"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?" - Albert Einstein

He didn't get it.

Inuyasha thought the point of getting information off his chip was to get information. Not…nothing.

"So…you found out it was tampered with?"

"Yes."

"But you don't know who did it?"

"Nope, not a clue. The only thing we do know is that it wasn't Naraku."

"How do you know- "

Fox cut Inuyasha off before he could finish. "And here's the thing, at first, I was almost sure no one actually had tampered with it, but here…" a faint squeak came from the old chair he sat on as he rolled across the floor, pointing to yet another beat up, boxy monitor, "I found a super-duper inconspicuous file that had a lil something in there that would explain your memory loss. See here?"

Inuyasha moved towards him, leaning over his shoulder to better look at the words on the screen. "What's that?"

"A memory suppressor. Written in a language, I haven't seen in decades. Literally, no one uses it anymore. It's dated back to almost 20 years ago, right around the time you ended up in the system, correct? It's a seriously uncommon practice but..." Fox's voice drifted off as he suddenly enhanced and Inuyasha's vision blurred, the brightness of the numbers not the only thing to put him on edge.

He straightened, taking a step back before stumbling a little on his feet. Too long ago.

Emerald eyes danced gleefully across the lines of code that he'd purged from the dead chip. He barrelled onward, taking no notice of Inuyasha's sudden aversion to the news. "Sad thing is though; I couldn't have recovered your memories even if I tried. They weren't stored in the chip, so that's on you if you ever get them back. And who knows what it suppressed, the only date I can find was the one it was uploaded on…" he trailed off as he turned his head, expecting to find Inuyasha instead of empty space. "Hello?"

Inuyasha braced a hand against the wall closest to him, hand clutching his chest as the news sent a shock through him that he couldn't control.

"Um, you OK?" the dick asked, and no, he wasn't fucking OK.

"I…" Inuyasha forced the words that had lodged in his throat, "I had my Interface installed when I was 13…" he slumped against the wall, head cracking against it as he closed his eyes and drew in a breath. He had to get a grip of himself and fast. This wasn't the most shocking news he'd had so far.

Everything had been shocking.

"Right, yeah, no," the other man turned back to his toys, clicking away at the keyboard that hit Inuyasha's ears wrong, "you've had it longer than that. There's not much here, and most of it was nixed with your little stunt when the girls tried to hijack you."

Tried to. Inuyasha scoffed. Clearly, they'd succeeded in the end.

"So, this means…that someone…" Inuyasha's lips parted with a smack and he closed his eyes once more, dawning broaching his consciousness like a sunrise.

Totosai.

He ran a hand through his hair, utter defeat slamming into him finally. He was bone-tired now, even he could admit that.

It was all linked, every little thing about himself down to the very last detail. And now, there was some other entity in the mix. If Naraku -who Fox had coined as the worst ever- wasn't at the centre of it, then the web weaved was far more complicated than he had given it credit.

"But wait! You haven't even seen the coolest part!" Orange hair flopped around as he swept his arms over the monstrous conglomerate of screens. "Watch this."

Inuyasha waited as Fox typed impatiently, pacing behind him with shorter and shorter steps, wondering what more there could be when there seemed to be so little to latch onto. He eyed the characters and syntax for himself, not seeing anything unusual that would stand out from any other Interface chip available to the public.

As soon as Fox tapped on a particular file, every screen blanked out before blaring back to life, the same shade of red with that fucking dog emblem covering them.

"What the fuck even is that?" Inuyasha marched up to the screens, zeroing in on one of the dozen that stared back at him.

"You tell me." Inuyasha turned to find green eyes too close again, their attention flicking up to the top of his head before they came back down to connect with his once more.

"Hey," Kagome popped her head through the door, "you want to get rest?"

Inuyasha was grateful for the interruption because this punk had gotten on his last nerve.

"Don't you guys want to know about this?" he asked, knowing full well there had to be some interest in who this other player was.

"We already know. Intel was sent through to us while we were filling you in. Fox has a…flair for the dramatics." Kagome was fighting the smile that was trying to break through, and she was doing a terrible job of it.

"You…" he turned back towards the freak with the retro shrine.

"What? It's not like you have one of our chips. When you do, I'll be able to wire shit straight to you. Besides, I wanted to see your face when you found out." The gleam of his fangs as Fox smiled was what did it.

Inuyasha squared up to him, feet propelling him across the room quicker than anyone could have anticipated. Even himself.

"Alright!" Kagome jumped into action, quickly tugging Inuyasha away from his current target. "Enough of that. We've got a busy day tomorrow, and you need some rest."

He allowed her to pull him away and out of the room, eyes never leaving the emerald shade he would forever connotate with the term asshole.

As the closing of the doors cut off his staring contest, Inuyasha shrugged the hand off his shoulder that was leading him. Kagome looked back at him, and an eyebrow tipped upwards at the abruptness.

He didn't want to be lead around anymore. He was officially done with that, the resolve he'd found not too long ago holding true.

Even with her.

Their goodbye was a little more than awkward, but Inuyasha couldn't get to a place where he wasn't fliting between the absolute mess that was his life and the feelings that Kagome was just making him feel.

The two trains of thought weren't living harmoniously, the complete exhaustion he felt taking its toll on him. He'd cease talking altogether, not that they had truly been conversing. Not unless Kagome counted the occasional grunt as a conversation.

The plushness of the bed made to perfection called out to him, drawing him closer and closer to it. He ignored everything around him, eager to put the day from hell behind him finally. The lack of sleep had caught up, shutting him down completely as he crashed onto the mattress with a thump.

As he drifted off to sleep, the hint of a smile tugged on the corner of his lips. For the first time in years, Inuyasha knew he would sleep well.

That was a lie because Inuyasha woke with a start and scrambled, the scents that crawled their way up his nostrils, alarming him with their unfamiliarity. He calmed quickly enough, realising where he was within a few seconds of eyeing his surroundings. But his heart was racing, and he felt nowhere near rested. The musty scent of his clothes lingered, and he fought the urge to sneeze, rubbing at his nose furiously. His ears darted around in every direction, grabbing onto small sounds here and there as power ran through the walls. The jolt back into wakefulness wasn't the kind he was used to, and he pondered it for a moment.

Because he could.

Inuyasha hadn't dreamt last night -he was sure of it- and he could only assume it was the level of exhaustion he'd hit that had his lights out. He wasn't awash with images of dreams he could only vaguely recall, instead of coming to with a heightened awareness of his environment through scent and sound. Pills that lingered at the back of his head flitted into his thoughts for a moment, but he relented.

This wake-up call was far better than the kind he had been used to for so long.

Inuyasha glanced around the room, looking for a projection or anything that could tell him the time. Being cut off from his Interface was proving to be inconvenient, quickly. As the soles of his feet connected with the chilled surface of the floor, the sound of a short, sharp bell filled the room. His ears swivelled around his head, chasing the sounds as it bounced off the walls.

"Y…yes?" Inuyasha called out, smacking a hand to his forehead as soon as the words left his mouth. He hopped up, smoothing down the…full suit he'd crashed in. He'd slept in his clothes last night which meant he probably looked as unkempt as he felt. Perfect.

He moved towards the front door -his front door now- clocking the panel to the right of its frame. He pushed the most prominent button that would surely open it, a pop-out projection of Kagome standing on the other side of the door meeting him instead.

"Inuyasha?" her voice called through the speaker in the panel, and he pressed another button, mildly irritated at the way his claw dug into the rubbery surface. There were some things about this place that was just weird and outdat-

"Hello?" Kagome called out again, and Inuyasha jammed his fist into the stupid thing, fist popping through its facing easily before he pulled back just as quickly. The regret was instantaneous, and the door slid open to reveal Kagome, looking at him standing there in his fucked up suit with a metal fucking grill hanging around his wrist.

"Uh…" he raised his hand in greeting on reflex, cringing at the clatter of the now ruined panel as it fell from his wrist to his elbow because he'd chosen that hand to use as a complete idiot."You should've just come in."

If she had anything to say about his appearance, she kept it to herself. "I wanted to give you some privacy. I think…you deserve that." She smiled, but it wasn't the kind he wanted; he took it as pitying. He felt that tiny knock to his pride.

"Well, thanks," the crash of metal meeting the floor cut the conversation off for him, "I'll…I'll pay for that."

"No need," a breathy laugh followed, and he swooned. Gross. "We have to head back into the city soon. Take a shower. There are clothes in the cabinets. You should be able to find something that fits. Meet me in the canteen, and we'll get something to eat."

Kagome began to move away before he called out to her. "Wait, how the fuck do I get there?"

She smiled brightly at him, and he was suddenly blinded. "You're telling me you don't want to test out that nose of yours?"

He smirked -just a little- because he couldn't deny that he liked the sound of that.

Finding out that Miroku had somehow 'located' him in such a short time was a little surprising, but not enough to make Inuyasha react with more than a huff. Because he didn't wanna talk to him.

He grumbled into the cup of noodles he's been slurping down before Kagome -no, Priestess- had delivered the news.

"You should see what he wants. See if he'll tell you anything." Slayer piped up, and he was even more annoyed at the reminder of her existence. He knew she was there; he was just dutifully ignoring that fact.

"Yeah well…fuck that. How did he even find me?" he knew he sounded petulant again, but it had been a total of not even twenty-four hours since he'd left Miroku in the dust -literally- and it wasn't long enough for his liking.

"Irrelevant. Suck it up, Dog Boy. You don't get to take a break with all the shit you've caus-"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," she pushed the plate she'd been ignoring aside, far too quick to take up the challenge. She'd been waiting for her opportunity. "You just dismantled Taisho Corp's entire master database and plunged AC into complete darkness, and you don't even know how you did it, do you? What good are you to us now that you've served your supposed purpose?"

"And what about you, huh? Shooting up a civilian space a usual Monday afternoon for you?" Inuyasha was more than happy to hash it out with the little witch that had-

"Guys. Please. It's been a long few days for everyone. Can we just take a second to eat? Please?" Kagome reiterated, a hand resting gently on her forehead. She had been intervening between them at nearly every turn since they'd been forced into each other's company and Inuyasha felt bad for a moment.

But only a moment because the bitch just had to keep going. "Mm. You gonna keep jumping to his defence? Because he'll never buck up if you keep doing that."

"Hold u-"

"Sango…he just got here last night." Sango.

"And what of it, Kagome?"

The atmosphere shifted, an intensity that had Inuyasha instantly uncomfortable building as the two women sitting at the booth with him stared each other down. He shrunk back, digging back into the food he'd been ravenous for previously. He became painfully aware of the clothes that didn't fit quite right made, shifting as they scratched against his skin. He was trying to be invisible for once, and they weren't helping.

"One day. That's all I ask." Kagome held her friends…co-workers… superiors' gaze, waiting for her response.

"One day. That's all we can afford."

"What's her deal?" Inuyasha couldn't hide his annoyance if he tried, feet stomping into the floor of the corridor Kagome was leading him down.

"She's… stressed."

"And that's somehow my fault?"

"You're… a liability in her eyes."

"How? Was it not that woman that fired a fucking gun-"

"Look, yes, but it's not what you think. We'd been tracking Naraku, and everything pinpointed to your exact location when we…he's been trying to infiltrate Taisho Corp. for a while now- did you even read the briefing San-Slayer gave you?" She slipped up again.

"Slayer, huh? Don't you mean Sango? And Priestess? What's all that about Kagome? Why don't you answer that while we're at it?"

"Inuyasha, I don't want to argue with you. There's so much that I don't even know where to start. I'm trying to- "

"Trying to what? Confuse the absolute fuck out of me? More than I already am?"

"No! You should know that's not my intention- "

"And how would I know that, huh? You've given me nothing to go on other than some fucking cartoon villain that's all smoke and mirrors and conspiracy! The only thing I've seen with my own eyes is you and those other two at every fucking turn!" their voices had increased steadily, drawing closer to each other with each passing blow.

"You think I want to hurt you? You think I'm running myself ragged trying to get to the bottom of what's happening here for the fun of it?!"

"I don't know what the fuck you're actually doing! So why don't you enlighten me!"

Chests heaved as the pair of them took a moment to catch their breaths, each backing up a fraction to give each other some space. They'd gotten in each other's faces before Inuyasha had realised it, their sudden screaming match bouncing around the empty corridor.

He was hit full force with a sense of Déjà vu, and the feeling of having been there before caused his mind to halt.

It wasn't something he was used to.

Inuyasha laughed suddenly, the sound bursting from his mouth before he could think to stop it. The look on Kagome's face was a picture, the way it scrunched up making him double over as his guffaw turned into full-on fits of laughter.

"What… do you need me to take you back to the Twins?" she looked worried now, and it did nothing to help him quell the sniggers that were still making their way out of him.

"Who…no… wait…" Inuyasha stood up straight, trying fucking hard to stop laughing because he knew that it looked ridiculous, given the circumstances, "I-I'm sorry." He rubbed at his eyes, laughter dying down as he tried to compose himself. It didn't go so well. "Do you remember how we used to argue in High School?" Inuyasha looked at her, the merriment he felt making his face hurt a little. It wasn't every day he laughed like that.

"What?" Now it was her turn to be confused.

"Yeah, we were at each other's necks just like now, but back then." The joy of being able to remember that so clearly was something.

"Y-yeah…you remember?" A tiny smile quirked on her face, and the mood shifted then, "I wasn't sure if…you'd remembered me that much."

"What?" That was surprising to hear. He thought…she knew.

"C'mon, we're wasting time, and I have to get you into the city undetected. We need to see what Miroku has to say." Kagome led him to the hanger that housed every vehicle imaginable, marching towards the bike he was beginning to hate.

"W-wait…" his steps faltered, realising just what they were about to do, "are we…" his eyes gravitated towards the large metal doors that he now knew had warp tunnel behind them.

"Yes, it's the only way to get out of here." Kagome turned her attention back to the bike, pushing a release that had the seat popping up and revealing a hidden compartment. "Here."

She handed him a helmet, one that looked suspiciously like… there was fucking space for his ears.

"What is this?" He held it out between them.

"Your helmet."

"Why is it…why does it look made for me?"

"Because it is." She held his gaze steadily.

"You…were really planning on bringing me here. Wherever the fuck we are." It wasn't a question, he knew the answer but just saying it out loud made it more real. He recalled Fox using the term 'hijack', and he was pissed yet again.

"Yes, but you came with me on your own."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Here, I'll show you," she huffed and grabbed the helmet from him, throwing it back onto the bike that sat idle. She stood next to him, a beam of light suddenly appearing before them that had him jumping out of his skin because he just wasn't expecting it, "this is the footage from last night."

"How do you have- "

"Just watch."

Inuyasha decided to do just that, watching the little projection that floated between them. He'd surmised the footage was from Kagome's point of view, finding it vaguely interesting considering Eye-Cams wasn't a commonality, according to the data that he had trudged through for over a year. They were typically only used by…police officers.

"Hey, are those… doctors… cops?" For the life of him, the questions he was asking would not sound normal and not dumb for fuck sake-

"No. Watch," she relented, smacking his arm lightly for his distraction.

Inuyasha tutted and went back to watching her projection, wincing when the bang he heard was the same one from last night. The noise was loud in his ears, the memory of physically being there cutting through him sharply.

Kagome squeezed the arm she'd slapped a second ago.

Inuyasha tried to stay calm.

He watched as Kagome ran through the destruction, smoke, and debris whirling around her as she pushed through. A faint growl began to build in his chest because he didn't want her to be there. Not in the middle of something like that.

Screams and shouts filled his ears, and they flattened, a few of them repeating on him as he remembered them. He was thankful when Kagome must have taken notice and turned the volume down. She didn't acknowledge it, watching the screen intently.

From her perspective, she was a little too small to see around the structures that blocked her path. Scattered chunks of concrete and metal were everywhere, and she was too tiny, too small, too perfect-

And there he was.

The second time of being met with an image of himself in that state was no more shocking than the first. His hair flung wildly around him as he darted forward and away from Kagome's line of sight, taking those red eyes and terrifying blue pupils with him. He was chasing someone. The fact that he had changed form, not too unlike his monthly cycle of-

Suddenly, Kagome yanked a cylindrical device that must have been strapped to her back, bringing it round to her front. His jaw dropped when she did something to it, the thing suddenly coming apart to transform into the giant ass bow she's been carrying when he saw her enter Taisho Corp. He snuck a peek at her, noticing the 'bow' that he wouldn't have assumed as one strapped to her back.

"Renkotsu!" her shout was evident despite the low volume and Inuyasha tore his eyes away from her, watching as her past-self barrelled into the mayhem.

"He's an expert in explosives." Kagome -the real Kagome- chimed in.

"Explosives?" Inuyasha fully turned his attention to the projection, wanting to catch a glimpse at the fucking explosives expert he now had to assume was the mastermind behind all the explosions.

He watched unblinking as Kagome ran through the smoke, the odd cough leaving her here and there. He grimaced as she ran deeper and deeper into the chaos, the odd lick of a flame touching her occasionally. He was about to stop watching once more when a vicious growl ripped into the air, the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention. He watched, perplexed by what could have possibly made a sound like that.

It turns out; it was him.

"Inuyasha!" Holographic Kagome shouted out to him, and he was amazed when the bow she carried began to light up, string manifesting before her out of fucking nowhere. He couldn't see much around her weapon, but he could see his own hair flying around as he went after that Renkotsu fucker.

Inuyasha tried hard to remember any of this, and he drew a blank. A complete fucking blank.

"Stop!" A bright light burst from the projection, and he squinted, hand coming up to shield his eyes.

"What was that?" He had to ask; it'd been so blinding from her point of view he couldn't get a good look.

"Me." Inuyasha looked at Kagome then, not fully understanding what she meant, but the video was carrying on regardless.

"Inuyasha!" Holo-Gome shouted once more, and he held his breath as he turned towards her, eyes slanting on her.

His heart stopped.

He stared numbly as this other version of himself stalked towards her, coming closer to the camera -to Kagome- with each step. He braced himself for impact, watching in abject horror. It was stupid; she was standing next to him unharmed. Yet the idea of her getting so close to this was setting his need to protect her alight.

Even if it was from himself.

The growling that hadn't relented ceased as he got close to her, the view of his face being cut off from her as he got a little too close to her. Her vision impaired by the silver hair that had come loose from its tie and he could hear the sounds of snuffling as he…he was sniffing her. For fuck sake this creepy-ass version of himself was sniffing her, and he was watching the video with her and-

She cut the video, hologram disappearing into thin air. "You followed me after that, and I managed to coerce you onto the back of the bike. I can show you the rest if you want?"

"I'm good. I…I believe you." He didn't need the visual confirmation anymore, 'waking up' on the back of her bike yesterday was proof enough after everything he'd just seen. Inuyasha was thankful she'd taken mercy and cut the video feed when she did. The heat that had built in his face was going to take a while to cool off.

"OK." She turned back to the bike, grabbing onto the helmet that had been made for him and holding it out to him once more. "You ready?"

"No."

He took the helmet anyway.

The bar he'd chosen to meet at was questionable at best. A fucking shithole at worst. The overhead lights that flickered here and there tinged the place with a muted glow, highlighting the dust scattered on the various decorations hung from the walls. They were...damp? The walls were damp too. If inconspicuous was what he was going for, this wasn't it. This was just grotty.

Taking a seat at the back booth like instructed, Inuyasha sat facing the door, not bothering with the pleasantries of ordering a drink in this fine establishment. By the looks of the clientele, he couldn't trust what was on offer.

Tapping idly at the sticky surface of the table, his eyes danced around the small crowd that made up the little dive situated in the east side's Red-Light District. Grizzled men with bodged cybernetics accosted the few women present; lonely old fuckers squirrelled themselves into corners to drown their sorrows, the dishevelled look of Miroku walking up to him-

"Were you ever my friend?" Inuyasha blurted out, immediately regretting the words. It had been a long time since he had felt...hurt.

"Of course, I was your friend… I am your friend." Miroku leaned over the sticky table, arms reaching forward to grasp onto Inuyasha. He leaned back, the intimacy of the gesture making him uncomfortable on a good day, let alone any day now with the newfound knowledge of his dutiful 'best friend'.

Miroku remembered himself then, pulling back as if he'd been burned before slumping into the battered booth chair. His hands ran nervously over his face and through his hair as if to collect himself, and Inuyasha took the time to access the man in front of him. It was hard to believe Inuyasha had only seen him yesterday.

Dirty clothes, easily a few days old. Greasy hair, as if he'd forgone a shower for more than a few. Sunken eyes from lack of sleep, greyish tinge to his complexion, stubble grazing his jaw, hands shaking with-

"So…" Miroku cut him off from his thoughts, "obviously, I asked you here to talk..." he trailed off then, a meek voice coming from the person in front of him. He refused to meet Inuyasha's eyes for the first time that he could remember. There was absolutely no way the man before him was the Miroku that he had come to know.

But that was just it. Inuyasha didn't know who Miroku was. Not really.

"Is your name even Miroku?"

Eyes raised to make contact then as he let out a puff of air, visibly deflating while his hands came to rest idly before him. "Yes, my name is Miroku. I didn't...I didn't lie to you about that. It's...complicated."

"Complicated? Complicated? You wanna talk about fuckin' complicated, huh? My entire stinking life is one big complication, so why don't you cut the shit for two fucking seconds and start explaining things,!" he paused for a moment to breathe through the pounding in his ears, blood rushing to the surface as anger began to seep out of every pore, "Start talking. Now."

The picture of utter defeat, Miroku chewed his lip as he nodded solemnly, clearly collecting himself as he found the words that Inuyasha so desperately needed to hear. He'd give him that. He'd give him a minute to figure out just how he wanted to answer to everything he had done. Even if he wasn't sure exactly what that was.

"When we were younger-"

"How young?"

"...seven."

A clawed hand slammed down onto the table, jarring Miroku from his slumped position as Inuyasha lost his cool within the first few seconds of his 'explanation'.

"Listen, listen...I need to start from the beginning. Otherwise, you're just going to ask more questions. It would make more sense for me to start there, OK?" Holding his hands up, Miroku waited for Inuyasha to choose his path.

Deep breaths and a mental countdown from ten, Inuyasha reasoned with himself that Miroku was right in this instance even if he was feeling far from reasonable. "Go on."

"OK...OK. When we were younger, we were placed at the same school in that shitty little neighbourhood, remember? Well, I was there as a...guardian of sorts." Miroku struggled with the term, causing Inuyasha to narrow his eyes on the uneasy sight of him.

"I already had a guardian, what the fuck do you mean guardian?"

"Not like Totosai... I mean we are the same age after all...but that's neither here nor there," Miroku waved his hand, deeming that piece of information moot, "I guess you could say I was placed as your…handler? It's not like there's an official title for it. What better way to keep an eye on someone than through his best friend, right?" Miroku laughed nervously.

Because a volcano was about to erupt, and its name was Mount Inuyasha.

"Who the fuck put you there? What the fuck is going on Miroku?" Inuyasha braced himself on the table, mind racing as he leaned towards him, pupils dilating as he narrowed in on every little crack and crevice of Miroku's stupid, lying, bastard face. If he wanted to play coy, he'd catch him. He'd catch onto him before he even thought to deceive.

"I can't really...say for certain." A pin drop could be heard between the two, the air around them becoming a vacuum as time froze and they stared blankly at each other.

"You can't say."

"Not...really?"

"For certain?"

"Certainly." Huh. Maybe not everything had been a complete lie if this dumb as fuck conversation was anything to go by.

He took note of the time on his new wristwatch, something that he'd yet to get used to. He had two minutes to get as much information out of Miroku as he could before he had to move on and get back to Kagome. Time-keeping was of the utmost importance, according to her.

"Alright listen, I'm done. Tell me who the fuck you've been working for this whole time, and I might not reach across this table for your neck." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles for emphasis, but Miroku didn't take the bait, looking at him as if he's just made the most absurd joke.

"You're not gonna kick my ass Inuyasha. I'm still your friend." Miroku held his gaze assuredly for good measure, trying to convey what he couldn't quite say through his eyes.

"Yeah, some friend you've been." With that, Inuyasha stood to leave, knowing without acknowledging that he wasn't going to get anything worthwhile out of him. He stopped when a hand shot out to grasp his wrist. He turned his head, expecting to see Miroku's pleading look of remorse but was flummoxed to see him leaning around the booth, eyes trained on the back entrance of the bar.

"Look... there are eyes everywhere OK, and now that you've gone dark there will be...people will be looking for you. Just, stay on alert. Please?" Miroku tugged a little on the appendage he was holding, needing verbal confirmation.

"OK, OK, jeez, lay off. I've been watched my entire fucking life apparently. Think I can handle a few goons coming my way." Inuyasha tugged his hand free of the man that held him hostage. Tried to hold him hostage. Had fucking succeeded to, until recently.

"We're done." And he meant it, even if he felt a little twinge in his chest at the finality.

"Yeah…" Miroku reached for the duffel that Inuyasha hadn't noticed him come in with, lifting it onto the table before he pushed it towards Inuyasha. "Take these."

He eyed the bag wearily, knowing full well what was inside but hesitant to touch anything that was a solid reminder of his former life.

"You're going to need them."

It wasn't until Inuyasha was back at base, as Kagome had called it, that he realised the considerable risk Miroku had taken in meeting him. He was so fucking pissed at the time; the dots didn't connect automatically for him until he could take a breather. He thought he had been paying attention to the little details, but he wasn't paying attention to the right ones. It had taken the silence of his new room for him to realise his mistake.

Whoever Miroku was working for…they didn't know he had met him.

If Miroku wasn't working for Onigumo, or Naraku -whatever his name was- meant that he was even more out of sorts than previously. The wrath of the other agents when he and Kagome had returned with nothing to go on was enough to have his head spinning, opting to let them hash it out between themselves when one too many names he didn't know had found their way into the mix. Fortunately, they'd let him leave without so much as a peep, the liability that he was.

Whoever had tampered with his chip…implanted his chip when he was far too young and thrown Miroku of all fucking people into his life was still out there and had probably been there with him every step of the way.

It was all becoming too much.

He'd hid in his room, shoving the duffel Miroku had given him to the back of the cabinets, reminiscent of his treatment of them before. He needed to compartmentalise everything that had happened in the last few days, and he couldn't do that with their stench drawing his attention every few minutes. He thought to eat, he tried to sleep, but his brain just wouldn't shut off.

Inuyasha pushed off the bed he'd tried to make himself comfortable in and failed miserably at, grabbing the pen file that had been given to him the night before as it sat idle on the nightstand. He was going to finally read into all the "evil" things this Naraku character had done, not only for himself but for Kagome's sake. He didn't want her catching heat for his lack of knowledge about…everything.

He padded over to the armchair that sat next to a small table and tapped the light that sat attached to the wall above them. A faint glow lit the small seating area as he settled himself, leaning back and finding a comfortable position. He was going to read every single thing, every single word, every single fucking letter in this file, and he was going to retain that information.

He was ready.

Fin