Save Me at the Beach [Kyo, Himiko]

Well, here he was in Europe, and in truth, Kyo only barely understood where he was going or what he was doing. He probably should have planned this outing at least a little bit better, but he'd mostly just gotten the proper authorization for leave, packed a bag, and brought his notebooks with him down to the world of the living.

At least he'd thought to check for a place that was on good terms with the Gotei. He didn't actually know the specifics of why the the Holy Roman Empire was apparently so accomodating to shinigami in their borders, but it made traveling relatively easy. He'd made a decent winding trip across the north side of the empire, mostly sticking near the ocean to avoid getting too lost, and right now he'd found himself in some nice city in...Poland? Poland is what the map said.

He was starting to get pretty lost though. He was used to urban centers, given the Seireitei, but this sort of planning and architecture was a little beyond him. He probably might have had to bite the bullet and climb somewhere, but thankfully, he spotted a face he'd seen around the Gotei at least a couple times before.

"Ah, Shikimura!"

It would be an outright lie to say Kyo was familiar with this woman for any reason other than having considered asking her out a few times, but it hadn't ever really come up, and he wasn't gonna do that now that he was seeing someone.

"Sawachika Kyo, 5th Division! I take it you're stationed around here?"

He gave her a polite bow, well aware she was his senior in the Gotei, and frankly, even more well aware that she was easily his best bet in finding his way around.

"Oh. Hey hey, Sawachika. Long time no see."

She sang while turning her head to look at the visitor. What brought another shinigami around here? Did something happen and she wasn't aware of it? No way! She was always thorough. Doing her job well here was just synonomous with helping her boyfriend after all and she'd always do her best in that.

"Yep. What brings you to the living realm, and my corner of it no less. Are you out hollow hunting or somethin'? Unfortunately you won't find any here if so because we're on top of it fufu."

DIdn't Himiko sound proud of that, she was pretty satisfied and almost preening about the safety and prosperity that Europe had found for itself.

"Ha, nah, nothing like that. I'm down here on leave for a little bit, doing some architectural study. Looking for anywhere nice to take a date, too. If this is your little patrol corner, you know anywhere nice?"

Thank goodness. Kyo was pretty glad she was the cheery sort, considering he imagined a lot of shinigami probably wouldn't have liked being asked for more casual help like that. Then again, she did apparently keep this part of the world pretty safe, so maybe she actually would just shut him down.

"You know, if you have the time, that is. Don't want to cut into your patrols right now or anything."

"Do I know any place... Oh, sure! There's a really nice restraunt around here, real classy. My boyfriend took me there a while ago."

She said, suddenly a lot more peppy if that was even possible, at the mention of a date. So he had settled down? That was great! She was always delighted to hear about peoples' lovelife going well, it was just such a wonderful thing to hear about.

"So who'd you end up with? What's she like? Really pretty and nice, right?"

Himiko immediately started peppering him with questions. One after the other. A girl loved to know every detail, she was talking to him like he was a close friend rather than a work collegue but that's just sort of her approach to things.

"Oh, great. Mind taking me by there? I'm still trying to get familiar with this place, I wouldn't want a lady to think I'm dragging her along without a plan!"

Kyo was honestly surprised at all the questions being posed to him, but he definitely didn't mind it or anything. Felt like he was getting a lot of this lately, but maybe it wasn't that surprising. Seemed like most girls tended to be like this in some capacity or another.

"Asami Furukawa, fifth seat in my division. She's beautiful, absolutely. I wouldn't call her mean , but she's not your typical sweetheart. Very professional, business-minded, but that's just part of her charm, you understand."

He liked talking about Asami when there was a more casual sort of atmosphere, and while he hadn't minded chatting about it with Tatsuki, it still felt kind of weird to lay it out with your own superior. Admittedly, Asami was also his superior, but he sort of ignored that off the clock.

"Totes, it's right this way!"

She chirped while gesturing for him to follow, a little skip to her step while heading down the street and occasionally exchanging pleasantries with a citizen or two that wanted to say hello. You kind of built a rapport with people when you were stationed locally for so long... and suppose when your boyfriend's the head honcho about it makes you even more in the spotlight lol.

"Oh I get that, mine's a bit the same. Kinda gruff and scary cause he's so tall and big but actually a super sweetheart when it gets down to it hehe~."

Now where were they, she had to look around a couple of times to remember landmarks but really Himiko trusted her instincts and senses to find the place. She could still remember the nice scent of the food she and Erchanhardt had, when they found it she was sure that she'd smell the food from afar before she even saw the building!

It sort of seemed like Himiko wasn't too much more sure of where she was going than Kyo had been, but he wasn't going to assume that. And even if he had, he wouldn't have said anything about it.

"Oh yeah? He sounds like a man's man. I take it he's from down here on Earth? I haven't seen you around Soul Society with anyone, though I admit that I'm not one to keep an eye out for those things, either."

Kyo was mostly just making conversation, but luckily, he was a perfectly good conversationalist, always willing to talk about whatever came up in the course of things. And hey, she was pleasant enough, a real sweetheart. Probably for the best that he never asked her out, though, he couldn't quite see that one.

"Yeah, he's from Earth. This is his home so it kinda works out well like that."

Himiko left out the details that she'd obviously asked her old captain for this specific job when she was her captain. That's why she was her favourite captain after all~. Really though she was always thankful that Murasaki was nice about it.

"Aha. That smells familiar."

She cheered and grabbed Kyo in a stronger grip that her girly nature would suggest before dragging him the rest of the way and then she went bright red.

"Awww, not right but it's pretty close. I remember this little cafe being on the way so we're totally getting closer, right? Promise I'm not lying!."

Himiko was positive and assured him because the last thing she wanted to do was waste his precious time off. Now which way did Erchanhardt lead them after this spot? She had to look around a bit for her next landmark.

"Ah, I see, dating a local. That's probably exciting, eh? I know sometimes the people up in Soul Society can get a little samey, if I'm being honest. Not that it's always a bad thing!"

Kyo followed along, not especially minding the tour of the town. This was perfectly pleasant, just getting a view of this city. Weird place, but it was a nice opportunity to take in all the architecture and the like. Besides, her little rambling was endearing, and her grip on his arm was surprisingly...er, well, he was taken, she was taken, so he wouldn't finish that thought.

"Don't feel the need to apologize! This whole city seems plenty confusing so take your time! I don't have anywhere I need to be in a rush."

Honestly, he was just enjoying the little journey.

"Yeah, he knows all the good spots. He's got the best spots for going out into the woods for a few days for some quiet time. There's lots of great places to hunt and fish, last time I found a fawn. It was totally adorbs."

She explained, relieved that he wasn't upset by her ineffecient way of finding the restraunt.

"Anyway! I hope you're enjoying the sights, yanno I can see your eyes are kinda jumping around a lot while we're walking. I guess it's pretty weird if ya coming from the Soul Society. Mhm, everything looks super different. Even the fashion but there's some cute stuff to wear down here. I love it!"

Himiko set back off, a little dimwitted to the idea that they looked a lot closer than they were. It was definitely the trouble of being as friendly as she was, then she went back to occasionally sniffing the air while trying to track the spot. If she remembered it was this way.