A/N:

Phen0m20:

Hello again, my faithful readers! It's been nine long months since I last updated this story, but I promise you all the wait will be worth it. I'd like to thank my editor/co-author "mordreek" for his aid, as once again, he has turned out a fantastic piece of work. This installment when I originally wrote it was around 3,000 words long, and thanks to his gift, he was able to pump it up to well over 10,000 and counting! I say counting because this will be yet another two-parter! Huzzah!

I'd also like to note that this is the first fanfic update I've done since adopting my pet rabbit Theo, so I'm dedicating this installment to him. :)

Also, I know I promised to commission artwork for the yuri scene in chapter 7 shortly after I released it. I'd like to apologize for the delay. Hopefully I can have that done by March or so. Money has been tight, and with Christmas coming along, my wallet has more or less been starving for dollars. lol

Enjoy!

mordreek:

"You got the hot last chapter, and now it's time for the heavy. As an offering for my long absence, I have two words, MUUUUUUDD FIIIIIIIGHT! Enjoy."

Equilibrium: Part I

"I-I am-" Minato's mind was rapidly approaching the "meltdown" stage, fear of Miya and Tsukiumi combined with the sheer potency of the pheromones and hormones saturating the room and driving the poor boy into incoherency.

He swallowed heavily and blanched slightly at the smell of alcohol coming off the nameless beauty in front of him. He had no trouble keeping eye contact (if only because looking elsewhere would snowball into disaster) but soon found himself drowning in her lilac eyes, squinted with hangover as they were.

'I have to get out of here, NOW!' Minato thought to himself, scenarios of impending doom flashing through his hectic brain.

Minato's attempt at turning away from the wind mistress was quickly halted by the light tap of her fingers pulling at the base of his chin. Minato's skin flushed at the gentle, if unyielding contact and his breath grew several degrees heavier.

Transparent glimpses of Kazehana's former beloved appeared over the ronin's face, making her heart ache with remembered sorrow and bitterness. "Oh my, you...look just like him. Might you be... Minato?" That woman had sometimes mentioned her son in passing and it was easy for Kazehana to make the connection now.

The ronin swallows an apple sized lump in his throat. No, scratch that, it was a lump the size of a coconut. Unfortunately, some deep breathes on the woman's part shifted the comparison to something arguably more enticing. "Um, yes. Y-yes I'm Minato." He yanked his eyes back to hers, flushing heavily at the inadvertent peek.

The butterflies in his stomach kept him from returning the question for a moment but he managed to suppress them, if barely and inquire, "a-and who might you be?"

Kazehana caresses his cheek with the back side of her hand, raising goose bumps all over his body, an automatic response to how soft and smooth her skin felt.

Kazehana gave a smirk of self satisfaction at the ease with which she was able to get under his skin. Deciding to take pity on the poor boy, she graciously introduced herself, "Aww, you're so bashful and such a cutie too." She let her eyes roam over his own not unappealing form before continuing, " I'm Kazehana, Sekirei number three."

"Another Sekirei?" Minato asked himself with no small amount of trepidation. Before he another thought could attempt to roost in his mind, something soft came to rest upon his head. Two things, actually.

Sighing with resignation, he looked up, and found Uzume looking down at him in turn through her exposed cleavage. Spread across her face was an infectious thousand-watt grin that had his lips twitching upward in a rejoinder.

"Mornin', Minato." She chirped, proving again that her confidence in her modesty and figure were as unassailable as ever. She let out a hum of satisfaction at the way Minato's head provided excellent back support via propping up her chest. Well, that and seeing the face of the man she was beginning to care deeply about didn't hurt either.

Kazehana watched the byplay between the two "friends" with a small smile of satisfaction. She wasn't a hopeless romantic for nothing and seeing such displays warmed her heart as much as a good bottle of sake. She also found it endearing that Minato attempted to be respectful and not ogle despite being in a position to do so without recriminations, at least in her mind. It added credence to the tales she had from Uzume and others she heard on the wind as to his integrity and respect.

In the meantime, Minato had pinched his nose harder to prevent any more blood loss or carpet damage. Sure they were on the bed and they could wash the sheets, but Minato tended to gush like the exorcist at the most inopportune times and if someone walked in the last thing he needed was them to see two naked and bloody women with him. He didn't want to imagine what conclusions would be drawn but none would be painting him in a favorable light.

"Um, mo-morning." Minato spluttered, wondering how he was going to get out of this situation, 'and do I really want to?' a traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Kazehana came to her knees, feeling irritated at having her first meeting with Minato upstaged. She decided to imitate her drinking cohort and test Minato's head in its capacity as a breast-rest, plopping her tits down on Minato's head and pushing them into Uzume's. This meant they completely covered his face, putting his ability to breathe in jeopardy in a variety of ways.

She gave a groan of her own, the sensations of Minato's breathe on her skin and her nipples rubbing against Uzume's warring as to which made her feel more tingly. Uzume sucked a breath as her own rack was assailed by Minato's hair tickling her skin and the same feeling of nipple clashing from her elder.

Their eyes met and held steady as neither wanted to give in to the other and back away, both getting the feeling that if they did, they would never recover the ground they lost.

Just what on earth were they planning to do with him now Minato wondered as he began to panic and struggle to unobstruct his airways and escape route.

This had a noticeable effect on the two busty beauties who leaned further into him and each other, his efforts sending delightful sensations cascading over their bodies. It was a silly and innocent time for all involved...

XXXXX

Not that it mattered as the trio's bickering was soon halted by the bedroom door being violently kicked open. Tsukiumi stood there front and center, finger pointing at the accused who had only now just managed to get free, Musubi peeking around the doorframe with an oblivious if curious look on her cherubic face.

"Minato! What is the meaning of this?!"

Minato and the two ladies with him in the room could see it plain as a bomb's countdown timer...they were doomed. Tsukiumi was now in full-rage mode and nothing they could say would calm her or divert her fury. It didn't help that her piercing shri-shouts were making the headache he had woken up with worse. He rubbed his forehead and the bump that swelled from it gingerly.

Still, the sure futility of protesting his innocence didn't keep Minato from trying. "Tsukiumi...I can explain! Nothing happened between the three of us last night I swear! In fact I can hardly remember a thing after I got home!" He knew honesty was supposed to be the best policy but why did the gods seem to delight in tossing him into situations that proved that saying to be nothing more than a big, fat LIE? (and why did he get the impression his libido was muttering vows of eternal vengeance and unsatisfying orgasms?)

'da da da, we're dead' Uzume thought to herself while Minato stammered out excuses. She was genuinely amazed that Kazehana and Minato had made her so distracted that she had actually forgotten about Tsukiumi the "typhoon" as Uzume mentally thought of the blonde at times. Why couldn't the woman, no girl, see Minato would never hurt her?

"You and me both." Kazehana tittered with a half smile, holding her intoxicated cranium the cup of her palm. She was of course lying, as her powers of recall while sloshed were as great as her capacity for said liquor. But she was curious as to what drama was unfolding before her and figured it would be prudent to take a back seat until she had her bearings...and felt less hung-over too.

She sent her gaze over their impromptu interrogator and recalled she was one of the girls that had been going to team up on Uze-chan here before Kazehana had rescued her drinking buddy. Feeling her eyes narrow with more than the pain of a headache, Kazehana looked past the shrill girl and saw the other of the pair from before waving cheerfully at her. Kazehana couldn't help smiling at the innocent expression and a half-hearted wave in return, seeing there was no malice from their previous meeting held over.

"Liar!" Tsukiumi screamed, proving that Musubi was apparently the exception to the rule in the current group. "Indecent, dubious liar! I will have your head for this fornication!" Tsukiumi had spent the night either forcing herself to relax with the others or fretting over Minato, feeling profoundly guilty at her loss of control the previous night. Miya had made it very clear that Tsukiumi had acted in a vastly inappropriate manner, for either a Sekirei or a wife and Tsukiumi had tried to take those words to heart. She had opened the door determined to try to rein in her flash temper with her Ashikabi and love...and had been confronted by his being smothered in bosoms as vast or great than her own.

At that point all the anxiety, self- doubt, betrayal, and outrage that had built up over the past few days exploded like a geyser, vitriolic and impossible to contain. She saw nothing but the confirmation of everything she had feared; She was not good enough for Minato, that he was constantly looking for new and tawdry sensations...that she would never be loved.

It wasn't enough that she had gone back on her sworn word for him, not just her letting him live (which was certainly looking to be one of her biggest regrets at the moment.) but of letting him wing her and taking her as his wife. No, he passively sit on the sidelines while she competed in contests for which she knew she was not suited, regardless of what she spoke out loud in her pride.

He denied her challenges time and time again, caving in like a worm instead of facing and dominating her like a man should.

He ignored or overlooked her continuous overtures that she was not disagreeable to his taking his rights as a husband for their wedding night, instead sending gut-churning calf eyes at a girl who was less mature than the child of the flock.

And if that wasn't enough, he had the temerity to show he did know proper romance and could act one it...WITH AN ENEMY SEKIREI! A winged Sekirei no less, making the cuckolding doubly heinous! And when she had swallowed her pride like a bitter pill of great size, she found out her dream of their wedding night being a sharing of their firsts in all respects utterly shattered by the presence of the local flasher and some random street walker with a body even more overripe and fulsome than Tsukiumi or Musubi combined!

Well if her dream must die then so shall others' she mentally vowed to herself, her eyes becoming flat chips of stone.

She inflated her already substantial chest with a deep breath ready to unleash a verbal torrent as great as any her powers could summon, only to be cut off by one of the two...soap land women in front of her.

XXXXX

"You know what, Tsukiumi?" Uzume got up from the futon, her arm shrouding over her nipples (but not the small patch of hair which forested her nether region). "I'm tired of this shit." She made no effort to hide or cover her nakedness, knowing full well she'd feel it if anything had happened with Minato, and so she knew she had done nothing to be ashamed of. This latest disaster was the last straw for the cloth Sekirei and if no one else was actually going to confront Tsukiumi, then she would.

"This concerns you not!" Tsukiumi's scowl intensified, making Uzume wonder if the woman ever actually smiled. "But pray tell, tired of what, might I ask?!"

Uzume gave a mirthless smirk at that perfect set-up and as the Yankees would say, swung for home.

"As if you can't already tell? You must be completely blind to your own hypocrisy . You just knocked the man's fucking door down without any inkling or respect for his privacy for starters." Seriously, even Miya knocked...even if right after she did it again on whoever she deed worthy but the principle remained. The sense of entitlement that shrouded Tsukiumi like a gaudy cloak made Uzume feel like retching when Chiho had a bad day.

She shot a heated glare at their accuser and Uzume's brown brows slope downward in a scowl that distorted her normally cheerful visage frightfully. "Not just that, but the way you always treat Minato like dirt and jump to conclusions as if he's the bad guy all the time and you're always right. You make no effort to show him the least bit of civility or courtesy and yet he is supposed to hop at your slightest whim."

Uzume ignored Tsukiumi's gaping mouth, silent out of sheer shock that someone would speak so brazenly to her and continued her own reaming of Tsukiumi. Uzume had a lot of stress, frustration, anger, and it all found an outlet in the form of the lightning rod of hate that stood before her.

"It isn't enough that he has to adjust to all of you being in his life, having to be responsible for your welfare and care, no that's not enough for the great and noble Tsukiumi. You have to play mind games because you are too insecure and arrogant to admit you even care for him. For Kami's sake, he is your treasured one and he's lucky if he isn't cast aside like last week's tampons!"

She gestures an arm towards her bedmates one utterly floored by the fight he was witnessing, the other holding her head and softly moaning for them to tone it down. "Yeah, me and Kazehana are in bed with him. And we're both naked. What about it?" She didn't need to look at Minato to know he had winced at that but Uzume wasn't backing down. This had gone far beyond she and Kazehana's mistaking the wrong room in a drunken stupor, and if Tsukiumi wanted a fight Uzume would give it to her and Miya be damned!

"What about it? WHAT ABOUT IT?! That is my Ashikabi, harlot! The proper place for him to be is with the likes of me, his proper wife!" Uzume briefly entertained the thought that Tsukiumi would do them all a favor and just take herself out via aneurysm, if only from the color of her face.

The aquatic Sekirei was literally vibrating with fury, her knuckles cracking from sheer tension. Musubi had pulled away Kusano in a moment of rare insight, the frown of condemnation at her sister wife's outrageous behavior the equivalent of Uzume's own rant.

Uzume gave Tsukiumi a quick roll of the eyes, a blatant non-verbal signal of her utter lack of awe at Tsukiumi's fury, her breasts jiggling with the huff that accompanied her eyeroll."Oh get over yourself, Tsukiumi. You don't own the man. He can sleep with whomever he wants to. Even discounting Kusano, he has two other Sekirei who are just as much his 'wife' as you are. Then again, Ku-chan acts more like an adult than you do, so I'd say even she has a better chance than your howling."

Minato was now outright begging for her to stop. "Please Uzume, don't provoke her more than she already is." Uzume felt her heart ache at the pleading tone in his voice but steeled herself,

"No Minato, I've had enough of her shit. Ever since you winged this watery tart, she's done nothing but belittle and push you around." she continued that train of thought unspoken, Which you've had more than enough of from your sister alone, not to mention your mother if the brat is anything to go by.

She had seen abuse victims time and time again during her visits with Chiho, and Minato showed all the systems of long term emotional and mental abuse. That made what Tsukiumi did to him all the more appalling to Uzume. Sekirei were meant to protect and cherish, not this...tantrum.

Said tantrum was escalated by Tsukiumi as she swiped her arm to the side, revealing a series of watery orbs set to fire upon Uzume if she doesn't leave, making all the bystanders gasp in shock. "This does not concern you, wench! Begone!" The telltale tick appeared on her brow that was as good as a bomb's timer in telling precisely she'd go off and the throbbing signaled imminent detonation.

Uzume clenched a fist in defiance and held it near to her chest, unwilling to let the blonde intimidate her away from someone She and Chiho cared about. "I will not! A Sekirei is supposed to protect their Ashikabi! To love and always be by their side! I will no longer stand to see you treat Minato as less than an animal! You want to lay a hand on Minato, you're going to have to get through me first! I'll fight you naked if I have to!"

Her legs shifted into a fighting stance, her body fully shielding Minato and Kazehana to an extent. She hated the pointless fighting of the Sekirei plan but this was completely different, this was protecting those she cared about.

Tsukiumi summoned forth even more orbs of water with some of her trademark flourishing theatrics, each poised and locked onto Uzume's vulnerable and naked figure ready to barrage it. Her face had taken on an ugly expression of vicious satisfaction and anticipation.

"Is that a challenge thou art offering?"

"No, it's an invitation!" Uzume bent her knees, ready to move the instant she saw an opening or had to dodge. "It's about time someone put you in your place!" A part of her was wondering why Miya hadn't shown up to break the fight apart before it began like she always had before, but Uzume shoved that aside with a sharp jerk of her head. She had to focus.

Minato tugged a bit at Uzume's slender arm. "No Uzume, please! You don't have to do this!" Uzume started, as she hadn't even noticed Minato get close to her thanks to her focus on Tsukiumi. She was touched he didn't want to see her hurt but Uzume pulled her arm away.

"Enough, Minato. This is between me and her now. You're too good of a man NOT to stand up for."

"I am sick of thy threats, Uzume!" She aimed her finger from Uzume, down to Minato, her eyes never leaving her rival and so missing the tired and hopeless resignation that radiated from her Ashikabi. "Leave her side at once Minato or thy life will be forfeit! Both yours and Uzume's Ashikabi!"

There was a moment of utter silence, as everyone in the room held their breath at the shocking declaration. Musubi pushed Kusano down the hall, the girl knowing without having to be told that she needed to get away. She promptly went off in search of the Landlady, she'd know what to do.

Satisfied, Musubi turned back to her fellow member of Minato's flock and prepared to rush Tsukiumi if she made good on her threat on their Ashikabi. She'd do her best not to hurt the blonde, but Minato's safety came first...something Tsukiumi seemed to have trouble remembering.

Uzume was unaware of all of this, her mind literally frozen as she attempted to convince herself that no matter how angry the woman was, Tsukiumi wouldn't actually harm Chiho. Fury lit up her eyes as she saw that Tsukiumi was deadly serious. But Uzume needed to hear it again, if only to confirm exactly why a cannery of whoopass was about to be blasted open.

She gave Tsukiumi one more chance to step away and prove Uzume wrong, that maybe she thought Uzume had a different Ashikabi, "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" Her head had drooped for a moment, in a futile effort to pull back her temper, her bangs creating a shadow over her normally lively and cheerful eyes.

"I am well aware of your Ashikabi's affiliation with the hospital! Leave now and I shalt spare the life of the one thou holds so dear!"

"No." Minato's whispered refusal was unheard by everyone except the oddly silent newcomer, he just couldn't believe that Tsukiumi would go so far as to kill Chiho. The girl was sick and only wanted Uzume to be happy, she had done nothing wrong or worth Tsukiumi's wrath...chibi-faced baby-making requests notwithstanding.

He could only watch helplessly as the only scenario worse than his own mind could devise unfolded before him with the result of two women he cared for doing their level best to rip each other to shreds, the only feeling stronger being the guilty whisper in his mind that if only he were a better person it could all be avoided.

XXXXX

Kazehana was likewise shocked at the display before her, what had started out as harmless, if heavy in the skinship, teasing of a handsome young man had turned into nothing less than a horror show.

Quite frankly, Kazehana felt that this "Tsukiumi" was so out of line that they weren't even on the same continent anymore. She didn't recognize the name but she vaguely recalled a spoiled child with the same hair color and outdated speech from back when she still spent time at MBI. If these two were the same person, Kazehana wasn't surprised this had happened. She had almost felt pity, as love unrequited or stifled could harm even the most mild of souls.

But to threaten another's love out of nothing more than spiteful malice and desire to inflict pain, unforgivable.

She glanced over at the man in question, the 'bone' of contention as it were, and her heart ached even more. There were tears of self-loathing in his eyes as he kneeled on the futon, his arms outstretched from his failed attempt to restrain Uzume's berserk fury.

Uzume's expression changed from resolute determination and annoyance to absolute rage. A guttural roar escaped through Uzume's throat as she charged at Tsukiumi, tackling her through not only the doorway but the newly fixed window. This took the brawling pair out of the line of sight of Minato and Kazehana, both of whom got up more or less in unison to rush to the hole in the wall made only moments before and look down.

Kazehana considered separating the two with her powers only briefly, discarding the idea as too much like what Miya would do and leave the issue to fester. For good or will, a battle had been joined and it was not in their race's nature to do things halfway.

Of course she thought to herself while giving Minato another sidelong glance, there is one here that could stop all this...if he only believed he could.

XXXXX

Along with dozens of glass shards, Uzume and Tsukiumi landed on the ground of the backyard, Tsukiumi taking the brunt of the force with Uzume using her to cushion her fall. She didn't waste any time in attempting to pummel Tsukiumi, but her muscles weren't responding to her commands as quickly as normal thanks to Tsukiumi blasting Uzume with her prepared water barrage before being tackled.

Tsukiumi pushed Uzume aside and regained her feet, already preparing to summon more water orbs only to lose her concentration as Uzume leapt at her again, putting the blonde on the defensive.

"You fucking bitch!" Uzume hollered, her mind clear of everything but the need to protect, to eliminate the person who threatened everything she cared about. "You'll pay for saying that about my Ashikabi! Your ass is mine!"

It didn't even occur to Uzume to summon her clothes to her, or use Tsukiumi's to pin down her opponent. Uzume was consumed by a single-minded need to pummel Tsukiumi to the ground, and so she ignored the trembling in her limbs and lashed out again, her left foot hooking for the back of Tsukiumi's right knee.

Tsukiumi jumped back and dodged a right hook, a condescending sneer marring her lovely visage. "Twould be wise to cover thy own backside before making such threats, shameless girl!" She summoned a dense sphere of water and launched it at her former rival and current foe, aiming for Uzume's stomach.

It only took a twist of her hips for Uzume to dodge the attempted incapacitation strike, even as a chill ran up Uzume's spine at the implications. A part of her had been counting on Tsukiumi to overreact as she usually did and use massive water attacks. Even with the hesitation to harm the Inn or its grounds, Tsukiumi's temper would drive her to use up her energy rapidly, leaving her at the mercy of her less than trained physical skills.

Of all the times for her training with Miya to kick in. Uzume groused mentally, only to have her mind forcefully pulled back to the fight by Tsukiumi.

Uzume dodged two more water balls, each one closer than the last as she attempted to close the range once more, her bare feet sliding on the increasingly slick grass. She realized if Tsukiumi kept this up, the fight was far from certain...

XXXXX

"No. No. No! NO! Please tell me this is not happening!" Minato panicked aloud as he looked over the balcony that once housed the large window pane. His rhetorical, if voluble, request was met by another question by a very recent spectator to the scene below them.

"What the hell is going on?" Matsu asked as she looked both at her Ashikabi literally tearing out some of his hair and at the pair fighting in the backyard. She had turned off the cameras in Minato's room early on at Miya's request, the landlady knowing full well that even the innocent act of watching her love sleep would drive Matsu to heights of sexual frustration that would result in acts that would make a courtesan blush.

Matsu decided that she'd turn them on the next chance she got. She'd keep missing things if she didn't.

"It's a long story..." Kazehana said leering a look of intense discomfort out the window, Uzume just having slammed a double-fisted gut check into Tsukiumi, which caused the blonde to momentarily lose control over her abilities and the water balls to fall to the ground.

The look turned to one that was a mixture of pity and interest as it shifted to focus on Minato, who seemed to have progressed to starting and stopping, his past traumas telling him not to get involved with angry women with super powers and his need to fix his mistakes and keep his loves...why did he think of them as loves, Tsukiumi was his only Sekirei...safe attempting to drive him on to do something.

"Kazehana? What are you doing here?" Matsu asked, her jaw dropping in shock, she hadn't seen her fellow squad member in years after Matsu had stolen the Jinki with Uzume. She had heard about her rejection at Minaka's hands of course, but after that Kazehana had gone off the grid and Matsu had had other priorities occupying her time.

"Just blew in with the wind last night is all." Kazehana chuckled, making Matsu groan. That had been Kazehana's signature phrase for when she didn't want to say where she had been back in the old days. Matsu was a firm believer that those very words were the progenitors to Miya's version of the Hannya mask.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Minato questioned, looking back and forth between them. It didn't really surprise him, considering how few Sekirei there were, that they knew each other, rather the fact that there were still things about his flock he knew nothing about.

I have to stop taking things for granted...or it'll only get worse with time, Minato thought to himself, being passive brought him nothing but pain...and those around him too.

"Yep, we sure do." Kazehana answered, bringing Minato back to the conversation at hand. "I used to live here actually." her mouth gave a wry half smile at the way Minato kept looking out over the hole in the wall, making him distracted despite his efforts to pay attention.

"So, as joyful as this long overdue reunion is, I must insist that we get back to the matter at hand." Matsu began in a fear-inducingly sweet voice, "Namely, what in the name of the Monkey King's hairy ass is going on?" Matsu's voice did not quite reach shouting volume but that didn't diminish the intensity of her question, nor the look she was giving her fated one as she looked him dead in the eyes.

*ahem* Matsu was pulled away from her stare-down by her long lost companion and fellow hedonist, "Actually, I had a hand...yes, let's go with hand, in that too. I went out drinking with Uzume after she was...accosted yesterday and I helped her out." Kazehana began to explain, calming Matsu enough to get her to let go of the front of Minato's shirt that had suddenly and unintentionally been bunched up in the cyber-queen's grip.

"We needed to catch up you see and-." Matsu made a circular gesture at Kazehana, as the lusty lush could go off on tangents if not kept to a strict conversational corral.

"-Yes, well, we eventually made it back to the Inn...I think Homura helped...I wonder if we interrupted a cosplay event of hi- Yes, yes, Matsu I'm getting there" Kazehana groused as Matsu again urged her on, jerking her head at Minato who hadn't stopped looking out the broken window helplessly, already forgetting Matsu's unusual aggression.

"Anyway, we made it up to a room...his room and after some good natured fun fell asleep." Kazehana winked at Matsu to let her know the nature of the "fun" that had been had without going into detail, she might be a touch shameless and carefree, but Kazehana did understand the concept of time and place.

"When we woke up, we began some innocent teasing of the Mina-tan-" This endearment earned her a sharp-eyed looking from Matsu and a half-hearted wave of acknowledgement from Minato, " and that's when this Tsukiumi came in and starting making all a manner of rude insults, melodramatic accusations and outright vicious threats-"

One inquiry kept knocking at the ronin's mind and the Kazehana's summary brought it back to the forefront of his mind. "My question is why on earth would Tsukiumi threaten Uzume's Ashikabi of all things. I mean, she's a sweet little girl who did nobody any wrong. If there's anyone who's failed here, it's me."

His body was shaking with suppressed tension and anguish as he said this, refusing to look away as Tsukiumi blocked a kick with her hands and used one of her water-balls to strike Uzume's right shoulder, causing a very nasty bruise to form.

Matsu raised an eyebrow. "Sweet little girl? Hold on a sec, I thought Higa was Uzume's Ashikabi." She stroked Minato's back in an attempt to comfort him but he didn't seem aware of it, or it wasn't enough to help. She pushed aside thoughts of creative and humiliating vengeance upon those who had made it their life's mission to render her Ashikabi into this broken man before, those plans wouldn't change the present.

"What? No. Why would you think that?" Minato actually looked at her as he asked that, incredulity and doubt in his expression and voice.

"Yeeeah, about that…" Matsu began rubbing the back of her cranium, playing with her braid in a manner Kazehana remembered well as Matsu's telltale that she had been up to something she knew she shouldn't have been, "Tsukiumi kind of convinced us to follow you and Uzume during your little night out and when we got to the hospital, we were ambushed by Higa's Sekirei."

She cringed at the at the thought of the outrage and betrayed trust she was sure was coming. Matsu may not have been like Tsukiumi and assumed Minato was going to two-time them or worse, but she had been curious about the outing...

"So that was you out there who were fighting?" Matsu squeaked in shock as Minato hugged her close, his only thought at the revelation that Matsu had risked herself so much. Kazehana couldn't resist cooing at the way the two melted into each other in relief even as the sounds of combat rang from the outside.

"You got it, Mina-tan." Matsu said, snuggling her head into Minato's chest, enjoying this rare display of physical affection from her Ashikabi for all it was worth. "Considering that they didn't attack you or Uzume when you two entered the hospital, we all assumed Uzume was his Sekirei as well."

Minato winced at that, from their perspective it was a valid conclusion to come to, made worse by the fact that they all knew how total Higa's control over his territory was. He was starting to understand the Yankee saying "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." as he never had before, his attempt to cheer Uzume up having spiraled so far out of control and scope of objective that it was hard to see where it all went wrong.

"That's right, Minato." Musubi stated, startling the conversing trio, as she appeared behind them. "We all did our best to fight for you. Even Kusano had a say in it." The curvy fist fighter had stayed back for the most part, respecting the fight outside as out of bounds once Minato was safe and not really having anything to contribute until now to the conversation.

"Oh no, not Kuu too… Speaking of which, where is she?" Minato really hope Kusano hadn't seen anything. She was the adorable little sister that, in his darker moments, he wished he had had instead of Yukari. Of course, that thought would immediately start another round of self-loathing and beratement about being a horrible brother, further adding to his feelings of inadequacies.

Minato felt a tug at the cuff of his pants and didn't want to look down, knowing full well what he'd find. The gentle but insistent tugging continued until he finally caved...

It was her.

"I'm sorry." she said, her eyes mournful and full of unshed tears, a little stuffed bunny from Uzume clutched in the hand not currently testing his cuff's elasticity. She had tried to find the landlady, even risking dessert to check Asano-san's room, but couldn't find her no matter how hard she looked.

Kusano, meanwhile, had returned in the hope that her brave Onii-san could help and make it all better, just like he had when she had been trapped in the garden.

"Sorry? For what?" Minato asked, perplexed as to what Kusano could have possibly done to warrant her apology. He knelt down and wrapped an arm around her, reassuring his youngest Sekirei without a moment's hesitation. Kusano began to hiccup with suppressed sobs, answering Minato's question in between,

"Ku is sorry for telling Tsukiumi about the dinner you and Uzume were going to have. If it wasn't for Ku, there would have been no trouble." Tears start to streak down her face. "Ku should have just kept quiet and not ruined everyone's evening."

Minato patted her on the head, smiling at how selfless Kusano was, trying to take on a burden that was not hers to begin with...something anyone who knew them could easily point to him as the teacher of said behavior, "Hey now, it's alright. You couldn't have possibly known that this would have happened. Besides, it's my fault for not telling any of you where I was going. I didn't want to worry any of you."

"While I appreciate and understand that sentiment...it's immaterial in the face of the fact that it shouldn't have ever been an issue in the first place, Minato." Matsu said matter-of-factly, loving the way Minato took care of Kusano, showing the caring and boundless heart that had drawn her to him. "You're a grown man and a good one. You have never given us any reason to doubt or suspect you, so the benefit of the doubt itself is the least you deserve... not to be the brunt of Tsukiumi's angst and melodrama."

Kazehana chimed in at that, "I came across a saying in my travels, 'We do not see the world as it is, we see it as we are.' In the face of the faith the rest of your feathers have in you, let alone that which you inspired in another's, I have to question what the true basis for this Tsukiumi's ill-treatment and judgment of you. Our bodies will react to those who may well suit us, but if this doesn't change, I don't see it ending well for either of you."

Nor my possible entrance into your little family Kazehana mused to herself, finally admitting the pull she felt towards this troubled young man.

Kuu looks up at him with irresistible puppy dog eyes. "Please, stop Uzume and Tsukiumi from fighting." She hugged his leg tightly, "Ku knows you can do it, you can make them happy again."

"I will, I promise." In spite of himself, Minato couldn't help but smile at the pure conviction in Kusano's voice as she declared her faith that he could make it better. The happy and decisive nod she gave him in return for his promise only made his smile bigger.

Musubi's expression grew more serious, a rarity for her, as she interjected into the conversation. "No Minato, don't interfere. This is their fight. They're fighting for their Ashikabis. Let them get this out of their systems and-"

"And let them go so far that they'll never be able to be in the same room again because they hate each other? Like hell I will!" Minato exploded, interrupting Musubi and startling everyone around them. Kusano buried her face back into his shoulder and Minato stroked her hair apologetically, continuing in a lower but no less angry voice

"Sure you can say Uzume's fighting for her Ashikabi, but Tsukiumi's just fighting for her own selfish pride! If what everyone keeps telling me is true, then the moment Tsukiumi threatened me she crossed a line no Sekirei should be near."

Even Musubi had to reluctantly nod her head in agreement at that, considering it had been the main reason she had sent Kusano away and staying herself. "But-

"Plus!" Minato interrupted her again, not letting Musubi distract him from the point he was going for, "Uzume's at a disadvantage! She's completely nude, this isn't a fight that can be walked away from like the others we have been in!"

Musubi shook her head with a smile. "I don't think she's at a disadvantage at all. Just look at how nimble she is out there, dodging many of Tsukiumi's water blasts and hopping all over the place. She'll be fine." She seemed oblivious to the raised eyebrow Matsu sent her, both having seen the bruises on Uzume from the shots Tsukiumi managed to get in. Matsu respected Musubi's ability to read most fights, but this was one where the technopath thought Musubi was biased by her own endurance.

"By the way," Kazehana chimed in, deciding to finally acknowledge the rather large elephant in the room. "Where's the landlady in all of this? You'd think she'd be raising hell by now, I mean those two are really tearing shit up." Miya's protectiveness of her Inn was a large portion of her scary reputation in Shinto Teito and for her to be unaware of such drama was unheard of.

"Oh, the landlady is out shopping." Matsu answered, glad of the change of subject for the nonce. "You see, she kinda broke her good ladle when she accidentally clonked Minato in the head with it last night. She was willing to go with her rolling pin...but I managed to convince her to take a day out and find a new ladle instead..."

A look of dawning comprehension grew on Kazehana's face, so that's why Minato hadn't woken up during their...session. Her eyes narrowed at that, even when not meaning to, Miya still managed to ruin a good time that involved getting hot and bothered, the stuffed shirt.

XXXXX

The current topic of their conversation gave a dainty sneeze that she followed with a polite, "Excuse me." as she looked over the ladle selection of the kitchen appliance store.

She turned her head from a promising line of durable and supposedly high quality implements of both stirring and bonking usage when she felt a chill run down her spine. Making a snap decision, she took and paid for the one that would most likely survive the longest dealing with her current crop of hard-headed tenants and made her way swiftly, but not in unseeming haste, back to the Inn...

There was trouble...and potentially lewd behavior if her instincts were right.

I can never leave them alone for a minute I suppose, she thought to herself with a fond, if exasperated smile, but then life would truly be dull if all did as they should.

XXXXX

Kazehana was yanked forcefully out of her mental grousing when a shout of shock and panic burst from every Sekirei in the hallway...after MInato had jumped out the window in an effort to stop Tsukiumi from actually killing Uzume.

The otherworldly females all gathered around the gaping wound in the building and gave a simultaneous sigh of relief that Minato had not injured himself in his newfound recklessness. That didn't stop them from scrambling down the hallway and stairs, each with their own plans to make their displeasure perfectly clear.

XXXXX

Thirty minutes prior, after Uzume tackled Tskiumi out the window.

Minutes passed but the violence outside didn't stop. Even though she was at a clear disadvantage, Uzume kept on the pressure. She must have been going on full adrenaline. If Chiho could see her now, she would have been so proud. Being able to keep up with a Sekirei without her powers at her disposal, let alone a single number was nothing short of astonishing.

"Thou wouldst do well to focus, lest you make your demise all too quick to occur." Tsukiumi sneered at Uzume, digging a furrow scant inches from her foot with a high-pressure water shot as the naked woman moved away.

Uzume felt her flagging fury course through her in renewed heat at the repeated death threats, "You know, you really, really prove yourself to be nothing but a spoiled bitch when you toss around threats like that. If you had any concept of loss or what it's like you wouldn't be so eager to deal out death in judgment." Uzume used her dodge from earlier to propel herself forward to retaliate.

She hit Tsukiumi's shoulder with a strike of the heel of her left hand, hoping to dislocate that arm. Despite being an elemental type and not needed to, Tsukiumi was so flamboyant and prone to exaggeration that she could not use her abilities without hand gestures.

The attempt at exploiting Tsukiumi's weakness failed, with the target rolling with the blow and lessening the impact. Still, Uzume noted that it had the effect of disrupting Tsukiumi's attack rhythm, giving her the chance to continue her own offensive.

It wasn't enough to keep her blonde foe from blathering some more however, "A warrior that intends to win does not accept lose or think overmuch on it. To do anything else is a self-fulfilling prophecy." This blandishment was accompanied by three water torrents that had Uzume scrambling, only one making a glancing hit on her outer thigh.

Uzume snarled at Tsukiumi, venting both her pain at the hit and her outrage at Tsukiumi's simplistic and self-aggrandizing boasting. She shoulder-rushed Tsukiumi, taking two hits on her right side in order hit Tsukiumi in the gut with a full on double-fisted slam. Uzume smirked viciously as she heard Tsukiumi's breath whoosh out and the remaining balls of water she'd had prepped fall to the ground with accompanying splashes.

"And assuming anything is going to get your frigid ass handed to you in a cardboard box like the street sushi it is. You have no concept, no inkling of having something or someone worth everything to you that you'd risk all to keep them safe...even when you managed to find him, yo-gah!"

Tsukiumi head-butted Uzume, making blood spurt from the cloth Sekirei's nose as she reeled back. Holding one arm around her diaphragm, Tsukiumi used the other to send a broad wave at her opponent, taking Uzume off her feet long enough for Tsukiumi to recover.

Uzume coughed and hacked up the blood and water that attempted to flood her lungs, one hand wiping at her nose while she used the other to push herself off her knees. She felt her bruises start to ache even with the adrenaline of battle moving through her. I'm going to feel this in the morning she thought wryly to herself as she waited for Tsukiumi to make her move, both women stalking around each other in a clockwise direction.

XXXXX

Tsukiumi was in high dudgeon as the saying went. She had slept poorly the night before, her guilt at her contribution to her Ashikabi's injury keeping her awake. She'd been plagued by thoughts and doubts all the while, wondering if she had been wrong, if there had been a reasonable explanation for everything that had happened. Though she would flatly deny it in public, she did admit to herself the ability to fly off at the handle for less than...verified reasons.

Tsukiumi blasted at Uzume as she thought, ruthlessly using the initiative that she had retaken to the fullest. Her treacherous bitch of an rival dodged the surges with all the grace of a dancer, making Tsukiumi all the more livid.

She had stayed up the entire night, wrestling with her own conceit and ego. Tsukiumi had slowly convinced herself to keep calm the following morning and let the others take the lead as she had promised before, her own pride forcing her to admit her failure to keep her word. She had even been prepared to apologize, which was something she loathed doing, seeing them as basically admissions of defeat. And what had she found when she entered his quarters? That weak-willed and useless fool ensconced between this...this slattern and another, all smelling of what she knew had to be sex.

And if that wasn't enough, she was lectured at though she was in the wrong! Tsukiumi, a lady of grace and decorum, accused of not doing right by her Ashikabi! That would not, could not be borne,

"Thou hast no notion of what I will and will not do for what I deem worthy of the effort, else thou wouldst have kept far away from mine Ashikabi!

The brunette hussy before her scoffed, kicking out at Tsukiumi's knees even while ducking a water slice at her head, "Oh please, I know full well what you'll do...nothing except attack, attack and attack again. You're a rabid bitch and nothing better!"

Tsukiumi felt her hands vibrate with outrage, how dare she insult her so? Truly she was well matched with that varlet Higa! Tsukiumi summoned wave after wave that she launched at Uzume with berserk ferocity, ignoring accuracy in favor of volume and area coverage.

This was matched by an equally acerbic diatribe, "I am nothing so much, perhaps thou speaks of thyself to call me so. Thou who intrudes where she is not wanted, needed, or desired! Taking the attention and care of another's Ashikabi, have you no shame, no sense of decorum?" That was the heart of the matter for the water maiden. That Minato had found this...person worthy of his thoughtfulness and effort, but not one who had bound her destiny to his, who had sacrificed her very oath for him when he had rescued her from that vile man's clutches.

Tsukiumi rarely hit the weaving pest before her, so caught up in her fury that Uzume was able to literally dance around the cascading assault. Her expression, what little Tsukiumi was caring enough to notice, was incredulous and contemptuous,

"Seriously? That's all this boils down to? You are jealous you aren't getting your due 'tribute' from your subject male? Pro tip coming at ya, when you want someone to like you...you don't make them terrified for their life of drawing your attention. Tends to stifle those cuddle moments a bit."

Tsukiumi gave an inarticulate scream in return, redoubling her onslaught and turning the ground around them further into a muddy quagmire. She drew no small satisfaction in knowing that her was the tramp getting all muddy and filthy while she remained pristine. "It is fitting one such as you should roll around in the mud like the pig you are, rooting around in the homes of others."

"Joke's on you, pigs have half hour orgasms, but a cold-cunt like you wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Was the immediate rejoinder, along with two fistfuls of mud aimed for Tsukiumi's face.

Tsukiumi barely had the presence of mind to wave away the mudslinging, her mind distracted with images of Minato touching her, caressing her skin...She shook her head violently, how could she let him touch her after he had tainted himself upon lesser women, after she had yearned so much her body burned.

Unfortunately for Tsukiumi, Uzume didn't feel the need to let her work out her troubled mind in peace, throwing more mud to cover her rushing assault. Even slipping on the mud once or twice did nothing to deter Uzume, grinding a fistful of damp soil into Tsukiumi's face.

Tsukiumi grabbed Uzume's arms, pushing her hands free and letting Tsukiumi soak them both in a mild deluge that cleared her face and eyes. She blinked them rapidly as she heard more taunting from her soiled opposite,

"There, some dirt to go with your clearly dirty mind. Considering how much you assume and accuse Minato particularly and men in general, you have to be more perverted than Matsu."

Tsukiumi felt her face flush hotly at the charge, which was more accurate than she'd like to admit, "Th-thou merely project thine own twisted desires onto me, I have no such need for debauched behavior with any monkey."

"HE...IS...NOT...A MONKEY! You sanctimonious scank!" Tsukiumi saw bright lights as Uzume hit her with a roundhouse slap. After shaking her head to clear it once more, Tsukiumi blasted her away with a gout of water right to the stomach, one she kept going as she used it to press Uzume into the ground.

"And thou wouldst know wouldn't thou, beguiling his naiveté into taking you out on the town, in a limo...to a fine restaurant! And acting so shamefully therein! And then, if tainting his virtue wasn't enough, you had to parade him before you dog of an Ashikabi like a prize cow!" Tsukiumi's mind was filled with the visions she'd had the night before when she and the others had followed their Winging one, images that disgusted her, even more so for the small part that was excited and wanted to be included. "You even had the gall to wear a wedding dress, us all with your blatant theft!"

It was bad enough she had to constantly risk the land lady's wrath to attempt to stand out amongst the others flocking around him, but his total passivity forced her to be far more aggressive than she preferred to be outside of the battlefield. But this one only had to throw on some fancy outfit and she had her Destined One eating out the palm of her hand.

This mental struggling gave Uzume the break she needed to throw herself off to the side, gasping for breath. In between panting breaths, she narrowed her eyes at Tsukiumi, as if sensing her turmoil?

"Really? It's not enough you stifle him when he's at the inn, making it so he can't eat without having to walk around on eggshells when the worst that's happened is that Kusano, a fucking 8 year old, tries to be sweet and give him a bite of her meal to show she cares. Oh no, that's not good enough for the great Tsukiumi, you have stalk him when he decides to take a bit of time to himself and relax...AND still make assumptions and decide the worst has happened rather than trust him and let him tell you on his own!"

Uzume clutched her stomach, giving Tsukiumi the satisfaction of knowing she had scored a strong hit on her challenger. But this didn't change the look of dawning comprehension that appeared on the brunette's face.

"Wait a minute, if you were there...that means Kagari had to have known. Did you seriously rope the guy into your crazy schemes and risk his job? Do you give a shit for anyone but yourself?" Uzume threw herself into the fray with renewed, if wincing vigor, and proceeded to keep Tsukiumi on the defensive with a continuous series of blows from all extremities. "You know what, I already know the answer, but you'd think that you would at leave believe him if he told you that nothing happened, unless you are that delusional to think it was all one nefarious plot."

Tsukiumi felt her face twist into a haughty sneer as she dodged and jumped away from Uzume's punches and kicks, grunting when her efforts did not suffice, "Oh, so thou actually expect me to believe that thou didst not disrupt my plans with my Ashikabi to throw yourself at him? I am not so gullible as that!" She could feel bruises forming on her upper arms from her desperate efforts to protect her visage.

"That night was meant to be mine, to finally cement my place as his first wife and you stole it from me!" Tsukiumi screeched at Uzume, finally unable to withhold the tears that had been forming in her eyes bit by bit as the fight went on. To match the pain in her heart, she switched to swathes of water meant to cut and slice her enemy, cleaving the air and anything unfortunate enough to be hit.

XXXXX

Uzume's eyes widened as she saw Tsukiumi cry...and try to cut her to ribbons. Yet, try as she might, she couldn't muster up any sympathy for her foe.

"'Your night' Huh? Funny how Minato had no clue about that." She slipped on a patch of mud, luckily causing her to duck out of the way of another slice by Tsukiumi, who shouted her response to Uzume's comment with all the calm and collection of an outraged dragon. "Rub not that monkey's indiscretions in my face harlot! Nor his failure to be aware of his-"

Uzume cut her off, already having an idea of the nature of the miscommunication, "Might help if you opened your mouth to do something other than scream and insult him wouldn't it? You make such a fucking big deal about how independent and 'strong' you are and yet you expect him to magically figure out when you want a night out? Hate to break it to you, no male is a mind reader, and last I checked, you aren't either." Uzume punctuated her point with a quick rabbit-punch to one of Tsukiumi's ripe breasts, making the blonde cry out in pain and indignation.

"If you had actually said anything instead of sitting on your fat ass waiting to be catered to hand and foot, I know for a fucking FACT Minato would have crawled on broken glass rather than stand you up. In a relationship, you need to communicate. In order to communicate you have to talk and respect each other as equals."

Uzume saw that Tsukiumi's attacks were flagging, Uzume's rant hitting home despite the woman's obstinacy and Uzume decided to drive the knife in deep. She put Tsukiumi in a choke hold to prevent her from interrupting and whispered harshly into her ear,

"But that's what it really comes down to doesn't it. You don't see him as an equal, or even a person." Tsukiumi tried to protest, her face beet red with lack of air and ire but Uzume barreled on past Tsukiumi's shaking head and continued, "Bullshit, don't even try to argue you useless hypocrite. If you had any idea of the kind of person you were lucky to be Winged by, you wouldn't constantly put him down, make him feel like you are doing him some grand favor just being in the same room as him, or playing your mind games with him. That's not respecting him, that's using him and you make me ashamed to be a Sekirei every time you pull one of those stunts.

You only take, you never give, hell not even a kind word from what I've seen. Are you really so arrogant that you can't even give him the time of day without expecting him to kowtow? Or are you so weak and pathetic that you have to have your ego shored up non-stop to make up for your deficiencies?"

Uzume's eyes widened as she felt water envelope her head, cutting off her ability to breathe as effectively as her hold had Tsukiumi's. Holding her breath, Uzume let go of the hold and slammed an elbow on the top of Tsukiumi's head.

This broke Tsukiumi's concentration enough to lose the water around Uzume's head and let her cough and sputter her way to a fresh lungful of air. Both opponents set themselves up for another round, neither willing or even able at this point to give in an inch.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, at MBI Tower, in one of the residential suites...

Benitsubasa took in a huge breath as she emerged from beneath the bath water, hair slicked back and out of her eyes. "Are you serious Haihane? A someone out there is posing as a fourth Discipline Squad member?" While unsurprised that someone was finally attempting to cash in on their reputation, Benitsubasa still had a hard time believing someone was that stupid to risk Karasuba's wrath when she found them.

The Blue Sekirei nodded, dangling her feet in the tub as they were one of the few body parts not wrapped in bandages from her tendency to forget about her finger blades. "Yep, or at least that's what Minaka has been yammering on about all day since I woke up." Both rolled their eyes at the hyperactivity of their nominal "Gamemaster." who could make a sugar infused 8 year old look somnolent.

"Huh…" Benitsubasa grunted as she turned and swam to sit on the bath's edge. Her trim, yet well toned and blemish free figure shone off the light beaming through the massive window located several stories up the tower, which she often considered one big "fuck you" to sleep every time she attempted to nap out here. She leaned back and looked out towards the cityscape, squeezing some of her hair to drain the water from it. "I'm surprised Minaka hasn't sent us out on a manhunt yet. Or Sekirei hunt. Or woman...whatever."

Shrugging, Haihane removed her many bandages and slipped into the bath, letting the warm water soothe and clean her many half-healed wounds and scars. "That's the thing, though. I overheard her speaking with The 'Game Master' just before I got in here. He apparently wanted Karasuba to hunt her down on her own to test this supposed fourth member's credentials at fighting...and did so with fatal results." She wasn't broken up either way, she hadn't had to miss her latest show obsession, and she hadn't been pissed that they hadn't helped her.

Benitsubasa stroked her chin as she pondered, feeling that the whole situation had ended rather anticlimactically. "Hmm, is that so? Well, I guess there's nothing to worry about then." Her face was twisted into an annoyed pout at having missed the chance for a fight, and one in which she would have gotten the chance to put some top heavy bimbo in her place...she liked those fights.

"I wouldn't count on it."

The voice of the Black Sekirei sent a chill down both her 'squad mates' spines despite the warm temperature of the room or water.

"Karasuba!" Haihane and Benitsubasa shout in shock, heads turning towards her with matching looks of trepidation on their faces. One could never be sure about her moods. Despite having the name "The Black Dog." of MBI, Karasuba's personality was more in line with a big cat, with all the mercurial mood swings and capriciousness that implied.

"What are you two shivering for? Is the bath water cold already?" A smile that reaffirmed that feline comparison adorned her face, although it was nothing so small as canary that apparently satiated her battle and bloodlust. She had to have killed something today, someone who gave her an amusing fight maybe. It was rare for her to truly exert herself in battle as the pair had found out,

Karasuba undid her robe, carelessly tossing it aside as she striped her under clothes and garments to enter the bath with them. The two wisely distanced themselves from her, having learned the hard way that Karasuba had a very generous definition of personal space. Haihane occasionally muttered about her being a 'territory hog' but never where Karasuba could hear her.

"Ah, the water isn't cold after all." She sighed with satisfaction as she slowly eased herself into the steamy bath, letting her arms rest on the side of it. She arched her head back, "Ah, that's good. Nothing like a warm bath after hearing the dying squeal of a fresh kill." The other two Sekirei exchanged a mutual nod of validation, she had gotten someone alright.

"So then..." Benitsubasa began, swallowing a lump in her throat but still managed to keep her voice level, a not insignificant accomplishment.

"does that mean?..." Haihane continues her inquiry, her more monotone voice better at suppressing the unease she felt.

"Yes, Minaka tasked me with hunting down this rogue Sekirei, and I succeeded. Except I didn't succeed." Karasuba left her cryptic statement hanging in the air as she sank further into the waters in blissful satisfaction.

Haihane promptly went cross-eyed in an effort to decipher Karasuba's riddle, tapping her fingers to her head and for once not drawing a spurt of blood while doing so..

"Wha-What does that mean?" Benitsubasa stammered out, hating the way her voice was turning into a squeak and immensely glad no one but her fellow squad members could hear her.

"While I was able to dispatch my target, I know for a fact it wasn't the Marionette Sekirei I was looking for. The number my prey had, #66 was accurate, but the Sekirei was too weak." Karasuba's expression soured briefly at the remembered frailty of her short lived foe. While she might kill on orders and enjoy the victory, it left an all too bitter taste in her mouth to know she had not had to try to win. It was part of why she loathed the human race as a whole, the mass of them could not sate her need for a true challenge.

She dragged herself from her dissatisfaction with the race her species seemed destined to fall for and finished her debriefing lest her lesser helpers explode from curiosity. Karasuba almost lost herself in the amusing idea but did not divert her attention again, "It was not the same Sekirei as the one eyewitness Kaie saw at the hospital. There is absolutely no way that the Sekirei I slaughtered earlier was able to leave such a brutal mark such as the ones on Toyotama's back. Her efforts were distinctly...lackluster."

That was another thing that bothered Karasuba. After years of hearing Yume vaunt the power of love and the lengths it could drive those who felt it, once she had seen Yume sacrifice herself for the naive child Musubi, Karasuba had to watch alone as her race threw away their potential and strength for weak Wingings to pitiable humans. Karasuba would have loved to rub Yume's face in each bond that proved that "love" as most saw it, wasn't worth a paper bag in a typhoon.

The one that had taken out Toyotama, now that was a Sekirei with conviction, one with something worth fighting for with no holds or hesitation. Karasuba was curious to meet that Sekirei, and the potentially intriguing human that drove her to such heights.

"So does that mean you still want to search for her? To kill her?" Benitsubasa asked, getting some very mixed signals from her leader, making Benitsubasa edge further away just in case. Haihane in the meantime had picked up on what Karasuba was saying and sighed in relief about the headache from attempting to figure her boss out that she had avoided.

"Of course not." Karasuba retorted shortly, irritated that her pink-haired minion was so short sighted.

"I want to recruit her, I want to see her in action." Her eyes lit up with anticipation as Karasuba imagined the impending mayhem they could pull off if the newbie was agreeable.

"The Game Master is already preparing a city-wide hunt for this Marionette Sekirei. The one who finds and wings her will earn a prize of sorts…" Which shows how much that monkey knows about my race she thought caustically, Such wounds and battle have to have a personal reason behind them, something driving her.

"What kind of prize?" Haihane asks in apprehension, knowing that what Minaka considered to be 'good' would be another person's "RUN AWAY!".

"Anything their heart desires… Heh heh heh…" The pair shivered again at the malevolent laughter that echoed throughout the room, both feeling a certain amount of pity for Karasuba's latest interest.

Phen0m20:

And that concludes part 1. I really can't comment on much in regards to the Discipline Squad's role as that would risk spoiling a whole story arc mordreek and I have planned. As such, I'll keep my mouth shut about it. See you all in part 2, which I plan to have published on Christmas Day!

mordreek:

"Holy crap it's been awhile. A thousand apologies my humble readers, between other projects and life throwing some very nasty personal curveballs, I completely dropped the ball. On the plus side, part of that was apparently I missed the memo that I had already finished the chapter and had gotten at least 3000+ words into the next, so expect a new update before the end of the month.

In regards to the chapter above, it is not a bash chapter, I love Tsukiumi in the fanon and she in one of my fav Sekirei when she's in her sane moods...which presents the current chapter. Since someone decided to start out of canon *gives N0m a significant look* this put us in the position of having to work with and adjust canon. And in said canon, Tsukiumi is outright off her meds. HOWEVER, that does not mean I want to trash her or make her out to be the bad girl here, Uzume is pissed off beyond all reason here and as such will say a lot of things that while containing a kernel of truth, are nevertheless hurtful and offbase.

Minato and the others were also a necessary part of the story, as Minato could not stay in his canon personality and expect things to not fall apart. I won't bash another culture but I simply do not get the appeal of the "Uke" to the japanese or even weak personalities in general. On the other hand, just having him suddenly sack up without proper support for the readers (that's you awesome people) to latch onto will hit the wall of OOC and whiplash land. Plus I always felt Kazehana was too far removed from the group until the bridge battle and this was a nice way to fix that...plus she and Matsu are so much fun to play with. (shut it you red headed lust fiend!)

The MBI tower scene...that I'll stay brief on to avoid spoilers, but trust me, it'll come into play later.

Thanks for bearing with my rambling and look forward to seeing you in the next chapter, I think you all will enjoy".