Ino was furious with those disrespectful boys and horrified that they wouldn't even look at her when she introduced herself! Ino had to repeat herself numerous times when she told the boys her name and tried to say hello. Shikamaru and Choji did nothing but continue their own little conversation before finally giving her a brief spout of attention only to ask why she was standing there and being so annoying. She had more tact then to start yelling and crying over their mean behaviour so all she could do was flash her signature smile, however fake it was, and walk calmly out of the room to her twin by the door frame followed by a faint remark of 'finally'.

"Ino?"

Kasumi had been leaning against the doorframe deep in thought and waiting for Ino to come and get her after she was finished with the initial introductions but was confused when said sister walked straight past her, grabbing her hand along the way, before stopping them both in a hallway not too far from the room.

"I hate them,"

"You never hate people. You didn't even hate Sayuri when she was being mean to you,"

"Yes, but I hate them,"

"Okay…"

"I'm going to get them back!"

"Um…"
"They haven't seen you yet and they didn't even look at me so we can trick them with our twinness!"

"That-"

"What we will do is you will go back into the room and do your tricky talking to get them mad and scare them into coming out of the room. Then I will be waiting with the adults and I will scare them just by being there and they will think that I am you and you have some evil power or something!"

This conversation between the Yamanaka twins was going nowhere and Kasumi knew this, but at the moment she wasn't in the right mind to do anything. It took most of her effort just to try to talk some common sense into her blonde twin.

"Should you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you just being as bad as them?"

"Isn't it the same as what you did to Sayuri?"

It didn't matter that Kasumi stood in silence because Ino turned her back on the brunette and started mumbling under her breath, something to do with a 'know-it-all'. She wouldn't understand. It was different. It was to protect someone else. Ino isn't that mature though. She didn't even notice that Kasumi had disappeared back down the hallway.


The younger twin went back down the hallway to the door across from where the parents were. Kasumi once again occupied the space by the doorframe of the room where the two boys still sat together. It was easy to tell which was the Nara and which was the Akimichi as the resemblance between these children and the men with the Yamanaka clan head was clear to see. The room appeared to be a child's bedroom, most likely the Akimichi's, with a single bed up against the far wall a dresser and shelves occupying another wall. The last two walls had a window on one and a door on the other with toys strewn across the floor and a Yamanaka observing from the doorway. The Akimichi, Choji, was the chubby one sitting up on the rug in the middle of the room with light brown spiky hair and an expression the exclaimed deep concentration with his eyes undiscernible because of the slits caused by his eyelids and a near pout like expression on his face. This boy had red swirls on his cheeks which marked him as the Akimichi child as the Nara clan was not known for their facial markings, which meant that the Nara, Shikamaru, was the one lying down on the rug next to Choji with his back to the door. The only observations that could be made were that his black hair was in a spiky ponytail and he appeared to be asleep by the slow rise and fall of his sides.

It seemed that neither boy had yet to notice her presence and Kasumi didn't want to disturb them, they would have enough of that from Ino once she came up with her 'revenge plan'. With that simple thought and a want to not cause any more trouble today, Kasumi made her way back to where the three adults would be talking. She completely missed the two stares she got as she turned her back to the boys.


"Dad,"

Inoichi turned at the sound of a young girl's voice to see his youngest daughter standing just inside the room. From the open door behind her he could see that the door directly across the hallway, the door to Choji's room, was closed. Ino always had a habit of leaving the door to the room she was in open so that she could identify anyone who walked past and talk to them if she wanted. Where was the blonde Yamanaka?

"What is it Kasumi?"

The small child looked even smaller when she hunched her shoulders and stared at the floor.

"Can I stay with you?"

Inoichi knew better then to show his surprised and confused expression in front of his comrades, he would never hear the end of it about the interrogator not having a poker face, but this was very unusual behaviour from his youngest child as she was always Ino's shadow. Kasumi's behaviour had been very strange all morning but now wasn't the time to sort it out. Maybe she was just in a funny mood? Her mother had that problem sometimes.

"Sure,"

All that was needed to accompany the confirmation was a small smile to earn one from the brunette child, even if it was somewhat reserved and uncertain. Kasumi was considerably more shy without her twin to take charge and so all Kasumi did was go to her father, climb into his lap and within a few minutes was resting comfortably against her father's chest and losing some of the tension she had unwillingly gained within the past hour of the morning. Inoichi was more than happy to hold his little girl close and help her in whatever way possible. Chouza and Shikaku didn't make any comments and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. They understood the desire to protect children from all physical, mental and emotional pain. The three clan heads may not know what was causing the pain, but it was obvious that at the moment all little, delicate-looking Kasumi Yamanaka needed was comfort.


An hour had passed since Kasumi decided to abandon her currently annoying sister and take refuge with her father until both herself and her blonde twin calmed down. Ino had at some point once again joined the two unresponsive boys while Kasumi rested and there had been no noise from the room to indicate any trouble. The three adults had also decided during this time to venture outside and sit on the back porch, with Inoichi carrying his unconscious daughter gently as not to interrupt her rest. The clan heads had decided to enjoy the nice weather and sunshine while competing in a few games of shoji. Fortunately for Inoichi, having his daughter in his arms was a good excuse to not have to play and get utterly defeated by the Nara genius and instead just watch that privilege get handed to Chouza.

"Not even once!"

"No,"

"Can't I win just once?"

"No,"

Both Inoichi and Shikaku responded animatedly to Chouza's whining, which had begun at his tenth defeat about half an hour before hand and had continued and increased in intensity with every inevitable defeat afterwards.

"Has either of us every won against you Shikaku?"

"No,"

The Akimichi heaved a large sigh, as he had many times that day, before reverting back to his usually cheerful disposition and challenging the Nara to another game with grand boast of finally breaking his invincible winning streak.

A few minutes into this new game of shogi, Kasumi groggily woke up and stared blankly at her surroundings for a few seconds before she recalled the day and recognised her smiling father. Inoichi quickly lifted a finger to his lips as he saw the brown haired, blue eyed Yamanaka child begin to speak and once he had her nod of understanding he then pointed to the game unfolding before them, previously unnoticed by Kasumi. Kasumi attempted to wriggle silently so that she could have a better look at this new concept before her and with her back now to her father, Inoichi smiled fondly and watched with amusement as his youngest daughter observed the game intently. It wasn't until after a few more game, defeats for Chouza, that the awake child was brought to the attention of the conversation. The normally quiet and unmotivated Shikaku purposefully altered the conversation from the usual one run by Chouza after every game as his head could no longer take the monotony.

"You interested?"

Kasumi straightened slightly at the unusual noise and a small nod from Shikaku confirmed her confused expression as to whether he was addressing her but before she could utter a response the large Akimichi decided to once again take control of the conversation.

"You are awake now! Did you see me almost beat him? It was a close game wasn't it?"

No chance for any type of response before another cascade of comments, exclamations and questions directed towards the Yamanaka child and the entire surroundings.

"Hey! Do you think the other kids are going to come out anytime soon? Should we go get them? Would they be behaving? What do you think?"

An exaggerated shrug.

"Are you interested in the game? Would you much rather stay here? Maybe learn it?"

A hasty nod.

This time before Chouza had an opportunity to speak more he was thankfully interrupted by his son as Ino had dragged Choji and Shikamaru out of the room shortly beforehand. Choji looked at his father, Shikamaru looked tired and Ino looked fidgety and upset.

"What's going on dad?"

"Ah, Choji! How are you kids doing? Are you all getting along?"

"Yeah…"

Choji was making it very obvious that something was going on but for a first meeting it didn't seem to go too badly. The clan heads knew it would take a while for the children to all get along or at least tolerate each other to a larger extent.

"One more game then we have to go back before Yoshino starts nagging me again,"

Being something said by Shikaku meant that there was a meaning behind it and likely not to be to embarrass Chouza in front of his son. It also didn't take more than a few seconds for Inoichi and Chouza to realise what it was that Shikaku was planning. The bonds of a team.

All of the currently standing children went to their respective fathers and proceeded to watch the game with great variance in interest. As before, Kasumi was watching the game with curiosity while Ino seemed extremely bored. Choji was uninterested and was just sitting in his father's lap eating the packet of chips that Chouza had neglected beside him after his fifth loss. Shikamaru was following every move of the game and had an aura of understanding in place of Kasumi's confusion. Even though these children are very young at the moment, these observations could be vital in their relationship later on, and the adults knew this. It was already getting interesting to begin with. After the observations were complete, Shikaku swiftly defeated Chouza and the Yamanakas and Naras said goodbye to their Akimichi hosts before going back onto the streets of Konoha and beginning their journeys home.

Both of their homes were in the same direction from the Akimichi compound and so the adults continued an old conversation while the three children had no idea what to do, what to talk about or, more importantly, who to talk to. Ino and Kasumi still had a little bit of bad blood over their argument earlier and Shikamaru was a Nara so wasn't expected to talk unless he felt it necessary. What happened next was a surprise, even to the adults.

"Thanks,"

Shikamaru earnt the attention of both of the girls standing to his right as they turned to face him, not sure who he was referring to and for what. He also earnt the attention of the adults walking in front of them who simply continued the conversation but in a hardly noticeably quieter volume.

At the inquisitive stares the Nara was annoyed at having to explain himself and so looked directly at the brown haired girl walking farthest away from him.

"You didn't try to wake me up or annoy Choji,"

"So were you asleep or awake?"

"Somewhere in-between,"

The atmosphere around the children, these two at least was not as tense as it was leaving the Akimichi compound but for Ino it only seemed to make things worse, especially when their conversation continued and she was left out of it while physically being between them.

"Are you interested in shogi?"

"It seems interesting but I don't really know anything about it. I mean, I figured a little bit out, but definitely not the rules…or the movement of the pieces…they are different right?"

"Yeah,"

"Do you know if they always play shogi when they get together?"

"If they don't go drinking,"

"Hahaha! Mum probably doesn't know a lot about that,"

"Same with my mum,"

As the conversation progressed, both Kasumi and Shikamaru adopted smiles of varying intensities while Ino started walking further and further behind them as to not get involved in the discussion that she was envious of and clearly being ignored in.

"Maybe I will teach you some day,"

"That would be nice, thanks,"

"Learn what?"

Ino's small patient had finally disappeared thanks to her jealousy and now she was determined not to be ignored by the rude boy and her, temporarily, mean sister.

"Shogi,"

The simultaneous response she received only began to anger Ino as she felt that she was losing her sister, even if she had finally been acknowledged by the Nara.

"Okay, well anyway I promise to teach you sometime,"

"Okay, that's a promise Shikamaru. Thanks!"

Before Ino could make a comment to match her attitude after being forgotten again she was interrupted by the suddenly halted adults.

"Shikamaru,"

Shikaku addressed his son and in doing so earnt the attention, and in Ino's case silence, of the girls.

"We're home. Maybe we will see the Yamanaka girls some other time,"

This was followed by a realisation that the group was indeed in front of the Nara compound and so farewells, with different levels of enthusiasm and sincerity, were exchanged between adults and children alike before Shikamaru and Shikaku disappeared inside and the trio of Yamanakas continued the small distance remaining of their journey home. In silence. With the impending catalyst of change already been and the beginning approaching with each step.


"How was the visit?"

Airi had plenty of time to calm herself down and compose herself after her anger had erupted at her youngest daughter so when the trio returned very few would have guessed that anything had happened, but Inoichi was one of those people.

"Good, it was good to catch up with everyone,"

"I meant about the children,"

"Oh, well they got along and there was no fighting. The girls were very well behaved,"

"Good,"

Even though Airi had composed herself, her clam mask still had cracks in it which became obvious when she was talking, but still not enough to alert her children that anything was wrong, even though Kasumi already knew something was wrong. Inoichi was trying to lighten the mood to further shelter his daughters from a very rare explosion from Airi which seemed inevitable at the current moment.

"Girls! Go get cleaned up and get ready for lunch. Sayuri and Mayumi are coming over shortly afterwards,"

"Yay!"

Instead of the simultaneous responses the sound only came from the blonde haired twin as the brown haired one attempted to put on a smile that didn't seem entirely fake and forced, no matter how true that observation was. Ino's smile became significantly less bright at the silence, Inoichi had an obvious frown while Airi's lips formed a dangerous and sour line. Not being able to bring herself to look at anyone in the room, Kasumi merely left to do as she had been instructed with downcast eyes and slumped shoulders. Kasumi hoped to not anger her mother by following instructions but instead achieved the opposite and sealed a crucial part of her destiny.

Ino looked at both of her parents questionably before hesitantly following after her depressed twin, but not before hearing the beginning of her parents' discussion.