Chapter Seven
Tsunade was sitting in her office when Suzume walked in to report an elderly woman had walked into the hospital asking to speak with the Hokage, giving the name Keiko.
"What would you have me do, Lady Hokage?" asked Suzume.
"Bring her in."
"Understood, Milady.. I will bring her now."
Tsunade watched as Suzume escorted a hobbled woman wearing a simple tunic into her office.
"Hello! Is Shino here? Can I see him?" Her voice, while dusty with age, had the cadence of someone much younger. Tsunade was sure this was who Shino talked about, but her appearance – what was it? A ninjutsu copy?
"Who are you?"
"You already know, don't you? I'm sure Shino told you all about me. Only good things, I hope!"
"He said you were a young woman, a scientist."
"Yes! But you didn't expect me to walk in here as myself, did you?"
"Then who is this?"
"She's a puppet. Don't worry, I won't hurt her, and I figured you wouldn't either. She's from a village nearby, not a shinobi."
"An innocent, then?"
"It's like an adventure for her!"
"What did you do to Shino and who do you work for? Answer me, and I will let you see him."
"Well, I don't really know who the top brass are. I just got recruited."
"Recruited?
"Yeah, a guy came up to me, said he'd observed my schooling, thought I had the skills required."
"Weren't you suspicious?"
"No! I was fascinated! Isn't that what we all want? Someone to pick us out of the crowd and say, 'You're special!'?
"It sounds dangerous."
"It was worth it. I was so bored with school and life sucked at the orphanage. No one really got me, you know?"
"You're an orphan?"
"Yeah, I know. Sob, sob, right? I'm not from a shinobi village, but we have our wars, same as you. Blah, blah, dull, dull, boring. So, anyway, I leapt at the chance!
"To do experiments on live subjects?"
"Oh, please, you're a medical ninja. How do you think you got all your information? I'll tell you, in case you're in denial. Through experiments on live subjects of course!"
Tsunade could see she needed to change her strategy. She did have the urge to help Keiko to see the error of her ways. Her personality was confusing – part sweet, part incredibly jaded. She seemed misguided, more than anything, but she had to remind herself, many people had done cruel things in attempts at good. She had tried and failed to stop Orochimaru from going down this path.
"Whatever you put in Shino is poisoning him, and he can't control it, but surely you knew that?"
At this, Keiko frowned. "I tried really hard to fix that! I just couldn't get it. It really bugged me – pardon the pun!"
"Keiko, how did Shino get here? Did you let him go? How did you get here?"
"I got laid off! Bummer, right? The whole facility was being shut down, destroyed. Kablooey! All the test subjects were to be terminated, but I really like Shino, he was always – like – polite to me. Didn't treat me like I'm dumb. Can you believe the nerve of some people?
"I tried really hard with him, checked up on him a lot. I even saved his life! One night, one of the insect hives he was hosting was too poisonous, his heart stopped! In comes Keiko to the rescue! But I really thought I lost him. I was so sad. Those darned full moons, stuff always gets crazy on full moons. You know that, working in medicine like I do!"
"Keiko, how do we get them out?"
"Well, that's why I'm here!"
"Why should I trust you?"
"I'm really the one who should be saying that. You are the leader of a village of killers! Everyone here is a killer, but Shino got it! I was just doing my job, just like you do yours, and I did it well! But how about you ask Shino what he wants, Miss Ethics, since its his body? And clearly you've had no luck getting them out." Keiko finished by crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her.
"I will talk it over with him."
"Shino, does that sound like her?" asked Gen.
"It does. I would like to speak with her."
Tsunade was worried. Was this some sort of traumatic bonding scenario, an attachment to her that was clouding Shino's judgement? As best as she could ascertain, Keiko was the only person Shino actually interacted with during all his months of captivity. But she had to admit, it was Shino's body. Still, she would take precautions.
"Alright, but you will be supervised. Suzume, please escort Keiko to Shino's room."
Keiko lit up as soon as she saw him. "Shino! Sorry these bugs are still causing you so much trouble! Let's see what we can do."
Fortunately, Keiko was sincere, and she did remove the bugs.
"I think getting out of that musty lab cleared my head! I got so many new ideas after we left!" She said farewell to Shino and the rest of them, and let go of the woman she took over with her puppet technique.