Seven: Dante IV

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I directed him to the outskirts of the city, he kinda reminded me of myself when I first got this car. Passing people that were going over sixty, windows down, and blasting…um, I don't know what the fuck it was, like I said, you know how Nero likes that emo shit. The only difference was, when he pulled off onto the dirt he was going really fucking slow. I mean like two miles per hour. We got out and walked though the knee-high grass, and laid down at the top of the hill.

"So what were you saying earlier? Something about my idea being better than yours?"

I shrugged closing my eyes "I was just thinkin' we'd spar a little bit but work was busy today."

"Aw, is the geezer too tired to get his ass kicked?" He taunted me, sitting up.

I clutched my sides because I laughed so hard "Oooo, I'm so scared, what are you gonna do? Beat me to death with your pacifier?"

"I thought about it." He smiled, it's good to see he's gotta sense of humor now. If I said something like that when we first met, his eyes would flare, smoke would come out of his nose, and he probably even breath fire. He took himself way too seriously, and with barely any skill to back it up. He stretched, hands above back lifting off the ground I am a little rusty since I've been cooped up half the week…but I'm sure I can more than keep up with you."

I smirked and jumped to my feet "That's a lot of smack-talking for a punk, time to teach you some manners."

Nero took my outstretched hand, pulling himself up "At least I can learn 'em."

Is it my imagination or was that a 'old dogs, new tricks' burn? Well then, I guess I'm gonna half to shut that big mouth of his.

He tapped the trunk's unlock button on the keychain "Race ya?"

I kissed his forehead, "You lose-"

The look on his face was awesome, he stood there like an idiot until he realized I was half-way to the car. He bolted forward "Hey- Dante! That's not fair!"

"You've said it before, kid." I grabbed Rebellion out of the trunk and shouldered it "You think I would've changed much since we met?"

To put it lightly, he looked kind of irritated with me. He jumped into the air and his reached forward, a ghostly image of his devil bringer shot out and snatched his sword out of the trunk. He came crashing down, I easily defected it and swung at him. He grabbed Rebellion's blade and forced me back, I straightened out "Not bad."

"Ya think?" he stuck his sword in the ground, revving it like he always did when he was feeling cocky. It took every ounce of my love for him just to not start laughing my ass off and mocking him.

"Looks like it's about time I kicked it up a notch." I rushed him, every attack pushing him back to the top of the hill.

He back flipped out of my barrage of attacks, "I thought you said a notch?" he blocked another attack "This is more like five!"

"To get better, you gotta struggle first. Oh, and by the way, you never wanna get pushed back like that." I flashed him a smirk, advancing harder.

"I know that, but I can't get a damn hit in!" Another block, he grunted as he forced Rebellion to my side and hit me in the gut with his bringer. I could tell he was getting tired, but he had to learn or this kid could get himself in a bind.

I faked being hurt by recoiling a bit, I stuck Rebellion in the ground and put my hands in a 'T' shape "Okay, kid, timeout."

He stuck Red Queen in the ground to and approached me, yeah, a break was a good idea he was panting. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanna make sure you're paying attention when I'm talkin' to ya." I peeled my trench and shirt away "You have to fight better than you think you can. It doesn't matter who or what it is, if it's trying to hurt you, kill it."

"With this exception." He added, stripping off his shirt and throwing them in his clothing pile. He smiled, revving Red Queen "Breaks over, unless you're scared that you'll break your hip, gramps."

I laughed, picking up my sword "Yeah, if by mine you mean yours!"

"Ha, I'd like to see ya try!" He jumped out of the way of another attack, then grabbed me from behind with his bringer and slamming me on my back. Which was good, I gotta say, I didn't see it coming. He jumped on me, straddling my waist and grabbing me by the hair "Game over." He held Blue Rose to my head, cockily tilting his head.

"Come on, you've gotta do better than that." I said, getting a glimpse of a very confused little Nero before I knocked him ten feet into the air, Red Queen flying out of sight. He quickly recovered and FINALLY summoned Yamato. We picked up speed, slashing as he could, remember I'm just teachin' him the way of the warrior. Our swords continued to clash, sparks and blood flying everywhere. We simultaneously jumped into the air, Yamato and Rebellion collided so hard, both swords flew out of our hands. The impact knocked Nero off balance –while still in the air- and smacked into me, throwing us both to the ground.

We stared blankly at each other for a minute. Then we both broke out into laughter, he rolled off, lying beside me. Both of our chests were rising and fall like we had been doing something else, -anyway, the grass around us and our bodies were covered in blood from wounds that've already healed. Seriously, there were blood splatters fifteen feet away. It was dark and quiet, very peaceful as side from our heavy breathing and it seemed like there were more stars out than usual.

Nero inhaled deeply, folding his arms behind his head "It's beautiful."

"Fruitcake." I smirked.

He kicked me "You love me anyway."

I smiled, because I always loved him, but never wanted to tell him. Ever. I think he knew.

"Dante?"

"Yeah?"

He eyed me suspiciously "How easy were you going on me that time?"

I shrugged, trying to think of an easy way to explain "Well, at the bottom, you have Nero difficulty. Then easy," I smirked "then moderate. Then even higher is hard and Dante."

"You're an asshat." He scowled. Sitting up and crossing his arms like a spoiled brat.

"Hey, you asked –wait," I chuckled, realizing what he just said "what the fuck kind of insult is asshat?"

He rubbed his rose "I, uh, it just came out."

I got up, extending my hand to him "As much as I love sitting in a pool of my own blood with ya, kid, but all this playing has made me work up an appetite."

He grabbed my hand and pulled himself up "What'd you have in mind?"

"Pepperoni and mushroom. Extra large and hand tossed." I rubbed my bare stomach in anticipation. That is until he had to go and ruin it.

"You do know that it's like four in the morning, right? There's no way to get pizza."

I sighed, "What is there then?"

"Diner?" he shrugged.

I was driving, we were almost there. And, no, we didn't forget to wipe off the blood from ourselves and put our clothes back on. "Oh yeah," I turned down Nero's emo music "I forgot to tell ya," when he looked at me, I put my left foot on the dashboard and hit the gas.

"Hey, what the fuck?!" he looked at me like I was an idiot for not being able to reach the clutch now. The car shifted itself, he looked confused "Okay…now what the fuck?"

"It's gotta dual-clutch, there's a computer inside so if you if accidently forget to shift, it does it for you. And if you want to go all the way auto, press this button, that way, you have a free hand to do this…"

A blush, that was brighter than my coat, covered his face when I took his hand in mine. He just nodded, his hand gripped on mine a little while we waited at a stoplight. Nero leaned over and turned the music up and leaned back, his head was almost out of the window, staring at the empty streets. That song he was singing earlier came through the speakers, he started singing it again, his thumb tapped against my hand to the beat of the drums. I couldn't hear him clearly, so I turned it off,

"Whatever tomorrow brings, with open arms and open eyes-" he sang, then realized I turned it off. "Dude, what'd you do that for?"

"I felt like it." I said while chuckling "I really just wanted to hear you. You know who you sound like?"

He looked at me questionably, wondering if he should ask me or not "Who?"

"A cat that I stepped on today."

Nero snatched his hand back and hit me "You suck."

"You swallow." I grinned. He can't argue with facts.

…And he knew it, he folded his arms and leaned them on the window "Jerk."

"Jeez, kid, I was kidding. Chill." I tapped him and didn't get a response "Nero, come on, Have a sense of humor, babe." I turned the CD back on and reclaimed his hand, kissing it.

"Mushy. Yuck." He jokingly stuck his tongue out at me.

I pulled into the parking lot "You like it. Admit it."

"Nope. Never." He jumped out of the car, throwing his hands in his coat pockets.

"Okay," I tossed him the keys, sliding up beside him "…either you take both your hands out of your pockets, or else."

"Or else what?"

I smirked, whispering "Or I'll do things to you that you didn't know people could do in public."

"You're bluffing." He glared.

"Try me." I let go of him when he did as I suggested. We took a seat, in fact, the same one as the last time we were here. I ordered the same thing Nero got; a cheeseburger and fries. –Except I didn't get tomatoes on it, I hate tomatoes.

"Why don't you like them?" he asked, it was like he could suddenly read my mind.

I grimaced "Everything about it. They're nasty."

He pointed to my plate "You like ketchup. It's the same thing."

"No it's not. Ketchup has lots of stuff in it. Tomatoes don't."

"Thanks for letting me know, Captain Obvious." He smiled, making it hard to keep from saying something to piss him off again.

I stuffed the rest of the burger in my mouth, roughly a fourth of it, and said "You know,"

"Dante, that's gross." He said, averting his eyes.

"That's the point." I swallowed it, and gulped down my drink. Once again non-alcoholic "You did good tonight, kid."

"Stop calling me that." He ordered, finishing his burger.

I got up to go pay for it "Okay, when you stop acting like one."

He was seething, and I loved it. He walked with me over to the cash register, not looking our usual waitress, probably because he thought she'd still be freaked out by his devil arm. "Hey, Dante, I'm gonna wait in the car."

"Hang on, a sec, love, almost done." I saw his face flush when I called him 'love'. I spun around and put my arm around his shoulder, walking with him out "So, what are our plans for tonight?"

"I donno, shower and sleep?" he shrugged, putting his arm around my waist and head on my shoulder.

An idea popped in my head, like a light bulb turning on, I kissed his neck, trailing to his ear "Remember when you said I suck? How's about I show you how well?"

He got all flustered like he always did "I-I, um,"

"I'll take that as a yes." I kissed his lips, wrapping my arm around his and pulling him close.

He kissed me back, raking his fingers through my hair and mumbled "I think it is, too."

*Dual-clutch transmission has a computer inside the car and you can either press a button (that acts as the clutch of the manual transmission) to shift OR you can let the computer shift for you (like an automatic transmission), which is good if you forget.

I'm running out of places to take this… I was thinking of MAYBE later on Vergil coming back (somehow) and fighting Nero. But I donno... :(