Staring at the little blonde bundle clinging to her lower legs, Kangae attempted to slowly wiggle out of her hold and failed. Spectacularly.

Falling back with a huff she stared hard at the ceiling before flexing her lower body. Jesus did this girl have a grip of steel! If she didn't know any better she would think she needed a crow bar just to go use the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Glancing out the window she saw the beginnings of dawn painting the dark blue sky and sighed.

Turning on her side she made her body wiggle like a worm and grabbed for the pillow to her left. Yanking her legs away from Ino's dastardly clutches, she flung the pillow at her before she could fully come to. Watching for any signs of irritation Kangae waited Ino snuggled into the fluffy head rest before giving a nod of accomplishment.

Breathing a sigh of relief when after a few minutes her sister didn't notice anything wrong, Kangae slipped out of the bed and down onto the floor. Landing in a crouch she glanced at Ino's rumpled bed that her sister obviously deserted to come camp out on her mattress, she shook her head in fond exasperation.

As much as she had come to love the girl, it got really hot at night in the fire country and Ino slicking her body gunk all over her body gunk was not helping. Like at all.

Pushing open her door (that her parents thankfully left ajar) she heaved a sigh of relief as a cool rush of hallway air smacked her in her face. Pushing the strawberry locks out of her face she grimaced at the wet slap it made of her scalp.

Absolutely ew.

Resisting the urge to face plant on the perfectly temperatured hard wood floor underneath her bare feet, she pushed open the tatami door leading to the koi pond and mini forest that was their back yard. Trekking along the stone and grass path she sat crossed legged in front of the water and absent-mindedly poked a small finger into the calm liquid.

Feeling a little mouth nip at her hand she giggled and leaned backwards. Watching the black and white fishes circling each other she reluctantly began to reflect on her previous life. Something she would have preferred not to do but she knew eventually she would have to address it, so why not now when she had the alone time?

Before this Kangae had been a circus freak. Yep, she had been raised by a traveling carnival and she had been a roadie, or in more rude terms she had been a carnie.

Found by the ring master prancing through the high tops of trees with a skill a child her age shouldn't have possessed, he decided to keep her. Nobody objected, after all who would give a single thought to a dirty little abandoned romani girl? So she had dusted off her clothes, hitched up her big girl panties, pulled on her leotard and learned from the best.

It hadn't been a life of ease and luxury but it had been hers and she had loved it.

She had been a miscellaneous professional, helping where it was needed within the circus. If they wanted a hand with the knife throwing act, she was pretty good with a sharpened stiletto. Tight rope walking? Psh, she could do back flips on that thing. Trapeze? Well, did anyone even need to ask?

She had worked herself to the bone trying to learn all of those things and she'd be damned before she let them go to waste so she did what was needed.

Kangae wouldn't say that she was exactly loved by her fellow circus natives but she was someone to everyone. She had been a useful part of the circus, they liked her and she had enjoyed her time there.

Besides she had only really become close to one person, a young blond boy with big blue eyes and commanding presence. He called himself a prince and had been an energetic little tyke.

She found him the same way the ringmaster had found her, doing something he had no business doing. So she dragged him before her recruiter and begged him to let the little waif boy join. And he had under one condition, that she keep him out of trouble and in her cabin during shows until he could pull his weight.

Which she had managed to do until one fateful show and honestly, her death had been her fault entirely. She should have been owning up to her promise and watched him. But in her defense she had thought he had given up on his "I want to be independent and stupid!" phase.

After nearly five years of caring for the now ten year old boy, she had taken to teaching him tight rope walking after she had taken over the act. He had been insistent on trying the act by himself but Kangae had put a stop to those thoughts

Or rather, she assumed she had.

One night she had been in the middle of the trapeze when she had caught sight of the boy she had thought she had locked away in her trailer - the sneaky little rat - attempting to walk across the vacant tight rope.

Her heart plummeted and from there everything happened in slow motion. She saw him fall, he screamed, and she moved. The last thing she remembered was his crying face peering down at her as she spiraled through the air and then...nothing. That was until she had woken up here and without Mikhail.

Unclenching the fingers that had begun to dig into her flesh she rubbed at the red crescent moons and looked up at the brightening sky.

She only hoped that little Mikhail was being taken care of by someone in her stead. The ringmaster wasn't so cruel as to toss out a boy who had lost his only sister and potential mother figure so he would most likely put him under Nacrista's care. So yeah, her boy was doing alright in his world.

"Nee-chan..." A sleepy voice called and Kangae turned around to see Ino standing behind her in her night wear. Rubbing one bleary eye the girl who reminded her so much of Mikhail took a seat next to her and leaned close. Her body heat a comfort her shivering body hadn't noticed she wanted.

"I woke up an' you weren't there." She mumbled sleeply. "So I wen' to fin' you and saw you lookin' sad."

Shifting her arms she flung herself around Kangae's shoulders.

"Don't cry." She whimpered scratching at the place closest to her heart. "Every time you cry my chest feels all achy and stuff."

Must be a forming twin link, it would only make sense if she was a telepath and she had a sneaking suspicion that when she was born she took a piece of Ino's soul and used it as the basis for her own. After all, didn't they say that twins were the same spirit only split in two?

"Well," She grinned, touched at her concern and here she thought that she was the worry wart out of the two of them. "I'm fine now that I have my twinnie here."

Ino grunted at the not well liked moniker and Kangae carded a hand through her sunny locks.

"So go to sleep, I know you're tired. Probably been searching for me all over the house." She joked, poking one rounded cheek.

"I haven't," Ino drowsy interrupted with a frown as if Kangae was absolutely insane for suggesting such a thing. "I always know where you are." She said matter of factly.

And then she was asleep and Kangae sighed, pulling the girl into her lap. Tiresome child.

"Always know huh?" She mused with a small smile blossoming on her mirror image face. "I kinda like the sound of that."


Edit: 8/29/15