"Minato-san? Ah Minato-san I'm afraid we can't get on with this without your cooperation… WAKE UP!"
Waking from unconsciousness for the second time today Minato looked around in irritation for the source of the annoying voice, in the distance he could see a glowing crescent moon rising above the many sky scrapers of Shinto Teito. The vantage point didn't look right, like he was much higher up than he should be. He rushed over to a nearby ledge and took in a sharp intake of breath as his heart almost stopped from the sight below him. It wasn't just that he seemed to be much too high up but he was actually ON one of the very sky scrapers that dotted the skyline of Tokyo. It took his breath away to see the city from such a height; it was breathtaking, almost serene. The look of the city combined with the cool night air gave him a sense of contentment, one that he hadn't felt in quite a while. The question dawned on him though, how did he get up here in the first place?
"Ashikabi-sama!" The familiar voice of his stalker made him jump and almost slip over off the ledge. He turned around to see her battered form a few paces away holding his cellphone in his face. On his phone was the face of a hysterically happy looking man dressed in all white, with a high flipped up collar, wild white hair and thick glasses. He took the phone and nodded in confusion, and was caught off guard how her face seemed to light up at his acknowledgment of her. If the situation wasn't so strange he'd think she was cute, beautiful even.
"Uh… thanks… so who are you supposed to b-" he was interrupted by the annoying voice from a moment ago and yet again came close to slipping over the edge of the building, he needed to get over to the center where it was safe before he fell to his death. That damnable voice seemed to be coming from his phone.
"Well I was getting to that my boy; it seems your profile was spot on, impatient and ignorant." Ok enough was enough, now his phone was talking smack to him, he was definitely going insane. No "if"s, "and"s or "but"s. The voice continued, with the volume on his phone increasing on its own.
"As I was saying Minato-san, your cooperation is of the utmost importance, as without it you tempt fate to remove you from the game!" the man on the screen waved his arms theatrically, how was this even possible, he had no plan for video chat on his phone nor was it even equipped with a camera to do so. The man seemed oddly familiar though.
"Game?.. Wait a minute you're-!" once again being interrupted.
"Minaka Hiroto, President and Founder of Mid-Bio Informatics? Yes, I'm glad someone recognizes me for once!" the look of triumph that spread across the man's face was without compare. Here he was, talking to the man that built a worldwide empire that took the lead in most industries in just a few years of operation. "MBI" as it was often referred to as, owned most everything in the city, and much of the country. This included Uniformico, making this man his boss at the very top of the ladder.
"Ah -san, how may I help you today, I wasn't expecting an interview from the big boss" his nails dug into the back of his head as his nervous twitch once again surfaced, he had to stop doing this.
"Please Minato-san, no formalities, I'm not talking to you as a member of corporate, but as the Master of this exclusive and prestigious challenge you have now been inducted into." Once again the triumphant smile spread across his face from ear to ear. "I am here today to speak to you about the young woman that stands before you, and what she and you now mean going forward together."
"Together?..." what could that mean? He glanced to the woman that stood a little too close for comfort who beamed brightly at him.
"Would you do the honours my dear?"
"My dear?..." public displays of affection such as intimate titles and pet names were one of the things he disliked, it always reminded him of the many hard study nights alone in America.
When prompted the woman pivoted on her toeless boots so her left side was facing him, she jacked her arm up in a similar way to a bicep curl and displayed a tattoo of the number seventy-two just below her left shoulder.
"I, sekirei seventy-two, Natsu pledge my loyalty to you now and forever my ashikabi-sama!" Natu held herself proudly despite her injuries to display herself to her new master; having introduced herself she pivoted again before crouching and leaning away from him to display the mark on the back of her neck. Bruises and scrapes covered her exposed mid-section and the back of her collar had been ripped off. Beneath the shredded fabric was the sigil of a bird perched above a yin-yang symbol framed with scare quotes. The crazed bespectacled man on Minato's phone cleared his throat to draw his attention.
"This, my new recruit, is a member of an alien race we call sekirei. Their race is remarkably similar to us humans, excluding a few key differences of course. They are stranded here and are participants in the most grand of tournaments as they search for their eternal partner. This tournament is called the Sekirei Plan. And you are now a participant as well!"
Minato just stood slack jawed "aliens?... really?" this had to be a joke.
"Furthermore, you have been chosen as no.72's partner, by winging her you have claimed her as your property, lover, friend, slave, or whatever other term you wish to brand her with. Now then let's go over the rules!" the volume had increased yet again, and the purple clad woman had regained her position standing in front of Minato, smiling and leaning over to listen to 's speech. Minato wasn't having any of this however, and pushed her back as much as her superior strength would allow.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold up… So you're telling me she's part of some extraterrestrial race that nobody but a select few knows about, and they're having some kind of a cosmic beach party here in Tokyo?..." if one word could be used to describe how he felt, dumbstruck would be it.
"Indeed! Now as I was saying, the first rule is-"
"and, I've been chosen to carry some kind of ball n' chain for who knows how long?" his last words were complimented by a glare that he shot to his new servant who looked away somewhat ashamed.
"Well kind of, but that's not important right now! The fact is yo-" the self-proclaimed game masters tone changed in irritation, he had a busy schedule and he could tell this enterprising young lad would be difficult to convince. He dreaded having another debate about the legitimacy of aliens or the game after the last five calls he made that day. Minaka began typing on his keyboard just in case this man proved to be a headache.
"AND, let me guess, there's going to be some foolish battle royal to determine the "fate of the world" or some nonsense? Look, Hiroto-san this isn't a very professional way to check if your employees are stable under pressure, can you please call off this joke so I can continue on with my life?" Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose, and noticed the downcast look on the face of the young woman that had just introduced herself to him. "Look, miss, I'm sorry if I've offended you bu-"
A flash lit up the night sky, followed by a streak of red light and an explosion off in the distance, as the darkness swept in again there were two more flashes and yet again the ground exploded off in the distance two more times as lasers imploded concrete and metal. Minato and Natsu both looked off towards the source of spot of the disaster and saw smoke and flaming debris rising in the wind. Within moments sirens blared and dissipated as firefighters and first responders sped towards the expanding blaze.
"That was one of my many orbital bombardment platforms. Now then, Sahashi Minato, listen closely. YOU are a part of the greatest tribute to humanity that the world will EVER see, this is our ascendancy, and could be YOUR ascendancy. The sekirei will fight alongside their ashikabi until there is but one ashikabi remaining. How you get to be the victor is up to you, but there are a few rules, here are some important guidelines to start with. Keep your sekirei from hurting too many civilians or attacking ashikabi, wing as many of these little birds as you want but do NOT leave the city, and do NOT share this information with anyone! If you haven't been convinced by MBI's show of force than you really are ignorant. Your beginners pack should be arriving outside your door as we speak, so I suggest you start trying to figure out a way down." The once charismatic, if a bit manic, cheesy grin that once adorned the face of the man that controlled Minato's career had disappeared, replaced by an intense glare full of malice and frustration. His face was wrinkled in anger; clearly he wasn't having a very good day either.
"…. But…. How?!" He was wrong before, now he was dumbstruck.
He had heard the rumours about MBI's shady activities before, and even seen news reports about legal documents connecting the global conglomerate to a few less-than-legal para-military organisations and international scandals. But to be shown proof it may well be true, by the man in charge of it all himself! This was too much, in less than half a month his life had become several hundred times more complicated.
"Whats the point of all this? Why are you doing this and… and… and…. more importantly why should I care?!" He yelled into his phone, his sekirei had jumped in surprise and shrank down in fear of her master's rage. A main contributing factor to his decreasing mental state during this moment was the realization that MBI had a gun pointed at the head of the world. "Why does a pharmaceutical company need a space laser?!"
Minaka was about to hang up, he was tired and there was still at least four other people he had to call to congratulate. But the words of this whelp struck a nerve; a vein in his forehead bulged and he had to stop himself from targeting the building this defiant punk stood on with the orbital platform. Instead he regained his composure, and declared in a calm voice "The prize is the fate of millions, the vast, untapped wealth of technology that these little birds have brought us and the opportunity to reshape humanity as we know it. But only if you can win."
"Oh…" well that derailed his train of thought. It made sense; they had come on a ship of some kind, so logically it still existed in some form. Whether that be as it was when it came to Earth or in pieces remained to be seen. Minato's anger welled up again and he pointed to the tag-along had called a "sekirei", but he hadn't noticed his phone go quiet. "So what am I supposed to do with her? Where is she going and what do I have to do now?... Hello?... hello?!... fuck!" Minato stomped past the woman in anger so as to not trip off the building, he fell to his knees and punched the ground with an audible crunch.
In the massive Teito tower Minaka leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples before reaching for his keyboard to contact the next participant.
"a-ashikabi-sama?..." Minato yelled profanity in anger and regained his footing to throw his phone off into the Tokyo skyline, he sincerely hoped it hit someone when it reached the ground. He took a moment to let his anger radiate away from him, he wouldn't be getting anywhere having a tantrum. His sekirei remained by the edge, fearful. After a few moments Minato clawed his nails through his scalp and let out a frustrated groan.
"so… Natsu was it?" the woman nodded sharply and took a few steps towards him worriedly. "What now?" Natsu's head tilted quizzically and she let out a low hum.
"I say… we should return to your dwelling ashikabi-sama, I've seen a few sekirei battles below us since I brought you up here, and the ones that attacked us may still be around."
"The ones who attacked us?" he would definitely grill her for more information once they made it back to his apartment. With another heavy sigh he made his way to peer down over the edge of the skyscraper.
"So how do we get down? Looks like there's a pad lock on the roof access door." He was about to ask how he had gotten up here in the first place, when the battered woman before him latched her arms around his waist from his right. "what are you- AGHH!"
The city scape below him blurred as they rocketed through the air. Wind rushed past him, making his eyes water and dishevelling his clothes and hair. This felt like ten times the G force than what he had experienced at any amusement park, and if it wasn't for the fact that all his organs felt like they were being crammed into his throat he would have noticed one of his shoes and a sock rip away from him to fall to the ground below.
" -UT ME-E DOWNNNNN!" the rushing wind prevented Minato from hearing or seeing his servants response to his scream for help, and with no other alternative available he thrashed and tried to pry himself from her grip. Just like in the darkness.
Then it stopped, and the arms on him went slack. He immediately clambered to solid ground and tried to steady himself while the blurry world around him spun. His stomach felt like it was on fire, its contents churned and he gagged onto the pavement. He hadn't eaten that much today so there wasn't much else but water to throw up. The combined strain of wind and debris and his retching made his eyes red and irritated, and small tears streamed down his face.
"Ashikabi-sama are you ok?!" he felt the soft hands of this hanger-on grip his arms. This was going to be tough to adjust to.
"Never… ever…. Do that again! Do you hear me?" Natsu's grip loosened, and her eyes caste to the ground.
"Yes Ashikabi-sama…" she said quietly as she tried to help Minato to his feet. He was extremely dizzy and still quite nauseous, but now he noticed the few people still out in the street staring at them.
"What, you've never seen someone lose their lunch before?" Minato flipped the gawking pedestrians off as he made his way to the sidewalk accompanied by Natsu. They weren't anywhere near his apartment, but he knew where they were, and how to get home. "and what the hell happened to my shoe?" Natsu looked away, not wanting to admit she had caused him to lose one of his possessions.
They walked in silence for at least a half hour, once in a while he'd hear the woman behind him sniffle or seethe from the cold of the night. He really hoped she wasn't a whiner. Then he got to thinking, what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't be part of some alien bloodbath, he had a life of his own to worry about, and what was he supposed to do with Natsu to begin with; his apartment was a spacious single sure, and the salary he earned was enough for him to live off of comfortably, but what would the costs be to take care of an alien woman? Did she have allergies? Could she even eat human food at all? Did she sleep? She couldn't get a job as it may interfere with this "game" or vice versa. It was always his philosophy that one shouldn't be distracted from their main objective by lesser priorities. Of course he hadn't held up very well to his own beliefs, but he'd never admit it out loud.
"Ashikabi-sa-" Natsu began but was cut off.
"Don't call me that, it sounds weird. My name is Minato… and uh.. nice to meet you…" Minato replied as he absent-mindedly looked at some of the stars while continuing down the sidewalk.
"Oh, yes Ashi-… yes Minato-sama!" Some of the cheer had come back to her voice. That was a relief, he may not be happy with the situation, but if they were forced together they may as well not hate each other.
"Mi~na~to-sama" she faintly whispered to herself as she smiled. She liked her master's name, and he seemed to be kind, if a little irritable. Minato cocked an eyebrow; she was an odd one for sure. He took note of the street they were on, just around the block and they'd be at his place.
"So you had something to say?"
"Oh yes! I'm so sorry Minato-sama!" The young ashikabi froze as the extraterrestrial female skipped in front of him to cup his face and learn towards him.
"what do you think you're-"
"That cut on your head looks bad Minato-sama, I'm sorry you were hurt when I pushed you out of the way. Can you forgive me?" her eyes were so full of guilt and sadness, it was pathetic. To be honest Minato had forgotten completely about the head wound, and probably wouldn't have noticed it again until he took a shower.
"Um… yes, thank you for the concern, I'm ok really" Natsu smiled at him as relief swept across her face, which was replied with an awkward smile of his own in turn. "Look I can see my apartment from here, let's just duck inside and you can explain everything."
Rarely did he feel embarrassed, but when others were able to see and judge his living space he became livid. It was the most intimate area of one's life, and its state reflected a person's habits and behavior. Over the last week and a half he had been misplacing keys and bank cards often, and would end up tearing apart his laundry and desk in an attempt to find the missing items. Because of this his apartment was a mess; dirty laundry was scattered about the floor from the mud room to the bedroom, a stack of filthy dishes filled the sink and loose papers cluttered the floor in his living room.
Sure having an attractive woman see the pigsty he lived in upset him, but he would get over it, she'd be living here so she'd see its true beauty once he got around to pulling his life back together. What really upset him was that whoever had sent to deliver the "beginners pack" had jimmied the door open and left the boxes in the middle of his living room.
In a frustrated frenzy Minato rushed around from room to room trying to clear as much space as he could before his guest saw anything. Most of the clothes were back in the laundry room, but there was still a lot of mess. Despite this Natsu remained adamant that she loved her new home, and she meant it, how could she not love his apartment, he had been gracious enough to invite her in and allow her to stay after all. Nothing she could say would calm Minato from his mad rush to return the place to its former immaculate state, and he only stopped after he had a few loads of laundry prepared for the washer, and all his papers had been piled up on his desk. He would have to sort them at a later date.
As he rushed to the bathroom to grab a few items to treat himself and his sekirei he noticed the position of the hands on his wall clock. It hadn't even occurred to him to check the time. This whole ordeal had taken up more than two thirds of the day! It baffled him how he had only been conscious for less than an hour of it.
Of course now came the tedious "tell me everything you know" part of it all. Minato returned to his living room with a wet cloth, peroxide and bandages. His "sekirei" as Minaka had called her remained where he left her throughout his cleanup, on his leather sofa.
Her attention had been on him the whole night, it was a little creepy, but it could have just been out of concern for the cut on his head. He kneeled in front of her and sighed, he told her when they entered to take her boots off but she must not have listened.
"Take your boots off please…" it took her a moment to catch on, but he was quite certain his tone got the message across.
Her injuries weren't bad, bruising on the knees, some cuts and scrapes on her arms and legs, and a gash across her stomach. They were nasty and dirty for sure, but weren't life threatening by any means.
"This might sting a little, so… just hold still, ok?" his housemate shifted uncomfortably as the wet cloth wiped away bits of dirt and gravel stuck in her cuts, he had seen enough sports injuries and fights in America to not be squeamish about this kind of thing.
"So what happened? Today I mean. I was running home, and then I was on the street a block away covered in blood." He was mildly surprised; most of the bloody marks on her skin were just that, dried blood. Most of her injuries had already healed over and were just faint scars. It made sense though, if she could jump off buildings without splattering on the pavement than she could come back from light injuries in no time. The same didn't seem to be true for the gash across her stomach though.
"I was looking for you actually Minato-sama, I didn't know who you were, or even what you looked like, but I could feel you somewhere close by!" a dreamy look had filled her eyes despite the stinging of peroxide poured on her nastier scrapes.
"You could "feel" me?" The game was as strange a concept as aliens themselves, but the intricate details of everything were no doubt fascinating. Having cleaned all the blood off her right leg he continued to the left, causing his guest to bite her lip and avert her eyes.
"Y-you see, only a small percentage of humans are compatible with sekirei DNA, and although any compatible human can wing us, we only react to a few out of every hundred. The ones we have a reaction to can be our destined one." There were a lot of terms being thrown around that Minato didn't really understand in this context, he'd have to make a list for future reference.
"Let's get the basics down first. Explain what you mean by humans "winging" you, and what it means to react." It was a simple request, at least as far as he was concerned. If he had to be in this than he might as well know what he was talking about.
"Ok Minato-sama!" he couldn't get over how bright her smile was whenever she talked to him, he wasn't a bad or unpleasant person, but he knew he didn't exactly radiate cheer and goodwill. "When an ashikabi, a compatible human, exchanges genetic information with us via our mucous membranes we become bound to that individual, winged in other words. We're so attached to our ashikabi that our proximity to them greatly affects our mood and behavior, and if they die than we even experience a kind of brain death." The way she nonchalantly spoke of being chained to another being was astounding to say the least.
"wonderful, now I HAVE to watch my health…"
"In the beginning we look for that one ashikabi we think will be best for us, we know when we've found someone to be our destined one when we have a physiological reaction. Our thoughts become hazy, body temperature and heart rate increases drastically, and we feel disoriented and drawn to the person to be winged." While Natsu continued her explanation Minato moved the cloth higher, and was awarded with a flinch as he cleaned the blood away from the slice on her stomach. Her hands clasped together over her chest and she smiled affectionately at Minato "That's how I knew it was you Minato-sama, when I saw you, my heart wouldn't stop and I couldn't breathe." The flush on her cheeks was genuine now, and this sort of distant gaze took over her expression.
"Interesting… And those tattoos you have, what do they mean?" He had to focus on what he was doing; things were getting a little too heavy for him. Minato kept his gaze low as he applied some peroxide to the cloth to disinfect Natsu's stomach wound.
"um.. ah… well the number seventy-two is my own personal sekirei number, it means I am number seventy-two out of one-hundred and eight."
"one-hundred and eight?... was your ship running a skeleton crew or what?" His reaction was entirely based on mainstream sci/fi movies about alien hordes invading Earth, so maybe he should have given them some slack. Once again Natsu's super human metabolism showed, as the gash on her abdomen wasn't nearly as bad as it had been a moment ago.
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about that Minato-sama, I'm sorry… However I can tell you that MBI has been taking care of the ship, at least that's what some of my adjustors have told me." That could be good or bad. What did they have planned? And why would they just give away an alien spaceship?
"And what about the one on your neck?" Minaka had shown it to him as if it was something he should recognize. You'd think it would be easier to just give him a pamphlet with a glossary of need-to-know information rather than call him to present a speech.
"That's the greatest honour of all Minato-sama; it is the crest a Sekirei gains when they are winged. It is Minato-sama's mark, proving to all who see it that I belong to you." Once again, totally nonchalant about essentially being a slave.
"Actually..." she fidgeted on the sofa as he wound a wrapping around her flat stomach. "I was almost terminated today... " he paused, but only for a moment before continuing his treatment. Her blush was gone, as was the puppy dog eyes.
"and... what does that mean?" He didn't know why he was asking, "terminated" was pretty loud and clear.
"Well, I was in the middle of a Sekirei battle myself when you came running through the crowd. The other Sekirei was already winged, and her master wanted me as well, but I wasn't reacting to him. So he was going to force himself on me. If it hadn't been for you running past, I'd probably be in a bad situation right now..." her mood seemed to drop for a moment before gazing into his eyes deeply "Thank you for being in the wrong place at the right time." She cringed a little as he finished wrapping her bandages. She was thankful that her Ashikabi was kind enough to take care of her, despite the fact she should have been the one nursing him back to health. "The other Sekirei tried to use her finishing move, but just ended up knocking me into you Minato-sama. I was so scared I'd hurt you, I've always had bad luck and it would just be like me to find my Ashikabi and accidentally kill him." A single tear rolled down her cheek and her lip quivered, at least she actually cared about him, which was more than most people he was actually friends with.
"But clearly I wasn't dead... I was vaguely aware of what was happening while I was out... I heard you, pleading for me to be ok... then there was this... this light and heat before I woke up again... what was that?"
"What you experienced was the exchange of DNA an Ashikabi and Sekirei make when they kiss, I would explain it, a demonstration would be much more informative..." He was skeptical, her cheeks were flushed again and she was playing with the hem of her sash. But then again any excuse to kiss a pretty girl was as good as the next, so he went along with it.
"Sure, show me." Natsu was surprised actually, she didn't think she'd get a chance to kiss Minato again so quickly and quite frankly didn't think that would work. Admittedly, she had gone overboard the first time, but there was no helping it, the power and ecstasy that flowed through her in that moment were difficult to resist. Now Minato was sitting next to her on the sofa, it had been easy the first time, mostly because he was unconscious, but now that he was going to be an active participant she felt very self-conscious.
"M-Minato-sama, pl-lease be still for just a moment... while I..." with a nod from her Ashikabi she cupped his face, her blush was growing ever brighter and he could feel her hands trembling as she drew closer.
"Be with me Minato-sama, now and forever..." their lips connected, and both of their worlds went blank. Natsu's eyes clenched shut as Oxytocin and Dopamine surged through her veins and her metabolism worked overtime to heal her remaining injuries.
Through the heat of the moment Minato could see the wings of light that erupted from her back, or rather, the wings were all he could see. They were the brightest thing he'd ever seen, and his eyes strained to stay opened. At the same time however, they had a definite shape, as if they were something physical that he could reach out and touch.
"I think I can take one for the team if this is how it works." Resisting the sensation long enough to put together coherent thoughts was difficult, between the slight moans that escaped Natsu's mouth and her soft lips it was damn near impossible to think of anything other than the male urges that he had suppressed in favour of his career for so many months. But this had gone on long enough, and despite Natsu's insistence to hold him in place he managed to pull himself free. The young couple both took deep breaths, with the Sekirei's being much more ragged. Her skin was flushed crimson all over, and she rested her head on his shoulder as her hands bawled up and rest on his chest.
"I-I love you Master.." Minato's eyes grew wide, no one had said that to him in a long time, even his family. Forget the space laser, or MBI or even that aliens existed, THAT was the strangest thing he had heard yet. How could what was essentially a total stranger just admit to loving him when not even the mother and sister he had lived with his whole life ever said they did.
"... yeah.. uh.. Thanks..." It was all he could come up with, but seemed to be enough for Natsu as she nuzzled into his neck and inhaled his scent before letting out the most heavenly sounding sigh. "You ok?" they pulled away for a moment, Natsu's eyes looked heavy. He could tell she was tired.
"... uhh... yes Ashi- yes Minato-sama." She wasn't fooling anyone. Especially him.
"Listen, stay here for a minute, get comfy. I'm going to go get a blanket and pillow for you. Ok?" She tried in vein to keep him seated, and soon found herself alone. She couldn't help but sigh in disapproval; her Ashikabi was not only handsome and completely irresistible but also playing hard to get. This would definitely be frustrating.
Getting out of the room for a moment was a relief, it wasn't that he wasn't enjoying being with Natsu, on the contrary, that was the problem. He didn't want to be getting into anything too intense after just meeting her. It felt good to have someone to show affection towards him for once, it was something he could definitely get used to.
All this funny business had been getting to him though; first the haunting nightmares, then his faltering work performance, then suddenly the existence of aliens and some secret operation under the most wealthy and influential corporate entity on Earth is revealed to him. Plus the fact that he now had a second mouth to feed. He sure as hell hoped MBI was prepared to mitigate some of his living expenses at least. When the stressed young male returned to his new housemate he cocked an eyebrow. He found her rolled up asleep on his couch, clutching one of his dirty shirts to her chest. How she had gotten it he had no idea, Minato thought he had picked up all the clothes and would have heard her go by if she had sneaked into the laundry room. Or at least he thought he would have.
He had to be honest, her sudden attachment to him was creepy, but it was also a little endearing. Minato couldn't remember the last time someone needed him like that, nor could he remember the last time anyone other than his sister had come to visit him on personal matters. With that in mind, Minato couldn't help but crack a smile as he gently laid the blanket over her and tucked a pillow under her drowsy head.
The newly christened Ashikabi gave a glance to the pile of boxes in the center of the room, and proceeded to take a peek inside. Two boxes had been left in the middle of the chaos that was his apartment; one large and one roughly the size of a shoe box. The biggest box was all spare outfits and necessities for Natsu including towels, clothes for different scenarios such as casual, exercise, formal and nightwear, as well as her own set of hygiene products. At least he wouldn't have to buy her much.
"What the hell is this?..." underneath the plastic wrapped packets of clothes was a rolled up Kevlar bag. Undoing the bindings and unrolling it revealed that the inside was lined with daggers, in all there must have been fifty or more all latched onto the inner surface of the Kevlar sheet. "So this is what you do... you're a knife fighter?..." the blades felt heavy towards the handle, and on closer inspection had been sharpened down to a fine edge. There was no doubt in his mind that he could shave with one of these, if he were so inclined. "Must be what those pouches on her arms and legs are for" It was hard to believe this pretty, if a bit overly attached girl could have the will to cause serious bodily harm to another person. Minato was by no means naive, it wouldn't be like wrestling or those other fake sports. You don't use real weapons for a fake fight, and judging by the amount of dirt and blood that covered his sleeping guest things were bound to get messy.
Then his eyes were drawn to the much smaller box. It was labeled "Ashikabi - N00b Package" gamer slang, wonderful. The contents of the box was mostly pamphlets and folded papers. Skimming the papers concluded one thing, they were mostly about Natsu; likes, dislikes, notes about her personality and stage by stage development chart. One page was about her powers. He already knew she was strong, she did after all throw a three hundred pound piece of scrap at whoever was attacking her AFTER being hit with the vehicle said scrap was from, and she was quite obviously agile if she was able to catch up with him at the road block and propel herself off buildings as fast as she did.
The sheet categorized her powers as "Kinetic Projection - Via physical extensions". A note beside it read "In Layman's terms : weapons type, Knife specialization". "well no duh..." He'd have to read more on all of this later, it was getting late and he would need to be to work early tomorrow to try to set things right. Something caught his eye as he was about to set the cover back on the box. Something that poked out from underneath the pile of papers. It was metal gleaming under the light. At the bottom of the box was two things. The first was a one of the Omni-Phones. It was a new model, one that wasn't even out yet, accompanied by a note taped to it apologizing for not being able to repair his phone which he had just discarded, and stating that the new phone shared his old number. That wasn't what drew his attention however, beside it was a chrome hand-gun with a small handle and small barrel, if he remembered correctly it was called a "snub-nose" Alongside it was three circular bands of six bullets each. On the black grip of the revolver was the letters "MBI - VIP" with a white stripe along either side connecting to the reverse side which displayed the same engravement.
"Why am I being armed?... I thought it was just them fighting?... I thought they weren't allowed to hurt me... " This was just great, how could he be expected to shoot at someone, maybe even kill someone! He wasn't a soldier, or a thug, or even any kind of a bruiser. Sure he could hold his own in a fist fight but why give him a gun? What situations did Minaka think he would be in that he'd need to potentially take someones life?
He stuffed the contents of the boxes back in their place, it was getting late, and he had a lot to do tomorrow. For the moment this game, and this strange girl would need to take a backseat.