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.

I'm not mentioning the translation charms anymore. Just assume Harry is subconsciously throwing them out like candy like he has been. We're going to have new characters showing up in large groups going forward, and it's a plot element I frankly don't care to worry about anymore. Boo and hiss all you want, I don't care.

Chapter First Published:

Chapter Last Update: 2012-06-25

Chapter 10 – Searching the City

Harry returned to Izumo Inn later that night arm in arm with Musubi. His current emotional state bounced randomly between feelings of happiness and sadness. The short conversation with his parents had given him answers to some long-wondered questions about his life, and in return they had thrown even more questions into the light. As he held the front door open for Musubi, he could not help wonder what exactly the 'Sekirei of Fate' was that his mother had referenced.

How did his mother even know about Sekirei to begin with? How did those who had passed beyond the veil get information on events and people who have not shaken the mortal coil? 'More questions,' thought Harry in irritation.

He was surprised to feel the tension and downcast spirits within the inn. The announcement of the price upon both Akitsu's and his own head clearly had the occupants very worried. Akitsu had already retired to bed for the night in exhaustion after her long day when they arrived, and Matsu was apparently in her war room / bedroom trying to eliminate any reference to Harry that was found upon the public internet.

She had told the others earlier how surprised she had been at how little information existed about Harry. Almost all of it was pre-1991 records related to his non-magical schooling in England. After that, Harry vanished almost completely from sight with the exception of the few times he had flown in and out of a few countries under his real identity, such as the United States and France where there security had occasionally snagged a bit of information on him. All of this data had since been purged from every system she could find. Harry now effectively never existed in digital records, since all his property had long been registered under pseudonyms and corporations that he utilized as fronts.

Harry and Musubi found the rest of the inn's occupants in quietly conversation within the lounge when they arrived. The group's general spirit seemed to rise with their return, and all but Miya fired question after question at Musubi, who gleefully recalled her tour of the new house and their dinner. She had agreed and would hopefully remember not to mention the summoning of his parents' souls back to Earth, since he said that was something for only his own Sekirei to know.

Miya quietly sat down next to Harry, and she looked exhausted.

"Are you feeling ok, Miya?" he asked quietly while he hoped the concern he was feeling was noticeable in his tone.

She smiled tiredly, "Yes, Kusano is just a bit much to deal with."

"Why are you being forced to handle it? What's Minato doing?" asked Harry as he half-wondered if it was a good idea to give Miya a target for her exhaustion.

To Harry's utter shock, Miya grunted. He closed his mouth afterwards with an audible snap of his teeth after it had fallen open. "That boy... If Takami wasn't his mother I would be figuring out how sharp that new sword you gave me is. Nothing permanent mind you. Just a few tests."

Harry could not help but shiver at the demonic aura that slowly formed behind the woman as she spoke these words. The rest of those present saw this too and now slowly backed away to the corner of the room opposite the two.

Harry definitely felt he should quickly move to head the off the feeling of negativity that slowly strangled the group, so he figured now would be an excellent time to get everyone focused upon things they could do to help others.

"Alright, do you all have a few minutes before you all head to bed? I know Miya is tired, and Chiho can't be doing much better. I just wanted to point a few things out before I forget," he asked aloud to the room's frightened occupants.

Matsu had returned at this point, and Harry nodded in acknowledgment and waved her over. She sauntered over with a spring in her step, and Harry secretly wondered how long before the beautiful redhead asked him to wing her too.

"I know today was a long-day for all of us. But I think we've been given an opportunity here. With Minaka pointing every greedy Ashikabi at me and Akitsu, he's managed to divert a lot of the attention that Higa could have otherwise pointed at the Sekirei that are in trouble. I say we take the opportunity to start tracking a few of them down and get them under cover as soon as possible."

A quick look around the room and Harry knew he had them. The best way to light a fire under any Sekirei seemed to be pointing out other Sekirei being hunted for reasons other than participation in this 'game'. Now that more of them were coming around to his line of thinking about completely ending the game, it should be easier to make them try to help others.

"I want everyone to get a good night's sleep tonight. Then we can move out tomorrow and start searching for people to help. I'll have Akitsu stay here while we're out. Just to allay any concern, I'm not in the least bit worried about someone attacking her. I just want her to learn Occlumency as soon as possible and running around for the next few days or weeks finding all these hunted Sekirei will just be a distraction for her."

"Who's going to handle what?" asked Homura

"Matsu's obviously our tactical and information source. She'll be here in her room keeping an eye on everyone. Oh…" Harry suddenly turned to Matsu. "The safe-house has a room specifically made for you. It's warded to allow no interference to your electronics. I just need to know what kind of equipment you want purchased so it can be moved there. It can be a back-up or emergency command center for us if the Inn is ever compromised or you're forced to leave."

"Oh, great. I'll get Dobby a list later on," said a very happy Matsu.

"Good, I want Homura on almost every mission we go on. In fact, I think you should run them. My original thoughts were to have Kara run most of the missions we go on, but a lot of Sekirei obviously have some bad experiences with her in the past. You, however, know quite a few of the Sekirei. Most of those we'll chase down will hopefully know you were a Guardian. If you're with us, they're more likely to trust you and us by association."

"I'd be pissed in general if you didn't bring me," smirked Homura with a half-hearted glare.

After a quick roll of his eyes, Harry turned to Musubi and gave her a nod, "I already know there's no chance you won't go along."

"Right," said Musubi cheerfully.

Looking at Uzume, who had Chiho lying with her head in her lap, he said, "I could use you Uzume, but I think it's more important you stay and care for Chiho right now. She's going to need you to help her gain her strength back. If it's a true emergency, I'm sure Matsu can let you know where to go, but hopefully we won't need you and you can take care of your Ashikabi."

Uzume looked a bit disappointed, but a quick touch to her face from a grateful Chiho shifted her focus completely back upon her Ashikabi.

"Minato, for good or ill, you're responsible for Kusano now. I cannot tell you how the relationships between you and your Sekirei should work, but we need you to watch over Kusano now that you've winged her. Whether Tsukiumi goes along with us is up to you and her, and you can let us all know your plans in the morning.

Turning to the last pair, Harry half-smiled. "Toyotama, here's your chance if you want it. Just be aware you might be seen out there, and that will bring even more heat down upon you from Higa. Just think about it overnight and give us your decision."

"Shi, I really want you to come along with. Not only do you know what it's like to be chased, you may have some good insight into how to talk to some people who may not want to listen to us at all. Plus having you with us gains us a lot of points in our favor. They'll see that you're not winged and with an Ashikabi that isn't going to force it upon you. Hopefully with you around they'll trust us that much quicker."

Turning to the exhausted looking woman next to him, Harry placed a hand over Miya's. "Lastly, you need to rest. I don't doubt you're physically fine, but I think the last few days and all the surprises finally hit home. Ask Dobby and Winky to run things for you tomorrow. Let them handle all the cooking and cleaning."

"As for the rest of you, get some sleep. Meet down here for breakfast by 07:30. We'll try and be out the door by 08:00.

Harry watched the group leave, but held out a hand to hold Matsu up a bit. "Thanks for digging up what you could about me and deleting it. There shouldn't have been all that much, but anything to reduce any data trail that could possibly lead back here is a good thing."

"No problem, it was fun messing around in systems that old. Besides…"her voiced dropped suddenly, and she leaned in closer, "… you can owe me for it later." The glare of light on her glasses had returned in spectacular form. Harry was finding Matsu's antics at times like this instilled just a bit more intimidation into him than anything he had seen Miya pull off thus far.

"Er, sounds great Matsu," was all he could manage to squeak out before she sauntered out of the room, her hips swaying widely as she left.

He shook his head at her form as she retreated. Harry could only wonder at the odd way the universe had decided to complicate his life this time. 'Too many hot girls with huge chests. Never thought this would be a problem.'

-o0o0o-

Harry had sent Winky to deliver two small doses of Pepper-Up to Haihane and Karasuba with instructions to use them if they became exhausted. Then he retired to the tent in his room, somewhat annoyed he would sleep alone tonight for the first time since he met Karasuba.

Winky had reported in that Haihane and Karasuba continued to chase down dead-end sightings of Akitsu. Luckily most did not originate from Sekirei or Ashikabi, but instead came from MBI employees and Tokyo citizens who were aware of the S-Plan and merely wanted fast cash. This at least slightly calmed Harry's worries about the acceptance of unknown Sekirei and Ashikabi into the safehouse without the prior knowledge of how they would react to Akitsu.

Homura was off… somewhere. He didn't even pretend to know what went on in her head. He hoped after he badgered her to contact Takami enough that she had gone and finally done so. And Musubi seemed rather tired and had wandered off to bed on her own.

He fell finally into his bed after another exhausting day. How in the world had his life gotten turned upside down like this? The thing that surprised him the most was that he enjoyed almost every minute of the past few days. He was helping people who needed it. The Sekirei he met, even if they weren't going to be bonded to him, for the most part felt like they would become lifelong friends.

While he avoided sleep, he stared at the ceiling and began to ponder the next few days. He knew they needed to find the Sekirei on Higa's target list. That would have to be priority one. Then, they needed to do something definitive against MBI directly. That plan would take longer to implement, especially if a detailed plan couldn't easily be figured out. Then he could wing Karasuba and Haihane and get them out of that place, which would then bring even more trouble down upon their heads.

He realized he definitely needed to talk to Takami. She was Minato's mother, Homura's lover, Kusano's Adjustor, and she was there twenty years ago when the Sekirei ship found. She was in this mess up to her eyeballs and if anyone would have insider information to help them bring the whole thing crashing down, it would be her. Hopefully she could be convinced to play some part in whatever scheme they came up with to liberate all of the Sekirei.

After MBI was dealt with, all that remained that Harry was aware of was to clean up Higa's gang, find out what was left of Mikogami's Sekirei, and deal with whatever wizard is secretly at MBI and treated his girls like his personal Frankenstein lab.

'Oh, sounds like it'll be a cinch,' snorted Harry to himself. He felt like he was making impossible lists again as he did with the Horcruxes so long ago.

'At least,' he thought, 'there wouldn't be any breaking into a bank and flying out on a dragon this time.'

-o0o0o-

The entire house was present the next morning. Harry set up a dicta-quill so he could send a transcript to Karasuba and Haihane in case they could offer more advice later. Takami was a good idea too, but he would have to talk to Homura about that first.

They had stayed in the lounge after breakfast, everyone talking quietly. Harry was quite curious as to how today would ultimately play out. Harry had contacted Dobby, and requested he locate some additional free or cast-out house elves if possible, because he felt they would seen be needed at the safe house. With the large number of Sekirei that could potentially end up in hiding, a staff of only four house elves did not sound like nearly enough.

Matsu had been placed in charge of the briefing they would have this morning. She was the ultimate information source, and Harry liked the idea of one his girls being in charge of each part of this. 'One of my girls?' his breath hitched as he thought this. 'I guess that wouldn't be too bad, but I wonder when enough will be enough?'

His thoughts of whether he would ultimately be the one to wing Matsu were interrupted when he began wondering what Matsu was waiting for to begin the meeting. The original plan of a 0800 departure had long since passed by, but no one had told him what the holdup was.

The answer abruptly started to make it known when Homura got up, left the room, and returned a minute later with a middle-aged woman with ear-length white hair. She had a very noticeable slash over her left eye that was still healing. He was sure he could guess the newcomer's identity when he found he suddenly found no need to wonder.

"Mom?" asked Minato loudly.

Conversation halted in the room as everyone stopped speaking and stared between the two. He saw Takami flinch at the sudden attention and droop her shoulders. Homura gave her a tentative nudge and she walked over and gave her son a quick hug. There was no way to miss or mistake the look of betrayal in Minato's eyes. Harry thought anyone who bet on anything other than one specific word spoken as the next one out of Minato's mouth would be a fool.

Harry was not disappointed with his assumption when Minato simply asked, "Why?" The anger in his voice displayed a part of his personality he definitely had not shown the previous day upon his initial arrival at the inn with Tsikiumi.

'Maybe that's what Tsukiumi sees in him?' Harry wondered as he subconsciously squashed the thought of conjuring popcorn for the very public confrontation that now brewed before them all.

Takami squared her shoulders and looked right at Minato, "I know I owe you a reason, a damned good one in fact, and I'm not sure I can provide it especially after what's happened over the past few days. Can we delay this explanation a day or so? I think you'll understand why I want to wait after you see something I need to show you all."

Without waiting for an answer, Takami walked over and handed a folder to Matsu. Harry looked to Homura, giving her a 'What the hell is her problem?' look that prompted Homura to look sheepish and shake her head. 'Well, Takami certainly hasn't impressed me so far or made a good first impression,' thought Harry.

Matsu read the contents of the folder quickly. Her eyes narrowed at a few points and opened wide in shock at the end. She looked at Takami, a clear 'Are you serious?' plastered all over her face. Takami nodded back in reply as some sort of confirmation, then sat down at the table next to Homura.

Matsu took a deep breath, steadied herself, and looked back to the group.

"Well, now that everyone is here, I think we can begin," said Matsu suddenly, her sarcastic cheeriness failing to cut through the slowly building tension in the room. "I believe everyone knows each other except for our latest guest. This is Sahashi Takami, an Adjustor at MBI who has worked on Sekirei such as Homura, Musubi, and Kusano among others. She's also the mother of our newest resident Ashikabi, Minato."

Takami merely gave a slight nod at her introduction and said nothing more.

Matsu continued after the acknowledgement, "Some of you don't know the full story around what is going to happen today, so we're going to bring you all up to speed first. Number 10, Uzume…" at Matsu's gesture, Uzume gave an over-the-top wave and huge smile, which made half of the room shake their heads at the happy girl.

"… her Ashikabi was deathly ill, and on the verge of being admitted to hospice. Chiho was a patient at a hospital in the east part of the city, owned by Higa Izumi, a wealthy and influential Ashikabi. The company he owns is a direct competitor of MBI, and based upon analysis I've done, it's a logical assumption he's using the Sekirei Plan as a cover for industrial espionage. He also isn't exactly the most pleasant of individuals."

Matsu grew quite serious suddenly, and caught everyone's full attention, "His intention was to blackmail Uzume into assassinating Sekirei and Ashikabis on a list that he provided in exchange for Chiho's continued medical care. It would not cure her of course, merely keep her alive. The whole situation had the potential to turn out quite bad, had Harry here not fallen into our lives."

At the room's sudden glance, Harry couldn't help but put his hands through his hair and look down sheepishly. "Harry as many of you know is a Wizard. They're a society of people who have hidden themselves from the world for hundreds of years to avoid persecution. They have their own international government with similarities to the UN, and individual governments for countries. That is, everywhere on Earth except for here in Japan. Japan is not part of this international organization, so the Magical people born here often do not receive any formal training or the ability to take advantage of Magical advances or treatments."

"Harry was able to discover that Chiho had a Magical illness, which is why no normal hospital had the capabilities to cure her. I believe she has one more day of treatments left?"

Chiho nodded as Harry spoke up, "Yep, I'll give her one more exam tomorrow to ensure she's ok, then we'll start on a physical therapy regiment augmented by some specific Magical supplements and potions. She should be back on her feet in a month or so, just as healthy as she was before all this started."

"That's amazing, it truly works that fast? I wonder what else can be done with Magical methods." blurted out Takami. Harry could barely contain his glare at the woman. He knew Homura had feelings for her, and didn't want to cause a scene. He also saw the renewed look of hurt in Minato's face as he realized once again that his mother had been lying to him his whole life.

Harry ignored the question and with a nod from Harry to Matsu, she continued, "But even with Chiho safe, we are all still left with Higa wanting to assassinate Sekirei. Before they broke Chiho out of the hospital and faked her death in their records, Uzume and Harry visited Higa to try and get a complete list of Sekirei he was after, and they succeeded."

"He also managed to plant listening spells in his office, which are working perfectly by the way. He hasn't done or planned anything in the past day in a half, though he has ranted and yelled a lot about the loss of his three most powerful Sekirei." Looking at Toyotama, "He's aware you're missing, by the way, and that the other two you were with have been eliminated. Its driving him mad that he has no idea who took down his two girls and is of the same opinion as MBI that it was Mikogami who did it."

This brought some chuckles from the room, and a wide-smile from Uzume who said, "And they have no idea it was a non-Sekirei who took down all three of them," she said, and then blew a playful raspberry at Toyotama who laughed aloud and shook her head.

"Yeah, I got my butt handed to me from twenty meters away before I barely even knew Harry was there," said Toyotama.

"But you looked damn sexy falling down at least," said Harry with his lop-sided grin, which lasted about a second before a well aimed soup ladle from across the table hit him in the forehead.

Seeing stars in his eyes, he could just barely hear Matsu talking over the laughter of Miya having floored him with a cooking implement. "So now that we have this list, we can do something about it. We have no doubt that Higa will simply try and use someone else to attack these specific Sekirei, so we're going to help them first. Harry has bought a rather large property here in the city that was expanded magically like Harry expanded this room. He also had the Goblins protect it just like they protected this inn yesterday, so the place is probably one of the safest places in the city."

"We're going to start sending people out today to try and convince these Sekirei and their Ashikabi to hide at the safe-house. The first mission has a few options for who we could possibly go after, but I think we've had it chosen for us with the information Takami just provided. If you look at your lists in front of you, one of the Sekirei Higa wanted eliminated was Number 107, Shiina."

"No!" shouted Kusano. "Nobody hurts Shiina!"

Miya was quick on the draw and quickly enveloped the girl in a hug before the inn could be destroyed. Everyone in the room held their breath and prepared for the worst after what the girl had done in the Arboretum, but when nothing happened after a few moments, everyone suddenly as one breathed again in relief.

"Well…" said Matsu collecting herself. "That's one reason we needed to help Shiina, simply because of the brother and sister relationship that exists between Ku and him. But that's not all…"

Everyone saw Matsu looking at Takami, who got the hint. She took a deep breath and spoke. "My daughter's name is Yukari. She's eighteen and a year younger than Minato." She paused again and visibly gathered her strength to speak. Finally, she looked up and said, "She winged Shiina yesterday. Both of my children are now Ashikabi."

Harry just leaned back and let that zinger sink in. It seemed like some sort of sick, twisted, and cruel cosmic justice. This woman had hidden her work from her children their whole lives, and now they had unintentionally been dragged kicking and screaming square into the middle of her company's insane 'game'.

Harry spoke up, "Alright, I think we can do this. But you," Harry said, pointing directly at Takami, "will come clean with your children immediately. Like end of day tomorrow at the latest."

Takami apparently took exception to Harry's words and started to manifest some cheap knock-off version of the aura that Miya could produce. He arched an eyebrow and smirked in petty amusement as he watched everyone else in the room but Miya slowly back away from Takami, before he stared right into Takami's eyes and using Legilmency to push forth memories of being in a Dementor's presence.

His efforts were rewarded when Takami's eyes widened and an involuntary 'Eep!' emerged from her lips. He cut the Legilimency attack quickly, as he had no wish frighten everyone else too badly. Winking quickly at Miya, who merely shook her head very subtly with a slight smile on her face, he looked around the room with a wide smile on his face. He was amused to see them all backed up against the walls of the room.

"Well then, when do you all want to leave?" he said aloud with a bit of mirth in his voice.

"Hold up, I still have a few more things," said Matsu impatiently while she shook her head in an attempt to clear the dementor's effects from her mind. "I have comm units for each person going out today. Like we said last night, not everyone will be going on this. Uzume will be staying with Chiho. Miya's taking the day off, so could you watch Kusano for a bit today, Uzume?"

Uzume nodded and she began to loudly collude with Chiho about which outfits Ku could be dressed in.

"Homura will be in charge of this mission, simply because she's the one Sekirei that most of these girls may recognize through her efforts to protect the unwinged. Toyotama, Shi, Musubi, and Harry will also be going. With today's information, I think it's important that Minato and Tsukiumi go along as well. Finally, Akitsu will stay behind to practice her Occlumency." Matsu turned to address Akitsu directly, "I believe Harry said he would like to test your shields when he gets back."

Getting nods of acknowledgment from each person mentioned, Matsu finished with last reminder. "Remember everyone. Homura is in charge. She says jump, you say how high."

She received the final nods she wanted and simply said, "Good luck!"

Homura stood up, giving off a decently aura of command Harry found himself proud to see. "Ok everyone, go get dressed in whatever clothes you're wearing out there for this. Meet down at the entrance in fifteen minutes."

The group broke up to go get ready. He saw Miya walk up to Akitsu and say something, before they both walked out of the room together. Harry wandered over to Matsu, who had not moved yet from her spot. He approached her quietly from behind, placed his hands on her shoulders slowly, and said, "Damn good job preparing everything. I looked at the rest of the information you prepared for the other girls we could've gone after, and it was all amazingly well done. Any success we achieve with this will be directly due to you."

Matsu's blush was nearly as red as her hair and she stammered her thanks unintelligibly. She quickly begged off, vague statements about some experiment she needed to run in her room by herself. The sudden realization that she had said all of that aloud caused to turn even more read, and she quick fled out of the room at a brisk pace.

Quiet laughter erupted from Harry because of how flustered the girl had gotten. However, Harry did not have time to laugh right now. He apparated directly into his room and changed into some comfortable cargo pants and a T-shirt. If their upcoming trip around town required him to bounce around on rooftops and do a million line-of-sight apparitions, he at least wanted to be comfortable, no matter how slovenly he looked doing so.

Harry penned a quick one-paragraph note to Karasuba and Haihane to let them know they were about to undertake their first anti-Higa mission now, and their target was Number 107 and the daughter of Takami. He also told her that he needed to speak to her personally whenever she had a free moment later on tonight. Winky popped off with the message, which was followed by Harry apparating down to the entrance of the inn. No one had arrived yet, so Harry sat down on the well manicured path, closed his eyes, and waited.

-o0o0o-

"Have I mentioned recently how freaking amazing you are Matsu," Harry said into his comm as a tactical hud was projected in front of his right eye into the sunglasses he was wearing.

"No, not in the past five minutes since the last time you said it, but I certainly won't complain if you do so again," he heard Matsu say into his ear.

"Quit flirting, Harry, and pay attention," scolded Homura to his right.

They had stopped on a rooftop to get a position update from Matsu when he had sent the information directly into sunglasses they wore. They could see an overlay of the city, and a directional beacon overlayed in their line of vision signaled which direction they needed to head to reach Shiina.

"You guys are roughly 800 meters from him, just slightly north, northwest of his location. You have a clear…. Oh," Matsu cut-off suddenly in all their ears, which caused each one of them to suddenly tense and listen.

"Guys you need to move now. Another Sekirei and her Ashikabi just approached Shiina. Go now," said Matsu with a tinge of worry in her voice.

"No need to tell us twice, Go people!" shouted Homura.

Harry thought it was no time for to dilly-dally, so he began line of sight apparating three times farther than he normally would, and after two jumps found him at the top of a stairway that overlooked a wide open public sitting area in the midst of a park.

Two Sekirei battled before him, a girl with an utterly massive hammer the size of the front of a car and another girl dressed in one of the most screwed up dresses Harry had ever seen. The girl in the dress actively avoided the entire conflict from what Harry could see, and she had not bothered to fight back once.

Harry could also see an Ashikabi in a green-pullover off to the side. H was loud and obnoxious the in way he yelled instructions to the girl with the hammer.

He felt the others all land behind him and take in the fight in front of them. "You're sure Shiina was a dude, right Matsu?" Harry asked into his comm.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm looking at the same you guys are. I have no clue what Minato's sister is doing making him where an outfit like that," he heard the surprised response come back.

Harry gave a look to Homura and waited for her to decide what to do.

Homura saw this, and gave a small smile in acknowledgment, "Let's go break the fight up. No need for anyone to get hurt out of this." Homura leaned in close, "Harry, I want you to hang back a bit, let the girls get used to protecting you for once."

"Got it," Harry said, and despite his orders, he felt the adrenaline start to pump in his veins.

"The rest of you, get down there, spread out and surround them. If they attack, try to knock them out only. Don't take their crests."

"Where's my sister at?" asked Minato.

"I don't see her on my scans, sorry Minato," they all heard Matsu come back with an answer.

"Let's do-," Homura was about to say, when they were interrupted by a loud shout from below.

"You heard me, don't say you're sorry you no good piece of crap!" said Ashikabi in the promenade. He apparently felt she had not fought hard enough in his opinion, so he started to beat and kick his Sekirei.

Harry saw red. He was about to apparate directly down there and start flinging unforgiveables when he felt Homura's hand on his arm. "Don't kill him, we'll handle it."

Homura looked at the rest of the girls, who all looked back, anger in their eyes. She spoke suddenly in the deadliest voice Harry had ever heard issue from Homura, "Let's go save our sister and brother."

All the Sekirei jumped and had surrounded the combatants within a few seconds. Tsukuimi struck first, a massive burst of water flung the abusive Ashikabi end over end at least thirty meters. The others created a perimeter, as Homura approached the girl he assumed was actually Shiina.

Harry waited a few more seconds before he apparated directly next to the beaten and bloody Sekirei who was on the ground. She moaned pitifully as Harry tried to take stock of the injuries she had incurred at the hands of her Ashikabi. She looked younger than his Sekirei and he would have estimated her age as a late teenager. She had short red hair and a torn and bloodied white school girl outfit on.

"Shh, it's ok, you're safe. He's not going to hurt you again, I promise you," whispered Harry to her.

"What happened to my Master?" the girl asked quietly, obviously in pain and clutching her ribs.

Harry flinched at the word. He was reminded again of Akitsu, and the inhuman abuse MBI permitted Ashikabi to subject these girls to.

"What's your name?" Harry asked, distantly aware of another girl who had just run up and shouted for Shiina. He caught Minato move towards her out of the corner of his eye. 'That must be Yukari,' thought Harry.

"My name is Yashima, Number 84," the girl slurred into the ground as she slowly curled her knees to her chest in pain as she lay on her side.

"Did your Ashikabi Wing you against your will?" asked Harry. Toyotama had since joined Harry at the girl's side, and she had pulled Yashima's head into her lap and gently stroked the girl's hair.

"Yes, he is my Master, and I must serve him because of it."

"No, please look at me," Harry quietly requested.

The girl opened her eyes, and for the first time truly noticed she was surrounded by five more Sekirei than she had been moments earlier.

"This is Toyotama," Harry told Yashima while he gestured at the busty and athletic dark green-haired amazon who quietly ran her fingers through Yashima's hair. "She was winged against her will as well, but she's joined us. She's not my Sekirei, and it doesn't matter that she left her Ashikabi. We can protect you if you come with us. You won't have to fight anymore. No one will ever hurt you again. And if you're patient enough, someday you can find your real Ashikabi and bond to him, and be rid of that loser over there."

All three looked as Harry gestured and Harry had to hold in a laugh as Tsukiumi again flung the green dressed idiot end over end with more bolts of water. Yukari, who had apparently heard what the Ashikabi had done to his Sekirei before she had arrived, chased down his still form, and stomped on the dude's gonads with her steel-tipped boots between the blasts of water from her brother's Sekirei. Harry secretly wondered how long her devotion to the abusive prick's emasculation would last though, because Yukari became more and more preoccupied with Tsukiumi's breasts between her kicks of righteousness.

Harry rolled his eyes at the circus sideshow of the Sahashi family and he turned his attention back to Yashima,

"Would you like to come with us? There are other Sekirei we'll be bringing to this safe house as well. Some have gone through things just like you. We're all going to make sure no one does things like this to you and your sisters ever again. We won't make you come, it's your choice. But we can offer you a better life than you have with him. And you'll never call anyone Master again."

Yashima looked just as broken and defeated as Shi did on the rooftop and her eyes literally screamed from both the mental and physical pain she had been subjected to. But hope definitely grew in them as well. Hope that the girl probably had not felt in a long time.

"I'll come, do I… do I need to do anything with my Ashikabi before we leave?" she asked with a slightly fearful look towards the bloodied pulp on the ground who was likely a eunuch at this point after what Yukari inflicted upon him.

"No, you'll never have to speak to him again if you don't want to, but it may help you if you say what's on your mind to him before you leave. He's not exactly in a position to hurt you for anything you might say to him. Go get it all off your chest if you want."

A small smile appeared on the girl's face for the first time before it shifted into a grimace of pain as she tried to stand up. Toyotama was instantly there, as was Musubi to slowly help the girl to her feet as she coughed and wheezed.

The two Sekirei helped Yashima walk over to her soon to be former Ashikabi. Harry didn't exactly want to intrude whatever personal cleansing Yashima was about to vent out, so he walked over to Homura, Shiina, Minato, and Yukari.

"So, everybody's cool over here?" Harry asked as he approached.

"Yeah, I think we're good. How's the girl?" said Homura as she gestured to the group that stood over the quivering mass that was currently screamed at by Yashima.

"She'll hopefully be fine, eventually. She's agreed to leave her Ashikabi and join us back at the safe-house. Another unwillingly winged," Harry said the last with a slight twitch to his eye, which was noticed by Homura.

"We'll help them, Harry. Don't worry. We can only do this one girl at a time though," Homura said while she squeezed Harry's shoulder.

Harry smiled and nodded, then turned to the two new members of the eclectic group. "So Yukari, right? Those are a nice pair of boots you got there. Want me to add some magical charms to them to maybe grow spikes out the bottom of them if you move your toes a certain way?"

His offer was rewarded with a truly evil smile from Yukari, while Shiina simultaneously gave an involuntary motion to cover his junk protectively, "That sounds wonderful. You're Harry? Homura says you're her Ashikabi," said Yukari.

"Yep, that's me: Dumbass Ashikabi extraordinaire. Your brother moved into the inn we're all staying at yesterday afternoon. Will you and Shiina be joining us there?"

"Yeah, we will be. What about that girl?" Yukari gestured over to Yashima who was being helped back over to their group.

"Well," said Harry aloud. "My initial intention was to take her to the safe-house, but for now she would be the only person there, and she's injured. So she'll probably come back to the inn with us for now. At the very least she needs to be healed, and she could probably use some company anyways after what she's been put through. She's been abused. No one should be left alone after being saved from that."

Harry had a sudden thought, 'This could take help Shi as well.'

Harry looked around for Shi. While everyone else had mauled the abusive Ashikabi, talked with Shiina, or guarded the fallen Yashima while she had been on the ground, Shi had been off to the side. She had patrolled the perimeter like she had been asked, yet she did not interact with anyone.

"Shi? Could you come over here?" called out Harry.

Shi came over slowly, obviously not sure what was about to happen. She still gave off that vibe of paranoia that would have had Mad-Eye nod in approval. Harry gestured for her to follow him over to the side. When she arrived, Harry whispered quietly to her. "This Sekirei, Yashima? She's been through hell with her Ashikabi. We're going to bring her back with us to heal her, but I'm really worried about her. Over the next few days, until we move everyone to the safe house, can you watch over her? Just keep her talking. I don't want her to shut herself off from the world."

Harry hoped Shi wouldn't see through his very transparent attempt to get Shi herself to open up a bit, but apparently she either didn't notice, or didn't care. Shi turned to watch Toyotama and Musubi bring Yashima over to the group, and then be hugged by Shiina and Yukari.

"I'll do it. I'll watch out for her," said Shi.

"Thank you, Shi." Harry decided to risk life and limb by giving Shi a quick hug and retreated back to the group. He had felt her tense up at the touch, and quickly moved away without acknowledging it. He knew she had a dozen daggers and knives hidden within very accessible pockets in her clothes, and he had no desire to push the introverted girl too far too fast.

He had one more task he felt he needed to do in order to give Yashima a clean start.

Slowly, he walked over to the downed moron who had unwillingly winged Yashima. Harry didn't particularly feel the need to call for an ambulance for the abusive prick of an Ashikabi, and the bastards long-term health was the furthest thing from Harry's mind at the moment. He peeled one of his bloody eyes open and froze it that way with a wand. What he was about to do usually sickened him whenever he did it in the past, but right now, he felt with absolute certainty it was necessary. His wand raised up to point at the bloody lump, and he found his center as he concentrated exactly on what he was about to do attempt.

"Obliviate," he shouted.

'There. No memory whatsoever of ever having met Yashima,' he thought. Then chuckled darkly to himself. '…and if he happened to forget his toilet training as well, who am I to care?'

As he returned to the group however, thoughts of other things he could've done to the Ashikabi quickly left his mind. He glanced at the top of the stairs where they had all initially looked down upon the battle when they first arrived.

There was someone there watching.

"Ok everyone, listen up. Do not react to what I'm saying. Keep looking in the same direction you are right now, understand?" Seeing the nods and the looks of curiosity from the dozen people who surrounded him, Harry continued and spoke into his Comm, "Matsu? You there?"

"Yes I'm here Harry, what's wrong?" came back the worried voice of the red-haired sex-fiend.

"The statue due north of us. Is there a Sekirei just behind it?" Harry asked. He had to move fast in order to stop Musubi before she could look. She looked sheepishly at him and he just smiled back while the group waited for Matsu's response.

"Yes, it's a Sekirei alright," said Matsu's worried voice in most of their ears.

"Homura? Musubi? Can you both flank and approach her from the sides?" asked Harry. "Let's find out what they're doing here. Give us two bursts of fire in the air if it's safe, and one if its trouble when you get there. "

Both Homura and Musubi moved instantly to the east and west without a word said. Shi walked over, took Musubi's place, and supported Yashima's weight with Yukari and Shiina sticking close the injured girl as well. Toyotama decided to take up the protection duty of Harry and now stood at his side.

Harry patiently waited about a minute before he saw two quick blurs fly behind the statue from opposite directions. There was silence for about twenty seconds before Harry suddenly saw two bursts of flame erupt into the air.

"Ok, I'm heading over there. Try and think of how we're going to get Yashima back to the Inn since she's injured. I don't think she can handle a portkey or apparition without injuring her further. And I'm not too sure bouncing across rooftops will do her good either."

The group collapsed into a discussion while Harry apparated up to the statue and wondered what on Earth was going to happen next.

-o0o0o-

Harry popped back into existence next to the statue to see Homura and Musubi standing with a silver haired bombshell between them. She had her back to the statue, not quite on guard, but definitely not relaxed either.

With a closer look at her outfit, he began to wonder just who picked out the clothes Sekirei wore. She had on a sort of white dress that had a neckline that plunged to just above her crotch. She was stacked in just about the opposite way of Akitsu. Where Akitsu was very curvy, this girl was waifish and yet still had massive curves. The longer he was in her presence, the more thought she was distinctly Veela-like Fleur or Gabrielle. In other words, she was yet another drop dead gorgeous Sekirei.

"Well Homura, what surprise do have we found this time?" asked Harry, very wary of how close he suddenly was to their unexpected guest.

"This is Taki, Number 65. One of Mikogami's, unwillingly winged of course," responded Homura while she kept both eyes on the silver-haired woman.

"Of course," Harry sighed.

"So what's your story? And what the heck is with that outfit? First the doofus lightning twins with their S&M getups, and now you looking like… well I don't know what," said Harry, who was consciously aware he was not quite ready to add yet another Sekirei conspiracy or whatever the attractive woman was likely about to propose.

The girl, who had become more unsure of her situation the longer she stood there, found some courage and spoke up, "Like Homura said, I'm Taki, Number 65. I was there down the street two nights ago when Akitsu joined you and you took out Mutsu and Yomi."

She took another deep breath, "I've been in contact with Number 22. She works for Higa. We both know you've been gathering Sekirei, yet not winging them apparently. And seeing Toyotama with you today confirms that she willingly went with you as well, even though she's winged already. There are a few of us in Mikogami's ranks who wish to leave, and all of Higa's remaining Sekirei wish to leave him. They would all jump at the opportunity for it to be you."

"What do you mean by 'join me'?" asked Harry suspiciously. No way was he going to rewing two Ashikabi's worth of unwillingly winged Sekirei. Harry cocked his head and laughed, realizing four days earlier, he would've had no chance of comprehending all the strange terms which were now standard fare in his own thoughts. 'Has everything really changed this much in four days?'

This laugh at least seemed to dispel some of the tension in the air, even if he didn't mean it to do so.

"The other girls just want protection. Higa is ruthless, and he treats them terribly. They're just tools for him to use, there's no love shown to any of them. Mikogami is the opposite, but in the end it's just as bad. He doesn't view us as women. All we are is simply toys for a child to collect. Not that he uses us really for anything, he thinks of us as inanimate objects for him to somehow count some score with."

"We all know you were the one who Akitsu went with, so you must have been the one to figure out how to wing her. No one has any clue who you are, even MBI, so that means you know how to hide. 22 couldn't find anything on you at all."

Harry had to think about this. Were they ready to take on this many girls this quickly? There would be no other Ashikabi's in the safe-house, so they wouldn't need to worry about someone ratting them out. And they could all serve as additional eyes to keep Shi and Yashima from dipping into depression. Taki interrupted his thoughts.

"If nothing else, can you tell me how Akitsu really is? I miss her," she pleaded in a quiet voice while she likely misinterpreted the silence from Harry.

That last part got Harry's attention. He looked at Taki, and then looked into her eyes. He fell right into her mind without before he could stop himself. It was a jumble of worry for Akitsu, fear for what Mikogami might do to her and her sisters if he ever grew bored of them, and memories of Taki as she healed a brutally beaten Akitsu who had just been found abandoned in a park wearing nothing but a half-open bloody white button shirt. Finally he saw just a glimpse of Taki and Akitsu as they secretly practiced their powers together. They had combined them to form some death cloud of frozen icy air.

He pulled out of her mind, causing Taki to stumble and lean against the statue. "What was that?" she asked through ragged breaths.

"That… was me doing something on accident I didn't mean to do, and I'm sorry." Turning to Homura and Musubi, Harry said, "We can trust her."

He turned back to Taki and offered her a hand, as she now sat on the ground with her head in her hands. She breathed heavily still because of the accidental Legilimency, but at least she didn't have that dazed look in her eyes. "I didn't mean to, but I just fell into your memories. I saw you helping Akitsu, I saw you training with her. And I could feel your worry for her. She's fine, better than fine actually. I think you'll be very happy when you see her again."

"You really did wing her?" she asked, disbelief and hope fought for an equal chance on her face.

"Yes, I did yesterday afternoon. MBI did a bunch of terrible things to her, but I was to undo them. Pretty much every Sekirei I'm running across is ultimately going to be checked to see if there are any leftover surprises that MBI didn't want getting out. We can check you when you finally join us at whichever location we're staying at."

She nodded and smiled from ear to ear at the same time. "A lot of Mikogami's other Sekirei will be really happy to hear about Akitsu. And a place to hide and not worry about attacks will be even better."

"Speaking of that. I already had a plan in motion to get Higa's girls out. I interrogated those two idiots who were playing guard with Toyotama, so we already knew the six others weren't willingly winged. Mikogami? I didn't really have a plan for your group. We had mainly been focusing on making sure Akitsu was ok. Hadn't had a chance to ask her yet about the rest of the girls with him. How many are we looking at here?"

"There's myself, Himeko, and the twins, Mitsuki and Mitsuha. That's Number, 15, 38, and 39 respectively."

"Geez, so many names and numbers to keep straight," said Harry, realizing he's going to need to keep a list on him soon just to remember all of it. "So, how do you want to proceed?"

"As soon as possible if you can manage it," said Taki with the tone of her voice approaching begging.

"Look we'll help, but you and the three others will need to lay low for just a few more days. We're going to do something big soon, so huge that I can't talk about it yet. But after we've done that, we'll bust you and your girls out. Actually…" Harry put his hand to ear piece, "Matsu?"

"Yes Harry?" came back the response instantly.

"I'm going to give Taki here my communicator. If she needs help, I'm going to have her go through you to get assistance, ok?"

"Sounds good. We should definitely help her, and she's got great tits. Doesn't she, Harry?" Harry cringed as she saw both Musubi's and Homura's eyes widen.

"Matsu, are you talking privately to me or is this comm open to everyone?"

"It's open to everyone Harry," came back Toyotama's cool reserved voice, though he could definitely hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. "Though I think I'd like to come up there and judge the size of her boobs myself."

"Absolutely not!, Here." He handed the communicator to Taki after he thumbed the switch off. "Just remember, it's apparently an open channel, so everyone on it can hear it. And be prepared for some crude statements if you're taking to Matsu… and apparently Toyotama as well."

"We'll contact you in a few days. If you need anything before then, contact Matsu."

The girl nodded one more time, and turned to leave. She stopped and looked back, whispered a "Thank you," that was barely audible and was suddenly gone in a rolling cloud of mist that quickly vanished.

-o0o0o-

The solution to Yashima's evacuation back to the inn turned out to be very simple. Dobby came by and elf-popped her right into the inn. The inn was now close to full occupancy with the addition of Yukari and Shiina, so Miya had Yashima placed in one of the guest bedrooms of Harry's tent.

The reunion of Ku and Shiina was loud, cute, and obnoxious in the way any sudden party with a small child involved tends to evolve. It was a combination of kiddie fun and completely unsubtle adult humor and innuendo as Yukari turned out to be quite literally the most perverted person Harry had ever encountered.

And she was bisexual with no self-restraint whatsoever.

Luckily, her main victim so far appeared to be Tsukiumi. Harry may have found the need to banish her over furniture if she had attempted to grope Akitsu or Musubi. Homura likely would've roasted her alive if she attempted anything with her.

Yashima was initially placed into the care of Miya, and Shi dutifully oversaw to the remainder of her recovery after Harry had provided her potions. Yashima had broken bones, a concussion, and numerous contusions and bruises. Shi took her assigned duty as protector to heart, and Harry heard her soft whispers to the girl almost every time he walked by the room the two now occupied together inside Harry's tent. Harry just hoped they became friends when it was all said and done.

When the party began to break up into smaller groups that assembled and relaxed in various corners of the inn, Harry decided it was time for some solitude of his own. He figured Akitsu would be in a quiet place somewhere, so he attempted to find her first in her room. He found no luck there and decided to try the tree outside where she had meditated the previous day but again did not find his goal. He was now completely at a loss where he could find her. He was about to call Dobby to locate her, when a single piece of ice somewhat painfully hit the top of his head.

He looked up and saw her as she sat on the roof of the inn and gazed up at the late afternoon sky. He quickly apparated up, he sat down next to her.

"Hey," was his quick greeting after he kissed her quickly on the lips.

"Hey," she said and smiled in return as he sat down next to her.

"Nice little spot you found here. It was pretty darn loud in there for a while," Harry said while he gave the roof they sat upon a once-over. He figured he may need to throw some Impervious charms on a few of the shingles that seemed out of place here and there.

"It was getting hard to concentrate with all of the noise, I tried out by the tree at first, then figured I would try up here." replied Akitsu.

He nodded with understanding. Harry looked at Akitsu for a few seconds while he tried to figure out the best way to throw out what he needed to say to her. He figured bluntness was probably the method of choice preferred by the girl, he said, "Taki said hi. She's very worried about you."

From the truly happy smile that lit up Akitsu's face, Harry knew the conversation he was about have would likely be a very happy one. Harry was just glad there was something in Akitsu's past that she could smile genuinely when the subject was broached.

-o0o0o-

Harry's talk with Akitsu on the rooftop lasted until Miya herself dragged the two back into the house as the sun set in the west. But the conclusion of the conversation with Akitsu echoed in Harry's head as he quietly sat down in a corner of the lounge.

"Will you rewing Taki? She was my only friend before you. She was the first person who ever cared about me."

'How on Earth could you possible argue with a declaration like that?' thought Harry in exasperation. He had three Sekirei bonded to him now. Two more were definitely on the way. He wasn't so obtuse not to realize what the looks Matsu gave him could be interpreted as. Hell he even saw the looks Uzume and Chiho gave him on occasion.

'Sure, let's just throw Taki in for shits and giggles.' He thought in what he definitely knew was only mock-despair.

Harry was quite aware he would never leave a Sekirei denied and rejected if they truly reacted to him and wanted to be with him, but was all this fair to the girls he already had? The thing that scared him the most was the implication that he was possibly just days away from actions that would undermine the entire support structure of both Higa and Mikogami out from underneath them.

And all of those Sekirei would be capable of rewinging.

'May be a good idea to visit Europe immediately after that happens. There's no way they can follow me there.' He pondered more and more ridiculous methods of rewing prevention by himself so that he could avoid the fate of a Sekirei harem with forty females when Winky popped in. "Miss Carsooba and Miss Heines can see you now."

"Great, can you go tell Miya that's where I'll be in case someone ends of looking for me?" Winky popped off and Harry disillusioned himself just to be safe. Then he apparated directly into Karasuba's apartment.

He found them both in chairs where they had quietly watched the nighttime skyline of the city. Lights were reflected in their faces since the rest of the apartment was in full darkness. They both drank from glasses, though Harry couldn't tell what it was due to the lack of illumination.

Neither acknowledged him as he quietly sat down in the seat that was between both of them. He was definitely curious why neither greeted him. There was even a lack of instant caustic remarks by Karasuba. Deciding something must be up, and it wasn't his place to disturb the silence just yet, he waited.

Eventually, Harry decided he wanted to savor a drink as well while he waited. "Dobby?" he said quietly.

"Yes, Harry sir?" said Dobby after he appeared. Karasuba and Haihane, already used to the behavior, didn't even flinch, though he could see Haihane's eye's shift to Dobby in her faint reflection in the mirror.

"Can you bring me a bottle of 'Le Pergole Torte' 1977? I believe it was a Montevertine."

Seeing Haihane's questioning look, Harry explained, "My grandparents on my father's side were quite old when they had my father. I think they were in their late fifties when he was born." Seeing Haihane's incredulous look, Harry laughed. "Wizards live a lot longer than non-magicals. Easily twice as long, sometimes three times or more. They had all but given up on having children, and had already somewhat retired from running the family estate and businesses on a day to day basis and were settling in for a more comfortable lifestyle."

"From what I've understood, almost all Potters, in addition to managing the existing estate, usually pick one new business venture to develop themselves each generation. My grandparents chose wine. I actually own a few vineyards. The Veela I mentioned to you all earlier, Fleur? She actually runs one of my larger Vineyards in France now. So, in the course of all this, they became rather big wine connoisseurs and aficionados. "

Dobby popped back in with a dusty bottle, which became sparklingly clean with a wave of his hand. "They began to also invest in wines as a permanent asset for the estate, though they marked some bottles here and there for future consumption. The crate this bottle was in was one of the last they purchased before they were murdered in a Death Eater attack."

Haihane placed a rough, calloused hand over his, giving it a gentle squeeze while forcing out a small smile for him. Kara was still sitting there, lost in thought over something or dead tired. Either way, he couldn't tell if she had heard a word he said.

"Would either of you care to try a glass?" Seeing them both nod, he uncorked the bottle magically, and waved his hand in a complex manner over the bottle to mimic the effects of aeration and decantation of the wine. He summoned Haihane's glass, vanished the contents within, and then poured her half a glass. He repeated the process with Karasuba, and then poured himself a glass out of a conjured crystal glass he had just created.

The wine got the first reaction he had seen tonight from Karasuba. After she swirled the liquid for a short time, she breathed in the scent and took a small sip. A few seconds later she looked at Harry, surprise etched upon her face and said, "This tastes absolutely amazing."

Haihane concurred, "I'm nowhere near the expert Karasuba is, but I think this tastes good as well."

They sat for about five more minutes in silence, all three lost in the magnificent view before them, when Karasuba finally spoke up.

"So I doubt you wanted to see us both tonight to get us drunk and have your wicked way with us?" said Kara, who had slipped the first vestige of her normal sarcasm into their conversation at last.

"No, but I wouldn't be against it either," Harry said with a smirk. He let the look slip off his face and said, "You're right, that's not the reason."

Harry set his glass down on a small coffee that was between them and the window they all looked out of. "Can I ask you something and get an honest answer, Kara?"

Harry could see how Kara almost gave him a glare, but reined it back in. She looked even more tired than ever afterwards. After she closed her eyes briefly, she nodded.

"What does Musubi have to do with the 'Sekirei of Fate'?"

Whatever Karasuba expected Harry to ask, that most certainly was not it. Her mouth dropped open, and closed with an audible click. "How do you know that phrase?"

"I had a discussion with someone. Someone who I would like both of you to meet someday, but not tonight. They said that the 'Sekirei of Fate' watches over me. What does that mean and who is it?"

After a few moments hesitation, Kara took a deep breath, and started to explain, "Remember how I said the second Discipline Squad was led by Number 8, Yume? And that she gave her life to save another Sekirei? Yume transferred everything that made her a Sekirei to Musubi when she felt Musubi was dying after we rescued her. That's how Yume died."

'Oh no,' thought Harry. 'More Soul-Magic. Why couldn't it be anything but more Soul-Magic.'

Haihane had obviously never heard this story, because she sat there with her mouth wide-open. "I always thought Yume was severely injured in the rescue attempt and passed on?" she asked.

"No, that's what Minaka wanted everyone to think. They didn't want it known that a Sekirei was capable of something like this," said Karasuba.

"What were Yume's powers?" asked Harry, almost scared to ask. Number 5 was earth. Number 6 was fire. Number 7 was Ice, and Number 9 was Water. He would almost have expected Number 8 to be air, but he was already aware that the only other single digit that he hadn't met yet, Number 3 held an affinity to air. He was almost afraid to hear what Number 8 held an affinity to. But he had an idea that struck a rather deep sense of fear in him.

"She… it's hard to describe. She was a swordsman who could easily rival me or Miya. But that wasn't what made her powerful. She had the ultimate trump card. It was energy. It wouldn't cause damage to people physically, but it could knock them around or drain them of their strength if you got hit with it. I can't quite describe what it was. If you got hit dead-on with it, you felt like you had gotten flattened by a truck for a week."

'Magic… no wait, a Soul-Magic Sekirei?' thought Harry. 'So… if she gave her life and Musubi was dying…'

"Wait, this is important. Was she dead after she saved Musubi, or did she appear merely lifeless?"

"Lifeless?" asked Karasuba, completely confused, and not used to the feeling. She glanced at Haihane, who appeared to have no idea where Harry's line of questioning was going either.

"Ok, let me back up a bit here. Remember the Dark Lord I told you both I took out. You know I left an awful lot out about that. When it comes down to it, what are the two things evil people always want? Power and Immortality."

"Well, the Dark Bastard's method of achieving Immortality was to split his own soul, and attach the pieces to objects keeping him on this plane of existence if his body was ever destroyed. I had the unlucky chance to play host to one of these pieces of soul for sixteen years after he failed to kill me properly as a one year old. It takes a cold-blooded murder to make this kind of thing. They're pure evil."

Confusion, shock, and disgust were written all over both of their faces. They were completely out of their league when it came to trying to figure out where on Earth Harry was going with his story, but they listened, completely enraptured all the same.

"I had to take another killing curse to get rid of it, and even now I kind of doubt the wisdom and intentions behind those who asked me to do undergo that particular method. Afterwards, I just knew there had to be another way to get rid of it. And I was right. The goblins had multiple safe ways to get rid of a foreign piece of soul within a living person. It would have cost me fifty galleons and an afternoon's worth of mild discomfort to do it. Native American Indians had ways of dealing with them as well. Apparently a soul phylactery isn't as rare or as hard to get rid of as my old headmaster said it was. Otherwise, the world would be completely overrun with evil immortal dark wizards."

"Anyway, after I got rid of it, I got very interested in knowing exactly what effects that piece of dirt had on me over the years, so I grabbed every piece of Soul-Magic literature I could find, and attended international conferences on them whenever they were offered. Suffice it to say, I've learned an awful lot about the subject. Some is stuff to give you nightmares. Other parts of it, is magic that could heal people of almost any injury and is probably amongst the purest kind of so-called light magic you could probably every hope to accomplish."

After a few moments silence, Harry asked Karasuba, "You say that Musubi was likely dying after what those scientists did to her before the rescue took place?"

"Yes, she probably wouldn't have lived much longer. At least that was the impression I got from Yume after she finished her part of the extraction and we met at the rendezvous," said Karasuba, who suddenly looked sheepish. "Some of the details of that conversation are a bit hazy. I was in full-bloodlust in that fight."

Harry nodded, and knew not to inquire further into that statement. "There's a specific kind of soul-magic, based on love. It's the exact opposite of creating a Phlactery. Instead of using hatred to split your own soul, you use love to use your own soul to help anchor someone else's soul until they can be healed."

"I don't think Yume gave her life to save Musubi's body from dying. She used her soul to keep Musubi's soul anchored until she could be healed."

Karasuba was still trying to reconcile what she remembered from that day to the information Harry had just gave her, so it was no surprise to him that it was Haihane who made the connections to what Harry previously said.

"So, you said that it was actually a very simply process to remove a soul that shouldn't be there," said Haihane, the thought process of working out the clues visible upon her face as she thought it through. "That means someone could've put Yume's soul back into her old body once Musubi was healed?"

"What happened to her body?" asked Harry, electing to cut straight to the chase. "There are ways of restoring her if her body isn't around anymore, some more unpleasant then others. But everything would be far easier if they had just hooked her body up to life-support and didn't mess with it. A body can live without a soul. It just needs to be taken care of."

"I don't know where it is now," said Karasuba. "For a while, it was in one of the stasis tanks in a lab underneath this tower. I used to go there a lot. Yell at her. Cry if I remembered to destroy the security cameras down there so no one would see. After a while, they moved it though. If anyone knows where, it would be Minaka or Takami."

"Takami, eh?" Harry looked at the glass of wine in his hand and was already starting to see the basis of a plan form in his mind. "She's supposed to explain her super-secret life to her kids by tomorrow. I assume the discussion will take place at the inn. I can ask about Yume… hell, any of the eliminated Sekirei then."

Harry looked up and glanced between both of his future Sekirei. A very satisfied smile formed on his face.

"How would you both like a really cool way to say, 'Fuck you very much. I quit' to MBI?"

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Current Residents of Izumo Inn:

Harry Potter (Ashikabi)

Chiho Hidaka (Ashikabi)

Sahashi Minato (Ashikabi)

Sahashi Yukari (Ashikabi)

Number 1 Miya Asama

Number 2 Matsu / No Ashikabi

Number 6 Homura / Harry Potter

Number 7 Akitsu / Harry Potter

Number 9 Tsukiumi / Minato

Number 10 Uzume / Chiho

Number 17 Toyotama / Higa (Unwilling)

Number 40 Shi / No Ashikabi

Number 84 Yashima / Junichi Tanigawa (Unwilling)

Number 88 Musubi / Harry Potter

Number 107 Shiina / Sahashi Yukari

Number 108 Kusano / Minato

MBI Headquarter Residents:

Minaka / MBI CEO

Sahashi Takami / MBI Sekirei Adjustor / Friend of Homura

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 (Terminated Former Discipline Squad Member) / Mikogami (attacked Takami)

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)

Number 15 Himeko / Mikogami (Unwilling)

Number 18 Ichiya (Eliminated) / Higa

Number 22 Kochou / Higa (Unwilling)

Number 31 Sai (Eliminated) / Higa

Number 38 Mitsuha / Mikogami (Unwilling)

Number 39 Mitsuki / Mikogami (Unwilling)

Number 43 Yomi (Eliminated) / Mikogami

Number 65 Taki / Mikogami (Unwilling)

Number 86 Katsuragi / Higa (Unwilling)

Number 87 Kaho / Oosumi Orihiko (Kidnapped along with Musubi as a child)

Number 101 Oriha / Higa (Unwilling)

Number ? Oshino / Higa (Unwilling)

Number ? Kujou / Higa (Unwilling)