"What do you mean you're leaving?" Star demanded.
"It's an emergency," Dante explained.
"And what's the emergency, may I ask?"
"To save the world...er, make it two worlds."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. You wouldn't understand."
"And why is Trish going instead of me? I like saving the world as much as the next person," she complained.
"'Cause she is. Now, quit your whining and wish me luck. Besides, if you get bored or lonely, you can call the kid."
"Fine," she said, defeated. "Just promise me you'll be careful, okay?"
"I will, I promise."
"Don't worry, Star. We'll be back before you know it!" Trish said with excitement. Star couldn't help but smile and gave her a hug.

She gave the half-demon a farewell hug as well and waved goodbye to Dante and Trish as they went through some time-warping portal to the next world.

"And there was only one," she muttered to herself. She walked back into the building, all of a sudden hungry. Damn... That's just great. I'll order take-out. She reached for the phone and placed her order, now going have to wait 20 minutes for her food to come. She decided to call someone to pass the time.

RIING!
"C'mon. Pick up, pick up…"

Nothing.
RIING!
Still nothing.
RIING!
Hello?
"Oh! You are home. Thank goodness."
Star?
"Yeah, it's me. Hi, Nero."
Hey. Long time, no see. What have you been up to?
"Uh, nothing, actually. I was calling to see if you wanted to hang out today?"
Sure. Kyrie is going out with her friends tonight, so I'm totally free.
"Great! Can you come, like, right now?"
Uh... Yeah, I'll just have to get ready and I'll be on my way.
"Awesome! You're a great friend, you're really are. I promise I'll explain everything when you get here."
Haha. It's okay, really. No need for explanations. See you soon, 'kay?
"See you soon. Bye."
Bye.
CLICK!
Well, at least tonight won't be SO boring, she thought.

"That'll be $15.20."
"Keep the change."
"Thanks."
"Bye."
She put down her pizza on the desk and got some refreshments from the fridge. Nero was coming, after all. Speaking of which...

KNOCK KNOCK!
"Hmm? I wonder who could that be?" Star said with a smile on her face.
"It's Santa Claus," the other voice said with a laugh.
"Then where are my presents, Mr. Claus? I've been good all year," she joked as she opened the door to let him in.
"Demanding, aren't we? Now, where's my hug?"
"Look who's demanding now?" Star and Nero embraced like they haven't seen each other in ten years. "It's good to see you, Nero!"
"It's good to see you, too. Where's the old man? I thought he'd come bear hug us or something." He tried to find the man in red, but he was nowhere in sight.
"He and Trish went to save the world...er, worlds? Something like that."
"Ah. The usual."
"Sort of."
"I'm confused."
"It's hard to explain."
"Oh, okay."
"Yeah... Anyway, there's pizza on the table if you want some."
"Sure."

They went to the table to eat their dinner as she asked, "Everything fine between you and Kyrie?"
"Yeah. Better than I expected, actually."
"Yeah? That's good. That must mean she's really committed to you, huh?"
"Sure does." He smiled to himself, glad that he had a girl like Kyrie to himself...most of the time.
"So what do you want to do? Watch TV, listen to music, beat up some poor demons, take a walk around town...?" Star suggested. "Or stay here and talk? I'm open to anything, really."
"Why don't we just stay here and chill? I mean, I've been walking and I just got here," Nero said.
"Mmmhmmhmm. Yeah, that's true. Well, since we're staying home, what should we do?"
"Listen to some music... I don't know, maybe rock?"
"I'll see what I can do with that request," she smiled as she went toward the jukebox to pick her selection. He should really get more CDs or at least a new music player, she thought, frustrated. She finally decided to play Nickelback and turned down the volume to make it as background music.
"Nice pick," he complimented.
"Why, thank you, kind sir." She gave him a small curtsy, and smiled that playful smile.
God, she is so cute... HEY! No matter how hard he tries to resist, she always manages to make it ten times harder for him, even if it was unintentional.

"Hey..." Her voice sounded close...too close. He opened his eyes—he just realized he had closed them—and let out a gasp, surprised to see her face so close to his. She let out a giggle, but not her usual giggle—this little laugh sounded more...seductive than playful. What's going on here?
"Let's play a game," she said in her seductive voice.
"Star, are you okay?" Nero managed to choke out. She was dangerously close to him, just close enough to kiss him….

"I'm fine. But are you gonna be?"
"What?"
"Tag! You're it!" she cheered and disappeared into thin air.
"What in the...?" He was confused.
"Catch me if you can, devil boy," her voice whispered in his ear.
"Star?" He whipped around only to find nothing behind him. This is really weird! What the hell is going on here? "Star? Where are you?"
"Well, that's for me to know, and for you to find out," her voiced echoed.
"Fine. You wanna play? We'll play."
"Ooh! So eager, aren't we!"
Heh. Maybe. He stood up and listened carefully to his surroundings. She can hide her body but not her sound—or perfume, for that matter, which smelled of lavender and roses. Once he was certain he had gotten her cornered, he used his Devil Bringer to grab her, but missed. He cursed under his breath. She was fast, too, unfortunately.

It took a couple tries to actually catch her. He caught her leg and brought her down until she was in his arms. "Gotcha," he grinned.
"So you did," she mused. "What are ya gonna do with me, hm?"
"I'm going to..." He paused and inched his face closer to hers until they were at kissing distance. "... Put you down and demand what it is going on with you!"
"Huh? Nero? Nero! Oh, man. Was I playing 'Morrigan' again?" Star sounded surprised.
"What do you mean 'playing 'Morrigan' again'?"
"My subconscious tends to believe that I'm Morrigan even though I just have her blood mixed with mine, and it goes completely out of whack, and I start to act like Morrigan. It happens every so often," she explained.
"Oh. Then, yes, you were playing 'Morrigan' again."
"Damn. I'm sorry if I made it awkward. I didn't mean to!"
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. It's okay, really."
"Okay. You really are a great friend, Nero." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and he blushed, but he tried to hide it—unsuccessfully.
"You know? You're cute when you blush." She smiled.
"Ah haha..." he laughed nervously. "Um, do you want me to stay for the night?"
"That would be nice, but won't Kyrie be worried?"
"I'll call later to tell her I'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay, then. You can take Dante's room since he's out of town and all. I'm sure he won't mind," she offered. "So... what exactly happened between those fifteen minutes of hanging out with succubus me?"

THE END