Title: Blood Song

Author: sllebswap

Beta'd by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Belphegor

Type: Continuous (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 4989

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.

Summary: AU. He's a temperamental, self-indulgent assassin Prince. She's a feisty, righteous half bred Vampiress with a heart of gold. When it turns out that his blood is something that she cannot live without, the dynamics of their relationship quickly changes into something very…interesting.

Chapter Last Revised on: 25/05/13

Chapter One

The scent of his blood was driving her crazy.

Her fangs were threatening to burst out of her gums and hunger rippled through her entire being as she stared at the deep lacerations that ran along his sleek torso. In the semi-darkness, her usually nondescript brown eyes glowed with preternatural intent as she gazed, mesmerized, at the dark crimson beads of life-giving fluid that slowly gathered along his wounds before streaking down his pale chest in stark rivulets of the bloodiest red. She shivered slightly and licked her lips at the pleasurable thought of catching each of those delicious little droplets with her tongue, but then she promptly returned to her senses and panic quickly set in.

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. This was bad. This was really bad.

Haru closed her eyes briefly and resisted the urge to turn away from the sight of the male who was wreaking all sorts of havoc on her senses. She tried to take her focus off of the sharp, delicious smell of iron that he was giving out and ended up fixating on his starkly visible injuries once again, her incisors slowly lengthening inside her mouth. Moaning inwardly to herself, Haru resisted the urge to bang her forehead against the nearest vertical surface.

Why here? Why now? Why him?

This was a really terrible time to stumble upon the one person whom she had hoped never to run into since the age of sixteen. In fact, the choice itself was completely non-ideal as well, and stubbornly steeped in denial, Haru willfully tried to resist the inevitable realization.

But blood would not lie, and all of her senses were going into overdrive just from being in his presence, and once again, Haru silently bemoaned her predicament. This was supposed to be a routine rescue mission; she was not supposed to stumble upon her Source here, of all places!

And that he had turned out to be an ally, a faction of the Vongola Famiglia - Varia, assassin, Storm Unit Commander - was something that Haru had not expected at all. She should have listened to her mother when the latter warned her she would never be able to avoid the fate of her kind – even if she was but a Halfling – but this, this was just too sudden! She wasn't mentally prepared!

She was still frozen in place, in shock from the moment she first laid eyes on him and realized that it was the scent of his blood that had led her to him - that he was hers - slowly morphing to indecisiveness...and hunger.

What to do, what to do?

Rejection was not an option, and neither was ignorance. Every part of her being rebelled violently against the notion of discounting his presence – his blood would be the sweetest thing she would ever drink, her instincts whispered enticingly to her, like nothing she had ever tasted before – his existence was for her benefit, her more dominate, animalistic side insisted arrogantly, he belonged to her.

He sensed her presence despite his weakened state, stiffening slightly even as he hissed out. "Who's there?

Haru knew that she could not hide any longer; shaking her head inwardly, she forced herself to ignore her own urges and concentrate on the mission at hand instead. She immediately felt guilty; she was supposed to rescue him, not look at him like he was food - no matter how much her senses were urging her to sink her teeth into him.

After a brief hesitation, Haru revealed her presence. The powers that had materialized when she had fully Changed at the age of sixteen had granted her the ability to assist more actively in the various assignments of the Famiglia, though what she really was and the fact that she was without a Flame was a closely guarded secret amongst the Vongola. In the end, she had chosen to be part of Rescue and Retrieval because it was one of the more low profile divisions in the Family, and the abilities that were inherent to those of her kind made her perfect for the job.

There was no one in the Famiglia that could move like a wraith the way she could.

Dressed completely in black from the neck down, Haru soundlessly materialized before the man who was causing her such conflict.

The Storm Prince Belphegor was strung up like an animal and hanging from the wall by his wrists, his weapons stripped from him and his chest bare, the stark ivory of his torso painted an obscene red from what looked like repeated lashings, and the scent and sight of his blood was almost too much for her to bear. Her fangs slid out fully, and Haru bit down hard on her own lip in an attempt to use her blood to mask the tantalizing smell of his.

"Belphegor-san," she addressed huskily, flashing the seal that marked her as a member of the Vongola. "I'm Miura Haru from Rescue and Retrieval, and I've been sent to help you escape this place. Please assist me by cooperating in this endeavor."

She was struggling to hide her less than appropriate thoughts behind a veil of impersonal professionalism, but the man hardly cared about that.

"The mission-" he rasped, and Haru shook her head.

"Your mission has been compromised and thus aborted," she informed him swiftly. "Please return to headquarters with me to await further instructions."

She went up to him and took out a set of keys that she had lifted from the guard outside. Haru wasted no time releasing him from his bonds. Severely weakened and depleted of energy, he barely had enough power left to remain standing on his own, and Haru quickly stepped up to offer support. He was a proud man though and tried to refuse help from her – a virtual stranger and a woman at that – but Haru quickly put a stop to that nonsense by simply not allowing him to pull away from her grasp. Thanks to the diluted blood of a supernatural parent running through her, she was a lot stronger than the average human being, Flame abilities or not, and the golden-haired assassin was certainly surprised when he found that he could not budge from her hold.

Haru frowned at the stubborn male. "Belphegor-san, I can and will knock you out if you insist on being difficult," she threatened mildly. "Unless you wish to be carried back to headquarters, I suggest that you cooperate and allow me to help you escape this place swiftly and without detection."

She was serious, and the irritating antics of the stupid man were enough to snap her out of her instinctual fixation on him and start focusing on the assignment at hand. By sheer force of will, Haru ignored the blood – his blood – that was calling out to her and leveled her most annoyed glare at the Storm Varia. Great. Her Source was an overgrown brat. He was also glaring back at her like he wanted nothing more than to throttle her for her impertinence – only he was currently as weak as a baby and unable to do so.

"Woman, when I'm healed, you will pay for this, just mark my words," he growled furiously, but he had also quit resisting her efforts to help, so she merely cocked her head at him and shrugged.

"You may try, Belphegor-san, but you will find that I'm very hard to kill," she commented truthfully. She was not lying; the resilience of her mother's kind had been passed on to her, even though she was only a hybrid with a human father. Naturally, Belphegor did not know that and just assumed that the woman was being cocky with him, of all people! He did try to reach over to throttle her then but much to his chagrin, his legs gave out on him suddenly and he had to fight not to pass out from the extensive blood loss instead. Haru lowered him onto the floor and frowned with worry when she saw the extent of the damage that he had sustained. This certainly explained why his blood was all she could think of when she first found him; at this moment, it certainly looked like there was more of it outside of him than in.

He was going to require serious medical attention very soon, but they were still entrenched in enemy territory and she would not be able to get him back to the base in time. That was obviously unacceptable, and Haru knew what she had to do, even though if she didn't like it.

"You are bleeding too much; I need to close those wounds right now."

Somehow, she wasn't surprised when he wasted no time protesting her decision.

"Do…not…touch me, Commoner!" Never mind that his lips were paling and he was already beginning to slur, but he was emphatic in his demand. He was also promptly ignored, and grimacing inwardly for what she was about to do, Haru brought the soft underside of her wrist to her mouth, exposed her long, sharp incisors, and bit down, breaking skin and nicking a minor artery. Immediately, fresh blood welled up onto the surface of her flesh, and crouched beside his lying form, she quickly offered her blood to him.

He was disgusted by what she wanted him to do and immediately pulled away from her. "What the hell do you think you are doing, you madwoman-"

"My blood possesses special healing properties," she gritted out. Never mind that this was not the first time that she had received that repulsed reaction whenever she had to reveal this ability of hers, but it still hurt to be treated like a freak of nature, and especially coming from the person who was supposed to be her Source. "Just take it; I have no reason to harm you, and I promise that you will feel better after."

With that, she brought her wrist to his mouth once again, and although his lips were turned down with obvious distaste, he no longer tried to turn away from her. The injured blonde looked at the strange woman; he had never heard of any ability like the one she professed to have, and it was all very suspicious. And then, there was also the fact that he just watched her slice open her own flesh with nothing but her teeth, and the strange, otherworldly glow in her eyes as she stared at him intently.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded harshly.

Haru flinched inwardly at the guarded question, but she shook her head at him and replied. "Irrelevant. You need to drink." She paused briefly, and then added. "Please."

That did the trick. Still, the injured blonde had the gall to scowl at her before he wordlessly accepted her offer, reaching up with his hand to bring her wounded wrist to his mouth to consume her blood.

Haru was surprised by how little persuasion it took to convince him to drink from her; usually, she had a lot of trouble getting her injured charges to get over the taboo of taking her blood, but his swift acceptance had just made her job easier. Haru settled beside him, fisting her hand and squeezing rhythmically, encouraging the blood flow from her wound. She was not worried that her self-inflicted injury would dry up anytime soon; her saliva possessed anti-coagulant properties that ensured she would bleed long enough to restore his health before the cut closed up. For now, the brunette sat and waited for the effects of her blood to take effect, idly running her eyes over Belphegor's torso as she did so. It did not take long for the signs of healing to show; the sluggish bleeding of his wounds slowed further, and then ceased completely. Next, the raw slashes that ran haphazardly across his chest started to knit themselves together and close up; it would have been a miraculous sight to behold if not for the fact that Haru had witnessed this regeneration process dozens of times already.

She was right.

He could feel himself getting stronger with each swallow of her life essence, quickly gaining strength even as her blood entered his system, warming him in a way not unlike his favorite brandy. The taste of her was unexpectedly heady, and beyond the initial metallic taste, there was a mild sweetness that tantalized his palate, and a lazy, euphoric pleasure slowly filled his senses. He needed more. His hold on her wrist tightened imperceptibly as he brought her arm closer and started to lap eagerly at her slender appendage, coaxing more of that delicious blood to rise up to the surface, and faintly, he thought he heard her draw a sharp breath in response.

His injuries were mending together well enough, but she had not expected that he would choose to latch onto her with such enthusiasm, running his lips against the sensitive underside of her wrist, sucking and licking at her wound in a languid manner that quickly left butterflies fluttering helplessly in her stomach. The achy pain that resulted from his diligent worrying of her cut turned quickly into quasi-pleasure with every application of his agile tongue and warm mouth. Haru's eyes darkened as heat flooded in her lower belly in reaction to his unconsciously sensual ministrations, and she was stunned by her own sexual response to this man – nothing like this had happened before when she had 'donated' her blood to her allies, and the experience left Haru feeling shocked and rattled.

It was enough to convince the shaken female to pull away from the blonde, but he did not let her go easily. Belphegor grunted and refused to relinquish his hold on her, and her stomach did a quick backflip when his tongue darted out to lave hungrily at her blood stained flesh.

Oh god.

It took sheer force of will, but Haru managed to snatch her arm back from him abruptly. He growled with displeasure but the brunette deftly took the opportunity to move away from him.

"That's enough," she spoke in a faint, almost breathless manner. "You do not need a lot of my blood to heal up. Take some time to recover your bearings, Belphegor-san; I will scout ahead to prepare a path for escape and return for you shortly."

Without further ado, she simply took a step backwards and disappeared before his eyes like a wisp of smoke.

Belphegor's eyes narrowed. Who, or rather, what, was that woman?

After what seemed like a short moment later, he sensed movement outside the door of his cell.

Belphegor slipped silently into the dark corner behind the door, effectively masking his presence from possible intruders, and then he waited. Thanks to the rather unusual blood transfusion, his injuries were healing fast and he had also received a tremendous boost in his previously flagging energy levels – being captured and subsequently tortured by the enemy for days on end tended to have that adverse effect on individuals, Varia Commanders included. However, the blood of his new ally had worked like some strange miracle water when ingested, and the effects were amazing. The Storm Varia wondered how long the Main Famiglia had been keeping her presence and, by extension, her abilities under wraps–

The door creaked open then, and Belphegor sprung swiftly into action, wasting no time lunging over and putting the unidentified person in a secure stranglehold from behind, effectively muffling any possible verbal articulation as he did so. It was a good opportunity to test his newly regained strength. Even when stripped of his signature weapons, the lean, rangy blonde was still well-equipped to handle threats barehanded, and dragging the struggling individual near, he was prepared to snap the neck of the intruder when she exploded into action, smashing the back of her head into his and then going on to bite his hand. He felt impossibly sharp canines pierce his flesh, but didn't have time to swear when she stomped hard on his instep and whirled in his loosened hold to slam him against the wall, her forearm pressed horizontally against his throat to hold him there. Her brown eyes glowed with unnatural focus as their gazes met, and then she quickly realized just who she was assaulting and backed off.

"Don't startle me like that!" she informed him sharply with a frown. Then, she calmed down and shrugged off his sudden attack. "I thought I missed one when I was out clearing the way for our escape." She tensed slightly then, and her eyes quickly darted to his hand, which had started to bleed shortly after being bitten by her. A strange look crossed her face briefly, but she shook herself out of it and quickly turned away from him. "Let's go; the coast is clear now."

She didn't wait for him to respond, merely ducked out of the cell deftly and prepared to lead the way out to freedom. He was not very keen on the idea of blindly following someone he was not familiar with, but he had no choice for now, and first impression aside, the woman was actually more capable than he had originally assumed – her speed and strength had certainly been impressive.

Not for the first time that evening, his interest was roused. However, he was also strangely annoyed by her nonchalant reaction to him, especially when he had tried to kill her earlier (albeit under the false impression that she was the enemy), and she had just brushed it off like it was of little consequence to her. Belphegor twitched at the recollection; what was he, chopped liver?

They arrived at an intersection then, and the woman whom he was irritably contemplating came to a sudden stop from her noiseless, loping run. She went rigid and then stared hard at one of the darkened hallways that were open to them, her action not unlike that of a pointer hound that had just detected prey. He paused beside her to better observe what she was doing; mere moments later, hurried footsteps echoed down the passageway that had her attention, and a small group of armed guards ran towards them. He immediately took a defensive stance, instinctively preparing for combat, but she shook her head at him and spoke once more.

"Let me handle this. I will be done very shortly."

Usually, he would have protested with extreme violence at the mere notion of being told to sit out of a skirmish like some pansy (or just from being ordered about in general), but this time, curiosity kept his short temper at bay. He was interested to see what she could do against a group of enemies.

"Surround them, men! That's the Storm Varia Commander and his accomplice, don't let them escape!"

"Stop."

The command was quiet but impossibly compelling, and the men whom she had directed it to halted immediately in their tracks, frozen in their movements. The hairs at the back of Belphegor's nape stood straight up at the otherworldly tone, and his brows lifted in surprise; what manner of sorcery was this – like before, he had sensed no Flame being used – whatever was happening right now the woman was somehow doing it all on her own. Astounding.

Haru never took her eyes off of the opposing forces; she had forgotten to deal with this particular patrol group when she was systematically 'clearing' this route of potential obstructions, but her oversight was not a pressing concern for someone with her abilities.

"Walk away," she told them calmly but firmly. "There is no one here. You have seen and heard nothing out of the ordinary. You will ignore us and completely forget about our presence the moment you start moving again, is that clear?"

She quickly received glazed nods for her efforts.

"Good. Leave now. Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen."

Without another word, the group of men turned around and filed back down the hallway from which they first came in an un-protesting, dazed manner.

Belphegor stared at her incredulously.

"You brainwashed them," he pointed out flatly. "So this is what you do. You basically talked your way past all the defenses of this place, didn't you?"

Haru seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the Varia assassin beside her, for she looked startled when he suddenly spoke. His irritation increased further when she stepped away from him instinctively before nodding.

"The power of suggestion is part of my abilities," she admitted freely. Despite the unimpressed manner in which he had identified what she had done, she was not ashamed of this particular technique of hers. After all, it was quick, non-confrontational and fail-proof, not to mention, she would rather do this since the other available option would have been much more traumatic – and even deadly – for their foes. "Those men will be back to normal in no time; they just won't remember a thing about us. Let's hurry; a bit more and we will soon reach our escape vehicle."

She quickly led the way down the maze of passageways and he followed reluctantly. Belphegor was quickly getting sick of tailing after her like some lost duckling. The encounter earlier had opened his eyes to more of what this woman could do – that was a rather convenient ability that she had – but more questions had also arisen as a result. Not for the first time, Belphegor wondered what she was made of, and not knowing was quickly driving him up the wall.

Belphegor really hated unsolved mysteries, and she was becoming a rather attention grabbing one.

They soon made their way out of the mansion that he had been held prisoner in and proceeded to plunge straight into the dense woods that surrounded the private property. Thanks to his rescuer's unusual ability, they encountered no further trouble on the way out; it seemed that no one in that building was going to remember witnessing their escape – even if they had. However, it was the night of the new moon and he could hardly see a damned thing outside, though his other senses and natural athleticism were enough to ensure that he kept up with the female well enough, who was somehow moving swiftly and confidently even in the pure darkness. Still, a mere five minutes in and after getting whacked in the face for the third time by the surrounding shrubbery, Belphegor had had about enough of this idiotic business of running about blindly in the dark, and was about to throw caution to the wind and pull out his Flame when she sensed his intention and stopped him cold.

"Don't," she told him, quickly placing her hand over his where she sensed he was about to manifest his power. "This forest is sensitive to Flame abilities. Our whereabouts will be tracked if you call out your Flame now." She sounded apologetic as she continued to speak. "I forgot that you are unable to see properly with so little light. I will guide you to our transport; we are almost there."

Great; her opinion of him must not be very impressive, if she really believed that she needed to hold his hand and lead him to safety like he was a helpless little boy. Already irritable from his capture, Belphegor's pride was also quite dented by then, not to mention, he was also feeling unimaginably irritated that she thought so little of him. The angry blonde snatched his hand from her.

"Just show me the damned way," he snapped. "I can follow just fine without your fucking help."

He was unable to see her reaction to his harsh rebuke, but the air between them cooled noticeably. "As you wish, Belphegor-san," came her clipped reply, and without another word, she turned and took off once more, leaving him no choice but to follow, growling under his breath the entire while. He was really, really getting sick of having to depend on this woman like some weakling; just wait until they got out of this mess, he was going to show her –

Show her what, exactly? Honestly, Belphegor did not know what he wanted to do with the strange woman yet, but he was definitely determined to at least level the playing field between them since for some reason or another, it really chafed at his pride to be in a disadvantageous position beneath her, like right now. It was bad enough that he had carelessly allowed himself to be caught by the enemy – his fellow Commanders were never going to let him live this down – and even more humiliating was the fact that he had had his ass saved by a woman, one who did not seem to have any Flame ability to speak of, and who clearly only had a supporting role in the Famiglia. Yes, he was never going to live this down.

Her lukewarm response to him from the beginning was also extremely maddening as well, especially since he was quite intrigued by her but she just seemed to regard him with neutral indifference. Belphegor was infuriated the more he thought about it, and he was very eager for the chance to show off the fact that he was not as insignificant as she seemed to think he was, and even that thought was irritating in itself. He was a Prince, goddamn it. He shouldn't have to do anything to prove himself; if anything, it should be the other way around!

Of course, the woman whom he was glowering at (not that he could see well enough in the dark to pinpoint her location with absolute accuracy) did not seem to notice his growing ire. No, she was more interested in getting them both out of danger and then getting as far away from this unexpected complication in her life as physically possible. They reached the intended destination very quickly, and Haru came to an abrupt stop at the edge of a large meadow. She wasted no time reaching into the carryall holster strapped to her waist, pulling out a sleek but powerful laser beam and rapidly signaling out a quick series of staccato clicks of light flashes skywards.

Almost immediately, her message was received and response quickly came in the form of a dull roar and the loud whine of starting machinery. The powerful drone and the forceful whup whup whup of what was unmistakably the sound of moving helicopter blades was confirmed by sight when the powerful floodlights of the aircraft currently resting in the meadow suddenly blasted on and filled the immediate area with unbearably bright, high intensity light. Belphegor was momentarily blinded, but when he recovered, he failed to miss the stylized crest of the Vongola Famiglia emblazoned proudly on the side of the sleek, pitch black aerial vehicle even as the winds around them started to pick up as a result of the chopper's rotating blades. The long, waist-length wild grass around the idling helicopter started to flatten as a result of the artificial gale, and Haru wasted no time running straight for the vehicle with Belphegor in tow. She pulled herself deftly into the aircraft and then scooted further in to make way for her golden-haired responsibility.

"Spanner-san! Thank goodness you got here earlier than expected!" Haru called out appreciatively by way of greeting. "Let's go; the objective has been successfully retrieved."

The laidback blonde who served as the Vongola Famiglia's Mechanic did not need to be told twice. Within moments, the helicopter that he was piloting took to the night skies and was very soon heading back to base.

"You are certainly as quick as they said," Spanner commented offhandedly once he had keyed in the coordinates of their destination into the chopper's autopilot system and could relax some. "No wonder I was told to arrive ahead of your projected mission completion time."

Haru ignored the narrow-eyed stare that a certain golden-haired Varia was giving her, not that he was being very intimidating with that wild, scruffy appearance he was currently sporting as an unfortunate side effect of his brief stay in the enemy's dungeons. She opted to answer Spanner-san's unspoken query instead. "Aa, it's nothing," she told the other Vongola member honestly. "The target area was not as heavily guarded as I had originally assumed. I lucked out; it's just as simple as that."

Somehow, her polite remark seemed to offend the assassin prince for some reason or another, and he started to glower at her, even more so than before. Haru just did her best to ignore the man, and that itself took up a large part of her concentration since she was already hyperaware of him – the sweet, sweet blood of his was continuously calling her from his veins – and his focused attention on her was not helping matters whatsoever.

Still, Haru managed, and simply avoided any eye contact whatsoever from the visibly fuming male for the rest of the journey back. The brunette turned away from her charge and feigned sleep. It was impossible to ignore him; she could sense his presence acutely and his eyes burned holes into her back throughout the entire journey. It was not a moment too soon when they finally arrived at the Vongola base.

The frazzled woman wasted no time, leaping out of the aircraft the moment it landed on the underground helipad. The presence of Kyoko and other ground support crew meant that she would not have to stick around any longer than necessary – they would make sure that the recently retrieved Storm Varia received the best medical attention and hospitality courtesy of the Vongola Main Famiglia. As far as she was concerned, her assignment was already completed.

Now, to get as far away as possible from here – from him.

The agitated brunette mumbled some feeble excuse to her allies, and then quickly turned tail and ran.

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Hello there, my lovely readers! Welcome to my newest BelHaru work. As you can see, I finally caved into all that supernatural hype and wrote out a vampire fic -. I hope you guys don't find it too sucky, lame pun intended, ahaha.

I do apologize in advance for all the cheesy clichés that you will no doubt find in 'Blood Song,' but I hope you will enjoy reading this all the same. =)

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This fic will not be anywhere near as long as 'Of Sparrows and Princes,' at least I hope not. Ten to fifteen chapters should be a good estimate, I think?

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Just to clarify, Haru is a half bred Vampiress. She has no Flame abilities whatsoever, but possesses several inhuman powers as a Vampire. Increased physical strength, the ability to disappear and appear at will, the power of hypnosis, perfect night vision, and superior healing abilities are some of what she can do as a supernatural being. I do not intend to make her a godlike character; despite her amazing abilities, keep reading and you will soon see that she has her share of flaws as well.

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FYI, the Rescue and Retrieval division (really dull, unimaginative name, I know) of the Vongola Famiglia is entirely made up by me. I'm sure the name already says it all, but I will briefly explain all the same. This department is mainly in charge of dealing with unusual hostage situations and/or the retrieval of sensitive documents/items that require optimum secrecy or a high degree of delicacy. It is an extremely low profile division, so much so that most of its dealings are conducted so obliquely that they are unable to be connected back to the Vongola Famiglia.

In this fic, it just happens that Haru's special abilities complement the mission requirements of this department perfectly.

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You will find that the Haru in 'Blood Song' is more reserved than her canon counterpart. This is largely deliberate as it reflects her upbringing and personal experience growing up as a half-Vampire amongst humans. There will be more on this in subsequent chapters, so do wait for it.

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As for Bel, well, he's still the same perfectly obnoxious Storm Prince that we all know and love in canon-verse. Nothing really surprising, though I may choose to incorporate some of his royal backstory from 'Of Sparrows and Princes' here, but to a much small degree, of course. =)

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Thanks for reading, you guys!

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

-sllebswap