Bacon.. Mmmm..

Damn the bed for being so soft and warm.

Damn needing to pee.

Damn his stomach being such a winy bitch.

Even if he could ignore the feeling of his stomach trying to eat itself, the noise it was making would keep him from falling back asleep.

"Screw it, he's up.

After saying good morning to the bathroom, he stumbled into what he was guessing was the kitchen, still trying to wake up.. Yup. It's the kitchen, and there was a very sweet looking young lady cooking breakfast. 'Young', She looked his age, maybe a year younger.

Oh! He hopped it tasted even half as good as it smelled.

"Good mornin', cutie-pie. How do you like your eggs and what can I get ya to drink?" She asked in a cheerful, southern accent, the moment he walked in.

"Over-easy..? Orange juice, if you have any." She gave a smile at his sleepy answer as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

He must have dozed off a bit, next thing he knew there was a plate of eggs and a glass of o.j. in front of him, a plate piled high with bacon sat next to a stack of toast and a couple jars of jam in the middle of the table.

She finished a plate just in time for the old man to grab as he made his way by, yawning out a g'morning.

She cracked the last two eggs into the frying pan before pouring two cups of milk, placing them on the table as she gave the old man a quick kiss on the forehead and went back to her cooking. "You boys sleep alright?"

Both the hunters gave a sleepy 'yes' and a cheerful 'yesh' was heard coming into the kitchen to join them..

Damn, this guy had strongway/strong too much energy for so damn early in the morning.. Breakfast was awesome, though.

Shit. He forgot to put his jacket and glove back on.

"What?" He asked the new guy who was blatantly staring at his screwed up limb. Nice, now the chick was looking at it too, and the old man was laughing at him.

Dante was just smiling, amused by the scene. He knew exactly what was about to happen.

"That... is... AWESOME!" He nearly knocked the drinks off the table, bouncing up and around to get a better look while Nero tried his best to hide it. "Holy shit, man! Dante told us about how cool your arm was, but I never imagined.. Man that is fuckin' epic! I know some guys that'd give anything to get inked up like that.."

"Kou!" the chick interrupted, "Sit your ass down. You're scaring him."

He gave a sheepish grin with a small "sorry" as he did as he was told.

She also apologized, "I'm sorry, my brother's got ADHD"

"Amongst other things" Dante mumbled between bites.

She ignored him. "I'm Candy - or Candice, either one is fine- and this is my brother, Kou."

"Or psycho-nerd" Dante butted in again, making her roll her eyes at him with a small smile. "If you need anything, honey, just let me know. I'll be happy to help."

He gave her a shy-ish 'thanks' as she piled a bit of bacon onto her empty plate and began her breakfast. "Nero, right? It's really nice to meet you." He could only smile and nod in reply, having just taken a large bite of toast.

"Dante wouldn't stop talking about you for a good week."

"Ten days." Kou corrected her as the elder hunter vehemently denied the claims, making kou turn to him with an odd look.

"Yea, 'cus you got pissed that the chicks racked up your credit card again. The bill came in on the second and you'd come back on the 24th." He looked as though he were confused as to how anyone could have forgotten.

His sister just shook her head with a smile at the scene while Dante gave the guy a dead-pan look before heaving a dramatic sigh and throwing his hands up in defeat, making him look even more confused for a moment before shrugging it off and returning to his breakfast.

The room fell into a fairly comfortable silence while everyone ate.. It was a bit annoying, though how Kou kept tapping the table with the fingers of his free hand in an odd pattern. Like a nervous tick or something. No one else seemed to notice it, though. The way he acted made him seem like a five year-old in a grown up body. Tribal tattoos all over his torso, down his arms and up his neck, a couple on his forehead.

The boy glanced down at his inhuman arm.. A tattoo.. He'd never thought of it like that.

The girl next to him was quite a sight. Coppery red hair, pulled back into a braid that reached her lower back, hazel-green eyes, porcelain white skin with light freckles. Damn did she have a nice ass.. Her tank top did a nice job of directing attention to her..

"He's so checkin' you out." His head snapped up at her brother's laugh.

He was sure he was blushing like mad as they all laughed.

"It's alright. Don't blame ya, kid." Dante leaned over a bit to purposefully look down her top. She covered her cleavage with one hand and pushed him away in mock surprise, making Dante and Kou laugh a bit more.

She just gave him a smile, "Don't worry, sweetheart; I don't mind a cutie-pie, like you, lookin'." A wink from her made the boy look away, blushing even more before she playfully nudged/swatted at his shoulder

"Seriously, don't worry about it. I hang out with guys like these" she motions toward the old man and her brother "all the time. I'm used to the looks and suggestive jokes and games."

Great, first day and he's already made a complete ass of himself.

She was only saying such to keep him from getting too uncomfortable.. What is it.. Southern hospitality? Yea. That was likely it.

"yea" Kou piped in, "I think Trish and Lady are really the only girls you hang out with.. That's just because they tend to park it over here so often."

"Speaking of which, what you doing so far from home, kid? Girlfriend kick you out?" A mumbled 'yea' knocked the smile off the old man's face. He watched the kid poke at his eggs, that same defeated look on his face as when he'd came in the previous night.

Yea, not cool.

"Don't worry, kid, we can hook you up with a new one, no problem." ...And.. he just made things worse.

Didn't matter what they said, the kid was going to beat himself up over it, regardless.

Whatever.

Breakfast is over, it's nap time.