Kakashi continued to silently ruminate, turning his knuckles over in his hand as he sat on the low sofa in Sakura's apartment. There was little to distract him from examining his own bruises or obsessively checking his phone for the current time, with precious little to spare it had been a stroke of luck that half his wardrobe lived in the back of that sedan. So now freshly dressed (fresh being a relative term), he sat here waiting for Sakura to be finished freshening up in the bathroom.

It felt odd to be in her apartment, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was extremely out of place. He'd showered quickly, dressed quickly, accepted the offering of coffee and a muffin. He'd made sure to eat it in the kitchen over the sink, the whole place was so clean it was almost sterile, with its modern furniture and expensive looking electronics.

In short it was the stark opposite to his own tower of solace and it was glaringly obvious from where he currently sat. The plain white wall was adorned with only two frames, one containing a graduates diploma from the police academy, first of her class with honors. The other was a picture of Sakura receiving the award on stage with the Commissioner himself. It was quite jarring as he pictured his own walls, with every available space taken up by any and all scraps of paper that could be relevant to the case. That was just how his mind worked, with utter chaos.

Yesterday he had been working with absolute clarity, despite all the damning revelations, and it had continued to be clear until this very moment. The silence of the room only echoed the silence of his own conscience, only his thoughts were there to distract him, Obito's voice had been quiet for a while now and he'd only just noticed properly.

He attempted to shake himself out of it, flexing his knuckles and jerking his head just a little. There were far bigger things at play here, it was selfish to think only of himself, his own peace of mind. He needed to look at the bigger picture here.

It's what Obito would have done.

Kakashi heard the shower turn off from down the hall and he continued to fidget restlessly. Adding to this feeling was the fact that Sakura had been hurt today under his watch, and it shouldn't have happened, he should have taken more protective measures. Despite Sakura's assurances that she was fine he'd been unable to acquit himself of the guilt and from experience he knew that it would likely remain. It was just another thing to add to his cargo hold of baggage. Try as he might, Kakashi could not sit still any longer, first he fidgeted and then he stood up to pace.

He desperately wondered just what Obito would have said or done in this situation but it still remained on the tip of his tongue.

The sound of muffled swearing reached his ears.

"Need a hand?" He'd meant it in a way of assistance, he couldn't help that it sounded like a thinly veiled insult with his tone of voice. It would probably be a little difficult for her with only one working hand.

"Very funny, Hatake."

Even through the closed door she sounded eerily like Tsunade.

With his train of thought lost, Kakashi went to sit on the arm chair, reaching out to lift the fluffy white cushion that sat awkwardly at the back of it. Except this was no cushion, evident when the thing hissed and took a swipe at him.

"Oh, sorry."

Why he was apologizing to a cat he didn't know, but it would be good practise, he'd be needing to apologize to a lot of people after knocking Mizuki out cold. He'd do it again in a heartbeat, but they didn't need to know that detail. As he sat back down on the couch he decided that he probably would need to apologize to Sakura again too, for that incidental hand quip and all the rest. His eyes drifted to the framed picture on the wall but were caught off by a pair of azure eyes attached to a giant ball of white fluff. They were glaring at him ominously from the floor.

The cat apparently did not appreciate his apology one bit, and continued to stare him out from it's spot on the floor. The cat was fitting in an apartment like this, designer and beautiful, just like all the furnishings. The only thing that didn't fit in here was Kakashi, and a rather antique looking wooden box that was next to the cat. At first Kakashi had thought it a magazine rack of some kind, but instead it held a pile of wooden frames, and from where he sat he couldn't make out what was in them. As he stood to get a better look, the cat regarded him so closely he thought it may just pounce at him.

"Uh… Nice kitty…"

He approached with caution, only to find that the frames held all the medical degrees Sakura had accrued. It was rather telling that they had been stripped down from the prime position in the apartment to make room for her new achievements. It reminded him of the fact that there was probably nothing that Sakura Haruno couldn't do. He'd never seen someone get their bones fractured without even so much as wincing. She was a force to be reckoned with.

The cat began to growl very quietly the closer he got to it, so he backed away with his arms up in mock surrender just as Sakura walked back into the room towelling her hair dry and yawning.

"Wouldn't have pegged you for a cat person… Why is it staring at me like that?"

"For starters, she's not an it, she's Lady Katsuyu. And she doesn't know that she's a cat."

"Huh?"

"Well, I hand reared her, so she thinks she's human. And she's probably looking at you like that and wondering why you've copied her hair style…"

Kakashi raked a hand through the tufts of silvery hair that always seemed to spike in one direction no matter how he tried to tame it.

"Well, she didn't accept my apology for almost sitting on her."

"That's because that's her chair. How are we looking for time by the way?"

"We should get to the precinct with time to spare if we leave within the next ten minutes. How's it... going?"

Kakashi asked the question deliberately and carefully while he regarded Sakura readjusting the bulky cover to her injured wrist.

"It's fine, just awkward and slow, sorry I would have been quicker..."

"Why are you apologizing? You've done nothing wrong. I'm the one... who should be..."

"Oh, Hatake, you're still going on about that? Drop it will you, I'm the one who got hurt and I'm feeling sorry for you." Sakura gave him a look that wasn't to be trifled with as he met her eye. "Seriously, there was nothing you could have done differently, and it isn't your fault. You can't plan for or prevent unstable behavior like that, it finds a way to happen, and now we can use it to our advantage right? He's willing to give up information now isn't he, I'd call it a win."

Kakashi couldn't help the upturn of his lips.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" She asked with a tone of mild irritation.

"How do you make everything so.. positive? You did it with those boys on day one, with me at that storage facility, with the Captain. I've seen it in rookies before, don't get me wrong, but it usually passes once they get a bone broken."

She paused in thought while giving him an odd look, as if she were studying him like one of the text books she had on her coffee table.

"Well, my aunt used to tell me, don't get mad, get even. So that's what we're gonna do. Ready?"

"Your aunt sounds terrifying, wise but terrifying."

"It runs in the family." She gave him a wink and for a second Kakashi was certain that his eyebrows had ascended so far they'd physically left his face. "Did you need to stop by your place to feed Pakkun or let him out or something?"

"Arrangements for Pakkun have been made. Are you sure you're up to it with that wrist? You didn't exactly get a lot of rest last night."

"Speak for yourself old man, it'll take more than this to stop me."

"Could everyone just lay off the old man jokes for a bit? I'm not that much older than you, and it's not like I dye my hair this way."

"Now maybe you'll think twice before poking fun at the pink hair then, hmm? Come on, let's go."

The drive back to the precinct was uneventful, Kakashi every so often catching the sight of his bruised knuckles resting on the steering wheel and wondering what exactly had come over him yesterday. It had been a heated and tense situation, but he'd never been the violent type in interrogation before. He guessed it was because there was so much riding on this one suspect, the connection to Obito's killer, the Kyuubi killer and Samantha's murderer.

But that surging rage had never been so out of his control like that before, and it had happened the instant he'd seen the look on Mizuki's face as he'd gripped Sakura's wrist. It hadn't even been a question of whether or not it was a good idea before his fist was made and hurtling toward that smug bastard's jaw. The more he thought about it the more questions presented in his mind.

Would he have done the same for Obito? Was it only because Sakura was a woman that he reacted so violently? The answers weren't exactly forthcoming. It made him miss that voice in his head, that distinctly Obito tone telling him exactly what he needed to hear, even if he didn't exactly want to hear it.

"Would you stop fretting already, Hatake? You're thinking so loud I can hear it."

Sakura's voice broke through the cacophony of thoughts that were spiraling.

"What is that supposed to mean? I've interrogated hundreds of suspects, this one is no different."

"But it is. It is very, very different. This guy has information on Obito, not to mention that he's probably a murderer. What if he leads us straight to the Kyuubi killer?"

"I wish I could have some of your optimism, Haruno. But I've learned the hard way that it's best not to hope for any outcome when it comes to a high stakes case. The emotions are too much to bare no matter what the outcome may be..."

"Bullshit."

Whenever she swore like that it always made Kakashi double take, to see such a pink haired sweet looking individual say such ugly words, it was beguiling.

"How have you managed to turn into a mini-Tsunade in just a week-"

"I know bullshit when I hear it, Kakashi. You might be scared to make progress on this, but it's happening whether you like it or not-"

"Haven't I earned the right to be afraid?" The words came out more harshly than he intended. "It doesn't matter, as long as we get the right guy, none of it matters. But I'm taking anything that asshole says under advisement, he's not to be trusted in any way, shape or form."

"Fear is a good thing, remember? Means you're still human."

That statement caused him to glance sideways to the passengers seat.

Suddenly the guilt wasn't lurking so badly in his mind like a bad taste that wouldn't leave. He'd reacted that way out of fear, out of protection for his partner and that weird positivity that she seemed to exude. He'd have done the same for Obito because he was the same as Sakura, optimistic, challenging and intelligent.

"Thanks, Sakura."

She appeared confused.

"What for?"

"Nevermind. We're here. This time you sit on the opposite side of the table, alright?"

"Got it. You mind if we lead with the questions I have in mind?"

"You lead away, I trust you."

"Promise me you'll keep your hands to yourself this time-"

"I will, as long as he doesn't do anything to warrant another knock to the face-"

"Save a shot for me, I've still got one working hand, if anyone is punching him this time it's gonna be me-"

"So you suggest we take turns in beating up the witnesses..."

Sakura rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out in a petulant sorta way, Kakashi found himself smiling at the expression all the same. The good mood he'd unwittingly been lead into dissipated the moment they entered the building. The looks he was receiving from other officers, the jeers they thought were silent enough not to reach his ears, hushed whispers of his sanity. This was what had greeted him everyday since Obito's death and it was a burden that was beginning to take its toll. It was certainly something he didn't wish for Sakura-

"And just what do you think you're looking at?"

One of the first floor uniformed officers was scratching his head while trying to avoid direct eye contact with the vicious pink haired detective who was pointing a finger to his chest. Kakashi's first instinct was to usher her to the elevator but he also wasn't too keen to be on the receiving end of her rage for the second.

"Detective Haruno, we really should be moving now, I'm sure Officer..."

"Inuzuka..." The young man stammered.

"Didn't mean anything by it, right?"

The officer nodded profusely, Sakura appeared to be appeased for the moment before marching to the elevator.

"Hurry up, Kakashi."

He didn't spare Inuzuka a second glance, deciding it was best to comply with her demands immediately. It had an added and unforeseen bonus, the closer he stayed to Sakura the less likely he would receive those judging looks from others, who were now suitably terrified into staying away from her. There was nothing about her facial expressions to give her away, even as the doors to the elevator closed, Kakashi gave her another sideways glance.

"What was that about?" He tried adding a softness to his tone that was usually absent but something he had heard enough from Sakura herself to be able to mimic. She answered with a sigh first.

"I promised to be honest with you, well, this…" She gestured to the black cast brace on her arm that she was keeping held up and across her chest to minimize swelling. "I just don't want people to think that I'm weak."

"I wouldn't worry about that, at this rate you'll be just as terrifying as Tsunade by the end of the week." Kakashi regarded the pursing of her lips and decided that she was holding back a smile. "Must have been pretty cut throat at Konoha General for you to be this uptight..."

"You could say that."

For some reason Kakashi felt as if she were deliberately omitting something, but he wasn't going to press her for information she wasn't willing to give freely, if it were important she'd have told him. Perhaps it was just the absence of argument at his uptight comment, or a lack of an insult aimed in his direction that irked him.

Tsunade was waiting to greet them in the bullpen, with a nod of her head Kakashi recognized the order to follow to her office. News traveled fast in the precinct, not one person spared himself or Sakura a glance, there were no whispers,no pointed stares or gasps. It was more of a relief that he could have anticipated.

"Shut the door." Tsunade barked as she sat, Kakashi complied. "How's the hand, Detective Haruno?"

"It's just fine Ma'am, minor stress fracture, minimal pain."

"Good. Normally I'd assign you to desk duty, but I don't see the harm in your interrogating Mizuki. Which brings me to the next subject- Kakashi, the Commissioner isn't exactly thrilled at your little display yesterday, but he's willing to overlook it as it appeared to be only in retaliation."

"Thank you, Captain..."

"That being said you're on your best behavior." Tsunade abruptly stood and drew the curtains to her office window before locking the door. "We can't risk this being overheard or interrupted." She rounded back to her desk chair. "And what we're about to discuss is only between the three of us, agreed?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. Now this Mizuki Tsubaki, while he doesn't appear to be the most intelligent of criminals, breaking an officer's arm mid-questioning, he has basically secured his protection by offering information on the Akatsuki."

"What? Does that mean we won't book him for Samantha's murder? That's bullsh-"

"Sakura, I'm well aware that it is frustrating, he's guilty as sin for that murder. We swept his apartment this morning with forensics and the bathroom lit up like a Christmas tree with luminol. There's no doubt he skinned that poor woman in the bathroom of his apartment, the DNA on the knives he tried to burn also came back to Samantha. It's a closed case... however, we all know that there is more to this."

"Obito." The name fell from Kakashi's lips of its own accord.

"Exactly."

"What is the Akatsuki? I've never heard of it..." Sakura's eyes darted between Kakashi and Tsunade as she spoke.

"I would be surprised if either of you have heard of it. We're talking high level organized crime, there have been whispers but nothing tangible thus far. Supposedly they are linked to every major crime in the city."

"That's insane, how can they remain so secret but be connected to that much criminal activity?"

"Well, according to the Commissioner, they only recently made their presence known. It appears they have been operating in the shadows for some time with very few players in the know, so it's impossible to tell what they're up to or find any members willing to talk."

"Does that mean our case gets turned over to the Organized Crime Unit?" Sakura had that petulance to her tone as she spoke though Tsunade didn't acknowledge or scold her for it to Kakashi's surprise.

"Not necessarily. We still don't know if we can trust anything Mizuki says, and he may just be pandering to us to avoid a harsher sentence. Your job is to go in there and squeeze every bit of intell he has-"

Tsunade continued to speak, but Kakashi was suddenly not listening. There was a cold prickling sensation across his shoulders, clawing its way up his neck. There was something here... and then he found himself interrupting the Captain, an action which usually would have got him into trouble, but the brevity of his words meant that he escaped punishment.

"The Kyuubi Killer could be working for the Akatsuki..."

Silence. Tsunade's eyes widened, Sakura maintained impassiveness, but Kakashi was no longer paying close attention to either of them.

"Hatake, that's a bold statement."

"Think about it, the victims all had ties to crime, we thought we were dealing with some twisted vigilante, but what if it isn't... what if he's just a hit man for an organization..."

"Think about what you're saying, remember that your partner is also one of those victims, are you calling Obito Uchiha a dirty cop? Because so help me I will throw you out this window and onto the street-"

"Of course not, I'm saying that maybe Obito got too close, maybe he was following a lead on another case and ran into them..." When something bothered Kakashi Hatake he usually made sure it stopped, and there was definitely something that didn't sit right with this whole situation. The feeling was akin to drinking one too many coffees, his head was rushing through all the possibilities all at once. "It just makes sense, doesn't it?"

"This is pure conjecture at this point, Hatake, calm down. I need you to have your wits about you when you go in there, and I know this is the first solid lead you've had in the case, but I need you to look at the bigger picture here. On the slim chance that Mizuki's information has any stock to it, this could mean a lead on the biggest crime organization in the city. Keep your head on straight, got it?"

Kakashi couldn't bring himself to answer, his mind still swirling through all the evidence he'd painstakingly collected and pinned to his living room wall. Going over every bit of Obito's cases in his mind that he could remember. Until he felt a hand gripping his arm, it was Sakura.

"Got it?" The captain repeated in a concerned tone, the look on Sakura's face matched it.

"Yeah, yes, of course Captain."

"Good. Now get to it."

The dramatic change in Mizuki from the day before led Kakashi to believe that they were dealing with someone who was mentally unstable. If he had to put a label on it he would say some kind of schizophrenia, he made a note is his mind to ask Sakura about it later.

Mizuki was cuffed to the table and alone, sporting a terrific bruise on his right eye and looking disheveled. There was something in his eyes that reminded Kakashi of an animal, one that had been backed into a corner.

Just where we want him.

The voice of his conscience was Sakura this time, not Obito, but there was no time to dwell on that fact.

"We understand you wanted to talk to us?" Sakura asked, sitting directly across from Mizuki with a look on her face that would frighten most small children. "Without a lawyer, huh? That doesn't seem very smart."

She was pulling no punches.

"Does it matter?" Mizuki even sounded different, resigned to his fate. "I figure now I need to make sure I don't get murdered in prison. Maybe even a home detention situation… I have information for you, in exchange for a cushier sentence."

"We'll see. First things first, we swept your apartment, found the blood in the bathroom. The knives you tried to burn also had blood matching Samantha's, you want to tell us why you did it, Mizuki?"

Kakashi was content in watching Sakura take the lead for now, watching her as she deliberately used his name, humanizing him before talking about the despicable and inhumane act he'd committed.

"Before I tell you, you need to know, I loved her… I loved her so much."

"So much that you chopped her up into pieces?"

"Not… just that." He sighed deeply. "It started over a year ago… the fighting. It just all got too much, one night at the apartment. I don't even know why or what we were arguing about in the first place. The usual shit, jealousy or whatever. But something just snapped, I was so mad…" His hands had curled into shaking fists on the table. "It happened with her sometimes y'know, I loved her so much and she would just do stupid shit and I would just…. Snap."

"Yes, I've seen how you can just snap.": Sakura was deadpan as she adjusted her injured hand. "What did you do to Sam that night, Mizuki?"

"Everything went black, but I remembered later, when I saw all the blood… flashes of it. My hands were around her neck and then I just sort of went into auto-pilot. I don't know what else to tell you, suddenly her…" he swallowed thickly, "her skull was in my hand with a knife and I was doing these awful things to her… But you gotta understand that I loved her, I do love her…"

"If that's what you do to someone you love I'd hate to see what would happen to someone you don't like." Sakura kept impassive in her tone and on her face, Kakashi was impressed, so much so that it made his own head click back into the game.

"Where's the rest of her, Mizuki? We won't even consider hearing your information until you tell us where the rest of her body is."

"I'll… take you to the places, or I can point them out on a map for you. Most of the bigger bags were thrown in the garbage, there was a lot of them… some of her…organs I cut up and flushed down-"

Mizuki spoke as if he were disgusted by his own words, Sakura's nose was flared in disgust herself, but Kakashi was concentrating. To him it appeared to be an act of disgust more than anything, Mizuki had known exactly what he was doing throughout all of this, and that ruled out any kind of insanity plea he could make later.

"But I can help you, if you help me…" He might have tried not to sound desperate, but he failed miserably, shifting in his chair.

"First things first, I'm going to get that map and you can show us where you dumped her. Be right back…" Sakura stood abruptly.

"You're not… leaving me with… him?" Mizuki indicated to Kakashi with a nod.

"Why, are you scared? Maybe you should have thought about that before you fractured the Detective's wrist…"

"I guess I deserve it…"

While Mizuki stared solemnly at the table, Sakura winked to Kakashi before leaving the room, and he couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face for just a second. This shouldn't have been enjoyable, this was meant to be work, but for some reason Kakashi felt excited. It felt as if he had been reborn from the ashes in the last 48 hours and now he was back and ready to take down all the crime in the city.

When Sakura returned with one of the department tablets with a map brought up on screen Kakashi did a double take, but with the technology she was even able to bring up a street view for Mizuki to give more details. The way he described the places he dropped those bags containing his girlfriend's remains and that of his unborn child was disturbing in itself. It was as if he were simply talking about the places he'd taken a picnic in. Kakashi found it unsettling and sickening all at one, the color appeared to have drained from Sakura's complexion as well.

Both Detective's left the room, Kakashi calling the uniformed officers on duty to check the areas Mizuki pointed out, Sakura went to the bathroom and came back looking even more flustered and discolored. He'd have asked her if she was alright but he knew that she didn't want to appear weak to anyone, so instead he continued as he would normally and hoped that was enough.

"We'll hear from the uniform's soon, how do you want to approach this with Mizuki?" Kakashi held up the smaller notebook of surveillance notes they had seized.

"I'll let you handle that one." She said without hesitation, he raised a brow at her. "You know the details of the Kyuubi killings better than me, you've got this..."

"It's not that, I just figured you were doing so well in there you might as well keep going."

"Normally I would." Sakura coughed slightly. "Maybe I'm just in pain, anyway, we're meant to be keeping everything 50/50 remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Kakashi scoffed. "Alright, he seemed pretty eager to show us the details on the map. Maybe he'll do the same with the book."

"You think we should make that deal with him? Does he... deserve it after what he's done to Samantha?"

"That's not for us to decide, unfortunately. If I had my way he'd be in a prison cell already and never see daylight again. Depending on what he can tell us, we may be able to put away some of the bigger criminal's in the city, save more lives."

"Seems like a heavy price to pay..."

He'd seen this before, a long time ago, recognized it as something he'd once struggled to come to terms with as a young detective. The world in in training and before dealing with hardened criminals was very black and white, but in reality it was all a grey seething mass of clouds. Sakura was learning this lesson first hand just as he had, just as Obito had, but there was something that he could do for Sakura in this instance.

"Sakura, remember..." Her eyes snapped to him. "Don't get mad, get even, right?"

And then she smiled, and it was genuine enough that it changed the look of her entirely. Kakashi decided in that moment that this was the expression he liked best on her. The reverie was interrupted as his cell phone buzzed in his hand.

"Hatake..."

It was the officer's, Mizuki's information had been correct, they had found a bag containing body parts at one of the locations. CSI was now taking over the scene. As he hung up the phone Kakashi felt a fire being lit under him, one that had long been extinguished.

"Let's get the information from this bastard then send him on his way."