Snowflakes drifting through frigid air sting Izuku's freckled rosy cheeks, each icy speck a bitter bite when it sticks to his skin. The young boy tugs at the snood scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling the brim just a tad higher to warm his bottom jaw. His mother bundled him up in layers of wintry clothing to protect him against the cold environment while he goes out to play but the cheap material of his coat isn't lined with enough fur to do the trick. Izuku shivers as his feet sink into the frosty floor below him, boots making the ice crunch.

Snow rests upon the smooth surface of a park bench, making for a natural feather cushion. That same sheeting covers the playground too. Izuku blinks, batting frost from his eyelashes, before looking around. Tree branches have lost their leaves, brittle bark creaking as wind shakes snow from the renovated foundations. Chainlinked swings sway in the breeze despite being iced over. Slide tubes whistle through their vacant tunnels. More snowflakes drift down to lay atop everything, gradually adding another inch of the white powder.

Suddenly, the small specks make way for a collection of them, the compacted shape of a ball whizzing through the air. It bursts open on impact with Izuku's face, showering crystalline fragments as the ice returns to a semi-liquid form. The boy sputters as the snow gets in his mouth and up his nose, forcing him to rub at his face to clear away the residue. He hears a girl's joyous laughter coming from the direction from which the snowball had been thrown. When he peels back his eyes to look at the culprit, he sees the blonde that had lent him her shoes not too long ago.

"Toga!", Izuku whines with a pout over being pelted by a cheap shot. He had somehow not noticed her presence until now, allowing her to get in a good sneak attack. Now though, he can see the girl is bundled in her own winter coat with a bright red scarf draped around her neck. "That's not fair! I wasn't ready!", Izuku crosses his arms over his chest with a huff that creates a cloud of condensation.

Lowering his guard proves to be a mistake, the lack of free arms or hands to defend himself leaving the boy vulnerable. Izuku is wide open for another snowball that nails him in the forehead this time. He flails backwards with a startled shout, waving his arms out in front of him to deflect much too late. A mild mark of red glows from where the boy had been struck, snow specking the surrounding area.

The girl across the way grins, flashing her pointed teeth. She tosses a spare snowball up and down, catching it each time in one hand. The other hand rests on her hip. "I told you to call me Himiko, Izukun!", the blonde blushes at the same time as the green headed boy when she refers to him by her personally chosen nickname for him.

Izuku fights the urge to sniffle. He's not sure whether he's catching a cold or if he's having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. The only other nickname he'd been referred to as was 'Deku', and that had been more of a way to taunt him. To be on a first name basis with someone who refers to him affectionately, and a GIRL no less, the boy is at a loss. Izuku panics and reacts by throwing those thoughts away, not sure how to deal with them.

He tosses them in the form of a snowball, scooped and hastily crafted to be made on short notice. It's a small projectile compared to the ones Himiko had created. The molding isn't very firm and the boy's throw is pretty weak. So, Izuku's snowball breaks apart mid air, missing its mark by several feet. The spray of particles return to packed flakes on the ground.

Izuku stands still, wide eyed in reaction to his own stunt, arm kept completely extended. He has trouble processing his attempt at a retaliation just as much as he finds it difficult to process his failure. Himiko is just as surprised, gaze flicking between the boy and the snow on the ground. Her mouth is agape, teeth parted as she exhales in disbelief.

He should see it coming this time. He should try to dodge or shield himself. But, Izuku gets pelted in the face yet again, this time by the spare snowball Himiko had kept on reserve. The boy staggers back, unbalanced as he's knocked out of his stiff state of freezure. The red spot on his forehead had made for a perfect target, swelling even brighter now that it has been struck twice.

Izuku nearly trips over himself running for cover to avoid any additional fire. Just like that, the snowball fight has officially begun. Himiko hides behind the lower end of a seesaw, ducking down. Izuku does a little hop and then spins himself on a merry-go-round to throw off the girl's aim. He slides to use a thick tree trunk as his shield when the playground equipment completes its rotation. Three snowballs burst on impact with the bark.

Izuku digs into the thick frost to begin sculpting his own ammunition. He combs the snow with his fingers until it becomes packed enough to fit in his palm. Compacting the ice into a variety of balls eventually gives him a small supply to work with. Then, he returns fire. His throws have a better range to them this time, even if they don't quite make their mark. Himiko crosses the terrain for a better covering where the jungle gym is as he misses each shot.

A laugh escapes the boy's throat when one of his snowballs grazes the blonde's shoulder. He hasn't had this much fun in a long time. When Himiko invited him to play, he wasn't sure what to expect after all the years of playing heroes and villains, but this is a lot better. This is just two friends battling on even terms. Neither keeps track of who hits who anymore as they keep chucking snowballs at one another. It doesn't matter. There's no need to keep score since neither of them is trying to win anymore. There's no losing so long as they have fun.

The two chase eachother around the playground in a fit of giggles and childish screams. Izuku stumbles to his hands and knees when they climb a hill. He tries to scoop up some snow to craft another snowball while he's down, but the coldness has deep chilled his fingers to the point where they now no longer wish to bend. Izuku drops the ice like it's hot, reflexively flinching before stuffing his hands into the crooks of his armpits.

Himiko pauses just as she raises a snowball over her head, ceasing fire. She sees Izuku's surrender and drops the artillery before jogging over to him. The girl crouches down to her own knees once she reaches the boy. "What's wrong?", she looks Izuku up and down for injury before noticing the throbbing hue of red in his fingers.

"My hands are c- cold..", Izuku shivers as he holds his stubby little appendages out in front of him. The dampness from the snow has shriveled the boy's skin. His fingers tremble as they struggle to bend and fail.

Himiko's slanted stare studies the red colorization of Izuku's hands. Her gaze has a predatory glow to it. Steadily, she grabs him by the wrist to steer a hand closer to her eyes. "I know a way to warm them up..", her voice is a whisper that blows delicate clouds of condensation in the wind. Even though she's done speaking, she doesn't close her mouth. Her fangs glisten as sparkly white as the snow on the ground.

"T- To–", Izuku is stunned into silence as he watches the girl guide his hand towards her mouth. He can feel the heat from her breath on the tips of his fingers. Right before the gentle nibble on the nail between her teeth and his flesh. Saliva moistens his skin again but this time with warmth.

"Have you ever had your finger bitten.. ?", her parted mouth speaks with a gentle tone that's barely muffled by the digit. Izuku's face begins to heat up along with his hand when Himiko's teeth sink a little deeper into his finger. It doesn't dig in enough to draw blood or hurt. It's just enough to be felt. "Memorize it", the pointed fangs poke his flesh a little harder with an increase of bite force, "Know it so well that even if you lost your sight, you'd recognize me by my bite."

A sharp sting in his finger startles Izuku, but not enough for him to pull away completely. Himiko pricks him with a fang for a taste of his blood, the softest of puncture wounds. The boy focuses on the sensation that he's feeling with an extreme amount of awe. Though frostbitten merely seconds ago, he's suddenly relieved by a warm bite. "I memorized it..", Izuku says breathlessly.

Seeing Himiko's hands are also uncovered by mittens or gloves, Izuku slowly reaches for them with his unoccupied hand. Her skin is soft when he touches it, as much as a cushion as the snow. Himiko gives him a curious look, shifting to surprise when he returns the favor of putting her fingers in his mouth. Though, she doesn't stop him. The boy follows her example and bites down. He does it too hard.

Himiko shouts in pain and retracts her hand from his mouth when he gives her much more than a nibble. She cradles her bloodied fingers in her scarf to hide the crimson leak but the red liquid smearing Izuku's lips is completely evident in the white weather. The boy's eyes expand that they appear as though they're about to bulge out of his head when he realizes his mistake. He blushes in embarrassment while Himiko blushes across from him for a different reason.

"I- I'm sorry–", Izuku stammers through red stained teeth. His hands reach forward and retract, arms uncertain of what to do with themselves. He leans forward, trying to bow apologetically from his knelt position. He winds up falling over himself, landing palms down in the snow. "I- I'm sorry!", this time his apology is a desperate cry.

When Izuku raises his head, his vision is blurred by the tears brimming his eyes. Himiko's blonde hair and red scarf are a smudged shape retreating from him. He lets out a strangled gasp that sounds more like a choked sob when he realizes that she's running away. "W- Wait–", he claws at the snow beneath him while trying to crawl after her, "I'm sorry!", his voice a blubbering wail.

But just as suddenly she appeared in his life, she then vanishes. Her presence completely disappears as Izuku lands face first in the snow. He's left a sniveling red faced mess of snot and tears, dribbles of blood mixing in to taint the white frost around him. His hands pressed into the ice suddenly feel cold again, fingers frostbitten and numb. "I'm sorry..", his voice shakes with the rest of his body.

He's sorry that he scared her. That he bit her. That she ran away. Every apology was for a different reason. The next one, "..I'm.. Sorry…", a whisper only audible by the watery croak of his voice, is also separate from the other apologies. The quiet one that he doesn't want to admit as he swallows his sorrow, is that he's sorry for liking the taste of her blood.

He never saw Himiko during his childhood after that to tell her anyways. Surely, unless he were to run into her again in the future, he wouldn't even remember.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Like the shoes incorporation, I wanted to slip in the snowball fight and finger bite from Chainsaw Man too, and I just couldn't think of a better setup for something than with Himiko. There's some other stuff going on there that works with each of Himiko's and Izuku's overall character transformations too that I hope this chapter helps prepare for as well.