The Prince and His Pet Chapter Fourteen

NOTICE: I WILL BE GONE FOR APPROXIMATELY FIVE DAYS BECAUSE I HAVE TO GO TO SEE A RELATIVE'S WEDDING IN ANOTHER STATE... SO YEAH, AND I (PROBABLY) WON'T HAVE INTERNET. ... I'LL BE WRITING AS OFTEN AS I CAN, THOUGH, SO I MIGHT UPLOAD A COUPLE TIMES WHEN I RETURN. :)

Heh... I GOT REVIEWSSSSS! SO HAPPYYYY~~~ Ahaha, I'm killing the '~' key, I should stop that. XP

That night...

Bel's POV

Bel lied in bed, listening to Fran as the tadpole practiced his English.

'You are... that is...'

'Ahh...,' Bel inwardly sighed, 'there's a lot of things that Fro- er... Fran is still saying in his own way.'

'I am Fran. That is algae. This is...'

"Ushishi," Bel giggled, causing Rasiel to sit up and look at him.

"You've been laughing to yourself for the past twenty minutes, Bel, what's your problem?" Rasiel asked quietly, but still with an air of distaste.

"Nothing in particular," the younger prince managed between shi's.

"You've been creepy lately," Rasiel muttered, "As though you can hear something that I can't."

"... Ushishi~."

'Rasiel is... Belphegor...'

'Oh, does he know Jill is my brother? Ah, well, he'll have to learn the word 'brother', and possessives like Belphegor's... I wonder if I can get him to call me Bel. Saying my full name takes too much time. I just hope that Fran goes to sleep soon... I'm getting tired, and he won't shut up.'

"Hey, Bel," Rasiel called.

"Yeah?"

"... You took the book out to the forest to read it to your tadpole, didn't you?"

Bel didn't answer, but he giggled quietly, confirming his brother's suspicions.

"You're so wierd."

The next day...

Fran's POV

Fran woke up after having that dream once again.

'I want to learn his language anyway... but if I do, will I really be able to turn into a human?'

The tadpole swam to the surface of the water. 'I wonder where Belphegor is... maybe he's at his home right now. ... But where does Belphegor live? I really would like to find that out...'

'Good morning, Fran,' hummed a voice from behind the tadpole. Fran turned.

'Morning, Tsuna~,' he greeted. 'You are Tsuna. I am Fran, that is algae.'

'Mm, you're very good at that, Fran...,' Tsuna chuckled, 'but please talk so that I may understand you.'

Fran laughed lightly, nuzzling into the catfish's side. 'Sorry, Tsuna.'

'Fraaaan~,' called Lussuria, swimming over, 'Why don't we eat together this morning?'

Fran turned to his brother. 'Yes.'

'H-huh...?'

'Heh, I meant sure,' Fran laughed.

'Yeah, go have fun with your brother,' Tsuna invited, flapping a fin and pushing Fran closer to his sibling.

'Huu, Frannie, where do you want to eat? Mukuro and his little crowd are taking up the main feeding ground...,' Lussuria told the younger tadpole.

'We could go eat with the minnow,' Fran said, indicating to a smaller patch of algae where Lambo was scavenging for invertebrates.

'Sure,' Lussuria agreed, and the siblings swam down to where the minnow was.

'Hi, Lambo,' Fran greeted.

'Yo, number-twenty-six and... ... Lussuria.'

'Hey, why can't I be called by my name?' Fran asked, pouting.

'I'm sorry, Fran... my number system's a bit defective.'

'Then don't use it!'

'Heh...'

'Fran... let's eat,' Lussuria invited, swimming over to the algae.

'Yeah.'

Fran nibbled at the algae, ignoring Lambo's whining about how that was where he was scavenging, and mumbled to Lussuria, 'Do you dream?'

'Of course I dream, Frannie, everyone dreams,' Lussuria hummed.

'What do you dream about?'

'Well, a lot of things. Sometimes I dream about mother, and every now and then, I'll dream about riding a bird.'

Fran thought that the idea of his brother riding a bird was priceless, but he tried not to comment.

'What do you dream about, Frannie?' Lussuria asked.

'Oh... uhm... humans.'

'Humans?'

'Yeah... Since I'm learning their language and hanging out with Belphegor... I guess that's why.'

'Aww, that's so cute...,' Lussuria sighed, 'I wish I could talk to humans.'

'Hm...,' was the younger tadpole's only response as he continued to eat the algae.

'Mukuro and Spade have already started developing their front limbs... I wonder when we'll get ours.'

Fran looked over at his brother. Lussuria's hind legs were bigger than Fran's, but not by much.

'Lussuria... why do you dream about mother?'

'Well, everyone does. We dream about what it was like to have her with us and what it will be like when we're fully grown like her. That's why we never have to think about her while we're awake.'

'Oh...'

Bel's POV

Bel walked over to the door, and Rasiel chased after him. "Are you going out to the forest?" he asked.

"Yeah, why? Do you want to come too?"

"May I?"

"Sure."

The other prince grinned. "I'm glad I can tag along during your most important time with your Froggy."

"Fran."

"Huh?"

"His name is Fran," Bel told his brother, "he told me himself."

Rasiel took a moment to mull over what Bel had said, then laughed lightly. "Shesheshe, crazy."

"I know it is," Bel agreed, and they walked out of the castle, just accepting things like that. Rasiel took off his crown and wrapped it in his cloak, then set it in the ground. Bel just took off his crown and hid it in the grass, and they continued on to the forest.

"You know, Bel, I've been wondering..."

"Hm?"

"Do you believe in that legend? The one about the princess and the frog?"

"... No, why would I believe in a legend?"

"That's what I want to know."

They came over to the pond, and Bel sat down, dipping the cup into the water. He waited for a moment, and eventually he heard, 'This is a glass. I am Fran.'

He whistled, impressed, lifting the glass out of the pond and putting it on the stone. "Yes, Fran. Good job."

Fran almost smiled at the prince, and Belphegor saw that there was another tadpole there this time.

'You are Belphegor.'

"Yes, I am," Belphegor replied.

'This is...,' Fran said, looking at his brother.

"Ahh, need to figure out his name, don't we?" Bel sighed, lying down. "Try it, Fran... I'll see if I get it."

'...uss...urrr...'

"Ussur?" Bel repeated.

'L...usss...urr...i-ah.'

"Lussuria?" Bel asked. "Is that right, Fran?"

'... Lussuria...?' Fran seemed to ask his friend if that was correct, and the other tadpole nodded and mouthed something to Fran. The tadpole looked back at Belphegor. 'Yes. This is Lussuria.'

"Nice to meet you, Lussuria," Belphegor greeted, smiling at the other tadpole.

"What the hell?" Rasiel muttered, also looking at the tadpoles. "Lussuria? That sounds gay."

"Shut up," Bel snapped at his brother, "Don't insult the tadpoles."

'Rasiel!' Fran greeted, looking at the older prince.

"Yes," Belphegor agreed. "That is Rasiel."

"Bel...?" Rasiel muttered, "You two are talking about me."

"Yeah, actually, we are."

'Lussuria is...'

"Mm, Lussuria is your brother?" Bel asked. "Rasiel is my brother."

Fran looked a bit confused for a moment, but he nodded.

'Bro...th-er.'

Fran's POV

Lussuria was a nice name. It sounded like the hiss of wind through a fracture in a rock, a sort of whistle. And 'brother' was probably what Fran had been trying to say for so long. It sounded like a small bark from a fox. Fran had brought Lussuria along because his brother thought that foreign languages were romantic, and hearing his name in the human language just drove his brother crazy. For Lussuria, having a human friend was amazing.

-End Chapter

I apologize for the abrupt chapter ending, but I have twenty minutes to get this edited and uploaded before I go to the airport...! Please review while I'm gone!