Chapter 4

Naruto whistled a giddy tune as he walked down the hallway to Sakura's apartment for the third time that week. Kakashi had sent him to check on the two detectives who had left early on their day off to make sure they weren't killing each other. Sasuke and Sakura had been living with each other for the past week, providing for each other in the way Kakashi wanted them to. Even though they hadn't been fond of the idea at first, the two detectives learned to live with it as they worked together on the case. While living together for a week, all the people in the precinct noticed certain similarities between the two: They both woke up at five-thirty every morning; they arrived at work at the same time every day; and they left at the same time despite the fact they were living together.

As Naruto approached Sakura's door, he could hear muffled voices inside that seemed to be bickering at one another. Raising his eyebrows in confusion, he pressed his ear to the door and caught their conversation.

"That doesn't go there!" Sakura moaned.

"Let me do this," Sasuke grunted.

"You're putting that in wrong!" Naruto's eyes widened as he looked back at the door. Were they…? He knocked at the door hurriedly and heard footsteps going to the door. It unlocked and opened to reveal a surprised Sakura with a grumbling Sasuke behind her.

"Uh, um," Naruto stammered. "What are you guys doing?" Sakura looked at Sasuke before saying, "Sasuke and I were installing a new TV I just bought. He keeps putting in the wrong colored wires to the TV."

"O-Oh, I thought you were doing…you know…" Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion before her eyes went really wide.

"Why the hell were you thinking that?" Sakura screamed, alerting Sasuke's attention. He watched as Sakura dragged Naruto into the apartment and start berating him about how he was an adult and he shouldn't be thinking such perverted thoughts about his colleagues.

"All I was saying is that it sounded like it!" Naruto cried.

"How old are you, Naruto?" Sakura asked angrily. "Fifteen?"

"Actually, I'm twenty-four if you must-"

"That was a rhetorical question!"

"Naruto, what did you come here for?" Sasuke asked. Naruto turned his attention to his friend and grinned.

"Kakashi wanted me to come check up on you guys. Oh! And he wants you two in early tomorrow so you can go check out the recent murder sight." Sakura groaned and ran a hand through her hair.

"And just when I think we could have some time off," they heard her mutter under her breath. The two men exchanged glances as Sakura walked into the kitchen where they heard the clinking of glasses. "You want anything to drink?"

"Nah," Naruto sighed. "I have to go back to the station. Kakashi said something about 'new people'." The blonde made quotation motions with his fingers and he shrugged. He started walking to the door and he turned to them. "Remember to be in early. Be good you two." Naruto winked suggestively and shut the door behind him as Sakura screamed in frustration, crossing her arms angrily. Sasuke chuckled and nudged his partner's arm playfully.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Sasuke teased. "Can't handle a perverted guy like Naruto?"

"Sasuke, I've handled over hundreds of perverted men who rape girls and young women. I think I can handle something minor like the perverted mind of Naruto." Sasuke smirked down at her before rubbing her hair, mussing it up and making her growl.

"Now, let's get this TV set up. This apartment needs an update in technology anyway."

"Hold on a second. Let me go open a window; it's, like, over a thousand degrees in here." Sasuke nodded with a chuckle, watching Sakura move to a window nearest to her with bored eyes. She looked down for a second, watching a squirrel run up a tree with happy eyes. Then, a shadow detached itself from under the tree and Sakura's eyes widened. She gasped, alerting Sasuke near his spot by the TV he was putting together.

"Sakura?" he questioned. The woman backed away from the window hurriedly, her hand over her mouth in horror. "Sakura, what's wrong!"

"He…He's out there!" Sakura cried quietly. Sasuke's eyes widened as he dropped the cords he was holding and rushed over to her, his gun parallel to the window. He pushed her back quickly and leaned his back against the wall, his gun pulled against his chest as he looked down at the yard below. Sakura bit her lip as she watched Sasuke look down at the tree where she had seen the man that was targeting them both. She heard him sigh and Sasuke looked back at her with a frown on his face.

"Sakura, there's no one out there," he said softly.

"W-What? That's impossible!" Sakura walked briskly to the window and slammed it open harshly to peer outside. "I saw him standing out there with something in his hand!"

"Just calm down, okay? There's no need to get so defensive."

Sakura stared at him in disbelief. "You don't believe me, do you?" When Sasuke didn't answer, Sakura narrowed her eyes in anger and spun on her heel to go to her bedroom, stomping angrily to it.

"Sakura, wait a minute," Sasuke called but Sakura stuck her middle finger up at him without even turning to him. He glared at her back and heard her door slam shut, the lock turning in place. 'Jeez,' he thought as he gave one last look out the window. 'This case is going to be the death of all of us if she continues to go crazy on us like this.' He narrowed his eyes at the shadows before pulling the blinds down to shield the inside.


"Glad you could join us, Sasuke," Kakashi said greeting his top detective. Sasuke grunted in reply and slumped down at his desk. Naruto and Kiba looked up from their own desks and watched Sasuke pound his head on the desk in frustration. From the top landing, Sakura sniffed and continued looking through a file she had pulled from the previous Jack the Copy Cat case. 'Serves you right.' Sakura had turned Sasuke's alarm clock off to make him late in an act of revenge the previous night.

"I thought I reminded you last night to come in early," Naruto said. "It's not like you to be late."

"Thank Sakura for that," Sasuke groaned. Naruto sighed and looked up at the landing where Sakura had her back to them talking to someone next to her.

"Well, there is a reason why I wanted you all to come in early." Kakashi walked to the double doors where he put his hand on the handle. He opened the door and motioned for someone to come in. Sakura walked down the stairs slowly to join her teammates, refusing to look at Sasuke. "I have taken it upon myself to allow two detectives from JPD to join this case due to some-unfortunate-events. Until this case is over, these two will be part of your teams now."

The pair that walked in caught everyone's attention immediately, especially Sakura. "Allow me to introduce ourselves," the woman said. "My name is Tashino Hatake and this is my partner Ryan Dayton." The man tipped his hat to them, his eyes drinking in their details but his gaze stayed longer on Sakura. "Ryan transferred here from America after he graduated from college a couple years ago."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you," Sakura said eagerly. Tashino turned her attention to her, showing Sakura her unnatural red eyes.

"You must be Sakura Haruno," Ryan said quietly. "We've heard a lot about you from Captain Kakashi." Sakura blushed lightly, earning a confused look from her partners.

"Allow me to escort you two to my office," Kakashi suggested. "We'll talk about the rest of the case while my detectives go out to the last crime scene." That was their cue to leave. Naruto and Kiba followed Sasuke and Sakura out of the precinct building with two pairs of eyes following them closely. Tashino and Ryan followed their new boss to his office where Kakashi shut the door behind them.

"We understand how serious this case is," Tashino said sitting down. She brushed her black spiky hair from her face as Ryan leaned against the wall behind her.

"Yes. Four women have been found murdered the same way the original Jack the Ripper and his copy cat did years ago in the past four weeks. It is only a matter of time before the fifth victim turns up." Kakashi sighed wearily as he looked out the window. "I am very grateful JPD has allowed you two to come work for us seeing as how JPD detectives helped us in the same case almost a decade ago."

"We are more than happy to help," Ryan told him.

"Oh, by the way Kakashi. Mom wanted me to tell you that no matter what happens, you have to call her every night." Kakashi blushed in embarrassment and turned her head.

"I swear that woman is going to be the death of me," they heard him murmur. Tashino giggled and turned to Ryan.

"Are you ready to go, Ryan?" Her partner nodded briskly and began to follow her out to where the two teams had gone. Then, Tashino stopped. "Uh, Dad? What's the address?"

"Akishima, baby." Tashino laughed nervously and bowed in thanks. She ran out to catch up with her partner who was already halfway out the building.


Akishima, West Tokyo District 10:00 am

Sakura stepped slowly into the warehouse where the third body had been found, its body sliced up just like the two before it. She motioned for the other four to follow her and the men moved into the expanding room with ease. "Okay," Sakura whispered, "let's get something straight." The four men gathered around her as she spoke. "Just because another group of detectives from another agency is here to help doesn't mean we can rely on them to do this case for us."

"And let's not forget how HOT that Tashino chick was," Kiba mentioned. Naruto snickered but immediately stopped when he caught the looks Sasuke and Sakura were giving him. Kiba walked off to see if there was any evidence they had forgotten just to give something for him to do.

"Naruto, go check out the spot where the body was found and see if there are any other fibers or hairs that we didn't pick up," Sakura ordered. Naruto nodded and walked off to the dark area where the victim's body had been found, pulling on a pair of latex gloves as he did so. Sasuke followed Sakura to the outside where they inspected the entire outside. When they rounded the corner, Sasuke took his partner by the arm and stopped her.

"What, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Do you think we can trust these JPD people?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"They helped SVU in the last Jack the Copy Cat case," Sakura growled. "And not to mention Tashino is Kakashi's daughter."

"So?" Sakura scoffed and pushed Sasuke away to continue looking.

"Sasuke, I don't know what your problem is but you need to learn how to trust people more if you ever want to get closer to someone." Sakura turned away from him to press her hand on the brick wall that was beginning to crumble. Sasuke huffed before following after Sakura, not wanting to bring up the fact that he was pissed at her for turning his alarm clock off. Suddenly, Sakura cried out in surprise as her arm went through a hole in the brick, scaring her greatly.

"Are you okay?" they heard a voice behind them ask. The two turned to see Tashino and Ryan hurrying over to them. Ryan ran over to Sakura and helped her out of the hole as Sakura thanked him shyly. Sasuke scowled and turned his head away and answered, "Yeah. She just fell in a hole." Sakura glared at him as Ryan righted her.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" she exclaimed. Sasuke raised an eyebrow angrily at her.

"What is that suppose to mean?" growled Sasuke. Sakura stuck her tongue at him and he sizzled with anger. "Quit acting like a child, Sakura!"

"Why should I? You act like one all the time!" The two detectives that had just gotten there watched the two fight it out like a married couple and the very thought made Tashino giggle. Finally, Sakura pushed Sasuke away and stalked off to the entrance of the warehouse. Tashino and Ryan both sighed as they followed Sakura, but Tashino turned to Sasuke who had an angry red mark on his face from when he had tried to grab Sakura's arm and Sakura slapped him.

"Man, Sasuke," Tashino scolded. "You may be Japan's number one bachelor, but you sure do have a way with the ladies."

"Shut up, Hatake," Sasuke hissed and pushed past the girl to go his other teammates. He found Sakura leaning against the wide doorframe with Ryan, Naruto, and Kiba standing there as well.

"We didn't find anything," Kiba said once he saw them.

"What do you mean you didn't find anything?" Sasuke asked. "There was evidence all over the place."

"That's what we're talking about." Naruto gestured to the inside of the warehouse. "There's nothing in there: no blood; no fibers. It's as if someone came in here and cleaned it all up!"

"But everyone in our precinct as well as JPD know better than to clean up evidence until the one week period is up. It's only been five days."

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Ryan murmured. They all turned to him and Sakura sighed up at him, her eyes confused.

"You don't do much, do you Mr. Dayton?" she asked. Ryan looked down at her and smirked slightly, causing her to blush a light pink. Naruto coughed hastily and the two looked away from each other to the other detectives.

"Let's get moving," Sasuke said. "Kakashi wanted us to go investigate the other areas too."

"But how can we when the evidence has obviously been cleaned up?" Kiba asked. Sasuke sighed and flipped open his cell phone to call Kakashi about their problem in the warehouse. Suddenly, before he could dial the number, his phone started vibrating and his eyes widened when he saw who it was: Kakashi. He pressed the receive button and put the phone to his ear.

"Detective Uchiha speaking."

"Get your asses to the precinct, on the double!" Kakashi's voice yelled.

"Yes sir."


The group came running into the building, breathing hard as they hurried into their boss' office. The entire division was in a scurry that could only suggest one thing: Jack had struck again. They saw their captain shouting orders they couldn't hear from the top landing and Sakura grabbed hold of the nearest new recruit. "What the hell happened?" she shouted at him.

"J-Jack struck again!" the young police officer stuttered. Sakura's eyes widened as she dropped the young recruit and ran up the stairs to the top landing, Tashino and Ryan following quickly.

"Kakashi, where did it happen?" Tashino exclaimed.

"Tachikawa," her father breathed and Sakura's eyes widened. 'That was at least two hours away from where we were!' she thought in horror. "Weren't you in Akishima?"

"Yes, but-" Sakura started, but Kakashi interrupted her angrily.

"Then why weren't you there?" Sakura jerked back from his backlash and tears collected in her eyes. Sasuke ran up the steps quickly just in time to see Tashino holding Sakura from Kakashi's onslaught. He stood in front of them and glared at his boss.

"Kakashi, calm down," he growled. "There wasn't anything we could have done anyway. We would have been out of our jurisdiction."

"Well, it's too late now because we have another dead body." Kakashi stomped down the stairs leaving his team behind as he slammed his office door behind him. Sasuke sighed to himself and turned to see Tashino leading a sobbing Sakura to the couch.

"Don't let it get to you, Sakura," their boss' daughter cooed. "He's just really stressed out right now." Sasuke narrowed his eyes sadly and walked over to sit on Sakura's other side to rub her back soothingly. Sakura looked up at him with confused eyes before giving a small smile to her lap. Tashino glanced at Ryan who was talking to Naruto about transportation to Tachikawa. She got up and walked over to her partner, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone so she could talk to him.

"Ryan," she whispered interrupting the men's conversation. "Let's go on ahead. We don't want to keep them waiting." The American nodded and shook hands with Naruto to end their conversation. He and Tashino began walking down the steps and were out of the building in twenty seconds flat. Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sakura and saw them on the couch, Sakura's head on his shoulder as Sasuke whispered in her ear.

"Guys," Naruto murmured. Sasuke looked up at him expectantly and nudged Sakura up who rubbed at her eyes to wipe any excess tears away. "Let's get going. Ino already left with Tashino and Ryan."

"Hn." Sakura stood with Sasuke and they grabbed their stuff quickly so they could leave. Sakura, however, stopped at her desk with her hand on a picture frame that sat on top. It was another picture of her family of when they had gone to the beach the day Sakura graduated middle school. She smiled and kissed her fingertips, pressing it to the glass lightly before running after her teammates.


Le sigh -dramatic swoon- Unfortunately, I cannot update until I get ungrounded. I was given this ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO ACTUALLY GET ON MAH LAPTOP! -Does little victory dance- XD AHHHH I'M SO HAPPY! Hope you enjoy the first FOUR chapters of Japan's Special Victims Unit: The Ripper!