History Fanfic / InterNos

* KillTheParentRaiseTheChild: Downplayed. When the Himean forces and Otomeian reserves come across a circus caravan that had been overturned by an landslide, the owners and performers killed by the big cats, with all the animals loose, General Shizuru Fujino orders that the animals be recaptured so that they can sell them in the port city of Argus and add the funds to their war chest. They ended up having to kill one animal, a black panther. The panther, it turns out, had been guarding a cub, which Shizuru presents to Natsuki as a gift. Natsuki raises the cub, naming it Shizuki (a portmanteau of the two lovers' names), and the creature then proceeds to treat Natsuki as her mother from then on. Although Natsuki didn't personally kill the cub's parent, she was part of the collective effort to subdue the animals.

Inter Nos is a ''Anime/MyHime'' / ''Anime/MyOtome'' fanfiction that also throws in characters from ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'', ''Literature/StrawberryPanic'', and ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', as well as numerous [=OCs=].


It was started in 2007 by [=EthneWinter=], and ran until 2018, where it stopped abruptly without being concluded. It is currently 83 chapters with well over 1 million words, making it a {{Doorstopper}}.

Shizuru Fujino is a Senator of the Himean government, and a General in the armies of Hime. An encroachment by the northern Mentulean Empire into their territories sees her leading her armies, as well as a group of soldiers on loan from the allied nation of Otomeia, to route them before they become too firmly entrenched.

Shizuru has been granted a charter for a five year campaign to seize the Mentulean Empire, convert it into Himean territories, and govern.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The sickle end of Natsuki's ''daos'', in one swing, cuts through Takeda's sword, Takeda's cheek, and a heavy wooden table.
* AccidentalInnuendo:InUniverse Haruka launches into a rant against a Senator who had illegally tapped the water mains to add to his own home. The Senator in question was a known pederast, so Haruka's rants about him taking out his pipe and not sticking it in someone else's plumbing sparked sniggering and laughs not only from her fellow Senators, but also from Shizuru and Natsuki, who read about it in a letter from home. Shizuru tells Natsuki that things like this were why she couldn't bring herself to hate Haruka.

* AdoptingTheAbused: Natsuki, orphaned [[LastOfHerKind last princess of the Ortygians]], is taken in by a noble family of the Otomeians at the age of 12. The eldest son, mistaking her ElectiveMute tendencies for weakness, [[AttemptedRape tries to force himself on her]]. She killed him in self defense. She was then taken in by King Kruger, who made sure she wanted for nothing, eventually making her the Captain of the elite Lupine Division, but by ensuring she earned it rather than nepotism. Her lover, Shizuru, learns all of this [[SomberBackstoryRevelation from the old Otomeian soldier who found Natsuki buried under the corpses of her family.]]
* AffectionateNickname: Shizuru refers to Natsuki as "meum mel", or "my honey" when she's feeling affectionate towards her. She'll also call her "Brat" when Natsuki shows a playful side, but it's also said affectionately. After the second half, she also will refer to Natsuki as ''mea vita'', "my life".

* AntiquatedLinguistics: To give the story a more old world feeling, words and phrases such as "felt her gorge rise"(had to throw up), "calumny"(slander), and "uxorious"(submissive to a wife) appear frequently, as well as tons of GratuitousLatin.
* ArtificialLimbs: Natsuki has a wooden prosthetic made up to replace her lost leg. Artisans, at Shizuru's request, carve it to match the look of her remaining leg, even down to the veins on her foot. Natsuki, in a bit of practicality, asks that it be made of ship's wood, so that it won't be subject to rot in wet climates.
* BadassBookworm: Alyssa tells Shizuru that her people prefer oral tradition over the written word, and that while Natsuki is accomplished militarily and tactically, she is seen as strange by her people for preferring books and reading. Several times, Natsuki is able to demonstrate that her reading has given her unique insight above other Otomeans, though. On one occasion, she suggests to Suou that before they attempt to move their army past an opposing force at night, they should set a fire in the opposite direction, as it will blind their foes AND draw their attention away from the move.
* TheBeastmaster: The Mentuleans believe Natsuki is this, and given that she has a full grown black panther as a pet, and can ride a horse side-saddle at full gallop with only one leg, they may not be entirely wrong.

** On another instance, Shizuru is informed by her men that an Otomian had challenged Natsuki to a duel. Natsuki tried to anchor her in place, without much success, until she explained that she'd already dealt with the matter.
* BigShutUp: Delivered in Latin as "TACE!" Katsu Hitagi had been maligning Shizuru, both accusing her of theft and referring to Natsuki as a "foreign whore". Shizuru's initial cry of "TACE!" is compared to a thunder-clap, and it startles everyone present. She later follows it up.

* CannotTellALie: Chikane tells Haruka this is one reason why she didn't even bother hiding her relationship to Himeko. She caught Himeko trying to practice deception in her own mirror, and noted that not even Himeko's reflection looked convinced.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Natsuki was injured as a child, and her wounded leg slowed her down, causing the enemies of the Ortygians to catch up with them. She was found buried under a pile of her dead kinsmen. She's put with a family of the Otomians, cousins to and allies of the lost Ortygians. The eldest son of the first surrogate family mistakes her silence for weakness and [[AttemptedRape tries to force himself on her.]] She manages to kill him. She is then sent to live with King Kruger, who takes her in and cares for her, even making her the head of his Elite Guard, the Lupine Division. Where she enters into life and death combat at the age of fourteen.

* EyeScream: A belligerent soldier who had been denied promotion confronts Natsuki, the Otomian Polemarch, about it. This is after she's lost her leg. He outsizes her and she's a cripple. She calmly agrees to the duel, and then puts out his eye with a flung dart. She nicks his carotid artery with another, causing his eventual death.
** Shizuru teases Suou at one point by telling everyone a story from their youth when Suou, having first met Shizuru, went screaming her head off to the grown ups that Shizuru's eyes were bleeding. She had not been prepared for the striking red color of the older girl's eyes.

* [[AFatherToHisMen A Mother to Her Soldiers]]: Shizuru takes great pains to treat those under her command as people, not disposable resources. Early on, she gives an impassioned speech to her forces about how their Otomeian allies are ''their'' people, and deserve just as much protection on the battlefield as any Himean soldier. She also takes care to divvy up the spoils of war carefully before the armies are divested, so that the Himean tax collectors can't gouge her soldiers (which has the practical effect of having them eager to reenlist with her when she needs them). And when two of her soldiers are accused of theft, she gives another speech about how her people shouldn't need to steal (it was a drunken prank on the part of the guilty soldiers), and by the time she's done talking, the offending soldiers are crying and begging for their punishment. She works as hard as she can to keep losses low, not only for pragmatic reasons, but because she views every death as a failure of planning on her part.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: There is a good deal of foreshadowing of events through the story.
** Shizuru's separation from her army, and from Natsuki, is hinted at in various conversations either about her being elected to a position without having actually run for it and about her relationship with her Otomeian bodyguard and lover.

* HappilyAdopted: After the death of her sister, Suou, Chikane reads in her letters from her late sister of her fondness for Natsuki. She travels to meet Natsuki, and offers to adopt her as a sister of the Himemiya house, which would make her a citizen of Hime. Natsuki seems very agreeable to the idea.
* HappinessInSlavery: Shizuru's Head Slave, Hermias, sold himself into slavery. He's also the first of Shizuru's household to start referring to Natsuki as "Dominilla", indicating he already considers Natsuki to be Shizuru's wife, and defers to her accordingly.

--> '''Shizuru:'''I am not angry, I promise. And I apologised just now because [[JerkassRealization I did deserve it.]]

** When Shizuru's cousin, [[Litearture/StrawberryPanic Shizuma]] joins them in Argus, the silver haired woman, known for sleeping with half the married women in Hime, and only because she hasn't gotten to the other half, yet, decides to test Natsuki's fidelity to her cousin. She thinks Natsuki has failed when she elicits a gasp, until she realizes the girl is shaking with suppressed laughter, with little snorts escaping her nose. "You," Natsuki laughs at last, "...Are her cousin." Shizuma decides she likes Natsuki, after all.

* JerkassRealization: Chapter 59. Shizuru intends to leave Natsuki in Argus to keep her safe. But Natsuki feels she is being treated as an invalid because of her amputation. When Natsuki argues that she can take care of herself, Shizuru replies, "Look where that got you!" It earns her a slap, which makes Shizuru realize that she had been effectively caging her lover, and leading her to apologize, and altering her plans so that Natsuki will be waiting for her on the border.

* KissingCousins: Alyssa had hoped to invoke this and end up HappilyMarried to Natsuki. She's still hoping, but will "indulge" her cousin her current relationship with Shizuru.

* MemeticBadass:InUniverse Natsuki has a pet panther, has developed a special saddle to ride her horse Niger full tilt despite being short a leg, and took out a towering Otomian who menaced her over a denied promotion. Consequently, their Mentulean foes tell stories of Shizuru's "Witch" consort, who commands beasts and can fell giants with a flick of her fingers. This is actually helpful, because the belief that Natsuki is a witch dissuades their foes from attempting to poison Shizuru.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Traditionalists in the Senate oppose Shizuru at every turn. When it is made clear that Shizuru did not run for the office she was elected to, the Traditionalists try to force her to keep it, anyway, knowing that Shizuru on the battlefield is a Shizuru who gains fame with the populace. They even put up a New Man to accuse her of flouting rules and decries her "affair with a foreign whore". [[BerserkButton Since the person in question was Natsuki, Shizuru is not gentle in her rebuke.]]

* OhCrap:More than a few moments.
** The entire Senate, allies and enemies alike, have this reaction when Shizuru looses her venom on a Tribune who had accused her of theft and called Natuski her "foreign whore". They had never seen her angry before, and were reeling from the intensity of her response. And '' '''then''' '' they realize that she's still holding back, and they've only seen a fraction of her fury, which was already formidable.

* PhantomLimbPain: Natsuki has been gravely injured in combat, and lost one of her legs. She is initially delirious and blissfully unaware, until the fever breaks and she wakes one night with an itch in her (missing) left foot. She goes to scratch, and finds nothing there. She lifts the sheets. Her scream rouses everyone nearby from slumber.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Shizuru is this to her armies. She doles out the soldiers' share of pay and spoils herself, before the Himean tax assessors can take big wet bites out of the soldiers' pay. She also is highly judicious in her meting out of punishments for infractions. when she learns of a governor selling Himean citizenship, Chie notes that the penalty is typically flogging. Shizuru points out that some of the people bought the citizenship for such reasons as the special privilege for grain allowing them to feed their families. And for those, she was willing to turn a blind eye. For others, if she determined their motives were less pure, she would resort to seizure of lands or such.

** Natsuki, after being challenged to a duel by a belligerent solider, whom she dropped quickly, calls the man's immediate superiors on the carpet, and asks them if that sort of soldier was what they thought was suitable for the ranks of the army, then asks them sarcastically if they also wish to duel her, as she'd like to finish all of her duels by nightfall. The men she calls on the carpet are suitably appalled at the action of the soldier, and deeply shamed by the public calling out.

* RomanticRibbing: continues with the tradition of Shizuru teasing Natsuki. In one instance, when Shizuru takes Natsuki to her home in Hime, their amorous activities leave very noticeable hickeys on Natsuki's neck and shoulders. Natsuki is very cosciencious of them, and Shizuru light-heartedly suggests that she can blame them on lampreys. When Natsuki learns that lampreys are a type of fish, she balks.

* SharedFateUltimatum: After being recalled to the capitol as part of a plot against her, Shizuru returns to the battlefield just in time to route the Mentulean Empire. She finds her lover, Natsuki, at death's door and rushes her to the medics. When the head medic tells Shizuru that Natsuki will die, [[NeckLift she hoists him in the air with one hand]] and tells every medic in the tent that Natsuki will live, or they won't .

* ShipperOnDeck: Many of Shizuru's friends are in favor of her relationship with Natsuki. Midori cautions her as a teacher that it could jeopardize her quest to be named First Citizen, but tells her as her friend that she approves. Chikane is willing to adopt Natsuki, both to make Shizuru marrying her a possibility, as well as because of her own late sister's fondness for Natsuki. Even Nao has a grudging admiration for their relationship. And Shizuru's chief slave, a man named Hermias, is the first to address Natsuki as Dominilla, suggesting he already sees the pair as married.

** Nao tricks Natsuki into casual swearing by telling her "Verpa" meant "small rodent", when it's actually the Latin equivalent of "prick" (and not in the verb sense).

** After a literally heated battle at a town that essentially was the center for the enemy nation's iron works, where Shizuru had tricked the enemy into dumping molten lead against their perimeter walls which were made of limestone, Shizuru orders kettles of vinegar poured on the heated rock to cause it to give way, breaching the wall. Shizuru, when the battle is over, explains that she learned the trick from Hannible, and said it was something in the vinegar's sourness that made it work. Natsuki then asks if that meant that [[VitriolicBestBuds throwing Nao against the wall]] would have had the same effect, causing all the Himean soldiers who knew Nao to burst out laughing, though Shizuru notes that Nao's temperment is better suited to starting fires, not putting them out.
* SexyFlaw: Natsuki's stutter is one of the things Shizuru finds adorable about her lover, in-part because it contributed to her ElectiveMute tendencies that made her so mysterious in the first place.
* ShownTheirWork: The author goes to great length to include glossaries of historical terms, tactics, and events that tie into the story.

** Shizuru is a combat veteran who is kindly and well loved by her soldiers. When she learns of a governor illegally selling Himean citizenship, she does not order floggings for those who bought it, though that is the prescribed penalty. Indeed, for those whom she learned bought the citizenship to be able to use a citizen's discount to afford basic goods for their family, she turned a blind eye. And for those who were more well to do, she settled for seizure of goods.

* UniversalGroupReaction: During the first battle between the Himean/Otomean Alliance and the Mentuleans, Natsuki kills a soldier who was trying to kill Shizuru, starting with a well placed GroinAttack using the scythe end of her ''daos''.

* WalkOfShame: Shizuru and Natsuki have been intimate for some time. However, they have just arrived in Shizuru's villa in her homeland, and during a lovemaking session, Shizuru decided to tease Natsuki by leaving hickeys in very visible places. Natsuki is suddenly very embarrassed to be seen in public; not because people will know she's Shizuru's partner, but because they'll know exactly what they've been up to. Shizuru teasingly suggests that she can say that the marks were made by a lamprey.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Downplayed. When Shizuru hits Natsuki with a snowball in a garden, Natsuki lays face down in the snow. Shizuru, concerned that she may have injured Natsuki, goes to check on her, only to realize too late that Natsuki was playing possum and readying a retaliatory snowball.

** When Shizuru's cousin, [[Anime/StrawberryPanic Shizuma]] joins them in Argus, the silver haired woman, known for sleeping with half the married women in Hime, and only because she hasn't gotten to the other half, yet, decides to test Natsuki's fidelity to her cousin. She thinks Natsuki has failed when she elicits a gasp, until she realizes the girl is shaking with suppressed laughter, with little snorts escaping her nose. "You," Natsuki laughs at last, "...Are her cousin." Shizuma decides she likes Natsuki, after all.

* HelpingAbotherSaveFace: Nao and Natsuki are VitriolicBestBuds, and in an attempt to embarrass Natsuki, who prefers LactoseOverLiquor, Nao pours her a full cup of undiluted wine while proposing a toast. Shizuru, Nao's General and Natsuki's lover, to save Natsuki from embarrassment, feigns a parched throat and downs half the cup. Nao makes it clear she knew what Shizuru was doing, but wisely refrains from further antagonism.

--> '''Natsuki:''' (laughing) You...''are'' her cousin.
--> '''Shizuma:''' (smiling)I see. I see. Did she do that to you, often, in your early acquaintance.
* SelfHarm: In Chapter 18, after kissing Natsuki without permission, Shizuru beats one of her hands bloody against a tree. Natsuki finds her and takes her back to their shared room, where she treats the injury.

* AgeLift: In ''Anime/MyHime'', Shizuru was 18, Natsuki 17, and Nao was 14. Here, Shizuru starts at 21, Natsuki is 19, and though not specified, Nao is implied to be older than Natsuki.