"Why is there a child here?"
The child glanced up at Vergil, and he glared down at him, causing the child to back away and hide behind Sensui with wide, scared eyes.
Whatever, Vergil thought. The whims of a child didn't concern him. What did concern him, however, was the fact that Sensui had become desperate enough to recruit mere children instead of beings old enough to have developed their true powers. He could sense the boy's spiritual power, but he could also sense that it had quite the ways to go until it developed fully.
"Ah, Vergil," Sensui greeted. "This is Amanuma Tsukihito, our newest recruit. I think you'll find his power rather unique."
"Tch," Vergil scoffed. "I didn't realize we had stooped to cradle-robbing in order to achieve our objective."
"He's perfectly capable, that I can assure you. Amanuma-kun, why don't you play a game with Vergil and show him what you can do?"
Amanuma glanced between Sensui and Vergil, and shrugged.
"Fine. Whatever," he mumbled, sticking his hands into his pockets.
Vergil turned his back on him.
"I don't play games, and I especially don't play games with children. Count me out."
Amanuma scoffed.
"I bet I could beat your ass at any arcade game I wanted to, grandpa hair. You're just avoiding playing against me because you're scared of losing."
Vergil's eyebrow twitched at the insult. He already knew that he had superior reaction times and reflexes compared to this feeble human, meaning he could beat him at any arcade game he wanted to. But, even then, he wouldn't stand to be insulted by a little boy, of all things.
He wouldn't be surprised if Dante was quite good at something as juvenile as arcade games. So why wouldn't Vergil wish to prove his superiority over his human-loving twin brother by showing his skills?
"Then prove it," Vergil said.
Amanuma smiled.
"Hell yeah! Prepare to get your ass kicked!"
The arcade was loud, noisy, and reeked of stale food and human sweat. Vergil personally hated every moment he was in it, but he had a job to do, and he was going to do it.
Amanuma had demonstrated his powers to him: the ability to make anything that happened to his opponent's character in a game happen to them in real life, as well. It was juvenile at best, Vergil thought, but embarrassingly effective, as he noted after getting hit hard in the stomach with a barrel while playing Donkey Kong. A mere trifle, as far as he was concerned, but if any humans happened to get on Sensui's bad side, they would be taken out rather quickly.
At least he had managed to avoid taking out any of the Arcade's silly machines with a well placed trick to the side and judgement cut. Dealing with pesky humans was one thing he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Vergil could even say he was enjoying the stimulation from playing these silly arcade games. They tested his reflexes, and proved their superiority over the common human's. Years of battling demons and training with the Yamato was working in his favor, as well as his heritage, making him effortlessly good at any game he tried.
Even if he was this close to slicing this "Pac-Man" machine in half with the Yamato.
"Wow," Amanuma said, "You suck at this."
Vergil scoffed.
"I do not 'suck.' I am merely unfamiliar with this game, that's all."
"You've never been to an arcade before, have you?"
"I've been to plenty of arcades," Vergil lied. "This game just happens to be unfamiliar to me."
"You can admit it, you know. Everyone sucks at arcade games at first."
"As I said, I do not 'suck' at arcade games."
One of the ghosts in the game devoured his character while he was conversing, and he cursed under his breath.
Amanuma laughed at him.
"You take yourself way too seriously, you know that?"
"I take myself only as seriously as I require myself to, child."
"Sure. Whatever you say. Say, you wanna play one of my favorites? I think you'll get the hang of it pretty fast."
Vergil sighed.
"It can't be worse than the horrors of 'Pac-Man.'"
Amanuma grabbed his hand.
"Trust me, you're gonna love this one. You get to kick serious ass, and you get to beat up a guy with a katana!"
Vergil perked up at that.
"A katana, hm?"
"Hell yeah."
He smirked.
"You're on."
Amanuma walked out of the arcade with a smile, while Vergil trailed after him, a stoic expression on his face.
"You know, you're crazy." Amanuma said.
"Hm?"
"It took me a month to get good enough to beat the game, and you managed in an hour! I wish I was that good."
Vergil smiled.
"I've been training in the art of the sword since I was a boy. If you apply yourself, you may even be able to reach the level of speed needed to be adequate by the time you're my age."
Although the boy was merely human, he had rather fast reflexes for a member of his kind. With proper incentive, he could grow into someone Vergil would consider a worthy enough opponent. Nothing compared to an opponent with demonic strength, but enough to give Vergil a challenge for a few minutes before he beat him.
"I don't want to wait until I'm 50 to get good, though."
Vergil found his eyebrow twitching against his will, once again. 50? He did not look 50!
"I'm not nearly that old," he gritted out.
"You coulda fooled me with that hair, old man."
"My hair is natural. It is a gift of my lineage, passed down by my father-"
"Blah blah blah, whatever. It makes you look like a grandpa."
"It does not ."
"It totally does."
Vergil was starting to regret this entire endeavor. If he were a less honorable man, he would have sliced this whelp in half with his blade already. But his honor demanded that he only engage in combat with the boy when the boy had matured enough to challenge him. It would not do to go against an unprepared opponent, after all.
"How old are you, anyway?" Amanuma asked.
"I happen to be 19 years of age, currently."
"You're a teenager?" Amanuma said, looking at Vergil with wide eyes.
"Is that so shocking?"
"Uh, yeah? You act older than even Sensui-san."
"I act as a man of my age should and no older, if you care."
"Okay, grandpa."
Vergil gave him his best glare, but Amanuma just brushed it off.
Children, Vergil thought, were a special breed.
Then, Amanuma spotted a nearby street food stand, and gasped, grabbing Vergil's arm.
Vergil wanted to move to shake him off, but his body froze against his will.
He cursed internally at his cowardice.
"Can we get some Takoyaki?" Amanuma begged, "Please please please?"
He gave Vergil a wide eyed look, reminiscent of an infant animal.
Vergil sighed. He just wanted to go back to Sensui's base and get away from this crazy child, but even he could admit he needed sustenance. And while he was the furthest thing from picky, the stall smelled appetizing enough, so he mentally shrugged and decided why not?
"Fine," he grumbled, "But we're leaving right after."
"Yes!" Amanuma cheered. "You haven't really been to Japan if you haven't tried Takoyaki. Trust me."
Vergil let himself be pulled to the stand, and a thought struck him.
This child wasn't prepared to kill for their goal. Sure, he could deal with pixelated violence, but with Sensui's plots, there was a real chance that he would see death before everything was said and done. And Vergil knew that whether it was Amanuma's or someone else's didn't matter to Sensui as long as his goal was fulfilled. That was how men like him and Arkham worked.
Annoying Amanuma may be, but amongst Sensui's peers, Vergil quickly found him to be the most tolerable of Sensui's disciples. And Sensui, unknowingly to Amanuma, was sending this child to his doom.
"Amanuma," he addressed the boy.
"Huh?" He said.
"You do know what Sensui has tasked us with, correct?"
"Uh huh," he said, "We're supposed to open a portal to the demon world, right?"
"Indeed. And do you know what will happen after?"
"They'll come into the human world, right?"
"Yes. And what then?"
Amanuma shrugged.
"I don't really know, honestly. Don't care, either."
Vergil gave him an incredulous look.
He should have guessed that Sensui would stoop low enough to neglect to inform his operatives of critical, possibly deadly information.
"Vergil-San? Are you okay?"
That was it, he thought. When he returned, he would inform Amanuma of the true cost of Sensui's objectives, and then he would show Sensui the error of his recruitment methods.
This oversight would not stand, if he had anything to do about it.
"I'm fine," he said. "What type of Takoyaki do you want?"
"Oh boy," Amanuma said. "Now, that's a tough choice. So, you could get…"
I ended up deciding that Vergil would turn on Sensui for hurting a kid. If Sesshomaru from InuYasha isn't into hurting kids (and he's fairly similar to Vergil, personality-wise,) why would Vergil be into hurting kids?
Anyway, enjoy.