Part Two; His Story – Habits

I hear my alarm going off, but I'd been awake for the last twenty minutes, reaching over as I start to get out of bed I switch it off before I head into the bathroom. Switching on the light I look at the mirror, I had put the photo of my squad on the mirror, my eyes locked on me with my boot on the back of the head of that blond foxgirl. I let out a slow breath before taking out my razor and start to shave my face. While I think about the things I'd done during the war and the fact that I am now, on a base full of kansen, but not just normal ones, fox format ones. I wince when I feel that I nick myself with the razor and a few drops of blood drip into the sink. Looking down at the blood that slowly starts to mix with the water I wonder out loud, "Why was that Akagi so interested in me? Does she know what I did? Was she one of the ones we almost bagged?"

I shake my head to put that thought out of my mind to continue shaving.

Once I was done I threw on my PT kit and went for a run, figuring this would be a good way for me to get an idea about the layout of the base would be to see it firsthand.

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I was halfway around the base when I noticed that I was in a quarter that reminded me of the Sakura Empire and it wasn't lost on me that I started being watchful for an ambush. I try to push that out of my mind as I jog down the main street in this quarter, as I come around a corner I hear a voice called out, "Hey Shikikan, you got a minute?"

I slow down my pace and look around, sitting on a short wall, I see a young woman, strike that kansen with turquoise hair that had cat-like ears on her head, along with the normal-looking human ones. In one hand she had a pen and note pad, her purple jacket wide open showing her frame covered with a black tank top and white skirt. I tilt my head to the side and she waved me over again, saying to me, "Name's Aoba, I'm kind of the reporter for the base."

I slow down a little more and head over, stopping to wipe my face with the bottom of my shirt as I say to her, "Is this going to be on or off the record?"

"A bit of both." She says before looking down and asking, "Hey, how'd ya get those scars on your side?"

"I can't talk about that." I say to her as I pull my shirt back down before I ask a question of my own, "So, why does this place need a reporter?"

She gives me a sideways look before leaning back and proper herself up with both arms before a smile crosses her face and she says, "Because we need something to read. And I bet if you can't talk about those scars, there must be a story there."

"Again, I can't talk about it." I say to her as I rest my rear against the short wall. After a moment I try changing the subject as I ask, "What can you tell me about how the different factions get along here?"

She shrugs, kicking her feet in and out before saying, "Well enough I guess. I mean most of us never fought one another. Azur Lane tried to avoid putting kansen that fought each other in the same base. Sure I fought some of the Eagle Union kansen, but those ones aren't stationed here, and the EU girls that are, I've got no problems with. Why?"

I shake my head before I say, "I'm just trying to get a feel for the dynamics here is all."

She leans forward and opens her notebook, before fluffing out her hair a little and asking, "So, what fleet did you serve with, before coming here?"

That was my signal to get out of here, as I start my run again I call over my shoulder, "I didn't."

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Later that day I found myself sitting in my office, looking over the various kansen on the base, trying to see if there was one I could work with as my secretary. I sit back in my chair and toss one of the Royal Navy folders on my desk while I pinch the bridge of my nose, I honestly had no idea of who to pick at this point. My attention is snapped to my open door as I hear a knocking on it. I focus my eyes on the sounds and I see that brown-haired kitsune with red eyes, her head is tilted to the side and she asks, "Is there something that Akagi could help Shikikan-sama with?"

I run my hand down my face before I say to her, "I need someone out front, and I don't know who to pick."

She blinks a couple of times, almost like it was strange that I didn't know who to pick right away before she offered out, "Akagi could do it for you Shikikan-sama."

Out of instinct, my head tilts to the side as I thought about some of the folklore about foxes being tricksters and I had to wonder if there was another reason why this one always seemed to be around. But at the same time, I needed the help with this job. This place was going to drown me in paperwork if I didn't get any help. After a moment I shrug and say to her, "Fine, the job is yours."

She nods her head, and I see one of her tails twitch slightly before a smile creeps onto her face and she ducks back out of the office, leaving me to my day and trying to get an understanding of this place.

I kept plugging away at this paperwork; apparently, the guy I replaced didn't keep on top of everything. I lean back in my chair and look up at the clock to see that it was almost lunch. This left me wondering if I should raid the kitchenette just off of the office outside of mine, or if I should try and find the mess hall. With a stretch, I get out of my chair and start to make my way to the office door, just as it opens and I see Akagi with a pair of trays in her hands. Her red eyes going a little wide as brings herself to a quick stop and says to me, "Oh, Shikikan-sama, Akagi brought lunch for us."

I lift one of the trays from her hands as I say, "Thanks." When I see her ears droop down a little I sigh inwardly and ask, "Would you like to join me?"

Her ears perked up almost as quickly as those words left my lips and she walked past me. As she crossed in front of me, I'm still not sure if it was intentional or not, she brushed me with one of her tails. As it touched the side of my cheek I saw her shudder a little, while I was surprised at just how fluffy and soft it felt. Once that contact was over, she goes over to my desk, putting down her tray on one side of it and scooting over a chair. With a shrug I join her at my desk. At the same time, we both take the tops off of the trays and I notice that she seems to have a soup of some kind, rice, grilled fish, and some kind of salad. When I look down at mine, I see a bowl that contains something that looks like beef, mushrooms, noodles, something orange, some greens of some kind, and a dark sauce. As if she could read my mind she said, "It's called sukiyaki ushi udon. It's good, the manjuu here really do it justice, it's almost as good as Amagi-nee's."

I give a slow nod as I start looking for a fork or spoon, yet all I can find are disposable chopsticks. I groan on the inside, I've used them once or twice, but they are not my preferred tool. As I start to try and get food into my mouth, she starts to laugh a little before resting her chopsticks on a little rest for them before she got out of her chair. She walked around behind me and leaned against me to help me with my grip on them, as she was this close, I could smell a very flora scent on her. I twist slightly and notice just how close her face was to me, her red eye on her right side looking into mine for an instant before she let go of my hand and brushed some of her hair as she said, "Sorry, Akagi should have asked first."

I felt my cheeks get hot before I cleared my throat and told her, "It's alright, I needed the help after all."

She gives off a shy smile and for a split second my mind tells me that she is really pretty, but that split second was quickly overridden by everything I had been taught and learned when fighting them, that I need to be on guard for if she needs to be taken out.

About halfway through a very quiet lunch, I ask her a question, "So, can I ask why you refer to yourself in the third person?"

Again she puts down her chopsticks, sitting back in her chair and looking off to the side for a moment before she tells me, "Our previous Shikikan-sama, liked it. He took an interest in me and wanted me to talk like that. Does it not please you, Shikikan-sama? Would you like Akagi to stop talking like that?"

I shrug before I say, "It's not really up to me, if you want to refer to yourself in the third person, that's on you."

After a few moments of silence again, she asked me, "Shikikan-sama, I saw Aoba talking to you this morning, can Akagi ask the questions she asked of you?"

My brow knit together for a moment as I gave her a sideways glance and asked, "Were you following me?"

She shakes her head and says, "No, Akagi… I was on my way here to offer to be your secretary. I just happened across you lifting your shirt and I was wondering about the scars."

I feel a pit open up in my gut and I put down my chopsticks, trying to figure out a way to escape this conversation as I say to her, "The same thing I told her, it's not something I can talk about."

Again her ears droop off to the side and she takes on a slightly disappointed look before nodding and I sigh inwardly before offering out, "You tell me something and I'll tell you something, alright?"

Her ears perk right back up again, tails twitching behind her as she nods and says, "Depending on the question."

"When you came in here with lunch, one of your tails touched me and you shuddered, why?" I ask her.

She went bright red and adjusted how she was in the chair before clearing her throat and saying to me, "Like my ears, they are sensitive to touch. Now, how did you get those scars?"

It took me a moment to try and understand her meaning to what she said; she got pleasure out of touching me with her tails? I blink a few times before her question hits home and I get uncomfortable, choosing my words carefully I say to her, "On an operation, I was part of, things went bad and I got hurt, badly. It took me a long time to get better."

It was quick, but I noticed her quickly look down at her right hand for an instant before turning her attention to me and I could see questions turning in her mind that she wanted to ask. I braced myself for them, but all she did was stand and collect the trays before saying to me, "We best return to our tasks, Shikikan-sama, but thank you for the answers you gave, I found them somewhat informative."

I watch as she leaves my office with the trays and I'm left wondering what just happened.

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After seeing my computer screen shut down I lean back in my chair, stretching and yawning as I look at the clock seeing that it was already well past nineteen-hundred. Getting out of my chair, I grabbed my jacket and barrette before opening my door to see that Akagi had gone home for the night, but there was a folded red paper fox on her desk, along with a note with a shrug I pick up the note and give it a read before I say out loud, "Perhaps tomorrow I can learn your name Shikikan-sama?"

I fold the note up and stuff it in a pocket along with the red fox as I wonder why she seems so interested in my past. I mean they must have had other officers with pasts that sealed, right?

I know no answer is going to come, so I run a hand through my hair before I lock up for the night and start to walk home. During my walk, I run a hand down my face as I think about the fact that I started to blush just from being near a kansen, how unlike me this was feeling. But at the same time, in that instant, I forgot what she was and only saw her as a young woman that was touching me and she smelled really nice and I said to myself, "What the hell is going on with me?"

I knew no answer would come of course; I take my barrette off and toss it as I yell at the sky. After I let that out I go over and pick up my barrette, dust it off, and put it back on my head. When I get back to my quarters, the laptop I'd been issued starts making noise and I hurry over to it and open it up.

When the screen comes to life, I feel my insides ball up. I see an older man, in a navy uniform, folders open around his desk. Open enough that I can see mission reports in some of them. But not just any mission reports, but my mission reports. When he sees me on the screen, he puts down another folder, and I can see it contains all of my information. I can feel sweat starting to run down my back as he arches his hands in front of his face and says, "I think we need to have a chat, Major."

I slowly take a seat at the desk where I have the laptop, removing my barrette slowly and putting it in my lap as I say, "Of course Admiral."

I'm wondering if this is going to be my notification that they made a mistake and I'm going to be reassigned. On one hand, I know that I am likely not the right fit for this command, yet on the other, maybe I am. When I think about it, this place seems more like a place for the inconvenient weapons made during wartime, and well, my skillset doesn't exactly lend itself well to civilian life.

I watch as the admiral takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose before running a hand down his face, I can tell he's thinking about how to word this. After a moment he says to me, "Major, first allow me to thank you for the tasks you were assigned and carried out during the war, I don't think most of Azur Lane is aware of the role the Monarchy played during the war. I wasn't at the least, I had assumed they were simply non-contributing members to the war and were just riding the coattails of the Eagle Union and Royal Navy." He paused, again choosing his words before he continued, "When I started asking questions at High Command as to why we assigned you to the base, a friend of mine pulled me aside, I believe you know her, General Westland?"

I felt a chill run down my spine, during the war she headed up the western special operations division. I never met her in person, but I knew that it was from her that all targets were assigned. I shift around a little uncomfortably as I confirm, "Yes Sir."

His lips press together and he picks up my folder again, looking at it quickly before he says, "Do you have any idea of the hoops I had to go through to get an idea of who you are and what you've done?"

Again I shift uncomfortably as I offer out, "Aside from having to get your security clearance upgraded? No, Sir, I don't."

He laughs and tosses the folder down as he says, "A few favors to people I'd rather not owe them to, but yes to the security clearance. I've spent the last day reading these reports and I wonder, how are you adjusting?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out, Sir. I've already run into one kansen that engaged me in the field, she nearly killed me that time too, but we agreed to be professional with one another." I inform him, trying to be as professional as I can right now.

He nods slowly before speaking carefully again, "Keep me informed of what goes on, Major. High Command is looking at what to do with them right now, and depending on how we swing on it, we may need your skillset in the future."

"Yes Sir." I respond and see him nod before the link goes dead. I lean back in my chair and run a hand down my face as I say, "Well, that's one problem under control at least."

Getting out of the chair I move to the kitchen and start to empty my pockets and put the contents on the counter. My eyes were drawn to the note and the red paper fox Akagi had left for me and my head tilted sideways and I asked out loud, "Are you going to be a problem too?"

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A/N: I'd call this the first real interaction between Major White and Akagi has happened! Taking bets now, on what his name will be.