"What the hell do you mean she's your new sekirei?!" Bentisubasa shouted furiously.

Minato was gesturing for calm while Akizu stood patiently behind him looking bored. Haihane was nearby watching while Karasuba was sitting at the table eating an apple.

"Akizu wasn't going to be permitted to join the Sekirei Plan and find an ashikabi so I offered to become hers if she wanted," Minato explained patiently.

"What the hell Minato! We're supposed to be an elite strike force not a charity!"

Haihane leaned in openly staring at Akizu's chest. She poked a single finger into one of her boobs. "Are those D's?" Haihane asked.

Akizu blinked and then nodded. "They are 38 DD's."

Haihane turned back to Bentisubasa. "See, I told you he liked big breasts, all straight men do."

"Ack!" Bentisubasa crossed both arms over her tiny chest.

"Haihane you're not helping," he said wearily and took out a cigarette, quickly lighting it. "Look, she is an, 'elemental type' who uses ice. She can fight from long distance. With you," he was looking at Bentisubasa. "Being a close combat type. And you," he looked at Haihane. "Being a weapons type she would fit in well. The Disciplinary Squad will be even stronger with her."

"What about me Min-chan?" Karasuba asked curiously.

He deliberately grinned at her. "Well you're special of course; I don't think you need to worry about support."

That was true; he'd seen all three of them using their full abilities. Karasuba was on an entirely different level.

Karasuba laughed and took another bite of her apple.

"Hey! Aren't you upset by this?!" Bentisubasa demanded. "He brought in another woman without even asking us!"

"I don't care," Karasuba told her between bites of the apple. "Whether it's three or four or five or ten it's all the same to me as long as you all stay out of my way."

Bentisubasa muttered something about 'annoying and overbearing' and then glared at the still disinterested Akizu. "Where the hell is she going to sleep anyway? There are only four bedrooms in this place."

"I will sleep with my ashikabi," Akizu stated.

"You will not!" Bentisubasa screamed.

"We're going to need a bigger bed aren't we?" Haihane asked.

This caused Bentisubasa to start making choking sounds. Minato continued smoking as he felt a headache coming on.

XXXXXXXXXX

Eventually it was decided that Akizu would room with Bentisubasa.

That night Bentisubasa, Haihane, and Akizu all visited his room.

An hour and a half later a sweaty and exhausted Minato found himself being crushed by the bodies of three slumbering beauties. All three of whom wore little smiles, even Akizu.

Haihane was right, we're going to need a bigger bed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Time passed and as each week went by a few more sekirei were released to join the game. Minato continued to go on missions with Karasuba and train with her both in hand to hand and with basic sword work. He began making his other three sekirei train together as well. (Trying to get Karasuba to join team training was an exercise in frustration.)

Despite his best efforts to build a cohesive team training did not always go well.

XXXXXXXXXX

Bentisubasa and Haihane were both frozen in blocks of ice.

Minato sighed. "Akizu I keep telling you to go easy on them, this is just training."

"Sorry," Akizu said.

"I ha… ha… hate yo… you!" Bentisubasa stuttered.

XXXXXXXXXX

Likewise missions with Karasuba could be dangerous.

XXXXXXXXXX

He was lying in a hospital bed at M.B.I.'s medical facility. He had ice packs all about his… nether regions due to muscle pulls.

Takami walked in holding a chart and eying him. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not," Minato said with a blush.

XXXXXXXXXX

Though efforts to bond and get close to his sekirei did have some positives.

XXXXXXXXXX

They were in a love motel. Akizu was gasping out as he pounded deeper and faster into her. His hands were frantically squeezing her huge breasts. When they had first met she had rarely shown any real emotion, bit by bit she had started to warm to him. She would have shy smiles and soft laughter that made her look even more beautiful than she already was.

But she would only ever show feelings when they were alone, even in front of her teammates she tried to remain stoic and unemotional. Even during their almost nightly group lovemaking sessions she seemed uninterested. Bentisubasa had never been that way; she had always been loud with both her desires and her pleasures. Once Haihane had joined in she had been as enthusiastic as when she was on a ride at Disneyland. (Well, almost.) Karasuba brought her own kind of eagerness and intensity when they were together.

Akizu would simply lay there and not seem to even enjoy it. This did not do Minato's male pride much good. He began to think she only did it because she thought it was expected.

So when he had asked her what she would like to do with him on a date he had been surprised by her immediate answer.

"I want to spend the day in a love motel."

He'd gawked at her not believing it. "Akizu this is for us to do what you want. You don't have to do something you hate just to make me happy."

A slight look of surprise had touched her features. If it had been Bentisubasa she would have fallen over in shock. "Why would you think that? I love being intimate with you Minato-sama, there is nothing I would enjoy more than to spend the entire day touching you and being touched by you."

"Really? You could have fooled me," he'd said dryly.

"I want to go to a love motel," she repeated.

"Fine," he'd said.

He'd expected her to be the same way as always, but with no one else with them she freely displayed just how much she enjoyed making love to him. He'd gotten so used to the unusual it hadn't occurred to him that she might actually just want to have their intimate moments be theirs alone.

"Miiinatooo-saaamaaaa!" She cried out as her whole body shook with pleasure.

He grunted, he was glad she had enjoyed herself but he was nowhere near done yet.

XXXXXXXXXX

There were certainly some surprising moments.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Goodbye Karasuba-san! I am going to find my ashikabi now! I will find my true love and prove to you how special the bonds of love truly are!"

Karasuba grinned and waved at her. "Good luck Mu-chan, remember our promise and grow strong!"

"I will!" Number eighty eight bounded away through the empty plaza and was quickly gone from sight.

"Are you going to miss her?" Minato asked as he lit up. "I think you spent more time talking to her than you have to your teammates or to me."

Karasuba grinned at him. "Jealous?"

"Maybe a little bit," he admitted. He didn't understand the strange friendship that had blossomed between Karasuba and number eighty-eight. Musubi was an open and honest innocent girl who was a complete romantic. In other words the complete opposite of Karasuba's real nature. She had much more in common with Bentisubasa and Haihane. Yet it had been Musubi that she had spent much of her time talking to. "What was that promise you mentioned?"

"Nothing that involves you Min-chan," she told him with a twinkle in her eye. "Just a promise between sekirei."

"You still don't trust me," he sounded a bit hurt.

She chuckled softly. "I told you didn't I? That no matter how entertaining I might find you, you would never really matter to me."

"Not even a little?"

"No," she said with a laugh. Seeing his disappointment only lightened her mood. "Let's go on a date Min-chan."

He looked at her, eagerness battling worry. She was still the one he wanted the most. Even his marathon sessions with Akizu didn't excite him the way being with Karasuba did. "You're not going to start randomly killing people are you?"

"Not today."

XXXXXXXXXX

Minato even used his position as Disciplinary Squad ashikabi to order his own missions.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was three in the morning as blurred figures slipped though the empty campus of Tokyo University and made a direct line to the admissions building.

A heavy dose of ice to nearby power lines and breakers killed the electrical systems and the alarms. The individuals then broke in unnoticed.

"Why are we doing this again?" Haihane asked as she was going through a file cabinet filled with ungraded test papers.

"We're doing this because Minato-sama wants us to," Akizu said as she went through another file drawer.

"We're doing this because Minato doesn't want his sister to come here," Bentisubasa said impatiently.

"Oh," Haihane said. "So you hate your sister Minato?"

"Of course not," Minato whispered as he went quickly through another file cabinet. "Even though she can be pushy and a little violent at times I love Yukari. That's why I'm doing this."

"I don't get it," Haihane said scratching her head. (Fortunately she was not wearing her claws.)

"It's because I love my sister that I don't want her anywhere near Tokyo when the second phase kicks off," Minato said. "I 't want her somewhere safe."

"227818," Akizu called out. "This is the one isn't it Minato-sama?"

"Let me see," He took the test booklet from her. He immediately recognized the hand writing. "Yeah this is it."

He pulled out a pencil and a block eraser and began to 'touch up' his sister's entrance exam. He wouldn't do much; just alter six or seven questions to make them wrong. With Tokyo University's high standards that would be enough.

Satisfied he slipped the test booklet back into the proper file and got them out.

XXXXXXXXXX

A couple weeks later his mom broke the news.

"History repeats itself," Takami said unhappily.

"What do you mean mom?" Minato had asked though he had a good idea.

"Yukari failed to get into Tokyo U. just like you did."

"Well I hope you don't plan on offering her a job here like you did me."

She sent him a very unhappy look. "I didn't offer you a job remember? Anyway, unlike you Yukari had enough sense to apply to more than one school. She'll be going to school in Yokahama instead."

"Well that's probably for the best given what'll be happening soon."

"She would have been perfectly safe," Takami said. "Civilians aren't going to be in any real danger."

"No," Minato said quietly. "Not unless Minaka decides to put them in some."

Takami looked troubled but didn't offer a reply.

A week after that she was with Kusano when the little girl started to complain about wanting to go outside.

"Hmmm, well all right," Takami said. "No harm in that I suppose." She would take her for a short stroll through the botanical gardens.