King of the Blizzard

It's something of an unspoken agreement among all of them in the know, that the daisy dotted hill is where they normally go for these discussions and meetings. There are a multitude of reasons for the choice. Partly it is out of privacy and for OpSec. But mostly it is so they can remain professional while on base, and each ignore the gaping wound that the two of them in particular still feel after all these years.

Meeting at the grave always feels rather pointless anyway. There are far more memories associated with this hill only a short walk from the base, than a meaningless patch of empty dirt more than an hour's drive away.

"Daisuke."

Not admiral then. Or captain as it had once been.

As if the topic and more personal nature of their discussion wasn't blindingly obvious to begin with though. Looking down on the base, he can almost imagine the shapes of an Izumo class Helicopter Destroyer and her older Kongou Class partner sitting at anchor. There's a certain irony to the fact that the first time they ever met Carrier Division 1 at some P.R. thing he barely even remembers, Haruki had jokingly suggested that since he had already been in one Kaga, Daisuke should "try getting inside another."

And then look what happened.

Of course, by that time Kongou was a member of their little clique, and as weird and insane as that period had been before everything went to shit, her week-long "mother of the jilted girlfriend" act provided more than a few laughs that everyone needed.

Those days however, are now long gone. As are the ships, posted elsewhere and now captained by newer men.

Sometimes he wishes for those days. For a time when he too was just a simple peace-time captain. One who just happened to share his name with another, and wasn't famous for being a veteran of the JMSDF in a time before Abyssals or kanmusu. Before he was famous for being the Yin to Haruki's Yang. Before he was the older, stalwart, responsible shield, and the face chosen to represent the convoy protectors and ASW forces keeping Japan supplied, while Haruki was the younger, more outgoing and dashing maverick, preemptively taking the blade to the Abyssals in desperately heroic actions every time they encroached on Japanese waters.

Before he became the surviving half of a duo.

"I'm going to assume that scout buzzing the base all day was on more than just a training flight?"

It's a rhetorical question, though one without any bite to it.

More just a sadness tinged statement that Akagi acknowledges with a question of her own.

"You... You met her earlier?"

The question, Daisuke recognizes, is not the one she is actually asking. That meeting, and the multitude of little similarities and memories it brought back...

"She... she actually looks a lot more like mom. Mine I mean, not Hoshou. Maybe. It's been a while since I looked at those photos, but there's definitely some of mom when she was that age in there..."

The thought makes him feel even older. She never did get over Haruki's death and probably took it harder than anybody barring Akagi. He's always felt like the grief had a hand in her own unexpectedly sudden death only a few months later. The thought has never quite gone away and always left him wondering "what if she had lived"? Could they have finagled something up so that her granddaughter, his niece, Haruki's daughter, wouldn't have needed to grow up in an orphanage under an assumed name? Or would she have still been forced to live a life under a veneer of secrecy, now with the added weight of being the daughter of a dead war-hero.

All he knows is that today's meeting was like having everything brought back to the forefront once more. All the years of silent thoughts at night. Guilt, self-recrimination and feelings of failing Haruki's memory and his responsibility as family. Somehow, complete innocence and ignorance of their relation, even as glimpses of Haruki shone through, were even worse than any imagined condemnation or anger he can come up with.

"There is some of him though..."

He can practically feel Akagi's conflict, even though it's obvious she desperately desires to know more.

"She smiles like him. Kind of. It's in her eyes. She... heh... they sort of do that crinkle thing Haruki's always used to do... That look. You remember the one he'd have whenever he was actually excited or worked up about something? You don't really notice it in the Intel and dossier photos but... She has his eyes..."

A stray thought of childhood and the trials of being an older sibling make him chuckle and shake his head with a competing mix of sadness and mirth.

"She certainly doesn't act like him when she's nervous though. I'm not sure I could deal with Pokerface 2.0. Haruki thought as long as he could act natural he could talk his way out of just about anything at that age. The energy is definitely there though..."

Daisuke finally allows himself to turn around. Looking out from this spot towards the base has always created nostalgia and thoughts of happier times. But looking the other way, memories of lazy shore leaves and being dragged along to third wheel with Kaga (and sometimes Kongou) on picnics to this spot are dampened by the fact that far too many meetings here have been without their fifth member.

Kaga is around like always, once more unconsciously acting the part of protective but helpless sibling in her own way. Kongou is absent due to being on a deployment at the moment, but no doubt she will badger him into setting up some sort of circumstance so she can meet her "niece" and act like the close family friend/"fun" aunt she originally wanted to be. Akagi however, just looks torn.

It was a hard choice to make, but in the end, he left the choice up to her. He'd specifically saved up more than a few favors over the years so that when the time came, he could burn them and be sure his niece could end up with a good commander he trusted or at one of safer bases where he would know her to be in good hands and as safe as one can be at war.

But Akagi had ultimately wanted her here though. After all, where else was safer than the heart of the JMSDF's power, and the home of some their oldest and most experienced kanmusu and officers?

After Haruki's death, he has personally never regarded anywhere as actually safe or secure, but if his niece just so happened to be on the same base as her last surviving blood relatives, well he was more than willing to look out for her and thankful for the extra leeway being her superior provided.

There was never any chance for dramatic last words or dying breath promises (if he remembers correctly the last things they ever actually said to each other were "You want any coffee?", "Already got one", and "I'll be back in five then, because the machine in this building's busted again."). But he's always tried to do right by Haruki's memory, and looked after everyone to the best of his ability, without impinging on their own wishes. Even though nothing was ever officially made or declared, he has always regarded Akagi as something of a sister-in-law and tired to do his best by her like Haruki would have wanted. But he has never been able to do much about his niece. At least 'til now.

Until the day Akagi finally decides to come forth about her secret, he will respect her wishes and keep silent about his own relation to her daughter. Unfortunately this means that for now at least, subtle hints to help his niece out with the little genealogy project noted in her dossier are probably out of the question.

But whether she does find out the truth or not, anybody crying about favouritism or conflict of interest over the next few months can go sit on a cactus and spin.

This story is a collaborative effort between myself, Mashadarof402, lt_agn02, and Lord K. This Chapter was written by Lord K.