Okay so here's the next chapter and thanks for all the reviews, keep the reviews coming, I'll try to answer all your questions if I can. So without further ado here's the next chapter.

Minato and Akitsu sat opposite of each other in the basement where they took shelter for the night. Akitsu had her face set in her normal emotionless expression and Minato was just staring at her from his position across from her only two feet of space separating them. "So let me get this straight?" Minato asked the rhetorical question. "You are a Sekirei who can't find their Ashikabi, who is a person that is most likely to give you a powerful child. You were kicked out of your family because of this and were branded with that tattoo, then sent out here in the hopes you'd die or someone would accept you as nothing more than a slave."

"Am I right so far?" Minato asked and Akitsu gave a small almost unnoticeable nod of her head. "Well then I think I know what I need to do." Minato muttered before leaning forward suddenly making Akitsu flinch somewhat. Minato's hands came up to her neck holding something there was a distinctive click and then Minato pulled back with a cylinder the size of a double A battery held in his left hand.

Akitsu looked at her throat where Minato's hands had went and found a black collar like object around, the makeshift collar was made of several cords that hooked into a small capsule with a red glowing light. "That is a modified det cord." Minato spoke as he held the cylinder object in his hand up, he flicked his thumb at the top and revealed the top of the cylinder to be movable, revealing a small red button. "I modified it so it isn't set on a timer but is remote detonated so try anything and your brains will be decorating the ceiling. Am I clear?" Minato asked and Akitsu nodded her head.

"Ah….I understand." Akitsu said with her usual pause. "Good, now let's play a game. The game is called I ask a question and you answer truthfully, you don't and I blow your head off." Minato sat down cross-legged; his pistol was propped up on his right knee with the barrel pointed at Akitsu and his left hand held the detonator to Akitsu's makeshift collar. "Now first question, where do you take the captured humans?" Minato asked and Akitsu hesitated for a moment.

"Ah…to the cities." Minato stared at her in a deadpan and motioned in a continue on motion with his gun. "Ah…they take the captured species to processing centers and hold them there until a Sekirei reacts to them. If they do have a Sekirei react to them they are taken to a building or barracks where they are put on a probation period under watch by a disciplinary squad." Minato blinked at the statement seeing as the woman tended to answer in five word or less sentences.

"These disciplinary squads what are they and how big is a squad usually?" Minato asked and Akitsu paused. "Ah… the squads are the soldiers, enforcers and police to Sekirei." She paused again and swallowed, Minato sighed. "How long ago did you eat and drink?" Minato asked her and Akitsu looked down. Minato nearly jumped when he heard and felt a loud rumbling. He looked around trying to find out just what that was when his eyes landed on Akitsu and the snow woman was blushing slightly. Minato sighed and pulled a box he had under the cot next to him.

Minato ripped the box open and pulled out a box of crackers and two bottle of water and tossed one of the bottles of water to the woman along with a roll of crackers. "Eat; if you're hungry it'll get harder to remember and I need every little bit of information in that head of yours." Akitsu paused before taking the bottle of water and opening it, then in a matter of seconds it was gone along with a third of the crackers in her roll. Minato set the gun on the cold concrete floor but kept the detonator in his hand while he drank from his bottle of water.

"Now, who make up these disciplinary squads?" Minato asked and Akitsu paused in her demolishing of her crackers. "Ah… Normally there are two, three or occasionally four frontline fighters and one brain type Sekirei." Minato contemplated that for a moment before voicing his next question. "Is there any way to identify the squads, uniforms, colors, weapons?" Akitsu paused as she put a cracker to her lips. "Ah…yes, they wear a grey haori, a black leather top with a miniskirt and black stockings." That was unusually descriptive for the normally slow speaking woman.

That description also rang some bells in Minato's head. Then it came to him, the Sekirei that had chased him and the purple haired one that had shoved her blade through his gut. "Is there a disciplinary squad with a purple haired woman with a katana, a grey haired woman that is always smiling with a sword, a red head with glasses, and a dark haired woman with control over the wind?" At his question Akitsu stiffened and turned her head to look at Minato in confusion.

"I'll take that reaction as a yes." Minato sighed as he popped another cracker into his mouth. "Next question, how many squads are there in the city to the north?" Akitsu managed to swallow the lump in her throat. "Ah…three." Minato paused and then began swearing under his breath. "Ah…how do you know that disciplinary squad?"

Minato picked up his pistol and pointed it at her head. "I'm the one asking the questions here my dear, now" Minato said. "Who are the members on that squad?" Akitsu showed no fear at the weapon being pointed at the middle of her forehead; instead she only displayed her usual emotionless attitude. "Ah…the leader of that squad is Miya Asama, the one with the purple hair. The red head as you called her is the brain type of the group, her name is Matsu Nikos. The one with the control over wind is Kazehana Kimoto. The grey haired one is Karasuba Himura." Minato nodded his head before relaxing the hammer on his pistol back into place.

"There were two others when I saw them one was a guy the other was a brown haired woman with powers that seemed to let her use plasma." Akitsu nodded her head and couldn't help but wonder just how Minato knew these people. "Ah… the brown haired one was most likely Yume Matsuoka and the male of the group was most likely Mutsu Yamamoto. The male, Mutsu recently left the squad." Minato was a little relieved that the male of the squad would be gone; he had been a pain to loose when fleeing seeing as he'd rearrange sections of rock and seemingly turn everything into a maze.

Then he narrowed his eyes and looked back to Akitsu who was finishing her crackers. "You seem very forthcoming for a prisoner." He said and slowly pulled the hammer back on his pistol. "There a reason why?" He asked and Akitsu looked down for a moment seeming to contemplate something before looking up at Minato. "I have been cast from my home, stripped of my family name, I have nothing. Yet you took me in and gave me something to eat. Even if I am just a source of information to you, I still am of some value to you, I still hold worth. I pledge myself to your service for the rest of my days, Minato-sama." Akitsu spoke without her usual pause and with a voice full of conviction and at the end she had bowed to Minato, Minato was staring like a deer caught in the headlights.

'What the fuck?' Minato thought to himself even as he stared at her owlishly. "Okaaaay then." Minato said while he tried to scoot further away from the woman still bowing to him. Akitsu slowly rose up to sit in a Seiza position while staring at Minato intently. "Ah….Master is something wrong?" She asked in her usual monotone and Minato was still trying to figure out what in the hell was going on. They're supposed to be mortal enemies and yet she's acting like his slave, add on top of that that he had her life in his hands and she seems so calm about it.

"Ah…master is everything all right?" She asked like she hadn't just called him master and pledged her service to him. "What the hell?" Minato murmured to himself and Akitsu studied him for a second slightly tipping her head to the side as if asking what? "What do you mean by pledging yourself to me for the rest of your days and what the hell is up with calling me Master?"

Akitsu looked at Minato her depressed sleepy expression on her face. "Ah… I wish for you to become my Master, my Ashikabi if only in words, I cannot be winged. You… are nice; you gave me something to eat while others would gladly watch me starve to death." Minato meanwhile was dismissing all she was saying in favor of focusing on one line she had said. 'You…are nice,' she thought he was nice, even after he collared her with a high yield explosive device, threatened her, and overall was prepared to put a bullet in her head and call It a day and yet she thought he was kind.

'Seriously what the hell happened to her to make her think I was nice?' Minato asked himself silently and he looked back to Akitsu and then to the roll of crackers that was reduced to mere crumbs. He sighed before setting his pistol beside him and digging around in the box where he got the crackers from some more. He pulled out his hand revealing it to be holding a bag of jerky, he tossed the bag to Akitsu and it landed in her lap and she stared at it for a moment before looking up at him. "Eat it, you're probably still hungry." As if to confirm it her stomach let loose a loud roar sounding like a raging bear or monster of some sort.

Akitsu blushed and gently took the bag and opened it before taking a piece of jerky and looking at it for a moment before sticking it in her mouth and chewing on it for about a minute or two then swallowing and then the bag's contents seemed to disappear and Minato stared in despair at the bag. "Well…there went that bag."

"Ah…Thank you." Akitsu said quietly and Minato looked at her while he set the pistol back on his lap and began munching on his half roll of crackers. "Yes well, if your stomach continued to rage like it was we would've had the things that go bump in the night knocking on my doorstep and frankly I don't like people knocking on my front door." Minato took a sip from his water and looked over at Akitsu as she seemed content to just sit in her uncomfortable stance and he sighed.

"Alright, next question." He said and Akitsu looked up at her master expectantly. "How is it that you think I'm nice besides those previous mentioned points. So far all I've done is collar you, threatened you, and….yeah that's about it. Those things, eh, Ashikabi couldn't have been meaner than me, right?" He asked and Akitsu sagged and shook her head slightly.

"Ah…no, scrapped numbers like me, are considered defective and damaged goods. We….are the outcasts and lepers of Sekirei, I would've been seen as nothing more than an object, something to play with then throw away at their leisure." 'Okay that sounds pretty bad, but still who's to say I won't do the same?' Minato thought to himself. "Ah…if I wasn't thrown away I most likely would've been treated as if I did not exist, you acknowledge me."

Minato stared at her for a moment before hanging his head and muttering under his breath softly, even with her enhanced Sekirei hearing Akitsu couldn't make out a word of his muttering, before Minato looked back at her. "Alright I'll tell you what I'm going to do." He said as he stood up and moved to the cot and sat on it. "First off, since you have information I need I can't kill you, you may still have uses to me, and you know where I hide and that I am alive so I can't let you go. So you're going to stay with me and if I so much as think you're going to betray me I'll take your head off."

Akitsu nodded her head. "Ah…understood master." She stated with her usual monotone. "Second of all, I need to know if you can fight and if your Sekirei powers are intact." At this Akitsu nodded her head and held out her hand palm facing upward and an icicle formed out of thin air hovering just over her palm. "Ah…yes I am combat ready." She lowered her palm and the icicle hovered for a moment before cracking and then dissipating into nothing. "Good, well now we know what to expect from you. Alright third and final issue, your clothes." Akitsu looked at her once pristine white clothes and noted the tears, rips, and stains.

"You need new clothes since I plan on getting out of here first thing tomorrow, we'll be heading to the botanical gardens, I don't know what the hell is going on over there, but with the Sekirei crawling all over it, it can't be good." Minato stopped and turned to Akitsu and narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it would you?" Akitsu paused and nodded her head. "Ah…yes. It's a tournament." Minato paused and looked at her questionably, Akitsu looked at her Masters face and seeing him wave his hand in a go on motion she continued.

"Ah…the Sekirei host tournaments in the destroyed cities on earth, and on other planets they are held in arenas or designated areas. The prizes vary from money, property, weapons, and sometimes other Sekirei whose families abandoned them, the tournaments are also used to rank Sekirei on their social status." Akitsu explained all of this and Minato looked a bit perturbed. "So, basically a battle royal between Sekirei?" Minato asked and Akitsu shook her head. "Ah…not always, the tournaments sometimes have objectives or they are as you called them 'battle royals', these objectives often times include the obtaining of an object or if a Sekirei is the prize the first group to get their Ashikabi to the Sekirei."

Minato sighed and shook his head. "Sounds like these Ashikabi hold more power than I thought." He said and this time Akitsu took the initiative to speak up. "Ah…no not really, whenever they go out into the outside world they must be accompanied by at least one of their Sekirei to keep them in check." Minato nodded his head at that, made sense making sure to keep potential trouble makers in check. "The money and weapons are more often than not are split between the winning Sekirei."

Akitsu continued on unimpeded. "When one becomes an Ashikabi they are taken to a…barracks," Akitsu seemed to think about the right word. "They are confined there unless accompanied by one of their Sekirei, if the Ashikabi is from a newly conquered race like your species," At this Minato's fingers found themselves gripping his pistols trigger guard. "They are put on a probationary term where they are kept separate from their Sekirei unless watched by a Sekirei not bonded to them so they may intervene if the Ashikabi attempts anything."

Minato nodded his head, seemed like a Sekirei version of child protective services to him, only allowing a parent who had trouble to be with their kid while under guard, he had to hand it to them the Sekirei really seemed to be cautious around the Ashikabi. "Well seems like your species might be smarter than I thought." Minato spoke and Akitsu stiffened before relaxing and nodding her head. "Ah….yes they are quite cautious." Minato nodded his head in agreement before another question entered his mind.

"Alright, this question has been bugging me for a long while now, how in the hell does your species speak Japanese so fluently?" Minato asked, as Akitsu opened her mouth to answer her stomach made itself known once again. Minato sighed before dragging the box of food to him and pulled out a chocolate bar and tossed it to her. "You are going to eat me out of house and home if this keeps up." Akitsu blushed but nonetheless opened up the chocolates package and began to eat it as well.

Swallowing a piece she decided to answer Minato's previous question. "Ah… we Sekirei have the ability to learn another language by just listening to around an hours' worth of constant chatter of it." Minato paused and looked at her oddly while she continued to munch on the chocolate bar. "So what you just need to listen to an hours' worth of conversation and you can automatically pick it up without any prior knowledge of it?" He asked and Akitsu paused mid bite for a moment before nodding and then resuming her destruction of the chocolate bar.

"Well, damn wish I could get something like that." Minato muttered to himself and Akitsu paused her eating and spoke up. "Ah…you can. The ability comes from the Nanites that reside in every Sekirei's brain." Minato paused and looked at her confused. "Wait you mean to tell me every Sekirei has a bunch of microscopic machines coursing through their bodies?" He asked and Akitsu nodded her head. "Then what if an EMP went off would that kill every Sekirei within range?" He asked a plan forming in his head already.

Akitsu shook her head no and Minato cursed. "Ah….no, but it would slow them down and cause them to be nauseous, if the EMP was close and powerful enough it could knock a Sekirei out." Minato pondered this for a moment and he was trying to decide what this information could do for him. On one hand if he every managed to find an EMP he could use it to knock out the city to the north and infiltrate it while the power was out and the Sekirei were nauseous and not as attentive as usual.

"Well it's more than I had before." Minato said and he looked over at Akitsu and tossed her another candy bar from the box. "Looks like you do know some interesting things." He said with a small smile on his face and Akitsu gained a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks and looked down at the candy bar in her lap. Her master hadn't hit her yet and had even given her a compliment and fed her as well, it was more than other scrapped numbers could hope for and she would guard her master with her life.

Xx Line Break xX

Shin Shuto

Izumo inn

Yukari entered Izumo inn with Shiina trailing behind her. She could hear the other Sekirei that bunked in the inn practicing in the back yard with each other. Uzume and Kazehana were enjoying a drink at the dinner table; Karasuba was parked on the couch sharpening her nodachi. Miya and the others were nowhere in sight so that must of meant they were the ones training in the backyard.

Yukari marched past all of the Sekirei in the inn without any greeting and walked straight to her room. School had been boring as usual with Sekirei propaganda, Sekirei history, Sekirei cooking, since she was to be the wife of a Sekirei the Sekirei thought she should start acting as a regular housewife. All through the day she had ignored everyone and instead focused upon other things, like wondering if she could kill Shiina with her pencil or if she could poison his food, well she had a creative mind and had found more than enough ways to off him if she could get the settings just right.

The schools classes and overall education might have been boring but there were a few interesting things she had seen and learned at school. Like the various races the Sekirei subjugated, the most surprising fact about the subjugated races was that they were almost exactly like humans appearance wise with a few alterations to their physiology due to their home world's environments. They had discussed about a dozen races so far, there were only three of the other races attending school, first was a race that called themselves gods but in all actuality resembled elves.

They looked like humans with pointed ears; they had proved to be very peaceful and docile and were all around pacifists. From the gods home world came another race extremely similar to them only with longer ears, they called themselves demons and had a little more backbone compared to their shorter eared counterparts. The final race that also attended school along with the humans and Sekirei called themselves devils. They were also humanoid but also had something that made them different from humans and the other races, at first glance they looked like a normal human, their differing trait from humans was the fact that they had a pair of bat like wings hidden inside their back that could unfold from their back by slipping out of two almost invisible slits on their back.

Yukari had met a few at school and she might've liked them or been friends with them, but as it was she was a prisoner and they were with the wardens, and this city was her prison. Before Yukari knew it she was in her room, but she wasn't alone. Shiina shut the door behind him and faced Yukari with determination and hopefulness on his face. Yukari dropped her bag on the ground and turned to face him; her arms crossed across her chest and narrowed eyes. "What do you want?" She asked with a dangerous tone. Shiina gulped, he knew he wasn't supposed to be alone with her with no one around but he needed this.

Shiina sighed and looked her in the eyes. "I want to make a deal with you." He said and for a moment Yukari was still before she snorted. "And, what could I give you, and for that matter just what could you do for me….well besides fall over dead." At that Shiina flinched, it was no secret Yukari detested him to the point she would kill him in his sleep if given the chance, but no matter he had to get her help with this. "I need you to help me rescue my sister."

Whatever Yukari had expected it was not this. "What do you mean rescue your sister and for that matter why would I help rescue her?" She asked and Shiina for once didn't flinch or back down. "My sister, she's the prize that the tournament in the city is for. When we go on the trip to the city two days from now we can slip by the teachers and go to the jungle and get her out." He explained and Yukari glared at him. "Well I'll be damned." She said and chuckled softly.

"Looks like the alien is trying to tug my heart string." She laughed and Shiina sighed before continuing on. "And in return for helping me get my sister out of there I'll never touch without your permission, and I'll do whatever you say for the rest of the time we're together." That stopped Yukari's laughter and she glared at him and hissed out her next few words. "What did you say?" Shiina returned her gaze with one of pleading. "If you help me get my sister I'll never touch you or try to have sex with you without your permission and I'll follow your every order for the rest of my life."

Yukari seemed to mull it over for a moment. "So if I were to ask you to die would you kill yourself?" Yukari asked with a humorous voice. "No, if I did die you'd be taken back to the center where we bonded and you'd be given a different Sekirei." Yukari cursed and looked back to Shiina and seemed to consider his offer. "Well, that is a very tempting offer, and I always did want my own personal slave, looks like we have a deal Shi-kun." She said this with a smile all too similar to Karasuba and in a tone of voice very similar to Miya when she got upset at the breaking of the house rules.

Shiina gulped at her tone and the smile, but he stuck his hand out for a handshake to seal the deal and Yukari gripped his hand very hard and she shook it. Overall Shiina felt like he had made a deal with the devil and the price would be his soul, which with Yukari's hatred of him and his kind it very well could be. "Well, Shi-kun you should head downstairs before any of the others get curious as to where you are. After all I might just gut you like a fish if you stay much longer." Shiina gulped and ran out the door while Yukari chuckled behind him in an evil all most serial killer like tone.

'Yep definitely made a deal with the devil.' Shiina thought to himself.