Title: Not Alike At All

Author: sllebswap

Beta'd by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Belphegor

Type: Two-Shot (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 6234

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.

Summary: TYL ficlet. When Rasiel decides to sneak into Belphegor's household under the guise of the younger twin, things does not go well for him.

Chapter Last Revised on: 19/01/13


Chapter One


Rasiel came to a stop under the doorway and studied the profile of the young woman in the sunroom with deceptively bored, yet coolly critical eyes. His silent arrival had not been noticed yet and so he made use of the opportunity to observe the individual he specifically came to see.

Warm, late afternoon sunbeams streamed down upon the girl-woman who appeared to be completely absorbed in the painting that she was working on, her shoulder length, nondescript brown hair pulled back in an unfussy ponytail, her fringe clipped back with a cutesy strawberry shaped hair fastener that did not appear out of place on her youthful features. A messy, color streaked palette was balanced carelessly on one hand and a slender brush in the other as she paused before her easel and surveyed her artwork. She was so immersed in her painting that she didn't even register the scrutinizing regard of the newcomer, but that might also be due to the pop music that was playing at a significant volume from a portable radio on the end table beside her, not to mention how she was also mouthing along to the song lyrics and bopping her head to the tunes in a rather unladylike and inelegant manner.

It was not difficult for Rasiel to notice the impish, childish quality that seemed to surround the woman, what with her freshly scrubbed and rosy cheeked (also paint smudged) appeal. She looked younger than his butler Olgert had reported, but other than that, most of the information that the latter had dug up on this female appeared more or less accurate; she was Japanese by descent, born with average features, average build, average height—average everything, really. The Crown Prince of Astonia wondered just what it was about this plain woman that had attracted the attention of his estranged twin brother. This Miura Haru was no breathtaking beauty nor did she possess a particularly bewitching or sultry physique that would bring men to their knees, or even an irresistible charisma to charm the socks off her admirers, if she had any. In fact, even at a very brief glance, Rasiel found her quite common-looking, perhaps only pretty at most, with a lithe, willowy figure and large doe-like eyes.

So, this was the woman his brother had married and knocked up.

Granted, she didn't seem to be showing yet, being only about three months along, but the intelligence reports clearly stated that his sister-in-law was most definitely carrying the next royal offspring of the Astonian Monarchy, and the news had been surprising enough to convince Rasiel to arrange a little family get together with his estranged sibling—'pity' that Belphegor happened to be conveniently out at the moment, though.

"Prince Belphegor." The foot servant who had brought him to the newest Consort of the Astonian Royal House shifted slightly behind him. "Any further orders, Your Highness?"

Rasiel suppressed the twinge of irritation at being mistaken for his identical sibling and curtly dismissed the help. It was inevitable that he would be recognized as his brother today; he had taken great care to dress and look like the latter in order to infiltrate Belphegor's residence successfully, deliberately altering his own appearance and hairstyle so much so that even their birth parents would not be able to tell the difference.

Donning a cruel, lazy smile, the Crown Prince pushed away from the doorframe and started to saunter languidly into the room, displaying the same rangy, gracefully catlike movements that characterized both himself and his royal sibling. Hidden behind the veil of his burnished gold, artfully tousled hair, cunning golden eyes gleamed with sly amusement. There was time to play a little game while his brother was still away and blissfully ignorant of what was currently happening in his own household. It was fortunate for him that both the butler and the head housekeeper did not appear to be in at the moment; else it would not be as easy to get to Belphegor's commoner princess as it was at present.

The golden haired man moved boldly into view of his sister-in-law and sure enough, she was alerted to his movements at the edge of her peripheral vision and quickly raised her head to eye him with surprise.

Rasiel allowed his smile to spread further on his lips as he slipped beside the petite female, almost as if already anticipating the oncoming chaos that he was about to unleash. "Hello Princess," the Crown Prince crooned silkily, slipping into the role of his brother. He chuckled under his breath, relishing in the rather pleasing, mental imagery of having to deal with an enraged Belphegor later. "How is my lovely blossom today?"

In response to his affectionate greeting, his 'spouse' stiffened slightly and shot him an odd look, her eyes narrowing imperceptibly. The brunette slowly placed her brush and palette on the table and switched off the radio to give her full attention to the man by her side. Now that Rasiel was in closer proximity to the younger female, her clear, makeup-free features and baby smooth, peach-hued complexion was quickly revealed to him in full detail, and he absently took in the sight of her soft, rosy mouth, small, pert nose, and bright, inquisitive almond-shaped eyes. The Crown Prince mentally re-evaluated his initial impression of his sister-in-law; it seemed that even though the young woman was not particularly striking in appearance, she still managed to exude a refreshing, sweetly wholesome appeal that was quite rare to come across these days.

Interesting. He would never have guessed that Belphegor had a weakness for the innocent, dewy-eyed type when it came to women.

Still smiling vaguely, Rasiel reached out and hooked his thumb under the chin of his brother's Consort, tilting her face up to the light even as he brought his own down towards hers. "Hhm, you are surprisingly prettier than I thought," he mused with a small smirk, drawing closer to the still, unresisting form of the woman, confident in the perfection of his disguise—he was his brother's identical twin, after all. Amusedly, he wondered how murderous Belphegor would be if he tricked a kiss…or more…from the unwitting Princess—

Before Rasiel could put his plan into action however, his deceptively docile target reacted.

And quite suddenly, Rasiel found himself in a world of pain.

It took his shocked senses a moment or two to register what had just happened, and he quickly found his face—his handsome, princely face—being unceremoniously grabbed at the cheeks and painfully squished by the 'sweet and innocent' Princess whose character he thought he had already accurately pinned down. The Astonian Royal hissed sharply at the unexpected action, hurriedly dropping his hand from the woman in favor of jerking away from her surprisingly firm grip but to no avail. The brunette was pinching his cheeks with fingers of steel and to make matters worse, she also appeared to be doing her very darnedest to stretch his face as far apart as she physically could. It was all Rasiel could do to keep from swearing out loud at the she devil that happened to be attached to his face (and not in the good way).

"Who are you?" Haru demanded fiercely as she tried her best to rip off the mask of the imposter who was trying rather unsuccessfully to pass off as her husband. "State your purpose; how dare you infiltrate the residence of a Varia Commander? Are you tired of living?"

It took considerable effort and determination to be forcibly released from those deadly fingers but Rasiel eventually managed, though not without repercussions. His reddened cheeks throbbed from the abuse and his eyes were watering involuntarily with pain by the time he managed to reel back clumsily from the woman, not to mention his ears were also ringing from the shrill lecture that she had insisted on doling out as she manually tried to rearrange his face for him.

Belatedly, Rasiel realized that he had gotten it all backwards when it came to reading the entire situation; Belphegor had not married a timid, wallflower of a commoner as he had originally assumed.

No, his brother had gone and married a crazy, violent shrew.

"What are you saying? I'm your husband!" Rasiel insisted stubbornly even as he scrambled (as gracefully as he could) to keep a safe distance from the madwoman, a hand pressed against his poor, bruised face as he backpedaled frenetically away from her. His disguise had been impeccable in every way; there was just no possibility whatsoever that this woman could have just taken one look at him and realized in an instant that he wasn't Belphegor. It must have been a lucky guess, and he was determined to call her bluff.

Scowling slightly at the utter absurdity of the stranger's remark, Haru placed her hands on her hips. Did he think she was an idiot who didn't even know how to recognize her own husband? The brunette's initial reaction was to raise the alarm on the intruder but she changed her mind at the last moment, curiosity prompting her to take the wait-and-see approach since the man didn't appear to be acting particularly threatening towards her; in fact, he seemed to be doing the opposite, trying to edge away from her instead.

"Right," she uttered flatly, her eyes narrowed. Really, she wasn't usually so irritable most days, but this unknown man was technically a trespasser and Haru figured that she had every right to feel annoyed with the situation. And of course, it just made perfect sense that Belphegor was nowhere in sight when his presence was sorely needed to sort out the situation. Sheesh, sometimes she wondered why she even agreed to marry him in the first place; these days, husbands really weren't as useful as they were touted to be.

So now, she had this weird Belphegor wannabe to deal with. Haru resigned herself to the inevitable. So much for spending a relaxing, fuss-free afternoon all by herself.

"What do you think of my painting?" she asked abruptly then, and the mysterious veiled blonde (who was looking strangely flushed for some reason unbeknownst to Haru) just stared at her incredulously.

Of all the random things for the woman to say, that was not what Rasiel had expected to hear, especially not after how she had just so very ferociously tried to separate the skin of his face from his skull. The blonde resisted the urge to growl at her irritated nonchalance; did she even know who she was speaking to? He was a Prince! How dare this insignificant plebian wench speak to him like he was a lowly servant whom she could hardly tolerate?

Rasiel was rather outraged, not to mention he was also beginning to get the rather disconcerting feeling that he was rapidly losing grasp of the situation. However, never one to cut his losses even when he very well should, the Crown Prince decided to forge ahead with his original plans. The tall, golden-haired man drew a deep breath and visibly restrained his urge to lash out at his sister-in-law (how did Belphegor stand this impudent commoner?), reluctantly turning his attention to the painting in question.

He found himself looking at an ugly and incomprehensible glob of colors sitting on the canvas. The art piece, if one could even call it that, very closely resembled what he imagined the puke of a three year old would look like after the kid had consumed an entire box of crayons plus glitter powder and then forced to regurgitate it all back out.

"Well?" his new relative demanded to know in an expectant, if somewhat impatient, manner when he took too long to come up with an appropriate reply that would not insult or offend the brunette and her hideous lack of talents in the artistic department. Rasiel barely bit back the urge to snap at the woman, his long fringe hiding the throbbing tick of aggravation that had arisen as a result of his unfortunate exposure to the annoying female. The Crown Prince was not being deliberately considerate of the feelings or the wellbeing of the expecting Consort, per se; if anything, he was only doing so in the interests of maintaining the illusion that he was her spouse.

"It looks lovely," he bit out at last, plastering on an extremely scary grin to go together with his outrageous lie. Much to his disappointment, his brother's wife turned out to be made of much sterner stuff and didn't even notice his attempt to intimidate her. Evidently, she found it more riveting to study her ugly painting than pay attention to him, and Rasiel twitched inwardly at the slight against his person.

"Hmm…" Haru hummed thoughtfully as she studied her canvas, tilting her head slightly to the side as she did so. "Do you really think so? I feel that something's still missing though; perhaps more colors should help bring it out."

In typical Haru fashion, she had thrown herself wholeheartedly into the project of the afternoon, and while not particularly talented in this branch of artistic expression, it had been years since she had last attempted to paint anything and so she was rather enjoying herself smearing colors on the canvas. At least, until she found herself entertaining an oddball, delusional stranger who had somehow made his way into the house and also seemed to be convinced that he was her husband. Minor disruption aside, Haru grudgingly recognized that interacting with this weird person was the most interesting thing that had happened to her this week, and since he appeared to be rather obliging and non-violent as far as she was concerned, the brunette decided that there was no harm putting up with him until Belphegor arrived to resolve the issue.

Not to mention, this unknown man was actually willing to critique her artwork for her, something that she had quite a bit of trouble obtaining since none of the servants who had stopped by the sunroom today were willing to give her their honest opinions, averting their eyes nervously and then beseeching her to spare them from such a difficult question when she asked. Granted, she was no Monet, but there was just no way that her painting was that awful, right?

Rasiel looked at the woman with something akin to barely veiled incredulity. She wanted to add more colors to the monstrosity that she had created, as if it wasn't already hideous enough as it was? Not for the first time within the last fifteen minutes since he had the dubious distinction of finally meeting his new sister-in-law, Rasiel wondered at his twin's rather…strange taste in women.

Then, he hoped for the sake of his yet unborn nephew or niece that the child would not inherit the same oddball tendencies of its parents, else he would be forced to do his family a favor and terminate Belphegor's line there and then. Seeming to temporarily forget about his earlier elaborate plan to deliberately antagonize his sibling, Rasiel replied unthinkingly.

"What your painting needs is some whitewash," he muttered sarcastically. "Better yet, you should save everyone the misfortune of having to look at the eyesore and just burn the damn thing."

Rasiel's mind caught up with his mouth by then, but it was already too late to take his words back. He scowled, abruptly remembering that he was supposed to behave in a husbandly manner towards the brunette. Unfortunately, subtlety was one of his greatest weaknesses, and now the woman was definitely going to sense that he really wasn't who he was supposed to be, on top of being upset and overly defensive over his harsh comment.

Once more, Rasiel was quickly proven wrong by the decidedly unusual woman, for instead of being taken aback by his suddenly hostile behavior, she just shot him an exasperated look. "You know, there's really no need for you to pretend to be like Belphegor," she informed him almost conversationally, and her innocuous comment infuriated him, since for once, he hadn't been trying to mimic his stupid brother at all, and therefore very much resented the implication that he had.

Besides, if anyone was trying to ape anyone, then it was obvious that Belphegor would be the one to do the copying and not vice versa. After all, he, Rasiel of Astonia, was the firstborn and the rightful heir to their kingdom, and his younger sibling was but only a spare. It was only logical that his twin would wish to be like him and not the other way around, which would be like going backwards, never mind that he was at the moment trying to pass himself off as his twin to the latter's wife.

Unfortunately, his elaborate plan to bedevil Belphegor and his cozy little household was not going along as smoothly as he had expected; his brother's wife was turning out to be of some strange alien species unlike any normal woman he had met, not to mention she was also not as easy to fool as her otherwise deceptively sweet and girlish appearance would lead one to believe. In fact, Rasiel was starting to form the rather disconcerting conclusion that she had not bought his ruse at all even from the very get-go, though before he could do anything about that, she spoke up once more, further bewildering and confusing her brother-in-law, albeit in her usual completely unintentional fashion.

Haru was, in fact, beginning to see the 'light' when it came to this entirely unusual situation with this odd stranger, or so she thought. However, it was the only scenario that made sense to her from what she had observed so far, and even though it was more than a bit bemusing on her side to come face to face with someone as…ardently adulating…as this individual here, the brunette was not one to discriminate against a person for their interests or passion. This was especially so since she herself happened to be married to the one whom this man was rather fixated upon, and although her husband used to be rather well received by members of the fairer sex (or so Belphegor liked to boast to her every once in a while), Haru had no idea that he was equally as popular with men as well.

It was a rather disconcerting realization, but on the positive side, this irritable stranger did not look like he was interested in Belphegor in the romantic fashion, but belonged more to the worshipful 'I-must-emulate-my-idol-in-every-way-possible' variety, judging by how the man had taken great pains to dress and even style his hair like her spouse, and, like every decent stalker, had even found his way right into his obsession's home.

Such dedication was almost admirable…in a downright creepy sort of way.

Belatedly, Haru found herself anticipating Belphegor's reaction when he came home to meet his number one fan boy.

"Not that I'm in any position to judge, but why did you choose Bel to look up to?" Haru questioned, simply brimming with curiosity. This was, after all, the first time she had met a supporter of her maniacal, at times homicidal, spouse. "Or is this some secret assassin, macho man thing that I'm not going to understand?"

Rasiel just wished that the woman could speak in a language that he could decipher, namely, human. "What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped, aggravated. Belphegor really was something else altogether, to be able to put up with this infuriating woman on a daily basis.

The visibly interested female just blinked at the visibly irritable blonde. "Oh, was I being too insensitive?" she asked almost as if to herself. "This is the first time I've found myself in this situation, you know, so I'm still not quite sure what to say. I suppose we can sit around first and wait for Bel to come back, but I don't think he's going to be all that willing to give out autographs."

Needless to say, Rasiel was completely lost, not to mention, he was also feeling rather flabbergasted by how he had completely lost control of the conversation, and to this seemingly frivolous airhead of a female, too. "What autographs?"

How cute that this man was still being so modest! Haru decided not to embarrass the poor guy any more than he likely already was and shrugged nonchalantly; she imagined that it must have taken quite a lot of courage on his part to come in here dressed like he did. Her disconcertingly unguarded, unassuming manner around the usually intimidating and deliberately threatening Crown Prince was probably the only reason why he had not attacked her for her insolence yet. "It's normal to expect a memento from your idol since you are such a huge supporter of Bel; I mean, you even managed to find your way into our house! That's no small feat, really, even for an ultra-dedicated super fan."

Super…fan…?

"…fan?" Rasiel whispered hoarsely, completely disbelieving of what he had just heard.

Wait…what?

Haru, still oblivious to the mental trauma that she had unwittingly upended on her brother-in-law, nodded blithely. "Uhm hmm, and you'll have to forgive me for not recognizing you right off the bat since we don't usually get overenthusiastic fans of Bel's turning up randomly in the household. This is the first time, actually, so I will try my best to smooth things over with Bel for you when he gets home later. Who knows; we might even be able to get you that autograph," Haru beamed at the frozen form of an utterly appalled Rasiel. "By the way, would you like some coffee or tea? I will ring up desserts as well; the tarts that Cook bakes are simply to die for – you can have some while we wait, and we can talk!"

He might be wrong, but the woman was suddenly acting like he was her new best friend. Not to mention, with every application of the f-word, she was succeeding in further stumping him, the usually quick-witted and razor tongued Astonian Crown Prince. Rasiel was reduced to gaping at her in disbelief like an extremely unattractive half-wit, and so stunned was he by her ridiculous conclusions that he was momentarily rendered speechless from the shock, his mental facilities going off on a brief hike from reality whenever he tried to reconcile the brunette's ego damaging remarks with his less than amicable relationship with his estranged twin. It took a while for Rasiel to finally snap out of it, and the blonde was not amused.

"I'm not a fan," he spluttered indignantly, and the fact that the woman did not look convinced (or offended) at all did not improve his worsening disposition any.

"It's okay, no need to be embarrassed!" she merely tried to mollify him in a mortifyingly understanding tone, much to his increasing disbelief and chagrin. She even thumped a few enthusiastic, friendly pats on his back. "I think it's kind of admirable that you are trying your best to emulate your beloved idol in every way you can." Haru smiled brightly, then grew slightly pensive as she tapped her finger against her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Well, Bel might not like that very much, but no worries! We will deal with that if it pops up!"

No, Rasiel most definitely did not want to 'deal with that' at all. He had failed to take it into consideration earlier, but the prospect of facing Belphegor while he was dressed like a doppelganger of the latter was not something he quite relished, especially not if he didn't have his sibling's wife hanging off his arm and obliviously fawning over her 'husband' at the same time, as was his original intention. The last parts were moot points by now, judging by how utterly bewildering an individual his sister-in-law had turned out to be, and just keeping up with the odd twists and turns of her strange thought process was aggravating and exhausting enough, let alone for him to attempt to trick her as he had initially planned. Rasiel then wondered where on earth his brother had found such a peculiar female, and if the latter had married her simply because the woman seemed to be from another solar system altogether and was therefore next to impossible to manipulate or be taken advantage of.

"Come on! Let's go take a seat over there." Haru gestured towards the settee behind them in a friendly, amiable manner. Rasiel could not remember the last time anyone had dared to speak to him in such informal, pleasant terms, and almost dumbly heeded the brunette's cajoling before he abruptly returned to his senses and went completely stiff with growing displeasure (and increasing shock).

"For the last time, woman, I'm not a fan of Belphegor!" the blonde snapped out, aggrieved. He was also beginning to act as if she was some sort of extremely bio hazardous object that was radiating brain damaging space waves to every unsuspecting individual within range of her attack radius. It was the only plausible explanation as to how she was leading him around in circles so effortlessly and successfully. Just being in her immediate vicinity must have made his IQ drop by at least twenty points, or at least it certainly felt that way to him. Rasiel was quickly coming to the realization that this woman was more dangerous than he had originally thought.

It was therefore not surprising when the golden-haired man was suddenly behaving a lot more defensively than before, as if trying to ward off whatever infectious insanity that his sister-in-law could spread to him.

"You don't even have any idea who you are dealing with, so don't act like you have figured everything out!"

This time, his sharp, aggressive tone finally registered to Haru, and she rocked back slightly on her heels, astonished by the man's hostility. "O-kay," she drew out slowly at last. "There's really no need to raise your voice and be so sensitive about this, you know. Yelling at me isn't going to do anything."

"Yes, it does," he hissed back heatedly. "It makes me feel better so I don't feel like stabbing you in the face as much, you crazy bitch."

Haru blinked, momentarily taken aback by the vicious vehemence in the man's voice. Then, just as quickly, her eyes narrowed with indignation and she started to scowl, not appreciating being talked to like that. She didn't seem frightened off by the threatening stance Rasiel was taking though, not to mention his wholly unhealthy declaration of his interest in mutilating her. Oh no, there were more important considerations to pay attention to; no one called her ugly names and got away with it, and above everything else, the b-word just rang in her head repetitively and conveniently drowned out every other part of his speech.

"Hey, there's no need to insult me, fan boy!"

"Fan boy!" Rasiel sputtered, turning an unattractive shade of crimson in the process. No one had ever insulted him in this manner before; sure, he had been called worse, and this was certainly new, but he was becoming more pissed off than usual as a result.

Haru, being the mulishly defiant and obdurately obstinate sort when she really got going, was not backing down whatsoever, much to Rasiel's nonplussed disbelief. The bristling woman glowered at the potty-mouthed Belphegor wannabe and crossed her arms haughtily against the front of her chest, tilting her chin up rebelliously and firmly standing her ground.

"That's right! You dressed up like my husband, adopted his hairstyle, stalked your way into our home and even tried to pass yourself off as him! That's the exact definition of an obsessive, overzealous fan!"

Rasiel felt his eyes bug out with incredulity. Had she just called him a stalker as well? "What did you just say?"

She frowned at him, her doe-brown gaze bright with defiance. "Are you hard of hearing as well?" she demanded, taking a step forward to poke the rude man in the chest. "It's fine to look up to someone, but too much hero worship is wholly unhealthy; you must grow to become your own person! Also, there is absolutely no need to use vulgar language! It makes you sound uncouth and rude; you are not a teenager anymore and need to be responsible for your speech and actions as part of being an upright and moral citizen of society!"

She was clearly lecturing him towards the end, going so far as to wave her finger right in his face (in between all the annoying poking, that was), and he could hardly believe what was happening. His ears turned red.

"Shut up! I will swear whenever I want to!" It was hardly the most eloquent of comebacks but it was already out of his mouth before he could snatch it back, and Rasiel was steadily growing more and more frazzled in the continued presence of his sister-in-law. She was like an unstoppable force of nature all by herself, and belatedly, he wondered if he had unwittingly opened Pandora's Box when it came to this crazy little firecracker. It wasn't even worth the effort to deny that he wasn't a damn fan of his brother anymore, and speaking of which, was the woman blind or what? He was a dead ringer for his identical twin and all she could keep going on and on about was her ridiculous theory that he was a fan and an obsessive stalker.

Rasiel suddenly felt very stupid for being on the losing side of the argument with this utterly incomprehensible brunette.

Haru scoffed disdainfully, unimpressed by the taller male's bluster. She also wasn't entirely finished giving this man a piece of her mind. "You shouldn't lie! That's an unhealthy habit; if you have already come this far and done this much, then don't be ashamed of your actions! Be a man and stand up for your beliefs! Don't be a pansy!"

Rasiel just stared at the righteously fired up woman. He opened his mouth to say something but words seemed to elude him at that moment. At last, he just closed his mouth and fought the urge to palm his face instead. God, was he ever regretting his decision to stop by Belphegor's household today. He didn't even understand what the hell was going on anymore.

"For the last time, I'm not trying to imitate Belphegor!" Rasiel denied in a near shout, unimaginably frustrated. By now, his initial plan, if that was what one could call it, had unraveled so completely that it had also backfired on him rather spectacularly. A tactical retreat was beginning to look more and more attractive by the second.

Haru scowled. "Didn't I just tell you that it's bad to lie?" she questioned disapprovingly.

"I'm not lying, you b- banana!" Rasiel snapped back, hurriedly changing his original address of the brunette when he saw the unholy fire that seemed to suddenly leap into her normally insipid brown eyes as his mouth started to form the unflattering term. The Crown Prince immediately felt very cross with his impeccably efficient self-preservation instincts.

"Oh, really? Then, what is this!" Acting on a hunch and caught in the heat of the moment of trying to prove her point, Haru suddenly struck in a way that Rasiel had Not expected. The feisty Princess Consort shot out her hand, grabbed the waistline of Rasiel's pants and gave it a sharp tug before letting go, in the blink of an eye leaving him only in his silk boxers (that had thankfully stayed on to protect his modesty), his designer slacks hanging somewhere around his ankles.

For a brief moment, both froze in shock, though for entirely different reasons. After that, it was impossible to tell who looked more outraged.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Rasiel yelled in a strangely pitched tone, embarrassed by his unanticipated semi-nudity.

Meanwhile, Haru just growled, looking quite indignant herself. She tore her eyes from the blonde's lower torso and glared at the man in disgust and outrage. "You…freaky stalker!" she cried out in accusation, pointing at his crescent-shaped birthmark on his lower stomach, near the left side of his hips. "How did you know that Bel had a birthmark here as well?!"

Granted, the man had clearly drawn it on the wrong side of his stomach—the birthmark was supposed to be on the right, not the left—but Haru was not a happy camper all the same. The existence of her man's birthmark was supposed to be confidential information that only she (also perhaps his parents as well the servants who had tended to him since his birth) was privy to since it was located on a usually attire-concealed part of his body, and the fact that this unknown stranger was aware of its presence quickly set her off.

Eyes flaring with righteous (and possessive) fury, the upset female grabbed the shirt of the shocked blonde in one hand to keep him still, then quickly licked the index and middle fingers of her free hand, bent down to eye level to the offending mark, and started to rub furiously at it in a futile attempt to erase it.

Rasiel could not believe (and also did not understand) what was happening. The bewildered and confused Crown Prince of Astonia only reacted when the overly vigorous rubbing of his sister-in-law's fingers on his stomach caused enough friction to sting. Swearing loudly, he promptly tried to pull away, but unfortunately for him, she had a good grip on him and wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon.

"Do not move!" His crazy sister-in-law hissed commandingly, somehow managing to evoke the mental presence of a drill sergeant in the process. "I'm getting rid of this marking even if that's the last thing I do! You -you sicko! Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but this is going too far!" Much to Haru's increasing frustration, the mark wasn't fading at all no matter how hard she kept rubbing at it, though the skin around the man's stomach was quickly turning bright red from her exertions. "It isn't coming off! What did you use to draw it with? Laundry marker?"

"Get your hands off of my royal person, woman!"

"Oh, quit whining! And didn't I just tell you to keep still?!"

And that was how Belphegor found his wife and his much detested older brother when he entered the sunroom seconds later, having arrived home mere moments ago and promptly alerted to the deception when the confused servants reported that they had just seen the double of His Royal Highness. Pausing under the door frame to stare incredulously at the rather compromising picture before him—Rasiel was flushed and disheveled, half naked with his pants around his ankles and Haru was bent near eye level to his brother's crotch, the fingers of one hand on the skin of his abdomen whereas the other was grabbing the latter's shirt almost as if she was about to rip it off any moment soon.

It didn't take long for Belphegor to swiftly analyze the situation and comprehend his brother's original intention.

Not surprisingly, he immediately saw red.

"Rasiel, I'm going to fucking kill you," the Storm Varia snarled furiously, his deadly blades materializing between his knuckles with flawless speed. Fury pumped adrenaline straight through his veins, and the urge to see blood—his thrice-damned brother's—skyrocketed within the blink of an eye. Before he could surge forward and engage his sibling in a fight to the death—this time he was definitely going to eviscerate that treacherous, good-for-nothing sibling of his—Rasiel turned towards him with an expression of profound relief and aggravation.

"Quit your yapping; get over here and control your crazy wife!"

Then, Haru, who did not look at all surprised to see a 'second' Belphegor arrive on the scene, called out to him as well. "Bel, come here and help me unmask this imposter! He's been trying to pass himself off as you and he even drew a replica of your birthmark on his stomach!" His wife sounded utterly disgusted towards the end of her complaints. "And it's not coming off!"

For some reason, Haru seemed extremely distressed and angered over that fact.

Belphegor jerked to an abrupt stop to reanalyze the terribly misleading scene unfolding before him. Despite the extremely suggestive (and utterly maddening) position that his wife and bastard brother were in at the moment, none of them sounded (or even looked) particularly thrilled to be there. The glaring inconsistencies in the picture were enough to give him pause, and the rage in his blood cooled slightly as rationality forced its way back into his anger-driven mind, ensuring that he clearly heard and comprehended the telling implications behind Haru's disgruntled remarks.

Somehow, his wife had not been deceived by Rasiel's deceptive appearance whatsoever, and whatever it was that she was trying to do to Rasiel at the moment, it was not what he had initially thought at all. Somewhat incredulous now, Belphegor realized belatedly that Haru was actually in the process of trying to rub Rasiel's birthmark out of existence, and his brother was all red in the face and grimacing not out of sexual excitement, but rather from sheer mortification and agitation.

Okay, what the hell?


::tsuzuku::


Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Alright, here is the first chapter of this two part fic; hopefully some of you were able to derive some amusement out of reading it!

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Next, to clarify, this fic is what I'd call a TYL AU ficlet. It is set in a Ten Years Later KHR!verse, but is considered AU due to the fact that Rasiel is clearly alive, and not only that, I have also altered the storyline such that the entire Tsiveone Royal Family is alive as well, and that Rasiel is Astonia's rightful Crown Prince instead of Belphegor. Also, the fight to the death where Belphegor had allegedly 'killed' Rasiel at the age of eight did not happen, and therefore Rasiel bears no scars whatsoever on his torso. The reasoning for these changes will be revealed in the next chapter, so I won't spoil it for you for now.

I will be happy to explain everything again when I put up the last installment, for those who might still be confused at the end of the fic.

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For the new readers who were wondering just what the terms 'Tsiveone' and 'Astonia' mean, they are fictitious names of Belphegor and Rasiel's Royal Family as well as the European country that the Tsiveone monarchy rules over. I made them up when I was writing my other fic, 'Of Sparrow and Princes,' and had decided to borrow them for this verse as well.

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Belphegor has a crescent shaped birthmark on the right side of his stomach whereas Rasiel has a mirroring mark on his left. Assuming that Haru has no idea of that particular tidbit (I cannot see Belphegor being all that eager to discuss his detested brother's anatomy with his own wife, of all people), it's not difficult to see how she could have drawn the wrong conclusions.

…but then again, this is Haru we are talking about. Half the time, I don't know what that girl is thinking about in the manga-verse, haha.

Until next time!

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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-sllebswap