This is intended, lovingly, as a sort of counterpoint to a particular part of the Chronicles of the Siren War. (Spoils for certain events around chapter 72 or 73 if you care.) I enjoyed parts of it, even if it's exceedingly long, but I remember reading one particular reviewer wishing that a character was forced to go through with a wedding and would have to leave his manwhoring behind. ThatRabidPotato, this one is for you.

A diplomatic marriage, in this modern day and age? It felt a little silly, but there was some undeniable power in such arrangements; even Kaga knew that, as divorced as she might have been from normal human life. They needed concrete ties to ensure that their hastily assembled anti-Siren alliance wouldn't lose cohesion immediately.

That she just happened to be the most suitable candidate, with Akagi out of commission and the Yamato incident… Well, Kaga had to do her duty. She had to survive and lead the fleet as best she could. (Plus a dictate from Nagato herself being rather hard to disregard. She saw peace in it, and Kaga's happiness was just the price for it.)

For what it was worth, she wasn't marrying some weakling. It took a certain caliber of officer to pull the ABDA fleets away from the brink of total disaster, and Kaga knew he wasn't just riding on the coattails of skilled shipgirls. She had faced his fleets – later reinforced with other American fleets – down before and been beaten back, but now?

Now they were just facing each other in a different way, she supposed. Kaga had never really had time for childish consideration of marriage, but she supposed she expected something traditional. She wasn't really a believer like some of the other girls, but if the idea of a wedding ever crossed her mind, it was always a formal, Shinto-style affair. That was the only way it could be, right?

Well, that thought was proved wrong. Chikuma was helping her prepare for an impromptu mongrel of a ceremony, where the groom would wear a dress uniform as she wore a fine kimono. The absurdity of the scenario was only controlled by the sobering thought of the fighting it was supposed to avoid.

Of course, if Kaga had to get married, she wanted to know exactly what she was in for. His own Kansen were obviously suspicious about questions and the like, but she asked Chikuma to learn what she could anyway.

Her opening was not promising: "He's something of a rake, ma'am."

"A rake?"

"A philanderer. A flirt. We've met the sort."

Kaga frowned. "I had hoped…"

Chikuma smiled. "Jealous, ma'am?"

"No. It just… seems a disappointingly common vice for such a man."

"He was quite the figure when we only knew his combat record…" Chikuma murmured. "These are the sorts of issues we face with incomplete information, hmm?"

"You'd sell your soul for information, Chikuma."

"If you needed it, I'd do so in a heartbeat."

Chikuma pulled out a comb and began the long process of working on Kaga's tails. She was lucky to have an aide such as her.

It was time.

For what it was worth, Kaga wasn't getting married inside a church. She wasn't getting married inside anything, actually. The ceremony was outdoors, the open sky doing something to remind her that her freedom would be forever checked from this point forward. Perhaps it was flattering, in some roundabout sense, that they thought her such a threat that she needed to be under their noses around the clock. Oh, the thought of it was terribly annoying, but recognition was recognition.

While there was some level of ceremony involved, they were mercifully spared any anecdotes or overlong discussion of their non-existent relationship. The gestures were without any of the emotional baggage that supposedly made marriage one of the great occasions of a normal person's life.

(It didn't seem to be too popular among the ships, either. Or at least, it wasn't among those old enough to understand the real political implications. One of those British cruisers with a 'J' name had caught onto the mood but didn't seem to get the reason. Were children supposed to pick up on that sort of thing at that age? … Gods, she hoped she wasn't expected to do that with the man.)

Speak of the devil, there was Philip Tveter. With his height and his red hair, his appearance screamed foreign, but she supposed there was a sort of charm there. Perhaps that was what won his girls over, seeing those sharp, harsh features become gentler. She didn't expect any such treatment, but it was natural to be curious.

One of the American ships had been elected the officiant, possibly because of a close relation to Tveter. For a moment, Kaga wondered if that was the cold look of a scorned lover before she realized it was the cold look of a woman who had lost her sister. Nevada. Their eyes met, but neither of them made a friendly gesture. Why would they?

Nevada opened a book and treated to them a bit of First Corinthians. Kaga had no clue what that meant, other than that it was near the back.

"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

(Even Nevada, a native speaker, seemed to be struggling with some of that wording.)

Tveter wasn't standing quite as tall after that reading. Perhaps it hit a little close to home? Then why ask for it? Whatever the case, she didn't have too much time to worry about the specifics of his theology.

He kissed with tongue, by the way.

What followed was a remarkably awkward reception, only rescued by the two of them not having to sit together. They split up into their own little cliques and tried to pretend that Kaga wasn't practically a hostage. Aoba was fiddling with her camera and asking if perhaps Kaga didn't want the photographs developed – "Which would be fine, of course…" – when they overheard some hubbub from the Americans.

There was a crowd of girls around Tveter, but the looks on their faces seemed to indicate that this wasn't him laying on the charm. Kaga was glad for that, at least. Given his proclivities, she expected he would continue in some capacity, but she figured he would be decent enough not to start flirting during the reception.

Their volume rose enough that even girls without sensitive ears were noticing, Nevada stood up and placed herself between one of the girls and Tveter as someone shouted about betrayal. Unfortunately for Tveter, there was only one Nevada, and she could only cover one of his sides. Another girl marched up and slapped him straight across the face, the sound snapping even the most drunk party-goers out of their stupor.

A beat of silence. If she wasn't a shipgirl, that would have been a dishonorable discharge, at the very least. He sighed. "I'm sorry."

The others started talking again – there seemed to be a lot more tears now – and it grew hard to pick anything out. That was the last time he got slapped that night, for what it was worth, but all of the girls seemed in a truly dreadful mood afterward. She spotted some of his harder hitters there…

If only his strategy of having illicit sexual relations with his subordinates had caved in on itself a little earlier, maybe she wouldn't be in this mess. Speaking of unfortunate sexual misadventures…

Tveter received a friendly pat on the shoulder and a few presumably friendly words from Nevada before he stood up and crept out of the room.

Kaga stood up, and Chikuma reached out for her arm. "My lady, I'm certain you could delay…"

She went on. Ideally, they would eventually negotiate separate sleeping arrangements – she refused to share a room with… whomever he still had now – but for now, they shared.

For what little it was worth, there was an actual bed for him to sleep in. He hadn't managed to get many Japanese girls in his side, but these few that did join him described a beautiful country… without such conveniences as beds. Maybe the futons kept them in touch with the good earth.

Not much of a mattress to speak of, but he sat on the bed and tried to make some sort of peace with his life choices. His cheek still stung something fierce, but he probably deserved that. Probably a tidier closing than the whole situation should have had. He had a feeling he would have left things to fester…

The door creaked open, revealing Kaga all on her lonesome. Another terribly awkward situation to defuse, but he didn't have any way to evacuate from this one. It was for the long haul… until his death or the end of the fighting against the Sirens. Hopefully, the latter was sooner. She wouldn't be opposed to a divorce, would she?

No. He shouldn't be thinking of how to get out barely a day into this whole thing. The marriage had been forced, sure, but the least he could do was what was required of him. For their continued cooperation and for his honor, whatever that was worth.

They didn't speak a word to each other as they prepared for bed. He set aside his pistol, she laid down a knife that he didn't catch a hint of under all that fabric. Both of them changed clothes, although neither of them was feeling quite comfortable enough to do it in the same room. Hell, they were hesitant to so much as turn their backs on each other, but she occasionally turned enough to show a hint of something on her back.

Most of it was hidden by her sleeping clothes or the tails, but you could spot a hint of a wicked scar that stretched from the back of her neck, on the right, all the way to the little gap of exposed skin where the shirt ended.

Kaga noticed his gaze: "Your carrier gave it to me."

His carrier…? Langley had never landed a blow like that on Kaga, he was certain. Oh, wait. "Enterprise was never really mine…"

"You commanded her, though?"

"Yes."

"You did so ably," Kaga answered. He supposed that was high praise coming from her.

"Thanks."

She supposed he was attractive, but maybe anyone who gave shipgirls the time of day would have seemed attractive to those poor Americans. Did Tveter deliberately use his influence in his girls' lives to start relationships with them? Well, some of them, she assumed. There was 'reasonable' rakishness, and then there was impossibility.

"Why did you ask Nevada to do the reading?" Kaga asked. It seemed as reasonable a place to start as any.

"She's a friend."

"A friend?"

"Nothing more," he responded curtly. "She's a great friend and one of the most caring people I've ever met."

But of course, some of them were obviously more than 'great friends'. "How many lovers did you have?"

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell-"

"How. Many?"

He stopped for a moment and thought. "Six."

"Six?"

"Boise, Exeter, Vampire, Houston-" Didn't he literally just say he wouldn't kiss and tell?

"Stop. I do not need to hear a list of your conquests today."

"You asked."

"I asked how many."

He fell silent at that point, and she didn't want to start the conversation back up again. They shared a room and a bed, but they did the best they could to pretend that they were sleeping alone… she hoped there wouldn't be a lot of nights like this. Sleeping apart seemed better than this farce.

Maybe it would be in her best interest to get used to talking to him. They'd have to attend functions together, plan strategies together… but neither of them were in the mood to start something right now, not when they were both reeling from the end of the lives they once had.

One of her tails drifted too close, brushing against his arm. They both pulled back like they were burned. (Not too dissimilar, she supposed.)

Note: I used the American Standard Version for the Bible quote, not the KJV. The latter might be more period-accurate (? ASV did exist at the time but a soldier's bible might have a higher chance of being KJV?) but I just didn't like the KJV and 1889 Douay Rheims using charity instead of love. DRA and KJV have some lovely artistic-sounding prose I love to use but yeah I hop translations when I'm including excerpts lol.

Otherwise, I do genuinely think a Thorson x Kaga thing would have been neat. It forces Thorson to confront the inherent contradiction in his espousing Christian beliefs while sleeping with several women, could lead to some interesting things with Tennessee (who went more than a little bonkers oh my Lord), and is fundamentally a problem that is best solved by Thorson biting the bullet and sacrificing. I think you could do some interesting things with the amount of influence a solo commander like Thorson has in the life of his ships, or even how a commander might inherently color his ship's relationships with other people in the future.