And here we are, the chapter I promised yesterday!

As a side note, I want to thank you all, dear readers, for favoriting, following, or even just reading this story. When I began writing this, I expected it to have moderate success, and last for about 100k, maybe 150k words, but Holy Crap was I wrong! If we are here today, it's all thanks to you, so you all have my heartfelt gratitude for it!

(Sorry, I don't know how to send cookies in attachment with PMs, otherwise each reader would have gotten a cookie)

I don't own Harry Potter or Sekirei

23

Noritos, wings and discoveries

Upon waking up, he was greeted with the rhythmic, mechanical beeping of a heart monitor, and the white ceiling of what he assumed was a hospital room. Running a mental check-up, he frowned as he realized that his body felt heavier than he remembered, but also that his reserves were very low, which was surprising as he did not remember using any particularly draining spells or techniques before using the Jinki.

Blinking sluggishly as he remembered what had happened, he tried to understand what could have gone wrong. As far as he was aware, everything had been alright, Karasuba had seemed to be mildly uncomfortable as the Jinki affected her body, but that much was to be expected, one did not have their genetic structure altered without suffering a little. Still, he had kept an eye on everything and nothing had been wrong with his Sekirei, not even when her Tama had begun to be unshackled. Then again, he faintly remembered seeing her eyes widen with shock as he had retched blood at first, which meant that it was most likely that something had gone wrong with him, not her. But he didn't remember what. The Jinki had been showing him information on Karasuba, not himself, meaning that he had absolutely no idea of what had gone wrong.

However, he was brought out of his musings as the door to his room banged open, and four frantic women surrounded his bed. Homura's hair was in disarray, making it clear that it had been a while since she had last combed it, and her clothes were ruffled, which made him wonder how long they had all been waiting for him to wake up. Her eyes were slightly red, and he blinked slowly as he realized that she had cried. While the two of them were close, Homura was still not as comfortable around him as her fellow Sekirei, mainly due to her own shyness and her sense of property. To know that she had cried for him was something he was surprisingly happy about, not that he enjoyed knowing she had suffered because of him.

Akitsu, for her part, was still looking as prim and proper as she usually was, though her relief was palpable through their link. The moment she had laid her eyes on him and had seen he was awake, pure unaltered elation had flooded the link. He was still reeling from said elation a bit, as while he had always been aware that the Ice Sekirei was devoted to him, he was unprepared to deal with her relief, in fact he was quite certain that for a moment his heart had stopped beating when he had felt her emotions. He could see her whole body relax simply by being in the same room as him, as she stood next to his bed.

Karasuba was looking like her usual self, with a manic grin of her face, but Harry could easily tell it was forced and fake, and he guessed that his other Sekirei could see it as well. While Akitsu had flooded the link with happy emotions, Karasuba was doing the exact opposite. He could almost taste her self-loathing, anger, and worry, as quite surprisingly the Black Sekirei seemed to be convinced that what had happened was her fault, though as far as he was aware, she was wrong. If he had ever doubted that she cared about him, well that concern disappeared right that moment. The dark bags she had had under her eyes when she had first met him were back with a vengeance, making her look exhausted, and she probably was quite tired. He knew her enough to know that she would never allow herself to mope around, so she had probably spent the time he had been unconscious venting her nerves on training.

Finally, Takami was already checking his condition, taking his pulse, temperature and making sure that he was out of danger. The scientist looked even more tired than usual, and the ruffles in her clothes made it clear that it had been a long time since she had last taken the time to change them. Though she seemed to be relieved when she finished, the way she glared at him made it clear that he was in for a very painful lecture, though he hoped that she would at least spare him the clipboard.

"So, you are finally awake." started the scientist.

Her tone was perfectly calm, and yet he felt a feeling of dread well up in him. He knew the white-haired woman far, far too well to believe that she was as calm as she sounded, and he dreaded to think of how angry she actually was. For him to end up as he currently was, after having completely disregarded her warnings and concerns, and trampled her pride as a scientist by implying that he knew more about the Jinki and Sekirei than her, meant that it was most likely that Takami was going to give him a lecture of epic proportions. And he was actually quite afraid of what said lecture would imply. He was well aware of how terrifying she could be, as he had witnessed her beat Minaka within an inch of his life more than once, and while he was fairly confident that he could protect himself, or that, at least, his Sekirei would protect him in his current, diminished state, he did not want to be hit with the Clipboard of Doom.

However, it seemed as though it was not be, as Karasuba glared at Takami.

"Fuck off, Takami." she growled, and he could feel the power seeping through her every pore, permeating the entire room. It felt, dark, evil, and promised untold amounts of pain, but neither Harry nor his Sekirei were shaken in the slightest, as they had long since gotten used to the "feel" of Karasuba's power, although he was quite surprised by how much magic she was emitting despite the fact that she was still in her normal, everyday, mode. "It's been a week, and I-we have a lot of catching up to do with our Ashikabi. You'll do whatever you want to later, but for now piss off."

He blinked at her declaration. Karasuba had always been very selfish and possessive, tolerating the other two Sekirei but not hiding that she was the leader among them. She had never shown any form of concern for either Akitsu or Homura's wishes, only for her own, and yet here she was putting them in the same bag as herself, a first. He wasn't the only one who seemed shocked, though Homura seemed to be torn between gaping at her and staring at him in concern, while Akitsu hadn't bothered to break her stare as her eyes bore into him.

He could see Takami getting ready to argue, but the sound of a blade slowly being drawn and the intensification of Karasuba's suffocating aura made it clear that the Sekirei wouldn't hesitate to kill the scientist if she didn't comply to her demands. Both formidable women glared at each other for a moment, and Harry was willing to swear that he could see actual sparks. But then the scientist huffed, and stomped to the door, where she paused, turning to look at him.

"For what it's worth, I'm happy you're going to be alright, Harry. I'll see you later. And Karasuba, he isn't in any state to do what you're probably planning."

Then she was gone, and all three of his Sekirei relaxed slightly, even Homura, as the tension lessened and Karasuba's oppressive power vanished. Unsurprisingly, the following silence didn't last long, as Homura grabbed his hand, gripping it so hard he was afraid that she might actually manage to break some of his fingers.

"Harry, how do you feel? Are you alright? Do you feel any pain? Anything wrong?" she fired off, in rapid succession, her worry clear.

"No, I don't feel anything wrong. I'm just dead tired and for some reason my core is very low on energy, but I have no idea why, and at the moment I'm too tired to think of theories." he answered, smiling at the relief on his Sekirei's face, before he added, looking at Karasuba: "Did everything work?"

The smile he got as an answer was one he was sure would have made grown men wet themselves in fear, but for him it was a sign that his first Sekirei was very satisfied with the results of his use of the Jinki.

"Oh yes." she grinned, before pouting. "I'd love to show you, but Takami said that if I used my full power here I'd fry every machine monitoring your condition. As tempting as pissing her off is, I'd rather not risk endangering your life again."

He almost coughed at that, staring at her in disbelief, a reaction mimicked by Homura as she gaped at the Black Sekirei. This was the closest thing to a declaration of love that the grey-haired alien had ever said, and it made it clear just how worried for him she had been, as well as how she felt. He was very aware that she would most likely never say anything like "I love you", but from her part, this was as close to the three magical words that it got.

"Thanks for the concern then." he finally said, feeling his cheeks get uncomfortably warm. He was way too tired to bother reigning in his emotions at the moment, and so his blush was not suppressed as it would have been usually. "Are you three all right?"

"Ah...We were worried, Harry-sama." came the monotone answer from Akitsu, though she was frowning ever so slightly, which meant that she had likely been beside herself with worry for the entire time of his coma. And if he knew her well, and he liked to think he did, it was likely that the moment he was discharged she would be dragging him to the closest room to have sex, if only to make sure that he was still alive and there. He was almost certain that Karasuba would be joining in.

"Worried?" snorted Homura, shaking her head. "We have no idea of what happened! One moment you're fine, the next you're on the ground puking blood! If you weren't in bed and still recovering from whatever the Hell happened, I'd already have slapped you, you insensitive bastard!"

Taken aback by how emotional Homura was, Harry had to reevaluate just how much he had worried his Sekirei. He was not exactly unused to life-threatening situations, but the times he had suffered any form of damage had been times where he had still been conscious and had known what to do to stop the effects of whatever spell had affected him at the time. As such, his Sekirei were unused to completely lack information on what was happening to him. Add to that the fact that they had probably sensed his pain through their bond, and you had three extremely worried Sekirei.

"I'm sorry, Homura." he said, softly. While he had never been one for apologizing, he was willing to forget his pride for the sake of the women he had come to care for. They had been there for him when he had needed them the most, and he knew that he could trust them with his life and soul. They would all rather die that allow harm to come to him, something he greatly valued and was more than willing to return. The three of them were his family now, and he had every intention of never following the abysmal examples he had gotten from the Potters and the Dursleys. "I never expected something like this to happen. You know me, I checked everything three times, so I really don't understand what went wrong."

"Who cares?" asked Karasuba, before adding, due to the angry stares she got from the other two women: "He can wonder what the fuck happened later. For the moment, he needs his rest to get better. I've got an itch that he's the only one allowed to scratch, and it's the same for Akitsu, so hurry the fuck up and get better!"

"Ah...Yes. Get better, Harry-sama." nodded Akitsu, some pink coloring her cheeks.

"I'll try." he chuckled, "After all, the sooner I recover, the sooner I get to see my three, beautiful Sekirei using their Noritos at will."

Karasuba grinned, Akitsu smiled softly, and Homura sighed.

-Break-

Harry grunted as he finished his morning workout. He was bare-chested, clad in only his boxers with his skin covered in sweat after exercising rigorously, and he was using the physically exhausting workout to see if his body had recovered from his ordeal with the Jinki. From what Takami had told him, the incident had caused some rather serious internal damage, though nothing irreversible, and with magic speeding up his healing as soon as his reserves had refilled, he was up and running in a week after the incident, much to the white-haired scientist's ire.

The woman had given him an earful as soon as his Sekirei had left, ranting about how careless he had been, how worried she had been, and about how stupid he was to have attempted to use the Jinki without proper supervision. Thankfully, he had been spared the Clipboard of Doom, but he was in no rush to repeat the experience anytime soon. For a woman without the ability to wield some otherworldly power, Takami could be very intimidating. Of course, he wasn't really intimidated, more annoyed to have to sit through a three hours rant without the possibility to simply tell the woman to shut up.

He hadn't spent the week being idle either, as he had called Akemi to ask her what could have happened, since everything he knew about the Jinki came from her. It was unlikely that she had hidden anything from him, but he was not willing to gamble his or his Sekirei's health on it. What the AI had found had been...troubling, to say the least.

Tinkering with his DNA to make him a Pillar had been Akemi's way to ensure that there was someone to protect the Sekirei, and he had never really bothered to ask her what it entailed outside of his body becoming closer to a Sekirei's. And therein laid the problem. His body was like a Sekirei's, which meant that he had an Ashikabi, in the form of Karasuba no less, since she had winged herself on him, and had unknowingly winged him. This had confused Harry, even if the explanation did make sense: after all, it was only when Karasuba kissed him that his wings appeared, but the problem was that if she was indeed his Ashikabi, he should have felt compelled to listen to her due to the bond, which was not exactly the case. Akemi had then proceeded to explain that for all intents and purposes, since both Karasuba and him were winged to the other, it was likely that the bond was "equal", with neither of the two having dominance over the other, like he did with Akitsu and Homura. Of course, both of his other two Sekirei could choose to disregard his orders, but it would be very hard for them, and would depend whether he was actively trying to oppose them or not. if he did try to oppose them, then disobeying him would be very hard for them, while it would be relatively easy if he let them do as they wanted, as he had done so far.

He had already known that there was an exchange of power from the Ashikabi to their Sekirei, as he had observed that his Sekirei recovered faster whenever they were tired if the bond was open. And this was the reason why he had started vomiting blood after unshackling Karasuba: while her power had skyrocketed, it meant the amount of magic flowing through the bond had decupled, straining his core badly, as it was used to the amount previously set when the Black Sekirei had been first winged, and not the flood it had had to deal with. As such, it had overflowed for a moment, damaging Harry's body, burning it from the inside out. Fortunately for him, his magic had reacted and had flooded his body with his own magic to protect it and limit the damage, allowing the power flowing into him to settle in his core more easily.

This was rather good news, as far as he was concerned, since it meant that another such incident wouldn't happen again, as neither Akitsu nor Homura had the same kind of bond with him. He had been worried for a moment that he would have had to abandon the idea of undoing the adjustments done to them, something that he was loath to do as he wanted them to be able to use their full power at will. He himself knew how it felt to be unable to access their power fully, as the time he had spent at the Dursleys had been something he had carefully re-examined with his advanced Occlumency. The block on his magic, that Dumbledore had placed on him, had prevented him from accessing a good part of his magic, which in turn had preventing him from being able to defend himself when he should have been able to. And while his Sekirei were far from being as helpless as he had been, he wanted them to have all the aces they could have.

Now that the matter was resolved though, he was curious to see what Karasuba's Norito was. She had straight out told him that it was completely different from what she could have done with MBI's adjustments, and had even hinted at some form of limited body change. He had of course anticipated as such, any powerful wizard or witch using their full power tended to look slightly different than they did usually, but he was curious about how far it would go for Karasuba, as the Black Sekirei was far more powerful than even Dumbledore. This meant that it was likely that the manifestation of her full power would change her a lot more.

In the end, there was still little he could do but wait. It was rather ironic that he had been bored almost to tears during his stay at MBI's hospital after he had discovered the cause of his current state, but that now that he was going to be freed, that he would be extremely busy. He was aware that now that Akitsu and Homura's doubts about using the Jinki were put to rest, both would likely ask him to do for them what he had done for Karasuba. After this, they would have to train in using their full power, most likely on Kamikura Island, as a single mishap would have dramatic consequences if they trained in Japan. And, of course, as a small part of his brain reminded him, he would also be busy having sex with Karasuba and Akitsu, as the Black Sekirei wasn't one to go without her "stress-reliever" for very long, and her younger sister would want to make sure that he was really fine. Not that he complained of course.

-Break-

It was a rather nice day, Harry mused, as he stood on the desert rock that was Kamikura Island. True to his predictions, the moment he had been declared fit to leave the hospital by a rather reluctant Takami, he had been dragged back to his house by Karasuba and Akitsu, with Homura following them rather reluctantly, the Flame Sekirei perfectly aware of what would happen as soon as they set foot inside the house. And as he had guessed, he had barely stepped inside the wards of the property that Karasuba was already bringing down her sword on him. He had barely managed to avoid her strike, as it had been far faster than what he had come to expect from her, and had drawn his own blade, just in time to avoid having his left arm sliced off.

Neither Homura nor Akitsu had intervened, as both knew better than to interrupt a spar when Karasuba was involved, and also rightfully wary of their comrade, as unlike them she could now use her full potential and would not hesitate to use it should they interrupt her. That, and they knew very well why the Black Sekirei was acting so, as Homura left to read in her room, while Akitsu had opted to stay and stare at the sparring pair.

Eventually, a heavily breathing and slightly cut up Harry had been dragged to the bathroom by the Black Sekirei, Akitsu following them. The sex had been, as he had come to expect of his first Sekirei, extremely rough, with each groping and struggling with the other in a dominance play, and their session together had ended with a grinning Karasuba riding him as she held him down, her hair disheveled and her face flushed. The moment they had finished, she had left him to take a bath while Akitsu had proceeded to have her own turn with him.

Now, the day after that, a well-rested and relaxed Harry had come to Kamikura Island to finally see Karasuba at her best, with both Homura and Akitsu in tow. The manic grin that their sister was sporting made it quite clear just how eager she was to "stretch" and show off in front of her Ashikabi. Her not-so subtle references to a rematch with Miya Asama were also a dead giveaway of just why she wanted to show off. She was aware that Harry didn't like Miya much either, and probably hoped that he would allow her to taunt her former comrade-in-arms, which would inevitably lead to a fight between the two forces of nature. The fact that said fight would take place in the middle of a heavily populated area only made it better for her, as while he didn't like humans but was happy to leave them to their own devices so long as they didn't piss him off, Karasuba was still very keen on the idea of culling the human population, though she wasn't as adamant about it as she had once been. Fortunately, for the moment Harry wasn't too keen on getting into a fight with the purple-haired woman, as he was still going to need time to help his other Sekirei adapt to their Noritos being available anytime they needed it.

"Ready, Harry-chan?" came Karasuba's voice, the Sekirei standing a dozen feet away, looking like a child on a sugar rush as she almost hopped in anticipation.

Shoving his thoughts back in a corner of his psyche, he focused on his Sekirei, grinning as he gave a wave signifying his permission to go on. Immediately, magic drowned the area, and Harry made a mental note to teach his Sekirei how to avoid wasting so much of her power. As he expected, Karasuba's wings burst from her back, the black, fairy-like wings stretching, reaching a span of about five meters, three more than what he had been accustomed to. There was also the fact that where once had been two "pairs" of wings, a big pair sprouting from her shoulders, and a small one under the first, there were now three pairs of wings, all of the same size. Furthermore, Karasuba's eyes were glowing with pure power, and he could see a faint aura of power cloaking her body.

If this was how the primitive Earth civilizations had first seen the Sekirei, it was no wonder they had thought that they were divine beings. The sight of a fully-powered "wagtail" was magnificent, and awe-inspiring, making those witnessing it instinctually realize that the being in front of them didn't belong to the same plane of existence as they did, that it could crush them with little trouble.

"So, Harry-chan, what do you think?" grinned Karasuba, gesturing to her changed appearance. "Impressive, right?"

"That it is." he nodded, as his Sekirei preened under his compliment.

"Why thank you." she smiled, showing her teeth in a way that would have undoubtedly traumatized ordinary people. "Want to see what I can do now?"

His grin was one that made it clear just how eager he was to see her unleash the might of her new, fully-powered form, and he could feel through their bond just how pleased she was to see him react so well to her new form. It was the first time he had ever felt such contentment coming from the battle-happy Sekirei, and truth be told, he was surprised by how...pure the emotion was. Karasuba did feel positive emotions, however most of the time they were related to things which were hardly legal, like murder or brutal maiming. Even when she felt joy it was often "tainted" with sadism and a touch of evil, yet at the moment she was just...happy to be alive.

His grin widened as Karasuba began to float, her body slowly leaving the ground until she was several feet in the air, still grinning and her wings slowly moving. It was clear that unlike with birds and insects, it wasn't the movement of her wings that allowed her to fly, although he wasn't sure of exactly how it worked.

"She can fly?!" choked Homura, as while he had been aware that Sekirei were able to do so, he hadn't disclosed the information to them yet.

"Neat, isn't it?" said the Black Sekirei, licking her lips as she did a single loop in the air, her eyes never leaving Harry, who got a few images through the bonds that made him a bit warm under the collar. It really drove the point home of just how much she had appreciated what he had done for her to even suggest some of those things, as a few images involved himself, and two very naked Sekirei doing things that would have caused anyone else no end of embarrassment at the mere sight of the action. Apparently either Karasuba was getting better with the idea of sharing, or she was in such a good mood that she for once didn't care about it.

"Hey, Harry-chan, watch this!"

He watched as she drew her nodachi, wind picking up and wrapping around it, until she swung the blade in a wide arc, sending a gigantic shockwave towards the sea, slicing it in two until it was possible to see the bottom, the "cut" extending well over three miles in length. Looking in the cut, he could see that the strike had not only parted the sea, but had even made a deep gash in the seafloor. It was no wonder why Takami had been scared that he even suggest allowing the Black Sekirei to use her full power if the result was this impressive. Karasuba now had the power to quite literally reshape entire landscapes with naught but a swing of her sword, to cut mountains down whenever she so desired.

He was vaguely aware of the fact that his two other Sekirei were standing completely still as well, Homura openly gawking, her disbelief trickling through the bond as she tried to voice her shock but only managed to stutter, while Akitsu had merely widened her eyes, although her astonishment was quite easy to sense as well. He couldn't blame them though, after all even he had to admit that he was surprised by how powerful Karasuba had become with her Norito. The fact that she had only had been able to use her full power at will for less than a month made it quite clear that she would eventually create even more powerful techniques than what she had just shown them, if she hadn't already done so.

Karasuba, unlike most other Single Numbers, wasn't an elemental Sekirei, and as such, tended to lack the potential for wide-scale destruction that both of her younger "sisters" shared, but since Harry had shown them what he could do by manipulating magic, the Black Sekirei had found ways to circumvent that "problem", as while she would never be able to reach the natural ease with which both the Fire and the Ice Sekirei manipulated their respective powers, that didn't mean that she couldn't use the energy of her Tama as well. It was just that she had to find a way to fuse the use of her energy with her sword skills, not an easy thing by any rights, but Karasuba was very persistent when she had a goal in mind.

"Nice, right?" said the ashen-haired woman as she flew next to him, the proximity allowing him to see that she was flushed, the thrill of her own power having greatly excited her. "I can't wait to see Miya!" she chuckled, her voice dripping with barely concealed anticipation.

Sighing, he proceeded to convince his sadistic, kill-happy Sekirei to not get into a fight that would most likely end up leveling Tokyo and attracting the attention of just about every country, spy agency, and shady organization in the world.

-Break-

"This is so weird..." muttered Homura, the Fire Sekirei floating several feet in the air as her three pairs of wings lazily moved back and forth.

As it had turned out, it seemed that the three pairs of wings was something that happened to each of his Sekirei once he unlocked their true potential, which had led him to form several theories about why that was. For now, he was torn between assuming that all Sekirei had three pairs of wings in their natural, non-adjusted state, or that it was something that had to do with all three of his Sekirei being Single Numbers. Both theories were plausible, as they both accounted for the fact that MBI's adjustments had somehow sealed off one of their pairs of wings, but since all three of his Sekirei were Single Numbers, he would not be able to confirm either theory just yet, as he would need to either ask Akemi about it, or wait until the other Sekirei were old enough to be released.

The feeling of cold hands coming from behind him and circling his neck told him that Akitsu was enjoying herself, as he felt her gently bring him in a loving embrace, his head resting on her breasts since she was floating a foot or so in the air. Her fingers gently trailed his ashen locks of hair as he basked in the comforting and cool embrace of his most devoted Sekirei. Their link was radiating happiness and love, as Akitsu was now complete, a Sekirei like any other with no indication that she had ever been a Scrapped Number.

"Thank you, Harry-sama." she softly whispered in his ear.

He didn't bother answering, knowing full well that their bond made words unnecessary. It was sometimes strange to have to speak at all, as he could communicate with each of his Sekirei without a need for words. However, that did not remove the need of speaking when it came to communicating with people outside of his little family, and as such he made sure to speak aloud with his Sekirei whenever he could, so as to not forget how to speak or grow unused to the feeling.

As he was held in his Sekirei's embrace, he looked at the Jinki he held in his hands. He had now effectively broken his Sekirei's shackles, allowing them full access to their full power, but what of him? Akemi had made him a Pillar, and had admitted that he had yet to awaken his full potential, mainly because she had wanted to give him time to adjust to his new abilities, or so she had said. He was beginning to be somewhat wary of the AI, as while she had done much for him and his Sekirei, she was his only source of information on the alien race, and so he had no choice but to trust her. However, he had the feeling that she was keeping a lot of information to herself, and that irked him. She wanted him to protect the Sekirei, fine, but he needed to know quite a few things that had been bothering him for a while.

Why had the Sekirei come to Earth, for instance? The ship was millennia old, and yet the technology it held was more advanced than anything humans had come up with yet. Even with the ship's technology to study, it would be several decades at best before mankind began to even scratch what said technology could do. If it was a matter of genetic diversity, as he had first believed, then why not send just a few ships, grab the few people who held the potential to be Ashikabis, and bring them back to their home planet? Or even establish a civilization on Earth to exchange with their home planet? At the time they had arrived, mankind was barely out of the caveman stage, and the first civilizations had only begun their existence. Surely helping one of these budding civilizations would have made it easier for the Sekirei to gather potential candidates for Ashikabi? They would easily have been able to unite the entire planet under the banner of a single civilization, one that would no doubt seen them as divine beings and worshipped them. It made no sense.

He had considered the possibility that they would be fleeing a threat, but it didn't make sense either. If they had indeed fled, then the ship would have held a crew, as he sincerely doubted that the Sekirei civilization would leave one hundred and eight of their numbers as fertilized eggs and fetuses unchecked, especially if the threat was dire enough to force them to flee their home world. Besides, there had been seven other ships with this one, so either none of the ships had an adult crew, which he highly doubted, as otherwise it was highly unlikely the primitive populations of Earth would have understood how to release the Sekirei, or the ship found by MBI was special in some aspect, though again if such was the case, then it should have had a crew onboard.

There was a possibility he had considered that could have explained things, mainly why Akemi wanted so badly to protect the Sekirei, or at least the one hundred and eight left, as well as why the ship had been without a crew. A plague. If the Sekirei race had suffered from a plague that killed off most of them, then a lot of things became clearer. They had come to Earth because remaining on their planet would guarantee their extinction and doom their race, especially if whatever virus that had infected most of them could be transmitted from parent to child. Since there was a very low ratio of males in their species, if all male Sekirei were infected, then their race was toast, even with their ability to have females shift to males. The ship didn't have a crew because either there weren't enough Sekirei left or because they didn't want to risk having a possible sane host slipping through the cracks.

Yes, he believed he was either spot on, or close enough to the truth that it didn't matter. All that was left was to confirm with Akemi. But first, he was going to use the Jinki on himself.

-Break-

"Wooooohooooooo!" cackled a grinning Harry, while Homura was busy screaming her lungs off, telling him to stop and be careful, as he performed acrobatic feats that should have seen him splattered on the ground in a bloody mess.

As he had expected, using the Jinki on himself had been slightly trickier than using it on his Sekirei, as the pain from the process made it rather hard for him to concentrate on what needed to be done. Still, he had managed to unlock his full power, and had wasted no time in trying to fly. While Homura, Akitsu, and even Karasuba were still beginners, their most acrobatic feat being a loop in the air, he had taken to flying like a fish in the water, or rather a bird in the air, as a mere hour after his first try, he was already swerving and diving as if he had been doing so all his life.

"HARRY! STOP THIS RIGHT-WATCH OUT! NO, WAIT, YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST! SLOW DOWN!" shouted Homura, as he made a passage at breakneck speeds a few inches above the ground.

The poor Fire Sekirei was hiding her head in her hands, peaking through her fingers from time to time, and flinched whenever there was a loud sound, as if expecting to hear him suddenly splatter on the ground after misjudging distances. He could feel her terror through their bond, but at the moment he was just too busy enjoying the sensation of flying to care. It was as if all his worries had taken a backseat in his mind, and all that was left was for him to enjoy himself. It just felt natural to him to fly like this.

Wanting to try something, he shot up at extreme speeds, dimly aware of Homura screaming at him. Soon, her voice was inaudible, and he broke through clouds before stopping. While he was curious about how high he could go, he already had some trouble breathing, and while he was confident that he could go higher, he wasn't sure that he would have enough oxygen in the air to retain a clear mind.

Deciding to scare Homura a little, he let himself plummet freely, picking up speed. Soon, the wind was whistling in his ears and he watched as Kamikura Island got bigger by the second. When he was only a few dozen meters above the ocean surface, he slowed his fall, stopping completely only a few feet above the water surface.

In a fit of inspiration, he steadied himself and tried to fly as fast as he could in a straight line. What he had not expected was the sonic boom of displaced air as he found himself flying at supersonic speeds, spraying water everywhere until he tried to stop himself, abruptly stopping, the sudden loss of momentum sending him flying into the sea in a heap of tangled limbs. He hissed as he made contact with the water, feeling as if he had hit a stone wall, though fortunately his body was reinforced enough that instead of dying on the spot, he only felt a few of his ribs break.

Note to myself: be more careful when learning how to fly...

-Break-

"...-and I can't BELIEVE you'd be so stupid as to use the Jinki AGAIN, RIGHT AFTER being discharged from the hospital! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" finished a frantic Takami as he rested in a hospital bed, again, Karasuba grinning wildly, Akitsu smiling slightly, and Homura looking exasperated as the three Sekirei surrounded his bed.

"For the umpteenth time, Takami, I didn't risk anything! I knew why I'd ended in the hospital, and I knew it wouldn't happen again. It's not like I'm a child anymore, I can take care of myself!" he sighed.

True, he did somewhat enjoy knowing that Takami worried about him, as the woman was, bar his Sekirei, the closest thing he had to a family, as Minaka, while technically being his father, wasn't exactly a model of good parenting. In fact, Harry barely saw him more than once or twice every six months, and even then it was rare for them to exchange more than a few words, since they each had their own businesses to attend to. However, while he enjoyed Takami's protectiveness, there were times where he felt she was simply being overdramatic. He had ended in the hospital again, so what? He had made a mistake while flying, it happened. Human children fell when they played, sometimes breaking their arms, it was the same for him. It was just that when he made mistakes he tended to end with more broken bones. Besides, he only had three broken ribs, it wasn't the end of the world! His healing was already kicking in, so he would be fine in a few days!

"That's debatable." dryly snorted the white-haired scientist, looking at him with exasperation written all over her face. "So far, you've spent more time this month in a hospital bed than outside. And from what Homura has told me, you were already taking a lot of risks with pulling the figures you did while flying."

Sighing, Takami sat on one of the chairs in the room, looking at the grey-haired teen intently.

"Now, Harry, can you tell me why you're so intent on increasing your Sekirei's powers? From what you've told me, there's nobody strong enough to fight you on an even ground, save maybe for Miya, and she wouldn't fight unless she's forced to. I know you, Harry, or at least I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't act so desperate when you have all the time you need."

He groaned, while his Sekirei looked at him questioningly. Their link made it hard for him to hide things from them. Hard, but not impossible, and it was obvious that they wanted to know why he was taking such risks when he would usually study every parameter before acting.

"I don't know, alright? It's just... I've been having a very bad feeling lately, like something is going to go very, very wrong somewhere, and I just want to be prepared. I don't want to lose them, not when they are all I have as family."

The room was silent for a moment as the women present digested the news, his Sekirei looking at Harry with different emotions shown on their faces. Amusement was prominent on Karasuba's face, although there was a warmth in her eyes that was rarely seen there, Akitsu was slightly pink and smiling slightly, more than likely happy for his concern, and Homura looked both exasperated and uncomfortable.

"Is it the wizards?" asked Takami, frowning. "From what you've told me of those people, they do not seem the kind to let someone they idolize as much as you simply disappear."

Harry shrugged. Truth be told, while there had been a few things he had heard from his proxies in the Wizenmagot about forcefully dragging him back to Britain, none of them seemed realistic enough, and at the moment the Brits were busier planning for their Triwizard Tournament than they were trying to get him back.

"Don't know. For the moment they're planning for a tournament involving three of the European schools, so they are too busy to think about little ol' me, but it is a possibility."

The scientist's eyes narrowed. He knew the woman well enough to know that she did not like the idea of a society thinking that they had the right to decide how a teenager should live his life, not when said society had basically abandoned him and had trusted the word of a single man for years when it came to his happiness and safety.

"If they try to come to MBI to drag you off, we'll see how well they like being shot at." she growled, before standing up and moving to leave. "Now rest, and for the love of Kami, don't do anything as stupidly reckless again. I have a busy enough schedule these days without having to pop up each time you almost kill yourself."

The look she gave him told him that she knew very well he would be flying again and trying acrobatic feats that most would call insane as soon as he could.