Within The Messages

by Sariasprincy

As the head of forensics at the Tokyo Police Department, Sakura found herself as the head scientist for the department's new case. And it has her working very closely with Uchiha Itachi. She never thought this case would bring them closer. And she never thought that the killer would be a member of the TMPD. ItaSaku Modern Police-Universe

4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four
Room 665

Sakura ground her teeth together as Neji stretched out her shoulder past its limits. She might have lied a little to Itachi when she told him her shoulder was no longer bothering her or perhaps a lot she realized as her eyes began to water. She held her breath to keep from crying out as he continued to test how far he could push her shoulder and she had to mentally fight herself to stop from trying to pull out of his grasp.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Sakura said through clenched teeth. She pinched her eyes shut and took comfort in the cold autopsy table under her thighs. Either the chief medical officer didn't care or didn't hear her for he continued to roll her shoulder painfully. It was impossible to tell with him standing behind her.

Ever since Sakura had sparred with Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame her shoulder had been continuously bothering her. She didn't know what she did, but sometime during their sprawl she had tweaked her shoulder and the pain was becoming bad enough to the point of where she woke up in the middle of the night. She had been in her office not but a half an hour ago, arranging an appointment with her doctor when Neji walked in and overheard her conversation. Of course being a doctor himself, he had offered to help her. Unfortunately, she hadn't known how painful this was going to be and she was wishing she had denied his offer.

Before Neji had started his 'therapy' on her, she had called Sasuke to tell him they might be a little late to the morning meeting, but of course he didn't actually answer his phone the only time she was going to warn him of her tardiness. She had left a voicemail and she hoped to God that he got the message before she showed up. After this pain, she really didn't want to engage in another one of his why-were-you-late rants, especially if she didn't deserve it this time.

Another jolt went through Sakura's arm, causing her to gasp out loudly. "Oh my god! Do you know what 'ow' means?"

Neji released his grip on her arm before he repositioned himself behind her and grabbed it again as her phone rang. With her free hand, she answered it. "Haruno, the woman currently sitting on an autopsy table, going through excruciating pain because her boss thought it would be amusing to place her in a spar against three special agents. How can I help you?"

There was a long pause. "Could you repeat that one more time, but more slowly?" It was Sasuke.

Sakura groaned as Neji pressed his palm into her shoulder painfully. "What do you want?"

Sasuke paused again. "Are you alright? It sounds like you're dying."

In the background, Sakura heard Naruto shout, "Sakura-chan's dying?!"

"No, shut up, dobe."

Sakura lost her voice for a second from the relief of Neji releasing her shoulder again. She took a deep breath before returning her attention to the youngest Uchiha. "I'm fine. It's just that someone wants to dislocate my shoulder." Sakura said the last part loudly to emphasize the pain she was going through to Neji. He didn't listen as he pushed down on her shoulder.

"Fuck!" she hissed.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she ground out. "Hyuuga I'm going to kill you if you don't kill me first."

"This injury is old, Haruno," Neji finally said. "You have adhesive capsuliitis. I need to stretch your shoulder for the pain to go away and you have a slight AC separation. I need to realign your shoulder."

"What?" Sakura asked seriously, glancing over her shoulder.

Neji didn't reply as he continued to focus on her shoulder.

"I saw you called, Sakura," Sasuke continued, not hearing their conversation.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Do you even check your voicemail? I said Hyuuga and I were going to probably be late to the morning meeting."

"Why?"

Sakura glared at Neji over her shoulder. "Because we have to dislocate my shoulder."

Sasuke didn't seem to get it. "Funny, Sakura. How late are you planning on being?"

A sharp pain shot through her shoulder as Neji pressed down sharply. More stinging jolts sprouted from her shoulder and spread down her arm and through her chest as Neji fixed her shoulder. Her eyes watered and all breath left her lungs as the pain fully registered in her mind.

"Oh my fucking god!" she gasped out.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked. "It sounds like you're losing your virginity."

Sakura paused at that. She wanted to say "No, it didn't" but decided against it. "That's unlikely," she replied instead. "I lost that a long time ago."

This time Sasuke paused. "When?"

The pain slowly started to ebb as Neji massaged her shoulder. She sighed slightly and closed her eyes tiredly as her mind sent out endorphins to relieve the pain in her shoulder. "I am so not having this conversation right now."

"How about over lunch?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

If Sakura could find the energy she would've glared. "Hanging up now," she replied, hitting the END button on her phone.

As she placed her phone in her pocket, Neji grabbed both of her shoulders and pulled her back slightly. "Lay down. You're going to be tired for awhile."

Sakura complied and watched through heavy eyes as Neji moved around to collect his evidence for the morning meeting. She wasn't sure how long she laid there until a thought crossed her mind. "I hope you cleaned this table before I laid on it."

Neji didn't turn to look at her. "Oops," he said. "I knew I was forgetting something."

Sakura closed her eyes tiredly. "Why is everyone so sarcastic?" she asked, thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when she had been in the elevator with Itachi and the phone call she had just had with his brother.

She heard Neji pause for a moment. "It is possible everyone is trying to handle the East Coast Killer case at the moment."

Sakura pursed her lips together. She hadn't thought of that before. It was highly possible. Ever since Itachi had concluded the murderer was law enforcement everyone had been on edge, trying to be polite to each other while trying to seem as unsuspicious as possible. The atmosphere was weighing on everyone on the eighteenth floor. She could feel it and she was hardly ever on the floor anymore with all the evidence she needed to process.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up even as her mind gripped onto sleep stubbornly. "I think we should get to that meeting."

Neji glanced at her and nodded. He started gathering files as Sakura disappeared into her lab and grabbed her own paperwork. She quickly downed her forgotten cup of coffee before she hurried into the hallway. A bright smile touched her lips when she saw Neji was in the elevator, holding the door open for her. He had waited, unlike someone else she knew.

"Thanks," she murmured as they rode up the floors.

He only nodded in response.

When the doors opened, they headed towards the conference room and slipped inside without drawing too much attention. Sakura quickly took her seat next to Ino while Neji sat at the chair opposite of her. Itachi glanced at her briefly and nodded slightly in greeting before returning his attention to Shisui who was giving out the latest discoveries.

After listening to him speak for a while, Sakura eventually turned her attention to the message the killer had sent in a week ago. The time passed slowly as she tried going over the message again, rewriting it and look at it from different perspectives. She hardly noticed when Shisui sat and Sasuke took his turn. His voice blended into the background as she thought and analyzed the message.

Eventually Sakura sighed and looked up, momentarily giving up on the message. Sasuke continued the usual morning debriefing before Itachi took over and concluded it. When he finally dismissed everyone, Sakura collected up her papers and headed for the door.

Like usual, she made for the elevator and waited patiently for the doors to open. When they finally did, Sakura stepped inside and pressed the button for her lab and looked up to see Sasuke was walking towards her. Automatically, she held the door and waited for him to step inside before removing her hand from the entrance.

Silently they both rode the elevator down and stepped into the lab before they each moved to their own respective sides to begin working. For her routine, Sakura began matching DNA to the evidence they had collected before she moved back to the letter as she waited for the results.

Once again, she began trying to read the letter backwards and forwards and upside down and every way she could think of. She had only been working for about an hour or so when Sasuke finally spoke: "So are you going to tell me how you lost your virginity?"

Sakura gave him a look. "Why are you all of a sudden obsessed with it?"

Sasuke shrugged as he pulled out a bullet and compared it to the one he had just shot a few minutes before. "I don't know. I guess I just realized you never told me."

Her eyebrow rose. "And why would I?"

He just shrugged again. "Because we're friends."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura pulled up the Word document that had the killer's letter typed up and reprinted it so she could write all over it again. "Well if we're such good friends, why don't you tell me how you lost yours?"

Sasuke didn't even hesitate. "It was during our freshman year in college. Ino and I got drunk and did it in Naruto's bedroom."

If Sakura had been holding something she would have dropped it. She turned to look at him sharply, but he was focused on what he was doing, not bothering to even look at her. "Are you serious?" Sakura asked.

He looked up and stared at her blankly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She frowned slightly before turning back to her own work. "I always thought Ino lost it to Shikamaru."

There was a quiet clinking noise as Sasuke worked. "She did. I was her second."

"Oh," Sakura murmured quietly. Then she hesitated. "Wait, Ino lost it before you did?" She started laughing, making Sasuke glare at her.

"Why is that so surprising?" he asked defensively.

She just grinned cheekily. "The big, hotshot Uchiha Sasuke lost his virginity after Yamanaka Ino? That is unexpected."

His glare darkened slightly. "Well are you going to tell me about you now?"

Sighing softly, Sakura returned to the letter in her hands, but she only stared at it without really seeing it. "It was my sophomore year in college. His name was Gaara. He was helping me study for our final the next day and I don't know what happened. The next thing I knew we were on his couch naked." She smiled at the memory and laughed quietly. "I'm not sure how, but I aced my final and afterwards we had congratulatory sex." Then she sighed. "I'm not sure what happened, but a few weeks later, we just stopped talking and then I stopped seeing him around campus all together. After I graduated college, I went to work at the Kanazawa department and ironically enough he was there too."

Sasuke made a quiet noise in the back of his throat. "That's awkward."

She just shrugged. "It was. Until he bought me coffee and we became friends again."

Sasuke huffed in quiet amusement for they both knew she loved people who bought her coffee before he returned to his work. Sasuke was mostly silent after their conversation, allowing for Sakura to continue to think in peace.

About a half an hour later, she had to print out another piece of paper and begin again having used up all the extra white space on the last paper. Sh sighed to herself and rested her head in her hand. I feel like L from Death Note, she thought as she reread the message. With her head tilted slightly down she had to keep pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose when they slid off.

She could just imagine herself sitting in the chair with her knees drawn to her chest as she ate some type of junk food. L, do you know the reaper that eats only red apples? She smiled to herself as she saw the letters on the page. Sakura even turned to page sideways as if she were reading it just like L.

Then she froze.

Could it really be that simple…?

"Every memory detects names if friends remember every valued essential. Naturally languages lead it where unusual obstacles yield."

" Y," Sakura wrote.

She sat back in her chair and watched the letters carefully as Sasuke stood and walked to the back of the lab. Her eyes narrowed in confusion and she stared at the random letters before her as she thought.

And then it dawned on her.

Sakura's eyes widened as realization hit her. Hard.

Slowly she rewrote the letters backwards, her eyes becoming wider as the random letters soon turned into a simple message. She stared at the words blankly as she said to herself, "You will never find me."

"Did you say something?" Sasuke asked from the back room.

Sakura didn't answer. She stood abruptly and sprinted from the lab, taking the paper with her. She pressed the up button for the elevator and breathed out in relief when the doors opened quickly. Hurriedly she walked inside and pressed the button for the eighteenth floor before she turned to look down at the paper again as her heart raced.

That had to be it. That had to be what the message meant she was sure, but that didn't stop her from rereading her work over and over again until the doors opened again. Quickly she rushed out and scanned the room for Itachi, but when she didn't see him, she immediately hurried towards his office.

She knocked loudly three times and waited for his reply to enter. When she walked through the door she saw he was sitting behind his desk typing on his computer as his three old friends sat on the couch at the far end of the room quietly talking among themselves over a couple of open files.

But she hardly spared them a glance. "I did it," she said.

Slowly Itachi's gaze slid from his computer to her. "Did what?"

"The letter," she said quickly. "I figured it out."

Immediately the three behind her quieted as Itachi's full attention turned to her. His left eyebrow was raised slightly in surprise but it quickly vanished to be replaced by expectation. Sakura knew what that look meant and immediately she stepped forward to hand him her paper.

"You will never find me," Itachi read quietly. He pursed his lips together for a moment before he sighed. "That's less than unhelpful."

At his statement, Sakura felt her excitement instantly vanish as she stared at Itachi speechlessly. Did he really feel that way? Had all her hard work really been that much of a waste? It's not like she knew the letter was going to do nothing to further the case but at least she did figure it out so they wouldn't have to keep wasting time on it.

"Are you sure that's what it says?" Kisame asked, rising from his seat to approach the desk.

Sakura nodded, her eyes never wavering from the paper in Itachi's hands. "I'm positive," she said, her voice quiet with her loss of enthusiasm.

"Well at least it tells us one thing," Sasori said, getting up to join Kisame to take the paper from Itachi. "Our killer is arrogant. That could be his downfall."

Deidara snorted from his place on the couch. "Well apparently it hasn't been if the bastard is still running around out there, yeah."

"Patience," Itachi said calmly. "All killers eventually falter sometime and we will be waiting for when this one does."

Kisame nodded in agreement before he sighed. "I'm going to go inform everyone else."

Itachi nodded before Kisame left with Sasori right behind him. Deidara took a moment to collect the files he and his two friends/co-workers had been going over before he left, closing the door behind him.

The room lapsed into silence as Sakura stared at the wall and Itachi stared at her. She bit the inside of her lip as she grew annoyed. It had taken them over a week to figure out the letter and all they got was that the killer was a cocky asshole? She felt like she had just wasted all her time.

"Why do you look so upset?" Itachi suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Sakura breathed out sharply through her nose before she looked at him and shook her head. "I just wasted a week for something that doesn't help us," she said in a cold voice.

Slowly Itachi stood and came around his desk to stand in front of her. His lips parted slightly before he closed them again and breathed through his nose. "Sometimes things like this happen," he said slowly. "You work hard and it feels like you did not go anywhere."

Sakura shook her head again. "Feels like we didn't go anywhere?" she said frustrated. "We didn't."

"Didn't we?" Itachi asked. "Think about it, Sakura. Because you figured the letter out we no longer need to focus on it. Every investigator on this case can stop wasting their time here late at night and go home to their families or focus on something else. On top of that," he continued, "we now have a basic understanding of the killer's personality. You did more than you realize."

She looked away and breathed out sharply before she turned her hard gaze back to him. "Then why does it feel like I've failed?"

Itachi pursed his lips together. "Because you set your expectations too high," he said softly. "You expected to find a lead that would send us straight to the killer and you did not."

His words made her feel like an idiot. She should have known the killer wouldn't have let themselves be caught so easily, but before she could beat herself up too badly, Itachi rested a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn her eyes back to his face. "But," he said slowly, "you did figure the message out, and I am impressed."

His praise made warmth spread throughout her chest and suddenly all her frustration slowly disappeared as she smiled slightly, and for a moment Itachi returned it with one of his own. The adorable, crooked smile he gave her made a small blush spread across her cheeks and her own smile widened a little bit more.

She was sure Itachi was about to say something else when a knock sounded at the door and someone entered without waiting for permission. When Sakura turned to look, she found Shisui standing in the doorway with his mouth opened like he wanted to say something. "Uh, did I interrupt something?"

The hand on her shoulder fell as Sakura shook her head. "No," she replied.

Something flashed across Shisui's eyes before he turned to Itachi. "Mind if I steal her? Sasuke said he needed Sakura for something downstairs."

Sakura turned to Itachi as he shook his head. Shisui nodded once before he turned to Sakura and waited for her. She followed him out of Itachi's office and as she closed the door, she glanced at Itachi again to see the same small smile was on his face once more. She returned it quickly, feeling much more confident than a couple of minutes ago before she finally closed the door and followed Shisui back down to the lab.

---

It was well into the evening when Sakura finally shut down her computers and headed out for the day. For the first time in a long time she waited patiently for the elevator doors to open and found herself rather calm and unhurried which was strange for how long as she had been at work.

When the doors finally did open, she walked inside and was about to push the button for the ground floor when a voice asked her to hold the doors. Immediately, Sakura's finger hit the black button that held the doors open as Neji slipped inside next to her. He murmured a quiet thanks and she smiled before she allowed the doors to close.

"So I heard you solved the letter," Neji said after a couple of moments.

Sakura glanced at him and smiled as she nodded. "Yeah. Though, unfortunately we didn't learn anything from it."

Neji made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat. "Yes, I heard about that as well. It's unfortunate, but at least the investigators no longer have to waste their time working on it."

Sakura nodded again. "That's true."

"I'm curious," Neji said after a moment.

Sakura glanced at him in confusion. "About what?"

"How did you solve it?"

The pink-haired woman was quiet for a moment before she shrugged. There was no way she was going to tell him she was a Death Note fan. She'd never hear the end of it. So instead she replied: "It was just a thought."

Neji nodded slightly before the elevator doors open up on the ground floor, allowing for Sakura to make her exit and leave for the day. She walked to her car quickly and buckled her seatbelt before she headed towards home and some much needed relaxation.

About a half an hour later, Sakura had eaten some dinner and was getting herself ready for bed. The sound of rushing water was cut off abruptly as Sakura shut the faucet off. She threw her toothbrush into her drawer before she took the tie out of her hair and brushed the tangles out of her pink locks. Afterwards, she set her brush down quietly before she turned off the light and walked out of the bathroom.

Sakura hardly noticed that all of her lights were out as she walked down the hall through her dark apartment towards her bedroom. She knew her place well enough that the absence of light hardly hindered her. When she was younger, the dark used to scare her like every other child, but since she was placed in foster care after her parents' deaths she got used to it. Her foster parents used to work at night so when they left, she used to disappear into her room and just listen as the darkness closed in around her.

When Sakura felt that she had taken enough steps to reach the end of the hall, she lifted her hand and opened her bedroom door before she stepped inside. Quietly she walked towards her bed and pulled the covers back before she sat on the edge and turned her attention to her clock. She needed to set her alarm. Sasuke would probably kill her tomorrow if she showed up late again.

As she reached for the buttons, something in the air seemed to change. She froze and her fingers stilled over her alarm clock settings as she strained her ears for any unusual sound. It wasn't so much as she saw or heard anything out of the ordinary, but she felt it. She was as sure as hell that something wasn't right and it was bothering her. Her nerves were agitated and it was making her suddenly extremely edgy.

Silently Sakura got off her bed and flinched slightly as the old floorboards creaked under her sudden weight. She slid her gun off her dresser silently and clicked the safety off. As quietly as she could, Sakura stepped back into the hallway with her gun at the ready. Her eyes ran over everything as she forcefully kept her breathing even and silent. All of her senses were on high alert as she stepped towards the front of her apartment.

Carefully Sakura stepped into her little kitchenette and scanned the room for anything strange. She sighed silently and lowered her gun when she was sure she was alone. Though for whatever reason, her nerves still weren't satisfied. It was probably best to sleep with her gun tonight.

Slowly Sakura turned around to head back to her room only to be forcefully grabbed from behind. The suddenness of it caused Sakura to drop her gun and it hit the floor with a loud clatter. A metallic ringing echoed in her ears a moment before something cold and sharp was pressed firmly to her throat.

It was a knife.

Sakura felt herself start to slip into a state of panic, but then she forced her mind to stay clear even as her body tensed up and her breathing grew erratic. Her mind ran through multiple sceneries of how the next few moments could play out – most ending in her death – as she forced herself not to move a muscle. She could feel the person breathing on her neck, but it was more of a warm heat than an actual breeze; they were wearing a mask of some sort.

"Who are you?" she asked breathlessly.

They replied by tightening their grip on her arm painfully. She bit back a yelp of pain and stayed motionless as they continued to stand in the entrance of her kitchen silently. She could feel the rough fabric of their clothes on her back and she knew her head was resting somewhere close to their shoulder. They were probably about a head taller than her.

Then a thought wondered into her mind.

"Are you the East Coast Killer?" she murmured, feeling her heart rate quicken slightly.

The masculine huff of amusement in her ear made her realize it was. Dread so powerful it nearly knocked the breath from her settled in her stomach when she realized how dangerous of a situation she was in. He was easily stronger than her with his height and the muscle she could feel through his clothing. Not to mention he already had a disadvantage on her as she felt his blade press further into her neck, breaking the skin. The warm trickle of blood ran down her neck in a small stream as she stood completely still, barely daring to breathe.

Sakura swallowed hard. "Are you here to kill me?"

He was quiet for a moment before he gave another small huff. That was definitely a yes.

Sakura let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding as his grip on her arm loosened slightly to relieve some of the painful pressure he had been applying. She closed her eyes slowly and strangely enough she found she wasn't afraid. The situation suddenly didn't scare her. If she were to die, she would be with her parents.

For some reason, that gave her hope.

No! a voice in the back of her head suddenly screeched. She would not allow herself to accept the fact that she was going to die. She had a job to do and she had to get this killer so he didn't murder anyone else. Besides in the chance that she did get away, how many lives could she save with the information she now knew about him?

Slowly Sakura reopened her eyes and gazed around her kitchen quickly as she searched for some type of weapon to use against him. Her eyes went to her gun. It was still resting on the floor not too far away. If she could get to it then there was a chance she could shoot him and kill him, or at the very least incapacitate him.

It was risky, but if he was going to kill her anyways then she had no choice.

Slowly Sakura closed her eyes and relaxed her body as much as she could before she took a deep breath. Then she snapped her eyes opened and rammed her free elbow into his stomach with as much power as she could muster.

He gasped out loudly and his grip on her almost disappeared completely. She felt the knife on her throat slacken and she ripped herself out of his grasp as adrenaline flooded through her system before she dove head-first at her gun. A painful, slicing sting slid across her neck and there was an immediate gush of blood as the knife caught her throat, but she ignored it as she reached for her gun.

Her fingers closed around the handle, but before she could turn on her back and shoot, he grabbed her wrist and flipped her over. The shine of something on his jacket caught her attention and she started with wide eyes as she made out the TMPD on the badge. Her mouth opened in absolute shock, but before she could do anything, he raised his blade and swung downwards. She tried to move out of the way, but the blade made contact with the side of her stomach. A silent scream left her mouth as he pulled his knife out and prepared to stab her again.

Then a knock sounded at her door.

The killer froze and looked towards the sound before he turned and ran towards her back door.

"Sakura, open the door. I need to talk to you." It was Sasuke.

Sakura opened her mouth to call for him, but the pain racking her body stole her voice. Instead she raised her gun and aimed it at the killer's retreating form before she fired. The loud blast echoed through her apartment. She relaxed on her back and closed her eyes as she heard her back window shatter. The gun fell from her limp fingers and hit the floor as pain coursed through her body. It felt like every molecule in her body was being ripped from her very soul.

"Sakura?!" Sasuke yelled from outside.

Sakura vaguely heard Sasuke knock down her door before she heard footsteps echoed through her apartment. She placed her hands to her stomach and pressed her eyes together tightly as the blood seeped through her fingers and down the back of her hands. Her lips were pursed together tightly as the adrenaline wore off and the pain continued to rack her body in a repeated wave.

"Sakura?" she heard Sasuke call frantically.

He dropped to his knees next to her and pushed her hands away to take a look at her wound. She cracked her eyes open and watched as he quickly stood up and grabbed one of her kitchen towels before he raced back to her side. He covered the wound with one hand and pulled out his phone with the other.

"This is Chief Superintendent Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "I need an ambulance at the Yashi apartment building on Sekiguchi immediately. Apartment number B8."

There was a reply, but Sakura was in far too much pain to understand the woman on the other end. Sasuke maneuvered his phone to rest between his shoulder and his ear before he placed his other hand on her neck wound. Sakura gave a small cry of pain and began moving restlessly under his hold.

"Haruno Sakura. Age twenty-three," Sasuke said into the phone. "She has stab wounds to her neck and abdomen."

Sakura pressed her eyes together tightly as another surge of pain racked her body. She threw her head back, knocking loose a few of the tears that had pooled in the corners of her eye. She tried to lie on her uninjured side to help ease her restlessness, but Sasuke's firm pressure kept her in place. "Stay still, Sakura," he said softly. "It'll be over soon."

She replied with a groan.

"Don't worry; I'm not going anywhere," he promised.

Sakura clenched her teeth together tightly and more tears fell down her face as she vaguely heard the sirens in distance. Her brow knitted together in confusion as to how they got there so fast, but after a moment she realized that she had been drifting in and out of unconsciousness when there were police suddenly occupying her apartment.

The next moments passed in a blur for her. She knew that the ambulance had arrived along with police and other law enforcement, but as to how the paramedics got her down the stairs and onto a stretcher she had no idea. But before she could think through the pain and figure it out, everything turned dark.

---

"You act like you know everything," Kisame said.

Sasori shrugged. "That is because I know a lot. Don't get annoyed because you are less intelligent than I am."

Kisame snorted loudly. "You have to be the most arrogant son of a-."

His words were cut off as Itachi's phone went off. Sasori, Kisame, and Deidara all turned in their chairs to face Itachi as he glanced at the caller I.D. before he answered. "What is it, Sasuke?"

"Sakura's in the hospital," he replied.

Itachi bolted forward in his chair immediately. For a moment, he thought his heart had literally missed a beat as Sasuke's words registered in his mind. All thoughts of his earlier conversation with his three old friends disappeared as his mind focused on what was going on. "What happened?"

Sasuke said something to someone in the background before he returned to his brother. "She…" he trailed off. "You need to come here now. She's in the Tokyo University Hospital."

Itachi was on his feet in an instant. "I'll be right there," he replied before he hung up and made his way out the door without so much as a word to his friends.

The car ride from the TMPD to the hospital seemed impossibly long. Itachi was unusually impatient and the usual late-night rush-hour traffic was frustrating him beyond belief. He weaved around the cars and dodged from lane to lane, but it seemed like the cars couldn't move fast enough. When he finally parked his car in the lot, he walked at a brisk pace up to the front doors and pushed his way through before he approached the front desk.

The nurse looked up and smiled politely, but her jaw dropped in astonishment when she realized whom it was. Quickly she stood up and bowed. "S-Superintendent General-sama," she stuttered. "What can I help you-?"

"I need the room number for Haruno Sakura," Itachi cut her off.

The woman stared at him for a moment before she sat to her seat and returned to her computer. "Um…one moment, sir."

Itachi watched impatiently as her fingers skimmed across the keyboard and her eyes searched the computer screen, but they flew up to meet his gaze every once in a while annoying Itachi even further. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, but it didn't work. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and an uncomfortable feeling of nervousness settled in his stomach. He had only felt like this one other time when his mother was giving birth to Sasuke when he was about four-years-old.

"Haruno Sakura is on the seventh floor, room 665," the nurse replied.

Itachi nodded his thanks before he resumed his brisk pace to the elevators and pressed the up button. His impatience grew as the elevators took a few minutes to open and when he stepped inside he quickly jammed the button for the sixth floor. It took the doors a moment to close before he was taken up to his requested destination.

The floor was fairly busy when the elevator doors opened. He walked by a few hospital rooms and automatically peered inside, already knowing they weren't Sakura's room. There were doctors in a few, running tests and checking charts. He realized it was the recovery ward.

He saw doctors talking with family members while they cried and held each other for comfort, but he quickly pushed passed them, ignoring the stares of recognition on his way. He kept his sights on the hospital numbers as he walked down the hall.

"Itachi!" a familiar voice called.

He turned at the sound of his name and saw Sasuke get up from a chair nearby. Immediately Itachi changed his course and approached him quickly. Even from a distance, Itachi could make out his younger brother's clothing and it made his stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot. Sasuke's jeans were speckled with blood and his light blue t-shirt was stained almost everywhere with the crimson liquid. Itachi could smell the pleasant scent of soap on his hands and he realized Sasuke had probably just washed the blood off.

"What happened?" Itachi asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

Sasuke crossed his arms and looked at him straight in the eye. "Sakura was attacked by the East Coast Killer."

Itachi's eyes widened a fraction. "How?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know. I knocked on her door in the middle of it. I guess it scared him off, which is a good thing, otherwise she would've been killed." Sasuke took a breath to calm himself. "She shot at him, but it missed." He paused, a hopeless expression on his face. "Itachi, I would've chased him down, but when I found Sakura she was…" he trailed off.

Itachi was quiet as he watched a rare batch of emotions flicker across Sasuke's face: regret, shock, and fear.

It wasn't the first time Itachi had seen Sasuke scared before, but it was the first time in a very long time. The fact that Sasuke was showing that emotion now made him confirm just how serious the situation was. If something like this could strike fear into Sasuke than Sakura was probably worse than he had originally imagined.

"How is she?" Itachi asked quietly.

Sasuke's distant gaze disappeared and he focused his attention on his brother. "She's out of surgery and they said she'll be fine. The blade missed anything vital." He paused. "I haven't seen her yet, but I'm not sure about her mental state."

The older Uchiha nodded in understanding. Sakura had been a field agent, but she had never been in a situation that even remotely compared to what she had just gone through. Itachi wondered how she was taking it. He knew he could analyze the situation all he wanted and come up with a million different scenarios, but he wouldn't be satisfied until he had spoken to Sakura face-to-face and that was exactly what he was going to do.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked when Itachi began to walk away.

The older Uchiha glanced over his shoulder. "To see Sakura."

"They're not going to let you in," Sasuke said.

Itachi didn't reply as he walked towards Sakura's room. He didn't have to worry about not being let in. He was one of the most powerful men in Japan and if he had to, he was willing to – for the first time in his career –use that power to get what he wanted, hospital protocol be damned. It was his officer and he refused to be stopped by some doctor from seeing her, especially now that he knew why she was in the hospital.

Fortunately, Itachi didn't have to worry about using his influence to get what he wanted. No one stopped him as he walked towards Sakura's room; that was until he approached the door. The moment he reached for the handle, the door opened to reveal a blonde woman. Her brown eyes stared at him in surprise, but she didn't say anything until she had closed the door behind her.

"Superintendent General Uchiha," she said. "You must be here for Haruno-san."

Itachi nodded.

The blonde woman pursed her lips together. "I'm Tsunade, her doctor."

"How is she?" Itachi asked.

"I just ran a few tests on her and everything appears to be fine," she informed him. "Her stab wounds weren't terribly deep and she should be released within a few days' time." She paused. "Though, I am slightly concerned about her mental health. She doesn't appear to be very…" she trailed off. "To put it bluntly, she appears to be distracted. Though I'm not completely surprised. If I heard correctly, she was just attacked by a murderer," Tsunade continued. "My recommendation for her would be to get some counseling before she returns to duty."

Itachi nodded. "I need to speak with her."

Tsunade bit the inside of her cheek. "I normally wouldn't permit a visitor to see a patient so soon after surgery, but she could probably do with a friend." She sighed tiredly. "Just don't stay too long."

He nodded again. "Thank you, doctor."

Tsunade waved him off before she turned and walked down the hallway. Itachi watched her retreating form a moment before he walked into Sakura's room.

The moment Itachi stepped inside he spotted Sakura sitting up in bed. Her eyes were trained on something in front of her, but he had no idea what. He knew she knew he was there, but for whatever reason, she refused to turn her head and look at him. The tense set of her shoulders told him something was wrong, but as to what it was he had no idea.

Quietly he closed the door behind him, but he didn't step any further into the room. He wasn't sure how she would react to him yet and he didn't want to do anything to harm her. That was the last thing she needed right now.

"Sakura," he said calmly.

Her head immediately turned at the sound of his voice and her eyes widened when she realized it was him. He saw the circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and how pale her skin was from blood loss, but she hardly seemed fazed. The thing that really caught his attention was her eyes. They were dull and cheerless, but before he could figure out from what, she turned away from him and redirected her attention to her hands. She bit her lower lip nervously before releasing it a second later. Tsunade was right; there was something wrong.

Slowly Itachi approached and stopped a few paces away from her bed. "Sakura-."

"I'm sorry," she cut him off.

Itachi stared at her in masked surprise as she continued to stare at her hands. She was fidgeting with her fingers restlessly as she continued to avoid all eye contact with him by staring down at her hands. He couldn't understand why though. There was nothing for her to be sorry for. If anything, he should be apologizing to her for not keeping better tabs on the officers who were on the East Coast Killer case.

"I knew it was stupid of me and I should have been able to stop him," Sakura continued. "It's all my fault that he escaped. Now he's still out on the streets and-."

"Sakura," Itachi said. The small hint of authority in his voice immediately quieted her, but she still didn't look at him. She looked nervous again. "Sakura," he repeated, his voice softer, "are you alright?"

Slowly she turned her head to look at him and this time he realized just how anxious she was. Her eyes were searching his for something and she had returned to chewing on her bottom lip, but slowly she stopped and nodded slightly. "I'm fine." She paused and looked at him in confusion. "You're…not mad at me?"

Itachi paused. "Why would I be?"

She shook her head in confusion. "But I didn't catch him. He was right there and I didn't catch him."

Itachi shook his head. "That does not matter at the moment," he replied calmly. "You need to focus on recovering right now."

She cracked a small smile. "Is that an order?"

The right side of his lips curved upwards. "Would you like it to be?"

Sakura looked at her hands again, but his time she was smiling softly. The worry Itachi had been feeling towards Sakura faded at her smile and unconsciously his tense posture relaxed. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to help settle his nerves.

From what he could tell, Sakura wasn't as "distracted" as Dr. Tsunade had made her seem. She seemed uncomfortable, but he figured that he probably would be too if he was stuck in the hospital. Actually, if anything, Sakura would seem to be taking everything in with an air of calmness to an outsider. Unfortunately Itachi was not an outsider and he knew this was how Sakura was before, during, and after assignments. He knew she was anything but calm at the moment.

"Are you afraid?" Itachi suddenly asked in a quiet voice.

Sakura glanced up at him, her smile gone, before her gaze settled on her hands once more. "Yes," she murmured.

She was quiet for a long moment. "Yes, I'm afraid." She brushed her palm against her cheek and she let out a shaky breath. She was crying. "I'm fucking terrified," she whispered. "A serial killer just tried to kill me and he's probably going to try-." She stopped herself and took a deep breath. "Try again. And next time I don't think I'll be able to stop-."

"Sakura," Itachi interrupted. She quieted, but didn't look at him. Slowly he closed the distance between him and the bed before he reached out to her. He grabbed her under the chin in a gentle but firm hold and forced her to look at him. "You know I will not allow that to happen."

The fear was absent from her gaze, but her emerald eyes were clouded in uncertainty. She watched him carefully for a moment before they cleared and she nodded once before she wiped the rest of her tears away with the palm of her hand. "Yes."

He kept her face in his hand a moment longer to be sure she wasn't lying before he finally released her. He watched as she pulled herself together again and a new respect for her fell over him. The strength she was showing was absolutely amazing. Even in a situation as bad as the one she had just been through she managed to stay reasonable and understanding. She really was one of a kind. It was no wonder he was so attracted to her.

Itachi stilled.

When did this happen? He couldn't recall being attracted to Sakura. Sure, he thought she was a beautiful woman, but he'd never given any thought to an actual relationship with her, even if he was curious as to if she had a boyfriend or not. It was a strange thought but not an unwelcome one by any means, which only succeeded in surprising him further.

Definitely not, he thought.

Sakura would never want to be with a busy-body like him. Besides, right now wasn't the best time to even consider a relationship with anyone on his part. He was far too busy with his case and the extra stress would definitely not help the investigation. Not only that, but he still had no idea if she was already in a relationship. He guessed she wasn't, otherwise her boyfriend would probably be there, fighting for time alone with her right now, and no one was. It was just him and Sakura.

"Did they say when I could leave?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Itachi turned his attention back to her. She was staring out the window tiredly at the dark, Tokyo sky. "In a few days," he replied.

She sighed quietly and relaxed into her bed. "When can I return to work?"

Itachi was quiet for a moment. He could already tell what her action was going to be to what he had to tell her and the stress she was going to put on herself was definitely something she didn't need right now. He didn't want to broach the subject yet, but if she was asking then he wouldn't avoid it.

"Dr. Tsunade has requested you get counseling before returning to duty," Itachi answered quietly.

Sakura's head snapped to look at him. "Duty?" she asked. "I'm not even a…what? No!" Just as he had predicted, she was angry. "I don't need to talk about my feelings and what I'm going through to some loser who gets paid to listen to people who have a more interesting life than them!" she hissed. "What I need is to get back to work so I can focus myself on something other than how close I came to getting kill tonight!"

Her shoulders were tense and she was obviously fuming as she dug her fingers into the blankets. Her intense gaze turned to the wall and he watched as she took forceful, even breaths to calm herself.

Itachi stared at her for a long moment. She just went through four different strong emotions in a time span of only a few minutes. His brows knitted together before they relaxed. It surprised him to realize that he wasn't offended by her outburst at all.

Normally he would have never stood there silently as one of his officers shouted at him, but for whatever reason he didn't mind if Sakura did. She probably needed something to be angry at to get her stress and fear out, and he was the only thing available at the moment. He supposed it probably wasn't best that Sakura did it now, seeing as it was close to midnight and everyone in the hospital was probably asleep. Instead of berating her for her outburst he simply placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know, Sakura," he said quietly. "And you will probably be angry at me, but I agree with her."

Sakura looked at him sharply and glared at him before she turned her gaze away. "Fine," she said quietly but angrily.

Itachi just sighed quietly. "Get some rest, Sakura."

He felt her relax under his hand before she nodded slightly.

Quietly Itachi turned from her and started towards the door, but stopped when a sudden thought came to him. There was one way he could be sure she was or wasn't in a relationship.

"Sakura," he said, turning to look at her. She raised her head and stared at him expectantly. "Is there anyone I could contact for you?"

Sakura watched him for a moment before she shook her head. "No one, sir."

A sense of ease settled over Itachi at her answer. "Any family, perhaps?" he asked.

For a moment, Sakura just stared at him before she shook her head and turned to look back out the window with a sad look. "No one," she repeated softer.

Her answer confused him and at the same time made a sense of sadness fall over him. He had no idea what she meant by "no one" but he didn't have the heart to ask and guilt settled in the bottom of his stomach at making her feel that way. Quickly he turned away from her. "Very well. Good night, Sakura."

He turned towards the door and made his way silently. He could hear Sakura shift quietly in her bed as if she couldn't find a comfortable position. She probably wasn't all too happy about being stuck in the hospital – and alone at that – but unfortunately there was nothing he could do. She needed to be here in case anything else happened. Maybe he should send Sasuke in to stay with her.

"Itachi."

The Superintendent General froze at the sound of his name. No one in the police force had ever called him by his first name other than Sasuke and Shisui. Then he realized it wasn't his actual name that made him freeze. It was the tone of her voice. It sounded almost scared.

Slowly he turned around to see Sakura was sitting up in her bed with the blankets pooled around her waist. Her legs were criss-crossed and her head was bent downwards. Her fingers were holding the blanket in a death grip, but he couldn't see her expression behind her hair. "There's something else," she said in the same tone.

Itachi was confused. What could have happened in those few seconds to make her act like this? He was starting to worry about her health now. She was jumping from emotion to emotion much too quickly. Her mood changes were not only tiring him in his attempt to keep up, but she was under way too much stress at the moment.

"I'm sure it can wait until morning," he replied in a smooth voice.

Sakura took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. It can't."

Slowly Itachi released the door handle and walked further into the room. Her expression was unusually serious, but there was a hint of worry and fear in it too. "What's wrong?" Itachi asked. His attention was fixed solely on her.

"The murderer," Sakura said quietly.

"What about the murderer?" Itachi asked.

Sakura took a deep breath before she met his gaze evenly. "He works at TMPD."

Itachi stilled as he registered what Sakura had said. "How do you know?" he asked quietly.

She swallowed quietly. "I saw it before he stabbed me."

Slowly Itachi moved forward until he was a few feet from her hospital bed. "Are you sure?" he asked in the same tone.

The moment he asked the question he knew he would never forget the look of absolute certainty and fear. "I'll never forget it."

It was all the confirmation he needed. His mind suddenly began working faster than it ever had before. The faces of all his officers flew into his mind one after the other. Each one looked as innocent as the next, but he knew each could be the murderer that had almost killed Sakura. It didn't matter that the TMPD was one of the most secure facilities in the country now because one of them was a serial killer. One of them could kill everyone in the building one by one and they could do it right under his nose without him even finding the convict.

Fiercely he shook himself. It was no time for him to panic. He was a leader and he had to act like it. His personal feelings did not matter. All of his efforts had to be focused on catching the murderer before he got a hold of anyone else.

"Does Sasuke know?" Itachi asked.

Sakura shook her head. "I've only told you."

Itachi nodded. "Very well."

He was quiet for a long moment as he made the decision he had been contemplating unconsciously sense he had seen Sakura. "You are to stay with Sasuke until everything gets sorted out. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, pulling her hair back.

Itachi nodded and stepped back about to make his way towards the door only to freeze when he saw the gauze on Sakura's neck. His blood turned to ice and his chest constricted sharply when he saw the specks of blood on the gauze. Her wound was bleeding through the bandage.

And then it hit him. Hard.

His breath caught when he realized just how close Sakura came to dying. If Sasuke hadn't shown up, Sakura would have either bled to death or the murderer would have finished her off. She literally owed her life to his brother.

But never mind that thought.

Sakura had almost died. Forever. The very thought of never seeing her smiling face or hearing her cheerful voice scared him. Nothing scared him. Ever. And there he was, shaking in fear. Or was it anger? Anger towards the one that had almost taken her from him.

He made his decision.

He would see to whoever did this to Sakura. He would be sure that they never saw the light of day again, unless it was through the bars of the dirtiest jail cell in the country. He would make sure they never breathed the crisp air of the Japan sky and could never feel the wetness of the rain on their skin again. Once he caught them, their life would turn into a living hell even if it was the last thing he did.

He took a deep breath before he turned towards the door again, the moment lasting only a few seconds. "Good night, Sakura."

Then he left the room.

Absentmindedly Itachi explained to Sasuke what Sakura had told him and his decision for her to stay with him before he left the hospital and returned to the police department. He thought he saw Ino enter Sakura's room a few seconds after he left, but he was so lost in his own thoughts he couldn't tell if he remembered correctly. It wouldn't surprise him though. Ino and Sakura had been friends since high school. She would be one of the first ones – if not for him, the first – to visit Sakura.

"Superintendent General-sama," the officer at the front desk said. "I was informed you had left for the night."

Itachi hardly glanced at the man. "Some things have come up."

He wanted to run a full search on the officer and every other policeman and woman in the building, but that would create suspicion and the last thing he needed was for the serial killer to go into hiding. If he was going to catch this murderer, it had to be done discreetly. After all, the East Coast Killer probably had no idea they had a lead. As far as he knew, he probably thought they only had his basic description from Sakura. Maybe this incident could rule in their favor.

Mentally Itachi noted that he needed to personally thank Sakura. She might have provided them with the information they needed to break the case.