It was official. She loved her Ashikabi and would gleefully murder any idiot who tried to separate them. Harry's reasoning for why she shouldn't murder someone in cold blood was so highly entertaining she went out of her way to find new people to kill. Plus the looks on people's faces hearing a fifteen year old British teenager explain things in rather graphic detail on why she shouldn't murder someone without at least making a point to keep the blood off him...she got the giggles just imagining it.

Takami's face when she heard said explanations were even more hilarious.

However, after the first five times he did that, and she realized he was being entirely serious, she used her power in MBI to do some digging. And what she found left her beyond furious.

She had thought the brat was being sarcastic about the way his aunt treated him. What she found out from the neighbors on Privet Drive painted a much darker picture.

Not only were the neighbors practically trained to ignore blatant abuse and extremely bad parenting, but everyone seemed to blame the crimes of this...Dudley Dursely and his gang on Harry, despite the fact he no longer lived in England. Further investigating into Dudley's grades revealed Harry had kept his own just barely below his cousin...but she knew for a fact he was highly intelligent, because he was already in college-level classes once he had the chance to catch up.

She had sincere doubts that the boy was as stupid as the "aunt" claimed, or that he was a delinquent.

In fact all signs practically reeked of child abuse, or some extreme neglect. Hell, there weren't any pictures of the boy in the house, despite the fact that he had claimed the house as his place of residence for thirteen years. There were many, many pictures of the other child.

Takami had read the reports, and any doubts about Harry's claims his aunt had signed the papers without any hesitation were dead after the investigators turned in their findings.

It was little wonder the boy had been so adamant about not being sent back to England.

At first, Harry didn't know what to think of Karasuba. Once the situation had been explained in full to him about the "game", he found himself completely disinterested with the prize. He was, however, thanking every deity that Takami had been able to convince Karasuba that she wasn't allowed to jump him when he wasn't expecting it.

She had put her foot down around the terrifying woman (to everyone but Harry apparently) and explained to the woman more than ten years his senior that she couldn't sleep with someone who was just a little over fifteen. Though she had also warned Harry that he was on his own when he hit sixteen.

But the longer he was around her, the more he found himself relaxing around her. Which made a lot of people a little freaked about being around him for some reason.

Karasuba had made her possession over him rather clear. She wouldn't tolerate the idea of anyone taking her Ashikabi away.

Today he was going to observe a 'sparring' match between Karasuba and Haihane.

Harry walked to the viewing platform, saw the clawed Sekirei going at it with his Sekirei...and it took him fifteen minutes to realize something weird was going on.

"Takami-san, am I hallucinating or is Haihane acting...off?"

Takami blinked, before watching the match closer. She swore, loudly.

"She's reacting."

"To whom?" asked Harry.

The answer to that question became painfully obvious as Karasuba reluctantly stopped the match and brought Haihane with her. The closer she got to Harry, the worse it got. Takami swore even louder.

Haihane was reacting to Harry. Of course he would attract the more bloodthirsty ones.

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Isn't this a problem? I mean most girls don't really react well to having another added..." said Harry nervously.

Takami snorted.

"Human females are raised to think that the idea of a harem is demeaning. Sekirei not only don't care, they encourage you to add more to the flock," deadpanned Takami. It was good to see that the boy could act normally for his age.

Karasuba snorted.

"We're born with a submissive trait, brat. So long as an Ashikabi orders it, we'll follow through. We might not like it, but we'll do it."

Something seemed to go through his head, before he paled.

"Dear gods... Hermione must never find out about this. She was bad enough to deal with when she found out about the people who cleaned the school..." he muttered to himself.

"I thought you were home schooled?" said Takami, eyes narrowing.

"I went to a boarding school that's so far out of the way and so exclusive they don't even have a website. And it's in a literal castle next to a massive forest and a rather large lake that empties out to the sea. It's easier to claim home school that is it to explain about the fact that their idea of education is beyond archaic and borders on prehistoric. They don't even have functioning electricity and it's a miracle they had normal plumbing," deadpanned Harry.

Takami's eyes narrowed.

"I wondered why it took you so long to catch up to high school level. What sort of school doesn't teach basic language and maths?"

"One that makes the students wear dress robes to formal events, and still thinks it's in the Victorian era. They had the students write all their homework out in parchment, and heaven help you if you want to look something up. Half the books in the library don't even come with a bloody index," said Harry.

Takami was appalled at the very idea.

"You and I are going to have a very long discussion about your former school. In the meantime you might as well wing Haihane. I suppose it's better that the Disciplinary Squad all react to the same person, and not forced like that idiot was planning."

For the second time, Harry was practically pounced on by a reacting Sekirei. This time though, he felt what was happening. Whatever Sekirei were (Takami claimed they were aliens, but he had his doubts) when they were "winged", they were literally bonding their powers to the magical cores of their partners.

Takami was at her wits end trying to find a certain pain in the ass. Though to be fair, he was still much easier to deal with than his cousin...even if he was the Ashikabi to two bloodthirsty and vicious aliens.

Finally her search took her to the adjustment labs...where she couldn't help but stare at the sight she found.

Harry was sitting calmly making little lights for the youngest Sekirei currently being adjusted to chase after, which only made the little fairy image stronger. Shiina, which was the closest thing to an older brother she had, was watching contently as Harry walked him through the finer points of...

"Are you teaching him how to garden?" she asked baffled. Shiina's power meant he killed plants. Kuu was the one that grew the things.

Harry looked up, surprised, before rolling his eyes.

"Shiina is surprisingly adept at flower arranging, regardless of his powers, and Kuu likes to color."

"Are you sure you should be in the same room?" she asked pointedly.

"Kuu isn't my type, and I'm quite happy being attracted to girls, thank you very much. Besides, neither of them are reacting and I was bored. I like kids more than adults anyway."

"...Is that a flower crown?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

"Made of seeds I picked up in the gardening store for Kuu to play with, yes," said Harry.

Takami was clearly imagining Kuu doing this to Karasuba and Haihane, and was trying not to laugh.

"What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Karasuba is busy, Haihane is still in training, and I refuse to get stuck with Benitsubasa if I can help it," said Harry flatly.

"Just try not to wing any of the younger Sekirei. It's bad enough Karasuba has been venting her...frustration... on the new recruits," deadpanned Takami.

A few hours later...

As Harry was leaving the adjustment labs for Kuu and Shiina, he was damn near bowled over by a woman with a rather impressive bust, looking very upset. Her hair almost looked like it was made of ice and snow. Her eyes were very expressive.

"Are you alright?"

"Hide me! That idiot is planning to do the adjustment himself without Takami supervising!" she begged.

Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have said anything, much less bolted from the lab during adjustment. But Takeru was the most incompetent scientists in the lab, and whenever he did them it hurt. A lot.

None of the Sekirei liked him being part of the team at all, and they usually tried to get of the process if he were around. Takami was very close to firing him anyway.

Harry heard someone coming. He reached into his bag and pulled out his old invisibility cloak and threw it over her.

"Stay behind me and keep quiet. I'll ask Takami to sort this out once I see her, but until then you can stay close," he told her. She nodded fervently, glad he was shielding her from the idiot.

Takeru Tokiomi came out of the lab at the far end of the hallway with an angry look on his face. He noticed Harry and sneered, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. The fact he was Minaka's second cousin (and Karasuba's Ashikabi) was very well known by now.

Most of the scientists considered him Karasuba's pet Ashikabi, as he was generally rather passive.

"Potter."

"Wanker," he replied evenly in English. Most of the scientists spoke English as a second (or third) language, but Takeru was one of the few who didn't. Or at the very least it was highly limited.

Much to the amusement of Harry, that limited vocabulary didn't include insults. Much less the British ones he liked to use.

"Have you seen 07?" he asked flatly, annoyed because he didn't know what Harry had called him.

"Who?"

"Number 07, Akitsu. She ditched her final adjustment and I have to be part of three more today," he gritted out.

"Oh, you mean the unwinged Sekirei with icy hair. She went that way and took a right," said Harry cheerfully.

"Thank you," said Takeru, not meaning it at all. He followed the directions blindly, unaware of the time-delayed jinx on his shoes that would lead to him tripping into one of the worst areas of the building.

The personal bathing room of the Disciplinary Squad, where Karasuba was currently taking a relaxing bath.

Akitsu waited until she was sure he was properly gone before removing the hood of the cloak.

"Thank you," she said emphatically.

"What did he do?"

"He said something about altering the adjustments Takami was planning, so I got out of there. I wouldn't trust anything that man had in mind."

"You can hide with me and my flock until Takami returns from using Minaka as her slap-test dummy."

Karasuba was in a very good mood cleaning a substance Harry pretended not to notice off her sword. Haihane was likewise cleaning something that smelled of copper (among other things) off her claws. They took one look at Akitsu and raised their eyebrows.

"I would ask if you've winged another, but even I can see she doesn't have the crest on her back," said Karasuba.

"One of the dimwitted scientists wanted to alter the adjustment plan Takami made. She disagreed with the idea, so she asked me to hide her."

"Number?" asked Karasuba.

"07."

"Name?"

"Akitsu."

"How far along are you?"

"This was supposed to be my last adjustment," said Akitsu.

"There you are, you stupid bitch! Do you have any idea the hell I went through because you took off from your appointment?!"

Karasuba and Haihane's eyes narrowed at him. The sudden spike in killing intent was probably the only clue the fool had that he had wandered into the wrong room.

"Oh, so this is the idiot who tried to...adjust... you. In that case, feel free to stay as long as you like while we remind him what a bad idea it is to interrupt us," said Karasuba pleasantly.

There was the distinct smell of piss from Takeru.

"Yes, let's have a nice long...talk...with the scientist," said Haihane, eyes gleaming with her claws.

"No! Please! Mercy!"

Harry cocked his head and asked "What's mercy? Is it edible?"

Karasuba grinned, knowing it was Harry's weird sense of humor again.

"That's the guy I take orders from."

Takeru left bloody furrows in the carpet, trying to avoid his fate.

Akitsu watched the thing with something akin to shock and amusement.

She could feel herself growing warm, almost flush. Harry seemed to realize what was going on, because he looked rather panicked.

"Now Akitsu, don't do anything...rash!" yelped Harry as he was glomped and kissed before he could properly run away.

Karasuba and Haihane returned, fresh blood on their weapons, to find Akitsu had winged herself to him.

"I should feel annoyed, but seeing that look on his face is beyond hilarious," said Karasuba after a moment.

"What. Did. You. Do."

Takami looked beyond pissed. Not only had Karasuba and Haihane rendered that annoying idiot unable to walk, much less do his job, but Harry had winged a Sekirei who wasn't scheduled to be released for a full two months!

"It's not my fault! Akitsu practically crashed into me, begging me to hide her from that idiot because he was going to alter the adjustments that you ordered without telling you first! None of the Sekirei trusted that idiot! And he stumbled into Karasuba and Haihane taking their bath!"

Takami glared at him. She had reviewed the security tapes the second she found out that the idiot was in the ICU. He had brought his removal on himself pissing off Karasuba. However Akitsu... she had practically jumped Harry from being that close.

"You are not allowed to visit any of the other unwinged Sekirei except Kuusano and Shiina. Am. I. Clear."

"Yes ma'am."

"If you let those two run loose again, I'll dock your pay," she said ominously.

Harry tilted his head.

"But I don't actually need the cash I get from keeping Karasuba and Haihane from going on killing sprees to get by. I still have my dad's inheritance and the investments I've been making since I found out I was stuck here," said Harry innocently.

"What investments?!"

Harry went to his tablet and pulled up his stock portfolio for her to look at. It took exactly three-point-one seconds before she nearly had a heart attack.

She looked at him with dead eyes as she said faintly... "You're the majority stock holder for MBI?"

She could believe it, if only because Minaka could care less about the money.

"Why do you also have a rather substantial folder for Higa's company?" she asked baffled.

"Can you think of something more effective than threatening to pull the plug on his newest and most substantial investor?"

Takami stared at him. Harry could be a terrifying kid when he put his mind to it.