Honoka woke up early for some reason, and seeing the beautiful sunrise had the distinct urge to fly.

Now normally she would take her broom and go to the designated sub-dungeon meant for flying. However her broom and other flying items were currently undergoing a yearly maintenance for the next week.

Unlike the Europeans this was mandatory, and it kept their magical artifacts used regularly in top shape. She'd heard things about Hogwarts' school brooms. She had no desire for that to happen to hers.

Which left only one option if she wanted any peace to herself for the day.

Animagus form. She always considered it highly ironic she had that as an animal form.

Honoka managed to slip out of the nest, making sure Akitsu was firmly snuggled up with Kusano and Matsu, who were extremely grabby.

She wrote a quick note, left it on the fridge, then slowly climbed up to the roof. She took a running leap off of it...and then transformed. Feathers flew in the air as she shifted...into a wagtail.

The black and white bird beat a few times before she caught the eye of Kazehana, coming in from drinking with Uzume.

The wind Sekirei saw her, knew it was Honoka, and cheerfully gave her a strong breeze that would take her high above the city before she went into collapse into the 'nest'.

Kazehana was one of two who was aware of her animagi form among the flock. The other was Akitsu.

What would have taken her twenty minutes of effort too less than one with the massive gust that sent her careening into the higher atmosphere where the helicopters generally flew.

As soon as she got her bearings, Honoka drifted from wind stream to wind stream.

This was living.

Homura passed by the fridge and didn't pay any mind to the slip of paper at first.

Then Kuu started asking where her Hono-nee-chan was.

It took them all ten minutes to realize they didn't know where Honoka was.

There was a controlled panic, considering there had been previous concentrated efforts to kidnap her before, and there had been mentions of Europeans on the outskirts.

However it was Kazehana who provided the answer to where she had gone...and cleared up the odd message Honoka left. They knew she could fly without a broom, but no one outside of two of her flock knew what that form was.

"Chibi Tori-chan went flying this morning. I gave her a good breeze to help her get high enough."

Little Bird was the collective nickname from most of the older Sekirei who were and used to be part of the Disciplinary Squad. Karasuba, Haihane, Miya, even Kazehana all called her the little bird, partly because she was a Sekirei in everything but blood at this point.

"So she's in the sky?" said Minato in shock.

"Odds are she's enjoying the wind currents at the higher levels," said Kazehana.

It started out as an odd thrum at the back of their heads. But by the time it was around three or four in the afternoon, almost every Sekirei was humming odd tunes that just wouldn't stop.

It wasn't until Homura stopped to think that he recognized the odd tunes as something Honoka would hum while cooking that belonged the various animes she watched.

The second he caught himself mindlessly humming the 'Brave Phoenix' song from the end of the second Nanoha anime he realized Honoka had to be behind this. Who else would know the words to that song by heart?

Which promptly begged the question...how the hell was Honoka infecting them without being in the house?

The more Homura looked around, the more Sekirei he found either humming along or singing outright (as he found when he located Yashima, who's Ashikabi Yukari was delighted to hear her singing songs from anime).

"Anyone else wondering why we're all either humming out or singing softly the lyrics to 'Brave Phoenix' from Nanoha A's?" he asked in general.

"Is that what this song is called? Wait, how did you recognize it?" asked Uzume, staring at him.

"Blame Honoka. Some of the animes she watches have addicting insert music."

Ironically it had only made him even more popular when some of the patrons heard him humming to popular anime series or recognizing them from the various ringtones on the women's cell.

Apparently the fact he openly admitted to liking the various cartoons and not just the perverted stuff appealed to them.

"So...what is Honoka's animal form anyway?"

Kazehana, who heard the question, let out a bark of laughter.

She still found it funny.

"A Sekirei."

"...What?"

"Honoka-chan can turn into a wagtail. One with some red tints in her feathers but still a wagtail."

"Why am I not surprised," sighed Miya.

At this point Miya no longer considered Honoka as an Ashikabi... she thought of the odd girl as her very daughter. So the fact Honoka's animal form was a wagtail (which, ironically was what the word Sekirei translated to) was not very surprising.

Honoka's day of flying had an odd...side effect...one might call it. She had a habit of humming random songs while bored, and since she had been trying to figure out what it was about the Jinki that made everyone and their grandmother want the stupid things, she had inadvertently become 'hooked up' to every active Sekirei.

As such, Honoka was now an odd form of Sekirei radio station that they were all 'tuned into' for lack of a better term. When she found out what happened, she would take great delight in the fact she had driven Higa, Kakizaki and Mikogami up the wall with all the random songs that simply refused to leave your head well after the effect wore off.

Honoka was actually enjoying her day off.

No fighting, no attention from her Sekirei, just pure flying all by herself.

She didn't realize how much she needed a break from all the attention until she wasn't getting any.

She did aerial stunts like twists, flips and the occasional loop. Eventually she found her way to MBI's tower.

Curious to what Karasuba and Haihane got up to when she wasn't around, she flew to the window.

She started snickering before she nearly fell off the ledge laughing.

Takami was using Karasuba's bloodlust and the more morbid side of Haihane's humor to scare the board members into shutting the hell up. Honoka knew they got on Takami's nerves, because many of them wanted to use the Sekirei as nothing more than tools. Or bedmates.

It was only because of Miya and Karasuba that they hadn't tried it...and the fact Minaka had kicked anyone stupid enough to try and interfere with the "S-Plan" as it was originally called out of MBI or into prison on jumped up charges.

After the first three batches they got the message. Leave the birds alone or else.

Honoka did a flip, giggling.

Karasuba looked up and saw an odd bird. The meeting let out, and she went to the roof where the bird flew up to meet her.

She seemed amused, for lack of a better term, that there was a wagtail on the end of her sheathed sword.

"How interesting. A little bird..."

Honoka tilted her head, before hopping along Karasuba's sword to her shoulder.

"And it seems you like me. How strange...or perhaps not. You're not really a bird at all are you?"

Karasuba was aware that certain wizards could turn into animals. It wasn't that far fetched Honoka could do the same.

"What have you got there Karasuba?" asked Haihane.

"My guess? Honoka."

She chirped and flew onto Haihane's claws.

"What...how..."

"Certain wizards can turn into animals. Figures she would be a wagtail," said Karasuba.

Honoka chirped before she returned to Karasuba's shoulder.

Takami actually did a doubletake when she saw the bird on Karasuba's shoulder without any care at all. Honoka took off after dinner, which for her was a lot of seeds.

She went out flying for a bit more before she returned back to the inn, and promptly landed on Homura's head.

It wasn't until he heard someone snickering that he realized there was anything there at all.

Homura raised a hand above his head, and felt feathers where they shouldn't be.

Matsu snickered.

"There's a wagtail on your head," said Minato in disbelief.

Kuu giggled.

"Pretty birdy!"

The bird launched itself and flew onto an eager Kusano's shoulder. It chirped twice, before flying over the small cluster of Honoka's personal flock.

Kazehana, who was already two bottles to the wind at this point, snickered.

"Have fun on your day off Hono-chan?"

Homura's head whipped towards the innocent seeming bird.

"That's Honoka?!"

The bird flapped one of it's wings, almost as if to wave to him.

"I did help her reach the upper atmosphere this morning. I should know what she looked like," said Kazehana smugly.

Miya eyed the bird with amusement.

"Are you going to stay a bird until nightfall, or switch back?"

Honoka flew up before she started to twist and turn back into her human form.

"That was fun."

"What...how?"

"Honoka-nee is a Sekirei!" said Kuu excitedly.

"Yes, yes she is," snickered Uzume. Considering Sekirei meant 'wagtail' in Japanese, it only made sense Honoka would turn into one.

In England...

Dumbledore was not having a good day. Ever since the Potter girl had been dumped in Japan by the people he had tasked to raise her, everything had gone to pot.

First came the sorting ceremony, in which people found out that Potter not only had never received her Hogwarts letter, but no longer even lived in the country or surrounding countries. Furthermore no one had any clue where she was.

Then came the demands of the Ministry to find her dammit!

And to top off what should have been her first year, Voldemort very nearly got the fake stone, had it not been for the efforts of Snape who didn't believe his idea of leaving a way into the room was a good one. Voldemort died from a muggle poison called cyanide, or his host did.

Dumbledore was very, very glad he alone knew the back entrance. He still shuddered to think what would have happened had he drank the potion to allow passage.

Second year, they finally had a break, or so he originally thought.

The letters had found the girl, and he sent Snape to bring her back. How she ended up in Japan, he had no idea.

Then everything hit another curve. Snape came back alright...with multiple broken bones that had to be removed and regrown because of how many small pieces they were in.

A second person was sent, this time chosen by the Ministry. Dumbledore almost felt sorry for Delores Umbridge...they sent her back in pieces and a note saying the next time they sent someone to bring back the girl, they wouldn't be nice enough to send them back dead. They would still be screaming.

After that began an intense negotiation between Japan and England trying to get the Potter heir back.

That was the first time Dumbledore had ever heard of Sekirei. Or the magically binding tournament in which the girl had found herself in. Until this 'Sekirei Game' was over, she could not leave the designated city.

However this mess had come with an unexpected blessing when he helped to bring back the Tri-Wizard tournament.

You couldn't participate in more than one magically-binding tournament if one was location specific. And when her name came out, he had never felt more relieved in his life. From what he understood, the tournament she was already in didn't have that high a death toll, whereas the Tri-Wizard more often than not claimed the lives of the champions.

Still... with the return of Voldemort, they needed her back more than ever. Only she could kill him once and for all, even if it meant her life would end in the process.

Now how was he going to get into that city without the Japanese Ministry coming down on his head...or her guardians?