Author's Note: Kono is so lucky that she gets to work with Steve and Danny – I thought I'd write more about her character. Hopefully it is not too 'off', as I haven't seen all the HW 5.0 episodes. This also has the potential to turn into a series of mini-stories, but no promises (I already have way to many stories/plots I'm committed to). But hey, when the muse demands a story be written, it's hard to ignore. :)
Disclaimer: As always, I claim ownership of nothing but the plot.
The Rookie
Kono would never admit it - except maybe under fear of imminent death – but Steve, Chin, and Danny are like the big brothers she's never had.
Granted, she has many cousins on this island, most of which happen to be of the male species. But Chin is the only one whom she ever felt remotely close to, and it was he who got her the job working with the 5.0.
She knows he thinks she became a cop for lack of other options, that she "had to reinvent herself" after injuring her knee. The truth is - she's wanted to be a cop for a long time.
As a child, she was always at home helping her mother take care of a sick grandmother and however many little foster siblings they had staying with them at the time. She was always the big sister, and felt comfortable in her role as a nurturer - a smile to help ease the fear, a kiss to make a boo-boo feel better, a heart that broke at every single story of abuse and neglect.
Her mother swore for the longest time that Kono was going to grow up to be a social worker.
But Kono, who'd been witness to the system's failings all her life, felt like such a job would be too much like working within the confines of a bureaucratic box. It wasn't that she didn't view social services as being vital to the community; she just knew she wasn't built for it.
In her mind, social workers were too powerless – so many times she watched as an entire year's worth of work trying to save a child unraveled in the span of minutes by a detached judge in a courtroom. More than that, social workers always dealt with the aftermath of tragedies – after the bad choices, after the abuse, after the damage had already been done.
Kono had little interest in a life spent trying to sweep up the shattered remains of people's lives. It would be too heartbreaking, too hard, and she knows she would burn out too quickly.
In her mind, there are two types of criminals – the ones who are legitimately evil and the ones who turn to a life of crime because of a lack of other options. She's had the most experience with the latter. She's watched too many foster children get kicked to the curb on their 18th birthday, with no job, little support, and even less direction – and they turn to gangs for 'family' and/or drugs for money. Granted, people make poor choices – but she wonders how their lives would have been different if the hurt and pain of their childhood could have been prevented, or if there weren't any gangs or drug dealers on the Island to begin with.
Like maybe it would be different if the so-called father would have been caught and locked up the first time he beat his wife, before years of abuse tainted the lives of his children. Maybe it would be different if the dealers were taken off the streets before wayward neighborhood children discovered the high of drugs and the lucrative business of dealing. Maybe it would be different there weren't any illegal guns on the streets, before violence erupted and kids killed other kids. Maybe…just maybe, the world could be made safer – maybe she could help make it safer.
She viewed police work as a fundamentally preventative occupation. The concept of locking up criminals before they caused any more harm appealed to her as something powerful – a real force of change.
Of course, the job is not without its flaws.
She remembers how it broke her cousin. Not the job itself, but the backstabbing officers in the HPD who falsely accused him of being on the take.
Chin was forced to resign after fifteen years of service keeping the Island safe. He lost the respect of coworkers, the support of close friends, and the loyalty of family members. Kono was one of the few who believed he was innocent. But watching the life of her dear cousin shatter to pieces made her seriously question the decision to become a cop.
Around that same time, she received offers to be a part of the pro-circuit. All thoughts of joining law enforcement were pushed to the backburners of her mind as she poured her heart and soul into surfing.
She's always been athletic, playing volleyball and basketball in junior high. She's also always been attracted to the rougher sports – the ones that forced her to really push herself.
Football is her second favorite sport; she's always loved both to watch and to play. When she was twelve she spent most of her summer organizing backyard football games with the neighborhood boys every other Saturday – always the quarterback. She picked up more than few shiners and split lips that summer from breaking up fights, earning herself a reputation as a girl not to be messed with. Kono liked it that way.
But it was the ocean, the most powerful force in nature, which beckoned her from a young age with its raw beauty. Kono rode her first wave when she was five, and it quickly became more than just hobby for her – surfing became a primal need.
She respected the water, yet challenged it every time she surfed. It was more than just the danger and the adrenaline – it was the perfection of her body moving in sync with the waves, the ability to harness a fraction of the mysterious power of the deep.
Only law enforcement, being a cop, makes her feel as alive as she does riding the waves. It's not an easy job, but she thinks she is strong.
She wanted to at least feel like she was making a difference with her life – to be a force of nature, raw and strong, like the ocean whose shores she calls home.
Kono has found that calling in the 5.0.
And today as she chases down a suspect in ninety degree heat, the sweat trickling down the back of her shirt as her lungs strain with the exertion, she remembers that. She remembers why she's here – what this means. It makes her legs pump faster. It makes her push the pain of aching muscles to the back her mind. This is what she was born for. This is who she is.
She slows marginally as the suspect runs into a warehouse, and she unholsters her weapon, simultaneously flicking off the safety. This is what she has been trained for.
With stilled breath she moves stealthily through the dilapidated building, the adrenaline pumping wildly through her veins.
She knows that Steve, Danny, and Chin are in the area, she just doesn't know where.
Creeping around a stack of boxes, she catches a blur of movement out the corner of her eye.
A bang resounds, something large slams into her body, and her head slams painfully down onto the cement floor. Spots swim before her vision as more shots are fired, seemingly coming from every direction. She's disoriented – all she can see is black and grey. Whatever is on top of her is too heavy for her to move in the position she's in, but if she doesn't do something soon, she's bound to suffocate.
She feels several jerks as gunfire is volleyed back and forth once more, and something rough brushes her cheek. 'Bulletproof vest,' she thinks, and is almost instantly assaulted by an overpowering mixture of B.O. and aftershave. It finally dawns on her that she's pinned under a heavy, warm, smelly, gun-toting body, her head wedged between the hard cement and the soft fabric of a shirt.
It's her boss, and Kono would laugh if only she could breathe.
"Boss…Boss!" She calls out urgently, voice straining.
The large mass on top of her shifts, and Kono ignores the realization that her nose was just seconds before smushed into the man's armpit.
Suddenly she's staring up at Steve's pinched, worried face.
"Kono?"
"Get off."
"Oh – sorry."
Steve looks sheepish as he rolls off of her, gun still trained in the direction of would-be shooters.
Kono sits up slowly, getting her bearings and massaging her aching head.
"You okay?" Steve asks distractedly, his voice a hissed whisper. "Don't move around too much, I think there's one more."
Kono doesn't answer, just grabs up her gun from where it had skittered across the floor, her senses on full alert.
Steve is facing opposite to her, scanning for the last shooter. Her eyes automatically flick to her left, where she can see Danny poised next to a stack of boxes about fifty feet away.
He nods to her briefly, the question in eyes. 'You okay?'
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head vigorously in response, embarrassed by the attention. As the rookie, it's hard not to constantly feel the need to prove herself, and the fact that she just got bulldozed by Steve McGarrett stings her pride more than she'd like to admit.
She watches as the blonde man begins to edge around the boxes, and that's when she sees the glint of metal out of the corner of her eye - Danny doesn't see it.
The shooter is taking aim, and there's no time to deliberate – Kono's on her feet in an instant, her heart in her throat.
"Danny – gun!" She shouts, startling the New Jersey Detective.
The shooter flinches, swinging his gun in her direction, unwittingly making himself an easier target.
Kono fires three shots in succession, each one hitting the shooter high on the chest. He falls like a sack of bricks as she lowers her weapon slowly.
"Nice going, Kono," Steve comments, touching her shoulder briefly. He's obviously impressed, and Kono allows herself a moment to bask in the praise.
She exhales loudly, the adrenaline ebbing. "Thanks, boss."
Danny and Chin join them a few moments later.
"Everybody okay?" Chin asks, glancing at her.
"I'm good," She replies hastily, brushing wayward strands of hair out of her eyes.
"You sure about that? I mean, Super SEAL here did kinda crush you," Danny comments.
He'd watched Steve plow into the slim 100-pound detective and winced as she fell hard to the floor - the concern for her is masked by the accusatory tone he directs at Steve.
Steve turns from where he just finished calling HPD to help clean up the mess and frowns.
"I didn't crush her," he says defensively.
"You didn't?" Danny responds incredulously. "Lemme ask you something – how would you feel if 250 pounds of Navy SEAL fell on top of you?"
"First of all, I didn't fall on her; I was trying to push her out of the way."
"Push? That's what you call a push? You barreled into her like a freakin' linebacker at the Superbowl."
"One of the shooters was aiming at her, Danny," Steve retorts in exasperation.
"Seriously, guys – I'm fine," Kono interrupts finally.
She recognizes the banter for what it is, and appreciates the fact that her teammates are concerned. But still….
"You know sometimes you guys can be really overprotective," she says, crossing her arms.
Immediately she can sense Danny and Steve's discomfort. Chin just smiles knowingly and walks off to help HPD secure the scene.
The blonde detective squints, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "You think so?"
She shrugs. "Sometimes, yeah."
Danny grows quiet, looking away as he speaks. "Yeah, well…we know you can hold your own. Thanks for saving my ass today."
Blue eyes flick to meet hers, and she's almost floored by the detective's sincerity.
"Anytime, partner," she replies easily, then turns to Steve. "Thanks for saving my ass, boss."
Steve looks guiltily down at the floor, studying her with a hooded expression.
"Did I hurt you? Seriously."
Kono takes a step toward him and smiles.
"It would've hurt me more if you'd have let the guy shoot me."
Steve looks visibly relieved after that, some of the tension leaving his shoulders, and he nods to himself before walking away to join Chin.
"Oh, and boss?" She calls out, causing him to turn toward her, brow furrowing.
"You might want to invest in some new deodorant," she says, and does a poor job of hiding her smile at Danny's choked laughter behind her.
El fin.
A/N: Reviews are treasured. Thanks for reading.