Outside as the sun rose, the birds sang and the dew on the grass glistened like precious jewels.

Inside, however, Lady bit Dante on the arm.

"Ouch! What the hell, Lady?" He yelped and jumped out of the bed, not at all pleased with her way of waking him up.

"What?" She asked innocently, looking as if it were the most normal thing in the world for her to have done. Dante glared at her, rubbing where she had bitten him, even though any damage it had done had long since cleared up.

He just wanted to make her feel sorry.

"You. Bit me. On. The arm.' He said, exasperated "Why? You could have just, I don't know… Gently shaken me awake?"

Lady just stared at him with a smartass look on her face "Oh, you mean what I've been trying to do for the past half-hour?" She asked sweetly.

Dante stopped, his mouth already open with an immature response.

He did have a reputation of being a heavy sleeper. Once, he had slept through a couple of demons crashing through his roof and had only woken up when one had imbedded its scythe in his torso.

"Grr." He said finally, baring his teeth.

Lady waved it off "Grr yourself. And put a shirt on, we're going out for food."

Dante may have had a rough time lately, but the mention of breakfast made his eyes light up. Lady barely concealed a smile at the happy look on his face, as much as she hated to admit it, it made him look adorable.

They just stood there for a minute, Dante looking starry-eyed and Lady looking impatient.

A vein pulsed in her forehead "Dante…" She growled and he snapped out of his day-dream of waffles and pancakes

"Hm?"

The vein pulsed harder "Turn around, damn it! I have to get dressed!"

Dante's trademark grin appeared on his face

"Oh, right… Do I have to?"

Lady gripped his shoulders and forcefully turned him around "You're impossible." She said, almost fondly.

Dante's grin widened.

Soon enough, the two were on their way to find breakfast. Lady hadn't realized how hungry she was, she couldn't even remember the last time she ate. Of course, finding somewhere that wouldn't give them food poisoning would be difficult; there weren't many decent places in their area of town.

"Hey, you know anywhere good?' Lady asked Dante "And we are not getting pizza for breakfast." She added hastily.

He flashed her a toothy grin "I was thinking somewhere I haven't been for a while, you ever heard of Riko's?"

Lady frowned in thought "The name doesn't sound familiar…"

Dante took her hand suddenly, surprising her a little "Come on, we can get good stuff there for cheap."

He led her to a dark alley, which made her raise her eyebrows "What are you trying to pull?" She asked suspiciously. Dante squeezed her hand

"I know what I'm doing… Trust me, babe."

And oddly enough, she did.

Reaching the end of the alley, Lady frowned at the solid brick wall, she looked at Dante questioningly and he reached out the hand not holding Lady's to touch the wall.

Lady hoped he'd wash that hand before he ate…

He turned to her "Okay babe, the deal is this isn't really a wall, to a human, yes, but to someone with demon blood it's a gateway."

Lady looked curious "To where?"

Dante grinned again "Somewhere." He answered annoyingly.

She rolled her eyes.

He continued on "You have to keep hold of my hand, okay? If you don't you'll end up stuck in the wall."

Lady gulped.

Dante laughed "You're not afraid of a wall, are you?" he asked and she hit him on the arm

"Can we go now?"

He nodded, pushing his hand against the wall and to Lady's surprise, it sunk into it.

"Hold on." He said, walking into the wall.

Lady closed her eyes as the wall drew near. When she dared open her eyes, she gasped.

They were in a huge market place, far more colourful than the streets on the other side of the wall.

Lady was dazzled as she gazed at vendors selling different coloured silks and exotic looking fruits. Two children ran past her giggling and that was when she noticed something strange about the inhabitants.

"Dante… Those kids had horns… And they were blue." She muttered. He nodded.

"Yep, welcome to Sanctus Blanc, everyone here has demon blood.' Dante laughed at the look on her face "Calm down, babe. This place is a sanctuary for anybody with human and demon blood. Full demons don't exactly invite us over for tea and cookies, ya know."

Lady's mouth was still wide open "I didn't even know a place like this existed…" She remarked, staring at a man, easily eight feet in height piggybacking a green-skinned woman who was laughing with delight.

Dante smiled "You weren't meant to. This place has been kept secret from the demons and demon hunters for over twelve centuries. It's rare that human parents stick around to take care of hybrid children, so not many get inside…' His eyes softened as a little girl with blue and orange striped skin fell and her fully human brother picked her up, wiping away her tears and making funny faces until she laughed instead of cried.

Lady was about to say something when she became aware of what looked like a large pink cannon ball, heading straight for Dante.

"Dante onii-chaaaaaan!" It cried happily, flinging itself around Dante's neck.

Lady just stared as she realized it was a small, pink-haired girl who was currently clinging to Dante like a limpet.

"Where have you been all this time? I missed you! Had any good adventures lately? I wanna hear about them! Have you been eating well? You better have been! Who's this?" The girl spoke rapidly and pointed at Lady, who was looking shell-shocked at the best.

"Hiya Riko. You seem well." Said Dante, mussing up the girl's shocking pink locks.

"Onii-chan! Stop that!" Riko giggled.

As soon as Riko stopped squirming, Lady was able to get a better look at the pink girl.

She was about four foot in height, with large purple eyes and fluffy white cat's ears. She was cute and looked about twelve years old.

"Riko, meet Lady. Lady, meet Riko." Said Dante, placing the hyper child down.

"Ooo! She's a human!" Exclaimed Riko, running around Lady in circles who was becoming dizzy trying to keep up with the kid.

"Um, hi. I'm a friend of Dante's." Mumbled Lady.

Riko looked delighted "Onii-chan has a girlfriend! Yay! When are you gonna get married? Can I be a bride's maid?" She started bouncing up and down.

"Whoa, slow down, sport!" Dante said, feeling just the tiniest bit embarrassed.

"Pleased to meet ya, Lady Onee-san! I'm Riko, Dante's lil' sister!"

Lady looked surprised "Sister?"

Riko stopped bouncing "sorta sister' she amended "Eva took me in when I was three, so Onii-chan's mom is my mom so that makes Onii-chan my Onii-chan!"

Lady was becoming confused so Dante stepped in.

"My mom looked after Riko for a while when she was little, it's been a while since we've seen each other… Hey, how old are you now, sport?"

Riko bit her lip and started counting on her fingers "Um…. 18." She said finally. Lady almost fell over

"Wha? 18?"

Dante laughed "She's part feline demon, Lady. Their bodies don't age very fast."

Lady immediately began wondering how old Dante was.

"Onii-chan! Are you hungry? Do you want food?" Riko was bouncing so fast she became a pink blur in Lady's eyes.

"Breakfast would be great." Dante said.

Riko dramatically made the peace sign "Okay! Breakfast it is!" She took off at such a high speed; Lady could have sworn she had left behind a Riko-shaped cloud of smoke.

"Damn.' Dante groaned "We'll never catch up to her. Let's just hope I remember where her place is." He stared forward, but stopped when Lady didn't follow.

"You coming babe?"

Lady still looked a little stunned from her encounter with the pink cat girl so Dante took her hand and pulled her into the throng of people.

"Riko tends to have that affect on people."

Riko is only gonna be around for the next chapter (and the last official chapter. Hehe, you'll see why)

It's the OC cliché, add a little brother or sister.

And just for the people who are a little rusty in their Japanese;

Onii-chan: Big brother (this is a bit of a cross between the formal Onii-san and the more casual Nii-chan.)

Onee-san: Big sister (this is the respectful way to say it.)