Yusei's fur was really soft. His breath was warm on her face. It was calming and almost lulled her back to sleep. What prevented this was when Yusei decided to start licking her face. It was always a sure-fire way to get someone to wake up and resulted in them bolting upright while trying to rub the canine saliva off their cheek.

"Yusei! What was that for?!"

"Wakey, Wakey Kasumi. Are you feeling any better?"

The return of Nami had been Yusei's indicator to rouse the young girl from her afternoon nap. The Inuzuka stood across the living room from where Kasumi was now sitting on the couch. Nami couldn't help but smile at the grouchy face she was presented with by Kasumi.

"I was comfy!"

"Time to get up. It's not fair to trap Yusei all afternoon and you might want to start getting back home before you get into trouble again,"

This last part was said in great sadness that not even all of her shinobi training could hide. Nami didn't want Kasumi to return to the Yamanaka residence. It wasn't fair for her to be forced to live there. She was going to be trapped for at least a few more years. After that Nami swore she would do everything possible to protect her from ever having to go back or even have contact with any of those animals.

Funny. Ironic even.

The Inuzuka clan was always tarnished with the belief that they were animals, because of how close they were with their ninkens and how much they tended to resemble them. It turns out the real animals were the ones from other clans who had no respect for or idea of family. That was insulting to animals. Animals, at least, looked after their offspring and often guarded them with their lives. These Yamanaka monsters couldn't even do that. They were below the demons that spawned from hell.

Nami was drawn back to reality when Kasumi finally vacated her position on the couch and moved closer to her surrogate mother. Nami didn't move as Kasumi approached and didn't flinch when the young Yamanaka wrapped her arms around the Inuzuka. During the embrace, the two females said their goodbyes for the day. Hoping that tomorrow would come quickly.

"Can I come back tomorrow?"
"Of course. You know you are always welcome here,"

"What about Daiki, and Tatsuya? Do you think they're mad at me?"

Nami's embrace tightened. Kasumi worried about everything, especially her friends. The girl was very protective of them as well. No wonder she was driven to learn healing. It was a difficult field but she would do anything to keep her friends safe. Whatever team she ended up in would be lucky to have her. Healers were always respected and wanted. At least this meant that once she graduated and officially became a ninja, she would never be treated like trash again. As Nami thought of this she smiled and held the girl even closer still.

"Everything will be fine. You lot will have your arguments, everyone does, but you are a strong pack. I believe you will always be together, even if you aren't always on the same team or are never on the same team. Tomorrow's another day. Don't worry. Out of all the things you have going on right now, the last thing you need to be worrying about is whether they are angry at you or not. I guarantee everything will be fine. Maybe you just need some time, you've been through a lot. Right now, you just need to go home and rest some more,"

With this, Nami planted a kiss on the top of Kasumi's head before guiding her to the door. Neither female wanted to part ways but it was necessary if repeats of past events were to be avoided. Promises for the next day were reaffirmed the final goodbyes of the day were spoken.

Kasumi just had to get through the night. Try to avoid Airi and Ino. Keep her head down and stay out of trouble. Not that the previously mentioned female demons would allow this. Trouble, in the form of them, would find Kasumi eventually but hopefully, she would be granted this single night of peace. Then she just had to get through the Academy tomorrow.

Hopefully, Nami was right. They were still her friends, right? Were they angry with her? Was she still angry at them?

These questions may take more than a day to solve.

The journey from the Inuzuka to the Yamanaka compound was a depressing one. As soon as she left the safety of Nami and the Inuzukas Kasumi went into survival mode. Her head stayed down and she refused to make eye contact with anyone. This continued throughout her slow walk down the streets and was especially relevant once she entered the vicinity of her 'family'. One good thing from her studies during imprisonment was her increased proficiency with her chakra control. By spreading her chakra across her feet, she could minimise the noise her footsteps made. By spreading her chakra around her she could increase her sensory perception of her surroundings to better avoid the residences of the house. By doing this she was able to mask her presence and make it to her room safely without any incident.

The evening continued without much trouble, for once. Her small plate of food was placed outside her door well after the usual dinner time but that didn't matter. She ate quickly and returned the dish to its position outside her room. If her plate was late and it prevented Airi was washing it when she wanted to then it might cause some issues but once again, nothing happened that night.

Kasumi spent the rest of the time before bed cleaning her room a bit more, studying for the test, going over healing and plants and doing some more chakra control exercises. Elder Runa had told her about a good one that was really simple and could be done anywhere. You could use any object at all, so long as you could lift it, like a pen or even a book, and place it on your skin. You had to use your chakra to hold it in place but you couldn't use too much or it would damage the object. A couple of pens had already exploded since Elder Runa first taught her this training technique and Kasumi was especially careful with her books as they were the only things she had within these walls.

It didn't take long for the sun to disappear and weariness to consume Kasumi once again. Tomorrow was going to be difficult. She had to stop being angry and forgive her friends and she needed to do this before she could ask for her own forgiveness. She hoped to be better after a good night's sleep but she couldn't rule out the possibility that she would still need some space for a little while. Hopefully, they would understand and still be able to forgive her later.

Hopefully, Nami was right and everything would be okay.


The next day started with no indication that it was going to be a good day. When Kasumi awoke it was due to Ino's annoyingly high-pitched voice whining about something. The whinging was accompanied by Airi's yelling. As the older Yamanaka's voice got louder Kasumi's cringing worsened. As did her fear. Fortunately, Airi was heading towards the brunette twin's door but apparently went into Ino's room to retrieve something for the irritating girl.

Kasumi didn't want to risk a run-in with either of the other female Yamanakas and this worked as a good excuse to help improve her 'stealth' skills. Unfortunately, her room didn't have a window or anything like that so she would have to find another way to get out without using the front door or having to go too far down the exposed hallway.

Here was her plan of attack. It was going to be tricky but if this was going to be her routine for the next couple of years than she would get proficient at it very quickly.

First, she would have to get out of her room before Airi brought her breakfast. To do this she would have to go to the bathroom and escape through the window. She would then have to go to the kitchen window and get pack herself some lunch while Airi went to deliver her food. She wouldn't have a lot of time to do this before she had to escape through the window again and retrace her steps to get back to her room. From there she could have breakfast, because if she left the food uneaten then Airi would get angry at her for being ungrateful and wasteful and all of those other wonderful things. After her bag was packed for school all that was left was to escape the house for good for the rest of the day.

This part would be the hardest. She could use the bathroom window again but if anyone picked up on her pattern then she would have a serious issue so it would be better to have at least two exit strategies. It would be too risky to go via the living room until she had gotten better at her chakra control and stealth. That didn't leave very many options left. There was a laundry but it was at the other end of the hallway and Kasumi's room was almost centre of the passage. The closest other room was Ino's. Kasumi had once shared that room with her sister back when that title still meant something but she had no way to know how much the layout had changed since she was evicted. If Kasumi disturbed a single thing then there would be hell to pay.

She didn't have much of a choice.

"Ino! Breakfast!"
That was Kasumi's que to get ready. If Ino's food was ready then it wouldn't be long until Kasumi was brought a plate of the leftovers, whatever Ino didn't want to eat. Kasumi was hopeful that she would have enough time to sneak around the house but given this was her first attempt at her masterplan there may be a bit of a time delay or bumps in the road along the way.

Once the house was silent again, an indication that Ino was too busy eating to run her mouth, Kasumi spread her chakra out. This increase in her sensory knowledge allowed her to know when the coast was clear. It wouldn't be too much of a bad thing if they heard her opening and closing the door, as it wouldn't be suspicious for her t use the bathroom, but she had to be careful about getting spotted. If Airi or Ino saw her then they would cause problems for her just for the sake of it. It was only very sad people that put others down to make themselves feel good and powerful.

Kasumi only felt the cool floorboards under her feet for a very brief instant as she crossed the short distance of the hallway from her room to the bathroom. When no voice chased her down the hallway, she knew she had made it without being seen. The only problem she had now would be to get to the kitchen and get back within an acceptable time so as not to be too suspicious.

After a deep breath, Kasumi composed herself and started on the next stage of her plan.

Luckily, she was young enough and small enough to be able to fit through the window. Hopefully, she wouldn't have any major growth spirts before she was able to leave the Yamanaka residence otherwise this plan would be completely useless if she was no longer able to use the window as a means of escape. It wasn't too hard to get to the window but the problem was trying to manoeuvre herself out of it. This was where her chakra skills came into use as she was able to stick her hands and feet to the ceiling and walls when necessary to move herself around. This not only would help with her chakra control training but would help her with her flexibility as well.

The only way she could keep herself sane in this house was to see everything as a means to an end and that end was getting away from her 'family'. Her isolation gave her a chance to study. Her need to sneak around gave her a chance to use her chakra skills in an almost real life-or-death situation. She would be as good as dead if she was ever caught by Airi or Ino.

The morning was a little chilly and the grass outside was still covered in a layer of dew. This thin sheet was disrupted by Kasumi's bare feet as she finally made her way out the window. The small droplets scattered and caught the light of the early morning. Kasumi preferred the mornings because they were so quiet and peaceful and she would have loved to stay outside to take in the tranquillity but she had to complete her mission.

Hoping she didn't leave too discernible footsteps behind her, Kasumi snuck her way around the house. This would only work if Airi didn't come outside until after the sun had melted away the evidence of the disrupted dew and didn't notice the indentations in the grass. Airi usually didn't tend to the gardens until after her shift at the flower shop so there was still a good chance that the grass would return to normal by this point and that Airi wouldn't be able to link it back to her anyway if there was still any trace left in the grass.

Once she was at her next window point of entry it was another round of the waiting game. She had never drawn her chakra back in so she was still able to tell the rough locations of Airi and Ino within the house, Inoichi must have already gone to work. Now she just had to wait and hope. Something she had been doing a lot of lately.

"Ino, do you want to go shopping after school? I noticed some of your shirts are starting to fade if you want to look at replacing them,"

Ino must have still been eating because it took her a few moments to reply to her mother, something that Kasumi would have been punished for. If they would hurry up and finish their conversation then they would leave and Kasumi could finish her mission. If they took too long then they might start getting suspicious about the time that Kasumi was 'in' the bathroom.

"Yes! Could we look at some pants too? The weather is going to start changing and I want to get some new outfits. Could I bring some friends along?"

"Of course. I'll wait for you outside the Academy when classes finish for the day and any of your friends that can come along are welcome to. The more the merrier!"

The peppiness in Airi's voice made Kasumi want to gag but she also knew that any sound would spell disaster for her. It wasn't long after this short conversation ended with a cheer from Ino that the two Yamanakas finally left the vicinity of the kitchen. Ino placed her dirty dishes in the sink and Airi picked up a small plate of leftovers before the mother and daughter pair made their way down the hallway and briefly out of sight.

Once the coast was clear Kasumi climbed through a window for the second, but not the last, time that morning in order to supply herself with food for the day. Kasumi wished she could do this in the middle of the night but Inoichi and Airi would react badly to any disturbances late at night, fearing an attack. Being the head of a clan always made you more of a target. If another village wanted to attack and cause chaos then they would remove all of the heads and their families. Put a lot of them on edge, especially when it came to unexpected sounds at night.

Kasumi only had a short amount of time. She hadn't been into the kitchen in a very long time and didn't know where a lot of things were. At least for today, her lunch would have to consist of a piece of fruit and some plain slices of bread. Kasumi was taking a huge risk by taking the food without Airi's permission but it was something she just had to do. Hopefully, it would be such a small amount that either Airi wouldn't care or just assume it was Ino or Inoichi. Hopefully.

Just as Kasumi made to climb back out the kitchen window and make her escape Ino suddenly started racing back up the hallway towards Kasumi's location. Kasumi sensed Ino with her chakra only a second before she was able to hear the blonde's loud approach. Just her luck.

"I'll be right back! I left it on the table!"

Kasumi had been practising hard at her chakra control. Tree walking was a common exercise for increasing chakra manipulation and control but Kasumi was nowhere near to being able to do it. Right then her only option was to climb onto the kitchen counter and then pull herself up into a corner of the room, where two walls and the ceiling met. After this incident, her tree walking training was definitely becoming a priority. Kasumi might not always have something to help her get to the ceiling or somewhere convenient to hide.

Ino retrieved whatever she had left at the table, something that must be important for her outfit today, and then made her way back to her room where Airi was likely waiting to help her get ready for the day, helping with her hair and self-esteem. If Ino wasn't constantly told how lovely she looked in her outfit then she would throw a tantrum and demand to change until someone buried her in compliments.

With that obstacle out of the way, Kasumi continued on her return trip, hoping that nobody would need the bathroom before she returned and that there would be no more delays to her journey. Thankfully it was uninterrupted from then on but that didn't mean that Kasumi wasn't on edge for every second. She was continuously looking over her shoulder and straining her ears and chakra for any slight changes in anything. She was so tense that she almost blew her cover and stealth when she was surprised by the sudden chirping of a cricket in the flower beds. Luckily it only led to her falling on her rear as she had the sense to cover her mouth to prevent any noise escaping from the scare but it did mean that her pants were now wet on the bottom thanks to the still lingering dew. That was just one more thing that she would have to hope Airi didn't care enough about to notice.

By the time Kasumi was back in the bathroom Ino still hadn't finished getting ready which was quite fortunate for the brunette twin. For once Kasumi was grateful for Ino's vanity and Airi's doting of the young blonde. It gave Kasumi the opportunity to sneak around and get lunch. Right now, it meant that she could safely exit the bathroom and return to her room without running into anyone.

Kasumi's adventure to the kitchen was the biggest part of her morning. Now all she had left to do was eat her breakfast, leave the dishes outside her door, get ready for school and leave, and she had to so all of this before Airi and Ino exited Ino's room.

That morning had been a success for the Yamanaka outcast and had given her another way to become stronger and achieve her dream. She would leave this house behind forever and get a new family. She would be loved.


The Academy was going to be very interesting for Kasumi today but not in a good way. Daiki's big mouth and her own outburst were going to cause quite a few awkward encounters. She didn't want any questions from Neji and wouldn't tolerate pity of any sort. Tatsuya, Daiki and TenTen were going to be difficult to deal with as well. Kasumi didn't know how her friends felt about her after her outburst yesterday. Did she frighten them? Would Daiki forgive her? Nami had tried to reassure her but she still had her persistent, lingering doubts.

As usual, Kasumi walked with her head down in silence. It was starting to become a habit. A safety mechanism instinctively put into practice to protect herself from others. If she kept herself closed off then nobody could come in and hurt her. It also allowed her to get caught up in her thoughts. Both a good and bad thing, depending on what was conquering her thoughts at the time.

The young Yamanaka paused as she stood before the entrance to the Academy. It wasn't so she could dwell on the future but allow it to come to her. Her chakra sensory abilities were certainly getting better. She could tell the chakra of her biological family and her real family within a very small radius but at least it was something.

Her real sister was right behind her.

"Kasumi?"

She froze.

Kasumi could hear TenTen cautiously creep closer to her but she still couldn't bring herself to move or even speak. She was absolutely terrified that the slightest mistake on her part could make the seemingly fragile situation with her friend even worse than she feared it already was. Soon TenTen was in front of Kasumi, between the Yamanaka and the Academy, but not facing her directly.

"You left your bag behind yesterday so I thought I would bring it for you today. Um… I'll just leave it here,"

TenTen placed the bag, that she had been clutching tightly to her chest, on the ground in front of her feet and continued towards the door with only a small glance back at Kasumi. The girls exchanged an identical set of sad smiles in this brief look but otherwise, the encounter was over. Kasumi knew she was being rude but she didn't know what to do. She was scared and tired. So much had happened and everything seemed to go up and immediately back down in her life. Nothing good ever seemed to stick around for long and that just added to her fear even more.

She had gotten angry at the boys before and it had all worked out but it had never happened with TenTen and she had never hit one of the boys like that. It shocked her as much as it had surprised Daiki and the others. She also didn't know how many times they could fight before their friendship was destroyed. She was scared and she didn't know how to act anymore. Her strategy today was going to be observation. She didn't want to be around them or speak to them. Kasumi needed to assess the situation and, more importantly, she wanted Nami to be around when she finally did interact with them to act as support and a mediator.

It was going to be a long day.

When Tatsuya, Daiki and Katsu arrived at the Academy, Kasumi was already seated and waiting for the class to begin. TenTen was sitting a couple of rows behind her and thankfully the boys went to join her but not before the trio shared their own sad and hesitant smiles. The morning was spent in silence except when Katsu journeyed over to visit Kasumi, only to be bluntly but softly turned away. Lunch and the afternoon lessons were also spent apart and Kasumi only saw Neji glance over once but was otherwise left alone. At the very least it meant that Kasumi could get a solid day's work in without her friends distracting her. Usually, they would pepper the lessons with their own mini conversations and help each other if someone got stuck.

Then the school day came to an end and Kasumi had to get ready to confront her fears.


Sorry, this chapter is really late! Life has been a hectic mess and this chapter was surprisingly difficult to write about halfway through. I can't wait until it gets to graduation because I have so many plans for Kasumi and the others. I've got a few missions planned and then there is the chunin exam and I'm getting really excited! :) Just have to get through a bit more of the more boring stuff first but I don't think it's too far away now.

Enjoy reading!