The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

The Hound of the Uchiha {Part 2}

Uchiha's eyes practically popped out of their sockets in surprise.

As for myself, I instantly recognized the name Itachi. It was in Hatake's retelling of his first case, where he is mentioned as an ANBU agent and one who, three years ago, was going to be assigned to monitor the growing threat of the elusive group the Dawn.

"I did not mention my brother."

"You didn't have to," Hatake stated with a flat tone. He gestured flippantly towards the golden chain dangling in front of the young man's waistcoat, "I knew Itachi quite well, and that is his pocket watch. You wouldn't be wearing it if he were still alive."

Uchiha grunted in acknowledgement, "He died almost a year ago, right after the end of the war. As for the pocket watch, I only started wearing it last week."

Hatake stood suddenly, shoulders somehow slumped yet stiff, facing the mantel and the flickering fire beneath it with hands clasped behind his back. "How did he die?"

"The Hound came for him." This was delivered tonelessly, completely flat, the way that one would idly comment on muck stuck to the bottom of his shoe, not the death of a brother.

"The Hound?" Hatake inquired mildly incredulously.

Our client clasped his hands, elbows resting on the arms of the chair. "An old legend from the moor. The Hound of the Uchiha, it's called. Have you ever heard of the Sharingan?"

"I have," Hatake sighed. "It's another myth from the moor, I believe. The copy wheel eye, a red eye that can see, analyze, and copy anything. If I remember correctly, you Uchiha are supposed to have it."

Before the young man could continue, there was a commotion downstairs and I could hear Genma talking to another man, who was speaking in anxious tones. Uchiha and I froze, but Hatake whipped around to face the door, eyebrows crashing together in a frown.

"What is Shikamaru doing here?"

Inspector Shikamaru Nara, another name I knew from the investigation of Asuma Sarutobi's murder.

Footsteps pounded quickly up the stairs a second later, and the door was thrown open. The man standing on the other side appeared to be only a few years older than Uchiha and had black hair pulled back into a ponytail and dark, intelligent eyes.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," he stated, "but, Kakashi, I need to talk to you. I came as soon as I found out."

Hatake stepped forward to greet the policeman, shaking his hand, though urgency stained the movement. "Inspector Nara, allow me to introduce my friend and colleague, Dr. Jin Watanabe, and a client of mine, Sasuke Uchiha." The niceties all taken care of, he turned to face the unexpected visitor once more. "What's happened? Has there been a murder? Has something happened to Kurenai and Mirai?"

"No, nothing of sort," the Inspector responded immediately, hands coming up in a placating gesture. "There was a break-in at the morgue."

"The morgue?"

"Yes, last month, early January." Nara said while pointlessly adjusting his coat buttons. It was a stalling motion; after rushing here, he seemed to be in no hurry to tell Hatake the news. "It's the main Konoha mortuary and a lot of corpses pass through there so it took a while for the discrepancy to be found, but a body was missing."

The color began to drain from Hatake's face in understanding. Whatever he had deduced, it wasn't good. Hand coming up to scour through his hair, he rasped, "Whose?"

"Rin Nohara's."

Pain lanced across his vision.

"What's been done?"