When my eyes pried open, I was back in my room in the mountain home. My bear was sitting on his usual self. He was staring in me, almost as if he was accusing me of something.

"What do you want?" I groaned.

I rolled out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast. The twins' door was closed, they were probably still resting from yesterday's training. I made breakfast for them and Father.

Yurei limped into the kitchen. He grinned when he saw me and clobbered me in a hug.

"You're alive!" He choked out a sob.

"Why wouldn't I be?" At first I was confused... Until I the memories of last night came flooding back.

I hugged Yurei tighter, "Why are you walking around? You should be resting in bed! Where's Tamashi?"

Yurei pulled back, "Being lazy and sleeping."

I smirked, Tamashi never slept in past sunrise, "He must be really tired..."

"Who was that man?" Yurei asked as he dug into his breakfast.

I shrugged, "Dunno, I was going to ask you or Tamashi."

I sat down across from Yurei with mine and Tamashi's plates, "What happened after I left?"

"Not much," Yurei managed to speak between bites, "Tamashi set my leg and used a strip of his shirt to stop the bleeding. From his gash, I mean. We waited all day for you, we had no idea what was taking you so long. Then that guy showed up... He never said a word, just stood there and watched us. Tamashi tried to fight him, but he was too weak from the explosion. What happened to you?"

I blushed, "It's a little embarrassing, but I was captured. Someone just wanted to take a cute little kitten home I guess. I had to wait til they were asleep to make my escape."

Yurei leaned across the table to ruffle my hair, "Well you are pretty cute as a kitten."

I laughed and slapped at his arm.

"Well, better go get Tamashi."

Yurei tried to stand up, but I forced him to sit back down, "Your leg needs to rest. Besides, Tamashi might be deaf if you try to wake him."

"Pft, he isn't deaf yet, and I've been getting him up for years."

I laughed again and shook my head. I ran up the stairs as a cat. I nudged the door open and jumped onto the bed, purring. I rubbed my body on Tamashi's face.

'Wake up,' I thought, but it came out as a loud meow.

Tamashi didn't move. I morphed into a human to redress his wounds. His forehead was burning up. Pus oozed from the gash.

I quickly dampened a washcloth to clean the wound. I brushed his snowy hair aside and started wiping his head down. He flinched but didn't wake up.

"Wake up, nii-san!" I whined.

Nothing.

I wrapped his head back up and set the washcloth aside. Tamashi was still too warm, so I took off the rest of his ripped shirt and took off the blanket.

Next I went back to Yurei. I still had an old crutch in my room from when I was ten. I adjusted it to Yurei's height.

"What's this for?" Yurei asked when I offered it to him.

"It's for your leg and you will use it."

Yurei groaned but put the crutch under his arm. I picked up his dirty dish and cleaned it.

"I'm gonna go take a nap," Yurei limped away.

"Good, you need it," I said to his back.

After I finished the dishes I put Tamashi's breakfast away and went outside to train.

An old punching bag hung from a tree just outside the house. I wrapped my hands and feet. I was still wearing my rose dress. I spent most of the day training.

"Kage!" Yurei called, "I'm hungry!"

I looked up, it had to be close to 6pm.

"You should have called me in before lunch!" I scolded, "Is Tamashi awake yet?"

Yurei shook his head sadly. I sighed. After dinner I retreated to my room. Yurei took Tamashi dinner in case he woke up.

In my room, I stripped out of my dress. I wrapped my breasts the same way I had my hands and feet, only in black. I also put on a pair of black shorts. A leather choker that looked like a collar was around my neck.

I picked up the bear and sat on the bed with it. One button eye was missing and its ear was torn. I walked back over to my closet. I dug around until I found a tan velvet box. Inside was several rolls of string, an abundance of multicolored buttons, and three different sized needles.

It took a few tries to find the right sized black button. My stitches were shaky but sufficient. I held the bear up for inspection. He looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

I hugged the bear and gently set him on my bed. I put both my box and dress away in my closet. When I turned back to my bed, the bear had moved. It had fallen over on its side.

My tail twitched and I extended my whiskers. A trail of sand ran from my closet to the bear and back to me. It was slowly coiling up my leg. I hissed and retracted my whiskers.

I morphed and leaped away. I hissed and growled lowly. My hackles stood on end. The sand swirled into a funnel on the floor.

I pointed my whiskers at the funnel, but there was nothing else there. My tail lashed back and forth, my ears flattened against my skull.

The funnel zoomed towards me. I jumped away as it reached my bed. It destroyed the bed and consumed the bear. I swatted at the stray sand particles.

Panic rose in my throat. The sand funnel closed around me and I was swept away with the teddy bear. Sand mingled with my fur. It got in my eyes, ears, even between my tiny toes.

I was deposited as a human back in Gaara's house.

"Welcome back, Kuri," I heard Gaara growl.