The fire had almost consumed part of the street and threatened to spread to the other close knit buildings. The occupants were stampeding through the narrow street, hauling along their sleepy eyed children or worldly possessions, pushing against each other in an effort to flee.

Suzume jumped into the crowd. "Konata baa-sama!" Shapes blurred past her and some of them charged against her.. "Konata baa-sama! Where are you?!"

She was finding it hard to breathe, looking to the mass of people disappearing around the corner. Somebody almost knocked her off her feet and managed to knock her head back into place. The searing heat and the screams were pressing against her back now. The crowd of people thinned and only the stragglers were left to run past.

Suzume turned around to see the flames flare, sending sparks zipping up into the air and causing blackened pieces of wood to snap and fall to the ground.  

Suzume ran into the fire.

She sped past the scattered shinobi who were trying to control the flames, not one of them noticing the shinobi-in-training.

Once Suzume arrived at Konata's house, she bolted inside and felt her skin scald as she was enshrouded by a new intensity of pounding heat. The smoke was quick to enter her lungs and she covered her nose and mouth once she began to cough sporadically. Her eyes watered as she scanned the blackening room.

"Konata baa-sama!" she yelled out before plunging into the fire. "Konata baa-sama!"

Suzume headed to the backroom and reached out for the handle only to have her hand burn. She clicked her tongue in impatience, braced herself and swung her leg out in a roundhouse kick. The door flew off its hinges and after a quick scan of the already melting room, she rushed to deal the same damage to the door leading to the living room beyond.

She had more luck this time.

Suzume ran to the fallen woman's side and pulled her arm over her shoulders. She glimpsed drops of blood splatter onto the ground from Konata's head. 

Placing the woman in a fireman's hold, Suzume headed to the nearest window. But the fire had different plans.

The only warning she had was when the ceiling began to creak piercingly. She jumped back and her eyes snapped to look behind her. As soon as her feet touched the floor, she leapt away once more. The supporting beams on the ceiling weren't so much anymore as they embraced the earth with resounding crashes. 

They blocked both sets of windows. Having no other choice, she ran back the way she came. The moment she was through the door, the entire ceiling collapsed behind her and the force from the blast threw her off her feet. It took a split second for her to decide the trajectory in which Konata would land, determining the position where the unconscious woman would receive minimum damage.

Suzume tossed Konata before crashing into a fiery display of burning clothes and her back caught fire. After smothering it, she went over to pick up Konata again.

All she had to do now was get through the front door. She could hear the shouts of civilians outside and sense the chakra signatures of shinobi rushing to the scene.

Crunch!

The wooden boards underfoot had succumbed under their combined weight and when Suzume tried to pull it back out, the spiked ends of the wood dug into her leg, keeping her ensnared there.

She struggled to pull her foot out.

She was steadily losing oxygen. It wasn't the flames that will kill her, it was their greed.

The door was right there.

The wood was too thick to snap or slice. Should she cut her leg off? It would be harder to get to the exit though. And the pain and blood loss might make her already woozy head shut down altogether. Could she handle the shock her body would go through?

Suzume didn't have time to think this through. At least she'd have a chance to escape if she lost one limb. If she stayed here doing nothing she wouldn't have any such chances.

Coming to a decision, she was reaching for her short blade when dust showered onto her head and an incessant whining slithered above her. She saw cracks run along the wood above her.

She had time to draw in a soft breath before the ceiling plummeted down.

Everything was dark but she could still feel the weight, the sharp pain in her leg; all senses she would've lost in death. She slowly peeled open her eyes and lifted them. Sand skittered down her skin.

"Gaara-sama!" she gasped and then winced. Her lungs felt constricted. She dropped onto one knee and felt the wood sink deeper into her skin.

"Always so reckless," she heard her brother say as the tan grains around her swallowed the flames. Gaara moved the ceiling to the side and let it collapse onto the middle of the street, letting out the remaining smoke into the air along with a flurry of ashes.

Gaara's sand spanned out across the sky and then fell like a shower of hail and extinguished most of the fire and left the shinobi covered with enough sand to fill their own personal sandbox.

The medical shinobi arrived at the scene and gently lifted Konata from Suzume's shoulders. Suzume slouched in relief only to hiss in pain when the shock drugging up her skewered leg withdrew. Gaara caught her before she could fall backwards, lowering her carefully to the ground, arm around her shoulders to give her support. He looked from her soot coated face where beads of sweat were tracking trails down the grim, to her bloody leg, shards of wood embedded in her skin.

"It's not life threatening," he diagnosed, looking back to his sister's face. "You'll be fine."

Suzume swallowed hard and nodded, her throat felt like it was on fire. "Water..." she said hoarsely.

Gaara opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of approaching footsteps stopped him short. The medics were back for his sister.

"Please move aside so we can tend to her," one of them said, speaking to Gaara's shoulder.

Gaara stood but Suzume snapped open her feverish eyes and began to search for him frantically, reaching out a hand, "Gaara nii..."

Somebody got between him and Suzume and he realized the medics took the chance to surround her.

"It's in pretty deep," said the medic examining her bloody ankle. "Get me the saw."

What was happening? Where was Gaara? Her head was getting light from the amount of blood gushing out of her body and she felt people moving around her, pushing down on her limbs securely.

A hand slapped her on her cheek urgently. "Stay awake, miss."

Something was pushing against Suzume's mouth insistently and she felt cloth clog her jaw. "This won't be pleasant."

With those words and the sound of harsh sawing a pain spiked through her foot like needles. Suzume's back arched and her eyes flew open, struggling against the people who were holding her down.

They finished dislocating the wooden plank from the floor and Suzume sagged in exhaustion. She still had wood impaled into her leg but now she could lay it down in a more comfortable position.

"Definite carbon monoxide poisoning," one of the medics diagnosed. "Get a nonrebreather mask on her immediately. We'll have to check for cyanide poisoning just to be sure."

"We'll be relocating you to the hospital where we'll remove the rest of the wood."

Suzume was too dazed to respond.

"We're going to put you on a stretcher now."

They lifted her up and placed her on a stretcher and her nonrebreather mask was placed over her mouth and nose.

"I'm coming with you," said a familiar voice.

There was no sound of rebuff but neither was there one of permission. Suzume started to panic. She wanted Gaara here, with her. They couldn't make him leave.

Suzume struggled to sit up but only managed to fall off the stretcher to land in a cloud of sand. Something was constricting her chest and she felt like she'd forgotten how to breathe.

She felt someone appear by her side and clasp her hands in his. "Breathe, Suzume. Breathe."

"Don't leave," she pleaded with him between rattling rasps. "I'm scared. Don't leave."

"I won't, I promise," Gaara said firmly.

Suzume passed out a moment later.

When she next opened her eyes, she saw a silky darkness around her. A sense of déjà vu chilled her insides and she walked forward. The darkness lightened into a yellowish green the further she went and she was face to face with a huge, roundish lump.

It screeched and tried to back paddle away from her. "You again!" it exclaimed in a shrill voice.

Realization sunk in her and Suzume jogged closer to the beast, who jumped at her approach. Her eyes were wide with curiousity and excitement, "You're Shukaku."

"Oh, really?" he said, rolling his eyes. "And who do you think you are to keep barging into someone else's prison uninvited, hm?"

"What do you mean?" Suzume tilted her head to the side. "I've never been here before."

"Ugh," Shukaku groaned. "Whatever, I'll just ignore you until you go away."

He rotated around, brushing Suzume along with his tail until he stopped. She disentagled herself from his tail and stood facing his broad back.     

Suzume considered what to do and settled on hopping up to Shukaku's head.

"Wha-Hey!" Shukaku bristled as Suzume got to the top of his head. "Ever heard of respecting another person's bubble?!"

Suzume made herself comfortable and reached out to scratch Shukaku's ear. He yelped in surprise then melted into her touch.

"Oooooh, that feels good. Right there, right there. Yeah..." he purred.

A good natured laugh caught both of their attention and Suzume crawled to look over the side of Shukaku's head to see a man with a mane of spiky brown hair -which added a good many inches to his height- and warm, molten caramel eyes. 

"Sounds like you've managed to melt Shu-kun's icy heart, Suzume-chan," he smiled.

Shukaku huffed. "Oh, it's the bipolar one. Who are you today, serious pants or fluffy nicey?"

Suzume landed in front of the man and stared up at him without reservation, but he didn't seem to mind as he beamed sunnily back.

"So it's foofy fluffy-kins today," Shukaku decided in the background.

"How are you in here?" Suzume asked finally.

"The same way you're in here," the man answered cryptically. He held out a hand. "I'm Gryffin. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

Suzume eagerly accepted his hand.

"If you can call it 'in person'," Shukaku grumbled.

"Are you a Sand shinobi?" Suzume inquired. "Can we meet outside? Can we be friends?"

He laughed amiably. "Of course we can be friends, but I'm not a Sand shinobi, nor can we meet outside."

"Okay," Suzume said readily, surprising both the beast and the man. "We can still be friends."

Gryffin smiled a soft smile and bent down to her level. He cupped her cheek in his palm. "Suzume-chan, I want you to take what I say next to heart. No matter what happens, always remember to be kind."

Her eyebrows creased slightly. Everything was getting blurry. "Why are you telling me this, Gryffin-san?"

"And it's okay to be scared." His voice was fading away. "It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be weak."

"Gryffin-san?" She couldn't see him anymore. Were her eyes closed? "Gryffin-san?"

Gryffin and Shukaku were gone.

_ _ _

"What was that, Gryffin?" called an irked voice.

The owner of the voice stomped her way toward the two, a vein protruding out of her forehead.

"Of course you can come in," Shukaku said sarcastically.

"You were always so hard on them, Ookami," Gryffin sighed.

"And you always insist on babying them!" the woman bellowed. "She wasn't supposed to come in here again until she was ready!"

"Oh! Is this a party?!" blared an enthusiastic voice and the new arrival ran into them at top speed and the three all collapsed into a groaning pile.

"Dragon!" Ookami shoved his face away. "Take this seriously for once!"

"I'm always serious!" Dragon defended. "You're the one who's always uptight!"

"Suzume-chan's just a kid. You're putting too much pressure on her!" Gryffin bit out.

The three of them extricated themselves away from each other and the air thinned as if it were trying to escape. Gryffin's eyes sharpened and glowed a sunset orange, Dragon's black eyes melted into a rich green, and Ookami's shone silver.

"You two are always breaking the rules!" Ookami said. She pointed an accusing finger at Dragon. "You appointed humans and even half-blood Huns into your ranks! And you," she moved her finger to land on Gryffin, "you appointed an actual Hun and look where that got you! He betrayed you!"

"It's better than denying everyone from getting close to you!" Dragon retorted. "You didn't even have any subordinates, least of all friends!"

"You were being a coward," Gryffin's voice was deeper now and his eyebrows were knitted. "We tried to help-- everyone tried to help, but you pushed us away."

"I didn't need help," she grinded out.

"What you were doing in life wasn't healthy." Gryffin's eyes grew kinder. "We know you're suffering. You're plaguing yourself with guilt you shouldn't be harboring. What happened with Ginzo wasn't-"

Gryffin was sent skidding across the chamber from a powerful blow. He lowered his smoking arms and gazed steadily at an enraged Ookami.

Don't speak of that! She was speaking in their tongue.

It's been centuries, Gryffin replied. When will you stop this?

Shut your mouth! Ookami let loose another blast, but Dragon jumped in and backhanded the attack aside. Ookami narrowed her eyes. You too, Dragon?

I don't care about your self-pity. Dragon's hands curled into fists. But you always insult my friends without even trying to get to know them and I won't stand here and let you slight them!

The two sides glared each other down and the cavern whined at the building tension. The fight was about to commence when a giant paw slammed in the middle of their stare off and the water split and exploded over them.

When the water settled and freed them, the three sat dazed in the shallows. 

"If you're going to fight, do it somewhere else!" Shukaku roared. "Preferably where Kurama is."

All of their eyes were returned to their orginal, dormant state and Gryffin helped Dragon back onto his feet. "Sorry about that, Shu-kun."

The sound of sloshing water drew their gazes and saw a dripping Ookami walking away.

Dragon's lips shook and he squeezed his eyes shut, "Go ahead! Run away like you always do! You're not the only who misses their family, you know! We're the only ones left here and you keep avoiding us, even though we should stick together! You're... such a...! Jerkface!"

Dragon broke himself away from Gryffin who reached out for him, "Dragon!" But he disappeared in a shower of sparks.

"Geez," Shukaku stared after him, "you guys don't sync together at all."

Gryffin chuckled. A wistful, sad glaze coated his eyes. "Yeah... never have."

He faced Ookami again who still hadn't turned around. "Suzume-chan will be fine."

She twitched. "Where did that come from?"

Gryffin let out a laugh. "Wasn't that what we were talking about in the first place?"

"It's not going to be easy."

"When is it ever?"

Ookami looked over her shoulder to see Gryffin grinning. "She'll be fine," he said again.

And they both faded away.