A/N: Thanksgiving break! Huzzah! I love food 3. And Black Friday. Woop! By the way, new Harry Potter movie = AMAZINGESS! And I would apologize for the late update, but they're going to continue to be this far apart probably, unfortunately.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Ashes Ashes, We All Fall Down

Chapter 13: Progress

Sunday, October 7 1888

Although the sunset cast an orange glow on the tombstones, the graveyard didn't feel any warmer. Sasuke clutched his jacket tighter around him, trying to ignore the chill. He wasn't sure why he was here; he'd already visited his parents a few days ago. All he knew was that he was looking for something.

He came upon a row of four small tombstones in a perfect horizontal line. He didn't need to check the names to know who they belonged to. Lying in front of each tombstone were two red roses. Spaced evenly away from the fourth tombstone was another set of roses, but these had no headstone. They were obviously intended for someone, though…

Sasuke looked up from the roses and glanced around. He was in Sakura's small room now, but it was different. There was blood splashed on the walls above the bed. Entrails were laid out neatly on the bedside table. And on the bed itself…Sasuke wasn't sure if it was human or not. It looked as if someone had carved a human pumpkin. Nearly all the organs had been removed from the body. The throat was severed down to the spine. The face was so sliced up that the person was unidentifiable, and an onlooker would no longer be able to tell if the sheets had originally been red at the time of purchase.

Sasuke walked over to the head of the bed and grasped a few strands of the victim's severed blood-stained hair, twisting it between his fingers. The blood rubbed off and revealed pink.1

Next to the head, a bloody knife was left. Sasuke wiped it off on his shirt and stared at the metal. The reflection revealed a shadowy man dressed in black, carving Sakura's body. He pulled something out of her chest. He then turned around with her heart in his hand and stared straight at Sasuke…

xXx

Sasuke began to gag. He hurriedly sat up in his bed, coughing fiercely. All he could smell was blood; the coppery substance flooded his sense. He could hear it, taste it, see it, feel it, smell it. It was everywhere! He stumbled over to the window and yanked it open, upchucking his dinner onto the street below.

He hung over the window, breathing slowly. The cool night air caressed his face, injecting him with a sense of calm. As the haze of blood began to fade from his mind, the face of the murderer in his dream became more vivid. The facial features themselves were fuzzy now, but the hair was still recognizable. Long, spiky white hair…something not unfamiliar to Sasuke. He had never considered Jiraiya a suspect before…but then again, he'd never really had a reason to. He still didn't now. A dream wasn't enough to convict a man of murder. But still, it bothered him.

Sasuke refused to think of Sakura. He would not acknowledge that…thing…as her. She was beautiful, youthful, and alive; not a human pumpkin. And he would make sure she stayed that way.

He closed the window and sat back down on his bed. He saw his notebook on the bedside table out of the corner of his eye. He finished the decoding yesterday…but he hadn't shown it to anyone. 'Bewore whores the jugment of menn blatant tiill deathh'. It wasn't perfect; he had to misspell words to make it work. He was starting to doubt that there even was a secret message…

But at the same time, he felt like he was right. The problem was making other people (specifically Itachi) give him a chance. His decoding was a little bit of a stretch though…better run it past Naruto before doing anything else.

Sasuke checked the clock: it was 12:00 AM. He hadn't been asleep very long…maybe Naruto was still awake. He quietly walked over to Naruto's door and opened it a crack. Peaking inside, he saw that Naruto was at his desk, bathed in the faint light of a candle, staring intently at an opened book.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, entering the room completely.

Naruto glanced up and smiled tiredly. "Just studying law. Exciting, I know."

Sasuke remembered his conversation with Sakura. "I think Naruto wants to make enough money so that he can support Iruka…" He closed the door and sat cross-legged on Naruto's bed. "Do you even want to be a lawyer, Naruto?"

"Of course," he replied. "Why would I be studying it if I didn't want to?" he joked.

I can think of a reason, Sasuke thought, but decided to drop the subject. "I think I decoded the graffiti," he said.

Naruto's expression brightened. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Can I see it?" Sasuke handed him the notebook and Naruto read it. "Wow. That's better than what I have."

"What do you have?"

"'Beware women that tell lies…' and that's as far as I got." He chuckled. "I couldn't make sense of the rest of the letters."

Sasuke laughed too. "Nice." He read his own decoding again. "But is mine right? I don't need it to sound good, I need it to be right."

"Well, there's no way we can know if it's right without asking the Ripper himself," Naruto pointed out. "Your translation sounds like something this psychopath would write…but you really want Itachi's approval, not mine."

Sasuke wasn't surprised that Naruto would see through him. "I need it to be right so that Itachi will actually see that I have some credibility. He'll think the whole idea is preposterous as it is."

"Yeah, that's probably true," Naruto said honestly. "But let me ask you this: if Itachi refused to give your decoding any credibility, what would you do? I know you wouldn't give up on it. You're too stubborn."

Sasuke scowled. "I'm not stubborn…Alright, maybe a little," he amended after Naruto's disbelieving look. "But I also feel like I'm on the right track. Everyone else is looking at this case objectively, but I think there's also value to subjectivity, and that's the approach I'm taking."

Naruto nodded. "But you haven't answered my question."

"That's because I'm not sure of my answer," he replied with a sigh. "You were right; even if Itachi refuses me, I won't give this up. But I can't take it to Orochimaru; without Itachi, I'm nothing to him."

"Who thinks you're not nothing, then?"

Sasuke smiled slightly. "That's a good question…" And then suddenly he had an answer. There was one person with influence who though he had potential…but he was a last resort. Itachi wouldn't approve, anyway.

"Well, we can't move forward until Itachi either approves or rejects it," Naruto pointed out. "Are you confident in it?"

"Yes."

"Well then show him tomorrow," Naruto said with a grin. "Now go get some sleep."

Sasuke smiled and slipped off the bed. "You should take your own advice."

Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly as Sasuke left the room.

xXxJackTheRipperxXx

Monday, 8 October 1888 - 9:00 AM

Sasuke yawned and stretched as he sat down at the kitchen table. Iruka was already at work, Itachi was nowhere to be found, and Naruto was devouring pancakes.

"Save some for me, loser," Sasuke said, yanking the plate away from him.

"Hey!" Naruto objected. "Did you help make those? I don't think so. None for you!" he tugged the plate back toward him, but not before Sasuke snatched two and stuffed them in his mouth.

"How d'ya like dem apples?" Sasuke asked through a mouthful of pancakes. Naruto just scowled and continued eating. When Sasuke was able to speak normally he asked Naruto about Itachi's whereabouts.

"He left about an hour ago," Naruto replied. "Said he was stopping by the headquarters and then going to the library, if you needed him."

"To the library it is, then." Sasuke pushed in his chair and headed upstairs. After dressing and freshening up, he snatched his notebook and said goodbye to Naruto. He'd gone to the library too many times to count as a child, so he didn't flag down a hansom to take him.

October was a bitter month in Whitechapel. Its harsh winds and dark days signaled the approach of the unforgiving winter, and people were already preparing themselves for misery. Children with no shoes and ripped jackets scampered about the streets, trying to stay warm and entertain themselves at the same time. Drunks were passed out in dark corners, and the wealthier of the neighborhood were layering on their coats.

Sasuke had forgotten how bad it really was. No wonder the Ripper chose Whitechapel as his hunting ground; these people would go unnoticed.

The small library appeared on his right. It hadn't changed much over the years, except that it looked a little more rundown than before. Sasuke wondered why Itachi didn't choose to go to the nicer London library instead; it had more resources. He assumed it was because their parents always used this library.

When Sasuke was younger, he didn't understand why their family stayed in Whitechapel. They had enough money to move somewhere nicer. But now he knew that it was because his parents felt an obligation to this miserable place; his mother with her psychological assistance and his father as head of the police force. An obligation that Itachi now possessed.

Sasuke entered the familiar establishment. Although the outside was rundown, the inside was just as homey as he remembered it. The librarians smiled warmly at him when he entered, and the comforting smell of candle wax and old books filled his nostrils. He wondered if Itachi felt the same sense of security here.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Sasuke asked, approaching an elderly librarian. "Has a man who looks similar to me but older been in here?" She smiled and pointed to a section on the far side of the library. "Thank you." Sasuke headed over to the section and sure enough saw Itachi at a table by himself, bent over an old book. "Itachi."

His older brother looked up and smiled. He looked exhausted, but he seemed to be in a good mood. "Come, Sasuke, sit down."

Sasuke did as his brother said. "What's that?" he asked, gesturing toward the book.

"Hopefully the answer to our little graffiti problem."

Sasuke's face fell. His gaze drifted to his own notebook. If Itachi had an answer already then was his even worth anything? "What's the answer?"

Itachi smiled. "I was hoping you would ask that." He flipped to a page he had bookmarked. "Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum: Juwes."

Sasuke tilted his head to the side curiously. "You mean the killers of Hiram Abiff? Wasn't he a Freemason?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes. If my theory is correct, then that explains the spelling of 'Juwes'."

"A Masonic plot?" Sasuke asked doubtfully. His grip tightened on his notebook. "I had a different idea…"

Itachi looked surprised. "What is your idea?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "A message within a message. If you scramble the letters of the graffiti, you can find another message."

"And you found a secret message?" Itachi's tone was nothing less than incredulous.

"Yes." Sasuke showed him the decoding while reading it aloud. "Beware whores the judgment of men blatant till death."

Itachi frowned. "But you have to misspell words to make it work."

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. "I know, but…"

"Sasuke, I think you have a creative idea, but it's a little bit of a stretch."

"And a Freemason conspiracy theory isn't?" Sasuke pointed out.

Itachi sighed. "Sasuke, listen to me…"

"No, Itachi, you listen to me," Sasuke said firmly. "I know you're older than me and you have more experience, but that doesn't mean I have nothing to offer. You say that I'm blinded by my emotions, but then you're blinded by a lack thereof. This psychopath is acting on his feelings.2 If we treat this case with complete objectivity while the Ripper is treating it subjectively, then he's going to lap us every time in this race."

Itachi had listened patiently. "I understand how important it is for you to contribute to this case," he began carefully. "But with all due respect, Sasuke, you're forgetting your place. I am the inspector; you are the junior record keeper." He paused; Sasuke didn't object. His tone softened. "But I appreciate your desire to help. If it's that important to you, I'll call a meeting and suggest your idea alongside mine."

Sasuke nodded. That was reasonable. "When will you hold the meeting?"

"I'll notify everyone today, and we should be able to have a meeting as soon as tomorrow."

"Alright…thank you."

Itachi smiled slightly. "Let me check out these books and then we'll go out to eat. I'm hungry."

Sasuke stomach growled noisily and he blushed. "Me too." As Itachi collected his books, Sasuke remembered his dream. "Oh, by the way, was Jiraiya ever investigated as a Ripper suspect? Just out of professional curiosity."

Itachi seemed surprised. "Yes, he was, early on. Because his ex-wife was the first victim, he was placed under suspicion. However, he has alibis for the times of all the murders." He paused. "Why?"

Sasuke shrugged. "No reason."

xXx

A/N: Hey, can anyone please explain to me the difference between a colon and a semicolon? I've honestly never known when to use which, and I'd like to improve that aspect of my writing. Thanks!

1 I snatched this little idea from the movie From Hell.

2 I learned how to break down this word in etymology class: psych=soul, and path=feeling. I just felt like showing off lol.