A/N: Hey! So guess who's back? Well, I guess that was pretty obvious… I'm kinda hyped up on caffeine cause it's 12:30 and I need to update chapters tonight and I also want to play FF7 (cause I kinda need to beat it so I can give it back to it's owner… hehe… oops…) So anyway yeah… past week was my brain going I DON'T CARE! It happens… plus I had orientation at WMU, I'm so nervous about starting college . If you guys want to throw me any survival tips in the reviews that'd be really, really awesome! Onto something I know I can do, writing chapters!
Lana: Hey guess what Lesley? You get to have your response right here, where the whole world can see it XD Yes, they're adorable! That's the point of this one! Adorable-ness and fluffy-ness! Don't feel like a pedo, cause if you did what would that make me? Thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: Nope, no documentation of ownership here!
Growing Pains
It had been several weeks since Nero's first day of school and the young partial devil was still learning to balance his life out. Most kids his age just had to worry about getting their homework done and playing and eating. He had to add in learning to shoot and wield a sword and hide a demonic limb, it was a lot for an eleven year old to manage but Nero'd been holding up. Pretty well at least, there was the time that a blood-goyle had followed his dad home and wrecked a window but the preteen had managed to down it for his father and the older man had been absurdly proud afterward. There was also the antsy-ness that he'd been feeling lately. That feeling that he always got in his bones and the growling in his stomach, this was the time he would normally go out in the woods at the orphanage and kill off some poor rabbit or snake, just to get that itchiness out of the back of his mind.
"AAHH!" the partial devil pulled at his hair, glaring at the can that he had missed for the fourth time in a row.
"Kid?" Dante looked at his son; it hadn't escaped his attention how tense the boy had become.
"Why can't I just hit the damn thing?" the preteen growled, his right arm letting off a bright pulse.
"You need to relax, you're so angry that you're forgetting that the recoil on this gun is a little stronger."
"I am relaxed." Nero snapped, firing at the can again, missing once more and glaring at the metal venomously. A large calloused hand came over his on the gun as the half devil gently took it from his grip. He knelt before the boy and looked at him calmly; Nero just glared at his father, feeling a niggling in the back of his throat, a tiny rumble that worked its way out of his mouth. Dante resisted the urge to chuckle at the tiny growl that his son gave him.
"No you're not, now, something's obviously bothering you so why don't you tell me what it is before I drag it out of you?" the partial devil looked away from his father, this part of himself, the part that wanted to kill something with his bare hands just to see it bleed and die was something that he'd never told anyone about, he was ashamed of it, he felt like it made him some kind of monster.
"I…" he hesitated "I'm feeling really… antsy lately…"
"I've noticed, is that all?"
"Well no… I've felt like this before…"
"When?"
"Back at the orphanage… I would normally… go out and take a little walk in the woods…" Nero was mumbling heavily now, sure his father was going to make him be more specific than what he was but the shop owner's eyes just widened in understanding. He gave a soft smile and ruffled the boy's hair; much to the younger's aggravation.
"You just have that need to chase something down don't you?" he asked and Nero looked up at him with a surprised look on his face.
"C'mon, you've seen demons in action, they're violent creatures, they hunt to kill, sometimes as a partial devil you gotta satisfy that need." Dante's explanation was simple and to the point, but it still took a load off of the preteen's shoulders, this urge was a byproduct of his demon blood, it wasn't that he was depraved or anything like that…
"So what should I do?"
"Come with me." Nero put his weapons back in the shop and followed after his father.
-Family of Happenstance-
The next day Nero woke feeling much better, he didn't feel like he wanted to rip the head off the next person who looked at him wrong. As he got ready for school he took a moment to look at his arm, the limb had continued to get worse over the past few weeks, the lump on his elbow coming to stick out several inches and the inside of his forearm was becoming darker and darker, it was almost navy blue now and harder than it was before. He absently drifted a finger over the goldish colored lines between the large scales of his arm and his fingers twitched. The preteen sighed and swiftly wrapped the appendage, he better get to school if he didn't want to be late.
The school day was ordinary, boring, at least until just afterwards, when Nero found Mitch chasing Caden who had the other boy's bag.
"Hey!" the partial devil shouted, both boys stopped and turned to look at him.
"What'd'ya want freak?" Caden shouted at him and Nero's face darkened.
"Give Mitch back his bag, I told you not to mess with him again."
"What're you gonna do about it?" the two were now facing each other, the tension thick in the air.
"I won't have to do much." Nero smirked, giving the slightly larger boy a small shove. The bully, not used to being confronted, took this as a chance to take a swing at the white haired boy, who dodged expertly and swiped the blond off his feet.
"Like I said, not much." The partial devil grabbed Mitch's bag and handed it to his friend. The two boys dashed off for the safety of Mitch's house and didn't stop till they were closed in the boy's room. Once there they collapsed into messes of pants and giggles.
"Did you see his face?" Mitch wheezed and Nero sat up, still chuckling.
"Yeah, he never saw that coming!" he agreed and offered the other boy a hand up. Mitch accepted the hand and then gave Nero a funny look.
"Dude, you ripped up your bandages." Nero froze.
A/N: Mwahahahaha! I forgot how much I love cliffhangers! Wait till tomorrow for the next chappie, kay?
Till next time,
-Winged Element
