The Lost Uzumaki (Kakashi x OC)

Chapter Twenty-five: Resistance

No matter how much she tugged against the wires, it was no use. Mei dug her fingers under the packed soil and damp grass below her, but she had no luck with finding anything sharp. She hissed as the movement tightened the ropes around her wrists, bound behind her back. She rubbed her head against her shoulder to try and loosen the blindfold as well, but still. It was no use.
For 5 days, she has been carried by at least 3 pairs of arms while traveling through territory that smelled like pine, eventually she didn't smell anything. Around day 3 of her capture she recognized the humidity and notes of petrichor on grass. Now, 2 days later, the smell was fading into a warm musk, like stones under a waterfall.
At the moment, she heard a small rush of water, maybe a damn or a small pond.
The Land of Earth?

"Milady, some water." A mature, gravely voice spoke.
She pressed her cracked lips down firmly, nostrils flared. The few droplets that moistened her lips left a bittersweet relief on her dry skin. She's refused all offerings of water and food, even as they offered to test it. "How could I be sure that you didn't switch the food? I'm blindfolded."
A brief silence before the voice spoke again.
"Milady, you have refused food and water for 5 days. You must keep your strength for when we arrive."
She scoffed. "Keeping me alive just to kill me elsewhere? I'm not going to give you the satisfaction."
The man went away, and she heard hushed conversation.
"Nobody told her?" The same voice asked.
A softer, yet more aggressive voice spoke. "I doubt she'll believe us so what's the point?"
"The point is that she doesn't think we're the enemy!" A timid, prepubescent voice answered. "Which she does, obviously."
"If you're not the enemy then why the HELL did you KIDNAP ME?!"
She let out a stifled gasp when fabric was stuffed in her mouth.
"Please don't shout, your grace." A low, velvety voice spoke. She leaned away from his floral scent. "We're near an enemy base, and if we're captured, then we cannot return you home."
He sighed deeply when she proceeded with cussing him out regardless of the gag. "Yuri, tell her."
The softer voice from before huffed and knelt before Mei. She heard a slice of a knife and smelled apples. "I'm going to take off your blindfold. You can try your genjutsu, but I'm telling you now it'd be a waste. Since I'm resistant to them."
Mei's eyes watered as they adjusted to the early afternoon sun. She blinked slowly before observing the thin, straight-haired girl in front of her. She looked like she may be in her early 20's, with a white band that bore a different sigil than Mei had seen before. Instead of stars and a crescent moon, it was a cluster of seven stars surrounding a deep circle with a thin outline around it. Yuri had a thick scar across her right cheek, just under her prominent cheekbones. Her hard, brown eyes stared at Mei with hidden frustration.

"We're from the Kingdom of Memory, but not from Ingyo's army. We're Shinobi of the true kingdom, belonging to your father, King Meiji." She hovered her hand over Mei's gag when she tried to question. "I'm not finished. We've been sent to retrieve you and bring you to our leader. All he wants is to speak with you. The genjustu we put on your village was only temporary, to be intact until we brought you back."
Meilani shook her head, huffed out of her nose in an effort to move her frizzy bangs. She glanced at the other 4 squad members; two teenagers with black hair and glasses, who looked like they could be twins. A taller male close to Mei's age, with an athletic build and long black hair. And in the rocky landscape beside them was an older man with greyish hair peppering his straight black tresses. They all wore similar bands as Yuri's on their foreheads.
After the gag was removed, she moved her aching jaw around before speaking. "I call bullshit. Why didn't you just go the Hokage? If you explained who you were and asked for help, she'd have been open to hear your side." Mei's gulped in an effort to soothe her scratchy voice. "Probably less so now, since you put the whole damn village under genjustu. Pretty fucking dramatic, by the way."
The man close to Mei's age chuckled, cutting a chunk off of his green apple he had been peeling.
"The Princess has a potty mouth."