Authors note: Well folks, this is it. Thank you all for joining me on this very short ride. I'm kind of surprised as many of you read it as you did because this story has just been half-baked, lol. I started writing it just for funsies and as a way to distress from my other projects. This wasn't supposed to be good or super well thought out but I appreciate all of the support all the same. Thank you 3

For what felt like the millionth time, Kakashi found himself entering the Uchiha house after leaving the Haruno's.

This time, though, he found himself and his team searching the house. He could see the dismayed look on Sasuke's mothers face when he showed the search warrant and the disgruntled look on his fathers face as they made their way inside.

"Leave no room unchecked," Kakashi orders and they disperse.

They didn't think that they'd find her here. Really, they had nothing to go off of but her recordings. Even then, it didn't really suggest that the Uchiha's were involved. Still, they didn't really have anything for the case anyway, and for whatever reason: they never searched here for any clues. Perhaps it was the Uchiha's reputation protecting them.. Or perhaps their reputation was the very thing that needed protecting.

Kakashi hoped to find out.

They turned the whole house upside down but hadn't found anything. There was one room left: Fugaku's office. He doubted the older man left anything to extravagantly secret out and about in his office, but it was worth a shot. Taking chances were all they had at this point.

"I don't know what you're expecting to find in there," Fugaku says as he begrudgingly opens the door for Kakashi. The detective makes his way inside the room as dark as it was. It was kept tidy and neat - just as he expected of the Uchiha patriarch. As he looked around the room, he looked for anything that wasn't necessarily out of place - perhaps something more ordinary. He checked loose books and he checked the floors. As he neared the desk, he even checked the drawers.

"See? There is nothing in here."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Kakashi mutters as he picks up a small slip of paper that was tucked under the corner of the Uchiha's keyboard. "Your family vacations often, correct?" Kakashi hums as he reads over the paper. There was a number on it, 707, as well as a timestamp dating to three months ago. "Have there been any recent venturing outs by any of your family?"

"No-" Fugaku is cut off by Sasuke as he enters the room.

"My brother, his wife, and my parents were taking monthly trips a while back to go to the doctors out of town. We have a house that my father used to use for business meetings that they would stay in."

"You didn't go with?" Kakashi questions, but he knows the answer.

"No, I have stayed in my room since.. Well, you know," Sasuke answers quietly. Kakashi felt for the boy.

"I'm going to bring you all in for extra questioning," Kakashi states. He would also need to get a search warrant for the house that they had been staying in. It was unlikely, but just in case.


"I don't see why my client needed to see a doctor is relevant to this case," a woman with hair tyed up in a bun says as she sets her folder down. "People go see doctors all the time."

"But why out of town? We have some of the best doctors here."

"But not for fertility reasons," mutters Izumi.

"And all of you needed to go?" Kakashi questions and the woman, Izumi's lawyer, narrows her eyes.

"We are not answering any more questions today."


"How often do you and your husband get involved in your children's matters?" Kakashi asks as he opens up the folder in front of him. "You got involved with Miss Haruno, though it is arguable how involved, and you were present with Mrs. Uchiha as well."

"I love my children, I will do whatever makes them happiest and what is best for my family."

"I see.. And how far would you go to do that?"

"As far as any mother would, I suppose." Mikoto answers and Kakashi nods to himself as he reads over his file. He had interviewed almost everyone. All that was left was Fugaku. He hoped he would have better luck with him than he did with Itachi. He couldn't get anything out of the younger male.


"Do you like Izumi Uchiha?" Kakashi starts off as Fugaku sits down at the table.

"She is my daughter-in-law," he responds cooly and quickly.

"But you didn't like Sakura Haruno?" Kakashi follows up with and reclines back into his chair. "At least, she didn't think that you liked her. You were mentioned quite a few times in her recordings."

"I had no issue with Miss Haruno and my son dating."

"You did have an issue with her being pregnant, is that correct?"

Fugaku wastes no time in answering. "They were too young and unmarried. It would have looked terrible for both of them, but especially my son. I only advised her with what I thought was best for him." He pauses and settles his hands on the table. "It had nothing to do with me liking her or not."

"Did you propose adoption? Termination?" Kakashi questions and settles him with a look. "I could name a couple of adoptee candidates that wouldn't be out of the question."

"Izumi was pregnant and delivered early. Her getting the best care was of the utmost importance to the family," Fugaku answers the unspoken question. "You can even read about it in the newspaper from Itachi's official announcement."

"I'm glad to see their child prospering so well after being delivered prematurely, then."

"As are we."


Sure enough when Kakashi did research about it everything had been checked out. It was frustrating - he thought he finally had a lead. The Uchiha's were released from questioning and everything seemed stagnant once again. His computer screen glared back at him and he wondered just how many times he could exhaust this poor girl's facebook.

Scrolling through her friends, he decides to take a gander at her parents' profiles. Her mothers was bare and empty since her disappearance, but her fathers.. It seemed he was busier than ever. He seemed to have a lot of business trips outside of town and with various people.

Mainly the Uchiha's.

How odd it was to disapprove of the daughter of a business partner.

How even more odd to even be doing consistent business when the Haruno's specialized in building storm shelters, sheds, and things of that sort.


After looking into everything a little more deeply, Kakashi found himself standing in front of house 707 on Willow Creek Avenue. On the front porch, he was immediately greeted with security cameras. It made sense to protect what was there if they weren't there often. However, as records show, the Uchiha's and business partners were here often, it seemed. It was something he was prepared to look into in their visit today.

Entering the house, he allows Itachi to lead him to the tiny office that they had set up here. The house itself wasn't as grand as the other Uchiha residence, but it made do for business, Kakashi supposed. Sitting down in a chair beside the younger man, he fixed his eyes on the screen in front of him.

He was going to be sitting there for a while, he knew.


A lot of the videos were just business meetings. There was very little interest and Kakashi was losing his mind as they dragged on. He didn't know how many more business proposals he could listen to-

"Has your son lost his god damn mind-"

"What ever are you implying?"

"He knocked up my daughter and just ruined her whole life! That is what I am implying," growls out Sakura's father on screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Itachi paying a little more attention to the screen than before. It would seem this encounter was unknown to him just like Sakura's father apparently knowing she was pregnant was unknown to Kakashi, as well. It would seem someone wasn't so truthful, after all.

"He wouldn't dare do such a thing, he knows better-"

"Are you proposing that it's her fault?"

"She does hang around that Ino girl-"

Sharp laughter could be heard and Kakashi watched the Haruno pace around the room.

"My perfect daughter would never do anything like that willingly - we haven't even given her the sex talk to keep her pure and from getting twisted ideas."

"Then maybe she isn't so perfect, afterall," snarks Fugaku from on-screen. Itachi was leaning a little closer in his seat. "She is no Izumi or Uchiha."

The next recording plays through after it cuts out. Kakashi raises an eyebrow and Itachi goes to play rewind.

"That must be all of it, I wonder why it would stop recording so suddenly," Itachi mutters.

"Perhaps it died?"

"Maybe."

And they were back to boring meetings.

Until Sakura herself walked right onto the screen.

"Uh, I'm sorry for interrupting, but your wife wanted me to let you know that dinner is ready," she speaks softly and her eyes are downcast. It is completely different from her recording facade on her phone.

"She was always intimidated by my father," Itachi explains. "This was after the family gathering. We took a weekend trip, all of us, and stayed here. Sasuke wanted her to come along."

"Ah," Kakashi says as he tunes back into the recording.

"Would you care to join me for a moment," Fugaku stages it as a question but it was really an order as the young girl gently sits down in the seat across from him. "I couldn't help but notice that you have been ill lately-"

Based on the recording date, he knew this was after the conversation with her father. Fugaku was asking questions he already knew the answer to and Sakura looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"I'm fine-"

"Don't play dumb, girl."

"He doesn't know," she is eventually heard saying and her shoulders slump forward.

"Good, keep it that way," Fugaku says as he sets down a folder on his desk. "The less damage to his life the better. You wouldn't want to ruin his life, would you?"

"No," she stutters out.

"Just do as I say and we can fix this."

And then the recordings went back to regular business. All the way until present day.

"Answer me truthfully: did you know the details of the conversation your father had with Miss Haruno or of any deal that might have been made?"

"No. I only know that we were wanting what would be best for Sasuke. I never got any other details and I was under the impression that she was going to tell him to discuss it," Itachi pauses. "But, of course, she disappeared."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Kakashi says as he stands up.


As he searched the house, he was losing hope. It was just as bare as the cameras. The evidence was pointing towards Fugaku, but he couldn't find that last bit of evidence that would drive it home. Above all, he just wanted to find her. To bring her home. Or to at least bring peace to her soul.

Sitting on the steps in the back of the house, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. This lead was starting to turn into a dead end. He glares at the ground before him. He wished it would swallow him up. It would save him from having to admit defeat when it came to Sakura Haruno. Groaning, he slowly got up. He needed to wrap this up soon. He couldn't just keep grasping at empty straws.

Getting ready to head out to the front through the gate, his foot catches on something hard. Wincing, he looks down at what had tripped him and raises an eyebrow at the door that was hidden by several leaves and a wooden plank. It looked like it hadn't been used in a couple months, but what really caught his attention was how oddly placed it was. Who puts what could possibly be a bunker or a storm-cell right by the entrance of the gate?

Shaking his head, he gets ready to leave once more before a tiny voice in the back of his head tells him to turn around and to go down into the mystery door. Gathering his flashlight, he gets ready to open it up. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself.

He didn't know what he was expecting, not really.

But it was dark.

And it smelled. It smelled terribly. There hadn't been good upkeep, but he figured it was to be expected considering this house was a spare for business meetings, really. Except, that one of his business partners specialized in cells. There was no reason with how often they saw each other for it to be as dingy as this.

As he walks around, he notes that it's pretty spacious even though his flashlight only revealed so much. He could hear the others who came with him to search over his radio. He needed to get going-

Thud.

Looking down at his feet once more, he couldn't contain his horror.

"I found her," he breathed over the radio and everything stilled.


She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The whole town was mortified and Kakashi could still see her face in his sleep. Her body had started to decay - the autopsy revealed that she had died less than a month ago. She could have been saved if they had somehow, someway, could have figured it all out sooner. Maybe that was the most gut wrenching part of it - especially the anguished cries of Sasuke Uchiha when he was told. Or the grief on her mothers face. The emotionless look in her fathers eyes when he was asked about the choice words etched into his daughter's skin.

And then the Uchiha's.

The fact that Sakura's refusal of willingly giving up the baby led her to being imprisoned by Fugaku and her own father. How Izumi faked her whole pregnancy unbeknownst to Itachi and the fact that it was Mikoto's idea. The forged medical documents and official records surrounding the three month old baby that they had been toting around in front of Sasuke.

The fact that the baby was actually his and Sakura's.

Her cause of death was ruled as a homicide. She suffered from major blood loss and fractions to her body. There was evidence of a skull fracture and severe damage to her ovaries and stomach area. They had found traces of her fathers dna on one of the knives that had her blood on it, presumably used to carve out the words: "Perfect once more."


"Am I dreaming?" Sasuke whispered to himself as he stared at the baby before him. The last part of her that he will ever have outside of her voice. "It feels like a nightmare."

"I wish it was," whispered Sakura's mother as she sets a warm cup of tea in front of Kakashi and Sasuke.

Sakura Haruno had finally been found.