Belphegor was curious as to why the little boy was heading so deep into the wooded area; was Fran really that antisocial? Was he running away? What was he doing? The blond's lips twisted into a sick grin as the thought that perhaps Fran wanted to play target practise with him crossed his mind; he would love to pin the younger to a tree with knives and hear the teal-haired child cry out in pain as blood dribbled to the ground beneath them...

Bel bit back a soft moan as he felt his pants tighten at the images running through his mind. He shook his head to clean them and tried not to think too much on it; he didn't want to have to give up his pursuit in order to take care of his needs because people never played hide-and-seek with him – they knew what they would be getting themselves into if they ever did, and he wanted to savour this moment.

Fran was quick as he weaved through the trees and thick underbrush, and Bel was too proud to admit he was having trouble keeping up with him.

What is he doing? Bel thought to himself as he clambered over a fallen log, trying to keep his presence hidden from the teal-haired child. Is he going anywhere in particular? Why is he here in the first place?

The teenager knew there was a river not far from here, and he briefly wondered if Fran was heading for that. If he was right, what would the boy achieve by going there? Was he going to drown himself?

"Ushishishi~" Bel couldn't help but laugh as he imagined the little child floating face-down in the river. He felt his nether-regions reacting to the thought once again but he ignored the feeling – there was no need to do anything about it now. "Stupid peasant..."

As expected, when the faint sounds of running water became audible to the two boys, Fran's attention was grabbed if the instant cocking of a small head was anything to go by. The child looked off into the direction the sounds were coming from for a few seconds before he changed course, heading towards it. Bel followed, intrigued by the boy's manner of thinking; what had lead him out here in the first place and then towards the sounds of running water?

It took only a minute or two for Fran to stumble across the river, and Bel watched as he almost immediately jumped into the shallowness of the cold stream so that he could splash around and jump from exposed island to exposed island like he was some sort of frog trying to cross to the other side.

Bel grinned at his analogy; he had a frog back at the Varia House name Mammon. Maybe when they got back, he would put Mammon onto Fran's head and see how the younger reacted; it would be a funny sight if the emotionless boy didn't like frogs, and he was in the mood for a bit of torture; perhaps if all of the adults cleared out of the house for some reason, he could do a lot more than just play around with Mammon...

The blond teen was hidden behind a large tree growing on the bank of the stream, knowing he couldn't let the other see him, but the sight of water dripping from the pale body made the dull throbbing in his groin ache even further, and he knew he was going to have to do something about it soon.

Bel bit back a hiss as he trained his eyes onto the boy and ghosted his hand over the crotch of his pants, unable to resist any further; though he usually found it very easy to ignore his desires and tended not to masturbate, sometimes things went through his head that just made him way too aroused to leave it be.

The boy moaned softly as he groped himself through the thick material of his pants, unable to understand why he could only feel like this when things he knew was disgusting went through his mind; he just couldn't get off without a bit of blood and pain. He remembered Xanxus and Squalo once telling him that even though it wasn't his fault, he was very unstable mentally and because of it, he was wired differently than most people. He didn't know whether he believed that explanation or not, but what he did know was that it was so fucking sick of him to need to fantasise about raping and maiming someone just so he could have an orgasm.

Bel closed his eyes and played with the scenario of Fran on his knees, with Bel forcing his hardened member into that tiny mouth and the child struggling to get away as he choked and sputtered from the unwanted invasion. He licked his lips as he pictured tears running down those pale cheeks and the cries of fear the younger made as thrust after thrust opened his throat wide. He groaned as he slipped his hand into his pants so that he could take hold of himself. He couldn't help it; he was so lost in his thoughts he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, and the hand that grabbed his shoulder startled him out of his activity.

The blond turned to glare at the people who had intruded upon his personal time. He came face-to-face with Dino and Hibari, the older blond blushing as he looked anywhere but at the child while Hibari radiated a deadly aura.

"Do you have any idea of the worry you've put the others through?" Hibari hissed as he pulled on the black jacket Bel was wearing, forcing the younger to his feet. "Why would you disappear for this? Could you not keep it in your pants until you got home? What a silly thing to worry your guardians over."

"Kyouya, he's… doing that… because of…" Dino swallowed thickly as he pointed over to the river where Fran was still playing, oblivious to the others near him. He shuddered at the idea of Bel fantasising about such a young child, but he wasn't surprised; he knew for a fact that the smaller blond truly didn't know any better, and no matter how hard Squalo had tried to raise Bel to be a normal kid, nothing he had done had been able to save him.

Kyouya closed his eyes as found what Dino was pointing at. His grip tightened on Bel's jacket, but he knew not to say or do anything right now; he had to leave it up to Squalo to handle, and if the silver-haired male wanted his help on the matter, the man would ask. He certainly wasn't happy about it, but what could he do? Bel was damaged, and he wasn't going to learn what the difference between right and wrong through the beating Hibari wanted to give him; it would only make the situation worse. "…"

Bel pointed out the swelling and forming bruise around Hibari's eye, a sure result from where he had been hit by the baseball. "Ushishishi~ Looks like the boyfriend won't get any for the next week now, not with hurting your face!"

Hibari's hold tightened as he growled in anger; it was common knowledge he hated having his relationship talked about, especially in front of him. He was stopped from attacking the boy only by Dino putting his hands up in defence as he tried to diffuse the situation. "Now, now, Kyouya, Bel is only young and it wouldn't do to hurt him! Maybe you should walk him back to the others while I get Fran. Squalo's very worried, and he'll want to know that Bel is safe. Okay?"

Hibari's eyes narrowed further as he regarded Dino. When he finally nodded, his teeth were clenched. "I'll bite you to death when we get home, Cavallone."

Dino nervously rubbed the back of his head before he hurried away towards the river in order to get Fran; he didn't want to risk his safety by staying with the riled-up younger because he knew Hibari well enough to know the raven needed time to calm down from the stress of today's events – being hit with a baseball wasn't the only stressor the younger had gone through today.

Grass and sticks crunched under the blond's feet as Dino approached the river, watching as the boy played in the river. It was only when he tripped over a tree root and collapsed onto the ground, letting a loud grunt out, did Fran notice.

The younger turned around on the small island he was standing on. He blinked at the male, surprised by his presence; why had the man come after him? Did Dino want to hurt him now that they were alone? Or had he been worried about his disappearance and came looking for him? Was it a good or a bad thing Dino was here?

Dino got back to his feet when he noticed the younger's gaze on him. He smiled as he approached slowly, knowing he had to be slow in his movements lest he cause unrest between them; he didn't know this boy's background and so it was difficult to judge what actions were accepted and not accepted.

"It's okay, Fran," Dino explained as he took a step forward. It was the first time Fran noticed the male's odd accent, as if Japanese wasn't his first language – just like him. Somehow, it was a little comforting to know that fact, even if he didn't quite understand why; perhaps it was because he didn't exactly feel alone because of it. "The others were getting worried when they noticed you weren't with them, so I came out to try and find you and make sure you were safe."

Fran frowned, unable to believe these words; did the man truly expect him to believe such obvious lies? His safety had never been an issue to others before – they were the ones always hurting him, after all. Why should things change now after so many years of pain?

Fran backed away and shook his head. His first instinct was to run, to get away from this male who only wanted to hurt him, so why was he having trouble moving his legs?

Dino grew his own frown as he noticed the uneasiness on the child's face, wanting nothing more than to help him; he could understand why the younger was acting like this because a lot of the kids that came from the same orphanage Hibari had had similar issues – hell, Hibari himself had taken a lot of work, and even though the skylark was still very difficult, Dino never regretted giving the younger a home so that they could be together. "Fran, it's really okay. You can trust me."

"I don't trust anyone." Fran's voice was so quiet, Dino had barely heard it over the gentle breeze. It was filled with fright and, if the blond wasn't mistaken, the child was on the verge of tears – but why would the other be about to cry? From what he had been told, the kid had only been stoic since his arrival at the orphanage – what had he done to change that? "Leave me alone, blond idiot."

Cavallone had to admit these words hurt him – it hurt for his natural clumsiness to be used as a derogatory term against him, of course – but it hurt more to know that this little boy, barely taller than the average four year old, was so damaged, he couldn't even accept such simple help. It broke his heart to know that there were so many kids out there like Fran who had been broken, and he wished he could help; the only problem was, he truly didn't know how to help.

"Fran..."

Fran dropped his gaze to his feet as he found the strength to move away – but this time he slipped and fell into a drop-off too deep for his frail body to stand in. He flailed his arms in distress as he struggled to keep his head above water, but it was useless; he kept going under, and he could only panic as his lungs kept filling with water at a rapid pace.

Dino panicked. His first thought was that he was about to watch the child drown, but he would never stand by and let such a thing happen; his feet moved of their own accord and the distance between he and Fran was closing; in this moment, the only thing that mattered was getting closer to the kid who obviously couldn't swim.

"Fran! Fran, keep your head up!" The blond didn't even realise that, for once, he hadn't fallen or even stumbled as he so often did – but when he would think back on it, he could understand why; Fran was important to him, and he wouldn't let his clumsiness get in the way of saving this child.

Dino's heart almost stopped when he finally scooped the boy up from under the water. He was scared; Fran's eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing – had it really taken him so long just to get there and rescue him…? The blond made his way to the closest shore and laid the boy down on the dirt. He checked Fran's airways, and he was horrified to find that water had filled the boy's lungs. In his worry, he did the only thing he could think to do; CPR.

The minutes that passed felt like years as the blond did his best to get Fran breathing again, and Dino was starting to think he had been too late. His chest clenched at the thought, and just when he was about to pull his hands back and call Hibari's phone to tell him what had happened, Fran started coughing weakly. Water trailed down his cheeks as he expelled the liquid he had unwillingly swallowed and his eyelids fluttered weakly as his tiny hands grasped at the dirt beneath them. He was in as much distress as Dino was, and the blond couldn't blame him; the kid had almost died.

"Fran..." Dino knew he should have kept his hands to himself, but he was so relieved to know that the younger was okay, he couldn't help himself; he reached out and pulled the frail body into his arms, hugging gently as he rested his forehead on wet hair. "...Fran... You had me so worried..."

Fran felt too weak to comprehend what was going on; all he knew was someone had engulfed him in a hug – a painless hug. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel nervous to have someone so close to him; it was reassuring for the elder's body heat to seep through his wet clothes, bringing some warmth to his shaking body.

Slowly, small hands reached up and grasped at the brown jacket Dino wore. Fran closed his eyes and sighed softly as he placed his head against Dino's chest, listening to the steady heartbeat. For the first time in a long time, he wanted to cry. He didn't want to hide his emotions and pretend everything was fine – he wanted to let everything out.

Dino held the boy close. He ran a large hand through teal hair, and as gently as he could, he said, "If you want to cry, it's okay. You can cry."

Fran fought as hard as he could to keep his tears back, but a few stray ones dripped down his cheeks. He closed his eyes, unable to believe he hadn't been reprimanded for showing emotion; never before had that happened because he used to be abused for even the slightest frown on his face – crying was what had earned him beatings so severe, he had gathered a few broken bones from them.

But… Dino was different...

Dino could tell the child was freezing, so he carefully placed the child onto the ground. He removed his jacket and wrapped it around the child as best he could; he would have preferred taking such wet clothing off the tiny body but, having practically raised Hibari himself after taking him away from the Varia Orphanage, he knew some things were better left undone.

"Let's go back," Dino whispered as he lifted Fran into his arms again. "I bet everyone is worried."

Fran didn't reply; he just clung to the man as he tried to understand why Dino had been so… Well, he didn't even know how to describe Dino; this was something he had never experienced before, and he didn't even know if there was a word for it. Did this mean... the people at the Varia House weren't as bad as he had thought...?