AN: I decided this chapter would be written chiefly from Satero's point of view with some of Yume's perspective.

Feather 5: Downtime

~Satero~

"Argh! DAMN IT!" I yelled in the morning when I awoke to a metal ladle smacking into my forehead. I had to fight not to kick Miya. The fight wasn't too difficult because a slight ache in my chest reminded me of my injury. "What the hell are you hitting me for?" I complained to Miya, forgetting all ideas of respect. I hated being forcefully woken up in the mornings.

"Take a good look at how you are sleeping, Satero-chaaann." She alluded. I looked to my right, and almost jumped. Yume was sleeping next to me, her face slightly flushed and her night-shirt slightly open. I looked away before I could begin bleeding from the nose. I looked up at Miya who seemed to be waiting for something.

"She's sleeping next to me with her shirt slightly open. And?" I said sarcastically, still ticked about her methods of waking me up.

"What's so inappropriate about this? I'm like, I don't know, two feet away from her." I said, looking pointedly at the distance between Yume and me.

"Well, even if it was a misunderstanding," Miya began, clearly bothered that she unjustly doled out punishment, "you know the rules." Her hannya mask ghosted into my view. My anger still wasn't completely gone.

"SCREW YOUR HANNYA MASK!" I screamed, comically letting my eyes go white in annoyance and punching the hannya mask in the face. Miya pretended that it hurt her too.

"Owwie." She whined before leaving, giggling slightly. She acted so weird around me. I didn't get it. Yume began to stir next to me, and I moved over to let her stretch out. When her arms stretched out, they seemed to be reaching for something. I let myself reach out, and she unerringly found my hand and grasped it. She was smiling before she opened her eyes.

"Mmmmm…Satero…" She mumbled, and then opened her eyes halfway at me. She pulled on my hand and brought me closer to her body and cuddled up to me, sticking her head in the crook of my neck. I couldn't help but blush and shiver at the electric tingle I was getting from her warm breath tickling my neck. I considered my action for a moment, then tentatively leaned my head down and kissed the top of her head. She really enjoyed that. She pulled away from me and placed a soft hand on my cheek and stroked. She looked like she was about to kiss me, but she instead stuck her tongue out at me and winked. She got up from her spot, pulling me up as well. "Bath time. I'll be in to wash your back." She said to me, winking, and then turned to gather her toiletries. I did the same and we went to our baths.

When I got there, Kagari and Minato were already leaving the changing room. "Kagari-san? Minato? You two took a bath together?" I asked incredulously. Kagari didn't seem bothered. Minato was blushing.

"My idea." Minato admitted. "I like the social interaction. Plus, it makes it so that Musubi-chan can't come into the bathroom without exposing herself to another man."

"A solid idea." Kagari agreed. He seemed less bothered than last time, in fact he seemed to be blushing slightly. I wrote it off as heat. "Steam really helps out too. Be careful not to trip while you are in there. Not all the steam has left." He said before he left. Minato slapped my shoulder lightly and moved past me to the kitchen. I sighed. No escape from the impending nose bleed that was coming. I undressed and let myself into the fogged up bathroom. The tub had fresh water in the tub.

"How nice of them." I said absently. I let myself slip into the very warm water and relaxed. "This feels great…" I mumbled. My chest was almost completely healed; the only evidence of the injury was a light red scar along my chest. It didn't even bother me anymore. "That healing of my chest is something to worry about." I thought out loud. I began washing.

At some point, I heard the door open, but I didn't dare say anything. I hoped the fog blocked the intruder's view. Yume. She is just coming to wash my back. I thought. I let my senses range out behind me, and the energy that entered was familiar, but still foreign to me. I didn't think to look behind me. Two very soft and womanly hands found my back, and began rubbing up and down. It shouldn't have felt so…sensual. I began connecting dots. The hands finished washing my back, and then moved past my shoulders to my chest. I could see the arms, I knew it wasn't Yume. I turned ever so slightly, and saw Kazehana, the woman I met before my attack, leaning over me, looking at me with a look that any guy who wasn't as clueless as me would be able to decipher as sexuality. At that moment, all I could comprehend was shock. I jumped out of the water comically, the fog blocking the view of my privates (whew). I landed on my feet, whipped a towel around my legs, and hurled a wash basin at Kazehana's forehead. It hit her square in the face and she stumbled backwards towards the door with a silly comical grin despite the situation. My eyes had turned white in anger. "GET THE HELL OUT YOU PERVERTED PEDO BEAR!" I screamed before I went and drop-kicked her through the door. I knew I shouldn't hit girls like that, but I couldn't help myself in that moment. She was whining outside the door.

"Awwwwww, I thought you liked it!" She whined sexily.

"LIKE HELL I DID!" I screamed. Miya turned the corner, her hannya mask in full effect, this time aimed at Kazahana.

"Ka-ze-ha-na-san…Do you remember the rules?" She said demonically before a frying pan found the same spot I had chucked a washing basin at. Kazehana simply whimpered and cowered.

At breakfast, Kazehana was eating with us, along with Kusano and the rest of the gang. Kazehana was seated next to Minato, who couldn't help staring at Kazehana's breasts. I couldn't blame him. They were huge! Yume sat to my left and Uzume to my right. Miya was at the head of the table like always with Kagari and Kusano towards the other end. Musubi was seated next to Minato. "Mind telling us how you know Kazehana?" Miya asked me. I began to sweat and I felt anxiety and stress build up.

"I met her before I was attacked. At the old abandoned clock tower near MBI tower. I was watching the sunset." I explained, trying to keep the less pleasant part out of my head. I failed. I saw Karasuba's face in my thoughts and I was overcome with stress. Energy instantly flowed through my body and to my eyes, resulting in a sharp pain. I leaned down and clutched my head in pain. "Just...like…last time." I panted through the throbbing pains. Then, suddenly, it was like the pain intensified. I couldn't help the pained yelp. The stabbing in my eyes wouldn't stop. I felt something warm and oddly thick begin to form under my eyes, and leak over, streaking my face.

"Blood!?" Uzume cried out, and I felt Yume's soft hands wiping away at the tears of blood streaking my face. I tried to open my eyes, and succeded. Everyone gasped.

"The eye of heaven's warriors. The Tengan! That's supposed to be just a myth!" Minato cried. I couldn't respond for another pain spasm rocketed through my head. Yume kissed my eyes, careful of the flowing blood.

"Kagari—towels. Uzume—get some painkillers. Minato, get Kusano and Musubi out of here. She is obviously frightened. Kazehana, come over here to me." Miya began, barking orders to everyone. Minato, Kusano and Musubi left, leaving Miya, Yume, Kagari, Uzume, Kazehana and me sitting around the table, cleaning up my mess and trying to ease the pain.

"It looks like it's progressing to a level two." Miya said knowingly. She patted my hand comfortingly, and began to speak. "Satero-chan, the pain will pass. A power has awakened within you, a power I always knew was there. The pain will be great for a time, but it will pass quickly, and your eyes will be better for it."

"How?" I asked simply, already beginning to feel the pain subside. I didn't think to ask her what she knew.

"As your eyes adapt to the surges of energy and power, they will progress in level. Kazehana spoke of you having one focus point, aside from your pupil when she found you. That was called the Tengan: Itchi(one). It appears your eye is fast approaching Tengan: Ni(two)." Miya explained.

"How do you know about all of this?" Yume asked suspiciously. The others looked at Miya for an answer.

"When the time comes for you to know, I will tell you." She said guardedly. I noticed the pain slowly disappear from my eyes, and suddenly the world was so much clearer. The clarity took my breath away. I could see clearly almost every detail on each person's body. I could tell Kagari was nervous, and hiding a secret. His muscles were contracting and releasing spastically, his tell. He was on edge. Uzume's body seemed at ease, though I could pick up on the small labored heaving of her chest. I could also vaguely see heat rushing to her cheeks. I turned away. I didn't want to know. Yume was concerned, but at total ease. Kazehana was looking at me with a look that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and I could see her shift her legs past one another excitedly as I eyed her. I turned back to Miya's wise looking face.

"Can I control it?" I asked wondrously.

"Yes. I will teach you." Miya said and motioned for me to head to the small clearing at the side of the house.

I made my way to the courtyard, but the clarity suddenly vanished. I realized whatever had happened to my eyes, the Tengan was no longer in play. I frowned, and Yume squeezed my hand in support. I gave a tentative squeeze back. I still wasn't used to interaction like this. We came to a stop in the grassy clearing, and Miya instructed me to sit. I sat, and crossed my legs. She looked at me with a glint of something that read amusement, and then instructed me to begin meditating. "Focus your energy. Shift your energy to pupils of your eyes, and hold it there." She said. I closed my eyes.

It was much harder than I imagined. I didn't have anything concrete to work with, just the desire to control this phenomenon. I struggled with my eyes and strained and focused with all my might. I couldn't feel a shift, much less any surge of energy. It seemed these things only came to me when under duress. Like that time with the lightning twins…I was able to control the lightning and I could feel the energy flowing that time. This time, there's nothing. I can feel everyone else's energies, but not my own. I thought while trying to pull the energy to my eyes. I must have been sitting there for an eternity, because I could hear the chatter of Kazehana and Yume.

"He's been sitting there for at least 15 hours. I didn't know people could meditate like that." Kazehana's voice commented.

"He doesn't even react to outside stimuli anymore. He's been sitting there like a rock. Even the birds came and perched on his shoulder." Yume said. I was losing focus. I whipped myself back into shape and began pushing again. Why? My thoughts began to intrude. Why are you doing this? Do you even care about this Tenagn? I stiffened. Why was I doing it? I couldn't formulate a decent answer. I thought and thought and thought, and struggled with my eyes and energy for what seemed like hours. I didn't yield results. I thought of the twins again. I remembered the lightning coming for my face, and the urge to put my hand up. I remember faintly, the energy rushing from the depths of my being and absorbing this lightning. I remember being able to control it. I called on that memory of the feeling of the energy. Suddenly, I could feel a phantom presence in my gut. It was electric, and shifty. I clutched at it, and tried to pull, but it was like trying to pull on air; there was nothing to grasp at. I had to make it solidify. I thought about the feeling when my eyes changed the first time in front of the botanical garden. I remember straining to see a figure far away, and feeling a rush of something to my eyes, and the subsequent pain afterwards. In this darkness underneath my eyelids, there was nothing to focus on. I stared anyway, willing myself to pull the energy from my depths, give it form and transfer it to my eyes.

Finally, after what seemed like more hours after my struggles, I had a small breakthrough. I was more aware of myself. I could feel that I wasn't able to grasp the energy, not because it wasn't there or didn't have form; I couldn't grasp it because I was barricading myself against it. I realized I was fighting a wall I was, ironically, fighting to keep in place. I felt it; my instinct to protect myself pushing at me, holding me in the unclear, barring me from clarity. I felt it and hated it. I was so good at protecting myself, I kept myself out. The pain began to come again, and I felt a small rush of energy. I held it in place, trying to understand the sudden rush. I was beginning to stress out. Just like I began to stress out about the story of how I met Kazehana and the event afterwards. I stressed myself out, just like the battle with Karasuba stressed me out. I realized that my emotions and the stress of certain events caused these phenomena. And then I felt what I had been struggling to feel. I could almost touch the clarity, and the energy that I was still locked from was clear to me. All that was left was to remove my barricade. I began snipping, snipping away all my protective layers. Yume then came to the front of my mind. I didn't know why, but she gave me the motivation to keep snipping. That's when I met the wall. I could feel it clearly. The power behind it was great, but there was a door in front of it, locking me out. I just had to open the door that was keeping me locked out. Yume appeared to me again. I reached for the memory of a warm and accepting feeling I got from her. I felt safe in her, and I forgot all about protecting myself. She was my key, I realized, and clutched onto her tightly as I braced myself for what was next. I knocked the door down and broke through the wall. The power then rushed me, overtaking me, and I felt a piece of myself reappear that I had forgotten all about. Sorrow, pain, fear, grief. These feeling over took me, and I immediately knew why. I had been suppressing the true me, the me that wasn't afraid of letting emotions express themselves. The me that kept all my pain and suffering bottled up and trapped in a dark place, festering and waiting to overtake me and corrupt me. I at first shoved at this realization, instinctively trying to force it back behind a wall that no longer existed. As I did this though, the power began fading. I realized that in order for me to wield this strength, I'd have to accept myself, pain and suffering included. I slowly and hesitantly embraced this part of me, and then the energy condensed and became tangible. I felt the change, but I couldn't focus. The pain I had been suppressing all my life was lapping at me like waves. I struggled to master it, and I forced it into a small part of my mind that I would revisit later. It was not easy. I then easily pulled the energy from my being and layered it into my eyes, silently hoping for the best.

The shift was absolutely stupefying. I can't describe how the darkness suddenly became so much clearer, like a foggy veil was lifted. I opened my eyes, and was greeted with purple light. It was nighttime. I could see. I tested my legs to find they were stiff. I looked at my watch to see that it was late at night. I also felt tired and hungry, and oddly, very dirty. With grim determination, I forced my legs to work, and I shakily made my way to my feet. I took a look around and everything was so much clearer. I could see the leaves from the trees falling and could actually guess which way the leaf would drift. I could see the moon and the almost white glow around it. I could see! The excitement at the success of my venture made me giddy, and I walked into the inn to the nearest mirror, moving quietly. I saw the light was on in the kitchen. I heard the voices of Yume, Miya, Uzume, Kazehana, Musubi, Minato, Kusano and another voice I didn't recognize. They seemed to be talking about something I didn't care to find out about. I turned my gaze into the mirror and stifled the shocked gasp at what I saw. I saw two, amber-colored, glowing eyes with two small flame decorum swirls to the sides of my pupil staring at me, seeming to pierce my soul. I reached my hand up and touch my left eye. The person in the mirror did the same. That's you alright. I thought. I turned to the kitchen and prepared to present myself to everyone.

~Yume~

I sat with Minato, talking and learning about him and Satero. "Satero is in college now? He seems so much younger…" I trailed.

"Yeah. Satero just graduated, and he took the entrance exam. He passed with a 97.4! First try, I might add." Mianto said, bragging about his adopted brother.

"Yep. I knew that kid was smart. I can't wait to collect on my bet!" Kazehana swooned. She was clutching a bottle of wine. Miya looked at Kazehana with a look that said volumes about their history. I snickered.

"Are you in college, onii-chan?" Kusano asked cutely. Everyone turned their gaze to the blonde haired child, unable to resist her charms.

"No, Kuu-chan. I failed the exam twice." Minato said sheepishly, but honestly, mussing Kuu's hair.

"Twice? That's just sad!" Uzume said, barely containing her laughter. Minato let his head drop.

"Looks like you will be studying again this year, Mina-tan! Don't worry, I will help you study," our newest friend, Matsu said. She introduced herself as number two, the sekirei of wisdom. Miya said something like, "More like the perverted sekirei. Number two, Matsu, The Hentai Glasses." Everyone cracked up at that. As I snickered at Matsu, she gave me an oddly creepy look. "I can't wait till everyone goes to sleep at night so I can experiment on Satero-tan." Matsu said taunting. Miya's trademark ladle found her head.

"I'm sure things will be fine, Minato-san." I said supportively, changing the subject back to Minato.

"I still have to study. Plus, school starts in a couple of days." Minato said. "I'm past all hopes of doing a last minute retake."

"That soon? I hope Satero finishes up with his meditation soon, then. I wouldn't want him to miss school." Kazehana said strangely, in an almost over concerned way. She caught it her tone and quickly slapped on a quick, "The younger generation these days are getting dumber by the minute."

"And you don't count yourself as a part of that generation, bimbo-brains?" Matsu teased, only to be greeted by a quick puff of air up her face. Miya began laughing.

"Yu-chan! There's Sa-chan! Sa-chan!" Kusano cheered, calling everyones attention to where she pointed. I and everyone else at the table turned and looked at Satero. He looked utterly disheveled; His hair was messy and he looked exhausted. I began to get up to help him, excited and relieved he was moving around again, but stopped dead and gasped.

"You did it Satero-chan." Miya said approvingly. Matsu slipped away while Kazehana nodded her approval. Something in her eyes changed when she looked at Satero, though. It bothered me. It was like she was eyeing her next conquest. I'd have to watch her. I took a good look into Satero's eyes and saw the Tengan: Ni, a step up of the eye I faintly saw in the hospital. This time the eye looked different. It was more solid, resolute, and piercing. I felt speared to the ground.

"You just going to stand there and stare?" Satero said joking, and the eyes disappeared. He looked slightly thoughtful, and the Tengan reappeared easily. He let it go again and smiled. He began to walk towards me, lifting a hand, before he wobbled and dropped. My body was rushing and catching him before I could even register what had happened. Uzume began to say something, but stopped suddenly when Satero's stomach roared.

"Figures. Satero, if you were hungry, you could have said something," Minato said and raced to the kitchen to get the bento Miya packed away for him.

As Satero tore into the food, I watched him, content once more to be sitting here with him. He did faintly smell like dirt and grass, but I didn't mind. I let him eat. After he was finished I cleaned his place at the table despite his protests and went to take a bath. I wanted to be…presentable for Satero. There was something about him that I was able to pick up on. He had changed over the course of the last two days. Yes, Yume. It's been two days. Two days without your ashikabi in your arms, holding you. I had to force myself to focus. I felt the rush of heat rush throughout my body as I thought about bed.

~Satero~

"Wow. I can't believe that was what you went through." Kagari said as I washed myself. We were sharing the bath again, and it was becoming a rather comfortable thing.

"Yep. All that happened while I was meditating. The funny thing is, I've never meditated so long. Two whole days. Two! That has got to be a record, ya know?" I said easily, somehow no longer bothered by the weird phrase that came out of my mouth. Sure, it was unorthodox, but who cares? I sure didn't. At least, I didn't anymore. We got out, toweled down and dressed before we walked to the sinks. I began brushing my teeth, happy to do so, figuring I hadn't done it in about two days. After my face was washed and my teeth were brushed, I let myself out of the bathroom, waving amicably to Kagari. We were becoming fast friends. One thing did bother me though and I turned back to him. "I won't tell anyone, but you are a sekirei, aren't you?" I could see it in him. A strange energy that Uzume, Yume, Kusano, Miya, Kazehana, Musubi and the creepy new girl all had. He paused for a second and glared at me, and then his gaze softened in relief.

"I guess I couldn't hide it forever. Yes. I am a sekirei, but that is all you get to know, m'kay? I'd rather not have to kill you. You happen to be one of the few people I enjoy calling 'friend'." Kagari said with a smile. He then slipped past me, punching me in the chest and leaving. I nodded in acceptance.

"Everyone has their secrets." I said to myself, then made my way tiredly to bed.

As I laid myself down to sleep, Yume came into our shared room in a get-up that made me turn away from her very quickly, clutching my nose. I could handle the button down shirt and short shorts she often wore when we first met. I couldn't handle a deep V-neck t-shirt, no bra, and just panties. I couldn't handle the glint in her eye that said things I should have been able to understand but couldn't. I felt rather then saw her approach and her tantalizingly slow decent into our futon. Her hand roved up the small of my back and I felt the warmness of her chest pushing against my arm. I risked a glance. I shouldn't have looked. I thought before I was fighting urges to either turn away or stem a nosebleed or something else my body was aching for. I could see cleanly into her cleavage, and how creamy and smooth they looked. She let her eyes half close at me, making her deep-chocolate eyes that much more enticing. Her scent and her warm, sweet breath washed over me as she began to lean closer. Strangely, a memory from a few years back came barreling into my mind.

-Flashback-

"Satero, It's time I taught you about the birds and the bees." He said, flushing a great deal.

"The Birds and the Bees? What the hell is that? Some sort of innuendo?" I said sarcastically.

"Yeah. You know the life cycle, right? Birth, life, death, and all that jazz?" Minato said, stealing one of my lines. I glared before I answered.

"Yeah. What of it?" I said.

"There is also reproduction. We humans are animals too, and we also need to…um…reproduce. To do this, men and women engage in something called, 'Intercourse'."

"Intercourse?" I said, suddenly really interested and disgusted at the same time.

"It's when a man, like you or me, puts his…um…uh…" Minato trailed, losing confidence quickly.

"It's when a man sticks his penis into a woman's vagina. That's called sex. It happens to most of us, and is the single most pleasurable thing to a human being." Takami said simply and quickly. I blushed extremely hard and turned away from the two to go to my room and find some way to block out the unwanted information.

-Flashback End-

"Satero-sama…" Yume trailed, her eyes holding a passion and need I couldn't begin to understand. I tried to speak, but her finger found my lips. "No words, Satero-sama. I've missed you. I've missed your warmth. Please. Just…hold me." She said, editing at the end. From the blush that stained her cheek, I could tell something she was about to ask me got halted. I obliged to embrace her easily enough, but she rolled me over onto my back with a strength that startled me. Before I could protest, she was straddling me and French kissing me. Her wings shined into the room while she grinded against me, and I found it hard to tame my reaction. A very distinct bulge began to rise in my pants, and I froze when it found a soft wall above it. Yume's breath caught and she looked down to see my erection poking into a spot in her panties. Her eyes looked to me with something that looked like hesitation and desperation before she pushed into my bulge. The pressure was intense and oddly pleasurable. My gasp of shock was quickly shushed by another steaming kiss from Yume. Was she raping me? I began to try and buck my hips to the side, to remove the stimuli, even though I really didn't want to. Yume seemed to understand the minute I began to struggle and backed away very quickly, her demeanor totally shifted.

"I'm so sorry. I lost control…" She said, her breath coming in short ragged pants.

"It's fine…" I said slowly and opened my arms to her carefully. She smiled at me with tears in her eyes. I didn't realize when she was back in my arms, but she was on top of me, kissing me again and dripping tears onto my face. She pulled away without any prompting from me, and smiled again at me before lying to my side and drifting off to sleep. I let myself go as well, but was very careful to turn away from her and put a little distance between us. I wasn't going to get hit in the morning.

The next morning was different than usual. I took my bath with Minato, and went to the dining room, like normal. I sat down at my place like normal. What wasn't normal was that an orange haired female in a white dress-like piece was seated there with us. I thought back to the night before and I did see a flash of orange creeping off before I fully turned the corner, but I didn't think to go looking. I just didn't care. Now here she was, with her two braids and her oddly creepy spectacles. She gave me a cursory look up and down and a pervert smile overtook her face. I automatically leaned away.

"Satero Notame. Age: 19. Birthday is in three days. Recent High school graduate and University student. Parents: Deceased," she paused and frowned, "siblings: deceased, adopted by the Sahashi family at the age of three. Graduated in the top 10 of the district, and made a 97.4 on the entrance exam. Not much physical data is present. Status: Ashikabi of number eight, Yume." She intoned, saying my information out loud as if she was reading it from a book. "I am Matsu, number two, the sekirei of wisdom. Pleased to meet you Satero-tan." She nodded her head at me, and then gave me a strange look that made me want to throw something at her.

"Likewise. Mind telling me when you showed up here and how you know all my information?" I asked.

"I was here before you were. I recently decided to start coming out because I was reacting to Mina-tan. He's my ashikabi now. And I memorized your information from the MBI database." She said matter of factly.

"There goes number three." I said in a fake announcer's voice. I tried to hide my annoyance at her knowledge of me.

"How did you know I was coming?" Kazehana's voice came from behind me as she settled into a hug from behind me. I could feel her deliberately pushing her breasts into my back. I nearly jumped from my skin.

"WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?" I asked, startled.

"The door." She said jokingly and removed herself from me.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say Minato's your ashikabi too." I said boredly.

"Nope. My interest lies elsewhere." She said, eyeing me with appraisal in her eyes. I turned as Yume and Uzume came around the corner. Uzume was dressed as if she were about to go to the park, and Yume was looking at me with a strange apology plastered on her face, as if she knew something she couldn't tell me.

"Satero-kun? Will you come with me for a picnic at the park? I feel like we haven't gotten to know each other at all." Uzume asked me, a hint of shakiness in her voice.

"Sure." I agreed, trying to be nice, but bewildered. Uzume's face lit up and she grasped my hand like a vice and pulled me out the door.

"Bye everyone!" I tried to yell as I was hauled double time from the inn.

The park was beautiful this time of the year. It was late spring, and the trees and flowers were in bloom. I couldn't help but look at the scenery and smile. A few kids rushed past me, yelling a quick apology before resuming their play. I saw several families and couples sitting around in the open grass, eating from baskets of food. A thought occurred to me.

"Uzume-san?" I asked, trying to catch her attention. She was grimly determinate, and she was still yanking me towards a patch of grass and heavily clustered trees. I realized the botanical garden was nearby, because those trees were higher and thicker than the ones we passed.

"Be quiet a moment okay? I need to focus." She shushed me, her breathing and voice getting rougher by the second. I creeping sense of doom overtook me. I couldn't understand why. When she pulled me into the trees, she whipped around and slammed my body into a tree so quickly and with so much force it knocked the breath from me.

"Gah!?" I exclaimed with shock. She pushed her body against me very quickly, trapping me in place.

"You know I'm a sekirei, right?" Uzume said huskily. I nodded, somehow beginning to understand where this was going.

"You…are you reacting? To me?" I ask hesitantly, unsure of how I'd handle the news.

"Yeah…I…just can't hold back anymore!" She rushed before she slapped her hands to my face rather roughly and brought herself to my lips. This kiss was far different than Yume's. It was teasing and much quicker. She didn't bother with pretenses. She just went right in for the kill. By the time I'd registered Uzume's kiss, warmth flooded through me and she was whispering, "Stay with me forever and ever, 'kay?", while her wings faded from behind her.

"O…kaaaayyyy?" I said slowly, still stunned at the fact I had just gained another sekirei. Awesome. Just Awesome.

CHAPITRE END!

Oh shut up with the french nonsense will ya?

Remember that thing from three years back?

I will friggin kill you if you say that.

LOL.