My first ever attempt at writing anything for Sekirei, which is very quickly becoming one of my favorite anime series. So, if it's not perfect, don't judge it too harshly.

Oh, and… ENJOY!

(Note: This probably applies just for this first story only, but ignore episodes 9 through 12 of the anime while reading this, because I don't take them into account, seeing as I have yet to see them… Ditto for the 13th episode OAV.)

Story Title: Little One

Main Pairing: Minato/Kusano

All was quiet at the Izumosou, for once. With Musubi out with Tsukiumi shopping, Miya working out in the backyard, Matsu… well, she usually kept to herself, anyways, and Uzume out doing gods knew what with Kazehana, an almost deathly silence was over Izumosou.

There were, however, two inhabitants were enjoying it.

Minato lay on his futon, his arm draped over his eyes to shield out any oncoming light, either from the open window almost directly above him, or from any other source. He hadn't even bothered to take off his work clothes, but had merely fallen into bed as soon as he got home, the lights turning off in his mind almost immediately afterward.

And so, there he slept, peacefully amidst his own dreamings, unaware of the sin and strife that surrounded him… At least for now.

Since he was asleep, he could not have known one fact that was obvious to any that would have walked into his room unexpectedly.

Minato… was being watched.

A small form sat in the corner of the room, her legs pulled up tightly to her chest. Her arms were clasped tightly around her knees, as though trying to hold them in place so they wouldn't drift away.

She stared at him intently, never taking her eyes off of him. Occasionally, she would blink, as a speck of dust flew into her eye or a beam of light seared her vision, but for the most part, she never wavered from her target.

"It's so boring…" she muttered. "There's nothing to do…"

Minato stirred, and the young girl began to get excited. Is he waking up?

But, unfortunately for her, the most she got out of him, was him rolling over to the side, then sinking back into deep torpor.

With her expectations doused, she resumed her quiet sitting and staring. The others had promised to be home before dinner, but that was another half hour away, the usual time was. By the time they had gotten home and actually cooked dinner, it would be another hour or so past what time it was, at that moment.

Soon, the warm air completely filled the room, and she began to doze off. The quietness was still prevalent, and so she found it quite easy to close her eyes and enter the same world of dreams that Minato was in. Maybe I'll find him in his dreams, she thought to herself, and we can be together there…

She was about to go completely to sleep, when Minato shifted again. She looked up at him, only to see a shiver run down his spine, racking his entire body before it faded away into the nothingness from which it had come.

It took her a moment to realize what was going on, but finally, she saw what was the cause of his unconscious distress- the sweat on his clothing had chilled, causing him to become cold.

Immediately, she began to crawl over to him, silently, so as to not wake him up and disturb him from his much-needed rest. When she was almost looking directly over him, she glanced down and saw, horrified, that the sweat that saturated his clothes was all over his entire body.

Remembering something that she had heard, about chilled sweat possibly causing someone to get sick, she began to worry, and to rack her brain as to what she could do about the situation.

After a moment, the only plausible action that she could come up with, was to at least get his clothes off of him, so that he didn't become too chilled. Putting new ones on him, was probably out of her capability, but she wanted to do everything that she could do for him.

So, with her mind made up, she went to work- unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it out, sliding it out from under him… Going towards his pants…

After a few moments, she was done- Minato was now stripped down to nothing but his underwear. Sighing in relief, the young girl sat down at Minato's bedside, simply watching him. The more she stared at him, the more pronounced her blush grew.

Suddenly, Minato spoke in his sleep: "Kusano…"

Kusano jumped back slightly, startled; had he been awake the entire time? Wanting to find out, she lay beside him and curled up against his chest, resting her head against his bicep.

"Yes?" she asked timidly.

She waited for an answer for a minute or two, but when none was forthcoming, she sighed in relief, figuring that he had just spoken to her, maybe in a dream.

A moment later, he spoke again: "Kusano…"

Not moving from where she was at, she again said, "Yes?"

This time, Minato said more. "Take care, little one…"

Smiling contentedly, Kusano shut her eyes, and drifted away as well. Before she fell deep to sleep, she had one last thing to say.

"I will…"