Chapter 1 – The First Winging

Sekirei No. 04 Karasuba made it no secret that her biggest pleasure in life was to see strong opponents lie broken and dead at her feet.

It was the very reason why she had been willing to go along with MBI's plans for the past decade and a half since her awakening. She had been promised powerful adversaries to fight against if she joined their so-called Disciplinary Squad, so she leapt at the opportunity to slake her bloodlust. Though she was less than pleased to learn that she was to work alongside the likes of No. 01 Miya in the First Generation and later No. 08 Yume in the Second Generation rather than against them, MBI had given her no shortage of opportunities to test her might. There might not have been many quality opponents, but the sheer quantity of pathetic lives she crushed under her heel had a quality all its own. She didn't even mind being called MBI's Dog, few ever had the nerve to say it to her face and fewer still lived to see the next day.

When Minaka Hiroto approached her to join the Third Generation of the Disciplinary Squad that would preside over his mysterious Sekirei Plan, she agreed on one condition – that whoever joined would have to be at least as strong as her standards. She would tolerate no weakling subordinates. Minaka had agreed and, a week later, summoned her to the rooftop of the giant Teito Tower in the heart of Tokyo to introduce her to her potential squad mates, two Sekirei winged by an Ichinomiya Natsuo.

"P-pleased to m-meet you, I'm No. 105 Benitsubasa..." the shorter pink-haired half of the duo stuttered nervously. The normally boisterous Sekirei had heard of Karasuba's infamous reputation and had no intention of offending the woman who allegedly killed at the slightest provocation.

"... No. 104 Haihane." The taller silver-haired bandaged Sekirei appeared as unflappable as ever, but was sweating bullets internally. She too wanted no reason to provoke the Black Sekirei.

"Minaka, is this some kind of joke?" The Black Sekirei turned to the man in question, voice gravelly with barely disguised disappointment. She stomped towards him like a huntress on the prowl. "You promised me strong subordinates, not some little chicks fresh from their adjuster's nests. They're triple digits, not even worth my time."

"Please, Karasuba-chan. Why don't you give them a chance?" Minaka said, his usual enigmatic smirk firmly in place. "These two were hand-selected to be my enforcers for the Sekirei Plan, and young Natsuo-kun here is an equally powerful Ashikabi. I wouldn't have picked just anyone to join the illustrious ranks of the Disciplinary Squad after all."

Karasuba fumed, mulling over Minaka's request in her mind. Finally, she leveled a seemingly disinterested stare at him as she spoke. "One chance. That's it. If I'm not impressed, the deal's off."

Minaka threw his head back and cackled with mirth. "As cheeky as ever, eh Karasuba? Very well. I do ask that you avoid inflicting any debilitating injuries or death. I will need these two in one piece and I don't want to have to deal with anyone going out of commission before the game even starts!"

Karasuba nodded once in agreement, and turned her gaze on No. 104 and 105. "You heard me. You get one chance to change my mind about you. This world is only for the strong, the weak have no place in it and they certainly have no place at my side."

"In that case... Natsuo-sama! We'll have to go all-out for this one! N-norito!" Benitsubasa blushed despite the gravity of the situation. Kissing one's Ashikabi was no light matter for her, not least of all because of the feelings she harbored for him.

"...M-me too." Haihane chimed in, a light blush on her face as well.

Natsuo only smirked before shaking his head in resignation. "If that's what you want, I suppose I have no choice but to agree don't I? Benitsubasa, Haihane, come here." Beckoning to his Sekirei, he pulled them close before kissing them briefly on the lips. Wings of light bloomed from each, bright red for Benitsubasa and a smoky grey for Haihane respectively.

"Fists of my pledge, crush the calamity that befalls my Ashikabi!"

"By the claws of my pledge, rend the enemies of my Ashikabi!"

Turning to look at each other to coordinate their attack, the pair nodded once before blurring into motion with the war cry of their most powerful attacks on their lips.

"Extreme Quake!"

"Execution Claws!"

An explosion of dust and sound sent shockwaves throughout the rooftop, a plume of shattered concrete flying into the air where Karasuba stood. The two triple digits landed in a light crouch a few dozen meters away, trying to spot the Black Sekirei.

"Did we get her?" Haihane asked nervously, her eyes darting back and forth in the cloud of dust trying to locate No. 04.

"Of course we did, I felt my fists connect square on her! I think we might have gone overboard, there's no way she could shrug off both of our strongest attacks." Benitsubasa smirked cockily before her blood ran cold.

The sound of a blade slowly unsheathing echoed unnaturally loudly on the empty rooftop, sending shivers down the spines of the four spectators. The smoke and dust cleared, revealing an unscathed Karasuba standing casually with her nodachi held casually in one hand. A frown on her face betrayed the displeasure she felt from their so called best attacks.

"Was that it?" Her disappointment practically dripped from her voice as she cocked her head to the side with a shrug. "My turn."

Karasuba disappeared in a blur of motion, leaving Benitsubasa and Haihane whipping their heads about trying to spot her. A sudden gleam of light as the moon reflected off her blade was all the warning they got before Karasuba materialized seemingly out of nowhere in front of them. Her impassive face had been completely consumed by the bloodthirsty grin transforming her face into a great and terrible beauty. Without a word, Karasuba cut down the two Disciplinary Squad Sekirei in a spray of blood.

Natsuo could only look on helplessly as Karasuba flicked the blood off her nodachi with a flourish of her blade before resheathing it at her side.

"Don't give me that look, boy. I told you exactly what would happen if they didn't live up to my expectations." Karasuba said simply. "I didn't kill them, but you should get them medical attention or they really will die."

Natsuo paled and fled to the emergency stairs, frantically dialing the MBI medivac team to come up to the roof. He may not have harbored any romantic feelings for either of his Sekirei, but having them die on his watch was something he did not want on his conscience.

Throughout the chaos of the fight, Minaka's insane grin remained fixed in place. Cape fluttering behind him, he let out a cackle of mirth.

"So, No. 04, it seems you've won our little wager! As agreed, you're now officially released from your obligations to the Disciplinary Squad."

"You act as if you could have stopped me from leaving had I really wanted to go." She replied tersely. Her limited patience had run short, especially after the disappointing failures Minaka's hyped Sekirei had been.

Minaka smiled predatorily in kind. "Perhaps, Karasuba-chan." He turned to gaze out upon the Tokyo skyline. "So what are you going to do now with your newfound freedom?"

"Anything I want really. Maybe I'll amuse myself in Tokyo until your little game starts, then I'll have my pick of the litter as far as opponents go. And who knows, maybe I'll even find my own fated Ashikabi." Karasuba burst into laughter after the last sentence.

"I think you're starting to rub off on me, with all that talk of love and fate and destined Ashikabi..." she muttered to herself.

The Black Sekirei leapt onto the railing, tensing to jump off into the night before pausing for one last quip. "Oh and do tell your adjusters to do a good job with the rest of the flock. I expect at least somewhat of a challenge before I win this entire thing myself."

Minaka simply gazed out onto the Tokyo skyline, broad grin firmly in place. "Sure thing, No. 4. Sure thing..."

"Please be there, please be there, please be there..."

Sahashi Minato stood nervously in a jostling crowd of Tokyo U hopefuls, trying to get a glimpse of the list of admitted students posted on the large bulletin board for all to see. He had studied fiercely for the exams, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo just to put himself in an isolated environment to prepare properly. He had put it all on the line for this one opportunity. If he passed, he would be allowed to stay in Tokyo and attend university. If he failed, he would be forced to come home in shame with the disappointment and "I told you so"s of his mother and sister constantly hanging over his head.

With an almost desperate sense of urgency, he pushed his way to the front in a rare show of assertiveness. Minato turned his eyes to the board and slowly scanned down, praying to every god he knew that he would finally be able to live up to the expectations his family had of him. Almost as if guided by a merciful deity who had answered his prayers, his eyes snapped onto the very words he was looking for.

"Sahashi Minato... No way..." he whispered in disbelief. "I did it... I DID IT!"

Minato whooped with a giddy excitement that he had scarcely felt in ages, ignoring the angry and jealous looks being shot at him while he leapt with joy away from the bulletin board. Reaching into his pocket with shaky hands, he whipped out his cell phone and dialed his mother's number.

"Ah, Minato? Well, how'd it go?" a slightly gruff voice answered the phone. Sahashi Takami had always had a relatively deep voice, but the cigarettes she had taken to smoking recently when she felt stressed certainly didn't make it any softer to the ear.

"Mom, I did it! I passed! I'm going to be a Tokyo U student in the spring!" Minato practically shouted with glee.

"My god, you've actually done it. Congratulations, son." Takami said proudly. " So what're you going to do from now until then?"

"I was thinking I'd look for work here, earn some money for living costs and school supplies once the term begins. I don't want to put that much financial burden on you, especially with Yukari getting ready to go to university herself."

"Hm. I see. Well, if that's what you want, I suppose I can't stop you. Take care of yourself and let me know if you need anything. Congratulations again, son."

"Will do, Mom. And thanks!" Minato hung up and happily thrust his hands into his pockets. Though it was a chilly winter morning, he hardly felt the cold at all. When his stomach rumbled, he chuckled sheepishly to himself before heading out towards the nearest restaurant to celebrate.

"I worked hard for this, I think I can treat myself out this time!" he thought to himself.

A sudden commotion in the corner of his eye caught his attention as he walked down the street, rousing him out of his giddy thoughts. Minato saw a burly hoodlum grab a silver haired girl roughly by the arm and immediately thought the worst. The girl was fairly tall, wearing a strange black leather top, miniskirt and stockings with a charcoal grey haori over her shoulders. The haori had an odd crest on it and in her hand was a long, tightly bound black bundle. The two of them made brief eye contact, her stony grey eyes meeting his own, and it felt as if a current of electricity passed through his body. Time itself seemed to slow, and it looked as if her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly with recognition.

When the thug practically dragged her into a nearby alley, breaking the eye contact, his heart clenched with fear and a strange burning that he would realize later was anger. He knew he had to take action. Though he possessed no remarkable physical ability or self-defense training, his sense of duty and responsibility wouldn't just let him stand by as someone was potentially being assaulted. With that in mind, Minato charged into the alleyway, not expecting to win a fight but at least even the odds enough to look for an opportunity for the both of them to escape.

"Hehe," he heard the thug chuckle perversely. "With that odd little cosplay of yours, you must be one of the so-called Sekirei running around Tokyo I've heard so much about, huh? Name's Kazu. Why don't you come with me and I'll show you a good time."

He put his hand on the wall directly next to the silver-haired girl's head, but she didn't even flinch once. She simply gazed impassively at him an unreadable expression on her face.

"Cat got your tongue? Why don't you speak up, what's your name, ojou-chan?"

"Karasuba." she said.

'Hmph, what a pathetic excuse for an Ashikabi,' the Black Sekirei snorted to herself. 'He may have looked strong on the outside, but he's nothing but a pig in human clothing. I should have known I wouldn't react to him... Damn you for giving me these disgusting thoughts of true love and fated meetings.' She slowly reached for the hilt of her disguised nodachi, fully intending to cut the offending man down before she was startled by the appearance of a long-haired young man in the alleyway.

"O-oi! W-what do you think you're doing?" he shouted in a slightly shaky voice. The young man looked scared out of his mind and his face was as pale as a sheet, but his expression was set with a strong determination not to back down in the face of blatant danger.

'This boy looks like he could get blown away by a stiff breeze at any moment but he's still trying to stand up to this trash? Interesting...' Karasuba mused. The faintest stirrings of something mysterious fluttered in her chest as she observed the situation unfolding before her eyes.

Kazu turned with a dismissive look of indifference at the interruption. "Who the fuck are you? Get the fuck outta here, kid. The grownups are speaking."

Ignoring him, the thug simply turned back to heckling her. Karasuba watched as the young man clenched his fists in frustration, her sharp hearing picking up muttered curses at himself for his own weakness. Hands slightly trembling, he pulled out his cell phone and punched in a few numbers before raising his voice again.

"Y-you better leave that girl alone," he yelled with a slight hitch in his voice. He held up his phone with the numbers 112 clearly dialed in. "I've got the police on call and I'm not afraid to ring them in if you don't leave that girl alone!"

"Wow, the little boy's got at least some teeny tiny balls, eh?" Kazu walked up to the young man, getting right up into his face. To his credit, he didn't flinch a single bit but Karasuba hadn't realized it was possible for a human to get even paler than that stranger already was before. The thug reached out and slapped the phone out of his hand. "Oops, my hand slipped. What're you going to do about it, kid?

The "kid" in question trembled slightly as he appeared to consider his options. The adrenaline undoubtedly pumping through his veins demanded he fight or flee, but Karasuba didn't expect much out of the random boy who obviously got in over his head. Confronted by an obviously stronger opponent, his most logical course of action would be to turn tail and run. It was human nature, but she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of disappointment.

After a split second of hesitation, he stunned her by choosing both. The dark haired youth went for a swift kick to the thug's balls, striking with all of his adrenaline-fueled might and sending Kazu to the ground in whimpering pain. Pausing only to scoop up his cracked phone, the young man ran over to Karasuba and grabbed her hand.

"We've gotta run before this guy gets up! C'mon, I'll lead the way!" he yelled as they ran out of the alleyway.

Karasuba's momentary astonishment quickly faded away, replaced by only a mysterious smile as she pondered the growing warm feeling in her chest. 'This boy, weak as he may seem, risked his neck for a total stranger and actually got away with it. He faced down a stronger opponent and actually won...? This feeling in my chest... Am I really reacting to him... Yume?"

Once they finally turned the corner into a nearby park after running for what seemed like blocks, Minato slumped into a nearby bench and gasped for breath. Karasuba on the other hand still looked as fresh as a daisy, like she had simply gone for a light stroll through the city. After a moment's contemplation, she casually sat down next to him on the bench without a word.

After finally catching his breath, Minato turned to address the mysterious girl. Now that he finally got a chance to really study her, he could only blush at her beauty. She caught him staring, turning to fix him with an odd stare. He blushed deeper and excused himself, getting up to buy a couple of drinks. It was a simultaneously a genuine gesture and an opportunity for him to regroup his thoughts. Returning with a pair of canned hot coffees, he handed one to her and attempted to make small talk to lighten the awkward atmosphere.

"So, Karasuba-san was it? My name is Sahashi Minato. Are you alright?" he asked.

"Quite," she replied simply, shifting slightly on the bench to face him directly. "Thank you for your... assistance back there."

"Ah, it was no problem. I couldn't just stand by and let that guy harass you."

"Why?" She tilted her head quizzically.

"Like I said, I didn't want to just let that guy do whatever he wanted to you. You deserve better than that."

"Why intervene when you knew you were likely outclassed in every way?" Karasuba pressed further, setting her drink down. "That man was bigger than you, stronger than you, older than you and thus likely more experienced that you as well – you would lose in a straight fight, and yet you charged into that alley anyway. Why?"

"I – I... It's hard to explain, but I just felt like I couldn't let any harm come to you." Minato flushed an even darker red, remembering that odd moment that they made eye contact in before she had been pulled away. He forced himself to keep looking her in the eye, knowing on an almost instinctive level she would not take him seriously otherwise. "I know this will sound weird but I felt... drawn to you for some reason. Before you were pulled into the alley, we made eye contact and... I just knew I had to protect you to the best of my ability."

At those words, the warm feeling in Karasuba's grew into a roaring blaze and a light pink dusted her cheeks. She slowly clutched a hand to her heart, feeling it beat harder and harder in Minato's presence. She had never felt such a thing before, but she instinctively knew it was because she was reacting to the young man in front of her.

Karasuba reached out with her other hand and clutched the back of Minato's head, grabbing him by the hair to pull him towards her. Her forehead rested on his, the simple contact and intimacy magnifying the fire in her heart into an inferno that threatened to burn her up from the inside out with its intensity. Minato could only go with her pace, swept along by Karasuba's forceful energy. He made no effort to resist, feeling strangely at ease and like this was all something right. Something meant to happen.

"Weird? Not at all." She breathed out, emphasizing each word sensually. "Because you... are my Ashikabi."

"W-wha-" Minato stuttered out before being interrupted by Karasuba.

The Black Sekirei placed her free hand on his cheek and took his lips in hers, giving him a searing kiss. Wings of inky black burst from her shoulders, filling the park with an eerie glow. Her tongue forced its way into his mouth, fighting for dominance. To Minato, the kiss went on for what felt like an eternity. It wasn't until he felt his vision dim and his heart burn painfully for air that he finally broke away with a gasping breath.

"By the blade of my pledge, I swear to exterminate your sworn enemies, my Ashikabi. You are mine as I am yours, now and forevermore." Karasuba purred, holding his face in both hands.

"Wha- what? I don't understand, Karasuba-san. What just happened?" Minato sputtered, strangely in shock more because of how fast everything had transpired rather than over the fact that it had transpired in the first place.

Just then, Minato's cell phone rang and interrupted whatever explanation Karasuba had planned. Picking up the phone, he was met with the piercing laugh of a spectacled man in an all-white outfit.

"Congratulations, Minato-kun! You've been selected to be the partner of a Sekirei!" he boomed through the video connection.

"W-who are you?" Minato asked quizzically. The events of the entire day had thrown him far outside his comfort zone. Things were rapidly spiraling out of his control and he was getting more and more confused by the minute.

"You don't know who I am? HAHAHA!" he cackled. "I didn't think there was anyone who's anyone left in this world who doesn't know about me or my company, but no matter! Now, as I was saying, you've been selected to be the partner of a Sekirei! And not just any Sekirei, No. 4 Karasuba to be precise!"

"Minato-kun, be a dear and hang up will you?" Karasuba leaned over his shoulder and breathed into Minato's ear, a strained smile concealing her irritation at being interrupted by MBI's president of all people.

"Bwahaha, Karasuba-chan, you're so mean to me!" Minaka chortled. "But seriously, hear me out here, Minato-kun!"

Karasuba simply reached over Minato's shoulder and hit the end call button without a word, placing a deceptively dainty finger on Minato's lips to silence his protests.

"Shhhhhhh..." She waggled the other finger in his face in a show of mock disapproval. "Anything that fool would have told you is full of fluff and nonsense. I'll do all the explaining you'll need to be caught up to speed with this Sekirei Plan he's schemed up."

"Should we head somewhere more private then, Karasuba-san?" Minato asked. "Whatever this thing is, it sounds important and we probably shouldn't talk about it in a park, right? Let's head back to my place."

"Ara ara, taking a girl you've just met back to your place already? What a beast you are, Minato-kun." Karasuba replied playfully. "All jokes aside though, yes. Privacy would be best."

After a short walk back to Minato's apartment complex, Minato paused on the staircase leading to his floor.

"What's the matter, tired already?"

"No, it's not that. It's just... I've never brought a girl back to my apartment before because my landlord is extremely strict about that kind of thing for some reason. He'll kick me out if he catches you here!"

Karasuba tapped a finger on her lip thoughtfully before answering. "Well in that case, we'll just have to not get caught." She said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Minato heaved a heavy sigh of exasperation and trudged on, nervously leading the way to his humble home for the past months of his self-imposed study exile. It was a small studio apartment, furnished with only the bare necessities for a single person to live somewhat comfortably. The only concessions to luxury Minato could afford was a small couch he hoped to entertain guests on before finding out about the landlord's strict anti-visitor policy. Nowadays, its only use was when he slept on it because he was too lazy to pull himself into bed for a proper night's sleep after studying for hours on end.

"It's not much, but it's home." he said with just a hint of embarrassment, unlocking the door and quietly opening it as to rouse as little attention as possible.

Karasuba walked in, her experienced eye taking only a brief moment to note everything in the cramped apartment with one look, and frowned. No Ashikabi of hers was going to live in what she considered a peasant's hovel, not while she could help it. Before she could speak up, Minato placed two glasses of water on the table and offered her a seat on the plain-looking cushions he set out at his small coffee table. She gave him a long stare before wordlessly folding herself gracefully onto it, sitting across the table in front of him with her nodachi laid beside her.

"So, Karasuba-san," he began before she interrupted him with a raised hand.

"Drop the –san, or any other honorifics you might be thinking of. You are my Ashikabi and I am your Sekirei, there's no need for that kind of formality." Karasuba may not have been your average Sekirei with mad dreams of romance and wild love, but even she felt uncomfortable with the man she was bonded with using stuffy honorifics with her. It just wasn't her style to begin with.

"K-Karasuba then," he started again with a slight nervous stutter at jumping so intimately into first name basis with a girl he just met. A beautiful girl to be sure, but still a practical stranger before today. "First off, what's all this about Ashikabi? What's a Sekirei? And the Sekirei Plan you were talking about?"

Amused at his rapid fire curiosity, she paused a bit to figure out where to begin.

"A Sekirei is what I and the 107 other brothers and sisters of mine are called, and an Ashikabi is the one person we bond to that releases our full potential. Some of my more... romantic siblings believe one's Ashikabi is one's fated partner, the person we were destined to be with. The one we were guided to meet by the power of... love..." Karasuba trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes.

"W-what about you?" Minato asked hesitantly. He didn't want to interrupt her explanation, especially since his gut feeling told him this was a sensitive topic for his newfound Sekirei, but he felt like he should say something in this situation.

The Black Sekirei merely raised an eyebrow and took a sip from her glass, giving him a look that practically screamed, "Drop it." Minato flinched internally yet let none of it show on his face. He had plenty of experience navigating touchy subjects, an education given to him by hard knocks from his mother and sister until it was second nature to read even the most subtle of mood swings in other people. Karasuba continued onward unperturbed.

"As for the Sekirei Plan, it's Minaka's stupid game where he intends to pit all 108 of us against each other in a battle royale of sorts. The winning Ashikabi allegedly 'ascends,' whatever that means, and gains power enough to put the world in his or her hands."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous and incredibly scary... You're saying I've been chosen to participate in this... game? Why me?"

"I was never really interested in the mechanics of it all, but essentially our genes reacted to each other." She leaned over the table and placed a kiss on his lips before he could react. The same black wings as earlier burst from her shoulders again, almost touching the ceiling of his small apartment.

"As you can see, my body responds to yours now because our fates are now intertwined, to borrow an expression from a former... colleague of mine. Why you in particular is something that confuses even me. I never intended to be winged by anyone in this stupid game, and even if I did, you are practically the opposite of everything I've ever envisioned in an Ashikabi. You're shy, you're timid, you're weak, and you're poor." Each negative trait she listed struck a silent blow to Minato's pride, and he slumped in his seat on the floor.

"And yet despite all that, you rushed in to save me from an opponent bigger and stronger than you are. Not that I needed saving, but the gesture is what counts. You intrigue me, Minato-kun."

Minato could only laugh sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Like I said before, I couldn't just let you get harassed by that guy. I was scared out of my mind to be honest. But the thought of something bad happening to you, despite me not knowing you at all until now, made my blood run cold."

The same warm glow that filled her when she first reacted to Minato began to diffuse throughout her chest as she stared at him in the wake of his frank answer. Karasuba forced herself to clamp down on those feelings. After all, a monster like her couldn't, wouldn't deserve to feel like that.

"Is that so?" Karasuba chuckled darkly as she reached across the table to caress his cheek with a surprisingly tender touch. "You won't have to worry about that. I'm the one who makes bad things happen to other people, the one who makes their blood run cold."

Her newly minted Ashikabi swallowed nervously as he met her intense gaze head on. In any other situation, Minato would have been terrified of the obviously powerful woman practically trapping him in such an intimate and vulnerable position. Being raised and surrounded by two headstrong women in his mother and younger sister had instilled a healthy fear of authoritative females in him, but for some reason he could not bring himself to fear the silver-haired beauty in front of him. Maybe it was his imagination that made him see a glimmer of pain and deep sadness in her eyes, even as she projected a dark aura of strength from every pore.

The grumbling of his stomach practically echoing in the small apartment interrupted his contemplative thoughts however, bringing a sharp laugh out of the No. 04 Sekirei.

"Hungry are we?"

"I think I completely skipped lunch in all the commotion today." Minato said, highly embarrassed. "All that running around on adrenaline made me forget all about being hungry until now." Getting up and straightening his pants, he headed towards the kitchen. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I make us some dinner."

There were several important reasons why Sahashi Takami agreed to help oversee the MBI Director's insane Sekirei Plan despite her marked disgust with the affair. Someone had to step up and fill Takehito's shoes, and she didn't trust anyone else to be in charge of oversight for the tuning of the Sekirei. The final and most important reason of all was to hold Minaka to his promise of both staying out of her children's lives, to never involve them in the Sekirei Plan at all.

She knew all too well how large in scope Minaka wanted his insane "game" to be, and between Minato studying in Tokyo to get into university and Yukari demanding to join her brother in the capitol, she could see no other way to ensure their safety. Up until now, he had kept both of his promises. But when a technician delivered that day's status updates on newly winged Sekirei, she felt her blood run cold.

"As for today's new wingings, we only have one to report. A Sahashi Minato has winged No. 04 Karasuba."

A loud crack brought the entire room to a halt as Takami snapped the clipboard in her hands with how tightly she gripped it. Not a single person dared move or make a sound out of fear, freezing mid-step or mid-keystroke at their computer terminals in an attempt to blend into the background unnoticed.

"You said who... winged who?" she said in an eerily calm voice. "I don't think I heard you properly the first time. Repeat that last part again."

The technician who had the misfortune of delivering the day's reports could only tremble violently before he mustered the courage to spit out an answer. "M-m-m-ma'am, I said Sahashi Minato winged No. 04 Karasuba."

Deafening silence filled the room as Takami only stood there with an unreadable expression on her face, her knuckles white around the broken halves of the clipboard in each hand.

"I see."

A single bead of sweat ran down the side of the poor technician's face, but he didn't dare move a muscle to wipe it. After what seemed like an eternity, Takami turned to place the two halves down on her desk. She reached for the pack of cigarettes in her lab coat pocket, taking one out and lighting it with a deft flick of her lighter. Only a cloud of smoke trailing in her wake, she briskly left the room without saying a word.

An audible collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the room as soon as people were confident she was out of ear shot.

After a humble but filling meal of curry, Minato found himself in yet another quandary about Karasuba. While ostensibly excusing himself to wash the dishes, in reality he just wanted time to think about his next course of action.

He only had one futon, and not ever expecting overnight guests, did not have any spare sets of bedding. Not a single extra blanket or pillow beyond what was necessary for his own comfort. In any other situation, he would have been fine with sleeping on the couch or the floor while Karasuba took his futon, but winters in the capitol were brutally cold. His tiny apartment wasn't equipped with heating even if he could afford to turn it on, and it was poorly insulated to begin with. He was definitely getting what he paid for as far as rent was concerned.

Minato cast a side-long glance at where Karasuba lounging gracefully on his couch like a predator digesting its meal after a successful hunt. She had her long nodachi partially drawn, inspecting its edge for nicks and other imperfections when she noticed him staring at her. Meeting his eye out of the corner of her own with a knowing smirk, she sheathed her blade and turned to face him fully, still laying on her side with her head propped up on one arm. Turning away with a bright blush on his face, he realized that metaphor was quite apt after considering what he had seen of and knew about her so far. He tried to ignore the prickly feeling on the back of his head from what he was sure was her steely stare.

The most logical choice for what to do was simply to share a futon for warmth and practicality's sake. He didn't know the specifics of what a Sekirei's bond to an Ashikabi meant, but from what he had heard so far, it seemed as meaningful as a wedding vow. If that was the case, no one else would bat an eye at a husband choosing to sleep in the same futon with his wife, right? He couldn't help but blush again at the thought of it.

Which brought him to the reasons why such an arrangement wouldn't work. Call him old-fashioned, but he couldn't just up and sleep with a girl he had just met for the first time that day, wife or no wife. Karasuba was a beautiful woman to be sure, but he was quite certain she wasn't of the type to just lay with any man she just met that day either... Was she?

As Minato placed the last plate into the drying rack, he could only heave a sigh of defeat having come no closer to a solution than when he started. He dried his own hands with a small towel and came to a decision on the next best option – if he couldn't decide what to do, why not just ask Karasuba herself what she wanted to do? Was it running from a hard choice like he tended to do instead of coming to a decisive answer? Possibly.

"Um, Karasuba?" he asked, walking over and kneeling in seiza position by her side at the couch.

Karasuba raised an amused eyebrow at his awkwardness and answered with a simple "Yes?"

"I know this might sound weird, but hear me out." he began nervously. "You see, I only have one futon and one set of bedding..."

"And?" She said bemused. "I'm fine with sharing."

"Well... I was kind of hoping... Wait what?"

"Don't make me repeat myself, I know you heard me the first time." A dangerous looking smirk flitted across Karasuba's mouth as she got up slowly from the couch. Whispering into his ear as she passed by the stunned and blushing Minato, she excused herself to go wash up for bed.

Minato hardly noticed the time go by as he buzzed about his apartment getting ready to sleep. His mind ran a mile a minute thinking about what he was going to do with this wildly beautiful woman who accepted him sharing a bed with her, how he was going to put himself at a respectful distance from her, how he was definitely going to die if he accidentally got fresh with her in the middle of the night, how—

"...Minato." Karasuba's voice roused him out of his reverie. "Are you coming to bed or are you just going to stare at me all night?"

The young man found himself kneeling in seiza again, this time at the foot of the futon. Karasuba still had the bemused look on her face, one elegant eyebrow raised at his latest antics. She had shed the strange black and grey uniform she was wearing before, instead opting for one of Minato's old t-shirts with her hair let down from its ponytail. Minato felt his breath catch in his throat as he couldn't help but continue to stare at her. The moonlight filtering through the windows struck her face and illuminated it with an almost ethereal glow, enhancing her beauty. Karasuba patted the space next to her and Minato meandered over, mind completely blank.

"Good night, my Ashikabi." Another mysterious smile danced across her lips before she laid her head down on the pillow to sleep.

He mumbled a "Good night, Karasuba" almost absentmindedly before he laid down at her side. He stared at the ceiling for a bit before his exhaustion caught up with him. All the excitement and adrenaline of the day's events – getting into Tokyo U, running into Karasuba, running away with her, the winging – caught up with him. As if a switch was flipped, fatigue swept over his body and his eyes grew heavy. Before long, Minato was out like a light.

Karasuba laid on her side, waiting for Minato's breathing to even out. When she was convinced he had finally fallen asleep, she slowly turned over to study his lightly snoring face. She scrutinized his every feature, trying to figure out exactly how in the world it was possible for an Ashikabi like him to wing with a Sekirei like her. If she had said it once, she had said it a million times, but it still perplexed her how she had reacted to him in the first place. No matter how much she thought about it, Minato was weak and timid in nearly every way she could measure.

It wasn't exactly his fault either. Before she met him, she had little to no expectation of any human's ability to match up to her standards. They were a soft species in general to her, and what she had seen of their alleged best throughout her tours of duty in the Disciplinary Squad had not impressed her.

"I could end your life so easily," she murmured softly, gazing upon his sleeping form. He shifted in his sleep, turning on his side to face her. His jaw was turned upward for some reason or other, and his jugular vein stood out in sharp relief in the moonlight. She could see very clearly the slow throbbing of his heartbeat.

An all-too familiar feeling of bloodlust began to well up inside of her body as she took in his vulnerable state. It would be nothing but child's play to reach out and snap his neck in her hands, to wring his throat and watch him sputter for air as the light left his eyes, to slit his throat with her blade and feed on his blood –

The Black Sekirei bit down sharply on her lip, drawing blood to help suppress her murderous tendencies. She was lucky her own could somewhat sate her urge for killing, but it was far easier to just give into those destructive whispers in her mind. Digging her palms into her eyes, she laid on her back and chuckled self-depreciatingly to herself.

"The first person who ever reacted to me, probably the only person who would ever react to me, and all I can think about on our first night together is all the ways I could kill you... I'm disgusting, aren't I, Minato?"

A restlessness filled her as she laid next to him, trying to fall asleep but with no luck. Perhaps it would be better if she just roamed the darkened streets of Tokyo, looking for a worthy opponent to slake her thirst. It wouldn't take long, she reasoned. By now, most if not all of the Sekirei should have been released, so there was likely no shortage of potential fights to be had. Surely one of them at least had to be worthy of her time. Maybe she'd run into No. 88, she had to have gotten stronger since the last time she saw her, right? Karasuba figured she could probably be back before Minato even realized she had left in the first place.

Karasuba didn't know how much longer she could last without taking another life. It had been almost a week and a half since that little battle with the Third Generation Disciplinary Squad hopefuls and she didn't even have the opportunity to kill them for their insolence, something she hoped to remedy the next time she ran into them. Even before that, she hadn't been able to kill anything or anyone for weeks as MBI missions slowed to a crawl in order to focus resources on preparing for the Sekirei Plan. On some deep subconscious level of her, Karasuba was repulsed by her near-addiction to murder and destruction but she was too far gone in her own opinion to change now. It was that same addiction that tore apart the First Generation Disciplinary Squad, the same addiction that killed her only friend...

She shook her head in an attempt to clear her head of the spiraling thoughts fluttering about. The sudden movement seemed to rouse Minato somewhat as he stirred softly.

"... mm Karasuba... Why are you still awake...?" he slurred, still mostly asleep. "Sleepy time now..."

"I..."

"... ssssstop... Sleepy time now," he slurred insistently. Suddenly surging forward, he wrapped his arms around Karasuba's slightly surprised body right underneath her breasts and latched on firmly.

"Minato-?"

Her only reply was a light snoring – apparently he had fallen right back to sleep, still clinging onto her from behind.

Karasuba scoffed quietly. She had never met any soul brave enough to do what Minato was doing now, not that she gave many people an opportunity to share a bed with her to begin with. Spooning, at least she thought that was the expression, was something wholly foreign to her. She had mentioned it in passing as one of the things she wanted to do with her Ashikabi once she met her fated partner, but Karasuba had always just rolled her eyes and tuned her out once she started gushing about big spoons and little spoons.

It was safe to say the infamous Black Sekirei had never imagined herself in a situation quite like this, but she was surprisingly unperturbed by Minato's forwardness. Laying there in his arms, she felt a sense of warmth and security unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Her previous restlessness and murderous intent had faded away almost entirely. It hadn't completely disappeared, she could still feel it prowling at the edge of her consciousness like a predator stalking its prey, but it was at a manageable state. She felt herself relax ever so slightly, for the first time since her death, and settled in for the long haul. After all, with Minato's hold on her body, it wasn't like she was about to go anywhere. No. 04 was many things, but an inconsiderate Sekirei to her Ashikabi wasn't one of them.

He was going to need every bit of his strength for the storm to come.