The day after Yunho's party started off quietly enough. All the Inner Circle members were so tired from the events the previous night that they ended up sleeping past their usual wake up times. Even the early bird Han Geng didn’t emerge from his room until well into the afternoon. And when they did finally come out of the rooms they all were slow moving and drained that the rest of the gang kept a wide distance away from them. Some of the members were known to have horrid tempers when angered, and that plus lack of sleep would probably end someone up killed. The only member who was not in a cranky mood was Donghae. In fact the leader of M was in such a good mood he was seen humming loudly as he made his way through the hallways.

"Hello Kyuhyun!" He called out cheerfully as he saw the computer genius. "How are you this fine day?"

"Oh my god. You are too ing perky today. Seriously what did you take last night?"

"I didn’t take anything. I am just in a good mood. Is that a problem?"

"Yes damn it! It's too early for this ."

"Kyuhyun its almost 2pm."

"like I said, too ing early for this ." He grumbled loudly as he went into the kitchen. A cheerful Donghae followed after. "Wook I so hope you have some food ready. And perhaps a tranquillizer to get Donghae back to normal."

Ryeowook chuckled softly. He looked worn out as well, but his movements were still efficient enough in the kitchen. He waited for the two to sit down before placing a plate of food in front of them. He had decided to make a light lunch since they all skipped breakfast but he made sure the coffee was fresh for all of them. At the table was already Han Geng, Zhou Mi, Siwon, Kyuhyun and Donghae. No one was surprised to not see Henry, nor did any of them expect to see the maknae any time soon. Instead they all quietly ate their food and drank their coffee. Well except Donghae that is. The man could not sit still in his chair and kept bouncing about. Kyuhyun looked ready to kill the leader and Han Geng was both amused and concerned for their leader.

"Donghae." He softly called.

"Yes Han Geng." Donghae sang.

"I am glad that you are so happy. Really, I am. But you need to calm down. You are starting to scare everyone and I'm pretty sure Kyuhyun is ready to stab you with his butter knife."

Donghae looked over at the mentioned man and saw with great amusement that his eye was twitching in a very violent manner. Snickering he stood up from his chair and grabbed his plate. Thanking Ryeowook for the meal he dropped his plate in the sink. He called to Han Geng to follow him before he left the kitchen. Before he was out of earshot he heard Kyuhyun questioning his sanity and Zhou Mi telling the younger to shut up already. He chuckled and leaned against the wall. A few minutes later Han Geng exited the kitchen as well. His number two had a smirk on his face as he stared at the leader.

"Walk with me Geng." Donghae said as he headed down the hallway.

"I hope you really are okay Donghae." Han Geng began as they started walking. "The others really are worried about your sanity. I'd hate to have to kill you to protect the rest of us."

"I'm perfectly sane, just happy is all." Donghae replied with a roll of his eyes. "Kyuhyun is the crazy one here. But that is not the point. Besides me being in a good mood there was a lot of other stuff that happened last night, am I right?"

"Yes, we need to have a pretty in depth conversation I believe. I think I know what EXO game plan is, or at least why they are attacking us right now."

"Good, then you accomplished what you wanted last night?"

"I am at least more aware of what's going on. There is a history between us and them."

"Really? Never even heard of these little s until Zhou Mi came back telling me about Tao."

"Trust me, we are connected. We have a lot to discuss Donghae."

"I always trust you. That's why you are my number two and not Siwon. But as for this discussion, let's make sure it doesn’t go too long. I have plans tonight."

Han Geng paused in his walking but it was unnoticed by Donghae as they had arrived at his office. Opening the door the pair went in and locked it behind them. Donghae took his seat at the desk while Han Geng sat in one of the chairs. Han Geng leaned back in the chair and gave his leader and friend a look over.

"I know it's not really my business. But what exactly happened last night to you? Does it have anything to do with Eunhyuk and is that the plans you have tonight?"

"That's a lot of questions Geng. But it's fair to ask. Where should I start?"

"Last night."

Donghae leaned back and nodded his head.

"Last night I had made major strides with Eunhyuk of T. Now I know everyone will probably be against it, but there is something about him that is just…I don’t even know how to explain it. But I want to figure it out. Tonight I am meeting with him again."

"Donghae….you are a smart man. I don’t need to tell you the dangers of your actions. But do be careful. Eunhyuk is directly connected to Leeteuk. I don’t know how well the leader of T will take if he finds out his successor and his enemy are seeing each other."

"And how is my actions any different from your own?" Donghae challenged with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"Don’t play naïve with me. I know you had a rather unique hook up with Heechul awhile back. And I know something went down between you two at the party last night. You had a soft look in your eyes after you spoke with him."

Han Geng had the decency to look embarrassed. Donghae wanted to smirk, but it wasn’t completely the right time. Instead he leaned forward and gave a hard look to his number two.

"I trust you Han Geng. And I know that what you are doing is a dangerous game, as I am doing the same thing. But we need to let this play out on our own terms. Because if you try to tell me to not see Eunhyuk again I will make sure you never see the Silver Gunman again neither. Do you understand?"

"Yes Leader." Han Geng replied with a bowed head. The respectful tone indicated he took Donghae's threat seriously.

"Very good. Now enough of this. Tell me what you learned about EXO."

"Not just me. Let me get Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi as well. They had also indicated having talked with this gang."

"Fine, get them."

Han Geng quickly left the room to round up the other members. In a few minutes all of Donghae's Inner Circle members were sitting around in his study. Donghae looked them all over once before turning back to his number two.

"Okay who shall begin?"

"I will. Donghae do you remember a couple of years ago we were trying the idea of picking kids from an orphanage to join our gang?"

"Vaguely. I only remember that I left you in charge of it. But no one ever joined us."

"Right, because they didn’t like the fact they would be able to return to China again if they became M members. Well the four Chinese men from EXO are former kids from that orphanage. We were planning on taking them here but when they learned the draw back they fled."

"Yes that is correct. Those brats are the deserters?"

"Yes. Kris is clearly after us because of it. We had trained them to be a part of us, and now they are using that knowledge against us."

"And their vendetta against T?"

"I think that is also because of us. We gave them the information about the gang and they know that in order to be on top they have to take out both of us. Hence also why he is jumping after Big Bang, B.A.P and others."

"Well ." Donghae muttered before turning to the others. "What have you learned?"

"They want to convert me to join them." Zhou Mi replied. He glanced over at Henry before continuing. "They plan to harm Henry in order do so."

"They told you this?"

"Yes. The member named Lay did. They are brash kids all right. I have never met someone who has laid out their plans in such a manner. That is either foolishness or confidence in their ability."

"Insane is what I think." Donghae muttered. "But I don’t have to worry about them getting you to switch sides right?"

"Of course Donghae-gege. I am loyal to you through and through. And I'd rather work with any one of you than Kris or Tao." He gave a disgusted shiver at the latter name. "That brat still pisses me off."

"Well what about you Ryeowook?"

"I was with Henry and Zhou Mi when Lay came up. I have nothing new to say to it."

"Fair enough. Kyuhyun?"

"I was approached by Suho actually. He is their number two apparently. I'm not too sure about him though. He doesn’t seem to mind Kris' plans but he is also not a part of them either. I think he and some of the other Korean members have separate plans that we don’t know about yet."

"Oh?"

"Just a vibe. But during our conversation TVXQ's Changmin came up. He has his own agenda. Even though Yunho is apparently not getting involved, they still want us to not completely go all out on them."

"What?" Donghae hissed darkly.

"Well at least when Suho is involved. Like I said, there is something more to the gang that what we've seen. I think Kris and Suho are playing a sort of tug of war that we are not seeing. At least that's what I got from Changmin's cryptic messages."

"I see. I won't worry too much about that just yet. Siwon did you talk with anyone from EXO?"

"No, they didn’t talk to me. But I did keep an eye on them during the party."

"And?"

"I agree with Kyuhyun's observation. There is an invisible divide between some of the members. They all stood together but they also seemed separate as well. I think there is the ability to cause some problems for them if we use it to our advantage."

"I see…" Donghae frowned for a moment to think over what he heard before turning to Han Geng. "What do you think we should do?"

Han Geng seemed hesitant for a minute before seeming to come to a conclusion to go with what was in his mind.

"What if we worked with T on this matter?" Seeing everyone wanting to comment he pressed on. "It's obvious that we will have our hands full with them. And we only met a few of them last night. Clearly there is more members and more in play. We are outnumbered then. But if we work with Leeteuk then we may have a chance. It doesn’t have to be permanent but at least let's get through this mess."

"Interesting idea. Any thoughts?" He directed to the others.

"I'd say we go for it." Kyuhyun suggested right away. "It's a smart plan to say the least. Leeteuk has resources we do not and we have the same against them."

"I also think we should go for it." Siwon agreed with a small hand wave. "They may also know something we do not. And it's best to keep our enemies close during times like this."

"Zhou Mi? Henry? Ryeowook?"

"I don’t know….we have never worked with Leeteuk before. How do we even go about it. If anyone walked into the T headquarters they would find a bullet in the head by Heechul before they could get a word in." Zhou Mi said softly.

"I don’t really care either way to be honest." Henry replied with a casual shrug. "We work with them, or we don’t. We have other gangs we can ally with as well."

"He has a point." Ryeowook agreed. "But I also think Leeteuk would be safe. 2PM and MBLAQ are also going to war. And Big Bang will stand with Leeteuk. B2ST is still neutral. And I don’t know any rookie gangs that would be a good choice for us."

"What about Shinee?"

"No, they always do what Yunho tells them. If he has them stay out of it then they will."

"We can still ask." Ryeowook suggested. "I can go there and talk with Onew about this. He has always been honest with us. If we plead our case well they may join in."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Donghae agreed with a pleased nod. "Okay lets go with that as well. You talk with Onew and Han Geng and I can work out a way to approach Leeteuk. Kyuhyun see if you can find anything out about EXO that we can use to our advantage. Zhou Mi hit the streets. They are clearly making strong strides and we need to know what they have done and what they are planning."

"Donghae, I want to help too!" Henry said with a raised hand.

"No, if Lay was being honest about targeting you then you need to stay here." Donghae denied with a shake of his head.

"I want to help!" He snapped angrily. "Lay was saying that all I ever do around here is take up space and resources and I have to prove that wrong. Donghae give me a task, let me show you I am not worthless!"

"Henry you know Lay was saying that to get a rise out of you!" Ryeowook jumped in. "If you go out there you are doing exactly what he wants!"

"He is right though. All I ever do is hide in the gang. I never get any missions and I have killed anyone since that first one three years ago. I am a member of M and in the Inner Circle. Show me you believe in that too."

Henry stared heatedly towards Donghae. The man couldn’t help but admire this new passion from their youngest member. The others were right of course that it could spell danger but if he wanted to do it then who was Donghae to deny him. And Henry was good, when he wanted to be. He will prevail.

"Okay." Donghae agreed with a nod. "I will figure out something for you to do. At the moment I don’t have anything. But I promise it will be something to show your worth here."

"Thank you." Henry bowed to him before sitting down again.

"What about me Donghae?" Siwon asked curiously.

There was an interesting glint in the leader's eyes. He stared at his friend and smirked.

"Oh you have an important job. You are going to figure out what the police know about all of this."

"What do you mean? Do you want me to go talk to…."

"No." Donghae interrupted with a darker smirk. "But he will also be informed. No, you will get the seed in their heads that they need to investigate this and find out what they can."

"And how am I to do that?"

"You are going to get Kim Kibum involved."

"What!" Siwon jumped to his feet. "That man wants us all behind bars. How am I to convince him otherwise?"

"You are a smart man Siwon. I think you can do it. And it has to be Kibum. Stay away from Jongwoon. That man is already pretty deep with us. He might not be useful enough for this. But Kibum is still fresh in the force. He is also still head strong and hot headed. We need that energy to divert Kris' attention."

"I see, we get the police on EXO and Kris will be forced to deal with them and not us."

"Exactly. So can you do this or not?"

"I'm in. I will take care of Kibum."

"Good." Donghae leaned back and looked at Han Geng. "Anything else?"

"No. For now we are good. I will take care of getting a meeting set up for us. And what we can offer to T for their help. You know that Leeteuk will be wanting a lot."

"We will be fine on that. If that's everything then we are done here. We can figure it out later all the details."

The other members nodded at this and started to get to their feet. If they were done with the meeting then there was no point hanging around the room. And based off of Donghae's expression, he really didn’t want to deal with any of them at the moment. They filled out quietly, some of them muttering how they were wanting to go back to bed or just spend the day resting. When they were all gone Donghae smiled cheerfully again. Looking at the clock he realized he had quite a few hours before his appointment with Eunhyuk. Humming to himself he went to his room and began going through his clothes to find out what to wear. He felt like he was back in school getting ready for a first date that is how giddy he was. There was something about the man that was getting to Donghae. And while he knew the others were concerned about it he couldn’t find himself to care.

Picking out his outfit he decided to rest in bed for a little bit before showering and getting ready. He went to his bed and threw his back onto the bed. Tucking his arms underneath his head he stared up at the ceiling. Last night he knew he was going to see Eunhyuk again. But he didn’t know what he was going to say, or what the other would say to him. To say he was pleased with the results was an understatement. He was able to chat with Eunhyuk and learn the other also had feelings for him. And the desire to see each other again. And most importantly, the kiss. Even now he could feel the soft plump feeling of Eunhyuk's lips on his. It was something tittering, and something he wanted to make sure he did again. Tonight preferably.

Suddenly energized again about the prospect of kissing Eunhyuk again, Donghae looked at the clock. Seeing that it was a reasonable time to head to the river he jumped out of the bed. Rushing to the bathroom he quickly showered and dressed. Spending a good twenty minutes in front of the mirror, something he normally didn’t do, he took his time in making sure he looked his best. When he was finally satisfied with the results he slipped his gun in his inner pocket of his jacket and made his way out of the room.

He was rather surprised he was able to leave the gangs home without anyone seeing him. But he didn’t allow it to worry him either. He took a comfortable stroll through the streets of Seoul as he headed down to the Han River. It was always a fun walk, because no one was ever around to bother him and they were luckily close to the river. When he arrived he was a little disappointed that Eunhyuk had not arrived yet but took a seat at the bench where they spoke a month ago at. The night was somewhat similar to the last time he was there. It was quiet and the weather was cool, but not uncomfortably cold. The sky was almost bare of any clouds and the full moon was easily the brightest thing in the sky. He took in a deep breath and released it in a loud sigh. It was times like this that he felt like he could finally relax.

"You actually came." Eunhyuk's soft voice spoke from behind him.

"I said I would. But it seems I beat you here." He replied as he looked over his shoulder.

Eunhyuk stood behind him. He was dressed in casual clothes and his hair was styled nicely. But the thing that caught his attention was the almost pained look on the other's face. Getting to his feet he peered closely at the other.

"What's wrong? You look upset about something." He asked concerned.

"Sorry. I spoke to my leader last night about you. We had, well a interesting conversation about it. And I guess its weighing on my mind."

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth. That I am growing fond of you. That I care about you deeply. That I am here tonight to see you."

"I see." Donghae felt pleased about the other's answer. But he could tell that voicing that would upset the T member. So he instead brought the other around the bench and sat him down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He questioned softly.

"I do have a question for you." Eunhyuk replied instead. He looked at Donghae with a determined face. "If this, thing we are building, continues on. Will you at one point ask me to betray my gang and join yours?"

"That's a loaded question. I guess I really don’t know. As fun as it would be to steal Leeteuk's successor from him, I know that it would only hurt all of you. Since the first time we met I could tell that you had a powerful loyalty to your gang. And now that I am getting to know you more, I don’t want you to lose that quality about you. So I don’t think I would ask that of you at the moment. But if I did, what would you do?"

"I'd tell you no. Leader-shi has placed his trust in me. I am to succeed him and become the new leader of T. Everything that has been happening lately has been to prepare us for that. I cannot just throw it all away, even for someone like you."

Donghae had to smile. Reaching over he took Eunhyuk's hand in his own. The other looked over at him curiously.

"It is that nature about you that I think first drew me in. I am glad you answered the way you did. It means you heart is still rather pure. Leeteuk is very lucky to have you. I am jealous."

Eunhyuk smiled shyly at that. Leaning over, he rested his head on Donghae's shoulder and sighed contently.

"Donghae." He whispered softly.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know."

"Everything."

Donghae smiled and kissed Eunhyuk on the top of his head.

"Sure. I'll tell you everything about me. The sun won't rise for a while anyways."