You know, I've come to the conclusion that I am not good at laying down clues. I am a horrible comic book villain…

Warnings: NASTY THINGS and disappointment

(**)

Severus strode into the village swiftly, heading straight for the Kazekage's mansion. Yes, he knew that the villagers were just as important but Katsuya's health and his children were the priorities in his mind. It was eerily silent as he ran to the mansion, instructing Shizune to begin helping the other inhabitants. The only sound he could pick up was a few quiet groans and painfully loud howls of wind that mourned the death of the men, women, and children. Severus made it and, with a deep breath, he kicked the heavy door down.

Darkness greeted him. Nothing but darkness and the stench of death stretched before their eyes. Fear clawed at Severus' throat or that might be the bile that fought against the back of his tongue. The smells and images that accompanied them nearly caused Severus to back away and run back to his family just so that he didn't have to endure the rancid odor.

Severus growled and pushed forward, carefully making his way through each room. He came upon the last room and paused. Inside, he could hear someone. He or she were whimpering and shifting around. Severus sighed in relief at the sound of life and pushed the door open.

"Merlin's beard," Severus gasped, stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall as he viewed the room. It was practically covered in blood and vomit, most of it centered on the three beings huddled in the middle of the floor. Severus' eyes widened as he saw Katsuya, his broad and tall body curled around two smaller bodies, his children more likely than not. He was absolutely covered in sick and yet he still cradled the children. He was rocking back and forth, his journal cast to the side, open and drenched with his message still sprawled sloppily across it.

"Severus," Katsuya whispered. His head turned slowly towards him, eyes wide with tears pouring down his streaked face. "You came but you're too late Severus. They're dead. Oh, my little Tem and Kankuro… they're dead. I tried to stop it. I gave them so much… so much and they still died. They're dead."

Severus took a small breath and stepped into the room. He fell to his knees on the moist floor in front of the man and gently grabbed the boy first. It took a moment for Katsuya to release, his body stiff and unwilling to listen to him. The Magic User could tell that the man was infected and delusional from the fever but, luckily, he did not seem to be in the final stages with the burning pain that Tayuya had howled about. Severus pulled the limp body close to him and pressed his hand over the brunette's chest, closing his eyes and focusing on feeling. There, a tiny heartbeat was sounding under his fingers.

"Katsuya, calm down, Kankuro is not dead. Neither is Temari. But we have to get them somewhere… cleaner so that I may give both them and you the antidote. Come on, stand," Severus ordered, climbing to his own feet. Katsuya stared back at him before shaking his head.

"Dead. Dead. They're both so dead. My poor little Tem and Kankuro. Just like my Karura. This is my fault. They're dead. Dead. Bloody and dead," Katsuya rocked back and forth, dragging Temari closer to his chest. Severus frowned and carried the boy away, he was better off healing Kankuro and going back for the two instead of wasting time. He walked to the master bedroom and found it completely destroyed. The bed was in half, the walls punched out, gold dust sprinkled everywhere. It was a complete massacre in the space as if Katsuya had battled someone in his room. Severus dismissed the idea, the man had probably tried to fight an illusion.

"Dammit…" Severus cursed under his breath and went to a guest room. He placed the dirty child down on the bed and stripped him of his light clothing. Kankuro was absolutely burning and making small, almost silent noises of pain. He was so close to death, covered in the disgusting rash that stretched from his face and neck and all the way to his thighs.

The boy would need a bath but that was definitely something to wait on. Severus opened the boy's mouth and expertly measured a spoonful of the antidote with his eyes before forcing the jaw to clamp close and massaging his throat until Kankuro finally swallowed.

Severus looked over the boy to make sure the antidote took effect, his small sounds of pain giving away to relieved sighs and his face relaxing from its twisted pose. The man nodded his head firmly and stood up, nearly gliding back to Katsuya. The man was now humming, tears flowing down his dirty face and his body still rocking although now it was faster and a little more frantic. Severus hoped the brain damage wasn't permanent.

"Katsuya," Severus called attention to himself. The man continued to hum though his head rolled stiffly towards him, his eyes large and dead as they stared out at him. Severus knew that he would be scolding himself for doing this later but it had to be done now. He crouched down until he was nose to nose to the deranged man. "I have come to value our friendship very much but right now you are in my way. Sleep."

Then he hit the man in the back of his head.

(**)

Naruto was on the hunt once again only it was a new day. He missed his papa and his friend but he could fix one of those problems. He wanted to apologize to his friend and give him some food because, well, he had to be hungry after missing dinner. Then they could talk about his papa, which the boy liked to talk about and when they'd reveal that he was there. That way the boy could get a proper bath too instead of the small cups of water and a soft rag Naruto could sneak to him.

"Are you in here? I have papa's delicious fish cakes and pumpkin pastries," Naruto called into his papa's room. It was dark and empty although it smelled strongly of Zabuza which made Naruto have to reign back on the jealousy. He made a promise with papa and he'd keep that promise, no matter what. Naruto turned away from the room and made his way down the stairs because his friend wasn't in there.

Gaara was reading a book on the couch while Haku was nibbling on something and Tayuya was playing a rather pretty song on her flute. The girl had claimed that the flute allowed her to do other things but she hadn't showed any of them what those things were.

Naruto snuck past the distracted trio and made his way down into the basement. It was where Sev kept all his magic potion stuff and had explicitly told them to not enter but his friend didn't know that and it was the only place that his friend could safely hide.

"Hello… are you down here?" Naruto called softly.

"Yes, I'm here," was his answer in a voice that was just as soft. Naruto smiled and nearly ran down the rest of the stairs even though he was careful in the dark room. Due to his friend's strange coloring, he found the boy easily in the semi-dark.

"Here, I brought you food," Naruto stated. He gave the food over to the boy who immediately dug in, his thin legs pulled up to his chest and his green eyes lightening as he devoured the food quickly. Naruto gave him the cup of juice too which his friend made half full with two gulps.

"Thank you, very much. I'm happy I met you and you took me home with you. And fed me… your papa cook very good," his friend stated graciously. Naruto beamed at him, plopping down in front of the boy.

"Don't say nothing about it! Even though papa pretends not to like people and kids, he would have taken you in in like five seconds!" Naruto assured his friend. The boy gave him a small smile back although he paused and bit into his lip. He stopped eating, dropping the pumpkin pastry back into the bowl as something came over him. Naruto frowned and reached forward, putting his hand on the skinny boy's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Naruto tilted his head.

"They… I was caught coming down here," the boy whispered. Naruto felt dread freeze his stomach. Just because Sev wouldn't kick the boy out didn't mean that the others wouldn't. Naruto felt himself enter a mini panic attack as he jumped to his feet and paced back and forth in front of his friend. He felt the green eyes brimming with tears as they followed him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," his friend murmured over and over. Naruto sighed and crouched in front of the boy.

"It's okay, hey, don't cry none! I'm sure it'll be fine but you gotta tell me… who saw you?" Naruto smiled, running his fingers through the long, silky hair. His friend glanced over his shoulder and actually paled which was a bit hard considering that his friend was nearly lighter than Sev. He gulped lightly and pointed.

"They did," he answered. Naruto slowly turned around and saw Gaara, Haku, TenTen, and Tayuya standing a few feet behind them. They were each in different poses of folded arms, leaning bodies, or tapping feet. Oh Naruto knew he was in deep.

"Yes, we did," Haku started.

"And you're gonna tell us exactly what's going on," Gaara finished.

"Or we'll tell Zabuza and Aunt Tsunade," TenTen added.

"And we'll probably still get it from your friend there, anyway," Tayuya shrugged. Naruto chuckled nervously even though he was a bit relieved that they could see his friend. He had started to suspect that his friend was nothing but his imagination.

"Well?" Haku glared in a way that reminded Naruto very much of their papa. He brought himself back to the problem at hand, the fact that he was in so much trouble.

(**)

Severus sighed and pulled the covers above the dead man's head. It was too late for this poor man. His form was deformed, his face etched in pain and his limbs twisted this way and that way. It looked as though he had tried to writher away from his pain and found it in the arms of death. Severus whispered a small prayer and went into the house the man had been laid in front of.

It smelled horrid. Every house they went into showed a new horror that Severus at his worse would not wish. This house was a bit better… or worse. In the middle of the house sat a girl that looked to be ten judging solely on her size. She was curled into a corner, her wide eyes looking at the large splashes of feces, blood, and vomit. She herself was covered in most of it although her dripping rash looked highly infected.

Severus had long ago stopped feeling the acid of bile at the back of his throat. He controlled his breathing so as to not intake the toxic air too much and picked his way through the house and to the child. The two beings dead on the floor, their gender undetermined by Severus, would be lined upon the streets so that a proper burial could be given to the two and the many others.

"Hello, my name is Severus Snape. I am here to help you," Severus introduced himself ever since a woman had nearly clawed his eyes out in a fevered panic after he removed her seizing baby from her arms. It had left horrid scratches all along his arms, the woman stronger than he had anticipated. The babe and insane woman would be fine although Severus needed to clean his own wounds when he got the chance. He wiped his face clean of sweat and crouched in front of the girl.

"H-he… upstairs. Mommy said he could stay because he was… was hot. His skin felt… felt like fire. Water Azure, get some water," the girl called out as Severus' cool hands landed on his shoulders. She turned her wide brown eyes up at him.

"Is that your name, Azure?" Severus inquired as he picked the child up and he started out of the house, being careful of the two beings. She nodded her hot head into his shoulder and clung to him as if he were the only thing keeping her on Earth.

"Azure, the last thing we need is for some Leaf bastards to die here! Get some water, now! NOW AZURE! AZURE NOW!" Azure shouted, her short nails digging into Severus' arm. The Magic User ignored the pain and pushed the spoon into the screaming girl's mouth. She choked and coughed, obviously trying to spit out the antidote. Her hands slapped at him wildly and she kicked out as hard as possible.

His frayed patience was at its thinnest. This was the fiftieth person that tried to bite him, claw at him, or simply spit out the limited supply of antidote. He slapped his hand over Azure's mouth and pinched her nose closed. There were others he had to go to. Others that needed help before it was too late. Others that were dying or wishing that they were dying instead of burning.

"Just sleep now, sleep," Severus murmured to the bucking girl. He felt his magic seep through his fingers and into the girl. She swallowed the potion but Severus still held her until she was completely limp then he propped her into the side of the house. He would come back to take her to the hospital to be cleaned and quarantined, the last thing he needed was for the same person to get the disease twice. However, he needed to check the house for this 'Leaf bastard' and hope that it wasn't some kind of delusion because wasting time was something no one could afford. Severus went up the stairs and entered the first room he saw. Thankfully it was clean and empty. The next yielded the same results. Then the third room. There was a man, staring out the window.

"You're voice is very distinctive, Magic User," the man stated. He had no shirt on, revealing the black and green rash wrapping around his shoulders and arching downwards. Severus released a ragged sigh and stepped closer.

"Sir, not to seem callous but there are others that need help too, some that may only have seconds left. I need to assess you and your condition to decide which antidote you need and how able you are to move to the hospital on your own. Now please," Severus held out his hand.

The man released a chuckle that had a bit more hysteria in it than Severus was comfortable with. Then he turned around, his milky eyes staring in the vague direction that Severus stood. The rash started at his neck and spilled down to his muscled belly.

Severus tilted his head and recalled this man from several months ago, during the summer when he had first gotten into the Hidden Countries. His hair was shorter now, though. Much shorter, it looked as though someone had hacked his hair off in the sloppiest manner. Something horrible happened to the man that probably linked him into coming to Suna and had something to do with Severus judging by the heated glare he was staring into. The blinded Hyuuga opened his mouth to spit something hateful at Severus but the Magic User cut him off before he could start.

"Hyuuga, although your reason for being here could potentially be very interesting, I do not care. Now, come here so that I may gauge your sickness," Severus said coolly. The Hyuuga remained silently, his face still set in stone and his body remaining unmoving. Severus pinched his nose and appeared next to the shinobi in a burst of speed. He did a quick scan and found the man only in the first stage of sickness which was lucky seeing as he was starting to become low on the higher stages of the antidote.

"Come along. You must take her to the hospital and stay there to clean up and not becoming sick again. You may take your revenge upon me at another time," Severus ordered then gave the strongest direction to the hospital as he could before going onto the next house. The man was a shinobi that relied solely on his eyes but he should be able to make it to the hospital without much trouble and with the directions Severus gave him.

(**)

Naruto played idly with the thin fingers of his friend before glancing at his siblings and the two girls. They were so curious and interested on what was going on although Naruto was partially sure that they were trying to distract themselves.

"Well… I got into a big fight with papa and Zabuza and I ran off. When I got up to come back…"

"W-who's out there?" he shouted, eyes searching the fog and fingers clenching the metal blade tightly. He took a step into the mist and another and another until he found himself staring at the thing that he snapped the branch.

"Hello..." Naruto nearly dropped his kunai as he stared into the sad green eyes of a boy. He was a bit odd looking with two red dots on his forehead and very, very thin eyebrows. His hair was long and streaked with mud and leaves.

"Are you cold?" Naruto asked as the thin boy began to shiver. He nodded his head silently so Naruto sat next to him, bringing the smaller boy closer to him so that they could share his warmth. The boy was nearly freezing and Naruto did all he could to warm the thin skin.

"I-I'm sorry I scared you," the boy apologized.

"It's okay, I had a fight with my papa and I was thinking of running away," Naruto admitted.

"Did he make you fight and lock you in a tiny cage?" the boy inquired. Naruto froze and a frown pulled at his little lips. His papa would never do anything like that! Severus may forget about him one day because of Zabuza but he wouldn't forget him!

"No! He just… he kissed Zabuza—my sensei but I don't want him to. I want to marry papa so he won't forget about me and because I love my papa," Naruto explained. The boy nodded sagely and closed his eyes, sidling closer to the tanned Leaf native.

"My father was very mean. He made me fight even though I don't like to. I don't like fighting even though I really, really good at it. I don't like hurting people but he didn't care… nobody cared," the boy trailed off. Naruto felt a kind of guilt and a kind of connection with this boy because they both had problems with their papas but this boy had a greater problem even though Naruto was still sure that he was in a great position to lose his papa.

"Do you have to go back to him?" Naruto inquired.

"No, he's dead. I'm on my own… they lost their fight," the boy sighed.

"Oh… uh… you wanna come to my house? I'll have to hide you because papa just took in more people but that's okay because I'll bring you food and everything and you can move around as long as no one sees you. I don't want you to get kicked out," Naruto offered. The boy didn't hesitate, a beautifully bright smile spread across his dirty face.

"My name is Naruto by the way," Naruto introduced himself as he pushed himself to his feet.

(**)

"I wanna call you stupid Naruto, I really, really do," TenTen sighed, "But what you did was sweet and kind… stupid but sweet and kind." Naruto stuck out his tongue at the girl but smiled at her compliment. Naruto knew right from wrong and what would have been wrong would be leaving a little boy out there to freeze or get kidnap by some kind of pervert. Naruto turned to his friend who was breathing easier and looked happy that his presence wasn't ill received.

"So, what's your name?" Haku directed at the white haired boy.

"Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan," the boy introduced. Gaara snapped his fingers and his eyes lit with recognition. The redhead snapped his fingers as though he had solved a great mystery and pointed to the child.

"I knew that I knew those dots and hair color! Kaguya clan—extinct now but savage in nature. They were known for their bloody battles for the lack of anything else to do and their lack of strategy when doing these battles. A very few had a special Kekkei Genkai that let them grow and replace and control their bones to their liking," Gaara explained.

The thin brows climbed up Kimimaro's forehead, his shock apparent at Gaara's knowledge on his former clan. The redhead blushed slightly and scratched at his cheek as Naruto did often when he was embarrassed.

"Well, they really interested me because of their fighting abilities but the thing is, I thought them… foolish," Gaara said hesitantly as he glanced at Kimimaro. Haku and Naruto had been teaching him about people and their feelings and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt his boy's feelings. The child shrugged his shoulders.

"Why would you say that?" Tayuya inquired as she looked between the boys. They were tightknit as brothers and it already seemed as though this Kimimaro kid was already a part of their fold even though they didn't quite realize it yet.

"Well, they were powerful and bloody—like me and Shukaku but the thing is… they would have lived if they went on defense. The people with the special Kekkei Genkai are nearly indestructible. They can… okay, I don't know what it's called but I wouldn't be really good to fight Kimimaro because I couldn't squeeze him tight to crush him. His bones are really, really strong," Gaara explained.

"Right, oh wait… Naruto, if you want the pretty hair pieces back…" Kimimaro offered the bejeweled tubes in the middle of his small hand. The blond bit his lip and glanced to his older brother and younger brother. The brunette reached forward and closed the still dirty fingers over the hair ornaments.

"You should keep them. I'm sure when Shizune gets back she'll be able to style them into your hair," Haku suggested. Then he looked around at all of the children so that they would all be on the same page regarding the new child in the house, "We'll keep this from Zabuza and Tsunade until papa comes back so we can try to convince him to let Kimimaro stay."

TenTen opened her mouth to comment on Kimimaro's odor, the boy really needed a bath but was stopped as a gruff voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"What's going on?"

(**)

The End

So, that's who the kid is. Only one person was right (based on the clues) and they didn't even log in to comment! There were others that suggested Kimimaro on earlier chapters and really wanted to see the sweetie so let's not count them out!

I'm sorry if you really wanted Harry but there are real reasons (other than I don't like Harry enough) as to why he couldn't be the brother.