Just Slightly Criminal

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, and am gaining nothing from writing this.

Written for Perpetual159's I love Men in Uniform Challenge.

The blond haired man sighed heavily and tried to rub the tiredness from his eyes. The touch of his large hands did little to ease the incessant itching that was caused from being on the job too long and yet another breakup with his girl friend. He clambered into his bed and finally fell asleep for once without anyone calling to talk about whatever issue was causing his most recent sweetheart pain.

At twenty, he was one of the youngest cops in the LAPD. Not old enough to drink and still he pressed on in what he loved to do which was stay up late at night and wait for a call. He had started fresh out of high school, and had been given the career speech by his father.

"My father was a cop, I'm a cop, and by golly, you're gonna be a cop." Most children of the extremely headstrong era would be angry about being told what to do, but it was what Naruto Uzumaki loved to do. He still remembered having one of his action figures shooting down his cousin's Barbie dolls for something along the lines of being a hooker. His father smiled and patted him on the back, but his mother fretted over what might become of her son.

Then, a year before, his father had been shot down and the surgeons had tried their best but they could not staunch the bleeding. He and his mother were called in to say their goodbyes and his father, who had always been a proud man of few words, told him how proud he was.

"You're my pride and joy, son, I wish I could see you do what you always wanted and be police chief." Those were the last words his father directed only at him and he told his mother that he loved her.

"I really do love you, Kushina. Just promise that you'll stay out of the way of my boy's dreams and be the mom that I know you are. I'm going to miss you, but help him get through this." His mother had nodded and they both held his hand as his father passed away. Even though that hurt and his heart still ached a little, he attended his fathers funeral and proudly took part in the salute. The other men in the department took the young man in and trusted him with their backs as one of their own.

All of these bittersweet memories flashed through his head in the three hours of sleep he had. Naruto knew why he was so tired, but he didn't want to admit it. Every other week he would have a new lady, but after every week he would dump her or she would dump him because he refused to sleep with her. Yes, it was extremely difficult to be a cop at so young and having been told that if he slept with a girl out of wedlock, and his mother found out, he would be castrated.

Most people would say that it was silly to think that his mother who lived on the other side of town would find out if he slept with a girl, but he knew she would. He still had no idea how she found out he had stolen the cookie crumb from the jar.

Suddenly, his entire body tingled and he woke with a start, his uniform rustled when he sat up. It took him a moment to figure out that the tingling was coming from his pager.

'Lockdown in the mall on 7th and 10th street. A good number of people still inside. No hostages, one fatality.' He stood quickly but shakily and raced out of his house still completely dressed. Hopping into the black gray-striped Shelby Mustang that he and his father had fixed up together, he raced down the road with his police lights on. The police lights were courtesy of his father who himself had been on a few midnight calls. His father believed in always being prepared, and always being in style so the car was completely retrofitted for a nighttime emergency.

Downing his 2nd energy drink, he tried to focus on the rain slicked road that shined with all of the colors of LA. There had already been a few robberies with the holidays upon everyone, and since Christmas Eve was over and the actual day had begun, he assumed that the local psychopaths felt like making their heist "memorable." The siren blared as he raced down that street watching cars pull out of his way and a few trying to get those few inches of extra road they could. He could tell he was tired because the cars looked like they had faces.

The mall was lit up with police lights and a helicopter hovered over. The local news networks were fighting for airspace not understanding that lives were on the line. One thing that made Naruto an incredibly good cop was that he could easily understand the degree of importance in a crime scene. The officers on scene instantly recognized the car pulling in and visibly relaxed feeling a bit of safety appear with the sunshine hair and radiant blue eyes.

Naruto struggled out of the car and snorted at the (comical under other circumstances) situation of why he had a hard time getting out of his car. Being so young, his body had recently finished the last stages of puberty and for some strange reason, the broadening of his shoulders was the last thing to happen. Therefore, the uniform he wore had become slightly too tight across his chest area and upper bicep region. Yes, he definitely needed a new uniform.

One of the older police officers debriefed Naruto on the situation. "We have at least twenty people inside who were kept after closing time. None of them were able to call 911 until a good two hours after closing time. Then Jane Doe, we couldn't get a name, was shot and killed by one of the suspects." Naruto sighed and shook his head. A death was always a sad thing, and some unfortunate police officer would have to tell the family of the victim. But business was business and every second counted, so he prepared his question.

"Has someone been sent in?" The soon-to-be retired man nodded and answered seriously.

"Yes, a few of the unit are inside trying to locate the suspects. It is a very big mall and twenty people can easily scatter." Just then, a girl appeared running out from the front doorway setting off alarms. Another girl followed her closely and they both collapsed into the arms of waiting medics who wrapped them in blankets and carried them away.

"Okay, now there are seventeen people and the chance of each one of them living is rapidly dropping." Naruto closed his eyes and thought his mind working like an engine and thoughts racing through his mind. His thinking was interrupted by a shot coming from inside the silent, looming building. A radio call was emitted eerily from the inside.

"False alarm, suspect has taken a hostage." Then another shot.

"Suspect down, hostage safe but shaken-AAAHHH!" Another gunshot and a high pitched scream mixed in the background. The officer still had his hand on the radio however, and a course voice floated out.

"Come back here, pretty little girl!" Then the transmitter was cut off. All the unit had fallen silent and Naruto exhaled. Heavy air accentuated the agony of the possibility that one of their own was down. The police chief shouted out orders.

"Get S.W.A.T. in here we have a possible…"

"NO!" Everyone turned to the rookie who just happened to be Naruto.

"With all do respect sir, if we send in S.W.A.T. the suspects will panic and kill everyone they can."

"And on what grounds are you holding this claim, Rookie." Naruto bowed his head and a serious but childlike expression saturated his face. He looked up again with the same expression on his face.

"It happened the night my father died, Sir." The Police Chief looked taken aback.

"Alright Rookie, but anything goes wrong, it's on you." Naruto nodded.

"One more thing, Sir." The Chief nodded.

"I want permission to enter the building, Sir." Another strange look came over the Chief's face. It resembled a slight grin of recognition and pride.

"Permission granted." Naruto grabbed his gun and jogged to the building entering through the newly opened door. Seconds later gun fire was heard and the officers panicked, hoping their youngest, affectionately dubbed Rookie wasn't hurt. Naruto appeared again dragging a large man who was clutching his knee in pain. The blond officer placed him against the wall, turned to the unit and smugly tipped his hat before going back in. The entire unit burst into much needed laughter.

After his little show, Naruto carefully snuck into the nearest store after scouting the area. He raced to the far back and hid among clothes. He listened carefully and waited for something to happen. When nothing occurred, he left the store, firearm still drawn and preceded through the mall, store by store.

Hinata had no idea how she had ended up in that store hiding. Everything had happened so fast and the events were so frightening, she was just too tired to try to think. Her friends had brought her to the mall to celebrate her seventeenth birthday which was two days away. Then, after almost everyone had left, a crazy gunman and a few others entered and flashed their guns. Store owners and clerks escaped through the back doors and most of the customers had escaped, but Hinata, her friends and a few strangers were locked inside by the self locking system. Then the frightening gun people spread out and each took a section of the grand entrances to keep the people inside. Hinata had been in a store alone with one other lady when a large burly man walked in. He looked at the girl and then to the woman next to her. He raised his gun and shot the woman who was holding her cell phone to call 911. Hinata screamed when she saw blood splatter onto her clothes.

The man then turned to Hinata and smiled a crooked smile. "Your lucky you're so pretty, I could've killed you too. Now why don't you come with me and I'll keep you safe." Hinata panicked and jumped into a clothes rack. She traveled through it as fast as she could. Somehow, the colorful clothes had bought her enough time to run out and away, but the man followed her. Just as she was about to get away, another much skinnier and taller man grabbed her. She began to struggle and then heard another gunshot. The man holding her crumpled. All of the terrifying death surrounding her made her want to vomit.

When she saw who had shot the man she was relieved. It was a man in a LAPD uniform. He looked a little elderly but still bright. She wanted to cry for joy, and the man said something into his radio. Suddenly another shot rang out and Hinata screamed again. The man who followed her before had found her again, and the metallic smell of blood once again penetrated her olfactory senses. She ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the man and took a turn onto another branch of the mall. She was so scared that her heart felt like that of the bird she had once held in the palm of her hand. She raced into one of the darkest stores and curled into a ball in the back. Watching the front and waiting.

Naruto had searched most of the mall and had already taken out three men including the first. He understood there was a total of eight men and that another officer had taken down one man before he was shot. Naruto had found that man and dragged him outside. He was lucky in a sense that he had only been shot in his leg. The young man was walking slowly through a different branch of the mall, observing every bit of movement. Five other captives had already been evacuated, leaving twelve people. Just then he found three more people hiding in a children's store behind the clerk desk. He called on his radio for someone to open the door and waited as the trio was taken outside. Naruto couldn't help but feel an inkling of despair as the door was locked again for the lockdown to continue.

Continuing down the lavishly decorated halls, Naruto passed a few of the darkest stores he had seen. He passed them wearily, hoping that no one came out shooting at him. He made it past the stores but suddenly saw the other four suspects herding up eleven of the captives. The young officer ducked and raced into a darkened emergency exit hall, only then did he allow himself to think. He carefully recounted the hostages and stopped with surprise.

'Weren't there twelve people left?" Naruto hadn't heard about another person escaping. At that moment, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. His hand acted on instinct and he raised his gun right at the person who tugged on his sleeve. He found a young girl who looked no older than seventeen. She looked at the barrel horrified and then burst into tears. He clamped a hand over her mouth and hugged her to him to try to comfort her. Naruto didn't understand why he hugged the petite teenager, he just knew that he had to comfort her. She stopped shuddering after a while and he let her go.

"Are you okay?" The girl looked at him with frightened doe eyes. Her eyes almost glowed through the darkness as they were colored an opal like violet. Her eyelashes were long and when she blinked her eyes flickered visibly. He took in all of the information within seconds and realized he liked looking at this girl. She was very lovely. She shook her head.

"I am v-very scared." If it hadn't been for the situation, Naruto probably would have burst into laughter. Never before had he met such an honest person.

"Well, I'm sorry about that. I would get you out right now, but if I open the doors alarms will go off." She looked down sadly and bit her lip. At that moment Naruto knew he would try to get her out even if it meant giving away his position.

"I'll get you out, just give me a second." He slowly lifted his radio to his mouth with her lilac eyes following his movement. Before he could press the button, the girls hand grabbed his.

"It's okay, I will d-do whatever it t-takes to help. They have m-my friends." His hand dropped slowly back to his side and Hinata felt relief. Hinata understood that if he got her out and the alarms went off, the police officer could be shot and she really didn't want that to happen. He was one of the most beautiful people she had ever seen and he made her blush, so she figured if he got hurt, that would make her sad. Hinata's heart throbbed painfully. She had already seen too much death. Naruto was astounded at the bravery the girl displayed.

"Do you trust me?" Hinata looked at his blue eyes with her piercing lilac ones and nodded. "Okay, I'm going to take down as many of them as I can and you have to get your friends and the others out." She nodded. With that he leaned out of his hiding place and fired. He turned back to see violet tinted eyes staring back widely and she covered her ears with her hands. A tear escaped her eyes and his heart tightened painfully. But turned and fired at two people left behind. With a flick of his hand, he signaled to her to run out. He followed close behind her helping to get the people loose.

Three of the people smiled when they saw Hinata and shouted out to her. "Hinata! We're so glad to see you we thought for sure you got shot." With that the girls burst into tears and hugged their friend.

'So her name is Hinata.' Naruto looked at the happy reunion end as Hinata ushered her friends out of the building. Naruto looked around at the people who were shot. Hinata came back and walked slowly towards him. He smiled at her and she smiled shyly back, but within an instant the smile dropped off his face.

"Weren't there four men."

"Why, yes there were, and I would be the fourth." The burly man from before walked into the light. Naruto pulled his gun out and lifted it to face the man.

"Sweetheart, I told you not to run, now I have no choice but to kill you." Naruto looked at the man and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He had made a very rookie mistake. "Ha-ha, you're more idiotic than you look!" The man in turn raised his gun as well, but not at Naruto. The barrel rose and pointed at Hinata. She stood there holding completely still, and tears poured down her face. Naruto took a second to react and instinctively threw himself at Hinata. In the process, the shoulders of his uniform tore off. Hinata flew to the side, her hair and scarf flying everywhere. Two gunshots sounded and the two were on the floor. Hinata sat up shakily and scrambled over to Naruto. He sat up clutching his left bicep and wincing.

"Oh my G-god, are you okay?" Naruto looked ahead of him and smiled at his partner who was shakily holding a gun. Then he turned to Hinata and smiled even brighter.

"Yup, I'm fine it just grazed me." Hinata's tear stained face lit up and she hugged Naruto.

"Thank you sooo much, you saved m-my life."

"All in a days work, you know, I am a Police Officer." He replied smugly. She leaned back and stood to help him up.

Outside, Hinata was given a blanket and a cup of coffee. She walked over slowly to Naruto who had a white t-shirt on and a blood soaked bandage on his bicep. She stared wide-eyed at the bandage.

"I thought y-you said it was only a graze." Naruto chuckled.

"It is. You, are just scared of blood." Hinata's glowing eyes narrowed.

"I am not! I want to be a medic when I grow up." Naruto looked taken aback.

"You're not grown up yet?" Hinata shook her head.

"I'm turning seventeen in two days. Today was supposed to be my birthday celebration." She looked down at the cup in her hands and swirled the dark drink.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What a horrible way to spend your birthday celebration." She shrugged and took a drink of the over brewed coffee. Hinata crinkled her nose as she brought the cup from her mouth.

"I don't even know why I'm drinking this. I hate coffee." He laughed at her.

"Well, why don't I treat you to a cup of hot chocolate one of these days? As in a date?" Hinata blushed.

"I don't even know your name."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." He reached out to hug her around the waist. She blushed, but complied.

"Well, Naruto Uzumaki, isn't having a romantic relationship with a minor illegal." She rested her forearms on his shoulders.

"Well, it is only illegal if things get too dirty." Hinata's pale skin turned absolutely crimson.

"Otherwise, it's just slightly criminal." With that he pulled her to him and did something he had been aching to do since he met her. He kissed her.