Disclaimer: I don't own any of the DMC characters no matter how much I wish I did. However, Kurogawa Yasumoto and Yui are characters, which I created myself, therefore making them my property. And I know that no DMC characters have made an appearance yet, but please be patient, all in good time, friends, so in the mean time, enjoy the latest chapter!

Chapter 3

Bittersweet Dreams

Some would define paradise as their definition of the perfect place. I prefer to think of paradise as home. It is as they say, there is no place like home, and to me that's the truth. I lay in bed with my beloved Yui in my arms while she slept with her head upon my chest. There was a smile that lay stretched out upon my face as I stared up at the ceiling feeling better than ever. I felt incredible, probably the best that I had ever felt in a long time. Of course, I always felt good when I got to spend time with Yui. I loved her with all of my heart, for one reason and one reason alone. She was the only person who accepted me for who I truly was. To humanity, I was considered as one of the greatest guitarists/singers in all of Tokyo. However, to the underground, I was known as the dreaded Death Dealer, one who kills for money and for his own motives. All of these were obvious facts in my life, but there was something that only Yui and I truly knew, which I would never tell anyone else. Sadly, I'm afraid I can't tell you either, my friends, for I don't believe you'd look at me the same way otherwise…but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky since this story is far from over.

All was very quiet in the bedroom as I lay there looking up at the ceiling, feeling nothing but the love in my heart and the joy in my soul. Yes, it was a perfect moment in my opinion. A moment spoiled too easily by the sound of my ringing cellphone. I sighed in annoyance as I got out of bed and picked up the phone and made my way into the living room.

I opened it up and answered it, "Do you really have to call me this early in the morning, Kyo?" I asked.

"Well, I cut you a break yesterday since it is yours and Yui's anniversary, in which I congratulate you for, so now you're paying the consequences." He replied.

I simply chuckled, "Fuck you man."

"Yeah, I know, I'm an asshole. So how'd it go last night? Er, the raid I mean."

I laughed yet again, "To be totally honest, much too easy for my taste. I expected the Neos to put up more of a fight than that. So I guess I should either consider myself lucky, or watched."

"Watched, eh? That's what I was thinking, too, but who'd be watching you? I mean what's the point if there are hardly any people who are brave enough to even talk to you?" He said.

"Who knows, greater demon organizations, other demon hunting guilds, shit the list goes on and on. So, technically, the more logical questions would be who wouldn't be watching me and who would have the guts to try and stop me?" I said.

"I guess you're right, I mean you are the Kurogawa Yasumoto, the Legendary Death Dealer of the Tokyo Underground." He said.

"Exactly, I've got humans chasing after me as a professional guitarist and I've got who knows what chasing after me as a Death Dealer, but no one who's brave enough to challenge me, whether I'm on stage or in uniform. So, in essence, it was all good and last night was just easy."

"Fair enough…so, do you want me to give you the latest offers or save them for later?" He asked.

I sighed, preparing for the worst, "Lay em' on me." I said.

He paused for a second to analyze the tone of my voice for a second, "Are you okay, man? I thought that last night would have put you in a better mood than usual?" He said.

"Nah, it's not that…it's because I've been thinking about a few things lately…and last night made it so clear to me that I just can't ignore it anymore." I said.

"I think I know where this is going." Kyo remarked.

"I mean, I'm not afraid of death, and I'm not afraid of fighting demons. I've done it practically every night for the past 23 years and I've killed so many demons…but it was only in the past four years that I've began to realize something. I know that I'm practically one of the only things that stand between the humans and the demons, yet despite that fact, none of them have ever worried about me, hell none of them even know that I do this, except for one…" I paused for a moment.

"…Yui." Kyo finished with a tone of sympathy in his voice.

"Exactly, I know that she worries about me every night. I know that she appreciates me whenever I'm there for her, and I know that she is the only person in this world, besides you, who has ever given a damn about me. That is why I want to be there to protect her from whatever may come her way. That is why I've been thinking of retiring from my duties of being a Death Dealer." I finished.

On the other end of the phone, Kyomaji remained silent for a few moments before he finally spoke, "Well, my friend, I won't stop you from making this decision. If I was in your position I would do the same thing. You've made a wise choice Yats, and I'll forever commend you for making it. Although I won't deny that it's a pretty sad thing to see a Death Dealer retiring just when he's in his prime. Nevertheless, I can easily continue on where you left off. But, hey, no one said we couldn't hang out, right?" He asked.

I smiled, "Of course, man, you've been with me since the beginning. We're like brothers."

"Cool, hey do you wanna come over sometime today? Have a few beers?" He offered.

"Sure, that'd be great. How 'bout I come around five?"

"No problem, I'll order pizza."

"Alright, man, sounds great, I'll see you then."

"See you around, Yats."

With those final words I hung up the phone and tossed it aside. Yet again, I faced the silence of the apartment, quiet as can be, and flaunting its seemly endless tranquility. Yes, being home was truly something that should always be treasured. Here was truly a place where I could have actually said I had it all. I had Yui, I had a place to live, and I lived in a place, which could never be fathomed by any other. Indeed, Tokyo was a grand place to live. The night-life was impeccable, the daytime was hustling and bustling, but with a high degree of order. Ah, how I loved this place. I decided to lie down on the couch for a bit until Yui woke up. When my back hit the couch, I felt something under my back. I got back up and looked down at the couch only to find my coat, my gun and my katana sitting there. All of a sudden, I remembered all those nights drenched in blood, fighting until I killed every last demon there was to kill. It was like a flash, like a lightning bolt and it was gone.

I sat there for a moment, trying to compensate for the sudden rush that unexpectedly came crashing down upon me. That had never happened to me before. It was so strange. However, in light of the current circumstances, I knew what I had to do. I picked up my weapons and headed over to my closet. I opened the back wall revealing the vault behind it. Actually, it wasn't exactly what you would call a vault, but a closet hidden within a closet. I put in the combination and opened it. Inside the vault lay our most valuable possessions. To a thief who somehow managed to break into the vault, the items within would have been of no value whatsoever, but to us, these items were treasured possessions that we wouldn't give up for the world. My possessions in the vault consisted of a picture of my family, prayer beads and a black notebook. Yui's possessions were an engraved ring, a gold necklace and a golden shotgun shell engraved with the kanji character "Ai". Yes, these items were relatively simple, but with incredibly high sentimental value to the both of us. I placed the katana and my gun within the vault and locked the door. I knew that leaving the Death Dealer business was a hard and selfish thing to do, but I had to leave that life behind. There was a path that lay before me that I had hardly walked at all, and I knew that I had to start walking it eventually. I knew very well that Yui worried about me every night, and because of that, I would lock away my sword and I would face the future head on with a full heart.

I hung up my trench-coat and closed the closet behind me. It was time to put the past to rest. I made my way into the living room and I sat down on the couch once more, staring into space. I checked my watch to see what time it was. To my surprise, it was only 9:23 AM. It was rather early for me to be up. If it hadn't been for Kyomaji's call I'd have probably stayed in bed with Yui until noon. In the risk of waking her up, I decided to sleep on the couch for a while.

I woke up in the middle of an abyss of darkness. I was the only thing that was visible as far as the eye could see. I bore my jet-black trench coat and my weapons were attached to my belt. I didn't know why I was in my Death Dealer uniform. Neither did I know where I was. Of course I knew I was in a dream, but where this dream was happening was a mystery beyond my comprehension. In the midst of my confusion I heard a voice break through the silence,

"So you're the great Death Dealer?" I heard the man's voice say.

I remained silent for a few moments trying to find the presence of the man who spoke to me, "Well? Are you going to answer my question or just stand there?" He asked again with that impudent tone.

"Yeah, you could say that." I replied.

"Well then, Dante, now that we can speak to him, now would be a good time to reveal ourselves." A British voice asked.

"Nah, you don't have to V, I can speak to him myself."

Suddenly, a man appeared before me. Though he presented himself as a man, his demonic presence made me beg to differ on that theory. His demon force was out of control, much too high for him to be a human. Yet, despite that fact, he looked, talked and acted exactly like one. He wore a long, blood red trench-coat with two handguns in their respective holsters around his shoulders. Beneath that he revealed his scars upon the muscular tone of his upper body. He wore baggy pants and black army boots. But the most distinct thing I noticed about him was his unusually large sword. It was huge, about twice as long as my katana. No normal man would have been able to wield such a weapon without some degree of difficulty, yet he carried it around on his back as though it were nothing. He had snowy white hair and blue eyes. I had never seen this man, Dante, ever before, although I have heard of him from rumors that spread through the underground. It was said that he was a half-demon who hunted those of his own kind. It was a rather unusual thing to hear about considering my experience with demon-kind, so as you can tell I didn't believe that rumor at all,

"Hello, Yasumoto." He greeted.

I stood there, feeling as confused as can be, "Hello…whoever you are…" I replied.

He laughed at my response, "Well, considering what I've heard about you, you don't appear to be all that you're cracked up to be. You just look like another guy." He said.

I scoffed at him, "I suppose I can say the same to you, depending on whether or not you are who I think you are."

A smirk made its way across his face, "And who exactly do you think I am?"

"You are Dante, Son of Sparda, are you not?" I asked.

When he heard my hypothesis, he chuckled to himself and he shook his head, "Man, oh man, that stupid title never ceases to follow me around. I just don't get it." There was a brief silence, "Well, you got me, I'm Dante, great to meetcha, Death Dealer." He introduced himself.

I eyed him strangely before I spoke, "What do you want with me?" I asked.

"Whoa, whoa, Yats, back up, we've got some time before we get to business."

I drew my katana, "I don't care how much time we have. It's patience that I'm low on. What do you want from me?" I asked.

He looked at the seriousness of my stance and he simply chuckled to himself, "Well, if we're here I might as well see if you're worth my time the way V says so." He said as he readied his stance with his giant sword.

Before the battle could start, I began to site an incantation to my blade. According to what I've heard of Dante, I wanted to be sure that I was ready to face him, "Prepare yourself, Kamizetto."

Dante watched on in confusion as I sited the words to bring out the true power of my sword. Up until now, I've only summoned the true power of my sword once. For the past twenty three years I had tried my hardest to refrain as best I could from using the power locked within me and my blade. However, my opponent was that of the highest caliber of demon, therefore I had to be as cautious as I could be. All was silent for a few moments as Dante continued to watch me with my blade in hand. My eyes were shut and my body remained calm, but not for long. In an instant, my eyes opened, glowing of an incredible shade of crimson while my blade began to turn black. Suddenly, my body began to change. My muscles grew larger than before. A shroud of darkness began to surround my body and my demonic energy began to surge from within me. Dante continued to watch in horror as my inner form came into view. The darkness continued to surround my body until it turned into some kind of a cocoon. Dante continued to watch on as a few moments of silence passed by. In the end, I exploded from within that veil of darkness in my demonic form. Those who have seen me in this form sometimes questioned whether I was an angel or a demon. In fact, it was rather hard for me to tell. When I emerged from that darkness, I had two jet-black wings sprouting from my back and my skin was replaced with dark plates of metal. Besides the change of my physical appearance, was the change of my katana. It had grown to be as tall as I was and the metal was three times thicker than a regular katana as it emanated a mist of darkness. Dante continued to stare on at me in amazement as I prepared my battle stance and spoke the final words to begin the battle,

"Prepare to die, demon…"

Eheheh, cliffhangers, so damn evil, yet to an author they are all too great! So yeah, here's Chapter 3 of my fic. I'd like to say sorry to my readers for taking so long to update, but sadly a good idea is extremely hard to find. Not to worry though, I will try with all of my writer's intuition to have the next chapee up and running ASAP, until then, R&R!...seriously, as much as I love writing, it wouldn't hurt for youse guys to write your opinions about it, you know?