Overall, it wasn't what he was expecting from the day's patrol.
Oh, sure, some things stayed the same. His newly assigned patrol was within Hyuuga territory, so there was some occupational rivalry there. In their own territory they may be well-behaved yakuza, but they were still yakuza nonetheless. His superiors ordered him here in the hopes of finding a lead that would let the police finally crack down on the group, but so far, he'd had no luck.
So, like every other day since he'd started this patrol a week ago, Naruto strolled through the streets, thumbs stuffed in his pants pockets and a broad smile on his face, ignoring the hard glares of the Hyuuga clan members. The solid white gazes had unnerved him the first day, but he'd dealt with worse as a kid. If they weren't happy with the law present in their area, well, this wasn't "Hyuuga City," this was Konoha. The city had the right and responsibility to ensure the law was enforced, no matter who lived where.
That said, the Hyuuga clan took care of their own. In his week's patrol, Naruto had only had to break up two minor scuffles, neither of which were reported by the residents. The clan usually handled their own matters: the times they called for outside assistance were rare and highly urgent.
Therefore, he was surprised to feel someone tugging on the back of his pant leg. Turning, he saw a young boy, perhaps six years old, with the standard black hair and white eyes of the Hyuuga clan. With his eyes staring up into Naruto's soulfully, the boy asked, "Mr. Officer? Can you help me?"
Going down to his knees, Naruto looked at the boy seriously. "What can I do for you?"
The boy fidgeted slightly, shifting his weight between his feet and looked down at the ground. As Naruto waited, the boy appeared to have made up his mind, because he looked up suddenly and said in a rush, "Can you help me get my cat?"
Naruto leaned back and blinked twice. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting, but that wasn't it. He gave a grin to the boy and stood. Putting his hands on his hips, he said, still grinning, "Lead the way, kid!"
A tree. His cat was in a tree. Wasn't this fireman stuff? With a sigh, he raised one hand to the back of his head, knocking his policeman's hat askew. It wouldn't really be a hard climb, he decided. Though the lowest branches were definitely too high up for the kid, and he'd have to jump a little to grab hold, it'd be manageable. It was a good thing he wasn't scared of heights. The cat had to be at least fifteen feet up in the air.
Anxiously, the boy looked up at Naruto, and asked in a small voice, "Can you get him?"
Naruto looked down at him and gave another grin. "No problem," he said, with a confident nod. "Just watch this!"
Without further ado, he made his way to the lowest branch and reached up, his fingers just missing the bottom of the branch, but a quick jump got him onto the branch, and he easily pulled himself up. The cat picked a good tree to get stuck in, Naruto thought to himself as he climbed. There were enough branches for an easy climb and he could still keep an eye on the cat.
In no time at all, he was level with the cat, a pretty tabby. "Here kitty, kitty," he softly wheedled, inching closer to the cat, who had flicked an ear in Naruto's direction. "C'mon, cat, let's get you down." Idly, the cat began to groom itself, ignoring Naruto as he got closer and closer.
Relieved that the cat hadn't made any trouble, Naruto grabbed it to his chest and started to head down. The cat gave a meow of protest and started to whip its tail, both of which Naruto ignored in favor of trying to figure out how to climb down with one hand available.
Sure enough, as Naruto reached the lower branches, the cat started to wiggle, trying to squirm its way out of his hold. With a moan of despair, he tried to keep hold of the cat, but it was like trying to keep hold of a wet bar of soap.
A wet bar of soap with barbs.
It was a quick, ferocious battle, but ultimately, the cat won when it sunk its claws into Naruto's hand, hooking him right through the white gloves of his uniform. With a yelp, he lost balance and toppled over backwards, crashing through the few branches between him and the ground, which he landed on with a solid grunt of pain.
Through it all, he'd kept a hold of that damn cat, and he handed it off to the boy with a groan. Back in its owner's arms, it stared at him balefully. The boy, however, gave him a happy smile, and with a quick "Thank you, Mr. Officer!" he ran off.
For a moment, Naruto lay on the ground, looking up at the sky. Then, he stood up, looking around for his hat, which had fallen off during the excitement.
What he found, instead, was the white gaze of a woman inside a nearby home. Naruto froze, his eyes wide and his mouth open a little, staring at her through the open window. She was obviously a Hyuuga, with those eyes, and her hair was dark and long, all the way to her waist (and, coincidentally, he couldn't help but notice how well she filled out her furisode).
As he stared at her, her eyes crinkled as she gave him a small smile and a shy wave; but, before he could wave back, she looked towards something in the house, and with a last glance, walked away.
He stared at the window a moment longer, but when it was clear she wouldn't be back, he buried his face (he was sure he was blushing) in his hands and leaned his head back towards the sky. Of course! Of course a pretty girl like that would see him when he's being a complete idiot. His uniform was mussed and there were twigs and leaves in his hair from the fall. Great first impression. Really nice.
Berating himself, he finished his patrol and went back to the station, to give an update on Hyuuga behavior in public (nothing new). He didn't remember he hadn't found his hat until he'd gotten home that evening.
(She found it).
Inspired by a drawing on tumblr that I saw right in the middle of my renewed Naruto phase (that came out of bloody no where.)
I haven't actually written Naruto before-hell, I haven't watched or read Naruto for probably a year-so I don't know how my characterizations would come across if I went and turned this into something longer. But, like I said, that bloody drawing just grabbed me, and I want to see the story behind it, and if no one else has written it (which I don't think they have) then I'll just have to do it myself.
We'll see.