A/N: This was originally an introductory chapter but ended being expanded into a full blown 7-part introductory arc. They'll be posted on a regular basis every week.

A Few Years Later, 1926

Tōgō sat down and sighed, giving his legs some much needed rest. His age was catching up to him much faster than he had expected.

Not that it really mattered, for in the moment he had the most scenic view. A forest of young trees neatly outlined the leftmost extremes of the plaza he sat in, and the blue waters of Tokyo Bay his right.

Of course, neither of the two was the reason why he had made an effort to travel to Yokosuka this morning.

"You must be quite proud. Mikasa served the nation with honor, if I say so myself," the officer beside him commented as the two of them watched a procession of children march by to the tune of "Kimigayo."

"Indeed," he returned quietly. "I am sure that Mikasa would be quite proud to know that the public she fought to protect is celebrating her grand opening as a memorial ship today."

"You talk as if these ships are human, Tōgō," the officer laughed, "though I am glad that the pre-dreadnought has become a part of the National Spirit. With our future so uncertain, it is good to have something to remind us of the importance of perseverance."

The Marquis didn't respond to the officer's remarks. There was a clear generational gap between Isoroku and himself, in spite of the two sharing a service record at Tsushima Strait. The young officer had taken an educational tour in the United States rather than Britain, and unlike Tōgō had also been a vocal and open proponent for the Washington Naval Treaty.

He pictured Mikasa's face if she heard Isoroku's remarks, even if they were on something as harmless as English culture, and started chuckling uncontrollably.

"Something funny?" Isoroku inquired curiously.

"Nothing," the Admiral responded, wiping a tear from his eye as he reminded himself that the officer was completely unaware of the spirits housed with the Navy's steel hulls.

"Ah," he nodded. "That reminds me, would you be up for a game of Shogi?"

"You brought a board?"

Tōgō glanced at the battleship one last time as Isoroku began setting up the pieces. He hadn't seen Mikasa at all amongst the crowd that gathered along her deck that day, but decided not to worry. He was sure that one day they would meet again.

The Homecoming

Many Years Later...

For many residents of Yokosuka, wintertime was a mixed blessing. On one hand, the cold weather and poor domestic insulation meant that it was the perfect time to laze about within the safety of the household kotatsu. On the other hand, it made staying outside for prolonged periods of time extremely uncomfortable.

Fast battleship Kongō, the resident dessboat of Yokosuka Naval Base, was discovering this extremely inconvenient fact. Under normal circumstances, kanmusu such as herself, as the reincarnated spirits of their old seafaring forms, would pay little attention to the inclement weather. Though physically they strikingly resembled the humans they had sworn to protect, internally they were still pure machinery, relying on the efficiency of their equipment and fairy crews to function. This meant that her eleven water-tube boilers were burning quite nicely, emitting enough warmth that wearing a jacket was rather redundant.

Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same about the precious cargo she was carrying.

"Shit!" she swore as a probing poke at the thermos revealed that its contents were quite tepid. As a fast battleship, she had several options available at her disposal. The first was to run back to base, warm up the thermos's contents, re-secure the thermos in a well-insulated carton for better heat retention, and restart her journey. The second was to find a local resident or shopkeeper and ask them to warm it up for her. The third was to cram it in her engine room where it could be kept boiling hot guaranteed until arrival.

As practical as the first and second choices were, she rejected them. It was an extremely rare event that something catastrophic was not happening on base, and the last thing she needed was witnessing a rage-inducing event that ruined her day. Besides, it would be incredibly inconvenient having to walk all the way to the base's mess when there were closer options. Even though it would be easy to simply knock on one of the many doors lining the streets surrounding her, she really wasn't in the mood for idle conversation either.

She tapped the side of her head and a fairy scurried out. At the casual wave of her thermos-carrying left hand, said fairy grabbed the metallic canister, clambered over her radar headset, and promptly scurried back through Kongō's ear. It would be slightly inconvenient manner of warming the tea housed within the thermos, but she would arrive on time for tea.

This wasn't just any tea time, it wastea time. More specifically, this tea time was held without all the fanfare and discussion she normally gave tea time on base. With the abyssals relenting to regroup after their major losses in the Autumn Campaign and Goto away on a very important mission on Hokkaido, this was prime time to talk to a very important person, a person that she hadn't talked to in decades.

"I've arrived!" she cooed in delight as her destination loomed into view. Mikasa Park was usually teeming with visitors, but it was closed to the general public until springtime. Not that Kongō was particularly upset by that revelation; it meant that she had the entire park to herself.

Well, to herself and a certain pre-dreadnought who lent the park its name.

"Heeeeyyyyy!"

Make that just an energetic fast battleship in an empty park.

"Heeyyyy…" she called out less confidently as only the sound of Tokyo Bay and the howling winter winds answered her.

At that moment a fairy tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs up. Her tea was nice and hot, perfect for teatime. The fast battleship's eyes lit up. She had almost forgotten the special gambit up her sleeve. This time, she wouldn't lose!

"Hey, Mikasa-san! I brought black tea!" The thermos danced tauntingly before the grey-clad battleship looming ominously yet silently over the park. Much to Kongō's frustration, no matter how silly and persuasively she swung the prized English drink about, she received no response. Not even a dramatic rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest (featuring quality "English" accents) drew anything more than a soft groan of the pre-dreadnought's hull straining under the present weather conditions.

Kongō sighed in defeat. All she wanted was to share a cuppa with her old mentor; surely that wasn't too much to ask?

She consoled herself with the prospect of at least snacking with the pre-dreadnought. True, it would be far less engaging than conversing with her personally, like they had shortly before Mikasa's memorialization, but Kongō knew deep down inside that the battleship would be listening whether she liked it or not. It was now time to punish her tutor for her spiritual absence.

"Mikasa-san! If you don't come out now, the party's going to start without you~!"

And start the party did. It was an event fit for the Queen herself. First came the famed Yokosuka tea table built from English oak, complete with matching chairs, which she conveniently placed to the port side of the battleship. From there her fairies worked like clockwork to produce plate after plate of scones and sandwiches. Finally, her officers proudly presented their Anglo-Japanese masterpiece: Kongō's prized tea set. She had many tea sets set aside for that purpose (in case someone was careless enough to disturb her teatime), but this one was designated for use only when she snacked with Admiral Goto. No doubt her commander would forgive her for her indiscretion on this occasion.

The teapot gave a shrill cry as it distributed its contents into two awaiting porcelain cups (she was no savage, she had poured the tea from the thermos into the teapot first of course!), which Kongō placed at either end of the table. After giving the opposing teacup a cheerful clink, she dug into her midday snack.

"If you only you knew what you were missing out on, dess!" she said, winking at the vacant chair. "Hiei finally learned how to cook!" At this exclamation she put a thoughtful finger on her chin. "Maybe it was because Kirishima was around to supervise her…"

"...and so she passed out like a light! Poor Hayasui, she should have known that trying to outdrink the little destroyer so quickly would have done her in!"

"I must confess, that does sound like a recipe for disaster."

Kongō whirled about so quickly she nearly sent the table and its remaining contents onto the floor. Much to the fast battleship's disappointment, it was not the pre-dreadnought that she desired to converse with but a young bright-eyed JMSDF officer, her black hair tidied neatly in a bun beneath the brim of her black cap.

"Forgive me for disturbing you, but I overheard your storytelling and couldn't resist chiming in."

"No problem," she replied cheerfully, beckoning to the vacant seat opposite her. Internally, Kongō was slightly irritated that her plans had been interrupted, but it was nice to have company that was willing to talk.

"May I?" The officer pointed at an upset sandwich to which Kongō nodded. Without further ado she began nibbling on her small meal.

"What brings a shrine maiden such as yourself to Mikasa Park?"

It took a great amount of effort for Kongō not to cast the newcomer an incredulous look. For better or for worse, the Kongō sisters were well-known throughout the JMSDF for their special sense of dress, to say nothing of their frequent deployment and success against the Abyssals. That she was not recognized instantly was most…unusual to say the least. Then again, her party crasher was probably fresh out of the academy. The officer lacked the jaded expression of her veteran counterparts and was extremely approachable.

"Oh, just paying my respects to my teacher."

Unlike Kongō, the officer was unable to restrain her own disbelief.

"T-t-teacher?!" she spluttered, before immediately returning to a more passive expression. "Ah, he served aboard the Mikasa at some point?"

"I guess you could say that," Kongō replied, unwilling to give an explanation now about the former and current lives of kanmusu to a person oblivious to their very existence. "She-he-was quite the cosmopolite," she remarked, giving the officer her best British impression, "and incredibly patient and wise."

"All of which are sterling values," the officer nodded in approval. "I suppose I should give my own reasons for coming," she sighed as the fast battleship looked at her expectantly, "especially since you clearly had a noble reason and were courteous enough to share." Without further ado a well-disguised crutch unceremoniously smacked itself against the table.

"Before this… present trouble on the seas began, I was diagnosed with a terminal condition which required a life-saving operation. Unfortunately, when I came to, I was told I could never walk again," she laughed dryly. "Personally, I'm grateful for the procedure, but sometimes I find myself wishing I could move under my own power. That's why I've been practicing with these," bringing up the crutch's counterpart, "as well as coming here. You know the story of the Mikasa, no doubt?"

"WHAT IS THAT RUBBISH?" Fuji roared.

"Ah, oh dear, my ears," Asahi cradled her head.

"A little softer and a little smoother," Mikasa corrected, shutting her right eye in mild annoyance. "Your English sounds like the spawn of a drunken Scotsman and the former American president at the moment."

"But 'Teddy has such a charismatic voice!" she wailed. "And the Scottish sound charming!"

"Former President Theodore Roosevelt," Mikasa chided her. "Don't ever let Connecticut hear you call him 'Teddy. Besides, that's not the English way," she tutted, taking pause momentarily to pour the two of them another cuppa. "Victoria or King Edward's the ticket."

Kongō nodded, resisting the urge to frantically shake the officer's head and shout, "She studied every commander in the world, schooled me in English literature, and even tried teaching me English before she left the navy! I know more about her than you will ever know!"

"Well," the officer smiled, "then you can understand how I have hope. No matter what the odds, it can be done."

There was a momentary pause as each processed the other's statements, or in Kongō's case…

"It's…dusk?" she croaked as light from the setting sun temporarily blinded her vision.

Then it hit her. She had been gone for hours. Admiral Goto would be returning from his trip later that night, and if something had happened in her absence…

"I must go now," Kongō burst out, hurriedly packing her belongings. "Forgive me for cutting our conversation short."

"No problem," the officer replied serenely, giving her a halting salute. "Until we meet again."

Much to her relief, the base was still visibly in one piece upon her approach. The absence of smoking buildings and terrified screaming reinforced her notion that for once the base could get its act together and avoid a surprise enemy attack on the same day.

Of course, she hadn't considered an errant Ryūsei dead-set on a collision course with her forehead as part of her final judgement.

"PULL UP!" came an angry roar from the distant archery dojo where the carrier shipgirls practiced launching and receiving aircraft.

"I AM, IDIOT!" With barely a wing's length to spare, the torpedo bomber successfully cleared her face, though not before two Zeroes passed over and made obscene gestures at the pilot as well.

"Spoken not a moment too soon," Kongō groaned before chasing after the three aircraft. Maybe she could beat Ōyodo to it before the cruiser had to dig into Goto's medication stash…

Unfortunately, the fates decided that such was not to be the case. By the time she arrived there was already a small crowd surrounding the facility. In the center was a red-faced carrier giving her green-clad opponent the most brutal verbal beating of her life, her side ponytail shaking in anger at every word.

"I asked you to torpedo the buoy 10 kilometers out, and you call missing the target with every torpedo bomber a 'SUCCESS'?"

Kongō wordlessly slipped beside Ōyodo and Nagato, who was acting as interim admiral in Goto's absence.

"It's not too serious," Yokosuka's fleet secretary remarked, nodding in acknowledgement as the fast battleship approached. "Most of us are here because we never knew Kaga could get so loud when she's upset."

"To be fair, she has every right to be," Nagato frowned. "If the Unryū carriers can't get their act together soon, we'll be at a serious disadvantage come spring. Rumor has it that the Pacific nations have been encouraged by our success last fall, and plan to launch a joint offensive on all fronts. However, if we don't have air superiority…"

"It's going to be a mess," Kongō finished. "What about the others?"

"Aw, jeez, don't even talk about them," burst in Ryūjo. "Unryū's pilots can take off and land, but they're extremely careless. If Akizuki hadn't been intentionally missin', they would'a been completely wiped out. Amagi only passed because Akagi was the one judging 'er, and ya know why she's a big softie for 'er."

"Maybe, just maybe, if you tried using THESE aircraft instead of your obsolete, shitty Nakaj-"

SMACK!

Kaga lowered her hand. "A mistake is a mistake, don't blame the aircraft. I am not training you to be my equal, I am training you to be my superior. You were intended to replace me in the war, but as of now I can run circles around you. For every abyssal carrier we sink, there is one who gets away. What will you do when that runaway attacks you? Your planes could easily blow them out of the sky, but she will know that and use her experience to outmaneuver you." She turned to the other two downcast carriers. "You have three still have much to learn before you are even remotely battle ready. Dismissed."

"So it's true then, dess?" Kongō asked incredulously as she affectionately massaged Goto's back. "The Americans-"

"The Americans will attempt to push south from Alaska and west from Hawaii," he grunted in affirmation. "New Jersey will lead the southern push and Missouri the western one. Admiral Yorimitsu will lead the fleet gathered at Ōminato north on a mop-up operation so that the southern push faces little resistance. Meanwhile, in conjunction with the other three naval bases we'll sail south to help relieve supply lines we were able to open up through earlier joint operations. Finally, the RAN, the PLAN, the PN, the ROKN, and the ROCN have all pledged some support, although since they haven't had any success summoning shipgirls they'll pretty much only be token support. Oh, and supposedly the Germans, French, British, and Russians all have volunteers for an expedition, but if they have any shipgirls to spare they won't arrive until the very end. But enough about tactics. How was base while I was away?"

"Everything's shipshape!"

"No Iku attacks?"

"Nope!"

"No destroyers experimenting with what-if proposals?"

"Nope~!"

"And I assume that everyone else not mentioned didn't do anything that requires me to take my medication?"

"Yeeepp~!"

"So then, how was your day?"

"Excellent, dess!"

The admiral gave a frown.

"Nooo, not like that! I missed you too, Admiral!"

"I'm glad you had so much fun without me," he commented, still pretending to be hurt. "So, what have you been up to the past few days?"

"I reread the book-"

"I'm going to have to remind Ōyodo to hide all of your British paraphernalia while I'm away."

"Had a most splendid tea party-"

"Nothing new."

"And visited Mikasa-san!"

"…Or in other words, had a three hour conversation with yourself."

"Hey," she pouted, "that's not true!"

Goto sighed. "Every time you've visited her in the past it's the same story. You try and draw her out with tea and crumpets, you get no response, and so you end up spending the rest of the day gossiping about events on base under the assumption she's listening!"

"But Admiraaallll, someone came this time!"

"Whaaaaaaa-"

"It was..." Kongō paused dramatically. "A JMSDF Officer! Gotcha, dess!" she giggled as Goto desperately tried to look like he hadn't fallen for her bluff.

"I'm pretty sure you were just imagining it, dear," he chuckled.

"Nope~! She even showed me her crutches-"

Goto sprung up from the bed so fast he almost lifted his ship-girlfriend off the sheets.

"Crutches?" He frowned. "I know I still haven't gotten to know everyone at Yokosuka since the personnel rosters were reassigned, but I don't remember anyone being in crutches. Maybe she's an incoming cadet this spring…"

"That's what I thought too," Kongō added quietly. "Ah well, we'll find out soon!"

"Indeed." At that moment Admiral Goto gave off a violent yawn. "I say we call it a night. We've both had a long day."

Within minutes both of them were snuggled cozily in the bed they shared. The admiral, exhausted from his long trip, was fast asleep, but Kongō was restless. The more she thought about the JMSDF officer's story, the less it made sense.

But what was unusual about it? Was it the fact that she was too proud to use prosthetic limbs when she clearly was eligible for them? Or that she was still in the JMSDF in spite of her operation that rendered her utterly useless for maritime duties? All of those could easily be explained as having the right connections and simply having the ego of a certain aircraft carrier. No, from the soles of her boots to the tip of her cap-

Wait a moment.

Wordlessly the fast battleship slipped out of bed and headed towards Goto's coatrack. She fumbled about in the dark as quietly as she could before seizing the objection in question. Just as stealthily, she turned on a small light beside the bed.

"Just as I thought," she muttered.

In her hands, was Goto's JMSDF cap.

It was white.

She sat quietly on the deck, cradling the bloodied head of a blonde woman like a baby.

"Hey," she whispered softly, lifting her canteen to the woman's mouth. "Have a drink."

The woman's eyes widened and narrowed, glancing at the canteen fearfully as it was poisoned.

She sent the woman a pleading look, to which the blonde finally gave in and began slurping down its contents.

"I know you won't be able to understand what I'm saying nor do I expect you to. I simply want you to be at peace. We are more alike than you think; we just happened to be on opposing sides. I know you would have done the same that I did were the roles reversed."

At least, that's what she hoped. There was something gnawing deep within her, something that almost overrode her pity for her defeated opponent…

Anger. Hatred. Vengeance.

There were footsteps approaching from behind her.

"It's no use," he said quietly. "A lieutenant was able to converse with the crew. Her pumps are shot, and she's holed below the waterline in far too many replaces than what the damage control crews can repair on short notice."

A yank on her hair brought her attention back to the blonde woman.

"Spasibo," she croaked, before coughing up a pool of blood.

Except it wasn't blood, but some ominous black mass. In the blink of an eye it washed over the woman's face, turning her blue eyes red and giving her already-pale skin a blanched pallor.

Even worse, it seemed to reinvigorate the woman, who suddenly stood up and placed her into a chokehold, slamming her hard into the deck.

[YOOOOUUUUUU,] she cackled, delighting at her futile attempts to escape her grasp. [YOUUUUUUU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME A SECOND TIME.]

The…woman…if such a monstrosity could be called that, turned a leery gaze towards the officer who had been brave enough to stand his ground after witnessing the carnage unfold on deck.

She could only watch in horror as a whip-like extension emerged from the woman's face and smashed him into oblivion for his bravery, leaving no memory of his existence. Encouraged by its success, several more whips emerged, eagerly seeking more targets. They quickly found their objectives, slithering onto the bridge where terrified screaming ensued.

[FIRST, I WILL KILL YOUR COMMANDERS, THEN YOUR CREW. TRY AND PROTECT THEM, IF YOU DARE. YOUUUU KNOW YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO LET THEM SEE ANOTHER MINUTE. AND THEN AT LAST, I. SHALL. TRIUMPH!]

DING!

She sighed in relief as the sound of her own bell freed her from her nightmare.

Captain Hikojirō. Admiral Tōgō. All of them…

She crawled out from the cubby she had made beneath the bridge and onto to the deck. It would be impossible to sleep any further with such imagery deeply ingrained in her memory.

As much as she hated her dreams, Mikasa understood why she was having them. Her country's darkest hour was approaching once more, and she was being called upon to help. It was no coincidence, she mused as she fished in her pocket for the various newspapers she had collected, that the ongoing crisis on the seas was happening at the same time that she found herself energized enough to walk about once more.

Well, walk as well as a cripple could.

Decades without functional boilers and engines, which had been replaced with concrete as part of the terms of her memorialization, had taken a toll on her liveliness; there was only so much you could do when you were immobilized below the waist. Ever since she had been consigned to peaceful life, she spent most of her time napping. There were only two moments that really stood out to her.

The first was like a distant nightmare. She heard them screaming before she saw it. The bay around her was in flames, a raging inferno that made the nighttime sky look like broad daylight. Then, there was endless droning sound that resembled endless drilling. It was simply too much for her, and she blacked out before she could observe any further.

The second was a far more pleasant memory. She had awoken to the sounds of excited Japanese and unpolished English, an American accent if she recalled correctly, and being endlessly poked and prodded. Fortunately, their leader, an American officer, was kind enough to inform her for the reasons for their commotion: apparently she had some admirers in the United States who wanted to help restore her, and had thus worked an agreement out with the Japanese government to help pay for her refit. She greatly enjoyed their company and was sad to see them go, but she understood that as a museum ship she couldn't go anywhere even if she wanted to.

This brought her to the present situation. At first, she considered it happenstance that she had woken up one day and was unable to immediately fall back asleep, especially considering nothing was happening in or around the bay, but then days became months, and months, years.

And then came the dream. There was a woman with short black hair and slightly above-average in height, who was on her knees, begging for her to return. Several things struck her as odd about the woman, however. One, she wore a uniform unlike any she had seen in her time with the IJN, an imposter perhaps. Second of all, the woman promised that if the battleship followed her, she could help protect the country she once fought for.

As if she could in her present condition.

Mikasa angrily swung the air around her with her right arm. Nothing happened.

"So weak," she muttered.

"Who are you?"

"Your replacement," she answered, giving her umbrella a casual twirl. "Japan decided that it has no need for foreign-borns such as yourself. Look at my ten inch guns," she affectionately patted the turret beside her. "How can you expect to be so effective with that...armament you call guns?"

"Am I so out of practice that I cannot even accomplish this simple task?" she hissed. She took several more aimless swings, again to no effect. Why wasn't her own body responding to her commands?

"Can't you see the way of the future? It isn't you. Japan doesn't need you."

The battleship crumpled to the floor as she began to feel the pains of exerting herself to the limits.

"Port Arthur...The Yellow Sea...Tsushima...I may have only proved myself once, but isn't that good enough?!"

It's not working, and you know why, a voice inside her head whispered.

"Because I'm pathetic?" Mikasa laughed. Had had she really degenerated into such a simpleton? If only Yashima were here to see the great lengths she had to undertake to complete tasks that she had once did in a heartbeat...

You know why, it insisted.

As she closed her eyes in one final attempt, she immediately understood.

She was in range now. Her coincidence finders told her that the enemy was hardly more than six kilometers away. At this range, she couldn't miss.

"SIX THOUSAND METERS!" The officer shouted.

"SIX O'CLOCK!" The gunnery officer bellowed.

"SIX O'CLOCK!" The gunner called.

"FIRE!" A sailor waved a board before the crew arranged in her forward turret.

"FIRE!"

Creeeeaaaaakkkk

When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer standing exposed on the deck but within the shade of her forward turret. Though it had barely moved more than five degrees, it was five degrees more than anything she had done in…who knew how long.

A feeling of relief washed over her as she rolled over onto her back. She may be handicapped now, but she was still the same battleship she had been all those years ago. All it took was a bit of concentration and a very clear intention, and her metal hull would respond to her guidance. Even if she was a relic in this day and age, time could not take away her memories. With a little bit more practice, she bet she could even give a dreadnought a run for her money.

"At ease," the battleship murmured as the turret returned to its position.

Mikasa glanced out towards Tokyo Bay, watching the bright lights flicker and dance in the distance.

"You were wrong, Satsuma. It doesn't matter how old I am, or how obsolete I have become. Both of us were built to protect this country, and it is my duty to continue to protect it." She guiltily looked down at the nearly-untouched sandwich she had taken from interrupting the party earlier that afternoon.

"Shrine maiden, I do not know who you are, or who your mentor was, but I can tell you this: just as I vowed to lay down my life in the name of the nation when I first arrived in this world, I shall do the same now to protect the people of this country. This, I promise."

One day, she would be ready to answer the call.

One day, like that dreary night so long ago, Tokyo Bay would need assistance.

And one day, she would succeed in protecting the country she held dear to her.

She just didn't realize that that day would come sooner rather than later.