Read, Review and check out my other stories! And seriously, my story schedule is on my profile. Please actually LOOK at it before you PM or ask in a review when the next chapter is up!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sekirei. More's the pity, now that it's out in paperback.

"Minato." - Regular Speech

'Musubi' – Thoughts

"Kaminari!" - Sekirei Incantation

Beta'd by BigCC

Chapter 25: A Warrior Enters: Kaho, the Naginata Sekirei

Three Days Later

Restaurant Le Calice D'or, Shin Teitō

Yomi could safely say that she would cheerfully throttle her past self for being so stupid about letting herself get Winged by Sahashi Minato. Hands down, he was probably the best Ashikabi in the world, bar none

She had been fortunate enough to have won a pair of vouchers for a highly-exclusive restaurant in a lottery at the market, and so she had struck quickly and precisely in asking her Ashikabi on a date. Granted, Minato had taken the various members of his Flock out on dates before, but she was the first one to be the one doing the inviting.

It had been worth the dark, jealous stares of her sister-wives. Especially Matsu, who was working hard at her part of the plan Minato had developed to help Kuno and Shigi Haruka.

Of course, she hadn't gone into it blind. She had made preparations, as the place had a minimum dress code. She was now wearing a light purple dress with matching heels and a thin choker around her neck. Her long flaxen-hair was tied back in a ponytail, the usual ribbons she wore used to secure it in place.

In her bag (purple as well to match her dress and shoes) was a compact, collapsible version of her precious death scythe, as she couldn't tote the real thing around and still go on a date. Thankfully, her new mother-in-law had been able to provide her with something more concealable at her request.

Minato also had his own outfit. He wore the custom-fitted tuxedo that Takami-okaa-sama had delivered with her collapsible scythe very well in her humble opinion, and she both preened and wanted to snarl as she saw a few human women eye him up. HERS! He was HERS! Look but don't touch, damned human wannabes. Her Ashikabi was just for her and her sister-wives!

"Wow. This place is really upper-class." the Ashikabi of the North said in an undertone to her as they entered the place, Le Calice D'or, which meant 'the golden chalice' in French, apparently.

"It is." Yomi agreed. She had her right arm hooked around Minato's left one, making it obvious that she was his woman, and it was making some men (and some women) glare subtly at Minato in envy.

'Tough luck. I only share Minato-sama with other Sekirei.' she thought smugly. 'No way am I letting a human woman near my Minato-sama!'

Once they had been led to a table and had ordered, Yomi asked softly, "How's the plan coming for Shigi-san?"

"It's coming." Minato sighed. "Matsu's well into finishing the preparations on her side, but Shigi-san is still wary about trusting Kaa-san. I honestly can't blame him for being cautious with anyone involved with MBI, but…"

"...but his nervous twitching is making things really awkward." Yomi finished. "Yeah, we noticed."

For humans, it might have been a bit less obvious, but for Sekirei like her and her sister-wives? Even if they all knew that Kuno was no threat (in any sense of the word), having a Sekirei bound to another Ashikabi near their own had all of them a bit keyed-up, which made the issues propping up all the more obvious. Every time Sahashi Takami was so much in the same room as Shigi Haruka or Kuno, both would tense up almost on instinct and the human Ashikabi would instantly move to stand closer his Sekirei.

The protectiveness that the single Ashikabi and Sekirei Duo had for each other would have been endearing, if their paranoia and bullheadedness about leaving the capital wasn't starting to get on everyone's nerves.

"Well, knowing Takami-okaa-sama, she'll put her foot down and make him believe her through sheer brute force soon enough." the flaxen-haired Sekirei offered with a ladylike shrug.

Minato sweatdropped as he could easily see his mother doing exactly that. He silently resolved to try and get the other boy to stop being so overly cautious before his mother was forced to traumatize the poor guy.

"Anyway, I'm glad that the Ashikabi of the East and Ashikabi of the South have both started respecting the sanctity of the North." Yomi said, changing the subject slightly.

"Considering Akitsu is now capable of sending their Sekirei running with a single technique whenever they try something, it doesn't surprise me." Minato replied dryly. "I don't doubt that their morale is already six feet under by now, particularly considering most of them weren't even properly Winged."

Having seen the White Ice Sekirei casually send a half-dozen battle-ready Sekirei flying with a wave of ice, knocking more than half their numbers out and leaving the remainder bruised and battered, summoned by a single gesture, the Death Scythe Sekirei couldn't really argue with that point. Combined with the fact that most of the opposing Sekirei likely didn't have a strong bond with their Ashikabi and she was fairly sure that there was likely plenty of trouble brewing in the camps of the two more problematic members of the Cardinal Ashikabi.

Then again, such was the power of a Single Number Sekirei. With Akitsu rapidly recovering from her botched Adjustment thanks to her bond with Minato, it was rapidly becoming apparent just how big the gap in power between the Single Numbers and normal Sekirei really was.

"I'm honestly surprised the Southern Brat hasn't tried to send Mutsu to try and counter Akitsu yet." Yomi mused. Send a Single Number to counter another Single Number, that seemed the most obvious solution to her.

"No, Mikogami's being smart about this." the Ashikabi of the North gently refuted. "Mutsu is his biggest advantage and his strongest deterrent in order to keep Higa from trying to invade his territory. In terms of numbers, Higa has an advantage thanks to his 'recruited' Ashikabi, but Mutsu evens the odds back in Mikogami's favour. He's not going to risk Mutsu until he's either got enough Sekirei on his side to match Higa even without Mutsu or he's sure that Mutsu can overcome Akitsu without risking serious injury."

"Huh, so the brat's playing it smart and not taking any big risks. Colour me surprised." the flaxen-haired girl blinked in surprise. She'd been hunted by both Higa and Mikogami's Sekirei, but the Southern Brat's had definitely come the closest to actually catching her, so her distaste for him was slightly stronger than hers for Higa.

Minato shook his head. "He's rich, spoilt, and more than a bit of a hikikomori, but Mikogami isn't stupid." he pointed out firmly. "From what Matsu has been able to dig up, he's actually some kind of child prodigy. His parents were utter control freaks, apparently, until Mutsu put the fear of Sekirei into them. Most of this is likely him acting out and over-indulging himself now that he's finally got some control over his life."

The Ashikabi of the North paused for a moment before continuing. "It doesn't really excuse him treating Sekirei like 'collector's items' or whatever, but it does explain a lot about how he's acting."

"Too right!" Yomi agreed with a scoff of irritation at the youngest of the Cardinal Ashikabi. "The only good thing you can say about him is that he doesn't mistreat his Sekirei. He's an utter brat, but at least he's better than the Bastard of the East."

(Elsewhere, Mikogami Hayato looked around in annoyance as he finished sneezing yet again.)

Just then, a man came up to them with a wine bottle on a trolley. Yomi was a bit puzzled when she spotted a small badge on his chest resembling a bunch of grapes.

"He's a sommelier, Yomi-chan." Minato informed her when she asked him. "That badge marks him as a professional in good standing. When it comes to pairing wine and food, they know best. Some of the best sommeliers, according to my mother anyway, can identify a wine without even using his tastevin, that little bowl hung around his neck, to taste them. They can use scent, colouring and a host of other little things I don't know about in order to identify them."

"Really?" the Sekirei blink in shock. She didn't think a Sekirei could do that, so..."How?"

"A mixture of natural interest and disposition, combined with talent and hard work." the sommelier answered for her Ashikabi. "Your boyfriend here is correct about how the best of my profession can deduce a wine in a blind taste test without even sipping it, though I am nowhere near that talented. But please, allow me to demonstrate the skills of my profession..."

Using his sommelier's knife, the man expertly removed the cork from the wine bottle, taking a moment to delicately sniff the wine-stained object before laying the former lid/plug on a special tray for it. Then he carefully poured a small amount of the wine, a rosé wine, into his tastevin and gave it a small sip, swirling it in his mouth before nodding in satisfaction. He then proceeded to, just as carefully as before, pour a single glass of wine, raising it up and looking at it critically before bringing it down swirling it around in the glass before nodding in satisfaction and repeating the process with a second glass, placing one in front of Minato and one in front of Yomi.

"Please, enjoy." the sommelier said with a professional smile. "Sauvion Rosé d'Anjou, a crisp and dry wine."

Both Minato and Yomi had a sip of their wine and hummed at the taste. Crisp and dry, just as advertised.

"I am glad you find it to your satisfaction." the man smiled again, more genuinely this time. "Your food shall be here momentarily. Please enjoy."

Later

Limousine, Streets of Shin Teitō

"Hmmm, I'm stuffed!" Yomi practically purred as she cuddled into her Ashikabi's side in the backseat of the limo. It was the same limo and driver that had driven Minato and his first three Sekirei around on the day he had Winged them, a little thank you gift from his mother for letting her borrow Yahan to help investigate the idiots who had purposefully botched Kuno's Adjustment.

"Yeah. That was good food. Wine was great too." Minato agreed. He wasn't much for drinking, but he'd had wine before and the stuff they'd had tonight was easily the best wine he'd ever tasted. He made a note of the label for future reference.

He had, thankfully, managed to reign himself in enough to not get drunk or tipsy, but he was currently feeling a very pleasant buzz and his inhibitions were also slightly lower than normal, as was evidenced by the fact Yomi was squirming in delight as he groped her firm rear end, something he usually wouldn't do away from their home.

It was a good end to a very good date...which is why the universe, smiling down on them with its usual sadistic glee, made things go wrong at that precise moment, or so Yomi would claim later. The limo shuddered, and glass shattered as something slammed into the side and through it, landing in the middle of the car, the driver slamming on the breaks immediately.

"What on-?!" Yomi yelped, reaching into her handbag and pulling out her compact scythe, ready to deploy it at a moment's notice.

"Urgh...that was a cheap attack...!" a female voice grumbled from the pile of fibreglass, wood and metal that had formerly been a part of the limo, as well as what looked like a couple of chunks from at least two billboards. Abruptly, the pile was thrown aside, revealing, unsurprisingly, another Sekirei, who immediately struck Minato as being somewhat familiar.

'She's dressed similarly to Musubi!' he realized a moment later.

It was true. The girl wore a white, pink and red yukata, with the top part resembling his Fist-type Sekirei's own top. The main differences between Musubi and this girl were twofold; first, this girl wore her hair long, albeit secures at the back of her head by a large red bow. Secondly, she carried a weapon, a rather nice naginata, clutched in one dainty hand.

The Miko-look-alike Sekirei suddenly seemed to notice that she wasn't alone "Oh, my apologies for bothering you." the Sekirei offered them both a short bow. "I had little choice in the matter myself."

"Get back out here, Number Eighty-Seven!" a voice called from outside. "My Master wants to see you!"

"I've already seen him and I don't React to him!" the Sekirei shouted back.

"Wait...Eighty-Seven? This girl's Kaho?!" Yomi blinked in shock. She, like the rest of Minato's Sekirei, had heard Musubi's story of how she had been kidnapped along with the Sekirei one number lower than she was years ago, but she had never expected to just run into Kaho like this!

"Ah, are you Ashikabi and Sekirei?" Kaho seemed to realize when Yomi recognized her, turning to get a better look at them. "My apologies, but I am currently busy with some other people at the moment..."

She chose that moment to look at Minato properly, her black eyes meeting Minato's own. A thrill of something went down both of their spines and then Kaho let out a moan as her face flushed and she collapsed to her knees, panting with need. Minato was almost as flushed, but managed to keep himself under control.

"...oh shit." the Death Scythe Sekirei looked between the clearly Reacting Sekirei and her Ashikabi in sudden realization. There was an odd mixture of pride, irritation and shock in Yomi's mind; pride that her Ashikabi was powerful enough to continue attracting more Sekirei to the Flock, irritation that it was happening while she was trying to enjoy a date with him and shock that he was still drawing Sekirei, not to mention at the strength of the reaction itself!

"You are not Winging her until we get home." she told him flatly, but she still spun the scythe in her hands around and deployed it fully. It wasn't as sturdy as her real one, nor was it as sharp, but it would do for the moment. If this girl could be one of her sister-wives in the future, Yomi was damned if she was going to stand back and let one of the South or East's little pets come and try and harass her. In her Ashikabi's territory no less!

Yes, these bitches needed a lesson in respect, and Yomi was just the woman to deliver it!

Walking over to the still-kneeling Kaho, she firmly, but without being rough, picked her up by the arm and dragged her over to the relative cover offered by the still-intact portion of the car's rear. Then she stalked out of the limo and glared out at the four Sekirei that were presumably responsible for sending Kaho careening into the limo.

"Alright, you dim-witted slags! Who the hell is the dead bitch walking that dared to interrupt my date with my Ashikabi?!" she shouted aggressively, brandishing her scythe threateningly.

"Oh shit...that's Number Forty-Three, Yomi!" one of the Sekirei gulped. "She's one of the Ashikabi of the North's Sekirei!"

"And we're in the North, double-fuck!" another Sekirei added. "Hayato-sama told us not to come here!"

"Will you idiots calm down?!" the familiar voice of Taki, Sekirei Number Sixty-Five, barked out. "So what if she's here? She's alone, and the Northern Ashikabi is vulnerable! If we capture him, Mikogami-sama will overlook us accidentally ignoring his orders!"

That made Yomi lock onto her with a glare. "Oh, you are gonna regret those words!" she growled out before slashing her weapon in the air. "Wind Blade!"

A flurry of wind blades erupted from the scythe's blade, shrieking towards the group of Sekirei, who all leapt out of the way in a hurry, the section of road where they'd been standing moments ago instantly being shredded as dozens of blades of tightly compressed air ripped through the ground.

"Shit! What the hell's with this girl?! Mist Shroud!" Taki cursed before enshrouding the area around Yomi in a thick mist. While her ability wasn't exactly combat-effective, it had an impressively wide area and allowed her to control the visibility level of an entire battlefield. It was with some pride that Taki considered herself the best support Sekirei out of all of Mikogami Hayato's Sekirei.

"Tch. This trick..." Yomi clicked her tongue in irritation as she was engulfed in mist. "Kuruse told me about this...Number Sixty-Five, Taki. The Mist Sekirei...well, this is gonna be a pain. Shinkū Renpa!"

She sent a wave of wind blades into the mist, but struck no one.

"Playing hard to get?" the Death Scythe Sekirei scowled. "Alright then, let's play! Shinkū Renpa: Midare no Mai!"

Unlike the basic 'Multiple Void Waves' technique, the slightly more advanced 'Wild Dance' technique that Yomi had thought up on the spur of the moment sent blades of wind out on totally random trajectories; not even Yomi herself knew where these wind blades would strike. Holding her weapon before her, she spun her scythe vertically, a ripple of air would leave the blade every few seconds and fly off in a random direction.

Keeping a careful ear out for anything unusual, Yomi grinned evilly when she heard a muffled yelp as one of her attacks barely missed someone. "There you are! Scything Wind!"

The shriek of pain from her attack made grin widen to reveal several more teeth. "That's what you get for intruding on my Ashikabi-sama's territory! Get lost, bitches of the South!"

Outside of the bank of mist enshrouding Yomi and the wrecked limo, Taki ground her teeth together in anger as she and her fellows were forced to regroup. Jūsa, the Staff Sekirei, was nursing her left arm from the wound that the little bitch had just inflicted on her, and was thus all but useless because of that wound.

The other two, Momo and Ichiya, were both close combat type Sekirei, meaning they'd have to brave the barrage of cutting winds the crazy bitch was firing off blind into the mists just to get close enough to try and attack. Unsurprisingly neither seemed to be eager to charge into that mess.

"Taki, we have to leave! Jūsa needs to have her injury tended to!" Ichiya shouted nervously, one of those random blades would have cut through her neck if she hadn't ducked. Even now, her hair was a good inch shorter than it had been at the start of the night. "Hayato-sama is already going to be angry with us for disobeying his orders regarding the North; if Jūsa is deactivated because you wanted to make some big play, I'll throw you under the bus without hesitation!"

"Backstabbing bitch!" Taki cursed the martial Artist Sekirei out bitterly.

"Oh, you guys won't have to worry about your snot-nosed brat of an Ashikabi." Yomi's voice came from within the mist. "Why do you think I've been keeping you pinned down like this?"

It took Taki a moment to divine just what the crazy girl was implying, but when she did, her already pale skin became paler as she blanched. "Oh crap!"

"Kuma-ken!"

"Gravity Impact!"

In an instant, both Ichiya and Momo were sent flying by a strong fist and powerful hammer respectively. Ichiya flew back with a cough of blood from her mouth until her back slammed into, and through a billboard, making her vanish from sight. Momo was less fortunate and slammed into a wall, the force of which, combined with the impact of Yashima's gravity-infused hammer, conspired to not only render her unconscious but eliminate her from the Sekirei Plan.

"Miko...gami...-sama...!" the poor girl whispered before slumping down, defeated at last.

"Shit!" Taki hissed as she generated more mist around her to hide herself. Now she had cost her Ashikabi one of his Sekirei! She was going to be in more trouble than she had ever been in before!

Quickly, she manoeuvred over to the wounded Jūsa and helped her up, even as Ichiya managed to rejoin them. The punch from the other Fist-type had left a massive bruise forming over her stomach, but her air time had luckily let her bleed off most of the force without suffering a more severe injury.

"We're going. Now!" Taki ground out, fury and fear warring inside of her.

"About damn time!" Ichiya muttered as she gently, but firmly, grabbed Jūsa from her 'leader' and leapt away, the Mist Sekirei following swiftly after her.

Seconds after they left, the mist thinned and dispersed as if it had never even been there, leaving Musubi, Yashima and Yomi scowling around the wrecked limo.

"They ran!" the miko-lookalike pouted and beat her fists up and down in front of herself in a childish tantrum. The juxtaposition between her mature, curvaceous body and the childish way she was acting was oddly adorable to watch.

"Cowards! That Taki is a coward!" Yashima was frowning as well, just as displeased as her sister-wife but choosing not to act out about it. "Kuruse-chan is going to be mad that she didn't get a chance to get back at her."

If the Trident Sekirei had one fault, it was that she tended to hold a grudge and wouldn't let it go until she felt she'd avenged herself properly against the one who'd wronged her. In this case, none of Minato's Flock could really blame her for bearing a grudge against the Mist Sekirei. Anyone would be pissed if someone had chased them around and constantly attacked them from hiding for over two days straight.

"Minato-sama!" Yomi, meanwhile, ducked into the limo again and checked on her Ashikabi. She was relieved to see that he was alright and was keeping an eye on the still starstruck Kaho.

"Is it over? Please check on the driver." Minato said as he helped Kaho to her feet and started to make his way out of the limo.

"Ah!" Musubi pointed at Kaho in shock as she emerged from the wrecked vehicle. "Number Eighty-Seven!"

Kaho managed to shake off her haze at that and met Musubi's eyes with her own. "Number Eighty-Eight."

The tension in the area quickly shot up, right until Minato placed a hand on Kaho's shoulder, which made the girl throw her head back and climax with a loud, throaty moan that made Minato flush from just hearing it. After that, Kaho's eyes rolled back and she started to collapse, only for Minato to manage to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Well...this is certainly an odd way to end a night out." Yomi offered dryly as she came back from checking on the driver. He was fine and was already calling in to MBI to get a recovery vehicle to take his limo in tow.

"Hehehehe..." Musubi giggled uneasily, sensing the inquisitive gazes of her Ashikabi and sister-wives on her.

Later

Living Room, Sahashi Minato's Home

"So, Musubi-chan, what's with the tension between you and Kaho-san?" Minato asked, deciding to be as subtle as the Fist-type Sekirei's own punches tended to be. He was currently sitting on the sofa, cuddling Yashima on one side and Yomi on the other, with Musubi seated in front of him in the seiza position, the rest of the Flock arrayed around in the other chairs and sofas.

Kaho was resting in a room upstairs, having passed out from a very powerful tactile Reaction-induced orgasm that had overwhelmed her. Her naginata was propped up in the corner of her room to keep her from jumping to any negative conclusions when she finally woke up.

"I...it is something very important to Musubi and Kaho." the miko-lookalike replied, looking more thoughtful and conflicted than Minato had ever seen the normally happy, airheaded Fist-type. "Everyone...everyone remembers when Musubi told you about how Number Eighty-Seven and Musubi were kidnapped?"

"Yes." Matsu replied, her glasses flashing as the anger she had felt at those quack scientists who had removed and destroyed Musubi's Sekirei Tama resurfaced.

"Well...even though we were saved, Yume-sama still died and Karasuba-sama killed a lot of people." the brunette elaborated, fiddling with her skirt as she spoke. "Karasuba-sama and Yume-sama were very close rivals, they argued and competed a lot. Yume-sama saved Musubi and Musubi wished to carry on her ideas and beliefs, and that included her rivalry with Karasuba-sama. Karasuba-sama promised Musubi that we would fight it out once we were both Winged and strong enough, to determine whose belief was correct, hers or Yume-sama's. Number Eighty-Seven...she felt the same way about Yume-sama as Musubi did and wanted to do the same, so she told Musubi and Karasuba-sama that she would defeat Karasuba-sama before Musubi. Ever since then, we've been...rivals, kinda."

Every other Sekirei in the room deadpanned at Musubi. They were fighting over who would eventually face Number Four, Karasuba? The Black Sekirei, Spearhead of the Sekirei Plan and Third Generation Leader of the Discipline Squad, also known as the Massacre Sekirei and infamously as the most twisted and heartless of all of the Sekirei?

'These two are insane!' was the general opinion shared by the other Sekirei.

"I see." Minato said gravely. "And what's her opinion likely to be once she finds out that she's Reacting to your Ashikabi, Musubi-chan?"

Musubi actually cringed at that. "Musubi thinks that Kaho is going to be very confused and conflicted. She truly wants to fight Musubi for the chance to face Karasuba-sama, but she also strongly believes in Yume-sama's own beliefs, that love between Ashikabi and Sekirei is absolute and sacred. She won't want to try and deny her Reaction to you, Minato-sama."

Hearing a thump from upstairs, the Ashikabi of the North grimaced. "Well, we're about to find out."

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Next Chapter: Eighty-Seven versus Eighty-Eight

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM