For those of you who are most knowledgeable about the original Sekirei manga, realize that I will be changing things around a lot vis a vi the numbers and abilities. I may also take a Sekirei and give her a new master or two as this continues. That way I can change things more than before, though I will also be creating a lot of new Sekirei, as I have done so up to this point.

Warning, this chapter begins with lemony contact, but it does have a point, and will be more important as the story goes on.

I was able to finish this in two days because everything but the dialogue had already been written. I hope to continue to put out a chapter of this story every Sunday/Monday from now on regardless of my loss of my Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Chapter 14 Preparations

Minato looked up into Akitsu's flushed excited face as she rode him, leaning upward occasionally to lovingly kiss the side of her neck as his hands kneaded her rear and chest.

Each of his wives had one or two acts that lit their fires more than any other. As has been previously mentioned Kazehana had a bit of an exhibitionist streak and a love of dressing up. She loved surprising him with spontaneous, heated quickies and also loved getting Minato off with her mouth and tits. She truly had a bit of an oral fixation, cumming as hard when he finished in her mouth ('better tasting than sake' in her words…) as when he was inside of her.

For Tsukiumi, it was slow, sensual full body massages given or received and strangely enough the doggy position if they were in any hurry at all. She loved the feel of Minato behind her playing with her breasts as he pounded in and out of her. Her breasts and especially her nipples were her major erogenous zone. She also loved looking into Minato's eyes as they made love, so any position that let her do that she was game for.

For Akitsu, she loved to be on top, in control of the tempo as she lost all her inhibition, all her self-control and just went crazy. It was something that Minato never got tired of, watching his normally staid and very self-controlled wife lose it entirely and become a wildcat.

She also loved morning attacks, either making love in the kitchen before anyone else was up and being 'surprised' by Minato or attacking Minato before he could get out of bed. He however, loved turning the tables on her taking control of their lovemaking, either speeding up or slowing down as he wanted until she begged him with her eyes to finish inside her.

This morning was no different and he slowed down the tempo, staring into her eyes, capturing them with his own as he gently kneaded her breasts, tweaking her cherry red nipples and biting down on one still staring up into her eyes. Akitsu thought that they were working under a timetable, but Minato knew better because he didn't have anything planned that morning and Kusano and Musubi could go next door for breakfast. So he took his time gently driving Akitsu insane as she tried to control the tempo with her hips rising up and down over his.

Behind them Kazehana and Tsukiumi woke up to their sister wives groans and moans and looked on in amusement as she became of puddle of bliss.

Fifty minutes into their session, Minato could start to feel himself losing control. He sped up the pace slanting up into Akitsu as she screamed and began to slam down into him at the same time neither one of them breaking off their stare even as they kissed their eyes wide open as the wings of light bloomed again filling the house, the neighborhood and two adjoining neighborhoods with light. As Akitsu began to cum Minato finished at the same time, almost screaming one another's name. As they did, something inside Minato burst, some kind of final wall in his mind, froze then shattered, letting in a cold wind that somehow warmed him. He didn't register the sensation at the time, far too busy with the physical feelings assailing him, yet it would become immediately apparent that something within the bond had changed.

Minato slumped back onto the bed, so spent for the moment he couldn't even speak but he thought, I love you Akitsu.

She responded. I love you too, Minato.

Minato's eyes widened. I didn't say anything.

Akitsu's own eyes widened turn stare at him. Tsukiumi and Kazehana both blinked wondering what was going on. We can hear eachother's thoughts?

This has to be something to do with the bond. This is… so utterly amazing I can't even…

Behind him his two other wives were now looking at them askance. That looked faded as Minato turned to them, love and an almost exuberant, childish joy in his face as he reached for them.

After a few hours of exclamations and examinations, it was determined that all four of them could hear one another in their heads, but not every thought. You actually had to be thinking at the person to get them to receive the thought. When they informed Matsu and Miya of this over lunch, both of them were astonished having never heard of such a phenomenon. Miya thought back to her few memories as a child and wondered if that was why bonded pairs among her people rarely seemed to speak aloud to one another, but understood each other implicitly. For a moment that ugly feeling she refused to name welled up again, but she pushed it back down, forcing herself to smile happily at the quartet.

All three of Minato's wives were ecstatic over this. Now they could literally feel the love of Minato every time they thought of him, regardless of where he was or where they were. Minato loved that aspect as well. Though his brain liked the fact he could communicate with his wives over at distance and that no one could spy on their communications.

When his wives went over to Izumo house they were greeted by several varied reactions to the light show they had inadvertently given the entire neighborhood. Yui, who was living in one of the inn's rooms for now, seemed amused, her lips twitching while her Sekirei were simply bemused, never having imagined that making love to their Ashikabi would result in such an ongoing light show. Uzume was grinning and giving Minato two thumbs up, Chiho was blushing hotly and looking at him out of the corner of her eyes and way every few minutes. It wasn't the first time she had seen the wings of his wives of course, but to see all three of them in succession brought home to her what they were doing to create those wings. Homura was looking as amused as Yui, possibly for much the same reason.

Musubi and Kusano greeted him with hugs and kisses of their own, which he returned but made certain to keep short in front of Miya. While neither really understood why his wives wings appeared so often, both of them loved the experience of bathing in their fellow Sekirei's wings. The wings conveyed not only the feelings of the Sekirei, but Minato's own feelings for all his Sekirei. All of them knew he loved them whenever they were touched by one another's wings, bringing them closer together. Matsu enjoyed the feeling too, but also wished she could be a wife to Minato and have access to him full time like they did. Yet she knew her own interest in toys and such like were against her there. Perhaps in the future she could join them, but not now.

Shiina was a blushing mess at the end of the recently enlarged table, while Yukari was oscillating between looking interested and mortified. Miya was…. Miya had looked amused at first, her hand delicately raised to cover her smile, but now she was staring at the four of them with keen eyes. "Ara Minato-san, it appears as if something has happened this morning other than the obvious. Ufufufu."

Minato smiled and nodded his head toward her. "You might say that. It appears as if there is more to the Sekirei bond than we expected." He explained as succinctly as he could, wondering if his other Sekirei would become jealous. Thankfully they didn't. Matsu was too busy looking shocked, Musubi just seemed happy and Kusano didn't understand what they were talking about.

Miya smiled behind her hand even wider, though it was tinged more than a little with sorrow. If Takehito had made her react to him as well as fall in love with him, maybe they could have formed a true bond like that, and maybe he would still be alive. Yet it was not to be, and these days she was far too busy to think about 'might have been'. She wondered thought if the bond between couples could do that, did that explain why in her few memoires being among her people that none of the married couples seemed to talk aloud to one another, but always seemed to know everything about one another? She shunted that aside for now.

Lunch, as every communal meal had become, was a lively affair, though with the addition of Yui and her Sekirei and Shiina and Yukari it was even more so. Still soon enough the meal ended, and Musubi, Shiina, and Kusano went outside along Chizuru and Katsuragi along with Kana, who was the more childish of Yui's Sekirei, to play for a few hours before getting down to training. Yukari went with them to watch, not really wanting to be a part of any serious discussion for a while. She was still coming to terms with her injuries and the fact that the Sekirei plan could turn deadly rather than be a game like she thought, so she was prepared to let long term planning in the hands of Minato and the others. Besides which she had some planning of her own to do, and she wanted to see the backyard of Izumo house.

Miya placed a plate with tea on it in the center of the now smaller table. As soon as everyone who wanted some had a cup, Minato began. "Alright, today we are going to start two long term projects along with continuing to gear up for the next stage. First though Yui-san, do you or Saki have anything you want to say?"

Yui nodded. "I'll be taking over teaching Kusano for now, that will allow Matsu slightly more time, as well as seeing where all your Sekirei place in terms of academics. I'll start that later today and will have hourly tutoring session to bring them up to high school graduate level if needed."

Minato looked at her quizzically. "Um, not that I mind, but isn't there more important…" He trailed off as the school-teachers face hardened noticeably and Saki began shaking her head wildly behind Yui, making an x with her hands. Apparently this was something really to her. "Okay, never mind, anything else?"

Saki raised a hand. "I'm good at espionage and spying." So saying she closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then her features began to change, somehow shifting, becoming bland and unremarkable, someone who could blend into the crowd easily. Her skin color soon changed as well, going from tanned to bland. When she spoke even her voice was different, completely forgettable in tone and timbre. "This way I can sneak around anywhere and not be noticed much. I can even change my age given time." She stopped, concentrating again, and slowly changed back to normal. "Yui hasn't let me use it too often though, and we made certain to never tell Higa about it." They wouldn't be telling Minato now if they hadn't discussed things last night between the three of them. They decided that for some reason Minato was trustworthy, he honestly cared about all Sekirei, even those he was fighting against. He was also their best chance of living through this mad plan with their lives and bond intact.

Minato smirked a truly evil smirk, that hadn't been in the file Matsu had found about her. "Goood" he drawled. "That's excellent. Would MBI know you have that skill?"

Saki thought for a minute. "They know I can change my face and coloration, not my age, I never showed that to anyone except for Yui." She and Yui both blushed. She had in fact tried to get around Yui's problem with her Sekirei's age by making her body look older, but still Yui had refused to do more than kiss until both her girls were out of high school.

"Hmmm… Alright we won't use that right away, I want to keep that as a trump card for future operations." He pulled out a folder and spread it's contents across the table. "First can either of you tell me anything about Higa's Sekirei?"

Yui and Saki both leaned forward leafing through the pictures. Yui took out two pictures in particular. "These are Toyotama and Ichiya, the pair of them are Higa's main enforcers. They're attack dogs, they like to hurt people, the more the better. I have seen them in action, and they are brutal. They're the main reasons I never tired to fight against being allied with Higa, I knew Saki and Kana had no chance against them." Minato nodded, Uzume had said much the same thing, and it had come up in Akitsu's analysis of Matsu's information as well. If he ever went up against Higa in a straight up fight they would be his first targets.

Miya winced as she looked at the pictures. She remembered these two, much like Yomi, they had been among those who looked to Karasuba as a role model, but really the darkness had already been there, Karasuba merely helped bring it out.

Saki cut in holding up one picture. "This Sekirei isn't one of Higa's, but her Ashikabi is allied with him. I've never met him, but he must be completely under Higa's thumb as Izumi-aho uses her like one of his own. Hell I only know that because of an offhand comment she made when we were doing a mission together.

She touched another picture, which showed the image of a Sekirei with straight black hair, a Yankee sort of dress and the darkest skin Minato had seen on a Sekirei up to now, a light chocolate color that was quite fetching on her. "This girl is named Yahan #57, she was forcibly winged by Higa. I know because that was the first mission I was used on. A test of loyalty so to speak." The words came out with as much venom as she could muster, which was a surprising amount when discussing Izumi Higa. "She's a mix of short range and mid range. She can do something with shadows, I don't know what, and she's pretty strong and really fast. If you ever fight her watch out for her kicks though, they pack more of a punch than you might think for some reason."

Minato nodded thoughtfully. While he had known about the girl's combat abilities thanks to Akitsu and Matsu's research, he hadn't known she had been forcefully winged. Given the others skills in her file that opened up a whole realm of possibilities he could address later if they could convince her to join them at some point. He turned to Yui as Saki continued to look at the pictures. "How many other Ashikabi are allied with Higa, and do you know how many are allied with him by choice?"

"Most of them have allied with him by choice I'm afraid. I actually only know one other Ashikabi that has done so because he had no choice. His name is Oboro, he's a rather older gentlemen, who was a soldier at one point I believe. He isn't happy about this game or working with Higa, but I understand it was an at gunpoint decision, possibly literally."

Minato nodded then turned to Matsu who shrugged. "I'll see what I can find about him, as well as trying to find about the unknown Sekirei of the yellow-eyed girl."

"Good. I'll leave you two and Akitsu here to continue going over this stuff. If you can find us a target, a place rather than a person for preference that we could attack and really hurt Higa, that would be great. Think strategic necessities. Kazehana, I'm going to give you a list, some stuff I've already ordered and paid for through various…means. Go to the address there and you should find it all there. Take Musubi with you for the heavier stuff."

Matsu's curiosity got the best of her and she looked over the wind user's shoulder as she read. She nodded at some of the purchases, but her eyes widened at the esoteric ones. "Um… Minato-tan what are you planning with some of this stuff?"

Minato smiled grimly. "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies Matsu."

Miya looked over the list and smiled grimly in approval as she saw the items that bothered Matsu. "I see you are preparing for a bit of an offensive Minato-san."

"Not so much an offense as a trap Miya-san. The name of the game is tactical defense, strategic offense. We'll need to wait a few more days for the rest of the civilians to leave who can and will, but after that, well, we can take action against one enemy or the other. For now though, we merely prepare our supplies, and let me tell you finding some of that stuff took some doing without warning MBI, and ready ourselves for the coming storm."

He turned to Yui. "Do you mind if I borrow Kana of Saki for a bit later this afternoon? I want to do a little fact finding mission later, and I'd like to have a representative of another Ashikabi when I do. Tsukiumi, don't get too involved in training, you'll be going with me."

Yui nodded. "I have no problem with that Minato-san, though you will of course have to tell me more before you leave."

Minato nodded agreeably. "On that note ladies, I will take my leave. Miya-san, may I talk to you for a moment?"

Miya quirked an eyebrow in surprise but nodded acquiescence and followed Minato out the door, though she took the lead from there, moving down the hallway. The two didn't speak until they were in Miya's room. Miya smiled behind her hand at Minato. "Ara, I hope this isn't part of some plan to seduce an old widow like myself Minato-san."

Minato's lips twitched. "You're hardly old Miya-san, in fact I would call you very desirable, but I already have three wives who demand my attention, and I hardly think I could handle another." Miya blushed behind her raised hand, hiding her reactions to his words with the ease of old practice as he continued. "No I'm afraid this is about something far more serious."

Miya's blush faded at those words and she nodded to indicate she was listening. "Besides buying and hiding away the supplies Kazehana and Musubi are going to pick up, I have been thinking of worst case long term scenarios, and I've come up with a few I don't know if I can combat. What I'd like is for you to disprove the worst of them."

Miya nodded. "Very well Minato-san, ask away." She surreptitiously looked around, making certain that Matsu hadn't tried to bug her room again. She hadn't which was a very good thing for number 02. Miya hadn't needed to chastise anyone for some time, not seriously anyway, and she was worried she might be getting rusty.

"Could MBI have placed any dead man's switches in the Sekirei?" Minato asked bluntly.

Miya's entire body stilled for a moment. It wasn't rigid, no it was still, like a forest just before an earthquake or a mountain just before it turned into a volcano, when all the critters ran for the hills or burrowed down and prepared for the worst. After a moment she spoke her words normal, but something in the depths of her tone called to Minato's primitive monkey brain of certain death. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

Minato gulped, but answered gamely. "M-miniature bombs implanted into their bodies, some kind of tracking and neutralization device, I know they have some way of tracking the Sekirei, I need to know if that's all they have inside them. It would fit Minaka's MO to have a final solution he could use to target those who refuse to play his so called game of the gods, and possibly punish the losers in the next stage. It would be something he could only use once or twice though, before everyone learned of it and it wouldn't affect the Ashikabi. Those last two would be why he hasn't used it against me and mine yet. Well, that and he has no idea how you would react."

"I do not know if such a thing is possible, but the jinki should be able to tell us if there is anything foreign in our bodies. But if this is true," and that whatever it was that touched the terror center of Minato's brain was suddenly multiplied, "if this is true, I will kill Minaka this very day. I will wipe him and MBI out of existence, damn the long term consequences."

"I wouldn't even try to stop you. Hell I'd join you. But that's the worst case scenario for that aspect."

Miya nodded, then sighed heavily, as if the weight of the world had come to rest on her shoulders. "It wasn't supposed to be like this you know, all I wanted was to protect the youngsters from those who would harm them. That was the entire reason I allowed Higa to continue to have access to the ship while I was there. And when we turned back the invasion in part because of his behind the scenes maneuvering, I thought my trust had been justified. But then I found out about the adjustments being made to the fetuses, and the mental conditioning as well. Takehito was in charge of the initial adjustments and I trusted him, so thought they were justified. But then he was killed, and Minaka set this mad plan in motion for who knows what reason, the feathers are being torn from their loved ones, some of them find themselves bound to people not of their choosing, and it's just all a big mess and I don't know what to do..."

She looked so sorrowful and guilty that Minato couldn't resist the urge to reach out and pull her into a hug. He made certain his arms stayed around her shoulders though. Miya first stiffened at his touch then sighed and simply took comfort in it. She blushed lightly as she heard his heartbeat where her head rested against his chest, but it was his words that brought her real comfort. "None of this is your fault Miya, you couldn't have known what Minaka was planning, and you Sekirei really did need him and his company as a go between for your dealings with humanity. As bad as this game is, if the Chinese or hell even the Americans had found you all first, you would never have woken up in the first place, they would have simply taken you, the babies and the fetuses to a lab somewhere and you would never have seen the light of day again.

"And as to what is going on now, there is no one to blame but Minaka and those who willingly serve him, those who see your people, your younger sisters as things to be toyed with, not as people in your own right. The only mistake you made was in being too trusting, and frankly I think that is a product of your race. All of you Sekirei can't seem to dissemble well, hell even Matsu and Kazehana can't outright lie easily, and don't get me started on Uzume or you. Even when you were 'a simple landlady' it was obvious you were something more."

"Mou, Minato-san, it's not nice to point out another's shortcomings to them in such a manner." Miya almost pouted, but controlled herself quickly. She thought she was doing quite well playing a simple landlady, well one who was trained as a swordswoman at least, and had worked at MBI and that could keep up with Musubi… Okay so maybe her disguise hadn't been very good at that, but it was still rude to point that out.

"I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just saying that you Sekirei have no concept of misdirection, or lying or distrust in those who have power over you. I think that actually makes you better people in the main, certainly in personal interactions it does."

Miya finally pulled herself out of his embrace backing away slightly to look into his face. "But not in war."

"No," he said sadly, "not in war or fighting, in warfare you need to be able to be able to think in angles and misdirection. When the enemy thinks your striking here go there," and he gestured with his hands, "When he thinks he has you figured out start to act differently. That's part of why I haven't yet taken action against Higa, I wanted to lull him and Minaka into thinking that I wouldn't take offensive action, that I was content to remain on the defensive."

Miya nodded thoughtfully. "I can see your point, but I find myself unable to think like that, such trickery doesn't come easily to me."

Minato shrugged. "That's why I'm here."

Miya giggled. "Indeed, maybe we should keep you around Minato-san, you seem to be very useful, and not just for the light shows you give us all." Again there was a spike of some emotion in her, but she easily suppressed it as Minato blushed heavily, causing her to laugh. "UFUFUFU, a little late to be embarrassed Minato-san, and it isn't as if it's a bad thing. Besides, what you do in the comfort of your own home is your own business. SO long as it doesn't corrupt the youngsters, like Kusano and Musubi." Here she let loose with her hanya mask, nearly scaring Minato into immediate flight. "Am I clear?"

Minato nodded rapidly and she giggled again, letting the hanya mask slip away. Minato sighed heavily. "Ugh, that wasn't fair Miya-san."

"Ara, I have no idea what you're talking about Minato-san." Miya smiled serenely.

Minato almost glared at her but stopped himself just in time then he sighed, sad to bring the topic of their original conversation back up. "So should we go and see if the jinki can tell us what we want to know?"

Miya sighed and nodded. "Very well, let us go see Chiho-chan."

Minato nodded and led the way out of her room, but stopped when he nearly collided with Matsu who had apparently been trying to listen in through the door. Behind her Akitsu stood well away from the door patiently waiting. Minato sighed, and stepped lightly around Matsu, reaching out for Akitsu's hand. "I'll just let you handle this Miya-san, I'll get Chiho and Uzume and meet you in their room."

"Ara, thank you Minato-san, it appears as if I need to have a talk with miss peeper here." Matsu made to back off but Miya had already begun to bring out her hanya, freezing her in place.

Akitsu and Minato beat a hasty retreat then went outside to get Chiho and Uzume and Yi, not wanting to hide anything from her. Once they found them, Minato helped Uzume get Chiho back up to their room, while Akitsu joined Tsukiumi for some training.

Leaving behind a quivering puddle of ooze that had formerly been Matsu, Miya joined them quickly. Minato explained what they were going to ask the jinki to do. Both girls were appalled at the idea of Uzume having something like a kill switch inside her, and Chiho nodded immediately. Yui merely narrowed her eyes.

Miya gently took the jinki from where it lay in a specially constructed (by Minato, who was pretty good with tools of all sorts) holder by her side. Chiho leaned back against the back of the bed, feeling a little weaker than she had a moment before, but thankfully that was all. While she couldn't live without the jinki's stasis field, it wasn't like she would die immediately without it.

At Miya's direction Uzume turned her back, flipping up her hair, and Miya gently pressed the tip (only she could tell one end from the other) of the jinki against her crest. Closing her eyes Miya concentrated on what she was feeling, trying to guide the jinki, which was really not meant for this, it could be used for it, but it was much like using an army APC to go and get your groceries, it could do it, but it was over kill in both the power and the ability. Thankfully, the jinki's ability to connect to the ship and use its sensors through its body, much like the stasis field keeping Chiho alive, was up to what they wanted. After a moment she sighed in relief and pulled back, handing the jinki gently over to Chiho. "There appears to be something along her spinal column, but it is reading as nonthreatening. At least that is what the jinki is telling me. We can't take it as a given that it will stay that way, but it does appear to be only a tracking device."

Minato breathed a deep sigh of relief then turned to Yui. "Unfortunately that means Saki will be of limited utility unless we can find a way to remove the device, which I have no idea how to do. Unless you know a really good surgeon?" Yui shook her head, angry inside at something like that being in one of her girls, but thankful it wasn't worse. She excused herself then, going out to inform her two Sekirei of this discovery.

Minato then turned to Chiho. "Chiho, do you mind if I take Uzume somewhere in a few hours?"

Before the demure girl could respond Uzume spoke up grinning wickedly. "Wow bro, are you looking to add more women to your harem, where are you going to 'take' me? "

Chiho stuttered out 'U-Uzume-chan' while Minato blushed brightly at her tone. Miya giggled, and deciding once again that Minato was far too serious for her own good, joined in the teasing. "Oh my, he asked to join me in my room earlier, and before I knew it he had his arms around me. I'm afraid none of us are safe from his wanton lusts."

Minato and Chiho both blushed even harder as Uzume grinned at him. "Damn, that was pretty daring of you, though I'm sorry to say that if you want to 'take' me you'll have to 'take' Chiho at the same time, I'm not going to leave my Ashikabi out of something like that, after all sharing is caring."

Minato's blush was now so profound it looked like someone was choking him, unused to this kind of teasing. He could hear his wives in his head asking him why he was feeling so embarrassed, Akitsu concerned, Kazehana interested and Tsukiumi defensive. Trying to reassure them he opened the link almost automatically as he gathered himself and responded to the teasing. "Is today tease Minato day or something, look I have three wives, and I am not looking to add anyone to anything!" At that point he kind of lost it and he pointed at a surprised Miya "You're gorgeous as all get out, and any guy would be lucky to be with you!" He pointed over at a furiously blushing Chiho, "You're cute as hell and any guy would be lucky to be with you!" He then turned to Uzume who was by this point staring at him in surprise, "You are hot and funny as hell, any guy who was with you would have a lot of fun whatever you were doing! But I am not interested in adding any more girls to my family, three wives are mort hand enough for me!" He looked at all three of the now wide-eyed girls. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I'm going take what remains of my dignity and leave." With that he turned and left, hearing the laughter of Kazehana and the quiet giggles from Akitsu in his head, while the grumbling of Tsukiumi went from in his mind to in the physical world as she stumped toward him.

Miya quickly recovered herself and looked over at Uzume who had broken out into laughter again. "I trust word of this will not be shared with any other others?" She hoped that Matsu hadn't returned to her room yet, she would have to delete this section from her spy cams. Her hand twitched out into a corner by the bed, picking up a small doll from a pile of others and taking a hold on its head, blocking the image. "We seem to have discomfited Minato-san far more than we intended."

"Speak for yourself!" Uzume caroled, "That was hilarious. Who knew bro had it in him under that serious exterior!"

"Uzume-san!" Miya said sharply, bringing out her hanya mask, which finally got Uzume to realize she was serious. Miya sighed thankfully as the cloth Sekirei began to nod rapidly with her 'suggestion', as Miya's own heart began to beat slower. Embarrassment, yes that was all she felt from Minato's compliment, just embarrassment.

Mianto spent a few minutes calming down Tsukiumi, who had been very disturbed by the emotions she had felt through their link, as well as the words he had spoke which came through the link when he opened it fully. While Tsukiumi was much more open about her emotions, much calmer in most situations, she was still a little covetous of his affections, and did not want any more women added. Having Matsu on the side was more than enough. Because of the link however Tsukiumi was much easier to calm down. She could literally feel the love he had for her through it, and the result of linking minds and saying the words that way was most amusing. After about fifteen minutes of this concentrated attention, Tsukiumi had more than forgiven him, in fact she was tempted to drag him off back to their bedroom for the rest of the afternoon, but thankfully Minato was able to put that off until the evening. As fantastic an idea as that sounded, he really did have other things to do today.

He went over to his sister, who was still outside, watching with a look of frustration as Shiina and the others played in the back yard. A closed sketch book, and pencil was placed by her side. "How are you doing Yukari?"

"Nii-chan," she said looking up at him then away, "feeling like a bit of an idiot actually. I thought it wasn't, you know, serious, I thought no one would really get hurt despite all the panic and everything, but now…" she gestured at her side and Minato nodded. Yukari had taken her burns in stride as much as she could, but the fact she would now have scars from where the flying glass had cut here was preying on her mind. Thankfully the medicine was keeping the main at bay. She looked at him for a moment head cocked to the side. "Have you heard from mom lately?"

Minato didn't let his body stiffen or show any other response to this and he shook his head. "I warned her not to contact me again when she called me a few days after I arrived in Tokyo. I don't want her in my life if she's only going to show any interest when it's easy for her." He looked at her crestfallen expression and misinterpreted it. "I'm not going to stop you if you contact her though."

Yukari shook her head, deciding not to butt in between the two of them yet again. "I called her a couple hours after you all moved me into my new house and told her what was up. She hasn't called me back yet other than to leave a message and say she was glad I was okay, nothing else."

Minato decided to give the obviously worried girl a bone. "She might not be allowed to contact any of the contestants in this stupid plan you know, she does work for MBI after all." Yukari nodded glumly, though didn't seem to see the significance that statement carried in Minato's opinion of his mother. He changed the subject, pointing at her sketch pad. "How are you doing on that project I asked you about?"

Yukari brightened a little. "Oh I've got some ideas already, I should be able to have a few finalized by the end of the week. Using the Sekirei to build it is an interesting idea by the way, I think they'll all have a lot of fun with it."

Minato nodded, then saw Homura over to the side beckoning to him. "Listen is it okay if I take Shiina with me somewhere this afternoon, I know he won't want to leave you alone, but I'd like him along."

Yukari nodded. "Sure, that's no problem, don't tell him I said this, but his hovering is kind of getting on my nerves."

Minato nodded and with a final pat on the head left his little sister to go talk to Homura.

They entered the dining room and seeing on one was there Homura blurted, "It's not working. I've been around your sister for hours today and I'm not feeling anything. Worse, I nearly had another attack last night, if it wasn't for Matsu and Miya I might have burned myself to death. I don't know what else to do but let you wing me! I can't die yet, not before I see Minaka fry!"

Minato frowned. "See the problem with that is I've never seen you as anything but a guy, a little, okay a lot bishonen, but still a guy. I have no interest in that area, sorry, not even a little. Why didn't you react to that Allison chick you have a picture of by your bed, or any of the women at the club you work at?"

"Look I told you, Allison was just using me for short term kicks and to get the taste of this asshole named Church out of her head, the way she described him he sounded like a real obsessive freak. She wasn't ever serious about it, and even if she was I wouldn't have wanted someone like her as my Ashikabi, she was way too rough around the edges and butch for my tastes, I mean why would I want a woman who could literally break me in half? I just keep her picture because, because…" He blushed and whispered, "Because she was the first woman I slept with, all right, most of my customers never get that far. And I have no idea why I'm reacting to you rather than all those women I met at the club when you have no interest in me in that way, but I am, maybe you're too strong an Ashikabi or something, but I don't think I'll last another week without an Ashikabi connection to help regulate my power!"

"Have you tried Yui?" Minato riposted, "She might be open to your advances."

"Yui is a lesbian," Homura said flatly. "If I was reacting to her, my body would be permanently female by this point."

Minato sighed. "Alright, I give up, I'll wing you, but I got to warn you, I'm not really comfortable with kissing you. See if Matsu can find some way for you to be winged without the whole icky body touching stuff, 'cause let me tell you, that's disgusting to me. No offense, I have nothing against gay people or anything, I just find it disgusting to imagine, let alone contemplate in real life."

Homua chuckled weakly. "You're not the only one, I was going to suggest asking Matsu if you didn't. But the question will be can she stay on topic long enough to solve the problem rather than off in her own fantasy world?"

Minato shivered violently, not prepared to imagine what the most perverse of his Sekirei would think about something like this. "Tell her I'll erase all her porn from her hard drives if she doesn't take it seriously. Oh and you get to tell Tsukiumi and the others about this." And with that he slipped out of the room before a suddenly very worried Homura could form a rebuttal.

Around four in the afternoon the party set off from Izumo house, with Minato avoiding looking at a grinning Uzume, and with a irritated Tsukiumi standing between them. In the group was Minato, Uzume, Tsukiumi, Kana, (Saki was too depressed to want to do anything after learning about the tracker that negated her stealth ability) and Shiina. They were actually setting off later than Minato had wanted as the argument once he informed everyone where he wanted to go had been loud and long. After a while however, everyone agreed that in the long term his idea was sound, they just didn't want him to put himself into danger, which set off another round of arguments about who got to go and why. Eventually he was able to argue everyone down and the group set off, their destination: the west of the city controlled by Nishi Sanada.

As they walked along Uzume asked "Are you sure of this bro? I mean he might not be a bastard like Higa, but he is one of the bigger players in the game, and that makes him your enemy."

"No, it doesn't, by the rules of the game it does maybe, but we've seen that those rules aren't worth the paper they're printed on. And with all of you along to tell your stories I think we can get him to agree to a non aggression pact like we've got with Mikogami, maybe more."

Shiina however was concerned about a more personal problem. "Are you certain that you need my along? I don't like leaving Yukari alone niisan."

"I'm certain Shiina, I want to have representatives of each of my allies along to make certain Sanada realizes how readily I work with other Ashikabi."

"Still…" The younger boy muttered, looking back over his shoulder the way they had come.

Mianto smiled at his concern over his sister, though a part of him wanted to grab the boy and threaten him about being near his sister. Uzume however looked at him a little angrily. "You're not the only Sekirei away from their Ashikabi right now gaki, I want to be with my Chiho-baby just as much as you want to be with Yukari. Don't be a baby about it and just get it done. I've been away from Chiho-baby way too much since we got together to want to listen to you whine about a few measly hours."

Shiina glared at her and Minato adroitly stepped between them. "Enough, we're all allies here okay. Uzume that was a little harsh, Shiina doesn't know about your problems with Higa. Shiina, Uzume's right, we're only going to be away for a few hours. I know you're still feeling guilty about not being able to protect her, but Yukari's a big girl, she'll be alright until you get back. And under the circumstances you did a great job protecting her against a surprise attack by not one but several enemy Sekirei."

Shiina blushed at the praise and subsided, though inside he knew that he and Yukari had both been saved by Kazehana being there. He resolved to join the others in their training, he had to get stronger to protect his Ashikabi.

Tsukiumi and Kana looked over at the others then ignored them, going back to their own discussion about the advantages of mid range to short range.

Back in her bed in her new house Yukari sighed. Something about her conversation with her brother was bothering her, something about the way he was so still when they were taking about their mother. She shook her head, resolved to question him or maybe one of his Sekirei about it later.

"Are you okay Yukari-nee?"

She looked up and smiled at Kusano who had come with her with Katsuragi and Chizuru to keep her company. They had also brought along deck of cards and several board games to play with, but both of their poker faces were so bad playing anything but go-fish was way too easy. "I'm okay Musubi-chan, just thinking about something, my mother Takami hasn't contacted me lately and I've been a little worried about her."

Kusano gasped and then smiled happily at her, giving her right arm a hug. "I know who Takami-neesan is, she was my adjustor! She was nice!"

Yukari froze inside a little. Her mother didn't just work for MBI, but with the Sekirei, and with this plan? She looked over at the two quiet girls and remembered what she had been told about what happened to them, and wondered how the hell her mother could be involved in something that lead to something like that. "O-oh, well, that's nice, now whose turn is it to pick the game?" With that the three girls began to play jan-ken-pon to see who would choose the next game, and Yukari began to wonder what the hell her mother was doing, and how much Minato knew about it, and what he was planning to do about it.

Minato and his group finally arrived in the area controlled by Sanada, and almost immediately they could tell they were being watched. Kana in particular was spooked as she couldn't figure out who was watching them, she couldn't see them but she could feel them. "I don't know where the hell they are but we're being watched somehow."

Tsukiumi nodded, looking around. "Are you sure you still want to do this Minato? It feel like we're surrounded." Unlike the younger Sekirei however she was feeling excited, she hadn't had a good fight since fighting Higa's forces. Uzume and Shiina were both looking around, but much more calmly than the others.

Minato nodded. "Positive, lets just keep going."

Another ten minutes of travel, they arrived at their destination a dirty, almost run down bar frequented by bikers and other rowdies. Going in Minato was unsurprised to see that it was practically empty. Even the civilians involved in the seamier side of the city were leaving the city as fast as they could.

Minaka had finally woken up to what was happening and tried incentives and even thinly veiled threats to their property if they left, but none of the citizens had wanted to stay. Another fight had begun near one of the main roads out of the cities between Higa's forces and Mikogami's and it had quickly escalated to include parts of the road, which had been heavily congested of course with traffic heading out of the city. The death toll was still rising this morning as the MBI emergency crews continued to clear the area, but it was already at fifty plus. None of the Sekirei were reported as 'deactivated' in the information Matsu had been able to find in their computer system.

The group sat down, and Minato went to the barman and ordered a round of drinks, mostly soft drinks but a Yebisu for him. They sat down at one of the tables and waited, seemingly at their ease.

Another fifteen minutes passed before Nishi Sanada came in through the door, followed by five of his Sekirei. Minato was struck by the fact that four of the five had the same body type: young and athletic. The other looked relatively normal for a Sekirei, other than the fact she wasn't dressed like one, she was dressed like a school teacher, almost exactly like Yui dressed, and Minato wondered what her abilities were.

Nishi walked up grinning at Minato and his group. "I didn't think even you would have the balls to come here like this, what's the big bad Oni of the North doing in my territory?"

Minato raised a hand to indicate to the barman to bring over another drink even as looked at Nishi quizzically, "Oni of the north, since when is that my name?"

Nishi sat down, waving at his Sekirei to see at a nearby table. "Since you did that to Juniichi, the bastard deserved it but god did that put the fear of death into everyone. Gotta say, I wouldn't have done it like that, but damn was it effective."

Minato smirked, "That was the point."

Nishi nodded. "So what's brought you to my neck of the woods? Especially with the Sekirei of at least three other Ashikabi? I recognize the veiled Sekirei, I assume she was being coerced somehow by that asshole Higa? And then there's this one" he pointed Kana who waved awkwardly at one of his Sekirei who responded the same way "Who we've also seen working with Higa, and this one" he nodded at Shiina, who seemed to shrink a little under his gaze, "Who I think is the death Sekirei of the devil Ashikabi? What the hell have you been doin'?"

"Making allies, which is why I'm here, and let me say it's nice to see you without your dumb biker persona?" Minato answered calmly.

Nishi laughed, "Not that it ever fooled you huh met me once and saw right through me! Fools Mikogami, Higa and the head bastard pretty well, that and moving around a lot in my territory. So, what would the point of this alliance be, and why the hell should I bother?"

"You get out information, and the short term objective would be to irritate and cripple Higa, then put ourselves in a position to take on Minaka, once we figure out what will happen once he's gone."

Both men knew what they were talking about, after all, Tokyo was part of Japan no matter if MBI had bought it, and in fact was supposed to be the capital, but the Japanese government hadn't down anything yet to address what was going on in the city. This was despite the city emptying of civilians, all of whom would undoubtedly complain to the first politician they could nail down enough to do so. MBI though, was so an integral part the Japanese economy. If they wanted they could destroy the entire economy, and maybe cause a recession worldwide. That didn't even consider their personal army dug in around the city or the Sekirei themselves. Who knew how Higa or Mikogami would react to an invasion, certainly the Disciplinary squad would fight back, and in the city or close range Sekirei were deadly.

"How would you cripple Higa exactly?"

"Higa's power comes from the number of Ashikabi allied with him, I'm going to continue to whittle away at that, his own Sekirei, that can wait until the next stage, and his money and control of his company. With the current warzone like reality in the city, money isn't going to be worth much soon. Higa has seized control of the power station that services his section of the city, presumably to remove himself from MBI's control of the utilities. I want to make that decision bite him in the ass, I'm going to blow that power station the fuck up, and plunge practically his entire territory into darkness. Without utilities, most of his employees who have stayed will be forced to leave or move into his hospital, which is the only building in his territory that has its own generator. And he'll have to prioritize who can stay there, his own employees or his yakuza allies. Either way he will have to deal with unrest and problems at home. Then, I'm going to take out a few of his allies, those that are allied with him by choice. Within two weeks, Higa will be crippled, paranoid and leading a fractured force."

Nishi's eyes widened at this list and he leaned back nursing his beer in silence for a few minutes before responding. He had been given generalities for the most part true, but the plan was sound, and there was something about Minato, something solid and competent, which told Nishi a lot. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

The discussion lasted another fifty minutes as the two sat there nursing their beers and discussing Minato's long term plans. It ended with the two shaking hands and Minato going back to his territory, mission accomplished.

As this was going on, Kazehana and Musubi had returned from gathering the supplies. Most of them were easy enough to understand, and taking a bit of initiative the two of them and Matsu began to convert one of the inn's rooms into a command center. While Matsu programmed the computers to connect to various video feeds which came from over a dozen heavy video cameras. Saki, Yui, Homura and Yashima went out to place them in various areas, along with several motion sensors, though where Minato had bought them from none of the others knew. Miya meanwhile went over their supplies, and prepared dinner. By the time Minato came back the command center was set up and Matsu was nearly finished her programming. Ten of the twelve computers were set up. The eleventh was set up to use MBI's own satellites to track Sekirei movement, and the 12 was kept free for Matsu's personal use.

Minato was proud of their work and handed out hugs and kisses to all of his Sekirei, lingering on Kusano, who he lifted to his shoulder and refused to let down the rest of the evening except for dinner. They played lots of games and had a good time that night, only interrupted by Matsu, lewd giggles as she looked at Homura and Minato, which was swiftly followed by Miya rapping her on the head from where she was sitting next to Akitsu.

After the meal Homura and Matsu came up to Minato before he could leave, Kusano asleep in his arms. Homura gestured at Matsu. "Matsu suggested something that may solve my, our er, the problem. She recommends that you drink from a glass, and I'll do the same. That way maybe we can, you know…

Here Matsu giggled and butted in "You'll swap spit, ehehheh…. Then we'll see if you're really as straight as you think Minato-tan…"

Miya came up and smacked her again sighing, before dragging her back to work in the control room. Homura whispered "She's been like since I asked her for advice. I fried her several times when I brought up the problem, and I swear Miya has had to change out her ladle twice since you left."

Minato rubbed his eyes irritated. "Right, I suppose we should have expected that. Do you want to try this now?"

Homura nodded, and took up the glass of water Minato had been drinking from during dinner. He hesitated then

Surprisingly this worked. Minato watched amused and amazed in equal amounts as the wings of light blazed from Kagari's back.

Not ten minutes later Matsu's voice rang out loudly from the command room, calling Minato and the rest of his Sekirei back from where they had been about to leave the inn for home. Minato-tan, Everyone you've got to come and see this!"

Everyone piled in to see what she was shouting about and watched in shocked surprise as president Minaka's crazy visage appeared on the screen. "The malevolent third stage begins! Now who will win and advance to the next stage! You chosen few, you who remain will now battle upon this stage in teams the size of which I the game master will choose. From here on out it is only the strong vs. the strong, and let might choose who will gain control of the power of the gods!"

Minato groaned aloud, knowing what to expect next.

End chapter If you all could look at the part where Minato is being teased and tell me if I need to add anythign to it, that would be good, and suggestions as well of course.