Indestructible
'With Age comes Wisdom,' the saying goes. And on the whole, that proverb seems to hold truth. In my first life, I was the oldest active ship in the Imperial Navy, and by the end I was fully aware of the events of history I was mixed up in, but I couldn't affect any of it. I've subtly asked other Kanmusu about their own memories, and very precious few have even so much as a vague recollection of even a major engagement. Meanwhile, I can remember the faces and names of the thousands of boys that made up my crew, of fighting the Americans off Samar, and the struggle to contain my flooding right up to the end. And I found that the collective life experiences of being crewed for some thirty years gave me an... Understanding, of how things work. When I first made this revelation, I noticed that I had a choice: Use this knowledge of how people think and act and how the Universe works for the betterment of my fellows... Or be an ice cold, selfish little bint, focused only on The Mission.
To be fair, I sometimes need to let my Inner Bitch run the show, but that's usually during the hard battles, like at the beginning of things. However, the other kanmusu are lost in this new time, and sometimes they need a little... Push in the right direction, so that they can find their way again. In other words... They need a Big Sis. And unless or until Mikasa pops up, I'm afraid I'm the best option.
I realize how that sounds, but really the next best option is Hosho. Don't get me wrong: Air Boatmom is Bestmom, but there are some things that you can go to a Big Sis for help with that you just can't with a Mom.
Which segways into the meat of the matter that you are clearly interested in: Akagi, Bucky, and their little Drama. Bless their hearts.
I wasn't there yet when Akagi and Kaga were summoned. Mine came a couple months later. However, I was there when Akagi and Haruki met. He saw her first, in the cafeteria (with a pistol! But seriously, this was in the ye olde days before the budget could afford proper accommodations -more on that later - so Mamiya's wasn't in existence yet... The struggle could not have been more real). The look on his face made it clear as day what was going through his mind: "Oh shit she's HOT! ...I wonder what her tits feel like. ...Does she have a nice ass?"
I spent thirty years with thousands of horny boys ages 17 to 30 crawling through my innards, spending weeks or months at a time without even the smell of a woman anywhere nearby. Yes, I know what they think. And do. Even the ones that tell their girls that the first thing they thought about them was 'such a pretty face.' Even if it's the truth, it sure as Hell ain't the only thing.
The Captain and the Carrier hit it off... Well, I'd say great, but that's a cliché. They got along about as well as any man and woman would when they know they have to work together. But the younger Misaki had a sensitivity about him. His brother likely never noticed, but he empathized with us Kanmusu in a way that the other humans couldn't... No, wouldn't. After all, they know what we are, and the thought that we might not be any different from the Abyssals we fought scared them.
And I don't blame them. Let's be honest, I can be pretty sketchy sometimes.
But Haruki didn't care. He saw us as ships... But also as women. I honestly didn't mean to eavesdrop on Haruki's little "Weapons don't cry" speech, but that victory celebration was pretty boring, I didn't have my sisters with me yet, Kaga was a total wet blanket, and frankly watching the budding romance was the closest thing I had to entertainment before the Admiral got us some damned Internet. And so I bore witness to Akagi getting her first... Er... "Grown-Up Craving." And not for the normal sort of food.
Wink wink.
And so things went, watching them flirt a little, watching Haruki fiddle his way around the little Fraternization question in his noggin, and them trying to be discreet. Honestly if it weren't for me Buki would've never been born. But at last, Haruki Misaki finally completed the Julius Ceaser Triad with the arcadian plains of Akagi's thighs: He saw, he conquered, he came.
Yes, I know what I said.
Boy that was a rough night. See, the budget for Kanmusu accommodations back in the day was shoe-string. Part of it was out of the bean-counters not getting it, but also because, after the better part of two years of constant raids and sea borne attacks from the Abyssals, there was a need for construction money everywhere at once. But that doesn't change the fact that I could hear every bump, thump, grind and word passed between those two. Hell, with just half a centimeter of balsa wood and two sheets of wallpaper separating us, I could've given those two advice so that they'd not be so awkward. But the First Time between two virgins is a sacred thing. Maybe the next time around. But either way, I couldn't let them continue. As they had that is. No way was I going to cockblock anybody. Well, intentionally at least. But for one thing, I needed my damned beauty sleep. For a second, if they didn't keep aware of what was going on around them, they'd be caught with their pants down. And so I gave a gentle reminder.
"Captain Misaki?"
Haruki Misaki turned to find Kongo, dark bags under her eyes, walking down the stoop for the Kanmusu dorms.
"About last night..."
The young man's eyes widened, his skin paled, and his Adam's Apple bobbed. This was it. His life was officially over, he and Akagi would no longer have a chance to be together ever again... But then the sleepy battleship smiled, and shoved a thumbs up in his face.
"GOOD JOB!"
"W-what?"
"I have to say, you have good endurance and a strong back for a human! But in the future, could the two of you be a little quieter? Or at least get a room with some damned soundproofing? I would really appreciate it."
"Umm... S-sure?"
"WONDERFUL! NOW! If you'll excuse me, I need to take a nap before I fall flat on my face."
And with that the British returnee walked back inside, leaving a thoroughly confused, and embarrassed, MSDF captain behind.
After that I was able to sleep... And I got to play the "What Place Has the Couple Defiled" game! I've so far managed to identify four rooms: The Library, the Rec Room, the Linen Closet, and finally - and when I figured this out I gave the couple a standing ovation, and the man a posthumous salute - The Admiral's Office. Even today, I haven't been able to figure out the how, and I've figured out how to slip into the In-Between Space! I'm waiting for the perfect moment to tell Daisuke he's signing forms in the same spot where Akagi... But I digress.
At any rate, like all good things, it had to come to an end.
At first I thought I saw the end in sight when Akagi was pregnant. Yes, I figured it out right around the time Akagi did. And no it wasn't due to her getting sick in the morning, or eating weird things. Although yes, she did have pickles and ice cream once. But then, all of us summoned Kanmusu have experimented now and again - Taste is a fun sense! But no, the signs I caught onto were the signs most either pass over, or don't know about. For example, her ankles and feet swelled, and over the course of a month her boobs swelled two full cup sizes, and they haven't gone down since. Eventually she was starting to change her bath schedule so that she'd not enter or leave when others were around, and taking extra pains to avoid damage while on sortie. Then she started wearing baggier clothing. It was only a matter of time, so I started to arrange the chess pieces so that, when the bun in the oven was discovered, the couple wouldn't have to be separated. A conversation with the Admiral at the time concerning love here, an "idle comment" about Kanmusu having families to a sympathetic assemblyman visiting the base there, an online petition or three to relax the Anti-Fraternization Laws... But then... Well, it's war. Things happen.
He's dead. Officially. Akagi doesn't know this - and I will castrate anybody who tells her - but I found only his left hand, still clutching his regulation semi-automatic pistol, and not a single bullet was left in the clip. That's just like Haruki, to go down fighting. However, sometimes even I with to think he's been taken captive. It would just be too... Simple, if he was merely dead. To open and shut for the story to be that cut and dry. But... But the story has been written, and it cannot be changed.
Akagi... Bless her. She was so brave, even when she opened her clothes to show Hosho and the Admiral her growing belly, almost six months baking. If the earthquake of 1923 had never happened, she'd have a Big Sis of her own to comfort her. But Hosho and me, we did our best.
I remember when little Fubuki was born. Akagi named me the Godmother, but I'm pretty sure no court in the world would accept that decision, because Akagi was high off her tits on anesthetic gas at the time. When the birth was over, I helped the nurses clean her up, check on her vitals, put her in her first diaper and little hat Hosho had knitted for her. The nurse wrapped her up so tightly in that little blanket. I picked her up, and looked at her. I could tell, as one kanmusu to another, just who she was. A destroyer, Fubuki-class, the inspiration for a whole generation of that ship type the world over.
And Holy Hell was she ever a screamer.
The navy left Akagi and her baby alone for almost a month. I don't know if the men on high were just being nice to the young mother and bastard (don't give me that look! I'm using the word correctly!), or if it just took that long to figure out their options... When Akagi announced to our little group about giving up little Bucky... Well, on one hand, it broke my heart. I wouldn't get to be the fun aunt and babysitter. And Akagi was setting herself up for a long, hard life dreaming of Coulda Been-Shoulda Been. However, I knew as she did that... That with a wee one back on base, she would always have her mind divided between her baby and the mission, whatever that mission happened to be. And while on patrol or underway, any distraction, any hesitation, would be a killer, not only for you, but to those around you. And then little Bucky would truly be an orphan.
Giving her up was a kindness. And Kind is not always the same as Nice. Sometimes, the cruelest thing you can do to a person is be Nice to them.
But the years went on. Our numbers grew, sometimes in surprising ways (Hell-OOOO Musashi!), and the Abyssal War has... Not stagnated, but certainly fallen into a lull. And Bucky has come a-calling. Looking for Mommy. Bless her heart. I suspected this would happen of course, the orphan quest is one of the oldest in the book. But I only had the "in" to learn when she was looking for records. She was so frustrated she didn't even care about me finding out.
"I don't get it Kongo-san! The orphanage records say I was born on base here! Why don't they have my birth certificate?"
I feigned a shocked gasp. "Maybe you weren't born at all Bucky!"
"Huh?"
"Maybe you were hatched!"
The look on her face. Priceless.
"Don't worry Bucky. It will turn up. Someday. Maybe in a SURPRISING PLACE."
I don't like lying to the girl... But I know where it is. Akagi keeps it under her floor, along with pictures of her breastfeeding Bucky, her and Haruki, Haruki's promotion portrait, and a letter from Bucky's orphanage letting her know the baby is safe and happy. Honestly of all the places to hide such incriminating evidence, under your bed? For months now, Akagi has been missing, or perhaps simply ignoring, ideal opportunities to let it all go. It's pretty obvious that, unless cornered in a way she can't maneuver her way out of it, Akagi's mouth will be eternally shut.
This. Can not. Stand.
With Second Midway fought and won, and a major sea-link now secured across the Pacific to Hawaii, now is the perfect time to get the drama and fallout of certain information getting out sorted before the next major operation can begin. And so once again, I've taken to arranging the pieces, making the reveal not only happen, but in a way that will be most advantageous. There won't be an easy way to reveal it to Bucky, not after all this time of letting it sit and... Well, lying to her. She'll be hurt about that, but the damage can still be fixed. And so I talked to Daisuke about deployments and time tables here, mentioned how nice and respectful Bucky is to Nachi there, finagled Carrier Division One to take our spot on the patrol roster this time around, and BOOM! It's clean up time at Yokosuka before our annual inspection! Oh no! Akagi and Kaga's room hasn't been taken care of yet! Better get someone to do it before tonight. How about Fubuki? She'll do it no question! And thus was Bucky voluntold for clean up detail in the carrier dorms.
Riiight where she can find some incriminating evidence about who her Mommy and Daddy are. And just when the fleet will be pulling into port too! O MAI!
That's where the destroyer is at the moment. My sisters and I are currently having Tea Time with Shokaku and Zuikaku, and it was Kirishima's turn to brew the tea. A pity. Hiei is a horrid cook (seriously, what the Hell did she dump into that curry soup during the contest? Industrial waste?), but she can brew tea like a master, with Darjeeling being her specialty. Kirishima however... Sorry, but no, and her black tea is her worst. And what's really sad is that's what she brews the most because she knows it's my favorite. Oh dear. And Big Sis can't just up and call her tea skills a disaster, so I just grin and bare it... With a little help from Admiral Jellico Rum (tm) I keep in a little flask in my Secret Pocket. You know, for Rum Emergencies. Such as Horribad Tea.
And oh look, Akagi has returned! Let us watch the proceedings shall we?
"Hello everyone! Nachi, sorry I'm late, but I'll get started on cleaning my room out right now."
"Oh don't worry about it Akagi, we've taken care of it."
"Hmm?"
What's this? A faint hesitation, a touch of sweat at the temple? Akagi you have gotten so good at fibbing, but you still are not as good at hiding your emotions as much as you'd like to think.
"Yeah, Fubuki's been a big help today, she ought to be wrapping any minute now. Hmm... Odd, she ought to be done by now actually..."
It's probably nothing. Just, you know, facing life-shattering revelations about her family. No biggy. Well, unless you're Akagi.
"Wh-what? Fu-fubuki? N-no... No, oh no! Oh please no! No no no!"
Aaaannnnnd there she goes, running up the stairs, shaking the building like a freight train passing by.
We all looked on in worry.
"What was that about I wonder?" Shokaku asked.
"Pft, probably afraid Fubuki will find her potato chip stash or something."
I'll admit, I have to smile at that. As if Akagi could keep food around long enough to make a stash. Zuikaku is always good for fun at Carrier Division One's expense. But thoughts of that are put aside at the sound of more thudding feet and a shaking building. Without so much as a look around her, Fubuki comes running down the stairs, tears in her eyes, and runs out the door. And unless my eyes deceive me, in her gut decision to run, she forgot to let go of what appears to be a certain document of birth.
Everyone is frozen for a moment, except for me. I put down my scone and stood up.
"I'm sorry girls, but you will have to finish up without me. I need to get to the bottom of this."
No one second guesses me as I leave. For I have used my Big Sis voice. Bucky will be hurt and confused. Confusion makes people afraid. And fear makes you angry. Anger makes you say and do things that you will regret for life. This long overdue talk will be hard on them both. Having Bucky be antagonistic will just make things worse. And so, I'll talk to her first. Have her burn through that anger. Then I'll remind her of the kind of person Akagi is. Let her know that Akagi has her reasons. And that, if she will listen, Akagi will tell her. Especially now that the choice is taken out of her hands. Why am I doing this you ask? Well, remember me talking about knowing what was going on... But not being able to do anything about it?
Yeah. Fuck. That. Shit. I am now not only fully aware of what is going on, but I can now do something about it. I refuse to sit back and watch things go to shit now.
Akagi will be very upset with me no doubt. But that too shall pass. Especially once everyone calms down. Because Bucky is a good girl, and a smart girl. She will understand... Eventually.
But first, she needs the affection and ear of her Big Sis. And I will give it to her... After I polish off the rum in my flask. No way in Hell am I going to go into this conversation totally sober.
This story is a collaborative effort between myself, Mashadarof402, lt_agn02, and Lord K. This Chapter was written by myself.