Author's Notes: Yo. Chapter Six here for ya.

Nobody has accepted my Sekirei/Gamer challenge yet, which is a shame. It still open, so I await your acceptance!

As to Haihane…I dunno. Everyone who review, please add either a Yea or Nay. I feel she isn't needed to go with Benitsubasa, but if you want her, why not?

Read, Review and check out my other stories!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sekirei. If I did, the manga would be released in English already.

"Minato." - Regular Speech

'Musubi' - Thoughts

"Kaminari!" - Sekirei Incantation

Chapter 6: The Ashikabi of the South

With Uzume and the Reinforcements

"So much power!" Uzume said softly as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, followed by Musubi and Yashima. The three Sekirei were rushing to the site that their Ashikabi told them to ambush the four Sekirei pursuing their fellow sister-wives.

"Minato-sama's the strongest ever!" Musubi called as they arrived at the construction site. The building, intended to be a black of apartments, was mostly just superstructure at this point, and the ground was covered in building materials, from concrete mixers to stacks of concrete blocks.

The Veiled Sekirei was willing to agree with her sister-wife there. The amount of power she had flowing through her was intoxicating, filling her to the brim. She could almost feel Minato's presence with her, empowering and protecting her.

"I'll take the high ground with Yashima." Uzume directed, "Musubi, you conceal yourself on the ground and ambush the four pursuing Sekirei once Hibiki, Hikari and the Unwinged Sekirei pass by you. Yashima and I will attack after that. I'll use my Norito. If they're stupid enough to want to fight at such a disadvantage after that, we'll deactivate them all per Minato-sama's orders."

"Hai." Yashima nodded, "Umm…Uzume-san? What do you know about this Ashikabi of the South person?"

"Just Uzume is fine." the busty brunette said with a smile, before frowning, "Mikogami Hayato. Seventeen years old. He's the Heir to a vast fortune and is pretty much a Hikikomori otaku. He forcibly Wings Sekirei, although his first Sekirei, Number 5, Mutsu, was an accidental Winging. He treats his Sekirei like game pieces. The only Ashikabi worse than him is Higa of the East. Take your places now…that's them coming now."

Musubi ducked behind some building equipment while Uzume and Yashima leapt up into the partially constructed building and concealed themselves behind what few walls had been put up by the workmen. Then, the three Sekirei waited.

They didn't have to wait long.

The Raiden Futago leapt over the fence surrounding the building site, swiftly followed by a girl with short honey blond hair. She was panting heavily and looking around wildly, like a wild animal that was being hunted.

"Why are we in a building site?" she asked -no, demanded- of the twins in a slightly hysterical voice, "I thought you said we were going to your Ashikabi!?"

"This is part of the plan, Number Fifty-Four." Hibiki said calmingly, "He sent three more Sekirei to help us. I'll bet they're here, waiting for the four morons to catch up. Calm down."

"Those bastards have been hunting me day and night for the last two days!" the girl hissed back, "I haven't slept in that long either! You try being calm after that!"

"I hate to interrupt, but they're almost here." Hikari said urgently.

The next moment, four thumps behind the three Sekirei indicated the arrival of the contingent of the Ashikabi of the South's Sekirei. One carried a large double-handed blade like it was a dagger and wore a billowy kimono. Two might have been twins, both with blond hair in a twin tails style, wearing a black Chinese-style dress that had a yellow stripe down the centre.

The only difference between the two was their weapons. One carried a long whip, while the other seemed to have threads dangling from her fingers.

The last Sekirei had long grey hair and wore an elegant white dress that showed off her cleavage and her belly button. She seemed to be the leader and sent a smirk at the three her group had been pursuing.

"You've lead us on quite the merry chase Number Fifty-Four, but now we have you trapped!" she called out cheerfully.

"Oh? Are you sure about that?" Hikari asked slowly, "We aren't in the South anymore…this is the North."

"What of it?" one of the two blonds barked irritably, "There's no Ashikabi of the North; hell, there are no Ashikabi in the North point blank!"

"That is where you are wrong, on both counts." Hibiki said with a wicked grin, "Our Master resides here and he is more than worthy to claim the Northern sector as his own…which he does, by the way…and he doesn't like poachers like you! Get 'em girls!"

"Hai!" Musubi cried as she leapt over the wall and struck at the whip wielding Sekirei with an axe-drop. The blond barely dodged the kick in time, allowing Musubi's foot to strike the concrete with a loud [BANG], creating a small crater where she struck.

"Holy-! A Power-type!" the girl cried.

"I'm here too!" Yashima snarled as she leapt towards the leader and struck down with her large hammer, but the string user intercepted her with a net she swiftly weaved from her threads. Even so the wind pressure from the hammer-user's strike knocked the grey-haired Sekirei back a couple of paces.

"An Elemental weapon user." she said with a scowl, "Still, we are only outnumbered by one. You cannot wi-"

"By the veil of my contract, my Ashikabi's nightmares will be dispelled!" Uzume declared from her perch atop the building. Her veil started bulging and expanding until it enveloped the entire building site, blocking out the sun and creating numerous miniature veils from itself.

"Shit! Norito!" the leader cursed.

"Mikafutsu-no-Kami! (God of the Jug and Cloth Capital!)" The Veiled Sekirei declared coldly, "This is your last chance to retreat. Continue to pursue Number Fifty-Four and I promise you that you will never see your Ashikabi again!"

The leader cursed. This was not going to look go to her Master when she got back to him. "Fine. We'll leave. I am Number Sixty-Five, Taki and my Master is The Ashikabi of the South, Mikogami Hayato. Who are you and who do you serve?"

"I am Number Ten, Uzume, and I serve The Ashikabi of the North, Sahashi Minato." Uzume replied before motioning with her hand, creating an opening in her cloth enclosure, "Leave through that. Never set foot in the North again."

Taki gritted her teeth. She hated this. She hated that she was outmanoeuvred like this, she hated the fact she had to bow to the other Sekirei's demands and, above all else, she hated the fact that she was going to be punished for something that wasn't her fault.

She hated it all.

"Fall back, now." she ordered her three companions, who reluctantly obeyed while eyeing the Sekirei arrayed against them in addition to the fully deployed Norito ready to terminate them. This situation couldn't be won, so retreat was the only option…for now.

As the last of the intruders fled Uzume's trap, the cloth sealed itself shut as if it had never existed. Uzume cocked her head to one side for a moment before relaxing and grinning victoriously.

"They've run with their tails between their legs." she reported to the others with glee.

The Sekirei that had been pursued by the four Southern Sekirei slumped to the ground and started crying in relief. Uzume took in a deep breath and the large dome of cloth started to shrink, retreating back to its creator until it was once more draped over the busty brunette's shoulders and arms.

"Hey, isn't it bigger than before?" Hibiki asked curiously, as she mentally compared the veil's size to before Uzume had used her Norito.

"Hehehe…you guessed it." Uzume giggled, "Every time I use my Norito, my veil's size grows by about a fourth, length and breadth. Takehito said that it was something unique to me because of the nature of my Norito."

"So…using your Norito doesn't just give you a power boost and a powerful attack, it also improves your primary weapon?!" Yashima asked in amazement, "So lucky!"

"Meh. It isn't that good." Uzume waved one gloved hand dismissively, "I mean, how often am I going to use my Norito anyway? Not much until the Second Stage I'd say. Plus, once it gets to a certain size, it'll become unwieldy, so I'll have to cut it off once it gets to that size."

"Why not just split it in half and use two veils then?" Hikari asked as she knelt next to the weeping Sekirei.

"Huh…never thought about it." Uzume mused before shrugging, "It's worth a thought."

"Hey. You alright?" Hikari asked the still crying Sekirei gently.

"Y-Yeah…just…I'm just bit exhausted is all." the honey-blond girl replied as she dashed her tears away angrily and stood up., "I'd better introduce myself. I'm Number Fifty-Four, Kuruse. I'm also known as the Trident Sekirei. Thanks for saving me from the Ashikabi of the South."

"No problem. Our master directed us to prevent any forced Wingings that we came across." Hibiki replied, "Yashima here was almost forced yesterday and our Ashikabi was…not pleased."

Yashima whimpered a bit at the memory, prompting Uzume to give her a one armed hug of comfort.

"Hang on…if you're the Trident Sekirei, where's your weapon?" Hikari asked in confusion.

Kuruse reached out one hand and suddenly a trident as long as she was tall appeared in her grip from seemingly nowhere, much to the surprise of everyone else.

"I'm similar to Yashima-san over there." she explained, "She can channel gravity, but only through her hammer; I can teleport objects, but only my tridents are able to be used for as targets for it. MBI keeps my weapons locked up in a strong room deep underground the MBI Tower so no one can disarm me by destroying them."

"Wow…you must be pretty strong." Musubi said excitedly, "Why didn't you use your weapons against those four?"

"Number Sixty-Five, Taki, is known as the Mist Sekirei." Kuruse replied with a scowl, "She can blanket any area she is in with a layer of ice-cold mist. I need to see where I'm going to teleport my tridents, so when I was ambushed by them for the first time, I couldn't fight back properly and had to run."

"So wait…you were ambushed by a Sekirei that had the exact skill needed to render half of your abilities useless?" Uzume frowned, "Sounds like Mikogami's bought one of the Sekirei Handlers at MBI. We'll have to tell Minato-sama when we return to him."

"Agreed." Hibiki said, "Takami-Okaa-sama will be furious when she hears about this as well."

"Wait…Takami-sensei is your Ashikabi's mother?!" Kuruse asked in disbelief.

"Yep. She'll want to give you a once over at some point, so do you want one of us to escort you to the nearest MBI Hospital?" Hikari asked.

"Umm…could I…see if your Ashikabi-sama makes me react?" Kuruse asked shyly, "I…really want to be Winged and safe from people like the Ashikabi of the South."

"On the condition that you only Wing yourself on him if you are actually reacting to him." Uzume said sternly. She knew that the instinct to make herself safe from predators like the Ashikabi of the South would be strong in the Trident Sekirei at the moment. She didn't want her to make a rash decision based on fear that might take her away from the one she was destined to be with.

"Hai." Kuruse nodded submissively, sensing how serious the Veiled Sekirei was.

"Well, let's get going then." Hibiki said firmly, "Minato-sama is probably worried about us."

With that, the six Sekirei leapt out of the construction site and started roof hopping to where their Ashikabi was waiting for them.

With Minato…

"And…that's the last one." Minato placed a box full of Matsu's computer-related stuff into the temporary storeroom that she had claimed for her stuff. The Wisdom Sekirei had been delighted when Minato had told her that she could choose any of the unclaimed rooms to use as her computer room.

Minato had been rewarded with another kiss from the excitable girl before she started bustling around the rooms attempting to choose which one to pick.

Contrary to her previous claim of being physically little different form a regular human, Matsu had picked up two PC tower units with little difficulty and carried them from her room in Izumo Inn to Minato's house without looking slightly winded in the least.

Matsu's landlady, Asama Miya, was very polite and acted like a complete Yamato Nadeshiko. Calm, composed, elegant and reserved. She was unreal.

According to Matsu, once they returned to his house, Miya was a prude. The orangette was glad to not have to be scared to death just for making a slightly off-colour joke or forgetting to get dressed after a bath.

Minato couldn't really see how Miya could be scary, but decided to take Matsu at her word and not do anything to piss the woman off. Never hurts to be on good terms with your neighbours, as his grandmother always said.

"Minato-sama!" a familiar voice called, making his heart skip a beat in relief.

They were all right.

He hurried down the stairs with Matsu in tow and found his Sekirei relaxing in the living room. The Raiden Futago were the first on their feet and glomped him almost as he walked through the door. Uzume and Yashima were relaxing on the couch, while Musubi was pouting as the First Sekirei got first dibs at greeting their Ashikabi.

"Hey." Minato said softly as he put an arm around each of the twins, "Rough day?"

"So many scum trying to force themselves on Sekirei…so many!" Hikari mumbled as she breathed in the scent of her master, the scent that told her she was home.

"We clashed with two Sekirei from Higa of the East as well, but they had a subordinate Ashikabi who ordered them to fall back." Hikari added as she stepped back, "I think he's one to watch for-MMPPHH!"

She was interrupted by Minato kissing her on the lips, not that she was complaining. Her wings emerged from behind her and fluttered as she enjoyed her Ashikabi's attention.

"Wow…" an unfamiliar voice said. Minato saw out of the corner of his eye a blond-haired girl wearing a red dress, a short white jacket, a yellow belt, red fingerless gloves, black stockings and red ankle-high boots. She was also fidgeting in a very familiar way.

"I take it that this is the Sekirei you saved from Mikogami's Sekirei?" he asked once he broke the kiss.

"Hai." Uzume replied for Hibiki, who was staring off into the distance with a silly look on her face, "This is Number Fifty-Four, Kuruse, and the Trident Sekirei. She needs a place to crash since she's been chased around by Mikogami's Sekirei for two days straight."

"Determined, isn't he?" Minato commented, "Kuruse-san, I know you are feeling the need to Wing me right now, but please go and have a sleep before you decide to do anything. A decision as serious as this needs a clear mind to make the proper choice."

"Ah…thank you, Minato-sama." Kuruse flushed red as she replied to him.

"Matsu, could you set Kuruse-san up with a futon in one of the spare rooms?" he continued.

"On it, Mina-tan." Matsu nodded, "Come with me, Kuruse-tan. Let's get you settled."

As she led the blond girl out of the room, Matsu was willing to be that his other Sekirei were practically lining up for their turn at kissing him.

"Lucky…" Kuruse mumbled, echoing the orangette's thoughts.

"Minato-sama is being a bit too fair to you right now, I agree." Matsu told her as she led her up the stairs, "But still, when you're Winged tomorrow, it will all be worth it. You at least have it better than Uzume and I; we had to endure two days of holding ourselves back! We had to change our panties more than once, I can tell you…"

"I…can't believe that I can feel so much eat and not be on fire." Kuruse muttered, "It's like he's cast a spell on me...ahn!"

She moaned and twitched as Matsu felt the distinctive shifting in the link between her and her new Ashikabi that signalled he was kissing one of her new sister-wives.

"Better brace yourself; that's two down and three more to go." Matsu said sympathetically as she helped the poor girl into a room. Luckily enough for Kuruse, once her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light, although the Wisdom Sekirei was certain her dreams would be haunted by a certain raven-haired Ashikabi.

'I doubt that she'll be complaining though!' she snickered.

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An Hour Later

The Residence of Mikogami Hayato

"So…let me see if I understand this correctly." a young boy with brown hair said calmly. He wore a white shirt, with white trousers and shoes and was seated on a computer chair that looked really expensive.

Facing him was Taki, the leader of the Sekirei pursuit squad. She was looking apprehensive at what was happening.

"You've spent the last two days pursuing a single Unwinged Sekirei, one of whom you knew the majority of her abilities and how to counter them." he listed as he looked his Sekirei in the eyes, "Yet she somehow evaded you for just under forty-eight hours by refusing to engage you at all. Now you say that she was rescued by Sekirei claiming to belong to the Ashikabi of the North. Is that an accurate summation of events, Taki?"

"H-Hai, Mikogami-sama." the grey-haired woman replied with a great deal of trepidation.

Mikogami looked at the black-clad man standing next to him. "Mutsu, is she telling the truth?"

"She is." Mutsu replied, making the nervous Sekirei slump slightly in relief.

"Hmmm…how troublesome." Mikogami said with a frown, "And this Number Ten…you are certain that she used a Norito? It wasn't just a powerful attack?"

"She used an incantation, Mikogami-sama." Taki replied instantly, "There is no possible way for a Sekirei to disguise when we use our Norito, as we have to chant an incantation in order to use it after being kissed by our Ashikabi. In addition the scale of the attack was not something that she could have accomplished without it being a Norito."

"Humph." the boy frowned, "Mutsu, find out what you can about this Sahashi Minato fellow. If he's going to be messing with the game, I need to know how to put him down hard if need be."

"He's just ensuring you don't hunt in his area of the city, similar to how you do not allow others to hunt in the South." Mutsu pointed out, "You can't really blame him if you do the exact same thing."

"There shouldn't be an Ashikabi in the North in the first place!" Mikogami retorted to his First Sekirei, "All you Sekirei seem petrified at the idea of going too far North for some reason. Even MBI steps lightly up there!"

"That's because there's a Han'nya up there, a really scary one." Mutsu replied seriously, "If the Han'nya of the North is roused to anger, even I would fall before her. Even the Black Sekirei would fall before her. The only way that might -might- work against the Han'nya is to array all 108 Sekirei against her. Even then, I actually doubt that we would be able to do more than inconvenience her."

"Is this Han'nya a Sekirei?" Mikogami asked.

"Yes and no." Mutsu replied, "She is both Sekirei Number One and the Pillar of the Sekirei, She Who Rules Us. She is our beginning and our mother. Even so, we Sekirei do not know, even she does not know, exactly what she is. In Game terms, she's a Cheat Code, one that has the probability of destroying the game completely. Mikogami, if you trust anything I say, trust me when I tell you to not do anything that could possibly bring her wrath down upon us."

Mikogami was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "If you are going to go that far, I guess that I have no choice but to trust in your advice. Taki, inform all my Sekirei that the northern area of the New Capital is out of bounds. You will not be punished for failing on this occasion."

"Arigato, Mikogami-sama." Taki bowed before beating a swift retreat while the going was good.

Mutsu left in order to start his research about on Sahashi Minato, leaving Mikogami on his own, brooding about losing a new game piece.

Later on

Sahashi Takami's Office, MBI Tower

"Shit." Takami snarled. She had just gotten off the phone to her son, who had informed her of the high probability that one or more of her Handlers were in the employ of at least one of the Four Ashikabi.

The Four Ashikabi were the most powerful Ashikabi, with multiple Sekirei under their command. Higa of the East, Sanada of the West, Mikogami of the South and now Minato of the North. These four Ashikabi were unofficially the rulers of the New Capital, with MBI acting as moderator and disciplinarian.

"Yahan!" she called.

"You called for me, Takami-sama?" a tanned girl asked as she stepped out of the shadows to Takami's left.

'Stepping out of the shadows' was not used figuratively when talking about this Sekirei. Number Fifty-Seven, Yahan, was the Sekirei of the Shadows. She possessed the ability that MBI scientists referred to as 'Shadow Walking', allowing her to walk into a shadow in one place and walk out of another shadow elsewhere. The longest distance she could travel while Unwinged was directly across the city, but in a fight, she could leap from shadow to shadow and take enemies down with her long curved dagger.

Yahan was a tall girl with jet-black hair and tanned skin. She wore a bikini top and bottom, over which she wore a hooded shawl, a sarong with a buckled belt, a collar and knee high boots. Her foot-long dagger was sheathed at the small of her back within easy reach.

All in black, of course.

"Yahan, my son has informed me that there is a strong possibility that some or all of our Handlers are on the take." Takami told her, "Investigate their homes and finances and report back to me about any you find to have received a funds-transfer from any registered Ashikabi."

"As you wish." Yahan nodded, "If I am successful, will you allow your son to Wing me? I can feel his power, even in the shadow world."

"What does his power feel like?" Takami asked curiously, the scientist in her temporarily overriding the rest of her.

The ravenette shuddered in desire. "He is strong…how any Sekirei cannot feel and respond to his power is a mystery to me. His power is intoxicating, enthralling and beguiling, not because of its quantity, but because of the kindness and honour he radiates along with it. If he Wings two more Sekirei, I doubt I will be able to hold myself back from going to him without permission."

Throughout this mini-rant, Takami found her eyebrows gradually rising in surprise. Yahan wasn't what one might call loquacious, preferring to convey her intent with as few words as possible, so for her to wax so poetic like this must mean that she was almost in heat for her son.

"I promise." Takami said with a nod. She like Yahan and thought she'd make a nice Daughter-in-Law. "Once this investigation is complete, I'll take you over to Min-chan and recommend you myself."

"Thank you, Takami-sama." Yahan replied gratefully, "Well, I'd better get going. The sooner these idiots are rounded up, the sooner I get my Ashikabi and sister-wives."

With that, she stepped back into the shadows and vanished as if she hadn't been there in the first place.

Takami sighed in irritation. Seriously, these idiots thought that they wouldn't be caught by MBI for selling secrets? Even Minaka wasn't that stupid, which was saying something.

She stood up with a grunt. Now she had to do the final adjustments for the two Sekirei chosen to flesh out the Discipline Squad, Numbers 104 and 105, Haihane and Benitsubasa, the Blue and Red Sekirei.

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Next Chapter: Cut the Wind

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