AN: I know what the poll results were, but I felt like it would be pointless to do a rewrite the exact same way. I wanted to write this story differently, which is why I was pleased when I only got PMs and reviews about how people would prefer if I switched things up.
Also, Yagyū takes off her eyepatch. I already know I'm going to get sick of writing it in over and over again, plus I think she's cuter without it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights, characters or ideas behind Sekirei or Senran Kagura. Those rights belong to Sakurako Gokurakuin and Kenichiro Takaki.
Yagyū
Twilight. It can mean the rising of a new day or the closing of another. A perpetual symbol of how things around us, and the world itself, is constantly changing.
And like it or not, we must adapt and move with the flow of change. For as painful and daunting as change can be, it is necessary for us all to grow and advance forward. Because time waits for no one.
BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!
The incessant shriek of an alarm clock ripped through the blanket of quiet that had filled the room moments before.
*Sigh* "Dammit…I'm up, I'm up…" A groggy, deep voice muttered as a form shifted underneath bedcovers. The bedframe squeaked, as if it were in protest itself to the abrupt start of another day.
A phone on the nightstand buzzed and vibrated across the wood as the alarm rang out. A lean, muscular brown arm followed the digits of a hand from under the covers, fumbling till it slapped the phone and turned the alarm off. The hand grabbed the phone and retreated under the warm bedcovers again for a moment.
With a great yawn and a huff of exasperation, the sheets were thrown off the figure below, revealing a young dark-skinned man, clad in only a pair of black boxer briefs. Knowing he would blind himself if he looked at his bright phone screen, the man sighed as he knew what he had to do next.
With seemingly even more effort, tawny amber eyes blearily cracked open to read the time on his bedside clock. Incandescent light blue digital numbers read '5:46AM'. "I'm up…" he seemed to whine with defeat.
"I even dreamed it was Saturday too…". With a groan, the young man hauled himself out of his bed, feet marching slowly toward his bathroom and the imminent cold shower that would help keep him awake enough to get through the day.
He scratched at his neat, close-cropped crew cut and ran a hand over the matching black stubble on his face in the mirror. Deciding to shave tomorrow, he turned and hopped into the frigid shower, not giving himself time to back out.
Five minutes later, the man hopped out of his bathroom, shuddering from the phantom sensation of the cold-water jets blasting his skin. He would begrudgingly admit, it helped to kickstart his system and get his body moving, but it was still unpleasant.
"'Least it's Friday, I just gotta get through today…" he mumbled to himself, brown slacks halfway up his legs as he pulled a white dress shirt over his head. He slipped on matching brown socks and tan loafers to complete his look.
Fully dressed, he buckled his belt as he walked out of his room down the hallway of his apartment to fix himself a quick breakfast. He even had some extra time to make himself something a little more appetizing than his traditional bowl of oatmeal every morning. It was Friday after all, why not treat himself?
A jolt of surprise ran down the young man's spine, and he jumped slightly hearing a loud thud in his kitchen, the sounds of pattering feet and low grumbles filling the hallway. Fear and anger filled him as he clenched his fists. He already had to go to work today, why were some assholes trying to make his day even worse before it started?
'What the fuck…', he thought.
As he rounded the corner with trepidation, he was expecting to see masked thieves or one of his neighbors helping themselves to his apartment. Hell, he even considered the two degenerates who lived down the hall had the great drunken idea to steal some of his food.
But he was not prepared to walk into this. A…woman was raiding his fridge? There were only men on his apartment floor. He ignored the sight of her shapely hips swinging merrily, focusing on his anger instead.
Gritting his teeth, he kicked her with his foot, not hard, but with enough force to let her know he was serious. "Hey!" she cried out, backing out of his refrigerator as she wheeled around to face him, hands covering her ass.
"Hey your fucking self! What kind of person goes into another person's place without permission and raids their fridge?!" he snarled, fighting down his blush at how admittedly attractive she was, despite her somewhat strange appearance.
She glared back at him through her one visible crimson eye, unrepentant. Her other eye was covered by an eyepatch. A fringe of snow-white hair fell over her furrowed brows, her exceptionally long white hair pulled into twintails and tied with shuriken, of all things.
The intruder stood at 5'2 and was dressed very neat and professionally for a criminal. She wore a white dress shirt under a brown blazer, the buttons straining against the full swell of her very ample, firm chest. A black mantle with a triangle design hung over her shoulders with two extended tails. Below, she wore a short plaid red skirt that clung to her surprisingly long, toned legs and did little to hide the shape of her wide curvy hips and fleshy, thick toned thighs. A pair of calf-high black stockings and brown loafers completed her look.
"Watch it, pervert!" the mystery woman snapped at him, brandishing an…oilpaper umbrella?! The young man groaned, annoyedly staring at her. He didn't have time for this shit, he was gonna be late to work!
"Look, I don't know who you are, or what you want, but please get out of my apartment. You can't just barge into my place and raid my fridge because you're down on your luck. You're lucky I don't call the police on you." He sighed, running a hand tiredly down his face. He moved to close the fridge and began cleaning up the mess she made in his kitchen, crouching to pick up trash as he watched her out of his peripheral view.
He grew irritated when she didn't react or respond and just stared at him, her red orb fixed on him. Suddenly, he snapped alert, realizing something.
"Wait…I lock my door every night…so how the hell did you get in here?!" he exclaimed, pointing at her.
The young woman frowned confusedly at him, tilting her head slightly as if it were obvious. "I told the lady at the front desk I was looking for my Ashikabi…and she gave me your room number…" she held up a spare key to his apartment, his wide disbelieving eyes locked on the object dangling from a lanyard identical to the one he had.
After confirming that he still had his own key in his pocket, he looked at her warily, a little annoyed. "My name is Aishin…not Aishin-gaki…" he misheard her, backing away as he assumed this woman was some crazy stalker. How else would she know that was what the landlady jokingly called him from time to time?
Her confused frown only seemed to deepen more. "My name is Yagyū…and I said Ashikabi…why did you call yourself a brat?"
OK. Now he was convinced this woman was insane. Aishin pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as he sighed deeply. He checked his watch and pulled some yogurt and orange juice out of the fridge. He had to eat and get this woman out quickly to make it to work on time.
"A'right 'den 'agyū," Aishin muttered rudely through swallowing a mouthful of breakfast, "I'll bite. What the fuck is an Ashikabi?" he questioned, pointing his spoon at her.
Yagyū's good eye gleamed with interest as a faint blush colored her cheeks. "You are an Ashikabi. And I am a Sekirei." She said, ignoring his language. He was finally calming down and showing an interest in what she was saying.
"We are supposed to be together forever…I was told so by my adjuster whoever makes my heart pound like this must be my Ashikabi." She said seriously, the blush spreading across her face as she spoke.
"I followed this feeling all the way here till it led me to you. I have waited days to speak to you. I wanted to see what kind of person was supposed to be my Ashikabi." She said, slightly impassioned as she stepped forward, budding affection sparking in her crimson eye.
He regarded her seriously for a moment, squashing the prick of pity and unexpected lust he felt in his gut. While he couldn't deny the young woman was incredibly attractive, she was still some crazy girl that basically stalked out his apartment for days based on a 'feeling', if he could believe anything she said.
"…How old are you, Yagyū?" he asked. She hesitated for a moment, appearing to seriously ponder that before answering.
"You all count age in terms of annual years counting up consecutively here on Earth, correct?"
Aishin managed to nod after blinking a few times, not reacting outwardly. She was dedicated to this; he'd give her that. "Then I suppose I am twenty-three in human years." She calculated.
"Hm. Same age as me, then." Aishin mused, throwing away the empty yogurt container after downing his orange juice. "Alright, well I need to go to work. Let's finish up this conversation in the car and we can come back after my day is over." He stood up and grabbed his car keys, looking at Yagyū as he jerked his head towards his apartment door.
She got up and followed after him, stopping next to him in the doorway. Aishin began to sweat a little as Yagyū got close into his personal space, her red eye fixed on him. "Wh-what is it?" he asked nervously.
"Smart of you to not blindly trust someone you met only minutes ago to stay in your home alone and unguarded. I don't know why, but I get the feeling you are not just a mere pervert…you may be worthy to be my Ashikabi after all. Time will tell." Yagyū regarded him critically before walking past him down the hall unashamedly after insulting him. Aishin's fists clenched in annoyance, biting down his retort.
"The garage is this way, correct?" she asked, looking slightly over her shoulder at him. He got the odd feeling for a second that she could see without the eyepatch but ignored the pointless thought.
'Just take her to the police station after work and let them deal with it…' he thought, calming himself down. "Yep, we'll take the elevator here…" he responded forcefully, walking after her.
Twenty minutes and one unexpected game of I-Spy later (Yagyū seemed to take pleasure in irritating him by inquiring about every single thing and person they passed on the way) they arrived at Aishin's office he worked at.
As he got out of his car in the office parking garage complex, he locked the doors before Yagyū could do the same, cracking the window down enough for her to breathe. "Aishin? What are you doing, you're going to leave me here?" she questioned, narrowing her eye at him.
"Look, you CANNOT come into work with me. You're lucky I don't call the police on you for what you did this morning. I'll help you find whoever you're looking for after work." Aishin attempted to level with her, opening the door enough to pop open the glove compartment. He shut it back before she could hop out the vehicle, pointing a finger at her in warning.
Aishin held up an old phone, sliding it down to her through the cracked window. "Here's a phone you can play games on. Don't talk to anyone if they come up to the car and approach you."
Yagyū actually looked a little insulted, her blush fading away slightly. "…Do you think I'm a child like one of those humans we passed on the street?" she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. Her large breasts swelled with the pressure exerted on them, her blazer buttons straining with the motion.
Aishin tore his eyes from her chest after a second to look into her lone visible eye. "…You're definitely not a child, but you need help. I've never seen a drug have such an effect where someone is so clear-headed, yet nonsensical at the same time…" he stood, scratching his chin as he regarded her.
Yagyū hmph'ed, turning her head forward from him as she turned the phone on, swiping through apps. She clearly realized he wasn't taking what she'd been telling him seriously. He stared at her in shrewd disbelief for a moment. "I thought you didn't even know the concept of age half an hour ago, now you know how to operate a smartphone?" Aishin questioned.
"Such simple technology like this is a far cry from the simulation and training equipment the adjusters had us Sekirei use. Besides, I thought you didn't believe a word I said, Aishin? You think I'm insane or on drugs." she snipped, her red eye shooting an accusatory glare at him.
Irritation surged in him. "Of course, I did, who would believe that story? You break into my home, eat my food and almost make me late for work, and now you're forcing all this destiny shit on me! I didn't ask for this!" Aishin seethed, frustration coloring his tone.
"Go on to your work. I will be fine here. And when you take me back home, I will show you what Ashikabi and Sekirei are." Yagyū stated ominously, turning back to her phone screen. She was done with the conversation.
Aishin backed away a few steps, realizing he needed to sprint into his office to make it to work in time. "STAY. HERE." he ordered. "Why? You're going to hand me off to the authorities anyway." Yagyū said matter-of-factly, kicking her feet up on his dash. "Why would I not just leave while you're gone in there for hours?" she said, a touch of self-righteousness slipping into her voice.
"Because you don't know your way around the city, and you wouldn't come to me and unload all of your expectations on me like this if you were going to walk away yourself." Aishin pointed out bluntly, punching a hole through her argument. "Urk!" Yagyū clenched her teeth in annoyance, knowing her had her caught.
"Look, this sounds insane and it's a little too much to process first thing in the morning while I'm rushing to work. So how about this?" Aishin offered. A crimson orb slowly turned to focus on him. He had her attention, albeit reluctantly.
"I'll bring you some food back on my lunch break and we can talk then, okay? I'll hear you out, just don't run off Yagyū!" Aishin gave one last reply before running off towards his office.
An almost imperceptible blush colored the white-haired beauty's cheeks. She burrowed the lower half of her face into the black mantle around her shoulders. "Hmph. Don't order me so casually. I haven't accepted you as my Ashikabi just yet, pervert." Yagyū muttered quietly, her response unheard.
A few hours later, Yagyū perked her head up, smelling Aishin's approach before he walked up to the car window. Two large steaming cups of ramen were perched on top of a plastic container he held in his hands.
Aishin walked around the car and opened the door, ducking inside. He placed the container and bowls in front of a curious Yagyū, her nose twitching at the alluring scent of the food he brought.
He held a pair of chopsticks out in front of her curious face, her eye lighting up in recognition. She muttered a bashful 'thank you' as they ate their ramen in silence, knowing the conversation to come. Aishin opened the container to share the sushi he bought with Yagyū.
Putting the empty containers in the plastic food bag he brought with him, Aishin turned to face the white-haired beauty. Yagyū's visible cerise orb was fixed on his face, staring intently. As he fought down his blush and pretended he didn't see hers, he started his car up and cleared his throat.
"Where are we going?" she asked quietly, but Aishin heard the lilt of uncertainty in Yagyū's voice. "I just figured we'd drive and talk for a little while…I have two hours for lunch today so we could just drive to my place and back to kill some time." he suggested, looking at her to see if she was okay with that. "I don't mind…" she responded.
Aishin nodded, shifting into drive and pulling out of the parking lot. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel as he pursed his lips in thought. Yagyū unfolded her umbrella as the harsh afternoon light streamed through the windshield, squinting briefly. He figured that unusual action was as good of a jumping-off point as any.
"So…what exactly are Ashikabi and Sekirei?" he questioned. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she turned to answer his question.
OOOOOO
"No! How can you expect me to believe that?" Seeing a look of hurt flash over Yagyū's face briefly, Aishin rephrased his rebuttal.
"Look…I know you really believe that's the truth. I can tell. And you're not on drugs or anything like that, clearly. You honestly seem like someone who's unfamiliar with this area and was just thrusted into it, like how you told me." He sighed, admitting to her. Yagyū just looked over at him, sensing he had more to say.
"But…I'm just a normal guy. I'd need some physical proof to believe that. I don't deny there's this strange, inexplicable attraction between us, but I need more than that to not just turn you over to the police, Yagyū."
She closed her eye. "I see, I understand. You're tired of this, and so am I. Time is running out."
Yagyū opened her eye and took off her eye patch. Aishin clenched his steering wheel as two scarlet orbs fixed on him with a stony, paralyzing glare. "Wh-what are you doing, Yagyū?" he stammered, a cold sweat running down his rigid back at her words.
"Showing you proof, like you asked." She replied simply, an unworldly visible indigo aura rolling off her.
Faster than Aishin could react, a translucent, wavering blue tentacle of energy exploded out from the aura rising off her shoulders and grabbed the steering wheel in front of his wide-eyed gaze, yanking it harshly.
Aishin's car lurched to the right, swerving out of his lane. Straining with effort, panic-fueled adrenaline tempered his grip as he twisted the steering wheel back, righting himself. Wide amber eyes turned to Yagyū in anger and fear. "STOP, Yagyū! Whatever this is, please stop it!" he yelled as they wrestled for control.
"Not until you listen to me." She replied, voice flat and serious.
His car swerved through traffic thanks to their erratic movements, his brakes not working. Aishin looked up in panic through his windshield. They hurtled towards a stopped car on the other side of the intersection.
His vehicle screamed towards it into an imminent crash of metal, glass and asphalt. "NOOO!" he howled at the sheer unfairness of it all as he saw the bewildered face of his boss behind the windshield of the car he was on a collision course with.
As the vehicles collided with incredible force, Aishin's head smashed through the windshield. A split second later, another blue tentacle wrapped around his waist and whipped him back into his seat. Glass and blood filled his vision, his head hitting his seatback the last thing he felt before everything went black.
Despair. Embarrassment. Fury. These were just a few of the things Aishin was feeling as he stood by the ambulance, looking down into the agonized, rage-filled eyes of his boss. He was laid out on a stretcher, Yagyū standing off behind Aishin, clutching her arm guiltily, staring at her loafers.
The man's mouth twisted into a blood-filled sneer, red spittle flecking his brown beard and dirty, tattered shirt as he gave a racking cough. Arctic-blue orbs swiveled up towards the EMT who approached with an aspirator, holding up a large, calloused hand. He waited nervously by the man's side, understanding the unspoken message.
His large, barrel-chest heaved with painful breaths as his chilling gaze fixed on Aishin. "I never…expected…this would happen with you of all people, Aishin. Only reason I'm not cursing your ass out is because of our history together and the good work you've done for us in your time here." His voice was gravelly and thick, tinted with barely restrained fury.
"Sir, please, I'm sorry I—" Aishin began, stilling when a thick finger jabbed into his chest. "You're sorry?" his boss questioned.
"Are you sorry you hit me and sent me to the hospital? Are you sorry that you cost me the meeting that would secure our company our largest deal of the quarter?" He shook his head slowly despite the neck brace constraining his movements.
"No. I'm sorry I took a chance on you. I'm sorry that I was nice and let you take an extra hour for lunch for you to turn around and do this to me. You're just regretful. And you're fired." He ground out.
The thick finger left Aishin's chest as the EMTs moved and took his ex-boss into the back of the ambulance. As he watched the car speed down the street, sirens flashing, Aishin went numb with shock.
He turned hollowly to face Yagyū, whose face burned with shame as she felt his piercing gaze on her, burying her face deeper into her mantle. Ashamed, smoldering crimson looked up into blank, stony amber.
Aishin wanted to scream at her. He wanted to hit her. She fidgeted nervously and pulled at her skirt. He felt a spark of lust as the smooth, sweaty skin of her thighs was exposed to him, and then shame and disgust at himself for thinking of that at a time like this.
Yagyū's face flitted through more emotions than he would have ever expected from the usually stoic snowette from the last several hours he had met her. But Aishin didn't care about any of that as he walked past Yagyū.
As if to add insult to injury, lightning and thunder crashed and rumbled in the distance. Within seconds, a downpour of rain fell, soaking them both. Yagyū quickly unfolded her umbrella, a sad crimson orb nervously observing the back of the man in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Aishin." She said gently.
Aishin's shoulders trembled with emotion. Yagyū watched his drenched form for several tense seconds, feeling worse when he threw his head back and began to laugh, uproariously. She didn't know what 'fired' meant, but she knew that nothing about that exchange with that man minutes ago was funny. Yagyū sensed that she had just cost Aishin something dearly.
She jumped with a start as he wheeled around to face her. Her Ashikabi's…no, Aishin's eyes were full of so much pain it almost hurt to look at him. She didn't know if she had the right to call him that anymore. But she forced herself to keep eye contact. She had caused him this much trouble, after all.
His haunting, broken laughter died down. His bandaged face was slick with rainwater, his whole form soaked with defeat. Aishin spoke after a moment.
"I listened to you. I heard you out, like I promised. And look what happened." He said, gesturing his arms out wide with an air of finality, voice growing in volume. Aishin's palms slapped into his drenched slacks as he dropped his arms, punctuating his point.
"If I'm supposed to be your 'destined person', why would you do that to me? Now I have no job, no way to pay my rent this month…I could lose my apartment, do you get that?!" he raged, her solemn silence only heating his rage.
"I just…wanted you to listen…" Yagyū replied meekly. "I did listen. Now I'm done." Aishin snapped harshly, skulking down the street.
He ignored the painful twinge in his chest that got worse as he walked further away. Yagyū bit her lip in sadness and shame, clenching her eyes tightly as hot tears burned trails down her face. She had just found and lost her Ashikabi, all in one day.
Aishin took a large swig of his third beer, the cold alcohol dampening the still smoldering rage in his chest. "Hahh~" he sighed, fingers tracing the condensation in his glass as he calmed down after a moment. 'It was shitty of me to just leave her alone like that…but I was SO angry. I can't remember the last time anyone's ever made me that furious before…' he thought.
'I mean, she broke into MY apartment while I was minding my own business, then dragged me all over the city…' He remembered the look of respect and admiration she gave him before leaving his apartment.
'And then she crashed my car and got me fired…' Aishin remembered the brilliant smile she gave him as she tried sushi for the first time that afternoon. It was the first time a girl had ever genuinely seemed so enamored and genuinely interested in him, and what he had to say.
His face pulled into a frown, as if swallowing a bitter pill. 'Ah, fuck it…I'll go back to the apartment, see if she's there…can't just leave a cute girl alone…' Slapping a handful of bills on the counter to pay for his drinks, he hurried out the bar, quickly calling a ride home.
"…it's not so bad. I get to meet and talk to a lot of interesting people. Every once in a while, some cute girls too." Aishin half-listened to the driver telling him his life story, scanning out the windows for any sign of Yagyū while he sobered up.
He knew she was on foot, alone and probably terrified. 'What kind of Sekirei arms themselves with an umbrella?' he thought in frustration, clutching at any string of logic to justify this not being his fault if any harm befell her.
Aishin's heart dropped as he saw a flash of white hair shrouded by two dark tall silhouettes disappear into an alley. Taking his fist from his bandaged cheek, his heart leapt into his throat as his head whipped back towards the rapidly shrinking street corner in panic. Without thinking, he opened the door and leaped out of the car, the driver yelling at him.
"Shut the fuck up, you get paid through the app!" he roared without even looking back or shutting the door, scrambling around honking cars that screeched on their brakes. Aishin ran as fast as his legs could carry him, sweat pouring down his body.
"Get off me!" he heard Yagyū's scream of indignation as he entered the alley less than a minute later. Aishin saw red as he bolted into the dark corner to see a man tackle Yagyū down.
A translucent blue tentacle retreated back into her shoulder as she fell, having knocked the air out of another man and sending him flying into a pair of garbage cans, his head smacking into the wall with enough force to rattle him.
A furious well-placed kick from Aishin assured he wouldn't get back up, but the other two still hadn't noticed him yet.
Yagyū cried out as the man punched her across the face and pressed his knee into her gut, blood trickling out of her mouth. She spat a glob of blood defiantly in his face and he backhanded her, her head cracking into the pavement with the blow.
Her head rang, black spots dancing in her vision as she heard the clink of a belt being unbuckled. 'No…I don't want this…Aishin, please…' she thought. "Heh…freaky little bitch aren't you…" the man scoffed. "Nah, she's not a bitch." A voice said behind him. "Huh?!" the man started.
Aishin clenched his muscles, and as the man whipped his head around and leapt to his feet, he smashed a large rock into the man's hideous mug, breaking his nose, cracking his jaw and knocking out several teeth.
"That's Yagyū! MY SEKIREI! SO DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!" he roared out furiously, his blood boiling in a white-hot rage.
Yagyū sat up quickly, bringing her dirty scuffed brown jacket around her shoulders as she looked up at Aishin in wonder as he launched into a fight with her assailant. Her cheeks were aflame, bright cerise orbs swimming with joy and relief.
As the man's body lurched and his head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, blood spraying from his mouth, Aishin's left fist drilled up into his unguarded chin with a wild, vicious uppercut. The blow knocked him back upright before Aishin grabbed the man's shoulders, ripping him down as his knee swung up into the man's solar plexus with concussive force.
"AAAGH!" Giving a furious bellow, the man used his position below Aishin to smash his head into Aishin's face in a cruel headbutt. Aishin stumbled back, tasting coppery blood through his split lip. His nose was bleeding and tender, but luckily not broken.
He didn't have time to think about that though, as the larger man tackled him and began laying into him with savage haymakers, his head cracking left and right with the blows as blood stained the man's knuckles after a while. Gasping for breath above a momentarily stunned Aishin, the man chuckled cruelly.
"Guh…" Aishin coughed up blood, his head pounding. He felt his face swelling up, his left eye already swelling shut, a nasty cut across his right cheek.
A serpentine green eye squinted down at him through the blood streaming down his face. Gripping Aishin's neck tightly with both hands, the man's remaining good eye shone with malice as he squeezed tighter and tighter.
Aishin hacked and coughed, scrabbling at the burly man's hand desperately with one hand, the other pawing the filthy ground for anything blunt or sharp. His bloodied fingers wrapped around a large piece of jagged glass.
"URAAAGH!" With a bestial yell, Aishin drove the sharp glass into the man's neck, just as a sharp blade came out of the man's forehead from behind.
Watching in stunned disbelief, he saw all the light leave the man's eyes as he slumped over and fell off Aishin in a heap. Backing away, he looked up as Yagyū approached from behind, her crimson eyes steeled as she wiped the blade protruding from the top of her oilpaper umbrella. Blood flecked the both of them as she stood there, looking down at him for several charged seconds.
As she looked into Aishin's eyes, it was like something snapped in them both. Yagyū's umbrella clattered to the ground as she collapsed into Aishin's arms, sobbing loudly, fistfuls of his shirt in her white-knuckled grip as she clung to him. A few tears trickled down Aishin's face as he buried his head in her white hair, closing his eyes as it tickled his nose.
"Sorry I left you alone, Yagyū." He murmured, stroking her long white hair as she curled herself into his lap, burying her face into his chest.
A hiccup tore itself from his throat, breaking up the moment.
Aishin flushed with slight embarrassment as Yagyū pulled back and looked at him quizzically, wiping a tear from her eye. "Sorry…I got a little drunk earlier." he admitted sheepishly. "I had a few beers 'cause I was mad at you…I needed to get away for a minute."
He looked away ashamedly. "If I hadn't left you alone, this wouldn't have happened…so again…" Aishin trailed off, looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Yagyū. I won't leave you alone again."
"Cause you're my Sekirei, right?" He asked unsuredly, not knowing if she would forgive him after everything she had just been through. He wouldn't blame her.
She lowered her head slightly. "So, you accept being my Ashikabi…?" Yagyū questioned vulnerably. Aishin sighed with relief.
"Yeah. I'll be your Ashikabi." Aishin said, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He blinked in surprise as Yagyū wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in as her soft, full lips closed over his.
Flinching for a second, he quickly relaxed as it just felt…right. The fluttering and jackhammering his heart had been doing all day stopped. Now it just stilled and settled, as if it were at peace.
Aishin's eyes shot open as while Yagyū was still lip-locked with him, a pair of translucent, iridescent indigo wings sprouted out from Yagyū's back. They beat a few times softly, bathing the alleyway in soft purplish-blue light, before they receded into Yagyū's back and disappeared.
She broke off the kiss finally, licking her lips a little. "Was that…one of those 'Sekirei' things?" Aishin questioned, asking about the blue wings he just saw. "Maybe I'm still a little drunk…" he mused aloud.
Yagyū's soft, mellifluous laughter filled the air for a few moments. Winking at him softly, she cupped his bruised, battered face and smiled at him warmly. Aishin was struck by how beatific she looked in that moment, despite the bruise on her left cheek.
"I don't know what 'drunk' means…or a lot of things still about this world for that matter. But that was no trick. I'll teach you about all of these Sekirei things, my Ashikabi." She closed her eyes as she grinned at him.
"It's a promise…Shin-kun."
AN: And I'm back! Here's the first revised chapter of the Clashing Wagtails rewrite!
Leave a review, let me know your thoughts!
See you next time!