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"Minato." - Regular Speech
'Musubi' – Thoughts
"Kaminari!" - Sekirei Incantation
Beta'd by BigCC
Chapter 23: The Rōnin Ashikabi's Dilemma
The Next Morning
Kitchen, Sahashi Residence
"You two look like cats who've gotten into the cream." Yomi muttered jealously as she eyed the Raiden Futago, who were visibly preening at her words.
"Oh, but we are…" Hikari purred.
"…and we did!" Hibiki smirked. "Girl, lemme tell you...Minato-sama satisfied both of us last night, and that was his first time. By the time you become eligible to sleep with him properly, he'll be dominating you."
The flaxen-haired Sekirei gulped at that insinuation. It wasn't that she didn't like the idea of her Master pounding her into a puddle of ecstatic mindless goo, far from it, but she wanted it now, dammit!
"…you girls do remember that I'm standing right here, right?" Minato deadpanned from his place in front of the cooker. "And where are the other girls?"
"They're arguing about laundry priorities…something about messed-up sheets." Hikari offered, a wicked grin on her face. "Was that a problem for you, Yomi?"
"I got my sheets in first." the Death Scythe Sekirei muttered, not looking at anyone and a bright blush on her cheeks.
"Not able to sleep, so you got up early to change your bed?" Hibiki teased her, the increased amount of blood rushing to Yomi's face confirmed that the younger twin's guess was spot-on.
"…shut up!" Yomi muttered petulantly, face crimson. "Just wait until the boot's on the other foot! I doubt you'll do any better!"
"Looking forward to it." the second of the First Sekirei smirked, radiating ALL the smug.
"I have classes soon, so can someone please get Kuruse-chan and Yashima-chan?" Minato called as he continued cooking as fast as he could. Thank god he'd splurged and gotten some extra-large cooking utensils, otherwise he'd be making breakfast until it was past time for lunch!
"I'll go, Minato-sama" Yomi hopped up and darted away at the bidding of her Ashikabi.
The Raiden Futago exchanged amused glances with one another. All of Minato's Flock, themselves excluded, had woken up with soaked bedsheets, hands massaging their bodies in intimate locations and a hearty desire to hurry up and achieve the same level of connection with their Ashikabi. They were also more willing to do what Minato told them to do, which was saying something.
As for the twins themselves, the new addition to the Sekirei Crest on their back, their Sekirei Numbers, was only the visible sign of their new and complete connection with Minato. But their powers were now not only stronger but more stable, more responsive and easily controlled than before. They could even generate electricity on their own now, their main weakness as twin Sekirei being removed. Granted it wasn't as powerful as when they were together, but it was still far better than before.
Additionally, their connection to their Flock-sisters had been strengthened as well, allowing them to feel the bonds connecting them all without having to reaching back through their bonds with their Ashikabi.
Minato agreed with their conclusion that it was likely something unique to them, as the First Sekirei of the Flock. It made sense that the two 'first wives' would need to be aware of all the others for various reasons.
The return of Yomi, and the arrival of Kuruse and Yashima, was only the forerunner to the stampede of femininity that arrived after them, as the entire Flock made it down for breakfast and a good-morning kiss with their Ashikabi. While they ate, Minato threw together a group of bento boxes for himself and his guardian Sekirei.
While Yashima and Kuruse would be guarding him, Yahan would be secretly keeping an eye on Yukari from the shadows, while the Twins, Akitsu, and Uzume would be on patrol duty, splitting up into two teams of two, leaving Matsu to look after the house and coordinate things, and Musubi, Yomi and Kusano to act as a mobile reserve.
It was very fortunate that Musubi knew how to make curry rice, otherwise they'd be subsisting on konbini-bento while he was away from the house. He made a note to buy a cook book for beginners and try teaching his girls how to cook. It would make a nice bonding exercise, if nothing else, and at least a few were bound to have some talent for it.
Soon, he was out the door, with Yashima and Kuruse at his back, while Yahan slipped off into the shadows and the patrol teams leapt off to ensure the Ashikabi of the East and South weren't getting up to any funny business.
He had a really good feeling about today.
With Miya
As the exceptionally powerful Ashikabi nodded politely towards her as he and two of his Sekirei passed by, Asama Miya, who was sweeping her doorstep, was conflicted.
'I cannot believe that those two immediately jumped into bed with him, as soon as they wouldn't lose any power from the act.' she thought, scandalised. The lavender-haired woman had met the Raiden Futago the previous day and their bond with their Master was very impressive, but she had still counselled them to wait a while.
Counselled them in vain, so it seemed.
Although she was somewhat loathe to admit it, her home being empty like this was…lonely. She no longer had Matsu and Uzume underfoot, and even Homura was staying away as long as he could due to the fact his body was very much reacting to either Sahashi Minato or his sister Yukari.
While a possible reaction to Yukari had its own issues, Miya knew it was the possibility that Minato was his Ashikabi that was bothering the ash-haired Sekirei Guardian. He was so utterly determined that he had always been male, in spite of the fact his body had been in flux so often since he had been 'born' from the artificial womb that not even MBI had been able to properly determine his 'birth' gender.
Not that Homura would trust anything that anyone from MBI, aside from Sahashi Takami perhaps, said. His hatred for Minaka Hiroto was consuming him faster than his own flames. It honestly worried her.
And then there had been the previous night! As the Sekirei Pillar, Miya was exceptionally sensitive to the psychic emanations that all her fellow Sekirei passively gave off, not needing to be in a Flock with them to read them, but ordinarily, she could easily tune them out, for privacy's sake if for nothing else. But last night, she hadn't been able to block out the pleasure-filled psychic cries from the Raiden Futago.
That was bad enough, but the images being broadcast by the duo had been just as impossible to block. As she was still faithful to her dear departed love Takehito, Miya hadn't been sexually active for several years, even although she was the only Unwinged female Sekirei that could have sex and not lose a jot of power. To say that the sudden downpour of emotions, images and voices hadn't taken her off guard would be a lie and that she hadn't had to...ahem, relieve some of the tension they caused would also be a lie.
It had been a while since she'd done that and she couldn't say that it wasn't nice to relax herself that way…
Still, she was feeling a premonition of dread at the number of Sekirei Sahashi Minato had at his disposal. Eleven Sekirei, twelve if you counted the Raiden Futago separately. Once they all reached their full maturation, Miya had the horrible feeling that she would be inundated with a veritable orgy of psychic images, cries and feelings every single night.
'I had better start building some mental barriers towards those particular feeling, else I may just go mad.' she thought as she re-entered her home, closing the door behind her.
She ignored the more scandalous and voyeuristic part of herself that she had long-since beaten down into submission.
Later
Shinto Teitō University Campus
"Urgh…orientation went on forever…" Minato groaned as he left the campus.
"Good work today, Minato-sama." Yashima chirped as she landed next to him, Kuruse following a second later. As his two Sekirei weren't students, they had been forced to keep watch on him from a distance so as not to arouse the ire of the Campus Security.
This had not been a popular decision with his two wives-slash-bodyguards, and he resolved to work something out with the University administration so he could have his Sekirei nearby.
"So, what should we have for dinner tonight?" he asked as they glomped him from either side.
"Beef steak!" Yashima cheered.
"No, tonkatsu!" Kuruse pouted. "Beef's too expensive!"
"We have MBI Unlimited Credit Cards!" the Hammer Sekirei protested.
"That's no reason to spend too much needlessly! Besides, we already had Beef Nabe two days ago!" Kuruse countered. "I can practically feel my thighs expanding at the thought of even more!"
"You look perfect to me, Kuruse-chan." Minato reassured her, making the honey-blonde blush.
The sound of female voices shouting, people running and of concrete being smashed drew the trio up short.
"We are still in the central area, the part under MBI's direct supervision...right?" Minato asked rhetorically.
"Hai, Minato-sama." Kuruse agreed softly.
"Right, Kaa-san really needs to fire whoever's in charge of security." the raven-haired boy sighed. "Kuruse, go up ahead and stop whatever is going on. Yashima and I will follow you as fast as we can."
"Hai!" the Trident Sekirei said with a sharp nod. Grasping onto the haft of a trident that had appeared in mid-air, she twirled it around before leaping into the air, to land on the rooftops and race off in search of the running battle.
"Yashima-chan, lead the way." Minato instructed his remaining Sekirei, who unlimbered her hammer and held it at the ready.
"They won't touch you, Minato-sama." the Hammer-wielding girl said grimly.
"I know they won't." he smiled at his Third (technically Fourth) Sekirei before they hurried down the street.
With Kuruse
The Trident Sekirei was very proud that she was one of the ones called upon most by her Ashikabi to act as a scout, bodyguard and rapid-reaction force. Given the disgraceful manner in which she had encountered him (that mist bitch would pay for that one day, she swore) she honestly wouldn't have blamed him if he treated her like spun glass and kept her off the front lines.
But he hadn't. He hadn't even taken advantage of her fragile emotional state to Wing her, instead insisting that she rested and recovered before doing so, and he even trusted her with guarding his person more often than not. Such kindness and trust were everything a Sekirei could want in an Ashikabi, so Kuruse had sworn to never let him down in any task that she was given by him.
In this case, it meant tracking down the disturbance being caused by a Sekirei (who else could break concrete without power tools or sledgehammers?) and putting a stop to it.
Leaping from roof to roof, the honey-blonde Sekirei absently summoned forth the bag which held a good dozen of her disposable tridents, just in case the mist bitch was, in fact, nearby.
She recognised that her dislike and desire for revenge against #65, Taki, wasn't entirely rational; if anyone was to blame, it was her Ashikabi, Mikogami Hayato, as it had been he who had given the order to have her hounded for days on end until she could barely stand. Still, it was only because of Taki and her ability to generate and control mist that she had been almost completely unable to fight back whatsoever, so Kuruse would eliminate her from the Sekirei Plan as soon as was practical; all her sister-wives knew she had called dibs on Taki, which was to the good.
"Haruka-sama, I-I can't keep running!" a female voice wailed from up ahead. "Leave me and save yourself!"
"Like hell I'm gonna leave my girl behind, Kuno!" a male voice said stubbornly. "Come here!"
"Eep!" the female sounded taken aback. Kuruse landed atop a store and looked down to see a fairly average young man, likely about the same age as Minato-sama, with light-brown hair, forest-green eyes and dressed in cheap clothing. He was fairly average in height and build, and he also had a girl in his arms, presumably having just swept her off her feet.
That girl was a fairly delicate and weak-looking person, with a petite figure, very modest curves, pale blonde hair and lavender eyes. She was also wearing a blue blouse-and-skirt combo, with knee-high black boots and thigh-high stockings.
'A Sekirei-Ashikabi pair, but clearly not the cause of this incident.' Kuruse deduced instantly. 'So they're being pursued, but by who?'
Deciding to get the story from the horse's mouth, she dropped down near to them, making the skittish pair leap in fright.
"Wha-?! Who're you?"! The boy yelped. "Do-don't think you're gonna get my Kuno as long as I'm here!"
"Admirable resolve, but I'm not affiliated with whoever is chasing you." the Trident Sekirei said in amusement. "I'm #54, Kuruse, the Sixth Sekirei of the Ashikabi of the North. Who is chasing you?"
"A…a couple of Sekirei from Ashikabi under the Eastern Ashikabi…I think…" the boy almost wilted in relief. "They've been chasing Kuno and me all day."
"Can your Sekirei…Kuno-san?…not fight?" Kuruse asked.
The Ashikabi grimaced alongside the Sekirei he cuddled in his arms. "Unfortunately, no. Kuno's the Sekirei of Song, and the most she can do is misdirect or block attacks with her singing abilities, which hurts her."
"Wait…Number Ninety-Five?" the honey-blonde asked, startled. "Takami-sensei's been looking for you. Your abilities were modified in an unorthodox manner, against her wishes, so she's looking to fix them. My Ashikabi is Takami-sensei's son, so he'll make sure you get fixed up."
"I…I can get healed? My songs won't hurt me anymore?" the girl perked up at that.
"Why would the Head of the Sekirei Plan care?" the young man asked, clearly suspicious.
Kuruse could understand his suspicion, even if she didn't like having her mother-in-law maligned by him. "Because she's been trying to mitigate any suffering that the Sekirei go through, but some slipped through the cracks, like your Kuno." she said patiently. "Takami-sensei is nothing like the quack who botched her adjustment, I promise you."
"Haruka-sama…" Kuno whispered.
"Argh…fine. It isn't like I have much choice here." Haruka sighed. "We'll follow you to your Ashikabi."
"No need, I'm right here." Minato said as he stepped around a corner, Yashima at his side, hammer ready.
"Minato-sama!" Kuruse said in surprise.
"I arrived about halfway through your talk and wanted to see how you'd do." the Ashikabi of the North explained as he walked over and kissed his Sekirei on the cheek. "You did very well."
"Auu~!" the Trident Sekirei blushed brightly at the praise from her master.
"So you're the Ashikabi of the North? The Shielding Ashikabi?" Haruka asked Minato, who jerked his head over to look at the other boy in shock at that last epithet.
"That what?!"
"The Shielding Ashikabi." the other boy repeated as he set his recovered Sekirei down on her feet. "You pushed out both the Ashikabi of the East, and the Ashikabi of the South, from the North and only allow neutral Ashikabi and Sekirei up there. You literally shield the North, so that's what people call you."
"…remind me to ask Matsu-chan about that." he muttered to Yashima, who nodded obediently.
"There they are!" a female voice shouted. Two Sekirei appeared at the other end of the street to where Minato and the others stood. One had long blonde hair and wore a white top with a red robe over it, a black skirt and black thigh-high boots, while the other was a tall girl with a tomboyish-short haircut, wearing a purple halter top, a dark blue skirt and purple elbow-length fingerless gloves. She had a '72' tattooed on her left upper-arm and had knives in her hands.
"That's Number 27, Nina, the Dance Sekirei, and Number 72, Natsu, the Throwing Knife Sekirei." Kuruse identified them both. "According to Matsu-chan, their Ashikabi have been forced to work for Higa under threat of having their Sekirei terminated or some other form of coercion."
"…dance? Really?" Minato deadpanned.
"Hey!" Nina objected as she approached.
"She uses dance moves mixed with capoeira to fight." the Trident Sekirei informed her Ashikabi. "It's actually more effective than you might think."
"Thank you, some recognition!" the Dance Sekirei smirked before a look of confusion came over her face. "Wait, who are you three?"
"Number Fifty-Four, Kuruse." the trident-wielder stated.
"Number Eighty-Four, Yashima." the hammer-user replied.
"And their Ashikabi, Sahashi Minato." the raven-haired boy stated. "Better known as the Ashikabi of the North."
Both of the opposing Sekirei paled drastically at that revelation.
"This…isn't good…" Natsu muttered. "But…my Ashikabi…if I fail, he'll be hurt!"
"Mine too." Nina said before entering a combat stance. "Number Fifty-Four, let's fight!"
"You're mine, Eighty-Four!" the Knife Sekirei added, raising a brace of knives in either hand.
"Minato-sama, take this chance to fall back some with Haruka-san and Kuno-san." Kuruse said tensely as she prepared to fight. This was the sad part about the Sekirei Plan as it currently was, twisted and manipulated by people like Higa Izumi. These Sekirei had been lucky enough to find Ashikabi who cared for them, but Higa had wrested their happiness away from them, and made them into soldiers who fought, not for their future with their Ashikabi, but to save what little they currently had.
She was looking forward to dealing with the man later on in the Sekirei Plan.
Yashima just focused on how she was to fight an opponent with swifter and more dexterous weapons than her hammer. A Sekirei like Uzume could likely deal with her easily, but her heavy hammer wasn't best suited to attacking fast and agile opponents.
"Look after yourselves, girls." Minato said grimly, and pulled Haruka and Kuno back.
"Guess I should introduce myself properly." Haruka said sheepishly. "Shigi Haruka, 2nd Year Rōnin, applying to get into Shinto Teitō University."
"Sahashi Minato, First Year Student at Shinto Teitō University and formerly a second-year Rōnin in applying for it." Minato smiled back.
"Haaaah!" Nina spun into a barrage of kicks that Kuruse used the haft of her weapon to fend off, before the honey-blonde Sekirei tried to sweep her opponent's feet out from under her, although the Dance Sekirei nimbly avoided with an acrobatic leap.
Meanwhile, Yashima dauntlessly endured a barrage of throwing knives from Natsu, the Throwing Knife Sekirei's speed and accuracy with her chosen implements just as high as the Hammer Sekirei had feared. Fending them off with the long haft of her hammer was about all she could do for the moment.
"Why won't you just lose for the sake of my Ashikabi?!" Nina growled in frustration as Kuruse dodged or blocked every kick, punch and other attack that she could come up with.
"With the love and trust that my Ashikabi gives me, defeat is impossible!" Kuruse refuted hotly. The thought of allowing herself to be defeated, in front of her Ashikabi no less, made her indignant. She skipped back to get some distance before unleashing a barrage of spear strikes that were very specifically not aimed at the body of her opponent, much to the Dance Sekirei's confusion.
"What are you…?" she started to ask before all of her clothes ripped apart from the vacuum force of the spear passing by her body, leaving her totally naked. "Eeek!"
She crouched down and covered herself up, but that gave Kuruse the opening she needed to leap over and press a finger to the Crest of her opponent.
"Oh triple-bladed spear of my pledge, rend asunder the chaos and turmoil afflicting my Ashikabi!" she chanted, making the Sekirei Crest of Nina glow and fade, defeating her fellow blonde Sekirei.
"No…! Ashi…kabi…-sama…!" the Dance Sekirei managed to say before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground.
"No, Nina!" Natsu yelled, momentarily distracted by her comrade's defeat. It was an opportunity that Yashima did not waste as she reduced the hold of gravity on her hammer to almost nothing, allowing her to leap into the air and bring it down at the Throwing Knife Sekirei, restoring the weight and then doubling it as she passed the apex-point of her swing.
"Gravity Impact!" the Hammer Sekirei shouted.
"Shi-!" Natsu started to curse before being struck by the hammer and slammed down to the ground, dropping her knives as she did so. As Yashima raised her weapon she was shocked to discover that Natsu still wasn't defeated, staying awake and active through sheer force of will alone.
"N-no…can't…my…Ashikabi…!" Although battered, bloody and almost broken, Natsu still tried to stand. Her devotion to her Ashikabi was admirable.
"I'm sorry…" Yashima said tearfully as she moved around behind the girl and ripped a hole in the back of Natsu's top, pressing a finger to the exposed Crest. "Hammer of my pledge, shatter the enemies of my Ashikabi!"
With that, the second Sekirei finally collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut.
"I'm sorry…Ashikabi…-sama…!" Natsu wept before she mercifully lost consciousness, leaving a despondent Yashima looking down at her.
She hated this. She hated fighting those who had been conscripted, either through forced Winging or by threat to their Destined One, to fight. In a fair and equal fight, she wouldn't mind, but someone fighting for a cause not their own rarely fought with everything they had, or if they did, they fought desperately and sloppily, much like Natsu had fought.
"Yashima-chan…" Minato hugged her from behind, making her jolt in the realisation that she had been staring at the unmoving form of her defeated foe for a few minutes. "It's not your fault. There was no other choice for either of you."
"It's not fair...she found her Ashikabi…!" the hammer dropped from its wielder's hands as she turned around and hugged her Destined One. "Even although she found her love, she wasn't able to fight for him!"
"I know, Yashima-chan." the raven-haired young man said softly, stroking her hair.
"It's not fair…why does the Ashikabi of the East have to do this…?" she started crying. The memory of the man who had almost forcibly Winged her before Minato had sent Musubi, Hikari and Hibiki to stop him came back to her and she shuddered.
These poor Sekirei…she could have been like them, forced into a fight for someone who wasn't her Destined One, forced to fight until she was broken. How close she had come to that fate made her tremble in fear and anger.
"I don't know, Yashima-chan." Minato told her. "But I will find out. And if I don't like the answer, I'll leave his fate up to you."
"Hai…thank you, Master." Yashima looked up at him gratefully and kissed him on the mouth, her pale-blue wings blossoming brightly from her back and furling around them both protectively.
"I've never been able to understand how multiple Sekirei can share an Ashikabi." Haruka sighed. "Don't you get jealous at all?"
Realizing she was being addressed at this, Kuruse simply shrugged. "We Sekirei are very similar to humans so yes, jealousy can sometimes rear its ugly head, but by and large, we all instinctively understand that our Ashikabi may attract a large Flock. Minato-sama has eleven Sekirei, twelve if you count the Raiden Futago separately. Sure, we argue and squabble a lot, and there are petty jealousies that pop up now and again, but we are all united in that we all willingly reacted and Winged ourselves to him. That kind of joy…no offence, but as an Ashikabi who has only Winged a single Sekirei, it is a bit hard for you to understand how a bond between multiple Sekirei who love the same person feels. There are no words for how comforting and ecstatic we feel about it."
"Huh…" Haruka frowned in thought. "Kuno likes being my only Sekirei, so unless another Reacts to me, I think I'll stick with her."
"Haruka-sama…!" the frail blonde Sekirei looked up at her master with a lovestruck gaze. In spite of her being weaker, not as womanly or as outgoing as some other Sekirei, he was still willing to declare her 'his girl' without hesitation. This was why she loved him so much.
"Go right ahead. Taking your Sekirei's feelings into account is the sign that you are a good Ashikabi." the Trident Sekirei smiled. "Take it from me, some of the other Ashikabi are scumbags, plain and simple. People like you and Minato-sama are rare, Shigi-san. Don't change."
Later
Shigi Haruka and Kuno's Six Mat Room
After Minato finished consoling Yashima (and kissing Kuruse as a reward as well), the Rōnin Ashikabi had led them back to his home...which was, in mater of fact, Minato's old six-mat room. The previous landlord, Ondori, had been imprisoned for breaking Minato's arm (which had infuriated both Kuruse and Yashima upon hearing about it), so it had been sold to a tough, but fair, old woman called Usagi Rin.
"Wait…so he really just burst in here without knocking? Sucks to be you, dude…" Haruka said sympathetically. He and Kuno were sitting on one side of the room, with Minato, Kuruse and Yashima sitting on his other side.
"Yeah…" Minato slumped at the reminder. Being back here was full of bad memories for him. His girls sensed that, so they snuggled in at his sides. "So your landlady lifted the no women thing?"
"Yeah. She doesn't live here like yours did, so she doesn't care about what we get up to, so long as we don't wreck the place." the boy said before blushing. "Not that we've, ah…done anything, yet."
"Yeah, I should probably tell you something about that…" Minato perked up and quickly gave the other Ashikabi a rundown about the need to hold off on sleeping with your Sekirei until a certain limit was passed.
"Huh…wow, that's good to know." Haruka said with a slow nod. "But…here's the thing…even if Kuno gets fixed up by your mother, we can't fight in the Sekirei Plan. Kuno's ability is best for holding down other Sekirei, and if they're a powerful Sekirei like a Single Number, they can shrug it off pretty easily. If we fight, we don't stand a chance. So what I'm planning on doing is escaping from Shinto Teitō with Kuno so we don't have to fight."
"That…might be difficult." Kuruse said with a frown. "Leaving aside the Private Army of MBI that has the city encircled, there's the Discipline Squad. Karasuba, Benitsubasa and Haihane are on patrol for any Sekirei who attempt to flee the city. If you can't fight against regular Sekirei, then you don't stand a chance against the three of them."
"I know that, but what else can I do?" the boy looked frustrated, conflicted and stubborn. "If I stay, I lose my girl. If I try to leave, I lose my girl. Damned if I do and damned if I don't!"
"Not do anything rash." Minato said seriously. "Until Kuno-san is healed and her abilities restored to normal, making plans is a pointless endeavour. I haven't any right to stop you, but I would ask that you at least wait until your Sekirei is healed and recovered."
"That's the plan, but...what can undoing whatever MBI did to Kuno do for her to make anything different?" Haruka asked. "I mean…"
"That's something only my mother can answer." Minato said with a shake of his head. He got his phone out, hit the speed-dial for his mother and waited until she picked up.
"Hey, kaa-san. I found Number 95." he said. "And her Ashikabi wants to meet you so she can be helped."
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Next Chapter: The Teitō Escape Plan
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