Andromeda & Aburame

Chapter 26: Defensive

Shino's POV:

Lord Mizukage: "Do try to convince us Lady Sayuri and friends."

Lord Tsuchikage: " Which of you will speak on her behalf first?"

This was it, they were giving us a chance to speak up for her, we were the only thing standing between her and death. Everything was riding on us making a good case for her.

I calmly looked around at Sayuri, Naruto, and Lee. They returned my gaze and nodded for me to step forward and speak for her.

Shino: "I will."

Lord Hokage: "So be it, you may begin Shino."

Shino: " The fears that are placed upon her are unjustified. I was a part of the team that first found her in the woods that day, she was hurt badly and she didnt even know who she was. She was scared that she would never figure out who she truly was but she she was even more scared of regaining her memories and it turning out she was an enemy. In the time she has spent with us she has been nothing but kind and considerate, so much so that she was terrified of learning she was a threat because she had come to care for us and the village. That person is her most basic self, she is in there somewhere. We don't know if she is evil because she hasn't even been given the opportunity to wake up with her memories, she could still be that kind person...."

Before I could finish, Lord Raikage interrupted.

Lord Raikage: "We cannot take the risk of waking her just to see if she is nice. She could have been lying this whole time boy, the Ōtsutsuki are far more intelligent and deceitful than us. She may have been lying about not knowing who she was just so she could get close to the Hokage."

Sayuri: "That is not the case Lord Raikage."

Lord Raikage: "And how would you know that?"

Sayuri: "I have excellent hearing, I can hear the heartbeat of every ninja in this chamber. Even locked away in that sand dome, I can hear her heartbeat. You see when a person lies their heartbeat changes, I was always listening and when she spoke to us, she never once lied. It is true that some people can manipulate their heartbeat to avoid this but even then there are other signs and she never displayed them."

Lord Mizukage: "Perhaps you are right, but it still doesnt change the fact that the way she acted before would be the result of amnesia. She could be an entirely different person deep down, one filled with ambition and hatred."

Shino: "She isn't filled with hatred! At least not towards us...."

Lord Kazekage: "If not towards us then towards whom?"

Shino: "I think she hates her own clan, or she at least has a grudge against them. When she attacked us in the woods...."

Dang it! I should have worded that differently!

Lord Raikage: "She attacked them and you still haven't killed her Lord Hokage!?

Lord Tsuchikage: "She can't be trusted if she attacked the people who saved her, what would she do to complete strangers in the village."

Lord Hokage desperately tried to calm the anger and confusion of the Kage's but I could slowly feel any chance we had of saving her slip away.