After Bismarck's revelations, Nanami fell silent for a few minutes before Bismarck ushered her back inside. The banquet was winding down, many of the women had gone to bed, so Nanami excused herself to head home.
On the way home, she had the overwhelming feeling that someone was following her, and she spun around only to see someone go head over heels into a nearby bush. Worried about whichever girl had just taken a dive, Nanami ran over to help her out.
As it turned out, her little follower was none other than Prinz Eugen.
"Naaanaamiii you were so mean earlier! Making Hipper take me back to my room! I wanted to keep teasing you," the cruiser whined. She clung tightly to Nanami after being rescued.
"All right, if you want to stay with me, come along. I will allow you to sleep with me," Nanami agreed, a smile on her face. She was actually happy to have a distraction from all the thoughts swarming through her head at the moment.
Nanami and Eugen arrived at her house shortly thereafter, and Nanami was able to open the door despite the clinging Eugen. After getting her into the house, and then the bedroom. Nanami helped Eugen undress.
Just as Nanami thought, Eugen was in no way fit to do anything, and that was exactly as she had hoped. Nanami helped her into bed, then undressed and followed.
"So, what are you going to do to me?" Eugen asked, her face flushed. Nanami laughed, kissed the cruiser and then wrapped her in her arms. She wasn't used to being the taller woman in bed, but it felt nice to be able to wrap someone else up for a change.
"Naanaamii," the cruiser began to protest, but she was quickly shushed by her Commander. The cruiser laughed and snuggled in closer, burying her face in Nanami's chest. Soon after Eugen's breathing relaxed, and she was asleep. Nanami followed her to sleep shortly thereafter.
The next morning Nanami cooked breakfast and tended to Eugen's hangover. After she recovered enough to leave, Nanami gave her an outfit to wear back to the dorm so she wouldn't have to do the walk of shame.
The next two days Nanami spent away from others. She spent that time thinking hard on what Bismarck had said, and didn't sleep much as she feared what she might see in her dreams.
When she came into the office on Monday, she looked extremely haggard. Luckily Amagi was first person in the office besides Nanami, and she hugged the Commander from behind.
"Did you have a rough weekend Nanami?" Amagi asked quietly as she embraced Nanami.
"Do I look that bad?" Nanami asked, turning to face Amagi.
"You never look bad Nanami, but you do look tired," the kitsune battlecruiser admitted. Before Nanami could respond, she began fixing the small creases in her uniform.
"I am alright Amagi, thank you," Nanami lied. She continued, "I know I can always count on you to keep me put together."
Though Amagi didn't believe her, she said, "All right Nanami. Remember, if you need to talk, I will always be available to listen." Before Nanami could answer, Shoukaku entered the office.
Upon seeing Nanami and Amagi in close proximity, she giggled, "I apologize for interrupting!" She began to leave but Nanami stopped her.
"Amagi was just fixing my uniform for me. I woke up a little out of sorts this morning, so the help was needed," Nanami admitted. Shoukaku accepted the half-truth and entered the office humming.
"Well Commander, if you can't do your work today, just let me take care of everything," Shoukaku enthusiastically boasted, prompting a small, tired smile from Nanami.
Amagi shot back, "She won't have to rely upon you alone. She has all of us in the office to help her take care of things Shoukaku."
"Of course, I never meant to imply that I alone would be by her side Amagi," Shoukaku replied with an impish grin.
Amagi began to get riled up until Nanami reached up and set her hand on the kitsune's shoulder. Then Nanami sternly glared at Shoukaku, who quickly retreated to her desk.
Now that the potential feud was avoided, Nanami sighed and settled into her work. The office filled quickly, and nearly everyone asked Nanami if she was feeling all right. They refused to work until she assured them she was healthy and merely a little tired. Even Bismarck unexpectedly stopped by to check in on Nanami.
As the day wore on, Nanami's thoughts consistently wandered to the large dock-warehouse. She knew that sooner or later she would have to make a choice. And that choice was likely going to have to be counter to orders she had received. When lunch time rolled around, Nanami gladly welcomed the break.
She invited Amagi to eat with her in a separate room, because she still had questions she needed to ask her, questions that were best asked in private.
After eating in silence for a little while, Nanami asked, "Amagi, does the name Nagano ring any bells?" Amagi stopped cold, and slowly looked up at Nanami.
After a few moments she muttered, "It can't be..." then she replied, "Nanami...how do you know that name?"
"I...was Dreamwalking. Amagi...who is Nagano?" Nanami pushed the question further.
"Nagano...Nagano was the name of Shinano's daughter...in another time and place," Amagi responded carefully. Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke. Nanami was taken aback for a moment. Shinano's daughter? They can have children? But more importantly...if I am Nagano, does that mean I still have a parent left alive? Even if she didn't give birth to me in this timeline... Her throat began to constrict for a moment, but she quickly composed herself.
Nanami felt she was holding back, "Amagi, is that all you can tell me?" After a moment the battlecruiser shook her head.
"She was.*cough* incredible. Born in the midst of our war, she became something of a symbol of hope to us. Kind, caring, and gentle," Amagi explained further. Nanami's brow furrowed as she heard the description. That didn't sound like her at all. Why had Anne called her by that name? Was that really who she was.
"What class of ship was she?" Nanami asked, still curious. This seemed a little like a dead end, but she had to gain all the information she could.
Amagi's face looked pained for a moment, but she recovered and answered, "She was...one of a kind. A super-carrier. That's all I will say right now. If you want to know more, you must ask Shinano when she arrives."
"Well..if that's all you are willing to say, then that's enough for me. Thank you Amagi. I'm sorry to have made you relive painful memories," Nanami apologized as she reached across the table, taking Amagi's hand in hers.
After sitting like that for a few moments, Nanami stood up saying, "Well, it seems lunch is over. We should be getting back to the office." Amagi let Nanami go on ahead.
As the door closed behind her, she mumbled, "She can't be..." Then she shook her head and followed behind
On the way back into the office, Amagi noticed Nanami didn't pick up the papers and folders in the inbox. With a small smile, Amagi pulled the papers and headed into the office.
"Commander, here are the files that were in the inbox," she notified Nanami as she placed them on her desk. Nanami froze for a second, realizing she had forgotten to pick them up herself.
"Thank you Amagi. As always I don't know what I'd do without your assistance," Nanami smiled at the kitsune as she picked up the files.
Amagi settled into the chair on the other side of the desk as Nanami began looking over the papers. Some of them would require more time later, but there were a few reports she could read quickly.
The third report caught her eye in particular. As she read it, she began to laugh. It was a genuine, musical laugh that caused everyone in the room to stop what they were doing. None of them had ever heard or seen her like this. Nanami however was completely absorbed in the report.
It had to be a sign from the gods. If it wasn't, surely they were taunting her, and surely they had made up her mind for her. The report read:
Incident Report #413: At 0814 several destroyers from the combined fleet were engaging in an exercise dockside under the supervision of IJN Mikasa. During the exercise, HMS Glowworm went into an uncontrolled acceleration. This resulted in HMS Glowworm ramming the door to a reinforced warehouse door.
Damage to HMS Glowworm was minimal, and after reassurance from IJN Mikasa, she returned to her dorm. The warehouse door suffered catastrophic damage and was forced from its moorings. IJN Mikasa does not recommend any punishment for HMS Glowworm.
After another moment, her laughter stopped, and she looked up to see the entire office staring at her. Some of the women from the secretaries' office were even peeking in through the door to see what the commotion was. Nanami ignored their looks and began issuing orders.
"Amagi, Enterprise, Tirpitz, Hood. I need your assistance in addressing a matter brought up in a report. The rest of you, please hold down the office while we are gone," she calmly commanded.
"Aye aye Commander!" The women answered in unison. With that done, Nanami grabbed her cap and with her 4 assistants behind her, she walked out the door.
"Commander, where are we headed?" Enterprise asked, uncharacteristically questioning.
Nanami cryptically responded, "To get answers." She continued walking at a brisk pace until they were in front of the massive warehouse. The door on the side was, as the report said, gone. In its place they had put up caution tape. Nanami took it down without a second thought.
"Nanami..." Amagi cautioned, but she was quickly silenced with a look from her Commander. Nanami continued in, ignoring all the alarm bells going off in her head. The moment she stepped foot in the warehouse, an intense howl resounded throughout the building and her chest began to hurt.
A massive blue and white wolf came bounding out from deeper in the building and grabbed Nanami, throwing her over its back. Oddly to the others, Nanami did not fight it, and just as quickly as it came, the wolf bounded off, leaving the 4 women helpless as it took away their Commander.
Nanami held onto the wolf's fur for dear life, but the trip to the center of the warehouse was a short one. The wolf laid down to let Nanami off right in front of an interesting object. It looked like a massive throne, but there were some important features that gave away what it was.
Arrayed around the head of the throne were 4 cruiser guns, while the arm rests of the throne were very clearly identical flight decks. The pain in her chest, and the presence of Anne told her all she needed to know. This was her rigging.
"Anne, you did not have to kidnap me," she admonished the wolf as she turned around. Then she hugged the wolf, and added, "But I have missed you dearly my other half, even if most of the time I did not know what I was missing."
"I have shed many tears in frustration in the years since we were split apart so violently," Anne replied telepathically, sinking into the hug.
"Will it hurt?"Nanami asked, gazing back up at the rigging.
"Mending a soul is always a painful process," Anne admitted. Nanami nodded grimly and began walking toward the rigging.
"Well, I better start this before the others arrive to stop me," she sighed. As she sat on the throne, suddenly the pain in her chest exploded in intensity.
"Ahhh!" Nanami's pained scream echoed throughout the large warehouse and she quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
"Nanami!" Enterprise shouted as they heard her scream. The four women raced through the maze of boxes and eventually emerged in the center.
Nanami was curled into a ball on a throne-like rigging, trembling and sweating. The wolf that stole her away was standing in front of the throne. Her body was also trembling, but she remained standing.
Enterprise, Tirpitz and Hood moved forward to help Nanami, but the wolf growled.
It opened its mouth and shocked the women as it spoke with Nanami's voice, "Stay back. The pain is necessary for us to unite. Our body is being modified to better hold our soul and withstand our power."
While the other three stopped, Amagi had not moved since she saw the rigging.
"Nagano?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of base, below a certain shop.
"Next test nya! We'll try a harmony between Commander's cube and her voice nya," Akashi told Yuubari. Yuubari nodded and made the required changes to the machine.
"Beginning test in 3. 2. 1," Yuubari announced, flipping the activation switch on the machine. A beam arced from the machine to the cube in the middle of the floor. Unlike previous attempts the cube suddenly began glowing violently bright.
"We made a breakthrough, nya! Shut it off and we'll tell the Commander, nya," she exclaimed happily. Yuubari started the shutdown sequence, but nothing happened.
"It won't shut down..." she said, stunned. The cube continued to shine brighter and then began to vibrate. Then suddenly the arc of light cut, and the cube burst in huge explosion of light. When Yuubari and Akashi regained their senses, they were amazed by what they saw.
"I demand to know where I am."
A/N: Thank you all for the support! I apologize for the lack of content recently. I started a web novel on Webnovel called A Kitsune's Tales. I've been very busy with my snakes(27 of them), and frankly I just haven't been in a great headspace lately to write this story.
