Losers Continue to Lose [NSFW]

Mia was really really confused. It was really... confusing to her. Masaru had a whole half of a day off... And hadn't come to see her at work. Well he sort of had, bringing an early lunch and kissing her goodbye while making all the ladies (and more than a few of the men who could see from their vantage points) swoon.

Mia had almost swooned, but that was beside the point. It was odd in that he had left shortly after, saying there was something he had to do and he'd see her at home later. Having promptly forgotten about the promise she'd extracted from him about Ikari, the Shinigami hadn't made too much note of it... But she got off her shift only a few hours later. Morning shifts weren't a problem so she liked to take them for people who wanted to sleep in, mostly her Captain, and thus was out by early afternoon.

That was the confusing part. Masaru hadn't contacted her at all... He knew she should be out around this time... Mia just blinked and headed home, back to the mansion where she sensed Masaru rather strongly.

That caused more blinking, which was not stopped as she was given a tray of tea to hold... More blinks followed as she headed down the halls, still in her uniform, blinking more and more in confusion as she headed for the training grounds in the Shirakawa lands... What was he doing?

The training grounds looked...quite a bit different, that may be one of the first things Mia noticed upon reaching the area. Ice, there were thick and thin patches of ice almost everywhere, the scenery something one would likely expect to see in deep winter rather than late summer and early fall.

Even some of the posts and targets used for practices were covered in snow and ice, and as one would expect...the area was rather cold in temperature compared to...everywhere else.

Bankai training, Masaru's reiatsu gave that away the closer one came to his location.

Like the training grounds, he too had a few thin patches of ice on him; his hair, shoulders, neck, there was even a small patch over his cheek, along with thin patches over his wrists and arms. There were other ice patches, scattered about his clothing as he sat on the porch.

He'd been training rather hard earlier, but it was time for a break; Ikari had forced him into a break anyway...

Just ahead, Masaru looked to one of the trees near the walls of the grounds, looking over to the male leaning against one. His eyes were shut, and he looked calm as he stood there, seeming to fit perfectly in the now ice and snow covered training grounds.

He'd made a promise to Mia, she would get to meet Ikari, though obviously once he'd brought him out it wouldn't do to just sit there and wait until she finished with work... Training had been the best way to pass the time...

Mia felt the chill before she stepped onto the grounds, just confused and blinking and wondering what had happened as her eyes took in the sight . A winter wonderland had occurred, everything was covered in snow and ice even if the cold wasn't overly bothersome to her right now. As they'd trained, her body had seemed to adapt and rather quickly she had become somewhat inured to snow and ice, at least the ambient effects when Masaru wasn't trying to make it more. Obviously then she was effected...

Still, she stood in shock for a moment as her head turned, black hair spilling over her shoulders from the force of her surprised looks before she looked down and over at Masaru. His energy was right there and he looked like a popsicle... What?!

The tray shook a bit, the woman having not noticed the man leaning against the tree as she hurried over. No flames appeared when she tried, attempting to keep the tea heated as she carried it and the treats through the frozen lands. "M-Masa! Are you okay? You look like a popsicle!"

She noticed his eyes though as she reached him, staring across the frozen expanse to the trees. It was then Mia promptly blushed brightly, like a beacon before squeaking and turning her head and body away. A-Ah... What?! What was... What was going on?! The slight quiver of the tray was obvious as she stood there in pure shock. H-Huh!? Why was there some Ice...Man...

H-Huh!?

Masaru was promptly startled from his current state as Mia appeared, her worried voice reaching him before her presence had. He looked up to her, eyes widened for a moment before he blinked, the ice apparently not bothering him.

He looked like...

"A-Aha, no, no; I'm fine-" Before he could reassure her in full, Mia turned, looking...was she flustered? The tray was quivering...

Much like with the ice, one other out of place thing Mia may notice... Masaru's hair. It wasn't in full it's normal black, the ends of his hair as well as a few inches upward were white in color, while the top half of his hair was black as usual.

"M-Mia...?"

Fine... Masaru was fine.... Mia took comfort in that as she was quite flustered, having just.. shown up when someone else was around like that.

Who was that though? It wasn't anyone she recognized though the signature was...weird. Mia turned slightly, looking sheepish as she lowered the tray to the porch and gave a swift glance at the stranger before blushing again. A low voice sounded from her and she shook her head softly. "S-Sorry... S-Stranger... I-I... a-am a bit nervous... U-Um. I brought tea..."

"Y-You are welcome to tea as well, S-Sir...?" After explaining to Masaru and having still missed the hair as of yet, assuming snow or something, the woman turned and bowed low without looking up. A-Ah this was awkward... She wasn't used to this stuff yet! And she felt the strongest urge to just dust all that snow off Masaru too but was holding herself back! Affection like that in front of another was...was... "P-Please join...us..."

Hearing Mia's entrance, Ikari had glanced over just as she had begun to address him and ... His expression remained stoic, and calm, but...

Had Masaru not yet informed her...

There was...no need for such formalities...

"A-Ah, Mia...That's Ikari. It's alright." Masaru quickly chimed in as Mia became more nervous as the seconds passed. "You wanted to meet him, right? I used one of the dummies and summoned him, but since you were working we began training."

While Masaru explained the situation, Ikari stepped out from under the tree and into the sunlight, not seemingly bothered by the brightness due to the sun reflecting off of the white snow and ice as he approached the porch to seat himself.

She...had asked him to join them.

Mia froze as if either of the ice bearing men had used their powers, hearing Masaru's words and allowing them to register in her mind while still bowed. That...was... Ikari...

She was such a loser...

It was Ikari...

"I-I did..." She admitted, not knowing how she could be so stupid as to not realize. That weird signature was... Was because it was similar to Masaru's but also different and more... pure she supposed was the feeling. Mia was also still stuck bowing until she heard movement, Ikari having moved away from the tree and thus drawing her attention. Looking up slowly and with a bit of worry, Mia remembered her grand plan only briefly as she finally got a good look at the zanpakuto spirit. What... no... She stared quite entranced, not even blinking as he came over and sat on the porch, unable to tear her eyes away until her blushing grew far too strong.

"G-Gorgeous..." ...

Once more, her mouth spoke what her mind was thinking and Mia squeaked, shaking before her fleeing instinct kicked in. She dove for a nearby pile of snow to bury herself, feeling lucky those two had provided her with such an item.

...

What...? Mia's...compliment had caught the quiet zanpakutou spirit by surprise, causing his eyes to widen somewhat and break that calm expression of his as the woman dove into the nearest pile of snow.

W...What?

"M-Mia!?" Masaru, not having time to digest Ikari's surprise moved from the porch and quickly over to the pile Mia had dove into as he began moving snow around. "M-Mia...?"

S-She'd just run off and dove into the snow! G-Gorgeous... She'd been able to utter that single word to Ikari and just...bolted! G...W-Well it...it was...quite...

It seemed Mia's compliment towards his zanpakutou's spirit had hit him rather late...

Mia wiggled and squirmed through the snow, her face feeling like it really should be able to melt all of it immediately but that wasn't happening. Thankfully.

Unthankfully she found the end to the pile and promptly ended up squeaking as she fell out the other side. "Uwaaaa!" Rolling into a ball, as trained, she tumbled to a halt against the wall and upsidedown and stared back the way she had came with her hair and uniform in disarray.

"...Aaaah!" More flustered noises sounded and the woman merely buried her face in her hands and stayed there with her legs butt against the wall. What was she supposed to do now....!?

"M-Mia!?" Masaru followed Mia as she worked through the snow until eventually she just seemed to give up with it as a hiding spot now that the current pile she'd dove into had failed her.

Flustered, she was definitely flustered...w-well... She'd said something flustering, certainly, but...

"M-Mia..." He reached out towards her, lightly touching her shoulder as she remained buried in her hands.

Taking a second, Masaru glanced over to Ikari whom...immediately looked away once they'd made eye contact. Now the other male was looking towards the wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

W-Well... For now, Mia required his attention... Further speaking with Ikari could wait...

Mia shook her head on the snow covered ground, keeping her face covered as Masaru once again spoke her name. His light touch didn't seem to help much at first either, but the woman at least stopped turning her head from side to side and lowered her hands. Her face was burning up and she stared up at Masaru for a few seconds before whispering. "S-Sorry..."

She had just...made a fool of herself and continued to, but it wasn't like she could move... And it wasn't like she hadn't done this before, she tended to overreact to her outbursts anyways... Though not nearly as much as she did around Masaru.

"I-I need to apologize... P-Please...help me up, Masa..." Mia's legs fell to the ground as she slid to the side, moving to push herself up onto her hip and arms as her hair continued to form a large mess around her.

"It's alright..." Masaru answered, offering what he hoped was a reassuring smile as Mia attempted to push herself upright some. He offered his arms to her as she asked for his help, moving to help her up as she'd asked after he was sure she was alright.

He let out a small breath, which thanks to the cold atmosphere showed as it escaped before he gained another small smile; "You alright?"

She had freaked out, but... Still, he wanted to be sure!

Mia took the offered hands and arms with a smile, happy to have Masaru's help up as she was rather wobbly. Her legs felt much like pudding as she stood, wondering why panicking caused this... And wondering why she still panicked like this! She should be over such stupidity by nooow!

Still, taking a deep breath, she let it out with a firm nod despite her wobbly pudding legs, matching Masaru's own condensation cloud. "I'm okay... Thank you..."

Peaking around the man, she saw Ikari staring at an interesting wall and flushed but let go of Masaru. She had to do this alone... Even if she squeezed his hands before letting go for comfort. Wobblying her way to the zanpakuto, she fell to her knees in a rather formal and submissive bow once she was in front of him. A shame filled one, her head lowered almost to the cold snow the woman barely felt even as it melted against her warm body and hands that settled against the ground. "I apologize...for my words and actions. I-It was...unbecoming."

And rude! Really rude...

"M-Mia..." Masaru stopped in his steps as Mia squeezed his hand before moving over to Ikari on her own, to which Ikari looked over towards; the eyes of both men widened as Mia suddenly sunk to the ground in a formal bow.

Quick in his steps, Masaru hurried over as Ikari opened his mouth to speak for the first time since Mia's arrival.

"It's alright..." Really...she didn't need to...

It...was so much easier if she didn't look up. Masaru was still saying her name, seemingly confused but just... Mia felt really bad for how she'd acted and spoke and everything! This was a worse first impression than the one Masaru had made on her father!

Ikari spoke though, saying it was all right as she heard Masaru step closer and Mia lifted her head up slowly to look up at the zanpakuto. Her face immediately flushed and she turned away, staring down at the snow with burning cheeks. She... had wanted to...to thank him but... but how could she?!

How... She should just...sit here in the snow, letting it melt from her heat... and hopefully just form an ice cocoon. No.. no they could manipulate that... Something else, stone? Yeah, stone was good.

"A-Ah..." If only Masaru could get closer, so she could fall over onto him and die. Yes... All her plans went right out of the window...

Ikari blinked, and blinked again as Mia lowered her head back to the ground. He was unsure of what more he could really say on this matter... He had stated it was alright, which it was... No harm had been done, she'd...simply been complimenting...

Masaru further approached Mia, crouching down next to her as he let a hand settle onto her back in attempt to comfort. T-This flustered...

He had thought the meeting with Ikari might be simple, and easy...but...well, he'd obviously been very, very...very wrong...

"U-Uh...T-Tea... I should... Um..." Mia needed something to latch onto as Masaru's touch calmed her and the tea was something sitting there steaming. Least she hadn't poured any cups yet, so it was probably still rather hot... and the mochi wouldn't be hurt by being being chilled. Mia could serve them tea and... and ask and thank...

Taking a deep breath, she let it out again as it made a cloud and then laughed softly as that instead distracted her. It was definitely cold. "I don't even feel chilled..."

Maybe it was because of her blush? Finally raising her head up, she could somewhat look at Ikari but she didn't take the chance and instead turned to Masaru first. A hand moved to brush her bangs back, not feeling any heat there despite her blush before she felt the back of her neck. There was a tiny frown on her lips as she felt Masaru's cheek with a brush, his body feeling much too cold... Whereas hers would feel incredibly hot to him.

She blinked and turned to stand as her hand fell away, stuffing that mystery away for a moment as she gave them both nervous smiles. "A-Ah... let me get the snow off of you Masa, then... then I can serve you both tea. I-Is that fine, I-Ikari-sama?"

He'd said the compliment was fine and stuff so... Was tea?

"A-Ah... You don't? That's good... I would have called for some coats or blankets if you had been..." Masaru answered, though... J-Just her fluster was keeping her at her current temperature? Her hand was warm as he felt it touch brush his cheek...incredibly so...

Not just warm, it was hot...

S-She... This was just...just fluster...?

"Y-Your hand feels...r-really ho- Snow?" There was snow on him? He knew about the ice, but snow? He didn't...didn't feel any on him...

I-Ikari-sama...?

"Ikari is...perfectly acceptable." Ikari answered, looking out towards the snowy training grounds again rather than looking at the pair. "Tea is also fine..."

"Mm-Mm. I'm not cold..." Oddly enough, she was at a comfortable temperature and Mia just smiled away Masaru's worry as he began to speak again, cutting off to question snow. She gave a firm nod and turned, reaching up and brushing the man's hair softly with half her attention and her heated hands.

The other half went to the Zanpakuto, who was sitting there quietly and settling her nerves by being so calm. Ah... he did remind her of Masaru now that she was... was relaxing...

"Please...call me Mia then, Ikari... A-And please help yourself to snacks! I-I am sorry I didn't get to make them for you... If I had known... I-I would have made..." Well he hadn't said her name yet, but Mia gave the quiet Zanpakuto a soft smile that he might have missed with his staring far from them at the moment. Ah, he was quiet... She had forgotten... It was putting her at ease though, that much was certain, especially since he had accepted the offer of tea!

Mia turned back to Masaru's hair and realized that... that... Mia frowned. "Masa, the snow's not coming out of your hair."

"A-Ah..." She wasn't cold then... Perhaps he could make sure she was properly well later, he was concerned she may be coming down with something... The fact that Mia was of the fire element not crossing his mind as he silently made those plans.

He was quiet, looking to Ikari for a moment as Mia brushed out his hair before his eyes returned to her.

"It's alright...Mia..." Ikari answered, giving a small nod to Mia's words; he would have some tea in a few moments...

Masaru offered another smile, though as Mia turned her attention back to him and the...mysterious snow, it finally hit him as to what she was referring to.

"O-Oh! That's not snow, Mia; aha...That's my hair..." He informed, a sheepish laugh escaping him as he spoke.

It may have been fine with the Zanpakuto, but really its what she had wanted to do in the first place... Ikari had accepted the names though, so with that... Now Mia and him were friends! So she felt at least, though he was really really quiet... And as these thoughts filled Mia, she fluffed Masaru's hair quite futilely.

Mia smiled in return before it faded and she blinked up at the man, her hands pausing in their attempts to remove the snow. "No its not. Your hair is black. Its... not a reverse skunk coloring..."

It was true and Mia's lips formed a soft frown as she attempted to figure out this mystery. Why was he laughing sheepishly...

R-Reverse skunk!?

E-Eh...ah...a..

"I-It...M-Mia..." Masaru could hardly get another word out as she fluffed up his hair trying to remove the "snow" that was the white. I-It really was his hair!

Reverse skunk...

"M-Mia..."

Ikari was letting the two go through this on their own, he'd dealt with Masaru's initial shock towards the change already... Masaru needed to explain this on his own to Mia...

Plus, the man knew this was nothing permanent... Once he sealed his bankai it would return to its normal color.

"I like it when you say my name but... you just keep saying it. I'm not a mind reader..." Mia's tone was quite minorly pouting as Masaru just...stuttered her name and reacted. This more than anything was settling her down, her fluster disappearing utterly as she relaxed and stopped floofing his hair.

It... Half white...it was dangerous... very dangerous... Masaru had the tragic backstory down pat... Her eyes glanced over to Ikari, white hair and all...

"...It better not be...permanent... I think your concubine would get the blame for it, being the awful influence that she is. I'll pour tea while you explain then..." Mua blinked and smiled as she stepped back, turning to the tray of steaming tea next to the zanpakuto in a fit of stubborn. It would get too cold soon if she didn't hurry...

Blinking as she reached for the hot pot of tea, she didn't feel the heat really as she lifted what should have burned her and poured out three cups for them.

Masaru was about to explain further when... C-Concu... T-That word again! I-It wasn't permanent, but...did she have to use those words!? A-And what was she talking about getting the blame!? What blame would there be!? For what reason!?

W-Wha...

His eyes glanced over towards the pot of tea as she picked it up, only realizing after she'd touched it that that should burn, and the concern was obvious but...it...didn't seem to be bothering her...

H-Had the...a-area chilled it some?

Mia...seemed alright...

"I-It's not permanent." He stated, moving to seat himself on the porch like he'd been earlier; "When I entered my bankai it became like this... It's a...sign of sorts to show I've gotten stronger; I train regularly so..."

He was getting stronger thanks to all of that training...

"A-Are you feeling alright... Mia? You're not...coming down with a cold or anything? Your body temperature felt rather hot when your hand was on my cheek...it may have felt that way due to my own cooler body temperature, but..."

But he had to be sure she was alright! She wasn't cold despite...well...all the ice and snow about the area along with Ikari and his presence... And she'd felt hot to the touch...

Mia set the pot back down and looked up, confused beyond reason at Masaru's concern. What... was the matter? He moved to sit before explaining though and she frowned softly before shaking her head and letting him explain.

"Here you go, Ikari..." Taking a cup, she offered it steaming to Ikari, as the guest, first though her head was turned back to her love once he'd spoke. "You are sure... right? I-It'll go away..."

She had to be absolutely sure and blinked, worry on her features. A sign of getting stronger... Maybe that meant he could outpower the white hair curse...

"H-Huh?" Startled from her thoughts of curses, Mia almost spilled the cup of tea she was reaching for Masaru before looking back up. "U-Um... No? I don't feel hot at all."

Bringing her hands up to her cheeks, there was no abnormal temperature to her and she turned between the two. She definitely wasn't sick and she definitely wasn't hot at all! "You felt really cold Masaru..."

Looking over at Ikari, Mia reached out as if to touch the zanpakuto's hand as a test too, curious about the weird hotness. "Am I really warm?"