As she sat on the curb, Takami could not settle on which emotion was she was supposed to be feeling. Numbness seemed to be winning out at the moment, simply from being emotionally exhausted from everything she had seen tonight. Her head tilted up to look at the ruined, burning building that was Higa International, though now she could only see it through the gaps between the buildings she had put between her and it, having retreated to a safe distance. She could see a few emergency service helicopters hovering around it (took them long enough to get there), but they were keeping their distance. The reason was obvious: the building was coming down no matter what.

A new wave of worry surged through her as she looked at the top of the skyscraper. Shirou can't still be up there. He can't, she thought to herself. Homura had not elaborated on what he had said, as he and Tsukiumi were quickly distracted by Musubi's body. While Takami had to admit that the brutal death of their friend was important, she very much wanted someone to tell her what the hell her son was doing in the middle of a firestorm atop a bisected skyscraper. By all rights, no matter how or why he got up there, she intellectually knew that there was no way would have been able to survive that. Still, Homura was still alive, so that meant Shirou had to be too. But it hurt Takami so much that there was nothing she could to for him, that she was stuck here.

And that wasn't just because of the burning building either. "Alpha team reports that mundane authorities have control of the situation," Said the woman in the nun's habit standing next to her, talking to a group of men and women in black overcoats with hoods. Each one also appeared to be holding pistols, submachineguns, or a series of thin swords (three in each hand bizarrely enough). "They have no evidence of what really happened, so tell Commander Bartholomew to pull back and recon the area for any stragglers."

As half of the group split off and moved into the darkness around them, Takami spoke up. "Would you mind telling me what really hap-"

"Shut up." The woman said firmly before she addressed those remaining. "Gamma, fan out and keep an eye on the special assets, especially the girl and the plant Sekirei. Last I checked she was still trying to coax the little once out of the cocoon of trees she made. Except for you two. You stay here with me until the idiot finally shows up."

Takami scowled at the people all but holding her hostage. Who the hell were these people? They had appeared out of nowhere shortly after Homura and Tsukiumi had shown up and quickly absconded with the lot of them. In spite of how heavily armed they were, they were not from MBI's PMC, and there had been no intelligence that there was a group of heavily armed personnel under any of the major players' control. To be honest their black cloaks and hoods made them look like some sort of cult, and it was only the fact that the Sekrei and Rin seemed to know who they were that she wasn't completely panicking. Of course, there was the obvious answer as to who these people were given their association with her son's friends and the nun. But that couldn't be it because that was just bloody stupid.

"And there it goes…" The nun muttered, and Takami's gaze snapped back to the skyscraper in time to see the top of it start to crumble down. It dipped out of sight but the noise was deafening, the sound of tearing metal and collapsing concrete echoing through the buildings around it. It was full minute before the sounds finally subsided, and all that was left was a massive plume of smoke and a growing cloud of dust sweeping through the streets. It was large enough that it even almost reached them.

A moment later Takami spotted something amid the dust, a light flickering through the dark cloud. Everyone stared at it expectantly as it slowly came closer and resoled itself into a more definitive shape. As it walked out of the cloud it revealed itself to be a man in a longcoat similar to the ones around, a cloth face mask covering the lower half of his head. He was also very much on fire, patchy pieces of flame clinging to his cloths and head. And yet the man didn't seem to care one bit, nor did anyone else present for some reason. She did not have time to dwell on that though, because a second person emerged out of the cloud behind him, and it was hard to mistake Karasuba for anyone else.

Not for a lack of trying though, as the Sekirei looked utterly horrid even ignoring the layer of dust. Her clothes were ripped to shreds, her body was covered in wounds and burns, and much of her hair was burned off. In spite of all this, as she took off the makeshift cloth mask that had been covering her face, Takami saw a very self-satisfied grin reaching ear to ear. The assembled people in coats regarded her warily, a few readying their guns. The burning man noticed this and waved his arm at them to stand down, though there was an oddly exasperated motion to it. The nun approached him, a stern look on her face. "Satisfied?" she asked.

"No." he replied flatly, and a burning hand reached up pull off his face mask and swipe at his dust covered face and hair. It was only when he cleared enough away that she could see the burns and red hair that she realized who he was. Shirou? She thought in disbelief. The way he was standing, the way he acted seemed so foreign to her that she hadn't even considered it till that moment.

"And why's that? Normally you would be quite pleased with yourself after causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage." The nun said.

"It's her bloody fault!" Shirou yelled as he gestured at Karasuba, the woman still grinning. "There we were, carnage of our battle laid around us, fire consuming everything. There was one final strike, both of us on the razor's edge of life and death, everything was perfect… and then she had to go and ruin it! Who the hell just ups and kiss's their opponent?! The mood was completely ruined!"

"Ah," Karasuba said, looking a little sheepish. "I suppose that was a little improper of me, but you know how reacting goes." She gave him a look that was halfway between sultry and hungry. "Besides, you seem like the type of guy who's into 'improper' girls."

"I can still set you on fire." He spat back at her, to which she only laughed.

"Wait, you winged yourself on him?!" Takami shouted, suddenly drawing everyone's attention. "I thought you wanted to kill him! And aren't you winged by Natsuo already?!"

Karasuba let out a hum. "No, I never was that keen on the boy, so I never let him do it. As for the former… well, I was going to kill him but my body had other plans." She let out a small sigh. "It's alright though. I have a feeling that there will be plenty more blood to be spilled if I hang around him enough."

Shirou let out a snort at this as he glanced back at what was apparently his Sekirei. As his gaze swept back to the nun, his eyes briefly fell on Takami, but they didn't linger in the slightest. He barely even seemed to register that she was there as he continued speaking. "Regardless, I got a little side tracked. How did everyone else do?"

The woman gave a snort of her own. "Not well. To start off with, the inn was attacked shortly after you left-"

"What?!" Shirou screamed, and suddenly the fire clinging to him burned twice as large. "What happened? Is Sakura alright?! Is-?!"

"Calm down, everyone made it out alive!" Yukia shouted back. "Apparently Blackmore himself showed up with a group off… well, we're not quite sure what to call them, but he was able to vampirize some of the Sekirei, and the results are as terrible as you might imagine. Blackmore took the Jinki and left, leaving it up to his minions to kill everyone. Lucky for you everyone over there is made of tougher stuff. The inn was more or less destroyed, but they killed the abominations and made it to the nearest safe house. The one in the glasses said that she 'uploaded the virus' or something, said you'd know what she was taking about."

Shirou didn't respond at first, instead standing where he was and breathing heavily as he tried to calm down from the sudden onset of anger. Slowly but surely the fires started to die down a bit before the man let out a grunt. "Hmp. That woman really does deserve a prize. What she means is that MBI can no longer remotely shut down the Sekirei."

"Wait, MBI could-" Takami started to say.

Yukai cut her off. "That's good to hear but we have other problems. Blackmore showed up here shortly after he left the inn. All the damage that wasn't caused by you is the fallout of the fight between him and Miya Asama."

Shirou arched an eyebrow as his interest was piqued. "Really? She actually held her own against one of the Ancestors? I wish I could have seen that."

Yukia was less enthused. "Well, Blackmore did something to neutralize her. She's in some kind of coma at the moment and we don't know if she'll wake up. Your wife managed to bring her in and Merem's looking over her at the moment." The woman paused for a moment before she continued. "Blackmore killed Musubi and ripped out her core. We don't know why but we think that might have been what he was after."

Shirou looked at the other woman blankly for a long moment. Then a look of horror crossed his face. "Oh God… Rin! Where is she?! I have to-!"

Shirou started to move past her, but Yukia stepped back into his path. "You're not going anywhere." She said harshly. "Most of all because you're the last person she would want to see right now. Or did you forget that this is all your fault?"

"What should I have done, let the dead fester in that tower! Let them continue their twisted experiments, turning more of the Sekirei in abominations?!"

"What you should have done is waited to figure out how not to turn a sizeable part of the city into a smoking ruin!" She shouted back, not backing down in the slightest. "You charged in without thinking and what do you have to show for it?! The inn is destroyed, the district's a ruin, and one of your compatriots is dead! Hell, you didn't even rescue your sister, Rin had to do it for you while you were messing around with this tramp!"

Takami went rigid. "Wait, what about Yukari-"

But her son yelled over her "I destroyed a nest of undead and Blackmore had this planned from the start! If I-"

"Shirou!" Takami finally yelled, fed up with her son ignoring her.

Shirou snapped his head towards her a shouted "What?!"

Takami flinched back from the outburst, and suddenly she was at a loss of what to say. She had so many questions about what the hell was going on that she was at a loss as to where to start, and the intense stare that Shirou was giving her was making it hard to find the words. After a few moments she felt she had to say something, anything, so she blurted out "You're on fire!"

Shirou slowly blinked as he stared at her expectantly. "…And?" he asked, voice laced with irritation.

"…why are you on fire?!" She yelled back.

Confusion crossed his face and he glanced down at himself, flames still licking at his body. He glanced back up at Takami with an uncertain expression. "How else am I supposed to be?"

Takami could only gape as she looked at her son. This wasn't the man she had come to know over the past six months. This was some lunatic who ranted about fighting and forgot that he wasn't supposed to be on fire. She had never seen him- wait, that wasn't true. The first day she met him, in the interrogation room. That was the man she was seeing now, the one with the inhuman look in his eyes. It was like her son never existed, and for a moment of pure terror she wondered if she had lost her child all over again.

Karasuba then spoke, but in a very subdued voice. "I told you there was fire in him Takami. Fire and blood." When Takami looked at her, the woman had a dark expression on her face as she looked off at nothing.

Shirou scowled and turned back to her. "And just why weren't you so surprised by how literal that was?"

The Sekirei slowly looked at him and shrugged. "I've been sent out of the city a number of times over the years on certain… jobs. My work let me see many interesting things in this world, things which I'm now sure that even most of you humans don't know about. My worldview is a little more open than my sisters." She shifted her stance before turning away, and Takami could tell there was something seething under the surface. "I'm going for a jog. Don't wait up for me."

"You can't leave." Yukari said, causing the Sekirei to look back at her with an expression of contempt. It looked like Karasuba was about to jump off regardless when the nun continued. "If you really are with us now, we'll need you at your best, not like this." She gestured to the other woman's ruined body. "Normally we wouldn't be able to help as you have alien biology, but we've been studying the Sekirei since we got here and have been able to adapt our healing rituals. It's not one hundred percent effective, but the others are undergoing treatment as we speak and its showing results."

Karasuba paused for a moment, considering if she actually cared one way or the other. Shirou then looked at her and said "Do it." His Sekirei looked back at him in annoyance, but the man glared at her so intensely that it was clear that he would make her do it one way or the other.

After the long pause the woman let out something of a huff and said "Fine. I suppose I'll want to be at my best when facing the thing that put the 01 down. Lead the way." One of the men in black gestured and moved off, the Black Sekirei in tow.

Yukia looked after her for a moment before turning her attention back to Shirou. "It's not just you who had a rough night either. All three of the buildings we were using to house the majority of our Executors for the assault were hit as well. Ghouls and Dead just popped up out of the sewers around them."

"What? How is that possible?" Shirou said incredulously. "I cleared the sewers myself. Besides which how the hell did Blackmore know where to hit us? Do we have a leak?"

"To the former, you did. We're not sure where the hell they were hiding but Merem's looking into it. As for the latter, unlikely. Matsu informed us that another Serkirei like her is working for Blackmore. We did our best to cover our tracks, but this city is wired up everywhere. Something must have slipped through, and if your girl's any indication this Sekirei has terrifying information control abilities. Regardless, we lost about a quarter of our forces before we managed to pull back. We've had to move to backup locations just in case, and you companions have already been moved to one to recover."

Shirou looked like he was about to say something harsh, but he stopped. His face softened a bit before he asked. "Rin… is she doing alright?"

Yukia said nothing, but her silent stare told him everything. Shirou sagged, guilt flooding features. "I… I never meant to hurt… this wasn't…." He trailed off as he put his face in his hand. Slowly but surely, the fires that burned on his person started to dwindle until the disappeared entirely.

With Shirou finally calming down, Yukia let out a sigh. "There's no time for rest, Kotomine. We need to be ready to move as soon as possible and gather together for the counter-offensive by dawn. First thing's first, hypnotize the civilians so she forgets-"

"No." he interrupted.

Yukia's eyes narrowed at him. "Now is not the time to ignore standard procedures just because you're feeling sentimental-"

"There is no point to doing so." Shirou rebuked, his eyes hard as his head lifted to look at the woman. "If we wiped their memories we would still have to babysit them – and believe me I would insist upon that – and I promise you they will be rather unpleasant to deal with regardless of how much they remember."

He took a step forward, his voice growing hard as well. "Besides which, she is the Head Geneticist for MBI. She more likely than not has valuable information about the company which will be usefully later. As a member of the Burial Agency operating within his assigned territory, it is completely within my authority to conscript civilian assets which I feel will be useful to operations." He gave her and unpleasant smile. "If you have any objections to my actions, now is the time to voice them."

Yukai held his gaze for a moment longer before she broke off muttering a curse under her breath. "Fine. Have it your way. Just make sure you can keep it in your pants until the rest of the Church is ready to move. This city won't survive if you go off on your own again." And with that she walked away, leaving Shirou and Takami (relatively) to themselves.

Shirou let out a sigh as the tension bled out of his body, making the man suddenly look very tired. After a long pause he slowly looked at his mother, a tight expression on his face. In spite of everything Takami felt herself relax at seeing the human expression; this was the Shirou she remembered. "Shirou… What the hell is going on?" she said simply.

The man sucked in a breath. "That's… complicated, to say the least. As for what happened tonight specifically, Yukari was kidnapped. I went to save her. This resulted." He said, gesturing back in the direction of the ruined skyscraper.

The white haired woman folded her arms over her chest. "I gathered that much. I was looking for something more specific. Like how did that result in the collapse of an entire bloody tower? Who are all these people in black robes? And since when have you been able to manifest Sekirei abilities?!"

The man gave a grunt at that last question, but he answered "Firstly, as to who these people are, they work for the Church like I do. I'm afraid that I wasn't entirely honest when I told you what I do for a living. I… well, you know how in a lot of popular media the Church is often portrayed as having a secret organization of monster hunters and vampire slayers that have protected mankind from the shadows for millennia?"

"…Yes?"

"Basically that."

Takami blinked. "That's insane."

"That's plausible deniability." Shirou corrected. "The Church has secretly bankrolled a number of projects over the centuries to keep the idea of what we do firmly in the realm of fiction." He gave a small laugh. "Though it seems we've been branching into the realm of science fiction as of late with the Sekirei."

The woman reeled as she tried to wrap her head around what she was hearing. "You- you can't possibly be serious! There are no monsters running around in the dark, it's all just superstitious bullshit! The only 'supernatural' creatures on this planet are the Sekirei!" She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Is that what the Church is after? Control of the Sekirei for themselves?"

Shirou's mouth twisted. "Hardly. Many of the traditional members of the Church would rather not suffer any non-human to live. I arranged a peace accord between Miya and the Church as soon as we became aware of their existence. However, that is not important at the moment. What is important is that the lives of all the Sekirei, and possibly everyone in this city, are in danger due to MBI."

Takami grunted at that. "I know that the evidence against my company is pretty damming, but the Sekirei Plan shouldn't-"

"I'm not just talking about the Sekirei Plan." Shirou interrupted. "I still don't know what that damn thing is all about, but it's become irrelevant. What I'm talking about is something monstrous infiltrating and taking control MBI for his own purposes. I'm talking about Mr. Black, or as he is actually known Gransurg Blackmore, one of the most powerful vampire lords in the world."

"…What."

"We have evidence that he had been twisting the Sekirei to his own ends for years, and we've encountered a number of his agents and minions in the city over the past few months." He gestured back to where Higa International once stood. "He was here tonight, Takami. Miya fought him. She lost. We don't know what he wants but we have to eliminate him as quickly as possible."

Takami felt numb. This couldn't be possible. There was no such thing as vampires or Vatican black ops teams. There was no way Mr. Black could have had his tendrils so deep that he had been pulling the strings in her company for years. There was no way her son- "Eliminate." She said suddenly, the obvious pieces finally coming together. "That's the part of your job you never told me about. You fight these things. You kill these things. Your power lets you stand up to them."

Shirou hummed. "Miya assumed my abilities were Sekirei based as well, at first. That's not what I am though."

"Then what are you?" Takami asked, almost fearing the answer.

Shirou spread his arms and fire ignited along his limbs, almost giving him wings of flame. "I am Shirou Kotomine, Executor of the Holy Church, 8th member of the Burial Agency, and wielder of the magic of fire." He said. "I am a magus."

Blackmore wasted no time once he arrived at MBI tower, immediately heading towards Lab 00 with his precious acquisition. With a few quick commands his minion got to work, preparing the lab for the ritual he had been waiting so long complete. If only the preparation had not taken so long he would not have had to go through all the nonsense he had experience tonight and simply claimed the core earlier. Alas, he had to work with what he had, and thus far things had gone according to plan.

Mostly. He had been informed that his Apostle Sekirei had failed to kill anyone back at the inn, and since he had not seen to it himself he doubted that Kotomine had the good graces to die. He would have to chastise the one that lived later. Still, he accomplished his primary objective, so now it was going to be a race to see whether the Church managed to assemble their forces before his plans were finished. Because once his plan had come to fruition, if he was to allow himself to be melodramatic, there would be nothing on this earth that could stop him.

As Blackmore strode into the lab, he walk past the minion who bowed in deference, past the rows of technological machines to the doors that lead to the room beyond and something far more familiar to him. The room opened up into a dome-like structure, the 8 walls forming the outer edge of the massive Formulacraft circle that made up the floor. The pattern converged in the center around 8 inlets, seven of which were filled with a Jinki. And in the center of it all was his masterpiece: Yume.

The body was suspended above the ground, numerous tubes leading from her body to the walls. Looking at the brown hair and curvaceous figure, Blackmore idly thought of how similar she looked to the one her core had been housed in. MBI would have had Yume frozen, her body locked away after the incident where she gave up her core. But Blackmore could not let something like her, the Perfect Sekirei go to waste. He had spent years working on the body, modifying it so that it could become even greater than before. As elegant as they were now, it would not do to have her be like the other Apostle Sekirei. The Vessel would be perfect for Him.

Without delay, he set the 8th Jinki into its receptacle and began the ritual. He started to chant at a steady pace, the markings on the floor lighting up one by one. From the walls the tubes began to flow with blood, flowing into her body for the first time in years. As the ritual continued, wings of midnight grew from her back, reaching out to Jinki around her. As they touched the sacred gems glowed red and patterns started to trace themselves onto her body.

Still chanting, Blackmore stepped forward, holding Yume's core reverently in his hand at his sternum. With his other hand he drew an ornate obsidian dagger, and with a final word he plunged it into his own chest. Stiffing a grunt of pain as the blade pieced his heart, the grooves in the knife allowed his blood to flow freely down onto the core. Nothing less than the blood from his heart would suffice for this. Once it was covered in his life essence he took the core and pressed it into the body's chest right as the patterns creeping along her body converge on it, the glow intensifying.

There was only one step left, even if it felt it was near sacrilegious to touch a tool of His in such a way. But this was the only way to insure she would understand her true purpose. Still holding his hand to her chest, Blackmore leaned in and kissed her lips.

Power surged through the body, the blood red light suddenly blazing in intensity. Her wings spread to their fullest and the walls shook from the force that was being unleased. With a final surge the other lights in the room shattered and the circle went dark, plugging the room into darkness. Blackmore breathed heavily, all of the night's exertions finally starting to take their toll. But a victorious grin stretched across his face as well, for he was no longer the only one drawing breath in that room. "Are you ready to fulfil your purpose, my Sekirei?"

A languid, feminine sigh filled the darkness, and the voice that followed it was filled with care and love. "Master…"

It was a good hour later that Takami found herself settling into what she was told was the backup Church safe house where the rest of Shirou's companions went. Really it just seemed to be a small, low income apartment complex that had been hollowed out and filled with equipment. It was also rather crowed, as many injured men and women were put wherever space could be found. At the moment she and Yukai were stuffed into a small bedroom out of the way. Aside from a short break where he went to see his wife and get a more thorough briefing on what happened, her son was with them the whole time.

Over the course of the hour Shirou surmised what his life, what his world, was really like to her, and it took that much time to process it. Not only was her son actually a globetrotting monster hunter, but he was also considered a living superweapon of a mage. And she still was having problems coming to grips with the fact that magic was apparently real. It was such that she was still a little numb as she sat with her daughter in that small bedroom, watching Shirou as he tried to explain much of what he told her to his sister.

"How could you not tell us?" Yukari asked, her expression a mixture of wonder and hurt. "How could you not tell your own family that you have magic powers?!"

Shirou shrugged. "The Masquerade must be upheld. The supernatural world prefers to be secret to the mundane world, and things would get out of hand if people started finding out needlessly. If I had told you about this earlier you probably would have started poking your nose in places it didn't belong and ended up as a corpse in a back alley somewhere."

Yukari flinched back at this, clearly a little shocked by how Shirou had dismissed her. Takami and Yukari were used to Shirou being blunt, but he was never this, well, cruel about it. Unfortunately, Takami had a feeling that he was a little on the nose considering her daughter's personality, so she didn't challenge it. "How long have you been doing your… job?" She asked instead.

"Seven years, give or take." He replied. "That was when I was officially an Executor though. I had been training and going on missions for as long as I could remember. My adoptive father trained me from the start."

"So, you all get trained from when you're young, like Jedi?" Yukari asked.

"No, I'm something of an exception, both in training and magical ability." He said with a wave of his hand. "Sure, there are a few other Executors who were raised into it, but actual magecraft is very rare among those in the Church. Different thaumaturgical theories and all that."

"Whoa… Was growing up hard?" Yukari asked.

Shirou looked uncomfortable for that. "That's… a story for another time. For now we need to focus on the present, namely how we need to know everything that has been going on at MBI."

Takami shrugged, wearily fishing a cigarette out of her purse. "To be honest, I don't know how much help I can be. I didn't know magic or vampires were real until an hour ago, and any clearance I might have into MBI's mainframe is likely irrelevant with two of the brain type Sekirei no doubt fighting a digital war." She started to look for a lighter but Shirou got her attention with a wave of his hand, and with a snap of his fingers a small flame lit itself on the end of her cigarette. She looked at it in surprise before a small chuckle came from her throat. "Homura used to do that for me too."

Shirou paused at this for a moment. "No, not going to think about that right now," he said with a shake of his head. "Anyway, even if your digital access is useless, you still know things that could be useful, like building layouts for secret areas, where they're keeping the mainframes, and just how many Sekirei are actually terminated at the moment."

The woman hummed at this while she took a drag. "Hmm. Well, I tell you lot what I can, though I didn't exactly make it a point of memorizing that sort of thing. And as for the terminated…" She trailed off, a scowl forming on her face. "I'm not entirely sure. The Sekirei database is wrong, most likely because Mr. Black- that vampire has been messing with it for some reason or another."

Her son nodded. "We spotted some inconsistencies ourselves a few days ago when Matsu was hacked in. At this point we can't be sure how many are active, terminated, or… other."

Not for the first time, Takami felt a growing pit of guilt as she thought back. "I… have been to both the morgue and termination ward. Between the two of them there are 34 Sekirei down. That I know for a fact."

Shirou was taken aback by this. "Christ, that's a full third. That's not even taking into account the ones killed secretly."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"We found a few Sekirei bodies a while back, their cores ripped out of their chests. The database still had them listed as active."

Takami blanched. "Their cores were removed?! Why?!"

Her son became agitated. "We don't know! I assume that Blackmore is using them to further his research or somehow using them to boost his magical power. Either way it means that we are stopping his plans now. We're stopping the Sekirei Plan now. We are going to sweep in and kill every last undead tainted thing in this city and anyone who threatens its inhabitants, be they human or alien."

For a moment Takami was taken back by Shirou's fervor, still not used to this side of him. Then a thought occurred to her, a nagging question which she was sure she knew that answer to but had to ask. "And Minaka?"

"What about Minaka?" He said with a frown.

"Well, what are you going to do with him?" Takami asked.

Shirou looked at her flatly for a moment before he said "The man is most likely working with Blackmore. I find it extremely hard to believe that the mastermind behind the Sekirei Plan isn't aware of what his partner is or what he's doing. Even, if by some measure of massive ignorance and stupidity, he didn't know about Blackmore, Hiroto Minaka still allowed a Dead Apostle Ancestor to infiltrate his company and cause who know how much harm and suffering over the years. And that is to say nothing of the horrifying bullshit of the Sekirei Plan, Which he very gleefully admitted to creating." His eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you think I'm going to do?"

Unease crept through Takami as she held her son's gaze. "I don't suppose you have a dungeon you can throw him in?"

Shirou arched an eyebrow "We haven't had those since the inquisition. Besides which, if anything my way is faster and less painful than how that usually turned out." He paused for a moment. "Well, faster in any case."

"But you can't!" Yukari suddenly shouted, causing the other two turn to her. "You can't kill Minaka! There has to be another way!"

Shirou's shoulders slumped a little as he said "Yukari… Minaka is responsible for some truly horrendous things. Things we can't just let slide. He must answer for the crimes he committed, and as this is my territory, I am the one to do it." he shifted a little, and Takami saw that inhuman gleam return to his eyes for a moment. "And it is not something I will shy away from. My job is to hunt monsters, and I've killed my fair share of those that happen to wear a human skin. Minaka is far from the first."

Takani wanted to address the fact that her son just admitted to killing humans, but Yukari cut her off. "No! That doesn't matter!"

"Why not?" Her brother replied in a slight growl.

"B-because…" she stuttered before she worked up the courage to get the words out of her mouth. "Because he's our father!"

Silence followed that outburst for several long seconds. Takami was stunned into silence. How does she know? How long has she know? She thought to herself. Shirou on the other hand had a slightly different response, as after that long pause he let out a small laugh and shook his head. "Yukari… I think you've been reading too much manga. I mean, the evil CEO of the corporation which started this whole things is secretly our dad? That's just clichéd nonsense. Besides which, if it was true our mother would have just told us, right mom?"

Takami did not responded immediately, so Shirou continued. "I mean, you would never keep something like that from us right? Because that would just be dumb, right? Right? ...why aren't you saying anything Takami?"

Takami opened her mouth to respond before she briefly paused. That was all the confirmation that her son need, which caused him look up at the ceiling and shout "FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

…He's taking this about as well as can be expected, Takami thought to herself grimly as she watched her son express just what he felt about this revelation.

"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCK!" He finally finished as he ran out of breath, planting his face in both he hands.

After a moment Takami gave a grunt. "To be fair, I don't think you're exactly in a position to complain about secrets." She said as she took a drag of her cigarette. "And as for why I never told you, well, you've spoken with the man. I didn't want you associating with him at all." She then glanced over at her daughter. "And just how did you find out about that anyway?"

"I overheard the two of you arguing that one time you took me into work when I was ten." Yukari admitted. "I snuck away from the day care and found both of you in your office, you telling him to stay away from me. H-he said he didn't really care." The young woman's eyes started to water a bit. "What happened, mom? Why aren't we a family?"

Takami felt remorse as she heard the pain in her voiced, and for a moment she remembered back when Minaka was actually excited about his children. She shook her head to be rid of it and sighed wearily. "Because unfortunately Shirou is more or less right. He wasn't always like this, but the man Minaka is now is a monster. Shortly after we found the Sekirei he started becoming distant, more focused on 'something great'. Takahito's death made it worse. That was around the time he came up with the Sekirei Plan, the abomination that it was. I… had hoped that I could just put it behind me and move on." She let out a bitter laugh. "I guess we'll have to do something about him after all."

Eventually, Shirou pulled his head out of his hands, and resigned sigh passed his lips. "You know, you'd think it wouldn't be too much to ask not to have to commit patricide twice in one lifetime."

Takami's head snapped towards him in alarm. "Wait, what do you mean twice in-"

Yukari interrupted her though. "You're still going to kill him?!" she asked in horror.

"Of course I am." Shirou replied. "My being his son doesn't change what he did. If anything it makes it even more my responsibility to be the one to end him." He snorted. "Besides which, I already have experience at it."

"Because you killed your adoptive father." Takami said insistently, trying to get her son to address the topic.

Instead, Yukari continued "But there has to be another way! You can't just kill our dad!"

Shirou started to become agitated. "And what would you have me do? There are no laws for what he has done. There can't be because we've made sure that the world doesn't know about it. In this instance I and judge, jury, and yes, Executioner. So if-"

"Shirou!" Takami shouted, refusing to be ignored. "Can we please address the fact that you murdered you last father?!"

His head snapped towards her, and Takami swore that she could see small flames burning in the back of his eyes. "He killed Rin's father, murdered one of my best friends, and tortured children in a shed for 10 years, which was to say nothing of how he tried to turn me into psychopath that would burn the world to the ground."

Takami leaned back from the man's intensity. "Oh… well… alright then." She said awkwardly. There really wasn't anything she could say in response to that.

Shirou grit his teeth as he looked down, trying to rein his anger back in. "This isn't the time for this." He said and he suddenly got to his feet. "There's nothing left to be said. I'll tell you anything you want to know after this is done, but now I… I need to be alone." Without another word he turned and strode out of the room.

Yukari latched onto Takami, and the woman held her daughter as she worried over was she would lose the next day.

The door to the small bedroom, such as it was, opened and two figures stumbled inside. It was hard to say if Homura or Tsukiumi was the one that was carried though. The healing that they had received wasn't exactly perfect, and while it sealed and fixed the worst of their wounds, Homura could still feel pain lancing through his leg with every step. Tsukiumi had received fewer injuries, but she was… in shock for lack of a better term.

She had sad nothing since she saw Musubi's body. At first he thought that her exhaustion from their battle kept her from properly emoting, but she had still remained silent. Her face had been a blank mask for over an hour by this point, and Homura was starting to seriously worry. Yes, the fact that Musubi had been killed filled him with grief, but Tsukiumi had been her sister-Sekirei to Rin. Even if the two had argued back and forth on occasion, there was still something there that ran deeper than the surface. Homura hoped that he wasn't watching the woman develop some kind of PTSD from everything she had been through that night.

Homura led her into the room and gently sat her down on the futon. Tsukiumi sat without a word staring blankly at the wall. She didn't move to lie down or even do anything about her torn clothes. Homura stood where he was for a moment longer before he decided that he couldn't leave her like this. "Tsukiumi… I…" he started to say, but words failed him.

For a long moment she did not even acknowledge that he spoke, still just staring ahead at nothing. The man considered that maybe he should just leave when she said "So this is what it's like."

Homura blinked. "What?"

"War." She said plainly, still looking forward. A mirthless laugh passed her lips. "Killing and dying. You know I asked Rin to tell me about that war she was in before she came here? I wanted to know what it was like, how it stood compared to what was happening now. She refused to talk about it." She grunted. "I guess I know why now."

Homura looked at her for a moment before he lowered himself to sit next to her. "I guess it's not like how you imagined it, huh."

"When we defeated-" She cut herself and her mouth twisted. "When we killed those two I felt victorious. Glorious even. But when I saw her, when I actually realized Musubi was… it suddenly seemed so small and childish. What glory would be worth this?"

Homura sighed. "That's not what this war is going to be about."

"No." She agreed flatly. "This is a war of survival. The glory of victory is simply that I, that we, get to live." There was a long moment of silence before her tone became dark. "I hate them. I hate them for what they've done to us, how they've used us. If they want to make this a war of survival, I will oblige. I'll kill them. I'll kill every last one of them."

Homura reached out and griped her shoulder. "Easy. You need to rest for tomorrow. Don't want to get too worked up."

He felt the woman relax slightly under his hand, but she still looked forward. "It is difficult to relax after what happened tonight. I don't see how you're managing not to feel as I do."

"…of course I feel the way you do." He said after a moment. "You're feeling exactly what I felt after the refinery. That hatred for those monsters that are killing us, that self-loathing for not being there to stop them. It's not something you can just ignore, but I try to focus on… priorities. My Ashikabi, my fellow Sekirei… you." He gave her a humorless smile. "Of course, I plan to be by your side when the time comes to balance the scales. Can't leave my rival to do all the work."

Tsukiumi didn't say anything to that, but as her body relaxed some more her head slowly tilted to rest on the hand on her shoulder. For several minutes nothing was said between the two, the stress and pain of the night bleeding away in the silence.

Eventually Tsukiumi turned to him to say something, but as she did the frayed cloth of her tunic finally gave out. There was a soft tearing sound as the seam started to come undone and the cloth started to slip down her front. She merely reached up to cover herself, a light blush crossing face being the only indignation she could musters after such a long day. Homura blushed in kind as he looked away. "Ah, I guess it's getting late. We have a lot to do tomorrow. I should-" he started to say as he began to get to his feet.

He was stopped however when Tsukiumi reached out to grab his hand. He turned back to her but she said nothing for a long moment, looking at the floor.

Then she slowly pulled his hand towards her and placed it on her bare breast.

Homura froze at the contact, his body suddenly losing all of its tiredness as he felt the soft flesh under his fingers. "T-Tsukiumi! What-?!"

"Do you remember what you told me, Homura?" She asked softly, still looking down as held his hand to her. "You told me that I could choose what I wanted, didn't you?" She then looked up at him, her eyes staring resolutely into his. "I want you."

Homura's heart pounded in his chest as she inched closer to him. This isn't supposed to happen. This is never supposed to happen. Sekirei never… she shouldn't be… however, all those thoughts amounted to nothing as he became aware of something he had always know but was never more obvious than at that moment.

Tsukiumi was a beautiful woman.

Before he realized it her lips met his own and she was pressing herself against him. Without meaning to his free hand slid around her to the small of her back and slipped underneath what remained of her clothes, causing her to let out a small moan at the contact. They didn't move when the kiss finally broke, their foreheads pressed together as they breathed heavily. "This… isn't done." Homura managed to whisper, though in spite of his words he did not move to stop.

"I know." Tsukiumi whispered back as she slid the rest of her top off. "But I chose it." She leaned forward, gently pushing Homura to the ground as she moved on top of him.

After that, there was nothing left to be said.

A/N: I think I may be the first person ever to ship Homura/Tsukiumi. Then again, I think I'm also the only person to have ever kept Homura a man, so that's probably why. Whatever the case, this is one of the reasons I've kept writing this fic for so long, even if it's kind of… amateur in premise compared to my other fics. There's several things I want to do here that I can't do anywhere else, and with the finale around the corner I've still got a few more things left in my arsenal.

Till next time.