CHAPTER 9:

TWO WINGINGS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

We managed to make our way back home with little trouble. On the way home, I took the time to call Homura and tell him we managed to rescue Musubi from Hikari and Hibiki. As far as I could tell, Musubi wasn't showing the typical signs of reacting, and considering I already had a fairly large crew already, if she was going to react, it probably would have happened by now. So we were going to bring Musubi back to Maison Izumo, and figure out what to do from there. I called Miya with words to that effect.

We soon made it back, with Miya waiting. "Welcome back, 'Captain'," she said with a welcoming smile, though it was a cheeky one, given the way she said 'captain'. "I see we have yet another stray."

And then, the damned monkey clambered up onto her shoulder and emitted a chittering shriek at me. Oh dear Calypso, she had actually tamed it. "Umm, yes, Fleet Admiral," I said. "May I present to you Number 88, Musubi."

"It's good to meet you, Musubi," Miya said with a welcoming smile.

"Me too!" Musubi cheered.

"Well, it's nice to see someone enthusiastic come here. But I will need to remind you, Musubi, that no violence is permitted within these walls. If you wish to fight beyond a friendly spar, you will take it off the property. A number of Sekirei, Unwinged and Winged, live here under my aegis, and I will not tolerate them coming to any harm. Am I understood?" And there she went, leaking that damned aura of hers again. Not quite letting the Hannya out to play, but certainly at stage one of her intimidation technique.

"I understand!" Musubi said.

"Good. In addition, no lewd activities shall be undertaken of any kind, save between married couples. Am I understood?"

"Umm, what does 'lewd' mean?" Musubi asked, cocking her head.

As Kazehana and Matsu approached, apparently eager to address these shortcomings in Musubi's knowledge, Miya looked at them sharply, before she said, "Perhaps I should discuss this in private with Musubi."

"Deprive us of our entertainment, why don't you?" I muttered mutinously, only for Miya to bring her attention to me. And yep, Old Faithful the Hannya mask peeked out from behind her. And to my amusement, the monkey saw it, did a double take, leapt off her shoulder with a shriek, and landed, sprawling, on the ground, before skittering into the house chittering the simian equivalent of Oh shit oh shit oh shit!

Ah, good times.

It was not long afterwards that my sister decided to come to visit. Apparently partially out of boredom, Yukari decided to come around, if only to pester her big brother. Now, keep in mind, she hadn't actually met Matsu yet until today. I have the feeling that, if I hadn't Winged Matsu, then Yukari would have done so herself somehow, and they would have spent many a happy hour groping each other. As it was, Yukari seemed set on giving Matsu embarrassing childhood stories as blackmail material, much to my annoyance, Kazehana's amusement, and Akitsu's bafflement.

"…And that was how he came to be banned from Mos Burger," Yukari said.

"That ban was overturned years ago, Yukari," I groaned. "I sat down with the management of that store and nutted things out, savvy?"

"You still got banned in the first place thanks to that rubber mouse toy and the wasabi paste," Yukari pointed out smugly.

I was frankly glad when Miya chose that moment to come back in with a blushing Musubi, who had apparently been given The Talk by Miya. "Oh? Is this something I should hear about, Minato?"

My 'no' just barely managed to drown out Yukari's 'yes'. "Yukari's basically trying to be Charles Augustus Milverton(1)," I drawled. My eyes flickered over to Musubi, before I asked, "Umm, Miya, did you happen to spar with her by any chance? Only she's breathing really hard and OH BUGGER!"

The reason for my exclamation at the end there was that Musubi had begun to get even more flushed, breathing heavily, and then suddenly lunged for my sister, locking lips with her in a snog. Pink wings of ethereal energy sprouted from her back as Musubi made a rather sensuous noise that sounded like she had come, hard.

Bugger bugger bugger. This was a minor disaster. Yukari had just Winged a Sekirei. Okay, odds were good that she was going to do so anyway, but now she was drawn into this competition, where she would potentially be in danger…oh, and she now had a potentially-willing victim to molest. Bugger.

Yukari was staring at us afterwards when Matsu and I, with corroboration from Miya, explained what was going on. "So…I'm now trapped in this battle royale between these Sekirei and their Ashikabis? Geez, Minato, this sounds like something from one of your books."

"I never wrote about harems, Yukari, nor about alien women from another world," I said. "In any case, Mum's involved as one of MBI's key scientists, savvy? Incidentally, if the phone rings, take it outside. Hopefully, Minaka won't use the…oh, bugger."

The television had just turned on, revealing the grinning face of Minaka. Miya looked like she wanted nothing more than to slash the TV apart. Musubi's reaction, however, was more enthusiastic. "Hi, Professor!" she chirped.

"Ah, Number 88! It's good to see you hale and hearty, Musubi! Ah, and Yukari Sahashi! It's a pleasure to talk to you."

Now, I hadn't told Yukari about the fact that Minaka was our sperm donor yet. I had just given her the necessary details about the Sekirei Plan. "Umm, thanks?" Yukari asked.

"You're welcome! Ah, and Minato…rather discourteous of you to refuse to sign my books after I went out of my way to help you connect with your fans."

"It's rather discourteous to breach my privacy, savvy?"

"Ah, well, no matter. I bought Seo's copies off eBay," Minaka said with a shrug. "Anyway…"

"Look, we've told Yukari the pertinent details of the Sekirei Plan," I said with a groan. "And yes, that includes the secrecy and no leaving Shinto Teito bits. Technically, that means your presence here is redundant. Savvy?"

Minaka pouted rather childishly. "Spoil my fun why don't you? I can see that you get it from your mother."

"You're the one holding the bloodsport between aliens so you can masturbate to the carnage, mate," I drawled. "Anyway, I love being the fly in other people's ointments. So, I'll keep my sister apprised, and you can bugger off and be crazy to someone who'll actually enjoy it, motherfucker. Savvy?"

Minaka stared, before gesturing curtly in a manner that seemed distinctly sulky. The picture cut off in time for me to cop a ladle to the noggin. "Ow! What was that for, Fleet Admiral?" I asked Miya.

"For vulgar language," Miya replied.

"He deserves it, doesn't he? Besides, technically, my usage of the term 'motherfucker' was literal." I caught the next ladle coming my way. "It's unhygienic to do that."

"Wait a moment, Minato," Yukari said. "When you said…he was a literal motherfucker…did you mean…?"

"Apparently, yes," I said. "That crazy eunuch is our sperm donor, apparently. Mum confirmed it. I sent her flowers as apology for dealing with my attitude on top of his."

Yukari stared blankly at me. Understandable. After all, that sort of thing didn't have much gravitas. You know, there was no Darth Vader saying, 'I am your father' with all the solemnity of a law of physics being declared.

The moment was promptly ruined by another ladle hitting my noggin. "Miya! I didn't use the word!" I complained.

"But Yukari did," Miya said.

"So why not hit her?" I demanded incredulously.

"My aim must be rusty," Miya lied, not at all convincingly. "In any case, you called Minaka a sperm donor."

"And what was wrong with that?"

"It's too good a title for him, vulgar though it is."

Ah. She had a point there.

We decided to retire outside for the moment, while Yukari could get more of a handle on the moment. Eventually, she asked, "Mrs Asama, where do you fit in all this?"

"My husband was a researcher at MBI," Miya said.

I very nearly decided to tell Yukari then and there that Miya was also a Sekirei herself, and probably the Queen Bee herself, or whatever Tia Dalma meant by Miya being the Pillar, but I realised that Musubi was an unknown factor. Musubi was impulsive and a bit on the childish side to say the least, so she might not understand the meaning of the word 'discretion'. Which annoyed me somewhat. I wanted to give Yukari as much info as possible, Miya's annoyance with me on the issue of her Sekirei-ship be damned.

"She also has…issues with the eunuch," I said. "In any case, she knows quite a bit. Now, let's get to the point. There's basically three top Ashikabi for every point on the compass for Shinto Teito. Nishi Sanada of the West isn't an issue, as far as we can tell. Hayato Mikogami was an issue, but I think I've managed to make him an ally of sorts. However, it's the Ashikabi of the East we need to look out for. He's Izumi Higa, some heir to a pharmaceutical company that got screwed over by MBI. He's like Cutler Beckett."

Matsu nodded in agreement. "If any other Sekirei react to you, Wing them. The more, the better. Minato was lucky in that he managed to Wing three Single Numbers: myself, Kazehana, and Akitsu. Admittedly, I'm not as good out in the field, but Kazehana and Akitsu, well…"

"Wow," Yukari said, shaking her head. "Anything else I should look out for?"

"The Discipline Squad," Kazehana said. "Matsu and I were on the very first iteration of it, along with our leader, as well as Mutsu, the main Sekirei of Mikogami, and Karasuba, who is the current leader."

"Oh, Karasuba!" Musubi chirped. "I know her very well! We're great friends." She said this with a cheerful smile.

Miya, along with my Sekirei, stared at her in disbelief, before Miya said, albeit in a tight voice, "Leaving that aside, Karasuba is Number 04. She is ruthless and detests humanity. She and I…have had a falling out, so I would thank you both not to mention her in my presence. The other two members, to my knowledge, are Number 104, Haihane, and Number 105, Benitsubasa. Haihane is the only member of the Discipline Squad to be allowed here. You'll know her by her short silver hair, bandaged body, and, if she's wearing them, clawed gauntlets. Benitsubasa has pink hair and a rather belligerent attitude, and, while a Fist Sekirei like Musubi, also uses Earth-based attacks. I'd strongly suggest avoiding antagonising them, especially Karasuba."

Yukari nodded. "Got it. Anyone else we should know about?"

"Well, there's a couple of other Sekirei staying here as not part of my crew," I said. "Uzume and her Ashikabi Chiho, and there's an Unwinged guy called Homura. Call him Kagari when he's here. He has reasons."

"So there are guys in the Sekirei?" Yukari asked.

"A few," Miya said.

And then, we heard, "Miya, I'm home." Speak of the devil.

"We're out here," Miya called.

Yukari gaped when she saw Homura walk out, dressed in his all-black guardian garb, albeit with the mask pulled down. I knew what she was thinking: OMG, it's a bishounen!

"Thanks, Minato, for helping Musubi out," Homura said in his soft, vaguely feminine voice. "Tsukiumi was something of a…handful…" He began flushing, and breathing heavily, clutching at his chest as smoke began to waft from his form. "What…what's this?"

"Homura, have you taken the medicine?" Matsu demanded.

Homura nodded, panicking. "Of course I did! But…I must be reacting!" He looked at me, and then at Yukari, before he breathed something like a sigh of relief, even as he kept breathing hard. "You…you must be my Ashikabi…"

"Whoa, I get more than one as well?!" Yukari demanded incredulously.

"Kiss him, Yukari!" Miya yelled. I hadn't seen Miya look this worried. "His reacting to you is playing havoc with his control!"

Yukari, after a moment's hesitation, grabbed Homura's face and locked lips with him. Almost immediately, fiery wings blasted from his back. Then, after that, when they separated, Homura was looking at Yukari with what had to be relief.

Afterwards, when the wings had died down and Homura, like Musubi earlier, had made his pledge to Yukari, the male Sekirei wiped his brow. "Thank goodness," he muttered. "The way things were going, I thought I was going to be Winged by a man."

"Nothing wrong with that, mate, unless you're not into it," I said with a shrug. "You still going to work at a host's club?"

Homura looked at Yukari, who shrugged. "As long as the clients don't go too far…" She then grinned, and got right up in his face. "Cause you're mine, now and forever, remember?"

I snickered at the look on Homura's face. "Well, look at it this way, Yukari, you've got yourselves a smoking hot guy that Mum won't object to. Literally, smoking hot."

A wave of chuckles filled the backyard at that, though Homura wasn't laughing, and Musubi looked confused. Even the usually straitlaced Miya tittered, and Akitsu chuckled softly. Still, I suppose that was one of the more lighthearted times we had. Of course, things would get complicated very soon, when my mother ran into trouble, courtesy of Izumi Higa…

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

Okay, well, the results are in. A lot of people voted for Musubi going with Yukari, and Kusano going with Mikogami, though some gave contrary opinions, albeit backed up with evidence. Thanks for the unofficial vote, guys. So, Yukari has just gotten two Sekirei for the price of one.

Next chapter, rescuing Kusano!

Oh, before I go onto the review-answering, I want to do some shameless plugging. If you enjoyed this, why not have a look at Quatermass' Compost Heap via my profile? I recently posted the first two chapters of a brand new Sekirei crossover…with the Cthulhu Mythos. And it's a bit on the cracky side, even if it's Lovecraft Lite. Look for Madness, Chaos and Wagtails.

Review-answering time! myafroatemydog: Chiho had already Winged the Cloth Sekirei or Veiled Sekirei, which is Uzume.

jgkitarel: Rest assured, Shiina and Kusano will still meet again.

Legionnas: That's probably going to happen, after the business with Kusano. Because Minaka basically told people there was a Sekirei up for grabs, first come, first serve, and she was a little kid, Minato/Jack gets pissed. He and the monkey reach an accord, and so, Jack the Monkey will be wreaking havoc at MBI.

1. Milverton was one of Sherlock Holmes' most infamous opponents, a vicious and unrepentant blackmailer, from The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton. Arthur Conan Doyle based Milverton on art dealer and blackmailer Charles Augustus Howell. Milverton was changed into media mogul Charles Augustus Magnusson in the Sherlock episode His Last Vow.