Hey!

Some Kitsune lore is involved here, which may be inaccurate. 

Slightly dark tones. Showing just how lucky Commander Fubuki actually was.

Let's get back to it.

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"And that's everything, Admiral..."

The Admiral, with a black eye, stared at the Commander and the people standing before him in his office with annoyance, shock and acceptance. 

Fubuki stood a step ahead of a line of people and had just finished explaining everything from when she left the naval academy, the events with Gangut and Kohaku, to where she stood now. Behind Fubuki stood Gangut, Shigure, Yuudachi, and a quiet Kohaku and beside the Admiral were the Shikikan, Amagi and Nagato. 

Shaking his head at the strange events that must have unfolded, he looks at Kohaku, "Well, Kohaku? Anything to say?"

"..." Kohaku remains silent, looking at the floor. Amagi and Nagato stare at him in concern. They fully understand how he must have been feeling at the time. Rut or Heat both affected how their minds worked.

What hurt the two fox women the most was the lack of eye contact... Kohaku had yet to look at either of them even once.

"Kohaku... You understand the gravity of your actions?" The Admiral affirmed sternly.

"..."

"Silence will not-"

"Admiral! This is ridiculous," Amagi's raised voice cuts the Admiral off.

"He almost rape-"

"So?" Amagi cuts him off again.

Everyone stares at Amagi with shock, except for Nagato and Kohaku, who is still staring at the floor, ears flat against his head and tails motionless.

"Amagi, listen..." The Admiral warns, not wanting to have this conversation, but Amagi is making it worse.

"No... *Cough*... You listen! We have our own... Instincts/needs that must be met! It's not Kohaku's fault you could not control Roon when she arrived, forcing him out of his self-confinement. *Cough, Cough* It's not his fault Fubuki decided to tease him!"

Everyone watches as the Admiral and Amagi have a stare-down.

Without breaking eye contact, the Admiral pushes a button on his desk, and within thirty seconds, Sheffield, Hornet, Z23 and Ayanami enter the room and stand behind Kohaku. 

All four ladies look conflicted.

"Ladies, please escort IJN Kohaku to the small bungalow that was prepared for him. He is currently under house arrest," The Admiral orders, but even he looks conflicted.

The whole room tenses, "What a load of bull!" Yuudachi shouts angrily.

"Admiral, reconsider this instant!" Amagi growls and her tails start swaying angrily.

The four ladies hesitate to move, but Sheffield is the first to grab Kohaku's arm and gently pull him from the room, followed by Hornet and Z23.

Ayanami remains till. The Admiral glares at her, "I gave you an order."

Ayanami looks at Nagato pleadingly, "Lady Nagato... The Admiral is dooming us all!"

The Admiral's brow raises in confusion, and Nagato stares back at Ayanami, knowing what she means.

Nagato lowers her head in shame, unsure how to stop this.

"IJN Ayanami, I take no pleasure in anything I'm doing here, but I must be hard. I can't let him get away with crimes like I won't let anyone else..."

Ayanami grits her teeth, turns her back on the Admiral, and leaves the room with some parting words.

"Akashi will hear of this Admiral... When she does, Azur Lane will be crippled, and then you'll understand how the Sakura Empire struggles... Don't say you weren't warned."

"..."

Nagato, Amagi, Shigure and Yuudachi all sigh in frustration and dread.

Akashi was becoming the monster under the bed to many Kansen.

- - - - - - - - - -

Kohaku and the four women walk silently through the Azur Lane base. Hornet attempts to make small talk but receives only silence from the male Kansen.

His head may be hung low, but he can see signs of battle everywhere... Shell holes, craters, scorch marks and occasionally damaged buildings or pavement. It looks like the Sirens attacked when he was away.

Plenty of Manjuus ran around with little yellow hard hats, fixing anything damaged. If things were different, he would have been helping them, but not today, it seems, or tomorrow...

It probably explained why the Admiral had a black eye. He got smacked by Purifier or something.

Only after a few minutes, the five stood in front of a small one-story bungalow with plain white walls and a small garden. Sheffield noticed him analyzing the structure, "Home for the naval officers on base, there are a few around here. It hasn't been used once, Master."

Sheffield was quieter than usual and pantiless, he was sure. 

Kohaku glanced at her and nodded, "How does this work? I enter and not leave while you guard the exits?"

The four looked at each other briefly before looking back at him in sympathy, "The guard rotation is random. The four Kansen to guard you will be picked by the Admiral and Shikikan at random for both night and day shifts.

"... I see," Kohaku said no more and walked forward to the heavier-looking door with multiple locks, which looked out of place on a bungalow door. Before he could enter, Kohaku was stopped by someone grabbing his arm.

"Let me go..." Kohaku turned to face Z23, staring up at him with wet eyes.

"... Kohaku... None of us asked for this... We..."

"Stop, I've heard it all before. It's the Sakura Empire all over again..." Kohaku says coldly. The four women flinch.

Ayanami recoils the most, knowing what he refers to—already seeing the similarities from his confinement before Exile at the Sakura Empire's hands. The last time he was exiled, he stood before Nagato, Amagi and the rest of the higher-ranking Shipgirls of the Sakura Empire.

This time? He stood before the Admiral, Nagato and Amagi. 

But currently, no Exile...

Did he think Lady Nagato and Amagi had something to do with this? Their shock at the Admiral's words was genuine; Amagi tried to defend him... Surely, he doesn't think they had any part of this?

*Slam*

The four ladies jumped and stared at the now-closed door.

"It won't be long before the whole base hears about this..." Hornet rubs her forehead in dismay. She was already picturing a furious Yorktown scolding her and certainly didn't want to know what Enterprise would do.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Admiral? With all due respect... What the f*ck?!" 

"Commander Fubuki! Watch yourself!" The Admiral asserted.

"It was my fault. Why aren't you getting it when I say that, sir!"

Fubuki stood in the Admiral's office long after all the others had been dismissed, pacing back and forth in front of the Admiral's desk furiously.

"Would you still be saying that if he had succeeded?" The Admiral decided to ignore the attitude she was giving him. He laced his fingers together and watched her pace.

"That's not fair. That's a 'What If!'" Fubuki mumbled, throwing her hands in the air.

"... You're a Commander now. If we can't find answers, we must at least understand the dreaded 'What If' scenarios we may face."

"Fine! If he succeeded, then... I'd probably be showing you a positive pregnancy test right about now."

"No, Commander, you would be dead..."

"...?" Fubuki stops pacing and stares at the Admiral with puzzlement.

"Your Lifeforce would be taken."

"..."

"Your body ripped apart piece by piece and eaten."

"..."

"You would have been his pleasure and then his dinner!" The Admiral stands and shouts at the wide-eyed Commander.

"I-I don't..."

"A Shipboy he may be, but he will always be a Kitsune first." He cuts her off.

Fubuki stands there trembling as the Admiral continues, "This isn't a Hentai story, girl! Do you think he would have used you gently, and then you may start to enjoy it?! You said the 'What If' was you getting pregnant like it's something you could accept?!"

"I..."

"Kitsunes are from your culture, for goodness sake, girl. What happens to men in the myths that female Kitsune use? The man experiences great pleasure and is then eaten while still alive and awake..." The Admiral signs and sits back down, rubbing his tired face.

"Perhaps you would have experienced the pleasure you think you would have, but pleasure would soon devolve into your worst nightmare made real. The result doesn't bear thinking about."

Fubuki stares at the Admiral, tears running down her face, and before the Admiral can stop her, she runs out of the room and slams the door, leaving him in silence.

Looking down at his shaking hands, he pulled a bottle of whiskey from his desk drawer and poured himself a glass.

He takes a satisfied sip before speaking, "I know you two are there..."

Silence followed, but soon after, the sound of claws scratching the hardwood floor and yipping entered the room as two foxes appeared behind his office's corner sofa. They came to sit in the centre of the room and stared intently at the Admiral with more intelligence than any fox should.

One brown fox and one White, both beautiful and elegant, even when sitting as their tails wrapped around each other. It didn't take a genius to know who these two little foxes were.

"Akagi, Kaga... That was a private meeting. Why must everyone disobey direct orders today."

With a bright flash of light. The little foxes transformed, and two familiar and beautiful ladies stood before him. Their tails swaying hypnotically behind them.

"Admiral... How did you know we were in the room?" Akagi smiles down at him while Kaga stares blankly at him.

Considering everything they heard, their presence didn't concern him, even though they could easily rip his old body to shreds.

"Even as little foxes, your perfume doesn't change. Cherry blossom and pine, I believe," He shrugs.

Akagi's smile grows, and Kaga sniffs herself, much to the Admiral's inner amusement.

"Hehehe, you know your perfumes, trying to impress us?"

"No, I don't know much about perfume, and I'm too old for that," The Admiral replied instantly, shutting down her false flirting. He could tell she wasn't happy, neither of them were... Akagi's false smile told him everything, and the fact Kaga had yet to call him weak was telling.

"I thought you knew our kind so well?" Kaga asks before Akagi can continue.

The Admiral smiled. He knew where this was going, "Am I wrong?"

Kaga bristled at his smile, and Akagi's smile grew cold. She must have gotten her smile from Amagi...

"I don't claim to know a lot, but having to work with Shipgirls with animal traits that can and will affect their work ethic, I felt it necessary to brush up on their lore, as it were, so you can get annoyed all you like but you can't deny it."

"Hehehe, he's a clever Admiral, isn't he, my dear Kaga?"

"Weak..."

The Admiral rolls his eyes, "What would you two do to a poor, unassuming man in the height of your Heat."

Akagi giggles, and Kaga gives him a faint smile, "If he's strong and virile, he would be able to fend us off from eating him and provide strong offspring." 

Doesn't Kaga understand how unhinged she sounds when casually talking about such things? The Admiral could only shiver in slight disgust. Kaga almost sounds like it's a right of passage for any man to go through just to bed her...

"Now, dear Kaga, can't you see you're making him uncomfortable?" Akagi brushes her tails up against her sisters.

"Then maybe he's weak."

The Admiral could only roll his eyes again and snort at Kaga's reasoning. How many times has Kaga called him weak in his lifetime? A few hundred by this point.

"Maybe, but that's not why we're here, right? Dear Kaga?" Akagi goes back to smiling and saunters forward, placing her hands on the Admiral's desk, leaning forward slightly, closing the distance, and forcing the Admiral to lean back in his chair.

"I can only imagine what you both want..." He says sarcastically with no fear, even with two powerful Kitsunes staring down at him.

"It's relatively simple, Admiral. We want full access to Kohaku while he's under house arrest."

- - - - - - - - -

Kohaku slammed the heavy door behind him and pressed his back against it, sliding down until his butt hit the floor. He pulled his knees close and stared at the floor coldly as he wrapped himself in his tails for comfort.

He wanted to cry, but no tears came, the memory of being tossed away as Nagato, Amagi and the others stared at him blankly. 

He could only breathe raggedly and whimper quietly, knowing once again Nagato and Amagi were there and once again did very little as he was arrested...

He stayed to help Yorktown, and this was the thanks he got? Said the rebellious part of his mind, but he knew it was not a betrayal, not in the same sense. He almost did a bad thing and had to pay for it.

He didn't blame the Admiral. If anything, he respects the man more for it... Not many would have the spine.

*Knock, Knock*

Kohaku raised his head at the knocking above his head. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but the room was darker than before, perhaps mid-evening?

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

Sighing loudly as his large fox ears flinched from the knocking, he stood and took a deep breath, assuming the locks on the outside had been undone to allow him to open the door. Kohaku rubs his eyes, feeling like they were wet when they never were. He opens the door. 

His eyes widen in surprise.

Warspite stood at the door, looking at him with an awkward smile, but what caught his attention the most?

She was holding out a red-petaled flower for him.

He was caught completely off-guard by her gesture. Her simple offering told him everything he needed to know, and Kohaku didn't know if it was by instinct or because he was having a very rough day. 

He made a split-second decision. 

He pulled a surprised Warspite close and kissed her deeply.

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Done!

It's been an enjoyable chapter to write.

So they are now back home, and poor Kohaku has not had a good time lately.

It was nice to see Amagi at least trying to help, but is that because she feels guilty because of the last time? Hmmm.

I'm conflicted with Nagato; she's one of my favourites, and I want her to be on good terms with Kohaku, maybe more, but she's not helping by not doing or saying anything.

Akashi's wrath is coming...

Kohaku is now on house arrest. I know many would say, why is he putting up with this... Because I said so... This is where the drama and all the girls I need for the future are happening.

For now...

I went into some Kitsune lore. I'm not sure how accurate it is, so there is no need for a lecture. It's the lore in this story.

Kitsune's are apparently very dark in my Azur Lane world, ha!

I debated whether I wanted Amagi and Nagato to appear again as foxes, but I decided on Akagi and Kaga. I don't regret it!

Are they up to no good? The Admiral must hold firm!

I wanted something sweet to happen for Kohaku, and so I did... It couldn't get any sweeter than that.

Our adorable Warcorgi is putting her lessons from the Admiral into practice. Her reward is a kiss.

I own no Art of Gif's

Thanks for the support and votes.

Zero-