A/N: Happy Father's Day! Have you told your father that you love and cherish him yet?

[Stranger]

Rin Sparda stood before the apartment building, silently counting the floors in her head. Her eyes landed on the sixth floor apartment, not knowing what to feel when she saw that it was not different from the rest of the windows. The same layer of dust coated the windows on the sixth floor as they did on the other floors, and from her angle she could see nothing inside.

She gave a heavy sigh, hiked her bag further up her back, grabbed the handle of her luggage and walked into the apartment building.

It was not as rundown as she imagined, at least. There was still a recognisable lobby and a normal-looking apartment manager who smiled at her with a certain air of professionalism. She smiled back, but asked no questions since she knew where the person she was currently visiting stayed. She didn't really feel up to telling the manager that she was about to be staying here for the next few weeks yet.

The lift was nice, and that was all that she could say for it as she rode it upwards. She had seen many better living apartments, but this one was not as bad as she initially imagined it to be. Many things were slowly turning up as not as bad as she imagined it to be, but Rin had to admit that she did imagine many things to be very bad. It was her own biasness at work, after all. She could not help it; the man himself had always said that it was better for her to not follow him home no matter how curious she might be of him because it was dangerous and not meant for a young little girl like her.

But that had been when she was much younger and much more immature. Now that she was fourteen, Rin wagered that she knew at least how to take care of her basic daily needs and vocalise any discomforts that she might have. It was a temporary stay after all. She wasn't going to be staying here for years. Just a few weeks to get through, and then her mother would be back from the business conference overseas to fetch her back to their mansion.

The bell chimed for the sixth floor and opened up to a simple plain corridor that had no decorative anywhere. Used to having large corridors and many displays around in her mansion, Rin felt a little weird walking past the doors, feeling as if any of them could possibly just open and grab her. Still, she was past the age to be freaked out by plain-looking doors. She held on tightly to her luggage, dragging it behind her as she kept an eye out on the door plates for the correct unit number that she had been directed to.

There wasn't much chance of her getting the wrong place. After sending her mother off at the airport, Rin had been driven here by their driver personally. The address of the building could not possibly be wrong, and Rin was very sure that she had gotten off at the sixth floor. All she needed was to find unit 609, and then she would reach her destination.

Unit 609 turned out to be the apartment at the far end of the corridor, and she pulled her luggage to a stop beside her, facing the door fully with a sense of uncertainty. Her mother had told her during the drive to the airport that she had specifically made sure that he would be at home to receive her. There was no possibility for Rin to find the apartment empty and void of life if she knocked now.

All she needed now was to dredge a little bit of courage, to meet the man who was her family, but practically a stranger. The last time she had seen him was when she was ten, and when he came over, she had been busy at her piano lesson, and then doing homework. She didn't talk to him then, and he had ended up going home after talking shortly to her mother. Apparently he had dropped by once after that time, but she had been out of the house with her friends when he came and so they had missed each other once more.

And now she was supposed to spend the next few weeks together every day with him caring for her daily needs.

Her mother had told her that it was a good chance for her to learn more about him, but having survived for 14 years without his active intrusion in her life was something Rin was used to. She wasn't sure how to feel now that the missing figure of a father was about to be filled in. But their relationship had to start from somewhere, and hence Rin swallowed once, mustered a little bit of courage, silently encouraged herself positively and rang the doorbell.

"Coming." She heard someone call from the other side of the door. It didn't take long for the door to open.

"Didn't you bring the keys?" The voice that paired as the door open surprised Rin a little. Had he been expecting someone else?

She stood, feeling a little tense as she watched him stand at the other side of the door, surveying her and her luggage standing beside her. His clear blue eyes were as pretty as she remembered it. He was honestly the only person she ever knew to have such deep and mesmerising blue eyes. Of everything that she remembered of her father, his blue eyes were the most striking. Even her mother had said that it was the blue eyes that initially attracted her to him.

She waited a span of breath for him to recognise her since he was still looking at her in soft confusion. She knew she had grown a lot in appearance since 4 years ago, but he was looking at her like he didn't recognise his own daughter.

"H-Hello." Rin ventured to say uncertainly. What else could she say in a circumstance like this?

"Hello." He replied with a confused but cordial smile. "If you're selling brownies, I'm not feeling up to it today. I'm sorry."

Brownies? Was he mistaking her for a Brownie Girl?

"I'm not here for brownies." She shook her head. "My mother contacted you about my staying here. Did you not get her message? She told me that you replied her with an okay."

"Your mother?" He repeated with a face full of confusion. "I don't think I know her or you, but I'm going to guess that your mom is a real hot babe if you look like this when you're young. Is your dad dead yet? Is she available on the market?"

Rin could not help but withdraw in horror at the words. What in the world was he talking about? Was he flirting with her? Rin didn't remember him ever using such a lusty and suggestive tone of voice before on either her or her mother. He had always been strict and straight-laced. He talked seriously and only sometimes showed his gentle side –mostly to Rin when she was much younger.

Was he a person like this in reality? Was this... perverted and disgusting version of the man the real one?

This guy was supposed to be her father?

"Look, there's no need to be so shocked about it. You can give me your mom's number. I'll call her to pick you up, and then maybe your mom and I can work on making you a sibling. You'd like that, won't you?" The man was smiling now as if enjoying the talk, and Rin –if possible –felt even more disgusted. What the heck was he suggesting; pretending as if he didn't know her mother? Was he always this perverted?

If so, Rin was suddenly extremely grateful that her mother had never married the man who claimed the title of her father.

"Dante!" A shout from the corridor jolted Rin into a shocked jump, and she turned to find someone running down the corridor to her. She blinked in a second shock to realise that the same face was printed on a body of similar physique, but wearing different clothes and slightly different hairstyle. "Stop filling her head with weird things."

"Verge?" The man who was supposed to be her father was now calling a name that sounded like what could possibly be the nickname for her father. Rin held her breath and watched in confusion as the twin reached them at the doorway, a worried look hung on one face while a confused expression hung on another.

"Rin, I'm sorry. I went off to get something from the convenience store nearby. I should have known better to leave Dante to open the door for you." The man that Rin was beginning to realise was actually her father apologised, showing the plastic bag hanging from his wrist as evidence.

"I didn't know you had a twin." She answered quietly.

"Honestly, I don't like to tell people about him. Come in, I'll show you to your room." Her father now seemed to be completely ignoring his twin brother, pushing the man back roughly before he grabbed the handle of her luggage. There was no space for her to protest that she could do things herself before Vergil dragged her luggage into the apartment, continuing to usher a confused twin brother backwards. Since the invitation had been given now, Rin excused herself quietly and stepped in to remove her shoes, finding it easy to follow her father into the apartment that was... for the lack of better word, normal.

"I know you're used to whatever you have at the mansion, but please make do for these few weeks. If you need anything, just tell me." Her father instructed as he led her through the apartment while she kept her eyes out. Like an apartment that housed men, there wasn't any trace of anything feminine. Clothes were thrown in a pile on the floor in a corner of the living area, and though it was not very dirty, the place was not speckless either.

"It is fine for me." Rin said, though she knew that things would slowly get on her nerves after a few days. She was too used to have a very clean area of living –since her mother was a partial neat freak.

"I thought I told you to get rid of your clothes on the couch, Dante." Her father said, and she watched as he grabbed a pair of trousers hanging over the back of the said couch, flinging it into the face of the silently-following twin. "While Rin is here, don't let me see a single article of cloth here."

"Who's she? You said someone was coming over to stay for a few weeks, but I was expecting more of a hot busty babe rather than a pre-teen." Dante –the man Rin realised now was her uncle –asked. In the same way she had not been informed about the existence of her father's twin brother, the man in topic clearly had not been informed about her existence as well. What was it about her that her father didn't feel the need to tell his brother –and apparently, housemate as well –about?

"While you're on the topic of hot busty babes," Her father paused in their venture towards a room, and Rin stopped hurriedly to avoid bumping into him. She was still reeling in how similar their tone of voices were. "Bringing anyone home for your sexual interest is completely not allowed while Rin is here. I am serious on this."

"Fine." She guessed that her uncle was the younger brother given the way Dante seemed to be grudgingly accepting everything her father was instructing.

"Come along, Rin. We should get you settled into your room first." Her father seemed to be done with his strict rule-setting for his twin and continued making for an innocent-looking door. Rin was not surprised to find a very simple-looking room waiting for her at the other side of the door as her father dragged the luggage into the middle of the room.

"Take your time to settle down." Vergil looked a little uncertain about what to do for a moment there, but the gentle smile was still something she remembered. Rin did her best to dredge up a smile, hoping that she managed at least to keep the uncertainty out of her face as she nodded. "We will set some ground rules later when you're done unpacking. I need to talk to Dante for the time being."

"D-Dad." Rin said before he could walk out of the door to leave her alone with her unpacking. Her mother had told her to try her best to accept the man and to get to know him better. Her mother had said that even if Vergil wasn't the best father out there in the world, Rin at least had to give the man a chance. This father-daughter relationship needed work on both sides, and Rin was willing to try. "Thanks... For agreeing to take me in and care for me."

"N-No problem." She heard a small stutter in his words, but he didn't manage more before the door closed hurriedly.

________________________________________________________________________________

"You bought ice cream?!" Dante exclaimed with large eyes as he watched his twin brother retrieve the things that he had said was 'an emergency' half an hour ago before Vergil went running out to buy. How in the world was ice cream supposed to solve any sort of emergency?

"The weather has been hot recently. Rin will appreciate a little ice cream." Vergil answered as he busied himself portioning off a good portion of the creamy goodness into the cleanest bowl he could find in the kitchen, pairing it with the cleanest spoon he could find.

"About that. Are you ever going to tell me who the heck she is? What spell does she have over you to make you so gentle and caring? I always knew you had that side of you, but you'd rather die than to show it to me!"

"Do you remember that job I took near fifteen years ago to watch over the daughter of Jason Rixx?"

"Sure I do. Best paying job we ever had."

"Well, Rin is the granddaughter. Kadyn Rixx's daughter."

"Then what does that have to do with you? Isn't Kadyn Rixx some bigshot in her company now that the old man's dead and gone?"

"Kadyn is the Chairwoman now. Right now, Kadyn's on the plane to China for a business conference, so she's leaving Rin with me for a few weeks." Vergil explained, grabbing a semi-dirty spoon from the sink, stabbing it in the leftovers in the tub of ice cream and shoving it over to his waiting brother. Dante didn't ask for permission before the man dug in immediately.

"But why you?"

Vergil, ignoring the question, picked up the bowl and brought it to the living area, hesitating for the slightest moment when he saw that the girl in topic was already out of her room. He had expected her to take a bit longer to unpack. Still, he did his best to dredge a friendly smile on his face while he approached her.

"I hope you like strawberry. Your mother told me you don't prefer chocolate flavours." He offered, secretly relieved when his daughter accepted the bowl with another small uttered thanks.

"So, Vergil tells me you're Kadyn Rixx's daughter." Dante seemed completely determined to get an answer out of someone. If Vergil wasn't going to give the answer, Dante was going to squeeze one out from the girl herself. "What's it to Verge? Why are you here instead of staying with your Dad or something?"

The small hesitation from the girl reminded Vergil of his own hesitation, and he watched as the brown eyes that she had inherited from her mother turned up to look at him in soft confusion and questioning. He nodded to show permission, wondering silently if he should escape back into the kitchen before Dante did anything to him in his shock.

"I have a feeling that he didn't tell you." Vergil heard his daughter say and hoped that she remembered to take a few more bites from her ice cream before it melted completely. "Vergil is my Dad."

The minute of silence that passed made Vergil wonder if time had stopped.

"Uncle Dante, the ice cream is going to melt if you don't finish it soon." The statement was made with such normality that Vergil could not help but feel a little pride. His daughter –no matter how she had grown up without him by her side –had taken after her when it came to making basic, in-your-face sentences to Dante.

"What the hell, Verge!" The explosive reaction that he had anticipated came moments later, and his twin jumped up from the seat he had taken across the girl, the ice cream tub still in his hand as he demanded. "You had sex and you didn't tell me!"

"It was fifteen years ago." Vergil answered in the same tone that his daughter had used, crossing his arms across his chest. "And I didn't want to tell you because I know you will be trying your best to ruin her childhood with all your stupid ideas. I didn't let you know that you're an uncle because I needed to keep her safe. I would have liked for her to be a little older before meeting you for the first time, but Kadyn had to leave for a business conference, and 14 is probably fine for her to tolerate you without learning the wrong things."

"14 years!" Dante jumped like a child playing truant, stomping his feet in childish anger. "14 years of pinching her cheeks until she cried that I missed! 14 years in which I could have brought her out and pretended to be a single father to hook in the good girls! I can't believe I could have done all that in the past 14 years, and you didn't tell me!"

Vergil supposed that his daughter could now get a very good sense of why he hadn't told her about his twin brother all her life, as he spied her half-amused, half-shocked expression at her uncle's words. It was one thing to learn that you had an uncle who would have appreciated your presence very much if he knew of your existence. It was another if that said uncle wanted to use you to hook in ladies.

"Exactly the reason why I refused to let you two meet each other. Kadyn is an independent woman and she wanted to bring Rin up on her own. I was fine with it, because it's dangerous for both Kadyn and Rin if I stayed with them." Vergil answered his brother. The mother of his daughter had told him that Rin understood why he could not live with the both of them, but he could never be sure what the feelings of a sensitive 14 year old girl was. He hadn't wanted to play the bad guy of the family, but the circumstances made him so.

After all, it had been Kadyn's father, the founder and owner of Rixx Corporation, who had refused to recognise a demon hunter as his son-in-law. Vergil had also been adamant in not inheriting the company since it was not in his destiny or blood to be a businessman. All in all, it had ended up with Vergil being unable to marry or stay with the woman to give his daughter a complete family. Both of them had tried their best to allow Vergil to execute his fatherly duties by visiting the girl as she grew up, but in Rin's younger years, Vergil had always needed to get the approval of Rin's grandfather for a visit. When Jason Rixx passed on, Rin was always at one lesson or another, and thus Vergil hadn't managed to make much family time with his daughter at all.

"And somehow it's not dangerous for her if she stays now?" Dante asked his brother sceptically. "She is a Sparda, right? Can she even hold a sword?"

"She is a Sparda, but she was brought up as a Rixx." Vergil answered. "There is no need for her to hold a sword."

"Um... Dad?" The venturing tone from his daughter broke into the brothers' conversation. "Mum said it was fine for me to learn a little self-defence while I'm here. Nothing too over the top, but she said I might as well learn some things from you since you were once her bodyguard and all..."

Vergil took a short moment to consider his options. "If Kadyn said so, then fine. But I refuse to let you wield a sword. It is too dangerous for you."

"What are you talking about?" Dante interrupted with a demand. "We were holding real swords by the time we turned 7. She's twice that age!"

"She was brought up as a Rixx." Vergil repeated in a steely tone to his twin brother.

"But I'm a Sparda..." The girl put in once more in a hopeful tone. Rin had been a little bit excited when her mother had allowed her to learn self-defence from her father, but what was a little self-defence without weapons? While she knew the best course of action whenever confronted by dangers was always to run away and stay safe, what if a circumstance made it impossible for her to run away? What if she had to stay and fight? Rin would rather know the best ways to wield a weapon to protect herself.

"Fine." Vergil declared with a small frown. He could deny his brother easily, but... "But you will only wield short knives. I will not let you hold swords, and that is final."

To hopefully put a definitely end to the conversation now that he had made a compromise, Vergil walked quickly back to the kitchen to escape anymore negotiations. He truly hoped Dante hadn't caught on. That twin of his might always appear to be idiotic and do foolish things, but only naïve individuals would assume Dante to be dense and stupid. Vergil knew better.

He only prayed that his twin hadn't caught on this time, or there would be no end to his hell.

Dante should never know the fact that Vergil had a crippling weakness to his daughter's requests.

________________________________________________________________________________

The atmosphere was insufferable.

Rin had thought that maybe staying with her father for a few weeks would make them open up to each other, but it hadn't happened. The man still felt as estranged from her as he was when she first arrived at his doorstep with her luggage. She had tried her best to open up, but the man simply wasn't doing it well. The awkward air between them had persisted, and she had ended up becoming closer to her uncle instead of her father.

It was funny; how her uncle and father seemed like polar opposites. Her father was always strict and straight-spined, but also very admirable, responsible and a very upright man. Her uncle was on the other end of the spectrum, always lazy, irresponsible, and often dirty-minded with rare flashes of brilliance. Yet, it was this lazy man that Rin found much easier to talk to –mostly because he gave her the sense that he had the same mental age as her.

Regardless of how easy it was to get along with her uncle, what was important for the moment was that the relationship between her and her father was not improving. Even as they sat across each other at a pizza place, there seemed to be nothing that she could talk to her father about. Their conversation topics of interest were so far apart from each other that Rin didn't even know how to start talking. Talking about the weather definitely wasn't going to cut a father-daughter conversation.

"How is school these days for you?" The conversation starter came awkwardly, and Rin did her best to not look up from her pizza. She knew exactly how awkward both of them looked; eating stiffly in front of each other.

"It's okay." She answered, before she realized she had doomed herself. "Um... Math is really a killer these days, but Mum got me a private home tutor, so I've been getting better."

Now she was just blabbering. Rin felt her face go red in embarrassment, but still didn't dare to look up.

"Well, I can't really say for sure how hard it can appear to be." Vergil was at least making an effort to keep the conversation going –though the topic itself was one that would bore Rin to death on any normal day. Right now, though, she was desperate to keep them both talking in the hopes that the conversation could take a turn to become natural. "Dante and I didn't go through formal education."

Really? It was surprising to hear that. Her father had always given her the aura that he was a very well-educated man, and here he was saying that he had never gone to school before? Why?

The questions flooded her head, but somehow, all Rin managed to get out of her lips were, "Oh, that's unfortunate."

Idiot! She scolded herself in her mind. What kind of a reply was that? How the hell were they supposed to continue the conversation if she ended it like that?

"How's work these days?" Rin took a drink from her cup of cola beside her, hoping that her father could not see her cringe. What the heck were they pretending to be? Only old couples married for fifty years talked about topics like these over the dinner table.

"Good." Her father's reply was almost equally short. "I do not wish to discuss too much about my job with you. It is unsafe."

Unsafe or not, the fact that both her Uncle Dante and her father were professionals at what they did could not evade her. Sometimes they provided security detail against demons, and other times they just went out to hunt for demons with bounties. Regardless which it was, there was always one job or another to do. In the few weeks that Rin had stayed, she had already seen at least thirty people come and go from the apartment, relieved of the demonic troubles. There was still an unknown number of jobs that had come to the Sparda brothers through the phone. There were so many things that Rin wanted to ask her father about his job and how he cleared so many so quickly. She had learnt a little bit from her uncle, but because the twins always did their jobs separately, neither she nor Dante knew how her father could be so efficient.

"When is your mother coming back?" Another topic was started now and Rin silently prayed that this one would last at least a little bit longer than the previous two topics.

"She said the conference is going well, so she will be coming back by the end of this week."

"Then you should start packing soon." Thank goodness there was nothing weird in the timing of this reply or something.

"It's quite alright. I didn't bring much with me so I don't have to pack much."

"Dante said you went shopping recently."

"I didn't buy much." Rin replied, cautiously happy that there seemed to be improvement in their communication.

"If you can't bring them all back in one go, you can leave some at my place. I will keep Dante locked out of your room until you send someone to pick up the things you leave behind." Her father instructed.

"It is quite alright. I can-"

"Wait." Vergil's sharp word of interruption jolted Rin to a shocked stop in the middle of her sentence. Without preamble, her father reached over the table and picked something black off the pizza piece that she had been about to take a bite from. Wordlessly, he left it at the side on her plate, then withdrew his hands in a quick movement. "I told them to remove the olives, but they must have missed one."

The question of how her father knew about her dislike of olives was buried by her disappointment that the only topic of conversation that had been able to feel slightly natural was just dashed like that. Back into their awkward silence once more, Rin finished the last slice of pizza and washed it down with the rest of her cola.

"Here." The word was accompanied with a mint candy appearing in front of her. "You used to always want a candy after every meal."

"Thanks." Rin felt her face heat up a little bit over the fact that her father still remembered her childhood habit. Now that she was already 14, she had long shed the habit of having a candy after her meals, but she felt a little awkward to correct her father's misconception. "I-I'll wait outside first."

Leaving nothing more to be said, Rin found herself waiting outside the restaurant as she watched her father calmly approach the cashier with a cordial smile, talking to the woman and pulling out his wallet. Rin watched objectively through the window as the waitress smiled widely at her father, pretended to drop the change, and then flustered all over the counter to catch the coins meant for him. Even from her angle, she could see the waitress's ample bosom and deep cleavage as the woman leaned forwards to pick up the coins. Rin could not miss the wink the waitress gave as she finally collected all the coins, tore the receipt off the printer and wrote something on the back of the receipt before handing over to her father.

The entire motion made Rin very aware of the fact that her father was still a very attractive man.

That fact had missed her mostly because she had always viewed him as her father, but watching how a waitress was flirting so shamelessly to him; Rin suddenly became very aware that her father must seem like such an eligible bachelor to outsiders. He was handsome, had good manners, had money (if it wasn't stolen by Dante), and was generally a nice person if you got on his good side. Most importantly, he wasn't married. Rin's parents had never married each other.

But why? Why hadn't he married someone else? While Rin considered her mother to be a beauty, she was not naïve enough to believe that nobody could beat her mother's looks. Surely her father had met someone much more beautiful than her mother? Surely Vergil had turned his eyes to another woman beside her mother?

Or was it that her father still loved her mother very much secretly?

Hands covered over Rin's mouth and the cold touch made her jump, only to realise that she was being backed against a warm body behind her. On instincts her hands reached up to claw off the tight hands locked over her lips, but whoever who held her captive was much stronger than her, because she felt her balance tilt, and her feet lose contact to the ground. Heart picking up pace now, she tried to hammer her fists behind her in hopes of getting the person to let her go.

Her efforts met no effect as she watched with increasing fear while the night mist that had been hanging around suddenly began to gather around her. They covered her vision until all she saw was the cold white mist, and then suddenly they dissipated. Rin's heart stuttered when she realised that she was now dangling over the ledge of a roof. Across the road was the restaurant.

And directly below were sounds of fighting.

"You don't know how long I have been waiting for this opportunity, Little Girl. That darned son of Sparda has been going after my sources of power –killing them all off one by one –just to make sure I'm weak enough to not try making after you." The voice connected to the person holding her said. Rin was not inclined to believe that it was a human holding her, since she had clearly been teleported somehow, and below her were demons of all sorts fighting against her father.

If she had the time, Rin would have no doubt admired the grace of her father as he sliced through demons and executed his moves like a sharp and precise dance routine. But Rin was currently in danger and very fearful of her life, so all she could think about was how to get to safety as soon as possible. While there was possibility that her father could catch her if she was dropped now, she wasn't sure if either she or Vergil would be able to survive her fall.

"You should know better than to try struggling. One false move, and down you go. You might be quarter-demon, but I don't think you can survive the fall. So be nice, and let the adults talk things out." The voice continued to say, still dangling her over the ledge. The terrified tears began to run as Rin trembled, but her fear only served to inflate her captor's ego even more as he laughed villainously.

"Do not bother fighting to reach your daughter, Vergil Sparda." The voice now boomed; loud enough to be heard even downstairs, where the fighting was still going on. Her father was being outnumbered very badly, and yet somehow he seemed to be going on completely strong.

"Let her go, Crimson. I'll give you whatever you want." Her father definitely recognised her captor as he glared up at them, voice strong and demanding.

"I'll like to keep her as a guarantee. I don't trust you. For starters, how about you stand still and let some of my friends get a taste of your traitorous blood?"

"I will only do so if you promise to let her go." Rin wasn't sure how her father could speak so calmly even while he effortlessly sliced through a few demons at once, dodging strikes.

"I will drop her if you don't." The rebuke was simple and straight-forward. Rin's scream was muffled into the hand holding her mouth when she felt one let go. Her life was hanging just by the demon's one hand.

"No!" She heard the panicked cry, and then the sounds of fighting stopped below.

The smell of blood suddenly filled the air, and Rin's tears increased in volume.

"Good. I'm glad to have your cooperation." The voice behind her said, but Rin no longer dared to open her eyes. "Let's skip the playing and get down to business, shall we? What I want is easy. Your mother's amulet."

A jolt shot through Rin. Her uncle had told her about their mother's –her paternal grandmother's –amulet and how it was the most important possession that both of them had of their mother. According to Uncle Dante, her father would rather die than surrender the amulet to a demon, not only because of the heavy emotional weight tied to it, but also because of the fact that the amulet was also the key to opening a portal to the demon world. There were always one demon or another looking to get their amulet, and thus the two sons of Sparda always made sure to carry their amulets around with them wherever they went.

And now this demon was threatening him with her life for the amulet.

Not on her watch. Rin might be a weak human; might be estranged from her father, but the man had tried his best the past few weeks. They hadn't gotten far in their father-daughter relationship, but Rin knew enough that he cared for her. All those small acts of care that he always showed her –none of those had been missed. She had always been on the receiving end, and always flustered to find a way to make it up to Vergil. She didn't know how to show her father that she accepted him as well, that she cared for him.

This was probably the only way right now.

She knew demons probably would not feel much hurt if she bit into their hands, but the shock was definitely enough to have her captor letting her go.

She wasn't wrong.

Screaming as she fell, Rin watched her life flash before her eyes, not surprised at all when she found it largely missing a father figure. But as she neared the ground, she saw Vergil's image. The father that she had not thought she needed was there, and had always been protecting her, caring for her in his wordless, awkward ways.

Warm, wet arms wrapped around her, and the smell of blood plunged up her nose. Blackness filled her vision for a moment, and then it was bright all over again. She felt herself crash into something soft beneath her, blinking blankly. The fluorescent lamp overhead... it was familiar.

"Daddy!" Rin screamed, spinning around to find a blood-coated version of her father with his eyes half-open. "Daddy, are you okay?"

Panicking, she looked around the apartment frantically. Dante had said he would be at home at this time! "UNCLE DANTE! HELP!"

"Rin." Wet, bloodied hands touched her cheeks and turned her head to face the bloodied face of her father. His silver-white hair was already tinged with red, and she could see many deep cuts on his arms and face. Why was it not healing? Was he not supposed to be a half-demon? "Rin, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Daddy." She replied, the tears flowing like rivers. "Don't speak. You'll be fine... You'll be fine... Please be fine..."

"Good." Vergil answered with a smile, and Rin cried even more to see that even his teeth were red with blood from his mouth. There was just so much blood everywhere. "As long as you're okay..."

"Daddy please hold on... I'll get an ambulance or Uncle Dante or something." She cried as she scrambled to get to her feet, but the hand that caught her arm was surprisingly still strong. Before she knew it, her balance was once more tilted, and she fell back into the chest of her father, still lying on the floor.

"I'm sorry if I am dirtying you with my blood, Rin, but let me just keep you here for a moment. You have just given me enough stress to last me a whole lifetime..." Wet bloody hands smoothed her hair. Pressed against her father's chest, she began to realise that his heartbeat was fast like a fluttering humming bird as opposed to his calm exterior. "Never do something foolish like that ever again. I can lose some blood. I can lose my life. I can lose even the amulet. But I cannot lose you. You are the most important person to me, Rin. Don't put yourself in danger again."

"I-I'm s-sorry, Daddy..."

"It is okay." Rin heard Vergil give a heavy sigh, his stroking of her hair a smooth hypnotic motion now. "As long as you are fine and unhurt, I'll be okay."