Unwavering Sky Chapter 4

Of Memories and Mammaries

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. All source material belongs to their respective creator and I'm illegally using them without explicit permission. That includes any material or ideas that came from gabriel blessing, God of fanfic writers that he is.

Soundtrack List

Hirano Aya- God Knows (Piano)

Five for Fighting – Superman (It's Not Easy)

****Unwavering Sky****

Play Hirano Aya- God Knows (Piano)

Naruto took another puff from his pipe and let the acidic smoke out of his chest with a single long sigh, grey smoke slowly swirling in the still air. It had been nearly one year since he had taken in Takehito, but the boy was still…. shaken to put it mildly.

While he was not actively depressed, the seven year old had more or less retreated from social contact by focusing entirely on his studies and projects, which more or less translated to him locking himself into his room, doing just enough to be considered a functioning human in society and the blonde did not want to actively interfere… however…

"You wanted to talk to me?"

Naruto waved at the boy to take a seat, puffing out another cloud of noxious smoke.

"What?" The small boy who was sitting out on the veranda with him peered up at the blonde with bored eyes.

"Your classroom teacher contacted me today for your end of year report." His guardian commented idly with another swirl of smoke.

"What about it?" Takehito murmured quietly, "I've been doing well in my studies."

"Well…. You're not wrong per se…" Naruto picked up the folder beside him and glanced at its contents, "Top student in the school and top athlete for your age, to the point where your teachers are considering allowing you to skip a few grades even though you're only seven."

"That's good isn't it?" the grey haired boy inquired with a tilt of the head.

"It's certainly better than some people that I won't name," Naruto replied with a crooked grin, remembering his own rather abysmal academic track record, "But then again, the report comes with a small addendum." Naruto passed the folder to the boy, who's grey eyes slowly panned down the page silently, scanning through the last page, "Though unfailingly polite and soft spoken, Asama-san has no obvious friends, actively avoids meaningful contact and to top it off, part of the reason they are going to let you skip a few grades is because everybody in your class is pretty much intimidated of you. Not too bad for a seven year old whose balls haven't even dropped yet I suppose."

Takehito wrinkled his nose at the rather crude metaphor but otherwise stayed silent.

'I guess I haven't been a good role model,' Naruto internally reflected while refilling the tobacco in his pipe with nimble fingers, "Do you remember what you asked me that day? The one I didn't know how to answer?"

Takehito nodded slowly, "If making bonds is just going to hurt you sooner or later, to have things that are precious to you hurt you when they are taken away, then why do you bother to make bonds at all?"

Naruto gently blew another puff of bluish grey smoke, "Losing someone precious to you is always going to hurt, there is no escape from that. Not even the gods are safe from this law. Yet why do people still willingly suffer for it?"

The grey eyed boy shook his head, signifying that he still didn't know.

"Your bond with your parents brought you to where you are today, yet when they passed away, you were left holding one end of the bond with no one at the other end. Yeah it's going to hurt like a damned splinter up your behind, but that bond, that thin piece of string in your hand, its proof that your parents loved you even after they've gone, and it's going to stay with you no matter what."

He took a deep breath, "It's not just them, every person you meet; be it your class room teacher, your best friend, your parents or even someone you bump into on the middle of the street leaves a mark on your soul even if you forget it later on. They shape you into who you are and influence the steps you will take on the path of life. Each bond makes a knot that cannot be undone or cut no matter how small, only changed, and every encounter has its own meaning and purpose. You grow because you have bonds with those around you, made you who you are today and who you will be."

He blew another great cloud of smoke that twirled in the air, images of long forgotten people seemed to form in the smoke in front of the blonde's weary eyes; a raven haired man, a silver haired man with one eye, a blonde busty woman… image after image materialized briefly, taunting him, before they faded into grey smoke.

He smiled tiredly, "You can hide and you can run from making any bonds at all, but all that is going to do is guarantee that you will become nothing but an empty shell and watch bitterly as the world passes you by. You can even numb yourself with worldly pleasures, but it's not going to change the fact that all that's going to give you is a bad kidney and more blisters than the moon."

His ward glanced at the pipe that hung loosely from his hand dryly, "You seem to be making a pretty good job of it."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm not exactly a good role model."

"You weren't meant to be a role model. Period."

"Just seven years old and already a smartass. I pity your whoever's going to be your wife."

"I'm not getting married. I'm too busy with my projects." The grey haired kid replied with his nose stuck in the air before he lowered his head and his voice wavered, "…I get it. I get what you're saying. But I'm scared to take that step forward."

"Then…." Naruto chewed the pipe's mouthpiece for an indecisive second.

Maybe it was time to stop hiding, he mused to himself, before speaking again, making sure no hint of hesitation made it into his gruff tone, "I'll take that step with you brat. How about it?"

"…. Alright."

"Heh. Good answer." The older blonde grinned and pumped a fist into the air, "This calls for a celebration. Let's go to the hot springs on the other side of town."

Takehito sweat dropped and gave the blonde a weird look, "What for?"

"To strengthen our manly bond!" he paused with an innocent confused look, "Isn't that the way men are a supposed to bond nowadays? I saw it in a manga."

Takehito picked his nose with a disdainfully blank expression, "Don't wanna. It's embarrassing to be seen with someone like you."

"Ehhh….. C'mon, I'll even show you a super special secret of mine." the blonde goaded with a smile.

"His natural curiosity awakened, Takehito hesitantly leaned forward, "S-secret?"

The blonde hid an evil grin, hook, line and sinker, "Yeah, a secret that no plain old book can ever show you, a secret that reveal unto you the true beauty of life, bountiful secrets that hitherto only exists for true men!"

1 hour later.

Takehito glared at Naruto with all the heat of a dying sun.

The blonde was wearing nothing but a white piece of towel around his waist while he scurried around the wall of thickly woven bamboo, looking for a crevice or hole with exceptional enthusiasm, "Peeping in the hot springs? That's your secret? Do I even want to know why you have a special hidden hole here?"

A happy Naruto bounced as he found his super special secret, removing a portion of bamboo to reveal a small peephole underneath it, "Uhyoo! I found it! The true beauty of life lies right beyond this secret hole! Bountiful beauties!"

The grey haired boy's eyebrow began twitching in anger, "Please die. Seriously, just die."

"You sure you don't wanna look?" Naruto offhandedly goaded, "I mean I understand, you're just too chicken to do it aren't you? Oh well, I guess it's to be expected since your balls haven't dropped yet. Kids like you can't appreciate it anyway."

Takehito bit his lip and thought for barely a moment, "I-I'll do it!"

"Atta boy!"

A grumbling Takehito splashed his way towards the section of the bamboo wall where the blonde was standing and put his eye to the small hole with an expectant gulp.

Just then he heard the sound of something breaking but before the boy could do anything, the entire part of the wall he was leaning on surged forward as if, pitching the screaming boy onto the reverse side of the fence and into steaming water.

Coughing and spluttering, Takehito spat out the sulphurous water as he resurfaced, paling when he found himself sitting, with nothing but a piece of floating cloth to protect his decency, right in the middle of a group of naked ladies, each of them glaring at the stunned seven year old.

"Wa-wait, it-it's not my fault! It's his! He forced me to do it!" Takehito pointed at the big hole in the wall's section at where Naruto was supposed to be standing.

"There's no one there." One rather busty black haired lady stated with eyes narrowed suspiciously at the obviously preteen boy. Kids sure hit puberty pretty early nowadays.

"He's not there?!" Takehito spun around and gaped at the hole in the wall, the only thing that he could see from his spot in the chest high water was a small white piece of paper, hanging from a string tied to the ceiling. Scrawled on the paper's wet surface was a childish drawing that depicted someone with familiar spiky hair holding up a victory sign.

It took him a few silent moments to understand what the drawing meant.

"Manly bond my ASS!"

****Unwavering Sky****

"So... you're saying that Sekireis are a race of extraterrestrial beings that are biologically compatible with humans, and as such they seek out suitable partners amongst humans with a special gene that can enhance them further. Specifically those that have Sekirei blood in them" He punctuated his words with sharp pokes in Miya's direction, "Which are called their Ashikabis. Once they have found their destined partners, Sekireis participate in a stupidly pointless fight with each other until there is only one left?"

Miya winced at the emphasis he put on stupidly pointless.

The blonde sighed as he thought through the myriad of facts he had received, "I think I understood most of it, but tell me again, exactly why are you and the other 107 beings like you obeying someone who obviously belongs in a mental institute and under heavy medication? Especially since he's practically asking each of you to practically attack what I assume should be your siblings in a possibly lethal manner and rip them away from their loved ones?"

Miya winced again at his brutally honest assessment of the situation and busied herself pouring more tea into her cup while the blonde stared at her, as if he was trying to puzzle something out, namely, exactly what were Sekirei. To be perfectly honest, the ability to use chakra had actually died out a few thousand years ago, give or take a millennia, mostly because there was nothing to use it against when humans creatively found their own way to surpass obstacles without the help of chakra. After sensing the flare of chakra in the new tenant's room, the blonde had hypothesized that Sekireis might be the descendants of the age of Shinobi, which didn't really make sense since there was no reason for them to suddenly come into existence after so long an absence until his hypothesis had been blown to smithereens by the landlady claiming that they were extraterrestrial beings.

That being said, it still did not explain why goddamn aliens, of all things, were capable of accessing chakra like shinobis of old and using aforementioned chakra to enhance their abilities in a myriad of ways similar to how a shinobi could use it, only they seemed to be stuck to their own special brand of powers instead of being capable of branching away like most higher level shinobis would, not to mention, their abilities were limited, incomplete and unstable until they made a pact with their chosen Ashikabi. Or maybe they had to mature more first to do it, the blonde mentally shrugged, he would find out later.

At the same time, despite their lack ability to diversify, he had never seen specialization to such a level in any single shinobi, or at least not without decades spent on training. For instance, even at the peak of the Shinobi era, no one had been capable enough to wield flames with as much ease and elegance as an incomplete Homura or Akitsu's control over ice, unnaturally reminding him of another ice user, this one male, not even his old rival.

That brought up another question; they were all apparently looking for partners in an attempt to prepare for some sort of martial tournament that would apparently take the losing side away from their partners. The pact making itself practically sounded like a mating ritual to preserve their race, but that really didn't take into account them sort of killing each other off.

"Nghh….." Naruto rubbed his jaw, "This whole thing sounds like a really big mess."

"Somewhat." Miya admitted with a dignified nod, "I haven't told you everything yet, but that is the bare bones of things as they currently stand. What will you do? There's no reason for you to help is there? From everything I've heard so far, it sounded as if you were simply passing by New Tokyo and never had any real intention of getting mixed up with all this."

"True." Naruto admitted as he considered the question thoughtfully, "Leaving New Tokyo isn't really that much of a problem even without money or documents, but it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere any time soon." He smiled cynically, a dark contrast to how Miya normally saw him act, "Not just because my friends have always called me a busybody but I get the impression that Akitsu wants to stay as well." He leaned back on the shoji with a sigh, "I did say I'd accept her after all."

"You could always tell her that you want to leave. I'm fairly sure she would not mind, not after pleading with you not to get mixed up with everything." Miya pointed out.

The blonde nodded, "True. But that isn't what she wants. That's the important thing here."

The lavender haired woman sipped her cup of tea, silently thanking the blonde for being considerate for one of her more unfortunate... children, "Does that mean you plan to do something about this pointless tournament as you so nicely put it?"

He gave her a dry look, "You don't really need me to do anything about it, considering who and what you are. Given what I've seen from you, I'd still be hard pressed to defend against you without drastic measures if you attacked me seriously."

"I am but one," Miya replied quietly, not even bothering to question how he had managed to deduce that she was not a normal Sekirei, or her level of skills from their meagre interactions so far though she held some rather nebulous reservations regarding his claim of being able to hold her off though she refrained from commenting on it. He was highly skilled to be sure, but he was still human, albeit an odd human.

Besides, thinking too deeply about the blonde was like deliberately asking for a migraine and an ulcer, "As much as I dislike it, Minaka's continued existence provides me and my siblings a measure or protection from the rest of the world. Without him, whole countries would be free to march upon us, I can protect them in an open fight and brute force my way through with little help, but nothing is stopping them from covertly slipping under my watch and kidnapping one or two Sekirei for… experimentation in an attempt to create artificially enhanced humans."

Naruto took note of the way the violet haired woman seemed to pause with a hint of bitterness in her voice, at the phrase experimentation, which just seemed to imply that that was exactly what had happened before, "Running away and disappearing just doesn't seem viable especially since we have more than a few Sekirei who are more willing to stay and fight, not to mention the logistics involved in getting a hundred or more individuals, many of whom are naïve to the way this world works, away from Minaka's extremely wide influence. On the other hand, a few couples may be able to escape the net, but the fact remains that they will also lose Minato's protection on the outside world unless they can blend into society well enough to not draw attention to their... abilities."

She took a deep calming sip of her chrysanthemum tea and summarised her feelings succinctly, "Even if we do rally enough like minded forces and somehow manage to stop fighting amongst ourselves long enough to defy Minaka, more likely than not, I fear that our actions would simply give the rest of the world a good reason to fear and sanction us. Not exactly the best method of integrating into society."

Naruto sighed, "I need my pipe. This is getting depressing."

"Pipe?" Miya arched a delicate eyebrow at the grumbling blonde as his words awakened a deeply buried memory.

The blonde watched as the landlady elegantly stood up and moved over to her wardrobe, fishing out a carefully wrapped box from the deepest part, "Takehito never smoked, so I always wondered why he had something like this, though he never explained. He always kept it carefully cleaned as well." She offered the thin but ornate box to him, "I assume it's yours?"

Receiving it with slightly trembling hands, the blonde smiled softly, "The brat really kept it clean for me didn't he?"

Opening the long and narrow oblong box, the blonde with scars on each cheek removed a thin pipe with an ornately decorated bowl at the other end or the varnished stem, "I forgot I left this here. Always meant to get a new one but I never quite managed it." He muttered quietly as he lifted the mouthpiece to his lips, "Or maybe... I just didn't want to."

The moment it entered his mouth, blue eyes widened to incredulous proportions before spitting the pipe right back out and began rolling on the floor, frantically patting down his red lips. When failed to stop the burning in his mouth, he literally began smashing his face into the ground in an attempt to distract himself from his burning tongue.

"Bleeping brat put ultra chilli pepper powder on my friggin pipe!"

Miya's grinned in amusement as she watched him repeatedly bang his face on the tatami, feeling a rather twisted sense of satisfaction as she made a mental note about the blonde's weakness for spicy food for future reference.

****Unwavering Sky****

A silver haired woman with short hair idly picked up a goblet of wine before leaning back onto the soft leather seats of her limousine, "You seem rather agitated, Homura."

The pale haired man who sat opposite her in a black suit only smiled wryly, "Was it that obvious?"

"A little," Takami took a sip from the goblet as she watched the scenery pass by, "Something wrong with Izumo Inn?"

A vein instantly popped on his forehead as he remembered Naruto's antics, the wine in his own goblet began bubbling, "Ev-everything is fine," He bit out with an utterly fake smile, "We've just received two new tenants so things have been a little hectic that's all. Their very nice people. Very nice..."

His companion arched a delicate eyebrow at the rather flustered man's strained voice; this was the actually the first time that she had ever seen Homura act like that. As a host and self proclaimed Guardian of the Sekirei, he was always very composed and calm except when his powers temporarily went out of control, though this seemed like something completely different, more natural if she had to say, "Hmm... It seems like you've made some friends. Was it with Minato?"

"Made friends? Who the hell would be friends with that crazy bastard!?" Homura put his goblet aside and began ranting in anger with forceful gestures to emphasize his... preferences.

Takami hid an amused grin behind her wine glass. Okaaay... so it wasn't Minato, she seriously doubted if her son was bold enough to provoke such a reaction from the usually composed host. She scrunched up her nose in confusion, "Wait, if it isn't Minato or Musubi then who're you talking about? Our satellites didn't detect anyone else entering Izumo."

Homura froze mid rant, his thoughts racing as he debated about letting Takami know about the Scrapped Number and the really strange blonde. Just then he blinked as the full impact of Takami's words penetrated his thoughts; they hadn't detected something major like the Scrapped Number staying at Izumo? Regardless... the infuriating blonde had promised to keep his secrets so he would at least have enough courtesy to return the favour.

Sighing, he leant back into his seat, "Just a rather annoying person and his friend. They're staying in one of the rooms for now."

The grey haired woman narrowed her single visible eye at him, "I see..." and made a mental note to investigate further the new tenants further. There were already too many incidents lately to be completely coincidence: what with Kusano's untimely escape and Yomi's invasion of MBI's labs, her own son getting embroiled in the Sekirei Tournament and worse of all, the stranger that had escaped their safety net at the airport had yet to be found despite MBI's best efforts. Things had gotten too far out of hand in recent weeks for her to be truly comfortable with.

Before their conversation could go any further, the limousine slowly came to a stop three streets away from Izumo Inn, the host opened the door with a charming smile, "My thanks for sending me home, Takami. Will I be seeing you at the club again soon?"

"Probably not for a week or so." The grey haired woman sighed and rubbed her temples, "There are just too many problems lately, until then if there's any new information I'll contact you by phone."

****Unwavering Sky****

Akitsu stirred on her futon, wrapping herself up even more tightly in her comforter. It had been a long time since she had such fulfilling sleep, one without nightmares or... icy blue eyes snapped open and she jerked upright, frantically looking around for her Ashikabi.

"Morning." A voice greeted her from right behind her in a cheerful tone.

She spun around to see her Ashikabi sitting on the window sill, watching her with a warm smile as he puffed on a pipe. Bright yellow sunlight filtered through the window, and for one fleeting moment, she felt that her Ashikabi and the rising sun were somehow... similar.

Unwavering yet ephemeral.

Brushing her unsettling thoughts away with a light shake of her head, warm relief immediately spread through her body at the sight of the blonde, a rather strange feeling if she said so herself, and she calmed down with a small sigh and almost imperceptible smile.

"Good morning, Master." The pale haired beauty with bone white highlights in her hair muttered quietly before slowly and deliberately moved to his side with measured steps and plonked herself down beside the amused blonde's legs in a deferential position. Then she stared at him with half lidded eyes, up and down as if to reassure herself that he was really there. Once she confirmed whatever she was looking for she nodded once in satisfaction, leaned his legs and began trying to organize her messy bed hair into some semblance of order with her fingers.

"We're going to need to get you some more clothes and some toiletries." Naruto carefully observed wooden grain of the window sill.

Akitsu paused and glanced at the fluffy white pyjamas that the landlady had lent her the night before. She cocked her head at the watching blonde and uttered a single quiet, "Why?"

"Well..." For one, we can't keep depending on Miya, and second... " Naruto scratched his cheek with a light blush as he forcefully stopped himself from looking downwards at her breasts which were almost popping out of the rather strained pyjamas, even with the top two buttons already unbuttoned, made worse by the fact that he had a perfectly good view down her cleavage due to his vantage point. He coughed uncomfortably and busied himself cleaning his pipe for breakfast, "Let's just say you need some new clothes and leave it at that."

He was more than game to take a peek at most females, but ogling people like Akitsu who were so pure and innocent... made him feel uncomfortably like a paedophile.

In the kitchen, the lavender haired landlady felt a sudden urge to plant her fist in a certain blonde's face.

Naruto watched Akitsu weigh his words with the same blank face, the only sign that she was doing anything was her cute wrinkled nose before seemingly coming to a conclusion, "Understood Master."

The blonde paled as the pale haired woman slowly stood up, "Akitsu?"

"Yes?"

Naruto shifted his pants uncomfortably and spoke in a strained voice, "Why are you taking off your clothes? In front of me?"

Akitsu blinked and looked down at her uncovered chest, "... Is something wrong?"

The blonde sighed and stood up, "You're a lady aren't you? Ladies shouldn't let people see their skin so easily unless it's their husband; that is a lady's pride." He ruffled Akitsu's hair with a half smile on the way out of the room, I'll be waiting for you downstairs; we'll have breakfast before we leave."

As the blonde left the room, Akitsu once more looked down, one long finger delicately tracing her pale skin, "Lady and Husband..."

A light blush dusted her cheeks before she shook it off and resumed dressing herself in yesterday's kimono before making her way towards the dining hall with dignified and measured steps.

She found her Ashikabi already eating at the table, sitting beside a rather ruffled looking Kagari. At the head of the table, the landlady sat, biting her lips to stop herself from chuckling out loud as the blonde continued to outrageously tease the silver haired host.

"You sure you alright, Kagari? You weren't home all night. I know some rather effective salves for..." The sideways glance the blonde shot at his bum was not missed by the grey haired man, "...Soreness." Naruto finished with a rather innocent grin.

Uzume collapsed into gales of laughter.

The tea in Kagari's hands began boiling as he chose not dignify Naruto with a response.

"Um... excuse me." A rather timid voice came from behind her spot at the dining hall's entrance, causing her jump slightly before turning to stare at the newcomer and his bouncing Sekirei.

Minato quailed under the stranger's impassive stare, "Uh-Uhm do you stay here too?"

The pale woman's half lidded stare intensified as she tried to remember if she had introduced herself to the brown haired boy before deciding it really didn't matter. Nodding once, she stood aside and gestured at the table speaking in her usual monotone, "...Breakfast."

As the brown haired boy passed by her with his head bowed, Musubi followed until she caught sight of the crest on Akitsu's forehead and came to a sudden halt and thrust her face into Akitsu's until they were nose to nose. The overly perky dark haired girl stared at the crest on her forehead with some fascination. Quirking her lips in what passed for scowl for the impassive ice user, she briefly considered freezing the annoyingly energetic maiden into a nice, silent chunk of ice before a somewhat hazy memory about Naruto keeping secrets lazily floated to the forefront of her mind.

Let it be known that Akitsu was not a morning person.

She gently tapped Musubi's nose and pushed her face away before lifting one finger to her lips, silently telling the innocent girl that was dressed like a shrine maiden to keep it a secret, as her Ashikabi had promised.

Smiling brightly, Musubi nodded and bounced into the dining hall to where Minato was speaking to a red faced Kagari while Akitsu took her spot by Naruto.

"Good morning, everyone." Minato quietly greeted everybody at the table.

The blonde waved cheerfully while Kagari merely grunted, Miya set down her cup of tea and gave him a warm smile, "Good morning, Minato-san. What will you be doing today?"

The dark haired boy smiled humourlessly, "I have to get all my items moved into the house, so that will probably take me the better part of the day."

"Oh my." Miya glanced at the blonde who appeared to be trying his best to cause an explosion from Kagari with an audacious grin, "Why don't you take Uzumaki-san with you? That good for nothing trash doesn't seem to have anything to do today after all."

"I object, Miya." Naruto playfully replied, abandoning his newest hobby; playing with Kagari's self control until he outed himself in front of Minato, "I do have something to do."

Kagari, seeing his chance to escape, pushed the plate in front of him away and hurriedly stood up, "That was a good meal, thanks for breakfast. I'm going to sleep."

Minato perked up and attempted to get to know his neighbours better, "What do Uzumaki-san and Kagari-san work as?"

"Hmm? We don't really have a job per se. Immortals and aliens like us aren't really good at integrating with society don't you know?" Naruto drawled with a half expectant grin as everybody around the table froze, with the exception of Naruto, Akitsu, Minato and Musubi, Uzume actually began choking on her waffles, unsure if she should laugh or start killing.

Kagari, who had frozen halfway standing up, seriously considered burning Naruto into a crisp right here and now; how the heck did that constitute keeping a secret?

Minato began chuckling shyly, "Aliens and immortals? Good joke Uzumaki-san. But seriously, I'm wondering if you know any place for me to find a job."

Naruto's grin widened further, getting a kick out of Miya's thin lipped glare, "Oh I'm completely serious. Everyone in this house is either and alien or immortal except for y-Grkk!"

The blonde winced when Miya stabbed him under the table with a fork and primly redirected the conversation, "Ignore Uzumaki-san please. He's a little..." Cue another burning glare at the pouting blonde, "off, but if it's a job you want, I might know someone."

Everybody watched the dark haired boy thank Miya gratefully with some relief but did not truly relax until he and his Sekirei had hurried off to start moving. The moment they heard the door slamming, Miya turned her glare on the unrepentantly grinning blonde, "What was that for?" she asked him quietly.

The blonde propped himself up on one hand while he affectionately watched Akitsu finsh impassively eating her waffles as if nothing of interest had happened, "He didn't believe me did he?" He pointed with a grin, "There's no better lie than the truth after all, and to answer your earlier question, I'm going to pick up some supplies before shopping for some clothes for Akitsu."

Uzume perked up and she seized the chance to understand the weird blonde better, "Hmm? Shopping? Want me to go with you Nii-chan? Or are you going to pick out Akitsu-chan's panties for her?" she asked with a brazen smile.

Naruto scratched his cheek, he may have been alive for a god damned long time but even he had to admit that grasping the nuances of the female mind in the throes of a shopping fever was far beyond his poor abilities.

Which was... kind of sad if you thought about it.

Anyway, helping a female choose clothes wasn't exactly one of his better skills, not to mention he was pretty sure that having Uzume along to help choose Akitsu's unmentionables would be a complete relief... Making up his mind, he the blonde nodded with a slight blush, "Yeah, thanks. That'll be a real help."

"We will go together." Miya interrupted suddenly before narrowing her eyes at the blonde who had one eyebrow raised. She sniffed disdainfully, "Akitsu-chan is too innocent. You'll definitely take advantage of her."

"Your overwhelming trust in me is touching." The blonde dryly replied as he wearily stood up, "Still if the two of you are coming, why don't you wait here and get ready until I come back. It'll be easier for me to move alone anyway." He ruffled Akitsu's hair like a parent would to a child, "I won't take long, half an hour tops, alright?" He smiled reassuringly at the woman who returned his look with a half lidded stare.

Akitsu jerked her head in a small nod, "...Understood. Be safe, Master."

The moment the sound of his footsteps disappeared and she heard the door close, she began glaring at a nervous Uzume.

By the time Naruto returned home, he was surprised to receive a very warm reception from the girl dressed in a tight shirt with a star imprinted on the front, emphasizing her cleavage. Cleavage that Uzume smushed his face into after jumping on him like a rather unhappy feline.

Warm reception was actually an understatement, Naruto thought to himself as he struggled to peel his face out of the blubbering dark haired girl's rather bountiful chest with a incredibly... profound sense of disappointment in himself. He was a pervert, nay, he was THE pervert, but now really wasn't the time.

Giving up, the blonde walked into the dining hall with Uzume clinging to his head, "What's wrong with her?" he asked in a muffled voice, pointing at the trembling girl on his face.

Miya simply smirked, she found the fact that Akitsu had managed to gain enough self esteem to give her new neighbour a nearly subzero glare for nearly 30 minutes rather... reassuring, "We had a..." She glanced at the almost unnoticeable downturn of Akitsu's lips, "little argument. Are we ready to go?"

"We will when I can breathe again." Naruto muttered.

"Honestly." Miya muttered like an annoyed mother and grabbed the back of Uzume's shirt, peeling the squirming girl off with ease and began dragging her upstairs to change into something a little more appropriate than a very tight shirt.

As the two women went upstairs, Naruto ruffled Akitsu's hair again with a rather wry smile, "Looks like you've developed a rather nasty bite huh?"

Akitsu huffed at her Ashikabi.

****Unwavering Sky****

The rest of the day passed quickly in a blur and Naruto barely remembered what he and the trio of females had done in a shopping centre close to the centre of town.

The bags... the mountains of bags... and the hours of standing, fidgeting outside the changing rooms in the ladies department, waiting for Akitsu to try on the newest thing that Uzume or Miya had picked out for her...

The first time Akitsu had walked out in a pale blue, modified yukata that only came up to her knees and her eyes glinting as she awaited his judgement, the blonde was hard pressed to find somewhere, anywhere safe to place his eyes.

Then Uzume had pranced out of the changing room with a devious grin before pulling down the top, "Say, Nii-chan, what do you think of Akitsu's new bra? I picked them especially for you. For future reference, they're a nice G, just a little smaller than mine." She said slyly.

Naruto blinked, shopping begs slipping out his slack fingers, and somehow managed to choke out a strained whisper, "WHAT bra?"

Akitsu had proceeded to slowly look down at her twins that were hanging free with a confused look, "Ah... I forgot."

"Where's your bra? I gave you a nice black lacy set didn't I?" The dark haired girl who had tied up her hair in one side ponytail asked Akitsu dumbly as she goggled at Akitsu's cleavage.

The ice user blinked and proceeded to methodically part the front of her skirt, only for Naruto to realize that his cute little Sekirei had apparently gone commando.

"Ah... I forgot."

From that point on, Naruto's brain had fizzled out and he couldn't remember anything else.

Well, it wasn't that he couldn't remember, it was more like he preferred not to, all he knew was that Akitsu had a rather interesting disposition for chains, something that had Miya glaring at him as if it was somehow his fault.

By the time Miya and Uzume had satisfied themselves, it was already too late for lunch and the four members of Izumo Inn found themselves seated at the food court in the shopping centre for a quick bite to eat before they went back.

Sighing, Naruto placed a mountain of bags, worth a grand total of well over 150000 yen for several sets of unmentionables, yukatas and kimonos for all sorts of undecipherable situations (Miya tried to explain that a woman needed the proper Kimono for every occasion, needless to say it went in one ear, and out the other), beside his seat and collapsed into it with a thankful mutter. The weariness slowly bled out of his very body as she slumped; face first, onto the cool plastic table surface.

As their ordered food arrived, Uzume leaned forward with a leer, "Tired already? And here I was, expecting more from you." She tsked smugly, "Such low stamina." Naruto grunted, but mostly ignored the double entendre.

Miya daintily clasped her hands around the cup of steaming black tea, "Speaking of expecting, I was under the impression that you had no funds or documents. I find myself surprised that you could afford all this." She waved at the mountain of bags beside the blonde.

Naruto opened his mouth and was about to reply when he sensed, rather than smelt it. There was a Sekirei nearby who more or less reeked like the black one he had unfortunately encountered at the airport. Just as he tensed, the sound of someone charging towards him, pushing screaming customers out of the way roughly, reached his ears. Without even bothering to look around or leave his seat, he sighed and moved.

He wrapped one arm around the thin girl beside him and waved at the panicking customers all around them, "No need to worry, my cousin here is just a little high strung. She just needs some rest and she'll be just fine." He called out loudly with a cheerful grin.

The pink haired girl drooled, eyes rolled into the back of her head which limply lolled onto his shoulder; Naruto tapped her spine from behind, and her body reflexively nodded along with his wide but strained grin.

And drooled some more.

Miya narrowed her eyes at the newcomer who was unmistakably a Sekirei as she calmly sipped from her cup, mentally re-evaluating the one of the newest tenants of Izumo Inn. While she had indeed sensed the Sekirei earlier than Naruto apparently had, by the time either she, Uzume or Akitsu-chan had managed to even move a finger, the blonde had already dealt with the problem with inhuman speed by reaching out to pinch the nerve clusters behind the Sekirei's neck, sending her into blissful oblivion and pitching forward in a dead faint. Then one his legs had moved, pushing the empty chair beside him out before his fingers hit a series of nerve points too fast for her to see, manipulating her unconscious body into the chair like a puppet before hooking the chair back into place like nothing had happened.

The beautiful landlady doubted that even her old partners could have seen him moving and there was only one other human that Miya knew was capable enough of moving like the enigmatic blonde just did, although she doubted that that the vagabond could achieve the speed, fluidity and grace she had just seen. She already knew that the blonde was familiar with Takehito for some reason; maybe... her ex husband had put him under the same augmentation process...?

Speaking of old partners, she briefly glanced at the drooling girl... rose pink hair tied up into a strict pony tail, thin boxing mitts on each fist and the black kimono like shirt she was wearing identified the slack jawed Sekirei as Number 105, Benitsubasa.

A member of the Disciplinary Squad.

Miya rubbed her temples with a sigh as she felt a headache coming.

Once all the customers had returned to their business, the blonde sighed and released his hold on the pink haired girl, who bonelessly flopped forwards, and tapped the plate in front of him, sending it shooting to the side, just in time to stop her face from hitting the table.

Uzume snorted, desperately trying to stifle giggles at the sight of a feared Disciplinary Squad member flopping face first into a plate of mashed potato with a small, wet splat.

"As I was about to say before I was interrupted, I always make sure I have a series of safe houses and supplies wherever I go, just in case I mess up." The blonde grinned crookedly, "Which is surprisingly often. That's where I get the money from." He gave a disgruntled sigh with a rather tired look on his face, "I miss the days when one could simply go anywhere they wanted. Now they have all sorts of high tech sensors and censuses to keep track of every individual that enter their countries. Even one extra person appearing out of nowhere causes an alarm like nothing else."

The three women just stared at him like he was stupid.

Naruto blinked, "What?" He asked cluelessly; completely ignoring the fact that he had an out cold Sekirei next to him.

Uzume pointed a shaking finger at the pink haired girl who was snoring into a bowl of warm and gooey mashed potatoes, "Do you understand what you just did?"

"The exact same thing I did to you." Naruto dryly pointed out.

"I was drooling?"

The blonde smirked, "A little. I even have a picture if you want."

"You took a picture?" Uzume paused and grinned evilly, "Do you have one of Kagari?"

Miya put down her cup down with a little more force than necessary to catch their attention, "The point being," she stressed lowly, "You just took out a member of the Disciplinary Squad. We should leave before her companions arrive."

Uzume began to sweat a little, "Uh... yeah that's right. Ahahaha."

"You sure we should leave her like this?" He asked with furrowed brows and a concerned glance at the snoring girl, "I mean, she's can't exactly defend herself right now."

Miya stood up, a paler than usual Akitsu a split second behind her, "They already know, they're probably even watching us right now. We should leave; now. A confrontation of any sort at this point in time would be extremely unwise."

Shrugging, the blonde gathered up the bags into his arms, showing none of the whining and weariness that he had displayed earlier and the four of them left the food court silently with a brisk but purposefully unconcerned pace, thought Naruto made sure to take a picture before he left.

****Unwavering Sky****

Play Five for Fighting – Superman (It's Not Easy)

Naruto sighed happily as he sat down, leaning against the wall of the dining hall in Izumo Inn, thankful for finally being able to rest. Cup of hot tea on the table, smoking pipe in hand and warm shelter, life rarely got any better than this for the blonde.

He closed his eyes and deepened his breathing in meditation, focusing his senses.

Kagari was out on his nightly job as usual so his presence was not in the inn, the pounding of footsteps above him told him that Minato had just finished sorting his belongings and was moving towards the dining hall. Miya, Uzume, Musubi and Akitsu was in his room, the rhythm of their footsteps a frantic but energetic symphony, he presumed that they were trying out the new clothes that he had bought, while the last member of the Inn that he had not been introduced to yet was still, watching something that made her breath in a disturbingly heavy manner.

"Uzumaki-san?"

The blonde smiled briefly but did not open his eyes, "Good evening Minato-san. How was your day?"

The sound of Minato's clothes rustling as he took a seat on the other side of the room reached his ears, "Not bad. I finished moving earlier than I expected thanks to Musubi. I'm ready to start working tomorrow as well." The young boy sighed contentedly, "I'm truly thankful to you and Miya-san."

"I'm not sure why you are thankful to me. Miya's the landlady and she's the one that provided you with a job." The blonde commented.

"That's true I suppose." Minato agreed with a confused chuckle, "I guess I'm a little too happy."

Naruto hummed noncommittally as he smoked from the pipe, savouring the acidic burn before blowing a grey wisp of smoke onto the veranda, "You make it sound like you weren't happy before. Were you not satisfied with your life?"

The dark haired boy observed the blonde man meditate in a corner, half on the veranda half in the dining room, silently wondering what to say as he thought over what the question implied. The blonde man was dressed in a casual pair of dark jeans and an orange shirt. The older man was not someone that he would consider good looking; he was scarred, his hair was a spiky mess of golden brush that framed his strong jaw, orange sleeves were rolled back to show strong but scarred arms. The elder man was only a little taller than himself and lean, almost like a dancer.

Rugged was probably the best description he had for the older man.

"I wouldn't go that far I suppose." Minato hedged as he wondered if he could say anything further without letting the blonde know too much about Sekirei, "I was just another ronin struggling to enter New Tokyo University, and I failed for the second time. I was almost ready to give up and go home when I met Musubi."

The blonde nodded and carefully thought over the young man's words, "So you felt like you were adrift, that you were studying only because it was expected from you, but when Musubi appeared, you like you had finally found something else worth doing? Something that you yourself wanted." The blonde paused for a second as the image of a young, overly loud blonde boy flashed in his mind's eye, "Something that set you apart from all the other failures."

Minato blinked, he... hadn't actually thought of it that way. Chuckling lightly, he nodded, "Ye-yeah, I guess."

A misty haze escaped the blonde's lips, swirling in the air. Minato was shaken to almost see a hazy image appearing in them; a washed out image of his first meeting with Musubi.

"Do not guess. Do." Naruto firmly reprimanded the dark haired boy, "You chose this path; at least have the fortitude to see it to the end. In the future, you may look back and realize that it was the wrong path and take another branch, but in the end, it was your path and there is no backtracking. Musubi may have started you on this path, but in the end, you are the one walking."

A cynical grin twisted his thin lips.

Minato nodded with silent, jerky movements forgetting that the blonde probably couldn't see it, shaken as he was by the blonde's words and the impossible image he had just seen. For just a moment, the blonde sitting in the corner looked almost... inhuman and ephemeral.

Then the door shifted open and the moment was broken as four very feminine figures walked in, modelling new yukatas for the benefit of the two males.

Naruto bit his lips as he took in the sight of his landlady and his Sekirei, dressed in incredibly form fitting Kimonos that he had paid for. The pale blue kimono patterned with snowflakes, cutting off abruptly mid thigh in a flare flattered Akitsu;s long legs. The top was open, held together by crisscrossing chains, showed off her snow white shoulders. Her pale brown hair with white highlights had been lengthened and modelled into a tight bun with braids encircling it, leaving a few bangs to frame her heart shaped face.

On her left, arm wrapped around Akitsu was Miya, dressed in a full length pinkish white kimono. Though it was unpatterned, the cloth was cut enough to emphasize her maturity and give her a firm motherly air that she wore like a queenly mantle. Her own hair was pinned into a bun, similar to Akitsu's only longer, casual strands hanging down her face displaying a snow white neck that had her blonde tenant gulping audibly.

"Neh, Nii-chan," Uzume leaned forward with a leer at her dumbfounded male neighbours, her cleavage straining against the violet kimono, a ruby coloured pin holding her hair up in a bun, "You like what you see?"

The younger and more inexperienced one nodded frantically, his eyes stuck on a cheering Musubi, bouncing up and down in a dark pink Kimono that Miya had forced Naruto to buy. The blonde, distracted as he was, wasn't entirely sure if Minato was honestly appreciating his Sekirei as a whole, or just staring at her bouncing jugs.

Alhough judging by the way his pupils kept... bouncing, he'd wager on the latter.

Uzume pouted, "Well? Say something!" she demanded.

Minato just sounded like he had swallowed his tongue, though that was arguably better than Naruto how fared in hindsight.

The blonde choked back the first thing that came into his muddled brain with an amazing feat of willpower, a phrase that was probably very flattering but equally impolite and completely inappropriate, so he went with the second thing that had entered his head.

Pointing dumbly at Miya and Akitsu's new hairstyle, he spoke, "Klexmus!"

"Whaaat?"

Naruto swallowed and tried again, "Christmas Cake!" he said proudly.

Cue Akitsu's foot to his face while Miya punched him in the gut with all her strength.

"GEHOH!"

****Unwavering Sky****