The silver bar seemed to carry a weight greater than the rank it represented. Perhaps it was the newness of having the rank signifying Lieutenant's insignia but Naruto found himself polishing it again. The station had thrown him a party earlier that evening to celebrate the promotion, but he had to skip out from it as he had to do his patrols. It was now 2 a.m. and his shift was over, despite the urge to return to the station and go to bed he felt that he should treat himself for his accomplishment. Stopping the cruiser in front of the only place in this part of town that was still open at this time of night, the Easy Street Diner, Naruto hesitated for a moment. The folder he had grabbed before leaving the station caught the corner of his eye and nagged at his conscience. He picked it up and put it under his arm as he got up and went inside.

He walked in and sat down at his usual booth, away from the windows. Setting the folder out in front of him he spaced out the reports and photographs of a crime scene from the cold case file he was assigned to work on. The advancement in rank had exited him, his transfer to the Cold Case department less so. He had made a career out of dramatic seizures and busts, looking at case files that 20 other cops had already looked at did not appeal to him. Getting lost in the contents of the folder Naruto didn't even notice that the waitress had already dropped off a cup of coffee at his table. Halfway through the cup and the report, he realized that he hadn't added cream or sugar to the coffee but it was done the way he liked it.

By the time he was finished with the cup he was done looking at the file so he put it back in his folder, as it was now 2:30 he rubbed his eyes to stay awake. Letting out a yawn and stretching his back he laid back in the comfortable seat and waited as the waitress walked over to his booth. Naruto had seen her once or twice before, working the day shifts, a cute waitress named Hinata who seemed to have a quiet but warm attitude.

"I saw that you were pretty well wrapped up in your work earlier, so I didn't want to bother you." Her voice was low and somewhat nervous as though she wasn't sure if she had done the right thing, "Do you want anything Lieutenant?"

"Lieutenant?" Naruto asked.

"The silver bar on your shoulder, that means you're a lieutenant now. Cops come in here so often us waitresses are able to tell ranks apart."

"Of course," Naruto figured that made sense. Scratching his head and letting out a chuckle Naruto asked, "What do you have in the way of a treat for a recently promoted young officer?"

"Well we have a few pies left over from this evening's batch, want to take a look?"

She got up and motioned for him to follow her to the counter. Naruto picked up his folder and hat and grabbed a stool at the front of the store. His eyes feasted upon the coconut cream, the lemon meringue, the dutch apple and the pecan pies. Motioning towards the dutch apple he consumed the slice in as much time as it took for Hinata to serve it.

"I see you're hungry."

"Yeah," Naruto said rather proudly, "missed out on the party the station threw for me earlier today."

"Oh, so you were just promoted today?"

"I never said it was a promotion party."

"No you didn't, but you haven't removed the plastic cover on the bar on your left shoulder. So I assumed it was still brand new."

Slightly embarrassed, Naruto removed the protective cover. Hinata giggled, though she was a grown woman she seemed rather childish. Naruto realized he was no better, as he was blushing, a 22 year old police officer blushing. He coughed and shook his head to regain his mental clarity. Finding Hinata with her elbows on the counter and smiling at him did not help his situation; when he looked at her he saw the same blush come upon her face though, though her composure was regained with slightly more grace than Naruto had managed.

"You seem rather young to be a Lieutenant though. You can't be any older than I am."

"Well some of the old guys on the force are a little mad that I passed them up for this promotion, but I worked hard for it. Joined the force at 18, got involved in a few high profile cases, made detective at 20, over 30 major arrests in narcotics, and now I'm a Lieutenant... elbow deep in cold case files because they're sick of me overshadowing them."

"Perhaps they think you need to take some time off. There's probably a lot of guys on the streets who are after you for what you've done. It could be for your own good."

"Probably. But this is no way to get where I want to go."

"Which is?"

"I want to be Chief of Police." Naruto smiled as the memories came back to him. "My family is from out west. My dad was Police Chief in our little town and he was always trying to make it a safer place for everyone to live. Though there wasn't much crime out in those parts, whenever he did arrest someone he'd up all night talking with them about what they'd done and what they wanted out of life. Out in those parts there wasn't such a thing as a repeat offender."

"And you want to be like your father?"

"Yes, but more than that I wanted to see if his way of helping people could work out here in the big city. Maybe it's just a dream I'm chasing but..."

"There's nothing wrong with chasing dreams!" Hinata shied away after saying that. "I mean to say I came out here to do something as well. I wanted to go to art school and... but after my father died I had to help support my little sister and..."

Naruto could see that she was really struggling with what she was trying to say. He saw her hands shaking with every word she got out, he reached for her hands with his own to steady them. Seeming to get her nerve back he looked in his eyes and said,

"You can't lose courage just because you have a setback. If it's something you want, and you want it bad enough, you'll just have to work all the harder to get it."

Naruto heard those words, but he was lost in her eyes. He never knew blue eyes could be so bright they put the sky to shame. Her grip tightened on his right hand, with his free left hand he cupped her face and brought it towards his own. In a moment that seemed to stretch on for hours he kissed her. As his face backed away her face seemed to run a gambit of reactions.

Seemingly in another world Hinata said, "You taste like apples."

"How did you know how I like my coffee?" Naruto asked while laughing at her comment.

This time it was Hinata who was on the offensive. She grabbed his tie and nearly dragged him over the counter top. The now empty pie plate shattered as it hit the floor. The seemingly shy waitress began kissing him with a heat that caused Naruto's toes to curl in his shoes. When she let him go she coyly said,

"Make Captain, and maybe I'll answer your question."

Naruto sat in awe at this woman and realized that his best detective skills would not even be able to figure her out. As she picked up the shattered pieces of the plate the only thought going through his mind was 'I hope I get promoted to Captain soon.'