Shigure was surrounded by her sister ships as they looked down at her prone figure on the hospital bed in the early evening hours on the 15th of May, Yuudachi having spoon-fed her dinner while Murasame and Samidare looked at the hospital report which was hung at the foot of her bed, and Kawakaze folded her arms as she sat on a steel chair next to her bed, watching over her protectively.
After reaching Yokosuka in the afternoon and docking for several hours, Shigure was then treated by several surgeons and a pissed off Akashi who delivered one hell of a lecture on how foolish she was for sustaining these injuries in lieu of someone who had stats far superior to her and would have received less deadly injuries even without her interference, after which she was sent here to allow her to rest before her next dip in the docks.
She could hear Murasame reading from the clipboard which Shigure surmised Akashi had left behind after diagnosing her condition and writing something on it, not that Shigure could actually see these things as the furthest she could turn her head was to look at either the white wall which Yuudachi blocked or at Kawakaze's chair.
"Shigure-chan, I really don't like how you're throwing yourself into these life-threatening situations in your sorties. First and second-degree burns which border on third-degree burns on your back, a lost right leg and symptoms of shock either due to said injuries or the significant blood loss from said injuries. And what is this?"
Shigure could hear sheaths of paper being shuffled, and Murasame read out the words on the piece of paper which Akashi left behind on the clipboard.
"Hmm, looks like a Bingo game card. 'Lost left hand', 'Lost right hand', 'Lost left leg', 'Lost right leg', check, 'Lost heart', 'Burnt on 18/36/72/99% of body', first one, check,
'Blinded' 'Spine broken'—"
"—and that is all we shall read from this paper."
Samidare's voice sounded out as the paper was crumpled and tossed into what Shigure assumed was the trash bin, and she could see Yuudachi pouting as she leaned in close in order to speak to her, expressing her concerns about how Shigure was a magnet for trouble.
"Shigure. I understand your need to go on sorties in order to become stronger. But the fact that you're attracting all these life-threatening events or injuries like a trouble magnet, it really makes me worry about you whenever you sortie, poi."
Shigure sighed as she looked away, something which was difficult to do since she was lying prone on the hospital bed and the side of her face was pressed onto the pillow, and she could only focus on the white wall behind her sister as she answered Yuudachi in an exhausted tone.
"I … I understand. I don't want to lose any one of you, but that's only going to work if I don't kill myself in the process of trying to protect all of you. I know it was a questionable decision of mine to shield Chitose-san from the enemy's shell and torpedo, but in my defense, I require a shorter period of time to heal than Chitose-san, who would've taken a far longer period of time to recover if she were hit instead of me."
And she could hear Kawakaze speaking up on the other side of the bed, sounding extremely displeased about how Shigure tried to reason away her actions by prioritizing ship girls according to their usefulness and the strain on their base's resources, should they get injured.
"You know, Shigure-Aneki, I understand the need to prioritize the safety of more important and useful ship girls, but you shouldn't see yourself as a mere meat shield compared to every other ship class simply because you take a shorter time to recover. We're also important in our own way due to our high speed and evasion, as well as our night battle capabilities, so please don't sell yourself short. You mean the world to… to us, Aneki."
And Samidare moved into Shigure's line of sight as she suggested a horrifying possibility which occurred to her, looking extremely concerned about Shigure as she loomed over Yuudachi.
"Shigure-san, you didn't, by any chance, jump in front of the enemy attack simply because you didn't want to participate in the night battle, right?"
The atmosphere in the room became heavy, and Shigure tried her best to shake her head as her expression morphed into one of staunch denial, looking directly at her ship sisters as she retorted.
"No. Absolutely not. I may be fearful of night battles, but I would not needlessly expose myself to lethal danger and risk sinking just to avoid night battles. Please believe me when I say that your assumptions are wrong, and I genuinely wished to protect Chitose-san from harm."
Her sisters looked a little surprised at her firm statement which laid down her intentions, but Yuudachi, even though she looked rather concerned about Shigure, looked down with a morose gaze as she nodded slowly and responded sagely.
"I believe you, Shigure-chan. Your kindness knows no bounds, but you need to understand the root of our concern. While we wish to believe that you will be alright, if your past and present are anything to go by, you will always find yourself in life-threatening situations and risk sustaining lethal injuries which we cannot protect you from forever. Not without suffocating you in our embrace. We can only hope that the extra attention and care which we shower you with outside of your sorties is enough to make up for the lack of protection in battle, so I hope you can understand, poi."
Shigure nodded, hearing someone else enter the room via the clicking sound of the doorknob at the end of the room as she heard Junyou call out in exasperation, likely a result of seeing the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer get hurt all the time.
"Oh, god. What did that injury-prone little emo kid get hit with now?"
Before she heard Hiei respond to that with a fair bit of exasperation on her end due to Junyou choosing to express her concern through her boorish and aloof behavior.
"Your attitude isn't going to help Shigure recover, so quit it. She needs our attention and care, and that's what we're going to give her."
Before she spotted Yuudachi giving way to allow Hiei, Ayanami and Junyou to occupy her vision as Hiei's face relaxed into a caring one which was wracked with pain upon witnessing her injuries.
Ayanami's expression was somewhat distressed as she looked rather guilty about not being able to protect her, and as Junyou leaned over to observe her injuries, her face scrunched up as she wrinkled her nose and inhaled sharply after witnessing the severity of her injuries.
Hiei's eyes were brimming with a familial concern for her as she leaned in, and Shigure was glad that the Kongou-Class battleship wasn't wearing her headdress and thus couldn't poke her eye out or something, and Hiei asked Shigure tenderly about her condition.
"Shigure. I heard about your sortie, and how you… I know it's pointless to ask this question when you've already been treated and when I'm not a repair ship, but does it still hurt anywhere?"
Shigure did her best to shake her head in response to that, and Junyou knelt in order to look Shigure in the eye as she asked, looking extremely concerned about what she often got herself into without proper supervision at all times.
"I stay out of one sortie, and you get these kinds of injuries in return. I know that you mean well, but you know that it also hurts us to see you like this, right?"
Shigure nodded as she saw that Samidare patted a glum Ayanami who, much like her, occasionally blamed herself for any injuries which her teammates sustained, even if it was inflicted on them through no fault of their own.
Kawakaze responded to that, concurring with the Hiyou-Class light carrier as she spoke.
"I agree with Junyou-san, that it hurts to see you like this, Shigure-Aneki. But I understand that you did this in order to protect others, so…"
Nodding in agreement, Shigure spoke with her friends and sisters offhandedly as she thought about how they now knew of how Apocalypse featured vehicles which were created in preparation for the next stage of the war known as Apocalypse, and she wondered about how a Beast's footprints were capable of being left on the island when the satellites had shown that only two signatures were present throughout the field-test, a flying signature and a land signature.
It was one thing for a steel Beast to be able to steamroll smaller buildings with relative ease, but it was quite a mystery as to how there was only one land signature when there were signs of a Beast and a vehicle being on Aogashima Island, the Abyssal flying signature being accounted for as the transport vehicle which flew the land vehicle onto the island.
Perhaps it was because of two-dimensional thinking on her part since she wasn't exactly used to lateral thinking, but regardless, she now saw firsthand just how much damage a modern war vehicle could do.
And not through pictures or video, she sat down on rubble and debris and witnessed the potholes in the roads and the demolished buildings due to rockets being flown into them en masse, so it was something far deadlier than the Nazi's V-1 Flying Rocket, simply due to its repeat-fire capabilities as evidenced in its village-wide destruction.
It scared her, to not know of what the Abyssals were up to in the shadows, but she also wondered if she would regret knowing what they were up to if she were to glimpse into the abyss in order to divine what they were up to, and the carnage which they would unleash on this world.
Her attention was drawn back to a concerned Hiei and Yuudachi, both of whom crowded her vision as they spoke for everyone by asking her about her down expression.
"Shigure, are you alright?"
"You spaced out there, is there something bothering you, poi?"
Junyou looked especially worried as she thought up of how Shigure might sate her curiosity by trying to listen in on the Infiltration Fleet's conversations, asking.
"Oh god, you didn't, like, eavesdrop on the Infiltration Fleet when they were scouring the island for clues, did you? I heard that you went on the island with them because of your injuries, but did you get yourself injured so that…"
Shigure looked back up at her sisters and her fleet-mates as she put on her best 'I'm totally not lying to you all' face and thought to herself, preparing her answer.
No, they mustn't know about Apocalypse.
Not yet, anyway, if Admiral Haru intends to keep it on the down low for now. And besides, I didn't hear them talk about it, Shiranui-san recounted their conversation afterwards, so technically, I'm not lying when I disagree with Junyou-san on the eavesdropping part.
She gave them a tired smile as she lied (it's not lying, it's not lying) through her teeth, suddenly feeling fatigued all of a sudden after thinking so much despite being injured.
"Of course not, Junyou-san. It just that what little I remember about Aogashima Island was that everyone was talking in urgent voices, and if it's urgent enough to spook the Infiltration Fleet, I'm afraid that whatever's coming next is going to be unpleasant. I was just worrying about everyone's safety in the immediate and distant future."
Everyone visibly relaxed as they let out a collective sigh, causing Shigure's eyebrows to crease as she wondered if everyone expected her to be a snoop in the interest of knowing more about everyone and everything.
Hiei leaned in as she displayed a genuine smile which was so radiant, it made Shigure's heart twinge at the guilt of having to keep secrets from them all as the Kongou-Class battleship reassured her.
"Don't you worry, Shigure. I'll become stronger along with you and the rest of the 1st Fleet, so that you never have to feel alone when shouldering the responsibility of protecting others. This, I can promise you with all my heart."
Before closing her eyes and leaning in to tenderly place a kiss on Shigure's forehead, surprising everyone while a dumbfounded Shigure froze up as Hiei pulled back, looking a little embarrassed but not at all regretful regarding her intimate action.
Yuudachi furrowed her brows as she raised a fist in a confrontational manner as she wished to express her sisterly love for Shigure, not backing down despite going up against a battleship.
"Hey! I love Shigure-chan too, and I won't allow everyone to get ahead of me!"
And Junyou chirped, looking down with twinkling eyes as she slipped her hand into her pockets in order to fish something out.
"Well, if you want to one-up Hiei's kiss on the forehead, you need to either kiss her on the cheek or on the lips. If you're going to do that, let me get out my phone in order to take a photo of it, these sell really well on the internet!"
Everyone turned away from Shigure in order to face Junyou as Murasame asked disbelievingly, Shigure herself raising an eyebrow in Junyou's direction as she assumed everyone else did.
"And how would you know about that, Junyou-san?"
As Junyou threw up her arms, retorting,
"Oh come on! A naval base full of bisexual, beautiful female soldiers of all ages who eat, sleep and bathe together while forming close bonds with one another and sustain clothing damage all the time, it's no wonder that this would be the ideal place for any healthy adolescent boy or girl to want to be in, minus the alien invasion part. Excuse me for wanting to earn some income aside from my monthly paycheck to pay for Auntie Junyou's drinking habits, alright?"
Shigure could hear Kawakaze confidently speaking up behind her, sounding rather enthusiastic about the prospect of kissing her beloved sister as she remarked.
"I totally wouldn't mind kissing Shigure-Aneki, too! If you're gonna do it, gotta go all the way and do it mouth-to-mouth, that's the way to go!
Better break out the fire extinguishers, 'cause this kiss's gonna be hot!"
While Samidare turned to face Kawakaze, raising an eyebrow and pointing out Kawakaze's poor choice of words as her expression morphed into one of slight discomfort and amusement all in one.
"Kawakaze. Shigure is recovering from severe burns, so it might not be appropriate for you to focus on the 'hotness' of the intimate move which you suggest."
She could hear Kawakaze utter out,
"Urk!"
Upon realizing her mistake, and she then leaned over on the hospital bed to look into Shigure's eyes, her dangling fringe exposing her forehead as she spoke into Shigure's ear.
"Sorry, Shigure-Aneki!"
Shigure broke out into a relieved smile upon seeing everyone interact with each other and providing her company in her ward, everyone looking somewhat relaxed as the dust settled after the sortie and allowed everyone to enjoy each other's company before the next bloody battle.
She wasn't going to be personally responsible for destroying the peace which was their main respite from the horrifying reality of war, and if that meant she had to keep Apocalypse from everyone to allow them some peace of mind before the other shoe dropped, she would do so for the greater good.
Perhaps it was also selfishness on her part to indulge in these peaceful moments and allow herself the chance to be happy even though she knew of their impending doom, but if Admiral Haru didn't want to let everyone know about this, she was in no position to act against her Admiral's wishes by telling everyone about Apocalypse, inadvertently souring everyone's mood.
She was simply acting in everyone's best interests, and she was confident that Admiral Haru, the woman who led one of the largest naval bases in the world, had the situation under control.
All she had to do for now was to observe the situation as best she could without interfering, and offer her help at a time when she knew she wouldn't be rejected and would least likely be punished for her less-than-legal activities in order to allow herself to become stronger.