"This, this is why I can't… I can't let it go."

The words managed to stumble their way through his brain and out of his mouth, though he didn't feel entirely in control of them any longer. It was hard to maintain his own thoughts without the voice of Obito as his conscience. A conscience that had remained silent, eerily so, and that silence had been deafening for Kakashi. For the entire night he had jumped from one thing to the next just to distract himself from the absence of his voice of reason.

"Samantha Winters…"

He nodded solemnly to Sakura.

While his former partner was no longer interjecting within his own mind, he had a living breathing partner standing right here beside him, and she wasn't too timid to call him out on his behaviour. Which is exactly what he needed.

Was it a mistake to show her the work that he had kept so close to his heart for the past year? Perhaps. But for now he needed a voice of reason.

"This…:" She stepped toward the picture of Obito cut from the newspaper article of his death. It was his academy graduation photo, Kakashi knew, he had been there when it was taken. "This is Obito."

"This is everything I have, everything I've been doing day and night for the last year. When the meagre leads went cold I went into surveillance, sent out informants, dredged up old cases that might have new links." Kakashi followed her closely with his eyes as she stepped slowly taking in his murder wall. "Do you see now? This is why I can't, couldn't have another partner, not until I catch this bastard and lay Obito to rest…"

In just saying his name out loud Kakashi felt a surging of emotion which he had to swallow thickly down. It was pathetic. Sakura would likely tell him that for herself in a few short moments.

"You've done all this by yourself?"

She never took her eyes from the wall of evidence, pictures, articles, statistics…

"Yeah...a month after his death I begged Tsunade for the case after it ran cold. Cashed in all my chips to get it too, but the major crimes unit couldn't solve it either, so here it is."

Sakura was still holding the receipt tightly in her hand, Kakashi half expected her to screw it up and toss it at him before making her escape, but she didn't. Instead she very carefully, slowly, almost reverently, pinned it back into place on the wall where it had come from.

"Well, maybe another set of eyes will get the case heated up."

She turned and met his gaze, determined and unwavering. So very much akin to the fire and spark that Obito had once brought into his life.

"Haruno, I can't ask…"

"You didn't, and you don't need to ask."

"It's dangerous, what if something happened to you just like…"

"Then that's something we'll face together, as partners, right? 50/50."

Kakashi didn't move, didn't blink, there was only silence. Maybe showing her all of this wasn't a mistake at all, maybe the mistake had been keeping it to himself for so long. Maybe she could really help him bring this to an end.

Now you've got it, Kashi.

The sigh of relief that escaped him was both out of finally hearing the quiet voice of Obito again pushing him in the right direction, and because he'd made the right decision to trust her. Sakura was quick, even if she was new to the game. This beguiled Kakashi as much as it triggered the long dormant tingling sensation at the back of his neck, the feeling that she was hiding something.

But she would tell him when the time was right, just as she'd told him today why she had become a detective. And Kakashi trusted that she would be honest with him.

"50/50, yeah, it's a deal."

She continued to surprise him further by smiling a fraction in his direction. Unless it was all a clever ruse before she had him committed to a mental facility.

"One thing at a time, alright? We don't know for certain yet if the DNA from the skull matches Samantha, so we follow up on the other leads while we wait. We question the boyfriend, and the boyfriends mother. Did you have any store footage pulled for this?" She gestured with a thumb to the receipt on the wall without looking at it.

Kakashi blinked a couple times, she was already an expert without even trying.

"Somewhere in the case file yeah, it was the last place Obito was seen alive that day, which we have evidence of anyway. There's a two hour gap after that purchase which is unaccounted for. There wasn't much to show on tape from memory, but I was watching for Obito, not for Samantha Winters. You think it's worth another look?"

"I'd say so. But first things first, let's follow up on these other leads while we have daylight. We're gonna do this together one step at a time, okay?"

Sakura held her hand out as if she meant for him to take it, Kakashi's fingers twitched unexpectedly, suddenly unsure of his surroundings. How could she be so readily accepting of his madness and willing to help. Maybe she was the crazy one here after all.

Stop being a jerk, Kashi. Focus.

Obito was right as usual, Kakashi looked quizzically at Sakura.

"Keys?" She finally said, flexing her fingers. "I can only handle one dose of your driving a day Hatake. I'll take the wheel this time."

"I thought you wanted to follow these leads up in daylight, Haruno? You sure you can get us there before sunset?"

Even as he made the quip he was digging into his pocket for the keys to give to her.

"Haha, very funny. Let's get moving. I've got some questions, you can fill me in on the way."

"Sure. If there's enough time we could grab a bite to eat on Main Street, they have the good donburi place there…"

"What is it with you and food? Or do you always just think with your stomach?"

"Better than the other organ most males think with if you ask me…"

Silence. The joke had come out of his mouth without his express permission and for a split second he wondered if it had been incredibly poor taste. Usually that kind of thing wouldn't have exactly concerned him, but now that he thought about it, Tsunade was the only female he'd worked with on the force. Her bolshiness wasn't exactly common, and for the first time since he'd met her, he really didn't want Sakura to be put off by his weirdness.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, looking every bit the put upon female, but the smile on her face betrayed her actions.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm glad to see you back to normal, Hatake."

Pakkun made a soft borking noise from his spot on the floor as if in agreement. Before leaving Kakashi made sure to give him one of the good treats from on top of the fridge. In the time it had taken him to retrieve it, Sakura had opened all the curtains in the living room.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"You're not a vampire Kakashi, get some goddamn natural light in here."

"What's the point? By the time I get home it's dark and I have to shut them anyway, and the light will compromise the images on the walls..."

"You're telling me you don't also have digital copies of all these?"

"Ugh, no."

"Jesus fucking Christ. Okay, well that can be my mission for another day. Let's get going."

The whole way through the hallway, down the stairs and to the car, Kakashi was utterly perplexed by her. He was glad his mouth wasn't agape in a stupor but his eyes hadn't been able to focus on anything else apart from that head of pink. As she adjusted the seat in the sedan he couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Are you.. sure about this, Haruno? The information you just saw, Obito's case, it isn't for the faint of heart and it's dangerous..."

"Again, I'm sure Kakashi. And I'm anything but weak of heart, don't let the hair fool you."

"I'm serious, Sakura."

"So am I." Her tone changed and she finally met his eye as she put the key in the ignition. "It's not just because we're partners, and it's not just because I'm out to prove something to you, I wanna catch this guy. I want to help."

Kakashi believed her emphatically.

"Alright. We do this together though, no solo work, that's the rule. And I mean that seriously, if I catch you following a lead without me we're done."

"Ditto."

Her immediate response settled the matter in Kakashi's mind, he nodded and she took it as a signal to get going.

Do you even know where you're going, Kashi?

Instinctively he told that inner voice to shut up, which was a shock considering how Obito's recent silence had affected him so badly. No matter how hard he wished it to be true, that inner voice was only his conscience and nothing more, it was not Obito. He would never hear Obito speak again, so he would have to settle for that voice in his mind and make do with what it told him. It was a poor substitute for the man himself, a man who would have solved this case long ago without any help at all.

It wasn't unusual for him to banter with his conscience, a back and forth that was a shadow of what it had been with Obito while he was alive. But again Kakashi was forgetting that there was someone else in the car.

"So this serial killer, how many vic's are we talking?"

"The Kyuubi killer, well we don't know definitively, known victims tallies up to six spanning the last two years. But the way he kills, it's professional."

"Why haven't I heard about this perp before?"

"There's an injunction on all local media not to publicize anything to do with this nut job. We're unclear on exactly what he wants, but we can't rule out that is doing this for a specific kind of sick attention."

"And what do you think?"

Her eyes were on the road but Kakashi knew they would hold that focused fire he'd seen for the last two days.

"I've spent the last two years trying to get into this psycho's head and the only thing I can say with any certainty is that we're dealing with someone who has a specific purpose in mind. They are habitual, precise and intelligent beyond all conventional measures."

"What's their MO?"

"Bodies cut into nine pieces, eyes removed, blood drained from their bodies. Except his last one... Obito... Either he didn't have time to finish up or it wasn't the intended target, I can't be sure, but he left a lot of blood behind and only one eye was removed."

"Jesus Christ."

"I told you it was heavy stuff."

"Wait, so if Obito was his last victim, he's been dormant for a year. Could Samantha Winters be a new victim of the Kyuubi killer?"

"That's why Captain Tsunade wants this solved quick, in my mind it can't be the same perp, his scenes were always staged for us to find. But that doesn't stop an animal taking the head from the site... There's never been a link between the victims before now, he's in-discriminatory as far as who he kills. The only thing each of the victims have in common is they are between 30 and 40 years of age. So if this is him, and that's a big if, he's made his first mistake."

"The more victims the more mistakes he's gotta make, right? That's how it usually goes."

"Usually, yeah. But this guy, he seemed to only get better at leaving less evidence with each body. Even started taunting us, leaving maps of where he was going to leave a body next, taking more and more time to stage the scenes in graphic and disturbing ways... "

"Were there any suspects?"

"Obito and I followed a couple of leads, all dead ends The most promising was exhausted after the third victim, there were organs missing from each body and the Shimura crime family had a member on the donor list for a liver transplant. Except we found those organs later on in the display of the fourth and fifth victim so our informants gave up the idea."

There was a bridge of silence, Kakashi felt that desperation seep back into his system, the need to get back to the walls of his apartment. At first they had been necessary for his legitimately working the case at hand, but now it served more as a reminder of what he had failed to do, what needed to be done. Every single piece of information on those walls was indelibly etched into his brain and he would not likely forget a single detail.

It wasn't that he'd forgotten Sakura was in the car with him, he had just begun following the trail of evidence in his mind and lost track of his surroundings. She appeared to be mulling all that information over as well. Kakashi noticing flippantly that she had at least driven past the hospital and not turned to check him into the mental facilities.

"Was there any idea of what was used to dismember the bodies?"

The question struck him as odd all of a sudden but he could follow her line of thought as a former surgeon.

"At first he used a combination of power tools and hand instruments, we never really had any idea of what they were exactly. He seemed to have a technique down by the fourth victim. Very little evidence on the bones themselves..."

"Cause of death?"

"He alternated between strangulation and severing the carotid artery.

"Quick, efficient..."

She had that look about her again but this time Kakashi couldn't follow her thoughts.

"What are you thinking, Detective?"

Finally being direct and to the point, Kashi, nice.

"I'd like to see the profile of the subject before making any assumptions out loud..."

"Something about the case bothering you? If this is gonna work we've got to work through this together, full transparency at all times."

"Not.. bothering me per say, just a feeling. From what you've told me, I'm beginning to wonder as to the profession of the killer, it wouldn't surprise me if they were a doctor, dentist, or in the medical field."

"Interesting theory there, from memory the psych profile had the same connotation. But what makes you think so?"

Kakashi could see the gas station they were headed toward in the distance, Sakura didn't answer him immediately.

"You'd have to have knowledge of the human body, how it works, to pull off such a thing so easily and without evidence. Which makes me wonder how, where he perfected his technique. I'm willing to bet that this wasn't his first time dismembering a body, human or otherwise."

"So we're looking for someone with either medical knowledge, or a checkered past

with animals, or both... Would be nice if we had an approximate age of the perp so we could mass search cases of that nature. There's just too many to do it blindly without any indication to a year to focus on."

He glanced sideways to his new partner, she was chewing on her bottom lip as they turned into the parking lot. Sakura seemed to be the kind of person who spoke her thoughts, as she had done with Kakashi over the past few days, and he appreciated that outright honesty. It pained him on another level however, it was too much like Obito. And in the past the one time Obito had kept something from him it had ended their partnership, ended his life. As the car pulled up Kakashi wondered what exactly Sakura was keeping from him in this moment. Was it in his head? Did it matter in the long run?

Of course it matters, she's your partner, idiot.

"Kakashi, there's something I wanna ask..." There was a pause and a reverence to her tone, he met her eye and nodded. "Obito's last name is Uchiha, is he any relation to the Uchiha brothers, do you know?"

He blinked a few times out of confusion at the question and where it could possibly lead to.

"Potentially, I know it's a large family. What are their first names?"

"Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha."

The way Sakura spoke, the way she looked, it gave away very little. So little in fact that Kakashi thought it a deliberate display for his benefit but it was only a hunch. In the interest of full disclosure Kakashi kept honest in his reply.

"I don't know any Sasuke, but I do remember Itachi, we've occasionally used him as an expert medical witness. I don't know that he's any relation to Obito, certainly not a brother, maybe a cousin. Why do you ask?"

"Just professional curiosity." Her answer sounded rehearsed. "The brothers are both doctors at Konoha General, I just linked the names..."

"Do you... think they might be connected to the Kyuubi killer?"

"Well it was just something you said, medical knowledge and checkered past..."

Kakashi didn't want to push her, but Sakura sat there silently and her eyes began to mist over, it prompted him to ask.

"What about it?"

Silence again.

"It could be nothing. But I'd like to have a good look at the case files before I make any first thing I want to look at is how the bodies were separated, and how the eyes were removed, if any surgical instruments were used in the process."

"The killer could well be someone in the surgical field. Did you want to ask the brothers opinion on it?"

Sakura shook her head, unfastened her seat belt.

"Not if they were the last doctors in Konoha. We're here. Let's get this sorted."

There was no arguing or talking about the matter because Sakura had already left the vehicle. Kakashi blinked a couple times, trying to process what had just happened, but the only conclusion he could draw from it was that he needed more information. Sakura was starting to develop that sixth sense, that detective's intuition that was at once both a blessing and a curse. While it could be a useful tool it also inherently lead to danger, it was something that needed to be approached and used with caution.

Kakashi was just glad that it appeared to him at least, Detective Haruno was usually a cautious person. He would still keep a close eye on her to be sure.

The gas station was one of those larger centers that was never a destination but provided every possible amenity to a limited degree. Complete with an attached fast food joint, gift shop for those forgotten things, car wash and small playground. Kakashi noted the available CCTV cameras on the outside of the building, two facing the pumps, one facing the exit. Sakura was waiting for him at the entrance with a hand on her hip.

"You didn't lock the sedan."

"You think anyone in their right mind would steal that hunk of junk, Kakashi? Really?"

"There could be valuables..." Kakashi didn't miss the eye roll in his direction. "Yeah okay you have a point. But the lease is almost up. At least there are three cameras outside for insurance purposes."

"Three? I only counted two."

The pout that passed over her features caused an unexpected reaction within Kakashi, and it was one of intense satisfaction, which was both troubling and curious.

"You'll get it next time, Haruno. The only thing that really matters is that the footage will be useful for proof of this guy's alibi."

She nodded and he could see her focus shift to scanning the building for more information. Not everything was meant to be a competition, but it seemed to be a trait for Sakura, perhaps to do with her past career. It was only a passing amusement for Kakashi.

Concentrate now Kashi, you're about to question a suspect.

Obito's voice startled him for a fraction of a second, and he was right as usual. Kakashi's focus had been dangerously foggy today and it needed to stop now. The only certainty with being a detective was uncertainty, a situation like this could very well lead to something else, and you could never exactly predict how people would react when accused of murder.

Kakashi was usually a good judge of character anyway, in his mind, he could vaguely sum up a person in a short meeting. But after losing Obito, nothing was certain. This guy could be a murderer, he could be the Kyuubi killer himself, he could pull a gun on them or a knife.

Focus.

There was a short line to the cash register and no other staff in sight, so they took place in the queue.

"Which pump?" The cashier asked without looking away from the screen beside her.

"We aren't here for gas."

Kakashi slid his Detective's shield across the counter. The clerk regarded it lazily before deigning to meet his eye, the tag on her shirt read 'Ary', and she appeared to be more irritated than surprised at the police officers in front of her.

"It's about time you jerks showed up, but it's too late now."

"Excuse me?"

"You guys never turned up or got back to us so we worked out who was stealing the dirty magazines ourselves and banned them from the store."

Kakashi couldn't help the side glance to Sakura, meeting her wide eyes with mirth before turning back to Ary.

"Fascinating as that is, we're here on other matters. We're looking for someone who works here, Mizuki Tsubaki."

There was a shift to seriousness mingled with confusion, Ary's brow furrowed, it was a look Kakashi was familiar with. It was something akin to curiosity more than concern but could easily be read the other way.

"He's at the side entrance trying to fix the air pump."

She pointed in the vague direction and he nodded his thanks before moving on.

"Dirty magazine bandit, huh?"

"A true mystery that was too great for the likes of us." Sakura quipped flippantly while not paying any attention to Kakashi. "You think that's him?"

"Must be. You wanna take the lead on this one?"

Sakura didn't actually answer the question, she took it rhetorically judging by the set look of determination on her face. Mizuki was wearing the same uniformed shirt as the girl at the cashier, his back was to them, long white hair tied back on his head. The air pump he was supposedly trying to fix was in pieces beside him, tools lying at his feet neatly arranged.

"Mizuki Tsubaki?"

"Yeah that's me."

He turned, wiping his hands on his trousers but not moving from where he stood.

"I'm Detective Haruno, this is Detective Hatake. We're here about..."

"Sam, yeah, I figured. What do you wanna know?"

Short and to the point.

"We understand that you were romantically involved with Samantha for some time."

"Yes that's right, we were a thing on and off for about a year, something like that."

"We've spoken to Mrs. Winters this morning actually..."

"Oh yeah? What did the old bat have to say about me this time? You know the woman is a lunatic, right."

"Well, she said that you and Samantha had separated..."

"That's what we told her mom to keep her off our backs. Our relationship was none of her business, Sam was happy with me, we were both happy. That old lady just wanted Sam all to herself, wouldn't let her live her own life..."

Kakashi continued to listen, noting a few red flags but keeping his mouth shut, Sakura seemed to be employing the same tactic. Just keep the guy talking, any and all information that came out of his mouth unsolicited could be crucial to the investigation later.

"When was the last time you saw Samantha?"

"Exactly the same as what I told the guy on the phone. She was meant to come by my place after work but she never showed."

"No enemies or someone she didn't get along with? Anyone who might hold a grudge against either of you?"

That's right Sakura.

She was leading the suspicion way from Mizuki, or was at least making it appear that way to earn his trust. She was getting the information and getting him to talk willingly.

"No one that I can think of, Sam's such a sweet thing, it'd be impossible for anyone to hate her. Have you got anything new to tell me about Sam or where she might be?"

The question raised another red flag for Kakashi. While he was tempted to interject, going so far as to open his mouth to speak, Sakura was no fool. She knew what she was doing and beat him to the punch.

"Well you never came into the station, so we were never able to formally take your statement." Sakura took a pad and pen from her jacket pocket, scribbling a few things down before handing it out to Mizuki, "Can I get your signature in a couple of places? Once for your previous statement and once for today, that'd be great."

"Oh." Mizuki took the pen with a side smile. "Paperwork stuff, huh. Yeah I get it."

"Sorry that we don't bring any news on Samantha for you. Is there something new we should know?"

Nice Sakura.

Mizuki smirked, handing back the pen and pad.

"Nothing new from me. Just been here, working my ass off. Speaking of which I need to get back to it, unless there's anything else you wanna ask?"

Sakura smirked right back at him.

"Not at this time, but we know where to find you."

"Of course."

Sakura shut the pad and returned it to her pocket, with a nod to Kakashi they both started to make their way back through the center.

"Oh, detectives, one more thing. I love Sam... bring her home for me."

Silence, a nod. The smirk had gone from Mizuki's face and now there was a deep set look of sadness, of longing, of hopelessness perhaps. Kakashi knew the look as it usually was reflected back to him in the mirror. The pair remained silent as they made their way back to the unlocked sedan.

"I'm going to put in a formal request for the CCTV footage of this place for the day of Sam's disappearance as soon as we get back to the precinct." Sakura had a tone to her of annoyance that was uncanny to Tsunade herself whenever he tiptoed her last nerve.

"We could do that while we're here. Could also grab..."

"If you even think about suggesting we grab a bite to eat here I will punch you. Understood?"

Kakashi raised his palms in submission.

"Wouldn't dream of it... "

He wanted to take the wheel, Sakura seemed to be agitated and he wasn't sure how that would correlate to her driving ability. At the same time he didn't want to say that out loud. Kakashi sat in the passengers seat, Sakura put the keys in the ignition but never started it. Instead she sat there silent and staring back at the gas station.

Acting on a hunch he asked the question. It was just fortunate for Kakashi that his hunches were usually correct.

"Sakura, you did well in there."

She scoffed.

"Did I? Doesn't feel like it..."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed deeply, not meeting his eye, but at least she answered.

"I don't like that guy, there's something about him that just rubs me the wrong way."

"Mizuki? Yeah, he's certainly got that kind of duplicitous personality on first impression."

"It's like he was laughing at me, he had to get that last word in. He's hiding something and I'm going to find it."

"Just remember, that intuition that's leading you toward Mizuki as the perp, don't let it blind you. By all means use it as fuel to solve the case but get all the facts first. You did do well because you got in his head. I gotta ask though, why bother getting him to sign the statement pad? We didn't need..."

And then she smiled and met his eye and in a flash all Kakashi could see was Obito with that same look on his face.

"While he was signing the pad I was getting a good look at his hands. There is a high probability that if he defleshed her body with dual instruments he would have cut himself."

"Find anything?"

"A couple of knicks and bruises. Something he could probably write off as a work related injury, I didn't realize he was more of a custodian than a counter jockey."

"He had a lot of tools laid out for us to see that's for sure... Wouldn't mind taking those back to Yamato."

"That'll be the next step right?"

"Well, the next step is food, whether you like it or not. You can't make clear decisions without proper sustenance."

"Okay, you're right. Maybe that's why I'm so agitated."

"This is what happens in investigations sometimes, trust me. It's a good thing, it means you're on to something. Just keep your wits about you. I think Mizuki is a creep, and I think he's underestimated you. All good things."

"Do you think he could be tied to the Kyuubi killer?"

"Too soon to tell Haruno, too soon. We need all the facts, we need to get the DNA back, we need evidence. Truth be told I'm trying not to get my hopes up on this one…" The admission was startling even to himself but he wanted Sakura to see all sides of being a detective. He wanted her to keep her wits about her. He couldn't let her rush ahead like Obito had once done.

"Either way we're going to solve this, Kakashi."

Her words of reassurance forced him to nod in agreement even though he wasn't so sure he believed it himself.

"Donburi?"

"That's a much better suggestion."

Kakashi gave her vague instructions as to where the good Donburi place was. Throughout the drive there he silently ruminated on the case and the possibilities that may arise from it. Could they really find him, the Kyuubi killer? He really didn't know, the only thing he was certain of was that Sakura was more like him than he had originally thought, and she wasn't going to stop until she got her man.

He had spent that morning telling Sakura to keep her cool, to keep her wits about her, but it had been more of a reminder to himself. Kakashi would need to keep a close eye on Sakura and on the case, he needed to be one step ahead.

They placed their orders in relative silence, unsurprising to Kakashi, Sakura ordered something obscenely healthy. He wondered just how many weeks on the job it would take for her to slip into the fast food and caffeinated life that he had been living as a detective.

"Do you want to head to Samantha Winters work place after this or go after Mizuki's mother?"

"We're near the work place, so we could make a visit on the way back to the precinct, I don't think that there's much there we can learn... but I guess it's worth a shot."

"Damn right it's worth a shot, you've got me on the case now remember?"

Kakashi smiled into his soda.

"I'm not sure if I like this competitive streak in you, but as long as we only use it as a tool for good and not evil we should be fine. I'll take any evidence you can get us."

Us.

Kakashi wasn't sure why Obito had repeated the word in his mind, but it had sounded almost pleased.

"Did you just call me a tool?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, what would you prefer? Secret Weapon? Instrument of justice?"

"You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"So they tell me." Kakashi took a couple bites of his donburi, watching Sakura shuffle the mass amounts of vegetables around her bowl with chopsticks. "You gonna eat that or just poke at it?"

"Not everyone inhales their food as quickly as you do, Hatake. Have you ever heard of savoring a meal, hmm?"

"Why would you want to savor vegetables, that's not a meal, that's a meal for the animal that you make the meal out of..."

"What is it with you men and your meat, are you so un-evolved as a species that you've reverted to carnivores?"

"Gods you sound just like Tsunade sometimes it really creeps me out."

Silence, Kakashi quirked a brow towards Sakura and noted the ever so slight flushing of her cheeks, although she remained impassive in her expression. He was still curious as to what Sakura might be hiding from him, there was definitely something there, he would stake his career on it.

"Powerful women creep you out, huh? That's unfortunate. I'll remember that when I become Captain, it'll be good leverage."

"Ha ha, very funny Haruno." Kakashi swallowed down some more of his meal. "It's not so much powerful women as extremely determined women who verge on the psychotic... and are close to my physical person..."

"Ah huh, so you're afraid of women..."

She's got you there Kashi.

"Now, now I happen to love all women, I'm only afraid of what they might do to me."

"Wow, someone fucked you over didn't they?"

She's got you again Kashi, this is fun.

"You're so very sweary today, you know what I think it is? I think you aren't getting enough iron, you need to eat more meat..."

"Excuse me, I get enough iron in my diet, and I get it from the source thank you very much..."

Sakura continued to talk about the virtues of not eating meat and taking care of your body, but Kakashi was content in letting her talk, though he wasn't really listening. He liked the way she got so passionate about things so quickly, it was so very much like Obito, and again Obito had been right on the money. This was fun. This was the most fun he'd had on the job in a year, it reminded him exactly why he was in this job to begin with. Because he was good at it, because he was able to do good for others, it was his purpose.

He'd just forgotten all of it, he'd been too consumed, drowning in the aftermath of Obito's death.

"Kakashi!" Sakura said his name with such urgency that it shook him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Are you gonna get that? I can hear your phone buzzing in your pocket. Answer it, it could be about the case."

"Oh, yeah, right..."

He fumbled for the phone in his pocket while Sakura shook her head and narrowed his eyes, he fought the urge to smirk.

"Hatake..."

Tsunade's voice greeted him, but it wasn't the usual barrage of verbal assaults about his tardiness. This was something much, much more substantial, and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention. It made his very blood run with a charge of excitement.

The call was short and to the point, he didn't even say anything in reply, he didn't need to. Just swiped the call from his screen and placed the phone on the table. His eyes fixed on it.

"What's up?"

Slowly his gaze lifted from the phone screen and to his partner seated across from him, now her face was a mix of concern and impatience. If it weren't for the information he had just received he might have paused to decide which look he liked best on her features.

But there were bigger fish to fry, and Obito had gone silent again.

"We've got a match... The DNA's a match to Samantha Winters. We found her."