Kamiko lashed out with a powerful kick. It connected squarely in the chest of her masked assailant, sending him flying backwards almost 15 feet where he slammed into a tree. Whether he was unconscious or dead, she couldn’t tell, but she wouldn’t want to be him in either case.

“Hey, while you’re admiring your handiwork (shit!), I could use a hand over here!” shouted Asami, who was just barely managing to deflect her two attackers’ sword blows.

Kamiko leapt high into the air, and with cat-like precision managed to land directly behind one of the enemy ninjas. In one graceful move she unsheathed her shoto and plunged it into the man’s side. His cries of anguish distracted his partner for only a moment, but that moment was all Asami needed to thrust a tanto into his neck.

The two kunoichi surveyed the aftermath of the battle. Five ninja from the Tiger Claw Clan, their bodies broken and bloodied, were scatter around the forest. Kamiko was still ready for a fight, but Asami was struggling to catch her breath.

“You know, (huff) when your father tells you not to leave the camp, this is why. (huff)”

“I can take care of myself. See? Three for me versus just two for you. And I’m not even winded!”

Asami looked up at her sister’s face. “Yeah, but I don’t have that freaky super-strength that you have. And besides, you stick out like a sore thumb. Come on, we should head back before their friends show up for round two.”

Less than an hour later they were back home at the Dragon Tooth Clan central encampment. The guards bowed slightly as they passed through the large gates surrounding the compound.

Kamiko gave her sister a friendly hit on the shoulder, which still had enough force to made Asami wince. “See? I don’t know why you worry so much. We had a good workout, and we made it home without any problems.”

A loud, gruff voice shouted from the largest building, “KAMIKO!!”

“Except for that.”

“Oh, man. Father sounds really angry. I’m glad I’m not you!” teased Asami as the duo sprinted for the building.

Kamiko and Asami were on their knees, bowing before Kamiko’s father and silently praying that he didn’t kill them.

“Kamiko, what’s wrong with you? I gave you one simple command: ‘Do not leave the compound!’ Why do you refuse to listen?”

“But father, I….”

“I am not speaking as your father. I am speaking as the clan leader and you will address me as such!”

She began to open her mouth in protest, but thought better of it. Instead, she calmly stated, “Master, I had heard that there were Tiger Claw spies lurking around the forest, and I sought to draw them out before they discovered us.”

Asami looked at Kamiko, shocked. She had certainly expected Kamiko to say something stupid in her defense, but never did she expect her to just outright lie.

Kamiko’s father stroked his long beard in contemplation. After several moments, he turned his attention to Asami. “Is this true?”

Before she could respond, Kamiko spoke up. “Master, Asami knew nothing of this. She merely wished to accompany me.”

“I see. Then the matter is settled, and you have both done the clan a great service.”

The two girls sighed with relief.

He continued, “Now, as your father, I must tell you that you are not a very good liar.”

“What?”

“I watched you sneak out. You were followed by several others. That is why I did not wish you to leave. In your present… condition, you are not a very effective ninja.”

Kamiko stood up to her full 7’8” height. “I’m a great ninja! Watch!”

With that, she launched into a flurry of kicks followed by several back handsprings in a row. Unfortunately, her massive and outrageously curvy body was gradually throwing her off-balance, and by the fourth handspring she couldn’t maintain it any longer. She flubbed the landing, falling squarely on her face.

“Ouch,” she said as she got up, gingerly rubbing her forehead.

Instead of speaking, her father reached out with lightning quickness and caught a falling paper lantern before it hit the ground.

Kamiko suddenly felt a deep sense of embarrassment and couldn’t bring herself to look her father in the eye.

“Kamiko, you are my daughter and I love you. I will always love you. But while I am Morimoto Tahakashi, your father, I am also Morimoto Tahakashi, your sensei. Your great size has given you impressive strength, but at the cost of subtlety, stealth, and speed. You may one day be a masterful warrior, but you will never be a true ninja.”

She felt her cheeks turning red with shame, and she sat back onto the floor. “Yes, father. I understand.”

“Now, as for you…”

Asami lifted her head. “Me?”

“Yes, you. It is time for your trial.”

Asami struggled to contain her delight. She wasn’t completely successful, but at least she only smiled instead of jumping up and down. If she were to pass the trial, then she would no longer be an apprentice, but a true ninja. And as a full-fledged kunoichi, she would finally be able to take control of her own destiny instead of obeying edicts handed down to her.

“Yes, Master. What would you have me do?”

“We have received a contract. It seems that a certain merchant has been peddling false medicines as well as the occasional stolen temple charm. He has become so great a nuisance that several of the villages he’s cheated have pooled their resources to hire us. He must be eliminated. Do you accept this task?”

While Asami technically had the right to refuse any job assigned to her, she would never actually turn down work. It would make her appear weak, and worse, as her trial a refusal would effectively tell the Master that she wasn’t ready to work solo. There was no hesitation at all as she responded, “Yes.”

“Good. He is staying at one of the local inns for two more days. That is your window. He has several guards with him, but I’m sure that they won’t be a problem for you. Do not return without proof.”

Asami bowed and accepted the paper scroll that held the relevant information about the target such as name and appearance. In her mind he was already as good as dead. There was a spring in her step as she went to leave, but she lost some of her good mood when she saw that Kamiko was still crest-fallen.

She wanted to say something to comfort her sister, but didn’t know the words. The sensei, perhaps sensing her intentions, said, “Asami, you go on now. You leave tonight. I would have words with my daughter.”

Asami bowed again. “Yes, father. I will not fail you.” And with that, she took off for her room to prepare her supplies.

For the next several hours Asami didn’t see Kamiko, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She busied herself with studying the map of the inn, planning the best route for infiltration and extraction, as well as deciding which tools to take. She ultimately decided on a mixed tool bag consisting of a grappling hook, fast-acting poison, several kunai, caltrops, and other small weapons, as well as other odds and ends. This was a little overkill for a simple merchant assassination, but she didn’t want to risk failure during her trial just because she didn’t have that one extra shuriken.

As night fell and she gathered up her gear for the mission, she could hear Kamiko finally approaching the room. The fact that she could even hear her caused Asami to sigh. Kamiko had formerly been their father’s best student, but ever since she became cursed she was falling further and further down the ranks.

Of course, at first no one, not even the Master, saw it as a curse. When literally overnight Kamiko’s lithe and slender 5’2” body suddenly became a shapely 5’6” everyone saw it as a blessing from the gods. And while due to her training Kamiko had always been stronger than she looked, with her new body she was almost as strong as the strongest men!

Then several months later she grew again, and now the clan wasn’t sure if it was a blessing after all. Once she became 6’6” she was easily both the largest and strongest member of the clan, but she was losing her ninja ways. She was finding it much harder to sneak due to her increased weight, and her bigger size meant that it was also easier to land nerve strikes against her in sparring.

Kamiko’s most recent growth spurt three months ago left her as the largest person in all of Japan at 7’8”, but at a major cost. She was strong enough to crush a bamboo bokken with her bare hands and shrug off all but a direct kick, but as her size increased so did her weight. She didn’t look it, but she weighed nearly 400 pounds and no matter how she tried to camouflage her footsteps, her incredible weight and massive size made her too easy to track. Worse still, all of that bulk was severely hampering her precision and delicacy.

When rumors of her new stature began to spread, rival clans took advantage of the situation and she became a target for assassination attempts again and again. The earlier fight in the forest had been the third try in less than two months. The head of the Dragon Tooth Clan’s sensei’s daughter would be an impressive trophy for any of the rival clans.

Asami’s thoughts were interrupted by Kamiko ducking through the small doorway. “Hi, Asami. I hope you have good luck on your trial tonight.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for several long seconds before Kamiko finally broke it. “Umm, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Kamiko. You know you can ask me anything.”

“Can I go with you?”

“What?”

“I really want to go with you. I know that father will never let me take the trial now, and so I want to go with you and help you out. It’s not against the rules to have a partner. I already asked.”

Asami wasn’t sure what she should say. She certainly didn’t need a partner, and taking one might lessen the impact of the trial in the Master’s eyes. However, the pained look on Kamiko’s face told her that she really just wanted to go on one last ninja mission before she resigned herself to her fate as a being cursed by the gods. Once she saw that look, there was no question how she should respond.

“Of course you can come! I’m always glad for the help.”

After three hours of walking through the moon lit forest the sisters saw the lights of the roadside inn where the target was supposed to be staying. Asami climbed down off of Kamiko’s shoulders and stretched her legs.

“I see how it is! You let me come along because you wanted a pack horse!”

“Well, sure!” teased Asami. “I mean, you volunteered, right? And I know you’re not tired.”

“If you weren’t my sister….” Kamiko added to her mock-threat by shaking her fist.

Asami smiled. As she sorted through her pack one last time and prepared for her assassination mission, she thought about her sister. True, Asami was adopted, but she had lived in the clan for over 15 years. And while they called each other ‘sister’, aside from short dark hair and brown eyes the two of them didn’t look anything alike.

Asami was only 5’2” with a thin, lithe body that reflected her many years of training. Kamiko, on the other hand, was now 7’8” with a fantastically voluptuous body. She often wondered how Kamiko could still move the way she did with those enormous breasts attempting to throw her off balance with every flip. She sometimes fantasized about what she would’ve done if she had been the one cursed, but as her father would’ve said, ‘Dreams are dreams. It is what we do while awake that matters.’

Kamiko suddenly tensing up shook Asami from her thoughts. “What is it?”

“That son of a bitch… He’s the one who did this to me!”

“Who, the merchant?”

But Kamiko gave no response. Instead, she took off as fast as her legs would carry her. She gave no notice the all of the guards she was alerting as she leapt straight onto the second floor balcony of the inn and forced her way inside.

Asami swore under her breath and quickly donned her black ninja hood. She charged after her sister in a desperate attempt to catch up, but found that her path was blocked by three sword-wielding guards wearing splint mail. She unsheathed her katana with her right hand and pulled out a tanto for her left. This was not going to be an easy fight.

Block. Block. Swing. Dodge. Thrust. Block. Parry. Dodge. Block. Slice. In battle, Asami had no thoughts but for what action came next. The guards were well-armed but not very well trained. Over-confidence led to the quick demise of one of them, and the shock of his death caused a hesitation that killed the second. The third held out longer, but a surprise shuriken to his foot made him fall to the floor and Asami’s sword made sure that he would never rise again. With the immediate threat out of the way, she put on her climbing gloves and scaled the walls, trying to follow Kamiko’s incredibly obvious path of destruction.

Broken doors and shattered walls signaled Kamiko’s path. If she still had any doubt about the Master’s declaration that Kamiko was not a ninja, it was gone now. She stepped over two dead guards, their backs shattered. She was getting close.

When she entered the room, Kamiko was the fat merchant by the neck nearly a foot off the ground with just one hand. His 350 pound weight didn’t seem to bother her at all. She pulled off her hood to better talk to her sister. “Kamiko, what are you doing?”

“This is the guy! I bought a potion from him because he said it would make me stronger and tougher. But look at me! And now he refuses to give me the antidote!”

The merchant could barely breathe, let alone speak. “There is (gack!) no antidote! And it worked (hurk!) just like I said it would!”

Asami was hurt. “Kamiko! You said that you just woke up and you were tougher! You told everyone that you were ‘blessed’ while in a dream! You never said anything about a potion or a merchant!”

“Well, I was embarrassed. You were doing so much better than me during training and I didn’t want to lose to you, so….” She let her voice trail off. At first Asami thought that it was intentional, but then Kamiko‘s face began to show a strange expression made of equal parts pain and excitement. “Not again…” was all she managed to whisper.

Asami was totally confused. She had no idea what was going on. Then she saw that the sleeves on Kamiko’s custom-made ninja suit were beginning to ride up her arms. A quick glance confirmed that the same thing was happening to her legs. As the upper half became untucked from the lower half, there was no doubt about it – Kamiko was growing again.

She maintained her grip on the merchant’s neck even as she grew, and Asami watched in fascination as the fat man was lifted further and further away from the ground. Soon Kamiko’s sleeves were halfway up her forearms, but she showed no sign of slowing down. The over 8’ girl was forced to duck her head to fit into the room, but a couple of seconds later her shoulders were the ones pressing against the ceiling. She dropped to her knees so that she could stay upright, not caring about how her long legs were shoving all of the furniture in the room out of their way.

Her growth stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Asami guessed that she was around 9’ tall, as even on her knees her head was still scraping the ceiling. Her black ninja suit was now small enough that from her elbows and knees down her limbs were completely bare. Her stomach was fully exposed thanks to her even bigger breasts. Despite all this, her massive hand was still firmly wrapped around the frightened merchant’s neck.

“End this. Now.” Kamiko spat the words out like venom.

The merchant was shaking with fear as he said, “I- I can’t end it! I’m telling you, I don’t have an antidote!”

Asami lightly touched her sister’s arm, who slowly lowered the merchant until his feet here touching the ground. She still didn’t release her hold on his neck, though. Asami then turned her attention to the merchant. “Tell me where the potion came from.”

“I… I didn’t…. I took it from one of the Buddhist temples training their monks to be great warriors.”

The mention of Buddhists gave Asami an idea. She quickly rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a small jade stone - her mother’s magatama and the only souvenir of her previous life, before she was orphaned. Her mother had been a great healer, and although she died when Asami was only six she still remembered some of her techniques. She carefully placed the stone between her second and third fingers and, closing her eyes, slowly ran it up and down over Kamiko.

“Damn it!” she shouted, suddenly opening her eyes.

“What?” Kamiko was suddenly worried.

“I’m so stupid, why didn’t I see it before?”

“See what?!”

“He’s poisoned your Yin.”

“Poisoned?!!” Kamiko glared at the merchant, who began to cry with fright.

“The brew that he gave you gives you a kind of ‘false-Yin’. This throws your entire chi off-balance, and your body begins to produce more Yang to compensate. Yin is the energy of the mind, while Yang is the energy of the body. When the imbalance between Yin and Yang becomes too great….”

“I grow.”

“Yup. Only , you’re still not in balance because the false-Yin is still there. So the cycle just continues forever.”

“Forever?” Kamiko squeezed the merchant’s neck a little tighter. “Forever?!”

“Don’t worry. I have an idea.” She pointed a knife at the merchant. “You! Fat man! Where are the temple charms you stole?!”

He began to protest again, but quickly saw the futility of the situation. “They’re in that corner, under the floorboards.”

Asami stomped on the wooden boards in the corner until she heard one of them sound different. She pried it open and saw her prize – a small cloth bag. She took a quick glance inside and guessed that he had stolen more than 50 charms from temples all over the area.

She tossed the bag to Kamiko. “Here, take these and wait for me outside.”

Kamiko gaze went back and forth between the cowering merchant still in her grip and her sister standing by her side. Finally, she released the merchant. The man backed into a corner as he rubbed his sore neck and gasped for air. She nodded once at Asami before leaving the room, destroying what was left of the door frame as well as a portion of the wall in the process.

When it was just the two of them, the merchant wrapped his arms around Asami’s legs, weeping in thanks. “Oh thank heavens! You saved me! What can I do to repay you?”

“You sure that’s everything you stole?”

“Yes, everything! I promise I’ll never do it again!”

“I know.”

“Good, good. … Wait, what?”

She emerged from the destroyed room about a minute later, wiping the man’s blood off of her knife. She took one last look at her proof of the deed – the man’s gold ring with the finger still in it – before securely pocketing the grisly trophy. It didn’t take long to find where Kamiko was waiting, and she smiled as she approached.

“OK, so let’s dump the bag and see what we can use.”

Kamiko up-ended the bag and let the contents fall to the ground while Asami busied herself separating and sorting the various paper and metal charms into several different piles. Once they were all cataloged, she pulled out her magatama again and ran it over the charms several times until she found the one she was looking for.

“This is the one,” she said as she held up a small strip of paper covered in kanji. “This purifying charm will burn the ‘false-Yin’ out of you.”

“Will it hurt?”

“No, it shouldn’t, but….”

“But what?”

“But when I remove the ‘false-Yin’, you’ll be out of balance again.”

“I’ll grow AGAIN?!”

“You might. You might not. Either way, it’ll be for the last time.”

“I really don’t have much choice, do I?” asked Kamiko as she knelt down to give Asami better access to her head.

The paper charm fluttered in Asami’s hand even though there was no breeze. As she brought the charm closer to Kamiko’s head it began to move more and more, as if there was an invisible tornado trying to push it away.

With a quick jab Asami touched the paper to her sister’s forehead. It instantly became as straight and as stiff as one of her swords. A purple haze began to form around Kamiko’s head, and as it dissipated the charm began to turn to ash. Less than 10 seconds later, both the haze and the charm had ceased to exist.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel… I feel great! Better than I have in a long…. Uh oh.…”

The sound of cloth ripping shook her out of her euphoria. She looked at her sleeves just in time to watch small tears become big ones, and entire sheets of fabric began to fall away. In a panic, she grabbed at what was left of her top and held it in place, but it was obvious to both of them that it would be woefully inadequate very soon.

Already 9½’ tall and still climbing, her long, thick legs were bringing similar destruction to her leggings. She turned red with embarrassment and sat down on the ground, holding up her knees to her chest in an attempt to conceal her impending nakedness.

Asami could only watch helplessly as her sister’s head rose higher still. Even sitting on the ground, she was still taller!

After the longest minute of her life, Kamiko finally opened her eyes and surveyed the results. She couldn’t help but gasp when she saw just how small Asami was. Rising up to her full size, it was clear that she was well over twice as tall as her sister.

And her breasts! They were enormous, even to her. Even with two hands, she could barely cup one of them. She couldn’t imagine how big they looked to Asami.

She couldn’t resist. She had to know how strong she was now. She walked over and placed her hand against one of the nearby trees. It wasn’t the biggest tree she had ever seen, but it was thick enough to suit her purpose. Pulling her fist back, she let loose her strongest punch.

The tree practically exploded. The force of the hit threw the trunk backwards at an astounding rate, causing the bulk of the 30’ tree to fall right on top of her. With an impressive display of her still excellent reflexes, she easily caught the two-foot thick trunk overhead in both hands. She marveled at how light it felt before throwing it casually to the side, where it landed with a loud “THUD”.

Asami was staring at her, mouth agape. “That… That was amazing! I never imagined you could be so strong!”

Kamiko flexed her thick arm and sighed. “Yeah, it’s alright. But now there’s no chance that father will ever accept me as a ninja now.”

“Oh cheer up!” said Asami, slapping Kamiko on the thigh. “It’s not like he was going to before this mission anyway. And besides, we’ve cured your condition, so it’s not like you’ll get any bigger.”

“That’s the only good news I’ve heard in months.”

Asami threw her pack at Kamiko, who could now easily hold the large backpack in the palm of her hand. She climbed back onto her sister’s shoulder and said, “It’s not so bad. It’s a lot roomier up here now. Now hurry up and get us home. We need to get you in clothes!”

“Clothes…? What…? Oh shit!”

Asami giggled. Apparently Kamiko was so focused at checking out her new size she had completely missed the fact that she was naked. As Kamiko sprinted home, her longer legs shortening their travel time considerably, it was all Asami could do to hold on. She actually kind of wished that she would slow down, if only so that she could think about how they were going to explain this to their father.

The next morning the two sisters were standing outside the entrance to the compound, and they couldn’t look more dissimilar. One was short and the other was tall. One was thin and the other was thick. One was admiring her new ornate tattoo on her shoulder, one was hanging her head in shame. Most telling, one could barely contain her glee while the other was sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’ll be OK, Kamiko. Besides, it’s not like you didn’t know this was coming.” Asami put her hand to her mouth as soon as she said the words. She looked over at her sister, who was feeling even worse now.

“I knew he was going to expel me, but I didn’t know it was going to happen so soon! Part of me hoped that, after all this time, maybe he’d found some way to have me stay….”

“Wait… that’s it!” shouted Asami, looking (way, way) up into Kamiko’s eyes. “You staying around for so long, me getting rushed through my trials… This was how Father wanted it to happen!”

The idea that this was all part of her father’s plan gave Kamiko hope, and she dried her eyes. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Don’t you see? He had no choice but to expel you from the clan, but he didn’t want you to go alone! That’s why he promoted me to full kunoichi so quickly! He wanted us to leave together!”

Kamiko’s eyes brightened. “When you put it that way, it does make sense….”

“You see? Father still loves you, no matter what you look like. And now with my status as a full-fledged ninja, I am free to travel anywhere and take any job I want.” A mischievous smile crept across her face as she continued, “And with you as my loyal assistant, I will surely triumph over any obstacle!”

“Me? Your assistant? Ha! You’re not even waist high! I could squish you flat!” laughed Kamiko.

“Now, now. Let’s not start off our new team with petty infighting already!” teased Asami. “Besides, I’ve already got an idea for a job. I heard that there’s a village about 4 days away that’s being plagued by a group of oni.”

“Oni, eh? What, and you’re just going to let me do all the hard work and you take all the credit?”

“Yup! So come on, let’s get going already!” Asami hoisted her pack and climbed up onto her giant sister’s shoulders. “Like I said, it’s 4 days away, so I figure with you as the horse we’ll get then in a day and a half.”

Kamiko shook her head, but smiled anyway and she started into a light jog (for her, a breakneck sprint for anyone else). She knew that Asami was just trying to take her mind off of things, and she loved and appreciated her for it. “Look out, oni! Here we come!” she shouted as they left the compound and entered their new lives.