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 First Published: 2012-03-01
Chapter Last Update: 2012-05-28
Chapter 5 - Izumo Inn
"Are you Miya?" Harry asked after casting the translation charm upon the blue-haired woman who approached them while he carried Homura to the front door.
"Yes, I'm Miya Asama, what has happened to Kagari," the woman asked with concern in her voice. She only vaguely looked around as the charm hit her. 'She's definitely as powerful as Kara if she could sense the spell hitting her,' thought Harry.
Harry decided that if it was the Miya, she deserved the whole truth, "Long story, and I think I only understand part of it. Suffice it to say, he started having extremely debilitating chest pains. It started right after I think he recognized that he wanted me as his Ashikabi."
Miya gasped, "You're sure of this, how do you know this?"
Harry wasn't quite ready for twenty questions yet, especially with someone who Karasuba considers having ruined her life, "Can we please just get him to his room and onto a bed. I can attempt to heal him, and if I can't, I can likely get someone here very quickly who can."
Miya looked at him shrewdly, and Harry got the distinct impression that she just now saw him properly for the first time. Her entire focus previously had definitely been upon Homura and not Harry and Musubi. Perhaps she thought he had spouted nonsense before and wasn't worth her time as she focused upon her injured friend. But now Harry definitely had her undivided attention.
"Sure, but I warn you, if you hurt Kagari, it will be the last thing you do," she said with a bit of menace as Harry felt an odd form of Legilimancy pass over. The mind magic manifested itself behind Miya as the sensation made his eyes believe an odd sort of demonic purple mask floated behind Miya, ready to strike him down.
"Whatever, death threats, been there, done that… just show me to the damn room so I can try and help him."
Recognition that the mask only seemed to annoy Harry passed across Miya's face for an instant, and she quickly led the way to Homura's room. Musubi followed immediately behind them, as well as an extremely attractive newcomer who had heard the noise also quickly joined and she looked at Homura with a deep look of concern on her face as well.
The group arrived at Homura's room and Miya motioned them inside. Miya began to ask just what he intended to do, when Harry asked for silence, cast the translation charm on the newest woman, and then simply asked for quiet while he prepared. Harry took out his Beachwood wand and conjured a pen and piece of paper.
He enchanted the pen to be linked to his mind in order to write out the information revealed by the next spell chain he cast. Then Harry began casting diagnostic after diagnostic upon Homura.
Harry had no basis to assume a diagnosis, and no prior information on Homura's background. Miya could've probably provided him this information, but he decided to get as much information as he could on his own before including any second-hand information which could cause him to make invalid assumptions. Harry was casting as wide a net as possible, even running obscure diagnostics for ailments that hadn't afflicted anyone in centuries. Through it all, the pen wrote on and on.
The whole time Harry cast his spells, Miya, Musubi, and the unknown girl watched on in trepidation. They were both worried for Homura and clearly wondered what on earth Harry was doing. He had completely tuned them out and had not paid the slightest bit of attention towards them or the pen that seemed to be alive and wrote gibberish on a piece of paper in front of them. To them, it appeared he insanely waved an odd stick around wildly and muttered nonsense under his breath, which caused Miya to slowly begin to anger.
She was about to say something when a light touch was felt on her arm. Musubi was looking at her with in a determined yet worried face and said, "Trust Harry. He's who I choose to be my Ashikabi as well. He can do things… things I've never seen before. Please let him finish what he's doing."
Miya stared at her a long time, and then finally nodded. The landlady and the two female Sekirei resumed their silent vigil of the two men in the room.
Finally, after about ten minutes, Harry couldn't think of any additional spells to cast and re-holstered his wand. He picked up the paper and began to read. Most of it was useless drivel, though three things eventually stood out to him.
The most incredible revelation revealed by the scans was that Homura was listed as a 'she' in multiple test results. She was surprisingly shown to have a Metamorphmagus talent like his old friend Tonks. The tests ultimately disclosed one last thing that troubled Harry immensely; someone had bound Homura's ability to actively utilize the Metamorph talent..
The binding was about to undergo a catastrophic collapse, which would likely implode her magical core. And since Harry knew Homura was partial to utilizing fire, he could easily imagine a fireball a half-mile wide with a sentient being only partially in control at its epicenter. The inferno created by such an event would easily destroy everything in path before it likely claimed Homura's life.
The results had just barely sunk into his head when Harry found the need to sit down. He leaned back into a chair and after he put the diagnostic sheets down on a small table next to him. The need to slowly rub his eyes overcame him in an attempt to distract his mind from all the dangerous eventual outcomes of the block's failure. What he really needed to do was determine a logical plan of attack to remove the block.
He mentally reviewed the facts he knew plus all the random information Tonks had told him about metamorphs long ago. If Homura was currently a female bound in a male form, that wasn't welcome news. It meant, while the binding was broke down, Homura would slowly revert back to female form at an extremely slow and painful rate. He remembered Tonks explanation that gender changes were the hardest to undergo, and growing certain lower and upper appendages 'in' and 'out' tended to be quite painful.
There was only one conclusion to be reached. That binding needed to be removed immediately.
While Harry continued to ponder the possible choices silently, Miya walked over and picked up the paper. It was written in English, but that didn't appear to faze Miya as she could apparently read it anyways.
"What does Metamorphmagus mean?" she asked Harry softly.
Harry looked up at her and said, "I'll go through it all with you in a few minutes, let me see if I can't at least reduce her pain and get her to sleep. We can talk about her options afterwards."
"Oh, by the way," he added to the three girls, who all looked at him in confusion as he referred to Homura as a 'her', "I'm about to summon a friend who's going to literally pop in right in front of you. Don't attack him please," Harry figured with as serious as Homura's condition was, now wasn't the time to have his usual fun where he would summon in Dobby to people who are unaware of what was about to happen.
"Dobby."
"Yes sir, Harry Potter, sir. You're busy today Harry, what can I do for you."
"No time for explanations, my friend," Harry quickly said. "I need a vial of dreamless sleep and a pain-reducing potion. Maybe a few nutrient potions as well, she's looking kind of underweight to me," he said as he gestured over to Homura for the sake of Dobby's reference. "After you bring those here, hang around. I may need more of your help to undo an ability binding on the woman in the bed over there."
Dobby's eyes widened as he glanced at Homura in agony on the bed. "Yes sir, Harry Potter, Dobbys be right back."
"Harry, what was that?" Musubi asked.
Harry smiled weakly at her, and turned back to stare very tiredly at Homura while saying, "That was a House-Elf, Musubi. Unfortunately, they're a slave-race to wizards around the world. I managed to free him from a very evil man who was abusing him back when I was twelve years old. God, it's been thirteen years since then. I've known Dobby for over half my life. Anyways, since then he's followed me around everywhere. I can't count the number of times the little bugger has saved my life. He's one of the few truly loyal friends I have."
"He's a slave?" Miya said with a bit of anxiety.
Harry looked at her, "Yes and no." Harry sighed. He hated the manner in which he had to carefully explain the history of house elves to each new person that encountered them. It ultimately was worth it though if it could prevent the knee-jerk reaction that Hermione had back in his fourth year of school.
"House-Eves are symbiotic with another person, family, or powerful magical location. They cannot produce magic on their own, thus they must bond with either a person, a family, or sometimes even a location if there's a lot of ambient magic in the air from heavy use. In return for the bond that keeps them alive and sane, House-Elves essentially act as butlers and maids for Wizards. Dobby bonded himself to me without me even knowing when I was twelve years old. It was years before I even found out he had done so. He kept going on and on about wanting to be a free elf. Eventually I learned he meant free from abuse. He has no problem being bound to me. Does that explain?"
"Yes," said Miya with a pained smile. "I apologize, you mention that Dobby is a slave, and Musubi mentions that you will likely be her Ashikabi, and you yourself say that Kagari has given you the impression he wants you as his. You can see my consternation, no?"
Harry nods wearily, "I hate slavery in all forms. If these two, and anyone else for that matter, choose to have me as their Ashikabi, I will treat them with respect, you have my word."
Dobby re-appeared and held the requested vials, "Here, Harry Potter, sir."
"Thank you Dobby," Harry gestured to Miya, "Mrs Miya here likely will be very worried about Miss Homura, can you hang around and ask her later if there's any work or chores that need to be done? I think she would appreciate it. Bring Winky here as well if you want. I know the two of you don't like being apart."
"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby turned to Miya, "Dobby will comes back later with his Winky and we's helps with what we is can." And with that, Dobby popped away.
He turned back to Miya, "If you have any chores or other random things around the inn that you would like done, the elves will be glad to do it. They'll get it done a hundred times faster than any of us will be capable of doing it too. I could also bring one of my cooks by, to watch whoever prepares the meals around here. Then they could prepare the food from then on. They only really know European and Latin American dishes at the moment, so they would need to learn traditional Japanese cuisine."
Miya just nodded jerkily. The surprises continued to come left and right to her and she was apparently near the end of her rope. The other girl in the room who he hadn't learned the name of yet simply stood there with her mouth agape.
'Ok, nasty tasting potion time,' thought Harry. He really didn't want to subject someone to the foul nastiness of magical potion consumption without a proper explanation of just what exactly they were about to drink, but he didn't seem to have much choice at the moment.
Harry walked over to Homura, and conjured a chair to sit down upon next to the bed. Homura latched onto Harry's free arm and asked, "Can you make it stop?" The desperation in her voice was nothing compared to the fear in her eyes. She had practically curled into a ball while she clutched her chest with the other hand.
"Yes, I know what's happening to you, and I promise you that after we remove it, I'll be right next to you as we hunt down the bastard who did this to you."
"Thank you. How do we fix it?" her voice was shaky, but her eyes told a different story. There now was fire and determination there to see this through.
"First off, you need to rest a bit so your magic settles. I have a potion here that will ease the pain for about a day. It should kick in about five minutes after you take it. I want you to meditate and then eat when you've settled your mind a bit. After you've eaten, you need to take this second potion. It's called 'dreamless sleep'. When you take it, you'll have exactly eight hours of completely uninterrupted sleep. When you wake up later, I can walk you through everything I've learned when I ran my diagnostics. Until then, I need you to relax and not think about any of this. If you know meditation, please do that. It will help settle the pain and slow the damage quicker."
"Just to ease your worries, I'll tell you just a little bit. You have magical abilities. All of you do in fact," Harry said as he looked at all of them in the room who were listening in. "To simplify things greatly, Homura, you specifically have a very rare ability to morph your appearance, you can look like anyone you want when you use this ability. However, someone apparently didn't like this, so they bound this ability, and locked you into form you're currently in."
"Basically, right now, in times of extreme emotional stress, the power of your magic is slowly eroding the binding on your morph ability. Basically, the binding is failing at an incredibly slow rate, and that's why you feel pain. Normally a change like this would be near instantaneous and damn near painless. But you're going through the change at a rate that's so slow its borderline torture. If you can settle your emotions a bit, it'll help stop it and the pain. Your emotions are tied to your magic. The more chaotic they get, the more they'll affect the binding, and cause you pain."
Homura nodded and reached for the first vial. As she was about to drink it, Harry said with a sad humorless smile, "Oh and one more thing, that potion you're about to drink, is one of the foulest tasting things on the planet. I know it sucks, but you have to drink the whole thing."
Homura looked at the potion wearily, and then simply pinched her nose, and downed the potion in one go, "Oh god, that was horrible."
Harry laughed, "You have no idea. I can say 'one of the foulest' accurately because I've had other potions that are even worse than that one. Imagine that you've lost all the bones in an arm, and then you're forced to drink something that tastes worse than that to grow them back. The potion then keeps you awake overnight and makes you feel like you have wooden splinters in your arm the entire time while the bone is grown back," Harry chuckled at Homura's wide-eyes.
"Get some rest, ok? That potion should start reducing the pain in a few minutes."
Homura nodded and closed her eyes. Harry got up, and walked over to the others. "Winky?" he softly called
"Yes Harry Potter?" the female elf said as she appeared.
"Can you watch Miss Homura for us please while we go into another room and talk? I don't know if she was paying attention when Dobby was here earlier, so she may overreact to seeing you. So try and stay out of sight. Come get us if you think she's having a problem, Ok?" Harry said all of this very softly, hoping to not disturb Homura as she went through meditation routine she was obviously well-versed in performing.
"I will Harry. Dobby is here too, waiting for orders from Miss Miya." As he nodded his acknowledgement to his faithful elf, Harry beckoned the rest out the door and shut it as the last person exited.
Harry turned to Miya, "Is there a place we can all sit down so I can go through this all with you?"
"Yes, please follow me," and she led them all into a dining room, where they all sat on the floor
Miya served tea to everyone, and when she had sat down, Harry began to speak, "Well, let me see if I can't provide some answers to all your questions. Please try and not interrupt me, this is a long story, and it's likely your answers will come later on. It isn't my whole life story, but it's a very good abridged version of it."
"First off, I'm Harry Potter. I'm a wizard born in England twenty-six years ago. This is Musubi, Number 88."
Miya spoke up first, "Again, I'm Miya Asama. I own this inn." She looked at the woman to her right on the couch, and after a moment's hesitation said, "This is Uzume. Number 10. She normally doesn't speak up about her being a Sekirei, but I believe it would be advantageous to her if she didn't utilize her normal secrecy."
Uzume playfully glared at Miya. "Like she said, I'm Uzume. My Ashikabi's name is Chiho."
"Do you have an Ashkabi, Miya?" asked Musubi.
Harry stiffened at the question, and he was sure Miya saw it before Harry relaxed. "No child, I'm Sekirei and at the same time I am not. I'm something wholly different. I may be Number 1, but I may as well not be," she finished cryptically.
From there, Harry went on to explain his life as he did with Karasuba earlier that morning. He demonstrated some magic, gave each woman a translation necklace, and explained just what it did so language barriers wouldn't be an issue in the future.
Eventually, Miya spoke up afterwards and re-asked the questions she asked earlier. "Can you explain Harry how you knew Homura wanted you as her Ashikabi, and what you will have to do to help her?"
Harry nodded, "I've met four Sekirei thus far who I believe have wanted me as their Ashikabi. I'm not sure what I can do for the first two yet, as they already were forced into taking an Ashikabi against their will. I have some ideas on how to help them, but I need to do some more research first. That's actually what I was intending on doing this evening after finding some food, but then Musubi here literally fell out of the sky and slammed me into the ground. The third Sekirei to give me that impression is her, and Homura is the fourth."
"The way I can tell is through an Allure, or compulsion you Sekirei seem to be capable of putting out. I'll try and explain it in a manner that's familiar to me. There's a magical race that's prevalent in small enclaves in France, and in Eastern Europe called Veela's. They're the descendants of an avian race who has extreme control of fire. Nowadays, they're incredibly beautiful, almost ethereal looking women. One of the things they can do is enthrall men with a compulsion that acts upon a man's lust. Basically it'll turn them into mindless drooling idiots. I'm immune to it, so far as I can block it out using some magically based mind defenses that stop attacks from reaching me."
"That's how I can tell when a Sekirei has chosen me as a potential Ashikabi. Musubi blasted me with a huge Allure that almost put me down on my knees in pain. It hit my mental walls and hurt that badly to resist it. The compulsion was attempting to make me do one thing, kiss her. Homura did the same thing before her own pain got so bad she collapsed."
The women in the room seemed shocked at this revelation, and it was Miya that finally spoke. "I've never heard of this sort of thing occurring before with Sekirei, but you've said it's happened four times to you so far? Who were the other two that were already bonded that wished for you as their Ashikabi?"
Harry felt like he would be betraying Karasuba to her enemy if he revealed her name, plus it wasn't safe for him to reveal this as long as she was a member of the Discipline Squad and working directly for MBI.
"I'm sorry Miya, but I can't reveal that yet. It would potentially endanger both women if it were revealed they might have a method of re-winging themselves to me rather than their current Ashikabi. I'll help them later, when I can ensure their safety."
Before Miya could inquire further, Uzume interrupted and asked, "You believe it's possible for a Sekirei to change their Ashikabi?"
Harry looked closer at Uzume for the first time since sitting down. She was a very attractive brunette who currently donned a simple blue a T-shirt with a pink star and a pair of Capri-style jeans. It was incredibly obvious she was wearing no bra, and her chest was giving Musubi's competition in terms of sheer ridiculousness in size. She seemed someone who would normally be the first to laugh in the room, yet the question she just asked was weighing quite heavily upon her mind.
"Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. I think the bond between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi is comparable to Soul-Bond in the magical world, and is also very similar to a mating bond that Veela have once they find their life-mate."
"Soul-bonds, once they are properly consummated and established between people who truly love and hold affection for one another, are permanent and cannot under any circumstance be removed. The advantages of a soul-bond include longer life and increased health, sharing their magic, and even sharing some abilities. Basically, it makes both members of the bond stronger. The unfortunate part of a soul-bond is that, when one member of the bond dies, the other one dies within minutes."
"I believe the two Sekirei's I spoke to earlier will likely be able to re-wing with me if they choose to do so because they have incredibly weak bonds to their Ashikabi. Both were bonded against their will, and neither one has ever been or has any desire to be intimate with their Ashikabi. I think rewinging will only work in situations like this, if it works at all. A Sekirei who truly loves their Ashikabi, who has established a strong and healthy bond, will not be able to re-wing to someone else if they tried. Does that make sense to all of you?"
The girl closed her eyes and seemed to be trying to hold back tears. Miya reached over and embraced the girl, who began to sob. Harry looked at Musubi, who looked confused at what had just transpired.
"Come on Musubi," Harry whispered to her, "Let's give Uzume some privacy and go outside for a bit. You and I need to talk anyways."
-o0o0o-
Outside it was almost dusk. The sky was lit with an almost unearthly orange hue and the clouds present were magnificent in color. As he stood outside the inn with Musubi, after the day that they just had, the potential peacefulness of this Inn and the wonderful sunset was quite welcome.
Harry knew what Musubi wanted to discuss, and it wasn't an unwelcome topic. The thing both surprised and troubled him at the moment was not the idea of him creating a potential bond with Musubi and the other women, but that the act itself didn't bother him.
Just like Harry, they were all fighters, all students of disciplines of the mind and body. Each of them was being forced to participate in events that deep down, none of them likely wanted anything to do with.
Harry doubted he could've found more kindred souls anywhere else in the world.
'Gryffindors charge forward,' Harry mentally chanted the old mantra to fight his present-day cynical instincts, before he turned to Musubi. He reached out and held onto both of her hands with his. Her hands were soft, surprising to him when he considered that hand-to-hand combat was her specialty. He looked into her brown eyes. They were so innocent, so wide-eyed and joyful at such simple things he had shown her so far. And she had such a big heart that he could genuinely see himself fall for her in time, just like any of the other girls he had met so far.
After he took a deep breath, he began, "Do you know what you're getting into, by asking me to be your Ashikabi? Danger won't stop with the end of this Sekirei plan even if we get through it. Adventure always seems to be following me, but death and grief are right behind it. And by virtue of you being with me, they will follow you as well."
"Is this something you can live with, Musubi? Can you be there for me through all the terrible things I know we'll encounter, just like I'll be there for you?"
She looked at him with a small, understanding smile, and simply said, "I will follow you down whatever road you travel, Harry."
Silence reigned, as each wondered if the other would ask the question to bind them together.
Finally, Harry decided it was time to commit himself for once in his life. He was really only responsible for his godson Teddy, and even then, he had barely been able to participate in Teddy's life after being exiled from England.
This would be different. This would be something he could commit to with every fiber of his being. It simply felt right.
"Musubi," Harry said as he looked right into her eyes and tried to remember the love he had for his parents, Sirius, and Remus when he had viewed them through the resurrection stone all those years ago. "Would you honor me by being my Sekirei?"
For her answer, she leaned forward slowly and closed her now misted eyes and kissed Harry. Their mouths met, and the instant their lips parted, an explosion of magic seemed to erupt from Musubi.
If Harry had opened his eyes, he would have seen enormous ethereal wings spring from the back of Musubi, and a bright luminescence expand outwards from both of them.
Also, if Harry had looked around after he had opened his eyes, he would have seen six pairs of eyes from the inn, who all stared at the two of them in awe at the sheer amount of magic being released.
One set that had just gotten up from bed for some inexplicable reason. She smiled and wondered if that's what her winging with Harry would be like, and for the first time in her life, held no fear in her heart of being winged.
One set remembered a husband that had passed on, that had never been able to wing her like all of her sisters were capable.
One set openly cried because of her own despair and grief as she remembered her own winging, and prayed that her own Ashikabi could somehow recover someday from her illness that threatened her life.
The last set of Sekirei eyes that watched the events did so from a dark hidden room in the Inn. She watched what she could her while security cameras went on the fritz, and wondered if someday she too would find someone worthy to make her Ashikabi.
The final two sets were long-time friends, happy that their master had finally found someone to share his life with, and prayed the threads of loose bonds they had encountered in the air throughout this day would join with their master as well.
But Harry and Musubi were oblivious to all of this, so lost in the wonder of the magic they shared with each other. There was so much magic transferred between Musubi and him that Harry honestly had no idea where Musubi began and he ended.
He also vaguely in his half incoherent state began to wonder if he had been wrong earlier. Other Sekirei's may have partial, one-way bonds with their Ashikabi's, but Harry knew in his heart, what he had with Musubi was a true soul bond. For better or worse, Musubi's and his very souls were now linked for all time.
And Harry was just fine with that.
-o0o0o-
Musubi and Harry eventually came back inside the inn, and were greeted by Dobby and Winky as they grinned broadly with more excitement then Harry thought he ever had seen the overexcited elves demonstrate.
"We's so pleased that Master Harry and Mistress Moosibees have bonded."
Musubi didn't understand the significance of this, and looked at Harry.
He leaned over, and kissed her again, which instantly conjured the angelic wings again, "In their eyes, and in the eyes of magic itself, we are married now. You are now as much their master as I am. All I ask is that you please treat them as family."
Musubi eyes lit up before she grabbed Harry in a rib-cracking hug.
They heard clapping start, and they broke apart to see Miya, Uzume, and Homura stood there, all with smiles on their faces. Miya spoke up, "Harry, Musubi… I've never seen a Sekirei acquire their wings in quite so spectacular a fashion. Congratulations."
"Yeah, congratulations, Harry…. And you too, Musubi Potter!" screamed Uzume as she ran up and hugged Musubi.
Homura walked up and slowly tried to keep steady. Harry interrupted her before she could start, "You should still be in bed. I know you wanted to come down, but what's happening to you is very serious. I can help you, but only if you help me by taking care of yourself."
Homura nodded at him, and looked at Musubi and said, "Congratulations, I'm glad you were able to find him."
Musubi, still high on excitement ran to Homura and hugged her, while she said, "It was great Kagari. I hope yours is as amazing as mine was."
"Ahem", Harry cleared his throat in spite of his high amusement at Musubi's antics. He looked at Homura, "Come on, since you refuse to sit and relax, you and I need to go upstairs and talk."
They slowly made their way back to Homura's room. Harry tried to not to be a mother hen to her, but ended up a miserable failure. Eventually they made it to her room, and got her settled back in her bed.
"Have you eaten yet? Harry asked.
"No, I was trying to rest here when I felt… something. I looked out the window and saw you and Musubi outside. I had never seen anything like that before." Homura shook his head in disbelief and said, "I've seen a lot of Sekirei's and Ashikabi's come together, both willingly and unwillingly. No other Sekirei gaining wings has gained as much power as Musubi did just now."
Harry tried to think of a reason why, but could only think of one thing, "I think that more than likely the soul-bond forged between the two of us grants her some of my power."
"Soul-bond?" asked Homura, clearly confused.
Harry shook his head, and holding up his hand, "Let me start from the beginning, this will take a bit, but it'll help you understand a bit more about me and what's going on. But first things first. Winky?"
The quiet female elf appeared in a much more unassuming fashion then her exuberant partner usually did. "Yes, Master Harry, Sir?"
"Homura needs something light to eat. Is there anything in particular you want to eat Homura?"
"Some noodles would be fine, thank you."
"Winky, while you arrange for the food, can you mention to the cooks that they may want to brush up on their traditional Japanese cuisine? I have a feeling they may be making less and less European style meals in the future and more food from this country."
The elf left to carry out her orders, and Harry proceeded to run through his life story for the third time that day, though this time he recounted everything of note up to this morning. "Now, some things happened today, before I happened upon Musubi, the Doofus twins, and you."
"I'm not really quite ready to talk about that, mainly because it's simply not my story to tell in its entirety. I will say that it's very likely there are two already winged Sekirei out there that will likely be bonding to me. I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon with them before I met you."
Homura was shocked by this, simply blurting out, "This is what you were talking about earlier. But how can an already winged Sekirei join you? We've always been told we'll die if we leave our Ashikabi."
"While I don't discount that theory at a very high level, I think there's a bit more to it than that. Suffice it to say, both of these Sekirei were winged against their will, and there is no love in that relationship. And I don't believe there is any potential for future love in their relationship either."
"You all seem to be created with the idea of finding love and bonding to someone powerful. I think whatever bond is between these particular two Sekirei and their Ashikabi is so weak, they haven't gained anything at all from the relationship. I'm not even convinced either would die if the Ashikabi died in their particular case. They are clearly not bonded anywhere near the level Musubi and I are."
"I know it's a crazy concept to grasp, but bonds between magical beings are most intense when the intent to form them is willing from both parties and there is a powerful emotion behind it. I don't know how to explain it, and I know I'm probably doing a very poor job attempting it right now. I just know I'm right. I think any Sekirei that was forcibly bonded could break that bond and re-wing to their true Ashikabi if given the chance and choice."
Homura seemed stunned into silence, but then slowly her lips curled into a smile, "That makes me feel a lot better actually if it can be proven true. So many Sekirei have been forcibly taken and winged by people who have mistreated and misused them. This will make a lot of Sekirei happy if it could be done. And it makes me feel like less of a failure to all those Sekirei I couldn't save. They may still have a chance now."
"Hopefully we can. And I'll gladly help you to help them. Now, we need to talk about the results of all the stuff I ran on you when we first arrived. There are a few things you need to know, and none of it is all that pleasant. There's a light at the end of the tunnel though, if you're willing to endure and see your way through to it."
"I'll probably be repeating a bit of what I said earlier, but its best you hear everything so it fully sinks in. First things first, you're a Metamorphmagus. They are very rare amongst wizards. The ratio of normal humans to wizards is like one in one thousand. The ratio of wizards to Metamorphmagus' is like, one in ten thousand. It's a very rare ability and most wizards go there whole lives without even knowing the ability exists, let alone meeting one. I've had the honor of knowing one for three years before she was killed during the war I told you about. Her son is my godson."
Harry grew quiet at this point in remembrance and seemed to focus on something far away. He usually hated it when this happens, when he got lost in thought and memories. Homura realized what he was doing and simply reached over and grabbed his hand with hers, squeezing gently. At the touch, Harry refocused his eyes on Homura, nodding his thanks.
"Anyways, sorry for the tangent. Basically it means that if someone hadn't screwed around with your magic, you would have the ability to mimic essentially anyone's appearance that you've ever seen, whenever you want."
"It doesn't matter who it is, how young, how old, or… or which gender."
Homura briefly gasped at this, like a sudden piece of a puzzle hidden from her throughout her life suddenly fell into place.
"That leads me leads to the second revelation I mentioned. Someone locked you into this form and bound you to it. It means the form you're currently in, isn't actually natural for you. And here's the whopper of all of them. You are not a natural male. You are, in fact, a female."
Homura's eyes widened and Harry could easily see the tears as they began to form. Harry got up from the chair he had sat in beside the bed, and laid down on it, taking the distraught morpher into his arms.
"Someone bound you into the form you're in now, and to top it off, whoever did this to you quite frankly did a piss-poor job doing it. Your bindings are breaking, albeit very, very slowly. The problem is, as the bindings loosen, your form is slowly, and painfully trying to force itself back to what it should naturally be."
"It can't do it all the way though, so it's stuck in this perpetual state of 'sort of' changing, which is very stressful on your body and causing you all this pain. The amount of pain you felt today was because of how you reacted to me, as a possible Ashikabi. I think a bit of your magic slammed into the binding, and broke a bit more of the block on you at the same time, because you all that pain."
"So, here's the deal. I know how to remove the binding. Unfortunately, you can't be asleep during the ritual that will break it. I won't lie to you. It will likely hurt more than anything you've ever experienced in your whole life. But, once they're off, you'll immediately revert back to being in your natural form, thought I think I understand if you don't view that as necessarily a good thing for now," Harry's attempt at a joke hit home, and one side of Homura's mouth turned upwards for a brief moment before it returned to a hard straight line.
"On the plus side however, you won't be in pain anymore once it's done, and then you can learn how to switch back to you male form if you prefer being male to being female."
"I know it's a lot to throw at you, but I would like to remove the bindings tomorrow. Also, I believe I'm your Ashikabi, but I don't know how winging you with the binding active will affect you, so I'd like to at least wait till you're unbound before the two of us ponder whether to proceed with winging you. I want to make sure you're free to do whatever you want or need, ok?"
Homura nodded was silent for a bit. She would occasionally look out the window and back up at Harry, trying to put words to something. Harry simply waited, knowing from the experiences of Karasuba and Haihane earlier today, that the lives of Sekirei's could be extremely tough, and it looked like Homura's was no different.
"They did this to me at the MBI labs. I don't know how they did it, but that's where it happened. They ran test after test, made me down medications by the fistful sometimes. Nothing changed, the pain was always there."
"They even told me I would never find an Ashikabi, and there was the distinct chance I would become a discarded number."
Homura saw Harry's confusion at this statement, and explained, "It's what happens when they over-medicate a Sekirei. The Sekirei is 'retired,' forcefully sometimes. There's only one I know that's managed to escape after being declared scrapped, a woman named Akitsu. Her abilities were far too powerful and they tried to rein them in. They nearly destroyed her mind while doing so. She can't be given wings, so she'll never be with an Ashikabi. I've seen her occasionally since she escaped. I protected her a few times when she got in trouble. I have no idea where she is now though. I doubt she knows who I am either."
"You giving me a chance to get wing's is more than I ever could've hoped for. I used to work as a male escort, I've dated hundreds of women while trying to find an Ashikabi. Obviously I had no luck. Then you show up and within thirty minutes I knew you're the one."
"If you'll have me, I'll gladly become one of your Sekirei."
Harry nodded, "Then I gladly accept. But not until those bindings are off of you. It can be dangerous creating a magical bond between two people if one of their cores is blocked or bound. It can kill you, understand? I'll stay up tonight, and get the ritual prepared to accomplish everything as soon as you wake up."
"In the meantime, I'm giving you a necklace. It casts a translation charm on you that will allow anyone who you hear speaking to appear to be speaking in whatever your native language is. I'm speaking English at the moment, but I bet it sounds like Japanese, right?
All that greeted Harry statement was wide-eyes and a slow nod, Harry continued, "It also has my family crest upon it. In the magical world, it signifies you are now under my protection. I've given one to everyone in the Inn I've met so far, even Miya and Uzume. What this means for you, is that you can call my house-elfs now to aid you if you need it. Dobby?"
Dobby appeared once again and squeaked, "Harry Potter sir, you's shouldnts be disturbing Miss Hom-rah. She needs rests, go now."
Homura had to blink and actually pinched herself while just staring at the tiny little being that waved a finger disapprovingly at Harry. Then a small smirk appeared on her face, "Someone's in trouble."
Harry simply rolled his eyes, "They can be a bit exuberant on occasion, but they're some of the best and most loyal friends you'll ever have. Drink that potion there and then I'll see you in eight hours."
-o0o0o-
Harry spent the next few hours in his newly appointed room in the inn. Dobby made a dozen trips back and forth between the combined Potter-Black Library that was in Switzerland, all in support of Harry as he scoured book after book for the correct ritual to match the diagnostics he ran earlier. Eventually he found the correct circle and spent another two hours in an empty room set aside by Miya in order to transfer the runic diagrams to the floor that would remove the Metamorph block on Homura.
It was very late when he finally returned to his room that Miya had assigned him. As he walked in, he wasn't surprised to see Musubi there on the bed already asleep. What he was surprised to see was her snoring softly, completely naked without a blanket covering her.
'One thing at a time Harry,' repeated to himself as he tried to focus on what he still wanted to accomplish,. He desperate attempted to avoid all glances at the insanely hot girl he had essentially married today.
'What a crap wedding night I'm giving her,' Harry suddenly realized, and resolved to make sure Musubi was ok after he was done writing his letter.
He sat down at the desk in the corner of the room, and began a letter to Karasuba that let her know what had transpired after he left MBI Tower today.
Kara,
Dobby has been instructed to give this to you when you're alone. Only you and Haihane will be able to read it, but it's up to you whether you decide to share this with her for now. You won't believe the day I had after I left MBI. I was out getting some food, and was going to spend the rest of the night researching forms of magical bonds for you and Haihane, when a Sekirei literally fell out of the sky and landed on me. Some idiot lightning chicks were trying to eliminate her while she was still un-winged.
I saved the girl (Number 88 – Musubi) from them, and also met Number 6, Homura. Both have reacted to me. Musubi was a no-brainer to Wing and I did so this afternoon at her request. She seems very nice, a bit innocent still to the world, but I sometimes think that's still a good thing. The whole idea of making it as far into life as she has been able to without having her spirit crushed or see the truly terrible things people can do. I certainly know my innocence and faith in the world was shattered a long time ago. I almost envy her. In fact, I know I do.
Homura is a different story. I have no idea what these so called 'scientists' do at MBI, but I want the head of whatever bastard was in charge of 'adjusting' Homura on a pike. The things they did to her are absolutely disgusting. In the magical world, the crimes I've found committed against her would be punishable by the Dementor's Kiss. What that means is the foulest, most loathsome creature in the world you can imagine (they were the source of the Grim Reaper mythos for Non-Magicals) would be used to suck their soul out through their mouth. This isn't just a simple execution. Their soul would literally be devoured and destroyed.
Tomorrow, I'll be putting Homura through a ritual here at the place we're staying to break the bindings on her.
And that's the other thing I really wanted to tell you. The three of us are staying at Miya's Inn. She's been pleasant so far, but I'm well aware of what she did to you in the past, so I haven't mentioned you or Haihane yet by name.
If she ends up being a problem for you, we'll leave. I've already set in motion buying some property here in Tokyo that I plan on placing under every conceivable protection known to Wizard, Goblin, and Elf. No one will be able to find us hiding there, not even via satellite or Non-Magical electronic tracking devices.
Sorry to dump all this on you, but I really felt you should know. Knowledge is power, and I've gone through my life with too many people withholding information from me that I had a right to know, and I won't do the same to you.
Well, it's late, and it's going to be a rough day running that ritual for Homura in the morning. Say hello to Haihane for me.
Thinking of you…
HP
Harry finished up his letter, and placed a charm on it so that only Karasuba and Haihane would be able to read it. After the letter was sent via Dobby, Harry stripped down to his boxers walked over to the bed, where he looked down upon the occupant that slowly slept unaware of his presence.
She lay there on her back completely nude and still snored away, oblivious to his proximity to her. It was dark enough in the room to not make out distinct details of her body, but from what he could tell she definitely had one of the most amazing figures he had ever been in the presence of.
In fact, all of the women he had encountered today were stunningly beautiful. He hadn't had time yet to wrap his mind around the fact that he had basically done the magical equivalent of eloping today, as well as just left the room of someone who he would likely do the same with tomorrow, and that he had just written a letter to what was likely to be his third wife who would pass on a 'hello' to a fourth.
A phrase from his youth repeated in Harry's mind, something that seemed highly applicable at the moment, 'Harry Potter does not do normal.'
He shook the thoughts from his head and lay down next to her. A quick conjured blanket was draped over the two of them as he settled down next to her. She shifted in her sleep and quickly buried her face in his neck and snaked one leg possessively around him. He wrapped his arms around her back and was surprised at the position which his arm brushed against her right breast pressed up against his chest. He stilled in case she woke from the intimate contact. However, she didn't wake, and only once did she let out a sigh of contentment as Harry settled into sleep next to her.
-o0o0o-
The next morning, Harry woke up suddenly as Uzume stood over him and Musubi with a lecherous grin plastered on her face. She smiled quite evilly and said, "Am I interrupting something?"
Harry wondered what the heck she was on about, only to look down and see that the blanket he'd conjured no longer covered him and Musubi, and she had her hand down his boxers, his manhood quite firmly grasped in her hand.
He was momentarily taken aback by the revelation and Uzume's apparent glee at her findings, before he decided to turn the tables on her, "Yes Uzume, I believe you just may have been. Why, do you wish to join in?"
He purposefully dropped his gaze to Uzume's chest, and did a salacious once-over of her whole body while he sported a patented Potter half-grin. Her face went bright red and she immediately began to stutter incoherently. She quickly decided the only safe option was retreat and ran from the room as fast as she could, and only stopped to shut the door behind her as she flew through the threshold.
Vastly amused by Uzume's antics, he gently shook Musubi's shoulder while he whispered, "Musubi, time to get up."
She shifted, her grip on him strengthening suddenly and caused Harry's eyes to nearly bug out of his head, 'Crap, these girls could do serious damage while sleeping.'
"Come on Number 88, time to move," Musubi's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Harry. She smiled when their eyes connected, but then her eyebrows creased as if in thought. She lifted her body up slightly, looking down to see what her hand had managed to grip onto. Harry watched as she gasped, and pulled her hand out of his pants as if scalded.
"Awe, you're going to make me think you don't like me now," Harry said while doing a poor job of pouting.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…" but her apologies were silenced as Harry raised himself up and kissed her, releasing her wings and gaining the reward of hearing her moan into his mouth. He threw a Colloportus vaguely in the direction of the door and Harry was rewarded with the characteristic squelching sound as the door magically locked and sealed itself shut. They snogged for a few minutes and Musubi slowly slid onto him until she had straddled him. It was a chore to not let his hands wander greedily over the body of the literal angel grinding her pelvis into his. The massive chest that softly rubbed against his had not helped matters either.
Eventually they broke apart and simply stared into each other's eyes. She was an absolute vision of beauty to Harry, and he knew he had made the right choice when he pursued this the previous day. He embraced her, and said, "Thank you for choosing me."
Her radiant smile was the only response besides holding him even more tightly in her arms.
Eventually though, they heard a knock on the door.
"Come on children, it's time to get up for breakfast. Open this door immediately." It was Miya, and the last part was said quickly with a definite hint of demand attached. Harry assumed that she likely wasn't used to locked doors in her 'free' inn. Musubi looked panicked, but Harry simply held his arm up, and winked at her.
A freshening charm on each made them appear to each have showered and another flung at the clothes strewn across the room made them smell like they had just been laundered. A volley of rapid fire switching spells instantly put the clothes on their bodies, and some quick transfiguration made it look like the clothes they wore were different from yesterday's apparel. Harry could care less if he had bed-head, but another quick wave of his hand gave Musubi's hair the appearance she had already labored at least forty-five minutes on it this morning.
Not ten seconds after her demand, Harry had walked over to the door and opened it to see a surprised Miya and a shocked Uzume. Miya obviously hadn't expected them to be dressed as Uzume appeared to have ratted their sleeping arrangements out.
"Something I can help you with, Miya?" Harry said with a slight smirk and twinkle in his eye. He sometimes thought that the only truly useful thing he had he had gotten from Dumbledore was the inspiration to research how to cast that eye-twinkle spell that infuriated everyone who dealt with the old man.
She merely blinked in response, which caused Harry to howl with laughter internally. Miya probably wasn't one to get flustered often if what Karasuba told him was anywhere near accurate, and Kara would probably laugh at this story. "Just making sure you both were awake. See you downstairs."
"Musubi will probably join you down there in a bit. I'm going to recheck the ritual runes I setup last night first, and then check on Homura. I'll be down after that."
Uzume followed Miya, and Harry gave her an over-the-top wink as she passed, which caused a bright red blush to erupt on her cheeks again. He realized he would need to be careful around her, because he couldn't imagine himself winning games of flirtation often with her.
Once they were out of sight, he started to quietly laugh. His mirth continued as he proceeded to the room in the far corner of the inn that had been set aside by Miya the previous day. Everything appeared to still be where it was left the night before, and ambient magic from being around so many Sekirei had already begun to charge the circle up like he had hoped. He had hoped this would happen, since it otherwise would require him to empower the circle on his own, and stuff like that always gave Harry a massive headache afterwards and required a day or so to recover.
A quick stop by Homura's room revealed the fiery Guardian Sekirei still slept peacefully. Harry checked his watch, and found the eight hour potion should expire any minute, so he decided to stick around and wait.
After he conjured a new chair to sit in next to the bed, he decided to summon Dobby to get caught up with current events.
"Dobby!"
"Yes sir, Harry Potter, sir?"
"How are things?"
"Everythings be fine, Harry."
"Did you have any problems last night getting Karasuba alone?"
"No sir, Miss Carsubas was on solo patrol in city last night."
"Did she have anything to say?"
"She said shes would write Harry Potter when shes had a chance, but that they were expecting trouble last night and had to pay attention to her duties. She also said the new sword is very fun."
"Yes, I'm sure she's having a stabbingly good time with it. I wonder if she named it. I always wanted to name the Sword of Gryffindor 'Mr. Pointy', but Hermione for some reason never appreciated my humor. Is there any news from the Goblins?"
"Property was purchased this morning, and warders will begin this afternoon. They estimate tomorrow or day after before it's up to Harry Potters standards."
"How big a place did they find?"
"Dobby believes it be twenty rooms, and with space expansion done by Master Harry it could go as high as sixty or seventy. And it has space for everything else Master Harry asked for."
"Awesome, this'll turn out great. I just got to sell Miya on the idea. I hope she agrees."
"When will Miss Carsubas and Miss Hinies be arriving here?"
"Not sure yet, they're in a difficult spot. I think they'll leave the Discipline Squad and MBI regardless if they can be re-winged to me or not. But we have to make sure it's safe for them to leave first. The moment they leave and that Minaka guy finds out, their lives will be in danger. Granted, Kara can take care of herself pretty much against anyone besides me and maybe Miya, so I'm not worried about her. I'm more worried about Haihane."
"The more you say, the more I start thinking you weren't expecting me to be awake yet," said a voice suddenly.
Harry looked up in shock, and saw that Homura had turned on her side and now gazed at him with half a smile on her face, "Shit."
Harry whipped out his wand, "How about we play a game? It's called the Obliviate game."
"Obliviate? That's when you erase someone's memory, right?" Harry simply nodded at this, which caused Homura's eyes to widen in fear.
"You're really going to take my memories away?" She looked half a step away from hyperventilating, so Harry decided to cut this off from the start.
"Nope, just trying to impress upon you how important it is no one knows that not only Karasuba and Haihane want me to be their Ashikabi, but they both are going to quit the Discipline Squad the second we figure out how to rewing them. No one can know, especially Miya. Not yet at least."
"I guess I can live with that. Just make sure I'm a few miles away when those two go into the same room with each other."
"That bad, huh?"
"You have no idea. Their fights and arguments are the things of legend amongst single digits who have been active long enough to have heard about them.
"It shouldn't be for too much longer. Hopefully it won't be much beyond the next one or two days. I believe I have a solution to everyone's problem with the Sekirei Plan."
"What are you…-"
"Nuh uh uh," Harry said, twitching a single finger at her mischievously. "No more questions, breakfast time. See you later Dobby. Let me know if anything comes up."
"Yes sir Harry Potter sir," and with that, the Elf popped away.
Harry helped Homura out of bed and threw some freshening charms at the grateful Sekirei. They joined the rest of the house at breakfast. It was a quiet meal for the group. None of the girls understood the ritual that would take place and that had them all worried. Finally, Harry decided to allay some fears and get them involved in the ritual as well.
"Ok, since no one can seem to ignore the big pink elephant in the room, I might as well go over what's going to happen now and save everyone some trouble. Miya graciously set aside a room that I've prepared for the purpose of removing Homura's binding. Homura, you will need to wear all cotton clothing. No metal, nothing synthetic. It's acceptable to go nude, but that's your choice, cotton clothing is fine. Some runes on the floor will be charged up with my magic. Then, I will get one final acknowledgement from Homura, and then kick the ritual off."
"The reason I'm making sure to explain this to you all, is I would like all of you to be involved in the ritual as well. I'll be feeding my own magic, and directing its use, but the ritual can be strengthened if individuals with a relationship of some kind participate as well. Miya, you're almost like a mother to everyone here, in the way you protect and guide everyone. Uzume, you are good friends with Homura, and Musubi already has very strong sisterly feelings towards her. Normally it we would four people plus myself, but three should be fine. You will all act as anchors for Homura, to ensure her magic is not harmed as mine is used to break down all the bindings affecting her. You are in no danger, and your purpose just makes sure that Homura comes through this as strongly as she possibly can."
"Could I ask you all to participate?"
The three women all looked at each other and nodded, and Miya was the one who spoke up, "I think we all agree to help, but I think we can provide you your missing anchor for this."
Miya reached for a rubber duck on the table and spoke to the duck, "Oh Matsu, I know you're listening. Either you pay your electric bill for the month or you will join us down here… now." Harry was quite proud of his Occlumency skills and the ability to not react to another name from the first generation Discipline Squad Karasuba had mentioned yesterday.
A thump and a crash could be heard from upstairs. Quick footsteps were followed ten seconds later with the arrival of an almost nerdy red-haired woman with glasses. Except nerdy-looking women don't usually look like they could stand up from whatever scientific interest they have and then casually walk down a runway in Paris. 'She's certainly another on who is drop-dead gorgeous, that's for sure,' thought Harry to himself.
She wore a white form fitting dress, with cut outs showing some cleavage. Her blood red hair was tied in a long plait down her back. Occasionally, her head would tilt and her glasses would catch the light at an odd angle and go opaque, giving the girl an almost sinister look.
"There's no need to threaten Miya, I'll gladly help, I just wasn't sure if it would be wise to expose you to needless danger if word of me being here got out."
Musubi's curiosity at Matsu's statement was readily apparent, and Harry quickly realized that Matsu's wanted status by MBI wasn't something to get into at the moment. Harry quickly cut in before Musubi could roll with her train of thought, "Great that makes five of us. I'm Harry, by the way," Harry said happily in an attempt to avoid his natural desire to stare and undress the attractive large-chested woman before him with his eyes.
'I wonder if Sekirei are that way naturally or they adjust something specifically to help make them this way,' Harry thought to himself. Then he laughed internally, 'If that's the case, than Benitsubasa's adjustor must've really hated her.'
"Hi, I'm Matsu," the red-head sat down next to Uzume. All the girls were smiled at the energy coming off of Matsu. Harry mused that it was quite similar to Musubi's natural happiness, with the only difference being that Harry felt Matsu was a bit more Slytherin-like to Musubi's natural Hufflepuff tendencies. In fact he was getting the distinct impression Matsu now stared at him like he was some side of beef. He would have flirted back, but the potential for Miya's deathly glare was enough to banish that thought from his mind.
He also noted that Uzume's happiness and smile had seemed rather forced this morning. There was definitely something wrong there, and Harry made a note to subtly inquire later about it. He turned his thoughts back to the ritual and decided that some last minute warnings were needed.
"I want to warn you again, Homura, this will be pain unlike pretty much anything you've ever experienced in your life. I had to have this done to me nine times. One of the sessions was to remove a core binding that was originally intended to be used on Chimeara's. They're highly dangerous magical beasts that take dozens of Wizards to subdue. That particular one took five minutes to remove from me. It is possible to be driven insane from pain curses in the magical world, and I honestly thought halfway through that particular ritual that my mind wasn't going to make it. Your ritual won't be anywhere near that, but it may still take upwards of 30 to 45 seconds to complete."
"And now I need to warn all of you," Harry said as he looked at each girl in turn. "Once the ritual starts, you cannot move from your place. The magical backlash from moving could injure you greatly, and can potentially kill Homura. Do you all understand this? You will likely witness Homura screaming in absolute agony in front of you while the binding is removed. She's a metamorph, you will see the binding holding her to this form break as well. She will revert to whatever her true form is right in front of your eyes. With all of these things combined, can I trust you all to not move once this starts until the ritual completes?"
Four heads nodded, and one head resolutely looked forward, the fire in her eyes told Harry without question that she was ready for this.
"In that case, let's do this."
-o0o0o-
The group of six entered the room Harry had prepared for the ritual. Miya was having trouble believing this room was still in her inn. Harry had expanded its size every direction so that the original five meter by five meter room was now ten meters in each direction from the center. Intricate runes covered the floor, with distinct points that all coalesced and lead towards the center of what could be considered an impressive work of art were it not designed to remove something so foul from another being.
Homura wore simple cotton sweat pants and loose white t-shirt. Everyone else had donned a white kimono-like robe made of Egyptian cotton provided by Dobby. Harry directed Homura where to walk as she made her way into the center of the circle. She lay down on her back as she was instructed and her jaw set and eyes stared at the ceiling.
The other women were all placed in their assigned positions and reminded to not step anywhere until the ritual had concluded. Each of them was visibly nervous, but looked just as resolute as Homura. They all wanted to see her healthy and safe.
Finally Harry reached his appointed position and spoke, "You all have one candle in front of you. Use the candle to concentrate, first to clear your mind by thinking only of the candle and its flame, and then think of Homura. Be it your sisterly love for her, your concern for her safety, your wish to see her healthy and strong going forward into the future. Let those feelings envelope you during this ritual. The stronger those emotions are, the more powerful your role of an anchor in the ritual becomes."
"Ok, last chance. The moment I pour magic in to seal the circle, the ritual must be completed. Anyone who does not want to participate please speak now."
No one moved. None present would abandon their friend.
"Good. Directly in front of each of you is a rune with a double-circle around it. On the count of three, I would like each of you to reach down and place your hand in that circle. This will begin the ritual. One… Two… Three…"
Each Sekirei placed their hand on their respective circle at the same time, and the entire runic array in front of each suddenly lit up. So did many other runes around the room that they previously had not been able to see. The only part of the cluster that remained unlit was that in front of Harry and the inner area around Homura herself.
"Ok Homura. I'm going to kick this off. Concentrate on your breathing for as long as you can. The pain will eventually end, and we'll all be right here for you when it does."
"Beginning…. Now!" and Harry placed his palm on the intricate circular array directly in front of him. The unlit section in front of Harry powered up and inner circle around Homura finally brightened to near blinding levels.
Harry saw the exact moment the pain hit Homura. Her eyes widened momentarily before they squeezed shut. She involuntarily lifted her head up and slammed it backwards into the floor. Tears already streamed from her eyes as her fingernails tried clawing the floor beneath them. Her body tried valiantly to curl up into a fetal position but the energies that coursed through her from the circle would not allow it.
She held out for ten seconds before the screams began.
This was not the fake screams from a horror film, or wails of localized pain that might come from something simple as a violent compound fracture of an arm. These were the screams of absolute mind-encompassing agony. Harry could easily see the magic behind the ritual working, since Homura's form had already shifted slightly, though not by much. It seemed her true form was not all that different from her male form. Slight changes her cheekbones were clearly visible. The largest change was her chest and hips becoming larger and wider respectively.
Twenty-five seconds after Harry placed his hand on the circle, Harry felt the ritual end. He immediately dropped to his knees and broke the connections from himself and the four girls to Homura. This immediately caused the still lit runic circle to no longer glow like a Christmas tree.
Harry rushed forward and checked Homura with a few quick charms. "It's done. Let's get her into a bed."
Harry waved a hand and Homura began to float in the air. He strode quickly out the room and the half-unconscious Homura followed out the door. If Harry had looked he would've seen that all four women still stared without a single motion out the door as the Guardian Sekirei passed through it. A few seconds later, Miya shook herself and followed with the rest right behind her.
-o0o0o-
It took around ten minutes for Homura to fully regain consciousness. While they waited for her, Harry mentioned to the others that it would likely be a good idea to check each of them for similar acts of violation upon their bodies as well. No one should have to live their lives with their natural abilities limited like this.
Eventually Homura groaned, moved and instantly stilled. Her voice had changed, only slightly, but it was enough to give her pause. She looked at Harry, and asked quietly, "Did it work?"
"Yes, it worked. Your ability is fully unlocked now. This is your true body, the one that's been hidden from you your whole life. With some training, you can be whoever you want to be" Harry softly spoke, trying to stress this in a way that wouldn't upset the women who formerly thought she was male.
"You're hot Homura!" Musubi's over-enthusiastic statement promptly ruined the attempt Harry had made to dance around the issue.
Homura looked at her, half-smiling, but definitely looked pained. Harry understood the turmoil. Homura was hot. It wasn't the 'hot' that was the problem though, but rather the 'she' part of it.
"Musubi, I'm sure Homura appreciates the thought behind the compliment, but now is not an appropriate time for them," Harry said to her with a half smile and a quick squeeze of one of Musubi's hands.
Turning back to Homura, Harry figured it was at least time to get the clinical part of this over with, "Are you in any pain?"
"Just sore, throat hurts a bit," was the raspy response.
"You're sore cause your magical core is way down, some rest will restore it and relieve a bit of the pain. Your throat hurts cause of the screaming, I can get you a few potions that will heal it. Do you have any questions?"
"What happens now?"
Harry, who wanted to avoid the obvious question she referred to, decided to deflect a bit, "That… is entirely up to you. You don't owe me anything for helping you with this today. I try and live by 'there can be no debt between friends.'"
"I can however, offer you some advice. You're now in a new body, there are things concerning it… that you have four people here who will freely give you good advice. I'll get you some books on Metamorphs so you can learn to slowly control your ability. I may even be able to find you the most extremely unorthodox example of a teacher possible, but I have to think about whether I want to go that route or not. You also need a new wardrobe. I would keep all of your previous clothes as well, since once you master your ability, you'll likely find yourself in situations where you need either set of clothes to blend in."
"Does that help at all?"
Homura closed her eyes, and Harry could see her mentally gear herself up to ask the question Harry knew was about to come. He glanced at Miya, who looked at him with a Cheshire cat grin. She thoroughly enjoyed how uncomfortable Harry and Homura were. Musubi and Uzume stood shoulder to shoulder and bounced like kids who were being offered a new toy. Matsu just looked unreadable, those damned glasses of hers conveniently reflected the light in a way that prevented clear view of her eyes.
"Harry, will you be my Ashikabi?" Her voice was soft and wavered slightly, but her eyes were solid steel rocks that bore the question straight into his soul.
Harry knew there was only one response to this. He nodded and said, "I would be honored." He leaned in as she rose to meet him.
The moment their lips met, fire erupted from every corner of the room. The instant conflagration was intense in its heat, yet it burned nothing. It passed through them all as if merely air, yet everyone present felt its power. Every color of the rainbow was represented. Massive wings of fire then erupted from Homura's back, first orange in color, turning a deeper color of blue, and then finally white as the kiss intensified.
Eventually, they broke apart. Harry opened her eyes just as Homura did. Just as Musubi had yin/yang symbols in her eyes when she received her wings, Homura was stared back at him with iridescent pure white flames for eyes.
"Wow," was all she could say, and it was all that was needed.
--
Current Residents of Izumo Inn:
Harry Potter (Ashikabi)
Number 1 Miya Asama
Number 2 Matsu / No Ashikabi
Number 6 Homura / Harry Potter
Number 10 Uzume / Chiho
Number 88 Musubi / Harry Potter
MBI Headquarter Residents:
Minaka Hiroto / MBI CEO
Number 4 Karasuba (Discipline Squad Member) – Natsuo (Unwilling)
Number 104 Haihane (Discipline Squad Member) – Natsuo (Unwilling)
Number 105 Benitsubasa (Discipline Squad Member) – Natsuo
Previously Encountered / Mentioned Sekirei:
Number 3 Kazehana (Former Discipline Squad Member) / No Ashikabi
Number 5 Mutsu (Former Discipline Squad Member) / Mikogami
Number 8 Yume (Eliminated Discipline Squad Member) / No Ashikabi
Number 11 Hikari / Seo (Lightning Twin / "Doofus" Twin 1)
Number 12 Hibiki / Seo (Lightning Twin / "Doofus" Twin 2)