Ties That Bind

An Uzumaki Mission

This was not the first recovery mission Mito Uzumaki had been on. And being the sensory type that he was, it wasn't likely to be his last.

This was not, Mito thought with determination, the last time he would be sent after his sisters team when something inevitably went wrong. Because this was Inabi he was thinking about, and as long as Inabi Uzumaki was breathing she was making trouble.

Mito was forced to stand second in the single-file line – the captain in the front and his two teammate bringing up the rear – and even though he ached to push on faster, the man before him insisted on a slower, steady pace. Just because he knew this was so that they wouldn't miss anything important didn't make it any easier, and it didn't stop his legs from itching to go quicker. He had to force himself to slow down, if only to make sure that he didn't miss any details as they flew through the trees.

They had been sent out five and a half days ago, and according to the briefing given by the Hokage, it wasn't certain whether the team was alive or not. Mito had carefully examined his father's face as he spoke of the possibility of his own child's death. While his eyes had fallen to the folder in his hand, the set of his jaw told the ever-observant Mito that his father hadn't chosen to entertain that thought for more than a second.

The team had left in a rush to where the team had last been seen, and were scavenging the area for signs of where they may be. This wasn't the farthest away from home that Mito had ever been, but it was for Inabi. The land around him looked more foreign than Mito had ever seen, and while the trees around them were full of long, thin and sinewy branches, the leaves had long since fallen to the ground and the air felt cold and heavy.

This had to be a terrifying place for Inabi to be lost in, Mito thought sadly after he miscalculated a branch in front of him and it snapped, leaving him to reflexively grab another branch to keep from falling. This was nothing like home.

And so, taking a page from his fathers book, Mito kept his mind focused solely on the mission at hand. His lanky form rushed through the trees after his captain and his determined blue eyes scanned the ground around them for any sign of a struggle.

They had only been traveling for another hour or so before his captain abruptly stopped high up in the trees and gave Mito and his teammate a signal to stop as well. Now that he was no longer right behind the first in line, Mito could make out the scene before him. It felt like he had just stepped right out of the tree and was falling to the ground.

Four bodies lay strewn around the makeshift clearing, and he saw an arm and leg sticking out from under a fallen tree. Mito quickly took in all the details of the fallen ninja, looking for the small body or dirty blonde hair of his little sister. One of the ninja bearing a Mist headband had blonde hair, but it was grown out long, and the woman's figure was obviously far more developed than Inabi's wiry and cat-like frame.

Seven bodies total – four leaf and three Mist ninja – and Inabi was nowhere to be found.

"Hey," one of Mito's teammates called out, motioning with his nose to the forest and scratching the famous red Inuzuka fang on his cheek. "A leaf ninja went this way."

"Which one?" Mito was by the Inuzuka's side in a flash, searching the forest for any signs that enemy ninja had followed them. He took an experimental whiff of the air, but it smelt like forest, blood, and sweat – there was no distinction between which person the blood or sweat belonged to.

"Berries, green tea leaves, and milk. Smells like you," his teammate commented lightly in that odd, short way he did. Had it been anyone but his teammate – who he had personally seen track a single person for miles with only smell to go on – he wouldn't have believed him. But this was an Inuzuka, and one that had an exceptional nose to boot.

But he couldn't rush off without an order, and looked quickly over to his captain who was inspecting one of the Leaf jounin that had been purposefully propped up against a tree. Mito briefly recognized the man as Inabi's team captain.

"Go," the captain said quickly, his eyes never leaving the man before him. Mito nodded to his captain and then thankfully to his teammate. The Inuzuka brushed it off and went to stand beside the fourth ninja on their team, but Mito didn't care to wait around any longer. He jumped high up into the trees and headed north.

He scanned the bushes underneath him as he ran, looking for a head of short blonde hair or a bright red scarf. The path he was following had to have been made by an injured ninja, and Mito was caught between fear and joy. He didn't have to be an Inuzuka to smell the blood that seemed to follow her: she was alive, but obviously injured. The thick, lower branches underneath him had been pushed aside hastily, but then again, Inabi was never one to cover her tracks with care and precision.

Mito's entire body stopped when he heard a thud. It was coming from straight ahead, and he stealthily moved through the trees until he spotted her sprawled out on the ground. He moved in closer but approached like he would a startled animal.

Inabi growled out a curse that pulled the edges of Mito's mouth into a smile. There was no mistaking the loud-mouth before him. She pushed herself onto her knees and then stood on wobbly legs, clutching a tattered leather bag with at least two blood-smeared hand prints on them.

Inabi looked so much older than she was right then, with her eyes puffy and her skin flecked with red and cuts. She had even pulled her hair up for the mission, but half of it had fallen out of it's hold and stood in a chaotic mess around her head. It reminded Mito of when she was much younger and had given herself a haircut that turned into a ratty mess, but her face had lost the baby fat and her expression wasn't one of someone who was safe and at home.

She was on edge, and even though it looked like she had gone through hell she was still carefully scanning the area before her. He could tell when she had sensed he was there; her muscle stiffened even though she otherwise appeared calm and she slowly came to a stop.

That bag, the entire reason that the rest of her team was dead and why they were still in danger just by having it in their possession, was held tightly against her chest.

Mito dropped to the ground soundlessly before her, taking in her appearance now that he could see her face clearly. But the hardened expression of a shinobi in battle didn't fade or change. She was looking at him as she would an enemy.

"'Nabi?" Mito asked, opting for his childish nickname of her. In a flash, fears that he had been trying to damper flared up. His baby sister had been on a mission that was far above her abilities. Physically, he could see that she was standing before him, but mentally he had no idea where she was.

Apparently he had taken a step closer, because her unusually light blue eyes narrowed and she took one back to keep the distance between them.

"We're here to help, Inabi. Dad sent my team and I out five days ago to take you home." As much as Mito wanted to grab her by the shoulders and force her to recognize that he was there to help, the analytical part of his mind knew that doing that would only make things worse.

"I am going home," she said defiantly, her voice hoarse and small, and that damned bag was still held against her chest protectively.

"We can take you there faster," Mito said, but when Inabi's expression didn't relax he realized she still saw this as the battlefield, and he was just another ninja trying to take what she had promised to protect. "You do know who I am, don't you?"

Mito slowly lifted the sleeve of his left arm and held it out for her to see the bright red tattoo swirled on his inner forearm. Inabi's eyes flickered to it briefly but were fixed on his face seconds later. It didn't seem to have any meaning to her, which made it that much harder to mask his worry. Did she not know that she had that very same tattoo on her own arm?

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously again. "Mito."

"You don't believe me." He lowered the sleeve of his shirt and hid his disappointment. It wasn't a question; he knew she didn't believe that he was actually standing before him.

"No, I don't," she answered sharply, glancing back north as if to calculate how far she could get if she tried to outrun him.

Not far, Mito concluded, eyes scanning over the deeper cuts on her bare arms and deciding that getting antibacterial medicine on them sooner rather than later would stop anymore infection from setting in.

"Inabi, come on. I need to get those fixed before we can head back." Mito took a step forward, but Inabi hastily took several back. She wasn't walking right, that much he could tell from the way her left foot was angled inward and her weight was centered on her right leg. That was another thing he had come to expect from her; she was only getting better and better at masking pain with sheer determination if it meant keeping up her tough front.

"We don't have time to stand out here and argue about this," Mito said, his voice softening as he went through all the possible scenarios and which one would play out in Inabi's favor. "You need to get to a hospital, and the more you have that with you the more danger you're in." He pointed to the bag and Inabi visibly flinched. But her shoulders didn't slump in defeat and her suspicious gaze never wavered from his face. She wasn't going to back down from this.

"Promise you won't be mad," Mito said, sensing the glimmer of recognition in Inabi's face for a split second before it was forced away. He had said those exact words to her on only a few occasions, and only when absolutely necessary.

Mito's hands came up to form several hand seals, and even though Inabi took several steps back to get away she wasn't quick enough. Once the genjutsu had set in Inabi's grasp on the bag loosened and it fell to the ground at her feet. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed and the hardened expression relaxed. Mito leaped forward, no longer worried about frightening her now that she was in a genjutsu that mimicked a peaceful sleep. He caught her before her knees even began to buckle and quickly threw the leather bag over his shoulder.

Five days was going to be a long time to keep Inabi under, especially if her subconscious caught onto him and began to fight back. But the weight of Inabi's health, the leather bag, and the entire mission seemed to shift from his little sister's shoulders to his own once her entire body went limp.

Mito leaped into the trees and raced back to the original makeshift clearing they had walked in on, the scroll securely in the bag over his shoulder and his sister held carefully in his arms.

. . .

Author's Note:

I feel like it's a tradition for the ninja of Konoha to go on a mission and have it turn out to be way over their heads. I'm starting with Inabi and Mito because they were the first characters that I created for this, and I honestly find Inabi to be the most fun to write about. You'll see in the next chapter, when her character comes out a little more (because in this she's obviously out of it).

Anyone else want to hear the story of Inabi giving herself a haircut? How about the swirls on their inner arms? They're coming up!