Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

Harry Leferts

Frowning, Goto tapped his pen against his desk as he once again looked at the map on the wall with a scowl. "Still no word on where the damn Abyssal Base is?"

Ooyodo just shook her head from where she was looking over communications. "None. So far, it's confirmed that they're not anywhere on the Bonin Islands."

All Goto did though was continue to tap his pen against the desk before he narrowed his eyes. "We've got to find them. There's been too many attacks, they have to be operating nearby. And once we know, we can take them out and secure our waters not to mention the convoy route via Hawaii and Wake. But where are those bastards hiding?" Just as Ooyodo was about to comment, she suddenly got a message on her tablet and looked it over. At seeing her stiffen though, Goto narrowed his eyes. "Ooyodo, is something wrong?"

Not even a moment later, Ooyodo twisted around in her seat and gave him a slight smile. "No, in fact something good... Shioi just sent a message... she found them."

That caused Goto to stand up straighter and he strode over to the map. "Where?"

With a frown, Ooyodo blinked. "According to her... 30°45′N 154°25′E."

His eyebrows furrowing, Goto quickly walked up to the map and looked it over before he spotted where and then shook his head. "Are you sure?"

Shrugging, Ooyodo looked over her shoulder with a similar look to Goto. "That is where she's reporting. According to her, one of her planes spotted the Abyssals in a harbor there. The island is about seven miles wide by twelve long."

Utterly confused, Goto just turned back to Ooyodo. "She has to be wrong, there's no island there. The nearest piece of land is hundreds of miles away."

Quickly, Ooyodo sent off a message and waited for several minutes for a return which caused her to scratch her head. "She's confirming the position of the island. In fact, she's saying that she's only fifty miles southwest from it and checked it out herself."

Walking over, Goto looked over her shoulder and then rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not making any sense. There's no island there."

It was then that Nagato walked in alongside Kongou who was pushing a tea cart. "I'm telling you, Kongou. There is no need for tea or snacks at this moment. It's not even time for tea."

The Fast Battleship just smiled though as she bounced around. "It's always time for tea, Dess!"

Of course, spotting both Goto and Ooyodo looking at the map, in particular a pin, Nagato frowned. "May I ask what is going on?"

Glancing at the two of them, Goto just shook his head as he pointed at the pin. "According to Shioi, she found the island that the Abyssals have been basing their attacks on not just us, but the Bonins and the Trans-Hawaiian route."

Nagato just walked over and quickly went through her charts before she nodded. "So they're basing out of Nakanotorishima then... that makes sense."

Both Ooyodo and Goto froze for a moment before the Admiral slowly turned and regarded Nagato as Kongou nodded beside her. "It makes sense, Dess. Perfect spot to attack from."

Clearing his throat, Goto narrowed his eyes. "You recognize the island?"

Not paying much attention, Nagato just nodded. "I do, it's a good sized island though mostly rock. I think that the Americans know it as 'Ganges Island'."

Slowly, Goto straightened and looked at Kongou with a frown. "And you do as well?"

All Kongou did was nod. "Dess." Seeing the expression on his and Ooyodo's face though, her smile fell some. "Is something wrong?"

Growling, Goto walked over to the map and pointed at the pin. "Yes, because according to my maps and charts, there's nothing there but open ocean. No island whatsoever anywhere near that location."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Nagato shook her head as she rubbed her chin with her thumb. The whole time, her navigation was going through her charts. "That can't be right. It's right there in my char-" For a moment, she paused and when the Battleship spoke, it was in confusion. "Wait a moment... it's only appearing on my charts older then the mid 1930s..."

Kongou just looked up at the ceiling in confusion as she slowly nodded. "I'm seeing the same thing. In fact... It appears in my chart from 1931, but not in the 1933 one... That... that makes no sense, Dess..."

Simply working his jaw for a moment, Goto reached up and rubbed the side of his head to get rid of his slowly developing headache. "So we have the Abyssals launching attacks from an island that existed, and no longer exists..." Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Kongou and Nagato. "What was the name of the island again?" Once they told him, it only took him a few minutes to look it up. "Odd... it's a phantom island..."

Looking over her shoulder, Ooyodo raised an eyebrow in askance. "Phantom island?"

All Goto did was look at the map in silence for several moments before letting out a sigh. "It's an island that once appeared on maps and charts, but no longer does because no one has seen it for decades and there's no proof it existed at all. There's a number of them scattered across the oceans..." He then shook his head and gave Nagato a calculating look. "Nagato, I need you to go and round up any of the others who might have charts from before the 1930s. Confirm that the island is on them, Ooyodo?" The Light Cruiser nodded. "Get in contact with Admiral Richardson down in Sasebo and have him check. Arizona, Mutsu, and Hiei as well as Jintsuu should also have the island show up on their older charts. If, and only if it shows up there... We need to put a force together."

It said something that Ooyodo took a few moments before she nodded. "Should I ask for Admiral Richardson to contact the other Admirals of the USN to put together a force? It would help..."

Goto seemed to chew that over before he nodded. "Agreed. But tell him to have older shipgirls as they're more likely to have the charts pointing towards our mystery island." As the others performed their given duties, Goto just accepted the cup of tea from Kongou as he continued to stare at the map. 'What is going on here...?'

 

Harry Leferts

Slowly moving up toward Nagato, Mutsu took a moment to fire her guns, the shells slamming into the blackened crust on the island and blowing craters into it. "How are you doing, Nee-san?"

Her hand up against her chest, Nagato took a deep breath before wincing. "I am... okay, Mutsu."

In reply, Mutsu only raised an eyebrow before she reached out and poked Nagato in the side of her chest. Said Battleship's eyes flew open as she hissed even as Mutsu commented on it dryly. "Somehow I doubt that very much."

Nagato just sucked in a breath through clinched teeth before firing her own guns at a damaged Ru-Class who was climbing onto the blasted rock of the island to try and brace herself. Moments later, the Abyssal vanished in a cloud of fire and debris. "Just... some broken ribs. I'll just need a soak in the docks once I get back to base." Another retort of guns caused her to look to the side where Arizona was glaring at the island as if it's very existence was a offense to her. And knowing the American Battleship, it might have been. "I'll be fine."

Eyes narrowed, Mutsu frowned a bit before she took up position besides her sister. "You did take a blow from the Princess' cannon after all."

Grunting, Nagato sighted another shore installation and fired on it, a massive fireball that for a moment caused her to shiver from memories all that signaled it existed moments later. "It was... poorly aimed."

Tone utterly dry, Mutsu scoffed. "Yes, because a... 31 inch gun was poorly aimed." Expression softening, Mutsu shook her head. "You were lucky, extremely so."

It was with some curiosity that Mutsu watched Nagato reach up and gently gripped the omamori that hung around her neck. "I was."

Firing her guns again, Mutsu hummed a bit. "And such a lucky charm you have there, Nee-San."

Much to her surprise, Nagato chuckled before sucking in a breath as her cannons fired, the shells slamming home. "Harry gave it to me."

Smile softening, Mutsu just nodded. "I see... perhaps the Kami heard him." Hearing a drone, she looked up and blinked before narrowing her eyes. "It looks like the second wave is incoming."

Looking up herself, the older of the two Battleships took in the fighters flying above, American and Japanese aircraft flying over the island and dropping bombs. But it was the ones in the back of the line that caused her to widen her eyebrows. "Are those B-25s?"

Also raising her eyebrows, Mutsu nodded. "It seems that Hornet must be with the Americans... and judging from that, they're rather pissed off."

With a snort, Nagato shook her head. "I wonder why since this base must be the one that wiped out their fleet at Wake as well as attacking their convoys."

Even as explosions ripped through the island, collapsing the tunnels and blasting open bunkers built into the island, Arizona, who had also drifted over, just spoke in a cold voice. "An action that we are going to teach them to regret."

Suddenly, all of them could feel a rumble under their feet and looked to see sections of the island just collapse into itself in clouds of dust and debris. But even as that happened, the combined fleets of shipgirls continued to pound away at it. "I do wonder why no one knew it was here though... or why they still can't spot it."

A beep caused Arizona to clumsily pull out a phone and look at it. "Correction, they can spot it now." Her eyes then narrowed. "Though as to why... I suspect that it was them."

Glancing at her fellow Super-Dreadnought, Mutsu frowned a bit as she remembered some bits from the beginning of the war. "You think that it was the work of the onmyōji?" Getting a nod, Mutsu considered this even as the guns of all three Battleships spoke as one. "That... does seem like them, doesn't it?"

There was a frown on Nagato's face before she shook it off. "Whatever the case, if it was them, then they most likely were killed by the Abyssals. They do hate all humans no matter if they use magic or not." Her eyes drifted across the island and for some reason, she shivered. 'Yet... I can't help but think that it was not just the Abyssals who stained this place...' Suddenly, her attention was grabbed as Mutsu snickered. "Hmm?"

Mutsu just waved her off. "Just a thought. Perhaps we can convince Harry and Jane to put aside their little rivalry to cook us something once we get back." There was another rumble as yet more of the island collapsed inwards under the sheer weight of the bombardment as now even the Destroyers were joining in alongside the older Pre-dreadnoughts such as Mikasa. "It seems that perhaps, that might be soon."

In reply, Nagato smirked. "Perhaps." Her eyes then drifted in the direction of Yokosuka and for a moment, she imagined herself just relaxing with her son. "Perhaps..."

 

Harry Leferts

Softly humming, Haru walked through the shrine grounds. 'Ah... such a lovely day.' Her lips then turned upwards slightly into a smirk as she glanced around. 'And I feel like there's a teasing opportunity in regards to my dear niece...' Walking past a corner, her smirk turned into a teasing grin at seeing Harry there, but it wasn't the eight year old that she was focused on. "Well, well, hello there Harry-Chan."

Just looking up from what he was doing, Harry smiled at the Miko. "Hello, Miss Haru."

With the grin still on her face, Haru hummed as she leaned against the corner and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So... what brings you here today? Besides what you were doing?"

Harry blinked and looked down at the fox that was in his lap who's belly he had been rubbing. Said fox was frozen in place with wide eyes and he could have sworn it was looking in horror at Haru. Though a moment later, Harry just dismissed that thought as it was silly. "I was just waiting for Natsumi-Chan. She said that she wanted to put up some birdhouses we made today."

Nodding, Haru didn't take her eyes off the fox as Harry went back to petting it. She could tell that it was torn between running for it and continuing to enjoy Harry's actions. "I see..."

At seeing where she was looking, Harry shrugged. "Um... it's a nice fox?" He then began to scratch behind it's ears and the fox slumped in place, it's tongue poking out from between it's fangs. "I see it a lot around the shrine and it really likes to be patted."

Her tone utterly dry, Haru nodded. "Oh, I have no doubt about that in regards to her. Though it could just be that it's you."

Confused at the last bit, Harry shook it off and frowned. "You know that it's a her?"

Once more humming, Haru's eyes danced with silent laughter. "Oh, I know all about that sly vixen in your lap, Harry-Chan. She's pretty young and something of a brat, but I still take care of her." She ignored the glare shot at her before it melted away as Harry began to rub the fox's chest fur. Unnoticed by the fox, Haru pulled a phone out of her robes and aimed the camera. "Speaking of young ones... give me a few moments and I'll be able to tell you where Natsumi might be."

Tilting his head, Harry smiled, his next words causing the fox to freeze in place. "Can you send some of those pictures to Mum, too? She likes animals."

Much to Harry's surprise, the grin on Haru's face seemed to widen to inhuman proportions before she let out one of her distinctive barking laughs. "Oh, no worries. I'll certainly make sure to do so." Hearing a whine from the fox, she slipped her phone back into her robes before nodding at Harry. "Anyways, on second thought, perhaps you should go and get the birdhouses while I contact my niece."

With a smile, Harry gently set down the fox before he nodded. "Sure!"

After he was gone for half a minute, the fox blurred and then Natsumi was sitting in it's place with her face red from the heated blush. "You're evil." Highly amused, Haru just hummed a bit. "Completely and unquestionably evil."

Bringing her hand up to her cheek, Haru smirked. "You say the nicest things about me, you know that?" Eyes narrowing, Haru snickered. "But probably not anywhere as nice as what you must say about Harry-Chan."

That brought Natsumi's blush, that was going away, back as bad as before. "GAH! Sh-shut up, Oba-Chan!"

Haru just waved her off though, "Ma, ma, no need to be so tsun tsun."

Eyebrow twitching, Natsumi through up her hands. "GAH! I cannot believe you, Oba-chan!" She then got up and began to stomp away. "I'm going to meet up with Harry-Chan."

Chuckling, Haru let out a sigh. "Very well, I'll stop teasing... just one last thing though." Natsumi seemed to ignore her as she kept walking, only to stumble at the next words out of Haru's mouth. "Was he good at petting you?"

From where he was, Harry just blinked as he heard Natsumi's screech. "OBA-CHAN!"

With a frown, Harry looked in the direction it came from. "Huh... she must have found Natsumi-Chan."

 

Harry Leferts

It was a tired Nagato who, finally, slipped under the covers of her futon. The Battle of Nakanotorishima, as it now became known as, had exhausted her in a way that few battles had. Much to her surprise, for the first time in a long time, her barrels had been worn nearly to the point of uselessness from the sheer amount of firing she had done. Not even the portable docks that the Americans had set up on their modified Amphibious Warfare Ship had helped relieve her of her deep set tiredness.

Even the sheer amount of food that the supply ships and shipgirls had brought had done much more then to take the edge off. All of them, once they were back at the base, had needed nearly half a week in the docks to heal up. Nagato especially as while the cannon shell from the Abyssal Princess on the island had not hit her as much as brushed past her, it had still caved in several of her ribs. The Battleship had been glad that the instant repair buckets used had healed her up enough by the time she got back that Harry did not see how injured she was.

And so here she was after healing in the docks, the endless debriefing, and the news conference, Nagato was just ready to sleep for what felt like days.

Just as she was about to drift off though, she heard the door to her room slowly slide open and she opened her eyes a crack to see silhouette in the darkness. One that she recognized and smiled at as a few seconds later, it padded across the room and then slipped into the futon beside her before cuddling against her side. "Mmm, hello, Harry."

Nagato could just barely make out the two emerald green eyes looking up at her. "Sorry, Mum... I didn't mean to wake you..."

Gently, Nagato leaned down and kissed her adopted son on the head. "It's okay. I don't mind this at all." Cracking out a yawn, Nagato hummed as she ran one hand through his hair as he laid his head on her shoulder. "How was staying with Iku and the others?"

For a moment, Harry blinked and then smiled a bit. "It was cool, we watched movies and played games... and Taigei was cool too. We exchanged recipes."

However, it was then that the Battleship noticed what was in his arm and had to bite back a grin. Mainly because in his arms was a "Mutslug" plush which Nagato had bought for him. The fact that Mutsu had looked at her in exasperation and despair had made Nagato's day, even as Harry had loved it. Feeling Harry's head against her shoulder brought Nagato out of her thoughts as she looked down to see him yawn. "How about we talk more tomorrow, sochi? I think that I'm not the only one tired from everything."

Yawning again, Harry nodded as he adjusted his head a little bit. Despite the fact that his adopted mother's shoulder was layered with muscle and steel, he found it among the most comfortable pillows he had ever laid on. "Sounds... good..."

Moments later, the only sound that came from Harry was soft, slow breaths of those asleep. Smiling, Nagato once more leaned down to kiss him on the head before laying back. 'Sleep, and I'll keep watch over you...'

When she was asleep though, Nagato had a rather odd dream. It was one that she had before in which she was on her old hull as the bow sliced through the North Pacific before World War Two. Anywhere she looked, she could see her crew going about their business. But there was one addition... She could see Harry running around and exploring her hull. Sometimes on her bridge and other times deep in her engineering spaces, or on her deck. And not once did her crew her crew react to him in anyway but smiles and headpats. Every once in a while, she could see one of them pointing at something and explaining to Harry. Other times, Nagato herself would guide him around. This was one of her favorite dreams which she never mentioned to anyone else.

Though if she had? Harry would have described similar ones to her...
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Running a hand through his hair, Goto softly groaned as he unlocked the door to his quarters before leaning back and wince at the crack sound that could be heard. Once he opened the door, he walked in only to blink as he could hear sounds from his small kitchen and noticed the light on. 'Who...' For a moment, he considered calling the MPs only to shake it off before walking toward his kitchen. Upon reaching it, Goto blinked and then relaxed some. "Kongou?"

The Fast Battleship turned and gave him a smile though Goto could see the bags under her eyes. "Teitoku, welcome home."

Even though part of him wanted nothing more then to keep walking to bed, Goto ran a hand down his face. "Kongou, what are you doing here? You look as tired as I feel."

In reply, Kongou just raised a finger. "But you look as tired as I feel, Dess."

Blinking, Goto looked to the side where he had a mirror on the fridge and frowned at the exhausted expression on his face. "Huh, so I do." He then turned his head back to Kongou. "And you still haven't answered the question."

Much to his surprise, Kongou just blushed before she swallowed nervously. "I thought that Teitoku would like something before bed to help him sleep."

For several moments, Goto stared at her before raising a finger as he spoke the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm a bit tired for that, Kongou. And even if I wasn't, neither of us are ready for that I think."

Needless to say, it said something about Kongou's state of tiredness that it took her almost a half a minute for her mind to make the proper connections and her face reddened to where it could be mistaken for a cherry. "I-I didn't mean that, Dess!" She then pointed at a gently steaming tea pot and a small plate that had a few snacks. "I made you something to help you sleep."

Slowly, Goto raised an eyebrow. "Kongou... I want to sleep. Tea is not going to help me sleep."

Kongou just guided him to the table and a seat where he sat down. "It's not tea, it's Kongou's Special Nighttime Brew!"

Despite his bemusement, Goto let her pour him whatever was in the teapot before he blinked at the chocolatey smell that reached his nose. 'Huh...'

Pouring herself a cup, Kongou winked at him. "I know how to make more then just tea, Dess."

In reply, Goto only chuckled as he sipped at his own cup while the two just quietly chatted for the next half hour, just enjoying each other's company. Once the food and drink was consumed though, Goto felt relaxed and stretched a bit as he watched Kongou washing the cups, dishes, and tea pot in the sink. Getting up, he walked up to Kongou and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you, and I hope that you have a good night, Kongou." After getting a mumbled reply, Goto left the kitchen for his room where he had one of his most restful sleeps ever.

Meanwhile, Kongou just stood at the sink frozen with a light dusting of red on her cheeks. If one had listened closely, they could have heard a high pitched whistle that was nearly too soft to hear. After five minutes though, Kongou broke free of the endless loop her mind was in and smiled wide enough to hurt as she finished the dishes and drying them. Before she left Goto's home though, she left several blueberry muffins where he could see them and made sure that the door was locked and secured. And then she left for the Battleship Dorms, practically floating on air while skipping the whole way to a peaceful, restful night sleep of her own.

 

Harry Leferts

Many shipgirls out there had their quirks, this fact was well known. Said quirks ran the gauntlet from Kongou's obsession with Britishisms and Teitokusexuality, to Kiyoshimo wanting to be a Battleship. There were other examples, such as Nagato's love of cute things, the Taffy's obsession with being badasses, and Iowa's search for the perfect burger. However, if one was to ask those who knew of her from word of mouth, the first thing that they would think of in regards to Akagi was eating tons of food. More food then most any other shipgirl could put away in a single sitting. And those who did know her could tell you it was far more then just filling her stomach.

Yes, the famous 'Red Castle' loved to eat, that much is true. But what she truly loved was the sensations that came along with food. Not just the tastes that played across her palate either, but also the combinations and the company for her meals. Among the Japanese shipgirls, she was the most adventurous when it came to trying some new food, usually among the first. She also had a knack for searching out and finding the odd place with interesting or good food.

So much so, in fact, that Naka had convinced her to start a YouTube channel that had become pretty popular. Said channel was of videos of Akagi travelling to places in Japan or elsewhere in the world and trying various foods and food places as she fought alongside other shipgirls against the Abyssals. From Southern Barbecue to Ramen to an English Breakfast. There was no meal too big nor food too different that Akagi would not eat and enjoy the experience around it. It went without saying that, for PR purposes, it was very popular. Especially with Kaga providing deadpan commentary at times.

All of that said, of course, Akagi found that the food in Yokosuka was among her favorites because there was a lot of variety among it as dishes from all over the world could be found alongside one another in the shipgirl cafeteria. Which is why at this particular time, Akagi was pushing along a tray filled with food from around the world. A bowl of rice was beside a Salisbury steak which was also beside a leg of lamb with mint jelly as just an example. Behind her, Iowa just piled her tray up with various foods, only to raise an eyebrow at how Akagi had stopped at the dessert section and was now looking among them which caused the Battleship to chuckle. "Hard to choose, huh?"

Nodding, Akagi looked over and smiled. "Oh yes..." She then turned and looked back with a frown as she tapped her chin. "So many choices..."

Just shaking her head, Iowa looked around and then took some of the mini pies that were stacked with a grin. "These look good."

With the thoughtful look on her face, Akagi nodded only to stop as she noticed something and hummed. "I wonder what those are now..."

It was then that a voice spoke up. "What those are what?"

Looking up, the Aircraft Carrier smiled at the black haired boy that was looking over the top of the counter. "Oh! Harry-Chan, are you helping out the kitchen staff again?"

All the young boy did was grin, which also showed off a space where one of his baby teeth had fallen out. "Yup! Don't got school today and got all my homework down."

Smiling right back, Akagi patted him gently on the head before she then pointed at one of the desserts, which was in a plastic cup. The bottom was covered in some sort of brown, crumbly substance, then there was a layer of yellow, almost cream, then a layer of preserves, and another layer of the yellow. Above that was a final layer of preserves and it was all topped off with whipped cream. "I was wondering what that was."

With a frown on his face, Harry leaned over and looked before he suddenly grinned. "That's the cheesecake parfaits that I made, Akagi-Oba."

That caused Akagi to look up in interest. "Cheesecake parfait?"

Nodding, Harry just pointed at it. "See, I used crushed graham crackers for the bottom, added no bake cheesecake, then some fruit preserves, more cheesecake, then another layer of preserves before using my special whipped cream on top! I got cherry, strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry."

Slowly, Akagi nodded as she wiped at her mouth with a napkin while Iowa chuckled. "So... how many per customer, kiddo?"

Harry just shrugged a bit. "Um... three actually."

Just as Akagi was about to say something though, the ground trembled beneath them and Iowa looked around at the swaying lights before blinking as within seconds, it stopped. "Huh, what'd you figure that earthquake was?" Not getting an answer, she blinked. "Akagi? Kiddo?" Once she looked where they had been, her eyes widened as neither of them were in sight. Before she could panic though, she heard a sound and looked over the counter to see a sight that caused her to rub her eyes. There was a confused Harry underneath the counter with a wide eyed Akagi looking around as she stayed in a protective position above him. It took Iowa a few moments to recognize it as being one for a earthquake which caused her to raise her eyebrows. "Uh, Akagi? You okay there...? I mean, it's over."

Snapping out of it, Akagi crawled out from under the counter and helped Harry up. "Of course... You're right." A moment later, Akagi hopped over the counter and was now pointing at three of the parfaits. "I'll take those three please..." However, when Harry instead placed five onto her tray, she looked at him in confusion. "I thought that we only get three though?"

Much to her surprise, Harry just shook his head. "Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

Akagi just smiled at him and then walked away as Iowa narrowed her eyes at how the Carrier's hands held a very slight tremble to them. 'Huh...' Waiting until Akagi had sat down across from Kaga, Iowa raised her fingers. "I'll take one of the cherries, and if anyone asks Kiddo?" Once she had Harry's attention, she continued. "I got the extra parfaits and gave them to Akagi, okay?"

In reply, Harry just gave her a thumbs up.

 

Harry Leferts

Groaning, Akatsuki let her head hit the table hard enough that the whole thing shook which caused Ikazuchi to glare at her. "Hey!"

A moment later, Harry looked up and blinked at her with a slight frown on his face. "Something wrong, Akatsuki?"

In reply the Destroyer sat up with a paper stuck to her face and a moment later, pulled it off with a mortified expression. That done, she slumped a little in her seat and grumbled to herself. "This is not the sort of thing that a lady should be doing."

Nodding, Hibiki just frowned as she looked at the papers in front of her. "Da."

Harry meanwhile just scratched his head a little bit as he looked between the two sisters with a frown. "Um..."

With a sigh, Hibiki looked up at him with her usual dour expression. "Harry-Chan... could you give me some help here?"

Even as Harry got up from where he had been sitting down and walked around, Akatsuki just glared at the papers in front of her. "Why do we need to be doing all this? We're never going to be using it."

Rolling her eyes, Natsumi was about to say something when the door opened up and Inazuma walked in with Harry's tea set balanced on her head and a plate full of various small treats in her hands. "You know what Kaa-San said, Akatsuki. We might be shipgirls, but we still need schooling!"

All the "Oldest" of the Akatsuki sisters did though was pout as she tapped her pencil against the paper before glancing to where Harry was leaning over Hibiki's shoulder and softly talking. "I don't see why..."

Natsumi also glanced at the white haired shipgirl before giving her a raised eyebrow at the light dusting of red on her face. "Yeah? And?'

Before Akatsuki, could say something having turned her nose up, Inazuma placed one of the tea cups in front of her and gave her a smile that caused a shiver to run up her back. "Hwawawa, you know why, Akatsuki-Chan. Like Kaa-San said, we need to have an education for when the war is over and she's not going to have us not get one."

While she blinked, Ikazuchi pointed a pencil at her twin with a smirk. "You're getting pretty good at that."

There was a beaming smile on Inazuma's face as she nodded and placed a tea cup in front of her sister. "I've been learning from Oba-Chan, Nanodesu!"

Snorting, Natsumi shook her head. "That would explain it."

Meanwhile, Harry patted Hibiki on the shoulder as she nodded. "See? English isn't that hard. Besides, Miss Baker is a pretty nice teacher."

Hibiki only softly smiled. "Thank you."

Once more rolling her eyes, Natsumi scoffed. "Besides, this stuff is easy. Have you seen the work that the Carriers and Battleships have been doing? Heck, Shinano is starting out at the beginning with the shipgirl correspondence courses and she's got a lot more work ahead of her."

The two summoned Akatsuki sisters winced at that before silently thanking anyone that was listening that they had the help of their natural born sisters and mother. Biting down on a biscuit, Harry glanced at his own cup of tea and tilted his head before passing his math homework to Ikazuchi to check. "Huh, that didn't take you too long to make..."

Blinking, Inazuma just looked up and shrugged. "It was already made actually." Frowning, Inazuma tilted her head back as she tapped her chin in thought. "I think that Nagato-San made it before she left."

Even as Akatsuki commented that was more then an hour ago while complimenting Harry on how long the tea pot must be able to keep the tea at a good temperature, Natsumi was giving the tea pot a narrowed eyed look. 'Hmm...'

Suddenly, Inazuma raised her hand as she looked up. "I got a problem with translating this bit of English here, Harry-Chan!"

Getting up, Harry walked over and blinked at what was before him before frowning. "Um..."

With a frown on her face, Natsumi straightened to better see what Inazuma was working on only to blink even as Harry helped her translate. '... Isn't that high school English!?' Looking up, Natsumi stared at the seemingly ten year old face staring at her. 'Just how old is she?'

Meanwhile, the tea pot gently puffed out steam unnoticed which looked almost like what one might think was a sigh of relief.

 

Harry Leferts

Kicking out, Harry's foot struck the ball which soared through the air. Sadly for him, a tanned arm reached up and the ball bounced off and hit the ground before RO began to kick it toward the two pylons set up as Harry's "Goal" posts. Giggling, she winked at him as he tried to keep up with her. "You'll have to do better then that, Harry-Chan!"

Eyes narrowed, Harry tried to keep up as sweat soaked his shirt even in the light spring breeze. "Come back here!"

RO just looked over her shoulder with a grin as she laughed lightly and continued to kick the ball toward the goal. "Nope!" Several moments later, Harry managed to steal the ball back and RO was now chasing him. "HEY!"

Unknown to Harry, RO was taking things easy with him and was enjoying the friendly game. As shown about a minute later when Harry kicked the ball into RO's goal and began to jump around with his hands in the air. "YES! GOAL!"

Laughing, RO swept Harry up into a hug and swung him around. "Yup! And you've won this half!" Unfortunately for the submarine, her foot caught a rock and her eyes opened wide as she began to fall. However, for a brief moment, her eyes took on the calculating look she often had as Yuu and moved her body so that she took the brunt of the fall. And then she was back to being RO again as Harry blinked from his position on top of her. "Oops?"

Just blinking, Harry sat up and straddled RO as he looked down at her in surprise. "Are you okay?"

All RO did though was wave him off with a grin though, her tongue poking between her lips. "Ja, I'm okay." Then she pulled the squeaking Harry into a hug. "Especially as you're okay." Suddenly, RO scrunched her nose and snorted as she pulled away. "Ewww! You're all sweaty and smelly!"

Pouting, Harry huffed a bit which only made RO laugh again. "I've just been running around. And I do not smell!"

Still with a grin, RO reached up and ruffled his hair much to the eight year old's annoyance. "Aw, you're probably right." When he didn't sit right back up, she hummed a bit. "Not tired, are you?"

Much to her amusement, Harry shook his head. "No, just catching my breath, RO-Chan."

Nodding, RO just continued to run her hands through his hair as she looked up at the blue sky above them, the odd puffy white cloud drifting across her field of view. "Sure! I need to catch my breath as well." If anything though, her amusement grew as Harry narrowed her eyes at her and then looked down at her chest that was slowly rising and falling. Grin widening, RO just giggled. "I am!"

Harry just looked up at her face and snorted. "You were going easy on me, weren't you?"

In reply, RO hummed and looked to the side. "Noooo, you're just really good at football and I'm a bit tired. So I'm going to be laying here for a bit." Getting another huff caused her to close her eyes and tighten the hug a bit. "Too cute."

The warm spring air brushed past them as the two of them laid there before Harry shifted so that he was laying with on his back on top of the submarine who only smiled as she adjusted herself a bit. For the next few minutes the two of them enjoyed the moment, though RO could tell that Harry was once more staring at her tanned skin. She could still remember the day that she changed from Yuu to RO and how Harry had freaked out until she proved that she was still the same person he had become friends with. Suddenly, Harry spoke up. "Hey, RO-Chan?" Getting a hum, he continued. "Thanks for playing with me."

Playfully narrowing her eyes, RO moved one hand and then lightly tapped him on the nose with one finger. "I like playing and spending time with you, Harry-Chan. You're fun to hang around with and I enjoy it." She then grinned a bit. "Besides, you're pretty much the only one on the base besides Hachi who I can have conversations in German with."

When Harry was about to reply though, both their stomachs rumbled which caused the shipgirl and the young boy to blink before they both blushed. "Um..."

Madly giggling, RO just sat up, easily helping Harry at the same time. "Looks like it's time to go and eat something." She then poked Harry in the side and caused him to squirm and squeal. "And someone promised me to cook up some bratwurst."

Quickly jumping up and off her in order to get away from the pokes, Harry grinned at her. "Sure!"

Reaching down, he helped pull RO to her feet before the two of them put away the pylons and then began to walk toward the Submarine pens, RO's mouth watering at the thought of what she was going to be eating soon. Almost unnoticed, RO dropped the ball and began to bounce it from foot to foot before moving on to using her knees, elbows, and head to keep it moving. At the narrowed eyed look from Harry, RO just grinned and got a huff alongside a pout in return.

 

Harry Leferts

Harry flinched a bit as the cotton swab dabbed at the cut above his eye. Frowning slightly, Nagato sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry. Just... About... Done." Pulling out a bandaid, Nagato placed it on the cut and gave it a kiss. "There."

As she put everything in the first aid kit back into place, Harry watched her nervously. "Mum?" Seeing he had her attention, Harry looked down. "You're not mad are you?"

For several moments, Nagato paused before she turned and sighed. "No, I'm not mad at you. Maybe at Hiro for hurting you, but not at you." Internally, she winced at the obvious black eye that her son was developing before shaking it off and grumbling under her breath. "Something that I expect his mother to be whining about soon enough."

Ignoring that a little, Harry shifted around. "So you're not mad that I got into a fight?"

Simply placing her hands on her knees, Nagato shook her head. "Look at me, Harry." Once he did, she just smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm disappointed that you got into a fight, but not why. You heard a call for help and answered it." Glancing over at the box in a corner of the room, Nagato raised an eyebrow. "Even if the call came from something not human."

With a blink, Harry bit his lip but got up and looked into the box. There, one of Nagato's medical fairies finished placing the bandage on a injured snake that was watching it curiously. The snake itself was watched by several of Nagato's other fairies which had guns in their hands. "How is she?"

Softly smiling, the medical fairy just raised a hand and gave him a thumbs up. "Desu!"

Flicking out her tongue, the snake looked up at Harry and hissed. "{I am surprised that you have Yosei here. Most unexpected.}"

Just shrugging, Harry hissed back. "{Yosei? But everyone just calls them fairies...}"

Nagato meanwhile just raised an eyebrow. "What did she say?" After Harry told her, Nagato chuckled a bit and smiled. "I suppose that she might be right in some way."

Shifting a bit, Harry blinked as he looked up at his mother while she gathered up her fairies. "You don't think that I'm a... A freak for being able to..."

The Battleship just raised an eyebrow as he trailed off. "For being able to talk with snakes? No, I don't, not in the least." Shaking her head, she let out a slight chuckle. "It's a special gift after all... And it's confirming something that I've been suspecting." Even as Harry looked at her questioningly, Nagato got up and placed a hand on his head. "Now then, I'm going to go and get us some dinner. There's some ground beef in the freezer that should be good enough that if you warm it up, your new friend should have a decent meal if she eats it."

Nodding, Harry smiled a bit. "Okay, Mum."

Soon after, she was out the door and the snake turned her head in the direction that Nagato had left in. "{Your Okaa-San is a kind woman.}"

Just watching as the snake got more comfortable, Harry nodded. "{Yeah, she is actually.}" Frowning slightly, Harry tilted his head a bit. "{How are you feeling?}"

If someone was to ask him what the snake did next, he would have described it as smiling as it bobbed it's head. "{I am fine, a little sore from my wounds, but that shall pass in time.}" Then the snake looked up at the black eye on Harry's face and the small, bandaged cut. "{Thank you for saving me, though I am sorry that you got hurt.}"

All Harry did though was shrug a bit. "{I wasn't going to let Hiro hurt you. And you did ask for help.}" His expression saddened some. "{I'm sorry that I wasn't there sooner to stop him from hurting you in the first place.}

To his surprise, the snake was silent for several moments before shaking her head. "{It... Was not the human child who gave me most of my injuries I am afraid. Though he may have hurt me more if you had not arrived when you had.}"

Frowning, Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "{Then what hurt you?}"

Once more, the snake was silent for several moments before it blinked. "{It was... A cat.}"

That causes Harry to blink as well. "{A cat?}"

Bobbing her head, the snake let it's tongue flick out before it settled down. "{Yes, a rather nasty one, to say the least.}"

Still confused, Harry finally just shrugged it off. "{Huh...}"
_________________________________

The night was silent as the only thing that could be heard was crickets chirping. And then even they went silent almost as if something there was dangerous and they didn't want to attract it's attention. At the same time, clouds drifted across the face of the Moon, plunging the area into darkness.Then the silence became more oppressive as two golden eyes looked up at the Battleship dorm in consideration. In particular, they were looking at the room where Harry slept as did the snake. Their owner, a cat, tilted it's head to the side before letting it's claws extend a bit and dig into the ground. With a hiss, it began to walk toward the dorms...

Only to stop as it heard a sound and slowly turned. Right behind it was a large fox that seemed to be grinning as it watched the cat. Even worse, a moment later the fox's tail seemed to split into several others. Growling, the cat began to back up only to hit two legs made of flesh and steel. Looking up, it stared with wide eyes at Ryuujou who had one hand open, palm facing upwards to reveal the bluish, ghostly flame it held. On her face was an utterly unamused expression.

Not willing to fight both, the cat then turned and ran in another direction, only to slam into Junyou's legs. The Carrier in question finished off her sake before looking down at the stunned feline with a grin not friendly in the least as glowing balls of light began to form around her. "As the Americans would say... Surprise, motherfucker."

Slowly, the cat glanced over at the fox whose mouth dropped open in a massive grin showing too many sharp teeth to count as it laughed softly...

 

Harry Leferts

Not quite happy with this, but...
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sitting back on the cushion, Ryuujou took a moment to look around at the simple, unadorned room before turning back to Haru. Before she could say anything though, Junyou pulled out a bottle of sake from somewhere and set up drinks for all of them. "Really, Junyou? I mean, really?"

With a slight smirk, Junyou looked up and raised an eyebrow. "After the night we just had? And with what I am assuming the conversation to be like?"

Ryuujou gave it some thought and then sighed before she reached up and rubbed the side of her head. "Fine... and at least I'm not getting checked to make sure that I'm actually old enough to drink."

Grinning, Junyou passed over one of the now filled cups with a snicker. "That's the spirit!"

Just rolling her eyes, Ryuujou waited until they went through the motions and sipped at her drink before setting it down. "Now that's done... Can you tell us what in the hell is going on?" At the raised eyebrow from Haru, Ryuujou leaned forward to narrow her eyes at the kitsune. "This is now, what, the second time that a hostile Yōkai has shown up on base? Just a Bakeneko this time, but still." Then she began to tick off on her fingers one by one. "And then there's you, your niece, the reports of possible Yūrei... and the fucking yanari I had to deal with in the Destroyer Dorms last week."

Intrigued, Haru looked over at her. "How did that go by the way."

There was an utterly deadpan expression on Ryuujou's face as Junyou snickered. "Annoying."

Raising her cup, Junyou grinned. "I'm keeping one as a pet. He likes drinking almost as much as I do!"

Both Ryuujou and Haru just stared at her before they shook it off and the Light Carrier turned back to Haru. "And you're avoiding the question. I thought that it might have had something to do with Harry-Chan, but after Jintsuu sent me an email after encountering a Kuchisake-Onna in Sasebo? There's something more to all this."

Slowly sipping her own sake, Haru considered what she was going to say before setting down the cup, which Junyou refilled. "To which I'll ask... what are Kanmusu?"

Junyou hummed a bit before she spoke up. "Now that is a good question... A lot of the girls just assume that we're some kind of tsukumogami. But... I, personally, think that we're more then that. We're formed from our crews love and care for us, and their experiences." At the looks she got, the Carrier smirked. "What? Surprised that I can be introspective?"

Deadpan, Ryuujou nodded. "Yes."

Even as Junyou just laughed, Haru leaned forward with a smile. "I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case. However... That wasn't quite what I meant." For several moments, Haru hummed before tapping a finger on the table. "You shipgirls are a bit different then what I've seen before. When you were ships, you all had, at the least, hundreds of crewmembers, if not thousands, during your existence as a hull. You also had thousands of workmen either building you or performing repairs. From what I can tell, because of that, you have the combined spiritual essence of all those people, concentrated and then squeezed into a form the size of a human. Thousands of humans worth of spiritual energy and magic. Honestly, the presence that you all have can be a bit daunting to those sensitive to such things."

Frowning, Ryuujou ran a finger along the top of her cup before nodding. "I've noticed that actually. And I can see how that would attract the supernatural, especially with all of us living in small areas. Might as well light up huge signs stating that we're here to any spirits or kami."

However, Haru shook her head. "But that's not all. There's also the summoning of shipgirls."

Sucking in a breath, Junyou let out a hiss. "We're punching holes into the Spirit Realm as well..."

It was with a serious expression that Haru nodded. "Yes. And those summonings let out still more magic and spiritual energy. So, if one could see the energy, they would see a dense fog or mist on shipgirl bases with bright lights inside representing the shipgirls. Abyssals are similar, but in their case it's corrupted energy. In either case, such places attract a lot of attention and not all of it is good."

Letting out a low whistle as she leaned back, Junyou nodded. "That explains why you're here. You're not just a guardian of the shrine... you're here to guard the whole base."

There was a thoughtful look on Ryuujou's face as Haru nodded before the Light Carrier slowly nodded. "That explains quite a bit... such as the Tengu that apparently has set up shop close to Sasebo and is pretending to be a shopkeeper." A hum escaped her as she leaned against her fist. "What about Harry-Chan though? You've been pretty interested in him after all. Sure, he's an Onmyōji, and a foreign one, but still."

Haru just chuckled at that. "He's... one of those strokes of luck that happen every once in a while. Sometimes even the Kami get thrown unexpected curveballs every once in a while after all. I will say that Harry-Chan might be a bit more important then you'd think, though even I don't have the full story there."

Even though both of them looked at the kitsune, she didn't add anymore which caused Ryuujou to huff. "Right, speaking of him, what are we going to do with the snake?"

Much to both their surprise, Junyou just shrugged before speaking up. "I say that we just sit back and watch. It hasn't shown any signs of malevolence yet."

Raising an eyebrow, Ryuujou sipped her sake before shaking her head. "She did come onto the base without permission."

All that got was a scoff from Haru. "Considering that she's hurt and how that Bakeneko was after her? I suspect that she was trying to reach the base in order to hide her presence in all the noise generated spiritually. The fact that there's enough energy floating around that she should heal faster notwithstanding of course. In a way smart, in others not so much. After all, her pursuer would guess what her plan was."

Despite the assurances, Ryuujou just shook her head. "Still could have asked."

That got her a scoff from Haru. "Yes, because such things have turned out so well." At their confused looks, Haru sighed and gulped down her drink before passing the cup to Junyou to be refilled. "How much do you know about the Magical World?"

Glancing at each other, Ryuujou just shrugged. "Not all that much, just that they hide themselves and wipe memories."

Just frowning, Junyou tapped the side of her head. "We may have memories from Onmyōji that served on us secretly during the war, but we don't know everything."

Simply sighing, Haru rubbed the sides of her head for a few moments. "Okay, first a history lesson. I am pretty certain that you know about the Statute of Secrecy, correct?"

While Junyou nodded, Ryuujou just snorted and scrunched her nose. "Yes, unfortunately as I know that has caused certain... problems... around the base."

Nodding, Haru gave her that and took a deep breath. "Firstly, you need to understand that not all the countries in the world agreed with it. Japan was in fact one of those countries, in fact I was around for when it was brought into motion. The Onmyōji, Yōkai, and others tried to find ways around it. One of the methods was when we went to the Shogunate and convinced them to limit contact with the outside world. I was only a kit at the time, so I wasn't involved. They thought that by limiting contact with the outside world, they could limit the potential of outside magical governments from forcing us as a whole into hiding. While I don't agree with some of the methods, it did work. But it lead to western magical governments becoming rather... irate, let's just say. But by being isolated, outside groups were far less likely to know about violations."

As she sipped her own sake, Ryuujou frowned. "Let me guess, until the Americans forced the issue with Perry?"

Slowly nodding, Haru nodded. "Though that, from what I've been told, had nothing to do with the magical world. However, the ICW did take advantage of it and so we all were forced into hiding... whether we wanted to or not. And when the ICW stations a 'Task Force' to maintain compliance... well, compliance happens, one way or the other. Those Yōkai without human forms were forced into isolated and remote areas to keep the existence of the supernatural hidden, much like other beings elsewhere in the world. Such places are usually under the control of whoever rises up to the top of the heap. Myself and other shapechangers? Well... we weren't exactly welcome by the dawn of the Twentieth Century as we were considered troublesome by some elements, especially because of some of our habits. So we mostly just used our abilities and hid among the non-magical population."

With a frown on her face, Ryuujou raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so... what does that have to do with the snake?"

Grumbling, Haru waved a hand around. "Long story short, with how things are set up? She would first need to speak to reach a government official for help. Chances of actual help though are... slim. She would be more likely to get in trouble herself for not being in a designated area. And if she caused an incident? Before the Abyssals with fear of problems, it's possible that she might have gotten killed when the government officials show up. In either case, they're likely to do the bare minimum and then drop her off in one of the designated reserves, which would not stop the problem. Her only other choice back then would be to find a stronger Yōkai and try to get them to help. But with how most of them are, sad to say..."

Her finger rubbing along her chin, Junyou snorted. "They'd likely want something in return."

Sighing, Haru nodded. "And if she couldn't, or wouldn't provide what they wanted, too bad for her. They might even help her enemies if they paid whatever they wanted. Grant you, with how things have been changing, she might have had better solutions in a few years, but right now? Her best bet was to do what she did and hide where she could while hoping that her enemies cause enough of an issue for the government to come down on them."

Part of what she said though caused Ryuujou to narrow her eyes. "What do you mean by things changing?"

Lips twitching, Haru snorted. "The normal methods of making non-magicals forget have been failing recently. And with how the war with the Abyssals have proven that the supernatural and magic exists? The whole secrecy bit has been falling apart and won't last more then a few years, maybe a decade if they're lucky. When that happens, there's going to be a period of chaos obviously. But once things calm down they should be better. No one would be thrown into jail for a time because their ears or tail popped out for example."

Junyou's next word spoken in a deadpan tone summed up both hers and Ryuujou's thoughts on the matter. "Greeeaaat."

 

Harry Leferts

Slightly nervous, Harry glanced at the fuming Natsumi beside him. Finally, he cleared his throat and gulped. "Natsumi-Chan? Um... Sorry for making you mad..."

After a few seconds, Natsumi blinked and then groaned as she knew Harry didn't know why she was mad. "I'm not mad at you..." Then she frowned and shook her head. "Well... Okay, maybe a little. But I'm more mad at myself for being stupid."

Tilting his head to the side, Harry stared at her. "Poi?"

Simply facepalming, Natsumi took a deep breath. "Harry... Here I am, your best friend and I never even knew of when your birthday was! I never even thought to ask!" She turned and gave him an apologetic look. "I had to find out at school when we had to list our birthdays."

Much to her exasperation, Harry just shrugged. "It isn't that a big of a deal, Natsumi-Chan."

Not even a moment later, Harry had to stop as Natsumi was now standing in front of him with her hands curled into fists. Due to their faces just inches apart, he could see that her eyes were suspiciously shiny. "It is a big deal, Harry-Chan!" Then she pulled him into a hug and placed her chin on his shoulder. "I should know stuff like this."

Unsure, Harry slowly reached up and placed his arms around her. "Sorry?" Getting a sigh, he just shrugged again. "My birthday just was never a big deal. I mean, it's kind of just another day."

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say as Natsumi stiffened before she hissed. "No , it's not!" Pulling out of the hug, she put her hands on her hips. "How can you even say that?!"

If she had expected him to make any reply, it wasn't for him to scratch the back of his head. "When I was at my... Aunt and Uncle's..." Part of Natsumi noted that he used the English words for what his relatives relation were to him. Not the Japanese ones like he called a number of the shipgirls. "It was just another day, you know? Maybe I could sneak a cupcake or found enough change to buy one, but that's about it."

Utter silence met him as Natsumi stared at him. "That's... It. Nothing else? No presents or anything?" Harry just shook his head before she mentally grabbed onto something else. "Wait, didn't Nagato-San give you a birthday last year?!"

At the mention of that, Harry's face lit up. "Oh yeah! Mum got a cake and we shared it with Fubuki-Nee, Yuudachi-Nee, Mutsuki-Nee. Then Kongou-Oba showed up and we watched some movies! I also got some books, my Mutsy, and some clothes. And they fit!"

Natsumi just stared at him with wide eyes. The fact that he was happy that he got clothing that fit on his birthday caused an ache in her chest. An ache she focused on as the only other thing was a simmering rage at what that could mean. Taking a deep breath, she tried to ignore the fact that her best friend was still confused over why it was a big deal. "Harry-Chan... Your birthday is at the end of July, right? About a month and a half away?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "Yeah..."

Letting out another deep breath, Natsumi's ear, unknown to her, twitched some. Something that made Harry wonder if she could waggle them like that one boy he had in old class back in England. Then his attention was grabbed as Natsumi placed her hands on his shoulders. "Harry-Chan, then that means one thing." Leaning in close, she narrowed her eyes. "That gives me enough time to set up a real party for you."

Confused, Harry just blinked at her. "But-"

However, he was cut off as Natsumi gave him a glare. "No. You are going to be getting a real birthday party and that's final."

Eyes wide, Harry just nodded. "Okay!"

The disguised kitsune frowned as she searched her memories before remembering that on her birthday, Harry had gotten her an Akage no Anne boxset. Something that had caused her to squeal at the time and still brought a blush to her cheeks at the memory. "Hmm... What would you like for your birthday, anyways?"

Blinking, Harry just shrugged as he put his hands into his pockets. "Um... I don't really got anything I really want."

For several seconds, Natsumi stared at him before she let out a huff and threw her hands into the air. "Ugh! You're impossible, Harry-Chan!" She then held her face in her hands. "This is going to be Christmas all over again..."

Unsure, Harry scratched his cheek a little bit with a frown on his face. "Sorry?"

Narrowing her eyes at him, Natsumi gave a huff before she grabbed his hand and began dragging him toward the base. "I'll think of something. But first, we're going to go and have a talk with some people first!"

Harry simply let himself be dragged along. After all, it wasn't that big of a deal, right? It's not like anyone else would make a big deal about it...

 

Harry Leferts

"Miss Taigei?"

Blinking, the submarine tender snapped out of her thoughts and smiled down at Harry as the two of them continued to walk toward the submarine dorm. "Ah, sorry about that, Harry-Chan. I was just... thinking about something."

Harry just furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to pedal his bike, the wagon it was pulling full of bags that contained not just food, but also laundry detergent and so forth. After all, one of his chores was delivering things to the different shipgirl dorms. "Um... I was just asking if you think that we have enough?"

With a soft hum, Taigei looked over and then frowned as she counted everything off in her head before slowly nodding. "I think that we have enough personal supplies for the week. Especially with more convoys arriving..."

As she trailed off, Harry was quiet for a few moments before he frowned. "Is something wrong, Miss Taigei?"

Much to his surprise, Taigei stiffened a bit and blushed. "I..." Bringing one hand up to her face, she looked around before dropping her voice down to a whisper. "It's... just that things are so different now, Harry-Chan."

Confused, Harry tilted his head. "Different? Because of how long it's been?"

Humming, Taigei frowned thoughtfully but nodded. "That's part of it... I've gotten lost around the base here. And even Tokyo has changed." Her face lit up in a bright blush as she remembered Iku and the others taking her shopping with them for new clothes. Some of the things were rather scandalous and the things she overheard... Not to mention that one store with the picture books among other items. At times she still could not believe the things she saw in there. Even the subs couldn't look her in the eyes after seeing what she was staring at. "But it's more then that."

Slowly, Harry reached up and patted her arm. "You can tell me, Iku-Chan and the others tell me that I'm good at listening!"

A giggle escaped from Taigei at both the proud look Harry had on his eight year old face and then at the pout he gave her for giggling in the first place. "Ah..." She then turned her head to the waterfront and stared for several moments at the massive American Aircraft Carrier docked there. "There's other things though. I... remember the war. How I was a Submarine Tender and then converted into a Carrier." Shivering, she reached up and hugged herself some. "I remember the Americans bombing me, being abandoned before being attacked again and again... and finally being scrapped. Then I came back as a Submarine Tender with the Americans as our friends and..." Bringing one hand up, she stared at it in wonder. "And... I'm a young woman."

She blushed again as she remembered overhearing some stating that she was an attractive one. At the same time, Harry reached up and moved his helmet a bit. "Huh... I guess that could be weird." Frowning, he looked down at the ground. "It's... like I was suddenly a ship, right? I guess that would feel weird for me."

Taigei frowned at that before she slowly nodded. "I suppose that it would be just as strange for you if you became a ship." Both of them lapsed into silence as they digested that before Taigei shook is off and bent over to pat Harry on the head. Unnoticed by them both, one of the male Naval personnel was passing by and glanced in their direction before doing a double take and staring. And then he walked into one of the pots and tripped which caused Harry and Taigei to look back. Before they could say anything though, the red faced sailor practically leapt to his feet and hurried off. 'Odd...'

While shaking it off, Harry looked back at Taigei. "Um, is it bad though?"

Becoming thoughtful, Taigei finally shook her head. "No, it's a lot better now I guess. I'm... it's just going to take some time to get used to everything is all." After a few more seconds, she decided to change the subject. "So, what shall we make when we arrive at the dorm?"

Scrunching his nose in thought, Harry blinked before he suddenly smiled. "Fudge?"

Eyes wide, Taigei gave it barely a thought before she licked her lips at the memory of the first time she bit into a piece of fudge. "Mmm... sounds wonderful. And I would love to learn how to make it."

The smile that Harry gave her caused her to smile right back before they finally walked into sight of the Submarine Dorm.

 

Harry Leferts

Hearing his name being called, Harry turned and blinked at the sight of Shioi running toward him as she waved her hand. "Shioi-Chan?"

Once she caught up to the waiting Harry, Shioi smiled and then waved at something out of sight. "I want you to meet someone that I met in Kure who's visiting for exercises." Not getting anything, she blinked and then frowned before she turned back to Harry and raised one finger. "Wait right here for a moment..."

Blinking, Harry just nodded. "Um, okay?"

Just standing there, he continued to watch as Shioi ran over to the wall she had come around and talking for several moments. Unable to hear, Harry raised an eyebrow as Shioi finally shook her head and then reached for something before pulling out a girl in a swimsuit. Much to Harry's surprise though, said girl looked about his own age and all he could do was stare as Shioi dragged her over to him. "Harry-Chan? Meet Maruyu-Chan. Maru-Chan, meat Harry-Chan."

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Harry gave a bow. "Um, pleased to meet you."

All Maruyu did was blush before she quickly bowed as well. "Nice to, ah, meet you too?"

Glancing at Shioi who stood behind the shipgirl, Harry could only raise an eyebrow as Shioi waved him on. But when Maruyu looked back, Shioi was had her hands behind her while looking away. Having caught the hint, Harry coughed a bit. "So... Maruyu-San... Are you a submarine?"

Much to Harry's surprise, Maruyu slumped a bit as if depressed and Shioi winced. "Yes... even Kiso-San couldn't believe it." Then she straightened a bit. "But I'm the Type 3 Submergence Transport Vehicle." Maruyu then became slightly sheepish. "Just... don't call me a mole."

His hands behind his head, Harry frowned a bit as he tried to place what she was. "Sure."

At seeing his confusion, Shioi took a deep breath. "She's IJA, Harry-Chan. That's probably why you're having issues placing her."

Surprised, Harry looked at Shioi for a moment and then looked back at Maruyu who rubbed her arm. "I... know that the IJN girls might not like me, but I really do try my best. Even though I'm slow..."

It was then her turn to blink as Harry smiled at her and nodded. "I'm sure that they like you. Shioi-Chan's IJN and she likes you after all. And I don't think that you're that slow, you're probably faster then I am after all."

Blushing, Maruyu played a bit with her fingers as she looked up at him. "Um... thank you."

As the three of them began to walk, Shioi grinned a bit as she watched Maruyu and Harry converse. 'Heh... I knew that it was a good idea to introduce them.' She then blinked a bit as she thought back to when she met Maruyu down at Kure. 'It's pretty amazing she's so shy, then again... she was surprised to hear that Nagato had adopted someone.'

Shioi was then brought out of her thoughts as Harry asked Maruyu a question in surprise. "So... you and your sisters share the same name?"

With a sigh, Maruyu shook her head. "I'm the only one to be summoned so far though." Then she straightened some and nodded. "But when they are, we'll decide how to handle things. Maybe just have it as our family name." A growl could be heard as she held her stomach and winced. "Sorry..."

However, Harry just waved her off with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

Moving forward, Shioi placed her arms over both Harry's and Maruyu's shoulders and looked between them. "How about we head over to the cafeteria to get something to eat then? I still got to tell Harry-Chan about my trip and stuff after all."

Eyes wide, Harry nodded as Maruyu looked between the other subgirl and the human boy, a blush on her face. "A-are you sure? I don't want to impose..."

All Harry did though was shake his head and smile. "Nah, besides, you're Shioi-Chan's friend after all..." He then smirked at Shioi and grabbed Maruyu's hand before running. "Come on! We'll beat Shioi-Chan there!"

It took a few moments, but then Shioi began to chase after them. "No you don't!"

The only answer she got was laughter from Harry and "Mogu! Mogu!" from Maruyu.

 

Shaithan

Desu!

Nagato was proud of Harry. He was an attentive student and with the right incentives he would do very well. Teachers had been hit and miss, though. Shimakaze had literally jumped at the chance to do some PE with Harry. In retrospect that had been a bad idea. She had tried to bring Harry up to speed. Unfortunately that meant her speed. Humans weren't meant to be endurance runners that could reliably sustain speeds in excess of 35 knots. Thankfully Shimakaze herself had seen the error in her training regime when Harry proved unable to sustain 10 knots.

For some odd reason he was afraid of Hood and Bismarck, too. He didn't get along with Unsinkable Sam II aka Eugen either. Graf Zeppelin's lessons on how to spot a Nazi and make them regret being a Nazi were cancelled before Graf had a chance to start things. He did get along quite well with Prince of Wales, Warspite and Prinz Eugen. Harry was one of the very few people allowed to call Warspite Grand Old Lady.

Warspite and Prince taught Harry English and together with help from Kongo, History. They also taught him British manners, as these were quite different in many regards to Japanese ones. They also taught him the art of understatement, something that sometimes irked Nagato.

Prinz Eugen taught Harry Maths and some science, but she also was very insistent that Harry learned about the humanities. Kant, Hegel, Kierkegard, as far as Prinz Eugen was concerned, Ethics were of vital importance. She had been forbidden from selecting bedtime stories for Harry, though. The fairytales from Europe she had endorsed as children's classics had Nagato's hairs stand on end. 'Children get marooned in the woods, twice, so they die and are no longer a burden to their family. The second time they are trapped by an old woman who works the girl to utter axhaustion, while trapping the boy in a cage to fatten him up to eat him. After a while, the children manage to trick the woman into going into her own oven and cook her alive within it. Everyone's happy. Good night.'

Surprisingly, Ashigara also proved a capable teacher, though her lessons on trajectories, vectors, relative speeds, interception speed and battlefield control were quite likely quite useless. These lessons were a reason why he got along with Kaga, too. Well, that and the fact that Kaga taught him archery.

Nagato grinned fondly when she remembered a saying, she wasn't sure if it had been Bismarck or Iowa who had dropped it. It needs a village to raise a child.

She was also glad that Harry got along quite well with the destroyers. Now if only he would lose the verbal tic he aquired from Yuudachi.

She went to make her rounds through the base, giving nods and otherwise doing the duty of the admiral, as the admiral himself (herself? She wasn't so sure any more.) had once again absconded to lord knows where. She smiled fondly when she saw Harry building a sand castle, seems like her son currently was on recess. The fairies helping him made the whole scene heartmeltingly adorable.

It was only after being gone for quite a while that she realized what kind of fairies had helped Harry there. Namely some enlisted men and one often kicked Stuka Ace. She didn't want to imagine what kinds of words he could learn from them.

Meanwhile, Harry was meeting with DesDiv6. Thanks to Hibiki they had found a song they wanted to sing for Yuudachi. With determined grins, they set off in search for Poi~.

A bit later they found her, once again futilely trying to explain to an increasingly frazzled New Jersey what exactly poi~ meant.

"Hey, Yuudachi, poi~!" Harry greeted her, heedless of the battleship that looked hopelessly lost.

New Jersey started twitching.

Harry and the girls began singing. "Poi Soldat"

New Jersey twitched harder.

When the impromptu a capella had finished, Yuudachi beamed. "That was beautiful, poi~!" she said happily.

Harry grinned. "You can thank Hibiki-chan, poi~," he replied. "She found it!"

Then they remembered their audience, a still twitching battleship, who seemed to be trapped in her own world. "Too much poi~! It's poi~son! Oh damn, it infected me! Poi~ns! I'm making poi~ns on poi~! I can't stay here, there's no poi~nt!!" she muttered before taking off at high speed.

An anguished wail of "WHAT THE FUCK DOES POI~ MEAN? AND WHY IS IT POI~NTAGIOUS?" sounded over the naval base.

Yuudachi cocked her head. "Poi~?" she asked.

Harry gave a shrug. "Poi~," was his baffled answer.

Suddenly the girls and Harry remembered a thing. "How are we going to explain what happened to New Jersey-san, though, poi~?" Yuudachi asked.

The others looked at her and at each other, neither of them eager to explain that it looked like they had exposed New Jersey to critical poi~ mass.

Harry summed the feelings of everyone up. "DESU!" he began. "Desu, desu, desu. Ze, poi~!" he added and shuddered.

Speaking of the devil had summoned her, though. And she was scandalized at Harry's choice of words. "Harry! Who taught you that?" she asked slowly. It wasn't his fault, his habit of picking up words sometimes worked against him.

Harry looked at Nagato with big eyes. "The Oberst and some of Haruna-sans guys taught me that," he confessed.

Nagato was baffled. Haruna's guys? The Oberst was no surprise, but Haruna's guys. It didn't mesh with Nagato's picture of Haruna at all.

Nevertheless she gave Harry a small smile. "You need to watch the words you learn, son. The words you use say a lot about you," she said, and ruffled his hair.

Akatsuki watched the battleship with big eyes "So elegant!" she said reverently.

Then Nagato turned serious again. "And now, could any of you please explain what you did to New Jersey?" she asked with a small frown.

Awkward glances abounded and Harry and Yuudachi whined an unhappy "Poi~" simultaneously.

 

Harry Leferts

Watching as Harry placed some warmed, uncooked meat onto a plate, his snake tilted it's head slightly as she hissed. "{So it is your birthday tomorrow then, Harry?}"

Just nodding, the young boy gave the snake a wide smile. "{Yeah, tomorrow's my birthday. I really can't wait!}" He then blinked a bit as he looked at his calendar on the wall. "{Mum was telling me to get my sleep tonight though because I'll need it tomorrow... don't know why though.}"

The snake just bobbed her head. "{I see. Perhaps you should obey your mother and go to bed early.}" If one was to look, they would have seen obvious amusement on the snake's face as she watched Harry through her ruby eyes. "{After all, the sooner you go to bed, the sooner you awake to your birthday.}"

Harry considered this for several moments, but then nodded. "{True... but first you need to eat, Shiromizu. And then I'll go and wash my hands.}" Glancing at some bandages on her, Harry frowned. "{How are you feeling? Any better?}"

Said snake just bowed her head slightly with odd smile on her face. "{Thanks to the care that you have shown me, my wound has nearly healed. And for that, you have my deepest thanks.}"

Blushing, Harry just rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish chuckle. "{You're very welcome.}" Then Harry picked up one of the pieces of steak, about the size of his thumb and held it out using chopsticks. He still could not understand why Shiromizu asked for him to use them when feeding her, but he did. "{Here, I got a little bit extra for you tonight.}"

One could have sworn that the snake was blushing as she once more bobbed her head. "{Such care and kindness. And yet, you have not asked for anything but my company and friendship.}"

All Harry did was shrug as the snake stretched forward and opened her mouth, taking the piece of uncooked, though warm, meat and swallowing it. Gripping another slice, Harry just smiled. "{Well, you are nice and no one can ever have enough friends.}"

There was an odd look on Harry's face that did not go unnoticed by Shiromizu as she ate another piece of steak offered. 'So true...'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite everything including going to bed early, Harry did not have a good sleep. Between the excitement of what his adopted mother had planned as well as the heat and humidity that came with July, Harry's slumber was fitful and he tossed and turned all night. It was late in the night, or early in the morning on his birthday that Harry awoke with a grumble. For several moments, he just laid there with his sleep adled mind not sure what woke him up, only to blink at the slightly cool hand that was on his shoulder. Slowly, his eyes followed it up until it came to a stop on a young girl in a bluish white kimono there just smiling down at him as she watched him with ruby eyes while snow white hair fell around her head. But there was something about those warm eyes that caused Harry to blink.

Movement then caught Harry's attention and he looked and could only blink as instead of legs, there was a white snake body that extended from the girl's kimono. "Mmm, what?" It clicked in Harry's mind who it was and he just blinked with a sleepy yawn. "Shiromizu?"

The girl giggled as she brought up one sleeve covered arm to her mouth as she hid her smile. "It is."

It took a few seconds, but then Harry spoke the first thing that came to his not quite awake mind. "I didn't know that you were an actual girl."

Once more, Shiromizu just giggled lightly, not insulted in the least. "Well, I am. Though neither you nor the others should worry in the years to come, for while I am thankful, I have no want to become what they may thinkshould they find out. Your friendship is far more then enough." Her gaze then softened. "I had another reason for waking you then showing you myself."

Blinking, and having decided that he was having an odd dream, Harry smacked his lips. "You did?"

Laughter danced in the snake woman's eyes as she nodded. "I do. While I know that you only wished friendship, I believe that you should have something else. So, I shall allow for you to truly gain a gift." Harry could have sworn that her eyes drifted to his scar before she frowned. "You gained something that was not meant to be given to you. I am certain that the one who did so would never have wanted for it to be passed to you, and you may lose it. But I shall freely make it yours as a gift."

Confused, Harry said the only thing that he could. "Eh?"

Giggling, Shiromizu shook her head before calming. Then she touched her fingers to first her throat, then to her mouth as she breathed out. Once she was done there, she took those fingers and softly whispered something that Harry did not understand as she first touched his lips and then his throat, leaving behind a tingle. Pulling her fingers away, she smiled. "There, it's done. What you had is now truly your gift and will remain so from now onwards. And so shall it also pass to your mortal children. A boon, for all the kindness and gentleness that you have shown along with my friendship."

Not sure what had just happened, Harry frowned. "What?"

All Shiromizu did though was shush him before running her hand through his hair. "You may find out in time. But for now, sleep beckons. Allow for your rest to be peaceful and deep, so you can greet the new day."

Harry's last sight was her eyes watching him with warmth and care with the sound of her softly humming as her fingers ran through his hair.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sun streamed through Harry's window onto his face and woke him from his slumber. Cracking his mouth open, Harry let out a yawn before sitting up and looking around. It took him a few moments to fully awake, but then he smiled brightly. "Wow..."

Getting out of his futon, he glanced over at the terrarium where Shiromizu laid on her rock watching him with a sleepy look in her eyes. "{Happy birthday, Harry. I hope that you had a good sleep.}"

Even as he put away his futon, Harry just nodded. "{Morning, Shiromizu! And yeah, I had the best sleep last night!}" He then scrunched his nose as something came to the forefront. "{I also had a really weird dream with you in it.}"

If it could be called such, there was a secretive smile on Shiromizu's face. "{Indeed? Perhaps you can tell me of it at some point.}" She then coiled up a bit more on her rock, the sun hitting it just right. "{But for now, I am quite tired and could use some sleep.}"

Nodding, Harry just smiled. "{Okay, I'll make sure to keep things quiet for you.}"

Softly hissing, Shiromizu bobbed her head in a slight bow. "{Thank you.}"

Just then, Nagato's voice could be heard. "Harry, breakfast! I made your favorite!"

Grinning, Harry nodded. "Coming Mum!" He then gave a smile to Shiromizu. "{Hope that you have a good sleep!}"

Then Harry gathered up his clothes and left Shiromizu where she was dozing on her rock, a contented expression on her face.

 

Harry Leferts

Slightly confused, Harry just continued to sit on Nagato's shoulders with one of her fairies on his shoulder making sure that the blindfold around his eyes didn't fall off. "Can I look now, Mum?"

There was an amused look on Nagato's face as she kept walking down the path in the park. "No, Harry. And I already told you, I would tell you when you can have the blindfold removed." At his pout, she let herself blush a bit at how adorable her adopted son was being before she shrugged it off. "And besides, we're almost there."

Harry tilted his head toward the fairy on his shoulder who, though Harry couldn't see it, nodded. "Desu!"

Letting out a sigh, Harry just nodded. "Okay, Mum... But I hope that we get wherever you're taking me soon."

It was several minutes later, just as Harry was about to ask again, when Nagato chuckled and spoke up at the same time a smell reached Harry's nose. "And we're here."

Moments later, the fairy loosened the blindfold which fell from Harry's eyes and the boy's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. There in front of him was a large tent with tables inside it with some food and drinks on it. Outside the tent, Iowa was cooking something on a massive grill as Musashi kept looking over the other Battleship's shoulder. It was then that Iowa spotted him and waved with a wide grin on her face. "Hey! Look who it is, the birthday boy!"

All Nagato did was shake her head as she picked up Harry and then set him gently on the ground as various shipgirls walked up to give him happy birthdays to the speechless boy. "I..."

Glomping him, Inazuma just laughed. "Happy Birthday, Harry-Chan! Nanodesu!"

Still stunned, Harry could only look at her before a weight hit him in the back and he looked over to see that Natsumi had jumped on him. "See? I told you that I was going to set up the best birthday party for you." Then the Kitsune winked. "And I never lie about stuff like that."

Blinking away some tears, Harry wiped his eyes and then smiled at all of them. "Th-thank you..."

A hand gripping his pulled his attention from the surrounding shipgirls, his friends and family. Winking at him, Jane grinned as she began to pull him toward another tent. "Anyways, Naka went and set up some games for us! Come on!"

Laughing as he was pulled along, Natsumi still on his back and followed by DesDiv6, Harry felt lighter then air and as if he could float.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The smile still had not faded from Harry's face as he stood by the grill, his clothing slowly drying out from the water fight that had happened between him and several of the younger looking ships. Behind him, Willie D's brother, Davie, was chatting with Fubuki about something. A glance over at the refreshment table had him blinking at the odd sight though. The American fairies were currently fighting off a bunch of ants with bayonets while the Japanese ones kept a close eye on a wasp that was getting close to the punch. Before it got to close though, one of the Fairies unsheathed his sword and leapt into the air at it. "DEEESSSSUUUU!"

Suddenly, a tap brought him back to his surroundings as Iowa chuckled. "Here's your lunch, kiddo."

Grinning up at her, Harry nodded as she placed several hot dogs, a burger, and sausage onto the plate he held. "Thanks, Miss Iowa!"

Just placing her hand on his head, she gave him a rub as she smiled. "You're welcome, Harry. Now, we got condiments right over there with Musashi, okay?"

Harry then gave her a one armed hug as he nodded. "Okay, and thanks again!"

In reply, Iowa gave his head another ruffle before he hurried off to where Musashi stood with various things for the grill as she seemed to devour her own burger in a single bite. Chuckling, Iowa shook her head and then turned to where Davie was waiting only to give him a wink. "Hey there, Davie."

Slightly shy, Davie gave her wave back. "Um, hey Iowa. How's things going."

Humming, Iowa's eyes became hooded. "Oh, just great. Now then... what would you like?" Her arms shifted a bit and squeezed her chest as she pretended not to notice a soaked Willie's head go from being hung at having gotten hit from so many water balloons to glaring right at her. "I can give you anything you could possibly want..."

Needless to say, the teenage boy's face lit up in a blush. Meanwhile, Harry was putting various things on his burger that Musashi was pointing out when he heard a shout of rage and looked to the grill. He could only blink as Willie appeared behind Iowa and then lifted her up before suplexing the Battleship headfirst into the ground. Thankfully not hitting the grill in the process. "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT FLIRTING WITH MY BROTHER!?"

All Harry did was sigh though as he looked over at the highly amused Musashi. "Does she ever learn?"

Musashi just let out a booming laugh as she shook her head. "No, I, Musashi do not think so. Once more she fails at something that I could do easily." At the look Willie shot her, Musashi suddenly began to sweat before she looked away. "Not that I, Musashi, would ever do such a thing after all. No, never."

Blinking, Harry just tilted his head as Musashi let out nervous laughter. "Dess?"

 

Harry Leferts

Just sitting in his chair, Harry's jaw dropped as he stared at the pile of presents in front of him before he slowly brought up his finger to point at himself. "Are... those for me?"

Humming, Nagato stood behind Harry and gently ran her hand over his head. "Hm-hm, all of them are for you, Harry." At seeing him look back at her and then at the presents, Nagato glanced at the other shipgirls before kneeling down to hug her son. "Now then, how about we go ahead and open them, hm?"

Almost immediately, Mutsu walked forward before snatching up a wrapped box and handing it to him, Jane beside her. "How about you open ours first?"

Unnoticed by Harry, Nagato narrowed her eyes at her sister who only winked and held her hands behind her. Then a laugh caused her to look at what Harry got and she gave a double take at the sight of the stuffed sparrow that was wearing her rigging in Harry's hands. "Torinagato! Thanks!"

Jane just hugged Harry tightly as she laughed. "Hope that you like it, Cuz."

Meanwhile, Nagato just looked evenly at her sister despite the redness on her cheeks. "Really, Imouto? Really?"

All Mutsu did though was place a finger to her chin with an innocent look on her face. "Whatever could you mean, Onee-sama~?"

In reply, as Harry hugged his "Aunt", Nagato's eyebrow twitched. 'This is revenge for getting him the Mutslug...'

Even as Mutsu pulled away from the hug, and after Jane gave him a model kit which he thanked her for, Maruyu stepped up shyly before handing her own present to him. "I, um... wasn't quite sure what to get you since we haven't known each other for that long, but I hope that you like it!"

Blinking, Harry opened the present and his eyes widened before his face lit up in a smile. "Snorkeling gear!"

Softly smiling, Maruyu nodded some. "I thought that you might like it for when..." She glanced at the Iku, Shioi, Imuya, and RO who all nodded. "Um, but if you want I can teach you some things!"

Just nodding and giving her a hug, that she stiffened at before relaxing, Harry chuckled. "Thank you, that sounds great!"

It was with a blush on her face that the small subgirl pulled away before being replaced by Iku, Shioi, Imuya, and RO. All of said subgirls grinned before Iku handed Harry an envelope addressed to him. Blinking, Harry opened it to find several sheets of paper which had the subgirls' grins all widen just a touch as Imuya waved him on. "Go on, have a look."

Confused, Harry pulled them out and then looked at them before he did a double take. "Are these... scuba lessons!?"

Nodding, RO pointed at one part in particular. "We found one of the Americans here on base was a civilian diving instructor. He owed us a few favors so we called them in and he'll teach you all about diving!"

Her hands behind her head, Imuya nodded as she looked to the slightly worried Nagato. "And don't worry about it, Nagato-San. One of us will always be with him when he's practicing or actually diving."

Much to some people's surprise, Nagato actually did relax at that, even as she gave them looks of amusement that caused blushes to break out on the subgirls' faces with the exception of RO, who just grinned more. At which, the Battleship shook her head and chuckled in amusement even as Taigei mentioned that she bought him scuba gear for the lessons. 'Somehow, I'm not surprised in the least that they found a way for Harry to spend more time with them...'

And so it went with some of the gifts being funny (Kaga for example giving him a chibi model of Akagi who pouted as she slugged her smirking friend in the shoulder), to the useful (Akagi had given him a cookbook full of various recipes she stated her Fairies had written). One of the most heartwarming parts came when Harry opened an envelope from Shinano and found a necklace with an arrowhead on it. Blushing at the attention, Shinano twiddled her fingers together. "It's... from the first practice I had where you were cheering me on... I thought that you might like it."

Even as several shipgirls smiled, and Musashi gave her sister a thumb's up, Harry put it on and then walked over to hug the Amazonian woman. "Thanks, Shinano-Chan! This is awesome!"

Shinano almost seemed to melt at the attention. However, Nagato was not too pleased with how Mikasa gave Harry a Royal Navy style cutlass, while stating that it could be displayed until he was old enough to practice with it. Walking up with a smirk, Haru gave him a package before gesturing at Ryuujou and Junyou. "This is from all three of us."

Opening the package, Harry blinked at the sight that met him before looking up. "A calligraphy set?"

With a smirk, Junyou winked at him. "Yeah, and you're going to need it as we're going to start you on some training."

Knowing what training she meant, Harry looked between the other two who nodded with Ryuujou putting her hands behind her back. "Yup, it's what you're thinking, Harry."

However, when Harry looked down at the brush, he frowned a bit. "Where did the brush hair come from?"

There was an amused glint in Haru's eyes as she nodded. "I collected them myself from the tail of a fox as a matter of fact. The brush should serve you quite well I think."

Eyes widened outside of the three and Harry as said boy gave each of them hugs. Then Harry pulled away in time to see Yuudachi, Fubuki, and Mutsuki walk up with the trio giving him Azumanga and Yosuba collections. Finally, Natsumi alongside Hachi walked up. There was a slight nervousness in her expression as she gave Harry her present alongside Hachi's. "The two of us remembered you mentioning that you, um, liked this when you watched it at your old babysitter's that one time, so... we decided to each get one half."

Nodding, Hachi smiled. "Yup!

Interested, when Harry opened it, his face lit up. "The Last Unicorn movie and book? Cool!"

Laughter greeted Natsumi when her face reddened as Harry tightly hugged her before he turned to Hachi and gave the smiling subgirl a hug of her own. "You're welcome, Harry-Chan."

Face still red, Natsumi just nodded. "Y-yeah, you're welcome."

 

Harry Leferts

Hermione gulped as she stood in the middle of the summoning pool on a shipping pallet, one that had wood added to it to help keep the nearly ten year old standing with the water just lapping at her feet. A glance showed her that her parents looked as nervous as she felt, which calmed her down some as she continued to hear the music playing along with a prayer. To distract herself, Hermione reached up and adjusted the too large shirt she was wearing as she thought it over. According to what she had been told, it was best to use clothing that would not be missed during the awakening process since it would be replaced instantly with her shipgirl clothing and rigging.

Part of her couldn't help but wonder where it went before her mind dismissed it before focusing on the rocking of the pallet, which stayed in place due to the chain that connected it to a ring on the bottom of the summoning pool. Her heart pounding in her chest, she took another swallow and looked to Phoebe who just smiled and gave the slightest of nods. Something that Hermione was thankful for. And then...

She felt it.

*Thump-thump*

The rocking of the pallet increased and the water began to glow around her in a pulsing light. At the same time, tingles spread from her toes and slowly crawled up her legs. It wasn't... unpleasant, not at all. Part of her mused that it felt not unlike how one's limbs felt when they fell asleep and were now getting the blood flowing again. Suddenly, sparkles began to lift off the water and encircle her as the feeling crawled up her chest and began to crawl down her arms toward her hands.

*Thump-thump*

Once the tingles covered her body, the sparkles brightened and soon she couldn't see past them. Her last sight being of her worried parents who also had awe on their face.

*Thump-Thump*

And then... it hit her like a sledge hammer. Nearly all at once it felt like her body was on fire somehow, and yet at the same time there was no pain. It also felt like she was being washing in the cleanest water possible as whatever the fire burned was washed away.

*Thump-thump. Thump-*

For a moment, a split second that was both instantaneous as well as an eternity, Hermione felt her heart just stop. No longer did it beat inside of her chest and she realized at that moment that it never was going to beat again like it had. A gasp escaped her and her back arched before her boilers then lighted and her turbines spun up to full. Hermione could now feel feet running along her decks, her electronics coming online, and her bridge crew getting ready. Sheer power seemed to run through every piece of her being at that moment. Her guns even elevated, though through the light that surrounded her, Hermione was unable to actually see them.

It said something that she was so engrossed in what was happening that she missed the pallet under feet, which had been holding her up, just shatter into splinters under her current weight.

To everyone else though, there was just a brilliant, almost flame-like energy where Hermione had stood. But before anyone could react, it blew away to reveal Hermione there in her rigging. Her clothing had been replaced with the same uniform as the other Dido class Cruisers, itself a modified version worn by the WRENs of WWII. Several moments passed as Hermione looked around in awe, not only could she see them, but she could also see them on radar. And when she looked at the other shipgirls, she could see ghostly outlines of their hulls around them.

Suddenly, she was brought back to reality as she heard a voice call out to her. "Her-Hermione? Is... everything okay, dear?"

Looking up at her mother's worried face, Hermione let a grin appear on her face. "Yes, Mum." Allowing herself to slowly move away from the drifting pieces of wood, she continued to smile as she made her way toward the ramp out of the pool. Part of her marveled at how she felt completeness in a way she had not before, or even knew that she didn't feel. "Better then okay, I think."

 

Harry Leferts

Scratching his head, Captain Sosuke Yonehara frowned as he looked down at the clipboard in his hands and then back up at the stack of crates before looking back down at the clipboard. He hard heard the snickers from the others in Logistics about him using an old fashioned clipboard, but he found it much easier then a tablet. And if one broke, he didn't need to pay hundreds for a new one. A truly important fact when dealing with shipgirls and Yokosuka base in general.

The horror stories he could tell about bored personnel finding an unattended tablet.

At the moment though, he frowned as he looked to one of his subordinates. "How the hell do you misplace those shipping crates? You need a forklift in order to just move one of them."

Just shrugging, the man puffed a bit on his cigarette before snorting. "Does it really matter? Once they're empty we just toss them back here. They either end up in the trash or thrown into the various fireplaces."

Yonehara barely looked as first he reached over and plucked the cigarette and then stomped on it. That done, he fixed said man a look that caused him to shiver. "Do I need to remind you what sort of shit the various shipgirls can get up to when they're bored and they decide that they need to raid the supplies?"

Before the frightened man could reply, a voice reached them which caused Yonehara to flush. "YONEHARA!" Turning, the blushing man could only watch as an annoyed Ashigara came to a stop in front of him. "You were supposed to be at the dojo an hour ago! We got our match scheduled and this time, I'm going to finally defeat you!"

Looking away, Yonehara's foot kicked out to hit his subordinate in the shin before he looked at him. "Ah, sorry about that, just got bit by a bug." Promptly ignoring the man hopping around, Yonehara coughed at how Ashigara had placed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up. "Er... s-sorry about missing our da-I mean, match! Our match."

Slowly, Ashigara raised an eyebrow at him. "You better have a good excuse."

Once more, Yonehara had to bite his tongue before he swallowed. 'Too... too cute...' At her annoyed look though, he shrugged it off. "Well... I was doing a check back here and... we're missing some of the larger wooden shipping crates. No idea where they went to though."

Frowning, Ashigara looked at the crates and then blinked. "You know... I think that I saw Hibiki and Ikazuchi with one each..."

That caused both Yonehara and his subordinate to blink as they looked at her. "Hibiki and Ikazuchi?" Getting a nod, the two Logistics personnel turned to each other and scratched their heads. "DesDiv6? Why would they want them though?"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About an hour later, after tracking down the whereabouts of the four Destroyers, Yonehara was if anything even more confused at what he found. Both of the shipping crates had been stacked on top of each other with them sitting on what looked like a foundation of stone. More then that though, windows had been cut into them and a third shipping crate, on stilts, was attached to the bottom one. Even a roof of sorts had been made for them. "... What the..."

One of the windows opened up and Inazuma poked her head out and waved at Yonehara. "HEY! IT'S CAPTAIN YONEHARA!"

Still confused, Yonehara just waved at them while noting that Harry popped his head out of another window, and he was wearing a cap on his head like DesDiv6 could often be seen to wear. Something that confused him until he remembered that the four had given Harry said cap on his birthday while declaring him a member of their Destroyer Division. "... Mind telling me what you bunch are doing?"

Both Harry and Inazuma blinked before they looked at each other and then back at Yonehara as a small wind turbine continued to turn on the roof. "We're playing in our clubhouse?"

After a few moments, Yonehara reached up and pinched his nose. "... Clubhouse."

Once more, both Harry and Inazuma nodded with Harry answering him. "Yeah, we built it ourselves!"

Part of Yonehara, that bit of the young boy he once was, mentally stomped it's feet at their clubhouse. The adult part just developed a twitch on his forehead as he took a deep breath. "I see... And mind telling me where you got permission for using the shipping crates from?"

Their answer caused him to facepalm. "Teitoku!"

Letting out a sigh, Yonehara just groaned softly as he remembered Goto being pissed at his old friend. The two had known each other for years and Yonehara had found out about how Goto and Kongou were slowly working out a relationship behind the scenes, which lead to the Captain cracking jokes about it being about time. Yonehara just knew that if he looked, he would find the paperwork backdated properly. Most likely countersigned by Ooyodo as she had a soft spot for DesDiv6. In his head, there was the image of a cackling Goto standing over him which caused him to grumble. "Fuck you too, you asshole. I hope that you break your fucking pelvis on your wedding night."

A shout from Harry caused him to whip his head up to see not just Nagato's son, but also the rest of DesDiv6 and Natsumi poking their heads out at him as the young boy scratched his head. "What?"

Waving his hands around, mostly in fear of what Nagato and Tenryuu might do to him, Yonehara laughed. "N-nothing at all!" Getting shrugs and comments of how weird he was, his eyebrow twitched again. 'Like you bunch aren't?'

Hibiki just blinked as she watched him, not noticing Natsumi smirking at the Captain. "Is something wrong?"

Once more, Yonehara just waved his hand and sighed. "Nothing... nothing at all." Turning around, he began to walk away as DesDiv6, Harry, and Natsumi blinked in perfect sync. "Why do I even try?"

Moments later though, he stumbled as Natsumi yelled out at him. "ENJOY YOUR DATE WITH ASHIGARA-SAN!"

Straightening, he looked at Ashigara who seemed confused. 'FREAKING KIDS!'

 

Harry Leferts

Glancing at her Grandfather clock, Molly let out a soft sigh as she noticed that Arthur's hand was still on travelling. Then it reached "Home" and there was a whoosh in the fireplace before an exhausted man who stepped out with a sigh of relief before he walked up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Evening, Molly."

A soft smile crossed the housewife's face as she looked back at him and nodded. "Evening, Arthur. One moment and I'll have some supper for you."

In reply, Arthur only sat down with a sigh of relief into his chair before looking at their actual clock with a frown. "Where are the kids?"

Molly glanced at him as she continued to warm up some food before smiling. "Ginny is spending the night with Luna while Ronald, the Twins, and Charlie are at the pitch since its late enough that none of the muggles should spot them. Percy is his room and Bill is... still at St. Mungos."

Having spotted the frown on his wife's face, Arthur shook his head. "He should be fine, Molly. They'll take good care of his injuries he got in Egypt."

What he had not expected was for Molly to turn and scowl as she placed her hands onto her hip. "If he had gone into the Ministry like we wanted, then he would never have gotten injured in Egypt! And he's still working for Gringotts even after those blasted goblins left him behind!"

Pouring himself a cup of tea, Arthur was quiet for a few moments before he let out a sigh. "I'll agree that perhaps he should rethink where he's working." At the look on his wife's face, he held up a hand. "But, I don't think that the Ministry is it. And what happened in Egypt was rather expected and I did warn him about what they were doing. With everything going on..."

Just sniffing, Molly turned back to the food. "Yes, well... I think that you were the only one to expect that one of those ship-women people would appear at one of the tombs."

Arthur only waved a hand. "I'll be the first to admit though, I didn't think that while I expected a shipgirl who was one of the old sun ships to appear that she would somehow summon several of her sisters..." His finger then ran along the rim of his cup. "Nor did I expect how effective that their fairies would be in fighting. I suppose that Gringotts should have expected that the Ancient Egyptian wizards would have been rather frightful in magical might..."

Once more, Molly sniffed. "I've heard that they've driven all the goblins out of Egypt and are an army."

Chuckling, Arthur shook his head as he sipped his tea. "I doubt that one could state that thirty of them would be an army. Their crews on the other hand..." He glanced once more at the clock and grimaced. "Which is what kept me away for so long."

There was a scowl on Molly's face as she bustled around. "Still, I don't understand why you are so against Charlie or Bill from following you into the Ministry! It's a perfectly respectful job. And less dangerous..." She trailed off for a moment and then corrected herself. "Somewhat, less dangerous, then what they're going to do. And Saint Mungos is within a quick trip!" For several seconds, Arthur looked out the window and then, to Molly's surprise, he waved his wand around to cast a privacy charm. "Arthur?"

With a deep breath, Arthur leaned back in his chair and poured another cup of tea before he looked at Molly with one of the most serious expressions she had seen on him since the war with You-Know-Who. "Molly... what I am about to say cannot be repeated to anyone. Please..." Slowly, Molly nodded and sat down as the dinner continued on it's way, worked by magic. Sighing, Arthur rubbed his face. "I've been talking with several others. Amelia, Augusta, Albus... and a few others I won't name. We're all pretty sure that the Statute of Secrecy will fall within a decade. We simply cannot keep a lid on things much longer."

Mouth working silently, Molly slumped in her chair and looked lost as she shook her head. "Surely that can't... it just... Once the war is over and we talk with the those shipgirls-"

She was cut off as Arthur shook his head sadly. "It won't work. Every day I've seen the muggles become more and more resistant to the memory charms. Even most of the Obliviators have noticed and they're mostly now working on the more isolated incidents or those that they absolutely need to cover. And... I talked with Ethan and he's told me that they're pretty sure that they'll only be able to cover most of Britain for six years before it really begins to break down. That is why I don't want our children in the Ministry, Molly. Because once the muggles find out, I'm positive that in the fallout those of us working there will be on the chopping block as I cannot imagine that they'll take everything we've done lightly."

Utterly lost, Molly looked at him hopefully. "But they couldn't do anything to you, Arthur! You've only done your best to help and protect them!"

Quietly, Arthur reached over and grasped Molly's hand in his own. "In our view, yes, but in theirs?" He shook his head as he looked off into the distance as Molly got up and hugged him as she shook. "I can only hope that our children will make it through the coming storm, Molly. That's why I want them to distance themselves from the Ministry." After several minutes, Arthur took a deep breath before he shook it off. "Now, how about we move on to less heavy topics, hmm? How was it in the market this morning?"

Wiping her eyes, Molly gave him a watery smile. "Our eggs were selling quite well. I... suppose that it was a good idea to have as many chickens as we do as people want fresh eggs with the muggles rationing. And it does bring in some money from both the eggs and meat. Ronald was quite happy with his new jeans..."

Rocking her back and forth, Arthur just nodded as he listened to her talk about her day, taking comfort in the normality of it all.

 

sasahara17

"Kongou, what is all this?" Nagato frowned at the sight of all four Kongou sisters outside her door, ally either carrying large bags of assorted things or pushing around trolleys laden with goodies.

"Tea party, dess," Kongou declared happily, "we want to have a tea party with you and Harry-chan, dess!"

"We have tea and biscuits right from England!" Hiei added, raising her arms to show Nagato the bags full of very British treats she was holding

"And a stuffed British Bulldog as a present for Harry-chan," Haruna added, said stuffed animal tucked neatly underarm, "and Kongou-onee-sama baked scones too!"

"We have plenty of other imported items as well," Kirishima finished, "In short, plenty of British things from his homeland to show off."

"May we come in, dess?"

Nagato looked at each of the Kongou sisters in turn, studying them intently to see if there was any sign of a prank or hidden motive she could decipher. She could find none. As fast as the battleship could tell, all four sisters were entirely earnest in wanting to spend time with Harry.

Under any normal circumstance, Nagato would have been happy to let them. Unfortunately, today was an exception.

"Okay, not that I do not appreciate the sentiment... but it is nine in the evening, Kongou. It is a school day tomorrow, and Harry has a test. He wants to be well rested for it, and is already getting ready for bed." Nagato informed the other battleships politely, "I am sorry, having sweets and tea in the evening would make it had for him to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow after he's done with it?"

Despite knowing she was in the right, Nagato felt terrible at seeing poor Kongou and her three sisters deflate at having been denied.

"Okay, dess. We'll come tomorrow." Kingou sighed.

"Don't worry, Nee-sama. It isn't like we need to have the tea party today," Kirishima consoled her sister, "As long as we can get let Harry have proper tea party..."

"A proper teaparty?" Nagato raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Oh, yes. We probably should tell you what this is about," Kirishima cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses studiously, "It has recently occurred to us that Harry-chan hasn't been able to indulge in his British heritage very much since coming to Yokosuka."

"Harry-chan had plenty of exposure with our Japanese culture since coming here but, well, it is hard learning to be English in Japan." Haruna explained.

Nagato tilted her head in confusion. So this was what they were worried about? Harry not learning to enjoy being English?

"Harry has tea parties with his friends all the time. In fact, I think he has tea parties with you four at least once a week." Nagato pointed out logically.

"There is more to being English than tea and tea parties, dess," Kongou replied honestly, "I just realised I have been doing a poor job of teaching Harry about being English. Sure he knows how to drink tea, but there is so much more to being English than that, dess!"

"Like eating fish and chips." Hiei noted rotating the bags in her hands to show that some of them had frozen fish fingers and frozen french fries in them as well.

"Like learning to love british bulldogs and other cute British animals." Haruna said.

"Like keeping up to date using the BBC instead of the NHK and watching Monty Python." Kirishima added helpfully.

"That kind of stuff, dess," Kongou said with an embarrassed blush, "I was so busy teaching Harry-chan about how to enjoy tea and biscuits that I forgot to teach him everything else about English culture. I want to fix it quickly, dess."

Nagato couldn't help but smile at the sincerity of the foursome. This was very random, but their heart was in the right place.

"I see," Nagato looked at the four sisters in bemusement. "Well, I will be seeing you all tomorrow then for a Fish and Chips dinner?"

Kongou recovered instantly.

"YES, dess!" Kongou beamed happily.

-=-

I wasn't sure how much of British culture Harry has been exposed to at this point in his life (especially since he's spent a fair bit of it stuck under a cupboard until Nagamom found him), but I figure if there were any deficiencies, it would be the English Born Returnee who would be most interested in making sure Harry is as English as he can possibly be despite growing up in Japan.

According to the Daily Mail, British people...

1. Wear summer clothing at the first sight of sun;
2. Habitually go around apologizing automatically like the Canadians;
3. Have an uncanny ability to talk at length about the weather;
4. Make a cup of tea as their instinctive response to a crisis situation;
5. Find queue-jumping the ultimate sin, something I can definitely relate to;
6. Form a queue for pretty much anything, much like Singaporeans do;
7. Famously practice the legendary British 'stiff upper lip';
8. Like to Grumble throughout a bad meal, but never tell the staff about the sodding fly in the soup;
9. Have the legendary ability to make sarcastic/dry jokes, and have the worst kind of black humor known to man;
10. Love to have a beer at the airport even though it's before 8am.

...among other things of course.

This is stuff Harry will need to know (well, perhaps not the last one) if he is ever to be able to call himself a proper British Gentleman, and it is Kongou's god-given duty (read: completely self appointed) to make it so!

EDIT: And at some point, Kongou will probably commission one of the more scientific minded ship girls to make Harry one of these:


The only proper weapon of a British Gentleman.

 

Harry Leferts

Waving to Nagato as she made her way toward Goto's office, Harry grinned. "BYE MUM! SEE YOU LATER!"

In reply, Nagato just smiled and waved back as she called back. Several minutes later found Harry walking along one of the paths towards where he was going to meet up with Natsumi when a sound made him stop. For a few seconds, he blinked and looked around until he heard it again. Following the sound, he came to another clearing but before he could say anything, the shipgirl there spoke up. "Hello, Harry-Chan."

A bright smile grew on Harry's face as he watched Kaga give him a nod. "Kaga-Oba!"

With a slight upturn of her lips, Kaga gave a jerk onto the leash she was holding and looked down. "Stay."

Harry just tilted his head as he looked to where the leash lead before blinking. "You're walking Zui now?"

Humming, Kaga looked up at the sky above and then nodded. "I am. After all, it gets rather hot later on in the day and I don't want her out in the sun then." Giving another jerk, Kaga frowned at the sounds being made. "Stop that, Harry-Chan will give you pets in a little bit, so wait."

Just tilting his head, Harry walked over and nodded a bit. "Yeah... it gets pretty hot around here actually. And I can imagine poor Zui getting roasted in the sun."

Letting out a chuckle, Kaga shook her head as she muttered under her breath. "Not that Akagi would be too bothered..." Several moments later, Kaga turned her attention fully onto Harry. "And where are you going, Harry-Chan? After all, school's out and it's pretty early in the morning."

The young boy placed his hands behind his head and frowned. "Natsumi-Chan wants to go out and look for some stuff for our clubhouse. Air mattresses and stuff for when we decide to camp out there..." He then frowned. "DesDiv6 are getting some beanbag chairs though, so it should be awesome!"

As she softly smiled, Kaga chuckled a bit. "I can imagine. Zui! Stop that!"

Glancing down, Harry noticed that the leash was now wrapped around Kaga's legs before she stepped out of them. "She's being really excitable this morning, isn't she?"

In reply, Kaga reached up and rubbed the side of her head, though there was some fondness in the gesture. "She wants some pats, that's all."

Slowly, Harry gave a nod and reached down to pet Zui as he continued to look up. "Anyways, after that we're going exploring. Natsumi-Chan thinks that she found another tunnel entrance."

Narrowing her eyes, Kaga raised an eyebrow. "I would hope that the two of you are not going into those tunnels. They're dangerous due to age and I don't want either of you getting hurt or lost in them. They were sealed for a reason." She didn't finish the rest of her thought though. 'Not to mention who knows what might be in some of them after we uncovered that one with explosives in it...'

Blinking up at her, Harry just shook his head. "No, Kaga-Oba. We just tell Mum and Teitoku about them."

Kaga just relaxed at that and then sighed. "That's good." Looking up at the sky, Kaga gave an nod. "Anyways, I think that we've taken up enough of your time."

Also looking up, Harry's eyes widened before he shot to his feet. "Gah! Natumi-Chan is going to kill me! Bye, Kaga-Oba! Bye, Zui!"

The Carrier just waved at him while the turkey bird she had at the end of the leash gobbled before it spotted a tasty bug and ran for it much to Kaga's amused exasperation.

 

Harry Leferts

"It's too freaking hot out..."

Blinking, Harry looked over to where Natsumi was laying on the floor of the second story of the clubhouse, her arms and legs stretched out. Part of the reason for his confusion though was what she was doing seeing as her mouth was wide open as she panted with her tongue lolled out. "Um..." With a grimace, Harry flipped some of his hair away from his face with droplets of sweat flying from it. "Yeah, I guess it's pretty hot out."

The trap door at the corner of the room opened up and Inazuma poked her head through. "Good thing that I have a solution for it!"

Harry just gave her an odd look though at that. "It's not going to be like that time involving the flamethrower, is it? Because it's too hot out for that sort of thing."

Now it was Natsumi's turn to blink as she looked between Harry and Inazuma in utter befuddlement. "Flamethrower...?"

All Harry did though was nod as he didn't notice how Inazuma was now blushing up a storm. "Dess!"

Several moments passed before Natsumi just slumped back down and went back to panting. "Don't care, too hot to find out and fry my brain."

Huffing, Inazuma pouted at the only boy in their group. "Mou, that's not fair, Harry-Chan! The curry wasn't cooking fast enough." That caused the disguise kitsune to boggle for a moment before Inazuma continued. "Besides, we'll pull it out in the winter when we need to warm up, nanodesu!"

It went without saying that Natsumi just mouthed what Inazuma had just said silently as Harry shrugged. "Okay then."

Pulling herself up and out of the trapdoor, Inazuma grinned as her sisters began to climb in. "Anyways... we can tell ghost stories to cool down!"

That just caused Harry to tilt his head in confusion as he blinked. "Ghost stories?"

Behind Inazuma, Akatsuki nodded her head. "Yeah! Because you get chilled to the bone by listening to them, so you cool off." She then closed her eyes and nodded. "It's a true Japanese traditional way of cooling off."

Looking to the side where Natsumi was, Harry watched as she raised one hand. "Sounds good to me. Anything to beat this freaking heat."

Up in the rafters, Shiromizu hissed in laughter as she looked down at the humans below. "{I personally find it quite the enjoyable temperature as a matter of fact. Why you can't seem to find it so is beyond me.}"

Rolling his eyes, Harry frowned at the snake. "{Not all of us are cold blooded you know.}"

Only getting laughter in return, Harry turned back to the curious girls and shrugged before telling them what was said. Then his attention was caught as Hibiki began to let her fairies out who also brought blue lanterns out with them before placing them around. Having spotted Harry's confusion, Hibiki only smiled slightly. "It is tradition to use blue lanterns."

At the same time, Ikazuchi was bringing down the blinds to make the room darker while Akatsuki set out snack. "This is going to be so awesome... you got any British ghost stories, Harry-Chan?"

Much to her surprise, Harry lit up with a smile. "Yeah!" Seeing the attention on him, Harry blushed a bit and kicked the floor. "I, um, heard that campfires are great to tell ghost stories around, but the Dursleys didn't want anything about that so I never learned any... but after my birthday with the campfire, I went and learned a bunch just in case!"

Ikazuchi just grinned and slung an arm over Harry's shoulders. "Heh, don't worry about a thing, Harry-Chan. Probably not as scary as the ones we know, but I'm sure that they'd be good for a shiver or two..."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Both Inazuma and Ikazuchi held each other while Akatsuki and Hibiki were staring at Harry in rapt attention. "... And yet, one of the worst places in this castle is what is known as the oubliette."

Gulping, Akatsuki tried to ignore the shapes of the shadows thrown out by the blue lanterns around them. "O... Oubliette? What's that...?"

A smirk grew on Harry's face as he held the flashlight under his chin. "The word means 'To forget'. Imagine a shaft, a nice deep one with a trap door at the top. What the owners of the castle used to do during the wars and such was to take prisoners and toss them down, alive, into the shaft before closing the trap door and leaving them there. Some say that there were iron spikes at the bottom that would impale any thrown there. But in any case, if one survived the fall, they would be trapped. No food... no water. And no matter how much you would scream, beg, or yell, no one would come. And the whole time you would spend there, you could smell the food on the floors below, hear the people laughing and celebrating. There was also a tiny little window you could see out of. It would take days for those tossed in to die, cursing the castle and the people who lived there the whole time. They say that one can still hear their cries and moans from beyond the grave there."

Rapidly blinking, Inazuma shook her head. "Tha-that's really horrible, Nanodesu!"

Leaning forward, Harry shook his head. "Ah, but there's actually proof. You see, in the late 1800s, the castle was remodeled and workmen cleared out the Oubliette. And made a gruesome discovery... human skeletons stacked on top of each other. So many that it they filled three horse drawn carts with human bones. So all those people who died, did so on top of those who came before them. But the worst was to come..."

Eyes wide, Ikazuchi stared at him. "H-how could it get any worse!? They built their castle on top of sacred ground..."

Hibiki then continued. "One of the clan did... that to a young woman, killed her infant that was born of it... and she killed herself while threatening those who stay there..."

Nodding, Akatsuki looked around. "A child died from falling... or being pushed from the battlements..."

And then Inazuma finished. "And... a brother murdered his brother, a priest, during Mass with said priest dying on the alter... n-not to mention the Oubliette..."

Chuckling darkly, Harry's eyes widened some. "Ah... but you see, while they were cleaning out the Oubliette, the Lady of the castle at the time was interested in the occult... So much so that she held séances at the castle. Mediums and the use of Ouija boards to try and talk with the dead... and they awoke something. It started out with minor things. The sound of footsteps, things moving... a sickly sweet order... And then, It appeared before the lady. It looked like a small man, except with two empty sockets instead of eyes and the nose on the face rotted away. It's skin was a sickly grey and covered in leasons and sores with the accompanied smell of rotting, human flesh. What it is, no one knows. Some say it was one of the original members of the family. Others say that it was something left behind to guard the sacred grounds by the Druids which had become corrupted. Yet more think it's a manifestation of all the evil and bloodshed that happened at the castle... All anyone knows is... it is the ELEMENTAL!"

Lunging forward, Harry grinned at the screams from DesDiv6 before a crunch caused them all to pause and turn to see Natsumi munching on some popcorn. Said girl blinked at the looks she got and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

All Harry did though was grumble and shake his head. "Never mind..."

Several seconds passed before Inazuma grabbed the flashlight and took a deep breath. "R-right... my turn..."

None of them besides Natsumi slept well that night without the lights on. And Harry and DesDiv6 all wound up sleeping next to their respective mothers to the adults' confusion.

 

Harry Leferts

Walking into the Battleship Dorms, Harry smiled at Shinano who was carrying a large box with her. "Thanks for helping me, Shinano-Chan! I really appreciate it."

All the Carrier did was smile down at him slightly bashful as she felt the heat in her cheeks. "You're very welcome, Harry-Chan. I'm thankful for being able to help and you trusting me to do so." She looked down at the large wooden crate in her hands marked 'Fragile' before maneuvering it through the door. For most humans, the weight would have needed at least two guys carrying it, but Shinano was able to hold it with no trouble as she glanced at the box in Harry's hands. "Um... what is in here anyways?"

Harry just smiled as they walked up the stairs. "Oh, it's something that I bought for Shiromizu."

That caused Shinano to blink at Harry. "For Shiromizu?"

Reaching the apartment that he shared with adopted mother, Harry opened the door and walked inside followed by Shinano. "Yup! That way I can return the aquarium that Haru leant me. It's kind of small for Shiromizu after all."

For a moment, Shinano considered it and then nodded as she remembered that the snake was rather cramped in the tank. "Huh."

Having noticed them come in, Shiromizu lifted herself off her rock and uncoiled a bit as she watched them. "{What are you doing?}"

A smile on his face, Harry turned and looked at her. "{Um... well... since you said that you wanted to stay with us even though you're healed, I thought that you should get a better home then what you got.}" In a quieter hiss, Harry added one last bit. "{Thank you for staying, Shiromizu.}"

Said snake just gave off a hiss like a laugh before shaking her head. "{No need to thank me, Harry. You're quite the friend and I am happy to stay with you for as long as you would like.}" Unnoticed by Harry, a shiver went through her body. 'It is also a lot safer here for me with all the shipgirls around... and I get free entertainment in a few years.'

Blinking, Shinano frowned a little bit. 'Did that snake just look at me and wink? I thought that snakes couldn't wink their eyes though...' After a few seconds though, Shinano shook it off and helped Harry to open the crate to reveal a snake cage that had polished wood along the corners with glass sides. The bottom seemed deeper then the actual tank itself though. "Wow... where did you get this?"

With a smile on his face, Harry looked up at Shinano as he opened the box that he was carrying. "Mum let me use a little bit of the money from my trust fund. Something about it being replaced soon enough."

Shinano just tilted her head in confusion. "I see..."

At the same time, Harry pulled out something and opened a compartment built into the bottom. "First, we need to get the heating pad in."

Leaning over Shinano frowned a bit. "Heating pad?"

Even as he placed the mat-like object into the compartment, Harry nodded. "Yeah, it's supposed to warm the enclosure from below so it won't have any cold spots."

Intrigued, the Carrier nodded. "That's pretty smart actually."

Her tongue flicking out, Shiromizu looked gleeful as only a snake could. "{Ara, ara, I cannot wait, Harry.}"

For a moment, Harry gave her an amused glance before he pulled out a bag. "Want to help?"

Eyes wide, Shinano pointed at herself and, at Harry's nod, blushed a bit. "Sure... what first?"

Pulling out a bag, Harry held it up. "First, we need to put in the sand..." The two of them worked for the next couple of minutes setting up the enclosure, including taking things from Shiromizu's current tank and transferring them over. Finally, Harry got up and ran out of the room. "I'll be right back! I just got to get the last bit!"

Curious, Shinano looked over at Shiromizu with a frown. "Do you know what he's getting?"

Shiromizu just flicked her tongue out though. "{Not a single clue.}"

After a few moments, Shinano tilted her head. "... Forgot, only Harry-Chan understands what you're saying." Leaning her chin against her closed fist, there was an odd smile on Shinano's face. "Then again, Harry-Chan is... special. Very special. So kind and nice..."

In reply, Shiromizu let her mouth open just a touch. "{Oh, I am sure that to you he is. Fufufufu.}"

Before Shinano could continue talking, Harry walked and both the shipgirl and snake stared at what was in his hands. It looked like a model of a Japanese castle placed on top of a platform painted to look like it was stone. Slowly, Shinano brought up a finger and pointed at it. "What's that?"

Harry just smiled though as he walked over to the tank and set down the castle. "It's Shiromizu's home!" He then pointed at one side where there was a hole in the platform. "See? She can crawl in there when she wants to be out of view and just coil up to sleep."

Touched and amused, Shiromizu just swayed from side to side. "{My, my~ You certainly know how to treat a girl, Harry. Giving me a castle all my own.}"

Still smiling, Harry reached into Shiromizu's old tank and then gently lifted her out. "{Glad that you liked it.}" At seeing the curious expression on Shinano's face though, Harry frowned. "{Would it be okay if Shinano-Chan held you?}" When Shiromizu bobbed her head, Harry looked over at Shinano and held out Shiromizu. "Want to hold her? She's really gentle and nice."

Gulping, Shinano blinked and then looked down at Shiromizu. "C-can I?" Once Harry nodded, she gently reached out and let Shiromizu crawl onto her arms. "Wow..."

It went without saying though, Shiromizu enjoyed her new home even more then her old one. If anyone was watching that night, they would have seen a white haired girl with red eyes looking out of Harry's window. 'A lovely place to live, food, safety...' A chuckle escaped her as she looked up at the night sky. 'And a castle to call my own...' For a moment, Shiromizu's lips turned down into a frown before she bowed her head. "I know that I have no reason for this, blessed as I am... But I ask of you, please make sure that she is alright and safe. That is all that I wish." Her hair gently lifted in a night breeze and Shiromizu blinked before smiling as she looked back up. "Thank you." She began to head back to her enclosure but paused at the sight of the paper and envelope on Harry's desk. "Perhaps... a letter... if only to let her know that I am alive and safe."

 

smthng

Harry Leferts said:
I will admit that in my mind, I've played around with Graf having been a Natural Born instead of having been summoned, which would explain why when people compare them in universe, Graf seems much more... at ease with herself.​

Henrietta August was a young Lufthansa stewardess. The flight she was serving on was just landing on the Tokyo Haneda airport when abyssals first appeared in Tokyo Bay, and opened fire. Thus a perfectly normal landing suddenly turned into an emergency in the middle of final braking, as a shot from abyssal destroyer suddenly disintegrated half a wing. Stationed next to one of the emergency exits, Henrietta was the member of the crew to open that door when the captain had managed to stop the plane.

She came almost face to face with an abyssal destroyer coming to bombard the downed plane.

That destroyer ate 15 cm shells to the face. A minute later the rest of the Abyssal task force wondered where the fuck those Stukas appeared from and why there suddenly were Messerschmitts tearing through their air cover. It turned out that an angry Graf Zeppelin in the middle of division of DDs that hadn't expected resistance didn't work out that well for the DDs.

 

Harry Leferts

The blonde haired teacher blinked as she heard her name called and looked up to see a grinning Harry there. Slowly, she raised an eyebrow as she spotted the envelope in Harry's hands. "Hmm? I don't have any classes with you for a few hours yet, Harry. Is something the matter?"

Shaking his head, Harry walked in as he noted several members of that class' homeroom were watching in interest as he placed the thick envelope on the teacher's desk. "Nope! Iku-Chan and the others are done the work that you assigned for them and they asked that I drop it off for them, Miss Baker."

Ellen Baker only shook her head in slight amusement as she remembered the other job she was doing, helping the shipgirls of Yokosuka learn English. Sometimes, she thought that the children in her class were better. A moment later though, she shook her head and blinked as she noted that Harry was still there. "Is there something else?"

Rocking back and forth on his heels, Harry looked up at the ceiling as Ellen sipped her morning coffee. "I was just wondering..." His next words caused Ellen's eyes to fly open and for her to choke a bit on her coffee. "If you saw the New York Yankees game last night."

For a moment, there was silence before Ellen set down her coffee, closed her eyes, and gestured at the grinning Harry with her finger. "My, you're certainly a brave boy for treading such dangerous ground, now aren't you?"

Still grinning, Harry just hummed. "I don't know what you mean, Miss Baker."

In reply, Ellen just raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh." Once more grabbing her coffee, she sipped some more of it with a dangerous look in her eye. "You know, I didn't know that you liked baseball, Harry."

Now it was Harry's turn to blink as he frowned a bit. "Not really, I prefer football."

With a serious expression on her face, Ellen just nodded. "I see, so which team do you prefer? The Bears? 49ers? Redskins?"

Much to her amusement, Harry blinked in utter confusion and befuddlement at her. "What?"

Grinning, Ellen leaned forward on her desk as her class continued to watch their newest show of entertainment. "Football teams, Harry. After all, such a fan of football should know all about the teams in the NFL you know. Or else how can you call yourself a fan in the first place?"

It took a few moments, but Harry realized what she was getting at and narrowed his eyes. "Not American football, Miss Baker. Real football."

All Ellen did though was wave her finger in a circle as she made a gasp of fake surprise. "But whatever could you mean by football then? Unless..." She then made another fake gasp and put on her face an expression of understanding. "You poor child... you mean that you're talking about soccer I suppose? Whoever put such thoughts into your head?"

Harry just narrowed his eyes a bit. "Now who's treading dangerously, Miss Baker?"

There was a small smirk of amusement on her face as she glanced at the clock. "I would say you as you got about two minutes to reach your homeroom before class begins."

Eyes wide, Harry whipped his head around to look at the clock and paled a bit. "I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

As he rushed out the door, Ellen just waved to him. "Bye Harry, have a wonderful day." Leaning back in her chair, the English teacher just sighed as she finished off her coffee. "Ah... should have known better then to mess with a master when he is but a student."

 

Harry Leferts

Fubuki gave a smile as she looked up at the sight of Harry sitting down across from her, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki. If anything though, her smile grew more amused at how Iku and Shioi sat down on either side of Harry with their own dinners. "Joining us for dinner, Harry-Chan?"

The nine year old just smiled and nodded at his big sister figure. "Yeah, Fubuki-Nee. Mum's handling some paperwork late at the office and I'm going to bring her some dinner once I'm done." Breaking apart his chopsticks, Harry glanced over his plate not noticing how amused Mutsuki looked. "And Shinano-Chan, and the Akatsukis are out."

Slightly amused with how close the two submarines were to Harry, Mutsuki's eyes sparkled as she leaned forward. "Hmm... I take it that you're hanging out with Iku and Shioi then?"

Her amusement just increased as both subs blushed while Harry nodded with a bright smile. "Yup! We're going to be watching movies and stuff."

A jab into Mutsuki's ribs caused her to glance at Fubuki who just raised an eyebrow at her. But then all three of the Destroyers blushed as Iku muttered something under her breath. "As if the three of you have anything to talk about... Pot calling kettle black."

Once her blush was under control, Fubuki gave the smirking Subgirl a glare. Yuudachi meanwhile leaned forward a bit as her hair flaps waggled up and down which caused Harry to blink. "You know, Harry-Chan, I've been wondering something, Poi." At his nod, she continued. "Well... is there anything in October that you're going to be doing? I heard that your school is going to be celebrating Halloween."

Frowning slightly, Harry chewed his food before he shrugged. "I guess... Never really celebrated Halloween back... in England, you know? Wasn't allowed."

The three Destroyers along with Iku and Shioi frowned at that before Fubuki shrugged it off. "Well, it sounds like a lot of fun you know? I've seen some costume contests and stuff since coming back and they look pretty fun!"

Iku grinned a bit as she jostled Harry. "You're going as a kitsune, right?"

Brightening up, Harry nodded. "Yeah!" Then he frowned a bit in confusion. "I don't know why Natsumi-Chan was stuttering and blushing when I told her though..."

All of the shipgirls shared a look before Yuudachi raised her hands in excitement. "Ooo! I heard that some of the Americans are going to be making those Jack O' Lantern things for their part of the base!" Her head then tilted in confusion as she held one finger to her chin in thought. "I don't know why they carve pumpkins or call them Jack, Poi..."

Giggles escaped from Harry as he tried not to choke before he spoke up. "They're called Jack O' Lanterns because of Jack, Yuudachi-Nee."

Blinking, Yuudachi tilted her head. "Poi?"

Lips twitching, Shioi grinned a bit. "I think that she wants to know what you mean by that. It sounds like a story."

Just blinking, Harry looked between the interested shipgirls, not noticing that several of the other Japanese shipgirls were now listening closely including Kaga and Akagi. Harry then hummed a bit. "Well... October back in England is known for ghosts and stuff you know. It's a time to tell scary stories because Halloween is supposed to be when ghosts and stuff roam the Earth."

Eyes wide, Fubuki leaned forward alongside Mutsuki and Yuudachi. "Really?"

Nodding, Harry leaned forward a bit with a grin. "Yeah, the tale of Jack of the Lanterns being one of the more famous ones." Having caught their attention, Harry began. "See, there was once this man named Jack. He was a mean old man, not liked because he was a miser and liked to steal from people. Well, one day that caught up with him and a mob chased him across the countryside. He was well ahead of them though when the Devil himself appeared before him, stating that his time on Earth was over and he was here to claim his soul."

Mutsuki gulped a little. "The Devil? Isn't that the really evil being that... you know..."

His eyes wide, Harry, nodded. "Yeah... but see, ol' Jack wasn't going to go quietly. So he thinks up a plan and goes 'Well, I'd like to go with you, Devil, Sir. But I think that I got an idea that you might like as a last trick from me. See, I got this mob chasing me and I was thinking, they're all good churchgoers you know. So why don't you change yourself into a silver coin and I'll give you to them to pay for all I did? And then you disappear! They'll go nuts and turn on each other thinking that the others stole it!'"

Blinking, Shioi huffed a bit. "Really sounds like a nice guy."

All Harry did though was wave her off. "Well... he gets his... Anyways, so, after some thought, the Devil agrees. And then he turns into a silver coin that Jack puts into his pouch. But Jack had not told the Devil that there was a Crucifix in his pouch that he had stolen from the village church, hence the mob. And being against it, the Devil lost all his power. Being unable to transform back, the Devil rage, cursed, and demanded that Jack release him, while said man just laughed gleefully. Eventually though, the Devil begged to be let go be allowed to leave the hated object as it burned him. Jack told him that he would only release him if the Devil promised and swore to never claim his soul. After another fit of rage, the Devil agreed and was released."

Yuudachi frowned a bit. "So he won?"

However, Harry shook his head. "Not quite. See... eventually, years down the line, Jack died as all mortals do. But due to all the evil and terrible things he had done in his life, Jack was not allowed into Heaven. So his soul then travelled to the Gates of Hell, where the Devil was waiting. But when he tried to pass him into Hell, the Devil stopped him and asked where he was going." Slowly, eyes began to widen as they started to clue in. "Laughing, the Devil reminded Jack of his promise, that he would never claim his soul. Horrified at how he was now blocked from both places, Jack asked how he could find rest when he couldn't find his way in the night. But the Devil laughed again and produced a glowing, flaming piece of coal. 'This, my dear Jack, is from the fires of Hell itself. Here, catch!' He then tossed the piece of coal which landed in a hollow turnip that Jack had at his side, creating a glow in the form of a lantern. 'There! A piece of hellfire that shall light your path as you try to find rest... a rest that you shall never find wandering the Earth as you will until Judgement Day.' Then, laughing, the Devil waved goodbye and closed the Gates as Jack trudged off into the night."

Unnoticed by Harry as he took advantage of the silence to finish his meal, Kaga and Akagi shared a look. Then the silence was broken as Mutsuki gulped. "So... Jack was turned into a Yuurei? And... He's still out there?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "Yup! They say that sometimes, on dark and lonely, country roads late at night, you can see a light swaying back and forth. Like a lantern. But you shouldn't follow it because Jack's become more mean in death, so he might lure you to your own in a bog or swamp." Harry then waved a hand. "And that's why on Halloween we make Jack O' Lanterns, to scare him and the other ghosts and goblins off!"

Rubbing her chin, Fubuki only nodded. "Huh..."

 

Harry Leferts

Stretching in the late October sunlight, Prinz Eugen stretched a bit as she looked up at the sky above as she continued to enjoy her day off. Softly smiling, she began to jog and was just going through a path crossing when she heard something and turned in time for a young girl to run into her. Usually, when a human ran into a shipgirl, said human would bounce off with the shipgirl barely feeling anything.

Which was why Eugen was surprised as both of them were knocked to the ground and had the wind taken out of them. Dazed, Eugen shook her head as she slowly got into a sitting position and rubbed her behind through the jeans she was wearing. "Ow..." Eyes widening at the hiss of pain, Eugen looked up to see what looked like a twelve year old with strawberry hair sit up as well. However, it was what else she could see that caused the breath to catch in her throat as the girl had a ghostly hull around her.

A very familiar one that caused an ache in Eugen's boilers.

The girl then noticed who she had run into and paled. "Y-you're Prinz Eugen! O-oh shoot, I... I'm so, so sorry!"

However, Eugen just waved her off as she swallowed thickly and quickly stood up. "No, it's all my fault. I should have watched where I was going." Quickly getting to her feet, Eugen helped the girl to her own before reaching down and lifting the large duffle bag that the girl was using before blinking at the familiar weight. 'Feels like, clothes...? But why would...' It was then that she noticed the dried tear tracks on the girl's face and plastered on what she hoped was a friendly smile. "How about to make it up to you, I treat you? There's this nice café nearby that serves some of the best pastry you've ever had. And they got some lovely hot drinks."

Now nervous, the girl looked around with a swallow. "Ah... I kind of have a train to catch honestly..."

Just nodding as if this made perfect sense, Eugen tried not to let her suspicion show. "I see... when's your train then? The station is on the other side of town after all."

Freezing, the girl checked her watch and slumped. "Fifteen minutes... I'll never make it now."

When Eugen's arm slung across her shoulder though, she looked up and noticed that Eugen was just giving her a smile. "Well then, how about we head to that café? Because now I have more to make up to you then I did before after all. And if you need to, I'll buy you a new ticket."

Several moments passed before the girl bit her lip and nodded. "O-okay..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Looking over the menu, Eugen looked over at the girl with a raised eyebrow. "So then... see anything that you like?"

Eyes wide, the girl looked over the choices and swallowed. "I... I can't afford any of this!"

All Eugen did though was reach across and gently pat her on the shoulder. "Nonsense, I'll pay for it. And I insist upon it."

Shrinking into herself, the girl looked up at Eugen and sniffled a bit. "Why... are you being so nice to me? And why..."

Eugen could finish the rest inside her head. 'And why do I feel safe around you?'

Humming, Eugen waited until they made their orders and their waitress had left. "Well, I see someone in need of being picked up a bit. Also..." For a moment, the Cruiser paused as if wondering how to say what she wanted before she just gently smiled. "You remind me of someone I knew and was close to... long ago."

Confused, the girl just blinked. "I... I do?"

Simply nodding, Eugen smiled. "You do." Not expanding on that, Eugen cleared her throat. "I hope that you don't mind, but I'm trying to place your accent. I don't think that I've encountered it before."

Wincing, the girl glanced around and took a deep breath. "My dad was Russian and my mother was East German." Her eyes misted a bit and she wiped them with the sleeve of her sweater. "They're... not around anymore and I'm staying with my uncle."

The Cruiser frowned slightly as another piece of the puzzle slipped into place before her expression became consoling. "I'm sorry for your loss."

In reply, the girl just shrugged. "I was five and it was years ago."

Both of them continued to chat with the girl slowly opening up to Eugen as they enjoyed a small snack. However, things came to an end as a man stepped through the door and took a look around before he spotted the girl and stormed toward them with a scowl on his face which caused a flinch from the girl. To her surprise though, Eugen simply got up and placed one hand on her shoulder before shooting her a smile as she moved so that she was between the two. "Don't worry, let me take care of this."

Mouth open, the girl, unknown to her the reincarnation of the Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser Lützow, watched as Eugen confronted her uncle and what happened next was a whirlwind of events which was unbelievable to her. But which found her that night falling asleep on a new bed in the Cruiser Dorms in a room shared by Eugen and the other Hippers. And she was the happiest she was in years for it.

 

Harry Leferts

Slowly, Hanna came awake from habits built from years. After all, her uncle had to have his coffee made at a certain time or else he would spend an hour lecturing, or rather yelling, at her. Just the same though, Hanna couldn't help but snuggle deeper into her soft mattress under the blankets as part of her wanted to spend what little time she had relaxing before she had to get up. However, at the same time, something niggled at her mind and it took almost a minute before she realized what it was.

Her mattress was never this comfortable and her blankets were not that warm.

Eyes shooting open, Hanna quickly glanced around as she realized that she wasn't in her bed. The one she was currently in being made from wood while her own was little more then a cot. Sitting up, she looked around and blinked as she realized that she was in what looked a dorm room and at the other side she could see a bunk bed which had three girls cuddled up with each other. As if that wasn't enough proof, there was also a cage that held a strange half-snake/half-lizard creature that also looked feline.

It was then that the day before came back and she clinched at her sheets, better then what she had back home. 'That... really happened? Prinz Eugen actually...' The memory of the Heavy Cruiser ripping into her uncle verbally caused her to feel warm. Slowly, quietly, Hanna leaned over the side of the bed and blinked at the sight of Eugen sleeping in the bunk below her before staring as Hanna had to bite back a giggle at how she was sleeping though. After all, while sleeping on your front was not too odd, doing so with your legs tucked under your belly and rear in the air was. The whole thing was causing her to shake as she tried not to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the sight. Laying back in her bed, Hanna reached over and grabbed the worn teddy bear before sitting it on her stomach. Said teddy being one of the few things she had left from when her parents were alive. "Well, Hans... we did it. We're away from that place." As per usual, the stuffed toy didn't say a word. "Yeah, I know. And now we got a new family to take care of us."

A voice coming from the edge of the bed caused Hanna to jolt a bit before she turned to see a sleepy Prinz Eugen there. "And take care of you we will."

Blushing, Hanna shifted a little bit. "Um... s-sorry for waking you..."

However all Eugen did was wave her off with a slight chuckle. "I've been awake for a little bit now, just dozing." Stretching out, Eugen smiled brightly as there were a series of pops coming from her back, or was that her keel Hanna wondered. But before Hanna could say anything though, Eugen gestured a hand at her. "Could you move over a little bit?" Once Hanna had, Eugen climbed up the ladder and then slipped into the bed next to Hanna, one arm wrapping around her in a protective gesture. If anything, Eugen's smile brightened as Hanna cuddled into her. "So, how did you sleep last night? It is your first night here."

In reply, Hanna buried her face in Eugen's shoulder. "It was good, much better then my old room and bed."

For a brief moment, Eugen's smile was replaced by a frown, but then it was back again. "That's... good." Hearing the giggles from Hanna at how what she was saying was interrupted by a yawn, Eugen huffed. "I'm still getting used to being... well, human, you know."

There was silence for several moments before Hanna spoke up, nearly soft enough that Eugen didn't hear her. "Why are you so nice to me?"

Blinking, Eugen looked down at her in some confusion. "Why wouldn't I?" Just getting a shrug, Eugen tightened the embrace though she was careful not to make it too tight. Compared to herself or another shipgirl, unawakened shipgirls were as fragile as humans. "Besides... you're my baby sister."

Another bolt of warmth shot through Hanna at that. 'Sister...' Looking up from where she was laying on Eugen's shoulder, Hanna bit her lip a little bit. "Are... are you sure? About me being your sister?"

Several moments Eugen stared at her and, if one had looked closely, there would have been a slight glow in the Heavy Cruiser's eyes. But before her, Eugen could see the ghostly outline of an Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser overlaying the body of the twelve year old cuddled against her. Part of her noted though that said hull was not fully complete yet which caused the corners of her lips to turn down, but then she mentally shook that off. Some time in the baths at a later date would fix that easily enough. "You are, trust me on that. Besides, didn't Hipper, Blücher, and Seydlitz tell you the same thing?" Getting a nod, Eugen softly chuckled. "See? And don't worry, we'll take care of you from now on."

Once more, the room slipped into quiet as the two laid there. Then it was broken as Hanna spoke up. "Um... since I'm a shipgirl, when am I..."

Raising an eyebrow, Eugen glanced down at her. "When are you going to be awoken?" At the nod, Eugen kissed her on the top of the head. "Whenever you're comfortable enough, even if it's a few years from now."

Confused, Hanna frowned a bit. "But I thought-"

She was cut off though as Eugen placed a finger against her lips. "You thought that we would be awakening you as a shipgirl as soon as possible, yes?" When Hanna blinked, but nodded, Eugen shook her head. "The answer to that is no. Germany... is not in the same straits as England or Japan. Between us, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, we have locked down the Baltic. And with Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, the North Sea is much safer. There is no reason for us to rush things, little sister. When you are sure that you are ready, and no sooner, will you be awoken as one."

Frowning, Hanna shifted a little bit and bit her lip in nervousness. All Eugen did though was gently stroke her hair until she was ready to ask whatever was she was going to. Finally, Hanna took a deep breath. "But what if I'm... you know, never becomes a shipgirl?"

Eugen just hummed a bit and smiled. "Then you don't become a shipgirl. None of us will think of you any less and we'll still be your sisters. We're family now and nothing will change that."

In reply, Hanna just nodded before she shifted a bit. "So... you won't leave me behind if I disappoint you? Like..."

Just raising an eyebrow, Eugen narrowed her eyes. "Like who?"

Almost a minute passed before Hanna took a deep breath. "I... I had just turned eleven when I was woken up in the middle of the night a week after my birthday by voices. Uncle was downstairs shouting at someone and there were other voices. Finally, they stopped shouting and... one of them asked him if a letter had come for me. Uncle... sounded weird when he answered. Said that there was no letter. They... they started speaking in Russian and said that... I was a useless squib like father. And that they should not be surprised by the fact that their brother had a daughter as useless as he was... I asked uncle who they were and he was confused before he, um, lectured me about bothering him with silly dreams."

Unnoticed by Hanna, Eugen had frozen as she brought up the memories of one of her crew who had been a squib. Then she narrowed her eyes and bit back a snarl before shaking it off in favour of gently squeezing the twelve year old. "That will never happen with us, trust me on that." Giving her another kiss on the top of the head, Eugen frowned as she glanced at the computer on a nearby desk as she decided to change the subject. "You know... I had an odd thought last night. You told us that you didn't have any friends, right?" At her confused nod, Eugen continued. "It just so happens that I know of someone who would love to be your friend and... would understand what you went through."

Narrowing her eyes, Hanna looked up at Eugen with a frown. "What do you mean by that?"

For almost a minute, Eugen was silent before she shrugged. "I won't go into details, but let me just say that Harry's, the person that I am talking about, childhood was not too different, hmm?"

Eyes wide, Hanna pieced it together and then hugged Eugen tighter. "Okay."

All the Heavy Cruiser did though was stroke her hair again as they laid there while waiting for the time to head off to breakfast.

 

Harry Leferts

Smiling, Harry looked around at all the costumes with excitement before adjusting his own a little bit. "This... is so cool!"

Beside him, dressed as Arizona, Jane snickered a bit. "Told you, cuz!" She then looked him over and grinned. "And you look pretty cool yourself!"

All Harry did though was wag his fake fox ears as his grin now showed the fake fangs in his mouth. "Thanks! That means a lot coming from you, Jane." Then his grin turned slightly into a frown as he continued to look around. "But where is Natsumi-Chan? She said that she was going to be showing up as well..."

Part of him noted that Haru was talking with Goto nearby, with the Miko for some odd reason she also had fox ears and a tail. Harry dismissed it though when a hand on his shoulder caused him to turn and blink at the sight of Hachi in a witch's costume. Said sub winked at him. "I've seen her around actually, so she should be by soon enough."

Yuudachi then chose that time to jump onto Hachi's shoulders causing said submarine to stumble a little bit. "Yeah, Poi! I really like her costume."

For several moments, Harry stared at her before he cocked his head to the side as his tail wagged behind him. "Um... Yuudachi-Nee? Are you... dressed as Yukari from Touhou?"

With her smiling becoming wider, Yuudachi nodded. "POI!"

Despite himself, Harry couldn't help the small shiver that went down his spine at the thought of Yuudachi as Yukari before he just dismissed it. It was not as bad as the feeling he got from Kongou being dressed as Haruhi with Goto being Kyon for some reason. Oddly, he could also see Akashi in his line of sight dressed as Yuyuko glaring at Akagi who was dressed as the same person. "Is Touhou a theme this year?"

Behind him, there was a sigh as Natsumi spoke up. "If there is, I blame Oba-san for it."

Turning, Harry grabbed Natsumi into a hug as his tail wagged, causing a blush to rise up her face. "Natsumi-Chan!" Then he pulled away and blinked a little bit. "Wait, you're Reimu?"

Even as she tried to distract herself from the sight of Harry in front of her by picking at her sleeve, Natsumi only nodded. "Yeah... Haru-Oba was the one to choose... like she chose Akagi-San's costume." She glanced over at her aunt who only winked. "... I think that she should have chosen Yukari this year though."

From beside her, Hibiki only nodded with a sigh as she was dressed as Youmu while she fingered her short hair. A fact that caused Harry to frown a little bit. "Still hasn't grown back yet?"

Hibiki blushed a bit as Harry reached over and examined the ends of her hair with his fingers. "No. And if I find out who set up that prank with that glue stuff in those paintballs, I am not going to be Khorosho to them."

Simply nodding, Harry winced as he remembered that. Whatever it was, it was bad enough that Hibiki needed to cut her hair as nothing else got it out. Yet all Hibiki could tell was that the person disappeared at the same time as a pop could be heard. "Well... those contacts that you're wearing means that you make for a good Youmu?"

Once more, Hibiki blushed before another voice spoke up and Harry turned to blink at the sight of Ikazuchi dressed as a Re-Class, Inazuma inside of the fake tail. Thankfully for Tenryuu's mental health, the Destroyer wore the black bikini top over a white shirt. The white hair though with red eyes and creepy grin caused Harry to wince a little bit though. "Well, what do you think?"

After a few more moments, Harry raised an thumb and nodded. "Khorosho." Out of the corner of his eye though, he noticed that Albie, dressed as Marisa, had snatched some food from the table before she vanished back into the crowd. 'Talking about fitting costumes...'

Feeling a tap on the arm, Harry turned and blinked at the sight of Akatsuki dressed as Warspite, a large grin. "Look at me, I'm a real lady!" She huffed a moment later though as Ikazuchi giggled. "I am!"

With a smile on his face, Harry just nodded and hugged her. "You do look like a real lady, Akatsuki-Chan!" And throughout the rest of the costume party, Harry's grin didn't leave as it was the best Halloween he could remember.