Jakkaru. Or rather, The Jackal. This name travels around the Underworld as if it were folklore.

"The Jackal? Oh man... just mentioning him sends tingles up my spine. That guy ain't possibly human. I heard he's lightning fast, and ya only see him if he wants ya to. He's like a shadow, hardly anyone has seen him in person. Shit... all I can do is hope I never get on anyone's bad side. I'd hate to pop up on that guy's hit list."

He... Him.

Heheh.

A small, breathy chuckle escaped through Sanosuke's lips as he peered up to Jakkaru. "You've got a lot of people fooled."

"Well, be honest with yourself. If you had to hire a merc, you certainly wouldn't pick the woman, now would you?"

Sano rose both brows, before shrugging knowingly and smirking, bringing his gaze down to the ground beneath him. "Yeah, I guess you have a poin- h-hey! Wh-what the hell-"

When he'd brought his gaze back upward, Jakkaru was absent from the rooftop corner. He whipped his head left and right, and by the time he'd finally caught up with what was happening?

His breath hitched, eyes widening to the size of saucers as he registered what he was seeing. Eishi was face down on the surface of his desk, arms limp at his sides. A visible puddle of blood pooled from around where his neck area was on the desk, streaming down to create a bigger puddle on his lap, and onto the floor.

"Awwwh, fuck! Is this really happening to me?!" He'd exclaimed with a strange mixture of infuriation and embarrassment; welp? Discretion certainly flew away at this point. However, he'd caught sight of something black and swift gliding across the rooftops.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

He'd turned into a flash of white as those long legs of his sprinted after her, keeping up the pace on ground level.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE SOMEONE'S HIT?! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Sano had bellowed up to her, red in the face as his eyes glared daggers.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO Y-" He'd cut himself off, pausing as he'd watched her form literally phase out of sight. 'Where have I seen that before?'

Before any other thought could be processed, she'd suddenly appeared directly in front of him, an acrobatic high kick shooting out straight for his face and making contact. "Aghh!" He'd grunted out, stumbling a step or two. He'd brought up a hand to his cheek, rubbing the raw, red spot that kick had left behind.

"Be quiet! You'll draw attention!" She'd hissed.

He scoffed, his glare not subsiding by any means. "That was my hit."

She had paused for a moment... before her shoulders begun to shake subtly, and a laugh escaped her, whipping her head back for a second. "Awwh, did I steal the child's candy? By all means, I'm not greedy. I have a feeling that my current employer is different from yours. Go ahead and claim it for your own, we'll both get what we want... almighty Zanza."

Sanosuke's eyes narrowed. She knew just how to get under his skin. He stood straight, a sneer soon to follow. "The hell do I look like to you?! I can't just claim a hit that I didn't even do myself!" He'd snapped.

"Too self-righteous for something like that, hm? ...I see."

Then... that's when the police carriages could be heard galloping away in the direction of Eishi's manor.

"There's my cue. Better luck next time." She'd responded mischievously, and phased out of immediate sight- reappearing several feet in front of him, sprinting off into the shadows of the night.

"..."

He stood there in silence.

His fists begun to clench, his face reddening again.

-insert the sound of kettle oversteaming-

"UGHH, I can't believe this!" Both hands had aggressively clenched his head, throwing himself forward in a tantrum, before continuing onward in a huff.

This was such bullshit.