It was nearly a week after their shopping excursion into Tokyo before the Sahashi family had been able to return to the island. Takami had come up with some cock and bull story about how Minato and Yukari had injured themselves on their survey of the island and had an old college friend inside the hospital falsify some records to coincide with her story.

After citing this falsified documentation with some contacts within the National Diet, the Japanese government had restricted all travel near the island until such a time it was deemed safe and Takami had been placed in charge of doing exactly that. This had effectively halted any risk of a curious civilian getting too close (at least for the time being) as well as given the family a perfectly reasonable excuse to be seen coming and going from the island.

As the family of three followed Miya further into the ship, Minato could only shake his head at the amount of power his mother so casually wielded. Honestly. Shady contacts? Falsifying information? Backdoor agreements? It sounded like a bad spy thriller.

The group eventually entered a large chamber filled with rows upon rows of stasis chambers forming a ring around the room. At the center of the room were two rows of four, each one labeled with strange symbols that Minato assumed was the native language of the Sekirei.

"So these are…"

"The last of the Sekirei," Miya said quietly.

"Earlier, you said that the ship was capable of accelerating growth," Takami noted, her eyes scanning the room in wonder.

"Yes." The lavenderette nodded. "We will start with these eight you see here."

"These ones…" Yukari slowly approached one of the chambers and peered inside. "They're the embryos."

"With their already advanced developmental stage, they would be the simplest to gestate," Takami nodded in agreement.

"There is more to it than that." The Sekirei shook her head. "The procedure only works on those already in an embryonic stage of development. We will have to wait for the others to develop naturally before we can even think of trying to accelerate their growth."

"And what is this procedure, exactly?"

"The first step is to choose which one to begin with," Miya said. "I would like to start with just one for the time being. I want to make sure that there are absolutely no issues with the process before we start working on groups at a time."

"How many can your ship support at once?" Minato asked curiously.

"We have ten maturation chambers in total," she explained. "But there is still the issue of resources. With our current stock, we can support a maximum of four others."

"So, we'll need to be picky for the time being," Takami mused. "You mentioned before that each Sekirei has a specialization in either martial arts or elemental manipulation. We'll need to choose individuals that would be most beneficial to our cause."

"Precisely." Miya nodded her agreement. She strode over to the nearest row of pods in the center of the room. "Ideally, we would want a balanced crew to work with; at least one tech support and several enforcers. Numbers 002 through 005 would actually be prime candidates."

"Numbers?"

"Each of the Sekirei on this ship was assigned a number for identification." She explained. "For formality's sake, I was designated Number 001. This one here is Number 002. Her ability is technokinesis. Number 003 is an elemental-type with control over wind. Number 004 is an enforcer-type with an affinity for bladed weapons. Number 005 is a hybrid-type; capable of both manipulation of land and martial combat."

"A well-rounded crew," Minato remarked.

"A tech support crew member would be a godsend to us at this point in time," Takami reasoned. "So, I would start with Number 002."

"You said Number 002's power was technokinesis, right?" Yukari asked curiously. "The power to control machines?"

"At first, she will likely be limited to electronic devices," Miya explained. "But with time and practice, she could potentially be able to control any machine on Earth."

"That sounds incredible," Takami murmured. "And terrifying at the same time. She could hack into any military facility and launch a nuclear strike anywhere in the world. She could… wipe out humanity by herself..."

"Exactly," the lavenderette agreed. "This is why we will need to take extra care in acclimating her to our new world. She will need close guidance. I hope that your upstanding characters will be a positive influence on her."

Minato didn't miss the way she'd referred to Earth as our world and couldn't help but smile. "So, we'll start with Number 002, then? Do you have a name in mind? I don't want to just keep referring to her as a number."

Miya glanced at him with a look of surprise on her face before smiling. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Yukari raised her hand excitedly. "I have the perfect name! I was reading this manga the other day, and—"

"No," Minato said bluntly.

"Eh?! But—"

"No stupid manga names." He sent her a stern glare.

"What's wrong with Satellizer L. Yagami the Second?!"

Takami knew she had to break this up before it escalated any further. "Why don't we let Miya decide?" The mother sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose wearily. "Number 002 is a Sekirei, after all. It's only right she have a Sekirei name."

The woman in question just shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "If Earth is to be our home, we must adopt its customs. I would like her to have a Japanese name."

"Well?" Minato prodded.

Miya paused for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "Matsuri," she said after a while.

"Matsuri?" Takami repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Why Matsuri?"

"Well..." The alien woman flushed slightly in embarrassment. "My first experience on this world was a matsuri. So, I thought it only fitting my first sister be named after it."

"Awww!" Yukari squealed, throwing her arms around the lavenderette, much to her embarrassment. "That's so cute, Miya-chan!"

"But it sounds a bit clunky." Takami voiced her own opinion. "I don't think it would go over well out there."

"Well..." Yukari paused for a moment. "How about we drop the last syllable?"

"Matsu?" Minato questioned. "Why 'pine' of all things?"

"The kanji looks cooler!"

"Yukari…"

"Matsu…" Miya tested the proposed name, a thoughtful expression taking shape. Finally, a small smile made its way onto her face. "I like it."

"Oh, yeah!" the youngest member of their group cried out. "That's one point for Yukari! I told you my names were awesome!"

"Seriously?" Minato asked incredulously.

"You don't like it?" the lavenderette asked, frowning slightly. The young man immediately flinched.

"No! That's not it!" He hastily exclaimed. "I-I think it's perfect! Matsu, huh...? Haha..." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yukari make a whipping motion while snickering to herself. He sent her a nasty glare in response.

Takami, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes. "Well, we have a name." She grunted. "Now then, how exactly does this process work?"

Miya paused for a moment and nearly grimaced before schooling her features. "We inject the embryo with a synthesized growth hormone."

"That's it?" The white-haired woman raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. "What about nutrients? How will she grow? Matter cannot be created or destroyed. Where is she getting the material necessary to achieve growth without a surrogate mother to absorb it from?"

"The chamber itself, of course," Miya said, gesturing at the large pod in which the embryo was sealed. "You didn't think its size was for show, did you? The chambers must be large enough to accommodate the nutrients needed to sustain life for an indefinite amount of time. But the growth hormone isn't all there is to the procedure. It is in need of a… catalyst."

"And what is this catalyst?"

"It is something that only I, as the Pillar of the Sekirei, can do," she explained with a solemn expression on her face. The vague answer caused the three humans to frown.

"I see," Takami narrowed her eyes. "Well, what should we expect?"

"Once we open the chamber, the stasis will be released," Miya said "And under the hormone's influence, Matsu will grow until she reaches an infantile state. Afterwards, she will need to be transferred to the maturation chamber. From there, her growth will slow down over a period of months until she reaches maturity."

"I see," Takami murmured. "And where is this growth hormone?"

"Here," Miya said quietly, placing her hand upon a nearby wall. A rectangular pattern was illuminated by blue light before ejecting a drawer several meters long. Within the drawer was a set of syringes containing a light yellow liquid.

"This is it?" Their mother questioned, a slight tone of disappointment in her voice. "This seems rather primitive for a space-faring race like the Sekirei."

"It is," the alien woman admitted. "But such a delicate procedure requires an equally delicate hand. Sekirei — or in this case — human hands."

"I get it, I get it..." Takami sighed, reaching into her lab coat and retrieving a pair of latex gloves and a surgical mask. Carefully, Miya opened the stasis chamber as their mother sterilized her equipment.

"Watch carefully." Takami ordered as she retrieved a syringe from the drawer and made her way over to the chamber. "There's a high chance you'll be needed to perform the operation in the future — whether I be dead, incapacitated or otherwise occupied."

'Leave it to Mom to plan for the possibility of death,' Minato thought wryly but nodded regardless. He donned his own sterilized equipment before reaching into his lab coat and retrieving a tablet and stylus.

As an apprentice scientist, it was his job to record and document everything that went on in the lab. In the case of either great success or critical failure, being able to look back on what had happened was an invaluable tool.

Meanwhile, Yukari brought a gurney with a lab tray filled with various pieces of equipment. She would be on standby to provide assistance in the case of unexpected complications.

"You seem quite experienced," Miya noted, watching their fluid and practiced motions.

"We've done similar procedures on animal embryos." Takami admitted. "Mostly rats or dogs — more chimpanzees than I care to count. Since all embryos are nearly identical until a few weeks into development, it is quite simple to change to a different species. Given the physical similarities between Sekirei and humans, I am confident in our abilities. Now, how much of this am I injecting?"

"All of it."

The scientist glanced up in alarm. "All of it?" she repeated incredulously. "There's no way an embryo can—" Takami paused when she saw the pained look on Miya's face. "...This isn't going to be pleasant, is it?"

"No," Miya said quietly. "It won't. There is a reason the procedure was taboo to my people."

Reaching downward, the lavender-haired woman touched the ground, where a circular pattern was illuminated. The once-flat surface morphed into a handlebar, which Miya pulled up; revealing a glass pillar. But it was what was inside the pillar that drew everyone's attention. Inside was what seemed to be a crystalline bead. Its appearance was nothing spectacular, just a red, spherical object about the size of a large marble. But looking at it, Minato knew that it was far more than what it seemed.

Sighing to herself, Takami watched as her children glanced at each other uncertainly and quickly schooled her features. Someone would need to remain calm and given her children's lack of true experience, that someone would have to be her.

"Minato, Yukari," the white-haired woman said softly. "Watch carefully. This is what you signed on for."

Her children tensed at her warning. Swallowing a lump in his throat, Minato nodded. He saw Yukari do likewise out of the corner of his eye. The two watched as their mother brought the syringe to the base of the embryo's neck and injected the hormone.

What followed was all a blur, if Minato was to be honest. His only half-coherent memory of the event was of thrashing and writhing flesh as the spherical object emitted an ominous glow. Yukari's horrified shrieks and Miya's desperate attempts to calm him echoed in his ears before everything went black.

Minato stared numbly at the infant Sekirei floating within the maturation chamber before him. He could hear his mother attempting to calm Yukari down from somewhere behind him. Miya was currently going over data on the computer, analyzing the infant to ensure that there were no complications. Every now and then, she would glance over at him, biting her lip.

"Minato..." His mother's soft voice drifted over from behind him. "It's been a long day. You should get some sleep."

"But—"

"Miya and I will watch over Matsu," Takami said quietly over the sound of Yukari's sniffles. "Please, take Yukari to her room." Sighing tiredly to himself, he nodded. Taking his sister's shivering form, Minato's body moved on autopilot. For ten listless minutes, he walked until he came across the room Yukari had claimed for herself upon arriving on the island.

Wordlessly, she stumbled inside and the door slid shut behind her with an audible hiss. Minato stared at the door for several moments before wandering to his own room across the hall.

It was a simple room; Spartan in design. The only items of significance being a futon laid out on the floor and a suitcase containing his belongings in the corner. Without a second thought, Minato tossed his coat aside and collapsed onto the futon lifelessly. Flipping onto his back, he stared at the ceiling for several moments before shutting his eyes.

Horrifying. That was the only way to describe what he had witnessed today. The object or 'Jinki' as Miya called them had done something to the newly-dubbed Matsu. He wasn't entirely sure what, but… the way the embryo had writhed and contorted… it had been unnatural. Horrific. Terrifying. He could easily see why this process was a subject of such intense controversy to the Sekirei. Could embryos feel pain? Fear? Could they feel at all? If so, would it matter if they would never remember experiencing that pain? What was right? What was wrong?

Either way, it was something Minato never wanted to witness again.

But witness it, he would. And they would need to repeat the procedure one hundred and six times. Dear God; why? He wanted to shout.

But, he already knew why. Because if they didn't, someone else would do even more horrific things to them. His mother had made that much clear to them on the first day. They would cut them up and experiment on them; and that was putting it mildly. The Sekirei would never experience love or freedom; never know what it means to live. They would be reduced to mere lab rats at the mercy of their handlers.

He could only shudder to think what would have happened if someone with less than benevolent intentions had found them first. They were doing the right thing.

But knowing that didn't make the pill any easier to swallow. So preoccupied was he, that he didn't notice the telltale hiss of the door opening.

"Minato…?" The young man glanced up in surprise to see Miya standing in the doorway wearing a nightgown.

"Miya?" he asked, a confused frown on his face. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Matsu?"

"Takami and I are confident that she is stabilized," the lavenderette assured him as she stepped into the room; the door closing behind her with a quiet hiss. "She is with Yukari now and asked me to check up on you."

Had he really been lost in thought for that long?

"How is she?" Minato asked, feelings of guilt creeping into his chest at the thought of his sister. He'd hadn't even asked if she was okay. He would have to apologize tomorrow.

"She fell asleep a while ago," Miya said as she gently sat beside him. "I'm more concerned about you."

"I—" He paused and grimaced slightly. "I'll be fine."

"Will you?"

"It's just…" The raven-haired man let out a sigh and turned to gaze up at the ceiling once again. "I know what we're doing is necessary, but… How can I possibly look Matsu in the eye after she's awakened? How can I look any of them in the eye knowing what we did to them?"

"By treating them with the love and respect they deserve," Miya said softly. "The fact that you feel the way you do is proof that you are a good man; which is more than I can say for myself."

"That's ridiculous," Minato exclaimed, turning to face her with a stunned look on his face. The lavenderette merely shook her head.

"The Jinki… it is something irreparably tied to the Sekirei," she said quietly. "To use it on my own kin… I would have been cast out by my people. How I can I call myself a Sekirei?"

"Miya, that's not—"

"But it is." The woman cut him off as her lovely features were marred by a bitter smile. "I couldn't even bring comfort to my Ashikabi when he was in distress. I left him to suffer alone whilst I played nanny to a child I don't even know."

"Miya…"

"An Ashikabi is everything to a Sekirei…!" Miya's voice was gradually growing more and more hitched as she went on and Minato quickly realized that this had been upsetting her for quite some time. "After everything you've done for me, I turned my back on you when you needed me most!"

"Miya…!"

"How can I possibly call myself a Sekirei when I can't even put my own Ashikabi before all else?!" She cried, her entire body trembling from the force of her hysteria. "I don't deserve to! I don't deserve you! I don't—"

"Miya!" The woman froze as she felt herself being pulled against him. One of his arms snaked around her waist while the other gently patted her hair in long, soothing strokes. "It's alright. Please, calm down."

"M-Minato… I-I'm sorry. I showed you something unseemly…"

"There's nothing to apologize for," he said quietly and he once again berated himself for not thinking of how others felt. "And to the contrary, I think you're the greatest woman I've ever met; Sekirei or otherwise."

"That's not—"

"I admire how strong you are," Minato continued. "And how much love you hold in your heart. You care for all your kin as though they were family. Honestly, I wish I could be half as strong as you."

"You are," Miya whispered, slowly wrapping her arms around him in turn. "You have the kindest, most gentle heart I have ever seen, even among Sekirei."

"Heh…" He chuckled. "I suppose we could both do without the self-deprecation."

"Minato…" the lavenderette breathed, a sad hitch to her voice. "I'm sorry, but my first priority must be to the little ones. And until I have guaranteed their safety, I cannot truly be your Sekirei."

"I understand."

"But…" She paused and gazed into his eyes. "One day, when this grim task is done and the little ones have spread their wings, I wish to devote myself to you fully. From Sekirei to Ashikabi, I promise you this."

Minato's only response was to lay a gentle kiss upon her lips, briefly enveloping the room in bright, dancing lights as her wings emerged.

"I'll look forward to it," he said simply.

And he truly did.

A/N: Aaaaaaand I hate myself all over again. I guess this story isn't always going to be all sunshine and rainbows. (Just most of the time.)

The science in this chapter (if you can call it that) probably doesn't make sense. Bear with me. I've never really been into the whole sci-fi genre.

I purposefully left the whole growth process vague. Partially because I have no idea how to describe it and partially because what I had in mind was rather grotesque. I didn't want to subject you to that.

Anyway, classes have started up again, so chapters will be slowing down. If you made it all the way down here, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because this may be the last one for a while.

Today's my birthday, so be sure to leave a comment in the box below as a gift! (Shameless attempt at eliciting reviews, I know.)

- Your King