"So what kind of job do you require?"
"Pretty much anything that requires a Two-to-Three-Star Meister. We'll also take some part-time jobs for the weapons so we can gather more money to repair the shop."
"And pay for your temporary apartment, I assume?"
"Of course. But where will it be?"
"KIIIIIIIIIIIDDDD!"
Dante and Death the Kid turned around and noticed the Death Room's sky background was slowly turning stormy as a young man with blue hair approached the Shinigami with an angry expression. The other people that were in the Death Room looked at the newcomer while he stomped his way to Kid. Dante looked at Kid, asking for an explanation, but Black Star shoved him away.
"Kid, did you take the bench-press machine?" he said, his eyes flaring with anger.
"What would make you think—?" Kid said, but was interrupted by the scarf-wearing boy.
"Don't lie to me! You took it because it was symmetrical! You know a lotta people use it in the gym!" he said.
"Sheesh… what a drag," muttered the golden-eyed boy. "Fine, I left it at home…"
"Excuse me!" said Dante, noticeably irritated by the intruder. "Who the hell are you?"
"What's it to you, chump?" replied Black Star sharply, making Maka and Tsubaki, the latter having entered the Death Room right behind her partner, gasp. He then turned to Kid and continued, "Listen, Kid. If you don't like having to enter the gym because it's not symmetrical, then just arrange for it to be so!"
"Oi! I wasn't done!" said Dante, whose blue eyes flared red with swelling rage. He grabbed Black Star by the shoulder and turned him around.
"Do you mind?" said the blue-haired hothead, visibly irked by the interruption. "This is about something more people than just me, care about, and I don't like people with a bigger mouth than mine."
"Well, I can agree with that," smirked Dante while his weapons went to back him up. "Now do you mind? I was talking with Kid about something more important than you for more people than me, kiddo."
Something in Black Star's eyes snapped, and the blue-haired boy shoved the white-haired man off of himself. Rebellion caught his partner before he fell on his ass, and the pair scowled at Black Star, whose scarf started moving as if the wind was hitting it. Stein, Maka, and Kid's eyes widened when they say Black Star's spiky soul swelling up to an incredible size, just like it did whenever he was about to unleash his rage on someone. Maka then looked at Dante's soul to see if he'd be able to stand a chance against the boy and noticed something unbelievable. Unfortunately, Black Star didn't let her try to analyze what Dante's soul was, exactly, for he had grabbed Dante by the coat and thrown him out of the Death Room before following him out with incredible speed. The hunter's weapons all glared at Tsubaki, who was about to apologize for her partner's behavior when the fight broke out.
Maka stepped in front of Tsubaki, ready to defend her friend if necessary, when Liz and Patty entered the Death Room and ran over to Kid.
"You won't believe this, Kid!" said Liz while trying to catch her breath.
"Black Star and that guy we were gonna meet today are fighting outside!" shouted Patty, who looked alarmed. Upon hearing this, Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory, and Cerberus ran at full speed to find their partner. Maka looked at Tsubaki, who gulped and sprinted out of the Death Room.
"That explains why the sky turned stormy in here…" commented Stein while the rest of Dante's weapons left.
"You got skills, kid!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"
Black Star landed a full punch into Dante's stomach and sent him reeling to near the stairs. The white-haired man stood up just in time to block an incoming kick and push the blue-haired boy backwards to make space.
"Why're you attacking me?" asked Dante.
"You called Me, the GREAT Black Star, a kid! And you said I wasn't important!" roared the irate boy, holding his ground.
"Well, to me, you're not," remarked the man with a smirk, which Black Star returned with a full glare.
Black Star was about to run at Dante, hopefully to tackle him all the way down Shibusen's stairs, but a shot hit him in the ankle and distracted him, allowing the man to kick him aside. When the boy looked up, he saw one of Dante's female partners holding a black gun while Rebellion checked Dante for any serious injury. Suddenly, a hand pulled him up and touched his forehead.
"Tsubaki, what're you—?"
"Why did you pick a fight with this guy, Black Star?" asked the busty, black-haired girl while she glared at him austerely.
"You heard what he said!" said the blue-eyed young man with a snarl.
"I heard what he said," acknowledged the Demon Arm, "but that doesn't authorize you to give him a beating!"
"I don't care! He thinks he's better than me!"
"Black Star, please! Think for just once!" pleaded the girl. "This guy is considered the second-best Meister to have ever studied here!"
"I'm better than him," snapped Black Star.
"I don't care! I don't want you to get hurt!"
Black Star stopped glaring at Dante, who was now surrounded by his weapon partners, and looked into his own partner's indigo eyes, which were filling with tears. His expression softened when he saw her, and he sighed to signal his blood was cooling down. Tsubaki sobbed once and held him tightly. Dante looked at the pair with an odd expression, and immediately turned his back to them, walking away. Rebellion quickly caught up with his partner and said, "That was a close one."
"Tell me about it," chuckled the red-coated man. "Though I was kinda itching to fight him…"
"Dante, that's not really nice," intervened Ebony.
"Yeah, we could seriously hurt that kid," chuckled Artemis, and the rest of the group laughed.
"Are you sure, Maka?"
"I'm positive!"
"How come I couldn't see it?"
"I… I dunno…"
It was much later in the evening, and Soul, Maka, Kid, Liz, Patty, Stein, and Marie were sitting in Stein's office, and Maka was reporting her discovery of Dante's soul: according to her, Dante's soul was partially that of a full-fledged Kishin. Stein and Marie kept quiet the whole time, analyzing the situation at hand. Kid, the Thompson sisters, and Soul were all arguing on whether something should be done about it, but Maka seemed worried about something else.
"Maka," said Marie suddenly, making the rest of the group quiet down, "did you see anything else?"
"W-well…" Maka blushed slightly at the thought of Dante's shirtless body, but it was a distraction from what she had seen.
"Spit it out, Maka," urged Soul, who now looked worried.
"Well… the other side of his soul—the one that wasn't a Kishin Soul, that is—was… an Angel Soul…" muttered Maka.
"Of course," muttered Stein, uninterested.
Kid, however, looked even more intrigued.
"An Angel Soul?" he asked. "You mean a Grigori Soul like yours?"
"Y-yeah," replied the sandy-haired girl. "I never thought I'd see a third person with it…"
"His brother Vergil also has one," added Stein, and everyone looked at him in shock. "That's one of the main reasons why neither of them is a full-fledged Kishin, the other one being that their human mother raised them to resist their demonic half."
"Wait, did you say their mother is human?" asked Liz. "What about their dad?"
"He was a powerful Kishin named Sparda," replied the scientist while cleaning his glasses. "Kid and Maka must've heard of him."
Maka shook her head, denying the statement, but Kid tapped his lips in deep thought.
"My father once mentioned Sparda," he said. "If I remember correctly, I was checking one of Father's lists of most powerful Kishin Eggs, and the name Sparda appeared there, but it was crossed out. Father said that Sparda was an insanely powerful Kishin that had managed to break through the demonic ranks by defeating them all and defending the human race. He had a treaty with Shibusen in which he would not be hunted so long as he keeps defending the humans, but he eventually disappeared.
"Father also mentioned another Kishin, Mundus, who had a sworn enemy in Sparda, but Father never found him, until it was finally reported that someone had vanquished him. That's when I first heard of Dante. Apparently, Sparda had fathered twins with a human woman by the name of Eva, and died shortly thereafter. That's essentially all I know about Dante and his brother Vergil, besides the fact that they're tied for second place as most powerful Meisters."
"Actually, Kid," intervened Stein while cranking the bolt in his head, "they're more powerful than I am."
"What?!" said all the youngsters in a surprised unison.
"Listen to me first," said Stein. "How would Shibusen look if their top-tier Meisters are partially members of the very race they aim to defeat? Forget for a second that they never made Death Weapons, since they went on their own and probably defeated more powerful witches than Arachne and Medusa. Those two, with their massive power, could be considered threats to the whole world if they went rogue…"
"So that's why they're not number one?" asked Soul with a slightly disgusted expression. "Because of some stupid racist thing? As far as Dante goes, he's one of the coolest guys I've ever met!"
"Not to mention he wasn't really looking for a fight with Black Star…" added Maka. "But then again, a lotta people underestimate that moron…"
"Sheesh, Agni, can't you NOT overcook anything?"
"S-sorry, Miss Nevan…"
Dante and his weapons were sitting in front of their TV in their temporary apartment, and Agni was taking away a burnt-smelling bag of popcorn while Rudra opened a window to let the smell out. Rebellion looked at Dante and noticed he was distracted, so he spoke to him.
"You okay, Dante?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm all right," replied the white-haired man.
"You sure? You seem distracted," replied the black-haired man. "Did that kid say anything?"
"Nothing I wouldn't've said at his age," chuckled Dante while taking a sip from his bottle of beer. "He's got a massive ego, I must admit…"
"If it's as big as yours, then I'll bet you two're gonna get along just fine," commented Artemis with a smile.
"You kiddin'? That little bastard's annoying!" replied Dante with an alarmed expression.
"So said Vergil about you, boss," remarked Beowulf with a kind smile, "and look how you two ended up."
"Fighting almost to the death more than thrice?" said Revenant while he grabbed a third bottle of beer and chugged it down. "I don't think Dante wants that with anyone anymore…"
"Hey, the last time Vergil and the boss met, they were a bit kinder to each other," protested the eye-patch wearer.
"He was possessed into trying to kill Dante, Beowulf," reminded Ebony, and Cerberus barked twice. "I agree, Cerberus, we should shut up… the movie's about to start!"
Tsubaki was still trembling when the clock struck eleven o'clock. That little encounter with Dante made Black Star explode in rage because of one stupid comment that shouldn't have been said, and that rage scared her more than she could have imagined. The busty girl made a mental note to go apologize to Dante for her partner's behavior as soon as she knew where to find him, and she finished brushing her teeth after noticing she was distracted while looking at herself in the mirror. She walked to her and her partner's bedroom and sat in her bed, looking at her softly-snoring, shirtless, awkwardly-positioned partner sleeping in the other bed and she couldn't help but smile at him. After so much they'd been through, Black Star still reacted as harshly at someone calling him small now as he did the first time they met the samurai Mifune.
Maybe some things about him wouldn't change as much as others, but that was all right with Tsubaki. She knew he'd learn better someday, and she eagerly awaited for that day to come; in the meantime, however, she'd have to support and help her partner the same way he's supported and helped her. Tsubaki sighed lowly and stood up. With some effort, she moved the dumbbells away from Black Star's bed so she could move her bed next to his—and she set her alarm to wake her up early so she could accommodate her bed back to its place.
so there you have it~! Black Star and Dante finally met! :DDD but it went worse than I expected... those morons XDDDD so yea, Dante is gonna be taking jobs too?! and Agni and Rudra are gonna have part-times?! I gotta baaaaad feeling about this... :3
but that's it for today, folks~! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which was slightly shorter than I'd expected.. :P what the hell, we can make the next few chapters longer, depending on what those kids do (you can never really tell these days what would happen with characters in your OWN work of fiction, huh?)
what will happen in the next chapter?! I dunno yet, I gotta ask Klaus XDDDDD still, leave your opinions on this or any other chapter as they keep coming~! see ya (or read ya) later~!
Humbert