Rule courtesy of Allard-Liao

8722. Whoever discovered that Re-classes could do... that with their tails... No; just, no!
8722a. What's wrong? It's rather pleasurable for both parties. -Re-chan
8722b. I don't care. Even Iku was disgusted. Iku!
8722c. Well, our tails were designed to function as emergency field repair facilities, so- -Re-chan
8722d. Just. Stop.

Bad days. Everyone has them. Those days when just nothing seems to go right. For most people, such days are a grand annoyance that results in large doses of stress and, at worst, poor performance at work or minor injury.

Kanmusu are not most people. When a Kanmusu has a bad day, limbs or even lives can be lost. A certain destroyer was having such a bad day.

The mission had begun rather well, with a handful of destroyers, cruisers, and battleships, including the allied Abyssal known as Re-chan, supported by two carriers and a few submarines (15 ships in total), being dispatched to beat back an Abyssal incursion into Vietnam.

The vanguard Abyssal ships had been routed or sunk quickly enough, with no allied casualties beyond insignificantly minor damage. Then they encountered the main force in the Spratly Islands, and all hell had broken loose. For among the abyssals were no fewer than four Re-class guided-missile aviation battleships, the same type Re-chan was. The powerful Abyssals quickly began to overwhelm the relief fleet, although the allied destroyers and submarines managed to sink one of them soon enough to return the momentum to a stalemate.

That was where we find our hero, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mutsuki-class destroyer, Kisaragi. She wove around and through the waves, frantically dodging shellfire and bombs from Abyssal aircraft, along with the occasional torpedo. Kisaragi returned fire where she could, but that wasn't often, and her firepower wasn't the best.

Another shell splashed into water next to her, sending up a plume of sea-spray that washed over her. "Gah!" Please let me get back. After several minutes, just before she could reach the safety of allied lines, her luck ran out. A great, searing pain preceeded the detonation of her rigging as a bomb struck it. Her back felt as though it were all aflame as she collapsed to the surface.

She thought she could hear her name being called very faintly and see a friendly shipgirl break off and sail toward her, but her senses dulled, her vision blurring as seawater filled her eyes. The disgusting tang of spent oil was the last thing to touch her tongue as she went under.

However, come Hell or high water, her allies would not let the destroyer sink without trying everything they could. Something thick, yet pliable wrapped around her waist and hoisted her back to the surface. Breaking through the water, a pair of small arms joined the other object in wrapping her in a tight hug.

Re-chan stared at the destroyer in her arms. "Don't you dare die on me, Kisaragi!"

Little more than a pained groan was the slightly smaller girl's answer.

"Dammit!" The Allied Abyssal frantically whipped her gaze across the battlefield, where her more recent allies were throwing themselves against her former allies with renewed resolve at the severe damage dealt to one of their own. Satisfied that she wouldn't be shot in the back any time soon, the Re-class unwound her tail and examined the poor destroyer more closely. What she saw made her blanch.

The kanmusu's back was shredded, with only a fraction of her rigging remaining intact and her shirt held on by the sleeves. More worryingly, however, was the sickly mixture of blood and oil pouring out of dozens of wounds across her body. A decision need to be made, right that instant, and Re-chan made it. She let loose all of her planes and midget submarines and bellowed, "Cover me! I'm getting Kisaragi out of here!"

She didn't go too far, however, stopping at a lonely spit of rock a few miles behind the allied battle line. Very gently, she set the destroyer down on the rock and dispelled her rigging. A head of multicolored, but primarily blue, hair popped out of the water. "Is she gonna to be okay?" I-19, also known as Iku, asked, all traces of her usual lewd attitude gone.

Re-chan bit her lip. "I think she will, but…"

"She won't be able to ever fight again, will she?"

The aviation battleship shook her head. "Not unless…" The submarine perked up. "Promise you won't hate me?"

The blue hair swung around as Iku jerked back and shook her head. "If you have a way of saving her life, I don't think I'll care how you do it."

The Abyssal gulped. "Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you." She lifted Kisaragi's shoulders, eliciting another grunt of pain, and brought her tail around. After a moment to steel herself for the submarine's reaction, she launched the tail's mouth forward and over the destroyer's shoulders.

It was as expected. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Short version." Her tail gulped, dragging in Kisaragi's small chest. "My tail has a regenerating reservoir of healing fluid. Works just like your docks." Another gulp, and the tip of the mouth reached the now-unconscious shipgirl's hips. "Part of our role as 'Re's: Emergency repair ships."

The lewdmarine looked truly disgusted as she looked on. "I… I just can't wrap my head around that. You eat ships to heal them?! That's… really gross!"

Re-chan's tail swallowed again, and the destroyer was engulfed to her knees. "Actually…" She couldn't help the color that came to her cheeks. "It feels… rather good for both parties."

I-19 clamped her hands over her mouth, her skin taking on a distinctly green palour. "I- I can't even… I'm leaving now, before I hurl!" With that, she dropped below the waves and was gone.

"…I'm sorry." With a final gulp, Kisaragi's feet slipped out of sight, and she was completely contained within Re-chan's tail. As the internal chamber flooded with the healing fluid, the Allied Abyssal re-summoned her rigging and turned back toward the battle. It was time for a big lie. She opened a radio channel to the leader of the task force. "New Jersey, I'm back from getting Kisaragi to safety, but my optics took a hit. I can still shoot, but I need help getting my shells on target. Can you help?"

"Can do."

The Docks at Corregidor Naval Base

6 Hours Later

The Chief Repair Technician had been asked to report to a secluded section of the base's Kanmusu dockyard used for Priority-One repairs for "undisclosed, but dire" reasons. This did not leave him feeling happy. When he arrived, he was greeted by one of the Allied Abyssals, a Re-class. She looked like her eyes had been damaged, but definitely not to the point that would necessitate her being here. "Alright. Why am I here?"

The Abyssal looked away in seeming shame before bringing her tail around. "Please keep this between us."

"Wha-?" Before he could finish the word, the tail, which he now noticed looked misshapen, pulsed and rippled. As he watched, a girl's feet appeared, coated in a viscous blue fluid. In less than a minute, a Japanese destroyer had been spat out and into the chamber's repair bath. Swallowing back bile, he looked from one girl to the other.

The Abyssal was hugging herself and generally making herself look small and nonthreatening. "It was all I could do to keep her alive. Please, save her."

With a clear job to do, the Chief's professionalism reasserted itself and shunted his disgust to the back of his mind. "We'll do what we can. I can promise you that."

"Thank you."

Fleet Activities, Yokosuka

Three Weeks Later

It had been a long and arduous process, but Kisaragi had managed to make a full recovery and was now sailing back home under her own power. When she had arrived, she had, naturally, been dog-piled by all of her extremely grateful sisters in the Mutsuki class, who all rattled off their thanks that she had come home.

From a distance, a girl in a hoodie had watched the celebration with a small smile on her face before she had turned and departed for the guest room she had been given for the duration of her visit to Yokosuka.

As she was preparing to pack what few belongings she had brought with her, there was a knock on her door. Puzzled, she walked up to the door and opened it. To her surprise, there was Kisaragi, her hands woven together. "Oh. Kisaragi. What brings you here?"

"I never got to thank you for saving me."

The Allied Abyssal rubbed the back of her head. "I just did what I-"

"I remember how it felt."

A lump formed in Re-chan's gut.

"Warm. Soft. Safe." She kicked against the ground. "Any chance I could… feel that, again?"

The battleship tilted her head. "Oh? So, you liked that, did you?" The destroyer nodded. This changes quite a lot "Well then, I'm sure you have a lot of plans for tonight, considering how your sisters welcomed you back, but…" She reached out, leaned forward, and tilted Kisaragi's chin upward with a finger. "...I'd be happy to, accomodate, you, tomorrow." At the eager nod she received in reply, she giggled. "Tee hee hee. See you then, cutie." Re-chan closed the door as Kisaragi walked away, both looking forward to the next night. As she sauntered over to her bed, the Abyssal made a mental note to contact Admiral Suwabe and get her leave extended for another two nights. Or more.