Currents, Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Acquaintanceship

Zake seemed to be doing well for a child with no previous friendships. Echo seemed to have accepted him, especially after she had tasted his soup. The curious boy hadn’t realized he was such a fine cook until she had mentioned it. He had always been fond of cooking, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he was good.

The blonde began bringing her lunch on a routine basis. If he wasn’t able to for one reason or another, he’d even go out of his way to find her earlier in the day and tell her so. They were growing close rather quickly.

Of course, that was when something decided to change.

On a slightly cloudy day, Zake, with some handmade sushi that he’d tested out by cooking it, arrived at Echo’s training grounds to find that the small girl had friends over with her this time. There were five of them. A blue-haired, highly attractive looking girl, a blonde, gloved girl, a boy in a strange, green outfit, a boy with white hair and three dyed-black locks with red and black clothes, and a red-haired, blue-eyed, smiling boy were conversing with Echo. Zake was suddenly glad he’d brought extras.

“Oh, Zake!” the white-haired girl cried out as she spot him. All eyes turned to him and Zake felt nervous. He tried to force himself to appear friendly, but was fully aware that he was grossly over-doing it.
“Hey, Echo. Ya brought some buddies?” he asked, his voice a little bit louder than he’d intended. The others didn’t seem to notice.
“Yeah. I’ve told the about your cooking so much, they all wanted to try it,” she replied with a smile.
“Some of us were dragged unwillingly,” the blue-haired girl commented testily.
“Whatever. Everybody, this is Zake Zaire. He’s nineteen right now, and no, he’s not a ninja.” They all seemed a little bit surprised by that; typically, ninjas were friends with ninjas. They were, however, not prejudiced and had no problem with it.
“Zake, this is Orian,” Echo said, gesturing to the blue-haired girl. “She currently specializes in chemical interrogation and is Chunin ranked, though it won’t be long before she’s a Jonin. She‘s also one of my teammates.”
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
“This is Seravin, an old friend of mine. She hasn’t quite figured out her specialty yet, but she’s working on her personal battle style. She’s also a Chunin.” This time, she pointed at the gloved girl.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Ditto.”
“This is Rock Lee, the guy who pretty much taught me my training exercises, though I’m nowhere near as good as him. His determination is unmatched and he wants to prove that even someone who can only perform taijutsu can be a splendid ninja. He’s also a Chunin.” The green-outfitted boy was the one who was being introduced now.
“I am honored to have met another friend of Echo.”
“Um, likewise.”
“This is Vaas Gibralter, a Chunin with a penchant for water and lightning jutsu, though is still figuring out his official specialty. He’s a tough-looking guy with a lot of scars, but he’s really a big softie.”
“Hey!” the white-haired boy shouted in retort to her final comment. Zake said nothing, only stared with a peculiar expression.
“And, finally, this is Ginko Cho. He’s a Chunin who’s official specialty is stealth. He’s real friendly, so I’m sure you’ll get along easily with him. Not that everyone else isn’t friendly.”
“Hello.”
“Hi.” Zake blinked.
“Wait, what’s your specialty, then, Echo?” he suddenly asked, realizing he didn’t know.
“Oh. Deception, imitation, and disguise. A good impersonation is more than just a jutsu; you have to embody the personality of whoever you’re copying: their habits, ways of movement, the way they speak. It comes naturally to me.”
“What do you mean?” the blonde questioned, not quite understanding it.
“Allright, here’s how I would imitate Ginko.” Echo took a breath, exhaled and started to change the way she stood. She stood more upright, spreading her shoulders out more. Her head tilted slightly backwards and cocked it ever so slightly to the right side. Her left hand was placed loosely on her hip, the other arm hanging loose without quite touching her body. She spread her legs out a little bit more as she tended to stand with her feet close together, bending almost unnoticeably at the knees. She lowered her eyebrows a margin of an inch, made her mouth smaller with a hint of a smile, and made her eyes wider, but friendlier-looking. Echo Yon made all of these movements at once, barely even thinking about it. Zake looked quickly back and forth between the redhead and the girl, seeing the resemblance.
“Wow, you suddenly look like him without looking like him. That’s awesome.” Relaxing back into her original pose, Echo grinned.
“Thanks.”
“Wow.”
“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt, but is that food you have with you?” Seravin jumped into the conversation, trying to be polite about it. Zake looked down at the Tupperware in his hands, looked up and nodded, grinning.
“It’s sushi. Except, I tried something new. Here, have a try.” Zake was smiling, surprised to find he was enjoying himself with such a large group of people.