Sakura kept shooting looks at me, "You said your brother's names are Yurei and Tamashi?"

I instantly got defensive, "Yes, and mine is Kage. The three of us are Yurei, Tamashi, and Kage no Akumu."

Sakura gaped at me. I ignored her. Everyone always judged us by our names, but we chose them. Well, we chose our first names at least. Everyone assumed Father had named us and was abusive to us, since we always had various cuts and bruises from constantly training.

"Our names are not important," I said curtly, "Can you help my brothers or not?"

"What's wrong with this one?" Sakura gestured to Yurei.

"Yurei? He broke his leg in the explosion."

Yurei stirred at the mention of his name. He blinked a few times and sat up, holding his head.

"What's up, Kage?" Then he noticed Sakura, "Woah! Who is this and why is she here?"

"Relax," I put my hand on his shoulder to keep him down, "I'll explain everything later, but for now, she's here to help."

Yurei glared at Sakura suspiciously, "What do you mean by help?"

"I-I can heal your l-leg," Sakura stammered.

Yurei rolled his eyes. He swung his leg over the edge of his bed. Sakura lifted it up so she could look at it. She made a few hand signs and ran her fingertips along the length of Yurei's leg. He grimaced.

"What... How is this possible?" Sakura took a step back.

"How is what possible?" Yurei and I both growled at her.

She looked between us, "Your leg. It should be long gone by now, but I found something odd in it."

Yurei looked down at his leg, "Gone?"

"What's in his leg?" I was interested now.

"Sand... Lots and lots of sand. It seems to be holding the bone fragments together. His leg was completely shattered in that initial hit."

Gaara... He must have recognized me before and understood Yurei was important to me... Thank you, Gaara.

"Is it possible to fix his leg?" I asked.

Sakura nodded, "Yes, very easily, but do you have any idea how sand could have gotten inside of his leg?"

I simply shrugged. I could tell Sakura didn't believe me, but she had bigger things to worry about. She made more hand signals and started massaging Yurei's broken limb. He grunted in pain. His hands clenched at his blanket.

When Sakura took her hands away, they were overflowing with sand. She looked horrified. She shrieked when it flew from her hands and landed at my feet.

"Is there a problem, Sakura?" I asked her.

"G-Gaara..." Sakura stumbled away from us, "How do you guys know him?!"

"Who is Gaara?" Yurei glared at me.

"A freak!" Sakura cried.

My tail lashed and my pupils dilated, "Don't talk about him like that! Get out of my house!"

A tear slipped down Sakura's cheek, "You're all freaks... Sasuke!!"

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Naruto burst through the door with Sasuke close behind. I turned to them and growled low.

"I'll save you, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, "Believe it!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and drew his kunai. I felt both my whiskers and nails extend. I focused on Sakura, she seemed the weakest. I circled the twins' bed.

"Kage, what are you doing?" Yurei tried to stand up, but his leg gave out.

"Stay out of this Yurei," I warned.

I morphed into a kitten and leaped at Sakura's pretty little face. I morphed back at the last second and clawed her. She dodged, so my nails only grazed her cheek and ear.

"Kage, look out!" Yurei shouted.

I spun around too late. Sasuke's kunai was too close for me to dodge. Suddenly, a wall of sand shot up to stop the weapon. I caught a look of four confused and scared faces before the sand closed over my head.

The shifting sand blocked sound as well as sight, "Please don't hurt them..." I told the sand.

Slowly, the sand seeped back into the floorboards. I looked around. Sakura was passed out, Naruto holding her up. Sasuke was holding a knife to Yurei's neck. Yurei was smiling at me.

My face contorted in rage. I directed my anger at Sasuke. The sand did as I told and crawled up his legs. It got between the blade and Yurei's skin, forcing it away.

"No one ever hurts my brothers," I warned my half brother, "Except me."

I lunged at him and punched his face. Sasuke flew back into the wall. I faced Naruto with blood dripping from my knuckles.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto stood up.

I grinned sadistically. I licked the blood from my hand to scare him. Naruto shivered but reached into his weapon bag. I tensed, expecting him to pull out a kunai or ninja stars. Instead, he threw a smoke bomb at me.

I yowled. I started coughing uncontrollably. Yurei was coughing too, which meant he was still alive at least. I followed the sound of his coughing to the bed.

"Are- *cough cough* you OK? *cough*" I placed my hand on Yurei's shoulder.

Yurei coughed a few more times but nodded. His skin was unbroken, no blood anywhere. I held on to him until the smoke cleared.

The sand and the ninjas were gone when it did. Tamashi lay unfazed. I felt bad Sakura didn't have time to try and heal him before she left.

Yurei seemed to read my thoughts, "It's not your fault. You did your best, no one got hurt."

A drop of liquid hit the floor. My ears homed in on the sound.

"No... No! No, no, no, how did this happen?" I pulled at my hair.

I ran over to Tamashi's bed and screamed. This was all my fault...

I had to get out of Herr and warn Gaara! Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura would be coming after him next. I fled the area despite Yurei's protests.

My whiskers extended, searching for the three. They were in the next mountain over. Naruto was doing his best to carry both his comrades. I morphed and sprinted down the mountain side to Suna.

"Gaara!" I cried when I entered the house, "You have to get out of Suna!"

I passed out on the floor. All I remembered was the sand braking my fall so I didn't smash my face against ground.