Chapter Two: Fubuki

We arrived at the California naval base, and walked up a set of long set of tall stairs. By the ocean were a group of girls, all varied in looks, a cherry haired girl with matching eyes, a blue haired girl, also with matching eyes, a white haired girl with red eyes, a girl with dark hair and brown eyes, and finally, a really short girl who looked like a child; she had brown hair and yellow eyes.

"Greetings-" The blue haired girl went to speak first, but she fell on her face. I had to stop myself from laughing, but I was more amazed when she just waved her hand over her face, and her wounds healed. It was peculiar, but I thought it'd be explained later?

"This is Samidare." Gotland introduced, smiling and walking around.

"If you're wondering about those wounds healing like that, their human parts don't matter, essentially. Only their equipment is part of their life force. It still hurts, though, so don't go being reckless." The man in white said, arms behind his back. Then the little brown haired girl spoke up.

"Hi! I'm Inazuma! I'll be glad to assist you, Commanders!" She spoke with a sparkle in her eyes, eager to be chosen.

"I'm Sazanami, it'll be a pleasure to serve you, young masters." The cherry headed girl spoke, hand on her chest, and bowing her head. Right as the white haired girl went up to introduce herself, one of the abyssals leapt from the water, casting a shadow over me and the girl. The thing's cannon charged, and all I could do was think 'Fuck.' But before death could get its hands on me, I noticed a flash of red from behind all of the girls. The dark haired girl in the way back jumped just as high as our attacker, and punched it in the head so hard it exploded.

"You could've killed one of-!" The scummy looking guy started, but I stuck my fingers in his sides, making him collapse. It was too late, though, the badass girl suddenly collapses to her knees, and bowed her head repeatedly.

"Shut up, dumbass." I said, going over to the warbling girl on the ground, and pulling her up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated, crying. Not sobbing, but her eyes were watery.

"It's fine, I promise. Thank you for saving us." Once again, the girl remained silent. I gave her a bright smile, and then walked back to where I was. The white haired girl took this opportunity to introduce herself.

"I'm Murakumo, pleased to see you all." She smirked, hands on her hips, looking about as prideful as me.

"F-Fubuki, at your service!" Spoke the girl that just saved my ass from getting blasted by some sort of laser thing. I kept my smile, but my arms folded. Can't seem too soft in front of everyone.

"You'll pick your starter ships through rolls of the dice." The man in white said, giving us all a red D6. We all rolled, Cody, the scumbag; scored a six. Niho, the samurai, rolled a four. Katie, the girl, rolled a three. And finally, my roll, it was a one. Cody chose the little girl, Inazuma. Niho chose the bluenette, Samidare, the girl chose the cherry headed girl, Sazanmi, and I chose Fubuki. Murakumo looked offended that nobody picked her, her arms said angry, but her eyes gave off a feeling of sadness. Then something clicked in my feeble mind; we forgot the bear guy.

""Fuck." I said aloud, and ran back to the staircase. And there he was, at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't mind that I almost tripped on my way down, I just disrespected this guy majorly. I picked him up, and ran back to the group. I was out of breath because I was really out of shape, but the praise I got from Niho made me feel good about myself.

"...you did a good thing." He whispered to me, barely audible over Murakumo squealing.

"Look at him! He's so cute!" The former devil-looking girl cheered, jumping in place a bit.

"..." The guy couldn't talk, I presume, so he just signed for 'her.' Niho had taught me a bit of sign language on the way here, they're long time friends apparently. I'll have to swing by his place sometime to fully learn so I can communicate with him. I also learned that his name was Kairos, so that's pretty cool.

"You also get to pick your naval bases, the choices are Calinfornia, Amaga-" The man in white begun to explain.

"California." I said, Fubuki scolded me for being so rash, but I didn't want to travel for a bit. So, while the others were getting ready to travel for god knows how long, we got toured around the base by a short, skinny woman with yellow eyes and gray-blue hair, her name was Irako. She showed us to the cafeteria, where we met a tall, thick brunette with red eyes, her name was Mamiya. Then to the construction site, where we met a salmon haired girl named Akashi, she had brown eyes, a skinny figure, and a confident air about her that made me feel good about being here. And finally, to the Commander's office, where we met a cute, dark haired, blue eyed girl with glasses, her name was Ooyodo. She left for the control room after giving me a briefing of our current goals. When she was gone, I sat down in my commander's chair, looking to Fubuki who was in the secretary chair beside the desk.

"What do we do?" I asked, not sure what to start with.

"I-I don't know!" She said, lowering her head a bit.

"Are you fubukidding me?" I was confused, she took down that thing like she had fought so many things. I thought she'd be experienced.

"N-Nobody ever picks me! I-I swear I don't know!" She was actually inexperienced, I felt bad for putting her on the spot like that, now.

"Don't worry." I said, going up to help her to her feet. I wasn't very tall for a guy, but she was the same height as me, 5'6, so looking right into her teary eyes made me really feel like a jackass.

"I'm sorry I freaked out." Fubuki mumbled, lowering her head.

"Hey, I said it's fine." I assured her, gripping her hand for a moment, and lifting her chin with a tap.

"R-Right." She nodded, wiping her eyes, and giving me a smile. She had such a cute smile, I decided from there that I'd protect it.

"Let's go see if Akashi can make us anything." I suggested, letting go of her hand, and started walking back to the construction site.

"Coming!" She smiled, eyes still a bit red, but otherwise happy. That made me feel good.

"Hello Commander!" Akashi greeted me, saluting and standing at attention.

"Good day, Akashi." I smiled, thinking about what to say. I didn't really know how to ask that question, so my force contorted into some sort of smirk. Fubuki, realizing my hopelessness, asked the woman for me.

"He wants to see if we have enough supplies to construct anything." Fubuki says, bowing her head to Akashi.

"Well, of course. But we should start small." The pinkette nods, going to the loading bay.

"How many, Commander?" Fubuki asked me, then I took a moment to think.

"How many friends do you want?" I asked, looking at her intently.

"U-Uh..." She stammered.

"That's such a weird question!" Akashi laughed, her shoulders bouncing as she did.

"T-Two! Two friends- er, partners." Fubuki managed.

"We'll take two then." I nodded, feeling like an idiot yet again. She said it'd take a few hours.

"Uuugh, really?" Fubuki groaned, looking upset that she'd have no friends for a bit longer than she would've liked.

"You hungry?" I turned to her, and offered that solution to pass the time.

"Uh, yeah, a bit." She smiled, and followed me to the cafeteria.

"Hello, Commander." Mamiya greeted us cheerily, giving a salute then pointing to the menu on the wall.

"Oh, it's curry day, Commander!" Fubuki told me, grabbing my shoulder and jumping up and down with excitement I didn't think possible from her.

"I've never had curry before." I thought it over, and decided to try it.

"Can we get some curry, please, Commander?" Fubuki was sparkling, not like I was going to say no anyway.

"Alright, goof, calm down." I laughed, asking Mamiya for the curry, then going to sit down. It felt empty besides my now hyperactive friend's energy.

"Thank you, commander!" She smiled, twirling around on the seat.

"It's curry, you goon." I smiled, just watching her dance around.

"I've only heard of it before from the other girls!" Fubuki told me, and it made me think…

"Have your previous commanders not fed you?" I inquired, my eyebrows doing what my brother would call the 'angry thing.'

"Only when necessary." She told me, sitting back down and looking upset again.

"Well, I'll feed you all you want." I smirked at her, hiding my anger with the help of acting classes taken earlier in life.

"Thank you, Commander." The girl responded, looking at me with a ray of hope that made my rage disappear.

"Curry!" Mamiya cooed, bringing us plates of rice and potent smelling curry.

"Come on, Fubuki, try it." I laughed a bit to myself, she had no idea it was gonna be spicy. I made a gesture for some milk to Mamiya so that this joke wouldn't be too harmful. She passed it to me while Fubuki took a big bite of the dish.

"It's hot!" She yelled, eating some more.

"...what a madwoman..." I smiled to myself, and began to eat some, too.

"Watch out, it really is hot." Mamiya informed, getting another little carton of milk.

"Shit, it really is hot!" I fanned my mouth with my hand, and went for the carton of milk that Fubuki had already opened. It was empty! She drank all of it, damn. While my mouth was hotter than the sahara, I opened the other thing of milk and drank it all in one gulp. After that, I was breathing heavily. How was I gonna finish this? I just decided to get some more milk and eat the rest, quickly. And I hated milk, so this was terrible. By the time I came back, Fubuki had started on her rice. I finished the curry with some effort, and noticed how late it was. I poured the rice down my mouth hole, then stretched.

"The bunksh are thish way, Commander." Fubuki said, cheeks wide and full of food. She looked like a chipmunk, and I thought it was hilarious. I wheezed and almost choked on my laughter. The tired, everything is funny must be setting in.

"No- stop it." I kept laughing, which made her laugh.

"Commander, shtop I'm eating." She snorted, holding her mouth, gaining her composure to swallow, then laughing along the way with me. We had the same bunk room, her on the top bunk, and me on the bottom. It felt kinda weird bunking in the same room as her, but it was probably just conditioning. I went to bed feeling pretty good about myself.