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: 7602
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: 17/05/13
The Royal Brats: Part II
The older girl's arrogant, matter of fact statement was the last clue that Belphegor needed.
All the pieces fit together in that instance, and as ridiculous and unbelievable as the whole situation was, there was no denying all the facts that had been laid out before him; the striking physical resemblance, even the small, hard-to-mimic traits and similarities in mannerisms and behaviors that could only be inherited from parent to child. A small part of him had begun to wonder almost the moment he saw the first teen, and the arrival of the second girl had merely helped to further cement that suspicion. And now, with the former's proud admission, there was just no avoiding the truth anymore.
It seemed that sometime in the near future, he had very likely sired a loudmouthed brat as well as a goody-two-shoes ditz with Haru, if the two whom he was looking at right now were really who he suspected them to be. The blonde still didn't know how he felt about this entirely strange situation of meeting his teenage daughters even before they were physically born in his present, but he was beginning to lean towards being somewhat appalled and chagrined. No doubt he would start to feel a little differently once the suspended shock and lingering disbelief dissipated from his system, not to mention, if what the pair was talking about earlier were to be believed, then it would seem that he and Haru didn't just have those two as offspring. It appeared that they had at least another future son running loose around the Varia property somewhere, and for Belphegor's own peace of mind, he hoped that the yet to be properly identified kid was not the complete idiot as his sisters seemed to imply that he was.
And then there was that 'Brat' persona whom the girls were talking about, whose personality had so far aptly described anything from a troublemaking pet monkey to, god forbid, yet another child of his and his wife. Honestly, Belphegor didn't know which would be worse. It was apparent that both he and Haru had done their best to revive his near extinct clan in the future, and on the bright side, it seemed unlikely that the Tsiveone Royal Family would be dying out anytime soon—at least the servants would be glad to know that.
On the not-so-bright side, his children from the future looked and behaved like morons.
The older girl was loud and brash and took every opportunity to bellow her displeasure to the world, and the younger girl appeared to be something of a timid airhead. He understood intrinsically that those two would fit very well with Haru, but that should be expected, especially if his wife was their mother like he suspected her to be.
Still, he was admittedly curious about their abilities, and now that he knew the identities of those who had dared to intrude upon the castle, he no longer found it quite as irritating that the guards had all been so soundly defeated. At least it proved that those brats could fight and hold their own at a bare minimum level, but that still did not say much about their combat prowess. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry with a halfway decent Flame ability could easily overwhelm their lesser counterparts, so it wasn't as if they had done anything spectacular so far. He would hold them to a much higher standard since they were the fruits borne of his loins, and the royal blood that flowed in their veins would demand no less. Therefore, it was time to up the ante, and Belphegor was very interested to see how the next generation of his family would perform.
His uniquely designed scalpels materialized soundlessly between the knuckles of his hands almost as if by magic, resembling sharp, lethal claws that gleamed dangerously under the light. A small smirk crept onto his face, and concealed from view behind the pillar and silently observing, he kept his sights on the sisters—who were still nattering on about something or another without a care in the world, seemingly ignoring the fact that they were still deep in enemy territory, much to his increasing annoyance and disbelief—and watched for an opening. He didn't have to wait long before they made the rookie mistake of showing him their backs, and he immediately seized upon the opportunity to swiftly launch his attack.
Only the barest, precise amount of Storm Flames accompanied the swift flight of his sleek, aerodynamic blades, the extra burst of power increasing the sheer speed and force of the attack exponentially, making it near to impossible to evade. His accuracy was absolute as usual; he had targeted at the vital points of the body and was quite looking forward to seeing how his future spawns would handle this. At best, they would somehow be able to avoid being impaled by his knives, and at worst, well, there might be some extensive hemorrhaging, but nothing that could kill them right away. That would be the least they deserved if they could not even avoid such a simple attack.
But somehow, despite Belphegor's less than remarkable opinion of the two girls, he was not really surprised when they reacted to his intent almost immediately. Without even turning back to look, the younger teen spun around and dropped to the ground reflexively, falling out of range and landing in a crouch facing him, quickly knocking away the only blade she could not dodge with a forearm reinforced with a flare of powerful Sun Flames. The older one turned abruptly, her three-pronged hunting Sais already unsheathed and firmly grasped in her hands, effortlessly parrying away the knives heading her way even as she immediately leapt into action, fearlessly lunging straight towards him with aggressive enthusiasm. With an impressive burst of speed, the teen crossed the considerable distance between them in the blink of an eye and boldly initiated contact, an eager grin on her face and her golden eyes gleaming with the excitement of impending battle.
Their lack of hesitation in their defense told him that they must have sensed his presence from the very beginning after all, and had deliberately led him to believe that their guards were lowered and they weren't paying attention so as to lure him out. Not bad.
He moved to meet the older teen's attack automatically, the much shorter blade of his scalpel clashing against the longer shaft of her Sai's monouchi and, miraculously, steadily holding the larger, heavier weapon at bay. For a skinny teenage girl, the sheer power behind her strike was considerable and unhesitating, telling him that she was very familiar with her weapon and had most definitely worked and practiced with it quite often. Still, Belphegor had crossed blades with much more formidable foes in the past, and he easily held his ground against her.
He angled his blade slightly to cause her weapon to lose traction, but she twisted her Sai sharply at the very last moment, attempting to trap his scalpel with the pronged guards and wrench it loose from his hand. He was forced to disengage or risk losing his weapon, and then he nimbly sidestepped, evading the incoming thrust of her Sai, taking advantage of the opening she revealed to grab her by the arm and jerk her forward. The girl promptly lost her balance and stumbled past him with a loud, nasty curse, and with the speed of a striking rattlesnake, he turned and launched his blades at her again with full intent to draw blood, only for her to recover swiftly as well and twist around abruptly to defend herself, quickly rearranging her hold on her Sai with a reverse grip so that the thin blade of the monouchi fell in line along her forearm as she raised it to block his strike.
Their weapons clashed again with a jarring ring of metal against metal, and although she was straining from the effort to keep her father (and his dangerous intent) at bay, the smirk on the brunette teen's face did not waver. In fact, the girl's gleeful smile widened to a grin, and her eyes were glittering with the joy of the fight. It was obvious that the brat was at least well taught in the discipline of her chosen weaponry, and Belphegor had to grudgingly admit that her reaction time was surprisingly quick as well. Most importantly, the girl seemed to shed her loud, idiotic personality when in battle, becoming less brash and more focused on her opponent, and it also didn't hurt at all that she was a Storm Flame wielder like he was.
Hmm, perhaps his future heir was not as useless as he had first thought.
Just as he was thinking that, the cocky brat shot him a fanged grin and spoke to him for the first time. "Heh, you sure took your own sweet time coming out here, old man. Did you misplace your walker on the way or something?"
Belphegor could not help himself; he stared at her in disbelief; his pride and vanity as an extremely good looking and highly sought after Crown Prince had just been dealt a heavy blow—and by his own daughter too, to boot. Not to mention, this was not the first time he had been referenced to as an 'old man;' earlier on by Haru and her overactive imagination, and now by the offspring that technically had not even been conceived yet, let alone born.
Could it be that…he was really starting to look old?
Unbidden, the image of a doddering old fart dressed in a white singlet, Hawaiian shorts and flip flops, complete with a bald, shiny pate and wrinkled skin generously sprinkled with liver spots floated through his mind, much to his horror.
That ridiculous line of thinking, completely inappropriate and hardly conducive towards the situation at hand, was enough to give him pause. Unfortunately, that mere second of visibly appalled hesitation was all the cunning brat needed to shove his blades aside and retreat quickly to reposition herself in a more defensive stance. Belphegor's attention snapped back to the impudent teen, and he honed a deadly glare at the brat.
"Why, you little…"
The unrepentant, fox-like grin on the girl's face did nothing to improve his rapidly souring mood, and he was suddenly struck by the instinctive urge to pinch the kid's cheeks until she resembled a squishy tomato. The strangely paternal (but violent) reaction was thwarted before the golden-haired Varia could automatically move to put it to action; he hadn't forgotten about the other child, and when his senses started tingling with warning, he heeded his sixth sense immediately, half turning and tilting his head out of the way just in time to avoid a Sun Flame-infused punch that had been aimed straight at the base of his skull.
"HYAAaaaahh!" the younger teen cried out bravely as she launched her attack, hurling herself determinedly into the fight even though it was obvious that she was completely uncomfortable being on the offensive. She was also needlessly announcing her moves for some reason or another, but when he moved to neutralize her attacks, firmly keeping the other troublesome sister in sight at all times as well, Belphegor was pleasantly surprised to learn that the younger kid was actually rather well-versed in unarmed combat for her age. Her stances were textbook perfect and the ease in which she flowed from one move to another indicated frequent practice and a firm dedication in the art of fighting. She was small, swift and extremely agile, her doe brown eyes—Haru's eyes—glowing with determination to help her sibling, but unfortunately, she still wasn't fast enough to counter his speed and experience, and Belphegor did not allow her to land even a glancing hit on him, instinctively leery of the Sun Flames that coated her fists.
It was a damned good thing that he hadn't, as the blonde quickly realized when he deliberately tricked her into attacking by pretending to reveal an opening. The petite, angelic looking child had come at him with a very quick aerial attack, but he sidestepped at the very last moment and lashed out suddenly to grab her by the ankle instead, her limb still outstretched in a kick aimed at him, snatching her out of midair and making use of his momentum to hurl her away from him with perfect timing. Just as he had intended, she had promptly careened with a yelp towards the older teen, who had been circling around them like a wolf and lying in wait for the opportunity to attack again, causing the two to crash into each other and forcing the younger girl to frantically redirect her attack from her sister to the ground. The solid marble beneath her fist had literally exploded into fine rubble upon impact, much to his hidden astonishment.
Belphegor quickly found himself reluctantly impressed with his future kids even as the older one was yelling loudly in the background about nearly being killed whereas the younger one was apologizing with chagrin and clumsily trying to get off her extremely pissed off sister. His brats were overflowing with potential even though their characters were a bit weird, but on the other hand, they could have been born complete imbeciles instead, so it really could have been a lot worse. At least their individual quirks just made them…unique.
…
Who was he trying to kid; his brats were freaking oddballs. Belphegor didn't know whether he should be proud of that fact or not. He settled for standing over them and watching them attempt to disentangle from each other, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression betraying none of his thoughts. The older one was quite visibly sulking by then whereas the younger one was hurriedly trying to scramble back to her feet. He waited a bit more before he finally spoke, snorting dismissively as he did so.
"You two are still decades too young if you actually believe that you can take me on," he commented then, and there was no denying the hint of arrogant amusement that leaked from his tone. In response, his older daughter replied with a rather foul epithet in their native Astonian tongue that quickly turned her sister's ears bright red.
Belphegor's brow lifted. So his kid was a potty mouth in addition to being brash and loud, even if she was a girl. And wait; weren't most girls supposed to be polite, soft spoken, and demure, especially at that age? It was certainly how those aristocratic young ladies appeared to him whenever he was forced to associate with them, but then again, Haru had never acted like any noblewoman he had seen before, so perhaps this was an inherited trait? His wife was nowhere near as loud as their offspring though, but she could likely give their kid a run for her money if provoked into a fine temper…
Belphegor wasn't sure how he felt about having a teenage daughter who was so very unlike those simpering twits, though one thing was for sure; he most definitely did not appreciate being called a perverted old goat by his own child, amongst other things.
"Miyu-nee!" the younger girl's dismayed, admonishing tone provided a very nice counterpoint to the heavy, metallic thunk of his scalpel's hilt smacking right onto the forehead of the rebellious brat. Said brat hissed and promptly scowled ferociously at her sire, at the same time clapping her hand over her throbbing forehead and looking particularly defiant. Still, she kept her mouth shut this time and refrained from retaliating in any way, grumpily rubbing the rapidly developing lump on her head and wondering how on earth her father was still using the same technique of hurling the butt end of his blades at her head whenever she annoyed him too much, even when this was technically the very first time this past version of him had met her.
The Crown Princess growled inwardly; at least he hadn't done that embarrassing cheek pinching that was both excruciatingly humiliating and painful, which she had never been able to avoid no matter how far he was from her or how fast she tried to escape him. It was one of her wily parent's many ways of keeping her and her siblings in line—psychological pain via explicit embarrassment was also a type of pain that most teenagers found excruciating after all, and her evil father was always more than eager to gleefully dish it out in front of as many spectators as physically possible.
"Miyu nee-san is just joking, daddy! The two of you do this often where we come from-" The younger girl froze suddenly then, a panicked expression on her face when she abruptly realized that she had just carelessly divulged details that she wasn't supposed to reveal. Her doe brown eyes quickly filled with distress and she clapped her hands over her mouth. "I didn't just say that!"
To her father's credit, he didn't seem particularly surprised by what she revealed. He did pause momentarily at being called 'daddy' by the innocent-looking, sweet-natured young teen, but that was more because he had trouble reconciling with the fact that he had somehow managed to sire such a guileless and earnestly sincere child, as opposed to the foul-mouthed, cunning brat who was (apparently) her older sister.
Being called 'daddy' was a rather novel experience though, and being addressed as one with the pure trust of a child who was quite obviously the offspring created by himself and his wife quickly awoke something in his subconscious, hibernating all this while. It might or might not have been the beginnings of paternal instinct, but there was no denying the faint stirrings of possessiveness and even grudging pride as he looked at his two daughters.
"So, I guessed correct. You two really are from the future," he remarked at last, completely unsurprised. The two girls stared at him, and then the older one scowled harder.
"Shit, I lost the bet," she muttered crossly, and her father just looked at her.
"Bet?" he asked sardonically. He was, of course, ignored by the overgrown brat sulking in the corner, but his ever helpful younger daughter quickly explained the situation. It was not bad having a goody two shoes for a kid after all, he promptly decided there and then. The child was gentle, polite and respectful, if only somewhat shy and hesitant, which was rather strange since neither he nor Haru were the quiet type. But then again, if the rest of the kid's siblings were just like Loudmouth over there (once again, Belphegor sincerely prayed to whatever god up there that was willing to take pity on him that such was not the case), then her restraint would be perfectly understandable.
"Ah! Miyu-nee made a bet with Aki-nii that you'd take at least an hour to figure out the truth, but Aki-nii said that there was no way you'd need that long, and he was pretty sure that you'd take at most five minutes to realize what is going on. He mentioned something about resonating Flame signatures before he wandered off to do some research… Amazing! Nii-san was completely correct!"
The young teen's remark was tinted with admiration, whereas her elder sister twitched and looked even more mutinous, if possible. Then, a mildly calculating expression fleeted past those cat-like eyes as she briefly considered the younger brunette, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, and that severely aggravated look on the future Crown Princess's face was quickly replaced by a deliberately neutral expression as the older child sidled up craftily to her sibling and slung her arm around the younger girl's shoulder.
"Hey, my cute little Hotaru imouto-chan," the older sister purred then, tilting her head sideways in a coquettish yet haughty manner, tossing her hair back in a coolly elegant gesture and pouting ever so slightly at her impressionable younger sibling. The older teen shed her petulant brat image with disturbing ease and promptly took on a silky, seductress role, hooking an index finger underneath her sister's chin and lifting the latter's face towards her own. With a lazy, half lidded gaze, she peered at her sister beneath dense, sooty lashes.
"Shall we keep the outcome of this bet between us for now? This is not completely necessary for Malaki to know, hmm?"
Her nonplussed sister just blinked owlishly at her outlandish actions, whereas their father was torn between overt amusement and disbelief at his idiot daughter's antics. It was actually hilarious as hell to see the older teen attempt to manipulate her female sibling with her developing womanly wiles, but at the same time, it was also rather disturbing because the brat was actually doing it correctly, and with the amount of charm and pheromones she was giving off, would have succeeded in seducing any random man into giving into whatever she wanted.
Unfortunately, her sister was anything but male, and the younger girl just frowned reproachfully at her nee-san. "It's not nice to lie, Miyu-nee. Besides, even if we keep quiet about it, Aki-nii will still find out eventually, so shouldn't you just accept your defeat gracefully this time and learn not to bet with nii-san anymore? You never win anyway- eow!"
The younger teen squeaked with pain when her now no-longer-charming sister grabbed her cheeks between her fingers and pinched. Actually, the older girl was sporting a hair raising grin by now as she deliberately stretched the skin of her sibling's face further and further apart.
"Don't jinx me like that, my cute little Hotaru imouto-chan," the seventeen year old bantered with saccharine sweetness. "I'm going to win over that idiot one day, just you wait and see. But for now, you won't say anything about this insignificant little bet, right?"
She proceeded to repeat those exact flirty, sultry actions from before, only this time, it looked plain terrifying and completely exemplified the Tsiveone Royal Family's traditional style of dealing with troublesome entities; when in doubt, intimidate the hell out of your opponent.
The younger girl was not exactly terrified though, having sat through her sister's repeatedly identical threats one too many times, but those steel-like fingers still hurt something fierce, and as a result, involuntary tears quickly welled up in her large eyes. The shimmering moisture swam in her doe-like gaze and effectively made her look even younger than she already was, until it went to the point where she was starting to resemble an innocent, baby woodland creature that was being unjustly mistreated.
Belphegor just stood there and watched as his idiot daughter's plan backfired on her in the most ridiculous way. He was starting to wonder if his heir was just really smart or really stupid. Perhaps she was an idiot savant? That would explain her flawless execution of various techniques and then promptly applying them to the most retarded situations.
"Nee-san…! That…hurts!" The wounded expression on the younger girl's was enough to tug on the heartstrings of even the most hardened of criminals. Alarmed by her pained cry, the older teen hurriedly released her hold on the her sibling, a quick flash of concern fleeting past her eyes—she had not meant to harm her sister and was immediately stricken with mild guilt.
Hotaru took the opportunity of her sister's brief lapse to dart blithely towards the parental figure who had carefully guarded her and looked out for her wellbeing her entire life. It was instinct that prompted the younger princess to run to her father for protection, innately trusting that he would keep her safe and out of harm's way like he always had. Her sister promptly snapped out of it and tried to make a grab for her, but she was just a step too late and the smaller brunette slipped successfully behind their sire, her long, curly hair fluttering behind her even as she turned back to face her elder sibling from the rear of their slightly tensed parent and lightly stuck out her tongue at the older girl.
Miyuko was not amused. And most importantly, unlike her younger sister, she still remembered that they were back in the past. Nearly eighteen years back in the past, to be precise. As such, she did not miss the way this younger version of their father had stiffened automatically in a defensive response at her sister's sudden proximity, barely refraining from lashing out instinctively at the unfamiliar presence of his third child, even if he did not know it now.
As the entire family had witnessed at one time or another, their parent had a lightning fast reaction time when it came to dealing with unknown threats and he was also well known for being rather trigger happy. As such, the Crown Princess could only feel relief that he had not reacted to her younger sibling's abrupt nearness by sinking a blade hilt deep into her forehead as he was wont to do to those pesky assassins stupid enough to try their luck with his children in the distant future. That would have been rather difficult to explain to their parents when they returned to their own time. Still, Miyuko was quite irritated by her twit of a sister and her rash, unthinking actions.
"Hotaru, you little idiot! Get back here! Don't be so stupidly trusting! He doesn't even know us yet-"
Miyuko's warning came a little too late, for Belphegor had already reached behind him and swiftly snagged his thirteen year old daughter from the future by the back of her neck, lifting her by the collar and easily transporting the small girl back around to his line of sight. The young teen promptly eep-ed as she was brought before the veiled gaze of her unsmiling father, and it didn't help that she also happened to be dangling a few feet off the ground like an errant kitten that had just been caught rolling around in a saucer of milk.
Her older sister barely refrained from palming her face in exasperation. That stupid Hotaru. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!
For a brief moment, the Storm Varia just stared impassively at those sheepish brown eyes that bore an uncanny resemblance to his wife's. To the thirteen year old's credit, she did not shy away from him, and also did not attempt to wriggle loose from his hold. The child remained still and trusting in his hold, just like a young feline who had been caught in the mouth of its parent.
Hotaru tilted her head slightly and looked apprehensively at her father. "Daddy?" she whispered hesitantly, growing uncertain as the silence stretched. Standing a small ways behind her, Miyuko hovered impotently, not sure how this past version of their father would react. The Belphegor of this present had not become a father yet and knew next to nothing about his offspring, and therefore he had no obligation whatsoever to protect them. Knowing her father, the situation could go either way depending on his mood, and right now, he appeared to be intently scrutinizing Hotaru like she was some kind of alien life form that had suddenly appeared before him.
Belphegor twitched subtly then. It was a near unnoticeable tic, but it perfectly concealed the blonde's somewhat disturbed reaction towards his younger daughter. Even at the tender age of thirteen, the young girl was already showing every sign of one day growing up to become a great beauty; her expressive eyes were soulful and luminous, her nose small and pert, her rosy mouth like a cherub's. Her endearing, dainty face was heart shaped and perfectly formed, the soft, creamy skin she had inherited from her mother glowed with youth and vitality; there was no denying that both he and Haru had created beautiful offspring.
Belphegor barely refrained from giving into a slight shudder even as, morbidly enough, he could not seem to take his gaze off of the young teen.
Yes, she truly was a beautiful child. One who also happened to look hideously cute to him at the moment, and unfortunately for him and his discomfited nerves, she would most likely remain that way until the day in the distant future where she would finally grow into her looks. Unlike her elder sister who appeared quite tomboyish by nature and gave off the aura of an offended porcupine carrying a perpetual chip on its shoulder, this kid was more like a little fawn with her large, guileless eyes and innocent, utterly trusting manner, and Belphegor had a good guess just from whom she had inherited that trait.
There were none from his side of the family capable of exuding such purity and innocence, after all, and not surprisingly, he was completely not used to being viewed with such trust and childish faith, to be depended upon by an individual who clearly believed that he could do no wrong and gave off the impression that she thought him invincible.
The innocent expectation and belief in him from this child whom he hardly knew, even though instincts and common sense told him that she was undoubtedly one of his own, made him distinctly uncomfortable. There was only one other who looked at him with that familiar expression of trust and faith, and that was the woman he married, and not quite incidentally, the only female who had managed to reserve his affection all for herself in exchange for her own.
He had grown used to his sparrow's loving, devoted regard, in fact, he fully expected it even, but this was something a bit different from the intimate bond between lovers and soul mates he and his wife shared, and at the same time, something similar as well. It was also a form of unconditional affection and acceptance, but this one was borne from a familial connection, by blood, and it suddenly struck Belphegor with great force that he had a family now.
Or rather, he would have a family that belonged to him sometime in the near future, one he would not need to zealously guard himself against, paranoid and suspicious of their every intention, and that was something so novel to the blonde that he actually had no idea what to make of it.
Belphegor snapped out of his thoughts and focused his attention back on his two daughters. They were both staring at him as well, the older one with wariness in her golden eyes, her tensed form suggesting that she was ready to step in immediately should he decide to harm her sister, while the latter continued to dangle off his fingers like a harmless ornament. The elder child had the right idea to be careful around him; he was not their father yet, after all. The younger girl was more carelessly trusting, and he frowned at that before deliberately dropping her. The child squeaked in protest at the sudden feeling of free fall, but was quick enough to recover herself and land on her own feet.
Belphegor ignored the bewildered look on the younger teen's face as she eyed him in confusion, but silently approved of the way her elder sister promptly darted in and snatched her protectively out of the way, shoving her sibling behind her (but not before clouting the featherbrained little twit between the ears) and quickly turning back to keep him in her sights guardedly.
Their father just re-crossed his arms over his chest and scowled fiercely, giving them a hard, narrow-eyed look that quickly reduced even the older teen's brash bravado into sullen silence. Never mind that his long fringe covered his eyes perfectly, his children still understood from his veiled expression that he meant business, and absently, he wondered how often he had subjected them to his displeasure for them to meekly fall in line so quickly.
It was a rather nifty trick, nevertheless.
"You two…" he started to speak at last, and then he paused meaningfully to look at them. The older brunette girl started to fidget, a small scowl starting to form on her face as well, growing irritated with the way he was deliberately drawing things out, while the younger one peeked out cautiously from behind her sister and looked increasingly concerned. Belphegor decided to check himself and change tactics.
He quit frowning and smiled lazily instead.
His children promptly looked alarmed and even downright cowed, much to his increasing interest. This would definitely work to his advantage, he thought gleefully as his smile widened to form a dangerous grin. The girls' eyes grew large with trepidation, and he could almost see them cringe ever so slightly backwards in response. Heh, this was going to be quite amusing, at the very least.
"Well now," he purred in a distinctly intimidating manner. "Care to tell me what is going on?"
The quick pitter patter of little feet was surprisingly loud in the silent, deserted hallways of the castle as a single three year old forged on determinedly to win the game of hide and seek that his siblings had initiated. First one to find Mommy wins, and no letting any of those soldiers catch him. The little blonde child was bound and determined to be the first to get to his mother's side. The outing with his brother and sisters had proved to be extremely boring, and he wanted nothing more than to return to his most favorite person and just stay snuggled in her loving embrace. His Mommy was the bestest and prettiest mommy in the whole world, and he had to hurry back to her to protect her from the bad Daddy who was always trying to do naughty things to her.
He had wanted to go to his parent straight away but Nii-chan had to go be a poopy head and refuse to let him go. So he had to bite and kick to get his older brother to release him, and it was hard because his legs were so short and he had to wiggle extra hard to get loose before he could hit that spot that Daddy had taught him to aim at the next time bad people tried to catch him again. Nii-chan had quickly let go of him in a great hurry after that, and he had slipped past little nee-chan and darted off before anyone could catch him (a rather impressive feat considering how his siblings were no slouches themselves).
He would be the one to reach Mommy first! It was very dark outside however, and although it was a bit scary, he did not cry. There was no reason to do that when there was no one around to give him candy or do what he wanted so as to pacify him to stop, \ so he had learned to cry only when there were nee-chans or Mommy or other women around. Most importantly, crying in front of Daddy was a big no-no—the last time he did that whilst throwing a huge tantrum, Daddy had promptly locked him inside the broom cupboard and 'accidentally' forgot him for an hour. By the time his Father let him out again, he had been so terrified and exhausted from screaming that he couldn't even produce a squeak of noise. The young boy had learned an invaluable lesson that day; a) an irritated Daddy is a scary Daddy, and b) never, ever, throw tantrums in front of Daddy or he would become even scarier.
Still, where Mommy was concerned, Brat would willingly risk his sire's displeasure to protect her. The little blonde loved his mother the most in the world, and when he grew up, he was going to kick his Daddy's butt and then marry her, and maybe little nee-chan as well, because she always cuddled him and gave him the yummiest treats, and smelled almost as nice as Mommy, and was not scary at all like big nee-chan. They would be one big happy family—big nee-chan would be their bodyguard and nii-chan could serve as the butler, and mommy and little nee-chan would pepper him with hugs and kisses all day long and Daddy could be the chambermaid.
Yes, life would be great if that could really happen, but for now, there was still Mommy to find, and even though this place looked almost like home, it didn't feel quite the same; the shadowy darkness of the empty passageways seemed much more intimidating and ominous, and without his older siblings' accompaniment, everything around him looked so much bigger and not as friendly, towering over his small figure in a distinctly menacing manner. As such, despite his childish bravado, Brat was growing increasingly concerned. Despite his mischievous and petulant nature, the smallest Tsiveone Prince was but a little baby still, and it had been a rather long day for the young boy. He was tired and hungry, and after sneaking into the castle from the back gardens—none of the guards were actually watching out for a three year old intruder, which made his entry very easy—he wanted nothing more than for his mother to appear before him, sweep him up in a protective, maternal embrace and gently soothe his fussing demeanor.
But the loving form of his mother did not materialize before him, and neither were his siblings anywhere in the vicinity. The little golden-haired child's footsteps slowed, and then eventually came to a stop. He was completely lost, stranded all alone in the middle of nowhere, and slowly, his breathing became just a bit jagged, distress slowly creeping upon those babyish, cherubic features despite his best efforts to be a big boy, and then a tiny little whimper escaped him. The small, pitiful sound, so much like a young puppy's injured cry, reverberated down the hallway and quickly garnered the attention of an unexpected ally.
Lussuria was on his way to see if Belphegor needed any support in repelling the intruders when he heard the peculiar noise. It was a soft keen, and it seemed to originate from the infrequently used hallway he had just passed. The sound was rather unusual, and caught by curiosity, the Sun Unit Commander made a quick detour to investigate the source.
Imagine his surprise when he saw a very young child standing all alone, right in the middle of the passageway, looking as if on the verge of tears. Lussuria paused and stared, momentarily taken aback; it was a well-known fact that there were no children living on the Varia grounds, and this one was obviously of an extremely tender age, barely passed toddlerhood, in fact. Stranger still, the little one bore a striking resemblance to his blonde haired colleague, and even if Lussuria was somehow completely ignorant to the obvious familial resemblance, then that long, sweeping fringe of burnished golden hair that covered the upper portion of the child's face as well as the tiny silver crown that sat on that small head were dead giveaways to the youngster's blood relation to Belphegor.
So now the question was; who was this child and where were his/her parents?
To Lussuria's chagrin, he could not seem to confidently pinpoint the gender of the young tot. For one, the child was outfitted in a rather gender neutral apparel—a cute tiger themed romper suit that was an eye wrenching shade of orange with tan stripes, complete with a stuffed tiger head hoodie and a bouncy tail to match—and for another, the little kid also possessed tousled, shoulder length blonde hair that made it hard to tell if he/she was a boy or a girl.
One thing was for certain though, boy or girl, the little one standing still a small ways away from him was undeniably precocious, even when looking obviously upset. The little darling's downtrodden demeanor tugged at the heartstrings of the Sun Varia, and Lussuria's maternal instinct, never far below the surface, was quickly roused.
"Well, what do we have here?" the colorful haired male asked in a kindly manner even as he slowly approached the sniffling child, showing that he meant no harm. He earned the youngster's attention immediately, and was promptly scrutinized by the suddenly quiet kid. The little one tilted his head (upon closer inspection, Lussuria decided that the child was most likely a young boy) and carefully considered the flamboyantly looking man who was wearing sunglasses even though it was already nighttime.
The child was quite obviously wary of him—initially, that was. Then, surprisingly enough, he quickly relaxed his guard and approached the older male with a bemusing level of trust, and Lussuria's eyebrow shot up to his hairline when the boy tugged unabashedly at his pant leg and looked up at him.
"Lulu," the boy spoke at last in a demanding, but still incredibly adorable manner. The childish lilt of his babyish voice was extremely endearing to the surrogate godmother of all the future born Tsiveone children (even if the man himself was unaware of the distinguished position he held just yet), and Lussuria was quickly charmed by the little tyke's cuteness.
"Lulu, Lulu," the youngster called out again, trying to quickly gain the attention of the adult. Lussuria was inwardly baffled by the child's address of him. Lulu? Of course, his full name would be more than a mouthful for the little boy to pronounce without tripping all over it, so this abbreviated version did make sense; but how was it possible for a kid he had never met before to know his name, and at the same time, behave around him with such familiarity and ease?
Somewhat mystified, the tall Sun Unit Commander lowered himself to a crouch before the much smaller child, who, when compared to him, was absolutely tiny in contrast. Lussuria gave the little boy his full concentration.
"Hmm, you are not Bel from the past by any chance, are you?" he asked amiably to the cute little darling.
The boy shook his head almost immediately. "No! Am Brat!" He thumped himself proudly in the chest, almost as if pleased to show off the fact that he knew his own name. Then, he quickly looked to the older man again. "Lulu, halp find Mummy, pleeze?"
The little boy proceeded to strike a cute pose that never failed to get the adults around him scrambling to do his bidding. Curling his little hands into tiny fists, he raised and then arranged them by both sides of his rosy cheeks in a classic kitty pose, and at the same time, proceeded to emit so much cuteness from his expectant stare that the immediate background around the youngster promptly sparkled with glamour.
The veil of long fringe did not seem to hinder the devastating effect of the young boy's actions at all, and it was all Lussuria could do not to grab the child and cuddle the life out of the ridiculously adorable little thing. By now, the Sun Varia was rather sure that this was definitely not the past version of his fellow Commander; there was just no way Bel could seriously be this cute even at this young, tender age. He was also beginning to form his own suspicions regarding the mysterious origin of the youngster standing before him—and there was no time better than now to confirm his theory.
He would bet heavily that today's invasion of the castle was most likely related to this boy's abrupt appearance, and Lussuria beamed at the youngster who was no doubt the future offspring of Bel and Haru-chan—he had clearly inherited his father's looks and his mother's spunk.
Still, to name his own son Brat was really pushing the limits of responsible parenthood… and Lussuria could only think of one person of his acquaintance who was frivolous enough to do so.
"Of course I'll help you find your mommy, little one!" the colorful haired martial arts expert agreed with a large grin. Oh ho, this evening was definitely shaping up to be a very interesting one indeed. He wondered if Bel had seen his yet unborn son already.
Brat put up no resistance as his surrogate godmother picked him up and headed back down the hallway. The child clung onto the older man's neck automatically like a koala bear, content and pleased now that someone was taking him to see his mother.
"So, who is your mommy?" Lussuria asked the very young child teasingly as he steadily made his way to Bel's wing of the castle.
The little golden-haired prince did not hesitate to answer, utterly confident of his childish reasoning.
"Mommy is mommy!" he replied staunchly in an outraged manner, once again, being very cute as he did so, in Lussuria's opinion. He was hard pressed not to laugh at the child's offended tone, as if he could not believe that the older man did not know such simple things.
"Huh. Is that right. Then, who is your daddy?" Lussuria asked then, continuing this little game that they had going on.
Not having learnt how to lie effectively just yet, the child drew back slightly in an appalled manner and scrunched up his nose in an unmistakable, but once again, hopelessly adorable, grimace. He looked at the Sun Varia and then finally declared in an amusingly serious stage whisper.
"Daddy is a scary and naughty man!"
Lussuria found that he simply could not hold it in any longer; he burst into merry peals of laughter.
Well, that sounded just like Bel, alright.
::tsuzuku::
Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:
And another chapter done! Thanks for all the support, guys. I'm really surprised (pleasantly so) by all the nice reviews and comments for the first chapter of 'And They Lived Happily Ever After.' Here's to hoping that you lot will enjoy this latest installment as well.
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Well, this chapter is pretty self-explanatory, so I think I will just end it here. Thanks for reading, and until next time!
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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!
-sllebswap
