Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

As they came into the harbour, Harry grinned while he kept one hand on the hat that DesDiv6 had given him that showed he was an honorary member. "Wow... it's been a while since I was in Kure."

Beside him, Hibiki slowly nodded. "Da, same here." Looking across the hills, she slowly shook her head. "It's hard to imagine the damage they took during Blood Week."

Something caught Harry's eye and he turned before his expression fell. "There's reminders still to be seen."

With a blink, Hibiki turned in the direction Harry was looking in and nodded. There, close to shore laid a wreck, though it was hard to recognize what type of ship it was due to how the superstructure was just gone and massive holes were ripped through the hull. "The JS Akebono..."

Leaning against the rails, Harry just watched as he remembered what he had been told when he was last in Kure by the shipgirl Akebono before she had been transferred. The Destroyer proudly spoke of how, as her namesake began sinking, she drove up onto the shore all so that she could continue to fight. Even though she didn't last very long, it was long enough for the JASDF to arrive and drive off the Abyssals. "I heard that they were going to, um..."

Hibiki glanced at him. "Remove her wreck?" At his nod, she let out a soft sigh. "I don't know much, but I've heard that there's been fighting to leave her in place." Noticing Inazuma leave the group and head towards another section of the harbor, Hibiki tilted the brim of her hat some. 'Inazuma-Chan...'

Meanwhile, Harry watched as she cruised to one of the deeper spots and then came to a stop. Confused, he tilted his head to the side as she clapped her hands and then bowed. "What's Inazuma-Chan doing?"

For a moment, Hibiki was silent before she answered as Inazuma pulled out flowers and gently laid them on the surface. "That's where the JS Inazuma is, Harry-Chan. When we come to Kure, Inazuma-Chan always pays her respects to her daughter ship."

Eyes widening, Harry winced a bit. "Sorry..."

Gently smiling, the white haired Destroyer patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Harry-Chan. You didn't know." Several minutes later though, she perked up as she spotted several forms heading for them as she turned towards the Naval base. "And here comes some friends."

Moments later, a grinning Zuikaku pulled up beside them. "Looking good there, Hibiki-Chan. And it seems that you got the Shrimp onboard."

Puffing out his cheeks a bit at the hated nickname from her, Harry suddenly grinned. "And it's great to see you too... Shichimenchō-Oba." As Zuikaku blinked, Harry waved at a snickering Shoukaku. "Hi, Shoukaku-Oba!"

All of a sudden, Zuikaku's eyes widened and she fixed a glare on Harry before stomping her feet. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME, SHRIMP!"

Only tilting his head to the side, Harry blinked innocently. "What do you mean, Shichimenchō-Oba? I just called you by your name."

Yet again, Zuikaku stomped her foot as she shook a fist at the nearly twelve year old boy. "COME DOWN AND SAY THAT LIKE A MAN! YOU KNOW THAT I HATE THAT!"

Harry's expression then turned blank. "Then don't call me a Shrimp!"

Eyebrow twitching, Zuikaku pointed at him. "I call it as it is, Shrimp!"

With his expression stll blank, and looking oddly like Kaga, Harry scoffed. "Then I'm going to continue to call you Shichimenchō-Oba... Shichimenchō-Oba."

Growling, Zuikaku clenched her fist as if she wanted to grab Harry right off Hibiki's deck. Said Destroyer just turned away and covered her face with her hat as she shook silently. Meanwhile, Shoukaku waved her hands around a bit. "Zuikaku, calm down... he's just a kid."

Just huffing, Zuikaku turned away with a scowl. "He's a Shrimp. One as annoying as Kaga."

Softly snorting, Harry shook his head at her. "I aim to please, Shichimenchō-Oba."

Both of them froze though as a soft voice, that nonetheless carried a hint of steel spoke up. "Now, now you two. Be nice to each other." Slowly, Harry and Zuikaku turned to see Houshou there smiling at them gently with her eyes closed. For some odd reason though they got shivers down their back at the sight of her and could swear that there was an Oni mask behind her. "Zuikaku-Chan, you know that Harry-Chan does not like his height being made fun of. And Harry-Chan, you know that Zuikaku-Chan doesn't like being reminded of that. Now, are you both going to be nice to each other or will I need to punish you both?"

Quickly, Harry and Zuikaku shook their heads. "No, Kaa-San/Houshou-Oba-San!" The same thought though ran through their heads. 'Scary...'

Tilting her head some, Houshou nodded. "That's good... Ah! Tenryuu-Chan!"

As she moved off towards the Light Cruiser, both Harry and Zuikaku shivered some. Then the Fleet Carrier glanced up at Harry. "She's not kidding you know, she'd do it." At his look, she shook her head. "Aso pissed her off one day and Kaa-San gave her the same warning and Aso didn't believe her. Next thing that Aso knew though..."

With a gulp, Harry just nodded. "Understood." Then he glanced around curiosly. "Um, where's Hiryuu-Oba and Soryuu-Oba?"

Scratching her head, Zuikaku sighed. "Ah, those two are out on a last minute patrol and won't be showing up until tomorrow. They'll be here for that summoning thing though, whatever is going to happen there." Looking up at him, Zuikaku frowned before nodding. "So I heard about-"

Before she could finish though, the wind was driven from her by Shoukaku's elbow. Seeing Harry's confusion, Shoukaku giggled some and shook her head. "We heard all about your broom, Harry-Chan. Kaga-San told us with pride about it."

Zuikaku stared at her and opened her mouth, only to snap it shut at the look her elder sister gave her. "Uh, yeah... we heard all about it."

A smile on his face, Harry opened his mouth only to catch a flash of white in the sky. Looking up, he grinned as he realized what was there. "Hedwig!" Moments later, said owl landed on Hibiki's deck carrying a long package. She gave Harry a look before barking as she tapped one foot on it. Taking the note, Harry read it. "Hey, Mum sent my broom with Hedwig! Something about it being cleared just last night."

Giggling, Shoukaku just nodded as Hibiki continued to guide her hull into the base. "And who is this now, Harry-Chan?"

Proudly holding out his arm, which Hedwig now sat on, Harry smiled down at the Carrier. "This is my owl, Hedwig, Shoukaku-Oba. Hedwig? This is Shoukaku-Oba and Zuikaku-Oba."

Holding out her own arm, Shoukaku let out an awed sound as Hedwig flew from Harry's arm and onto hers. "She's so beautiful... Isn't she, Zuikaku?"

Only nodding, Zuikaku chuckled as her sister rubbed Hedwig on her chest feathers. "Yeah, she is at that." Then she turned towards Harry and looked up at him. "Anyways, once it's dark out, want to show me how good you are on that broom of yours? The way that Kaga was going on about it, it has to be impressive."

Chest puffing out, Harry nodded. "I'm pretty good at it. Hey! Maybe later I can take you up on my broomstick."

For a moment, both Carriers stared at him before Shoukaku began giggling madly and a blushing Zuikaku scratched her head. "Ah, jeez... Don't be saying it like that!"

Blinking, Harry tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Poi?"
_____________________________________________________________________________
About to step onto the gangplank, Harry suddenly paused at the sight of the Uniformed Officer at the bottom before snapping to a salute, which the woman returned. "Permission to come onshore, Teitoku?"

Chuckling, the woman nodded some. "Permission granted, Potter-San. And welcome to Kure." Part of her wanted to laugh as Harry slowly walked down the gangplank, mainly because it looked like he was holding himself back from running with everything he had. 'Cute.'

Once he reached the bottom, Harry bowed towards her. "Thank you for greeting me, Shimada-Teitoku."

Simply giving a small bow herself, she smiled. "Of course." She then looked him over with a hum. "You've certainly grown since last I saw you, Potter-San." Lips twitching as he smiled, she raised an eyebrow. "Do you have the package from Goto-Sama?"

Nodding, Harry reached into his knapsack and then pulled out a steel box. "Hai, I have it right here."

Tenryuu then walked over and presented a key which Shimada took and used to open the box to reveal the contents. There, inside and nestled in it's cushioning, were two vials. One contained sparkling shards of red crystal and the other contained glowing liquid. Letting out a breath, Shimada shook her head in disbelief. "Amazing... and to think that with these..." With practiced ease, she closed the box and locked it. Handing it to Noshiro, Shimada nodded to Harry. "Thank you for transporting it all the way here."

Harry just glanced back to where Hibiki stepped off her hull, with it vanishing in a cloud of sparkles. "You're very welcome, Shimada-Teitoku." Then he blinked as he noticed Noshiro stiffen as Agano came up from behind her and placed her hands on her thighs. 'What?'

As it turned out, he was not the only one to notice as Houshou simply bopped Agano on the head with a fan. "Enough of that, Harry-Chan does not need to see such things yet."

Sighing, Shimada pinched her nose and muttered to herself before she gestured for Harry to follow. "Potter-San, I'm afraid that I have to tell you that the Special Summoning attempt has been put off until tomorrow morning. Soryuu and Hiryuu were both supposed to be here along with their escorts, but they had to head out quickly for a patrol due to some reports."

Just nodding, Harry shrugged a bit. "That's okay, Shimada-Teitoku. I understand... besides, this just means that I can have a look around."

With a chuckle, Shimada nodded at that. "Yes, I suppose that is true. Perhaps visit the Yamato Museum for example, I heard that they got their shipgirl exhibit up and running."

Shaking off her thoughts, she then waved towards Maruyu who was running towards them. "For tonight though, you'll be staying with Maruyu-Chan. I hope that's okay with you?"

Grinning, Harry quickly nodded. "That's great actually! I don't mind staying with Maruyu-Chan at all."

It was at that point that Maruyu reached them and came to a stop. "Ha-Harry-Chan... Sorry... for not being there... when you arrived."

Much to her surprise though, Harry just hugged her. "That's okay, Maruyu-Chan. Besides, I'm staying with you tonight!"

Blushing at both Harry's actions and the smirk on Shimada's face, Maruyu chuckled weakly. But then she hugged him right back. "Hai! And I'll get to show you around a bit."

Looking around, the small Submarine frowned a bit. "Um, Nimu-Chan is around too and might join us, I think... I don't know about the others..."

Only shaking his head, Harry gave a shrug. "I don't mind, Maruyu-Chan." It was then that Hibiki came to a stop beside them and stared at Maruyu. "Hibiki-Chan?"

The Submarine though only smiled at the Destroyer before nodding. "You can join us too, Hibiki-San. Besides, Shioi-Chan and the others said that I should get to know you better."

Raising an eyebrow, Hibiki slowly nodded much to Harry's confusion. "Da, that's a good idea."

A roar, though, caused them to turn in time see Kiso leaping down from some crates at Tenryuu with her sword out. However, the other Light Cruiser only pulled out her own sword and easily parried the blow. Glancing towards Shimada, Harry only blinked as the Admiral was simply sipping a coffee watching the "Battle" play out in front of her. Hearing a sound, Harry looked towards Maruyu who was holding out some popcorn which him and Hibiki took some of. 'Huh...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Dumbledore was startled from his half-doze by a finger poking him in the side. "Hmm-what?" Blinking and adjusting his glasses, he turned to regard the shipgirl that was next to him with a confused expression on his face. "Victory? What are you doing here?"

Said shipgirl rolled her visible eye before snorting. "I was bored and decided to visit, Bumblebee." Walking to the chair in front of the desk, she sat back with a sigh and propped her feet up on his desk. "After all, it's been a bit since we last talked."

For a moment, Dumbledore just blinked before sighing. Pinching his nose, he shook his head. "Vicky, how many times must I tell you not to place your boots onto my desk?"

Glaring at him, Victory growled. "Just as many times as I have told you not to call me Vicky!" With a sigh, she reached across the desk and then grabbed one of the candies there. "So, you're looking rather tired and sleeping at your desk cannot be good for one of your age."

Bemused, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow as he looked at his friend. "Perhaps, but if I don't then..." For the first time in their conversation, Dumbledore looked every bit of his age. "Victory, I could back away. From both the Wizengamot and from the ICW. But if I do..."

Just popping the candy into her mouth, Victory hummed. "I suppose that it's that bad right now?"

Slowly, Dumbledore nodded. "If I was to leave the ICW, there's maybe three canidates who might replace me. One is from MACUSA and is extremely against any further breeches of the Statute. To the point where I am afraid that she may try to force the issue and lead to... unpleasantness."

With a snort, Victory shook her head. "It's lovely to see that you have the British gift for understatement. But yes, I can see where that may be a problem... And the others?"

Leaning back, Dumbledore frowned. "Another is one of the Chinese members and... well, they've been chomping at the bit to punish Japan after they released the information regarding shipgirl summoning." At the look that Victory gave him, Dumbledore grimaced. "She participated in World War Two on the magical side fighting the Japanese in China."

That got him a wince from Victory. "I see... and the third one?"

Dumbledore frowned with a thoughtful expression. "I suspect that the third one would be from Africa and unfortunately, I am not well informed as to his particular politics. Besides, of course, wanting to break the Statute now."

Rubbing her forehead, Victory considered it and then groaned. "And if you left the Wizengamot, then that leaves it open for someone such as Lucius to manipulate. Lovely, Bumblebee. And here I thought that I left such politics behind more then a hundred years ago."

As a chuckle escaped him, Dumbledore shook his head. "Well, us wizards have changed very slowly." Then he glanced at the papers on his desk and his expression fell. "However, that is not the only issue, I'm afraid."

With a frown on her own face, Victory turned to the papers and squinted her eye. "Hmm... Voldemort, I suppose?"

Only nodding slowly, Dumbledore frowned. "I have been trying to track him via odd happenings. And, while hard, there's been several signs of his passage. A runespoor escaped from a Parisian suburb, only to be found dead and decayed not two hours after it was reported missing on a truck. A cow was seen wandering in a sickly condition before dying somewhere near the French border, it's body decaying before the farmer's eyes and he reported a black mist rising from it and rushing off to the forest."

Eyebrow raising, Victory blinked. "He's putting a rather large amount of space between him and Britain... But I would have thought that his hosts would last longer."

Shaking his head, Dumbledore frowned. "As would I have, Victory. There was even a report of a known dark wizard stumbling into an inn in Germany looking rather ill, only for nothing but dust and bits of bone to be found the next morning. Voldemort seems to be going through his hosts rather quickly. Even Quinius passed rather quickly. What happened to him should not have unless he was possessed for three months more then what I suspect he was." Running a hand along his beard, he furrowed his eyebrows. "It's almost as if... something is draining him and, through him, his hosts extremely quickly. What should take months instead taking weeks or days..."

Intrigued, Victory looked closer at the notes. "Do you think that it may end him?"

However, Dumbledore sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately not, whatever effect it is that is causing it, seems to be slowing down and slowly stopping. Perhaps it has to do with what happened with Mister Potter, but..."

With a snort, she shook her head. "You can't know that. BAH!"

All Dumbledore did was chuckle at that.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Scratching his cheek, Harry hummed to himself as he looked up at the Yamato Museum after sending an email off to Ron at an address Hermione had given him. During Blood Week, the area around the museum had taken damage from Abyssal bombardment. But instead of giving up, the museum had instead rebuilt itself and reopened bigger and better then before. Glancing back, Harry frowned a bit at the car that was now parked with one of the base personnel inside opening a newspaper.

As it turned out, Hibiki arriving in her steel hull had caused a burst of activity and the shipgirls had to stay as some politicians showed up with news crews in tow. Which meant, of course, that Harry had to head out on his own to the Yamato Museum. But now that he was there though, he felt excitement bubble up inside and he walked through the doors into the much cooler inside. It didn't take long though for him to notice one of the new exhibits for the museum.

Mainly because it was hard to miss the wax figures of Yamato, Musashi, and Shinano standing together. Walking up towards them as a group moved off after taking photographs, Harry stared up at them in awe. "Oh wow... they look so real..."

Giggles from behind him caused him to turn even as the person spoke up. "Of course, we here at the Yamato Museum only have the best exhibits. And these figures were made by none other then Madame Tussauds of London, England."

When Harry turned and noticed the young woman, he frowned for a moment. 'Wait a second...' At the same time as her eyes widening, he grinned having recognized her as well. "Kawa-San! What are you doing here?!"

Rapidly blinking, the young woman let out a small laugh. "Harry-Chan? Is that you?" After he nodded, she chuckled some. "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

Nodding, Harry continued to grin. "Yup!" Then his grin fell and he frowned. "You stopped writing me two years ago."

Slowly sighing, Kawa grimaced. "I know, and I'm sorry about that, Harry-Chan. That penpal program the schools had us in was great but, well... I got really, really busy with exams and cram school that I just... Yeah, I don't really have a great excuse." Quickly shaking it off, she gave him a small smile. "But, hey, enough of that. Besides, look at you!"

Confused, Harry tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean, Kawa-San?"

Only chuckling, she held her hand up above the floor. "You've gotten pretty big, Harry-Chan. Last time you were in Kure visiting you were a lot shorter."

There was a proud expression on Harry's face which nearly made Kawa giggle as Harry straightened his back. "Yup! I've grown a lot." It was then that he took note of her uniform and his eyes widened. "You work here, Kawa-San?!"

With a smile, she buffed her name tag. "I do, as a summer job anyways." Her eyes then began to sparkle as she looked up at Yamato's figure. "I'm a tour guide here which means that I get to tell people all about how awesome Yamato-Sama is."

Placing his hands behind his head, Harry became thoughtful. "Huh, really?"

Just chuckling, Kawa nodded. "Really. Besides, I needed a summer job as I'll be leaving the orphanage soon and, well... Museum guide is pretty good paying."

However, Harry frowned a bit as he remembered something. "I thought that you were going to join the JMSDF to work alongside the shipgirls? Or at least that's what your letters told me anyways."

Much to his surprise though, she hung her head. "I've been trying. But the competition is fierce for the Shipgirl Corps. Everyone wants to work alongside them."Sighing, the young woman shook her head. "And my circumstances don't help any." Then Kawa clinched her fist before raising her head. "But I'll make it one of these days! And then I'll work alongside Yamato-Sama! Until then though, I'll work here."
Smiling brightly, Harry only nodded before he glanced at the time. "Um, when's your next tour?"

With a blink, Kawa turned to the clock and frowned. "Probably not until the next tour group in an hour or two really. Why?"

Grinning, Harry held up a finger. "Wait right here, Kawa-San."

Quickly, he made his way over to the front desk and was speaking with the receptionist there. When he pointed at Kawa though, she frowned suspiciously. "What is he doing now...?"

Kawa soon got her answer though after Harry gave the receptionist a credit card, which she swiped. Then Harry made his way back over to her and smiled up at her. "So, where to first?" Seeing her confusion, he pointed back to the receptionist. "You're my personal tour guide, Kawa-San! That way we can talk and you can show me around."

Blinking for a moment, Kawa then gave a laugh before rolling her eyes. "Because of course you did." With a small smile, she gestured towards one of the doorways. "Now then, how about we start, hmm?"

As they began to walk, Harry looked up at her in curiosity. "By the way, have you seen any of the shipgirls come here?"

Thoughtful, Kawa eventually shook her head. "Not really, or at least not when I've been around. A shame really because I would like to meet them."

Smirking, Harry looked up at her. "Bet that you would love it if Yamato-Oba came to visit and you were here."

Even as she blushed, Kawa gave him a playful glare. "Don't be poking me, Harry-Chan. You know that I poke right back."

Harry only smirked more at that. "And I know that you're ticklish."

With that, they began their tour with Kawa explaining things and telling Harry all about the exhibits. Between those times though, the two of them caught up. For example, Harry learned that the autographed photo she won of Yamato was among her most prized possessions back at the orphanage. Eventually, the two made it through the entire museum though until they came to the main exhibit, which Kawa spread her arms at. "And here we are! The pride and joy of the Yamato Museum, our scale model of Yamato as a ship."

Looking it over, Harry still felt the awe he did the first time he saw it. "Wow.."

Softly smiling, Kawa nodded as she looked it over herself. "Yeah... it's really beautiful. Sometimes, before we open up I come here and just look her over, you know? Some of the others joke that I'm protective of her, maybe I am, but, well... She deserves it." Glancing around, she leaned in towards Harry. "Want to know something?"

Also glancing around, Harry nodded. "Sure, what?"

Pointing at the model, Kawa grinned. "They say that it's haunted." At his look, her grin widened. "No, seriously, some of the staff here claim that the model is haunted by some of those who died here in the museum when the Abyssals attacked. The model was one of the few things that made it through unscathed. They say, late at night, the turrets sometimes move and the propellers spin in place."

Only giving her a look, Harry raised an eyebrow. "Really?" When she nodded though, he frowned and looked around. 'Hmm... no one is around, so...' Closing one eye, he opened it to reveal that it was glowing slightly. 'Huh... there's magic on it, but, nothing that says it's haunted... I think that it's more protecting it?'

Unknown to him though, Kawa had been talking and frowned a bit when Harry didn't answer. With a frown, she shook his shoulder. "Hey, Harry-Chan, did you hear what I said..." Trailing off, she blinked a bit. "... Is your eye glowing? And what's with the shocked look?"

Quickly closing his eye and opening to reveal it was normal, Harry just stared at her. Before she could ask though, Harry looked around. "Um, Kawa-San? When do you get off?"

Confused at the direction that this was heading in, Kawa frowned. "Not for another three hours, why?" Getting silence as he pulled out his phone and typed a message, she huffed a bit. "Harry-Chan, what's going on?"

Much to her confusion, Harry only grinned up at her. "You know how you wanted to work alongside Yamato-Oba?" At her nod, he continued. "You're about to get your wish..."

Scratching her head, Kawa only frowned. "Okay... Whatever that means."

It was not even a half hour before Harry guided her to the front doors. There, panting for breath Agano stood bent over with her hands on her knees. Various people were muttering, only to be silenced as she looked up and froze at seeing Harry and Kawa. Next thing that Kawa knew though, Agano was hugging her tightly. "YAHAGI-CHAN! YOU'RE HERE! YOU'RE REALLY HERE!"

All the confused Kawa, the Natural Born reincarnation of the Light Cruiser Yahagi, could do was blink before slowly hugging her back. Then she looked at Harry who gave her a thumb's up. 'What in the...' Then her eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "I-I'm Yahagi...?"

Nodding, Agano grinned. "Yup! You can call me Onee-Sama though." Then the Light Cruiser blinked and looked towards Harry in confusion. "Um... Is it normal for her to faint? And what's with the grin on her face? Uh, why are you laughing, Harry-Chan?"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Slowly waking up, the first thing that Harry realized was that his mouth had the feeling as if he had not brushed his teeth the night before. The next thing was the familiar feeling of being in the middle of a cuddepile. It was then that he opened his eyes to see the a head of black hair pressed against his chest belonging to Maruyu. Noticing the arms around his waist, he turned his head to see that that Hibiki was cuddled into his back. Curled up against Maruyu, Nimu softly snored while the rest of DesDiv6 were either cuddled against his legs or against Hibiki. In fact, Inazuma softly snored from where she laid with her head on his thigh.

A few moments later, the memories of the night before hit Harry and he glanced past the balloons, ribbons, and a table with party snacks to one corner of the room. In said corner Kawa, or rather Yahagi, laid with the rest of the Agano class cuddled into her. The smile on his face widened as he remembered the party that erupted at the discovery of Kawa being the Natural Born Yahagi, though the poor girl had been utterly lost at first at the whirlwind of attention.

Granted, Shimada had been apparently been rather annoyed at first when Agano had taken off as it had went against her orders to stay on base for now. Not to mention the stir that the sight of the shipgirl blowing past and out of the base's gates at her top speed had caused. Thankfully for the Cruiser, Hibiki had gotten Shimada's attention and shown the Admiral the text that Harry sent her. After that, Shimada had done some damage control stating that a new Natural Born had shown up before dissuding anyone from bothering Kawa once she arrived. Something that the bewildered young woman was extremely thankful for.

Of course, Harry couldn't hold back the snicker from the memory of the embarrassed Agano as Shimada had given her a mild talking to about telling her first next time rather then take off.

Not too long after that, after it was confirmed that Kawa was indeed Yahagi and the politicians had left, the ball had gotten rolling, First thing that Shimada had done was have a talk with Kawa as to if she wanted to be awoken as a shipgirl. Needless to say, she had accepted and then Shimada had Kawa return to the orphanage with some personnel to gather her things. All of the Aganos though would not leave her side and left with her as Shimada went to call the Yamato Museum to explain exactly what had happened. As it turned out, several of the staff had overheard Agano and everyone was in a bit of an uproar.

Upon Kawa's return, and after she had placed her things in the Agano Class' quarters, she had been dragged to the Common Room. Needless to say, she was shocked at how she was met with a massive party being attended by all the shipgirls on the base to welcome her. Kawa's smile was blinding as tears ran down her cheeks while she thanked them. Then she was dragged fully into the party that had lasted well into the night. At several points, Harry had spotted Shimada in the crowds.

It went without saying that most of the shipgirls had went off into corners as they became sleepy after their sugar rushes ran out and simply gathered themselves in cuddlepiles, like the one that Harry was in or the one that Kawa was in. Harry was suddenly broken from his thoughts as Tenryuu walked into the room with a cup of coffee in her hands. Spotting him, the Light Cruiser gave him a grin. "Hey there, Kiddo. How are you feeling this morning?"

Smacking his lips, Harry grimaced. "Great except for how my mouth feels like something died in it."

With a snort, Tenryuu shook her head. "That's what you get for eating so many sugary things without brushing your teeth, Fufufufu. Anyways, it's about nine, so if you could wake up the girls, I'll handle the others. We do need some breakfast after all before we do the summoning."

Eyes lighting up, Harry nodded. "Sure." Then he frowned a bit as he tried to move only to find that he couldn't. "Um..."

Moments later, Hibiki grumbled and pulled Harry even tighter. Before Harry could do anything though, Maruyu snorted and then tightened her own hold and what little ability he had to move vanished. Just watching this, Tenryuu grinned. "Adorable." Pulling out her phone, she took a picture. "And this I'll be sending to Nagato for her scrapbook."

All Harry did was sigh a bit as he began to try to wake up the others. It was an hour later that, finally, a bunch of sleepy shipgirls as well as Harry and Kawa stumbled into the mess hall. There they were greeted by a brown haired shipgirl in white clothing. "Good morning!"

Holding her head, Zuikaku took a deep breath. "Please... not so loud..."

Unfortunately for her, Houshou just walked up and leaned in as she placed a hand on the Carrier's shoulder. "WHY? IT IS SUCH A LOVELY MORNING, ZUI-CHAN!"

Only groaning, Zuikaku clinched her eyes shut and stumbled off. Entering the line behind Kawa, Harry waited his turn. Glancing around, Kawa blinked as she took everything in before leaning towards Harry. "Um, is this really that normal?"

Grinning, Harry nodded with a chuckle. "Yup! Or at least after a big party." Also looking around, the only thing that made Harry frown was the sight of Aso glaring at him. Though that stopped several moments later as Houshou stepped up beside her and whispered into her ear. For some odd reason, Aso paled and scrambled off to the back of the line as far away from Harry as possible. Shaking it off, Harry looked back at Kawa who seemed confused by what had just happened. "But yeah, this is pretty normal for things really."

Still frowning, Kawa shrugged it off before realizing that they had reached the head of the line and the girl that they had seen when they arrived was there. "Morning! It's great to see you, um..." For a moment, she blinked. "Do you want to be known as Kawa-San or Yahagi-San?"

With a blink, Kawa frowned. "Um... people have been calling me both. Does it really matter..."

Realizing what she meant, the shipgirl placed a hand to her chest. "Oh, I'm Hayasui, it's nice to meet you. And yes, it does matter as some want to be known by their Natural Born name or their shipgirl name. Whichever it is, we'll call you by it except maybe out on sortie where you'll be called by their shipgirl name."

For a moment, Kawa considered that before slowly nodding. "Well... call me Kawa for now anyways. I'll have to think on that for a bit though." Looking over the food, she felt herself swallow a bit. "So, uh, what's good?"

Softly snickering, Hayasui shook her head. "Pretty much everything. I may be an oiler, but I'm also a good cook. Maybe not to Mamiya-San's standards, but still good if I do say so myself." Glancing around, she leaned in. "Though between you and me, fried foods are where I am really good at."

Blinking, Kawa only nodded and chose some food and left for a table where her new 'Sisters' were gathered. Soon after, she was joined by Harry and the rest of DesDiv6, Tenryuu, and Tatsuta. Maruyu also joined, though she made sure to stay between Kiso and the visiting shipgirls. Taking a bite of her food, Kawa blinked. "This... is really good."

Unable to help herself, Noshiro gave a giggle. "Well, of course it's good! Hayasui-San is an awesome cook!"

Beside her, Agano swallowed some of the food in her mouth and gave a wink. "Though try to keep down the fried food she makes up, it can be pretty greasy."

Not quite sure about the warning, Kawa slowly nodded before she turned to Harry who was munching on some toast. "Harry-Chan? Can I ask you something?" Getting a nod, she continued. "Um, I heard something last night about a special summoning?"

With a blink, Harry looked up at her and frowned for a moment. "Well..." Glancing around, he leaned in towards her. "Don't mention this to anyone off-base, but..."

Launching into an quick explanation, Harry couldn't help but notice Kawa's eyes widen. Once he was done though, she made a "T" shape with her hands. "Whoa there, hold on for a moment, Harry-Chan... Let me get this straight, magic is real, as is wizards and witches?"

Harry slowly nodded, somewhat amused. "That's right."

She then continued. "And they got a culture all their own, which they've hidden by wiping people's memories? Also, you're one of these wizards."

Just nodding, Harry grinned a bit. "That's right." Taking a bite of his toast, Harry gestured with it before swallowing. "And that's why I'm here for a special summoning attempt. Having a wizard causes, um, good sort of things to happen."

Very slowly, Kawa turned to Noshiro who nodded. "He's not lying, um, Kawa-Chan."

Meanwhile, Harry glanced at the clock and began to eat faster as Tenryuu laughed a bit. "Don't rush yourself, Kiddo. We're not going to try the summoning until everyone's done anyways. So slow down before you cause yourself to choke."

Giving her a sheepish grin, Harry shrugged but did as she asked. Once they were all done though, all the shipgirls filtered out to the Summoning Pool and Harry was at the front when a voice caused him to look up. "Hey there, Harry-Chan."

At the sight of the Light Carrier, Harry smiled a bit. "Hiyou-Oba! I didn't know that you would be here!"

With a chuckle, the Onmyouji Carrier shook her head. "Well, of course I would be. I'm actually rather interested in what might happen." Tapping her shoulder, she pointed to another area by the Summoning Pool. "And look who finally decided to show up."

Eyes widening, Harry waved towards the two Fleet Carriers. "Soryuu-Oba! Hiryuu-Oba!"

Said Carriers waved back at him before everyone's attention was grabbed by Shimada who walked to the front. After gesturing to Kawa and introducing her, she then called Noshiro up with the metal box. It was as she opened it that Harry noticed a shipgirl nearby who's clothing made him blink. Mainly because she was wearing half a shirt on one side of her torso with the other side bare except for a band of fabric across her chest, which just preserved her modesty. Catching sight of the same thing, Tenryuu sighed and pinched her nose. "Dammit, Shouhou... you are so lucky that you've never met Arizona."

Thoughtful, Inazuma placed a finger on her chin and looked up. "You know, I wonder what would happen if the two of them ever met."

After a few moments, Hibiki snorted and shook her head. "Da, one may wonder. But I would not want to be too close if it happened."

Everyone within earshot just nodded. A tap on the shoulder caused Harry to turn towards Hiyou who pointed to the Admiral. "Looks like they're starting the ceremony."

Turning in the direction given, Harry nodded as he watched. He did note though that there was a Buddhist monk who stood against one wall nearby though. Normally, Harry would have missed him except for the rather large, beak-like nose on his face. Then the black haired boy shook it off and turned his attention back on the ceremony.

It was then that he felt it.

Suddenly, he felt somewhat drained of his magic as the water began to froth. At the same time, the vial containing the liquid began to glow brighter and brighter as the other vial, containing the crystals, began to also glow as they pulsed as if a heartbeat. Soon, the glow became bright enough that people had to shield their eyes or look away before it faded away.

When everyone could see again, they all leaned forward to see what was on the water. Then they blinked at the sight of several Destroyers Yuugumo class. But it was the two last ones that really caused them to boggle. One of them looked like Shouhou, except in clothing more like Taigei's. The main difference though was that her apron had what looked like a smiling, chibi pheonix on the front. With a blink, she bowed. "U-um, hello there. I'm Tsurugizaki, if you want, I'll take care of any Submarines you have."

However, she froze as she caught sight of an exhausted Shouhou. But not many noticed as they instead turned to an eleven year old girl in a delivery outfit. Oddly enough, she resembled a cross between Kitakami and Ooi which made everyone blink. Then she snapped to a salute with a bright smile. "Kitakami-Maru, reporting and ready to make her rounds! I'll make sure that the supplies get through before they go bad!"

After a few moments, Kiso groaned and pinched her nose. "Arr, I can just see Ooi freaking out..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"Mind if I take a seat?"

Jumping a bit, Hanna turned to find Kitakami there beside the bench. "Um, sure, go right on ahead.'

With a sigh, Kitakami sat down and groaned. "Thank you, I needed the break from... all that's going on at the base." At some shouts, she glanced back the way she came and shook her head. "At least Ooichi is enjoying herself."

There was an odd smile on Hanna's face as she glanced to the side. "Right, uh... That's great to hear?" Glancing in the direction of the noise, she frowned a bit. "I would have thought that you would be involved with the chaos."

Humming, Kitakami shook her head. "In all honesty, I'm not one to get involved in that sort of thing. Ooichi doesn't mind much though."

Eyebrows furrowing, Hanna shrugged. "I see..."

Slowly raising an eyebrow, Kitakami had a bemused expression on her face. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" When Hanna opened her mouth, Kitakami continued. "Or is it more Ooichi?" Hanna winced at that which made Kitakami chuckle. "Well, that's to be expected I suppose. I have noticed that you've been avoiding us after all each time you've been in sight of us including on your last visit."

Rubbing the back of her neck, the German let out a sigh. "Sorry, it's just... You know."

Only nodding, Kitakami's lips twitched a bit. "As a matter of fact, I do know. Trust me, we've gotten a lot of comments." Folding her hands, the Cruiser leaned forward and placed her chin on top of them. "We're not actually sisters, you know."

Hanna blinked at that and turned to regard her with a puzzled expression. "Uh, you're sister ships? You kind of are."

If anything though, that seemed to amuse Kitakami even more. "Same class, yes. But I was built in Sasebo Naval Arsenal and Ooichi was built in Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe. There's another reason that we're not sisters though."

Confused, Hanna frowned thoughtfully. "There is?"

Lips twitching as she hummed, Kitakami nodded. "We're actually both Natural Borns, but we're from different families. I have been friends with Ooichi since we were small though."

More then a little surprised, Hanna blinked at that. "I didn't know that!" Becoming more thoughtful, she regarded Kitakami more closely. "Wonder what the odds were..."

Bemused, Kitakami shook her head. "I've never asked."

Tapping her cheek, Hanna glanced around before turning back to Kitakami. "Uh, if you want to know though... it's not really you being, you know. But more that Ooi is..."

Just raising an eyebrow, Kitakami laughed a bit. "Let me guess? It's because of how clingy she is?"

With a wince, Hanna rubbed the back of her neck. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose."

Quite unexpectedly, Kitakami's expression fell a bit. "It is, but Ooichi has good reasons. She's gotten better though and isn't as bad as she was." Seeing the confusion, the Cruiser frowned. For several moments she was silent before she finally sighed. "I've heard through the grapevine that you did not have a good life before..."

Expression turning stormy, Hanna soon shook it off. "No, that's putting it mildly. And I really don't appreciate it bring brought up."

Kitakami nodded at the rebuke. "And I can understand that. But this is sort of... personal, though not a secret." Once Hanna nodded, Kitakami stared off into the distance. "Ooichi and I grew up together, we were as close as two little girls could be. When we were about to take our High School tests, it was discovered that we were Natural Borns, in fact I was Kitakami. At first, Ooichi was devestated until we found out that she was actually, well, Ooi. It meant that we wouldn't be separated."

Frowning, Hanna furrowed her eyebrows. "What happened?"

The Light Cruiser was silent for several seconds before sighing. "My parents were supportive when I stated that I was going to join up. Ooichi's... weren't. They disapproved of it to say the least and gave her a tough choice. One that left her emotionally torn between joining and having me leave without her at my side."

It took a few moments for Hanna to realize what must have happened. "She started to manifest because of..." When Kitakami nodded, the German winced. "That could not have ended well."

Slowly, Kitakami shook her head as she softly spoke. "No, it didn't. Ooichi was in a bad place for a while and it took me some time to bring her back. She was extremely clingy for the longest time and afraid that I was going to disappear from her life, the last anchor she had. Things like the idea that if I got too close to someone else, she might find herself left out in the cold. Needless to say... that caused some rumors to arise. Which she overheard and made people avoid her. Please, don't judge her or me on such, but at least get to know us first."

Quiet, Hanna's thoughts swirled a bit before she nodded. "Very well, I'll try my best."

That got her a small smile from Kitakami before she bowed her head a bit. "Thank you, that's all I ask as Ooichi does get lonely from time to time even if she has me." Suddenly, she clapped her hands. "Anyways! That's enough heavy stuff, how about we talk about some better things! So, how are you liking Japan so far?"

Blinking, Hanna gave her a somewhat amused look before shaking her head. "I've been enjoying myself actually." Sounds of fighting caused them both to turn to see Ooi shouting about how she would defend Kitakami from all comers as she fought several pirate Destroyers. Said Destroyers were shouting about how they were going to capture the Goddess of Oxygen Torpedoes for the booty they could get. Hearing a snort, Hanna glanced to the side to see Kitakami trying not to laugh. "Well, except for the craziness at times."

All Kitakami did was shake her head and smile. "It keeps life from being too boring though."

Sharing smiles, the two turned back to where Ooi was being buried under a bunch of Destroyers, gasping out that she would protect Kitakami to her last. As they watched, Hanna shook her head. 'Harry is going to be so annoyed that he missed this...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Hands holding onto his broom as he rose higher and higher, Harry frowned and looked over his shoulder. "You okay there, Zuikaku-Oba?"

Blinking as she snapped out of her thoughts, Zuikaku shook her head. "I'm okay, Chibi. Just... thinking."

With his head tilted to the side, Harry frowned a little bit. "About what? It's just a bit odd not to hear you say anything."

To his confusion, Zuikaku chuckled as they entered a cloud. "I guess that I just want to think." Moments later, the broom burst through it trailing streamers of mist as above them the stars twinkled. Looking around, the Carrier shifted a bit. "You know... I've always wanted to do this."

Frowning, Harry watched her. "Do what? Fly?"

Slowly nodding, Zuikaku grinned a bit. "Pretty much. Always thought that it would be in an airplane, not like... this." Closing her eyes, she let out a soft sigh. "But this is far better."

As he considered this, Harry looked around. "I guess that it is. Though Akagi-Oba was really excited to go up to now that I think about it. And also, um..."

Lips twitching, Zuikaku looked at him. "Also Kaga-San, right?" Getting a sheepish laugh, she shook her head. "Somehow, I am not surprised. Flying is something common to all of us Carriers."

Harry frowned a bit before he nodded. "Because you want to experience what your pilots did, right?"

Tapping him on the head, Zuikaku nodded. "Among other things, yes. All of us Carriers have a love for flying and would love to, well... fly like our pilots." With a smirk on her head, she glanced back to where the base was. "It's why Shoukaku-Nee as well as the others all want to take you for a flight."

Only humming, Harry glanced back as well before slowly turning. "I guess? Though I don't understand why Tenryuu-Oba facepalmed when Souryuu said that she couldnt wait to go for a ride on my broomstick." Hearing a choking sound, Harry frowned at Zuikaku who bit back a groan. "Or why you acted like that..."

Just sighing, Zuikaku shook her head. "It's not important, Chibi. And it's something that you'll learn when you're older..." She didn't finish the rest of the thought. 'Hopefully much older.'

Still confused, the black haired boy soon shook it off before a thought occurred to him. "Oh! By the way, Zuikaku-Oba, do you have a pilot's license? I know that Enterprise does and so does Akagi-Oba..."

Blinking, Zuikaku tilted her head back before finally nodding. "As a matter of fact, I do." With a small smile, she leaned forward. "I actually own an ultralight that I sometimes take up on my days off. I've been trying to get a bigger one though so that I can take Shoukaku-Nee with me on my flights, but..." Shrugging, the Carrer frowned. "That's not going as good as I hoped."

All Harry did was blink at that. "Huh..."

Then Zuikaku reached forward a bit and ruffled his hair. "Ah, don't worry so much about it, Chibi. I've actually got it more in hand. Anyways, since we're talking flight, I got several videos from Kaga-San which had your Quidditch games on them." Seeing his surprised expression, she chuckled. "Yes, she sent some to us. Shoukaku-Nee was really into them, you should have seen her practically bouncing and cheering when you caught that golden... thing."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry snorted at her. "Golden thing? You mean the Snitch?"

Zuikaku grinned and snapped a finger. "Yeah, the Snitch. Anyways, one of these days we got to try and make it to one of your games, I know that Shoukaku-Nee would love it. And we're not the only ones who would love to go to one."

While he grinned, Harry turned the broom in another direction. "Sure! I'd love to have you and Shoukaku-Oba there, or any of the others." Giving it some thought, he slowly nodded. "You know... Dumbledore does have the Portkey and was able to bring Wanko along. It's something to talk to, um, Mum or Teitoku about."

Smirking, Zuikaku nodded. "Sounds good, Chibi. And I'll be looking forward to it." She then tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. "Can we head over in that direction, Chibi?"
After a glance in that direction, Harry nodded and turned the broom in said direction. "Sure!"

The Carrier only smiled a bit as she continued to enjoy the sensation of flight.
_______________________________________________________________________

In the early morning light, Harry waved at the slowly disappearing pier. At the end of it, Kawa waved back as did Maruyu beside her as beside Hibiki's hull, Soryuu smiled from where she was positioned. Looking up at Harry, the Carrier's smile grew a bit. "Hopefully you enjoyed your trip down here, Harry-Chan."

Grinning back, Harry nodded. "Well, yeah, of course I did! It's not often that I get to see you all in person. I loved it actually."

Souryuu blinked and then her smile really brightened. "Thank you, I'm glad to hear that."

Both of them continued to chat as DesDiv6 as well as Tenryuu and Tatsuta continued on their way out of the harbor. Hiryuu also joining in at one point in the conversation. But, all too soon, they had to turn back and allow the Destroyer to continue on their journey. Standing beside Harry, Hibiki raised an eyebrow at him. "Excited to see Jane-Chan again?"

Nodding, Harry let the cool morning air brush past him. "Weirdly enough? I am."

That caused Hibiki to look at him as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why would being excited to see Jane again be wierd, Harry-Chan? I thought that you get along with her."

As he chuckled, the eleven year old rubbed the back of his neck. "That's kind of why, Hibiki-Chan." Seeing as she was still confused, Harry grimaced a bit. "I'm... still not used to having someone who's my cousin and doesn't treat me like... you know."

Eyes slowly widening, Hibiki hugged Harry to her surprise. "Jane-Chan would never treat you like he did. You know that, Harry-Chan."

Slowly, Harry nodded. "I know, just like I know that Mutsu-Oba wouldn't treat me like Aunt Petunia. But... it's just sometimes you know?"

Hibiki just blinked, but then sighed. "Da, I know." Looking towards her sisters, the white haired girl shook her head. "I know very well."

The two of them were silent for a bit before Harry suddenly shook his head. "Ugh, I don't want to talk about that sort of thing. Anyways, um, what about..." Needless to say, as he looked around, Harry missed the amused expression on Hibiki's face. Then he spotted something and pointed. "By the way, I've been kind of wondering what that fabric you have on your torpedo launchers is."

Not having expected that question, Hibiki turned to the launcher that Harry was pointing at. The metal tubes that contained the Oxygen torpedoes she had had fabric on top of them which Hibiki slowly nodded at. "That would be the kevlar armor that Akashi-San has started placing on all torpedo launchers for myself and my sisters as a trial run."

Blinking, Harry turned to her in confusion. "Kevlar armor? On torpedo launchers?"

With a small smile, Hibiki shrugged. "Da, it's just a thick layer of kevlar that can be placed on them. It won't protect them against things such as naval gunfire, but Akashi-San thinks that it might protect them against spinter damage or small caliber gunfire. Mainly so that there's less chance of them... blowing up."

Still kind of confused, Harry just scratched his head as he considered what he had just been told. Eventually though, he just gave it up and shrugged. "Cool, I guess." Looking back at them, he frowned a little bit as an idea occurred to him as he remembered the books he read back at Hogwarts. 'I wonder if I could enchant them...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

The room was nearly pitch black except for a single lamp that shone down onto a desk. Just barely able to be seen in the darkness due to the small amount of light that shone, someone sat with their hands folded in front of their face. "So, he's almost to Sasebo, is he? Harry Potter, son of Nagato of the Big Seven. " Light glinted off glasses as a low chuckle could be heard. "We have much work ahead of us, I suppose. But our purpose is sure and for the greater good. Perhaps, a welcoming commitee is in order... Hmm... So many things to plan, and so little time to do them."

Slowly, the shadowry figure grinned a bit. "Yes, so many things to plan. I'm quite sorry, Harry, but you have no idea what is coming your way. Thankfully, everything is proceeding directly according to the scenarios. And I am looking forward to it. Fufufufufu." All of a suddenly, lights were turned on to reveal Jane Richardson at the desk before she flinched. "ARGH! What the heck!?"

Mutsu just raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jane rubbing her eyes. "Jane... What are you doing?"

Blinking away the spots in her eyes, Jane turned to her and squinted even as spots continued to flash in her vision. "Nothing.... Nothing at all."

Needless to say, Mutsu did not believe her in the slightest. "And I did not just hear you plotting with..." She glanced at the beings on the table and her lips twitched. "Smolzona and Minimu?"

To the great amusement of the Battleship, Jane had an expression on her face as if butter would not melt in her mouth. Something that did not fool Mutsu in the slightest. "I have no idea what you mean, Mutsu-Mama. I was just discussing about how to greet my favorite cousin."

Humming, Mutsu glanced around the room only to come to one part in particular. A part that caused Mutsu to feel a headache come on even as her eyes crossed. "Jane, dear. What have we told you about your shipping charts...?" Then Mutsu blinked. 'Is... is it staring at me?'

More then a little sheepish, Jane glanced at the shipping chart she had set up. "It's not that bad. Besides, can you say that Harry doesn't just ask for a shipping chart to be set up for him? I mean, just look at him! He's like one of those oblivious harem protags!"

For a moment, Mutsu was quiet before looking at the twelve year old girl. "... Jane, honey, I'm not going to ask." Then she turned back to the shipping chart and grimaced. "However, that said, you know the issue people have with your shipping charts."

Scoffing, Jane got up and then walked over to said chart. With one finger, she reached out and adjusted one portion. "I really don't understand what problem people have with them."

Just hissing, Mutsu squeezed her eyes shut and took some deep breaths. 'This must be what sea sickness feels like..." Opening her eyes again, she looked away. "Jane... I don 't know how, but that is making the inside of my bridge itch."

Rather bemused, Jane only hummed and shifted another line which made Mutsu twitch. "You're making a big deal out of nothing, Mutsu-Mama."

Eyes closed, Mutsu shook her head. "Jane? Your shipping charts keep looking at us everytime we see them."

Now extremely amused, Jane snorted. "They don't have eyes, you know."

Grimacing, Mutsu shook her head. "Yes, and? It's still somehow looking at me." Opening her eyes again, she shifted her viewfinders away from the chart. "Anyways, I just came to tell you that Harry's nearly here and Hibiki should be docking in a few minutes."

Head snapping around to stare at the clock, Jane began to rush around and folded up the shipping chart to hide away. "Crud! I lost track of time!" Soon she was running past Mutsu and out the door. "See you at the docks!"

With a sigh, Mutsu shook her head and closed Jane's door before slowly making her own way out of the house. "That girl..."

It didn't take Jane long to reach the docks on her bike. In fact, she reached them at roughly the same time as Harry stepped off of Hibiki and was greeting her father. Needless to say, the last thing that Harry had expected was the Cousin-Seeking Missile that was Jane tackle hugging him. "CUZ!"

Laughing, Harry hugged her right back with a grin. "Jane!" Once they pulled out of the hug, Harry looked her over. "How are things going for you lately?"

Softly snorting, Jane shook her head. "Things are going great actually. You?"

Much to her surprise, he grimaced a bit and glanced around. "Pretty good actually, though there has been some odd things happening." At the confusion, he shrugged. "I'll tell you in a bit."

Just raising her eyebrow, Jane frowned before she snorted. "You better, Cuz." Then she caught sight of Hibiki unsummoning her hull and grinned. "Now that's just awesome, Hibiki! How the heck did you do that?"
With a thoughtful look on her face, Hibiki hummed. "I learned from Mikasa-Sama how to do it."

Intrigued, Jane glanced to her father and grinned a bit. "Any way that any of the girls here might be able to learn it? Because I don't think that Dad would mind much heading out on Mutsu-Mama, Hiei-Mama, Jintsuu-Mama, or Ari-Mama."

All Richardson did was give her a suffering look before he shook it off. He did however glare at Hiei who was snickering. "Anyways, did anyone tell you where you're staying while you're here?"

Harry slowly nodded with a small frown. "I'm staying with you while I'm here. But, um... is..."

Understanding what he was getting at, Arizona sighed and shook her head. "Pennsy decided that she would rather be out on patrol." Seeing him hang his head, Arizona walked over and leaned down as she placed one hand on his shoulder. "Harry, you did nothing wrong. And my sister knows that, she just... wants to limit the chances of something happening by accident."

With a nod, Harry rubbed the back of his head. "I guess..." Then he shook it off and reached into his knapsack and pulled out a box with an ofuda on it. "I made you something by the way, Aunt Arizona."

Eyebrow raising, Arizona examined the box with a small frown. "Oh?"

Nodding, Harry pulled off the ofuda. "Yeah, and before you ask it was being kept magically cold." Moments later, he pulled out a jar full of something and handed it to her. "Here, it's donut butter that I made."

Frozen, Arizona stared at the jar in her hand. "... Donut butter? You don't mean..."

A large smile on his face, Harry nodded. "Yup! Its like peanut butter, but made from donuts. I found the recipe and tried it. It's really, really good and you can spread it on stuff so I thought you might like some." Several moments later though, he tilted his head and frowned. "Um... Aunt Arizona?"

Jane, for her part, blinked and turned towards her father. "Uh, Daddy? Ari-Mama is looking kind of funny. I mean, her eyes are blank and she has a wierd smile on her face."

Snickering, Hiei shook her head in amusement. "Ari is just in her happy place right now, Jane. She'll snap out of it soon enough."

Both youngsters looked at each other in confusion before shrugging. Adults were just wierd at times.
_________________________________________________________________________

Moving back his chair, Richardson watched as Harry and Jane worked together to clean the dishes from dinner. After a few moments though, he raised an eyebrow. "By the way, you were mentioning something out of the ordinary happening earlier?"

With a blink, Harry took a plate from Jane and began to dry it. "I guess?" At the looks, he frowned. "I haven't been getting any mail from my friends over in Britain for a few weeks now."

Somewhat bemused, Jintsuu sipped her drink before raising an eyebrow. "I don't see why that might be odd, Harry. After all, it is summer vacation and it might have just slipped their minds to send you some letters."

However, her smile fell as Harry shook his head. "Um, actually? I've talked with them and they have sent me letters, but I haven't been getting them." Then he tilted his head back and frowned. "And I've sent them letters, but they haven't gotten them."

Now sitting up, Mutsu put it all together. "You think that something is intercepting your mail?"

Only shrugging, Harry's frown deepened. "Maybe? I mean, that's the only thing that makes sense. But since whatever it is doesn't seem to be able to intercept emails or video chats... Maybe it's magical?"

Expression darkening, Richardson shook his head. "I don't think that I like that implication."

Sighing, Harry grimaced a bit. "I don't either, but something is stopping my mail. And, well... I don't know enough to know how or why."

With a glance at her Admiral, Arizona scowled. "Do you think that you're in danger? After the school year you've had..."

To her relief, Harry shook his head, though he looked unsure. "I don't think so. I mean, whatever it is hasn't done anything other then stopping my mail. It's wierd, and Haru-San is keeping an eye out back in Yokosuka, but nothing's turned up. She thinks though that someone is grabbing the letters when they get sorted before being sent off since they're international owl mail."

Looking at him in worry, Jane frowned. "Hopefully that's all it is, Cuz. Because you really don't need a repeat of last year."

Just shuddering, Harry nodded. "I know, trust me on that." Then he shrugged a bit. "But hey, at least I got a bunch of people looking out for me."

A smirk on her face, Hiei gave him a thumbs up. "You bet! And don't worry while you're here. Anything wanting to get to you will have to go through us first."

It went without saying that Arizona's expression turned intense. "Indeed, no one will be getting at you on our watch. You can be sure of that."

His expression softening, Harry nodded. "Thanks, Hiei-Oba, Aunt Arizona. That helps a lot." Turning towards Jane, he suddenly smiled. "Anyways, I brought that photo album that Hagrid gave me. You know, the one with the pictures of my parents in it?"

Brightening, Jane grinned a bit. "Wait, the one with the pictures that move in them?" When Harry nodded, her grin widened. "Okay, once we're done here you got to show me!"

All Harry did was smile at that and the conversation turned to lighter topics.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Blinking, Harry looked around in confusion. All around him was nothing but complete darkness. And yet, light came from somewhere unseen. He could mainly tell as he was able to see his hand along with the rest of his body with ease. Even though Harry was sure that he was not floating, neither was he certain that he was standing on something either.

After all, he couldn't actually feel anything under his feet, yet swore he was standing on a solid surface.

Needless to say, it was rather unnerving to the eleven year old. For some reason though, he didn't exactly feel panicked. Just a calm, sort of detatched interest. What it reminded Harry most of, somehow, was the dream that lead him to Louisiana. Except now he was himself and he could tell that. Frowning, Harry brought his hands to his mouth and took a big breath. "Hello!"

However, there was no answer and, while he could hear his voice, he could tell that no sound actually escaped his mouth. Trying again got him the exact same thing. A frown on his face, Harry scratched his cheek in confusion. 'Okay... this is a really odd dream.' Suddenly, he felt a pull of sorts and looked around. "What in the world?"

When he felt it a second time though, he realized that the pull was not on him exactly, but through him. And it was then that Harry noticed what looked like a black string coming from his forehead and leading out into the darkness. Somehow, it was darker then the darkness itself though Harry couldn't see where it ended. Just the sight of it though caused him to feel extremely unclean, as if it was violating him in some manner he couldn't quite understand.

Before his eyes though, Harry noticed that what looked like a thicker part of the string was heading for him, pulled along. Part of him though couldn't help but note it resembled something from a cartoon. Like something being sent down a cable. However, he was unable to move and could only watch as the thicker part entered his forehead and he winced at the cold.

Then he felt a burning sensation flow through his body. A sensation that reminded him uncomfortably of what happened with Quirrel when he had grabbed the man. Eventually, it reached a spot on his back and began flowing out. With a blink, Harry twisted around his head to look and noticed a golden string coming from his back and heading out into the darkness. There was a difference between it and the black string though.

Mainly that a short distance from his body, the golden string split into several smaller strands, all going off in a different direction. Frowning, Harry blinked in confusion as he looked at it. "What in the world is that? And why is it coming from my body?"

Feeling the burning sensation continue to leave his body, Harry frowned and then his eyes widened as he noticed that the golden thread seemed to thicken. Slowly, the thicker part moved along like it had with the black string. But, as it reached each "Split" between it and one of the other strings, some of whatever it was containing split off and moved along the split off thread until it vanished into the distance.

It went without saying that Harry was extremely confused by what was going on.

As he continued to examine the thread though, Harry noticed something else. The thread seemed to be fraying ever so slowly. Not so slowly that he couldn't notice, but enough that one could see it happen. In fact, several of the smaller offshoots seemed almost about to snap. And something did tell Harry that eventually they would all snap and the golden string would vanish.

With a glance around him, Harry reached out and placed a finger on a part of the string. Eyebrows furrowing, the eleven year old frowned as an odd feeling rushed through him. For some odd reason, it niggled at his mind, in particular his memories. Something relating to Louisiana, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out.

Curious, Harry reached for one of the less frayed smaller strings and touched it. For a brief moment, the image of white flames filled his mind. The flames were hot, so very hot that they could melt steel. But despite being hot, painful, they also felt refreshing. As well, there was a song that Harry somehow knew brought tears to his eyes.

Yanking his finger away, Harry blinked away some wetness in his eyes as he continued to stare at the string. Several more of the strings had much the same thing happen which only made him frown in confusion. Following them, Harry blinked though at how he could just make out something in the distance. But then, everything began to fade as Harry realized that he was waking up. Focusing, Harry frowned as he looked at what he had seen and could just see something that was orange.

What the heck was going on...?

Suddenly, Harry woke up in a futon that was set up in Jane's room. The reason for him waking up though soom became obvious as Minmu poked him in the cheek again. "Mu~"

Opening his mouth wide, Harry let out a yawn even as he felt his jaw pop. Closing it, he blinked at the tiny being. "Hmm? Time to wake up?"

Just nodding, Minimu pointed at the clock that was on the wall. Part of Harry noted that the clock was an Ari-Bear one, unlike the Puppy-Yuudachi one he had at home. It brought a smile to his face as he thought what Arizona's reaction to it must have been. What was more important at this time though was the fact that it was just past nine in the morning. The fact that he could see that the futons in front of him were empty as was Jane's bed, told Harry that he was the last one to wake up.

At least, that was what he thought until he tried to move and found that he was trapped by two arms around his waist. Turning his head, Harry could only smile at the sight of the peacefully sleeping Hibiki cuddled into his back. 'Cute.' Suddenly, he frowned a bit at the thought before shaking it off and clearing his throat. "Hibiki-Chan... Hibiki-Chan..."

In response, Hibiki grumbled and pressed her face into his back even more. "Mmpf..."

Biting his lip to keep from laughing, Harry shook slightly. "Hibiki-Chan... It's time to wake up." All Hibiki did though was mutter about it being too early. "It's not that early, Hibiki-Ch-"

Right then, Hibiki opened her sleepy eyes and stared at Harry. Something about her glazed eyes though told him that she was between the world of the awake and the world of dreams. "Harry-Chan... dobroye utro."

Then, much to Harry's shock, Hibiki moved and kissed him on the cheek where she held it for a second or two. "Er..."

With a small smile, Hibiki sighed as she pulled away and snuggled back in. For about twenty seconds, Harry could only feel her warm breath on his neck before suddenly stopped. If it was possible for him to have looked, Harry would have seen Hibiki's eyes snap wide open. Several moments passed before Hibiki went completely red as she realized exactly what had happened. "Um..."

Blinking, Harry furrowed his eyes. "Hibiki-Chan? You, um... awake?"

He could feel her nod very slowly. "Da... I'm awake now, Harry-Chan." Before Harry could say anything though, she pulled away from him and sat up in her pajamas before grabbing her normal clothes. "I'll... let you get changed in here."

And, with that, she quickly left through the door leaving a confused Harry just scratching his head. "I wonder what that was all about?" Then he frowned some as he rubbed his cheek. 'Huh...'

It was several minutes that Harry arrived in the kitchen as he had taken some time to make a note of his dream in his dream journal and found that he was the last one to arrive. Sitting at the table, Hibiki had a small dusting of red on her cheeks until she looked at Harry, only for the dusting to deepen and she looked away. Before Harry could say anything though, Jane practically bounced up and hugged him. "Cuz! You're finally awake." Softly snickering, she gave him a wink. "I thought that you were going to sleep the whole day away."

Glancing at the clock in the kitchen, this one being of Jintsuu as a steel hull and which Harry recognized as an art project she had made, Harry gave his cousin an amused look. "It's not even nine thirty, Jane."

Just giving him a huff, Jane smirked. "Yes? And the ceremony is set for ten-fifteen! We need to get ready!"

Still amused, Harry shook his head and looked over to where Arizona was eating her way through some donuts. Part of him noted though that some of the plain donuts had donut butter spread on them. "Morning, Aunt Arizona!"

The Battleship nodded and gave him a small smile as she swallowed. Using a napkin to pat at her lips, Arizona chuckled lightly. "Good morning, Harry. There's some eggs, bacon, and sasauge for you if you want some."

Catching sight of said food, Harry felt his stomach grumble which got a giggle from Jane. After a few moments though, Harry nodded and made his way over to the bread and took two slices that he placed in the toaster. Seeing the raised eyebrow, Harry grinned a bit. "Just want a sandwich."

Bemused, Arizona slowly nodded at him. "I see." As she continued to eat, Arizona watched as Harry took the two pieces of toast, prepared the toast, before placing the eggs, bacon, and sausage between them. While Harry took a bite of it, all she did though was shake her head. 'I suppose that at least he's not being overly messy.'

For the next half hour though, the room was just filled with conversation between chewing and swallowing. Mainly because every time someone tried to talk with their mouth full, Arizona would give them a look that caused them to become sheepish. Finally though, the group left the Richardson household and got into a transport to the Summoning Room. After all, they all wanted to see what might happen.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing beside Jane, Harry glanced around the Summoning Room. If there was one thing that Harry had noticed, they were always a little different from each other. While there was a "Standard" form to a Summoning Room, there were always little bits that differed between each one. Harry always was rather interested in how they looked and noting the differences.

The usual design for a Summoning Pool was a circular room with a circular hole in the middle of it that was where the actual pool was located. Once, Harry had asked Haru about it, but the explanation flew over his head though it had something to do with how having the personnel standing around all sides causing a "Spiritual Whirlpool". As they swirled, the currents of spiritual and magical energies would be pulled to the middle where the pool was and become concentrated enough to punch through to the other world. Said pool was also always rather deep and used seawater pumped in and out. Stretching out to the middle, there was a small dock with a ladder reaching down to the water. On it, the Admiral in charge as well as those directly involved would stand. As well, another similarity was that each Summoning Pool had candles set up to provide light and incense burning.

From there though, they diverged and each one had it's own "Personal" touches such as it was. The usual ones though were in the types of incense used or the type of candles. Harry had heard that some of the Summoning Rooms in the United States and Canada used something they called 'Sweet Grass' in their ceremonies. Some of the British ones used torches alongside candles to provide light.

The other common one was what naval artifacts were used. Sails from Constitution and Victory were used in the American's and Britain's main ones, while a gun from Mikasa was used back in Yokosuka. Meanwhile, Canada as another example used an anchor from Niobe in their Halifax Summoning Pool. Such items supposedly added spiritual weight to the ceremony.

Beyond that, they diverged even more. Yokosuka's for example, being the one that Harry was most familiar with, had the floor of the pool almost done up as a portrait using cut stone of different colors. Inlaid bits of rose quartz gave the image of sakura blossoms adrift on a wind under the water as behind there was an image of the sea at night. More then once Harry would simply look into the pool and watch as the waves above caused it to shift and distort.

Heck, Janes' had even released a book on it. Jane's All The World's Summoning Pools was a must have for those highly interested in shipgirls... Even though Harry still wondered how they had found out about the one by Hogwarts as shown in the most recent edition, though they didn't add too much information besides it being an "Experimental Summoning Pool" in the Scottish Highlands.

At the moment though, Harry was more interested in the Sasebo Summoning Pool as the ceremony was set up. In various spots, both Japanese and American naval artifacts were with the flags for both nations. But what caught his eye was when one of the technicians flicked a switch and the bottom of the pool lit up. Eyes wide, Harry turned to an amused Jane. "Wait, you guys have spotlights in your Summoning Pool?"

Just nodding as they continued to test the lights, Jane grinned. "Yeah... after the first few times of missing Submarines hiding in the Pool, Daddy had them set up lights. That way, once the ceremony is over they can turn them on and see if there's anyone there."

Nearly as one, Harry and Jane turned to regard Albie who coughed into one hand and looked away as she whistled. Sharing a grin with each other, the two youngsters turned back to the pool. It was then that a cough caused them to turn towards Arizona who was looking towards where Jintsuu brought a metal box up to Richardson. "I am still rather at a loss as to what, exactly, is supposed to happen."

Since Jane turned towards him, Harry shrugged a bit. "It's complicated, but... the stuff in the vials we brought can create a twin to a ship, I guess? Especially if it was a conversion of another ship. In this case, Zuihou over there." They all turned to a shipgirl in a Miko outfit and greyish-brown hair. "From what they told me it's supposed to summon her as if she was a Submarine Tender/Fleet Oiler as she was originally designed."

Frowning, Arizona slowly nodded as she considered what she had just been told carefully. "I see. Hopefully, it does not harm her." At the looks, she gave a small smile. "I've become rather used to her as one of my escorts. Even my sister only grumbles now in regards to her."

That got her nods before Albie pumped a fist. "Oh yeah! A Sub Tender? Now we could use one of those!"

With those words though, the lights dimmed until the only source was the candles which flickered in the small breeze. Turning towards the pool, Harry smiled a bit. "It's starting."

Almost an hour passed before a reaction started which ended as the vials lit up and blinded everyone. Once the light faded though, every one there noted that a lot more then the usual amount of summoning supplies had vanished and turned to the pool. Standing on the water, was a twin to Zuihou. Main difference was though that she wore a seifuku with stockings and an apron on her front with a chibi pheonix. Blinking, she bowed a little bit to those watching. "Hello, I'm Takasaki! I'll help care for any Submarines and I can also act as an oiler!"

Smiling slightly, Richardson gave her a nod. "Allow me to welcome you to Sasebo, Takasaki." Then his eyes were drawn to one of the other shipgirls there and frowned. "And you would be?"

Everyone turned to stare at the new arrival and blinked. For one thing, she was tall and barrel chested compared to most shipgirls. Over a grey shirt with the sleeves rolled up, she wore blue overalls. However, all her clothing was heavily stained as was her tanned skin with oil. Her rigging, such as it was, looked more like a massive hunk of a table that could be hooked together. Another thing that caught everyone's eyes was the mass of tools that hung from her belt as she looked around in confusion and then examined herself. "What in the Hell...?" Hearing Richardson speak again, she stiffened and snapped to a salute. "Sir! USS Dewey, YFD-1 reporting for duty!"

For a moment, Richardson looked confused as he furrowed his eyebrows. "YFD..." Then seeing the surprise in Arizona's face, the rest snapped into place and his eyes widened. "As in the floating dry dock?"

Just slowly nodding, the shipgirl nodded as she continued to look around. "That's right, Sir. Last I remember was sinking after the Japs raised me and..." Spotting the Japanese shipgirls, she froze as her breath caught in her throat. "Sir..."

At the strangled sound, Richardson shook his head. "At ease, Sailor. The war is over and we won. We're now allies with the Japanese so you don't need to worry."

Very slowly, the woman nodded. "I... see..." Then she spotted Arizona and her eyes widened a bit. "Ari? I... is that really you? But I heard that you were..."

Raising an eyebrow, Arizona grimaced. "Sunk?" When she got a nod, she sighed. "I was, but now I'm back as you can see." Arizona's grimace then turned into a smile. "And it's good to have you back. Especially as we have need of someone of your skills now."

Eyes narrowing slightly, Dewey only nodded. "I see..."

Not long after though, Dewey was the only one left standing on the water as the other shipgirls introduced themselves, though RIchardson made sure to have the lights turned on. Once he was sure that there was no Submarines at the bottom, he then raised an eyebrow at Dewey who just stood there. "You can come up onto the dock now." The Floating Dry Dock winced and then muttered something which made the Admiral frown. "I didn't quite catch that."

Her next words though caused him to twitch. "Sorry, Sir, but I can't... I don't have any engines." Utter silence met that pronouncement before Arizona walked over and tossed her a rope that Dewey grabbed. Slowly, the Battleship pulled her until she could reach the ladder and climb up it. Once she reached the top though, Dewey patted her legs and walked around a bit in awe. "I can move around..." Suddenly grinning, she laughed. "No matter what, this is more then worth it."

A hand held out to her caused her to blink and then stare at Richardson. The only thing he did was give her a small smile. "Welcome aboard, Dewey, it's good to have you."

Smiling, she clasped the hand and gave it a shake. "And it's good to be back, Sir."

Much to her embarrassment though, she got a number of cheers before she was lead off by the other shipgirls. Following behind, Harry could only snicker at how Arizona begun speaking with Dewey and commenting on how they could get some donuts at the mess. Something that the Dry Dock seemed rather excited by.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

A chime from Harry's phone as they walked away from the Summoning Room and outside caused Harry to pull it out. Glancing at it, he smiled a bit and Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "Something good happen?"

Only nodding, Harry held out the phone. "Yeah, Regina is going to be in Yokosuka in time for my birthday! Her, Revina, Wanko, and Supply Depot Princess as well as some others will be there. Apparently they're coming for a signing of a peace treaty between them and those fighting the Abyssals the week after."

Blinking, Jane frowned a bit. "Wait, I thought that they've been at peace with us for a few years now?"

Harry slowly shrugged at that. "Three years or so, but yes. They've finally hammered everything out and are holding it in Yokosuka so that Hoppou can sign as well."

Yet again, Jane blinked and then stared at him. "Why did it take three years? I mean, didn't we sign a treaty with them years ago?"

Shaking his head, Harry frowned a bit. "No, they had a Memorandum of Understanding with her, but that's it. Apparently this is a more binding treaty or something regarding the Abyssals lead by Wanko, Supply Depot Princess, and Hoppu. They're calling them the 'Yokosuka Accords' I think."

If anything, that caused Jane to become more confused until she scoffed and shook her head. "They should have did that years ago. Man, they take so long to do things."

All Harry did was shrug. "I guess." Then he frowned and looked over at Jane. "Didn't Uncle John say that there was something happening here as well?"

Jane scoffed a bit and placed her hands behind her head. "Yeah, some negotiations between countries that have shipgirls. Daddy won't tell me much about whatever it is." After a few seconds, she shook it off. "Whatever. Anyways, so I guess that we'll be seeing Wanko and them at your birthday party again this year?"

With a slight smile, Harry nodded. "Yup! And I can't wait! Also..." Looking around, he leaned in towards Jane. "I got a surprise for Regina."

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Jane glanced around as well. "A surprise? Really?" At Harry's nod, she grinned. "Okay, I'm looking forward to it." Unheard by Harry, she continued it internally. 'Nothing is so amusing as seeing a Re-Class get flustered.'

While he flipped through various things on his phone, Harry hummed. "So anything new on the scuttlebutt?"

Thoughtful, Jane considered things before tilting her head. "Well, there is one thing actually." Seeing as she had his attention, she continued. "I heard from my sources that Guam apparently has a boyfriend and confirmed it through others, though I only got his screen name of 'The Jumper'."

If anything though, that caused Harry to raise his eyebrow at her. "The Jumper? You're serious?" When she nodded, he sighed. "Sometimes, I wonder about people."

Simply shrugging, Jane frowned. "Anything on your end?"

Harry grinned with a snicker. "You didn't hear it from me, but apparently... Okay, you know how Sendai is trying to catch a certain someone back in the States, right?"

Bemused, Jane rolled her eyes. "Old Person, right?" At Harry's confused expression, she shrugged. "I know about it."

Unable to help himself, Harry's snickers became chuckles. "Apparently, there was an incident over in the United States. All I know is that Naka fell out of her chair laughing over it. Something about reenacting a marketing campaign for sunscreen."

Confused, Jane frowned and then crossed her arms. "I don't get it."

Shrugging, Harry shook his head from side to side. "Neither did I, all I know is that bite marks were involved. Somehow."

That only made the confusion worse. "Wait, bite marks? Sunscreen? What the heck did Aunt Sendai do over there..." After a few moments though, she became thoughtful. "I wonder if that was why Jintsuu-Mama was on the floor crying from laughing so hard..."

All Harry did was snort. "Maybe, it wouldn't surprise me in the least."

Both of them continued to walk until Jane shook it off and turned to Harry. "Oh! Before I forget, I got a new pet! Archie managed to catch it."

Head tilting to the side, Harry blinked. "Archie caught you a new pet? Really?"

Waving a hand around, the twelve year old nodded. "Yup! See, the screens in the house kept turning up cut. Daddy thought that it was someone trying to get in and so did Ari-Mama. She spent a lot of time outside patrolling the house at night. But the screens kept getting caught and letting in mosquitoes."

Eyebrows furrowing, Harry frowned at this. "Wait, so what was trying to get in then?"

After a few moments, Jane shrugged. "I'm getting to that, now where was I...?" Suddenly nodding, she took a deep breath. "Anyways, Daddy was nearly at his wits end and even guards stationed outside couldn't catch who was doing it. But one night, I woke up in my room to Archie laughing as she held something in her hand and stuffing it into a cage."

More then a little curious, Harry gave her a look. "So...? What was it?"

Holding her hands out a distance from each other, Jane shook her head. "It looked like this shrimp, about this long. But it had really long, sharp pinchers and could fly! When Mutsu-Mama placed it into an aquarium with normal steel mesh, it managed to start cutting it's way through them. Daddy thinks that it's a magical creature, Jintsuu-Mama says that she's sure that it's some sort of Yokai. Archie is keeping it safe for me. I'm calling it Screener as he really likes cutting through screens and nets and stuff."

Only tilting his head to the side, Harry considered this for several moments. "Huh..." Blinking, he chuckled a little bit. "Okay, that's actually pretty neat!"

His adoptive cousin only laughed alongside him. "You have no idea, Harry. He's freaking awesome!" Glancing around, she grinned a little bit. "By the way, I picked the movie for tonight..."

Seeing the amused expression, Harry couldn't help but grin right back. "Oh? What movie are we watching tonight?"

Just raising a finger, Jane grinned. "What else? The live action Starblazers of course!"

For several moments, Harry tilted his head to the side. "Wait, you mean the one that Disney did? That's got about as much in common with the original as some of their other remakes?"

Unable to help herself, Jane allowed her grin to grow. "And involves the crew of the Space Battleship Arizona fighting aliens? Got it in one! Want to know what makes it even better?" When Harry shook her head, Jane snickered. "Ari-Mama is watching over us tonight."

Now amused, Harry choked. "You're horrible, Jane!"

In reply, she skipped ahead of him and turned before making a bow. "Thank you, thank you. I do try."

All Harry did though was simply shake his head. Despite it though, he couldn't wait to see the movie. More for the reactions from Arizona from seeing it. Of course, that was when he frowned as a thought hit him. "Wait... Has Aunt Arizona even seen this movie before?"

Looking more like a cat who had caught a canary, Jane shook her head. "Nope! It just came out as she was out on sortie and she just missed it in theatres. And since she's not really interested in such things, I don't think that she knows the first thing about it."

More then a little interested, Harry hummed. "So Aunt Arizona wouldn't know the first thing about the movie?" When she shook her head, he smirked. "Well now... even if it's not that good of a movie, I can't wait to see her reaction."

That got him a snort from Jane. "It's an okay movie really." Seeing his raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "Hiei-Mama took me to go see it in theatres when it came out. Sure, here in Japan it bombed, but it's not a bad movie."

His eyebrow raising some more, Harry frowned. "Sure it's not... We'll go with that I suppose." Rubbing his hands together, Harry began to run towards Jane's house. "Anyways, we should get ready for tonight then! Race you!"

Laughing, Jane turned and began to chase him. "Hey! Get back here, you cheat! You had a head start!"

In reply, Harry looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at her. Something that Jane was happy to see as she could remember when she had first met him years before. The difference between that shy, nervous boy and the more confident and happy eleven year old made her smile wide enough that it almost hurt. But Jane only laughed as she continued to chase him.

Maybe this time she would beat him back to her home.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Sighing, Hermione stretched in the evening air as she looked up at the Moon shining down from above. There was a small smile on her face as she continued to seemingly skate across the surface of the Mediterrean. A shout though caused her to turn to where Cleo was pointing. "Hey! One of the planes are returning!"

Lips twitching, Hermione turned to where HMS Invincible saved from the scappers due to the need for hulls, had a aircraft vertically landing on the deck. "Well, looks like they're coming in for refueling."

Just coming up alongside her, Cleo grinned. "Doesn't make it any less amazing, Hermione! I mean... Back during the War, if someone told my crew that one day we would see jets landing like that, well. I think that they would be called crazy! But yet there they are!"

Chuckling, Hermione nodded as she looked back at the Aircraft Carrier, a similar plane landing on the nearby Italian Carrier, Cavour. "I suppose so. Though I will admit that I'll miss the Harrier IIIs once they replace them with the F-35Bs. They're lovely aircraft."

That got a huff from Cleo as she shook her head. "Of course they're lovely! They're British aircraft after all!" Hermione had to bite back a laugh and a comment that they were a joint American/British project. Meanwhile, Cleo frowned a bit. "I'm not sure why they're replacing them though... Didn't they just start building them a few years ago?"

With a hum, Hermione shook her head. "The Harrier IIIs were always going to be just a stopgap measure until they got the Lightnings fully functional. With Abyssals bombing airfield and Carriers being sank, they needed something with S/VTOL that could be flown from Amphibs and damaged airfields."

After a bit of thought, Cleo snorted a bit. "Whatever. I like the Harriers better." Then she spotted one of the Italian shipgirls and waved. "POLA! POLA OVER HERE!"

Hermione only sighed as Cleo took off towards Pola. "I should never have introduced those two..."

Snickers caused her to turn to where Aquilla was coming up alongside her. "I don't know about that, Hermione. The two of them when they get together are rather hilarious after all." Her and Hermione turned to look to where a confused Pola was listening to a chatty Cleo. "Especially when they go bar crawling."

Groaning, Hermione facepalmed. "Don't remind me... I don't want to remember what I had to go through the last time those two decided on a Pub crawl."

Unable to help herself, Aquilla laughed and patted Hermione on the back. "'Scuse, scuse, didn't mean to drag up such hilarious... I mean, horrible memories."

All the brown haired shipgirl did though was snort and roll her eyes. She then turned her attention to the horizon. "Anything going on?"

Crossing her arms, Aquilla shook her head. "No, no signs of Abyssal activity. The Med, she is mostly clear except for the odd small group." The Italian Carrier then turned back to Hermione. "You'll be heading back to Britain soon, right?"

There was a small frown on Hermione's face, but she nodded. "I am, after all I'll need to do my shopping for Hogwarts and, well... Vanguard has apparently been getting antsy without me there."

Only smiling softly, Aquilla nodded. "You do make a good, what is the word? Ah, Momboat for her."

Needless to say, to Aquilla's amusement, Hermione blushed. "I-I'm not a Momboat to Vanguard. Big Sisboat, maybe, but not a Momboat!"

Lips twitching, Aquilla tapped her chin. "I do not know about that, Hermione. She looks up to you as a Momboat after all."

Any sputters died as Cleo sailed up with a grin on her face. "Yeah! And besides, you're always acting like her Mum! Like that time she needed help and you-"

With a shout, Hermione tried to swipe at her sister, only for the other Light Cruiser to dodge out of the way with a laugh. "Get back here, Cleo! And face me like a shipgirl!"

That only got more laughter to her annoyance.
___________________________________________________________
Ron frowned as he sat back in the chair, his eyebrows furrowing. "So... you're going to Japan with Admiral Cunningham, Warspite?"

Slowly, Warspite nodded as she moved around the room to gather odds and ends. "Unfortunately, yes, Ronald." Unlike everyone else, for some odd reason Ron didn't mind if Warspite used his full name to his confusion. "We'll be signing a treaty with some Abyssals and it was decided that I would accompany him."

It took a few moments, but Ron realized who she was talking about. "You mean Wanko and, um... I forgot her name..."

A rich chuckle escaped from Warspite's lips as she looked over her shoulder at him. "You're thinking of Supply Depot Princess, or Supprin, as I believe she's asked to be called. But yes, several nations will be signing a treaty with them in a few weeks. And so, there needs to be representatives of both government and military there."

Grimacing, Ron leaned against one closed fist. "I'm going to miss you, Warspite."

Expression turning gentle, Warspite walked over and laid one hand on the red head's cheek. "And I am going to miss you as well, Ronald. But I shant be long in Japan, a few days at most." Then her expression turned thoughtful as something occurred to her. "Though, thinking upon it, I may have a solution."

That only confused Ron and he frowned some. "You do? What kind of solution."

Humming, Warspite looked towards the ceiling in thought. "I shall have to speak to Molly, but perhaps I can convince her to allow you to come along with me. Mayhaps with Percy as Supprin seemed to enjoy his company and it would help with PR as they call it."

Eyes widening, Ron looked at her with a hopeful expression. "Really? You think that you can convince Mum to let me go with you?"

Softly giggling, Warspite nodded. "Perhaps, though I shall try my best in any case." Part of herself was bothering the rest though. What, Warspite couldn't quite grasp but it was similar to those instincts that caused her to remember that her sisters, as much as she loved them, would have a teasing oppotunity. Then those thoughts went away as she felt a familiar, painful twinge in her legs. "Ah..."

Part of Warspite's wince was only due to the pain, the rest was due to how Ron's head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Warspite... Is your leg hurting you again?"

Weakly chuckling, the Battleship's eyes slid to the side. "Ronald of course-" Another spike of pain caused her to wince again. "Um, perhaps just a smidgeon, I suppose."

A scowl crossed Ron's face and he got up from the chair and pointed at it. "I told you not to be on your legs too long. Even with the cane, there's a limit, Warspite. Now, sit."

Blushing, Warspite straightened her back and tried to promote a commanding presence. "I am not some sort of... Corvette, Ronald. I am a Battleship and I do not appreciate you acting any different."

Ron's ears went slightly red before he narrowed his eyes. "Warspite, take a seat right now before you hurt your legs even more." Seeing as she was about to say something, Ron then brought out the big guns. "Now, Warspite."

Several moments passed before Warspite's shoulders slumped and she made her way over to the chair and sat down. Somehow... Somehow she knew that her engineering crew were laughing and nodding their heads, the cheeky little buggers. It went without saying that she was not sure if the fact that they approved of Ron's actions made it better or worse. Once she sat down with a sigh, Warspite pouted. "I suppose that I should be glad that this time you did not go to Dreadnought."

Hearing, and ignoring both the tone and sniff, Ron just shrugged. "That's never out of the cards, Warspite." To the Battleship's confusion, he opened the bag he had brought. "Now where did I put it..."

Curious, Warspite tilted her head some to look. "Where did you put what, Ronald?" He didn't answer her and instead pulled out what looked like a small bottle filled with a purple liquid. "And what is that, Ronald?"

With a look towards her, he smiled. "It's actually a potion." Making his way to the foot rest, he sat down and then placed her legs on his. Moments later, Warspite blushed as he removed her stockings and shoes before he placed a small amount of potion in his hands and rubbed them together. "Quidditch players use it when they strain their muscles during games and need relief."

Blinking, Warspite frowned a bit as she fought to get the heat in her cheeks under control. "I... I see. And does it work well then?"

Just giving her a grin, Ron nodded. "Yeah, Charlie used it all the time when he was on the team and gave me the modified recipe he had been using. Now then..."

Seconds later, Ron placed his hands on her legs and began to massage them with the potion. From where she was on the chair, Warspite hissed a bit before relaxing. Somehow, Ron's hands seemed to go from hot to cold exactly as needed to relax them. At the same time, Ron hummed a small song with snitches of words. Warspite still did not know exactly where he had learned it, but according to him it was some kind of old magic. It did not help much, but did help some just the same.

Laying back, Warspite closed her eyes as she felt the pain in her legs subside. Deep inside her hull, her Chief Engineer listened to the reports coming in and only nodded with a smile as Ron continued his work. Hearing a small sound though, Warspite opened her eyes and froze. There, in the doorway looking in, were her sisters. While her younger sisters all had massive grins, it was the raised eyebrow on Elizabeth's along with the somewhat amused look in her eye that caused the "Grand Old Lady" to brightly blush. Then Ron's fingers found a spot and really worked at it which made her let out a small moan as it slowly relaxed.
Her blush only increased at the smirk on Elizabeth's face before the older sister gently pushed her younger sisters out of the door and closed it. All Warspite could do was close her eyes and curse her sisters as she knew what would happen next.

Bloody dammit.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Laughter filled the room as Jane fell back on her bed. "Oh my God! Did you see Ari-Mama's face during the movie!?"

Unable to help himself, Harry was also laughing as he laid on one of the futons that were set up. "I know! Especially during the part when Space Battleship Arizona rose into the air. I thought that she was going to explode at that point with how red she was!"

Still laughing, Jane rolled around on the bed. "Ari-Mama was just shaking!" Then she turned to look at Harry with a twinkle in her eye. "Then again, like Space Battleship Yamato's hull is based on Yamato's... Space Battleship Arizona's was based on Ari-Mama's! So when it rose up in the air..."

For a few moments, the two stared at each other silently. Then Harry twitched which made Jane snort, Harry giving one of his own soon after. Soon, their snorts became snickers which turned into full blown laughter. Finally, the two collapsed back on their respective sleeping areas while they panted. Faces red with wide grins that hurt as they looked at each other, nearly setting them both off again. Biting his lip as he continued to shake, Harry gasped some. "I... M-maybe we should b-be so mean to Aunt Ari..."

Just able to keep herself under control, Jane nodded. "Y-yeah, we really shouldn't be so m-mean to her. A-Ari-Mama is not for bullying. I-it was still t-too funny..."

Only nodding, Harry choked out a snicker. "Bloody Hell, w-was it ever. The movie was worth it j-just for that!"

Her eyes twinkling in mirth, Jane let out a guffaw. "Yup! And I t-think that M-Mutsu-Mama got video."

When the two looked at each other, they barely kept from laughing. Eventually though, they calmed down enough that they were able to talk normally without laughing. The image of Arizona from the movie was going to stick with the two for a very, very long time. Suddenly, Harry sat up and looked at Jane. "Oh! By the way, Jane, I was wondering if you could look at something for me."

Curious, Jane only rolled on the bed and nodded. "Sure, Cuz. What do you need me to look at?" Making his way over to his bag, Harry began to dig into it. As he did so, Jane sighed a bit as she watched him sink up to his shoulder. "You know, an expanded inside backpack would make things so much easier for school. I could carry everything then!"

Glancing over his shoulder, Harry shrugged. "Well... unfortunately with the Statute still in full force, I can't do anything. But once it falls, I should be able to get you something." Then he frowned a bit. "Hmm... you know, when we visited my family's old home, I think that I saw an old sea chest there. If it's anythng like a normal magical chest, it's probably got expanded insides and everything."

Suddenly perking up, Jane's eyes widened some. "You're not suggesting...?"

Harry smirked a little bit. "Giving it to you? Well, yeah, I am. Besides, it's not like you wouldn't use it."

Moments later, he found Jane hopping off her bed and then hugging him. "Thank you, Cuz! That would be beyond awesome! And having that would make me look more like an Admiral..." Finger against her chin, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked around. "Now where would I put it..."

With a look around, Harry shruggd. "I think that at the end of your bed would be good. Anyways, we got to get it first and that won't be for a bit. I'll ask Mum though when we can go back and I'll see if you can't come with us. Heck, maybe you'll find something else there."

Now thoughtful, Jane sat back and watched as Harry continued to look through his knapsack. "You're family is like, really old, right?" Once the black haired boy nodded, Jane hummed. "Do they have anything that could be used when Daddy marries one of my Mamas? I'm pretty sure that him and Mutsu-Mama are going to pop the question."

Slowly blinking, Harry tilted his head back and forth. "I think that we got some things that could be used. There's all sorts of jewelry and stuff after all and it would be nice to use it rather then let it collect dust. And Mutsu-Oba is family, so... Anything in particular?"

Looking up at the ceiling, Jane frowned. "Um... like headgear? Mutsu-Mama would look wierd without headgear of some sort."

After giving it some thought, Harry nodded. "Hmm... I'm pretty sure that I saw some tiaras and stuff. So we can mention it to Mum and let Mutsu-Oba pick something out. Hopefully it'll be before he lays a keel in her slipway."

That caused Jane to choke a bit before she grinned and gave him a small smack to the shoulder. "Harry!"

However, Harry was completely unrepentant. "What? It's true, you know. I heard Aunt Jersey mention it to Mum once. And she said that it needed to be done before Mutsu-Oba blew another turret... Though Mum hit her for that one."

Jane only nodded at that. "She deserved it, Mutsu-Mama doesn't like it when people make jokes about that. But Daddy won't be having a kid with Mutsu-Mama." She waited until Harry turned to look at her and held up two fingers. "He'll be having twins with her, and they will be adorable. No exceptions."

With a sharp nod, Harry grinned. "Yup! And I'll have two cute cousins." All of a sudden, he grinned. "Found it!"

Leaning over, Jane tried to see what Harry had only to blink in confusion. "A box?"

Only nodding, Harry grinned. "One with an expanded inside. What I want to show you is inside it after all."

Head tilted to the side, the twelve year old girl frowned. "Um, okay? Wait." Raising a finger, Jane's frown deepened. "I thought that you couldn't place something with an expanded inside into something else with an expanded inside or else bad things happen."

Softly snorting, Harry shook his head as he realized what she meant. "It's not like Dungeons and Dragons, Jane." His cousin only shrugged in reply as Harry grinned. "Right, so you're really good with models and stuff, right?"

Eyebrow raised, Jane looked at the various models around her room before her tone turnd dry. "I don't know about that, Harry. After all, I might only be okay..."

Rolling his eyes, Harry took the lid off. "Right, stupid question. Anyways, have a look at this."

Bemused, Jane leaned over and looked into the box before blinking. Tilting her head to the side, she raised her eyebrows. "Wait, is that what I think?"

Harry nodded. "A model of Iku-Chan's old hull? Yeah, I've been working on it along with Maruyu-Chan's. That's hers right there beside Iku-Chan's."

Giving Harry a look that he couldn't quite understand, though he did realize it was full of amusement, Jane nodded. "It looks pretty good, actually. But... where did you get all the pieces?"

A rather large smile on his face, Harry snickered. "Magic." Seeing her look, he shrugged. "What? It's true."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Jane frowned. "Magic? Really?"

Simply humming, Harry grinned. "Yeah, magic. I used the same sort of transfiguration that I used on the pendants to shape metal from pieces of steel for them. The plans were harder, but I found a couple and pictures as well. Akashi-Oba gave me some of them for it, though she kept laughing."

Only nodding, Jane snorted. "I wonder why..."

The black haired boy shrugged. "No idea. But yeah, I'm thinking of giving Iku-Chan's on her Commissioning Day, same with Maruyu-Chan. Or maybe waiting a bit and giving them all models on Christmas or something."

Chuckling, Jane shook her head. "So, how good are they? Because from where I am sitting, they look very detailed."

Hand wagging back and forth, Harry frowned. "Akashi-Oba had her fairies look from up close and they claim that it looks almost exactly like Iku-Chan's hull did, same with Maruyu-Chan. I just need to wait until we go back to Hogwarts and I should be finished soon after and get to work on Hachi-Chan's."

Eyebrows raising, Jane looked up at him. "How many are you doing?"

Shrugging, Harry scratched the back of his neck. "Actually? I'm going to try and make models of all their hulls and give it to them. Hanna's might be the tough one, but Jersey said that she would get me a plan for Eugen's hull that they might have around and I can use what little bits are for Hanna's online to fill in the gaps. Though she kept laughing for some reason..."

The only answer he got was Jane rolling her eyes before the girl went back to examining the model in the wooden box with a thoughtful gaze.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Pouring out a measure of alcohol into a glass, Goto handed it over to Kongou who took it with a small grin. "Thank you, Dess~"

With a chuckle, Goto sipped his own drink. "You're welcome, Kongou." A few sounds caused him to turn towards the karaoke stand where Haruna and Rose were looking through some of the songs there. "And it seems that they're enjoying the double date."

Just giggling, Kongou nodded some. "Dess! It took a bit of doing but it seems that Haruna-Chan is enjoying it and so is Rose-Chan." Running a finger along the lip of her glass, Kongou sighed in happiness. "I'm glad that Haruna-Chan found someone with whom to share her burning love."

Bemused, Goto reached over and placed his arm on his girlfriend's shoulder and pulled her close. "Like you?" That got him a nod as Kongou buried her face into his chest with a happy sigh. "Oh, come on, Kongou!'

The Battleship only giggled as she noticed that Haruna had stepped off the stage as Rose slowly nodded. "Looks like the two of them have chosen a song." Giving Goto an amused look, Kongou snickered. "Of course, that Rose-Chan can actually sing helps."

Grumbling in good humor, Goto shook his head. "I can sing."

Finger against her chin, Kongou hummed. "Dess, you can sing..." Goto smirked and was about to say something when Kongou continued. "Like a tomcat on a fence."

Hand against his chest, Goto winced. "Ouch, Kongou, you wound me."

It was then that Haruna chose to plop down beside them and pour herself a measure of alcohol as Rose took a deep breath. "Shhh! Rose-Chan is about to sing again!"

Lips twitching, Goto and Kongou shared a look before turning as the music began and Rose began to sway. The whole time she was focused on the screen with the words.
"Don't lose your way
With each passing day
You've come so far
Don't throw it away
Live believing
Dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story
Faith, hope and glory
Hold to the truth in your heart"

A smile on her face, Haruna leaned forward as Rose continued to sing, now looking at her.
"If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by
For you and I"

Goto just leaned back as he watched as Haruna began to sway with the song as well, unable to keep her eyes off her girlfriend. 'Those two really are perfect together.' Then he pulled Kongou close. 'And they're not the only ones.'

"Souls in the wind
Must learn how to bend
Seek out a star
Hold on to the end
Valley, mountain
There is a fountain
Washes our tears all away
Words are swaying
Someone is praying
Please let us come home to stay
If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by
For you and I"
Meanwhile, all Rose had eyes for was Haruna as she put everything into the song. The look in the Battleship's eyes causing the tsukumogami to feel a warm bubbling in her chest. Haruna though got up and placed her arms around Rose part way through the song and began to sway behind her.
"When we are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark we'll feel the light
Warm our hearts, everyone
If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
As high as souls can fly
The clouds roll by
For you and I"

Sharing a soft kiss as the music faded away, the two only smiled.
________________________________________________________________________

As they left the karaoke place, Goto looked up at the cloudy sky with a small frown on his face. "Hmm... We should probably hurry along to where we parked. I don't like the look of those clouds."

With a look up herself, Rose felt her lips turn downwards. "No, it looks like we may have a spot of rain." Hooking her arm with Haruna's though, the tsukumogami just looked at her with her frown becoming a smile. "But then, it's a good thing that I have my umbrella..."

Moments later, as Rose giggled, Haruna raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Haruna thinks that Rose-Chan might be a bit drunk. She is awfully gigglely."

Fanning herself, Rose flushed some. "Oh my, perhaps you are right. But then, we did have a smashing good time."

That got her a nod from the others as Kongou grabbed Goto's arm. "Dess!"

For his part, Goto chuckled some. "True, we should do this again sometime soon." However, the peace did not last as they heard a shout and turned. "Hmm?"

A distance behind them, several teens were pointing at Haruna and Rose with scowls on their faces. "What the heck are you doing with Haruna-Sama!?" Behind him, his friends nodded their heads in agreement as he continued. "Take your hands off her right this moment!"

Blinking, Rose tilted her head and looked at Haruna who also blinked. "Um, why? Haruna is my girlfriend after all."

Much to Rose's confusion, that only seemed to anger the teens as they glared, though there was a smell around them like alcohol. "You lie! Haruna-Sama would never lower herself to being your girlfriend!"

One of them lunged forward to grab Rose with a growl. "Now let go of her!"

It was for not as Haruna stepped between them with a glare. "Leave, now. Rose-Chan is my girlfriend and Haruna does not appreciate what you are saying."

Several more times, various teens tried to grab at Rose to pull her away, only for Haruna to step between them. However, it was not just Haruna who was slowly getting angerier as a glance showed Rose that Kongou was also becoming much more angry. That was not helped by one of the boys shouting at Goto who calmly was muttering into a phone. Rose knew that neither Haruna nor Kongou could just grab the teens as it would reflect badly on them.

Then one of them said something that caused Rose to freeze. "What the heck would a damn gaijin have that we don't!?"

For a few moments, Rose's face was shadowed by the brim of her hat. Perhaps it was the alcohol in her, or maybe the frustration from their date being ruined, but Rose had enough. "What... would I have that you do not? What a bunch of ruffians have?"

Not sure why, but something told the teens to start running. But running high on emotions as well as alcohol, they ignored it. "Yeah! What the heck do you have that we do not!?"

Haruna blinked and looked over her shoulder as Rose took a few steps to the side and back. "Rose-Chan?"

Ignoring her for the moment, Rose held out her umbrella. "Manners, young man. After all, manners... make... the man. Do you understand me, you scoundrel?" The teen went to lunge only for Rose's umbrella to blur as she hooked it around a garbage can and flung it into the teen. As the teenager groaned, Rose took a step forward and raised her eyes. "Allow me to teach you a lesson then in the manners that it seems that you are missing."

One of them lunged for her, only for Rose to dodge and them bring her knee up into his stomach. Grabbing him, she practically threw him into one of the others before blocking another hit with her umbrella. Quickly moving, she brought her umbrella down and hooked it around the back of his knee and sent him flying on his back. Another one tried to grab her from behind, only for her to lash out with the hook of her umbrella to his solar plexus and drive the breath from his body. "Attacking from behind? Most rude of you."

Hooking the umbrella into his shirt, she swung him around into one of his fellows, sending them both tumbling into the ground. "Your parents must be quite disappointed in you all for your lack of good graces!" The first teen, having gotten up, tried to punch her, only for Rose to block it with her umbrella. Before he could react, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, twirling around and kicking his knee to drive him to the ground... and right into the path of a punch from one of his friends. "Really? I must say, you are all a bunch of ruffians and scoundrels. Attacking a poor, defenseless woman while she is out with her beloved!" With a shove, she let the groaning teen drop and grabbed the extended arm of another and flipped him over her. "Is there nothing too low? The nerve!"

Meanwhile, Haruna was just watching with wide eyes as her breathing became heavy. "Rose-Chan..."

Kongou glanced at her sister only to facepalm as she noted the heavy blush on the Battleship's face. 'Really, Haruna? Really?' Glancing at Rose who had finally knocked the fight out of the bunch and was now lecturing them as two police officers made their way through the crowd, Kongou hummed. 'Good Bartitsu form though...'

At the same time, Goto groaned as he realized that various people were already likely uploading footage to the net. 'Great... just how I wanted to end my night.'

Thankfully though, after seeing the footage, the police let Rose go with a small warning as they put the groaning teens into a van. There were hoots though when Haruna grabbed Rose and pulled her into a heated kiss. Pulling away after a minute, Haruna grinned at the breathless look on the tsukumogami's face. "Haruna's knight in shining silver."

More then a few blinked in confusion at how there seemed to be steam coming from Rose's ears after that...

 

[darthcourt10]

Year Two - Secrets and Shipgirls.Prelude

START

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Bouncing a little bit in place in the small park, Harry had a wide enough grin on his face that it hurt. Utterly amused with how her younger adopted cousin was acting, Jane chuckled a bit. "You're really excited over this, aren't you, Harry?"

With a blink, Harry stopped and looked at her. "Why shouldn't I be? You know how long Hoppou has been stuck in Yokosuka? And now she gets to visit somewhere else!"

Her hands in her jean pockets, Jane snorted a bit. "And it's about time." Glancing around, she could see Arizona softly talking with Yamashiro as Fuso watched on in curiosity. Despite her sister's actions, neither Yamashiro nor Fuso really held it against Arizona. Nearby, Shigure was in a conversation with Tenryuu, though she kept looking over at Yamashiro and Fuso. To Jane's confusion, Fuso smiled at Shigure who blushed some. Said blush increased when, as Arizona was distracted by Mutsu asking her something, Yamashiro smirked and winked at the Destroyer. 'I wonder...'

Not having noticed, Harry nodded some. "Yeah, they should have gotten Hoppou off base before now." Smiling brightly, he shrugged and placed his hands behind his head. "But now I get to have some Sasebo burgers with Mum and Hoppou! She's really excited about it to."

Chuckling, Jane shook her head in amusement. "I can imagine, they are pretty good."

She frowned though at the amount of Marines who were trying to make themselves inconspicuous. As it turned out, Harry noticed as well. "What's with all the security? I can understand shipgirls because of Hoppou, but why so many Marines?"

All Jane did was shake her head. "There was a murder or something in a public bathroom around here a few days back, so no one wants to take any chances." Tilting her head, she noted a man she often recognized as he munched on something nearby. "And it looks like Mr. Taka is here too."

Harry blinked and looked over at the man in question who turned his head to look at Harry and Jane. For a moment, Harry's attention was grabbed by the rather large, beak-like nose, but then the elderly man smiled and nodded. "Um, he's the guy that owns that small store outside the base, right?"

With a chuckle, Jane nodded. "Yeah, he also runs a small dojo out the back too. Shigure swears by him when it comes to being taught how to fight." At Harry's look, she grinned. "I've been thinking about asking him to teach me some stuff. After all, an Admiral needs to know how to fight!"

That caused Harry to nod in agreement. "Yeah! I mean, I got Inazuma-Chan and Hibiki-Chan teaching me stuff, so why not?" His smile then turned teasing. "Besides, that just means that I'm ahead of you."

Snorting, Jane poked him in the chest. "For now, maybe. But give me some time and I'll be kicking your ass on the mat, Cuz." A car then pulled up and Jane nodded towards it. "Looks like Aunt Nagato is here."

Both of them shared a smile and began to walk towards it. They barely made it more then fifteen feet before the back doors opened and Hoppou came out. For a moment, the Abyssal looked around in excitement before she caught sight of Harry. "Big Brother!" Then she noticed Jane and bounced a bit. "Cousin Janey! Hoppou is here! Hoppou is here!"

Running over, Hoppou leapt into the air with a shout. "PO!"

A laugh bursting from him, Harry easily caught her mid-flight and twirled her around. "Hey, Hoppou!"

While she shook her head, Jane also nodded before reaching over and ruffling Hoppou's hair. "Hey there, Little Cuz. Welcome to Sasebo."

Happily smiling, Hoppou swatted Jane's hand away. "Leave Hoppou's hair alone!"

For her part, Nagato walked up to her sister and hugged her. On Mutsu's face there was a large smile as she returned it. "It's great seeing you again, Nagato-Nee."

Deeply chuckling, Nagato shook her head. "And it's great to see you as well, Mutsu." With a hum, she back up a bit and made a show of looking at Mutsu's muscled stomach. "Hmm..."

Blinking, Mutsu looked down and frowned. "Uh... Is something wrong, Onee-San?"

Still frowning, Nagato had a thoughtful expression on her face as she cupped her chin in one hand, the other arm propping that hand up. "Hmm... Nothing wrong, persay, Mutsu." Her tone then turned teasing with her next words causing Mutsu to go completely red. "Just making a note that someone has not had a keel laid in their slipway yet~"

With a groan, Mutsu covered her face to hide her blush. "Onee-San! I-I, that..."

If anything though, that made the grin on Nagato's face grow. "My, my~ Whatever is with that expression, Mutsu? Making me wait to become an Oba-San again." Before the sputtering Mutsu could say anything though, Nagato walked past her and was smiling as she waved at Arizona. "Ari, hope that you have been having a good evening?"

Amused at how her normally teasing friend was the victim of teasing of her own for once, Arizona smirked. "It's been going rather well so far." Glancing at where Hoppou was now on top of Jane's shoulders, the Battleship shook her head. "And you?"

Making a show of rubbing her legs, Nagato shook her head. "Rather well all things considered. The plane ride might not have been long, but with Hoppou it felt a lot longer as did the car ride."

Simply nodding, Arizona smiled a bit. "I can imagine. Destroyers are bad enough at times."

That got her a nod from her fellow Battleship. "I think that Hoppou might be worse, though that could be due to this being her first trip out of the base besides Hogwarts." She then glanced to Harry who was walking towards them. "Harry."

Hugging her around her middle, Harry grinned as he felt one of her arms around his shoulders. "Mum! It's great to see you."

Only chuckling, Nagato shook her head. "It's only been a few days, Harry. That said... I feel much the same way myself." Turning back to Arizona, she raised an eyebrow. "By the way, I have been meaning to ask if you'll be there with Jane for Harry's birthday?"

A smile on her scarred face, Arizona nodded. "We wouldn't miss it. Jintsuu will also be there with Hiei coming a few days later with John due to the Accords signing." Slowly shaking her head, her expression turned thoughtful as she looked back at Hoppou. "Did you ever imagine this happening?"

Looking in the same direction, Nagato shook her head. "No, I didn't. That said, I welcome it with open arms." With a smile, she turned her gaze to Harry. "So then, ready for some of the famous Sasebo burgers?"
Harry grinned up at her. "You bet! I heard that they even got ones for shipgirls now."

Eyebrows raising, Nagato turned towards her sister who was approaching. "A shipgirl sized burger?"

Smiling, Mutsu nodded. "They do have them, I've tried some. I have to admit, they're really good, though a bit hard to eat." Holding up her hands, she made as if she was holding something large in them. "After all, it's hard to get a big enough bite."

As her stomach rumbled, Nagato licked her lips. "Well then, I am looking forward to it. Not often that I come across something sized for those of us with above average appietites." Feeling a tap on her side, she looked down at Harry. "Yes, Harry?"

With a smirk, he chuckled. "But we're going to be taking pictures to send to Musashi-Oba, right? Just like Goto-Oji asked."

For a moment, Nagato blinked and then she grinned even as Arizona and Mutsu looked on in confusion. "That would be the plan, yes." She then turned back to Arizona with a thoughtful expression. "By the way, has Jane and Harry asked any of you or John about how they want to visit Harry's family property?"

Arizona slowly nodded as she shook off her previous confusion. "We discussed it and, in all honesty, none of us really see a problem with it. In fact, I might come along as it's been a while since I was in England and so might Jinstuu."

Humming in agreement, Nagato walked with the rest of the group towards a group of Marines who were taking orders for food. It was several hours later though that a problem happened. Hibiki had entered the public washroom in the small park when she called out to her sisters just outside as no one was allowed to be alone just in case for security reasons. "They're out of toilet paper, could someone get some?"

With a nod, Inazuma raised a hand into the air. "I'll go and get some, Nanodesu! Just in case anyone else needs it."

Both her and Ikazuchi took off as Akatsuki continued to stand by the door to the washroom. However, she suddenly could hear a man's voice inside the washroom. Eyes wide, Akatsuki turned to the washroom as he spoke. "Would you like the red toilet paper, or the blue toilet paper?"

As she blinked and tried to place why that was causing a niggling in her mind, Akatsuki could hear Hibiki sigh. "Da, either would be good. And then leave."

Just as she was about to head inside to give the obvious pervert a piece of her mind though, the eldest sister of DesDiv6 heard the stall door slam open. Then there was silence before the man's voice spoke. "Oh, shi-"

Next thing that Akatsuki knew, various noises could be heard inside such as screams of pain, shouts, pleading for mercy, and what sounded like the squeal of a pig. What she winced at though was the sounds of things being broken inside as well as crashes of something against walls. Thankfully, it ended right before Inazuma showed up with a roll of toilet paper. "I found some, Nanodesu!"

Peeking her head out the door, Hibiki had a dour look on her face as she took it. "Thank you."

Slightly conflicted, Akatsuki glanced at Ikazuchi who was frowning. "Uh, what's that sound inside? Is something broken?"

Quickly, the purple haired Destroyer pulled out her wallet and gave some money to Ikazuchi. "The washroom is out, could you go and get us some ice cream? Please?"

She winced though as Inazuma glanced inside through the slightly open door and paled a bit. Then Inazuma grabbed Ikazuchi and began to pull her along. "Sure! And.. uh, we'll tell Kaa-San to come over and have a look. We'll be heading back to the base anyways."

Ikazuchi just shrugged as she nodded. "Yeah, you can rely on us after all!"

Once they were gone for a few seconds, Akatsuki opened the door a bit and looked in. Moments later, she winkled her nose. "Ew..."

All she got as answer from Hibiki was grumbles.

 

[darthcourt10]

Vent Xekart

fredthebadger said:
What, the toilet paper Yokai?​

I can't take that seriously now, because I'm automatically thinking of this poor bastard.

Also, here is something silly I thought of in regards to Supply Depot Princess X Ooyoda X Percy Weasley, this takes place during Harry's second year.

====
Percy Ignatius Weasley couldn't help but feel like a rose between two thorns at the moment. He was in the hallways of Hogwarts, heading to the library to study when he was faced with the Abyssal Supply Depot Princess (Also known as Suppurin by her comrades) confessing her love to him while his fellow siblings watched. Fred and George seemed amused, as did Ginny and Ron much to his displeasure but things got even worse when he encountered someone else who also declared her love for him; The Japanese Ship girl and Secretary Ship Ooyodo who for whatever reason was red-faced and hiccuping as she tried to confess her love to him.

He didn't think that any girl would want to go out with him, oh no; he was much too busy trying to get ahead of his studies and join the workforce rather than get into a relationship. So he didn't really know what to do at this moment, especially when both girls realized they were meeting with him for the same reason. He quietly gulped, on one hand he could choose one of them which would lead to him having to turn one of them down or he could turn both of them down and move on. Both choices were absolutely terrible because if he turned down Suppurin he could potentially face the wrath of the Abyssal fleet which would not end well for him or anyone else but if he turned down Ooyodo, he would be faced with not only the ire of every Shipgirl in Yokosuka but also Harry James Potter who would most likely take after his Aunt Tatsuta. He shuddered at the thought of that purple-haired light cruiser, as there were many dreams and visions of cruelty behind that smile of hers. His musing was interrupted when he heard Ooyodo speak.

"I see how it is now..." She muttered under her breath as her hair overshadowed her eyes while Suppurin's eyes flickered between her and himself. Oh, this could be very bad...especially since his siblings nor his mother or father wouldn't be able to do anything to help him. Inwardly he wondered if he could make it to an empty classroom or broom closet and write his epitaph before either of the females tore him to shreds. However, those thoughts were blown away when Ooyodo brought her face up.

Oddly enough, she had a bright smile and with a brief hiccup, she raised her arms and declared:

"We're in a love triangle!"

Wait, what?! Where the hell did that come from?!

"A love triangle..." Suppurin said softly, a blush forming on her face.

Why was she so happy about this?!

"A l-love t-t-triangle?!" Ron sputtered.

Ginny furrowed her brows for a moment and then looked up to the twins before asking innocently: "What's a love triangle?"

Both of the twins grinned. Those little-

Suddenly his right wrist was grabbed by an excited Ooyodo while Suppurin took his left, though strangely Suppurin was deflecting Ooyodo's attempt to grab her other wrist.

"Behold!" The bespectacled shipgirl said with a small hiccup, "This is the start of our love triangle!"

Percy decided to finally intervene.

"Wait, no, no, no! S-Stop!"

Unfortunately, neither of them listened to him.

"Now sing along with me!" Ooyodo then began singing:

"Love Triangle! Love Triangle!

La-La-La Love Triangle, Love Triangle, Love Triangle!

La-Io! La-Io! La-Io! Love Triangle, Love Triangle, Love Triangle!

La-La-La Love Triangle, Love Triangle, Love Triangle!

Lo-Io, Lo-Io, One, Two-"

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOIING ON?!" Percy screamed to the heavens.
===
Percy awoke with a shout, panting wildly as he looked around only to find himself in the dorms, alone in his bed, the moon shining through the windows.

Finally he sighed to himself in relief.
"Thank goodness, that was such a bloody weird dream."

"Tell us about the weird dream, sweetheart~." His eyes widened, hearing the query from two familiar grinning individuals who were laying with him in bed; Ooyodo and Suppurin.

He screamed.
===

Is it wrong that I enjoyed torturing him in this omake?

 

[darthcourt10]

smthng

Outside, the first hints of dawn had started to turn darkness into a uniform gray, as Tenryuu shuffled through the dark, creaky hallways of the old school building. During her time in the service the light cruiser had had a chance to try out a large number of different kinds of accommodations ranging from 'a rock jutting out of a stormy ocean' to 'luxury penthouse in Hong Kong'. The school, while old and mostly abandoned for well over a decade was dry, reasonably warm, and not very drafty. Thus Tenryuu considered it very much okay to spend a night or two in. For longer visits she started insisting on a bed and a well-stocked kitchen.

Still, the recent run-ins with yokai had convinced Tenryuu that it was much better that her family stayed in the abandoned school than forcing any of the local garrison to relocate there in order to find beds for them. After all, they were going to stay in Shinchi for just one night. And the town had never managed to really rebuild after the earthquake before Abyssals appeared.

And if Tenryuu managed to absorb anything from the various lectures regarding yokai she had heard from Haru-san and the others, it was that the creatures were drawn to misery and destruction. Those were aplenty in the unfortunate Japanese east coast.

Thus, while Tenryuu wasn't worried about possible supernatural encounters, since yokai generally weren't match for the fifty-thousand horsepowers she had in her fingertips, she wasn't stupid either.

Thus Tenryuu had her sword with her as she trudged to the school's dilapidated toilet. She had her sword with her when she squatted down (honestly, just how old was this place?) to do the deed. And she had it with her when she washed her hands. After shaking the worst of the water off, of course she had forgotten to bring her tissue with her because who the fuck still required people to bring their own, she popped her neck and sighed.

It was almost a letdown that no yokai had bothered them through the night. Not that she particularly wished to suddenly discover herself without TP just to get her hands on an Aka Manto, but still. A long-abandoned school in the middle of a zone trying to recover from two huge natural disasters sounded just like a place that would contain at least one ghost.

Unfortunately there hadn't been anything. No animated anatomy dolls stalked the hallways, there was no school pool for mermaids to reside in, there was no statue of Ninomiya Sontoku to turn alive, and no...

Tenryuu's thoughts trailed off as she stared at the closed stall doors in the mirror before her. One, two, three, four, five stalls total. Doors neatly closed in all five.

Suddenly, the light blinked just long enough for the toilet to turn dark for a fraction of a second. Slowly, carefully, Tenryuu turned around. The third stall. It... couldn't be, right? It's not like it was a real yokai story anyway. Just a silly urban legend.

Still...

A few hesitant steps, and Tenryuu found herself in front of the third stall in the room. There was nothing weird about it, really. No sign proclaiming it to be out of order. The color was just as faded as the other four stalls'.

Still...The thing would bug her if she didn't at least try! Quickly, Tenryuu shook her head, and summoned her devil-may-care grin. Then she used her thumb to ready her sword to be drawn from her scabbard, and slowly raised her hand. And knocked three times to the door of the third stall in the girls' lavatory.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And then shrugged, quickly secured her sword back to the scabbard, and turned to leave.

"I... am here," a quiet, hesitant voice whispered, causing the light cruiser to freeze on her tracks and whip her head back to look at the stall door. She hadn't dreamed that, had she?

The light cruiser quickly licked her lips. "You are?" she asked, her voice not trembling one bit. Deep inside herself there totally wasn't a small, insignificant human part where the fear of the supernatural still existed. That totally wasn't the reason why she very carefully used her thumb to re-ready her sword.

"... yes," eventually came the trembling answer.

She most definitely hadn't dreamed that. Slowly, deliberately Tenryuu drew her sword. Then, just as slowly and deliberately, she rested it on her shoulder in a way that was both damn cool and made it easy to make an overhead swing should the situation call for it.

The fact that the pose stole something like eighty percent of the possible power of the move wasn't really an issue since it meant that she only had something like effective ten thousand horsepower in the swing.

For a few moments more Tenryuu just stared at the door, allowing her boilers to gather steam for emergency power. Then, very carefully, she used her scabbard to push open the door.

Inside, there was a small, black-haired girl in a white shirt and red skirt. She was looking at Tenryuu with big, teary eyes, and was trembling like a leaf. And she sure as fuck wasn't a human, even if she looked just like one. Of that Tenryuu was 120 percent sure.

For a few moments the ship girl and the yokai stared at each other. Then Tenryuu made a move to step forward, and the girl quickly threw her hands over her head. "Please don't hurt me!!"

Tenryuu blinked, and her sword slipped a bit. "Huh?"

"I'm not going to hurt anyone!" the girl continued. "The stories about me dragging people to hell are just that, stories! I'm not like Aka Manto, I swear!!"

The sword slipped a bit further. "Buh?"

The trembling girl shied back, still shielding her head with her arms, and Tenryuu's shoulders slumped, and her sword almost slipped from her slack fingers. In the last moment she managed to catch it, causing the girl to let out a high-pitched shriek.

Tenryuu eventually managed to gather her thoughts a bit. "Uhh... I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

The girl peeked at the ship girl from behind her arms. For a few moments more, Tenryuu just stared. Then she looked to the side a bit, and used her sword hand to scratch the side of her face. She then glanced at the sword she was still brandishing. A moment later, she sheathed the weapon, and managed to get her thoughts back in order. The baffled look was replaced with a friendly smile, and Matsuda Ryoko crouched down to the girl's level.

"Sorry about that, you startled me a bit there. I'm Tenryuu, want some hot chocolate?"

"Choco...?" the girl asked in a hesitant voice.

Tenryuu nodded. "Yeah, we have some in the supplies."

Again, there was a pause.

"O... Okay."

* * *

Tatsuta and the four Akatsukis stared at Tenryuu and the girl, who was currently using the light cruiser's mug to drink hot chocolate. The light cruiser turned and grinned at her family.

"Everyone, this here's Hanako. She's a nice yokai, so treat her well, okay?"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Harry and Jane were jogging in the morning light when the two of them stopped as they caught sight of Dewey standing at the water's edge. The shipgirl had a puzzled frown on her face as she held some binoculars up to her eyes and was staring towards the mouth of the harbor. Simply giving each other a shrug, the two slowed down and Jane waved a hand. "Hi, Miss Dewey!"

Jumping a bit, the shipgirl pulled the binoculars from her eyes and blinked as she turned. "Oh, hello there... Um, Jane, right?"

With a sharp nod, Jane grinned. "That's right! And this is Harry, he's my adoptive cousin."

Somewhat confused, the shipgirl reached out and shook both their hands with a somewhat odd smile on her face. "Nice to meet the two of you."

Raising an eyebrow, Jane frowned a bit as she turned towards the ocean in confusion. "What were you looking at, Miss Dewey?"

A small blush on her face, Dewey coughed some. "W-well, I finished my orientation last night and Admiral Richardson gave me the next few days to familierize myself with... everything." She then turned towards the harbour and furrowed her eyebrows. "I decided to go for a walk this morning when I saw some odd boats heading out to the mouth and have been watching them. It looks like they're performing combat exercises but... they're a lot faster then the ones I remember."

Interested, Jane held a hand to her eyes and tried to see. Moments later though, she gave up and shook her head. "I can't see anything."

Chuckles from beside her caused her to turn as Harry pulled out some odd looking binoculars and handed them to her. Seeing her confusion, he grinned. "They're called Omniculars, they're a magical thing I picked up in Diagon."

Eyes wide, Jane grinned. "Neat! How do they work?" After Harry explained, she brought them to her eyes and turned towards the mouth of the harbour. Focusing them, she frowned before nodding. "Oh! Looks like the Riverine boats are performing Anti-PT Imp exercises."

That caused Dewey to turn back to Jane in time to see Harry nodding as he looked through the Omniculars that Jane held up for him. "Anti-PT Imp exercises?"

Jane slowly nodded with a small huff. "Yeah, PT Imps are like super annoying. The Abyssals love having them sneak into harbours to cause trouble."

Beside her, Harry nodded with a shudder as he remembered an incident from years before where he got a close up look at some. Thankfully for the much younger Harry, it was when he discovered that he could use shipgirl equipment right before he blasted them. "That's an understatement."

Only shrugging, Jane blinked as she continued to watch. "I guess. They've sent some into the harbour before." Pulling the Omniculars away, she offered them to Harry who took them. "Anyways, Daddy got a bunch of boats brought in from back in the US to fight them. He told me that they were to defend the harbour."

Looking through the Omniculars, Harry blinked as he spotted several small boats speeding through the waves before they shot at targets with machine guns. "I know that the USN up in Yokosuka got some too. Goto-Oji has been going on about getting some himself to help out with the only 1-Go he has to patrol the harbor."

Eyebrows furrowing, Dewey turned back to the exercise. "So they fight PT-Boats... Um, the Abyssal ones anyways?"

Slowly, Jane nodded as she took the Omniculars from Harry. "Yeah, it frees up the Destroyers to go after the heavier hitters if there are any. They can even hurt a Destroyer in a group."

Just as Dewey was about to ask how, she witnessed a jet of flame from one of the boats fly through the air until it impacted the target. Said target vanished moments later in an explosion, the sound of which they just barely heard. Eyes wide, Dewey stared in the direction of what she saw. "What was that?"

All Jane did though was just shrug as she watched the boats switch to a different target. "Looks like they used a Hellfire."

Turning, Dewey blinked and stared at her. "Hellfire? And what is a Hellfire?"

With a frown, Jane handed Harry the Omniculars. "A missile." Seeing the expression on Dewey's face, the twelve year old girl scratched her head. "Um, it's a guided rocket I guess?"

Dewey suddenly nodded with a smile. "Ah, I see now." She then turned back to the exercise going on. "Should they be doing such things in the harbour though?"

For several seconds, Jane thought it over before she shook her head. "Not really, but it's not like we can just do it out at sea anymore. No one wants to get caught by the Abyssals training. It might be a bit early though to be using missiles, but they're far enough out is shouldn't disturb anyone."

Considering that, Dewey only nodded. "I suppose not. And it seems that there's no other ships in the harbour at the moment, which makes sense..." Another target vanished from the water and she shook her head. 'The future is so very strange. Guided rockets on PT Boats... who would have thought it...'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Frowning, Harry looked over Jane's shoulder as she worked on a turret for her Mutsu model. "Is this normal?"

Slowly, Jane nodded as she soldered another bit. "Yeah, I don't know why but for some reason it's always the same turret that gets knocked out. It's always giving me problems."

Thoughtful, Harry opened his mouth. "Wait, the same one? And isn't that the turret that-"

All of a sudden, the eleven year old froze and his eyes began to search as Jane turned to him. "Cuz? Something the matter?" When Harry made a motion with his hands, it took Jane a moment to recognize that he was using the hand signals that a diver made and she stiffened a bit as she translated. 'We're not alone? Something is here with us?'

Gently placing the soldering iron down in it's proper place, Jane glanced around until she spotted a shadow that did not belong in her room. With a glance at Harry, who caught sight of the shadow as well, Jane took a deep breath. Almost as one, the two whipped around and blinked at the sight which met them. There, close to the bedroom door stood an odd creature. It wasn't very tall, even when Harry had come to Yokosuka the first time he was taller. But it had a big nose, two large eyes, and bat-like ears coming from the side of its head.

What confused Jane though was that it was wearing a dirty tea cozy for clothing. Her attention was grabbed though by Harry. "A house elf? Here?"

Blinking, Jane turned towards Harry with a confused expression on her face. "You know what this is?"

Even as he nodded, Harry's frown deepened. "Yeah, it's a house elf. You know, like the ones at Hogwarts that I told you about?" As Jane's eyes widened, Harry crouched down some. "Er, hello there."

A high pitched squeal escaped from the house elf as he bounced in place. "Oh! Harry Potter! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, Sir. Such an honor!"

Leaning forward, Jane frowned some. "I'm assuming that you're name is Dobby then?" Seeing the small creature nod, Jane furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Dobby. I'm Harry's adoptive cousin, Jane Richardson."
Dobby gasped some and backed up. "Harry Potter's Cousin Miss Jane Richardson said that it's nice to meet Dobby! Dobby is so happy that Miss Jane Richardson is a great muggle!"

Even as Jane tilted her head trying to figure out if she should be insulted or not, Harry cleared his throat. "How about you have a seat in that chair and we can talk, okay?" Suddenly, the small being burst into tears. "Um..."

Rapidly wiping his eyes, the small being sniffled. "Oh! Oh! Dobby had been hearing how great Harry Potter was, but Dobby not knowing how great he be! Harry Potter is treating Dobby like he's an equal!"

Now really concerned, Harry shared a look with Jane even as Dobby wrung his hands. Wincing a bit, Jane took a deep breath. "I guess that you must not have met many decent wizards then."

His eyes widening, Dobby's breath stopped and for a moment the two thought he had died. Then he leapt to the wall and began to bang his head on the wall. "Bad Dobby! Bad! Dobby must not make his family look bad!"

Running over, Harry stopped Dobby and pulled him away from the wall. "Whoa now! No need for that!"

Jane for her part got off her chair and nodded. "What Cuz said, you don't need to, um, beat yourself up."

With a sniffle, Dobby shook his head. "Oh, Dobby is so happy to meet such great people as Harry Potter and Miss Jane Richardson. But Dobby must punish himself if he does something wrong. Dobby will also need to punish himself when he gets home as his family would not be happy with Dobby coming here."

Glancing at Jane, Harry cleared his throat. "Well, I don't think that you should. But... then why did you come here?"

For a moment, Dobby wrung his tea cozy. Eventually, the two humans managed to slowly get the story out of the house elf, though partway through Jane noticed a shadow just outside her door. Granted, they had to stop him from hurting himself several times. Then one of his comments about how Harry's friends wouldn't write him and Jane's eyes widened as she remembered a conversation several days back. "Wait, how would you know unless..."

The small creature winced. "Dobby... is sorry, but Dobby has been keeping mail from Harry Potter! It is most important that Harry Potter not go back to Hogwarts where he would be in danger!"

Narrowing his eyes, Harry let out a hiss as he tried to contain his anger. "Danger from what, though, Dobby? Unless you tell me what this danger is, I'm going back if only to protect my friends."

A few seconds passed as Dobby stared at him. "Dobby is very sorry then. But Dobby must stop Harry Potter from going to Hogwarts to protect him."

He raised one of his hands and Harry's eyes widened. "Stop! You can't use magic here or else I'll get expelled!"

Before anything else could happen, a flash of white hit Dobby and there was the sound of flesh meeting flesh before the house elf screamed in pain. Mainly due to how Hedwig, who had been watching, had reacted and was now digging her talons into Dobby and lifting him off the ground. Harry and Jane were frozen as they watched the two struggle until Hedwig finally dropped him close to the door. Dobby had just stood back up when a scarred hand grabbed him around the neck and he found himself staring into Arizona's enraged face. "You dare threaten Harry and Jane!"

Once more, Dobby screamed though this time it was more from fear then pain. Both Harry and Jane had their eyes widen. "Ari-Mama/Aunt Arizona!"

Suddenly, there was a pop and Dobby disappeared. For a split second, Arizona stared at her empty hand before she whipped around even as her radioman contacted the other shipgirls. "Where did that... Where did he go?"

Looking around, Harry frowned some. "I... guess he must have disappeared." Then he turned and frowned at Jane who was looking at Arizona's hand with narrowed eyes. "Um, that explains what's been going on with my mail...'

With a scoff, Jane furrowed her eyebrows. "But what's this danger he was going on about?"

There was no answer coming forth from either Arizona or Harry to that question. Of course, Arizona did not leave the room. Several minutes later, the front door to the house was practically knocked from it's hinges as Mutsu burst through followed by her sister, Jintsuu, and several other shipgirls. Richardson took up the rear as he rushed in as well, somewhat out of breath. "ARIZONA! JANE! HARRY!"

A small frown on her face as she kept scanning the room, Arizona leaned out the door to Jane's room. "We're all up here." With a glance at Hedwig who seemed to be scanning the room, as well as Smolzona and Minimu who were doing the same, the Battleship sighed. "And we're all okay for the moment..."

 

[darthcourt10]

smthng

Harry Leferts said:
I really, really like this. And this is also how Tenryuu managed to get a fifth daughter.​

Well, that's not quite what I personally had in mind. I mean, Hanako is a yokai, not a human (or a ship girl). She can't just go and live like a human. She needs her girl's toilet and her third stall.

* * *

Tenryuu put down the steaming mug of hot chocolate on the table, and leaned back to give her guest some room. For a few moments the yokai eyed the mug suspiciously, before hesitantly reaching for it. All the time she watched for any reaction from Tenryuu. When her small fingers had curled around the handle, the girl quickly brought the cup to herself.

Then she gingerly blew on the hot liquid before taking a tentative sip. The uncertain look on her face quickly melted into a small smile.

"Thank you," the young-looking yokai mumbled, causing Tenryuu's smile to widen a bit.

"You're welcome, Toire no Hanako-san."

The name caused the girl to startle and whip her eyes up to look at Tenryuu.

"That's who, or what, you are, right?" the cruiser asked in a non-threatening tone. The girl nodded. "Thought so."

The pair lapsed into silence, and for a few minutes the only sound in the room was the creaking of the old building, and the small sounds Hanako made as she sipped her chocolate. Eventually Tenryuu leaned forward a bit, causing the yokai to shy back. "You're afraid of me, aren'tcha?" the cruiser asked.

Hanako nodded, and Tenryuu quickly leaned back and crossed her arms. "Thought so. So why did you answer when I knocked? I mean, if you'd kept quiet, we'd never seen you."

Hanako blinked, and for a few moments stared at the ship girl. Then she put down her chocolate, and looked down to straighten her skirt. "I could not to," she eventually mumbled.

"Huh?"

The yokai fidgeted a few moments, before continuing. "I mean, it's sort of like if you're being tickled. You can't help but laugh, right? When somebody knocks at my stall's door, it's the same. I can't help but answer. Or, um, maybe it's more like when your home's really messy you can't help but clean it? At least if you're not a very messy person. I, um, couldn't help but answer."

There was a short silence, before Tenryuu replied. "So, your stall, huh?"

Hanako nodded.

"Is that your home?"

"Ah, not really. Not just the stall, I mean. The school's my home." Again, a small smile flashed on the yokai's face. "After all, I'm a school yokai."

Slowly, Tenryuu nodded, and looked around. "I guess the decor suits your kind here," she commented.

Hanako frowned. "I actually don't like it. It's really run-down, and there are no books, and all the time I worry when they're going to tear down this place. It's not nice when you don't know how long you can still live in your home."

"Books?"

Again, Hanako fidgeted a bit. "I like to read. Sometimes I sneak to the new library."

Tenryuu raised an eyebrow. "The new library?"

Hanako nodded. "The one they built after the tsunami. It's not very far, and there aren't any yokai living there so it's safe."

"Okay," Tenryuu replied. "Do other yokai give you trouble?"

Again, the young-looking yokai fidgeted a bit. "I'm small, and not very fast, and not very strong. This is my place, so nobody bothers me here, but when I go out... There are jikininki, and nyobo, and yurei, and onryo, and even funayurei around. I have to be careful."

"Sounds dangerous," Tenryuu commented. Hanako nodded.

"You've been living here for long?"

Hanako shook her head. "They tore down my old home after the tsunami. I was lucky to find this place."

"Wouldn't there be new schools around by now?"

"I think there are. But I don't know where. None are as close as the library, anyway, and I don't dare to go much further. It's scary being a small yokai out there, when you have no place to hide."

Again, there was silence. Then Hanako threw back the mug, before gingerly placing it on the table. After a few seconds, the daintily licked her upper lips free of cocoa. "Thank you for the hot chocolate, ma'am."

"We have more if you want," Tenryuu replied, nodding her head towards the supplies from where she had dug out the first batch.

Again, Hanako fidgeted for a few moments.

"Please."

Quietly, Tenryuu sat up to go and rummage for a new bag of instant cocoa. "So tell me, is there a Hanako in every school? Or are you the only one?"

The yokai quickly shook her head. "There aren't that many of us. Maybe a few thousand? It'd ruin the story if everyone could find a Hanako. And that'd be bad."

Tenryuu nodded. "And are all Hanakos as nice as you are?"

The girl took a few moments to consider her answer. "Um, are all humans nice?"

Tenryuu raised an eyebrow. "No, no they aren't. So some Hanakos really drag kids to hell?"

Again, the young yokai fidgeted. "I... guess some might try...?"

"Huh."

Upon seeing the look on the ship girl's face, Hanako's eyes grew big and she quickly started shaking her head and waving her arms. "But I would never do something like that, honest! I mean, a Hanako is basically a test of courage, so there's no need to do anything bad to those who try to find us! But that doesn't mean that some Hanakos might be meanies, just like some people are meanies! But I'm not!"

Tenryuu nodded, and poured the cacao powder to the mug, before adding hot water. "Okay. I believe you."

The girl let out a sigh, and gave the cruiser a small smile. "Thank you, Tenryuu-san."

The ship girl nodded, and handed the hot chocolate to the yokai. "Here."

"Thank you."

Tenryuu then sat down. "So, chances are there aren't any Hanakos in any given school?"

Hanako gave a hesitant nod. "I guess so?"

"But any school could have a Hanako?"

Again, the yokai nodded.

"And even if a school doesn't have, one could appear there one day?"

Another hesitant nod. "Yes."

"And if a school has a Hanako, you can find her by knocking on the third stall in the girls' bathroom?"

Again Hanako nodded. "Well yes, but it sort of depends. It's best if you're alone, and the school's not in session, and if you knock thrice. And call out my name. Some Hanakos might not bother to always answer, if you do things half-way."

Tenryuu nodded her head a few times. "And can a school have several Hanakos?"

"Only if it has several buildings," the girl replied. "One Hanako per school building. And the building needs a girls' toilet. One that has at least three stalls."

"And you didn't like living here, right?"

Hanako gave another hesitant nod. Then she scrunched up her face a bit. "Is there some point to these questions, Tenryuu-san? No, I don't like living here, but it's the only home I have."

"What about if I find you a new home?"

Hanako blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"See I'm from Yokosuka. Right next to the naval base there, we have a school that basically has all the soldiers' kids. Now that yokai have started popping up, I'm kinda concerned if some idiot yokai decided to move there and start harassing my friends' and collagues' children. And while the school's protected, we have ship girls, and there's a miko at the local shrine, I wouldn't mind stacking the deck further. Andyou seem like a friendly yokai, one who wouldn't hurt anyone."

For a few moments the two girls stared at each other.

"So...?" Hanako eventually asked.

"So, if there's no Hanako in the school yet, how about we have you move in? That way we can be sure no nastier Hanako tries to take residence later on. In exchange, you'd get to move into a well-maintained school that has a library and internet access. And have the protection of ship girls and miko from nastier yokai. How's that sound?"

There was a minute of stunned silence. "And that's all?"

Tenryu shrugged. "Well, I would be really grateful if you'd tell us if some nasty yokai tried to do anything at the school..."

Hanako nodded. "Okay, that... sounds good. But... umm..."

"Go on," Tenryuu prompted.

"What's internet?"

 

[darthcourt10]

Omake "Not what one expected"

Going to work, but have a quick omake inspired from something on SV...
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Staring at the somewhat static looking screen, the young man groaned. Being known as a nerd, a geek, meant that he was never really all that popular. He was bullied at times by other children of US military members, with the fact that he was an American in Yokosuka meaning that he couldn't really get along with the local kids who were not sure how to react to him. Needless to say, he lived a very lonely life.

One that usually ended up with him playing games on his computer or watching movies and anime.

And now...

He glanced back at the screen to see what looked like a girl crawl out of a hole. She wore a long, white dress that was plastered to her body in a way that made him blush despite the situation. After all, he was going to die here. Part of him wondered what her face looked like though.

Watching as she began to crawl towards him, he sighed a bit. Let it not be said that he wouldn't face his death without running, not that he expected it would help. He had heard the stories as well. Dammit, he never even got his first kiss!

It was then that an idea hit him as the girl on the screen nearly reached the other side. If nothing worse, it would give him a reason to laugh on the other side. And, hell, what did he have to lose at this point? You literally only live once after all!
______________________________________________________________

The screen bulged outwards as the ghost girl focused on her prey. It was a teenaged boy who seemed distracted by something else, but that wouldn't save him. At least it seemed that this one wasn't going to run. Nor was he backing away and trying to beg.

And for a teenaged Onryo such as herself, that was enough to get her respect. Not that it was going to save him after all, but she would at least make it quick.

Slowly, her face escaped from the screen and then her shoulders as she fixed him in place with her eyes as her long, black hair moved away from her face. She was about to let out a scream when something happened that she had not expected.
Spoiler: Definitely not what she expected to happen

Eyes wide and her face feeling hot for the first time in years, or maybe decades, the ghost girl just froze in place. Then the boy pulled away and blinked at her wide eyed, stunned look. She was just shaking off her shock at what he had just done when he chuckled a bit. "Huh, you're actually pretty cute."

That, if anything, caused her face to feel even hotter.
______________________________________________________________________

Harry stared at the computer repair man in front of him and then blinked. "Wait, did that actually work?"

Raising an eyebrow, the young man chuckled as he continued to work on the computer in front of him. Being a on-base repair man meant that he often had to repair computers due to shipgirls not being the best at taking care of them. "Well... I'm here aren't I?"

Blinking, Harry was about to say something when a screen behind the guy turned on to a bunch of static. The repair man didn't react even as several times the static cleared to show a young woman in a white dress that clung to her and long, black hair that covered her face. More then slightly freaked, Harry watched as she crawled out from the screen and then tapped the young man on the shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, the man chuckled. "I'll be home in time for dinner, Sado. This is my last stop of the day."

The ghost teen nodded a bit and smiled. "Good, I've made your favorite."

Eyebrows raising, Harry watched as the two shared a kiss before the ghost retreated back into the screen, which with a final burst of static turned off. Then the young man just began to whistle even as Harry shrugged. 'Huh, guess that they had more then... a ghost of a chance of making it work.'

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Only a few days away from Japan, Wanko frowned as she continued to make her way through the waves of the North Pacific. Beside her, Supply Depot Princess muttered to herself as she worked on a tablet. Every once in a while though, the other Princess had to shove away a curious Abyssal Destroyer. Off to the side, Revina was whispering something to Regina. For a moment, Wanko considered what they may be talking about.

Then she noticed how there was steam coming from Regina's ears and the grin on Revina and shook her head. Long ago, she learned that there was some things that she was better off not knowing. For her sanity, at least if nothing else.

Needing something to distract her, she turned to the rest of their "Escort" and frowned. Even though each time they had come to Japan, they had a number of shipgirls alongside them, this time there was a number more. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned towards Fubuki was was grumbling about little sisters for some reason. "May I... ask why... there are so... many shipgirls?"

Confused, Fubuki frowned a bit and bounced the question around in her head. "You're wondering why so many of us are here escorting you?"

Just as Wanko nodded, Revina popped out of nowhere and threw an arm over Fubuki's shoulders, not seeing Kana twitch at the action and glare at her. "Yeah, what Boss Lady said! After all, we're all Okay-doki with each other now, so there's no need for all this to protect people from us!"

Biting her lip, and ignoring how Revina dodged a chop to the head from Wanko, Fubuki sighed. Her next words though caused all the Abyssals to turn to her. "We're not here to protect others from you... we're here to protect you."

Slowly, Wanko blinked. Before she could ask though, Supply Depot Princess spoke up. "Protect us? From what though? While I can understand that some humans may not be happy with the treaty, I doubt very much that they would attack us."

Yuudachi came up and placed one hand on Fubuki's shoulder. "It's not humans that you're in danger from, though." Frowning, she tilted her head back, Yuudachi blinked. "Um, a lot of Abyssals have been found dead in the area, Poi! And we don't want to take any chances."

Eyebrows furrowing, Wanko turned to her fully. "Abyssals... have been found... dead... here?"

Glancing at each other, Fubuki finally nodded. "Hai. At first we thought that it might have been some of your forces, but..."

Simply shaking her head, Supply Depot Princess turned to Wanko who looked back. "Not us, we have not sent anyone through here as per the agreement. How many...?"

Now unsure, the Destroyer shook her head. "A lot, not a patrol has gone through here without finding dead Abysssals. Um, a few days ago though, we came across a small atoll and, um..." Seeing the looks, she took a deep breath. "There were Wo class, dead. Their bodies had been blown apart and it looked like someone, uh, impaled them on wooden stakes as a warning, we think. There was also a number of Abyssal fighters hanging from them as well..."

Expression now turning thoughtful, Wanko blinked and looked out across the slowly darkening ocean. "I see... that is... very interesting... Miss Fubuki. And... you are here... to protect us... in case it... tries to attack...?"

Beside Fubuki, Yuudachi nodded. "That's right, Poi! And if it does then it can join us for a nightmare party, poi!"

Grinning, Revina jerked her thumb at Yuudachi. "I like this one, can we keep her Boss? I mean, she knows just the sort of parties that I like!"

With a sigh, Wanko lashed out and chopped Revina on the head. "No." Then she turned to the bemused Fubuki and slowly tilted her head some. "But in... that case... I must... thank you for... coming to... protect us. It shows... how serious... you are taking... this."

Hands waving in front of her face, Fubuki gave a sheepish chuckle. "Heh, that's okay. After all, we don't mind at all." Suddenly, she noticed that Wanko's head snapped to look off into the distance. A glance showed her that the other Abyssals were also staring in the same direction. Bringing up her turret, Fubuki noted with pride that Yuudachi, Mutsuki, and Kana smoothly followed her lead and did the same. "Is something wrong?"

Several tense seconds passed before Wanko slowly relaxed. "No, it's... okay. Just thought... I felt... something. But perhaps... we should keep... a closer eye... on things... here."

Relaxing some herself, Fubuki nodded though she noted that she was going to keep a much closer eye out. Unknown to her, twenty miles away there was a rock jutting out of the sea. Beside it, two red eyes were staring in their direction before a black, clawed hand came up for the head they were in to rest against. The other clawed hand tapped it's fingers on one of the "Heads" that were attached to the throne-like rigging. "Little Lady's sister? And with shipgirls? Fufufufufu. How... Interesting. I wonder why?"

Tilting her head back, the Abyssal closed her eyes as she allowed herself a moment to relax, white hair moving in the night wind. Opening them, she ignored the sounds of the Abyssal Destroyers behind her tearing apart what remained of a Wo-Class. "Hmm... perhaps she is helping them kill the Usupers and Betrayers? No matter." A wave of her hand caused the Destroyers to still and turn to her as she shifted her throne around to look in the direction that one of her scouts had noticed an Abyssal convoy moving in. One that was going to pass her in a few hours while the shipgirls and Wanko's group were far off. "Fufufufu, soon you'll have arrived. Soon you'll have arrived..."

Unknown to her, of course, Wanko continued to look back with a small frown on her face.
___________________________________________________________________________
Having returned to Yokosuka after the incident with Dobby, but with Jane and Arizona in tow, Harry had been exhausted. Not exhausted enough though to not enjoy the party that sprung up to welcome him back from a "Successful Mission". Nagato had gone back to their quarters with the sleepy Hoppou and left him in the care of the others and Arizona.

Needless to say, Nagato had not realized that someone had spiked the American Battleship's drinks and that Arizona was now utterly drunk. Something that Harry found somewhat hilarious as he leaned towards Jane as Arizona was shouting something about overprotective sisters. "Wow, so much for adult supervision."

Jane glanced at him and then jabbed him in the side. "Shush! No bully Ari-Mama."

Suddenly, Arizona was right there in front of them with her face red from the alcohol as she wagged a finger. "Be quiet! I am an adult already!"

Twitching a bit, Jane blinked. "Um, Ari-Mama? Maybe you should go and lay down."

Confused, Arizona stared at her for a few moments. Before she could say anything though, Iku spoke up. "Arizona-San! Speaking of adults, I have a question!"

With a blink, Arizona poined at her. "Sure! Go ahead!"

Nodding, Iku raised her hand. "Is it true that when it comes to adult relationships and everything... That they're really pervy and stuff?" At the disbelieving stares, Iku shrugged a bit. "What? I've heard stuff and I want to know."

Only leaning back, Arizona nodded. "Oh! Yeah, it's pretty pervy and stuff."

Eyes wide, Hachi adjusted her glasses and leaned in. "A-ah, really? How so?"

Raising up a finger, Arizona hummed. "Well, like..."

Arizona made hand gestures as she spoke while the various shipgirls listened in, with the Submarines at the forefront. Slowly, as the minutes went on, blushes sprung up on their faces as Arizona contnued her explanation. Meanwhile, Harry just sat where he was completely and utterly confused. Tilting his head, he turned to the side to find Taigei with a bright blush on her face looking away. However, Shimakaze, also with a blush, was beside him. "Um, what does that mean?"

The Destroyer just brought a finger to her lips. "Shh, you'll learn when you're older." With a blink, she turned back and flushed even more. '... Wow...'

Utterly lost, Harry just tilted his head to the side. "Poi?" Next morning though, after he had brushed his teeth, Harry frowned as he noticed Arizona muttering and holding her head. Not even the small swears that she was going to kill someone got much more then a blink out of him. Both him and Arizona though blinked as Taigei caught sight of her, turned red, and ran off. Shrugging it off, Harry turned towards Arizona. "Good morning, Aunt Arizona. Are you okay after last night?"

Blearily blinking at him, Arizona frowned. "Am I okay...? Did something happen?"

Suddenly, Harry brightened a bit. "Oh, I've been wondering if you could answer a question for me, Aunt Arizona?" At her nod, he frowned. "Well..."

Watching as Harry spoke and made various gestures, including hugging himself, Arizona's face became redder and redder. Meanwhile, her pupils shrank to pin-pricks as she continued to listen. "Urk..."

Finally, Harry finished. "So I was wondering what that meant?"

Moments later, Arizona loomed over him looking as if she wanted to strangle someone. "Harry... where did you learn that!?"

A snort caused her to turn to see an amused Jintsuu at the door sipping a coffee. "You. He learned it from you."

Even as she twitched, Arizona was about to ask what she meant when the Submarines walked by and stopped. All of a sudden they all bowed and spoke as one. "Ah! Arizona-Sensei! Good morning!"

Blinking, Arizona's mouth worked silently as each of the Submarines thanked her for the night before and that they fully respect her now for her knowledge. Twitching, Arizona turned from them to Jintsuu who wouldn't look at her. "I... you... what did I do last night!?"

No one would give her answers though.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

As their Zodiac pulled away from the small boat as it entered the caldera, Harry turned to Jane who was just staring at the area around them. "Impressed?"

Slowly, Jane nodded. "Yeah... it's like..." For a moment, she furrowed her eyebrows and then shrugged. "It's like something you would read from a spy book."

There was a small smile on Arizona's face as she slowly nodded. "I suppose that it is, Jane. Just remember, stay close to me or Harry while you're here. That way, you'll be safe."

Grumbling a bit, Jane crossed her arms. "I've seen enough horror movies, Ari-Mama. I'm not about to act like a character in one of them." Once more looking around, she blinked a bit. "Still... this is the first time that I've ever met a ghost, let alone two, before!"

Harry just chuckled a bit and shook his head. "I guess that's true. But then, I've met a lot of ghosts in the past year, so..."

With a snort, Jane grinned at him. "That's because you go to magic school. I wish that I could go..." Just as Harry was about to comment, she continued. "But hey, at least I got you to show me all the cool stuff about magic."

That caused Harry to blink before he smiled. Part of him was reminded of when he asked Rose if she knew why Petunia seemed to hate him and his mother. The tsukumogami had gone quiet for a minute before she slowly whispered that it was mostly due to Petunia being jealous of Lily. It had shocked Harry to learn that Petunia had sent a letter to Hogwarts asking why she was not invited to the school, only to throw a fit when she was told that she had no magic. In the present though, the nearly twelve year old was just happy that he didn't have to worry about that with Jane.

Said girl was more excited for what Harry could do and show her then being pissed that she couldn't do it herself.

A cough though caused him to blink and look at Jane who poked him in the side. "So, you excited Cuz? Your birthday is in two days, time for the Big One-Two after all."

Placing his hands behind his head, Harry only nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait actually.It's going to be an awesome party from what I've heard. Heck, Ron might be there too! And Warspite mentioned that Hermione might be able to visit as well."

Lips twitching, Jane ruffled his hair. "Awesome! After those stories from you I want to meet them both. By the way, hope that you are looking forward to the cake, I'm making it myself!"

Eyes widening a bit, Harry stared at her. "Really? You're making it, Jane?" When she nodded, he hugged her. "Cool! Now I know that it's going to be great!"

Chuckles beside them caused them to both turn to where Arizona was smiling at them. "Jane is not the only one to be cooking. Like with her birthdays, I'll make a pot of my Chili con carne." Both Harry and Jane licked their lips at that which caused Arizona nearly laugh. "And I have heard that Louisiana will also be cooking."

Tilting her head though, Jane frowned a bit. "Um... isn't that going to be a lot of food?"

Arizona gave her a small nod at that. "It will be. However, most of the guests are shipgirls and John has stated that those of us shipgirls able to cook might be asked to cook some for the dinner after the signing of the treaty."

While the two continued to talk, Harry turned to the shore and smiled as he noticed what was there. Once they were close enough, he began to wave. "HEY! UME-SAN! SAKURA-SAN! HELLO!"

Both spirits waved back at him with smiles on their faces as Jane blinked with wide eyes. "Wow..."

Once the Zodiac reached shore, and both Jane and Harry hopped off with some help from Arizona, Ume and Sakura stepped forward and bowed. "Welcome back to our island, Arizona-Sama, Harry-San. It's great to have you here once more."

Then they turned to Jane and frowned a little bit in confusion. Much to their surprise though, the young American bowed to them. "I'm Richardson Jane, daughter of Admiral Richardson of the American Shipgirl Program. It's an honor to step upon your island."

Eyes wide for a moment, the two spirits then smiled and returned the bow. "And thank you, Jane-San. It is our honor to have you here." Sakura and Ume then turned to the small boat that the Zodiac had come from, and which was now loading something on the Zodiac. "May we ask what they are doing?"

Glancing over, Harry blinked for a moment and then chuckled. "Oh, they're just getting ready with the side scan sonar. It'll take them most of the day."

Confused, the two spirits looked between Harry and the boats. "Side scan sonar? But there is no Submarines in the Caldera waiting... So why would they need to use sonar?"

It took a moment, but Jane realized what they meant and chuckled a bit. "They're not looking for Submarines. What they're doing is mapping the bottom using sonar. That way they got a good idea of what it looks like if they ever need it."

That, if anything, made the eyes of the two spirits widen even more. "Such things can be done? And without needing the old rope and weight method?" At the nods, they slowly shook their heads. "Truly, things have changed since we were alive."

Leaning forward, Jane frowned as she examined them a bit. "Huh. You know, you two remind me sort of the Shobijin. What with being two supernatural twins and being the spokespeople of a powerful being."

Sakura blinked and then tilted her head a bit. "Sho... Bijin? I'm sorry, but I am unfamiliar with such things as is my twin." She then turned towards Harry who looked rather amused. "Is this something else from the future that we don't know about?"

With a light laugh, Harry shook his head. "They're characters from a bunch of famous Japanese monster movies from after the war. Um, they're these really small twin sisters who are priestesses of the giant monster, Mothra. Said monster is a guardian of the entire planet and all of humanity."

However, that seemed to confuse the Twins even more as they glanced at each other. But before Harry could explain more, they just nodded their heads slightly. "We defer to what you said, Harry-San." To Harry's confusion though, they blushed some and walked up to him. "Perhaps... sometime in the future you could share these movies with us? We do enjoy watching such things with you after all."

All Harry did was nod with a small grin on his face. "Sure! I don't mind." Hearing a snicker, he turned to see Jane who looked away with a massive grin on her face. Then he turned back to the Twins who were blushing even more. "I'll bring those movies the next time I come, okay?"

On their faces, there was a small smile on their faces. "We thank you."

The two spirits then turned to the boats and watched as the Zodiac placed something in the water and the larger boat began to slowly move, obviously towing the object behind. A few seconds later, Jane spoke up and caught their attention. "Um, Sakura-San? Ume-San? May I ask you something?" Once they nodded, she continued. "I was wondering if I could see the wrecked ships and take some pictures of them? If it's not much of a problem that is."

Sharing a look with her sister, Ume gave a small smile. "Of course, we don't mind."

Beside her, Sakura nodded. "Please, follow us. The island is perfectly safe."

It was several minutes later that they came around the wrecked side of a building to where the dry docks were located. There, sitting where they had been the last time that Harry was there, was the obvious forms of the B-65s and Super Taiho class. If he looked carefully, he could just see the tip of Akashi's sister ship causing small wavelets from where it was just below the surface. Walking up, Jane took a deep breath before giving a small bow. "I'm just going to take some pictures of you, I hope that you don't mind."

For a few seconds there was nothing, but then Ume nodded. "They do not mind you taking pictures, Jane-San. Not in the least." Seeing the wide eyes looking at her, she tilted her head some. "Is there something wrong?"

Quickly, Arizona shook her head. "No, nothing wrong. But... you're able to speak with them?"

Unsure of what the issue might be, the Twins nodded and spoke as one. "We can. All spirits on this island we can communicate with and be a voice for." They then looked at Harry and gave him a small smile. "Speaking of, they would like for us to thank you, Harry-San, for working to purify their hulls. They appreciate it greatly."

Slowly, Harry nodded and then turned to the ships. "It wasn't a big deal, but your welcome! Just please come back when you're able."

With a small chuckle, Ume and Sakura nodded. "They say... it would be their honor once they are cleansed to come back and to fight for Japan and the rest of humanity. And that they look forward to seeing you directly when the time comes."

All Harry did was nod at that as he turned back to the ships and where Jane was taking pictures of them. "Um, they're welcome, I guess." Several minutes passed as he continued to stare at the ships, though once or twice he swore he caught movement out of the corner of his eye on them. Only shaking that off, he turned towards Ume who was happily eating a cupcake that Arizona had given her, an identicle one in Sakura's hand. "You know, it's hard to believe that this whole place was built to build them." Harry blinked though as Ume and Sakura giggled some. "Did... I say something wrong?"

There was a small smile on Sakura's face. "You said nothing wrong, Harry-San. But did you think that this place was built just to build the ships in front of you?" At his confused nod, she shook her head. "No, the shipyard here was built to build ships in secret in order to get around the treaties at the time."

Ume then took over and pointed out onto the water. "Once the ships were done, they would be taken out and anchored in the Caldera. If war occurred, then they could be quickly crewed to the surprise of Japan's foes. However, the facilities were not complete until... 1939, I believe. It took them so long due to the secrecy needed from both magicals and non-magicals to prevent them from finding out. And these were not the first ships to have their construction attempted here."

More then a little surprised, Arizona looked over at her. "They weren't the first ships constructed here?" At their head shakes, she frowned. "What other ships had been built here?"

Frowning, the Twins considered the question, though they did shoot a glare off to the side for a few seconds. Then, slowly, Sakura answered. "When the slipways opened, they began to build ships, though it went slowly. One was to be a food ship they called Kasumi. Another was to support the Carriers called Tsurugizaki. There were also two Light Cruisers..."

Several seconds passed, and then Ume nodded. "They also began to build a Submarine called I-354. But due to shortages and need for secrecy, construction went slowly. A year later, they decided to build the ships in front of you instead and scrapped the others, using material that was salvaged to build them and speed up construction. It was also when they brought... the other workers."

At the wince from the two, Harry patted them on the shoulders with them giving him a thankful nod. Then Sakura frowned some and looked out on the water. "However... there were other ships here. Starting a month before the attack on this place, they brought these very small Submarines and Boats. We never knew what they were for as we were blocked from the places that they were holding discussions, though we do know that they were to be used to stop the Americans from invading somehow."

It took a few moments, but Harry grimaced. "Um, Sakura-San...? Ume-San? I think those were human torpedoes and suicide boats..."

Confused, the two stared at him. "Human torpedoes and..." It clicked then and their eyes widened as their faces paled. "O-oh... we see now. Then, it is for the best that they all sank in the attack rather then be used for such a thing."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Harry clapped his hands. "Right, um, let's forget about that for now. I brought some more movies for us to watch if you want?"

Seconds passed and then the two spirits gave him a grateful nod. "Yes, we would very much like to watch some movies with you, Harry-San as well as with Arizona-Sama and Jane-San."

With a small smile, Harry began walking with them as Jane and Arizona followed, though the Battleship did take note of what was said.

 

[darthcourt10]

sasahara17

Here's another snip from me… and I have to say that this one was probably a long time coming. Enjoy.

-=-

In a darkened corner of the warehouse district of the Naval Base, nefarious things were afoot.

It had taken months of planning and preparation for everything to fall into place. Months to convince a wizard to go along with her scheme. Months to secretly gather the ingredients and components necessary without the Admiral or her sisters noticing. Months needed to make her dream possible.

But now, after nine months of waiting and plotting, the time was upon her.

It was time for Kiyoshimo to become a Battleship.

"Finally, finally, I will become a Battleship!" Kiyoshimo grinned excitedly as she lifted the small bottle of polyjuice potion containing the key to her one way trip to Battleship-dom.

Kiyoshimo had heard of Harry-chan's prank on an unsuspecting HMS Hermione, where her friend had successfully used it to turn the anti-aircraft cruiser into a blimp. Upon hearing the story, Kiyoshimo knew without a doubt that this wondrous piece of magic was the miracle she was looking for. If someone could turn a cruiser into an airship, then turning a destroyer into a battleship would be child's play!

Although Kioyoshimo was fully aware that the effects of the potion were only temporary, she nevertheless knew in her heart that using it would be worth it. Even if it was only a short taste of what it would be like being a Battleship instead of a destroyer, Kiyoshimo knew the experience would be worth far more than any amount of money or gold.

And so, she had launched her plot.

The potion she now held in her hands had been discretely brewed by the Weasley twins using leftover prank ingredients and a strand of Musashi's hair, had been mailed directly to her via owl-post as part of her agreement with them. This polyjuice potion had cost her a pretty penny, but if it worked then it would be well worth the cost. She would become a Battleship!

"Bottom's up!" Kiyoshimo put the bottle to her lips and downed the contents with one enormous gulp!

Then, seconds after consuming the potion, Kiyoshimo felt her body changing.

"It's working! It's working! It's actually working!" Kiyoshimo said excitedly even through the intense sensations that wracked both her mind and body.

The distinct feeling of her body being stretched in all directions was also mirrored by the 'uncomfortable' sensations that came from within. She could feel her insides shifting, changing within her hull, as her internal layout shifted to an entirely new, and entirely different internal layout. She could practically her fairy chief engineer screaming in righteous anger as everything he knew about his ship was made unrecognisable by the potion's effects, sending all her other fairies running in terror…

Oh, er… she'd probably have to apologies to him later. It was all for a good cause anyhow, and some sacrifices had to be made for the greater good!

But the fact of the matter was that Kiyoshimo was changing, and she knew it… and the young destroyer couldn't be more excited about it!

"It's working! It's working! It's working! I'm becoming a BATTLESHIP, POI!"

…poi?

"Huh? Why did I say 'Poi' like Yuudachi-san, Poi? Eh? I said it again! What's going on?!"

Alarmed, Kiyoshimo whipped out a hand mirror from her handbag to see what had happened to her… and promptly let out a horrified scream. Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing the glorious visage of the Japanese battleship Musashi, poor Kiyoshimo was treated to the sight of another, fairly well known, blonde who, unfortunately, wasn't a Battleship.

"Oh, no! How could I have been so careless? I gave the wizards the wrong hair to use in the potion, poi," Kiyoshimo despaired as she realized the enormity of her error, "I've been turned into Yuudachi-san! I'm still a destroyer, poi!"

Months of planning, fruitless. All the money she'd sent to the Weasleys, wasted. All those nights she had spent dreaming of this day, in vain. The leave day she had applied for, up in smoke! This day, which should have been her moment of triumph over all the naysayers who believed she was a girl with her head in the clouds, was now a farce.

Oh, woe be to Kiyoshimo!

"I'm been turned into Yuudachi-san instead of Musashi-san! What the Poi I going to do now?" Kiyoshimo despaired, "I had such big plans today, and now I can't do any of it! I can't believe I have to wait out the potion until I turn back and… Poi? Oh, wow, Yuudachi-san has a pretty nice body, actually."

Now that Kiyoshimo took a closer look, Yuudachi-san was really, really pretty.

Long luscious blonde locks.

Shining ruby head eyes.

Face a fashion model would envy.

Perfect hourglass figure.

Boobs.

Yuudachi was a beautiful young woman in the prime of her life, a far cry from the childish body that Kiyoshimo had inhabited mere moments ago. In layman's terms, Yuudachi was SMOKING HOT, and because of that Kiyoshimo was now too… and that meant Yuudachi could do things that Kiyoshimo would NEVER be allowed to do.

"Oh, I see. I see now, Poi. I can work with this."

Kiyoshimo nodded slowly, a small grin working its way onto her features as the young destroyer slowly understood the possibilities that now existed before her. Maybe Kiyoshimo wouldn't become a Battleship this day, but that doesn't mean that she couldn't find that silver lining either!

"I think… I think I'm going to go for a walk, Poi."

With that, Kiyoshimo stepped out of her hiding place, and started walking towards the Naval Base's gatehouse. There was a lot of stuff outside the Naval Base that young Kiyoshimo wasn't allowed to go in after all… but perhaps, with some makeup, a change of attire and the proper attitude, not!Yuudachi might be able to.

This could be interesting.

-=-

A/N – Y'know, if shapeshifting potions like this existed, I expect they'd become the new fake ID cards for underage partygoers. Gosh, the chaos that would ensure, especially when many older siblings find themselves (unfairly) blamed for stuff they have no memory of doing.

 

[darthcourt10]

Omake Harry Leferts: "Date night for Jane"

Tiypo said:
Something interesting that came up on SV; Jane keeps her own chart, but Harry Leferts never considered what to do for shipping her, though he mention probably only guys.

So I just brought up Neville as a possibility, since he'd be interesting to her in various ways over time. For now, be it this summer or otherwise, he's a wizard with no experience in the Muggle world. This makes him fun to drag around and show stuff. In a few years time after he grows into the rugged handsome type with a heroic disposition she'd probably be very attracted too. Bonus sexy points for the British accent; I can confirm this is a thing from a UK family member visiting and guys tripping over themselves to try to hook up with her.​

Well, yes, I haven't decided what, if anything, would be done with Jane. As to shipping though, they have to worry about Richardson and the rest of the household giving him threats. Harry though? Nah, Harry doesn't threaten...
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Harry just smiled as he looked across at the boy who was looking distinctly nervous as they waited for Jane. Somehow, Harry was not sure how, Jane had gotten to agree to apparate her and her date from Sasebo to Tokyo for their date. Right now though, said boy was staring at him nervously. "Is something wrong?"

The boy grimaced a bit and stared at the stairs. "Um, just... after her father and, um, mothers... You're not going to threaten me or anything? Are you?"

To his surprise though, Harry chuckled. "No, no, I'm not going to threaten you." Much to his amusement, the boy seemed to become relaxed at that. A sound caused him to turn and he flashed out his wand. Several seconds later, there was a rat floating in front of him that he shook his head at. "I hate rats you know. My parents, my biological ones, were betrayed by a rat they thought was their friend and died for it." As he spoke, he waved his wand and the rat seemed to shift and change. "Never liked them myself." Ignoring the freaked out look on the boy, Harry continued. "But I suppose that they can be useful." With a small smile, Harry set down the vase that was once a rat and then with another swish of the wand filled it with water. Placing the flowers that the boy had brought for Jane, Harry noticed his cousin coming down the stairs and nodded. "Well, I'll wait for you and Jane outside. And don't worry..." He gave the boy a small smile as his eyes glowed. "You won't get any threats from me."

All the boy did was rapidly nod and gulp.
___________________________________________________________________________

Harry doesn't threaten at all.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Humming along with the song coming from his earphones, Harry slowed his bike down before coming to a stop in front of what looked like a metal wall built into a hillside. In the wall, there was a small man door, and a larger one that was for vehicles. Walking up to the vehicle one, Harry pulled out a card on a lanyard around his neck and swiped it on the cardreader. That done, he pressed several keys on the pad next to the door and waited. For a moment, there was silence and then there was a rattling as the vehicle door rose up to reveal a room with another door on the inside.

Just getting back on his bike, Harry pedelled it and the small trailer between the two doors and closed the first. Going through the motions once more, the inside door opened up. Crossing over the threshold, Harry gave a wave to the man sitting at a table. "Afternoon, Matt!"

The US Marine only nodded some as he chuckled. "Afternoon, Harry." Spotting the trailer behind his bike, he placed his magazine to the side and got up. "Making a delivery?"

Only swinging his legs, Harry nodded some and pulled out a clipboard from his knapsack. "Yup! Here you go."

With a hum, he took the clipboard and looked through it. After a few moments, Matt nodded and handed it back. "Here you go, Kiddo. I'll see you when you come back through." He then glanced around. "Maybe grab me some coffee when you do."

Giving a salute, Harry smiled. "Will do!" Placing the clipboard back into his knapsack, Harry swung it back over his back and, with a final wave, began to slowly bike through the tunnel. Even though he had been down here numerous times, Harry still looked around. Back during World War II, after the Doolittle Raid, the IJN had dug miles of tunnels underneath the base and the city. Mainly for use as bomb shelters so that they could continue to work even if bombs and shells fell on the base. There was even, from what Harry had been told a Midget Submarine factory alongside a power generation station and a hospital. But after the war, they had fallen mostly into disuse besides some use as a storage area during the Korean War.

However, things had changed with the newest war. Originally, the old tunnels in and around Yokosuka were supposed to be decommissioned. But then the Abyssals started to attack and those plans were shelved. The ones in best condition were rapidly repaired and used in the early days when one would never know when the Abyssals were going to strike.

Even the civilian ones were refubished extremely quickly as shelters for the populace.

And despite the fact that the last Abyssal attack was years before, both the USN and JMSDF had continued to slowly repair and refubish the tunnels. Some were claimed by shipgirls for various reasons (Harry had heard there was a bar hidden away somewhere as well as Junyou's legendary cellar), and so were outside the planned refubishments. Others found different uses then they had during World War II, one of which Harry was heading for. Coming to a stop in front of one door, Harry quickly knocked and then slid his card through the swipe. With a click, the door opened and Harry smiled as he looked in. "Afternoon, Kurosawa-San!"

Inside the large room, which had filing cabinets and shelves filled with books, there was a large desk in front of a small side room. At the desk, a rather mousy young woman with glasses looked up from a magnifying glass. "Harry-San?" Then she blinked. "Wait, afternoon? But it's only..." When Kurosawa glanced at the clock though, she started to chuckle weakly. "Um... Thirteen hundred?"

From the other desk in the room, there was a sigh as a small girl in a white button shirt and what looked like a fishing vest over it. "You lost track of time again, didn't you, Kurosawa-San?"

Blushing, the young woman shook her head. "Of course I didn't, Daigo-San! It's just, um..." She gave a sheepish smile and waved at the papers in front of her which Harry could see were plans for a ship. "These sort of caught my attention?"

Another sigh escaped from the shipgirl, but she only shook her head in fond amusement before getting off her chair and walking around her desk. "So what brings you here, Harry-San? Did Teitoku want you to deliver something?"

Slowly, Harry nodded as he jerked his thumb outside the door. "Yeah, the Intel guys got done with the things they recovered from the house where we found Louisiana. Teitoku convinced them to hand them over now that they were done with them so that you sort them here."

Clapping her hands, Kurosawa practically jumped up and rushed for the door. "Oh good! I was wondering when they would get around to handing them over. Seriously, there's nothing in them that could be classified besides the obvious."

Lips twitching, Harry called over his shoulder. "There's also some things from the hidden dockyard at the Caldera."

Interested, Daigo nodded some. "You mean that they released what they got from Ōkamashima?"

That caused the black haired boy to blink before he turned to the shipgirl. "Wait, 'Cauldron Island'? That's it's name?"

Only chuckling, Daigo shook her head as she watched Kurosawa happily bring in box after box. "Well... more like what we've taken to calling it. After all, no one can find the name for it and, from what I remember, the spirits there don't know it either?"

Harry slowly shook his head. "Um, nope. Ume-San and Sakura-San told me that they were never told it. Still..." Frowning, he had an odd look of confusion on his face. "Calling it Cauldron Island is a bit silly."

With a small grin, Daigo shook her head. "Maybe, but it does fit being in a caldera."

Moments later though, she froze a bit at Harry's next words. "Kind of surprised that you haven't gone there. Especially when they were doing sonar scans."

Daigo gave him a weak smile at that. "I'm... not very good with volcanoes, I'm afraid. Not very good at all." Then she clapped her hands as she spotted one of the boxes and took it over to her desk. "Anyways, I'll be handling the sonar scans."

Simply nodding, Kurosawa brought in the last of the boxes and looked them over in thought. "I'll sort the various other materials then. Eeee! This is so exciting..." Then she frowned. "But those Spooks better not have damaged any of these! They're precious considering some of their ages."

Rather amused at her love for old documents, Harry shook his head. He still did not know how, but somehow Mikasa had poached her from the Archives in Tokyo. Something about her skills not being put to the best use by her boss or something. Now, she worked alongside Daigo, who was a member of the Kaiyō No. 1-class Oceanographic ships. The Yokosuka Shipgirl Archives, which Kurosawa was in charge of, mostly dealt with old plans and such regarding the ships that the shipgirls were in their previous life. More then once, Harry had heard that it was considered an unofficial offshoot of the Archives in Tokyo.

Granted, since her summoning a year back, Daigo sometimes got grabbed by Akashi for some project or another. Usually in regards to research she needed to do. Something that annoyed Kurosawa each time it happened.

A glance though showed Harry the other offshoot to the room. Said entrance being something more akin to a bank vault. It went without saying that small shivers went down Harry's back at the sight as, even though he had never been in there, he knew that said vault contained things as Abyssal autopsy reports and such. Locked away in a safe area just in case.

Quickly shaking those thoughts off, Harry pointed at one of the boxes. "Um, those contain the items from the house where Louisiana came from... If that helps any."

With a small chuckle, Kurosawa quickly rolled up the plans on her desk and put them away. Placing the box onto it, she opened it with a hum. "Hmm... Want to see what's in here, Harry-San?"

Eyes wide, Harry nodded a bit. "Sure!"

Chuckling, Kurosawa gently pulled out a rolled up paper and tsk'd. "Baka Spooks, can't even put things away the right way... Why do I even bother with them sometimes, I'll never know." With deft movements, she opened and unrolled it only to blink. "Huh... This was unexpected."

Somewhat confused, Harry looked up at her. "What is it?" Instead of saying anything, Kurosawa only moved the paper so that Harry could better see it. "Wait... are these plans for Sendai-Nee?"

Kurosawa adjusted her glasses some but nodded. "Yeah, but there's a bit more to it then that. These are original plans for the Sendai class. See these notes? Those are handwritten. I wonder where the man responsible got these..." It was several minutes later that she felt her eyebrows raise again. "And these are plans for the Agano class."

About a half hour later, Harry was just scratching his head in confusion. "Um... these are a lot of different plans..."

From where she was examining one and making notes, Kurosawa shook her head. "That's putting it mildly, Harry-San. We have, from that one box, plans for the Sendai class, the Agano class, the Super Shimakaze class, and the Super Akizuki class... This is an incredible find."

However, Daigo snorted from where she was looking at plans from another box. "Then you're going to flip when you see what I have here..." Seeing that she had her friend's attention, she smirked. "Plans for Design A-150..."

One could have heard a pin drop before Kurosawa seemingly teleported and, with shaking hands, took the sheet. "Design A-150... this... this is beyond anything I expected." Slowly, a grin grew on her face. "Eeee! This is history that was lost!" Then Kurosawa froze and her pupils shrank. "We have to make sure that these are preserved... Daigo! Get me my materials! We have no time to spare!"

There was an amused look on the shipgirl's face as she glanced over at Harry and chuckled. "Hai, will do. Looks like another late night then..."

By the time that Harry was done with what was supposed to be a 'short' delivery, it was well into the late afternoon. After delivering some coffee to Matt, and heading out through the doors with his bike and attached trailer though, Harry blinked at the sight that met him. Mainly that of Willie glaring at Iowa who was currently being held by Davie bridal style. "Um... what's going on here?"

Growling, the American Destroyer jerked her head towards the smirking Battleship. "That is exactly what I am wondering, Harry. What the heck do you think that you're doing, Iowa!"

A smirk still on her face, Iowa shrugged. "What does it look like? Davie here is carrying me around." When Willie growled though, she raised a hand. "Whoa, he was the one who asked me! He's been carrying me around in his arms or on his back for the past hour, Willie."

Now confused, Willie turned to her twin brother, even though he looked like he was eighteen and her barely sixteen, and he nodded. Moments later, he spoke though Harry had to strain to hear him as it was barely just above a whisper. "She's right, Willie. And you're the first one to ask that."

Blinking, Willie looked at Harry who shrugged some. Then, turning back to Davie, she frowned and crossed her arms. "Davie...? Why are you speaking in a whisper?"

That only caused him to grin as he continued to speak at the same low level. "I thought that you would have known, Willie." Leaning in, his grin widened. "I'm speaking softly and carrying a big stick."

Several seconds passed before Willie groaned and facepalmed, the sound of steel hitting steel heard by everyone. For her part, it took a moment longer, but Iowa started howling in laughter as Harry snorted and tried not to chuckle while Willie shook her head. "Dammit, Davie... how long have you been waiting to use that!?"

Davie's grin was her only answer.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Shutting the door to his car and locking it, the man groaned as he felt his tiredness weigh him down. It was a long day of work and, if there was one thing that the Abyssals did not really change too much, it was that people still needed to go to work and get paid for a living. All he wanted right now though was to have a quick bite to eat, maybe surf the net while doing so, and then head to bed.

He was too damn tired for anything else.

Upon reaching the door though, those thoughts fled from him as he could hear music inside and smell something cooking. Slowly, narrowing his eyes, he reached out to the door and gripped the knob and found it to be unlocked. Very gently opening it, he stepped inside and then glanced around for something to grab as a weapon. Seeing nothing though, he glanced around the corner into his kitchen and stopped as a russet haired woman turned and gave him a smile. "Good evening, Steve. Dinner's almost done, so you can take a seat and I'll serve you soon."

It took Steve several moments before he managed to speak. "Muriel? Is that you?"

Giggling at his confusion, the woman nodded. "It is." Her eyes sparkled in mischief as the man walked around the corner fully. "Been a while."

That only caused Steve to frown. "A while? Try several years." Eyebrows furrowing, he shook his head. "I haven't seen you since... the first year of the war."

Smile falling from her face, Muriel nodded before sighing. "I know, Steve. There were... things... that happened and prevented me from coming back. My family were separated by the Abyssals after all."

Raising an eyebrow as he took a seat, Steve nodded. "I remember you telling me. Though that does not explain why you're back now or why you decided breaking into my home was a good decision."

More then a little sheepish, Muriel shrugged. "Well... you know what I am and you did extend an invitation for me to return whenever I want. Hence how I got in here. As for the rest? I made the decision as did my sisters."

Now confused, the man frowned as he leaned forward. "Wait, that works for you? And sisters?"

Only nodding as she went back to cooking, Muriel chuckled. "Yes, we do obey the same rules as the fair folk, though we're distant cousins. And we decided to settle in the area until the Abyssals are dealt with." At his confusion, she smiled. "We're several houses down, it took a while to set everything up without the wizards knowing. Now though, we're safe."

Grunting, Steve shook his head. "That's still a problem?"

With a bark-like laugh, Muriel nodded. "They are, though not as much of one as they think as they're too busy with other things. After all, you should see who they think we are back in Britain. Honestly, I got to shake my head at them as we don't look anything like that. But best not to tweak their noses too much."

Lips twitching at the familiar Scottish brogue, Steve chuckled some. "Well, that was why you said that your people moved to Canada. To get away from them and because there's fewer magicals here." Moments later though, he frowned. "That still does not answer why here though..."

Rolling her eyes, Muriel pulled away and wagged her spoon at him. "Because of what you did, you silly goose. Do you remember?"

A thoughtful look on his face, Steve nodded. "You mean finding you on the shore? After you had gotten separated from your family during an Abyssal attack?"

Simply shuddering, Muriel nodded. "Yes... We were trying to get out of their way and to safety when they attacked and..." Quickly shaking her head, she sucked in a breath. "Anyways, you were there and found me."

Just snorting, the man shook his head. "I remember, at the time I thought that you were just a seal. Fuck, I was shocked when your skin slid off to reveal that you were, well..."

Eyes twinkling, Muriel laughed again, a sound not unlike a seal's. "A selkie? I didn't have much choice at the time, desparate as I was and injured. You took my skin and placed it safely away while taking me to the doctors." Her expression became far off. "It took me months to recover, but you were there the whole time. Despite the pain, they were wonderful months. Then, when I was healed..."

Steve slowly nodded. "I gave you your seal skin back and watched as you went back into the ocean after you said goodbye."

Turning, she regarded him and nodded. "Yes, you gave it back to me. You knew the legends and could have kept my skin hidden away. I would have had to obey you and you could have had me marry you. But instead... you just gave it back so that I could go home with my family. We both know that according to the stories that we would have never met again except seeing each other from afar."

Now frowning, Steve snorted. "It wouldn't feel right to me to do something like that. Though... that begs the question of why you're here considering the stories..." Eyes widening as he realized he had put his foot in his mouth considering the look that Muriel was giving him, he swallowed. "Not that I mind, not really..."

Much to his relief, she only chuckled. "And that, right there is why I decided to come back. You only kept my skin long enough for me to heal and then let me go. So... here I am."

Several seconds passed as she spooned some food out onto some plates, but finally, Steve nodded and smiled. "And so you are..." On the other side of the table, Muriel returned said smile.
____________________________________________________________________________

Wanko had barely gotten on shore when a shout caught her attention. "BIG SISTER! BIG SISTER IS HERE!"

Only smiling, Wanko caught the projectile that was Hoppou with ease before hugging her. "It is... good to... see you again... Little Sister... and to... see that you... are well." Catching sight of Harry in front of her, she bent down and hugged him as well even as Hoppu clambered up onto her shoulders. "And it is... good to see... you as well... Little Brother."

A large smile on his face, Harry wrapped his arms around her best that he could and nodded. "It's awesome to see you as well, Big Sis."

Turning, Wanko gave a nod to Nagato who was standing there with a smile and held out a free hand. "I hope... that you... are well... Nagato."

With a chuckle, Nagato took the offered hand and nodded. "I'm doing well, thank you." Still smiling, she turned to Supply Depot Princess and held out her hand. "I hope that you're well as well, Supply Depot Princess."

Much to her surprise, Supply Depot Princess shook her head as she returned the gesture. "Call me Supprin." At the look, she snorted a bit. "'Supply Depot Princess' is a mouthful. So I decided to follow Lady Wanko's and Hoppou's path and have a shorter name."

Giving it a moment of thought, Nagato only nodded as it did make some sense. Meanwhile, Harry was talking with Regina. "It's great to see you again, Regina. And you're going to be here for my birthday as well."

There was a small blush on Regina's face as she nodded some, though she had a happy smile as well. "U-um, thank you, Harry. I can't wait until your party though..." For a moment, she frowned. "I'm still not sure why it is so important."

Seconds later though, she jumped as Revina appeared beside her and threw an arm over her shoulder. "Who cares? It's a paaarty! And parties are always awesome-possum... though I hope that there's not a possum here."Glancing around, she leaned in towards the bemused Harry. "Those things are just plain mean."

Having spotted Yuudachi though, Revina then rushed over to said Destroyer and left Harry and a confused Regina there. Only shaking his head, Harry looked over at her and gave a her a hug. Unnoticed by him, her face lit up in a bright blush before she relaxed some and returned it. "Anyways, it's still great to have you here for my birthday. Hopefully you'll like the party, Regina."

Expression softening, Regina nodded some. "Y-yes, I am sure that I'll like it, Harry." It was probably a good thing that Harry could not hear her internal thoughts. 'Especially as you'll be there.' Shaking that off though, she took a deep breath. "Though... I don't think that I'll like the other party that I will be going to as much."

Confused, it took a few seconds for Harry to realize what she was talking about and he nodded. "Oh! You mean the party after the signing of the treaty?"

Biting her lip, she nodded. "Um, yes... there's just so much pressure. I mean, there's going to be so many important people and they're all be watching us and... And it makes me nervous. Especially as I'm not exactly... presentable."

To her surprise though, Harry just gave her a one armed hug and chuckled. "Good thing that that Shinano-Chan and I have been working on something just for you! You won't need to worry about a thing, Regina."

Now confused, Regina looked down at him in confusion. "You... have? I won't?"

Harry only shook his head. "Nope! We got you covered, Regina. And you'll be awesome, trust me."

Slowly, the Re-Class nodded, though there was a thankful smile on her face even as she blushed and felt warm inside from how her friends cared. "Thank you, Harry. I trust you and Shinano and know that... that you won't do anything bad."

Beside Regina, her tail came up and rubbed it's head against Harry with a soft purr which made Harry chuckle. Though she had to heavily blush as Harry patted it after she nodded. Gently, he guided her towards the mess hall as the two of them continued to chat, though Wanko and Nagato shared a look and shook their heads.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Tilting his head to the side, Harry frowned a bit and narrowed his eyes. "Hmm..."

Across from him, Regina blushed some and shied away some. "U-um... O-oh my... Harry?"

If anything though, Harry's frowned deepened slightly as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Is something wrong, Regina?"

Biting her lip, Regina shifted some and took a deep breath. "Well... nothing's wrong, no. But, um... It's about this..." She then glanced away with her blush growing some. "Er..."

Expression turning gentle, Harry shook his head some. "Regina, look at me." When she did, she blinked at the caring expression on his face. "Is this bothering you?"

Only shaking her head, Regina took a deep breath. "N-no..." At his frown, the Abyssal gave him a shy smile. "No, it doesn't bother me at all."

Frowning, Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Then what's wrong? You didn't seem to mind so much before."

A soft whimper escaped from Regina as she glanced around. "That... it was so strange when you asked me if I wanted to do that. And, it confused me... But then we did it..."

Now becoming thoughtful, Harry scratched his cheek and blushed some. "Yeah... it was a bit of an odd question." Then his expression brightened. "But you seemed to really enjoy it!"

That only caused Regina's breath to freeze and her eyes to widen. For a moment, she was utterly still before a bright blush crossed her face. "I-I-I... Um, that is..."

Head tilting to the side, Harry blinked. "Regina?"

Still blushing, she turned away, though she kept glancing at him. "Well... I did enjoy it. And... and it wasn't bad..." Her blush deepened with her next words. "I... wouldn't be against doing it again."

Yet again, Harry smiled at her. "So what's the problem then?"

Regina chewed her lip some and glanced around. "It's just... so soon? We just arrived in Yokosuka yesterday after all."

Giving that some thought, the black haired boy nodded some. "I guess." Glancing to the side, he coughed. "I just want to make sure that you didn't forget anything."

Once more blushing, Regina shook her head. "I... I don't think that would be a problem, Harry." For a few seconds, her eyes glazed over. "Not a problem at all..." Quickly shaking it off, Regina took a deep breath. "Um, your birthday party is going to be starting soon too."

That gave Harry some pause. After some moments though, he shrugged. "My party's not going to start that soon, Regina."

Slowly, Regina looked to the side. "There's also that we're... being watched."

From where she sat backwards on a chair, Revina grinned and waved. "Hey, don't mind me you two! I pinky promise not to tell your secrets, stick a Hellfighter in my eye!" She then pulled out a bunch of leaves and stuff and held it in front of her face. "Pretend that I'm a plant."

Blinking, Regina turned to Harry who shrugged. "Um..."

Meanwhile, Revina shook the leaves in front of her face. "Oooo! No one here! None but us houseplants!"

Extremely amused, Harry just shrugged. "Right, nothing but houseplants." Seeing that Regina was still nervous, Harry sighed and reached over to take her hands in his. "Regina... Look at me." Once she did, he nodded. "You know that I wouldn't do anything that you wouldn't want to do, Regina."

Nodding slowly, the Re class gave him a small smile. "I... I know that, Harry. You're so nice to me." After a deep breath, she nodded. "Okay."

That caused Harry to blink before he lit up. "Really?"

With a small nod, Regina smiled brighter. "Yes. C-can we do this before I lose my nerve?"

All Harry did was give her a thumbs up as he leaned forward. "Sure. Ready?"

Swallowing nervously even as her blush deepened, Regina nodded. "Yes... I'm ready, Harry." Leaning forward, she bit her lip some. "Let's do this again."

Eyes wide, Revina looked through the leaves that she was holding up. 'Holy shit! They're actually going to do it! THEY'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO IT RIGHT HERE!'

Bringing up one hand, Harry smiled a bit as he took a deep breath. And then...

He flicked out a piece of chocolate that Regina's tail snatched out from the air. Flicking out another in a different direction, it chomped on that. One piece after another vanished down it's gullet as Harry flicked them in different directions until there was only one left which laid in the palm of his hand. Regina's tail though simply shoved it's head into his hand and licked the ate the chocolate. On Harry's face there was a wide smile as he patted it. "Good job!" When the tail looked at him, Harry shook his head. 'This is just so cool.' As the tail purred, he tilted his head some. 'Huh... I'm reminded of that movie, How to Train Your Dragon.'

Meanwhile, Regina was blushing up a storm. 'My tail likes him so much...' Softly smiling when Harry looked at her, she internally giggled as her tail was now nuzzling him. 'Not that I can blame her...'

Suddenly, the door opened and every one turned to look at it as Nagato looked in. Looking over the frozen tableau, the Battleship raised one eyebrow as she hummed. Then she shook her head with a snort. 'Not going to ask.' Turning towards Harry though, she gave a smile. "Harry? You're birthday party is nearly ready. We should get going before you're late for it."

Jumping off her chair, Revina nodded as she pumped her fist. "Yeah! The only thing worse then being late to a party is... Being late to your own party! That's super duper horribleness drenched in terrible! Like... like... putting shrimp and hot sauce on ice cream bad!"

For a moment, everyone stared at her as she nodded. Glancing at Regina who seemed just as lost, Harry mentally shook it off and got to his feet. "Um, right." Hand held out, he smiled at Regina. "Here."

With a blush, Regina took the offered hand and was helped to her hooves by Harry as in the background, Revina continued coming out with more and more horrible food combinations that being late to one's party was like. "Thank you, Harry."

Lips twitching, Nagato only shook her head with a chuckle before ruffling his hair. "Another year older, Harry. Happy twelveth birthday."

Seeing the nods from the two Abyssals, Harry grinned and straightened his back. "Thanks!"

Before he could do anything else though, Regina's tail snaked out between his legs and then lifted. Surprised, Harry slid down it until he came to a stop against Regina's back, which caused her to jump a bit. "Eep!"

All Revina did though, was laugh and clutch at her stomach. "Looks like your tail is not about to give up on it's Harry-Time, Sis!"

Heavily blushing, Regina stared at Revina, even as said Abyssal fell out of her chair. Then she turned to her tail whose's head was close to her head. It looked like the two were having a silent conversation. Whatever was said though, neither the confused Harry nor the amused Nagato knew. But when it ended, there was some steam leaking from Regina's ear. Swallowing, Regina took a deep breath and looked at Harry. "Um... C-can I give you a ride to your party, Harry?"

Eyes narrowing as he glanced at Regina's tail, Harry soon turned back to her with concern on his face. "Do you want to, Regina? Because you don't have to."

Slowly, Regina shook her head. "That's okay, Harry. I don't mind giving you a piggyback to your party... Um, if that's okay with you and everything." Expression brightening through her blush, she nodded. "Think of it as an early gift."

The reply from Harry was just a smile as he wrapped his arms around her middle and nodded. "Sure! It's perfectly okay with me, Regina."

Even though her blush, impossibly, deepened as he wrapped his arms around her, Regina took a deep breath. "Okay then." Reaching back, she adjusted him some before nodding. Several seconds later, she walked out as Harry continued to chat with her. Behind her, Revina only snickered and grinned as she placed her hands on the back of her head. Shaking her head, Nagato chuckled and took a quick picture as she shut the door and locked it.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Astride Regina's tail, Harry grinned as she jogged towards where his party was being held. "This is so awesome!" A weight on his shoulder caused him to turn to see the head of her tail now resting itself there. With a small smile, he scratched it a bit under the chin. "Thanks for this."

Not sure if he was thanking her or her tail, Regina only nodded as she smiled back at him. "You're very welcome, Harry. I'm glad that you're enjoying it."

Underneath him, her tail swayed a bit with each step, but in such a way that he barely felt the movements of the Re-Class' steps. "Yeah, it's actually really comfy." Part of Regina was glad that her hood hid the bright blush that crossed her face. A blush that only intensified as Harry hugged her around her middle. "Thank you."

For a moment, Regina had the image of her and Harry doing this on the surface of the sea before she shook it off. Then the Harry in the image grew older before he gently pulled down her hood and started to nuzzle her. Outwardly, small wafts of steam escaped from Regina's ears before her mind rebooted. Beside her, Revina grinned a bit. "Heh, you're going to have an awesome entrance to your birthday party, Kiddo!"

Blinking, Regina could see through her tail that Harry was nodding in agreement as she looked at her sister. "Um, he is?"

Softly snorting, Revina shook her head. "Cha! Of course he is! After all he's riding an awesome Re-Class into the party!"

Face flushed, though there was a pleased expression on her face, Regina nodded. "O-oh..." Several moments passed before she frowned. "Um... is making a big entrance important?"

Grinning, Revina nodded. "Yuppers! The bigger, the better!"

Head tilted to the side, Regina turned to look at Nagato who chuckled and gave a nod. "I suppose that making a big entrance for the birthday boy can be important." Seeing something in the look, her smile widened a touch. "And yes, if you want to do something as long as it does not hurt Harry, then it's okay with me."

With a thoughtful look, Regina looked back at Harry. "I... um... if you want I can give you an entrance, I think. If you really want it."

Smiling, Harry grinned and then pointed with one hand. "Then let's make an entrance, Regina!"

Unknown to Harry, somehow his expression and tone gave Regina a burst of courage. With a deep breath, her eyes narrowed some. "T-then we'll, um, make an entrance."

Somewhat curious, Nagato watched as Regina sped up a bit, her hooves clacking against the pavement. At the same time, she could hear the party nearby and, with her rangefinders, could see Naka on livestream. Naka had then spotted them and seemed shocked for a moment before grinning and gesturing at them. 'Hmm... I wonder what the reaction to Harry being on a Re-Class' tail would be...'

Regina's voice then caused her to turn towards them. "D-do you trust me, Harry?"

For his part, Harry gave her an odd look, but then nodded some. "Sure! You know that I do."

With a deep breath, Regina narrowed her eyes some. "C-could you, um, order me? To make an entrance?"

Confused, Harry frowned but then internally shrugged. "Okay? Regina, make an awesome entrance, as awesome as you are!"

Everything froze for the Re class as the breeze pushed her bangs and she could feel Harry's arms around her. More then that, she felt the absolute trust he held in her. Then it all restarted again and she tensed her legs. Nagato caught that and her eyes widened a bit. 'She's not...'

And then Regina pushed off as hard as she could into a jump. Pavement cracked under hooves with pieces flying out. On Regina's tail, Harry tightened his hold on his friend as the two of them shot into the air. However, the massive grin on his face told his real feelings as did his laughs. ""BLOODY WICKED!"

Just watching as she ate a burger, Iowa nodded at the sight of the airborne Abyssal. "Now that's fucking awesome."

It said something about the base that Iowa's reaction was about normal.

Meanwhile, Regina was smiling brightly as she could hear Harry's laughter in her ear and the wind whipped her poncho. Somehow though, not much was shown even as it swirled around her body. Having reached the top of her jump though, they started to descend and she moved her legs to take the impact. Seconds later, they slammed into the ground with Regina's hooves digging a groove through the soil as she absorbed the shock of contact with the ground easily. On her tail, Harry barely felt the impact and, once she came to a stop, he grinned so wide it nearly hurt. "That... was... bloody... AMAZING!"

Blinking, Regina was looking back at him. "I-it was, Harry?"

With a scoff, Harry nodded. "Well, yeah! We were actually flying through the air, Regina! You were like... Something from a Shonen manga!"

There was a blush on Regina's face as she brought her scarf up some. "Thank you."

Suddenly, she could hear claps and cheers and looked around only to freeze. Various shipgirls were grinning and giving her applause at her performance. A few of the Americans were even giving her whistles while Shinano gave her a thumbs up. Behind them, Wanko was giving her a nod while Hoppou was practically bouncing on her big sister's shoulder as she shouted with glee, Wokyuu looking confused beside them, though also giving them a smile.

It was then that she also spotted the grinning Naka with a camera and realized that someone was recording the whole thing. Upon that realization, Regina did the only thing that she could. Something that she often found herself doing.

Freezing in place with a soft eep of embarrassment as her face burned.

But then she felt Harry hugging her from behind as he kept going on about how cool her jump was and she slowly relaxed. After all, she had made her young friend happy on his birthday. And that was what was important, right?

Somehow, that made her feel happy and warm inside, which made her stand a bit straighter despite her normal shyness.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

From where he was watching Harry slowly get off the tail of the blushing Re-Class, Ron grinned. "Bloody brilliant."

Only shaking her head with an amused expression on her face, Warspite chuckled a bit. "Mind your language, Ronald." She then turned to the two beside her with a raised eyebrow. "You'll have you excuse Ronald, he sometimes slips up."

With a blink, the witch beside simply nodded some. "Quite, it's rather understandable. Being at that age, I am amazed that he does not have more." Augusta Longbottom, Dowager Longbottom and current regent of that Most Ancient and Most Noble House, turned to look at her grandson who glanced back at her. "I must admit though, I was not quite expecting this when my Grandson was invited to attent young Mister Potter's birthday party."

Humming, Warspite nodded some before taking note of how Percy was softly speaking with Ooyodo and Supply Depot Princess, or Supprin as she was now calling herself. "I suppose not. But then, you are handling things quite well, if I must say so myself."

Just chuckling, Augusta shook her head. "Ah, it takes much more then that, I'm afraid, to get more of a reaction out of me." There was a small twinkle in her eye as her lips turned upwards slightly. "Perhaps one day I shall explain how I recieved the nickname 'Nundu Eater Longbottom' from my time fighting on the continent against Grindlewald's forces."

That, if anything, only made Warspite raise an eyebrow. But curious as she was, the Battleship let the question lay for another time as she turned towards where Harry was walking towards them. Meanwhile, Augusta turned back to Neville with a very small smile. Having raised him after what happened to his parents, Augusta had worried over him for years and loved him dearly. Not that Neville fully realized this fact, something that hurt his grandmother and sometimes found her taking a nightcap. As much as she would have wanted to act otherwise, she needed to keep up the stern grandmother outlook and seem somewhat harsh on him. Not because she did not love him, for she did.

But because to do otherwise might as well have been tossing blood into the water.

Unknown to Neville, some of his relatives had been jockeying and sharpening knives as he had not shown any magic for years. If he was a Squib, they would have tossed him out and taken his birthright away from him. There was much power in the title of being the Head of the Longbottoms after all. It did not help matters that she had suspected all these years that one of their relatives had leaked the information about where Neville's parents had been to the Death Eaters. Oh, she couldn't prove a thing to her annoyance, but there was enough there for her suspcions. The Secret Keeper somehow being killed two weeks before what happened meant that all those who had been told suddenly became Secret Keepers themselves. Sure, the official explanation was that it had been tortured from the original Secret Keeper, but Augusta was not sure about that.

Hence why she cried when it turned out that he did have magic after Algie dropped him by accident. It caused all the rest of the family to back off. Though unknown to Neville, she then went and dropped Algie out the same window, this time not by accident. He had to spend several weeks in Saint Mungos due to all the curses, jinxes, and hexes she put on him.

Now though, she was glad and proud of him. Somehow, he had met and been incorpreated into a group which included Arthur Weasley's youngest son and Harry Potter himself as well as a young, though promising Muggleborn named Hermione Granger. That had raised eyebrows among the older members of the family, but also impressed them due to the political power that two of his friends possessed unknown to him. And looking around at the shipgirls as well as the Abyssals, Augusta internally snorted. Those fools did not know the half of it. She knew that the Statute was falling apart as did others, and had prepared by having Neville enroll in the muggle school system. It had caused some issues, but she pointed out that if he was a Squib, then he would need to survive in the Muggle World. Something that caused no end of beating herself up over it, but necessary.

And right now, looking around, she could only shake her head. Somehow, Augusta was not sure how, but Harry Potter had amassed a great deal of political power. There were those who would underestimate it, but when the Statute fell, it was obvious that the Potter household would survive it. And by tying himself to Harry through friendship, it seemed that the Longbottoms would as well, if only through her grandson. A worry that she could now lay to rest, especially with the invite.

Walking up behind Neville as he greeted Harry, Augusta put on her best "Stern Lady" expression. "Neville, aren't you going to introduce us?"

It amused her that Neville flushed some, but then he turned back to Harry and gestured to her. "Um, Harry Potter? May I introduce my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom?"

To her pleasure, Harry took her hand and then shook it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am. Thank you for letting Neville come, he's one of my best friends at Hogwarts."

Parsing what he had said, Augusta found herself nodding. 'Hogwarts, hmm? No, I suppose that outside of the school that you would have a number of other best friends.' Outwardly, she gave a thin smile. "It should be me thanking you, though Mister Potter. After all, it is thanks to you that my grandson has gained in confidence. Why, I do not believe that I have seen him as ever confidant as he was after meeting you. And also, thank you for inviting us to your birthday celebrations."

All Harry did was smile back. "It's not a problem." His adopted mother then came up and he gestured at her. "Um, right, this is my Mother, Nagato of the Big Seven."

Both women shared a small smile as they shook hands, with Nagato giving a chuckle. "We've actually met, Harry." At the confused expression on Harry's and Neville's faces, Nagato smile widened some. "Back when you first borded the train to Hogwarts, we had a small talk with each other."

Nodding, Augusta hummed some. "Quite, it was a rather enjoyable conversation." Her smile then turned somewhat fond as she looked down at Harry. "I must say, you do remind me quite a bit of your grandfather. Especially from the stories that my Neville have told me."

Surprised, Harry stared at her for a moment. "You knew my grandfather?"

That actually got a chuckle from the elderly witch. "I did, in fact your grandmother and myself were good friends when she was alive. We, as in myself with your grandparents, fought alongside one another against Grindlewald in the fight on the continent." For a moment, she seemed thoughtful. "If you want, I can always tell you some stories about them. I shall try to also find some pictures of them if you wish."

A bright smile on his face, Harry nodded. "That would actually be great, thank you." He then glanced to Neville and then Ron before looking at the three adult women. "Um..."

Much to Neville's shock, Augusta waved them on. "Go on, enjoy the party you three. You're only young once, after all."

With a slow nod, Harry grabbed his two friends. "Thanks!"

The three women watched as Harry guided his friends through the crowds towards the barbecue. One of which was a smoker that Louisiana was standing in front of, though said Battleship also had a large pot of something going on. Then they turned back to each other and began to quietly converse.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Hearing something, Lily looked over her shoulder from where she was sitting with one hand on her pregnant stomach. "James? You're going out?"

James only nodded as he shrugged on the muggle coat and put the hat on his head. "I am, Lils. We need some supplies after all. Especially for cooking."

With a frown, Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "And I suppose that you're not going to let me go with you then?"

All her husband did was make a pointed look at her stomach. "You know why."

Growling, Lily glared at him. "Dammit, James! I am going stir crazy in here from being trapped so long!" She then snorted at him as he rolled his eyes. "Do you even know what to get at the store?"

For a moment, he paused. Then James quickly shook it off. "I know exactly what to get, Lily-Flower."

Eyebrow raising, she gave him a smirk. "You sure? We wouldn't want to have a bad thyme at our next meal after all."

It took James a moment before he shut his eyes in phantom pain. Mainly because right there was the real reason why he needed to get out of the house. "Lils..."

Leaning back, Lily stroked her stomach with a sigh. "Fine, whatever. Just hurry back because I'm so hungry I could eat a clock."

With a snort, James tapped his hair to change it's color. "That might be rather hard, Lily."

Suddenly grinning, Lily nodded. "It would be actually. Mainly due to it being so... time consuming."

Once more, James held back a groan before he reached for the door. "Okay, I'm out. Take care, Lily."

The red head only sighed before waving him on. "Fine, whatever. Leave the two of us here alone by ourselves. See if we care."

Rolling his eyes, he just pointed towards another seat with Remus in it smirking. "Mooney is right there, Lils. Like I'm about to leave you alone."

A pout on her face, Lily shook her head. "Yeah, yeah, we'll have a howling good time fur sure. Just be careful out there, James. It's rather muggy outside."

With a confused glance at his wife, James shook his head and stepped outside. Thus, he missed Lily bring a bowl of tea to her lips and take a sip as Remus raised an eyebrow. From the outside, James' voice could be heard. "OH FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, LILY! DID YOU HONESTLY HAVE TO PLACE ALL OUR MUGS OUT ON THE FRONT LAWN IN HOPES OF MAKING THAT PUN!?"

Smirking, Lily turned towards the door. "WOULD I BE ME IF I DID NOT, JAMSIE!?"

In his chair, Remus just held his face in his hands as he shook.
______________________________________________________________________

There was a large smile on Harry's face as he spread his arms at the end of the story as Jane laughed and shook her head. "Did that actually happen, Harry?"

Slowly, Harry nodded with a happy look on his face. "According to both my parents' diaries and journals? Yeah, it did." His expression softened some. "My biological Mum loved puns, and slowly I'm getting Mum to love them too."

Her expression completely serious, Arizona shook her head. "Then I feel most sorry for your father, Harry. And I shall pray to whomever might be listening that it shall not catch Nagato within it's grasp."

With a slow sigh, Nagato sipped her coffee. "Hopefully not." She then glanced at her sister who was also there. "Though if anything does happen, then I suppose that Mutsu may pun-ish me."

Nodding for a moment, Mutsu stopped and blinked as the words seeped through her mind. For his part, Harry grinned. "How would she do that, Mum? Perhaps sending you to the... Pun-geon? Or maybe the... Pun-itentiary?"

Both mother and son shared the same look of amusement as Mutsu groaned and Arizona facepalmed. Meanwhile, Revina collapsed in laughter as she clutched her stomach. "Holy shit! That was amazing!" Once she was able to sit up, she looked at Neville who did not seem to know what to do. "Hey, kid, something wrong?"

As Neville shook his head, Harry glanced at Neville and then at Revina. Very slowly, a grin crossed his face which Natsumi recognized. "Harry, no!"

Sadly, that only made Harry's grin widen. "Harry, yes!" Clearing his throat, he turned to Revina who seemed curious as she was about to give Neville a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Don't blame him, Revina. It's like that time I asked him the difference between a piano and a fish.'

Confused, Revina tilted her head though something told her it was going to be good. "Oh? What's the difference?"

Unable to help himself, Harry chuckled for a moment. "Well, it's simple. You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish."

It took a few moments, but then Revina collapsed in laughter again. Harry then to Jane. "Hey, Janey, what's the difference between ignorance and apathy?"

Only raising an eyebrow, Jane considered not answering before she sighed. "Cuz..." At his look, she rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know."

Leaning back, Harry placed his hands on his stomach. "And I don't care."

Jane furrowed her eyebrows and then groaned as she shook her head. "Cuz, that one was a real rotten one."

All Harry did was grin at her. "Well, it did take me a while to compost it." That got him a playful swat to the shoulder. "Better then my fake noodle one."

Bemused, Neville looked over at him. "What about your fake noodle one? What was wrong with it?"

Simply shrugging, Harry chuckled. "It was an impasta." At the facepalms and chuckles, Harry placed his hands behind his head. "Ah, I still got it."

Her expression blank, Natsumi snorted. "Harry-Chan, I think that you lost it long ago." The only thing she got was a grin back before she shook her head. "Anyways, we should get going. It's time for presents and then more games!"

Getting up, Harry laughed as her and Jane began to pull him towards the table filled with various gifts. "I'm coming, I'm coming! If you pull much harder, then one might say that you're awfully... disarming."

With a look shared between them, Natsumi and Jane let go of Harry before picking him up and carrying him to a pool. "Okay, that's it! You need to cool off!"

Behind them, the adults shook their heads at that as well as Harry's response. "If you want, I can water down my responses. Or perhaps pool them for later! Grant you, I'll be soaked in puns by that time, though I might be rather dry at times as well!"

Anything else was cut off as Jane and Natsumi tossed him into the pool to laughter and groans.