Brownsville: Chapter One
It was so unbelievably sticky in the heat of Miami's fizzing summer. Even with the convertible car's roof down, the oncoming breeze was still warm and stagnant. Naruto glared from under his fringe. He was normally a summer person but such weather extremes pushed him way out of his comfort zone. His fingers were sweaty and slipped on the leather steering wheel and he was really regretting choosing wear a long sleeved shirt today. The traffic lights turned green and he pulled the car into the multi-storey car park, finally feeling the relief of shade as he purposefully parked his car in the coolest part. It wasn't all too bad, he reminisced as he took out his briefcase and lab-coat before reattaching the roof and locking the car, there had been the sweltering summer of 2005, and at least he wasn't pasty pale. He smirked a little at the thought of the poor pale buggers before dropping his keys into his pocket, running a hand through his damp hair and heading towards the building opposite the car park. Naruto worked as a forensic scientist and was based at the homicide division at Miami metropolitan police. Despite being fairly young in the forensic community, he was already establishing himself as an upcoming star, but he took his time and hadn't rushed in to any offers, mostly because they sounded far too good to be true, and he was with his family right now and couldn't imagine being elsewhere.
He strolled into the building, flashing his ID card at the woman in reception and conversing in general chitchat with the security guards on patrol as they did the obligatory bag and pocket search. With a swing in his step he caught the elevator, pressed the button and watched the doors close – it never failed to amuse him how slowly they shut.
"Hold the lift!" a voice shouted and he immediately thrust his arm between the closing doors, they reopened and the man strolled in, arms full with a big cardboard box and a holier-than-thou smirk ever-present on his face. They rode the first two floors in silence, but Naruto could feel the man's gaze on his face as he wished that homicide was on a lower floor.
"You're the lab geek, right?" The guy was still smirking, and Naruto couldn't help but feel slightly creeped out to say the least. Nonetheless if Naruto was anything, it was friendly, so he replied as such.
"Yeah," he grinned, "what gave it away?"
"I would say your lab coat but I already knew who you were." His voice was airy and posh, and he seemed to be in the constant state of peering down his nose at people. Naruto, all of a sudden taken aback, was unsure whether or not he should know the person before him. He didn't seem at all familiar.
"Er... I'm sorry, should I know you?"
He scoffed haughtily. "No, you know my cousin, Itachi Uchiha, and Sasuke as well, you work with them." Naruto nodded in realisation. "I'm Sai Uchiha, I'll be joining your team presently." Jesus, Naruto thought, the language this guy used, it was like talking to a lawyer.
"Oh cool," Naruto grinned, "good to have you on board. I'd shake your hand if you didn't have them full." The elevator dinged to announce their arrival and they entered the main office, Sai sauntering off in the direction of Itachi Uchiha's office where the older looked up from his desk, saw him through the window and nodded in acknowledgement. Naruto just stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before chuckling and heading to his office, dropping his briefcase by the door and hanging his lab-coat on the hat stand. There were reports he needed to do stacked up on the desk, surrounded by empty cans of Red Bull and Lucozade and takeaway boxes from all-nighters he'd pulled in the last week.
Hopefully everything could calm down now, they'd caught the guy and all that needed doing now was to present his forensic findings in report format, which he was well under way with. This, combined with the first night of decent sleep he had had in weeks, made this week's Naruto a lot less stressed than last week's. He gathered up the rubbish from his desk, stacking the folders neatly and dropping the cans and boxes in the bin, before slumping into his seat to formalise his findings. A knock on the door stopped his scribbling mid-sentence as he muttered a quick 'come in'. The door opened to reveal a figure dressed in a black suit, complete with white shirt and navy tie, his shoulder-length black hair tied into a neat ponytail; Itachi Uchiha.
"Naruto, I need you on patrol today." He announced.
"But-" Itachi cut him off before he could say anything.
"I know, you have work to do, but I'm sure Tsunade will do the reports for you if you fill her in on what she missed whilst on holiday." There was a moment of silence. "I just need someone to go and make sure Sai behaves himself, you don't even have to do much."
"Alright, alright, I'll get the old-hag to do them," Naruto groaned, "but you owe me one. And I need a fucking holiday soon, Itachi, you're a fucking slave driver." Itachi smirked and then shrugged.
"Go on, clean up the streets of Miami for me, Squirt." Squirt was a nickname that had stuck for two reasons – originally it had been coined when Naruto was obsessed with Pokémon's Squirtle character, but it seemed to encompass his height as well. It wasn't that Naruto was ridiculously short, he was just shorter than average, and it didn't help that most of his friends and colleagues were a lot taller in height. What he lacked in height he made up for in heart, anyone would tell you. But heart doesn't really help when you want to get the biscuits from the highest shelf in Walmart.
Through the glass window Naruto could see the rest of the patrol assembling. Sasuke, Kiba, Neji and Sai stood chatting amicably in kevlar jackets, that could only be described as unbearable in this sweltering heat. He moved to join them, leaving his house keys and other valuables on his desk before strolling into the main bullpen.
"Ah, Squirt's finally here," Kiba all but shouted as Naruto quirked his eyebrows, "took you long enough man."
"Did you get lost in your own office or something, dobe?" Sasuke Uchiha was the bane of Naruto's existence, and everyone but Naruto could see it. His mouth was like a pistol shooting bullets at Naruto every five minutes, the insults never stopped and Naruto never appeared effected on the outside, but occasionally you could see it was getting to him.
"Eh... good one teme," Naruto mumbled as he grabbed a vest and gun, despite the fact he hoped to stay in the car for the entire time.
"I know." Sasuke smirked. "Right, so we're all patrolling the same area today so we're going to take two cars; one leads, one follows. I want Naruto with me, and the rest of you in the other car. Sai, you drive, don't let Kiba anywhere near the wheel."
Naruto didn't understand why he kept getting put on these patrols, he wasn't even a certified policeman, he could carry a gun but at the end of the day all he was was a forensic nerd. He sat in the car as the others scoped out a potential drug dealer's flat, playing Sudoku on his phone to pass the time – on the hardest level, of course.
There was a deafening ring that Naruto immediately recognised as being a gunshot and he immediately radioed Itachi.
"Itachi we have an unknown gunshot, all other officers are inside the building, just east of Boulevard Way. Send backup immediately."
"Copy that, Squirt."
A woman came barrelling out of the flat that the officers had been in and in a blur she went down, Naruto finally hearing the second shot as she hit the floor. He scrambled out of the car to help, she wasn't in a fatal position but she was in need of serious medical care. He quickly ripped his shirt of, balling it to push it against the bullet wound in the woman's stomach.
"Alright, alright, stay with me, stay with me, okay, you're doing great, just hold that there and apply pressure and I'll call the hospital and everything will be okay." He ran his hands through her hair as she whimpered in pain, speedily phoning 911 and alerting them of the problem. Dropping his phone he helped her apply pressure, his eye-line wandering to the group of dumbfounded policemen. Now wasn't time to play who-dunnit, a woman's life was at risk, one of them had shot her, and none of them were helping.
Naruto rode to the hospital with the woman, all the while stroking her hair and whispering comforting messages to her. She was called Bambi Harley and had been the personal escort and stripper for the drug dealer, who had shot himself and committed suicide in the apartment just moments before. She had ran because she was scared and panicked and she'd just seen her lover kill himself. And then she'd been shot, and Naruto was sure that had done wonders do how scared she was.
It was after lunch when Naruto returned to the office, wearing scrubs a helpful medic had supplied, after a while of laughing at him sat looking extremely awkward, shirtless surrounded by perverted middle aged women. The medics had given him his shirt back but he doubted he'd ever get the bloodstains out, and even then he'd probably never wear it again, which was a shame since it was his favourite shirt.
"How is she?" Itachi asked whilst Naruto was washing the blood from his hands in the homicide department's toilets.
"Good ... she's stable. She was extremely lucky."
"I know this might be a bit harsh on you but I really want to get down to who did this today, do you think you'd be able to come to a meeting about it in my office in half an hour?" Naruto sighed, running his hand through his hair before nodding.
"Yeah I guess, just let me quickly go home and change." Itachi nodded as he caught sight of the bloodstains on Naruto's slacks.
"Take a shower if you need to, and after we have this sorted, you have the rest of the week off. You were right, I'm too much of a slave driver with you, you need some time to recuperate. Go fishing or something." Itachi smiled before bundling him up into his arms for a brotherly hug. "See you in a bit."
Elsewhere in the office, all hell had broken loose. When Itachi had mentioned to the others that they were going to have a meeting to find out who had shot her, everything went into meltdown.
"Who the fuck did it?"
"Don't look at me you jackass, what the fuck are you on?"
"Yeah well I think if anyone did it it's got to be Kiba"
"Oh my God, what is your beef with me?" Ten conversations occurred at the same time before a normally silent Sasuke intervened.
"Everyone. Shut. The. Fuck. Up." He growled, "How to we sort this out?"
"Well we're all pretty new here, one slip up and we're gone man, we're practically on probation as it is," Kiba moaned, "Awh man, I can't lose my job now, there's none anywhere else."
"Kiba, none of us are going to lose our jobs," Neji stated calmly, "we just need a scapegoat. How about the drug dealer boyfriend?"
"What, he ran outside, shot her, came back inside, knowing full well we were there, and then shot himself?" Sasuke asked sarcastically. "Nice, Neji, nice."
"Well there's always Naruto..." came the reply from the previously silent Sai. Everyone was silent for a moment as they contemplated it.
"No, no, no, no, no. No way man, no way." Kiba whispered ferociously, "I can't believe you're contemplating framing him for this. He's Naruto, man. Fucking Naruto. Naruto who helped Neji when his parents split up, helped me with so fucking much when I've needed him, and is Sasuke's fucking best friend. What the fuck are you guys thinking?"
"Look man," Sai said in response, "we get it, it's Naruto. But what else can we do?" There was silence as everyone searched for an answer. There really was nothing much else they could do.
"I can't fucking believe this," Kiba said. "He was my best man. Hinata would kill me if she knew-"
"Then she won't know will she," Sasuke intervened, "here's the story. We were interviewing the drug dealer when he killed himself and we stayed inside to try and resuscitate him. That bit's true. Then the girl must have ran out of a back window or something because we never saw her. Next thing we hear is a shot and we go out to see Naruto with his gun up. Okay?"
"But why would Uzumaki then try and save her?" Neji asked coolly.
"Well he aimed for the stomach, he clearly wasn't aiming to kill, he just didn't want her to get away." Sasuke stirred his coffee before adding, "that okay with everyone?" There was a sea of nods. "Kiba?" Kiba coughed cautiously.
"I suppose it'll have to be."
When Naruto returned, dressed in a more casual get-up of polo shirt and jeans, the first thing he got was a massive hug from Kiba, who held him tightly and whispered 'sorry' into his ear before scuttling off again, running his hands through his hair and muttering to himself. Naruto just passed it off as Tsunade passing her vodka around again, and chuckled at him as he left. But as he walked into the bullpen he couldn't help but feel that something was off. First of all Neji, couldn't make eye contact with him, a feat very unusual for the man who stared the most out of everyone Naruto had ever met, and then there was Sasuke.
Naruto could always tell when Sasuke was upset, it may be best friend's intuition, but for some reason he just knew. It wasn't as if his face betrayed it, it was mostly his actions, how he'd strum his fingers on the desk and tap his foot agitatedly. How he'd peer over the top of his report that he clearly wasn't reading, to glance at Naruto every few seconds, before letting his eye line drop back to the same picture of a leather sofa it was on before. As nice as a leather sofa he was sure it was, Naruto had a feeling that something was wrong with his friends.
"Alright guys, come in," a worn out Itachi announced from the doorway to his office, and Naruto found that no one else was really in any rush to get there. They lagged behind him, letting him enter the office first. Itachi mouthed a quick 'you alright?' to the blonde and got a tired nod in reply. It had been a long day for everyone.
"Take a seat, take a seat," he muttered as he logged out of his laptop, shutting it down to focus fully on the task at hand, "I was aware that this may take a while and got enough chairs brought in for you guys." They sat diligently yet everyone but Naruto tried hardest to get the seats furthest away from Itachi's questioning gaze. Naruto, all full of innocence and justice, sat right at the front, eyes almost drooping shut with exhaustion. He slumped back into the chair and leant his arm on the arm rest, his chin in his palm. He feared he'd be asleep long before the meeting even began.
"Okay, so let's make this quick shall we?" Itachi started, clicking his pen on and scribbling a note down, "someone tell me what happened."
"Well-" Sai started, before Itachi cut him off.
"With all due respect Sai, I'd prefer one of the others to tell me. And no covering for your mates, okay? It'll only end up in you getting fired. Whoever shot the woman will be looked at independently by the board of directors, so there's no saying what will happen. I know of similar cases that have ranged from complete dismissal of the case to a jail term, but let's not get too hasty." He noticed the lack of speaking and called one out to speak. "Naruto, I trust your judgement, tell me what happened." Naruto's eyes blinked open slowly and he sat up a little straighter.
"I was in the car …"
"Sudoku?" Itachi asked.
"Yes … and I heard a shot, so I called for backup …" Naruto paused for a bit and his eyebrows creased, confused. "Then … then Bambi came running out, and so did the guys, and next thing I knew it she was on the floor bleeding... so I went to go help her..."
"Where did Bambi come running from, Squirt?"
"The front door … I think..."
"You liar!" Neji spoke up, setting the pathway for the group's plan. He couldn't look at Naruto's face, it was now or never, and they couldn't go back.
"Yeah, we would have seen her if she came out of the front door," an upset looking Kiba offered.
"So you were near the entrance of the flat then?" Itachi asked, "What exactly were you doing?" His pen poised above the notepad, ready to scribble down whatever they offered. Sasuke spoke up.
"Well we went into the flat, and left Naruto in the car. When we arrived the dealer noticed us and held a gun to his stomach and fired. We then tried to keep him alive; Kiba performed CPR whilst I tried to phone 911 but I couldn't get through." Itachi looked at the phone records in front of him, so far all seemed to be true. "The woman must have escaped from the back exit or something, because we never saw her. Then all of a sudden we hear a gunshot and we rush outside to see what the commotion is about, and Naruto is stood there with his gun up, and the woman is on the floor."
"Is this true?" Itachi asked the others, and they all nodded in response.
"Did you all leave the flat?" Itachi asked as Naruto's face dropped, eyes looking away from his friends absolutely betrayed.
"Itachi, I didn't-" He cut in but Itachi coldly put up a hand to shut him up.
"Yes we did," Sai answered, "It was clear that the dealer was dead so we felt our presence was needed elsewhere." Itachi nodded and scribbled a note down.
"Okay, I have everything I need, you may leave now," Itachi said and they all stood up, nodding at him, the tension falling off their shoulders, "Naruto, stay in your seat. Kiba, shut the door behind you." Itachi couldn't help but notice the helpless looks that the other officers gave a static Naruto as they left the office. Neji's eyes had softened, Sasuke looked the guiltiest, but Kiba looked as if he was going to cry. The only one that kept his poker face was Sai, who was already back to his desk.
Itachi went around the outsides of his glass walled office, pulling the blinds down to stop anyone from looking in, before moving to kneel in front of Naruto. The blonde was devastated, his head hanging limp and eyes filling with tears.
"Itachi, I didn't-"
"I know you didn't, Squirt," Itachi mothered, "we have CCTV footage, you never even took your gun out of the car with you." He ran a hair through a now sobbing Naruto's hair.
"Why would they..?"
"I don't know Squirt, I don't know." He pulled the younger man into his arms and let him sob there. Itachi couldn't fathom the hurt that he must have been feeling, for three of his best friends to turn on him like that.
Neji looked up from his paperwork to see Kiba beckoning him into the kitchen again, and noticed that the others were already there. He had hardly stopped thinking about Naruto since they'd sent him to his death an hour ago, and no one had come in or out of Itachi's office in that time. The office was getting tenser every minute and all they could do was watch.
"Do you think it worked?" Sai asked as Neji strolled into the kitchen.
"Yes," was all that Sasuke provided as his eyes remained on the blind covered windows of the office.
"What do you think is happening in there?" Kiba asked timidly, not really wanting to know the answer.
"I presume they're discussing Naruto's punishment."
"But he doesn't deserve one! Am I the only one that feels fucking guilty here?" Kiba whispered ferociously.
"Of course you're not, Kiba," Neji replied coolly, "but what else can we do? Naruto's a big boy, he'll get over it."
"But he'll never forgive us! He'll never want to speak to us!"
None of the others had contemplated the effect that this would have on their relationship with Naruto, and the sudden realisation shocked them to the core.
"He'll forgive us," Sasuke nodded, more trying to convince himself than others.
"As far as I'm convinced you have two options," Itachi posed now that Naruto was calmer, if calmer was the right word. Naruto was pissed, seriously pissed. He looked like he was going to explode any second now, with a steely glare and clenched fists. "Firstly, you could stay here..." He let the idea float in the air for a while.
"No, I'm not fucking staying with them." Naruto's glare shifted to the main office and he shook his head, all of a sudden looking very tired, "Please don't make me stay here."
Itachi smiled comfortingly. "I thought you'd say that, which is why I should really talk to you about a few of the options you could take. Both the CIA and FBI are asking for you, as well as the British intelligence agency, MI6, and various private investigatory services. The world's your oyster, Squirt, what do you want?"
