Akamatsuverse Days of Infamy

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Ran into a roadblock writing the prologue, so I decided to post this piecemeal like with Ronins Imperialis (which, before you ask, is indeed still in progress). Enjoy. Or not.

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'Dear Naru,

'I want so bad to hold you in my arms again, and to hold our son Kotaro - I hope I get to finally see him someday!

'The commander gave us our new orders today. I'm not allowed to write about them... but they scare me. I'm not sure if this is one even my 'invincible' self can come through alive. I don't even want to think about not being able to come back to you after all of this... but ever since Seta died in Hong Kong, and left aunt Haruka - don't let her see that part! - all alone...

'Regardless of what happens to me, Naru, I want you to keep on living. Kentaro should be back in Japan soon - losing a leg's a quick way to get a ticket home. I've told him to try and find you after he gets out, so if I don't make it through all of this, he'll take care of you. Yeah, I know you're probably wondering what I was thinking, but trust me, he's changed. We all have out here.

'Take care of Kotaro, and everyone back home at the Hinata Sou! Who knows, maybe we'll pull through this after all, and the next time you hear from me it'll be me walking through the door! Tell everyone I love them... and I love you too, Naru. No matter what happens out here.

'Love, Keitaro
June 1st, 1942'

Naru read through the short, worn letter again, allowing herself a small sob. She clutched the letter to her chest for a moment, then silently tucked it away back into the envelope it had arrived to her in, lovingly placing it atop a stack of other papers, documents, and dozens of other letters that lay within one of the bags she'd been packing. She simply couldn't leave without the letters... especially that one.

Sighing, Naru turned her attention to a telegram that lay crinked and torn at the edge of the desk. She couldn't leave behind that one either, she supposed. She picked up the telegram, proudly emblazoned with the emblem of the Imperial Japanese Army, and made an attempt to smooth the damaged notice out. Steeling herself, Naru opened her eyes and read through the invoice once more.

'To Miss Urashima Naru,

'We regret to inform you that your husband, 2nd Lt. Urashima Keitaro, was killed in action on the twenty-ninth of July, 1942, by elements of the Soviet Army outside Kuweit City. He died bravely in the service of the Emperor and Japan, and for his exceptional valor in combat he has been posthumously awarded the Bukochosho. He has brought Japan, and his family, great honor.

'Sugiyama Hajime, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff'

Naru resisted the urge to tear the telegram in half. 'Great honor' indeed! Five long years in a foreign land, fighting desparately each day, wading through rivers of blood in the name of 'honor', and then, after so much time and so many battles and successful campaigns, striking at a foe without cause or reason, and provoking doom... not only of one's self, but one's country...

Honor. Once it had had such meaning - such reverence - in Japan. Now Naru suspected that it would never again regain it's place in Japanese society... if there was a Japanese society left in the years to come. That thought, and the thundering sound of artillery in the distance, reminded Naru of why she had to hurry with gathering her things.

The evacuation.

Naru quickly gathered the rest of the documents she needed, placing them in the same bag as the letters, before hefting her bags up onto her shoulders and surveying her room. Outside and visible through the room's windows, beyond the hills to the north and east of Hinata, the sky flashed with light and sound as the battle for Tokyo raged only a few miles away. A line of fire rose up from an anti-aircraft battery hidden from sight beyond the hill, and one of the countless black dots that swirled and circled through the cloudless sky erupted into flame and began to spiral towards the earth below.

There was an abrupt knock at the door to her room - former room, anyway - and Naru turned to see her best friend quickly step in. "Naru...", Mitsune Konno said, her eyes both opened wide - with fear. "We need to go. Haruka says that they're less than three miles away now, and headed this way!"

Naru nodded sadly. "I know, Kitsune. I was just...saying good-bye."

Kitsune was silent for a long moment, then nodded hesitantly. "Ok, but just hurry... please."

Naru watched sadly as her best friend turned, trembling, and walked away. It hurt seeing her like that... but after what had nearly happened to her in Sendai, no one blamed her.

A distant explosion brought Naru out of her musings, and she turned once again to witness a ball of fire rising up from inside the city of Hinata. Steeling herself, Naru gave her room one last look, then turned and left wordlessly.

Entering the living room downstairs, Naru felt a hand clasp the strap of one of her shouldered bags. Keeping a tight hold on it at first as she turned, Naru sighed and allowed the man behind her to relieve her of her burdens. "Sorry. Thank you, Shingen."

Tsuruko's husband smiled and shook his head. "No problem, Naru."

Just then, a small blur shot out of the kitchen, running into and attatching itself to Naru's leg. "Mommy!"

A smile came to Naru's face as she knelt down, hoisting her son up into her arms as a young woman exited the kitchen behind him with an exhausted look on her face.

"Have you been having fun with aunt Kanako, Kotaro?", Naru said, giggling at her sister-in-law's expression.

"We've been playing hide-and-seek!", the five year old declared.

"...In the tunnels.", Kanako finished, sighing. "Oh yes, so much fun."

"What're all the bags for mommy?", Kotaro asked, noticing the various pieces of packed luggage scattered throughout the room and on Naru and 'Uncle Shingen's shoulders, "Are we going somewhere?"

Naru's smile took on a sadder tone. "Yes, Kotaro, we're going to go visit aunt Mutsumi for awhile."

"In Okinawa?"

Naru shook her head sadly. "No, sweety. Aunt Mutsumi lives in Nagasaki now."

"Oh...ok!"

"But mother...!", a new voice exclaimed from the living room behind them, causing Naru to turn.

 

[Legacy|iB]

Hm, sounds interesting, actually. I enjoyed it.

Soviet Army in Kuwait? (you did mean Kuwait, right?) Is this some sort of alternate history sort of thing? Never mind, I was just curious. I like the setup - the whole Naru heartbroken because Keitaro's gone off to fight and got killed, and such.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Yes, this is highly AU (also, Kuweit was what Kuwait was known as during WWII, according to my research). A short bit of non-spoilerific history: in 1936, the Soviet Union began expanding and modernizing it's army in responce to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. In 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the Soviet Union invaded Germany right back. By 1941 all of Europe except Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland was under Soviet control. In late 1941 and early 1942 the Soviet Union began seizing control of the Middle East, and Japan (at the time in control of China, southeast Asia, and the formerly British colonies of India and Pakistan) wanted that area for itself, as it's oil fields were the key to defeating the recent US oil embargo (launched in responce to Japanese occupation of Austrailia and Molmol) without sparking hostilities with America. The Japanese offensive against the Soviet forces there didn't go so well.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Due to David Alan Abramczyk's interest, I've decided to edit the first post with the little extra bit I've got written (the rest of the prologue is currently stuck in Writer's Block Land) as an excuse to bump this topic.

So... bump.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Say, here's an idea, if you're interested. What if Britain has left the war at this time, and is now supplying humanitarian aid to Japan? You know, helping evacuate civilians and such.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

The US, Britain and France are invading Japan from the south, eventually leading to the country being partitioned into Communist North and Democratic South (y helo thar, Korea), with Kyoto being divided into Communist East and Democratic West similar to IRL Berlin. Naru and co are fleeing to Allied-controlled Japan, which starts at Kyoto.

And like I said, in this alternate history WWII went VERY differently. In 39 when Germany invaded Poland, the Soviet Union declared war on Germany and stampeded all the way to the French border within months. This was followed up by the gobbling up of all of Eastern Europe and Italy while the Western Allies could do little but look on in horror (and the Republic of Spain shortly afterward became a Soviet puppet state). By the end of 1941 the Soviet Union had control of over half of Europe and was seizing control of the entire Middle East, all the way to Suez.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Oh. Well, would you like me to help nut out the goings on? This tickles my interest, as I've always wanted to see Spitfires tangle with Zeroes as Mosquitoes give the Imperial Japanese Army one right up the Bushido!

 

[Zenithos]

I like it. the story actually takes place in 1942? yeah, it is a complete AU. You've always been in love with the Soviets, haven't you? Will the LH crew have any part in the war or will they be mere survivors?

Can't help but feel sorry for Keitaro though.

Any chance of the fighter-tans showing up or will the story be strictly by the book?

Hurry up with the update!

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Lengthy version:

This is based on a game of Hearts of Iron II I played awhile back, so basically everything I'm posting now actually happened in that game (can't give you AARs or screenshots, as HoI crashed and deleted my save file right as I was sending the Red Army into London):

In 1936 (the earliest you can start in HoI II), Stalin pulled his head out of his ass and realized that the Soviet military and economy needed drastic overhauls. Cue an absolutely ruthless industrialization campaign and military buildup that makes his earlier Five Year Plans look like tea parties. Technological development goes straight through the roof as well after Russian scientists, with the aid of NKVD spies stealing technology from all over the world, develop the world's first electronic computer in early 1937. By September 1939 and Germany's blitzkrieg into Poland, the Soviet Union had a military that put every other armed force in the world to shame, and their technology was already nearing the point where the Soviet Union was nearing completion of the Atomic Bomb (which they did complete in early 1940 and dropped on a city in Italy [I forgot which one, I think it was either Venice or Genoa - certainly wasn't Rome] in order to force the Italians to surrender).

When Germany offered the Soviet Union the treaty that would historically become known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin rejected it outright. Germany declared war on Poland anyway, and the Soviet Union declared war on Germany. Germany blitzkrieged Poland from the west, the USSR blitzkrieged Poland from the east, smashed straight through the German blitz, and was in Berlin by Christmas. England and France could do little but watch as the Soviet Union promptly gobbled up Eastern Europe and Italy (except for Italy's African colonies, which Great Britain and France partitioned amongst each other). Afterwards the Soviet Union forced England and France out of the Middle East (just as Japan was mopping up France's Indochina colonies and overrunning British India and Austrailia, with Molmol having fallen in 38), then promptly invaded the area and had control of everything from Iran to the Suez canal and Istanbul by 42.

After Japan got hit by the US Oil Embargo for taking control of India and Austrailia, Japan attacked the Soviet Union in Iran in an attempt to seize the Middle Eastern oil fields for itself. Unfortunately, confusion and rivalries amongst Japan's military General Staff (such as Japan's Chief of the Navy at the time - I forget who he was, but the NKVD had assassinated Yamamoto in 41, so it wasn't him - feeling upset about the Army hogging all the glory in China and Austrailia) led to Japan ALSO attacking Pearl Harbor and getting into a war with America. Cue remorseless assraping by the two strongest nations in the world.

The Japanese forces in the Middle East were promptly cut off by the Soviet onslaught that followed, with the last remnants of the Japanese forces that didn't manage to escape/evacuate being overrun by the end of July 1942 in the Iraq/Kuwait area, while the Japanese Navy got wtfpwned by the American Navy at the Battle of Midway (which lasted a whole month and saw the destruction of every single ship larger than a destroyer in both navies with the exception of one carrier on Japan's side and a few battleships on America's side, who promptly hunted down and sank the lone Japanese carrier shortly afterwards with the aid of the British Royal Navy).

Japan started getting carpet bombed within days of the outbreak of hostilities, and within months Soviet forces had redeployed from Europe to Asia and began an all-out assault into China aimed at putting Mao (who fled to Russia when China officially capitulated to Japan) in power as a puppet dictator over a communist China, as well as other communist leaders in puppet Asian countries (Kim Il Sung in Korea, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Pol Pot in Cambodia, etc.). By mid 1943 all Japan had left was the four main islands (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido), and Hokkaido was being invaded by the Soviet Union. By the time the Prologue takes place (around August 1943), the Soviet Union already had control of Hokkaido and all of Honshu north of Tokyo and was already rushing straight towards Kyoto to seal the borders and prevent mass evacuation to the American-British occupied area, centered around Kyushu, Shikoku, and Kyoto-Osaka.

After the end of the Prologue, the scene for Chapter 1 shifts backward in time to New Year's Day 1937 - Keitaro and Naru's wedding (I don't know if there's some sort of cultural stigma or something in Japan - or anywhere - about marrying on New Year's, and frankly I don't give a damn). By that time Keitaro has already completed basic training in the Imperial Japanese Army and is on indefinite leave while the IJA makes redeployments of military forces throughout the Japanese Empire, and on April 21st Keitaro is assigned to the "Hinata Hoheishidan", an infantry division made up of recruits from Hinata, which is then assigned to a Field Army dubbed the "25 Hendan" under General Asaka (who is promoted to Field Marshal - or whatever the corresponding IJA rank was - on May 19th). On June 5th 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurs and Japan and China go to war, with the 25 Hendan being called into service immediately. Two days later the 25 Hendan is on it's way to China (sans tanks, field artillery, or any of the heavy equipment it was supposed to receive but didn't due to industrial delays), and Keitaro, Seta, Haitani, and Shirai never see Japan again.

Edit: And no fighter-tans. Naru, Kitsune, Motoko, Tsuruko, Haruka and Kanako all make brief appearances every few chapters or so to read letters from Keitaro, Kaolla and Amalla appear when Molmol is occupied by Japan and the royal family (aside from the two princesses) is executed, with Kaolla being shipped off to China and Amalla being shipped off to who-knows-where. Keitaro eventually finds Kaolla (and Shinobu) in an IJA whorehouse in China and frees them, nearly getting himself executed in the process (and as punishment, Keitaro's unit is placed on the front lines during the siege of British-controlled Hong Kong and Seta is killed in the fighting). After Kaolla and Shinobu are freed they do not appear again until the epilogue. Nyamo, Ema, and Sarah don't appear at all (currently - I might fit them in later).

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Well.... That's...... Impressive.

Say, how'd you feel if we co-wrote this? With my knowledge of American and British military strategies and tactics, and your knowledge of "Love Hina", it'd be truely epic!

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Sure. You write faster than me, and just as well (if not slightly better). I can simulate the entire conflict from the beginning with Hearts of Iron II (I started a second game playing as Japan to do just yet, but got bored and saved the game after taking Beiping, haven't picked it up since, though the save is still there), down to the day and hour... for example, I copyed all of this down the moment the war with China began:

June 5th 1937: Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan declares war on China.
June 7th 1937: 25 Hendan deployed to China sans tanks and heavy equipment.
0:00 June 15th 1937: 25 Hendan arrives in Tianjing, linking up with the Kwangtung Theater Army HQ under Sugiyama.
1:00 June 15th: Imperial Japanese Army's Molgol Army under Higashikuni engage Shanxi forces in Jining.
9:00 June 15th: Mongol Army defeats Shanxi forces in Jining.
11:00 June 15th: 1 & 2 Hikoutai bomb Baoding.
20:00 June 15th: 25 Hendan assault Baoding plains in clear weather.
22:00 June 15th: 25 Hendan victorious.
0:00 June 17th: Imperial Japanese Army forces assault Beiping.
10:00 June 17th: 25 Hendan engaged by Chinese forces en route to Baoding.
11:00 June 17th: 25 Hendan victorious
15:00 June 18th: 13 Hendan arrives in Beiping
10:00 June 19th: 25 Hendan arrives in Baoding

It looks kind of confusing (I was copying the times and such down by hand on a piece of paper, then typing them up in Wordpad later), but after a bit it's not hard to follow. It even determines what the terrain in the area of conflict was (based on what the area actually looked like back then), as well as the weather at the time. We could thusly script out almost the entire damn war using HoI (with allowances for cutting or altering certain scenes for dramatic effect), then use our knowledge of the strategies and tactics and such of that era (I've been studying all things Soviet Union since I was eleven, so I can do a lot of the Soviet-related work and know what to reference when I run into something I don't know) to give the fic it's proper "soldier's eyes" setting.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Great!

Just so you know, in the parts where the "Hinata Honeys" (Such a wonderful term, I wonder where it came from) are evacuating to the Allied lines, the Allies are going to be represented mostly by Lieutenant Harold James Warsley of "The West Yorkshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's Own)" (a British Regiment that in our timeline, incidently, fought in Burma from 1942-1945).

So, I also take it that, in the other part, you'd want me to run the opponents as well?

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Mostly, yes. I'll simulate the rest of that game as Japan up until the point Japan invades Soviet Persia (at which point two players would have to be playing the game to get things to work right - for example, while playing my Soviet Union game things progressed like I stated [buildup in 36, conquering Europe by 41, conquering Middle East by 42 and Japan invading me in the same year], in my Japan game various weird shit happened [like Germany getting into a war with Austria and Czechoslovakia - and losing - while France and Portugal invaded Spain] that WASN'T in the script), and after that point we'll make it up as we go along. I already have the epilogue scripted out, just not written - I'll PM the data to you to keep it unspoilerific.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Roger that, Skipper.