~Chapter 1: Mission Start~

There was quiet in the streets, everything was peaceful… until a shrill shriek from a small, worn out, red tea kettle arose the inhabitants of a tiny apartment. Grumbling and getting up, a young girl with black hair and cold onyx eyes moved to get the tea.

Her face was completely expressionless.

Her name was Mizuhana Uchiha.

Mizuhana quickly rushed to the kitchen to stop the annoying shriek, and set the kettle lightly onto a pot warmer to avoid making any scratches on the counter.

Only Kami knows how many that counter had received because of her little sister…

She grabbed two cups, one with the kanji for 'water', the other 'fire'. Then, she set about pouring them and stirring in the right sugar cube amounts. Another slightly smaller girl walked in after her. Her hair was long as well, but it was a light chocolate brown. Her eyes were very pale with no pupil.

Her name was Hinohana Hyuuga.

And she was the younger sister.

Mizuhana handed over the cup with 'fire' on it to her little sister, keeping her own tea cup at a close proximity to her face.

"You do know that I could have gotten the tea, Ane-sama." The younger one proclaimed.
Mizuhana settled a minor glare on her complexion as she snarled out,

"Shut it. I was quicker than you."
Bowing her head, Hinohana took the look of an innocent six year old. Or, she simply attempted to, anyway.

"Gomen, Ane-sama…" She spoke in a low voice. Mizuhana stared at her with not a single bit of emotion on her face.

"Hinohana, when was the most recent time that you've trained?" She asked firmly.

"Yesterday. I wasn't available this morning…" The smaller girl answered, shrugging quite nonchalantly at the fact that she was just tired that morning.

"You need to train every single day to become stronger like me," She said, setting down her cup and heading for the door.

"Mizuha—I mean, Ane-sama, wait for me!" Hinohana called after her, looking quite disgruntled at her slipup in honorifics. Mizuhana suddenly stopped, and tilted her head slightly, obviously showing that she was listening to her, while she slipped on her Jounin vest.

"Well, it's not my fault that nobody sees me when I'm at my most powerful!" Hinohana grinned maniacally as thoughts of horrifying and blood-filled scenes rushed through her head, which would be normally life-scarring to others… but beautiful to her. Mizuhana fiercely scowled in her mind, but remained her usual cold and distant self on the outside.

"I thought I had told you to never speak of that, Imouto," She scolded. They both continued towards the door.

"I didn't say a single thing about it, only implied it," She smiled. "There's a big difference!" Hinohana trotted slightly behind her elder sibling. Mizuhana answered quite calmly while she stepped out the door, shutting it behind her.

"There's still no point or reason to bring it up anyway," Mizuhana said, while Hinohana sighed and held her hands up in a simple gesture of her defeat.

"Alright then, I apologize. I won't speak of it again. By the way…" Hinohana started. Mizuhana was inwardly curious, but remained stoic.

"Hn," She replied.

"Can I please go on your mission with you?" Hinohana raised her hands up to form a pleading gesture. Mizuhana threw her a dumbfounded stare, but didn't give an answer to her question. After a few seconds, she turned her head back to the way they'd been walking.

"Helloooooo? Can I please, Ane-sama? Please?" Hinohana waved and shook a hand in front of her sister's face, about ready to shake her shoulder to get back her attention.

"Yes." She seethed out, gripping her younger sister's hand in a tight vice. Then, she slowly lowered it back down forcefully to her side.

"Ow, Ane-sama, that hurts!" Hinohana cried out. Mizuhana released the hand in her grasp quickly, answering.

"Don't touch me, then. You should know by now that I don't like to be handled." Mizuhana started walking back in the direction she was heading in the first place, before her sister had interrupted. Hinohana followed along quickly, much like a lost puppy would.

************************************************************
The rest of the walk to the Hokage's tower was silent. Only a few suspicious glances were shared among the girls, and a choice selection of strange men… but they ran quickly away after Mizuhana flashed them a crimson glare.

Upon arriving, Mizuhana constructed a beeline for Tsunade's office. She stood next to her fellow Jounin teammates, Naruto and Shikamaru. Hinohana, however, lagged behind and entered the room as the mission was finished being explained. Tsunade suddenly glared at the interruption, which she saw as a young kunoichi.

"What the hell is she doing here?" The blonde woman shouted. Hinohana didn't even so much as flinch when the Hokage pointed at her and gave her a piercing glare. Hinohana was quite used to the woman being angry at her.

A lot of people were, these days…

Mizuhana, carefully kept her seething anger under control, and spoke out.

"She's my younger sister—"

"Well, what's she doing here?" Tsunade cut in.
Mizuhana was furious at being interrupted, but she held it in. She then answered as calmly as was possible, for her at the moment.

"She requested to join this mission. I was going to ask for your permission. It's better that she be with me, than causing chaos in the village," Mizuhana explained, with a miniature sigh. Hinohana huffed, pouting. Nobody paid attention to it.
Tsunade nodded. No one had ever liked dealing with Hinohana. She was just… too strange.

"Fine. But, she had better behave!" She shot her last phrase towards Hinohana with a creepily meaningful glare. Hinohana internally yet sadistically laughed at her, but on the outside she nodded and smiled in an innocent way.

"Of course, Hokage-sama!" It didn't fool a single person in the room. Mizuhana bowed very low, and pulled her sister roughly by her wrist from the office, then stopped when they were outside of the doors.

"What in the seven hells do you think that you were doing, coming in late? That mini stunt of yours could have cost this mission!" She said, gripping her little sister's neck tightly, pinning her to the wall as a backboard. Hinohana's eyes bulged out as she struggled and squirmed to get enough oxygen, all the while choking out,

"I'm sorry Ane-sama! It won't happen again, I swear!" Hinohana desperately clung onto the hand clutching her neck, trying to alleviate even a bit of the pressure off of her throat so she could get enough air to pump into her lungs. A new and deeper voice interrupted them, just as Mizuhana's grip tightened.

"Mizuhana, what are you doing?" Strong hands gripped tightly onto her shoulders and spun her quickly around. A blonde, whisker-faced Naruto was staring back into her eyes. She did a double take when she noticed how close they were.

"Mizuhana, are you alright? You kinda… went all pale…" He looked her up and down, with worry evident in his blue eyes. Mizuhana finally pulled herself together, and yanked right away from Naruto's hands that had stayed on her shoulders.

"Don't touch me," Was all she could command. He didn't, however, back away from her, even if he had kept his hands off.

"Your sister looks a little… freaked out about you, now…" He mentioned, while pointing to the short figure trying to make herself as small as possible behind Shikamaru's tall frame. Eyes softening a bit, Mizuhana sighed.

"Gomen, Imoto…" She said, all jumbled up, and then promptly walked away. Hinohana nodded, intentionally mute. Naruto ran up and walked next to Mizuhana, leaving the other two behind. The brown-haired girl sighed, and reluctantly started to walk alongside Shikamaru.

"It's fine. They normally leave me behind before the mission starts, anyway." Shikamaru droned, gesturing to the two walking ahead of them. Hinohana watched her sister in awe, when a smile appeared on her sister's normally detached face. She shook her head, breaking the thought from her mind. However, as she looked back, the smile was simply gone. Was she imagining things?

"—for the mission?"

"…What?" Hinohana asked in a very dumb way.

"I asked if you're ready for the mission." Shikamaru clarified in his usual lazy manner.

"Oh! Yeah… I guess I am… I missed the explanation and directions, so I don't know what it is, in all actuality." She let out a sheepish laugh, and slightly blushed when they all twisted to stare at her. A glare, in Mizuhana's case. Naruto then spoke first.

"We're going to get Sasuke."
He said it with such a small, depressed smile, that Hinohana actually took his answer seriously.

"Oh…" She replied. Shock and apprehension jolted through her in a wave as she glanced at her sister. Mizuhana had her head lowered slightly, and her fists had been clenched. She dug into her hands so hard, a single drop of blood raced through her fingers before dripping to the tile.

"He's… finally given up. We're going to pick him up close to another village." Mizuhana replied. It was an answer to the silent question that her sibling had placed directly upon her face. She declared the "pickup" sound so casual, as if he'd gone on a vacation, NOT been a missing ninja for years. Naruto looked at the older sibling, and the both turned to walk again. Shikamaru then followed shortly, and Hinohana sauntered after. She had had to pull herself from her thoughts before she continued, as they raced across her brain.

They all arrived at the gate in remarkable time, so each of them spent a little time relaxing and chatting, while Shikamaru was on the phone. Naruto wandered off to talk with Mizuhana, who was separated from the group. She was talking to no one, just watching everyone else.

"Hello there!" Naruto exclaimed in a cheerful way.

"Hi, Naruto. Are you prepared to bring back Sasuke-san?" Her voice stayed soft, not kind… only soft.

"Well, yes! Of course I am! When Sakura became such a huge bitch…" His smile slowly sobered. "I was reluctant, then. But then we became Jounin and made new squads, so you made me so sure that I needed to bring him back home!" He grinned when he was finished speaking, while his trademark Uzumaki grin was perfectly in place on his lips.
Mizuhana couldn't help but let out a smiled along with him. There was always something about his aura that made you want to be bright around him. Quickly, she caught herself, and became… a rock, basically. Naruto moved to her side, and draped an arm across her shoulders. Mizuhana flinched, and he reluctantly removed it.

"You know, I'm getting sick of all of our secret dating stuff… I would like to date you in public, and I want you to let me touch you!" He almost shouted. He let his longing and want be shown in his bright blue eyes, the strange emotion looking out of place with his normally cheerful smile.

"I don't like to be touched," She instantly replied.

"Right, I forgot about that for a sec… but, you didn't reply to my first question." He resumed his staring after he spoke until it seemed that he would devour her with only his gaze.

"Well, you're known for a while that Sakura has the hots for you," She stated, while attempting to avoid eye contact.
Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, along with every other person with a dick in Konoha." She sneered at his comment and quickly leaned on him. She then glanced up to see his shock filled blue orbs blinking down at her in surprise from the unusual move. A smirk that only the Uchiha clan could pull off spread across her feminine complexion.

Yeah, all two others of the clan.

"Are you happy now?" Mizuhana asked, while lightly sighing.

"You didn't have to, you know…" Naruto mumbled. Despite the quiet words he gave, his arms snaked around her waist and tightened lightly. She smirked, then playfully asked him,

"Does that mean I can get off?" She immediately started squirming around.
He stilled her strains by gripping her even tighter, and moving his arms up a few inches.

"No way in hells." He said.

"I thought so." She said, snickering. Soon, she began squirming uncomfortably in his hold. He rested his chin atop her head and breathed in her scent, while she resumed moving.
All the while, Hinohana was position 20 freaking feet away, simply staring at them.
Just… staring.
And staring…
And staring…
And sta-

"What in the seven HELLS is going on here?" Hinohana bellowed, stalking over and glowering dangerously at Naruto, a snarl placed on her lips. Mizuhana gaped up at her sister, her eyes wide. Yet again, she tried to be released from Naruto's lap. But, he again held her closer, stopping all efforts for her to escape.

"We're dating." He said. He had stated it as if the whole world knew, and it was old business. And it was, to those two…

"SINCE WHEN?" Hinohana shouted directly in her older sibling's face.
Mizuhana then reached over and plummeted her fist into her sister's face, then forcefully pushed away from Naruto. She sauntered towards the front gate with her arms to her sides, in an effort to calm her now exploding anger.

Hinohana glared daggers at her sister, and Naruto equally. She was holding her face in minimal pain. Naruto quietly said her name, and moved to her side. However, Mizuhana kept trudging away, not sparing anyone a second a second glance. The other followed along in complete silence.
Thus, their mission had begun.
What a great start.