Sorry that this one is a little shorter.. Not sure about this one.

Sometimes, Hyuuga wondered what it would be like to have a prehensile tail. Her tiger tail was nice, sure, but combat applications were pretty limited. At times, it was more of a risk than anything else. Something that could get caught or stomped on…

If she had other wishes for her tail, one might be that hers and her sister's matched. It was a strange pairing, fox and tiger. Fusou and Yamashiro were both cats, while Kaga, Akagi, and Amagi were all foxes.

But there was one irreconcilable difference, above even that: her sister took beer with raw egg, like some sort of animal.

Her taste was appalling, certainly. But there was something even more unfortunate about drinking without her. The base did have other drinkers, of course– hopes of the base staying dry were completely vain– but… no one else was that same perfect mix of dueling and drinking partner.

It wasn't like she was gone forever, or anything! She was just out on a mission, and Hyuuga was staring down the bottom of a cup. (Funny, she never really considered herself a mopey drunk.)

Someone deposited themselves in the seat next to her, and Hyuuga took a quick look. Slim, slim little form, red eyes, and sharp ears. This was that Russian battleship, Sevastopol.

Not the worst neighbor. The Russians on base were a people after her own heart. Sevastopol asked for a drink and went at it. Really, it was almost scary to watch, a girl with a figure that slim putting so much booze away– and it looked strong, too.

"What have you got there?" Hyuuga asked her.

"Vodka, of course."

Hyuuga sipped at her own beer. Drinking like that seemed like a good way to miss out on the fun part of drinking, although Hyuuga supposed there were occasional times when you wanted to be insensate as quickly as physically possible. (Well, more quickly than receiving a blow to the head, or something like that.)

"Do you think you should slow down a bit?"

"The revolution never slows down, comrade!" She took a long pull of her drink.

It seemed that both of them had come to get a drink without any companions– or Comrades– in tow… and hey, alcohol was something of a social lubricant. With a bit more beer and vodka, they were suddenly drinking buddies! Yipee!

Sevastopol had suggested that she could try a sip of Hyuuga's drink, and in exchange, Hyuua would try hers. The vodka was strong, strong stuff. Certainly didn't go down as easy as Hyuuga's drug of choice; Sevastopol seemed rather happy with the beer, though.

"So what were you up to, before this?"

"Sparring."

"Sparring? You're not… one of those battle-crazy fools, are ya?"

"I'm no fool! My big sister's the idiot!"

"I was thinking that big sisters are actually an oppressive class–"

"What's that poking out from your chair?" Sevastopol asked, leaning over in her chair.

"What's what?" Hyuuga asked, not quite sure what Sevastopol was talking about… until she felt a hand on her tail and a yank.

"Oi! Don't touch the tail!1"

"That's yours?"

"Of course it is!" Didn't one of those Russians even have a tail? It certainly wasn't strange in this base.

Sevastopol blinked and then gave the tail a sort of pat. "What… what sort of tail? What animal?"

"Tiger," Hyuuga said.

"An Amur tiger…" Sevastopol mused.

"I'm Japanese." Where was the Amur? She couldn't quite remember…

"But Japan doesn't have tigers! Right?"

"No." She supposed that was another oddity to add to the list. Maybe it was mythological? Last time Hyuuga checked, foxes couldn't have nine tails…

Before she could think too hard on that, they were interrupted by awful news: they had been cut off. Commander's orders. (She was a head shorter than Hyuuga, and the Commander still scared the wits out of her.)

"Look at you two." The Commander sighed. "A pair of lushes."

Hyuuga looked down at herself, and then at Sevastopol. She wouldn't really say both of them were… lush. Not Sevastopol, at least.

We love puns and unconventional definitions don't we folks. I was considering an idea that like, Hyuuga was handling lush shrubbery somehow– pruning trees or something with the naginata before becoming the other type of lush. Idk