Sakura had never seen a tiger pacing in a cage, but she'd heard the term before and she imagined that's what she looked like at this moment. The bullpen was her cage. She'd circled hers and Kakashi's desks all morning waiting for him to arrive with impatience, she'd called him twenty times at least but the phone just kept ringing, whatever he was doing he wasn't picking up.
The logical part of her brain was aware that whatever he was up to must be important or that at least there was a reasonable explanation for his not answering. His phone could be broken, he could have slept too late... he could have crashed the shitty sedan. And this was where logic abandoned Sakura despite herself, it was a vicious spiral that continued. He hadn't picked up last night, he could have been mugged or worse... he could be second guessing their partnership. Maybe her feeling him up in that gallery had been too much, what if he was avoiding her because of it.
"Sakura! Snap out of it." Tsunade's booming voice called from the door to her office. "Get in here, now."
She was so anxious and worked up she didn't even care that Tsunade had practically spat the words in her direction. The usual fear of bodily harm that would accompany the action was suddenly not as overwhelming as the fear of uncertainty. That being said she still immediately complied as if her life depended on it.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Shut the door behind you." Tsunade stomped back to her chair but didn't sit, instead she chose to stand behind the desk and lean against it. "You need to calm down, Haruno, the whole bullpen thinks you're losing it."
"Forgive me, Captain, but something doesn't feel right. It's not like Hatake to leave me in the lurch, he always answers calls, he's three hours late already..."
"Hatake has a history of being perpetually late and ignoring calls..."
"Not from me." Sakura momentarily forgot her place and judging by the throbbing vein on Tsunade's temple she was dangerously close to crossing the line. "With all due respect, Ma'am, I've worked closely with Detective Hatake every day for the past month. He just wouldn't do this."
"Understandable, but you have no proof of any kind that something untoward has happened to him, he's probably back at the cemetery again..."
"He isn't." She interrupted, but instead of Tsunade chewing her out for it her eyes glinted in a hint of worry. "I already checked. I think something must have happened..."
"You want to know what I think, Detective Haruno? I think it doesn't matter what you want because I'm going to tell you anyway as your commanding officer. I think you're spiraling, your home was invaded last night, your life endangered and now you're panicking at every turn. Calm. Down." Tsunade kept eye contact, she wasn't vicious in her words or tone, she was concerned more with Sakura than she was with Kakashi. But her next question betrayed her true feelings. "Have you checked Hatake's apartment? When the elevator broke a couple years ago he was trapped in there for a day... Obito was the one who went looking for him in the end..."
"I didn't want to impose on his privacy." Sakura couldn't help but feel maybe they had gotten too close to each other last night... maybe he really was withdrawing, maybe he just didn't want to see her. He wouldn't not say anything, he would answer her calls at least. "Permission to go check, Ma'am."
"You would go whether I gave you permission or not. Just go, do you want to take a security detail in case Itachi shows up again?"
Sakura shifted her jacket to reveal the gun at her hip.
"I don't think that's necessary, Captain. I can take care of myself if he shows up." Sakura was grateful that Tsunade was taking Itachi's presence so seriously and not having her committed to the nearest asylum. "I'm more anxious about what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into this time."
"That's my girl. I'm sure it'll be fine, he's probably got himself handcuffed to the bed again..."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing, keep your cell on you at all times, got it?" With a nod she made for the door but Tsunade kept going for the whole bullpen to hear. "We've got work to do Haruno, we've got positive traces of bijuu in that so-called art gallery, so get your ass back here fast or I'll kick it all the way to Suna."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Sakura snatched her jacket and keys on the way passed her desk, not bothering to stop for even a second. For a moment she felt guilty, seeing her peers drowning in the work of the task force, and there was so much to be done after yesterday's sting. She'd tried her best to throw herself into her work first thing this morning after briefing Tsunade on her visitor, but worry had consumed her and the work was no longer was able to hold her attention.
She jumped into the first cab she saw. It was only a five minute journey with traffic to Kakashi's apartment building and she spent the entirety of it going over and over what she would say to him when she got there. The list went something like this; Where the fuck have you been? What the fuck have you been doing? Get your ass to the precinct now before it gets kicked there. And then finally, are you alright, what's going on?
It was hard to describe the sinking feeling she felt at seeing the shitty sedan parked at the side of the building. With tunnel vision she studied it until the taxi had stopped moving and let her out. Something felt very wrong. Kakashi wouldn't have gone anywhere without that car, he was weirdly attached to the vehicle that had once been Obito's pride and joy. She approached it with caution, it was locked which wasn't unusual, she couldn't see his keys or phone locked in the car so that theory was off the table.
The only saving grace was that he couldn't be too far from here. He might've taken a cab or bus but she knew that the lazy and parsimonious Kakashi Hatake would never succumb to taking public transport if he could help it.
Maybe she really was just overreacting, maybe he'd simply overslept after working all that overtime without break. There was nothing to suggest anything otherwise... Before she could mentally berate herself any further a glint from the gutter caught her eye, she was almost outside the front door when she first spotted it. First it had been the catch of the light's reflection on something shining and metal, and then it was the flap of fabric laying beside it.
Something familiar.
She was only able to recognize it because of the color, because 12 hours earlier she'd had her hands all over the damned thing, slipping it aside to feel up the man underneath. It was Kakashi's jacket, laying in the gutter by the sidewalk, no doubt about it. As if to solidify the dread in the pit of her stomach she then recognized that shine from the gutter as well. It was Kakashi's keys. The realization sent bile scalding up her throat.
There were a dozen questions that came to mind in an instant about what she should be doing next. Should she touch the keys? Would there be fingerprints on them? DNA? She couldn't just leave them in the gutter, it was a miracle that the sky hadn't opened up and washed them down the drain. Had Kakashi left these here on purpose? He certainly wouldn't have willingly left them here on the street for just anyone to find. Sakura pulled a pen from her pocket and used it to pick up the keys by the rung of the chain.
She knew they were his because of the scarecrow figurine, she'd teased him about it a few times and each time he'd maintained that it held sentimental value, she'd called him a fool.
Panic began to rear its ugly head but she needed to keep her wits about her if she hoped to get to the bottom of this. She needed to be calm.
What would Kakashi do?
If the shoe were on the other foot and it was Kakashi looking for his partner he would stop at nothing. He would barge into that apartment and demand answers. Sakura was sure, so that's what she decided to do. The presence of his keys meant that it was almost certain that he wasn't inside, unless the idiot had somehow managed to throw them out a window in his apartment and around the corner. It was all adding up as she entered that building, the appearance of Itachi, the disappearance of Deidara and now Kakashi. There was a dangerous organization that they had pissed off, a serial killer who had resurfaced and tried to blow them up, potentially a leak within the Konoha PD itself... The game had become more treacherous than she could ever have imagined.
Sakura found herself taking in more detail than she normally would, scoping out for any security cameras in the lobby or hallways of the building, keeping an eye out for anything that might be a clue as to what happened to Kakashi. If he'd never made in inside the building then she had the approximate time he had gone missing, right after he'd dropped her off at home and before he'd reached his own door.
The sound of scratching reached her ears long before she reached the threshold to his apartment. Her right hand lingered over the gun at her hip for an alarming second before she realized belatedly what the sound was.
"Pakkun!"
Upon hearing his name the pug made a desperate attempt to dig himself through the wooden door. Sakura fumbled with the handle before realizing that, not only was it locked, if there were any prints on the knob she would have just destroyed them.
These guys are too smart to leave prints. Just unlock the door and get Pakkun.
At times her inner voice of reason sounded like herself, other times it was more like Tsunade, today it was all Kakashi. He wouldn't just stand here waiting for things to magically work themselves out. She found the key on the third try, Pakkun's scrambling interrupted by soft barking noises when she put the key to the lock. The pug immediately burst out the door, Sakura crouched to ruffle his ears but Pakkun had a different idea, all but climbing into her arms.
"It's alright buddy, it's alright."
The dog was trembling, Sakura didn't have enough knowledge of dogs to know if this was out of happiness or fear, she comforted the best she could. Silently patting his head and rubbing his paws in the way that Kakashi had shown her before. At the back of her mind was a screaming anxious thought, that time was of the essence here, there wasn't a moment to lose. But Kakashi would never forgive her if something happened to Pakkun either. So only when he had stopped shaking did she place him gently to the ground and stand.
Initially there was nothing in Kakashi's apartment that made her suspicious in any way, it looked as it always did. However, there was no Kakashi in it. With one hand on her weapon she searched every room, hoping, praying that maybe it was just as Tsunade had said. He could be handcuffed to a bed somewhere, he seemed like the type to enjoy that kind of thing. All the while Pakkun never left her side, he followed her room to room, when she had circled back to the kitchen she noted that his food bowl was full.
"Not hungry, Pakkun. You worried too?"
She asked not expecting any kind of reply, it wasn't as if the dog could speak, but he did bork and sniff at the fridge door. That was when Sakura noticed the scrap piece of paper stuck with a magnet, a hastily scribbled note.
"Sorry I couldn't wait around any longer, just pay me extra next time. Kiba." Sakura spoke out loud for her own benefit rather than Pakkun's. It was eerie being in Kakashi's apartment and not hearing his voice, his laugh. "That must be the dog sitter."
There was nothing here, not a scrap of evidence as to where Kakashi had disappeared to, not an inkling into his well being. Sakura contemplated phoning it into Tsunade, but what would she care? There was no proof of anything and she'd get the same speech as this morning with an added ass kicking.
Think, Sakura. Trust those instincts of yours.
She needed to think like a detective. She closed her eyes and searched her mind for something, anything, there had to be a lead here somewhere. There just had to be, because the alternative was too terrifying to admit.
Think. What do you have?
Keys and a jacket, the answer came quickly, but so did another question.
What are you missing?
Wallet and phone. He would never have left them unattended, especially the wallet. Without another thought Sakura decided to follow her hunch while Pakkun decided to follow her too. Before she exited the apartment she grabbed the leash that was hanging by the door and hooked it to Pakkun's collar. She couldn't bring herself to leave him alone without his master. By the time she'd gotten back to the side walk the fervent need to find a lead had festered into palpitating anxiety.
His jacket remained exactly where she had left it, but with no phone or wallet in the pockets. As if knowing what would happen next before she did, Pakkun began to plod his way over to the shitty sedan, Sakura complied. Maybe she could trace his cell location back at the precinct, or maybe by some miracle he would be there waiting for her, though she doubted it highly. Hope was a luxury for a Konoha Detective, and she knew that, but it was a hard habit to break.
Kakashi had once said that he envied her for that quality, that it was something he had once possessed but had long been snuffed out, she'd replied that she would be hopeful enough for the both of them going forward and he'd smiled. Right now it felt cruel to hope, cruel because she knew the likelihood of his being there and safe was zero. For once she sincerely wished she knew how to temper that hope, control it to the right levels, to the right degree and for the right purpose.
Pakkun sat patiently in the passenger's seat while the sedan drove at what felt like a glacial pace back to the precinct. Her mind was already laying all the puzzle pieces out on the metaphorical table, try to trace the phone, see if there's any CCTV footage from any of the stores on Kakashi's block, see if there are contact details for the dog sitter. She couldn't help but feel she was coming back to Tsunade empty handed, and she hated that, but it wouldn't be for long. She was going to find something, she had to.
There were looks as she entered, out of curiosity rather than concern, but Sakura didn't care and Pakkun walked in like he owned the place which helped. By the time she reached the bullpen, Sakura had taken a leaf out of Pakkun's book and wasn't fazed by the looks. Not until Gai came bounding up to her.
"Pakkun!" The pug acknowledged Gai in a way that his master might have been proud of, with calculated indifference and a sharp turn up of his nose. Gai's eyes were large while Sakura dumped her jacket on her desk chair. "What the hell are you doing here with Pakkun? Where's Kakashi?"
"I don't fucking know Gai, I've been asking all morning and no one has been listening and not that it's any of your goddamn business but I didn't want to leave Pakkun alone in that apartment..."
"Kakashi wasn't at his apartment?"
"No, he wasn't, but a magical sea witch was there and she predicted that your future has an ass kicking in it-"
"Haruno!" Tsunade was standing about six feet away at the threshold to her office, her eyes wide and watching Pakkun, her arms crossed. "My office, now!"
Later Sakura would swear that Pakkun had legitimately rolled his eyes at the sound of the Captain's voice, but for the moment she was too wound up to pick up on any of the minor details. All she wanted was to sit at her desk and run these checks so that she could find her partner.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I've got a lot of work to do-" Sakura spoke as soon as she got to the door, finding the pug never left her side, but Tsunade interrupted.
"I heard you say Pakkun was alone in the apartment, is this true?" She seemed agitated, nervous, pacing as she spoke.
"Yes, Ma'am. This note was on the fridge door." She pulled the paper from her pocket and Tsunade eagerly grabbed it.
"Why didn't you call?"
"I didn't think this was substantial enough to warrant bothering you, Ma'am." Sakura truly didn't see what the big deal was, but she couldn't say that to her Captain, was there something about this whole thing that she had missed?
"Hatake never, never, leaves that dog without a sitter. He spends more money on home based care for Pakkun than most first time mothers."
"Seriously? But I've never seen anyone else with Pakkun at his place-"
"All Kakashi's sitters have keys," as she spoke Tsunade was pacing closer to the door before shouting again, "Gai! Genma! Get in here, now!" Her attention went back to Sakura. "His arrangement is that he texts the sitter when he leaves work so that he doesn't have to pay them any extra for their time. He spends a lot on that dog, but he's still a thrifty bastard who will cut corners where he can. Good, you're here. We have a situation, Hatake is missing."
"Seriously?" Genma's bored tone was met with a sharp elbow to the rib cage by Gai.
"Serious as my last heart attack. There's no way he would leave that dog unattended overnight. Haruno, what else did you find at his apartment?"
"Nothing much..." Sakura reached into her pocket for the keys. "These were in the gutter, his jacket too, I left it in the sedan but there's nothing on it."
Sakura tried her best to quell the rage that was building within her, anger at her fellow officers, her peers. If they had listened to her before, maybe they would be a few steps closer to finding Kakashi. They had doubted her, they continued to doubt her, and the rage was threatening to spill out.
"What do you think we should do next?"
Tsunade's eyes were on her, Gai and Genma as well, waiting for her to make the call.
"I didn't find his phone, it could still be with him and we may be able to track it if it's been used. There's also potential for CCTV footage of some of the stores across the street from his apartment, maybe they saw something. The sedan was parked up at his building and locked, I drove it back here but there was nothing in it to suggest foul play. His wallet must also be with him so we could subpoena for his bank records to see if the accounts have been used within the last twelve hours, which would take too much time for a judge to put through, unless we guessed his passwords but I doubt he even knows how to access internet banking..." She was aware that she was rambling and she just didn't care, listing what they could potentially do to find him was having a cathartic effect, it allowed that anxious energy to dissipate just a fraction so that her mind was clear to focus on what needed to be done.
Tsuande barely needed a second to process the information.
"Genma, I want you to put out an APB for Hatake, then you're to cover any stores on the street that might have security footage to help us. Gai, get on those phone records now, it's a departmentally issued phone so we don't have to go through the usual channels. Leave the bank accounts and contacting the sitter to me, I'll call the commissioner and cash in a few chips, hopefully find a judge that will rush it through." She paused and took a breath. "What are you all just standing there for? Move, move, move!"
Gai and Genma were already out the door, leaving Sakura standing there perplexed and bothered, Pakkun's eyes were narrowed as if he knew what was going on.
"Right, what are my orders, Ma'am?"
"Go home." Tsunade said as she finally sat down, picking up her phone as if to signal that this was the end of the conversation, but Sakura's temper would not be dismissed so easily.
"You're benching me? I'm his partner, I have the best chance of anyone at finding him, I know him better than any of you..."
"And I've known him the longest." Tsunade got louder with each word. "And he said the exact same thing when Obito went missing. This is a direct order, Haruno, go home. You're too close to this one and I will not have a repeat of what happened last year."
"He's not dead." Emotion got the better of Sakura and it leaked through her voice. "I can find him in time, I will find him."
"Sakura, listen to me, and listen well. You are too close to this, go home and cool off."
"There's no way I can..."
"Finding Hatake will be top priority, I'll make sure of it, we've got the man power to cover ground if I call one of the other precincts. But we still have the Aquafin raids going forward today and I need you, as acting leader of that task force, to have a clear head when it happens."
"With all due respect, Ma'am, I can handle it. And I can find Hatake myself..."
"With all due respect, Detective, you have absolutely no idea what you're getting yourself into. You may be talented but you are still a rookie..."
"But I can find him, Tsunade, just give me a chance..."
"No!" Tsunade bellowed loudly, standing and slamming her hands to her desk, Sakura had never been on the receiving end of that tone before. "You've done enough, Sakura. Now go home."
She wasn't sure what was passing through her, never before had she dared to even imagine arguing with her Captain, arguing with Tsunade was a death sentence itself. But she couldn't let this slide, she tried instead to appeal to her emotionally as her favorite niece.
"Please, Tsunade, I need to do this..."
"And I need you to go home before I suspend you for insubordination. I'd do it right now if it weren't for the task force. I've seen the pictures of that undercover stint, I've read the reports of last night's botched job too, you are too close to Hatake to be objective. The both of you are too close to each other now, so step back and let us do our job, that is your orders Detective Haruno."
Silence filled the room, heated and prickly, an exchange between the eyes that could have ignited a match. Sakura clenched her fists and it was only when Pakkun made a soft whimpering at her ankles did she deign it time to move.
"Fine."
She spat the word before turning on her heels and leaving the office, making sure to slam the door on her exit for good measure. Refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the bullpen Sakura gathered her things and made for the elevator. Pakkun stayed by her side throughout.
As a young female doctor in a male dominated profession Sakura had learnt early on to school her emotions and she had once been very good at it. But now, when confronted with her own insecurities, being benched by her own female Captain no less, it was all she could do to keep herself from crying until she reached the sedan. Pakun seated safely beside her, when she turned the key to the ignition she felt her hands shake and had to stop herself for a moment.
It was a toxic cocktail of emotion, anger, frustration, worry, fear, such a heady combination that had rendered her useless in the eyes of her superiors. Was she really too close to Kakashi now? Partners were meant to be close, physically and emotionally, it was how the dynamic worked... wasn't it? The questions were too many and the answers too few that it made her headache. One thing was for certain, she couldn't stay here and watch while everyone made themselves useful.
If the worst had happened, if the Akatsuki had gotten to him, then there would be no trace. They needed another lead, a new lead, and fast.
As soon as her hands had stopped shaking Sakura took the wheel and went full tilt back to her apartment. Tsunade had said to go home, she'd said nothing about her working the case while she was there, the precinct laptop they had used to comb through the footage with was still at her place.
She would be the one to find him.
Pakkun made a soft bark in agreement from his seat.
"You know, you're a much more agreeable partner than Kakashi." Those big eyes regarded her and for a moment she expected him to reply. "Let's find the bastard."
Lady Katsuyu wasn't impressed with the temporary arrangements, she'd hissed at Pakkun as soon as they walked in the door so Sakura had relegated her to the bedroom. Then she immediately threw open the laptop, it was still on and logged into Kakashi's profile for the precinct. Sakura sat on the floor at the coffee table while she perused what her partner had been looking at in the servers.
It was boring, it was useless information all of it and nothing she didn't already know. The negative thoughts began to invade her mind. If it were the other way around and she was the one missing, Kakashi would have found a lead by now, he would have uncovered something and be on his way to rescuing her no doubt. If only he was here, what would he look at first, there was nothing to look at. Not one piece of evidence to suggest where he may be, only missing parts of a puzzle and no traces of any clues. Even if Gai and Genma uncovered something in their searches she doubted strongly that they would let her know anything. Which left her with nothing and nowhere to look.
You're going about this all wrong. Sakura imagined that Kakashi was saying it to her in that bored way he always did when he felt he needed to show her how to do her job. You're looking at the wrong thing. Now she couldn't turn his voice off in her mind, she knew she was barking up the wrong tree but where else was there to look? Not where, who...
"Someone knows what happened..." She said it out loud because she needed to release the sudden surge of energy that came with the thought. "Kakashi did not go somewhere alone, he didn't go willingly, which means someone took him. Someone..."
Sakura scrolled furiously through the search history in Kakashi's tabs to see if anything or anyone jumped out at her. All she needed was a name and then she could make a start. Her finger stopped moving at the sight of Sasuke Uchiha's name in the database as if just recognizing the letters was terrifying enough to freeze her. But the fear didn't stem from that, nor from Sasuke, all she felt in regards to that man was anger pure and simple. What caused her body to feel as if it had been plunged into an ice bath was the memory of another Uchiha and the words he had spoken in this very apartment.
"You have a habit of looking to the wrong Uchiha's."
Later she would only be able to describe her current feeling as a hunch that would not let up but at the moment it was as if something was crawling up the back of her neck and pushing her to make her next move. It wasn't just a whim, it was an idea that festered and in her limited experience as a Detective, those were the best ideas to work on.
Without another thought, Sakura highlighted the search bar in the precinct server and typed in the name Shisui Uchiha.
It was the only name, the only lead that she had to go on and it had come from a suspected murderer... but she would never know if she didn't look. Maybe find this Shisui Uchiha herself and ask him some questions, maybe that would bring her a step closer to her missing partner.
The search immediately yielded results, a whole slew of them, Shisui Uchiha was an officer of the Konoha PD. But at the top of the list was a case that he had not worked on, it had been assigned to Detective Minato Namikaze... and it had been an investigation into the death of Officer Shisui. Sakura didn't know what to expect while she was downloading the files, she remembered Kakashi telling her once that there were no coincidences in murder investigations... but there was no proof Kakashi was dead, he was only missing. The question remained as to why Itachi had pointed her in the direction of a deceased cop whose case had been solved over ten years ago.
The crime scene photo opened first, and it answered some questions but created so many more.
Officer Shisui Uchiha had been murdered, eyes removed, and dismembered before being arranged into an intricate display of sickening madness. It was a picture that she all at once could never forget and never wanted to see again. But she knew in that instant that she was onto something, that even though her partner was the expert on the subject, she knew beyond a doubt… it was a sight too familiar to deny.
This had to be the work of the Kyuubi Killer.
It had all the disturbing markers and yet the task force assigned to catching the Kyuubi Killer had no details of this murder. It only took a moment's scrolling to figure out why...
The case had been solved and an arrest had been made, but when Sakura tried to dig deeper into the details, she was met with a digital brick wall. The files had been sealed by the former Chief of Detectives himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The only useful information she could discern were the locations and names of the detectives involved in the investigation. The crime scene pictures were there but didn't give any actual details on the investigation and who had been responsible.
There were more questions than answers at this point and the frustration grew to disproportionate levels. Her jaw was beginning to ache with her teeth clenched so tight but there was no time to relax, no seconds to spare to calm down, not when Kakashi could still be in danger.
There had to be another way to get this information. Sakura's eyes darted around her apartment while she was grasping at straws, she lingered her gaze over the two framed photographs on her wall. She couldn't call Tsunade, and she couldn't call Commissioner Jiraiya because he would tell Tsunade, Sakura wasn't sure if she trusted Genma and Gai enough to ask them covertly. What she needed was someone who wasn't in the Konoha PD, someone connected but able to operate through different systems…
"Yamato…"
She'd said it out loud to Pakkun, it was a breakthrough for her mind that couldn't stay silent. Pulling out her phone she scrolled through the list of contacts in dismay, usually Kakashi was his main point of contact, she wasn't even sure she'd ever called him from her own phone.
Are you a detective, or aren't you? You can find a measly phone number…
That's what Kakashi would say to her if he were here, without a doubt. It gave more strength to her resolve and she would need every ounce of it to navigate the phone lines at Axiom labs. After calling the general line and reaching an automated system with dozens of options, she began to see why Kakashi bypassed the usual channels when contacting Yamato about a case. It took ten minutes for her to reach an actual live person who worked for Axiom and the satisfaction of it was short lived. The call centre for the labs wasn't actually in the lab itself, so they had no idea to whom she was referring, and she was passed to another line. And again, and again, until eventually she reached the actual laboratory in Konoha. By this time her patience had checked out for good, and by the time she actually got through to the phone line in Yamato's lab she was not in the mood for any kind of malarkey.
"Yamato speaking."
"Finally, it has taken almost an hour to get through…"
"You should really get your phone checked if it took that long."
"Not in the mood, Yamato. Not in the mood."
"I'm judging by this sparkling tone and no-nonsense attitude that I am speaking with Detective Haruno. Why didn't you just call me from Kakashi's cell? Surely he will have told you about the nightmarish call centre navigation…"
"Kakashi's missing…"
Sakura had blurted the words out as if she needed them to be released, obviously Yamato didn't know, and she needed him caught up as soon as possible. There was a pregnant pause and some shuffling that on the other end of the line.
"What do you mean, missing?"
"I don't know how I can make it any clearer, Yamato. Vanished, gone, disappeared. No one has seen him since last night, he's not at his apartment, he's not at the cemetery…"
"Are you sure he's not just handcuffed to a bed somewhere?"
"He left Pakkun alone, overnight."
There was the sound of a muffled swear word and then silence. She would give him a moment to process the information, but what she needed right now was help and she wasn't even sure if he could, or would willingly provide it. Kakashi seemed to trust him and that counted for a lot in her books, but it all depended on his next reaction to the information.
"What do you need?"
The question caused her first genuine smile since yesterday.
"Listen, I'm not sure if you can help or not, I've got a lead but the files are sealed…"
"Tsunade can't open it for you?"
Sakura bit her lip trying to decide what to say to him. Should she tell him the truth? Would Kakashi? Did it make any difference?
"No, she can't. She says I'm too close to this one and sent me home."
"But you're working it anyway? You've learnt too much from Hatake y'know." Yamato was on the move judging by the sound of his voice. "If we're doing this off the books I need to know…"
Sakura cut him off.
"Look, the best shot we have at finding Kakashi alive, is me. I know all our cases inside and out, I know how he thinks, I'm his partner…"
"I know, I know, Sakura. But what I need to know is, are you prepared to deal with the consequences of what happens when a detective goes rogue? Are you prepared to lose your badge over this? Are you ready for the worst case scenario and what we might find at the end of the road?"
She didn't know what to say, what to think, the answer came to her mind automatically but it went against everything she had worked so hard for. This was Kakashi. This was the man who had shielded her from a bomb, the man who had allowed her into his closed off world, the man who'd shown her how to trust her intuition.
"Yes, I'm ready, I just want to find him."
Sakura had an involuntary train of thought, that this must be what Kakashi had gone through when Obito had first gone missing, she wondered if Yamato had given him the same speech at that time. Or if Kakashi had even thought to lean on anyone at all. She didn't have a choice in the matter and dwelling on the past wouldn't help either. The only lead she had to work on was sealed and it needed to be opened.
"We're doing this off the books, so I'm going to grab what I can and come directly to you, alright?"
"Sounds like you've done this before."
"You don't work with Kakashi Hatake for any length of time and not know how to bend the rules. Where do you live?"
There was no hesitation in giving the address, while Yamato was eccentric and on a normal day she wouldn't want him to know the location of her home, today she waited for him on the sidewalk with Pakkun outside. Doubt plagued her still, maybe she had made the wrong call in trusting him, it sounded too good to be true. He'd dropped his entire busy schedule in an instant without much persuasion. There wasn't time for doubts, not if the Akatsuki were behind it all, this was her only choice for now.
Yamato had ditched the white lab coat and she almost didn't recognize him when he pulled up.
"You weren't kidding..." Yamato said, opening the back door and retrieving a black duffel bag. "I heard some chatter on the way over here, the whole Konoha PD is out looking for him."
"You've got a police radio in you car? Did it say anything about his phone being traced?"
"It's not my car." He stepped closer, bending to scratch Pakkun on the chin, "The last confirmed sighting of Kakashi is your building, I didn't want my own car to be seen out front in case it tipped off Tsunade, so I borrowed my old partner's."
"You think they are watching the building?"
"Wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, we are talking about a missing officer here, now let's get inside quick."
Sakura waited until they were safely in her apartment before all the words came tumbling out in a frenzy. She didn't want to miss out any detail, Yamato didn't say a word throughout, he immediately drew the curtains and began setting up the laptop he withdrew from the bag. When she stopped talking he began typing.
"First things first, let's see if they have had any luck with the phone trace."
Sakura moved to sit beside him at the table, she didn't recognize the program he was using, heck she barely recognized the words as English.
"What server are you using?"
Yamato smirked, his eyes narrowed to her for a second, it was smug and irritating.
"This is the one used by the secret services of Konoha to shadow government departments computers. I have admin permissions..."
"Are you... holy shit..."
"It's not without risk, so we will need to move fast while we're in here. With all the commotion going on at the precincts my guess is that they won't bother so much with one ping into an ongoing investigation. You owe me an orchid for this."
"You got it."
"Not a supermarket one either, I'm talking Rotchschild's..."
Sakura didn't know what the word meant, but if they were able to find some trace of Kakashi she would buy Yamato the whole goddamn plant store as thanks. If she knew anything about computers more than the necessary levels she would have known that Yamato was attempting to bypass the police log ins altogether.
"Gai ran the phone an hour ago, there have been no outgoing calls, no activity since last night, no chance of tracing it without it hitting off a tower or connecting to a Wi-Fi signal."
"Damn it. What about security footage from the street?"
It was dizzying to watch him work, Sakura considered herself pretty well versed when it came to technology, but Yamato made that look like chump change. In a few frenzied taps he had brought up another screen.
"Nothing that I can see, but that doesn't mean anything, it only means they haven't uploaded any footage to the servers. My guess is that Genma will be doing street checks in person. What was the number of the sealed case? Maybe we should just start there and assume the Akatsuki did their homework when they took Hatake."
Sakura jolted over to the living room to grab the laptop she had been using earlier.
"Kakashi would say that you should never operate an investigation under assumptions..."
"Kakashi would say that, but remember that's also coming from a man who once said there was nothing wrong with wearing double denim."
The page was still open on the computer for Yamato to see, crime scene pictures and all.
"Okay, let's see what happens when I input that case number into this server..."
She didn't know how he was doing it and she didn't care because it was working. The instant he brought the case file up Sakura could see the information that had been blacked out in her own screen. Including the reason why the case was sealed in the first place.
"'As part of the sentence given by the judge, all the details of the crimes committed are to be hereby sealed. There is to be no reporting of the crimes to the general media and no glory afforded to the accused'. Wait a minute, crimes?" Sakura elbowed Yamato out of the way to get to the screen.
"See that marker at the top? The red one? It means that this crime was tried with others at the time of conviction."
She was more interested in the details on the screen and didn't want to click into the others just yet, she was still trying to wrap her head around this one. The murder was grizzly enough in the few pictures that she had seen but the close up ones in higher quality really unsettled her stomach. Shisui Uchiha had been mutilated beyond all recognition.
"I recognize this..." Yamato's voice was shallow and his eyes were wide when Sakura turned to look at him.
"What do you mean? Did you work this case?"
"No... not this one... but look..."
Yamato nudged her back out of the way and tapped at the keyboard. What he brought up on the screen next was something that Sakura had the misfortune to see before, it wasn't anything new to her, but suddenly she was seeing it in a completely different light. They were the crime scene photos that had once adorned the walls of her partner's apartment, it was the murder scene of Obito Uchiha, and it mirrored this one exactly. Right down to the location of the body.
"They were in the same place..." Sakura swallowed thickly, she might have been excited if Kakashi had been here with them. "They were murdered in the same place, they have the same last name..."
"We're dealing with a copycat."
Yamato and Sakura exchanged glances quickly before both rushing to the keyboard, she had to flex her fingers a few times to stop herself from taking over. This was his database, his server, he knew better than she did on how to run it. Without needing to be asked, Yamato clicked into the list of the many crimes that had been tried at the same time as Shisui's murder. What they were met with was a comprehensive list of serial killings that had spanned over the course of a single decade. Committed by one man.
"Mr... Oorchimaru... I can't believe I've never heard of this guy before. He was prolific, upwards of 20 victims over a decade, they must have really not wanted people to know about what he did." Yamato wasn't scrolling fast enough for Sakura.
"Where is this guy now?"
"Konoha Maximum Security. Says here that he was due to be executed... this week actually. It's been delayed indefinitely because of the concern with transporting criminals at the moment. That van explosion you guys got caught up in seems to be affecting things all over the system."
There are no coincidences in a murder investigation.
Sakura unabashedly shoved Yamato out of the way and got to work, she couldn't help herself this time, something dark and urgent was pushing her forwards. She was a detective after all, and she was going to do what she did best, find out things that no one else could. She had done it before, she could do it again, would do it for the sake of her partner's life. Everything else around her became white noise, Pakkun, Yamato, her cell phone buzzing vaguely in the distance. What concerned her the most was that the crimes were not listed in chronological order, only in order of sentencing, she was having to click into each murder individually and she just didn't have the time.
"Yamato, is there any way to get these crimes listed by dates? It's not allowing me to reorder them."
Her head darted around the room, she was surprised that he wasn't directly next to her, instead he was sitting on the sofa with Pakkun. He came over in an instant.
"You know you work just like Kakashi, once you're onto something you go into your own little world." His eyes narrowed at the monitor. "It won't let you reorder them because they were scanned into the system via case number and not date. But you can add the dates to appear in the list if you click down here..."
That was all she needed to hear and within a few quick taps she finally had what she was looking for. The murders in a list of dates committed, all she had to do now was to compare them. She pulled the other laptop closer to her and logged into the Kyuubi killings. Side by side the crime scene pictures told a chilling tale, a copy of those murders committed years earlier in exact sickening detail. Right down to Mizuki's in the back of a prisoner transport van... right down to the exact location of that van... and the date on the calendar.
"Jesus Christ." Yamato breathed in her ear as he studied the two screens. "They are like carbon copies."
Sakura wasn't interested in what he had to say, she wasn't even interested in any of the first crimes of this Oorchimaru, all she cared about was the next murder in the timeline. With shaking hands she clicked into the glaring date as if it were taunting her.
"That's tomorrow..." Yamato breathed, as if she needed reminding that they were on borrowed time.
The details of this murder were so gruesome that she felt bile rise in her throat. Not just the way that he had been killed, but the display of the body after the fact, it was the Kyuubi killer's MO to a tee but with one horrifying new addition. This victim, a Konoha detective by the name of Azuma Sarutobi, had been alive at the time of dismemberment... he'd been left in an unused drain pipe on the outskirts of the water treatment facility.
"Sarutobi... that's the son of the former Chief..." Yamato sat down and ran a hand through his hair. "I never knew how he died, they said he was killed in the line of duty..."
Sakura was standing and grabbing her keys.
"That's where Kakashi is."
She checked the weapon at her hip, and unlocked the gun from the side drawer as well for the other hip, just in case.
"You are not going alone, I'm coming with you." Yamato was now standing as well.
Sakura was about to respond when she saw her phone lighting up from where she had thrown it on the table. It was Tsunade, she'd called twice, and Sakura knew if she called three times with no reply that there would be officers here within seconds. She just didn't have any seconds to spare, she didn't want to be held up for any longer than necessary.
"No," she interrupted his protests before they began. "You stay here with Pakkun, if anyone shows up here tell them I'm in the bathroom or something. Hide the computers, if they ask why you're here just say... I don't know, say we're fuck buddies or something. I don't want you to lose your job over this, I can still find Kakashi and bring him back without anyone knowing we went rogue..."
"That's fine and all but there's one problem with that... I'm gay."
Sakura blinked a couple times before she started to move.
"You think of an excuse then! If I need back up I'll phone it in to Gai, alright?"
And she was gone. The elevator was too slow so she threw herself down the stairs unceremoniously. Kakashi might have been proud at how fast she drove that sedan to the outskirts of Konoha.
Make sure you tell me when you find me...
Sirens blaring and stopping for no one, the frantic journey to the water treatment plant was fast paced but still not fast enough. It felt like an eternity before she got close to where she needed to be. Regret filled her the second she saw the towering structure of the water treatment plant, she should have brought a medical kit with her or something, Pakkun might have been more help at this stage and been able to sniff Kakashi out.
Sakura's phone lit up with an unidentified number and she pulled over to answer. She had little hope that it would be Kakashi, justified as she heard Yamato's frantic voice.
"You idiot, Haruno, you just dive straight in without taking any of the details with you, do you even know what pipe to look for and where?"
"I don't have time for this shit, Yamato, send it to me."
She hung up. She should have thanked him because she had been in the complete dark until his phone call, but at this point her mind was only able to process so many things while fogged by adrenaline. True to his word Yamato sent through screen shots of the pipe that Detective Sarutobi's body had been found in, along with an aerial shot of the location. The crime had been almost a decade ago and the landscape had undergone some significant changes but that pipe had to be there. The Kyuubi Killer wouldn't have made a move if the sight wasn't ready, and though the thought was disturbing it also offered Sakura a little comfort. Enough at least to clear her mind in order to think.
There were approximately two hours left of sunlight and time was against her. What if that date of death had been wrong? Technology has come far in that decade, and if the original ME had been just a day out then Kakashi was out of time.
At the first sign of what she was looking for Sakura parked the shitty sedan in the nearest ditch. She withdrew her gun and cocked it, she would use deadly force if necessary, she would save him no matter what it took.
Stop thinking like a girl and start thinking like the detective you are, use those gifts you were born with, trust your instincts as a detective...
Kakashi's words were in her head, they were a poor substitute for the man himself but for now they would have to do. Taking a deep breath she steadied herself for what she might find before she began to take a better look at her surroundings.
There had to be something, somewhere, signs of a struggle, a clue left by Kakashi... anything. But all she could see was the overgrown grass and babbling creeks of dirty water coming from the base of the plant. With the barrel of her gun trained at the nearest pipe opening she quickly glanced down at her phone to get some more details.
The one in the middle, that was the one used before.
Sakura changed course, she climbed over a small dilapidated fence, trudged through a low stream with her eyes never leaving that pipe. The incline made it harder to move fast but she also didn't want to give away her location should some undesirables still be inside of it. The bush and grass worked as excellent cover but she still couldn't see into the shadows of that pipe to work out if it was safe to enter...
Yamato knew where she was, he would send for someone if she didn't return, right now she needed to move.
There was a trickle of water that came from the middle pipe but the closer she stepped towards it, the more she saw that the water was tainted red. It was blood. It got deeper and darker and more sickening with each step.
"Konoha PD! Show yourselves!"
Curse the shadow, she should have brought a torch with her, it was impossible to see anything. There was no movement and no reply, just the ominous dripping noise that reached her ears.
Your phone has a torch.
The LED light did little to improve the situation, it merely highlighted the red patches on the concrete. She panned the light up from the floor and she stepped inch by inch into the tunnel, her eyes began to adjust of their own accord, and then she dropped everything.
The white hair was what caught her attention first.
At the very back, handcuffed to a grate by his own handcuffs, was Detective Kakashi Hatake. He was wearing the white shirt that had been underneath his suit jacket the night before, though now it was red with blood, it was gushing from the left side of his head.
"Kakashi!"
He's not dead. They haven't cut him into pieces. He's not dead...
The more the mantra ran through her mind, the harder it was to find a pulse at his neck and listen for his breathing. As a doctor she had performed countless surgeries, she was no stranger to blood and wounds, but because this was her partner... her friend... well it became that much harder to think and see with tears in her eyes. Finally she found a dull pulse, barely there and struggling. She then switched her focus to freeing him then staunching the bleeding.
"Have you been shot? Where is all this blood coming from?"
She couldn't stop the shaking, couldn't stop the panic, there was only one man who had ever been able to calm her.
"You're... definitely...a better detective... than doctor… don't know where… blood comes from..." Kakashi coughed between the words and a tidal wave of relief followed it.
"Kakashi! Don't talk, I'll fix you up, I promise..." The tears spilled out unabashed.
"Sakura... you fixed me up a long time ago."
She stopped panicking long enough to look at his face, that smirk was there intact, a deep cut now running over his left eye. But in the eye that was open and staring intently at her, well she saw that spark, he was here and alive. Later she would claim it was out of sheer relief alone but even she had a hard time explaining her next action. Sobbing quietly she threw her arms around him, buried her face into his neck.
"Thank god."