Sakura made it to the office and rushed through her paperwork, organizing it before she marched upstairs. Her first stop was Detective Uzumaki's office; seeing his door open, she closed the door and locked it behind her, turning with her hands on her hips to face him.

"Sakura? You look like a woman on a mission," he teased lightly. "What's up?" As always, he was the cheeriest person she'd ever met; no matter what happened, that wasn't going to change.

"Not the time for jokes," she said seriously, walking over to his desk. "What the hell was that earlier? What happened over the weekend while we were gone?" He wanted answers, and if she had to demand them, she damn well would.

"Okay, look, calm down, and take a seat," Naruto said defensively, gesturing to the chair. She narrowed her eyes at him but did as asked, taking a seat in the chair.

"Sai was looking into Idate Shimura for a case he was working on, one that he suspected was linked to the Akasuna case," Naruto explained, reaching for a few files. "Something to do with Akatsuki. So far, it looks like they're more than just a street gang; they're something bigger, something more dangerous than we'd expected. We haven't even put together all of the details yet. Sai's been trying to identify members of the gang through cases he was following. He's determined that Idate Shimura has some link to them; we just don't know exactly what yet. When you two arrived this morning, we'd run out of time to hold Idate, and we had to let him go. We didn't have enough evidence to hold him. Sasuke's convinced that Idate is Itachi, but like I said–"

"There just isn't enough evidence," a voice said from the door, drawing both of their attention. It was Chief Hatake; he'd noticed the two were talking and opted to join them. "Sorry. Should have knocked, but I figured I had an idea what you two were discussing regardless." He took a seat next to Sakura, letting out a heavy sigh.

"And so... what did you do about Sasuke? He's probably wound up tighter than a nutcracker doll right now," Sakura said, rubbing her temples.

"I sent him home on administrative leave. I don't think he's in the right mind for fieldwork after today, but he is in a determined mood to find evidence, I'm sure. Administrative leave still means he can look into leads and search for information. If he finds something, then we can use it... and Idate and Danzo are none the wiser about it. We have a few others running surveillance to make sure Idate doesn't disappear unexpectedly. We're doing everything we can."

Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead. "So he's probably at home, wound up and upset, and not in a good mood. Great," she muttered sarcastically, knowing it was going to be a difficult conversation. She was already running late; she had a feeling he was going to want to go to bed by the time she got there. She hadn't even made it home to make him dinner like she normally did. She already felt guilty about that part; going home was going to be even more difficult.

"I'm sorry it happened this way," Naruto reassured. "But... Sasuke will be okay. He's nothing if not resilient." Giving the chief a wave as he left the room, he waited until it was just the two of them before he continued. "He cares about you. He'll be okay." Naruto gestured at the door. "Go, head home to him. He'll need it."

Sakura stood, glancing back at Naruto. "Thank you," she said softly. "For... for doing what you could for him. He needs you just as much as he needs me."

"I know," Naruto replied. Leaving Naruto's office, Sakura went downstairs to grab her things, glancing at the time and feeling a pang of guilt. She would have to go home and go straight to bed, given the time; she was exhausted. She just hoped that she could convince Sasuke to do the same.

Reaching the house, she took a deep breath as she stood in front of the door, slowly unlocking it and peering inside. Sasuke was sitting on the couch, staring absently off into space with a nearly empty bottle of bourbon in front of him. He looked up at her with a glassy-eyed gaze. Had that been all he had all afternoon? That wasn't a good sign at all.

"Hey," she said softly, approaching him warily. "You okay? I'm sorry I took so long to get home." Her guilt felt insurmountable. He clearly needed her more than she'd thought, and she hadn't been there for him. She felt awful. His only response to her was a shrug and a grunt, sipping on another glass of alcohol. He'd drank so much alcohol he couldn't even generate a response; she wondered if he'd even be able to make it to the bed.

"It's been a long day, so let's just head to bed. I think we could both use the rest." She'd likely have to help him, given how much he'd had to drink.

"You go on ahead," he said as he continued to stare blankly ahead. "I... I'll be up in a bit." He didn't want to go to bed, not yet. He was still brewing, wallowing, trying to determine what his course needed to be. He needed to determine how to approach looking for Itachi and clear his mind to do it. Clearing his mind... didn't involve her. None of it would involve her. Not if he could help it. The last thing she needed was to get caught up in the messes of his past. She didn't deserve any of it. She deserved a better life than what his goal was going to bring her.

"Okay," Sakura replied softly, worry and concern twisting in her gut. She'd leave him to his devices for now; if he wanted to talk, he would talk. That much she was certain of. He probably needed a little time alone to clear his head. Quietly excusing herself, she made her way upstairs and got ready for bed, still seeing the light on downstairs after she'd showered and crawled under the blankets. She had to trust that he'd come to bed when he felt he could. She was asleep long before he arrived, tossing and turning most of the night until her alarm went off in the morning.

Looking over to the spot beside her, she saw that it was empty... or more accurately, it was untouched. Clearly, he hadn't made his way to bed yet, or at all for that matter. Wrapping herself in her housecoat, Sakura made her way down the stairs quietly, seeing the light was still on in the living room. Sasuke was passed out in the living room, lying on the couch with a second opened bottle of bourbon on the table. It saddened her to see this; it had to be the first night since she'd moved in that she'd slept alone in that bed. She was too used to having him next to her, having the warmth of his arm over her waist, hearing the soft sounds of his breathing if she woke up in the middle of the night. Even listening to him grumble sleepily every morning when they had to get up was endearing.

He was sound asleep on the couch, though Sakura had a feeling it wouldn't be the most restful sleep. She'd be a fool to wake him up on a good day; she'd be an even bigger fool to wake him up now and try to get him to bed. Shaking her head, Sakura pulled an extra blanket out of the closet and tucked it around him. She then carried the alcohol back to the kitchen along with his used glass, filling another tall glass with water and ice cubes. She paired it with a bottle of painkillers that she set on the coffee table in front of him, along with a handwritten note.

I'm heading into work today. I'll be back around dinner,
but if you need anything, give me a call. I can come home if there's anything you need. Take care of yourself, okay?
- Sakura

With that left, she headed in to work, hoping the day would pass quickly.

Sasuke woke up a few hours later with a pounding headache, glad that all of the blinds in the room were closed. He had a wicked hangover, worse than he'd ever experienced; perhaps drinking three-quarters of a bottle of bourbon the day before had been a bad idea. He looked to the table, seeing the glass of water with painkillers beside them; his eyes glanced to the handwritten note, picking it up to read it. As always, Sakura was going too much out of her way for him; she was too kind, too good. He didn't know how to approach her with all of this. He could tell she was worried. More than worried. At this point, it was beginning to seem like he might have to get his hands dirty if he was going to take down Itachi, and that was the last thing she needed to get caught up in.

His day was busy, mentally. He spent much of it pacing and the rest on his computer or looking through files. Papers and photos were scattered across the coffee table, despite his pounding headache; he continued to rub his temples, defiantly having avoided the painkillers. This pain was good; this pain was necessary to keep him sharp and focused. Despite that, he wasn't finding a damned thing that he could use. No link that he could follow–or send someone to follow up on–to bring Idate in. Nothing. They had absolutely nothing, just as Naruto and Chief Hatake had told him.

With a cry of frustration, his hands found the underside of the coffee table, flipping the table over in frustration. He turned to the lamp on the small end table, hand reaching out and knocking it over with the same vehement frustration; he was stuck with nowhere to go and becoming more and more frustrated by the minute. His fist reared back, striking the wall and punching clean through the drywall near the front door, leaving small abrasions on his hand and likely a few bruised knuckles. The cathartic release was worth it for just a few seconds until he felt the ache in his hand, cradling it briefly as he went upstairs. Sakura always kept a healthy stock of gauze, enough that he could carefully cleanse and cover the cuts on his hand and wrap it gently in case he had sprained his fingers or hand.

After she finished her day's work, Sakura headed home, picking up something for dinner along the way. She didn't have the energy to cook, but she couldn't come home empty-handed. When she entered the door, she saw Sasuke up and pacing, and by the way he was moving, he'd likely been at it a while. Hours, she surmised. Her eyes took in the rest of the room: something had flipped the coffee table over with papers scattered everywhere, and she could see that the table lamp had smashed on the floor. Glancing to the wall, she could see that he'd punched a hole in the drywall; he was spiralling much harder than she'd expected.

"Sasuke," she said softly, that familiar pit in her stomach twisting itself into knots over and over again. "Talk to me, please," she begged.

"Talk to you? There's nothing to talk about," he snapped, continuing his pacing. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling his aggression starting to rise even further.

"Sasuke, I understand you're upset, but–"

"No, Sakura," he snapped, his voice rising. "You don't understand. You don't understand a damned thing! You don't know what I've been through, what I've suffered, all because of him! You don't know the pain that I've felt. You don't know the years of agony that he put me through. You don't know how I sat there and screamed for them every time the doctors came to debride my burns." He was lashing out, snapping at her, coming closer and closer. Sakura heard the venom in his words; it left her absolutely speechless, stunned into silence. She'd never seen him like this; he was usually calm, collected, and focused. In fact, he had to be one of the calmest people she knew.

"You can sit there and look concerned and cry for me," he continued, "but you will never understand what I've been through. You will never know the kind of pain and fear that he's put me through. You'll never know the anger I feel when I think about him, when I think about how he got away with all of it. The way he could just go and start another life despite his little brother, who looked up to him in every way, spending the rest of his life suffering, covered in scars that kids stared at and whispered about behind his back, shuffled from foster home to foster home where nobody really loved him for who he was. Where he was just another troublemaking kid that they had to look after and make sure wasn't causing any problems." He pushed past her roughly, grabbing his jacket and his keys. He needed to get out of here.

"But Sasuke-"

"You will never understand. And the sooner you figure that out, the better off both of us will be." He huffed and put his jacket on. "Just... Leave me alone." He opened the door and slammed it behind him, storming to his car and getting in. He needed the drive to clear his head. He couldn't stand being cooped up there any longer.