Summary:
Harry Potter / Sekirei Cross-over. Harry, forced into exile to save his heritage from thieves, begins traveling the world. While in Japan, Harry happens upon an intimidating woman dressed in black, and gets thrown into a plot he never saw coming.
Disclaimer
I don't own Harry Potter in any way. JKR has those rights... Also, I hear Sekirei is owned by Sakurako Gokurakuin.
*Author's Note *
Some back story on a few of the Sekirei has been changed, just cause I wanted to use the characters and needed them to come from a different place. If it bothers you, tough.
Chapter Original Publish Date: 2012-02-29
Chapter Last Update: 2012-05-28
Chapter 4 - Falling Birds from the Sky
Harry had apparated directly from the training room at the MBI building to his hotel room to drop off some of the things he had picked up before his introduction to Karasuba that morning. The more he thought while he cleaned up in the shower, the more he figured if something did happen long-term with Haihane and Karasuba, he should get a local presence here in town. He asked his head financial management elf Rio to contact the Gnomes about a transfer of money to a non-MBI owned bank and to then purchase a large property within the Tokyo city limits. He would then have the local Gringotts Asia branch contacted so the property could be magically expanded on the inside and then warded to hell and back.
With that taken care of, and an estimate of two to three days tops for results to appear, Harry found himself now in a market district adjacent to a local university. He was looking for a place to get food while he pondered the information dump about Sekirei's he had received that morning and afternoon.
He finally spotted a café that showed promise in the distance while he passed a large group of students who had created a mild scene as they loudly squabbled over grades posted on a public board. Rather than fight his way through the crowd, Harry simply put up a large muggle repelling ward on the scoreboard that would last five minutes, which instantly dispersed the crowd and allowed him through. They would all remember the need to get their grades from the board after the ward collapsed when Harry was long gone from the area.
While the crowd began to disperse without any further incidents or need for, he mentally reviewed what he knew of the Sekirei 'bonds' Karasuba had described to him. This Sekirei bond seemed to be very similar to the type of soul-bond which Veela use to find their life mates. The main difference was that multiple Sekirei's could link to the same Ashikabi. But there were additional differences that left them more dissimilar to the standard soul-bond between a witch and wizard.
With soul-bonds, if one person died, the second died within seconds. The Sekirei bond seemed to be only half of that. If the Sekirei died, there did not seem to be any visible effect on the Ashikabi beyond the likely psychological trauma that would occur. However, if the Ashikabi died, all Sekirei bonded to the Ashikabi died as well.
What had really sparked his interest was the idea that Karasuba and Haihane were not properly bonded to their Ashikabi. First of all, their Ashikabi was homosexual, and had not seemed to share an ounce of affection with them. Second, and most important, they had been forcibly bonded against their will. So the bond, while it existed, was terribly weak.
Through his shared with Fleur after her divorce, Harry had heard many horror stories of Veela taken against their will and forcibly bonded to a wizard through rituals. Fortunately, those bonds could be shattered later if they met someone they considered their true mate. Harry would have to proceed carefully here, maybe even contact Fleur to get some advice if he got too far over his head.
It was considered extremely bad form in the Magical World to ignore a bond with a magical being when the bond has been initiated. It can lead to mental illness, madness, and even the death of the magical being. The upside of this is that once a true magical bond forms, and the two individuals do not get along, they can go their separate ways with no consequences to their lives or magic. A 'weak' bond would be formed, that could later be overwritten if either being encounters another person with the capability to become their true mate.
If Harry found himself in the position where he had to bond Kara and Haihane, he would do so, but he needed to make sure they would be safe first. They worked directly for the scum behind this ominous "Sekirei Plan," and Harry wasn't going to half-ass jump into something if it put either of them at risk if he proceeded too quickly. Harry's Gryffindor instincts which urged him to leap before he looked had died years earlier when he found someone other than himself involved.
Harry's thoughts at this point were interrupted by one of the strangest things that had ever happened to him. A very well-endowed woman, in a white traditional Japanese gi outfit with a red skirt, appeared suddenly above him and screamed bloody murder to get out of the way while she fell out of the sky towards him.
Despite the strange sight, Harry at least had the presence of mind to cast a cushioning charm on himself and the ground behind him before she violently impacted with him. He still saw stars for a second, and when he was able to focus on what was in front of him, he realized he was staring straight up the girl's skirt at her spread-eagled legs and white cotton panties inches from his nose.
'Well, isn't this interesting', he groaned internally. If Neville was here, Harry would have already bet money that a Sekirei had just landed on him. This really would be his luck.
His thoughts of woe were interrupted when the girl realized just what her position was and began a quick scramble to her feet, where she unintentionally kneed Harry in the bits. Something she immediately realized from the groans that issued forth from Harry.
"Oh I'm so sorry, but thank you. You must be the kind person who caught me, I don't know if I could have handled hitting the ground the way I did without injury. Wait, how did you not get hurt from me falling?"
Harry slowly got to his feet and stretched a bit. Then, he proceeded to the number one priority of all men in their mid-twenties and checked to see his ability to father a child was still intact. He turned to the girl, hit her with the translation charm, smiled and simply said, "Magic."
She pouted comically, "There's no such thing as magic, don't be silly."
Every time Harry heard someone say those words, he just had to laugh. He looked at the girl and said, "Well, maybe I'll demonstrate some for yo-"
"Watch out!" the girl suddenly screamed and pushed Harry out of the way. Massive purple bolts of lightning suddenly impacted where they had just stood and left a smoking crater a meter deep. Harry barely noticed this though, as the girls comically massive breasts smashed into his face as he landed.
'Holy Hannah… those have to be about the biggest natural pair I've ever seen,' he thought in amazement.
Any thoughts of comparison quickly vanished from Harry's mind however as he heard voices high above shout, "There's no use running!"
"We'll just find you again, so fight with us."
Harry quickly caught on that the faceless voices had spoken to the girl only and had ignored him completely.
Harry and the flying breast girl slowly got off the ground, and she responded to their attackers with, "I can't fight, well at least not yet."
'Ah, that's it. She must not be winged yet,' thought Harry.
Harry could see their attackers now, who stood about six stories up on top of the building next to them. They were twin girls with black hair, large chests, and utterly ridiculous S&M outfits on. One of them responded to the girl at Harry's side with, "You may not feel like fighting right now sweetie… BUT WE DO!"
Parachute girl suddenly grabbed Harry's arm and nearly ripped it out of the socket when she started to run away at a speed faster than a cheetah could.
"Stop!" Harry yelled, and the girl obeyed, though she was clearly worried about the pair of girls rapidly who rapidly approached them by jumping from roof to roof. He was not mad at her though, not with a face as innocent as this girl had. The girl seemed genuinely ok to Harry, since she was just trying to get him to safety and away from the two nut jobs that were even now approached without any caution at all.
However, she assumed he was just a normal human.
"Stay right there," Harry coldly spoke as he mentally prepared to unleash his full aura and drill these two punks straight into the concrete.
"Wait, they'll hurt-" the girl started to say, but Harry held up a hand and said, "I know they're Sekirei, just like you, right?"
The girl was happy to hear Harry had heard of Sekirei's and broke into a beaming smile. 'Damn she's cute and innocent,' thought Harry once again.
"Well, don't worry about me, I know exactly how to take these two out," and Harry started a slow deliberate walk towards the two girls.
Harry started an internally debate about how to approach this while he still had a few moments. He wanted this over quickly and decisively. He mentally reviewed the possibilities that he now faced. How was this fight going to go down? Lightning attacks? 'Well, water could let them fry themselves, but I think it might be wise to keep them somewhat undamaged in case I need to interrogate them. Either way, no one is touching that girl behind me.'
The girls finally caught up, and saw the look in Harry's eyes, but rather stupidly discounted him immediately. "Run along little man, we don't want to have to hurt you," said Stupid Twin Number One.
This was followed by Stupid Twin Number Two saying, "Yeah, we're only interested in the airhead behind you."
Harry had had enough and let all restraint go on his magical core, his full aura flew out like a shockwave, the pulse scattered paper and dirt on the street everywhere in a dust cloud that quickly enveloped them.
With the magic coursing through his body, a whisper unintentionally had an audible range of a hundred meters. He didn't even need to gesture to hit both of them with the translation charm. His magic was pissed and it would do just about anything he wanted it to with minimal conscious effort in a situation like this.
"I don't like bullies you know... people who fight two on one. Isn't that against the rules of your little Sekirei Plan? Well, here's a fair fight… Me vs. the two of you. You have five seconds to decide how to spend the remainder of your life with your limbs intact and unbroken, starting now."
"Five"
"What is this dweeb talking about?" said Twin Number Two.
"Four"
"I don't know, but I don't think we should mess with him," said Twin Number One as her eyes widened suddenly as they took in the surrounding area.
"Three"
"Oh you're such a coward, he's only a human, and Seo's not going to have anything to eat unless with deal with that chick and get back to work," angrily said Twin Two.
"Two"
"Fine, but you're the one to tell him if this goes bad on us,' said Twin One, as she moved into a defensive position.
"One"
"Deal," said Twin Two, while she mimicked her twin's posture.
'Oh, just end this stupidity,' thought Harry, 'For crying out loud they were talking about food.'
He apparated behind them, double stupefied each, and then banished the unconscious bodies into a brick wall. 'Well, at least there were a few satisfying crunches when the two morons hit the wall,' smirked Harry inwardly. The whole fight had taken less than two seconds.
The flying girl had quickly run up and joined him, and Harry gave her a lop-sided grin and said to her, "Well, that was anticlimactic, wasn't it."
The girl seemed absolutely giddy with excitement and spoke a mile a minute, "Wow that was great, you saved me. You didn't even break a sweat with them, and the wind and the stuff flying in the air and then they..."
Harry suddenly stilled, held up a hand to silence her, and looked up. He flung a wide area translation charm and announced loudly, "So now you want to play too, huh?"
Above them, there was a masked person who stood on top of the building that Harry had banished the two morons towards. However, silence from the masked stranger was all that greeted Harry and his new companion after his question.
Harry thought he quickly had the gist of what was going on however, "So, you're an opportunist. You were just going to wait up there for the battle to get going between them and then pick off the survivors at the end when they were at their weakest. All in the name of your game, huh?"
The only sound that greeted this statement was the rustling of the wind. The masked observer said nothing and did not move a muscle in acknowledgement of Harry's query.
"I hate bullies, that's what these two shits are… but I hate vultures even more," Harry growled. He suddenly reached out with an arm, grabbed a handful of air, and pulled back violently.
The unexpected Acio caused the observer to emit a girlish yelp of shock as they were yanked through the air to Harry. The shriek stopped with the person's neck firmly in the grasp of Harry's outstretched hand.
The person just started stammering in both shock and apparent denial of Harry's statement. "I… I… had no intention… I'm here to wat-" was the beginning of the stuttered reply Harry simply gripped the person's throat event tighter.
The person, obviously getting desperate, extended both arms straight out, conjuring fireballs in both hands. A casual Flame Freezing charm turned both flames into ice which shattered when they hit the pavement. Harry let go of the masked observer, and with a casual flick of his hand, banished him into the brick wall feet from the Doofus twins.
Harry's anger had started to get the better of him, "Who do you think you are? Take that weak-ass shit somewhere else, son. You won't win any fight with me with that worthless crap."
Dazed and in shock, the person could only weakly whisper, "Who are you? You're no Sekirei."
"Wow, a smart one too. Nothing gets by you, boy… girl… whatever the hell you are," Harry said while waving a hand dismissively, still keeping both the masked observer and the Doofus twins in his field of vision.
Harry barely noticed the eyes seemed downcast at the insult. His words to the unknown masked stranger seemed to sting a bit more then he figured it would.
Then Harry realized he didn't even know the name of the other person he was with, so he turned to the girl in white next to him. Changing personalities faster than a nut job in a sanitarium, Harry plastered a winning lop-sided grin on and said, "I didn't catch your name earlier after you fell on top of me and sat on my face. I'm Harry Potter, exiled wizard formerly of England."
The girl, distressed mere seconds earlier at the blatant violence Harry was capable of throwing around, turned an emotional 180, smiled broadly and said, "I'm Musubi, Number 88. I'm a fist-type."
Harry nodded and merely commented, "Like Benitsubasa then, got it."
Harry was about to continue his verbal sparring with Black Mask when the strongest wave yet of Veela-like Allure smacked him upside the head, all of it emanating from Musubi.
'Now is not the time to start making out with a chick,' thought Harry while he slammed down his Occlumency shields with all the concentration he could possibly muster.
"Musubi, you don't need to say it, I felt it. You want me to be your Ashikabi, right?" She beamed and nodded eagerly.
"Well, let's deal with these three idiots first, and then we can talk about that later. Ok?"
With that, Harry fell back upon an old Marauder's stand-by he had read about in his father's journals. What do you do when confronted by someone you don't know will be an enemy or ally? Mock them repeatedly until they prove themselves otherwise. "I'll just call you 'Pat', ok? You can be a boy or girl. This way I don't get in trouble when I eventually figure it out. I can just keep calling you that."
The person's eyes narrowed, "The name is Homura."
Harry was hitting a groove however, "Nah, I like Pat instead. Vultures and opportunists don't deserve real names. Besides you didn't even proudly give me your number like Musubi did here. I'm sure there's even a dance routine that's supposed to be in there too as you announce it, right?"
At this insult, Homura slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Number 6."
"Number 6, eh? Imagine that? Little 'ole me meeting two single digits in the same day. What a small world," Harry sneered.
It was a typical tactic for Harry, learned straight from the best. Give some half-useless information out, and gauge and see what kind of reaction it got. Shock at that statement definitely crossed the man's exposed face.
Harry's Legilimency got flashes of a few people, before the Masked Wonder's mind connected Harry's mention of Benitsubasa to the Discipline Squad and then an image of Karasuba stayed front and center in the person's thoughts. Harry assumed the other faces he saw flashes of were the other low digit Sekirei he hadn't run into yet.
Turning to Musubi, Harry smiled, "So Musubi old pal, what do we do with these three hooligans"
Homura interrupted, "They're the lightning twins," gesturing at the unconscious girls to his side. "Hibiki and Hikari. They're only interested in eliminating un-winged Sekirei. They're taking out the competition before they get winged and get stronger and are a threat to them."
"The moment Number 88 is winged, they won't bother her anymore."
Despite the information, Harry couldn't resist. This guys/girls buttons were so much fun to press, "And what about you, Pat?"
The flash of rage was followed by a burst of fire. It had barely begun forming before it was instantly quenched with the Aquamenti that Harry drenched Homura with from head to toe. Homura was left leaning against the wall, soaking wet with steam rising from him.
"Ah ah ah, it's all fun and games until someone's knickers get soaked," said Harry as he waved a solitary finger back and forth in front of Homura's face.
Silence reigned as Homura simply glowered at Harry.
'Screw this, I still haven't eaten. Time for my own brand of intimidation,' thought Harry in frustration as he flared his aura and simply stared into Homura's eyes while he replayed a memory of being Crucio'd by Voldemort in his mind.
"Answer the question, Pat. What's Number 88 to you?"
Homura's eyes widened like saucers, and Musubi took an involuntary step back and squeaked out an involuntary "Eeep!"
Homura had quickly realized just how dangerous his situation was and the amount of life-threatening trouble he was potentially seconds away from. He quickly blurted out, "I was tasked to be a Guardian, to protect un-winged Sekirei from those who would take advantage of them. I try and stop them from being attacked them in groups when they're un-winged, or by stopping unworthy Ashikabi attempting to forcibly wing them.
The Legilimency scan Harry had just slammed through Homura's eyes verified everything Homura just said.
Harry dropped the aura, smiled the good ole lop-sided Potter grin, and patted Homura lightly on the cheek, "See Pat, that wasn't so bad. All you needed to say was that you were a good guy."
With a casual wave and an utterance of Finite, Homura felt his ability to move returned to him.
"Stand up," Harry ordered Homura.
Homura reluctantly did so, and with another wave of Harry's hands, Homura's clothes and hair were dry.
Harry turned and walked over to Musubi, smiled, and placed an arm around her shoulders, "Now, good lady, what do you suggest we do about Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb here?"
Harry thought for a moment, before he felt his inner Marauder kick in.
With a sudden snap of his fingers and a roguish smile, he turned to Homura, "Can they electrocute themselves? I know they can both throw electricity around. What happens if they hit each other with it?"
Homura pondered this for a few seconds and said, "I've seen them toast each other before in battle, so it's possible. They're just like their Ashikabi. The two of them aren't exactly bright."
After a quick chuckle at his own creativity, Harry waved an arm as both twins rose in the air and turned around, their wrists crossed behind their backs. With another wave of his hands, two pieces of cloth were conjured and wove themselves around their wrists, which left the twins bound securely as they floated in the air.
Then, after he placed them unceremoniously on the ground, he conjured a copper wire and lightly wrapped one of their fingers each in with it. Harry enjoyed watching both Musubi and Homura shake their heads in disbelief at the casual display of powers they had never encountered before.
Harry told the two, "I figure it'll take a few seconds or maybe even a full minute or so to burn through those cloth ties on their wrists."
"In the mean time, they 'toast' each other through the wire, as our fiery friend just referred to it."
Harry noticed they both seemed to be rather shocked by what he was going to make the two endure as punishment for their crimes. Seeing their reactions, Harry winced internally. 'Well, time to get on my soapbox,' thought Harry.
"Would you rather I ask Musubi take each of their Crests and eliminate them here and now, Homura? Hmm?" Harry glared at them.
Harry continued, "It certainly sounds fair after all, they were going to try and forcibly eliminate Musubi back there in a two on one fight, while you sat on your high horse and didn't interfere." Homura and Musubi both look down at this, thoroughly chastised.
"This course of action hopefully gets it through their thick skulls that Musubi is not to be messed with, and neither am I. Besides, if they have half-a brain between the two of them they'll realize they can just take the wire off. Both of their hands are right next to each other after all."
Harry turned back to the sisters, "Lets wake up the two morons and get out of here."
When he tried to set up people to underestimate him later, Harry would often slowly speak his incantations out loud and used exaggerated hand and wand movements. This was one such case where he spoke his incantations out loud. Two exaggerated Rennervates hit the twins, which brought them out of the grip of Morpheus.
"Ugh, my head."
"What the hell is going on?"
"I can't move."
"Shut up, bitches," Harry finally growled.
"I'll give you a bitch!" Twin Number One abruptly shouted, and promptly zapped herself and her sister silly. The other twin then started to charge up her powers and did the exact same thing.
"What's going on?"
"Quit zapping me!"
Harry just laughed at the situation, walked around them, and verified the bindings took at least some heat damage. It wasn't his intention that the morons stay there all too long. Only that they endure a bit of self-torture while on their way to freedom.
Harry walked back around to the front of the two sisters, and stood between Homura and Musubi.
"Well, have you two idiots figured it what's going on yet?" he finally asked.
Both sisters said nothing. They merely glared at Harry.
"Bah, you're no fun. I don't even get to insult your stupidity if you just stay silent. So, I'm just going to tell you both what your punishment is and then leave you here, because quite frankly, you two bore me."
Harry continued, "You're both bound with cotton bindings, they should easily burn if you run enough current through them. Unfortunately, I may have tied a piece of copper wiring between the two of you, so, as you nuke your binding, you'll also nuke your sister.
Harry's last proclamation was met with dual shouts of "What?" Harry simply laughed and continued.
"It shouldn't take more than a minute or two hopefully of constant voltage to set fire to the bindings and set yourselves free. Then again, it also means nuking your sister with voltage for that long as well."
He instantly threw a memory of being attacked by a Dementor into his mind, while staring at each twin. They began to push away from Harry as quickly as their unbound legs could carry them as they shivered in response to his aura. Musubi and Homura didn't seem to fair much better as they were backing away as well.
"Take this as an abject lesson on what happens to anyone who fucks with me or any Sekirei I'm with, regardless of whether I'm their Ashikabi or not. Got it you two little shits?"
Their heads bouncing up and down like bobble heads in acknowledgment, so Harry promptly turned and began a slow walk out the alleyway, Musubi and Homura hot on his heels.
As they walked away from the still freaked out twins, Homura said softly, "Seo's, not going to be happy with you for hurting his girls."
"Who's Seo?" Harry asked, though he assumed what the answer would be, but asked just to be sure.
"Their Ashikabi", said Homura with a motion back towards the twin terrors.
Harry looked Homura right in the eye, "Well, he should've been here protecting them, and not sending them out to go and double-team un-winged Sekirei, shouldn't he? He's got no sympathy coming from me. If I was either of your Ashikabi, and it looks like I likely will be Musubi's, and you intended to go running around looking for fights, I'd damn well be right there next to you the whole time."
Silence was all this statement was met with.
With a sudden flash of recollection, Harry remembered a casual comment made by Karasuba earlier that day. Harry turned to Musubi and asked, "Were you part of the group of Sekirei released yesterday, Musubi?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
Harry ignored the question. Musubi would be in danger until she was winged, so he needed to make sure she was safe until he decided whether to become her Ashikabi or not. It wasn't really a hard decision given his knowledge of the Magical World and Sekirei in general, but he still wanted to wait a bit longer.
"Where are you staying now?
She looked downcast suddenly. "Um, I don't have anywhere to stay, or any money, or food. I was so excited when it was announced yesterday that I finally got to leave the MBI building and find my Ashikabi that I forgot my MBI Credit card. So, I've just been looking for my Ashikabi, and was drawn this way. That's when I ran into those two girls."
She had stopped moving and looked forlornly down at her feet. She looked like she'd aged down to a ten year old girl in stature. The weight of the whole world on her shoulders, and she had nowhere to go.
Suddenly, she looked at Harry, desperation and hope clearly in her eyes, "Would you be my Ashikabi, Harry?"
He had half expected her to ask this after what happened in the alleyway, it just wasn't something he expected to have to answer this so quickly. 'Was every Sekirei that he met going to want to bond to him?' he whined internally in his head.
"You'll need to hear what my life has been like first, Musubi. I'm not sure if you'll want me after you find out. And I would want you to know before I agreed to it."
"Why, what's wrong? How can I help you?"
Harry couldn't help but smile ruefully at her enthusiasm.
"I will tell you, later. I promise." Harry turned to Homura, "Hey Pat, oh Guardian of repressed Sekirei's…"
Harry figured that he had made some progress with the masked dude, because he wasn't getting angry anymore. All that this last quip had elicited from him was an eye-roll.
"If you're tasked with keeping watch over and helping the newbies, does that also imply there's a super-secret newly-released Sekirei sanctuary out there Musubi can go to for shelter?"
Homura looked at Harry, as if some internal battle were being waged in his mind. Then he finally said, "Yeah, there's someplace I can take you… both of you in fact, if you want. I actually stay there as well, but I go by the name of Kagari while there. Please respect that."
The side of Harry's lip pulled upwards, he couldn't resist that one. "Sure Gary, whatever you say."
Twitch.
And there it is. Homura had gone down the path of nervous tic eye-twitching. Harry's day was now complete. Getting veins to pop out of people's head's was nothing. But a nervous tic, that took skill.
Harry called over his shoulder, "What and where exactly is this place we could be going to?"
"It's an Inn in the north part of the city. It's called the Izumo Inn and is run by an old friend named Miya," said Homura casually.
Harry abruptly stopped, turned, and narrowed his eyes at the mention of the name of the woman who was likely the one who had put his Kara through so much pain in her life
'Whoa big man, she's 'my' Kara now?' Harry yelled at himself. 'Today has messed with my head worse than I thought.'
Homura raised an eyebrow at my reaction, "Problem with Miya?"
Harry decided to not burn his bridge quite yet, but still hedged his bets with his response, "No, not directly. I know someone who does though. I'll hold my judgment on her for now. She's done nothing to me, yet."
The group continued walking, now on the street. "So how are we getting there? Walking? Or you have a faster way of getting there."
"I can carry you Harry", volunteered Musubi cheerfully, "if Kagari leads the way that is."
"I actually don't need to be carried, as lovely as that sounds Musubi.' Harry said dramatically, "Just start moving and I can follow however fast you both go."
Homura didn't seem inclined to wait for an explanation, annoyed as he was with the whole debacle, so he immediately jumped up and began travelling north across rooftops.
Homura couldn't go nearly as fast as Karasuba travelled that morning, so Harry was able to keep up much easier than his previous jaunt across rooftops. He was even able to apparate in front of Homura a few times, which elicited a very loud squawk of surprise.
Eventually, Homura went down to street level and began a slow walk on a public sidewalk in the middle of a residential area. "Miya doesn't like people jumping down into her yard, or approaching the general area at high speed, so we'll walk the rest of the way."
At this point, Homura removed his mask, which exposed his face for the first time. Harry only shrugged at the statement. "Her house, her rules I guess."
They walked in silence for a few minutes, Musubi bounced along excitedly. She clearly enjoyed their adventure so far and Harry could not help but notice that she walked closer and closer in proximity to him.
Just to break the silence and tension he was reading from 'Kagari', he asked, "So what's the rent going to cost us, if we decide to stay there, Kagari?"
That earned Harry a strange look from Homura, who didn't seem to have processed what Harry had asked, only reacting that he had actually used a proper name for once for him. For a few seconds, there was silence, and then he chuckled under his breath with a genuine laugh for the first time in Harry's presence.
"No one pays rent there. Miya complains constantly about people owing back rent, but it's mainly an excuse she uses to try and get people to obey her. Mostly people just do odd chores around the inn to help her out."
"Interesting method of control," Harry mused out loud. "I take it she has no need for the money then?"
"No, the place was once her husband's. She owns it now that he's dead. I believe she's fairly well set financially, that's why she runs the place like a sanctuary," Homura said.
"Well, I can probably help get people a lot more free time away from house-hold chores. I have a few ways to make sure they're always done."
Harry had glanced a few times at Homura out of the corner of his eye, and caught him looking at him.
"So what's your deal," Homura asked. "Normally Ashikabi will fall over themselves whenever a Sekirei offers to let them wing. You just stood there, smiled, and said you would talk about it later."
"My life is not exactly normal. I'm pretty sure I understand this bond you all form. It's basically a one-sided soul-bond. However I'm used to hearing how these kinds of bonds permanent when done properly and willingly by both sides. I won't let anyone bind to me if they don't know what they're getting into," said Harry, while he looked off into the distance without really seeing what he looked at towards the end of his rant.
"What are you talking about?" Homura asked as he stopped walking. "Not permanent? Once a Sekirei finds their Ashikabi, or is bound unwillingly by an Ashikabi, that's it. No second chances. It's why I do what I do. If a Sekirei that was forced to bind can get out of it, that's the biggest and best news possible for us."
Harry glanced back at Homura and said, "I know a bit about Soul-Magic. This kind of bond you all create is very similar to another kind I've seen in the past. Those can be undone if you meet someone more compatible and the first was done generally against your will. I haven't seen any reason yet why it couldn't be done here as well."
As Harry turned to continue down the sidewalk, Homura grabbed his arm. "You don't understand. This changes everything for so many of us. There are some Ashikabi who probably have winged ten or more Sekirei, and almost all of them unwillingly. The girls only stay because they believe they have no other options. They all think they'll forever be stuck with the bastards and will never find someone who they will truly be happy with."
Then, it hit Harry, more suddenly then the previous three times he had been hit. It was another Veela-like wave of Allure blasting against his Occlumency shields, making his mind groan under the strain of resisting it. All of it, emanating from Homura.
'Oh you got to be kidding me,' thought Harry incredulously as Musubi suddenly grabbed his arm after she saw he was in distress. 'It's a freakin dude this time.'
However, as Harry thought this, the burst vanished as he saw Homura drop to his knees in pain, hand clutched tightly to his chest. Suddenly Homura gasped for breath, his pleads barely audible between deep gulps of air, "No, please no… not now…" was all Harry could hear Homura whisper through the pain he had suddenly and quite obviously wracked his body.
Despite whatever goofy Sekirei magic was being thrown around this time, Homura needed help and Harry and Musubi were the only ones to offer it. He looked at Musubi, who seemed to be on the verge of panic at seeing Homura injured.
"Come on Musubi, Kagari's hurt. I can fix him up probably when we get to Miya's place, but we got to move," and with that statement Harry picked Homura's surprisingly light body and broke out into a run.
"Stay with me Homura, stay awake, don't you lose consciousness on me."
The two ran another block with Homura before they barged through the closed front gate of the Izumo Inn. The owner, Miya Asama, saw their approach and stared incredulously as the odd group ran onto her property.