So, another Harry Potter/Sekirei crossover and AU set during the events of Book 4. Unlike Wings of the Forsaken, though, it's not a WBWL story, and Harry if 15 (Hogwarts age of admittance raised in this story).
This is another fic based on a challenge by whitetigerwolf, namely 'The Green Girl and the Potter' challenge. Whether this will get turned into a full story, I don't know, and I frankly doubt it. But the opening chapter was just begging to be written.
It actually took a lot of thought to think about what a teenaged Kusano would look like. Fans of a certain Monty Oum series will be pleased...
GREEN GIRL AND HER WIZARD
CHAPTER 1:
KUSANO AND HARRY
He was lost. Well, he had been for days, lost in a strange city, filled with strange people, unable to find his family…well, he used that term loosely. While he was glad that he was no longer with them on one level, the truth was, he was a young boy of seven, lost in another country, where he didn't speak the language.
But now, he was even more lost. While he was wandering a park, suddenly, plants seemed to grow out of nothing. He panicked, remembering how his uncle and aunt hit him whenever any 'freakishness' occurred. Okay, they weren't here, but still, his fear had been ingrained for a long time.
He ran further into what had become a dense forest, humid and dim. It was getting dark, he knew. And he was hungry. But his mind kept imagining even hungrier horrors in the shadows. Fear spurred his flight further into the forest, not knowing what dangers lurked in the darkness.
He stopped to pause for breath in a clearing. But as he did so, he heard a noise. Faint sobbing. It sounded like a girl. He looked up, before seeing a curled up form, high in a tree. "Hey, are you all right?" he called out. "Can you get down from there? Are you stuck?"
The girl's sobbing stopped, and then she peered over the side at him, her expression wary. Cute features were framed by a messy mane of blonde hair. Green eyes, like his own, peered down at him with suspicion and fear…only to be replaced with confusion and, perhaps, a little hope. She was wearing a simple, smock-like dress. She spoke in the language he had heard all this time in this country, staccato syllables that he couldn't understand. She was asking a question. "Anata wa dare desu ka?"
"I don't know what you're saying," he said.
"Nihongo ga dekimasu ka?" she asked. After a moment, she seemed to consider something. She made a gesture, and a vine dangled down, seemingly growing from the tree itself, from the branches above her. It gently wrapped around him, with only the gentleness preventing him from panicking, though he still felt fear. The vine then hauled him gently into the air, and deposited him on the branch the girl was on. She then asked, "O-namae wa? Watashi wa Kusano desu." She pointed at herself. "Kusano. Kusano."
Oh. Was she trying to tell her his name? He pointed to himself. "Harry. Harry."
"Harry?" She cocked her head curiously. Then, she blinked, her cheeks turning red. Her eyes looked a bit unfocused. She then began to breathe a little heavily. She crawled gingerly along the branch they were perched on, and peered into his eyes. Then, she murmured, "Onii-chan?"
Before Harry could understand it, Kusano (assuming that was her name) leaned forward and placed her lips on his own. Was she kissing him? He was frozen, unsure what to do, and he was amazed as green glowing wings emerged from her back. Were all girls like that when you kissed them?
But he could feel something else, something being connected to his very soul. She spoke to him again, in words he didn't understand. But he could tell, by the look on her face, that he had made a friend for the first time in his life. Even if they couldn't speak the same language, they were bound in some other fundamental way. Like they could spend the rest of their lives with each other…
Eight years later…
A lavender-haired woman wearing a kimono slid open a door, and smiled in a somewhat wistful manner at the sight within. Curled up against each other on a futon were a pair of forms, dressed somewhat (well, in pyjamas). One, a dark-haired boy, thin and lanky. The other, a slender, blonde-haired girl. Both about fifteen. The girl had wrapped her arms around the boy from behind.
The woman knew that no inappropriate activities had taken place. She knew these two children (well, getting to the point where they weren't anymore) tested boundaries, but didn't cross them. They still intended to wait for just a while longer.
A buxom, red-haired woman, wearing glasses and a qipao, walked up, and chuckled. Usually, her chuckles had a perverted undertone to them, but these ones were affectionate. "They're so cute like this, Miya, aren't they?" she asked.
"Of course, Matsu. They haven't done anything inappropriate?"
"They never progress beyond First Base, Miya, if that's what you're worried about. I think they're saving all that up for Harry's 16th. Though I can teach Ku a few things that she can use when the time comes…" This time, her chuckle was perverted, only to cut off suddenly when a dark miasma surrounded Miya, and a demonic mask shimmered into being.
"Remember the rules, Matsu. Ku is already tainted by your…insinuations. Kindly do not corrupt her any further," Miya said with a stern tone.
Then, one of the forms on the futon stirred. "My Hannya senses are tingling," muttered the teenaged boy.
"Mum's being scary to Aunty Matsu again, Harry," the girl murmured, half-asleep, cuddling up to Harry. "I wanna sleep in."
"If you sleep in, you're not getting any breakfast," Miya chided gently as her aura and mask faded.
The girl groaned, and sat up, pouting. "You're being mean, Mum," she said, before sticking out her tongue.
"And you're being petulant, Kusano," Miya responded. "You'll be setting a bad example for the children of Seo and the Lightning Twins."
"Seo's already a bad example, Mum," Kusano said with a roll of her eyes. "You always say that. How can I possibly be any worse?"
"You do not want me to answer that, young lady…"
It was a strange family Harry Asama had ended up in. It had all begun with the girl he would come to call, at least initially, a sister, though now, their relationship wasn't that of honorary siblings, but of boyfriend and girlfriend. It all started with Kusano.
Not long after Harry met her, a silver-haired man in a black coat and mask came for them. He actually spoke English very well. His name was Homura, and he was like Kusano. Only, instead of being able to grow plants, he wielded fire. It took some considerable persuasion for Harry and Kusano to allow Homura to take them home.
Home turned out to be Maison Izumo, a Japanese mansion turned into a boarding house. Its landlady, and the woman that Harry would come to see as a mother, was Miya Asama. Like Homura, she could speak English very well. Between the two of them, they gently probed Harry about what had happened, and then told him what he had gotten himself into. Namely, the Sekirei Plan.
Miya, Homura, and Kusano weren't actually people, well, not humans. They were actually aliens, called Sekirei (the name, Harry would come to learn, was the Japanese name for the wagtail bird), each with their own ability. Each Sekirei, with the exception of Miya, were to seek out their chosen one, their Ashikabi, to bond with forever. Those that they reacted to, they made the bond with a kiss. This bonding process was called 'Winging', due to the ethereal wings of energy that appeared. Most Sekirei were already in their late teens if not older, with Kusano being the youngest.
The Sekirei Plan, in its original form, had been developed by Miya's supposedly late husband, Takehito Asama, but had been hijacked and perverted by the deranged Hiroto Minaka. It was turned into a glorified tournament, supposedly designed to help Sekirei find their Ashikabi, but in truth, it was meant for Minaka's own gratification, to feed his megalomania, his god complex. And Harry was now conscripted into it by the simple act of kissing Kusano.
For protection, Harry allied himself with another, older Ashikabi, Minato Sahashi, who had also Winged a Sekirei: the enthusiastic (if not quite bright) fist-fighter Musubi. He would soon Wing many more, like the perverted hacker Matsu, the haughty water-user Tsukiumi, the assured wind-user Kazehana, and, perversely enough, Homura. Who became a girl. That was confusing for Harry at the time.
What followed was a series of bizarre and, to the young boy, scary events. Even now, some things haunted his dreams. Like the mad cackle of Hiroto Minaka, or the cold pragmatism of Izumi Higa, or the vicious smirk of Karasuba. Minaka and Higa were in jail, and Karasuba…well, she was still working for MBI as an enforcer, so that nightmare hadn't quite gone away in reality.
But it wasn't all bad. Life at Maison Izumo was certainly better than life at the Dursleys'. And that was even before he learned he was a wizard. Thank whatever deities were listening (his adoptive mother was the closest thing to a living deity on Earth, so he could thank her directly) that attendance at Mahoutokoro was flexible. Though he was, admittedly, surprised to learn that he was famous back in Britain, albeit for, he felt, the wrong reasons. Thankfully, Mahoutokoro was discreet about his enrolment, especially as it was under his adoptive parents' last name.
Yes, parents, plural. As it turned out, Takehito Asama was still alive, albeit in a deep coma, held by MBI. But Harry, along with Kusano's Norito or unique ultimate ability, was able to revive him. Oh, he was in a bad way, and still was: he needed a cane just to walk. But it was thanks to him that the Sekirei Plan was able to get back to the way it was, and not the perversion Minaka turned it into.
All was right in the world, or so Harry and Kusano thought. They had a loving family and a circle of friends. And Seo.
Unfortunately, peace, as it often is, is transient…
Breakfast was a collaborative affair. While Miya, theoretically, could have handled it herself, Harry had helped her from a young age, partly out of habit ingrained by the vile Dursleys. And while appalled to learn why her adopted son was so adept at cooking, Miya decided to accept the help, if only to give the boy a sense of helping others. Now that they had so many living here, it was actually something of a great help, especially as Harry had now learned to love cooking, rather than to see it as a chore. Certainly he had an admirer in the layabout Kaoru Seo, former geneticist and Ashikabi of the Lightning Twins, Hikari and Hibiki.
As Miya and Harry cooked, Asama looked over at Minato Sahashi, the son of two of his colleagues. Takehito Asama had white-grey hair framing surprisingly youthful, even vaguely effeminate features. However, his time spent in a coma had taken its toll, and even now, eight years after his revival, he looked rather haggard. But his eyes had a clarity and a strength of character behind the gentleness. "How's your mother lately, Minato?"
Minato resembled his mother Takami Sahashi more, at least in terms of general features, but he wasn't like his parents in demeanour (and considering his father was Minaka, that was something to be thankful for). He was gentle, kind, and prone to being flustered. Now a researcher working for MBI, Minato was trying to juggle his work and being there for his Sekirei. "A bit stressed. Comes from running MBI, I guess. I think she once said to me that this was Minaka's last revenge, trying to kill her with stress, mutinous employees, and paperwork. Unfortunately, she's still trying to find time to fit in her little get-together with you."
"I understand. If I'm up to it, I'll visit her sometime this week," Takehito said.
"I can carry you!" Musubi chirped. A brown-haired Sekirei with a buxom figure (though to be fair, many female Sekirei had a pretty buxom figure anyway) and dressed in a stylised shrine maiden's outfit, Musubi was Minato's first Sekirei. He soon gained more: his Flock now had no less than five Sekirei, one of whom was Matsu.
"Thanks for the offer, Musubi, but I'm not exactly in a fit state to travel Musubi Air," Takehito remarked dryly.
"Is anyone?" Kusano asked cheekily. "So, where's the others?"
"Homura and Kazehana's already gone out on patrol with the new Discipline Squad," Minato said. "As for Tsukiumi…well, her adjuster is ill as you know, and the hospital called. So she's gone to keep her company before she dies."
"Can I do anything to help?" Kusano asked. While her powers were mostly over plants, her Norito did allow her to heal and resurrect those nearby, within reason. Mostly from recent trauma and injury.
"She's old, and I don't think your Norito can help against cancer, Ku," Takehito said gently. "It was miraculous enough you brought me out of my coma. Sometimes, there are people you can't save, even with the best of intentions."
Kusano nodded morosely. While fifteen now, she did have a childish streak still, and it was hard for her to accept that she couldn't help everybody. She was dressed in a yellow top and a tan jacket, along with black trousers(1).
It was at that point that Miya and Harry came in, carrying the food. Matsu also came in, looking irritated. "Another camera I've hacked into's gone on the fritz," she grumbled. "Looks like a minor EMP caused by some idiot mage Apparating nearby. Or maybe Hibiki and Hikari or their kids are getting zap-happy again"
"It's one less camera for you to be a voyeur from, Aunt Matsu," Harry said with a grin.
Matsu snorted, only for the phone to ring. Miya went to answer it, and picked it up. Harry couldn't hear the conversation, but he could hear enough of the tone of his adoptive mother's voice that whatever it was, it wasn't good. And that was the thing about Miya: when she got angry, as in truly angry, she didn't use her aura or Hannya mask. She got quiet and calm, deathly so.
And that was one thing that scared Harry more than almost anything else. He had heard of the Boggart, a creature that could shapeshift to show one's worst fear, and he was almost certain that his Boggart would turn into his mother, back when she was the impassive, virtually heartless leader of the Discipline Squad, a monster capable of destroying entire ships with just a swing of her sword…from kilometres away. Not so much a woman as an implacable, relentless force of destruction, like a hurricane or a volcano.
After she hung up, she emerged, looking deathly serious. "Miya, darling, what's the matter?" Takehito asked.
Miya seemed to calm herself with an appreciable effort, before she said, "Takehito, dear, I need to get my sword. I am worried I may break my promise, because someone has done something that threatens my family." She looked over at Harry, her eyes glistening. "Somehow, someone has entered you into the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And they want you in Scotland to participate…"
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you have it. Harry has Kusano as a girlfriend now. Okay, firstly, she was a sister figure, but now, well…
There will be Dumbledore-bashing in this story. Though rather than being truly evil, he's going to be stupidly oblivious and arrogant.
1. I actually thought long and hard about what a grown-up Kusano would look like. It took some doing, but I eventually decided that she looks like a fifteen year old Yang from RWBY, and with almost the same getup, save for wearing trousers.
