One Weakness(Akihana)

Echo nods once as he finishes crumbling his cake slices, dusting his own hands off of the sweet cake, his eyes catch her reaching fro the frosting and he accepts it as it's handed to him, he reaches over following the scent of metal, he opens a knife drawer first, followed by the table-ware, a clean spoon produced before he grins "Leave it to me." He says with a small chuckle, he pops the lid of the frosting and scoots a bit closer to the blonde Kunoichi in order to watch for the cues he'll get to add the frosting in...Carefully, he begins slowly spooning the frosting in, a look of concentration on his face, a quick glance every now and then is cast towards the Kunoichi to make sure he's doing his assigned task correctly...

Soon the can is emptied of it's contents and the cake is patted by the Kunoichi's hands, Echo gives her his full attention as she speaks, he's getting pretty hungry and this is starting to smell delicious..
Usually he eats a lot of meat and carbs but this will do just fine if his stomach is going to be any judge..
Echo stares into her eyes, returning the smile, the happy sheen causing his cheeks to burn scarlet for a moment before he averts his gaze back to the mixture awkwardly, his cheeks burn brighter as the sound his stomach makes is accompanied by a giggle, he grins sheepishly as she offers him a cake ball and he nods accepting it into his palm "Thanks Aki." He states before popping the cake ball into his mouth, his smile widening in delight at the taste of the baked good.

Echo nods and begins kneading the cake into relatively constant sizes, mimicking the Kunoichi's movements..Some are a bit smaller or bigger then others however, a sign of his inexperience with this...however he hasn't destroyed any, which he'll take as a small victory.
She explains the wait, which causes him to pout briefly before she suggests he utilizes his wind chakra and he nods with a grin "Sure, sure, no problem." Echo says rolling his wrists before his hands hover over the tray and he takes in a breath through his nose...and let's it out through his mouth...a small chill descends as Echo continues to breath and very carefully, traces of wind begin swirling around the tray, chilling them...The process should take about five minutes, he needs to make sure he doesn't freeze the things, but he still needs to chill them...
So this is a bit of a delicate process..
Last time he used this was as a torture method...He did flash freeze that persons leg, before he stomped it into nothing.
There was no pain as the nerves were numbed by the cold, but the sight of it had him talking...
It was this information that allowed him to save the citizens of Tanzaku Town from a bandit raid.
Sometimes, Shinobi have to do horrible things to do the right thing.
They should be done soon from the looks of it.

Akihana watched carefully as he chilled the cake balls using his wind chakra, trying to understand how he was doing it using her own chakra sensory but not in a probing manner. The kunoichi would never be so rude as to execute a jutsu or intrude into his mind uninvited but she did try to see if there was anything she herself had been doing wrong. Unlocking her wind element was proving to be more of the challenge and fire and lightning had ever been. Perhaps it was beaus she was so used to relying on the first two that abandoning them even temporarily to try and unlock a third was unconsciously holding her back. The blonde had never proclaimed to be the fearless ninja everyone was encouraged to portray. She had fears, insecurities, drawbacks and shortcomings. And one of them was being unable to defend those she cared about if she was ever rendered powerless. She supposed it was this psychological fear that was keeping her from unlocking the third element as opposed to any lack of technical understanding on the issue.

Nonetheless she raised her palms up alongside Echo, trying to focus on the chakra affinity still locked inside her. A few seconds of concentrating with her eyes closed yielded and results and the medic opened her golden orbs once more, a sheepish smile gracing her lips. "Nope, still nothing," she admitted. "But that just means I now get to work with the icing."

As the dark eyed shinobi continued to chill the cake balls, Akihana took the time to fetch the different colored melted chocolate she had separated and heated earlier that morning. She had made sure to heat them an appropriate amount and now the blonde transferred the different colored melted chocolates into three different plastic baggies, black, white and bronze colored respective. "This is a neat decorating trick I learned from my neighbor," she explained, showing him how to tie of the baggie into the shape of a cone before making a small slit at the point. "This way, you can make designs and write words and so on. And yes, I realize how utterly girly this sounds. Arata makes a face every time I attempt to do this," she laughed, reaching for one of the cake calls with the bronze colored chocolate bag in her other hand.

"Which is why I have to make it tough like for him," she added, tracing the edges of a shuriken with the brown colored chocolate on her cake pop. Now that it was sufficiently chilled to withstand further molding, the kunoichi flattened it a little and drew the little shuriken on the treat, finishing it off by using a kitchen knife to cut off the excess pastry. "See," she showed him proudly, holding up the shuriken. "Now its manly enough to eat in public."

With another peal of laughter, the young woman bent down to retrieve a few cookie cutter shapes from underneath the counter. "And we can use these to make the shapes faster, and the different coloured chocolates are just to add detail" she gestured to the cutters already shaped like shuriken, kunai, ball and chain and various other commonly used ninja weapon. "And that's all there is to it," she finished with a slight flourish.

Echo's concentration wavers briefly as another pair of hands slide in beside his own, luckily it's only for an instant and luckier still, it's to a lower power rather than a higher one...It wouldn't do to send the cake balls flying after all..
Heh, Wind Release:Food fight tornado!
Echo's gaze flicks to Akihana as she concentrates, her eyes closed, briefly, his onyx eyes turn crimson and he reads her chakra flow...with a blink there shut off and when she opens them he's staring intently at her, a thoughtful look on his face at what he's found.
His eyes light up and that roguish grin once again spreads across his face, understanding followed by him returning to his task with a nod. "I see it." He says with a small chuckle "Just a breeze, but the smallest of winds can become something quite fierce if given time..." Echo speaks, slightly cryptically, but he's definitely more determined to help her come to unlock her wind element now..

He see's potential just waiting to be tapped into, he's got a few ideas of how to help her already, some methods he used...
A plastic bag is recovered as he finishes the chilling process for the cake-pops, he glances back as she begins explaining decorating tricks to him, also commenting on young Arata's position on 'girly' snacks, Echo shakes his head with a small chuckle and moves beside her to join her as she begins decorating the cake-pop, molding it once more with interest...Her next comment and the picture of the shuriken on the pastry causes him to grin. "Still pretty cute too, I'd say it's a win-win." Echo says with a bit of a thumbs up.

Echo blinks at the assortment of Shinobi themed cookie-cutters that are on display, nodding at her explanation with a smile...also idly wondering where she ended up getting these...?
Normally he just finds stars and cuts holes in them to make Shuriken shaped pancakes..
He hums with an amused smile on his face "Thank you for showing me the art of the Cake-pop, Miss Akihana." Echo says with a small chuckle, before he pauses awkwardly...and shakes his head after seemingly a brief debate with himself. "Ah, shall we begin?" He asks idly picking up a Fuma-shuriken shaped cookie-cutter...He thinks this one is his favorite..The Fuuma clan really knew how to make his favorite type of throwing weapon...Of course he's gotten very little use of them lately, his own abilities making him quite dangerous and being unarmed can make it easier to walk inside a village.

"Thank you for showing me the art of the Cake-pop, Miss Akihana."

"You're very welcome, brave sir," the blonde replied with a smile of her own, etiquettes bred into her since childhood making her do a slight curtsy in return to him, forcing another strand of gold to escape her bun and trickle lazily to her shoulder. "You've performed your mission with true excellence, befitting a shinobi." Akihana offered the young male a salute, only to notice the spare bit of chocolate on her index finger halfway through.

"Oh, and here's the baker's reward," she quipped, inserting the chocolate stained digit delicately into her mouth and licking off the chocolate before moving to the sink to wash and dry her hands. The medic returned to see him picking up one of the cooling shurikens.

"Ah, shall we begin?"

"Please go ahead," Akihana encouraged, gesturing to the various baked weapons. "And do tell me how they turned out. Half of them are yours anyway," she added kindly. "Your reward for helping me bake." Reaching for a spare plastic container, the kunoichi placed it beside the pastries. "Pick your favorites to take back with you, unless you want to have them all here." Quiet amusement danced in her golden gaze accompanied by the offer.

Echo chuckles and returns the curtsy with a showy bow, he grins in response to the comment about completing his mission, opening his mouth to comment before he trails off as she takes the chocolate covered appendage into her mouth..
He blinks for a moment and shakes his head, the heat in his cheeks being banished with pure discipline, also thoughts of the Noodle Incident of 200XX.
Being flustered is a bit of a new feeling for him, he's not even sure why, of course she's very pretty, beautiful he'd even wager, maybe it's the comfortable feeling she seems to exude..? Or maybe it's his instincts responding to a powerful female...?

He'll ignore it for now "Ah, shall we begin..?" he continues as stated in the post above, his grin returning and growing at the statement that half are his. He's starving by now admittedly, as she turns with the plastic container, her comment is seemingly punctuated by Echo taking a bite of one of his cake-pops, he pauses and blinks once before rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin "Sorry, suppose I was a bit hungrier then I thought..." he says with a small chuckle.
He eyes the Tupperware for a moment and instead hums "Would you like to join me..? In eating these that is..?" Echo asks gesturing to his half of the assorted pastries with a smile on his face.

Noting his gaze at the container, the kunoichi simply waves away at his embarrassment at having started eating already. He isn't so different to any other young male who's seen something he liked and gone for it. In fact, if pressed Akihana would even admit to being impressed at his patience throughout the baking process. Save the spoon she had allowed him to lick and the sole cake pop he had eaten at her insistence, Echo had been remarkably good at not eating half the ingredients, something her own little boy and many grown men in fact, could not claim to have done.

When he asked if she would like to join him, the blonde looked around them with an embarrassed grin of her own, her delicate features flushed the slightest of pink at the invitation. "We really should set the table like proper grown ups instead of eating off the counter," she laughed softly, the amusement in her eyes growing. "I'm trying to set a good example for Arata but..." A cautious gaze towards the room of the still sleeping boy.

"Oh well, if he wakes up we'll tell him its your birthday." Arata's knowledge of exchanging favors on birthdays had been more born of necessity than any arrogance on the child's part. Akihana had simply never been wealthy enough to bring her child to a toy store and let him pick out whatever his heart desired. So instead employing a parenting technique she doubted existed in any manual, she ahd instead allowed him to bend the usual rules on his special day. He could eat in bed, he could watch cartoon until noon and he could go to bed a full half hour later on his birthday. Idly, the medic realized the coming February would mark Arata's first birthday when she could actually afford proper presents. The realization filled her with warmth and hope for the future.

Picking up a kunai shaped cake pop, the kunoichi carefully bit into the treat, trying not to pepper chocolate crumbs onto her dress. "Do you come from a big family?" she inquired casually, her stance relaxed as she leaned against the counter now that the baking was done. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," she added hastily, letting him know he wasn't under any obligation to respond.

Echo raises an eyebrow at the 'proper' grown-ups comment, an amused smile still spread across his face at the choice of phrase, he's covered in chocolate and has two toys strapped to his waist beside his equipment pouch...He's far beyond Proper, he was trained in tea ceremony and how to speak with one of higher authority, gracefully....Deferentially, his Father assumed he'd never pass the academy, forced him into it anyway, despite his protests...
He was a servant to Viper, a servant to the Uchiha clan heads. Until he ran off and never bothered coming back, his studies were slow, except for the weaponry and marksmanship tests...
He always managed to pass those, certain jutsu eluded him until just a week before his final exam..
He scraped a pass...Then Konoha was destroyed.

He shakes his head at her comment of setting an example "I think you're setting a great example of disciplined living, now set an example of how to unwind on your days off.." He says with a wide grin, while said in a manner meant to relieve her...Well, he's seen quite a few Shinobi crack from working too hard..Taking the time to cope really is a large part of being a successful Shinobi...Coping mechanisms, relieving the tension in the back of your neck..That prickling in your spine, that's paranoia...Stress, anger...Gotta learn to smile despite everything, he's had his own bouts of insanity from living his lifestyle the way he has.
Echo blinks at the birthday comment...And for a moment he seems to think intently, before breathing a sigh of relief...
For a second he thought it might HAVE been his Birthday...Which would have been really awkward..
Samuru's Fifth birthday party was rather small, Samuru doesn't have many friends unfortunately.

...Actually, come to think of it, neither do I. Huh...Maybe he should try and set a better example for his kids? Echo nods, while these thoughts run through his head, agreeing to the Birthday comment "Will do." he says with a small chuckle despite himself..Another bite is taken of one of the cake pops followed by a second...
Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's gotta eat after all, all this will be converted to pure awesome, to fuel this machine that produces bad ass.

Echo glances towards the Blonde Kunoichi as she asks him this question, grinning when she hastily adds that he doesn't have to answer "Well...Let's see....There's me...My Twin Brother, our..Fraternal triplet, big guy that one..Towered over both me and my Twin while we were growing up...Our Adopted Brother...he's actually from Kumogakure, our...'special' adopted Sister.." Echo says with a bit of an awkward smile at the thought of Primrose...pretty....slow, that one...But she means well...now if only she'd stop being kidnapped..."My Sister-in-law, my Twin's Wife, my Niece Ashie, my Niece Misaki, she's a teenager...Hey if you run into her, convince her to stop dieting will ya? and my Nephew Samuru..." He says with a bit of a find smile, before melancholy crosses his eyes once more...

Empty nest syndrome..? Isn't that what this is called..?
He takes another bite of his cake-pop "These are delicious by the way, I'll have to return the favor with some of my own cooking sometime...Or.." he begins, trailing off hesitantly, looking thoughtful again, before he shrugs his shoulders and gives her his full attention looking a bit...sheepish as he begins "Maybe..You'd let me treat you to dinner..?" he asks with a...strangely..for him anyway, shy smile.
What the hell..She's pretty, nice conversation, might as well see if she's interested in dinner with him..And hey, if nothing romantic comes of it, she's still great conversation.
There ain't no such thing as a friend-zone, only two friends.

The ANBU operative laughed openly when he insisted she set a good example on how to unwind. She couldn't remember the last time she had been completely relaxed, certainly not since making ANBU. A full six hours of sleep was not something that existed in Akihana's world. Quite aside from being a ninja, her son would usually crawl into bed every few hours with her and wake her up. At one point, the blonde's dearest wish had been to get someone to watch Arata for those few hours just so she could pass out on the couch.

"Wow, big family," she commented as he finished counting them out. Families always fascinated her. More than anything the pact that multiple people made to stick by each other touched her deeply. "Arata and I are the opposite," she admitted, a somber note in her voice. "Being from the land of Fire, I'm sure you've heard of the Akari clan. Very preoccupied with propriety and honor and furthering our dojutsu through intermarriages." There was no bitterness or resentment in her voice, she only sounded briefly sad as she recounted the family she once had. "Couldn't very well have an unwed sixteen year old having a baby so they... showed me the door. That's how I ended up here in Cloud." Akihana's eyes were lowered throughout the statement, the slight fear of judgement always present in her core. Perhaps it was the way she was raised or the way she was treated when her pregnancy was discovered, but despite loving her son more than anyone and anything in the world, she could never shake of the sense of innate shame that crept over her whenever she thought of how she had gotten him.

"But it did turn out for the best," she added, injecting natural optimism into her tone once more. "Things were hard for a bit but then our new Raikage was named and he made life a lot better. I returned to active duty, Arata started school and we've been fortunate enough to make a lot of good friends." Forming bonds was not a problem with Akihana, kind and perceptive by nature with a pathological need to help someone in pain, she usually made friends quickly and forged relationships that lasted because she gave her all to help in whichever way she could.

"Maybe..You'd let me treat you to dinner..?"

His request throws her of for a moment, wondering if he's suggesting a picnic with her and Arata or a gathering of friends. The kunoichi freezes as if caught in mid battle, trying to decide on a jutsu that would stop the opponent without hurting them. Her golden eyes have the look of a startled deer in that moment as realization slowly down that Echo was asking... asking her to dinner.

Was he?

"I..." the realization is followed by a slow blush creeping across her face as she wondered how to tell him he had it wrong. Or rather, the universe had it wrong. Akihana didn't get offers for dinner, she got asked when she was baking next, or how her son was doing, or if she was free to look at a sick child or an arthritic limb. The blonde simply wasn't used to being asked out to dinner. "I only have weekends off," she managed, her blush reddening further. "And I'd have to find a sitter because," Her eyes silently went to the door of the room Arata was sleeping in.

"I'm sorry if that's too much trouble," she added, still not quite meeting his gaze.

Echo chuckles softly at the comment about his family his gaze flicking to hers as he takes another cake-pop, being mindful not to take too many, his stomach tends to get the better of him if he's not watching himself..Another side-effect of the Kyuubi's regenerative properties...High metabolism and increased appetite.
Echo blinks at the shift in tone of her voice as she speaks, she speaks of the Akari clan, he nods, yes he's heard of them..Worked with one, thought he was pompous and arrogant..And so Echo beat the arrogance out of him so he'd work with the others.
He frowns visibly when he learns they threw her out, when she needed them most..
But she's here, she made it, she's taking care of her child and it's quite clear from her build and the way she moves that she's a skilled Shinobi in her own right.

As such, he speaks, his voice taking on that stern quality from his days as the Commander of Konoha's ANBU "Head and eyes up Akihana Akari, Shinobi of your skill should never turn there eyes to the ground." He says his entire demeanor shifting slightly as his channels an old mask that he's sworn only to put on again in times of great crisis. "Truly, your clan has dealt a great blow to Konoha in banishing a Shinobi of your skill, someone who so elegantly embodies the Will of Fire. As such, I Uchiha Echo, Master of Konohagakure and Leader of the Demolitions Unit, grant you free roam over Konoha's borders." Echo speaks and nods once "Be proud Akihana, you are everything a Konoha Shinobi strives to be, an example...Even if you don't know it, you've spread the Will of Fire into the hearts of Kumogakure." He says with another nod, his frame relaxing and his grin returning "So no looking down...You've got a lot to be proud of." Echo says, he's not flattering her.
He's barely even paying her a compliment, this is simple fact and this is also within his full rights to do.
He'll let Navi know of her new permissions and he'll have her watched, but the Akari clan had no right to banish a Citizen of the Land of Fire from the safety of Konoha's walls...The compound is of course one thing...
But only the Hokage has that right, Echo will most likely run a complete investigation on the Akari clan and when he finds evidence....Disciplinary action will be taken.


Echo asks her out to dinner and she seems confused for a moment, causing Echo to grow a bit nervous, then her face lights up rather cutely, causing him to blink, then he grins when she says she has the weekends off and goes further to explain she'd need a sitter.
He'd like to take it as a yes...But he's been pushy in the past so instead he asks "Saturday at Six sound okay...?" He asks tilting his head curiously his onyx eyes focused on her.
He doesn't have a sitter...Unless Yaju would be willing..? If he could find Nessa then she could probably do it for the Kunoichi...But he imagines she'll want her own sitter.

"Head and eyes up Akihana Akari, Shinobi of your skill should never turn there eyes to the ground."

Despite not making a move towards her nor displaying any sign of threat, Echo's tone was the kind of demanding that immediately made the kunoichi look up. It was the tone of both a leader and a fighter, someone who both expected to be obeyed and was entirely too used to it. The medic barely had time to wonder where and how he had cultivated this vocal ability before he was continuing once more, telling her of how her clan had wronged her, no, wronged the Leaf for separating her from it and for the first time in all those years that she had been away, Akihana felt the dregs of a long forgotten weight lift from her spirit. Though Kumo was her home now, the blonde always lived with the knowledge that her real home hadn't wanted her, because she wasn't worthy of being an Akari.

And now this raven haired young man was saying the Akari were not worthy of her. Hearing him speak of her as though she was some kind of hero, as if she had accomplished something extraordinary truly touched the young woman.

His declaration of permitting her free travel to Konoha and the Land of Fire took Akihana by such surprise that she didn't even register his name and title until a full twenty seconds later. All her mind seemed to be doing was running on the same loop over and over again. She could return to Konoha for a visit, maybe mend the past, show Arata his grandparents.

Look for the nameless boy who had lied to her and betrayed her and done her and their child such wrong just to ask him why.

And then his names and titles sank in. Master... Leader... Uchiha. Automatically, her golden eyes fluttered open to search his own dark ones, looking for any sign of the latent sharingan the clan was famous for. The action was not out of some fascination for the dojustsu itself but the desperate seeking of something familiar. The last Uchiha she had seen was well over five years ago. Echo had brought with him a little bit of her past and it was that which the kunoichi now sought in his dark gaze.

"I... can visit?" she asked quietly, unable to believe the events transpiring in her tiny kitchen. "S-see the old compound..?" Her voice was full of hesitance and trepidation, as if she was in a dream. One that she had never expected to have in the first place.

As conversation turned to their mending dinner, her mind was still playing catch up, rewinding the events of the morning and how, in the space of a single baking session, she was now no longer a pariah at the village she was born in. When Echo mentioned the time and day, the witch looked up at him with a smile spreading slowly but surely upon her face.

"That sounds wonderful. Is there a way I can reach you in case..." she didn't continue. They were both shinobi and all shinobi knew that personal plans didn't mean a thing if a mission suddenly popped up. Akihana knew he would understand her trailing off had nothing to do with lack of wanting to meet him again and everything to do with the occupational hazard of being a ninja and parent.