I said I'm fine" Sakura told the paramedic who was tending to her facial wounds. After finding her on the ground bloodied, Naruto called in the scene leading to medical, beat cops, forensics, and more coming to the scene and taping it off.
"if you were fine, you wouldn't need medical care," Naruto said walking over to her. She shot him a look. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to get there in time. If something would have happened to you I don't know-" He was stopped as he was interrupted by Sakura.
"As I told this medic here, I'm fine. I've had my ass kicked before. I don't require any special treatment." Sakura interjected.
"Well, I know that, but-" Naruto started up, but again he was interrupted by the medic.
"She's fine…These wounds look mostly superficial" The medic said packing her gear up. "you're going to be sore for a few days, but you're physically going to be fine."
The medic's use of the word 'physically' bothered Sakura, but she shook it off. "As I said before, but thank you nonetheless," Sakura added. She stood and began walked towards the now taped off scene. "Naruto, where my phone?"
"Right here," Naruto said sheepishly. "It got kind of mangled in your altercation. I think the screen is broken" He was right. The screen was broken. Bits of glass had come out and the screen was in pieces, however, it still powered on.
Sakura sighed loudly. "At least it still turns on. I can retrieve the info I need back at the station."
"Ugh Sakura, the captain said you're not to come into work today or tomorrow. He said you're on leave for one week."
Sakura wasn't even looking in Naruto's direction, but in the direction of Kiba who was still bloody, but being cuffed and placed into a cop car. They made eye contact, it was more than eye contact it was more of a fiery battle of words that were less than kind. Only they understood what they communicated with their eyes. He smirked at her. Almost as if he was egging her on to come and talk to him. Naruto must have caught on to Sakura's wordless conversation with the beaten man as he began to call her name.
"Hey, Sakura! Are you even listening to me?" He asked annoyed.
"Yes, what? I'm not what?" She asked with a genuine sense of confusion.
"You're on leave for one week. Captain's orders." He said succinctly.
"WHAT?!" Sakura said. It was her turn to sound annoyed.
"Don't shoot the messenger." Naruto added holding his hands up. He casually walked away and began to help the other officers sure up the scene.
Talking only loud enough for herself to hear she spoke aloud "The captain, huh?"
The captain had a habit of assuming he knew what was best for her. He always felt it was his job to look out for her. It annoyed her to no end. Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she was a relatively new detective? Or did it go beyond all of that? She always had to question his motives as being professional or personal in nature, after all, she was his daughter. She needed answers. In her sock, she stored the spare key to her car. She retrieved the key and walked away from the scene towards the edge of the yellow "caution" tape and slipped underneath it. Approaching her black sedan, she unlocked the door and sped off angrily to her apartment.
Entering her apartment, Sakura took a look at herself in the mirror, she didn't look like herself in the mirror. Kiba had hit her rather hard, repeatedly. Her left cheek had the only visible bruise. Dried blood remained on her face from her fight. Her eyes were reddened, her clothes were torn, she generally looked like hell. She walked her way to her bathroom leaving a trail of her belongings including her phone, as she approached her bathroom. It had been over a month since she'd last seen her own apartment. Being undercover was a 24/7 thing. She couldn't just go back and forth between her two lives. It wasn't realistic or safe. She smiled at the familiarity of her home. She turned on the shower and disrobed entering the shower as soon as the water came out of the showerhead. As she washed the blood of Kiba and herself away, one thing that she couldn't help but think about was that damn tattoo he had on his arm. Kiba never showed any sort of particular attachment to it, he just simply ignored all questions about it that Sakura had asked over the weeks. He treated it like it was something he feared and wanted to forget.
She needed answers. Before coming back to work, she wanted to have ducks in a row when she confronted the captain. She got out of the shower and began to dry her hair. Just the act of drying her long pink hair made her wince. Yes, her scalp was sore, but she was really thinking of all the times Kiba grabbed her by her hair recently. She loved her long pink hair. It was halfway down her back when wet. It was one of her more notable features. She stood there staring at her hair in the bathroom mirror just reliving the trauma of the morning in her head. Her eyes eventually wandered to the bruises that were sporadically forming on her body. She almost didn't feel them there. She applied pressure to the to see if they were real. As she applied pressure, they elicited a response of pain and slight crinkling of her forehead. She shook her head and dismissed the thoughts she was forming about these marks and dressed herself. Besides, there were bruises- not permanent scars. But in the back of her head, she knew bruises fade, but what they represent can last forever.
She grabbed a gray tank top from her draw before stopping and putting it back. She didn't want to be reminded of Kiba or display her damaged skin. She instead grabbed a red long-sleeved shirt with a cherry blossom tree on it. She paired it was a simple pair of white jeans and some white shoes. She went downstairs and collected her belongings, including her damaged phone. She leaned over to grab her phone and her long hair swung out in front of her. She immediately recoiled at the sight of her own hair. She stood upright and took a deep breath and bent over and grabbed her phone again. She then walked to her home office where she had a dock to place her phone in. She docked the phone and called up the interface. The phone easily had more than ten gigabytes of case details stored on it. She had texts, documents, names, phone numbers, and most importantly- photos. These photos would be instrumental in placing the bad guys at the right place and time when this case went to court. Sakura called up one of the photos out of curiosity, she had taken a myriad of photos during her time undercover. Most of the were of Kiba and his acquaintances. One of them, in particular, stood out to her. It was of a man with black hair and another man with blackish-blueish hair. Both men seemed rather annoyed in their facial expression and Kiba seemed frightened. Sakura didn't even remember snapping this picture. It was slightly blurring but from the angle, Kiba's tattoo was visible…twice? Sakura attributed it to the blurriness of the photo and decided to print it.
After printing it, she used her magnifying glass to zoom in further on it. It wasn't Kiba's tattoo, it was one of the men in the photo. They had the same tattoo as well. But why? Sakura knew based on Kiba's knowledge that he couldn't be able to create, ship, store, and distribute drugs by himself. She had always figured on of the many men he met with on a regular basis had to be in on the operation. Everyone she had met or researched was not a viable candidate for this position. Most of Kiba's associates has the IQ of a rock in a pool. But these men were starting to look more and more like they may know something. The only problem is, the photo was just a little too blurry for facial recognition. She needed answers. She wouldn't be able to close the case until she had all of the facts. Which meant she needed to be at work, but the captain put her on leave for a week. She had to confront him head-on.
Walking into the station with her head held high, Sakura walked past all the prying eyes that watched her silently walk into the precinct and make a beeline for the Captain's office. He was on the phone when she walked in. Upon hearing the detective walk in, he hung up the phone. Sakura shut the door behind herself. His office had a row of windows, however, the blinds had already been drawn prior to her arrival. He normally kept them open, Sakura guessed he knew she'd pay him a visit.
"I would have expected you sooner." He began. To imagine Captain Hurano Sakumo, you must think of a man standing at about six feet and six inches tall. He was a man of about 55 years. He too held the gene for pink hair, however, he cut his into a crew cut and was a darker hue. His eyes, however, were black. The gene for green eyes came from her mother.
"I needed to be calm when we had this talk, captain" Sakura stated formally addressing the man. He frowned slightly at her formality. There was a moment's pause before she continued. "I need to know why you suspended me."
"I did not suspend you, that's being dramatic, Sakura. I granted you leave request" He countered.
"Its Detective Hurnao, Captain. And that leave request was from last year." She retorted.
He took a moment to study her expression. It didn't match her tone. Her tone was calm, but her body language was not.
"Detective" he began "I read the reports from the other officers as well as your reports from the package of evidence you left at the drop site yesterday. It was very compelling for a court case."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, she knew there was a 'but' coming.
"But, I was worried about a member of my force suffering psychological damage from such a hard assignment. This was your first undercover case, I didn't want to overwhelm you."
"Captain, I can take care of myself."
"Detective, It is part of my job to make sure the men and women under my command are taken care of. You fight for the citizens and I fight for you. That how this works."
"Captain, you could have at least spoken to me about this before-" She was interrupted.
"I am not required to do anything you say. I run this precinct and you work underneath me, detective. Is that clear?" This was the version of her father Sakura always knew. The 'father knows best' attitude started to come out shortly after her mother died. This was her father's way of being there for her: overseeing every single thing she did. It was personal smothering that had progressed into professional smothering once she became a cop. And much like police work, its something her father did very well.
Not letting their personal history get in the way Sakura pressed on. "I have reason to believe that this case isn't closed yet." She said.
This gave the Captain a pause. "Do you have any evidence to support this?" he said in a calm tone.
Sakura squirmed slightly under his gaze "Not yet, but its only theory, call it a hunch even." Sakura knew her father. He didn't operate on hunches as his daughter did. Her hunches often are what solved so many of her cases.
"I can't let you just run loose on a hunch, Sakura" He said in a softer tone. His informality showing up again.
"I understand Captain, but there a few loose ends I need to tie and I'm asking for leeway."
"Explain." It was a simple command.
"Of all the men that Kiba was meeting with, there were only two that I cannot account for. The only thing I really have to go on is the fact that they both have the same tattoo as Kiba. No one else Kiba interacted with shared the tattoo." She said. The Captain leaned back in his chair pondering this possibility of this 'hunch'
"Captain, if we ignore this, a new and more powerful drug ring could startup right before our eyes. Kiba's operation was hard enough to keep out the public eye. If Konoha was to be home of another drug ring- one more powerful and massive than before, we'd have drug war on our hands." She paused before continuing "Looking at the facts at hand, we know Kiba wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed- certainly not sharp enough to run an entire operation on his own. The man couldn't even put on a clean pair of pants without instructions. That's not the kind of person who could run a crime ring. Not even close"
Sakura could see his sorting out everything in his head. She let the silence of the room sink in. The captain leaned forward and spoke.
"What do you propose, detective?"
"I want to go back undercover." The Captain's expression changed to one of shock.
"No." He replied flatly.
"Hear me out." Sakura started up again, unphased by his response. "Has Kiba's arrest been made public yet?"
"No…" He trailed.
"Don't publish it yet, I can take Kiba's place and-" she was interrupted.
"You would take Kiba's place? As a drug dealer?" He laughed singularly to make a point "You may have let this undercover op go to your head!" He stated incredulously
"Listen. I've been knee-deep in this investigation long enough to know the ins and outs of these types of people. I can think just like them and speak their language." The conviction was strong within her voice.
The Captain paused before he spoke. "I'll use a different detective."
"NO!" Sakura proclaimed raising her voice. "I can- I need to do this. I know I can do this. No one else on this force has the underground connections like I do. Besides, they're used to my face. If anyone else tries to step into Kiba's place they'd become suspicious. It'd ruin the entire thing. I've worked my ass off the put this all together. Just give me the chance."
"How deep undercover are you wanting to go?" He questioned.
"As deep as I need to be. My background can withstand the harshest vetting." She stopped for a moment. "I can do this. Just let me try."
The room was silent again for another few minutes. The Captain stood and smiled. "I knew you were my daughter, you even pitch one hell of a case just like I do. I'm going to let you run point on this one, but you better keep my apprised of everything you do and detective I mean everything."
A smile flashed across her face for a moment. "Thank you Captain." He only nodded in response as the detective left his office.
As she left his office, she had to admit, there was something half-baked about this entire plan she'd come up with on the fly. However, she would not let that deter her. She had to find out all she could before putting this plan into action.