A New Kind Of Ashikabi

I do not own Sekirei or any of it's characters. I own only Tetsuya.

Author's Note: I broke 5 digits with this last chapter update. Though I implore you all to review whenever you read a chapter I find it much easier to find inspiration when I receive more feedback. Also, still feel free to pm me with ideas or questions. Also, I am considering changing the name of this story to Number 01's Son. More on that later. Remember that I'm more than happy to help on any stories any of you might have if you want help, just ask and I'll do my best to help.

Chapter 12- Connections Both Old And New

Tetsuya's eyes fluttered open, he couldn't tell where he was. It certainly wasn't the sidewalk he'd passed out on after being attacked by that Sekirei woman. All he knew was that he hurt. Everywhere. He was laying down on a bed, he could tell he was covered in bandages. There was a door to his right. He looked around the room trying to figure out why it looked familiar, though his brain was still foggy from sleep. He tried to sit up to get a better view and made it about halfway before a jolt of agony shot through his back, he clutched his hand to his side as he tumbled off the left side bed and onto the floor. He landed on the floor with a thud, his impact sending searing lines of agony shooting across his entire body.

He gasped in pain as he hit the floor. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as hard as he could and began to breath deeply, trying to breathe through the pain. He heard someone running toward the door, he heard the door open and someone enter and run around to the other side of the bed where he lay gasping on the floor. He felt a pair of arms reach underneath his own and gently lift him back up on to the bed.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he heard the person ask from beside him.

"No additional damage done." he gasped as he turned to look at his rescuer. He looked up into the concerned face of his mother, Miya Asama.

"Mom! What are doing here? Come to think of it, where is here? How did I get here?" he exclaimed, sounding surprised.

"Tetsuya calm down, you're at the Inn, you're in my room. You were hurt by Kazehana when she attacked you. Thank Gods she didn't have time to finish before #08 intervened, she picked you up and carried you here. You've been here, unconscious for a day. You were hurt pretty badly, I bandaged you up and took care of you while you slept." she explained calmly.

"Wait, wait, wait, how could #08 have saved me? The MBI database on my laptop indicates she's dead. She gave her core to save one of your current tenants, Musubi." Tetsuya said as he tried to wrap his head around what had happened. He'd been gone for a day? Buddha, the girls must be worried sick, like things with them weren't complicated enough, he thought tiredly.

"Well you can thank your father for that one. He managed to find a way to repair Musubi's core and managed to give me back my core, all just hours before he died." he heard a voice say from behind him. He turned to face the source of the voice.

Behind him, a woman stood in the doorway of the room, the woman was the spitting image of Musubi, the only difference was that her breasts were considerably smaller. She wore the same outfit that Karasuba did, it was the uniform of the Disciplinary Squad, a tight black leather top, a pair of black gloves with a miniskirt and stockings. Over her shoulders she was wearing a gray cape with the Sekirei Crest printed on it. Tetsuya noticed that her black gloves had the the number 08 printed on them.

"Can you give us a minute, Number 01?" Yume asked calmly. Miya turned to look at Tetsuya questioningly, he shrugged noncommittally, he personally had no idea what was going on, though he was eager to find out. Miya nodded and quietly left the room. Yume walked over and sat down beside him on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she turned to look at him.

"I hurt everywhere, but it could be worse. Thanks for saving me. Though I must say I'm never leaving the tower by myself again." he said gratefully.

"You're welcome. I'm just glad I got there in time. I don't know why #03 attacked you though." she said with a sigh. Tetsuya noticed that as she got closer to him the base of his neck began to burn, he knew the familiar sensation that told him when a Sekirei was reacting to him.

"I bet I do. Izumi Higa, the dude's been after me for a while." he said grimly.

"I've noticed. It seems your winging #16 upset him quite a lot." she said.

"Her name's Toyotama. Wait, hold the phone. How do you know that?" he said suspiciously as he whirled to face her but half way through the turn his back twinged and he doubled over in pain. Yume put her arms around him as he clutched at his back.

"Be careful, Kazehana did a number on you, don't overexert yourself or you risk causing further damage." she said worriedly.

"That doesn't answer my question. How did you know about that. I doubt he sent you to finish the job or else you wouldn't have stopped Kazehana. So how do you know? Who do you work for?" he demanded, still doubled over in pain.

"I've been watching you for the past couple of weeks. I saw what you did for number 84. May I ask why you did it?" she asked as Tetsuya sat up slowly. He was breathing heavily.

"I did it because no woman, especially a Sekirei, deserves the way he treated her. I did it because seeing the way he treated her was the last straw. I'm sick of seeing the Sekirei treated like objects by so many people, and I'm sick of being part of a game that pits them against each other. I'd like to think that if my father was alive he would've stopped this from happening." he said angrily. In response to his comment, Yume smiled and reached around him and gently hugged him, careful not to cause him any pain. Tetsuya sat there awkwardly for a few seconds as the Sekirei of Fate hugged him. After a few seconds she released him and pulled away.

"Are you saying that if you won the plan, you would save all the little birds? You would let them be with the ones they love forever?" she asked as she looked at him. Tetsuya could tell that his answer to these questions were important to her.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I mean there's no good reason that only the winner should be allowed to be with the ones they love." he said with a smile. Yume smiled at him as he said this.

"Then I believe we have a common goal, I detest Minaka's game as much as you do. If you let me, I'll help you to win the game and save the Sekirei." she said as she stood up and turned around to face him.

"Well, I commend you for finding out what kind of man I was before agreeing to let me wing you. I must say, you hid the fact that you were reacting to me quite well, you're not blushing or anything." he said confidently as he shakily got to his feet. Yume looked taken aback at his sudden change in attitude and his knowledge of her reaction to him.

"How did you know?" she asked calmly as she regained her composure.

"I get a burning sensation at the base of my neck, right where a Sekirei crest would be if I had one, it started happening right after I winged Toyotama and I met the Disciplinary Squad. I didn't figure out what it meant until I met Hikari and Hibiki." he said as he reached over to the bedside table and picked up his phone, he turned it on to see he had 46 missed calls. He groaned, the girls must be worried sick. He started to look at his missed call logs, he smiled when he saw that 5 were from Karasuba. He hadn't thought she cared that much. He turned his phone off and turned to face her.

"So will you allow me to help you win the game and free the Sekirei? I'd like to add that I know it sounds like I'm only using you as a means to further my own agenda. But I want you to know, I want you as my Ashikabi because I believe you are one of the best people I have ever met and I love how you always put your Sekireis' happiness above your own" she said as she put her hands on his chest and stood on tiptoe until she was only a hair's breadth from his lips, she was careful not to hurt him as she did this.

She was trying her best not to kiss him without permission, but she wouldn't be able to resist for much longer. Now that she was close to him, the effect he had on her was intensified. Her body was on fire and she felt like she couldn't catch her breath no matter how deeply she breathed, and that was saying nothing of what he was doing to her nether regions. There was a tingling sensation between her legs. Though she didn't know it, she had began to grind her crotch against his own.

"Yume, what are you doing? If we try to do that, my mom will be back to finish what Kazehana started." he said as he grabbed her by the shoulders an gently moved her back a few steps. She blushed and looked away, acting very much like Musubi for an instant.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I don't know what came over me, I apologize for my behavior." she said shyly as she fidgeted in front of him.

"It's okay, and as for your offer. How's this for an answer?" he said to her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled he close to him until she was pressed against his bandaged chest and leaned down to kiss her, stopping a few centimeters for her lips.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked in whisper.

"Positive." she said as she reached up and pulled him into his passionate kiss and wrapped one arm around his waist and pulled him against her as she began to grind against him again as a wonderful heat filled her body and she felt her wings sprout from her back and her crest materialized on her stomach. Tetsuya watched in awe as her wings appeared from her back, they were a white color with pink at the edges, they were beautiful beyond words, but then again, he thought that of all his Sekireis' wings. She pulled him closer to her and began to kiss him more urgently. Suddenly he gasped in pain.

"Yume, you're squeezing too hard." he gasped. She released him quickly as soon as she did he bent over in pain and tried to breathe through the pain. As soon as he was feeling okay he stood up and grinned at her.

"Worth it." he said with a grin. She gave him a smile and said,

"I know." she said.

"Alright, I didn't ask earlier 'cuz I didn't wanna ruin the mood. But can you help me change the bandages I've been sweating in them and I feel grody." he asked. When suddenly he heard a voice from behind him say.

"I can help with that. We wouldn't want you two getting any ideas, would we?" he heard his mom say and he felt the hannya mask she loved so much materialize behind him. He turned to face her noticing that as he did that Yume seemed completely unfazed by the mask. They both watched in silence as Miya looked between them, he could practically see his mother thinking that she was losing her touch, after a few seconds the mask disappeared and Yume turned to look at him,

"I'll wait outside, I'll see you later Tetsuya." she said as she hugged him and walked out the door.

Tetsuya sat down on the bed and began to unwind the bandages from his arms he felt Miya take a seat behind him and start to remove the ones from his chest. After a while he said,

"Hey mom, thanks for taking care of me. I know you didn't have to, but thanks and I want you to know that I know I've only been gone a few days, but I missed you. A lot." he said without turning around to face her. After he finished talking he he felt Miya's arms wrap around his chest and gently hug him.

"Tetsuya, don't be silly. You're my son and I love you and I don't care who you work for or who you wing or love. I will always be there for you if you need help. You may not live here but you are always welcome here when you need help." she said kindly to him. He smiled and said,

"Thanks mom, that means a lot to me."

After that Miya and he finished changing his bandages and he headed outside and called their floor at Teitou tower, and after a few rings he heard someone pick up.

"Hello." he heard Akitsu say in her usual manner.

"Hey Akitsu, its Tetsuya. Hey, I'm at Izumo Inn, I was attacked by a Sekirei yesterday and spent the last day unconscious at the Inn. I'm on my way home, I'm sorry if I worried you girls. I'll be home soon." after he finished saying this he heard Miya ask from the front door.

"Tetsuya, are you staying for lunch?"

"If I do, can the girls- minus you-know-who come; seeing as how she doesn't wanna come anyways?" he called back as he held the phone to his shoulder so Akitsu wouldn't overhear.

"Of course." she said with a giggle.

"Hey Akitsu on second thought; I'm gonna stay for lunch do you or any of the others wanna come?"

"I'll ask the others but I'd like to come. We'll be there soon. I love you." she said.

"I love you too and Akitsu, I just want you to know I missed you. I missed you all." he said, trying not to get emotional.

"We missed you too." she said and Tetsuya could tell from her tone that she was smiling as she said it. After that he hung up and turned to see Yume standing behind him.

"Are you gonna stay for lunch, Yume? Most of my other Sekireis are gonna come I'm betting and I'm sure they'd love to meet you." he asked her.

"Alright, I'd love the chance to get to know them." she said with a smile. He moved to hug her when he heard his phone ring. He help up a finger and hit the answer button on his phone.

"Hello?" he asked

"Hey Tetsuya, it's Karasuba. Any idea why everybody's in such s hurry right now after you called everyone damn near jumped out the window trying to leave. Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. We're just gonna have lunch at my mom's house." he said

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll let you get back to that. I'm sure you're eager to." she said as she moved to hang up.

"Wait, Karasuba don't hang up!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, what is it?" she asked, obviously in a hurry to get off the phone.

"If it was cool with Miya, would you wanna come? I mean, I'm sure we're all gonna miss you if you don't come." he asked sheepishly.

He knew the Black Sekirei didn't like things like this, but he liked spending time with her. Even if she denied it, he was pretty sure she liked spending time with him too. That wasn't to say he didn't love spending time with all of them, but he never had to have an excuse to spend time with any of the others, they would all jump at the chance to receive some of his attention, ever since he got his job it was a hot commodity. Karasuba laughed and said,

"Yeah, good luck with getting Miya to let me on the property. Listen Tetsuya, I'm not like the rest of your Sekireis, I don't need to spend every second with you. I'm perfectly fine just being colleagues. I'll see you when you get back." she said

"Oh okay, see you then." he said, doing his best to hide his disappointment. Until he heard a voice for behind him say,

"Hey Tetsuya what are you doing here?"

Tetsuya turned to see Minato, Musubi, Kusano, and for some reason Yashima , standing behind him.

"Hey Minato, it's a long story. But, more importantly, why is Yashima with you?" he asked, pointing at Sekirei 84.

"She's kind of my newest Sekirei." Minato said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Good for you! He'll treat you right Yashima." he said with delight. In response to this both Yashima and Minato blushed and looked down at the ground.

"So, how many Sekireis is that now Minato? Three?" Tetsuya asked.

"Actually it's four. I winged Matsu a couple of days ago?" Minato said bashfully. Well, there's one question gone, he thought.

"So are you gonna stay for lunch? We just picked up the groceries." Musubi said in her normal, bubbly tone as she held up a few bags of groceries.

"Yeah, I am. Also, Uzume and the others are gonna come, minus Karasuba." Tetsuya responded.

"Awww, why isn't she coming?" Musubi asked sounding disappointed.

"She says she doesn't want to." Tetsuya said.

"Oh, okay." Musubi said disappointed. This disappointment vanished as soon as Miya called from the entrance,

"Musubi, can you come in and help me get lunch started?"

"Sure thing Miya." she said excitedly as she rushed inside. Tetsuya turned around to see that Yume had disappeared. Before he could go to look for her he felt a pair of arms grab him from behind him and lift him off the ground.

"Oh my god, I was so worried about you Tetsuya." he heard a voice from behind him say.

"I missed you too, Benitsubasa. Now put me down before you kill me" he said with a laugh as he tried not to cough up blood. She gingerly put him down o the ground. As soon as he was on the ground he whirled around and gathered her into a hug, he didn't care how much he hurt it was just good to see them all again. It looked like all of them except Karasuba had showed up. He went around gave each of them a hug.

"Alright girls, there's someone I want you to meet. Her name is Yume and she's my newest Sekirei, she saved my life yesterday. She's around here somewhere." as he turned around he saw that Yume had reappeared and was standing in the front yard once again.

"Oh... Never mind, she's back." Tetsuya said in a surprised voice. But before anyone could get to introductions. Miya called everyone into the dining room for lunch. Tetsuya followed 8 of the most important people in his life inside the house. Everyone sat down around the table and began to eat. Even Matsu came down to eat with them.

"Hey Matsu, can I ask you a few questions?" he asked as he walked around and took a seat next to the bespectacled hacker and Haihane.

"Sure Tetsuya, what's on your mind?" she asked cheerfully.

"How hard would it be for you to short a company's stocks?" he asked as he took a sip of tea.

"Not hard, but I don't think MBI would take kindly to my meddling in their share prices." she said with a shrug

"No, not MBI's, I'm talking about Higa Pharmaceuticals. I'm sick and tired of playing nice with Higa. I wanna hit him where it hurts, his wallet." he said with an evil cackle.

"Hmm, I like the way you think Tetsuya. I'll give you a call later with the details" she said with a maniacal giggle.

"Thanks and second; Why Minato?" he asked sounding befuddled. As he asked this Matsu blushed and looked down at her plate with a small smile.

"I don't know. Truth be told, I thought for sure if I was gonna let anyone wing me, it was gonna be you. But Minato... I don't know there's just something about him." she said quietly.

"I suppose that's as good a reason to love anyone. But do me a favor okay?" he asked with a shrug.

"Sure. What do you need?" she said.

"Give Minato someone else to consider other than Musubi. What I mean is, you and I both know it's pretty obvious that he likes her best. Show him that it's okay if he loves more than one of his Sekireis, show him that you all need him just as much as she does." he said with a smile. Matsu nodded at him and said,

"I will, you don't even have to ask."

As soon as she finished saying this he saw Minato flip open his phone, he looked like he was reading something because he sighed and said goodbye to Musubi and Yashima and got up and left.

"Excuse me ladies, I'll be right back." he said as he got up and followed Minato out, he wanted to talk to him anyways.

Though by the time he had waded through the crowded dining room and out onto the lawn Minato was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, he'd just have to wait then. He turned around to head back in, only to see Kusano planted squarely in his path. She looked up at him with child-like innocence. She reached up and tugged on the legs of his jeans.

"Yes, Kusano?" he said as he crouched down to look into her green eyes.

"Miya says you work for a bad man, is that true?" she asked him. Tetsuya sighed.

"Yes I do Kusano. I work for what is probably the lowest excuse for a sentient being in the history of existence." he said tiredly.

"Why, if you know he's a bad man, why do you work for him?" she asked in an innocent tone.

"Let me put it this way. Do you like spending time with Uzume, Akitsu, Haihane, and all the other nice Sekireis in there with Musubi, Matsu, and Yashima?" he asked, trying to put this in terms she'd understand.

"Uh-huh. Uzume always had cool costumes for me to wear and Akitsu knows fun stories." she said excitedly. Tetsuya smiled, Minato was lucky to have such a cute little ray of sunshine in his life.

"Well, if I didn't work for the bad man, he'd kill them all. And I can't let him do that. Wouldn't you do anything to protect your big brother?"

"Yeah! Kuu would do anything for Minato." she said in a feisty tone. Tetsuya chuckled.

"Exactly, and I'd do whatever it takes to protect them too." he said. After that, Kusano reached up and hugged him.

"Cheer up Tetsuya, I can tell your sad about your job. But I know you won't have to work for that man soon." After that Kuu let go and ran back into the dining room with the rest of them.

"I hope you're right Kuu. Buddha, I hope you're right." he sighed as he got up and headed back inside.

Half an hour later they all headed back to the tower. Yume seemed to like everyone but it didn't seem like she was particularly fond of anyone. She seemed like she was keeping her emotional distance from everyone, including him. Tetsuya pondered her possible reasons for this behavior as they rode the elevator back up to the floor they called home. He exited the elevator to see Karasuba coming out of the gym holding her her sword's sheath in her hand.

"Hey, I'm back." he said.

"I see that." she said casually as she walked past him.

"Hello, Karasuba." he heard Yume say as she stepped off the elevator into the main living area. As soon as Karasuba heard her voice, she froze in place. Then, half an instant later her sword was out as she lunged toward Yume.

"KARASUBA, NO!" Tetsuya shouted as he moved to put himself between Yume and Karasuba. This gesture proved to be unnecessary when he saw Yume calmly holding the blade of Karasuba's nodachi between her gloved hands. Tetsuya looked around to see multiple ice crystals orbiting around around Akitsu with several ice shards pointed at Karasuba. While Hikari and Hibiki both had conjured lightning bolts and pointed their hands straight at the Black Sekirei.

"What the HELL is going on with you Karasuba?" Tetsuya asked angrily. Karasuba remained silent as she whirled around and stomped out of the room.

"Come back here Karasuba, we are not done here!" Tetsuya yelled at her as he followed her out of the room as the door slammed behind him.

"I had feared this would happen." Yume said exasperatedly as she watched Tetsuya and Karasuba leave...

End of Chapter

AN: I'm not gonna pose the questions you guys are already asking yourselves after reading this. If you have any questions PM me and ask and I'll tell you the answer if you really wanna know.