Heroes [Naruto]

19 ; SATISFACTION BROUGHT IT BACK

Ibiki was getting freaked out. Ushio started out with hearts in her eyes as she watched him, but at the moment, she was simply observing him, looking serious as it gets.

At the beginning, he thought she was creepy, but now he thought she was creepily observant for a genin. She matched their postures, rendering her eyes the same. He was almost certain she wasn't listening, and both Kakashi and Asuma noticed her glance too.

"Is she looking at... Ibiki?" 

"Yeah, she is," Ibiki mumbled under his breath.

"For what reason?"

"She thinks Ibiki is a legend, Kakashi, don't you know?" Ibiki raised an eyebrow at the fact Asuma knew her better than her own teacher, who simply shook his head.

"Your student's odd," Ibiki pointed out.

Kakashi chuckled, "which one?"

"Frankly, all of them."

Hayate kept talking, and Ushio turned to watch Kakashi. He caught her watching, and smiled, making her smile in return. Her hazel eyes seemed tired, and he already knew that something shook her. He wished he could know what, he worried for his young student more often than not.

"GAH! WHAT IS THAT!" Sakura's voice screamed loudly from next to them, stopping Hayate in his explanation.

"Mr. Caterpillar!" Ushio smiled happily, moving swiftly to stop Sakura from crushing him. "Sakura, Mr. Caterpillar is my friend, but if he thinks you're dangerous to either of us, I won't be able to stop him... He's very venomous, you know," she smiled brilliantly.

Shino nodded, "please do not harm a creature as nice as him," he added.

"N-nice?"

"Yeah, Mr. Caterpillar is very nice," Kankuro commented dryly. "He not at all threatened to kill me."

"May I continue?" Hayate wondered, and after a moment of silence, in which Ushio returned to her team, he spoke again, and before long, the preliminary round started.

►

"Fight number 11, Seijuro Funaki vs. Hizashi Matokai." The two boys sitting next to Ushio, looked at each other, fist-bumping.

"So here ends our partnership?"

"I guess so." 

"Cheer for me Ushio!" Seijuro raised his thumbs with a stupid smile. Hizashi pushed him off through the railing.

"Shut up already you idiot," he stated, "I will make him pay for each stupid remark those past few days, alright Ushio?"

"I'm cheering for you, Hiza!" she smiled, sitting still, legs swinging lightly through the railing. He saluted. 

"I can hear you!" Seijuro whined. He stood up, as Hizashi landed in front of him. The two watched each other, before Hayate spoke.

"Begin."

They watched each other a moment more, before both got a kunai, attacking.

"So those are your teammates, huh?" Kakashi asked, sitting down next to her. Ushio turned to watch with a smile.

"Yeah." she said, watching the fight from the corner of her eyes. "My first guess would be HIzashi, since he is smarter and would predict Seijuro's moves, since we also know him. But I also know that Seijuro's stronger and has a greater stamina. It all depends on how long they'll manage to hold on. To be honest, I'm much more worried about myself here."

"Why is that?"

Ushio gave Kabuto an uneasy look. "My opponent is ought to be this Kabuto guy. He's creepy."