Flashback:

I was covered in dirt and a few small bruises and scrapes, holding swords in my hands. In one hand was my dark sword, slim and sharp blade, bandaged hilt, and the small skull with the living crimson iris on its forehead at the pommel level. And in my other hand was a white-silver hilt that was finely made with a white-grey leather wrap grip on the hilt. The blade of that weapon was made of an iris crystal material that was a rather big and sharp blade, wider, but not longer. And like the other weapon, the crystal bladed sword had a darker shade of white-silver bald headed face with its mouth closed and its glowing eyes shining violently, the eye in the middle of the forhead made of a flawless diamond cornea and an iris crystal plasma material as its eye color. I was panting and still maintaining a good stance of combat. I spat at the ground in frustration. "Not cool Alan!" I complained.

We were in the Fossil Creek area, the river was flowing to my left a few meters. Boulders and river rocks littered with the pine and plant life all around us, the clear jet blue skies were giving way to the painted clouds moving up all around the heavens. "Now, now, no getting butt- hurt Nathan." he told me as I saw him land on his feet.

He had features and looks almost just like mine, except his nose was slightly smaller toned and his eyes were more care-free than mine were. He also wore slim glasses with black frames and small and slim rectangular lenses. His eyes were a hazel color, and mine were a darker color than his. He smiled at me, and held his sword upon his shoulder. A silver hilt with black leather and vinyl wrapping, and half of the blade was obsidian with a wing-like design for the most part, the edge of the blade was curvy and sharp; and the other half was a white-gold sunlit curvy blade with a white and feathery wing design on the body of the blade as well. It all made an effective zweihander, and it was a similarity to my twin blades. I pouted my mouth annoyedly. "Alan, you keep overpowering me! It's unfair!" I complained more.

He scoffed and chuckled smugly. "Nate, you're not going to get far by being a complainer." he scolded me lightheartedly and calmly. "You have to get what you want by simply grabbing it." he kept going as he used his free hand and signalled me to go to him. "Again." he demanded.

I withdrew my blades, and then dashed forward, slashing vertically outward. A ring of pure slicing energy cut apart the nearby rocks, and almost cut him. Except he dodged, by jumping into the air. I darted my eyes up at him, and smiled before taking both of my swords into the ground, making destructive enrgy boil up and burst out and upwards to Alan. The light of the enrgy and the flare of sunlight blinded all view.

I blinked and shook my head back and forth, clearing out the flashback in my sights as reality set back in. I was standing on top of a 20 story building with my arms crossed. I was in my white Cable armor with twin kuckle-guard arc-knives holstered at my legs and I could already tell that it was primed and ready for me. Click! "Master, do you see her yet?" Katsuragi's voice asked over the bluetooth comm.

I looked with my eyes for her, and answered, "No, I don't. Do you girls?"

"No, master. I'm sorry." Katsuragi answered.

"I'll keep looking, Cable." Benitsubasa stated.

I smiled and said, "Katsuragi, no need to be sorry, darling. Just keep looking for her."

I popped my neck and my knuckles before I heard someone land on their feet behind me. I was silent before I curled in my toes to pop them. "You're not going to ask about the armor, are you?" I asked the person behind me as I transmitted my location to the girls and turned around.

She had long and flowing blonde sunlit hair, lapis lazuli eyes, and a black dress with white fabric undergarbs under the dress-clothing. The was wearing light brown thigh-high combat sexy boots as well. She crossed her arms and leaned to one side a tiny bit. "Thou must be that armored ashikabi I saw at the arboretum as of late. Cable, I think." she surmised to me.

I smiled appreciatively at her, though she couldn't see it. "Wow, have you been looking at me doing that?" I asked.

She scoffed disapprovingly and her face became irritated. "Thou must have a reason for actually taking up arms in the Sekirei Plan even though thou art a human monkey." she barked. "What beist this reason?" she interrogated.

"To do the same thing I've done since I moved to this cooky city." I answered to her barking. "To help my friends. And speaking of that, are you curious as to the reason why I've been up here?" I asked her.

She reacted all right, I could almost feel the aftershock of the heat wave that just nearly consumed her as she almost fell down. She trembled and fidgeted while holding herself before looking at me angrily, a death-lust fire in her oceanic eyes. "Thou wishest to make me thy sekirei?!" she shouted at me.

I nodded my head. "I could already tell that you'd hate the idea. The dream suggested that I'd be prepared for death." I summarized to her as I took out my arc knives and took stance. "Which is why I want to earn your respect in battle."

Another wave of the bodily heat from her, and then water began to draw up around her. 'Water? Wait, it's filled with some sort of energy membrane, this isn't normal water. She's a—' I thought to myself, smiling and it gave way to an appreciative laugh. "Water! Oh my god, your power is water?!" I cried out.

She sneered angrily at me. "And what if it is, monkey?!" she roared as she thrust her hand at me. "Water Celebration!"

A cascade of the ocean-blue water fell at me, and it knocked me down to the top of a lower building. 'Water! Water means rain... I hope.' I thought to myself as I folded my helmet back so that she could see me. She landed a few feet in front of me, and I smiled in my overpowering and drunkening joy. "'And what if it is'? If it is, I'm officially glad I even met you!" I told her as I dodged another Water Celebration. "Why do you not like me?" I asked as I put my knives away.

Her face turned red with anger. "Because like any other man, you want nothing more than to use my body for all of your sick purposes." she yelled at me as the water went away. "That's all you monkeys want!"

I spat at the ground. "I'm not a monkey, I'm a human—!"

"They're the same—!"

"First off, monkeys are lesser creatures, in terms of body and intelligence. Humans are smarter, and a hundred thousand times better than monkeys. I don't care if you have super powers, don't compare me to a monkey."

She sneered as I dodged another Water Celebration from her. "Cable, we're coming down there—!" Benitsubasa shouted.

"—You will do no such thing, Benitsubasa. You and Katsuragi are to keep anyone else from getting into our business." I barked on the communications net.

"... Nathan." she said. "Are you sure?"

The woman looked at me, bubbling with anger. "You brought other sekireis into this? You vile, shameless monkey!" she shouted at me as she lunged at me, water on the rise to be used at me.

I did little more than kick her in the face with a left sweep of the leg and it knocked her down. I walked over to where she landed, yards away. "You think I'm some defiler. You think I'm just going to harm you, is that it?" I asked her.

She struggled a small bit, but she made it up toher elbows and legs, glaring at me. "Of course! Why else would you so obviously overpower me and have your way with me, once victorious?!" she demanded me to answer.

"I can't overpower you, I'm in technologically enhanced armor. You would naturally beat me." I answered.

"What does that—?" she started to retort.

"And I don't plan on defiling you. I plan on giving you a room and maybe doing an artist's commission for you. And feeding you when you're hungry. Being there for you when you need me. Fighting with you when you're angry. I don't defile people." I told her as she began to react more, almost like a nuclear meltdown inside of her.

She looked up at me as she fell to the ground and cast another Water Celebration at me, which I easily dodged. "You lie!" she shouted.

I was silent as I looked to her. "I was taught not to defile or destroy without due reason. By saying that you think I'll defile you, you have said that I would dishonor my older brother—may he rest in peace— and his lessons that we both learned." I barked at her, and then just thinking about that made me all melancholy. "I don't want you so that I can 'have my way with' you. I want to protect my friends." I told her as my dark sword appeared in my right hand.

She gasped as it appeared from a black light and a cloud of ebony mist. I was silent, and standing over her. "Can you make it rain?" I asked her.

She studdered a tiny bit. "What does that have to do with—?"

"It's one of the few things I'd expect from you. I like the weather... always have." I sombered as I clenched onto my sword tightly. "If you show me the curteousy of making it rain right now, I will leave you alone. Unless you wish differently, I won't even be a memory for you." I assured her.

We simply stood there, and my expression was hard and emotionless— almost icy, like Akitsu. 'I hardly care anymore. Let her make the decisions instead of me.' I scolded myself for trying to do this. 'If what she can do is enough to bring me out of this little mood swing, then that's my quota.'

Clouds began to roll in over time, and she began to pale a bit from concentration. 'So it takes a lot of power to control the weather. Good to know, in that sense.' I heard myself as rain began to utterly pour down all around. I looked up to the sky and put my helmet back out, smiling in a satisified and appreciative way. "We're going home. If she wants to have me as a partner, she'll find me." I told the girls as I flew my way home.

I landed in the front yard and took off my armor as soon as I made it into the house. I put it in the armory and got a phone call from Minato. I picked up my phone after hearing Immigrant Song loop over once and greeted, "Yo, Minato. 'Sup man?"

"Nathan, hey. Can you do me a favor?" he asked.

"Another one? Alright, take your pick, man." I answered, awaiting his request.

"I have to go to college tomorrow, so can you do me the favor of entertaining my sister, Kusano and Musubi until I pick them up?" he asked.

I smiled. "Absolutely, man. No problem. You're telling your siser the cover story, though." I answered his request.

"Why me?" he asked. "Isn't that your job?"

I chuckled. "No, it isn't. She's not my sister."

"Alright, alright. I'll tell her a cover story. Just don't go around in your armor, alright?" he begged in such an energetic and freaked out way.

I smiled. "No doubt about it." I assured him.

"Alright, well I have to go. Miya made lunch." he tried to excuse for me.

"Dude, go munch on some good stuff. I gotta eat too." I told him as we both said goodbye and hung up.

I made my way to the kitchen and got a drink. "Nathan." Akitsu called out to me, quietly.

I turned my head to my left and found her walking down the stairs, holding a small, medium length and slimmer-than-most trunk painted black. "This was delivered here about two hours ago, when you and Benitsubasa and Oriha were out. Here." she let me know as she gave it to me

I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Akitsu. Oh, could you do me a solid and make me something to munch on?" I thanked and requested her.

She nodded. "Of course, what would you like?"

"Uh, something with protein and carbohydrates. I'm going to need to try and get some work done for money, and I have to run an errand." I answered her.

Then, I took the chest to the living room and opened it. When I did, my eyes became quarter sized, and I felt my heart almost stop. My breathing almost came to a sudden stop, and the fact that it was even here amazed me. "N-no way." I gasped out as my eyes focused on nothing else but that.

"Oh, Nathan, there you are!" Midasu called out as she poked my shoulder. "Hey, I think that you need to give us all a portrait or two... or five! I want a pain...ting...?" she tapired off as she saw me looking with stone hard focus on the package's contents. "Nathan?" she asked.

"Yes... Yes, I'm.. I'm fine." I replied as I began to laugh hysterically.

"What's so funny, Nate?" she asked. "Is it some weird American thing?"

I kept laughing hysterically and loudly, almost rolling and containing myself. Hysteria in my laughter became joy, and joy became satisfaction. "Midasu, everything is funny. And everything is just perfect. I got the best thing ever." I answered as I tapired off my laughing. "I never thought I'd see it at all."

She looked over my shoulder and asked me, "What exactly are you so excited about, Nate? It doesn't look very special."

I smiled at her with a beastly glint in my eyes and an excited grin. " 'Not very special'?!" I cried out boastingly as I grabbed it and held it up. "This is a legend!"

In my hand was a red scabbard to a red hilt with red fabric on the hilt decor. The hilt guard was ovalular with dragon designs cut as hole sculpts. I pulled the sword to reveal a one foot ten inches single edged red blade. The blade was razor sharp, and on a legendary scale. I put the blade back in its scabbard and said, "Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about."

Midasu blinked in confusion. "What is so special about it? It's a red samurai katana." she asked and slightly lectured.

I pouted my mouth angrily, but yet not angrily too. "This is more than just 'eh rehd sehmereh sehrd'!" I immitated in an irritated fashion. "This is the one. The legendary samurai sword. Muramasa." I corrected in a flashy way.

"Nathan, your lunch is ready—." Akitsu called out, holding a glass plate with a hot sandwich with red mean and cooked onions and pickles, until she looked at me holding Muramasa. "Oh, I've heard of that. Muramasa, right?" she asked me.

I smiled and gestured to her. "Thank you! See? She knows about this!"I cried out as I saw the food. "Oh, my food. Thanks sweetie." I told her as I walked over to her, kissed her lips and took the plate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I stood in the front yard, holding Masamune in my hands. The sky was clear now, and the night was an ebon-blut tinted color with the stars barely able to outshine from the lights of the city. It was about 9 or 10 o'clock p.m, and I was all alone. I took a deep breath with my eyes closed, and I slowly opened them. "C'mon, Nathan, pull up!" Alan's voice said in my ears. "You always were the goofy one." he chuckled a bit. "Okay, remember to keep your eye on the target. Don't force out your power, just bubble it up and let it out." he taught me, echoing in my ears.

I looked towards a glass bottle on a stone bench, it used to be a light beer Heineken bottle, until I drank it down to emptiness hours ago. My eyes were focused on it. "Take a deep breath in..." I said out as I breathed in again. "And..." I breathed out and sharpened my senses, trying not to strain my muscles. "Out."

I raised my blade and then swung it down with both arms, also stooping down in momentum a bit. A wave of wind and kinetic force as thin as paper flew forward, and in the span of a split second, the bottle fell down— in two perfect symmetrical halves. Seconds later, the stone bench fell in halves too. My eyes widened as I sheathed Muramasa. "Well, good to know I can do that..." I tapired off as I pondered a small bit, counciling myself. "No, I have to be discreet about this. I'll use the blade, but I have to stick with my tech. Alan..." I said out loud to myself.

"Dost thou suffer from some sort of madness, talking to thine self?" the water sekirei's voice called out as I heard a small burst of air and her feet touch down on the ground.

I felt a quick tingle to my skin as I reacted to the mass surprise, as I turned to my left and held the edge of Muramasa to her neck, shifting to the posture like a burst of sound, a whisper. She stepped back, and I did the same. I held Muramasa in my hand as I looked to the woman. "Forgive my sudden reaction. I'm not used to surprise... Wait, why are you here?" I asked her. "You kept saying that I would defile you and stuff. I'm a 'monkey', I'm 'vile', I'm 'shameless', right?"

She closed her eyes momentarily. "Yes, I said those things afore. But... thou said my powers mattered to you. And something said that you didn't mean for a need for strength. But for... water?" she surmised and questioned before opening her eyes.

Her lapis lazuli eyes were so beautiful, and she looked so calm and concerned in her outwardly stern way. "I saw you. It strained you out to make it rain today. Yes, I like water. You're a water sekirei. Big deal, perfect match. If I were to indulge like that, I'd be enslaving you and proving your mean words right." I told her as I saw another bottle prepped on a brick. "Hold on one second." I requested as I took a forward stance at the direction of my new target.

I sharpened my vision and then closed my eyes. "In..." I said as I breathed in and out before opening my eyes. "Out." I finished as I slashed vetrically once more, and the brick and bottle split in symmetrical halves and fell to each side.

She looked at me with a hinto of impressed amazement. Her brows raised and her eyes very slightly widened, she bust out, "I'm impressed. Art thou somehow superpowered too?" she asked me.

I chuckled. "American, not supernatural." I said. "It's nothing more than a heightened use of my muscles and kinetic energy." I explained.

"American? What is your name?" she asked me questioningly.

I looked at my red-tinted reflection in Muramasa's blade. "Nathan Eugene Felix. In my armor, I am Cable." I exposed myself to her. "This would be a good time for you to tell me your name as well." I told her as I looked up into her eyes.

She blushed a strawberry red as soon as we made eye contact and I put Muramasa in its scabbard at my hip. Her eyes became misty and wanting of me. "Tsukiumi. Sekirei number 9." she answered me.

I smiled warmly to her. "The water sekirei, huh? I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to be a lot of fun being your ashikabi. It's a shame you wouldn't really like that, from what you said."

She looked at me in a concerned and yet confident way. "'If she wants to have me as a partner, she can find me.'" she quoted me. "That is what thou hadst said to the other sekirei that were with you earlier today. As thou can see, I have found you. Dost that not give a clue to my liking?" she asked with a confident smile.

I smiled appreciatively. "Alrighty then... Tsukiumi." I replied bashfully.

We kissed slowly and unhurriedly, long and deep. Aqua blue-white wings of light blazed out from her back, and we were both filled with this delicious heat of love. 'Alan, I think we're gonna have a lot of entertainment in this. You get to watch me from heaven, and I get to be in my own heaven from now on.' I thought to myself as we pulled out from our kiss, looking into each other's eyes; I was smiling gleefully and she was smiling more so in a satisfied and loving way. "I'm yours. Now and forever." she said to me. "I'm your wife now."

I fumbled back. "Wife?" I asked.

"You called?" Akitsu asked from the doorway to the house.

I could already tell from the death glare between Akitsu and Tsukiumi that this was going to be far from pretty. I held the hilto of Muramasa tightly as I sweated out like a pig and gulped some salive in order to moisturize my throat. 'At least I have you, Muramasa. At least I have you.' I thought to myself.