Once upon a time Kakashi would have slapped a person, or had them committed, if they had told him that one day he would entertain the notion of fate or a higher power. When he'd heard her voice and felt her arms around him that idea was forced from his mind. Of course she would find him, she is an amazing detective, she's his partner. It must have been the blood loss and dehydration alone that had led him to consider that she had been sent to him by Obito from the beyond.
If he'd had any strength left in his arms he would have reciprocated the embrace, though Sakura didn't seem to care or notice. When she pulled back there were fresh tears cascading down her cheeks.
"Be careful with those cuffs... They might have... trace evidence..." Kakashi still couldn't force his throat to allow the words to come out as he would like.
She'd used her own key to unlock the cuffs and put them immediately into her pocket, Kakashi wasn't able to concentrate properly, all he wanted to do was get her out of here.
"Is there anyone here? Do I need to call for backup?"
He honestly didn't know, he could barely discern her voice or what time of day it was. It seemed that every time his eyes closed for the necessary blinking more time was lost to the darkness, when he had the energy to open them again he wasn't sure how many minutes had passed. It was a new kind of frustration he had never come across before, he was angry at his own body's limitations and inability to keep focus.
"Not sure..." Kakashi tried to shake his head and restart his brain but it suddenly became impossible to control the movement and bile rose in his throat. By the tie he was able to focus his eyes again it was like watching a set of still photos one after another. First Sakura was checking him over, then she was running to pick up her phone from the ground, then she was right beside him again with the phone to her ear.
"Kakashi! Can you hear me?"
"Huh?" It was like being woken up mid nap and just as impossible to concentrate for any length of time.
"Back up is coming, we need to get you out of here and to a hospital..."
He wanted to protest, he wanted to stand and shake the dust off his clothes and get on with the investigation, he wanted to scream all the new information he'd been able to gather while being held here. But his body just wouldn't comply with anything he wanted. Later on he would take note of the inhumane strength with which Sakura got him to his feet and supported him all the way to the sedan. Or at least he assumed that was what had happened, his brain was still only providing him with small snapshots of what was actually happening.
It's dangerous, Kakashi, you need to wake up now, wake up now! What if they come back for her? Wake up, wake up!
The sedan jostled him as it turned a corner at full speed, Kakashi felt as if Obito had been physically shaking him awake as well as screaming the words in his ear. It was the first time he'd been able to see with any clarity and actually feel awake enough to realize what was happening. Though he could now only see out of one eye.
"Stay with me, Kakashi, stay awake now!"
Sakura was shouting over the sirens in a tone that was entirely foreign to Kakashi. She sounded firm and commanding but with an underlying desperation that automatically tugged at his heart without his express approval. Against his better judgement, Kakashi tried to move his arms, finding that now his hands were complying to his brain's orders. He reached up and brushed his fingers against the wound that crossed over his eye, finding wet cloth under their touch, he pulled his hand back to find blood staining his skin. Sakura had dried to dress the wound with something and he had absolutely no recollection of it happening, and that thought was almost as terrifying as what had happened to him in that abandoned pipe.
"Is anyone... following us?" Kakashi's own voice sounded unfamiliar to him now too.
"Oh thank god, you're awake. No one is tailing us, I've been keeping watch, backup is already at the treatment plant. Keep talking, Kakashi, we're almost at the hospital, stay awake and keep talking to me..."
She must be worried about concussion.
"They said they were... coming back to finish the job..." Flashes of what had occurred over the past 12 hours came to the forefront of his mind, it was frustrating not having complete control over his thoughts, especially when he'd been so meticulous about gathering any and all intell he could.
"They won't get you now, I won't let them. Why did they leave you unattended in the first place?"
In an instant a veritable assault of memories replayed in his mind, vividly and without sparing any of the pain that accompanied them. It might have caused Kakashi to audibly grunt at the sensation, it really felt as if someone had struck him across the face with a plank, but he was only hit with the exact details.
And suddenly panic was gripping him.
"They had... a police radio with them, they heard about the raids... they left to set explosives at the Aquafin plants." Kakashi didn't even notice the pain that accompanied the head turn as he caught Sakura's wide eyes with his own. "We need to warn them, now!"
If it weren't for the gaping wound across his face or the fact that she had pried him from the hands of the Akatsuki themselves, he would have expected Sakura to question him. He was almost preparing for her to challenge him and his crazy notion about the raids but instead she pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor and Kakashi picked up the radio receiver with some difficulty.
"Dispatch, badge number 009720, code 10-79, repeat 10-79 across multiple locations..." Kakashi fought through the wave of blurry nausea that came over him, his good eye closing as he tried to push forward until he felt Sakura's hand take the receiver from him.
"You are hemorrhaging from that cut with possible concussion and god knows what else, just focus on staying awake for now."
"They are going to blow those sites sky high, Haruno, there are lives at stake here..."
"The raids aren't for another 5 hours and your life is all I care about, got it. So just do as your goddamn told for a change."
The gravity of her words would not hit home with Kakashi until much later. As she said them all he could admit to was that he was unable to discern what day it was or how much time had passed for him. The light outside was little help, it was darker now, with no sun he wasn't so sure on the time. After Sakura had spoken with dispatch and hung up Kakashi's mind finally began to slowly come back to him.
"How did you find me?"
"It's a long story..."
"Lucky we've got time and I need distraction..." The pain in his shoulders was now noticeable enough but the pain that shot across his left eye was almost more than he could bare. Like a shot of debilitating migraine that randomly decided to spike.
"I didn't find you on my own, Yamato helped." If he wasn't in agony he might've noted the way a shadow of fear crossed her eyes briefly. "It started with Itachi Uchiha waiting for me in my apartment when you dropped me off last night."
Was he delirious now? Because the tale she was telling certainly gave him that impression, it was too ludicrous to be true, and yet because it was Sakura Haruno telling it he knew it had to be the Uchiha had waited for her, made her promise to stay away from Sasuke, and then given her a name in good faith. A name that Kakashi thought oddly familiar but could not give a reason for the feeling.
"Shisui Uchiha... it rings a bell..."
Sakura paused while they went through a set of busy traffic lights on their way to the hospital.
"Officer Shisui Uchiha, murdered while on duty ten years ago, eyes removed, body posed... sound familiar?"
Pain shot through him again and he couldn't bring himself to speak or think. Overwhelming tiredness was riddling him as soon as that sedan stopped out front in the emergency bay. The implications of her words would only come to him once he was safely being ushered into the waiting operating suite at Konoha General.
Kakashi didn't care about anything the doctors or nurses had to say, he didn't believe in luck, he didn't need them to try and give all the credit to luck. The only thing he cared about was whatever his pink haired partner had to say, but it was impossible to speak on anything with the ensuing fuss. An IV line was started immediately by Sakura herself. The room would occasionally fade into blurriness induced by the pain and the bright lights in his eyes, but each time it happened there would be a soft touch that brought him back to reality. A hand on his, wiping his brow, brushing his hair with her fingers... Sakura seemed to know just what touch and when to give it, there were other doctors touching him as well but none of them held the gravitas that hers did.
Slowly and surely the pain began to fade away as more blood was pumped into his body, and he was finally able to concentrate and take everything in. A sole nurse was cleaning up the mess left behind by surgical glue that had been applied to the wound across his eye, Sakura sat on a chair next to him with wide eyes and looking more disheveled than when that bomb had gone off at their crime scene. His wits were also returning to him, he didn't want to speak to Sakura about what had happened with the nurse present, he could tell she was also waiting for her to leave. Smiling she left them, Kakashi could see two officers stationed outside his door, and glanced sideways to Sakura.
"Do you think they're listening?"
"Probably not." It felt like Kakashi's ears had been ringing for so long that when it was finally just the two of them again, the silence was almost deafening itself. "Fill me in as quick as you can."
Sakura seemed tense throughout her whole body as she spoke.
"I'll fill you in on the specifics later, but what we worked out was that Officer Shisui was the victim of a serial killer in Konoha that was caught years ago. He wasn't the first victim, and he wasn't the last. After his murder was the killing of Detective Asuma Sarutobi..."
"I know that name too..."
"He was the son of the Chief of Detectives, and his body... was found in that drain pipe where you were kept." Sakura averted her gaze in a rare act of vulnerability, odd since she had single-handedly gotten him out of there and to safety, but there was no time to analyze the expression. ""The killer was caught, some guy by the name of Oorochimaru, then all records of the killings were sealed by Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"But if he was caught, that would mean..."
"That the Kyuubi Killer is a copycat. Without a doubt. Officer Shisui's body was found at the same location as Obito's, in the same position... the other's all matched as well down to the dates. The anniversary of Asuma's death is tomorrow... "
"They were leaving me there for this copycat..."
"Who's they?"
"I was taken by two of the Akatsuki, picked up by Kisame Hoshigaki himself and one of his psycho henchman. Guy going by the name of Hidan, though it's probably an alias."
"It doesn't make any sense why they would leave you injured? You could have died of blood loss or dehydration before the killer came back, that would have mucked up the order of his copy kills and one of the few things we do know is how exact he is with the details..."
"Oh, this was self inflicted." Kakashi gestured to the gash across his face and nodded towards an agape Sakura, he needed to explain quickly but also didn't want to tell her the whole truth. He didn't want her to worry any more than she already had, and he knew how sickening that feeling was when your partner was gone without a trace. At the same time he couldn't bring himself to lie to her, not when she had risked her own life to save him. "I... lost my cool. Thought maybe if I used enough charm I could get myself out of the situation unscathed... and making jokes worked at first... but then they started talking and I lost my cool."
"What were they talking about to make you lose it? I've only ever seen Mizuki on the receiving end of..." Her sentence trailed off, her mind catching up quickly.
They had been talking about what they were going to do to Sakura and Kakashi had been unable to contain himself. He'd smashed his forehead against the head of the leather jacketed asshole next to him, cutting himself on the eyebrow piercing he hadn't seen. He'd tried to kick and bite his way out of their clutches, but it had been 3 against 1 and his hands had been restrained using his own cuffs. Soon it had been too much for one man, and he'd tried his darndest to goad them into fights, thinking that the more fights he had the more chances there would be to getaway and warn his partner. There was an urge within him to sugarcoat the details so that she would never be plagued by the images... there was an all encompassing need to protect her even now.
When the hospital door slammed open Kakashi jerked in the bed, Sakura reached for the gun at her hip.
"Hatake! Thank god you're alive..."
"Captain, you didn't have to come all the way down here to see me..."
"Let me finish, thank god you're alive so I can beat your ass to death, what the hell were you thinking? You allowed yourself to be kidnapped by the goddamn organization we're trying to bring down...
"With all due respect, Ma'am, Detective Hatake was able to get some invaluable intell..."
"Don't get me started on you, insolent girl." Tsunade had shifted her attention to Sakura with a pointed finger of fury that Kakashi was usually on the receiving end of. "You keep your mouth shut until I address you to speak, Detective Haruno. Hatake, I want all the details you can provide on what you heard about the raids, now."
He wanted to tell Tsunade where she could shove it for the way she spoke to his partner, but he appeared to be missing a crucial piece of the puzzle yet. Kakashi tried to remember that he had to keep his expression passive if he wanted the glue to hold his face together, so he settled for narrowing his one working eye.
"I arrived at my apartment building just after 11pm lastnight to find a limousine waiting for me. I was ordered at gunpoint to get into the vehicle by an unknown assailant operating under the alias Hidan. I never learned the drivers name, but inside the limousine pointing another gun at me, was Kisame Hoshigaki."
"He already knew that we were after him…"
"Precisely." Even though she wasn't allowed to speak, Kakashi glanced over to Sakura and quickly away again. He couldn't admit in front of Tsunade how or why he had lost his composure at the time and gotten himself injured. It was the mistake of a rookie, not a senior detective. "They swapped vehicles and put a blindfold on me to keep the locations secret, but they never bothered to block my ears, they got lazy. When we reached the final location, that pipe at the water station, they were ordered to guard but then there was a call over the radio."
"They were tapped into our frequency…"
"They heard everything, and so did I. Every factory and store that is being hit tonight by squads is already compromised. The two dolts who were meant to be keeping watch got a phone call soon after, I pretended to be unconscious, they were leaving to pick up explosives from a drop site on the Suna border."
"This fucking day just keeps getting worse…" Tsunade was already pulling her phone out of her pocket and began typing.
Kakashi tried to power through a sudden wave of pain and nausea, he tried to sound and look impassive under the ever watchful eyes of Sakura, scrutinizing his every flinch with that worried expression on her face.
"You need to call off the raids and call in the bomb squads, before anyone gets hurt, there is no way to know how much damage they're planning on causing..."
"Are you telling me how to do my own job, detective? Why don't you just concern yourself with getting better and not being kidnapped by the Akatsuki. Haruno, I'll be speaking to you in private, follow me."
Kakashi was getting a whiff of animosity between the Captain and Sakura, but she was probably just in a bad mood, the expensive task force she was running in a time of budget cuts was now compromised. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something they weren't telling him. The more blood and fluids that returned to his body the more his mind was able to catch up. The Kyuubi Killer, the person he had been hunting for over a year, was a copycat and he'd had no idea. Sakura had said the records were sealed but if this were the case surely a task force formed to catch the guy would have been offered information on the original killings. There was only one reason Kakashi could think of that made sense, the police radio, the tip offs to the task force and the sealed records...
There had to be a mole high up in the ranks of the Konoha PD.
Minutes may have passed while he silently ruminated on the horrifying truth. Another nurse with long dark hair came in to change his now empty bag of IV fluids, she said nothing, a silent professional... Which is why Kakashi's next move scared the hell out of her.
"Mr..Mr Hatake, please don't try to stand up..." She stuttered and fussed over him.
There were a couple plays he could pull here to get away without too much work. The first was simple charm, but judging by the wavering of her voice any kind of advance from a man would not have the desired result. So Kakashi decided to go with the tried and true, bathroom emergency.
"I don't mean to be a bother, but I need to use the bathroom…"
The nurse turned a shade of blush that Kakashi had only ever seen on the noses of clowns before she stuttered a reply.
"Oh, oh of course! Please, let me assist you.."
He didn't need her help strictly, but he needed to get out of that room and passed the guards at the door, he needed to get back to work and there wasn't any time to lose. The sickening light headedness that accompanied his standing was a nuisance but it passed by the time he was able to put one foot in front of the other. What he needed now was to get to a phone and get the ball rolling, he also needed to find Sakura…
As predicted the nurse simpered away to give him privacy as soon as he reached the door to the men's bathroom, she'd gone through the trouble of removing the bag connected to his IV line to make it easier for him. For appearances sake, Kakashi went into the bathroom and locked the door, he opened it again within 10 seconds, and his hunch had again proven correct. With a busy emergency department the nurse's attention had already been commanded elsewhere, which meant he could get away unhindered. Except he was forced to a stop by an all too familiar sound, the sound of Tsunade chewing someone out. It was peculiar not to be on the receiving end of such an assault.
Kakashi peered around the corner to see just what was going on…
"Look at me while I'm talking to you…"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Did I give you permission to speak? You are lucky that you aren't being landed with a suspension. There is no excuse, Haruno, you went behind my back to get classified information. You have no idea how much trouble you've landed me in, the precinct, as well as yourself. The commissioner wants me to pull you off the case, you have compromised a month's worth of investigation, even if we catch this bastard now there's a chance he could get off because of your stupidity…"
Kakashi couldn't see Tsunade's face, but he didn't need to, the fury was practically radiating from her. Instead he chose to focus on the only thing in that hallway that was of importance to him. Sakura's face gave nothing away, but he knew her well enough now, he knew that it was trained impassiveness so that she wouldn't make herself vulnerable to whoever she was talking to. It was something she had done when they had first started working together but over the weeks had faded and he'd started to see her real features. Or maybe he just knew her a little better and could read her... it was hard to say what was more accurate. Truth be known at this very minute he couldn't even identify his own feelings.
What he did know was that Sakura didn't deserve to be spoken to like that by anyone, not even the Captain. She had just saved his life, she had done what any good partner and detective would have done, she wasn't even arguing back and it didn't sit right with him all of a sudden.
By the time Kakashi made the mental connections to move his feet in the direction he wanted them to go, Tsunade had already left, leaving Sakura standing there leaning against the nurses station. It was here that he was struck with the demoralizing truth, she had not only chewed him out in front of the staff, but this was Konoha Grace Hospital. Where Sakura had practiced medicine.
If only I had gotten here sooner...
"You heard all that, huh?" She asked, not even turning around on his slow approach.
"Hard not to hear an explosion that size."
Kakashi wasn't quite sure what to say next, his instincts were telling him to protect her, but he had been too late to do so, again. It seemed to be habit forming, he'd been too late to save Obito, but this was different. Sakura was standing right here in front of him, he still had a chance to do something about this before it festered. Tentatively he reached his hand towards hers, brushing his palm against her knuckles and holding it there. He could write it off as a ploy to get her attention but it went deeper than that, and he could feel that connection.
"Sakura, it might be true, that Detectives who break the rules are treated like scum..." He took a deep and involuntary breath when her green eyes met his, the memory of those same eyes as they had locked lips days earlier startling him. "But a Detective who abandons their partner, well they are even worse than scum."
He'd hoped to add an extra measure of sincerity to his tone, that his words might reach through the void and pull her out of the darkness enough so that they could move on. And for a moment he wondered if he had missed the mark entirely.
"Is that your way of saying thank you, without actually saying it?"
She offered him a half smile, and considering the situation he decided to take it. Perhaps she didn't need his protection in all areas of the job, she had made it this far on her own strength, but there were some thoughts... some feelings that were out of one's control.
"What I'm saying is that you did an excellent job, despite what Tsunade said..."
"And?"
"And... thank you for saving my life, or whatever..."
"There we go. Much better." Sakura huffed in amusement at his expense but he didn't even care at this point and joined in. It would be short lived. "Wait, what are you doing out here? You better not be discharging yourself..."
"Well, we are on a time limit, and I'm feeling alright..."
"You fucking idiot... Well, fine, but on one condition. You're staying with me so I can monitor your condition."
"Like my own private nurse? I can handle that."
"Doctor, Hatake, Doctor. And I severely doubt you can handle any part of me..."
The glint of innuendo in her eye was enough to recharge his tired bones. His hand was still touching hers and he made no effort to remove it.
"If you're looking after me then who's looking after the task force? What about the raids?"
"Doesn't matter, Tsunade has sent me home anyway."
"Suspension?"
"Not quite, thankfully."
"She say anything about not working the case?"
"She was very specific about me not working..." Sakura's eyes narrowed and a smirk formed, it was so familiar to him he might have been looking in a mirror.
"But she didn't say anything about me working the case, nice find, Haruno. Let's get going."
Her sudden vice like grip on his wrist stopped him from any kind of movement, out of fear, worry, trepidation... and excitement. It all caused him to cease functioning though it was a completely innocent act.
"There is no way you're just walking out of here without telling anyone. These nurses will get reamed for it worse than what Tsunade did to me. Wait.. which poor nurse did you trick into letting you out of bed without the line attached?"
Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly with his other hand while the nurse in question appeared behind the desk.
"Doctor Haruno... I mean Detective, sorry, your p-partner he's gone..."
"Got him." Sakura held up the wrist that she still held for the nurse to see, her eyes following to who it was attached to with visible relief, though it didn't halt her stammer or the blush on her face.
"Oh, thank goodness. He really shouldn't be out of bed just yet, we need to get more fluids into him, and there's still blood tests to be done."
"Hinata, would you be able to do me a favor?"
"Of course, Sakura, whatever you need..."
Kakashi blinked a couple times, it was as if he were seeing his own reflection, had Sakura picked up this ability from himself? Or had she been secretly harboring it all along, waiting to strike... either way he was skeptical and concerned that she had been playing him like a fiddle this whole time.
"We really need to get back to the case, are you still chief nurse of this department?"
"Y-yes, I am."
"Would you have any concerns, medically, if this patient were to be released into my care? I am still licensed and up to date with current procedure."
"Of course not! I have to say, if you are looking for immediate discharge, there is an issue of safety protocol. Detective Hatake has been classified as high risk and needing a tier 2 escort or higher..."
The next look that crossed Sakura's face was one that Kakashi would remember always. It was one that he recognized from his days with Obito, when all the stars aligned and the outrageous plan was set in motion without a hitch.
"Well..." Sakura relinquished her grip and withdrew her badge from her belt. "It's just lucky that I am also qualified as escort. Would you be able to sign the papers for us, please Hinata?"
Kakashi watched the nurse as she smiled coyly and produced the papers from behind her back, already completed and just waiting for Kakashi's own signature. Sakura winked at Kakashi while Hinata leaned forward with the clipboard.
"I had them printed out as soon as Mr. Hatake got out of bed. I do have one suggestion..." Nurse Hinata beckoned them forward with a finger. "You may want to take the side exit through the maternity suite, your... C-captain is still out front making noise."
Sakura was able to procure some supplies quickly with the aid of the Chief Nurse, including new bandages for the wound to his face and fluids. She was strict about bringing him right back for a transfusion if it were necessary, and that he would be coming back to be checked in a day or two, Kakashi decided that this was ample time to come up with an acceptable excuse to get out of it. Within ten minutes they were out the side entrance and ducking behind cars on their way to the sedan.
"She seems really nice, I wonder if I can get her to babysit Pakkun..."
"Stay. Away. From. Hinata." Sakura punctuated each word fiercely. "She is far too wholesome to be exposed to the likes of you."
"Ah, I wondered whether you learned that little act from yours truly, I appear to have finally broken your wholesome exterior, Haruno-"
Kakashi was cut off by sudden and unexpected physical contact to his abdomen, he had to take a few seconds to realize what was happening. Looking down there was a head of pink buried into his chest and two arms wrapped around him so tightly it was hard to breathe. This time he was able to reciprocate at least, placing a cautious arm around her.
"It's good to have you back, Kakashi..."