A woman in a white hakama with a white haori strode slowly through Shinto Teito with a calm aura about her. Her wooden sandals clacked slightly with each step and her long purple hair swayed in the wind with each bob of her body.
This was the Pillar of the Sekirei, The Hannya of the North, Sekirei No. 1, Miya. She strode forward, away from Izumo Inn, further towards the edge of Shinto Teito, on a normal errand run. The first on the list was groceries, of which she completed as always with a smile on her face and a pleasantly short and sweet conversation with the young cashier who seemed to always be trying to woo her.
"Every month you come here with the same list of what you need." He would say.
"Haha, yes I do." Her reply was short, pleasant but not overly so. He would laugh a little too hard.
"Maybe there's more to why you're coming here than groceries, mm?" He'd raise his brows and incline his head towards her with fuzzy eyes. She would laugh and leave.
By the end a tiny little fabrication of nervous-like feeling formed in her chest, nearly unnoticeable had the enhanced senses granted to her by her Sekirei blood made that impossible.
Regardless she strode forward.
The next on her list, buying necessary materials for upkeep of her garden, brought her closer to the edge of Shinto Teito. She completed the errand with a smile on her face and a pleasantly short and sweet conversation with the older woman there that always seemed to try and convince Miya to allow one of the many young men who tried for her hand to grace her bed.
"Mm the monthly gardening supplies eh Miya-san?" The woman's cheeks always seemed plumper when she pushed them out with her smile. Miya would chuckle.
"Yes, upkeep of a garden is a nice passtime." Miya would grab the bag and make to leave, though the older woman would prompt her to stay for one more tease.
"Or perhaps upkeep of a garden is really a way to tease all those suitors of your's, mm?"
Miya would disagree with a laugh as the fabrication of nerves grew bit by bit when she left.
Regardless she strode forward.
The penultimate task on her list, buying a swift drink to numb the lonesome in her chest, brought her closer still towards the edge of Shinto Teito. She completed the errand with a smile on her face and a pleasantly short and sweet conversation with the bartender that made no lecherous attempts to bed her, though he always did try to convince her to buy another drink.
"Ahhhh Miya-san! Here for the monthly vice eh?" He would throw his arms out to the sides wide, though his smile always seemed wider.
"Yes. A saucer of sake please." A simple request, one he filled rapidly and with a little too much care put into the drink. If he spiked it Miya didn't know, her Sekirei blood would filter it, and subsequently the alcohol, before any adverse effects could be felt by the woman. She enjoyed the drink as more of a mental positive than a physical one anyway.
"Come on Miya, don't be a prude now. Another one?"
She turned him down and left without a smile while the bundle of nerves in her chest began to beat and pulse with each pump of her inhuman heart.
Regardless she strode forward with a slight apprehension to each step.
The final task, one tacked on at the end of every month, was the most nerve wracking and important to the Pillar. For all of her strength and all of her reputation as a fearsome warrior capable of demolishing the city of Shinto Teito with a swipe of her sword, Miya felt her knees shaking as she entered the tollbooth and placed a few yen into the coin slot, dialing a specific number. She was at the very edge of Shinto Teito, and with a tiny slip of paper adorned with the kanji for 'silence' Miya was off of the MBI's spi-grid. Radio silence. She chuckled quietly as a visage of a blonde man passed through her head.
The sound of someone picking up her call on the other end reverberated through her head.
"Hello? Miya-hime? What's the occasion this month?" A manly voice, one that made Miya shake with euphoria and shudder with nerves greeted jovially despite the sounds of gunfire and death that rang out in the background of the call. She smiled, clutching the phone as close as she could and leaning her head in towards the device in an almost loving manner.
"Will you come back? I believe Shinto Teito needs you." I need you. A message she never told the man, but one she was certain he knew she meant. A sigh from the other end. This was a rehearsed routine, one copied at the end of every month. She knew his answer, but that did not stop her from looping her index in the phone cord in a hopeful manner and looking upwards in anticipation for his answer.
"Miya… The world's problems are more important than the Sekirei's. I must help the world before I help you birdies. You know that. I wish I could come home but, well," The sounds of gunfire made Miya tighten her grip on the phone and nearly snap the phone cord with her index finger, "You know me. I've always gotta help where I can." She swooned at his heroism, raising her head and clutching the phone to her chest to try and convey her love for him even through the length distance between them, though her heart broke at his rehearsed answer. Oh how she wanted to hold him.
She fluttered her eyes, returning the phone to her ear with a sad little grin as she sat in silence with the man, thinking. Things in Shinto Teito were beginning to heat up, the Sekirei Plan emerging forth into the near end of Stage 1, and the man had promised he would come back by the time Stage 2 started. But, perhaps it was still too early to call him back? She squirmed as she held the phone.
"Miya? You know I've always got time for you," The man sounded resigned but happy even as the gunfire and shouted commands rang through the background on his end, "But I'm also busy at the moment." Miya sighed, clutching the phone and switching to the other ear and leaning on it once more, envisioning the man's shoulder instead of the plastic form she held.
"Minaka is getting ready to enact stage 2 of his little game. You promised me you would return before that happened." A chuckle from the other end as screams sounded in an echo from his end. She smiled, warmth exuding from her form as she began to twirl her hair with her index, shifting once more in the booth and leaning against the glass, sliding down a little like a child talking to their first crush. She couldn't help it.
"You aren't lying to me are you Miya? Last time you tried that didn't end too well for you heheh." It was true, it hadn't. She had screamed for hours in a silence sealed room at Izumo Inn. She was very flustered the next morning. It almost seemed appealing to the Pillar to lie now, but she couldn't bring herself to despite the way her thighs rubbed against each other and her hand tried to claw south despite her best efforts to keep it north.
"Feel free to check for yourself." A tone of confidence from the woman, a chuckle from the man, and instantly the world shifted. In the ground, in the air, in the water, she could feel him. The world swooned to his influence as she did, and she could feel his awareness all around her. He had connected with the world as he had connected with her.
"Ara… Hrmmm… There are a disturbingly high amount of false wingings over there… And Karasuba reeks of blood. I thought Yume was supposed to watch that for me. I'll have to have a talk with her about that. Gahhhh..." He sounded old, burdened. Miya selfishly smiled, she could feel his want to come home. "Oi, don't smile at that." His quick retort earned a chuckle from the woman. Truly nothing could get past him when the world was his eyes and ears, hell even his hands when he wanted it to be.
"Karasuba-chan was very angry when you left, and Minaka used that to his advantage. She works for the MBI as the leader of their Disciplinary Squad. Yume joined and tries to regulate her as much as possible, but even Yume is failing to. We all feel your absence you know." She felt through the world the way he nodded, for every blade of grass and every leaf upon the trees nodded for him. Even the waves of the water seemed to curl into a nod. The wind nodded, and even in the closed phone booth Miya felt the wind caress her hair, the woman swooning with a happy flush to her face.
"Hmm… Ok. I'll return. Don't tell anyone, I want it to be a surprise. I gotta finish up here so I'll arrive by tomorrow Miya-hime." Unending joy shot through Miya's system as she smiled, tears of euphoria trailing down her cheeks. "Ohhhh Miyaaaaa... you don't have to cry now. Come on, it hasn't been that bad without me has it?" There was a jovial worry in his voice, like he was joking to mask his own worry over her tears. She swooned.
"As a Sekirei, it hurts to be away from my Ashikabi." She explained quietly, turning and looking down with a calm sadness to her eyes as she spiraled the phone cord. She closed her eyes and the man on the other end went silent, though the gunfire on his end did not. "I will see you soon, Naruto-kun." She whispered lovingly, clutching the phone close and smiling while trying to convey her love as much as she could through the phone call. Sighing, Miya hung up the phone and his influence on the world vanished with the call. Time to return to Izumo Inn.
The Next Day.
The atmosphere of Izumo Inn was uncharacteristically tense as the Pillar sat silently at the end of the table, seating on her knees with her hands tucked neatly in her lap. Her eyes were closed peacefully, and her face conveyed no emotion to the other two Sekirei in the room. Homura and Uzume looked at each other for a moment looking apprehensive and nervous, before turning towards Miya. Homura cleared his throat, though the Pillar did not open her eyes but merely spoke.
"Yes Homura-san?" Her voice was calm and did not waver in the slightest. Though a little too quiet, nothing about the tone or the way she spoke suggested that anything was wrong, but the occupants of the room knew that something was up. She seemed… off. Homura could not explain it, but he tried to.
"Is there… Is something wrong Miya? You seem off today… Did something happen?" Homura chose his words carefully, not wanting to lose his life should he upset the woman. He calmed down a little bit when the woman cracked a small smile of contentment, peaking open her eyes and looking at him with mirth.
"Yes Homura, something did happen. As for what, well… I'm not allowed to give you specific details." This shocked the two other Sekirei in the room. Not for Miya's calm tone, not for the contentment present in her voice, not even for the amusement she seemed to draw from their confusion. But, Miya wasn't allowed to do something. That meant this was big. Only MBI or Minaka in general could order around Miya, and that was loose at best and only based on Minaka's leveraging of Sekirei lives. What the hell had happened?
A soft tapping of feet came from the hallway and a slender hand grasped around the corner of the doorframe, a meek redhead peaking out with glasses gleaming in interest and more knowledge than the other two in the room. She smiled, sighing.
"So it's happening huh?" Matsu asked quietly, far too calm about this situation for Homura and Uzume's liking. Homura looked up to her with wide eyes sparking with shock before he looked back to Uzume, concern flashing between the two Sekirei. Miya let out a small chuckle, eyes still closed, before sighing happily.
"Yes, it is. Naturally I am not allowed to tell anyone, so we shall see how that goes." Matsu opened laughed, though it was softer and almost reminiscing in the way she did so. She leaned against the wall, pressing the frame in between her breasts and flushing to herself with a joyous smile.
"Figures he would choose to do it that way. He was always a jokester." Miya chuckled, louder this time, and she too seemed to be reminiscing about something, raising a hand in a dainty fashion to cover her mouth as a flush appeared over her face to the immense astonishment of Homura and Uzume, Homura getting up and backing up in shock.
"What… What is going on here!?" Homura demanded, staring in shock at the two older and much more experienced Sekirei in the room while backing up, his body heating up in response to his hectic emotions, before a simple sound struck fear into his heart and froze sound.
Knock Knock Knock
"I'm coming in!" A male voice, one Homura didn't recognize, came through the door in a muffled manner. Homura turned around, the world in slow motion as he could see the doorknob turning. His mouth was slowly opening as his eyes scrunched in determined, fear stricken, desire to live. The door was slowly swinging open as fire began to bubble up around Homura's right arm only for it to die instantly as something flew past it as supersonic speed, removing all oxygen for his fire and putting it out. Homura's eyes widened when the door was fully opened.
Standing there was a tall blonde man with whiskers on his cheeks. Wide blue eyes were looking down in shock, shaggy blonde hair falling down in response. Slung over his shoulder and staring forward with dull yet excited eyes was an unknown Sekirei, though the symbol on her forehead marked her as the 'Scrapped Number' Takami had told Homura about, though this was hardly the most shocking thing about the man's appearance.
For, wrapped around his waist in a desperately loving way, with a grip stronger than anything Homura had ever seen, was Miya, the Pillar of the Sekirei, The Hannya of the North, Sekirei No. 1.