Winter had brought with it the customary damp misery that coated everything inside and out. The cold February rain blurring from one day to the next. It was all the usual humdrum of the city that would eventually fade into spring. Except it was anything but the typical winter for Detective Kakashi Hatake.

The patter of the rain on his back had long soaked through his jacket, dripping down the ridge of his nose, through the scarf wrapped around his chin. The cold numbing sensation seemed to soak right through to his very bones. But he would not move, not for another ten minutes at least.

It had been one year today, one year of visiting this miserable plot of earth that held the remains of his best friend and partner. He traced the name etched onto that gravestone, the only physical connection to Obito that was left.

"Sorry I'm late, Obito. Old habits die hard it seems."

Speaking to him had become a private solace, a daily reprieve from the torture of his work. It was something that he considered as necessary as breathing. A secret he kept from everyone, therapists, even the chief of police herself. And while Obito could never answer him directly, it felt like a disservice to his memory not to give him the daily updates. It also served to quieten the horrifying voices that plagued him when things were too quiet.

If only I'd gotten there sooner.

Kakashi ignored the vibrating of the phone in his pocket. He still had another eight minutes to spend here quietly with his partner. The sigh of relief as the caller gave up cast mist into the cold air. Kakashi prepared to give Obito the rundown of what had happened that morning, how they were all going to the bar later to drink in his memory, when his phone started up again.

Rolling his eyes he ignored it once more. Waiting for it to stop completely before opening his mouth to speak.

"Well, this is the plan for today…"

Kakashi stopped mid sentence. He had to. The phone was vibrating for a third time, and if they cared enough to call him three times in a row on today of all days, it needed to be answered.

"Sorry again, Obito. I better take this…"

He didn't even bother looking at the screen before swiping and bringing it to his ear.

"Hatake."

The line was silent on the other end for only a second before the tirade began.

"Get. Your. Ass. Here. Now."

"And good morning to you too, sweet Captain. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Don't you sass me boy. You know exactly what this is about. Get your ass to the station now. You answered that radio message an hour ago and you're still not here, the Commissioner is breathing down MY neck, so I will make it YOUR problem Kakashi…"

"Surely the Commissioner isn't immune to your charm, Tsunade. Why, just the sound of your voice puts me in a sparkling mood…."

"DETECTIVE HATAKE." The use of his title in her booming shrill voice caused him to hold the mobile away from his ear. "I know what today is, but you need to get here now. We have a...situation."

There were few people left whom Kakashi trusted implicitly, Captain Tsunade was one of them. And the tone of her voice was one that he recognized in all serious, despite the joy he reserved in making the woman angry, it was time to come in.

"Be there in 5."

He didn't wait to hear her reply, hanging up and putting the phone in his pocket. With a sigh and a nod to Obito's name he turned to the entrance of the graveyard.

"Duty calls, Obito. See you later."

The station was lively, which was an omen in and of itself. It did not bode well in Kakashi's mind. Skipping the pleasantries with the clerks and police officers mulling around the precinct lobby, he bolted to the elevator. The doors were closing before he reached them, he resigned himself to waiting for the next. The prospect of small talk with those around him increased, much to his chagrin. There was nothing he detested more than small talk, especially with these people, those who knew what today meant for him. It was all in their eyes as they watched his every move.

He was pleasantly surprised when a hand appeared to stop the elevator doors, sliding between them quickly. They reopened, Kakashi quickly taking in the sight of the woman before him before stepping inside. Nodding his thanks, the woman nodded back, the shock of pink hair on her head neatly bobbing on her shoulders. Once he might have verbally thanked her for holding the elevator doors, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. Avoiding small talk was one of his special skills and he knew that any words now would prompt such conversation.

Kakashi watched as she hit the button for the third floor. A happy coincidence as that was where he was heading himself. But he had to wonder what business a young woman like this had with the CID. The Criminal Investigation Department was not a place for the faint hearted. If he didn't detest small talk so much he might've inquired as to why she was there, or who she was looking for.

Fortunately for Kakashi, he wouldn't have much time left to ponder. The doors opened and he could already hear Tsunade's shouting. It was a category three storm of a sound that penetrated his ears at a decibel surely not appropriate for humans. Out of curiosity he glanced to the woman next to him, but she was already moving, so he was unable to gauge her reaction to the din.

"This is absurd. I will not have this kind of ridiculous behaviour in my own department!"

"Yes Ma'am."

"And where is that godforsaken man… Five minutes my ass, it's been at least ten and if I have to wait one more goddamn minute I'll have his entrails for breakfast."

"It's only been seven minutes, Captain. It would have been six but I had to stop to help a poor defenseless kitten from a terrible fate…"

"Kakashi Hatake, I am. Not. In. The. Mood."

Tsunade's booming voice across the bull pen almost caused Kakashi to falter in his step, but curiosity was indeed getting the better of him this morning. The sheer volume alone would have been enough to keep him moving swiftly, but it was the crowd rapidly dispersing from the witness room that piqued him suitably. Something was up.

Tsunade had a hand to her forehead, eyes closed in frustration, Kakashi knew the woman well enough to gauge the level of her anger. Now was not the time for quick witted quips. So he stood in front of her, waiting for the storm to pass over. Or rather, waiting for her to unleash the rest of the storm in his general direction.

It was then that he noticed through the window to the witness room what might have triggered the Captain's rage.

"Explain to me, Hatake, why there are two… disgusting, raucous fifteen year old boys filling up my witness room with farts and god only knows what else…"

"They came back? In my defense I told them not to bother…"

"Kakashi, they're claiming to have found a human skull and they won't leave until you go with them to see it. Now tell me, why, on earth didn't you properly investigate this when they first came in? Hmm? Why must I suffer through their obnoxious and disgusting behaviour in my own damn precinct…"

"Mah, I can explain Captain."

"Please, by all means, because I would like to know exactly what will be used in my assault trial after I kick your ass with all these witnesses."

If Kakashi wasn't giving the Captain his undivided attention in a bid to sway her anger, he might have noticed the bob of neat pink hair standing in his peripheral vision. Waiting just outside of Tsunade's wrath.

"They're just a couple of kids playing hookie trying to get a free pass out of school. They got busted by a beat cop coming back from the lake yesterday afternoon and came up with a story to get out of trouble. That's all. I told them not to come back unless they had proof…"

"Kakashi, I don't care what you do, just get them out of here. Go with them for god's sake, confirm it's just a story. If you'd just done that in the first place…"

"What proof did they come back with?"

A soft spoken voice cut through the conversation. Kakashi and Tsunade turning to its source, the pink haired woman from the elevator. He might've raised an eyebrow at her brazen question, but he would let the Captain handle this situation.

"Excuse me?"

Here we go.

"Forgive me, but you…" Her eyes locked on to Kakashi's, "you told them not to come back unless they had proof. What was it?"

While Kakashi almost smugly glanced back to Tsunade, expecting her wrath to descend upon this upstart young woman, he was unfortunately surprised. It never came. Instead the older woman gave a side smile, her eyes sparkling with untold mischief. All of a sudden Kakashi was fearful for a whole other reason. While he trusted the Captain and all her infinite wisdom, she was still capable of making his life a living hell for the foreseeable future.

"They can't possibly have anything…"

"Well, Kakashi, why don't you just go in there and find out hmm? Do your job for a change. And you, must be my new detective."

"Yes Ma'am, Sakura Haruno."

The two exchanged a handshake as Kakashi watched on with a skeptical brow raised. Just what in the hell was going on here? New detective.

"Good, I like your gumption Detective Haruno. It's just what this jaded piece of shit needs in a partner…"

"Partner?" Kakashi rounded on Tsunade no longer afraid of her temper. "What do you mean partner?"

The foreboding smugness practically oozing from her was palpable.

"It's about time you got serious Kakashi, and got back into work properly. Instead of using my damn precinct as a daycare center for a job you should have taken care of immediately."

"I have only one partner, got that? And without him I work alone…" He no longer cared if his voice was raised, if others could hear him, or where he was.

"No Kakashi!" Tsunade held her palm up, her temper fading to something else but Kakashi didn't really care for it right now, it felt like pity. "You don't work at all, and it's time to put you back to good use. I need you to." She softened. "Detective Haruno is new, but I've heard some excellent things about her work already. She should be able to whip you back into shape…"

"But…"

"No arguing Hatake! Get to it! If you'd just done your damned job in the first place we wouldn't have this situation and I wouldn't have to pull rank to get your sorry ass doing some proper work."

With that she stormed off, stamping towards her office before slamming the door shut with such a force the slatted blinds shook. Kakashi stared at the door as if to call the Chief back by force of will alone, to make her take back everything she had just said. But it was to no avail.

"You must be Kakashi Hatake, it's an honor to be working with you…"

"Yeah, we'll see." He ignored her outstretched hand, refusing to shake it just yet. It might seem petty, but damned if he wasn't allowed to be petty today of all days.

He cast a brief eye over his new 'partner'. She was professionally dressed, tidy, slimly built but fit. That shiny new badge on her hip was something he hadn't noticed before, it wasn't facing him directly in the elevator, but it stood out to him now. When this new detective spoke again she caught him off guard completely, maybe it was because today was Obito's anniversary, maybe he was just off his game more than usual. He couldn't be certain, but she got to him.

"Look, you've got two options here. Let me talk to those boys, get the proof or whatever it is they came back with, get them out of the station like the Captain wants. I could make this simple, easy for you even. Or, you can fight this. Piss Tsunade off more, and I'll find another partner. I just want to work, and I know my worth, I don't need to be partnered with someone who isn't going to pull their own weight."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, this little upstart of a woman had no idea who she was dealing with. What information did she hope to gain from two questionable fifteen year old boys? It was a wild goose chase, and one that Kakashi had seen a million times in his long career. This green detective could run around in circles as much as she liked, he would watch and laugh.

"By all means, Detective Haruno. After you…" He gestured to the witness room. She looked a little dumbstruck for a moment before nodding and actually moving.

Kakashi followed behind her, watching every step. It was reticent of him perhaps, not to care one iota about this woman in front of him, who she was or where she'd come from. It seemed to him that she had been sent to specifically ruin his day. One thing was for sure, she was never going to be his partner.

Opening the interview room door he could already hear the shushing of the teenage boys, Kakashi didn't even disguise the eye roll. It was the typical nonsense time wasting that plagued his day to day.

"Alright, boys."

As soon as they heard his voice the two were quick to groan and shout obscenities. They were immediately silenced when Detective Haruno followed into the room. Seeing any kind of remotely attractive woman at their age was probably a rarity, let alone being shut in a room with one.

"Gentleman."

This ridiculous pink haired woman appeared to be trying to appeal to these grimy kids for whatever reason. Why else would she call them 'gentleman' while room did indeed reek of a musty combination of body odour and gas.

"H...Hey, she wasn't here yesterday! I like her!"

"Easy boys." Kakashi caught her displeased eye and decided to speak no further. He wouldn't have to in any case. She had said she was going to take care of this, and that she was.

"What have you got for me today sweethearts?"

The two boys exchanged very quick glances with each other before answering both at once, competing with the other for her attention.

"We were fishing in the lake…"

"I'll tell it! I'm the one who caught it!"

"Like hell you did! You screamed and dropped the rod, I was the one who hauled the skull up!"

Sakura sat in the chair across the table from the boys, putting a hand to her chin.

"So you're the two I heard about who found the skull."

"You heard about me?"

"Shut up! She was talking to me!"

"Boys!" It would have been a good Tsunade impression except for the soft look on her face. "You were told by my… colleague here, to come back with proof. So what have you got for me?"

Now the boys looked each other with an entirely different expression. The kind of fear one sees in the eyes of an animal. With trembling hands one of the boys took a cellphone out of his pocket. They remained uncharacteristically silent. Sakura directed her attention to the boy.

"What's your name, young man?"

"Konohamaru…" He mumbled out.

"That's a sweet name. And what's your name?"

"Udon."

"Konohamaru, Udon. Would you like to show me what you've brought?"

They both nodded in reply. Slowly, Konohamaru handed the phone over to Sakura. She thanked them warmly and stood. Kakashi thought it odd, that suddenly these nonsense boys were all seriousness and brooding. Was the unthinkable possible? Had they really discovered something?

With her back to the two boys, Sakura didn't even bother to glance at Kakashi before she swiped the phone unlocked. He stepped closer to take a look at the screen. The first image in the gallery being an unclear picture, of what appeared to be a skull on the shore of the lake, sitting on the grass. At a first glance Kakashi assumed it was a rock with holes, something that could easily spook two young boys.

He didn't hide another eye roll, exhaling loudly at the waste of time this had inevitably turned out to be. It was a very rare occurrence that he ever turned out to be wrong, after all.

But then he watched as Detective Haruno zoomed in on the picture and his expression became something else. Something much more serious.

"That looks…." Her words were softly spoken, likely for the benefit of the teenagers behind her which Kakashi thought odd.

"It's too unclear to be certain. We'll have to take a better look."

He watched as she swallowed and nodded slowly, before turning back to face the boys. While her face was a study of impassiveness, there was the slightest trembling of her hands as she handed the cellphone back to the boy.

If these boys had really fished up a skull, and he'd not only ignored them, but subjected them to the wrath of the Captain… it was time to throw them a bone. And this, as a detective's first case, well it wouldn't sit right to let her fend for herself the whole way.

It didn't mean she was his partner or anything close.

It just meant that he would come across as less of a colossal asshole.

It's what Obito would've done.

"Come on boys, we're going on a field trip."

Both Konohamaru and Udon perked up considerably at Kakashi's words.

"Seriously? Do we get to go in a cruiser?"

"Not quite, you'll have to settle for a shitty detectives sedan. But I'll put the lights on and drive at full speed if you behave yourselves."

"Yes, sir!"

There was one thing to be said in favor for this new detective. Throughout the entire thirty minute journey to their destination, she hadn't spoken one word, and for Kakashi this was a definite bonus. His mind was already too tumultuous to maintain any more mundane chatter, considering what today marked for him. Then there was the added possibility that he might actually have been wrong about something. A rare and terrifying experience for Kakashi's mind.

If that really was a human skull sitting by the river, fished up by two teenagers no less, Tsunade would hold it over him for all eternity. He would then be forced to partner up with this new detective, or whoever else the Captain threw at him, and everything would be ruined. All his research… the progress he was quietly making on the case. The only case he ever wanted or needed to solve. His purpose for being.

Find who killed Obito.

Find them and exact the justice that was coming to them. Until then there would be no peace for Kakashi's mind, and he didn't deserve one ounce of peace anyway. Not until he had found the culprit.

The decidedly dark turn of his thoughts must have unwittingly shone through his driving, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, jaw clenched. He noticed that, though she was silent, Detective Haruno looked decidedly terrified.

"How far away is it?" He called to the boys in the back.

"If you park somewhere around the next corner, there's a trail that leads right to the lake."

Kakashi tried to catch Sakura's eye. That would be a good detail to remember for later, if this was a body dump it would be the easiest way to access the lake by a car. Then again, this might not have been worth the drive to begin with. As he rounded the corner Kakashi debated whether to park closer to the trail, to make things go just that much quicker, or to park safely a few feet back. Any tire impressions would long be gone, but it was protocol, and who knew what evidence might be lying in the grass...

Now you're thinking like a detective again... instead of a paranoid maniac.

The thought crossed his mind briefly and for some reason it sounded just like Obito's deep timbre. It was fitting that the voice of conscious that haunted him sounded like the man he had failed to save. It made him bitter, but it was a punishment he deserved. If only he had gotten there sooner.

With a little more force than necessary Kakashi turned the wheel, pulling in to the roadside a good ten feet away from where the trail obviously began. It was now that Sakura caught his eye, she must have understood the reason behind the distance because all she did was nod and open the car door.

Once the boys had been let out, they took the lead along the path. Kakashi falling into stride beside Sakura. She made a throat clearing noise as if to gain his attention, but it could have been out of nerves. Either way, he didn't really care.

"Listen, Detective Hatake. I just, wanted to thank you, for before."

"Thank me? What for?"

She now most definitely had his attention. Being thanked was not something he was accustomed to in any form of the word.

"With the boys, in the witness room. I know what you did. I just wanted to say that I appreciate it, you not making fun of me for faltering. As a woman on the force... well, you get it. I just wanted to say thanks."

Kakashi was a little dumbfounded, he gave her a studious gaze from the corner of his eye while trying to keep watch of the boys ahead. The path was treacherous and covered in mud.

"Well, at least we agree on something now."

"Hmm? What would that be?"

"They are most definitely boys, and not gentleman. Nice tactic by the way."

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Thanks."

Kakashi nodded and they fell back into silence. Maybe she wasn't so bad, but she was a far cry from the partner he had lost too soon. It was also too soon to replace him. How could anyone replace Obito? It was an impossibility, one didn't work without the other… it was how it had always been.

When the boys came to a standstill just beside a row of shrubs it was clear that they were willing to go no further. They had reached the destination. With gentle taps to the shoulders and a few soothing words, Detective Haruno at least made them less terrified by the time Kakashi walked past them.

Stepping over the grass and shrubs and onto the soft bed of the river's edge, the lapping of the water reached his ears. The pungent smell of wet things attacking his sensitive olfactory senses. But what struck him most, was a shard of white, peaking out of the grass. Sakura slowly came to stand next to him, but the closer they got the clearer it became.

This was no rock, this was a human skull. There was still tissue embedded in some areas.

It was also clear that this was foul play. The teeth had been removed, the sinister cuts along the skull. Kakashi stood back with a sigh and pulled out his cell.

"It's real."

"Excellent deduction Detective," Kakashi laced with sarcasm. "Congratulations, your first case is a murder."

It only took two swipes of his thumb to get the precinct on the line. Tsunade was going to have a fucking field day about dredging this lake, along with everything else. Kakashi at least considered a fitting way to honor Obito, pissing the Captain off to new and exciting levels. By the time he'd hung up the phone he was curiously watching as Detective Haruno scribbled notes on a pad, using her phone every so often to take pictures. She appeared to be studious and careful not to touch things.

With a deep sigh he turned back towards the trail.

"Where are you going? Shouldn't we wait until forensics get here? What about chain of custody…"

"Oh, they'll be here soon." Already in the distance Kakashi could discern the helicopters with his above average hearing. "Someone has to take these boys home. And I need to get moving if I want to make the plant store by 6."

"Plant… plant store? Are you insane?"

"This is going to take more than a gas station offering, Haruno."

The puzzled look on her face was something he liked for whatever reasons. It beguiled him, revived the detective that had been lying dormant in him for the past year. This was going to be her first case, and it would likely be a good one, if they could solve it. And at least he could train her in a way to make sure tragedies like Obito never happened again… it was the least he could do.

"You coming?" He called over his shoulder with a smile. She still looked puzzled but eventually she begrudgingly complied.

"Do I have a choice?"