"B-brother?" my voiced quivered.

I could see him standing just off to the side, his back towards me. He was bent over. I took a few careful steps forward when he still didn't answer me.

"A-are you okay?"

His head turned slightly. I could see blood spattered across his face. I covered my mouth with my hand. Was it his own blood? Did he get hurt because of me?! I fell to my knees and he moved quickly.

"Did that jerk hurt you?" he asked worriedly. His hands skimmed across my arms and face, checking for any wounds.

I shook my head. "D-did you get hurt? I asked with a sniffle.

He picked me up and gave me a hug. "No. It's his blood." He lightly set me on my feet and grabbed my hand. "Let's go home."

I clutched it tightly and followed him. He was my only sibling, my only family left. He got into fights a lot, but he always came home okay. A lot of the time, it was my fault. One of the boys would decide it would be fun to pick on me or to try something with me, but my brother would always be there for me. I loved him with all my heart, and I knew he cared about me a lot, too.

We stopped outside of a small house near the cliff. It was almost like a room in one of the other kid's houses, but it was our home. My brother said he found it one day for me. It was the best thing, in my eyes. We were away from the town that was so mean to him and me. And it was near the ocean. My brother wanted to become a pirate one day, but he said he would wait until I could find another family to live with. I still remember crying when I heard that. I wanted to stay with my brother, not get stuck with someone who didn't care about me.

He pulled me inside our house and I sat on our bed. He muttered something about going to the water to wash off, so I let him go alone. Sometimes my brother doesn't want to talk about what's bothering him. I laid on my side. I was only six years old and my brother was ten. The ladies in town would complain that my brother wasn't old enough to take care of me. They weren't very smart. My brother was the strongest boy in town.

I had almost fallen asleep by the time my brother came back. He laid next to me and pulled the blanket over us. "Goodnight," he whispered.

I moved closer to lay against his chest. "Night, brother…"

-the next day—

I woke slowly. When I saw my brother standing by the doorway, I got up quickly. He glanced at me before handing me a small fruit. "Here. Breakfast."

I gave him a hug and grabbed the fruit. He said it was an apple. It tasted good! I quickly finished it and stood next to him. He held his hand out for me to take, and we left when I did.

My brother likes to walk around for most of the day. That's another thing the ladies talk about. They would say it wasn't good for me to be out so much. I didn't understand- I was always healthy. I liked to be with my brother, so I walked with him. I never complained because I didn't want him to worry. When he worried, that's when other people would get hurt.

I tripped over a rock and he stopped to look at me. "I'm fine," I assured him. He nodded once before pulling me along again.

We stopped outside of the baker's shop when the sun was high. I think my brother said it was after lunch. I carefully knocked on the back door and waited for someone to answer. The baker was a really nice man. He told me I should visit him each day so he could give me a little food. He said it was the stuff that hadn't sold the day before and that he always kept it for me.

He opened the door and smiled when he saw me. "Here you go, little lady," he said as he handed me two buns.

I grinned and gave him a small hug before running over to my brother. He didn't like to ask people for food, but he would always eat the food I gave to him. Well, he did as long as he thought I had enough. He silently took one bun from me and we ate them. I sat on the ground next to my brother.

"What do you want," he growled.

I looked up to see two boys standing to the side of us. I moved behind my brother.

"We're here to make you pay us back for beating Ronny almost to death," one boy sneered.

I was scared. Ronny was the boy who was being mean to me yesterday. My brother hurt him for being mean. He glared at the two boys.

"He deserved it. No one touches my sister," he spat.

The boys looked like they were getting mad. I was shaking. My brother always told me he could take on anyone who went against him, but I didn't know if that meant he could take on more than one. The first boy ran forward and tried to punch him. My brother punched him just before he threw his punch. The other boy was circling around.

I felt a hand grab my arm and I screamed. My brother whipped around and glared at the one holding me.

"You'd better let her go now or I'll rip your hands off of her."

I pulled against the boy holding me, but he wouldn't let go.

"You shouldn't leave your back so open, child."

My brother growled again- he hated to be called a child. Everyone would back away from him when he growled. Even these boys seemed afraid of him. I looked back at the boy holding me. He looked older than my brother. I didn't want my brother to fight him, what if he got hurt?

"Let me go! You're making my brother mad!" I yelled at him.

He covered my mouth with his other hand. I frowned when he did this. I only ever let my brother come this close to me! I bit the boy's finger, making him curse. I could hear my brother laughing as the boy tried to pull his finger out of my mouth.

"That's what you get for messing with her. And now to what you'll get for messing with me."

The boy had let go of my arm to try get me off him, so I pushed myself away quickly. I knew my brother wanted me away from him so he wouldn't have to worry about me getting hurt. I saw the second boy still standing a little ways away. I didn't want them to catch me again, so I climbed up the tree next to me. My brother had taught me how to climb a long time ago. He said it was one of the safest spots.

I watched my brother punch the older boy, the second one trying to sneak up on him.

"Behind you!" I yelled.

My brother turned around in time to block the second boy and then fling him in front so the older boy punched his friend instead my brother. I laughed when I saw his face. The older boy was stunned while my brother was holding back a laugh. He finished both boys in just a few more punches, leaving them lying in the dirt.

He stopped at the bottom of the tree. "You can come down now," he said while holding his hands up to me.

I giggled and jumped down so he could catch me. He spun me around once before setting me on the ground. I gave him a tight hug. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the other side of town. He had a couple scratches and I wanted to get something for them. I left him outside once I told him I was going inside the medical store. The bell dinged as the door opened. The old lady looked over to see me and let out a sigh.

"Little Presea. Did your brother get into a fight again?" she sounded unsurprised.

"No, ma'am. The boys were being mean again and one of them grabbed me."

She let out another sigh and motioned me to come closer. "I think I have something here you can use. You're lucky I get some extra supplies in that you can use. Your brother uses up a lot."

I nodded. "Thank you, Mrs.J." I couldn't remember her last name; it was too long for me.

She glanced at me. "Just call me Ella, dearie." She patted my head and went back to looking for stuff. I heard a small "ah-ha!" and she passed me some bandages and a small bottle. "Careful with this, it cleans out the wounds. It'll sting a bit, but then the wounds will heal better. And don't use too much, it's expensive stuff to get in."

I squealed and gave her a hug. She smiled, returning it. "Thank you, Ella!" I ran out of the store.

I stopped when I got outside. My brother was leaning against the wall, looking across the street. I showed him the stuff I had gotten and he nodded, not really paying attention.

"Brother, are you okay?"

He shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah, I'm fine." He glanced down at me before turning his back to me. "Hop on."

I laughed, jumping onto his back. He knew how much I loved getting a ride around town. I was smiling the whole ride back to our house. He set me down and walked inside. I stepped in to drop the stuff Ella gave me and then to grab a pot.

"I'm going to get water!" I yelled back as I ran down to the ocean.

I ran down the path that led to the ocean. I stopped at the edge of the water for a moment, staring. It was so pretty. I giggled and filled the pot with water and ran back up. My brother was sitting on the floor against the wall. I grabbed a rag and wet it, washing my brother's face and arms. He sat still- I always did this for him. When I was done, I dabbed a small bit of the liquid on his cuts. He hissed when I first touched him and I backed away, crying.

"I'm sorry!"

He pulled me back to him. "Don't be. I just wasn't expecting that." He slowly brushed my hair until I calmed down again.

I quickly finished with the liquid, afraid I would hurt him more if I was slower. I set everything in the box in the corner. My brother found it and said I could use it to keep my stuff in, so I always filled it with the leftover medical stuff and anything I found. I lightly brushed the little animal inside it. My brother told me mom had given it to me before she left. I pulled it out and sat against him.

He told me mom had white hair, that's why my hair was pink and his was red. He said dad's hair was red, too. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. My brother wasn't afraid of anything and he always stood up for me. He was a lot taller than me, too. He liked to joke that I would always be short. I believed him- he knew more than me.

I fell asleep against him, clutching the animal he said was called a teddy bear. He carried me to our bed and we slept again.

-the next day—

I woke up, but my brother wasn't there. I frowned a little. He was always here when I woke up. I looked down at my teddy bear. It used to be white, but it had gotten really dirty. I decided I would wash it so it was clean again.

I stepped out of our house and looked around. My brother still wasn't around. I walked down to the ocean, knowing he always looked here if I wasn't in our house. I skipped down the path and stopped at the edge of the water. I crouched down and tried to clean my teddy. I was really happy, it was actually getting clean!

I paused when I saw a small fruit float to me. It looked like flames. I picked it up and looked at it more carefully. I wonder where it came from… I saw something dark float up a little ways down the shore. I let out a small scream before covering my mouth with my hand. It was a pale looking boy in black clothes.

I walked closer to him, afraid he would suddenly jump up. He had long blonde hair and a bad scratch across his face. He looked like he was hurt bad. I pulled him further out of the water, but he still didn't move. I placed my ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. At least he's still alive. I nodded to myself and pulled him further. I wanted to get him back to our house before he got sick.

I frowned. This was taking a long time. I only got him a little ways up the path and I was already getting tired. I bet my brother could do this easily. I tried harder, still wanting to be like my brother. If he could do it, then I would try until I could, too. The boy looked small enough to me, so I pulled him until he was sitting up against a rock. I thought I could get this to work better if I gave him a ride like my brother would give me.

He was heavier than he looked. I had his arms over my shoulders so I could keep him from falling off. He was still dragging on the ground, though. My brother was right about me being short. I had placed my teddy inside the boy's sweater, not wanting to leave it behind at the ocean. The fruit I found was sitting inside my own shirt. I had to show my brother later!

It took a long time, but I finally dragged the boy the rest of the way up the path. I still couldn't see my brother anywhere though. After a few more minutes, I had gotten the boy inside our house and laid him on the ground. I searched through my medical stuff, finding the sticky bandages and then the cleaning liquid.

The boy didn't move when I touched the liquid to his face. Shouldn't he move if it's supposed to sting? I placed one of the sticky bandages on the scratch on his face after finished with the liquid. I put everything away and got my teddy back from the boy. I pulled off his sweater, too, hanging it on the edge of the door like I did when I washed one of my brother's sweaters.

I sat on the floor next to him, waiting for my brother to come back. I fell asleep leaning against the wall.

"Presea!"

I heard my brother calling my name. I got up quickly, rubbing my eyes. I stepped outside to see him walking from the forest.

"Where were you before? You disappeared for about an hour."

I gave him a hug when he got closer. "I went to the ocean to wash my teddy. He's white again!" He brushed my hair back when I looked up at him. "Oh! And I found a boy!"

He looked confused and worried. "You found him?"

I pulled him into the house and pointed at the boy sleeping on our floor. "See? He came on the water! And I brought him up here. Can he stay for now?"

My brother sighed and patted my head. "Yeah, I guess so. I didn't think someone could come on the water… He'll probably be asleep for a while, okay?"

I nodded and pulled him over to my box. "And I found this, too!"

I showed him the funny fruit I found. He looked closely at it and gave it back to me. "Don't eat it, it could be bad for you."

I set it carefully inside my box and turned back to him. My brother was watching the boy carefully. He suddenly tugged on my arm. "Let's go."

We walked around town again, but this time, no one tried to hurt me or my brother. I stopped back at the baker's again and this time he gave me three buns! I was really excited about that. My brother told me I should hold onto the third one for now, just in case the boy woke up. I held onto it with one hand, and then gripped my brother's hand in my other.

He took me back home when it started getting late. He said he wanted me to go to bed soon since I had to be tired from bringing the boy to our house. I agreed with him- he always knew better than me. I was starting to yawn when we reached the house. My brother stopped me when we were just outside the door. I could hear something moving around inside.

He pushed me to the side and slammed the door open. I peeked inside to see the boy standing in the corner. I jumped in and ran up to him.
"You're awake, mister!" He looked warily at me, so I smiled. "My name's Presea and this is my brother! What's your name?"

He was silent and my brother pulled me a little further away from him. "What's your name, boy?" my brother asked angrily.

I looked between the two boys. My brother seemed to be getting angry.

"I- don't have one anymore. I got rid of it when I left my island."

I felt confused. You can get rid of your name? But why would you want to? My brother seemed to be confused, too.

"Why did you get rid of it?"

The boy paused for a moment. "I killed them. The people from my island."

I felt my brother pull me behind him. "And how do I know if you'll try that on us?"

The boy took a step back. "I won't. Your sister must have saved me, and you have done nothing wrong to me. My people… they would take turns at hurting me."

I felt sad for the boy. He didn't have any family. I may not have my mom or dad, but I did have my brother. I slowly stepped out from behind my brother and walked closer to him. He froze against the wall and watched me carefully. I gave him a tight hug.

"Then you can be my other brother!"

I could hear my brother laughing behind me. "I guess she's decided. I suppose you'll be staying with us from now on."

I smiled and ran back to my brother, giving him a hug as well. "Can he really stay?" I asked excitedly.

He brushed my hair. "Yeah." He looked back at the boy. "What'll your name be, then? Pick one, killer."

The boy shifted his feet. "Killer, I guess."

My brother was laughing. "Sounds good, Killer." He held his hand out. "I'm Kid and I'm going to be the pirate who becomes the Pirate King."

I grinned when I heard him. That's what he always wanted to be, and I wanted to help him. "That means Killer can be your first mate!" I looked at him and he nodded. "Now you have one member!"

My brother laughed and gave me a hug. "Now I have two, you mean. I won't leave my little sister behind."

I loved when he would tell me that. I never wanted to leave my brother's side, no matter what happened.