Disclaimer:
I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.
Nero felt ashamed.
She couldn't believe she would react in that way to Dante of all people.
Even now she could feel his rough fingers on her skin. Her hips ached, and she continued to pant like she had just run a marathon.
She needed to get out of here. She couldn't be in the same building as him right now.
So she changed into a new pair of pants, forgoing the leather buckles, and put on a fresh bra, vowing to burn her old one later.
Putting on a white t-shirt, she grabbed her blue overcoat, threw it on, and snuck out her window.
Somehow she felt like she was back in Fortuna, sneaking out of the dormitory to train. That was before she had proven herself to The Order in combat.
She walked steadily away from the building that housed her current object of frustration.
Before she reached the main road, she expertly wrapped her Devil Bringer in black athletic tape, and rolled down her coat sleeves.
Then she remembered there was still some demon blood in her hair, and she groaned. She couldn't just put up her hood like she normally would; the piece of clothing was currently at the shop, lying broken on her bedroom floor. She also couldn't let civilians see her like this, they would more than likely stare and possibly call the cops, and she didn't feel like tangling with that nest of vipers right now.
She would have to stick to alleys for now. At least until she found some way to at least rinse her hair.
She wandered along without a purpose, just letting her feet carry her along.
She walked past dumpsters and trash, and the occasional stain of questionable origin. She only crossed roads when she absolutely had to, and she made sure they were clear first.
It was after twenty minutes aimless walking that she suddenly sensed a demonic presence nearby.
The demon was closer than she would have liked, and she wondered how it had gotten so close without her noticing.
She discreetly unwrapped her Devil Bringer; she didn't have any extra wrappings after all, and stuffed the bandages in her pocket.
Her arm glowed violently, and she reached out with her phantom limb to grab a Hell Pride that was lurking in the shadows.
Jerking it back, she slammed the creature into the wall of the alley as three more showed up.
Using the demon in her grip as a weapon, she swung at the approaching demons with great force, knocking them onto the ground. She slammed her bludgeon down on top of them, killing the unfortunate Hell Pride in her grip.
If there was one good thing about her arm, it was that she was never without a weapon. Even when she had recklessly left her normal weapons at home in a fit of utter stupidity.
Quickly dispatching the three others, she turned around to face four more Hell Prides, a Hell Sloth and their leader, a Hell Greed.
"So, I guess we're having some fun tonight." Nero remarked.
The Hell Prides shrieked as they lunged forward. Nero dodged the first swipe of their scythes, wrenching one out the grip of a particularly slow Pride's grasp.
Swinging the new weapon around to get a feel for it, she destroyed the Hell Prides just as the Hell Sloth teleported in front of her.
She blocked its attack, swiftly counterattacking, and knocking it to the ground. Stabbing the end of the scythe into its chest cavity with such ferocious force that the blade shattered, she watched with great satisfaction as the both the Sloth and the Scythe dissolved into sand.
Seeing the Hell Greed gearing up to summon more demons, she hastily grabbed the demon with her Devil Bringer. The demonic limb proved to be sufficient in stopping the creature's summons.
Using all the power she could muster, she crushed the demon in her grip, watching as her last enemy faded away.
"At least I got to blow off some steam." She muttered to herself.
She re-wrapped her arm in the black bandages, thinking to herself as she did so.
'Where did these demons come from? And more importantly, what were they doing so close to the heart of the city?' Nero pondered.
"Well I'll ask Dante the next time I see him." She spoke aloud.
Then she remembered that she was currently avoiding the older hunter.
"Whenever that might be…." She finished lamely.
Meanwhile Dante was back at the shop thinking about his recent confrontation with Nero.
Clearly the younger hunter had been affected by his touch that much was obvious. But just how far would he be willing go down this path?
Nero was a good kid. She deserved to be treated right by whoever managed to crack open her hard exterior.
But was Dante willing to be that person? He cared for the kid, and he didn't want to see her get hurt, especially by his hand.
He knew he wasn't the best at these things. Matters of the heart were things he desperately tried to avoid at all costs.
It was at that moment that Trish decided to appear trough the double doors of Devil May Cry.
Noting the scattered ammo, and customized double-barreled revolver on the ground, as well as the new bullet holes in the wall near Dante's head, Trish raised one delicately curved eyebrow at her colleague.
"Trouble with Nero?" She asked.
Dante sighed deeply, mentally preparing himself for the lecture he was sure to get.
"We had a… disagreement." He answered.
"About what?" Trish questioned.
"Ah… it was nothing important." He tried to evade answering, but Trish was having none of it.
"Clearly it was important enough to Nero for her to try shooting you." She pointed out. "You do have a special ability at pissing off women, but Nero is practically immune to it by now, so you must have done something particularly annoying."
Dante sighed again, knowing he had lost this verbal battle from the start. Trish had the ability to draw out his secrets without much effort on her part. He suspected it had something to do with the fact that she looked so much like his mother. It made him want to spill every little secret he had to her.
He told her what had happened, and as he had expected, Trish began lecturing him about minding a woman's privacy, and some other such nonsense.
"Seriously Dante, what were you thinking pulling open her shirt like that?" She said angrily.
Dante did his best to appear sheepish.
"I was checking to make sure she wasn't injured." He said with a shrug.
"Still, it's not okay to be manhandling her like that." Trish countered. "So? What happened after that?"
"She ran upstairs and changed, then came back down and started shooting at my head." He deadpanned.
"I don't blame her. I'm half tempted to do the same." She muttered at him.
"But that's where the story gets weird." He began.
"What do you mean?" Trish demanded with a glare.
"Well after I shredded her new shirt with Rebellion-" Trish raised her pistol menacingly. "-On accident I swear!" Dante waved his hands in surrender. "I put her in a full body hold while she was distracted. Then when she was a little calmed, I tried to get off her, and accidentally copped a feel." This time Trish really did pull the trigger, catching the tip of Dante's ear.
"Hey! I'm not done yet!" Dante yelped indignantly.
"Continue then." Trish said with a dark glint in her eye.
Dante swallowed hard. Trish could be downright terrifying when she wanted to be.
"Anyway, this apparently caused her to…" He drifted off, looking carefully at Trish, gauging her current anger level. He felt like a guilty teenager, he really didn't feel like getting his other ear shot.
Deeming it safe enough, he continued.
"Well it caused her to become aroused." He finished carefully.
Trish stood there stupefied. She reran what he had said through her head, and came to the conclusion that she must have been imagining things.
"Come again?" She asked with a waver.
"I'm not lying, Nero was turned on by me." Dante said with a shrug.
"Are you serious?" Said Trish.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" She questioned.
"Yes."
"You're telling me the truth right?" She interrogated.
"Oh, for the love of God… Yes!" Dante said with exasperation.
Trish was silent for a moment, her face completely unreadable.
"Are you okay over there?" Dante gently probed.
Trish suddenly began to laugh hysterically.
Dante stared, bewildered by her actions.
"Uhhhhh…" Dante voiced.
Trish continued to laugh so hard that tears formed in the corner of her eyes.
This went on for a couple minutes until Dante finally got fed up.
"What the hell is so fucking funny!" He exclaimed.
Trish finally began to calm down, and she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"I'm sorry, it's just that, well… It's about time!" Trish said happily.
"Huh?" Dante said, confused at his compatriot.
"Well it's obvious that Nero has feelings for you." Trish said matter-of-factly. "She's been broadcasting her feelings for quite a while now."
"Come again?" The Devil hunter asked.
"Look, Lady and I have both noticed it." She said bluntly. "The only ones who haven't seemed to notice are you and Nero." Trish grinned at her perplexed friend.
"I'm glad for you both. You both deserve to be happy." With these parting words, Trish left the shop, forgetting her original reason for coming there.
Dante stared into space, mystified by what had just been revealed to him.
Nero had feelings for him?
He thought back to all of their various interactions over the last few months. He couldn't see anything that would suggest she held anything more than friendship to their relationship.
But as he reviewed these memories, he began to realize that he himself appeared to be overly affectionate towards Nero.
Towards the end, he came to the conclusion that he cared for Nero. More than he should as her boss and mentor.
Even though he still called her kid, he knew that he saw her as a full-grown woman. He didn't want to admit it, but he held her close to his heart. Closer than anyone he knew, save Vergil and Eva.
He hung his head in surrender.
"Damn." He cursed under his breath.