Hello everybody!

I started writing this fanfiction two years ago and it has turned out rather long. It was written in horrible English (because I'm not a native speaker), but now I'm rewriting it and my nice beta reader is helping me out, as well. I hope some of you can appreciate it since it has taken up a lot of my time to write it. The beginning may be a little strange and confusing, but things explain themselves after a while. I actually haven't finished it yet, but I will surely work on it if I see people are interested.

My beta reader: Blood of Dusk

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own anything at all and write only for entertainment.

Rated: M because of language, violence and sexual themes.

Oh, and if you haven't realized it yet: it's SLASH! Don't like, don't read.

Humanity

[Dante x Nero]

Prologue

"Hey kid, mind watching the way you swing that sword of yours? You might actually hurt somebody!"

"… Shut the hell up, old man!"

Nero jumped up in the air and accumulated all his strength for a split-attack. Dante easily blocked it and hurled the younger devil hunter back, making him crash into a stony wall of their self-proclaimed training ground. The boy climbed to his feet panting; the long training fight he was having with Dante was starting to get the better of him. He felt weak and tired… and yet, he wouldn't admit it for anything in the world. He was so determined to kick the older man's ass that he even managed to ignore the sharp pain the deep injury in his human arm was causing.

"Look, kid – it's entertaining to battle with you and all, but don't you think we're overdoing it a little? We haven't had a break for almost two hours; I think this is enough for today." Dante said, while paring another assault from Nero's side. A sly smirk formed on his face.

"You'll never beat me anyway. It's pointless!"

"Shut the hell up, old man! I told you already; stop talking meaningless shit and actually fight back!"

Nero ran as fast as he could, the point of his sword directed at Dante's throat. Everything happened really fast, even for Nero's trained eyes: the older man dodged, grabbed his human arm and brutally twisted it, disarming him in the process. At the same moment, he knocked him against a huge rock, holding him firmly up against it, raising his sword to his throat.

"Pizza and beer?" Dante asked. The two devil hunters looked into each other's eyes; Dante grinning smugly, Nero glaring. The latter was the first to avert his gaze.

"You're an asshole, Dante!"

"Yeah, don't worry; we'll take care of this, too."

Nero flinched and inaudibly gasped, as a sharp pain shot through his arm from where the older male was tightly squeezing the injured limb. As soon as the sharp blade was removed from the boy's throat, he punched the other devil hunter as hard as he could with his Devil Bringer. Dante, who was caught off-guard, failed to dodge and just stumbled backwards with a low groan, holding his gut. He had to smirk all the same when he heard the teen mumble "Damn, old, sadistic asshole…" while leaving the training grounds, Red Queen on his back.

Oh, if only you knew how sadistic I REALLY can be. Dante thought, before sheathing Rebellion, as well, and following him out of the demolished camp.

"GODDAMMIT, will you watch what you're doing? I'm starting to think that you really enjoy the pain of others!"

"Poor, little, injured kiddo." Dante mocked him in a sing-song voice, finishing bandaging up Nero's arm tightly. Too tightly. The younger devil hunter grimaced and was about to punch the other male again, but the door bell rang and saved his ass. Dante went to open the door and returned with two pizza boxes. He sat down at his desk, his feet pulled up to rest on the wooden surface in his usual reckless manner and then started to eat. Nero stood up from the couch, approached the little refrigerator in the corner of the room and helped himself to a can of beer. He opened it and took a generous gulp; the cold liquid instantaneously soothed his burning insides.

"Slow down – I don't wanna have to take care of your drunken ass afterwards." Dante jokingly commented, while chewing happily on his slice of pizza.

"Yeah, whatever. Like a can of beer would be enough to get me wasted. Whatever you say, old man. Whatever you say. Now give me the pizza."

"Come and get it if you want it that badly."

The older devil hunter smirked and eyed Nero provocatively. He loved to play with the boy. He took things so embarrassingly seriously. The teen walked up to the desk and nonchalantly picked up the untouched pizza box. He took a seat on the desk with his back turned to Dante and ate the pizza, as well. Dante glanced at his back, disappointed that his provocations had been ignored, but he didn't make any more smartass remarks.

After a short while he asked "Shouldn't you be heading off soon? Isn't your girl waiting for you to come home?"

"Not really..." Nero replied with a soft voice.

"Why, did you two have a lover's tiff or what?"

"Shut up, it's none of your business!"

Nero rubbed his nose and stood up with the intention to go away.

"Why not? We're friends, right? It should be alright to talk about these things."

Dante jumped to his feet, as well, and followed the younger devil hunter through the lobby, but the teen abruptly came to a halt.

"So we're even friends now?" Nero muttered sarcastically. "Nice."

"What's the matter, why are you acting so angry?"

"Dante… just shut up, will you?"

Dante said nothing, a scowl slowly crawling onto his face. His patience was beginning to wear thin. First the brat had come to his shop and had started to live and work with him, as if it was obvious he could. All the while he had avoided talking about serious things, like why he was staying at his place and why he didn't want to go back to Fortuna.

"Look, kid..." he snapped, grabbing the younger devil hunter by his injured arm and flinging him menacingly against the nearest wall."You don't show up here, stay here for a month, eat my food, take a part of the money I could easily earn by myself and then talk to me that way. Pull that fucking stick out of your ass and tell me what the hell your problem is!"

Nero softly gasped, both from the surprise at having Dante ranting at him and the pain in his upper arm. He eyed the man uncertainly with a slightly lowered head and tried to remove his hand from around the gash Rebellion had slit into his flesh.

"You're tearing it open again!"

"As if you'd really mind, damn brat! Now would you mind telling me why the fuck you've been acting like a PMSing girl?"

The younger devil hunter struggled to free himself from Dante's clutches, but managed only to indeed rip his wound open again. After a few seconds, he found his hoodie drenched in a red and warm substance he knew was his blood.

He clenched his Devil Bringer and hit the other male straight in the face. Dante, however, kept his stance and shoved his knee deep into Nero's stomach, causing him to double over and slide down the wall to the ground.

"You cooled off yet?" he asked, annoyed.

Nero crouched on the floor, trembling ever so lightly, and fixed his gaze on the rather dirty tiles. He watched a little puddle of blood grow in size under his left hand. Apparently, Dante noticed, too.

"Hey… What's wrong…? That scratch shouldn't be that much trouble for someone like you…" he softly said, kneeling down to his eye level and checking the freshly reopened wound.

Nero just snorted and brushed his hands off, stood up and headed straight for the room he had been staying in since he had come to live with the older man.

Dante inhaled deeply, trying to soothe his strained nerves and then followed him upstairs. He stood in front of a closed door and wondered if this was what it was like to have a pubescent child. He sure as hell was never going to have children. Never. He knew Nero wanted to be alone, but there was something about the teen's behavior and his injured arm which bothered him.

"Kid? I'm coming in now. You better just take it and be a good boy." the older devil hunter warned him, sighing. He opened the door and was embraced by darkness. His demonic eyes, however, adapted rapidly to the obscurity around him and he easily found his way to a bundle of trembling sheets, huddled up on a mattress in the corner of the room.

"You alright? Are you still bleeding a lot?"

Dante lowered himself and pulled at the sheets, revealing the other devil hunter's slightly curled up figure. Nero turned away, avoiding his gaze. The older male ignored his unfriendly mannerism and just rolled the blood-soaked sleeve of his hoodie up. He peeled the now useless bandages off his arm and scrutinized the still bleeding red and swollen gash.

"This sure is some fucked up shit here. Why isn't it healing yet? It's not normal for a half demon to need that much time to heal a scratch like this one!" he exclaimed, slightly upset.

"It's normal for a human, though." Nero mumbled with a soft voice.

"Huh?"

The teen started trembling even harder and rubbed his nose with this healthy arm.

"I think I might be losing my demonic powers..."

Thanks for reading!

I know - this is just the beginning and it's difficult to already express oneself about it. Feedback is always appreciated though! =)