All-time Lows; I never done good things
Sakura crept through the dark corridors of the police station, pulling her coat firmly around her and hunching her shoulder in an effort to make herself seem smaller. She entered a dull room full of junk and boxes and took a deep breath.
She had been advised by a woman in the police to come here for help after her claim wasn't taken seriously in the main office. No one took this kind of thing seriously in the police it seemed. They took one look at a pretty girl and assume she was just asking for it.
Sakura's cheeks burned as she recalled their laughter as she left the large spacious offices. She had been called back by a middle aged police woman who introduced herself as Tsunade. Tsunade had apologised for the behaviour of her colleagues and directed her to this dark place as a place to be taken seriously if she really wanted to go through with her claim.
"Their methods might be a bit unorthodox," Tsuande had said, "but they'll take you seriously and try to bring about justice for you if they can."
Sakura had thanked her and following her directions had ended up here, in what looked like the lost and found area.
"Oh, what is this?" Sakura asked herself, sitting down on a box which sagged slightly under her weight. "I should just go home." She muttered.
"Um, hello there?" An uncertain voice made her jump as she saw a dark figure in the room with her carrying a box. "Do you need some help?"
"I was told to come here by someone called Tsunade, but I think I may be in the wrong place."
"Well if your looking to get something investigated and press charges then you're in the right place."
"Here?" Sakura looked sceptical, and the man nodded, "really?"
"They're just trying to get rid of us." Another, more cheerful voice said in her ear. Sakura jumped and turned round to see a blond haired man behind her, he gave her a broad smile. "We have to high a success rate and make everyone else feel bad." He said smiling.
"Are you sure?" His companion asked, "It's not because Uchiha has a habit of pissing our bosses off?" The blond man scowled at him.
"That to, but," He gave Sakura a reassuring smile, "We always manage to solve our cases it's just that our DI can be very blunt and people don't exactly value brutal honesty." Sakura gave him a slight smile. "I'm Naruto by the way" The blond extended his hand to her and Sakura hesitantly shook it. "And this is Sai." The dark haired man nodded at her.
There was a sudden burst of sunlight and Sakura could make out the shape of a door, Naruto gave a slight laugh and dashed towards it.
"You found a window!" Sai rolled his eyes at Naruto's actions and Sakura shifted position as she heard an inaudible reply to Naruto's statement, she wondered who it was, their boss perhaps?
"Hey!" Naruto called back to her. "If you want you can go into our, um…new office." Sakura straightened up and headed over to the door way giving Naruto a soft "thank you".
She looked around the office which was now partially lit by a single window. It was full of papers and files that covered the desks that were in it. She squinted slightly as more sunlight made its way into the office and she saw a dark figure uncovering a second window that had been previously hidden by newspaper.
"How can we help you?" The figure asked gesturing at her to sit down at the chair opposite the desk. "I know these aren't, uh, ideal conditions but we'll help you if we can."
"Thank you," Sakura said softly sitting down once again, although the chair was considerable more comfortable than the box.
The person in the office took the other chair behind the desk and turned to face her, resting their elbows on the wood and interlocking their fingers in front of their face. Sakura looked curiously at the person; there was an uncanny resemblance to Sai in their features but there were still some obvious differences, this person seemed more confident for a start and their dark eyes glittered red in the shadowy room. Sakura took a deep breath.
"I'd like to report a rape," She said quietly.
"Rape." The person repeated, looking at her carefully and Sakura braced herself. Here we go she thought, queue laughter and some sort of snide comment about how she must have deserved it. They raised their eyebrows. "That's a very serious allegation; would you be able to identify your attacker?" Sakura nodded, feeling slightly uneasy that she was being taken seriously after all the ridicule.
"Good." The person strode out of the office, leaving Sakura feeling baffled and shouted, "Sai!"
"What?"
"Get a description from her and draw a likeness so we can get started." Sai entered the office and dragged a chair up so he was sitting next to her, he was carrying a sketchbook and a set of graphite sticks.
"Um," Sakura started, "Does this mean that you lot are going to help me?" Sai gave her a thoughtful look.
"Apparently so, now what can you tell me?" Sakura started to sort through her memories to describe the man who wronged her, slowly giving Sai the information so he could piece together and image of the person.
"Sasuke," Naruto said to his friend and colleague. "Do you believe her?" Sasuke gave him a quizzical look.
"Why would she lie?" Naruto shrugged.
"You've got to be able to justify this case upstairs, you know that." Sasuke frowned slightly at this statement.
"Well we'll just have to find some evidence then,"
"You make it sound so simple," Naruto muttered and Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"There have been increased complaints of rape in this area Naruto; it's a serious crime especially if it's the same face that's doing it." Naruto sighed.
"And then what? You know how hard it is to make these charges stick," Sasuke gave Naruto a considering look.
"It's not like you to be this pessimistic." He said simply as he headed back to the office, all conversation between Sai and Sakura seemed to have ended.
"That's not answering my question!" Naruto shouted and dashed after Sasuke.
"Really?" Sasuke said sarcastically. "What do you think about this Naruto?" Sasuke picked Sai's sketch off the table and Naruto looked at it.
"I hate you," He muttered, Sasuke raised his eyebrows and looked expectant. "Fine, you were right, it's the same person." Naruto said sounding defeated.
"So what happens now?" Sai asked looking up at Sasuke who had narrowed his eyes and was staring at the sketch.
"Now?" Sasuke was jerked out of his reverie "now we're going to need to find out what happened." He looked sharply at Sakura who was still sitting in the chair feeling forgotten. "Can you run us through what happened that night?" She nodded.
"Good." Sasuke muttered distractedly as he began rummaging through the boxes in the room. He produced a tape recorder and set it on the table in front of her.
"Now, who are you anyway?" Sasuke had directed this question more to Naruto than Sakura and there was an awkward pause.
"Uh-" Naruto looked at Sai who shrugged.
"I'm Sakura Haruno," Sakura interjected and they all looked at her, she shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.
"Right then Ms Haruno could you tell us when this incident occurred?" Sasuke asked pressing down the record button.
"About a week ago on Friday," Sakura said softly.
"And when did you first go to the police?" This got a sharp look from his colleagues but Sasuke continued to look at Sakura as she formed her answer.
"Two days later I think."
"And why did you approach the police?" Sakura frowned slightly unsure where his questions were going.
"I told my friend what happened and she said that I should at least try to get the guy locked away."
"Okay, we're going to need your friends details later in case we need to contact her." Sakura nodded, "And can you take us through what happened that night, any detail you can tell us will be useful." Sakura hesitated before speaking.
"I was out with my friend..."
"The same friend as before?" Naruto interrupted receiving a glare from Sasuke.
"Yes," Sakura replied, "We were out at a bar the um…wine bar own St. Martin's Street." Sasuke nodded at her and Sakura continued more confidently, at least they were willing to listen to her story. "And Ino, my friend, has always been quite…confident with men and after we had a few drinks she found me and said that we wouldn't be heading home together as she'd, well, found someone, so I decided to walk home by myself."
"Walk?" Sasuke asked and Sakura felt herself getting defensive.
"Yes, it's only about ten minutes away."
"And what time would you say it was?"
"Not that late I don't think; it was dark but maybe only about ten?" Sasuke nodded.
"And then what happened?" He said softly.
"I left the bar and started going home. There were a lot of people outside it, smoking and that, so I didn't think anything of it when someone was behind me when I just left." She paused and the room was completely still. "After a little bit of walking I thought it was a bit strange that they were still behind me, I reached the corner near the main street and that was when they grabbed me and-" She was shaking slightly and Sasuke decided to cut in.
"You don't have to go any further," He said abruptly, and Sakura nodded looking down at her hands. "And this is definitely him right?" Sasuke asked waving Sai's drawing in front of her, Sakura flinched and nodded.
"Jeez Sasuke, have some sensitivity," Naruto muttered and Sasuke just glared at him.
"Right," He said and started pacing the room, "Sai you find the place where it happened, and Naruto I want you to get details on, Ino was it, and Ms Haruno's address, and so on, I'll got check the files." He strode out the room and they heard his footsteps fade down the corridor, Sai gathered his things and followed suit leaving Naruto with Sakura. Naruto gave her a sheepish smile.
"He's always like this, Sasuke I mean, or Detective Inspector Uchiha, whatever, but he will make sure your case is solved."
"Thanks," Sakura said quietly. "Um, when you said it was the same person…" She asked cautiously, Naruto looked at his feet.
"Yeah, they've committed an offence before but the police have never been able to take him to court, every time." He sounded weary.
"The offense is the same?" She asked and Naruto nodded "And how many time has he" Sakura stopped abruptly "…done this." Naruto sighed.
"To many, and they're all pretty recently too," He looked at Sakura's face "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"Are you staying at your own home?" Naruto asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her well being, Sakura shook her head.
"Ino said I could stay with her." Naruto nodded.
"Naruto, I asked you to do something." Sasuke said re-entering the room and dumping a stack of papers on his desk. "So do it."
It was silent for a while as everyone went about their respective tasks. Sakura sat quietly answering Naruto's questions to the best of her ability but her eyes kept wandering over to where the DI sat pouring over the files he had fetched, frowning slightly as he scanned the documents. His frown seemed to deepen the more he read and soon all quiet conversation in the small office fell and all their attention was on Sasuke. Sai returned and silently went and took a seat at his desk and turned his attention to Sasuke as well. There was a small;
"Hn." And Sasuke began rummaging through the papers again as if to check for something.
With that simple sound the whole atmosphere in the office changes and became charged with anticipation. Sasuke sat and stared at one piece of paper in his hand for a while before anyone spoke.
"Have you found something Sasuke?" Naruto ventured breaking the silence.
"Maybe," Sasuke said and he abruptly stood up, "We need to go talk to the other victims."
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"We'll have to get their permission to publish their cases." Naruto's eyes widened as he realised what Sasuke meant, Sakura however felt confused.
"I suppose, if you think that's necessary Uchiha." Sai said finally and Sasuke nodded, looking intently at the papers again.
Sakura looked at the three men in the room. Sasuke was sitting again with his hands in front of his face, and Sakura guessed that it was a habit of his, but even so he emitted a dangerous aura like a predator coiled ready to strike.
In contrast Naruto was lounging in his chair with his feet on his desk but his well meaning attitude made Sakura trust him. Sai on the other hand sat quietly and seemed to keep to himself most of the time. He seemed more comfortable stating facts than his own opinion and it was these men that Sakura had entrusted her problem. And the strange thing was that she trusted this mismatched group to solve it. She took a deep breath.
"Can I come?" Sasuke looked at her sharply and she felt her resolve wavering under his gaze.
"You." Sasuke said flatly.
"Yes me." Sakura said looking directly back at him.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sai shake his head slightly but she could feel Naruto's reassuring gaze on her, silently encouraging her, as opposed to Sasuke's dark look as he studied her, considering her proposition.
After a long silence Sasuke gather the papers into two separate piles and stood up again and walked towards the door, he turned and leant against the door frame.
"Right, Sai and Naruto you two go and talk to these people and explain the situation."
"Everything?" Sai inquired and Sasuke nodded and then turned to Sakura who still sat by Naruto.
"And you, you're with me," Sakura glowered slightly.
"I do have a name you know," She muttered to Naruto, who grinned at her.
"Sure, and so does Sasuke but I've yet to hear you use it either." Sakura ignored him and gather her coat, she waited with Sasuke until the other two had left and followed him out of the police station. Despite her insisting that she wanted to come with him Sakura still didn't know what it was they were meant to be doing.
Sakura hung back slightly as Sasuke rang the doorbell of the first house and they waited a few moments before a slightly harassed looking young woman opened the door.
"Oh," She looked disappointed, "Sorry, you're not who I expected."
"Am I right to assume that you're Rika Imawura?" Sasuke asked and the woman's face became a little guarded.
"Yes." She said shortly and Sasuke took out his police identification.
"I'm DI Uchiha from the Konoha police force and this is Ms Haruno, may we come in?" Rika nodded and directed them into the living room where two children eyed them suspiciously.
"Sorry," Rika apologised, "We're just waiting for my sister to pick them up." They fell into an uncomfortable silence and then one of the children spoke.
"What are you here for?" He asked and Sasuke shocked Sakura by giving the child a warm smile.
"We just need to talk to your mum for a bit."
"Oh," The child fell silent, "You could talk to her now." A panicked look briefly crossed Rika's face but Sasuke was saved from having to reply when the doorbell rang again. Rika answered it and called for her children to great the newcomer. Fragments of conversation drifted into the living room.
"Sorry….late…traffic was terrible."
"You two behave yourselves then."
"…"
"What was that?"
"We will mum."
Sakura looked at Sasuke who seemed impassive as ever, she looked around the room which was full of kid's games and toys and then back to Sasuke again. He hadn't said anything but Sakura got the feeling he knew she was looking at him.
"What exactly are we doing here?" Sakura said finally, "You never said," Sasuke ignored the question and Rika wandered back into the living room.
"What was it you wanted?" She asked.
"You reported an incident with the police a few months ago." Sasuke said and Sakura saw hope form on Rika's face.
"You found him?" Sasuke shook his head and the closed expression came back.
"I'd like to clear something up with you if that's aright," It was more of a statement than a question.
"I already told you lot everything ages ago," Rika retorted, "Haven't you got enough to catch him with yet." Sasuke gave an impatient sigh.
"I'm actually here to tell you information that was previously withheld from you by the police and I would like your assistance with something," Now she grew suspicious.
"What?" Sasuke drew a picture out of the file he was carrying; Sakura recognised it as Sai's drawing.
"Is this the man?" Rika recoiled visibly and nodded, "Then I'm sorry to inform you that you were not his first victim or his last." Sasuke continued flatly and he nodded towards Sakura who grew uneasy, "Ms Haruno is the most recent victim who has come forward against this man and these incidents have been occurring for over a year with little police action and I'm sure all of his victims would like some justice." Rika snorted.
"No one takes crimes against women seriously, what are you suggesting we do anyway stop wearing skirts and 'asking for it'?" Sakura glanced at Sasuke wondering how he'd respond to this but he kept his blank facial expression and just raised his eyebrows.
"I'd actually like your permission to let us give all the details of your attack to the media and let it be published, it would be under a false name, all of it will be," He added with a swift glance at Sakura, "And this way the man will be identified by one of the public and the police will be forced to take action or face public criticism." Sakura was stunned.
"You're going to leak police information to the media," She asked and Sasuke nodded, "No wonder I was told you have unorthodox methods and you do seem to unnecessarily stir things up." Sasuke glared furiously at her.
"I doubt you're aware of the fact that there are some people who have been waiting for over a year for this man to be arrested. He's committed numerous offences and according to the records we have some people have even had counselling to deal with what he's done to them. I'll do what ever it takes to bring the bastard down." He said sharply, Sakura was taken aback by the venom in his words and looked away to hide the unshed tears in her eyes, luckily Rika diverted Sasuke's attention away from Sakura as she laughed slightly.
"I like that attitude. Count me in you can tell them all you want about my case." Sasuke nodded.
"Thanks," He said curtly, "We'll leave you in peace now." He went to the door and let himself out with Sakura following feeling more confused than ever about Sasuke's actions and his attitude.
She stayed silent as she followed Sasuke around to the other houses, gaining all of their consent when they got back to the station Sasuke busied himself with the papers again and completely ignored her presence in their office talking only to Naruto and Sai, consequently it came as a relief when Naruto offered her a lift to Ino's house to take her to her temporary home and away from Sasuke's presence.
Sakura accepted the lift and she left with Naruto filling the silence between them, wondering not for the first time what it was the made Sasuke tick.
"Naruto," She said uncertainly, "You and Sasuke are friends right?" Naruto glanced at her and gave her a warm smile.
"Of course," He replied, "Sasuke's my closest friend, we've known each other for years." Sakura frowned.
"Is that why you're friends, just as you've known each other for a long time," Naruto shook his head.
"Sasuke's a complicated person and I'm not surprised that you don't like him."
"It's not that," Sakura protested.
"Sasuke's not easy to get along with," Naruto paused, "It's difficult to explain, but just remember that Sasuke's extremely good at his job and as you know not everyone takes that kind of crime seriously."
"Rape you mean," Sakura said and Naruto looked uneasy.
"You all go out of your way not to say it." She looked out of the car window, watching the landscape whisk by "I know what happened to me Naruto."
"And Sasuke will find the guy who did it," Naruto said firmly and gave Sakura a wry smile, "He's got a strong sense of justice." Sakura smiled weakly back at Naruto, despite all he had said she was still unsure about Sasuke's character.
Naruto pulled up outside Ino's house and saw a blonde haired woman open the door and come out to meet them, pulling her jacket around her to ward off the cold. "Is that her?" Naruto asked nodding at the new comer.
"Yeah that's Ino," She opened the door and stepped out to greet her friend.
"Sakura, I didn't know you were getting escorted back," Ino peered into the car, "What did she do the deserve this?" Ino asked Naruto who grinned.
"Ino," Sakura protested, "Naruto just offered me a lift home, that's all." She shut the door of the car and waved to Naruto as he drove off.
"Well how was it?" Ino asked wrapping an arm around Sakura and walking with her back to the open door of Ino's house.
It could have been worse." Sakura said with a shrug, "I got completely laughed at and humiliated when I first came to report it but," She gave a small smile, "I found some people willing to listen to me."
"And one of them was that Naruto right?" Sakura nodded.
"Him and two others a Sai and Sasuke Uchiha."
"Only three people?" Sakura nodded.
"But three's better than nothing and Naruto assures me that DI Uchiha is very good at his job." Ino nodded in understanding and she walked with Sakura up to her temporary room, Ino stood awkwardly in the door way watching as Sakura organised her things.
"Are you sure you don't mind me going out tonight?" She asked and Sakura smiled at her.
"Its fine Ino, you already cancelled on Shikamaru last week because of me," Ino looked torn.
"I just feel bad for leaving you alone as I'll be at work tomorrow as well and you came to me for help Sakura." Ino said.
"Its fine," Sakura repeated, "Really Ino."
Rapist in Konoha?
A series of crimes in Konoha have been reported with little serious action has been taken by the police force. There is evidence that over twelve woman have been raped by the same assailant but it appears that the police have done little to apprehend the man despite having sufficient evidence to move against him. On the right is an image of the attacker that all of the women have identified and if anyone knows this man it is advised that they should contact the police. He is considered dangerous and has been at large in Konoha for over a year. We are advising young women to not go out alone at night, to try to avoid isolated areas and to walk home in a group to avoid being targeted.
See page 7 for more details.