Hotaru without being scared off by this big bully.

"Onii-chan," he said. "What are you doing?"

I smiled at him. Fakely. "Let Hotaru be, Tsubasa. You should stop scaring Hotaru's friends off otherwise you'd never see her getting married."

The little punk pouted. "But I don't want Hotaru to marry anyone! Besides, he can't marry Ruka. We're like cousins you know. That's forbidden."

Now I cannot explain to him that incest is considered legal inside the Royal Family so I opted for the other part of his argument. "That's very selfish of you Tsubasa. Someday, a man will come and she'll snatch Hotaru away from us. Besides, don't you think Hotaru will fall in love someday? She'll leave you for that man." I know that I was being sappy at this point but I just have to enlighten my half-brother a little. Besides, I would hate to see my little sister aging all alone with nine cats in a lonely mansion.

Tsubasa crossed his arms. "No she won't. Fine. Hotaru will have to marry me."

I sweat-dropped. Now this is what I call sister-complex. He has a severe kind of it. "Then what about Misaki-chan?"

The little kid paused. Seems like I caught him there. "What about Misaki?" he asked, his eyes large with surprise and innocence.

"Don't you like Misaki-chan?" I asked him.

He blushed. "Yeah. I like Misaki, so?"

"Won't you want to marry her instead of Hotaru?"

He was speechless for some moments, looking so torn that I wanted to laugh. "No." he mumbled.

"Really?" I asked him. "Then you won't mind if I marry Misaki-chan?"

Tsubasa's eyes enlarged more at the sound of this. Then he started hitting me. "No, you can't marry Misaki! Onii-chan, you can't! Misaki's mine only! Mine, mine mine!" he said.

I laughed and caught his arms. "Okay then. So let Hotaru make friends with Ruka, okay?"

He nodded. Although now that I think about it, he probably thinks that I have a crush on his childhood friend. He never stopped bugging me about it even before we go to bed. What a troublesome brat.

Anyway, as all those were happening, Ruka re-introduced himself to Hotaru in Japanese. "Hi. I'm Ruka Nogi. It's nice to meet you," he said to her bashfully.

"Okay." Hotaru replied, turning away and started looking for both me and Tsubasa. Ah, what a cold-hearted sister.

Ruka looked lost again. But I guess he found the wick of his courage once more and lightened it as he asked her another question. "What's your name?"

"Hotaru Imai," she said distractedly.

He smiled at her response. "Hotaru? That's a nice name."

By this time, I can't tell if my little sister was frowning or trying so hard not to smile. Sometimes, I really can't tell the difference. But with the next words she uttered, I would guess that she was frowning. "Yeah, unlike yours."

Ruka frowned. "That's a mean thing to say, Hotaru-chan."

"Don't call me by my first name, Nogi." she answered coldly as her eyes found us.

Poor boy looked devastated. By this time, Natsume already stood up and went over to both his cousins with his two tails still after him. I know that Natsume and Ruka are close friends as Natsume would often spend his Summer in France. That was a consolation on my part though as I can't imagine myself consoling a crying six-year-old Ruka and telling our mother and aunt that my little sister made him cry.

"Let her be, Ruka," Natsume said. "Imai's always grumpy."

Ruka nodded. "Yeah. Too bad, she would look prettier smiling."

I thought I saw Natsume twitch. "You did not just say that."

Of course, my little sister just had to reiterate. "Speak for yourself, Hyuga." Then she turned to Ruka and turned a little bit red. For a moment I was baffled. Was she blushing? "I hate you." she spat and went over to Tsubasa who pat her head softly. I sighed. I have monsters for siblings, alright. Poor Ruka looked so sad so dragged both monsters and asked little sister to say sorry. Of course she wouldn't since this kid has an ego twice her size and a pride twice that.

"Hotaru," I urged on. She just crossed her arms and looked away with that punk Tsubasa backing her up. Finding no other way to ease the situation, I had to say sorry behalf of the little kit.

"Don't mind Hotaru, Ruka. She's really a difficult kid. I'm sure she'll come around soon." I told him. "For the meantime, why don't you spend time with Natsume?"

Ruka nodded though I can say that what my little monster sister said still weighed on his mind. For the rest of the afternoon, Ruka hung out with Natsume, Aoi and Youichi while Tsubasa and I kept Hotaru company. By the end of it, I already felt so tired that I thanked heavens that it was Friday today and I do not have to finish my assignments promptly.

I just hope that my sister won't grow up to become so cold and start making her own friends. That would be really nice.

Subaru Imai

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Subaru yawned as he stretched after accomplishing his diary. It was already 10:43 PM and he wanted to hit the sack so badly. In fact, he was just about to dive into the bed which contains a snoring Tsubasa who insisted that he wanted to sleep together when a loud series of knocks was heard.

"Who could it be at this hour?" Subaru wondered to himself, trying his best not to fall asleep standing. He opened the door only to reveal a Hotaru in pajamas.

Subaru let him in. "Hotaru?" he asked.

"Onii-chan," she said. "Can we sleep together?"

Finding no other reason to decline, Subaru lifted Hotaru into his arms and made way for the bed. "You don't mind sleeping with Tsubasanii, do you?"

She shook her head. So, Subaru tucked her beside the sprawled Tsubasa and laid down himself. He was about to drift to dreamland when he heard Hotaru's voice again.

"I can't sleep," she said.

"Just close your eyes Hotaru," he replied. He was really sleepy and he hopes that Hotaru would let him.

"It doesn't work," she said.

Sighing, Subaru turned to her and stroked her head. "Hotaru, what you said to Ruka a while ago wasn't really nice."

She was silent.

"Do you really hate him?"

She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Taking this as his cue to rest, Subaru closed his eyes as well. For the second time that night, he thought he was free to sleep when Hotaru's voice snapped him back to reality.

"I didn't mean it." she said softly.

"Then why did you say it?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she replied. Subaru can sense that she was keeping something away from him but it's taking her a lot of courage and possibly, pride, to admit it. "I was shy."

This woke Subaru up. "Shy?"

Hotaru nodded shyly. "He said I was pretty,"

Subaru chuckled at this. "Hotaru is pretty. You should have said thank you, Hotaru. Say thank you and apologize to Ruka tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded again. "Goodnight, onii-chan,"

"Goodnight,"

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

"Good morning, Subaru," Shu greeted Monday morning. "How do you find your new little critter last Friday?" he asked cheerfully.

Subaru sighed and settled his forehead in his right hand. "Fine," he muttered.

"Hmmm," Shu said as he sat beside him. "But there's a but. What's the catch?"

"My sister likes him,"

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Yeah, but she kissed him,"

Shu whistled. "Well, that's cute."

"No. She kissed him - on the lips."

And I'm starting to think it's becoming her hobby.

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Hmm, I think I'm running out of wisecracks. I should think of more funny lines, don't you think? Haha.

Anyway, Omake over and I hope you liked it. It's a breather for the intense chapter last time. I don't think the next one would be as depressing. I'll try not to make it so, okay? I just dunno when I could update so I hope you guys watch out for it and still review!

By the way guys, I appreciate it if you review this chapter! Btw, I'll start replying to interesting reviews now! :) To show that I really appreciate your support and effort. So REVIEW! :)