Kakashi had never been so frightened to be in his own sedan before. It was perhaps negligent to allow Sakura to drive to the mental facility considering the day she'd just had, but hindsight was a fickle thing. As he watched her now, speeding through the back roads of Konoha while he white knuckled the seat, it was plain to see that things were taking a toll on his partner.
He had to let her feel it for herself, let her go through all the motions and make the mistakes that would mold her into a better detective. Maybe if he had allowed Obito that same luxury he would still be alive today to complain about it. She was a good detective. She'd gotten the necessary information from Haku and made the right calls immediately. It was just hard watching her become invested with a family that was hiding things, at least in Kakashi's opinion anyway. So when Sakura decided to briefly leave Mei and Haku in order to buy them groceries out of her own money, Kakashi had said nothing. He just carried the grocery bags quietly, thinking over this perplexing new development.
They should have told her off the bat about the man who was seemingly obsessed with Haku. A man who had been committed to a facility after his pursuit of Zabuza Momochi and several threats to the young boy's life.
It was even more frustrating when they received the news about Gato en route to the facility. It was about that time when Sakura's foot had pushed the accelerator to the floor and left it there.
"I can't believe they are unrelated..."
"People die every day, Haruno."
"Two people who work in the same circus are shot to death within a day of each other, and all you have to say is that people die every day—"
"Stay at the job long enough and you'll see stranger things, believe me. Just be glad the wife came clean about it now and not a year down the track."
"A year?" Sakura almost swerved off the road. "A year? Oh no, there is no way in hell this I'm going to let it drag out for that long."
"The cheating spouse theory is always plausible in any case, Sakura. Just like Gato got blown away by his wife for knocking boots with another woman, Zabuza's case could be similar—"
Sakua interrupted him not only with words but with a sharp and unnecessary turn of the steering wheel.
"—No, everything he did was for his family. Gato was a cheating loser but there's no evidence to suggest—"
"No evidence yet. Are you forgetting that the carnie folk refused to give us any actual information about the guy? You're running off assumptions and what the family of the victim have said, not factual evidence."
The inside of the vehicle fell silent as it continued to speed down the highway. Kakashi was deliberating whether he should have just kept his mouth shut when Sakura surprised him, like Sakura always managed to do.
"Unless... Zabuza wasn't the one cheating."
Atta girl, she's got it now.
"Interesting theory, care to elaborate?"
"I would, just not about this case." Sakura gripped the steering wheel and her eyes flicked to Kakashi. It was one of those expressions that preceded an idea that was too good not to be true. "Okay, Mei is an attractive woman, I'll admit. But there isn't any evidence to suggest she's got a partner in this case. But what... What about Kabuto? He had to have a partner, right? What if we've been looking at the Kyuubi Killer all wrong?"
"Assuming what he told us was the truth, Haruno, and that he had nothing to do with Obito's death. Assumption, not fact. But that isn't the case we're meant to be working on right now—"
"He knew he was going to die, so why would he lie?"
"To send us on a wild goose chase while other murderers get away with it? So that the Akatsuki can continue to distribute the bijuu without us breathing down their necks? Believe me, Sakura, I've already been through these questions."
It was the truth. He'd spent many late nights since the shooting wondering, picking through every detail, every word that Kabuto had spoken to them. All it did was run him in circles so badly he woke up dizzy and feeling like he hadn't slept.
"I know. It's just... I also know how stressful it's been for you as acting captain, and how little time we've had for other things... I know you would be rather working the Kyuubi case—"
"—Sakura." Kakashi interrupted her with as much authority as he could muster in one word. "It can wait. It's not like we're meant to be working it anyway, and at the very least it's not just gathering dust in a file. Major Crimes have it for a reason. What I would rather be doing right now is irrelevant when we have a murderer loose in Konoha."
Kakashi had tried not to sound bitter. These were feelings he'd had to immediately lock away into a box upon becoming acting captain. He'd had to, for his own wellbeing, but he also felt like he owed as much to Tsunade. Trust Sakura to be thinking of everyone but herself in this kind of situation. Sakura had picked up Kakashi's habit of diving too deep into a case to the point of obsession.
Judging by the way the sedan was now slowed to within legal limits, Kakashi assumed that the worst of her temper storm had passed. Unless he was sitting directly in the eye of it.…
"You're the one who told me to follow my instincts, remember? Or is the hair not the only thing about you that's addled with age?"
"Working off that theory, does that make you a misunderstood fourteen year old girl? Dying your hair pink in the vain hope that the world will finally see you for who you are, rebelling in the most predictable way—"
"—I'll have you know, Kakashi Hatake, that the hair is…" Sakura's voice had been raised and angry mere seconds ago but it petered out, either because they had arrived at their destination, or because she had second thoughts about continuing the conversation. She put on airs of false calm as they pulled into the parking lot. "It's none of your business anyway, and we're here. Can we stop being childish for a couple hours and get the job done, please?"
It was another eerie Tsunade impression, complete with a look of malevolence that made only one answer acceptable. It was all Kakashi could do to stop himself from grinning. There were some lessons that needed to be experienced without any kind of explanation, especially as a detective where things were fairly intuitive. Captain Minato had taught him the same way and it was something that stuck to him.
"You angry?" He phrased it as a soft question she would have to answer.
"Angry? Kakashi, I'm frustrated, I'm tired, and hungry. I've been stuck in this shit box of a car with you teasing me and questioning me at every goddamn turn…"
"Good."
"What do you mean, 'good'? Are you trying to—?"
"Good, Haruno." The engine was cut off and it was easier to hear the emotion in Sakura's voice without the revving. Kakashi turned and leaned closer to her, placing his hand over hers just at the moment he started to speak. "I understand that frustration better than anyone, but I also know that you need to channel that energy: use it, hone it, aim it at the suspect you're about to question and not towards yourself. This is the part of the job they don't teach you in the academy and it's still tricky even for the more…seasoned of us, as you've seen."
He stopped and admired the way confusion looked on her face. It took a moment, but those bewitching green eyes eventually sparkled again in a more familiar way. Kakashi hadn't been purposely goading her at first; it had just turned out like that. Maybe he was just making a poor attempt at lightening the mood.
"You're right. I hate you, but you're right. I can't be losing it in an interrogation like some people." The mischief was back in her eyes as they narrowed in his direction.
Kakashi wasn't a simpleton, he knew what she was referring to. Punching Mizuki in the face was potentially not his finest moment.
"Exactly, no one wants to be like Shiranui. Shall we go inside then?"
He was moving and out the door by the time he heard her chuckle and decided he was fully off the hook for any poking or prodding. It was only then that he allowed himself to smile. Teasing her was probably too much fun. It would get him into trouble one of these days—he was sure of it. But it was also one of the few reprieves in his day, something he looked forward to, and she dished it out right back at him. Even if some aspects of their relationship had shifted with his becoming acting captain, it was reassuring to know that some things never changed.
Kakashi hated these kinds of facilities. They were last resort places where the dregs of society ended up when there was no living person left to care for them. If they weren't lucky enough to have criminal records, those unfortunate souls were turned out onto the streets as soon as they were deemed functioning. Cast aside to be the jesters of society. The ones living out of dumpsters behind shopping centers, stealing what they could grab to get by, until haggard store owners finally became angry enough to call the police. They would then get taken into custody for the minimum, a day sometimes more. No treatment offered for the obvious mental illnesses but a steel bed and a tepid meal. Then they would be sent right back out to the street where no one would try to speak to them and make sense of the garbled sentences and tics. Too often the petty crimes escalated, out of madness and desperation, and only then did the government fork out for a permanent bed in the Konoha State Care Facility.
His first exposure to the place had been from the other side of the law. Occasionally one of the regular faces of the homeless community from Konoha Park would disappear. Dragged off to this ancient brick building that didn't deserve the word 'care' in the name.
Fuguki Suikazan wasn't exactly a poor and unfortunate soul in Kakashi's mind. The guy had done enough shady things to warrant 24-hour monitoring. His over the top obsession with Haku, a fourteen-year-old boy, was just one red flag of many. But he wasn't going to rush to judgement until he had met the guy in person. Part of him was also tempted to let Sakura deal with the questioning while he had words with management about how Fuguki was able to contact Haku from inside the 'secure' facility. The terms of the protection order forbid any contact from Fuguki, and yet he had been able to bypass this to threaten Haku once again. If he'd managed to do this unnoticed, what else was the man capable of?
"So what did the letter actually say?" Kakashi asked as they ascended the stairs, being led by a nurse.
Sakura sighed before pulling the paper out of her jacket. Kakashi noted how she began reciting it, despite not having even bothered to look down at it or remove it from its evidence bag.
"The usual creepy spiel. 'I know what you are. You can't hide from me forever. Don't think I'll forgive you for what you've done. I'll see you when they let me out.' Abnormal fixation or obsession is indicative of deeper mental instability, I'm no specialist but this could be anything from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to a form of violent psychosis."
"Sometimes I forget you're a doctor..." Kakashi had the thought out loud but it wasn't too mumbled for her to make out.
"Was, Hatake. I was a doctor."
"You can be my personal physician any day." Obviously he had been spending too much time with Genma, that was the only explanation for the raised eyebrow and almost wink he shot in Sakura's direction. "How do you want to proceed with Fuguki?"
"You want me to take the lead?"
"This is your case, after all. And if you're no specialist in psychiatric disorders that probably makes me a dung beetle by comparison."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sakura paused thoughtfully. They were standing outside the door of the room Fuguki was being held in. Kakashi could see him through the little window. "Just let me do the talking."
The air of confidence with which she entered that room—that was all she needed to succeed and Kakashi knew it. It had been his intention from the start to give her a nudge in the right direction. Just because she was no longer a practicing medical professional didn't mean that knowledge wasn't helpful in the field. As much as she seemed to want to seal that part of her life behind her, and Kakashi understood that desire, right now they needed to tap into her potential for the greater good.
"Mr. Suikazan?"
Sakura had adopted a tone he recognized from the very first day they had met and questioned those teen boys. It was one of tenderness and sincerity, and it was funny to think that all those weeks ago he'd believed it to be a false act.
Now he knew for certain that nothing about Sakura Haruno was fake. She was the real deal.
"I'm not telling you anything."
Fuguki sounded surprisingly coherent for a man currently committed to a facility. Maybe he was used to saying that to police. Kakashi was just glad that the rotund man was restrained to the chair. Everything about him seemed wild: the long hair, the look in his eye, the tangled mess of facial hair.
"You don't have to tell me anything, Mr. Suikazan. I just wanted to take a good look at you for myself. See the grown man who is obsessed with the circus poster boy. But I really expected to see something...more. How disappointing..."
"Let's make one thing clear, alright." The gruff and agitated reply just meant that his partner's tactic had worked, and she had never looked so smug about it. "I don't give a rat's ass about that circus. Can burn down for all I care. Place is a cesspool for freaks."
"Strong words coming from someone who was thrown out of said circus for being a creep."
"I had to be there. You don't understand, none of you understand." Fuguki ended his sentence with a violent jerk of the chair he was sitting in. Kakashi knew his type, knew he'd done it to scare Sakura, and he couldn't help but notice the surging pride that she hadn't taken the bait. She didn't even blink from her position across the table.
"Care to enlighten me?" Sakura leaned forward with her elbow on the table, paired with a look that Kakashi recognized but couldn't immediately name. It was Sakura's own way of appealing to the man with her feminine wiles. It was a technique he'd seen Tsunade do a thousand times, and been on the receiving end of. It was fun to watch from his corner of the room. "Or am I not your type, hm? Is it just adolescent boys that get your interest—?"
"If you had as much money to invest as I do, girlie, then you would be interested. But I bet you're too blind to see the possibilities... Too straight to know the potential of that boy and how wasted it is in that shit box of a circus."
"Oh, so you're a big shot, huh?"
"You could say that."
"Kid had potential, you say?"
"Yeah, potential. Kid had more talent in his little finger than the rest of that entire cesspit of freaks."
Sakura was doing what she had done with Mizuki, what she had done with those two boys in the precinct: she was keeping Fuguki talking by making him comfortable. The more talking he did, the more likely they were to get the information they wanted. Kakashi was content to let her take the lead, to watch her thrive. He just wondered when she had picked up that skill. Had he taught her that? Surely not. It must have come from Tsunade's influence.
Kakashi had been naive and he was only realizing it now. He had falsely believed that he needed to take on the role of her tutor, her guide as a new detective; when all she really needed was a shove in the right direction. Sakura could handle the rest and she was showing him that right this second.
He needed to be her partner, not her captain, not her teacher. All he could do was support her and work with her. It shouldn't have taken him so long to realize it.
"Talent in what?"
"You really don't know, do you? I bet that family has you all caught up in their web... You look the bleedin' heart type." Fuguki at least appeared to be interested now. It was a tactic. Kakashi knew the type of man even if he didn't understand the mental illness fully. Men who felt like they knew more than the authorities liked to lord that over them at every opportunity. Sakura didn't respond, she merely waited for the man to keep talking. "Kid was going places, and we were cashing in on it."
"We?"
"Yeah, 'we.' Did I stutter?" Fuguki leaned forward, something sinister dripping from his voice. "You don't know anything."
Sakura met his glare with a smile and it was as foreboding as it was sexy. At least to Kakashi anyway. For the moment he was enjoying watching, but he straightened himself to step in, just in case.
"What I do know, Mr. Suikazan, is that a man is dead and the evidence led me here, to you. So you can either explain the situation to me, or I can arrest you for intimidation, violation of a restraining order, and murder. What do you think, Lieutenant, did I miss anything?"
"Sounds spot on to me." Kakashi stepped forward and took the seat next to Sakura. "Maybe throw in a charge of obstruction, that always gets the DA's attention."
"Oh yeah, good point. Haku is still a minor too, so that should carry some weight with a jury—"
"Murder? Oh, hell no." Fuguki shifted against his restraints. "In case you haven't noticed, pigs, I've locked up in here. It's not like I can walk out the front door and kill someone."
"That doesn't mean you couldn't arrange someone else to do it for you." Sakura had a bored expression and tone, and Kakashi knew that she was goading Fuguki into saying more. If it weren't for the man in front of them he would have complimented her.
"And just who am I meant to have killed?"
"Zabuza Momochi." At her words Fuguki sat back in his chair with a more pensive expression. "You didn't know he was dead, did you?"
Silence. It was quite obvious to see that he hadn't known about the murder, but the dejected way he looked gave away more than he was saying. They knew the answer before Fuguki shook his head.
"You can see why we're here now." Kakashi followed Sakura's lead. "Day after Zabuza turns up dead, the man who issued the restraining order against you, and you're sending threats to his son—"
"It wasn't like that. Those notes were meant for Zabuza." Fuguki sighed loudly. "He got me put in here because he wanted to use the boy's talents and keep the whole pot for himself. But it was me, I was the one who showed him that con in the first place."
Anger was seeping through and it was time to take advantage of that.
"What talents? What con?"
"Look, that kid, Haku—he's a born gymnast. He's going places."
"A gymnast." Sakura narrowed her eyes, quickly glancing to Kakashi in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Just watch the videos if you don't believe me. It's all over YewTube. We had him sign up for domestic competitions, small time stuff, but people are willing to bet on anything these days." The grin that struck Fuguki's face as he spoke was something Kakashi didn't want to remember. "That was how it started anyway. We were making a nice sum out of it, until the kid started not turning up to domestics." The grin faded into anger. "I turn up at that shithole circus to check on my investment and Zabuza, that son of a bitch, turns me away. Says the kid is only doing international comps now. I find out later that he's got some scholarship, a funding campaign for schooling or whatever, big time money..."
"That must have pissed you off."
"You're damn right it pisses me off. That was my dime, my con, he had no right to cut me out of it. So I let him know I was watching, that I knew what he was up to, but I didn't kill him. Doubt that kid will amount to anything now without Zabuza there to tell him what to do."
It would be easy enough to verify Fuguki's whereabouts during the time of the shooting. His suite was under 24-hour surveillance. There was a shadow of something that passed across Sakura's face before it faded to impassiveness. Kakashi watched as she stood and left without another word to the suspect. While it surprised him that she was giving up so readily on squeezing any more information out of him, he also doubted that the guy had anything left to give. He followed her after a curt nod to Fuguki. He may not be guilty of killing Zabuza, but there was no doubt in his mind that the guy was guilty of something else.
Not so many words were spoken between the partners as they made a stop to the facility's security department. Kakashi didn't mind it so much. There was a lot to process and a long ride back to the precinct. They could talk in privacy then. Since day one Sakura had limited speculating about case theory until all the facts were laid on the table. It was something that Kakashi appreciated, but with a tinge of nostalgia for the constant chatter that Obito had once subjected him to. They were half way back to the precinct before Sakura said anything.
"Something isn't adding up." She had a pensive tone, staring out the passenger's side window while Kakashi drove on in silence. He was unsure if the sentence was rhetorical so he kept his mouth shut for the moment. "Fuguki is a piece of work but he never left that facility. He's got motive, sure, but no means and no opportunity."
"Lucky you've got other leads to chase up then."
"Mmm." Sakura mumbled without looking at him. "What are you going to do when we get back?"
"Well, there's still a precinct to run." Kakashi thought on the question for a moment and wondered if this was her way of asking for help. Maybe she needed a gentle nudging to get going. "What Fuguki had to say about the family was interesting though."
"Interesting, how?" Her attention finally snapped to him. "You think there was any stock to what he was saying?"
"Well, he appeared lucid enough, and if what he had to say proves to be true there's a whole new avenue of investigation to be taken."
"Lucid, maybe, but the guy is definitely a psychopath."
"How so? I thought you never majored in psychology."
"Let's just say I dated one long enough to be able to identify the markers in others." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fuguki displayed emotional absence, a show of superficial emotions unless it directly involved himself and his own interests. His whole world centers around his own self, in his own head, and when that is threatened he would certainly be capable of great violence..."
When Sakura trailed off this time Kakashi left her to her thoughts. Detectives didn't get to pick and choose their victims or who they helped. The intuitive forces they operated in, the 'gut feelings,' they weren't able to stand up in court before a jury. Instinct and emotion were part of the game, but only to assist, and Kakashi knew that sometimes it blinded them from truth. That had certainly been his experience. With Rin, and with Obito.
The precinct was the usual hive of activity. Kakashi was approached before he even reached the elevator. Sakura carried on, catching his eye with a nod. He watched her face until the moment the doors closed and obscured his view. Maybe it was due to the mass recollections of Rin he'd been experiencing lately causing the heavy sadness that weighed on his chest, but it seemed to lighten at the sight of Sakura safe and well.
The pressing matter in the lobby turned out to be a clerical error that would take more pointless paperwork to fix up. More and more Kakashi was seeing the true side of being a captain, and it was behind a desk. Meetings about meetings, mountains of paper, and angry calls from superior officers about numbers. It was always about the numbers and never about the people involved. He was feeling like an auditor rather than acting captain. It was enough to cause him to look forlornly at his desk as he passed it. Tsunade's office just wasn't the right place for him. He belonged in the bullpen.
Last night's argument with Sakura was still in the forefront of his mind as he sat at the desk pushing paper for the next hour. Perhaps it was a tinge of jealousy that he was no longer in the field, that he had been saddled with a responsibility he hadn't asked for. He'd never wanted to be captain. As soon as Tsunade woke up, or a more suitable replacement came along, he would be free.
Don't be a fool, Bakashi.
Kakashi couldn't explain the sudden reaction he had to hearing that voice of Obito in his conscience. With a twitching urgency his right hand shifted to wrench open the top drawer of the desk. It was where he'd taken to keeping the spare gun he had borrowed from Sakura. He cast his eye over it for a moment before slamming the drawer shut again. When he looked up the vision of pink caused him to jerk again.
"Sakura, I didn't see you come in."
"It doesn't add up, Kakashi."
She seemed frazzled, with wide eyes and hands wringing nervously. They had only been back for an hour, maybe two, and she had gotten herself in a frenzied state.
"What doesn't add up?"
In reply she huffed and crossed the space of the office in two strides. Sakura pushed his chair out of the way so she could have unfettered access to his computer. All manner of things were shoved aside in the process, paper cascading to the floor.
"Hey, what are you doing? I was working on that!"
"Look at this." With a few short taps of the keyboard there was a video up on the screen. "Fuguki wasn't lying. See this? It's a video of a collegiate gymnastics tournament."
"This is Haku?" Kakashi didn't need to ask the question; he was clearly visible on the monitor.
"Yeah, so I looked into it, and get this. Attached to that video is a funding page for Haku to attend the prestigious Konoha Gymnastics Academy. It's benefactor being Zabuza Momochi."
"I'm no expert but the kid looks pretty good at it."
"He is. Exceptional, even. He takes out that competition without even breaking a sweat. According to the judges' testimony of this event, Haku was well on his way to becoming a serious competitor at the professional level." Sakura glanced to Kakashi and those green eyes were wild with ideas and lack of sleep. But it wouldn't do to stop her now. "The fund hasn't been withdrawn but it's a substantial amount."
"Enough to kill for?"
"That's what I was wondering."
"What about it doesn't add up, Sakura?" Kakashi was torn between watching the screen and enjoying the view of her face so close to his. He could admire the finer details from this position. It was something he hadn't allowed himself to do for some time and he found himself missing that closeness despite spending so much time with her.
"This part…" The video continued to play, and at a particular section where the camera was pointed directly into the crowd of supporters, Sakura hit pause. "This is the part that doesn't add up. You see there, in the crowd, you can see our vic sitting at the sideline, stoically supporting his son but—"
"—Where is the mother?"
"Exactly. I went through a ton of these, and she doesn't appear in any of them. I'm starting to wonder if she even knew that Haku was competing in these things. What if she found out, what if she realized Zabuza was conning people out of money and using their son to do it?"
"Interesting theory, but—"
"—But—"
"—But, without any evidence it's just that, a theory. Do you have any proof that the money being collected was a scam, or was the intention really to send Haku to private school?"
Saura didn't answer, instead she huffed loudy and backed away from the desk. Kakashi sat back and watched as she processed everything with shaky hands running through her hair. Every detective had a different method: Obito's had been pacing, Kakashi himself was particularly fond of staring at the crime scene photos until they spoke to him. Until now, Sakura had never come across a road block like this in a case, and this was also her first case as lead detective so the pressure was tenfold. The last thing he wanted was to see her defeated, but as she sank into the couch in the corner of Tsunade's office he realized that she was already feeling lost.
"I knew, I knew it was just a theory, but without it I've got nothing. Ballistics came up nothing, it's amazingly not linked to the other murder on the circus grounds, CSU got no prints from the car or the tire iron. Financials show absolutely nothing for Mei, Haku, or Zabuza. The forensic accountant is on the circus books but god knows how long that will take. And I… I just don't know if any good will come from interrogating the family.…" She looked up at him from that sofa and Kakashi realized how hard it was for her to admit that she was lost, even if she was only stating facts on the case. This was her way of admitting she was stuck. Every time she punctuated the word nothing it was with an extra measure of emotion. Maybe she was too attached to be objective, or maybe she needed a push in the right direction. "What do I do?"
"You go back to the start," he said matter-of-factly as he stood and approached to sit beside her. "Go back to the beginning."
"Forty-something male found shot to death at the side of a deserted road—"
"No." Kakashi interrupted but without any malice intention in his tone. "Beginning, Sakura, the very beginning." When she looked at him square in the eye with a furrowed brow he felt the need to elaborate further. "Who found the body?"
"Dispatch…" Sakura trailed off with a whisper, her eyes wide shifted and zoned in on the computer. Without another word or explanation she was up and at the desk, typing furiously. "Dispatch called in a flat tire, but when the officer arrived there was no flat tire and a dead body. If I can find out who called in the flat…"
She was onto something and it was fascinating to watch. He'd seen how she lost herself in files and autopsy reports, how she was able to seemingly pull information out of thin air. It was one of the reasons he valued her so much as a partner, one of the reasons he had finally acquiesced in sharing the reins of Obito's case. Sakura continued to beguile him at every turn, and he stood beside her with a smirk ot satisfaction.
"Dispatch records all calls, you could probably request the tapes—"
"—No need. I've found the digital report that was filed." Sakura was inches from the screen. Kakashi marvelled at how she was able to type without looking at the keyboard. "An on-duty officer phoned in the flat on his patrol of the area, came across a… woman in distress. Wanted to make sure that she had managed to get home…"
"Who was the off—"
"Kotetsu!" Sakura yelled so loudly she must have been directly channeling Tsunade. Maybe the force was just stronger in her office. It caused Kakashi to step back and hold his ear.
"Yes, Cap—I mean, yes, Detective Haruno." Kotetsu put his head through the door first as if he were scared for the rest of his body to follow. "How can I be of assistance?"
"That flat tire you drove past two nights ago by the forest, did you get the name of the woman?"
"Ugh, no. Sorry, I was just driving past. She said her friend was going to come get her."
Kakashi and Sakura exchanged glances.
"You spoke to her?"
"Yeah, I mean, yes, ma'am. She seemed like a nice lady, it's a dangerous stretch of road so I wanted to make sure she got home. Some guy was murdered on the same road—"
"We need to get him in front of a sketch artist, now." Sakura cut him off, looking to Kakashi. But she wasn't asking permission—she was telling him. "Think you can describe her?"
"Yeah, sure, she was pretty, long hair—"
"Not to me, idiot, to a sketch artist. We better move fast, I don't know how much longer his brain can hold the details."
"Hey—" Kotetsu made to protest at being made fun of, but thought better of it as Sakura pushed him out the door. Kakashi was about to bend down and retrieve the papers that had been knocked off in Sakura's enthusiasm. He didn't notice the full smile tugging on his mouth until he caught his reflection in the window.
"You coming with?" Sakura had returned to the office doors with flushed cheeks and short breath.
His smile widened.
"I wouldn't miss it."
There were other things he could be doing at this moment, and arguably more important things to be sure. He was acting captain after all. But it all seemed to pale in comparison to this. Kakashi had never been so certain that he was in the right place and doing the right thing at the side of his partner. There wasn't much the two of them could do while Kotetsu sat in with the sketch artist, but it seemed like a great opportunity to share a cup of coffee together. Sakura didn't say much as she anxiously watched through the window to the interview room. Unlike before, Kakashi didn't feel the need to step in. He was just ready to bask in the glory of her new lead.
"Thanks, Kakashi."
"What for?"
"You know what for. For not… well, for not giving me shit about it. It was really decent of you."
"I am capable of being decent from time to time, no need for the tone of surprise."
"Well, I appreciate it. Thank you."
"I can also be charming, clever, roguishly handsome—"
"Modest too."
"Okay, that was sarcasm, Miss Haruno. It's the lowest form of humor and I won't stand for it."
"No, the title of lowest form of humor belongs to puns and you can't change my mind."
"Well, I'll have you know…"
They were standing beside each other, lost in the back and forth of easy banter. It took them both a moment to realize that the sketch artist was leaving the room. Kotetsu appeared in the door frame holding the piece of paper. Kakashi tapered off the sentence as he watched Sakura step forward with that furrowed brow again.
"Oh, my…"
"I'm sorry, Detective Haruno, it was the best I could do. I'm pretty confident in the likeness, it was dark but I got a good view when I flashed my flashlight at her—"
"Kakashi, doesn't this look like—"
"Yeah, it does…" The familiar prickling sensation was rising up the back of his neck and for the first time Kakashi wondered if Sakura had felt it too. "A dead ringer. Send a squad car, now."