DISCLAIMER: I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell or Ghost in the Shell or Naruto or Bleach or One Peice or Inuyasha...etc. or any other anime. Other people do.

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Chpater 3: Neighbors

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Dufort glanced down at the small strip of paper he held in his hand. Despite being a psychic he still didn't quite understand why he was given directions when his destination was clearly across the street from his old run-down apartment.

A small boy, about the age of six, who was wearing all white with white hair, a large light blue bow, and shiny purple eyes stood next to him as they both walked across the street together.

"Dufort." The boy asked.

"What is it?" He replied while refusing to remove his eyes from the paper.

"Where are we going?"

Dufort sighed as he finally put the paper away in his pocket. "You asked that already."

"Yeah. But you didn't answer me for the last five times." The boy now sounded annoyed now.

"Well Zeno. To tell you the truth. I don't even know myself."

"What?!" Zeno looked up at him. "But you're psychic. You know everything! How do you not know something?"

Dufort looked down at him. "Hey! You don't talk back like that! What have I been teaching you?!"

"Nothing!" Zeno yelled. "You taught me nothing! All you ever showed me was how to sit up strait, how to spell my name, and how to pick up women online!"

"There you go." Dufort said giving off a point. "Those things help you."

"What? How is picking up women online supposed to help me?"

"...It helps your social status."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT HELPS MY SOCIAL STATUS?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEVER TALKS! MR. TACITURN!"

"..."

"SEE! THERE YOU GO! YOU'RE SILENT AGAIN!"

"Quiet Zeno."

"Don't tell me to be quiet Dufort! Do you know who you're talking to? I'm a prince! No...the prince of the mamodo world! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

"No, really Zeno. Hush."

Zeno revealed two arms from his deep white cloak and used them to cover his ears. He then began shouting which caused many people around to look at them, and also others who were within the comfort of their own home looked out their windows and front doors at Dufort. They all seemed to be wanting to know what Dufort did to the poor boy to make him scream like that when he really didn't even lay a finger on him.

Dufort tried to calm him down. "Zeno. Shush up, now!"

The small boy still had his hand over his ears. "WHAT?! I STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU! YOU HAVE TO SPEAK UP MR. TACITURN!"

"Zeno, please. We're here."

"WHAT?! SPEAK UP NOW! YOU'LL HAVE TOO SOMEDAY!"

Instead of being annoyed to the fullest Dufort took Zeno's head with both of his hands and turned him to the direction of a large house with them at its doorstep. Zeno dropped his hands and gazed up at the giant house. Their was a long pause before any of the two males said another word. "...Dufort. Why are we here?"

"This is our stop."

"You mean...this is where we were going all along?"

"Yup."

"This is a big house Dufort." Zeno said. "It's bigger than yours."

"I don't own a house Zeno."

"My point exactly."

They both took moments to stare at the giant home until Zeno cleared his throat to speak again.

"But this house was right across the street." The mamodo boy thought a bit. "What was that piece of paper you had anyway?"

"It was directions to the place."

"Why would you need directions when the place was right here across the street?" Zeno crossed his arms. "Whoever wrote those directions must be pretty stupid."

Dufort shrugged and rang the doorbell. He would have let Zeno do it but realized that Zeno was too short to reach the doorbell. He could have picked him up instead and Zeno could ring it that way, but he thought that Zeno didn't want to be touched. There was a long pause after the bell was rung until a fairly tall man stood in the doorway. He had a smile on his face once he saw Dufort.

"Hey neighbor!" The man shook hands with Dufort. "Nice to finally meet you! I'm Saito."

"Hi. I'm Dufort." The two men finally unlocked hands. "And this is Zeno."

Saito bent down to Zeno's level to pat him on the head. "Awww...cute kid. Is he yours?"

"Unfortunately." Dufort replied.

"Hey!" Zeno snapped at his book owner.

Saito chuckled at Zeno and rose back up to Dufort's level. "Come on in you two." He said cheerfully.

Dufort and Zeno stepped inside and noticed another man sitting on a chair reading. Saito called to him and the man got up to greet. "Hey man! Nice to see ya! I'm Batou."

"I'm Dufort. And this is Zeno."

"Hi Zeno." Batou ruffled the young boy's hair widely. "He seems nice."

"You'd be surprised." Dufort warned him.

"Stop touching my head." Zeno snapped at Batou and Batou pulled his hand away.

"Hey, Dufort!" Saito called from the other room. "I'm going to order some pizza. What do ya want?"

"I'll be right there." Dufort walked over to the large kitchen where his neighbor was. This left Zeno and Batou to themselves.

"Hey." Zeno looked up at Batou. "Who wrote those directions to this place?" He asked. "It really wasn't needed."

"Well kid, I wrote them. I wanted to make sure you weren't lost." He laughed.

"Well then you must be the stupidest man alive!" Zeno yelled.

Batou stopped laughing and glared at him.

Zeno continued talking. "And what's with your eyes, huh? Did you lose them in a freak show and the doctor had nothing to replace them with except golfballs?"

"Quiet kid."

"And why are you wearing a ponytail? Are you some kind of macho hippie or something?"

"Shut-up kid!"

"And-"

"Zeno!" Dufort yelled from the other room. "What kind of pizza do you want?"

"Sausage!" Zeno said happily drooling. With that said Dufort vanished behind a counter.

Batou looked back down at Zeno. "Well kid, at least I'm not the one who wears a dress with a bow on it."

"It's not a dress. It's a cloak!"

"And you're very pale! You're whiter than Michael Jackson." Batou pointed down at Zeno.

"Who the heck is Michael Jackson?" Zeno asked.

"I don't know." Batou shrugged.

"Well then you're a loser."

"Excuse me kid, but you're the one who's the loser."

"How dare you call me a loser! Do you realize who you're talking to?" Zeno raised his voice at the man. "I am a prince! A prince I tell you! Royalty!"

"Yeah whatever kid." Batou crossed his arms in an apathetic way. "The prince of loser world."

"You stupid human!" Zeno yelled up at him. "Take that back!"

"No." Batou stuck his tongue out at Zeno.

"Don't mess with me. You won't like me when I'm angry." Zeno threatened.

"I don't like you right now!" Batou yelled.

"Hey!" Saito called from the other room. "What's with all the noise?"

"You're in trouble now kid." Batou smiled down at Zeno.

"On the contrary..." Zeno said. "You're the one in deep trouble."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Dufort walked in to see what was going on. Once Zeno saw Dufort he gathered up a false look and started to pour out fake tears. "Dufort!"

"What is it now Zeno?"

"What's going on?" Saito came in and saw Zeno crying. "Batou! What did you do this time?"

"Nothing!" He yelled. "Blame it on the guy with a ponytail! Fine!"

"Batou! I invited our guest so we can get to know them better. Why do you always ruin everything! I'm telling the Major on you!"

"No, please!" Batou begged and got down on his knees and grabbed Saito's leg. "Don't tell Major! Anyone but her!"

"Alright! Just let go of my leg!" Saito tried to struggle free.

"Zeno. What happened?" Dufort asked.

Zeno tried to talk between his fake sobs. "He...hit me...an..and..." He sniffed. "He ca-called me names!" Zeno cried harder and Dufort picked him up to allow Zeno to cry on his shoulder.

Dufort pat him on the back and rubbed it. "Hush. It's okay Zeno."

Saito managed to struggle free from Batou and went up to Dufort. "I'm so sorry Dufort. It's all Batou's fault."

"It's alright Saito. I'll just need to take Zeno home now. He'll be pretty tired once he finishes crying."

"Yes. Of course." Saito opened the front door for him. "Maybe next time?"

"Maybe."

"I'll personally deliver the pizza to your door when it comes."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Once Dufort left Zeno looked up from his partner's wet shoulders and tossed a quick smirk at Batou before he left.

Batou's mouth hung open as he pointed at the front door before it closed. "EVIL CHILD!"

Saito pressed a button on a giant computer screen and the pictures of the Major's face appeared. "Saito! Batou!" She said on the screen. "How's the mission?"

Saito jerked a thumb at Batou who was still pointing at the door. "Batou over their ruined it. He seemed to can't handle a small child."

Major looked at Batou. "Batou! Again?"

"But Major..." Batou finally got up from the floor and ran to the large screen. "That kid was evil. He called me names."

"I'm ashamed at you." The Major continued. "How could two properly trained men of Section 9 not handle to practice baby-sitting?"

"What!" Saito said. "What did I do? It was his entire fault!"

Just then the screen went blank and the Major was gone. Saito leered at Batou angrily and ended up chasing him around the large house. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! I HAVE TO TAKE SOME OF YOUR BLAME!"

Back in Dufort's apartment, Zeno sat across the table from Dufort. He seemed fine now since he was only faking the whole thing. Dufort shook his head. "Zeno. What did you do this time?"

The boy smiled an evil grin. "Just the opposite of what I just said to you back there..tee-hee.."

"Oh Zeno" Dufort released a long sigh and shook his head while running his fingers through his hair. "No wonder I have no friends..."

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I placed the story on Anime X-over, but I got no reviews. So I was hoping to get a better chance here.