CHAPTER 7:

THE BLOODTHIRSTY CROW AND THE STRESSED-OUT SCIENTIST

"I can see why Minaka likes to stand out here and do his little megalomania act," Karasuba remarked as we stood on a ledge, high up on the MBI building. Karasuba had bought some apples, her favourite food, and had offered some to me. I thought it wise not to decline, and besides, I like apples.

"Why, because he feels like a god, looking down on humanity from on high? It's not very original," I retorted.

"Oh, I agree, but still…one can see the attraction. From up here, humans are like ants that you can just step on," Karasuba purred. Her habitual lazy smirk widened. "Though I have to say, pranks do appeal to me. The 'sex education' class I did yesterday went down well."

Well, by that, she meant that she had now scarred half of the Sekirei and the staff of MBI for life with explicit images of VD's effects on the human body, specifically to the genitals. Even Minaka, who was considered too insane to torture, had actually begun to cry for mercy. I managed to get footage of Minaka crying (though not what he was crying at), and sent it to Matsu, who had uploaded it to YouTube under one of her accounts, RedhairedWagtail02Ishtar(1). I think Miya was torn between being disturbed at the fact that we used VD films to torture MBI staff, and laughing at the fact that Minaka had been reduced to a blubbering wreck.

"Anyway, I have to admit, you do have a point. Doing this to people…while not quite as satisfying as cutting them up, it still has the very appealing prospect of being repeatable. A few slices, a splash of blood…and then, what? Wet hands, post-homicidal ennui…but this…ooh, I am switching to renewable free-range misery. I think my next project will be gaslighting that moron Takeru into madness."

"You want help?" I asked. Takeru's arrogance knew no bounds, especially as it seemed he had been feeding information to Higa. And Higa, according to Takami, was a rather nasty sort. True, he held a grudge against MBI for not unfounded reasons, but he and his family were noted for having a cutthroat mentality, even going so far as to have links with the local Yakuza. Takeru had also been found to have tried sexually assaulting a few Sekirei, not just Akitsu. So driving him into madness, well, I didn't give a fuck.

"Maybe. No magic, unless there's some fun items I can use. I'd prefer to do things with my own skills."

Well, Karasuba could be stealthy when she wanted to. I knew I had made a mistake telling her about how Batman could appear from virtually nowhere…and disappear in the middle of a conversation. But she generally preferred to have people see her coming for them. Killing was no fun, she had once lamented to me, when you couldn't see your enemies cowering in fear, soiling their clothes as you walked towards them, their weapons useless. I think she was reminiscing about that time she rescued Musubi when she discussed that. I had learned more about Yume's fate from Takami, who filled me in on a few of the details. It wasn't just Musubi that she rescued, but another Sekirei called Kaho, but it was Musubi, who had to be revived by Yume's sacrifice, that Karasuba had the creepy fixation on.

Then again, any fixation Karasuba had on anyone could be construed as creepy.

Out of the blue, she remarked, "I hate it, you know. All those positive feelings I get from my link to you."

"And yet you Winged yourself to me," I remarked, probably unwisely. "I call that a self-inflicted injury."

Despite the unwise nature of my snark, Karasuba actually chuckled. After a moment, she admitted, "I never bought into that shit about finding my fated one. Frankly, I'm not sure what I feel for you. Something does draw me to you. Maybe it's because you've known pain, and have grown stronger in spite of it. Maybe it's because, as a wizard, you are probably one of the few humans who has a chance to actually kill me. I'm sure the Killing Curse, from what I've heard, would kill me just as well as it would a human. And that…excites me."

She then strutted forward, casually throwing her apple core off the building (I hoped that Minaka would, improbably, be hit by it, assuming he was walking outside of the MBI building), before she reached me. She took my head in her hands, and pressed her lips to mine, the familiar flare of her ethereal wings appearing. On a probably stupid impulse, my own hand wandered down underneath her coat, to her derriere. I didn't touch her hard, just enough for her to notice. But her subsequent moan was not of complaint, but of approval.

She then broke off the kiss, and smirked. "I don't care about love. But you, my Ashikabi, you interest me. Be sure to keep that interest, Harry Potter. And if my bond with you makes me stronger, then I will put up with the backwash from your end of our bond…to a point."

"If you try to kill me…I'll go down screaming and fighting," I retorted.

"I look forward to it. Anyway, who said I was going to kill you? After all, I need you alive to keep our bond active. Intact, well, that's another story." And with that, she strutted away.

Now, I hadn't been idle in trying to deal with Minaka. I was planning two major means of attack. The first, done with the unwitting but willing help of Karasuba, was to subject him to pranks and torment to wear him down psychologically. He may already be insane, but I wanted him broken. This sounds like a pretty nasty fate for someone, but he wanted to pit over a hundred alien women (and a few men) in a glorified cockfight, all for some nebulous prize. Supposedly, the chance to 'ascend to the heavens'. Sounded like jam tomorrow than today for me(2), and even if there was a prize, I don't think it justified either the disruption to the Ashikabis' lives, or the fact that the Sekirei who were defeated don't get to be with their Ashikabi forever. The fact that Minaka was willing to allow Ashikabi's to Wing Sekirei who weren't reacting to them, the equivalent of rape, made it worse.

The second line of attack was going to be Legilimency, to find out what he intended, what nasty surprises he had in store (unless he was bluffing) and, if I could do so safely, I would leave him an insensate vegetable. As much as Takami was a bitch, she was also a bitch who actually gave a shit about the Sekirei, and I reckoned if she was in charge of MBI, she could modify whatever plans were in store for the Sekirei to be more suitable for their long-term survival.

After my encounter with Karasuba, I had headed to the canteen and found Takami there, nursing a coffee, and what looked like a headache. Considering who she dealt with on a daily basis, I wasn't surprised. She looked up, and muttered, "Oh great, here comes the Second Coming of Merlin."

"As flattering as that is, I don't like those appellations. Seriously, the whole 'Boy Who Lived' thing got old real fast," I said.

"Boy Who what?" Takami asked.

"…Wait, you don't know?"

Takami massaged her temples. "I think I heard Minaka cackling about it, but he never told me why. He never tells me a lot of things. I just have to wipe his arse and clean up after his shit."

"Been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt," I said. "Okay, long story short, I mentioned how I defeated a wizarding terrorist before, right?"

Takami nodded. "Voldemort. Rather pretentious name, and rather stupid if you know a bit of French. 'Flight of death', really?"

"Well, when I was one, Voldemort attacked my family, trying to kill me. There was a prophecy involved. Anyway, my mother used some sort of ritual to protect me from Voldemort, but it required the sacrifice of her life to do so. I was famous because, before I even got out of nappies, I survived the Killing Curse. Normally, unless you dodge or have something solid between you and it, you're dead if it hits you. I survived, and got this natty little scar." I pointed to the damned thing, now faded, thanks to the Horcrux within going away. "The wizards called me the Boy Who Lived because I survived, miraculously. They thought I had some special power."

"They thought you a messiah."

I scoffed at Takami's blunt and accurate assessment, laced with cynicism in her tone. "Yep. Not that I knew. Ten years, I spent with my uncle and aunt, who hated magic. They tried to beat it out of me, frankly. My bedroom until I was eleven was a storage cupboard under the stairs."

"Bullshit."

I glared at her. "Don't you dare. It happened. I do have a few scars elsewhere, most from my time at Hogwarts, but others given to me by the Dursleys. The galling thing was, I was sent there to be protected, but I wasn't protected from my own relatives. I'm still bitter."

"And you haven't done a thing about that?"

I chuckled with malevolent mirth. "What makes you say that? I hired a very good lawyer to sue the crap out of them. With Dumbledore gone, their main advocate was no longer there to help them. Dudley's all right now, he's joined the army, straightened right out. But Vernon? He had a heart attack, and I've whiled away a merry night pissing on his grave and desecrating it. And Petunia…well, she has to deal with being on the receiving end of malicious gossip now, after badmouthing me as a delinquent and a criminal. Actually, speaking of my lawyer, I should really contact her. She's basically the guardian of my godson. Maybe he could be an Ashikabi or something. I mean, he's only young, but maybe he could be Kusano's in a few years. At least Ku could use another brother figure."

Takami nodded. "That's how I've explained the relationship between a Sekirei and an Ashikabi to her. She's too little to understand true romantic relationships, and she's obviously way too young for sex. A sibling or friendship relationship is best for her. But I wouldn't bring your godson over, in case Minaka uses him against you."

She had a point. Plus, as the son of a werewolf and a Metamorphmagus, Minaka would probably vivisect Teddy just to see how such things worked. "I can't believe you can tolerate that crazy bastard."

"Believe me, neither can I. I'm glad my children turned out nothing like him."

It took a moment for that comment to process. And when I realised what she meant, my tone was one of sheer disbelief. "Wait, what? You had children…with him."

She winced at her slip-up, but reluctantly nodded. "I know, I know. It was stupid, and I don't want to talk about it any further. Minato's a bit of a wimp, but that's more due to being the only male in a very female-dominated household. Yukari and I do tend to browbeat him somewhat. And Yukari…well, she's nowhere near as bad as Minaka, but she's an otaku and has a breast envy that causes her to grope any particularly buxom woman near Minato. Plus, she has a bit of a bro-con thing for him."

"Bro-con?"

"Brother complex. In other words, incestuous feelings. Nothing too bad in her case, but still…" She winced again. "I'm trying to keep them out of the Sekirei Plan, but odds are, they'll blunder into it anyway. I'd put money on them both being Ashikabis."

"Oh, marvellous." After a moment, I said, "If he does end up being dropped into this mess, would you like me to keep a discreet eye on him?"

Takami met my look, before she reluctantly nodded. "I know Minaka's going to be keeping an eye on him. But I appreciate the offer."

I hope she did. Even before this Sekirei mess, I knew what it was like to be dropped into the deep end of a situation and not knowing what to do. Hell, it happened the moment I first entered the world of magic, and found out I was famous. I was at sea, and, well, sadly, my first contact in that world wasn't that much help. Oh, Hagrid meant well, and taught me many things, but not enough. Ron and Hermione taught me more, Ron through living in the magical world, and Hermione through her books.

In any case, if Minato got dropped into this BS situation, then I was going to do my best to make sure he survived…

CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, Harry's plotting, Karasuba's anticipating, and Takami's stressing out.

Review-answering time! knightessjg: I've also written a somewhat funny crossover with Pirates of the Caribbean called Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, An Ashikabi's Life for Me, if you're interested. It's basically Minato being the reincarnation of Captain Jack.

1. I had to think carefully about what Matsu's username would be. The 'Redhaired Wagtail 02' part should be self-evident, but why Ishtar? Well, Matsu is pretty horny most of the time, and Ishtar was a goddess of sex and fertility in Babylon.

2. 'Jam tomorrow' was basically a pun Lewis Carrol used based on a mnemonic for Latin terms, discussed in Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass. It's also used as a snarky comment on unfulfilled promises nowadays.