Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any of the Devil May Cry characters in this fiction, if I did, Kyrie would have died in the first ten minutes of the game, very brutally and with lots of blood, Dante and Nero would be together...and Vergil would be shirtless in the third game...and Arkham would wear a frilly princess dress for my entertainment.

Rated Mature for Blood, Language, Future Hot Man Sex, Hurting Nero (again), and more that I am still thinking of.

I'm planning to make this story one of those that describes how Nero gets to Devil May Cry. Also, I named this chapter because Nero reminds me of a kicked puppy when he's hurt. You always just want Dante to hug him until he's all better. I can't think of anything else to type here so enjoy~!

Chapter One: Can I keep him?

The gray clouds overhead rumbled with the sound of thunder as clear drops of hellish rain fell from the heavens. The wind blew ferociously, making the small water drops bite against any portion of skin that was misfortune enough to be bare in this weather. The heavy mist coming from the pavement covered the world in a blue-gray curtain, blocking out nearly all visibility.

A lone figure walked down the rural road, red hood pulled over his head so the rain would not soak his silver hair. Blue eyes lazily observed the bare road out in the middle of nowhere. The young man was now fully aware that he was lost. The stretch of road looked the same as the last several miles he had been walking and he was sure that there was not going to be another city along this way for a couple dozen miles yet. He sighed, his breath coming out in a white puff in the surrounding cold air. He knew he should have stopped back at the last town and waited for the sun to rise but in pure determination he had continued on.

Nero had been walking for days now, only finding a few people willing to give him a ride. He was out of money now and not really sure where exactly he was going in the first place. All he knew was that he could not go back to Fortuna. Ever since the incident with the savior, the townspeople had blamed him and his devil bringer for corrupting the Order. How they came to that conclusion, Nero never figured out. Perhaps they thought he was manipulating them somehow, like a real devil, or maybe, they just wanted someone to blame for the destruction of the entire town. Either way, he was practically chased out of the town a few days after the demons appeared in fewer numbers. Kyrie had disappeared two days before the town had turned on him. He still was not sure where she had gone or if she was even on his side in the matter.

Nero was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a car honk loudly behind him. He turned around, aware that he had started walking in the middle of the road when no cars had past for the last hour. The car was a deep red convertible and the lack of roof made Nero question who would drive a vehicle like that in this kind of weather. Then again, he was the one walking alone in the downpour. The young man stepped off the road, watching as the car only pulled up a few feet before stopping in front of him.

"Kid? That you?" A familiar voice asked from the driver's seat. With the glare of the car's headlights gone, Nero could clearly see the rain drenched silver haired man wearing his usual red trench coat.

"Dante? What are you doing out here?" The younger man asked, walking up to the car now that he knew who it was.

"I could ask you the same, kid. Need a lift?" Dante offered, smiling at him like he was really glad to see him. Nero had not seen anyone give him that kind of smile for a while now and he could not help but smile back.

"Sort of. I don't really know where I'm going." Nero let the smile on his face drop as he was reminded of his situation. "I don't have anything to thank you for it anyway. So..." He backed away from the car door, expecting the older man to drive away without him. Dante frowned slightly at him, actually making Nero miss the smile that had graced his lips.

"You can thank me later. Right now, I think you need to get some sleep and something to eat. You look pale. Come on, kid. I'll take you to my place. Get in." Dante patted the black leather seat next to him before unlocking the passenger side door. The younger man smiled again and opened the door, climbing in before shutting it behind him.

"Why no roof, old man? You like being soaked by the rain?" Nero teased lightly, feeling like he really should thank the other. Dante only shrugged at the comment, smiling again as he pressed down on the gas and continued down the barren road. "So why are you out here?"

"Just got back from a mission a few towns over. It was a bloody mess. The whole town was overrun by demons. Smelt of blood, both human and demon. I couldn't even find the man who hired me." Dante said, turning the high beams on in an attempt to see a bit more than a few meters ahead. "Anyway, I cleared it out and decided to head back to the office when I ran into you standing dumbly on the road like you were trying to get hit. What's the deal with that, kid?" He glanced over at the younger man, noticing that the other was practically curled in on himself in the leather seat. Dante's voice dropped lower, concern filling his words as he spoke, "What happened to Fortuna? Why are you here, kid?"

"I was exiled..." Nero muttered, his words muffled slightly by the fabric of his sleeves. "Actually, it was more like 'chased out'. I even had some death threats thrown at me."

"Why?" Dante asked. His brow furrowed as he stared at the road, wondering if the people in Fortuna were really that stupid. Then again, the city was taken over by an order of psychotic humans that turned themselves into demons and the citizens practically welcomed it. "You practically saved their asses from that crazy 'Order of the Sword' crap. They should be thanking you, not exiling you." Nero only shrugged halfheartedly. The devil hunter glanced at the younger man again before reaching over and patting the silver haired teenager on the shoulder. Nero winced and sharply pulled away, making the elder man raise a silver eyebrow.

"Sorry." Nero rubbed his left shoulder softly and hissed under his breath. "Not all of them just threatened. I got a gun pulled on me twice and the bullets may still be embedded in my shoulder. I'm not sure. I haven't checked yet."

So Fortuna is that stupid. Dante slowed the car down and pulled off to the side of the road before grabbing the younger hunter's shoulder. Nero glanced over it to try and see what the older man was doing. He hissed when Dante pulled away the frayed edges of the two holes in the back of the denim coat, hearing the elder click his tongue softly as he looked over the wounds.

"You have to be more careful, kid. Even if you are part demon, that won't stop a bad infection." Dante turned back to the steering wheel and pulled back onto the road quickly. "When we get to the office, I'm going to have to remove the bullets so you can heal properly. Hope you can deal with pain, kid." Nero let out a short laugh, his devil bringer still rubbing his shoulder lightly through the layers of his clothes.

"I think I can. I've gotten used to it."

The office was dark and silent when Dante pulled up. He figured that Lady and Trish must have left eariler, after raiding the fridge and most likely his wallet. He parked the car in front by one of the streetlights in front of Devil May Cry, noting silently that the bulb had burnt out and would probably never be fixed.

Dante turned off the ignition, pocketing his keys and glancing over to the sleeping form of the younger hunter. He laughed to himself, knowing that the other man had to be really exhausted to be able to sleep in this rain. He watched Nero's brow furrow as he slept and Dante wondered if he was dreaming of Fortuna. He felt that he should wake him, but then the younger man may get pissed at him. The elder could carry him in and get his ass kicked later. Or Dante could leave him out in the rain, but he could not do that in good conscience. The kid had been chased out of his home and even threatened if he stayed or came back. The older hunter had to wake him. Besides, he probably deserved a good ass kicking for leaving Nero in that religious city with that demonic arm of his.

"Hey, kid. It's time to wake up. We're here." Dante carefully ruffled Nero's soaked hair.

The younger man groaned softly, subconsciously leaning into the touch of the fingers raking through his hair. He rubbed his eyes softly with his right hand, used to his devil bringer enough now that he would not stab himself in the eye with a talon even when he was drowsy. He opened his eyes slowly, glancing around to find that they were in a city and from the looks of it, the bad side of the town.

"Where is 'here'?" Nero asked, staring at the dark building beside them. The store front was only illuminated by the flickering maroon sign just above the wooden door. The bars on the windows mixed with the location of the office did not make it seem like the most welcoming place in the world.

"Devil May Cry. It's basically where I stay when I'm not on a mission. I guess you could call it my home." Dante said, getting out of the car and walking towards the entrance of the office. "You can stay here until you find that place you were looking for."

Nero followed him closely, not entirely comfortable with how the outside area screamed sleazy corruption. It was certainly a lot different from Fortuna. He walked through the heavy wood doors after the older man, closing the door behind him as Dante flipped on the light. Nero cringed slightly at the office, noticing alcohol bottles lying everywhere. The desk at the center of the room was covered in pizza boxes and more bottles. There were even trash cans in the corner of the room filled with, surprisingly enough, booze bottles and pizza boxes. Nero did not take another step into the room, knowing that he could not make a mess like this if he even tried. Dante noticed that he had stopped walking and turned to back to him, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's wrong, kid?" Nero blinked a few times, feeling a bit ticked at the 'kid' comment the elder kept using even though the other could not even handle cleaning up after himself.

"Well, old man." Dante tilted his head to the side at the new nickname the younger slayer gave him. "For starters, your place is a dump."