Her name was Kangae and she was a freak of nature, let her state three reasons why.

Number one: she was a zombie. Although not in the traditional sense of being a revived corpse of rotting flesh, but as in she had been brought back from the dead and given a spanking new skin sac.

Yep, she's talking about reincarnation. The good old cycle of rebirth. Some people get a flower, others a lion out in the Serengeti, but her? No, never anything so simple because life - or rather death - loved to fuck with her.

She got something caught between worse and absolute hell.

Which led to reason number two.

Her last name was Yamanaka.

Yes, yes, it seemed normal and non-threatening but what if she said she meant the Yamanaka's who could mind walk? The Yamanaka's who could send their psyche into another body? The Yamanaka's from the world of Naruto?

Suddenly such an innocent title like 'Among the Mountains' seemed to hold a presence like a loaded gun. Not to mention she managed to land the position of Ino's suddenly canon twin sister, who wasn't even blonde but strawberry haired. A ginger Yamanaka came out of the clan lady and oh how the village must have gossiped.

And her clan's said ability was the gateway to the third and final reason being that she could hear the thoughts of everyone around her. Effectively transforming her into the Jean Grey of Naruto-verse, only with way less control.

Oh and just let her say, hearing the faint buzz of her parents dirty thoughts as they stared at each other with lusty bedroom eyes was the most horrifying thing she had ever bared witness to. Period.

Mind reading wasn't like she had imagined it to be at all. She had assumed it would be similar a magic eight ball but it was far more complex than she gave it credit for.

Everyone's mind was different. Some people's were like a partially closed curtain and others like a locked door where she could press her ear to the key hole. Sometimes it was like looking through one way glass and others more like a too small window.

Kangae didn't really like the feeling of other minds brushing against hers, some were okay but others felt like she had fur and they were rubbing it the wrong way with taloned fingers. But if there were minds she didn't mind feeling, it would have to be her family's, although half the time her clan's minds were effectively closed to her.

It seemed like anyone who was a Yamanaka could willingly create a mental barrier inside their heads but they only seemed to lower it when in the company of their fellow clan members. Meaning when other people were near a wall that she can't pass without risking detection was put up and she enjoyed the company of her clan either way. With the walls up it was silent, with the walls down it was relatively peaceful, unlike with the minds of other people.

Imagine white noise and magnify it so it's ten times as loud, that's what she heard from everyone else.

The first time she registered her mutation it had been about half a year after her (re)birth. She hadn't been trying to search the thoughts out, it was just that the person was practically broadcasting them out on a sonic wave.

Her clan had thrown the two daughters of the clan head a party to celebrate having bore twins and it seemed everyone had shown up.

She had been sitting in the playpen with her sister - who was currently playing with her hair, the color obviously fascinated her - and a few other children - Shino, Hinata, Kiba etc - when she had thought she heard someone speak.

"Is that the ginger haired bastard child Inoichi-koi's 'wife' sired?" A snarky, uptight feminine voice practically hissed and Kangae bristled at the insult. "I knew she was a cheating whore!"

Imagine how surprised she was to hear that. Whoever had the balls to utter such travesties either deserved a kunai to the throat or a high five for their bravery.

Blue gaze darted around the group of people until she finally honed in on a brown haired woman with narrowed grey eyes who was glaring straight at - she glanced at Ino who was sitting a few feet away - her apparently. Feeling a bit taken back by the vehemence in her stare she raised both brows. So it was this woman then? Well, no wonder she got turned down,

"Ugh, look at the little shit." She snarked as her eyes flared. "I refuse to believe Inoichi-koi sired a red headed brat. Both of them are blonde, it's just not possible!"

Now usually at hearing an insult on her hair - or her person and family - she would have scowled as best as she could with her baby face muscles and if they were holding her, upchucked right in their face. Usually she would have played the cute card and sucked up only to pull something extremely foul later.

But how could she concentrate on what the she-witch had said when her mouth hadn't even moved!?

Watching the woman with wide, shocked eyes as she walked forward and thought something positively horrid at her, Kangae did something rather out of character.

She burst into tears.

And when she cried, Ino cried, and when more than one child cried, the entire hoard did. It had been a snotty, teary mess of clan heirs but she thought she had reacted pretty well all things considered.

Not her proudest moment but with her wiley and entirely unpredictable baby emotions even touching a blade of grass would have set her off.

Cowering into the huddle of her mother's arms she let herself be carried off on the excuse of too much excitement and the need of a nap.

So fast forward a couple of months and here she was now, shuddering in her high chair as her father thought of all the things he'd enjoy doing to their mother.

Glancing over at the oblivious and happy Ino, she wished she could plead ignorance to this entire debacle. She would definitely have to figure out how to shield before she started picking up their gross images as well. Kangae already had enough mental scarring, she didn't need anymore.


The great thing about ninja families was that they trained their children before they even realized they were being trained.

Watching Ino play quirky hand and cognitive response memory games with their father, Kangae looked down at the colored cards in front of her and started to match them up in piles, making sure to make mistakes along the way. They were nearly two in a few weeks and ninja children progressed faster than civilian so this, she assumed, would pass for normal behavior.

While she trusted Inoichi the most out of all the Shinobi to not sell his children out, she never knew who was watching so it was best to limit herself.

"Ah, you've finished Kangae?" Her dad asked with a soft smile as he pulled her into his lap along side Ino. "You've done very well on your first try, would you like to try the games Ino did now?"

Flashing him a smile she held out her hands palms up and giggled loudly when he started clapping.

Who knew a pimped out version of patty-cake could be used to teach finger dexterity?


Edit: 8/28/15