Chapter 9: Acceptance of a Heartfelt Desire
XoX
"What the hell!" Naruto shouted as Matsu sprung towards him from her position on the floor. She flew into the air, her hands in front of her, and her fingers making strange grasping motions that Naruto could recognize for miles away. They were the same motions that Jiraiya made whenever he was thinking something perverted.
With a very many shriek, Naruto dove under the flying Sekirei seeking to pounce on him. Rolling over his left shoulder, the blond kipped back up to his feet and spun around to face this new and perverted threat.
"Ufufufufu!" Matsu laughed as she landed back on her hands and feet, crouching down like some kind of animal. Her left hand came up and grabbed the side of her glasses, adjusting them and causing the light from the monitors to reflect off of them in a gleam that made the woman look surprisingly ominous. "Don't play so coy, Naruto-tan! Come on! Let me gain my wings so we can begin the experimentation!" At the word 'experimentation' Naruto felt a shiver tingle down his spine. There was something creepy about the way she said that, a surprise, considering he was almost sure the woman was not talking about doing something vile and atrocious to him like, say, cutting open his insides to see what made him tick.
Then again, his theories on what she did intend on doing to him could be considered vile and atrocious depending on who you asked.
As the red head began charging towards him like some kind of animal Naruto's mind began working at the speed of a super computer. He needed to find some way to restrain this Sekirei before she could get her pervy little hands on him. God Naruto was beginning to wish he kept more ninja tools on him. Why oh why did he stop carrying his ninja wire? Looking around at the room, the blond attempted to find some object or implement he could use to restrain this girl.
A curse escaped his lips when he realized that, despite the utter mess Matsu's room was in, there were no loose wires or chords that he could use. That sucked. If there was at least a few, or even just one, loose wire or chord available to him, then Naruto could have this strange, perverted woman tied up before she could say Sekirei. Unfortunately, there were none, and Naruto no longer carried ninja tools on him at all times. Why would he need to? It wasn't like there was anything out there in the world that could actually kill him.
Oh how he wished he could take those words back now. While this woman might not be able to kill him, there were definitely a number of unpleasant, or pleasant, things she could do to him that Naruto was not quite sure she wanted to be doing.
Just how had this situation fallen so far out of hand? All he had wanted to do was find out who was spying on him, confront them, and get answers to the questions he had. Had he known that there was a perverted Sekirei reacting to him like this, Naruto would have stayed as far away as possible. He already had enough shit to deal with in his life, he didn't need another Sekirei adding to his problems thank you very much.
Once more the woman made to pounce, and Naruto's body tensed as he made to duck. Matsu seemed to have anticipated this, because rather than jump into the air, she moved lower, as if she was expecting him to try and roll under her.
Had Naruto any intention of doing that, the results would have been the exact opposite of what he wanted, him tumbling into the girl in a heap of limbs, which would have given Matsu the perfect opportunity to do whatever it was she wanted to do to him. Thankfully, Naruto was much better at anticipating the movements of his enemies during battle and planning on the fly accordingly. It had been one of the biggest factors that had made him known as the most unpredictable shinobi in the world. While this particular situation wasn't actually a battle, it was close enough that Naruto's mind was already in his battle mode and he had already anticipated what the woman before him would do.
Rather than roll into the woman like Matsu obviously wanted, Naruto's tensed legs extended themselves into a push. The red head, already moving forward pretty quickly, was unable to do anything as Naruto flipped over her, his body spinning like a corkscrew before landing on his feet near the entrance. As for Matsu herself, she had actually tried to change the direction she was moving in order to nab the blond, but her forward momentum had already carried her to far and she was left to smack directly into one of the many monitors in his room.
"Ow!"
Naruto only glanced at the woman for a moment, seeing her busy rubbing her now sore face due to her running face first into a monitor. That was as good a distraction as any, and the blond made sure to use that time wisely by bolting from the room.
"H-Hey! Come back here! I just want to do a little experimentation!"
Naruto ignored the shouts coming from the room, instead choosing to run down the hall at breakneck speeds. He didn't quite know where he was going yet, but he figured the first thing he needed to do was get away from the woman that had just tried to rape him.
The windows moved by him in a blur as the blond ran. Belatedly, he realized that the end of the hall was a dead end, and it probably would have been a better idea to actually go down the stares. Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't quite in his right mind at the moment, and thus the thoughts only occurred after the fact.
It was just as Naruto was coming up on Uzume's room that the door opened and said star shirted female walked out with a large grin on her face. At least, there was a large grin on her face until she looked over and saw Naruto bulldozing his way towards her. The slow widening of the brunette's eyes were the only sign of surprise she was able to give before the blond ran smack into her. He would have tried changing directions, or at least jumping over the girl before crashing into her, but neither of those options were possible. If Naruto used chakra to cease his forward movement, he was more than likely to simply rip the planks of the floor off the ground, and the hallways simply wasn't high enough for him to vault over her.
"Get out the way!" Was the only thing Naruto was able to shout before plowing into the busty young woman before. With a surprised squawk, the two took a tumble to ground, rolling and tumbling along the hard wooden tiling. When they finally came to a stop, Naruto was on top of Uzume, straddling the girl's hips with his hands on either side of his head. Uzume opened the eyes she had closed when they fell down, which soon widened when they saw just how close Naruto's face was to hers. Their noses were nearly touching.
"Uh..." Naruto opened his mouth to say something, anything that could get rid of the embarrassing and awkward atmosphere. "Um... hi?" he said somewhat weakly. Seriously, did he really just run from one girl trying to rape him and end up running over another. This entire situation was beginning to reach such ridiculous proportions that Naruto wasn't quite sure what to do. His life was beginning to look more and more like one of the very novels he wrote.
And just how did his life end up like this anyways? All Naruto wanted was to live his life without being bothered by the stupidity of humanity. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so, because not only had he gotten himself caught up in the very thing he wanted to avoid, but he had also essentially created his own harem and had another woman that had just finished trying to rape him like the kind of female characters he would expect to find in an Eroge.
This had to be Karma. Yes, that must be it... No, not even karma could be this bad. It had to be a Curse God. That had to be it! There was a Curse God after him. It was probably a little girl wearing a frilly red dress, green ribbons and liked to spin around. There was no other explanation. Only someone like that could possibly curse him like this.
"He-heh," Uzume chuckled, bringing his attention away from thoughts on Curse Gods and references that few people would probably understand. The busty young woman looked like she had recovered, at least partially. There was a bit of a blush on her face, most likely do to the fact that she had a male on top of her currently straddling her hips in a way that would no doubt look incredibly sexual from the perspective of any on looker. Still, she was also giving him a teasing grin, one that did not bode well for Naruto.
"I didn't expect you to try and seduce me so soon, bro," she said with a wink, her grin turning saucy. "You do know that I already have an Ashikabi, don't you? If you really want to get in my bed, then you'll also have to seduce them, and unfortunately my Ashikabi doesn't live here so that's not going to be happening any time soon."
Naruto took several seconds as he pondered her words. It wasn't that he hadn't heard them, but more that he was still dealing with the fact that his life seemed to be descending into madness before his very eyes. However, when the blond finally did register what was she said, his own eyes widened and he jumped off the beautiful Sekirei as if burned.
"Gah! I'm so sorry, Uzume," Naruto apologized, bowing haphazardly. "I didn't mean to crash into you like that! I was just trying to get away from –"
"There you are!" Naruto froze in fear, his body stiffening as he turned around almost against his will to see the person he had been running from closing the distance between them, her arms outstretched, hands making the same grasping motions as before. Her breathing was just as harsh as before, perhaps even heavier than it had been when she had first started trying to get him. Matsu seemed to be almost in a trance as she moved towards him, walking slowly and with stumbling footsteps like she was some kind of zhombie, only instead of wanting to eat his brains, she wanted to rape him.
Uzume took her eyes off Naruto and turned to see who this newcomer was, and her eyes quickly went wide with surprise. "Matsu!" she shouted, her voice sounding like an odd combination between shock and panic. "What are you doing out of your room?"
"Fuhuhuhuhu!" Matsu wasn't listening to the surprised girls cries, indeed the red head seemed to have not even noticed the other female in the room as she stalked towards the blond shinobi. Though Naruto himself did note it and store the information in the back of his mind for posterior inquiry. Hopefully he would be able to make it out of this situation in such a way that allowed him to ask his questions with both his life and his purity intact.
Oh, wait. He had lost his purity a long time ago. Damn. Well, hopefully he would be able to get out of this without losing what little purity – read, none – he had.
"Come on, Naruto. Quell this body with your DNA, your hot, thick, white strands of DNA." Naruto shuddered at the words. It was quite obvious that this girl was not talking about a kiss. Was this what females everywhere had faced when Jiraiya had been alive? If so it was no wonder the man could never get laid except for when he paid a woman astronomical amounts of money.
By this point in time, Uzume was not the only Sekirei to have exited said woman's room. Musubi had just come out after hearing the noise. "Hey, Uzume," the fist fighter started as she walked out of the bedroom. "What happened? All I saw was you getting hit by some kind of blur and – oh!" The girl cut herself off mid sentence when she saw her Ashikabi and gave the blond a beaming smile. "Naruto-sama! Hello!" Much as he had come to expect from Musubi, the naïve girl hadn't even noticed the perverted woman closing in on her Ashikabi with less then pure intentions.
The second one out was Kusano. The girl waddled out of the room right behind Musubi, her eyes taking in the scene around her. She seemed confused by what was going on, her young mind obviously not able to understand or read the situation. At least she had the excuse of being young, Musubi was just that scatter brained.
Her eyes did light up when she saw Naruto standing there, eying the red head cautiously. "Onii-chan!" She began waddling her way towards the blond in excitement, somehow managing to grab hold and cling to his leg even though he was constantly taking a step back for each step Matsu took forward.
"Not now, Ku-chan," Naruto mumbled almost to himself, still staring at the pervert in front of him warily, ready to bolt at a moments notice. "Onii-chan's busy at the moment." The little girl did not seem to take kindly to that statement if her puffed up cheeks were any indication. She glared up at Naruto, her little arms still wrapped around his left leg, as she released a 'fuuughh!' noise from the back of her throat.
Not that Naruto was actually paying attention, busy as he was trying to figure a way out of this situation. It was only when Akitsu came out, her face just as expressionless as it always was, that Naruto's mind was able to come up with an appropriate plan to get himself out of this situation.
"Akitsu!" Naruto shouted, gaining the snow woman's attention. "Restrain that woman!" he pointed over to Matsu, who blinked several times at the sudden change that had come over the blond.
"Yes master," Akitsu said immediately, no sign whatsoever of the usual hesitation that was often found in her voice. The air around her began to fog over, the temperature in the hallway dropped several degrees. Just as suddenly as the fog came, Matsu found her hands and feet shackled with a set of icy bonds.
"Eh?" Matsu blinked as she looked down at herself. "Eh!" With her legs now bound together she found herself beginning to topple, and with her arms similarly shackled she was unable to regain her balance. "EH!" Thus, with a loud squawk of surprise, Matsu fell onto her side on the wooden floor. She wiggled around, attempting to either find some means of escape, or simply some kind of natural reactions, perhaps a combination of the two.
"Thanks, Akitsu-chan," Naruto said as he let himself finally relax. Was it just him, or had this entire one minute runaround of trying not to let this Sekirei rape his lips been more tiring than his fight with Yomi?
"Ah," Akitsu blushed at being acknowledged by her Ashikabi. She looked down at her toes demurely, her hair overshadowing her eyes, leaving only the light pink that stained her cheeks. "You're welcome," she said quietly.
"Alright," Uzume began, placing her hands on her hips as she tried to make sense of this situation. "Just what is going on here? Why is Matsu out of her room?" she asked, and from the way Musubi and Kusano were looking at the scene in confusion, they likely wanted some kind of explanation as well, though they would need to have considerably more explained to them if they wanted to understand anything.
"What's a Matsu?" asked Musubi, proving Naruto's previous thoughts with just that one question. She was pressing her right index finger to her lips as she looked around at everybody curiously. "Is that like discretion? If so I think I'm getting the hang of that now." Uzume and Naruto looked at the girl with almost identical blank expressions. Akitsu didn't even seem to notice, busy as she was looking at Naruto with a blush staining her features. And Kusano was just nodding her head with what her older Sekirei sister was saying.
Naruto sighed as he felt a head ache beginning to form, he was getting a lot more of those nowadays. Head aches, that is. "Matsu isn't a thing, Musubi-chan," he said tiredly. "Matsu is a Sekirei. And the Sekirei with the name Matsu is the girl currently tied up on the floor by Akitsu-chan's ice." Musubi blinked, then looked over to where Naruto was pointing and stared at the red head that was still wiggling around on her back in surprise.
"Oh!" Musubi smashed a fist into the palm of her open hand. "I get it now! So that's Matsu!" She looked at the woman again and tilted her head in confusion. "Hey, why is she tied up on the floor anyways?" she asked, and Naruto almost groaned at how oblivious the girl truly was. Was he really like this when he was kid? Was this why everyone got so annoyed with him when he asked questions? He really hoped not.
"She's on the ground because she tried to assault my virgin lips," Naruto stated, gaining a weird look from Uzume, and a confused one from Musubi and Kusano, both of whom obviously didn't understand that statement. Akitsu just looked the same as always.
"Your virgin lips?" Uzume stated incredulously. "I've heard some weird things in my life, but that just takes the cake. There is nothing virgin about your lips," the conviction in her voice as she said that had Naruto pouting. Sure, he might have kissed tens of thousands of girls in his life, and yes, his lips and tongue might have done more things to most woman than anyone else would ever be capable of, but that didn't mean this perverted red hadn't been about to steal his chastity. It wasn't about semantics or technicalities anyways, it was about Matsu trying to assault his lips with her own, and possibly assaulting even more than that.
"You don't need to say it so bluntly," Naruto muttered under his breath.
"He-heh," Uzume smiled at the blond. "Don't worry, there's nothing bad about not having 'virgin lips' as you call them," she said, making quotations in the air. "If anything you should be proud, your Sekirei seem to enjoy those lips of yours quite thoroughly." Her words seemed to provoke a response from his own Sekirei.
"Oh do I ever!" Musubi shouted, her excitement practically visible as a physical manifestation as she pumped a single fist into the air. "I love Naruto-sama's lips! Their so warm, and soft, and moist, and they make me feel soo good!" Her last few words, along with the way she seemed to almost innocently moan them out, a paradox that only Musubi seemed capable of doing, caused the blond to blush rather heavily at the insinuation. The worst part about what Musubi said was that she had no clue as to just how many ways her statement could be taken.
"He-heh." Uzume seemed to have a few thoughts on that though, if her laugh was any indication.
"Fuhuhuhuhu..." And so did Matsu, though that did not surprise Naruto in the slightest considering just what she had tried to do to him.
"Ah," Akitsu seemed to snap out of her glazed over state at those words and came back from her happy place. She looked over at Naruto, and once more blushed, this time to the roots of her hair. "Yes," she nodded in agreement with Musubi's words, and then went back to her happy place again. Her reaction only seemed to spark more chuckles from Uzume, and another round of perverted giggling from Matsu.
"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" asked Naruto, running a tired hand through his hair as he tried to bring everyone's focus back towards the fact that a red-haired Sekirei had just tried to rape him.
"Fuuuuu~!" It unfortunately wasn't to be, however, when the angry(?) sounds coming from his little Sekirei brought all attention to her. She was glaring up at Naruto with puffed up cheeks and a red face. Really, Naruto didn't think he had ever seen her look so angry, or angry at all for that matter. It was kind of disturbing if he were honest with himself.
"Um... Ku-chan?" Naruto started uncertainly, only to let out a loud yelp of surprise and pain as the little girl sunk her teeth into his thigh. "Ouch! Dammit, Ku, why are you biting me!" The blond shouted as he tried to wiggle the girl off. He didn't want to use too much force because he might end up hurting her, but that didn't stop him from at least trying to wriggle himself free from her grasp. In response to both the blonds actions and words, the vicious little animal that had once been a cute girl began to chomp down on his flesh like it was a chicken leg. "Ack! For Gods sakes, Ku, stop biting me!"
"Fupid Omii-han!" Kusano growled, her voice muffled due to her still having a chunk of Naruto's leg in her mouth. "Fu-chan ants er fisses too!" It took him a moment to figure out just what she had said due to how muffled her words were, but when he did the blond grimaced.
"Ku-chan, I can't kiss your right now," he tried to say placatingly. From the growl he received it didn't take a genius to figure out that it might have been a better idea for him to have stayed silent. Still, he tried to at least explain his reasoning in the hopes that the little sprite would at least understand. He should have known that children didn't like reason and logic. "You're just too young for that kind of thing. Perhaps when you get a little older, ne – OWCH! By the sage that hurt! Kusano, you need to sto – OH GOD! ARE THOSE YOUR MOLARS DIGGING INTO ME!"
The searing pain as Kusano apparently decided to use more extreme methods of torture on the blond, combined with his constant unsuccessful attempts at getting the girl off, caused the eternal shinobi to lose his balance completely. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, falling on his back as the Green Girl that Naruto was no longer sure could be called a girl continued digging her molars into his thighroid.
"Ah! Naruto-sama!" Musubi yelled out in surprise as she saw the blond fall. "Are you ok?" she asked in worry as she rushed over towards her Ashikabi and the vicious creature known as Kusano continued to chomp away at his leg.
"Ok? OK!" Naruto shouted more in pain than in anger, though Musubi still flinched. "I've got a brat chewing on me like I'm some kind of chew toy!" As if in response to his comment, Kusano's biting began to sink even deeper into his skin, causing Naruto to cry out. "BY THE MOTHER OF THE SAGE OF SIX PATHS! GET! HER! OFF! ME!"
"J-Just calm down, Naruto-sama!" Musubi cried, looking panicked as she flailed her arms around. By this point in time, Akitsu had come up and was looking at the scene as she tried to determine the best way to remove Kusano without injuring either of them. "I'll get her off in just a second! Ku-chan, you have to get off Naruto-sama now. You don't want to hurt him anymore than you already have, do you?"
"Ah," Akitsu started in an attempt to help her Ashikabi with his current predicament. "Bad Ku. Stop biting." Naruto wasn't even sure if he should give points to the ice user for trying. If anything, the pairs words only seemed to increase the little sprites ire, and Naruto once more cried out in pain as Kusano's molars sank into his leg.
"He-heh, this is the most entertainment I've ever had," Uzume said as she stood beside a still tied up Matsu with a large grin on her face. She was obviously taking great enjoyment of the blonds pain, and seemed to be in no hurry to help him. "I can't wait to tell my Ashikabi about this, their going to flip when they hear it. What do you think, Matsu..." Uzume trailed off and blinked when she realized that the woman she had been talking to was no longer there. How had she not noticed a woman tied up by icy bonds leave? How had she even managed to leave?
"Eh? Where did she go?" Looking around, the Sekirei wearing the star shirt found Matsu just a few feet away from her previous position. Some time during their one sided conversation, the red head had managed flip over onto her stomach, er, chest, and was now doing her best impression of an inchworm as she slowly crept across the floor, drooling and giggling madly.
"Yes! Now that he's immobile I can finally have him! Just wait, soon I will be able to experiment on you all I want! Fuhuhuhuhu!"
Uzume promptly felt a sweat drop form on her head. "Maybe this situation is beginning to get a little out of hand," she said to herself. "Perhaps I should help Naruto out, he's a good guy after all." She thought about it for a moment, but then shrugged the thoughts away and smiled. "Naw, this is just too entertaining to stop now."
"Ara? What's too entertaining to stop, Uzume-san?" asked an oh so sweet voice from behind her. Uzume froze, her eyes going wide and fear permeating her body. Slowly, she turned her head to see the source of that voice standing just not even an inch behind her. Miya was smiling the same as always, her eyes crinkled as she took in the scene before them. Uzume was just thankful the woman had apparently decided not to unleash her hanya mask yet.
"Oh my," the lavenderette said, holding a hand to her cheek as she continued watching the scene of chaos before her. "Everyone is certainly quite lively up here, aren't they?" she asked, and Uzume snorted as she decided to ignore her previous freak out and turned back to the scene. It seemed that Miya had decided to take what enjoyment she could out of Naruto's suffering as well.
"That's one way to put it," she replied to Miya's words as she looked at the scene, her smile returning. Naruto was still crying out in pain and screaming for his Sekirei to help him get the little girl off him, Musubi was freaking out, and Akitsu was just standing there staring at the scene in confusion as she tried to figure out what to do.
"No! Why is this so hard!" Matsu was still inching her way towards Naruto like some kind of worm. "Must! Get! Winged! I need! His! Babies!"
"I wonder..." Uzume said as she put a finger to her chin. "How log do you think it will take for them to even realize you're here?" she asked Miya.
"Hmmm," Miya blinked, taking her hand off her cheek and adopting a confused expression. "I'm not sure. Do you think I should get their attention?"
"No," Uzume shook her head, giggling when Musubi ended up falling on top of Naruto, her breasts smashing into his face. "No, you shouldn't."
XoX
"I'm really sorry about causing so much trouble," Matsu said, rubbing her head sheepishly as she did so. "Please allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Sekirei number zero two, Matsu. Pleased to meet you all." The red head bowed towards everyone as was customary in Japan, though since they were all sitting around the table all she could do was bow her head.
"The pleasure's all mine," Naruto replied somewhat dryly. Absently looking to his left, Naruto made sure that Akitsu was sitting next to him in case the woman tried to jump him again since she had proven to be the only one capable of restraining another Sekirei so far, even if she had been just as useless as Musubi when it came to getting Kusano off of him. Speaking of, the blond looked over to where Kusano was sitting on the other side of Musubi, who was sitting on his right. The little girl seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder, still quite upset at hearing that his other Sekirei had gotten to kiss her onii-chan and she had not. He sighed, that was a situation he didn't even want to think about. Naruto could only hope Kusano got over it eventually, because there was no way he would be swapping spit with her anytime soon.
"My, it seems nothing is ever boring when Uzumaki-kun is around," Miya said with a gentle smile that hid her amusement. Naruto sighed, already sensing the amount of teasing this most recent debacle would get him. Really, it wasn't his fault that the perverted red head couldn't keep her hands to herself and tried to rape him. He had done what anyone else would have done in that situation.
Ugh, who the hell was he kidding. No other red hot blooded male would have run from a hot woman wanting to have sex with them. He wouldn't have run from a hot woman wanting to have sex with him. At least, not in most circumstances. Unfortunately, this situation was not most circumstances, and went far above and beyond what most people would call a normal situation.
"I would just like to say that none of this was my fault," he stated, his tone tired.
"Not your fault?" asked Uzume, her voice a mixture between incredulous and amused. "How is this whole situation not your fault?"
"I didn't ask her to chase me, you know," Naruto groaned. "Matsu looked like she wanted to rape me. I had to get out of there. What else was I supposed to do?"
"Hmph," Matsu huffed to herself. "Maybe you should have just let me rape you," she muttered quietly.
"What was that, Matsu?" asked Miya, her beautiful smile turning to the red head. Matsu froze.
"N-Nothing, Miya!" The red head squeaked in fear as the aura of malicious anger and hate appeared behind the the lavenderette. Gulping, Matsu was quick to point out something that Miya, in her need to stamp out all things illicit and forbidden, had forgotten about. "Naruto's still in the room!" She shouted, causing Miya to look over at where said blond was leaning on the table in preparation to see her hanya mask once again. Realizing that the only male in the room was once more trying to steal her technique, Miya cut off whatever power she was using to call it. The feeling of despair disappeared, along the the mask that had just started creeping out from behind her. The woman in question huffed in frustration, no doubt annoyed that her favored weapon to wage war against all things forbidden in Maison Izumo had been taken away from her. Matsu and the rest of the room sans Naruto just sighed in relief.
"Anyways," the landlady continued after taking a moment to regain her previous gently demeanor. Her gentle smile returned as she looked at the secret tenant of Maison Izumo. "I hope you have calmed down now, Matsu-san," she said, making Matsu puff out her cheeks and turn her head in annoyance, though from the pink tinge on her cheeks, she was more embarrassed than annoyed.
"I said I was sorry," the red head pouted, looking for all the world like a petulant child that had just had their favorite toy taken away. "That wasn't even how I wanted to introduce myself to Naruto-tan," she muttered, using the childish mispronunciation of the diminutive '-chan' suffix when referring to Naruto. She seemed to be truly disappointed in herself, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder just how she had originally planned on meeting him. A moment later he decided he wouldn't tempt fate any longer when she said, "my original plan was to wait until everyone had left the house, or were at least on opposite sides of the house when Naruto finally took a bath, and then pounce." The girl didn't even seem to realize she had spoken out loud until her eyes widened and her hands slapped themselves over her mouth.
"Oh my," Miya muttered in obvious disapproval. "You do know that illicit relations within Maison Izumo are strictly forbidden." The frown on the lavenderette's face and she soon smiled. "Why, if you actually did do something like that then I would have no choice but to cast you out on the street," she said, and it seemed to Naruto that with her being incapable of using her hanya mask thanks to him, she had turned towards blackmail in order to get what she wanted. Though Naruto why such a threat had enough to actually convince the perverted Sekirei to stop her untoward advances.
"No!" Matsu cried out as she flung herself on the ground in front of Miya, her figure prostrated in a bow with her nose touching the floor as if she were in the presence of her lord. Naruto had to raise an eyebrow at how frantic the girl sounded. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't kick me out, Miya! I promise I won't do it again! I'll be good from now on, I promise!"
"How can I trust that what you say is true?" asked Miya, her mouth a thin line of disapproval. Naruto had to admit the woman was a great actor, even he was having trouble telling if she was lying or not. However, the blond was sure that the landlady was fibbing in order to get Matsu's cooperation. After all, she had gone through all the trouble of hiding the red heads presence, even from him and his Sekirei. Surely after going through so much trouble to keep the woman a secret, she wouldn't just kick her out.
Matsu didn't seem to think that way as she frantically and repeating bowed low and mumbled out apologies and promises to the woman who owned Maison Izumo. "I give you my word," the red head was saying. "Just please don't kick me out, I beg of you."
"Ara, ara," Miya began, waving off Matsu's concerns with a gentle smile. With her intimidation and blackmailing tactics done, she returned to be nothing more than a beautiful yet unassuming landlady. "Very well, though I do expect you to uphold that promise in the future." As Matsu's head began to bob up and down frantically, the sword wielding widow turned to look at Naruto. "Now then, perhaps Uzumaki-kun would care to explain just how it is he managed to find out where Matsu-san lives," she said. It wasn't a question.
Naruto swore as he realized that his impromptu tracking and interrogation might not have been the best idea. It was another rookie mistake, he realized. He had been so caught up in figuring just why someone was hiding in Maison Izumo that he had forgotten to plan out what would happen after wards. Even if the situation had turned out differently, and Naruto had gotten all of the information out of Matsu that he wanted, Miya and the others still would have found out and he still would have been questioned. And worse still, this had been the exact situation he had been hoping to avoid by confronting Matsu now.
Was he really losing his touch so badly that he was willing to take such impulsive actions? Obviously his actions spoke for themselves. What he had done was both stupid and lacked proper forethought. He was supposed to be better than this. Naruto might not have had Shikamaru's genius for strategies, but during the war he had trained himself with the shadow user extensively in strategy and tactics. Before he died, Shikamaru had taught him everything he could on anticipating the movements of your opponents and thinking about everything fifty moves in advance. It had, in fact, been Naruto learning strategy from the best that kept the Shinobi Alliance from losing outright after Shikamaru's death.
Maybe this was what happened when you went thousands of years without true conflict. Not since the Fourth Great Shinobi War had Naruto been in any kind of battle where he needed to worry about strategy. The only thing in his life that had required constant cunning and forethought was keeping himself hidden from the world, and that had been easy to learn about doing because he had been there during the invention of the computer, he had watched as the internet became accessible to every home with a computer and not just the military, had seen when the first satellite had been launched into the air, and had studied everything he would need to keep his identity and existence a secret. He'd had several decades to properly plan out all of his moves, learn about all these new innovations and technologies, and gather the necessary information he would need to blackmail the most powerful figures in the world. It hadn't been easy, but with the amount of time he had, and his own intelligence, it had been perfectly doable.
This recent problem with Sekirei and the Sekirei Plan was nothing like that. Naruto hadn't even had the time to properly think of what this situation meant for him, much less learn the ins and outs of the plan itself. This event had been sprung on him just nine days ago, and the blond was still trying to regain his balance from the dramatic shift in his life.
Fortunately, while Naruto may have rusted when it came to long term strategy, he was more than capable of speaking with a silver tongue. He had been using political back speak for decades now, and could easily deflect and/or redirect a conversation to where he wanted it to go. Thinking fast, the blond said, "it wasn't that hard," with a small shrug of his shoulders. "After Ku-chan mentioned the ghost, and the reaction you two gave me," he pointed to Miya and Uzume. "I assumed that there was someone else living in this house that you were determined to hide for some reason. After that, well, it didn't take very long to realize just why the second floor doesn't have a room two hundred and one."
"I think the real question," he continued, giving both Uzume and Miya an accusing stare. "Is why you two felt the need to hide the fact that there was another tenant hiding away at Maison Izumo. I hope you both realize that all of this could have been avoided if you had just come out and said there was someone hiding with us and that she didn't like to be bothered." Uzume grimaced, and even Miya seemed to look contrite and chastised by his words. Now that the tables had been turned, Naruto did not hesitate in pressing his advantage.
"Well?" he asked, leaning on his right forearm which he had set upon the table, and tapping a steady beat with his index finger.
"I do apologize for not notifying you that there was someone else living within Maison Izumo, Uzumaki-kun," Miya began slowly. "However, we all have our secrets, as you well know."
Naruto managed to withhold a grimace as he recognized the subtle jab at his own hesitance to reveal his past. He knew that everyone was curious about him, and Miya was even more so. He also knew that the landlady had not truly asked him anything incriminating due to her respect for his privacy. "I do understand that," he began. "And I'm not saying you're wrong either. I am merely pointing out that this could have been avoided if you had just told us about someone else living here when Kusano first mentioned seeing a ghost." At the word ghost, Kusano seemed to gain a shiver that ran up her body and down her spine. Naruto ignored her for the moment, his sole attention fixated on the purple-haired landlady.
"Yes," Miya could not withhold her grimace. "I suppose you are correct. My apologies, Naruto-san," she said, using both his first name and the more formal '-san' suffix to apologize. Both Matsu and Uzume looked between the two in surprise, though whether it was because of Miya apologizing or something else entirely Naruto couldn't say for sure.
"It's fine," Naruto sighed, closing his eyes as a wave of exhaustion hit him. What he wouldn't give for at least one day without being surrounded by so much chaos. "I guess, I can understand why you didn't tell me." And he did, there were only a few reasons they could be hiding someone, especially if that person was a Sekirei. None of them were very pleasant. "I am sorry as well, I was out of line just now." He bowed his head towards Miya, "please accept my most humble apology."
"Accepted," Miya said in the same formal tone Naruto used, though her words were laced lightly with surprise. Perhaps she had not been expecting him to be so accepting of her answer, or maybe she had not expected him to apologize. Not that Naruto cared about the reasons she was surprised, or that she even was surprised in the first place. Honestly, he was too tired to deal with this now. For some reason, this whole fiasco had left him exhausted, and right now all he wanted to do was sleep.
"What I want to know is why Matsu reacted so badly to bro here," Uzume stated, most likely in an attempt to change the subject. She eyed Naruto curiously as if he were some puzzle to be studied. "I mean, he literally needed to have Akitsu restrain her, and even than she still tried to get him." Over where she sat, Matsu blushed at the other Sekirei's words.
"I am really sorry about what happened, Naruto-tan," she said, sounding contrite. Naruto noticed that she really did seem to be angry and embarrassed at herself for reacting so poorly. "I had known I was reacting for a while now," she admitted, her eyes darting over to Naruto and her blush increasing. The blond in question couldn't help but wonder if it was due to her embarrassment or her reacting to him. She stuck her tongue out and wetted her lips before continuing. "But I had been hoping to study Naruto-tan for a little while longer before confronting him. I honestly don't know what came over me,
she looked down at her hands on the table, her face gaining a contemplative expression. "When Naruto-tan first came into the room, my entire body felt like it was on fire, just reminding myself to breath was difficult." She looked back up and stared at a now uncomfortable Naruto. "And when you started talking to me I, well, I just lost it. I knew right then and there that I had to have you."
"Uhh... ah..." Naruto was at a loss for words. Not due to embarrassment at Matsu's own words, at least, not completely, but at the fact that he seemed to have caused such a strong reaction in the girl. Truth be told, the moment he had entered the room, he had noticed his own body responding. He had ignored it at the time, having wanted answers and been in no mood to even think about his own arousal. A part of the reason he had run from the girl was not just because of what she had tried doing to him, but also because of what he probably would have done to her if he had allowed them to kiss. Even now, Naruto could feel himself responding to her. It was the whole reason he was currently using a combination of water and wind chakra to create an effect similar to a cold shower over key parts of his body even as the conversation continued taking place.
"It... it's alright," he stuttered out at last. Taking a deep breath, Naruto felt ready to continue. "You wouldn't be the first Sekirei to have reacted so strongly to me."
"Really?" asked Matsu, seeming to perk up at hearing that she wasn't the only one who had reacted like that to the blond.
"Hmm..." Naruto hummed in agreement. "When Musubi began reacting to me, her body had nearly shut down from overheating. She could hardly even move at the time." Matsu looked extremely interested in hearing about this particular news, and the blond was almost positive it was not just because it meant she wasn't the only one to have such an overreacting reaction to him. Though just why Matsu found that interesting Naruto didn't know.
"What about Akitsu-tan?" asked Matsu, eying Musubi and then the ice user.
"Akitsu didn't react to me at all," Naruto admitted. When several eyes narrowed, the blond held up his hands. "I think it's because there was something blocking her ability to be winged. That guy who worked for Higa called her a... a scrapped number." He frowned upon remembering those words. He still didn't know what a scrapped number was, though he was sure Akitsu's blocked ability to be winged had something to do with her being a scrapped number.
"That would make sense," Matsu said while nodding. She adjusted her glasses, which seemed to gleam in the reflected light of the sun. Thankfully, this gleam seemed more like the kind a researcher would have when there was a mystery to be solved, and not that of the perverted hentai who wanted to get into his pants. "After all, as a scrapped number, Akitsu-tan wasn't supposed to even be capable of having an Ashikabi." She turned her eyes on Naruto, this time studying him with some other than perverted or embarrassed glances. "That's why Naruto-tan gained his nickname as the Miracle Worker."
Naruto frowned, but ignored the title for now. "So just what is a scrapped number?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. Beside him the clinking of Akitsu's chains could be heard as the woman shifted in her seat. "I still haven't even been told why what I did was so unusual." And he meant aside from the fact that he had been forced to use his chakra in order to break what was blocking her. He doubted anyone here even knew about that, while they could use chakra of some sort, there were no other natural humans besides himself who could now actively channel chakra. And he had done his best to keep that mostly a secret. Musubi might know of his cloning technique, and Akitsu knew he could gather nature, but he had never told them about chakra and all of it's uses.
"A scrapped number is a Sekirei who can't be winged," Matsu answered immediately, before glancing over at Akitsu and amending her statement. "Or at least, they are no supposed to be capable of being winged. Supposedly, a scrapped number is a Sekirei who was winged preternaturally, meaning they were winged during the adjusting process without the mucousal contact needed to gain their wings by an Ashikabi, but the truth is no one really knows what a scrapped number is," the red head admitted. Naruto closed his eyes as he took in this knowledge and began piecing together what he had learned in his mind. If a Sekirei was winged during the adjusting process then it meant they would be unable to gain an Ashikabi. This was a two fold problem for the Sekirei in question as far as he could see, for one thing, they would be unable to find their Ashikabi, a problem in and of itself due to the fact that an Ashikabi was more than just a partner for battle, but were also in many ways like a wife or husband, perhaps even more than that. On a more logical and cold level, if a Sekirei could no longer have an Ashikabi, then it meant they would be unable to unleash their full power, their Norito that Naruto had been told about. Thinking of things from both perspectives, it made sense that Akitsu would claim she was broken. Not only would she not be able to find her mate and gain her wings, but she would be unable to unleash her full power.
But that brought up another question. If Akitsu's problem had, in fact, been that one of the adjustors at MBI made a mistake and she had somehow gained her wings without an Ashikabi, then it meant that even Naruto should not have been able to wing her.
Unless of course Naruto's own chakra had healed whatever damage had been done to her during the adjusting process. That was quite possible as well, his own chakra was unnaturally potent and had powerful regenerative properties. It was perfectly possible that when Naruto had forcefully pushed his chakra into her body that the chakra itself had healed all of the damage she had suffered. That in itself was a surprise, however, since while Naruto's chakra was not deadly in anyway, he had thought it's healing properties had been restricted to just being useful to him. After all, he had tried healing another person once with his chakra and gotten disastrous results. But then, that person had not been able to use chakra, so maybe that had been the reason he couldn't heal her, but could heal Akitsu. In which case, his previous theory was correct. Still, even if his theory was sound, that left a lot of unanswered questions.
"The only person who may know what a scrapped number is are the lead adjustors who knew more about Sekirei's then everyone else," Matsu's voice brought Naruto back towards the present. Focusing on the red head, he listened as she spoke. She looked nervous. "And, well," she spared a glance towards Miya, something that Naruto noticed immediately. It only lasted for a second before her eyes turned back towards the blond, "one of the leading adjustors is..."
"No longer among the living," Miya answered when Matsu trailed off. Naruto turned his attention to Miya, who had a sad smile on her face. "My husband, Takehito, was the lead geneticist in charge of the Sekirei Plan. That's how Matsu and myself first met." Her words had caused Naruto to study the woman more carefully. The way she had spoken carefully removed any and all mentions of her own power. He was sure that Miya was a Sekirei, the power she had was on a scale that went far beyond anything he had felt in thousands of years. There was no way she wasn't a Sekirei. At the same time, it was equally clear that she did not want him to know about her status as a Sekirei, a surprise considering he had already told her that he knew she was not a normal landlady.
Granted, he had not outright said 'I know your a Sekirei' but the intention had been there. It had been his peace offering, a way of letting Miya know that he knew she wasn't normal and that he meant no harm. So either she knew that he knew and was just playing her games, completely possible from what Naruto had seen so far. Or she didn't know and was still trying to keep up the facade. Not as likely as far as Naruto was concerned. It had to be the first theory.
"I see," Naruto hummed, bowing his head in Miya's direction as both acknowledgment and apology. "I suppose that would make sense. After all, if your husband worked for MBI as the lead geneticist for the Sekirei Plan then it would explain why you have Matsu and Uzume living here." And Kagari, though he was still keeping that he knew of Kagari's secret a secret. His eyes narrowed, however, when he recalled what the woman had done he had first brought in Kusano. "If you knew about the Sekirei Plan form the very start, then that meant you also knew that Kusano was a Sekirei when I first brought her here after we had rescued her from the Arboretum."
Kusano stiffened at his words, and buried herself in Musubi's ample chest.
"Oh my," Miya smiled as she held a hand to her cheek. "I do apologize for that, but you can't expect me to recognize a Sekirei on sight, can you?" she asked, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes. So she wanted to play at that game did she? That was fine with Naruto, he was an old hand at this game, and Miya was several thousand years too soon to beat him.
"Yeah, I suppose your right," he relented and adopted a thoughtful pose, his right hand holding up his left arm at the elbow as his left hand began tapping his chin in an absent beat. "I mean, just because your husband was the leading geneticist at MBI doesn't mean you would be capable of spotting a Sekirei on sight. I mean, you are just a normal landlady after all." He gave the woman an innocent smile that hid his pleasure when he saw Miya stiffen at his words. "Right?"
"Of course, Uzumaki-kun," Miya said with a smile of her own. "You can't expect a poor widower like me to know what my husband is working on."
"And yet, you know about the Sekirei plan," Naruto countered.
"Just because my husband told me about some of the things he was working on, doesn't mean he tells me everything," Miya replied with a blindingly bright smile.
"That's very true," Naruto said, before sighing. "I suppose I just imagined you looking at the back of Kusano's neck the moment we had entered the house." When Miya sat up straighter, Naruto smiled. If subtle doesn't work, it was best to go with a sludge hammer blow. Just a little more pushing and he would have won this battle. "That was before you had pointed your sword at me, by the way."
"Ah... um..." Matsu and Uzume stared incredulously as they saw Miya at a loss for words. They probably weren't used to the normally powerful looking woman so indecisive before now. Quickly coughing into her hand, Miya recovered her décor, though Naruto knew he had already won. "You must have been imagining it," she said, and with that, the blond confirmed his victory.
"I take what I said before back," Uzume whispered as she watched the finish between Naruto's and Miya's banter. "Baseballs are no where near big enough. Basket balls, that's the only thing they could be. Giant, steel basketballs."
Naruto gave Uzume a mild glare, but decided not to say anything in order to bring the previous conversation back into focus. "When you seemed surprised when I informed you that Musubi reacted in a similar way to me that you did," he said to Matsu, an obvious question in his voice. Just in case she did not know what he was asking, the blond decided to elaborate. "Is such a reaction unusual for Sekirei?"
Matsu nodded as she grabbed the sides of her glasses and adjusted them. "Yes," she told him. "In fact, it's more than unusual. When a Sekirei reacts it's natural for them to feel a bit of heat, and maybe be short of breath. I know that before truly coming into your presence, I felt hot and my heart tended to race a little bit whenever I looked at you."
"You mean whenever you peeped on me," Naruto deadpanned, causing the red head to laugh sheepishly. "Just how many cameras do you have set up at Maison Izumo anyways?" he asked.
"Matsu has camera's set up everywhere! Fuhuhuhu!" Matsu exclaimed with what Naruto had decided to call her perverted old man giggle. He narrowed his eyes.
"If you have them everywhere, that means you also have a camera in the bathhouse," he stated. Matsu began to nod her head eagerly, at least she did until the cold feeling of malice began leaking from Miya.
"Matsu-san," the woman began. "You do realize that peeping on people while they are bathing is a very illicit action, and illicit actions are forbidden within Maison Izumo." There it was again, creeping out from behind the lithe and beautiful woman that was currently releasing unimaginable levels of hatred and malice. Naruto had not seen it since last night, but he would recognize that hanya mask anywhere. Beside him, Akitsu had turned her head away, the small cup of tea in front of her freezing over. Musubi had taken to clinging to Naruto while Kusano was clinging to Musubi. "I do hope you plan on taking those things down," Miya smiled. "Otherwise, I may have to kick you out."
"Eek! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll take them down right away!" Matsu wailed at the sight, bowing her entire body repeatedly. "Just please keep that, that, THING away from me!" When that didn't seem to work, she used what was becoming the tried and true method for getting rid of the hanya mask. "Naruto-tan's still in the room!" Indeed she was right, Naruto was not only in the room, but had somehow moved directly next to the hanya mask, replacing himself with Akitsu at the same time, all without Miya even noticing. The mask disappeared in an instant, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes at the woman. His challenging look was returned by Miya, and sparks soon began flying between them as the two fought in a war that only they knew of. One in which both were determined to be the winner.
"Dear god," Uzume whispered as she watched Naruto staring down the fearsome landlady. "Just when I think they can't get any bigger." She shook her head. "Beach balls, beach balls made of steel. No, steel isn't strong enough. Titanium beach balls. That's what they are. Large, titanium beach balls."
"Do you have to be so crass, Uzume?" asked Naruto, sighing as he decided there were more important things to worry about than Miya's awesome technique. For now at least.
"He-heh," Uzume grinned and winked at the blond. "At least I didn't mention what beach balls I was talking about." Naruto just sighed for what seemed to be the umpteenth time as he sat back in his seat next to Akitsu. His own Sekirei must be gaining an immunity to the mask by now, because they had already recovered from the sight of it.
Before the blond could say anything further to berate Uzume, Matsu decided to make a change of subject. "If Musubi-tan's and my own reaction are anything to go by, then Naruto-tan must be a very strong Ashikabi," she said, her eyes looking at the person in question before turning to Akitsu still sitting at his side. "Considering he even managed to wing someone who wasn't supposed to gain her wings, I don't think I can say I'm very surprised by this." She then turned her attention back to Naruto and looked at him with a surprisingly demure expression. "If we're done talking, can I please get my wings now?" she asked.
"Urk."
"Oh wow, you've got another Sekirei! Isn't that great, Naruto-sama!" Musubi cheered, seemingly thrilled by the thought of her Ashikabi adding another member to his harem. "And this one's a single digit too!" Yes, his first Sekirei was quite overjoyed.
"He-heh," Uzume chuckled as she gave the blond a probing look. "Wow, it's pretty impressive to see you adding another one to your harem. Most Ashikabi's ever get one Sekirei to react."
"Ugh, thanks, I guess," Naruto replied tiredly. While Musubi might be excited by the thought of him gaining another Sekirei to add to his harem, the blond was most definitely not excited. He had enough trouble as it was dealing with the emotions of three Sekirei and his own budding feelings, how much more difficult would that become if he bonded to a fourth Sekirei? Would he even be able to recognize his own thoughts and feelings? How would he know if what he felt wasn't coming from one of his Sekirei? How much would he be able to take before losing himself to the bond? It wasn't something he liked to think about, but Naruto often held such thoughts these days, wondering how long it would be before his own personality was subsumed by his Sekirei's.
There was also the fact that Naruto didn't want another Sekirei. If he allowed another female to bond with him, if he let this new girl into his heart like that, it would only be setting himself up for more heartbreak down the road. Already the thought of losing the three girls he had bonded to, the knowledge that they would eventually leave him was like having one of Akitsu's ice spears being thrust into his chest. It hurt, he didn't want to admit it, but the knowledge that they would eventually die was painful.
It also wasn't fair to the Sekirei. Naruto had already determined that the bond between Ashikabi and Sekirei was almost like some form of matrimony, only ten thousand times more powerful. With a Sekirei, it really would be till death do us part. There was no going back, no second chances, no do overs. When a Sekirei bonded themselves that was it, they couldn't bond to another. Being bonded to someone like him was unfair to the Sekirei. After all, when they were all old and wrinkly and unable to shit without help, he would still look like a barely eighteen year old male. How would they feel when they were forced to see him day in and day out for the rest of their lives, young and ageless, while they withered away? He already felt incredibly guilty about doing this to Akitsu, Musubi, and Kusano, was it really right for him to force another to experience this kind of hardship?
"But, um, don't you all think I have enough Sekirei?" asked Naruto, getting Uzume and Musubi to stop cheering and look at him in shock. Matsu also looked like she was in a state of shock, though hers seemed to be more of a form of dismay than anything else. Miya on the other hand had opened her eyes and was now studying Naruto intently. The only people who had not reacted to his words were Akitsu, who was still staring at him, and Kusano, who just didn't understand what was going on.
"NO!" Matsu was the first one to react, shouting at him as she quite literally hurled herself across the table. Equally fast, Naruto was already reacting. He rolled backwards, kipping up to his feet as he flicked his left hand at the red head. A long strand of steel wire was launched out of his sleeves. Another flick and Naruto had the wire weaving itself around Matsu. A pull followed, and the red-haired Sekirei found herself falling the floor with a grunt as her arms and legs became completely wrapped in steel. Naruto was glad he had the forethought to grab his ninja wire from his room before coming downstairs for this conversation.
Yet even though she was hogtied and unable to do much more than wiggle, she still struggled. "Please don't reject me!" She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please, your my Ashikabi! I want you! I need you!"
Naruto grimaced, his body lurching as it reacted to her words. He fought with his own feelings, however, knowing that this was the right thing to do. He didn't want to hurt anymore than he already would, and he didn't want to hurt anybody else when they realized he was cursed. This was the right thing to do, it was... it... it had to be.
"How could you even think of not winging her, Naruto-sama!" Musubi seemed to be in a combination state of shock and denial. The look only lasted for a moment before she slammed her hands onto the table and glared at him. "We talked about this! She's reacting to you! You two are connected! She loves you! How can you not return that love!"
"I... It's not that simple," Naruto whispered, shaking his head at her. He didn't blame Musubi for being angry at him, she didn't understand. How could she? Aside from being raised in a lab, she didn't know of the life he had lived, of the hardships he had faced, or the realizations he had come to. Hers were the eyes of innocence, unjaded from seeing the truth of the world. She believed in the power of love, that so long as the love people had for each other existed, they could triumph over anything. She didn't understand that only could only take someone so far.
"What's so hard about it!" she asked, her voice far louder than any of them had ever heard it, even when compared to the night she had gone off on Seo. "She loves you, she's reacting to you! You are her Ashikabi!" Naruto took a step back, his head shook back and forth as he tried to deny both her words and his own feelings on the matter. These weren't his feelings. They couldn't be. This had to be the bond. His Sekirei were the ones making him feel like this. It was denial, he knew, but at the moment denial was all he had.
"Naruto-san," Miya said, once again speaking to him more formally, her tone much more solemn than any of them had ever heard it. She was studying him with a critical eye now, dissecting him with her vision as if she would somehow be able to glean the truth by just looking at him. "Are you sure it is a wise idea to deny a Sekirei her chance to bond with you?" she asked carefully. "I know you have... problems, but are they really worth giving up on allowing yourself a chance to find happiness?"
Yes, yes they were. His problems made happiness impossible, any that he might find would only be a fleeting feeling, a bittersweet memory, the cause of a nightmare. Finding a few decades worth of love was not worth the heartache that would follow. He knew this, he had already experienced it before. So yes, his problems were worth giving up on finding love. That's what he wanted to say at least. He wanted to tell Miya that love was a pipe dream, a fools errand, an impossibility. That there was no such thing as love, especially for someone like him. Yet, no matter how many times he opened his mouth, the words refused to come out.
Why? Why couldn't he say it? Why couldn't he tell her what he thought? It was the truth, wasn't it? Yes, it had to be the truth. He knew this, knew it in his very bones, in the depths of his soul. So then why couldn't he say it? Why then, did he want to believe otherwise? Why did he want to believe that what Musubi thought was true? Was it the bond? Could that be it? It had to be, right? That was the only viable explanation. It couldn't be him, these couldn't be his feelings. Because if they were, then that meant he hadn't learned his lesson. And he had, hadn't he?
A tug on his left pant leg directed his attention to Akitsu. "Ah," the ice user started, staring up at him from where she continued to sit. "It's horrible, not being able to be with your Ashikabi," she said. "I wasn't supposed to even have an Ashikabi, but you saved me. What you are trying to do now is worse then what I myself had experienced when I had been told I could never gain my wings." She paused to look over at Matsu. Everyone else stared at her, this was the most they had ever heard her speak in a single moment. And it seemed she wasn't done, because a few seconds later she looked back at Naruto. "You are not just not allowing Matsu-san to be winged by you, you are denying her the chance to be winged at all. You are her Ashikabi, the one she is destined to be with. If you do not wing her, she will never find her true Ashikabi, she will never be able to be with the one she is destined to serve. Are you really able to deny her that happiness?"
For a long moment, no one else said anything. Musubi and Uzume were staring at the snow woman in shock, though whether that was from her words or from the fact that she had spoken more words in a single paragraph then all of the other times she had spoken combined was unknown. Miya was studying Akitsu now, a proud smile on her face, while Kusano was nodding her head along with the ice user while humming her 'mhmm!' in agreement to the woman's words.
As for Naruto, he just continued to stare at the woman in a mix of shock and guilt. Shock at the normally quiet and completely subservient Sekirei actually saying something so deep, and guilt at what her words told him. Better then anyone else, Akitsu knew what it was like to be discarded. It was just as he said, she was like Haku, and just like the ice user that had given Naruto his motto back when he was a Konoha genin, this ice user knew the same pain he did. And she was telling him that what he was doing to Matsu was even worse than what had been done to her?
"He-heh, way to go, Akitsu," Uzume cheered, breaking the silence. She was looking at the ice user with a new gaze. Before she had probably never seen the woman as anything other than Naruto's shadow, or the former scrapped number. But now it was like she was looking at Akitsu for the first time.
"Akitsu-san," Musubi sniffed as she wiped several tears from her eyes. "That was so beautiful. Wish I could be as eloquent as Akitsu-san." It was probably a sign of just how affected everyone was that they did not stare at Musubi in surprise at the fact that she had not only used a word like 'eloquent' in a sentence, but used it correctly as well.
"Yes," Miya nodded in agreement, directing her proud smile at Akitsu. "If my husband were still alive, he would have said exactly what you have."
Naruto's shoulders began to slump as the weight of everyone's words sunk in. Was that what he was really doing? Was it not that he was giving Matsu a chance to be winged by someone she could love to the end of her days, but in actuality denying her the chance to find love at all? To be denied a chance at being with her Ashikabi, or heaven forbid someone who was not her Ashikabi forcibly winging her. Was he really so cruel as to allow that to happen?
Had these questions been asked before Naruto had bonded to Musubi, he would have said yes. However, after nine days of spending time with Musubi, of winging Akitsu and Kusano, of experiencing the joy he felt at learning more and more about each other, and feeling their joy in turn as they learned about him, the blond was beginning to see things in a different light. Even if the bond truly was the cause of his new feelings and beliefs, even if what he was feeling and thinking were not his own thoughts, Naruto found that a part of him simply didn't care. He wanted to believe Musubi, wanted to believe that love was enough to triumph against anything. Even if the blond knew otherwise, he wanted, just this once, to be proven wrong.
Taking Akitsu's hand in his own, Naruto gently pried the woman's fingers from his pants. He sent her a smile and squeezed her hand, causing the ice user's pale cheeks to turn red. Letting go of her hand, Naruto had to move forward until he was standing right in front of a hopeful Matsu. She had stopped struggling some time ago, probably watching the proceedings to see what would happen and how hard she would have to struggle to get what she wanted, and was now staring at him with a look that was so hopeful Naruto felt another arrow of guilt piercing his heart.
Kami he really was a bastard, wasn't he? He had been about to deny someone their chance to bond with the one person they could truly connect to in the disguise of wanting her to bond with someone she could share a life with. It was almost a shock to him to realize just how low he had sunken, how far into the depths of his own darkness he had fallen that he would deny this girl a chance to be with him just because he was afraid of getting hurt. Sinking down to his knees, Naruto just looked at the young woman who seemed like she was about to start wiggling towards him at any moment.
"Is this really what you want?" he asked quietly, his voice giving away nothing save for the small quiver in it. "Do you really want someone like me to be your Ashikabi? I'm nothing special, just a broken man whose been wandering this world for too long." It was a slip of the tongue, one that Naruto didn't even notice. Thankfully, no one else did as well. No one else, except for Miya that is, and said woman narrowed her eyes as she began to ponder what those words could mean.
"Yes," Matsu breathed, her eyes searching his, beseeching as she stared at him. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I want you to be my Ashikabi! Your the only one I want to be my Ashikabi. So please... please make me yours."
"Right," Naruto's shoulder slumped just a little bit further as he made his choice. It would hurt, but he couldn't deny her this chance. If she truly wanted to be with him, then he would allow it. Even if he ended up breaking in the process.
His right hand reached out towards her back where his ninja wire had managed to tie itself together. The knot itself was actually impossible to untie, it was designed that way to keep prisoners and others from using any escape jutsu to get out or wiggle themselves free. Not even Naruto could actually untie the knot, though he could certainly break it with his strength. In front of so many people he couldn't do that, so he took the subtle approach. His hand worked the knot, making it look like he was undoing it, when in truth Naruto was creating a thin blade of wind chakra that slowly cut through the steel of the wire. In less then a second, there was a loud 'snap!' as the knot broke and the wire came undone, quickly unfurling itself from around Matsu.
Miya narrowed her eyes.
Matsu's eyes shone with both relief and slight perversion. Her muscles tense and she looked like she was about to pounce.
Naruto put a stop to that by standing up and offering his hand.
"Stand up," he told her softly, looking into her dark red eyes with his blue. She looked back, confused, and so Naruto decided to elaborate by saying. "If we're going to do this, then we're going to do it right." It took a moment, but Matsu's eyes a lit with understanding and she hurriedly grabbed his hand and let the blond pull her up. When she was on her feet, Matsu quickly began dusting off her dress, then turned to face Naruto.
"This is your last chance to back down," he warned her. She just smiled in response and quickly closed the distance between them. Her arms slid around his neck, her body pressed itself against his, her breathing picked up once more and her face began to flush as her eyes became half lidded. Naruto could smell the heady scent of her arousal, an unusual combination that he couldn't quite place, but much like Musubi's own unique, found himself enjoying it all the same. It was comforting an almost comforting scent.
"With our kiss," the red head spoke, her warm breath hitting Naruto's lips. "This number zero two, Matsu, will be your Sekirei." No more words were spoken as Matsu pressed her lips to Naruto's. Already prepared for this, the eternal shinobi placed his hands on the Sekirei's hips and kissed back.
Once more, Naruto felt his chakra being drained from him. Even after feeling it happen three times it still felt strange. Behind Matsu, her Sekirei crest emerged, and with it bright, golden wings appeared behind her back. The wings were much different from any of the other ones Naruto had seen so far. They looked more geometric in shape, the edges were crisper, sharper, hard lines and angles that could not be produced by anything organic.
And then the wings dispersed, and Naruto was left only with the feel Matsu's lips against his. They were warm, moist, intoxicating. As the kiss continued, Naruto felt the woman kissing him getting bolder. Her tongue moved past his lips and tried to slip in between his teeth, her body was starting to grind against his, her left leg was hooking itself around his own legs.
Wait. What?
With movements that were swift, and sure, and surprised the crap out of Naruto, Matsu used her leg to cut Naruto's out from under him. The blond fell to the ground, hitting the hard floor with a loud 'oof!' as he took the red head with him. For a moment, the blond was seeing double. Why were their two Matsu's? Blinking, it took him a second to uncross his eyes and see that there was only one Matsu. Her face was also much clearer now, the details he had missed before now sharpened and enhanced.
He did not like that look on her face.
"And now," Matsu started, giggling as she wiggled and squirmed against him, her glasses gleaming ominously in the light. "It's time for the experimentation!"
"Eh?" Naruto blinked as his mind registered and processed the words of the woman straddling his waist. After a second of blinking, the blond finally seemed to realize his predicament and tried to get out of it. "N-Now Matsu," he started, beginning to back away from the perverted woman, or at least trying to. Considering she was straddling and clinging to him, his attempt didn't go so well. "Do-Don't you think we should take it slow?"
"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu's perverted old man giggling sent shivers down the blonds spine. "Come on, Naruto-tan. Don't be shy now, it's time for us to get to know what another intimately as Sekirei and Ashikabi. Fuhuhu, fuhuhuhu..."
"It has nothing to do with me being shy," Naruto stated, almost pouting that she would even insinuate such a thing, even as he continued to contradict his words by squirming away. "I'm just concerned about what Miya might do to you."
"Miya?" Matsu blinked. "Why would Miya do anything?"
"Oh, I don't know," the voice of Miya came from behind Matsu, causing her to freeze. The sound of cold steel being pulled from it's sheathe resounded throughout the room, and the red head gulped as Miya's blade came to rest against her neck, caressing her jugular. "Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I was almost positive that I have expressly forbidden any illicit activity within Maison Izumo."
"Ah ah ha, r-right," Matsu laughed, not her perverted old man laughs, but a nervous laugh of fear. "Wh-Why do I have this thing on my neck?"
"I would like to ask you cease any and all illicit activity, Matsu-san," Miya told the red head in her pleasant and beautiful voice. It was enough to put the fear of god in the heart of Matsu. "Please get off Uzumaki-kun now."
"Ah hehehehe... r-right," Matsu said, and then paused. "Um, Miya?"
"Yes?" the woman asked, her pleasant expression still in place.
"C-Can you please take this thing off my neck? I'm afraid if I move around I might accidentally slit my throat."
Miya blinked. "Ara?"