A Friend Amongst Enemies

In the midst of one of the bloodiest battles in history. Two soldiers from opposing sides form a very unlikely bond. Containing violent combat scenes.

I don't own Girls und Panzer

She looked over her work with satisfaction after working tirelessly over the last several hours.

Her room, once like that of any other girl her age , was now nothing but a blank cell filled with a empty bed frame, several covered pieces of furniture, and a massive pile of crates and boxes in the corner.

After seeing that everything was done, she finally let out a long exhale while wiping off a line of sweat off her forehead. And went over to by the door to pick up a large duffel bag containing everything that she'll need: a black double breasted jacket along with several black trousers and grey collared shirts.

She dusted off the collared shirt and trousers that she had on already after slinging the bag over her shoulder and looked back one more time as a beam of light came thru the room's one window. She spent her entire life in that room. And it was the last time that she'll probably ever be within it's four walls.

Turning her attention to the drawer to her left, she notices two photos on top of it. Looking over the two-framed pictures she reminisced over the memories they brought, then placed them into her duffel bag along the clothes she already had in it before finally leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

As she walked through the corridors of the large house she looks at the multiple paintings on the walls depicting past family members in military uniforms stretching back hundreds of years until she at last reached the houses main staircase.

Looking down the stairs she saw two people below, two women with a similar short haircut to her own, one several years younger with lighter hair in the uniform for the local high school, and the other several years older with dark hair and in traditional clothing.

Happy that they were their to see her off, she came down the stairs with a slight uplifting happiness to be able to see them one last time before leaving.

"Maho!" The younger one called out as she saw her come down the steps and came over to her at a fast speed.

"Miho!" She returned as she took her into a tight embrace at the bottom of the staircase after placing her heavy bag down.

"Mistress." The older one greeted with a bow.

"Kikuyo." Maho exchanged in greeting as she let go of Miho and stood up. "Do you know where mother is, I haven't seen her since I started on cleaning my room?"

Kikuyo remained in her straight stance and answered. "I'm sorry I do not know. I have just returned with your sister from school so she can see you before you go, so I have not seen her yet. And you do know that preparing your room was MY job?" Adding a bit of irritation in the fact that Maho's mother would be furious finding out the fact that she wasn't there to at least help her with the task.

Maho couldn't help but laugh at that last comment from Kikuyo, the family servant. "I did, but I saw how busy you were lately. And to be honest I prefer to do things myself sometimes thank you."

Kikuyo bowed again "I'm sorry Mistress, It's just that your mother can be a little... irritable at times."

Just as she said that however, the sound of an engine could be heard outside, and a woman came in through the door, she had long black hair, and dressed almost completely in black wearing a black jacket, breeches, and shoes; the only exception being the red armband on her left arm, and the Golden Party Badge on her chest.

"Maho." She called as she came in.

"Mother." Maho greeted back.

"Madam, I was afraid that you would not be able to come." Kikuyo greeted as well as she bowed once again to the head of the household.

"There was an urgent call from the Administration office, but I was able to get everything in line." She then turned her attention towards Maho. "You're doing a great service to your country, along with bringing honor to your family. Well done."

"Yes, thank you mother." She acknowledged, her personality changing from her cheerful self a few moments ago, into being void of all emotion.

Her mother was a prominent member of the political leadership corps, and along with several other duties that she had, she led the local efforts for collecting of raw materials for the war effort, she was part of the Schwarzwald Spitze High School administration board, the head of the Bund Deutscher Mädel branch in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, and a major collaborator for the areas propaganda campaigns.

"Speaking of which, I had this order for you. It came in a few days ago, but I decided to hold on to it till now." Her mother then approached a locked cabinet, bringing out a black belt with a holster. She then walked over to Maho and presented it to her.

After reaching for it, Maho opened the holster, and pulled out a new Walther P38, and overlooking it for a short while.

"You'll probably never truly need it as you'll be well protected, but you can never be too careful. Her mother added.

"Thank you mother." She replied as she placed the gun back into it's holster, and secured the belt around her waist.

"Kikuyo." Shiho called.

"Yes Madam?" The family servant asked.

"Take the Maho's bag to the cab in the front. I told the driver to wait after dropping me off." She requested.

"Yes Madam." Kikuyo answered before going to pick up Maho's bag.

"Maho will you come out with me?" Her mother asked.

"Yes mother." She replied.

As they walked out of the door her mother said to her. "You know how hard it was for me to get you in this right?"

"Yes mother, I do." She answered, she honestly didn't want to get involved in the war or the Party after losing so much to it. But as being a member of a prominent military family without any male member capable of going into uniform, she was their best option to send instead.

"Of course, it would have been a lot easier if your father had a son." She continued.

"I know."

Her mother then turned and faced her. "You must also know, that since you are a woman, your instructors, your COs, and your comrades will always be pushing you to your limits, and find any reason to have you dismissed from the front. As far as it is recorded, our family has not missed a single conflict involving the fatherland; and I'll be damned if the one we do miss will be the greatest one in it's entire history. Do you understand that?" Her eyes now fixed hard on her.

"I understand." Maho responded.

"Good. Now the cab will take you to Freiburg Central Station. From there you'll take the 18:00 train to Munich where you'll be picked up at the station, and taken to the training center near the outskirts."

"Yes mother."

Her mother pulls out her pocket watch to check the time. "17:15, well it looks like you have a few minutes before you have to..."

Just as her mother was saying that, the phone in the house began to ring loudly.

"Kikuyo, can you get that for me." Her mother asked.

"Yes Madam." Kikuyo answered, and headed off to answer the phone.

After several moments of awkward silence, she returned.

"Madam, it's for you."

"Can you tell them to hold a few minutes?" Her mother asked.

"No. It's Gauleiter Wagner, he says it's important." Kikuyo replied

Maho's mother then let out a sigh of frustration, then headed to the phone. "I'll be right back."

With her mother entering the house, Maho finally felt a massive weight fly off her chest. She then noticed that something was wrong.

"Miho, are you ok?" She noticed that other than her greeting as she went down the stairs, she didn't say anything, and she noticed that something was really troubling her.

Miho slowly looked up at her sister with slightly watering eyes. "It's...It's just that...I don't want to loose you like father."

Maho seeing her distress kneeled down in front of her, placing her hand on her shoulder. "I promise Miho, I'll watch out. They say the wars coming to an end soon. If I'm lucky it'll be over before I even leave the academy."

"But Father said that he'll come back as well when he left." Miho added still on the verge of crying out.

"Father tried his best to keep his word, but it was just that he couldn't. He never wanted to break his word." Maho reassured as she looked into her younger sister's eyes, seeing them lighten up as she comforted her. "Better?"

"I'm better." She answered placing on a smile as she did.

"Maho?" She then asked

"Yes Miho?"

"Can you take something for me?"

Maho wasn't sure at first, but then decided that it would help Miho to cope with her leaving.

"Yes Miho, I'll take it if you want me to."

"Great!" Miho yelled with joy. "Wait here, I'll be right back." She said to her as she ran into the house.

Maho watched her as she disappeared behind the front door before she turned to Kikuyo.

"Kikuyo?" She wanted to ask something out of Kikuyo, but before she could Kikuyo had to say something herself.

"Mistress I beg your pardon, but I just can't stand by and watch as you go out and put yourself into such danger. I watched you father do it, and I regretted it ever since." "Your mother gave you a open choice in the matter, and yet you chose to go, why?" She finished out of breath.

Maho was taken aback by her sudden outburst. But she knew her reasoning. "The reason why I chose to go was even though I had a choice, if I was to refuse I knew Miho would not have one herself when it was her turn to reach the age for military service. And that is why I want you to keep an eye on her."

"What?" Now it was Kikuyo's turn to be taken aback.

"You're the one person other than Miho that I can truly trust. I want you to be by Miho's side as you have been by mine, and if it comes to it, I want you do everything in your abilities to keep her out of this war."

"I will do everything I can to keep her safe Mistress, I promise." Kikuyo promised.

Just as they finished their conversation, Miho came running right back out of the door towards her older sister. "Maho, I want you to take this with you."

Maho looked at what her little sister gave her. It was a stuffed bear with bandages on its left arm and head. Maho honestly didn't know what she saw in them, and had no idea why she actively collected them to the point where her room was full of them.

"Miho...I can't take this from you, I'll most likely ruin it, and you know what mother said, they'll rip me apart with this."

"Please Maho." Miho pleaded.

Maho then let out a sigh of defeat, she knew she had to take it for Miho's sake, to sort of comfort her while she was away.

"Okay, I'll take it."

"Really?"

"Really."

"YAY! Thank you Maho, Thank you!" She yelled out in joy as she hugged her sister so hard that it nearly choked her.

"What's going on out here?" Maho's mother asked as she came back out the door with an angry expression on her face.

Maho immediately asked her sister to let her go, and hid the bear behind her back, slipping it into the cab without her mother noticing.

"Nothing madam, just the two ladies saying their goodbyes." Kikuyo answered, covering for the two sisters.

"I see. Maho, I think it's time for you to head off; the train doesn't wait for anyone."

"Yes mother." Maho responded before turning towards Miho, taking her into another deep hug.

"Goodbye Miho."

"Please don't say Goodbye."

Maho looked at her sister, seeing that once again that she was distressed.

"Okay Miho." She then took her head from Miho's shoulder and looked her in the eyes with passionate eyes. "Till we meet again."

Miho didn't say anything to that, but a few seconds later, she pulled Maho back into a tight embrace before letting her go several moments later.

"Farewell Kikuyo." She acknowledged the family servant before turning towards her mother. "Farewell Mother."

"Farewell Maho." Her mother stated. While Kikuyo made her parting with a bow. "Farewell Mistress."

Maho then at last made her way into the cab of the MB W136 with Kikuyo closing the door for her.

As the car made its way down the houses driveway, Maho rolled down the window to take one last look back seeing her family one last time before the car made the turn onto the road. Seeing Miho and Kikuyo waving her off, and her mother looking on her with pride.

Miho, who finally realised that she never actually bided her sister farewell yelled out as loud as she could from the house steps. "Bye Maho!"

Maho happy to hear her sisters' farewell returned right as the cab made the turn. "Bye Miho!"

After the cab made it's turn onto the road, she finally settled down in the cabs back seat and watched as the city passed by, the most notable sight being the tall bell tower of the Münster which towered over everything in the city center. She eventually grew tired of watching her surroundings as the minutes went by. She turned her attention to the bag that rested by her feet.

After picking it up, and placing it by her side, she opened it and took out the two-framed pictures that she placed in it before she left her room.

The first one was a photo was a fairly recent one of her and Miho by the Bank of the Dreisam standing next to each other in their one piece swimsuits. The two of them always went to the river on the weekends because of the rivers close proximity to where they lived, some of her fondest memories were made on the banks of the river, and other than Miho and Kikuyo, that was probably one of the things that she would miss the most.

After looking at the photo, she took out the other one. This one was much older than the other one. This one also had more people in it. Like the other one it had her and her sister, though in this one they must have been about five and eight years old. On the left, her mother stood with largely the same serious face she has today, though in the photo she looked much younger, and was wearing multiple Party badges and decoration on her black uniform. But her eyes were mainly drawn on another figure, standing in between her and Miho was a young looking man in the uniform of an officer before the Party took control, and with a massive smile on his face as they all face the camera. She flipped the photo around and saw on the back. 'Oktoberfest 1931'.

It was like a completely different world now from then. It was now February 2, 1942. And Germany under the absolute control of Hitler and the NSDAP was in the middle of the worlds greatest conflict, ranging from the islands of the Pacific, to the deserts of North Africa, the coats of the frigid North Seas, and the frozen plains of Russia.

As she set the pictures aside, something else caught her eye in the bag. Reaching in she pulls out the black side cap that was issued to her along with the rest of the clothing. Picking it up, she looks at the signature skull and crossbones of the German Panzer forces, then places it on as the car continued down the road.

I was actually planning to start a story like this for a while, and I actually found out about Girls und Panzer looking for characters for this story, but eventually fell in love with it, and hope to write many more in the future. Now that I am finally confident what I got, and had a little practice with the characters in the story I am finally ready to begin.

I made extra effort to try to keep the people in the story in character, but please tell me if there is some out of character elements though some parts since a real battle will be much different than a regular team match their will be some intentional OC moments.

Hope you all like it. Please read and review.

Translations/Important terms:

Schwarzwald Spitze: Black forest peak

Bund Deutscher Mädel: League of German Girls

Gauleiter: Party leader for a regional branch of the NSDAP

NSDAP: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei:

National Socialist German Workers' Party:

Nazi Party

Historical Characters:

Robert Heinrich Wagner (13 October 1895 – 14 August 1946) - Gauleiter of Baden (25 March 1925 – May 1945)