It took a long time, but I actually managed to write another chapter! Inspiration for a Romance focused fic is hard.

Disclaimer: Same as last chapter, no way I own either of those two series.

Day of Kaho's winging, early morning

The first rays of sunshine of the day were passing through the window of one of the hospital rooms of Higa Pharmaceuticals, slowly waking the only patient residing there. Slowly rubbing her eyes, the girl let out a small yawn and raised her arms to stretch a bit to face the new day.

"Chiho-chan, morning!"

"Kyaaa!" quickly diving into her bedsheets, Chiho lowered them a bit to stare at the blond that trespassed into her room against the hospital regulations… again (as far as she knew). Faced with his cheeky smile and twinkling eyes, the girl could only try to fix the mess that was her long light brown hair with her hands and take deep breaths to calm herself, a slight blush easily seen if she lowered the bedsheets. Feeling calm enough after a few minutes, she smiled softly at her visitor despite the sheets covering said smile.

"Morning Naruto-kun… how did you get here this time?" lowering the bedsheets at last, she saw the blonds' expression had not changed much, going from cheeky to the type of smile one had when performing a perfect prank.

"By asking nicely? I wanted a head start for the morning walk and some alone time with my adorable Chiho-chan of course! Now hurry and change while I go arrange things so you can be out in the garden for the whole day!" winking and not waiting for her to react, Uzumaki Naruto exited the hospital room of long term patient Hidaka Chiho.

Said girl could only sigh in relief at getting a small breather. While she was ecstatic that now she had two great friends constantly at her side, Naruto tended to be too overwhelming for the shy girl, unlike Uzume who was just a bit teasing but caring, his antics constantly making a mess of her emotions towards her new friend. It didn't help that he was rather handsome and had a mix of a wild personality to match his endless energy and being a tease. Might as well hurry and dress for the day, she doubted the hospital personnel could stop him from getting what he wanted for long and a girl always needed to look nice.

Not even half an hour later, Naruto could be seen pushing Chiho in her wheelchair through the hospital's garden, the girl now in a long white dress that was adorned with many frills and blue ribbons, along a white sunhat covering her head, the hat decorated with a blue ribbon too. Overall it was a simple look that gave the impression of a delicate lady that fitted perfectly with the girl.

Now that she could stare without catching his eye she would take the chance, as he seemed to be just enjoying the feel of nature surrounding him while watching the small road. Her companion had gone with a casual look, donning a white dress shirt that was completely unbuttoned, allowing her to easily see the burnt orange shirt underneath, and the latter being a tight fit seeing she could easily discern her friend had a surprisingly lean and muscled physique. The black slacks and shoes combined well, which overall left Naruto with a nice combination of clothes that suited him. She was not sure how much time passed, but seeing her friend so well dressed was… distracting.

"Do my clothes look weird? You've been staring for a while Chiho-chan..." tilting his head to the side, his confusion increased at the way the girl blushed at being discovered.

"Well… it's just that they fit you too well Naruto-kun… and you don't look like the type to care about the way you dress." Part of her was really glad the blond mostly teased her in tandem with Uzume, otherwise this was a prime opportunity to embarrass her.

"Oh. I blame the woman manning the store where I bought this the other day. For some reason she completely forced this and other sets on me, I barely managed to get enough orange from what I chose at first!" remembering his taste for all things orange, Chiho decided that if they ever found out which store the blond went, she and Uzume would send a huge thank you note to the woman. That and watching Naruto pout and feel slighted on the greatness of orange was funny.

Changing gears, the blond kept pushing while sending a grin to the girl, "Anyways, how are you feeling Chiho-chan? Nice day right?" seeing they were closer to the huge tree where they had agreed to have lunch later, Naruto began pushing a bit faster while avoiding any bumps on the road.

"It is, the sun and breeze feel so nice!" closing her eyes to enjoy the weather, Chiho was glad her illness had receded enough to let her enjoy outdoors daily. Ironically, this had coincided with the day she and Uzume had found Naruto in this very same garden. She just hoped she could enjoy more days like this one for a while, before her condition worsened.

Broken out of her thoughts by a tap on her left shoulder, she opened her eyes to see they had reached the tree, Naruto waiting for her permission to carry her so they could rest on the tree for a while. It was so rare to see him be so tender and caring, so she allowed herself to enjoy the moment and just wait for Uzume to arrive.

A while later, Uzume was seen entering the hospital and taking advantage of her status as a regular visitor to avoid the check-in on the visitor logbooks while carrying a huge picnic basket her landlady had agreed to prepare for them. It also helped the nurse manning that counter was a man, and as she was by now used to, just another pervert too busy drooling after her body to pay attention. After some prodding she was told Naruto had arrived hours earlier and was currently in the garden with Chiho. Heading to the garden, she totally ignored the fact her hip hugging capri jeans and usual star themed pink and violet belly top emphasized her womanly curves just perfectly, along her long brown hair and brown eyes combining to be a figure most men (and some women) couldn't help but perv on, so most of the blame was on her to begin with. While she normally didn't mind those, and actually enjoyed the attention, whenever she came to visit her friend Chiho they made her feel dirty. It didn't help that adding Naruto to the mix increased those feelings.

Heading to the garden, she passed by many of the nurses and patients that were allowed outside today. Watching them enjoy the day without a care, part of her couldn't help but frown at how many of the patients were allowed these liberties and comforts thanks to their wealth. Being a private hospital, she would have expected the staff to be harder to bribe and more dedicated compared to public ones but that was clearly not the case. It just meant the staff expected more money.

However, she couldn't in good faith hate them for their selfishness. Her own selfishness was what caused those feelings in the first place seeing she wanted all of those things for Chiho, but the money Chiho's family left behind was barely enough to keep paying the hospital costs. She had a lot to thank for her womanly charms and Naruto's charisma, those were the only reasons Chiho was allowed so many freedoms as of lately. The blond in particular was a huge boon in that aspect, seeing how he could emanate an aura of command and mischief at will that had helped convince some of the staff that she had been unable to. The promise of future pranks and constant annoyance was enough to convince some of the most stubborn and greedy personnel who had wanted rather specific things from her.

Doing her best to forget such thoughts, she focused on just heading to the tree that by now she knew her friends would be waiting at. What she didn't expect was the position she would end finding them. Both were currently taking a nap while leaning on the tree's trunk, Chiho's head resting on Naruto's shoulder comfortably and her sleeping face was just adorable. The sunhat Uzume was used to see on her head was resting on her lap and it was obvious the girl had been sleeping for a while from how content she seemed to be. Naruto on the hand had his head tilted to the side opposite of where Chiho was leaning on him, a line of drool seen falling from his mouth. Unlike Chiho, she could see the blond had new clothes and they actually enhanced his looks, to the point Uzume herself didn't notice the slight blush on her own face and how long she stared.

When she did notice, she groaned in frustation, '...dammit Naruto! You don't get how hard you have made my life do you?' she wanted to pound the blond to oblivion, but it wasn't the idiot's fault. Life had been so simple before she and Chiho had found a bloody Naruto near this same tree a few weeks ago, her goals back then had been only to be happy at Chiho's side and maybe get her to become her Ashikabi.

She couldn't help but reminisce about how much her life had changed from the moment Naruto arrived into their lives while she started to set up everything for their picnic.

Men were all perverted and not worth her time, her life a nice mix of fun and happiness between the daily antics at Maison Izumo and the time she could spend with Chiho at the hospital. Then Naruto appeared, practically ignoring her on their first meeting at Chiho's room and just swarming their now mutual friend with attention and gratitude for saving him. Only until he had practically overwhelmed Chiho with said gratitude to the point she fainted had he noticed her in the room. In a complete reversal of attitude, he had just laughed a bit in embarrassment and thanked her too, making small talk with the busty brunette until Chiho returned to the land of the living.

'And he never stared at me with lust like all other men, he was just… nice, if a bit of a knucklehead. Such a mystery too though...' unlike Chiho who had forgotten his initial condition due the shock his bloody appearance caused her, Uzume had clearly seen all the wounds his body had been covered with, the condition of his clothes helping her assess he had been in a fight not unlike a Sekirei battle if the degree of the injuries was a sign of it. The mystery was that by the time Chiho had recovered his wounds were half way gone too!

Wary of the blond stranger by that point, she tried to force him out of the room (and their lives) but he had just shrugged off her aggression and promised Chiho he would visit tomorrow, ignoring the worry the young girl had for him and his current condition. The week after that the blond had practically forced himself into their daily routine, much to Uzume's annoyance back then, 'I tried so hard to be subtle and make him go away, and yet he never gave in… just trying to make Chiho smile and be his friend.'

That was the main reason of her current inner conflict, Naruto had been successful, way more than he knew about. Uzume was aware Chiho probably treasured the blond's friendship as much as hers by this point, if not more. Uzume herself had been beaten at her own game too, she clearly remembered how she had tried to prove Naruto's perverted intentions by using her own charm to seduce him, thinking maybe he was after her for being a Sekirei. The memory of his counterattack still making her blush.

"Kyaa!" rubbing her sore butt, Uzume was just about to pulp her attacker in a blind rage until the moment she stared at him, there was no lust there, just pure mischief and a vindictive smirk.

"Naughty Uzume-chan, maybe I should keep Chiho away from perverted seductresses like you!" acting as if he hadn't just slapped her luscious butt, Naruto just skipped away back to Chiho who was waiting for the two in one of the benches in the hospital garden, leaving a gaping Uzume behind.

In that moment, she had learnt the blond just wanted to be their friend, nothing more. The following week had cemented their friendship with their mutual knack for pranks and teasing. It wouldn't be until the end of last week Uzume had noticed her reaction for Chiho was practically just a small pulse in her chest now. Miya herself was confused about it the moment Uzume had went to her with the news, completely confused and worried. After all, while losing the reaction to someone was not unheard of, it was normally a consequence of a stronger reaction overwhelming the Sekirei. Uzume herself had confirmed that she was not reacting to anyone else now.

However, the brunette knew this was related to Naruto, because nowadays she enjoyed time with the blond as much as she enjoyed her time with Chiho in the past, the moments where the three were together being just pure joy to the Sekirei. Noticing how late it was getting, she decided to wake the two sleepyheads and just forget all her worries and enjoy another day with her precious people.

Back with Naruto and Kaho, after the previous chapter ended :P

When the moment came, Kaho had to separate from her Ashikabi due lack of air, noticing how Naruto had a dazed look and was totally out of it. 'My ashikabi...' closing her eyes in contentment, she tried to look for the bond that was formed during their liplock.

Finding it with ease, she tried to find the feelings of love and complete devotion her adjuster told her would come from it the moment she was winged. The moment she didn't feel anything passing through the bond she fought back the urge to blink. Not knowing much about the intricacies of the bond, she decided to leave it alone for the time being, 'It's not as if I need something telling me I should love my Naru-kun more than I do right now.' still basking in the afterglow of her winging and the acceptance from her Ashikabi, she missed him returning to reality.

'Wow… I think I totally underrated this whole kissing business...' as far as anyone knows, he would never count that accident in the Academy as a kiss, there was no way both experiences could count as the same. Same with that incident with Fuka, 'Maybe Ero-sennin was not as crazy as I thought if kissing feels this good… no, concentrate!' After the kiss he had sensed something weird slowly occupy the part of his mind he had always thought represented his bond with Kurama, and moments ago it felt like something from the other side was trying to coerce something from it. Also, he could sense someone with chakra nearby, which had him sober up to stay on edge.

'Dammit, she left out many things from the whole Sekirei/Ashikabi deal! I bet that damn big breasted tease did it just so she can keep one upping me in front of Chiho-chan...' experimenting, he tried to focus on the connection the same way he did with the mangy fox in the past, 'Kaho-chan…?'

"Kyaaa! "Seeing the smiling woman open her eyes and stare at him with her eyes shining like stars made him smile. She always had the same expression whenever she found something new, 'And if our time together showed me something, is she knows less than me about the current world, strange in itself.'

"Naru-kun, was that you I just heard in my mind?! Amazing, my adjuster never told me such a thing could be possible!" raising an eyebrow at the change in how she referred to him, he raised a hand, making a motion for her to calm a bit and let him talk. Closing his eyes, he tried to sense the chakra source and found it after a few tries, apparently above them, 'which means there's a chance they've been observing us for a while. And I'm still bad at this whole sensor thing if it took me so long. Can't be an enemy seeing he or she never went for it while I was distracted right?'

"You! Up there! Been enjoying the lightshow? I need to ask you some questions."

"Urk!" knowing fleeing might not be the best idea, Homura leaped to the alley and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "As long as you don't mind answering some questions of my own, I don't mind."

Taking in both the appearance of the white haired man and how he did the leap with ease, Naruto decided he could take things calmly, though he noticed how Kaho tried to position herself between both men without much success due him not allowing so. He could actually feel her glaring at him the moment he stepped closer to the man with the black coat, "How much did you see?"

"Seeing I was here before you arrived, more than enough." feeling a fraction of the pressure from minutes ago on him once again was certainly not what Homura expected so soon.

"You mean to tell me you saw what was so obviously happening and you were not even going to do something?!" from Kaho's confused face, he knew he was right in not going into the details, bless her naivete.

"I was about to! Then you decided to appear and-" feeling another increase of pressure, Homura was confused at how Kaho seemed completely unaffected.

"Good to know, but why would a Sekirei defend someone they obviously don't know then? Are you recruiting for your Ashikabi?" not knowing he had touched a sensitive subject, now Naruto could feel the glare from the black clothed man.

"I am unwinged, and my job is to protect unwinged Sekirei from unsavory situations." and with that, all the previous tension was gone to Homura's increasing confusion.

"Oh, so you're the Sekirei Guardian Uzume-chan was telling me about the other day! Your timing sucks big time! Unless you were playing the whole 'Hero arrives at the last second' gig thing." nodding to himself, Naruto missed the stare his Sekirei was giving him about knowing this unknown Sekirei and how he had stopped her from protecting him. Her irritation grew the moment she heard the affectionate suffix for another girl.

Facepalming, Homura could already feel this blond would be a constant migraine if he was like this even half of the time, "That I am, but how do you know my friend?"

"Oh you know, from wandering around the city. Just had to follow one of those trails of blood made by knocked out perverts that needed some pranking in their lives, she's a good partner for that kind of retribution fufufu..." definitely a pain in the ass, and now Homura understood why Uzume was in such a good mood as of lately. She was a tease by nature, and having a partner in crime would be a welcome reprieve from her daily hospital visits.

"So… is your job any fun whitey?" broken out of his thoughts, Homura actually blinked at that, ignoring the comment on his hair color. "What do you mean by fun? Fun has nothing to do with being a guardian."

"Ugh… I can totally tell from your face. Stick in the mud type huh?" before he could actually retort, the blond just raised his hand to stop him, "No offense meant, you're just too serious to take anything lightly right? Bet Uzume-chan has lots of fun with you." the barest of twitches told Naruto how right he was.

"You still haven't answered me." from the deadpan he was getting, it was obvious the white haired male was not gonna respond soon unless he made himself clear.

"Ugh… have to change my question seeing you're too uptight for fun. Do you enjoy being a Guardian?" watching the man go into the think tank again, Naruto tried to facepalm… only to notice Kaho had the arm he tried to use engulfed in her embrace, as if trying to ascertain her territory while closing her eyes and acting as if she was not listening at all. 'That was… fast. I never sensed her approaching or anything! At least she stopped trying to act as a human shield for me', and from her grip, he might not get back his arm for a while.

Seeing Homura was still on the think tank and more importantly, he was starting to get hungry, Naruto decided his priorities with ease. "You know what, might as well leave you to think on it, but I already know you enjoy it whitey… maybe the next time we meet you'll be able to say it without thinking too much about it." Also, he supposed he might need to finally look for somewhere to live… Kaho might not be amused at sleeping on trees, so better to put some time of the day for that instead of waiting here.

"Wha- wait a second! You can't just ask me deep stuff and then leave when you get bored of it?!"

"Sure can. See ya whitey!" and just like that, Naruto left the alley with Kaho in two, the girl now in her happy place and just moving along her Ashikabi. As far as she knew, he not trying to get back his arm meant he liked their position.

Balking at how he was just ignored, Homura could only groan in annoyance. "Asshole, not giving a chance to at least tell him my name… whitey sounds horrible." Putting all his thoughts regarding his role aside for the time being, the Sekirei Guardian leapt away to at least do his job for a few more hours, the alley once again completely empty and quiet. It wouldn't be until he was at least three buildings away that Homura noticed he never got anything relevant from the blond he had intended to question.

On the center of the city, in the main building of MBI things were not so calm. The room that was the source of all the noise and stomping was a huge room that had all of its walls covered by their surveillance technology, which was supposed to be unmatched thanks to the advantage in technology obtained from studying the Sekirei ship and reverse engineering. In each of the main screens, images from all over the city could be seen, each one having in common the presence of a Sekirei, the images constantly in rotation to show the monitoring of their assets was as thorough as possible.

While the team assigned to this area was normally all over the place passing documents and information, everyone was currently on their seats trying to make themselves as tiny as possible to avoid the palpable ire of their boss.

Said boss was currently taking deep breaths to regain her calm, not even glancing at the screen that was currently showing her son dragged like a ragdoll by no. 88 while being chased by the Thunder Twins amused her enough to forget their latest security issue. Sahashi Takami sighed while staring at the report she had in her hands once again, passing her hand through her short hair in irritation.

The first page contained all the data they had on no. 87, Kaho. As expected, there were all sorts of statistics regarding her combat ability, physical appearance, background (of which some parts were only for her and Minaka's eyes) and even recent reports regarding her activities ever since she was released into the city. The source of her annoyance came from the field where the name of her Ashikabi and all the data MBI had on the individual was supposed to be the moment their systems registered her winging. So far, all of they had for data there was a blurred photo of Kaho and a blonde man walking on the rain. Not even a name or anything besides his gender so far!

'That's supposed to be impossible! Is it another addition by that idiot?!' so far that was the closest lead she had to the reason for their lack of information. She had been in charge of most of the technical details of their acquisition of Shinto Teito, and chief among those was gathering data on every individual that lived in the city and setting up all the security and information probes for any entry/exit point. It had been tedious and hard to hide from public scrutiny, but Takami had been proud to say there was not even one homeless man or woman that they did not know of extensively. And it had been some weeks since they started enforcing all types of security and scanning measures on the borders of the city so there was no way this was a recent arrival either. 'For all of our information probes to fail to even gather one speck of info on this man...might as well check with baka Minaka just in case this is another factor he added to the game just to annoy me...' there was no way her work had been amiss somewhere, so it had to be his fault.

The moment their boss left the room, everyone took a deep breath and relaxed, the natural pressure and presence of the woman when angered was enough to make them tense and afraid for their jobs despite the lack of any yell or vocal reprimand. Knowing the company's CEO was about to be the target of said ire was a bonus, seeing she always returned in a good mood after taking out all the pent up anger on the durable lunatic.

After a rather uncomfortable walk for Naruto, who never got his arm back and had to endure the slow pace his Sekirei was set on walking, both finally arrived at the quaint little cafe they visited nearly daily. The moment they entered, the owner set her sights upon them and had a twinkle in her eyes impossible to hide.

"Hoho! So you finally became man enough to make her yours?" glancing at the girl who was obviously still out of it and then at the blond's face who was about to answer, the woman hummed while shaking her head, "Forget what I just said, it's obvious she took the first step, dense idiots like you won't ever notice a girl crushing on him even if it's jarringly clear to everyone with eyes." nodding to herself, she started pushing the couple from the entrance towards what was slowly becoming their usual table, Naruto just blinking in confusion at the woman's words. Somewhere else (more specifically on another dimension), several girls sneezed, a busty Hyuuga doing so the loudest.

Kaho on the other hand, had snapped of her daze at the owner's words and blushed prettily while staring curiously at the woman, "Was it that obvious...?" because as far as she knew, she had only decided on it back at the alley just a while back, not something that seemed to be from a few days back.

After reaching their table and letting them sit, Naruto lost himself in his thoughts of hunger and ramen. Taking advantage of the blond being out of it from his vacant expression, the owner winked at the brunette, "For anyone paying attention dear. Though now I owe one of my frequent customers a free meal, since it seems you were as oblivious as that knucklehead." she already knew said knucklehead was in his happy ramen place, since that was the real reason he came. A nearby ramen stand that was always busy as hell always delivered him orders here seeing the man in charge was a friend of hers and rarely had space available on his stand. The tip for the service on both sides was a nice bonus too, even if it seemed weird. 'Maybe his home is so ugly and in bad condition he prefers to only sleep there? Then again, we forced the deal on him seeing he was completely fine with abandoning his date for ramen every time they came here.' Seriously, where men nowadays such rascals as to abandon their dates for food?

Feeling a poke on her arm, she blinked and noticed Kaho was still staring at her curiously, "Well, I was sure you were slowly snaring him so I lost a bet, that's all dear." the girl only shook her head and smiled shyly, "I actually wanted to know how did you know I was in love..."

"Oh, that? It comes with the job dear. Just look around you, normally we only get visits from couples or just frequent customers, so you eventually learn to know when someone's in love by their mannerisms." making a gesture with her hand, she pointed to some of the current customers to make her point. "See those two? Both are probably on their first or second date and unsure of their feelings. Just observe them for a few minutes." Not seeing any harm on it, Kaho decided to watch them as told.

One of the first things she noticed was the way both seemed to avoid each other's eyes whenever they felt the other was staring. The young man was constantly trying to fix his glasses or clean them as to have something to do with his hands while the girl seemed to be hesitating a lot to try and catch his attention, one of her hands was constantly raised and then lowered with a slight tremble. It was one of those uncomfortable silences neither side was able to break it due nervousness.

While it would seem adorable for most women, seeing it nearly was the classic shy and cute stereotype for a first date, Kaho was just confused, 'If they like each other, why hesitate at all?'

"Fufufu, you're a really straightforward girl right?" starting to get used to the way the girl seemed to blink in confusion to most of her questions, the owner smiled slyly, "Definitely a good match for a blunt idiot like Uzumaki-san, I could totally read your confusion there."

Waiting for the girl to focus again, she chuckled goodnaturedly and decided to just be as direct as possible, "The reason me and others were able to figure out your feelings with ease is because how different you are from that potential couple you just observed. That girl has doubts and a shy personality, so it's hard for someone like her to put her feelings into words unlike you. Tell me Kaho-chan, can you remember anything about this cafe, the people or the atmosphere from your visits so far?"

Not getting the sudden change of topic, the brunette closed her eyes and tried to recall as asked, nodding with a bright smile seconds after, "The cake! It was so delicious! And the sweets too!"

"Anything else that is not food related?" while glad for the praise, the woman was starting to recall how much Kaho ate whenever the duo visited and could feel a sweatdrop start to form.

"Um… the place was clean?"

Chuckling, the woman just waved away Kaho's apparent concern, "Don't worry, I knew you wouldn't remember anything dear, and that's part of my point. Everyone that watched you two for a few minutes could see it. Every time that motormouth started to talk it was as if the world stopped existing for you, most of the time you are here you barely notice anything that's not him." Taking a look at the other tables just in case anyone was unattended, she saw only the usual people from the lunch rush around, "While at the beginning it looked as if it was just curiosity from your part, as the days passed your expressions changed to the point most of the old couples started the bet pool for when you two would end up together. That and a lot of cooing at how adorable you looked."

Having said her piece, the owner went back to her kitchen to relay the usual order of the brunette and give said girl some space to think. And from Kaho's contemplative expression, it seems she really had a lot to think about.

After their meal (ramen for Naruto and mostly desserts for his Sekirei), both left the cafe mostly to avoid the owner's teasing after Naruto had ended his ramen. Taking into account how much both ate, it was no surprise the sky was starting to darken and less people roamed the streets. Out of habit, Naruto was walking towards the park he had slept in during his stay in this dimension, with a silent Kaho attached to his right arm. As they approached the tree that he stayed at, Naruto noticed there seemed to be someone leaning on said tree, a woman due the curves that could be easily distinguished even from his current position.

Curious, he channeled chakra to his eyes to sharpen his vision, a neat trick that doujutsu users discovered could be used by most ninja. While not as impressive as the increased range or predictive abilities some were known by, being able to identify previously blurry figures was a needed skill for most scouts, bounty hunters and border patrols.

While not giving night vision, it was enough for the blonde to recognize the curves of one of his two current friends. A small part of himself, one that was always nurtured by Jiraiya, could definitely appreciate the figure of the buxom female that the pair was slowly approaching. 'Now that I think about it, maybe Uzume-chan is also an ashikabi? It would explain why she knew so much about Sekirei to begin with… not a better time than the present to ask!' waving with his free arm in greeting, he missed the frown on Uzume's face directed at the girl that was practically glued to his right arm. He also missed the stern expression Kaho was throwing her way.

Unlike Naruto, Kaho could easily discern the girl waiting at the tree was a Sekirei like herself, and was already suspicious seeing the girl could hide her power so well. 'Naru-kun never told me he knew other Sekirei… is she luring my Ashikabi for something?' a part of her was excited at the prospect of battle, but glancing at her Naru-kun waving happily had her restrain from just rushing the other girl, conforming with just tightening her hold on Naruto's arm.

At the tree, Uzume barely managed to stop herself from frowning at the way the other Sekirei was hanging of her friend's arm. Why things were always getting more complicated for her whenever she decided on something? 'And to think the day had started so well...' from the way the other Sekirei seemed to be setting the pace, she had at least a few minutes before they reached her, so Uzume just raised her arms to stretch upwards, the motion causing her chest to bounce a bit and as a consequence feeling the gaze of Kaho turn into a full-blown glare. Apparently both Sekirei were used enough to the dark to have a better vision compared to normal humans and the shrine maiden seemed to be rather territorial.

Or maybe it was due the way Naruto's eyes seemed to follow the bouncing breasts, but she doubted his eyesight was that good with the growing dark and the street lights not turning on yet.

Unfortunately for Uzume, as they approached she started to feel something that was both good and bad. The small feeling of warmth that she associated with Naruto was growing at an alarming rate in her chest, going from what she had thought was just her natural affection for a friend to full blown reaction. And while normally that would be the clincher for her earlier dilemma regarding the blond and Chiho, the presence of the Sekirei accompanying him meant this was a byproduct of a winging.

'This is just totally unfair!'

If it's not obvious with the time difference between chapters, this was hard to write so any and all input is welcome XD Wish I had a beta to help with all the grammar issues I'm sure people will find :P

Sadly, been a while since I've been without a computer at home so update will be slow and such. Might insert some song cues later if I recognize which ones fit.

For those who want to know, besides Kaho my options for Naruto's sekirei would be among Uzume, Kazehana and Akitsu. Willing to read arguments for other Sekirei though. Also, Akitsu is a big if because I don't want to use the by now usual approach to her winging.