While I was bored, I drew a sketch of Silverclaw.

This is how I imagine him to look like: i 5 6 . t i n y p i c . c o m / 2 l s 9 n y d . p n g (Remove the spaces)

Tell me if there are any scenes or characters in my story that you'd like to see me draw! I might take you up on the suggestion. Though they won't be anything complicated, just sketches like the one above.

This is my way of thanking everyone for supporting my story and me. (And for this calm-before-the-storm kind of chapter LOL)

I really appreciate your reviews and votes, guys!

Remember to read the disclaimer before continuing!

Chapter Eight: Integration

"Don't freak out on me."

"What?"

"Say you won't get mad." Perfectly aligned teeth bit down instinctively on the full lips that hid them. All of the sudden, Inuyasha was thirsty.

"You're a strange one. Why would I be mad when you've agreed to stay?"

Inuyasha let his eyelids fall halfway and his jaw relax. Which meant you either do his bidding now or hand over your sorry ass. Even though they've only known for a mere week, Sesshomaru could already read between the fine lines. It wasn't that hard of a task, if you bothered to look attentively. For Inuyasha wore his heart, his very soul on his face. Sesshomaru had never met anyone who openly displayed such provocative vulnerability and yet, oozed out the undeniable strength and absolute resolve of an undefeated warrior. Perhaps that is why he found him the most enthralling man on the face of this planet.

"I won't get mad." The taller man chuckled, amused at how adorable Inuyasha was. He was a legendary assassin that hadn't graced the unworthy world with his presence for years, but in the next to Sesshomaru, he would act like cheeky brat. Sesshomaru hoped that meant he had a special place in the assassin's heart, because Inuyasha was everything Sesshomaru wanted in a man—in a partner.

At some point, the yakuza had wondered if the man was actually a new type of addictive on the market. You never know what they come up with, after all. It was a juvenile thought, but considering the unrelenting effects the beauty had on him, it seemed like a solution thought up by Einstein himself. 'How could a person covered in sweat and bloody bandages be so erotic?' It was beyond Sesshomaru.

"You're getting me Kouga's number later." Inuyasha demanded as the two walked up to the headquarters' heavily guarded glass doors. There were still lots of work to be done (no thanks to Inuyasha's sudden disappearance) but Sesshomaru didn't want to let the man out of his sight. Not when he had just succeeded in recapturing him. And like he had promised, Inuyasha hadn't run away. Still, Sesshomaru didn't want to give him any ideas—or chances.

"No." Sesshomaru flatly rejected.

"Well, who told you to throw away the stupid phone! I could get the number myself, but you could get it faster, right?"

"I'm not getting anything." Sesshomaru looked away. The boy's blazing eyes could do nothing to change his mind. He was absolutely not going to give him to Kouga.

"You said you wouldn't piss me off! If I could, I would fire you for doing such a shit job." Inuyasha crossed his arms and from the corner of his eyes, Sesshomaru could see his surfacing pout.

"And you said you would listen to me. To be in the same country as you is already pushing it, yet you want to be in the same room as him?" Sesshomaru questioned in annoyance, gaze still away, as he motioned someone he knew over with his finger.

"Jesus Christ, he's my friend!" Like his puppy whining would work on Sesshomaru.

"And who am I to you?" Sesshomaru was hoping to hear something along the lines of boss, lover, master, or even seme. But Inuyasha hardly ever gave him what he wanted.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. Very Sexually Frustrated..." Sparkly gold eyes fluttering oh so innocently. "A possessive dick with ADD?" Wild Inuyamon used sarcasm attack!

God, Inuyasha felt like he was talking to a statue. How many times had he said that Kouga was his friend? In any other situation, Inuyasha wouldn't even have bothered arguing with Sesshomaru when it was clear that persuasion was impossible. If Kouga wasn't around, he wouldn't hesitate to leave to cool down his rising ire. And probably get his scavengers to find his friend's phone number, even if it would take ages. Things always become difficult when you suddenly have people you want to protect. Inuyasha had an eerie feeling that if he let him out of his sight, Sesshomaru would use that short amount of time to send his men to kill the Korean. Inuyasha couldn't let that happen. Kouga was probably the only sane person around here. And Inuyasha would need him to stay that way.

Sesshomaru lowered his eyes to glance at his private before meeting Inuyasha's angry gaze. "It only wishes to possess a certain someone's rear. Should I grant its wish?" He smirked at Inuyasha's scrunched up face. It no longer mattered what kind of profanities was coming out of his mouth, as long as it gave Sesshomaru a chance to the many fascinating expressions his babe had. Wild Inuyamon's attack missed!

Wild Inuymon used Defense Curl! Wild Inuyamon's defense rose!

"You are one fucked up, annoying son of a—" Sesshomaru cut Inuyasha off with an effortless nudge towards his incoming head of security.

"Good afternoon, Sir. What can I do for you?" The brawny man asked with a slight bow. He had a gold ID tag on that indicated his name and his work. When he lifted his head, he looked Inuyasha down and shot a glare that meant to threaten and frighten. His clenched fists suggested he was ready for battle. If Inuyasha hadn't slit the throats of a handful of men twice his size, maybe he would have been a little bit more scared. The assassin just held back a wicked smirk, knowing how much trouble the hulk must have gotten into when he had trampled all over his pride yesterday. But still, it wasn't his fault that the man's security system sucked dogshit. Sesshomaru, who obviously picked up on the hostility, was not as amused.

"Stand down." Sesshomaru gnarled menacingly, surprising and frightening his employee who had thought he was defending his boss. "The blame for your incompetency falls on no one but yourself. Only if this man allows you to stay, will you serve him as you do me!" So even the hulk could be sedated, Inuyasha thought, as the man suddenly fell to the floor in front of his feet and performed an apologetic saikeirei.

"Forgive me, sir! I have made a mistake! I mean no disresp—" He froze as he felt a light ruffle to his hair. Inuyasha had gotten as low as him, a humble underling, to offer him the comfort that only he could give.

"Is it that fun slamming your head against the ground like that?" Inuyasha laughed. He didn't like how Sesshomaru was trying to make him all high and mighty, when he wasn't. Uncomfortable, yes, but when the underling himself listened willingly, he couldn't exactly yell at Sesshomaru. So instead, he tried to make the guard understand that such formalities meant nothing to him.

The guard, on the other hand, was mesmerized by the dazzling gentleman in front of him, who was resting his slender arm on one knee while the other contacted the ground—for him. Upon realizing Inuyasha's genuine concern, he felt as if a flower was finally beginning to bloom inside of him. The carefree voice breathed life into him and he felt a mix of shame, admiration, and fondness. How was he supposed to answer when in a state of such incoherence?

"It must be done…" He finally found himself exhaling.

"No need, big guy." Inuyasha reassured, then lifted himself back up, and waited for the sentry to do the same. At first, it was funny, but now he felt bad for the man, who probably had to deal with Sesshomaru's unruly wrath when he had escaped. And we all know how unnecessarily violent Sesshomaru can be.

"I am unworthy of your kindness, Mr…"

After a moment of hesitation, Inuyasha replied, "Silver." Sesshomaru simply cocked an eyebrow and if you looked closely, you would recognize a small smile. In his head, he was playfully repeating Inuyasha's name over and over.

"Mr. Silver." He repeated. What a perfect name for the gorgeous man, he thought. "Please accept my apology."

"Uh, sure." It was awkward having people apologizing to you when they didn't do anything out of line… Unlike someone else he knew. Inuyasha wasn't used to it. And when you were an assassin, you rarely ever got to hear social commentaries. It was usually him doing the apologizing, so hearing the words come out of someone else's mouth for him just didn't sound right. It must suck working for Sesshomaru, Inuyasha thought. "I'll give you some tips to boost up your system next time." But of course, not enough to be able to stop Inuyasha himself. Just everyone else. It was the least Inuyasha could do for him for almost making him lose his job.

"This man is to have full access to every area in this building. He will therefore require a platinum key from you." Sesshomaru interrupted.

"Don't listen to him, I don't need anything." Inuyasha told the guard, whose tag relieved the name 'S. Kiba'.

"How do you plan to enter the building?" His captor reminded.

"Why would I?" Inuyasha asked, slightly confused. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes; he did not like the sound of that. But no, he would not talk about such things in front of his underlings.

"Make the card. You may leave," he instructed of Kiba, before dragging Inuyasha by the arm toward the elevator.

"Hey! Where are we—w-wait, hold on!" The shorter man tried to hold his ground but it was embarrassing to have so many people in the lobby stare at him. He preferred being in the shadows and coming out to complete his tasks only when he had to. He preferred not to attract attention when he didn't have to. To his infuriation, he was actually happy to have been pushed into the very elevator that instigated his earlier escape, just to abscond the prying eyes. At least now he only had one person to deal with. One very trouble person.

"What was that for? I said I don't need any key." He asked, as Sesshomaru reached into the pocket of his suit and revealed a shiny golden card. He promptly swiped it through a rectangular protrusion near the buttons before putting it back where it came from. Instantly, Inuyasha felt the elevator floor pulling them up.

"You do. You pledged to stay." Sesshomaru corrected like a teacher would to his rebellious student.

"So that I can make you change your mind." Inuyasha confessed.

A loud snarl caught him off guard. "You will fail."

"I think you're making a mistake." How could anyone like a person without knowing anything about him? Love at first sight didn't suit Sesshomaru, or Inuyasha for that matter. They weren't teenage girls, for God's sake. Sesshomaru probably didn't understand the true meaning of the words he said.

Because it was not that easy.

For example, Inuyasha didn't want to admit it, but the yakuza was undeniably a very attractive man. Look at that flawless complexion that complimented even the crescent moon tattoo on his temple. His high nose and brilliantly intense amber orbs. Those model lips and that perfect jawline. It was like a picture right out of a magazine! But that didn't mean Inuyasha loved him. And it was probably the same situation for Sesshomaru. Because of… what he had done to Inuyasha. Believing he was the sane one of the two, Inuyasha wanted to convince Sesshomaru that he was in the wrong.

"Don't test my patience, Inuyasha!" Suddenly his collar was grabbed harshly and he found himself starring into Sesshomaru's venomous eyes, their noses only inches apart. Tension rose through every nerve when he felt hot air being breathed down on his sensitive cheek. His hands hastily sprang into action, pulling on Sesshomaru's in an attempt to make him release his clutch.

"I'm not trying to! Just hear me out!" Inuyasha pleaded. Why must their conversations always be so complicated? He was trying so hard to forgive the man.

"Enough!" Sesshomaru had never been so vexed. He was an excellent commander because he rarely ever lost his cool. But Inuyasha's complete and constant denial was really becoming tedious to revoke. The boy hadn't broken his promise not to flee, but his other portion about listening hadn't seemed to kick in yet. Sesshomaru would have to fix that. And with perfect timing, the elevator dinged. He pushed Inuyasha out the lift and then up against the wall. Continuing his earlier feast, he forced their lips together once again.

Inuyasha yelped into the kiss, as he felt their teeth smash against each other with great force and the wounds on his back reopening. He closed his eyes to calm himself down, while inhaling acutely, preparing for his next move. Inuyasha gathered all the strength he had in his hands and shoved Sesshomaru to the opposite wall, seconds into their passionate connection. Breathing heavily, he fell down the few centimetres he didn't feel he had between his feet and the ground.

"I hate you! Fuck you! You shit!" Inuyasha hissed, trying his best to resist his tears. He wiped his mouth ferociously, hoping it would provide a decent distraction.

"Inuy—"

"You're so full of bullshit, you assfuck! You liked it the first time so you just want to shove your fucking dick up my ass again!"

"Stop this—" Sesshomaru yelled and took a step forward, only causing Inuyasha to back farther away.

"No, you shut it! You will listen to what I have to say!" Inuyasha pointed to emphasize, "I promised to listen to you, and I did. I have no doubt you want me; you made that pretty fucking clear. But I'm not interested in playing your whore, understand? You fucking raped me—"

"No, that was a mista—"

"Are you going to deny it happened?" That was all it took to silence Sesshomaru, and Inuyasha continued. "Look. You don't know anything about me, you're not in love. You just think you are. Don't deny it—because the only thing you've been doing is trying to get into my pants." Inuyasha sighed erratically. Then with the tone of an assassin, "I don't like your constant threatening, I don't like your perverted talk, I don't like your sexual harassment. I'm tired of it."

Sesshomaru took a step back and took everything in. Inuyasha frowned to match his expression. He could tell they were both exhausted from this whole debate. Sesshomaru had hurt him like no other had but Inuyasha wasn't as cruel as him. Even after being caused so much pain, he still felt bad for frustrating and causing the man trouble. It wasn't like he hadn't done anything spiteful in return. But he wanted—needed to get his bottom line across:

"You can't expect me to trust you when you… when you humiliated me like that… Okay?"

Sesshomaru was astounded. First of all, he had never been lectured in his entire life. Second, he knew he regretted what he had to Inuyasha, but he was oblivious to the full extent of his actions. Inuyasha's compelling attitude never revealed how much it really affected him and Sesshomaru didn't bother to inquire. But who would, on such a sore subject? Besides, his babe just seemed… so strong. No, Inuyasha is strong. It was just Sesshomaru's irreversible mistake. And third, he did not see Inuyasha as a prostitute. Absolutely not. His actions were only meant to show him how much Sesshomaru wanted him, how much he wanted to be near him. He believed the assassin was grateful and simply shy, for even when the most experienced whore wanted the kind of attention he was giving Inuyasha, he had always bluntly refused. Didn't the man understand?

No, Sesshomaru swore he would make him understand. He would fix things. He will.

But he had absolutely no idea how to do it. He felt so cheated. Nothing that worked in his favour before was helping him develop a relationship with Inuyasha.

His instinct told him that there was only one hope right now: he would have to agree with Inuyasha's every wish.

Straightening his back and parting his lips, Sesshomaru at last broke the long silence in the isolated hallway.

"I will spare Kouga's life. He will not be harmed." When Inuyasha finally locked his eyes with his again, Sesshomaru felt a surge of relief. "I will touch you only when it concerns your wounds. Come, you must take the medicine Kaede left for you." He motioned down the hallway towards his suite. After a short consideration, he heard soft footsteps behind him as Inuyasha followed.

"This is not going to change anything." Inuyasha forewarned. Dead air answered him.

Oh, but he had no idea how wrong he was. He was going to be in for a rude awakening.

Upon approaching the professionally varnished Brazilian rosewood door, the same gold card key was brought out again. The two slipped in and Sesshomaru took off their coats. Whereas Inuyasha explored the familiar penthouse bare footed, Sesshomaru headed to the bathroom while loosening his tie. Minutes later, he came back with a tub of warm water, three clean towels, and fresh white wrap. After settling the items on the glass table in the living room, he disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve some pills, a brown-coloured concoction, and a glass of water.

He called for Inuyasha to sit on the couch as the brew was allowed to cool.

"What are you going to do?"

Sesshomaru rolled up his sleeves and with an elastic hair band from the bathroom, gathered and tied his feathery hair loosely into a ponytail. He had done all this with his eyes lowered in order to concentrate. He couldn't let his hair get in the way of his next task. Inuyasha saw the same creamy texture in the man's eyelashes. And they were just as silver as his hair. This fascinated Inuyasha, for Sesshomaru was the only one who shared this rare trait with him. Somehow, it didn't seem to suit the tenacious boss's temperament, so Inuyasha couldn't help but chuckle ever so slightly.

"I will clean your wounds, though I hardly find such activities amusing." Ah, so the big man knew how to be cute. Just a little bit.

Overlooking the tiny tug at his heart, Inuyasha sat down with his back to Sesshomaru. He strangely sensed no danger this time around, and his exploration confirmed no weapons in direct reach of the yakuza—they were closer to Inuyasha so he was pretty sure he could get to them faster than Sesshomaru if he needed to. For now, he would bare his back to the man, because he simply could not afford neglect his back anymore. The assassin part of his mind had been trying to take over ever since the wounds had been inflicted: if the injuries proved to be vital enough to cause distraction to your missions, you must take care of them. And if all of his wounds didn't heal soon, he would definitely tire himself out by putting up a constant guard.

Sesshomaru slowly stripped him of his black jacket and his tux vest before Inuyasha shuffled his hair to the side and settled it in front, on his chest. Then came bandages' turn and Inuyasha winced. On the night of his escape, after retrieving his items from his apartment, he had slipped into a public bath and attempted to clean and evaluate his wounds. But since he had no fresh gauze with him, he had to reluctantly reuse the old ones. Of course he had cleaned them first, but that was probably a stupid idea. Which Sesshomaru took the liberty to remind him of.

"You fool. How did you get your wounds to this horrid state?" Sesshomaru whispered. Amazingly, Inuyasha managed to pick up the concern he was trying—and failing—to cover up with false anger.

"Shut up, half of it was your fault anyway," Inuyasha felt a gentle caress across his back and a shiver ran down his spine. It had been so long since his back experienced any warmth or tenderness—only the rough friction of the bandages. "I went to a public bath, but I had to reuse the bandages; didn't have anything else with me. So I just—"

"So you washed them in the bacteria and dead skin cell infested bath water?" Sesshomaru jeered. He gained another sigh of pain from Inuyasha as he worked on removing the bandages. They had wedged themselves between the wounds and only served to prevent them from healing, besides also infecting them with bacteria. Blood flowed down from every area where the gauze was removed. With every step, Sesshomaru felt his guilt swell up, suffocating him.

"Sorry." Well that was surprising. Inuyasha had no idea why he was the one apologizing, but it happened before he even thought about it. What was more surprising however, was Sesshomaru's next comment.

"No, that line is mine to say." Inuyasha turned his head around to see the convoluted face of the boss of the entire Japanese yakuza. He couldn't help but let a sluggish smile emerge.

"It's fine, I've been in worse situations. I'm just glad for the fresh wraps." Sesshomaru swore he would never let such a thing happen to his babe again.

"Worse situations? How so?" Now he was trying to learn more about Inuyasha by offering light conversation. Miroku would be shitting his pants if he was there to see what his boss was doing. Rarely, if ever, did the man do more than what was necessary.

To answer the question, Inuyasha had to think back to more than a decade ago, when he was still very active as an assassin.

"I nearly bled to death in Russia once."

"You? The infamous Silverclaw?" Sesshomaru found it hard to believe anyone could bring inuyasha to such a condition.

"I underestimated my opponent. It taught me never to make that kind of stupid mistake again though." Inuyasha shrugged slightly. Every experience made him slightly stronger, so what did he have to complain about now?

"An assassination? Did you succeed?"

"Yeah. A leader of a group. I was hired by an opposing group. They were both doing shit, but at least one didn't terrorize the civilians."

"Their men, did they not do anything?"

"Naw. Orekhov's men were a bunch of puss—Argh, fuck!" Inuyasha thrust his chest forward in response to a towel's harsh scape across an open gash. When he twisted his head to glare at Sesshomaru, a pair of burning amber eyes connected directly to his.

"W-What?" Suspicion. Doubt. Caution.

"You were the one that killed Ivankov." It was more of a statement than a question.

"What the hell? How do you know his name?" Inuyasha jumped up from his seat and clutched his sides to remind himself not to overwork his back muscles.

Sesshomaru sighed inwardly before explaining. "I have ties with Obshina."

"The group that hired me? Wait, you mean you were actually my boss at some point?" Well, shit. Who would have thought?

But Sesshomaru wanted to slap the man across the head. Of all things, it was the identity of his employer that he was concerned about. Inuyasha was too reckless.

"My spies were in Orekhov. Things were coming along. Getting rid of their leader was the last step. My men didn't know Russia well enough to be able to hire a good assassin. Obshina was asked to do so instead. I didn't expect the person to be... you. I was told you died as well."

"Hell no. Bleed a shitload maybe, but die? Hell no." Inuyasha reproved, to which the yakuza replied with a 'I'm glad, or else I would have never met you, though if I had known, I would not have put you in such danger', before adding, "But I did do a good job didn't I?" His smirk was quick to disappear upon Sesshomaru's following remark.

"Hardly. Another leader appeared, much smarter than the last."

"And?" The assassin inquired. Inuyasha did not tolerate failures, because it made him feel weak. And we all know how much he hates that. If he took on a job, he would see to it that it gets done. Leaving things unfinished wasn't his thing, and he didn't want anyone to think that he would half-ass anything. Even though he had no desire to assimilate himself back into the underground society, he would finish his job if he felt the need.

Sesshomaru patted the couch cushion, encouraging Inuyasha to sit back down. As he continued his careful cleaning, he slowly but thoroughly explained the current events. Inuyasha just sat quietly, trying to decide whether he should do anything at all—Sesshomaru seemed to have everything under control. Which he thought was very impressive. And even though this Markov guy sounded like a total bitch deserving of death, especially for trafficking humans—the activity Inuyasha disapproved of the most—it was not his place to interrupt if someone had already picked up after his job.

As if reading his mind, Sesshomaru convinced, "Don't concern yourself with this matter." Inuyasha still didn't like leaving a mission with unsatisfactory results. And the taller man saw this as well and promptly changed the subject.

"Drink this. And take these pills with some water. They were prescribed for you." By this time, he had already finished wiping Inuyasha's wounds and wrapping fresh gauze around his chest. Fortunately the herbal medicine had cooled off enough for Inuyasha to drink it without burning his tongue—so that Sesshomaru could successfully diffuse Orekhov from his babe's mind. This was good, because Inuyasha needed to rest and for that, diversions were unnecessary.

Inuyasha took the medicine and licked them, checking for poison. One of the skills he had attained as an assassin was the ability to recognize almost every type of toxin in the market under the lowest concentrations. This was done by forcing his taste buds into a state of ultra-sensitivity. Such a process would normally take a person a decade or so to complete, but Inuyasha figured out a certain pattern characteristic of all the chemicals lethal to a human body and was able to achieve the skill in only a year and a half.

Sesshomaru was offended at first but that feeling was soon replaced with admiration. His babe was definitely someone no one wanted to mess with. It also gave him a sense of security—with such valuable assets under his belt, Inuyasha would not get harmed that easily. They were a bit annoying to deal with personally, but he was still glad for them.

Detecting no abnormalities except for a strange bitterness that made his perfect nose scrunch like a sniffling baby pup, Inuyasha ingested the brew and then pills and warm water.

"Now go rest. I still have much to do downstairs." Sesshomaru cleared his throat to stress, "But do not disappear this time. I planned to take you with me to my office. However, your condition is worse than I had anticipated. So I will have you stay here." With tub and things in hand, he stood up and headed towards the washroom.

"Kouga's number—" Inuyasha reminded.

"Rest." Fuck. Sesshomaru was really hoping he had forgotten about that matter.

"I want to talk to him later."

"Inuyasha—"

"Speaking over the phone or seeing him personally. Which do you prefer?" Damn this man, Sesshomaru cursed. Inuyasha was getting better and better at threatening him. And damn his irrational guts for falling for such an unruly assassin.

He would have to wait a while before introducing Silverclaw to his delegates.

"Fine. Now go rest." He turned around again, more abruptly this time in his irritation, but was suddenly stopped by a pleasantly warm hold on his right arm. Inuyasha then pulled out that one arm, slid his electrifying fingers down its length and stopped at his own digits. But it was the next move that really made his day. Inuyasha teasingly wrapped his pinky around his and gave Sesshomaru the widest grin the yakuza had ever seen on that handsome face.

"You promised, okay?"

By the time Sesshomaru could properly respond, Inuyasha was already inside the master bedroom—his bedroom. So fine, he would just settle for a small grin of his own. He would have to clean up quickly, so he can finish his work quickly, and get back to Inuyasha quickly. An epinephrine burst for such a self-indulgent reason would even make the Gods giggle.

Inuyasha began at the very top floor, eyeing every corner, crook and nanny all the while considering the position of every security camera he could find. Their defenses were really pathetic for the building's purpose. It wasn't actually that bad, but for a headquarters? No, just no. How they survived with such a crap system, Inuyasha would never know. Maybe it was Sesshomaru's men. At least they weren't completely retarded.

During his investigation, he had been confronted by a few men. Most of the guys did not notice what he had been doing, since he was good at hiding such intentions, but there were some that acted on their suspicions. Inuyasha was part impressed, and part irritated. But more impressed. The group of keen men that blocked his path knew how to skillfully inquire without outright insulting—they were professionals. When you don't know whether someone is an enemy or not, playing it cool was the most practical direction to take. Dig for every little piece of information that could differentiate between foe and ally, hide your suspicions and true intentions behind a masked smile and pretty words, avoid violence whenever possible to prevent unnecessary chaos among the lower underlings, protect the physical wellbeing of your headquarters, and most important of all, do all this without giving anything away to the prospective adversary.

Sesshomaru really knew what to look for. Nicely done.

Of course, Inuyasha was able to talk his way out of every confrontation. Giving himself a pat in the back, he continued his examination of the hallways until he reached the third floor. There, he spotted Kiba outside a large two panel door, talking to the subordinate that had once shot him in the leg. As he got closer, Kiba spotted him and smiled. This made the subordinate look his way.

Damn. Inuyasha was hoping to get in at least one surprise punch to his side.

"It is nice to see you again, Mr. Silver." Kiba greeted. Inuyasha only responded with a grunt and instead sent death glares at the other black haired man. Being a few centimetres taller than him made Inuyasha a little more intimidating and he grinned—the shitface looked like he was wetting his pants.

"S-Silverclaw!" The man cried, his hands on Inuyasha's shoulders. "You're alright! I can't believe it."

"Hands off, fucker." Inuyasha spat in return. "No thanks to your fucking bullet in my leg. If I had a dagger with me, you'd be spewing your insides all over the floor right now."

"Miroku, you know this man? What the hell did you do?" Inuyasha's allegations shocked Kiba. He was good friends with Miroku, but if needed be, he would remove his presence from Mr. Silver. He was of higher priority, after all.

"Oh god, I'm sorry. Silverclaw… It was entirely my fault, I—"

"Save it. I'm sick of hearing apologies." Inuyasha roughly threw Miroku to the side and made his way into the main security room. "Come on, Kiba. I'll show you what a real security system looks like—Swiss style." Kiba's concerned eyes met Miroku's before the two followed in closely behind Silverclaw. Miroku decided to observe at the back. He didn't know what the assassin was up to but he definitely wanted to have a long chat with him later. He could not leave now.

Kiba instructed one man off of his station, which Inuyasha promptly filled. As he made himself comfortable on the leather chair, his speedy fingers began a long, brisk spell with the keyboard in front of him. One by one, he explained his earlier findings as the related pictures popped up on the various computer screens. With every failure, he suggested a compromise or an entirely new solution. There were multiple alternatives for some areas due to the population of men there or the existence of conceivable entry points, like windows, larger vents, and thin walls, Inuyasha explained.

Soon, all the men in the room were crowding around the assassin. Every pair of eyes widened to the size of saucers when he began putting some of the secrets of the Swiss banks onto the table. One person conjured up enough courage to ask how he knew all of this. And guess what? The man had broken into the top banks of Switzerland before! Just who the hell was he?

Miroku's reactions were not as extravagant as theirs for he knew about Silverclaw, but he was not any less impressed at the assassin's capabilities. He shivered when he realized he had been up against such a man. Within the span of half an hour, the entire security system had been thoroughly revamped and the old one backed up and stored away for the records.

"Alright, that's about it. It isn't the best, but it should be more useful than the last. You'll need some new tech if Sesshomaru gives the OK," Inuyasha instructed as he added finishing touches and lifted himself from his seat to stretch. Pointing to the number he wrote down on a scrap piece of paper on the desk, he said, "Call this person and tell him Silverclaw gave you his number. Don't freak out when you hear his voice. It's like a kid's but he's at the top of his game. You can trust him."

"Mr. Silver… You are simply amazing. Who are you, really?" Kiba persisted. He was so intrigued, but at the same time, his sentry instincts were telling him he needed to find out this man's secrets.

"Just a retired traveller. I'm not out to get you, so you can relax." Inuyasha yawned out. Ah, the clean feeling on his back was heavenly. He hadn't been aware of how disastrous the old bandages were, but now that his wounds were healing, it was clear how stupid the whole public bath idea was.

"Oh no, that's not what I—" Kiba started, his right hand already up in defense. As Inuyasha retracted his left hand from his mouth after his yawn, he lazily slapped down Kiba's arm along the way. He was in no mood for arguments. Sesshomaru had provided enough to last him for at least the rest of the day.

"I'm starving. Could you lend me a few bucks?" Inuyasha cut him off as his right palm attempted to remove a speck of phlegm from his teary eyes.

"No, let me buy you dinner." Miroku interrupted as he walked up to them. When he was given another glare, he tried pleading one more time with the assassin. And then, with a strict warning, some quick goodbyes, and a no thank you to a platinum card key, the two were off.

Inuyasha walked out of the building clad in the pair of navy-coloured skinny jeans, the same dirty boots, and the clean white t-shirt he stole from Sesshomaru's closet. He sighed when the inevitable questions came rolling in.

"I really want to apologize. If I had known, I would have never—" Miroku tried to say.

"I don't want to hear this."

After a moment of silence, "Please forgive me for my rashness, Silverclaw… You have no idea how horrible I feel…"

"I said I don't want to talk about it." He scowled.

"Then I will give you a buffet to enjoy tonight as an apology. Anything you want."

"A good start. I ain't owing you though." Inuyasha smirked as he stuffed his hands into his jean pockets.

"No, of course not." Miroku returned the smile. "My name is Miroku. May I know yours?"

"Mis-ter Sil-ver." He teased as he enjoyed the cool evening breeze against his face.

"Don't tell me that's your actual name…"

"To you it is." Inuyasha already regretted giving Sesshomaru his name when he had been in a dazed state of incoherence. He was not about make the same mistake with another man he didn't fully trust.

"Fine, be that way." He shot his hands up and Inuyasha laughed. Maybe they could actually get along. Miroku was quite pleasantly astonished to discover that Silverclaw was the complete opposite of how he had imagined him to be. How could he have hurt such a pleasant man?

"Can you at least tell me how the hell you managed to break into a Swiss bank? I thought you were playing with us back there."

"No, I'm serious. I did do it, but not alone. I was taught by a friend." Inuyasha smiled, remembering the good times he had with the thief. They had lost contact but he knew that he would one day see him again. The Chinese man was the one who encouraged Inuyasha to quit being an assassin. They had made a pact to find each other again when they were ready. Only when they each fulfilled their end of their promise, would they meet again.

"Wow, I'm still shivering. I hope you don't make us your enemy." Miroku joked.

"That depends on your boss. And the meal you're going to buy me."

"Aren't you on our side now?" He thought back to the events in the conference room. Sesshomaru did say he wanted Silverclaw as an ally right?

"Who ever said I was your ally?"

"Then…"

Inuyasha shrugged, "I'm neutral. I guess it's still under consideration. I don't really want to get back to this kind of thing though."

"Then what was that back there?"

"I felt bad for the hulk."

"The hulk?"

"Kiba." Miroku's laugh boomed down the street, prompting Inuyasha to increase his pace just to separate himself from the man and avoid the weird stares coming their way.

But he was quick to run back to Inuyasha's side. "S-Sorry. Ho man," he giggled, still trying to catch his breath. "I'm never going to see him the same way ever again." Inuyasha blushed in slight embarrassment.

"Just don't tell him I said it." He kept the door open behind him for Miroku as he entered a lush Chinese restaurant, beautifully decorated with vibrant reds and sparkling golds—Inuyasha's two faourite colours—and dragons and phoenixes. And without fail, a Maneki Neko sat near the cash registers, beckoning the customers for higher tips.

"Sure." The yakuza grinned. He was really starting to like the assassin.

Soon, they were directed to and seated at a small table next to a wall covered in mirrors. With his reflection to his right, Inuyasha basked in the delicious fragrances coming from the kitchen at the back and from the food on nearby tables. Instinctively, his stomach rumbled.

"I'm not gonna hold back so I hope you brought a fat wallet." Inuyasha licked his lips, eagerly waiting for the woman in the matching red Chinese cheongsam to bring them their menus.

"How big of an appetite do you ha—"

"FUCK, GET DOWN MIROKU!" As she bent down to give them their menus, Inuyasha smelt a waft of gunpowder in the woman's hair—one slightly different from Miroku's. He would have picked up on it sooner if they weren't in a restaurant filled with a million different aromas. But it was too late; he had let the woman in too close. Inuyasha cursed himself. Fuck him for letting down his guard whenever he's about to eat. Fuck the woman for picking such a detrimental place to attack them. And fuck Miroku for being so goddamn slow!

Inuyasha dodged the blades hidden in the menus by throwing himself against the mirrors to his right. While moving away, his left hand was up to avoid getting a gash to his bicep and his right arm reached across the table to push Miroku backwards, out of his seat, and to the ground. When he was out of danger's way, Inuyasha retracted his right arm with the speed of a greyhound, leaned forward in time with its push on the table and lifted his legs up together to deal a painful sideways blow to the woman's unguarded chest. Inuyasha heard one naïve little child in a nearby table yell, "Look, mommy, a pretty dancing lady!" while her older brother pointed, "Cool, a girl breakdancer!"

Inuyasha really hated kids.

The damage he inflicted was doubled since her back had been bent and the red-eyed woman was thrown across the room to crash with the mirrors on the opposing side. Her jaded earrings jingled from the impact; one escaped her lobe as she grunted from the contact of broken shards to her back.

Before she could regain her composure, Inuyasha's heavy duty boots were on the ground and running the few steps to reach Miroku.

"Shit, my gun!" He shouted in shock and frustration. Miroku had left his gun at headquarters! And who the hell was the woman? Why was she attacking them?

"Get up, we're leaving!" Inuyasha bellowed while lifting him up by his arm. Using the chaos caused by the frantic customers fleeing from the restaurant to his advantage, he then pushed them towards the exit.

Any smart killer would have known the benefits of leaving normal citizens out of their brawls, but this woman was obviously not right in the head. The moment she was up, she took out the small gun hidden strapped to her thigh inside her long dress, and shot 3 bullets at towards the pair. One ricocheted off the metal door frames and the second hit a fellow waitress. The third grazed Inuyasha's left shoulder as he attempted to shield Miroku in front, and ended up in the belly of the Maneki Neko, right through the gold coin it was holding.

If Inuyasha never believed in it before, he did now—the restaurant was definitely going bankrupt after this incident and the stupid cat totally knew it.

Inuyasha looked back one last time at the woman before exiting the restaurant. The sooner they left, the less the number of innocent deaths. The pair was about to run into an alleyway that, according to Miroku, was a shortcut to headquarters, but all he received was a smack across the head.

"You dumbass! Are you going to risk the lives of every one of your men?" Inuyasha immediately ran towards the opposite direction, away from the restaurant. Gunshots and screams of different pitches were heard as they turned on the corner of the street.

"Who the hell was that?" Miroku panted out.

"I thought you knew! She was aiming for you until I forced her attention on me!" Inuyasha squeezed the fresh wound on his left shoulder, hoping not to leave drops of blood behind. They could give them away if he wasn't careful. "Her name tag— it said Aruga K. Sound familiar to you?"

"No, never heard of her. You think we should we steal a car?" Man, was Miroku slow. Inuyasha was only running at a quarter of his maximum speed. If he could carry the man on his back to pick up haste, he would. But he hadn't eaten for over 30 hours—no blood glucose, very little glycogen, and he had no fat to burn! He was running out of the little energy he had retained during his earlier nap. Fuck. Inuyasha panicked as he began feeling dizzy from hunger. The only way to survive this was for them to confront the woman now hot on their trails.

"Can't. Innocent people…" Through laconic faltering breaths, Inuyasha said, "Miroku."

"Yeah?" They were both running out of stamina. Four more shots were fired from behind and thankfully, all missed.

"What do you have on you?"

"Only my phone and wallet."

"Listen carefully," Inuyasha gulped down his saliva, hoping his glands would soon produce another batch before he became thoroughly dehydrated. "You're going to be the decoy. When we turn right on that corner," he pointed, trying to remember the shops he had seen when he escaped in the Jaguar, "I'll run into a barber shop and ambush the woman from behind."

"What?" Miroku thought Silverclaw was going crazy. If only he had brought a weapon! It wasn't that he was afraid of death. He just didn't want to act irresponsibly. If he died in the hands of an unidentified female enemy, his boss would mock and condemn him even in hell.

"I'll handle her. You call for someone to come get you."

"Wait, Silverclaw, don't be reck—Shit!" But they had already reached the corner and Silverclaw's plan was already in action before he couldn't disagree. So Miroku quickly ran passed the barber shop, took out his phone, and dialed number one. The repetitive dial tone seemed so deafening to his ear. Then, finally, an angelic voice.

"What?" The man on the other end of the line answered.

"Boss! We need backup! Silverclaw—he's in trouble!"

Inuyasha thrust the doors of the barber shop open, startling the people inside. Ignoring their screams, he scanned the place for his desired weapon. Within seconds, he was up against the wall by the door with two scissors, one in each hand, fully prepared to attack.

The instant the woman emerged into sight, Inuyasha burst through the glass doors and planted one pair in her shoulder blade. She screamed in agony and turned around to point her gun at her enemy, but Inuyasha warily followed her movements, keeping himself to her back. As she searched frantically for a target, Inuyasha grabbed her neck from behind with the arm possessing the other pair of scissors, while his free palm came down on her wrist. He kicked the gun away as soon as it hit the ground.

"Who are you? Who sent you?" Inuyasha shook her. But no answer, just struggling. When she heard the warning honk of car, she dealt a hard blow to Inuyasha's side, causing him to release his hold. He tried to recapture her but to no avail—he could only watch through a blur as she escaped the scene in an ominous black car. Its spider-shaped crest was the last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him.

In his dreams, a familiar silver-haired man was calling out to him using his true name—Inuyasha, Inuyasha he thought he distantly heard.

Okay, now the real action starts, haha. Can't wait!

I'm so curious to know if anyone picked up on all the hints I put into this chapter (there were like, tons, lol). Some tie back to earlier chapters, while others will be expanded later on. I don't include anything I'm not going to use later. Hope I didn't make it too obvious though, haha.

And I'm sorry for the long wait. I hope the fanart made it a little bit more worthwhile lol.

Again, feel free to give me suggestions for this story's fanart.

Please review if you enjoyed this chapter!

See you next time!