Title: And They Lived Happily Ever After

Author: sllebswap

Beta'd by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Belphegor

Type: OneShot Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 6921

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.

Summary: TYL ficlet. Outtakes and short stories from the 'Of Sparrows and Princes'-verse. Part One: The royal brats pay a visit to their parents – in the past.

Chapter Last Revised on: 04/05/13

The Royal Brats: Part I

At the outskirts of Varia territory, the peaceful tranquility of the Tuscan countryside was suddenly shattered by an abrupt explosion of smoke followed by a lot of coughing and swearing. Through the dense veil of dust particles, four figures tumbled ungracefully from the displaced space they suddenly appeared in, and although none were too thrilled about the situation, some were even less so than others.

"Whichever of you goons is sitting on me, get off now before I start hacking off body parts."

"Oww… It's me. Sorry, I didn't mean to land on you!"

"Talk lesser, move faster!"

"Yeesh, you know I can be such a klutz…!"

"Yeah? I kind of got that memo a long time ago. Just get off. We haven't even done anything yet and I'm already gritting my teeth and tenuously hanging onto the last threads of my patience. And while we're at it, keep Brat away from me before I accidentally kill him. I feel that I might actually succeed this time."

"Yes, yes! Getting off right now! …By the way, Miyu-nee, how are you still talking at the same time you are gritting your teeth?"

"Yah! Do you want to die?!"

"Eeeh!"

On the other side of the clearing, the third person, who had tumbled rather inelegantly onto the ground, snorted at all the noise coming from his two female siblings (the older one in particular was starting to bellow like she usually did) and lazily picked himself up. He stretched, absently dusted himself off, and then conveniently reached out to drop a restraining arm around the little shoulders of the one christened 'Brat' just in time to prevent the mischievous rascal from running off by himself. The youngster promptly protested and tried to twist away from the other's firm hold but to no avail.

"Nooo! Lemme go!"

"No way, kid. Mom will have my hide if we lose you." The lanky teen easily picked up the child around his middle and tucked the squirming kid under his arm. "Damn, that was one hell of a ride. You can't tell me that you didn't enjoy that, Brat."

He was promptly smacked hard across the back of his head by his fuming older sister, who had recovered from being a landing pad for their other sibling and stalked over to thump him a good one. Hotaru, his younger sister, (also most importantly, the more placid, agreeable, usually sweet tempered one), trailed behind and gave him a commiserating wince. At the same time, the three year old bundle of unimaginable chaos and never ending source of energy that was his little brother started to chew at his wrist in frustration from being picked up, and oh, great; why must he be stuck with a hot tempered, bossy, overbearing sister and a brat of a kid brother?

"I most definitely did not enjoy that," Miyuko, the grumpy one, hissed irritably then. "And this had better be the correct place because I'm not going through that again."

"We are at the right place," the long suffering male replied as patiently as he could, but was careful not to sound patronizing since his older sister had a keen ear for that and was not above kicking him around in retaliation. Really, with a sister like that, who needed enemies? Still, genetics were admittedly fair, to bless him with the superior intelligence inherent in both of their parents to counter his irritable sibling and her insanely proficient combat abilities—the scary woman could open a can of whoop ass on just about anyone who looked at her the wrong way.

It did not save him from being whacked once more, unfortunately, as if she could discern his disgruntled thoughts. He stoically absorbed the unwarranted abuse, though a visible vein throbbed on his temple. "Stop being such a bitch," he muttered under his breath, exasperated.

Sure enough, her keen hearing caught his words, and she whipped her head around quickly to scowl at him. "What did you just call me?" she demanded loudly.

He was smart enough to hold his silence, though unfortunately for him, Brat chose that moment to quit gnawing on his older brother's wrist and chime in, pointing at his fuming eldest sister as he did so. "Bitch!" he yelled out all too gleefully, only to squeal with alarm when said older brother promptly tried to strangle him into silence.

There was a lot of yelling going on by then, never mind the fact that two of the three involved were already in their mid to late teens. It quickly prompted the peacemaker of the family, coincidentally the second youngest of the four, to come hurrying over to join the fray, hoping to quickly mediate the situation before all the noise attracted the attention of anyone else in the vicinity.

"Waa! Mommy! I want Mommy!"

"Malaki Akihiko Artaxerxes Tsiveone II, you sniveling coward! Quit using Brat as a shield and take your punishment like a man!"

"I'll pass, thanks. Do I look stupid to you?"

"You always look stupid to me! Stop prancing around like a faggot so I can skewer you like a shish kebab!"

Brat was starting to wail loudly by then, unceremoniously adding to the rising cacophony, large, fat droplets of tears flowing down his cheeks as he did his best to look as pitiful as possible. His second sister came quickly to his rescue, deftly extracting him from the middle of the escalating altercation between their older siblings and expertly soothing him by planting a lollipop into his mouth, reserved especially for such occasions, which happened more often than they ought to. With the attention span of a puppy, the three year old quit crying immediately in favor of sucking furiously at the chocolate candy, and upon seeing that the child was appeased and momentarily content, Hotaru quickly hurried over to her other two siblings, who were much older and really should know better, she thought crossly.

"Can we please not fight until we reach the castle at least?" She had to raise her voice slightly to be heard by both her older brother and sister, but it was as if they hadn't registered her presence at all, busy as they were jumping all over the clearing like a couple of demented ninjas on crack as both genuinely tried their best to do in the other. The silver glints of flying blades and fiery Sun Flames flashed and surged overhead, and really, if this situation got any more out of hand, they would all be found out before they could even attempt to sneak into the castle undetected.

The young girl did not like doing what she was about to attempt, but it seemed to be the only tried and proven method when it came to effectively halting her elder siblings in whatever spat they happened to be embroiled in at the moment. So, mentally fortifying herself and praying to whatever god might be in the vicinity for some much needed luck, she took a deep breath and stepped into her siblings' direct line of fire, squeezing her eyes shut as she saw the sharp knives and savage fire racing towards her defenseless self at diametrically opposite directions.

The rush of supercharged hot air ruffled the thirteen year old's long hair and she could hear the sharp whistle of a lethal blade abruptly changing trajectory mere inches from her ear. Creative curses and displeased yells of her name were quickly heard, but as usual, her older siblings promptly stayed their hands at her intrusion in their impromptu fight.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Moron! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Ten years of being the baby of the family prior to Brat's unexpected birth clearly had its advantages when it came to managing her older siblings, as both immediately dropped whatever snit they had with each other to crossly berate her for her reckless behavior, something she had adopted at the tender age of two when she had wanted the attention of the two older children while they were too busy chucking their father's spare knives at each other at the respective ages of four and six. Never mind that she was now a lot older and well on her way to becoming a respectable young lady, apparently, old habits were hard to break and her two elder siblings immediately gathered around her in concern, admonishing the 'Piccola Principessa' of their family for her risky behavior. She was hardly that little anymore, but the third born of the family knew that she was very likely stuck with the embarrassing title for the rest of her life, so why not just milk it for all it was worth?

The soft, gentle doe brown eyes that she had inherited from their mother were extremely effective when it came to guilt tripping her older and more powerful siblings, and she had learned over the years how to make the best use out of her sweetly pretty, innocent features to convince others to do her bidding. Coupled with a serenely cheerful aura and a seemingly harmless demeanor, it was easy for her to politely convey her wishes to the unsuspecting individuals around her and have them fulfilled quickly. She was the sweetheart of their infamously notorious family, and people tended to drop their guard around her much faster than they would ever consider around her siblings, something she learned to take advantage of when there was a need for her to do so, though she was much too nice and sweet natured to attempt it often.

"Sorry to interrupt your daily bonding exercise, Miyu-nee, Aki-nii," she apologized with contriteness to the familiar backdrop of her siblings' indignant sputters. "I just wanted to get your attention before somebody else heard the commotion and wandered over to check." She looked at them beseechingly. "Can we not fight amongst ourselves until we have accomplished what we are here for? Not to mention, it'll be Brat's naptime soon, and he is going to get cranky if we are still not done by then."

The oldest trio turned to glance at their angelic looking youngest sibling, who was at the moment standing at the edge of the clearing, quiet and content as he kept himself blissfully occupied with his chocolate lollipop. Unfortunately, that peaceful satisfaction could disappear when all the candy was gone, and even if it didn't seem possible right now, the golden-haired, precociously cherubic child could turn into a demon brat of unspeakable proportions if granted enough incentive to be so. Without their parents around to control their horrendously devilish hell spawn, the rest of the siblings could only endeavor to get their objectives accomplished as soon as possible and head back where they belonged before the youngest one could start throwing any temper tantrums.

"Point," the elder brother acknowledged the younger teen's reasoning, pragmatic as ever and immediately shrugging off whatever conflict he had with his firstborn sister, his laidback and relaxed personality rising to the surface as he easily let go of his exasperation towards his rash and hot tempered older sibling.

Said rash and hot-tempered older sibling had a harder time dismissing her agitation, unhappy to be denied a proper fight to channel her irritation toward. She did subside reluctantly though, grumbling under her breath the entire while. "Should have helped Dad drown the troublesome brat in the toilet when he was born," Miyuko muttered disgruntledly. "But noooo, you guys thought that he was a cute little bugger. See how that decision is coming back around to bite us in our collective asses now?"

"Dad should have drowned you in the toilet," Malaki muttered in retaliation, and then he quickly tilted his head to the side to allow the dangerous hunting Sai that she had swiftly hurled at him in retaliation to whizz by harmlessly, hardly even batting an eye over the speed and ferocity of the attack. Fifteen years' worth of experience being on the receiving end of his sister's myriad bursts of temper had taught him the art of dodging with finesse, though thankfully, he didn't have to do much else this time, since his younger sister quickly nipped the escalating altercation in the bud by nimbly stepping between her older siblings once again.

"Come on, fratellone, sorellona," she cajoled exasperatedly in the musical tongue of the Italian language. "Knock it off. We really need to get going. Can I trust the both of you to behave like a pair of rational individuals while I get Brat?"

The resulting silence that followed her question was so absolute that crickets could be heard chirping in the background. The brunette sighed inwardly, and then she narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, giving them a particularly familiar stare of abject disappointment that never failed to quickly prod them into a positive response.

"Alright already," her older sister burst out irritably at last. "Stop looking at us like you are channeling Mom. We'll behave," she replied, rolling her eyes. Then, she reached around the younger female and loudly smacked her brother on the head. "Right, my cutest, most precocious, baby brother?"

Said 'baby brother' rolled his eyes as well, and scowled slightly. "I'm hardly a baby any more than you are a delicate little flower, you crazy, violent shrew."

He was promptly rewarded for his frankness with yet another hard swat to the back of his head. Malaki just gritted his teeth and ignored her. With all the abuse he had been receiving for so many years, it was a miracle that he had not degenerated into a blabbering imbecile. Somebody up there must really hate him, to pair him with such a disagreeable sibling. The irritated blonde turned to his younger sister.

"I will get Brat," he told her shortly before heading to the youngest of their family and singlehandedly picking up the three year old, who was still calmly sedate and preoccupied with his lollipop, and therefore put up no struggle as his older brother tucked him under his arm and carried him towards the rest of their siblings.

"Alright, now that we are all more or less adjusted to the past dimension, let's just get this done ASAP."

"Let's go meet our parents."

It was not easy being a married man, as Belphegor would tell just about anyone who was conveniently on hand to listen to his complaints. Unfortunately enough for a certain Archduke as well as a few of the Varia Commanders who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the formidable Storm Flame wielder had already unloaded more than his fair share of marital grouses and then some more, whether they actually wanted to hear it or not, and it did not look like he was planning to give up on those free therapy sessions any time soon.

Evidently, the blonde had not expected that married life would be so hectic and add on to his already busy schedule. In between his duties to his country and the various Varia assignments, he now had a wife to look after as well, and although she was mostly self-sufficient and at the same time discreetly watched over by his faithful servants, the recent kidnapping incident had made him acutely aware of the lethal danger that could befall her if he was careless enough to let his guard down for any perpetrator to take advantage of the situation. The infuriating and highly stressful experience of searching for an abducted wife—especially when she was one (and the only one) whom he was so unabashedly partial to—was most definitely not something he wished to repeat again, and as such, he was now becoming rather overprotective and quickly learning to be much more wary and discerning than usual when it came to the matter of her safety.

And then there was also the rather annoying fact that the Royal Council was constantly badgering him with deceptively harmless proposals and statutes for him to sign into effect, but upon closer inspection, almost always contained a subtly hidden clause or another that cleverly attempted to block his Princess Consort and/or any of their future offspring from accessing the Tsiveone royal throne and fortune. Really, the bunch of over meddling fools must think he was an idiot who stupidly signed anything that was placed before him to constantly try his patience like this. Naturally, he had retaliated in kind by contacting his solicitor and redrawing his will to include Haru and all of their yet unborn children, ensuring that they would be well provided for and firmly protected by the power of his royal family in the event that anything untoward happened to him.

Needless to say, the silent political battle had generated even more paperwork for the Crown Prince to go through, and therein laid his increasing disgruntlement and displeasure. Alaisdair just flat out ignored the blonde's grumblings and continued to pass over more documents for him to peruse, mercilessly not cutting his King any slack whatsoever no matter how unhappily the younger man muttered about it. Those papers weren't going to sign themselves, after all.

Still, married life was not all doom and gloom and chasing after errant wives who somehow always got themselves into one form of trouble or another. It was actually quite bearable, enjoyable even, as Belphegor grudgingly admitted to himself, not to mention a completely novel experience. Sometimes, it still surprised the blonde that he had somehow captured the love and loyalty of a woman who was so very different from himself in terms of personality, but the bone deep sense of contentment and belonging that he derived around her simply spoke for itself, and he quickly grew possessive of her open, loving nature and unconditional acceptance of him.

She was intelligent, sweet and loving, and had more faith and trust in him than anyone else in the world. She made him feel…happy, if that was actually the correct word to describe that bemusing sensation of warmth and pleasure that seemed to emanate from him when he was in her vicinity, and that was not even taking in consideration of their satisfying sex lives. She fulfilled him, and it did not take long for Belphegor to come to the conclusion that her presence in his life was a much welcomed (and fiercely hoarded) one, and that she was well worth his protection and also his (impatient) putting up with whatever trouble she could stir up.

Now that the Prince had finally found his Princess, it was only natural for the household staff to prepare for the next stage of the couple's relationship—much to said couple's chagrin. The loyal men and women who had tirelessly devoted their lives to the Astonian Crown Prince wanted nothing more than to see the near extinct royal clan flourish once more, and they were already actively anticipating the conception of the next generation of Tsiveone heirs.

Belphegor had to hand it to them; his servants had certainly done their homework thoroughly when it came to this particular matter. In light of their ambitious goal, everything beneficial to 'the cause' had been done to ensure that the royal couple would conceive quickly. Haru was served nourishing meals to boost her fertility levels and strengthen her overall health so that her body would easily sustain a fledgling pregnancy when it occurred, and food with proven aphrodisiac properties were given to Belphegor to enhance his potency and vigor—not that he needed it, judging by his natural eagerness to couple with his wife, but evidently, more was always better in this case, and the servants were always more than happy to be safe rather than sorry.

Then there were also the less than subtle hints that Francesca would relay to him at a certain time of each month, when Haru was feeling even more affectionate and loving than usual and was, apparently, at the peak of her ovulation cycle. It seemed to Belphegor that the servants would become even more discreet and inconspicuous during that period of time, taking great care not to intrude upon the couple's privacy and, at the same time, efficiently handle just about any matter short of an outright mission on behalf of their Prince just so that he could spend more time bonding with his Princess. Belphegor was certainly appreciative of their initiative, but clearly they were taking their duties to a whole new level that not even he had witnessed before.

Evidently, this was an entire order of magnitude up from the adage 'it takes an entire village to raise a child'—in this case, the cooperation of an entire castle was required to assist in the conception of a Tsiveone heir—metaphorically speaking, of course.

It was rather convenient to have such dedicated helpers, but that did not mean that Belphegor was in anyway moved by their actions to deliberately apply himself to work harder on the baby making front. There was no hurry; both he and Haru were still relatively young, after all. Nature would take its course; they would have kids when it was time, and it wasn't as if he was in that great of a rush to share the attention of his sparrow with an entire passel of their brats so quickly, anyhow.

The blonde was definitely enjoying the downtime afforded to him as an indirect consequence of this heir creating business though; lazing around the castle and spending uninterrupted time around Haru was always pleasant—during brief, lulling periods of peace between assignments, that was.

As of now, he was content to remain near his wife, taking short missions in the Varia claimed territory of Tuscany, and by default, Florence. The brief engagements to watch over the historical capital allowed him to leave the castle during the day to go about on Varia business and still be back by evening, an adequate arrangement that rather pleased him. Of course, that also meant that the defense of the Castle fell upon him during this quarterly rotation since the other Commanders would be working in other territories and fulfilling their own obligations and assignments elsewhere. Usually, the servants and foot soldiers guarding the Castle were more than enough to defend the vast property, but every once in a blue moon, there would be perpetrators skilled enough to require the attention of a Commander, and therein laid the responsibility of whichever Varia executive happened to be in charge of protecting the Tuscany territory for the season.

Therefore, when Mortigor came knocking on the door that evening, apologizing for the intrusion and calmly insisting for his master to attend to a rather unusual security breach, Belphegor wasn't all that surprised. Since it had been a rather uneventful day so far, dealing with a bunch of trespassers idiotic enough to break into Varia territory would prove to be momentarily entertaining, at the very least.

Beside him, Haru stirred to attention with a small frown at the news. In light of the rather recent abduction attempt, it would not be unexpected for her to react with wariness and unease in such a situation, but surprisingly enough, that had been barely her concern. "I think I better check to make sure that the server networks are secure and have not been hacked into."

The brunette put down the novel she had been reading and then frowned distractedly down at her husband when he did not obligingly move his head off her lap. The blonde was stretched lazily over the couch, shamelessly occupying as much space as he possibly could and contentedly using his wife as a convenient headrest, even as the exasperated woman was squeezed up against the end of the sofa in order to accommodate his lanky form. He had been lazily channel surfing prior to Mortigor's interruption, indolently bored but not restless enough to do anything about it, and besides, Haru had been steadily lulling him into a state of semi-relaxation as she absently fingered his hair and massaged his scalp whilst she read her mystery novel, and it felt good enough that he was willing to stay put and enjoy her ministrations.

"Bel, get off," Haru muttered then, shooting Mortigor a brief, embarrassed glance as the love of her life insisted on behaving like a stubborn, overgrown child before the butler who had practically raised him from babyhood. To his credit, Mortigor was hardly fazed by his master's behavior and remained as stoic and as unobtrusive as the floor lamp beside him as he waited patiently for further instructions.

"You are staying right here until I have resolved the problem," Belphegor remarked then, calm as you please. In the past, he would have cared less what she did while he left to deal with the attack, but that was no longer the case. He was adjusting quickly to his new responsibilities as a husband, was more emotionally invested in her wellbeing than ever, and was therefore more protective of her than before. If it meant that he had to become just a bit more attentive and vigilant in order to keep his mate close, then he would just have to do whatever it took to keep her secure and unharmed, even if he complained about it the entire way to anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity to hear of his displeasure. He was also prepared to ignore the many protests that the foolhardy woman he married would no doubt generate, but surprisingly enough, she yielded to his demand with little fanfare.

"Alright," Haru agreed all too readily, but apparently, her lack of overt disagreement was rather suspicious to her spouse, and she had to further elaborate on the reason for her suddenly obliging temperament to appease his paranoid nature. "I can work anywhere as long as I have my laptop, which happens to be right here. Of course, I'd prefer to interact directly with the servers down in the dungeon vaults if possible, but that's not likely to happen at the moment, is it?"

He didn't even bother to deny her observation, only grunting under his breath and moving off her lap now that he had secured her agreement to stay put. "You get into enough trouble when left unchecked," he muttered. "I'm merely trying to contain the amount of mayhem that you can cause by limiting the scope of your movements."

Haru gave him a small scowl at his pointed reminder of her carelessness; he was still taking every available opportunity to bring up the kidnapping incident that it would be a miracle if she could put it behind her anytime soon, even if she had already learned her lesson from the experience. He ignored the irritated look she was giving him, and merely stretched lazily and rolled his shoulders and neck, loosening his stance in preparation for direct confrontation.

Belphegor took blatant advantage of her disgruntled preoccupation to lean over and steal a hard, fast kiss from his wife. The surprised, chagrinned, look on her face when he pulled back made him chuckle. Meanwhile, their stoic butler suddenly found the ceiling very interesting, and did his best to blend in with the giant pot of shrubbery at the corner of the room. Haru, not expecting his quick, affectionate gesture, promptly forgot about her irritation with him and flushed pink.

"I- wha- you-" She frowned at him then, flustered. "Don't distract me like that!"

He huffed under his breath, entertained by her abashed demeanor. The knowledge that he could affect her so easily was immensely appealing to his masculine ego and every bit as satisfying. "Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured in a silky drawl. "Be good; I'll be back soon."

The lean, rangy Varia unfolded himself from the couch in a graceful, cat-like manner and sent his butler a fleeting smirk.

"Now, let's go deal with the problem."

Fifteen minutes later, the golden-haired Varia emerged from the one of the hallways leading to the grand foyer just in time to see a pair of Varia foot soldiers soar majestically through the imposing front doors of the castle before landing spectacularly in a groaning heap on the highly polished marbled floors and finally sliding to a stop at the edge of his boots. The concentrated blast of Storm Flames that had precipitated their unnatural flight had made his brow rise ever so slightly; obviously one of the intruders was a practitioner of his flame type. Curiously enough, the signature of the flame felt bemusingly familiar, but before he could wonder too long about that, another trio of soldiers came flying in through the entrance before crashing unceremoniously into a pile with their fellow colleagues, successfully knocking all five unconscious.

Belphegor narrowed his eyes slightly at that. Foot soldiers or not, these Varia guards were going to have to be trained intensively if they could not even hold a defensive formation long enough for backup to arrive. As if completely agreeing with his thought, a loud, unfamiliar voice from outside echoed his sentiments.

"You pussies really need to train more! What the hell is this lousy defense, useless maggots?! You call yourself guards? I wouldn't even trust you to guard a rotting carcass! Hey! Where do you think you are going, huh?! I'm not done yet! Come back here and let me kick your asses!"

Through it all, Belphegor's eyebrow rose higher and higher the more he overheard all the demanding bellowing going on outside, generously interspersed with what sounded like cries of mercy from the overwhelmed foot soldiers. Those who were still able to move from whatever was going on outside were quickly scrambling into the castle in a frantic attempt to retreat from the intruder, and so panicked were their movements that they failed to notice him standing a small distance away from the commotion going on, desperate to close the huge Flame-proofed doors of the castle before that crazy entity forced its way in. Belphegor could have told them that they would not make it in time, having sensed the surge of Storm Flames being generated from the outside. Once again, the power that thrummed from the unknown wielder felt so strangely familiar to the blonde that it immediately threw up warning flags.

It was only when the powerful blast of pressured air from the Flame attack forced open the doors, coincidentally knocking away the rest of the soldiers, that Belphegor realized with a start just why he felt somewhat connected to the foreign Flame signature—the resonance of the Flame, the unique execution of the attack—it was almost like his own.

Familial.

That realization quickly made alarm bells ring in his mind, and the Storm Varia tensed imperceptibly before he scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. Then, he simply waited for the perpetrator to reveal himself, his hard gaze glued to the entrance, perfectly still as he remained partially concealed behind a pillar, taking the opportunity to unobtrusively observe the opponent before he struck and dealt with the situation swiftly and decisively. If the intruder was fast and smart enough, then perhaps the resulting battle would be interesting enough to hold his attention. If not, well, Belphegor decided that he most definitely did not mind returning to his wife and occupying his time with more stimulating pursuits instead.

Then, he saw the girl.

She came in, sauntering confidently into the foyer, still subtly glowing with the Storm Flame she controlled, elegantly twirling a pair of elaborate, lethal, three pronged hunting Sais with one hand, bearing a cocksure smirk on her face exactly like the one he always saw in his own reflection, her exotic, almond shaped eyes amusedly surveying the damage that she had wrought with a degree of pleasure that he could easily relate to. Even from the distance, Belphegor could clearly see the unique color of the teenager's irises. Gold. It was a brilliant shade of gold that simply could not be mistaken for anything else.

Tsiveone Gold.

Belphegor stared.

The girl, perhaps sixteen, seventeen at most, was clearly not anyone he recognized as blood kin. In fact, Belphegor was pretty damned sure that he had never seen her before. But there was no one left with the pure Tsiveone Royal blood with the exception of himself—he had made very certain of that when he exterminated every last member of his faithless family—so the obvious resemblance in bone structure and similarity in facial features briefly threw Belphegor in for a loop. The slender, almost unnoticeable platinum circlet that sat on the crown of the teenager's head was a symbol of her own royal status, indicating that she was at least a Princess in rank, which was, of course, once again impossible since he was the last Astonian Prince—or at least, he was supposed to be. With all that in mind, the blonde would have suspected that he was staring at an imposter (a really stupid one) if not for the fact that the girl's Flame signature was resonating perfectly with his own, a sure sign of a direct familial connection.

Brunettes were also rather rare in the bloodline of the Tsiveone royal family; the members of his now extinct clan were predominantly blonde, a nod towards their proud Nordic ancestry, but the girl's long, finely straight hair, tied back in a loose French braid, was comparable in shade to Haru's, and even the tilt of her eyes was cat-like, distinctly Asian, though her nose was straight and narrow, her cheekbones high and aristocratic. It was obvious that she was born from a mixed parentage, with her exotic features and unusual Eurasian beauty, which made the entire situation even stranger—and downright unlikely.

No proud, self-respecting Tsiveone he knew would dare create a child of mixed heritage; no, the royal blood was too sacred and precious to be tainted like that, and thus to date, he had been the only one who had broken rank by ignoring that outdated belief and taking a Japanese woman as his wife. Of course, he was also the last of his line, so it wasn't as if there was anyone around to oppose to his marriage, not that he would have listened even if there was.

So, who was this girl and where did she come from?

"Good god, you guys really are pathetic," the teen muttered then, coming to a stop at the center of the foyer and eyeing the fallen soldiers around her disdainfully. Then, she casually sheathed her Sais into their holsters harnessed to both sides of her upper thighs before straightening to her full height and placing her hands on her hips, and of all things, Belphegor was suddenly struck by the girl's sheer resemblance to Haru. That demeanor; the way she tilted her chin up and scowled, brow furrowing, her eyes narrowing with an irritated, mulish glint, was so exactly like his wife that the Belphegor could only stare and wonder what the hell was going on.

Okay, who was this kid?

"Aki!" the girl turned her head towards the entrance and hollered out of a sudden then, her eyebrow twitching and a vein throbbing visibly on her temple. Belphegor scowled inwardly at the unexpected volume, considerable even from the distance he happened to be away from her, still undetected for now. It was rather apparent to him that this girl had been the one doing all that brash shouting outside; evidently, despite her tall and rangy appearance, she possessed quite the pair of lungs on her and could bellow like a fishmonger.

"Aki! Get your lazy ass over here right now! You better not be slacking out there, or I swear to god I will kick your ass so hard, you will be eating my shoe for! One! Year! Yah! Malaki Akihiko!"

Whoever that guy was, Belphegor decided that he could only feel sorry for that unfortunate soul for having to put up with the sharp-tongued little shrew, blood relative or not. To think that the Varia Castle had been so easily invaded by a bratty kid and whoever else she had thought to bring along on this jaunty little fieldtrip; he was going to personally whip those guards into proper shape after he handled this 'attack.' He had seen enough to ascertain his next course of action, and was about to reveal himself to deal with this ridiculous situation before it got even more embarrassing for the Varia when another figure hurried through the doors and into the foyer.

Belphegor stilled once more and his attention snapped to the newcomer immediately, automatically assessing the potential opponent for weaknesses that he could exploit. It was another girl, and whereas the loudmouthed one at least looked like she knew her way around a battlefield, this one appeared about as far removed from it as he would a ballet troupe. The second girl was even younger than the first, judging by appearance, perhaps only about twelve or thirteen years of age, possessing a slight, petite build, a tiny, exquisite tiara resting on the crown of her head, her hair the same shade of brunette as the first—suggesting a possible familial relationship—only in the latter's case, the rich, chocolate brown mass flowed unbounded down her back in long, soft curls and framed a delicate, heart-shaped face with dainty doll-like features—

There and then, Belphegor decided that he must officially have stepped into the Twilight Zone.

For in that young girl, he suddenly found himself looking at a face he had not seen for over twenty-five years, and even though the hair and those eyes were not the same—the unknown teen's large, soulful doe brown gaze bore a startling, uncanny resemblance to his wife's instead—it was as if he was staring at the ghost of his long dead mother—a much younger version, at least.

The Storm Unit Commander was completely flabbergasted. His What-The-Hell-O-Meter was jumping like mad even as his mind raced to figure out what was going on. He was also getting rather irritated—if this was a joke, then he sure as hell was not finding the punch line particularly funny at all.

"Nee-san, not so loud, please! Everyone is going to hear us coming!" the younger teen hushed in a reproachful and, most importantly, quiet voice. The sweet-faced girl-child bit her lip worriedly before continuing. "Erm, nii-san might be a bit preoccupied at the moment, and won't be joining us for quite some time, I think."

That quickly prompted the noisy one to respond with a scowl that was disconcertingly similar to the one forming on his own face. "Why?!" she barked out fiercely, little white fangs peeking out from under her upper lip in her agitation. "What has that idiot done now?"

The younger sibling shot a slightly worried glance in the direction which she had come from, and then she turned back to her scarily towering sister, who had somehow managed to sprout a pair of horns and a forked tail in the short instance she wasn't paying attention to her. A mildly nervous expression fleeted briefly across the younger girl's face at her sister's intimidating appearance and she shrunk back slightly before recovering herself, shaking her head exasperatedly at the latter's aggressive nature.

"Uh, the thing is that…we might have…sort of…maybe…lost…Brat?"

The younger sister cringed inwardly and mentally prepared herself for the resulting fallout. She would not be disappointed.

Loudmouth's eyelid ticked ominously.

"What?! What do you mean that you two lost Brat?! I only left you guys alone for ten minutes, tops! How could you lose him so quickly?!"

The veritable gust of outrage that erupted from the taller teen was almost enough to bowl over her younger counterpart. The gentler sister winced at the sheer volume of her sibling's displeasure and then automatically put out her two hands in an attempt to placate the fuming teen.

"Sorry, Sis! Aki-nii had tried his best, but Brat was starting to fuss and erm, he managed to kick nii-san in a…rather sensitive and inappropriate place during the struggle to be let down…and…Brat ran off the first chance he got. I tried to catch him, but it was getting really dark outside and I tripped over a protruding root- mou, Miyu-nee, don't laugh! When I came running in just now, Aki-nii was still curled up in a ball outside!"

The older teen had lost some of her righteous fury during the midst of her sister's report, and had snorted with amusement in a completely unladylike manner, since she could very well guess just which 'sensitive and inappropriate' body part their crazy hell spawn of a youngest brother had gone after with the single minded determination of a shark scenting fresh blood. She was laughing outright by the end of the younger girl's remarks, throwing her head back in an unrestrainedly tomboyish manner and emitting husky sounding barks of amusement.

"Hah, maybe I won't yell at that idiot too much, then, but only if he is still walking funnily enough to be entertaining."

"Nee-san!" the younger sister protested immediately, frowning disapprovingly. "That's not very nice."

The cocky, confident smirk that appeared on the elder sibling's face only seemed to accentuate her cat-like golden eyes and beautiful exotic features, everything that was the best of both of her parents.

"Too bad. I don't have to be nice. I'm the Crown Princess of Astonia, after all."

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Hello there, my fellow BelHaru fans! I hope all of you are doing well; it's been months since I last stepped into this fandom, but as promised, this is the first chapter of the 'Of Sparrows and Princes' outtakes that I have mentioned awhile back. Like the original series, this fic will be written in arcs, and this is just the first of many to come.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the debut of the BelHaru fanbabies so far (even though most of them aren't babies anymore in this arc). More on them will be revealed soon as the story progresses; I ask you to be patient till then.

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FYI, 'fratellone' and 'sorellona' roughly/informally translates to 'big brother' and 'big sister' in Italian. Similarly, the term 'piccola principessa' means 'little princess' in Italian.

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Last but not least, I'm really glad to be back here again! See you all around soon!

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

-sllebswap