A/N: While I'm struggling slightly with my Dynasty Warriors fic, I thought I'd submit this shorter story I've managed to complete, at least until further notice. .

THIS IS DANTExNERO YAOI! If that's not your thing, then you know what to do.

Otherwise, please enjoy it.

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of its characters featured herein. This piece it meant purely for entertainment, not for profit!

"Will we meet again?" It pained him to have to ask.

Without so much as turning around, the cowboyish half-demon raised his arm and flicked his wrist in a half-hearted wave. Nero interpreted it as a 'maybe', but not to stake his life on it. Nero never liked maybes, and he wanted to run and jump kick Dante square in the face again for his noncommittal response. Dante had acted like a father, an elder brother, a mentor, and a wise friend. If Dante hadn't shown up and pulled his ass out of the fire, he and Kyrie would still be organs for the Savior, and all of the world would have turned into a demonic cesspool of evil dogma and twisted experiments. Why, after all that, and after Dante had entrusted him with Yamato, would he not turn around and make it a promise either way?

He didn't move to make good on his violent impulse, especially when his heart swelled as he watched Dante's retreating form. When he turned to look at Kyrie, he was overcome with sorrow. He almost felt like he needed to apologize. He never did, but only because he never thought his heartache was wrong.

What Nero did apologize to Kyrie for, however, was his subsequent absence. He made the point that Kyrie herself had nothing to do with his decision. She was a marvelous girl, blessed with beauty and a pure heart, having not a stain on her soul or conscience, and was the very symbol of those worthwhile facets of love and innocence in humanity that he and Dante had fought to defend. Nero appreciated Kyrie like no other time before he saved her and helped bring down the Order. Afterwards, however, he also saw her in a different light. She was someone who, just by the way she treated him, could teach him to purify his human side. She was what he believed in, and it thus armed him with the heart to face anything Hell sent their way. Nero felt he had as much to live up to with her as he did in competing with Dante.

Dante. Nero knew he was a changed man because of Dante, too, and he had been the start of it all. There was no use denying what was made obvious by his glowing blue Devil Bringer--that like the older man, he was able fight only because of his demonic taint. Despite the necessity to his cause, it was a side that he still believed he knew so little about. That hole in his life was something Kyrie could not solve; he could only depend on Dante for his answers. Afterward, he would return.

That is why, after some months of clean up, and shortly after life had gone back to normal in Fortuna, that Nero left town to find Dante. Kyrie, in all her sweetness, understood that it was a pilgrimage he had to undertake. He had slung Red Queen between his shoulder blades and holstered Blue Rose around his waist just in case. As he concealed his Devil Bringer by wrapping it in a sling, he considered that tracking down such an elusive individual as Dante would not be easy, especially after so much time had passed.

Later on his mission, while pondering the same question as how to locate Dante, he also tried not to worry that his savings only amounted to a couple of bills and some loose change. He had plunked down half of it at a bar just outside of town for the day's special: bratwurst and pickles. Not his usual fare, but it was cheap. Additionally, he wanted to eat fast and get the hell out of there--he hated the way strangers looked at him, even if only for the amount of heat he was packing, and in many different ways.

As he wolfed down his meal, he listened to the low hum of banter filling the bar. He slowed his chewing when a peculiar conversation entered his ear.

"Tolso's got itself an infestation," a male voice said.

"Yeah? I hadn't heard about that," his associate replied.

"All the buses and trains have suspended service there. And refugees are comin' through." A pause. "They say its Agnus' projects that escaped into the sewers when they torched the lab in Fortuna."

"You don't say. They gonna clean it up? That town's got some of the best restaurants."

"I hear the mayor's got some exterminators on the case. Said to be real pros in that sort of thing."

"Lemme guess. Devil May Cry?"

"Heh, how'd you figure?"

"Seriously? Well for one, there ain't that many businesses specialized in that field like they are, and two, the mayor would have to be the most retarded homo-simian to say no to the juggies the manager has workin' for him."

"I'd let a monster gnaw on me if I knew I would get a glimpse at that blonde's rack. Maybe two."

"Truth. I'd be screwin' 'em both at the same time every night if I were him."

"He probably does already. But isn't he getting a little old?"

"Who knows. But supposedly he's a half-breed, so maybe he's got a lot of mileage to spare."

"Lucky bastard."

Nero wasn't used to such crass banter in his pious hometown of Fortuna, but the exchange did give him a clue. No longer interested in his meal, he thanked the barkeep and left for Tolso.