This is a multi-crossover fanfiction featuring Inuyasha, Shadow, Sly Cooper, and several over famous faces. I won't give it all away, but I hope that you enjoy this. It's my first attempt at a western-themed story as well.

Desperados

Chapter 1: They all cometh

Ah, the old west… a time of lawlessness and shamelessness, where men were either the keepers of peace or the bringers of havoc. Then there are those that don't belong to either side. These people are either mercenaries, people who will take any job from any person for money, and outlaws, people who go outside the law for their own purposes, but never for purposeful wrongs. All four categories were plentiful, but very few in any group managed to distinguish themselves the way that these people did.

The town of Dusty Falls was quaint and quiet. No one ever really passed through there and those that did were never there long enough to be noticed. Today, that changed. Two figures on horseback rode through the town gates, though this didn't really distract the locals from continuing their current way of simplicity. The first man looked ordinary enough, but he wore no hat and sported a pair of dog-like ears on top of his head and silver hair that flowed down his back. His garb was bright red leather hide and he had two standard six-shooters in holsters at his side with a bag of extra bullets next to each. He also carried a large shotgun on a holster on his back and, probably the oddest thing that he carried, was a noose. It was the standard hanging noose used on those who did wrong and were actually foolish enough to let themselves be caught. What he was doing with something like that on his person was a mystery since rope was plentiful and it wasn't difficult to make a new noose. His golden eyes scanned the dusty road along the town and he pulled his horse up next to a saloon.

The second man was a raccoon anthro, and was dressed in mostly blue. His shoes were nothing more than pads applied to the feet, which made it very difficult to hear him when he stepped. His ringed tail swished back and forth as he rode his horse over to his partner. He carried an oddly shaped cane in one hand and at his side sat a modified version of a gatling gun. Usually heavy and cumbersome, this one had been modified so that it only had three barrels, as opposed to the usual eight, and it had been sawed down so that it was about half the length of a normal gatling. It still fired rapidly, but it didn't waste ammo as much as a normal gatling and because it was smaller, he didn't need to set it on a stand to aim it.

Both men tied their horses off and the raccoon looked at the silver-haired man. "Inuyasha, this town is pretty out of the way. Are you sure we'll pick up any information here?"

The man he had addressed as Inuyasha turned to him and sighed. "Sly, I'm not passing up a single chance to try and get some information here. Besides, we could both use a bit of a meal. Besides, if this town is out of the way, that means there's less of a chance the law enforcement will have heard of us here."

Sly chuckled a bit. "You got me there. Though I do wonder if Carmelita will pop up again. She's been on our tail for months now, right?"

Inuyasha grunted. "I don't see why you're so obsessed with that bitch. She did aim a bayonet at your head."

Sly nodded. "And a rifle… and a six-shooter… and a full-sized gatling gun, but I prefer to forgive and forget."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and walked up to the saloon door, Sly following them. As they entered, they found the place rather small compared to other places they had been in. Four tables and a few bar stools. Only two of the tables were full and a third one was half full. No one paid them any mind as they walked towards the bar and took a seat. Sly tapped his finger against bar and cleared his throat. "Moonshine for me."

Inuyasha grunted as the bartender turned to him. "Same here… by the way, you haven't happened to heard of someone by the name of Naraku coming through here, have you?"

The bartender shook his head as he filled two large glasses with the strong moonshine beverage. "Nope, can't say that I've heard of him."

Sly nodded. "I told you no one would know here, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha growled at his friend and picked up his mug, taking a large gulp of the liquid. It stung the back of his throat, but he endured and took a second gulp right after the first. "Big deal, so what? We'll run into that bastard sooner or later."

The bartender started to clean out another customer's glass when he saw the large noose that Inuyasha wore on his person. "If you don't mind me asking, stranger, what're you carrying that noose for?"

Inuyasha looked up from his drink. "This noose almost killed me… but it was supposed to kill someone else."

The bartender raised an eyebrow but didn't press the issue. "Alright, whatever you say."

Sly swirled his drink a bit before turning to his friend again. "So, where to from here?" he asked, taking a soft sip from the drink.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I guess we'll head west from here. There's a railroad track about three miles in that direction. We'll hop a train and see where it takes us… and if it has anything valuable in the cargo compartments…"

Sly grinned. "We stuff our pockets. Good plan, we are a little short on cash right now anyway."

Inuyasha nodded and plopped down a few dollars for his and Sly's drink. "Here… keep the change."

The bartender nodded and took the money. As the two of them got up to go, a shot flew past them and shattered a few bottles on the shelf. "Don't move." The voice that had spoken was very ominous and dark.

Inuyasha and Sly didn't even need to turn to know the owner of that voice. "It's been a while, Shadow. What kept you?" Sly asked, his grip tightening on his cane.

The person that had spoken was a short black hedgehog with a few red streaks through his head spikes. He wore a hat over his head and a cape covered most of his body except for the arm that was currently pointing a large seven-shot pistol at them. "Trouble back in town… apparently, you weren't the only criminals with good bounties on their heads." Shadow the hedgehog, also known to most as the world's greatest bounty-hunter. He certainly lived up to that name. Like most mercenaries, he would do anything if the pay was good and the pay on Inuyasha and Sly was very, very good.

Inuyasha sighed gently and turned slowly, raising his hand. "How many times do we have to go over this? We aren't criminals, we are outlaws. There is a slight difference between the two."

Shadow chuckled gently. "Regardless, there is a bounty on both your heads that will keep me well fed for a good long while. As always, you're worth more alive, so I would prefer it if I didn't need to fire off this gun again.

Sly shrugged and looked around. Almost everyone had ducked underneath their tables or behind the bar in hopes of avoiding the crossfire that they were sure would be coming. "Yes, but we don't go down easily. You should know that by now. You've been chasing after us for how long now?"

Shadow closed his eyes for a second. "Two years, six months, eighteen days, four hours, seventeen minutes and thirty-three seconds exactly."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "A waste of time on your part. You know that you'll never get that time back right?"

Shadow shrugged. "The payoff is well worth it. Now throw down all your weapons and let's get going. I want to get my bounty before the day is up."

Inuyasha smirked and pulled out his twin six shooters, holding them to the side so it looked like he would toss them to the side. He suddenly whirled and fired off a single shot that almost hit Shadow's right hand. It would have too if he hadn't had exceptionally good reflexes. He jumped to the side, pushing down one of the tables while Inuyasha and Sly ducked behind the bar.

Sly looked at the bartender, who was rather startled with what was going on right now. "Is there a back door we could use somewhere around here?"

The bartender shook his head. "There's that door or through the wall."

Sly smirked and drew out his modified gatling. "Through the wall then. Cover me, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha nodded and peeked out over the top of the bar as Sly started to fire his gatling at the thankfully brittle wall of the saloon. Shadow fired off several more rounds from his seven-shooter, drawing out a second one in case he ran out of rounds for the first. Inuyasha returned fire, nailing the table Shadow was using for cover several times, but never managing to hit the hedgehog.

Sly smirked as he looked at all the bullet holes in the wall. He crawled forward and punched through the weakened wall easily. "Come on, Inuyasha, time to go."

Inuyasha nodded and fired off three more rounds, emptying one of his guns and crawled through the hole after his partner. They both got up and ran from the back, knocking two men off their horses and taking them, knowing they couldn't go back around front for their own horses.

Shadow growled gently and sheathed his guns, walking calmly out of the saloon. He could see the two outlaws riding out of town, just out of his range. "They're tricky bastards, I'll give them that." He sighed and walked over to the horses that they had abandoned. "I'll find them eventually…" he said to himself, untying one of the horses and jumping onto it as if it were his own. "This one will do, much better than my last one." He sighed and started to ride out of town, knowing that he could go at a leisurely pace. No matter how far a head start those two got, the world's greatest bounty hunter would find them.

Inuyasha sighed and looked up at the sun. "Alright, let's find that railroad. How are we doing on money?"

Sly checked his pockets. "I have thirty bucks left. What about you."

Inuyasha shrugged and motioned back at the town. "Spent it on that moonshine."

Sly nodded. "Alright, so lets just make sure we find a train with a good gold supply on board."

Inuyasha grinned and nodded. Of course, they wouldn't take all of the gold, just enough to make sure they could afford a few things here and there… like food, ammo, maybe an inn or two if Shadow and the law would give their case a rest for a few days.

They both gave their horses a small kick to get them trotting and headed off towards the afore mentioned railroad track. Inuyasha sighed gently and drew one of his pistols out from its holster and started to reload. Sly probably would have done the same, but he wasn't as skilled a horseman as Inuyasha and he wasn't so sure he could stay balanced with both hands off the reins of the animal. "It's a funny thing, Inuyasha. We tried for years to make a name for ourselves out here in the west and when we finally do, we just can't wait to get rid of them."

Inuyasha grinned again and sheathed the pistol. "Keh, that's fate for you… it just hates us."

In the old west, it was common for folks from other countries to find their way here, hoping to make a name for themselves through horse rustling or cattle raising, or peace keeping. Though they usually didn't get off too well since most folk in the west didn't have much of an eye for people outside of their province. These two had come far, very far, all the way from Japan in fact, to try and get a better start than what they had in their native country.

The first of the two wore a long red cape and had a bare chest. He was short and boyish, but his eyes were a fiery read and it was obvious that he commanded respect wherever he went. His lower garments were like that of a winter Kimono, long and elegant and very warm. If he was uncomfortable in the heat with them on, he didn't show it and though he didn't wear an upper Kimono, he still wore the traditional obi around his waist. At his sides hung two sheathed Katana blades that clacked gently as they walked into the town of Dusty falls. He frowned and looked up, his blue hair bobbing a bit. "Looks like someone started wreaking some havoc around here."

The one next to him, a female, had long golden hair with a few red streaks through it. She wore a full Kimono that was angel white. Like his lower garments, it was meant for winter, but just like him, she showed no discomfort in the heat around them. She was taller than him as well, by about a head, but still looked to be quite young. On her back hung a crossbow and a quiver full of arrows specially designed for this specific crossbow. They would work with no other weapon. In her hand she also carried what appeared to be a humble walking staff, though any seasoned traveler will tell you that there is more that meets the eye there. "Oh dear, I certainly hope that no one was hurt here."

The boy rolled his eyes and continued to walk into town. "Flonne, don't start. We both went through a lot of trouble to even learn how to speak this god-forsaken language to get here, so don't go and spoil it all now with your preaching of love and kindness, alright?"

Flonne pouted a bit. "Laharl, please, don't worry. I won't endanger our chances of a new beginning here unless it is absolutely necessary."

Laharl rolled his eyes again. "Trust me, it won't be." As they walked, the noticed that most people actually raised their heads to watch these two strange figures walk down the dusty road of the town. Laharl stared right back at them, which forced them to look away, but Flonne waved happily at them as if she had met every single one of them before. They answered her waves with blank stares and sometimes scowls, though this did not diminish the perky girl's spirits.

Laharl's eyes fixed onto the saloon, which was in pretty rough condition from both inside and out. "What happened here?" he asked, as if expecting Flonne to have an answer.

There was a slight chuckle from their left and both turned to see a black hedgehog standing there, arms crossed, staring at the saloon. "I'll tell you what happened, foreigner… Inuyasha and his partner Sly happened."

Flonned frowned and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What? Inuyasha and Sly? Who are they?"

The hedgehog shrugged. "Those two are some of the craftiest outlaws you'll ever meet. They're wanted in almost every corner of the west for one thing or another, and they're damn good at what they do. They have a bounty on their head so large, we have bounty hunters coming in from the four corners of the globe just to have a crack at the two of them."

Laharl snorted a bit. "And who are you? An associate of theirs?"

The hedgehog shrugged and unfolded his hands. "The name is Shadow… I'm the world's greatest bounty hunter and I've been after those two for well over two years now."

Flonne frowned. "Two years and still no success. Oh dear, sir, you must be very disheartened."

Shadow chuckled and looked up at Flonne. "You're a lot more well mannered than most of the foreign scum that rides through here, though your friend looks like he could use a good lesson in humility. Listen, take my advice and go back to whatever piss-poor country you two came from. You won't find anything of interest here and I can damn well assure you that no one would ever hire you two for any kind of work." He walked over to his horse and pat the side of it before vaulting up onto it. He gave a small two fingered salute before he kicked his heels into the beast and rode off out of town."

Flonne frowned. "He certainly was an odd one."

The only reason Laharl hadn't made some sort of rude or bratty remark back at Shadow was because he had an idea that he was formulating in his mind. "Hey, I know how we're gonna make a name for ourselves here, Flonne!"

Flonne looked up at Laharl, her natural smile returning. "How's that, Laharl."

Laharl grinned and placed a hand on one of his swords. "We're going to find and take down these two outlaws, Inuyasha and Sly."

Flonne frowned. "But Laharl… we'd have to hurt them, wouldn't we? And besides, we don't even know where to start looking."

Laharl snorted a bit. "Flonne, what do you think that crossbow on your back is for?"

Flonne drew a blank face for a second. "Um… protection?" she asked, not even thoroughly convincing herself.

Laharl rolled his eyes. "It's for hurting people, Love Freak! Listen, that bounty hunter said that he had been chasing those two for two years, so I doubt he's giving up now! If we follow him, we might just run across those two and then all we have to do is kill or capture them before he does!"

Flonne gulped a bit and shifted to the side, not sure she liked the idea of harming someone else. "But Laharl, how will we keep up with him? He was on horseback and we have no horses of our own."

Laharl snorted again and walked up to two people who were just getting off their horses. With a single blow to each of their skulls, they both went down, knocked out. "I'm sure these two gentlemen wouldn't mind we get took these two for a bit."

Flonne gulped, but she wasn't about to argue with him. He was her master and she owed him a great deal, so who was she to argue with her master's wishes. "Very well, Laharl-sama… let's go then." She walked up and daintily lifted herself up into the saddle, trying to find a good position for herself, Laharl doing the same. "Laharl, have you ever ridden an animal like this before?"

Laharl shook his head. "No, but we'll figure it out eventually, now come on." He gave the horse a slap on the rump that forced it to rear back and take off, Laharl fighting to keep his balance. Flonne giggled and gently pat the side of the horse she was riding and it slowly started trotting after the blue haired boy trying to keep from falling off the horse ahead of them.

Fox sighed a bit as he blew a few notes into his harmonica, listening to the prattle of those two out-of-town law women yelling at the local sheriff for not realizing that two of the most wanted outlaws were right under their noses. His long-time friend and partner, Falco, sat across from him on another bench, simply staring through the bars at the scene. Those two had been apprehended about a month earlier for intercepting a large shipment of jewels from outside the country. By the time the cops had found them, they had already sold most of the jewels out on the black market and made a substantial profit off of them. Of course, knowing that they would likely be caught, the two of them were smart enough to hide the stash before the law caught up with them and they would only hang around here until the law either forced the information out of them or decided to hang them anyway. Either way, their current future's looked bleak, though they both knew they could get out of it easily. This wasn't the first time they had seen the inside of a jail cell and the way their luck had been heading, it certainly wouldn't be the last.

The two law women in question were Sheriff Carmelita, a fox anthro from down in Mexico, and her deputy, Kagome, a local Texan girl who had proven herself to be quite the sharpshooter. Carmelita was quite radiant in truth, long dark blue hair, a shapely form that she apparently wasn't afraid to show off, and an attitude that would either scare a man off or keep them coming back for more. Her weapon of choice, Fox noted, was a huge triple-barreled gun that extended about twice as long as a normal pistol though the way she held it when firing, you would think she was handling a small durenge. Deputy Kagome was also quite beautiful, raven-black hair, pale skin, her eyes almost black and bottomless, though she didn't flaunt her cleavage as much as her partner did. In fact, if she hid her face and went riding around, most would probably mistake her for a man. Her own choice of a firearm was a little less intimidating than her partner, but still rather deadly. It was a pair of antique pistols, the kinds that could only take one shot at a time and had to be reloaded with powder and shot manually before they could be fired again. However, according to reputation, she could fire of one bullet from one of those things and hit five people, whereas most around here could shoot of twelve bullets and not even hit the broad side of a barn at point blank range.

Currently, Kagome was just wearing one of her annoyed faces while Carmelita was just chewing the poor sheriff out for not realizing that he had Inuyasha and Sly Cooper in his town. "This is absolutely inexcusable! Those two are wanted all over the west and you just let them waltz in and out as if they were just tumbleweeds!

The sheriff threw up his hands, attempting to defend his pride. "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but those two hadn't committed any felonies here in Dusty Falls, so I had no reason to try and convict them. I'm not interested in any rewards and as long as they don't make trouble here, let them do as they please and let the bounty hunters do as they please with them."

Kagome sighed gently and shrugged. "Carmelita, it'll do no good to try and scold someone like him, just come on. If we hurry we can catch up with them before they hit the railroad a ways away from here, but that's only if we leave now. Come on!"

Carmelita growled a bit, but nodded and gave one last glare to the sheriff before running out with Kagome and jumping onto her hoarse to run off after Sly and Inuyasha.

Fox gave a low whistle. "Quite a pair of lookers, those two, huh sheriff?" he asked with a grin.

The sheriff, naturally a nice guy, liked making conversation with his prisoners. "Yeah, they may be, but those two ain't gonna be tamed by any man any time soon, boy, you mark my words. They have some sort of mouths on them, I'm surprised that ladies like them would even know some of the words they were using when they first walked in here."

Fox chuckled and pocketed his harmonica. "So, how long do you suppose we'll be in here?" he asked, just for the sake of conversation. Falco didn't talk much to begin with and when he did talk, it was either just egotistic nothing or very depressing to hear.

The sheriff shrugged. "Either until you feel like telling me where you stashed all that moolah of yours or someone bails you two out."

Fox nodded and gave Falco who grinned right back knowing that they would be out of here in about three… two… one…

There was a huge crash as the back wall of the sheriff's office, also the town jail was pulled right off the building. The sheriff, surprised by this, jumped up and tried to fumble for his keys, but Falco and Fox were already running right through the resulting hole. Outside, on a large black horse sat a blue furred vixen. She wore Indian clothing, as opposed to the cowboy garbs that Fox and Falco were wearing. She grinned a bit and tossed them each their respective weapons. Fox held up his guns and smirked a bit. His choice of weapon was two six shooters that he himself had modified expertly to add on four more bullet slots to each, effectively turning the two guns into ten-shot guns, something unheard of to most. Falco's weapon wasn't modified, but it spoke for itself. He had aquired from a governmental testing facility something that they called a beta sniper rifle. It was supposed to be able to pick off enemies from a much greater distance than an ordinary gun and with his already sharp eyes, there was almost nothing he couldn't hit with this thing. He sheathed it over his back and chuckled a bit as the vixen drew on the reins of two other horses, one pure white and the other a gentle golden brown.

Fox jumped onto the brown one while Falco hopped onto the white one. Fox grinned and gave the thumbs up to the vixen. "Thanks for holding our guns and busting us out of there, Krystal."

Krystal, though she was not well-versed in the English language, she smiled and nodded, catching enough of the words to know he was thanking her. "Welcome…" she said, her voice heavily accented with old Indian dialect.

Falco cleared his throat and pointed towards the sheriff, who was bumbling towards them quickly. "Time to ride." Fox and Crystal nodded in agreement and together, all three of them rode off out of town before anyone could do a thing about it.

As soon as the town was out of sight, and with no sign of anyone following, Krystal turned to fox. "Where now?" she asked.

Fox shrugged. "We'll go back and grab out stash from its hiding place and then we'll see if we can track down those two outlaws. If we find them, who knows, we might just be able to convince them to join up with us and pull off a few heists here and there."

Falco shrugged. "Hey, you're the leader here, whatever you say goes."

Fox nodded. "Better damn believe it… now come on, let's get out of here!"

Tails sighed gently as he waited for Shadow to get back. The boy had been apprenticing under Shadow to be a bounty hunter for about a year now and so far, he couldn't help but feel as if he had been nothing but a nuisance to the hedgehog. He knew he was a good shot with a single-barrel shotgun, though, and could easily pick off anything with it, even on the fly, which was impressive given his small stature and young age. He was only twelve now. He poked the fire next to his pony, who he had named Velox, after the fabled Gothic horse who had been used by a hero of the Ostrogoths to cut down half of the Roman empire. Tails had never fit in back at home. He was smart, much smarter than most of the illiterate boobs that were found out in the west and his accuracy only added to his alienation from others. He was good with animals, though, and easily befriended Velox, who had been thought untamable at the time. He had actually participated in a few jobs with Shadow, but mostly right now, Shadow was trying to teach him everything there was to know about tracking prey and how to survive out in the dessert if he was on his own and everything. Tails couldn't complain. He got nervous in real-life situations when he actually needed to raise his gun against another creature. Why his father had convinced him to be a bounty hunter, he would never know…

He smiled a bit as he saw his mentor riding up on his own white stallion, appropriately named Shade. "Hi Shadow!" He frowned when he saw the look on his mentor's face. It was a sure sign of failure. "You didn't get them?" he asked as Shadow dismounted.

Shadow shook his head and sat next to the fire, taking out his gun and polishing it gently. "Heh, these two are the best chase I've had in a very long time. I've never taken so long to take down a bounty, though the longer you wait to take someone down, the more their worth."

Tails nodded and took out his own gun to polish it. "Shadow, we're getting low on money and supplies again." Apart from also being an apprentice, Tails was also the treasurer and made sure they had plenty of food, water, and flint and the like.

Shadow nodded again. "I see… we'll take a detour from our main prey then. There's supposed to be some sort of illegal mining operation going on a few miles to the north-east of here. A guy named Explosives McGee is holed up there and he seems to like causing avalanches on the settlements up there."

Tails choked back on shouting out how horrible that was and how urgently they needed to stop him. He had figured out pretty quick that Shadow wasn't interested in the aspects of good or evil when taking on a job. The only thing that mattered to a good bounty hunter was the pay involved. "How much is he worth?" he asked instead.

Shadow shrugged and set his gun and polish to the side. "If I remember correctly from the wanted posters, this guy's supposed to be worth twelve-hundred alive, six-hundred dead… and each one of his men we bring in are worth ten extra dollars alive or dead."

Tails gaped a bit. Twelve-hundred was a LOT of money, though it did pale in comparison to Inuyasha and Sly's combined bounties. "Okay! When do we start off for him?"

Shadow chuckled a bit. "You're certainly eager, kid. Keep this up and you might actually get to use that gun of yours this time." He stood up. "We'll cover a bit of ground today, make camp when the sun sets and then get into town below the mountain where Explosives and his men are hiding. We'll see how late it is then, and if the conditions are right, we'll head straight for McGee himself."

Tails nodded and got up, patting Velox's head. He frowned for a second, turning to Shadow. "Hey, Shadow… how come you decided to take my dad up on the offer for an apprentice? I'm obviously not really the best prodigy in terms of a bounty hunter and over the year I've known you, you haven't really made yourself out to be a guy that would take on any students."

Shadow chuckled a bit and looked over to the two tailed fox with mild interested. "That is an interesting question, one that I myself don't quite know the answer too yet." He snorted lightly and threw a small water bomb onto the fire to douse it. "Maybe I'm just getting soft in my aging."

Tails raised an eyebrow as he sat comfortably in Velox's saddle. "You aren't old, Shadow. You don't look like you're over twenty."

Shadow smirked a bit. "Don't let this fool you kid… I'm over sixty years old now."

Tails' eyes widened. "Over sixty! But you… you look so young, and the way you talk, not to mention the way you move and fight, it's as if time doesn't touch you!"

Shadow nodded. "I know. Someone must be looking out for me like this, but if it's god or the devil, I still don't know. Now, enough talking. Let's get to riding." He kicked the sides of his horse swiftly, causing the animal to whinny and take off. Tails followed suite.

Seems unlikely that such a band of would ever come together, doesn't it? They might not have known it at the time, but eventually, each of them will pass in and out of each other's lives and their destinies will become intertwined eventually. The spirit of the west drives them all on for different reasons, but fate places their pieces on the board and moves them to its whim.

!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+

So, how was that for a first chapter, hm? Not bad I hope, this thing is fifteen freaking pages long! Grr, my fingers hurt!