Sorry about not updating in so long but with College, my new job and, moving houses stories related things have been a little hard to get to. Particularly finding a working computer and time to type on said computer but I have this for now.
So Read and review!
The skies above Tokyo were dark as night had fallen, the occasional Sekirei aircraft the only other occupants besides the nocturnal animals that took to the skies. That all changed as, without any warning, the jungle exploded in flames. With a thunderous roar that shook the air, a geyser of flames shot into the sky. The flames shot into the air and as it went higher and higher, fire balls and flaming debris extended over the area like a flaming volley of arrows.
The flaming debris shot into the air and arced downwards into both the crumbling city, and the sprawling jungle. As the seconds ticked by the area around the origin of the fire began burn, like a ripple it spread in waves. The tops of trees burned and wild creatures ran as far and fast as they could to escape the flames.
Sekirei ran from the flames, and as they raced to escape the death trap they occasionally found themselves trapped and burning alive. It was this scene that Minato, Akitsu, and Ku all left, the tiny Sekirei Child shivered as she held onto Akitsu's back. She had tried to keep up but it was futile as her legs were neither long enough, nor strong enough to keep up with either of her companions.
So Akitsu had been selected to carry her, Ku would've preferred Minato, but as he was carrying a pack that would've made it difficult for him to carry her, so she had been taken ahold of by Akitsu. Ku wrapped her arms around the snow woman's neck and held on with both arms and legs, her legs gripping onto the snow woman's sides. Akitsu didn't even need to support the child with how tight a hold the little sprite had.
Minato was in the lead as he led them down alleys, backstreets, and across small creeks and streams. Looking behind them Minato could see the orange tint the sky held nearly three miles away, small embers flitted through the air as the black smoke from the flames was only visible due to the orange color the sky had taken from the fire.
They were only able to get so far because Minato had forced them to run constantly, the Sekirei ships above were already heading towards the flames, presumably to pick up the injured or the dead. 'Well, I know that I at least did something.' Minato thought to himself as he turned back around and kept on heading through the maze of ruins.
The M4 felt reassuring in his hands, hands that were still coated in Sekirei blood. If he were to be honest with himself, Minato would say that today had been a good day. He found that Akitsu was combat effective, would follow his orders without question, and could take on the more powerful members of her race if need be.
He killed a Sekirei, in a rather brutal and bloody fashion that left him rather pleased with himself. He attributed the satisfaction to the way he watched a lot of humans perish at these aliens' hands, and the fact they seemed untouchable, but today it was proven they weren't invincible.
Then there was Ku, sweet innocent Ku, it was a problem. She was a child and seemed so human; he had a soft spot for children, and tried to protect them when he still could. At the same time she was a Sekirei, an alien intent on subjugating humans and using them as nothing more than breeding stock, something he could not, and would not stand for.
Then again she was more or less sold out to the best team by her race, which was sure to breed feelings of hate against her own kind. And he had kept her from being taken by that other Sekirei, so he had already painted himself in a fairly good light, so she might be a future ally, and the longer she stayed alongside Akitsu and himself the more sure he was able to sway her loyalty.
But as he had seen her act, she was still just a child, maybe eight or ten years old, so she was still needy, and rather loud, impatient, and demanding. So she would most likely bring trouble down on their heads, and trouble meant the disciplinary squad, and the troublesome purple haired woman.
And if she showed up then there would be almost no hope, at least if he wanted his two tagalongs to survive the encounter with him. So the best bet for Minato at the moment was to lay low and keep a cool head, and try to keep the newest member of his group quiet, and placated. Something that was easier said than done.
But for now he had to get all of them far away from the flames, and the surrounding area, he had several safe houses where they could hide, but which one was the best question.
Minato was knocked out of his musings by the sight of an apartment building, a long building, two stories, with several rooms on each level, a stairwell on the side lead up to the second floor. The building was a grey color, with brown shingles, there was a large hole above one of the second story rooms, the buildings concrete walls were riddled with bullet holes, scorch marks, deep gauges like a whip or a sword was lashed against it and several boxes were laid out in the yard, a stone wall surrounded it with a steel gate at the front.
"This…. Will do fine." Minato muttered to himself as he pushed the creaky gate open and entered the yard, rifle drawn up in preparation for anything. Akitsu kept three paces behind her master as he entered the yard quickly and headed to one of the doors, on the door was the number five in the form of a worn out metal piece.
Minato reached into one of his pockets and retrieved a key, sliding it into the lock and turning it resulted in a click! Minato opened the door by turning the knob and pushing it open further with the barrel of the M4. Minato entered, scanning the room with his rifle he motioned for Akitsu to follow, the little form of Kusano snuggling into the snow woman's back unconsciously.
The girl seemed to have had fallen asleep as they had pushed onward into the urban jungle. Akitsu entered the apartment and Minato went around her to shut the door and walked to a small table which had a small lamp atop it, turning the knob yielded a small light that lit the relatively small sized room.
The room was bare except for the standard row of weapons that all places Minato took up occupancy seemed to have, along with a bed roll in the corner, the table and lamp combo, and a room connecting to a bathroom, which seemed relatively clean.
Akitsu studied the room as her master went about unpacking; it was all so new to her. When she had been but a normal Sekirei, and not the abomination her people called her, she had lived in more lavish accommodations. Then after becoming what she is now she had been kept in a pure white cell, devoid of life, and everything, then into the forest where her master found her.
She then saw how her master lived, a nomad by the looks of it as far as she could tell, always moving from one place to another and only coming back to a safe house after a certain amount of time had passed. He had little to no comforts that most Sekirei seemed to take for granted, and yet he was surviving, thriving even, in this desolate wasteland of a city.
It had given her a sense of pride, she had a master who could hold his own, who could do the seemingly impossible. He had escaped the clutches of the Sekirei, multiple times if she had to guess, and had managed to harm the Sekirei as well, something that many deemed impossible.
"Set her on the futon." Minato ordered, and Akitsu happily obliged, though her stoic expression was still in place. Gently she set the girl on the bedding in the corner, a futon as her master called it, and she watched as the young girl curled up under the blankets of the futon. "Alright then, now that that's done with," Minato spoke up again as he began removing his weapons, pack and extra layers of clothing.
Once the items were removed off his person, Minato took a seat by the table with the lamp on it, the detonator to Akitsu's collar and his pistol sitting next to him. "Akitsu, come over here, I have a job for you." Akitsu, eager to help her master, walked over to him and sat across from him in seiza.
Minato's face, devoid of his mask, was set into a grimace. "Alright Akitsu, I'm going to have you help me with this," Minato set a first aid kit on the table, flipping it open he took out some rolls of gauze and set them in Akitsu's hands. "I fought a Sekirei out there, and I think she may have broken a few things." He struggled to remove the shirt; eventually he managed it, though he was hissing at some points.
With the removal of the shirt it revealed his torso to have a nice apple sized bruise on his chest, where Yomi had jabbed him into the tree with the butt of her Scythe's staff. There was a small cut on the back of his neck where Yomi had pressed the blade into his flesh in order to decapitate him. His shoulder was bruised, from where Yomi had gripped tightly when he had stabbed her repeatedly in the side, and he had ignored it with adrenaline, and more important matters, but now that they were in a relatively safe place he could patch up.
"I need you to wrap the bruises and cuts as best you can." Minato explained and Akitsu nodded her head, two small spots of red appearing on her cheeks as she admired his torso. There were scars, but they seemed to just enhance his appeal.
"Ah…okay, master." She intoned in her usual monotone; Minato repressed a twitch at her name for him. It was getting kind of annoying really, master this, master that, she just couldn't call him Minato, nope it had to be master.
Akitsu began by wrapping his chest up, particularly the apple sized bruise from Yomi, following that she added his bruised shoulder wrapping the gauze around his shoulder and his arm pit, once she had tied that off, with the instruction from Minato who explained how to tie it off, she began on the scratch on his neck, there wasn't that much blood, and it was rather small but Minato still had her wipe the disinfectant on it, it could still contract an infection and those were rather difficult to deal with without the right equipment.
After she was done wrapping the wounds, bruises and scratches were all there was, Minato ran his eyes over the bandages, seemingly satisfied with them he turned to Akitsu who sat across from him in seiza. "Thank you, Akitsu." Minato intoned with a quick nod of his head before leaning back against the wall next to the table, the detonator and pistol still within easy reach.
"Ah…you're welcome, master." There it was again, that oh so annoying title that she seemed to love so much. It made Minato wonder if the snow woman was a masochist, it made him shudder in horror and he banished the thought from his mind.
"Akitsu," Minato spoke and the snow woman, whose eyes never left her masters form, sat up a bit straighter. "Will Mutsu survive?" He asked as he stared at the window, boards and cloth sheets keeping the outside world from view and the outsides view of the interior.
"Ah…most likely, he is from a noticeable family, and if he were to die there would some form of backlash." Akitsu replied dutifully, Minato nodded his head, his spiky grey locks of hair covering part of his left eye.
"I see, we'll need to be extra careful from now on." As Akitsu continued to stare at him Minato explained. "He will no doubt tell the rest of his former squad of my survival, our….partnership," Minato took a moment to think about how to phrase their relationship, "and they will attempt to track us both down, and they will no doubt tell someone else who will also come looking for us. And with Ku," He motioned to the sleeping Sekirei. "We'll be hard pressed to evade them."
Akitsu nodded her head at his explanation and her eyes hardened as she stared at him. "Ah…I will not allow them to harm you, master." Minato nodded his head as he stared at the ceiling, his face serene and clear of the grey locks of spiky hair. His eyes were closed as he thought of the better times before this mess. His sister, mother and himself all living under one roof, smiling, playing and all the things a normal family did.
"Thank you, Akitsu." He spoke up again and Akitsu gained a light dusting of pink across her cheeks. "Now, I need to address another matter." Akitsu stared at her master as his steel grey eyes zeroed in on her. "Why do you keep calling me master? Why not Minato-sama, or something, this mantra of master is getting on my nerves."
Akitsu stared at Minato blankly as the silence between her answer and the question stretched on. "Ah…because you are my master," The snow woman spoke in a monotone, her face though held a small emotion of confusion, like it was the most logical answer.
Minato was on the verge of strangling the alien, it was just so damn frustrating, she refused to use his name, something that he sometimes he himself forgot and had to look at his damn medical band to just remember. 'But' Minato thought to himself as he took a deep breath. 'She does have her uses, she did fend off Mutsu, a Sekirei I wouldn't be able to beat without difficultly.'
"Ah…master?" Minato felt his fingers twitch as Akitsu repeated the, oh so hated title she had given him, Minato fixed his gaze on Akitsu as she kneeled across from him. "Ah…what do we do now?" She asked him and Minato had to take a moment to ask himself the same question.
They had just set fire to an entire jungle, killed one Sekirei, and put another out of commission for the time being. No doubt more Sekirei would be making an appearance, something that would restrain their movements across the city and along with these new Sekirei would no doubt come the disciplinary squad, and they'd likely arrive sooner if Mutsu was in any condition to blab.
Minato sighed as he ran a hand through his grey locks of hair, his steel colored eyes locked onto the concrete ceiling and he thought of his options. The first and foremost that came to mind was to abandon the city and move onto another one, maybe a more isolated area further inland. But with that option came risks, like Sekirei patrols, leaving behind the large amounts of weapons and munitions, and other supplies.
The second option was to stay and outlast the coming storm, maybe get some form of entertainment watching the Sekirei butcher each other. Again came risks with that option, like the disciplinary squad finding him, getting caught in the crossfire, and even more Sekirei patrols.
Each choice came with its own risk, but staying inside the city offered Minato access to supplies, he knew the lay of the land, and his own choice of hideouts and escape routes. So it looked like staying within the city was the best choice for now. Besides, a rematch between himself and the disciplinary squad was long overdue, he doubted they would mind a few presents from him to them.
"We'll stay in the city for now." Minato spoke up as he reached into one of his pants pockets and retrieved a flip lighter. He idly began to flip the lid of the lighter up and down, Akitsu watched her master with careful eyes, her neutral expression in place, wondering why he would choose to stay. Evidently Minato was a mind reader of sorts, or he knew the most obvious question of 'why'.
"The reasons are simple," He began to explain as he turned his gaze to Akitsu. "Here we have a few advantages, the lay of the land for one." He began to list the reasons, raising one finger for each advantage. "A surplus of supplies that can be accessed when needed, weapons just lying about, waiting to be used, and a few hideaways that we would have to remake if we left the city."
Minato closed his opened hand into a fist, letting loose a sigh he stared into Akitsu's unwavering brown orbs. "Here," Minato gestured around them with the opened lighter. "Here we have advantages, however few they may be, but at this point it will take everything we have to survive." Akitsu took a moment to respond, nodding her head ever so slightly.
"Ah…understood." Minato nodded his head, apparently satisfied by the snow woman's response. It was nice to be able to explain your thinking to someone, and Akitsu was a very good listener.
"Good," Minato nodded his head before standing from his position and moving across the room to one of the walls. Akitsu never noticed it but there were several long bundles that were rolled up at the bottom of the wall. Each bundle was at least the length of her master, and colored in several different colors. Picking up two Minato turned to Akitsu and tossed her one of the bundle, he kept a grip on the other one and walked back over to the table with his pistol on it.
Setting the bundle on the floor, Minato unfastened what appeared to be several Velcro straps that ran across the bundle, keeping it rolled up and compact. When he unfurled the roll, Minato revealed it to be a sleeping bag, a dark grey in color. The one in Akitsu's own hands was a light ice blue color, like clear ice with no contaminants. Looking over at Akitsu Minato noticed the ice woman had yet to unravel her own sleeping bag.
"Akitsu, unroll it, it's time to rest." Minato spoke quietly, the ice Sekirei was at first unresponsive but after a moment unfurled the sleeping bag. Minato studied the woman as she slowly, methodically, unraveled her sleeping bag and crawled under it. Once she was nestled inside it he moved over to the light switch, flipping the lights off before moving back to his own sleeping bag.
"And Akitsu," Minato spoke to the quiet snow woman, who shifted her head so she could look at her masters form as he used the wall to sit up while cocooned inside his sleeping bag, his own eyes reflected slightly in the darkness. "Good job." That one compliment made a blush cross her features as she turned her gaze from her master, not that he could see it anyway, humans took longer to adjust to the darkness, far longer than any Sekirei.
Despite the snow woman buying him time and him complimenting her, that did not mean he was going to lose sight of her, even in the darkness Minato could see her shift. He would watch her till the morning, just like he had last time; though this time he hoped there would be no dreams of adolescent Sekirei.
Xx Line Break xX
Yukari sat down in the living room of Izumo Inn, still dressed in her school uniform, she swore the aliens had a fetish for it, seeing as it was practically the only outfit she owned. If it was up to her she'd be dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of tennis shoes, but hey turns out it wasn't up to her.
Currently she was watching the alien equivalent of TV, which was a holographic like projection created between two cylinder like objects mounted on the wall. It projected a screen like any other TV on Earth would've done, just without the glass. The Sekirei had several channels, from tournaments, which was their equivalent of soccer, to a weather channel for each planet.
Currently the TV, holographic, thing was set on a Tournament, the tournament was the one with Shiina's little sister. The entire forest that the Sekirei had created was in flames, the forest, Yukari had to admit, was an impressive creation that the little sprite had come up with. The camera view of the burning vegetation was not the only display; on a side bar to the right of it was a column of pictures, each one representing a fallen Sekirei in the battle.
The reason that nobody thought the little sprite, Kuu, Yukari thought her name was, was dead was because she had a small tiny GPS that monitored her vitals, so if she did die the tournament would be called off. The curious thing that Yukari found was that it didn't tell the exact location of the target, rather just an eight mile radius.
So if someone did manage to track the target they'd still have to search, and that seemed to be what several of the Sekirei groups were doing now, though they were still fighting the other groups whenever they met each other on the field.
Yukari shifted as she leaned against a small cushion, the rest of the inn was asleep as she watched the news, even Shiina was sleeping. The only reason she was out was because she had picked the lock, a skill acquired from a few old friends from when she was free. Either the Sekirei were really hard sleepers or they let her go because she had nowhere to run, she was inside a city that was filled to the brim with Sekirei and the only way in and out of the city was through the gate or an airship, neither of which she would get to without running into at least one Sekirei. Her bet was on the latter of the two options, they just let her roam the inn for a bit.
So she sat in the living room and pondered this newest development, the fire might postpone her trip, but unlikely, already several water Sekirei were on their way from the attacking groups in order to douse the flames and rescue their comrades trapped within the inferno.
As it was, if the trip was postponed then she'd lose her chance to be left alone by Shiina, but she would have to deal with one less Sekirei. But she'd most likely be with a child by the end of the year, which was less than two months away.
Before Yukari could ponder the matter much further she picked up the silhouette of someone nearby, looking at the shadow she caught sight of Shiina, dressed in his normal clothes, and rubbing his left arm while leaning on the doorframe.
"Hello, Yukari-san." Yukari looked at Shiina before turning her gaze back to the holographic display. Shiina's own gaze was also drawn there, a flash of worry dancing across his eyes. Sighing he pushed off the doorframe with his shoulder and stalked over to Yukari. His own seat coming in the form of another pillow that was a healthy distance from Yukari.
"The trip is still on, our own destination is a fair distance from the fighting, and we have Miya-san and the others so there should be no problem." Shiina informed his…fiancé would be the closest he could call her. An unwilling wife she was, she was not his friend, and she was not a happy person in general to others.
"Okay then, how long till we leave?" Yukari spoke her first words of the night to him. Shiina glanced at his wrist where a small watch was in place.
"Four hours, and then off we go." Shiina spoke to her after tearing his gaze from his watch and back to the TV. "So after a while on the trip we break off, I'll get you and then we set off for my sister, agreed?" Shiina asked, and this time instead of the timidness, and shyness that he usually spoke with there was instead a hint of steel.
Yukari, from her position on his left, smirked at the boy; he finally decided to show some backbone, something she wondered if at all possible for the boy. "Good, finally looks like you decided to grow some balls," Yukari spoke up and suddenly the area around her seemed a lot darker, like an abyss. Shiina stared at Yukari as her eyes were shadowed by her hair as she turned her gaze to him.
Two red orbs stared out from the darkness, what he could see of her mouth as she smiled at him was filled with sharp pointed teeth. Shiina tensed and leaned away from her demonic visage as her gaze seemed to bore into his very soul. "Though you better not use that tone with me again, else I might just chop off your new pair. You understand?" She asked, her voice seemed to be made up of multiple tones, layered upon one another. This technique was the one thing that Shiina estimated could intimidate anything.
Xx Line Break xX
Minato watched as the two Sekirei on the floor slowly began to stir; the first to begin rousing herself was Akitsu, all the warning of her slumber being interrupted was her eyes snapping open. Kuu on the other hand acted similar to a human child, tossing and turning before sitting up slowly and rubbing her eyes sleepily.
Minato stared at them for a while longer, bags' already forming under his eyes, the lack of sleep was getting to him, but he still wouldn't sleep in a room with two Sekirei. Minato stood up as the two Sekirei began to rouse themselves and began to put his gear back on. Once everything but his pack and heavier weapons were in place he looked over the two Sekirei in the room and noticed that Kuu was looking rather hungry, Akitsu was probably hungry as well but she would never admit it without being asked.
Sighing he dug up food for the two aliens, they had large appetites that seemed to never be satisfied, so with great reluctance he dug up nearly eight MRE's. Akitsu managed to devour five of the instant meals, while Kuu, complaining about the taste for a moment, devoured two more. The last MRE was his own and he consumed it at a sedate pace, when they were done and the MRE's containers were in the trash Minato grabbed his pack, weapons and gas mask.
"Akitsu," He addressed the snow woman who was sitting seiza as usual, once her name left his lips her full attention was on him. "Get ready, we need to be moving as soon as possible." The snow woman nodded slowly and began the task of putting her clothes from the previous day on, they were torn and dirtied but for Minato they would be fine, he couldn't afford to allow himself or anybody a set of clean clothes on a daily basis.
His attention landed on the last person of their group, Kuu was looking up at him with a pair of large green eyes, curiosity abound as she wondered what he was up to. He knelt next to the alien child and patted her head with a gloved hand.
"Alright Ku, we need to go now," Minato held out his gloved hand after retracting it from her head. The little Sekirei child looked confused as she stared at his hand before taking it gently with her own tiny hand. He pulled her up from her spot on the floor and to her feet. "Akitsu will be the one carrying you, so try and play nice."
Ku glanced at the snow woman, curiosity, and surprise in her eyes as she studied the snow woman's form. The red mark on her forehead drew most of the child's curiosity; Akitsu walked to Minato's side and gingerly picked up the other Sekirei with ease. Ku latched onto Akitsu's neck with her arms while her legs tried their best to grip onto the snow woman's sides.
Standing from his kneeling position Minato moved towards the door, right as he was about to unlock the bolts he took one last glance at the two Sekirei behind him. Akitsu dressed in the remains of the clothes he had gifted her with made quite the sight, she looked like someone who had gone to hell and back, which was probably true.
Ku was still dressed in her dirty white sundress, he would need to fix that at some point, and yet she added a sort of cuteness to the scene, if that was even possible. Akitsu the subservient bodyguard, himself the mastermind survivor, and Ku the adorable mascot, it almost was like a manga or anime.
Minato donned his gas mask, his scarf going on over that and the last piece was his hood. With his outfit complete Minato unbolted the bolts and unlocked the locks, opening the door slightly he looked all over the outside, searching for anything that would spell trouble for his group.
Catching nothing in sight Minato slipped out of the doorway and motioned for Akitsu and Kuu to follow suite. The duo followed Minato, Kuu riding on Akitsu's back and the snow woman keeping a few paces behind Minato, shutting the door Minato walked through the box strewn yard before pressing up against the side of the wall to peek around and look up and down the streets.
They were empty save the rusted corpses of abandoned cars, and a few skeletal remains. Minato paused a few moments before stepping out onto the street and taking a left, the opposite direction of the smoke that billowed into the air from the fires of last night. Akitsu and Kuu followed him without question, from her place on the snow woman's back, Kuu looked at the billowing smoke and frowned before turning her head back around and leaning into the crook of the snow woman's neck.
"Let's move I don't want to be anywhere near here if more Sekirei decide to show up." Minato spoke to Akitsu in the voice he always used, she hadn't noticed before but now she did. Her master never spoke with a raised tone, it was always low, quiet, more of a whisper, it spoke of the patience of a hunter, the tenacity of a survivor, and the deadliness of a killer.
"Ah…of course, master." Minato twitched at the title before picking up his pace to a jog, the Kar98 clutched tightly in his arms the safety off with a round in the chamber ready to go.
