Everything that followed that fateful day got worse and worse. Lunch was silent as it seemed everyone was in a mood with Kasumi still upset, Ino deep in thought about what she had overheard, Airi still angry about one thing or another and Inoichi both confused and concerned. The family seemed to be slowly falling apart over something that was entirely insignificant in the larger scheme of things, but everyone wasn't looking at it this way. Either way Inoichi was eager to hold his family together as it was his duty as father, husband and clan head but with three stubborn females it could prove to be extremely difficult.

After lunch had been eaten and the table cleared, with the noticeable absence of Kasumi helping her mother, their expected guests still hadn't arrived and so Inoichi took this opportunity to try and dissipate the dark cloud hovering over the household.

"When are you two girls going to cut your hair?"

Airi had just finished up in the kitchen and had joined her husband on the couch in the living while the twins sat on the floor playing one of their hand games, that their father had taught them for training, with minimal enthusiasm. This statement achieved another angry expression from the usually composed Yamanaka clan head's wife and confused looks from the girls in question, until Kasumi worked out what it was her father was referring to a few moments later.

"Remember you girls told me the story about meeting Sayuri and said that you would cut your hair short now so that nobody would be able to pull it but it would also grow back by the time you joined the academy,"

"I didn't think they were being serious!"

Airi was clearly angry at this point. There was no way that her children would be breaking tradition over something that had already been resolved.

"Come on Airi, it could be a good idea and it would be long again by the time they went to the academy,"

"But-!"

"Airi. It isn't against tradition until they become ninja, so they don't even have to have it long for the academy,"

"Yes, but their hair is so beautiful! Why would they want it cut?"

"It has been getting rather long and they are still small so it could start getting caught in things. If that happens they would have to have it cut anyway,"

Airi was starting to consider Inoichi's argument but didn't want to relent easily purely because she was well aware that it was originally Kasumi's idea. She couldn't see that Inoichi was trying to bring them back together and instead was being stubborn and only serving to push them further apart.

"I won't be responsible for any consequences,"

All except Ino knew exactly who she was referring to when Airi declared this.


The visit by Sayuri did little to lift the downtrodden spirits of the Yamanaka twins but Airi had the experience and expertise to be the perfect example of composed and was even able to brush off Mayumi's concern and lie about the strange behaviour of her children. After the disappointing play-date and Sayuri and Mayumi left the clan head's household with the promise of 'same time next week' Airi no longer held her calm mask and both Ino and Kasumi had the bright idea of staying well away from their suddenly bipolar mother.

The next few days continued with a similar atmosphere and behaviour within the family, hardly anyone talked to each other, Ino and Kasumi barely ever played with each other, Airi always seemed sour and Inoichi tried to lighten the mood whenever he was home from the interrogation department, which was not as often as he would like. Airi reluctantly took the girls to have their hair cut in this time and then refused to let them leave the house afterwards, still afraid of what the rest of the clan would think after seeing this break of tradition even if it was not technically so. She even postponed the planned visit of Sayuri and Mayumi in order to keep it quiet as long as possible.

During this period of temporary imprisonment Ino and Kasumi started drifting apart. Kasumi was still able to tolerate Ino to a certain degree but instead of trying to talk sense into her twin Kasumi would now just leave the room and the presence of the usually annoying and bossy Ino. Ino started trying to spend more time with her mother while Kasumi turned more towards her books and her thirst for knowledge, no matter how limited her reading capabilities were at the present time. None of this was assisting in the current family relationship predicament. Either way, Airi would have to allow Sayuri and her mother to come back over at some point and it at the commencement of the inevitable day it was clear the wife of the clan head was nervous and slightly distressed.

"Ino! Kasumi!"

"Sayuri!"

Both Airi and Ino were shocked at Kasumi's participation in the recently extinct simultaneous exclamations. Airi ignored it and focused on her greetings towards Mayumi and Ino responded with the return of her blinding smile. Airi found it a lot harder to ignore the next comment, this time from Sayuri.

"You hair is short! Both of you!"

"Yep!"

Ino started showing off her short hair to Sayuri and going on about the hair clip she had gotten after the haircut. She was always going on about how she loved how the clip matched her eyes and with Sayuri around she could say her whole speech all over again. Sayuri was a great friend for Ino as her admiration for the clan head household meant that she thought that the twins could do no wrong, even the haircut was amazing with no exception. Sayuri especially loved Ino because Ino was a leader. Being a naturally shy person; Sayuri was a follower and having a similar personality to Kasumi seemed to drive them apart slightly. This was because Sayuri couldn't comprehend that one fo the twins was so similar to herself and so tended to prefer Ino's company so her idea of the magnificence of that family wasn't tainted or destroyed. A funny relationship which meant that it wasn't unusual for Sayuri and Ino to go off a bit on their own, and for Kasumi to stay more in the background. No one gave a second thought to the absence of the brown haired twin from the company of the other two children. Not until it was queried.

"Mum!"

Both Airi and Mayumi looked up at the generic call as Ino and Sayuri came out of the twins' shared bedroom. It was obvious that it was Ino that would have called out loudly but it wouldn't hurt to listen to Sayuri as well.

At the combined attention of the two Yamanaka ladies, Ino continued.

"Have you seen Kasumi?"

"Yes, she came through a few minutes ago. I think she is just outside on the back porch,"

"Yeah…she's probably reading again,"

Airi was looking a little amused at the exasperated expression on her blonde daughter's face.

"Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?"

"She won't play with us!"

The amusement became surprise…and suspicion.

"Is there a reason?"

"I don't know!"

"Ino, you need to calm down. You know Kasumi really wants to finish that book and she probably thought that if Sayuri was over you wouldn't be lonely if she read,"

Airi was a very convincing person, even with things she didn't believe in. She just didn't want Ino to create a scene; both of her children had been acting weird lately. The reason was unknown for Ino and for Kasumi it was concerning. Airi's explanation seemed to satisfy Ino, and in turn Sayuri, which led to both girls asking for permission to go outside, get Kasumi and head over to one of the nearby clearings which was home to lots of flowers and the children's favourite tree. They got permission, even if it was to mainly get them out of the house and resolve the unwanted changes in personality and attitude that had occurred over the past few weeks.


"Kasumi!"

Said girl was nearing the end of an interesting chapter of the book she had recently been engrossed in and if the current chapter was anything to go off then the next chapter, the final chapter, was extremely enticing at the moment, however if Ino was around it would be an impossible feat to continue doing a silent activity. With this realisation from the reserved Yamanaka twin, she put down the book and unwillingly turned her attention to her energetic sister with a small, partially fake, smile.

"Ino. Sayuri,"

"I talked to mum and she said that we could go to the tree clearing,"

"Okay, I will put this book away and meet you there,"

"Be quick!"

There was another smile from Ino and a quick wave from Sayuri as Kasumi got up and rushed inside. Airi's facial expression would always turn temporarily sour in Kasumi's presence before her mask reformed and she sent one of her perfect, sophisticated smiles in her direction as Kasumi placed the book on the dining room table before racing out to join her sister and their common guest. Even if Kasumi did something that was wanted by her mother it never seemed to please her anymore.


Kasumi knew that things were changing with her twin and thought that the best way to resolve it would be to play these games with Ino and Sayuri and make sure that she was indeed quick to the meeting place. Upon arriving at the clearing Kasumi noticed that both other girls were already over by the tree and starting to try and climb it.

"Ino! Sayuri!"

Kasumi barely got a response, a hand wave over the shoulder with not even a glance of acknowledgement.

"That isn't safe! Mum will get angry!"

"It's alright!"

Ino didn't even grace her with a call as she seemed intensely focused on her dangerous mission to scale the tree.

"You could get hurt!"

All Ino and Sayuri did was sigh to this exclamation and continue on with the unsupervised activity. Kasumi was just wondering why they would ask her to play if they weren't even going to listen or look at her.

Kasumi moved from the outskirts of the clearing to a patch of flowers and started making crowns and bouquets by herself. Ino and Sayuri were both eventually able to make it to the first branch and were happily gossiping, it may have taken them an hour or so but they seemed satisfied with their accomplishment.

Now came the purpose of Kasumi's presence and the beginning of the end of her relationship with her family.


From atop their vantage point Ino and Sayuri finally started including Kasumi and talking with her.

"Is it true you are evil?"

This made Kasumi drop her half-finished crown and direct a hurt face towards her surprisingly pleased looking twin.

"Why would you say that?!"

"I heard mum talking about how you were nothing but the devil or a demon taking on a human form and pretending to be my twin,"

By this point Kasumi was on her feet with the first signs of tears showing clearly even from Ino and Sayuri's spot above.

"Why would she say that? Why would you believe her?!"

"Well mum has been angry at you recently so there has to be a reason,"

"We are twins!"

"So?"

Kasumi was now on her knees crying and it took a bit of time and a lot of effort for her to compose herself to the point where she could answer her increasingly impatient and sadistic sister.

"We are twins! So if there is something wrong with me it would be the same for you!"

Ino didn't even flinch nor pause in her answer.

"I heard mum saying that it was an evil spirit or something. Which means it would only affect the one it infected or something like that. Either way I am good and you are bad!"

All of this was said with a sickly sweet smile on her face and a giggling Sayuri next to her. At the moment to would seem that if one of the twins had been inhabited with an evil spirit it would be Ino as she didn't even let Kasumi answer this time and seemed to enjoy her agony and the confirmation that she was the better twin.

"They say there is a legend that if there is a brunette heir they will try to destroy the clan. Some people are even saying that you getting our hair cut short is a sign of this. It must be true then,"

Kasumi didn't want to deal with this anymore and as she ran away from the clearing further into the Yamanaka's forest Ino continued to sit with Sayuri atop the tree branch with a proud smirk plastered on her features.


It was past lunch and getting well into the evening when Kasumi finally decided that she would return home. She was hungry and hoping, but not believing, that her mother would start getting worried as Sayuri had come over for her visit in the morning so Kasumi would have been gone for several long hours. The walk back scared her, not because she was lost but because she was afraid if what Ino had said was true and her mother really did hate her.

Kasumi purposefully walked at a slow pace but within half an hour had returned to her home, only to be greeted by a furious opening of the door, a forceful drag into the house by her hair and a beating. Airi had never disciplined the girls in this way before but had lost all reasonable sense upon seeing her youngest daughter approaching the house. Without an explanation for the sudden outburst Airi sent Kasumi into one of the spare rooms. Her departing stare to Kasumi told her that she would get another beating if she were to make a sound or leave the confines of the room she was currently in.

The brown haired Yamanaka child had believed that she had exhausted all of her tears in the forest when a new flooding cascade erupted from her eyes, only this time Kasumi had to be sure to keep quiet.