Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

Six pages behind, but this omake-bunny won't let go of my brain. PREPARE FOR CUTES!

"Mother?"

Miho looked up, to see Sora entering the room, walking... rather oddly. "Yes, Sora-chan?"

"Have you seen Atsushi-chan?" the Kyuubi-shipgirl asked. "I just can't seem to find him anywhere."

Miho blinked, and bent sideways in her chair to get better look behind her daughter. Unusually, Sora had all nine tails out. Also unusual was the fact that she was carrying said tails almost horizontally -- in fact, below waist level, making a sort of low-hanging "cloud" of furriness. And even more unusual was the fact that said cloud had... apparently sprouted a clump of small feet. Familiar small feet.

Mother and daughter made eye contact, and shared a moment of desperately trying to keep their faces straight. "Have you looked for the mini-subs?" Miho managed to choke out. "You know how they seem to always get into mischief together."

"Oh, dear," Sora intoned melodramatically. "I haven't been able to find them, either. I do so hope they haven't gotten up to anything naughty."

"Well, why don't you check the back yard, dear?"

"That's a good idea!"

Miho was quite proud of herself for not falling on the floor laughing as she watched her eldest carefully maneuver around in the doorway (rather like a large truck in a small driveway) without dislodging her "tail cloud." Both women carefully ignored the giggling and whispers emanating from Sora's tails.

It was only after Sora had sailed, stately as a Standard, down the hall and out the back door, that Miho realized she had completely forgotten to capture the moment on her phone, and used several words she would never have uttered in the little ones' hearing.

========

"Sora, love," Eric said grimly, "I'm afraid you may have an infestation of gigglesprites."

Sora rounded her eyes at him. "Gigglesprites? What are those?"

"I was reading about them in this British magical cryptozooological journal that I borrowed from Harry-kun, the 'Quibbler.' Apparently, they infest the tails of magical beings that have thick, bushy tail-fur."

"Oh dear! What do we do?"

Eric eyed the sudden lack of motion in the lumps that had been moving about in Sora's tails. "Well, I may have to dive in and dig through your tails. According to the Quibbler, the only cure for gigglesprites is to grab them, and then tickle them until they die of laughter. It'll be tough with just one arm, but please bear with me!"

========

"I have to say," Harry said warmly as he waved at "Baker Fleet" walking down the opposite sidewalk, "it's certainly nice that youkai don't have to hide their nature on-base."

"It's nice to walk down the street without having to hold onto my human form," Natsumi agreed, also waving. "I'm sure Sora-san especially appreciates it, what with having nine tails... speaking of which, what in the world is....?"

Harry had, in the Yank vernacular, seen some shit. But nothing that had quite prepared him for... for the sight of a kyuubi kitsune walking down the sidewalk, tails floating behind her in a low dense cloud... and a number of small feet protruding from the bottom of said cloud and scuttling busily along to keep pace with the utterly oblivious kitsune.

An "urk!" was Harry's only warning. "Hoppou-chan!"

There was the sound of a battleship falling keel-first into a dry dock, and he turned to see Hoppou holding up a practically comatose Nagato, whose eyes had turned into little swirly spirals.

"Well, Mum's out for an hour or so," he said dryly. "But, you know...." He stared at the receding forms of Sora, her family, and her... tag-alongs. Then turned to look at Natsumi, the Patented Potter "I Love Trouble And Trouble Loves Me" grin spreading across his face.

"Harry-chan, no!"

"Harry-chan, dess!"

"Harry-chan, you're too tall! And-- no, Hoppou-chan, not you too! Not the DD Eyes! Come on, I don't have enough tails to pull that off!"

Harry rubbed his chin. "Hmmm... think we could talk Hoshi-san into it? Or your grandparents?"

Natsumi's own grin grew to match his. "If we get my imouto to help us...."

=======

Harry had never seen Hoshi actively blushing before. He took a moment to savor the sight before moving in for the kill.

"Hoshi-san? What happened to make your tails get so much bigger?"

His kyuubi combat instructor blinked at him, then craned her head around to look over her shoulder. "What do you mean, Harry-chan?"

Butter would not have melted in Harry's mouth. "Well, they've suddenly grown about a dozen feet...."

(during their next training session, Hoshi proceeded to demonstrate just how she could weaponize her "fluffy tails," and Harry picked up an entirely new set of bruises in the process. But it was, in his smug opinion, totally worth it)

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A.N.-Now it's time for the moment all the Cinnamon Roll fans have been waiting for. Prepare thine Pancreases.

Concert for ButterKlavier and Audience #1 "Abyssale"

5 July 2014

Passel House, Hampshire, England

It's really interesting how music can knock down a wall and be an open connection between you and someone else where something else can't. When music comes along, it just opens your heart a little more-Phillip Sweet (American musician)
Spoiler: The Sound Of Elan

Jean Bart smiled at the brunette girl playing the just set up keyboard system. Claire had shyly asked her help to complete the setup after Ehren had been called away by Victoria. Jean Bart had happily agreed to since it was something that she could do for the house guests in her half-built state.

Claire had then asked her quietly "what kind of music she liked?" and Jean Bart had responded instantly "Musique militaire française, s'il vous plaît!"

Jean Bart had been shocked by Claire's skill -- nay genius! -- at composition and arrangement. She felt her boilers burn hotter and fiercer as La Marseillaise segued into Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse. As the march reached the refrain, she began to joyfully sing along the words engraved on her spirit to the stirring notes that exemplified her French pride, honor, and elan.

"Le régiment de Sambre-et-Meuse
Marchait toujours
Au cri de liberté
Cherchant la route glorieuse
Qui l'a conduit à l'immortalité!"

Saltwater tears filled her eyes as she promised herself yet again that one day soon with the help of Ronald, her sister Richelieu, and her friends such as Warspite and Duke, she would prove to the world what she was made of. Unbidden, a smile curled her lips as she pictured herself sailing back into port under her tricolor naval ensign, proudly showing her scars from the battles that she had just triumphed in as her band played Sambre et Meuse to the cheering crowd lining the seawall toi see the conquering heroine.

One Day.....

Jean Bart reminded herself that she was making headway toward her goal as she listened to Claire play from memory. She then grinned ear to ear as Claire finished with a flourish. "Magnifique! Merveilleux!" Impulsively she strode over and hugged the blushing piano spirit, producing a happy squeak of joy as Claire returned the hug..

A cough interrupted her and she turned to see Angie waiting for her. "Ron and Ehren are waiting for you to go over the shell hoist design enchantments with them." The happy smile on the weathered veteran drydock's face took any sting out of her words.

Jean Bart blinked and then smiled down at Claire. "I will be back as soon as I can to listen to more of your wonderful playing, chère." Claire smiled happily and hugged Jean Bart in farewell before Jean Bart began to head for her planned design consultation.

----------------------------------

Claire hummed happily as she turned back to her keyboard in the now-deserted music room where she had been asked to set up her keyboard by Miss Victoria. In the depths of her dark mahogany eyes, her spirit pondered as her fingers caressed her keys lightly and gently while she sat alone in thought.

Perhaps something nice and moody to liven up the house as she played for the unseen ears of any audience within hearing range?

Yes.
Spoiler: Claire Takes Flight

With that her fingers began to dance across her keys in intricate bass melodies as her spirit spread its wings of music and flew to the sudden tune inspiring her mind and soul.

Claire's eyes closed in bliss and she swayed back and forth in time with the metronome of her heart and the impulses of her spirit as she released the music overflowing from her heart and soul to fill the house with her voice.

She never noticed the hushed gasp of shock coming from the room next to her through the open door connecting the music room to the library.

Nor the gasp of gentle breath in awe or the widening of glowing blue Abyssal eyes inside the door to the music room that she had claimed as a towering pale giantess entered in a trance.

She equally would never notice the moment in the kitchen when the spirit of the residence felt her own eyes fill with tears of joy as she paused in preparing dinner for her family.

To Claire nothing else existed in her universe but the Music, for the Music was Her and She was the Music.

She invited her unseen but enchanted audience to travel with her to a place that they never dreamed existed before that moment. Forging a pathway with her music as it touched something hidden and well buried deep inside the secret inmost heart of three residents of Passel House

Summer sat down in the chair that Jean Bart had vacated and pulled a drafting pad of paper and a pencil out from her office. Her hands moved in a blur with the music filling her soul and inspiring her as her mind filled with images, blueprints, dreams to be made whole one day by herself and Her Yardmaster in Abyssal steel, iron, and bronze. She could visualize every last rivet, nut and bolt in her mind as clearly as if it were being inspected by her staff. She nibbled her lip absently in diamond-hard concentration with the joy of creation of a future daughter to serve Her Yardmaster and her as her pencil danced in time with Claire's melody and the matching thudding of her power plant.

Victoria's own hands moved in the kitchen as she moved in counterpoint to the melody filling her true body with light and life and joy. Automatically she reached for the spices and sprinkled a pinch of cinnamon in the dough for the cake that she was feeling inspired to bake. Part of her mind automatically recorded this new recipe that she had just realized that she could cook for her family. Her voice hummed a happy tune from her long-distant youth in counterpoint to the sounds of the piano inspiring her culinary magic with spice and dough, pot and pan, oven and icing.

And in the next room over from where Claire played her enchanted melody, a second Abyssal Princess froze in the act of pulling another book by the noted comedy writer (for a human) Edgar Allen Poe from the library. In her wildest, fondest dreams, she had never imagined what was happening to her.

Brigid told herself that she was only being prudent as she was keeping a weather eye on the Abyssal Installation who was acting so strangely as Summer wrote and drew while staring vacantly at the dark-haired human girl who was making those oddly interesting sounds. She may even have believed that explanation -- on the surface -- but she felt the pain in her keel fade as part of her deep down exulted in being unshackled and unleashed to roam the seas again to crush the enemies in her path. She suddenly knew deep down that there existed a pathway to making that fond dream of dark delight and bliss under the command of a leader who was worthy to stand beside her if she was brave and bold enough to take the steps needed to make her dream a reality.

Her glowing scarlet eyes half-hooded as she shivered in keel-deep ecstacy and promised herself that she would do what it took to achieve her dreams. No matter what it took, she would find a way to once more sail the seas that were her domain.

 

[darthcourt10]

Kab2

As promised, I bring you the second part of the story.

----

"We are under attack! But who? We aren't at war with anyone!"

"That doesn't matter now, we have to help to evacuate the people inland, the attack came from the sea, we have to hurry before..." Whatever she would say was cut short as a projectile impacted some distance from them, destroying some buildings. "Shit! We have to move, now!" said Douji running towards the street with Tsubaki and her friends.

As they were helping and directing the people, suddenly Douji turned to look towards the sea, narrowing her eyes she said "Oh, no."

"What's up Douji-San?" said Tsubaki, knowing by her tone that whatever it was she wasn't going to like it.

"Something is coming here, and it's powerful. I'm afraid if it's part of this offensive, whatever it is, it would be difficult for me to contain it."

"Oh, fuck" said amazed the concealed Oni. "And the SoS doesn't let us act in No-Mag presence. This is a very serious problem."

"It is, but I have an idea. You and your friends evacuate the people while I hold the line as a master swordswoman." said the blade spirit unwrapping the package at her back. "I'm glad I assembled my hilt and guard before just in case. Let me know when this zone is evacuated" finishing adjusting her true body, she went to the port.

There was fire and smoke all over the place, people running at all directions searching shelter, collapsed buildings and a lot of chaos, but she was calm, focusing in whatever was in the water.

'Seems like it has stopped half a kilometer from the land for now, but we don't know what it will do next' but as soon as she thought that, she saw nebulous transports reaching and unloading what seemed to be troops.

They were like shadows of humans with WWI uniforms and weapons, she sensed that they had some type of spiritual power. 'Twisted humans?' When the shadows spotted the civilians, they began to shoot at them, trying to kill as many as possible; viewing this Douji sprinted towards them and quickly cut their weapons in half.

"You are in time to safe your lifes, surrender peacefully and you will be spared." said Douji sheathing her edge.

"You will Die! All humans will die at our hands!" said with anger who looked like the leader of this group, pouncing on her.

'It seems they aren't human' she thought dodging him. "This is your final warning, don't make me cut off your extremities."

"Don't evade me and let me kill you damned human!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." dodging him again she unsheathed her true form and with a move she cut the legs of the strange being.

As if she was dancing, she was dodging and disabling those who tried to reach her, until she was the only one standing surrounded by whimpering and writhing soldiers.

"Damned bitch! Wait until we..." he stopped talking and made a face as he was listening something, gradually transitioning into a grimace of terror. "Don't do it! Give us another chance, please!"

'It seems like they are talking with the thing at the bay.'

Suddenly her senses warned her and jumped back some meters just before an explosion wiped out everything in the zone she stood before, including the shadows she left alive.

'What a cruel superior!, looks like the thing at the bay is coming here'

From the sea at the smoke a shape was taking form, something human-like but with 2 big bulges instead of arms approached her.

"So you are the one dismembering my underlings." said an ominous voice from the shape "My congratulations on winning the lowest existing riff-raff."

Now that it was closer Douji saw it more clearly, 'she' was mostly like a female human with pale skin and white hair with very little clothing; her shoes were dispaired, on the right foot she wore a metal heel and in the left she wore a high metal boot with strange mechanisms; but the most puzzling were her arms, or what replaced them, two grotesque masses of metal with mouths and miniature artillery.

"Because of that I'll let you choose how you will die, shooted down or crushed." a sinister smile crossed her face "But if you lick my boots I may let you live as my personal pet" said laughing.

If that angered her, she didn't show any sign in her reply. "I'm afraid I have to decline, If I die it will be against you in battle."

Then the albino woman laught out loud "Do you really think you can kill me? I'm a princess, someone much superior to any of you, but if you want to die so much, be my guest!" said while aiming at the woman.

"So be it" said while thinking 'I hope Tsubaki finishes soon, otherwise I won't stand a chance'

Luckily for Douji it seemed that in such short distances she couldn't aim well at the fast sword who defended herself dodging while trying to cut her opponent with no luck, since she barely made a dent in the strange metal of her arms.

"Do you think a little sword can cut me? Don't make me laugh!" said throwing a 'punch' at her.

'Shit! I can't dodge it!' "Protego Maxima" whispered while she defended with her sword.

The impact surprised her, it felt like a battleship at full speed hitted her, witch made her fly backwards until she hit a wall.

"Gah!" mumbled while she spat some blood. 'I'm sure I can't beat her like this'

"Hahaha, where is that bravery now? If you can't go on stay still and your suffering will be... Ouch!" She cried out as a car impacted against her face.

"Douji-San!" called a voice she knew well.

Looking at her right, she saw Tsubaki running towards her without her disguise. "We've just finished the evacuation of this zone, but there were so many killed..." she shook her head. "Anyways now we can fight this... thing." said while she looked at their enemy, now facing her undisguised friends.

"It's useless" said Douji getting up. "She has more spiritual weight than your father, I don't know If I could defeat her even if my master was here."

"It's worse than you think, I've heard on the radio that this is happening all over the world, widespread attacks against big cities of the coast, this side is fine, but other Tokio districts face a worse fate than this one." said Tsubaki with a strange expression on her face.

"Then the least we can do is to buy time to let the population flee inland." she opened her eyes as she remembered something "The Imperial Palace and the Magical Diet is not very far from here,we can only hope to delay her enough for them to make a good defense.". Taking out a little box from her pants she said "There is no better death than to die protecting innocents who don't have any guilt. Don't you agree?" leaving the box on the floor, she ripped the ofuda wrapping it.

The box grew until it transformed into a trunk that she opened without difficulty, revealing insida a plumed diadem, a red and golden shoulder pads for covering the entire arm, long black gloves, black thigh straps, sandals and a black belt with a sheath and two thick ropes.

"Of course there are worse deaths... huh?" said Tsubaki looking at the smoke covered sky "Was that thunder?" but when she looked down the woman's facade was down; she had discarded the museum guide who had began working not long ago, in her place stood the legendary sword's personificacion, clad in purple.

"Let's go, we'll fight for our honor as defenders of Japan."

The battle had escalated, six Oni and a sword versus the self-styled 'Princess'; but it didn't seem the princess was worried, in fact she enjoyed looking at the despair in her opponents when they didn't make any dent in her. "HAHAHA, go on, throw me all you have, you can't beat me!"

Getting punched again, Douji backed off a bit, but thanks to her magical armor she could cushion the blow better than last time.

'She is right, she is toying with us, but I don't know if I should use that, if it doesn't work we'll be at her mercy' but as she was getting up she heard a boy crying.

"Who's there?" she yelled with the hope that someone answered her.

"Y-Yasutsune-Sama? Is that you?" said a voice belonging to another kid.

'Oh shit! Well, it can't be helped.' "Yes, it is me, come out whenever you are." said in the direction she heard the voice.

From behind some concrete blocks, 2 kids came out, a 10 years old looking boy that she recognised and a little girl who had around 5 years old.

"Oh, you are Matsudaira-San right? Where are your parents?" she cursed herself as soon as the words came out of her mouth.

The boy who looked at the breaking point of tears answered. "They were at home when an explosion collapsed it, then we were bombed and i didn't know what to do, so I went looking for help, but no one helped me, so I went to my cousin's house, but it was hit too, my auntie was at the door, she was hit by a block in the back, and my cousin here was trying to move away the block with no luck" he paused as he was trying not to weep. "I tried to help, but my auntie said that I had to take my cousin away and flee as far as I could so we can live, that we couldn't help her, So I fled until we reached here and I saw you fighting that monster with Minamoto-no-Raikou's legendary sword; you are using it so you can defeat it and save us all, right? said while he looked at her with eyes that poured hope and trust.

Something hit her, some memories of her past; The kids of the Minamoto Clan looking with the same look when she was teaching them how to handle a weapon, their expectation as she told them her stories; and that made her remember the words her master said to her when they walked down Mount Ooe."I'm proud of you, thanks to you we protected countless women from that drunken Oni."

To Protect.

The thing for she was forged, the core of her being.

"It's true, I have forgotten, I don't have to try beating her, I MUST defeat her to protect the future of this kids." she said getting up with a determined expression on her face "Don't worry, I will defeat her and I will save you, but whatever happens, you have to obey that red Oni, she is a good Oni and a friend of mine."

"Thank you!" said the kid whose eyes were almost shining "We will stay hidden while you beat the bad monster."

"Good kids." heading to the battle she yelled "Tsubaki! I need that you entertain the 'Princess' a while"

"You won't be mad if we defeat her, right?" said while blocking a princess' punch with her arms 'She hits very hard'.

"Of course not" she said.

'Kami, please help me defeat this monster' closing her eyes she focused on herself, reaching her inner depths, where 4 spirit shards where resting, shards voluntarily given to her before their owners died. Feeling a twinge of pain and anguish she walked towards them.
Spoiler: It begins

With a hand she reached the seal under they rested.

And shattered it.

Tendrils of energy surged from the shard towards her, and she kindly let them join her for letting a part of them come to life at the expense of her own energy.

On the outside things looked bad for the Oni, one laid badly injured at some distance, two had a broken arm and they could do little more.

'Shit Douji' thought Tsubaki 'If you are going to do something do it now' looking towards her, she was standing still, with her blade in horizontal position in front of her closed eyes.

Suddenly four rays impacted near Douji, causing the dust to rise, concealing where she was from sight.

"Hahaha, surely she is dead now, what a stupid form to die, being hit by rays, now it's your turn!"

'They don't affect her, but why did she do that?' thought Tsubaki as the dust began to settle.

"Do you really think that a ray can kill me?" said Douji from the dust cloud's inside, but her voice sounded strange, it was like she had echo.

"Whatever you do you can't kill mYIARRRGGGG!" she screamed in pain with an arrow stuck in her eye.

'She is the spirit of a blade, how did she shoot... an ... arrow' her thoughts came to a stop as the dust fade away.

Where before stood a blade's spirit, now there was 5 identicas spirits, each one of them with a different weapon, but what amazed her the most was that she knew those weapons.

A golden axe, a red sword, a blue naginata, a red and black bow and the Yasutsuna Doujigiri.

"Shiten'no" Whispered Tsubaki with respect.

"DAMNED PEST! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" said the princess charging towards them.

The bow began to shoot wind imbued arrows aiming her body, where they got stuck, making her slower, the earth infused axe and the fire infused sword cut the back of her legs, making her fall forward, where the water infused naginata impaled her.

"AHHHH! IT HURTS! I WILL KILL YOU A HUNDRED TIMES!"

"And this is how your threat ends" said who was wielding herself imbued with the power of lightning, making her fall onto the Princess neck, beheading her cleanly.

For an instant the world looked like it has stopped, to resume when the 'clones' vanished as Douji slumped on the floor.

"NO!" said Tsubaki running to her. "Are you okay?" she asked her lifting her torso. "That was... incredible."

She weakly laughted, but she quickly got serious. "Listen to me Tsubaki, I have almost depleted my energy and I need to rest, but I need you to do me some favours, pointing to the site the kids were hiding she said, "There are two kids hiding, I need you to take them to a safe place, I will rest inside my blade, so pack my armor in the trunk and carry it to the museum with me, the director knows where to put it; and for last, go to Magical Chiyoda and warn the Diet that this can't continue like this, we need a Yokai Police or that thing will wipe out humanity, sorry for not helping you more, but I really need to rest." she said as she vanished, making the armor she wore hit the floor.

"You have helped more than enough, you have saved our lives, my friend".
-------
Thank you for reading. What are your thoughts about this? I hope that at least you liked it.

 

[darthcourt10]

AntonioCC

Next part of the misadventures of the Spanish-German-Japanese quartet. Okayed by our Kaiju overlord.
===================================================================================================================

"Ship of the Line Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, but you can call me Trinidad." Trini said, "And, well, ahh..."

"Why am I in a wheelchair despite magical healing?" Carmen said, understanding what she was trying to say without offend her, "Don't worry, I'm used to that. Magical healing has its limits, especially if the wound is caused by a curse."

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry; I have made peace with it. But there is no time to dawdle. We are in a quite tight schedule as it is." Carmen said, and then pointed to a small sculpture in a corner of the room, "That's the portkey. It will leave you, close to..."

"Kamakura. We'll appear close to my brother-in-law old home." Sakura supplied with a grimace.

Trini was about to ask what happened when she saw the female sword spirit shaking her head. She wondered what had happened, but she ground her curiosity down. This was not the time, something that was emphasized as Sakura produced a wand from somewhere and changed her clothes from Goth-style clubbing wear to something more practical, black shirt, black jeans and black leather boots.

"I have called my sister, she'll be waiting for us with her car." Sakura said, conversationally as she walked toward the Portkey, the others following.

"How does this work? Do we have to do some spell or something?" Trini asked.

"Nah, just needs for somebody to grab it for a short period of time, and they are transported." Carmen said, "Just a warning, long distance portkeys are not very comfortable."

"It can't be worse that a storm in the Pacific." Trini said, before touching the sculpture at the same time the others did.
Near Kamakura. June 16 2014

Trini stumbled after the portkey deposited them into an overgrown path, just before the ruins of one of those Japanese gates. From the corner of her eye she could see that the others weren't much better, except for Sakura who seemed to have weathered the transit well, only to look to what lay beyond the gates with a frown.

"What...?" she started to say but a gesture from Sakura quieted her, before she produced again her wand on one hand and a piece of paper on the other. She made a few gestures with the wand, as she murmured a few words, only for her frown to deepen. As she put the wand back from where she had taken hit she held the piece of paper in front of her and chanted in Japanese, before leaving the piece of paper, that she realized now had some Japanese characters written on it, on the ruins of the gate.

"It'll have to suffice by now." Sakura said.

"I thought that you said it was dormant." the sword spirit said.

"It was, something must have awakened the grudge." Sakura answered, and then looked to Trini, "I'll explain later, in the car."

"...Very well." Trini said. The truth was that once the dizziness from the transit had vanished she had started to feel that going there was something watching them, something that didn't have their best interests in mind. The feeling had attenuated, but not completely vanished once that Sakura had done her bit.

They walked down the badly overgrown path until reached a dirt road where a small van was waiting for them, with a woman that greatly resembled Sakura waiting for them, before them. She told Sakura something in Japanese with a smile, which quickly vanished when Sakura answered curtly, her expression now mirroring Sakura's frown. A talk in rapid-fire Japanese followed before the other woman nodded, and Sakura turned to face them.

"Everybody, this is my sister Ichika." she said in English.

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

Harry Leferts said:
You would not get tiltrotors until the 1970s tech at the very least.​

Hm... autogyros, maybe? Although I'm not sure they really fill any niches that floatplanes or CV-based planes don't already fill well enough.

Gmergurrl99 said:
Well, if you depending on how you look at? Claire just performed some magic of her own. It's not battle magic, or performing miracles, but its more in line with some versions of magic that utilize bardic magic as a support to buff team members and allies in various series and franchises. In this case, her "magic" was powerful enough to inspire the listeners and open them up to possibilities using music as a vehicle and emotional trigger and is something innately natural to her as a skilled musician and piano spirit....
Yellowhammer said:
Indeed she is developing her magical gift that Wolf-Mother saw in her. Just like a bard or shamaness should.

And yes, her song called to inspire those around her to develop their own talents.​

Well, Claire is obviously a Bard.

Although....
Verdun has become something of a wildlife refuge....

Claire wandered through the trees, letting the lurking wolves show her the safe paths between the lingering deadly remnants of the war that had left such deep wounds on her mother's spirit. Wounds that Claire knew she truly wasn't equipped to understand, and that her family was determined that she never be in a position to understand. For which she was grateful.

But understanding was not a prerequisite for empathy. Or for healing.

All around her, the song of the land was wounded as her mother's soul, and her beloved younger sister's, and even Miss Toku. But where her loved ones were single instruments, this was an orchestra of orchestras, pain and anger and darker things sounding discordantly around isolated pools of hope, forgiveness, and healing. It made her want to cry and run away to the shelter of Moulbaix and her family, where she wouldnd't have to feel such horrid things.

But if her family could face this sprawling, hungry nightmare when it was awake and devouring all before it, with the steel of their souls defiantly bared... then Claire could not run away from it in its restless slumber. Her own steel was no lesser alloy than her family's, and for all that Ehren was their mother's heir, she was not the only du Chasteler daughter who had listened to Colombe's lessons on noblesse oblige and taken them to heart.

Even if she could not stand beside her family in their battles, even if she was ill-equipped to be more than a liability in most of the "situations" they found themselves often enmeshed in... there was still something she could do. A small, tiny thing, but it was hers. And if her family could do what they did almost every day, how could Claire in conscience not add her pittance to the effort, no matter how insignificant?

The wolves lead her out of the treeline onto the crest of a small hillock, overlooking a mass of overgrown depressions in the ground. She winced -- this was nearly the center of an especially harsh discord in the symphony, full of rage and pain reaching out to claw at her, suck her in, hurt her the way that the restless dead on this spot had been hurt.

Claire truly couldn't understand that, the idea of being in pain and desiring to make others feel that same pain. It made her cringe to suspect that Mother, and Ehren, probably did understand it. But... perhaps that was why they could not be here... and why she could.

She summoned her true self with a bang of displaced air, seated herself on her bench, closed her eyes, and... listened. Forced herself to search through the midden of ugly music for the scant remaining handful of bright notes -- a bit of peace here, a hint of forgiveness there, a faint wisp of hope nearly lost in the black fog of disharmony. In her mind, she arranged the pathetic scattering across the empty staffs of a fresh musical sheet, and considered them carefully. There was far more blank space than notes, but this probably belonged here, and she could create a bridge to there, and the broken leitmotif probably looked something like this....

Fingers on her keys, Claire du Chasteler reached for the broken instruments in the orchestra of the land that would respond to her touch, and began to play.

It must have been hours later when she opened her eyes, to moonlight across her mahogany and ivory, and the Wolf Mother's head lying in her lap. Claire reached down and gently scratched the perked canine ears, despite the cramping in her fingers.

Around her, the symphony was... slightly better. Where there had been only tiny, isolated islands of harmony nearly drowned in dark, discordant noise, now thing, fragile threads linked them together, like a dew-bejewled spider web -- as beautiful, and nearly as fragile. The sight forced a sigh from her. "I wish I could do more... but this is all I can do."

The Wolf Mother whuffed at her silliness, and nuzzled the piano-spirit's face until she had to giggle. "All right, yes, I know -- the point is to do what I can, not worry about what I can't." Her face fell a bit. "I still wish I could do more, though."

That got her a determined face-washing and the message, in no uncertain terms, that that desire was what made her worthy of the task. Then the huge wolf took Claire's sleeve in her teeth and began tugging with a determination that conveyed in no uncertain terms that resistance was futile. Claire giggled again, stood up, and found herself wobbling on her feet, feeling as if she had... emptied part of herself. She leaned gratefully on the Wolf Mother as the ancient being escorted her home, folding the intervening space to make a walk of days into minutes.

They parted ways in the garden, the Wolf Mother departing to tend to her own duties. In the light of Moubaix' windows, Claire could feel the empty place inside herself ease. She wasn't surprised when the door opened before she reached it, to reveal her little sister. Ehren had always displayed a keen sense of Claire's moods and needs, after all.

The immediate, intense hug was no surprise either, and Claire could feel the empty place inside herself begin to refill. Ehren leaned back to make eye contact without letting go. "Are you well, Claire? You were out so long, we began to worry."

"Just tired," Claire replied honestly. "But it was a good day overall, I think. I took a nice walk in the country, and made some new compositions."

Ehren searched her sister's eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Sehr gut. You are just in time to wash up for dinner -- Kasuyu is trying his hand at Japanese, tonight."

Later, on a cratered hillside near Verdun, a piano surrounded by an honor guard of local wolves suddenly vanished from its pool of moonlight with a bang of displaced air. Duty discharged, the wolves took to their paws and headed off into the woods to hunt their evening's meal.

And around that hill, anyone present with the necessary perception, might have seen a fragile spiderweb of silvery strands running through the land. And the slender strands, oh so slowly, gradually becoming thicker. Stronger.

The mightiest oaks begin from the tiniest of acorns, after all.

Harry Leferts said:
Eh, Kyoshu's appearance is pretty much locked now. Their appearance only really changes when their in the "Formation" stage of their avatar (as in, right as a few years before to just after they manifest). Technically, Chibi-Kyo shouldn't be able to manifest... if not for the amount of spiritual weight that she now has.​

I imagine that Kensho-chan inherited a fair amount of spiritual "weight" from Kyoshu. That plus seventy years of being a separate entity probably would have been enough for her to manifest on her own, if she hadn't been crippled by 942's sloppy workmanship.

And since Harry was the one to bring her over the finish line, so to speak, I'm sure that he's left a mark on her appearance.

Harry Leferts said:
Well... there is very likely a number of hints she now has from Harry. Such as messy hair and either green or green speckled eyes.​

Yeah, like that. Probably not enough for random passerby to notice the family resemblance, but I could see someone who knows both Kyoshu and Harry well (like, say, Juuchi) having a spit-take on first sight.

Harry Leferts said:
In any case, she is now a very happy blade. Especially as she has found who she considers to be a true master for her. Part of this is, well... she actually remembers being "Separated" from her mother. Another part is that she has felt nothing but close to agony for nearly seventy years due to the piss poor job done on her. So what Harry did? It makes her utterly loyal to him and she wants to make her Mama proud. Oh... and on her tang? If someone was to look you would see a nearly microscopic Muramasa signature along with one for Harry. And no, said teenage boy does not know about that little bit of respect...​

...when I said Harry had "left a mark", I didn't mean literally!

So, did anyone hear a Mad Smith murmuring hints and encouragement into Harry's ear while he was working?

I suppose this adds a whole new dimension to "Pottering."

Yellowhammer said:
Toku: **Stares at Kensho-chan. Stares at Nameless. Mugs Musashi for money to clean out a bar to get blind drunk**​

Nori: "Wait for me!"
Umi: "...fuck headache potions, I'm getting blind stinking drunk!"
Kyoshu (holding Na-chan on her lap, with Kensho-chan on Na-chan's lap): "Mou, why is everyone acting so strange?"
Nameless: strokes Kensho-chan's hair and just looks generally smug.

Yellowhammer said:
Indeed she is. And she has attracted another cinnamon roll to visit her.​

The planet can't withstand a Cinnamon Singularity of this magnitude!

 

[darthcourt10]

Spectral Waltz

This might be completely non-canon, but in the midst of working on the Fudo dark times, I found myself inspired by the discussions around Kenshō.

- - - - -

Despite the way her actions appeared, Umitsubame had realized in caring for the damaged spirit that Kyoshu was not actually all that clumsy. She could forget where things were, and still caused accidents in her absentmindedness, but when she was aware of her surroundings she was quite coordinated, and Nameless' presence had only improved things with time. So when the two were baking cookies together only for a loud crash and rattling to suddenly resound from the kitchen, the waterwitch blade found herself quite alarmed at the unexpectedness of it.

The goldfish blade was standing in the middle of the room, a dropped tray of cookies at her feet, only she was wearing the oven gloves, and she had a strange expression on her face, confusion and... Happiness?

"It doesn't hurt any more..." She whispered, so quiet it would have surely been inaudible but for the deafening silence that had fallen.

"Kyoshu?" Umi ventured cautiously, spotting Nameless standing on a nearby chair like a startled cat in the corner of her eye.

The blade in question turned to face her sister, her eyes filling with tears yet with a happy smile on her lips. "The hurting stopped." There's a ponderous pause, but those three words seem to be enough to trigger more. "Kyoshu thought it would never go away, but now it's fading." She'd been hurting? But she'd never mentioned any pain, and it was clear that she wasn't talking about grabbing a cookie tray without protection...

Kyoshu had raised one hand, and tapped her breastbone. "Right there..."

Silence reigned, Nameless slowly stepping down from the chair as Umitsubame tried to understand what she was being told, before realizing that the mere fact of the telling was significant in and of itself. It was the longest coherent single thought any of them had seen Kyoshu string together in years.

Then the spell was broken as Nameless tapped Kyoshu on the shoulder to draw attention before reaching around to hug her from behind. With her arms extending into her fellow blade's vision she then pointed down at the spilled cookies. "Eh? Na-chan I don't hurt! Isn't it great? Oh!" She followed the indicating digit and perked up, "Cookies! Na-chan did you make cookies?" She felt the blade shake her head. "No? Mou... Did I make cookies?" She pondered for a moment, then blinked at Umitsubame. "Umi-nee! Isn't it great? It doesn't hurt any more so we can have cookies to celebrate!"

- - - - -

Don't mind me, just playing around with cute possibilities. I thought that if Kyoshu had those parts amputated, she might feel some phantom limb pain still lingering, an ache that she's so used to that it's part of her normal, Until Harry healed the pieces, and the pain might have just faded away...

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Concert for ButterKlavier and Audience #2 "Brioche à la cannelle"

5 July 2014

Passel House, Hampshire, England

What [the] music I love expresses to me, are not thoughts that are too indefinite for me to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.-Felix Mendelssohn

Claire du Chasteler finally slowed her playing and opened her mahogany-brown eyes. She sighed happily, still ignorant of the enthralled Abyssal Installation Princess behind her, and hummed thoughtfully as she stretched.

"M-more, p-please?" came from behind her in a gentle shy voice with a hidden energy in it that made Claire think of a slumbering dragon. Claire blinked as she turned to see the giantess sitting in the chair.

Claire gave a shy smile at the blue eyed and snow-white girl looking at her eagerly, "Of course, what do you like?"

A massive foot scuffed the hardwood. "Um... I d-don't know..."

Claire smiled. "Well I know enough music for both of us. Oh! I forgot my manners, I'm Claire du Chasteler."

"S-Summer." Came as a shy whisper as one room over Brigid's scarlet eyes widened at the Installation acting so oddly. Almost like how she reacted around the human she called the Yardmaster, so she would need to be careful.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Victoria sighed as she slid the cake into the oven to begin to bake. Clearly she needed to lay off the candies, since she could feel her teeth rotting from what she was witnessing in the Music Room.

Unknowing of the thoughts of the hidden witnesses, Claire visibly lit up like a spotlight. "Oh! Summer like Vivaldi!"
Spoiler: Summer!

With that her fingers began to dance across the keys to make the sounds of a summer thunderstorm as envisioned by one of the greatest Baroque composers. The piano spirit hummed and swayed happily in counterpoint to the magnificent music that she was making. The sparkle in her eyes and smile of joy on her lips were a clear invitation to Summer to enjoy it.

Across the room, Summer's glowing blue eyes widened comically and she blushed a pale rose. She could almost hear the wind rustling the leaves in the trees in her administration and housing facilities, and hear the booming of the waves on her harbor's seawall in the sounds of the music that Claire was making for her. She whispered to herself as she stored the design notes for her future daughter in the safe in her Yardmaster's office,"It is like the wind and water. Like an ocean except I'm hearing it!"

Claire grinned happily as the brief piano piece came to an end. "Oh yes, although if you want the open ocean, you need Mendelssohn more than Vivaldi. Specifically his Opus 26, Die Hebridien."
Spoiler: Finegal's Cave

With that Claire began to glow silver as she closed her eyes and concentrated. Gradually her form began to blur and then her shadow formed into a transparent ghostly double of herself that sat on the bench next to her. At an unspoken signal, four identical hands found the keys and Claire began to play a piano duet version of one of the most famous Romantic pieces of the 19th Century.

Still out of sight, Brigid gasped, as she could almost feel the booming of waves against her hull in the sounds of the music.

An albatross screamed its joyful cry over her head as it flew by on the winds that were billowing the sea around her.

Her bow lifted for an instant at the crest of one of the great waves of the North Atlantic.

Foaming green-gray water crowned with white swirled in her path as she reached the top.

Then she plunged down with a mighty crash, cleaving the water like an unstoppable axe to send diamond sparkles of salt spray glimmering in the storm-shrouded sunlight to either side of her bow railings.

Around and behind her, her escorting fleet, her comrades, even perhaps some that she might have called friends steamed in her wake as she surveyed all the watery domain that she had been born to rule.

Her crimson eyes stung as she remembered moments like this before her capture. Before coming here.

And she wished with all her heart to experience another moment such as this on a perfect fall day off the Outer Hebrides of Scotland as a storm whipped up the waters of one of the greatest of the world's oceans into a suitable backdrop for her power and majesty and might.

Presently the music came to an end, and Summer clapped happily. "That was amazing! The whooshing and the noises and the ocean sounds and everything!"

Claire smiled happily. "Music is more fun with an audience, or playing with another person like my best little sister. Or Mother."

Summer blinked and spoke softly. "I wish that I could do those things."

Claire's smile widened. "You don't know until you try. Come on sit with me and I can teach you how to play."

"M-me?!?" Summer gasped in awed surprise before accepting the invitation as Claire scooted to one end of the bench.

Unfortunately, the bench that Claire was sitting on was not designed for someone of Summer's size and displacement and began to tilt alarmingly under Summer's weight, lifting the end with Claire up into the air.

(In the kitchen, Victoria started to giggle uncontrollably, producing an odd look from Lara as the werewolf maid placed cookies on a tray to run to the Franco-Prusso-British Magical Design Committee's deliberations in Ron's study.)

"N-no this won't work!" Summer declared.

The Abyssal Installation then picked Claire up suddenly. Summer plopped the piano in her lap like a young kitten as she took over the bench. The apparent resemblance of the Muramasa piano to a kitten was heightened by the shocked squeak Claire gave as she was Summer-handled into position in the giantess's lap.

This produced a wheezing cough from the library next door as Brigid reacted to the unplanned comedy floor show.

Glowing blue eyes looked her way with an unspoken message involving a breaking yard for any Abyssals foolish enough to comment on such matters.

Brigid hastily grabbed the first book at hand and fled the scene of the crime at her best speed rather than press her luck while dealing with suspicious wheezes from her uptakes.

Meanwhile, Summer watched the Meanie Princess leave her and her new friend in peace and then looked down at Claire. "S-so now what?"

Claire guided Summer's fingers to the keyboard and showed her how to play a simple backing bass melody. "You just play like that and I'll do the rest atop your foundation Summer. We are going to play one of my most favorite pieces, which was written in 1818 in Oberndorf-bei-Salzburg in my birthplace of Austria for Christmas Eve. The church organ had been damaged in a flood, so they had to compose this as a carol for the service."

With that, Summer and Claire began to play a duet....

A.N.-Merry Christmas to all!

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Concert for ButterKlavier and Audience #3 "Joyeux Noël!"

5 July 2014

Passel House, Hampshire, England

Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.-Martin Luther

Ehren du Chasteler sipped her mug of tea thoughtfully and then tapped the notes on the planned layered enchantments on Jean Bart's shell hoists for her main and secondary batteries with one finger. "This appears to be a good pathway forward. I do recommend doing so on a working scale model first to insure that there are no unforeseen interactions between the necessary spells we plan to use to reduce wear and friction in the hoisting mechanism with self-repair, lower the weight of the shells being transported, and reduce the chance of flash fires from the various magical traditions that I have looked into. Before I awakened, Mutti used me as a test bed for enchantments and charms to be applied to her own body for that reason, so that she would know what to expect when she added an additional African spell to the European, Arabian, Hindu, and Chinese enchantments that had come before. Your thoughts, my friends?"

Across the table in his workroom, Ron gestured with the half-eaten cookie that he had been nibbling on. "I agree, Ehren. We are doing something that no one has done before, so we need to do things right, and take precautions to prevent a breakdown that would cause more problems than it solves. Since this is your hull that we are speaking of, Jean Bart, what do you think of what we have come up with for your construction?"

The French battleships' spirit grinned and leaned forward. "I like it! A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire. A victory without risk is a triumph without glory, Ron. And if it succeeds for me, it can then be used to help Warspite, Duke, Richelieu, and others. But we shall be the first ones to blaze the trail and known accordingly."

Ehren took the last of the cookies. "Agreed. Now that we have disposed of one of the reasons that you two wished to see me as your chief magical researcher in Mutti's library, along with the rest of my family, to the next item on the agenda. The Cannons are playing who tomorrow?"

Ron sighed. "The Ballycastle Bats. It is a home game, but we are going to be invaded by their supporters. Black and red for acres and acres, especially since Ireland is doing so well in the regional qualifying to the Quiddich World Cup this year. They are one of the pre-tournament favorites along with Bulgaria, Peru, Japan, and Uganda."

Jean Bart cocked her head. "France has a team, oui?" She spoke curiously.

Ron nodded and finished his cookie. "Yes, and Germany does as well. They stand a good chance to get in from their group play later this month."

Ehren smiled. "Perhaps we can watch a few of the matches together. I shall, of course, have to cheer on my country's team, as is only right and proper."

Ron grinned at the German dagger, "Of course. And I will let you cry on my shoulder when England whomps them."

Jean Bart laughed delightedly. "Is that before or after you both fall to La Patrie's team?"

Ehren giggled, and then cocked her head at the sounds of piano playing. "Perhaps we should head downstairs to pick up the conversation to the sound of Claire's music?"

Ron nodded and assembled his notes, then waved his wand to create copies for Ehren and Jean Bart's reference. "I'm curious to hear Claire play, since you have spoken so highly of her, Ehren."

Jean Bart laughed happily as she placed her copy on file in her chief engineer's cabin. "Trust me, Ron, the reality far outstrips the stories of her abilities."

As they reached the door to the music room, the piano playing turned into an instantly familiar tune for the trio of friends. Ehren's face lit up with a warm, happy smile and her rich soprano voice soared in joy-filled song alongside her sister's powerful melodic voice as they joined together in Silent Night.
Spoiler: Ehren Sings Silent Night...

"Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!"

Ehren then stopped dead in the door in shock at the sight of Claire sitting in the lap of a massive pale-skinned Abyssal Princess who was carefully and gently playing the bass part of their duet. Tears of joy filled her eyes at the sight of the clear friendship of the comparatively tiny piano spirit and the giantess.

Beside her, Ron rubbed his eyes and muttered in a surprised voice. "Summer?" Jean Bart boggled beside him at the sight.

Ehren's lips curled in smug anticipation as she finished singing the hymn and then grinned knowingly. "Claire, play Les Anges dans nos campagnes for Jean Bart to enjoy."

Claire smiled happily as her eyes twinkled. She then guided Summer to begin a slightly faster paced backing melody. As Ron stared in shock at the scene, Claire and Summer started to play the ancient French hymn.

Jean Bart joined her voice to Ehren as the two sang a vocal duet in French to Claire and Summer's playing.
Spoiler: ...And Angels We Have Heard On High...

"Les anges dans nos campagnes
Ont entonné l'hymne des cieux,
Et l'écho de nos montagnes
Redit ce chant mélodieux
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!"

The French Battleship and the German Dagger's voices joined as one. Both created to fight in the Second World War, now unified in friendship based on fighting to overcome the failures and regrets of their past to become what they should have been all along.

As the second hymn finished, Summer squeaked as she returned to herself from wherever she had been transported by the joy of music. "Y-Yardmaster!" she gasped out as she blushed cutely.

Ron applauded, "That was amazing! Summer, can you play more for us?"

Summer nodded eagerly then stage whispered to Claire. "Um maybe that Mendel-person with the ocean and the swoosh? I really liked him."

Claire smiled smugly and whispered back. "Well Mendelssohn did write a famous Christmas Carol sooo..."
Spoiler: ...To Wish Harry And The Shipgirls A Very Merry Christmas!

With that she adjusted some controls to make her keyboard sound like a pipe organ and once more guided Summer's hands to provide backing. Victoria, Lara, and Angie appeared behind Ehren, Jean Bart, and Ron and began to sing along with all present as tears of joy filled everyone's eyes.

Hark! The herald-angels sing
"Glory to the newborn king;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald-angels sing
"Glory to the new-born king!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Kab2

And with this one, the arc is finished:

---------

An hour has passed since the battle at Tokyo bay when Tsubaki reached magical Chiyoda, she expected heavy movement, but at her arriving she only encountered some light Auror movement.

'What are they doing?' thought Tsubaki 'They should be preparing to help the people, but I don't see any preparations'.
Approaching the Diet building she has stopped by the door's guard.

"Stop, name and motive of visit."

"Tsubaki-Douji, I have come to meet with someone who can help with the current attack to civilians"

"Please wait a moment" the guard took his wand and enchanted a paper page, who travelled inside the building; after a while it came back with the response.

"Floor 3 cubicle 3-24, I wish you luck"

"Why?" inquired Tsubaki.

"He is a renowed anti-yokai politician, so if I were you I won't expect any success."

"There isn't anyone more?"

"I guess, but I'm afraid that he is the one answering almost all yokai requests, as the others pass the ball between them."

Facepalming Tsubaki said "Politicians".

"Elevators are down the hall, right side."

'Here goes nothing, I have to try at least' thought Tsubaki as she entered the Diet.

There were people busy inside, half of them were foreigner mages in file to catch the International Floo to their origin countries, as well as some more people complaining about the situation. Reaching the elevators she went to the designated floor.

'Now where is the cubicle 3-24?'

Approaching a cubicle where two womans were chatting, a diet employee with brown hair and a foreigner with green-tinted blond hair. "Excuse me, oh, sorry" she lowered the voice when she saw two babies at one side of the cubicle, sleeping.

"Don't worry." Said the employee. "They have muting spells around them for them not listening us, I haven't found any baby-sitter today, so I had to bring her here, same with her; so what do you want?"

"Well, where is cubicle 3-24?" asked Tsubaki.

"This is hall 1, cross 2 halls more and it's the last one."

"Thank you and have a good day, but I recommend you to evacuate inland just in case." suggested Tsubaki.

"We'll think about it, thanks for the advice."

Waving goodbye to them, she followed the directions provided until she reached the cubicle mentioned.

"Good day Douji-San, my name is Kagetora Itosu, please take a seat" said the employee inside.

"Tsubaki-San is fine, Kagetora-San" said the Oni sitting down.

"No, Douji-San, I have to keep the formality, now what is your problem?" said Kagetora.

Tsubaki's face twitched. "I come with a formal request to create a Yokai police to protect Japan and its inhabitants against the things that attacked us a while ago, they want to kill us all so if we don't do anything, we have a lot of casualities."

The man responded almost immediately. "I'm afraid we can't do that, what if someone sees you? If that happens we need to dispatch Aurors to oblibiate the no-mag, so the response is no."

Tsubaki's anger was rising. "So are you telling me that the SoS is held in a higher stand than the lifes of the civilians?"

"Of course, the Statute has to be maintained at all costs, Douji-San, and if I were the Minister all of you would be held at the reserves, without exception."

What angered Tsubaki the most wasn't what he said; it was the absolute belief of was said. Dark thoughts began to circle her head, most of then breaking him in half, but she punched them down, it she was to do that, it would be a stain on HIS honor, and that is a thing that she couldn't do to who she considered at all effects her father except in blood.

Then she saw his smile and realized that this was his game, to anger her so much that she tried to kill him, only to be arrested.

"Those are your thoughts, but not mine and, luckily, most of the people" answered Tsubaki as she got up from the chair.

"Are you leaving? Good, I have a meeting soon with more of your 'kind' to discuss something about your 'rights'; Heh, as if you deserved some." said the man visibly relieved.

With her anger still boiling, she got to the elevator and went down to the ground floor, but as she was reaching the exit she saw someone familiar entering the building.

"Hokubu-Sama" said Tsubaki bowing.

"Ah, Tsubaki-San, It's good to see you, but you have bruises all over you, have you fought these things?" said Hobuku Tsumemaru.

"Yes I did, Doujigiri-San, five Oni friends and me battled one of her 'princess' as she referred herself, if it wasn't for Douji, we would have died there." said Tsubaki.

"I see, and your face tells me that what have you come here to do has been unsuccessfull." he guessed.

"Indeed, I got here to discuss the creation of a Yokai force to counter them, but I was attended by that ... failure of a man that is Kagetora Itosu, and of course he didn't pass the chance of rub in my face his opinions about the yokai." answered Tsubaki with a tint of anger in her voice.

"Ah yes, him. He will be a tough nut to crack, as we are meeting with him among others in a while; so why don't you leave this matter to us? We will talk about it in the meeting."

"Thank you Hokubu-Sama. I'm in your debt." she bowed to him.

He laughted. "It you think you are in my debt, why don't you start by referring to me with my name?"

"If that is what you want, I'll oblige you, Tsumemaru-Sama."

"That's better, go to your house and rest, Tsubaki-San, let us win this battle."

"I will do that, I have to invite you to a drink tomorrow." said jokingly Tsubaki.

"And I'll accept, thanks for the invitation."

"Good bye and see you tomorrow." said Tsubaki exiting the Diet.


Unfortunately this was a promise that couldn't be fulfilled.
-----------

Thanks to all who have read the three parts, especially Harry Leferts for letting me use Tsubaki.
I hope you have enjoyed it, your comments will be appreciated.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A.N.-Well, a little mother/daughter bonding in the far future demanded to be written.... Reference here to Taube: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/harry-and-the-shipgirls-goblet-of-feels-a-hp-kancolle-snippet-collection.772633/page-528#post-63343379

A Lesson Under The Trees

Schloss Waldhain, Elbląg County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland (formerly East Prussia)

August 28th, 2036
Spoiler: Mother and Daughter

"First aid kit. Wölfinwelpe." The statement was commanding in a cool soprano voice.

"Check." The white-blond young woman said with a put-upon voice at the cutesy childhood nickname of Wolf Puppy. The tone of voice was clearly that of a child who was letting a beloved parent know that their eighth birthday was a decade in the past.

"Wand." The wheat-blonde woman dressed in hunting clothes and boots suitable for a walk in the woods issued the command then checked her own wand.

One slender hand touched her custom-made ash wand (13 inches gnarled but supple, core of wolf fur that Aunt Claire had procured for her from some mysterious source, and the wood was from an ancient tree growing outside Mutti's ancestral estate). "Check." she slid it into the well-worn wrist holster that she had gotten as a present six years ago when she left for Hogwarts.

Ehren du Chasteler finally buckled her dagger body to her side opposite the pistol she was carrying to ward off hostile wildlife. "Hirschfänger."

Taube du Chasteler narrowed her amber eyes, and caressed the snarling wolf's head on the pommel of her hunting dagger true body as she spoke in a dry voice. "I am manifested here, am I not, Mutti?"

Ehren smiled wryly at her eldest child. "Ja, still Proper Procedure...."

"...Prevents Poor Performance." Taube finished in a weary tone of voice. "Yes, yes, I knew and understood those words before I learned to walk."

Ehren walked over and hugged her daughter. "I know, it is just habits save lives. They have saved my own life time and again over the last three decades, along with your Vati."

Taube returned the hug. "You can be the most annoying person I know, Mutti."

Ehren laughed as she released her daughter. "So I have been told and I am led to believe. It runs in my side of the family, Claire is the only one who is not annoying at times. No, that is not true, she can still gore my ox if she wishes to. Ready?"

Taube nodded and opened the door to the outside from the entrance hall of the two-story half-timbered manor house that looked like a scene from Grimm's Fairy Tales. "I do wonder why you asked me to come out here, Mutti. You have never invited us children to your country house."

Ehren's lips quirked as they walked down the grassy path. "As to why you were invited, a puzzle for you, O Prefect of Slytherin, from a Hufflepuff Prefect. You are cunning and observant, as a true hunter should be, ja?"

Taube nodded, running her fingers through her mane of silver-blond hair. "That is what I have been taught and learned, yes. Along with the importance of hard work and applying myself in all that I do to fulfill my ambitions in life."

Ehren gave an inward smile and minute nod of approval at her daughter's words. "Just so. The reason that my estate in Ostpreussen is normally private is related to the fact that you were born nine months after your father and I visited it." Idly her thumb gently caressed the natural pearl, gold, and diamonds of her wedding ring.

Taube stared at her subtly smirking mother as her cheeks heated. "Here!?"

Ehren nodded sharply. "Ja. You are no longer a girl but a woman now, Taube, and you should be aware that as long as you keep your true self safely sheathed you cannot become with child no matter what you do. Just be warned that the pains of unfulfilled love and mistakes made in romance as a foolish girl can cut deeper and sharper than our true bodies and take longer to heal. I... found that out when I was your age."

She took Taube's elbow and guided her along a pathway shaded by copper beech saplings. "But that relates to what we are to do here. You are a woman now, not a child, and you have a woman's duties to be aware of as well as a woman's pleasures."

With that she reached a moss-covered stone wall and gestured with her wand. Under her spell the head-high stones warped to form an archway. Ehren turned to Taube at the threshold and snapped out a question in an officer's command voice to a cadet. "{What is the first duty, Daughter?}"

Taube automatically braced to rigid attention under the demanding gaze of her mother's chilly steel-blue eyes. Unbidden, her thumb ran across the pommel of her true body, gently touching the golden Baltic amber of the eyes of the goblin silver wolf's head on her pommel. "{Family supports family with faithful honorable service. Mother,}" she responded instantly with unshakable conviction in her voice.

Ehren gave a sharp nod and a visible smile of approval for the answer. Her daughter blushed with pride, knowing full well what her strict but loving mother truly meant by that visible display of emotions. "Sehr gut. But it is not just standing up to others who imperil us, but also if required and if one of our family performs actions that threaten the family as a whole, to deal with them for the good of our family and our kin. That is why I and others have taught you ethics and honor, so that when the rot creeps in as it ever will do since we are fallible, that it can be cut out." With that she took Taube's elbow and guided her through the arch.

Taube blinked thoughtfully at the gravity in her mother's words then her eyes widened as she looked at the mist shrouded cemetery that they were standing in. "Mother, this is?"

Ehren paused, and took a deep breath as unshed tears shimmered in her eyes. Her hand found her pommel and gently touched the Du Chasteler arms on her hilt. "You know the proud and noble histories of the du Chasteler-Muramasas of my mother's family. This is where my father's family lies in the land that they conquered eight centuries before you stand upon it. A land that they ruled, guarded, and stood in vigil over certain powers that the Old Prussians worshiped in these woods around our estate before our ancestors fought with the Teutonic Knights to drive back the darkness with fire and iron, sword and spell and prayer."

She turned to her oldest daughter and looked deep into her amber eyes. "Back then we were known as the Ulv family when our ancestors sailed across the Baltic from Scandinavia as raiders, traders, and warriors going a-Viking. Over time, that became the Wolff family as we settled and ruled the lands that we had hewed out of the wilderness, hemming in a shrine to the Old Gods of Prussia nearby. Fighting in the wars of the Teutonic Order, and then the Kingdom of Prussia as soldiers."

Ehren finished, clearly bracing herself for something and then gestured sharply for Taube to follow her. They passed crumbling gravestones glimmering with cleaning and protective charms under the ivy and moss in the shade of a grove of ancient ash trees. Taube's eyebrows raised as she saw not just Fraktur script inscriptions, but also some worn and near illegible runic inscriptions.

Ehren eventually reached a black slate cross, with an inscription etched on it overlooking a grave in the shade of a massive ash tree. With a gesture of Ehren's wand, a single lily floated to rest upon the grave, laying atop the withered remains of nearly two dozen other flowers from years in the past.

Taube looked at the cross and slowly read the hand-carved inscription. "Helmar Wolff 1917-2014?"

Ehren nodded soberly and spoke in a quiet voice filled with deep emotions as she looked at the grave. "Yes. He was the man I was crafted to serve in 1937 as a weapon that would be personally presented by Adolf Hitler to the top graduate of the SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz. He loved and cared for me and what I represented to him, and from him I learned about honor, loyalty, diligence, devotion, and self-sacrifice for an ideal. I am Mutti's child, yes, but I have much of Helmar in me as well, I have realized."

Ehren's voice broke as her tears began to flow. Her daughter stared at her normally cool and composed mother in disbelief as Ehren wept openly as her walls crumbled. "In his hand, I was used upon and nearly killed my Mutti in 1942 when she and he fought over custody of me. He believed with all his heart and soul in National Socialism, in the vile racial theories of the greatest monster in human history."

Ehren knelt and gently touched the grave with trembling fingertips. Her tears watered the grave as she finished in a choked heartbroken whisper. "He was my First Master. He was my Vati. And I had to execute the maddened rabid monster that he was at the end to save our family and countless innocents from his evil. I brought you here to listen to me as I tell you the tale of my Vati and Mutti and I about the importance of accepting the costs that our honor demands of us."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Sitting at the table, Harry watched in amusement as Kansha flipped through one of the old Potter cookbooks as they waited for the brownies that they had made to be done. Lips twitching as he noted the knife set tilt his head at one page, the thirteen year old chuckled, "Found something that caught your interest?"

With a glance at Harry, the Muramasa nodded, "Sort of, in a way. It's about a... game pie?"

Now perking up, the thirteen year old smiled, "I've cooked some of those, they were pretty big hits." At Kansha's look, he shrugged, "Back before convoys became regular, you got meat where you could. And, well... Yokosuka stew was one example since it used mutton. But I also made some game pie as there were deer and the like that some of the shipgirls hunted and brought back to the base to be cooked. Same with quail and the like."

Amused a little bit, Kansha shook his head, "I'll have to look up what you cooked then if you wrote down the recipe. But... I don't think that it is the same thing in this case." His tone then became dry, "Unless you're taking about taking a boned pigeon and placing it within a boned partridge, which itself is placed inside a boned fowl, which is inside a boned duck, and finally that is inside a boned goose. All with gravy between the layers and covered in pastry to look like a live goose."

For a few moments, Harry considered that and how that recipe sounded in thought. Lips curling into a smile, he chuckled, "No, not quite the same. But..." Tapping his chin, he hummed, "I wonder if I could make something similar using other birds? Obviously not a pigeon, but maybe a boned quail..."

Kansha gave him a look at that before smirking, "The Duckies?"

His Master smirked right back and nodded, "The Duckies." Both of them laughed at the thought before Harry sighed a bit and shook his head, "You know that I don't need a watcher, right?"

With a small shrug, Kansha began flipping one of the knives that made his true form in one hand as he turned a page, "Hai, I do. But that does not mean that someone shouldn't be here just in case as you are still recovering. Besides, it gives me some time to look at some of the old recipies that you have in these books. Some of which I can't wait to spring on the others."

Just snorting at that, Harry shook his head some before glancing at Kansha's true forms. There was something about them... Suddenly, he blinked and got up only to wave the look from the knife spirit off, "Give me a second..." Walking over to where Kansha's other knives were, he pulled one out and looked at it more closely before furrowing his eyebrows. After a few seconds, his eyes widened and he boggled for a moment and held up his finger, "I... want to check something right quick."

The Muramasa blinked as the thirteen year old quickly made his way into his bedroom, "Okay...?" When he returned, it was with the small Kogatana he had in one hand and a small magnifying glass in the other, "What's with that?"

Glancing at Kansha, Harry frowned, "Just... something that I realized."

Unsheathing the Kogatana, he examined the blade with the eyepiece in thought before picking up Kansha's blade and doing the same. For nearly five minutes, he did that, going back and forth as Kansha watched in some curiosity and interest. However, eventually he did clear his throat, "Found something with Kenshō, Master?"

Not saying anything, Harry looked at the Kogatana and frowned, "Kansha? Did you ever have a sibling who was a Kogatana?"

That made Kansha stop flipping the knife he held in his hand and frown as he thought back, "Maybe? They were not exactly uncommon and I know that the Old Man sometimes had his apprentices make some to sharpen their skills when they started out. Haven't really met any of them and they were not really all that impressive. Though one of them, Yaeba, was really good at carving. Haven't seen them in about three decades or so since they mostly spend their time in the woods close to their source of material." Rubbing his chin, he got up, "Might get in contact with them to see if I can't get you a gift from them."

Harry gave him a smile at that before turning back to the Kogatana and frowning, "So... do you recognize this one?"

Pulling out his phone, he showed some pictures he had taken and the blade spirit looked from the phone to the Kogatana with a frown, "Off hand? No... granted, right now I want to filete whoever did that to a blade. But..." Frowning, he gave some thought, "There is something familiar about Kenshō's blade, now that you mention it. Why though? And for some reason I know that it was not from a Kogatana..."

Eyes widening, Harry looked at the Kogatana stared for a few moments as some pieces that had been floating around in his head suddenly snapped together, "Kansha... according to one of the files in that bunker where I got them, they had a piece of Kyoshu-San, a shard of her blade. One that they were going to use... what would you do to such a shard to make it easier to handle?"

Kansha was quiet for a few moments as he came to the same realization and internally cursed, "... That does look identicle to Kyoshu-Nee's blade. But much, much smaller..."

Part of him was frightened of the idea that it could have something of his sister, the old Kyoshu and not the person she currently was. Before he could do much, however, Harry held up one hand as he looked at the small blade and softly spoke, "There's nothing to be afraid of, no one here will hurt you Little One. You've been hurt far too much as it is already."

That made Kansha blink and look at the blade and his eyes widened a touch as he noted there was a small shiver to it. One which was already calming as Harry spoke to it with a soft, understanding tone, 'What in the world...' He continued watching as Harry walked over to the fridge and took two of the double chocolate cookies from it and placed them on a plate. A plate that he put into the microwave to warm before filling a glass with chocolate milk. Both the plate and the milk were places close to the blade and he gestured for Kansha to back up along with him, which made the Muramasa stare, 'He can't be serious...'

However it seemed that Harry was serious as once they were a short distance away, he gave a small nod, "You can come out now, Kenshō. I promise, none of us will hurt you and we'd like to meet you."

Both of them watched as sparkles seemed to rise from the blade and gather behind the counter. Then, a childish voice spoke up, "R-really? H-he won't hurt me like the bad people hurt Kaa-San? Hurt me?"

Realizing what she meant, Kansha took a deep breath before letting it out and smiling, "I promise, I won't hurt you. After all, you're my niece."

They waited a few moments before a head covered in greyish, somewhat messy hair poked up behind the counter while two golden eyes speckled with green in them peered at them. Said eyes glanced at Kansha in with an unsure look, before turning to Harry. The older Muramasa recognized that in those eyes, there was utter trust for Harry which made him relax.

Slowly, Kenshō's avatar stepped out from behind the counter and Kansha coughed a little bit. While sometimes Kyoshu acted like a child, she had never looked like one. This, however, was almost exactly how he would have imagined she would have looked like as one. She was, in a word, utterly adorable as she looked between Harry and Kansha with one finger in her mouth while upon her head was greyish-white hair that was quite fluffy in a somewhat messy way. Then, before the Muramasa kitchen knife spirit could react, she rushed over and hid behind Harry's legs, "... Don't stare."

Unable to help himself, Kansha chuckled and crouched down to her level, "Sorry about that, just never saw something as cute as you." Glancing at Harry, he jerked his thumb at the cookies, "How about we have some cookies and talk, hmm? And you can have a brownie after they're done."

Glancing up at Harry, Kenshō gave a nod but kept one hand on Harry's pants as the three headed over to the counter. Soon enough, though, she was kicking her feet back and forth as she munched on a nice, warm, chocolately treat...

____________________________________________

Juuchi stretched a little and sighed as she walked up to where the apartment was alongside Tsukiakari. Most of the day had been spent doing various things such as meeting with the other Potter weapons, then seeing her sisters. That last one was the most tiring what with Kyoshu around. Part of her still expected Kyoshu to leap out and do something horrific to her. But instead, all said blade did was go around looking for Mizuchi, playing with people's hair with "Na-Chan", and eat sweets. All the while often forgetting partway through what she had been doing.

It... still bothered her greatly to see her sister, the one that she had feared for so long, acting like that.

Within her head there was a massive disconnect between the old Kyoshu and the new one. A disconnect that caused her to do things like flinch whenever said childish blade attempted to hug her and nearly go for her own sword. But, she liked to think that she was getting better at it over time. Thus, coming home, all she wanted to do was munch on some blood oranges and maybe go online to school some n00bs, listen to them declare that they will kill her for their honour, and then school them some more while listening to their shouts of rage...

And maybe play World of Warships against that one guy who hated Poi. That was always fun to do, especially if she managed to rope someone into it alongside her. Ah... that one time she had five or six players all with Shiratsuyu class. His explosion after his Battleship was sunk and they spammed the chat with "Poi" was truly something that amused her.

Thus, she just wanted to get home and raised her hand to open the door, when suddenly it was yanked open and Kansha was there. Any smug reply was cut off as her younger brother shut the door behind him, making her blink in confusion. Said confusion only grew as Kansha looked up at her, "Nee-San. Before you can come inside, I need you to promise two things to me."

Raising an eyebrow, she hummed before giving a slight shrug, "Very well, what would that be?"

Inside her, Juuchi wondered a bit about how Kansha was reacting, with her confusion increasing as he spoke, "First, I need you to promise that no matter what you see, you will take a moment before reacting to actually think." When his older sister nodded, Kansha continued, "The second is that you give me your true self."

Needless to say, that second made the older Muramasa blink, "I'm sorry, you wish to give my true self... to you. Why?"

Her younger brother was unable to look at her directly, "Because while Master is safe, you might well react badly to what is inside there. And... Master would be displeased if you do so, thus we need you to not do that."

More confused and lost than ever, Juuchi opened her mouth when the door cracked open and Harry was there, "Juuchi, trust me, please... This is rather... sensitive and regards Kenshō as she manifested an avatar."

That made Juuchi blink, but then she nodded and handed not Kansha, but Harry himself her true self, "Very well, though I don't see why this would be needed."

Both males shared a look before they opened the door and Juuchi strode in only to blink at the child that was sitting on a chair eating a brownie happily, "..." Eyebrow twitching, she raised her finger and pointed, "Is that... that looks like... Kyoshu as a child..."

Laughing nervously, Harry scratched the back of his neck, "Well... remember that Kogatana I found? Kenshō? It... turns out that she may have been made from a piece of your sister..."

It was then that Kenshō finished off her brownie and noticed Juuchi. For a few moments, the two Muramasas stared at each other as Juuchi tried to figure out what was going on exactly. And, not seeing any reaction, Kenshō whimpered a bit before glancing at Harry. Shyly, she walked up and looked up at the older blade for a few seconds before hugging her, "H-hello, Oba-Chan... p-please don't hate me."

Completely and utterly lost, Juuchi patted her on the shoulder while robotically turning her head to look at Harry, "Master...? What is happening...?"

With a sigh, though there was a part of him that wanted to laugh at her expression and the whine in her voice, Harry gave a slight shrug, "The... short version is that she is that shard of Kyoshu that Sub-Unit-942 had in the bunker. They made it into a Kogatana to better use it, a really... really bad version of one. She was in a lot of pain until I fixed her and now, well..."

He gestured at her and the oldest of the three Muramasas turned to the nervous Kogatana, "... I take it that she has the exact same powers as my... sister, then?"

Flinching, Kansha sucked his teeth a bit, "Hai, she apparently has the exact same powers. And can use them as well, but..."

Juuchi slowly blinked at that and gave Harry a look of concern even as her mind whirled and her hand itched to have her true self in it, "So said powers could be used against you, Master-" She didn't get any further when there was a scream of horror from the little version of her reviled sister, "What-"

Said blade spirit was shaking her head rapidly, face pale and expression one of despair and horror, "No, no, I-I don't want to be used against Master! Please, please don't use me against Master! N-no, don't use me like that! Master! Master don't forget me! Please! S-some one stop them! Master no! I don't want you forgotten or for you to forget, Master! No no no nononononono!"

And, with a final screech of despair, she seemed to fade from existence as did her true form on the table with everyone staring. After a few moments, Juuchi wondered why she was trying to see something on the table when it clicked and she looked around, "Where is she?"

Eyebrows furrowed, Harry blinked a bit before groaning as he rubbed the side of his head, "Right... ugh, I hate when she does that. Let me guess, you forgot that she was here, right?"

Just blinking, the Muramasa looked at her brother who was frowning in confusion, "Yes? How..."

Now looking around, Harry frowned a little, "Right, well... apparently one of her abilities is to make people forget that she was there. For some odd reason, I am the only one that actually remembers unless the person focuses really hard on that fact. Kansha thinks that it is some sort of... evolution of her Mother's powers brought on by either my magic fixing her or the shipgirl steel used." At the shocked look, he gave a shrug, "She really reacts badly at the idea of being used against me for any reason."

Mouth opening and closing, Juuchi boggled at him, "... I see..."

It was then that a groan made her look at Kansha who remembered what had just happened, "Nee-San? Do you know part of the story behind Kyoshu?" At the grimace, he figured that she didn't, "Right, well, this was back after stuff... happened... to my old family and I was without an owner. I stumbled across her in the streets completely out of it. Apparently, someone was trying to come up with a way to get around her memory powers, she heard of it, and showed up. Except said guy had a bunch of reagents that caught fire with illegal opium right above. So she was out of it."

Voice dry, Juuchi raised an eyebrow at him, "You mean high."

With a snort, Kansha gave her a look. "Higher than the Moon. She was sort of all over me and... told me some things. Apparently, her first Master used her against the apprentice of the Old Man who made her, which we knew. Except, at some point someone grabbed her and used her against her Master and made him forget everything. And it did not stop there as often each person who took her, erased the memories of her previous one or of their existence. She had one or two who she loved, but... either jealous family members or rivals would steal her and use her against them. Hence why none of us knew who had used her besides broadstrokes that someone did. And she remembered all their names..."

Pieces began to fell into place and the older of the two Muramasa frowned in thought, "Hence why she always targeted our Masters and not ourselves. And often not facing us in a fight either..."

Humming, Kansha shoved his hands into his pockets, "Pretty much. Of course, when Kyoshu figured out that I knew, well... there's reasons why I stayed away from everyone until after the war and I found out what happened to her. Let's just say that tossing my true self off a bridge happened so that I could escape."

Eyes closed and biting her thumb, Juuchi hummed, "Yes, because you knew something about her that the rest did not. And for that to have happened... she would have considered it a weakness. I take it that Kagotsuruhe knows this?" At his nod, she pulled out her phone and dialed said sister before asking her. Within less than a minute, it was confirmed and Juuchi bid her goodbye while telling her to gather the others the next day. Rubbing the side of her head, she looked around with a sigh, "And I take it that the idea of being used against Master..."

A grimace on his face, Kansha nodded, "Horrifies her completely and causes her to freak out while reliving, to some extent, what happened to her mother? Got it in one." Looking around, he frowned, "About the only one who does not get affected is Master because she refuses to use her... new abilities on him. Unfortunately, that means that she is somewhere around hiding."

With a sigh, Juuchi nodded with a grimace, "Very well, then we shall find her..." Internally, she tilted her head some, 'And judge by her reaction whether or not it is truthful...'

For the next two hours, they seached the apartment from top to bottom looking for Kenshō, but could find neither hide nor hair of her. Until, that was, Juuchi was once more looking in her Master's bedroom and noticed he had his folded clothes on top of his dresser which she was about to dismiss before thinking on it. Walking over to said dresser, she placed a hand on it as she leaned as if thinking, and felt a tremble in it.

Slowly, she ran her hand down the side until she came to the drawer with the most trembling could be felt and opened it to reveal Kenshō curled up shaking like a leaf whimpering. Almost a minute passed, during which Juuchi simply watched and listened as the seemingly five year old girl softly cried and pleaded not to hurt her Master with her. A few memories bubbled up inside of Juuchi's mind of various youngsters she had known over her long life. Including a few abused ones that the Potters had taken in.

Then, she kneeled down and took the smaller blade into her arms. Feeling Kenshō flinch at the touch, she paused for a few moments before continuing to lift her up and out of the drawer... Before, gently, pulling the smaller avatar to her own in a comforting hug. Lightly, she ran a hand down her... niece's back, making comforting sounds. Even when Kenshō hugged her tightly enough it hurt, she didn't react, simply doing much the same as the young girl sobbed into her clothes.

Peeking in, Harry and Kansha looked at each other before entering themselves and kneeling beside Juuchi and adding their own hugs to Juuchi's embrace which calmed down the young blade until she was lulled to sleep.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Pedalling along in his velomobile, Harry hummed a little bit as the breeze from the open window moved his hair and the radio played softly. At hearing a rattle, however, he glanced in the rearview mirror at Juuchi who currently had her avatar dismissed and was in the back, "You got no right to complain, Juuchi. Unless you have a vehicle of your own?" When she stayed silent, he smirked a little, "Exactly."

He could hear another rattle, this time from the sheathed knife that belonged to Kansha. Somehow, though not sure how, Harry just knew he was making some sort of snarky comment to his older sister. One that was answered back a few moments later with a rattle and angry smug.

Rolling his eyes, Harry sighed a little bit, "Then get yourself a car or a bike, Juuchi. You wanted a ride, well, I'm it unless you want to buy bus fare. No? Well, get used to it." While he had heard the sound before from their avatars, never before had he heard an actual sword grumble. Something that made him blink a little, 'Huh...'

It was not long after that they reached the house that the JNHRO had basically taken over in Zuchi and pulled into the small parking lot that they had there.

With a sigh, Harry moved his velomobile and parked it before opening it. Almost immediately, Juuchi as well as Kansha manifested outside. Stretching a little, the older of the two Muramasas manifested sighed, "Finally."

Only giving her a look, Harry blinked slowly, "I know, right? It was like I had an antsy cat in my vehicle."

As a reply, Juuchi only smugged at him before pulling him into a hug and pressing her cheek to his as she rubbed them. Then she pushed him away slightly with a smirk, "I have no idea what you mean, Master."

Unnoticed by her, the thirteen year old wizard pulled out his wand and made a motion with it before putting it back into his sleeve with a smirk, 'I am happy that it was confirmed that no one can sense magic in the area anymore.' Glancing at Kansha who was attempting to keep a straight face even as his shoulders shook as the cat ears on Juuchi's head twitched, Harry winked, "Right, time to meet the family for Kenshō." Feeling a vibration in his pocket, he pulled out said blade and looked at her, "Hmm? It's fine, Kenshō. No one is going to harm you."

Kansha glanced at her and slowly blinked, "Kenshō-Chan, listen to me for a moment." He waited until he knew she was listening to continue, "I have only known you little more than a day, but if someone was to try and harm you? I would render down every single person involved in it to giblets and feed them to pigs, render those down, and toss them to the fish."

Eyebrow raised, Juuchi looked at him, "Isn't the joke supposed to be-"

Now looking at her, the knife set smiled thinly, "Nee-San... Did I just freaking stutter?"

All the other Muramasa did was wave it off, though she did raise an eyebrow at Harry giving a closed eye smile, "Ara~ Ara~, if someone was to hurt my precious Kenshō-Chan, I would be most upset with them~"

Slowly blinking, Juuchi turned with a slight frown, "One of these days, Master, I shall find out how you manage to pronounce tildes. And then I shall use such knowledge to drive Honjo and my sisters up the wall."

Just shrugging, Harry followed her up to the door and knocked on it only to blink at who answered it, "Asuka-San?"

The Tengu blinked for a moment and gave him a slight smile, "Hey, Harry-San. What are you doing here?"

His eyes narrowing slightly at the tired look on her face as well as the bags under her eyes, he jerked his thumb at Juuchi, "Mainly for a meeting with the Butterknives." Ignoring the snort of amusement from Kansha, and the slight shudder from Kenshō that he knew were giggles, he continued with a slight frown on his face, "Nightmares?"

Blinking, Asuka nodded with a sigh, "Hai... they're not as bad as they were, but..." Moments later, she felt Harry giving her a hug which made her blink even as she leaned into it, "Harry-San?"

For a moment or two, Harry kept the embrace before pulling back, "Asuka-San, know that no matter what, if you ever need to talk with someone? I'll always be there for my friends when needed." Pausing, he chewed his lips before taking a breath, "Unless-"

Right then, before he could get any further, the Yokai placed a finger against his lips with a glare, "Natsumi-San already warned us all that you might say something like that, Harry-San. That we might not wish to be friends and let me tell you... don't be a Baka and think that. You are a friend and that is all there is too it, we were right beside you of our own choice." Her expression softened some as she pulled her finger away with a small smile, "But... I would not mind someone to talk to about things my own age. Who understands."

In return, Harry simply nodded and smiled in agreement. With one last hug, Asuka let them in and guided the group to where the Muramasas were waiting. Glancing around, the thirteen year old noted Jin, Koga, and some of the others talking in one corner of the room and put up a silencing charm. Seeing the confusion from Asuka, he cupped his hands around his mouth and gave her a quick explanation which made her grin in return and nod.

Granted, he could see that it made those not in the know curious, but neither of the teens said anything as he took down the privacy charms, though they grinned widely.

Eyebrow raised at that, Umitsubame turned to Juuchi with a tired expression on her face as she sighed, "So, Kagotsuruhe mentioned that you wanted to meet all of us today, Juuchi?"

However, before she could get any further, Kyoshu gave a cheer, "YAY! JUUCHI-CHAN! AND..." Furrowing her eyebrows, she blinked once or twice before gasping, "AND THE MUFFIN MAN!"

Lips twitching, Harry snickered as Juuchi pinched the bridge of her nose, "Hey there, Kyoshu-Chan. And no, no muffins today..." Getting a pout, he pulled out a box, "But what about some brownies with frosting?"

Clapping her hands, the Sword of Faded Memories gave another cheer and bounded over, "Na-Chan! Na-Chan! Look! The Muffin Man brought brownies!" Then she blinked before frowning at the look from her friend before nodding with wide eyes with more than one of her sisters snapping their heads around to stare at her next words, "Oooh! Right, his name is Harry!"

Moments later, she glomped Harry before bounding off to sit in Nameless' lap and opening to box. Taking out one of the brownies, she chomped down on it with happy sounds as the Masamune pulled out a cloth and wiped her friend's mouth every so often... before sneaking a brownie of her own.

For a few moments, Juuchi stared at that before smugging as Umitsubame grumbled about Kyoshu on sugar. Catching the look from her younger sister, the Potter Blade smirked a bit, "Ah, right, what I am here for." Rocking back and forth on her heels, she smirked even more smugly, "I found out yesterday that we have a new niece as a matter of fact."

Nearly as one, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to Norimune. Even Kyoshu paused in her eating brownies to do that as did the other members of the JNHRO. It took a few seconds for the Unrepentant Blade to realize what they were doing, but she glared at them, "Why are you all looking at me for!?"

Tone completely dry, Suisei looked at her, "Gee, I wonder why exactly we would all wonder why it might be from you. What with you going unsheathed all the damn time."

Eyebrow twitching, Norimune growled a bit, "Fuck you, all of you. Every one of you suck!"

Arms crossed, Kansha smirked a little, "Well, it could not be Akutoku as she is a virgin still, the only one among us I believe outside of maybe Tonbo-Chan."

In reply, he got the middle finger from the blushing Blade of Corruption which only made him smirk more before she realized something, "Wait, what? When did you-and, wait, what the hell about Tonbo!?"

Still smirking, Kansha chuckled a bit, "Wouldn't you like to know? But that is not what is important, and rather the fact that we have a niece." Turning, he gave a nod towards Harry, "If you would, Master? I believe that it is time for Kenshō to meet her Oba-Sans and Okaa-San."

Only nodding in reply, Harry pulled out the Kogatana and showed it which made all of them look intently at the sheathed blade. Finger on her chin, Chisuheri raised an eyebrow, "Kenshō? As in the the idea of seeing one's true nature and emptiness?"

With a small hum, the thirteen year old smiled, "That's right."

From where she was, Tonbo blinked a bit at the carvings, "Uh, is that design on the sheath that one character from Touhou? The Satori one with the closed eye?" At the looks, she blushed a little, "Benio introduced me to the series."

Lips twitching, Harry chuckled a little, "Actually? Yes, I did create the hilt and sheath for her seeing that, well... she was just a blade and tang when I found her." Part of him noted that all the others seemed angered by the fact that she was a naked blade when found, so he continued, "Anyways... Kenshō? Please come out and meet your Oba-Chans... and Kaa-Chan."

Sparkles drifted from the blade before a form of a five year old girl faded into existence. All those not in the know just froze at the deeply tanned skin she had, golden speckled eyes, and greyish white hair. Because they recognized exactly who she looked like at that moment as she gasped. Opening her mouth as the little girl hopped in their direction, Akutoku took a breath, "What the fu-" When the girl faded away partway through her leap, she blinked, "-ck? Wait, why am I surprised about something?"

Utterly lost, Norimune scratched her head, "Uh, I don't know? Were we just told something-" Right then, Kenshō faded into view at the foot of Kyoshu's chair, "Wait, our niece? How the hell...?!"

Tears in her eyes, Kenshō looked up into the face near identicle to hers. There was confusion there in the adult of the two, but the five year old looking girl sniffled, "Kaa-Chan?"

Just blinking, Kyoshu set aside the box and held open her arms which the smaller blade leapt into crying as she was hugged. Head tilted to the side, it took a few moments before Kyoshu gasped and turned towards the spear of the group, "UMITSUBAME! UMITSUBAME! I'M A KAA-SAN!" She then blinked, "Mou... I'm a Kaa-San? How am I a Kaa-San?" Looking around, the Blade of Faded memories frowned, "Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?" Then feeling Kenshō tighten the hug, she looked down and did the same as she teared up, "I'm a Kaa-San..."

Meanwhile, Umitsubame just twitched even as Nameless smiled and patted Kenshō on the head making the small blade smile happily.

Unnoticed by them, Harry, Juuchi, Kansha, and Asuka were all taking video and pictures of their reactions. All four having looks of amusement, though the Tengu was especially amused by how Kiba and the others were reacting. Jin, in particular, had a literal dropped jaw.

Finally, Norimune took a deep breath before letting it out as she shook off her shock at what had happened, "Okay... now, can someone please explain what the fuck-"

She was cut off as Kyoshu gasped and placed hands on her daughter's ears as Nameless glared, "Norimune! Umitsubame! Umitsubame! Norimune said a bad word in front of my daughter!" She frowned a little, "Mou... you shouldn't say bad words like that."

Everyone just sort of stared at her before Umitsubame lifted her true self up and whacked her sister, Norimune, upside the head with the flat of it, "She's... right."

Rolling her eyes, Norimune snorted, "Whatever... now can someone explain what the frick is going on?! How does the Goldfish have a daughter!? And if I don't like the reason..." She flicked her blade free of the sheath a little, "I am going to kill someone."

A sigh made them turn to the lone thirteen year old wizard, "Trust me, you won't like it at all..."

Before he could say anymore, Kenshō sniffled a bit as she buried her face into Kyoshu's chest, "T-the bad men took me from Kaa-Chan's blade. And... and hurt me... made me do things... I-I remember Kaa-Chan w-wanting... wanting to... to just..."

Gently, Kagotsuruhe placed a hand on her niece's hair and softly stroked it, "You were one of the pieces cut off from Kyoshu's blade, weren't you?" When she got a nod, she put a slight frown upon her face, "I see."

When every one turned to Harry, he pulled out a folder and held it, "This... these are pictures of Kenshō before and after I repaired her. It's not pretty, but from what I can see? They took the shard of Kyoshu-San's blade they had and turned it into a Kogatana for better handling. Mainly by grinding the top part as smooth as they could and welding a tang onto the back using what I think was chips of her original steel."

Jin hissed a little bit at that, "Oh fuck... that had to be..."

Taking the folder, Suisei made sure that it was not visible to either Kyoshu or Kenshō before opening it. Each of the Muramasa there reacted with horror at what they were seeing in regards to the blade. It even provoked a slight bit of a reaction from Kagotsuruhe as well as she widened her eyes a little. But they looked at Umitsubame who was now staring at Kyoshu, "'It doesn't hurt anymore...'"

Confused, Tonbo tore her eyes away from the horrific pictures to stare at her sister, "What? What doesn't hurt?"

Not looking at her, Umitsubame turned to Harry, "Was it two or so days ago that you repaired her?" At Harry's nod, she ran a hand through her hair, "Two days ago, in the kitchen, Kyoshu gasped and dropped a tray of cookies. But not because she was burned, but... she said that 'It doesn't hurt anymore', but didn't say what 'it' was. If... if Kenshō-Chan was like this since the war, and Kyoshu could sense it..."

Each of her siblings winced at that and looked at the reunited mother and child. And then blinked as Kenshō looked at them and faded from view with them forgetting why they were looking at Kyoshu until she reappeared beside Umitsubame, whom she then hugged, "It's okay, Oba-Chan. Master fixed me and made the pain go away."

Slowly blinking, the Waterwitch Blade looked down at her before crouching and pulling her into a hug, "And I'm glad for that, honey. So very glad that you are no longer in pain and that you found a Master."

Brightly smiling, Kenshō nodded before hugging Harry and going back to her mother for another hug with the two chattering with each other. Looking at the two, Norimune turned towards Juuchi, "Huh, aren't you worried about her using her powers to-"

And before she could get any further, both Juuchi and Kansha slapped their hands over her mouth. Looking at Kenshō who had not noticed, the Knife set brought his voice down to a whisper, "Do not mention that idea to her, she freaks out every time with the mere thought of being used like that." Glancing at Kagotsuruhe, he pulled his hand away, "She sort of remembers what happened to Kyoshu's various Masters before she manifested."

Thoughtful, Kagotsuruhe tilted her head as she looked at the two cuddling blades. After a few moments, she gave a nod, "Yes, that is one of her deepest, darkest fears. To be used against her Master and make him either forget, or for him to be forgotten." A slight smirk crossed her face as she remembered some of what had happened and she placed it on as the actor she was, "Yet, somehow, I very much doubt that will happen."

Scowling, Suisei crossed her arms, "Damn straight. I'm going to stab whoever even tries."

Meanwhile, Akutoku had a frown on her face as she looked at the pictures before turning to the ones afterwards. Pictures that made her eyebrows raise, "Wait, how did you fix her? This barely even looks like the same blade!"

Looking over her shoulder, Umitsubame's eyebrows rose, "No, no it does not." She then turned towards Harry, "How?"

In return, Harry gave a small shrug, "Well... one of the things I became skilled with is transfiguration to some degree. Changing the shape that a material has, like flowing rock crystal around something, or manipulating it into what looks like a figurine. So... I did something similar here." Motioning with a hand, he shook his head, "I had some left off swarf from shipgirl repairs and such which I made a block composed out of it. Then, I took some shavings from it and placed them along the top and back of her blade as well as the tang before merging the metal. I also made it all one piece as well... after which, I added the handle and sheath."

For several moments, the collective Muramasas just sort of stared at him as did those within hearing range. Norimune had a thoughtful look on her face after a few moments, "Shipgirl steel, huh? Wonder if that is why she seems to have some kind of new power that Goldfish over there doesn't."

Each of those there blinked before Tonbo frowned a little, "It's... possible, I guess? I mean, never heard of something like this before, but that does make a bit of sense."
After a little bit of thought though, they turned to where Kyoshu was feeding her daughter with a brownie as they sat in Nameless' lap, all three looking happy just to be there.

When it came time to leave a few hours later, Kyoshu was crying as much as her daughter were, but Kenshō promised to come back to see her soon. And Harry also stated that he would make sure to get an Owl Box just for Kenshō to travel back and forth to meet her mother. But Kyoshu still continued waving even as they disappeared around the corner, though Nameless hugged her from behind.

But much to Umitsubame's surprise, the next morning when she woke, Nameless was still asleep while Kyoshu was in the kitchen. Confused, the spear tilted her head, "Kyoshu? What are you doing?"

Kyoshu blinked a bit and frowned, "Mou... what am I doing?" Looking down at the oven, she gasped and smiled, "I'm making cupcakes for Kenshō-Chan! I think that she said she likes cupcakes so I'm going to make her some and send them to her!" Tilting her head, the "Blade of Goldfish Memories" looked at her sister in confusion, "Mou... is something wrong, Umitsubame?"

Utterly shocked at what just happened, it took a few seconds for Umitsubame to reply. But when she did so, it was with a smile on her face and a small tear in her eye, "It's nothing, Kyoshu. Want some help?"

The other Muramasa furrowed her eyebrows, "Help?" Then she looked at the oven, "Oh! Cupcakes! I'm making cupcakes for Kenshō-Chan! Umitsubame! Umitsubame! Want to help me make some cupcakes for her? Mou... why are you crying, Umitsubame? Are you hurt? Na-Chan! You're crying too!? Why is everyone crying? Are there onion ninjas here...? Mou... I'm making cupcakes so why are there onion ninjas..."

 

[darthcourt10]

baofengyu

I decided to call the Omake arc I have been working on 'The Mandate'. This is part 3, with kind assistance of Yellowhammer for writing the Ying & Delilah meeting.

The Mandate Pt.3
"But you will forget this. Your mind is worse than the others, so open, so trusting. Your feelings for her are your weakness."

Sichuan University, Chengdu

Professor Xuē closed her laptop and leaned back. The document was…troubling. She had thought the original texts lost, with only fragments remaining from the Summer Palace. General Zu's patronage was most welcome, especially in gaining access to some of the more off the book sites. She stood and stretched, wishing that her husband was here to give her shoulders a good massage. She looked down at the Yarrow Sticks again. Always the same.

Three of the treasures were already in play.

And she was under no illusions that the good General was maneuvering his own pieces to either acquire one of the five treasures, or steal one of the others. The Sect Leaders had gathered to speak to the General, and despite the General's lack of…training, they were impressed with his frankness and desire to protect the people. Orders from the Central Committee of late had been problematic to say the least, and while she was officially registered with the Ministry of Internal Enlightenment, her contacts in the magical world all spoke of great things from the new Minister, and the path she was forging promised great things for the beleaguered nation. Of course, she wasn't blind. She knew exactly who the new Minister was.

Whomever this fool was that uploaded the texts to the Dark Web was certain to cause a stir, and while she was keenly aware of the location of two of the Treasures, two of them remained hidden by their guardians or some other force, and the last was a complete mystery. A part of her wondered if that strange foreigner had somehow acquired the Coins and carried them off to a distant land. Even auguries from the Celestial Court could only reveal that the Coins still existed. The Rake was in her possession and proudly displayed for any to see like it was some cheap trophy, and the Seal in the possession of that cursed fool. In some ways she lamented her loss, the old powers that would have allowed for a clear insight into the true locations of the Treasures, but she would not trade her Scholar for anything. If battle came he would fight as he did in the past, she knew this, and feared it. Some battles should not be fought.

"Professor, you have a message from Minister Cai."

She sighed. For as long as she lived, she never like eunuchs. And this one styled himself like the old breed.


Western Theater Command HQ, Chengdu

"I was always curious," General Zu spoke. "The Curse of the Dragon, is it real?"

One of the Sect Elders, Master of the Jiàn Fēng, frowned. "There are such curses, but if you refer to what happened to Lee Jun-fan, that was an accident. Western medicine is no good for one who has lived our lifestyle."
"Thank you," Zu sipped his tea. "While my curiosity has been indulged by my esteemed guests, I must ask if you have all given thought as to my proposal."

The eldest of the Sect Elders stoked his beard. "We have General. While we have removed ourselves from the sight of the world for many years now, the Veil that has shielded the masses is wearing thin. We know this and have read the signs. But we are hesitant to commit at this time. There is one in the Imperial City who weaves many webs, and to confront her directly can cost us dearly."

"You refer to the Minister of Internal Enlightenment?"

He nodded. "It is good that you do not speak her name, for even a whisper can draw her eyes to you. Be cautious General. Should you succeed in your quest, and ascend Tai Shan, the Jiang Hu will acknowledge and pledge our fealty to the new Emperor."

Zu paused for a moment before sipping his tea. Emperor. He was born in the ashes of the Cultural Revolution and worked hard to gain his position in both the PLA and the Party. It was a jarring dichotomy, a pragmatic modern Chinese man and the pull of the ancient ways. Blood Week and the Abyssal War saw horrific battles and changes to the Middle Kingdom, and while not formally authorized by the Central Committee, he had erected a monument to those that fought and died during that week of hell. There was talk in Beijing of erecting a great monument to the spirit of the people, to show that China would not be cowed into submission and that the people would triumph, but he knew them for empty words. Even during his morning walk he could see the weariness and despair in some of the faces of his soldiers. The old. The young. All were worn from nearly constant battle to the west. The ruins of Nanjing where there was more blood than soil in the ground, where every day was the constant fear one of the monsters would come up the Yangtze and attack.

Even Army units that were securing Tibet were withdrawn for the simple reason that the ancient feuds between the two countries were of lesser importance at the moment. Right now it was more important to make sure that China would survive.

"You are of the Old Blood," the sole woman, a beauty with snow white hair, in the group spoke. "This is good, but you must take care General, for she is the most cunning of adversaries, but also an agent of the Celestial Court whether she acknowledges it or not. She will test you. She will tempt you. Let your will be as the blade of the finest Jian. Strong, yet flexible. Hold to your morals and the Dragon Throne will have a true Emperor once again."


A Taste of Qom Restaurant, Houston, Texas

Wei Ying entered the small family restaurant and raised a mental eyebrow behind her impassive face at the buzzing in the back of her mind that signified subtle but powerful wards nearby. A bearded young man nodded to her. "Welcome, welcome, how can we help you?"

Ying smiled politely. "I am here at the request of Delilah de Breuil for lunch."

She mentally thought back to the crystal ball call after she had woken from that alarming dream of Su Daji. Her long-time school rival, almost as long time recently discovered aunt ally south of the border, and recently discovered to be her aunt had frowned at her mention that she was desperately needed in China and then told her that this conversation needed to be handled face to face in a secure place.

Which led her to this kebab shop. The young man's eyes widened and he stepped back behind the counter to speak in Farsi with a more elderly man in the kitchen, clearly the father of the waiter. She mentally nodded approvingly, since in her experience, family, and family ties were among the strongest bonds in the world.

"She shall arrive shortly. If you shall follow me, I shall take you to the private room that she booked." The young man said in a clearly respectful voice to her.

Ying bowed in response. "Thank you very much."

The magically warded private room she was escorted to had a low table which was covered by an intricately embroidered tablecloth. There were no chairs but instead a very elaborate and beautiful carpet with cushions. "Tea?"

Ying's face lit up as she seated herself after removing her shoes. "Yes, please." Her smile widened and she tapped her fingers to give thanks as a cup of black tea was poured for her, then sighed happily at the taste.

She was savoring her second cup of tea when Delilah entered with Zamarad alongside her as they spoke to their waiter in Farsi. "Delilah, Zamarad, it is good to see you."

"Likewise, Ying." Delilah said as she seated herself and put a sugar cube in her mouth before sipping the offered cup of tea. "Quave Tork for us both, please."

Once the waiter left after serving the requested Turkish coffee and food orders, Delilah and Ying both pulled out their wands and reinforced the wards, layering additional privacy wards on the room. Zamarad ignited a flame on her fingertip and scribed a series of Arabic calligraphic prayers in turn. "Clear. What's the crisis, Ying?" Delilah asked her niece.

Ying paused then raised a hand. "I do not want to mention her name, even here and even now. She knows of me, and is powerful enough to magically spy if she hears it pass our lips. But I have reason to believe one of the most powerful, and most blood-soaked figures in Magical Chinese history is stirring again." With that she wrote the hanzi logograms for Su Daji and followed it with the words in English in a piece of paper before passing it to Delilah.

Delilah looked at the name and frowned. "It does not ring a bell, but I never studied China in any depth, Ying. My interests in East Asia were in Japan."

Ying nodded slowly. "She is linked with the Japanese legend of Tamamo-no-Mae and it is... not impossible... that she may be one and the same as Tamamo." Delilah blanched. "What we do know is that according to the legends compiled in the Investiture of the Gods she was a Thousand-Year-Old Vixen sent by the Goddess Nuwa to put an end to the Shang Dynasty for their impieties and failings."

Ying sighed. "Which she did. In spectacularly bloody and debauched fashion. One of her favorite entertainments was forcing people to walk barefoot on a heated bronze cylinder covered with oil above a roaring fire until they slipped and fell as it was heated red-hot. For her pleasure, along with the Emperor who she seduced and entrapped before destroying."

Delilah blanched. "So this person is on the loose in China then?"

Ying nodded. "Yes, and matters are..." She paused and gave Zamarad a suspicious stare. "Forgive me, I cannot speak of it in front of non-family."

Delilah blinked and then grinned as she interlaced her fingers with the Ifrit. "Actually Zamarad and I have been married since 1946.."

Ying boggled for a moment then her eyes narrowed and she cast a truth spell on the room. "Truly?"

Zamarad nodded happily and kissed Delilah. "Truly."

Ying rubbed her temples. "You sneaky little round-eyed bitch pulling that over on me! To more important matters though. The person who I am talking of was sent in large part because the Shang Dynasty lost the Mandate of Heaven. In the Middle Kingdom, all dynasties and true Emperors are empowered by the Supreme Jade Emperor and the Celestial Court to rule. When a dynasty loses their way, and oppresses the people, grows weak and arrogant and corrupt, the Mandate is withdrawn until the next First Emperor is selected by the Gods to found his own dynasty."

Delilah nodded along as she sipped her Turkish coffee. "This sounds more than historical interest, or something in a book."

Ying sighed. "Oh yes. In brief, there are five magical artifacts that have been passed down from Dynasty to Dynasty, from guardian to guardian to be used to petition heaven to appoint the new Emperor and call the mandate down upon him. One for each of the five castes of the State."

Ying leaned forward and raised her forefinger. "The Nine-Toothed-Rake of the Nong, the Farmers, which was later used by Zhu Wuneng in Journey To The West."

Her middle finger was raised. "The Imperial Dragon Seal of the Artisans of the Gong, which the muggles know as the Heirloom Seal of the Realm of the first Qin emperor, although it is far, far older than him."

Her ring finger was raised in turn. "The Ten-Thousand-Coin-Gold-Cash String of the Shang Traders and Merchants. The first coins ever minted in China."

Her pinkie finger joined the other three. "The Dragon-and-Tiger-Subduing-Sword of the Junren Soldiers. Bronze forged by Erlang Shen in the flames of a river dragon and quenched in the blood of a great tiger who he slew to cleave through steel as if it was water with the power of the floods."

She then sighed as she extended her thumb. "And most relevant for this, the Writing Set of the Shi Scholars and Gentry. Used by Master Kong to write the Book of Rites to provide instruction for the people and to rectify names. Which is relevant because each of these I listed have a family line of Guardians assigned to protect and preserve their Treasure until the time comes to select the new Emperor." Her eyes stared into Delilah's. "Suffice it to say, the last human Guardian of the Writing Set died THE day of the first meeting of my parents as my father saved my mother as she fled the only home that she knew. An untested young woman in desperate need of a hero of legend in a time of great peril when fate hung in the balance. I cannot say more, not even to my father's youngest sister."

She saw in Delilah's eyes the moment when her aunt made the necessary connections. "Then Sis...?"

"Does not know the truth of the great service she did for the Middle Kingdom unknowingly by helping Mother escape those who would have attempted to forcibly and falsely claim the Mandate against the wishes of the Court. I did not know before my fourteenth birthday when I was consecrated to Guan Yu. I do know that Mother wishes with all her heart that she was free to wed father and then have a conversation much like the one that I am able to have with my blood kin and kinswoman by marriage." Ying sighed. "But all the signs are clear. The Treasures shall be needed in the near-future in the Middle Kingdom."

Delilah nodded slowly. "Hence you asking me to see if MACUSA has a way to get you inside subtly."

"Yes. The Floo Network and similar are strictly regulated by the Hidden Ministry as you might imagine. And I have reasons to believe that she of whom I dare not speak has subverted the topmost ranks of such. So my arriving in Beijing, int he heart of the spider's web is... not ideal." Ying scowled, "the ICW has little power there, and less since the divinations are clear that she has proclaimed that the Mandate is lost. So every ambitious soul wishing to establish a dynasty will be on the move seeking the Treasures whether or not they know it."

Delilah rubbed her chin. "I can get you to Japan easily enough, and I know a person here who I helped get his family out in 1979 who makes flying carpets. Some of which have stealth charms far exceeding the norm off the books. So then you can perhaps fly in directly or head to Taiwan and then from there... yes. I will also throw in an emergency long-range portkey to a safehouse back here in America should you need to get out of Dodge City in a hurry."

Ying smiled slightly. "Good. That will be helpful, since the most recent magical spike in Japan had a transitory signature matching she of whom I fear. Perhaps I can learn more there of her plans and schemes. I suspect that she has at least one if not more of the other four Treasures in her paws. She had to in order to send that sending into my dreams to attempt to suborn me."

Delilah nodded thoughtfully. "If you stay in Japan for a while to do the background check, I'll get you an Owl Box. That saved my and Zamarad's life in 1942 since if you put your true body in it, you can transport yourself from Africa to England, or similar. That will let me relay whatever I dig up from MACUSA's sources plus Sis and your mother. She knows, right?"

Ying grinned humorlessly. "Oh yes, Mother certainly knows. Thank you for your help, Aunt."

Delilah smugged and then picked up a skewer of lamb and rice. "What is family for, apart from pissing each other off? I'll be very busy here trying to keep things from coming apart, but don't hesitate to ask if you need backup and I will come running, round eyes and all."

Ying laughed and began to eat lunch. "So how did you and Zamarad meet? Father was slightly vague on it all and I obviously never suspected."

Delilah grinned. "Well some of it is highly classified and will remain so forever, you know how certain things are too dangerous to reveal ever. The unclassified story starts in December 1941 when I got off the Floo in London to coordinate with the Brits. You can imagine my surprise when I wound up assigned to work alongside your father Colombe who was busy with British Magical Intelligence..."


Court of Inner Harmony, Beijing
Spoiler: Daji playing

Daji picked the Guzheng gently, allowing the music to calm her. The sword was coming. And soon all of the players would be in place. The Fleshless one was moving, and she knew he would never be far from the Seal. It mattered little who possessed it at the moment, but the time was coming when the battle would begin. The wind rustled the silk drapes lightly and she smiled. There was peace for the moment, a time for reflection and meditation. Human emotions and impulses were still a bit alien to her, but her time imprisoned let her understand them better. Oh, she was completely aware of the terror her name could inspire when uttered, and the excesses of the past, while horrific, were no where near what was written about her.

But, there was the wave of power from her fragment to the west. After the battles stopped for a time she did take the opportunity to learn about this new China, and it sickened her. This 'Great Leap Forward' and 'Cultural Revolution' did more harm to the people than she could have aspired to so long ago. There was an order that had been dictated by the Heavens, and she would see that order returned. The part of her soul that was lost had found a new host, the grudge that haunted her was lessened by the knowledge that the one who was lost walked the Land of the Rising Sun.

At times she could look into the mirror and see the reflection of a young fox, the promise of power in her great as she sported two tails despite her youth. And through the young vixen she could see the boy. That he was not of the Middle Kingdom nor the Rising Sun surprised her, but she could see the webs of power that surrounded him. The Destiny he had was great and he was still an unbearded boy.

She continued to play, weaving a quiet spell with both her Chi and the music. The song was haunting, hearkening back to a simpler time before the world became small and the hearts of mans lost their connection to the Gods. It would not be long.

"WHERE IS THAT WOMAN!" A bellow from the antechamber.

The wind ceased.

She smelled cheap Baiju and tobacco. Her two guards did not move from their kneeling position, their scarred visages belied their abilities as their shadows revealed the steel and iron that lurked beneath the surface. A fat man in an expensive suit burst into the room as she flicked a finger across the 8th string. Blood fountained from the severed neck as the man's head fell, showering the two guards.

Neither moved.

Other women knelt at the cardinal points of the room, two each, and these were just as special as the ones who knelt by the door. These spirits reborn. These chuán bó jīng shén. Those who rose to fight the darkness from the seas. These beings were something she had never encountered before, but they were Loyal to the old ways. Her main guards were of…newer stock than the others, but they understood the failures of the Kuomintang, and of the Maoists.

She resumed playing, her tails manifesting as she wove the spell. Such a spell required a life, and the Capital was full of men who preached 'equality' and 'party', men who wore their righteousness like a Yi, but when it became too uncomfortable, discarded it like a cheap Pao. Her fingers wove along the strings, creating melodies not meant for mortal ears until the bureaucrat's blood traced the elegant lines etched into the floor. A sympathetic pulse raced across the land as the blood rune was completed. This ritual was confined to the bounds of the Middle Kingdom, and would not go beyond the wards of the country.

The air smelt of ozone and electricity as the spell snapped into place. The silk danced on unseen breezes and the lights dimmed. She clucked her tongue in a minor annoyance as her tails poofed.

Then they were not alone.

She smiled at the two women who stood in shadow. She rose gracefully and performed a formal bow to her guests.

"Pipa Jing, Jiutou Zhiji Jing, it has been too long my sisters. We have much work to do."

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Concert for ButterKlavier and Audience #4 "Ils doivent envisager qu'une grande responsabilité est la suite inséparable d'un grand pouvoir*."

5 July 2014

Passel House, Hampshire, England

"A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury." -John Stuart Mill
Spoiler: Noblesse Oblige

Colombe du Chasteler smiled across the parlor table at Duke of York as the blonde shipgirl shook her head, her ponytail swishing across the floor. "...and that is how Karl, Tamenokalt and I put paid to that rogue jinn."

Duke leaned back in her chair and sipped her cup of tea. "That was a fascinating story. If possible, I would like you to share that with the Orion sisters, since as you mentioned they can cross the Channel."

Colombe sighed, "oh yes. Magical methods such as an Owl Box or Vanishing Cabinet work and while jinn have issues with bodies of water -- rather like the vampire myths, I wonder if there is a connection? -- modern technology such as steamships and air travel make the Atlantic less a risky and lethal ordeal when I was a girl and more an annoying inconvenience like a passenger crossing a storm-tossed sea on a liner. I suspect that some of the additional passengers on the flight out of Iran in 1979 were jinn although I did not ask since they were vouched by... someone whom I trust implicitly. Technology is a blessing and a curse both. I certainly do not miss storms at sea as a passenger on board a sailing ship, but it also allows for things that were normally geographically restricted to one region or continent to find a home in other places which may be ill-prepared to deal with the threat that they are."

The Muramasa rapier then smirked nastily as singing was faintly heard from outside the parlor. "Of course that cuts both ways. As a very nasty and annoying ghost in my ancestral castle found out to his very brief everlasting regrets when he picked a fight with one of the top exorcists in Japan who was visiting from the Shinto shrine where she lives. By the time he realized what Toku was capable of doing to him, it was far too late for anything but the screaming as she sent him to Hell... literally."

Duke blinked. "Hell and Heaven exist literally?"

Colombe shrugged expressively, "In a sense, yes. I have it on good authority that various legends about the divine and infernal realms, such as the Greek Underworld and Mount Olympus, Valhalla for the Norse, Takamagahara for the Shinto, and so on and so forth have a hard core of truth in them. There are Powers there that sometimes interfere in mortal affairs, although generally indirectly through agents. Case in point, the spellwork to seal Verdun back up this time around among other things included a paen, a prayer calling upon and praising Hades by a Greek mage who is an agent of Hades. That bestow His blessing and authority upon the bindings shackling a creature of necromancy and unlife. Some of the magics I have learned from various traditions such as Greco-Roman, Hindu, and Chinese call upon and beseech various Powers."

Colombe took a deep breath and gazed into Duke's eyes before speaking quietly "More directly and personally, I have actually called upon and then sworn myself to Hachiman-no-kami of the Shinto in 1902 in the Congo, who empowered me in my hour of need. That was necessary to defeat the most powerful Dark Lord I have ever had the distinct displeasure to combat and who nearly killed me." Her lips quirked. "In a sense it is a family tradition since Muramasa-no-Norimune, my father, was one of Hachiman's Blades and some of my fundamental powers I got from her call upon Hachiman. So I formalized my service that I had been performing unknowingly for the first two centuries of my life."

Colombe leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees, tenting her fingers. "That is not an accepted part of 'modern' European magical systems such as Ron is studying, which rely much more upon the caster's inner will and personal strength. There are various good and not-so-good reasons for that being the accepted norm, but it does restrict them from taking full advantage of the specializations a differently focused understanding of magic has. Case in point, you are familiar with the Dementors that attacked Hogwarts this spring?"

Duke frowned, "Oh yes. Quite vile brutes indeed."

"No arguments here." Colombe stood and drew her rapier. "But if you had a practitioner of Egyptian Heka magics to call upon Horus-Ra or in my case an Adept in the Greek magics of Επίκληση to call upon Apollo Pythios to empower and strengthen me to fight evil...."

Her eyes hardened and she snapped out a spell in Attic Greek "Ηλιακή φωτιά!" Suddenly golden flames sprang from the blade of her rapier, casting no shadows and illuminating the room as if a piece of the Sun was present.

Duke's eyes widened in awe as Colombe finished with a smug smirk. "Creatures of Darkness such as Ghouls, undead, and Dementors really do not like this spell since it burns them body and spirit, consuming them utterly. While I am no priestess of the deity whom I called upon with my invocation, He does not begrudge me a tithe of his power to call upon so that He is remembered in the minds of humans as a protector of humanity from evil. Especially since some magicals did their best to stamp out that knowledge from the minds of those children who have the potential to call upon the Twelve Olympians." She scowled at the memories.

Colombe whispered a dismissing charm of thanks and the flames died. She sheathed the blade slowly and wearily. "Magicals have much to answer for, I have found. That is part of the reason that I am called upon to do what I do. After all, as a noblewoman and the last living child of Jean-Francois du Chasteler, I have the obligation of my heritage to set an example in word and action of how matters should be performed at all times answerable only to My King, My Honor, and My God. Virgil perhaps said it best in the sixth book of the Aeneid..."

"Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,
credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus,
orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:
tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;
hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,
parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos."
Spoiler: Translation From The Latin
Others will forge breathing bronzes more smoothly
(I believe it at any rate), and draw forth living features from marble.
They will plead law-suits better and trace the movements
Of the sky with a rod and describe the rising stars.
You, O Roman, govern the nations with your power- remember this!
These will be your arts – to impose the ways of peace,
To show mercy to the conquered and to subdue the proud

Duke quoted along with Colombe as the rapier gave her a look of surprise. "Colombe. I did have officers who studied the classics in public school and university before the War. Leaving that aside, great truths such as that, to whom much is given much is demanded are eternal whether we speak of Virgil or the Parable of the Talents. I personally prefer the version that was printed in a Yorkshire periodical in 1858."

"He cannot act on their judgment, but must be governed by his own. As he has great responsibility, he has great power, and is bound by the strongest obligations to maintain that power and the dignity of his office."

Colombe nodded in agreement as the battleship stood. "Just so. Now, shall we see what the children are up to to celebrate Christmas in July?"

*They must consider that great responsibility follows inseparably from great power.-French National Convention, May 8th, 1793

 

[darthcourt10]

MagisterAurelius

So still trying to find my muse (Starting to think the muse decided to go on a full Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas level bender with Nick Nolte and Gary Oldman), so here's a little glimpse of a Stahlhexe gig in a Wilhelmshaven base bar and a song where Johnston does the vocals to tribute a legendary badass in the crowd...

-0-

As the cheers from the various German ship-girls faded, Ehren smiled and spoke into the mic as notes more suited to country western music began to be played by her bandmates.

"Danke danke. Our next number is a bit different from our usual playlist, but according to Johnston there is someone in the crowd tonight who has been, in her words, an inspirational badass that all badasses aspire to. So with thanks to Herr Bobby Bare, here is a ship-girl's rendition of 'The Winner'."

As a western bass beat dropped, Johnston began to sing in an insouciant but sultry tone.

The hulk of a ship with a beer in her hand, she looked like a drunk old fool
And I knew if I hit her right, why, I could knock her off of that stool
But everybody they said watch out, hey, that's the Iron Dog you fool
She's had the whole lotta fights and she's always come out winner

Yeah, she's a winner.

But I had myself about five Beeps too many and I walked up tall and proud
I faced her back and I faced the fact that she had never stooped or bowed
I said, Iron Dog, you're a Splendid Cat and a hush fell on the crowd
I said, let's you and me go outside and see who's the winner.

Well, she splintered the bar with one scarred-up hand then she braced against the wall
She slowly looked up from her beer, my God that ship was tall
She said, Taffy, I see you're a scrapper so just before you fall
I'm gonna tell you just a little 'bout what it means to be a winner.

She said now you see these bright white smilin' teeth. you know they ain't my own
Mine rolled away like marbles down the street in Glasgow-town
But I left HMS Superb cursin', nursin' eleven broken bones
And she only broke two times three of mine, that makes me the winner.

She said, now behind this grin I got a steel pin that holds my jaw in place
A reminder from the Princess that tried to rip off my face
And each morning I wake up and spit on her skull over my fireplace
It reminds me of all I got by bein' a winner.

Now this shot-up hull was the vengeful act of the sisters of Queen Mar-ay
That smoky Jutland night I blew and her kin away
You know those English boats, they get uglier and meaner every day
But I whipped 'em kid, that's what makes me a winner.

She said, you gotta speak loud when you challenge me girl,
'Cause it's hard for me to hear
With this twisted neck, cracked citadel and this big ole cauliflower ear
And if it wasn't for this broke rangefinder of mine, I'd shed a happy tear
To think of all that you gonna get by bein' a winner.

I got arthritic elbows kid, I got a warped shaft gallery
From pickin' fights with Abyssal hordes and chargin' into REs
And my nose been broke so often I might lose if I sneeze
And Tin-can, you say you still wanna be a winner?

Now you remind me a lotta my younger days,
With your knuckles a clenchin' white
But girl I'm gonna sit right here and sip this beer all night
And if there's somethin' that you gotta gain to prove by winnin' some silly fight
Well okay, I quit, I lose, you're the winner.

So I stumbled from that barroom, not so tall and not so proud
And behind me I still hear the hoots of laughter of the crowd
But my radar still works and my guns still turn and my teeth're still in my mouth
And you know I guess that makes me the winner!
The crowd started cheering and Johnston smiled with a beaming grin as SMS Derfflinger engulfed the destroyer in a bear hug.

-0-

Bismarck grimaced at her beer as she sat at a table with Admiral Hartmann, who looked rather relaxed for once and was enjoying his drink.

"I still don't understand Admiral. Why do we indulge Derfflinger in her insubordinate habits?"

Hartmann sighed as he put down her drink. "Bismarck, Derfflinger comes from a very different tradition than you, an older one. Even in Prussia, officers were free to argue with their superiors, as long as they were well reasoned in their arguments they could even call out said superiors. Derfflinger's namesake was notorious for rarely being sober, argued with his Prince Elector of Brandenburg to the point of quitting. But he was such a genius, he was hired back even after he submitted excessive and nearly insane demands. And she, my dear Bismarck, fucking terrifies the shit out of the Abyssals." Hartmann paused to take another drink of beer. "She goes out hunting for Abyssals, alone if she has to, and she still manages to come back. With at least one or two severed Abyssal heads. She has quite the little display of skulls I hear."

Bismarck looked with shock at Hartmann and spoke with a disdain dripping in her tone, "If she's like this now, what will she be like if we do manage to summon her sister Lutzow back? I have a hard enough time controlling the Hochseeflotte girls, adding another Blood Knight like her would be a disaster for good order."

"You don't understand Bismarck. It's because Lutzow hasn't come back to us that Derfflinger goes hunting. She thinks..."

Bismarck went pale. "Mein Gott. She thinks Lutzow went Abyssal?!"

"Ja. That is why I let Derfflinger constantly drink, start football riots, and beat the everloving shit out of the Royal Navy. Because the day she brings back her sister's Abyssal skull is the day I have to put her on suicide watch."

-0-

So just a little thing to try and get my muse going again. This takes place sometime later this school year for Harry.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Lips curling a little as she watched the frog struggle even as the snake devoured it, Daji/Natsumi tittered a little behind one hand before a childish giggle beside her. Turning, she smiled a bit more at seeing the young, Japanese boy watching the death struggles of the amphibian in glee. In his eyes there was a sparkle of cruelty which made her internally chuckle.

Absolutely nothing was needed on her part to get him started down the road that he was on. There was something... invigorating about that, seeing a human descend into the depths of depravity. Especially one with such potential power ahead of them. It made her shudder in pleasure after all just to experience it as a bystander.

Tongue poking out between her lips to wet them, she hummed a bit as she considered everything. She had fled from her native China to this land to the east, the Land of Wa. But she had been injured by one of the Champions of the Celestial Bureaucracy in the process and hunted. And so she had needed to go into hiding for a time. Thankfully, however, she had known how to survive even being reduced to something barely alive. She had found a woman of one what passed for 'Noble' clans in this land. That woman had been pregnant at the time and asking for someone to save her infant as one of the sorcerers predicted that she would lose it. And she, Daji/Natsumi, had decided to help.

Of course, the infant was long past the point of help from any but the divine.

Which meant that as it's soul had passed on, there was a... space that she could use as the body was not quite dead, just a shell. Suitable as a way to hide. Oh, her 'Mother' had been overjoyed for her survival, which internally made Daji/Natsumi laugh at the idiocy of humans. Amused, she reached up to lightly run her fingers along the golden amulet that had her "Clan's" symbol. Three leaves within a circle of them, which made her shake her head.

Her attention was grabbed though as the young boy laughed as the frog was fully swallowed by the snake, "Ah! All gone!"

Practically gliding over, she pressed herself against his back, an older girl, "Truly a shame, my Prince. And yet... all things pass in time, but in death, one can find... pleasure, can they not? Same with pain."

Much to her glee, the boy shuddered and smiled, "Hai, Hime..." Then he noticed a butterfly and nodded towards it, "Let us catch it! Quick, before it leaves!"

Eyes widening, Daji/Tamamo leaned towards him before whispering, "And then what?"

Grinning wide, he looked at her as he got up, "Then we pluck it's wings and place it on an ant hill..."
__________________________________________________________________

Behind her illusion of a passive expression, Daji/Natsumi laughed alongside the boy, now young teen. He had some men climb high into the trees before his spearmen attempted to stab them. Even as she watched, one fell to his death, with the boy next to her declaring to finish him off. As she set some drinks before him, the cruel teen looked at her. He could see past the illusion after all. A "gift" to him for the entertainment he had provided her.

With a chuckle, he took the drink from her before leaning in, "Does this not please you?"

Glancing at the men and those watching who obviously wanted to be elsewhere, but stayed and performed as ordered because their Lord's word was law, Daji/Natsumi wrapped an illusion around them as she smirked, "Oh, it pleases me greatly, my Prince. Greatly indeed as a matter of fact. Nearly as much as the execution you performed the other day."

Shuddering in pleasure, he hummed, "Yes, it was invigorating as always. To hold a life in my hands... and then end it. And to see the ruby liquid of life spill against the ground. Simply marvellous..."

Also leaning in, she paused for a moment, "Take warning... there are whispers of those who would be against you. Who see you as being 'Impure' for seeking your pleasure."

Softly snorting, the teenage boy reached up and cupped her cheek, "Let them think such. My power is absolute after all. It is a sad thing that you, out of all those I take to my bed, are the one who understands me most."

Breath hot against his, Daji/Natsumi smirked, "And you understand me, my Prince, my Lord..."

And then, she leaned the rest of the way in even as another fell from the tree and was split upon a spear.
______________________________________________________________

Hot breath against her damp, sweaty skin, Daji/Natsumi gasped as she was pressed against the wall. The young teen now a man growling into her throat as he grasped at her clothes. Something that she did in return as as she could still taste copper upon her lips, upon her tongue. A long groan escaped her as she looked to the side as he sucked at her pulse point.

Where laid a young woman staring with sightless eyes, her throat slit and her blood still pooling on the ground.

A hand covered in fresh blood cupped her cheek smearing the carmine on her pale skin, and forced her to look into the maddened eyes of her lover. Her own widening as a sigh escaped her as she took the bloodied finger between her lips. She could remember him being removed from his position due to what he had done. Cloistered, they called it. He had been angry, or so angry. But it makes her so very amused by it as well to see, though she did internally sigh. While she had not become a consort because some might be watching, perhaps next time...

Her attention was pulled away from her thoughts, however, he pressed himself close. Licking the blood on her cheek to a moan from her, he gave a soft sigh, "Beautiful..."

Lips curling into a cruel smile, Daji/Natsumi hummed a bit, "Me... or her?"

Now glancing at the corpse, he grinned, "Why not both? Yet her beauty right now is fleeting as the cherry blossoms. Unlike yours, Hime." Another passionate kiss followed before he pulled away as their bloodied hands left stains upon their expensive clothing. Face smeared with blood, he grinned, "But no more about her... especially as she could barely mount a scream..."

And then, the two were lost to their passions as things faded from view.
___________________________________________________

Skin slick with sweat and the like, Daji/Natsumi sat in the small cave that she used as a hide out since her "Death". Oh, she had kept up the illusion of her aging for long enough as the body she had borrowed underwent a transformation from human to fox over the years she inhabited it. But now she was free of such limitations.

Indeed, such was shown by the nine fox tails that waved in the air behind her.

A relaxed smile on her face, Daji/Natsumi looked at the old amulet. One of the last few reminders of her "Old Life" she had. In the firelight it glinted as it spun in the leather cord it was on. Stopping the spinning, she chuckled before tossing it and stretching a little with a soft sigh as she tried to ignore the guilt that clawed at her deep within her soul. The sense of betrayal to Him, her true husband and love. But, as always, she shoved that down, for it was nothing compared to the fires of hate and disgust she had for humanity.

The very humanity who had sentenced him to death for the "Crime" of loving her. Of having a child by her created by their love. And sentencing said child to death as well for being an "Abomination" to the laws of the natural order. No... humans were disgusting, hateful beings as had been proven time and again to her. Her husband was not one, could not be one.

Something that she told herself many times.

Hearing a grunt, she turned toward her... bed mate, if a number of furs could be called such. The one who was once a boy, then a teen, and an adult, was now an old man. It amused her how much pain he was in after their short joining. Granted, she used her illusions to lessen them, just a touch. And now...

Leaning forward, she grinned widely as she cupped his cheek, tenderly stroking it, "Ah, you're awake, my Prince."

With a grunt, he grimaced, "I am, Hime."

Expression one of sympathy, Daji/Natsumi nodded, "You're in quite a bit of pain, it would seem. Only to be expected with how active you have been with me at your age. But... worry not, that will be over very soon." Fingers ghosting against wrinkled skin until they reached the bottom of his jawbone, she sighed moments before the claw at the end of one punctured the skin and cut across it, ruby gushing forth as the man gasped, "Your use is at an end, but do enjoy this last gift from me as well as a promise... that thanks to you, bloodshed greater than you have known will spill across the land in time..."

Softly smiling, she leaned down and kissed him, with him returning it even as copper filled their mouths. Pulling back, she smirked as he tried to laugh, which only came out as gurgles before he fell back. With a sigh, she ignored both his death rattles as well as the blood that was cooling even now on her skin, she hummed, "Seems that I shall have to get rid of my furs, a shame."

Getting up, she dug in the discarded clothing before pulling out the item she was looking for.

With a soft chuckle, she raised the golden cylinder up to the firelight which glinted off it. A personal seal, similar to some, but important in another way. For this one like only a certain subset were enchanted for only the user, or someone of their blood, could use it to prove who they were. A fact that was well known throughout the land. Even as she held it and smiled, her hand cupped her swollen stomach as she darkly chuckled, "Yes... soon there will be bloodshed..."
____________________________________________________________

Gasping, Natsumi sat up in bed with sweat soaking her and the sheets. For several moments she sat there before getting up and making her way to the bathroom where she promptly began to get sick into the toilet at what had happened in her dream. Soon enough, a hand began to gently rub between her shoulder blades as she continued to puke and she could hear her mother's voice as she spoke, "Natsumi-Chan? Are you alright?"

Just spitting into the toilet, Natsumi nodded, "Hai... Haha-ue. I just... had a bad dream. From what could have been then."

Eyes widening a little, Sakuya's expression melted into one of understanding and care, "I see. Do you wish to go back to bed, or..."

Leaving the question hanging as she handed her daughter a cup of cold water, she was not surprised when said younger Kitsune shook her head after washing out her mouth, "No... I think that I'm just going to get up now."

Only humming as she hugged Natsumi, Sakuya nodded, "I see, then I shall get started on breakfast. You wash yourself clean, hmm?"

In reply, Natsumi gave a sigh and a nod, "Thank you." A few minutes later found the fourteen year old Kitsune standing under the shower head as warm water cascaded across her body. Leaning against the wall, she sighed as she tried to make sense of what she had seen before turning inward, 'I know that you're there watching. That you saw what just happened... is that...?'

From the depths of her mind, Tamamo's voice drifted up, 'Is that what happened all those years ago? And who Hoshi's and Tsuki's Sire was?' Getting a mental nod of the head, she sighed, 'Yes, that was who their father was. A few years after they came across his remains, believing that I did not know, a team of Onmyouji lead by Abe no Seimei retrieved them.'

Grimacing, the teen grabbed the soap and began to sud up, 'So that would mean that the two of them are actually...' Upon getting a mental nod, she frowned, 'Why though?'

Despite not being able to see the form of Tamamo, Natsumi could somehow feel her shrug, 'Because my plans at the time called for bloodshed. That seal would be used to prove who their sire was. And with that, I could cause a civil war with them. Unfortunately for my plans, but fortunate for others, they did not turn out like either myself or their sire... or, perhaps, they did turn out like myself but before the death of my husband.'

Natsumi could feel the sadness and grief at those last few words and continued to wash herself. However, she did not comment on that but waited a few seconds before washing herself off and soaping up again, 'No offence, but I really need to get that image out of my head and feel clean.'

A hum answered her and there was a silence for a few moments before the echo of the deadly fox spoke once more, 'Perhaps you wish that it was of you and Bao bei? Without the death and blood... like this?

Suddenly, Natsumi had the image in her head that was near identical to the other. But there was no blood, no corpse staring at her, or madness in Harry's eyes as he pushed her up against the wall with passion, passion that the her in the vision returned full heartedly. Eyes wide, Natsumi felt like her cheeks were on fire before screeching inside her head, 'ERO-FOX!'

All she got back was laughter though before she knew Tamamo was grinning at her, 'Ah, but I am not an "Ero-Fox", simply one who understands such things and will not deny. Perhaps in time you shall listen to my advice in regards to such arts~'

Then, she retreated back into the depths of the younger Kitsune's mind, laughing the whole way. As for Natsumi? She did the only thing that she could do in such a case...

And that was take the shower and turn it as cold as possible while internally ranting about perverted vixiens even as she shivered.

It was shortly afterwards that she had breakfast and just did her summer homework to keep her mind busy. But after a few hours, her ears perked up and she turned towards the front door before getting up and rushing over. Opening the door, Natsumi felt her expression light up as Harry was right there blinking with a container in one hand, "Harry-Chan!"

His own expression lighting up, Harry pulled her into a hug with a happy laugh, "Natsumi-Chan!" The two stayed like that for a few moments, just hugging each other before he kissed her cheek and pulled back some, "Um... so how are things?"

Understanding what he meant, Natsumi gave a small nod, "Better now." Her smile came back as she gave him a once over, "Especially as you're here and safe."

Not quite sure what to say, Harry just blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, same here... I'm glad that you're safe and doing better." There was a moment of thought before he leaned forward and gently kissed her for a second or two, "Really glad."

For her part, the fourteen year old Kitsune was blushing heavily before she glanced back at the kitchen doorway. Part of her swore that she heard snickers from there, but shrugged it off and gave Harry a kiss in return before turning her attention to the container though she could smell peanut butter, "What's that, Harry-Chan?"

Also glancing at the container, Harry gave her a smile, "Well, I thought that I should bring over something to eat. So... I made up some chocolate covered peanut butter squares for us..."

Noticing him trail off as well as the odd, amused look on his face, Natsumi turned and internally groaned. Because, sticking their heads out of the kitchen were the other three female Kitsune in the house. First was Hoshi, then Sakuya, and finally Haru herself. Facepalming, Natsumi frowned, "Really? I mean, really you three."

With a blink and looking at her sister as well as Hoshi, Haru shrugged, "It's peanut butter."

Just rolling her eyes, Natsumi was about to comment when Harry tapped her shoulder, "Um, Natsumi-Chan?" When she turned towards him, he tapped just below his lips, "You're kind of drooling yourself a little."

Embarrassed, the Kitsune wiped at her mouth and looked away from him before clasping his hand in hers, "Anyways, let's go to the dining room."

Rather than say anything, Harry took off his shoes and put on the slippers before walking along with Natsumi's hand in his. Entering the kitchen, he set down the container with an amused expression on his face as he noted the three adult Kitsune watching intently before noticing something, "Natsumi-Chan?" Getting a hum as she put in some tea, he frowned, "Where's your Obaa-Chan and Ojii-San? I thought that they were staying around for a while longer."

That caused the teenage Yokai to grimace, "Something came up." Glancing at her mother, she got a slight nod and sat down next to Harry, "It's... Harry-Chan? As I am sure you can guess, my Clan has enemies, right?"

Slowly, he nodded even as he frowned, "Hai? I mean, I would be surprised if you didn't." It clicked in his head and he frowned even deeper, "Wait, did something happen involving one?"

Haru snorted a little as she rolled her eyes, "You could say that, and couldn't happen to a nicer person." At the looks, she frowned, "What? We all know her and her Clan." Then, the Kitsune sneered, "I'm not going to shed any tears for the bitch considering all that she has done to us over the years."

Confused, Harry turned to Natsumi who clinched before she cleared her throat, "Well... Oba-Chan is kind of right. There's bad blood going back centuries between our clan and that one. Mainly because of their Clan Head, a female Kyuubi like Hoshi-San, Obaa-Chan, and Ojii-San. I'm not even sure if they know the reason themselves?"

At the questioning tone, Hoshi sighed and shook her head, though she took an ordered peanut butter square from Harry before biting into it, "The reasons are... personal, I'm afraid." Taking a sip of tea, she frowned, "Her husband attempted to take your Obaa-San for his own and your father caught him and killed him... before sending back the head as a warning."

That caused Natsumi to flinch a bit, "Um, right..."

Deciding not to comment on that little piece of information, the wizard simply frowned, "Okay? So lots of bad blood then, but what happened?"

Natsumi gave a shrug and shook her head, "She died last night somehow, so everyone is freaking out a bit as it shakes things up politically. I mean, some of her family are trying to blame us, but even others are noting that is impossible. We were all here last night and they're on the other side of Japan across the mountains."

With a soft snort, Hoshi shook her head, "Which is not mentioning how she died." Sipping her tea after finishing the treat, she frowned, "I got a few sources I trust that she was in a ritual room and those outside heard a scream and found her dead with her blood covering the walls. No idea what she was doing, but knowing her? She likely deserved it." A grimace on her face, the Kyuubi shook her head, "She reminded me far too much of my... Haha-ue."

For some odd reason, Harry had the odd feeling that he might have been involved somehow, but dismissed it. It was impossible after all. Instead, as Natsumi set down a cup of black tea in front of him, taking her own as well as a treat, he decided to change the subject, "Um, anyways, I decided to drop by and spend some time with Natsumi-Chan and also ask you about the trip to Shiromizu's village and if Natsumi-Chan can still come along."

Lightly chuckling, Sakuya gave her daughter a look, "Well, as to the first? I don't think any of us, especially Natsumi-Chan, would mind. And for the second? I don't see a real issue as we're going as well to keep an eye on things."

While that was annoying to both teens, they could still understand it and only sighed before the conversation turned elsewhere...

 

[darthcourt10]

S0ngD0g13

Canut was in her forge. Much of her time outside training the fleet in blade-work had been spent in the forge, and even then, there had been many a time that the Battleship Demon had left the training to Angband in her stead. For months, Canut had scoured Antillia and the surrounding seas for materials; had traded with other Abyssals for materials from beyond the borders of Gateway's domain, for very specific items; had labored to grow in her skills beyond weapon-craft. She hadn't by any means neglected her duties, but she would, if pressed-, admit to not having devoted her fullest effort to them.

Canut was in the midst of her crafting; so long and continuously had she been at-work, that the whole of Clan MacHamish had had to work the bellows in shifts, lest the working be ruined and her efforts wasted. For nine days and nine nights, Canut had hammered and heated, had chanted and woven magic into metal. Spells of strength, of resiliency, of resistance to the ravages of time; the words rolled from her lips in a rhythm steady as the waves on the shore...

And one spell more...

........................................................

It was a haggard, tired Canut, who at last knelt in front of the throne with a tarp-covered Something behind her. "Your Majesty, I have labored long to produce this. I am no true judge of my own craft, for it is said that a craftsman's harshest critic is one's self, but I believe in my Heart of Hearts, that this piece is thus-far the greatest work that I have yet made." She pulled the canvas from off her creation, and bared her work to her liege.

It was a statue, a stone base of marble and turquoise that to the smallest detail recreated the domain of the Ancient Atlantic Gateway Princess; atop this stone was a plowshare of Abyssal-Steel, and inserted so-cunningly as to seem to blend seamlessly with the plowshare, were blades. An atgeir, and more; each weapon or set of weapons was one known to tales as having been wielded by the fleet of Skadi the Northern War-Demon.

"Your Majesty, these weapons are the arms of my Sisters, the weapons of the fleet of the Northern War-Demon, save for the Dane-axe and the Sword. My axe, 'Sea-Wolf', as you know, has long become your daughter's spear, 'True-Heart', and Skadi's sword, 'Sea-Eagle', yet resides in the hands of the Shipgirl Nagato, lest she's given it to the Northern Princess Hoppou. The Dane-axe is a recreation of mine, the steel freely-donated from among your subjects; the Sword, the same, save that the steel was donated solely by Lady Angband; I had asked for a donation of steel from your Champion, but I fear I perhaps phrased the request in a manner inappropriate, for it was met by the Demon of Ocean-Liners not merely rebuffing me but threatening violence upon me for my seeming temerity. I have laid upon those arms and their places a Working of Seidhr, that only the most-truly-worthy may draw them and claim them."

Canut drew a breath. "Upon the plowshare is engraved the Fourth Verse, of the Second Chapter of the Book of Isaiah: And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." She gestured to the reverse side of the plowshare, and said, "Upon the reverse, is engraved a quote commonly attributed to both the Humans George Orwell and Winston Churchill: We sleep peacefully in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us."

Canut, who was showing a stoic visage despite her obvious exhaustion; who swayed without realizing it; who held her bearing despite her fatigue, smiled slightly under her helmet. "It is my hope, that you find my work worthy, Your Majesty..."

Canut's voice trailed away; those who were close-enough to see her eyes saw her pupils constrict to pinpoints, then widen to consume her irises. Without a single word more, without a thought of decorum, the Battleship Demon who was both Court Wizard and Mistress-at-Arms of the Ancient Atlantic Gateway, pitched forward unconscious and lay snoring upon the stones...

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Concert for ButterKlavier and Audience #5 "Feu de la benne à ordures de Colombes"

5 July 2014

Passel House, Hampshire, England

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.-Ludwig van Beethoven
Spoiler: Claire Plays One Of her Favorites!

Colombe du Chasteler smiled at Duke of York as the two walked into the corridor. She then paused at the sight of a half dozen people clustered in the door to where Claire was playing. A fond smile flickered around her lips and she turned to the British battleship. "Ahh, I see the concert hall is standing room only."

The smile widened as Victoria shifted slightly as her foot tapped in time to the piano music, showing the familiar pale blond ponytail of Ehren at the front of the pack.

Duke nudged her elbow and pointed to the door to the library they were standing next to. "We can get in through there, follow me."

Colombe followed with a spring in her step as the piano music beyond the crowd segued into Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2. Her face shone with a happy smile and she sighed happily, as she remembered Claire playing that for her first Christmas with her family.

Such a wonderful moment that was for me and my little gir---

Colombe stepped around Duke as the battleship reached the connecting door. The Muramasa rapier stared in shock at the familiar brunette girl sitting in the lap of a white skinned Abyssal giantess with glowing blue eyes.

------------------------------------------

Ehren smiled happily as her beloved Big Piano Sister and Summer finished their duet and Claire whispered something to the beaming Princess.

Summer nodded shyly and hugged Claire around the waist as the piano spirit grinned with a slightly maniacal smile. The brunette suddenly launched into the thunderous and dramatic slow Lassan introduction to Hungarian Rhapsody #2. Summer's glowing blue eyes got comically wide as Claire expertly built the tension with the notes that she was playing. Ehren's foot tapped in time with the majestic notes and she whispered to Victoria, Lara, Angie, Ron, and Jean Bart as they stood beside her. "Just wait, she's about to take flight..."

With that Duke appeared at the door across the room to her right. As the British battleship smiled at the scene of domestic bliss, Claire began the faster playful gypsy melodies of the Friska as her hands began to dance across the keyboard at lightning speed.
Spoiler: The ButterKlavier Plays A Butterknife Theme

Colombe stepped from behind Duke and stopped dead with naked shock written on her face as she stared at Summer and Claire.

Ehren's steel blue eyes widened in horror as the look of shock on her mother's face turned to something far more deadly. An old remembered pain in her chest flared to life as Colombe's hand flashed to her rapier hilt.

Scheiße!

With that Ehren flash-stepped to place herself between her beloved sister and her mother once more, blocking access to the innocents under her sworn protection with her arms spread.

------------------------------------------

Behind Ehren, Victoria's eyes widened and then narrowed as Colombe's face froze in the same expression that she remembered from 1899 as the dessert had been served. The house spirit tensed to act to protect her family as the first quarter-inch of steel cleared the rapier's sheath.

I knew it!

------------------------------------------

Summer whimpered at the blonde stranger's glare at her and hid behind her New Piano Friend as the music played.

S-so SCARY!

------------------------------------------

Colombe's hand froze with her steel half-drawn as her brain caught up with her combat reflexes and realized this must the be the Allied Abyssal princess who Ehren had told her about. A wave of guilt and remorse surged in her spirit and made her eyes fill with tears as she remembered nearly killing Ehren once before in similar circumstances.

A moment underscored as her youngest daughter appeared in her way as a living shield to those beyond. Colombe knew deep in her heart that if the Abyssal was even remotely a threat to Claire, Ehren would have acted to defend Claire from her.

Just as she defended Claire from me... again.

------------------------------------------

Claire gave her mother a pout and upset stare that made several of the Passel House contingent melt a little at the sight of the adorably angry kitten looking at her mother.

Her gentle melodic voice spoke with disappointment that caused Colombe to visibly wince as the piano kept playing. "Not during Liszt, Mother! You made me miss a sixteenth note during my favorite variation on the Cadenza!"

She puffed out her cheeks and played a major chord that expressed disapproval as she continued to play free-form Liszt variations for her Cadenza. " And you scared my new friend too! Ooooooo!!"

------------------------------------------

Colombe blushed and slid the rapier back into her sheath and took her hand off the hilt. "I am sorry, I was shocked and not expecting Miss... Um"

Claire spoke in her gentle voice with a tone of velvety annoyance it in it. "Summer, Mother. She's nice and sweet and I'm teaching her how to piano." The aforementioned Abyssal peeked out from behind Claire to survey the sheepish-looking rapier.

"Summer, oui. My apologies for causing a stir and disrupting the music everyone was enjoying, especially for causing Claire to miss a note." Colombe curtsied to the Abyssal while Ehren walked back to Ron and Victoria as the tension ebbed.

Ehren spoke into the silence as the piece ended. "Mutti has fought in many wars and sometimes her combative nature gets the best of her."

Victoria nodded slowly as did the shipgirls. After all, they knew how battle took a hidden toll on the survivors.

Meanwhile Claire whispered to Summer, who got a somewhat dark smile of anticipation and nodded. "Mother. You have told me and Ehren that 'an apology means nothing but air without action'. Ehren, grab my tablet."

Mahogany brown eyes turned to survey the paling French rapier with a disappointed stare.

Ehren snapped to attention with a heel click. "Jawohl!" she barked out, before departing at the double in the direction of their guest room.

Summer untangled herself from Claire to make room on the bench. Claire gently patted the space beside her.

"You and I will serenade the house with some Rachmaninoff. Summer would like to hear it and it will be a nice technical challenge for us, yes?" Claire spoke in a quiet, gentle voice with steel in it as Colombe nodded glumly.

The rapier made her way to the bench with a heavy tread and sat down beside Claire like a prisoner awaiting execution under the dissapointed puppy eyes of her daughter. Ehren appeared with the tablet in question and Claire punched in a command to display the sheet music.
Spoiler: Mother Was Naughty!

Ehren whispered to the others as Colombe began to play with Claire. "Mutti cannot stand Rachmaninoff. She finds him moody and dark as well as a challenge to play. Claire loves to test herself with him when she is upset. And she missed a note playing one of her favorite pieces so is very upset indeed."

Ehren glanced at the enthralled Summer as the two played piano. "I suppose for Summer's birthday I should get an instructional book on how to play piano, ja?" She murmured to the audience.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Having packed the last of his bags, Harry laid back on his futon and smiled at Shiromizu who was currently relaxing herself, "Well? Excited for what is going to happen tomorrow?"

The Mizuchi looked over at him and chuckled a little, "I am, as a matter of fact." Bemusedly shaking her head, she sighed, "Maybe a bit too excited to sleep." Throwing her hands into the air, Shiromizu stretched a little, "I mean, tomorrow I'm being enshrined."

Arms behind his head, Harry's lips twitched a little, "Well... while I don't understand fully, I can guess that it would be understandable to be honest. I mean, it is a big day tomorrow after all."

With a happy hum, Shiromizu slithered over before laying with her head on his stomach, "You might not understand it now, Harry. But one day? You will since I will have you enshrined there as well alongside me."

Blinking, the thirteen year old wizard frowned before scratching his cheek, "Still don't understand that, you know. I mean... why enshrine me? Doesn't make sense as I have not really done much for that..." upon seeing her look, he blinked, "What?"

Just rolling her eyes, Shiromizu reached over and tapped the end of his nose, "Only that you're a Baka if you cannot see it. Anyways, even if you had not done anything great? I would still have you enshrined with me as you are my Otouto."

Lightly blushing, Harry was not quite sure what to say, so instead he decided not to say anything at all. Seeing her smirk though, he poked her in the side and made her squirm a little, "Yeah, yeah, Miss Kami." He then tilted his head a little, "Though something else is bothering you.

Now it was the serpent's turn to look away with a blush, "That obvious?"

Crossing his arms, Harry gave a slight nod, "Only thanks to knowing you so long." Frowning, he continued, "So what is it?"

For a few moments, she chewed her lip before answering, "Well, it has to do with Onee-Sama." Shiromizu noted the confusion and continued, "She's planning something. I mean, I know that I have been going to meet with her and such at the village over the past two weeks, but... every time that I have mentioned wanting to see the Shrine or the house that they built for me, she smiles and tells me that it will be a surprise. Just that I will have room for anyone that I invite over to stay and that is it!"

Harry gave a hum and scratched his cheek, "Hmm... interesting... So she won't let you see it, huh."

Unknown to him, his expression caused Shiromizu to narrow her eyes before she sat up and growled, "Harry... you know something."

Rapidly blinking, the teenage wizard looked away, "Uh, I... don't? Not anymore than you might." Suddenly, two hands slammed down on either side of his head and he gave a shaky grin, "No, really, I don't know."

Bringing her face close to his, Shiromizu glared, "Bull. You know something about what is happening! Now, what exactly is it!?"

With a cough, Harry once more looked away, "I really don't know anything, Shiromizu. About all I know is that I funded the building of your home and Shrine. Because, well, your village wouldn't be able to."

That made the Mizuchi blink, 'Wait, he funded it? Because my village couldn't? How...' A thought occurred to her then and she gave him a look, "How did you fund it, Harry?"

Still looking away, he coughed, "Well... I sent them gold and silver to use actually. Because, well, that was easiest. With that they were able to fully pay for construction."

Eyebrows furrowed, Shiromizu stared at him for a few moments before pulling back with a sigh, "I hope that neither you or Onee-Sama went too far. I just want a little shrine and a home, that's all."

Lightly laughing, Harry placed his arms behind his head, "Well, that is what you're getting."

Still frowning, Shiromizu grumbled, "Knowing you and Onee-Sama? That is what I'm afraid of..."

The fact that Harry whistled and had an innocent expression only made her more suspicious... so she whapped him with a pillow.

Meanwhile, close to the base of the mountain where Shiromizu's stream flowed, one could see what looked like a giant plow slowly digging a furrow in the ground. Rocks, dirt, and grass were pushed aside by the plow as it moved on its path. And behind it, pushing it, was Akitsu Maru who was softly humming as she walked with what looked like giant solid snow shoes made of thick steel which groaned with every step. Looking up just over the bank which was eye level, the shipgirl smiled at Misa who got off an ATV which took off once she was making her way towards Akitsu Maru, "Hello, Misa-Chan. Something going on?"

Gently smiling, the Unagi Hime shook her head and chuckled, "No, Akitsu-Chan. Nothing of the sort as a matter of fact." Holding up a large, wrapped box, she grinned, "I brought you some food as a matter of fact."

That caused Akitsu Maru to laugh and nod, "I'm looking forward to it once I'm done here." She then tilted her head to the side, "Which shouldn't be much further, I think. About... thirty minutes." All Misa did was nod and walk alongside the embankment. Sure enough, thirty minutes later, the plow broke through a wall of earth and Akitsu Maru pushed it fully through before lifting it and tossing it to the side where it landed with a boom and sank partially into the earth. Dusting herself off as she walked a bit more, the Amphibious Assault Ship nodded as she walked to the edge and then leapt onto the embankment with a sigh before stretching, "And there we go."

Amused tilt to her lips, Misa chuckled as she held out the food and a thermos, "And here you go, Akitsu-Chan."

Chuckling back, Akitsu Maru took the offered food and drink, "Thank you." With a hum, she took a sip of tea before looking out over the hollow in front of her. There was a scar on the land here which internally made her frown, "So this was once a lake?"

Nodding slightly, Misa sighed a little, "Hai, once, thousands of years ago when the climate was wetter. Or that is what the No-Maj scientists tell me. All I know is that about two hundred years ago, humans began digging it out due to the gold in the gravel as a form of mine." She gestured to a group of hills, "There is a small stream over there, not a big one, that they used to pan for the gold and dumped the gravel besides its banks. And when they built the town, they used the gravel for construction of both it and the railway as well as a nearby road making the pit deeper." Turning back to Akitsu Maru, she gave a small shrug, "It is something of an eyesore to be perfectly honest. During wet months you get small pools and what is sort of a swamp that breeds biting insects. They only last a few weeks, however, so having Lady Shiromizu's river flow into it and fill the depression would be a good thing."

Considering that, the shipgirl slowly made a sound of agreement, "I suppose so. A nice lake would definitely look better than, well, an old open pit. Especially as you want to put beaches alongside it... though..." Akitsu Maru softly snorted as she turned her attention to two stone piles in the pit a short distance from where she had made the trench, with either one of the trench's "Mouth". And on top of each was a stone dragon. She knew that with time, the piles would become islands as the pit filled with water, "Some parts look more interesting than others."

Unable to help herself, Misa giggled, "Yes, I suppose so or at least that is what we think. Especially as we are planting flowering trees around the shore. Sakura and others will, in a few short years, be blooming and reflected in the lake."

Staring out, Akitsu Maru could almost see it herself. Trees covered in soft, pink blossoms with lanterns, all reflected in the dark lake water. And later, fireflies dancing among the groves, "Beautiful."

Only humming, Misa nodded with a soft sigh, "Hai, it will be." With a happy smile on her face, she turned to Akitsu Maru, "Thank you, once more. You and your crew have done so much for our village, helping us build and get everything prepared. Including all the work you laid for Lady Shiromizu's River. You dug the trench all the way around the mountain to her, so that she encircled it with her waters like a snake would encircle a stone. That... means a lot."

Heavily blushing, Akitsu Maru looked away and scratched her cheek some in embarrassment, not quite sure what to say. Finally, she decided on the truth and turned to the Unagi Hime, both of them standing there with the pale moonlight and starlight of the night, "I'll be honest with you, Misa-Chan... all of this work I have not minded. In my previous life, and this one, so often I have needed to destroy. So it feels good to be able to build for a change with my abilities. And to help people get their lives back and improve upon them. Seeing smiles like your own makes it worth it."

This time, it was the Yokai who looked away with a blush, "A-ah, I see... you are very welcome, Akitsu-Chan." For some reason, in Yokosuka, Shiromizu felt like she had missed a prime teasing moment for her Onee-Sama. Back at the mountain though, Misa cleared her throat, "Are you going to be at the Festival tomorrow, perhaps?"

With a slow nod, Akitsu smiled, "Hai, my fairies can operate the sluice gates without me. Though I'm likely going to be wearing my dress uniform to it rather than a Kimono."

Softly smiling, Misa hummed in thought, "Well, you do look rather handsome in it."

The two shared a smile before she giggled and Akitsu Maru chuckled.

Up on the mountain at the Shrine, meanwhile, Arutemisu sighed a little as he looked over the area. That was, of course, until two warm arms encircled him from behind as he felt his wife's body press into his back, "Stop worrying so much, Arutemisu. The Shrine is in the best shape that it could be and likely ever will be."

Looking over his shoulder, the Inaba smiled and chuckled sheepishly, "Sorry, Kat-Chan. Just... you know, worried about tomorrow. Shiromizu-Sama will be arriving to be enshrined here after all. And, well... you know."

All Kat did was nod and smile, "I do know, Arutemisu. Just like I know that tomorrow, you will do fine with the ceremony and, more than that, perform it perfectly. Because this is you, we're talking about."

Moments later, she leaned in and kissed him, which soon deepened before Arutemisu pulled away flushed and panting, "D-damn... you do give a fine pep talk, though, um... maybe not the best place to continue this."

Humming, his American wife buried her face in his neck before slowly making her way up it, nibbling as she went, "Oh, I don't know about that, my Sexy Rabbit. I don't think that Shiromizu-Sama would mind all that much." Feeling him shudder as her teeth lightly grazed his jawbone, she smirked, "Or... you could come back to the house and I'll make sure that you would be too tired to worry about it and get some nice sleep."

Despite himself, Arutemisu tilted his head a little and groaned as he could feel her wandering hands, "B-but what about the baby..."

Feeling his hand against her baby bump, Kat grinned a bit, "I'm pregnant, not dead. And we already checked with the healers and they said it is perfectly safe." Blowing into his ear, she internally cackled as he jumped, "Besides... there's other ways of having fun~"

Much to her amusement, both rabbit ears on his head shot up straight and he turned to stare. At her waggling eyebrows, he took a deep breath and began to walk with her and his next words made her laugh, "Right then, back home it is." As they walked out from under the Torii, he shook his head, "I swear that the pregnancy made you worse."

Throatily chuckling, she gave him a look that said it all, "Perhaps just slightly... but then, you always swore that I have to be part rabbit~"

Arutemisu was still blushing as ten minutes later as they walked past a gate set inside a stone wall, sunflowers in a field beside it...

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Vixen Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

27 June 2014

Moon Under Water Brewpub, Victoria, British Columbia

The door to the nightclub opened up and a beautiful 22-year old Asian woman with a Chinese bob haircut strutted in with the unconscious grace of the grandmaster martial artist that she was, her hips swaying to the sound of the beat from the local band doing live music on a Friday night.

She grinned and tucked her thumbs into the pockets of her sprayed-on blue jeans as she unzipped and removed the windbreaker (Victoria Royals Special Junior Hockey Championship Edition) to show off her 'WARNING-HOT MOM' T-shirt.
Spoiler: Yuying's MILF Shirt

With a vulpine smile she spoke to the waiter, and made her way to her reserved table in the back corner.

She sat down and smirked slightly as she waited for her acquaintance. "Creepy Uncle Dunkel for me and my friend, and a fry bowl with poutine for an appie. I need comfort food badly."

With that she leaned back, basking in the admiring glances of some college students. Mei Yuying preened a bit as she inscribed an invisible hanzi character on the table with one red fingernail to insure that she would not be disturbed unnecessarily.

She reflected that she still 'had it' in spades, but she was not here to trawl for a date.

Not yet.

With that, a second Asian woman entered the bar attached to the microbrewery. Yuying chuckled to herself at the sight of her friend in a leather miniskirt, fishnet stockings, high heeled ankle boots and a tight T-shirt proclaiming her love of the all-female hard rock band Vixen.

The irony of a nine-tailed Japanese kitsune walking around with a T-shirt naming her a vixen did not escape the Chinese huli jing.
Spoiler: Tsuki's Tees!

As the Kyuubi arrived Yuying grinned toothily. "You drove the motorcycle, no?"

Tsuki sat down and then sipped her glass of microbrewery craft beer as the waiter emerged with the appetizer. "Damn straight I did. I'll have the Teriyaki with tuna. You?"

Yuying nodded. "Tuna rice bowl with added salmon." With that she placed fries and poutine on her side plate and began to eat them as she inscribed additional privacy characters on the tablecloth with her finger.

Tsuki frowned, then reached into her purse and touched an ofuda hidden inside, empowering it. The noise of the band doing a cover of AC/DC's Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap) faded into a background buzz.
Spoiler: A Chat Among Vixens

"You didn't call me here to go out clubbing again, especially since I'm happily married now. So spill Yuying." Tsuki's amber eyes narrowed as she pinned the three-tail huli jing with a flat stare.

Yuying sighed heavily and took a deep pull of her beer. "Right. All my cards on the table. As you know well, I throw the yarrow sticks and consult the Book of Changes on a regular basis for myself and Eldest Daughter. For the last half year, I have been getting 'increasing danger' and 'great change' results aimed at her. Starting just before she finally managed to run her father down."

Tsuki blinked. "Oh shit, you don't mean..."

Yuying shook her head and ate another poutine-covered fry. "Not that, thank the Supreme Personage of Jade. The reunion was resolved quite well and Daughter is hopeful that Colombe's legal difficulties will be resolved. Irony of ironies, it turns out that my Eldest Daughter's Paternal Grandfather is the Japanese blade Muramasa-no-Norimune, whom Colombe managed to track down too recently. But the signs of trouble kept building. Then Verdun broke loose and Ying was involved up to her neck in that too alongside her Father and Father's kin."

Tsuki frowned as their food arrived, then speared a slice of tuna steak. "Let me guess, that did not show resolution."

Yuying shook her head and ate a strip of salmon. "No. As you know, there was an outbreak of Hungry Ones up North, and I thought that was surely it. But no. Then four days ago two things happened. There was a spike of energies from the Land of the Rising Sun. Massive. And... Ying had a dream."

Tsuki nodded. "I am aware of what happened in my former homeland, but what was the dream?"

The Kyuubi paled at Yuying's hushed words as the other fox glanced around nervously. "Ying was contacted by the spirit of the Thousand-Year-Vixen from the Investiture of the Gods. Who spoke to her and asked her what her heart's desire was and tried to force Ying to say her True Name."

"Shit." Tsuki growled

"Oh it gets worse. Much worse." Yuying sighed deeply. "Ying woke up to hear her alarm ringing with that spike in Japan. AND got a letter from an ally mentioning a 'mysterious and beautiful woman with no confirmable past' has taken over the Hidden Ministry in Beijing. I think we can both put a name and face to who that truly is."

Tsuki nodded soberly. "It fits her mode of operation."

"One last piece of the puzzle. The Auguries pointed that Ying must travel to the Middle Kingdom in the near future and have informed us in no uncertain terms that the Mandate of Heaven is in flux seeking a new Founder. So I have to ask, do you know of any ties between the person who we are talking about and Japan? Or anything that Japan stole from China that might be of value in controlling China?" Yuying finished and drained her beer.

Tsuki frowned and looked at her Teriyaki bowl. "Not offhand to the second, although I can ask around. I know people in Japan who can and will make inquiries. As for the first... oh yes." The Kyuubi grinned humorlessly. "I know for a fact after causing trouble in China, and India, and China again and possibly points West that the person who we are talking about made her way to Japan just over a millennia ago. And was destroyed there under her new name of Lady Duckweed according to the legends and what I witnessed."

Yuying nodded slowly. "You don't sound confident that she is dead and gone though."

Tsuki shook her head. "Not confident in the least. She was a master of planning and schemes and if anyone could cheat death to pull a millennia-long con, she could. The first time she surfaced in China and wound up in the Investiture, she ducked the lynch mob after her by sacrificing a portion of her power, a tail and some other parts of her power specifically, to create a duplicate to take the fall for her actions. Budding off a clone like a candle lighting another candle or a plant sending a runner to create a new plant. I'm pretty sure that she was trying that again when she was killed in Japan, hence the legends speaking of her pelt flying off and causing trouble, one of her tails forming a Yokai, and of course the Sessho-shiki Stone."

Yuying boggled. "That's possible?"

"For her, it was." Tsuki said slowly. "I heard from one of my contacts that Kamo got his hands on her pelt sometime before the end of the Pacific War and empowered her necromantically to try to resurrect her. Fortunately that got stopped... four days ago"

Yuying rubbed her chin. "That explains the pulse and the timing. But what's her plan??" The Chinese fox's eyes narrowed and her lips firmed. "Even now, my oldest daughter is moving deeper into her webs of deception, lies and treachery. Like her father, when the trumpet sounds for a hero to come forth, she leaps at the call. But we both know full well a hero will answer the call but not all heroes will return to their mother."

All Tsuki could do was shake her head sympathetically and place a hand on the shoulder of her friend to provide what comfort she could.

 

[darthcourt10]

: Yellowhammer

Something WAFFY and potentially noncanon for the thread.

A Very Butterknife New Year's Eve

Passel House

Ehren took Summer's hands and began to gently guide the giantess. "Like this, you see. One... two... three, One... two... three."

Summer smiled and whispered. "So just like that?"

Ehren released her and then nodded. "Ja, just like that. Now just have your count go every time Claire gives a strong bass chord when she plays."

With that she gestured to Ron to approach. The young man took Summer's right hand with his left, and then his right hand rested on the bottom of her left shoulder blade as she towered over him.

Ehren looked approvingly at the two then nodded as the clock slipped from 11:59 to 12:00. "Claire, Mutti, Now."

Colombe cast a spell, turning Summer's normal white sundress into a rose pink ballroom dress that reached her ankles and brought out the pale beauty of her skin and complexion as she was crowned by a wreath of pink and red roses. Meanwhile Ron's normal clothes shifted into a dark tuxedo with a white rose in the lapel.

Claire played An der schönen, blauen Donau from memory as the two, surrounded by their friends and family, began the first steps to ring in the New Year to the sound of the greatest piece of waltz music composed.


Spoiler: Bonus Claire Funny Moment

A.N.-HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

SkyeFire said:
One of Nameless's side projects is an ongoing wordless 4-koma about a sword-wearing girl who collects goldfish. Snuggles them, pets them, feeds them, uses them as teddy bears (keeps prying them out of the jaws of sharks, the tentacles of octopi, trawler nets....)​

"Goldfish Saver Ma-Chan?" Chisuheri asked dubiously. Akutoku nodded.

"I know it looks kind of silly, but trust me, it's great. Just read the first chapter."

"You sound so certain."

"That's because I am." Chisuheri cocked an eyebrow, still unconvinced. "Okay, it looks like it's just about a girl who runs around rescuing goldfish from ridiculous situations, but it's also got a lot of stuff about coping with trauma and dealing with situations that you have no control of, and the story just kind of slowly shows up through each chapter and it's really great so read it."

"And yet, it's still about a girl who runs around saving goldfish."

"Aw, come on, Sis--"

As usual, Kyoshu's entry into the conversation was completely unexpected. Nameless wheeled herself after her at a more sedate pace. "Hey, everyone! What are you doing? Are those goldfish? Hey, I like goldfish!"

"Kyoshu! Kyoshu, off!"

Nameless watched calmly as Kyoshu ran off to the kitchen searching for goldfish. Akutoku chased after her upon realizing that the "Goldfish Sword" had run off with the computer mouse, and Chisuheri followed to make sure that the two didn't break anything.

Nameless rolled up to the computer desk and opened a drawer, selecting a spare mouse and plugging it in to the computer. After testing to make sure it worked, she turned on the scanner and pulled a small sheaf of papers out of its resting place beside her leg. Norimune had told her that this was a good, interesting direction to take the story. She just hoped that all of her readers felt the same.

(Nameless didn't know that she was keeping any sort of secret from her hosts. When she found out, Norimune laughed uproariously and Nameless facepalmed with both hands out of embarrassment.)

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"Eeee! We're going to a festival, Juuchi-Oba-Chan!"

Leaning against a counter, Juuchi watched as her newest... niece, leapt and danced around. Every so often fading away from sight and memory, only to appear nearby. Smugly smirking, she peeled a blood orange, "We are indeed, Kenshō-Chan. Hopefully we'll have fun there."

Practically bouncing as she threw her arms wide, the Kogatana nodded, "Hai! And I even got a Yukata from Tsukiakari-Onee-Chan to wear!"

Those words caused Juuchi to pause and frown, "She got you a Yukata, Kenshō-Chan? A new one?"

Not even noticing the tone, the seemingly little girl spun, "A really nice blue one! With goldfish on it too!" She then gave her aunt a slow, serious nod, "I like goldfish."

Even as the smaller blade resumed her dancing in excitement, Juuchi turned to the Kyu-Gunto and raised an eyebrow. For her part, Tsukiakari looked away with an innocent look, "All I did was contact Honjo-Senpai and ask her if she knew where I could find a nice Yukata. That is all."

Her expression stating just how much she believed her 'Kohai', the Muramasa hummed, "I see..." Glancing back at Kenshō, however, she just sighed, 'Cannot be helped, I suppose...' Instead, Juuchi popped one of the slices of blood orange into her mouth and chewed, enjoying the citrus flavour. Once she swallowed, she gave Kenshō a look, "Now remember, Kenshō-Chan, enjoy the festival but keep close to Master just in case. You know he can get into trouble."

From where he was packing some food, Harry gave her a look which made Tsukiakari giggle along with his next words, "I'm right here, you know. Besides which, I don't go looking for trouble, it goes looking for me."

Seemingly ignoring him, Kenshō puffed out her chest and gave Juuchi a salute, "Hai! Don't worry, I'll keep close to Master and protect him!" Fading out of view, she faded back into it next to Harry as she hugged him, "I won't let anyone harm Master!"

Rather than comment, Harry rolled his eyes before giving Kenshō a pat on the head followed by a muffin, which made her cheer.

Bemused, the teenage wizard only shook his head as the Kogatana munched happily on the muffin. Just a few minutes later, he turned as Shiromizu slipped into the kitchen and placed a cup of tea in front of her. The Mizuchi, meanwhile, gave her a slight, thankful smile, "Thank you, Harry."

Lightly chuckling, Harry smiled back at her, "You are very welcome, Shiromizu. Figured that you might need something to wake up considering how early it is."

Glancing out the window, at the predawn light, Shiromizu gave a nod, "Hai, I do need something to wake me up." Moments later, she perked up as Harry placed a plate full of eggs in front of her, lightly salted and peppered, just as she liked them. That... actually made her feel lighter and she gave him a smile, "Thank you, Otouto."

Waiting until she speared the first of the eggs, the teenage wizard nodded and went back to getting all the food ready for the day. After all, they were going to stop partway there for lunch and it was best that they had some food for that. Glancing up, he placed more plates out for Nagato as well as Hoppou, who were coming out of their rooms, "Hey there, give me a moment and I'll have some more food set up."

His lips did twitch a little as Hoppou hopped up onto a chair though and grabbed a muffin. And it was not just him who was amused as Nagato give a small chuckle before sitting down for breakfast, "Thank you, Harry. It looks wonderful, as always."

Even as he nodded, his adoptive little sister thanked him as well before biting happily into her muffin. As he began to do the dishes, Harry looked over his shoulder at Shiromizu, "So... have you packed everything that you are going to use in your new abode? Including the furniture and what you need for the library?"

Swallowing the last bit of eggs, Shiromizu wiped at her mouth with a napkin before she answered, "Hai, I placed the desks, drawers, and such into the expanded trunk. When we get to my home, we'll set them all up there. Though..." Narrowing her eyes, she shook her head, "I think that there's too much in the chest, Harry. There's got to be at least eight bookshelves, two tables marked for the library, and a large number of books."

Just turning away, Harry hid his smirk best that he could, "That so? Well, best that you have something in case you do need it. Besides... I thought that you could use the books for the library that you are going to have in order to have Ryo-San manifest in your home."

Now frowning, the Mizuchi furrowed her eyebrows, "Of course, just like I asked Onee-Sama to plant a field of sunflowers just outside for Himawari-Chan and dig out a spring on the site for a small pond to attach Suihou-Chan. But it was just going to be a small room..." Thinking back at the chest of books, Shiromizu narrowed her eyes some, "But there's a lot of books there as it is. Light novels and other fiction, science and history books, magical books... not to mention the magazines. What I am going to do with at least a decade's worth of National Geographics, I'm not sure. Heck, you somehow managed to find an entire Encylopedia Brittanica series!"

Continuing to wash, Harry simply hummed, "That was hard to find, but I did. It should look pretty good in your library, Shiromizu."

As he was turned away, he did not know that only made Shiromizu even more suspicious than she had been the night before, 'What is he playing at... Did Onee-Sama do something? Because she always goes overboard...'

For the rest of the breakfast, the serpent continued to stare at her "Little Brother", as if demanding he give up his secrets. But despite the stares, he held fast and simply pretended not to notice them. Granted, Shiromizu did note that he had a slight, smug smirk on his face not unlike that which Juuchi had. Something that raised her suspicions even more.

However, she was unable to give voice to said suspicions as they soon left the apartment and headed outside to where there was a van waiting. One of the windows rolled down to reveal Kensuke there with a smile on his face, "Ready to head out?"

Just nodding, Harry was about to say something when the side door opened and two blurs shot out that he knew to be the youngest Onos, "HOPPOU-CHAN! HOPPOU-CHAN!"

They were met partway by said Abyssal who was giggling madly, "ASUKA-CHAN! REI-CHAN!"

Ignoring the two kits for the moment as them and Hoppou were excitedly dancing around each other and chattering, Harry turned towards Natsumi with a slight smile, "Hey there, Natsumi-Chan."

Natsumi returned the smile and walked over before placing a short kiss on his lips and hugging him, "Good morning, Harry-Chan. Are you ready to head out?"

With a small smile on his face, Harry gave a shrug, "Hai, I am." He then gestured beside him at the little Kogatana trying to hide behind him, "Natsumi-Chan? Meet Kenshō, my newest blade."

At the unsure look in the blade spirit's eyes, the Kitsune crouched down and gave her a small, gentle smile, "Good morning, Kenshō-Chan. Are you excited to go to the festival as well then? Because I know that I am as well and that we'll all have a lot of fun."

Shyly, Kenshō glanced up at Harry and, after he nodded, stepped behind him and bowed, "H-hai, I am looking forward to having a lot of fun with you all, Natsumi-Sama."

Reaching out, Natsumi placed her hand on Kenshō's head and ruffled her hair some, "That is good to hear, and I am sure that you'll be able to keep Harry-Chan out of trouble, as hard as that is." Ignoring the grumble from said boy, she gave Kenshō a smile, "He really needs it."

In return, Kenshō puffed out her chest a little, "Hai! I'll do that."

Lips twitching, the Kitsune turned to Harry and he shrugged a little, "From what I heard, Carnwennan will be coming with some of the others..." Hearing a beeping sound, he turned and blinked a little at the Mini that pulled up until he noted who was driving it, "Carnwennan?"

Smile on his face, Carnwennan rolled down the windows and gave a small nod, "Indeed it is I, Master."

Juuchi blinked once before doing so again, "... You actually bought a Mini."

His smile turning into a smirk, the Arthurian blade did so, "Much as I said that I would." Patting the car, he gave a small nod, "Quite the good little automobile, though I shall also have it enchanted soon enough. And at least it is not a Prius." Ignoring Juuchi's grumbles, Carnwennan smiled over at Tsukiakari, "If you look in the trunk, you shall find your ride and passenger, Tsu."

Eyes lighting up, Tsukiakari rushed to the back and found the vehicle in question before taking out the item. A wave of her true self, and it revealed the item to be a WWII era motorcycle with a side car. Then, Goldie manifested with a smile on her face and wearing motorcycle leathers as she patted the bike, "This shall be our Chariot, one that the Emperors would have been pleased to ride in."

As the Kyu-Gunto nodded, Juuchi frowned slightly, "You do realize that is an American made motorbike, correct?"

Blinking, Goldie turned to her and gave a small shrug, "While built in the United States, it is of Rome. For all good things are Roman in the end, Umu."

Only barely able to keep back his snort of amusement, Harry looked into the Mini and noted that in the back seat sat Andraste and Sabah, while Dracul was in the front passenger seat, "Good morning you guys."

Sipping her iced coffee and then lowering her shades, Dracul grinned a little which showed one of her fangs, "It is, indeed, a good morning Master." Placing her sunglasses back, she hummed, "I am looking forward to this festival."

When he turned to them, the two spirits in the back seat also nodded with Andraste answering for them both, "We are quite happy as well, Master. Going to an actual festival? We are looking forward to it as are the others." Seeing his look, the Shield shook her head, "They shall come later via Owl Box. We decided that it would be best not to have too many around after all."

After a few more minutes of chatting with them, it was time to go and they all got into the needed vehicles before leaving. Inside the van, Harry had a thoughtful look on his face as they drove out into the city as the Sun slowly broke over the horizon. Yawning, Natsumi turned to face him, "Is something wrong, Harry-Chan?"

Harry blinked for a moment and then shrugged, "Not really? Just wondering a bit about Benio and Tatsuya. I was talking to them last night before bed since he wanted to know if I could contact Miyuki-Nee. I did, but she brought along Oboro as well with her. Something about some wizard and odd sea life behavior..."

That made more than one of the adults turn to look at him but then they glanced at each other and shrugged.

____________________________________________________________________

Small tears in her clothing, Benio frowned a little as she looked at the others in their group. Tonbo was grumbling a bit as she looked around with narrowed eyes while Tatsuya had a look on his face that was one she saw rarely... disbelief as even this was ridiculous by their standards. Even the two shipgirls with them seemed to be having trouble accepting what was happening. Behind them, Reiko had a frown on her face, "Um... guys? I think that we might be in trouble."

Just nodding slowly, the Yuki-Onna Hanyou raised her bat a little, "Seems like they caught us in a... pincer attack."

Utter silence met her at that, even from the crabs and the wizard who had a lobster on his head. Closing his eyes, Tatsuya groaned a little bit, "If I had not known you for as long as I have, Benio, I would have thought that this was due to you hanging with Potter-San too much."

Miyuki gave a nod of her own at that, "Hai, same here." Scratching her cheek, she frowned a little, "Harry-Chan does love his puns after all."

Now grinning, Benio had a sparkle in her eye, "Hey, don't be so crabby now, Tatsuya."

Facepalming, Reiko sighed into her hands, "Why... just why..."

However, having shaken off his confusion, the wizard began to cackle as he spread his hands, "It matters not! For now, my plans have come to fruition! Kamo and my fellow researchers back in the war laughed at me! But I shall have the last laugh! With my army of magically controlled and intelligence boosted crustaceans, I shall take over the town first! And then... the crustaceans shall rise once more and conquer the world! With my as their overlord leading legions of Lobstermen and Crabwomen to take it back!"

Slowly, Oboro raised her hand, "Um... do you have Lobstermen yet? And what was that about Crabwomen?"

Just blinking, the wizard blushed and coughed, "Details... but I shall show that my idea did have credit! That armies of crustaceans could crush all opposition!"

Eyebrow raised, Tatsuya turned towards Miyuki, "Well? Could they?"

Completely nonplussed, the Destroyer sighed, "I have no idea..." Looking on at the wizard, she blinked with a "What am I even doing here" expression, "And while I knew some of the projects were just wierd... this takes the cake." Miyuki raised her guns, only to blink as a hand pushed them down, "Oboro-Chan?"

Grin on her face, Oboro spread her arms, "I got this! For these are my people!" Stepping forward, she took a deep breath, "Crabby! Hit it!"

It was not just Miyuki who was staring as the Destroyer's pet crab came out of where it was hiding in her rigging. Then, it started to bounce up and down on it's legs while clacking it's claws in time. Confused, the wizard opened his mouth, only to note that Oboro was tapping her foot in time as well, "What are you..."

Trailing off, he noticed that all the crabs were staring as well before some began to mimic Crabby's movements. As the clacking sound made and pounding some of the other crabs did made an odd music, Oboro began to move away from the others, "I got this, you handle the wizard..." Starting to dance with some of the crabs following her movements in dancing along, she gave a shout as she lead them away, "CRAB RAVE!"

Slowly, the mass of crabs, dancing and making music, disappeared over some dunes as everyone watched. For a minute or two, they listened to further calls of "CRAB RAVE" in disbelief. With a deep breath, Tatsuya gave a sigh, "Well... that happened."

Pinching her nose, Miyuki sighed a little as well, "I... don't know what to say. But wat."

With a small shrug, Reiko frowned a little, "I just don't know myself and... Benio, are you dancing?"

And, sure enough, Benio was, indeed, dancing to the beat as she bobbed her head, "What? It's catchy."

Just looking at the sky, Tatsuya was silent before shrugging and pointing at the wizard who was shouting for his army to come back, "Let's... just beat up the bad guy, okay?"

Looking at each other, all of them gave a shrug, "Sure."

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Over a month without a new post... this snippet just didn't want to be made. But finally, I have a semi-complete snippet, ready just in time for the new year!

XXXXXXXXXX

Nuri ran a hand through her hair blissfully, basking in its newfound silky-smoothness. "Ah, so nice…" she hummed to herself. "Spending so much time out in the briny wilderness makes it so easy to forget the havoc it wreaks on your hair." Glancing to her sister, she smirked. "Especially for you." After a complimentary salon treatment from the locals, Sunny's head looked like it had spontaneously grown a half-inch wider, purely from the restoration of her hair's natural volume and luster. It was actually kind of a strange sight, when her siblings were more used to her thread-like hair clinging to her scalp so closely.

"Bah, I could hardly tell—my hair looks amazing either way!" Sunny chuckled, flipping her mane with a flick of her head. "No, but it does feel good to not have my hair sticking to me like seaweed. It was really nice of the natives to treat us like this." There were murmurs of agreement among their fleet.

Nuri simply nodded as she turned to her sisters. "Now, then…" she called out. "One last check, before we set out: does everyone have their affairs in order?"

After a few seconds of thinking, one of the girls raised their hand. "I wanted to try some poi while we were here…"

The sibling's request was met with a mix of amusement and exasperation, the mention of the native foodstuff bringing a certain destroyer to mind. "You could have done that at any point in the past two days, Rizzo…" Nuri said. "We don't want to overstay our welcome here by loitering. This is a diplomatic expedition, remember?"

The sheepish Ri-class let her hand fall. "Sorry…"

Nuri waved a hand. "It's alright, Rizzo. You'll have another opportunity to try it when we come back through here, on our way home. Anyone else?" When nobody answered, she nodded in satisfaction. "Alright then. Without further ado… onward to Pan—"

Nuri's voice was suddenly drowned out by a distant sound—sirens, blaring out a single steady note. Instantly, the entire group stiffened, their collective gaze snapping to the nearest siren. They were intimately familiar with this sound… bringing back memories of the home they lost years prior, where they had been drilled in the various siren calls and their meanings.

There were enemies inbound.

The Abyssals' radios crackled to life. {This is USS Tennessee issuing a warning to all friendly ships in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor: unidentified Abyssal ships have just been detected on course for the Harbor! Only two ships have been spotted, but they don't match the description of any known Abyssal type—they are assumed to be Demon-class ships or higher! Nearby friendlies are urged to change current course and move to intercept. Coordinates are as follows…}

Sunny and Nuri shared a glance, communicating wordlessly with each other, before turning to their fleet.

"Change of plans, girls…"

XXXXX

After three days of sailing, Tsu-class's everything ached. Her armored-over turret rings continued to burn long after their reinforcement… her remaining guns were grating and creaking in their housing… two of her boilers had sprung leaks… her rudders felt loose… and she could swear one of her turbines was making a grinding sound.

But worst of all… after several years without sailing, she was remembering the feeling of true hunger.

The Tsu-class brought her clunky armored hand to her gut, as if trying to suppress her growling stomach. Her oil reserves were down to a little under a quarter after several days of ducking and weaving around human patrols, escaping into the open ocean so they could turn back around and approach the nearby harbor head-on. They could have saved a lot of time and fuel just skimming the shores of these islands, taking a straight course to their destination… but it wasn't worth the risk. If Abyssals popped up right in their backyard, the nearby shipgirls would be liable to shoot first and ask questions later.

She glanced up as the ever-present buzz in the air grew louder. It was a shipgirl's scout plane, making another flyby to try and identify them. Neither sister even bothered to tag the scout with radar, let alone train their guns on it—never mind their overall degraded equipment making a killshot incredibly unlikely, doing so would be against the point of this whole endeavor. They could feel the sonar pings of the submarines stalking them, anyway, which made any attempt to hide from prying eyes utterly useless. They simply maintained their course, advancing to the human-controlled harbor at a cautious 15 knots.

As the flat blue of the distant horizon was eventually disrupted by the summit of the volcanic island before them, her sister suddenly came to a stop. Concerned, the Tsu-class turned around and made her way back to her sister's side. She could see her sister's strained expression; her eyes closed, the twinges in her facial muscles. She knew what this was. "...they're arguing," she stated simply.

Tampa wasn't alone in her body… not anymore. She shared it with four of her fallen sisters—the donors of her mismatched body parts, saved from passing on to the next realm by whatever mystical force had uplifted the Ta-class.

None of them considered it a blessing.

Tampa opened her eyes and sighed softly. "So many ways... this could go wrong. They know we're here, now… so we can't return to living alone again. But we still want... to try and turn back."

"Rocket and Waffle?"

A soft nod. "They're afraid. And we cannot deny their fears."

The Tsu-class reached out with her good arm and gripped her sister's shoulder. "We have to keep moving forward. I can't give up on my family a second time…I've got too much guilt in my heart already." She started up her engines again, slowly tugging the conflicted Ta-class forward. "Come on… the shore can't be much further." The pair continued moving, albeit at a much slower pace… a result of Tampa's loss of inner harmony making it that much harder to will her patchwork body into motion. Over time, more of the island on the horizon became visible—they could make radio towers, construction cranes, warehouses…

And the distant wall of raid sirens, as almost a dozen shipgirls formed a defensive line between them and the harbor.

The head of the defensive fleet came forward—a battleship with tanned skin and blonde hair, training all of her main guns on them. "You two are either desperate or insane, to sail up to our doorstep like this," she said simply. "Were it not for your current states, we would've had every reason to gun you down by now." The battleship folded her arms. "Who are you, and what are you doing in Pearl Harbor?"

The Tsu-class flinched. She'd known they were squatting somewhere close to the Hawaiian islands, if not one of the islands themselves… but of all the military bases Tampa could've chosen to travel to, did she really have to choose the biggest and most heavily fortified of the lot!? Her knowledge of the military presence on Hawaii had faded substantially over the years, but even then she could recall at least three other naval outposts that would have provoked a far less aggressive response then Pearl Harbor!

But… the pair hadn't been fired on yet. They were still being given a chance to say their piece.

Slowly, carefully, the Tsu-class produced her fishing spear—with the tattered remnants of a Ta-class's cape tied to the top—and started waving it over her head.

"Please… please don't shoot!" she called out. "We surrender! We surrender!" Seeing the Abyssals brandishing a white flag, the shipgirls of the defensive fleet paused. Several of them looked to the pair suspiciously. "It's not a trap, I swear! Our guns are unloaded!"

After several long seconds, the battleship drifted forward, coming within several yards of the sisters. She spent a moment looking them over before grimacing. "You two look like you haven't been serviced in years," she said bluntly.

The Tsu-class answered the question upfront. Honesty was their only option, if they wanted the shipgirls to help them. "We haven't."

The battleship blinked, taken aback by the equally-blunt response. "You're… you're serious?" The Tsu-class simply nodded. "...Jesus Christ. What fleet did you two come from!?"

"The fleet of the... the Northern Ocean Princess."

The moment those words left the Tsu-class's mouth, the battleship froze—as did the rest of the defensive fleet. The shipgirls' heads started whipping back and forth as they all exchanged shocked stares with one another.

"Northern Ocean Princess…" the battleship almost whispered. "You're one of HERS…?"

The Tsu-class perked up. "Y-you know about her!?" She began to babble in her excitement. "Is she alive? Where is she? Is she safe? Are we at peace—"

Her excitement was quickly quashed as the shipgirl leveled her guns on her. "Before I say another word on the matter," she growled, "I want to see irrefutable proof that you are connected to the Northern Ocean Princess."

"O-oh…" The Tsu-class hesitated briefly, before something came to mind. "H-hold on." She reached up and pulled her helmet away, offering it to the shipgirl. "She, she made me this, a long time ago. She engraved a message on the inside…"

"Hatsumo!?"

The Tsu-class's head snapped to the side. Standing off in the distance was an Abyssal Battleship Demon… and behind her, were more than a dozen faces she'd thought she would never see again.

"You're… you're alive!"

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

Yellowhammer said:
Mei Yuying: "I don't need to bring up the Chinese curse about 'may you live in interesting times!', do I?"​

Well, you remember how the whole thing goes, right?

• May you live in interesting times
• May you be recognized by people in high places (sometimes also reported as: May you attract the attention of the government)
• May you find what you're looking for (often heard as "be careful what you wish for… it may just come true…")

I think that Ying is about to run facefirst into all three parts.

Yellowhammer said:
Mei Yuying: "Well, when Nainai needs to blow off steam, no reason not to use my shapeshifting powers to hit the clubs with a 36B-24-36 body and an ass you can bounce a toonie off and get eight quarters back in change."

Wei Ying: "MOTHER!!!"

Mei Yuying: "Like you haven't done it too, Eldest Daughter..."​

36-24-36?
Hah! Only if she's 5'3"!
(which, being Asian, Yuying might just be about that height)

Yellowhammer said:
That is truly hilarious and evil! Have a peanut butter cookie, Tamamo-no-Echo!
Yellowhammer said:
This was a great snip, and truly funny NHA! I think of it as canon.​

Ditto.

None of the characters are ever actually named, although the fanbase assumes the sword-carrying girl is the titular Ma-chan. At first, there's just her and the character the fans dub "Big Goldfish," but later Little Goldfish shows up as a recurring character. Other fan-named characters that sometimes appear are Spear Goldfish, Fang Goldfish, Pervert Goldfish, Coldfish, CutterFish, Blind Goldfish, Muffin Man, Black Mizuchi, White Mizuchi, Bell Goldfish, and others.
(Hm... if all the Butterknives are Goldfish, what would the Breadknives be?)

"She's Not Heavy...."
Panel 1: Ma-chan, Big Goldfish, and Little Goldfish, cheerfully wandering down a country road (Ma-chan in her wheelchair, the Goldfish air-swimming), looking at the flowers and butterflies
Panel 2: Ma-chan's wheelchair gets stuck in some mud
Panel 3: Ma-chan looking worn-out trying to push through, general dismay from the Goldfish
Panel 4: Big Goldfish cheerfully carrying Ma-chan along on her back, with a line towing the wheelchair along (Little Goldfish is gamely pushing the chair from behind, with an expression that practically shouts "I'M HELPING!")

"A kiss in time...."
Panel 1: Ma-chan (in a snorkling mask) and the Godfish are swimming somewhere deep
Panel 2: Ma-chan's cheeks puff out and she grabs her chest, looking scared
Panel 3: Ma-chan stroking hard for the surface, but looks strained. Little Goldfish is pushing her from below, but Big Goldfish is nowhere to be se-- wait, is that her tail dangling down from the top of the frame?
Panel 4: Big Goldfish is cheerfully kissing Ma-chan, with air bubbles rising from their liplock indicating what she's really doing. Ma-chan looks much more relaxed, but blushing. Little Goldfish is half-covering her eyes with her fins.

"No bad dreams...."
Panel 1: Ma-chan and Big Goldfish are on on separate futons. The moon is visible in the window, and Big Goldfish is snoring, but Ma-chan is staring at the ceiling wearily.
Panel 2: Big Goldfish starts thrashing around in her sleep, with a 'dark aura' sketched out around her
Panel 3: Ma-chan dragging her futon towards the nightmare-ridden Goldfish
Panel 4: Ma-chan and Big Goldfish both sleeping peacefully under the same blanket arms and fins hugging each other

"So slippery...."
Panel 1: Ma-chan is practicing swings with a shinai, looking sweaty and tired. Big Goldfish has just popped up over one shoulder
Panel 2: Big Goldfish blows inquisitive bubbles in Ma-chan's ear. Ma-chan, startled, loses her grip, and her shinai goes flying out of frame
Panel 3: Big Goldfish also goes flying out of frame, as Ma-chan looks to be yelling angrily
Panel 4: Big Goldfish bringing back the shinai like a dog, and Ma-chan pets her. Her expression says she wants to stay mad, but just can't

"A bigger stick...."
Panels 1-3: near-duplicate of "So slippery," but Little Goldfish is also present
Panel 4: Little Goldfish has proudly retrieved the shinai... but Big Goldfish has retrieved Spear Goldfish, who has a "WTF?!?" expression. Ma-chan's expression says "Oh good grief" in a very Charlie Brown fashion

"It's okay...."
Panel 1: Ma-chan and Big Goldfish are cleaning the kitchen (Little Goldfish's tail is protruding from the dishwasher, making Industrious Cleaning Motions)
Panel 2: Ma-chan is wearing a bucket over her head, soaking wet. The motion lines connect the bucket to the tail of Big Goldfish, whose motion lines indicate she has just performed a fast 180 for some reason, and whose face is wearing an "OH NOES!" expression. Little Goldfish's head (wearing an anime cleaning-lady style hair-bandanna) is poking out of the dishwasher in alarm.
Panel 3: Big Goldfish is trying to dry off Ma-chan and just making it worse, crying her eyes out. Little Goldfish is hovering overhead, wringing her fins with a "what do I do?" expression.
Panel 4: Ma-chan has gathered both Goldfish into a wet hug, wearing an "It's all right, don't cry" expression

"Eyes bigger than her stomach...."
Panel 1: Muffin Man is holding a plate of steaming muffins. Ma-chan is already biting into one, and Muffin Man is holding one out to Little Goldfish
Panel 2: Little Goldfish's mouth grows into a huge fanged orifice three times the size of her body, and CHOMP!s the entire muffin, leaving only crumbs on MM's hand. MM and Ma-chan both have Very Big Eyes
Panel 3: LG is "floating" on her back, looking stuffed and burping. BG is clapping her fins together making an "Me next ME ME MEEEE!" expression at MM, who looks amused and holds out another muffin
Panel 4: BG has (somehow) swallowed MM's arm up to the elbow, and has an apologetic "oops...?" expression. Ma-chan and LG are facepalming with identical expressions, and MM is rolling his eyes in affectionate exasperation

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"... And in other news, the shipgirl named Oboro was recorded as leading what seemed to be a flashmob of crabs across a beach. There has been no comment as to how the Destroyer managed to train the animals to do such from the military as of this moment, but a number of biologists have stated that they would like to speak to her. And now for the weather..."

Glancing at the radio, Sakuya sipped her tea while glancing at Nagato who was pinching her nose, "I take it that you know who that is?"

With a sigh, Nagato nodded, "Hai, I do. She's one of the Ayanami Class and has an odd obsession with crabs. Has one as a pet that hangs out in her rigging that she calls 'Mr. Crab' and 'Crabby'. Though some think that they're two crabs as she sometimes calls them either female or male."

Rather bemused at the idea of a shipgirl keeping a crab as a pet, the Kitsune gave a small nod, "I see..." Looking in the mirror, she chuckled a little bit. At the look from Nagato, Sakuya nodded back a little before whispering, "Natsumi-Chan as well as Harry-Kun and Louisiana-Chan."

Eyebrow raised, Nagato smiled a little when she looked into the mirror to find both teens leaning against the American Battleship who had joined them. Softly smiling, she turned to Sakuya and shook her head a little, "They look comfortable, do they not?"

Softly smiling, Sakuya giggled a little, "They do, would be a bit of a shame to disturb them." Glancing at the mirror again, she shook her head, "For what it is worth, I feel Natsumi-Chan has chosen quite well. And I do approve of it, as odd as it may be. Especially after..."

Understanding what she meant, the Japanese Battleship reached over and gently squeezed a hand, "Both of them are alright, Sakuya-San. Neither are in danger, not in the slightest."

Only taking a deep breath, Sakuya gave a slight nod, "I can understand that in my mind, but in my heart... more than once over the past week, I have woken from a nightmare where that has not been true. But... perhaps this will help."

Humming as she fully understood, Nagato changed the subject which made two adult Kitsune very grateful, "So from what I have been told, Taichi-San will arrive with both Kaga and Akagi? And your parents shall arrive in another car as well?"

Just nodding, the Kitsune chuckled, "Hai, and that is another case where I am quite pleased with how my children have chosen their partners. I have found both Kaga-San as well as Akagi-San to be quite the women personally. Strong, but not so much that they will take over my son's life. And also they fit together quite well with the bonds that they have forged before meeting Taichi-Kun. So I very much doubt that the usual issue there will pop up."

To that, Nagato chuckled a little as she remembered various things, "That is a very good point to be honest. I will admit, there were a number among us who thought that there was no chance of someone being allowed with either of them as they seemed to suit each other the very best. Still... even Zuikaku commented that Kaga seems to have some rough edges smoothed off. And it is not like it is much trouble and everyone is supportive." A snicker escaped her, "Even if it does lead to a number of jokes about 'Touching fluffy tail' for them to deal with."

Unable to help herself, Sakuya giggled a little, "Yes, I can see that. A danger of being in a relationship with a Kitsune as our tails are quite fluffy."

Both women smiled at each other and grinned before lightly laughing.

It was not long after that before Nagato turned in her seat with an amused look on her face, "We're only an hour out from the train station we need to take."

When they looked at Shiromizu, she blushed lightly, "I thought that it would be nice to take the train up the mountainside, at least for the first day." Poking her fingers together, she looked away, "It sounded nice, though when they have it up and running I would not mind trying the ropeway that they have also been talking about building."

Reaching over, Harry placed his hand on her shoulder, "I don't think that any of us really mind all that much, Shiromizu. Besides... riding a train up the mountain doesn't sound that bad."

From where she sat on the otherside of Louisiana, Natsumi gave a small nod, "It actually sounds pretty fun. And we did come to sightsee a little and see how things have changed after all. It is a festival after all."

Grateful, the Mizuchi gave a small nod, "Thank you."

Anything else though was stopped as Rei, who was poking her head over the headrest of one of the seats, gave a gasp, "Look! There's a stone bridge up ahead!"

Blinking, Shiromizu frowned as she leaned to the side to look only to furrow her eyebrows, "That's odd... there shouldn't be a bridge there."

Only humming as the van slowed a little, Kensuke raised an eyebrow, "It looks like one of the ones from the eighteenth century. Remember those, Sakuya-Chan?"

Lips twitching a little, the Kitsune in question gave a nod, "Hai, I do remember those old bridges. A little bit of a shame that many of them no longer exist, but this one? It looks much newer."

As they crossed the bridge, Shiromizu realized something else, "Wait, there's a dug out channel down there. No water, but... it looks like it is going in the direction of the old gravel pit? Why would they even dig it here?"

Glancing out the window, Harry hummed a little, "Maybe flood pervention? I mean, when spring melt comes, you would get quite a bit of water coming off the mountain. Same with any typhoons that sweep through here... a way to get all the water out of the way."

Still frowning, the young Mizuchi chewed her lip some, "I guess that makes some sense...?"

Unnoticed by her, Natsumi gave Harry a raised eyebrow in question. One that was answered by a smirk by Harry, which made her blink before she grinned at understanding the hidden message, 'Oh, I cannot wait to see her face...' Rather than comment on that, the teenage Kitsune cleared her throat, "So how are some of the other things going on with your mountain?"

Confused, Shiromizu turned her thoughts away from the oddness of what she was seeing to Natsumi, "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Natsumi sighed a little bit, "You mentioned before that you had some farms nearby? And orchards as well as a Inn?"

The thirteen year old wizard of the group spoke up at that point, "Which is owned by Miyuki-San the Yuki-Onna and her husband. From what she told me, she was very happy and her relatives are as well."

Just nodding, Natsumi turned back to Shiromizu, "Hai, I remember that..."

Her thoughts having been derailed about the dry channel, Shiromizu shrugged a little, "Not much to say? There's a few chicken farms and such around as well as a small dairy farm. Well, we have a berry farm as well, they bought some blackcurrents and the like to sell, from what I heard they are already making a profit on those. We also have some damson orchards as well, since I gave them a number of pits that Harry and you brought back with the fruit from Britain, but those are higher up the mountain where it gets a bit too chilly for normal fruit trees..."

Nagato then spoke up, "It is a little bit of an experiment actually. If they do well here, the government is considering having some planted up in Hokkaido in colder areas to provide more fruit to the nation. The blackcurrents are another as they are a very good source of Vitamin C and they think that they can spread them out to help with any rationing."

With a nod, the Mizuchi turned back to her friends, "We did take some cues from your hometown though, Natsumi-Chan. Some of the old mines have been magically reinforced and had space expansion charms used on them as well as some other environmental spells. So we got deer farms, goat farms, and the like operating under the mountain as well as some fish farms. They had to check to make sure that some of the mines in that last case have no exit points for the water... but it seems to be working with magical filters and the like keeping the water oxygenated and clean. The Japanese government seem to be interested as it mixes magic and non-magical technology. That's beside the other things as well."

The conversation continued from there as the van turned onto an exit and drove along it until they came to a small parkade which made them nod as they drove in followed by Carnwennan and Tsukiakari. When they parked though, there was also another van as well as motorcycle which made the teens grin. As soon as they got out, Harry made his way over to where Asuka the Tengu was, "Asuka-San!"

Blinking, she looked over her shoulder at Harry and the others before smiling herself, "Harry-San! Natsumi-San!" Asuka grinned at them both before noticing Natsumi's little sister who shared her name pouting, "Is she still on about..."

Amused, Natsumi gave a shrug, "About you stealing her name? Hai, she is." She snickered a little and shook her head, "I wouldn't worry too much about it." Then, the Kitsune turned her attention to the other members of the Abyss Divers that were there before bowing, "Hello, I'm Ono Natsumi-San. And... thank you, for the help you gave us a year ago."

One of them, a tanned woman, blinked before giving her a grin and speaking in an Okinawan accent, "Don't worry about it, at least you got the spider who was causing it, uh... right?"

Scratching her neck, Natsumi nodded, "Hai, myself, Harry-Chan, and Shiromizu-Chan killed her." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shiromizu greet Jin and shake her head, "So... excited to be at the festival? I mean, it is in your honor..."

Much to her amusement, that caused the various human pilots to lightly blush out of embarrassment before one of the males coughed, "Uh, still getting used to that. I mean, a festival? That is partially dedicated to us? I mean..."

It turned out that she was not the only one who was amused as Ai chuckled, "I would say that you should get used to it, Kudzu. After all, I believe that they have already stated their intentions to enshrine you once you pass. It is highly likely that you will be aware when you become a Kami."

At that, another of the male pilots shook his head and disbelief, "Yeah, no offense, Tengu? That is just plain odd, not just the whole enshrinement, but... the whole thing about the Kami being real? And that 'Celestial Accords' thing making them not able to interfere directly and stuff." With a shrug, he turned to Natsumi, "Right, names Taikomachi by the way."

Right then was when Shiromizu returned with a slight smirk, "As an aside, your future Shrine is quite nice." Seeing them jump, she snickered, "It's a side Shrine to my own and while empty at the moment? They already have everything for it including two statues of F-15JS fighters as Koma Inu. Though..." The Mizuchi turned towards Ai, "From what I have been told, they wish to enshrine the planes as well?"

With a small nod, Ai brought out a bolt that had come from the plane she used, "Hai..." Turning over the slightly rusted piece of metal in her hand, she sighed a little, "I will admit to being somewhat saddened that she can no longer fly, at least she gets respected as she should be. I also have pieces from the others as well just in case."

The Mizuchi only nodded in agreement with that before gesturing for them to follow her, "I think that sounds just fine. But... right now, I think that we should be going."

Getting nods, they began to walk and talk though Gyaru was happy when hearing that there would be a Shīsā and her Kitsune husband operating a stall where they would sell goat cooked Okinawan style. Much to the others amusement, she started bothering her friends with eating "True Okinawan cuisine for a change, not tourist shit" much to their amused exasparation. All Gyaru did though was grin at the snickers and such. Granted, they did wait as Kaga's car arrived at that moment followed by the van used by the elder Onos.

Much to Harry's surprise was who had obviously come with Natsumi's grandparents, though part of him wondered how it was that Kaga, Akagi, and Taichi were late as they set off before them... Though the red marks on his neck as well as that of the two Carriers provided something of an answer. But Harry's focus was more on whom was walking out behind the elder Onos and Kogitsune, "Grandmother?"

A soft smile on her face, Siusan walked over and gave him a hug, "It is indeed, Harry-Child. My friends asked me if I wanted to be here and I could not turn it down."

Even as she took a step back, Haruka was there and giving him a hug as well before she, too, pulled back, "And to be quite honest, I agree with Siusan, Harry. It also gives us some more time to spend together."

The only thing that Harry did in reply was smile and agree before they started towards the small station that they could all see.

Upon reaching the small railway station, which did have an inside area for people to sit as well as drink and food machines, Boke blinked and raised an eyebrow at the small , blue locomotive that sat there, smoke coming from it's stack. Behind it, there were three train cars with seats inside them, "Is that what we're riding up in?"

Just slapping him on the back, Kero grinned, "Hey, it is a narrow gauge railway for a reason." He gave a small bow towards the conductor who was standing before the cars, the man having wolf ears on his head, "Uh, hello?"

Lips curling into a smile, the conductor tipped the brim of his old fashioned hat, "And a good day to you as well. Welcome aboard Ginzan Express, we will be making our way up the mountain as soon as you are all aboard."

Bowing alongside the others, Shiromizu smiled some, "Thank you, Susumu-Kun. How are you and Yoshiko-Chan?" There was a slight gleam in her eye as she glanced at the Engine where the female Engineer sat with a blush despite being far enough to not be able to hear normally, "I heard that the two of you have been dating since you fixed her up?"

Unable to stop himself, Susumu blushed at that and cleared his throat, "We, um, have been doing quite well for ourselves, Shiromizu-Sama. And she is now quite happy that she is able to travel up and down the mountain again."

Her lips curled into a knowing smile, the Mizuchi nodded, "Hai, I have heard that she is quite good at climbing peaks." Ignoring how the blush on both the wolf Yokai and the tsukumogami increased, she gave another bow as she made her way aboard, "Still, thank you both for the ride."

Soon after, they found seats with Kero bouncing a bit on one as they were done up in two rows at either side of an aisle, "Huh, these are pretty comfortable. I mean, really comfortable."

Walking up the aisle, Susumu paused for a moment before nodding, "We used cushioning charms on them, the same we used environmental charms on the cars. They keep cool during the summer and warm during the colder months... though we might open the windows a little for the scent."

And, with that, he walked to the end of the car and through the door. Watching for a moment, Harry gave Shiromizu a raised eyebrow, "So, I take it that Yoshiko is the name that the train's tsukumogami is going by? And they're together?"

Shiromizu chuckled a little bit as she nodded, "Hai, it is as a matter of fact to both. Susumu-Kun was the one who was called in to restore her as he had worked on engines like her back in the 1920s. Once he was done, she manifested and asked him to become her conductor as she overheard him during repairs telling her it had been a dream of his. The two of them, of course, hit it off and..." She waved her hand a little, "From what I have been told, they're planning on marrying next spring."

Despite how odd it was, that only got nods from the others even as the train began to move. It only took a few minutes for it to reach the bottom of the mountain and begin to climb upwards as it took a spiraling path along the mountain surrounded by wildflowers. At various places, it stopped to allow Yokai from various small communities on the mountain to board. Said communities were not much, just a few dozen. But it still serviced them and, as they continued to climb, the area around the mountain itself.

Where the amusement park had been, they could see a number of buildings which Shiromizu nodded, "That will be where the new combined schools for the mountain will be going. It'll service everyone from elementary up to high school level..." She blushed lightly and coughed, "I guess there's been a population boom recently."

From where she was leaning back, Jin grinned, "From what I heard, the population has, what? Tripled? Mostly Yokai and the like."

Giving a small nod, Shiromizu smiled shyly, "Hai, a number of whom are setting up magical industries. There's even going to be a small velomobile plant being built not far from here which will provide more jobs as well."

That only got her nods from those listening, while others were too interested in the outside. All along the track there were flowers and flowering bushes as well as tsubaki trees. Part of Harry remembered Shiromizu telling him that those were recently planted to provide color and beauty to those riding the train itself.

But, all too soon, they reached the station for the main village and got out.

As they did get out, the last of those on board the train, they noted the large group of Yokai and humans before them with Misa in her Kimono at the front. The Unagi Hime walked forward on her fins before bowing, "Welcome back, Lady Shiromizu. Welcome to you and our heroes who helped end the darkness of Kuroshi upon our mountain!"

Each of the human fighter pilots blushed some at the cheers as did Shiromizu, Harry, and Natsumi. Ai just smiled a little and nodded and Jin...

Jin just raised her hands clasped together and shook them, "Damn straight!"

However, before she could get much further, there was another cheer and she froze at a familiar voice, "BEHOLD THE DARK ONE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! ALONG WITH THE CRYSTAL ONE, THE PURE ONE, AND THE BAKER! BEHOLD!"

"BEHOLD THE DARK ONE! THE CRYSTAL ONE! THE PURE ONE! AND THE BAKER!"

Bemused at their responses, Harry raised one eyebrow and looked at Shiromizu, "'Crystal One'?"

Scratching her cheek, she nodded a little, "Hai, because my waters are clear unlike Senpai's. Crystal clear, so... well..."

Yet again, the head cultist/priestess called out, "BEHOLD THE CRYSTAL ONE! WHOSE WATERS SWEEP AWAY ALL DIRT AND CORRUPTION! WHO COMES AFTER THE DARK ONE TO CLEANSE THE WORLD OF TAINT! BEHOLD!"

All Shiromizu did was shrug and gesture, "Something like that."

Meanwhile, Jin was groaning a little bit, "Where the fuck did that bunch come from?"

Highly amused, Misa giggled a little, "Why, we put them up in the local hotel. After all, they worship both one of our heroes as well as Lady Shiromizu, so we could not leave them out of the festival since you shall be enshrined as well, Jin-Sama."

Grimacing, the undead Mizuchi grumbled a little even as her cult lead another cheer.

Eventually though, they got started on their journey through the village with them making note of the stands and the like along the road. There were also various businesses also open for the festival for anyone visiting, with them calling out towards the group their thanks. Hence, it was something of a relief for Shiromizu as they reached the small lake her "Onee-Sama" called home before looking over her shoulder, "We're nearly to where I told them to place my house up here. Hopefully, we can all stay..."

Upon hearing the snickers from both Harry and Misa, she narrowed her eyes at them in suspicion. But her attention was soon grabbed by Hoppou pointing, "Look! Sunflowers, Mommy! An entire field!"

Humming as she looked over the field, which had smaller sunflowers bordering the larger ones, and what looked like footpaths through it paved with stone, Nagato gave a nod, "Hai, and it is a beautiful field indeed." Head cocking to the side, she smiled, "I think that later it might be nice to take a walk through them."

Just nodding, Shiromizu chuckled as they walked along the edge, "I'm happy with this as I am sure that Himawari-Chan will love it when she fully syncs up with it." Three minutes later, the opposite edge could be seen, "My home should be right on the other side..."

She trailed off at seeing the wall that was there, with a tilted roof. As they reached an open door, Shiromizu boggled a little at the traditional Japanese manor, complete with a small "Keep" obviously based on her little castle at the back. The path itself was covered with white stone with a large, dry pond with what looked like a well in the middle where she knew that the spring that would belong to Suihou would be at the bottom of once she broke through the last rock layer.

If you had asked her, she expected a modest home, not... this.

Very slowly, she turned to a grinning Misa and Harry who bowed to her, "Welcome home, welcome back, welcome to your humble shack!"

All the Mizuchi did was twitch a little at that.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Utter silence met Harry and Misa as they held their pose with grins while Shiromizu twitched. Silence, that was, until snickers from Hoppou, the two Kits, and Natsumi could be heard. There was an odd grinding sound as the Mizuchi turned to stare at her Kitsune friend, "... You knew, didn't you."

It was not a question as much as a statement, but Natsumi answered anyways with a grin on her face, "Not quite knew, but guessed enough." She then jerked her thumb at Harry, "Also? I know Harry-Chan far too well."

Placing her face in her hands, Shiromizu groaned, "I just wanted a house you two. Not a... a... a palace!"

Harry made a show of looking back at Shiromizu's new home and humming, "Well, it is a home, you know."

Moving aside two fingers enough to glare, the Mizuchi grumbled, "Yes, but not the sort that I expected or wanted!" She pulled her hands away from her face before waving them in the air, "How did you bunch even pay for this?! It had to be expensive!"

With a small shrug, Misa smiled at her "Little Sister", highly amused at catching her off guard, "It was to some extent. But Harry-San sent us quite a bit of gold and silver among other metals which we were able to sell. Also, there was a gemstone he sent as well as some garnets he had gathered. They brought in enough money on the magical side to fully fund it. Many of the villagers came and helped to build it." Walking over, she took Shiromizu's hands in her own, "You wouldn't want to dismiss all their hard work, would you?"

For several moments, Shiromizu once more stared at he Unagi Hime before her hands met her face, "Why... just why...?"

Only smiling, Harry chuckled a little, "Because we care for you and want the best for you?" At her glare, he shrugged, "It's true after all."

Just sighing, Shiromizu shook her head before gesturing inside, "I give up, I just give up." She then gave Harry and Misa an evil grin, "Just you wait though, I'll get you both back for this."

All the two did though was simply shrug and then began to walk inside the walls.

While they walked, Misa pointed out various things to them all, "As you can see, we have a garden pond dug out over there." She continued while ignoring Shiromizu's mutters of it being a small lake, not a pond, "The Well is where the water for it will come up in order to keep the spring feeding it clear from debris. At the bottom, there's a number of large stones to help that still further. We also have some islands with bridges between them for people to travel along. As well, we have some statues out in pillars that we sank down into the bedrock."

Considering, Siusan ran her eye along it before tilting her head, "If I may ask, how are you going to handle the overflow?" At the look, she gestured at the pond, "If it is fed by a spring, the water needs a way to exit or else it will overflow and find a way."

Simply nodding, the Unagi Hime pointed at one section of the pond, "Behind those rocks we have a pipe filled with pebbles. It runs along and under the wall to where the sunflower field is. There's small channels throughout the field so that the water that comes out will flow along them, irrigating the flowers before eventually flowing into the lake. Hence, it does a number of tasks and even during the hot summer, the spring will flow and water them."

Blinking, Shiromizu raised her eyebrows at that, "I... have to admit, I never thought of using the water that way. That is pretty clever."

From where she was walking beside her, Jin gave a small nod, "Yeah, not something that would come to mind. Still pretty damn smart just the same as irrigation is important." Patting Shiromizu on the shoulder, she grinned, "Let's get our stuff set out and we'll get started in hooking your attendants to the Physical."

That made Shiromizu frown a bit and blanch in realization, "Oh Kami... if Harry and Onee-Sama did this in the physical... what did those three set up in the spiritual?!" Her only answer was laughter which made her hang her head, "Guys! It's not funny! What did those three do in the spiritual?!"

Upon entering, they left their shoes behind and began to walk through the hallways. Looking at the Fusuma, Harry could only nod at the various scenes that had been placed on said items while other parts had shoji screens on them. All in all, he was rather pleased by what he was seeing.

One by one, Misa showed them their rooms and where they could stay for the festival. Granted, Harry did raise an eyebrow at how him, his mother, Hoppou, and the Potter weapons each got their own rooms in what amounted to a small wing of the house. But he did not comment. He was happy, however, when shown the kitchen. Of course, she showed other parts of the house, though Shiromizu sighed at the library... which was a small building that had two stories to it. Something that got Harry a glare when he snickered at her expression as well as another matter of getting him back.

However, one part did make everyone boggle a bit as Misa showed them, and that was the bathing area. There was a section with a bath filled with steaming water as well as a walk in shower. Seeing that, Natsumi had a bit of a smirk on her face as she quipped, "That was not something that they had in the Heien!"

Lightly laughing, the Unagi Hime shook her head, "No, I am afraid that they did not, Natsumi-Sama. But this is the largest of the three bathing areas and you are welcome to use it during your stay. The others only have a walk in shower and a furo large enough for two people."

Glancing at the small pool, which could likely fit all of them, Jin snorted a little, "Heh, I can see that. Pretty impressive set up." She glanced over at the magical jacuzzi, "Really impressive."

Head tilted to the side, Kero frowned a little, "Isn't it a waste to have the water just sitting there? I mean... you can't possibly keep it heated the whole time."

Softly chuckling, Misa had a gleam in her eye, "Not quite." At their looks, she gestured at the bath, "We actually bring in water from Lady Shiromizu's hot spring for it via specially magically insulated underground piping. It keeps the water nice and hot. We even use it to keep the house warm in the colder months by magically spreading the heat much like with the Shrine." Seeing the confused expressions on Shiromizu's face and on the others, the Unagi Hime shook her head, "There is piping under the stonework of the Shrine grounds and inside the buildings. When it gets cold, we'll turn it on and hot water will warm the paths and keep snow build up to a minimum. As Lady Shiromizu's hot spring also underlays the village, most of the houses and buildings have been built to use it for heating via pumping hot water up from the depths and the cold water is ejected out into her stream further down the mountainside turning a turbine as well. It works out quite well actually."

Eyebrows raised, Natsumi's grandfather gave Shiromizu a small nod, "Now that is extremely impressive. Most of the town?" When Misa nodded, he smiled, "Yes, I can see how that would work."

With a small shrug, the Unagi Hime chuckled, "We also use it to heat some greenhouses for crops to allow them time to germinate before the snows even melt. However... the bath is not the only such thing that we have done. If you'll follow me..." Misa opened the glass doors and walked along a board walkway before pushing side a curtain, "We also have this."

Everyone sort of just stared at the private hot spring that was there. It looked completely natural in a way, except for a small, clay pipe that had water gushing from it as well as steam. Water that filled the hot spring itself as bamboo grew around the edges with some flowers here and there. Considering it, Harry looked at Misa who had a grin on her face, "Magic to keep the heat in some and keep the air warm, right?"

Smiling, Misa chuckled a little, "Correct, it will make it so that even in winter, the temperature is nice. The boardwalk will also be enclosed using storm shutters with lanterns so one does not need to worry about the outside when traveling here in winter from the main house."

For a few moments, Shiromizu signed as she looked at the hot spring and then shook her head. Part of her was thankful though that Misa than suggested that they would drop their things off in their rooms though. It would give her some time to think and prepare.

It was only forty minutes that found them all in front of the pond waiting as Shiromizu slithered across the rocky bed. Watching her, Kenshō tilted her head she held Harry's hand in her much smaller one, "Mou... Master, do you think that she will have goldfish in the pond? Because goldfish look nice in ponds."

Lips twitching as he chuckled, Harry gave a small shrug, "Maybe? Though goldfish would look nice, I agree."

Meanwhile, the Mizuchi reached the well and ran a hand along the rough, stone edge of it. The rock that made up the sides had been fitted together somewhat well, yet Shiromizu could tell that water would easily seep through the cracks. Which didn't really bother her all that much to be honest as it was more a way for the water to reach the surface. Looking over the edge, she could just see the bottom stones, about ten feet down in the sort of darkness that the well created. They weren't small stones either, but good sized ones. Still, all they would do was protect the actual spring itself.

With a deep breath, Shiromizu stood in the edge of the well and held out her hands, palm down as she closed her eyes and concentrated. She could have done Himawari first, or Ryo, though in his case some of the fairies of the shipgirls were setting up the library to some extent (he could change it up as he pleased). But Suihou, being a water spirit like herself, was much easier to attach. It would also give her some practice and experience for the other two as well. Thus, Shiromizu concentrated on the potential spring below her. It was not a powerful spring, though it could start a small brook at least. But the water could well up from it easily and fill the pond around her. Slowly, she tracked the spring itself as she had been advised. Down, and down into the rock of the mountain her mind went, following the water as it flowed between the cracks in the rock, between the very grains. She could sense her own spring, not far off, and it would not take much to attach it to this one. They were separated by a volcanic dike after all. Just a little bit of pressure, and she could boost her power by adding another spring...

And Shiromizu snapped down on that thought, crushing it in her mental coils until nothing remained.

Instead, she continued to follow the flow of the water as it had worked its way through the rock of the mountain. Eventually, she found the source near the peak. Somehow, there was a flash of insight in regards to the past. Many centuries ago, before humans had mined the mountain, some Tengu had found exposed veins of gold and silver at the peak. They mined out the exposed veins, sometimes digging deep into the rock. Once said veins were gone, they simply left. And over the centuries, with the spring melt as well as rain, water gathered in the holes and crevices left behind, seeping down into the rock. Slowly, it would make its way through the mountain. Sometimes the water would encounter an old mineshaft and pool there in vast, underwater lakes that filled it before seeping further down.

Eventually, some of it ended up right below her, where Suihou's spring would be. Slowly, Shiromizu nodded as now was to come the next part. Mentally, and spiritually, she reached out to the Otherworld, where spirits and the like laid. After a short search, she found what she was looking for in the form of Suihou, and, gently, she took a thread of power from her attendant as she had been instructed and began to slowly weave it into the spring to be. Deeper, and deeper along the water underground did she spread her friend's influence as she prepared for the next step.

Meanwhile, in the Spiritual Realm, Suihou had paused as she was walking alongside Ryo and Himewari on a garden path. Seeing that, Himewari turned with a blink, "Suihou-Chan? Is something wrong?" The water spirit suddenly gasped, though in her case it sounded like rushing water, something that made the sunflower spirit rush over to her friend, "Suihou-Chan? What's wrong?"

Gasping again, Suihou shuddered a bit, "N-nothing at all." At the concerned look, she arched her back a little, "I can feel... Lady Shiromizu! She's anchoring me to the Material World with a new spring and... oh... by the Kami it's so much bigger than I used to have..."

Face red as she gasped again, Ryo coughed and turned away as the water spirit's chest heaved even as she glowed, 'R-right... that seems to be a thing... focus on Himewari-Chan. She'll likely be next and...' Unbidden, an image entered his mind where Himewari was in Suihou's place and he slapped himself, 'I cannot think of my precious Cinnamon Bun like that!'

Yes, he had given her a pet name, so sue him! She was just so cute when eating cinnamon buns and enjoyed them that it was obvious. Also, it always made her flustered.

Back in the Material World, Shiromizu continued to thread Suihou's power into the underground spring. It did not take her very long to complete her work though and so she proceeded to the last step and held out one hand before closing it into a fist as some water dripped from it and onto the stones. Said water rolled over the rock and down to the bottom before they began to glow and seemed to burrow into the the floor of the well. Moments later, the rock at the bottom cracked and splintered as Shiromizu expanded a small bit of energy to break the hard cap and wetness began to seep up.

Above, the young Mizuchi could bear the breaking sounds below until they stopped and all was silent for a few seconds. That was, until a low gurgle could be heard and she opened her eyes and looked down before smiling as she sensed the cracks, several feet deep, fill with water rapidly. And, even as she watched, the stones at the bottom began to dampen until one could see a small shimmer of water. Water that creeped up the stones until, after a few minutes, it covered them and continued to rise. It was only when it reached a few inches below the rim that the water paused and Shiromizu smiled even more, "Suihou-Chan? Please come on out."

Slowly, in the middle of the pool, the water rose upwards in a column. One that soon took a female shape as a Kimono appeared around it and Suihou smiled happily though it could barely be seen as her body was composed of pure spring water. Spring water that began to spill over the lip and onto the gravel bed of the pond as she bowed to Shiromizu, "Lady Shiromizu, I have arrived as you have asked. This one is your faithful servant."

For her part, Shiromizu bowed back with a smile, "Welcome, Suihou-Chan, to the Material Realm once more, and to my home here. It is good to see you."

The two water spirits happily smiled at each other upon finishing the small ritual.

 

[darthcourt10]

Kab2

Minato District, Tokio
31 July 2014
---------------------
"Ahh, I hate summer classes!" said a fourteen years old female student as she exited her school.

"If you had studied more before the exams, you could have evaded them, but nooo, you entered that kendo tournament and forgot to study, so you are reaping the consequences Ushi-Chan" said her partner, another female student.

"For the last time, if you don't want to use my surname it's fine, but please call me Yoshi, not that old nickname, I had enough embarrasement for life with the incident." said Yoshi-Chan. "And aren't you in my same position with the classes Yuri-Chan?".

"Not really, I did study, but clearly not enough, but you are more intelligent than me, the proof is that we scored almost the same and you didn't study" said Yuri-Chan. "And we don't have the fault that the cows like you so much that they treated you as one of them."

"I know, but it is embarrasing still."

Passing the arm around her neck, Yuri pulled Yoshi to her. "Then earn another nickname and bury the old one. You can do it." she released her. "Yes, I can see it." Yuri extended her hands above her head and spun once. "Matsudaira Yoshi, also known as Ichigo, Kendo's national champion"

Groaning, Yoshi replied. "Don't be silly, I don't have orange hair nor I am a shinigami, so that doesn't work, sorry." stopping at the bus station they just reached, Yoshi said "Here we part ways, take care in your way home, Yuri-Chan."

"You too Yoshi-Chan, until tomorrow."

Waving her hand until Yuri turned and began to walk, Yoshi waited for the bus.

Some time later, after she got off the bus she reached her house, a cheap apartment where she and her nineteen years old cousin lived.

"Tadaima!" she said entering the front door. After some time passed and not getting an answer, she thought 'Hmm, Onii-chan is late again, so I'm cooking today'

Going to the kitchen, she opened the fridge. 'Let see, today's menu will be white rice and miso soup, I wish I could make another dish, but I don't have enough ingredients and he will come at any time.'

Picking up the ingredients, she began to make the food.

Humming while she cooked, she heard the front door opening.

"Tadaima!" said a male voice.

"Okaeri, Onii-chan!" responded Yoshi. "I'm finishing the food, can you set the table, please?"

"All right, but we need to talk while we are eating."

'Something serious, I hope he hasn't been fired' thought Yoshi.

After putting the food on the table, they began to chat.

"So what do you need to talk with me, Yori-Onii-Chan?" said Yoshi.

"Well." said Yori. "I have a good new and a bad new, which one do you want to hear first?."

Swallowing the rice in her mouth, she said "The good one, please."

"I have been transferred to another site with a better pay." said Yori as he refilled her bowl with seconds.

"Oh, that's good, now we could actually save money, and the bad?"

"It's in Yokosuka." sentenced Yori.

She was shocked "So are you telling me that we have to move to Yokosuka?"

"Unfortunately yes, I'm very sorry but this transfer is unavoidable."

"And what happens with my school and with my friends, Onii-chan? I still have summer classes!" said Yoshi with a higher tone of voice.

"Please calm down." said Yori "The transfer won't be effective until the next month, so we can search a new house and a new school for you, and you will have plenty of time to saying goodbye to your friends and exchanging contact data once we found the place where we will life."

"It's enough time, but I am still upset" said Yoshi getting up of the table. "I need time to process it."

"Don't worry, cousin, let me help." said Yori getting up as well.

"I am your imouto, don't forget all we have passed together." said Yoshi as she remembered a decade ago. "I didn't know why, but I always wished an older brother, but I was an only child so it was impossible for me to get one, but the attacks came and Okaa-san died protecting me, entrusting me to you, and from that day you acted like my Onii-chan, always helping me, and the only one who believed me when... that memories came."

"Yes, as I had the same problem back when I had your age." rebembered Yori. "And we stated that whoever we were, we will life this live honoring them."

Remembering something he said a little after the attacks, Yoshi asked "And your dream, will you be able to achieve it?"

"Don't worry, if I can get an appartment as cheap as this one, I will buy the ring in a year or so, and once I get it, I will challenge Yasutsune-Sama to a duel and when she aknowledges my skill with the sword, I'll ask her to marry me."

"You seem very confident in having the same skill level as her now." said jokingly Yoshi.

"She uses the same moves as the old me, and you stated that in your old life there was a matron in the main house entrusted with my sword that looked like her."

Negating with the head, Yoshi replied "Not looked like, She is her splitting image, and judging for what we know, she can be the same as us too."

"But how could she take the sword from the museum? Maybe there is a secret branch of the Minamoto that learns how to use my sword and their task is to protect Japan from the magical or Yokai disasters, she called Tsubaki-Chan for help anyways." pondered Yori as he remembered a little red Oni from his other life.

"Well, you can ask Yasutsune-Sama when you marry her, 'Raikou'-San." said Yoshi grinning.

"Heh, so do you want a beating, 'Ushiwakamaru'-Chan?" said Yori grinning as well.

"Same place as last time?" asked Yoshi while picking up two bokkens from the stand they had for them.

"Hai, let's see how much you have progressed." said Yori opening the front door.

--------------------

I hope you liked it.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

First Sortie (I)

Yokosuka Naval Base

23 June 2014

A siren sounded in her dormitory and Karen, the natural-born spirit of the Improved Takao-class heavy cruiser Fuji that had been secretly begun construction by the Kamo Government in the dying days of the Second World War, blinked sleep from her hazel eyes. Her black wolf ears perked up on top of her head as a bolt of electricity shot down her spine and caused her bushy black tail to wag.

She concentrated, shifting her sleepwear to her uniform of white naval coat, white pencil miniskirt, black stocking and white heels. One hand found the hilt of her katana and gently grasped it as she joined her fellow Yokai shipgirl sisters Mami and Izumi as they reacted as they had been trained to this unplanned drill.

Karen rushed through the hustle and bustle that was Yokosuka Naval Base on full alert until she reached her assigned post at Kanmasu Launch Facility #1.

A moment later Mami and Izumi followed as they waited at the entrance to the sea-side bunker-like building housing the launch mechanism.

Right behind them the Nekomata twins Kokoro and Megumi fell into line.

Just as they would be screened by the trio of heavy cruisers in the event of battle.

A moment later, Musashi's spirit joined the assembling task force as she moved into formation next to her half-sisters in the Yashima-class battleships.
Spoiler: To Stand In Defense

Facing them at the door, Yamato herself nodded, her normally serene face in a tight, unsmiling line as Yahagi stood at her elbow. The tall battleship waited for Takao and Atago to reach them and then stepped forward. "I know for some of you, this will be your first action, so follow your training and your superiors. Atago, you will be commanding Cruiser Division Four, I shall command the battleship squadron as task force flagship. Our objective is as follows."

Yamato pulled out from her hull a overhead aerial snapshot of a wooded hillside. "Underneath this ridge is a bunker complex from the Pacific War that was hidden by the Kamo government to house biological magical weapons that would have been unleashed upon an American invasion of the Kanto Plain. We have intelligence that suggests that some of the creatures inside survived the war and pose a grave risk to Yokosuka and the surrounding cities"

The pit of Karen's stomach acquired a ball of ice as Yamato continued inexorably. "There is a strike team assembling to storm and secure the bunker as we speak. In the event that they fail, our job will be to crack it and destroy anything that emerges by concentrated shore bombardment assisted by airstrikes from our carrier force. To prevent a civilian panic caused by our preparations, all communications will be done by blinker light under total radio silence until and unless the command is given to open fire."

"Once you reach your assigned positions in Kaneda Bay, anchor to hold station and launch spotting aircraft to observe the site. At this point in time, load Armor Piercing shells with smoke dye packets for shell salvo identification for the initial bombardment but stand by to switch to High Explosive when ordered. The Bunker may be warded from direct non-magical aerial observation. In that event Fuji shall direct heavy cruiser gunfire corrections for Atago, Sakurajima shall correct for Takao. Yashima shall direct my corrections and Tsukushi shall correct Musashi's fire." Yamato's voice was quiet and determined as she continued her briefing. "Are there any questions?"

Eight heads shook in negation.

The superbattleship paused for a long pregnant moment as she looked deeply into the eyes of her command one by one. "Some of you I have been honored to fight alongside before in my past life and this one. Others of you are facing your first action by necessity and I am honored to stand alongside you for it as your commander. Know that Japan is relying upon us to do our duty today, and I have the utmost faith in your steel, my comrades and my sisters."

Yamato reached out her hand to Yahagi. Obediently the light cruiser handed her a Hachimaki headband that was hand-calligraphed 'Nippon' As Karen watched while her boilers thudded, the battleship tied it around her head slowly and reverently and then surveyed them one last time.

"Prepare For Sortie."

------------------------------------

Kaneda Bay

Her anchor splashed into the water of the bay off the south-eastern coast of the Miura Peninsula where Yokosuka sat. Karen rocked to a stop and then trained out her gun turrets to the starboard side of her rigging. She was uneasily aware that five hundred meters off her port beam the line of battleship girls were also preparing as monstrous 460mm cannons elevated and made ready.

Karen took a deep breath as her Aichi E13A airplane was reported ready for flight and then nodded to her captain. With a buzz, the plane was launched from her catapult and flew toward the hills with the slumbering menace underneath. She swallowed as her eyes glazed over while she watched the terrain underneath the plane.

Houses.

Shops.

A Kindergarten.

A Playground.

All relying on her and her sisters to protect them from the threat that lurked nearby.

She felt more than heard the breeches close and lock on her ten 203mm guns. With the grinding sound of hydraulically operated gears, she elevated and trained them out to their firing angles while her gunnery officers plotted the expected fall of shot from her first salvo and her shell hoists brought up a second load of shells from her magazines to stand ready.

All too soon her scout plane reached its assigned position over what seemed to be a tree-covered hillside with the scar of a fresh mudslide clearly visible.

As the pilot began his circle at the assigned altitude for the gunnery spotters he turned back toward her. Beyond the gun line that she was a part of, she could see through his eyes the wakes of their close-in antisubmarine escorts... and past them the additional wakes of the carriers, their decks parked with planes loaded with bombs and surrounded by yet more screening destroyers.

She whispered a prayer as she gave the command for her signalman to activate her blinker light to signal Yamato.

"CRUISER FUJI CLEARED FOR ACTION."

Her plane turned again and she saw movement below like a kicked over anthill as a steady stream of Ospreys landed to disgorge men and equipment. She zoomed in through the binoculars that her observer carried as she continued her observation while the minutes ticked away and then gasped.

Standing next to a young woman with a spear on her back was an instantly familiar blonde figure with a fox tail and massive nodachi on her back.

Norimune-sensei.

As she waited for the command to open fire, Karen gave a sigh of relief and some of the tension left her frame. She remembered her communication officer's stories that he had heard from his sensei in the 1930s before he enlisted. Either Norimune was the biggest liar to have ever lived, or she was one of the greatest heroes to have ever wandered the face of the earth.

And judging by the assembled people below, Norimune was no liar. Karen hummed to herself thoughtfully as she watched her old teacher speak to a miko down below with a katana at her waist.

As the minutes ticked by, Karen nibbled her lip nervously. She took a deep breath then caught the eye of Takao directly ahead of her. Hesitantly, her signalman began to flash a message to her older half-sister and friend.

"HOW WILL WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE?"

Her fellow heavy cruiser gave her a thumbs-up and a reassuring smile.

"THEY ARE RELAYING BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE FROM THE STRIKE FORCE TO THE ADMIRAL AND MIKASA. RELAX, WE WILL GET TO ENJOY IT FOR MOVIE NIGHT TONIGHT."

Karen gave a faint smile and her own thumbs-up and then returned to her vigil as preparations were made to breach the bunker.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Nothing happened for a few moments as the two straightened from their bows, even as water continued to spill over the lip of the well and over the gravel bed. It was not a large amount, but those watching could see that it would only take a few days at most for the spring to fill the pond with water. After a few seconds though, Shiromizu moved and pulled Suihou into a hug, "I'm glad to see you here at last."

While it was hard to tell, what with the features made of clear water, it was obvious by some of the steam wafting off the top of her head that Suihou was more than a little embarrassed, "L-Lady Shiromizu!"

Just chuckling, Shiromizu pulled back a bit with a smile on her face, "Sorry, Suihou-Chan, I'm just happy. After all, one of my friends is here."

If anything, that seemed to embarrass Suihou more, but... she also seemed rather pleased by it as well, "A-ah, I see. Well, I am happy to be here as well, Lady Shiromizu." For the first time, she looked around and gasped at seeing the currently dry pond, "Is... is this for me? Really?"

Amused by her reaction, the young Mizuchi nodded, "Hai, it is as a matter of fact. This pond will be yours in the end." She pointingly ignore the smirks on Harry's and Misa's faces before clearing her throat, "Now, I have some people to introduce you to..."

Blinking, Suihou turned and boggled a bit at the group who were waiting along the "Shore" for her arrival. Quickly, she bowed a little, "Ah, hello there. I'm Suihou, one of Lady Shiromizu's attendants and I am very pleased to meet you." Harry bowed back a little as did Misa and the others with the Unagi Hime introducing herself followed by Harry and the others. Of course, that was when Suihou frowned in thought before nodding, "I remember, Lady Shiromizu spoke well of you both, Lord Harry, Lady Misa. As a matter of fact, she spoke a lot about her Otouto and Onee-Sama."

It was now Harry's and Misa's turns to be somewhat embarrassed much to Shiromizu's not so hidden glee.

However, soon afterwards, both water spirits stepped out of the dry pond bed and onto the grass beside it. Looking towards the manor, Suihou tilted her head some before she smiled, "Ah, now this is a proper home for a Mizuchi. We were concerned that Lady Shiromizu might go for something much smaller."

Unseen by her, Shiromizu placed her face in her hands while Harry and Misa smirked. With a sigh, the young Mizuchi shook her head before a thought occurred to her, "Suihou-Chan...? What does my residence in the Spiritual Realm look like...?"

Turning towards her, Suihou blinked, "Your spiritual home?" At the nod, she waved her hand at the manor, "Oh, it's not a mansion like this, Lady Shiromizu. So you don't need to worry."

Relieved, the young Mizuchi nodded with a slight smile, "That is good to hear-"

Meanwhile, Suihou continued, "Oh no, we managed to build your castle there in record time. Ryuujin-Dono, Amaterasu-Sama, and Inari-Sama as well as Uzume-Sama directed workers to complete it as soon as possible. It is quite something to see to be quite honest and overlooks the entirety of your domain." Realizing that Shiromizu's smile had become fixed with her eyes closed, as well as how Harry and several others were coughing, the water spirit frowned, "I... is something wrong? Did... did we do something wrong?"

Shiromizu just shook her head slowly, still with that fixed, closed eyed smile, "Oh no, nothing is wrong at all and you did absolutely nothing wrong." She could hear the sigh of relief from Suihou, but it was drowned out by her internally screaming, 'A CASTLE!? THEY BUILT ME A CASTLE IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM!? WHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY!?'

As the younger Mizuchi was having her internal breakdown, Jin walked over to Suihou and cleared her throat. When the weaker water spirit looked at her, the undead Mizuchi gave a hum, "I got to admit... I never thought that you could take that form outside the spiritual realm. How'd you manage it?"

Happy to have her mind taken off the thoughts that, perhaps, she had done something wrong, Suihou smiled, "You mean the form that I am currently in?"

Jin gave a nod as she crossed her arms with a thoughtful look, "Yeah? I mean, I know that you and others can take such a form in the Spiritual Realm and stuff. But outside it? I thought that the best that you could do is just to manage something... less human looking."

Coming out of her breakdown, and happy for the focus on something else, Shiromizu turned to her Senpai with a blink, "Oh, that's because of me."
Now that answer surprised the older Mizuchi, "Say what now, Shiro? How is this because of you?"

In reply, Shiromizu gave her an unsure look, "Um... it was something that I checked out during Kannazuki. Ryo-Kun helped point it out to me as a matter of fact." Walking over until she stood beside Suihou, she continued, "I'm using a little of my own power to allow for her to be able to take the same form in the Material as she does in the Spiritual. Not much, but..."

More than a little intrigued, Haru looked over Suihou in interest, "That is possible? Really?"

With a hum, the younger of the two Mizuchi nodded, "Hai, it is as a matter of fact. I suppose it is..." Considering the question, Shiromizu frowned in thought for a few seconds, "I suppose that it is kind of a symbiosis. She uses some of my power to gain a form such as she has in front of you, and perhaps a human one in time while placing her higher in rank. In exchange, I get a little magic and can count her spring under my own in regards to power, though she has ultimate control over it. I can technically command it though if I so wished."

For several seconds, Jin stared at her as she rolled that around in her head, "Uh... Shiro? You mean by doing this, her spring is technically part of yours without you being in complete control? As in, her water belongs to you, though you are letting her have ultimate control over it?"

Lost, Shiromizu blinked some before nodding, "Hai? I mean, I can do it because Ryuujin-Dono stated that all the waters on the mountain are under my command." Turning, she waved her hands a little towards Suihou, "N-not that I would do something with them against your will, but still..." Thr young Mizuchi turned back to Jin who had pinched her nose, "I... also made similar agreements with the other springs and brooks? Apparently it gives them a slight power boost, enough to take their own forms."

Closing her eyes, the older Mizuchi placed her face in her hands, "Oh my fucking God, Shiro. Jesus fucking Christ on a stick... how much of your power did you tie up?"
Still confused, Shiromizu checked before giving a small shrug, "Um... about fifteen percent of what I have now? B-but I kind of get it back from them?" Now unsure, she gave Jin a look, "I... I asked Osamu-San about it and all he did was stare at me and ask if I was serious. And when I said that I was... he started laughing and fell out of his chair. Something about how he could not wait to see Fuji-San and the others reactions next year."

For several moments, Jin just stayed like that with her face in her hands, "Kid? I'll level with you right now." Pulling her hands away from her face, she took a deep breath, "Under most circumstances, Mizuchi would never pull that sort of thing because it requires us to actually share what we have. Give and take, and a lot of Mizuchi have an issue with the first. Yodo and Shinanokawa are two who, from what I understand, have done what you have. Some of them have elevated lesser brooks and springs into minor Mizuchi who then stay within their courts, which some of the others scoff at-"

Perking up, Shiromizu nodded, "I've been thinking about that, Senpai! Such as with the stream that helped you with the Gashadokuro. I think that I can hook up a few buried springs to it and... Senpai? Why are you facepalming?"

And, sure enough, her Senpai was facepalming, but also had her shoulders shaking. Lips twitching, Jin gave a shuddering sigh as she shook her head, "Shiro? Never change."

Confused, Shiromizu looked at the others, but Misa had a smirk on her face while the Kyuubi there were grinning and snickering, "Um... okay? But I don't see what the big deal is, Senpai. It helps them after all and if I am ruling over the waters of the mountain... well..." She gestured towards Harry, "It is something that I read from Harry's books. Noblesse oblige. If I am to be in charge, then I am obliged to do so in a manner that benefits those beneath me even if it comes at a cost to myself." Pausing, she gathered her thoughts before continuing, "That I may rank higher than they do only means that my responsibilities to them are, thus, that much greater. It is part of my duty, my very honour, that I work to make their existences better."

Unnoticed by her, Suihou had a look of awe upon her face as she gazed at the Mizuchi she swore loyalty to, 'Lady Shiromizu...'

Others too, were giving her a very pleased look and nodding in complete agreement at what she was saying. Under their breath, Kogitsune chuckled a little, "No wonder Inari-Sama is interested in her. Same with the others..."

Lips curling a little, Natsumi's grandmother muttered back with her own chuckle, "Yes, our Granddaughter has certainly chosen well for allies."

Placing her hand on Shiromizu's hair, Jin ruffled it a bit with a grin, "Kid? Trust me... you did good. You did really good right there." She paused for a moment, "Did they agree? The other waterways?" At the younger Mizuchi's nod, she grinned, "Heh, I am looking forward to the next few years myself."

Despite Shiromizu asking her, the undead Mizuchi didn't answer her question of why it was a big deal. Internally, Jin just shook her head in amusement. Yes, the whole thing came with a short term cost in that for a time, the Mizuchi would be weakened hence why most didn't do it. Their pride would mean that they would not do something that would leave them weak.

But...

That was just short term. In the long term, it would gain the Mizuchi very loyal allies. More than that, the waters would, indeed, be considered theirs as well as the original spirit's. It did not just add to a Mizuchi's rank in power, spiritual or physical...

It was multiplicative in regards to such over time.
__________________________________________________________

Sitting in Seiza upon silk wrapped cushions, Shiromizu, if one was to see her, had a blush upon her face as she swayed along.

Part of her had been quite happy that they got to her mountain quickly. The roads had been fixed and gone from dirt to paved ones, which meant that their vehicles had been able to get along them quicker. Even the train that they took meant that they reached their destination relatively quickly, something that she was thankful for. As it was, it took roughly an hour to bring forth Himewari and Ryo from the Spirit Realm into the Physical one. It also left her feeling slightly weak, though not by much.

Not long after the greetings and introductions, Himewari as well as Suihou, Haru, Natsumi, her grandmother, and Misa all helped prepare her for the day. Which meant dressing her up much the same as she had been for the presentation to Ryuujin's Court after a bath. Of course, this meant that it was coming up to Mid-Afternoon by the time it was all done. Shiromizu had sighed a bit as it meant that she would be walking to her Shrine...

Thoughts that had lasted right up until she walked outside to find a transport.

Granted, part of her blush was due to seeing her Mikoshi waiting for her. It was obviously a norimono created from fine, laquered wood. At the top, on either end of the roof, were carved dragons made from what looked like ivory. Something confirmed when Hoppou mentioned that she was happy that they liked what Tanith had sent when asked. The sides, meanwhile, had been painted with pictures of serpents like she had once been along them except seemingly made from silver. More than that, part of the poles used to carry had ivory snakes wrapped around them as well. The inside, too, was lavishly painted in the form of her spring gushing out of the landslide and down the mountain.

All in all, Shiromizu had her jaw drop at seeing it, needless to say. Harry snickering and taking a picture of her reaction only made her glare at her "Otouto", even as he slipped his phone back into his Kimono. Even now, Shiromizu could see him to the side of her Mikoshi walking alongside it as she was paraded around the lake towards where her shrine was. At his side, he had Juuchi and Tsukiakari sheathed and, briefly, the Mizuchi was reminded of pictures and stories of Samurai alongside their lords and ladies. And it seemed that she was not the only one as she could hear cheers for him.

On the otherside, she could see Natsumi in a Kimono of her own. And at her side was Carnwennan sheathed, but obvious for all who could see. Her friend, lending her own strength. As the people carrying her Mikoshi continued to chant, and cause it to sway for her own amusement, with them every once in a while hopping as if stream water gushing down the mountain, Shiromizu could not help but smile. Especially as she could see Jin out front of her alongside Misa, the undead Kami doing an odd dance every once in a while.

Yes, she would be enshrined in a Branch Shrine within Shiromizu's own, but this was her Kohai's day, not hers.

Eventually, they reached the stream formed by her spring. But instead of going over it, or around, the people carrying her laughed as they walked down a ramp and into the stream itself as Harry and Natsumi simply leapt over it, to cheers from the crowd. Thanks to waterproofing spells layered onto the Mikoshi, as well as her own magic, it was unharmed by the water that was hers even as it gushed through through holes in the bottom. For a bit of amusement, as they got out, Shiromizu manipulated the water to form a mizuchi that twirled and spun through the air to much applause and cheering.

Finally, they arrived at her shrine and entered it which caused a tingle to run down her spine. After the Mikoshi was set down upon the ground, the doors were open and Shiromizu climbed out as graceful as she could, which actually was very much so. Those who had not seen her enter it gasped as she stood upon seeing what she looked like done up. Looking around, Shiromizu could see many there knelt with Yokai and the humans who lived in the communities on the mountain being those. Harry and Natsumi also knelt, only for Shiromizu to place her hands on their shoulders, "Natsumi-Chan... Otouto... please rise and stand alongside me. You too, Misa-Onee-Sama."

The three named rose to their feet beside her and nodded before they turned and made their way to where Arutemisu waited alongside Kat, who was dressed like a Miko. His family were also there, but off to the side to observe it. As she reached him, both Kat and Arutemisu bowed deeply to her, "Welcome to your Shrine, Shiromizu-Sama."

Bowing back, Shiromizu smiled at the two, "Thank you, it is a lovely shrine."

As she looked around, the young Mizuchi smiled even more. It was... a larger shrine than she had expected, or wanted. But each bit she could tell had been made lovingly by those who worked and lived on the mountain. At the front, she could see the two dragon style Koma-Inu statues that Harry had made. One had an orb made of clear crystal and the other from smoky quartz, symbolizing her and Jin.

She could also see the smaller Hokora that would be dedicated to others, such as Jin, the planes that the Abyss Divers had used as well as the pilots themselves when the time came, and the like.

With a deep, calming breath, Shiromizu turned towards the crowds who were watching. The Mizuchi knew that the Kyuubi of the group were using illusions to "Project" what was happening above the Shrine. That way, they could see and hear it for themselves, especially as most of those on the mountain were there for this event and there was far from enough room on the grounds of the Shrine.

For several moments, the young Mizuchi observed them before bowing, "I do not know quite what to say, for this is truly among the greatest of honours that you wish to bestow upon me. Once, I thought myself a simple rat snake, different only in normal color. I grew up on this mountain long before I knew of my true nature. Those of you who were there... were kind to me. Looked after me as friends and siblings. And for that, there is nothing that I can do to repay each and every one of you." Slowly, she straightened and let out another breath before speaking louder, "Today, you wish to enshrine me here. But I wish to let you know right now, that despite being a Kami, a Mizuchi, I do not see myself above you, any of you. I do not want you to see me as a far off figure, someone never seen. Rather... I want you all to see me as I see you, as a friend. When needed, I will try my best to help. When you are in pain, I wish for my waters to sooth the ache. If you need a helping hand, I am willing to lend it. Such as if you need a hand to build a home here, I will gladly help, even holding up the boards as I have done before and will do again. I do not care if some see that as beneath my position, for they are not me. For this is my home as much as it is yours, and you are my friends, my family. I swear that I shall protect this mountain as much as I am able, even if it means drawing my last breath to do so, I will do it gladly knowing that I am doing so to save and help you."

Everyone just watched as Shiromizu once more bowed to them.

Then, slowly, she straightened and opened her eyes with a smile, "For I am a friend..." She glanced at Natsumi who smiled, "An Imouto who has likely turned her Onee-Chan grey prematurely." That brought a smile to Misa, "An Onee-Chan to a somewhat troublesome Otouto who trouble seems to follow like a puppy." Harry smirked a bit, "A student, hopefully a good one." At that, Jin gave a small nod, "Friends... and family, that is what I hold important, and that is what I see you all as. No matter your station compared to mine." With a deep breath, Shiromizu spread her arms wide, "For I am me, and no other. I am Ginzan no Shiromizu, Mizuchi of the Shiromizu no Kawa, Protector of Ginzan-Yama. And I thank you."

She wasn't sure who was the first to clap, but she suspected Harry, yet soon, everyone was giving her applause and smiles as well as cheers. There were slight tears in her eyes as she turned towards Arutemisu who nodded back as he softly whispered towards her, "A very well done speech, Shiromizu-Sama."

Lips curling into a slight smile, Shiromizu's own voice was a whisper, "Thank you."

With a nod, the Inaba waited until everyone had calmed down before clearing her throat, "And now, it is time for the enshrinement. Potter-San? I believe that you have the shintai for the Shrine?"

Blinking, Shiromizu turned as Harry nodded and removed a wooden box from the bag at his side, "Hai, I do." With a smile, he opened it and removed the object which got gasps. It was a ball made of rock crystal upon a stand of stone that she could tell had come from those her waters ran over and a cage of sorts made of what she could tell was silver held it all together. But inside... upon a lily pad with the lily in bloom, frozen as if in a moment of time, was shed skin from her. But it did not look like normal shed skin, for it in fact looked nearly alive.

Despite his it being soft, Harry's voice could be heard loud and clear, "For many years, I gathered Shiromizu-Nee-Chan's shed skins. Never knowing why, but... something told me to do so. I came across a spell, one that could combine shed snake skins from the same snake into one. So... I used it, and then preserved it within crystal for her Shintai, for all time. For it is as she was, is, and will always be. My Onee-San."

Understanding the symbolism, Shiromizu felt tears prickle at the corners of her eyes, "Thank you, Otouto."

Gently taking the object, Arutemisu set it down before going through the preparations for enshrinement. Already, Shiromizu could feel a pull towards it, which increased as he placed a shimenawa around it before he lifted it. Despite the weight, he was easily able to hold it and smiled, "Shiromizu-Sama... if you will."

Not saying anything, the young Mizuchi looked down into the rock crystal. It... was almost like looking back in time and seeing her younger self sleeping. She could feel a lump in her throat as she could also feel the care and love that Harry had put into it, crafting it with his heart and via his magic. All to make it perfect for this very special day. With a deep breath, Shiromizu let it out, "Hai." Eyes closing, she hummed a bit as she concentrated on the thread that stretched between them. Unlike her Senpai, she was not going to disgust or shock people like Jin had.

Instead, she brought up her hand and held it before her chest, an inch above it. All those there watched as her clothing and flesh seemed to ripple, like waters of a pool. Slowly, an orb made of pure water that softly glowed made it's way from her body until it was held in the palm of her hand as she pulled it away from her chest, though streamers of water stretched between her chest and the orb. Gently holding it, she moved it towards the orb and them let out a breath as she moved her hand until it was vertical, the orb somehow still held within it and then, she pressed the orb into the rock crystal one, the two seemlessly merging together with the snake skin lighting up and red markings glowing upon it with the lily itself shining as Shiromizu gasped.

Unknown to the others, she could feel something... click, deep with in. Suddenly, she was... elsewhere. In her mind, she could feel the mountain and all the waters upon and within it. She "Saw" it form, once on an ancient seabed until tectonic forces raised the rock, folding it. Magma, from deep below, rose upwards as dikes and sills, cutting into the rock and transforming it. The pressure of the molten rock, as well as earthquakes, created cracks through which superheated fluids flowed. As the fluids cooled, crystals formed in the rocks and it left behind not just minerals such as quartz, but metals such as silver and gold. And still, the rocks rose higher and higher, until it formed a mountain.

Her mountain.

Behind her eyes, she could see the history of the peak, how Yokai and humans lived, and died, on the mountain from the earliest times. Mining gold and silver among other things from the slopes. The coming of Kuroshi, and even now she could feel the Jorogumo's grudge within its tomb... which she promptly crushed, utterly destroying it and sending it on its way before it could become something else.

Then, she could see the landslide that happened, from which her spring bubbled. At first, just a small seep that wet the soil. But with each rain, like a serpent breaking through an eggshell, the spring pushed itself more and more out. She also saw her mother, the snake that gave birth to her and now dead. The egg had been unfertilized, a so-called "Slug" and thus would never hatch... until the spirit of the spring entered it. And, from that egg, she, Shiromizu, hatched. The rest of her story, she knew and passed in a heartbeat.

And then, she went on another journey. Outside, those watched saw her glowing as red markings appeared on her skin and, around them, a ghostly Mizuchi flowed and entered the spring. Her mind and spirit following her spring waters down through the rock, inside the cracks and faults of the mountain. Down and down, to places far below when she found it, a mile beneath the mountain in it's roots. A magma chamber, that stretched in all directions for miles. Briefly, Shiromizu entered it, feeling the heat, though it did not burn her, around her. Wrapping like a mother would swaddle an infant in a blanket and love.

One day, perhaps in a century or two, one of the cracks would reach the surface nearby and a volcano would be born. But right now, the magma sat there radiating heat. And around it, water was superheated. The very same water that rose up and had become her own spring after a crack had formed sometime in the recent past and allowed for her to reach the deeper reservior. Smile on her face, she rose up from the magma, renewed, and flowed along the cracks, quicker and quicker, until she burst into the warm sunlight as her waters did. As she re-entered her body though, she did note something out of the corner of her eye and blinked before internally chuckling.

Breathing deeply, Shiromizu opened her eyes on her Shrine grounds to find herself glowing before the water orb left the Shintai followed by a second it was connected to. For a few seconds, the two orbs sat there in midair before the second, and closer one to it, sank back into the Shintai and disappeared as the cords of water between it and the other orb faded from view, but Shiromizu knew that they were not gone. The other orb, and the first one, she gently cupped and brought back to her chest where it hovered between her hand and the rippling form of her midsection.

Gently, the young Mizuchi pressed the orb against her chest and it sank back in as she gasped a bit. Pulling her hand back, she found the ripples stilling, until it was just flesh, bone, and fabric that was there. Even now, she could feel the other orb in the Shintai, which was an odd feeling. As if she was in two places at once somehow. Putting that aside, she turned and blushed a little at the awestruck crowd before bowing, "It is done."

Expressions lighting up, everyone began cheering and applauding her even as she smiled before she got back into her Mikoshi and was carried back into town with the festival beginning.