His onyx eyes focused on the small cracked and damaged portion of the wall. He could feel his knuckles throbbing from the impact, but the burning of anger in the pit of his stomach had a greater grasp on him. There was something about the dent in the red wall that made Sasuke realize that he messed up in some way. He's always been one to think he is always correct in every circumstance, and that what he says, goes. It's how he's always been, and nothing could possibly waver that.

The Uchiha was under a very familiar emotion that he felt frequently. His blood boiled and his eyes burned. The criminal couldn't tell if he was mad at her or mad at himself. Perhaps a bit of both, but that lingering feeling of regret made him cringe.

Sasuke Uchiha is the type to observe people in ways most don't. He'll set his eyes on someone, and watch their actions and expressions. It's how he can tell what they're thinking. This is what he has done all along to that pestering detective. Since the first time he laid his eyes on her, she sparked his interest. She was hesitant about everything, which made him realize that she tends to change her mind constantly. Sakura Haruno is also the type to feel intimidated around certain people, and Sasuke was aware that he was part of that group. . . That's how he was able to make his mind games work on her.

She is an intriguing woman. For one, who the hell has pink hair? And two, she is supposed to be a talented detective, but when it came to him, she was always caught off guard. The onyx-eyed criminal was able to walk into her life, because of that bad habit of hers. Sasuke said he wanted her, and it was a lie at first, but in the rate of a few minutes, his thoughts were flipped around. It wasn't a lie.

She listened to his story, even though she shouldn't care.

She was willing to risk her career for him.

She wanted to help him achieve his goal.

Why?

It was a simple question, but he could never figure out the answer. This woman was easy to read, yet her actions were a mystery to him. There was a quick moment where Sasuke had the brilliant idea that she was in love with him, but he disregarded it, because no one could ever love someone like him. He was a murderer with so much blood on his hands . . . enough blood to paint the walls in that rich crimson.

And at that very moment, after thinking about what he has learned from this known detective, and all of the moments they have had together, he knew. . .

He knew that this feeling is foreign, but it felt confusing and relieving all the same. Sasuke Uchiha knew that this woman has left her mark, because he fell in love with her. And so he will let her enter his home today, and he will let her cross her boundaries into his past on her own accord, because he was going to do the most unrealistic thing Sasuke Uchiha could ever do.

He will wait for her. . .

And he will give her an apology. . .

And he will declare his love for her. . .

Because he also knew. . .

That she felt the same.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You ready?" Shikamaru asked, placing his handgun in the holster of his gun belt.

Glancing up at him in dread, Sakura replied with a soft, "Yeah."

"Before we go," he placed himself in front of the sitting pinkette, "what's your problem? I don't want your troublesome attitude during this investigation."

"I don't have an attitude," she retorted, "I just didn't get much sleep last night."

It's not a lie. . .

Rolling his eyes, he said lazily, "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

~*~*~*~*~

The ride to South Avenue was tense for the emerald-eyed woman. All she thought about was Sasuke and their argument. It was like all the moments they had completely vanished into thin air, and they were back to being enemies like they should be. And Sakura knew that she was being selfish by walking into his home, but she knew he was being selfish as well. If Sasuke wants to find Itachi, then this could be their way to success.

He needs to understand that.

The pinkette was worried about what may happen while she and Shikamaru are in South Avenue. For one, those gangs could be an issue, and Sasuke. . . Would he really go as far as to plan something horrible to happen to her, because of being there? No, he wouldn't do that. . . Maybe to Shikamaru, but that would only increase suspicion on both of them. Or will he do the smart thing and let it be?

The sudden stop of the car brought Sakura back into reality, as they parked outside the entrance. The lazy detective knows not to enter the neighborhood with a car. It would bring attention to the two detectives, and the car would possibly be vandalized if they didn't keep a close eye on it.

Walking through the rusty gate, Sakura's stomach immediately fluttered in caution. Her breath hitched at the three run-down men that approached them.

"Well well well," one man with a wife-beater and ripped jeans spit towards the ground, and gave them a cheeky grin, "Look at these fancy city folks."

Sakura's jaw clenched, and she glanced at Shikamaru out of the corner of her eye. His expression was bored and Sakura decided to follow suit.

"Don't ya know it's a bad idea to enter outside your territory?" The two behind him snickered.

"Listen up scrawny bastards," her partner started, "we've really got somewhere to be."

Chuckling bitterly, the man replied, "Watch your mouth, you might just get hurt."

Sighing in annoyance, Shikamaru muttered quiet curses as he reached into his coat pocket and flipped open a leather cover, revealing a shiny, gold-like badge and an I.D. above it. The three men tensed, with their eyes wide.

Keeping the badge held up, the male detective said, "How about the three of you move along, and let us through. If I arrest you here and now for threatening authorities, there will be so much troublesome paperwork to deal with, and I'm really now in the mood to do that. Otherwise, the two of us will do our jobs and put the cuffs on, while kicking your asses in the process if you interfere. Your choice fellas."

Putting on a sheepish closed-eyed smile, the three held up their hands and said quickly, "N-n-n-n-n-no need for that s-s-s-sir. . . We'll get out of your way immediately, no sweat."

Smirking lightly, he replied, "Wonderful, now get going, you're wasting my time."

With little to no hesitation, the three men ran down the street and turned a corner, disappearing from Sakura's field of vision.

"Now let's go, I'm getting tired."

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a short walk to the Uchiha household, with no more interruptions, which eased the two detectives. It was heart-wrenching for Sakura when she entered the abandoned home. After coming there a while back with Sasuke, she saw a different side of him, never meant to be shared with anyone else but her. And now here she is again, here with someone who isn't Sasuke.

"Look at the floors and walls around the house for any signs of a hidden entrance. Meet me back here in 15 minutes. Shout for me if you find anything, clear?" He asked.

Nodding in confidence, the two went their separate ways in looking. Although the house is a fair size, and not too big, every detail needed to be examined if they wanted to find this supposedly 'secret room.'

The pink-headed detective gulped when she stood in front of the room where Sasuke's parents were murdered. Just standing there that night made her bones shake, because Sakura knew how taboo that room was. Sliding open the door, the sunlight from the window made the dust particles in the air visible. Her fists were clenched as she took the first step. Scanning the floors, she noticed that the lay-out pattern was simply a few rows of tatami mats, which Sakura noticed to be very important.

Her eyes moved over every single mat, seeing if there was anything suspicious. Once she looked towards the final row of tatami mats, her heart sank in defeat, because she might have been incorrect. That is, until she saw the corner of a mat slightly lifted up.

Her heart began racing and she softly said, "N-Nara, come look at this."

In a matter of seconds, the pineapple-haired man walked towards where her line of site was, and tilted his head at the mat, "Ah, I see."

Without responding to him, the pinkette got on her knees and placed her fingers underneath the flap. Gulping in anticipation, the tatami mat was flipped over in one motion. Shikamaru smirked at what he saw, and Sakura's breath became shaky. There it was. . . A door attached to the ground.

Not taking her eyes off the door, Sakura asked, "Well? What do you think?"

Couching down to her height, he placed his hand on the chain-like handle, "I say we go."

Before the Nara could lift up the door, Sakura grabbed his wrist, and sharpened her eyes at him, "Have you gone mad? This is the Akatsuki we're dealing with. The two of us have no chance against the three of them. You hear me?"

Rolling his eyes, he stood up and sighed, "I guess you're right for once. We'll set up a plan tomorrow for a full investigation with back-up with us. Let's head out."

"Right." The pinkette shook her head with the response, and rose from her crouched-down position, and placing the mat back in place.

~*~*~*~*~*~

They could hear the footsteps from above slowly becoming less and less clear, and when silence entered the atmosphere, the blonde sighed.

"Well, looks like the detectives won." Deidara crossed his arms in defeat.

A frown was plastered on Sasori's face as he asked, "What now, Itachi? This was completely unexpected."

Deidara snickered, "We're just lucky we can hear their voices. That's how Itachi was able to know Sasuke was here a while back after all."

"That's not the point, Deidara," the brown-eyed redhead retorted, "We need to figure out our next move now that they know."

"You're right," the raven-haired man started, "We need to conduct a plan immediately and make our move now."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Now there were two things on Sakura Haruno's mind: Sasuke Uchiha and grocery shopping. It was already nearly ten at night, and she had plans to go to the 24/7 grocery store. It was about 20 minutes from work, but she would have to make do for now.

Listening to the radio, she turned to a dark neighborhood, where every house's lights were shut off. It makes sense, after all it is a weeknight. Her car drove halfway down the street, when she could feel the car begin to slow down. Furrowing her eyebrows, Sakura pressed down on the gas more, but the automobile came to an immediate stop, and she growled in frustration.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Stepping out of the car in irritation, she lifted up the hood of her car, and a puff of smoke slapped her in the face, and she sighed dramatically. After slamming the hood down in anger, Sakura re-entered her car, and grabbed her phone. Scrolling through her contact list, she noticed that everyone she knew is either asleep or working, until she stopped at one name. Hesitating, she pressed the call button, and there were only two rings until this person answered.

"Forehead?" The other line asked.

Biting her lip, Sakura replied, "Hey Ino."

"I haven't talked to you in forever!"

"Yeah I know. Listen, I need to ask you a favor."

Giggling, Ino said, "Of course, what is it?"

"My car kinda broke down on my way to the grocery store. I was wondering if you could pick me up and take me to the store, then drop me off at home."

"Well I was going to go for drinks-"

"Just pick me up on your way there and drop me off at the store. It takes me a while for me to shop anyway, so you can have a few drinks in enough time to take me home."

"Hmm, I suppose I can do that. Where are you?" The blonde asked.

Looking at the road sign, the pinkette replied, "I'm at the end of Townsman Street. Do you know where that is?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few." Then the line went dead.

Leaning back in the car seat, she breathed out, "This sucks."

~*~*~*~*~*~

It only took ten minutes for Ino to arrive. Once Sakura hopped into the passenger seat of her car, she thanked Ino then told her the location to go.

During the ride there, the platinum blonde randomly said sourly, "So, how are you and Sasuke?"

Looking down at her lap, she replied, "Fine."

"I can't believe you're dating that criminal."

Her teeth clenched together at that remark, "He's not what you think."

Chuckling with bitterness, Ino replied, "What else do you want me to call him? A good person? Yeah right. . ."

"Don't be ignorant. You don't know anything about him."

"But I do know that he is a threat to your career-"

Cutting her off, Sakura retorted coldly, "Sasuke is none of your business! He's the only one who is willing to protect me, besides my teammates who I rarely talk to. Just shut up about it already."

Clicking her tongue as a reply, the car turned into the parking lot, and Sakura got out, "Be here in 45 minutes."

Only nodding, the car sped away.

~*~*~*~*~

It took Sakura exactly 45 minutes to shop for groceries. When Ino dropped her off, she parked in the back of the parking lot, which is where the pinkette assumed she would pick her up at as well. The air became chilly as she pushed the grocery cart through the empty parking lot.

Once at the back, she stood there for ten minutes, checking her phone frequently for the time. Sighing in exhaustion, the emerald-eyed woman sat down in front of the cart, and tried calling Ino numerous times. Ten minutes became twenty minutes, and her patience was slowly dying down.

"Excuse me, miss." A male voice spoke beside her.

Sakura jerked her head to the voice, and looked at the man, whose face was completely covered, due to the darkness his hoody gave.

Standing up, she replied, "May I help you?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to buy my art?" Taking an object out of his pocket, he unfolded his palm, which revealed a clay bird, "Are you interested?"

Smiling politely, she replied, "No than-" Sakura cut herself off when she realized how familiar this is. Her smile slowly turned into a frown, and her pink eyebrows furrowed.

Looking at his face quickly, she saw a faint smirk, and that made her reflexes snap her out of confusion. Before she could even reach her hand into her back for the gun, the clay bird created an outburst the caused dense smoke to form around her. She coughed from the sudden invasion in her lungs, and after reaching for her bag, she noticed it was gone, due to the outburst that made her bag fly out of her hands.

In the middle of going into a combat stance, an arm was placed on her chest, as her green eyes widened. She was pulled to the unfamiliar man's chest, and a white cloth with was placed on her mouth and nose. Trying to elbow the tall man's ribcage, her movements began to slow down, and her eyes falling to the back of her head.

And all she saw then, was darkness.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm sorry if this escalated too quickly. I got really tired, but I wanted to post a somewhat lengthy chapter tonight nonetheless.

Criticism is very well appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed!

~Kit_Katzzz