Special thanks to ritachi for proofreading and beta-ed this chapter as well as the last!

Chapter XII: Appalling Conditions

"W-water…" Temari gasped, twisting her head wildly.

She felt rough hands lift up her head and push a canteen to her mouth. Water spilled into her mouth, running down her itchy, dry throat and relieving her tired body. Temari had always believed water was a sort of blessing on earth, partially because of her upbringing in the desert. It was a tricky chemical with strange physical properties and a profound effect on humans. She gulped the water, almost choking on it, but still feeling an ease as though the water itself was drowning the foreign substance on her body.

Coughing a bit, Temari opened her weary teal eyes, finally taking in her surroundings: tall trees scattered around the area making the sky difficult to see with a few of their roots pulled out from the ground, and green leaves falling one by one on the short grass. They were still in Konoha, and judging by the landscape, no where near the desert. With a certain challenge, she managed to sit up and lean against a tree trunk. Her head turned, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was exhausted, she would have screamed out.

"Gaara?"

He didn't say anything, but pulled away the canteen, never once leaving his eyes upon her. She shivered slightly, and it was a wonder whether it was from her illness or from seeing him. A long silence passed between the two before Temari finally spoke up in a low voice.

"H-how long was I asleep?" she asked, turning her head down and staring at the ground instead of him.

"About four days."

Temari didn't say anything else, nor did Gaara. Her pulled-down hair stuck to the back of her neck, while her sweat-ridden clothes hung even more tightly to her body. She felt more uncomfortable than anything, and Gaara's presence was not making it any better. The last conversation with Gaara had been particularly painful, and she just couldn't help but see Shukaku again, howling out in rage and tramping over the village as though it were a toy. She told him a memory so long ago, she doubted ever happened. Honestly, playing jump rope; Gaara, shy, and carrying around a bear? Of course, that never happened.

Shukaku awoke that night, nearly destroyed the entire village, and reshaped their entire lives. That's what was forever stained in her mind: those yellow diamond-shaped eyes, that terrible howl, the ground shaking from the monster's footsteps and the falling buildings, people yelling…dying. Why exactly did she tell him such a stupid lie? Better yet, how could she have thought of such a ridiculous story? Was it because in all aspects, deep within her mind she really did want it to be true? That Gaara would stop behaving like a monster and more like a brother? She shivered, finding it harder to breathe all of a sudden; feeling so small, and pitiful. Her arms unconsciously wrapped around each other. Her thin fingers touched the wet skin and goosebumps and the soft linen bandage wrapped tightly on her upper arm.

"Where's Kankurou?" Temari finally asked, breaking the unbearable silence between the two; she turned her head as if expecting someone to walk in, but the only thing she could see was more trees. He was the only one that could wrap up bandages this tightly (after much practice with Karasu).

"He went to a nearby town to get you proper medication."

"Did he just leave?"

"He left three days ago; he hasn't been back since." His voice was flat, greatly contradicting the pang of worry that filled within Temari in a matter of minutes.

H-he'll be back. He's probably… just goofing around or something…. The line sounded lame, even in her head. Sure, Kankurou played around, but he got serious when the right moment came, and this definitely counted as a serious moment. Three days was a long time to be away, and according to their standards, they should have simply left him behind and continued. Her teal eyes looked up at Gaara, half expecting him to start walking away, and saying that they should just leave Kankurou behind. But he sat at the root of the tree, arms folded and just waiting. It was strange to have Gaara quietly waiting. He just wasn't the patient type, and always got things done his way. She wasn't going to say anything, though, because there was no way she would even dream of leaving Kankurou behind.

For three hours they were silent: Gaara sitting quite still while Temari occasionally drifted off to sleep. Any noise that the forest would make, the two of them would jerk their head only to find that it was just a creature making its way through the foliage. Then Temari would look at the ground, carefully avoiding Gaara's eyes. He didn't ask any more about that experience long ago and for that Temari was grateful.

Thump.

That was definitely the sound of falling footsteps. "Kankurou," Temari said, snapping from her dreamlike state and sitting up quickly. He was alright, and that was all that mattered. And as soon as she saw him, she was going to beat the crap out of him, for making her worry so much.

Temari stood up, more alert now than she had been a few hours ago. Her legs wobbled a bit, from the lack of energy and misuse for several days. However, no sooner had she taken one step then a string of sand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her from so much as taking a step. Temari turned her head, anxiously to see Gaara's jade eyes narrowing dangerously. "Listen."

It was that look in his eyes that forced her to do something, rather than argue with him. She didn't ask any questions, but slowly brought her head to the ground, left ear touching the itchy grass floor. Closing her eyes she listened.

Thump. Thump.

That wasn't Kankurou. As shinobi they had learnt the sound of the other's footsteps, in case of situations like this. The large puppet on Kankurou's back made his footsteps jagged, putting more weight than necessary on the heel before stepping forward, but from the sound of this individual, it sounded like he was dancing on his feet, moving quickly and indefinitely. Temari frowned, coming to realize that this was someone else. It's not Kankurou. The fear swelled in her, more accurate than before. What if he really wasn't coming back? Kankurou had been with her for so long that she never thought of the possibility that he would never come back, and that she realized was her biggest fear. No longer intimidated by death threats or being outshone, it was the fear of losing her brother.

Gaara pulled out the cork from the gourd, the sand crawling out in large tentacles, like a snake getting ready to attack. Rushing to her fan, she tried to lift it, and knew already that there was no way she could fight against these two strangers. Her only hope now was that they would move in another direction, because if they didn't change their pace, they would be found.

Thump. Thump.

There was a faint hiss, follow by the footsteps drumming as it approached them. The trap, Kankurou had set earlier, set off, and any hope that it was Kankurou was gone in an instant. He'd never fall for his own trap, no matter how well hidden it was.

Temari steady herself on the tree trunk, her heart pacing quickly, body tensed. The wild spirit of fighting was not consuming her like it normally did, where she would yell out in the stands demanding for a challenge. All she wanted now was to never have been given this pathetic mission.

They came quickly. Clouds of shuriken rained down on the two Sand shinobi. Temari opened her fan wildly, blocking off the sharp metal from her own skin, while Gaara stood motionlessly, the sand protecting its master as always. Tentacles of sand squirmed off, like a blind hand crawling through the forest. It raced off swiftly, twisting and turning, avoiding tree after tree until it finally caught sight of its prey. A muffled scream pierced the air, as the sand gripped the man by the ankle, turning him upward and draggling it back to the red head. There was a cry of protest from the man's comrades, but they stood their ground not wanting to harm their own.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked, his voice commanding. The man moved blindly, squirming and struggling in the grip of the sand, though he stopped when he saw his chilling eyes. "T-the coun…cil has or-ordered your ar-r-rest as a… a threat to s-society," he stuttered.

"Threat?" Temari asked, growing with rage. "We're not threatening anyone! We don't mean any harm; we just want to go home!" she spat out at his face, anger forming as a fuel for her weakened state.

It looked as though he wanted to say something back; instead a muffled yell escaped his mouth. He howled in pain, feeling the rough of grain gripping tighter and tighter around his ankle. Temari looked back at Gaara, watching as a certain crazed look crossed his passive face, eyes widening, and lips changing to a sneer. Temari stepped back; rarely was that lust for blood so clear in his eyes. She was in more danger being around him than of these Leaf shinobi.

"Please! Please stop!" the man yelled out, sobbing as the sand slowly started to shed his skin into pieces, snapping the bone. It had been so long seeing blood, the sand's contact with any flesh immediately tried to tear the organ apart, just to see a drop of that sweet nectar. A thrill pounded in his head, the voices chanting out to tear it apart (see how much blood there is inside!). The sand wrapped itself around the delectable skin, covering the man's entire body, his shouts and pleas falling on deaf ears. There was rushing and scurrying in the background - no doubt comrades were trying to save their comrade's life. One threw several kunai at him, but the sand blocked it at the last minute. He was in his own world, the killing stirring the chaos within him and making him feel alive once more.

"Gaara, don't!"

He turned his head at Temari, his hazy eyes seeing the terrified look on her face. (Just one killing wouldn't hurt, one killing wouldn't hurt.)

Right there! Above her! Someone hid well into the leaves, aiming precisely for the back of Temari's head.

"Take care of her."

"I'll give you my word that no harm shall befall on Temari."

"I'll definitely protect them till the end!"

He snapped out at once, Uzumaki Naruto's voice still ringing in his head, more effective than ice-cold water thrown at him. He outstretched his hand, pale fingers opening widely in front of him. Temari's eyes widen, reasoning that Gaara was after her. Instead the sand flew behind her collecting in a wall, shielding her from an untimely death. "If you do not want his limps torn, then I suggest you to leave!"

He threw the man in front of the other's feet, leg severally broken, but still breathing. The other picked him carefully, and the one hidden in the tree fell right next to him. They examined their wounded comrade, and turned to view the smaller boy. "Teams are being dispatched with the sole purpose of finding you. Do not think you will get very far."

In a swift movement, they were gone, racing back to their village to announce their newly found information. It was several minutes that Temari and Gaara just stood there watching the three shinobi retreat. Temari kept glancing at Gaara, surprised in every possible way of what had just occurred. Gaara had just saved her life. Her life. He never cared about his siblings. He was always self-centered but for once he put his desires aside and thought of someone else.

What had happened while she was asleep?

"Can you walk?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I think so," Temari mumbled, nearly gasping out loud. Gaara stood, calmly waiting on her to gather any belongings. He looked off in the distance as though expecting someone, but after Temari stood beside him, he started walking slowly, almost hesitant. Protecting someone was a lot harder than he expected.

----

Yugao bit the inside of her cheek, quickly tasting the dull metallic flavor of blood. Things had definitely gone the way she had planned, and now that she had a chance of rethinking everything, Yugao realized that a lot of things could have been done wrong. But what's done is done, and she could only hope the damage wasn't too much. She leapt from building to building, keeping a hawk eye view for the Sand Ambassador that got away, but in all astonishment he was completely out of sight. She turned a corner, and walked slowly down an alley for a detour to the front gates. Despite the mask covering her face, she could still feel a draft of the over flown dumpster to the side, and the meowing of stray cats seeking a place to hide.

The taichou was no less upset about all this, but at the moment she really didn't care. Her life seemed broken now, distorted and lonely with nothing to look towards but her single goal. She knew that her life could not be brought back to normal unless she killed this man. Her eyes darted to the left, more like feeling something rather than hearing it. Instincts screamed, repeatedly telling her something was wrong. Throwing herself against the wall, she ducked just in time as a swooshing shuriken flew away.

Standing in the alley was the same man she had seen on the bridge a few days ago. A white drapery hung on the right side of his face, skin battered from too much sun and wind. He approached her, not showing an ounce of fear for having attacked an ANBU. His eyes narrowed, hand gripping tightly on a black kunai.

"Are you the one who attacked two men just for the whereabouts of Baki?"

"What of it?" She asked not caring. "Do you know where Baki is?"

"Yes," he said the edge of his mouth curling into a small smile. "I am Baki."

There was a long unsettling silence between the two shinobi. "You cannot be Baki!" she cried out, her voice piercing the still air and echoing down the narrow alley. There was no way that he could be Baki. No individual would willingly approach their enemy like this. It must be a trap of some sort - that was the only explanation.

"I am," he said most seriously. "And I have heard the terrible things you have done - attacking two harmless men and torturing my students. For that you shall pay."

He charged forward, the kunai that was on his hand cutting the air where she had been moments before. She ducked low and pulled her katana from her sheath, attempting to hit his chin with the handle of her blade, but he moved just in time, so she merely waved the blade into the air. She charged at him, then, throwing off the sharp shuriken that came flying her way, and pressed her blade so roughly on the ground where he stood that a crack formed on the concrete pavement.

Adrenaline rushed to her head. The feel and excitement of a kill gripped her, making her forget her current surroundings, forgetting the cuts and scraps on her body from her encounter with the Sand Ambassadors. All that was important now involved destroying this man, making him feel the same suffering she harbored in her heart. Her katana flew wildly, scraping the walls. She growled. There wasn't enough room around here, and like her thoughts have been read, Baki jumped high on the wall, placing the weight of his heel on the wall and springing himself upwards on the wall. She ran just as fast, and landed just as roughly on the rooftop.

But then another blade came toward her, barely missing shoulder and momentously sending her off balance. Her body came forward, painfully touching the floor, she rolled over at once just in time to avoid another deadly blow.

"What is it that catches your interest of me? I know you are acting independently - no one has sent you out to assassinate me - but my question remains why! You are a skilled ANBU warrior; surely you cannot have sentiments involving the ambushed!"

"Because you killed him!" she cried, rising quickly and charging with her blade in front. "You killed Hayate!"

Baki dodged the blow expertly. The name sounded so familiar, and then it hit him. He was that spy that had overheard his plans with Kabuto, and because of his information and to show their loyalty, Baki had killed him without a second thought. Ironically, it was not Sand who needed to prove their loyalty.

"He was very skilled and so young to have learned something as complicated as Mikazuki no Mai," Baki mused, watching her pant from swinging her weapon so roughly. Her body tensed, hearing him speak about her formal lover. The wind blew suddenly, sending her hair fluttering about, but her eyes still bore at his face, growing to loathe this man with every passing minute, hating all the words that were coming out of his mouth, and wishing more than anything to see blood gush out of his body as he would lie dying. There was no doubt in her mind that this man was Baki, and now she could only fight her hardest to properly avenge Hayate.

She leapt again, ignoring the decreasing amount of energy in her body. Every swing she threw at him, she threw a gush of her chakra out, not fully thinking that she needed to conserve energy. Now if he could only stand still!

Baki bounced once again, feeling the heavy draft around him. The poor girl, she didn't even realize that he was just stalling in order to make the winds grow rapidly, and with the way she kept swinging her blade, she was losing more chakra than necessary. This Yugao, she was probably a skilled fighter, if she could think properly. Forcing some distance between her, he put his hands together.

Kaze no Yaiba!

A strange thing happened, then, breathtaking and just as chilling. Gushes and gushes of wind pored in, the clouds above racing quickly and random objects flying in the air. Amazingly, it seemed as thought that gush of wind was all flying towards Baki's hands, carefully molding itself with such delicacy. A sharp glow formed on the base of his palms forming a handle, no doubt chakra, controlling the wind into the shape of a sword. Yugao didn't know whether she could see the sword or not - it was confusing her senses. There was a handle, yes, but there was no solid metal, rather an outline of chakra and wind.

But her moment of wonder ended just as quickly, for he didn't need to cause damage by striking her, the wind itself cut her skin, making the cuts she had received earlier small and pathetic. He lifted his sword, and brought it down where she stood, and although she got out of the way, the wind shoved her backward. She rose from the floor, feeling blood flow out from the deep cut.

Picking up her katana, she charged forward. It didn't matter what happed to her, all that matter now was her revenge. She felt another painful cut on her back, going past armor and clothes until it hit skin. Her violet hair was beginning to get sliced by the wind, but she paid no attention to it. Baki dodged with such ease, she would have never expected him to be this powerful. He brought the sword across her face, snagging a large piece of her hair and the strap of the ANBU mask she wore.

Yugao ran just in time, but the mask had fallen off her face. Her eyes darted to the mask, thrown away in the corner of the building, but realized that was a mistake. Baki appeared so suddenly in front of her that she had barely enough time to draw her katana, and the full blown touch of Baki's wind sword clearly cut the blade in half. The winds furious speed threw her tumbling to the roof, almost to the edge of the building. Her head banged roughly on the roof, and threw her into a cloud of darkness. So this was how things ended up.

"That's it. You're done," Baki said, standing above her. Torn, broken, and lonely was how she was left.

----

"If it is not too much trouble, the council would like to speak with you Baki-san," a Leaf shinobi spoke, standing by the doorway.

"I would like to speak to them as well," Baki answered, standing up from reading several medical reports on the condition of his two comrades. There was nothing too serious as far as he could see. He stood up from the desk, put the reports aside and followed the shinobi outside to the marble hallway. It was late in the afternoon, and after the entire scenario in the morning, Baki was placed under protective custody in the Hokage's Tower. He didn't think it was necessary, but thought that refusing would give Konoha a bad impression, as though he was still suspicious (which was true anyway).

After he arrived in the hotel, a Leaf shinobi came suddenly informing him on the situation and the woman that desperately wanted to kill him. He told her she was not in her right mind; that she had no association with the council and for his safety he should make his way to the Hokage's Tower. A medic arrived shortly after, attending to the injured Sand-nin, and another status report arrived stating the ANBU had managed to 'locate' the wandering Sand-nin. Konoha was doing their best to cover everything from Suna, and he really didn't blame them. If Suna's council caught word of an attempt assassination on their official liaison, then things would definitely turned ugly, not because of an attempted murder, rather a humiliation that Konoha didn't think much of their offer for peace. Using the death of their liaison, Suna had good reason to declare war against Konoha and gather up a few allies.

Baki was going to place the entire matter aside. He knew perfectly well how revenge sickened the mind, causing the individual to carelessly toss important things aside. That is until the young shinobi let slip that this Yugao had tortured Kankurou for the sake of finding information about him, he just couldn't place the matter aside. He ran wildly out of the building, ignoring the protest of the Leaf-nin, completely disturbed that someone would have hurt one of his students. Baki never denied that he was more than tough on Temari and Kankurou, but he just couldn't stand that they were lost and wounded. And it was stupid he knew, but he cared too much about those damn kids to let anyone get away with harming them. This woman, she didn't know what she was getting herself into. Kazekage-sama wouldn't have picked any person to become the sensei of his children, although he ignored them since their birth. He had chosen Baki because of his amazing skills of being taichou in Sand's ANBU, though he had been demoted after a terrible incident. Really it was more amazing that he was alive for his reckless behavior in the past.

The walk was silent between the two men, until there was a muffled confusion in the background, angry shouts, screaming and people yelling out for reinforcement. The shinobi stood in front of Baki, apparently recognizing that there must be some danger involved in here. "Follow m—"

Words were cut off, as he pushed the Sand-nin aside, avoiding a sailing kunai that landed in a thud on the wall beside him. The force of the young shinobi was so much that he fell completely to the floor, sliding a few feet. His turban fell and scattered to the opposite side. In an instant he covered his face though the shinobi stood in front of him, trying to deal with the menace.

"You shall not get away Baki! I swore I will kill you!"

Yugao stood behind him, dressed in her battered ANBU clothes, cuts and bruises all over her body, and hair cut awkwardly. Her eyes were full of so much hate, so much spite. "This is Sand's liaison, Yugao," the Leaf-nin yelled out, appearing to reason. "He is our ally. You can't kill him!"

Her eyes still bore danger. Baki stood up from the floor, and pushed the Leaf-nin aside, ignoring his protests. "Is your mind so clouded that you cannot think to those around you?"

"Shut up! You don't understand!"

He removed the hand that was covering his face, exposing it for the first time to a complete stranger. Ever since that day, no one saw his face, and no one asked. Temari and Kankurou had always set traps to see behind the drapery on the right side of the face, but he was too quick and usually figured out what they were getting at. "I understand perfectly well." Her mouth opened as she stared at his complete face. His head was shaved with strange writings and unusual small dents. It was torn, scarred and burnt with a closed eye sewed down tightly on his eyelid and misshaped nose. Half his ear was missing and a long scar traced his jaw. She had never seen anything so hideous; Ibiki's scars were nothing compared to this.

It was a well kept secret that no one but the Yondaime Kazekage knew, and quite frankly he didn't like to share it with anyone. But that was all in the past and he hated to reminisce. Right now he needed to look toward the future considering that he had the responsibility of setting things right between the two villages. He hid his face quickly, more ashamed of his past actions than the horrible marks. Strong pair of arms wrapped around Yugao arms, but she didn't resist.

"Please forgive us, Baki-san," an ANBU said pushing Yugao away though she continued to stare. Baki stood solemnly, watching her, his face blank, but his eyes showing almost a bit of interest… or was it pity?

"Think nothing of it," Baki answered looking away, though he didn't make it clear whether he was talking to the ANBU or Yugao. He picked up the turban and placed it over his head, carefully covering his face from anyone else. The ANBU walked away holding Yugao firmly though she did not resist, instead she kept looking over to him until she could do no more. It was several minutes before the Leaf-nin apologized himself and continued to lead him to the conference room. They found an ANBU whispered something to Homura and Koharu, but after they caught sight of him, the ANBU, as well as the Leaf-nin, excused themselves, leaving the leaders alone.

Homura walked up to him, about to say something, but Baki held his hand.

"This had been the third attempt that this woman had attempted to take my life. If I take this up to Suna's council, they will have more than enough reason to breach all negotiations. I am aware that you stopped the emergency distress signal that Rasul sent out."

They did not answer because it was true. After the Sand ambassador ran away, teams were dispatched to kill whatever bird they saw in the sky. In the end, Suna never received the letter, but that didn't mean the incident was forgotten.

"Baki-san you must—"

"No, I don't understand. I don't understand how you could let a woman who is clearly unstable roam around freely."

There was a silence between the leaders, half expecting the Sand-nin to scowl at them and declare haughtily that he was going to tell everything to the council. And they couldn't do anything because any harm on him would upset things in Suna. "I shall not report the matter."

The two elders looked up at him, incredulous.

"The condition being that you erase all charges on my students. Erase all charges and let them come home."