Title: Of Sparrows and Princes
Author: sllebswap
Beta'd by: MelissaRose85
Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Belphegor
Type: OneShot Collection (InComplete)
Genre: Romance/General/Humor
Word Count: 3332
Rating: T (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)
Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.
Summary: TYL ficlet. Various one-shots depicting the complicated relationship between Belphegor and Haru.
Chapter Last Revised on: 27/11/09
Chapter Two
The first few days in the motherland of the Vongola were definitely the hardest for Haru. The jetlag from the long trip made her feel sleepy and tired most of the time, and the drastic change in time zone did not help matters any. Everything was different; the food, the culture, the language, and even the weather. Trying her best to get used to everything around her as quickly as possible only made her feel more homesick and miserable, and not surprisingly, Haru spent as much time as she could working hard in the dungeon vaults and the rest cooped up in her room, resting, and even then, still working. When she wasn't busy thinking up complicated programs that could possibly be integrated with the more offensive physical security measures to further beef up the overall security of the archive servers, she was calling back home to talk to her friends and family.
It helped to pass the time, and she didn't feel quite as lonely after she got to speak to Tsuna, Kyoko-chan, and the rest.
She was a bit wary of her dangerous hosts, and most of all, really wanted little to do with the one named 'Belphegor.' Not so incidentally, he was also her guide and guardian within this large castle; she was even placed in the suite beside his for that purpose. Much to her dismay, he was by default the one she saw the most every day.
Haru didn't like her timid countenance very much, but she was all alone in a foreign land, surrounded by strangers who made their living by killing for the Mafia, and she reckoned that she had the right to feel a bit depressed. The Varia weren't all that bad though; it just took some getting used to, living with them. Haru didn't know what to expect when she was told that she would be staying with the Vongola's elite assassination team, but whatever it was, their individual eccentricities were certainly not part of what she had imagined.
Lussuria was gay as a flaming flamingo, Levi's God and religion was his esteemed Leader, Xanxus-sama, Squalo was loud and violent and seemed to like to yell at/smack around people every chance he got, Fran had serious authority-issues, and Belphegor was just plain insane.
Haru hadn't met Xanxus yet, but if his Varia executives were to be of any indication, then he was probably just as batty. Still, she was secretly relieved that she hadn't run into the Varia's leader for now; the supposed 'prince' Belphegor was giving her enough trouble as it was.
Her guide slash guard had been expressly (and repeatedly) warned not to harm her, but that didn't mean he could not make her life a living hell. The blonde-haired male was the most infuriating person she ever had the misfortune to meet. He was exceedingly mean and arrogant and childish, and because he had no choice but to be stuck with her, she was forced to put up with his cruel words and antics as well.
From what she heard from the chatty Lussuria in regards to Belphegor, the man was twenty-six years old but clearly preferred to behave like a petulant little kid, albeit a completely crazy one.
Haru had tried her best to ignore him, she really did, but it was difficult to be objective and focus on her job at the same time when he was breathing over her shoulder and snarkily belittling her every chance he got. She had been nothing but cordial to him, wary of the blades that he seemed to toy around in his long, thin fingers with such graceful dexterity that it was completely disturbing, but of course, he probably only saw her as a sitting duck for his verbal target practice. She had curbed her tongue and controlled her own boiling temper around him out of a healthy interest for her own preservation as well as a perverse sense of glee in not giving him the satisfaction of knowing just how he was driving her up the wall, but it seemed as though her efforts at keeping her calm only fuelled his desire to incite a violent reaction out of her.
The first time he accidentally 'lost' her in the myriad, somewhat intimidating hallways of the large castle, she had sucked it up, bravely went exploring the area by her lonesome for a bit before she ran into one of the lower-ranked Varia soldiers who kindly showed her back to her original destination. The blonde prince hadn't looked all that surprised—or concerned—when he saw her reappearance, though he did give her that disturbingly cruel grin of his and remarked that he hadn't noticed that she was no longer following him.
It was the most ridiculous excuse she had ever heard if any, but Haru kept her composure—barely. That night after dinner, she had quietly requested permission from Squalo-san for a floor plan of the castle, and though the silver-haired swordsman had given her a strange look, he had granted her harmless request nonetheless. She made no mention of Belphegor's nasty mischief either, though the next time the dratted blonde man purposely 'lost' her again, Haru took smug joy in quickly finding her way back herself, taking a shortcut instead of the usual long, deliberately winding path that Belphegor normally had her walk.
His momentary pause of surprise when he saw her already waiting at the entrance of the dungeon on his arrival was completely worth her effort of spending an entire night memorizing the entire layout of the castle in order to outsmart him, though of course, he quickly found something else to antagonize her with.
So, the short two weeks of their acquaintance/mutual working existence flowed more or less along the same vein, though by then, Haru's flightily pleasant mask was beginning to crack and similarly, Belphegor was getting immensely irritated by her refusal to lodge a complaint regarding his outrageous behavior, subsequently freeing him from this ridiculous babysitting job.
"Hmm, those books look pretty heavy," the lanky prince commented with an airy, innocent smile as he walked beside his struggling charge, his arms raised and his hands stacked lazily behind his crowned head as he made no effort to offer his help. They were on their way out of the archive vaults, calling it a day since it was nearly time for dinner. Haru had also brought with her a few logbooks detailing the past operation and maintenance of the security systems in the dungeons back to her room for some light reading later. Each of the volumes were thicker than the width of her palm, and about as long as the length of her forearm, and left with no choice, Haru had to carry them and stagger alongside Belphegor's long legged strides.
She gave the blonde a half hearted glare. She was so mentally exhausted reviewing the existing program that protected the Vongola archives that she didn't even have the energy to act like her usual happy self.
"Quit picking on Haru, you meanie," she grumbled tiredly. "Unlike you, I have been working all day today! Ahh, my head hurts."
The shaggy-haired blonde didn't even spare her a glance. "And I care because?" he asked indifferently. "You are the reason why I have nothing to do. Geh, you are not even useful for target practice. Hey," he demanded suddenly. "Go tell Squalo that I have been bullying you and that you request to work with somebody else."
She looked at him with disbelief.
"No," she replied stubbornly. "I represent Tsuna by being here and there's no way I will embarrass him by making such irrational requests. The Juudaime's family is not weak and will not be pushed around like that."
He paused and watched her inscrutably. She stopped as well and gave him a good frown. Was he trying to intimidate her?
"Oh? Do you really believe that?" he asked silkily. "You, who cannot even fight?"
Haru stiffened.
"There are other ways to provide support for the family," she stated firmly, not about to budge from her stand.
He scoffed softly.
"So you provide that sort of support?" There was an imperceptibly loaded undertone in his question, and she stared at him with incomprehension. "I didn't think that the Decimo and his Guardians shared a similar lousy taste in women."
Haru was quickly beginning to understand what he was insinuating. She started to turn red.
"Y-you!! I wasn't talking about that sort of thing! Who do you think we are?!" she snapped, flustered. "And what do you mean by 'lousy taste?'"
He grinned viciously at her offended question, dropping his arms from his head and down to his side, glad that she had taken the bait.
"You aren't much to look at, are you? Average face, short height, boyish figure, no chest to speak of whatsoever…shall I continue?"
The tone of malicious amusement in his voice was unmistakable, and she looked so very outraged that it was almost funny to see. The fact that he seemed to have rendered her momentarily speechless was an added bonus, and he cocked his head slightly at her.
"Have you changed your mind about lodging that complaint to Squalo yet, or need I say some more?"
Haru gritted her teeth. Denying this utterly rude man had now become a matter of principle. No matter what he did or said to her now, there was no way she would ever agree to whatever he wanted.
"I'm not going to change my mind no matter what you say," she growled angrily as she started to walk again, intent on leaving this horrible person as far behind her as possible. Unfortunately for her, he easily fell in place beside her, completely free and unhindered by the heavy books that slowed her down.
He chuckled, gleefully savoring her high strung agitation.
"I will just continue to drive you mad enough that you will be begging to be free of my company, hmm?"
Haru narrowed her eyes at him.
"Haru won't get mad," she promised him haughtily at last.
"But Haru will get even."
It never even occurred to Belphegor to be wary of his charge, despite her threats the previous day. She was just a computer tech after all, what harm could she do?
As it turned out, hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned.
The day started out normally enough. She seemed to have returned to normal when he saw her first thing in the morning. If anything, she seemed to have completely forgotten about their little altercation last night and was more preoccupied with poring through the ridiculously thick logbook that she was carrying around. She was also ignoring him as usual and her sentiment was duly reciprocated. He wasn't a morning person at all, and was only too glad to be left the hell alone until he either had some coffee and/or had caused some irreparable bloodshed.
Breakfast came and went without a hitch. Lussuria presided over the table as usual, crowing enthusiastically over the new day like some demented, overgrown cockerel. He was wedged between a broody Levi and a deadpan Fran, whereas Belphegor sat on the other side of the table with Haru. Xanxus seldom attended breakfast with the rest of the Varia executives, and everyone just gave the grumpy Squalo a wide berth—the bad-tempered swordsman was even more notorious for lopping off heads in the morning.
Then, once the compulsory morning meal with the executives was concluded, everyone separated to fulfill their objectives. Unfortunately enough, Belphegor was still stuck with Haru, which was really even worse than babysitting Fran a few months back. At least Fran could be smacked around and still prove to be somewhat entertaining. His current charge was so weak that attacking her would be akin to stabbing an already dead animal, one that was already cooked and served on a plate.
Huh. How exciting would that be?
Not to mention, their Leader had already given his word to the higher ups that this woman would not come to any harm as long as she was in Varia territory. To go against Xanxus' word would be a bad idea indeed, not to mention, Sawada Tsunayoshi and that ragtag group he claimed as family would be crawling all over the Varia castle like an extremely bad rash.
In conclusion, no killing the woman. In fact, no killing anything at all, period.
Geh. His life sucked so hard that it wasn't even funny.
Not even paying attention to what he was doing, Belphegor punched the long string of numbers that was the pass code into the keypad situated at the barred entrance of the imposing dungeon before lazily allowing the biometric reader do a palm and retinal scan on his person, well used to the troublesome procedure by now. Eventually, his identity was confirmed and the vault entrance started to open with loud, mechanical hisses. The huge hunk of thick, steel reinforced concrete that was the door swung open first, and beyond that, thick steel bars slid back soundlessly into standby position within the metallic ceiling. Five panels of consecutive, metallic, floor to ceiling walls, each an imposing foot wide and designed to withstand at least a direct C4 explosives impact, opened one after another, unblocking the long and narrow walkway and revealing the huge underground chamber at the end of it.
The entire dungeon was completely encased on all sides in thick, impenetrable metal. Powerful fluorescent lighting flickered on in sections, shedding artificial light on row upon row of computer servers, standing like cold, silent sentries that guarded not only the ominous secrets of the Vongola Famiglia's long history of violence and bloodshed, but also the many transactions of the immensely powerful Mafia Family, financial and otherwise, past, present, and future. A significant portion of the servers also controlled the day-to-day operation of the Varia Headquarters, overseeing part of the internal security within the castle parameters and providing backup power supply when needed, as well as redundant data communication connections and advanced environmental controls.
For a castle as ancient and rich in history as the one that the Varia were based in, it was certainly downright impressive that she was so advancedly equipped in the technological sector.
The cold blasts of air from the powerful sets of air conditioners that worked twenty four seven within the dungeon to cool down the servers rushed at the two newcomers, and whereas Haru flinched slightly at the cold, huddling deeper into her thick jacket for warmth, Belphegor did not seem at all affected by the sudden drop in temperature. He strolled confidently down the now unhindered walkway, though he did not make it very far.
A quarter down the length of the metallic pathway, his movements triggered the sensors installed along the particular portion of wall panels. The alarms started to shrill long and loud, and the prince paused. Well. This had never happened before.
A small movement by the edge of his vision caught his attention, and Belphegor turned his head sharply to the top corner of the wall and nearly got blinded for his efforts. The thin, stick-like object that protruded from the ceiling folded itself in half and proceeded to emit a sharp flare of crimson light over him.
"Motion Detected. Scanning In Process… Scanning Complete. Processing Image. Hostile Body Detected. Varia Crest…Affirmative. Hair color code #d6c65e…Affirmative. Lack of Ocular Implants…Affirmative." The mechanical, robotic voice droned on, and Belphegor twitched imperceptibly. Lack of ocular—did the damn thing just imply that he had no eyes?! "Server Admin Control, Please Advise Next Course Of Action For iDAMU Within The Next Twenty Seconds, Or Lethal Action Will Commence."
As promised, the same toneless mechanical voice started the countdown, and Belphegor was inwardly incredulous. 'I damn you?' What the hell sort of name was that? And why on earth was he marked down as a hostile body? The blonde was beginning to suspect that perhaps the security system had malfunctioned. Either that, or it had been tampered with—
Haru took the opportunity to slip past her guide and venture hurriedly ahead of him. Reflexively, he tried to grab hold of her, but at his slightest movement, a fine beam of concentrated laser shot out from the same device at the corner, and he quickly abandoned his course of action, dodging a fraction to the right to avoid the deadly projection. Still, the smell of singed hair filtered down to his nose, and his lips curled ever so slightly with increasing agitation. In swift retaliation, his blade flew right at the mouth of the stick-like device, only for the powerful laser to completely vaporize the sturdy piece of metal before his eyes.
Belphegor stared wordlessly at the powerful weapon, impressed by its highly destructive properties.
Then, Haru spoke.
"Server Admin Control to Integrated Defense and Assault Mechanical Unit, pass code three-zero-zero-four-one-two. Activate," the brunette commanded in a clear, precise voice, completely different from her usual lighthearted and ditzy demeanor. "Initiate Phase Three of Hostile Neutralization Procedure Armageddon, to be upgraded continuously to next Phase should Opposition refuses to be nullified. Server Admin Control to Integrated Defense and Assault Mechanical Unit, pass code three-zero-zero-four-one-two. Commence."
"Command Acknowledged. Initiating Lockdown in Thirty Seconds. Thirty. Twenty-Nine. Twenty-Eight…"
Haru looked at the blonde prince then, and smiled.
"You were bored, weren't you?" she asked sweetly, the earlier professional countenance changing back to something else, although the particular vengeful glint in her eyes was anything but docile and pleasant. So much for his notion that she had already dismissed yesterday's events from her mind. If anything, he had completely read the situation wrongly. She must have been more sensitive of her chest size or lack thereof than he had first thought.
"I hope you don't mind testing out the initial stages of the improved physical security system that I'm planning to integrate with the servers. It's a bit similar to the one that I have designed for the secret base back in Japan, but different at the same time. I had to make do with the existing physical weapons within the dungeon vaults, so there are only ten phases for now. Since you are the Varia elite, I skipped straight to Phase Three just for you. See you later. Don't die, ne?"
Belphegor lifted his wary attention from the laser weapon to Haru. It finally occurred to him just what her revenge entailed. He smiled back. Unfortunately, there was nothing genial in the way he bared his teeth at her.
"I will make you pay for this later, little sparrow."
In response, the damn woman had the gall to wave to him as the paneled walls started to slide close with ominous pneumatic hisses, leaving him trapped within the narrow, enclosed walkway whereas she was safely separated on the other side of the thick walls, in the safety of the main dungeons. The heavy vault door and the steel bars behind him had long since sealed themselves shut, and Belphegor observed his surroundings carefully.
The mechanical countdown tapered to an end.
All was silent for a blessed moment.
The unreadable blonde prince tensed ever so slightly, his sharp blades materializing in his hands almost instantaneously.
Then, without any warning, small, paneled sections of the false walls on either side of him slid open, and the mini-canons hidden within emerged with uniformed, quiet whirls. They turned to him and clicked into place. From the ceiling, several laser weapons similar to the first one that had singed his hair dropped forth, all directed towards him with swift precision. Within seconds, his body was bathed in an array of small red lights.
The mechanical voice boomed around him.
"Phase Three of Hostile Neutralization Procedure Armageddon. Test Encounter One. Commencing."
The lasers hummed to life.
The canons discharged with deafening roars.
All hell broke loose.
::owari::
Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:
Haru is not really as much of a pushover as Belphegor likes to think. She's a bit wary and unsure of her place amongst this new Varia dynamics at the moment, but Bel's pushing has certainly cleared things up quickly. Once again, she may not be as strong as the others or possess any special abilities, but give her a few machines and a computer to tinker with and she will work magic, which Bel will now learn the hard way, unfortunately.
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Just to make things a bit clearer, this series of one-shots may not always be updated in chronological order, even though they all occur in the same AU-verse. To make things less confusing, do take each one-shot separately unless I indicate otherwise.
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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!
--sllebswap