Tropical Beaches Are Danger

Yuzuki didn't seem to mind the soft rubbing, her eyes having glanced over before returning to her work. She wanted to hide her face but there was obviously no red to it! None at all, she did not blush!

"You shouldn't be impressed, this is merely a trifle to remember compared to other such things. Remembering family trees and where or how to bow for varying degrees of nobility in regards to your position... It's a lot easier to remember simple numbers." The noblewoman realized she had gone off on a tangent, minor though it was, and reeled herself in. "Numbers are much simpler than people."

With a final glance at the design, she moved the book and pen towards Hideki as her eyes finally met his again. She was practically glowing with excitement. "I am finished. I hope this wonderful zanpakuto of yours will allow such use of it."

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"It's been fun... and...and they look like they should be left alone a bit. I'd rather not burn..." Mia's smile was soft as she looked over at the two on the sand drawing something in her Captain's zanpakuto. She looked back up at Masaru and nodded. "I-If its okay with you... I-I'd leave them a note?"

Did Masaru want to stay? Mia... wasn't sure of that but... well she'd be fine going back alone! The woman began gathering up some of her things, such as her towel, before standing up so she could get her cloak. At least her bathing suit was a bit more dry... She'd write them a note and leave it for them! Which is what she started to do after gathering her items in one spot.

Hideki, we had to go back since I started burning and didn't want to interrupt. Have fun with Miss Morinagaaa! <3 Mia trusted him not to do anything and didn't even think to put a warning or teasing in there about that.

Hideki smiled and opened his mouth to say something before reconsidering. He wanted... to keep things simple. Not push her comfort zone too much or anything. He was... happy, so if he could just stay like this... that would be fine. He continued rubbing her shoulder briefly before taking the book. "Well he certainly will if you call him wonderful." He said with a tiny little grin.

He flipped the pen around in his hand to hold it like a wand and touched it to the page, before slowly drawing it out, focusing his reiatsu on it as it drew from him, taking a bit more than usual due to all of the detail. It wasn't too much of an effort and soon he had the bag sitting in his lap. He clapped the book shot. "Thank you, Librom." He said before placing it on the bag he'd pulled it from and turned to ceremoniously hand Yuzuki the bag.

"And Voila!"

Masaru gave a nod at Mia's words; if they were having fun...it would be best to not interrupt them. They weren't children, so they could put trust in the fact that they'd be alright.

"A note seems fine." He smiled, though he blinked as Mia began to quickly gather up her things, he attempted to help, though he was only able to gather a few small things for her before handing them off.

As Mia began writing the note, Masaru waited until she was finished before smiling again.

They could head out whenever she was ready then.

Yuzuki's red eyes were glued on the book, though they did stray to Hideki himself for a moment as she noted he hadn't stopped the rubbing. Was this normal? It wasn't as if she disliked it... It...was comforting if odd. Though it almost tickled...

She did give a small grin at that, it seems even the Zanpakuto wasn't above well deserved flattery. Her eyes stared at his hands as he used the pen as wand almost... pulling the backpack of her dreams from the magical and wonderful zanpakuto. Finally...finally though... It was made! As the bag sat on Hibiki lap for the brief moment as he put the book away, she fidgeted strongly.

But she was far too polite and well mannered to steal the bag away from him before given it! That didn't help her from snatching it with the biggest smile she had ever had, sparkles almost radiating from her. She held it up in the air before falling backwards against his arm with all of her weight as she attempted to hug it to her. Yuzuki had no words, no way to describe how important and amazed she was right now or even a way to hide her feelings like usual.

She just snuggled the bag to her and showed open affection for it, much like she would in dog form. Words...she needed to speak soon...but dog mode seemed to have taken over despite not being in dog form.

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Mia was thankful for Masaru's help and smiled sweetly as she accepted items from him. Once they were stored, she wrapped the cloak around her body and made sure all parts of her were hidden before reaching out to take Masaru's hand. "Thank you. I f-feel bad for cutting it short... But they look happy. So...thank you Masa, I appreciate your help with this."

Her smile very sweet, she stepped closer to the man, her other hand moving to settle against his arm and leaning almost against him as the hell butterfly opened the portal for them to go home. "Captain looks happy."

Hideki noticed how eager Yuzuki seemed to get the bag and so wasted very little time handing it to her and smiled when she snatched it from him. He didn't need any verbal thanks, knowing she appreciated it. Besides, her expression was thanks enough. He'd NEVER seen that happy... He was just... glad to have played a role in that, even if it was simply one of convenience. Hideki almost got caught up in the wonder of the bag himself, lifting a hand as if to shield his eyes from its radiant glory.

And then a Yuzuki plopped against him. One arm wrapped instinctively around her waist. The other arm... was naturally going to land higher but he rather intentionally diverted it to the same landing zone as the first, tumbling back a bit, but not fully falling over.

"W-well.. I'm glad you like it." He said, happy for her, though slightly awkward.

"Welcome." Masaru offered Mia another smile now that they had everything of theirs put away. Getting back would be easy now that they were all packed up. "It wasn't a problem, there's no need to feel bad about cutting it short, I'm sure they'll be fine too."

The two of them though...they needed to be careful they didn't get burned up.

He stood by as Mia approached him, looking towards the portal as the hell butterfly opened it for them.

"He does, the two of them look like they're having a lot of fun." He nodded; "Shall we get going?"

The portal was open, and they were all set... It was time for the two of them at least to head back.

Yuzuki did not notice how he was holding her, it was how someone would her in doge form so it wasn't a big deal. Her mind was purely doge right now anyways. Cuddles were most welcome in doge form...

This was not doge form.

But the backpack had all her focus as she pulled it out to look inside and feel all the fabrics. The stitching was perfect, the materials just how she needed... the dimensions were more than adequate for what she needed to steal cookies from Masaru...

"...Its perfect..." Yuzuki's voice was an awed whisper as she ran her hands over it, the sparkles and happiness not muted by time in the least as a pleased laugh escaped her. "I can steal all the cookies now... even in summer..."

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Mia nodded softly, not allowing herself to feel too bad. Hideki could have nice happy alone time... Without worrying over her and Masaru. He could definitely contact her when things were all settled~ If he called she would hurry back!

Thinking this, she was happy to note that Masaru was just as ready now.

"Y-Yes, I'm ready! Maybe we can make some strawberry ice cream... Nozomi would like that..." Mia murmured softly as she let Masaru lead them through the portal and back home, only a small look over her shoulder to see Hideki dying but happy as it closed behind them.

Hideki smiled, letting Yuzuki rest there as she continued worshipping her backpack. He was happy to let her enjoy the moment, even if he was becoming... increasingly aware of how ridiculously little of her her swimsuit covered. His face turned red, but he looked away, glad he was behind her. She at least couldn't see how blushy he was getting which would surely... well... either upset her or fluster her as well.

"C...Cookies?" He asked, his expression going blank despite continued blushing. "You.." That... That was right, she stole cookies from Masaru, didn't she. He smiled. "Yes. It's perfect. You did come up with it, of course." Okay that was mushy... but he FELT mushy, damn it!

"That sounds like a good idea, Nozomi would love that for sure." Masaru nodded, agreeing with Mia; when they returned they could prepare some strawberry ice-cream.

It would be nice to have on a hot day, and Nozomi loved strawberries.

With Mia, he led them into the portal and back to the Soul Society where they would spend the rest of the day.

"Yes, Masaru makes good sweets. So does his sweetheart now that I think about it... I steal them, secretly, when no one is around or when they are making them. However in summer the chips tend to melt in the chocolate chip cookies. Hence why I needed such a detailed backpack." Yuzuki explained with great patience despite the lack of a real question, preening from Hideki's words quite happily. It was perfect because she'd made it yes!

She...was not paying attention to the bare skin of Hideki oddly enough, still rather distracted by the backpack. She would not admit the wings on the outside were not in fact due to making it more aerodynamic and was making them flap lightly now...

He nodded. "Ohh, thus the insulation. And it's got to be special design to fit you comfortably. And the pouches are to keep your hidden stash secret, right?" He asked. He would say he was humoring her, since it was such a silly subject, but he was surprised at how much work and thought she'd put into the matter. She was clearly very serious about her cookies. He glanced at the wings she was currently flapping.

"I think the wings are a nice touch." He said softly. He wanted to be a little ambiguous. He COULD have meant that their aerodynamic function helped, though it wasn't the case. He had learned that sometimes it was best to give her a compliment in form she found palatable. He didn't know what else to say. He felt like he'd helped her accomplish her life's work or something. He smiled, blushed and looked away, sure that was not the case.

"Exactly. Also you shouldn't combine certain types or pile too many in without cushion else they'd get crushed." Yuzuki was pleased the genius of her thoughts and plan had reached Hideki, he was a suitable partner indeed if he could follow her patterns like this!

She continued flapping the wings for a few moments, accepting the compliment without still having noticed how much they were touching... "Aha, it is good you think so. They add so much to the grand design."

Holding the back up one final time, she was about to set it aside when she realized there was nothing else around them. The towels were back up... Where were the other two?!

And he had...so much of her touching bare... Yuzuki pulled away from him with a small yelp of shock, her face immediately heating up as she stood up. "A-AH! They left! Where did they go? Masaru is an awful chaperon..."

Do not think of Hideki's nice hold...

Wow. She... She took cookies very... very seriously... Crap. Could he even make good cookies? Like... sort of? He knew how to dish storebought dough out onto a sheet.... Damn, this was starting to make him nervous. What if poor cookie skills was a dealbreaker. What if he was getting waaaay ahead of himself and there was not even a deal to break? Okay.. Just.. chill Hideki.. chill.

"Ah!" He gave a quick startled yelp of his own when she pulled away, letting her. He glanced around, looking for them. He could already tell from sensing that they weren't here. "Ah.. Y-yeah... They.. went back home I guess." Hideki looked around a little more and noticed the note. He got up and retrieved it, glancing at it. "Uh..." His cheeks flushed and he quietly crumpled up the note. "Yeah... they went home.." He casually dropped it near their stuff and walked back over sitting down.

"Totally the worst." He nodded. Definitely not the best ever or anything....

"I-I will have to have a talk! A... firm t-talk about...appropriate...things..." Yuzuki's words trailed off as she protested weakly, staring at the empty beach. Was them being gone so bad? They had been awkward messes. That poor Noble Lord was enraptured with a nonnoble. He'd have his work cut out for him...

She ignored the fact that she had...something with this also commoner. The commoner was getting up and seemed to have found something... Something to focus on! She held the backpack up to her chest and carried it to the towel, setting it carefully on the spot least likely to get sand on it. "Well! Then we'll just have to continue with the planned itinerary without them. Hmph."

Yuzuki shifted the backpack in place with fussing as her braid fell over her shoulder, still bent and trying to find...something...anything to do that wasn't... looking at Hideki.

"Uhh... y-yeah... A scolding, even." He nodded, cautiously, trying to agree with her. There wasn't, after all, any particular reason he wanted to be alone with Yuzuki. In fact, if they got into any trouble in the water, he wouldn't have minded having Masaru here. T

here was a sudden realization that having one of the most powerful people on the planet chaperoning you had its perks. Namely that it took responsibility for Yuzuki's safety off his hands, letting him just hang out with her care free. Still... He closed his eyes for a second. He didn't detect anything to speak of besides them..

"Y-yeah!" He nodded again, resolutely. "Erm... What...What IS the planned itinerary." They'd made a sand castle... They were going to check out that wreckage. Did she have any other plans?

Yuzuki felt awkward and though she wasn't normally observant really in ways that most people noticed, she felt that Hideki did as well...

It wasn't right! She wasn't sure entirely about this whole...everything yet. Even talking with Mia and being touched...touched by Hideki hadn't cemented it in her mind but she was happy? Was she happy? She was even if it was weird and unusual...

Her yellow eyes darted to Hideki and back before she decided that before anything else they should really talk. About something. About whatever was making them awkward. This wasn't how she was supposed to be around Hideki! He did things and made her... happy... so it wasn't right he be like this! Her either!

"I suppose that the first thing to do would be... To talk. About things." She wasn't looking at him as she sat on the towel. With the other two gone she had to talk to Hideki, though she was frowning quite strongly... What was there to talk about... There was obviously something or else they...they would be like this for a while.

It would not be fun to do things like this!

Hideki immediately noticed how things began to descend into awkward silence after he asked that. He sunk a little himself, cautiously raising one arm to rub the other. Well.. This... This was... "Ah." He made a small noise, as if in surprise when Yuzuki finally spoke. He felt a mixture of relief, along with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Shit... What if this was all going tops up.. What.. Ahhhh...

"Y-yeah.." He said a little shakily. He shook his head as to try and clear his shaky nerves. "I... Yeah." He nodded, trying to at least seem resolute.

"Yuzuki... You know I think the world of you... no matter what, right?" He wasn't sure how she felt, but... it was important she knew how she felt didn't affect how highly he thought of her.

Normally Yuzuki might preface her response with a brushing of her braid over her should and telling him of course he would think the world of her because she was amazing. She was of course. But that was irrelevant. The noblewoman felt a heat rising up in her cheeks that were unwarranted for such obvious words. Instead she just hmphed at those wishy words.

"...You will have much work to do if you wish to court me. I can only do so much to help, a commoner will need to be exceptional to prove themselves worthy to my family." Yuzuki finally brushed her braid over her shoulder and crossed her arms under her generous chest. "And there are rules! Lots of rules. For courtship... If that is what you want. If you wish to court me, say so outright. I will not hold with this weird air that seems to be around us."

Blunt and honest, she didn't say one thing about how she was feeling about this at all but... She seemed to think it was at least possible...

Hideki made a small uneasy noise, unsure of what was going to happen next. Was she going to snap at him? Maybe.. hold his hand again? Or.. It was just stressful.. When she finally went to speak, he felt like he could feel his own heart pounding. It took him a second to make heads or tails of what she was saying. He'd have to be.. proving himself to.. H..Holy shit.. was she serious?

The quick flip of a braid over her shoulder confirmed that yes. She was absolutely serious. It sounded like there were more than a few hoops to jump through. And the way she talked, those hoops might actually be on fire..

But still, he didn't even hesitate with his response. "Y-Yeah! Ah.. Yes!" He hopped up to his feet before immediately dropping back down to one knee. "Absolutely!" He reaffirmed with some notable conviction. It wasn't even a matter of debate. He was sure her family was demanding and that it would be difficult but... if this meant... if this meant she felt that way too... or.. that he could be with her... well then it didn't matter how hard it was.

Yuzuki was pleased her words had cleared up Hideki's rather obvious worry and turned to the side as he hopped up, her face turning while the red color returned. He didn't need to know she was blushing from his reaction...

Had there ever been someone excited to court her? Wanting to with such abandon? She scooted in a circle on her legs, attempting to flee the happy man and his way of making her flustered. Her hands, almost alien in their actions, went up to her face as she felt it heating up more and more. Cover the evidence...

His face had been so perfectly happy... He'd hopped up... Yuzuki was glad she had resisted the urge to turn into a dog, her tail would be wagging quite a bit. It would be sending up sprays of sand.

She didn't feel awkward anymore, just flustered and embarrassed and a bit shy for a few moments.

Hideki's smile dropped a little, more curious than concerned as she began turning around to face away from him. Although a blush crossed his face when he realized that... it.. was really cute... He realized after a moment that she must be blushing the same and smiled, happy that... well, he was just happy.. If he hadn't been sure she was blushing, he would be once he saw hands go up. Deciding to give her a bit of privacy, he pivoted and plopped down, sitting back to back against her now.

"So," he wondered if there was anything he needed to know right now.. Like, was there some etiquette he already needed to be following? He was willing to talk about it if she wanted to. He... Well, if there was a book about dating her, he was willing to do things by it. Maybe not overwhelm her though with this talk.

"We could go swimming? There's that wreckage out there." He looked out at the ocean. "Or we could eat. Though we shouldn't go swimming too soon after eating." Hm. That way if she wanted to talk, they could just eat... they'd have plenty of time to, then.

Yuzuki felt him sit against her back and made a soft sound that could have been described as a surprised squeak in anyone else. But this was Yuzuki and she did not squeak! It was below her.

However she did lean back against him a bit, her head lifted up finally as her hands fell from the face that was still red. He wouldn't be able to see, there was no point in hiding it now. Especially since free hands meant she could play with her braid end and keep herself occupied.

So...? Hideki hadn't finished his sentence and she waited, her head turning just a bit though it was impossible to see from here what he was thinking... He finished after a moment and she blinked before turning back to her snow white hair. "...I want to see the wreckage. Then we can eat."

He was courting her but maybe...more talking could wait. Since the most important thing was out of the way. Rules...could be set...

Set...another time.

Hideki immediately blushed and turned his head slightly at the squeak. Was something wrong? He was about to get up, when she leaned back against him, causing him to settle down. It was probably an... embarrassed squeak. The thought brought another blush to Hideki's face.

Yuzuki had always been... sort of like this... but she seemed to be hiding it less. He was... PRETTY sure that was a good thing... It was cute anyway...

Okay, wreckage first, then food and... probably talking. "Okay!" He moved a bit, so Yuzuki would have advance warning so as not to plop over, before hopping up. "Wreckage it is!" He enthusiastically hopped back a bit, so he could extend a hand to help her up.

Despite Yuzuki getting a few warning movements, she was definitely was not ready for him to move even after a moment. Her mind was really really out of it, thinking over the implications of what was going on now... Courting... She had a real suitor for her hand... And it was Hideki. He was accepting this...

She fell backwards onto the towel and laid there staring up at Hideki for a moment in surprise. His hand was out and she looked away as her hand moved from the ends of her braid to take his hand and allow him to help her up. More than he was probably expecting... Her eyes were still bright, the yellow almost shining as she nodded. "Yes! Do you have the required items? I can not hold my breath that long you know."

Hideki smiled, figuring it was preferable to laughing at all over Yuzuki's tumble. He really didn't want to give her a reason to go tsun. Not right now, anyway. He grinned more when he saw her face, practically beaming and excited. "Y-yeah! Uh.." He looked at the ocean. "Well, I figure we have two options."

He reached down into his bag and pulled out the two air tanks and the cluster of material that was the wetsuts. "We can use these, or we can leave our gigais here and just go in? I think we'll still get wet, but I don't think we need to breathe in spirit form.." That would probably be a lot easier... albeit less fun... but a LOT easier...