Heart of the Infiltrators

by MordinofSolus

Senran Kagura x Male Insert - Amidst a turn in the modern era, a young man is forcibly contracted to cure twenty shinobi of a mental ailment known as distortion, caused by the corrupted blood of Yōma. As time goes on, the long hidden societies of the world are forced to come out into the public spotlight when they are pitted against one another. Bi-Weekly - 4/02/2021

69. Chapter 69: One of Them (Asuka)

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 69: One of Them (Asuka+)

May 12 – "You can reach in one direction and find yourself entirely alone. But, even if we leave fractions out of it, there's still three hundred and fifty-nine degrees to turn. And that's only a flattened plane. In truth, there's thousands of places to be grasped at. Somewhere in those thousands of places, there are people ready to prove that you aren't alone. You only need the courage and strength to do so."

After his explosion the other day, the young man had only a strong desire to isolate himself for a while. He wanted the room to breath and, based on how information was quick to flow around his circle of friends, he knew that there would be some kind of confrontation in regards to all that he'd said the other day. Certainly, whatever talk that would come would not be one designed to shame or rebuke him terribly. On the contrary, the young man knew that the girls would only be going out of their way to encourage him and build back him up after he sounded so low. But there would be an internal beating that he'd give himself if he allowed such a thing to pass, from frustrating perceptions of pitiful looks, shame at not being strong enough to handle it himself, and so on. It was not rational, he knew, but the mind could not so easily be manipulated by even the most self-aware of people.

The young man avoided Takatsukasa through the day and ignored whatever babblings his classmates went on with one another, particularly Ebi and her shrill voice. On occasion, he'd open his notebook and study up on the coming disentanglement as he felt his confidence in the procedure and his ability wane. Then, realizing that he never blasted Oda about his food situation, the young man sent an explosive text that emanated as much heat as an asteroid blasting into the Earth. It was a short while later that he felt some guilt in how he handled it before reeling himself back into anger, justifying his tirade by comparing how much more fairer Oda's situation was than his own. Of course, then he'd turn on himself and argue that he was acting like an angry child. He went around in circles and, in due time, the young man had only made himself miserable by the end of the day.

Having drawn himself so far into his own mind, the boy was extremely surprised when he found Asuka waiting for him at the front gate of Wakariyasui, putting on a warm smile for him and clasping her hands together expectantly. If it was a brighter day for him, he would have smiled in return if only to match her appearance.

Instead, the young man felt low and could only take a long breath as he anticipated whether or not an extravagant adventure awaited him or if was doomed to be confronted for his verbal assault against Sato the previous day. Still, he greeted her as best as he could, "Good to see you."

"And you," said Asuka, her voice a strange mix of bright but respectfully quiet. She then held out her hand and beamed, "Come, come. We've got places to be."

Feeling the dread of having to match the girl's quick pace while he was in such a state, the young man held up a hand and shook his head, "Honestly, I'm not feeling up to… moving around today. I'm sorry if you made any appointments or reservations but I'd like to go home."

Asuka stood patiently as he spoke, keeping on her smile and staring up to him brightly, before she gave her still extended hand a small shake, "Trust me, you'll like this."

A bout of frustration rang through the young man's head, wishing for himself only to be left alone from whatever wiles the girl had in mind, and started to refute her, "Look, I'm not in the mood-," before he was cut off by her pressing her face forward to his own.

"I'm mostly aware of the situation and I understand that you're tired," she started before pulling up her arms and clasping her hands onto the boy's shoulder, "Believe me when I say that I'm not being tone-deaf right now." After a few seconds' pause, she looked at the young man with wide eyes that bade him to not look away, "But I need you to trust me with this. After what I have in mind, I promise that you'll feel much better about everything… and I do mean everything."

Looking into the glow of her irises and hearing a sincerity that was gentle and familiar to their past interactions, the young man took a long breath and let out a louder than necessary exhale. Then, after taking the bump of someone else's elbow as the other students of the school passed by, he realized that they were standing in the middle of the exit path. Not wanting to be rude on top of his already grouchy demeanor, he gestured at Asuka to follow him off to the side and asked her as they walked, "Alright, what did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise," answered the girl as they found a spot a little way outside of the gate.

The young man blinked at her, "Asuka, I'm not one for surprises today. Can we skip the dramatic effect?"

"No, no," retorted Asuka with a crack to her voice, "this isn't for dramatic effect. I just know that you won't come with me if you know where we're going."

Upon hearing those words, the young man squinted, "Okay, I'm scared. I absolutely need to know now."

"If – you – know," stated Asuka with emphasis on every syllable, unaware that she was circling her fingers around showily, "you – won't – come."

Feeling his patience wane and minding himself enough to not get terribly angry with the girl, especially since her intentions were undoubtably good, the young man calmed himself and asked instead, "What kind of reluctance would I feel in going wherever we're going?" He held up one hand, "Would I be scared?" and then the other, "Would I feel awkward?" before shrugging and dropping his arms, "Some other third thing?"

Asuka thought to herself for a second, rubbing a finger under her chin in thought before nodding resolutely and saying, "It'd probably be similar to how you felt when Grandma brought you to the restaurant to officially meet us all for the first time."

Not suppressing the noisy groan that rumbled out from his throat, the young man was tempted to just walk away right then and there. But regardless of how determined he was to spend the rest of his evening by his lonesome and doing nothing else, he knew that Asuka would be determined enough to get her wish by one way or another, most likely by the warm and gentle coercion tactics that she excelled at. So, instead, the young man clapped his hands together twice and prayed, "Ancestors, won't you watch over me this day…?"

Grabbing at one of his elbows and giving a playful tug, Asuka stated, "That's enough sarcasm out of you."

"Bold of you to assume that wasn't sarcasm."

Asuka continued without acknowledging his quiet remark, "We have to get to the train station."

Beginning to grow curious at whatever the girl was planning, the young man followed obediently when she spun herself around and began to march in an animated fashion down the sidewalk. He didn't know whether it was the bounce of her shoulders or the fact that the girl was completely fearless in how she was strutting, but the young man felt himself crawling away from his hermit-like attitude and focusing more on trying to guess what her plans were with what little information he had.

Unfortunately, that curiosity would soon have to be replaced by complete and utter focus as the pair made their way into the station and boarded a train to a suburban area that wasn't at all familiar to the young man. The mandate of focus wasn't for fear of eavesdroppers or of a somehow premediated attack by the dignitaries, however much that would be his luck. No, his focus was more on the fact that he and Asuka were standing together snugly, with her rear tucked dangerously close to his pelvis. If he brought himself to even indulge in imagining what his more perverse side was tempting for even a second, he couldn't imagine how disastrous the results would be. It wasn't as though he expected violent retaliation from Asuka if such a thing came to pass… but things usually turned out extremely wonderful or extremely terrible for him and he couldn't see how prodding the girl in public could ever turn out to be the former.

Doing his utmost to not acknowledge the proximity, the young man found himself asking, "So… is anyone else involved in our little escape right now," and trying his best to keep his throat from sounding dry.

Asuka took notice of his strange voice but, attributing it to his mood a while before, she started to nod her head before stopping and giving it a shake, "There are other people but you don't know-, no, you know one of them but probably not the other."

Making a sound with his throat as he tried to guess the one person he apparently did know, the young man then asked, "So, everyone else in our relationship isn't involved then?"

Asuka scratched behind her ear for a second, trying to think of how to accurately describe the conversation that'd been exchanged the previous night, "They were… involved. Though most of the planning ultimately fell on me." She then turned her head and torso to look at the young man, "See, Miyabi and Yumi told us… some of what had happened last night, though they figured that it was best to not go into detail about some of the things you and Sato talked about." Her eyes fell low for a second, "I won't press you for that information but they did mention what you're afraid of happening after you're done correcting us…" before she beamed up to the boy and clutched one of her fists in the air, "So, I was nominated as the one to turn that mood around and brighten your day."

The young man stared at her before murmuring confusedly, "Repeat?"

Asuka briefly straightened up, as though she'd realized something awkward, and turned around, "Well, we all kind of figured that all of us showing up would probably overwhelm you… so we decided that it would be best for one of us to ease you down." While ignoring the stretches in the joined plan, Asuka continued with a forced laugh, "After some debate, everyone else agreed that the plan I had would probably be best… plus, as Homura said, I have a knack for cheering people up and everyone else will probably just end up flooding your phone with a bunch of lovey texts."

The boy continued to stare blankly, unsure of the several jumps in logic and the plan itself.

As if hearing the absurdity of her plan for the first time, Asuka's shoulders collapsed and she found herself murmuring, "In the heat of the moment, this arrangement seemed like a good idea…"

"Dare I ask what everyone else had in mind?"

Asuka took a long breath and uttered, "Yumi's plan involved a lot of time in bed, to show how much you're loved is what she said, Miyabi's was similar but with a more subtle buildup, same reasoning, Ayame and Murasaki didn't know what to do, Katsuragi kept making lighthearted suggestions but no one took her seriously… and then Homura's plan was to have me come up with a plan…" After a second, Asuka picked herself up and raised a finger into the air, "Though, in all fairness, I do have a pretty good plan. So much so that even Yumi, who was pretty resistant to not being involved, agreed to stand aside for now."

Unsure of what to make of all the details, the young man continued to look at and study Asuka for the longest time. But just as he began to form a rebuttal against the plan onto the tip of his tongue, the speeding train met a turn and the resulting force pushed him forward into Asuka. A bolt of lightning ran from his lower body and into his head before he robotically forced himself away and composed every single piece of focus that he had while stating without expression, "Sorry."

Wondering why he was so skittish in the face of physical contact, especially with how close they were only a few nights before, Asuka blinked at him before shrugging it off with a smile, "No worries at all."

With a quick thanks to Heaven for the fact that the physical form of his attraction to the girl wasn't made known, the young man remained silent for the remainder of the journey and decided to not drop his mental guard any further. Time would pass and the train eventually met their designated station but, by that time, the young man would already have let his guard down. As they stepped off the train, Asuka took notice of his face before needing to suppress her grin. Whether it was from the fact that his lovers cared enough to go through another plan, however ridiculous and overcomplicated it was likely to be, or from her warm company, the young man had adopted a small smile.

Unfortunately, a different kind of stress would find the young man as he and Asuka walked from the station and through suburbs that were completely unfamiliar to him. Thoughts occurred to him, deducing that he was likely going to the house where the rest of the shinobi from Hanzō Academy lived, which only pulled his mind into asking what Asuka's intentions were. At one point, he patted the girl on the back of her shoulder and asked in a dry voice, "Question, question."

"Answer, answer," responded Asuka brightly.

"What do you have planned at your house, exactly?" asked the young man straightly, "I'm not sure if I can take a surprise."

Asuka faltered in her step, putting the young man a few steps in front of her before he stopped and faced her. She blinked a couple of times before facing him and staring at him in surprise, as though he'd grown three extra heads. After the change in atmosphere almost brought the young man's shoulders to shuffle awkwardly, Asuka asked plainly, "Are you a mind-reader or something? How'd you know we were going home?"

Wondering if it was really something to be surprised about, the young man sucked in his lips and narrowed his eyes before stating, "I guessed."

"That's some intuition," remarked Asuka before she shrugged and resumed her walking. She then glanced at him and stated, "Well, since that surprise is out of the bag, I might as well give the layout of everything else in my plan for tonight."

"If you'd like," said the young man as he matched her pace.

Rubbing her chin for a second, still wondering how the young man could make such a deduction, Asuka proceeded to explained with one finger in the air, "Well, first we'll have an early dinner at the house… We won't be staying long, by the way, we'll just do introductions, a meal, let you guys talk for a bit, and then we'll be on our way."

At first the young man simply nodded along at the information before his eyes squinted. After a few short seconds, he repeated in a whispery voice, "Introductions…? Don't I know everyone…?"

Not hearing him, Asuka continued by raising her second finger, "After that, there's some woods nearby that have this beautiful hill. I'd like to go there, show you it-, it's a special place to me-, and then we can take some time to relax."

By that point, the young man was already facing her and speaking quietly as something new was dawning on him, "Hold on, hold up… Roll it back to the introductions thing… Who am I being introduced to…?"

"After that," said Asuka as she flung her hand in the air, "We can do whatever you'd like. We can spend the night there-, oh, I have a tent set up from when I was a kid, so don't worry. Or, if you'd like, we can… well-, you know what, you get to decide. I won't suggest anything."

Ignoring the girl's reddening face as she thought about whatever idea she was going to offer, the young man watched as she started to veer toward a certain house and stopped in his tracks. When Asuka noticed, she stopped and turned toward him with visible questions running through her eyes. The young man stared with the corners of his mouth sucked in. At that point, Asuka realized that he had, in fact, not guessed where their first destination would be and shrunk a bit. Working to retain as much composure as he could, the young man asked in a low voice, "…Asuka, there's this thing that I like to call trust… I have a lot of it in you and I will follow you into this place…" After a few seconds' pause, his eyes turned deathly serious with how narrow they were, "…But that could be lost, just so you know… So, I need you to promise me that I won't get punched in the face when I walk in there…"

Asuka shrunk her neck down a tad, "They won't punch you. I promise."

The young man took a step closer and pressed his face toward her, "How much do they know…?"

"They know we're dating…"

"Alright."

"…It took them a bit of prying… but they also know that we're… active… you know, in bed…"

"…Alright…"

Asuka, not wanting the young man to implode with fear, then eased her hands up and slowly stated, "…And I told them about everyone else who was involved…"

With his greatest fear in the situation realized, the young man immediately swiveled around and was about to march in the opposite direction, "Good to know. Have a nice day."

Immediately, Asuka grabbed the back of his shoulders from behind and proceeded to push him in a half-circle that put them down the path to her old home, "I promise you! They won't hurt you! Just come inside! I promise you'll feel better after the fact! Please!"

Doing his utmost to dig his feet into the concrete below, the young man fixed his body straight and began to wonder about the millions of things that made up his appearance. He wondered about his hair, if his teeth were clean, if his breath smelled, if his uniform was straight, if his shoes were on the right feet, and if his face was reflecting the amount of discomfort that he felt in that moment.

Then the young man heard the click of the front door opening, timed in such a way that said someone was already waiting for the two. He looked up and did a doubletake as he found someone who looked like a mirror image of Asuka, save for being a bit taller with less rounded cheeks, waiting at the door. Upon realizing that he'd met the woman before in his old apartment, the young man stared blankly while Asuka put on a merry voice and called from behind him, "Hi, Mom."

The woman, Akari, gave a respective bow of her head, "It's good to see you, Asuka," before raising it and facing the young man, "and I am happy to meet you again. Especially since we're under much better circumstances than last time."

Drawing a blank from his head as he tried to remember anything and everything to regain his usual composure, the young man shook in the place where Asuka had pushed him. Then, believing that he was going to get his throat slit in one way or another, he suddenly clapped his hands together and proceeded to pray to the first random religion that came to mind, "O, Father in Heaven… watch over and spare this not-quite-so-devoted believer of yours…"

Asuka responded by giving him a gentle smack to the back of the head, one that delivered no physical pain but enough force to make the boy get ahold of himself.

As if some bit of machinery or wiring came back into place, the young man bowed his head and torso down low as he spoke straightly, "It's wonderful to meet you, ma'am. Thank you for meeting me today."

Akari rubbed her cheek meekly before nodding, "You don't need to be so formal," and then stepped aside, "Please, come in. We just finished preparing."

Before he accepted the offer, the young man turned to Asuka and stuffed every possible worry that he had into his wide-eyed expression. Fortunately, she read it plainly and said as she gave an encouraging pat of her hand to his shoulder, "Don't worry. I swear on my life and honor that you won't regret this."

Taking her word for it, the young man bowed his head again, forgetting the invitation to be informal, and proceeded to walk inside with his back uncomfortably straight. The house's structure was standard enough, with some rooms and hallways visible from the entrance, though the arrangement of the furniture was certainly not natural. While there was a couch in front of the television and there were some shelves stocked with family pictures and other sentimental items, the young man was not familiar with any household that had a dining table two meters from the front entrance, hidden just out of plain sight from the outside world by a corner of the wall. Kneeled down and waiting at the table was the same person that the young man briefly met at Hanzō's restaurant a month before, Asuka's father. The man's face was hidden behind his folded hands before he spoke frankly, "Please, have a seat."

"I'm going to die," thought the young man aloud, in spite of his straight and formalized appearance. Before either of Asuka's parents could process what he'd said, he bowed again, "Thank you for having me," before respectfully kneeling down and sitting on his feet. Then, having not seen any other place to put them, he took off his shoes and rested them to his side.

In the seconds that followed, Asuka placed herself next to him with a cheery expression on her face while Akari went into the kitchen and came back with a picnic basket and several freshly cut sushi rolls, "Atsushi, that is Asuka's father, had these prepped up earlier. We hope you enjoy them."

Noting the fact that the family of three all had a name that started with the letter A, the young man couldn't help but think of the term anti-aircraft artillery… and how he was the plane being lined up by tracers lighting a night sky. When Akari placed the rolls and basket on the table, the young man glanced between then and the hosts awkwardly before bowing his head down, "Thank you-," and accidentally smashed it on the table.

While Asuka asked after him and moved her hand to his head, her parents exchanged a glance with one another as their visions of the young man were tossed aside. Having met him for only a minute a month before, Atsushi imagined that the boy who'd claimed seven girls for himself would strut in like he owned the place, sit on a chair and tilt it back to rest his legs on the table, and would address both he and his wife with words along the lines of, "Oi. Just so you know, your daughter calls me daddy too." On the other hand, Akari had a slightly more experience with the young man, having confronted him with Oda and a few other parents. Even still, her vision involved him coming inside all curt and elegantly. His voice would have been slow and quiet… Then a distasteful subject would have come up, perhaps a story from Asuka's childhood which involved her being bullied, and then the boy would crack his knuckles and rage into the air, "I'll snap his neck a thousand times! Where is this he or she who's done the damage!?"

Instead, the boy who'd romanced seven girls was quite apparently terrified of them to the point of cracking his head in an attempt to obey standard social cues.

As the two adults were thinking, the young man gave thanks to Asuka for tending to his head and grabbed a sushi roll. He moved to take a bite before he realized how large and wide it was, bringing him to stare at it in wonder. It was still a doable task but he wanted to put on an appearance of some sort that would maintain a good image in front of Asuka's parents, especially since they knew all that they did. In the heat of the moment, the young man opened his mouth to ask for a knife to cut it down to size before stopping himself in the face of several other paranoid thoughts. He began to think to himself that it was some kind of overcomplicated test, one that would test how genuine the young man was as a person. If he asked for a means to cleanly eat the sushi roll, it meant that he was putting on a front and not showing his true self to them while, if he ate the sushi roll as best as he could with the mouth that he had, it would at least show that he was willing reveal his shortcomings and be more genuine.

Summoning all of his courage, the young man finally took his first bite into the sushi roll, one which required his jaw to open as wide as an anaconda's, all while Asuka was nonchalantly munching down through her roll with little thought and effort. Once she was done chewing and reaching for a second roll, she turned to the young man and remarked, "You know, I'm surprised you're so skittish right now."

After swallowing his bite, the young man remarked in a low voice, "Speaking frankly, I'm terrified right now."

Asuka turned to her parents and found them studying the young man with expressionless faces, albeit there was a slight smile on Akari's. The younger brunette then turned back to her boyfriend, "I suppose that I can… kind of understand… but didn't you hold off a large Yōma by yourself?"

As the young man moved for another bite, he remarked, "I would rather do that a thousand times…" before he dared to make eye contact with Atsushi, "…especially since I know what you both know…"

"You know what we know?" questioned Asuka's father with a raised brow.

"Yes," responded the young man as he shied away from his bite to speak clearly, "On the way here, she told me that you talked about everything," before he tactlessly sank his teeth in.

"Ah," nodded Atsushi before he turned to Asuka, "Well, we'll take our time to talk with him. You can prepare for your outing in the woods while we talk."

Still in the middle of a sushi roll, Asuka blinked in confusion for a second before she remembered the general plan she'd cooked up. While the young man tilted his head, the brunette stood up and said with food almost spilling out of her mouth, "I' 'e 'ac'…" and maneuvered around the table to make her way down one of the hallways.

The boy didn't process it at first and stared after her. As soon as he realized that he'd be alone with her parents, the young man had to do everything he could from spitting out the sushi he was still chewing on. Once he swallowed and took in a deep breath, he put his hands on his knees defensively and wondered when he would be pummeled. Atsushi, still covering his mouth with folded hands, spoke frankly, "While we know that you know what we know-, heavens, what a sentence… While we know that you… know…" before smacking himself, "We're going to ask questions that we already know the answer to."

"Yessir," came a quick response from the young man, doing his utmost to keep his face as straight as possible.

"Do you love my daughter?" asked Atsushi with eyes that narrowed into frightening dots.

"Very much so…!" squeaked the young man with an unchanged expression.

"Do you love the other six girls as well?" asked Akari, who'd butted her shoulder against her husband's.

"Yes! I love-," started the young man before the honest truth broke his voice and he lowered his head, "I love four others, I am undecided about one who joined in casually, and the last one I've known only for a total of some odd hours…"

Atsushi nodded his head with an eased face and whispered to Akari, "Well, that about fits what Asuka mentioned…" before he turned back to the young man, "…but what do you mean you're undecided on one?"

The young man shook and lowered his head slightly lower, "Are you both familiar with Asuka's classmate, Katsuragi?" When the two nodded, he raised his head to meet their eyes and continued, "She is a confusing case. While neither of us have confessed to the other or done anything that would imply as much… we had a pair of close moments… One during what's referred to as a correction… and the other… while we were… doing stuff." Not wanting to give further details, the young man took a breath and stated, "Speaking honestly, when I'm shown positive and intimate attention by a woman, I am weak and form an attachment. It doesn't always resort in romantic feelings… which is what I'm trying to sort out now…"

Atsushi respected the honesty before he asked, "So, if any random woman approached you and started to gently caress your hair… then you'd be smitten?"

"No," stated the young man in a much more level and straight voice, "I am weak to those I am familiar with and trust. Even then, I have a slight contradictory of principle and personality where I still do believe in having the utmost loyalty to my partners."

Akari blinked as she worked the information through, "So… you're poly-what's-it… but… you wouldn't start a relationship with multiple women at once?"

The young man stared at her before giving a nod, "Perhaps it is not so slight a contradictory…" and began to scratch the side of his head as he looked away, "Truthfully, there would have been no hope for me if everyone else didn't make the proposition in the first place… and pressed for it when I resisted…"

Atsushi comically craned his head forward, "Why describe yourself as poly-mag-i-nous if you're not actually poly-ga-may-tri-ous?"

Not acknowledging the botched pronunciations, the young man explained plainly with a crack to his voice, "Well, I am polyamorous-, you know, the unrestricted love for whoever you form a bond with sort…" before shuffling his shoulders, "…but there are so many other principles that are drilled into one's head that ultimately throw one's mind into a loop." He then proceeded to pull at his hair, "With so few means of learning how to properly maneuver these kinds of relationships and the fact that I never really listened to my grandfather on such matters, I don't have any real model to go on when it comes to propositioning…"

As the young man heaved a great sigh after having vented out the woos of polyamory, the two adults stared. Then Akari turned to Atsushi, who faced her a second after, before she nodded back to the boy, "Well, thank you for being open on the matter." She then raised a finger, "Then our last bit of questions regards you, our daughter, and everyone else when you're in bed." For a moment, the young man's heart stopped beating. Then he let out a noiseless squeal and felt his brain pop before leaning his body into the table. Akari continued without any mention of his reaction, "We know that you are all active… but you're also being safe?"

Atsushi's throat rumbled, "Condoms? Birth control? Any means of keeping teen babies from running around."

The young man didn't meet their eye, something that was understandable to them, before he answered quietly, "…We've been using protection… condoms, to be specific…"

Akari rubbed her cheek, "Thank you for being specific," before resting her hand onto the table, "But you really should seek out another means." When she thought the young man wasn't looking, she winked at Atsushi and turned back, "Actually, my mother taught me a shinobi technique for such a thing."

The young man raised his head up and immediately cried in surprise, "You guys have that!?"

Akari nodded as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "Yes, why wouldn't we?"

With eyes wide and full of disbelief, the young man raised both of his palms into the air and began to rant, "I thought that shinobi were meant for fighting!? Aren't shinobi techniques supposed to be for just that-, that or for things related to fighting, like that healing thing that Jasmine used on me!? What is this run-of-the-mill life convenience technique!?"

Happy to see the boy loosen up and speak in an open tone with them, Atsushi stated plainly, "The power behind shinobi is mysterious and surprising…" before he tapped the table with two of his fingers, "Trust me, I was in your place once learning all of these strange details too. Speaking honestly, this isn't even the most surprising thing."

"I'll be sure to have Mother teach Asuka and, if possible, everyone else within the next few days," said Akari with a smile, "So long as it means you two and everyone else are keeping safe, that is what's most important…" She then raised an easing palm into the air, "I mean no offense," before lowering it, "but you shouldn't be having children at such a young age. Please, at the very least, wait about five years."

"You do intend to stick with them all for the long-term, yes?" interjected Atsushi with a serious gaze, one which made his earlier stares feel minute, "This isn't just a fling or something with a time limit to you?"

"Absolutely not," stated the young man before he almost offendedly crossed his arms, though he did understand their concern. Without even thinking about his past worries of what would happen when the corrections were done, he then professed, "Relationships are serious to me and I'll treat them as such. Forever and always."

"You have our approval," said the two adults at the same time.

The young man blinked a few times before asking, "Come again?"

"You have our approval," said the two again.

As though he were in the utmost disbelief, the young man began to lean away and squinted an eye, "You're… not even going to punch me a little…?"

"Asuka's smart enough to know what she's gotten herself into," said Atsushi before he turned his head away, "though, I won't lie, I'd be more suspicious of you if she wasn't also intimate with Homura. Then there would too many red flags for it to be so easy."

An image of the mentioned shinobi briefly appeared before the young man and he clenched his eyes closed to intensely think, "Homura, beyond the love you've given me and the comfort you bestow, bless you and your very existence…!" Elsewhere, the tanned girl sneezed as the sheer magnitude of the young man's thoughts and gratitude somehow reached her. Everyone around her at that moment was very surprised by how loud she was.

In the meantime, Atsushi brought himself to face the young man again and spoke, "Well, regardless, we trust Asuka's judgment and we trust that you'll be good to her." A smile began to play at his face before he then declared, "In turn, this means you can come to us if you need anything."

Snapped back into reality, the young man gave a slight bow of his head, one that was less out of fright and formality and more out of genuine respect and appreciation, "Thank you," before looking back up, "but I'd hate to impose and become a moocher."

"Nonsense," retorted Akari with a gleeful smile, "you're a son of ours now."

The young man's expression froze as his mind went completely blank in the face of her words. His eyes did a slow blink and his head briefly went into a state of civil war. His emotions raised a flag of happy crying and gratitude while his more rational and suspicious side proceeded to launch nuclear armaments of immense confusion. Ultimately, the force of the latter proved to be stronger and the young man could only assume that he'd misheard, "I don't believe I heard that right…?"

"You're a son of ours," repeated Akari before she raised one finger, "You love Asuka," and then another, "you intend to stick around for the long-term," and then another, "you're close with her friends, whom we'd treat like daughters if we had the opportunity more often than we do," and then another, "you seem respectful and honest-, oh, and we'd know if you were lying even if Asuka didn't fill us in-," before flapping her hand away, "and you're generally pleasant. With all of that, we wouldn't mind calling you our son-in-law."

The young man stared at her in the same way he would if Zeus suddenly came down from Olympus on a rainbow puppy-stead to produce a hip-hop album with traditional Chinese music as his inspiration. After tilting his head as far to the side as he could, the young man asked in quiet voice, "You're… aware of the fact that I've only known your daughter for about a month and a half… and that I've only dated her for a few weeks… and that I've known you for even less time…?"

Akari clapped her hands together, "Time is irrelevant."

Atsushi raised a palm, "I can see where you're confused," before placing it down to the table, "but here's the takeaway: we know you, we're not displeased, and we believe you when you say you'll stick around. Shut up and take the blessing."

Retracting his head back and keeping himself straight, the young man was about to question the pair outright and wonder if they'd maybe had too much to drink. In their place, he would still be suspicious of any boy with his daughter after only a few weeks of dating. Certainly, he'd leave it to his daughter to decide and would be as supportive as he needed to be but he couldn't fathom giving a blessing to marriage after so short a period. Then his mind popped back to the time of Asuka's correction. Despite the fact that he was someone mostly unknown to her at the time, she still trusted him with her entirety and allowed the correction to go through.

Realizing that Asuka must have gotten that love and trust from somewhere, the young man took a discreet breath before giving another bow that hovered his head just over the table, "Thank you. I swear that your daughter will not be mistreated."

"We trust you," said Akari before she patted the basket that'd been placed on the table earlier, "Now then, I believe you two have further plans for the night." She then turned her head and called, "Asuka?"

Popping her head around the corner of the hallway immediately, revealing the fact that she'd gone nowhere at all, the brunette peeped, "Yes?"

"Make sure to have as good a time as possible," said Akari with a nod.

Atsushi turned to the young man, "There are some snacks and a blanket in the basket. If you spend the night in the woods, keep full and keep warm." He then proceeded to lean over the table and whispered to the young man, "Also, listen well. There are wrappers in the basket in case you don't have any on you right now. We'll get in contact with Asuka's grandmother so that you can both be safer but just do what you can to prevent my daughter from becoming a teen mom." Unable to take in all that he'd just heard all at once, especially as the logic of who was speaking about such things started to come into play, the young man simply nodded his head and internally vowed to take the advice when he properly understood.

"You two run along then," said Akari with a wave of her hand, "Go on, shoo."

Snatching the basket and slipping on her shoes, Asuka waited for the young man to do the same. But just as the boy was about to bow again and give his goodbye, the girl elatedly snatched him by the arm and dragged him out the front door with a call, "Have a good night! I'll call you two sometime soon!" Her parents, having been pleased by the overall encounter, proceeded by moving the table back into place with lighthearted smiles on their faces. In the meantime, with her focus now redirected, Asuka proceeded to let out all of the words running through her mind, "I'm really glad that went well! I mean, I knew it would go well, don't get me wrong, but there's always that small bit of paranoia that something may go wrong or that there'd be a misunderstanding of sorts-, either way, I'm glad it went wonderfully! Now, we're going to a special spot in the woods! I went there as a kid a lot for what I called my secret shinobi training, which was really just me hitting a stick against the trees and bushes for a couple of hours at a time."

Unable to comprehend all of the words at once, the young man cried as he was dragged along, "Hold up, hold up," and waited until Asuka slowed to a stop. Looking at the still bright smile on her face, he took in some air, processed all that she said, and returned the smile, "I'm happy to go to this spot," before holding up a finger, "but I first need to do something." As Asuka watched with a tilted head, the young man proceeded to lift up his hand to her forehead and proceeded to flick her as gently as she smacked him on the back of the head earlier. He then brought the hand down and leveled it with the other with both of his palms facing one another, "That all went very well, much better than I suspected it would, but never surprise me like that again. I was way more out of my comfort zone than I would like to be without preparation."

"Ah," remarked Asuka before rubbing a finger to her cheek, "Sorry, that won't happen again."

Getting a faint sense that he'd had a similar discussion recently, the young man nodded his head and remarked lightheartedly, "Honestly, with life being the adventure that it is with you and everyone else, I'm sure something similar will happen again but, regardless, thank you."

With a few more words of banter exchanged, the young man then allowed himself to be guided by Asuka's hand. The girl sailed them across the suburbs and toward what seemed to be a large plot of undeveloped land in the middle of the city, where trees grew plenty and the terrain was much less level than the sidewalks the young man had grown accustomed to. As his sense of the country and life with his grandfather came back to him, especially as the evening sun gave an orange glow from the horizon, the boy followed after Asuka on unsteady feet as she led him to the top of one of the smaller hills. There, they found a messily pitched tent, which was little more than a waterproof blanket hanging on a low branch and some sticks.

Just as the young man was about to investigate further, with his eyes noting the marks along the side of the tree, hinting that it'd been repeatedly beaten by a large stick in the past, he heard Asuka pull out the blanket from the basket and placed it on the ground near her old tent. After placing the basket down, she then proceeded to sit down with her legs spread out and patted the ground in front of her, "Please, have a seat, sir."

Unsure of how she expected the arrangement to work, the young man scratched his head and spoke, "How would you have me…?"

As if it were obvious, Asuka pointed ahead of her, "Face that way," and patted the ground between her legs again, "and sit here."

Going along with whatever it was that she had planned, especially since it wasn't the most outrageous thing that he'd ever taken part in, the young man clapped his hands together in thanks and proceeded to obey the order. He stepped in front of her, sat himself down between her legs and faced forward. After a few seconds of nothing happening after the fact, the young man remarked, "This can't be the best view for you, considering I have a few inches of height over you."

"You just admire the woods for a second," remarked Asuka before she proceeded to press herself into his back, "and let me do my work." Before any more questions could be asked, she wrapped her arms around the young man and proceeded to guide him into leaning backward into her. After a few seconds, they were laying down and they both remained silent. Unfortunately, the boy's remark about their height difference rang noticeably true and Asuka was almost completely buried under his body, leaving his head awkwardly hanging and her being crushed beneath his weight. After suffering for a few seconds more, she said, "Let's rearrange this."

"Agreed."

Moments later, they were much more comfortable. Asuka's head and shoulders were unburied and one of her hands playfully ran through the hair on the young man's head, which was place comfortably on her pillowy chest. Still doing his best to lighten the amount of weight on her chest and stomach, the boy asked frankly, "This is better for you?"

Moving her free hand to comfortably pat his chest, Asuka responded, "Very much so."

Enjoying the pleasant sensations where her hands went, the young man closed his eyes comfortably and nestled himself in. He then asked her frankly, "So, this is where your sneaky skills were first honed? Where you first became sneaky-deaky?"

"And I would later become sneaky-deakier at Hanzō Academy," purred Asuka as she also got comfortable between both the fabric beneath her and the boy blanketing her. As her mind grew more relaxed, she felt comfortable teasing the young man by locking her legs up and onto his before asking, "So, I overheard that you may have some feelings for Katsuragi then?"

Instinctively freezing up at first, the young man took a breath to relax after reminding himself whose company he was in and stated, "Well, like I said to your parents, I'm a bit of a weak man when it comes to intimate affection."

"Ah, you did say that," nodded Asuka before she then moved both of her arms to hug him closer into her, "Is there any other ladies that I and everyone else should know about?"

"In regards to that? No," came a quick and honest response.

"Really?" asked Asuka as she patted one hand on him, "You don't find anyone else attractive?"

"I didn't say there wasn't anyone else who was attractive," said the young man as he prepared himself for some careful choices in words, "I mean, everyone in the entire friend group… or clique, if that's an appropriate word… Everyone, let's just say that. Everyone is attractive in their own way, more than just beyond their physical appearances."

"Hm," came a pleasant sound from Asuka's throat before she brought up a finger to prod at the tip of the young man's nose, "So, if one of them came up to you and confessed, what would you do?"

"Freeze up, panic, get into an existential crisis, leave Japan, become a monk in some random mountain range for ten years, return with muscles that are ripped, and use the newfound confidence to give a proper answer."

Asuka prodded his nose again, "Could you answer seriously?"

The young man paused to think for a second before remarking, "In all honesty, I have no idea and the very thought of it scares me." He turned his head up as much as he could to look at Asuka's face, "What I said to your parents is true. If you, Homura, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi didn't bring up the prospects of our arrangement, I'd still be hopeless in every regard." When the girl blinked at him, the boy shrunk a bit and faced the sky, "What? Do I seem so cool, composed, and experienced that I could actually handle such a scenario on my own and with grace?"

"Maybe not with grace," said Asuka before she kissed the back of his head and rested backward, "but I'd have confidence that you'd be able to handle it in some way."

"A very risky bet that you would place in me…"

The two remained quiet for a few seconds before Asuka asked, "Would you mind if I shifted topics to something that might be uncomfortable for a second?"

"If it's anymore uncomfortable than this discussion already is, I'll eat a hat."

Asuka paused as she gathered the words she'd been rehearsing in her mind before asking, "Do you really think that other infiltrators will come for you when you're done correcting all of us?"

Her response was complete and utter silence for over a minute. The young man just stared up expressionlessly, seemingly to study the surrounding foliage, before he pressed himself defensively into her and remarked, "…Guess I'm eating a hat…" After a few seconds more of thought, he answered frankly, "Not immediately. After all, how would they know when I'm finished? But once Tsao is convinced that everyone's good, he'll pass on word and some cell or another is probably going to… forcefully extract me or something along those lines… if he doesn't come first…"

Asuka ran a comforting hand over his head, "How long have you been thinking about this?"

"It popped into my head… at some point, though I didn't really acknowledge it much," said the young man in a quiet voice. He paused for a second before adding, "The only time I really thought about it was when I took notice of Sato and her newfound easygoing life."

Feeling her heart thump sadly a few times for the boy, Asuka tightened her hold around him with both her arms and legs before saying in the most assuring and confident voice that she'd ever spoken in, "Well, never worry about that because they're not going to get the opportunity."

Figuring her words to be wishful thinking, at best, the young man accepted the hold but remarked, "Let's hope…"

"No," stated Asuka before her hold over the young man tightened even more, "Listen to me when I say this."

The young man felt as though some encouraging words were going to come. After blinking his eyes a few times, he figured that the words would bring a great amount of assurance but would also hurt just as much. After all, when one built a staircase too high before an impending fall, the landing would hurt all the more or could even be fatal. Still, not one to render himself deaf to the one's he loved, the young man simply croaked, "I'm listening."

Asuka began by gently stroking her fingers along the young man's cheek, raising her head to look at him as he kept his eyes to the sky, "There will be no one who will ever take you away. No infiltrator, no dignitary, and not even your brother, Tsao, will ever get close enough." She watched as the young man craned his head to look up at her as his eyes turned both tired and soft. Every word after, she spoke as she stared as far into him as she possibly could, not knowing that the young man felt her gaze running him through, "I don't care how strong they are, if anyone dares to… everyone and I will be there to stop them. If they somehow get you anyway, we'll be chasing after you and will be there not at all long after. After all, once all of this business with the corrections, dignitaries, and Shin is done and over with, we'll all deserve a happy ending… All of us… And that does include you."

Once that was said, Asuka followed up with words that brought the young man's eyes to open wide. His mouth parted, as if he was going to say something, but there was nothing that could convey the mix of joy, relief, gratitude, and love that he felt as she spoke. Each and every word was so simple but, at the same time, they held more meaning to the young man than any fantastical story on all of the planet. When Asuka finished speaking, the young man continued to look up at her until tears brimmed in his eyes and he pressed his lips together. He pulled himself up in spite of the girl's hold and sat onto his knees to face her. But even as he looked her right in the eyes as tears threatened to drain from his own, he couldn't think of a single word to say.

So, without a solid plan in mind, the young man opted to act instead. He crawled on his knees until he sat beside Asuka leaned forward to kiss her, which she gladly reciprocated. After a few seconds, he gasped for a breath and lifted up his hands to pull her as close as he could, with one hand caressing the back of her head and her hair while the other wrapped under her arm and around her back. In response, Asuka moved both of her arms to cling around the young man's neck before giving him a pull, unintentionally pulling him on top of her and making her lay back into the blanket they set up. Even still, they didn't break away and they had no intention of doing so. In the heat of that moment, then and there, all that mattered was showing how much they loved one another.

To the young man, it was a comfort unlike any other. He had someone solid and in the flesh that he could cling to and she would accept him, promising to be there through the good and the bad. To Asuka, it was two separate matters. For one, she knew the young man looked at her and trusted her as much as she'd trusted him way back when her own correction came to be. On another matter, she got to experience the feeling of being the only woman in his eyes for that moment, something that she'd already accepted to be unlikely to ever happen while there were six other women involved. Yet, she had him all to herself then and there… and she would treasure that moment longer than the universe would ever live.

The two laid on that blanket, eventually rolling onto their sides for the sake of the brunette's comfort, but they never broke their kiss of passion until the situation escalated further. In time, their clothes would come off and they would make love until the sun had long since disappeared over the horizon. Their minds did not linger on the logistics of it all, spending so much time together when there were things like disentanglements or school to focus on…

Through that night, all that mattered was the individual relationship that they forged… which would last through any turmoil that would ever think to come… From that point on, they were more than boyfriend and girlfriend… They were partners, who would fight for one another until the end…

Rejoice! The promised seeds of love flourish brightly!

When the time should come that fire, lightning, and unrelenting force steals you away from the world, from all your dreams and everything dear to you… Remember the words that she spoke in earnest to you. Remember these words and carry them with you until the final moment:

"From the very second you began to help us, you were always one of us. Sure, it took us a bit of time to catch up to that fact but we all know it now… and however much the times to come may hurt and however much they may drive us from one another, we'll always stand together as a team. All of us. We'll always stand by you… Not just as allies but also as a family. You are one of us and you always will be."

In the middle of the night, Asuka and the young man were wrapped up together under a blanket and fast asleep. Even still, the boy held the girl resting on top of him close and showed no signs of letting go, as they he'd found a precious gem that he'd protect with his very life.