AAAnnd I'm back! Sorry for the delay, had a little trouble since my connection was cut off and I had to wait for it to get repaired.

So, here we are, the next chapter of The Bloody Ashikabi. In this chapter, new plot elements are put in place, I hope you'll enjoy them, as well as Harry's power up.

Now, some of you may think I'm making Harry too powerful, but allow me to disagree. Harry has the potential to be very powerful, that doesn't mean he's suddenly going to become equal to Miya or Karasuba. Sure, he can now kick the Black Sekirei's ass in a spar, but first he'll need to get used to his new physical abilities. Before, a mild leap to the side would take him just far enough to avoid a strike, but now the same leap would send him straight into the dojo's wall. There's also the fact that while he has experience in the form of Tom's memories, those are the experience of a Wizard, someone who shies away from any form of physical conflict. He also has experience with sparring against Karasuba and othr weapon masters, but he still hasn't been in a fight where he had to fight straight against someone, the attack on Kamikura was mainly using the element of surprise. So he still has to find his own style of fighting, since he has two very opposite styles: the Wizard and the Warrior.

There are also a few of you who said that Karasuba's attraction and treatment of Harry was creepy. To quote a certain redhead from Gabriel Blessing's In Flight, Sekirei: Not Human. It's pointless to try and understand their actions towards someone who can be their Ashikabi by human standards, as they quite literally live to serve them and be with them. The very fact that Karasuba has resisted three whole years around Harry is only because she's freakishly stubborn and won't allow herself to be winged by someone whom she doesn't acknowledges. Almost any other Sekirei would have jumped him on the second day to get her wings, even if he is a child.

Anyway, enough with the chatter, and onward with the chapter!

I don't own Sekirei or Harry Potter, I just own this plot.

05

Revelations and mutations

Harry groaned as he woke up. While he was used to be wake up feeling like shit, either from his training or because of his nightmares, that didn't mean he enjoyed it. Looking around him, he saw where he was and cursed. Nothing good could come out of him waking up in his mindscape.

Ever since he had gotten Tom's memories, he had taken to learn Occlumency, or the art of organizing and defending his mind, as it was one of the most useful branches of magic, yet at the same time, one of the less-known ones, at least in Britain. From what he had heard, Japan's magic school, Mahoutokoro, had lessons to teach students Occlumency, though most only ever got the basics, despite all the advantages it brought to delve deeper into the Mind Arts.

After learning through Tom's memories, he had easily been able to organize his mind and create defenses, though the next step had been far more difficult. True, defenses were well and good, but thinking like that meant that once they were bypassed, your mind was an open book for whoever accessed it. That is why he had worked hard to perfect his defenses, and once he had been satisfied with them, he had proceeded to hide his memories, creating false trails that led to false memories, placing defenses around them to confuse an eventual intruder, etc..

Now his mindscape appeared as a model of the solar system, with near perfect replicas of the planets, and by "near perfect", he meant almost perfect, as he had based it on the most accurate information he had managed to get and memorize. If someone who wasn't him looked for his memories, they would have to search through all planets of the solar system, as they could be hidden anywhere, since it was his mind and logic did not apply there.

However, right now he was highly disturbed to see what appeared like a young woman poking his Earth curiously. Said woman had long, purple hair with grey streaks, despite the fact that she seemed to be at most in her mid-twenties. She was wearing the same uniform Yume and Karasuba did, and said uniform did little to hide the fact that as a woman, she made many jealous. Despite being only ten, Harry had Tom's memories, and could tell by comparing her figure with those of the beautiful women he had seen, he could tell that this was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen if it hadn't been for Karasuba. She had full hips, and a curvaceous body, which made him wonder if she was a Sekirei, as it seemed that the rule was that all adult Sekirei were far more beautiful than any human woman.

Before he could ask her who she was and what she was doing in his mind, she beat him to the punch as she beckoned him to come closer. Her face was neutral, not overly joyful and cheery like Musubi's had been, nor was it showing any hint of aggression. That didn't mean he wasn't wary, usually, people weren't just hopping around inside his mind, and the fact that she was there meant that one way or another, she had gotten inside his mindscape, but his defenses hadn't been triggered, he had made sure of it as soon as he had seen her.

So it was with caution that he approached the mysterious beauty, who was now looking around with an air of melancholy, as if she was seeing something that she had dearly missed, but hadn't seen in a long while. Now that he could see her a little more closely, he noticed that her uniform, while looking like the ones Karasuba and Yume wore, hadn't the bird symbol etched on it, he had seen Karasuba's uniform often and close enough that he knew where it was supposed to be.

For a while, he stared at her, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence, but after a few minutes, he grew tired of waiting, after all they were in HIS mind, and HE should be the one in control of the situation, not waiting for some strange woman to snap out of her daze!

"Harry Potter, or rather, as you like to be called, Harry Minaka." suddenly said the woman, who tore her gaze from the endless see of stars to look at him. Her gaze was ancient, that much was certain, it spoke of untold wisdom, that couldn't be acquired easily. She was looking at him with a calculative glint in her eyes, though it wasn't malevolent, he could at least tell that much.

"Yes, though I would like to know just who is talking to me, after all it could be considered rude to enter someone's mind and then strike up a conversation without giving their name." growled Harry, who didn't like to be called Potter, at all. Harry Potter was dead, and once he took up the mantle of the Houses he was heir of, he would definitively bury that name in the wizardry world.

The woman just smiled and sat down, not minding the fact that she was apparently sitting on air. With a growl, Harry did the same, it would be foolish to be forced to look down at the woman simply because he had too much pride to sit like her.

"As for my name, please call me Akemi." said the woman, smiling pleasantly. "And the reason why I am here, in your mind, which is rather impressively defended for someone as young as you, is complicated, but I will explain how it happened, though I would like you to tell me the last thing you remember."

Blinking, Harry thought about it. He had gone to Kamikura Island, using apparation, though like an idiot he had forgotten that his core wasn't stable enough to handle the strain and had left him drained and without magic. Next he had faced several of the intruders and taken them down, and then he had released Kaho and Musubi, and been shot. Then the three of them had ran...he had been lying down on a strange bed-table...and then he was pushed inside a tank with a mask coming over his nose and mouth.

"I got wounded, and then some kind of alien contraption just pushed me inside a tank. Oh joy, Takami's going to kill me. And if she doesn't Karasuba will." groaned Harry.

The woman just chuckled.

"Indeed, it seems that the little feather grew into quite the dangerous Sekirei. Though I am pleased that she can now protect herself, it is sad to see what she had become. Or rather, what she had become, after all, since her meeting with you, she has started to change, no matter how much she wants to deny it. For that alone, you have my eternal gratitude."

However, her smile was soon replaced with a serious expression.

"Harry, as you have probably guessed by now, I am not human. What you may not know, though, is that I am not a Sekirei either. In fact, I can hardly be even called alive in the usual sense of the word. As strange as it sounds, I am the AI of the ship that is under Kamikura. I am an Artificial Intelligence tailored for maximum efficiency in missions like the one the ship went on: missions where no return is possible."

Harry was staring open-mouthed at the woman, who seemed amused by his reaction.

"Yes, Harry, despite looking perfectly like a human or a Sekirei, I am, indeed, a machine. What you must understand is that the Sekirei's technology, which allowed them to make ships able to sail in space through distances still impossible to cover for human-made starships, was far more advanced than yours. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that even with the ship to study, humans still have a long way to go to reach the level of technology of the Sekirei."

Harry could believe her easily. Despite what people like to think, science still had a very long way to go to reach the level where humans would be able to create ships that reached other solar systems in less than a lifetime. After all, the closest solar system, let alone one with a planet that could harbor sentient life, was several light years from the sun. That meant it was necessary to reach speeds that were close to the speed of light, which was impossible with the technology level humans had currently. And even once such a level was reached, it took time for it to be safe enough that it could be used by more than a select few, or to transport more than a dozen people. The Sekirei ship had been carrying one hundred and eight lives, which meant that it had to be relatively safe, otherwise the leaders of their people wouldn't have entrusted the lives of more than a hundred of theirs to a ship that possessed no crew.

"Now, as for why I am here, in your mindscape, there are several reasons for this. The first one is that after being shot, your blood being detected by my low-level routines triggered programs that woke me up from my hibernation. You are clever enough to have guessed that Minaka doesn't know about me, since despite being a genius in his own right, even he had trouble understanding more than a few things about the technology held by the ship, though these things were years, if not decades ahead of what your science can currently do or prove. Since the crash, I stayed in a dormant state, like a human dreaming, if you can allow the analogy. Not even the ship being discovered awoke me, and Minaka didn't know how to use the ship, meaning he could only use the most basic of its functions. Now, your blood, as it was detected by the sensors in the table's material, triggered one of my sub-routines, the one dedicated to the care of the wounded. This led to more and more of my routines being activated, until one of them "awoke" me, if we could say that. You see, there was a slight problem that basic programs didn't know how to resolve, something that required that I, the AI, was booted again.

Harry, you had lost a lot of blood, and to prevent your death, the best way was to stop the bleeding, and to transfuse you some blood. Now, Sekirei and Humans are very similar, so much in fact that they can breed together and give birth to children despite not being of the same species. However, transfusions, especially one needing so much blood, would be rejected as the DNA is still different enough that it would cause some aftereffects. In your case, the slightest rejection would be enough to kill you, which was why I was awoken, as the basic programs were running in a loop, unable to decide whether they should transfuse you or not. In the end, I had to take the decision. My basic personality will not allow me to let a child die, which is why right now, your DNA is being slightly tweaked, enough that it will make you able to receive the blood without risking death. You will not become a Sekirei, as the alteration will change you to become more of a Pillar than a Feather."

"Pillar? Feather?" asked Harry, confused. After all, it was a lot to take in, talking to an alien Artificial Intelligence, being told that he may have died, that to avoid that his DNA was being tweaked...Not many people would have taken the news as well as the raven-haired wizard did, but for his defense, his life was so deeply rooted in rampant abnormality that being told such strange news didn't bother him too much. Besides, it wasn't as if he was like the bigots of the magical world, preaching about blood purity and stupid enough that they may very well refuse a transfusion that may have saved their life. He was a survivor, and if he had to have his body altered to stay alive, then so be it! Besides, it wasn't as if Sekirei were in any regard inferior to humans, in fact they seemed to be vastly superior in terms of physical aptitudes, appearance, and from what he had seen from Karasuba, they may also very well be more intelligent than humans, though how much was anyone's guess.

Seeing his confusion, Akemi elaborated:

"What Minaka may not have told you, Harry, is that out of the one hundred and eight Sekirei in the ship, only one was fully grown. She was the Pillar, the one tasked with making sure that the others aboard the ship wouldn't come to harm. She, unlike the Sekirei awoken later, couldn't be altered physically, like MBI did to the others. She was the strongest one among them, though surprisingly, Karasuba seems to be rather close to her own potential, despite having been altered. The other Sekirei, those that weren't grown, and were instead either fetuses or fertilized eggs, were called Feathers.

That means, Harry, that you will have to re-learn how to do things, as you will be stronger, faster, and overall better in all things physical, than humans. Normally, trying to alter a human to make them closer to a Sekirei would be suicide, the human body isn't made to be altered as such, but there are two things that makes it possible for you. First, and that is by far the most important, you are still growing, which means that your body is more adaptable than the one of a grown man, it is more malleable and as such, the changes will not strain it as much. The second is that you are a wizard, which means that while your magical core will change to adapt to your new condition, you won't need to "grow" one, like it would happen for a normal human. Such a thing is impossible and would kill the person."

Seeing that Harry seemed suspicious, she explained:

"Harry, you have to understand that to take my decision, I needed information, information that I gathered from several sources. The first one is MBI's databanks and files that are stored in systems linked to the ship, meaning I can access them. The second is the recordings of what happened in MBI's facilities over the world. And the last, and I apologize for that, was your own memory, Harry. I understand that to you it is an invasion of your privacy, and that I had no right to do so, but you have to understand, my duty, my reason of existence, is the protection of the Sekirei. You are a very unique human, Harry, more so than you realize."

"You went through my memories?!" growled the raven-haired boy, not happy at all about the invasion of his privacy.

"Harry, listen to me..."

"You're kidding, right?! You just barge in, tell me that you took a peek at my entire life, and you expect me to listen?! Are you out of your mind?!" screamed Harry, standing up and glaring at Akemi. "I don't give a fucking shit about you being an AI, but violating my privacy is NOT something I will forgive you for!"

"SILENCE!" screamed Akemi, her voice cold, and her eyes full of a determination that was strangely human-like. "Would you rather have me let you die?! I didn't look into your mind because of some kind of sick curiosity, I did it because I needed information on your character! I did it, because if I saved you, you would hold power almost equal to the strongest being on Earth! And I did it, because I need your help!"

That silenced Harry, who recognized the signs of a growing anger in Akemi, and out of the two females he was close to (Karasuba and Takami), he had learnt the hard way that angering a woman was never a good idea, especially when said woman could kick your ass easily. Akemi was an AI, and had managed to enter his mind, protected by defenses that would have stopped dead any kind of other intruder. So he wasn't exactly curious about what she could do if he angered her too much.

Blinking, he processed what she had just told him.

"Wait, you said you need my help?"

"Calmed down, have you? Yes, I need your help. As I said, my duty and the reason of my existence is to ensure the security of the Sekirei, their happiness, and that they aren't used like mere tools. Minaka has already been studying them, and from what I've gathered from MBI's databanks, they have done something irreparable to one of the Feathers, called Akitsu.

She was one of the first Sekireis to be awoken, and had since been used as a lab rat. I'll spare you the details, as what they have done exactly is better known only of the scientists and her, but the consequences of what they did are what is the worst. You know about the fact that each Sekirei has an Ashikabi, a "destined one", as Yume puts it? And that by kissing him or her, they will be linked and form a bond together, a bond that in the magical world would be the equivalent of a Soul-Bond? What they did seems to have destroyed her ability to wing herself."

This time, Harry was stumped. He knew that Sekirei would bond to their Ashikabis, but not to that level! Soul-bonds were the most sacred kind of bond in the magical world, a bond that was so rare it was rumored to be only a legend. In those bonds, the two people were supposed to be so linked that the death of one would cause the death of the other within a few days. It was sacro-saint in the magical world, held in extremely high regard. And MBI had just caused a Sekirei to lose her chance to form that bond?

"I see you understand how grave the matter is. However, there is still some hope for her. Since wizardkind knows about this type of bond, there is a chance that something that may help her is known of them, which is why I would like to ask you to help her. I know that you aren't exactly the most charitable soul around, but I have nobody else to turn to, and considering that I saved your life, I would consider part of your 'debt' repaid. Besides, you already know that you can have more than one Sekirei, even if Akitsu would be yours only in name, though if you can wing her I doubt she will complain. Poor girl only wants to be accepted and loved, much like yourself when you were younger.

However, that brings me to the second favor I want to ask you."

Harry was then treated with a sight he hadn't expected: Akemi was prostrating herself in a position he recognized as "dogeza", kneeling with her head touching the floor. It was something that belonged to Japanese customs when asking for a huge favor or showing extreme gratitude towards someone. A small part of his mind wondered where the AI could have learnt about it, since he doubted that the Sekirei's customs were the same as the humans, but considering that she had gone through his memories as well as MBI's databanks, it was obvious that she must have learnt a fair bit about Earth and its customs.

"Wha..."

"Harry, please, I need your help. You're the only one I can ask for this, please. I know that you probably don't want to do anything more than help Akitsu, but please, PLEASE listen to what I ask. The Sekirei need someone to help them. Despite their powers, they are vulnerable, lost. They have an entire world of people waiting to study, trap or use them as if they were tools. Since the bond can be forced, if Minaka ever goes through his Sekirei Plan as he calls it, odds are that many of the Sekirei will either die or be forced into a bond with someone that will treat them as tools, or even worse."

Harry knew very well what she meant. All Sekirei he had met so far were extremely good-looking females, and Karasuba had said that there had only been one, maybe two males in the first ten Sekirei. If all of them looked as good as those that he had met did, then he could easily see people wanting to bond with them to have their own slaves, willing to do whatever they wanted. Sure, he was ten, and wasn't supposed to learn about the reality of sex before a few years, but with Tom's memories and knowledge, he had learnt that many men and women liked sex, and that many would do horrible things to have the chance to bed beautiful females or males, depending on their preferences.

"Minaka plans to let the Sekirei out of MBI and let them find their Ashikabis with minimum interference, which means that even if someone starts to actually hunt the Sekirei to force them to bond with them, he won't bat an eye. What is worse, is that he intends to force them to fight afterwards, until only one of them is left. What he is planning is nothing more than a game for his own amusement, and the consequences of letting him go through that plan would be the extermination of almost all Sekirei. I cannot let him do so, however I am only an AI, with no means of acting in the real world outside of the ship. I need someone to help me save the Sekirei, to free them from MBI and protect them from the world that would wish to study them or use them as soldiers.

Harry, not only are you close to Karasuba, your heart is in the right place and you will not hesitate to do what is necessary to help them. There is also the fact that as a wizard, you have access to more resources than Minaka, resources that very well be what can save the Sekirei. From what I have seen, the race of people known as Veela share quite a few similarities with my little Feathers, and they may know something about bonds that could be useful. Not only that, but having someone with influence in the magical world would help tremendously.

Please, Harry, I beg of you, help the Sekirei, they need it. I can't offer much in exchange, save for information, but I'll do my best to help you if you accept."

Now, Harry may have been raised by Karasuba and be what most people would call a bastard, as in he wasn't exactly willing to help just anyone, but the Sekirei's situation reminded him of his own a few years ago. With nowhere to go, nobody to rely on, he had to live with people that hated and used him for their own ends, little more than a slave, one that the Dursleys' hadn't even bothered to treat right, though he suspected it wasn't entirely their fault. The point was, Hell would freeze over before he allowed what happened to him to happen to an entire race, one the woman he cherished the most in the world belonged to. Karasuba was everything to him, she had been the one to change him from a helpless child to someone who could stand his ground against almost anyone, the one to take care of him in her own, twisted way, the one to accept him, to want him. He also disliked the strong preying on the weak, simply because they could, and would deliver swift punishment to those that were bullies.

Besides, it would be an interesting challenge, one that was sure to keep him busy for a few years, and would need a good deal of research. Being powerful was all well and good, but it had to serve a purpose, otherwise there was little use to having power. He already had plans, but he could easily fit them in his agenda with helping the Sekirei. Besides, he had only met four of them, two of which were still children (despite being ten, his mind was that of an adult man, thus he considered himself an adult), he was quite curious to meet others, well, outside of Akitsu if he ever agreed to help her.

With a sigh, he looked at the prostrated AI. The fact that she had essentially saved him, and if he was right, gave him even more power, meant to him that he had a debt to her, even if she wasn't a "true" person.

"Very well. I can't promise anything, what with Karasuba being who she is, but I'll try my best, both to help Akitsu and the Sekirei."

He thought it was only fair to give Akemi a warning, after all, he wasn't exactly blind to how possessive Karasuba was of him, which meant that she would most likely not take very well for him to accept Akitsu as his Sekirei, even if he couldn't wing her, and she was far from as willing to help others as he was, despite how little it already was. Considering that, odds were that helping Akitsu wasn't going to be easy, since he was ready to bet that Karasuba would want to be his first Sekirei, and seeing how things were going, he expected it to be a few more years before she winged herself on him, which meant years that Akitsu would have to wait for his help.

He hadn't expected to be hugged by the AI, who was crying in relief. Strangely, his first thought was that she was acting a bit too human-like to be merely an AI, the second was that if she was to continue, she may suffocate him with her breasts.

Realizing this, Akemi pulled away with an embarrassed chuckle. The AI looked a bit sheepish, after all her reaction could be considered a bit childish by some people, not that Harry particularly cared.

"Uuuhh...Sorry, it's just that it's a bit overwhelming for me. I didn't expect you to accept so easily, to be honest." she said.

There was an awkward silence, as neither of the two knew what to say, before Harry suddenly asked:

"What can you tell me about the Sekirei?"

-Break-

Takami was looking at Harry, currently floating in his tank. It had been three days, yet his wounds, from what she could see, seemed to have already healed, though there was apparently more to the healing that she thought, because she had noticed a few things about Harry. First, he had grown a bit, not much but enough for her to notice it nonetheless, as she had been very thorough in keeping an eye on him, since she felt it was the least she could do. Then there was the fact that his long, raven hair, which so far had been of the purest black, was now beginning to turn a familiar shade of grey, as if attempting to copy Karasuba's mane.

She had an idea on how and why it was happening, but she found it hard to believe, after all tweaking somebody's DNA had never been done, well on humans at least, and especially not on someone out of the womb. From what human medicine knew, modifying DNA was only possible on fertilized eggs, as any change afterwards might alter the subtle balance of hormones that kept a living being alive. Yet here a ten-years old, a child whose hormones and body were changing and preparing to hit puberty, the moment when the greatest changes would happen in his body, was having his DNA altered.

She had to admit, knowing what was happening was a bit frightening, as it required knowledge and technology far beyond anything humans could hope to produce in the next century, but at the same time her scientific mind was intrigued on how Harry would cope with it. Would he be happy? Angry? Indifferent? And what would be the consequences on his changed body? How close to Sekirei would he get?

However, as soon as her mind began to come up with these questions, she felt shame and forced herself to focus. She was the one responsible for his state, Minaka may have asked but she hadn't opposed him. True, she was glad that both Musubi and Kaho were fine, though "fine" might be an exaggeration, seeing that Kaho had been asking about Harry everyday, which was understandable considering that he had been wounded in rescuing her. The poor girl was fraught with worry, and had spent almost all her free time visiting the boy who had saved her. Seeing how things were going, she was pretty sure that Kaho was going to end up with Harry, that is if Karasuba didn't kill her first. Well, it was a bit early to say that, since she hadn't reached puberty yet, so maybe she would react to someone else, but one thing was sure, she would probably always have a deep respect for Harry.

As for Musubi...Well, considering how well she was taking everything, she wasn't sure how she felt towards Harry. From what Takami had been able to gather from the girl's incessant squealing, she was showing signs of being a battle freak, however in her case, it was different from Karasuba. The Black Sekirei loved to fight and kill, while Musubi's fondness for battle was more along the lines of enjoying a strong opponent. Unlike Karasuba, she would have no trouble leaving her opponents alive if it meant that they could spar again. Of course, this was merely suppositions, as the girl was still too young to have a set personality, but she was seriously leaning that way.

With a sigh, she took out a cigarette and lit it. She had to concentrate on Harry for now. The poor boy was a living trouble magnet, and if her hair hadn't been white-grey already, it would have turned white after worrying so much about him. It was as if he was supposed to live a life marked with events that normal people would hardly even conceive happening, yet alone happen to them. Sure, he was a wizard, and his life was bound to be stranger than the average's person life, but still! So far, he was supposed to be some kind of British national Hero left to rot with abusive relatives, he had had a piece of the soul of a mass murderer and psychopath stuck in his head, he had inherited from families that were supposed to be extinct and hold tremendous political power in Britain, and now he was changing to become an existence nobody had ever seen before. She couldn't even begin to fathom how he managed to cope with all of it, even dealing with Minaka was easier than what happened to him!

Blowing a cloud of smoke, she reflected on just how she had come to consider Harry like a part of her family. True, his mother figure was Karasuba, if she had a role, it was more along the lines of the stern Aunt, though she doubted Harry saw her like that. Considering his biological Aunt was a true bitch that treated him like dirt, she doubted that Harry was able to identify the part she played in his education as such. She had been pleased to learn that he wanted to learn more mundane subjects than those taught in the Wizadry World, it showed that he had a functional brain, and was able to understand that being able to use magic was well and good, but that he needed at least some basic mundane education. She had been rather appalled to learn that there were very few magicals that ever bothered to pursue a "normal" education beyond basic schooling. The average wizard and witch didn't even know basic physics!

Sighing again, she looked at the ten years-old floating in his tank. Things were going to be hectic when he got out, that was for sure. She had no idea on how what happened would have affected him, physically or mentally. He could very well end up as strong as a Sekirei, though she had no idea if he would be closer to a normal one, or to the Single Numbers. Considering his tendency to end up in trouble, she was almost certain it was going to be the latter. He was already dangerous before, but now he was most likely going to end up on a whole other level, and Minaka had already expressed his interest in how human wizards might be able to replicate some of the Sekirei's abilities.

She decided right then and there that she had stalled long enough. She would introduce him to Minato and Yukari, hopefully that would be enough to break him away of what his life had been so far. In the three years he had been at MBI, the number of people he interacted with was more than restricted, and not once had he expressed any kind of interest in anything a child his age should be interested in.

-Break-

It had been a month since Harry had been shot in rescuing Kaho and Musubi, one month since he had been carried away by some weird mechanical bed-table device and put in a tank. The boy inside said tank now had little to do with the one he had been a month ago, that was for sure. His hair was now the same ashen grey than Karasuba's, and, though it was faint, there were changes in his body structure as well. Sekirei weren't stronger than most human for no reason, their muscles and bone, while constituted of the same elements, were vastly different in their organization. Their muscles were denser, meaning that even the weakest Sekirei could pack a very decent punch, and allowed them physical feats that no human should be able to replicate, even wizards. Their bones were also naturally stronger, allowing them to resist damage that would kill a normal human easily. Finally, their metabolism, while needing far more energy to function properly, was also far quicker to repair any potential damage made to it. A simple cut would be gone in a few hours, and the more powerful the Sekirei, the quicker the recovery rate.

It was currently around four in the morning, and the only light in the room came from the tank. There was no guard, as nobody save Minaka, Takami, or Karasuba could enter the ship. There was also the fact that since the incident, the security had been heavily reinforced, as MBI had no intention of ever allowing another attack like the one that happened a month ago. The room was dark, with only the orange-yellow glow coming from the tank illuminating it, creating shadows of various shapes on the walls.

All of a sudden, the eyes of Harry Potter, Savior of the Wizardry World and more recently, Future Ashikabi of the Black Sekirei, snapped open. The deep emerald eyes looked around, showing no discomfort despite the fact that they were opened underwater, before the liquid in which he was floating started to drain, small openings having opened in the floor of the tank.

In but a few minutes, the tank was empty, the various tubes connected to Harry's body having retracted, especially the ones that took care of his waste. His clothes were wet, yet it didn't seem to disturb him, as he took a careful step out of the tank, only to stumble and almost fall, though he did manage to stop himself with his arms.

With a low growl, he righted himself and stood up. He had been weak before, and he hated, no loathed the feeling. What's more, he was supposed to be physically stronger, yet here he was, stumbling like some kind of drunken idiot! Taking a few minutes to get used to his new body, he looked around, trying to see if someone was around. Considering how dark it was, he supposed that it was either night or that someone had switched off the ship's power.

His entire body felt sore, though he had no idea if it was for the fact that it had been altered, or because he hadn't moved for around a month. Despite what most would think, he had known how long he had been inside the tank, mainly because Akemi had "visited" him regularly, every single day, to teach him as much as she could about the Sekirei, their physiology, their technology, etc...He had also learnt, much to his anger, that Akemi hadn't been completely truthful with him at first. She could have transfused him with Sekirei blood with minimal risk, but since she needed someone to help her "Feathers", and that he was uniquely situated for that task, she had taken to provide him with the means to ensure their safety by turning him into a "Pillar".

As for what that meant, well he had been stumped to say the least. The Sekirei were not all identical in their genetic makeup, since MBI had altered the fetuses and fertilized eggs to lower their power, since having beings so powerful without the means to control them was "dangerous". The only one that hadn't been altered at all was the "Pillar", the only Sekirei out of the one hundred and eight that was fully grown when MBI found the ship. The single numbers were the fetuses, those that had only been moderately altered, and were still immensely powerful, while the other Sekirei had seen their power more severely restricted.

Seeing as he wouldn't be able to go anywhere anytime soon, as his body was far too sore and weak to move yet, he let himself slide on the ground, his back on the wall. Life was never easy on him, it seemed. While most would have jumped at the opportunity to get more power, he had been satisfied with what he would have had had he not been changed into a pillar. He would be lying in saying that he had liked the idea that he would forever be weaker than Karasuba, but it hadn't been that much of a deal to him. Now though, he was sure that his life was about to get even more complicated, between his status in the magical world, MBI and the Sekirei Plan, his promise to Akemi, and his new body.

Speaking of his new body...Looking at his reflect on the glass tank, he had apparently had a small growth spurt, meaning he was now in the higher end of the spectrum height-wise for a boy his age. His hair was now a familiar shade of ashen grey, though it had a few lavender streaks mixed in. His face, which had been slightly androgynous before, was now even more refined, meaning that he would probably be quite beautiful when he would grow up. He was not vain, but Tom's memories made it quite clear just how far someone cunning and charming enough could get. Considering how much he had to do, every little help was welcome, so he wasn't about to spit on this unforeseen side effect of becoming a pillar.

He had eventually forgiven Akemi, though before that he had been rather angry. No, scratch that, he had been downright pissed about her lying to him. It didn't really bother him to become a pillar, after all he had seen worse with the block on his magic and Tom's little soul piece stuck in his head, however that didn't mean he liked being lied to. He could have accepted that she had changed him because she didn't want to risk him failing in the little task he had agreed to, namely helping the Sekirei, but to have her lie to him had been hard to swallow. He didn't like being lied to, especially when the matter at hand directly concerned him. He could understand people wanting to keep things secret about themselves, but to lie to someone about something concerning them was not something he could accept, no matter what. Hell, even if it was to tell him he was going to die in the next five minutes, it was still better than inventing things to smooth things over.

Now feeling well enough to move, he tried getting up, and despite his body protesting, he still felt better and well enough to walk. As the door opened, he headed towards MBI's facility, without so much as a glance backwards, after all Akemi, being far beyond anything humans could create so far, could easily contact him by using human technology, though she had told him she would avoid doing so as much as possible when he was at MBI's headquarters, as she didn't want to risk Minaka knowing of her existence. She seemed to fear that he would do something to her, though he didn't know why, it wasn't as if he could do anything to her, since she was far too advanced to fear human technology in its current state. He had a feeling that she hadn't told him everything, but seeing as it didn't seem to concern him directly, he hadn't insisted on the topic.

His feet left small wet footprints on the floor as he slowly walked towards the exit of the ship. He was rather surprised that there was nobody to keep an eye on him, he had assumed that even if there was nobody in the infirmary, there would be a guard, someone to keep watch outside of the room. There was nobody, however, though he suspected that Minaka had placed some kind of device to warn the proper people of when he would wake up.

With a sigh, he decided that if nobody was coming for him, the best he could do was warn Takami and Karasuba, since both of them would kill him if he didn't tell them he was awake as soon as he could. Granted, Karasuba would probably smack him around under the pretense of making sure his skills hadn't gotten rusty after one month of not training, while Takami would probably hit him with her clipboard, but damn that thing, it hurt! And despite being a Muggle, the head geneticist of MBI could be as scary as Karasuba, only she could terrify someone with a mere clipboard!

He was so absorbed in his musings that he didn't notice the cameras that were filming him, not that he could have known that back at MBI's Tower, people were running left and right to inform Takami, Karasuba and Minaka of the fact he was awake. Nor could he have known that barely ten minutes after the first camera had caught his image, a transport was made ready for the two women, carrying them to Kamikura as fast as safety allowed.

-Break-

Harry was eating greedily, after all despite having been fed by the ship, his stomach lacked real, nutritious food. He had made a beeline towards the only place he knew he would find food in the facility: the cafeteria. He had found it a month ago during his "rescue mission", not that he had appreciated to at the time, he had only wanted to find the two girls, Kaho and Musubi. Right now, though, he was quite happy to have remembered where it was, as he ate a few of the leftover dishes. He didn't know if it was because he had been fed by tubes for a whole month or an effect of his new body, but he felt as if he could eat enough food to feed an entire army!

He was startled when the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open, and he just had time to turn around to see Karasuba bringing her sword down on him, before narrowly evading the hit with a yelp of surprise. With a roll, he avoided getting bisected yet again, and grabbed the first thing he could find, namely a chair, and swung it towards the blade. As he expected, the sword slashed through it, but was still diverted of its path enough that it didn't touch him. Grabbing another chair, he swung it and hit Karasuba, sending her flying into the wall, much to his shock. After all, during their most brutal spars, even his strongest hits barely made her move, yet here he had sent her flying, for Kami's sake!

A grinning Sekirei stood up from where she had been stuck inside the wall, and cracked her neck, though she seemed slightly surprised. He could understand, after all he had never, ever, seen her take as much as a scratch outside of their spars, and even then he knew she allowed him to hit her, after all, if she simply beat him into the ground each time they sparred, he wouldn't learn anything.

"Well, Harry-chan, looks like you pack a better punch than a month ago! I'm impressed!"

What she said, and the way she had said it, instantly put him on edge. He didn't know how or why, but he had a feeling that something had just drastically changed between his mother-figure/trainer/prospective Sekirei and him, and he wasn't sure about how he felt about it. The fact that she was eyeing him like a piece of meat hanging in front of a starved man didn't help either. Many lesser men would have fled in terror upon seeing her like this, as the only times she remotely bore a similar expression was when she was excited and about to have a good fight. A bloody one.

Too fast for him to react, she had ran forwards, her ashen grey mane framing her face, and knocked him down, straddling him. Had he been a little older, he might have gotten ideas, but as it turned out, he stared at Karasuba in confusion, since he had no idea of what had gotten into her. He noticed that her breathing was getting quicker and that her face was slightly flushed, while her usual half-lidded eyes were wide open, with raw emotion filling them. What that emotion was, he had no idea, but the closest thing he could think of was longing, and love, though he wasn't exactly sure about the love part, since he had never loved anyone in the romantic sense before. And he wasn't exactly sure that Karasuba could love. She could want something or someone, desire it, like it, but love? That was something he wasn't sure she could feel, after all since he had known her she had made quite clear that she thought of humans the same way they did about apes.

"Karasuba?" he asked, as she grabbed his head in her hands and crushed his lips with her own. He was so shocked that he didn't even try to resist when she shoved her tongue inside his mouth, caressing his own. Then, as fast as it had started, their lips separated, and the Sekirei gave an almost animal groan, her back arching as pitch-black wings of light appeared behind her, seemingly absorbing the light. They were like the wings of fairies, only, much, much larger, easily longer than a grown man was high, and even if beautiful, rather sinister-looking.

While Karasuba winging herself on him was unexpected, what happened next shocked both of them, as the same kind of wings appeared behind him, though his were not pitch-black, but a mix of colors, green, grey, black and lavender being the dominant ones. As it happened, Harry felt as if a part of him that had been missing since his birth had settled back into place, as if it had meant to always be here. He also felt something else, an incredible surge of power that he had not been expecting and that caused him to cry out in shock.

As quick as all of it had happened, the wings disappeared, leaving a floored Karasuba and Harry staring at each other in shock, which basically meant that Karasuba had her head tilted to the side and her eyes slightly more open than usually, while Harry wasn't hiding his shock nearly as well. His mouth was opened wide, and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. He had no idea of why this had happened, but there was an alien AI that was ssoooo going to hear of him as soon as he knew how to contact her!

Overcoming her shock, his newly winged Sekirei smiled, her mouth forming an even bigger grin than usual, which seemed less threatening for some reason, though he couldn't fathom why he would think that. Perhaps it was the fact that he now knew, without a doubt, that she would never, ever, harm him.

" The Sekirei number zero four, Karasuba, is now yours, Harry-chan. Let us watch the world burn amongst the corpses of our enemies, forever and ever."

Harry could only gape, before composing himself and summarizing his feelings with a chaplet of expletives that a child his age was certainly not supposed to know.

-Break-

While Harry was busy cursing with an amused Karasuba watching him and enjoying the afterglow of her winging, a well-endowed feminine silhouette was sitting in a dark room, surrounded by several screens displaying amounts of information that would make most hackers drool with envy, as it typed at a speed born from years of practice.

Said person stopped what she was doing when an alarm rang and the same window popped up on all the screens, causing her to read what could have caused such a massive reaction from her spying programs. Most of them were designed to alert her of certain events, but the number of those that made a window pop up on ALL her screens was drastically low, and none of these events were good news.

As she read the information, her face, illuminated by the blue light coming from the screens, paled significantly. Out of all the bad things that could happen, this one wasn't the worse, but it came close, very close. She had to warn the others!

Scrambling on her feet, she kicked the door simulating a wall that hid her room from those that did not know of its existence, and ran down the stairs of the old-fashioned Japanese house she had a room in, the house of one of her old friends. As she burst into the corridor next to her hidden room, the sudden light illuminated her, showing a beautiful figure with an ample bosom an fiery red hair, tied into two braids, one on each side of her head, while the rest of her hair was left to fall freely. She was wearing what looked like a white cheongsam, a Chinese dress with slits on the sides to allow more freedom of movement for her legs. Her face was covered by a pair of rather nerdy-looking, round glasses, giving her a rather bookish appearance.

"Miya-tan, Miya-tan! Bad news!" she shouted, as she practically jumped down the stairs, though she compromised by simply scrambling down with far less dignity that one would expect from a woman that could give mot supermodels complexes about their bodies.

She finally reached her target, the living room, where three people were sat, two women, and one rather androgynous-looking man. Said man had a very feminine face, and would actually be able to pretend he was a woman should he wear the appropriate attire. He looked in his early twenties, and surprisingly for someone so young, had entirely grey hair, that did not look dyed in the slightest. Of the two women, one was wearing a simple white top that hug her ample bosom tightly, and jeans that clung criminally tight to her legs. She had long, deep brown hair, and the face of someone who loved to cause mischief. The two of them immediately turned to look at the new arrival questioningly, though the last person simply took a sip of tea from the cup in front of her, before carefully putting it down on the table and turning to acknowledge the redhead that had just burst into the living room.

She was a woman that looked slightly older than the other people present, perhaps in her early thirties, though there was an air of power, of sovereign dignity in her posture that betrayed that she was more than a simple housewife. She too was beautiful, with long, lavender hair framing her perfect face, half-closed eyes that were gazing at the new arrival, with a small smile on her lips.

"Matsu? What are you doing?" asked the man, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent room.

Before the redhead could answer, though, the air seemed to thicken and darken behind the lavender-haired lady, who, despite keeping smiling, now seemed far more threatening than she had any right to be.

"Ara? Matsu, may I know the reason of this? I thought you were supposed to hide from MBI."

The words were spoken pleasantly, but there was an underlying threat to them that made everyone in the room sweat buckets, as three pairs of eyes were fixated in the pool of darkness that was forming behind the lady, while what sounded like a chorus of damned voices were howling in the background.

"Mi-mi-mi-ya-tan, Ma-ma-matsu has a good reason for this!" stuttered the redhead, who was now as pale as snow.

"I would hope so. I would think that causing such a ruckus deserved a rather good explanation."

Understanding that she might be scarred for life if she didn't answer in the next seconds, the newly identified Matsu blurted out:

"Karasuba-tan has gotten her Ashikabi!"

There was a pregnant pause, before both the silver-haired man and the brunette exclaimed, their faces paling rapidly:

"WHAT?!"

Their reaction was understandable, as both were acutely aware of just how dangerous and psychotic the Black Sekirei was, and to hear that someone who was, for a lack of a better term, a killing machine that despised the very existence of humans, had just been winged, was quite astounding.

"...It was an accident, right, Matsu?" finally asked, no, begged the man. The idea of Karasuba being winged willingly was scary, as she would undoubtedly react to someone just as, if not even more disturbed than her. Considering how many sick, mad and utterly evil people loomed in the world, they dreaded the thought of someone broken and mad enough to cause the most unpredictable and dangerous of the Sekirei to react.

However, a simple cough caused the three people to freeze, and slowly turn to look at the eldest of those present, who had not moved, not screamed, yet had reacted in her own way to the news. The darkness behind her, which until then had slowly begun to dissipate, had completely vanished, replaced with something that neither of the other people present could name, but which was enough to cause all of them to wish they were never born to witness it.

"Matsu?" said woman, Miya Asama, finally asked. Her tone was flat, but there was steel in it, an unspoken order that made the busty redhead stand straighter, and look at her former commanding officer.

"Matsu, would you be so kind to find everything you can about this person?"

"H-hai! At once, Miya-sama!" shouted Matsu, as she ran upstairs, already preparing to hack into MBI's databases.

As she left, the man turned to look at the lavenderette, his face grim.

"Miya, what's going to happen now? With her of all people being winged, there is no way MBI's going to leave us alone!"

For a moment, Miya was silent, before she spoke, her voice so cold you could almost see frost forming around her.

"If they decide to so much as set foot here, they will regret it. Yes, they will regret it dearly. And if Karasuba so much as tries to come within this part of the city, I will be sure to greet her accordingly."

With that, she slowly stood up and made her way to get the laundry. However, there was a new stiffness to her posture, something that hadn't been there before.

I just pray that Minaka does not follow through with his plans.

So, what do you think? Reviews are welcome!

I would also like to thank all those that took the time to review before, haven't done that before, but thanks a lot, it means a lot to me to read your reviews! And thanks to those that favorited and/or followed this story! This is all for you!