For anyone who read my previous story, this is not related at all. This is also not the canon universe. Hope you enjoy this new story.

Chapter 1

Benitsubasa let her legs dangle over the edge of her favorite vantage point and ran a hand through her pink hair. It was a firehouse before the lockdown of Tokyo started. Now, it was just another building riddled with the scars of war. Benitsubasa didn't know what drew her to it. It was likely the brilliant red bricks that made up the wall. She figured a place as noticeable as this would be the best place to find her Ashikabi.

So far though, her search had not yielded any results. The only humans that came by the firehouse were quickly slaughtered by the local gang. She grimaced as another unsuspecting man was noticed for intruding on the gang's turf. The man was scrounging through some trash cans presently.

At this point, food was scarce for those without the power to seize it. Of course she never had to worry about food, but she knew that the local gang did. They would not take kindly to someone stealing their food. He instantly began to run when he noticed several pairs of eyes looking at him. The man was fast, but not fast enough. He taken down by his ankles and landed face first into the pavement. He was trying to apologize for intruding, but his apologies fell on deaf ears. He now was being kicked on all sides by four gang members.

She had seen enough when he began coughing up blood. She knew how it would ultimately end. He would be just another dead body that would be searched for valuables, then dumped into the garbage can.

"Why don't they ever try to fight back?" She wondered aloud as she deftly climbed down the roof and into the open window of the firehouse. She had converted the top floor of the firehouse into her home. The stairs to the garage were blocked by a large amount of debris. She had kept the interior basically the same, but she had brought in a mattress in from a local furniture store to sleep on.

There was a small living room area connected to the kitchen area, which she had found to be heavily stocked with canned food. The living room itself was relatively ordinary. There was a small green couch that was opposite from the sole television. Not that she really used it. She saw enough every day and didn't want to be reminded of the carnage in Tokyo. There was a small bookshelf with a few classic novels and assorted magazines next to the couch. She had laid out her mattress right in front of the couch. The most noticeable feature of the room was the fire pole next to the kitchen. She had covered up the hole with some planks of wood she found in a hardware store.

There was a small bathroom where she took showers. She was lucky to stumble upon one of the few buildings left in the city that still had running water and electricity. The entire floor was covered by a cheap blue carpet that she thought might have once been a brilliant sapphire, but was now a dull navy blue from the abuse it had taken over the years. She closed the window and covered it with a heavy curtain, so no one would be able to tell that she had electricity.

She made her way to the light switch and snapped on the lights, illuminating the dark room. She walked over to the kitchen, where she grabbed a small can of tomato sauce. With her gargantuan strength, she took the top of the can off without a can opener and poured it into a small pan on the stove. She turned on the stove and put a small pot filled with water on. She opened up the box of pasta she had eaten for lunch and poured the rest in. As the water boiled, she pulled out the pasta and placed it on a clean plate. She took the pan and poured the sauce on top. She usually tried to save the sauce, but she had not eaten any sauce for a week, so she decided that she should treat herself.

She was about to take a bite when she heard a commotion outside. She quickly turned off the lights, so as to not attract attention and she peered out of the window.

"What do you think you're doing kid?"

"Leave her alone!" The black haired teen stood protectively in front of a blue haired teen.

"Come on. You need to pay the price for trespassing. Tell you what? Give her to us and we'll let you go." The man took out his switchblade and made a show of waving it around.

"Yukari, get out of here." The teen whispered.

"No Minato, you can't do this." Yukari begged.

He pulled her up to her feet and pushed her away from the men, "I promised to take care of you. Get out of here." She nodded and ran off.

"Do you think you can take us?" Another gang member asked while picking up a crowbar.

"I don't have to, I just have to buy her enough time." His gray eyes had a steely gaze that showed no fear. However, his shaking hands betrayed him.

"I know you're scared." The man with the knife stated.

"I'm not scared of you, you're just a bunch of thugs!" Minato spat.

Benitsubassa had to admit, she was pretty impressed by his bravery. In fact, she could definitely feel something radiating from him.

Oh God, I'm not reacting to him am I? He's just some random guy who decided to stand up to these guys. He can't be anything special.

He was now being rushed by three gang members, utterly defenseless. He tried to swing at one of them, but his arm was met with a knife.

"Ah!" Minato cried out as the knife pierced his skin. He had no time to dwell on the pain as he was struck across the face by a crowbar. He keeled over and coughed up a bit of blood. He felt a foot fly into his back and send him to the ground.

He could hear the men chuckling at him.

"Come on, get up. The last guy we fought at least put up a fight."

Minato could feel the adrenaline fueling his actions now. He got up to his feet and swung wildly at the men. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a boot to the gut.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that."

Is this how I'm going out? I wish I could see Yukari out of this mess. At least she got away for now.

Benitsubasa had seen enough. She quickly hopped out of her window and landed behind the three men.

"All right, you've had your fun, now leave him alone."

"Are you telling us what to do?" The man tried to intimidate her with his knife, but she wasn't impressed.

"All right, you don't want to listen? Fine." Benitsubasa grabbed the man's wrist and slowly squeezed, reveling as his wrist cracked, indicating that it was being fractured. The knife dropped from his hand and his other hand flew to his wrist to try and pry open Benitsubasa's iron grip, but to no avail.

As another rushed at her, she let go of the man and delivered a roundhouse kick to the gang member's head, reducing him to a heap on the ground.

The last gang member dropped his crow bar and ran away as his two friends groaned in pain.

Minato couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Are you an angel or something?" He asked.

Benitsubasa blushed at what she took as a compliment. "No. But thank you. I'm actually Benitsubasa."

"Minato." He replied.

She kneeled down next to the teen, grabbed his arm and looked it over. As her hand met his skin, her heart began to beat faster and she felt a small spark.

"You're lucky that it was just a cut. What were you thinking?" She asked.

"I had to protect my sister, I had no choice but to stand up to these guys." He said weakly.

"You almost died out there. You aren't strong enough to take on three armed thugs."

"I was scared, but I couldn't just stand there and let them do something to Yukari." He retorted.

"You're brave, I'll give you that. Stupid, but brave."

Minato smiled at the half compliment before blacking out. Benitsubasa slung his unconscious form over her shoulder and leaped back to her room. She gently set him down on her mattress as she went to the bathroom to look for gauze.

She found what she was looking for and returned to apply it. As she wrapped his bleeding arm up, she took a look at his face. His face was a little thin and smudged with dirt. She figured that living in the warzone outside would do that to him. He was probably underfed and clearly had not taken a shower in quite some time. Despite this, his face still bore a peaceful expression that Benitsubasa found both calming and attractive.

Wait, there's no way I can be thinking that way about him. I barely know him!

Her now neglected dinner sat on the dinner table, ignored as Benitsubasa continued to study the teen lying in her room. She decided to take off his brown fur jacket, which now had a hole in the right sleeve, leaving him in a while t shirt and jeans. She decided to take off his shirt, to make sure he wasn't hurt of course.

His body wasn't very strongly built. Although he did have a toned body, he was still slim and didn't have any bulging muscles. Still, his body was able to take the beating it received rather well, so it had to be pretty strong.

She looked back at his face again, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. She had never kissed anyone before, but for some reason, she felt drawn to this man. Her body felt like it was on fire now.

Minato's eyes fluttered open and he found himself face to face with the beautiful woman who had saved him earlier.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he realized she was extremely close to him.

"Nothing." She quickly pulled back from him, and instantly, her body cooled down.

He sat up and looked around at the room he was lying in.

"Is this your house?" He asked.

"Yeah, I kinda found this little place a while back."

"It's got electricity." He said as he realized that the room was brightly lit.

"Yeah, and running water." She said. His eyes sparkled at that fact.

"Is there a shower?" He asked.

She pointed to her bathroom, "Right there."

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

He got up and quickly left to take a shower. Benitsubasa was then left alone to her thoughts.

Did I really almost kiss him? I can't believe I would do that. Granted, he's pretty hot, but still! He's kind of a weakling. He's definitely not strong enough to be my Ashikabi.

Minato felt his muscles release their tension as the hot water poured down on him. For a moment, he forgot that he was stuck in the middle of a warzone. He could almost remember his old home. He had moved away two years ago to take the college entrance exams in Tokyo. Unfortunately, he had failed two years in a row.

Then it happened. MBI took over the city and martial law was enforced. In order to stop MBI, the government of Japan refused to send any supplies, hoping to starve MBI. However, MBI had carried on for five months now, and there was never any mention of relenting to the Japanese government in the weekly updates by MBI's CEO, Minaka Hiroto.

He constantly talked about the Sekirei Plan, which every Tokyo citizen had heard of by now. Although the original Sekirei Plan called for matches between Ashikabi for something called Jinki, which was one of the things Minaka hadn't elaborated on, Minaka decided to scrap that part of the plan because he thought a battle royal would be more entertaining. Obviously, the ones who would be strong enough to win this would be the Ashikabi. He knew about the various Ashikabi and how they controlled the city now. It all made him sick.

"Why should anyone get to abuse others just because they have a Sekirei?" He muttered.

As took a shower, he had no idea that Benitsubasa was trying to listen in.

He's idealistic, but that's going to come back and haunt him. I wonder what he would do if he got a taste of the power the Ashikabi possesses. Will he be like the others, or will he stick to his beliefs? Even if he isn't my Ashikabi, he's interesting. No matter what, I'm going to keep my eye on him.

She stepped away from the door right as Minato stepped out wearing nothing but a towel. Benitsubasa took one more look at his body.

"Do you happen to have any clean clothes?" He asked.

"I think that they're some extras by the fire pole, there are some small lockers next to it."

Minato searched through the locker until he found spare underwear, a white t shirt and jeans, and a blue jacket.

He returned to find Benitsubasa wolfing down her dinner. He took a seat across from her at the plastic table. His close proximity suddenly made her heart beat faster and she felt warm.

"For a small woman, you eat a lot." He remarked.

"Well, I need to keep my strength up, I am a Sekirei after all." Minato instantly backed up at that fact.

Benitsubasa put down her fork, "What?"

"You're a Sekirei." He stated.

"So what?" She realized that he probably didn't trust Sekirei very much. The Ashikabi used the Sekirei as enforcers most of the time, so he probably had a few bad experiences.

"Don't worry, I'm not like the others. I don't have an Ashikabi to carry out orders for." She reassured.

He moved his seat back and frowned, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed anything about you. After all, you did save my life."

"No problem. You wouldn't have survived this long if you were too trusting." She returned to eating.

Minato saw a few strands of pink hair fall over her face as she ate. For some reason, he felt an urge to brush it out of the way. He reached his hand over to her face and moved the hair back into place, touching her ever so lightly. He noticed that she instantly shuddered a bit at his touch.

"You're pretty sensitive, huh?" He asked.

She looked up at him with a blush on her cheeks, "Yeah, you could say that."

What did he do that for? His touch was so nice though. Ah! What am I thinking? He's not my Ashikabi, he just can't be!

"So why haven't you found an Ashikabi yet?" Minato asked, snapping her from her thoughts.

"I never met the right person." She replied.

"Well, I guess I should help you find someone, I owe that much to you." He said, offering his help.

"I'm okay."

Minato looked confused, "I thought every Sekirei wanted to be winged."

Benitsubasa didn't answer him.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine." He said.

"How would you feel about being an Ashikabi?" She asked.

"Why do you ask that?"

Benitsubasa looked away, "I'd rather not say."

She got up and walked over to her couch. Minato followed closely behind.

"What are you hiding from me?" He asked as he put a hand on her shoulder. She shuddered again at his touch.

"The truth is, I think that maybe there's a chance that you could possibly be my Ashikabi." She said quickly.

"Wait, me? Why me? I thought Ashikabi were supposed to be strong."

"I don't know, but every time I see you, my heart beats faster, and every time you touch me, I feel like I'm on fire. I've never reacted to anyone before, but no one has ever made me feel like this."

"I'm just a regular guy though."

"You're not! You are my Ashikabi!" Her hands flew to her mouth.

Why am I defending him? Everything he's said so far is right.

"Thank you, but I don't think I deserve to be one. What do I have that everyone else in here doesn't have?"

"You were willing to lay down your life out there for your sister. And when I listened to you in the bathroom, I could tell that you have admirable ideals. I know you don't think highly of yourself, but I do."

This is really weird. I never would've said this stuff to anyone else.

"You do?"

She nodded without hesitation, "Yes."

"And you're sure you want me to be your Ashikabi?"

She nodded again without hesitation, "Yes."

"Then I guess I don't have any choice but to accept."

"Really? You want to be my Ashikabi?"

Minato slowly nodded, "Yes. So how does that happen?"

"Like this." She slowly leaned into him, and as she did, she felt her body get hotter every inch she got closer to him. She was on fire now, only an inch separated their lips.

Minato had never kissed anyone before, but he tried to lean in, like how he saw in the movies.

Their lips met and instantly, Benitsubasa felt relief course throughout her body. The heat in her body began pooling up at her back, and then it was released in the form of wings of brilliant light.

"Are those wings? I heard about sparks flying, but I didn't think that wings would appear." Minato said.

"It just means that you are my Ashikabi. You winged me."

"Do you mind if I try something?" Minato asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Benitsubasa asked.

Minato cupped her face and gave her a gentle and caring kiss.

"Hm, no wings this time." He observed. Before she could reply, the television flickered to life.

"Congratulations! You finally winged someone." Minaka cried out.

"What do you mean finally?" Minato asked, but Minaka ignored him and plowed on.

"You are now part of the Sekirei Plan. You might be a late participant, but better late than never! As you know, Tokyo is the home of a battle royal between Sekirei right now. The rules are simple. Be the last one standing and you win! I expect a lot out of you Minato, so don't disappoint."

The television turned off and Minato took a seat on the couch.

"So we will have to fight other Sekirei, won't we?"

She nodded in response.

"I don't know if we can do this." He buried his face in his hands.

Benitsubasa curled up to her new Ashikabi, "Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to make sure we win."

Minato looked at her, "I promise I will too."

She gave a yawn and rested her head on his chest. Minato studied her sleeping face and smiled at her calm expression.

"What am I getting myself into?"

I would really appreciate any response I could get. For those who were hoping for a harem story, I'll warn you right now that this is not one. Minato will have one, maybe two more Sekirei. I wrote a harem story before, and I'll admit that I didn't like writing it as much as I like writing this story, so you can feel free to suggest which Sekirei Minato should wing, but only one Sekirei, maybe two will get chosen. Also, another warning. I won't be updating at the same pace I did with my other story. It will likely be updated once, maybe twice a week until September, and then the uploads will slow down even more.