Chapter Seven; Staking out the Trash

If Kakashi had said anything of importance while he drove them back to the precinct Sakura had not heard it. They'd left the donburi place immediately, an unsettling eagerness prompting them to get back to the station as soon as possible.

The day so far had inundated her with information left, right and center, and her shift was far from over. What she wouldn't give to be able to pause things for just a moment to collect her thoughts, but there was no pausing a murder investigation. If she could just maintain this pace then it would be okay, they could catch this guy, they could catch the Kyuubi killer.

She had doubts if it was the same perp who had killed Samantha Winters but there was still that indelible link between the cases. Sakura cast an eye over to her partner. He did well to hide the pain, and that was probably why he had come off as so standoffish from the outset, she really didn't hold it against him now. He'd lost his friend and partner and had been shouldering the blame on his own for a year.

For Sakura's thinking, Hatake was a good person, a good detective. She wasn't going to let him be consumed by grief and obsession any longer. She would help him solve this and in the process they would help so many other victims. Kakashi was wasted left to his own devices, picking through this serial case on his own, it was something she would need to bring up with Tsunade later. Why had she allowed this to happen?

She barely noticed that the car had stopped moving, it was probably just as well that she'd zoned out while Kakashi had been driving, he couldn't have been operating at any legal speed.

"First thing we do, put in the acquisition papers for the CCTV footage to confirm Mizuki's alibi, wouldn't mind getting a better look at the ME's findings as well..."

"Shouldn't we brief the Captain first?" Sakura wasn't sure why, but it felt necessary to speak to Tsunade about the connection to the Kyuubi killer.

"We can brief her after we've caught the bastard in a lie." Kakashi sounded heated as he punched the button in the elevator.

"Well, I can give her a quick rundown while you get the acquisition started, can you find that other footage from Obito's case too?"

"Oh, that's right, I almost forgot about that. Sure, no problem." The elevator began to move.. "This whole partnership thing is going to work perfectly if you're the one copping all of Tsunade's fury."

"Work perfectly for you, you mean."

"Of course, who else." Kakashi paused thoughtfully. "She isn't aware of the link to Obito's case, and I'm not sure how she'll handle it. She may insist on getting the Major Crimes Unit involved with a task force if there's even a mention of the Kyuubi killer."

"Does that mean the case gets taken off us?"

"It's a possibility."

Sakura felt the shudder of the elevator as she closed her eyes momentarily, the doors opened out to the bull pen and she sighed.

"Does that mean I shouldn't tell her about that receipt?"

Silence, neither of them had stepped out onto the floor.

"Sakura, I can't ask you to lie to the captain for me, this case is dangerous enough as it is."

"Then I'll ask her nicely to let us keep the case, and I'll tell her the truth."

Sakura brusquely stepped out onto the floor while Kakashi followed.

"First of all, there's no point asking her nicely for anything, she's gonna turn you down before you even get the sentence out. Second, exactly what truth are you going to tell her?"

"I'm going to tell her what Mizuki said and that the guys a creep, and I'm gonna tell her that the last person to see Obito alive was Samantha Winters. It could still just be a coincidence for all she..."

"Sakura, I'll tell you now. There are no coincidences during homicide investigations." Kakashi interrupted her with a sudden seriousness. "This could potentially be dangerous, and we're gonna need all the support we can get, I know that now... So fill her in with the truth and we'll get back to catching the bastard. With or without Major Crimes turning up, I... we have to be the ones to fix this."

A nod was exchanged between the two of them before they went in separate directions, Sakura heading for Tsunade's office, Kakashi straight to his desk. Knocking on the door first she cast a curious eye back to Hatake, he had dived head first into his work and for some unknown reason it was reassuring to see.

"Enter. Ah, Detective Haruno. Status report..." She gestured to the seat in front of her desk.

"Yes Ma'am. Hatake and I questioned both the mother of the victim and the boyfriend."

"We'll need to reach out to the mother again as soon as possible and let her know that we've found her daughter... part of her daughter anyway."

"Yes Ma'am I'll get right on that. Hatake is currently formally requesting the store footage to prove or disprove the boyfriends alibi for the day Winters went missing. His story hasn't changed but I trust the guy about as much as an unsupervised kid in a candy store."

"Trust your instincts Sakura, if he's dirty we'll find it, that's our job now." Tsunade leaned in her chair to the side, staring out the window of her door. "Well, something has lit a fire under Hatake's ass. Is this your doing? I haven't seen him work like this in a year."

Sakura liked to think she had her facial expressions under her control at all times, especially after working in a male dominated profession for so long. But there was no hiding anything from Aunt Tsunade.

"Well, there is something else I need to tell you. Kakashi thinks that this case might be connected... to Obito's."

There was a darkness that crossed the Captain's face, a turbulent mixture of sadness, shame, grief and shock.

"How so?"

"It appears that Samantha Winters was the last person to see Obito alive, going by the receipt that was left in his pocket. Kakashi's also bringing up the footage of that transaction for us to go through, it could be nothing, but it..."

"It could finally be a lead. Hn. No wonder he's been working so hard at this. It's nice to see him including you in the process too." Tsunade smiled sadly.

"We made a rule, we work on this case together 50/50 throughout, no solo work. No secrets..." Sakura looked over her shoulder now to observe the man himself, though all that could be seen was the outline of his shoulders and a few askew strands of silver hair.

"You have no idea how much it warms me to hear that... Truly. I was worried he would never come back to us properly."

There was silence.

"You aren't going to take the case away from us, right?"

Tsunade smiled.

"No, not this time. If it were just Hatake on his own then I wouldn't hesitate to give it over to Major Crimes. But I'm going to give you both the chance to prove your partnership. I have a feeling that with you on the case I won't have to worry about him so much."

"He is... a worry." Another pause. "Thank you, Ma'am, we won't let you down."

"I know you won't. Dismissed."

Sakura stood but couldn't bring herself to leave just yet, she had one more question that had drifted into her mind from nowhere tangible, and it needed answering.

"What was he like...before, before Obito died?"

There was a way that Tsunade sat back in her chair with a fond smile that made Sakura gain the notion that perhaps the captain didn't hate him as much as she lead people to believe.

"You wouldn't have recognized him Sakura. Hatake was the expert in all things, he traveled giving lectures to new recruits, speaking at trials, solving cases that no one else could. And you know what he did on his down time?"

"On the seventh day he rested?"

"Not quite, rest was the last thing Kakashi was capable of back in those days. In his free time he would collect things."

"What kind of things?"

"Everything. Building plans, herbs, wigs, books, logos, historical stuff. You name it, he added it all to his 'database' or whatever he called it. Hatake might not look or act like it much now, but that mind of his, when it's working in that zone... well it's something to behold."

"I would have liked to have seen it."

"You're in luck, Sakura. I think we're about to see Detective Kakashi Hatake make a big comeback. Now, don't let him show you up."

Kakashi didn't look away from his computer screen as she approached.

"How's it looking?" She asked when he appeared to be concentrating too hard to notice her on his own.

"Just typing the request now. I've sent that other footage to you through the server, so you should be able to bring it up now." It was here that Hatake finally glanced at her and then to Tsunade's door. "How did it go in there?"

"She's been briefed fully and wants us to continue working the case, so we're in the clear for now."

Sakura watched Kakashi's whole demeanor shift to something more comfortable.

"Well that's surprisingly good news."

"Why the tone of surprise? You didn't think I could pull it off?"

"I'm starting to wonder if there's anything you can't do..." It had been a backhanded compliment if anything, but it was so unexpected that it called upon all of Sakura's years of practise to train her face to impassiveness. It seemed Kakashi had fully intended the sentence to be heard though. Thankfully he continued. "I'll leave contacting the next of kin to you, I'm not sure Mrs. Winters wants to see or speak to me again anytime soon."

"True. I'll ring her directly and see if she's still in town."

"Next of kin notification is an unpleasant experience all round, do you want me to organize Detective Shiranui to ghost you?"

"No it's fine, I've got experience in this actually, from my last job."

"That's true, but remember this is murder not surgery. And even though the mother is ill, it doesn't rule her out as a suspect, she could still be involved. I know you'll be polite and sincere, but I want you to trust me, and follow those instincts you were born with. Take note of every word she says, how she sounds, how she reacts."

Sakura nodded. The vote of confidence from Kakashi boosted her in a way she couldn't quite describe, the only reference she could compare it to was when surgery began and that clock started. In the words of her Captain, it had lit a fire under her ass.

First things first, Sakura left a message with Mrs. Winters to get back to her as soon as possible. Kakashi submitted the request then rang the Captain, rather than leaving his chair, she rolled her eyes at first and then had to laugh when Tsunade came out looking like a puffed up chicken.

"Hatake, I swear one of these days I will kick your ass so hard you won't be able to sit and then you'll have to get up off that chair. What did you want me to sign?"

"The press is already speculating as to the identity of the vic and I don't want to tip off the perp that we're onto him just yet."

"Oh, so you're going for an injunction, good move Hatake, next time come to my goddamn office."

"If we can get a 24 hour ban on the media it will give us a head start." Sakura chimed in from her spot.

"There was evidence of disarticulation on the skull, the spinal cord was severed postmortem by someone who knew what they were doing and with strength. If I were to profile them I'd say they were on the higher end of the IQ scale, so we don't want any tip offs."

"I'm going to try and contact Mizuki's mother, if what Mrs. Winters said holds any stock then the woman knows something that she isn't telling us."

"Good plan, Haruno." Kakashi typed as he spoke. "While you do that I'll run a basic background check on the boyfriend and see if he's hiding anything. I'm not sure we've got enough probable cause to get a warrant for financial records, it would take a couple days to process too..."

Sakura had almost forgotten that Tsunade was standing beside them, the back and forth with Kakashi had given her tunnel vision. When the captain spoke she almost startled.

"If you're leaving out the details that the victim was connected to an ongoing serial case then you probably don't have probable cause enough to convince a judge. And the second that you mention that connection, on the record, I can't guarantee that the case will stay in this precinct." She paused thoughtfully with a hand to her chin. "Follow the leads, search the victim's residence, question the mother of the boyfriend, we'll have a briefing in the morning and go from there."

"Yes Ma'am." Both Kakashi and Sakura answered in unison, they exchanged an amused look that went unnoticed by Tsunade as she walked away.

"It might be worth canvassing the woodland areas around the boyfriend's home and place of work with cadaver dogs. See if we can find the rest of her or a crime scene."

"There's no way we can get that done today. How much area can we cover just the two of us?"

"No need, we can submit an order for the crime scene unit to sweep the area while we get the bulk of this busy work behind us. You want me to show you how to put the order through?"

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks."

Kakashi wheeled his chair to Sakura's desk and for the next two hours they were both enveloped by tunnel vision. All that existed was the case, the screen they were working off and the smell of stale coffee. The correct procedures were all familiar enough from basic training, but seeing how that process actually worked was a benefit to Sakura. She usually only needed to see something once to have it memorized, a skill that had served her well as a surgeon.

Finding Mizuki's mother however was like trying to catch a fart in the wind. Mrs. Hana Tsubaki was visible on social media but there was no contact details. The number listed was no longer in service, Sakura figured the only way to get to her would be through Mizuki himself or Mrs. Winters. While her and Kakashi still stared at the security footage they had of Obito's interaction with Samantha, for the upteenth time, Sakura's mind was finally bored and settled enough to make a connection.

"Do we have the phone records for Samantha somewhere?"

"If they aren't in the file I'm sure we could bring them up on screen..."

Kakashi leant over and tapped a few quick strokes into the keyboard, in doing so, he brushed past Sakura, this was the first time she noticed the broad and taut muscles along his shoulders. She also caught a whiff of something pleasant like aftershave.

"Print it out, I want to compare it to Mizuki's mother's last known number, or see if I can track down a way to get in touch with her."

"Good thinking, Haruno."

"Has that background check come up with anything?"

Kakashi spun his chair back around to his own desk, looking at the screen intently before wheeling himself back to Sakura's desk. There was an empty station next to his desk, it would be a lot easier if she were to shift there... but she had a sinking feeling that it was empty for a reason. That had been Obito's desk and she could never take his place.

"Nothing substantial, no priors and no record. I'd like to get a look in this guys apartment, I doubt he'll be dumb enough, but he might just let us in willingly to take a look around. It's worth a shot..."

Sakura had been listening, but she wasn't giving her undivided attention. Something was off with the numbers she was looking at on the freshly printed piece of paper. There was a tension rising in the back of her neck and she couldn't place why, it was both infuriating and concerning at the same time.

When she finally looked up from the sheet of paper Kakashi was back at the side of her desk, watching her intently.

"What have you found?"

"I... don't know, what makes you think I've found anything to begin with?"

"You got that look about you. What do you mean, you don't know?"

Sakura sighed before handing him the piece of paper.

"Tell me what I'm not seeing." Usually it would have hurt her ego to have to ask anyone for help with anything work related, let alone Hatake. But the need to catch this bastard outweighed the temporary discomfort. "Samantha called her mother religiously during all her breaks and after her shift, you can see it happening every day right up until the 15th, the day she went missing, and all outgoing calls stop."

"That gels with the ME's estimated time of death." Kakashi's eyes darted over the paper for a moment and then she could see something in his eye, it wasn't a sparkle of recognition per-say, it was more like the life had returned to them. "After the 15th there are two numbers that still try to call her, I recognize one as the mothers, I'm unsure of the other but it has the area code for where Samantha's skull was found. What's more interesting is the number that she calls alongside her mother each day. The one that calls her late almost every night of the week for a month and then stops on the 15th."

She snatched it back off him.

"So I should be looking at the number that stops calling..."

"They knew that no one would pick up, so they stopped calling. We need to know who that number belongs to, we should probably follow up on the other number as well. It could be work, or it could be..."

"Mizuki's mother."

"Precisely."

Sakura narrowed her eyes toward Kakashi.

"I'll take one, you take the other, 50/50 remember?"

"Fine." He said almost quizzically. "Which one do you want?" There was something laced in his tone that was cautiously concerned.

She paused for just a moment considering which number she preferred to call. It was petty to think that she still had something to prove, but she didn't want to look stupid either, she wanted to be useful, she wanted to be the one to make a break in this case.

"I'll take..."

"Too late. I'm taking this one, you take the other."

"What..." her mouth dropped, Kakashi was already wheeling back to his desk and picking up the receiver. "What the hell Kakashi?"

"You took too long, Haruno. I'm dialing the number that stops calling her after the 15th, you take the other."

It really was too late to argue because he was hitting the numbers already. Sakura could protest that there was no need to call them, they could simply look up the numbers in the system or call the phone companies. But there was a kind of urgency to this case, they didn't need to wait any longer and the quickest way to an answer was to call. There would be plenty of time later to do follow up procedure. The looming paperwork causing her more anxiety as she picked up her own phone. She could've waited for Kakashi to finish, but there was that ever niggling sense of rivalry that lingered and wanted to best him still.

The second the phone began to ring on the other end Sakura had to shake herself back into seriousness. A woman answered with a gruff voice.

"Yeah?"

"Hello, this is Detective Sakura Haruno. May I ask with whom I'm speaking?"

"You're not a very good detective then, huh, don't even know who you're calling..." There was the sound of an exhale directly into the speaker, Sakura guessed they were a smoker whoever they were. "This is Hana Tsubaki. You're calling about Sam I take it. Found her yet?"

Sakura darted her eyes over to Kakashi but she didn't really take him in, it was more of an immediate response out of shock.

"Not... not exactly." Sakura stammered, remembering that they didn't want to tip anyone off just yet, and the next of kin was still unaware of the DNA match. It wouldn't be right to reveal that information to a third party just yet. "I understand from Mrs. Winters that it was at your behest she fill in the missing persons report originally?"

"Hell yeah it was me that told her to. Fat lot of good it did for Sam. There won't be much left of her to find by now."

The statement made Sakura's blood run cold, she'd been submerged into the freezing deep end. Her eyes opened wide and she did her best to remain calm as she signaled to Kakashi with her other hand. He didn't hesitate to hand up his own phone immediately, with a nod he dialed another number and put a finger to his mouth. He was listening in to the conversation, and that solidified her resolve.

"You sound pretty sure of that statement Ms. Tsubaki. What makes you think there won't be anything left for us to find?" Sakura hastily grabbed for a pen and notepad to be sure she took down every detail, she couldn't miss anything.

"You don't know who you're dealing with here girly. He's had too much time to clean up, he'll be more than one step ahead. He's smarter than you think."

"And just who are we talking about, Ms. Tsubaki?"

"Wow, you really are a shit detective if you can't work that out. I'm talking about my son of course. But you knew that, didn't you? You trying to get me to say it on the record, well that's as close as you'll get. I'm not coming in to your damned station either."

"And why won't you come to us?"

"You want me to hand over my only son on a silver platter and I won't... I can't do it. Even if I wanted to, detective. Family doesn't do that."

"Then why go out of your way to drive Mrs. Winters all the way to the police station to get her to fill out the report? Why bother giving us any information at all, Hana?"

There was a silent pause, Sakura wondered if she had said the wrong thing, but after another long drawl of a cigarette the woman finally answered.

"I liked Sam, she was a good girl, good to her Mom. I thought she would be the one to change that boy for the better. Especially with the baby coming..."

Sakura felt her jaw drop, she turned to Kakashi, he made a gesture with his hand quickly.

Keep going, keep her talking.

"Sam was pregnant?"

"Yeah, she wasn't far along, but hell we were excited. I thought it would be enough for Mizuki... well enough for him not to hurt her anymore. Sam and I were thick as thieves, think we were the only ones that could love that son of a..."

She could hear the emotion in the woman's voice, feel the brevity of her words and the pain that it was causing her. This was her chance, she held the power in her hand here to break the case wide open, she just needed to say the right thing.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Tsubaki, I can't imagine the position you're in right now. But if you truly cared for Sam, and you want us to find her, find what happened to her, I need to know what happened on the 15th..."

"I don't want to know one bit of the details of what happened to her, I know what happened to her. Mizuki happened. The pair of them were meant to come over that day and never showed, never picked up, and I knew. I knew he'd gone too far this time."

"How can you be so sure?"

"It's not my place to say... there was always something wrong with that boy. He had the devil in him the second he was born, and I would know, I'm his mother."

Sakura decided to adopt another tactic, not wanting to test the anger that she could hear in Hana's voice, not wanting to leave the conversation here. There was too much on the line for it to be left here.

"Thank you, for everything Ms. Tsubaki, I know what a difficult position you're in and appreciate you taking the time out to talk with me. If I may ask just one more question... Where do you think we'd find Sam?"

Silence.

"I know you won't find a trace of her in that apartment of his."

Sakura felt her chest heavy, sensing that Hana had one foot out the door, ready to hang up at any second. She'd already given away more than she had intended, and all mother's feel that instinct to protect their sons. That was when inspiration struck.

"Thank you again, Ms. Tsubaki. If it turns out that Mizuki is in any way involved, I won't let him know we've spoken to you, and I promise I'll get him any help that he may need..."

Silence.

"I said she won't be in the apartment. But you should check out that storage locker of his. 28 Mains Avenue, locker 301. Good day, detective, I hope you live up to your promise."

Dial tone.

Sakura fought with the urge to slam the phone down, bolt straight for the door and run non stop until she reached that storage locker. She glanced over to Kakashi, wide eyes betraying her thoughts in lieu of replying he simply held up a finger as he hung up his own phone. A day previous she wouldn't have appreciated the gesture but today it served to calm her in an odd way. Kakashi was already standing, adjusting the belt on his hip and checking over his weapon, Sakura stood and did the same.

Thankfully, common sense returned just as swiftly as it had abandoned her.

"Is there any point heading straight over there without a warrant? We won't be able to enter the storage unit without an MR24 with the judge's seal…"

"We don't have to enter that locker, we can just go and get a good look around the facility, see what we can turn up. We do exactly what we did in that gas station."

"Right." It only took a second for her to catch on, they would ask around a bit, take a look around. Maybe they would get lucky and there would be surveillance cameras. "If we go fast enough we might be able to make it there before five, there might be a clerk we could talk to…"

"My thinking exactly, we'll have to use the sirens on the main highway…" Kakashi had stopped mid sentence and mid stride colliding with Sakura's outstretched hand. "What…."

"There is no way I am willing to be subjected to your high speed siren driving today, besides, it's my turn."

"But… you do realize we need to be there quickly."

"No arguments, it's my turn and I took all the same defensive drivers training courses in the academy as you did and more recently, I might add…"

The argument took place as they both readied themselves and left, by the time they reached the elevator Sakura had expected Kakashi to continue his protest. When the doors closed he grinned and held the keys up for her to take. The look on his face was so unexpected that she attributed it as the cause of the heat that rushed to her cheeks. She also realized in an instant why he'd disputed so loudly on the way out, he was just keeping up appearances. That heat morphed into the fires of anger and she barely resisted the urge to wipe the smile off his face.

Why did men have to be so infuriating one hundred percent of the time?

It didn't matter, she would have ample time to make an example of him in the bullpen later, and right now she needed to concentrate. They needed to have their heads and wits about them if they were going to walk into the den of the monster… so to speak, innocent until proven guilty and all that…

He may not be guilty but he is definitely hiding something, let's go see what that is…

The thought solidified her reasoning as she got behind the wheel. From the glove box Kakashi withdrew what looked like a small keyboard.

"What the hell is…." She started the car and her question was answered. "Wow, this rust bucket has built in sirens, huh?"

"Hey, this rust bucket was top of the line back in it's day... I don't know why I thought that would help win the argument, let's just get moving."

Precision driving had never been her favorite subject in her training days, but on the road with her partner besider her, it caused a surge of adrenaline that she hadn't anticipated. A rush of a long forgotten feeling of excitement and contentment in what she was doing with her life, they were following the leads together… they were going to catch a killer. She was going to make a difference.

She had become a doctor, become a surgeon, to save people. But she was sick of being at the bottom line when she belonged to be at the front, a first line of defense, a police officer.

The conversation on the road was short but Sakura was too busy concentrating on weaving her way through traffic to pay much attention to Kakashi. Occasionally he would go so far as to point within her line of vision to a faster route, and she found herself following his direction without question. Later on she would wonder if it was only because of that adrenaline in her system that she obeyed him so obsequiously. The storage facility was well marked as they came off the highway ramp, the mass of intimidating buildings with rows upon rows of red doors was hard to miss. Sakura decided on the main entrance but with such a mass expanse of storage units she noted that there were other exits and entrances along further.

"A place this size has to have security cameras." Kakashi spoke, already peering out the windows of the car to get a better look around.

"You'd think so. Any signs for an office?"

"Around the side there, park up."

Again no banter or arguments, this was serious business, Sakura took a second to check her weapon, badge, phone, torch. She even made a point of locking the car this time, Kakashi nodded in seeming approval. They rounded the side of the building, along the wide path and fifty metres ahead was the sign for the office.

The multi story facility was so large Sakura likened it to a hospital for size. Then her mind went to the logistical side of things as it usually did, how many cops it would take to swarm such a building, how easy it would be to lose a perp in the myriad of corridors that lay within and above them. When she glanced quickly to Kakashi she wondered if he was thinking along the same lines as her, his eyes were narrowed as if he were concentrating, one hand resting beneath his jacket and on his weapon.

Maybe he was just as nervous as she was. There was no time for Sakura to do what she usually did best, comfort and care, she wasn't even certain if that's what he needed. But it was too late now, they were here.

The 'office' was little more than a storage unit fitted with a desk, a computer and stacks of filing cabinets. And of course, one very disgruntled employee who had the keys to the lock up in her hand and her purse over her shoulder.

"I was just heading out for the day, if you want a locker you can apply tomorrow or take the paperwork with you…."

"Oh, we're not here to rent a locker ma'am." Kakashi smoothly interjected, shifting his jacket to display the badge on his belt. "I'm Detective Hatake, this here is Detective Haruno. Would you mind answering a few questions for me? I'll only take a moment of your time…"

Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes, he was laying it on so thickly it made her sick. The clerk was of short stature, she dropped the bag of her shoulders with a side smile. It was proof anyway that Kakashi could be charming when the person they were questioning was attractive.

"Sure, I guess I got the time."

She sashayed back to her desk chair and dropped herself into it.

"Sorry, I never asked your name…"

"Call me Frankie. So what did you want to know? Which perv will it be about today, hmm? " She met Sakura's eye and put a hand to her mouth as if to share a secret with her. "Most of the men that walk in here tend to be pervs, one way or another…"

Sakura fought back the urge to giggle but the snide grin could not be contained. Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Okay, good to know. First things first, this place got any CCTV cameras?"

"Yup, located at all entrances and exits, and one aimed down each hallway. It's all monitored by our alarm company, Armorguard, so no, I can't give you access to it sorry."

"Are you able to tell us anything about the perv who's rented 301? His name is Mizuki Tsubaki." Sakura decided to take over the conversation for the moment, sensing Kakashi's impatience.

"Sure, just give me a sec." She spent a minute typing furiously, having to log herself back in to several forums to bring up any information. In the meantime Frankie popped a strange looking kind of lollipop into her mouth, her desk seemingly covered in them. Kakashi raised a brow and the look on his face make Sakura actually roll her eyes. "301, what did you want to know?"

"Anything, when the unit was rented, how he paid for it, anything you can give us will help."

"Sure. As long as you're not asking me to unlock it for you. You want me to email all this to you? We scan the forms with the signatures into the system along with the ID they used when opening the account to make sure it matches."

Kakashi and Sakura exchanged glances.

"Yeah… that would be really helpful, thank you."

"You're welcome, Detective Hatake." She held out her hand and Kakashi looked at her perplexed. "Well, you gonna give me your card or what? I'm not telepathic, I'll need an email address to send it to."

"Oh, right." Kakashi pulled a card from his wallet, his face a mixture of bemusement and irritation. "My number is on there, give me a call if anything new pops up."

"Only if you say please." Frankie appeared serious for the second, but a grin gave away her mischief. "Just kidding. No problem."

With both his eyebrows raised Kakashi offered a curt nod before turning on his heels and heading outside. Sakura offered a few pleasantries to the clerk before following after him, he paused at the corner of the building.

"I want to drive around to Mizuki's lock up and scope out the exit closest to it."

"Good idea." Sakura threw him the keys as she spoke, he caught them without looking, his eyes were preoccupied in darting around the empty parking lot. "You.. feeling alright?"

Sakura wasn't sure what had prompted her to ask the question, it could have been the way he was acting or it could be the strange feeling she hadn't been able to name rising within herself.

"Physically, yes." His tone was deadpan as if she had just said something monumentally stupid, with a sigh he admitted defeat with a proper answer to the question. "The rest of it, well I can't really say. This place makes me very nervous and I'm not sure why."

"It could just be the anticlimax of it all." Kakashi finally looked her in the eye at her words as if to prompt explanation. "Well, look at it this way, we rushed all the way here, siren's blazing. Only to be told that we'll need to contact another security company and the information will be emailed to us. It could have been done with a phone call really."

"That's true." Kakashi unlocked the car. "Don't discount old school detective work though, Haruno, doing the footwork could become our advantage later."

"That's also true. And we made a new friend. I like Frankie, she's got gumption…"

Kakashi tried to disguise the smile on his face by turning his head as he opened the car door, but Sakura had caught it nonetheless. While he made a show of adjusting the seat back to fit his legs, she put a lot of emphasis on buckling her seat belt and making sure it was secure.

"This place is like a maze…" He mumbled as he reversed. "Maybe that's why I'm on edge. It's a tactical nightmare."

"Tsunade would have a fit if we had to storm the place."

"You know it surprises me how well you know her character when you've only been with us for a few days…."

"What of it? Maybe I'm just better at reading people than you think…"

"Hmm, very suspicious… You're right though, she would have a fit and potentially disembowell me. I've just got this… feeling that we're missing something here and it's not going away."

"You were the one telling me to follow my instincts, now you need to follow your own advice Kakashi. If there's something here that's bugging you we should stay and check it out. As long as we're not breaking and entering into the storage unit we're not breaking any rules... "

"You're right. You don't mind poking around a bit? It's getting dark."

"I'm a big girl, Hatake. I don't need you to hold my hand because it's dark… Pull over up here."

There were large signs attached to each block of buildings with the corresponding units on them for that row. Kakashi parked the car in a block that had the numbers '300-349' along the side, they had a view of the dumpster and not much else. As Sakura was undoing her seat belt she heard the buzz of Kakashi's phone from his pocket.

"Hatake." He answered with no emotion, but his eyes grew wide before they narrowed again and Sakura could hear why. The car was quiet enough for her to hear the other end of the conversation.

"Hi, it's me, Frankie. You told me to call if anything new came up, and you'll never believe it, perv 301 waltzed in here a minute after you left and asked for the account closure forms. He's going to empty out his locker right now."

Sakura felt her blood run cold, Mizuki knew they were on to him.

"Thanks for the heads up."

Kakashi hung the phone up without any more ceremony and began scrolling through his contacts.

"Kakashi, get down." Sakura hissed, pulling on his shoulder and ducking down in the passenger's seat. Mizuki himself wondering into view just as Kakashi's unruly hair ducked below the dash.

"I'm messaging for backup."

"There's no time Kakashi, he could be about to destroy evidence, we need to get in there now!"

"It's too dangerous, we need backup."

"There's two of us and one of him. And we're armed…"

"That means nothing, Haruno, we could be dealing with the Kyuubi Killer here you realize, it's not safe…"

"Fuck that Kakashi, he just opened the dumpster lid, we need to move!"

"There's no reason to rush in there guns blazing, anything he throws into that garbage becomes ours for the taking as evidence…"

Sakura peered up cautiously to see Mizuki crouch down to unlock the locker door before rolling it up.

"So you're saying we just watch him throw out stuff and wait for backup?"

Kakashi sighed in what appeared to be relief.

"Yes. Consider it your first stake out as a detective, sometimes you gotta wait these things out, don't ever go rushing in without a plan, Sakura."

She huffed in begrudging acceptance.

"Alright, fine. You think he can see us though? We are pretty much parked in front of him."

"Lucky it's getting dark then. Look, he's in the unit, we have time to move to the backseat which will offer us more cover."

"Oh god."

"What? It'll be fine, just hurry up…"

"No, I just shudder to think what you might have in that backseat and I don't want it touching me… Christ, we better move, I can burn this outfit later…"

"Hey, it's not that bad."

"Why is there so much food back here?"

"For situations just like this, doughnut?" Kakashi held out a box and Sakura didn't even look at the contents, afraid of what she might see.

"No, thanks. Have you got eyes on Mizuki?"

"He's still inside that unit, for now. Can you see the door?"

"I can… Oh, I meant to ask, that other number that you rang back at the precinct. Who was it?"

"Oh, right, it was a caller service for the bank. Basically Sam was playing phone tag with her provider, sending a text message for them to call her."

"So a dead end?"

"Yup. You got the better end of the deal."

"That's what happens when you rush in and take whatever you want first, karma bitch."

"Did you just call me a bit-"

"Shhh." Sakura shushed him to silence and then felt her whole body freeze. "Kakashi, we really need to move now-"

"We talked about this Haruno, there's no reason to rush…"

"He's just put a tank of gasoline next to that dumpster Kakashi, he's going to destroy whatever's in it, we need to move now-" She reached for her weapon, pulling the gun from the holster and reaching for the handle to the car.

She startled when the firm grip of Kakashi's hand around her wrist stopped her. It was like a vice, and he'd shifted so close they were face to face.

"No, Sakura. It's too… dangerous ..."

She could see the iris of his eyes, wide and startled. She could see everything being this close to him. She could see the fear, hear it in the tremble of his voice.

Kakashi had already lost a partner in the line of duty and he wasn't ready to lose another one.

"Kakashi, trust me, we're going in together, right?" She hoped she'd added a softness to her tone that was usually absent in high pressure situations. Sakura watched as he studied her eyes, she watched that fear ebb away ever so slightly, she felt him release her wrist with a reluctant nod. "It's going to be okay. Let's go take out this piece of trash…"

The unintended play on words is what broke him, finally. The last of that apprehension evaporated with the slightest of smiles. Kakashi reached for the weapon at his hip.

"Alright, alright. I'll take the lead, got it?"

"Are you sure…."

"Sakura, move fast! He's pouring the gas ..."

The pair of them fell out of the vehicle with less grace than she would have liked, but just as quickly they were on their feet, guns pointed at Mizuki Tsubaki.

"Hands up, Mizuki! Drop the gasoline…"

The surprise from the suspect was palpable as they rounded on him. He made a last ditch attempt to charm his way out of the situation.

"I was just throwing out this expired stock… No reason to pull out the guns, guys."

"How stupid do you think we are Mizuki? Gasoline doesn't expire…"

"Who said it was…"

"We can smell it, and we got you red handed attempting to destroy public property, so keep your hands in the air…" Sakura spat the words at him, no longer attempting to hold back. Mizuki's eyes darted around as if looking for the best route to make a run for it, but Kakashi was quicker, the cuffs were out and on him faster than Sakura could blink.

"Mizuki Tsubaki, you have the right to remain silent…."