Heroes [Naruto]

09 : FOOTSTEPS ☼

Ushio's eyes were shut as the evening breeze blew through her hair. A raccoon neared her, and she opened her eyes at the sound of his call, turning to look at it.

"Hello," she greeted the small creature. The raccoon neared her, wondering. She smiled, crouching down. For a moment, the gray furred animal hesitated, before standing mere centimeters from her.

It's been a long time since Ushio's worried about diseases or flees.

The raccoon looked at her expectantly, so she laughed, fishing out the biscuits she carried with her, placing a few in her hand. The raccoon took it with his black hands, claws unused. She patted him while he was eating, and the complete calm was broken when the two heard footsteps.

Hesitatingly, the raccoon neared her, as though asking protection. Ushio wasn't bothered, expecting it to be just who it was.

"Ushio?" Kakashi's voice called, and he walked, using his crutches, towards them. The raccoon climbed onto Ushio, scared.

"Don't worry, that's my teacher, he won't do you any harm," Ushio soothed the animal, though she held him as she stood up.

"Is that a raccoon?"

"Yes."

Puzzled, Kakashi looked the two over. He smiled, shaking his head. "Are you coming home? It's late."

"Yeah," Ushio nodded, "I'll head in soon. I'll just hang with the raccoon a bit more."

"Okay, be careful," he said, probably referring to Zabuza, since Kakashi figured out he was alive and started to train the team with better chakra control. Ushio however has been taught that by Asuma before he started training her in her chakra nature.

"I will," she assured Kakashi with a smile, setting down the raccoon on the ground. "Actually, I think I'll head back soon enough."

"Ushio," Kakashi spoke as she turned away from him. "You're still an innocent, you're still young. And you're very talented, but you can't expect of yourself at the age of ten to be able to fight people like Zabuza and defeat them. Don't shut your friends out because of guilty feelings. Not when there is no reason for them."

"I won't," she said, not lying and not speaking truth. She found it rather funny coming from Kakashi. Did he realize he was being a hypocrite? He was a Chunin at what, six? Genin at five? She was a disgrace to the village and to the title of Prodigy, in comparison to him. She had so much work to do, it wasn't even funny. If she couldn't expect herself to defeat Zabuza, what was the point in her existance?

She was a pawn.

The two stood in silence a while more, Ushio trying to empty her mind. "They were my teammates. And the Fourth was my teacher."

Ushio took a moment before replying, having caught on a moment after he spoke. "Did you witness it?"

"Obito's. I... in a way... killed Rin."

"And Minato-sama?"

"Well, I'm guessing you know the story."

"It's pretty known," Ushio commented, turning to Kakashi. It wasn't too known; not the real story. He couldn't tell what she referred to. But she could see the sadness in his eyes, and allowed all emotions she shut off herself to flood over her in that moment, as she watched him. 

"I guess I disappointed all of them."

"But you get to fix it now, right?" she questioned, looking at him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Sasuke is an Uchiha too," she watched him carefully, before testing her theory about Naruto, "and Minato's son--"