Baki was hardly a man to give into simplistic outbursts of shock, but in this one particular instance:
"No! Absolutely not!"
His shout could be heard clear across the battlements that lined the city walls.
Now, as stated, Baki was never a man to give into simple outbursts, much less to figures that held a higher rank or authority than him, there weren't many of those of course at this point in his life but there were a few still.
So it would be quite shocking to anyone who knew him that he would be directing this outburst to none other than the highest ranking ninja in Suna.
And, Gaara wasn't one to throw the weight of his rank around frequently but even he couldn't help but state "I don't think that's something you're supposed to say to your Kage" somewhat crossly.
"It is when he's gone insane!" His former sensei shot back climbing the steps up to the wall with a shake of his head muttering all the way as the wind whipped up sand to lash at their faces and clothes.
"I haven't gone insane, this will work."
"No this might work. And you're banking entirely on the fact that he might not see it coming, which would be banking entirely on, the maybe that his arrogance or distraction or godknows what else may have overtaken his tactics."
"Everything in war is a gamble." Gaara replied nipping at the man's heels as he followed. "You taught me that."
"You gamble smart in war Gaara, not stupid."
"If this succeeds Baki-"
"If! Gaara If it succeeds, it'll be magnificent, a blaring victory to go in the records, morale will soar, the enemy will have a much harder time securing a beach head here, you may even be able to buy us a month, or hell, three months before they're ready to attack and we'll all come out smelling like sunshine and roses."
"How exactly does one smell like sunshine?" The Kazekage muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"But" Baki continued, irritated at the interruption. "If, this doesn't work you'll basically cripple our defenses on a complete gamble and whatever chance we have of holding the city suffers a premature death. Hell, even if your plan does succeed, it wouldn't exactly be crippling enough to make them open negotiations, our estimates show they'd still be able to feasibly amass enough manpower to bulldoze right over us."
"They'd have a much tougher time of it." The red head shot back.
At this Baki stopped walking, turning around to look at his old student, who was still an inch or two shorter than him, in the eye.
"The risk isn't worth the gain Gaara."
The Kazekage sighed, rubbing his head. "We need first blood in this war Baki. We've got to show both our men, and Konoha that to take this place It is going to cost them. Morale is at the floor right now, and getting worse every day in our own forces, let alone Kumo, or the refugee and civilian population."
Baki's lips pursed taking a deep breath through his nostrils, he opened his mouth to speak again when Gaara held up his hand.
"Just..." The Kazekage interrupted, stopping him, exasperated frustration on his face. "I've had people telling me I'm crazy all morning, just tell me if we have the resources to make an operation like this and how soon we can have it ready."
Baki slapped his forehead, rubbing his face as though trying to banish away his own frustration. "Would you believe me if I told you no?"
Gaara smiled as the older man rolled his eyes.
"Give me." He began shrugging his arms. "I, don't know, ten days. And I'll get everything together."
Gaara smiled, turning around to leave, and offering only a backward wave as he heard his former teachers shout.
"And if this doesn't work I'm gonna get Kankuro to hurt you."
"Wasn't sure what you'd like-"
Yue-Ying stopped her writing, the brush held firmly in her hand black tip held just centimeters off the parchment, as she turned her head to the doorway.
A familiar Sannin stood there, looking as young in face, skin and posture as ever, but unmistakeably older...so much older than the last time she'd seen her.
They were all a little older now weren't they?
In one hand though, Ying was not surprised to find a bottle of sake, being brandished as though in offering, two cups were held in her other hand.
"-so I just decided to get the most expensive." The blond finished, shrugging her shoulders as she stepped into the room.
Ying, with as much poise and calm as one would expect from her careful husband, set down her calligraphy brush and put aside her scroll, making space at the table before Tsunade sat down across from her, planting the cups on the wooden surface before serving them both and putting down the bottle.
Ying took her cup, raising it in toast towards the sannin before drinking.
After the first shot, the two sat in silence for a while before Ying decided to speak up.
"Did you come to offer your condolences Tsunade...or merely as an excuse to drink more expensive Sake?"
The slug princess gave a single, half laugh, bitter sounding as she shrugged her shoulders again. "Bit of both I guess."
Ying sighed through her nostrils, accepting a refill of her cup. "You should not drink so much at your age." She commented.
"Yugito is dead." The sannin said with another shrug. "So is Zhuge Liang, Akina's gone, and Shizune is dead too. What does it matter if I drink at this point."
"You do not plan on surviving the coming battles?"
"Do you think any of us will survive at this point."
"Not really." The brunette answered truthfully "But I do not have my husbands' confidence in the Kazekage."
"You don't think he's cut out for this?"
"He could be." She admitted, taking another drink, her fourth? Her fifth? "But as he stands now, no, I don't think he's ready."
Tsunade threw back another drink, and their conversation fell into a lull.
"For whatever its worth..." The sannin said after a time. "I'm sorry, for your loss. I cant say I always approved of Liang, nor did I get along overly well with him. But you must have seen something there so...I'm sorry."
"Thank you." Ying said, smiling a little. "He was not the easiest person to get along with I know...but...he was gentle."
"To you."
"To me...yes...and, perhaps I am selfish...but he made me happy."
"It must be frustrating for you." The sannin said, lying on her back tilting her head forward only when she went to drink now. "He's dead...and the person that killed him is already dead."
"You mean revenge? Is that what you're waiting for then Tsunade? To avenge Shizune?
The sannin's chocolate brown eyes narrowed, glaring at the ceiling. "All the survivors from the hospital say the same thing, Shizune was killed by Hatake Kakashi."
"And you will kill him then." It wasn't a question.
"I will turn his bones to splinters and his organs to paste. They'll need tweezers to pick up the pieces after I'm done."
"You should not harbor such thoughts." The Raikage's widow said, a tinge of sadness to her voice. "You will avenge Shizune, who will avenge him? When does it end?
"Wouldn't you want to kill Sasori if you could?" Tsunade asked rather than answer, turning her eyes to look at the woman.
To her slight surprise, Ying shook her head.
"To be honest...no...I am just...tired Tsunade...I am tired of this war, of this fighting, of so much death...I will welcome peace when it comes, either through victory, or death."
They stared at each other for a time, until finally Tsunade smiled, giving another half laugh, before turning her sights back up towards the ceiling.
"Maybe your a better person than me then." She said, not bothering with the glass as she simply reached over and drank directly from the bottle.
When she woke, it was not to the gentle chirping of morning birds, nor was it to the glare of the sun filtering in through her windows, but rather to the harsh slamming of her door, an Anbu standing there, cloaked with his porcelain mask staring at her with hollow eyes and all but dragging her out as he said a simple "Come."
She didn't have time nor the mind to really protest as the man grabbed her by the arm, dragging her down the hall before they came to another door in the house, one that she recognized was in the warded part of the estate, where she'd never been allowed passage to before.
Different scenarios passed through her mind, and with each one her dread grew in the pit of her stomach, wondering just what was going on.
When the door opened, the Anbu, for all intents and purposes, shoved her in and closed the door behind her, leaving her in near darkness as her eyes slowly adjusted to the dim illumination of the full moon creeping in through the windows at the far end of the room.
As her eyes adjusted, she saw him there, sitting in the dark, the room had a large, almost dining room sized table in the middle of it, he sat in one of its chairs, seemingly a randomly picked one considering he was neither at the head of the conference table nor overlooking some documents. He just...sat there, the table, clean save a few sheets of paper scattered across its surface.
A full minute passed with her standing there before her nervousness at being dragged down here at this ungodly hour ebbed enough for her to find her voice. "Why am I here?"
"Because" He answered slowly "I told them to bring you here."
She raised a slender eyebrow. "Okay...but why did you ask them to do that?"
A pause, a lengthy one this time before she saw him openly sigh, weary. "I called you here...so you could answer a question."
"This is like pulling teeth." She groused, rolling her eyes before another thought struck her. 'Is he...is he stalling?' Could he ever actually be nervous enough to resort to stalling?
Apparently he could be.
She passed her tongue over her dry lips, swallowing to moisten her throat before she stepped in front of him, almost within arms reach as she saw his eyes drift up towards her own, a strange look on his face.
"What was your question?"
With slow, careful movements he stood, and though now he was once again at his full and imposing height, she was not alarmed, everything in his posture indicated non threatening. His shoulders were slumped, his head slightly bowed and his eyelids dropping just a little more than normal.
He seemed...tired...it was the only thing she could really describe him being right now.
He seemed very...very tired.
He took a breath, languid and drawn out.
"Why did you defend me against Kakashi today, Sabaku?"
"You-you heard that?"
He nodded.
"But we heard you-"
"You heard what I wanted you to hear."
"Then why didn't you say anything to Kakashi right then?"
"Because he was not wrong." Was his solemn reply.
Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you trying to convince here?"
"Why is it you need convincing?"
"Why is it you want to convince me?" She countered.
He didn't answer, and after a moment she decided to address his first question instead.
"I defended you against Kakashi today...because I know you are not heartless, you are not a monster."
"How can you be so sure? So confident in that? When you yourself have seen what I have done. And what I am capable of still doing. How can you so blindly stumble on faith in the notion that I am good, when all those around you, are offering testaments to the opposite."
She realized then, that he wasn't just asking her this question, that, to him, this conversation was not just here, in this room, but somewhere else, with someone else. He wished to know her answer as much as he wished to know the others'. Her words would be a parallel for him here, a looking glass if you will.
She did not know if his mind wandered to Hinata, to that mysterious Yoshino woman, or both. But she didn't care. She had her own reasons...her own experiences and she was a reflection of neither woman and so would not make herself speak for them.
"Because a heartless man...a real monster...wouldn't care enough about people, to have kept these." She reached into her sleeve, thankful that even in her haste, she'd remembered to grab these things from under her pillow as she pulled them out.
He looked at the items, so familiar, the butterfly pendant, the prayer beads, and the picture of Hinata's Jounin ceremony. He remembered that day well...she hadn't bowed. In all the rehearsals he'd told her instructor not to have her bow as per the custom. There'd been disbelief at this of course...and a few had openly spoken out against it when word had leaked later that Hinata was the exception to the norm, and not, infact, an official amendment to the ceremony. But he hadn't cared then, and he didn't care now. He would not have her bow her head like a common subordinate.
She'd been much more than that.
It was a small gesture...but it'd been the only one he could give. Or so he'd thought anyway.
Maybe he could have done more...maybe he should have...
He didn't know when the items had reached his hands, but as he realized it, he felt his fingers tighten, with him barely resisting the urge to clench them into fists.
"I should have burned these." He admitted quietly. "I should...burn these."
Temari watched him, feeling now, as though she held a deeper understanding now. Not so much for Naruto, but Hinata. Words, so long ago they felt as though they were spoken in another life returned to her:
'What was done to him was monstrous!'
'And they created a monster!'
Was this how it felt for her? Was this how Hinata felt, being the only one on her side of the fence, needing to defend both the man, and her belief in him, from everyone else, being the only one that could see more than the cold, harsh surface he willfully painted himself to the world.
She watched his hands clench and felt the chakra within them slowly stir to life, and with careful movements she brought her own hands up to his, and with gentleness he'd rarely experienced he felt his fingers uncurl, and the unnatural heat receding from his palms, not yet having been coaxed to burning flames through his will.
He bowed his head, as though succumbing, surrendering to his own perceived weakness as his eyes closed and the slowly building will to do away with these trinkets and few sentimentalities was drained out of him at her touch.
Temari stepped closer, looking up at his face as his eyes opened again to meet her own.
Years down the road, hell, for the rest of her life, she would wonder just what made her do it. What insane...force had overridden her normally strong self control, her common sense, even her own pride.
She leaned forward, and with almost no hesitation to speak of, pressed her lips firmly against his own.
The very air seemed to go still, and if someone else was there they would have sworn that the night itself had fallen into a hush for a small window in time.
She felt his lips move against her own, responding, before he stopped, and slowly pulled away, the lack of contact brought her back to her own sense as well.
She felt her eyes opening wide, pure shock coursing through her mind as she felt herself trembling with a rush of emotion. No doubt he could see it, and were she in her normal mindset she may have been irritated enough to notice that his face, was veiled just enough in shadow to hide the specifics of his own reaction.
Without another word, he made his way past her, walking right by her side before marching out the door.
And Temari stood there, wide eyed as she brought hesitant fingers up to her lips, a myriad of emotions dancing across her skull, mounting horror being the prevalent of these as she wondered...
'What the hell did I just do?'