Sea and Sakura Chapter 2, an azur lane/碧蓝航线 fanfic

Part Two – Chopsticks aren't easy

I let Atago and Takao order as they seem to have an idea of what they're doing… I'm simply seated in the booth beside Takao, at Atago's insistence…. And I feel incredibly awkward about it.

I look to my left and see that Takao has a slight pink hue to her cheeks, trying desperately to avoid eye contact with me it seems. Me, I'm at a loss of what to do, I couldn't read the menu, and the only utensils are these little sticks… I'm so fucked. On top of that, this is the strangest barbecue I've ever had; I've got to grill my own food apparently here…

Atago leans a little forward and asks, "So did you really beat Takao and Zuikaku, Shikikan?"

I sigh; technically I did, mostly thanks to using skills they didn't expect to face, "Technically…."

Takao makes a noise like she's irritated before she folds her arms under her bust and says, "It wasn't an honorable win."

Is she still grinding on that? I sigh and hang my head, "I used a shoulder charge to knock Takao to the dirt… with Zuikaku I used a body check to do the same…"

Atago rests her chin on her right hand and says, more to Takao then me, "A win is a win Takao."

When the food and drinks arrive, I have no idea what to do… I watch as the girls each take a pair of the sticks and start to put things on the grill, I try to copy them with the sticks and fail, fail hard. The first pair I tried to use fell into the charcoal fire, then I dropped the meat into it, then I dropped the sticks on the floor… across from me, Atago started to giggle, apparently this was turning into a comedy act for her…

After being the source of amusement for her, Atago leaned over the fire pit, a piece of meat on her sticks as she said to me, "Say 'ahhh'…"

I comply, as she lays the meat on my tongue and she teases, "Feeding you might be fun… right Takao?"

I'm blushing now, full-on, no denying it… I look over and see Takao has taken on a deeper red to her cheeks before she repeats what Atago did and feeds me some grilled vegetables. I'm sure this must've been quite the show for the rest of the restaurant, their Commander being fed by two of their kind… I'll admit it was a bit of a confidence boost and really humiliating at the same time.

As the meal came to an end, Atago smirked at me as she took a big sip of her beer before teasing me, "You really need to learn to use chopsticks Shikikan…"

I hang my head, yeah… yeah I really should've by now… I sigh and say to her, "You're right… I lived on the west coast of the US for long enough, I should've learned by now…"

I see her roll her wrist over and sigh before saying, "I need to get Takao home, she likes to get up early and start her training regime… but this was a lot of fun Shikikan, we need to do this again."

I watch as both women get out of the booth, letting me out when the beer hits me; the world is spinning a little, as I say out loud, "Wow that was strong beer…"

I felt Atago slip under my arm on the right side, putting my arm across her shoulders and letting it dangle over her right shoulder, while Takao is under my left side. Both of them are more or less carrying me at this point, about halfway to my quarters Atago teases me as she says, "They're there if you want to touch them, Shikikan… I don't mind."

I look to my right to see her wiggle her ears and give me a smile, and I blush, brightly, looking to my left I see Takao blushing as well, but she has a tight grip on my left wrist, clear she doesn't want to entertain the possibility of me touch them.

Once the three of us make it back to my quarters Atago helps me up to the bed, while Takao waited downstairs. Up in my room, Atago helped me out of my shirt and put me down on the bed as she said, "Don't mind Takao, she just dealing with the fact that someone other than Kawakaze beat her with a blade."

I adjust how I'm lying on the bed as I say back, "It was pure luck… is she knew that European sword fighting includes strikes with things other than the weapon, she would've beat me…"

I hear her move to the door as she says over her shoulder, "Sometimes you need to humble someone when they think too highly of themselves, Shikikan… Sleep well."

My eyelids get heavy as I yawn and hear the door close, next thing I know I'm out cold.

XXXX

It was mid-day by the time I came too, apparently at some point during the night I had rolled out of bed and slept on the floor… I force myself up and find I've got very little memory of last night, I remember meeting Atago and Takao for dinner and drinks… but I don't remember getting home…

As I get downstairs and find cold coffee in the coffee pot, I spot those two paper cranes from yesterday and sigh; I should really properly apologize to Zuikaku... I really didn't mean to cop a feel…. But how do you make it up to a girl… especially one that could kill you with a flick of her wrist.

I sigh, sitting around in my house won't cut it to figure it out, I head into the city to try and get an idea or two. As I'm walking I spot a flower shop, I think about every time my dad screwed up, he'd bring my mom flowers, flowers make sense… they're perfectly harmless, but a nice gesture… or so I thought at the time….

I spot a bouquet of red and white flowers, the colors that Zuikaku wore. I check the name on them, I know I want to avoid roses, those have extra meaning attached to them, or as I thought they did… I see that these ones are called camellia flowers. These look perfect, I pay for them and head out of the shop, as I follow the street signs to get to the Sakura quarter since I know the dorms that Zuikaku would be in are located there, I'm soon rendered lost as the signs change to be in a language I cannot read… I sigh… I need to learn to read German, French, and Japanese it seems… at least with the French I can guess most of the time… why or why couldn't there be Spanish?

As I'm standing, looking at the signpost I hear a voice behind me asking, "Are you lost Shikikan?"

I turn to see the person I was looking for, she looks like she just came back from a swim, her hair is damp and she has a towel tied around her waist, her red top looking like it has black feathers around the edges, I feel my cheeks get red hot and my mind goes blank.

I see her cheeks heat a little as she clues into the fact that I'm looking, she runs a hand through her hair and flicks it before resting a hand on her hip as she says, "Well you did already violate them, might as well look too."

I drop my eyes to the ground, my blush becoming deeper as I raise the flowers towards her and say, "I'm so, so very sorry about yesterday morning… It was a complete accident…. Not something I'd normally try and do."

I feel her fingers touch mine, causing me to turn even redder, I think at this point I was redder than her bikini top, I risk a glance up to see her smelling the flowers before she says to me, "Apology accepted."

I think I can see the hit of a smile behind the flowers before she asks, "My sister is making dinner tonight, would you like to join us? It's my way of making up for sending you flying yesterday…"

I nod and whisper out, "That sounds really nice… but I…"

For a second I thought I saw her look a little dejected before she asked, "You?"

I rub the back of my head as I say, "I can't use chopsticks to save my life…"

I see it then, a smile quirks her at the corners of her mouth before she says, "I can teach you, common."

XXXX

It doesn't take us long to get to her dorm, I copy her and take off my shoes at the door, she shows me to the seating common area before she heads to one of two sliding doors on the right sidewall. I watch as she slides it open and I catch the briefest glimpse of what I assume is her room, I thought I saw that the paper inside was done in a crane pattern and that I thought I saw what looked like stuffed cranes before the door slid closed for a moment before it slid open again and she stuck her head out and said, "No peeking."

Like I would! I'm not… well considering her first impression of me wasn't a good one I can kind of understand it… I sigh and look around, with the light coming in her window I guess, I can see her outline against the thin paper, I can see every curve as she takes off her swimwear and goes about getting dressed. I feel my cheeks get hot as my mind starts to imagine what she looks like… I had a decent enough idea based on what I saw in her bikini and what I read about Kansen in the docket and I suddenly felt even more self-conscious of the fact that I was alone in a dorm room with a girl who was naked just on the other side of the door… stupid brain, stop that! You're going to get me in trouble!

I turn my attention to the table I'm keeling at, and try to bore a hole through it with my eyes alone, I feel like I'm going to start hyperventilating if I let my mind start to run wild, thankfully I hear her door slide open before she steps out, in that blasted red dress… fuck me. I can't win with her it seems…

"Shikikan, are you listening?" she asks me.

I look up and do my best to only look her in the eyes as I say, "Sorry, my mind was elsewhere…"

I see her eyes twitch a little before she says, "I asked you to show me what you do know about holding chopsticks…"

Oh, that… yeah, ready for round two of the comedy act… I blush a little and pick up a disposable pair, I try to hold them like Atago was last night, but they keep falling out of my hand, I see Zuikaku bring a hand up to her mouth as her eyes close and she giggles a little. After a moment she says to me, "I see the problem… you're trying to hold them like someone that has been using them their entire life… here, let me help you."

I watch as she comes around behind me, standing really close to me, she reaches her right arm out behind mine, bringing it around to help me hold them correctly, and near the bottom as she says, "There, like this. Since you're new to them, hold them down here…"

She leans forward behind me, guiding me through picking up another pair, I feel her press her front against my back as she does this, I go bright red and fight to stop my body from sending my blood supply south. I managed to get a hold of the chopstick and I hear her whisper in my ear, "Yoku yatta, Shikikan!"

I blush harder and say, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you said…"

I hear her laugh as she moves back and around to sit across from me as she says, "I said 'Good job.'"

I place the chopsticks down and rub the back of my head as my blush is still sticking around as I tell her, "Thanks, you're a great teacher."

I catch a slight hit of a blush and a smile on her lips before she flicks her hair and looks to the main door moments before it opens and I hear Shoukaku proclaim loudly, "Tadaima!"

I watch as Zuikaku gets up and goes to meet her sister at the door, I hear them converse back and forth in Japanese, so I just look around the shared space in the dorm, I note that it's really tidy, I see a wooden flute by the balcony door, a tv, couch… it all looks perfectly normal. I stand and walk to the balcony, I'm almost at the door when I hear Zuikaku sprinting from the kitchen saying, "Ch..Cho.. Chottomatte!"

I feel her slam into me from behind; knocking me face-first into the floor, hard… fuck my nose hurts… a lot. I open my eyes and see stars and then the pain really takes hold of me, I bite back the pain and say, "I think I broke my nose…"

I feel the weight get off of my back, letting me roll onto my back and bring my hands up to my nose, it feels both warm and wet, I open my eyes to look at my hands, yup… blood… I sit up and lean forward and ask, "Can I get a towel you don't really like, and a bowl that you don't need for a day or two?"

I blink away the tears and see Zuikaku blushing brightly and looking down as she says, "Yabai…"

I feel something fluffy beside my head and a dish being placed in my lap while I hear Shoukaku scolded Zuikaku is English, "Really Zuikaku… you should've taken those down when he came over…"

I look over my shoulder and see Shoukaku taking down undergarments from hanging outside to dry, I feel my cheeks heat a bit, it makes sense now, she didn't want me to see her panties and bras… fuck my nose….

I wince as a pulse of pain hits after I blink back more tears I feel something cold being pressed against my nose, before feeling something soft against the side of my head as I hear Zuikaku mumble, "I'm so sorry Shikikan…"

I laugh a little through the pain as I tell her, "Well, I wasn't a huge fan of my nose anyways."

Oh, fuck this hurts right now… I hear a rapid thumping on my right side, I open that eye and look to my right but I can't see anything, it's dark… I feel a bit of fear grip me, this has to be a really, really bad break then if I've lost vision in one eye. After a moment I feel the softness move away from the side of my head and light returns and I see that Zuikaku was beside me, her white coat has a red stain on the arm now, it looks like a bloodstain, I feel my brow knit together as it the sudden softness and darkness on that side makes a lot more sense and I blush and the pain picks up even more.

The next thing I know I feel Shoukaku put a couple of pain meds in my left hand and I pop them both in my mouth and swallow them as she tells me, "Take one… two might be too much for you… oh…"

The pain is going down to manageable levels really fast, I pull the towel back and see that the bleeding as stopped, for now, I blink a few times trying to clear my head, everything is feeling funny… I look in Shoukaku's direction and the world tracks slowly, I feel kind of dizzy… kind of sleepy… I turn my head towards Zuikaku, the world is moving even slower, I feel even dizzier… the next thing I know I'm looking at the ceiling and my eyelids are getting really, really heavy. I raise my hand like I want to say something, before it falls down, smacking me in the nose again, it takes a moment before the pain hits me, a lot slower than it should've… my eyelids drop and I'm out.

XXXX

I awake sometime after sunrise; fuck my nose still hurts…. I'm lying on something way harder than my bed, but I'm not on a pillow… that much I can tell; it's too warm and firm to be a pillow.

I open my eyes and see that I'm lying on my side, but this isn't my room or my quarters… It's too… well Asian in design. My mind is a mess, I remember Shoukaku giving me something for the pain… then nothing. I hear the padding of feet on a wood floor, I look in the direction it's coming from and I see Shoukaku in what I could only call a sleeping kimono. She sees I'm awake almost instantly and brings a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet. I'm a little perplexed as to why, so I turn my head to try and get a better sense as to why, as I move my head I hear a soft voice give off a pleasurable sigh, I feel a cold sense of fear run down my spine, if I see Shoukaku, in her sleeping wear…. I look down and see white thighs, my heart rate picks up as I roll onto my back to see red globes above my head, looking past them I see a sleeping Zuikaku…. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! She's so going to fucking kill me if she wakes up!

I carefully and slowly get off of her lap and feel a little dizzy as I sit up, I look back and I can see I must've been drooling in my sleep as I see a slightly damp spot where my head had been. I look to Shoukaku who is clearly trying to keep in some laughter as she waves me to the kitchen, once I get in there she whispers to me, "Zuikaku felt so bad last night that she insisted on letting you rest your head in her lap… she stayed up most of the night to make sure you didn't choke on your one blood."

I let out a sigh of relief that she isn't going to kill me, Shoukaku hands me some grilled fish and rice as she says, "My sister isn't that hard to figure out, she doesn't know what to do with you. You beat her with something she takes pride in being excellent at, yet at the same time she gets flustered at the sight of you…"

I look down before trying to use the chopsticks to get some fish while she continues, "Shikikan, we might be warships, but we are women too… Unfortunately, we often don't know what to do with the feelings we get… be good to my sister."

I feel my cheeks heat moments before I hear a groan of someone waking from an uncomfortable sleep, followed quickly by her saying loudly, "Ewwwww!"

Shoukaku looks at me with her head tilted sideways and I blush a little as I tell her, "I apparently drooled in my sleep…"

Shoukaku starts to giggle at her sister's expense, and I sigh while hanging my head as she stomps into the kitchen and blushes at seeing me sitting with her sister, eating breakfast.

XXXX

Before heading into my office I stop by and see Vestal and hope she can see if she can do anything about my nose, I was lucky that she had an opening and could take a look right away. She put a spray up my nose and got everything she needed to realign everything as she scolded me about being more careful. AS I hear the popping sound I feel sick to my stomach, but she smiles at seeing her handy work before putting a brace to keep everything in place and tells me to be careful for the next few days.

Once I get to my office I see that the desk out front is empty, right I forgot to assign anyone to it, I hang my head and grab the stack of folders I need to start going through.

As the day draws to a close I hear a knock at my door and I call, "Enter."

I mean seriously, I'm happy for the distraction at this point… I didn't join the Navy to be a spreadsheet and pie chart warrior… As the door opens I see yellow eyes framed by dark hair in a ponytail, it takes me a moment, mostly looking for the ears before I say, "Good evening Takao, what can I do for you today?"

I see her look down before she places a box on my desk and mumbles out, "I thought you might be hungry, no-one saw you at mealtimes today…"

I'll admit I was a little hesitant that it would be another chopstick meal, but to my surprise when I opened it, I saw what looked like a crispy chicken sandwich, I smile and give a slight rolling of my shoulders to indicate that I'm amused before I say to her, "Thank you Takao, I really appreciate you doing this for me."

I see her cheeks get a little red as she takes out a second box and two cans of something I cannot read what it is; I really, really need to learn to read Japanese… She takes a seat at my desk across from me and passes me a can as she tells me, "It is a beer from my homeland, It is past seventeen hundred you should be off duty now…"

I look at my clock, it's almost eighteen hundred it seems, where my day go I wonder… I give her a welcoming smile as I take the beer and pop it open and take a sip, it has a very floral smell to it and it has a sweet taste… not bad. I take a bite of the sandwich and I'm pretty impressed, light, flaky breading on the pork apparently. Beside it I see what looks like fried vegetables and a dipping sauce, I'm a little curious as she tells me, "It is called tempura…"

I give it a try and it's so good, I lean back in my chair, and as if she noticed for the first time she asks me, "Shikikan, what happened to your nose?"

I sigh and shake my head before I say, "An accident, my nose met a floor a lot faster than it really should've."

I watch as she uses her chopsticks to eat the tempura, I shrug and keep using my hands; I'm not good enough with the chopsticks to risk this at work… I see that she watches me eat and she smiles, trying to avoid eye contact as she does so, I tilt my head to the side and ask, "Takao, did you make all of this?"

I see her cheeks go bright red and she coughs into her fist while trying to look away as she mumbles, "I might have…"

"It's really, really good." I tell her, I can't help but stuff my face with this tempura, I think I've found my new favorite way to eat veggies.

I watch her take her ponytail in one hand, running some fingers through it as she gets redder in the cheeks as she offers, "Shikikan, I would be happy if you joined our sparing group on Saturday mornings…"

I see her bight her lower lip like she wanted to say more but stopped herself short of actually saying it. To me, it sounds like a good idea, a chance to get in some actual practice and use a skill I spent a few years learning, I give her a nod as I say, "I would be honored to do so."

I see her look up, I guess she was excited as she said, "Hontōni! ? !"

I think it's a little amusing, these Sakura Empire girls seem to revert to their native language when they get excited.

XXXX

A/N: I'm finding that I'm having a lot of fun with the Zuikaku character; she's easier to write as adorkable than Takao is… mostly since I can find more examples of her being like that, whereas Takao is often more ridged.