So Miya seems to be the Marmite Sekirei, people either love or hate her. Well, whatever, any hypothetical relationship with Miya is quite far off.
Another point is Minato, some people seem to want him around, others seem happy with him being elsewhere. All I'll say about him here is, his name wouldn't come up if you asked me about protagonists I like, but he's not on a list of ones I dislike, which contains a lot of harem anime protagonists.
I'm not particularly a fan of 'magical cores' as a plot device, but given the canonity of Sekirei cores, I'm utilising the idea here.
They made good time back to the hotel. Harry wasted no time in depositing Yashima on the bed, before turning to the others.
"I'm going out for a bit, stay with her." He told them, pointing to the girl lying unconscious.
"Um," Kuno mumbled, "D-do you have to go?"
Harry nodded, "Sorry. Since I'm going to stay here long term, there's a few things I have to take care of."
"T-then, take care." She said, bowing.
"Take care." Akitsu muttered, imitating Kuno's action beside her, the hammer still in her hands.
Harry ruffled their heads, "I shouldn't be long."
Harry put his wand away, brushing the sweat from his forehead. It was always a little uncomfortable doing what he was. Above him, coiled around the streetlight, a snake slowly disappeared from view. It was a fortunate discovery, when he'd learned snakes could detect the dark mark. He'd never been so glad to be a parselmouth, aside from perhaps when he'd entered the chamber to save Ginny.
Then, using a little shamanism he'd picked up in Africa, he could link their 'minds', though a snake's couldn't really be compared to a human's. So, if they detected the dark mark, they'd instantly inform him. An incredibly convenient piece of magic, to be sure, but there was a limit to how many he could do. That was why he had the most likely places for one of Voldemort's follows to enter the city covered, rather than a city wide net.
Of course, it wasn't that simple, he also had to then make sure his little transfigured snakes wouldn't die from being coiled around a lamppost for God knows how long, as well as stopping them from being detected.
Either way, if Death Eaters came into the city, hopefully he'd know about it. To apparate or portkey, you needed a clear idea of where you were going. Since this city didn't seem to have a strong magical presence, with any luck they'd have to Portkey elsewhere and come over in a less instantaneous, and less direct fashion.
Of course, that didn't help him against non-death eaters, but from his experience, unless he unluckily stumbled across someone again, or did something to advertise his presence, Death Eaters would be the ones to come after him first.
He felt his stomach rumble. He grimaced, apparating over the city, and setting up this net was pretty intensive work. It was no surprise he was already hungry again. Well, the net was up, he could take a break for a snack before moving onto the next phase.
Walking down the street, he saw some kind of street vendor. Acting on a whim, he ordered a bunch of whatever they were selling, walking away with a bagful of food, helping himself as he walked.
If phase one was detecting when an enemy came close, phase two was preparing battlegrounds to his advantage. Ideally he wanted an abandoned building or something, he hated having to fight in an open space. Failing that he could probably make do with some alleyways.
He turned to face an alleyway he was passing, before he was forced to sigh. There was a familiar figure collapsed in the alleyway. White(ish) clothes, pink skirt, brown hair, it was the Sekirei he'd helped earlier.
He walked over to her. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
She looked up with teary eyes, "I- I'm so hungry!" she complained.
Harry stared at her dully for a moment, before releasing another sigh. "Here, have some of these." He said, handing over the bag.
The girl helped herself with gusto. "Fank yu" she got out through a mouthful of food.
"Finish your mouthful before you speak." Harry snapped, ignoring the pang of familiarity he felt about the words, and the face that accompanied them.
The girl took a long moment to do so, "Thank you for your kindness." She said, bowing at the waist, "I was really in trouble since I hadn't eaten for a while."
Harry pinched his nose, "Doesn't MBI give you cards to buy food?" he asked.
She laughed slightly, rubbing the back of her head, "I was in such a hurry to meet my Ashikabi-sama, that I sort of left it behind."
There was a slapping sound as Harry's hand met his face. "I was an idiot for worrying." He muttered. "Anyway, I hope you find them." He said, turning to leave.
The girl bowed again, "I'm really grateful for your help, both now and earlier. I truly wish my Ashikabi-sama is as kind as you. I hope we can meet again."
"Yeah, me too." Harry said dismissively. He ignored the heavily flushed face she had. "Anyway, I've got stuff to do."
He left the red-faced sekirei behind as he continued on his way. While he knew his way around a fight, he couldn't refute that his skills weren't as up to par as he might like. Many things he'd picked up weren't as convenient to throw around as the wand magic he knew, so he had to do what he could beforehand to even the odds.
Thankfully, things like transfigured traps and other things wouldn't wear off any time soon, so once he was done, it was just a matter of memorizing where his traps were, and preparing routes to them. Some muggle repelling charms would ensure no one tampered with them. Hopefully anyway, wizards might accidentally stumble across them, and he had a hunch they wouldn't work on sekirei. So, he'd need to put up some simple alarm charms in case there were any accidents.
Before too long, he found himself in front of an estate agents. He smiled to himself, if there were any abandoned buildings, hopefully this was a good place to start looking.
Harry stretched his arms above his head. He'd only found one suitable building so far. He'd like to prepare at least two or three, so he could easily get to them. Tracking apparition on site was a rather limited skill, so he couldn't expect to be able to draw people in with it. That aside, it was a pretty good location. A large building, that was probably due to be taken down. He'd have to put a stop to any such plans, and he'd laid a few traps around the place.
He smirked to himself, there were some pretty nasty ones he'd picked up. Well, he could hope he wouldn't have to use it. It would depend on whether his countermeasure against Voldemort finding him would work. Of course, he wasn't certain exactly how he was doing it, which did put a bit of extra trouble on the entire thing.
Either way, it was getting dark. It had been early afternoon when he'd stolen Yashima, so it had probably been a few hours since then. It was probably time to be getting back.
Walking into the spacious foyer of the hotel, a quick check told him there were no messages for him. He had hoped that woman would have gotten the files already, but it seemed it wasn't so. Unfortunately, every moment that went past increased his suspicions about it being a trap. He was going to have to trigger that trap though, if it was one.
Well, he'd cross that bridge when it came to it. It was doubtful muggles could do much to seriously inconvenience him. The potential gains, the information about Akitsu, and by extension, the sekirei, as well as forming a link to MBI itself was worth the risk.
He paused outside his room, hesitant about opening the door. He smiled ruefully, just get it over with. While he had no basis for it, he suspected Yashima would be awake, and he actually found himself concerned about how she would take recent events; after all, an Ashikabi was supposed to be an irreplaceable thing for a Sekirei, and this switch would, almost certainly, have some mental effects.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. Only to freeze when he saw the sekirei. Kuno had a look of worry on her face, as she tried to get Yashima to stand up, from her position of subservience knelt a few feet in front of the door. Of course, Akitsu, who seemed to emulate the strangest things, was knelt beside her, still holding the hammer.
He pinched his nose, "What are you doing?" he asked.
"W-welcome home, master!" Yashima practically shouted, Akitsu repeating the phrase softly beside her.
Harry groaned. "All right, first up, if you're going to act like that, please do it a little quieter, I think someone across the hall may not have heard you, and second, you don't need to call me master."
Yashima lowered her eyes, "As your Sekirei, it is my duty to serve and devote myself to you, to do whatever I can to ease your burdens. What can I call you besides as my Master?"
Harry groaned again as he pinched his nose, "I can take a guess who it was that told you that." He muttered, "Ugh, fine, whatever. Just… don't call me 'Great Master Harry Potter Sir', or anything like that. Please." Just thinking about that crazy little guy hurt, he didn't care for constant reminders.
Yashima looked up with teary eyes, "Yes! Master!" she exclaimed, brushing at her eyes.
"M-master!" Kuno exclaimed.
Harry glared at her, causing her to pull back.
"Kuno, I'm no expert, but I think it's fine if the relationship between Sekirei and Ashikabi is unique to each Sekirei, you don't need to force yourself."
She looked down, "S-sorry." She mumbled, causing him to sigh.
"Look, if you want to call me 'master' you can, but I'd prefer it if you just called me whatever you were comfortable doing."
"H-Harry-san." She mumbled, sneaking nervous glances at him.
He walked over and rustled her hair, "Was that so hard?" he said warmly. Without even looking, he reached over and placed a hand on Akitsu's head as well.
"Thank you, Master." She whispered. Yeah, he wasn't even going to bother with her.
After a moment, he glanced at Yashima, who was knelt in the same spot, looking at him with a despondent look, eliciting yet another sigh from him.
He reached over and stroked her hair as well, taking a hand from Kuno. "Hey, let's introduce ourselves, yeah? I'm Harry. Harry Potter," he introduced himself with his real name without thinking, "it seems I'm now your Ashikabi, let's try and get along, alright?"
"I-I'm Yashima!" she said softly, "Number Eighty-Four, Yashima, the Gravity Sekirei."
He glanced over at the massive hammer, that kind of made sense.
"I, if you need anything, I, I won't hesitate to wash you!"
He looked over at her again, "huh?"
"E-even if my body has known the touch of another man, if you desire it, then I-" she continued.
The hand that was resting on Akitsu's head found its way to the bridge of his nose. "Stop, just… stop." He told her, thankfully making her go silent.
"I can take a good guess that even had we met under other circumstances, that guy and I wouldn't have gotten along, and I can guess that he told you a bunch of things that are, very likely, going to cause me trouble down the line. But for now," he placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him, while considering what to say into the delicate situation, "You're pretty cute, and under normal circumstances, I wouldn't refuse such an offer, but," he paused, "I'd only want to do that, if you wanted to do that, for yourself, not out of any idea that it's something you are obligated to do."
She stared into his eyes, tearing up, "I, I just want to be of use, so you won't throw me away."
He winced, reminded of things he didn't care to be reminded about, "Yashima…" he trailed off.
Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the phone ringing.
Harry sighed, worst, possible, timing.
"We'll talk about it later." He told her, taking the phone out of his pocket.
He paused before answering it, which name was he using again? Bah, whatever.
He clicked the take call button, "What do you want?" he asked briskly.
"I've got the information you want. I've made a reservation, two hours, I'll text you the details." Came the no-nonsense reply.
"Great, it's a date." Harry replied flippantly.
"Go to hell." The woman said, hanging up.
"heh." He chuckled, "I think I've made a friend."
The phone beeped and vibrated as a message came through. He quickly scanned the message. He didn't recognise the place, but he knew the street, he'd be able to find it.
He clicked the phone shut.
"Yashima, we can talk about that later, but for now," he narrowed his eyes, "that guy has your stuff, right?"
Her eyes widened, "Y-yes, Harry-sama."
He ignored the form of address, "do you remember where he lived?"
She looked to the side, "Y-yes." She mumbled.
"Great. We'll go grab your stuff," and anything else he had worth taking, if anything, "and if there's time, reconvene here. If not, we'll go to the restaurant the MBI woman's at."
"u-understood." Yashima whispered.
Kuno tugged at his sleeve, "I-is that okay?" She muttered, "won't it hurt for Yashima to go back there?"
Harry grimaced, "Probably." He looked down at the meek form of Yashima, gently placing a hand under her chin to guide her to her feet, "But if she's going to be my Sekirei, then unfortunately, she's going to have to be able to confront something like this head on." He said gently, staring into her eyes.
Staring back, Yashima swallowed nervously, before responding, "O-okay, I'll, I'll show you the way." Her eyes flicked to Akitsu, "S-so, can, can I have my hammer back?"
Harry chuckled, "Yeah, it's your hammer after all." He said, cancelling the charms he'd placed on it as she took hold of it.
"So, it's an… interesting choice in décor." Harry said some time after Yashima had said they'd arrived at her former home.
Yashima seemed to draw in on herself in response.
There was ordinary wallpaper, sure, but over that, well, he glanced at Yashima, he certainly had no idea her former Ashikabi had been into this sort of thing.
Pictures of Yashima, engaging in sexual acts covered almost every inch of the walls. Some of them, well, Harry tilted his head while looking at them, some of them were sufficiently degrading that even he hadn't known people would actually do that sort of thing, and he was no blushing virgin, having roughed it in more than one red light district alleyway during his time on the run.
"And to think, I'd thought I'd seen every degrading thing a person can do to another."
Yashima pulled back again. He idly reached out, ignoring her flinch as he placed a hand on her head, gently stroking.
"Don't worry, I won't think less of you for something like this."
"R-really?" she asked with hope clear in her voice.
"Yeah." He nodded, "'Sekirei live for their Ashikabi', right? You have nothing to be embarrassed about." He told her. That bastard Ashikabi on the other hand, well, he was lucky Harry had no interest in tracking him down to show him the importance of treating people fairly.
"Anyway." He said, "Yashima, grab anything you want to take with you." He felt her nod, so he removed his hand, "Kuno, Akitsu, grab anything that looks like it might be worth having." He instructed, receiving a pair of affirmative answers.
As the Sekirei went off to complete their tasks, Harry activated his eye, taking a look around. He closed his eyes in focus, a whispered spell detecting some spying equipment. A discreet flick of one of his prosthetic fingers caused the small camera to fizz as it was destroyed. Satisfied, he turned his gaze to the room he was in. Given that the occupant seemed to have a fetish for homemade porn…
He focused in on the cd in the device attached to the Tv. He tilted his head, was this one of those 'DVD's' that were apparently replacing videos. Huh. He caught the writing on it. There was an unfamiliar word, but he recognised Yashima's name, causing him to narrow his eyes.
A flick of his wand had the tape, or rather, disc start, confirming his suspicions about the contents. He quickly stopped it, ejecting the disc.
He turned to the other discs on the shelves, quickly grabbing any that might be of similar contents, making a pile. Another swipe of his wand had all the pictures of her come down form the walls, into the pile.
He's keep a hold of these, and someday, Yashima may want to smash them. Might make good therapy, or something. Didn't have time for that now though.
Very quickly, the three Sekirei re-joined him, with piles of things they'd found. He quickly ran an eye over them. Yashima had grabbed all her clothes, Kuno had grabbed what appeared to be a pile of books, and Akitsu… he sighed. "Akitsu, what's that?"
Akitsu looked down. "…Toys." She said.
"Yes, technically that's true, but why do you have them?" he asked, talking about a rather large collection of what might politely be called 'adult marital aids'.
"…" her cheeks reddened slightly, "I, was curious."
Harry sighed again, he was doing that a lot. "Yashima, quick thing I should mention, I'm a wizard who can do magic." He drew his wand, conjuring a trunk, delighting as Yashima's eyes widened, "We'll talk about it later, but you have to keep it secret, okay?"
Yashima nodded furiously, causing Harry to chuckle, she really did remind him somewhat of Dobby… an attractive Dobby… he shook his head in disgust, focus on the task at hand. As he was about to flick his wand, he paused. May as well start trying to do some wandless stuff. It'd been on his to do list for a while.
He lifted his fake hand, focusing on the piles of stuff in the room. After a few moments of concentration, they slowly lifted into the air. "Pack." He commanded, sighing with relief as they slowly drifted into the trunk.
Packed up, he poked at the trunk with his wand, shrinking and lightening it, before placing it in his pocket.
"Alright. Let's go." Tuning to leave, he stopped. "Yashima," he said with a smile, "how do you feel about a little payback?" After all, a little arson never hurt anyone…
After leaving the burned out apartment, there wasn't enough time to get back to the hotel he was currently using as his base of operations, so they made their way to the restaurant they were meeting the MBI representative at.
Walking into the entrance, he whistled to himself softly. It was a real fancy place. The sort of place he expected people like Malfoy to dine at on a regular basis, that was way too expensive for normal people to eat at.
What, at least appeared, to be incredible paintings (unfortunately not moving, though that was hardly a surprise), plants he was certain had tried to kill him in some jungle or other (or at least a muggle variant), exquisitely crafted chandeliers, all in all, the sort of place he'd never been in.
Asking at the desk, he ignored the look of contempt he received, probably for looking like an ordinary guy, and was directed to a table, his Sekirei following behind him, two of them seeming uncomfortable given the stares they were receiving.
"You're late." Snapped an irritated female voice.
Harry glanced over, recognising the researcher he'd nabbed a card from when he broke into MBI. He managed to hold his tongue from saying something like 'a wizard is never late', settling for a shrug.
"Had some business to take care of." He explained casually, holding out the chairs for his Sekirei.
"A real gentleman." The woman scoffed.
Harry shrugged, "I picked up some etiquette along the way. Somewhere."
The woman pulled a case out of her bag as he sat down himself, sliding it to him. "Here, the information you asked for."
Harry sighed, shaking his head, "No no no, you're supposed to take a brown folder out of your coat pocket, take a furtive look around, and discreetly hand it to me." He joked.
The woman glared at him, "Don't talk like that idiot, or he'll" she began, only to be interrupted by someone leaping over the bar.
"But Takami-kun, the mysterious man is correct, this sort of exchange should be-!"
He was, in turn, interrupted by a wine bottle impacting his face.
"Why the hell are you here!?" the woman, Takami, shouted.
The man got to his feet, "Why, that should be obvious! You set up a clandestine meeting with the most interesting participant in my game, how could I not be here?!" he exclaimed. Loudly.
The woman fell back into her seat, rubbing at her temples. "I need a drink."
Harry could appreciate the sentiment. "So." He said, "Shall we get this underway?" he asked.
"Right," Takami said, leaning forward, "About this incident,"
"How did you trigger a re-emergence of an already emerged Sekirei?" the man jumped in, "It shouldn't be possible, no, it isn't possible, yet such an occurrence has appeared before my eyes! Is it a result of the difference in Ashikabi strength? Can the bond between Sekirei and Ashikabi be damaged? Was the previous emergence a false positive? Could that even be possible!"
Harry stared dumbfounded as the man continued spouting off ideas, until he was whacked over the head by the visibly annoyed woman, "Why do you think I didn't tell you about this meeting?" she snapped, before turning to Harry, "And You, do you have any idea how much work this will create for me? It's only a matter of time until this information slips out, what do you think will happen if Ashikabi find out they might be able to steal others Sekirei? We have to find out what happened, we don't have time for your usual brand of insanity Minaka!"
Harry leaned back considering. He probably shouldn't talk about magic. His eyes moved toward the man. No doubt he'd try and dig into it, and bring the attention of the magicals this way. So how could he explain it then?
"Do you mind if we order?" he asked, pointing at the menu.
"Sure." Takami said though clenched teeth.
Harry looked down the menu, marvelling at the cost. That was some expensive food. People probably ate here just so they could brag that they did.
Anyway, he ordered something that seemed alright, and a glass of wine. He preferred to avoid drinking, he wasn't exactly the best drunk, but he shouldn't end up drinking that much.
"I'm what you might call… an adventurer." He said with a small smirk. "I've seen many things that I can't really explain to you. Some of these things gave me, shall we say, a hunch that might pay off."
Takami narrowed her eyes. "I'll leave that alone, for now, what did you do, exactly?"
Harry drummed his fingers on the table as he considered. "It's called 'rite of conquest', it shows up in a bunch of old cultures." He blagged, "I figured there was a chance, if I defeated Yashima's Ashikabi, then I could claim her, or she could give herself to me."
"Seems like a stretch." Takami said.
Harry shrugged, "After seeing what he was doing, I acted without really thinking about it. I couldn't leave her." He told them, reaching over and squeezing her leg reassuringly.
Takami shifted nervously, "MBI isn't responsible for the relationship between Sekirei and their Ashikabi."
Harry narrowed his eyes, "Oh really. Well, I'll leave such gross negligence aside for now." After all, he really didn't have much right to talk about things after he ran from the fight against Voldemort.
"Now now!" Minaka cut in, "The Sekirei are guided by fate to their Ashikabi, we have no right to interfere with their destined bonds. But what you said was interesting."
Harry supressed the irritation he felt every time someone talked about fate, as Minaka leaned forward with an intense look. "An adventurer, eh? That sounds pretty fun, unfortunately MBI takes up too much of my time to let me go on adventures."
Takami snorted, "I can handle MBI. You just go away somewhere."
Minaka brought his hand to his chest, "Oh Takami-kun, you wound me! How irresponsible would it be for the Game Master to abandon the Sekirei Plan at such a vital stage!"
They were interrupted by the arrival of the food. As the waiters left, Harry brought the wine glass to his lips. Discretely drawing his wand, he pointed it at Minaka under the table. This opportunity was just too good to pass up, "Imperio." He murmured into the glass before placing it back on the table.
"So Minaka, how did you find the Sekirei?" he asked.
Minaka laughed, "Unfortunately, I can't tell you! It would be unfair for all the other participants to give you more information." He leaned forwards, his glasses shining intensely, "But if you want to try and steal the information though…" he trailed off.
Harry narrowed his eyes. It was impossible for a muggle to shake off a properly cast imperius, and a wizard would recognise it. Did he have some way of defeating magic? Wait, there was something niggling at the edge of his mind. Narrowing his eyes, he realised what it was. Minaka wasn't breathing, was he some kind of vampire? No, a vampire would almost certainly know of him, though he could just be hiding it. He focused on his eye, activating its extra functions, before blinking in shock. Was, was he a robot?
He idly swirled his wine glass. Were robots a thing now? Should he bring it up?
He leaned forward. "So tell me, I've noticed you're not breathing."
Minaka's eyes widened, "Noticing something like that, you just keep getting more interesting!"
Harry smiled in response, "Can you explain that though?"
"Of course!" he exclaimed, getting out of his chair to strike a pose, "It's a robotic body that I can remote control!"
"Ugh, I can't believe you actually did that stupid project." Takami said, slapping her face.
"How could I not complete such an amazing project? Robot bodies are the dreams of all men everywhere!" he laughed.
Harry let his eyes drift to the other conversation partner, it was a good thing he didn't start with the woman. He wouldn't have been able to memory charm Minaka as it stood.
He looked back to Minaka, "Another thing I've been wondering," he couldn't stop himself from narrowing his eyes in distaste, "you've mentioned 'fate' a few times," Harry paused, trying to think how to phrase what he wanted to say, "do you have a reason to believe in fate, or is it just… faith, on your part?"
The two of them paused their banter, while Takami looked irritated, Minaka regarded him with an expression of curiosity, "Interested in fate, are you? I got the impression you found the idea distasteful."
Harry stared for a moment, before looking down at his fake hand. Silence dragged on for a moment longer, before he looked back up, "Do you think fate can be changed, Minaka? Or are we slaves, struggling futilely against some greater power that forces us to dance to its tune?"
Minaka leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "An interesting question, much more philosophical than anything I was expecting, I must admit." In spite of being a robot, or whatever, the man's eyes seemed to flash with interest, "I believe that it is possible to shape fate, and that you can obtain this power by completing my game."
The glass shattered in Harry's fake hand. "Damn it." He cursed, glancing down at the wine now covering his shirt. He'd have to deal with that later.
"However, even if you break into MBI, and steal all the information we have, you won't find out about this." Minaka warned, a smile on his face, "but it leads me to a question I have. That hand, it may be better than what MBI can currently produce," Minaka, said, his current body meaning Harry wasn't so sure it was true, "Where did you get a hold of something like that?"
Takami cut in, "I'm fairly certain there are no companies that can produce something like that either. MBI would know about it."
Harry couldn't stop the grin appearing on his face, "Clearly MBI doesn't know about certain organisation that make a point of hiding in the shadows."
Takami's face morphed into a frown. There was a tense silence, Harry felt his Sekirei tense up beside him.
"We've gone off topic." Minaka suddenly said, "We were talking about number eighty-four."
"What's to talk about?" Harry countered, "Unless you want to try and transfer her back?" He felt Yashima let out a whimper as she stiffened beside him.
Minaka held up his hands placatingly, "No, no, no, nothing of the sort, I assure you! You said you had a hunch you could NTR her, does your hunch think anyone could do it to any Sekirei?"
Whatever he was referencing went over his head, but he got the gist of the man's enquiry, so he shrugged in response. "Honestly? Not sure. Whether an Ashikabi could do it, well, no idea." It may have been him being a wizard having an effect, or not. Couldn't say. "I believe the major thing required was Yashima herself," he said, idly stroking her thigh, not noticing her squirm beside him, "her heart felt that her Ashikabi wasn't fulfilling her requirements, and truly wanted to bet on the chance that another Ashikabi might provide them for her." He'd be damned if he actually began talking about the power of love. "If I attempted to bond with a sekirei who is happy with her situation, I don't think anything would happen."
"Fascinating." Minaka mused, deciding against sharing his thoughts.
Takami sighed, "I won't complain, I wasn't particularly happy with Yashima's situation, but I'll advise against repeating the feat. If other Ashikabi find out, you'll likely become a target, whether for finding out how you did it, or preventing you from doing it to them."
Harry shrugged, uninterested, "They can try."
Silence fell again.
"Alright." Harry let his hand fall to the table. "I'll look over the info you gave me later, but I'd like to ask about it."
"Why?" Takami asked with a frown, "You have everything we know about her status."
Harry smiled ruefully, "I'm not that smart, really, I pick things up faster hearing and doing than by reading."
Takami shrugged, "Fine, whatever. To put it simply, due to incompetence on the part of her adjuster, she spontaneously caused herself to emerge. As such, she cannot become bound to an Ashikabi, and is incapable of utilising her Norito."
Harry nodded, "Right, two questions, for now, at the risk of asking an overly simple question, what does an adjuster do, and what is a 'Norito'?"
Takami groaned, while Minaka sniggered, "Adjustments are necessary, since Sekirei are too powerful. In order to even have a chance of fitting in with humans, and not to adversely harm humans they interact with, limitations have to be placed on them. If you repeat the action taken to cause an emergence, then they can use an elevated amount of power. The Norito is a chant that can be invoked in that state to unleash a massive amount of power that is normally sealed by the adjustments." She explained.
Harry nodded along. That made sense, even wizard spells were stronger when the incantation were spoke; that idea, that of words having power was almost universally prevalent. He glanced over at the Sekirei. Ignoring Akitsu's despondent look for now, he couldn't imagine them having that sort of power. Well, he'd have to find somewhere discreet to test their power.
"What do you mean when you said she caused herself to emerge?"
Takami hesitated, while Minaka simply watched in amusement, "Truthfully, we're not entirely sure." She confessed, "Sekirei have a 'core', bonding with an Ashikabi stabilises this 'core'. Akitsu's 'core' has become sufficiently stable that it isn't open to such a bonding."
Akitsu's expression didn't change, but Harry could feel the depression wafting off her, so he reached over and placed a hand on her thigh reassuringly. The existence of a core was interesting, it made him consider a possible comparison to wizards due to the existence of a magical core. While he wasn't particularly familiar with bonds (though even without the Sekirei, Voldemort ensured it was a topic he was mildly interested in) he was somewhat familiar with cores.
"Any other questions?" Takami asked.
Plenty, Harry thought to himself, but none he particularly cared to ask, "Can you get me information on both Yashima and Kuno?" he asked, "I'd like to see what differences there are between them."
Takami looked towards Minaka, who shrugged, "Fine. I'll have them delivered." She said resignedly, turning to get started on her meal. Harry followed suit, his Sekirei joining the meal as well, though Yashima seemed a bit uncomfortable with it. Given what he'd witnessed in the restaurant, she likely wasn't used to eating at a table with people. Harry smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner at her.
They finished their meal, mostly, in silence. Minaka, from time to time, began babbling about inconsequential things, it seemed the man was incapable of sitting quietly. Fortunately, he was reined in by Takami.
Harry had to admit, it was the best food he'd had in a while.
After finishing the meal, they returned to the hotel room, though they'd had to wait since Yashima had wanted to discuss something with Takami. Thankfully, it seemed the MBI people weren't interested in small talk, a state of affairs that suited him fine. He had wanted to go over the data he'd been given about Akitsu.
Looking it over, he had to admit it was filled with technical talk that he could barely follow, but enough of it meshed up that he could draw the parallels to wizard cores, and see where differences were.
As such, all he could have regarding Akitsu were theories, or perhaps 'educated guesses' were a more apt description.
Given that he'd been told she'd essentially triggered her own emergence, there was a, admittedly very small, chance that if he beat her one on one, in a similar manner as to when he'd poached Yashima, that she could transfer herself to him in the same way.
He'd call that 'Plan B', he'd have to check out her power some time to see how feasible it was.
He leaned back in his cahir, glancing over to where Akitsu was sat, next to Yashima and Kuno. While the latter two were absorbed in watching Tv (sneak glances at him aside), Akitsu was straight out staring at him with inscrutable eyes.
The feelings that were in those eyes, well, he could more or less imagine them, he guessed.
From what he could tell, Sekirei, like magic, were all about 'heart', the power of feelings, emotions. Since, from what he could tell, she was only 'mostly stable', as opposed too other bound Sekirei who were 'fully stable', there was probably some wiggle room. If her heart truly desired to be bound, to entrust her everything to another, and that person truly wished to accept that everything, to take everything she had to give, then it might trigger a proper emergence.
He closed his eyes, snorting in derision, it was a long shot, even for him. Both ideas were. His lips quirked in amusement, Voldemort and him were fairly similar, but it was times like these, where the option he and the Dark Lord would differ on which would be Plan A or B, that made the similarities seem minor.
He opened his eyes, staring softly at Akitsu's face. Should he outline the ideas to her? If they fought, she'd have to attack him with everything she had, she couldn't throw the fight. If his guess was right, she would hate doing that. Well, it was hard to tell how she felt, especially since they hadn't known each other that long.
As for the second… well, telling her might do more harm than good. The level of trust required, it took time to develop, perhaps for her, but certainly for him. Not being able to get to the requisite level of trust in a timely manner might adversely affect the effort.
He drummed his fingers on the small table he was sat at, as another idea occurred to him. He suddenly got up, walking over to Aktisu. He gently reached out, cupping her chin with his hand, "May I kiss you?" he asked quietly.
He ignored the squeak that came from one of the other Sekirei sat on the couch, focusing only on Akitsu.
She seemed to stare into his soul with her inscrutable grey eyes. A tense moment of silence passed, before she slowly closed her eyes, a whispered "yes" her only verbal response.
He heard two people take sharp breaths as he gently lowered his lips to hers, mildly surprised by the cold feel of them against his.
He kept his eyes open, so he easily saw the crest adorning her forehead softly glowing, and the harsh blue light seeming to emanate from her back.
But as soon as it began, it was over. The light vanished, leaving only the despondent form of Akitsu, slowly opening eyes, with her depression clear within them.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
Harry grimaced, gently rubbing her head, "Don't be, I was fairly certain it wasn't going to work." Seeing her somehow look more depressed at that, he continued, "However, your body clearly tried to react, there's almost definitely a chance that, in the future, we might manage something."
Giving a last ruffle of her hair, he returned to his chair, intending to dig out some of the books he had in his possession that hadn't been lost, destroyed or abandoned somewhere along the way. There should hopefully still be one that discussed core theory.
He couldn't stop himself from smiling as, after he was engrossed in his research, Kuno, followed a bit later by Yashima, had gone over and were embracing Akitsu, murmuring words of encouragement and sympathy to her. It was nice to see them getting along. He'd have to consider some way of letting them talk with people. Unlike him, they were as young as they looked, meeting people, whether for good or ill, was important for their development as people. That was probably as true of Sekirei as it was of humans.
Harry's eyes snapped open again. It took a moment to figure out what was alerting him, and he narrowed his eyes in confusion at the realisation. Someone had triggered one of his prepared battelgrounds.
He got up from his chair, still fully clothed. He idly flicked his wand, packing all his belongings into his trunk, shrinking it and returning it to his pocket. He glanced towards the bed. It was filled with the three nude forms of his Sekirie. He was aware they had put on some lingerie before going to bed, it seemed at some point they had, somehow, shed it. He eyed their forms appreciatively for a moment, before idly shaking his head. While they certainly were attractive, he shouldn't waste time. Closing his eyes in focus, he pictured the prepared location, and with a soft pop, he vanished from his room, reappearing a street or so away, walking towards it, focusing on his surroundings. There was, after all, a decent possibility this was some kind of trap, though he had no idea how it would have been prepared so soon, since no one should know where he was yet.
Arriving at the abandoned building, he paused, carefully regarding it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Activating his eye, he looked through the walls, blinking in shock, before slapping his face again. This was unbelievable. He pushed open the door, strolling in whilst shaking his head. "You really have no luck, do you?"
The building was a mess. Several walls had been knocked down, blast marks from explosions marking the ones standing, there were shattered blades scattered around the room, and in the center, a familiar figure, bound and trussed up in thick vines, digging into her skin, visible due to the tattered state of her previously white clothes.
The girl blinked in shock, "Ah! It's you again! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Harry shook his head wryly. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?"
"Unfortunately, I hadn't had any luck in finding my Ashikabi." The girl pouted at this, "and since it was getting cold, and I don't have any money, I needed a place to sleep." Her face lit up, "But when I came in here, there were blades coming straight at me! It was dangerous, so I broke them!"
That accounted for the broken blades that should spring out of the walls.
"Anyway, after that, I went further inside, and I found these adorable cuddly bears!" Her eyes seemed to light up in joy remembering them, "But then they exploded! I was fine, but it ruined my clothes!" she complained.
"Of course you were." Harry muttered.
"Anyway, after that, I thought that maybe I should find somewhere else to sleep, but then this plant 'phwooshed' out of the ground and grabbed me!" she laughed nervously, "I pulled and pulled, but it just got tighter. I'd really appreciate it if you helped me out of it though."
Harry sighed, eyeing the girls tattered state. Those vines 'should' be able to restrain giants. They'd tear apart an ordinary person if they grabbed hold of them like that. Honestly, he had to take a bunch of precautions to keep them in his trunk, but they were worth the risk. How ridiculously durable were Sekriei, or was it just this one?
He sighed, looking at the vine. It only produced seeds whilst feeding on its victims. In other words, he'd have to let it kill the Sekirei to get a new one. He couldn't do that to some unlucky passer-by, unfortunately. He'd have to write this one off. He paused, as he was about to draw his wand, better not to let her see it.
He walked around her, before slashing at the vine, severing it into pieces, the Sekirei falling to the floor in a heap.
"Owies." She complained, rubbing at her head. When she saw him, her face lit up again, "Thank you for saving me! Both this time and before, I really hope I find an ashikabi like you sometime soon." She fidgeted, her face going red, causing Harry to grimace.
From what he understood, her body was telling her he was a possible ashikabi for her, but, unfortunately for her, Harry had no intention of allowing that. His current Sekirei were pretty much unavoidable, given the circumstances, but he wouldn't wish being bound to him on anyone. Not until he found a way to overcome the hand fate had dealt him.
"Well, chin up." He said, "Keep looking, I'm sure you'll manage it soon."
The girl bowed again, "Thank you again, I'll be sure to repay you some day." She said, preparing to go.
"Wait." Harry sighed, eyeing the red marks his trap had dug into her skin. "Close your eyes." The girl tilted her head, before acquiescing to his request. Harry took the opportunity to quickly heal the marks as best he could, and to repair her clothes. "There you go."
The girl shuddered as his magic crashed over her. "You feel so warm." She murmured, before opening her eyes. They widened as she saw her again pristine clothes. "Wow, that's amazing!"
Harry chuckled, "go on, off with you." He said with a soft smile, watching the girl take off.
He turned back to the building with a resigned sigh, time to redo some of the traps as best he could.
He was tired when he apparated back to the hotel room. It had taken longer to repair the building and traps than he had anticipated.
He ignored the Sekirei still laying on the bed, stripping off his clothes as he went towards the shower. True, he didn't need to shower, cleaning charms could suffice, but the experience of a bath or shower, well, it was relaxing, more so than any cleaning charm could prove to be.
He allowed the water to wash over him, his skin tingling against the warm liquid flowing down his body.
"Damn it." He slammed his fist against the wall of the shower, further irritated by the lack of sensation coming through the prosthetic. Was it really okay to stay here? No matter where he went, it always ended the same; in flames, chaos, and misery, for all involved. He wanted to stay with the Sekirei, he hadn't known any of them long, but they cut straight to his heart in a way he hadn't felt, in a long, long time.
He'd resolved not to think about this, but… that girl could have died, simply from his decision to stay in the city. While he liked to think he was helping the girls in the other room, he knew full well no happy ending was guaranteed at his side.
But… the way Minaka talked about fate… it was easy, so easy to dismiss him as a crazy muggle, but… what if there was some way, here in this city? If there was… well, he'd killed for less. He opened his eyes, cold, he'd have to stay, at least for now. And he couldn't make careless moves.
He stiffened as he felt someone wrap arms around him from behind, apparently he'd been to lost in thoughts. His eye rolled around in its socket, glancing at the body behind him, before returning to its ordinary position. "Yashima." He greeted.
"Harry-sama." She whispered into his back.
He could feel her pressing up against his back. He turned around, letting her bury her face in the crook of his neck. "Yashima… I told you, you don't need to do this." He murmured.
He felt her tense against him. "I… I do." She whispered.
There was a moment of silence, before she looked up at him. He felt his heart clench, since it looked like she had tears in her grey eyes, though it may have been the shower water.
"I-I don't want you to throw me away." She repeated her words from earlier.
"I won't throw you away." He said gently. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her, "Just… smile. Just, let me think, if only for a moment, that someone's life is better for me being in it."
She shook her head, pulling away slightly, before pressing her lips to his, her bright wings of light brightening up the small room. After a moment, she pulled her lips away, "I-I talked with Professor Sahashi. I, she told me," she took a deep breath, "Sekirei, we, our bodies, they, change, adapt, to our Ashikabi. The amount is small, though different for each Sekirei, but, the things Junichi-sama did to me," she looked down, "I, I began to enjoy them." She whispered, "my body, it adapted to him, so it would enjoy what he did to me, so my body would crave it."
She looked up again, and he noticed the red flush to her cheeks, the arousal lurking in her eyes, "I, even though my body's like this, please, make my body yours," She whispered.
Harry cut her off by gently pressing his lips to hers, "Yashima, you don't need to say another word. I'll help you whenever you need it."
And she smiled at him, and he felt his heart seem to burst.
A.N. So, that's a wrap. As per usual, a bunch of things I'm not really satisfied with, but, were I to try and make a chapter I had no complaints about, I'd never post anything. Again, thanks for all the feedback, please continue to review, I do consider everything that gets posted.
Stuff with Yashima got a bit dark, and Harry got a bit angsty. Ah well, I think it somewhat fits.
To anyone disappointed by the ending cutting off where it did, I'll say straight up I don't write sex scenes into my stories, but if the mood strikes me, I may write and post them elsewhere.