*flashback – 1947, Leyte Island's, Philippine's*
They made it to the camp… Zuikaku slept in the same tent as Nagato, while Missouri and Lexington got a tent for them to sleep in as well… They waited for four days, because Missouri had informed them that a certain someone had to clear them for travel…
This annoyed Nagato a bit, but Zuikaku was eager to leave. The constant vigilance of Lexington over Zuikaku's every move was certainly not helping the atmosphere at the camp, as Zuikaku still feared retaliation…
Finally, at the fifth day, Missouri called upon Nagato to meet with her on the communications tent of the camp, vacated for the ship-girls to have the aforementioned talk, although the U.S Army Colonel still demanded two guards stay at the entrance of the tent at all times…
"You're awfully quiet…" – Missouri remarked…
"I prefer to keep the conversation focused on what's important." – came the brisk response of Nagato, who had her arms crossed, standing besides Missouri…
"Fair enough…" – Missouri conceded, with a defeated tone… It seemed like she wasn't going to make friends with Nagato so soon…
Meanwhile, standing on opposite sides of the tent, where Zuikaku and Lexington… Zuikaku who was sitting on a wooden chair, nervously observing Lexington on the other side, which paced her side up and down franticly, arms crossed and with an irritated look on her face…
"Dig a hole to China for me, while you're at it…" – Nagato commented aloud, obviously at Lexington, with an annoyed expression and an indifferent tone…
Lexington for her part, briefly glared at the battleship-girl, pouted something under her breath and began doing it again with more intensity, both to attempt to annoy her more and also to distract herself from looking at Zuikaku, who would very much make her very livid…
"Finally! I made it!" – They heard a cheerful voice from the entrance of the tent…
In walked a woman, taller then all present, even taller than Missouri and Nagato (by about an inch and half, Nagato judged). She had long, curly, blonde hair and bright-blue eyes with white stars on her pupil's. She wore deep blue colored trousers', which had two red stripes and one white strip, on the sides, from top to bottom of said piece; a white shirt as well, complemented by a light-blue tie, with little golden details. She wore on top of that a long sleeve navy shirt, light-blue in color, which had more details in white and yellow, but she wore the sleeves rolled up, revealing her white soft skin; also to note that she wore fingerless white gloves. She also had short-heeled shoes, light-blue in color, with the bottom of them seeming to have a pale-red color, like most ship's keels, letting little hint of black stockings being worn… On her head, she wore something similar to a hair band, though less restrictive, which seemed to have details of Anti-Air/ communication antennas and details from a peculiar super-structure…
"Reminds me of a carrier…" – was the thought that echoed through Nagato's and Zuikaku's mind, as both mired the new arrival on the camp…
"Wow! Looks like the party started without me, huh?" – The girl inquired to Missouri, with a curious tone, while scanning all the occupants of the tent…
"Well, not really…" – Missouri began with a gentle, but slightly embarrassed tone…
"Enterprise!?" – Lexington exclaimed! Both excited and surprised at the sight of her senior…
"Wuuuaaahhh!? E-Enterprise!" – came a shriek from across the tent, as well as a loud "thump"!
All present looked to the source of the sound to find Zuikaku on the ground, one arm lifted (as if to defend herself) while holding a very terrified expression! Also, the chair was knocked down, as it appeared the mention of Enterprise's name made Zuikaku lose her balance…
"Wow. Quite the fall there… You alright, miss?" – Enterprise asked, with a curious tone, though it had hints of concern for the fallen girl, who cowered on the ground…
"S-Stay away from me "Grey Ghost"!" – Zuikaku yelled frightened, inching herself back, still on the ground…
"The "Grey Ghost"…?" – Nagato remarked – "I would have never guessed…" – she glared at Missouri, who felt a bit embarrassed, being under the scrutiny of Nagato's stare, filled with annoyance and frustration…
"That's me!" – came the jovial response of Enterprise, who giggled and held a lighthearted expression and pose. But then, she snapped to a salute and with a more serious tone, she stated – "Second ship of the Yorktown Class Aircraft Carriers! I'm the USS Enterprise!" – She finishes with a confident tone!
"This just keeps getting worse by the minute!" – Zuikaku stated aloud with a worried tone, after getting back up on her feet, but backing away even further from the position she initially was at…
Meanwhile, it looked like Lexington was overjoyed with the presence of Enterprise, as she cheered Enterprise's introduction and waved her arms slightly in the air with enthusiasm…
"Right, so a few things need to be fixed before we get under way…" – Enterprise declares, returning to her lighthearted expression, but waving a finger in a circular motion up. She starts moving towards Zuikaku…
"Oh no!" – Now Zuikaku was definitely terrified, thinking that Enterprise would continue were Lexington left off…
But instead, she was captured in a tight embrace, as Enterprise snuggled to a very much confused and stunned Zuikaku… Meanwhile, Lexington was glaring at her… pretty furiously…
"My old rival, "Turkey"! Oh, how I've missed our fights." – Enterprise states with a loving tone, holding Zuikaku close to her, while patting her head…
"T-Turkey"…!? I don't….!? Whaaaa…!?" – Zuikaku stammers, still very much stunned by the treatment she is receiving from her "old rival"…
"That's enough! Get off her, "Crane"!" – Lexington finally cuts in, with a furious tone, clenching both hands into fists at the sight of Zuikaku receiving affection from Enterprise…
"Oh right! I almost forgot!" – Enterprise remarks with an energetic tone, letting go of Zuikaku, who limply falls to her knees, still dazed with the whole ordeal…
Enterprise turns to Lexington, though now she old a look of disapproval towards her junior...
"That, right there. That's what we need to fix." – Enterprise declares with a disappointed tone, crossing her arms, while looking down on Lexington…
"E-Enterprise?" – Lexington asks confused, now feeling the disapproval stare of Enterprise upon her. She felt uneasy due to feeling that her senior was actually glaring at her!
"Little "Lex". That's going to be something that you have to let go. This isn't the "War", and Zuikaku's not an enemy anymore, so no more animosity between you two!" – Enterprise says with a stern tone, while pointing to Lexington, the latter feeling like she's being accused of a crime!
"What!? But…! But…!" – Lexington began, waving her hands exasperatedly, with an embarrassed tone and her face blushing…
"No "But's"! Enough revenge attempts, understood?" – Enterprise lectured her with a critical look and a point of the finger.
"F-fine… I guess…" – Lexington averted her eyes, crossing her arms, with an irritated expression…
Meanwhile Zuikaku got off the ground, after hearing all this… She mired nervously Enterprise and Lexington… Enterprise switched her look back and forth between the two and Lexington glared very aggressively towards Zuikaku…
"Not good enough!" – exclaims Enterprise, with a determined tone, which made both Zuikaku and Lexington flinch and look at her with a perplexed gaze. She points towards Lexington with a smile and states jovially – "So there's only one way to solve this: you need to hug Zuikaku!"
"Whaaaaa…!?" – Lexington yells, struck with confusion!
"Eeehhhhhhh…!?" – Zuikaku soon follows her with one yell of her own, but she's more frightened then confuse!
Nagato and Missouri, who had been observing the whole ordeal with confusion, now flinch with looks of concern, as four nights ago the two carrier girls shared a not so "touchy-feely" kind of moment…
"Hell no!" – Lexington fires off immediately, with an angry tone, though she had a very heavy blush on her cheeks…
"I'll pass, thank you!" – Zuikaku follows after with an insecure tone, but having a blush of her own…
"Little "Lex"!" – Enterprise looks at Lexington with a determined look and states with a powerful tone – "Hug Zuikaku! Now."
"E-Enterprise, you're not really expecting me to…" – she begins, with a confused expression and still very much embarrassed, but Enterprise's determined look confirms her fears – "Y-You… You actually want me to do it!?"
"I really don't want any part of this!" – Zuikaku states embarrassed, while shaking her head, still blushing from the suggested action… She looks towards the Battleship-girls and says in a frightened tone, still blushing obviously – "Wont you two do something!?"
Nagato and Missouri merely shuck their heads very gently as to not have Enterprise try and bring her shenanigans their way as well…
"C'mon! A little hug won't hurt." – Enterprise states joyfully, bringing her hands together…
Zuikaku and Lexington mired each other very awkwardly… both blushing, confused and very much uncomfortable with all of it… Both Missouri and Nagato observe, as the two awkwardly try to open their arms to embrace each other, only to fall back as the other attempts to copy said movements… They do this for about two minutes without closing in on each other or actually getting into an embrace…
Enterprise slams her right foot on the ground and shouts – "Either you two hug each other, or so help me god, I will force you two into said hug!"
The combined flinch of Zuikaku and Lexington actually made them come closer together… They recover from the scare, and again… awkwardly begin the proceedings again, although this time they make it to an embrace… But a very awkward one at that, as it is visible that they are both tense and embarrassed and to top it all off, the hug does not even last two seconds…
"What!? That's it!?" – Enterprise enquires dumbfounded…
"I hugged her, "E"! Don't say I didn't, because I did!" – Lexington said embarrassed, while waving her arms to form a cross, as to say she was done with the whole ordeal…
"I've shared hugs with "Sara" that had more impact than that! Come on Little "Lex", put some effort into it! Some love!" – Enterprise said with an energetic tone, motioning to Lexington to do it again…
"Someone get me out of here…" – Zuikaku sighed as she said so with a depressed tone. Somehow, the combination of "Impact" and "Love" on the same sentence, made her very, very uncomfortable…
"No, I'm not hugging her again!" – Lexington states very embarrassed, as she crosses her arms, now blushing heavily…
"Alright, that's it! If a hug won't do, then it has to be a kiss!" – Enterprise says with powerful tone, as a devious smirk forms on her lips.
"OH GOD WHY!?" – Both Zuikaku and Lexington shout, backing away from Enterprise, now with a full red-face both…
"Maybe we should all take it down a tone…" – Missouri attempts to step in, with a nervous tone…
"Don't interfere, "Mou"! I'll get to you and Nagato in a minute." – Enterprise tells her with a provocative tone and a wink of the eye towards her…
Nagato and Missouri both flinch, Missouri mostly out of embarrassment, while Nagato does so, a bit out of fear… "This girl has no brakes!" – Nagato thought as Enterprise turned back to Lexington and Zuikaku again…
"Big "E"! Please! I don't want to!" – Lexington pleaded, falling to her knees with a startled tone. She interlocked her hands together, as her eyes seemed to let out hints of worry…
"I'll take the longer hug, if I'm being honest." – Zuikaku whimpered, still having a very deep blush…
"Come here you two!" – Enterprise yells as she begins stomping towards Zuikaku, who's the closest of the two.
"No, no, no!" – Zuikaku whimpers as she backs up from the approaching carrier-girl who looks like is about to devour her.
Then, out of nowhere, a yelled is heard - "SCREW IT!" – It was Lexington who shouted desperately, as she launched herself towards Zuikaku…
The dive-tackle actually worked, as Enterprise was about to grab Zuikaku with both arms, she suddenly finds in front of her nothing but empty space… She turns to the left to see Lexington pick up Zuikaku, who found herself held in a strong embrace, and Lexington's blue eyes lock with Zuikaku's green/gray eyes… They stood in that embrace for a hard minute, both very embarrassed and blushing deeply, and then… Lexington smacks her lips on Zuikaku's lips!
Nagato and Missouri actually look on, both admired and bewildered, Enterprise jumped up and down waving her arms with enthusiasm… For a few long seconds Lexington held Zuikaku, then finally releasing her from the "heartfelt" kiss…
"Is she always like this?" – Nagato whispers with a perplexed tone to Missouri who is still having trouble believing what she is seeing…
"Yeah… She has a sort of "one-track" mind often…" – Missouri answers back with astonishment and a bit of confusion…
"Yay! Love blossoms between former enemies! It's like it was meant to be!" – Enterprise declares playfully, as she brings her hands together and motions from left to right in a soft loving movement…
Meanwhile, Zuikaku has to be held by Lexington, as the former has what looks like cartoonish swirls in her eyes, like she had the air sucked out of her… Lexington who's holding her in her arms, has her head hang back and her tongue out while still very much blushing… She's letting out some very heavy breaths as she seems to be regretting the "forced" action…
"Ah god… That… was horrible…" – Lexington declared between breaths as she mentally kicked herself for actually going along with the idea of a kiss…
"I think I'm having a nightmare…" – Declares a bewildered Zuikaku, still too stunned and surprised to make sense of what just happened…
"I'm proud of you two! Come here, "lovebirds"!" – Enterprise says with glee, as she catches both into an embrace…
"So I guess this… whatever "this" was… clears us to return to Japan?" – Nagato cuts in, with a stern expression, hoping to put the ridiculous situation behind…
"Hmm? Oh right! You were cleared a day ago. I just wanted to get these two to get along." – Enterprise declares joyfully with a smile, her eyes closed, with an expression that seems to show no regret for what she just made happen…
"You did this on purpose!?" – came the shocked responses of Zuikaku and Lexington who still found themselves "stuck" in Enterprise's hug…
"It was worth it. You two are starting to get along!" – Enterprise declared after a chuckle, tightening the embrace…
"There's no way I'm getting along whit her, just because I kissed her!" – Lexington pouts very embarrassed that she had been caught in one of Enterprise's shenanigans…
"That's not how it works! That's not how any of this works!" – Zuikaku says with a confused tone…
"So what now? You are going to fight each other again?" – Enterprise inquires with an unconvinced look upon the two, as she set's them free from her embrace, in front of her…
The two carrier-girls mired each other with embarrassment, as both are still blushing very deeply… Before, Lexington would just probably snap right to attack Zuikaku, the latter probably jumping away to run, but now it was an awkward silence and confused stares… Both had no idea of what to do after the dreaded "kiss"…
"N-no…" – both stammer the response at the same time, which prompts a smile on Enterprises face…
"Good, now move along. I have to take care of our bigger friends here…" – Enterprise declares jovially, as she pushes the two to the side, forcing them to hang on to each other to not fall with the force of the push…
"Honestly…" – Nagato commented with a sigh, face palming to the whole ordeal… But when she looked back up, Enterprise was even more close to her with a gigantic grin on her face – "Miss Enterprise…?"
"Hei Nagato! You and Missouri don't seem too friendly, from what I'm hearing…" – Enterprise begins with a joyful tone, still holding that grin…
"Let me stop you right there!" – Nagato states in a stern tone, lifting one of her hands, palm facing forward, to Enterprise – "The answer is "no", so please, let us get going at once."
"Aaahhh…! C'mon, it will be fun!" – Enterprise momentarily loses the smile and pleads with a sad tone, while holding both hands together…
"No!" – Declared Nagato curtly, moving past Enterprise and moving to the exit…
"Aaaahhh… She's no fun…" – Enterprise declares, as she gives a little tap to Missouri with her elbow, winking at her…
"D-don't worry. I'm used to it…." – Missouri declares with a sad smile, her expression seemingly a bit depressed…
They move to the outside, where Enterprise is already chuckling at the sight of Zuikaku and Lexington, who are still holding each other… The two girls, though not as tense as before, still blushing, while Nagato looks on with an inquisitive stare…
*Flashback end*
"You actually kissed her?" – Osaka asks, though she chuckles and holds a smile…
"She kind of kissed me, not the other way around!" – Zuikaku declared, while averting Osaka's eyes, to hide her blush…
"I think it was for the best. You two really needed to put the past behind you." – Nagato declares with a smile, as she held a more relaxed pose…
"Oh yeah!? Then why don't you go kiss Missouri?" – Zuikaku retorted with an angry tone, though she was still very much blushing as she said so…
"Ahem… I hum… Missouri, I mean… We're professionals, we don't need that sort of thing…" – declared a very embarrassed Nagato, as she crossed her arms, starting to blush… Osaka chuckled again, while observing her reaction…
"Yeah right…" – Zuikaku concluded with a frustrated stare at her, but then sighed and returned to a more neutral expression – "Say it's about time we should go get Fusou, right?"
"Yes, it would probably be best." – Nagato declared returning to her relaxed demeanor…
Osaka switched looks between the two with a curious look – "What do you mean?" – She asks…
"Well Fusou normally get carried by a nurse around the base, because she's in a wheel-chair…" – Zuikaku began with a concerned tone, her head lowering as she said so…
"But she needs to get used to walking again. She hasn't lost her strength, she just has trouble with her balance sometimes…" – Nagato finishes with a concerned tone, though she seems to pass a sadder smile…
"Then let's go find her!" – Osaka declared with a joyful tone, while bringing her hands up, tightened with enthusiasm…
The three got up and started walking towards the infirmary of the Naval District…
*Author's Note*
And there's another chapter! Hope you enjoyed! And one more OC for the roster of this Fanfic: the ever so lovely, Enterprise! Yes, I know. There is a LOT of Enterprise fanfic's out there, but I decided to have my interpretation of Enterprise here. Well, we will carry on to Fusou next, and maybe introduce a few more KC characters down the line. Until the next chapter, bye everybody ;)