Frantic
Gaara - gone.
Kankuro back but dying.
Temari's returned but he can't let her stay in Suna. He's got to get her out of the city.
And Kankuro is dying.
Poisoned.
Dying.
Breath by breath he's dying before his eyes.
Baki swallows his pride and heads down a hall at the end of which is the woman he hates most in the world.
To ask her for her help.
Memories
Honored Sibling?
Shriveled up old hag was more appropriate.
Memories yank him back fifteen years earlier to the sights and the smells and the screams of that night.
She was the one who had butchered Karura.
After she'd washed her hands of the mess she'd left without even the decency to cover the body.
Still he pleads with her.
She muses and mentions Tsunade...
And
then
she
says
No.
Assessment
Her words strike like a hammer in his ears.
His blood is hot but the kunai in his hand is cold steel pressing against her wrinkled old throat.
The laughter from her is cold, too, and he feels a dozen chakra strings tighten around him, hears her call him a stupid young fool.
"Bitch!" He spits out.
She smiles. "I've been called worse by better men than you, Baki."