~Unlikely Companions~

A grumpy demon hunter lugged his ass from his chair, scratching the back of his head, his hair –messing it up along the way –and his chin. His eyes were barely open, and coupled with a growing beard; he completed the image of a hobo on the street with his dirty and rumpled clothes from yesterday. The man had obviously been unbothered to change out of his clothes, and it didn’t bother him anyway.

“DANTE! I’M HERE!” A woman screamed as she ran through the door, slamming it open. It definitely jerked the sleepy man a little, and through the tiny cracks of his eyelids, he saw her.

“Not today, Chris. Close the door behind you when you leave. Lock it too.” He yawned as he walked towards the back room, but the woman jumped before him, stopping him in his tracks.

“Not today to you, Dante! You’ve got a job! You’re hired by my friend! We’re playing a game, and you’re going to get paid!” Christine looked so lively, so energetic that it made Dante felt like sleeping even more. To him, it felt almost as if she were sucking away all his energy and he was left with nothing.

Even if money was on the line, Dante just wanted to sleep in today.

“Tell your friend I said no, alright? I just wanna sleep today.” He tiredly shook the woman’s arms away from him, shuffling his feet to show exactly how heavy he felt.

“But there’s money! And it’s a game!”

“You can go have fun, Chris. Ask someone else.”

“We did! We need you to balance our team!”

“Ask someone. Lady or Trish.”

“But we need someone of your skills!”

“Hunt down my brother and drag Vergil there.”

“He’s missing again!”

“Then don’t play. Leave me alone.”

Christine stomped her feet like a kid throwing a tantrum, but something clicked in her mind before Dante made it to the back, to his room.

“Wait, Dante! I didn’t tell you whose going. Guess what? Zee’s going, and Nero’s going to be there too.”

In an instant, the sleepy man woke up, and disappeared so fast Christine had problems tracking him down.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.” Dante called to her from the front door, and Christine laughed, chasing after him as he hurried away. It was a miracle how fast Dante changed.

Only Nero. Only Zee. These were the two people that could make Dante go anywhere. And this time was no exception.

*************************************

A man and woman stood in the middle of a concrete maze, tapping feet impatiently as they waited for their opponents to come along. They had been invited to a game –a game in which they were hired as the players.

It seemed as if the one who hired them had gotten hands on a demon-summoning device, and wanted very much to test the skills of the best demon hunters around town. It had been a source of disgust initially for the man, but with a little persuasion, he had taken it in another view –he was actually getting paid to play a game that involved killing demons.

“Are they here yet?” The woman flicked his ear to get his attention, in which he flinched at, and then glared at the woman’s inappropriateness. They were well-acquainted with each other, and sometimes she gave him so much annoyance that he wanted to up and hang himself.

“Not yet, Zee. You’re getting as impatient as Dante.” Nero replied, taking a step further from the woman so she wouldn’t be able to reach in a flick his ear again. He was anxious too –anxious to see Christine.

By some divine joke, the two women had dropped into both men’s lives at the same time, and enamored them till they were crossed in the eyes.

Neither of them was willing to let up on the fact, but both of them stayed very well attracted to the women that clung to their side. And, by the jokes played to them by God, the women had turned out to be best friends. The men? Best enemies.

You could not consider the men enemies, but they were no best buddies either. They competed with each other with fire; they cared for each other deep in their hearts. They taunted and fought, they insulted and joked. But no matter what, they encouraged each other in their quaint little ways. It was true that they were no friends. They were like brothers.

“Well, you got a problem with that?” Zee challenged instantly, and Nero sighed. Only a man like Dante could stand Zee, for she was made from the same mold as he. She was as impatient, lazy, sarcastic, and devil-may-care as he was.

Almost like a she-Dante, Nero mused as he raised both hands to show surrender.

“It’s cool. But they are seriously taking their time…” Nero conceded as Zee began to yawn and stretch lazily.

“If they are not coming in awhile, I’m going to fall asleep.”

Just like a she-Dante, Nero emphasized silently to himself, looking around impatiently.

“Knowing Chris, she’ll drag him here soon.” Nero commented, taking a look at his watch. It had been ten minutes since she was gone –ten full minutes that Zee actually remained standing instead of running after her best friends to drag her supposed lover out of whatever hole he was hiding in.

“So, Zee, who’s this woman who hired us? Must be someone rich enough to employ Dante and me in one single mission, isn’t it?”

“You will know after the entire thing. Don’t worry; you’re going to get paid. Our friend may be a tight-fisted bitch, but she knows when to give money when she needs.” Zee replied, while Nero shrugged.

“She’s going to have hell if she doesn’t pay Dante though.”

Zee scoffed. “No worries, he owes her pretty much already.”

“Who?” An inkling of an idea struck in Nero, but he could not be sure until the woman confirmed it to him. But of course, like Dante, Zee knew to –infuriatingly –back down at the last minute.

“Nothing. You heard nothing. ARE THEY HERE YET?” She yelled suddenly, answering to her spontaneous instincts while Nero flinched at the sudden outburst.

“HOW ABOUT NO?” Dante’s voice intruded on them, the man himself appearing as he clapped Nero on the back with the force of a demon, causing him to almost choke.

Just Dante… Nero comforted himself. Christine’s appearance, however, was more silent than Dante’s as she tapped him lightly on the shoulder, giving a lovely smile and wave when he turned around to see her.

“So here we are… what’s the deal?” Nero asked, but Dante shrugged.

“We play the game. Our boss has given us a first clue, and we’ve got to pick up clues along the way to where she will be letting the demons run amok. Dante pair with Nero. The pair, who finishes first, destroys the least environment gets more pay.”

“What?!” Both men exclaimed, looking at each other for the word spoke in unison, then stared back at Christine.

“You’re kidding! I can’t work with him! And you know I don’t care about the environment! I use them to kill demons too!” Dante complained. Meanwhile, Nero had other opinions.

“I can’t work with this stupid slacker! And you know I usually just take my time skewering the demons dry! I don’t rush!” Nero’s complaint was slightly different, but still a complaint nevertheless.

Christine only shrugged, taking the hand of a nodding-to-sleep Zee to drag her awake. “Tell our boss-lady. She pays, she says.”

The men looked at each other’s face, both thunderously black at the notion of having to work with each other. Both of them had hoped to work with their respective women, and the idea of working with each other frankly repulsed them.

“Your boss is a bloody bitch.” Dante growled, but for his money –in which Chris had promised him quite a sum –he would put up with the other guy for once.

“Let her hear that, and you may not even get a single cent.” Zee gave him a flying kiss and a wink, trying to trip the man with her charms. He had to admit, it almost worked, but Dante kept his erection under control.

“The first clue is that the place is really old, really broken down, and really memorable for her. It’s the place where she saw someone she never thought possible cried.” Christine read from her phone, her brows scrunched up. Though the girls knew the mastermind of today’s game, she understood none of what the clue was trying to hint at.

“What the hell? How am I supposed to know who she thought wouldn’t cry, and where? I’m not her fucking guardian angel! I don’t follow her around! Who is she anyway?” Dante exclaimed, as perplexed as the girls were. In this, everyone was stumped.

“I dunno, maybe we could wait until we get news of demon infestation?” Nero whispered to Dante, turning the guy away so that their strategy wouldn’t be revealed. Much as Nero wanted to work with Christine, he wanted the prize money too, and was willing to put up with someone like Dante for money’s sake.

“We could do that. Or we could…” Dante trailed off, watching the back of the retreating girls as they began the hunt, “stalk them until they get something.”

“Sounds fine.” Nero nodded.

They set off after the girls.

*****************************************

Both men were beginning to get really bored, and they thought that this was a serious waste of time. The idea of giving up was almost as strong as their desire for the money, and though neither spoke about it, both of them had the same wonders of who could be so sick as to make them run all around town looking for demons.

The demon hunters were usually found by demons, and they usually didn’t need to look for demons, unless Lady gave them a location, in which the demons would flock to them when they arrived. This time, it was the excruciating process of actually finding demons to kill, and Dante’s finger itched on his sword.

For the tenth time, he tripped over Nero’s foot since the latter was walking in front of him.

“What’s your problem? Can’t you walk properly? Stop tripping me, you stupid kid!” Dante’s irritation lit like a fire, and it fueled Nero’s silent annoyance too.

“It’s you that keeps trying to trip me, you idiot! If you can’t look where you are going, then I don’t know what your eyes are for!” He snapped back, and it was soon that both men began barking and scratching at each other like cats and dogs.

The girls, a little ways before them, turned around at the sounds of fights, watching as both men rolled out from their hiding place, trying to score punches on each other.

“You think they were stalking us, Zee?” Christine asked her friend, raising a brow at the catfight that was happening before them. The boys rarely fought like that –usually trying to just shoot each other down with only words.

“No doubt about that. Dante’s white hair is like a bloody siren every time I turn a corner. Let’s sneak away while they’re scuffling like kindergarten kids.” Zee urged, and both girls fled quickly, with Christine giggling.

“Wait, wait!” Nero shouted when Dante reared back a hand for a punch, stopping the latter before it fell on his face.

“What? You’re admitting you’re a coward and a sucker?” Dante taunted, but Nero ignored it.

“The girls! They are gone!”

“Stop trying to make up pathetic excuse to escape my fists.” Dante continued, but Nero kicked the older man off him.

“I’m not kidding! They are gone!”

Realization struck Dante too late, and he cursed aloud.

“You stupid fault, kid. You had to pick a fight with me, you stupid idiot.”

“YOU picked a fight with Me! It is your fault too that they slipped from our sights!”

Dante raised his fists again, and the fight continued like it had never been stopped before.

**********************************************

Lady waited patiently for the demon hunters she hired, standing right at the spot where she first saw Dante cry. She had been the one to orchestrate this entire thing, wanting to see exactly how well the guys could work together. Putting the girls together, she had wanted to see how Chris usually dragged Zee along in everything.

Looking into her phone, she tapped quickly, and hacked into the town’s security system. She scanned quickly, pulling up a live feed from one of the surveillance cameras nearby.

She laughed to herself, shaking her head.

On her phone screen showed the two men fighting and scratching like cats.

They never failed to amuse her –those two.

That pair of unlikely companions.