She wouldn't be a Yeoman, or petty officer. She wouldn't have tiny destroyers on permanent sugar highs bolting around the base like six year olds on crack. She wouldn't have impossibly beautiful women with figures that'd make goddesses green with envy cavorting around in minimalist clothing while stuffing themselves with enough food to feed a small country. Even if just for a few days, she could put her duties aside and just be Sarah Gale.
And get doted on by her mother. Because as much as Gale liked to consider herself a proud, independent woman, she'd never turn down her mom's casserole.
Especiallynot during a Christmas-day leave. Well, after-Christmas, actually. But her family—being the loving, amazing people they were—had delayed Christmas a few days to make sure Gale could attend.
What Gale did to deserve family like that, she would never know. They were good people, almost as good as her friends on the base.
"So," Gale bit her lip and paced down the destroyer dorms, "You sure you've got everything?"
"Puh-lease," Tenryuu huffed in what she probably thought was a detached and badass manner, but really came off as pouty. Or like your sixty year old granny trying to be 'hip' and 'with it.'
Really, that described Tenryuu almost perfectly. An old granny trying desperately to be 'cool.' Only Tenryuu had a sword and the athleticism to swing it. And the only totally unblemished expedition record in the entire JMSDF. And an implausibly large rack that confused even
Janes', but by now Gale was thoroughly used to busty girls cavorting around.
"Kidd likes to steal rum." Gale mentally ticked though her checklist for each girl. "Dee's… she means well, but sometimes she'll just need a chest to cry into."
"I think I can manage," Tenryuu patted her bulging chest with a cocky smirk. "Sarah, relax."
"I'm trying." Gale forced herself to plant her feet in the carpet. "You try watching over little girls who're also purpose-built weapons designed to
avoid any attempts to heard or control them."
Tenryuu smirked even harder, and even her floaters' hum shifted to a slightly mocking octave.
Gale opened her mouth. Then she closed it again. "Point."
"Told ya," Tenryuu clapped a hand on Gale's shoulder. "Go be with your family, yeah? I'll treat the destroyers like my own."
"Thanks," Gale smiled. "Really, it means a lot."
Tenryuu waved off the compliment. "You've earned it, girlfriend." Then she blinked her one remaining eye.
Gale blinked back
"Oooookay," Tenryuu scowled and swished her sword in the air. "I am…
never saying that again."
"Yeah," Gale chuckled. "Yeah, that's probably wise."
"Okay," Tenryuu flourished her sword again. At least she looked liked she knew what she was doing, unlike a certain battleship that Gale was rather familiar with. After a few choice moves, the cruiser slammed her blade back into its sheath and offered a little bow. "Merry Christmas, Gale."
"Merry Christmas, Tenryuu," Gale waved at the cruiser and ducked out into the cold. It was a bitingly chilly Winter day, but for once there wasn't a cloud in the inky Washington sky. Which was good, because Gale was determined to take her motorbike out.
She'd had this thing sitting around for months, but she'd never been able to use it. Whenever she left base, it was always with at least a few destroyers in tow, and Gale would be astonished if there was a designer alive who could build a bike to haul that much weight.
Gale watched a breath curl from her lips. It was going to be a chilly ride, but she didn't care. She loved the wind in her face and the smell of gasoline and rubber. And, if she was being honest, she liked the feel of her leathers. Especially after she'd almost killed herself for months trying to slim down and tone up to win the affection of a certain battleship.
Her ass looked
amazing now. It taken her almost a solid fifteen minutes to stop posing in the mirror before she finally left her room. Gale couldn't remember another time she felt so content with her figure. Which was probably good, since she was going to
ruin it with her aunt's cooking.
That woman wouldn't know healthy if it walked up and punched her. But
damn could she make a killer pot roast. Gale could already taste the hearty carrots and beef as she wheeled her bike out of its shed.
—|—|—
A scant few hundred feet away, battleships Kirishima and Washington sat hidden in trees. Wash wasn't entirely clear on why they had to climb trees for this, but Kirishima was the expert on romance, so Wash gratefully bowed to the Japanese warship's expertise. Besides, it was hard for her to question her current situation
andkeep both eyes firmly planted on the love of her life at the same time.
Wash's mouth hung open, and her chest felt tight against her uniform. Her heartbeats pounded in her ears as she watched the most beautiful sight she'd ever witness unfold before her eyes.
Yeoman Gale, the kindest, most loving, most
beautiful woman Wash had ever known was dressed in form-fitting leather. The shiny material hugged her figure as she swung one slender leg over the saddle-seat of a glossy red motorbike.
The sailor's stern—no, no that wasn't the word for peoples…
butt! that's the word!—sank into the bike's structure, caressing metal and plastic with its warm, gentle touch.
"I have never," Wash didn't care if Kirishima heard. She'd practically spent their whole patrol spilling her heart out to the littlest Kongou, "Ever… in my life… been so jealous of an inanimte object."
Kirishima blinked audible. "Uh… Wash?"
Wash was too enraptured with the dreamy curves of a woman she loved with all her heart, but knew she could never deserve to respond with anything more than a grunt.
"
We're inanimate objects," said Kirishima with a smirk.
Wash nodded, but the dopey-eyed look on her face told Kirishima she wasn't really listening.
The Kongou huffed and bit her lip in a pout. "Oh… for crying out loud…"
Before Wash knew what'd happened, Kirishima exploded out of the tree like a cat pricked with… with something cats don't like. Maybe a needle, or something, Wash wasn't an expert on cats. But whatever it was, it sent Kirishima flying like an armor-piercing shell with a roaring "BURNING LOVE!"
The littlest Kongou had apparently taken her big sister's mantra to heart. She slammed into the grass a few yards short of Gale, kicking up clods of dirt and digging a massive furrow as her titanic mass slowly ground to a halt.
Gale let out the flattest, "the fuck?" Wash had ever heard.
For a moment, nothing.
Somewhere in the distance, a cricket chirped.
Then Kirishima bounced to her feet with a frantic look in her eyes. "WAIT!" she barked.
Gale staggered back from the battleship's thundering bellow. She would have toppled over if she didn't have her bike's kickstand down.
"There are times," said Kirishima, "were stealth and caution are called for."
Gale blinked.
"This is not one of those times," said the wild-eyed battleship. "WASH!"
Wash jumped with surprise and fell out of her tree. Perhaps a better way to put it would be that her immense weight simply tore a Wash-shaped hole though the branches until she landed in a small crater, but in Wash's opinion that particular detail wasn't exactly relevant.
"What…" Gale looked from one battleship to the other, "What's going on?"
"Wash has something she'd like to tell you," said Kirishima. "Normally, I'd never condone something so direct. But…" She shrugged with a flourish of detached miko-uniform sleeve. "There are times when violence of action is needed."
"Kirishima," Gale hung her head, "I'm
driving to Seattle, I'm not getting into a night battle."
"Actually," Wash nervously worried the end of her scarf and took a few steps closer.
"Wait," Gale blinked. "This…"
"Gale," Wash coughed, and edged a little closer. "Uh… Sarah… Um…"
"Guys….." Gale frantically glanced around, trying to locate the hidden camera crew.
"Just say it!" Kirishima grabbed a clod of dirt off the ground and hurled it at Wash.
"Right," Wash fiddled her scarf for a moment, then slowly dropped to her knees. "Sarah Gale… you don't." The battleship stopped herself and pulled her uniform taunt. "I know I could never do anything to deserve someone like you."
Gale's frantic search stopped in an instant. "come again?"
Wash held up a finger in a desperate request to finish her prepared thought without interruption. "Sarah, I need you to know that I'm… that I love you. That when I look at you I see the
highest of the navy, and of the country."
The sailor froze, but while her body was still as a statute, her eyes frantically bounced from Wash's kneeling pleas to Kirishima's silent giggles.
"You're everything," said Wash, "I strive to be. And… I, uh… I just need you to know that."
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then Gale flew off her feet and pounced on Wash with a tight hug. "Yes!" she howled though tears of happy laughter. "Yes! Wash, I… Yes! I love you!"
Now it was Wash's turn to blink. "You… you do?"
"Yes!" said Kirishima, "now kiss!"
Neither needed to be told twice. Gale immediately released her hug only to grab the battleship's porcelain features and plant a sloppy kiss squarely on her serenely confused lips. Wash, for her part, looked more confused than a seventh grader at prom. But her hands seem to know what they were doing as they crept around Gale's waist and up her back in a warm caress.
"Awww!" Kirishima bounced with glee. "You two are so perfect!
For a long while, Gale and Wash held each other. The sailor's kiss and the battleship's hug together in a moment of pure love. Then, at long last, Gale pulled away with a dopey smile on her face.
Maybe… maybe she wouldn't be riding her bike down. "Wash?"
Judging from the dopey smile on her face, Wash was too excited to do anything more than nod.
"Would you like to meet my family?"
Wash nodded, and leaned in for another kiss.
Meanwhile, Kirishima let out a squeal that could probably be heard from space. Yes, that doesn't make any sense. But she was a Kongou, and she'd just witnessed the blossoming of true Burning Love. And even the laws of Physics would bow for
that.
