This world wasn't half bad.

Shiranui had been around the world a fair bit in her globetrotting sorties, and she still hadn't seen anything like the sight around them, devoid of life yet being a colossal reminder of what could have been.

The Maunsell Sea Forts were a series of naval buildings constructed in the Thames Estuary in order to report and deter any German air raids headed up the River Thames and ward off possible Nazi assaults on the mainland, and the four ship girls were standing on one of the many army fort roofs with their spectral doppelgangers, a 3.7 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun standing right behind them and planted right in the center of the derelict rooftop, its erect cannon barrel pointing to the skies as the rust had set in long ago and petrified it in place.

With four slanted columns supporting these colossal structures from beneath the swirling ocean, they bore a passing resemblance to oil platforms with two-story steel fortresses atop them, the salty sea coloring the metal in order to give them a caked layer of pseudo-makeup in the form of reddish-brown and chestnut-colored rust with stained beige-white flags waving and billowing about idly, and these deserted naval fortresses were standing at a location in the sea which stretched out in every direction with no signs of land in sight.

A welcome sight to the Kagerou-Class destroyer, both as a landship who was going to have to fight on land and wouldn't be seeing the ocean anytime soon, and also as a welcome relief to reassure herself that she, you know, wasn't fucking dead.

With a chill racing up her steel spine while the breath she'd been holding escaped her lungs, her spirit was suddenly filled with a newfound appreciation for life, a sensation which hit hardest right after any death-defying experiences which tested a ship girl's luck like nobody's business, and in a bloody affair that was war, no one could escape the grim feeling that they were ultimately living on borrowed time and the reaper's scythe was but a hair's breadth away.

She really wanted to be cuddled by her sisters and especially Kagerou, as out-of-character as that may seem since she was still (partially) human and needed an island to occasionally take refuge in a storm of life-and-death situations.

Tenryuu walked up to the two mirror reflections of the destroyers which were recently inducted into Project Psyche, addressing them formally so as to start things off on the right foot.

"So, you two are supposed to be aged reflections of Shiranui and Shigure, hmm?

Let's see what gifts or powers do you two have in store for us?"

To which one of them sported a recognizable ahoge as she stepped up, planting her reassuring yet firm palm on the Tenryuu-Class's shoulder in order to calm her down, Shiranui seeing that the light cruiser was too wound up and obsessed with bouncing back with a counterattack after her crushing defeat at Yuubari's hands, something Shiranui understood completely.

{All in due time, Tenryuu-san.}

The Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, as a young adult, had a respectably-sized chest which was covered by a giant 'S' emblem on her chest if you took out the tie in her Kai Ni sailor-uniform and replaced it with the 'S' emblem to hold the sailor collar together, and she had the back of her sailor collar extended in order to form the cape which led down from over her shoulders and down her back.

Her usual get-up was the same as her Kai Ni remodel with the finger-less gloves, hair ornament on left temple, dog ears and child heels along with an age-inappropriate miniskirt covering her hips (thankfully she wore compression pants), and the other occupant in this dream world was an older doppelganger of herself, just with a serious case of albinism just like an Abyssal.

!Shiranui still had the same ponytail like her own except with white hair, wearing a yukata with cherry blossom petals dancing on its fabric and designed in order to seem as though they were in movement should she shift where she stood, thanks to the exotic material and intricate weaving patterns used in its creation process which accomplished wonders on a level which modern fashion designers had to stretch their imaginations along with the capabilities of current technology to even hope to reach in several decades.

Not that watching the exquisitely-designed yukata and its cherry-blossom pattern design come alive like a peafowl displaying its plumage was possible when her mirror image stood still like a observing statue with poised discipline which was likely drilled into her from a young age, and from her obi sash tied snugly around her yukata along with socks being worn and wooden geta sandals on her feet, long sleeves reaching down and enveloping her arms entirely in order to hide them from view, and she thus seemed completely normal in comparison to the superhero vibe !Shigure was giving off.

Tenryuu shook off !Shigure's hand, looking distressed after the devastating loss of her beloved sword and her inability to protect her friends even with all her power-ups as she remarked hoarsely.

"It's not!

We got our asses handed to us by the Abyssal J.O.A.N. units, and…

And…"

Tenryuu seemed utterly deflated as she collapsed onto the elevated edge of the center platform which they all stood on with slumped shoulders, and !Tenryuu sat down along with her as the Tenryuu-Class name-ship high-fived her own face with both palms in exasperation while Shiranui kept her distance from the four ivory young adults which shared looks with one another, and since this dream world was some sort of consciousness-sharing platform, this would mean that these four fuckers would likely be able to share their thoughts.

And from what she heard about these sentient and sapient personifications of their souls, they were terrifyingly capable of speaking in circles by waxing philosophical which ultimately led nowhere at the end of their two get-together sessions.

Shigure, however, possessed a nonexistent sense of wariness around strangers who were of admittedly extreme interest, circling around her adult self in a look of admiration, expectancy and of unbridled and childlike curiosity at what this mystery would reveal at the end of the road as well as getting a preview of what she was projected to look like in the distant future.

"Wow…

So this is what I'm supposed to look like when I grow up?

Not to toot my own horn, but I have admit, I do look quite stunning.

Or will look stunning, from my point of view, since you appear to be my future self…"

!Shigure gave her a warm smile, breathing out a little harder through her nose and raising a gloved fist in order to clap it on Shigure's forehead in a show of serene mirth as someone who had seen too much, but was glad to see a past version of herself which could still look like this.

Shiranui stood still and appreciated the scenery and the fact that she still remembered her time with her Kagerou-Class sister ships as a ship girl of Yokosuka, still immobilized due to the fact that she fucking survived, looking at the Shiratsuyu-Class as she asked,

"Is none of this is still hitting you yet, Shigure?

We beat the 30% odds of survival, don't you think that having just survived a life-or-death gamble should warrant a bit more of a reaction?"

To which Shigure turned to her and gave a nonchalant reply, more interesting in studying their ebony-colored alternate selves.

"Yeah, of course I'm glad that we survived!

But if you think about it, it's not entirely out of the question for us all to survive this procedure since our odds of survival are independent of each other, and I said that I wouldn't die before this.

So it's 30% for us both, and our combined chances of survival add up to like, 60%, right?"

{Um, I'm not exactly sure that's how probability works, dear.}

!Shigure ruffled Shigure's hair endearingly before sharing a look with Shiranui as the Kagerou-Class destroyer recognized the look in the similar-looking pair of eyes on the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyers as those who belonged to someone who had seen far too much while still so young, but while the younger was still finding her way in the world, the senior already knew her place in it and could only try to help others reach the heights which she had reach and surpassed long ago.

Shiranui then gave herself a stoic sideways glance which her doppelganger reciprocated in kind with a withering glare which, although lacking the resolute intensity behind her own gaze due to the spirited determination behind them, but !Shiranui's gaze simply made Shiranui feel small not out of any sort of ill will in her mind, but was more like the case of a human looking down at an ant and simply knowing that he was superior, which was by no means the fault of the ant or the human, but simply a vast gap in capabilities.

Charming.

She admitted defeat in this little staring contest as she looked away, and Tatsuta looked at !Tatsuta as she shared their most recent loss with them.

"I believe we need to clear the air in order to understand each other better.

You see, we were soundly defeated by Yuubari-san on the roof of the Kamogawa City Hall, and - "

{And you wish to ask for the blueprints to a stronger and better sword, right?}

!Tenryuu finished the sentence for her, and !Tatsuta leaned in to give Tatsuta a look of concern which was also present in her subdued voice,

{And you got EMP'ed and electrocuted, so you need to rest.

No trying to act tough, I'm connected to your body and can tell when you're pushing yourself too hard too soon.

I am you, after all.}

Shiranui turned to give !Tatsuta a look as she commented on their situation.

"There isn't enough time for that.

The Abyssals have already established a foothold on the coasts of Japan, and the situation is just too dire for any one of us to be out of commission for too long - "

{Which is none of our business.}

!Tatsuta spun around to face Shiranui, the light cruiser's look of consternation now replaced with a fair bit of ire which also filled her tone as she remarked on what really mattered to them.

Or rather, who mattered to them.

{What we want to protect isn't what you want to protect.

We want to protect you, not your friends.

Their fates are beyond our control, and we can only give you the necessary strength to protect only yourselves as of now, who mean the most to us, and only when you can protect yourselves can you protect your friends.}

Before turning to face the younger Tenryuu-Class cruiser and reassuring.

{But don't worry, though.

We'll do everything in our power to protect you, and if you ask us for upgrades to your powers and weapons, that is what we shall provide whenever possible.}

That was rather cold, but Shiranui supposed that from their point of view, they ultimately concerned themselves more with protecting the vessel which housed them since it was essentially their entire world, and like a fish in a fish bowl, anything and anyone outside was like a human looking up into space and acknowledging the existence of the galaxy and by extension the universe at large.

But when that was all said and done, what mattered to a human was this blue little mud ball which he lived on, and anything which occurred outside of it wasn't their immediate concern unless it directly involved or threatened them and their continued existence.

Looking to !Shiranui, she saw that her yukata-wearing mirror image chose to soak in the salty sea breeze and the isolated feeling of the Maunsell Sea Forts which allowed for an air of isolated serenity, the lapping waves added to the peaceful atmosphere instead of subtracting from it, and she broke the silence as Shiranui posed a challenge veiled as a question to her mirror image.

"Can you talk, or are you simply giving us the silent treatment?"

Her initial answer came in the form of a frigid stare directed at her, before !Shiranui daintily pointed to !Shigure and commented on the emblem on her chest.

{That… is a walking copyright infringement and potential lawsuit right there.}

The four Tenryuu-Class cruisers chuckled mirthfully at the verbal critique of !Shigure's uniform which no one wanted to say out loud as a form of tact, and Shigure now seemed rather curious as to its true purpose and meaning.

"Um, !Shiranui-san raises a good point.

What does the 'S' stand for?"

{Would you believe me if I told you it stands for 'Hope'?}

Shigure could only stare wide-eyed at !Shigure, Shiranui's slightly more sadistic side finding a little bit of enjoyment in witnessing the bewildered look on the destroyer's face when it told volumes as to how she didn't see that coming, smart she may be.

{Just kidding.}

That addendum managed to snap Shigure out of her stupor as she nodded dumbly before lowering her head bashfully and returning !Shigure's wistful smile with a brilliant one , the senior Shiratsuyu-Class leaning forward and showing off her assets to her younger self as Shiranui noticed how Shigure warily eyed her older self's swaying bosom which was a legitimate concussive hazard at her height, leaning away from it as the adult Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer pointed at it and reassured.

{This is just a symbol of the first letter of your name, and it ties into what I'm about to give you since it fits as a symbol for other ship girls and soldiers to look up to as you descend from the skies like the first rays of sunlight which break through the dark clouds as the storm clears.}

Stepping on the metal platform twice and producing two hollow rings which rumbled throughout the Maunsell Fort, a circular section behind her was raised as if it was always intended to do that, with an armored suit being revealed as it leaned back on the unfurling metal storage container at an angle.

The four ship girls were awed into silence as the container's interior LED lights did the suit justice in showing off its sleek curves, futuristic design and the technological brilliance behind it, along with the signature 'S' symbol on its chest, and as the adult-sized suit was allowed to stand on its own with the storage container slowly and majestically ejecting it from its confines, the helmet dismantled itself and broke off into two sections, the front disassembling into steel plates which were packed together like a deck of cards before a mechanical arm stretched out from, retrieved and stored it in a prism-shaped display located between her collarbones and above the 'S' symbol.

The back of the helmet was similarly folded into a deck of steel plates and stored in a compartment directly behind the nape of the neck with another mechanical arm, and the armored suit's three sizes and dimensions were seemingly perfect for !Shigure to step into, numerous gaps in the armored suit existing to allow for ease of movement in order to make it both cool and practical to use.

Tenryuu whistled as she gave the suit an admiring look from top from bottom before dropping an offhand comment,

"Now this, I could have done wonders in."

To which !Tenryuu raised a snide eyebrow in her direction and raised a middle finger,

{Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, bitch.

Were the power and upgrades I shared with you not enough?}

Tenryuu suddenly looked rather conflicted as to whether she should retract her last statement, raising an idle hand to the suit as her eyebrows furrowed, gaze simultaneously softening as she attempted to salvage the situation by elaborating.

"No, I mean…

The Blade Rush ability is everything a chuunibyou like me could ever hope for, but I'm just saying that this suit is shiny, and I just found myself wondering if I could have done more in it since this was built for an adult."

Tatsuta gave her sister a sympathetic glance as she snarked,

"Not that an armored suit made out of metal and runs on electricity could ever hope to offer you any sort of protection against a lightning strike."

And the Tenryuu-Class name-ship gave a tired shrug in order to concede the point, !Tenryuu looking away and dropping the case.

Shiranui then piped with a question,

"Do you have a name for it?

The suit?"

{H.A.L.O.

'Not all angels need wings to fly'.}

The side of Tatsuta's mouth quirked as the cruiser raised an impressed eyebrow at the impactful tagline which !Shigure casually dropped, and Shigure was still silenced at this point in time, looking up at the powered armor which was clearly full of unknown functions waiting to be learnt in due time, and she only bothered to come out of her trance in order to ask a simple question about its incompatibility with her childlike frame.

"Um, not that I'm not grateful or anything, but why is it that it's larger than me?

Do you have any, umm, platform heels hidden inside those metal legs, or perhaps a bottle of growth pills?"

!Shigure shrugged as she scratched the back of her head where her hair braid was, looking rather sheepish about the reason behind this.

{Well, it was originally designed for an older version of you to wear, like you in your Kai Ni remodel, and I suppose that in its creation process on your end, you'll have to craft it according to your own measurements.}

Shiranui, despite her discipline and patience keeping her composed, was now quite eager to see what she was going to be given in return for putting her life on the line while Shigure only looked somewhat dismayed at the fact that she was going to have to modify this marvelous suit to suit her demure body of a child.

"So, what's my little toy supposed to be?"

{You mean the one in the locked second drawer of your safe, hidden in the bottom left corner beneath your bed and whose combination is currently '0-6-9-2-1-7'?

I think not.}

Shiranui's felt her face erupt into a luminescent blush as her mirror image lackadaisically and casually revealing the location of her 'toy' which only she alone knew about its existence (she was still human after all), and only now did it occur to her that the manifestation of her soul would also be privy to that kind of information, strutting up with stomps which slammed into the ground with a vengeance as she sidled up to her older self, who was looking away as an apoplectic Shiranui seethed through clenched teeth.

"Do not tell anyone of anything this sensitive in nature. Ever. Again."

Her other self didn't bat an eye at the murderous aura which was free-flowing from her pores, which sent her further over the edge as she silently fumed in !Shiranui's face, and her own doppelganger merely raised her chin for another circle-shaped storage container to be raised, and Shiranui was at first rather confused as to what she was seeing.

The reveal was jaw-droppingly anticlimactic as Shiranui looked at yet another doppelganger of herself, this time colored in her own image (beige skin, pink hair) but looked to be a sleeping, fully-grown adult version of her just like !Shiranui, along with wearing black tactical espionage gear as the Kagerou-Class destroyer crossed the distance, anger fading away and being replaced by curiosity and confusion as she looked up at her inactive future self and questioned.

"And what's this supposed to be?"

{A remote-controlled body.}

Shiranui's head spun back in surprise as everyone's attention was now drawn to the seemingly asleep Shiranui No. 2 in the container, Shiranui now starting to see what it might be capable of doing even as !Shiranui narrated.

{Sitting in a chair in order to transfer your consciousness into this adult body, coupled with these clothes which can conceal your presence from sight, night vision and radar within reason, you can become a ghost in order to sneak into any location on Earth.}

"And with an adult body, you can do so much more than in a child's body."

!Shiranui lifted an eyebrow in agreement with Shigure's statement as its possible uses started to dawn on her, now stating the few downsides to this power.

{Of course, the downside is that this body will take some getting used to, what with the difference in limb length and height, amongst others.

Second is how you'll definitely need to work out the kinks in your new body by working out a lot, since these muscles are more human than ship girl despite being more resistant to muscle atrophy than any human thanks to advanced engineering.

And since this body contains significantly less steel in order not to be picked up by metal detectors, getting yourself shot at is very much discouraged, even though this body, again, can withstand and deal much more damage than a normal human can hope to survive and deal it back in kind.}

Shiranui nodded in acknowledgement, understanding the logic behind those flaws as they were enough of a compromise for her to take precautions on the field, even if she were using a remotely controlled body.

Tatsuta looked to !Shiranui, asking warily about various hypothetical scenarios which could crop up.

"Moving the consciousness from body to body?

Sounds dangerous, are you sure that there won't be an incident where the soul is torn into two parts and corrupted should you fail to safely eject like a USB stick?"

"Yo, should she leave her child body alone for more than seven days, will it become a glorified corpse which she won't be able to return to?"

"Um, !Shiranui-san?

Will Shiranui have to sleep anymore, since her real body can work in the day while her adult body can work at night, and would that possibly lead to a meltdown should she attempt to do that?

And should she die in her adult body, will she die in real life?"

These questions popped up and caused Shiranui's faith in this new development to waver just a little, looking up at !Shiranui expectantly as if to silently plead,

'Please tell me you have a sound answer to all that, or I will move heaven and earth in order to get myself a goddamn refund.'

!Shiranui shrugged as her yukata shimmered in the daylight, a trick of the light which was somewhat regretfully ignored by Shiranui to focus on the doppelganger's answer.

{Short answer, it just works.

Long answer, no, we have fail-safes in place to specifically prevent that kind of thing from happening, Tatsuta-san.

The ship girl consciousness isn't as vulnerable as a simple and corruptible computer program, thank you very much.

Tenryuu-san, the body will be classified as alive and put in a state of hibernation which will not die, although naturally aging is possible should the possibility of return be… compromised.

But should her body be removed from the chair while she is in her adult body, we cannot guarantee its condition unless replaced.

Shigure-san, she will no longer have to sleep in the conventional sense, but both bodies will work while the other is resting, and should worst come to worst, the eject function will triangulate and send your consciousness back here, although I would advise against this as recovery will be very troublesome after you give yourself a new breathing hole.}

Everyone seemed convinced enough by the subtle confidence in !Shiranui's words as she spoke like a seller attempting, and actually succeeding at reassuring them of their product's reliability, continuing on her explanation to a fully attentive Shiranui.

{The upper limit of your strength, while not anything remarkable compared to most ship girls, is far above what any human can hope to match.

Of course, we needed to remove anything which might inhibit your movement on the field, so your hips and bust are downsized to the average human size.}

Understandable, and much appreciated.

For practical reasons, she didn't want to have a battleship's child-bearing hips and humongous chest only to have them be caught in a window frame and have her get caught while trying to free herself.

Still, her adult self was attractive as her sleeping expression was not yet marred by the 'resting bitch face' which she always seemed to see whle looking in a mirror, and a lack of curves didn't diminish her appeal by too much as she now resembled a 'everyday beauty', which was someone whom you would remember due to her above-average looks and would go out with in a heartbeat, but her second body was specifically designed not to draw too much attention like most ship girls, especially battleships and heavy cruisers did with their inhumanely sublime figures, looks and charms.

She promptly decided to end that train of thought right there because she was now starting to think of how physically attractive her older self looked, and although she understood the logic behind keeping her body lean and free of hindrances, she certainly did not entertain a fleeting thought as to what she would look like with such… prominent features on her.

Except now.

Shit.

Further coloring her cheeks was another stray thought highlighting how since she had two bodies and one consciousness, which meant that one would be unconscious while she was possessing the other, and how vulnerable her unconscious body would be while she had the chance to feel herself up -

Ok, stop thinking RIGHT NOW.

Everyone was giving her weird looks as she found herself looking at the floor with burning cheeks, and turning to !Shiranui for clarification only yielded an enigmatic eye-roll and a snide,

{Hormones.}

Tenryuu looked up at the sleeping beauty that was Shiranui's new body, remarking on its simplicity yet practicality behind the scenes,

"Damn.

With this body, even though what Shiranui will be doing won't flashy and attention-grabbing, it might be of far more importance than all of us combined.

To sabotage supply lines and steal enemy intelligence, it's potentially more damaging than what our brute-force attacks could hope to accomplish."

And to that, !Shiranui proudly lifted her head in order to explain the benefit of subterfuge, espionage and sabotage, and how it was truly fitting for the Kagerou-Class destroyer to gain this ability.

{The phosphorescent lights can only shine bright in the darkness, so is that not poetic in some sense that she would gain a body which allows her to utilize her intelligence-gathering skills in the dead of night?}

Shiranui shrugged, not caring too much for allegory or symbolism which bounced off of her in order for her to get to what mattered as she answered blithely.

"Whatever.

I don't care too much for all that symbolism you're going for, just what you're about to bestow me with.

It's just…

A body and a set of clothes which won't be easily detected by radar, and is also artificially aged in order to grant me greater mobility and capabilities?"

A wide grin appeared on her face despite her best attempts to maintain her neutral expression as if she had received the greatest Christmas gift she could possibly have wished for, starting to look forward to the amount of intelligence she could gather and damage she could cause with such a flexible platform (and to find out who that damn mole in the naval base was).

In the back of her mind, she was starting to wonder if she was slowly being consumed by the infectious enthusiasm which Shigure had understandably demonstrated upon seeing the shiny suit of armor which had likely possessed her, the Kagerou-Class destroyer uttering expectantly.

"That's something I can work with."

Hiei was cleaning her disassembled MINIMI machine gun with the issued cleaning kit at 6.32 p.m. on the 14 of May, Ma'am Jackie drilling it into their heads that handheld weapons, even high-tech ones that were crafted by the Fairies required regular maintenance and cleaning, and since they didn't have the Fairies to do it for them, they had to spend time doing it themselves.

She was sitting in an underground trench bunker which was previously dug out by excavators and then reinforced by ship girls moving support columns and camouflage material into place along with copper mesh on the ceiling which hid their ship girl signatures from the world, and right now, the foliage which shielded them from the sun was also what prevented any surface encampments from being spotted by overhead planes.

There were morbid discussions amongst the resting Amazon company as to what stopped the Abyssals from simply burning the forest down in order to flush them out, and the final consensus was that it all ultimately came down to precision.

Burning down the forest was a legitimate tactic, but the ship girls would simply dig deeper and further in order to endure the firestorm since there was no way to outrun a forest fire (even for a destroyer), and after that would come intense firefights in which cover would be incredibly scarce and would result in aerial bombardment on an unprecedented level that would swiftly vitrify the earth beneath their feet.

What would also discourage such a course of action was how fire was a double-edged sword, and add weather to the mix and you've got either a recipe for either epic failure or disaster, be it a sudden bout of sudden rain stopping your plans dead or the winds doing a 180 in order to burn you.

To raze an entire country and then the world to the ground was crude and potentially self-destructive, and they assumed that the Abyssals would want to utilize more controllable means of destruction in order to precisely achieve their goals, rather than leveling everything in their path.

Heck, if brute force alone was all it took to kill all humans en masse, mankind wouldn't have lasted this long against the Abyssals, even with the help of the ship girls.

"Hiei."

Hiei snapped her head up from her machine gun in order to look up at a familiar face, Haruna looking down at her with a concerned gaze as she stood in the doorway.

Her sister looked radically different from before with her charming short hair and the rolled-up sleeves on her army uniform, and there was little to place her as Haruna of the Kongou-Class battleships.

A smile spread across her face as she motioned with her head for her younger sister to come in, and Haruna did just that as Hiei observed how she had changed.

That greyish-black hair, once so luscious as it flowed down her back, was now trimmed in order not to impede her movements, and the miko uniform which allowed the utmost of grace in her movements to the point of being divine was now stripped and replaced with a utilitarian army-green uniform.

And yet, her younger sister still shined as bright as ever with her serene smile and genial demeanor, sitting down and setting down a portable music player which she brought in and pulled out from her pocket while Hiei moved her machine gun to the side, Haruna asking in a tone much like a mother would to her child.

"Hiei nee-san, are you alright so far?

I wanted to visit you and see how you were doing, but things were moving so quickly and we were so busy, and there were these last few days…"

Haruna then shook her head, looking quite ashamed of herself as she shot down her own points.

"No, those are all excuses…

I had enough time to do so, it's just that I was too unsure of what to say then."

Hiei placed a hand on Haruna's shoulder, feeling the coarse uniform fabric on her skin as she did her best to put the brakes on Haruna's turbulent train of thoughts.

"It's alright.

All I have to know is that you're still here, and that you're alright."

"Yes, yes, I suppose you're right.

Haruna… I am alright, Hiei nee-san."

Looking down at her laps in order to make an effort not to address herself in the humble yet distant third-person, the younger Kongou-Class battleship let the air settle between them before revealing why she was here today.

"You know, nee-san, I was watching you from afar, and I saw just how dependable you had become to everyone around you.

You were a pillar of strength for them to lean on and center themselves around, and even though you may dismiss it as nothing much, I personally find such strength of character admirable considering how far you've come and have yet to go."

Hiei's eyes unfocused as she thought about her elder sister, who was bravely defending the seas which they still held onto and how she was now no longer at the center of her universe, despite still being #1 in her heart.

"Onee-sama…

I admit, I have thought of her only a handful of times in recent memory, because I strived to do right by my teammates more than her, and in our personal dialogue, Onee-sama consoled me and said that she would love me as a sister forever.

That's more than I could have ever hoped for, and I'll always be grateful for that."

"But was it what you wanted?"

A perceptive Haruna saw and cut through Hiei's words as she didn't know how to answer her sister ship, and the ensuing silence was an answer in and of itself as Haruna continued.

"It was everything you needed, but not everything you wanted.

But, under those circumstances, you made your peace with your unrequited love for her and allowed her to be happy with Admiral Mako, right?"

" … Yes."

Blinking in response to Hiei's acceptance of the final outcome and moving on, Haruna made eye contact with a patiently listening Hiei as she remarked on her elder sister's growth.

"You know, Hiei nee-sama, I think you've become a bit more like Kongou nee-sama ever since then.

Last time, the three of us were all content to play second, third and fourth fiddle to Kongou nee-sama, and perhaps that's why she decided to split us up back then, so that we'd spend some time away from each other's company and come into our own as full-fledged battleships.

And right now, you're almost like everyone else's Onee-sama in your fleet, and your prior adoration and worship of Kongou Onee-sama has evolved into a platonic and sisterly respect, in which you're content just to watch her be happy from afar and are now working hard to become like her while retaining your own identity."

Haruna then looked into Hiei's eyes and allowed the senior Kongou-Class battleship to see the utmost of sincerity and the firm determination hidden beneath those soft amber pupils, and they were shining with some hints of maidenly shyness intermixed with a mature playfulness as Haruna leaned in and spoke huskily.

"Then, Hiei nee-san, would it surprise you when I say that that's the kind of person I'm attracted to?"

Hiei snapped her head towards her sister ship in order to give her an incredulous look, and Haruna, although retaining most of her shrinking violet demeanor due to her in-built shyness, now forged on with the strength of a maiden attempting to make her feelings known.

"Um, make no mistake.

I love Kongou nee-sama's exuberant nature in a slightly more-than-sisterly sense, but the strength and independence in her nature is inherent while yours is grown as you step out of Onee-sama's shadow as an admirer in order to become strong and stand by her, and perhaps in my eyes, someone which earns and develops that strength attracts me more than one who is born with that strength of character.

P-Perhaps what I'd like to say, Hiei, is that I like you.

In the romantic sense, in case your were wondering."

Insert 'Hiei. exe has stopped working' meme here.

She was absolutely floored by this recent development, watching Haruna wave her hand before her eyes before snapping her fingers as an unbroken sequence of actions since she had frozen up on the spot with unblinking eyes.

And it took a 'true love's' kiss from Haruna before her brain kick-started itself back to action, jumping back from the action as she held the back of her right hand to her lips while she scooted back and away from her younger sister, doe-eyes complementing her bewildered expression along with her sputtering attempt to construct a proper sentence.

"W-W-Wha… thuh… thuh kiss…"

Haruna's expression crumpled, and Hiei's heart instantly broke and threatened to crush her from within as her younger sister hung her head and shared in a pained whisper.

"I'm afraid, Hiei.

I'm afraid that I'll lose you all again, and even though we're doing our best in order to prevent losses, there's no telling what'll happen in the future.

And, touch wood, but should you die again, I want to take the time to let you know me better and vice versa, andnot be a wallflower like in the last war where we couldn't talk to each other.

And this time, I'd only have myself to blame for not reaching out to you all when you were still alive."

The third member of the Kongou-Class battleship sidled up to her as Hiei felt herself wondering if this was one more trial of being an 'Onee-sama', and now knew a little more about how Kongou Onee-sama felt whenever she made her advances towards her elder.

Oh, how she wished there was a training manual for elder sisters on how to deal with romantically-inclined younger sister ships coming on to them, and she sputtered as Haruna leaned in and invaded her personal space with romantic intentions.

"H-H-Haruna!

We shouldn't be doing this!"

Haruna genuinely seemed confused about why Hiei was so hesitant about being this intimate with a sister ship, citing her worship of Kongou as an example before chancing on a possible explanation.

"Why not?

With how attracted you were to Kongou nee-sama, I believed that the thought of getting intimate with a sister ship wasn't much of an issue…

Or is it because I'm not Kongou nee-sama, and that's why you aren't attracted to me?"

"No!"

As Haruna's expression drastically fell upon coming across that mortifying thought, Hiei grabbed Haruna by her upper arms in order to derail that train of thought before it led anywhere, and her concerned expression relaxed into an awkward one as she soothed her sister ship.

"That's definitely not it, Haruna.

I… I just had no interest in that sort of thing, and I did love Onee-sama in a completely romantic and chaste manner.

… Alright, not entirely."

Hiei looked away as Haruna gave her a disapproving look in order to pry the truth out of her, and her sister ship's expression brightened again in a warm smile as Hiei continued uncertainly.

"Maybe it was the natural pathos of things, but knowing that Admiral Mako truly loved Onee-sama and vice versa, I knew that any lewd thoughts about us both will never come true.

And like that, I never really paid such thoughts any serious attention, which is why this development took such a strange turn, to think that my own younger sister thought of me in that manner.

I'm honestly surprised, embarrassed and maybe a little proud, perhaps even happy to know that you think of me that way?"

Giggling lightheartedly as they made eye contact, the amber-eyed battleship looked down with a grim expression as she continued her speech to Hiei.

"Look, Hiei nee-sama, I…

I want you to know me better, because I don't want you to remember me as just the Kongou-Class battleship who was the team mom.

… I admit that sometimes, I do let my mind wander quite a bit when doing the routine paperwork and the daily grind, and while this love for you was previously on par with my love for Kongou nee-sama and Kirishima as sisterly love, I have to admit your recent developments has me falling for you even harder than them both."

Her expression then morphed to become ashamed as she lowered her head and brought her shoulders in like a child expecting a reprimand as she whispered uncertainly.

"And I understand that I haven't been as forthcoming about this part of myself, and I'd like to ask you and only you this.

Do you disapprove of this side of me?"

Hiei gave her a quizzical look as she gave an immediate answer, cupping Haruna's cheek and lifting her head to lock gazes with her.

"Oh, Haruna…

I'd accept this side to any of my comrades should this be revealed, and for you, my sister, I'd embrace it as something which I never knew about you, but love equally.

If anything, I feel a little bit of whiplash at how fast our relationship is changing, and how much more I'm learning about you, and it isn't too professional of us to be in that kind of relationship in the midst of a world war when others aren't."

Haruna raised an exasperated eyebrow as she tried to get her point across.

"Um, well, nee-san, didn't you notice?

This is far from a rare occurrence.

The estrogen levels in this company have spiked even before we left for the Itazuma training camp."

"Uhh, what?"

Hiei was now genuinely confused as to what her sister ship was talking about, requiring an elaboration which Haruna readily gave.

"Well, a group full of bisexual women placed in a constant high-stress situation, what else do you think they'd be doing in locked closets and unused bunks in order to take the edge off?"

Hiei raised an eyebrow as her cheeks colored, still somewhat unconvinced that ship girls would be so loose at a time like this even if it did take the edge off, although Haruna's final argument got through her admittedly thick skull.

"Well, you know that ship girls have been passing around and using portable music players left and right, right?

And two or more ship girls bring it into a room in order to listen to music and drown out the noise of…

You know, the other mouth-to-mouth?"

"Oh."

If her cheeks were tinged with pink in slight embarrassment before, they were now a ripe tomato-red as she tried to wrap her mind around various ship girls doing 'this and that' with one another, and how she really should have seen this coming when they were still humans at heart with very… passionate desires bubbling beneath their masks of logic and civility.

She attempted to reconcile the demure and kind-hearted Haruna with the equally kind-hearted but a lot more romantically and sexually aggressive Haruna before her.

"Haruna…

You were never like this, as I recall."

"Hmm…

I never revealed everything about myself to you all with how outgoing you and Kongou nee-sama were, and Kirishima nee-san was too wrapped in her work and adoration of you two to learn more than what she knew, which was admittedly a lot, perhaps to maintain that idealized maternal image of me as the status quo.

Also, the Abyssal War has changed, and along with it, my priorities and mindset.

No more waiting around for the other shoe to drop with a false smile on my face while you all drop like flies.

Just like how your love for Kongou Onee-sama was shelved in order for her to be happy with Admiral, I now want to make my romantic feelings known to you while I still can so as not to harbor any regrets should anything happen to us.

And to that end, I'll break out of my 'perfect wife' demeanor in order to become closer to you, because I love you, Hiei."

Hiei looked down with a crestfallen look, feeling somewhat guilty about devoting all her attention to Onee-sama and neglecting her two little sisters.

"I'm sorry, Haruna.

I used to worship Onee-sama so much, that I didn't pay you two enough attention.

That's why I didn't know about this side of you sooner…"

But Haruna lifted her head back up with her slender fingers to Hiei's chin in order to look her in the eye before rebutting.

"No, you wouldn't have learnt it if Haruna… if I didn't want you to know of it.

And I understood your yearning for Kongou nee-sama's reciprocation of your affection, and now that that's done and dusted…"

Haruna unbuttoned the top button of her uniform and slipped it off one strapless shoulder in order to show what she wasn't wearing, exposing a tender collarbone covered by flawless skin along with part of her cleavage as a tease to inform Hiei as to what she was missing out on by remaining celibate at a time like this, causing the aroused Hiei to clamp her tingling thighs together so as to hide the lubricant leakage down under while Haruna continued her advance.

"So that we have more to remember each other by.

The pitch of our voices, singing in a frenzied duet as we reach a crescendo.

The sensation of our heated skin pressed against each other, feeling our body warmth be transmitted via intimate body contact.

The curves on both our bodies, our lips and fingers roaming and tracing over every inch of skin and the recesses of every crevice in order to memorize them by touch, and later by heart.

The taste of each other's sweat on our tongues, like two cats in heat licking each other clean in places they can't reach themselves.

Hiei nee-sama, won't you indulge in your little sister's wish and partake of her just this once?"

A big gulp rolled down Hiei's lumpy throat as she felt her entire body become piping hot, which was even hotter than the summer was warm as the sweltering dugout shelter didn't provide much in the way of cooling her down despite the ventilation keeping the shelter habitable in times of cave-ins or disasters.

She was now very conscious of her body's sensitivity, being a spring which was wound ever tighter in the form of her her tensing body as she fought in conflict after conflict without unwinding, feeling the sweat trickling from every pore and tickling her flushed skin along with Haruna's labored breathing on the surface of her skin, her younger sister not-so-innocently tempting Hiei with her feminine wiles as ember orbs met cerulean blue ones and ignited a blaze in the former.

Hiei's final line of defense was painfully flimsy as she weakly attempted to find an excuse out of the situation,

"I'm dirty, Haruna.

Besides, I haven't bathed yet, so I'd taste weird with my sweat."

To which Haruna managed to up the ante by sultrily replying, single-handedly undoing the top button to Hiei's army pants.

"Then perhaps the old adage still holds true even to this day, that the quiet ones are the kinky ones.

I don't mind cleaning the dirt and grime off of my beloved and hardworking elder sister with just my tongue alone.

And besides, Haruna needs her daily salt intake, Hiei nee-san.

Are you going to leave your dear younger sister hanging?"

Followed by a tantalizing lick of her moist lips, eliciting another nervous gulp from a sexually-charged Hiei as she adjusted the collar of her army uniform and prayed that it was the effect of the stuffy air in the bunker which was causing her temperature to rise, as opposed to the awakening of a dormant and frustrated inner passion which always had to be repressed as Kongou slipped out of her grasp and into Admiral Mako's loving arms.

Admiral Mako had always proven herself worthy of Kongou's affections, but that left her romantically unfulfilled as a woman, and that desire was unleashed today as her younger sister confessed her love to Hiei, who felt humbled and happy that someone looked at her that way.

Haruna pressed down on the music player's 'Play' button and played something oddly fitting for the occasion,

Marvin Gaye

34. Sexual Healing

Before the two Kongou-Class battleships, in accordance to the slow and balladic, yet rhythmic tempo pulsating softly as it stirred up their war-weary souls in a series of beats and took its time to get them ready to procreate instead of reap, taking their time in stripping themselves and each other as they occasionally broke eye contact in order to undo a stubborn button or two, but kept their eyes on each other otherwise.

The song's rhythm seemingly enchanted their sweating bodies and synchronized their heartbeats which resonated throughout their bared bodies as their bare bosoms pressed against each other, allowing Hiei to feel the anxiousness which also plagued Haruna's heaty body despite aggressively putting the moves on Hiei.

All the pain, all the stress, the entire Abyssal War in and of itself seemed to fade further into obscurity in Hiei's mind with every millisecond of contact being made in their erotic grind, as Hiei now only had eyes for her younger sister Haruna, who was the center of her universe right now.

And in order to reassure Haruna, Hiei clasped her hands and interlocked their fingers as they spread their legs, thrust their hips out and kissed each other with their other pair of lips in undulating motions and allowed their erect nipples to teasingly graze each other's breasts while their vulva delicately made contact with each other, Hiei wincing as her vulva was stimulated by the intoxicating contact as a carnal wave of pleasure flowed and spread throughout her body via her excited steel spine in a long-awaited leak of bottled-up sensations, Haruna breaking out into a worried grimace as she asked.

"Nee-san…

Does it hurt anywhere?"

Her labored breathing, heaving bosom, excited tremors, blushing face, the sweat-glossed skin and the tears which formed on the corners of her watery eyes were subtle but mixed indicators regarding her true condition, huffing in a raspy voice as her lust seeped through her crumbling mask and dripped from her voice like the trace amounts of saliva from her mouth,

"No…

In fact, it felt really good.

Please, continue…"

Resuming their stress relieving ritual that was tribadism while half-drunk from the pleasure, Hiei found herself redoubling her efforts with a vigor which almost bordered on animalistic, and Haruna's amber pupils now shined with a fire behind them, their sweat and lubricant mixing into a sticky and delectable nectar as Haruna and Hiei both climaxed with a kiss using both their lips up top and below.

Pulling apart their faces in order to watch each other's blush hit critical as a loose string of saliva still bound her lips to her sister's, her heartbeat was reverberating throughout her body and Hiei suddenly felt weak and found the urge to hug Haruna like a drowning sailor would with a piece of flotsam in a raging storm, wheezing into her younger sister's ear in an impressed tone,

"Y-You're pretty good at this, Haruna."

"Like I told you, nee-sama.

Lots of idle time and being surrounded by beautiful women fuels a stir-crazy ship girl's imagination and gives her ample time for mental practice.

It's as good a distraction as any."

"Hiei."

Haruna's dilated eyes widened as she stared dumbly at Hiei, and the senior Kongou-Class battleship clarified about the respectful yet relatively distant honorific right now,

"Call me Hiei.

'Nee-sama' sounds so formal, and if we're getting this intimate, call me by my real name, Haruna.

Please."

Haruna's cheeks then stretched into a radiant smile, bringing her respiration rate under control as she brought her face in close in order for her humid breath to brush against her naked chest and collarbone to get the fine hairs on her skin to stand on end and sway with every racy sigh, agreeing to her simple demand.

"Yes, of course.

I love you, Hiei."

Haruna's slender hand reached down, her shoulders supple and arm muscles lean as they rippled and squeezed with the Herculean strength of a fast battleship delicately applying said superstrength, Hiei's toes and legs spasming and squirming in delight at what she felt with her younger sister's handiwork and knowing just how to tickle her fancy as Haruna toyed with Hiei like putty in her hand.

Hiei could feel her heated face morphing into a plethora of delighted expressions for Haruna to view and burn into her memory banks, gulping down lungfuls of oxygen as her heart raced and her vision watered, fervently moaning Haruna's name while the volume of the background song helped to mask it from the outside world,

"Oh, Haruna!

Haruna!"

The final, bewitching attack which caused Hiei to lose any remaining vestige of self-control and enticed her into surrendering her mind, body and soul to the quicksand of pleasure was how Haruna knew just when to lean in and trace the tip of her salivating tongue down the side of Hiei's neck to her shoulder, another crescendo of inflamed passion almost making her hips give out as she peaked yet again and made her feel conscious of Haruna sensing every convulsion, twitch and spasm throughout her body the entire while, pulling back in order to allow Hiei to look into her intense amber eyes as they melted Hiei's demeanor and resistance with her mesmerizing gaze.

Collapsing onto the mattress that was laid out beneath them, Hiei's mighty battleship strength was rendered impotent as she trembled like a newborn foal and was feebly mewling like a kitten while Haruna now prowled on all four limbs with raised shoulders and taut haunches like a tiger waiting to pounce on her wounded prey while her shortened grey hair flared out near her back and shoulders much like a lion's mane.

Her ample breasts were swaying like pendulums which were a beat out of sync with each other while her voluptuous figure arced and swayed in a hypnotic trance, both physical traits complementing each other with her hungry gaze eyeing Hiei's body in order to make for a very licentious Haruna, who was oozing pheromones which tinted Hiei's view to make her think of Haruna as more than a sister.

Mikura Jima Island, Twelve Navies, World War 3.

They were all mere afterthoughts, painful memories and horrid memories which faded from conscious thought which were washed away with every passing moment she spent with in intimate contact with Haruna, Hiei curling in her shoulders and feebly covering her bare breasts in order to at least pretend to defend her modesty even at this point.

And what did Haruna do?

Lower her head in a leer and lick her lips again as she continued her crawl, turning Hiei on even more.

Damn, had her sister ship been this alluring?

Haruna, in her predatory crawl, slunk over Hiei and allowed her to witness her younger sister's toned abdomen and shapely hips, her heart pounding away a mile a minute in her heaving chest as Haruna pulled up into an upright position while her thighs straddled the head of the supine Hiei and supported her suspended hips, love nectar dripping from her drenched nether regions onto Hiei's face as Haruna peeked over the horizon of her bare bosom, nipples standing at attention as she begged in an aroused whisper.

"Please, kiss me tenderly down there, Hiei."

Licking her ripened lips and savoring the perfect blend of body sweat, love nectar and saliva that was discharged from both their bodies, dripped down and mixed together into the perfect blend in Hiei's gaping mouth, she could only answer before opening her mouth and allow her saliva to pool while she stuck out her tongue,

"Of course, Haruna."

Haruna obliged as she slowly lowered her hips so as not to hurt Hiei, making sensual lip-to-lip contact with Haruna's little secret garden while Hiei traced her hands down the contours of her abdomen and pelvic area before hitting the jackpot, eating Haruna out as her sister ship arced her back and threw her head back in a howl of sheer, unadulterated ecstasy while Hiei indulged in 'shlicking', feeling the incorporeal waves of physical delight being triggered by the movement of her trembling fingers within her fleshy folds, stimulating her nub and allowing her to ride another wave of pleasure as the sisters climaxed yet again as one.

Hiei inhaled sharply just as Haruna broke off the kiss by lifting her weak hips and circling around in order to lie parallel to Hiei's body with her glossy face millimeters away from hers, thinking gladly to herself,

'I needed this.

God, we both needed this.'

As Haruna lowered her head, and they both closed their eyes for a kiss which was taken slow in order for her younger sister to savor the sensation of her tender lips which was enriched in taste by Haruna's love nectar acting as a condiment, tongues roughly feeling each other out and grinding them together as they Frenched each other in the nude and made sweet, sweet love to each other not just as sisters, but also as lovers throughout the rest of the day.

Hiei slept well that night.