Breathe
Part 1
The water was warm and peaceful as it surrounded my entire being. The whoosh of the passing waves serenaded and lulled me to sleep. For the first time in seventeen years, I could breathe easily. In and out. In… and out. I could almost picture the warm shores beckoning me just beyond the water's horizon. My hair fanned out from my body weightlessly as I drifted along the current. If only nii-chan could also be in this place…
'Nii-chan? Who's that?' My mind dulled as it emptied further. Comfortable darkness enclosed me and echoed with the slowing of my heartbeat. 'Who… am I?'
"Taichou! I found a survivor!" bellowed the masked ANBU. "Oh gods… it's Uchiha Chizu…" The ANBU swiftly busted through the holding cell and carefully began to pick the locks that pinned a frail young woman. He pressed the tips of his fingers against her weakening pulse. Her chest barely moved as the thick mucus had almost completely closed off her lungs, drowning her on dry land.
The leader of the ANBU team raced into the room and slapped a seal on her chest. When it activated, her nose and mouth began to glow blue as oxygen was swiftly diverted from the room and forced into her lungs.
The water swirled violently as I was pulled back from the comfortable darkness. The tunnel of light reappeared as I was dragged through it. My lungs filled with fluid and my body was made of lead. I couldn't stop coughing. I couldn't breathe… I couldn't breathe!
"Shh, imouto. Give it a moment. If the gods intended you to be a fish they would have given you gills…" a distorted voice echoed in my head. A soft gloved hand brushed against my forehead. An old joke...he's always thought he was so funny.
A medic appeared on the scene and tied a tourniquet to the limp upper arm. She shook her head before releasing it and trying the other.
"Taichou, I won't be able to get a line in here. We're far too late. With her pre-existing condition. It's a miracle that she's even able to draw breath at the moment," she started hesitantly before continuing. "The best I can do is give her morphine to ease her passing."
"Your best is not good enough," he replied tersely.
"Sir, you don't understand! She won't even survive the journey back to Konoha! She needs a strong dose of antibiotics, and diuretics. Her liver and heart are completely shot. If she were to stand any chance she would need far more than an emergency oxygen seal! She needs a full sextet seal that can only be done at the hospital. It's far kinder to let her pass comfortably here than in pain on the road!" When the medic looked up, she was alone. The other two members of her team had already left for Konoha.
"Team 4. This is team 2. Come in. Over."
"Team 2. This is team 4. Over," Crackled a familiar voice.
"Baby crane is alive. Repeat. Baby crane is alive. Over."
"...she… survived?" For the first time in his life, the baffled ANBU on the other end broke protocol.
"Hai. Will arrive at your location in 5. Over."
"Copy."
The wind swept through the treetops as ANBU Team Four anxiously waited for Team Two to arrive. The captain of Team Four roughly ran his fingers through his curly hair and placed his hands behind his head. She had told him it was his tell.
It had been over three days since Uchiha Chizu had been kidnapped. Nobody, including him, thought that she would be found alive. For one, she had to take medication every four hours just to keep her disease at bay. Her lungs relied on twice-daily breathing treatments to free themselves from the encroaching fluid. To have been kidnapped...possibly tortured? Even with a brother such as hers who never gave up searching, the odds were certainly against her. An unscrupulous statistician had been overheard in the halls of ANBU. The civilian Uchiha's chances of survival had been less than one percent.
The tip-off had been from a deserter looking for easy cash. All it had taken was less than ten seconds in a room with one of the most feared shinobi in the world for him to deliver the details he had. Overall, this had been the hunt of a desperate and crazed man. But no one ever thought that he behaved normally. Especially when his siblings' lives were on the line.
"I'm going to find tou-chan! And you can't stop me!" The door slammed shut behind me with the force of the wind. I hoped it made him cringe, he always hated loud noises of any kind.
A warm October wind caressed my face as I left home in search of my father. I hadn't made it more than two blocks when my lungs seized on me. I dropped to my six-year-old knees and panted, desperately trying to fill them with oxygen. There was the patter of quickening footsteps before I was scooped up into a pair of familiar arms. The smell of soft cedar embers came through as an oxygen seal was activated.
The comfort of my father's chakra soothed and surrounded my nose and mouth as I breathed in greedy gulps. I didn't know it then, but ever since I was two weeks old, the entire Konoha Military Police Force was required to carry the seals in their first aid kits. Father would take no chances.
"If the gods had intended you to be a fish, they would have given you gills," he joked. My lips turned up in a weak smile as I snuggled into his side. His flak jacket was rough against my cheek. The insignia of 'KMPH Chief' lifted slightly off the green fabric. A thread was loose, tickling the top of my nose. "Where are your brothers, Zu-zu?"
I pointed towards our estate.
"And how did you end up out here by yourself?"
"Itachi cheated during our game. He says he didn't, but he did! He used chakra! It's against the rules." An indignant huff escaped before I could stop it. A coughing attack swiftly followed before my father's chakra increased its pressure on my face.
Itachi increased the amount of chakra going toward the oxygen seal as the corner oximeter fell. 81% oxygen—unacceptable. If he forced any more into the seal, he risked burning it up. Her only hope was in Konoha. His hand was bloodless as his grip tightened on the black wool blanket. It felt as though she were burning—her feverish body no longer had the strength to convulse. Sweat dripped down his chest as he pulled her in closer.
The medics had released new oxygen seals that contained a vital monitoring section. Currently, it was a distraction. He had no need to know that her temperature was 105.2 degrees Fahrenheit (40.7 degrees celsius), that her blood oxygen was hovering between 79 and 81%, and close to permanent vital organ damage. He didn't want to know that her pulse was thready and 181 beats per minute.
She looked like a corpse in his arms. Her cheeks were sunken, dark circles bruised her eyes. Whenever he made the slightest adjustment, her head lolled listlessly. Had she always been this small? He thought vaguely, adjusting her in his arms, kicking off harder on the branches beneath him.
The tunnel reappeared. It was bright and warm. I could hear my grandmother's voice from the other side. The faint clicking of her knitting needles called to me.
"Chizu… Chizu… it's time to come home, little bird. Come home…"
