The next morning was a bit sluggish for both Sasuke and Sakura after their long day before, but they managed to make it to work almost on time, Sakura making her way down to her office in the morgue while Sasuke made the trip to his own.

Sakura was surprised when she heard a knock at her door, peering up from the papers she'd been organizing to see none other than Sai standing there.

"Agent Gaka," she said with surprise; the look on his face was grim, almost serious in a way. She'd never seen him look so concerned; frankly, she was surprised he could show it given their first meeting.

"Hello, Dr. Haruno," he greeted politely. "may I come in? I have something I would like to discuss with you." Sakura nodded and waved him in, gesturing for him to close the door while she closed the file she was working on and set it aside.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, feeling concerned. Now that she thought about it, she'd yet to hear from Ino; she would have expected the blonde to be calling and texting her frantically, demanding details. The fact that she wasn't suddenly had Sakura on edge, coupled with the fact that Sai was there waiting.

"Had you heard from Miss Yamanaka at all? I understand that you two are very close friends?" So Sai hadn't seen her either; the way that Ino had been fawning over him, Sakura was deeply surprised she wasn't hanging off his arm any longer. When Ino got attached, she tended to go hard.

"No, I haven't, which is surprising. Usually, she'd be down here grilling me for details about my weekend. I figured she might have had an early court session if she wasn't here."

"She did not come in today. I had spoken to her assistant, miss... Hyuga, I believe?"

"Hinata Hyuga, yeah." The fact that she'd told Hinata but not Sakura meant that it was big. It had to be. Hinata would only ever be the one involved if Ino avoided everyone–solely because she would have to inform Hinata if she was taking a sick day. Sakura could feel worry creeping up in her gut, knowing she would have to do something about it, and fast. She had managed to get ahead on her work before the weekend; worst-case scenario, she could push ahead on her paperwork while she visited her friend.

"Yes, I believe Miss Hyuga told me that she was under the weather. I do not believe that is... accurately the case, however." Sakura could tell by his tone that Sai was leaving something out, something he didn't seem inclined to talk about. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, her gaze burning into him in an attempt to make him talk. She saw him shift under her stare, but he said nothing.

"What aren't you telling me?" She demanded, standing up from her chair slowly.

"I... I am sorry, Dr. Haruno. I want to tell you, but I do not feel that it is my news to tell. I believe it would be more prudent if she were to speak to you as opposed to myself." He seemed uncomfortable explaining the situation, as if he felt some... guilt, perhaps?

"Fine. But you're coming with me, got it?" Sakura wasn't the most trusting of him at the moment. "I have time now. Let's go."

Sasuke was greeted after an hour or two by Naruto, who had a grim expression on his face.

"What's up with you?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

"We found Idate this weekend," he explained, holding up a hand before Sasuke could interject. "I know, I know, I should have called, so you knew, except no. You were taking holidays, and you deserved them. Agent Gaka managed to bring him in after an evening of surveillance; it turns out Idate is wanted in a few other cases. We also finally have a name to put to a face," he said with a smile. That had been the one downside to the information they'd had; Idate hadn't had a license on file, and any photos of him had been relatively blurry and difficult to make out facial features.

"Yeah, you're right; you should have called me." Sasuke was deeply unimpressed that he hadn't. Not that he'd admit that he planned to leave immediately if he got a call, of course. "What were you able to get out of him?"

"Yeah... this is the part you're not going to like." Naruto sat down in the chair across from Sasuke's desk. "We have nothing. We've been holding him over the weekend, but his lawyer has been here the whole time, and he won't talk. No matter what we put in front of him, he won't give us anything useful–especially nothing to tie him to any of the cases he's wanted for." Naruto's frustration was evident; Sasuke also knew that if Naruto had been part of the interrogation, they really had nothing to go on. Naruto was the better interrogator, without a doubt; he could turn just about anyone around in an interrogation room.

"So we're back to square one. We have nothing to go on with the Akasuna case, and it's going to go in the cold cases file." He angrily tossed the case file on a pile on his desk, a groan of frustration coming out as he rubbed his temples. "You sure this Agent Gaka didn't screw anything up?"

"No, he didn't. I oversaw the initial interrogation, and I even spoke to Idate myself. We are at an impasse with the evidence. Unless we can find something new to hold him, we're screwed. They're releasing him..." Naruto checked his watch. "Now."

Sasuke looked out the window of his office, seeing the familiar Danzo Shimura–a notorious defence lawyer–exit the interrogation room followed by a taller male. Sasuke felt his blood run cold, seeing who it was. Idate's face was a face he hadn't seen in over twenty years; there was no mistaking the dark, black hair that he kept in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, the familiar ageing lines on his face, or the way his black eyes shimmered like obsidian gems.

It was Itachi.
Idate Shimura was Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke shot up from his chair, anger in his gaze. He could feel his blood boiling from rage, seeing that face again. The face that had evaded him for so many years left him in pain, in agony, all alone, never to have a family again.

Sakura led Sai up the stairs to the main area, heading first toward Ino's office. They would have made it there if Sakura hadn't heard a voice echoing through the room, coming from where she knew Sasuke's office was.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke's voice hollered across the foyer, drawing the attention of everyone in the area. He was reaching for his handcuffs, ready to do it. Ready to reach that goal he'd set out for so long to do. "You are under arrest for the murder of–" Sasuke didn't have time to finish what he was saying before he was being held back by Naruto, attempting to fight off the blonde's grasp.

"Sasuke, no, you can't," Naruto said quickly, scrambling to hold back the detective. "That's Idate, not-"

"It's him!" Sasuke said fiercely, managing to fight him off enough that he was moving toward Idate. Screw arresting him; he was going to knock the bastard out for everything he'd done. He could feel rage taking over, years of rage that had been buried deep inside him. Rage made him lash out in response to years of agony inflicted upon him by his brother.

—

Sakura watched as two people tried to hold Sasuke back, with the dark-haired detective fighting them and trying to get at the man. Idate... that was the man they had been looking for as a person of interest in the Akasuna case. They'd managed to find him over the weekend? That was news to her. Sai hadn't mentioned it at all; was it related to why Ino was gone for the day, perhaps?

Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see Sai. "Come on," he said. "Detective Uzumaki can handle him. He will be fine momentarily without your aid. I am not so certain about your friend." Sakura knew he was right; she could talk to Sasuke later about the situation, but Ino seemed to be in a much worse position right now.

"Yeah, you're right," she said, wishing she could help both of them. She followed Sai to Ino's office so he could grab his things.

—

"What is this?" Danzo demanded, putting himself between Idate and the frenzied detective. "My client is free. You have no grounds to hold him, so whatever blasphemy you're getting at, Detective Uchiha, it had better stop. A scene is not going to stop us from leaving. It's just going to result in another lawsuit if you even try to come near my client." As he spoke, Chief Hatake had made his way out into the main area, helping Naruto hold Sasuke back and dragging him into the office and sitting him down.

"You're just letting him go?! Can't you see–he's not Idate! Idate isn't his name! That's him, that's–"

"Enough," Chief Hatake commanded, motioning for Naruto to close the door. "We don't have enough evidence. Whether he is or isn't Idate Shimura isn't something we can deal with right now." Sasuke was exasperated. How could they just let him go like that? Sasuke was one of the few people who could accurately identify him–hell; they could demand a blood test to determine it. A DNA test would be able to tell they were brothers with a minimal margin of error.

"You don't believe me," he said, sounding defeated.

"I never said that. I just said that we don't have enough evidence. We need to tread carefully. If he is Itachi, then we need to have a solid case to hold him and convict him, and you know that. You're too close to this case if they're linked. You're off the case and on administrative leave, effective immediately." Sasuke couldn't believe it. Not only were they letting Itachi go, but they were benching him. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to take it in stride.

"Fine," Sasuke said tartly as he stood up, moving to the door. Naruto tried to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he brushed the blonde off, making his way back to his own office and packing his things. If they wanted to bench him, that wouldn't stop him from looking into things. It wouldn't stop him from researching. It wouldn't stop him from finding more information.

He had a goal. He was going to see it through, no matter what.