Tropical Beaches Are Danger

"Well..." After a short few moments of thought, Masaru sat up again; "It's hard to really earn the clan's elder's trust in general if you're not also of noble birth...even my clan's elders sometimes bicker about my relationship. I assume parents can be the same, that wasn't something I had to face...

What's important though, are the people involved in the relationship; that's what I believe anyway. If you truly care about one another...then even if there's obstacles that the clan puts in your way...you'll overcome them together..."

Perhaps it was a bit...dramatic putting it like that, but...that was basically it...

"Don't change who you are, I'm sure with you're formality and kindness though it will give you some level of respect from them...those are important qualities." Hideki seemed to have those said qualities under control though, as he seemed rather levelheaded and kind...

Hideki listened, nodding occasionally. "Mm." He threw in once or twice to show he was listening. "Well.. Th.. thank you." He looked away, rubbing the back of his head for a moment. That was awfully high praise, especially coming from someone like Masaru.

"That means a lot... And I don't want to.. jump the gun or assume anything about how Yuzuki feels... I don't even know if Yuzuki has how she feels sorted out yet... But I do really like her and if I have to jump through her family's hoops to win them over... um... yeah. I absolutely will..." He had a lot of optimism on the matter and gave Masaru a happy smile.

"So.... How are things with my Lieutenant?"

"Welcome." Masaru replied, giving a small smile as Hideki continued speaking.

Well, he hoped things would be sorted out and settled between the two of them, it would probably be difficult at first if things resulted in a positive outcome for them, but he silently wished for the best.

"M...Mia and myself? Well...we're doing g-good. Things are fine..." He replied, losing some of his earlier composure with a light tint in his cheeks; his hand moved to his neck out of habit.

Hideki raised an eyebrow. "Really." He chuckled. Well. Masaru was quite possibly the strongest captain in the entire Soul Society... and here he was blushing like a... well.... like a virgin, didn't seem inaccurate.

"What are you so bashful about?" He wondered. "I mean... She's crazy about you, you know that, right?" He was asking, but he was also hoping to encourage the elder captain.

"I...I'm new to the relationship thing...t-to...of course I'll get like this..." Masaru tried to defend, glancing off to the side for a short moment.

He couldn't help it; he...he knew they both cared for one another a lot, talking about their relationship though he couldn't help but get flustered...

"Hm.. I suppose. Then again, you're BOTH unnecessarily bashful, so I guess it's a good fit." He said, frowning momentarily. Were he and Yuzu a good fit? Jeez... talking about Masaru's love life had briefly distracted him from his own terrifying-at-the-moment one...

Further distractions were clearly necessary.

"Of course, I must ask, Captain Shirakawa. Your intentions towards my lieutenant ARE noble, correct? Not to be over protective, but I AM her captain, after all."

"Of course!" Masaru replied, his voice lacking a stutter on this instance. Of course his intentions were pure! He took his relationships all seriously, and he decided to voice that thought. "All of my relationships, friendships and more, are treated with utmost respect, all of them are extremely important to me."

He'd moped for three days when he thought he'd upset her...

Hideki smiled. "Sorry... I guess that was a bit too much to ask you that. I know you're a good guy.. Just... There aren't a lot of people Mia can count on. I just.. wanted to ask to make sure you're a good person for her to add to that list." He sighed.

"Honestly, even though I'm her captain though, that's probably overstepping my bounds. My apologies." He rubbed the back of his head with a little frown.

"Y-Yeah..." Masaru replied, giving a small nod, his eyes moving to the towel he was sitting on, looking just a bit in front of him. "It's alright, I understand."

He just wanted Hideki to know, he took all of his relationships, platonic or no, very seriously. He cherished them all now that he had them, and they weren't something he would take lightly.

"Thank you." He said with a happy grin, batting at the sand around him and pushing it into little shapes absent mindedly. He glanced down it before beginning to try and smooth the sand out as much as possible. What did he talk about.. Yuzu? His stomach seized up.

"S-so... I've been a captain for a few short months... You've been a captain for.. um.. a lot longer... Any advice you have for me?" He awkwardly tried to keep his cool.

"Welcome." Masaru replied, giving a nod to the other male.

He was asking for advice? Well, a captain's job was tough, and he was new to it for the most part; "Well, it's a lot of hard work...I tend to overwork myself at times, but that's something to be careful of. Eventually you might lose track of how much work you're actually doing and think you're alright, but end up overexerting yourself, so be careful of that.

It's always good to have a close division as well, Sixth is similar to a group of good friends or family almost, if you're division is close it makes working with together much easier, and it can help with outside opinions of it as well."

"I...well that's not true? I kissed him. But it was all wrong! He kissed me after, but it was wrong... I licked his neck, I didn't know how to react and he...I licked his neck and nuzzled it and... he reacted!" Words tumbled from the distracted woman's mouth, her eyes closing as she tried to explain the situation and unsure of how to. This quiet and nice woman made it easy to speak, her smile making Yuzuki feel... ease. At ease in speaking and rambling, even as she blushed bright red.

Mia for her part shared the same blush, embarrassed for the woman and flustered. L-Licking? Her dog form must have been at work there but... Her face was definitely tinted, not wanting to imagine doing that to Masaru by accident. "I-I see... I suppose thats really normal though? U-Um... You like him don't you? So it'd make sense you...would want to kiss him. L-Licking..."

How did she approach this? Yuzuki's jumbled words spun in her head as she tried and failed to make sense of what had occurred. "M-Maybe explain...from the beginning?"

The golden eyes staring almost into Mia's soul leaned forward a bit and she nodded, Yuzuki deciding to continue from there. "Oh! Yes, good plan. Um... He made a little figurine..."

Her fingers poked together and the red lined eyes glanced down. "It was of me, as a little doggy. A perfect replica... And I wanted to show him for once, since he deserved it! how happy I was. But... I'm only used to in dog form so... I reacted like I do. So I knocked him over in a...happy dog pounce..."

She froze for a minute at the memory, however short of time ago it had been, it was still embarrassing. A steaming face, she let out a sound before shaking her head from side to side.

Mia waited, trying not to blush as she put two and two together herself. "Th-Thats okay! I understand..."

Oh boy did the Lieutenant. Still, there were pieces missing in the story. How did that lead to kissing? They were sitting up when she had looked and Hideki had seemed calm... "Where did the kissing come from then?"

Yuzuki sighed and played with the end of her long braid, brushing her lips with the ends. She looked to the side and shrugged, the soft tone and kind expression getting out of the woman more than she might have otherwise. "We...did everything wrong. I mean he's not my betrothed but... it was just all out of order! So I tried to fix it. I think it made it worse. But it felt nice, so I am not sure... How do you two work?"

Curious golden eyes, filled with questions but unwilling to ask them at the moment, looked up into dark violet ones. Mia felt so odd being asked such things and blushed, her eyes looking down now. "...He's a person. With his own likes and dislikes, his own feelings... Not just a noble. As long as I can be, I'll...I'll stay by his side. That's how it works, for me at least."

Hmming to herself, Yuzuki continued to play with the end of her braid as she thought. It was confusing... but she knew for a fact after all this out loud speaking that she didn't want to stop that with Hideki. She wanted to keep holding his hand and making him make that smile and be sweet.

She wouldn't say this out loud, but it was too strong to ignore or push aside...

Looking into Mia's eyes, she took the woman's hands and moved close. "You! I owe you for this. Ask of me what you want and I'll do it!"

Mia for her part looked startled, about to reply it was no hassle... but then she stopped with her mouth parted as she formed those words. "Oh! Can you...teach me...female noble things? I want to learn a bit... Just simple things, if you could?"

That, Mia wanted to learn that. If she could, maybe she could help Masaru and maybe it'd be fun to learn it all. Smiling sweetly, she tilted her head and waited for Yuzuki's reply.

Laughing, the Noblewoman lifted her nose and brought up her hand. "Of course! If you bring me sweets, I shall teach you all I know. Just call me Sensei! Why does Masaru have an ice pack on his lap?"

As she chortled, her eyes took in the two men who were still sitting over there, drawing Mia's eyes as well. "...I don't know. Maybe it was a bad cramp? Oh! I was too heavy wasn't I... Thank you Yuzuki!"

Standing, she displaced sand as she rushed over, waving to Masaru with a red face. She ran, trying to hold her chest from bouncing as she moved over swiftly in worry. "Sorry sorry! Sorry!"

Yuzuki followed at a more sedate pace, rolling her eyes. It seemed her crisis was over for now, she knew at least what she wanted and that was all she needed.

Hideki nodded, wondering if he should be taking notes on all of this. It sounded like being a captain was complicated, even once you got to Masaru's age. He would just have to keep working at it. Though now that he'd made friends with Masaru, he could come to him with trouble in the future, right? He smiled before turning to see the girls heading back. Mia seemed worried about Masa. Uh-oh. Had she figured out how he got hurt?

Yuzuki seemed... calm... He gave her a grin, just... well... happy to see her, if he was completely honest. As silly as that was.

Masaru returned Hideki's smile; hearing Mia's voice, he turned to see the two women approaching them, having finished with their conversation it seemed. Mia was...apologizing?

She looked worried...was it because...

Had...had she figured out about his "cramp?"

"I-It's alright, Mia; I'm fine." He replied, once she was close enough to hear him.

"So the cramp wasn't too bad? I wasn't too heavy? Did I hurt you?" Mia knelt in the sand, next to Masaru with worried eyes as she glanced from the ice and back up to the man's face. She then turned to Hideki, her worry shining through as she silently questioned her friend as well.

Yuzuki finally reached the males, looking away from Hideki's small grin and crossing her arms. She had the smallest smile on her face though. "If he says he's fine, he's fine. There's no need to worry, I am sure Hide kept it from getting too bad."

"The cramp wasn't too bad at all." Hideki said with a quick smile and a laugh. "And um... yeah. Like Yuzuki said, he's.. he's all better now." He nodded and stood up. Crap... what to do now... He glanced from Mia to Yuzuki, to the ocean, to the sand castle... Um.. Masa? Sure! He held out a hand to Masa to help him get up from sitting. "Right, Captain Shirakawa?" He asked, a little nervously.

Craaap, what had they talked about over there? Why didn't they spy on them?!

"N-No, it wasn't bad at all; I'm alright. You didn't hurt me, Mia." Masaru replied just as Hideki addressed him, answering his and Mia's questions before giving a nod; he moved to stand up after having taken the other captain's offer to assist.

He was all better, no hurting anymore at all.

"Oh...that's really good..." Mia gave Hideki the most grateful of smiles and then looked at Masaru with obvious relief. She hadn't hurt him... Glancing up at Yuzu, she gave her a small smile as well as Masaru was helped up.

Moving to stand herself, she picked up her cloak and reached into it with a grin before pulling out popsicles! She had a bunch of ice cream in there, all wrapped and ready to be eaten. "H-Here, I brought...ice cream and snacks..."

Yuzuki for her part watched Hideki curiously, her eyes only moving to Masaru and Mia when they spoke before going back to him. He seemed unsure of something... She was about to open her mouth and ask when surprise snacks distracted her. Her eyes opening curiously, she brought a finger to her lip and leaned closer. "I will take this one."

She held out her hand and Mia obliged her by handing over the red one. Yuzuki opened it and promptly licked it before sticking it in her mouth. Nice and cooling...

Hideki still felt awkward as could be, but he just had to... calm down.. remember they were having fun here at the beach... and ooh, ice cream? He walked over to Mia, looking over what she had available. Hrmmm.. Ooh, a drumstick. "Can I have this one?" He asked before reaching out for it. "Thank you, Mia!" He said with a pleasant cheer, before biting into it.

He turned to the only other person who'd gotten one so far. "Hey, Yuzuki, how's.." He felt a chill run up his spine at the sight he beheld. Just.. Just keep talking fool! "How's your taste? You got a popsicle right?" His voice was only a little shaky, but that could easily be brain freeze. Yes. Brain freeze.

Ah right, Mia had mentioned popsicles and ice cream before she'd gone to speak with Yuzuki. Now that they had the chance, he supposed now was as good a time as any to enjoy something cool.

It'd definitely help with the heat...

Masaru accepted one of the popsicles from Mia as Yuzuki and Hideki had their picks of the bunch. "Thank you, Mia."

Just as he finished speaking, he glanced over at Hideki who seemed...nervous now? His voice had a slight shake to it anyway...

Of course he could have that one! Mia nodded with a grin at the silly captain. He seemed to pause before asking Yuzuki about the taste which made the shinigami blink and then shrug. She beamed at both men and gave Yuzuki a small nod, knowing the woman would never thank her and not really minding anymore. "Welcome Captain and Masa."

Putting the options she had away, she pulled out a yellow one. Lemon...very tart and not as sweet. She knew others like sweeter ones better so she had kept the less sweet ones aside for herself. Licking it gently, she closed her eyes and sighed. She loved popsicles... It was so much cooler once she had one of these in this heat... Sliding it into her mouth she sucked on it with a pleased little expression, enjoying this way too much.

Yuzuki for her part watched the others get their popsicles while she sucked on hers. Waiting, just waiting for it to get smaller and weaker, she glanced over at Hideki before taking a large bite out of it.  "It is good. Very nice tasting. Does that one have nuts?"

She peered curiously at Hideki's drumstick and then over at Masaru's before looking at Mia's and... What was she doing to that poor thing?

Leaning conspiratorially towards Hideki, in a small soft whisper she asked. "...Is that how one is supposed to eat these?"

Hideki took another small bite out of his ice cream, most of the part with the chocolate and nuts at the top still intact when Mia started giving ice cream a blowie. What the hell? Did she.. She... She couldn't know how that looked. Hideki just... turned his attention to Yuzuki, who had just shorn the end of her popsicle off. Well that was alarming, but at least it wasn't so awkward.

Part of his body hurt just seeing her bite into the popsicle like that, but it didn't unnerve him in such a way that he had trouble responding when she whispered to him. "Uh... N..No..Not in public anyway." He shook his head before glancing over at Yuzuki. "You uh... want to try some?" He asked, holding the part of his drumstick he hadn't gotten to up.

Once Masaru had unwrapped his and moved to begin eating it, he glanced over at Mia and couldn't help but avert his eyes for a short moment. She...She really loved popsicles, didn't she? He ate his rather slowly, it was good, but if he ate it too fast he'd probably get a brain freeze...

It seemed the other two were enjoying their's as well, though Yuzuki was quick to bite into hers. They were all enjoying it though, it was good to have something cooling like this on such a hot day.

Mia was focused on her popsicle, enjoying it so much that she didn't seem to notice anyone else's odd looks away or focus on her for even brief periods of time. Humming lightly, Mia glanced up at the three and pulled her popsicle from her mouth with an audible popping sound before waving it. "I-I think I'm gonna go...check the tide pools nearby... There should be little...animals there right? I wanted to see them before I left... I promise not to go into the water?"

She looked between the two who were the authority on wandering off, giving Yuzuki also a pleading look. She had wanted to see this at least and was glad she had remembered...

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Yuzuki just looked confused, were you supposed to eat them like that in private then? Weird. She would remember this though and do so in private once home. Yellow eyes glanced down at the ice cream drumstick before she bent a bit and took a bite. It was really...really good! Her eyes widened as she held up her free up to her lips. "Its good. Very sweet."

She liked sweets, this was almost like chocolate chip cookies in fact with the chocolate and the not chocolate combined. She eyed the drumstick before going back to her own popsicle after listening to Mia's request. "I don't see a problem."

As if her opinion was the most important, though she did glance over at first Hideki and then Masaru.

Hideki didn't blush when she leaned in to take a bite, but he wanted to. But his anxiety was overridden by the sudden urge to smile when Yuzuki responded happily to the ice cream. "I'm glad you like it." He said before taking another bite himself.

He glanced back at Mia. "O-oh! Yeah, that sounds cool!" Why was she acting nervous? That sounded cool. He'd have to check them out too at some point. Hrm, he still owed Yuzuki a trip out to a sunken treasure, though he wouldn't be surprised if she'd forgotten all about it. He'd see if she wanted to. "Actually, has anyone been in the water yet?" He suddenly asked. He hadn't been watching earlier when Masaru had been with her.