A/N
It's been over 365 days since the last chapter. Holy crap.
I know, it's been beyond too long since I last updated this. Fact of the matter is, life has been busy. I know I say that a lot but it really has. To give you an idea, here's a few keywords that describe my life for the last couple of months:
University
Chainsaw at 3 AM
Career
Gun Shots
Work
Ex Girlfriend
Nephews
Rape (namely, thwarting some fuckers attempt on my Ex)
Hospitalisation
Stolen railway equipment.
And that's just the stuff going on in my personal life. No, I'm not going into detail about it. Frankly, the less you guys know about the dirty little details the better.
In any case, here's the tenth instalment of Broken Birds. Enjoy.
If the Doctor could have found an army of angry Daleks to fight he would have jumped right into action without hesitation. As far as his luck went, no such army had presented itself.
Instead he'd found something infinitely worse… a fan. Someone that had, somehow, managed to track his movements, exchange information about him, obsess over his adventures and long for the day he'd walk into their lives.
It was annoying on multiple levels. Most people were just not suited to the level of utter bizarreness that the he was used to dealing with on a daily basis. Most people didn't have the stomach to face constant danger, to say nothing of the physical fitness required for a life of constant running. Then there were the fans that due to their unfortunate enthusiasm inevitably got in his way or ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time resulting in, at the very least, mild cases of death.
Fans were in a way their own worst enemy. Their belief in him, their faith in his abilities was so often their undoing. He may have been brilliant but he wasn't limitless… at the end of the day he couldn't protect everyone all the time. Some were inevitably lost and for that he'd come to loathe the enormous faith that fans invested in him. He neither deserved nor wanted it.
The Doctor peeked between the fingers of the face-palm that had occurred the moment he realised he was dealing with a fan. Matsu was still swooning over the prospect of having met her idol while Minato was alternating a bewildered glance between the two.
"Who… who did you say you were?" asked Minato.
"I'm the Doctor!" he said, perking up slightly in one of his practically trademarked mood swings.
"Doctor who?" asked Minato.
The Doctor frowned. Was everyone in this house going to ask that?
"Just… the Doctor," he said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice, "What's your name by the way?"
"M-Minato… are you going to stay up there?" asked Minato.
"Why? Does it bother you that I'm in the roof?" replied the Doctor.
"Yes… a little,"
The Doctor shrugged and squirmed his way through the hole he'd made in the roof and landed softly on the floor. He dusted himself off as Matsu, finally recovered from her initial reaction regarded the Doctor with eyes as wide as saucers.
"So, um…" said Minato awkwardly, "How did you come to know Doctor-san?" asked Minato.
"It all started a few years ago, Mina-tan," she explained, "A researcher at MBI gave me an old DVD of his,"
"DVD?" asked Minato.
"It's what came before blue rays," explained the Doctor.
"While I was watching the DVD, I discovered an Easter egg… sort of a bonus feature hidden in one of the menus. A garbled video started to play," she pointed to the Doctor, "a video with his voice on it. He spoke as though he was speaking one half of a conversation."
"Oh I remember that!" exclaimed the Doctor, "But why didn't you recognise my face?"
"The video was garbled," explained Matsu, "Only the audio really worked… I'd heard that there were several other DVD's that had the same hidden Easter egg but they were very rare and hard to find and the eggs don't show up on the blue ray releases either."
"Ah the DVD," lamented the Doctor, "Gone the way of betamax already."
"…Beta? What?" asked Minato.
"…never mind," muttered the Doctor.
"After that I did as much research as I could," she continued, "Most of the information was locked up tight, I still can't get to it… but I know this much. Doctor-san is an alien time traveller who has saved humanity more times than can be counted. In short… he is amazing!"
This feeling, thought Minato, Am I jealous of the way she looks up to the Doctor?
Matsu seemed to have an insight into the way her Ashikabi was feeling. She adjusted her glasses with one hand and reached out to reassuringly squeeze Minato's hand with the other. It was enough for him. While she may have admired this Doctor the same way one might admire their favourite idol or voice actor, Minato was after all still her Ashikabi and still the one that she loved.
"So, you're a time traveller?" asked Minato.
"Exactamundo!" exclaimed the Doctor, seizing on an opportunity to use the word.
"I don't suppose you could tell me if I get into Tokyo University next year?" he asked.
"Spot of bother, actually," said the Doctor, scratching his head nervously, "see, my time machine was sort of… stolen."
"Again?" asked Matsu.
"Again?" asked the Doctor, bewildered.
Matsu pulled out a ratty old t-shirt with faded but otherwise bold lettering in both kanji and surprisingly well translated English.
THE ANGELS HAVE THE PHONE BOX
"Ah, of course," said the Doctor. He'd forgotten that those egg forums had made a T-shirt after all.
"I take it that's why MBI wants to get their hands on you," mused Matsu, "They have your time machine, but they must know that you're dangerous even without it."
"Dangerous?" asked Minato nervously.
"Mina-tan," said Matsu reassuringly, "this man has saved the world many times in the past… he's only dangerous to those who would endanger the world."
"Speaking of endangering the world…" said the Doctor, "perhaps you could explain to me… what are the Sekirei doing here?"
"Eh?" asked Matsu, not understanding the question.
"The Sekirei. What are they doing here? In Tokyo? In the year 2020?"
"What?" asked Minato, "You know about the Sekirei?"
The Doctor nodded sagely.
"Would you like to hear the story?" asked the Doctor.
Minato and Matsu exchanged glances before turning back to the Doctor and nodded in unison.
The Doctor took a deep breath. Most of what he knew was hearsay from long before the Time War… but as the last of the Time Lords he was the only surviving authority from those times. They had a right to know.
"It all started a long time ago…"
Takami, unable to handle her nerves, finally lit up her first smoke for the day. As the nicotine rushed into her system her mind started to relax and process information in a more reliable manner.
The Doctor. A name, a title, an omen. She'd had a chance to skim the files on that man… the files that Minaka had managed to blackmail out of some secret UNIT vault. She knew enough to know that Minaka had made a terrible, terrible mistake. She knew enough to know that the Doctor had had something to do with Harriet Jones' downfall, the thwarting of multiple alien invasions during the last few decades and almost certainly possessed the capability of time travel. In all, he was a fearsome man that she had absolutely no intention of getting on the bad side of.
Takami grimaced as Minaka went through the rounds of announcing the second phase of the Sekirei Plan. The idiot was being a grandstanding buffoon again. She both loved and hated him when he did that in equal measure. It was a personality quirk that had first attracted her to him, the fact that he could absolutely and confidently make the most ludicrous claims seem almost plausible…
Still. He'd effectively thrown down against the Doctor. The psych profile UNIT had built clearly indicated that there was a 100% likelihood of a negative response towards exploitation of the nature that MBI was in the habit of towards Sekirei. If the Doctor moved against Minaka, Minaka would rally all of MBI against him, Takami included. The idiot would doom her just as surely as he had doomed himself.
Perhaps if the Doctor hadn't shown up in some imaginary parallel world she may have held off on her planned coup, at least until a later stage of the Sekirei Plan where she would be able to leverage more power and ensure success. She had always been against the Sekirei Plan… even so it was no guarantee that whatever fallout generated from Minaka's downfall wouldn't blow back and affect her as well. Takami was not stupid by any measure; she had always considered survival to be the noblest form of selfishness and was already thinking of ways to turn the tables both to her advantage and her survival.
Whether she could turn the Doctor into an ally or not her actions would have to be the same regardless. She pulled out her phone and dialled a number. After several rings and a soft click, it automatically transferred to a scrambled line she'd set up especially for this one phone call… even then she wasn't taking any chances.
"Bad Wolf is a go," she said, hanging up almost nonchalantly.
She stabbed out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray and eyed the rest of the packet hungrily for more precious nicotine.
It wasn't every day she started a corporate revolt.
Akitsu idly dried the dishes she had been washing earlier. The Doctor had been upstairs for long enough to start worrying her, though her face would never betray such worry with its look of eternal melancholy.
She lowered the dish onto the bench and reached over to grab another dish from the drying rack when she paused in thought.
What is he to me? She thought, I cannot be winged, so he cannot be my Ashikabi. I am a scrap number, a waste of a Sekirei. He would never want me. Why…
Her mind trailed off as she remembered his kindness. The way he had tried to find her a place to stay, how he'd bought her clothes, spoke with her as a person and had vowed to help… for her?
She touched the Sekirei crest emblazoned on her forehead. Its position, prominent and clear to Ashikabi and Sekirei alike, showed her to be a scrap number. For her it was a mark of shame, a singular symbol of all her failures. It had set her apart, made her different. Though she had always preferred solitude even among other Sekirei she had always sensed the isolation from her peers, the way conversations would just die off when she entered a room, how she would always eat alone at tables and how she could go entire days without having to utter a single word to anyone.
"Karasuba-sama!" exclaimed Musubi from outside, breaking Akitsu's wandering thoughts.
Her eyes shot up. Sure enough, Number 04, Karasuba, stood outside of Izumo House… and she'd just been sprayed with water by Musubi.
Akitsu dropped the slick dish, numbly allowing it to fall and shatter on the floor. Her arms trembled slightly… she could feel her heart thundering in her chest as something inside her… a feeling that only ever arose when it came time to fight or to flee. She'd never understood that feeling and she'd never allowed it to bother her until now. What had changed? Why was this feeling affecting now of all times?
The Black Sekirei exchanged a few words with Musubi before starting towards the door, but not before casting a wary glance directly at Akitsu.
She's going to kill me. The thought came unbidden to her mind.
Something came unstuck in Akitsu. The crest emblazoned on her forehead became painfully cold. Akitsu ran from the kitchen and into one of the rooms downstairs. She cast about in an emotionless panic, looking for a place to hide, a dark place to bury herself and never come out from. Common sense and rationality would tell her that it would do no good. That the Black Sekirei would find her and kill her if she chose to hide herself within Izumo House… but both had long since fled.
She all but threw herself into a dark and stuffy closet, pulled a futon over her head and curled up as tightly as she could manage, trying to stay silent as the Black Sekirei entered Izumo House. She could hear her footsteps; hear the soft murmur of her voice.
Terror, her mind supplied, this feeling is called terror.
Akitsu was too swept up to realise that she was feeling something for the first time that she could remember… and too swept up to realise that a tide of cloying calm was trying to drown that terror. All she could do was whimper and hope that Karasuba didn't find her.
"Is someone here?" asked a voice from inside the room, causing Akitsu's terror to redouble.
The door opened up, causing Akitsu to shrink back into the corner, to try to bury herself into the wall and floor.
"Aki-Onee-chan?" said the diminutive Kusano.
"No… No…" quivered Akitsu, unable to clamp down on her terror.
Kusano's eyes opened wide as she recognised the look on Akitsu's face. She popped into the closet and closed the door behind her.
"It's alright," said Kuu as she inched slowly towards Akitsu, "Kuu comes here sometimes when she's sad or afraid or wants to be alone,"
Kusano carefully dodged mentioning her Ashikabi. She didn't want to risk upsetting Akitsu again as she had before. Though she was young she was also precocious at times.
"Aki-chan is afraid?" asked Kuu.
Akitsu nodded as tears started to pool in her eyes and stream down her face.
"It's alright, Kuu is here," she said, closing into hugging distance and curling up with Akitsu in an embrace.
Akitsu automatically returned it. Just the physical presence of another person seemed to calm the roiling sea of terror she was drowning in… if only a little.
"It'll be alright," said Kuu.
Akitsu sobbed softly, caught between raging terror and cloying calm.
Uzume glared at the bowl of warm muck, she lifted her gaze and regarded her Ashikabi, and then returned her glare with redoubled irritation back towards the bowl of muck.
She was about to reconsider the whole idea of trying to feed the muck to Chiho when she noticed her Ashikabi smiling towards her warmly.
"So, you tried cooking again?" asked Chiho softly.
"I… ehehe, well…" said Uzume uncomfortably while nervously rubbing the back of her head.
The last time Uzume had cooked anything for Chiho the experience had left her unable to taste anything for a week. Uzume had vowed never to cook for her again and had taken up cosplaying instead, which had turned out for the best. Uzume was certain that Chiho remembered the last time as clearly as she did. Even so, Chiho was willing to try what she thought was her cooking.
"Quickly," whispered Chiho conspiratorially, "Before the doctors' notice and try to stop you,"
Chiho sat up in bed and took the bowl that Uzume offered her. After spending a moment adjusting to get comfortable, she managed to pick up a spoonful of the muck the Doctor had created and hesitantly held it before her. Before Uzume could begin to doubt whether she'd try it, Chiho brought the spoon to her lips and scoffed the food. She chewed experimentally before her eyes widened.
"This… this food…" she said softly, "This is delicious!" she exclaimed before she began devouring the bowls contents.
Uzume relaxed somewhat. The Doctor may have used a mess of odd ingredients but apparently whatever it was he'd concocted had been enough to reawaken Chiho's long lost appetite… she'd never seen her Ashikabi eat so ravenously.
Before either of them knew it Chiho had cleaned the bowl completely, even going so far as to try her best to lick it clean without even the pretence of manners.
"Uzume-chan! You've improved your cooking a lot!" exclaimed Chiho, "I… sort of doubted you when I looked at it… but the smell…"
Chiho was smiling radiantly. She had vibrant colour in her cheeks and face for the first time that Uzume had seen her. She'd always thought that her Ashikabi was beautiful, but nevermore than at this moment. Blushing, she leaned forward to kiss her…
"Ahem!" interrupted Kakizaki as he stood in the doorway.
Chiho and Uzume drew apart from their abortive kiss, both of them blushing furiously at having been caught by the unwelcome interloper.
"Uzume-san? A word if you please," said Kakizaki.
"Uzume? Who is this person?" asked Chiho curiously.
"Ah, one of the specialists," lied Uzume, "I'll just be a few minutes," she said before leaving her Ashikabi with a smile that was only partly forced.
Uzume passed a nurse on the way in to check on Chiho's condition. The two shared a brief look before the nurse had to suppress a smile. Chiho and Uzume had been a hot topic amongst the nurses in the hospital, from those that who quietly disapproved of their 'forbidden love' to those that tried to give Uzume and Chiho romantic pointers and tried to push their relationship to the 'next level'.
As soon as Uzume had shut the door behind her, she fixed Kakizaki a withering glare.
"What." She stated flatly.
"Is that any way to address the representative of one whom so graciously holds the life of your ashikabi in the balance?" he teased, "Come now Uzume-chan, I thought we'd built a strong working relationship with one another. It would be shameful to allow the breakdown of our mutually beneficial partnership to endanger the life of someone so precious…"
Uzume took a deep breath and tried to drain the seething anger that built up every time that sneering bastard spoke. Whether she liked it or not, Kakizaki worked for Higa, and Higa owned the hospital. If she pissed off either of them, Chiho's life was forfeit. She had to grovel… for now.
"I apologise," Uzume forced herself to say in as pleasant a tone as she could muster, "What is it that Higa-sama requires of me now?"
"We have a new target for you to find and eliminate. Here are her files," he said, passing the necessary information on to her, "Please dispatch her for us as efficiently as you have your prior targets. You are an extremely valuable asset for Higa-sama."
Uzume glanced at the information she'd given him. A picture of an innocent and nervous looking Sekirei confronted her. Number 95, Kuno. Ranked quiet low in terms of power… she would be easy prey to almost any Sekirei she'd come across.
"Fine, I'll do it. As long as my Ashikabi is looked after," grumbled Uzume.
"See that you do," said Kakizaki before leaving.
Uzume leaned against a wall and thought. She hated this. She hated being used in this fashion. She hated going against her principles. She hated dirtying herself to keep the hands of her Ashikabi clean. But if it meant that she could live… if it meant that she could get the treatment she needed then she'd do it. Sekirei lived their lives by and for their Ashikabi. If she had to she'd move heaven and Earth for her Chiho.
The clicking of Chiho's door broke Uzume's train of thought as the nurse softly padded towards her.
"I wanted to let you know," said the nurse, "Your friend, she's sleeping right now… but she's looking quite good,"
"She is?" asked Uzume, feigning some degree of ignorance for Chiho's apparent turn for the better.
"More than good," said the nurse with a smile, "In fact, I haven't seen her this strong in years…. she may have gone into remission. We'll need tests to confirm that, I'm going to get the paperwork ready once I get back to the office."
"Mu-chan," said Karasuba relaxedly as she casually dried off in front of Musubi, "You know what I came here, right?"
"Eh?" asked Musubi. As she looked on vacantly, she noticed the Sekirei Crest at the base of Karasuba's neck, "Ah! The Sekirei Mark! You were winged Karasuba? I'm so happy for you!"
Karasuba chuckled softly. Musubi was endearingly air-headed at times.
"It's about that promise we made, do you remember?" asked Karasuba.
Musubi took the time to recall all the times that Karasuba had spent time mentoring her prior to her release. After a few moments, the pertinent memory sifted through.
"Ah! The promise!" exclaimed Musubi.
"Yes, that," murmured Karasuba.
She took a deep breath. It had to be said sooner or later.
"I'm sorry, Mu-chan. Before you and I can be the last two Sekirei standing, there is something I must do."
"…eh?" queried Musubi with a curious tilt of her head.
It wasn't like Karasuba to back down from a fight or the promise of bloodshed in her experience. Karasuba was the kind of Sekirei that had been born to fight with all her heart her mind and her body.
She was an inspiration for Musubi. That pure will to fight with everything she had gave rise to her own gung ho attitude to fighting. But the emptiness she sensed in her mentor… the hardness of her heart was also an inspiration. An inspiration to show her mentor the power of love, to show her that a Sekirei that fought with all her heart and body and soul could be far more powerful if they were capable of loving others.
"You have to grow stronger," said Karasuba, "Much stronger. Much, much, much, stronger!" she continued with a rising manic bloodlust.
Taking a few breaths to calm herself, Karasuba laid a hand on each of Musubi's shoulders before leaning in.
"I have someone to kill," she whispered with reverent softness, as though she were speaking of a forbidden lover, "someone I've been waiting a very long time for. Sorry, Mu-chan."
With her business done, Karasuba turned to leave.
Akitsu stood on a vast landscape of barren ice. Overhead, grey clouds scudded by at impossible speeds, and as the wind swept by carrying with it ice and snow the cold, the dreadful cold seeped into her bones. She spread out her arms and with the barest function of her will, called for the ice to rise up to her command.
And rise it did. Blocks of ice rose up from the tightly packed ice, forming walls to shelter her from the cold. A ceiling formed on its own accord, sheltering her at last from the arctic blasts that had cut to the bone.
The walls soon began to take on details, carving into themselves patterns, doorways and intricate works of art. Furniture grew out of the floor itself, shaping themselves into chairs and tables. From the roof grew delicate chandeliers of ice. Everything save for Akitsu herself was ice.
When at last Akitsu felt the work was complete, she strolled forth to explore her new realm. With every step she became more and more convinced that she was the sole ruler of her domain, that none could challenge her sovereignty.
She paused as she approached a blank wall and, with the barest hint of concentration, commanded the wall of ice to smooth itself until a mirror-like surface of ice reflected back at her.
Her sandy blonde hair was covered in a delicate frost that refracted the light into a kaleidoscope of colour. Her head was encircled by a regal crown of ice and draped over her shoulders was a diaphanous gown of frost woven together in a way that only her supreme control over ice could ever allow. Most striking of all to her was the lack of the Sekirei crest, her mark of shame, emblazoned on her forehead.
She turned away from the mirror and continued to wander through her icy domain, passing through hallways, great dining halls festooned with feasts of frost, chambers that would be considered opulent, grand and extravagant by even the most spoiled and jaded, winding her way through palatial extravagance undreamt of by even the most ambitious and unscrupulous royal.
Finally she came to the heart of her domain. Vaulted ceilings of ice stretched up to a height sufficient to warrant the passage of giants. Between struts and various random points, ribbons of ice were strung gently reflecting and refracting light in a manner precisely calculated to shine brightest upon the very centre of power within any palace.
Before she took a single step inside, however, her attention was seized by the dark shape that sat in her throne.
Anger flared within Akitsu.
How dare they! She thought, How dare they affront my sovereignty!
Without heed or caution, Akitsu's Sekirei combat instincts drove her forward at breakneck speed, her blood raging with cold fury at the affront to her supreme authority.
And yet, the more she ran the more stubbornly the throne seemed to maintain its distance from her. The dark shape seemed to taunt her both with its mere existence and the intransigence of its distance. The affront only served to force Akitsu to redouble her efforts. All her will was focused on reaching the dark shape and deposing the dark harpy from her rightful throne. She ran with complete and total reckless abandon, gouging holes in the icy floor with the power of her footfalls.
Finally her legs gave out from under her, unable to continue meeting her demands that they run faster, further, faster. She tumbled face first into the ice, shattering her crown and scraping her face brutally across the floor until she came to a pitiful stop. She lay there, spent, for several minutes before she started to pick herself up. As she did, she saw for the first time that she had reached her goal.
The pedestal of the throne lay before her. As she drew her eyes upwards, she saw a block of ice before the throne… and within that block of ice was… someone.
She peered into the block of ice, noticing slender legs, a black and white kimono, the parting on the chest revealing a generous amount of cleavage, and finally her own face.
Akitsu drew back instinctively. What was she doing inside a block of ice? How could this be? Apprehensively she looked closely and saw that the Sekirei Crest was emblazoned upon her frozen others forehead as she stared off into space.
Akitsu blinked in confusion, looking at herself, she didn't quite know what to make of what she was seeing. And then she saw that her frozen other was now looking directly at her.
Akitsu drew back with a sharp breath. She mentally commanded the ice to shatter and release her other… but it refused to obey. She issued the command again and again, each time more strident than the last. The most the block of ice would do to yield to her authority was to clear up a bit to offer her a better view of her other.
There was a look of panic on her face, raw and primal. The way her body was encased in the ice, it looked as though her other had either tried to usurp the throne… or flee it. It took only one look into her other's eyes to realise that something was dreadfully wrong.
All pretence of royalty and sovereignty had fled her mind. The palace of ice, once grand and beautiful to her now felt oppressive and dark. The look of her other now made sense to her. She had to get out of here. She had to run. She turned to do precisely that but found her feet were held fast. She turned to see what held to her to find that solid ice now encased her feet entirely.
Akitsu commanded the ice to retreat, to set her free. Instead it grew faster, twirling about her legs and rapidly encasing her waist in frigid cold and cloying calm. It was like struggling in quicksand. Every time she struggled she only compelled the ice to grow faster, the cold to sink in more deeply, and the calm… that unnatural calm…
Even doing nothing was only a delaying tactic. The ice was slowly and inexorably growing to encase her as it had her other. But as the ice grew to encompass her shoulders and pin her arms in a decidedly unnatural pose, it failed to matter to her any more. Nothing mattered to her anymore. There was no longer any fear, no terror, no love, no joy, no apprehension, nor confidence. There was nothing but cold and ice… and the calm… the deadening calm that swallowed her heart.
Akitsu locked eyes with her frozen other. It carried the look of fear as it always had… but now a flash of pity seemed to creep in. Before the ice encased Akitsu in its entirety, she caught a glimpse of reflected eyes… eyes that held no fear… eyes that no longer cared.
"It all began a long time ago in a galaxy far far away," said the Doctor.
"That's Star Wars," cut off Matsu.
"Is it? Hmm. I suppose it is. Okay, Once upon a time-"
"That's any number of fairy tales," cut off Minato.
"What? Someone paid attention to his English lessons I see. Okay, look. A long time ago there was a race of hyper intelligent pan-dimensional beings-"
"Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," harmonised Matsu and Minato.
"Actually, Doug stole that one from me. He stole a lot from me actually. I really should have insisted on getting credit-" trailed off the Doctor.
"Doctor…" interrupted Matsu impatiently.
"Oh, right, of course!" exclaimed the Doctor.
Just as he was about to launch into lecture mode…
RRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNGGGG!
All three people in the room sighed and then glared at the offending cell phone as it insistently rung.
"Sorry, I have to take this," said Minato as he flipped his clamshell phone open.
"Minato, dear!" said a saccharine voice from the other end.
"M-Mother!" exclaimed Minato before shooting the others a pained expression.
Matsu leaned in closer to the Doctor.
"Perhaps you could tell me that story, Doctor-san. I have a feeling Mina-tan is going to be on the phone for a while," she whispered conspiratorially.
"Minato, you never call me anymore! Are you afraid I'll cut your allowance in half again?" teased Takami.
"It's not like that mum. I've just been busy with my studies and part time work!"
"But not too busy to get a girlfriend?" she jabbed.
Minato practically choked on his own tongue.
"Mum! How did you-!"
"Yukari told me about her a few days ago! Really! If I'd known you had a girlfriend I might not have cut your allowance that much!"
Minato silently promised himself never to trust Yukari with sensitive information ever again.
"Is she there Minato? I'd like to have a word with my future daughter in law! I expect to see many grand children from her and you to make up for your recent failures!"
"Mum!" shouted Minato blushing beet red as he cast about looking for an escape from the painful conversation.
Matsu and the Doctor were whispering about something or other, while Musubi was outside watering the garden last he checked. The last thing he was going to do was to put any one of his Sekirei on the phone with his mother. That was a disaster waiting to happen and Minato wanted none of that.
"Hurry up and put my daughter in law on the phone! We need to decide what your grandchildren's names will be!"
"Uh, listen, mum, now's not a good time-"
"Oh I see, did I interrupt you while you were busy making them?"
"No, that's not it!"
"You haven't even taken her 'maiden purity' yet? Minato! I'll die of old age before I get to see my grand children at this rate! Think of your poor old mother!"
"Mum, I can't hear you, the signal is breaking up!" exclaimed Minato, hoping that the old ruse would work.
"Besides, your sister already has a boyfriend!" continued Takami, not even giving Minato's ruse the time of day.
"What!" exclaimed Minato, ruse forgotten.
"A boyfriend!" exclaimed Takami, "He's a bit short but he's such a beautiful boy!"
Minato went cold inside for three reasons. Firstly, that his mother knew Yukari beat him out on getting into university; secondly, she also managed to find a boyfriend in less than a month after coming to Tokyo. Third, whoever her boyfriend was, he had to have the… unique personality necessary to handle his little sister and that either meant someone formidable or someone to be walked all over.
"Anyway, I need to call your sister up and tell her you're busy working on the grand children!"
"Wait, mum, how do you know Yukari has a boyfriend if you haven't talked to her yet?" asked Minato, knowing for a fact that Yukari wouldn't announce that she had a boyfriend to their mother over the phone.
"It's on her FacePlace," said Takami nonchalantly, "Really, she should be more careful what she puts up there if she doesn't want her dear mother to find out!"
Minato suddenly felt vindicated and relieved that he had never once signed up for FacePlace or any other kind of social networking. Being part of MBI's Ashikabi Networking System was bad enough, and involuntary.
"Anyway, remember to eat lots of vegetables and clean behind your ears!" enthused Takami.
"Yes mum," droned Minato with practiced apathy.
"And wash down there too! Especially since you won't be using protection to make me my grand children! Bye Minato!" she sniped before hanging up.
"Ah! Wait, Mum!" fumbled Minato before glaring exasperatedly at his phone.
Matsu gaped as the Doctor finally finished his story.
"You can't be serious!" she hissed as Minato endured his mother's badgering over the phone, "We can't tell Mina-tan that!"
"What do you propose instead? That we lie?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes!" exclaimed Matsu before covering up her lips, "Yes," she continued whispering, "If Mina-tan knew the truth… it would break his heart."
"You've nothing to be ashamed of," said the Doctor reassuringly, "And I promise I'll help in any way that I can once this is all over,"
"Thank you," whispered Matsu.
"Ahhh!" groused Minato in frustration, "Sorry about that. Mum was being a troll again!"
"I like her already!" grinned the Doctor as he surreptitiously grabbed the Jinki he'd casually tossed about earlier and passed it to her.
"Ah, Doctor-san, I've been meaning to ask, what exactly is that?"
"Well…" the Doctor drew out, mentally patting himself on the back for using the Jinki to distract Minato from the prior subject at hand, "If I had to put in basic terms… I'd say that it's a pan-dimensional hyper-omni-tool!"
"What?" asked Minato.
"It's like a multi-tool. Only it can work in seventeen dimensions. Very useful too depending on how you use it. 'Course, as it is now, it's just some nice bauble."
"Why is that?" asked Matsu.
"Well, it's got a security feature. You need eight of them for it to work properly, and it requires an authorised user. Good thing too since one wrong move and… uh…"
"And what? What happens if you 'make a wrong move'?" asked Minato.
"Um…" said the Doctor, scratching his head as he wanted to avoid the question entirely if he could, "Slice the planet in half?" he ventured, "Make the sun explode…" he continued, running down the list, "Turn every cat into a catgirl and uh, probably kill a lot of people too."
"What!" exclaimed Minato, "W-w-what is it doing here then?"
The Doctor shot a glance at Matsu. Following his gaze, Minato looked towards his Sekirei.
"Matsu-san," began Minato, "What is that doing here?"
Matsu fidgeted, not wanting to give Minato information he might not like.
"Well…" said Matsu, feeling the pressure from the gazes the Doctor and her Ashikabi were giving her, "I sort of… stole it MBI."
"EH!" cried Minato.
The Doctor broke into a manic grin of appreciation for her audacity.
"That's why I've been hiding in here! If I were to show my face outside MBI would kill me!"
"I take it that MBI have the remaining seven Jinki?" queried the Doctor.
Matsu nodded.
"Minato, what do you think of the Sekirei Plan?" asked the Doctor, switching subjects.
"The Sekirei Plan? Um… I'd rather not see anyone hurt," he answered.
"If there were a way to stop it, to stop this madness before it could go too far, would you do it?" asked the Doctor.
"If I could stop the Sekirei Plan…" muttered Minato before he realised what he'd said.
Matsu positively glowed with admiration for the Doctor as she rapidly connected the dots.
"You have a plan!" she exclaimed.
"I have a plan," he confirmed.
Kazehana gulped down yet more expensive sake as she enjoyed the wind and the view from one of Tokyo's many high rise construction sites. No matter how much sake she tried to drown her broken heart in, it never seemed to wash away the stain of rejection.
"Was I not good enough for you?" she wondered despondently.
She knew the flaw was not in her looks. With her long flowing black hair and smooth skin clad in a scandalously short and tight purple dress that showed off her breasts she turned more than her fair share of interested onlookers. She'd even caused a few accidents much to her delight.
It was because of her heartbreak that she had not been searching for an Ashikabi amongst the denizens of Tokyo. She had neither the need nor the desire for one, not when she had had her heart so thoroughly shattered.
A gust of wind blew as she drew more sustenance from the bottle of sake. The wind was her element; it bent to her power as a Sekirei as it would any other elementalist type. Unlike the others, though, she found that the wind tended to have its own playful agenda. At times, if she 'listened' carefully, she would gain a sense of things happening far away. It had served her well in avoiding the more unsavoury ashikabi that had forced their way into power.
It was as her phone rang that the wind gave her the sense of importance. Instead of ignoring for further sake, as would be her custom, she flipped it open to see a text had arrived.
Izumo House. Read the message, short and to the point, sender unknown.
Kazehana frowned. She hadn't been along to see Miya for some time… she doubted that old housewife, though she would never dare say such a thing to Miya, would let her have any fun if she were to just drop by.
If she could get just a little bit more drunk she might be able to doze off even at this height. She pulled the sake up to her lips only to find it empty. She pulled the bottle at a higher angle to make sure, before finally looking straight down the neck to find it completely drained.
"Well," said Kazehana as she staggered to her feet precariously drunk atop a very high skyscraper construction site, "I guess I could give old Miya a visit after all!"
Her mind made up, she leapt off the construction site as only a Sekirei could.
"Yo, Natsuo," said Karasuba casually as she swung herself over the door and into his convertible.
"Anything interesting happen?" asked Natsuo with feigned interest.
"Yes, actually," said Karasuba, "I bumped into Miya earlier."
"That old Hannya?" queried Natsuo.
"Yes. She's still scary. Ah I'd love to fight her!"
"You'll get your chance I'm sure," said Natsuo.
He held off on pulling into traffic. He knew Karasuba, both from her psychological profile that MBI had supplied him with and from the connection they shared as Ashikabi and Sekirei. He could feel the latent bloodlust in Karasuba boiling up, screaming for release.
"Are you sure you don't want to try your luck now?" joked Natsuo.
Karasuba shot him a sidelong glare and an infectious grin.
"No," she said, surprising him, "it can keep. I have someone more worthy in mind."
"Oh? And who's that?"
Karasuba gave an uncharacteristically girlish giggle.
"Doctor-kun!"
Takami hung up on her son with a massive grin.
As far as she was concerned, trolling her children was both her parental right and incredibly fun. It made up in some small measure for the pain they'd put her through during childbirth.
She glanced briefly outside a window in MBI tower. All over Japan certain people were finding themselves relieved or replaced by forces loyal to her. Piece by piece she was building up a brick wall that would bar the way of any outside interference that Minaka would see fit to call in.
Even MBI's private army within Tokyo was being reshuffled in such a manner. A few might raise concerns about the company-wide scale of such things, but all such reports would inevitably find their way to Takami before being passed on to Minaka. He was always a dreamer, an egotist that didn't bother with the finer details once he had people he trusted to worry about them. As long as Minaka trusted Takami, he wouldn't notice – would never notice – the knife that was about to be plunged into his back.
She lit up a cigarette and looked back at her phone. There was more than enough time to have a little fun at someone else's expense. With well practiced movements, she quickly dialled up Yukari's number. Oh the fun she would have at her daughter's expense.