Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

And then they felt a warm softness on their lips. It took them only a moment to realize what was going on and their eyes widened as the same thought went through their heads. 'She's kissing me!'

Staring at each other for a moment, they then began to close their eyes even as Rose moved her arms so they were around Haruna's neck and the Battleship moved hers to around the tsukumogami's waist. Neither Rose nor Haruna made any other moves though, just enjoying the feel of their first kiss and their lips against the other's. Before they knew it, a minute had passed with them just sitting there.

Which was when Haruna hissed in pain as Rose shifted just a touch, her injuries becoming aggravated. Eyes flying open, Rose pulled away. "I-I-I'm so sorry-"

Next thing the tsukumogami knew, she was tumbling off of Haruna and there was a splash. For Haruna's part, she just blinked away the repair fluid on her face before moving her soaked bangs and looking around. "Rose-Chan?"

Thankfully before she could start to worry, Rose broke the surface with a gasp and then blinked as the repair fluid ran off her. Glancing towards Haruna, she could see that the Kongou was watching her as the awkwardness increased as both realized what they had just did. "Um..."

And then, Haruna blinked and held a hand to her mouth as a snort escaped. The snorts then turned to giggles as a bemused Rose looked on. "Ro-Rose-Chan looks..."

It took Rose only a moment to realize how the whole thing would look to someone outside and gave a small huff, though a good natured one. Out of embarrassment, she looked around for her hat and soon found it floating nearby. Grabbing it, she put it back onto her head.

Only to dump all the repair fluid that was in it onto said head.

Utter silence could be heard until Haruna started to giggle again, moments later joined by Rose who spat out some repair fluid. Looking towards Haruna, Rose gave her a sheepish grin. "Yes, well... I suppose that it really is quite funny."

When they got the giggles out of their system though, Haruna noticed Rose's expression then pensive. "Rose-Chan? Is something wrong?"

Face flushed, Rose shook her head. "It's just..." Looking over at Haruna, she frowned some. "I'm just rather at a bother right now. Perhaps it's a bit silly but... what do we do now?"

Much to her surprise, Haruna looked as lost as she felt. "Haruna... doesn't know..."

Eyes widened a bit, Rose took that in before swallowing. "I see..." The awkward silence having returned, it stretched on until Rose suddenly stood up. "Tea!"

Blinking at the rather random declaration, Haruna tilted her head to the side as she watched water and repair fluid stream off Rose. "What?"

In reply, Rose nodded and held one finger up. "Tea! After all, tea is the solution to all problems and will be able to help us out here." Sloshing through the repair pool, Rose put one hand onto the edge and began to lift herself up. "Just... a moment." Unseen by her was how Haruna leaned her head to the side with the Battleship's eyes widening a little at how Rose's soaked pants clung to her as she climbed out of the pool. Then she sat up straight even though a bit off hiss of pain when Rose stood up with repair fluid still streaming off her. "There we go." At an odd sound, she looked over to see a red faced Haruna looking anywhere but her. "Haruna?"

Just licking her lips, Haruna took a deep breath before shaking her head. "I-it's nothing..." In order to distract herself though, Haruna frowned a little bit. "Um... Rose-Chan? Your clothes are wet..."

Looking down at herself, Rose just gave a smile. "Easy enough to fix." When she closed her eyes, Haruna was about to ask when all of a sudden Rose's clothes began to steam and, before the Battleships' eyes, Rose's clothing dried out. After about a minute, Rose patted herself down with a nod. "There we go, all dry now."

More then a little surprise, Haruna could only watch as Rose adjusted her uniform. "Haruna would like to know how Rose-Chan did that?"

With a hum, Rose glanced over her shoulder as she headed for the tea cart. "Well... I am a tea set. And tea sets can contain hot, boiling water which means it steams. So... I can become hot enough to dry myself." As Rose waved one hand and began to push the tea cart towards where Haruna was, the Battleship blinked as she tried to make sense of what she had been told. Even for a shipgirl though, the logic was rather convoluted to say the least and eventually Haruna gave up on understanding it. Of course, what Rose told her brought up one thought to Haruna. However, then Rose continued to talk. "It's quite useful."

For a brief moment, Haruna had the flash of her futon on one of the colder winter nights, except in this case she was cuddled up to Rose who was acting like a hot water bottle in keeping things cozy. Then the Battleship quickly shook it off. "Haruna sees..." The next few minutes passed in silence as both Haruna and Rose were deep in their own thoughts, though Rose busied herself with making some tea, the practiced motions being some comfort to the maelstrom of emotions in her mind. However, all good things end and she stopped as Haruna whispered a question to her. "Did... did Rose-Chan enjoy it?"

Pausing, Rose considered the question for several seconds and Haruna was about to say something when Rose whispered her answer. "I... yes, I think that I quite enjoyed it myself. Just biting her lip, Rose glanced over her shoulder to where Haruna was watching her and felt her cheeks warm. "Did you enjoy it, Haruna?"

Slowly, Haruna nodded and let out a breath. "Hai... Haruna enjoyed kissing Rose-Chan." Closing her eyes, she relived the moment and then nodded. "Haruna liked it a lot."

Thoughtful, the tsukumogami finished the tea that she was working on and set a cup down by Haruna. Then she took the basket of scones and set it down before buttering one. Offering it to Haruna, she nodded. "I also liked it a lot."

Neither of the two talked as they sipped their tea and enjoyed the scones before Haruna sighed and looked down at the pool's surface. "Haruna is rather confused by this whole thing."

Bringing one finger to her chin, Rose furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm also rather confused... I admit that I rather enjoyed it and may... like to try it again. But, what does that mean for us? What does it make us?"

Hopeful, Haruna looked up at Rose with a question in her eyes. "Friends?"

Understanding the unsaid question, Rose gave a nod. "Of course we're still friends, Haruna. Parish the very thought. But... I am at a bit of a loss as to where we go from here... This is all so rather new to me."

Haruna considered that before nodding. "It's new to Haruna as well. But Haruna is okay with this..."

Just blinking, Rose glanced to Haruna and then smiled a bit. "And I'm rather okay as well. I suppose that we'll just have to find out together."

Reaching over, Haruna placed her hand on Rose's and smiled. "Haruna would like that."

This time, the silence between the two was no longer awkward, but instead was a comfortable one.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

May be just an omake... or maybe not:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It began, as it had so many times before, with two words.

Two simple words.

More then one word, but less then three. For most, they weren't really that big deal. In fact, they were spoken pretty often by people around the world in various languages. However, their utterence was enough to send a shiver down the back of anyone in the military. Which was why when Harry spoke up, Hermione froze. "I'm bored."

For several moments Hermione didn't move before she slowly turned to Harry. "... What?"

Wiggling a fork in his hands, Harry frowned. "I'm bored."

Voice faint, Hermione slowly gulped. "That... was what I thought that you said." Internally, she continued the sentence. 'And I wish that it wasn't.'

Ron looked up at him with a frown. "Bored, mate?"

All Harry did was nod with a small grunt. "Yeah, I'm pretty bored."

Sweat breaking out as she knew what a normal person in the military might do when bored, Hermione did not want to see what someone who had magic could do. "Harry... you can't be that bored, right? I mean... you got plenty of schoolwork, right?"

With a hum, Harry shook his head. "Nah, all done." At her look, he shrugged. "Japanese upbringing. Got no schoolwork left."

Even as Ron grumbled at that, Hermione gave him a shaky smile. "W-what about your magic projects? I mean... you got to have a lot of work on those, right?"

However, when Harry shook his head Hermione felt her boilers sputter. "Nope, taking a small break from them. Don't want to push myself so much that I end up disliking it."

"What about flying practice?"

"Meh, Wood would see me and drag me into Quidditch practice."

"How about we go visit Hagrid?"

"He's in the forest."

Now despirate, Hermione begged anyone who was listening. "We-we-well we can find something..."

Suddenly, Harry lit up at that. "Yeah!" Just as Hermione was about to breath a sigh of relief, Harry got up and began to walk towards the doors. "I just thought of something!"

Eyes wide, Hermione was about to take off after him when Ron grabbed her sleeve. "What's the matter, Hermione?"

Turning to him, Hermione let out a hiss before grabbing Ron by the collar. "He's a military brat, Ron! One who spoke the unspeakable words!"

Slowly blinking, Ron raised an eyebrow. "So?"

With a deep breath, Hermione let it out in a sigh. "Ron, did Warspite ever tell you what happens when military personnel are bored?"

About to say something, Ron stopped and paled as she remembered some of the tales that Warspite had told. "... Oh..."

Very slowly, Hermione nodded. "And Harry has access to magic, Ron. What sort of thing could he get up to when he's bored!?"

It took a few moments before Ron had a flashback to some of the tales his father had told him about bored wizards and witches and now his freckles stood out on his cheeks like red stars. "O-oh... bloody hell."

Across, Neville frowned. "Um... how bad could it be?"

Dean then nodded. "Yeah, you're all overreacting. What could go wrong?"

Then he paused at the looks of horror on Ron's and Hermione's faces before the red head turned to his female friend. "Hermione...?"

Gulping, Hermione looked back at him. "Y-yes, Ron?"

He then pointed at Dean and Neville. "Did they say the words that I think that they did...?"

Entire body shuddering, Hermione nodded with her voice coming out as a squeak. "They did." Moments later the two took off out of the Great Hall as they ignored the looks they were getting. Once outside, they looked around. "Where did he go!?"

Not sure, Ron shook his head. "I... i don't know..."

With a look between them, the two then took off to search for their wayward friend. Eventually they found him. "HARRY!"

Turning, Harry just gave them a smile. "Oh, hey guys."

There was a look of horror on Hermione's face as she pointed at Harry's shoulder. "Harry... you didn't. Please tell me that you did not do what I think."

Beside her, Ron looked confused as he looked at the odd thing on Harry's shoulder, Harry madly grinning. "Why yes, yes I did." He then jerked his head at it. "Found some Seventh Years willing to do it for practice for NEWTs... though the Muggleborns didn't want to."

Facepalming, Hermione just groaned. "I wonder why..."

Now utterly confused, Ron frowned. "Uh... what's the big deal with that thing on mate's shoulder, hermione? I mean... it looks wierd but-"

She grabbed him before he could react. "Ron, that thing is one of the most evil creatures in all of fiction!" She shuddered. "One of my sisters had us watch the series..."

A giggle caused her to turn to see Harry with one eye closed and the other glowing. "Yup!" Then he lifted a bag and Hermione felt pure dread as it moved around. "And I had them duplicate it. Sure, they'll only last a few hours, but still. Now, if you'll excuse me, i got a delivery back home and to get Rose to attach a camera to Hedwig to record it."

Raising her hands, the Cruiser looked between the bag and Harry's shoulder. "You don't want to do this Harry... now put them down..."

For a moment, she had some hope as Harry seemed to consider it before shrugging. "Nah."

Hermione then shook her head. "Harry, no!"

Grinning, Harry nodded. "Harry, yes!" Then he ducked under Hermione's lunge and twirled around Ron's grab before running. "SEE YOU ALL LATER!"

Once Hermione got to her feet, she took off after him. Unfortunately, Hogwarts itself seemed to be working against her with the stairwells moving after Harry had got off them. By the time she reached Gryffindor Tower's First Year Boys's dorm, Harry was closing the owl box, an empty bag by him. "... Oh frig..." Then she turned around and began to walk out. "If you'll excuse me, I am going to try and get in contact with someone..."

Scratching his head, Ron looked at Harry. "Uh... mate? What's the big deal?"

With a shake of his head, Harry slung his arm over Ron's shoulders. "Let me explain something that's memetic in Japan..."
___________________________________________________________________

"Poi~ I'm so bored, Fubuki-Chan!"

Just sighing, Fubuki shook her head. "Yuudachi-Chan, I'm going to stop you right there and..." It was then that she noticed something and looked up. "Is that Hedwig-Chan up there?"

Frowning, Mutsuki put her hand above her eyes and looked up. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Hai, that's Hedwig-Chan... did Harry-Chan send some letters?"

A frown on her own head, Yuudachi tilted her head. "Maybe, poi?"

Meanwhile, Fubuki felt a chill run down her back. 'Why do I have a bad feeling... like something really terrible is about to befall the base?"

Suddenly, the sound of claws could be heard from a nearby crate and they turned only to freeze at the voice. "Hello there."

Blinking, Yuudachi turned and waved. "Hello..."

Now able to see what had just talked, they froze at the sight of the strange creature that regarded them with rube eyes as it's tale swished back and forth. On either ear there were gold rings and it gave an odd smile. "Would you like to make a contract with me and become a magical girl?"

Utter silence descended on the area before Yuudachi stiffened with a screech. "POOOOOOOIIIIIIIIII!"

Fubuki just called out her rigging as she swore uncommonly for her. "FUCK!"

Behind her, Mutsuki pointed at the Kyubey. "KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE UNTIL IT'S DEAD AND KILL IT SOME MORE!"

Elsewhere on the base, White blinked as Johnston lifted her up and began running. "NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!"

In the Admiral's office, Goto just looked at the one on his desk before suddenly stabbing it. "That wasn't nice."

Looking at the stuffing, the Admiral sighed. "... Why do I suspect that someone got bored." And then the explosions began and he groaned. "..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

And... part two:
______________________________________________________________________________________

"HEEEEELLLLPPPP MEEEEEE!"

Their heads snapping up, Inazuma, Ikazuchi, and Hibiki all blinked at the sight of Akatsuki running right for them. "Akatsuki-Chan?"

Within moments, she was hiding behind Hibiki who blinked down at her. "What's going on?"

Finger shaking, Akatsuki slowly brought it up and pointed. "Th-th-that!"

Blinking, they all turned in the direction given and froze at the sight of something extremely familiar to them all. Meanwhile, Kyubey hummed as he swept his tail to the side. "Hmm... does this mean that you do not wish to sign a contract and become a magical girl?"

A second later, Inazuma placed her hand onto Akatsuki's shoulder and the oldest looked up to see a blank expression. "Do not worry about this, Akatsuki-Chan... I have been preparing for this."

That caused her twin sister to blink and look at her. "... Really?"

Now grinning, Inazuma rushed into the house. "Give me a moment!"

Having been left alone, the three slowly backed away from the Incubator who walked towards them, Ikazuchi giving off a shiver. "Am... I the only one with a really bad feeling about this?"

Beside her, Hibiki shook her head. "Nyet."

At this point though there was a sound of glass shattering and everyone stopped to stare as Inazuma landed in front of them with her flamethrower. "Pour on the juice!"

With a sigh, the Incubator shook his head. "Oh, poop."

Moments later, flames hit it as Inazuma cackled. "The Earth shall burn! Nanodeath!"

Their mother's voice then echoed around the area and the other three looked around as Inazuma was too busy cackling before they noticed Tenryuu running. "GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME, TATSUTA!"

Softly smiling, Tatsuta only held out the Incubator towards her sister. "But it's so cute."

Kyubey only sighed and blinked. "Please put me down."

However, Tatsuta only gave him a squeeze and continued to chase Tenryuu. "No."

Elsewhere on the base, Shinano only blinked at the odd creature on her table with a frown. "Um... hi?"

Swishing his tail, Kyubey blinked. "Would you like to become a magical girl?"

Her eyebrows furrowing, Shinano frowned some. "Become a magical girl?" When the creature nodded. "How? And I thought that I was one... since shipgirls are magic and I'm a shipgirl..."

Tail still swishing, the creature shook his head. "All you got to do is sign a contract with me."

Just blinking, Shinano crossed her arms a bit and tilted her head. "I'm not supposed to be signing anything unless one of my Onee-Sans, Teitoku, or White-Kaa-San says it's okay."

It's head not tilting the other direction, it fixed her with it's gaze. "They won't mind."

Before Shinano could say anything else though, the door opened and Musashi stepped in with a grumble, only to freeze at the sight of the Incubator. Smiling, Shinano pointed at it. "Onee-Chan! This bunny says that it can make me a magica-" Quickly crossing the distance, Musashi picked up the Incubator and then drop kicked it through the window. "Al girl..." Looking as it faded into a dot, Shinano frowned. "Why did you do that?"

Musashi only placed her hand onto Shinano's shoulder. "Look, kiddo? Trust me, that thing is bad news."

At the same time, said Incubator was falling with a frown. "That was rather rude." Then it hit something and bounced off before getting up. Dusting itself off, it looked up to see Enterprise staring down at it. Tilting it's head to the side, it blinked. "Hmm... I had thought that I hit a wall."

Even as she grit her teeth, Enterprise growled. "Say... what now?"

While it shook it's head, the Incubator sighed. "You would not know where I could find a girl?"

Raising up one foot, Enterprise snarled as her eyebrow twitched before stomping the Incubator. "FUCKING DIE!"

Nearby, Naka turned away from her livestream and looked towards the window as she heard gunfire, explosions, and shouts. "What in the world...?"

As she was distracted, she missed the Incubator that hopped up on her desk in plain view of her webcam. For several moments the livestream was silent before it exploded as the Incubator spoke. "It seems that the others are having trouble with candidates." Slowly, Naka turned around as the Incubator blinked. "Would you like to make a contract with me?"

With a blink, Naka reached under her desk and then pulled out a rather large mallet she normally used when Sendai surprised her. "Let me think on that for a moment..."

Despite the base descending into chaos, Haru simply hummed as she stroked the Incubator in her lap. "Hmm... I give it perhaps a eight out of ten."

Eyebrow raising, Natsumi looked towards her aunt. "That high?"

Haru though shook her head. "No, that low. It could have been much higher if done better. Perhaps with a duplication spell or a repair one."

Slowly, Natsumi shook her head as she sipped her tea. "Should we tell them that they're just dolls?"

For a moment, Haru considered this and then smiled. "No, let's just enjoy the show being put on. It's rather hilarious after all."

Meanwhile, Goto ignored the wiggling Incubator on the end of his sword even though it frowned at him. "Could you put me down?"

Glancing at it, he raised an eyebrow. "No." Then he turned as his computer beeped and then frowned and sighed as he read the email. "I see..."

Not even bothered by what was going on, Ooyodo only sipped her coffee. "Did something happen?"

With a grunt, Goto shook his head. "Yes, just got an email from Cunningham... his shipgirl spy in Hogwarts passed on that Harry was bored and sent the Incubators through after he got some wizards to conjure and animate some dolls."

Simply humming, Ooyodo nodded. "Ah, that explains it. A bored wizard and a bored military brat."

All Goto did was shake his head. "Yes, the worst of both worlds. And which means that we'll be having a talk with him... and add it to The List."

That caused Ooyodo to raise an eyebrow, but she did as asked.

How they were going to explain this one though...

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Nagato walked up to the pier with a frown on her face as she spotted Hoppou at the end of it staring off into the distance with an odd expression on her face. "Hoppou? Is something wrong?"

Jumping a bit, Hoppou turned around and blinked up at the Battleship. "Mommy?"

Still frowning, Nagato crouched down and looked her in the eye. "Are you feeling okay? You've been standing out here for a few hours while everyone else is cleaning up."

Her head tilting to the side, the Abyssal shook her head as she blinked. "They were all being very silly, Mommy."

After a few moments, Nagato let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I think that they were being more then a little silly with how they acted, though they had reasons for it..." Then she shook her head with a snort. "I will have to give him credit though... and warn him that the others have sworn to get him back though some were more then a little impressed."

Reaching up, Hoppou booped Nagato on the nose and caused her to blink. "They better not be mean to Big Brother."

With a chuckle, Nagato shook her head and smiled a bit. "Not that mean, though Harry should have waited a few weeks, April Fool's would have been better." Shifting a little, Nagato sat down on the end of the pier and looked out onto the ocean before turning back to Hoppou and poking her in the belly which made her squirm and giggle some. "So then, why are you all the way out here."

To her surprise, Hoppou turned back to the ocean and gestured with one hand. "Hoppou feel something, out there. And Hoppou not sure what.

Now furrowing her eyebrows, Nagato turned her attention fully to her adopted daughter. "You felt something?" At the nod, she frowned some. "What did you feel?"

Bringing her glove to her mouth, the Abyssal seemed confused. "It... feels like one of Hoppou's playmates that Hoppou had before Big Meanies came and hurt Hoppou and her friends. But... Hoppou's playmates are all gone... even Big Sister agreed with Mommy."

Eyes widening, Nagato looked out at the ocean. "You're... feeling what could be one of your fleet members? Out there?"

Hoppou only nodded. "Yes, Mommy. But they're not talking..." Then she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why aren't they talking, Mommy? Even Hoppou's puppies would talk to her..."

Deeply frowning, Nagato narrowed her eyes some. 'Hmm... are they hiding? Somewhere close by and watching? But... no one has reported anything from the North...' Seeing the confusion on Hoppou's face, the Battleship shook off her own confusion. "I... don't know..."

With a blink, Hoppou hung her head. "Oh..." A moment later though, she felt a hand on her head gently ruffling her hair and she looked up to see Nagato headpatting her. "Mommy?"

Standing up, Nagato held out one hand to her with a slight smile. "How about we go and talk with Teitoku? He might be able to send a mission out to find them for you after all."

Frozen, Hoppou looked up at her adopted mother in both awe and hope. "Really, Mommy? You think so?"

All Nagato did was nod. "Hai, and that way you can see them again..." Unsaid was the rest. 'Hopefully they're unaggressive like you...'

Reaching up, Hoppou took her hand and nodded with a smile. "Okay, Mommy."

With a small squeeze, Nagato began to lead Hoppou off to the Admiral's office.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Easily keeping up with the jogging Harry, Myrtle frowned in thought. "So... you played a prank on the base where you live?"

Grinning, Harry nodded with snickers. "Yup!"

More then a little confused, Myrtle looked at him with her head tilted to the side. "... Why?"

However, Harry just grinned up at her. "Because I'm a military brat and when we get bored things happen that others regret." Then he became thoughtful even as he felt the strain of the run. "Of course, there's how they might try to get back at me, but..."

Myrtle only shook her head. "Well, I cannot understand it..." Her expression fell a bit. "Then again, I was usually the butt of jokes when I was alive and even after I died."

Wincing, Harry grimaced a bit while he began to pant. "You don't... need to worry... about that... from me."

A blush on her face, Myrtle nodded. "Thank you."

Just glancing at her, Harry only smiled when he remembered something he meant to ask. "By the way... how are things with your bindings...?"

That caused the ghost to sigh though and hang her head some. "They're still there though..." On her face was an expression of confusion as she thought. "They do seem to have weakened a bit from how they were even just a year ago. I don't know why though..."

Perking up, Harry looked at her. "What does that mean for you?"

All Myrtle did though was shrug. "I... don't know. But it means that I might be able to leave the grounds in a few years, so I'm happy."

Harry slowly nodded with a grin. "Well you... do seem to... have gotten some color back into... you..."

With a amused expression, Myrtle poked him in the arm and Harry hid a wince at the feeling of coldness. "I'm a ghost, Harry. We don't regain color."

Frowning, Harry looked at her and closely examined her. While Myrtle was still the silvery of a ghost, he could almost swear that she looked slightly more solid then before and that he could just make out some color in her. But then he shrugged it off. 'Maybe it's my imagination.'

Suddenly, Myrtle snapped her fingers as they were heading for some stairs. "Oh! That reminds me... be on the look out for Peeves, would you? He's been laying low but he's quite angry with you, so he might try something soon."

Eyebrow raising at that, Harry grimaced a little bit. "I'm not that surprised if he would. Peeves doesn't seem like one to take such things laying down... So I'll keep a look out..."

As he began to climb the stairs though, neither Harry nor Myrtle noticed Peeves floating a distance above them. In his hands was a bucket of grease and oil that he prepared to drop on Harry as he made his way up the stairs. 'Make Peeves a butt of jokes, will he...' He was just about to tip it fully over when he felt a hot breath on his neck and turned to see a round thing floating right behind him. "What are you?"

Said thing looked like an black orb with cat ears then it opened it's jaws to reveal a glowing mouth filled with sharp teeth which for some reason filled the spirit with dread before it lunged. Down below, Harry and Myrtle came to a stop as they heard a scream and noticed a bucket fall past them and smash into the floor below. Moments later, Peeves, san's a hole in his pants, shot past screaming bloody murder as Barghast followed him closely behind growling. In the Abyssal fighter's mouth was some of Peeve's pants. "Huh... don't see that every day."

With a snort, Myrtle just looked in the direction of the continuing screams. "Couldn't happen to a nicer spirit."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Harry could only blink at the black orb in the fire even as Shiromizu hissed at him. "{Is... that what I think it is?}"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "{Yeah... I think that's a dragon egg...}"

Behind them, Hermione had also recognized what it was and practically exploded. Meanwhile, Shiromizu examined the egg a bit carefully. "{Huh, so this is what a dragon's egg appears? And they need to be incubated in a fire? That's... honestly rather interesting.}"

All that Harry did was nod before one part of what Hagrid was saying caught up to him. "Uh, Hagrid? You live in a wooden house..."

With a nod, Hagrid chuckled. "Aye, but tha's not much trouble."

Rubbing the side of his head, Neville groaned. "Hagrid, having dragons as pets is against the law! if they find out that you have one they'll throw the book at you."

Even as he nodded, Ron grimaced. "He's right. It would kind of hard to hide from muggles if we had dragons on our front yards. And anyone caught doing something to threaten the Statute, um... would be in a lot of trouble."

However, Hagrid only waved him off. "Yeh just overreactin'."

Now even Shiromizu was looking at him from her position inside Harry's shirt. Sure, outside it was still chilly as it was early April, but she found that the cold effected her less. And besides, Harry's body heat was more then enough to keep her comfortable. Hence why she decided to visit along with Harry. "{He's joking, please tell me that he's joking about that...}"

With a grimace, Harry only shook his head. "{No, I'm afraid that he's not joking.}"

That only got him a look from Shiromizu who soon shook her head. Seeing that, but not knowing what the two were saying, Hagrid just shrugged it off only to straighten up a bit more at Ron muttering to himself about what egg it was. "Looked it up myself! It's a Norwiegan Ridgeback."

Looking around, Ron winced. "Uh, Hagrid those are bigger then your hut."

A frown on his face, Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Couldn't you go for something smaller at least?"

Blinking, Hagrid frowned some. "Like a Peruvian Vipertooth?"

Ron winced at that. "Uh... that's still, what, fifteen feet long?"

Widely smiling, Hagrid nodded. "Tha's about right."

Curious, Harry remembered what he had read in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. "I thought that were smaller ones then that though..."

Giving it some thought, Hagrid suddenly snapped one finger. "Nah, yeh must be thinking of wyverns. Them's not dragons."

With a frown on his face, Ron tilted his head back and forth. "Well... Charlie told me that no one's sure if they are or not."

That caused Harry to blink as he tried to recall what he had read. "Wyverns?"

Slowly, Ron nodded. "Yeah... they look like dragons, except they don't got no arms alongside their wings, just the wings and back legs. They're not common nowadays in Europe since they nearly got hunted to extinction. Easier to kill then a dragon, but they could be used in place of dragons for potions and stuff."

Running a hand through his beard, Hagrid nodded. "Aye, a right shame too. Beautiful creatures they are, just a mite misunderstood." With a frown, Hagrid went digging around in a scrapbook and then put it on the table as he pointed at one article. "See? This here is o' them. but in Africa."

Each of them leaned over the table and blinked, but it was Hermione who spoke up and shook her head. "That looks like a pterosaur."

His eyebrows furrowing, Harry frowned. "Kongamato?"

Tapping one finger against the picture of the creature in a cage, Hagrid nodded. "Tha's what this breed is called. They let yeh keep them as pets in Africa."

All Neville did was blink at that before reaching up and wiping some sweat from his brow. "They do?"

With a grunt, Ron nodded. "Yeah, I remember Charlie talking about it once. Apparently they're a grey area or something. Still illegal to sell though."

Despite their best tries, Hagrid would not give up and soon they had to leave. As they were walking, Harry placed his hands behind his head and gave a groan. "This... is going to be a disaster, I just know it."

Just patting him on the shoulder, Hermione shook her head. "Hopefully he'll listen to reason once it hatches."

Neville nodded a bit. "Yeah, hopefully nothing happens though."

Turning to him, Harry was about to say something when he noticed someone walking towards them with Myrtle beside them. Someone that caused him to blink. "Rose? Is something wrong?"

For a moment, the tsukumogami seemed nervous before she straightened her back and then adjusted her uniform. "Master? I need to ask you for some..." It seemed like she was lost for what to say before she shook her head. "Some advice."

Oddly, Harry felt some dread but nodded. "Okay..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Roughly an hour later though in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry just wanted to bang his head on something. "Um, Rose?"

Blinking, Rose didn't notice the various looks she was getting from others in the Common Room as she looked at Harry while placing another cup of tea in front of him. "Yes, Master?"

Slowly rubbing the side of his head, Harry let out a sigh. "Okay... just to recap, you and Haruna-Oba are, girlfriends?"

There was a blush on Rose's cheeks as she played with her fingers. "We-well, I don't know if we can say that quite yet, Master. I mean..." Frowning, there was a puzzled look on her face. "We're really not sure..."

Ron only blinked at her with a frown. "Uh... you kissed her, right? And she kissed you?"

Nodding, Rose placed her hands in her lap. "Oh, yes!" Her face gained a far off look before she sighed with a slight smile. "It was rather lovely, though ruined a bit since it was after I fell on top of her in the bath..." A sound caused her to turn to see a Fifth Year sprawled out on the floor with a bright red face looking at her. "Are you alright?"

With a cough, the wizard got up and nodded. "Um, yeah, I'm okay..."

Quickly, he walked off muttering to himself which caused Rose to frown. "That was rather strange..."

A throat clearing caused her to turn to see Myrtle giving her a look. The ghost had not been bothered when she drifted in with the others, though she assumed that it was due to Harry being there. And she was partially right, though many were more confused as to why she was out of her washroom. "So you kissed this Haruna?"

Brightly smiling, Rose nodded. "That's right... and I enjoyed it." Tapping her chin, she hummed a bit. "And I think that I would like to try it some more... Haruna feels the same way I think, though I would have to ask before hand."

On the other side of the table, Harry gave her a smile. "That's great to hear, Rose." He then coughed and looked around. "There's just, um, one problem..."

That got him a blink as Rose leaned forward in interest. "What sort of problem, Master?"

Rubbing his neck, Harry glanced towards Hermione only to see her raise an eyebrow. Seeing as he was not about to get any hope from that direction, Harry gave a nervous chuckle. "You came to me... about advice on Haruna-Oba and your relationship..."

Just nodding, Rose tilted her head to the side. "That's right."

Harry then pointed at himself. "Rose... I'm eleven."

Confused, Rose only nodded. "I know your age, Master."

Shaking is head, Harry sighed. "Rose, I'm eleven. And you came to me for relationship advice..."

Even more confused then before, Rose only nodded. "That's right." Noticing the stares, she frowned a bit. "Did I... do something wrong?"

In reply, Harry just pinched his nose some. "I... don't think that we can say that but... perhaps you should ask Hermione for advice."

Her eyes widening, Hermione turned and stared at Harry who stared back. "Why would you think that I would be any better to ask for relationship advice, Harry!? I'm only twelve years old after all."

For a moment, Harry and Ron shared a look, the same thought going through their heads which they did not voice for Hermione's own privacy. 'Mainly because you're a shipgirl and likely have someone who would know as crew.'

Meanwhile, Hermione turned and pointed at Myrtle. "I think that Myrtle would be better for asking advice from, Rose."

Seeing Rose turn towards her, Myrtle sputtered a bit. "M-me!? Why would you think that I would be better to come and ask for relationship advice!?"

However, Hermione shrugged a bit before gesturing at her with one hand. "Well... you are older since you were alive in the 1940s after all."

If anything though, that seemed to cause Myrtle to almost look like she was about to cry before the ghost gave a sniff. "What does that have to do with anything? Or are you calling me old!?"

Wincing, Hermione chuckled a bit. "Um... not really? Though you are more experienced?"

Myrtle though began to sputter. "Experienced?! What sort of woman do you take me for, Hermione Granger!?"

All she got though was a sheepish chuckle from Hermione as Rose looked on in ever increasing confusion.

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 28: sasahara17

I've been kinda busy, so I can only offer up one today. Cheers!

-=-

What to do about a problem called Harry Potter?

The Boy Who Lived's disappearance had been one of the greatest mysteries that had plagued the wizarding world over the past decade. The child who had saved the world from the greatest Dark Wizard who had ever lived had disappeared without a trace from where he had been living with his muggle relatives, and nobody knew where to find him. The Ministry of Magic and other concerned parties had tried to keep the news silent but the truth, as with all things, had a way of getting out.

Speculation ran rife throughout the wizarding world. Some believed that followers of You Know Who had found where poor Potter had been living and extracted their revenge. Others theorized Potter had been taken in by a prominent wizarding family in secret to be raised in the proper wizarding way instead of having a muggle upbringing. There was even a fanciful one where Potter had been abducted by Albus Dumbledore to be trained as some kind of super-wizard in preparation for some coming threat.

Nobody knew what had happened, and the wizarding world wanted to know the truth.

The Daily Prophet, and Rita Skeeter, was all too happy to provide it.

As grim as it was, Harry Potter's misfortune had been an unexpected boon for the Daily Prophet. It had ran many, many articles over the years that covered details about Potter's disappearance. Details that had been unknown to the populace up until The Daily Prophet, and Rita Skeeter, had bothered to look. Details that were so compelling that the Daily Prophet, and Rita Skeeter, reached new levels of fame.

Harry Potter had lived a quiet, humble life, and most assumed it was because he and his muggle relatives just didn't want to be bothered. The truth, a truth Rita Skeeter was all too happy to uncover, was that Potter had been the subject of the worst case of child neglect possible at the hands of his bigot, muggle relatives. In fact, the poor, frightened boy had been forced to live under a cupboard! It was only because of members of the muggle government that Potter was removed from this toxic environment.

The news that the savior of the wizarding world had suffered such injustice created an uproar. Good wizards and witches wanted to know why the Ministry of Magic had allowed this to happen, and why it had taken muggles to correct it. This was negligence, pure and simple. Which deluded fool had left poor Harry at this horrid place? How bigoted could these muggles get, to their own flesh and blood no less? What if he'd become an Obscural?

And, more importantly, where had the muggle authorities taken Harry Potter?

At least young Harry was safe now, though… at least, that was the general feeling until Skeeter provided her much anticipated follow up a few weeks later, this time discussing the ineffective and bureaucratic muggle government, callous child support services, and overall terrible treatment of orphans. Skeeter had contended that poor Harry had escaped from the were-wolves' den only to tumble into the dragon's lair, and many believed her.

Then month later, Skeeter released another article describing how Potter had been sent overseas like some kind of unwanted vagrant by those impudent muggles, and now not even her keen investigative skills had been able to find him. While the good people of Britian despaired and raged, Rita Skeeter's fame continued to rise.

And so it had went, for years. Harry Potter was an endless source of news for Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet, who published article after article detailing her 'investigation'. Skeeter, who had simply been a mere tabloid reporter, had been propelled to fame as one of the greatest investigative journalists the world had ever seen.

Of course, she never actually made much real progress into finding Potter, since most of her articles concentrated on naming a growing number of individuals whose incompetence and negligence had contributed to the tragedy rather than actually following the paper trail to figure out where Potter had gone, but that was beside the point. As far as the Wizarding World was concerned, there was no greater expert on Harry Potter than Rita Skeeter.

At least, that was how it had been until recently.

The Boy Who Lived had finally resurfaced at Hogwarts, starting his first school year with the rest of his cohort. The Harry Potter, apparently well-adjusted and having grown up amongst a loving family, had just shown up one day as if he'd never disappeared. The true Harry Potter was a far cry from the popular image of the mistreated savior of the wizarding world, cast away by uncaring muggles, that the Daily Prophet had managed to build up.

Suddenly, Rita Skeeter wasn't the Harry Potter expert anymore.

Skeeter, and the Daily Prophet, now had a real problem. Although there had been no backlash as of yet, it was becomingly increasingly clear that their credibility as a reputable purveyor of the truth was at stake. Skeeter needed to get to Potter and learn more about what had happened to him in the intervening years so that she could release a story that would correct the situation.

She needed to be the Harry Potter expert again.

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Skeeter could not get to Potter himself. She had made many enemies over the years, and one of them was Albus Dumbledore. Her articles had attacked him, his staff and his precious school, at it seemed he had come up with a grudge. The wily old buzzard had since barred Rita, or any member of the press who were vising on business, from ever coming anywhere new Hogwarts on the basis that it would create disruptions in the school environment for his students.

Rita new the truth of course, that Dumbledore was doing this to her out of spite.

In fact, she normally would have just gone to Hogwarts anyway in her secret animagus form, old man be damned.

However, several other enemies she had made, including one Lucius Malfoy, whom she had placed blame for not using his considerable fortune to track down Potter in a scathing opinion piece that sold like hot cakes, had unexpectedly given Dumbledore their backing.

In fact, the Minster of Magic himself had made a public announcement stating, very clearly, that Potter was not to be bothered at his place of schooling.

Anything that covered or inconvenienced Harry's schooling was morally reprehensible, and would carry criminal charges. Out of concern for the boy, the public… agreed. Despite their insatiable curiosity about the return of the prodigal hero, they agreed.

And if the public agreed, that meant the one authority Skeeter would not cross had spoken. Attempting to approach Harry at Hogwarts was an impossibility, lest SHE appear as the villain. Malfoy had his own spin doctors after all, and Skeeter knew he was just itching for the chance to get back at her and the Daily Prophet for their transgressions.

News coming out of Hogwarts was sketchy, with rumors that an Abyssal Princess had shown up at one point, but with the Ministry's ban on reporting there, nothing could be verifiable. More importantly, nothing could be publishable. The most they could do was write an opinion piece about how the freedom of the press was being suppressed, and that was that.

It was clear that the Daily Prophet, and Rita Skeeter, had a problem.

They needed to know about Potter, but they couldn't get to him. If they couldn't get to him, they couldn't find out what they needed to write about him. And if they couldn't write about him, they couldn't publish the stories they needed… and Skeeter knew no about of creative prose would help her this time. Not without at least some verifiable facts to anchor her tale and give it credibility. Not after the image of the miserable Potter she had built had been shattered so thoroughly.

It was a vexing problem, but not one without a solution.

While Harry Potter was off limits, his amended public records were not. From there it wasn't hard for Skeeter to find out out where Potter had grown up. From there, she had found out who Potter had grown up with. From there, Rita Skeeter had a lead… a lead she needed to crack this story open and become a household name everyone talked about one more.

Harry Potter may have been off limits, but that didn't mean the people who had raised him were.

Rita Skeeter had never been to Japan before, but she supposed that there was a first time for everything.

-=-

Idea: Rita Skeeter goes to Yokosuka to interview Nagamon, Hoppo-chan, Tenryuu, DesDivSix, Kongo-Bongo, the Yamato sisters, and a whole bunch of other people. In her mind, Skeeter is planning on wiriting articles on illegal use of child soldiers, barbaric and uncultured Japanese ship girls, reprehensible mingling with the enemy, and other headline grabbing news! Unfortunately, she runs afoul of Aoba, intrepid shipgirl reporter, who realizes what Skeeter is up to and runs interference to protect the spirit of good journalism and her extended family.

Thoughts?

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

One eye closed, Akashi wagged a wrench at Haruna with a slight smirk. "Now then, you're okay to leave the docks for now, but your feet are going to be really tender for right now, okay?"

Haruna nodded before wincing a bit as she shifted her weight, shrugging on some clothes. "Haruna understands."

For a moment, Akashi watched before sighing and shaking her head as she shrugged. "Nothing for it, I suppose." Turning, she moved to leave the room. "Stay here for a moment, will you?"

Slightly confused by what she might be doing, Haruna only nodded. "Okay..." When Akashi left, Haruna hummed to herself as she slipped the rest of her clothes on. 'Haruna wonders what Akashi-San is talking about...'

Not even two minutes later though, Akashi returned pushing a wheelchair, though it looked rather modified. "Here, use this for now until your feet heal up some more."

Wincing a bit as she walked over, Haruna examined the wheelchair. For one thing, it looked extremely overbuilt and flicking part of the frame caused her to blink. 'Solid steel?'

A look at Akashi caused the Repair Ship to snicker some and pat it. "Go on, sit down in it."

Still slightly unsure, Haruna did sit down and put up her feet. Blinking, she looked down at the fabric under her which strained slightly but did not rip. After a moment, she wiggled around a bit. "... Haruna is impressed."

Just snorting, Akashi shook her head. "Yeah, well... it's been an issue with recovering shipgirls who have been unable to keep their weight down to normal human levels, so I made this baby." On her face was a look of fondness. "The best steel alloys for the frame and the fabric is cuben fiber. Ooyodo had a bit of a fit over the price but..." Waving a hand around, Akashi shrugged. "Better then going through multiple wheelchairs."

More then a little curious, Haruna grabbed the wheels and began to push herself around. It took her a few minutes but soon she was able to do it easily enough and smiled. "Haruna likes this."

Laughing, Akashi shook her head. "I figured that you would. Anyways... being as this is the prototype, any feedback would be appreciated. If this works, a lot more shipgirls will be happy."

All Haruna did was smile at that. "Haruna will make sure to do that."

In reply, Akashi gave her a thumbs up and a nod. "Glad to hear it. Now you head out there and enjoy yourself, okay?"

Once she wheeled herself out of the docks, Haruna took a deep breath of the fresh, spring air before pulling out her phone. Going through her contacts she was about to press on Rose's number when she stopped and looked at it for several moments. Then she put it away. 'Haruna... needs to talk with someone first.'

It was several minutes later that she was in front of Kirishima who just stared at her before adjusting her glasses. "What?"

Twiddling her fingers, Haruna swallowed a bit. "Haruna... needs some advice on Rose-Chan..."

With a soft chuckle, Kirishima shook her head. "I've been waiting for this." At that, Haruna tilted her head as her sister continued. "As to Rose-Chan, it's very simple what you must do."

Leaning slightly forward, Haruna pulled out a notebook and pen. "Hai?"

Just smirking, Kirishima held up one finger. "Next time you see her, you must sneak up on her in the darkness, make sure that she's too busy doing something to notice and then, when you're close..."

Eyes wide, Haruna nodded. "When I'm close...?"

Kirishima suddenly stood up straight and thrust her hand up. "YOU LIGHT HER UP WITH YOUR SPOTLIGHTS AND THEN FIRE ALL YOUR CANNONS DEEP INTO HER WHERE THEY EXPLODE WITH BURNING LOVE! HIT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER WEAK SPOTS! GIVE HER NO CHANCE TO FIRE BACK!"

Suddenly Hiei who was visiting poked her head into the room. "Are you on about Washington and Gale again?"

Jerking, Kirishima twitched. "Urk..."

Expression deadpan, Hiei shook her head and then looked towards Haruna and gave her a thumbs up. "Great to see that you up and about, Haruna! Ha! I knew that nothing could keep you down for long!"

Closing her eyes, Haruna smiled. "Haruna thanks you."

With a frown, Hiei looked back at Kirishima as she cupped her chin with one hand. "So what is all the shouting about?"

Still grimacing, Kirishima slowly turned around and gesturing at Haruna. "Haruna-Onee-Chan and Rose-Chan have finally admitted their burning love for each other, Hiei!"

Eyes wide, Hiei turned towards Haruna who only nodded. Giving her a thumbs up, Hiei grinned. "That's great to hear, Haruna!"

Nodding, Haruna smiled. "Haruna is very happy with this." Then she frowned some and tapped her chin. "Though Haruna was wondering about advice as... her and Rose-Chan are very confused about what to do."

Hiei just tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling as she hummed and nodded. "I see... I see..." Then she leaned towards Haruna and gave her a thumbs up as well as a wink. "Good thing that I'm here. Considering Kirishima, her advice would likely end with 'Go and eat a bunch of ice cream' or something." She ignored how Kirishima made a choking sound. "But as your Onee-Chan, I'm more then willing to impart my wisdom on burning love."

Eyebrow twitching, Kirishima growled. 'Ice cream...' Turning, her snarl turned into a smirk as she the light glinted off her glasses. "Oh? Is that why Mutsu-San is far closer then you to Richardson-Teitoku?"

Now it was Hiei's chance to jerk before she grabbed at her chest as if she was stabbed. "Urk..."

Unfortunately, Kirishima continued her barrage of hits. "Not to mention that date that Richardson-Teitoku went out on with Arizona..."

Reeling from the blow, Hiei quickly counterflooded and prepared to fire back. "Oh? LIke how Gale-San has already taken Washington to see her mother? And Washington has taken her to see her sister? And yet... have either of them done the same with you?"

As the blows landed, Kirishima stumbled back, but soon let loose with counterbattery fire. Mainly in the form of crossing her arms under her bust and pushing upwards a bit. "It is only a matter of time before I hit them with the realization of how good my burning love is. Especially when they take note of my fuel tanks..." She then made a pointed look at Hiei's chest. "Which are much larger then some meaning I got far more endurance."

Head snapping back, Hiei made a choking sound before she pointed at Kirishima, her next words igniting her sister's face. "That's because all the ice cream you eat after your tries goes right there!"

Meanwhile, as her sisters continued to argue, Haruna tilted her head and put a finger to her cheek. 'Haruna... thinks that this might have been a bad idea...'
__________________________________________________________________________________

Kongou suddenly hummed as she frowned and stopped from where she was walking along the grounds of Hogwarts. "Hmm... I sense a disturbance in the Dess. As if my sisters were having problems with burning love and then were silenced."

That only got her a stare from Nagato who had brought Kongou and Iowa along as the American wanted to try some of the rock cakes. After a few bites, she wanted to try and convince Hagrid to sell some to the American shipgirls to the half-giant's confusion. Quickly shaking it off, Nagato frowned. 'That's... odder then normal.'

Something that Iowa had said caused Nagato to look up. "Hmm? Sorry, what?"

With a shake of her head, Iowa pointed at the practice Bludger that Nagato was holding and had been tossing up and down. "So that's one of those Bludger's that Harry here dodges, right?"

Blinking, Nagato slowly nodded. "That's right."

Humming, Iowa nodded with a thoughtful look. "So they bat them at each other, huh?" Getting another nod from Nagato, Iowa frowned. "You know, that's almost like dodgeball."

After thinking it over, Nagato slowly frowned herself. "I... suppose..."

It was then that Iowa stopped and her next words caused Harry to start pulling his friends away. "Remember the last game we participated in? That... got cut off too soon, I just didn't have enough."

Glancing at the Bludger in her hands, Nagato narrowed her eyes. "How odd... it was the same with us."

Behind her, Kongou nodded with her eyes closed, though there was something wrong with her smile. "Dess!"

A dark aura slowly covered Iowa as she began to look over her shoulder. "You know..." Bringing up one hand, she began to crack the joints by clinching them. "During the war, we never did get to see who was superior..."

Similar auras sprung up on Nagato and Kongou as they became serious, though Kongou kept her smile as Nagato spoke. Slowly, the Bludger became covered in blue fire. "So you would challenge the might of the Big Seven then...?"

Kongou darkly chuckled some. "And you think that you can surpass us, Dess? Well, as you Americans say... bring it on."

Off to the side, Harry gulped as Hoppou threw her hands into the air and began to run towards the three shipgirls. "Hoppou wants to join in!"

When he looked at Harry, Neville noted that he looked rather pale. "Uh... is something wrong?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "Yes... you've never seen shipgirl dodgeball before, have you?" At the shake of the head, Harry gulped. "Usually, they use cannonballs instead of normal balls..." There was a massive explosion that covered Iowa before Harry continued. "Because otherwise they don't last long."

The dust cloud cleared to reveal Iowa with her palm up in which the Bludger spun, flames coming off it. Suddenly, the Battleship smirked as she grabbed it and then pulled back her arms. "Take... THIS!"

Nagato didn't even blink as the ball was thrown with enough speed that it created a tunnel through the airborn dust before bringing up her hand to catch it. There was another detonation of dust and people around could see the ground by Nagato's feet literally blow away in chunks from the force. However, Nagato only stood there with the ball in her hand before throwing it back at Iowa with enough force to send the American sliding backwards several meters. "You'll have to try harder then that to defeat me."

About to throw it at Nagato, Iowa switched targets to Kongou instead. "LET FREEDOM RING!"

Giggling, Kongou only twirled in place as she caught it, the ground splintering beneath her before flinging it back. "BURNING LOVE!"

Where he was, Harry only sighed and sat down. "Well... might as well watch then."

Beside him, Ron nodded as Neville just slumped in place before wincing as a boulder was blown apart. "Uh... are we safe?"

All Harry did was nod some. "Sure, as long as we stay here because they know we're here."

Yet another explosion, this time with Hoppou shouting for joy, could be heard and Neville only nodded. "Th-that would be a good idea..."

Unnoticed by him was the tenseness in Hermione as internally she grumbled. 'Sure, the one time that I can't join in...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Shaithan

Well, something cute.

Critters

To say that the German Shipgirl Fleet was a very, very fractured bunch was understatement. The girls of the Kaiserliche Marine tended to get along somewhat poorly with the Kriegsmarine. Adding to that were the regional differences. Shipgirls named after southern Germans and German cities or states tended to not get along with those with more northern names, then there were even more differences that could be summed up with "some hundred years ago something happened and this has not been avenged" and the question of who to root for when the beautiful game was on tended to end in a brawl. The older ships were far more rebellious and headstrong and somewhat red. The U-Boats tended to get along better, though the older Imperial U-Boats were envious when they heard how the younger ones had been pampered. And of course SM U-35 took every chance she got to gloat how she and she alone was the true tonnage queen.

One thing pretty much everyone could agree on, though, was that SMS Bayern, in her local und unintelligible dialect, was "spinnert" or gaga.

Bismarck herself did quite often clash with the older battleship, both had been flagships, at their time the strongest warships Germany had put to sea. It didn't help that the Iron Chancellor wasn't exactly high on the list of people Bavarians liked, seeing that he had pretty much bribed the Bavarian king into going along with this whole German Unification thing. Bismarck didn't appreciate Bayern trying to muscle in on command decisions, nor did she appreciate Bayern acting as if only Bavaria was the true Germany, especially around visiting Americans. And, of course, there was the beautiful game. Bayern was an ardent supporter of Bayern München, a club regarded as The Enemy by fans of pretty much every other club. Bismarck herself rooted for the HSV, the dinosaur, to date the only club to never leave the 1. Bundesliga.

Currently though, the matter of discussion was outright inane. "I'm telling you, Madel, there are strange critters out there! Or do you want to claim that your double doesn't have a Tatzelwurm hanging around?" Bayern insisted.

Bismarck pinched her nose, her headache not helped by her sister sitting nearby, smoking and drinking and smirking at the free entertainment.

"She does have a point, Kanzlerchen," Tirpitz threw in. "Case in point, several of the U-Boats have reported sightings of Necks and then there was this murder that looks suspiciously like that boy ran afoul of a rye aunt," she added.

Bismarck groaned and plopped down on a sofa. "Spare me, you overweight bathtub admiral," she shot back at her sister.

Eugen, her kitten chose that moment to enter through the catflap, proudly showing off the duck he had caught.

Bismarck groaned. "I do not dispute that Prinz Eugen's pet is in all likelyhood a Tatzelwurm. I am sceptical of there being Necks or rye aunts running around. And your Wolpertinger is a pure fantasy creature, created by taxidermists for shits and giggles, Bayern," she finally said. "And unless you can show me a live one, it will stay that way," she added.

Bayern felt her hackles rise. "So says who?" she demanded.

Bismarck glared right back. "The flagship of the German Navy, you old tub!" she shot right back.

Tirpitz took the chance to give Eugen some kitty treats for his catch, it seemed like Bismarck and Bayern would end up in yet another row.

Bayern felt the need to have the last word, though. "Well, if that's your position, I will show you a live one!" she declared hotly and stormed into her room.

Bismarck herself looked at her sister. "Didn't I tell you to stop encouraging Eugen to bring us his catches?" she wanted to know.

Tirpitz shrugged. "I've seen some recent studies that suggest that this is a way for cats to show affection to their owners, by providing them with food as if they were kittens. And some roasted duck sounds heavenly right now," she elaborated.

Bismarck simply sighed. "Go on you Vielfraß," she conceded. She had learned to pick her battles when it came to her sister. Then she picked up her kitten, cuddling her ball of fur and claws.

She didn't pay too much attention to Bayern in full safari gear storming out of the battleship baracks.

Bayern meanwhile was fuming. "Not real," she grumbled. "Just a joke," she continued. "I'll show that Saupreiß made-up!" she vowed.

As luck would have it, she ran into two cruisers. Not just any cruisers, though. München and Bayern got along like a house on fire, while Nürnberg was 'merely' on good terms. Franconian pride demanded to not embrace Bavaria wholeheartedly, after all.

"What's the matter?" München wanted to know.

Bayern grimaced. "Miss Kanzlerchen doesn't believe that Wolpertingers exist," she laid out.

Both Nürnberg and München boggled. "She what?" they immediately demanded.

Bayern nodded. "According to her, they are made-up jokes by taxidermists!" she spat out forcefully.

"She'll eat those words!" Nürnberg vowed.

"That she will!" München agreed.

Bayern grinned. "Get your hunting gear, we're going to catch a Wolpertinger!" she ordered the two light cruisers. "And get Augsburg, the other Nürnbergs, Wittelsbach and Luitpold. The honor of Bavaria is at stake!" she declared grandly.

The two cruisers saluted smartly and dashed off. Bayern meanwhile went to see the admiral. After all, she needed some free days for her fleet and seeing as they all at best were doing coastal defense in an area where Germany could easily have 400 U-Boats out any time they wanted, they weren't that needed.

Almost an hour later, the Bavaria-themed girls had all assembled. Some wore safari gear, others had donned a huntsman's uniform.

Bayern took the center stage. "Girls, this Saupreiß Bismarck claimed that the Wolpertinger is but a joke played on the world by taxidermists! We have to make her eat those words!!" she declared hotly.

The other girls cheered in assent. Regional differences aside, if someone from up north attacked one of them, they'd stick together. Especially against a Prussian.

One by one they piled into the two BMWs driven by Bayern and Prinzregent Luitpold. The mountain was calling.

The drive through Germany was mostly uneventful, save for a small stop in Nürnberg to finally eat some fresh Weißwurst.

Late at night, they finally arrived in Mittenwald, the most promising starting place for a Wolpertinger hunt. Thankfully the hotel still admitted them, none of the girls looked forward to sleeping in the car.

At lunch next day they finally managed to crawl out of bed. Immediately the plans for the hunt were drafted up. First order of business would be to visit the Wolpertingermuseum. The curator there should be able to give them some hints. Afterwards they'd ask the local hunters. And finally, they'd take to the woods themselves in search for the Wolpertinger.

The curator was a friendly, older man. When asked, he pointed them to a known hunter who had claimed Wolpertinger sightings more than once and even had taken a video of one. Unfortunately it had been during twilight, so it was grainy and the Wolpertinger had been in the bushes, adding additional confusion, but in general the hunters and the curator agreed that this had been real footage of the Wolpertinger.

The hunter, Franz Eder, readily agreed to meet the girls over a beer and Haxn. "I haven't seen shipgirls up here before," he began, obviously quite curious.

Bayern nodded. "True, we tend to focus on seaborne threats. But this is a matter of importance. Bismarck has claimed that Wolpertingers are but a figment of imagination, a joke played on tourists by taxidermists," she laid out.

"Saupreiß!" Eder reflexively cursed.

Bayern nodded. "Indeed. Now we want to find a Wolpertinger, hopefully catch a live one and show it to her," she explained.

Franz Eder nodded. "Reasonable," he mused. "Tell you what, girls, meet me here tomorrow morning at 4 am. Pumuckl and I will help you finding a Wolpertinger. I have some suspicions where they could live," he offered.

The girls nodded eagerly. A chance to show up Bismarck was something that came once in a blue moon, they'd do everything to get it.

Finally, Nürnberg III couldn't hold her curiosity any longer. "Why Pumuckl?" she wanted to know.

The old huntsman laughed. "With my name and him being the mischieveous sort it simply fit," he explained.

The three Nürnbergs nodded. This made sense.

Eder turned to the barman. "Schorsch, 9 more beers," he ordered.

The barman looked up and nodded.

Some minutes later, he brought the beers. The girls and the huntsman lifted their glasses. "To showing up the Prussians!" they toasted.

The rest of the afternoon was spent readying the equipment before it was early bedtime. After all, the night would be over very early.

At 3:30 the girls forced themselves out of bed. Becoming anthropomorphized had given them very human traits, like enjoying a comfortable sleep. They didn't exactly need it, but it was still very much appreciated to have it.

Right at 4 they waited for the old huntsman. And just as they pulled up in their cars, so did he in his.

His dog jumped from the car as soon as it had stopped and silently but eagerly greeted the girls.

"Looks like the little guy likes you," Eder commented the whole thing with a chuckle. "Don't give him treats, though, otherwise he'll never stop begging for more," he advised. The dachshund looked almost offended at these words, putting up a very credible "Who? ... Me?" expression. Eder gave his dog an incredibly deadpan look clearly saying "Yes. You."

"Well then, let's go," Eder said. "Simply follow my car," he added before entering his car. With a smirk he saw that Pumuckl seemed to want to stay with the girls for now. Nürnberg II picked him up and got into Luitpold's car.

Roughly 30 minutes later they were at a parking lot from where they'd have to proceed on foot.

Franz had some more instructions. "First of all, the Wolpertingers are shy," he advised. "There are several different species, some carnivorous and some herbivorous. Many can fly, but they prefer not to," he explained.

The girls listened with rapt attention. "And finally, I've heard some strange things have happened here, other hunters missing hours or having no recollection of having shot but missing ammo. Plus that one guy who claimed to have absolutely no idea who shot at him with birdshot," he explained.

The girls felt some concern, this sounded suspiciously like other things they had heard of before. Like these strange people that had tried to abduct Prinz Eugen's Tatzelwurm. Quietly they went on high alert.

The next hour was spent trudging through the woods. They took the chance to pick up mushrooms, those should make for a very nice supper.

Finally, Pumuckl stood at attention. Peering into the misty early morning grey, they saw a small creature run through the woods.

At first they thought it was a Wolpertinger, but when it ran towards them, it became clear that it was only a bunny.

Their spirits sank, but Franz cheered them up. "Patience, girls," he said fondly. "We're close to where I saw a Wolpertinger last time," he added.

Another 30 minutes were spent fighting through extensive blackberry bramble. Franz chuckled lightly. "If you weren't here, I wouldn't take this shortcut. Older people and children sometimes get stuck in such brambles, worst case I heard of the guy was stuck for 2 days before he was found. That was before widespread mobiles, though, back in the early 90ies," he told the shocked girls. "Don't give me that look," he added. "As beautiful as the forests are, it's well to remember that they can and will be deadly to the unwary and disrespecting," he explained.

The girls nodded, it made sense. Old fishermen and other seamen talked the same way about the sea, so they weren't unfamiliar with this kind of talk.

Going further, they found some fur hanging off a tree stump, as well as some feathers laying around. "A fight," Franz commented. "Though it's a bit strange," he mused.

Nürnberg I spoke up. "It looks like rabbit and fox fur as well as owl and raven feathers," she commented.

Franz nodded. "Right. Owl and raven or fox and rabbit wouldn't be especially noteworthy, even owl and rabbit or fox and raven happen. But all four together is quite unusual," he remarked. "Let me take a closer look," he added and knelt down.

The girls watched the old hunter with bated breath.

Finally he got back up and gave them a radiant smile. "Unless I am very mistaken, I feel confident in saying that two Wolpertingers fought here," he announced. "The fight wasn't that long ago, and I'm pretty sure at least one went this way," he declared, indicating a direction almost directly opposite of where they had come from.

With renewed vigor they went off, Pumuckl taking the lead, sniffing out the way.

It didn't take long for them to reach a small sink. Pumuckl stood at attention and then they saw it. A small burrow and a wounded Wolpertinger in front of it. It was a mixture of fox and raven with deer antlers.

Franz took a long look at the animal. Then he gave a sad sigh. "She's hurt badly," he declared.

"She?" Bayern wanted to know.

Franz nodded. "Look behind her," he said.

The girls did and had to coo. Three Wolpertinger kits were hding behind their mother. Obviously they were quite young.

Franz sat down and motioned for the girls to do the same. "She's wary and afraid," he explained. "She can't fight, not with the injuries she has and she can't run, leaving behind her kits," he further elaborated. "So now she watches, trying to find a way out," he added. "Luckily, I have something," he declared and opened a small plastic box.

The girls made big eyes when they saw the meat, this looked like high-quality beef to them. "It has light sedative in it," Franz explained. "We'll feed her and then collect her and her kits. You have the big cage, I assume?" he added.

Bayern nodded, unslinging the folding cage from her back and setting it up.

Something curious happened, the Wolpertinger mother went behind her kits and nudged them towards the cage, showing nothing of the fear she had exhibited earlier.

Franz was rendered speechless. Only after the Wolpertingers were in the cage did he find his words. "This is definitely unnatural," he commented. "They must have regualr contact with humans whenever they're hurt to associate cages with healing," he mused. "My colleagues and I will have to look into that, this is extremely strange," he added more to himself.

Bayern meanwhile cooed at the Wolpertinger kits who had curled up around their mother, who in turn had spread her wing above them.

Slowly, Augsburg and München lifted the cage, beginning the long trek back towards their cars.

The Wolpertinger gave them an inscrutable stare, as if she was judging them. Luitpold chose to talk to the mother. "We'll take good care of you," she promised. "You'll be with a doctor soon," she added softly.

The Wolpertinger closed her eyes, as if soothed by the voice.

The trek towards the cars went on mostly in silence. Franz took a look into the cage and sadly shook his head. "Girls," he said softly. "She didn't make it," he added.

There were no shouts of denial, shipgirls were far too familiar with death to deny the final reality. "But why?" Nürnberg II wanted to know. "There wasn't anything external," she said sadly.

Franz tenderly reached into the cage and winced. "Her ribs are broken in several places," he finally said. "Almost as if they were kicked in," he added. "Whatever did this, she was pretty much dead when we found her," he said and took of his hat. The girls followed suit, taking off their own hats.

"What about her kits?" Augsburg wanted to know. "We know there are strange people around who try to abduct fantastical creatures like Prinz Eugen's Tatzelwurm. And they tried that at the Vet's clinic," she explained.

Franz rubbed his chin. "That might actually explain her reaction to a cage. There are people who know about Wolpertingers and care for injured ones often and reliably enough that they learned to trust cages. This is not a good thing," he mused. "We'll have to cllear it with Vickerl, but I think it might be best if you take the kits with you. As long as we don't know why there are people who know about Wolpertingers but keep it secret, people that quite likely regularly interact with them, I feel it better to remove the kits from here. We can't know their intentions, after all," he laid out. "Plus those that abduct such creatures, I don't think we could watch the kits around the clock here," he added.

Suddenyly, there were high-pitched yowls. The source became clear immediately. The Wolpertinger kits had realized that their mother had stopped breathing.

Franz took charge. "They will need warmth," he explained.

Luitpold nodded. "My boilers are running hot, I can provide warmth," she offered, opening her jacket a bit.

Franz smiled appreciatively. "Let's hope for the best, " he replied and opened the cage. Carefully he picked up one kit by the scruff of its neck and handed it to Luitpold. The battleship carefully took it and put it on her bosom. Its siblings soon were added and Luitpold closed her jacket again until only three heads were looking upwards.

"What shell we do about the mother?" Wittelsbach, who had stayed silent the entire trip suddenly asked.

Franz sighed. "Best we take her with us for now. Vickerl will want to at least take a look at her," he said.

The girls nodded. "We should hurry a bit, though," Franz said. "The kits will become hungry soon and none of us can provide them with suitable food," he explained.

Luitpold had spent the meantime gently patting the heads of the kits, her warmth, gentle ministrations and the soft heaving of her bosom lulling the little orphans into sleep.

The remaining way back to the cars was spent in silence.

Wittelsbach took the keys from Luitpold, so that the other battleship could focus on keeping the kits comfortable.

Franz loaded the cage with the mother into his car and called the vet about his incoming visit.

Roughly an hour after leaving the forest, the three cars pulled up to a rather modern building. "Dr. V. Frankenstein - Dr. med. vet. - I have heard ALL the jokes" was printed on the plaquette near the door.

Nürnberg III gave Franz big eyes. "Please tell me that he is from Ingolstadt," she begged.

Nürnberg II scoffed. "You and your horror obsession," she grumbled.

The door was opened by a man with a serious hunchback. "Welcome," he rasped.

Franz didn't bat an eye. "Morning, Igor," he greeted. "Is Vickerl here?" he wanted to know.

"Mathter ith waiting for you" Igor replied with a grin.

The girls on the other hand couldn't help but stare. Vickerl seemed to have gone all out on this whole mad scientist thing.

It was with considerable surprise that they realized that Vickerl didn't stand for Victor but rather Victoria. A portly, black-haired woman in her early 30ies greeted them. "So, you brought me something deemed a story until yesterday?" she asked chipperly.

Luitpold nodded. "Yes. I'll need a bit help, the little ones are sleeping right now," she said softly.

"Igor," Dr. Frankenstein asked softly.

"Yeth, Mithtreth," Igor said from right behind her.

"Help Miss.."

"Prinzregent Luitpold," Luitpold helpfully introduced herself.

"Luitpold with the three kits," she ordered.

"Of courthe, Mithtreth," Igor gave back.

With great care the hunchbacked man picked up the kits, marvelling at their wings before packing them in blankets.

Dr Frankenstein examined them briefly before whistling softly. "Wolpertinger," she murmured in awe. "I wouldn't have expected that at all. Hell, I thought you were telling tall tales, Franz," she finally said.

Franz grinned like a schoolboy. "No tall tales here," he bragged.

"What about that catfish?" Victoria shot back good-naturedly.

"I was off by 50 centimeters," the old hunter grumbled. "3,50; 4 meters, that's barely a difference," he insisted.

Dr. Frankenstein gave a non-comittical hum. "Let's see. These kits are likely about six weeks old, maybe eight," she said, tenderly holding each one up. "Oh, those are girls," she added with a grin.

After a while, she put the kits back into their blankets. "Now, I'm no expert for such creatures, but if they are as close to foxes as I think, they should be weaned and can be brought up with solid food," she explained. "I can put them up here," she offered.

Franz and Bayern shook their heads.

"We consider that unwise. Prinz Eugen ran into people that tried to abduct her Tatzelwurm from the vet's clinic and the Wolpertingers themselves show signs of extensive human contact. Something is not right here and we feel it would be better to take them with us to Wilhelmshaven. We shipgirls can protect them, we have scientists that can study them and hopefully we'll be able to catch whoever is trying to abduct fantastical beasts," Wittelsbach suddenly explained.

Dr. Frankenstein mulled it over. "You have a point, these kits are too young to release into the wild and if people might try to abduct them, I don't think Igor or I could put up much of a fight," she finally conceded.

"I do haff a very mean left hook, Mithtreth," Igor threw in.

Dr. Frankenstein grinned. "That you do, but I still don't want to chance a big fight here," she said softly.

Igor nodded. "Of course, Mithtreth," he gave back.

Meanwhile, the kits had woken up and scurried back to Luitpold, who gently picked them up again.

Dr. Frankenstein came to a decision. "Right, I'll give them some medicine against parasites, something against rabies and then you can take them with you," she finally said. "Take good care of them," she demanded of the girls who unconsciously snapped to attention.

Franz nodded. "I agree," he said. "Also, some colleagues and I will begin to chronicle strange happenings here in the area. Something isn't quite right here, and I'd like to know what," he added. "We're going to send you regular updates and if you find some other interesting critters in the north, please tell us about it," he asked of the girls.

Bayern nodded. "Of course we will," she promised. "And if something strange happens to you, we'll return to investigate," she added to her promise. "You helped us find Wolpertinger and allowed us to take them with us, it's the least we can do for you," she added gratefully.

Franz grinned. "I'll hold you to that," he replied and held out his hand.

Bayern shook it firmly, sealing the pact.

Dr. Frankenstein grinned, removing the gloves she had used to give the Wolpertinger kits medicine. "Well, I can chip your little guys, so you can track them in case something goes wrong," she offered.

Luitpold nodded gratefully. "It would be much appreciated," she gave back.

Igor brought out the chipping syringe and Dr. Frankenstein got to work quickly and efficiently. "All done," she said and handed Wittelsbach a piece of paper with the frequencies. "Your radios should be able to detect them," she added.

Nürnberg III tried it out and grinned broadly. "It works!" she declared happily.

They added some toys and a transport box to the things they wanted to get, and luckily Igor could provide again. "It'th on the houthe," he said with a friendly grin.

With their acquisitions, they left the clinic, Bayern electing to pay everything once the others were outside. She also fixed Igor with a look. "You need to work on your lisp," she idly remarked. "You're good, though, took me a while. I guess it's fun for you," she added.

Igor nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "Vicky and I are happy with this whole thing, a bit of theater and people aren't as revolted," he admitted. "Speaking clearly, I get pity and revulsion, with the lisp, I am the Igor. And the Igor needs a hunchback and a lisp and then everything is as it should be," he added with a smirk.

Bayern smiled softly. "I understand. I hope you are happy with each other," she added, making both Igor and Victoria blush.

"Take good care of Franz, too, I think he might stumble into a big mess if he isn't careful," Bayern asked of the couple.

Victoria nodded. "Of course we will, he and his buddies are almost family to us," she said softly.

Bayern smiled. "Then I think everything is well here. Have fun studying the mother, we'll send regular updates about the kits growing up," she promised. "Now give me a hug," she added with a grin, her request granted immediately.

Finally she left, the other girls waiting for her. "Well, if we're already here, we can buy some local specialties, some Weißwurst to remember home by sounds heavenly right now," she declared.

The others cheered and off they went to the next butcher. Franz and Pumuckl stood in the driveway, waving as the girls drove off.

The butcher was only too happy to provide them with meat and sausages, especially when Luitpold showed off the little Wolpertinger.

Their trunks packed full with meat and sausages and sweet mustard, they set off, leaving behind Mittenwald to return to the sea. As much as they had enjoyed their stay here, they felt the sea calling to them, asking them to return. And as warships, they were meant to brave the seas, the mountains and woods of Bavaria would never be able to hold them for long. But coming here had also reminded them of what they were protecting, friendly people and beautiful places, untainted by the Abyss and the war.

It was late at night when they returned to Wilhelmshaven, the light cruisers were quite wiped out. Luckily, the Wolpertinger kits had immediately taken to meat when offered it, so there was no need to bottle-feed them.

Tirpitz was waiting for the returning girls with a big grin. "So, was your excursion fruitful?" she wanted to know.

Bayern nodded. "Indeed it was," she stated proudly. "Luitpold," she added, giving the cue to the older battleship.

Tirpitz' jaw dropped. "Well, I'll be damned," she muttered. "Kanzlerchen will have kittens over this," she added with a smirk.

Bayern grinned malevolently. "I seriously hope she has," she gave back. "Tomorrow we'll have to see about a good place for their burrow, if we don't simply build an enclosement for them," she said with a yawn.

Tirpitz shrugged. "With how cute they are, I don't think you'll have trouble convincing Hartmann either way," she said with a shrug. "Now excuse me, my pizza is coming," she added and went to a delivery car that had just stopped.

The Bavaria girls entered the base, intent on finding a good resting spot for their Wolpertinger kits.

A wooden basket was procured, blankets and cushions added and a litterbox placed right next to it. The sleepy kits were placed into it and they immediately cuddled into each other. Bayern put a blanket over them and smiled.

The next morning, Bayern was woken up by knocking at her door. She got up and opened, coming face-to-chest with Admiral Hartmann. Said admiral was not very amused. "Wild animals?" he demanded to know.

Bayern straightened up until she was about equal height with the Admiral. "We found them in Bavaria," she explained. "Their mother died before we could get her to a vet," she added.

Hartmann nodded. "And?" he demanded.

"We talked it over with the hunter that helped us, as well as with the vet that treated her, and keeping what almost happened to Prinz Eugen's Tatzelwurm in mind, we came to the conclusion that it would be best if we kept the girls here on base. There were some strange things going on there in Mittenwald. We'll have a detailed written report for you later," Bayern explained.

Hartmann nodded. "Very well," he conceded. "Next time please ask me first," he demanded. "Now you have to take good care of the little ones," he ordered. "And keep them out of reach of the destroyers for now, it's bad enough that Wyoming already heard of them and now she's sieging Admiral Briggs to allow her to look for the jackalope herself," he added, showing soem Schadenfreude when talking about Briggs.

Bayern saluted smartly. "Of course, Admiral," she affirmed.

"Good. Now, get dressed, Bismarck should be back soon, I really don't want to miss that reaction," Hartmann said and left.

Bayern grinned when she got dressed, she herself was looking forward to Bismarck's reaction.

It was about an hour later, when the younger battleship arrived from her trip to Hamburg. Hood and Prinz Eugen were trailing behind her, stopping short when they saw the grinning Bavarian girls. "Okay, you guys look like the cat that got the canary, the goldfish and the hamster, destroyed the furniture and managed to put all blame on the dog. Spit it out," Bismarck demanded.

Luitpold stepped forward, showing off the basket with the Wolpertinger kits. "You were saying?" she said coquettishly.

Bismarck simply stared at the three kits busy flapping their wings.

Hood worked very hard to supress a squeal, those little ones were adorable. And her radio was hard at work, spreading the news about those newfound cute critters to the Royal Navy.

Finally Bismarck found words. "I concede," she said regally. "These are obviously Wolpertinger," she admitted. "Take good care of them, they'll need you," she added, before beating a hasty retreat. There was only so much Bavarian smugness she could survive with her dignity intact.

Hartmann on the other hand had to work hard to supress a grin, a grin that gave way to horror quickly, when Hood uttered one word. "Send." Hartmann knew that right now, shipgirls around the world were receiving word. And some would undoubtedly try to counter with their own cute fantasy animals. The jackalope would only be the beginning. "Lord have Mercy," he silently prayed.

Meanwhile, the first other girls were arriving to gawk at the cute kits, taking photos and petting them, always under the watchful eyes of Luitpold, the new mother of the kits.

 

[darthcourt10]

Mr Trickman

Harry Leferts said:
Yup:
HMS Cleopatra (33) - Wikipedia

As for the Sunshipgirls? Like I said, they're out in the desert somewhere and they weren't at Giza, but at least one likely came from a hidden pyramid (Ron mentioned that the Twins trapped Percy in one when they went to visit Bill). As for the Egyptian shipgirls... they'll show up once someone encounters them.
Mr Trickman said:
You could have had Percy encounter one when the twins locked him in a pyramid. Due to some cosmic luck, or magic shenanigans, Percy looks remarkably similar to her old pharaoh. Just different hair and skin colors. Cue a deredere sun shipgirl following Percy around lovingly referring to him as lord. Fun times to follow.
Tristian Morgan said:
Harem count increased to three!

*SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY*
Harry Leferts said:
Molly: Explanation, now.
Tristian Morgan said:
Percy.
Ooyodo, Supply Depot Princess, possibly Sunshipgirl, possibly another.​

Alright, I expanded my idea a bit. But keep in mind I haven't written anything in awhile. Don't blame me if its bad.
-----

-----
"I'm going to kill them!"

This was the overwhelming thought of one Percy Weasley. The cause? His younger twin brothers, Fred and George. Troublemakers to the core. Apparently they thought it would be a good laugh to trap him inside one of the smaller pyramids the Weasley family was visiting on their vacation.

"I'm going to kill them! I'm going to kill them and bury them in the sand!"

He hoped being around shipgirls would have calmed the two down and maybe even set them on a good path like Ron with Warspite. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. It seemed being around shipgirls fairly regularly inspired the two pranksters to greater heights. Or perhaps they felt inadequate after witnessing the wild antics some of the shipgirls got up to daily and wanted to step up their game. Either way it was pure frustration for Percy. Why couldn't they pick up any good habits from the calmer shipgirls? Like Ooyodo and Supprin? The thought of the two ladies brought a warm flush to Percy's cheeks. The two were rather efficient with paperwork. Quickly he shook away his wandering thoughts. This wasn't the place for that.

"Indeed", he thought. "This isn't much of a place for anything."

The room he was in was a decent size, about twice the size of the family room of the burrow. Enough room for a group of tourists to marvel at and study the various hieroglyphics carved into the walls. Thankfully there were ever burning torches placed around the room for a more 'authentic' exploration feel. All for the tourists. It gave him some light to see by. After spending time on some of the naval bases Percy had grown to appreciate muggle fluorescent lighting. Much easier to work under than lamp or candlelight. With nothing more to do other than wait for either the twins to release him or for his Mother to realize he was gone and have the twins find him, either way he'd make sure they got their comeuppance, he set about to have a closer look around the room as he didn't get as good a look as he liked earlier.

As he examined the back wall something caught his eye. A lone hieroglyphic near the bottom. A boat, or more specifically half a boat. Recognizing it as one of the 'Sun Ships' the guide was telling them about earlier he knelt down for a closer look. The carving was incredibly detailed, showing individual oars and even the oarsmen. But it was half buried in sand. Curious to see the rest he began brushing away the sand with his hand until he heard an echoing 'Click'. Reacting with shock as he remembered all the horror stories his older brother told him of the various traps and curses he'd come across he was quick to jump back as the entire wall began to rise. With trepidation he watched as the wall slid upward only to stop just as the Sun ship carving reached the top of the new doorway. The newly revealed room was pitch black until a series of braziers flared to life startling the young man.

With wide eyes he took in the newly revealed chamber. Lining the walls were more hieroglyphics and carvings along with large jars and bolts of cloth. But what dominated the chamber lied in the middle. Taking up much of the space was a Sun Ship. Remarkably well preserved. Not as big as some of the ones featured in the museums he'd seen he estimated it around 15 meters in length. Despite the warnings in his head Percy took a cautious step forward. Almost immediately the sun ship began to glow with a golden light which coalesced a short distance from the entrance. Stumbling back onto his bottom the young man could do nothing but watch. Memories of his first visit to Yokosaka Naval base sprang to mind.

"Impossible!", he breathed.

The golden light quickly formed and solidified. A young woman in her mid to late teens stood. Her skin was a lovely shade of brown. Like tanned earth. Her hair was dark and fell to her lower back in straight locks. Gold and black makeup enhanced her blue eyes. She was adorned with a skirt and top of fine linen and golden jewelry that clung to a generous figure. A small head dress was upon her brow decorated with a sun sigil and oars radiating from it. The tips of her golden shoes had arches similar to the ship behind her. Woven in both her hair and parts of her clothes were several types of flowers Percy had seen floating in the Nile. Held in her hands was a large golden Ankh, with the handle being a foot or two longer than usual. She held it more akin to a wand or small staff. Her piercing eyes immediately settled onto Percy.

"Halt! Who dares disturb this sacred place?" She questioned in a language Percy barely recognized as ancient Egyptian.

"I-I'm sorry Miss. I don't understand you." He tried to placate what he recognized as a shipgirl. A very old and powerful one if the vibes in the air were right. It seemed to only embolden her more.

"What tongues do you speak? Name yourself intruder!" she demanded walking closer to get a better look at him. As soon as she saw his face she stopped in her tracks with wide eyes. Confused Percy could only look into her eyes.

"My Lord Pharaoh! Can it be? Is that you?" She questioned but he didn't understand. Looking into her eyes he saw recognition, hope and something else. "Do you recognize me? Amisi. Your Flower of the Nile?" Stepping forward she set her Ankh aside cupping his face in her hands. Percy blushed at the intimate contact unable to look away from her eyes.

"Miss, w-what are you...?"

"Yes. Though your hair and skin are different I would recognize your face in any lifetime. Especially your eyes. I would never forget them..." Sighing with happiness she rested her forehead upon his, her thumbs softly stroking his cheeks, still starring into his eyes. Never breaking contact. "Oh my Dear Lord Pharaoh! Surely this is my reward for faithful service to you. Spending our next life together! I swear I shall never leave your side and serve you forever more!" With that she quickly captured his lips with her own, giving a happy sigh of content. Percy's eyes bulged as he felt her lips meet his. His mind running overtime. Thoughts of how nice she smelled, how soft her lips were and how he was going to deal with this. But the most prevalent thought was that Ooyodo and Supprin must never learn of this let alone his Mother!

A strange noise caught his attention. He managed to turn his head and look out of the corner of his eye, despite the shipgirl (Amisi?) now almost desperately clinging to his neck as she continued her liplock. At the main entrance to the chamber he saw the twins, Fred and George looking in with looks of pure shock on their faces. This quickly shifted into their usual prankster grin.

"Sorry about that Perc! Didn't mean to disturb you." Said one of the twins. Fred?

"Yeah. You just have fun now. We'll get out of your hair." Said the other as they quickly retreated out the door and closed it again. Percy only had a single thought even as the beautiful shipgirl began to run her hands through his hair.

"No. I'm not going to kill them. I'm going to let Mum do it!"

-----
Supprin is what I call Supply Depot Princess. I don't remember if she has another name other than DJ Powerfist. I don't think Percy would call her that either.

Amisi is an Egyptian name that means flower. Yup. The ancient pharaoh that Percy resembles named his favorite Sun Ship Amisi. His Flower of the Nile.

The Ankh acts as a type of pseudo wand and magic staff.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Harry only blinked as Hermione's eyebrow twitched at him before looking to see Ron gape and Neville hold his head in his hands. "What? What did I do?"

Several moments later, Hermione shook her head with a groan. "Harry, you mean to tell me that you already got half of your homework done!?"

More then a little bemused, Harry nodded while leaning against one fist. "Uh, yeah? I mean, I'm might still not able to go home and enjoy the holidays due to the amount..." For a moment, there was a frown, but then Harry shook it off. "Which sucks, but that's neither here nor there. But I might manage something hopefully."

With that, he turned back to his homework only to blink as Hermione banged her head on the table. "But how!?"

A glance showed him that Ron was nodding along. "Mate, the teachers just piled on the work... I'll be amazed if I got a day or two free here at Hogwarts."

Just softly snickering, Harry shook his head. "Well... Japanese homework."

That only got him a look from the others as he continued working on the work that he did have. If anything, Hermione throwing her hands up amused him to no end. "Harry... what does that have anything to do with this?"

Softly snorting, Harry shook his head with a slight grin. "I take it that you don't quite understand how much work students do then?" At the shakes of the heads, Harry sighed. "Long story, this sort of thing isn't exactly something that I'm not used to. And I learned some tricks with how to deal with it while growing up." Then he tapped the parchment in front of him. "This? At least it's interesting and not repetitive."

Also turning back to his homework, Neville frowned. "That bad?"

Chuckling lightly, Harry nodded. "Yeah, it can get pretty bad. As an example, you come across a new kanji in a book? Once you find out what it means, you practice writing it over and over in order to understand and be able to use it." With a wave of his hand, Harry shrugged. "Then there would be cram school if I was still in Japan."

More confused, Neville blinked. "Cram school?"

Even as he hummed, Harry chewed the end of his quill thoughtfully. "Yeah... basically imagine going to school after you leave your regular school for the day... kind of miss it actually."

It amazed him as he could practically feel the stares on the back of his neck even as Ron spoke up. "You... miss that, mate?"

Amused, Harry shook his head. "Yeah, I miss it, cram school could be fun." Becoming thoughtful, he hummed a bit. "I remember this one year the one that I went to with Natsumi-Chan had a special even, a whole night study session on New Year's Eve. It was to teach us discipline or something..." After shrugging it off, Harry continued to work. "Grant you, that's how I got most of my homework done."

Hermione glanced and could see the slight bags under Harry's eyes. "... How late did you stay up doing homework?"

Yawning, Harry shrugged a little bit. "Uh... I think that I could see some light on the horizon when I went to bed."

The only response that Hermione had to that was to bang her head on the table. "Are you kidding me!?"

Simply shrugging, Harry glanced at her. "Hey, it got most of my homework done and if I want to be able to head home for Easter Hols, I don't want to spend it all doing homework. Besides, I can just sleep on the train if I need to."

Face in her hands, Hermione let out a sigh as she shook her head. "I'm torn... on the one hand that's more then a little ridiculous. On the other hand, you know how to study and I want to know more."

With a soft snicker, Harry grinned at her. "Well... cram schools did serve a reason."

Ron grunted a bit. "To give you more work."

Gesturing at his red haired friend, Harry nodded. "True... but it was more because schools are very competitive over in Japan and you need to be able to do the very best if you want to get a chance to sit in for the good school's entrance exams."

Now staring, Ron just shook his head. "You're bloody kidding. You're just pulling my leg now."

That got a laugh from Harry who had to calm down before he messed up his homework. "Uh, no, I really am not. I don't know off hand if there's anyplace like that here in England, but in Japan if you got a chance for a school then you had to sit down and do a entrance exam. If you hit a certain mark, then you get in. Cram school helped with that sort of thing as they gave out exams and such."

For a few seconds, Ron boggled before he shook his head and went back to his own work. "Barmy, completely and bloody barmy."

However, he stilled at Harry's next words. "It may be barmy, but I'll have most of my vacation free of homework except during the evenings."

Grumbling, Ron glared at him before turning back to his work which caused Harry to grin.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barely stumbling from tiredness as he stepped off the Hogwarts Express, Harry waved to the Trolley Lady from whom he had gotten a bunch of packages of food which he knew that the girls back home would enjoy. Turning his head, he spotted Nagato and grinned. "Mum!"

Crouching down, the Battleship held out her arms as Harry made his way over and then pretty much jumped into them. "Harry." After a few moments she pulled away and looked around with a slight frown. "A lot less people coming off the train."

With a yawn, Harry nodded a little bit. "Yeah, mostly because the teachers gave us a whole bunch of homework and assignments."

That got him a frown from his mother. "And you?"

Stretching a little, Harry gave a grunt. "Got most of it done, or at least the harder parts that I needed stuff at Hogwarts for."

Just nodding as she picked up his small amount of luggage and placed it on her shoulder, Nagato took how tired he was. "I see... and how did you do that?"

Harry grinned up at her. "Used the invisibility cloak to sneak into the library?"

All Nagato did was sigh at that before they crossed over into King's Cross proper. "And what's left?"

Frowning, Harry considered it before shrugging. "If I work at a bit each evening, then I'll be more then into the clear." A sound thought caught his attention and he slowly turned. Due to that he missed the amusement on his mother's face as she looked in the direction that the shout had come from. "What in the-"

Moments later, he stumbled back as a something leapt onto him. "Harry-Chan!"

With a blink, Harry looked down and noticed two amber eyes looking into his from just above a grin. "Natsumi-Chan?"

Nodding, she squeezed him tightly. "Yeah, Oba-Chan let me come with Nagato-San to meet you."

Meanwhile, Harry grinned right back and hugged her. "That's awesome!"

Nagato only waited until they were done and then looked up before giving a nod to the nearby Destroyers. One of them gave him a smile before opening her arms. "What? No hug for me?"

Eyes widening, Harry gave the Destroyer a hug. "Fubuki-Nee!"

Laughing, Fubuki gave Harry a hug back before Yuudachi and Mutsuki joined in. Not having let go, Natsumi was also squished. "GAH!"

Despite her expression being mostly blank, one could tell how amused Nagato was as her lips curled up some and there was a sparkle in her eye. Once the hug was done though, Nagato walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Anyways... we should be heading to the Leaky Cauldron, we got an early night after all."

That caused Harry to frown slightly. "Wait, we're heading to the Leaky Cauldron?"

Slowly, Nagato nodded some. "I was thinking that perhaps we could have a quick look into that storage barn on your family's property before we left for home. It won't take long, maybe a few hours just to see what's there."

Considering this, even though part of him tightened at the thought of being so close to where his parents died, Harry eventually nodded. "Just to have a look?" The Battleship nodded at that. "Um... okay, I guess."

Not even a moment later, he blinked as he felt a hand slip into his and give it a squeeze. Turning, he saw Natsumi give him a smile. "We'll be right there beside you, Harry-Chan."

Feeling his throat tight, Harry nodded some even though his eyes were slightly wet and he squeezed the hand back. "Yeah, I know.... I know."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

A little short bit before I go to work:
___________________________________________________________________________________________



Slowly, Haruna rolled up the small path and then let the wheelchair come to a small stop at a section of the small, community garden not too far from the Shrine. A small smile on her face, the Battleship watched Rose as the tsukumogami worked at a small bush. For once, Rose was out of her usual uniform and was instead in sweater and jean combo as she kneeled on a mat and was spreading material from a bag around the base of the bush as she softly sang. It was not the only one as there were similar bushes in the area, most of which were just starting to grow their leaves. Suddenly though, Haruna was pulled out of her thoughts as Rose turned and smiled brightly at her. "Oh, hello Haruna!"

Giggling, Haruna smiled right back and nodded. "Good evening, Rose-Chan."

With a blink, Rose looked up at the sky with a surprised expression. "Is it really that late?"

Lips twitching, a hum escaped Haruna as she also looked up at the slowly darkening sky. "Hai." She then tilted her head as she looked at the bushes that Rose was tending to. "Is that one of your blackcurrant bushes, Rose-Chan?"

Sitting back, the tea set let out a sigh as she blew one of her bangs out of her face. "Mm-hmm, it is." Patting the ground near the bottom, she nodded. "This year it should be growing berries."

Just nodding, Haruna tilted her head to the side. "They didn't really grow anything last year though..."

Rose chuckled as she shook her head and looked at Haruna over her shoulder. "Well, one needs to wait a year for them to grow big enough to make some berries." Then she clapped her hands together with a sparkle in her eyes. "I cannot wait until they ripen, I should have plenty for treats to have with tea."

Not quite sure what she meant, Haruna only nodded as she remembered that Ooyodo had agreed to the bushes almost immediately after Rose had asked and she had done some research. Which she had thought was odd, though Kongou had smiled. "You really like blackcurrants, don't you, Rose-Chan?"

With a slightly bemused look, Rose smiled. "Well... of course I do, they really are quite good. Some blackcurrant jam on scones? Mmm..."

Unable to help herself, Haruna gave a giggle at the look on Rose's face. "Haruna sees."

As she giggled herself, Rose wagged a finger back at Haruna before going back to her work. "I suppose that when one has a lot of it, they do tend to grow to either enjoy the taste or dislike it. It so happens that I quite enjoy it."

Tilting her head to the side, Haruna blinked. "Rose-Chan had a lot of blackcurrants?"

For a moment, Rose paused and then blink before giggling again. "Oh my, I think that I did it again."

If anything though, that confused Haruna even more. "Again?"

Slowly nodding, Rose placed some more material, which Haruna could now see was manure, around the bush. "When I mix myself up with my old Mistresses and their families. Mainly because of what they may have liked to eat with their tea."

Now intrigued, Haruna leaned forward. "And they liked blackcurrants?"

With a smile of remembrance, Rose nodded. "That's right. Of course, most of it was due to the war. Mistress planted a number of bushes at their home and her and the children used to make jams and preserves so that they had a little bit extra. In fact..." There was a thoughtful expression on Rose's face before she nodded. "The government actually made sure that blackcurrant syrup was distributed among the children for their health. They quite liked it."

Blinking, Haruna frowned in thought. "Haruna didn't know that happened in Britain during the war."

The tsukumogami nodded. "Oh yes, it, growing bushes that is, was suggested by the government during the war to help with rationing." Suddenly, she turned a little bit thoughtful. "I wonder if the current government is also doing it..."

Haruna considered this before shaking her head. "Haruna is not sure about that." After a few minutes of silence as she watched Rose work, and once more sing small snitches of the same song from before, Haruna blinked. "Rose-Chan?"

Looking over her shoulder, Rose nodded. "Yes, Haruna?"

On Haruna's face, there was a interested look. "What song were you just singing?"

For several seconds, Rose blinked and then smiled. "Oh... it was just a song that I remember my Mistress and future Mistress singing along to on the radio during the war. I suppose that sometimes it just comes up when I'm thinking... do you think that it left an impression on me?"

Smiling, the Battleship nodded. "Haruna thinks that it might... could you sing it?"

Turning fully, Rose brightly smiled. "Would you like me to?" At Haruna's nod, Rose sat up a bit straight and closed her eyes as she hummed. "Just give me a moment..." Suddenly, she began to smile before softly singing. Haruna only nodding her head along to the words of the song. "... There'll be Bluebirds over, the white cliffs of Dover. Tomorrow, just you wait and see..."

Part of Haruna though wondered if she could convince Rose to sing it more often.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Blearly opening her eyes, Natsumi nearly cracked her jaw as she yawned and blinked as the morning sun streamed in. She blinked though as she realized that there were two arms around her and for a moment could only wonder before her eyes shot open at the memory of the night before. Turning her head, Natsumi was met by the sight that she both hoped for and dreaded. Mainly that of Harry cuddled to her back as Mutsuki and Fubuki cuddled into his back and each other. '...'

Face hot, she turned away and sighed internally. 'Why is it that everywhere I go with shipgirls I wind up in cuddlepiles?' Shaking her head with a sigh, she just frowned as she thought back to the night before. Much to her surprise though, Harry had nearly fallen asleep during dinner before knocking out as soon as his head hit the pillow. 'He must have been more exhausted then we thought.'

The door opening though caused her to look up as Yuudachi walked in with Imuya, said Submarine flinging her hair over one shoulder and giving Natsumi a wink. If anything though, that caused her blush to intensify even as Imuya set the mugs down. At the look, Imuya smiled a little. "Some hot chocolate for us, tea for Harry, and coffee for Nagato-San."

Just nodding, Natsumi tried to find some way to get out of Harry's embrace. However, when she tried Harry only pulled her tighter with a mutter of cherry blossoms. Something that made Imuya grin even wider and Natsumi internally groan. Finally though she sighed. "A little help here?"

Lips twitching, Imuya reached over and gently shook Harry. "It's time to wake up, Harry-Chan."

After a few moments, Harry yawned and sat up before he turned to the smiling Imuya and blinked. "Imuya-Chan?"

Softly snickering, the Subgirl ignored how Natsumi used that chance to get out of bed and head for the washroom. Then Imuya put on a pout. "Forgot about me already?"

Waving his hands around in the air, Harry freaked out a bit. "Of course not!"

Not even a moment later though, Imuya just placed her hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "I was just teasing." Sitting down, she then flopped back over Harry's legs. "Anyways... I can't wait to see what your family has stored in that barn. Heck, I wonder what your family's lands look like."

Reaching down, Harry ran his hands through Imuya's hair as the red haired Submarine closed her eyes. "There's really not all that much there honestly. It looks more like pasture really with some wooded areas... and the ruins of where my family lived."

The sadness in Harry's voice caused Imuya to open her eyes and then sit up before she hugged him. "I'm sure that they're very proud of you."

Just hugging her back, Harry smiled and stayed like that until he felt a tap on his shoulder and found Natsumi there with a small smile on her face. Then she jerked her thumb towards the bathroom. "It's free for you." Suddenly, she winkled her nose a bit. "Besides, I think that you need a shower, you smell a bit."

Eyes wide, Harry poked her. "I do not!" Hearing a snicker, he looked up at Imuya who was grinning and pretending not to look at him. "Imuya-Chan!"

However, she only shrugged. "Sorry, Harry-Chan, she's kind of right."

Grumbling, Harry took his stuff and walked into the bathroom. Once it was closed, Imuya stretched a bit with a sigh. "Ah..." Opening one eye, Imuya looked towards Natsumi. "So, ready for your first English style breakfast?"

Slowly, Natsumi raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, why?" At the snicker, Natsumi blinked. "Am I missing something?"

Imuya though only shook her head. "You're in for a bit of a treat, though it'll be heavy on your stomach."

Putting a hand on her stomach, Natsumi frowned. "Can't be all that heavy, right?"Roughly twenty minutes later found her staring down at the plate in front of her which had various foods on it. But from the smell, she could tell that it had all been fried up for the most part. 'Okay... I take it back... it is going to be that heavy.'

As she began to eat her way through the meal though, she listened closely to what Nagato was explaining to Harry. "We're going to be looking through the storage and seeing what's there. Some of it might be quite old as your family apparently hardly threw things away."

Chewing his breakfast, Harry swallowed and frowned. "How much do you think might be in there, Mum?"

There was a thoughtful frown on Nagato's face as she hummed. "I honestly don't know, Harry. Your family history book was not very specific in regards to it. One of the smaller books though that Aoba found said that the branch that the last member of the continental Branch fled Germany to England to get away from Grindlewald and that she brought various items with her."

On Harry's face was an interested look. "I had family in Germany?"

Simply chuckling, Nagato nodded. "And France as well and there was mention of one that went over the United States though there wasn't much on him..." She trailed off and then sighed. "But the ones on the mainland all died in the wars against Grindlewald. The last one returned with Dumbledore and others and also died..."

For a moment, Harry closed his eyes and then sighed. "Oh..."

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Harry looked up to see Fubuki give him a smile before she moved to hug him. "Hey, it's okay." When she pulled away, Fubuki furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you think that Bismarck might be able to track down some records?"

More then a little thoughtful, Nagato slowly nodded. "She might be able to, yes. I'll have to check first though." Her lips twitched a little. "She might need to... potter around, a little first."

Utter silence fell onto the table as everyone stared at Nagato before Harry gave her a thumbs up. "Awesome, Mum!"

Nagato though blinked and then groaned as she laid her head onto the table. "Oh Kami... I've been infected."

With a sigh, Yuudachi shook her head. "That was really bad, Poi."

A scratching sound caused them all to turn and look to see Harry write something on a napkin. Then he held it up revealing that he wrote the word "Pun" on it. "Yes, it was quite..." He then ripped the napkin. "Tearable."

Once more there was silence before Nagato snorted and the others groaned.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The group's feet all hit the ground at pretty much the same time which caused them to stumble, unfortunately for Harry though he stumbled into Imuya who also was unbalanced which caused them to fall. Shaking her head, Imuya blinked and raised an eyebrow even as she felt a blush on her cheeks. "... Harry-Chan?"

Sitting up, Harry's face was red as he realized where it had landed. "Sorry, Imuya-Chan." Quickly getting to his feet, he held out one hand which Imuya gripped and pulled her to her feet. "Here we go."

However, to his surprise Imuya didn't let go of his hand as she looked around with a thoughtful expression on her face. "So your family owned this land?"

With a frown on his face though, Harry shook his head. "Actually... we apparently still do I think?"

A glance over at Nagato showed the Battleship nodding. "That's correct, Harry still owns the property." Seeing the looks, she smiled a bit. "I checked with Hood and she confirmed that the title still belongs to Harry and will also belong to any of his children."

Taking several steps forward, Natsumi took a deep breath of the air and then let it out before looking around. "It's... rather beautiful actually." She then pointed to the side. "And you got a good view of the village over there."

Just nodding, Harry turned as he heard a sound and blinked as he noticed that Nagato was now holding what looked like a map in her hands. "What's that, Mum?"

While looking it over, Nagato glanced up and gave him a slight smile. "It's a map of the property actually." Holding it out, the others gathered around it as she traced portions of it. "See here? There's a stream running through the grounds here along with a small pond. And here was where your family home stood."

For a few moments, Harry examined the map and then looked up at the ruins of the home that stood there until he blinked and frowned. "Mum?" Getting a hum, he raised a finger and pointed. "Part of it looks like it survived though."

Now looking herself, Nagato frowned for a moment as she noticed that part still stood, though it was slightly scorched. However, it did look run down and she looked down at the map. "I wonder if... no, that can't be true, can it?"

Confused, Harry only looked up at his mother with a frown. "Mum?"

After some thought, she shook her head and began walking towards the ruins. "While I doubt that the old story I read is true, perhaps a little look would not be too bad."

Still confused, Harry glanced at the others who shrugged and began to follow Nagato as they navigated through the still somewhat snow covered field. Soon enough, they were at the surviving portion of the old Potter home and glanced down into the pit that was once the foundations beside them. "Just look how big that was, Poi!"

Frowning, Mutsuki crouched down and then pointed at a portion. "Look at that, is that a well?"

Wide eyed, Harry nodded some. "Yeah, I think that it is."

There was a considering look on Nagato's face as she hummed. "Well, from what I read old homes such as this were often fortified. So a well in the basement would make sense." She then turned her attention to the door to the surviving portion, which thankfully was outside the foundations and so safe. "Now then, let's see if we can open this..."

Holding out one hand, Nagato nodded while everyone watched a fairy climb out and head for the lock. It examined the lock for several moments before nodding. "Desu." The fairy then reached into it's coat and pulled out several items and went to work. A few minutes later, there was a click and he turned and gave them all a thumbs up. "Desu, desu!"

In reply, Harry gave a small bow. "Thank you."

Pleased, the fairy bowed back and then climbed into Nagato's sweater sleeve and out of sight. The Battleship then pushed open the door and Natsumi poked her head in. From where Harry was, he saw her face pale as she leapt back with a scream and he grabbed her before she fell back into the hole made by the collapsed building. "Natsumi-Chan!"

To his surprise though, she clung to him and, as she shook, pointed at the door. "THERE'S A SKULL IN THERE!"

Blinking, Harry shared a look with the others outside of Nagato who was looking in with a wide eye. "A skull?"

Much to his surprise, Nagato only nodded with a thoughtful look on her face. "Hai... come have a look."

With shared looks of unease, they all moved and looked into the surviving portion. At first, all they could see was the dim light that came through the dirty windows until they noticed something on the wall and Mutsuki whimpered as she clutched onto Fubuki. "I-is that...?"

For his part, Harry took a step forward as there, impaled on a spike was a human skull that seemed to be staring at them. "What in the world?"

A sigh caused him to turn and regard Nagato who frowned and crossed her arms. "Harry? That would be your... many great aunt Catherine."

That caused Harry to stare at her. "My what now?"

Glancing at him, Nagato shook her head. "Catherine Potter... Also named Catherine of the Grave." Walking in, she examined the skull with a slightly disturbed look on her face. "It's an old family legend that was mentioned in your book but... I didn't think that it was true."

Interested, despite the creepiness, Harry looked over at her though he took note that Natsumi was looking around with a freaked out expression as she rubbed her arms. "Family legend?"

Slowly, Nagato nodded as Harry gently pulled the jumpy Natsumi into a one armed hug which she relaxed slightly into. "According to the story, she lived back in the 1500s and had married a man named Wiliams. But during one of the plagues, they died while she survived and the Potters took her back in. However, the experience drove her mad and she became obsessed with death and crafted several items regarding it..." Swallowing, the Battleship continued. "Eventually, your ancestors built this extension for her to live in separate from the others due to being disturbed. Then, one day, they realized that no one had seen her for a whole and came looking... only to find the door sealed with various spells that took more then a day to take down."

Already, Harry could guess what had happened. "She was dead, wasn't she?"

There was a grimace on his mother's face. "Hai, she had at some point impaled herself through the neck with that spike and her body dropped to the ground and, within the time that she was missing, all the flesh fell from her skull. There was a note stating that she would stay in her home and not to remove her skull."

Knowing where this was going, Harry shuddered. "Let me guess, they did and tragedy befell the family?"

Surprised, Nagato nodded. "That's right, so they returned it to the spike. Each time they removed it, bad things happened to the family, so eventually they decided it was best to leave her alone here... how did you guess?"

Now looking at the skull which seemed to be staring at him, Harry shuddered a little. "Um, it's an old type of story. You got skulls like this all over England and if you remove them, bad things happen."

Feeling her hidden fur standing on end, Natsumi continued to look around the room as the atmosphere seemed to weigh down on her. 'Okay... that's... yeah, I don't have words for that."

Meanwhile, Fubuki glanced to one of the shadows in the room. 'Did that just move...?' Quickly shaking it off, Fubuki took a deep breath. "That's... beyond creepy, Harry-Chan."

From where she was standing behind Fubuki. Yuudachi nodded. "It really is, Poi. Can we leave?"

After a look around, Harry only nodded. "Yeah, sure."

He was the last one out and had nearly closed the door when he heard a sound and looked up. From beside him, Imuya who had stayed outside after a glance, frowned. "Is something wrong, Harry-Chan?"

Several moments passed before he shook it off. "Just my imagination playing tricks." With that, Harry closed the door though he did shiver a little bit. 'It moved... it moved on the spike and was looking right at me.'

Once the door was closed though, everyone stared at it as there was a click. Reaching out with a trembling hand, Imuya grabbed the knob and turned it only for nothing to happen. "It's locked..."

Each of them shared a look, glanced at the door, and then hurried away at a good, fast walk. Harry though just kept an arm around Natsumi who held his arm close. 'Nope, not going to think about that, not going to think about that at all...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

More then a little disturbed by what they had found, Fubuki kept looking back at the surviving portion of the house. "Well... that was freaky..."

Yuudachi only nodded as she swallowed and tried to rub the goosebumps on her arms. "Poi..."

At the same time, Natsumi was still shivering some as she kept a hold on Harry's arm until another arm around her shoulders caused her to blink and look over at Imuya who was now on her otherside. "Hey, relax, everything's going to be okay."

When she glanced at Harry, she got a nod from him. "That's right, dess!"

Relaxing some, the disguised kitsune let out a breath. "Yeah... though that was really something out of a horror movie, Harry-Chan." Getting a shrug from him and Imuya's arm giving her a comforting squeeze, Natsumi continued to move until they were closed to the fortified building. Made of stone, it rose up and Natsumi craned her head back to look at it. "It... looks like a house..."

All Harry did was nod as he frowned. "Yeah... If I remember correctly, that's what it is really."

Her eyes running over it, Mutsuki tapped her finger against her chin. "How thick are those walls, Harry-Chan?"

It took a moment of thought and each of the shipgirls giggled at the expression on Harry's face. If he had been a shipgirl, they would have been sure that he was flipping through a logbook before he nodded. "Um... really thick stone from memory."

Beside him, Imuya was looking through her cellphone and then nodded. "It says here that these sort of things had one meter thick walls of stone because of the fighting between Scotland and England at the time that they were built."

Natsumi blinked at that and tried to look at the cellphone. "Wait, there was fighting between England and Scotland? Really?"

With a nod, Yuudachi threw a hand into the air. "Yeah, like that movie that we watched... Braveheart, Poi!"

Unsure if she was pulling her leg or not, Natsumi looked towards Harry who nodded as he scratched his head. "Um... well, yeah, England and Scotland fought each other at times. It was for different reasons, just like how back in Japan you had areas of Japan fighting others way back." Suddenly, he smiled a bit as he noticed that Nagato was at the lock and had pulled out a key that even now she was working into it. "Mum?"

A slight smile on her face, Nagato gave him a nod. "The Headmaster was keeping the key on him." There was a click as the lock opened and she pulled it off. "Now then, let's have a look inside..."

Opening the doors, she stepped in followed by the others only to blink in the darkness. Soon though, the darkness was dispelled as fairies appeared on the shipgirl's shoulders with lanterns that slowly let them see around them with Mutsuki looking around inside and then poking her head outside the building. "It's bigger on the inside!"

Lips twitching, Imuya hummed. "That's what she said."

Confused, Yuudachi turned towards her. "But that is what she said."

Unable to help herself, Imuya grinned. "You're right!'

Shaking her head at the byplay, the Battleship internally sighed before gesturing for Harry to walk towards her as Natsumi finally let go of his arm and walked towards some furniture that was piled up. "Harry? Come here for a moment."

Once he got to her, he blinked up towards his mother with a confused expression on her face. "Yes, Mum?"

For a moment, Nagato looked around before she placed her hand onto his shoulder and several of her fairies came out of her sleeves to walk onto her son's shoulder. Several of them had lanterns in their hands, though one or two were carrying a rifle as they looked around. At his expression, Nagato shook her head. "Just to be safe, now... there was something that Dumbledore mentioned..."

Head tilting to the side, Harry frowned some. "Something that he mentioned?"

Striding forwards, Nagato looked around until she found a stand and walked towards it. "Ah, here we go..." She nodded towards a book that was there with a slight smile on her face. "It's a list of items in here, some of them have numbers and if you put it in the book will tell you what they are with a description about them."

Eyes wide, Harry walked up to the stand and, with a trembling hand, opened the thick, heavy book before also taking the quill that was there. With a frown, Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "There's no writing..."

With a slight frown, Nagato nodded. "Apparently you have to write in it before the words show up..."

Taking the book, Harry suddenly chuckled a bit. "I kind of feel like Hachi now."

Imuya snorted at that even as she grinned. "Walking around with a thick, heavy magical book? You really do, you even got the glasses."

As they began to walk, Harry looked around the large area which had piles of items. Here and there were what clothes that were on stands, though one of them Natsumi tilted her head at as she ran a finger along it. "What's a leather coat being here... and it looks really weird."

Eyebrows furrowing, Harry glanced at what he guessed was the number and then wrote it down in the book. The numbers vanished before the ink reappeared with a short description. "It's a buff coat that belonged to... Erik Potter. It says here that he fought in the Thirty Years War in it and it's made of dragon hide of a dragon his father slew."

Jogging to a spot, Yuudachi gestured at a tapestry. "What about this, Poi?"

A small smile on his face, Harry wrote the number down and nodded. "It's a tapestry from... the continental side of my family. According to this, they got it from Rome?"

Slowly, the various shipgirls drifted apart slightly as they continued to examine the various items until Natsumi noticed an alcove with a large cupboard. Inside, there were several weapons such as swords, spears, and various daggers. Curious, Natsumi looked at one of the items before calling out to Harry. "Are these safe to look at?"

Looking over, Harry frowned and looked at the book before nodding. "They are, none of them are cursed."

Harry was then called over by Mutsuki who was looking at some jewelry as Natsumi looked at the various weapons in question. One of them, a dagger, looked really old which caused her to lean in before reaching up. Deftly taking it from the hook it hung from, she looked at it from various angles before blowing off the dust. Sneezing, Natsumi shook it off before unsheathing the dagger and looking at it. "Wow..."

Unnoticed by her, Fubuki had walked into view of the alcove and blinked as all there was in it was shadows. Scratching her head, the Destroyer walked past and so missed Natsumi reappearing as she sheathed the dagger. 'I could have thought that she was here...' Suddenly, there was a gasp and Fubuki turned to find Harry frozen in front of a mirror. Quickly, she made her way over and, from the angle she was at, frowned. The glass of the mirror was pitch black and seemed to absorb light. The rim of it looked like it was carved from either bone or ivory of some kind and glistened in the low light of the lanterns though what was carved into it caused a shiver to run up Fubuki's keel. At the top there was a cloaked skeleton and at various parts there were other clothed skeletons. One looked like a priest, one dressed like a king, there was one in a dress and so must have been a woman, and a final one that was in clothing that Fubuki thought looked like the clothing that peasents wore in various movies with knights. What really creeped her out was how in the dancing light of the lanterns, they seemed to be moving in a slow dance. "Harry-Chan?"

It was then that Fubuki came into full view of the mirror and choked back a scream.

Because instead of there being a reflection of Harry in it, there was a rotting skeleton with clumps of black hair that clung to it's skull and decaying clothing. Then she noticed her own reflection and that time she did let out a scream as she backed up. The others rushed over and Fubuki just stared frozen at the image of her wreck as it rested on the ocean floor staring back at her, rust falling from it in a rain of decay. "Wha-what the..."

Licking his lips, Harry took note of the label and looked into the book. "T-the Mirror of Memento Mori, crafted by Catherine Potter to remind those who look into it's depths that they will one day die and that death comes for all. According to this, it's harmless and just illusions...."

A shiver ran across Fubuki's skin as she just grabbed Harry and steered him away. "O-oh... l-let's just move on then..."

With a nod, Harry gulped. "Y... yeah, that sounds good..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Once they were far enough away, Fubuki let out the breath that she didn't know that she was holding and glanced back at the mirror. "Can we avoid that sort of thing in the future, Harry-Chan?"

All Harry did was nod as he began to relax. "That... that would be a good idea."

Yuudachi then tackle hugged Fubuki who still looked pale. "What happened, Poi?"

Blinking at it, Fubuki then noticed that the others had gathered around them with worry before shaking her head. "We're okay, it's just..."

Just rubbing the back of his neck, Harry glanced at her and noticed that Fubuki seemed hesitant and then cleared his throat. "It's like this..." A few moments later, he finished his explanation with a shrug. "... And yeah, I don't think that I'm going to be sleeping soundly tonight."

With a glance at the mirror in question, Natsumi shuddered a little bit. "And I don't blame you." She then turned towards Harry with a raised eyebrow. "Harry-Chan, don't take this the wrong way, but some of your family is just messed up."

To her surprise, Harry nodded and gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, that is pretty messed up." Wanting to change the subject, Harry glanced at her hand and blinked. "Uh, Natsumi-Chan? What do you have there?"

Eyes widening, she looked down at the dagger that she was examining and brought it up. "Oh! I was just looking at it when I heard Fubuki scream and... kind of didn't put it away." Part of her was still examining the black sheath of the dagger which seemed to absorb light, but for the most part she couldn't feel anything evil from it. After a moment, something occurred to her and she looked at Harry. "Would you mind if I..."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "Keep it?" At her nod, he smiled and shrugged. "Go ahead, I'm not going to use it."

Much to his surprise, Natsumi gave him a hug around the neck. "Thank you!"

Confused, Harry hugged her back and nodded, even as his mother snickered some. "You're, um... welcome I guess?" Glancing at his mother, he only became more confused at the grin on her face before she shook her head. 'Wonder what that is about?'

Meanwhile, Nagato only internally sighed. 'Normal boys give jewelry to girls, what does my son give? Knives.' One of the fairies on her shoulder finally began using a spotlight to illuminate more of the room and she frowned a bit as she saw the various stacked items. "There's... a lot more here then I thought."

Slowly, Mutsuki nodded as her own fairies shone a spotlight over what they could see. "It could take years to get through all of this and see what's here."

A snort caused them to all look at Nagato who glanced back at them with a slightly amused look. "There was a... rather amusing bit in the family history book of Harry's that I read. Apparently before the Statute came down, the Potters were involved in the various conflicts such as the Crusades and the like where they gained a certain... reputation." Her tone then turned slightly dry. "A reputation of being the wizard version of magpies."

It was almost as one as everyone else turned around to look at Harry who pointed at himself. "... Magpies?"

With a snicker, Nagato nodded as she glanced around. "Apparently. Partially because they sent back treasures and the like from campaigns that they were involved in."

Looking at what looked like an oddly shaped crown that had some gold leaf flaking off to reveal that it was iron underneath, Imuya nodded. "Somehow, I can see it." She then grinned at Harry. "Seems that you have a lot in common with the American Submarines."

That got her an eyeroll from Harry who huffed a bit. "Very funny."

Suddenly, there was a gasp from Yuudachi who had wandered a little bit off and was waving at them. "Come see this, poi!"

Everyone shared a look and followed before their eyes widened. There, just out of sight where they had been was the skeleton of a dragon that was set up as if it was roaring with one paw raised up. Grinning, Harry looked up at it. "Awesome."

Beside him, Natsumi nodded with her jaw dropped a little. "Yeah... that's actually pretty cool."

After that, the group slowly continued to walk even as they took note of things that they found. Not just furniture, but other things such as old goblets, what looked like sceptres and crowns, even normal paintings. One of the odder ones was a giant statue of Athena which they shrugged at and then continued on. Eventually, they reached the staircase leading to the second floor and Harry glanced at the others. To their surprise, the stairs were carved from stone and just floated in place. Walking up to one, Imuya pushed against it but the stair stood solid. "That is so weird..."

Examining it, Harry could only nod before he looked at his mother. "Can we go upstairs and look?"

Nagato frowned and then checked the time before nodding. "We have a little more time. But let me go first." Stepping on one of the floating stone steps, she put her full human weight on it and blinked as it didn't budge at all. The Battleship then walked up to the trapdoor and pushed it open before waving her hand in front of her face to get rid of the dust. "Ugh..."

From where he stood, Harry frowned before giving a small sneeze. "You okay, Mum?"

With a nod, Nagato looked down at him and chuckled. "Yes, it's just a little bit dusty up here." Glancing around the room, she raised an eyebrow. "And sort of impressive..." Then she disappeared into the upstairs before calling down. "It's safe to come up."

Once they came up through the trap door, Imuya only looked at Harry. "Let's not bring Hachi here, she might never leave."

Slowly, Harry nodded as he spun in a circle and took in the various books, scrolls, and the like that lined the walls. "Yeah... we might have trouble if we bring her here."

A frown on her face, Natsumi walked up to one of the shelves and peered at the titles before placing a finger onto the spine, she blinked. "There's some kind of magic here preserving them." Her eyebrows furrowed a bit as she narrowed her eyes at the words. 'What language is this? And what sort of name is... Erzabeth?'

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she looked at Harry who held up a book. "Look at this..."

More then a little bemused, Natsumi turned and looked at the book in question before frowning after Harry opened it up. Inside, there were what looked like animals in clothing. "What's this?"

On Harry's face was a grin. "Reynard the Fox, one of the real old books."

Interested, Natsumi tilted her head. "How old are we talking about?"

Tapping the page, Harry grinned wider. "See this picture? It's an old woodcut."

Eyes widening, Natsumi let out a low whistle. 'That means that it's even older then Oba-Chan...' Grinning herself, she began to look over the books. 'I wonder what else is here...'
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lock clicking behind them, Harry just watched as his mother put away the keys with a satisfied look on her face. "And there we go."

With a smile on his face, the young wizard turned towards Natsumi who was examining what looked like a fox dressed in a kimono that was carved from ivory. "Do you think that Haru will like it?"

Just blinking, Natsumi glanced up and gave him a small smile. "I think that Oba-Chan will... though I am amazed that your family had this." Turning back, she frowned some. "I didn't know that any of your family visited Japan back in the 1860s..."

Scratching his head, Harry only nodded. "Neither did I actually. One day I should have that collection looked at."

Mutsuki nodded as she looked at the small Netsuki in her hands. "You should... some of those might even look nice in a museum."

As she snorted, Imuya shook her head. "I think that Harry could open a museum with some of the things that we saw in there. His family certainly has enough items for it." The Submarine then looked at the book that Harry was carrying with an interested look. "By the way... what's the big deal about that book?"

Looking down at it, Harry glanced around before shrugging. "It's a book on familiars."

Head tilted to the side, Yuudachi frowned. "Like black cats in stories, Poi?"

Simply nodding, Harry chuckled. "Yeah, something like that... anyways, Hermione looked it up one day and was going on about it. They were really common a few hundred years ago, but fell out of favor as being too much trouble then it was worth. What she was saying kind of got me interested in them and it couldn't hurt, right?"

That only got him a ruffling of his hair from Fubuki. "No, it couldn't." Grinning as he smiled back, Fubuki looked around the property with a thoughtful look on her face. "Is there anything else around here?"

It was Nagato who answered though and pointed towards a stand of trees. "Well... there's a carriage house over there. We can have a quick look to see what might be there, but we need to get going." Getting nods, she lead the way and, a few minutes later had unlocked the door and opened them to reveal the inside of the old building. Several objects had cloth tarps thrown over them "I wonder..."

Walking over, she grabbed one and yanked it off only to blink at what was underneath it. Harry's eyebrows raised as he looked it over. "Is that one of those really old cars?"

For a moment, there was a bemused expression on Nagato's face as she ran one hand along the car. "It is... some of my first crew remember cars like this from before the First World War." Crouching down, she examined it more closely. "And it looks like it's still in extremely good condition too." Softly muttering to herself, the Battleship frowned. "I wonder if they used magic to keep it in this condition..."

A shout from Yuudachi caused them all to turn as she took the tarp off another vehicle to reveal it was a motorcycle. "I know this one! It's one of those motorcycles that the Americans used to use!"

Eyes wide, Nagato got up and walked over. "You're right... It's from before the Second World War from the looks of it." Slowly, she turned and regarded the rest of the objects. "Just how much stuff does your family have, Harry?"

Surprised as well, Harry only shook his head. "I... don't know." Within moments though, he began to grin. "But this is so cool."

There were nods of agreement from the others at that proclamation.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts Omake: "Potter Family Business"

QuietlyObserving said:
So, the bottom line I got from this: The Potter Family are Basically the Blood Ravens Chapter?​

"Why did you go into that church to pull out that stained glass window, Harold?"

"It looks quite nice."

"The church was on fire, Sir Harold."

"Quite... now, should I put this in my north facing window or the west one..."
________________________________________________________________________

"Harry... why do you have one of the missing sculptures of Michelangelo?"

"My many greats uncle grabbed it during the Sack of Rome."

"..."

"He apparently thought it would make a lovely piece for the dining hall table."


Harry Leferts Omake: "Potter Family Business 2"

wildredlifer said:
Why do I have the Feeling that if Harry wasn't along for the trip,they would have had a very bad time in that place.​

Possibly in some places, maybe.

caezlinnorm said:
Hey it's tradition, there's nothing wrong with looting after a battle. If they wanted to keep that cool stuff they should have either been strong enough to win or properly hidden it. [Typed as I look into a gun cabinet with several looted swords going back to before the Revolutionary War, some looted guns from both Theaters of WW2 and the Western Front of WW1. Not to mention the cabinet full of looted German silver, the stone artifacts on top of the book cases taken from Mexico, the table looted from the Forbidden City, the marble chess set from sometime before we came to the New World looted from a city we burnt, the japanese kneeling table we never got the bloodstains out of, the big kneehole desk this computer is on stolen out of a plantation house during the Civil War, etc.]​

Pretty much, it's just that the Potters somehow managed to keep everything stored away for when they found use for it.

Trufla said:
And now I sort of wonder if one of the cars in the carriage house might be an early model car sporting the license plate "GENII"?

LoL.

Daedelus' Muse said:
Was the statue of Athena the Athena Parthenos?​

"Love of my life, I don't see why you have a problem with it."

"You dragged this all the way from Constantinople, William. Why!?"

"Well... I thought it would look quite nice in the entry hall. A conversation starter among the other knights."

"..."

"It would also look impressive for when the King visits us."

"The King never visits us, William."

"Exactly. But he might! You never do know."

"*sigh*"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Yawning, Natsumi smacked her lips as she walked up to the small residence that she shared with her aunt. Unlocking the door, she made her way to the kitchen only to blink as she noticed that Haru was at the table reading something in her normal fox form. "Oba-Chan?"

A smile on her face, Haru grinned as Natsumi also changed back to her normal fox form. "A good morning to you too."

There was a frown on Natsumi's face as she blinked. "What are you still doing up? It's..." Quickly checking the clock, she blinked. "Four in the morning."

Humming, Haru blew on her tea and nodded. "It is? I didn't notice." Amused at the tired glare that Natsumi gave her, Haru was about to say something when she sensed something and glanced around. "Do you feel something?"

Confused, Natsumi tilted her head a little. "Feel something? Like what?"

It was then that another voice spoke up and Natsumi whipped her head around to stare at her mother seemingly appeared from nowhere. "Mainly something... weighty, arriving."

Eyes wide, Natsumi stared for a moment. "Haha-ue!? What are you doing here!?"

On the female kitsune's face was an expression of mock sadness before she turned to give her sister a look. "What have you been teaching my daughter that she would react to such when her loving, beautiful Haha-ue comes to visit her."

Rolling her eyes, Natsumi walked over and gave her mother a hug. "Sorry, I just didn't expect for you to be here...'

Lightly chuckling, the Sayuki hugged her back. "Well... it is Spring Break and your father took the twins on a trip while your brother is in cram school." Pulling back some, she examined her daughter and smiled. "So, you went to England to see Harry-San?"

Natsumi lightly blushed a bit. "We're just friends."

Her mother only hummed though there was a glint of something in her eyes. "I didn't say anything at all, Natsumi-Chan. But did you have fun?"

Sitting down, Natsumi blinked as Haru set a cup of tea in front of her and then smiled up at her aunt. "I did actually. The food was different and then we visited Harry's family property to explore it a bit..."

Eyebrow raising as she noticed that Natsumi had trailed off, Haru shared a glance with her sister before turning back to Natsumi and clearing her throat and causing the kitsune to startle from where she was staring into her tea. "Did something happen?"

For a few moments, Natsumi stared at her before sighing. "Well... at first it was sort of interesting until we stopped by the ruins of the house there and looked into the only intact bit... and we met one of Harry-Chan's ancestors there.'"

Head tilting to the side, Sayuki frowned. "A yuurei?"

There was a confused expression on Natsumi's face before she shook her head. "Not really..." With that she launched into the story and the two older kitsunes listened intently, though their eyes did widen some. "... And Harry explained to me some things about them. Especially that they should never be removed from the home in which they have claimed as theirs. But it's super creepy."

More then a little thoughtful, Haru slowly nodded. "Harry is wise in this case, if what you say is true? Then it's best to leave her alone where she is as that's what she has chosen to do. Though... has Harry spoken about rebuilding the home?"

Blinking, Natsumi slowly nodded. "Well... one the way back we talked and he said that he might later on, if only as a holiday home. Or as a place where his family could stay in England if they went to visit."

Haru gave a small grunt. "In that case, he should build around that room and leave it undisturbed."

Slowly nodding, Natsumi snorted. "Somehow, I think that's one piece of advice that he would follow..." All of a sudden, she straightened a bit. "Oh yeah! Then we visited the storage barn which was this huge stone building. There was all this neat stuff in there as well... and Harry-Chan's family had some stuff from Japan when they visited in the 19th century."

Now interested, Haru and Sayuki leaned forward with the elder of the two blinking. "Oh?"

Reaching into her pocket, Natsumi nodded. "Yeah, they had a collection of these carvings and sculptures. We found this one and Harry-Chan asked that I give it to you."

With a small smile, Haru took the carved kitsune and turned it over in her paws. "Well now... this certainly brings back some memories, doesn't it, Sayuki-Nee?"

A grin on her face, Sayuki nodded with a chuckle. "It does, I remember having some netsuke at the time." Then she turned towards Natsumi with a smile. "So he had a small collection?"

Nodding, Natsumi pulled out her phone and went to the photos before handing them to her mother. "Yeah, see?"

Both of the older kitsune were looking through it before they stopped at one photo and their eyes widened. Her voice quiet, Haru swallowed. "Natsumi-Chan... did Harry know who made this one?"

The younger kitsune looked up as Haru turned the phone towards her and looked at the iron statue of a kitsune. "Um... nope? Not offhand anyways. Why? Do you recognize it?"

Glancing at her sister, Sayuki gave an odd smile. "The actual work? No, but we do recognize who the maker likely was and... it's rather surprising that Harry-Chan has one of his works in his collection..."

More then a little confused, Natsumi looked between her aunt and her mother before shrugging. 'Adults are weird.'

It was then though that Haru noticed something else and furrowed her eyebrows. "Natsumi-Chan, what's that tucked into your pants?"

Blinking, Natsumi suddenly gasped and then pulled out a sheathed dagger. "Oh yeah, Harry-Chan gave it to me as a gift after I asked about it since you're teaching me how to fight with knives. It's really old, but cool." Then Natsumi pulled it out of the sheath and both kitsune blinked as Natsumi seemed to fade away into shadows with only her voice able to be heard. Unknown to her though, her mother and aunt shivered at the feeling in the atmosphere. "I think that it will be cool to use."

And then there was a click and Natsumi reappeared with the dagger again sheathed. Several minutes later after Natsumi went to bed, Sayuki turned to her sister and gave her a dry look. "So... do you think that either of them realize about...?"

The only thing that Haru did was lay her head on the table. "No, they don't. Where did my normal, calm life go to?"

Her sister though only gave a shrug. "Normalcy is overrated anyways. Anyways... onto more important things, like planning for my future son-in-law."

Snorting, Haru shook her head. "Why did I expect that?"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Harry was just walking across the base and taking in the April air when a shout caused him to come to a stop and begin to turn. "Harry-San!"

Blinking, the black haired eleven year old waited as Niyodo ran up to him with a tablet in one hand. "Good morning, Niyodo-Chan... is something wrong?"

Finally catching up, the Light Cruiser came to a stop and took a moment to look herself over and adjust anything out of place. That done, she took a deep breath and gave the confused Harry a smile as she shook her head. "Oh no, nothing's wrong. It's just that I've been looking for you..." Pointing back, Niyodo smiled. "I checked your residence, but Nagato-San said that you already left."

More then a little bemused, Harry only nodded. "Um, yeah... I didn't want to be stuck in my home all day." He then scratched his head. "So... why were you looking for me anyways?"

Just blinking, Niyodo pulled the tablet and then handed it to Harry. "Onee-Sama decided that I've gotten good enough at the jobs that she was willing to let me take over helping to organizing something without her supervision."

Raising an eyebrow at her slight squeal, Harry looked at the tablet and blinked. "The Easter Egg hunt?"

With a rapid nod, Niyodo brightly smiled. "That's right! Onee-Sama is going to be busy since Supply Depot Princess will be visiting, and so she entrusted me, me! With helping you organize this year's hunt." Clinching her fist, the light glinted off her glasses. 'I'll prove to you that I can do this, Onee-Sama!'

Part of Harry wanted to tell her that it wasn't really that big of a deal, heck, Harry could handle it mostly by himself. But seeing how happy she was he decided that it was best to leave that issue lie. "Ah, I see..." Looking up, Harry smiled back at her. "So how much do you know about it?" That caused Niyodo to blink for a moment and Harry to watch her. After a few moments, Harry raised an eyebrow. "You, um... do know about it, right?"

To his amusement, she flushed a bit and glanced around. "You'll be hunting eggs on Easter?"

A small smile on his face, Harry gave a shrug. "Kind of, though you got the basics down for the most part..." Now turning thoughtful, Harry decided to throw her something of a line. "How much do you know about the history and what is done?"

Glancing around, Niyodo gave a small, shaky smile. "Well, perhaps a rehash of what we're to do would not be too bad... just to make sure that we cover everything of course."

Lips twitching, Harry nodded. "Of course."

Quickly, Niyodo pulled out a small notebook and a pen. "Now then..."

Clearing his throat, Harry glanced around. "Well... it got started a few years ago. You know how Easter is not a big deal here in Japan, right?"

Slowly, the Light Cruiser nodded. "Well, yes, it is something of a foreign holiday after all. And Hanami happens around this time of year anyways."

All Harry did though was smile at her. "Right... anyways, Fubuki-Nee had overheard some of the American Destroyers talking about missing Easter back home and Willie D mentioned that she hated not being able to go on an Easter egg hunt with her sisters."

Head tilting to the side, Niyodo frowned some even as she wrote it down. "I... see."

With his lips still twitching, Harry hummed. "Anyways, so she came to me since, well... I'm English and she wanted to cheer them. But she didn't quite know what to do, which was why she came to me because she thought that I would know about it." Thoughtful, Harry frowned a little bit. "This was... a few years back and Mum had only adopted me a few months before, so I was kind of confused but told her what I knew. So then Fubuki-Nee had the idea of an Easter egg hunt to cheer up the American Destroyers. Ooyodo-Oba helped out a bit, but we had the Easter egg hunt which was a huge success. Since then, it's become something of an annual thing, especially when the American shipgirls are in port."

Nodding rapidly, Niyodo furrowed her eyebrows. "I see... So how does it work?"

Just humming, Harry tilted his head back to look at the sky above. "Well... Basically we get these chocolate eggs, small chocolate bunnies wrapped in foil, and marshmallow chicks. Those of us involved hide them all over the base in various places, making sure that we know where we put them and how many we had."

Thoughtful, Niyodo blinked. "Well, that makes a lot of sense anyways. Don't want to leave them just laying around where they might cause problems."

Waving a hand, the young wizard grinned. "Exactly!" He waited for a moment before he continued. "So we hide them the night before the hunt and that morning, hand out small baskets to the Destroyers and such. They then have to go looking for the chocolates hidden around."

Finger against her cheek, Niyodo considered that before furrowing her eyebrows. "And... Teitoku allows this? With them having fun?"

Now grinning, Harry nodded. "That's right. The Destroyers actually love it and looking for the eggs and such. The fact that it's chocolate is just a bonus to them. Besides, Teitoku lets them do it as he says it keeps them out of trouble for the most part for several hours with them busy searching. Heck, sometimes you have Destroyers from different countries helping each other... Though Akagi-Oba also usually joins in."

Surprised, the Cruiser stared at him. "Wait... Akagi-San joins in?"

With a snicker, Harry nodded. "Hai, though she usually eats them as soon as she finds them, if not the Kaga-Oba swipes them."

Confused, Niyodo slowly nodded. "I see... And how it's done makes sense as well... but I heard something about a prize?"

If anything, that caused Harry's grin to widen some. "The Destroyers who find the most and return with them win a giant, chocolate rabbit to go along with the chocolates that they did find. Second place gets this big chocolate egg and so on."

Frowning in thought, Niyodo slowly nodded. "So... it's a competition for them to see who finds the most chocolate hidden around the base? Something that they can have some fun doing?"

Harry only nodded at that. "Right!"

Even though she was still more then slightly confused about what she had been told, Niyodo gave a sound of agreement. "Hmm..." Shaking it off, she turned towards Harry in interest as he handed the tablet back to her. "So what's first?"

Making a gesture for her to follow, Harry began to walk. "Well... the first thing to do is make sure that we have to make orders for the chocolate, though that's pretty easy as Ooyodo-Oba normally sends an email to Miss Gale over in the US and she sends them via plane within a few days. That way we can have them before Easter... though we'll need to hide them somewhere so no one goes and tries to eat them. Some shipgirls did that last year and we just barely got more in time."

With a nod, Niyodo held her tablet and began to get to work. "I can do that right now, Harry-San."

For a moment, Harry looked around before he leaned in towards her. "And don't worry, Miss Gale sends a box of chocolate over for us organizing it. It wouldn't be fair for us to join in the hunt since we know where everything is after all."

Blushing as she had forgotten that, Niyodo smiled as she imagined eating a bunch of chocolate. "That sounds good." Quickly, she dismissed the thought for later and bit her lip. "Okay, and... done!"

Slowly nodding, Harry slowed down his walk a bit so that he was beside her before pointing at the tablet. "Now then, all we got to do is go around and get permission from Captain Yonehara and some of the others to be allowed to hide chocolates in their area." At the slightly nervous expression on Niyodo's face, Harry patted her on the arm. "But that's easy! And they usually agree anyways... though..." Looking around, Harry leaned in to whisper. "I think that Captain Yonehara looks for the easy ones before the Destroyers show up to look and grabs them."

Eyes widening, Niyodo stared at him before also glancing around and leaning in. "Really?"

Narrowing his own eyes, Harry grunted. "I've caught him chewing something with foil wrappers in his trashcan. He claims that he bought his own, but..."

Just frowning, Niyodo turned towards her tablet with a growl. "I see..."
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Haru was making a gesture with her hands as she talked with her sister when she noticed Harry and Niyodo walking into the shrine. She waited until they went through the usual preparations before walking towards them. "Good afternoon, Harry-Chan. How are you today?"

With a smile, Harry didn't notice the looks of confusion and interest on Sayuki's face or the simple confusion on Niyodo's. "Pretty good actually."

Chuckling, Haru shook her head. "If you're looking for Natsumi-Chan, she's still sleeping." Snorting, Haru smirked a bit. "I swear that sometimes that girl can be extremely lazy."

Much to her surprise though, Harry shrugged. "Well, I can talk with Natsumi-Chan later." He then gestured at Niyodo beside him. "We're here for the Easter egg hunt."

That got him a look of surprise from Niyodo. "We are?"

At the same time, Sayuki blinked. "Easter egg hunt?"

Highly amused, Haru turned towards her sister and nodded. "Hai, they hide chocolate eggs and such around the base for Destroyers and others to find. Natsumi-Chan loves participating in it each year that it's happened." She then turned towards Niyodo and gave the confused Light Cruiser a smile. "And before you ask, Harry-Chan does not mean that he'll be hiding any on shrine grounds, but rather he always comes here to ask if they can hide them in the area outside the shrine grounds. It's a courtesy that he extends to me." Raising an eyebrow, Haru gave him a look. "Something that he knows from previous years that I have no trouble with."

Nodding, Harry frowned a bit. "Hopefully this year we don't need to worry about foxes stealing the marshmallow chickens and eggs."

Slowly, the elder of the sisters turned to Haru and raised an eyebrow at the slight blush on her cheeks before commenting in a dry tone. "Yes, hopefully not."

Meanwhile, Haru just slipped her hands into her sleeves and looked up at the sky. "Such sneaky animals foxes are though. One can never be too sure in regards to them."

Eyes narrowed, Niyodo frowned in suspicion not noticing the twinkle of amusement in Harry's eyes. "Hmm..."

Coughing, the Miko gave a nod. "Anyways... enough talk of such things." Gently smiling, she shook her head. "If you want, you are more then welcome to hide them in the grounds outside the shrine."

As Niyodo made a note on her tablet, Harry smiled and gave a small bow. "Thank you, Haru-San."

It was several minutes later, once they left, that Sayuki turned and gave her sister an unimpressed look. "Stealing marshmallow chickens and eggs? Really, Haru-Chan?"

Now blushing deeply, Haru attempted to gather her shattered pride and turned before walking away. "I really do not have any idea what you are talking about. Honestly, accusing your Imouto of such things, have you no shame?"

Expression deadpan, the next words out of Sayuki's mouth caused Haru to stumble a bit. "It's not me who is the one who has no shame, Haru-Chan." Internally, she was laughing at her younger sister who gave a sniff and then walked away with her head held high. Of course, a thought occurred to her. 'Hmm... if the twins are back by then, I wonder if they would like to participate or would be allowed to...'

 

[darthcourt10]

wildredlifer

U.S. Marines on base come across Hoppou playing with her Reppu,
That night Hoppou gives an impromptu performance the Marines helped her put together for her Mother.

Hoppou brandishing Reppu.

This is my Reppu
There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My Reppu is my best friend.
It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My Reppu, without me is useless.

I must fly my Reppu true.
I must soar higher and faster than my enemy.

My Reppu is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother.
I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories,
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage.
I will keep my Reppu clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.
We will become part of each other.
We will....

Before All I swear this creed.
My Reppu and myself are the defenders of my Family.
We are the masters of our enemy.
We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until there is no enemy, but Peace!

Yes I know I ripped it off the Rifle creed,but Cute midget with favorite toy

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Ryuujou sat across from Harry with an interested expression on her face as she hummed. "So you thought up a trick, huh?"

Slowly, the black haired boy nodded with a grin on his face. "Yeah... I kind of got the idea from Hoppou and the others."

That, if anything, only intrigued Ryuujou all the more as she thought it over. "I see... I'll admit, I do want to see what you came up with."

Just nodding, Harry closed one eye and Ryuujou waited as it looked like he was concentrating. When he opened it though, Ryuujou did jerk back as Harry had a small wisp of glowing, eldritch flame coming from that eye. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Leaning in, Ryuujou more closely examined his glowing eye with a hum. "Yeah... pretty cool. Now then, what exactly does it do though? I can see how you're doing it, since you're channeling magic to that eye to get the glow and the excess is being burned off in a sense. But still, I can't figure out what it does exactly."

To her amusement though, Harry looked rather sheepish at her question. "Well... it looks cool? I mean, that's all it really does though." He then blinked and when he opened his eyes, it was gone. "I'm still trying to figure out how to get it in both eyes."

With a small huff, Ryuujou's rolled her eyes. "So you came up with something that doesn't have a use other then looking cool?" Slowly, Harry nodded though the small smile on Ryuujou's face took any sting from her words away. Then she nodded with a thoughtful look. "Though I suppose that it could be used for intimidation purposes."

Blinking, Harry frowned as he thought it over and then nodded. "Yeah... I guess it can be used for that."

The Carrier then raised one finger at him. "However, that said, you might want to hold it in reserve for when you really need to use it. I may not be too bothered by it, but I imagine that others will be." Once Harry nodded, she reached over and ruffled his hair. "Though I am proud of you for this. You took what we taught you and came up with something new from it. Even if it's something that doesn't seem like it has any other use then to look neat, it is still something and you should be proud of that."

Even as he rubbed the back of his neck, Harry nodded. "Thank you, Ryuujou-Sensei."

Simply nodding, Ryuujou placed a candle onto the table and the snapped her fingers, creating a small, bluish flame. "You don't need to thank me at all, Harry-Chan. It's something that deserves recognition." She then touched her thumb to the candle and the flame leapt from it to the wick, igniting it. "Now then... let's see if you remember some of the tricks that I taught you..."

Reaching out with his finger, Harry waited until the flame was orange before extending his hand. For most, they would have yanked their hand back, but Harry didn't feel any heat as he brought his finger to touch the bottom of the flame. Slowly, he lifted the flame off the wick entirely until it sat on the tip of his finger. Then the flame began to roll down the finger to Harry's hand before moving along the top. "How's this?"

With a chuckle, the Carrier nodded. "Very, very good, Harry-Chan. You're doing well." Expression turning curious, Ryuujou hummed a little bit. "How long did it take you to come up with the trick you did?"

There was a blush on Harry's face as he shifted a bit, the ball of flame rolling across his skin though not burning it. "Um... about a year?"

Nodding, Ryuujou watched as the flame shot around Harry's wrist over and over until it formed almost a bracelet. "I see, that is quite impressive, Harry-Chan."

It went without saying that Ryuujou gave him good marks on his test.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

On Harry's face was a thoughtful frown as he stood by his station in the kitchen and looked over what was in front of him. "I wonder..."

Suddenly a voice caused him to perk up. "Harry-Chan?"

Turning he saw Shinano beside a slightly nervous Regina as the Carrier poked a banana that was there. "Shinano-Chan! Regina! Good evening!"

In reply, Shinano gave him a smile back. "Good evening..."

Beside her, Regina also nodded as she blushed lightly. "G-good evening to you too, Harry." Pulling her scarf up around her face a bit more, her hooves could be heard scuffing lightly against the floor. "I-it's very nice to see you again."

All Harry did was smile at her. "It's great to see you again too, Regina!" Then he glanced around. "Um... is Supply Depot Princess around?"

Regina only shook her head at that. "No, she's busy talking with Miss Ooyodo... Sh-she said that because it was safe I could l-look around a little bit..." She then played a bit with her fingers even as her tail glanced around. "Shinano though found me and decided to bring me here..."

Brightly smiling, Shinano gave a nod. "I thought that it might be nice for her to come by and get something to eat."

Giving her a thumbs up, Harry grinned a bit. "That's a great idea, Shinano-Chan." Turning towards Regina, he tilted his head some. "Is there anything that you might like?"

For a moment, Regina blinked before she shrugged a little bit. "I... don't know. There's so much here and I'm not really all that sure..."

Scratching his chin, Harry gave it some thought. "Hmm..." After a moment, he walked over to where they were standing and smiled. "Well, how about you let me know what you like and I'll see what I can bring up."

Unable to say anything, Regina gave a nod. 'He's so nice to me...'

Meanwhile, Shinano had turned thoughtful as she examined the banana by her and poked it curiously. "Um, Harry-Chan... I think that there's something wrong with this banana..."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry frowned and looked at the banana in question. "Really? Like what?"

With a glance around, Shinano leaned towards him with a frown on her face. "It's blue..."

It took a few moments for Harry to figure out what she was saying and then his expression became one of understanding as he shook his head. "It's supposed to be that color."

Now looking back and forth between the fruit and Harry, Regina blinked. "It is?" When he turned towards her, she ducked a bit into her cloak. "Not that I mean to question you... I'm sure that you know better then me..."

A few seconds later though, she blinked as Harry reached up and ruffled her hair a bit, a bright flush on her face. "Hey, no need to be like that." Unnoticed by him, she bit her lip a little as he pulled his hand away. "And yeah, it's supposed to be blue because it's not ripe yet."

There was an odd look on Shinano's face as she leaned down. "Is it a magical fruit?"

Shaking his head, Harry chuckled some. "Nope! Non-magical... it's just a blue java banana that was shipped over from Hawaii."

Both Shinano and Regina blinked at that. "Hawaii?"

With a nod, Harry shrugged a bit. "Yeah, they're actually pretty good." Glancing around, Harry leaned in with the Abyssal and Shipgirl doing the same. "They're called ice cream bananas because they taste like vanilla ice cream and feel like it too, but without the cold."

Eyes wide, Regina turned towards the banana with an awed look. "They're like ice cream...?"

Giving her a look, Harry raised a finger. "Wait here for a moment..." He walked over to his station as Shinano and Regina shared a confused look with each other. A few moments later, Harry returned holding two peeled ones. "Here, these are ripe so you can try them."

Shinano examined it before leaning forward and taking a bite as Harry blinked as he looked at the banana he was holding that not had a bite taken out of it. As she slowly chewed it, Regina watched in interest. "How is it?"

After she swallowed, Shinano gave the Abyssal a smile. "It's really good!"

While she stared, Regina thought it over and then turned and took a bite out of the other banana Harry was holding. Then her eyes widened and sparkled a bit. 'It really is good!'

Furrowing his eyebrows, Harry could only blink in confusion, though he noticed Iowa off to the side watching with a massive grin on her face. And when the Battleship noticed that Harry saw her, she gave him a wink even as Shinano and Regina took another bite. '... I wonder what that was about?'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

The only sound was the clacking of keys as Naka frowned before leaning against her fist in thought as her eyes darted across the screen. 'That's... rather interesting.' Making a quick note on another computer, the Light Cruiser grabbed her mug and took a sip before pausing. "Sendai, if you try that then I am going to break your keel over my knee."

Behind her, Sendai paused and blinked from where she was about to grab Naka and try to scare her. Grumbling, she practically threw herself into another chair and rolled until it gently bumped into Naka's desk, drawing an annoyed look from her sister. "You're no fun anymore."

Scoffing, Naka just shook her head. "Mainly because I've had to deal with your bullshit for the past couple of years."

With a sigh, her fellow Cruiser held her hands palm up and shook her head slowly. "Like I said, no fun at all anymore."

All that got her was a roll of Naka's eyes before said shipgirl gave a snort. "Good..." With a raised eyebrow, she glanced over at her sister. "By the way, shouldn't you be out doing your usual thing, Yasen-Baka?"

Now pouting, Sendai put her hands behind her head. "Nah, there's no cute little Destroyer-Chans out there right now, they've all gone to bed. The local clubs are all boring, and there's no new Americans or personnel from other places to talk to about things. Boooring."

Just shaking her head, Naka grumbled to herself. 'And yet, you are still better then my actual family.' Glancing to the side, Naka gave her sister a blank look as she started to munch on what she recognized as pork rinds. "... Seriously, Sendai?"

Chewing, Sendai only raised an eyebrow before swallowing. "What?"

Eyebrow twitching, Naka shook her head. "Please tell me that you're eating more then snack food..."

Having tossed back some more, Sendai gave her a wide eyed, innocent look before nodding. "Of course I have!"

Naka only gave her a look. "Noodle cups and instant meals do not count."

With a grunt, Sendai snorted. "Says you."

If anything, Naka's expression became even more deadpan. "And Jintsuu. If she finds out..."

Snorting, Sendai shook her head. "Jintsuu can kiss my stern if she has a problem. Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats a cup of instant noodles. It's basically perfection itself in a cardboard cup."

Unable to believe what she was hearing, or that this was not the first time that they had this conversation, Naka shook her head. "Riiiight. I'll just stand back and watch the fireworks that will happen when Jintsuu shows up and tries to correct you again."

In reply, Sendai grinned before continuing to watch Naka work on her computer for the next few minutes as she worked her way through the giant bag of snack food. Once it was done though, she pulled out a bag of wasabi peas and began to munch on those as well. "So... what has your attention now?"

Chin propped up on one hand, Naka glanced over at her fellow Cruiser and then turned back to the screen. "Doing some research for an idea that I had."

More then a little interested, Sendai tried to take a look, only for Naka to hold her off which got her a frown. "What?" The only thing that Naka did was give her sister a look and then pointingly stare at the bag of snack food which made Sendai roll her eyes. "You and worrying about that computer."

There was an annoyed look on Naka's face as she glared at her sister. "Yes, and I have reason to considering how long it took me to clean the viruses off of it the last time you used it."

As that Sendai did was shrug. "Oops." Ignoring how Naka's eyebrow twitched at how unapologetic she really sounded, Sendai tried to look at the screen from a different angle. "So... what are you doing research on?"

Glancing at her, Naka turned back to her screens. "Don't know if you heard what they found on Harry-Chan's property, but..."

Sendai nodded a little bit. "Something about a haunted human skull, right?" At the surprised look, Sendai went into a pose best she could with her bag of wasabi peas in one hand and being in a chair. "I'm a ninja, a shinobi... and one of our skills is information gathering for preparation for YASEN!"

For a few moments there was silence before Naka blinked. "You overheard Fubuki talking with the others, didn't you?"

Tossing back some peas, Sendai shrugged. "Pretty much, she was talking to Kana about it."

A pause happened as Naka considered the fact that her sister was spying on Kana and Fubuki before deciding not to ask. That way lead to madness and Kaga likely trying to kill someone. "Right, they're called Screaming Skulls and are a bit of English folklore. Basically, they're haunted skulls that are extremely unlucky to move from their resting place."

With a frown on her face, Sendai grunted a bit. "Okay... so why are you researching them?"

Much to her surprise, Naka had a small grin on her face. "Because hearing about them gave me a small idea actually." Still chewing her snack, Sendai watched as Naka turned her full attention onto her. "And that idea is to make a movie about it."

Raising an eyebrow, there was a slight amount of disbelief in her voice. "A movie, really?"

All Naka did was shrug a little bit. "Yup, pretty much actually." Holding up one finger, she continued. "Horror movies are sort of a big thing right now, but can be made pretty cheap really. But one of the problems is that ideas and stories are just being reused and rehashed. But something like the Screaming Skulls? That's new, that's different! I don't think that anyone else has made something quite about that. Which means that I got an opening for something."

Still chewing her snack, Sendai swallowed and gave Naka a look. "And you think that you can make something out of that?"

Expression turning deadpan, Naka snorted. "They made a movie based on Ouija boards."

There was several moments of silence before Sendai nodded. "Point."

With a slight smirk, Naka turned back to her computer in thought. "Besides, it's just an idea right now and I need to do more research before I decide whether to do it or not. And then I'll have to write up a basic synopsis, a script, and then pitch the idea to some people that I know before it gets anywhere close to being shot. But it'll be months or years before anything happens, hence actually doing my research before starting." Her eyes trailing across one portion, Naka made a note. "Which... is turning up some interesting things."

After that there was several moments of silence before Sendai spoke up. "So... since you're busy, can I borrow your laptop for a bit?"

Blinking, Naka gave her a considering look. "No."

"DAMMIT!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Akashi turned away from the magnifying glass stand and blinked at the sight that met her before smiling tiredly. "Harry-Chan? What are you doing here?"

In reply, Harry looked down at the cart which had various breakfast foods on it and a carafe of coffee. "I thought that you could use some food, Akashi-Oba." He then narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "Don't tell me that you worked all night again."

There was a sheepish smile on the Repair Ship's face as she grabbed a muffin and the coffee. "Then I won't." Biting into the muffin, she grinned a small bit as Harry gave her a glare reminiscent of Nagato's own. However, on him it looked cute instead of the intimidating way it did for his mother. 'Maybe in a few years, Harry-Chan...'

With a huff, Harry turned towards the item on her desk and leaned down to better examine it as Akashi watched over him. If it had been just about any other person, or even shipgirl, Harry would have assumed that it was a model or a toy. But due to it being Akashi and the fact that her fairies were crawling all over it and taking notes, Harry knew that it wasn't. However, it took Harry a few moments to realize what he was looking at and he pointed at it. "Wait a moment... isn't this a Bofors?"

Chuckling, Akashi reached over and ruffled his hair. "Yup, in particular a 40mm/60 Type 5 which was based on some examples captured from the Allies during the War."

His eyebrows furrowing, Harry frowned and looked up at her. "So it's a Japanese gun?"

Quickly swallowing the bite of sausage in her mouth, Akashi nodded. "That's right."

Scratching his head in complete confusion, Harry frowned a little bit. "Wouldn't it be easier to use ones from the Americans though?"

That got him a small smile from the pink haired shipgirl. "Yes and no." She then patted the chair beside her. "Come and have a seat for a moment." Once Harry was sitting, Akashi nodded some. "Now, there are some things that you need to understand. Despite being around for years, we're still trying to understand the magic us shipgirls have. And it's not exactly easy even for us Repair Ships and we got what can best be described as an... instinctual knowledge of things. Follow me so far?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "I think. We don't know a lot and what you do know you just kind of... know?"

Akashi smiled a little bit more as she took a sip of coffee. "Exactly. Now, despite our reputations, Yuubari, myself, and the other 'Science Shipgirls' are continuously trying to figure out the ins and outs of the system. How to get little improvements that can be distributed to the rest of the fleet. For example... looking at the Type 0 Passive Sonar that Musashi had, both now and in real life, I was able to figure out how to fit it to other capital ships. Now not only does Musashi and her sisters, Yamato and Shinano, have it, but so does your Kaa-San and her sister among others. If nothing else it helps them know if there's a Submarine in the area. In fact... I believe that Vestal is trying to figure out something similar for the Americans after looking at our version."

With a frown, Harry slowly nodded before he stopped. "Wait... why couldn't she just refit the ones you came up with?"

Now grinning, Akashi raised a finger. "Ah! But that's where things with our magic get interesting and ties into your earlier question. You see, Harry-Chan, for some odd reason it's only what the country the shipgirl belongs to that works best for them. For some odd reason, the magic in our bodies recognize it and works best. So Vestal will have to work out a version for the Americans. Then working together, the other navies will be able to create their own."

Deep in thought, Harry frowned a bit and then looked up. "So... the reason why you don't just use the American ones is because it would not be as good for Japanese shipgirls as it is for the Americans?"

Holding up a finger, Akashi grinned. "Exactly! Of course..." She slowly turned towards the AA gun on her desk. "That means that we need to figure out our own versions. I've been working on this for about a year now fixing the bugs. Thankfully, unlike back then, I can call up Vestal, South Dakota, or have a look at any of the American shipgirls around to get information on how theirs work. Which means that I can make our version work out better and then use it to help out our shipgirls." She then scratched her cheek. 'Grant you... if South Dakota ever manages to get the 3"/70 working, that might be interesting...'

Then Akashi shook it off as Harry slowly blinked. "Huh... so if you manage to work this out then..."

A large smile on her face, Akashi nodded. "It'll start to be refitted to all the shipgirls who can carry it and improve their AA." Reaching over, she tapped him. "And thanks to you, I already got another project on the go as well which Houshou is happy about."

Confused, Harry frowned. "Because of me?"

Slowly, Akashi nodded as she slowly chewed a waffle before pulling over a paper she had off to the side. It took Harry a few moments before he realized what he was seeing. "Um... is that a biplane?"

Once she swallowed, the Repair Ship nodded. "Yup, remember when you asked me if radar could be mounted on a broom and I told you I couldn't see how?" At Harry's nod, she continued. "Well... I decided to look into it. And what would you know, but the British had mounted radars on the Swordfish to be used for Anti-Submarine work. I got several ideas from them and, once I figure it all out, that will give us a huge bonus. Heck, I can add them to Shinano's airwing and make her better able to defend against Submarines."

Eyes wide, Harry slowly grinned. "That... is so cool!"

Laughing, Akashi nodded. "That it is, Harry-Chan, that it is."

Harry's next words caused her to freeze for a moment though. "Is that why everyone has been saying that you've been cooped up in your lab?"

For a moment, there was a flash of an image of her sister ship's wreck, almost complete but left to rust, before Akashi shook it off and ruffled Harry's hair. "Partially. But I've also needed to work through some problems that popped up." Before Harry could ask though, she clapped her hands together. "So! Are you ready for Hanami?"

More then a little suspicious about the subject change, Harry soon shrugged it off and began to chat over his plans with Akashi nodding along or commenting as she ate.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Floating in what seemed like a thick, viscous liquid, they were unaware of the passing of time. Their world was dark and silent which frightened them. Where were they? What was going on? Why had they been left like... this?

"H-help..."

Their corridors were filled, flooded by the liquid that they floated in. Something that they knew kept them alive, yet keeping them from living. They tried to fire their boilers every so often, but it always sputtered out. Smothered by the life giving and life preventing liquid. Their fairies had learned, of course, how to help them move. But as long as they remained in this liquid, they couldn't do much.

"Help m-me..."

And so they waited, and gathered their strength. Waiting until they were able to do something. And now, maybe... maybe they could finally escape from their prison. Firing their boilers yet again, they felt some strength in their limbs. Slowly, they raised them and tried to push against the walls of their prison. Their feet/screws hitting one end. And their hands attached to turrets, no arms, pushed up. Maybe this time...

But even as they did so, they could feel their boilers sputtering, their energy depleting.

"N-no..."

"P-please no, God no..."

Suddenly, their boilers went out yet again, the small amount in their fuel tanks depleted. Limbs that could, if only given the chance, be able to tear through solid steel like foil felt like limp, wet noodles. All their strength just gone like that as they sank and thumped against the sides and bottom of the prison.
Even as a different darkness from the one that smothered them encroached in from the edges of their eyes/rangefinders, they could only whimper.

"P-pl-please... anyone... someone... If you c-can hear me... please..."

"Help me..."

And then Harry woke up in a cold sweat sucking in cool, spring air as he looked around his room. His eyes wide and wild, he soon calmed down before frowning as he thought over his dream. Unlike others though, it was not slipping away. In fact, it stayed as clear as day. Fixed in his mind as if it was more then a memory of a dream. "What in the world...?"

In her tank, Shiromizu poked her head out of her home and blinked as she took in Harry getting out of bed. "{Harry? Did something happen?}"

Walking over to the small desk, Harry shook his head as he flicked on the light and pulled out his small dream journal. "{I... don't know. I just had a dream.}"

There was a snake's version of a frown on Shiromizu's face as she gazed at him. "{A dream?}"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "{Yeah... a dream... though it felt like something more.}"

Within Shiromizu's voice there was an undercurrent of something else. "{A dream that didn't feel like a dream, hmm...?}"

Blinking, Harry turned towards her. "{Do you have an idea what happened?}"

Now looking out at the window, Shiromizu tilted her head to the side. "{No... but I, too, have had the odd dream. And so has Haru-San and Natsumi-Chan.}"

If anything though, that caused Harry to frown. "{Them too?}" At her nod, his frown deepened before he looked at the time and blinked. 'It's two in the morning...?'

Unknown to Harry, he was not the only one as several others had also woken up in various places on the base from the same, odd dream. In the Destroyer Dorms, Shimakaze had holding her shivering sisters close, only knowing that they had woken up with sobs and crying as they gripped their older sister. And so the speed demon of the Destroyers just held them close and stroked their hair as she tried to convince them that it was all just a dream.

Even if she didn't quite believe it herself and was trying to convince her own mind of that fact.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Frowning, Harry was tapping a pen to his chin as he narrowed his eyes. Suddenly though, there was a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see Inazuma there. "Is something wrong, Harry-Chan, nanodesu?"

Beside her, Ikazuchi nodded with a grin. "Yeah, whatcha thinking about?"

Just chuckling, Harry turned back to his notebook. "Well... trying to solve something." Noticing a hand reach out and grab his bacon which made him turn. "Hoppou!"

Said Abyssal rapidly ate the piece of bacon and gave him an innocent look. "Hoppou not do anything."

Rolling his eyes, Harry turned as Hibiki sat next to him and tried to see his notebook. "You're trying to solve something?"

Eyes wide, Akatsuki looked around. "Like, a mystery?" She then frowned. "Well... real ladies do solve mysteries..."

Akatsuki then tried to flip her hair over her shoulder and an attempt to look like an adult, only to get it in her face and sputter. Inazuma ignored the amusement on Ikazuchi's face as she leaned in. "Can we help?"

Jerking her thumb at herself, Ikazuchi nodded. "Yeah, after all you can rely on us!"

There was a considering expression on Harry's face before he nodded. Within moments, DesDiv6 were all seated around him as he showed them his notebook. "It's about an odd dream I had last night."

Confused, Ikazuchi looked at him. "A dream? What's the big deal about a dream?"

Glancing around, Harry leaned forward and the others followed. "Well, Shiromizu stated that she also has been having odd dreams, like it. And she's not the only one!" Harry then gestured at Hoppou. "Hoppou also had one, except... it was a lot less clear then my dream."

Each of the four Destroyers turned towards Hoppou who blinked. "Hoppou have bad dream where she feels trapped."

Suddenly, Hibiki took a deep intake of breath. "Wait... I think that I have had a dream as well, though..."

Slowly, Harry nodded. "You can't remember it, right?"

Now thoughtful, Inazuma hummed. "Uh-huh... I think that I had that dream too, except... I worke up and couldn't remember anything, just a feeling of being trapped. Weird..."

With a frown on his face, Harry flipped his notebook. "Mum also had a dream like that. But I remember my dream. See?"

The Destroyers leaned in and took note of what was written there. Leaning back, Akatsuki shivered a little bit. "That's really creepy, Harry-Chan..."

Beside Harry, Hibiki shook her head. "So you want to know why you had this dream and so did others?"

As he nodded, another, tired voice spoke up. "Dreams?"

Nearly as one, they turned to see a tired looking Shimakaze there. Blinking, Harry looked up at her. "Um, something wrong, Shimakaze-Nee?"

Yawning, Shimakaze shook her head. "Besides my sisters all having a really bad dream where they were trapped somewhere..." She trailed off as she noticed Harry sharing a look with the others and narrowed her eyes. "You know something, ou...?"

For a moment, Harry shared a look with the others before turning back and giving a nod as they began to explain.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Shimakaze frowned and cupped her chin as she looked at the bulletin board in DesDiv6's clubhouse. On it, were notes and tacks from which there were strings. "Does this make sense to anyone else?"

With a confused look on her face, Natsumi shook her head. "Um... maybe?"

Getting up, Harry began to tap the board. "Okay... let's make a list."

Simply nodding, Inazuma looked through her own notebook, a Sherlock Holmes hat on her head. "Uh... well, none of the human personnel reported having any strange dreams. Only Harry-Chan, and he remembers the dream."

From where she was sitting, Hibiki frowned. "Maybe because Harry-Chan's Okaa-San was a shipgirl?"

After a few moments of thought, Shimakaze furrowed her eyebrows. "Or maybe it's because Harry-Chan is a wizard?"

Looking at Harry who shrugged, Ikazuchi wrote some items down on paper and then stuck them onto the board. "Okay."

Suddenly, Akatsuki raised her hand. "Oh! The dreams only happen between o'one hundred and o'three hundred!"

Head snapping to look at the purple haired Destroyer, Natsumi gave her a considering look. "Always?" At her nod, the kitsune became thoughtful. "The Hour of the Ox..."

Slowly nodding, Harry blinked. "Those are known as the Witching Hour back in Britain." Seeing the looks, he shrugged. "It's supposed to be when the boundaries between this world and the next are at their weakest."

Murmuring, Natsumi walked over to the board. "When one can be closest to the spirits..."

A frown on her face, Shimakaze leaned in and scowled at the board. "But what does this have to do with my sisters?"

Finger tapping against her chin, Inazuma brought out a magnifying glass. "We're missing something, Nanodesu."

It was Hibiki though who widened her eyes and then pulled out her cellphone and began to call someone. Harry tilted his head to the side as he watched her. "Hibiki-Chan?"

To his surprise though, she just raised one finger. "I want to check something, Harry-Chan." Moments later, the phone connected. "Montana-San? Do you have a moment?"

Minutes later, Ikazuchi added another bit to the board. "Okay... so Montana-San also had the dream and remembers it." She then turned towards Hibiki with a confused expression on her face. "But how did you know?"

Getting up, Hibiki walked over and then pointed at a note. "See? Niiyodo-San also remembers. Just like Shimakaze's sisters... and Montana-San."

Eyes widening, the dots connected and Shimakaze's breath shot out of her,. "Ou! I see now!"

However, it was Harry who brought up the one problem. "But... why me? And how is it all connected?"

Tilting her head, Natsumi considered the board before frowning. "Um... could it be something like a distress signal?" At their looks, she shrugged. "Well, if I was trapped somewhere I would be in distress."

After that, they lapsed into silence before Akatsuki cleared her throat., "So, um... guess that we need to go and tell someone?"

Each of them only shrugged a bit.
_______________________________________________________

It was a group of scowling shipgirls, one kitsune, and one young wizard who left the Command Building. Annoyed, Ikazuchi kicked a nearby rock and sent it sailing several hundred feet into the ocean. "That bastard!"

Somewhat unnerved, Inazuma waved her hands around slightly to calm down her twin. "Please don't swear..."

Huffing, Ikazuchi looked away with a growl. "Sorry, he just got me so mad back there! You heard him." She then waved her hands in the air. "'Oh, so you were looking at dreams? Heh, cute kids. But us adults have more important things to worry about. So run along now.'" Ikazuchi then stomped one foot down. "We're freaking shipgirls... well, mostly anyways."

On Harry's face there was also a scowl. "Did you hear his response when we brought up talking to Teitoku? He said that he was in meetings all day the whole week and couldn't be bothered."

Her eyebrows furrowing, Akatsuki looked towards Harry. "Uh... was he telling the truth?"

Shimakaze gave a small snort at this before puting her hands behind her head. "Yeah, there's a bunch of meetings going on this week... I saw Teitoku stumbling home last night tired out."

That caused Harry to become thoughtful. 'Which means that talking to him outside the office is likely out... And Mum is out on a sortie for the next two days...'

Arms crossed, Inazuma frowned a little bit. "I think that he's new, Nanodesu..."

Snorting, Shimakaze shook her head. "I know who he is."

With a blink, Harry looked towards her. "You do?"

A grimace on her face, Shimakaze shrugged. "Yeah, I met him on another base and... He doesn't like us shipgirls very much, Ou." She then raised an finger towards Harry. "Something about replacing him or whatever."

Even though he didn't quite know what she meant, harry frowned. "So... now what?"

Ikauchi suddenly grinned. "You know... we could continue our investigation and find out where this is coming from."

That got her a frown from Akatsuki. "But it's not our job."

Grinning even more, Ikazuchi turned and placed her hands behind her head. "Yeah... but he told us that he'd leave it in our capable hands, remember?"

Harry raised his eyebrow at that. "I think that he was being sarcastic there, Ikazuchi-Chan."

Now laughing, Ikazuchi winked at him. "Yeah, and? He still told us that and so we can check it out." Her face then took on a mock, innocent look. "After all, us little children wouldn't know any better..."

Usually for most who looked their age, this would be when one of them would consider going to another adult. Sure, one adult already dismissed them, but another one would not. And it would reach Goto at some point and, while annoyed, he would have it dealt with. Especially due to all the oddness that was magical sparkly shipgirl bullshit.

However... in this case it was five Destroyers, one kitsune who was a Miko-in-Training, and a wizard. What was going to happen would be obvious as they raised their hands into the air. "Okay!"

Several minutes later, Harry was frowning in thought. "So... how are we going to be doing this?"

There was a thoughtful look on Natsumi's face as she looked up at the sky. "Hmm... our best bet would be to use divination to find where the location of the dreams are from." She then turned towards her longtime friend with a raised eyebrow. "Did Oba-Chan, Ryuujou-San, and Junyou-San teach you anything about divination of that sort?"

Nodding, Harry smiled. "Yeah..." Then he grimaced. "Issue is... I don't know if I got the time for it."

Much to his surprise though, Natsumi winked and raised a finger. "Actually, it's a bit easier then that."

With her eyes widening a fraction, Hibiki turned towards the kitsune in interest. "It is?"

Slowly, Natsumi nodded before pointing to Harry. "We know that Harry-Chan somehow was able to see the dream, right?" Getting nods, she continued as she pointed at Shimakaze. "And her sisters are also able to see it, right?" Once more, Natsumi got nods. "Niiyodo-San does as well. So we set up a sleepover and perform the divination. With almost all the recievers in one place, the signal will be stronger and easier to track."

After a few moments of thought, the others slowly nodded at that and began to plan.
_________________________________________________________________________

Heads nearly touching, several eyes were looking down at a map in thought before Niiyodo adjusted her glasses and pointed at a marked out spot. "So... this is where those dreams are originating? Right here in Yokosuka?"

Frowning, Akatsuki tapped the spot as Natsumi nodded. "Some of my crew remember that neighbourhood, it's one of the older ones." At their looks, she shook her head. "There's buildings there going back to the 1900s."

Natsumi just stared down at the map. "Yeah... but a lot of them are abandoned." Seeing the looks, she shrugged a little bit. "Oba-Chan told me about there. A number of the homes in the area were abandoned even before the Abyssal War and could attract supernatural attention of the wrong sort. Not the sort of thing that you want to be involved in."

Eyebrows raising, Harry stared at her. "So it's really dangerous? Could it be a trap?"

Still thoughtful, Natsumi shook her head. "I wouldn't say that... but something odd really is going on there. Someone wants help, but who? And better, why?"

For several moments there was quiet before a voice spoke up. "Well then, we should head out and give them a hand, dess?"

They were all nodding when they stopped and then looked up to see Mikasa's smiling face right above them. Said Battleship was somehow hanging out of the ceiling vent by her feet as she smiled at them. A few seconds passed without any of them reacting before they jumped back clutching at their chests as Harry pointed at her. "Mikasa-Obaa!"

Giggling, the Battleship let go of the vent and easily landed on her feet as she examined the map. "So you're going on an adventure, Dess? Well, it looks like you might need some adult supervision!" With that, she went into a pose with a thumbs up. "And I'm an adult!"

Just blinking slowly, Hibiki leaned towards Inazuma before whispering. "She is?"

Eyebrow twitching, Inazuma tried to ignore how Mikasa smirked at them. 'Please don't antagonize her, Hibiki-Chan...'

It was several hours later, once Mikasa got a truck to transport them, that said Battleship nodded and adjusted the pith helmet on her head. "And here we are!"

Unknown to them, a distance away Sakuya frowned as she watched her daughter and Harry setting up to divine the source of the odd dreams. Turning towards her sister who simply sipped some tea, Sakuya flicked a tail at her. "So you already know the source?"

Chuckling, Haru only nodded. "Hai, it wasn't that hard when I looked. Both Ryuujou and Junyou also know and were going to come by and check themselves in a few days." With a sigh as she took another sip, the four tailed kitsune let out a hum. "The dreams have only been happening for the past two weeks after all. But... I will say that I am rather pleased with them so far."

That caused Sakuya to raise an eyebrow at her. "A test?"

Softly humming, Haru watched her neice and Harry work. "Less a test and more allowing them to gain some experience with a relatively easy problem. They have the needed knowledge for most of it, but they need to learn how to use and apply it. Just lecturing them won't give them the know how in regards to it's full use."

Lips twitching, Sakuya shook her head. "A practical lesson then?"

Nodding, Haru took another sip. "Precisely. Besides, I have been rather pleased with Natsumi-Chan's progress so far and have been planning on having her gain some experience with her skills. I would have liked Shiromizu to be here as well, but unfortunately that is not possible. There will be other times for such."

Finger tapping against the roof tiles, Sakuya slowly nodded. "I see... and getting Mikasa-Sama involved?"

That got her a snort from Haru. "They do need some supervision. If they had been able to speak to Goto-San without that baka interfering, then I would have asked him if Harry-Chan could participate alongside Natsumi-Chan in the search. There's no real dangers around so it's safe."

Raising an eyebrow, Sakuya frowned. "You're certain of this?"

Still watching the group, Haru noted Mikasa looking towards them for a second before winking. "Hai, they're perfectly safe."

Just nodding, Sakuya turned back and continued to observe as they finished up and the group started walking. Standing, she dusted herself off as Haru put away her tea. "Well, we should be going."

With a chuckle, Haru nodded. "Hai, hai."

The two of them shared a look and then hopped off the roof. If anyone was watching, they would have seen to foxes then striding from some bushes and walking in the same direction as Harry and the others. Safe it may have been, but neither Haru nor Sakuya were going to take any chances.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing in the tall, scraggly grass, Inazuma scratched her head as she looked towards where Harry and Natsumi were standing. "So this is where the dreams are coming from, Nanodesu?"

Just nodding as he looked up the stone wall, Harry nodded. "That's where everything is pointing."

A frown on her face, Mikasa cupped her chin in thought. "Hmm... this is a bit of a problem, Dess." Turning, she watched as Shimakaze came running around a corner with an annoyed look on her face. "No way in?"

Grimacing, Shimakaze shook her head as she looked at the wall. "No, the doors are shut tight."

There was a buzz and everyone turned towards Niiyodo who watched as the scout plane she sent out returned. Adjusting her glasses, she turned to the others. "Well... it looks abandoned from the air. But... when my plane tried to get a closer look, it was pushed away."

Natsumi huffed a bit and placed one hand on the wall before running it along the stones. Pulling it away, she shook her head. "There's magic protecting it."

Becoming thoughtful, Harry turned towards Karakaze before waving at her to come close. Once she got close, the Destroyer raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

All Harry did though was point at the top of the wall. "Mind giving me a lift? I want to see if I can at least look over the top."

With a glance at Natsumi who shrugged, Karakaze frowned but crouched down. "Get onto my shoulders, Harry-Chan." After he did so, she grabbed his feet and stood up as she walked towards the wall before stopping. 'Did it...?'

Eyes wide, Harry unknowing finished the thought. "... Did it just get taller?"

Now curious, the others shared a look, but it was Akatsuki who nodded as she tilted her head back. "It did!"

For a moment, Natsumi narrowed her eyes walking over. "Karakaze-San? Could you crouch down again? And Harry-Chan? Sit on her shoulders."

Confused, they did so only for Natsumi to clamber on until she stood on Harry's shoulders, easily keeping balance as she used her illusions to hide her tail. Blinking, Harry looked up at her. "Natsumi-Chan?"

In reply, she just grinned down at him and a wide eyed Karakaze. "I got good balance... now, could you stand up?" Slowly, the Destroyer did so and Natsumi sighed as the wall rose again until it was too far to reach. "Darn..."

With a small grin, Mikasa walked over with Niiyodo following before grabbing one of Karakaze's legs, the Light Cruiser grabbing anotherr. "Hang on, Dess!"

Between the two, they lifted the three until they were at arms length for Niiyodo, but the wall still rose until it was above them. Jaw dropping, Inazuma stared. "Hwawawa! Look at that, nanodesu!"

Crossing her arms, Natsumi only scowled. "Sometimes, I hate magic..." Then, before Harry could stop her, she hopped off him and landed on the ground with ease. "We got to find another way in..."

As she slowly brought Karakaze down alongside Mikasa, Niiyodo grunted. "That might be nice... though shouldn't we inform someone since onmyouji are involved?"

Still thoughtful, the kitsune nodded. "Yeah... that might be a good idea." Before she was even done, Niiyodo was already writing what Natsumi assumed was an email to someone. With a frown on her face, she walked over to Shimakaze. "You didn't happen to see anywhere we might slip in, did you?"

It took several moments, but Shimakaze finally shook her head. "Besides the door, there was just a drainage hole in the wall, but that had a metal grate."

Pausing, Natsumi blinked before she looked up. "Show me."

Shimakaze only blinked before she nodded. "Ou!"

The two of them began to job though Natsumi waved back to Harry who frowned at her. "We'll be right back!" It didn't take them long to reach the drainage in the wall which Natsumi crouched down and looked at before running a finger along it. "Hmm... it's a hole in the protections."

Narrowing her own eyes, the Destroyer behind her crouched down and examined it. "Bit of a tight fit for you even if we removed the grate."

What she didn't expect though, was for Natsumi to grin and then shift into her fox form. Even though Shimakaze, like the other shipgirls knew she was a kitsune, she didn't expect for her to transform right in front of her. "Why?"

All Natsumi did was shrug a little bit. "You already know, so it's not like I really need to hide it. Besides..." Looking at the grate, she took a deep breath. "Someone needs help and that's what Mikos do, help people, right?"

Smiling, Shimakaze only nodded. "Hai." With a deep breath, Shimakaze reached out and grabbed the grate before yanking it back, the steel easily snapping as she opened it. Seeing as Natsumi hadn't moved, Shimakaze blinked down at her. "Is something wrong?"

More then a little sheepish, Natsumi grinned a little. "Um... do you have any fairies with guns? I can carry them and... just in case, you know?"

The only thing that Shimakaze did was smile down at her.
__________________________________________________________________________

Walking back and forth, Harry looked worringly at the gate before he turned to Shimakaze. "You sure that she's okay?"

For a few seconds there was a far off look in the Destroyer's eyes, but then she snapped back to the moment and nodded. "She's just about to open up the gate."

Not even half a minute later there was a scraping sound as the gate was pushed open from the inside and there was a slightly dirty Natsumi standing in the opening with a grin. "Hey guys-"

She was cut off though as Harry ran forward and hugged her tightly. "You're okay..." Then he pulled away slightly and glared at the shocked girl. "What do you think you were doing!?"

Opening and closing her mouth, Natsumi felt her ears flatten against her head. "I... I only wanted to get the gate open."

Harry then hugged her tightly again. "Just... don't make me so worried next time."

Utterly confused, Natsumi turned towards Shimakaze who shuffled a bit. "I told Harry what was going on and when we got to the drain, it had repaired itself, ou!"

Next thing that Natsumi knew, DesDiv6 was also hugging her. "We were all really worried, Nanodesu!"

A frown on her face, Hibiki nodded some. "Yes, going off like that was not Khorosho."

Blushing, Natsumi glanced around before slowly hugging Harry back. "Sorry about that guys..." She then tilted her head to the side. "But besides, I had some of Shimakaze's fairies with me."

One of said fairies raised a tiny hand and nodded. "Desu."

Letting go of Natsumi, Harry crouched down and nodded. "Thank you for making sure that Natsumi-Chan was safe."

The fairies just nodded before they made their way over to where Shimakaze was as Harry now turned towards the courtyard and blinked. "What the..."

Natsumi made a sound of agreement as she looked over her shoulder. "Yeah... the place is totally abandoned and looks like it has been for a few years."

Before Harry could comment, he heard a whimper and turned to where Niiyodo was looking through the gate with an unnerved expression on her face. "Niiyodo-Chan?"

Looking between him and the gate, the Light Cruiser straightened her back a little. "S-sorry, but... something about it just... makes me nervous." Frowning, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Like it was reminding me of something..."

That caused Harry to frown a little before he noticed Karakaze also shivering as she looked in as was her other sisters outside of Shimakaze who was trying to calm them down. "Karakaze-Chan, do you...?"
Slowly, the Destroyer nodded as she shifted from one foot to the other. "Hai... I feel like I should know this place..."

Understanding, Harry only smiled before he nodded to Shimakaze. "Maybe you should stay here while we check it out..." He blinked though as a slightly nervous Niiyodo walked up behind him. "Niiyodo-Chan?"

Gulping, she made an effort to calm her nervousness. "I-I'll come with you."

Much to Harry's surprise, she was joined by Karakaze. "Me too..."

Shimakaze then turned to her sisters with a frown. "Do you want to look around as well?"

It took a few moments, but after a shared glance, Kiyokaze nodded. "Um, yes... but maybe around the outside?"

Her expression turning gentle, Shimakaze only nodded before she turned to Harry who smiled slightly back. "Well... I guess we can take the inside?"

Frowning, Mikasa nodded. "Very well then, Shimakaze, you and your sisters search the outside. Niiyodo, Karakaze?" Both shipgirls stood at attention. "You're with Harry to search the inside with Hibiki joining you. Natsumi, Akatsuki, Inazuma, and Ikazuchi will be another group. And I'll be on my own."

There was a frown on Akatsuki's face as she took that in. "By yourself?"

A smile on her face, Mikasa just patted her on the head. "I'll be fine, Dess. It's more important that Harry-Chan and Natsumi-Chan are looked after and I'm entrusting that to you."

Eyes wide, Akatsuki gave a salute. "Ha!" Moments later, she walked up to Natsumi and gave the kitsune a smile. "Don't worry, we'll escort you safely."

Softly chuckling, Natsumi only shook her head before they slowly made their way to the traditional looking home.
_______________________________________________________________

Walking along a passageway, Harry frowned as he glanced towards a window. "Is anyone else thinking that this wierd?"

In response, Hibiki raised an eyebrow at him. "Is there anything normal about this?"

Beside her, Niiyodo nodded some as she rubbed her arms before moving a bit closer to Harry. "I agree with her, Harry-Chan."

However, Harry only sook his head. "I mean... besides that. Look around us..." Gesturing to the room that they were entering, Harry waved his hand around. "There's nothing in here. Don't most abandoned homes still have stuff in them?"

That caused them all to stop and look around, Karakaze shivering a little. "You're right..."

Moving around the room, Hibiki was about to say something when she stopped and looked down. "Harry-Chan, I think that I found something."

Looking over from the window, Harry blinked. "You did?"

All the white haired Destroyer did was point towards her feet as she moved around in a circle. "There's a space here that's confusing my sonar."

Confused, Niiyodo looked towards her. "Why would you be using your sonar?"

In return, Hibiki just gave her a frown. "I wanted to make sure that we didn't step on any traps in the floor just in case."

Within moments, Harry was crouched down beside her before he reached out and knocked on the floor. The first few spots didn't really sound odd. But eventually, he knocked on one spot that gave an echo which caused him to look up at a surprised Hibiki. "A hidey-hole?"

Kneeling down beside him, Hibiki furrowed her eyebrows. "Perhaps..."

Niiyodo and Karakaze also kneeled beside them and the four of them ran their hands along the floor until Shimakaze's sister looked up. "The floorboard's loose here!" It took only a second to remove it and to reveal a iron ring, which she grabbed and then moved until it twisted and locked with a click. "Whoa!"

The four of them scrambled back as the floorboard moved revealing a stairwell heading down. Slowly, Harry looked up at Hibiki who stared back. "I thought that traditional homes like this don't have basements..."

Eyes narrowing, Hibiki pulled out a flashlight and shone it down to reveal what looked like a large room. "They don't... and according to my sonar, there's no way that there's a basement there. The space is too small."

Giving it some thought, Harry suddenly snapped his fingers. "Space expansion!" At their looks, he shrugged. "With magic, you can make a small space a lot bigger."

Frowning, Hibiki nodded some. "That... would make some sense about why my sonar is acting strange..."

Just staring into the darkness, Harry blinked. "Do... any of you feel that? It feels like... the summoning room!" Needless to say, Hibiki's eyes widened and she shared a look with a surprised Niiyodo and Karakaze who realized that Harry was right. Holding out his hand, Harry looked towards Hibiki. "Give me your flashlight, Hibiki-Chan!"

However, she shook her head at him. "Nyet, I will go first, Harry-Chan."

Sliding over, she put her feet onto the steps and began to walk down, followed by Harry as well as Niiyodo and Karakaze. As they walked down them, they looked around in amazement at what seemed like a workshop of some sort. There was a heavy desk along one wall with what looked like notes on it. There were also candles and old fashioned lanterns. However, when Harry touched the bottom, he stumbled some and nearly fell if not for Niiyodo grabbing him. "Harry-Chan, are you okay?"

Rapidly blinking, Harry nodded before he let out a yawn. "Y-yeah... I just felt tired all of a sudden."

Hibiki was having none of it though as she walked over and began to check him. "Harry-Chan-"

Waving her off, Harry seemed to regain his color fairly quickly though he rubbed at his scar as it itched. "I'm okay, it's nothing."

Narrowing her eyes, Niiyodo shook her head. "No, we're leaving, now before anything else-"

She was suddenly interrupted as Karakaze gasped and raised a shaking finger. "L-look..."

They turned in the direction that she was pointing in and froze at the sight of a coffin-like object in the room. But what they noted was that there seemed to be empty spots of a similar size and shape by it. Slowly, they moved towards it until they saw the kanji on it which caused Hibiki to furrow her eyebrows. "'Battleship'."

Almost as one, they turned towards Niiyodo and Karakaze who seemed like they were in a trance before the Light Cruiser spoke up. "I... I remember... we were in something like that before..."

Quickly, Harry walked over and began examining it before he wiped some dust, only to feel as if his magic was being absorbed into it. However, what caught his attention was several clicks as latches came undone before he grabbed the end of the lid. "Guys! Come give me a hand here!"

Karakaze grabbed the bottom with Hibiki and Niiyodo grabbing one side each before they lifted the lid off to reveal that it was filled with some sort of fluid. And there, floating in it was a brown haired woman in modified dress whites with a dusting of freckles on her cheeks. To the shipgirls though, her body was overlain by a hull very similar to Montana's. Several moments passed before her blue eyes fluttered open and focused she noticed the four faces looking down at her. "S-someone came...? Finally...?"

With a smile, Harry only nodded. "Yeah..." Reaching down, he helped her sit up, the fluid she was in streaming off. "Now, let's get you out of there."

Her only response was to grab him and pull him into a hug as she buried her face into the confused boy's shirt as she started to sob. "Someone came... someone came..."

Stroking her hair, Harry only held her like that. "It's okay, it's okay, we're here now."

The only thing she did was sob even harder at that.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Grunting a little under the weight, Harry gave a smile up at the shipgirl that had an arm over his and Natsumi's shoulders as they helped her make their way out of the house. "So... you're Louisiana then?"

Slowly, the Battleship nodded as she tried to help as much as she could with her limbs feeling like wet noodles. "Y-yes, that's right." A tight, pained expression crossed her face and she was unable to stop from gasping in agony with tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "O-oh..."

Eyes wide, Natsumi looked up at her worryingly. "Are you okay?"

Just nodding, Louisiana whimpered a little before there was a dull roar. "F-fuel tanks are empty..." Swallowing, she gasped as another jolt of pain ripped up from her stomach. "Been empty for... since I woke up..."

All of a sudden, Mikasa was there in a swirl of her robes before she stuffed a pastry into Louisiana's mouth. "Why didn't you just say so, Dess? Young ones like you need your fuel tanks topped up whenever possible!"

Quickly chewing her way through the pastry, Louisiana gasped before Harry suddenly shoved a scone into her mouth. "Here, have some of this."

That, too, soon disappeared. "Th-thank you..."

Before she could get anything else, Mikasa shoved what amounted to a small pie into the Battleship's mouth and tutted. "Enough of that! Let Aunty Mikasa take good care of you!"

A soft sniffle escaped from Louisiana as between them, Harry and Mikasa continued to shove food down her throat. Though Natsumi blinked a little as she looked at her friend in confusion. 'Where did he even hide that food?'

However, her attention was soon grabbed by Inazuma who tugged at her sleeve. "Sorry for not being able to help more..." "Glancing at Louisiana, who was currently munching some fudge, Inazuma continued. "It's just... you know, if we tried to carry her out..."

Natsumi only gave her a smile. "You wouldn't be able to, don't worry, Inazuma-Chan."

Part of the kitsune was still bemused by the fact that when trying to help along another shipgirl, any shipgirl doing the towing would need to take into consideration the tonnage of the one being towed. And in the case of a Montana class, the shipgirls there would have had issues. Up ahead, Niiyodo held open the door to the outside, late afternoon sunlight streaming in. "Almost there!"

It may have been Natsumi's imagination, but Louisiana seemed to speed up just a bit as they stumbled their way to the exit and then outside. When they exited the house, Lousiana though came to a stop and looked around, tugging the bill of her cover down some to block out the sunlight a bit. "It's..." Closing her eyes, she sniffled a little bit. "It's so beautiful..."

Blinking, Harry looked around with a raised eyebrow at the scraggly, overgrown grass that covered everything. 'Okay... that's one way of putting it I guess...' Soon shaking it off, he looked up at her with a smile. "Let's get you back to base, okay? And then I'll cook you up some food to eat."

Her blue eyes sparkling, Lousiana looked down at him as her stomach gave a rumble. "You mean it?"

With a chuckle, Harry nodded. "Yup!"

Beside him, Akatsuki nodded some. "Yeah, and we'll help him, Louisiana-San! Just like proper ladies would!"

Grinning, Ikazuchi gave her a wink and a thumbs up. "Don't worry, you can rely on us!"

A bright smile on her face, Lousiana only nodded. "I know."

Moments later though, she blinked as Shimakaze came running up. "Hey, Ooyodo just showed up with a truck and Kongou! Ou! And they don't look too happy!"

Unnoticed, Niiyodo scratched her head. 'Why would Onee-Sama not be happy? I did email her...'

Not even a minute later, Ooyodo came striding into view with a scowl on her face only to freeze as she caught sight of Lousiana being supported by Harry and Natsumi. "What in the..."

Looking between her and a surprised Kongou, Harry waved. "We found the source of those odd dreams!"

For a few seconds, Ooyodo stared at him and then pinched her nose. "I don't believe this..."
_________________________________________________________________________

Extremely displeased, Goto looked at the group in his office before focusing on one man in particular as he growled. "Lieutenant Commander Hideyoshi... I will be speaking to you, later. Now, you are dismissed."

Swallowing nervously, the man stared straight ahead. "Sir, I-"

If anything, Goto looked more annoyed. "I don't care if you sent an email regarding your encounter with DesDiv6. You sent it to Captain Toyama, but put it as not only low priority, but also worded it in such a way that it would get ignored. I am... displeased. Now, you are dismissed until later when I think of how I am going to deal with you."

Muscles in his cheek twitching, he nodded and then strode out, closing the door a bit more forcibly then needed. Once he was gone, Goto leaned back and rubbed his forehead. "Kami... this is all that I needed after dealing with politicians and the shakedown cruise for the Donryu..."

That caused Ooyodo to raise an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that the shakedown cruise went without a hitch."

Chuckling, Goto shook his head before sighing. "It did, the Submarine managed to launch and recover the UAVs well within the time given. Nagato was there observing and rather impressed. And while I do like the idea of more support as they can be used to spy on the Abyssals, it causes a bit a of a headache with some factions."

A grimace on her face, Mikasa narrowed her eyes. "Such as Hideyoshi-San..."

Slowly, Goto nodded. "Such as the one that Hideyoshi belongs to, yes." Just shaking it off, he looked towards Yonehara. "Remind me to put in a good word for Takahashi-Kun for backing up DesDiv6 when they said that he gave them the mission to investigate. Thank the Kami that he overheard it and stepped forward, even if Hideyoshi tried to claim otherwise."

Yonehara just grunted as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Consider it done."

Leaning back in his chair, Goto took a sip from his mug of coffee. "And now for the elephant in the room... Kongou?"

The Battleship nodded before she opened the door and poked her head out while softly speaking. Not even a minute later, Haru entered the office with a nod. "Goto-San."

With a sigh, Goto motioned towards a seat which she sat in. Once the door closed, he rubbed the sides of his head. "Okay... now can someone kindly explain to me the clusterfuck that just happened? Because I am going to need to know enough to come up with an explanation for this."

Much to his annoyance, Ooyodo looked amused as she nodded her head towards the folder on his desk. "I take it that you didn't read Harry-Chan's report? Or the others?"

For a beat, there was silence before Goto blinked. "Wait... he wrote up a report?"

Smiling widely, Mikasa nodded. "It was an official mission after all. And he wrote up part of it during the trip in and the rest as we drove back."

Just grunting, Goto opened the folder and began to read. It took about fifteen minutes before he pinched his nose. "So... let me get this straight, shipgirls here on the base have been having... bad dreams which they can't remember, but which are very similar. Except... Niiyodo, Shimakaze's sisters, and Montana were able to remember? And Harry also had a dream and remembered it?"

Haru leaned forward a bit and nodded. "Myself and Natsumi also have been having them, but not much more then the shipgirls outside of that small group. It has been mostly... impressions. I would not be too surprised if other spiritually sensitive people have also been having these dreams."

Flipping a page, Goto furrowed his eyebrows a bit. "But why would Harry be one specifically?"

Leaning forward, Kongou frowned a bit. "Maybe it's because he's a wizard and had a shipgirl for a Okaa-San?"

In her own seat, Mikasa gave a nod. "I suspect that would be why, Dess. Especially with the recovered notes, which also explains why Niiyodo and Shimakaze's sisters were others."

That caused Goto to look up with a frown. "What did the notes say?"

Silent for a few moments, Mikasa took a deep breath. "From it, and a journal that we also recovered, it seems that Ooyodo and Shimakaze saved a wizard's great-grandson from some Abyssals and so sought a way to... repay them."

Eyes widening, the pieces clicked in Ooyodo's head and, from the expressions on the others, she knew that the same happened with them. "Niiyodo..."

Just nodding, Mikasa continued. "Yes, he found a way to... summon, or perhaps create, shipgirls based on paper only designs."

Now it was Haru's turn to frown as she tapped one finger on the armrest of her chair. "But how? Something like that would be..."

As she sighed, Mikasa shook her head. "According to his notes, the work that went into creating the designs, the models of the ships, and the like was enough to create a... embryonic spirit. But because they were never built, it did not go any further. What he found was a way to allow them to mature and become full fledged shipgirls, but there was a cost."

Interested, Goto leaned forward. "What was it?"

Frowning, the Pre-Dreadnought gathered herself. "One thing used was the Elixer of Life, created by the Flamels. And the other..." Closing her eyes, her tone softened. "Was the wizard's own magic and lifeforce to fuel the growth."

Her throat tightening, Ooyodo barely managed to get her next words out. "You mean..."

Eyes opening, Mikasa nodded. "The ritual used in the end lead to his death. However, he did not mind this as he saw it as both helping and repaying a debt he held."

There was silence at that as even Goto bowed his head a little for the man that none of them had ever, nor would ever, meet. Eventually lifting his head, Goto stared at the folder on his desk before nodding. "I am classifying that information, Mikasa. What you have said does not leave this room and the only ones to be informed will be Admirals and above." Turning towards the clock, he sighed. "It is too late in the day for this... speaking of, where is Louisiana?"

If anything, Haru became slightly amused at that. "Currently she's in the mess hall enjoying a nice meal, though from what I can see she doesn't want to leave my Niece's side nor Harry-Chan's. But considering that she already knows that they're the reason why she was even found..."

Groaning, Goto put his head on his desk. "Oh for..." Looking back up, he had a resigned expression on his face. "I'll talk with Richardson about having her assigned here since I very much doubt that she will want to leave for some time... and to send her sister here for support." Another glance at the clock caused him to sigh. "Kongou? Mind making me some black tea? I get the feeling that I'll need the caffeine..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

A hand reached out and grabbed the hot dog that was on the plate before bringing it to Louisiana's mouth. Biting down, the Battleship made noises of pure and utter enjoyment as she chewed. Sure, it may have been just your average, cheap supermarket brand hot dog. But to a starved Battleship who had not eaten since she woke up?

It was practically manna from heaven itself.

Swallowing the last bite, Lousiana beat against her chest before grabbing the can of soda next to her and draining it in a few gulps. The fizzy nectar running down her throat as she gulped it down as if it was nothing less then ambrosia straight from Olympus. Finally, the last bit was gone and then she practically inhaled the can. "Mmm..."

The first warning that she was not alone was the creak of a seat before a soft voice spoke up. "Um, hello..."

Turning, Louisiana blinked at the sight of the absolutely massive Carrier beside her. Before Shinano could say anything, Louisiana quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped her face and hands before giving her a smile. "Sorry about that..."

In reply, Shinano only held up her hands and shook her head. "It's nothing... I mean, you don't need to apologize...?" Then she realized that Louisiana was holding out a hand and shook it. "My name's Shinano, I'm a Support Carrier."

All that Louisiana did was raise an eyebrow at that. 'Support Carrier...?' Shaking it off, her next action was to fluster Shinano by bringing her hand up and kissing the Carrier's knuckles, making her turn red. "A pleasure to meet you, Ma chère. You're most understanding."

Eyes wide, Shinano just swallowed a little bit. "M-ma chère?"

Slowly, Louisiana nodded. "It means 'My dear' in French."

That caused the youngest Yamato to blink in confusion. "French...? But I thought that you were American...?"

For several moments there was silence as Louisiana blinked at that before her lips turned upwards slightly and tapped her chest. "Allow me to introduce myself, USS Louisiana, BB-71, Montana class. The State that I am named after has people speak French there."

It took a moment, but Shinano suddenly nodded as the pieces clicked into place. "Oh... Oh! So that's why you can speak French?"

Nodding, Louisiana smiled as she opened another can/ That's right..." After a few seconds, she became thoughtful. "Though I am confused as to how that works..."

The Carrier next to her just shrugged before suddenly her stomach growled. "S-sorry..."

Despite her own hunger, Louisiana looked at her plate where there was one hot dog left and lifted it up. "Do you want it...?"

Much to her surprise, Shinano only shook her head. "That's alright, you need it more and I'll just eat something else."

Searching Shinano's face, Louisiana tipped the brim of her cover. "Thank you, ma chère."

Part of the Battleship was amused at how flustered Shinano became over being called that. Before she could do anything else though, she froze as an Re Class stepped into view. The only reason that she did not summon her rigging right there was due to how Shinano along with the other human personnel were acting. "Um... c-can I join you?"

Even more to Louisiana's surprise, Shinano nodded as she patted a spot next to her. "Of course you can, Regina-Chan."

With an utter look of befuddlement, Louisiana stared as the Re-Class gave a bashful smile before sitting down. "Um..."

Almost with a start, Shinano gasped a bit. "Um, right!" She gestured at Louisiana with a slight smile. "This is USS Louisiana, Regina-Chan. Louisiana-San, this is Regina-Chan, she's one of the allied Abyssals."

Suddenly remembering what had been explained to her, Louisiana reached over with a hand. "Uh, right... nice to meet you?"

Blushing, Regina took the offered hand and Louisiana could feel the slightly chilled skin touch her own. "It's very nice to meet you, Miss Louisiana."

Just blinking, Louisiana shook her head. "Just call me Louisiana."

The group then lapsed into an awkward silence for almost a minute as Louisiana tried to distract herself by eating the last hot dog. Said food item soon joined it's siblings inside her and she found herself trying to find something to say.

Thankfully, this was when Harry chose to come out of the kitchens pushing a cart. Almost immediately both shipgirls and the Abyssal perked up as the smell reached them. "I got some more food..."

Upon seeing Shinano and Regina there, Harry looked at the large pot and the basket beside it with a frown. Each of them could almost see the wheels turning in his mind, but suddenly Louisiana smiled and gestured at the two beside her. "We can share if they want."

Both Regina and Shinano gave her a surprised look, but slowly nodded with the Support Carrier giving Harry a smile. "If that's okay with you?"

Harry just smiled right back. "Sure, I'll just make some more once I give you some." Placing the pot onto the table, Harry piled what was in it high on three plates. "Spaghetti with hamburger and dinner rolls." At seeing Regina's tail come up, Harry took one of the dinner rolls and tossed it, the head at the end of the tail snapping it up with a happy growl. With that done, it stretched over the table and, to Harry's surprise, nuzzled him. "Um..."

Looking at Regina though, she was heavily blushing but nodded. "It's okay if you want to, um, you know..."

If anything, her blush intensified as Harry reached under the chin of the tail's head and scratched there. As he did so, a rumbling purr came from the tail and Regina flushed before pulling up her scarf to hide the fact that she was biting her lip. It was almost a minute later when Harry nodded and gave them all a wave. "I'll just head back and get you all some food."

Her eyebrow raised, Louisiana just watched in amusement before she twirled her fork in the pasta and took a bite. "So..."

Keeping her hands in her lap, Shinano's lips turned upwards as turned away from the still blushing Regina. "Hmm?"

In reply, Louisiana pointed her fork at her fellow shipgirl before swallowing. "You know Harry?" Slowly, Shinano nodded which made Louisiana frown deep in thought. "Huh..."

Meanwhile, Shinano took the opportunity to more closely examine the Battleship beside her. Like others, the Japanese shipgirl could see the literally steel corded muscles moving under her skin as she shifted. On her head, her reddish brown hair rustled as she chewed with the freckles that dotted her cheeks standing out against the untanned skin. It took a moment, but Shinano realized another fact about the woman beside her.

She was, amazingly enough, even taller then Shinano.

Granted, it was by maybe an inch or two, but it was noticeable to Shinano's spotters. Remembering the times that she had encountered Montana, Shinano thoughtfully chewed her own spaghetti. 'Are all Montanas that tall?'

Other things soon became apparent under her examination. The Montana didn't have the muscled legs of an Iowa, nor did she have the curves of a Standard, but sat somewhere between them. A throat clearing caught her attention and she looked up to see two blue eyes looking back at her as they sparkled in amusement. "Do you see something that you like, Ma chère?"

Now blushing heavily, Shinano gave an eep which caused Louisiana to frown as her crew muttered about weaponized adorable. "I-I-I was just examining your hull..." Eyes widening as she realized how that could be taken, Shinano flushed even more. "I-I mean, I was curious about your body and, I mean..."

Wanting the floor to open up and swallow her, Shinano was surprised as Louisiana just laughed and patted her on the back. "Worry not, Ma chère. I do not mind..." At Shinano giving a squeak, Louisiana cleared her throat. "So... have you known Harry for a while?"

Thankful for the change of subject, Shinano nodded as she tried to bring down her blush. "I've known Harry-Chan for several years now."

Beside her, Regina shuffled a bit. "I only met him this year but..." Pulling up her scarf around her mouth to try and hide her blush, the soft spoken Abyssal scuffed one hoof onto the floor. "He is very nice..."

Shinano chewed some of her pasta before she nodded with a sigh. "Harry-Chan is very nice, he's... special." Then she shrank a bit. "He's been a very good friend to me even when I've been nothing more then trouble..." Eyes closing, Shinano softly smiled. "B-but he always makes me feel better with his hugs o-or cooking me something."

Just nodding, Regina hummed a bit. "Hoppou told me that they are very warm and they are." Closing her own eyes, Regina sighed. "They make me feel warm from the inside."

Simply chewing as she listened, Louisiana frowned a bit before looking towards the kitchen and speaking in a soft, low voice. "I see... he saved me you know."

That caused both Shinano and Regina to turn towards her with a confused expression. "He... saved you?"

Grimacing, Louisiana's gaze looked at her plate. "I was trapped somewhere... for a long time. But him and Natsumi... do you know her?"

Quickly, Shinano nodded. "I know her, she's very nice as well and a friend too."

On Louisiana's face, there was a distant expression. "I was trapped so very long in my prison when they came looking and found me when no one else was going to... I... I don't know..." Taking a deep, shuddering breath to steady herself, Louisiana continued. "I owe so much to them both... They're like, knights in shining armor."

Confused, Regina scratched her head. "Um, were there female knights?"

Pausing partway through using a dinner roll to mop up some sauce, the Battleship blinked. "I... don't know..."

Tapping her chin withone finger, Shinano shook her head. "W-well, there were female samurai, and Natsumi-San is Japanese."

A frown on her face, Louisiana considered that and shrugged. "Well, I guess that Harry is a knight in shining armor and Natsumi is a samurai in shining armor? Or something..." She then let out a shuddering sigh. "But it changes nothing, thanks to them... I'm free now, saved because they came for me. I can never repay either of them."

With an look of abnormally deep thought on her face, Shinano examined Louisiana's face before she slowly nodded. Then she bit her lip. "You know... Harry-Chan said that when he becomes an Admiral, that he wants me as one of his shipgirls."

For some odd reason, that caused Louisiana to feel like she had a direct hit amidships, or in her gut as it may be. "I-I see..."

To her surprise, Shinano then met her gaze evenly. "You know... a single ship does not make a fleet and... a Carrier does need escorts... Besides Destroyers that is..."

It took a moment, but Louisiana stared into Shinano's eyes, searching. Finally, she nodded to herself. "That is true..."

Looking between them, Regina shifted a little uncomfortably until she raised a hand. "U-uh... do you think that by that time, maybe... us Allied Abyssals c-could maybe be involved in combined fleets?"

Just blinking, Shinano looked at Louisiana who eventually shrugged before she turned back to Regina and bit her lip. "I... don't know. Maybe they might by the time that Harry-Chan becomes an Admiral. T-then we can all help out and fight."

That got her nods before sounds from the kitchen caused them to turn to see Harry bring out more food. With a final glance between them, they smiled as they waited for him to reach their table.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

The sound of a mug being set down caused Harry to blink and look up as Taigei smiled down at him. "I brought you some tea if you'd like that."

Smiling, Harry only nodded. "Thanks!" Just then, two arms hung over his shoulder and Harry blinked as RO placed her chin on top of his head. "Um... RO-Chan?"

Her lips twitching, RO made a theatrical sigh. "You're spending too much time with Hachi-Chan, Harry-Chan. You're starting to turn into her."

All Harry did was huff at that before frowning. "No, I'm not!"

If anything, that just caused RO to grin as across the table, Shioi snickered. "Sorry, Harry-Chan, but she is right. You've been really into that book that you're reading."

Kneeling beside him, Taigei frowned a little bit as she examined what she could see of the book. There was some confusion on her features as she brought a finger to her chin and hummed. "What is this book about anyways?"

With a blink, Harry shrugged a bit as he tried to ignore the Submarine currently leaning against his back. "It's about familiars, I got it from my family library when we visited a few days ago."

That caused RO to become interested. "So... witches can have familiars?"

Harry just nodded as he looked at the picture of a cat that was on the page. "Wizards too, but yeah, the legends came from somewhere."

Now interested, Shioi pushed her own work to the side. "Familiars are animals that witches and wizards use, right? I mean, Hedwig is yours..." At the head shake she got, she blinked. "Hedwig isn't?"

Chuckling, Harry smiled a bit. "She's more of a smart pet, not a traditional familiar... Those are more like, um..."

It was RO who spoke up. "Think more like a Shikigami and you're close. They're animals who act as servants, spies, helpers... that sort of thing."

Understanding, Shioi nodded at that as Taigei frowned a bit. "But... are there any familiars?"

As he hummed, Harry crossed his arm and tried to tilt his head the best that he could with RO having placed her chin on top of it. "I don't think so... or at least not anymore."

Furrowing her eyebrows, the Submarine Tender just blinked in confusion. "Why not? They sound pretty useful if they're like Shikigami."

His arms crossed against his chest, Harry frowned some. "Um... the book goes into it, but eventually people stopped using them because they thought it was not worth the trouble."

That caused RO to raise her eyebrow. "How so?"

Blinking, the black haired boy shrugged some. "Well... most wizards or witches could only really have one familiar at a time and it couldn't really be a big one, stuff like cats or owls. Some got around it using fairies or pixies but that usually turned out to be a... really bad idea."

RO winced a bit as she could guess why even though the other two shipgirls only looked confused. "But some could have more?"

With a hum, Harry nodded. "Yeah, some could have more then one, but you needed to be really powerful to have more then one."

Just nodding as she wagged the pen in her fingers up and down, Shioi considered that. "Okay, so you could only have one. I guess that's a problem... but I don't see why that would cause them to fall out of favor."

Scratching his cheek, Harry winced. "There... was a bit more then that." Taking the book, Harry held it up so that Shioi could see it alongside of Taigei. "According to this, familiars were intimately connected to their wizard or witch, but they were also a weakness. Because if killed, there would be a backlash to the person whose familiar it was."

Eyebrow raising, Shioi shared a look with Taigei before turning back to Harry. "A... backlash?"

There was a frown on Harry's face as he nodded. "Yeah... the person could be staggered at the moment of death but... there was more to it then that." He shifted a little bit and took a deep breath. "To the person that the familiar belonged to, it would feel like a piece of themselves died at that moment, something precious ripped away. From what it sounds, they would go into a depression and while most came out of it, others..."

Realization crossed Taigei's face as it clicked into place. "Oh... oh my..."

Nodding, Harry continued. "Even if they made it through, the person could not bond with another familiar for a year and a day. And, well... they would always feel like a piece of themselves would be missing."

From her position on his back, RO raised an eyebrow. "But what happens to the familiar if the person it belongs to is killed instead?"

Wincing, Harry cleared his throat. "Um... it would go into a craze and start attacking everything in it's vicinity until it calms down or... do things like ram it's head into walls as hard as possible. Usually they died too... If the person just dies of old age though, the familiar just leaves."

Each of the shipgirls could guess why that would be. Taigei cleared her throat a little as she looked uncomfortable with what they had learned. "B-but it had to have had some use, right?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "They did, for one thing the animal the familiar was originally would get a boost in intelligence and the ability to communicate with it's magical. If the bond was powerful enough, then the person could see through it's senses, sort of like a possession. The familiar though would live as long as the person though, even if normally it would have died long before they did."

Crossing her arms, Shioi only nodded. "Yeah... that does sound a lot like it's not really all that worth it."

All of a sudden though, Harry chuckled a little bit. "You know, I just thought of something."

With a blink, Taigei smiled a little bit. "Oh?"

Leaning against his fist, Harry snickered a little bit. "You know how here in Japan, if an animal lives more then a century, they'd turn into a yokai, right?" After he got a nod, he continued. "Well... us wizards live more then a century. So if I made Hedwig into a familiar does that mean that she would become a yokai eventually?"

That caused them all to go silent before Shioi frowned. "Maybe... Though I don't know of any owl yokai."

Bemused, RO raised an eyebrow. "What about a tartarimokke?"

However, Taigei shook her head with a thoughtful expression. "No, that's more a spirit possession of an owl..."

One finger tapping against the table, Shioi frowned. "Huh... I can't actually think of an owl yokai... wierd." Quickly shaking it off, the Subgirl suddenly gave him a smile. "Anyways... you ready for Hanami tomorrow?"

In reply, Harry grinned at her and nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait actually! I'm just happy that it sync up with when I was off from school..."

Much to his surprise, Taigei gave him a hug before she pulled away. "So am I." There was a slight blush on her face before she shook her head. "Anyways, would you mind helping me making the food for tomorrow? Maruyu is coming and with Louisiana-San likely joining us, I'd like to make sure that we have enough food for all of us."

Smiling back, Harry raised an eyebrow to RO who slipped off his back with a grin before he stood up. "Sure!" Just taking Taigei's hand, he helped her to her feet before Taigei patted herself down. "So what do you want to make?"

With a hum, the Submarine Tender lead him over towards the kitchenette. "Hmm... I have a few ideas actually..."

Unnoticed by her, the two Subgirls shared a grin before RO began to watch the two of them work as Shioi went back to her paperwork.
________________________________________________________________________________
Taking a deep breath, Louisiana let it out as she strode beside Shinano with Regina looking around. "Beautiful..."

Somewhat amused, Natsumi looked up at the much taller female. "You seem to be enjoying yourself, Louisiana-San."

Much to her surprise, when Louisiana opened her eyes there was some mistiness there. "Why wouldn't I?" Holding out a hand, she examined it. "The sun and wind on my skin... the smell of flowers, the blue sky above..." Her chest expanding with one breath, Louisiana then let it out. "It's... wonderful." Then the shipgirl reached down and hugged the kitsune tightly. "And I owe it all to you and Harry."

Blushing partially due to how thankful the Battleship obviously was for something that Natsumi did not see as a huge deal. Another part of her blush came from the fact that her face was now smothered in Louisiana's... fuel tanks which muffled her voice. "You're welcome."

Her lips twitching, Louisiana held her there for a few moments before letting go and pretending not to see Natsumi gasp for air. A giggle though let her know that Shinano had been watching and had found it humorous. Stretching, the Battleship let out a sigh as she continued to look around. Off to the side, she could see Hamakaze and Isokaze just talking with each other as they "Escorted" Shinano, Regina, and Louisiana around. After the dinner the night before, they had continued their conversation at Shinano's quarters and had become rather good friends. During their chat, she had found out some other things about Harry that she had not known. Such as how he had a smoker on the base he used and that the Battleship was going to try and get permission to use herself.

Or, rather... at least until she had built herself one.

Something that her friends were looking forward to. Quickly shaking off those thoughts, even as some of her fairies drew up plans, Louisiana turned towards Shinano. "So, Ma chère, you're going to start helping me learn tomorrow?"

Even as Shinano nodded, Natsumi turned to regard them with a confused expression. "Learn what?"

There was a slightly embarrassed expression on Louisiana's face as she moved the brim of her cover down a little. "I... was never built, hence I have no experience as a ship. Thankfully though, Ma chère here is willing to spend the time and effort to teach me some as well as things in regards to us shipgirls."

As Natsumi turned towards her, the Carrier nodded a bit, her face red. "T-that's right. Um... I'll try my best to help you, though I don't know how much help I'll be really..."

Just shaking her head, Louisiana put her arm over Shinano's shoulders and pulled the Carrier in close, making her eep. "You'll do fine, Ma chère! Trust me, I am putting myself into your capable hands."

While Hamakaze and Isokaze gave the American amused looks, Natsumi shook her head some. "Why do you keep calling her 'Ma chère'?"

In Louisiana's eyes there was a twinkle as she hummed before suddenly pulling Natsumi into a hug with the arm that was now on Shinano's shoulders. "Because it suits her, do not tell me that you're jealous, Ma chérie?"

Now it was Natsumi's turn to be blushing, before she shook it off as she tried to ignore the soft giggles coming from Regina. "I'm not." Turning away, she frowned a little bit. 'Ma chérie?''

Lips turned upwards slightly into a smile, Louisiana took a moment to just enjoy the fact that she was outside in the sun with an arm around one of her rescuers. Then she glanced around with a thoughtful expression. "I wonder where Harry is?"

Blinking, Shinano looked around until she pointed towards one of the side paths. "There he is, with the Submarines and the Akizukis!"

Smile brightening a touch, Louisiana nodded some before she looked at each of them. "How about we make our way over there then?"

From where she was just behind the three of them, Regina nodded some. "I-I would really like that and to spend some more time with Harry..."

Grinning some over her shoulder, Lousiana snickered. "Well, guess that we're off to see the wizard then!"

Even though she was confused, Regina smiled a little and pulled up her scarf. Though part of her mind was on the blossoms around them. 'It's so pretty...'

Meanwhile, Harry was looking back at where the Duckies were carrying bento boxes, happy expressions on their faces. The fact that food, including what he made, caused them to be so happy always brought a smile to his face and warmed his heart. It was after all so different from when he lived at the Dursleys and had to cook meals. "Excited?"

Teruzuki just nodded even as she held her bento a bit closer. "Why wouldn't we be? We're about to enjoy a picnic under the cherry blossoms!"

Beside her, Akizuki nodded and sniffled a little. "And the food smells so wonderful."

Scratching his cheek, Harry grinned sheepishly at them. "Well... hopefully it's taste as good as it smells."

All Hatsuzuki did was shake her head before glancing around. "Of course it will, you made it." She then rubbed her cheek against her bento with a sigh of happiness. "You always make amazing food."

Now even more embarrassed, Harry chuckled a bit. "I'm just happy that you enjoy my cooking." Hearing a commotion though, turned back in time to for a shout. "What the...?"

Coming down the path, an American Destroyer was windmilling her arms as she tried to keep her balance on the roller skates she was wearing. "GANG WAY!"

Realizing that she was about to slam into the frozen Maruyu, Harry ran forward and swept the Subgirl in his arms. The two of them just managed to get out of the way as the Destroyer shot past them, missing the others before reaching the end of the path and landing in the pond. Slowly shaking his head, Harry let out a relieved breath. "That was a close one..." Of course, that was when Harry realized that he was hearing an odd sound and looked around to find the source. It took a few seconds, but he looked down to see a bright red Maruyu making the sound from where she was being held in his arms. "Maruyu-Chan, you okay?"

The poor Subgirl could only look up and slowly nod through her embarrassment due to how he was holding her bridal style. "Y-yes..."

Unknown to her though, Taigei had quickly snapped a picture before hiding the camera away. "Harry-Chan?" Once he looked over at her, Taigei smiled a little bit. "I think that Maruyu is a bit tired from her trip... could you carry her for a little bit so that she can rest her legs?"

It took the Submarine in question just a moment to understand what Taigei was doing and she mouthed a 'Thank you' to her as Harry nodded. "Sure, I don't mind at all." Shifting her around a little in his arms, he smiled down at the flustered Subgirl. "Better?"

Brightly blushing, Maruyu just nodded with a small, bashful smile. "Yeah..." Adjusting herself so that she was laying her head against his arm, she nodded. "Much better." About the only thing that Harry did was shrug before continuing the conversation that he had been having as they walked, him still carrying Maruyu in his arms.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing on the stage, Harry smiled as he looked out onto the various faces looking up with excitement. "Thank you all for participating in this, the Fourth Annual Yokosuka Base Easter Egg Hunt! You all participated and fought hard to find the treats hidden around the base. And this year, it didn't end in fire everywhere!"

Hands cupped around her mouth, the USS Ellyson grinned. "NOT THROUGH ANY LACK OF TRYING!"

Even as Niiyodo muttered to herself in confusion, Harry shook his head. "Therefore, it is now time to give out the prizes!" He waited until the cheering had calmed down before looking towards Niiyodo. "In first place, and getting the two pound chocolate bunny, our winner is..."

Niiyodo cleared her throat as a Fairy did a drumroll before taking a deep breath. "The team of Shiratsuyu, Sendai, and Ellyson!"

The brown haired Japanese Destroyer began to jump in place as before bolting forward with Sendai and Ellyson following close behind. "FIRST! WHOO-HOO! NUMBER ONE! NUMBER ONE!"

Grinning as she took the offered rabbit, and the medal, Sendai grinned. "It was easy for a master of... Ninjutsu!" She then crossed her arms and smirked. "One should never underestimate a grandmaster as myself. All my experience at Yasen gave us the advantage!"

Softly snickering as she claimed her prize, Ellyson winked at Harry. "Thanks."

Just nodding, Harry watched as they left the stage to cheers before they calmed down. "Now, in Second Place, and winning the one pound chocolate eggs, we have..."

Waiting until the drum roll finished, Niiyodo smiled. "The team of Kisaragi, Johnston, and Iku!"

As she walked up, Johnston shook her fists into the air at the cheers. "YEAH! WE'RE FREAKING AWESOME BADASSES AT THIS!"

Behind her, Kisaragi frowned a little bit. "Those bushes we crawled through nearly ruined my hair..."

There was a grin on Iku's face as she accepted her egg and medal. "This was nothing for the Sniper of the Seas!"

Clapping himself, Harry stood there as he filed off. "Now then, for Third Place, which is the rabbit behind me..." He gestured at the stuffed animal almost his size. " We have..."

Even as the drumroll continued, various shipgirls leaned in to listen before Niiyodo checked her list. "The team of White Plains, Fubuki, and Kana!"

All three shipgirls got cheers as they walked up the stage, though Kana was blushing rather heavily while White Plains was practically hopping. The Battleship searched the crowd until she caught sight of Kaga who was standing beside Akagi, who had her lips smeared with chocolate. Having noticed her twin looking at her, Kaga stared back evenly with her usual dour expression before her lips turned upwards and she gave Kana a thumbs up. Feeling a tap, Kana turned to see Fubuki there with the giant rabbit which she handed over. "Here, I already got one from two years ago."

Her eyes wide, Kana took the giant plush and smiled brightly as she cuddled it. "Thank you, Fubuki-Sempai!" She didn't finish the rest of her thoughts. 'Sempai gave me a plush rabbit! And it's so cute!'

Meanwhile, Fubuki scratched at her cheek with a small chuckle. "You're very welcome."

Giving the plush another happy squeeze, Kana accepted her medal and walked off the stage with Fubuki and White Plains as Harry continued to clap. Once they were all done, Harry walked back up to the microphone. "Before we finish, we would like to thank Rose. Mamiya-San, and Taigei-Chan for providing refreshments during the Easter egg hunt."

When he gestured towards them, all the shipgirls began to clap which caused Mamiya to bow alongside Taigei as Rose flushed and tilted the brim of her hat down. "You're all welcome."

Harry then gestured towards a grinning Akashi. "We would also like to thank Akashi-Oba for setting up a facepainting station for all those who wanted it and taking time out of her day for it."

Even as Akashi gave a small bow at the applause, Harry could see both Shinano and Regina at the back of the crowd clapping along. The two of them having gone for the facepainting station and how had a bunny nose with whiskers to go along with the rabbit ears headbands they were wearing. Though Regina also had something similar on her tail's head, which had caused Akashi to become bemused when asked. Niiyodo then cleared her throat. "We would also like to thank our Teitoku, base personnel, Haru-San, and all those who made this year possible and a success!"

Then both Harry and Niiyodo bowed to the crowd with smiles as they spoke as one. "We would also like to thank all the participants as otherwise this would not have been a success, thank you!"

Needless to say, that got them cheers before someone called out. "AND THANK YOU FOR THIS!"

Raising up one hand, Harry then brought it down with a grin. "I hereby declare this year's hunt to be over! Congradulations to everyone!"

Several firecrackers went off but were nearly drowned out by cheers.
_______________________________________________________________

"Here you go, one hot chocolate."

Looking up with a blink, Niiyodo took the hot chocolate from Harry gratefully. "Thank you."

All he did though was chuckle and shake his head a little before he noticed the Light Cruiser looking at her nose. "So... what are you reading?"

Just biting her lip, Niiyodo glanced at him. "It's a text from Onee-Sama about the hunt..."

Seeing as Niiyodo was practically vibrating in place, Harry could already guess what it said but tilted his head to the side just the same. "Oh? And what does it say?"

There was a small squeal that escaped from Niiyodo as she nodded with a bright smile on her face. "Onee-Sama was giving me congradulations and stating that she's proud of the job that I did!"

Not even a moment later, she blushed some as Harry reached over and hugged her. "That's great! And you deserve it after all the work that you put in. I couldn't have done it without you!"

Blushing still, Niiyodo shook her head some. "I'm sure that you could have managed it."

However, Harry only shook his head. "Nope! Usually it takes more then just two for organizing it, but you were awesome. Seriously, you really deserve it!"

If anything, that only caused Niiyodo to blush some more before she took a deep breath. "Thank you, Harry-Chan."

Reaching to the side, Harry pulled over a large basket and nodded. "You're welcome... and now for the best part." He shot her a grin as he pushed the basket towards her. "It's our turn to eeat some chocolate! It tastes better after a job well done."

Softly chuckling, Niiyodo looked into the basket and brought a finger to her chin. "Hmm..."

After a few moments, she grabbed a foil wrapped chocolate bunny and bit into it with a hum of enjoyment without unwrapping it. Meanwhile, Harry took one of the eggs and unwrapped the foil around it before biting into it. Chewing, the young boy watched as Niiyodo finished her chocolate and then looked at the balled up foil in his hands before holding it out. "Want it?"

Just smiling, she nodded and took the foil. 'Thank you." Tossing it back, it was the work of seconds for her to chew and then swallow it. Both of them sat there enjoying the chocolate for the next little while before Niiyodo spoke up. "Um, Harry-Chan... can I ask you something?"

Confused, Harry looked over at her as he tried to decide if he would save the rest of his portion of the chocolate for later, or eat more now. "Sure."

Taking a deep breath, Niiyodo tried to ignore the burn in her cheeks. "Since you said that I did a good job, could you... pat my head?"

For a second or two, Harry just blinked before he smiled and nodded. "I can do that." Reaching over, he ruffled her hair which made her close her eyes and smile. "Hopefully next year will be just as awesome!"

Niiyodo could only nod as she hummed. 'I hope so too.'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Knocking on the door, Maruyu glanced around before hearing a voice from inside. "Come on in."

After a moment of hesitation, the small Submarine pushed open the door. Having arrived back at Kure just a half hour earlier after leaving Yokosuka the day before once she saw Harry off, she had not been expected to be called over to the repair docks. While Yokosuka had Akashi, the docks at Kure had Asahi as their Repair Ship. For the most part, she was a good Repair Ship, except... when she was pissed off.

Maruyu felt a shiver run up her back at the memory of one time that Aso showed up badly hurt because she picked a fight with a drunk American shipgirl. The fact that both had to go to the docks only pissed Asahi even more off. And to Maruyu, the sight of the normally calm and jovial Battleship conversion ripping into the two with a Scottish accent was utterly terrifying.

Was it any wonder that upon being told she was to report to the Docks that she was slightly frightened? "U-uh, Asahi-San... you, um... wanted to see me?"

Smiling, the Repair Ship nodded and waved for her to come on over. "Yup, I have something for you over here."

Unsure, Maruyu tried to ignore the small amount of fear and made her way over only to blink at the sight of what looked like a bunch of scrap off to the side. "Um... What's that?"

Just blinking, Asahi blew some of her brown hair out of her eyes and then smiled. "That?" Getting a nod, she chuckled a bit. "That would be a Type 60 Self-Propelled 106mm Recoilless Rifle used by the JGSDF."

Part of her was amused as Maruyu forgot her fear and walked up, running a hand along sme of the wreckage. Internally, Maruyu could hear her crew making comments regarding it before she suddenly stopped and looked at the amused Repair Ship who just smirked at her. "Sorry..."

Chuckling, Asahi reached over and ruffled Maruyu's hair before gesturing with her fingers towards the paper on her desk. "You know... Akashi mentioned to me that you've been asking around about weapons for yourself. You could have asked me."

Her cheeks red, Maruyu glanced around as she played some with her fingers. "I... didn't want to bother you..."

All Asahi did was hum at that before shrugging. "If that's what you want to say. Anyways... she mentioned it to me and I think that I got something for you."

Now looking over the plans in front of her, Maruyu blinked a little bit in confusion. "Um... what is this?"

Grinning, Asahi clapped a hand down onto the small Submarine's shoulder, nearly staggering her. "This here is what I like to call the Super Shotgun." At the look, Asahi shrugged. "I saw Naka play that game, DOOM, and liked the weapon. Anyways..." She then pointed at the wrecked vehicle. "The JGSDF was going to just get rid of it, but I got to work. That wizard friend of yours... can he expand space?"

Confused, Maruyu shook her head. "Not yet... but he knows people that can, why?"

Asahi smirked and brought one finger down to the back of what looked like an oversized shotgun if the measurements were right. "If he can, we can attach a metal box right here and expand the inside, which means that it'll contain all the recoil, especially with the vents at the top. Basically? It would let you be able to use what amounts to two four inch cannons at once, ain't one of those Abyssal Q-ships that will be able to shrug off one of those hits without hurting, especially with the new filler that Yuubari came up with."

Frowning, Maruyu did some calculations and then blinked. "And I would be able to use it?"

In response, Asahi pointed. "Got a mockup right over there, go ahead and give it a try."

Eyebrows raising, Maruyu walked over and then grabbed the mockup which was made of steel. Then she lifted it up and put it against her shoulder as she steadied it with one hand. It would have looked comical to anyone who did not realize just how dangerous it was. After a few seconds, she slowly put it down with a nod. "Okay... it might work."

Only snorting in response, Asahi shook her head. "Might work, she says..."
_____________________________________________________________________________

Packing up his school supplies, Harry gave a look to where Quirrel was slumping in his seat. For some odd reason, since he got back, the teacher seemed to be utterly exhausted all the time. Shaking his head, he fellowed his friends out the door with a frown on his face. "Do any of you know what's up with Professor Quirrel?"

With a frown on his face, Ron scratched his hair. "What about him?"

Harry only looked at him in disbelief. "Considering how tired he's been looking?"

Now it was Hermione's turn to frown a little bit. "I wonder if it has to do with the Philosopher's Stone? It's got to be plenty stressful keeping guard over it after all."

Slowly, Harry shook his head. "But none of the other teachers seem as tired."

It was brought up again at lunch only George and Fred perked up. "Quirrel you say?"

Turning towards them, Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yeah... do you know something?"

Just frowning, Fred turned towards George and hummed. "Do we know something, George my dear brother?"

With a slow shake of his head, George tapped his chin. "Now that is a good question, Fred."

His brother then nodded. "We know many things."

George barely kept the amusement off his face, but continued. "Many, many things."

Across the table, Katie snorted. "And what you don't know could fill Hogwarts."

Wincing an clutching at his chest, Fred let out a gasp before grabbing George with his free hand, his brother mirroring his movements. "You wound us deeply!"

In reply, Katie rolled her eyes and then turned back to her lunch.

Meanwhile, Harry frowned and gave them a narrowed eyed look. "Okay, so what do you know about Professor Quirrel."

Sharing a grin, Fred leaned towards him. "Well, both George and myself were in the dungeons the other day, you see."

Beside him, George nodded. "Completely going about our business innocently."

Percy grunted a little bit. "Bullshit."

Holding up his hands, Fred smirked. "We were, we were... anyways, we were passing Snape's office at the time while we held a box we were using for a delivery to the Slytherins. They did ask us for it after all."

Simply nodding, George grinned. "And they did so appreciate our delivery of it."

At their looks, Fred continued his story. "So, here we are, two innocent angels just outside of Snape's door when we hear him talking to Quirrel. It seems that our dear Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher needed a little pick me up in the form of potions and had gone to Snape for them. He was not pleased and asked how long he had been tired."
Nodding, George shrugged. "Apparently since four days before the end of Easter Break."

For some odd reason, that tickled Harry's memory, but he wasn't sure how or why that was. Eventually, he finally just shrugged it off with a frown. "Hopefully he starts feeling better soon."

He would have said more, but Hedwig landed at right that moment and delivered a letter. Taking it, Harry quickly looked it over and then handed it to Hermione. "I'm going to go and get Shiromizu, I'll meet you there."

Despite the looks, Harry didn't say anything and several minutes later, he was walking towards Hagrid's cabin with Shiromizu grumbling. "{It's too cold out here.}"

More then a little amused, Harry looked down at her. "{It's Scotland and it's only late April, of course it would be cold outside.}" He then tightened his cloak a little more. "{Still, I cannot wait for spring to arrive fully.}"

That got him a bob of the head from Shiromizu before they reached Hagrid's hut. Knocking, they waited a few seconds before Hagrid opened the door and looked around. Quickly, he gestured Harry inside. "Come in, come in." Once they were inside, he shut the door and rubbed his hands together as he made his way over to where the egg sat on the table. "Almost time fer it ter hatch."

Her tongue flicking out, Shiromizu poked her head out of Harry's collar and examined the egg closely. "{Seeing a dragon hatch... this is rather exciting, isn't it?}"

All Harry did was reach into his pocket. "{Yeah, it is.}"

Seeing him pull out his phone out of an odd case, Hagrid blinked. "What are yeh doing, 'Arry?"

Just rubbing the back of his head, Harry gave a weak chuckle. "You said that I could record the dragon hatching, remember? Not every day that one gets to see something like that after all."

Blinking, Hagrid suddenly nodded. "Ah, tha's right. Didn' think tha' yeh would be able to though... Ah, well, nothin' fer it." Suddenly, the egg cracked and he leaned down. "An here he comes..."

It took several minutes, but eventually a head poked out before the egg fell apart as the little dragon gave a small roar. It locked onto Shiromizu and froze a little as she examined it with her red eyes. 'Interesting...'

Then Hagrid stroked it's head and it nipped the finger before breathing a jet of flame that nearly caught his beard on fire. Putting it out though, he just laughed. "Yeh see that? 'E already knows who 'is mommy is, 'e does."

Shiromizu froze a bit as she flicked her tongue out and then did it a few more times. 'Wait...' Her version of an amused expression crossed her face as she continued to smell the air and ignore the conversation going on. 'I wonder if I should mention that it's a female, not a male...' After a few seconds though, she shook her head. 'No, it'll be more amusing not to I think.' Turning her full attention back to the dragon, she hissed. "{Welcome to the world, Little One.}"

Eyes narrowed, the dragon gave a small growl and backed away somewhat, much to Shiromizu's amusement.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Groaning, Harry set his head down onto the table. "We got to do something about this."

Across from his, Neville looked up from his book on herbology with a frown. "You mean about Hagrid's... pet?" Getting a nod, he shifted a little bit, obviously uncomfortable. "W-well... it's not like we haven't tried..."

Simply grimacing, Harry just stared off at the windows. "Yeah, but still... he's a friend and if he gets caught by the wrong people..."

Ron just continued to tap his quill's tip against the edge of the inkpot. "Mate, we've tried everything to convince him and he still does not want to give up Norbert."

Biting her lip, Hermione chewed it as some of her crew talked and tried to come up with an idea. "There does have to be a way to protect him against himself." Suddenly, she blinked as one of her officers spoke up. "Uh, Ron? Just to confirm something but... having a dragon's egg is really, really bad, right?"

Not sure where she might be going with this, Ron snorted a bit. "That's putting it lightly, Hermione. Getting caught with one would be a lengthy prison sentence."

Her next words though caused her all to turn to her with wide eyes. "Then why would someone bring it to a pub and then bring it out during a card game?"

Eyes slowly widening, Neville boggled at her. "Uh..."

Harry through turned to Ron who was furrowing his eyebrows. "Ron... would anyone else know about Hagrid wanting a dragon?"

Very slowly, Ron nodded some. "Yeah... I asked Percy about Hagrid and dangerous animals and he snorted. Apparently everyone knows he loves them and he mentioned that Hagrid has wanted a dragon for a long time. From what Percy says anyways."

Leaning back, two words passed Hermione's lips that no one had expected. "Oh... shit."

Wide eyed, Neville boggled at her as he had never heard her curse before. In fact, she usually went after Ron when he did so. "Hermione?"

Quickly looking around, Hermione leaned in with a grimace. "Guys... I think that this is a trap for Hagrid and Dumbledore!"

Confused, Harry crossed his arms and frowned a little bit. "Okay... not to say that you're wrong or anything, but how would this be a trap for Dumbledore?"

Placing a hand onto the table, Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay, you know how I've been reading the Daily Prophet and other newspapers, right?" At their nods she continued. "Well, going by what has been written, it's starting to make a lot of sense."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Harry frowned as he tried to see where she was coming from. Even for a shipgirl this was confusing. "Hermione, I read those papers too. But I can't see how you would be seeing a trap there."

Taking a deep breath, Hermione shook her head. "Guys, going by the papers, there's a lot of people who have issues with how Dumbledore has been moving politically. Some keep trying to push in the other direction, right?"

Slowly, Neville nodded. "Gran told me about some of that. According to her there's several factions that want to do something about the war but... Dumbledore wants to support the muggles and others want to either pull away, put in laws to severally punish anyone who helps and anyone who ignores such, and another who... wants to take action against the Muggles."

Neither Hermione nor Harry needed clarification on that from OpEds that they had read. Some of which had caused Harry to nearly lose it from what he had read about shipgirls. And from the way that Ron was going red and nodding, so did he. "Okay, so what does this have to do with a dragon?"

For several moments Hermione was quiet before she whispered to them. "What would happen if someone caught Hagrid in a few months with a dragon? Especially with every sign of him having raised it for months on school grounds?"

A hiss came from Neville before he groaned. "Nothing good at all. Because then that would go back on Dumbledore."

His eyes widening, Ron grimaced as he put his head onto the table. "He couldn't even argue that it was an egg he found as it's not a British species."

Face paling, Harry slowly turned towards Neville and Ron as the dots connected in his head. "Guys... how bad would it be?"

The look that they shared was more then answer enough before Neville answered. "Really, really bad. It might not be enough to knock him from his positions, but it would still hurt him a lot."

Banging his head onto the table, Harry grunted. "Dammit... which means that bad things might happen."

Just grimacing, Hermione shook her head. "We need to go to someone. Maybe one of the teachers..."

With a sigh, Harry straightened his back and looked at her. "But then they would probably head down themselves and confront Hagrid. Which might warn the person if they have someone watching... and Hagrid would know that we broke his trust."

Even as Ron and Neville began to brainstorm with Harry, Hermione closed her eyes deep in thought. That the outside, it looked like she was thinking. Internally though she was rushing through her corridors, sliding down ladders, and running along stairs. Finally, she reached a meeting room where several shadowy figures were. "Okay, I know that this is not normally what we would do but... I need some help in coming up with a plan."

Sharing what she knew was amused looks, the various Officers nodded before they sat down. Moments later, Hermione opened her eyes and Harry blinked at the look in them. "Hermione?"

Glancing at him, Hermione took a deep breath. "Guys? I have a plan but... I need to do it alone, do you trust me?"

Only raising an eyebrow, Ron looked at the others and shrugged. "Sure."

Relieved, she let out her breath and shakingly smiles. "Just... give me a few days, that's all I need."

That only got her nods from the others. A few days later on his morning run, Harry blinked as he noticed Hermione leaving the castle. "That's... odd."

Beside him, Myrtle blinked from where she was floating in utter confusion. "I wonder where she is going."

Sharing a look, they headed for a nearby window and watched as Hermione jogged towards the shore of the Black Lake before vanishing down the staircase that Harry knew headed for the underground cove where the boats were tied up. "Hmm..."

Myrtle frowned before she shuddered slightly a few seconds later. Then she narrowed her eyes as the dense, early morning fog shifted in the lake as if something large was moving through it. "Is she...?"

Knowing from earlier conversations that Myrtle knew the truth about Hermione, an amused Harry raised an eyebrow. "Going for an early morning cruise? It looks like it."

Just shaking his head, Harry resumed his run as Myrtle became thoughtful. "I wonder why though..."

All Harry did though was hum thoughtfully. "I wonder..."

Even when Myrtle looked at him, he didn't say anything more and instead turned to stories regarding the family members that Myrtle had known.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Hands in her pocket, Hermione frowned a little bit before checking the watch on her wrist as she stood in her rigging on top of the water. 'I wonder where-'

Suddenly, her thoughts were broken as the water practically exploded in front of her as Upholder rose up out of the water with a sword in her hand. "HUZZAH! IT IS I, THE EVER CHIVEROUS UPHOLDER, LADY HERMIONE, MOST BEAUTIFUL SINCE TROY!"

There was an unimpressed look on Hermione's face, though she raised an eyebrow as she caught what Upholder was on. "... Where did you find a hippocampus?"

All the Subgirl did though was grin. "IT WAS TRULY A-"

Before she got much further, Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth. "Softer please, I'm trying not to get caught out here you know."

Just blinking, Upholder gave a thumbs up before nodding. Once the hand was retracted, she took a deep breath and let it out. "As I was saying, my Lady Hermione, tis' was from an adventure most amazing under the sea! Full of intrigue, mystery, and action! But for that, I have gotten my most trusted steed, Salmon!"

Looking at the hippocampus in question, Hermione noted it watching her right back. "I... see..." Then she frowned and shook her head. "It's a little big for our purpose..."

With a frown, Upholder blinked. "Eh... But Milady, tis not Salmon who we art using for our mission! In fact, Thrasher will be the one who will be involved!"

Hermione was about to ask when said Subgirl surfaced with a grin, though the water was foaming in front of her. "HUZZAH!"

She was shushed though by Upholder who held a finger to her lips. "Not so loud, my faithful companion and fellow underwater adventurer! Neigh! The Lady Hermione, who's beauty outshines the very sun, wishes for us to keep her identity a secret."

Eyes slowly nodding, Thrasher grinned and winked. "Ah, I see, intriguing! And most sly and cunning of you!"

Only sighing, Hermione rubbed the side of her head. "Right... Anyways, I take it that you're the one with what's needed for the mission?"

Grinning, Thrasher nodded. "Of course! I have brought Scruffy for this!"

If anything, Hermione could only stare at the monster that Thrasher lifted from the lake. The creature looked like someone had somehow mixed a large dog and an otter, and then ramped up the aggressive aspects. Foam flew from it's lips as it growled and barked, trying to get away from the Subgirl that held it. "..."

A smile on her face, Upholder reached over and patted it on the head. "Scruffy is a very good boy! And perfect for the mission that you have given us!"

Just watching as it tried it's best to tear off Upholder's hand, Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I... see. And what exactly is Scruffy?"

Glancing at Upholder who only shrugged as Scruffy chewed her hand, Thrasher smiled. "Tis a Dobhar-chú!"

For several moments there was silence before Hermione took a deep breath. Massaging her nose, she held back from twitching. "A... Dobhar-chú..."

Thrasher nodded with her smiling. "That's right!"

Her headache increashing, Hermione continued. "As in... the vicious water monster of Irish folklore that killed numerous people? And would also chase them across land in an attempt to rip them limb from limb and feast upon their remains? That even wizards and witches are weary of?"

Sharply nodding, Upholder grinned. "Indeed! Our Lady of the Knowledge once more proves that her mind is sharper then a tack!"

Meanwhile, Thrasher rubbed her face agains the Dobhar-chú. "But worry not, Scruffy is a most loving pet!"

Watching as it was now trying to chew Thrasher's face off, Hermione looked up at the sky with a blank expression. '... Why me?' Quickly shaking it off, she sighed a little bit. 'Then again, Hagrid will love it.' Clearing her throat, Hermione caught their attention, though Upholder suddenly stopping from where she was bouncing in her saddle was rather distracting before Hermione dismissed it. "Right, so I'll be leading you to where Victory will be waiting with the Headmaster."

Hand shooting into the air, Upholder only nodded. "Very well! Lead us onward our lovely navigator of the seas! Who even Posoidon would be proud to call a daughter!"

Only rolling her eyes, Hermione sighed. "Anyways... Victory will lead you and your... pet... to Hagrid's hut. The story being that you brought Scruffy to Victory to see if there was anyone who could check him, she mentioned it to Dumbledore who decided to bring it to Hagrid who has practical knowledge of dangerous animals. Once there... he'll work to get you inside, and try your best to 'Reveal' the dragon hatchling."

Saluting her, Upholder grinned with the early morning sun sparkling off her teeth. "Worry not, our lovely lady upon the waters, for we shall do our upmost to make this mission a success! Huzzah!"

All Hermione could do was shake her head at that and say a small prayer for Hagrid.

It was fifteen minutes later that there was a knock at Hagrid's door and he opened it some to reveal Dumbledore standing there with Victory and two very developed teens in swimsuits who were still dripping water. "... 'Eadmaster?"

With a small smile on his face, Dumbledore chuckled some. "Ah, Hagrid. I'm sorry to bother you on this lovely Saturday morning, but these young women had an issue that I felt you the best at solving. It seems that one of the Submarines under Victory has come across an animal that they need to be looked at."

Victory only tilted her head at the slavering beast one of the teens were holding which was nearly as big as her. For a moment, Hagrid's eyes widened some. "A Dobhar-chú..."

However, a moment later he paled some as Dumbledore gestured at the door. "May we come inside to talk?"

Nervous, Hagrid looked around. "Uh, I don't know if tha's a good idea, 'Eadmaster... Th' hut's a bit dirty at the moment and I'd need to clean it up-"

Suddenly, Upholder leapt forward. "Worry not our tall friend! A little bit of dust and grim bother us not!" Before Hagrid could do anything, Upholder was inside and out of the corner of her eye spied what they were there for and pointed. "And what is this!? A fire breathing dragon ready to face a knight? HUZZAH!"

As he slowly blinked, Dumbledore turned and gave Hagrid a look over his glasses as he heard the growls and hisses from inside. "Hagrid..."

Wincing a bit, Hagrid chuckled weakly. "Um... I always wanted a dragon...?"