A/N: This chapter is a bit of a filler, but it'll explain some later occurences. Enjoy!
Chapter 4:
Amegakure
Kanon was a woman with good looks, but not a good kunoichi. She was skilled in the sciences, but companies then wanted kunoichi scientists. She got a degree from the National College in Ame, but couldn't get a job. That is, until Orochimaru offered her a position at BioArk.
She had gratefully taken the job for she was running out of money. She didn't care what Oto used the viruses she helped make for. But then Orochimaru got mad at her pace of research for the ultimate virus. In his stupidity, he killed Kanon's family. She moved her operations to Konoha until she was done with research, then quit her job, taking BioArk's best bioreactor with her.
Since quitting her job at BioArk- the Concern, as it was better known as- she bought a three-bedroom apartment in Konoha's west side. The apartment was run-down when she bought it, but she didn't care much. She had the wall knocked down between the spare bedrooms, calling the large room her workroom. The master bedroom, living/dining room, kitchen, and bathroom were used for living space.
The hallway leading to the bedrooms was used as a staging area. A hall closet contained biohazard suits newly imported from Oto. The door to her workroom was replaced with a sliding door. The other door opened to a little room for bleaching suits and throwing them away. The windows in the workroom were covered with black construction paper so the virus wouldn't be affected by sunlight.
Kanon now entered the workroom, fully suited. She went over to a cabinet and withdrew a dish filled with the virus before it was put in the bioreactor. At a nearby table, she extracted some genes from the disease, then added in genes of another virus under a microscope. Then she put the contents of the dish into the bioreactor and pushed a few buttons.
She then left the room, bleaching her suit and pitching it on the way out. She proceeded into the kitchen and grabbed a mug from a cabinet. She filled it with water from the sink and headed it in the microwave. While she waited for the waster to heat, she took out a sandwich from the fridge.
The microwave announced the water was warm then, and Kanon was quick to take it out. She added a tea bag and a bit of sugar, stirring until the scalding water became a solution. She tasted the tea, and, upon finding it still bitter, added more sugar. Awhile and a half cup of sugar later, she was finally satisfied with the taste.
When she finished her meal, she returned to her workroom. By this time, the Biozan was busily outputting a liquid into a jar. Along with the liquid was white sludge- a concentrated portion of virus that settled at the bottom of the jar. After the bioreactor finished, she emptied the liquid from the jar, leaving only the virus.
She scooped out the white sludge from the jar into dishes. She put the dishes back in the cabinet, on a different shelf from the other dishes. She put more of the dishes into the bioreactor, listening to it hum like a fish tank. She once again left her workroom, this time going to her own room.
The walls in Kanon's room were covered from ceiling to floor with newspaper clippings attached to corkboards. Part of the wall was hidden by a bureau that had a wooden chair in front of it. A small bed with a grey quilt sat in the far right corner. Brown carpet covered the floor of the room, and a few ceiling lights glared at the plainness. Finally, there was a door leading to her walk-in closet she created by knocking out the wall between the master bedroom and one of the other two bedroom's closets- the door to the closet from the other bedroom was sealed to prevent the possible entry of virus particles.
She now sat in the chair before the bureau. From a drawer, she produced a notebook. She took out a mechanical pencil from a jar containing writing utensils and flipped to a fresh page in the notebook. She then wrote down everything she knew about the super virus she had just created.
The bus ride to the capital was never pleasant. Bumpy roads, detours due to road blocks, and other issues made the would-be 5 hour ride longer. At least a person could always look at the scenery. Kanon, however, was more interested in the people on the bus.
She loved connections. Bus routes, how the body works, etc. She also loved how different people reacted differently to the same thing. Like how at the mention of Ebola, some people freaked, while others said it would never spread to the cities. She believed Ebola would eventually make it to the cities naturally, but that the Concern would use it in their bioterror weapons anyway.
The tall trees surrounding the road suddenly gave way to a grey concrete wall. Rooftops of taller government buildings peeked out from the cover of the wall. The road had become smoother, as now it was cobble similar in color to the wall. The deep brown gates were made of a strong wood- as far as Kanon knew it was probably imported from another city.
The bus slowed to a stop at the eastern gate bus station. Everyone had to get off because the bus was going back to Konoha. Kanon went immediately into the crowded station. People's conversations were reduced to a jumble of sounds in her ears as she pulled out flesh colored surgical gloves and silently pulled them on. Then she held her breath and walked around the station, throwing pieces of what looked like plastic to the floor.
As soon as she was done, she made a beeline for the door. She got outside and took several gulps of air before she could return her breath to normal. She then removed her gloves and shoved them back into her pocket. Finally, she got back on the bus and took a seat. The bus rolled away from the now lethally hot station and headed back to Konoha.
