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I am currently travelling for work so not a lot of internet access. But I will be updating as soon as I can, I promise ;)
Sakura's eyes flew open revealing a very confused look.
She sat up, it was her bed at Itachi's home not Sou's bed where she remembers last being.
They were kissing and Itachi suddenly started acting strange, taking her to the bed and then hugging her for very long that the exhausted girl eventually nodded off only to wake up back at their house.
She frowned, *I can't believe I fell asleep again,* she pondered before smirking. Itachi had told her that he'd make sure that she won't fall asleep that night and yet…
She blushed.
*Did he really mean that… mean that we'd…* she trailed off, heart beating fast. *And was I really about to allow it?*
Now she had to get out of the bed and start pacing. *What the hell has gotten into me?*
*May I interject…* Inner offered.
*No,* Sakura shot her down.
Inner rolled her eyes. *fine, monologue away…*
*I would have allowed it to get even further than that, does that mean that I…?* she shook her head as if to knock the thought out of it. *Nah, I am just attracted to him… well, I can't deny he's a great guy. Very handsome, strong, smart, successful and he could be very nice when he wants to. Except, sometimes he could be a real hard-ass and a jerk and he likes toying with people and…* she trailed off mid monologue.
Inner raised an eyebrow, *Well…*
*I don't know,* Sakura declared.
*You don't know?!*Inner yelled her question. *Or you don't want to know?*
Sakura gave a contemplative look, *liking him might be a very stupid thing to do,* the girl declared.
Inner sighed. *And why is that?*
*If I were to put together a psychological profile about him based on what I observed as well as what I know about him, I would say that he is a driven man, someone who gets motivated by his principles and would be willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve his objectives. His commitment to what he believes in is unmatched, from challenging his father to join Anbu instead of the force, to marrying me and taking on all that hassle, downright to playing a flirty bartender. He commits one hundred percent to everything he does,* Was Sakura's analysis.
*So you're saying he might not like you at all, but is doing all of this because he's committed to this marriage because it aligns with his principles,* Inner concluded.
Sakura was silent.
Inner gave her a long-suffering look. *Come on,* Inner said at a voice much softer than her usual; the purpose of her existence was to soothe Sakura in moments like this one, moments when she's not her usual boisterous self. *What you felt with him yesterday, that was different, he seemed very genuine.*
*But I have no way of knowing that,* Sakura interrupted. *And if I ask him, surely he won't give a straightforward answer; he's a master of enigmatic replies. And it will just go to show him that I care if he likes me or not. Honestly if I think about it, what do I truly know of Itachi other than his objectives regarding his clan and this assignment and the fact that he's a really big pervert underneath that cool detached exterior?*
*Listen, you're being too cautious, too analytical,* Inner pointed out.
*Well, I am a kunoichi and this is first and foremost an assignment so…*
*Things like this, like feelings, you can never truly be sure about. But you always want to be certain, that's why you've never had a successful relationship before, because no one could ever manage to make you 100 percent sure that he's the one, that his head is in the right place and that things will work out with him. So you end up withdrawing or pushing them away.* Inner declared in a rare display of her ability to reason.
*That's true but…*
*But this hasn't worked for you at all has it?*
Sakura shook her head.
*You can't apply the same rules you use on missions to your love life. You require certainty before you do anything on a mission but maybe that is not possible in a relationship. Hell, even on missions sometimes you have to move blind because you don't have enough information yet and you're running out of time. You took on the assignment to marry Itachi as a completely uncalculated risk. You just jumped in because you knew that this was what you needed to do. So maybe it's about taking the risk. Don't you think he, and the way he makes you feel, are worth it? Can't you allow yourself to truly feel for him?* Inner questioned.
Sakura ran a hand through her hair.
*Maybe,* Sakura allowed and Inner breathed a sigh of relief. *I just need more information before I allow this to go any further.*
And it was then that Inner started banging her head against a wall.
.
Sou's last day at the force needed to count, he needed to make sure of it.
Part of him was screaming for him to finish the day safely and take no risks. After all, if he does nothing then he would pass the Anbu project and make it to the final week.
But it was an opportunity initially meant to get close to Fugaku and potentially prove his worth. And so far Sou neither had the time nor the opportunity to do that.
So he figured that at the very least he could make sure that his presence in the force has the most impact. He needed to get close enough to Fugaku to be fully seen by the man so that after the undercover project ends, when Anbu inform Fugaku that Sou is in fact Sakura, and hand him her report, Fugaku would know that Sakura was right under his nose and he didn't see her.
So, she needed to get right under his nose.
*Can't you phrase that any better?* Inner said disgustedly.
*Nah, I tried, nothing conveys the meaning more accurately,* Sou pondered.
And thankfully the boy knew just how to do that and had taken all the measures to secure the success of his plan. It took a bit of luck, a dash of intelligence, and lots of trickery, but when he walked in Captain Naoki's all-glass office that morning he knew exactly what was going to happen.
"Good morning Kanata-san," the brown haired Uchiha greeted.
"Good morning Naoki-Taicho," Sou returned. "Thank you for requesting my services for the first half of the day."
"Never mind that," the man said waving a hand. "You had a rough week; you looked like you needed a break. I was happy to heed your request and ask for your services, but don't you think you get to slack off just because Shin and I are supposed to be helping you through this week. You have a lot of paperwork to do."
"Hai," the boy said and with that, Naoki assigned him a batch of paperwork to complete by running between the officers and making sure that they either sign or give him their reports to assign to the files.
It was a tedious task but Sou gladly accepted it. For exactly ten minutes after he took on the task, Sou got exactly what he wanted.
"Captain Naoki," an officer said, stepping into the office. It seemed urgent because the man almost didn't knock and settled for a pat on the door as he pushed it open. He was tall and slim and appeared rather young, with the Uchiha's patented raven hair and dark eyes, he looked scared though so he possessed the capacity to emote which was not common to all Uchiha.
"What's going on Taiki-san?" Naoki asked as Sou pretended to be reading through a file.
"I…I have to leave," the boy said.
"Excuse me?" Naoki hissed and Sou could see his eyebrow beginning to twitch. He might seem calm when you first meet him but that man was rather irritable. "What do you mean you have to leave?"
"I have been summoned by a doctor at the hospital. They said they needed to see me urgently," the boy said.
"I am sure they can wait until you're off duty," Naoki said dismissively, "now please get back to work."
"Naoki-taicho, please," the boy pleaded. "They said that they found something worrying in one of my scans from my last medical examination and want me to go in for further tests. They said they are very sorry to have overlooked something that seems very serious and since my exam was three months ago they really need me to get there immediately so that if something is really wrong they could start treatment right away."
Naoki watched him for a long moment. Behind him, Sou was mentally prostrating himself and praying for Kami-sama's forgiveness as Inner Sakura burned incense. Who knew that Sakura could cause this much damage with a small droplet of nail polish and the medical expertise to know exactly where to drop it on the scan to make it look like a very dangerous and potentially life threatening condition that could have the boy paralyzed for the rest of his life if left untreated.
Her only solace was that once he gets a new scan it would become apparent very fast that he's OK. And given that she had made sure to leave his file at the top of the pile before sneaking out, she was sure that it would be the first thing they'd see in the morning and they'd give it top priority at the hospital even though they might wonder why a file from three months ago is sitting atop a pile.
"Fine," Naoki finally said, "you may go."
"Thank you," the boy said and immediately disappeared.
Sou saw Naoki slide down in his chair.
"Is there a problem?" Sou questioned innocently.
"Yah, he's Fugaku-sama's assistant," Naoki said. "He was doing so well too, first one in weeks that Fugaku-sama hasn't dismissed because of his incompetence. And now I have to find someone else for the day."
"Will that be hard?"
"Very. No one wants that job. Fugaku-sama's secretary Mamya-san is too demanding and snide and she runs all the assistants ragged. Maybe I should just let her handle the work for today without an assistant," Naoki reflected.
And just as he finished his statement the door flew open.
This is not an exaggeration, the glass door literally flew in, dropping to the floor inches from Naoki's desk and causing both Naoki and Sou to instinctively bring their hands upwards to shield their faces.
Shifting his attention to the place where the door once stood, Sou saw the hulking form of Commander Lou.
The man was frowning, "such a flimsy excuse for a door," his gruff voice echoed and Sou could practically see the vein throbbing in Naoki's forehead.
"That is the third time you've broken it," Naoki said, pressing a hand to his forehead as Lou stepped inside.
The big man shrugged, "In my section we use metal doors."
"Well, whose fault is it that I have a goddamn glass office, it was that stupid bet that you all…" Naoki hissed, before reigning in his temper and flashing a professional look. "How may I help you Commander Lou?"
"Mamya-san's not coming in today," Lou declared.
"Wh…what?!"
"Yah, she called and said that her entire apartment got flooded. Somethin about faulty plumbing or something. I don't know. She said that that boy genius Taiki would know how to handle things. But I just found out that you let him leave for the day, so I came to see your face when you realize that you're screwed," Lou declared before laughing. "There it is," the man said, pointing at Naoki's face.
He then started chuckling once more as he made his way to the door -the gaping hole that now replaced the door- and disappearing around the corner, yet the echo of his laughter could be heard from a distance.
"C…captain Naoki?" Sou said as Naoki seemed to be frozen, eyes wide.
"Fugaku-sama doesn't have neither an assistant nor a secretary," Naoki said in disbelief. "What kind of day is this? He'll be here in a few minutes and no one is there to run his office."
"How about replacements for them?"
"Everyone already has their tasks for the day. I will have to pull someone away from their tasks and it would seriously obstruct the flow of work. But I no longer have a choice. It needs to be done," he paused, "and Fugaku-sama would really hate the fact that I let both his assistant and secretary off on the same day and had to pull someone away from their work to cover for them."
"You requested my services for the day," Sou pointed out. "That's some additional help that Naoki-taicho's section doesn't normally have. I am supposed to be speeding up the flow of the paperwork. So maybe that will help balance things out after someone is pulled away from their work."
"You're right, but you're an expediter. Whoever, I pull away from his desk would be someone who actually has to file some reports or go out on a mission. Losing them for the day would be…" Naoki trailed off, eyes lighting up. "Kanata-san," he started.
"Yes?"
The man gave him an apologetic look, "I know I am supposed to make your life easier, but this is rather urgent and would help me out a lot. Consider it your final test before you officially join the force. You are to go and sub in for Fugaku-sama's assistant. I will personally come with you and help familiarize you with the work in Mamya-san's place and even help out during the day if I can."
Sou gave a hesitant look, before nodding, "Hai, if that will help Naoki-Taicho," he said obediently.
In the deepest recesses of her mind, Sakura sat in the shadows slowly stroking a cat, the ranch that she used to completely ruin Mamya-san's pluming sitting next to her on the floor.
*Wow,* Inner said. *Just wow,* she added, clapping her hands for Sakura's performance. *You're really manipulative… I like it,* she paused, *also, when did we get a cat? I was under the impression we're dog people.*
.
Sou expected to be led to an office on the station's grounds but instead he was taken to the dreaded prison building and was led to the uppermost floor.
Apparently Fugaku wants to be as close as possible to the prisoners to be able to interfere personally if anything happens.
And so his office occupied the entirety of the top floor. It had three giant meeting rooms, one waiting area, a conference room, a cafeteria, an area for the guards to convene, an office for his assistant, a bigger office for his secretary, and his own oversized office. And of course the entire place was filled with guards.
It was rather luxurious but Sou had no time to look around for Naoki immediately led him to Mamya's office which adjoined Fugaku's office.
Fugaku wasn't there yet, but he was on his way and Naoki fervently looked through Mamya's desk for the day's schedule.
"Fugaku-sama would kill me if I delay any mission or have an officer abandon a task to become his assistant for the day. So the two of us will have to do, Kanata-san. I will try to help but I have my own tasks, so you will have to come to me if you need assistance. Now listen closely, this is the schedule for the day…"
And with that the boy became fully aware of the size of the task he had undertaken.
.
It was exactly at 7 AM that Fugaku pushed the door open and walked in. Sou who had just sat down at Mamya's desk shot to his feet, before steadying himself and attempting to get his heart to settle down.
"Good morning Fugaku-sama, I am Sou Kanata I will be subbing in for both…"
Sou blinked as Fugaku simply walked past him with no indication whatsoever that he had heard anything. The man simply walked through the secretary's office and straight into his own office without a single look Sou's way.
*Right,* Sou pondered. *Not a big talker then, and here I was hoping we'd bond,* he thought sarcastically as he ran out of the office.
He quickly grabbed Fugaku's coffee and came back in, grabbed the morning paperwork and walked to the door.
The boy knocked and was not answered so he hesitantly pushed the door open. "Fugaku-sama I have the coffee and the paperwork in need of your signature," he said to the man now sitting behind his humungous desk and reading through a file.
Fugaku didn't look up even as Sou walked over to his desk and set down the coffee.
"It has no sugar and no cream," Sou elucidated, not really sure how someone could find that tolerable.
Fugaku said nothing and just took the proffered paperwork.
For ten very tense minutes Sou stood next to Fugaku's desk as he flipped through the papers and signed many of them. He also wrote down notes on the sides of some before handing the whole folder back to Sou.
"Hai," Sou said. "I'll take the folder back to Naoki-Taicho then," he added with a bow. "This is Fugaku-sama's schedule for the day," he said as he produced another paper. Before he could ask if Fugaku wanted him to read it, the man had grabbed it even though his eyes were now firmly fixed on another folder lying on his desk. "Right… does Fugaku-sama require anything else?"
Nope, not even a question could get a reply out of the man, for he simply sipped his coffee, Sou's entire existence lost on him.
Sou then awkwardly extracted himself from the room, leaving the unacknowledged question to hang in the air.
.
Sou had heard Fugaku talk and even yell on numerous occasions, mostly insults to Sakura's character. So it was kinda surprising for him to learn that when unprovoked, the man tended to remain completely silent.
*Like a black hole where conversation goes to die,* Sou pondered with a frown.
Quickly the primary priority on Sou's list shifted from 'be as close to Fugaku as possible so that when he realizes who you are he'd have no choice but to acknowledge you,' to 'get the man to say a word, any word, even if it's one syllable. Hell, just get him to say no.'
Sou's attempts to win Fugaku over included but were not limited to:
Phrasing all his statements as questions so the man would have to say something in return. But Fugaku simply deflected the questions by not looking Sou's way when he talked to him and completely ignoring him. Sou thought he was about to receive an answer after showing all the police squad leaders in for the morning meeting, he asked Fugaku: "can I get you something to drink, Fugaku-sama?" But then the man just looked at him and then proceeded to walk into the meeting room and close the door.
*Am I invisible right now?* the boy pondered, actually considering it for a second.
After that first meeting Fugaku walked into his other meeting room to find Sou dusting the place; a task that was clearly not a part of the boy's job description. This was another attempt to get the man to talk to him. He thought he got it right too when Fugaku walked over to him and stood by the table he was dusting, the man then proceeded to swipe his finger over its surface and give Sou an unimpressed look that translated to: 'you missed a spot.'
Fugaku's second meeting, with the prison's leaders, then began and Sou had to rush to Naoki to ask for directions as to how to handle the next tasks on his list.
Sou even tried to get Fugaku mad at him. After being handed a few pieces of paper to transcribe, the boy purposefully let them slip, but the look of death that flashed across Fugaku's face was enough for the boy to move fast enough so that he caught them before they hit the floor, he then apologized profusely.
Sou then spent an hour running around all over the place to gather some of the documents that Fugaku needed. He came back and handed them to Fugaku who once again did not even look up.
The boy almost face palmed.
*He's hopeless,* he thought, before something occurred to him.
"Ano, Fugaku-sama," he started then waited for the man to look up. He didn't. "I… I just wanted to thank you," he paused again, hoping to get the man to feel curious enough to look up. Sou waited even longer, allowing the silence to stretch. A few long seconds later, Sou's heart jumped in joy as charcoal eyes found his face; the man's handsome face was devoid of any emotion as he gave him an 'elaborate' look akin to the one Itachi flashes all the time. "… for saving me the day I was thrown into the prison cafeteria, I mean… Oh and for taking me to the clinic," he finished with a courteous bow.
Fugaku's face did not change one bit as he silently brought his attention back to the papers.
In her mind, Sakura fell to the floor and growled in frustration.
*He's a master of silence,* she said angrily. *He's… he's… he's like some… some sort of… a human shaped stone!* she ranted.
*That's called a statue, genius,* Inner deadpanned.
*Shut up,* Sakura hissed, contemplating getting the mental cat she just adopted to attack her.
.
When lunchtime came, Sou thought he would finally be granted reprieve. He was about to go eat with Shin and Aika but Fugaku simply placed a list of tasks on his desk before walking out.
And with that Sou spent the next few hours running all over the place.
The tasks that Fugaku gave him were quite challenging. Amongst other things, he had to compile assessments of the prisoners who were about to be released. He had to ask them questions and write down the answers in a certain manner, before asking their guards and fellow inmates questions about them so that Fugaku could fully understand both their mental state and situation.
He also had to run between the prison building and the police office building numerous times to ask Naoki about what forms to use and where to go to complete certain tasks.
It was almost 4 in the afternoon when Sou realized that he had not had a free moment all day and had not had any chance to actually sit down.
Returning to his office and walking longingly towards the desk, the boy would have kissed the chair.
*I don't care if he talks to me or not anymore,* he pondered. *I just want to sit.*
But before he could do anything he saw a little note with Fugaku's dreaded handwriting on it.
'Pick up item 1517 from the Forensics unit… by 4 PM.'
Sou's eyes widened. He had less than 15 minutes and he was almost certain that the forensics unit was in the police force building.
Running out like a panicked sheep, Sou quickly headed -for the hundredth time that day- to the tunnel that connected the prison building with the police force building. He then followed Naoki's directions to the Forensics unit.
Stepping in, Sou was greeted by all white walls and metallic equipment.
The people in this section looked super busy, running around with lab-coats over their uniforms and latex gloves on their hands; they had no moment to spare for Sou.
"Hey, I am…" Sou started but the woman passed him by and stepped past a glass door.
This happened numerous times, and the boy who had very little time to spare was starting to get irritated.
He crossed past one of the glass doors and arrived at a room covered from floor to ceiling with lockers, and thankfully there was someone there who looked like he was responsible for that area.
"Excuse me," Sou started.
The man did not look up since he was very busy messing with a bunch of keys and mumbling 'where is it…' over and again.
"Hey, officer," Sou started again.
"Goddamn it, I know I put here," the man said, frantically placing a key in one of the lockers, before initiating a progression of hand signals and flinging the locker's door open only to find it completely empty. "Damn it," he cursed.
"Officer…"
"Not now," the man hissed.
"But I want to retrieve an item…" Sou reasoned.
The man did not give him any attention and instead kept messing with his keys and looking around.
"It's been requested by Fugaku-sama," Sou said matter of factly. "I am his assistant for the day."
That got the man's attention; he finally looked at Sou.
"You're the apprentice guy," he noted. "Right, fine, what item?"
"1517," Sou said.
The man frowned, "again," he said with a sigh.
"Again?"
He nodded, "yah, Fugaku-sama has requested this item three times in the past already. Plus, it has already been scanned by the forensics team, we have found no chakra signature on any of them and they tested negative for chemicals and blood. They're clean."
"So why does Fugaku-sama want them?" Sou questioned.
The man shrugged, eyes scanning the lockers, "I suppose it's because we have no clues. Plus, the men are about to come back and reclaim their belongings, he might want to take a look at the items one more time before we give them back to their owners."
"The men?"
The lab technician shifted his eyes to Sou once again, "Ah, right, I forgot who I was talking to. See, a short while back some of our officers were attacked. Fugaku-sama believes that these items could have some evidence on them that could confirm his doubts as to the identity of their attackers. The men are almost fully healed now and will get back to work at the beginning of the coming week," he explained. "Ah, here it is, the little sucker, 1517," he said reaching up and opening another locker. "Here," he said, handing Sou a big bag made from transparent plastic that seemed to be much sturdier than your average plastic bag.
Sou nodded, "thank you," he said calmly before turning and walking away. But his mind was racing like there was no tomorrow.
*These are the belongings of the men I healed the day of the attack,* He pondered. *Fugaku-sama thinks that they can prove that the leadership of Konoha are the ones who attacked these men. That's why he keeps examining them.*
The boy's eyes scanned the items. They were nothing much, the men's forehead protectors, and three police-station issued pens with the police station's emblem emblazoned on them, as well as some Kunai that were wrapped in sterile cloth.
*Standard stuff,* Sou thought. *So nothing unusual was found on them. What does Fugaku-sama hope to find out? Do those things really have some evidence on them?*
Sou was heading down the station and in the direction of the tunnel, walking amongst the busy officers with the sealed plastic bag in his hand.
*I want to examine them,* he pondered.
*That's too risky,* Inner pointed out. *Your task is simply to deliver it to Fugaku-sama.*
*I know, but… I'll be careful and seal it back up after I am done. I just need to take a look. What if there really is evidence in there. I won't get another chance like this.*
*There is nothing in there. You heard the man at the lab; they have scanned it and analyzed it and everything. If there's something they would have known. Fugaku-sama is just too eager to prove that the leadership is after them. He seems obsessed… Just give him the…* Inner trailed off as Sou ducked into the men's bathroom and quickly headed into one of the stalls.
*Don't do that!* Inner yelled in his mind. *do not open… oh look at that… you've opened it.*
Sou took some paper towels and used them to handle the items in the bag. He examined them closely one by one. He didn't really know what he was looking for, and without any lab equipment he did not have much of chance. But he knew he needed to look.
And luckily for her, Sakura was an expert at using soap and a small medical Jutsu to create adhesive by changing the chemical structure of the soup.
And so when she was done examining the contents of the plastic bag, Sakura resealed it quickly and headed out.
*See, I told you there was nothing suspicious about those things,* Inner gloated. *But you keep taking unnecessary risks. And now you're late, it's already after four.*
Sou nodded as he dashed into the corridor and towards the tunnel to head back to the prison building.
*I thought there'd definitely be something if he has such a strong intuition about it. But without any lab equipment I can't really do a proper analysis,* Sou pondered before sighing as he exchanged a nod with the guards stationed by the tunnel and headed down. *I should just give up on anything related to my assignment for now. At least my Anbu project is over. In an hour I get to say that I have passed the third week of the qualifiers. And I get to go home, get in bed and have something to eat, I am craving…*
Sou trailed off, eyes widening as he froze mid step.
It was like a curtain was suddenly drawn in his mind and now everything was clear.
*…strawberries,* Sakura finished the thought. *I first craved strawberries on the day I treated the injured men at the Uchiha clinic. I thought it was strange because I don't particularly like strawberries. But I didn't think much of it. But… on that day when I was at the hospital and got sedated I thought I smelled strawberries back at the house. I even told Itachi that he smelled like them. But my mind was not functioning well, so again, I did not think much of it. But now… After opening that bag…*
And with the Sou broke into a run, heading straight for Fugaku's office, and as he ran, he started ordering his thoughts.
In no time he was standing in front of the man's office, he knocked before walking in.
Fugaku raised an eyebrow, "it is 4:05," he said, finally breaking his pact of silence but Sou was too one track minded to notice anything at that moment.
He had to play his cards right, he needed to tell Fugaku what he's figured out but he couldn't rush it or he'd look suspicious.
"I am very sorry Fugaku-sama," Sou started, handing the man the plastic bag.
The man gave him a cold look before waving a hand dismissively in the air for Sou to leave.
Sou nodded and turned on his heel. Stepping outside and closing the door, the boy ran to his desk, grabbed some papers, and then got back to the door and stood there, counting down from 50 before knocking on the door again.
He stepped inside and just as he expected: Fugaku had opened the bag and fished out its contents.
Fugaku raised his eyes.
"The reports that Fugaku-sama asked for are ready," the boy said.
Fugaku was silent as the boy walked to the desk and placed them there.
Sou bowed and turned around to leave, before making it seem like something surprised him and stopped him in his tracks.
He turned around to face Fugaku, "Fugaku-sama," he started. "I was told that these items belong to police officers who got attacked," he started and the man gave him an empty look. "Were those men sedated?"
Now the empty look on Fugaku's face shifted to an expression of mild interest.
"It's just that… well, my parents used to be fruit vendors when we lived in Konoha so I am very familiar with fruits and herbs and things of the kind. And I get a faint impression of strawberries off of these items," he said, making sure to look completely composed and uninterested.
"I do not smell anything," Fugaku said.
Sou shrugged, "the man in the lab told me that Fugaku-sama has examined these items three times in the past. Have you not craved strawberries afterwards?" Sou questioned and now Fugaku's eyes widened slightly, indicating that he did indeed have the same experience.
Sou nodded, "a friend of my parents who works as a fruit vendor in Konoha was visiting before I came and he informed me that the medical herbs farmers have recently started planting their crops right on the outskirts of Konoha's Western borders near the strawberry plantations. Given the layout of that area, the remnants of the water used to water the strawberries would be retreated and used to water the herbs. That is what would give the herbs and whatever they are used in, an after-smell that recalls strawberries."
Fugaku got to his feet, "but we found no traces of any sedatives on these items," he said, eyes zeroing in on Sou. "But there are sedatives that cannot be traced after their release."
The two exchanged a look.
"They seem to have left faint traces of smell though," Sou said. "This happened to me a lot when I used a treatment Jutsu to retreat the remnants of the water I used on mangoes and then used it to water potatoes. They would turn out to be very confusing potatoes," he lied.
Sakura only knew this because she studied herbology and water retreatment in order to better her grasp on the chemicals and herbs she worked with and because courtesy of being a medic she was told a while ago that the medical herb vendors might move to the outskirts of Konoha. She concluded that the batches planted in the new location must have come in during the time where she was dedicated to her assignment so she did not have a chance to notice the difference in the new sedatives used at the hospital.
Fugaku eyed him for the longest moment.
In the following moments the police force's Head acted fast.
His primary priority was to ascertain whether what Sou was saying was true, or were they just the ramblings of a misguided little kid throwing around theories to impress his elders.
In no time Fugaku's office was flooded with officers and experts and was turned into mission headquarters.
Fugaku called in some of the leaders of the force and quickly affirmed that the medical herb plantations were indeed recently moved to the outskirts of Konoha near the strawberry plantations. And that the strawberries were indeed grown in plastic pots that repurpose whatever water that is not soaked in by the strawberries to water the herbs, after purifying it, in order to prevent waste.
There was a piece of information though, that Sou could not offer Fugaku without making him suspicious of him. But the boy knew that Fugaku would call in medical specialists who would be quick to provide him with that piece of information.
And just as Sou expected, the head of the station's medics was quick to point out, "to make a fast acting sedative that evaporates immediately upon release, you have to use ingredients that are fresh. So whoever it is that made those sedatives they have to have a work-area or a lab near the plantations, otherwise the sedative won't be potent enough to knock out the men the way it did, since the herbs need to be fresh and they need to be immediately bottled," the woman said.
Of course some of the leaders, including Setsuna, said that it was a farfetched idea and that a faint smell of strawberry -that many of them couldn't even detect- was hardly grounds for suspecting that the method used to knock the men out was a sedative. "Maybe they had strawberries before they were attacked," Setsuna reasoned.
But Fugaku had his mind made up. He needed to check, and so a force from the station was ordered to go to the plantations and search out potential work spaces that could have been used by the criminals to make the sedatives.
.
Sou was made to sit back at his desk while all the commotion broke out.
He watched as officers walked in and out of Fugaku's office, delivering their reports on the unfolding situation.
From what Sou gathered they did indeed find a criminal hideout but it was vacated a few minutes before they arrived there. Part of the force took off in an attempt to chase after the people who escaped the hideout and the rest remained to search the hideout.
However, before they could uncover any information, the hideout exploded.
The officers managed to escape before the explosion, some incurring minor injuries while the entire place went up in flames, thus eliminating all the evidence it might have contained.
It was already well past 6 in the afternoon, the workday was over, yet Sou could not get himself to leave.
He wanted to know what happened. He helped Fugaku because he had faith that whoever it was that created the sedatives won't be working for the leadership of Konoha and thought that this would be a way to prove to Fugaku that he was wrong and end the feud by bringing the true culprit to light.
But it seemed that nothing was going to come out of it now that the criminals escaped and the hideout burned.
Sou stifled a sigh, *I actually risked raising Fugaku-sama's suspicions about me by telling him my sedative theory. And all for nothing.*
Just as he was about to remind himself that he made it past 5PM on the last day of the week without his identity being revealed, the door to Fugaku's office was flung open and Fugaku stepped out.
"Get up," the Uchiha's clan head ordered, before walking to the door.
Many of the leaders of the police force followed him through and Sou quickly got to his feet and ran after the man.
Sou was confused and more than a bit scared. They walked down two floors to a place he had never been before. It had dark walls and was filled with unlit passageways as if it was crafted to confuse people.
It was like a maze, and Sou had no idea where he was being led.
*Does he really suspect me?* He pondered frantically. *Did he find out who I am?*
The boy/girl felt his heart beating against his chest. He tried to steady himself by reminding himself that sharing what he shared does not give Fugaku any grounds to suspect him and that the paperwork he forged and the identity he crafted were bullet proof. But then that got him thinking about bullets and wondering if he's about to get shot.
It was then that Fugaku pushed open a door.
Sou followed him into a room that was already occupied with a few officers looking through a one-way mirror onto an adjoining room that held one man, sitting on a metal chair.
He was blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back, and his Chakra was restricted by bands that surrounded his upper arms.
Sou wanted to take a closer look at the man in the adjoining room but his attention was quickly drawn by familiar voices.
"We captured him in the Western forest," Lou's deep voice stated.
"He has no identifying documentation on him and he wears only a dark headband with no markings on it," Naoki said.
Shifting his attention, Sou took in the occupants of the room, Setsuna, Lou, Naoki, and a redheaded woman that he did not know were amongst the people who were already there when Fugaku, Sou and the other commanders of the police force walked in.
But it was the two non-police force members that got Sou's heart racing.
"Itachi, Shisui," Fugaku said, "Do you have any information on that man?"
"I am afraid not," Shisui said.
"Anbu does not have any records of someone of his Chakra signature or blood composition," Itachi said. "We will need to conduct a thorough investigation."
Fugaku nodded, "I will interrogate him myself," the man said in finality and Sou could easily tell that the men in the room instantly got excited at the waves of malice that were now rolling off of their very dangerous leader.
Sou who was still standing by the door and trying his best to act 'normal' almost jumped out of his skin when Fugaku turned towards him and said, "come," before walking past him and out of the door.
Sou's heart pounded, and he exchanged a quick look with Itachi who had his eyes fixed on him and was giving him a strange look as the boy exited the room.
"Fugaku-sama?" Sou said as they stepped back out into the hallway.
"You helped lead us to that man," Fugaku said. "I will allow you to stand in the interrogation room with me as I investigate him," he added and from the way he said it, Sou concluded that this was a privilege that was seldom afforded to anyone.
"Thank you, Fugaku-sama," the boy said with a bow, as the man pushed open the door to the adjoining room and stepped in.
Sou walked in and closed the door behind him, before he heard it get locked from the outside.
It was a big room and Fugaku gestured for him to stand at the other end of it, near the wall.
The boy watched as Fugaku ripped the man's blindfold from his face. Before walking around and breaking the chains that restrained his arms.
He then calmly sat down on the chair opposite from him, "Your name," the Head of the police force said in a vicious tone.
The man just eyed him with an expressionless face.
Sou winced as Fugaku's sharingan was activated with a discernable shift in the pressure of the room.
All of a sudden the man's screams filled the place.
As his bloodcurdling shrieks echoed, he writhed around, and grasped at the table with such intensity that his fingers started bleeding.
Sou had to blink as the man's flesh suddenly started to break out in wounds even though Fugaku was just sitting at the other end of the table and did not lay a hand on him. In fact Fugaku's hands were folded across his chest as he calmly watched the man scream. It was as if an invisible sword was cutting through him.
This lasted for long, too long that Sou found himself hoping it would end. He was no stranger to pain and torture but this was savage.
A few minutes later, the ear-splitting screams abated and Fugaku leaned back in his chair and eyed the man who had now fallen on the table breathing heavy and sobbing unabashedly like he was reduced to an undiscerning toddler.
After a moment of looking at the man's figure, Fugaku got up and turned towards the one way mirror he knew his underlings were watching him through. "He is under a strong binding Jutsu, the more I prod him the more he forgets," Fugaku said. "We need to…"
Sou didn't hear the rest of Fugaku's sentence though as he saw something flicker across the man's dark headband.
It was very strange since he did not detect any chakra coming from it. But it was a very clear flicker nonetheless. It was as if it was heating up, turning red in very small increments.
He shifted his eyes between the man and Fugaku who was standing a very small distance away from him, and quickly gathered what was about to happen.
Without thinking, Sou launched himself towards Fugaku.
"Fugaku-sama!" He screamed, pushing the man towards the door.
Taken aback by the sudden movement and even more startled at the strength with which Sou has pushed him, Fugaku did not have time to resist.
Sou channeled his Chakra to his arms and in a display of Sakura's inhuman strength he punched the metal door clean off its hinges and pushed Fugaku who was standing in front of him through it.
Sou didn't have time to move though as what he feared happened, and the forehead protector on the prisoner's head exploded with such force that the entire room was engulfed in flames and Sou was flung into the wall opposing him in the corridor fully submerged by the fire.
Searing pain washed over him as he fell to the floor. His eyes were open and he could see people rushing towards him from the room that adjoined the interrogation room, he could also see Fugaku standing above him with an unfathomable expression on his face.
He watched them as if he was watching a movie going in slow motion; the voice came distant to his ears and almost unintelligible.
The last thing he heard was Shisui's voice saying, "she's not breathing!" as Itachi lifted him up in the air.
*She?* Sakura pondered distantly. *Do they know? Did the Henge wear off?*
It was then that Sakura completely stopped breathing and everything went dark.
Say goodbye to Sou… But how about Sakura?
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