"Get out!"
It'd been odd lately.
"Oh why don't you just go back to the bar and get drunk as usual, you floozy!"
The neighbors had finally given up with calling for the ANBU every time this happened. The family knew those living around them would never admit that they feared one of the adults would eventually kill the other but it was evident in their actions. Having the sound of two skilled Jōnin screaming at each come through your walls can't be very comforting.
'Perhaps we're the only family like this? I mean I haven't heard of something like this happening here before,' Yukiko huffed as she rolled over on her bed. She'd been holed up in her room for almost two hours while her parents hashed it out. Her twin brother, Yuichi, sat in his own bed across the room; she could see him reading one of those childish adventure books of his. "Ne, Yuichi, do you suppose that they're going to be finished fighting soon? I have to go practice my kunai like Iruka-sensei asked me to."
Yuichi peered at her over his book with his lime green eyes that were just like hers. He shrugged, "I don't think so. If it's that important though then you can just climb out through the window."
There was one window in the room. It was a rather quant room with powder blue paint on the walls that Yuichi and Yukiko had agreed on many years ago. The floor was a dark hardwood with a rectangular violet area rug in the middle. Yukiko had claimed the right side of the room with her bed which was covered in a pink bedspread and simple bookcase that was bogged down with her monstrous non-fiction books.
Yuichi's side of the room wasn't much different besides its slightly messier state. His bed was identical besides the grey sheets and his simple bookcase was filled with his beloved fiction books; he loved the light-hearted humor and adventure. Of course there were some clothes thrown around that made a visible line that separated the sides.
The tan haired Yukiko leveled her twin a look, "Excuse me, but do you remember what happened last time? They completely flipped out. I'm not about to risk that again, I hate having Father yell at me." She winced slightly as the window frame rattled due to the volume of her parents flinging insults increasing. She should be used to it by now since it's been going on since the two of them were born 10 years ago.
Yuichi sat down his book on his lap to give his sister a serious look, "Perhaps if you hadn't been born with our clan's kekkei genkai then they wouldn't care so much." He didn't even flinch at the resounding bang from what sounded like a book assaulting a wall in the room next to them. 'For the love of Kami just stop already,' the dark brunet mentally sighed but nothing more to about his displeasure.
"Yeah," Yukiko attempted to suppress her right eye from twitching but was pretty sure she failed, "I totally wanted this to happen. Good thing the almighty Kami gave me the choice before I popped out of Mother right after you."
Yuichi didn't verbally comment on Yukiko's statement but his amused expression told her everything.
The room shook as a door was slammed (most likely almost sending it off the wall). Whoever was making the racket decided to continue with their noise-making as they stomped down the hallway, past the twin's room, into the living room and out the front door- once again making sure to nearly break the innocent object. The house settled into an eerie silence that the twins didn't dare to disturb. After a couple of minutes rustling could be heard from their parent's bedroom before it moved into the kitchen.
Yukiko sighed as she got up. Making sure to put her book away first, she padded after the noise to inspect the damage. "Mom," Yukiko's voice came out slightly breathy from her relief of seeing it was her mother and not her father, "what happened?"
It was a dumb question.
Every adult in the village and even some teenagers knew of the scandal that was happening in the Miyamoto household.
The twin's mother, Haruka, shared the same tan hair color as the female child. Her gold eyes flickered over to examine Yukiko then flicked back to the drink she was currently making. Luckily pouring the strongest alcohol they had into a cup (even though it's normally put into a shot glass) didn't require too much time. "As you know your father is being a bastard about the divorce. That man insists that I don't deserve anything of ours! He won't even listen to a word the Hokage utters!"
Yukiko watched in one part disgust and one part wonder as her mom downed the half full cup in one go. The older woman didn't even make a face at the strength of the drink; Yukiko's nose scrunched as the stench smacked her in the face. Sometimes she forgot how strong (read: manly) her mom was.
"This isn't even something the Hokage should be concerning himself with!" The older Miyamoto started to pour a second glass, "We must be the first people to do this. I'm sure everyone else that's gotten married was at least smart enough to figure out what sort of piece of shit they were going to wed to beforehand. Kami this just needs to be over." The 40 year old woman downed the second glass just like the first.
"Maybe," Yukiko started to move her mom's new friends away without her noticing, "You guys should just get separate places until this is sorted out."
"Like hell I'll let him have this house and that idiot has his head too far up his ass to even consider getting the hell out."
"It'll work out sooner or later, Mom."
"Well it better be fucking sooner. When that bastard married me he took my last name just because he knew it would help him out in life. Fucking weasel. And- hey what'd you do with my glass and alcohol!?"
Plunk.
Off center slightly.
Plunk.
Hit the completely wrong tree.
Deep breath in- plunk.
Completely off center.
A string of curses flew through the air and Yukiko kicked the ground. The cloud of dust that jumped up floated off quietly as the Miyamoto girl paced. She felt hot from her anger and frustration. Iruka-sensei could instruct her until the cows came home that she needed to practice her kunai throwing, she'd never get better. 'This is hopeless! And my father expects so damn much of me.'
"You're really biting at that. You have to follow through when you throw it or else it gets unbalanced. And it doesn't have the same wrist flick as throwing shuriken." A tired looking Yuichi stepped out of the Miyamoto house and into the backyard. He'd been watching his younger sister attempt to hit the bull's eye for the past hour; kunai weren't exactly her best weapon. 'She gets too caught up in her thoughts and frustrations to really focus on the proper hand motions,' he watched his sister's eyes narrow at him as he smiled.
"Is that so?" Yukiko rolled her shoulders before taking a couple of deep breaths to center herself. This time when she threw she kept her brother's advice in mind.
Plunk.
It didn't hit dead center but it was extremely close.
"Welp," she walked over to collect her weapons from the trees and targets, "that's good enough for me. I'll practice more tomorrow so maybe then you can practice with me."
The dark chocolate haired twin watched his sister in contemplation, "Well I kind of promised Kiba and Shikamaru and Chōji that I'd meet up with them tomorrow." Despite his prior obligations Yuichi didn't want to leave his baby sister in the dust like that. He may come off a sadistic with most people but he's not cold-hearted with his sister. "You come along though and maybe we can practice then."
Yukiko snorted, "Like those guys would want to practice. They're bottom of the class. I'm already held back by them in class I don't really want to have to deal with them outside of class either."
Her brother was going to reply but he was cut off by the sound of the back door once again opening and closing. Yuichi could see his sister's vision traveling over his shoulder. By the way her face became stony he didn't even have to look behind him to know who it was.
"What's going on out here?" Their father's voice was deep and unforgiving; merely the sound of his voice could make a room grow cold. His deep brown eyes studied Yukiko and he frowned, "What? You think you're done training with those kunai already." Shin gave a terse laugh, "Yuichi go inside, I need to train your sister."
Yukiko frowned, "I finished training though."
"Of course you did," Shin was growing slightly angry, "because you did that half-assed training that you're idiot mom insists on doing as well. Luckily I'm here to guide you. Yuichi! I said get inside!"
"I can't even fathom what possessed you to drag me along. They don't even like me." Yukiko frowned deeply and bumped shoulders with her brother. She'd gotten a grand total of 3 hours of sleep last night. Her dark haired father had insisted on training her until the sun peered back over the horizon and the sky turned orange.
Now her brother and she were walking behind the three boys that Yuichi promised to meet up with the other day. Yukiko had been walking alone behind them as she followed them through the Hidden Leaf Village to whatever their destination was for a while. Just recently her brother had drifted back to talk to her.
"It's not that they don't like you, it's the fact that you treat them like they're less than you." Yuichi frowned at his sister's actions towards the people he would consider friends. He knew she didn't really mean to do it, she would just become frustrated in class when Iruka-sensei would have to pause during the middle of a lesson to correct their behavior; when they got home their father always became irate to learn of the fact that his "prodigy" of a daughter wasn't doing as well as she should be. 'All because of that stupid mark on her forehead.'
The tan-haired twin sighed as she nodded her head, "I'll make an effort to not do that so much then."
When they had finally arrived at their destination, Yukiko smiled slightly. It was a beautiful clearing with butterflies dancing through. The sun shined brightly and the grass swayed with the light breeze. The boys had already walked into the center of the clearing but Yukiko wasn't in any sort of rush; she wanted to take in the scenery first.
"So you're telling me that you've never heard of this happening before? What about Kiba's parents?" Yuichi gave Shikamaru a confused look. Kiba's dad wasn't in the picture so surely there must've been another divorce between ninja in the village before. He only looked away from Chōji, Shikamaru, and Kiba for a second to smile at his sister as she settled down next to him. His smile turned into an eye roll when she pulled out one of her boring non-fiction books.
Kiba shook his head as he pet Akamaru, "They never got an official divorce. My dad just kind of upped and left- nothing more than that." Most would think that he'd be uncomfortable talking about this, but he wasn't; his mother, Akamaru, and older sister were all the family he needed. It didn't bother him at all that his coward of a father ran away like that (he couldn't really blame him for that either though, his mother can be quite shit-your-pants scary at times).
"It seems that the idea of ninja divorce is extremely rare." Shikamaru yawned and laid back in the grass, "Think about it. When ninja marry other ninja, typically they marry those that they've worked with on missions and such. And what's a better way to get to know someone than go on life-threatening missions with them and protect each other?" The dark haired boy plucked a piece of grass and twiddled it between his fingers.
"If that's the case then did your parents never go on missions with each other or something?" The plump Akimichi boy spoke between the chips he'd recently shoveled in his mouth. Chōji couldn't fathom the idea of having ninja parents getting a divorce, his parents had always been so loving towards each other. 'It must really suck though. That's probably why Yukiko is usually in such a sour mood; although she seems more laidback outside of class.'
Yuichi went to go answer his friend but his sister started to talk first. 'What is with people doing that to me,' he felt himself deadpan at this.
"Long story short our parents had been dating for a few months, our mom found out she was a few months pregnant so they got hitched to save face." Yukiko looked up slowly from her book once she marked her page, "Of course they never told the story of them like that but I can read between the lines. I get the feeling that it wasn't how my mom pictured things going but I'm sure our father didn't mind; he seems like the type to benefit from marrying up." 'He acts like he's the leader of the clan and not our mom…'
"And having ninja parents getting a divorce is explosive," Yuichi made a face like he ate a lemon, "especially when you have a dad that doesn't want to get kicked away from his master plan."
"Master plan?" Kiba raised an eyebrow at Yuichi then cast a look at the normally rude Yukiko. He supposed he could understand at least a tiny bit why she acted the way she did, and she was always nice to Akamaru so she wasn't too bad. When he, Shikamaru, and Choji finally showed up at the Miyamoto compound this morning he had been honestly slightly annoyed when Yuichi informed them that his sister would be coming as well. However, she hadn't been mean and kept to herself for the most part- at least until now.
This time Yuichi was elated that he was the one that got to tell the story, "Our clan used to be super well known and all of that- the Yamanaka techniques are even based off of our kekkei genkai. Eventually our members became really greedy and self-absorbed, so almost all of them stopped bothering to become ninja and instead became business owners and merchants and such. It was soon after that that our kekkei genkai disappeared from the clan completely. After we were born and it became known that Yukiko had the kekkei genkai, our father made it his mission to 'redeem our clan'. His master plan is to turn Yukiko into the 'model Miyamoto'."
It was quiet for a moment as all of the non-Miyamotos in the circle took in the new found information.
"I wasn't even aware that you guys' family even had a kekkei genkai," Chōji admitted shyly. "I guess Shikamaru and I will have to get Ino to thank you sometime." Chōji couldn't help but use the dry joke; he always felt slightly off in overly serious situations and he didn't want to start his second bag of chips yet to ease his nerves. His eyes widened slightly when Yukiko giggled a little. 'So much for that,' he ignored his warm face as he dug into his second bag of chips.
"That's quite some family you got there," Shikamaru couldn't repress his smirk as the twins gave him a tell-me-about-it look. 'Wow they look scarily similar when they do that. Now I understand why Iruka-sensei sometimes mixes up their names,' Shikamaru studied the two. Yuichi had dark brunet hair that went down to his shoulders and the bangs were always pulled back. Yukiko's tan hair had long bangs in the front that were pinned to the right with two hairpins and a side ponytail that was also on the right. Both of them shared the same grass green eyes and were equally pale. "So that purple mark on your forehead is what shows you have the kekkei genkai, Yukiko-san?"
Yukiko nodded to confirm Shikamaru's question, "Yeah in Miyamoto legend it shows that my third eye is stronger than most."
"I always just thought Yuichi had drawn on your forehead," Kiba barked laughter as Yukiko rolled her eyes playfully. 'Who can blame me? It looks like a purple lime- I guess it does kind of look like an eye now.' When he was younger he'd always daydream about throwing a paper airplane to hit it dead-center. Purple mark that was meant to look like a closed eye that signified her third eye or not, it was still a pretty funny image.
"So," Shikamaru looked away from his cloud watching for a moment, "I assume that your kekkei genkai has to do with the mind of others. You did say that the Yamanaka techniques were based off of it."
The twins shared a glance with each other to see which one would be giving the explanation. One of Yukiko's eyebrows cocked and Yuichi's eyes flickered to his friends in response. A few more moments of eye-talk and they had their answer.
"Actually yeah you're assumption is right," Yukiko leaned to her left to scratch behind Akamaru's ears as he curled up next to Kiba, "It's called the Sleeping Eye- even though it's not an actual dōjutsu. It just refers to the user's third-eye which is used to enter a person's mind as they're sleeping or in a sleep-like state such as being unconscious. From there the user can sift through memories and implant fake ones." Her smiled faltered for a moment, "There were other family techniques that used to be paired with it but the scrolls have long disappeared." 'Greedy criminals selling everything for a quick buck.'
"Wow that sounds impressive," Kiba commented. "Have you ever used on it anyone yet?"
"What do you think?" Yukiko's look was both daring and friendly. She used it before, granted only on her brother since she was the only one she trusted to do that with; she didn't dare attempt to use it on her parents.
Sneaking up on skilled Jōnin usually never went very well and she very much wanted to stay alive right now. Using Sleeping Eye not only meant the victim's mind was open, it meant that her mind was also open to attack. Their kekkei genkai didn't come without consequences of course.
"Ma, remind me not to fall asleep next to you in class anymore," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. It wasn't like she'd find anything interesting in his mind but he still didn't like the idea of someone messing around in there.
"Don't let Iruka-sensei find out about this, he may just permanently have Yukiko-san sit next to him. Actually this sounds like good blackmail," Kiba started to laugh pretty hard and Akamaru barked happily in agreement.