Naruto's POV
"Nice to see you doing well, soldier."
Shivering under his voice, I spin around roughly so that my hands are pinned along the side of the stranger's face and I stare into icy teal eyes.
Blinking a few times as he shoots me his famous smirk, I take a deep breath and step back.
"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that commander." I say sternly and I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to get rid of the creeping headache that is about to explode inside of my head that is a result of the sudden adrenaline pumping through my body.
And then a fist comes in contact with my cheek, so quickly that I hadn't seen it coming and I fly back onto the rough brick wall of the ally.
My head slams against the brick, and I curse under my breath as the blaring headache ignites. I slump down against the wall, my legs loosing their strength.
"What the hell was that for?" I shout at, rubbing my cheek and glaring at my former commander.
"I've been wanting to do that for a while." Gaara replies coolly, extending his arm to help me up. I'm about to question him, but I realize he probably has a good reason.
Reluctantly, I grip it and he pulls me up.
"Why are you here?" I ask skeptically, staring the redhead in the eyes.
"I'm working." He replies, and steps back.
I immediately notice that he's wearing a police uniform. The badge glistens under the morning light.
"A police officer?" I ask, arching my brow at him.
He nods stiffly.
"Aa, it was a good way to keep myself in shape and help the people of this city. Being a commander in the army taught me a lot about keeping one's honor. And I figured that since I couldn't be in the military anymore, I could at least do something for the people."
I nod at him in some way of understanding.
"Why'd you leave?" I ask, and I immediately notice his jaw clench tightly.
"Injury." He replies, and he taps his leg with his hand. I stare down at his leg and wonder what kind of injury caused him to leave the battlefield.
"Then how can you be a police officer with an injury?" I ask, skeptical of his answer.
"You ask too many question." He replies, and I notice the edge in his voice.
Dropping the topic, I let out a breath and pinch the bridge of my nose.
"Great, now I have a headache thanks to you." I accuse him and he only smirks.
"You shouldn't let your guard down." He replies, turning on his heel and exiting the ally.
I watch him go with a stoic expression before shaking my head and walking out the opposite direction.
Shivering under the cool breeze I curse under my breath as a realization sets in.
My coffee's gone.
The small bell hanging above the door of a familiar coffee shop dings loudly upon my entry. The head of a bubbly blonde lifts upon hearing the sound, and she smiles brightly just like she does every morning.
"Right on time, as always, Naruto." Ino chirps from behind the counter.
I smile warmly at her and place my usual order.
Ever since my encounter with Gaara the other day, two thoughts have been lingering in my head.
Firstly, the fact that he left war by the means of a supposed injury but was still hired as an officer, and secondly the thought of me applying for a job down at the station.
If I'm down there, I can work along side Gaara and try to get the information about what really happened out of him, and it'll help me keep my mind off of…her.
"Naruto?" Ino asks, staring at me with a confused expression while holding out the steaming cup of black coffee.
"Thank you." I reply, taking the cup from her and handing her the money. She arches an eyebrow at me before placing the money in the cash register.
"Something wrong?" She asks, and I shake my head.
She drops the subject and I move out of the way of the people behind me in line and take a seat at one of the tables.
Sipping on my coffee and lost in thought, I don't even realize the blonde seated next to me until she taps me on the shoulder. Out of pure instinct, I place my coffee down and within the next second I grab her wrist tightly and am about to engage in a battle.
And then I realize it's just Ino.
Her blue eyes widen in shock, and her mouth hangs open slightly.
I let go of a breath and relax my grip on her wrist before letting go completely.
"Sorry, you snuck up on me." I apologize, dropping my gaze and taking a sip of my coffee.
Ino blinks rapidly a few times before opening her mouth to speak,
"N-No it's fine, I mean I'm fine. You just looked...off today so I thought maybe you needed company. And that bruise on your cheek looks pretty bad." She explains bluntly, eyeing me closely.
"I'm fine." I reply. She shifts in her seat awkwardly.
I figure that she's just going to leave me, and decide to stop talking to her. But when her bubbly voice hits my ears after a long silence my eyes widen slightly in surprise.
"Where did you learn to do all of those cool moves? You know you kind of reminded me of some kind of superhero in disguise. You know where they act like this normal guy and then they go off and fight danger-"
"Ino, please." I stop her and finally a genuine laugh escapes my lips as I listen to her completely random rambling. It's been a long time since someone got me to laugh, and somehow this quirky little blonde employee just seemed to get it out of me.
It surprises me that I'm still even able to laugh without it being forced.
She smiles as well, satisfied that she got some kind of a laugh out of me.
"Sorry, sorry, but I hate seeing my costumers in a sour mood." She explains, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear before eyeing me with a caring look in her eyes.
I give her a warm smile.
"Thank you, I needed that." I reply, and stand up from my seat.
I feel her eyes on me as I toss the styrofoam cup into the trash.
"You going to tell me how you got that bruise of yours?" She asks as I make my way back to where she's still sitting.
"Doesn't matter." I reply, hoping that she drops the topic.
Fortunately she does. I stand there, staring at her and wondering why she even took the time to talk to me today. We barely know each other, so why the sudden act of kindness?
"Well, I better get going." She says, standing up and ironing out her coffee colored apron.
Smiling up at me, she gives my arm a small squeeze.
"If something's bothering you, you can talk to me okay?" She says, and I nod slowly.
Bidding me goodbye, she rushes past me and I watch as she continues taking orders.
Stepping out of the coffee shop, I take a cab to the station downtown.
Time to get a job and find some answers.
Every muscle in my body is aching. My throat is so dry my voice is barely audible when I muster up the strength to speak.
It's only been a week, and I feel like digging my own grave.
"Is the rookie already feeling like giving up?" One of my bunkmates teases, slapping me playfully on the shoulder.
I give him a cold glare and he only rolls his eyes.
"I'm just teasing. War is exhausting and being so close to the front lines is tough, it's only natural for you to feel like your going to die." He says, smiling.
I grit my teeth.
"I don't feel like dying." I spit, collapsing on the mattress set up in our tent.
"Yeah, yeah just go to sleep already." He says, stepping out of the tent with his rifle in his hands.
My eyes flutter shut and I'm out like a light.
"UP NOW!" A voice snaps me out of my dreams and I shoot up. I notice Gaara rushing out of my tent. Scrambling up, I grab my rifle and step out of the tent to the sound of guns being fired.
Immediately sinking low not to get spotted, I crouch behind a bush and watch the fighting unravel.
From observations, I put together what's going on.
The enemies from the camp we've been spying on have found our location and have ambushed us. They have more men, and seem to be taking advantage of our low numbers. I can't seem to spot Gaara, but it seems that as of right now my best opportunity of staying alive is retreating.
There are just too many of them for us to keep going into a hopeless battle.
I'm about to turn around and head for safety, when the pleas of a familiar voice hit my ears.
"Please, I have a sick brother waiting for me at home, I can't die...I-I promised him that I'd be home. Please." The man pleas, his voice shaking as the enemy comes closer.
I turn around and notice it's my bunkmate who was teasing me earlier.
The enemies face remains unchanged, his expression stoic, and he places the tip of the gun on my comrade's head.
I notice that my teammates leg is bleeding out, and it's keeping him from getting up.
The enemy's finger curls, and he's about to pull the trigger when on pure impulse I raise my gun.
Bang!
The man falls, clutching his bleeding leg. His gun falls on the ground and I waste no time running over to my comrade.
With wide eyes, he looks over at me. Immediately he spills out dozens of thank you's.
"Thank me when you're safe okay?" I say sternly, throwing his arm over my shoulder and raising him up so that he's on his feet. He nods.
I examine his wound from the corner of my eye and notice that it needs medical attention, and fast.
"Can you walk?"
"Y-Yeah." He says, limping as we both make an attempt to get out of the sight of the enemies.
We trudge as fast as we can, and I grab a shot gun from the ground, aiming it at anyone who dares approach us.
We make it out safely, as if by some miracle that none of us got killed, and I place him down so that he's resting against a tree.
"Let me go find commander." I say hastily.
"Thank you, Naruto." He says through a pained smile. I watch as he grunts softly at the displeasure of the pain surging through his injured leg, and notice that he's losing a lot of blood, and fast.
Whipping around to go find Gaara and some first aid kits, I am met by the sound of a shotgun being positioned…
Inches from my nose.
Startled by the object hovering mere inches from my face, I blink in surprise and stand there in shock.
"You think I wouldn't be able to find you?" The enemy says, chuckling darkly.
My blood freezes.
"I don't let my enemies live." The man says, the words like poison as they reach my ears.
Knowing that reasoning with this madman will get me nowhere, I waste no time and step to the side, grabbing his wrist and snapping it until a crack echoes through the air along with his screams of agony.
I reach into my pocket and grab a smoke bomb.
Throwing it down, the puff of smoke immediately escapes, and I rush back to my barely conscience comrade.
"Come on, we gotta move." I say, picking him up and throwing him over my shoulders. He doesn't protest, and hangs limply, almost lifeless, on my shoulders.
Stumbling a bit from the excessive weight on my body, I manage to run through the widely vegetated forest and not fall face first.
I run as fast as my feet can take me towards the sounds of where I can hear someone barking out orders.
"Where is Uzumaki?!" A voice screams, and I follow it to find myself staring at our commander.
I walk out of the clearing, ready to finally tend to my comrades wounds, when I notice my commander's eyes turn wide with shock. I stare at him confused, until I realize that he's tied up and the men accompanying him are no other than the enemies who raided our own camp.
I fell right into their trap.
"Get out of here!" Gaara barks, but it's too late because I feel something sharp land against my neck, and I fall limply onto the dirt ground.
Before my lids shut, I see my teammate, the one whom I've been carrying on my back, get a gun shoved into his chest and fresh blood erupts from the wounded area.
Then the world turns black.
"You want to become an officer?" A tough looking woman asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she leans back on the swivel chair.
I nod.
"Yes." I reply simply and she adjusts her glasses all the while glaring at me.
"What makes you think you got what it takes?" She asks.
I clear my throat.
"Well, I spent a large amount of time in the military and was dispatched for war. I have my experience in fighting, and have been put into situations where using logic has saved my butt."
"You're going to have to pass a few tests before we can hire you. For all I know you could be lying." She says, pushing a few forms into my hands.
"Fill these out, and I'll bring you to the head of our station. He'll handle things from there." She says, fixing her black-rimmed glasses.
I nod.
"Thank you…" I eye her nametag and smile. "Karin."
"Sure." She replies, sitting back down behind the desk and folding her arms over her chest.
Looking back down at the papers, I begin scribbling down information.
Halfway through my scribbling the redhead speaks up.
"So, why are you looking into being an officer? I figure that after leaving the army you'd want nothing to do with fighting?" She asks bluntly, and her finger is clicking rapidly as she types away on the computer.
"I wasn't planning on it, but being stuck in an office didn't really appeal to me, and the art of fighting has always interested me. At war I lost a lot of comrades, so now I'm going to make up for my mistakes." I reply, and I look up to notice her eyes widen, before nodding.
She doesn't say anything, not like I expected her to.
I place the pen down and hand the papers to her.
"All done."
She takes the papers, and places them in a file.
"Okay, ready to go see him?" She asks, standing up and ironing out her too short skirt.
I nod and follow her.
We stop about halfway down the hall and she motions me to a door that has the sign "Chief" written on it.
"Here it is, good luck." She says giving me a small smile before exiting the main hall and going back to the front desk.
I suck in a deep breath and turn the knob.
He looks up from his desk, and thick onyx eyes pierce into mine.
"Nice to see you again, Uzumaki."
Shoot.
AN: Wow, okay so I got some inspiration from reading all of the reviews from yesterday...so thank you! This chapter was more lengthy, and I'm going to be focusing on Naruto a bit more than Sakura for a few chapters since he's the one going through the most and I want to put him in a good place before putting Sakura back into the story. And trust me it's going to be NaruSaku in the end, so yeah don't forget that! ;)
I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm sure all of you can guess who's the head of the police force. Please leave a review!
Until next chapter, toodles~