POV for this chapter is Murasame. I apologise to those of you who dislike changing points of view, but I feel it is necessary for what I'm going for. (Unless my goal changes, as it usually does). Enjoy if you can, if you can't, sorry.
After finding a nice, shady spot by the beach to set down our belongings, we made our way into the water. At first, the water had been freezing, but after a few minutes of paddling around it became nice enough to relax in.
I sprawl out on my back, letting the calm water lift me up as though I were weightless. An audible sigh escapes my lips as I close my eyes. This is heavenly.
Movement in the water, only a few feet away catches my attention. I sit up to find Harusame swimming over to me. As our eyes meet I'm forced to remember the terrible scene Harusame and I had stumbled across earlier.
Harusame hadn't said a word since finding Kisaragi in that state. When asked where she would like to put our things her only reply was a brief shrug of the shoulders. I couldn't blame her though, really. The scene was quite confronting. Even I am a little shaken by it.
Hopefully being at the beach will cause her to forget about it. To distract her, at least.
"How's the water.?" I ask.
Her eyes hang low, evading contact with me as she mumbles out her response. "I-It's.. a little cold."
"You'll get used to it if you swim around more."
"..I know that."
She turns her head to look out at the horizon and I can't help but wonder what she's thinking. Suddenly an idea hits me and my hands meet the water quicker than you can blink. Cupping my hands together, I scoop up as much water as I can before projecting it towards Harusame.
The water splashes against Harusame, causing her to blench. "What was that for?" She complains.
A laugh escapes me as I ready my hands again, "You let your guard down".
Her lips curve into a competitive smirk as she dips her hands into the water, "Well now, I'll just have to get you back, yes." She flips her hands up, causing the water to splash my face.
I chase after he as she quickly swims away, splashing water towards her as I go. We race around in the water, switching between swimming and hopping as we continue our water fight. The sea water didn't taste too good nor did it do either of us any good when splashed into our eyes, but we were having fun nonetheless.
As Harusame stopped briefly to rub her eyes I took the chance and closed the distance between us with one big jump, launching myself onto and wrapping my arms around her waist. She gave a small yelp in response as she turned to look at me over he shoulder. "What're you doing now.?" she laughs as she tries to pry free of my grip.
"I got you and this time I'm not letting go" I tease, standing up to rest my head on her shoulder.
"Jeez.. Come on, let go. Don't make me splash more water at you.."
"Hmm?" I pause briefly as I hug her tighter. Then it occurs to me just how small her body really is. She feels really fragile. "Hey, Harusame.. you could probably classify as a loli." I state, teasingly.
A bright blush covers her cheeks as she stares daggers at me, "Why were you looking..?"
"Huh?" I stare at her curiously for a few seconds before I understand what she meant. "Oh, I wasn't talking about that. I just meant you're actually pretty short.."
Her blush grows darker as she looks away and I can't help but feel blessed for how this turned out. Seriously, It couldn't have folded out any better. Well, maybe minus the Kisaragi scene.
"Jeez.. Who would have taken Harusame to be the perverted type.." I tease, blowing into her ear.
"I'm not.."
"Yeah, yeah. Gutter brain.."
She turns her head towards me, her cheeks still red. To my surprise, she doesn't seem all that angry, rather her look is.. meaningful.
I gulp as she continues to gaze into my eyes and I'm left feeling confused. However, A small sense of bravery overrides me as I begin leaning forward. I bring my hand up and take a hold of hers gently before her eyes close and our lips touch. The sense of familiarity surges through my body with warmth as I close my eyes too.
After about half a minute I slowly pull away, breaking the kiss. Our eyes meet again and my heart pounds in my chest before she turns away, blushing heavily. "You keep doing that.." She states shyly.
My heart sinks in my chest a little at her comment but I keep a straight face, "I've only done it twice." I jokingly state as I let her go. Though, it was true. We had only kissed twice and after the first one she had run off to chase Yuudachi, so we hadn't gotten to talk about it.. or us. "..Harusame, do you not like it.?" I ask.
Her expression turns crestfallen before someone calling out Harusame's name catches both of our attention. Yuudachi stands on the beach, waving for us to come over. Talk about deja vu.
We make our way from the water to where Yuudachi is on the beach. "Yuudachi, whats up?" I ask, drying myself off with my towel.
"Nagato asked for Harusame" she answers.
"Nagato..? Did I do something wrong?" Harusame asks in a panicked voice.
"No no. You're needed for a sortie. Something about escorting Carrier Group 5, Poi."
"Oh, I see. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys later then. Harusame is needed for escort, yes!" She states as she walks over to collect her belongings.
"Take care!" I call out as she rushes off for her sortie. Turning to face Yuudachi, I eye her curiously, "You aren't going with them, Yuudachi?" I ask.
She shakes her head in response before facing me, "If you aren't busy, mind if I join you, Poi?"
"Sure, I don't mind." I answer. We make our way over to where Harusame and I had had our stuff and spread out a towel for us to sit on. "It's not very often that you're away from Fubuki and Mutsuki, did something happen?"
"No, Mutsuki is with Kisaragi again and Fubuki went to have lunch with Amatsukaze and Tokitsukaze, Poi."
"Ah, I see. So you had no one else to hang out with.."
"It's not like that!.. I wanted to hang out with you and Harusame too. We're like always on separate sorties and we're also never in the same class, so this trip kind of feels like the best time to make up for that.."
A small chuckle escapes me as I nod in agreement, "Don't worry, I get it. It's just a shame that Shiratsuyu and the other couldn't come."
"Poi."
"Hmm.. Hey, Yuudachi.. Uh, never mind. You wouldn't have.."
"What is it?"
"Don't worry. I was just going to ask if you've ever liked anyone, but its you we're talking about. Of course you haven't."
"How rude poi!" She exclaims, crossing her arms.
"So you do like someone?"
Yuudachi turns away and lets out a sigh. "I already know where you're going with this. It's about Harusame, right?"
"Mm, yeah."
"Poi... Whatever you two do is up to both of you. Though.. If you're asking permission to be with Harusame, then I, as her older ship sister, allow it!"
"That's not exactly what I was getting at.. Besides, I'm older than the both of you."
"Only by like a year and one day!"
"Yeah, yeah.. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, I don't know what to do."
"What do you like mean by that poi?"
"..I don't even know myself. I guess, I'm not sure how she feels and that worries me, especially with everything going on at the moment."
"Just ask her."
"You think?"
"Poi!"
I lean my head on my knees as I breathe out a long breath, relaxing my shoulders. "Guess I will then.. Oh, how is Kisaragi by the way?"
"Well.. She's not exactly doing.. great.."
"I see.."
"Everyone else seems more concerned with the mission.. Who knows.. Maybe beating whatever this is will like help Kisaragi."
"Yeah, hopefully. Speaking of, I gather once the decision is made to advance that you'll be in the main fleet, yes?"
"Possibly.. It really depends. Why?"
"They've been shuffling the fleets around a lot lately. I know I'll remain on the defensive side.. but if they sortie Harusame to the main fleet, or as an escort.. I'm worried."
"Relax. Wherever she gets placed, I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Yuudachi's right, whoever you're worried about, I'm sure they'll be fine!" A voice calls out from behind. Yuudachi and I both spin around to find Sendai walking over to us. "Who is it you're worried about?" she asks.
"Do you usually sneak up on people like that?" I ask to which she just shrugs in response.
Sendai pushes through a few of the bushes before sitting down next to Yuudachi. "I wouldn't be too worried. The Admiral knows what they're doing." she states, giving us a friendly grin.
Yuudachi and I exchange a quick look before nodding in agreement. "Murasame is just paranoid.." Yuudachi claims and I can't help but feel like I'm being thrown under the bus a little here.
"Paranoid? what about?"
"Her new gir-" I quickly pinch Yuudachis arm before she can finish, "Everybody is paranoid!" I exclaim.
"That hurt poi..." she sulks.
The light cruiser leans back on her elbows, closing her eyes in annoyance. "Tell me about it. Kisaragi returning has put everyone on edge. Jintsuu wont stop going on and on about how 'we must be careful.' It's driving me crazy."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, even the Battleships and Carriers are unnerved." she pauses briefly before getting up, "Look, if you want to let one little thing scare you then go ahead. If you want someone to assuage you then go find Jintsuu or someone who'll comfort you, because I'm going to tell you to just keep powering on. Forget silly things like sinking, you can worry about that when the time comes, until then, get back up and keep fighting."
A big grin forms on her lips as her expression hardens, matching her fired up nature. "I guess you have a point.." I state, giving her a reassuring smile.
"...I hope I don't get scolded later for telling you guys that.."
"We'll keep it a secret in that case."
"Great. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I came here to collect Yuudachi, if that's okay."
"Are we sortieing poi?"
"Nah. Just need to do some equipment tests. Also.. Akashi had this whole hype about improving your stats too."
"I see.. Well, I'll see you later poi!" Yuudachi waves to me as she gets up to follow Sendai.
I return the wave as I say good bye to the both of them before watching them leave to the factory. Looking out at the ocean now, I let my head rest on my knees again. Sendai was right, yet I still feel uneasy. Perhaps it's because its Harusame? Who knows.
A/N: Feels like a good place to end that chapter.. I'm really sorry for the delay on this chapter, a lot of personal things popped up. Also, yes, I am aware I messed up the timeline of events which occur within the movie.. I wasn't expecting there to be this many chapters since I originally only wanted to make a one-shot but I feel like I am getting better at using different words. Imho. Now, next chapter might also take a while since 1. The Fall Event on KanColle has me pre-occupied and 2. I need to work on some more Nepnowa and DesDiv4 One-Shots x3 I'm also playing around with some Vocaloids now which is fun but hard... Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really had a lot of fun writing this one because not only are the characters super fun but I got to play around with some different writing styles and bigger words x)Huee. Thank you for reading and if you could leave a review that would be awesome! I'm always looking for new ways to improve so any criticism is appreciated.