Well, I'm sure some of you might remember this from back when I had my little collection fic of future ideas.

Anyway, it has been refined a bit more since then and I have now decided it is time to post it given just how much my mind is focusing on it right now and how I can't seem to really get into the groove for my currently posted fics.

So, I suppose it is time to get this out of the way:

I Do Not Own The Intellectual Property Of Either The Megami Tensei Franchise Or Sekirei And Make No Money Off This Free Access Fanfiction

There, now that that disclaimer is out of the way, I suppose I'll just get on with the story.

XXX Chapter Start XXX

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked over the gathered crowd.

How long had it been since that day?

Ten years? Twenty?

He'd lost track of it all in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Not that it mattered, it wasn't like a decade or two was really worth that much to him.

Not when he knew from his 'friend' that despite looking like he did before that day, he was still the same as he was by the end of that day.

Leaving the store he had been window shopping through, he pulled out his phone and stared.

It had been a long time since he had left his family and he had put off speaking to them ever since… and all because of a single reason.

How would they react when they saw he still looked around fifteen years old when he was closer to double that age?

Sometimes being ageless was such a pain.

He let out a sigh as he started to tap the screen on his smart-phone, at least there was one person he could always talk to whenever he was feeling down.

The dial-tone came on and repeated for several seconds as he walked along the street, the new piece of technology pressed against his ear.

"Hello Naoki-kun," he let out a smile upon hearing the voice of the woman that had put him into his current predicament, the woman that had once bought about the end of the world.

"Hello Yuko," his voice was soft, he still remembered the time he was one of her students at high school but their relationship had grown significantly since he had managed to recreate the world as it was before The Conception… she was his only human confident after all.

"Getting lonely again?" the feminine voice that came from the other side of the speaker was clearly sad, then again, she was the only other person alive who remembered the world during the stage between its death and reformation.

"Yeah, sorry for disturbing you," he wouldn't lie to her, not when it was the conversations he had with her that had helped him cement his resolve to restore the world to the way it was before The Conception.

"It's alright, I know how hard it is for you given your… circumstances," she never spoke it out loud just in case anyone overheard but he didn't care, they shared enough understanding of each other and what they'd been through to understand each other despite that.

"Thanks, I would speak with my other friends but they don't understand me the same way you do," that was an understatement if there ever was one… after all, he had a human heart and they didn't.

Not even the Pixie that had been with him since the beginning truly understood him, sure she tried to and learned how to interpret what he thought and felt but she didn't truly understand him in a natural way.

Though knowing she was there for him to the point of being willing to learn about humans just to get closer to him was in itself something that he was grateful for.

"I know, they just don't think along the same lines as you do do they?" he smiled at that, Takao Yuko, his old teacher had always understood and trusted him… sometimes he had wondered just why she had put so much faith in him during the conception but he cleared his head of that thought, in the end the only answer that ever popped into his head was that her feelings for him were not those of a teacher.

It didn't help that he could see it in her eyes whenever the met face to face… could see the pain that dwelt deep within her.

Was it the pain of knowing that she would eventually die and leave him without a confident?

Or was it the pain of someone looking at someone they loved suffer?

He didn't know but he hoped she didn't love him, because he knew they could never be together in that sense… he just knew his heart wouldn't be capable of surviving losing her if she was anything more than a confident.

Then again, it was that heart that had kept him human despite his demonic body.

"Where are you now?" her voice held a tenderness that had only started to appear after his agelessness had become more evident, and he found a small, sad smile grace his lips as he remembered that she wouldn't be there for him forever, but for now she was.

"Shibuya," he answered easily as he continued to walk through the street, dodging other pedestrians as he went.

"So you're back in Tokyo again," he smiled wryly at that, it was something they both did, after all, it hadn't been long ago that the city had been renamed 'Shinto Teito' by that nut-job of a CEO, Minaka Hiroto… honestly, who buys out enough of a city that they're allowed to rename it?

"Yeah, I'm back, hopefully I'll manage to get a temporary job soon enough," that was pretty much the only type of job he could do… if he got anything permanent then he would run the risk of others noting his lack of ageing and that would cause even more problems for him.

"Do you need any money or somewhere to stay?" her question wasn't remotely surprising. She knew he couldn't hold down a job due to his agelessness and always tried to do what she could to help him whenever he needed help.

He sometimes wondered if she felt responsible for his current condition and was doing what she could to make amends.

Shaking his head clear of that thought, he instead chose to answer her question.

"I could do with somewhere to stay while I'm looking for a job," he admitted. He didn't have that much money on him after the flight over so having a free room would certainly be beneficial and mean he wouldn't have to resort to crime to pay for anything.

After all, crime had the risk of having your image captured by security… and having his picture circulated like that was the last thing he wanted… after all, how many questions would be raised if another picture of him was taken decades in the future and someone connected the two pictures?

"Will you be coming over right now?" her voice sounded hopeful, making it clear that she wanted him to stay with her, even if it would only be for a couple of months at the most.

"That depends, are you free now?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't going to inconvenience the only human he had any real connection to by coming around before she was ready for him.

"Yes, I just need to get a few things done first," he immediately noted the sound of crinkling foil and had to let out a heartfelt chuckle, despite her calm and kind demeanour and the air of competence she gave off, her house was almost always a mess.

"It's alright Yuko, you know I already know how messy your place can get," he told her with amusement clear in his tone.

"I know… but I prefer it being clean when you come around," her tone made it clear to him that she probably wanted to let herself feel like she made a good impression on him… whether as her student or something else wasn't something he was entirely certain of.

"Well, I'll be there in a little while, see you soon," he said as he walked towards the train station.

"Yes, see you soon Naoki-kun," and with that the conversation finished and he looked up at the schedule before letting out a sigh.

Looks like he just missed the train.

XXX A Devil's Wings XXX

Naoki walked along the street towards his old teachers house once again, his mind going over the fact that he was going to see her after the five years since he had last been in Japan.

He idly wondered if she was surprised he hadn't mentioned that he was returning… then again, he had been travelling the world randomly ever since he had decided to leave the country for a few years.

He also wondered if her neighbours would recognise him from all his visits before he left… he expected they wouldn't given how he hadn't really visited her that often after graduating high school, instead just sporadically showing up and spending time speaking with the one person he could tell anything.

Looking at the street itself it was clear that not much had changed… except that the large house next door to Yuko's house was now advertising itself as an inn, outside of that, everything looked the same as it always did.

"Hello there, are you lost?" a woman that was sweeping the street outside the Inn asked casually, earning a small smile from him.

"No, I'm just going to see an old friend," he admitted. It wasn't much of a problem, he could tell that this woman wasn't the same one that he had last seen at that house, for the last woman to live there was far older than this woman.

That was good, it meant that she wouldn't be able to tell he hadn't aged.

"Oh? I didn't know there were any children your age in this district," her smile was beatific but Naoki found himself narrowing his eyes as her tone spoke of suspicion… and he didn't like dealing with people acting suspicious around him.

"She isn't," he stated bluntly, "she was my old homeroom teacher, Takao Yuko."

"Oh, Takao-san is having a guest? My, I hope she isn't toying with you," he felt his anger rising at that comment, while it was said with a hint of joviality that made it clear she wasn't being completely serious, there was an underlying note in her tone that made it clear she wasn't being entirely frivolous either.

"She is my closest friend… and I'm not too happy about you slinging around accusations like that," he said, trying to keep the heat out of his voice.

Her response was to smile in amusement.

"Oh? It sounds to me like someone has a crush on their teacher," the woman may have been trying to get under his skin with that statement, but the change of focus had more of an impact than she probably realised.

"I don't know," he was slightly amused by the surprised look on the woman's face at that admission, "what I do know is that any romantic relationship between us wouldn't work out."

It seemed that his admission caught her off guard.

"Anyway, I'm going to be staying with her for a little while, I might see you around," he admitted, earning an amused smile off the woman.

"Oh? And what do your parents think about that?" she asked him easily.

"What makes you think I have any?" he asked, earning a more sombre expression off the woman.

Clearly she assumed his parents were dead, but he wasn't going to correct her misconception. Not when he considered himself to have none now that he couldn't see them anymore.

"Goodbye."

And without any further attempts at a conversation he proceeded to continue on to his old teachers home.

Walking up to the front door was simple and he had once wondered how she could afford to live in such a house on a teachers wage… and when he finally got up the courage to ask her she had told him and it all made much more sense.

It was her family home for three generations.

At least it had been until her grandparents died of old age, and her parents had died in a car crash with a drunken driver.

Hearing that had made her inner cynicism and decision to end the world for it to be reborn much easier for him to understand… even if he personally didn't agree with that decision in the end.

He was just grateful she had come to the same decision after all their conversations in the vortex world and was happy that the world was the way it was now… even if it wasn't perfect, a world without freedom was a world without will and not a true world, but a well oiled machine with no variables.

Yes he had given up stability for freedom.

Yes he had allowed for suffering in exchange for happiness.

Yes he had allowed for a broken world to be reborn.

So what?

In the end, he was prepared to accept the bad along with the good, he wouldn't let fear of the future drive him… and yes, he knew it sounded hypocritical to say that but the fact was that he wasn't afraid of the future, he just didn't want it to become irritating because he made mistakes when he was younger.

He let those thoughts leave his head as he rang the doorbell and stood waiting for the front door to open.

It only took a few seconds and he was greeted by the sight of the woman that had once destroyed the world.

Just as always, she wore surprisingly stylish clothes, giving her a far more modern feel than most other teachers he had seen. Her shoulder length black hair was still as well kept as ever with not a single grey in sight, however her face was beginning to show signs of her age, with the odd wrinkle here and there… but in the end, he still thought she was beautiful.

"Hello Naoki-kun, it's been too long," and with her greeting he found himself getting hugged… a distinctly uncomfortable experience given how he had Masakados burrowed in his body and nullifying any sensation or damage he could get from physical contact.

It didn't stop him from returning the hug as lightly as he could… he didn't want to accidentally hurt her after all.

"Yeah, it has Yuko," he couldn't stop the smile from gracing his lips as he let those words leave his mouth, it really had been far too long since they had last met face to face after all.

Besides, he was planning on switching to another Magatama later, then he would be capable of actually feeling any contact they had with each other.

"Well, are you coming in?" she asked him with an ecstatic smile spreading across her lips.

Without saying anything else he allowed himself to be led into the house and towards the main living area before once again turning towards her.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked him as he took a seat on one of her sofa's.

"I'm fine, I had something just a couple of hours ago," he admitted with a soft smile, it was always nice to know that there was still someone willing to look after him despite having to cut ties with most people.

He didn't even keep in touch with Isamu or Chiaki now.

And although Hikawa was aware of his existence, the man knew not to bother sending people after him after discovering the reality of the matter… after all, if he couldn't win a fight with a Reason-God on his side, how did he expect to win with nothing more than a few low level demons?

"Anyway, I'm going to change my magatama now," he informed the woman who gave him a nod of acceptance before turning away from him.

He still remembered the first time she had witnessed him swapping his Magatama over and the look of horror and disgust that appeared on her face said it all.

Then again, the Magatama weren't exactly a pleasant thing to put in your body, especially given the method of 'ingesting' them.

He pulled out one of the sleeping creatures, its body curled up into the shape that was its namesake before preparing it for swapping.

Almost immediately the 'thing' started to squirm before he held it up to his eye and prepared himself for what was to come.

The worm like entity quickly shot towards the exposed sensory organ and started to pierce his defences, forcing itself past the eye while repairing the damage caused by its passage before finding its target location and pushing Masakados out of place and forcing it to leave via the ocular organ.

It was a decidedly unpleasant experience but one he had grown used to over his time in the vortex world and it was most certainly nowhere near as painful as the first time he had found one burrowing its way into his skull… that time had knocked him out regardless of how tough he was as a person.

Looking at his hand that had caught the falling Magatama, Naoki found it quickly becoming inert and curling back up into the almost jewel like shape they always took when not active.

Putting the source of Demonic Power away, he wiped his eye of any blood that had managed to leak before speaking again.

"It's over," and with that she turned to face him once again.

He knew that she didn't like the method behind swapping magatama but she had already asked him to use one to make her a demon, if only to allow her to live alongside him… but in the end the creatures rejected her, something he had tried to contact his 'sponsor' about.

Unfortunately he had received no reply from the Fallen Angel and was simply forced to keep all his magatama on him instead of allowing himself some more permanent company.

He was brought from his thoughts as he felt her wrap her arms around him once again and he proceed to return the hug just like he did the last time, this time finding the embrace comfortable instead of awkward.

It really was wonderful to be capable of feeling contact with someone important to him… sure he was more than happy to focus on the practicality of being immune to all forms of harm but this was one of the rare exceptions where he was willing to leave himself vulnerable.

And it was only because of how much he trusted the woman that held him that he was willing to do so at all.

"Are you two going to cling to each other all day?" he let out a small sigh at the voice that interrupted the tender reunion, though he would admit that the owner of it was easily his second best friend… even if she was nowhere near as understanding as his old teacher.

"It looks like Pixie is getting jealous," he let out a small chuckle upon hearing that claim from Yuko.

"Hmph, I was pretty sure Naoki came here for reasons outside of you clinging to him like a limpet," he almost let out a sigh at the aggression in his first demon partners voice… probably because it always ended up like that whenever the older woman was there.

The fact that it was entirely possible that Pixie really was getting jealous wasn't something he really bothered about, they were close and she did a good job of learning how to predict his thought patterns but in the end, the fact she had to work to understand him made their relationship stall at just friends.

Not that he had any problem with that, regardless of how hard she had to try to understand him, the simple fact that she was prepared to put that much effort into trying to understand him proved just how much she really cared for him.

It was just such a shame that they were too different in terms of how they felt emotions to truly connect to each other.

"Come on Pixie-chan, there is nothing wrong with hugging an old friend," he stated softly, hoping the tiny fairy would leave it at that.

"Not when that's all you do," it seemed she was really getting jealous of the human woman given the tone of her voice and the expression on her face.

Then again, she was too small for him to comfortably hug so seeing him being so intimate with someone else was probably not the easiest thing for the red head to deal with.

"Fine then," he gave in, honestly Pixie was his closest companion during his time in the vortex world and so she really was his best friend outside of Yuko, "Yuko, do you mind if I use your computer?"

"Of course not, feel free to use anything here," her response was both expected and heart-warming... he knew he could always count on her to accept his presence regardless of the consequences.

"Thank you," he silently vowed to try and keep his electricity, gas and food costs as low as possible for the woman… putting any of them up would reduce the amount of money she had to spend on herself and he most certainly didn't want that.

But he needed to find a job and what better place to search than online?

He remembered back before the conception, the internet had been big… very big… but it was no longer simply big, now it was almost all encompassing, it permeated every aspect of life and connected to every phone, TV, computer and sometimes even things like microwaves.

The thought of there ever being an advertisement that didn't exist online was now an alien one that Naoki found himself silently laughing at.

In the age of technology, knowing how to use it was essential to blending in and living a decent life.

And so he walked towards his former teachers computer, ready to search for job listings in Tokyo… sorry, Shinto Teito.

XXX A Devil's Wings XXX

Naoki had to admit, he hadn't expected to get an interview as quickly as he did… though he had lied on his CV, making himself appear younger and less experienced than he really was, he had already discovered that being honest about those facts could result in him being thrown out of the interview for lying on his application.

It seemed to have gone well enough, he could honestly say that much, though just because the interview seemed to go well didn't mean he was guaranteed to get the job, he had learned long ago that his apparent age could get in the way of him being hired, especially if they looked too deep into his history and discovered he was supposed to be thirty years old.

Sometimes he wished he had a method of creating new identities for himself but in the age of information connectivity, having a demon hypnotise one person wasn't enough to alter all the information available on you.

He once again released a sigh as he continued to walk along the street and towards the northern district of the city, he could've taken a train or a bus but that would've cost money and he didn't really have much more to do outside of continuing his job hunting.

"Excuse me…" a small voice called from beside him, causing him to pause and turn to face the owner.

"If you're wondering where the nearest Cosplay convention is, then you'd be better off asking someone else," he stated bluntly upon seeing the girl.

She was certainly cute, he would give her that, what with her cropped, light brown nearly blonde hair, the blue ribbon she wore and her youthful features, she didn't look much older than he did… meaning she was probably in her mid-teens if his estimate was correct.

What made him think she was going to some sort of cosplay convention was the fact that she was wearing a thigh length, one piece dress with a black collar, black stockings, long black gloves and most importantly, had what was clearly a prop to go with the costume.

"Uh… actually… I lost my MBI card," she muttered quietly and with what was clearly an embarrassed flush.

He took a few seconds to figure out the statement before remembering that MBI, the largest company in the world did credit cards alongside technology and pharmaceuticals.

"Well, I'm sorry about that but I've not seen one lying around anywhere," he informed the girl bluntly before his ears caught something that immediately made it clear what the girl was after.

The small girl seemed to flush and make herself smaller as her stomach growled loud enough to be mistaken for a bear… and he actually did know what a bear sounded like given that time he was in Alaska and had come face to face with a Kodiak that had tried to eat him… it lost… badly.

"I see…" he stated before releasing a sigh, why did he have to be so soft? "fine, I'll get you something to eat."

And with that he picked up the girls prop, a very realistic, giant inflatable hammer which he quickly rested on his shoulder before noting the girls wide eyes.

"What?" he asked as she stared at him, "I'm just getting you something to eat before you start to starve, okay?"

"Ah, yes, thank you very much," and with that she started to walk closer to him as he took her to a fast food place he used to visit regularly when he was still in high school, blushing all the way.

XXX A Devil's Wings XXX

Naoki was definitely regretting feeding the blushing girl, the way she was going through the food right now was just proof of how ludicrous her appetite was and how much it was costing him.

Honestly he was just grateful that he wouldn't have to feed her on a regular basis.

But her appetite had given him pause and made him re-examine the 'prop' that he had carried all the way to the fast food place.

And he quickly realised that it wasn't a prop but a genuine hammer bigger than an average adult male… which just went to prove his suspicions that had been raised by the size of her appetite.

She wasn't human.

Over the years he had been put into situations where subtlety was necessary, something that a blast of lightning appearing out of nowhere most certainly wasn't.

Because of that, he had taken the time to practice summoning at least one demon without the fanfare that usually came with it.

Focusing on bringing forth a demon without drawing attention, he brought forth the only being to be nearly as close to him as Yuko was.

The Pixie that had helped him out when he had first woke up in the Vortex World.

Immediately he noticed a privacy barrier being erected around him and the girl he was feeding, meaning that Pixie had noticed he had done a silent summoning and acted accordingly.

Now free of being caught out by any person or camera watching, he made his move.

"So, what are you?" he asked her bluntly, there was no reason to be subtle about it, not when she had no reason to continue hiding it from him.

"Huh?" she sounded surprised by his question so he decided to explain himself and show her why she didn't have to hide it.

"The quantity of food you are eating is too great for a human to consume in a single sitting, no matter how hungry they are, the fact that you are not massively obese only reinforces the fact that your digestive capabilities are most likely not human," he explained academically, "plus your hammer is far too heavy to carry as easily as you did with human musculature."

She seemed to shrink in on herself after that brief explanation before asking her own question.

"Then how did you carry it so easily?" her question was perfectly valid and he had no reason to lie to her when she wasn't human herself.

"Because I'm not human," her head jerked towards him as surprise made itself clear on her face, "at least, not anymore."

That seemed to make her look at him as if he was something she had never heard of before.

"I was born a human but due to certain circumstances I became something else," he informed her, knowing that sometimes, offering information freely could make others less likely to try hiding their own from you.

It didn't always work, but she seemed like the sort of person the tactic would work on.

"But… but how?" she seemed shocked at his explanation for his own inhuman abilities.

"That doesn't matter right now," he stated seriously, "what matters, is what you are, if there are more of you and if you are a threat to this city."

She seemed shocked by his questions and shrunk down even more at his demeanour.

"… I can't tell you yet," she sounded nervous and he wondered if it was a trait of her species that they flush all the time.

"Why not?" he asked calmly, he knew that there were times when someone chose not to pass on information not because they didn't want to but because they had to withhold it for certain reasons.

"I… I can't say…" she seemed terrified despite how red her face was.

"I see," he acknowledged what she was saying before asking another question that had stuck in his head, "you mentioned that you cannot tell me yet, which implies that there are certain circumstances where telling me would be acceptable."

She nodded her head which caused him to close his eyes before asking the important question.

"And what would I be required to do to fulfil that condition," he asked, noting how she worried her lip at his question.

"Become my Ashikabi," he frowned at that explanation since it didn't actually explain anything at all.

"And what is an Ashikabi?" his question was obvious to anyone with any common sense.

"An Ashikabi is… an Ashikabi is our destined one," he had to blink at that description, "the one person we will love unconditionally… the person our lives will be forever connected to."

He could do nothing more than stare blankly at the girl as she started to gush over the concept of an Ashikabi before sighing in annoyance.

You couldn't just become an Ashikabi and even if he could, it meant getting too close to a mortal that could very well die within the next hundred years.

"I see," he admitted, honestly he felt that he had managed to get a decent enough picture of the girls personality to tell that she wasn't a threat to the city unless this 'Ashikabi' of hers turned out to be an asshole, "in that case I will bid you farewell."

He noted the look of shock on her furiously blushing face as he proceeded to rise from his seat, ready to leave the establishment.

He was just about to signal Pixie to drop the privacy barrier when the girls voice stop him in his tracks.

"Wait!" he froze at her desperate call, shocked at the terror in her voice as he was about to leave… he just couldn't comprehend why she would be scared of him leaving.

"What is it?" he found himself wondering if there was some trouble he wasn't aware of that she had just gotten him involved in.

It wasn't likely to be something he couldn't deal with though, so being stopped was more of an annoyance than anything else.

"Please," her voice was quivering as she started to make her plea, "please, become my Ashikabi."

What?

"What do you mean 'become your Ashikabi'?" he didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

"You are my Ashikabi," she stated with such conviction in her tone that he was left wondering how she could tell… unless…

"Your species is slightly psychic isn't it?" his guess seemed to be spot on if her reaction to him was anything to go by, which she only acknowledged with a firm nod.

"Yes… we react when our Ashikabi is near," react when their Ashikabi is near? That was when it hit him.

"Do you mean the constant blushing and nervousness?" he asked her calmly, earning another nod off the girl.

He stood in silence as he noted how she was looking at him with both hope and fear on her features.

He didn't want to become her Ashikabi, the thought of getting so close to someone was not something he was enthusiastic about, plus she wasn't human so connecting with her would definitely be harder than it would be to do so with Yuko.

But in the end, he knew from experience that ignoring something like this could be dangerous… and so despite his misgivings, he made his decision.

"Alright, I will become your Ashikabi," he told her seriously, earning a look of pure joy from the light haired girl.

"Thank you," and with that the girl leaned towards him in what he could only call an extremely forward gesture before meeting his lips.

That was when he knew something had gone wrong.

He felt his demonic power flowing through his mouth and into the girl before him, which he assumed was normal… what he didn't believe was normal was the way her eyes shot open and veins of power that resembled his own started spreading across her body, a pair of giant, raven-like wings of energy erupted from her shoulders and her eyes turned blood red as she let loose an unearthly scream of pain.

If it wasn't for the barrier Pixie had put up, he was sure the entire store would be panicking right then but thankfully he hadn't yet given the signal to drop the barrier so no one would notice the screaming girl glowing in the store.

Several seconds after the screaming started, she finally crumpled to the ground.

"Pixie! Get us to Yuko's place now!" he commanded before feeling the effects of the ability that had caused him so much trouble in Yoyogi park during the conception.

"Naoki-kun? What's going on?" he heard the one person he was closer to than anyone else say.

"No time to explain, check her vitals," and with that his former teacher started to check over the girl that had somehow managed to absorb some of his demonic essence… explanations would come soon but the first thing he needed to do was ensure the girl survived the ordeal of absorbing a demons essence.

And then his phone rang.

XXX A Devil's Wings XXX

Things were going well.

The Sekirei were slowly being winged, fights were occasionally breaking out and new Sekirei were being released at regular intervals.

Everything was going perfectly as far as he was concerned.

Of course, he planned on speeding things up soon and then hopefully, the last of the Sekirei would be winged and the third phase could begin.

"Minaka-sama, your coffee," he had to smile at that.

Gabby Conway, thirty-three years old, half Japanese and half Welsh of all things. She was probably in his top five greatest discoveries alongside The Sekirei, Takehito and Takami.

The reason was simply due to how perfect she was at her job of being a secretary, always bringing him his coffee just when he needed it, always bringing it at just the right temperature and never spilling even a single drop.

And that was simply how she did with his coffee… her other skills were just as impressive as her coffee bringing skills.

And that's not even getting into the fact that she was the one that inspired the Sekirei Plan itself, a few little sentences that he had taken out of context and used to create the ultimate game with the ultimate prize! Ascension to godhood!

But beyond all of that, there was another thing that made her stand out… Karasuba.

Karasuba was easily the second most dangerous being he had ever met, a bloodthirsty monster that could singlehandedly wipe out armies with nothing but a Nodachi… and despite all the body language saying she was terrified of the blood soaked Sekirei, her eyes never showed any fear towards the grey haired alien.

Her eyes were the only part of her body that the woman seemed unable to control to the finest detail, always keep a cold and detached presence in their icy stare.

It told him that she was only pretending to be afraid of Karasuba, and that she never actually feared the sword wielding maniac.

So he knew that his secretary would manage to stay calm and do whatever was necessary no matter how dangerous the situation, after all, how was she going to panic if she didn't feel fear in the first place?

"Thank you Conway-chan!" he responded enthusiastically as he accepted the coffee and took a sip of it, earning a smile from the woman that didn't reach her eyes, not that that was surprising, the woman did go through a lot of motions whenever he saw her, "perfect as always."

"I live to serve Minaka-sama," her words could easily be taken out of context but Minaka didn't care, he had no interest in her like that, the only woman he ever wanted to be with was Takami… of course, given her harsh attitude towards him and the fact she wouldn't even let him see his children… well, he was at least grateful that she was prepared to stay on for the Sekirei.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of an email getting through and he immediately went to open it, after all, with the Sekirei plan ongoing, most of his emails right now were updates on Ashikabi and the circumstances of the plan itself.

"Let's see…" he mumbled to himself as he read the information on the file, "looks like we have a new Ashikabi!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Gabby seemed interested, then again, she had always been rather interested in the Sekirei in general, so it wasn't a surprise to him that she was curious.

"Now, he looks interesting," he admitted with a bit of a grin, "looks like this Ashikabi has travelled the world and never kept a job for more than six months in the past twenty years."

"He sounds like quite the bad worker," his secretary stated with a hint of disdain in her tone.

"Except for the fact that he only ever worked temporary jobs with a six-month contract," he informed her and noted the way her eyebrow rose at that, "he's worked all over the world, in all sorts of jobs and with all sorts of people."

"So he's a wanderer then?" she seemed a little surprised by that information and he just gave her a grin.

"Yes, he's a wanderer named Kashima Naoki."

In that moment, those icy cold eyes changed.

It was nearly imperceivable but there was a slight widening of her eyelids as her pupils dilated and she swallowed.

It was barely anything but it was enough to tell him she was scared.

But why would she be scared?

Unless…

It appeared she had some connection to this 'Kashima' person…

Even more importantly, the fact that this random civilian could scare Gabby Conway when even the Black Sekirei herself couldn't do such a thing, was certainly worth investigating.

"Well, I suppose it's time to welcome Kashima-san to the Sekirei Plan," he said with his usual grin adorning his face as he started his usual routine of contacting the new Ashikabi.

It was time to see just what sort of person he was dealing with.

XXX Chapter End XXX

And so that's the first chapter posted, I actually have the second chapter written and ready for posting and have made a start on the third chapter but I'm going to leave it a little while before actually putting it up here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it or at least found your interest piqued.

So, until next time...

Shadow out.