Well….I unfortunately didn't meet the 20,000 word limit by the deadline. That's why this chapter was delayed for so long. Couldn't help but get a tad bit depressed. I was really close but just didn't make it. Curse my manager for scheduling shifts on days I'm supposed to be off…. But don't worry, I'm not planning to just stop writing this fanfic. I just needed to recharge a bit (okay maybe a lot), get some proper sleep, and get over it. I'll make it next time!

And now for review responses

stakler: Hello again and while the idea of involving Chiho in some way in the story crossed my mind I certainly didn't think of what you're thinking of you horn dog. XD

98kazer: Yup, I'm still continuing. And the reason why you didn't find much in my profile is that, as I said in the author's note of the last chapter, this is my backup account. Regardless, the ones in my main account were also from a long time ago and I only think like 2 of them are readable. If you do want to see how crappy I started out, feel free to search my name up without the 2 or copy the link in this account's bio.

offshorephillip: The reason I didn't have Uzume react to Shirou is that genetically or however that works, Uzume would only react to Chiho. The idea of this contest was to throw Shirou into another world that already has its own rules in place like Sekirei only react to one person. Shirou does not replace Chiho in this world and is more like an alternate path Uzume could take. If you noticed, I wrote it so it's because of Shirou's presence that it keeps Uzume away from Chiho who should have been unlikely to find due to her being in the hospital. His 'injury' prompted Uzume to not be a decoy and run into her like in the manga and Shirou keeping Uzume from going to the hospital roof kept her from meeting Chiho like in the anime. If they had met, then Uzume would've been winged like normal.

PageOfMinds: Yeah, I know it was rushed and I've learned now to not procrastinate. I don't even know how I managed to forget writing since the contest started in like October or November. I am going to go back and fix up the first two chapters over time, adding stuff and making it not look rushed.

That random Guest: No, I do not think the title should be "Ashikabi and Sekirei, Master and Master" as that would not make sense.

HAREM NEVERDIE: Anybody can feel to correct me if I'm wrong about the timeline. Since Takehito barely showed up in the series, I had to rely on the Sekirei wiki site. There, it said Takehito helped those like Matsu or Homura get away from MBI. While that doesn't show he actually aided in their escape like in this fanfic, it at least shows that Matsu's escape which was aided by Uzume (as well as Homura's escape) happened before his death in the series.

And now that I got a bit more time to wait for responses, I have a poll on my profile asking which Sekirei you would want to join Shirou alongside Uzume. It's not definite that I'll go exactly by the votes but it'll give me an idea at least. You can choose up to three choices.

Wow, this is way too long an author's note. Gotta cut down on the responses to reviews. XD

Random thing I forgot to mention prior. Shirou is around 20 right now.

And holy crap, 180 faves and 298 follows just from the first two chapters. I'm sure that's not much in retrospect, but this is huge to me. When I first started, I had to do 22 chapters to get that much. Is this what happens when you don't use OCs? Thanks to you all!

Once again, I don't own the Fate series or Sekirei. They are owned by TYPE-MOON and Sakurako Gokurakuin respectively.

"I'll become one for you. Just leave your dream to me."

"Huh?" Uzume heard a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

"For the first time, I saw that hell."

All of a sudden, smoke began to envelop her and blind her. By the time she was able to see again, she bore witness to a horrible sight. Flames surrounded her as she saw what looked to be a city burning. People who failed to save themselves. Others trying to save a loved one, only to be trapped themselves. They all burned around her.

"W-what is this!?" Her eyes widening in horror. The scene in front of her made her want to throw up. She thought it had to be a bad dream caused by the hangover from last night's drinking but something deep inside told her that this was real.

In the midst of all this chaos, Uzume noticed a small boy, probably about six or seven, walk past her and continued on through the flames. She saw people reach out to him, begging to be saved or to save their loved ones. The begging then turned to curses as the boy walked past them. He placed his hands over his ears, to keep out their curses, their begging, their screams. Despite it all, he kept on walking. Even when he fell, he got back up with tears in his eyes that would dry up soon after from the heat of the flames.

"What was the point of me surviving that hell? Why was I spared?"

Shirou? Uzume recognized the voice of the one who became her partner, her beloved Ashikabi. She turned back towards the boy and realized who he was. "Shirou!" She ran as fast as she could but the distance between them didn't close one bit. Eventually, to her horror, Shirou had lost his strength and fell to the ground and didn't have enough to get back up again. Even though he couldn't move, he still raised his hand towards the sky as a last act of defiance. The light in his eyes refused to give out just yet. He still wanted to continue living.

Uzume wanted to reach out to him, to take his hand, to tell him everything would be alright but she couldn't get close enough to him. She saw the light in his eyes fading, the willpower to stay alive began crumbling under the smoke and soot that filled his lungs. Her eyes were filled with tears as she saw this and they fell when she saw his hand drop. However, someone grabbed his hand before it hit the ground.

"He's alive! Thank you! You saved me!" An older man said with a smile, tears unashamedly running down his face. The next thing Uzume knew, a bright light illuminated the area. It felt familiar, as if it were an integral part of her being.

"If I saved somebody...would I be as happy as him?"

Uzume woke up with tears in her eyes. It was still dark out so she hadn't been asleep for long. She still wasn't sure what she had just seen but it definitely wasn't just a mere dream. She turned her face to the right where Shirou was sleeping in his own futon. The night before, Uzume petitioned to sleep in the same room as Shirou as they were now a pair and after an hour of bickering, the magus eventually gave in provided they sleep in different futons. Seeing him there asleep, and more importantly alive, gave her a sense of calm. That things were going to be okay. She decided to be a little selfish and moved from her futon into his to hold him as if to confirm he was still there. Being able to touch him made her feel relief. "Love you Shirou." She gave him a small peck on the lips to his unknowing and smiled before going back to sleep, wishing to momentarily forget what she saw.

Well, looks like I can't get up now. Shirou thought to himself. He had awoken just a bit before Uzume crawled over and into his futon. Being part Servant meant he didn't need to sleep as much so he was planning to wake up really early to do some training or meditate so he could unlock more of Archer's arsenal. Uzume's ironclad grip around his body, which only seemed to get stronger after she got winged, however made either option difficult. He couldn't do the first one without using force to escape. He couldn't exactly meditate either with Uzume's melons squished into his side and distracting him. So not wanting to wake her up, he just relaxed and tried to sift through all of the information he had come across yesterday.

Sekirei were basically aliens that looked like humans and they all seemed to have special powers that put them at the level of Servants. And for some reason, by forming a type of contract with a human and literally sealing it with a kiss, they were able to gain a boost to their abilities. It made Shirou wonder what made a person qualified to be an Ashikabi. It wasn't a trait unique to the people here. He himself qualified and he was from a different universe. For now, he wouldn't be able to find out until he met another Ashikabi that he could somehow analyze with structural grasping.

The next point had to do with Uzume, the woman currently holding onto him and the one he was in a two way contract with. Though he was her master or Ashikabi as a Sekirei, she was his master as a Servant. Judging by Uzume's reactions last night, only the Ashikabi/Sekirei contract was supposed to be formed. So something happened for her body to recognize him as a Servant in some form and form a contract Servant wise. He remembered there was some weird feeling where he felt his magic circuits began connecting to something but he initially assumed that was just the result of the bond between an Ashikabi and their Sekirei. But now, Shirou began to suspect otherwise. He needed to use structural grasping on her. Due to Uzume cuddling his side, his hand was right next to her legs. After a silent apology, though he doubted she'd mind, Shirou laid his hand on her thigh to begin the process. "Trace on." He let his energy flow into the girl as his magic began its admittedly invasive journey throughout Uzume's body to analyze her. When it had finished, Shirou was shocked by what he found.

She has a Magic Core in her body! Shirou thought in surprise. He knew that there had to be something at least similar to od or magic energy running through her body or else he wouldn't be able to receive it from her. The last thing he expected though was to find that she had what was basically a small magic core in her. It dwarfed in comparison to the one Saber had but Uzume's still could produce way more than Shirou could with his magic circuits. Does every Sekirei have this? Cause that'd just be terrifying! Shirou imagined 108 of these mini mana factories and he almost shivered. It really made curious as to what MBI was planning with them. He really hoped that said plans didn't involve gaining military power to take over the world. It was then he remembered that he had yet to explain the details of their relationship as Master and Servant. Well, that could be done in the morning. Now he just had to wait for Uzume to wake up. Might as well get some extra sleep… Even though he didn't need it, extra sleep was always nice.

"Why am I not surprised you got into my futon anyway?" Shirou asked as the two of them were getting ready for the day. He wasn't exactly against her sleeping next to him, he was already used to Rin and Sakura doing so occasionally, but he wasn't sure he could take Uzume hugging him in her underwear for long before something broke in him and made him lose his self control. The two sisters did their best to keep Shirou from becoming the steel hearted man that was Archer but that itself had resulted in some negative effects. Well, he thought so but the girls thought the exact opposite, especially in bed.

"Hehehe, what can I say? You're just really nice to hug." Uzume said with her tongue sticking out a little to tease him. She still didn't know how to approach Shirou about her dream. It's not like she could just walk up to him and say 'Hey, did you happen to survive a fire that killed everyone else around you?'. If it never actually happened, Shirou would think she was crazy and if it was true, maybe it would cause some mental trauma to resurface. At the moment, she was putting her hair up in a side ponytail again with the blue ribbon she had quickly endeared herself to. It was her first gift from her Ashikabi after all. The thing was, she prioritized this over putting on her clothes first.

"I'm glad I fulfill the role of body pillow so well for you…" Shirou said with a sigh as he looked away. "Just put on some clothes already." Rather than do it immediately, Uzume decided to glomp him first to his embarrassment before going off to do just that. Once she had put on something, Shirou turned back around and decided to address the issue, though not before picking up the conspicuous rubber duck with glasses on them and throwing it out the window. From structural grasping the room earlier, he knew it was a surveillance device, most likely made by Matsu if the glasses were any indication. "We have some time before Miya-san or Takehito-san call us for breakfast. Shall I explain what I talked about yesterday? Though please do remember to keep it secret." As he said this, he used a rune on the door to make sure no sound got out. Though he couldn't do complex stuff, he could still manage the basics of runes.

"You said something about not being completely human right? Then what's the non human part?" Uzume asked as she sat down on her futon, now acting a bit more seriously which was something Shirou appreciated.

"A Servant." Shirou replied simply, already expecting what she would say next as he sat in front of her..

"So something like a butler?" Uzume answered in a confused tone. That sounded human enough.

"No, not that sort of Servant. If I had to put it simply, you could say they're like human familiars summoned by magic." Shirou clarified.

"Wait, magic exists?" Uzume asked, interrupting the flow for a bit. "Isn't that just fantasy?"

"Says the girl that can use telekinesis." Shirou retorted, remembering how she could make her veil move with her mind. How that worked with only her veil was beyond him at the moment but he decided not to focus on that for now." And yes, though what most people, including myself, can do is considered magecraft rather than true magic." Shirou said in response. "I'll explain in more detail later but just know that these Servants are summoned using these powers." After Uzume nodded in response, he continued. "Servants aren't just any human familiars however. They're familiars that use Heroic Spirits, or well known heroes throughout history."

"So somebody like King Arthur could be summoned like this?" Uzume asked in response.

"Yes, something like that." Shirou said, not wanting to think about the coincidence of his new partner using King Arthur as an example. "Anyway, human mages use a ritual that could summon these heroic spirits and form a contract with them. That is the simple explanation of what a Servant is. That brings us to my situation. I am not a Servant myself. I merely have a part of his body attached to me and I've gained his powers."

"Which part of your body?"

"My left arm. My original one got blown off a couple of years ago and then I had this one magically grafted onto me. Don't ask" Shirou said with a soured expression as he pointed to Archer's arm for emphasis. Uzume looked confused about how it didn't look any different from his right arm but he wanted to spare her the story of how his future self tried to kill him for now among other things. "But apparently, having the arm and its powers flowing through me was enough for me to be considered a Servant in essence. That's why when we connected as Ashikabi and Sekirei, we also connected as Servant and Master."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Uzume examined the command seals on her hand as she asked this.

"You may not know this but your body has a core that allows you to function and give you power. The energy it can store and produce is far greater than what I am able to do. It appears that while you were being winged, your core inadvertently connected with my arm and that led to me becoming your Servant as well as your Ashikabi." He realized that this was probably gonna be a huge amount of information to take in.

"I remember something like that being mentioned. All I know about it though is that it's called a Tama and it's practically our soul." Uzume said in response.

"Hmm, interesting." Shirou decided to file that information away for later. "I realize we've covered a lot and it's quite a bit to take in but there's one more thing for me to mention, the marks on your hand."

"Are they the proof of our contract or something? Like this mark that appeared on my back after I got winged." She turned around and pulled down her shirt to show there was indeed a mark there.

"Sort of but they also have another use. They're called Command Seals and using them, you can give me a total of three orders I cannot refuse." Shirou explained. "You could order me to do just about anything and my body would carry out that order almost immediately whether I wanted to or not. You could even order me to commit suicide and there'd be nothing I could do once the command was given."

"What!? There's no way I'd do that!?" Uzume exclaimed with almost a fury. An Ashikabi was a Sekirei's most treasured person and it was unthinkable for her to do something of the sort to hers.

"Don't worry, it was just an example. I trust you enough to know you'd never do it." Shirou said in response. "But at the same time, they're trump cards for you to wield. Not just against me but against our opponents. Like if you were in grave danger and I wasn't there, you could summon me to you and I'd teleport there. But do keep in mind you only have three so don't use them recklessly." Sensing that Shirou was done….. for now anyway, Uzume fell back onto the futon in a daze.

"Wow, that was a lot. How do you keep track of it all?" Uzume was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of summoning heroes from the past or even magic for that matter and then Shirou just had to slam more information on top of that.

"Well, I don't expect you to remember all of that at once but I just wanted to give you a brief overview of our situation." Shirou replied.

"That was supposed to be brief…." Uzume said with a sigh. "I don't want to hear the full version for a while then…"

"And telling that story would take forever." Shirou said with a small laugh. "Now come on, if you're done spewing steam from your brain, Miya-san probably has breakfast ready by now.

"Man, this is good!" Seo surprisingly was at the table eating breakfast alongside them. Not that Shirou had anything against the man who had helped them a few days ago but he had pretty much walked in unannounced through the front door and begged for food. It reminded him of Taiga who sponged off of him for years. This impression of him wasn't helped by Miya's strained smile directed towards the moocher.

"I'm glad you still enjoy my cooking, even if you are a scumbag." Miya responded with a giggle that appeared to be laced with malice. Shirou could have sworn that the hannya mask that her husband materialized was also beginning to appear behind Miya albeit faintly. It was enough though to give off killing intent which made Seo stiffen up. He then turned to the other two men at the table to save him.

"So what are you doing here Seo-san?" Shirou asked with a sigh, changing the subject to Seo's relief.

"Besides getting some free food, I just wanted to check in on our runaways." The man cheerfully admitted his intentions before stuffing his face with more food. "So Uzume, how are things going with you so far? I almost didn't recognize you." With more regular clothes and a different hairstyle, her appearance had changed quite a bit compared to two days ago.

"It's going great! I even found my Ashikabi!" Uzume replied cheerfully before clinging to Shirou's arm to reveal the identity of said Ashikabi. Seo raised an eyebrow out of surprise.

"Damn kid, you work fast. You've known each other for like 2 days?" Seo said with a laugh. "Though I suppose you're actually pretty slow by Sekirei standards. As I'm sure you're aware of by now, Sekirei react to the one that's destined to be their Ashikabi or something like that. I'm surprised you managed to hold her off for this long."

"Oh, I didn't react to Shirou." Uzume stated matter of factly, causing Seo to raise the other eyebrow in surprise.

"Huh, and here I thought you were the goody two shoes type." Seo said, looking at Shirou who merely sighed.

"I didn't force anything. If anything, Uzume forced herself on me." Shirou replied, trying to clear whatever suspicions there were about his character. This remark shifted Seo's gaze from the Ashikabi back to the Sekirei as if to ask why. Not that his unasked question was uncalled for. From what Takehito told him, Sekirei usually had the goal of finding the Ashikabi they reacted to. Sure, he was aware of the possibility of an Ashikabi forcing themself onto a Sekirei but it was the other way around in this case.

"Well, Shirou's a nice guy and there's always the chance the one destined for me won't be such a good person. So I thought I'd just take my chances with a guy I've taken a liking to rather than a total stranger." Uzume said in response, her face gaining a tinge of red.

"Lucky you then kid. You might end up with more than one Sekirei then. Uzume and whichever Sekirei that reacts to you. Looks like fun times are in your future." Seo teased at something rather inappropriate and Shirou was embarrassed to admit to himself that he already had experience with it thanks to the two sisters in his life. Not that he felt like digging too deep into this universe's issues. "Man, I hope I get a couple of hot babes as Sekirei."

"I for one find the pair cute and approve." Miya chimed in with a smile. "We Sekirei should follow our hearts after all. I do hope that the Sekirei that's supposed to react to you does the same and finds something better than trash."

"Yeesh, way to kill a guy's buzz Miya…" Seo sighed in annoyance.

"You're an Ashikabi too Seo-san?" Shirou asked in surprise.

"Well, I'm technically not one yet but Takehito tested me and said I also have the potential." Seo replied. "I just gotta find myself a busty Sekirei of my own!" As the older man let out a laugh, Shirou thought back to his earlier thoughts of what qualified a person to be an Ashikabi. If only he could use Structural Analysis on him and use Seo's body to compare with his own. Not that he could do it without looking unnatural about it. He briefly entertained knocking him out or getting him drunk so he could analyze him when he noticed Takehito not joining in on the conversation. With the scientist's name being mentioned, one would think he'd at least confirm what Seo said.

"Takehito-san, is something wrong? You look rather serious." Shirou asked the man sitting across from him at the breakfast table. The person in question was looking at a tablet with a slight frown on his face. Having his name called though brought him back from his musings to see his wife, Shirou, and Uzume look upon him with somewhat worried expressions. He hardly touched his food which was unusual considering the praise he gave Miya's cooking.

"Well, it's nothing big at the moment. But Minaka-kun has made his first move." Takehito said with a sigh, putting down his tablet momentarily and beginning to eat.

"Minaka?" Shirou asked as he didn't know the person this name was associated with.

"The chairman of MBI as well as the person who is in charge of the Sekirei overall." Takehito answered.

"In other words, he's a crazy bastard with a bunch of superhumans at his command." Seo said with irritation evident in his voice. "So what did that nutjob do this time?"

"He's started the first steps of the Sekirei plan by releasing out into the world some of the earlier Sekirei, including those from the Disciplinary Squad." Takehito replied with a slight grimace. " I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it from getting this far and some already disappeared on their own anyway but he really is going through with this….."

"I feel like I'm the only one left out of the loop here but what is this Sekirei plan?" Shirou posed another question to the man. "Based on what Uzume told me yesterday, I assume it involves the Ashikabi and Sekirei pairs?"

"Yes that is correct. The basic idea is that all 108 Sekirei find their Ashikabi and get winged, forming a bond between the two. Afterwards, Minaka-kun intended on having them fight each other in this city until there's only one pair left." Shirou knew he wouldn't like Takehito's answer. There were already parallels to the grail war and this proclamation of a battle royale among powerful humanoids just added to them.

"...What's the purpose of all this fighting?" Shirou asked behind grit teeth as he thought back to the results of mages fighting over that stupid wish granting cup. The fire where he was the only survivor, what Sakura had to suffer through, Illya…. Even if the Sekirei weren't as powerful as some of the stronger Servants, there was 108 of them and it was still possible for them to cause quite a bit of damage depending on what kind of powers they had. And those in control of those powers, the Ashikabi could possibly misuse them for their own nefarious purposes.

"The professor didn't say much about what's in it for the Ashikabis but for the Sekirei, they get to stay with their Ashikabi, their most treasured person forever." Uzume was the one who ended up answering the question with a light blush on her face at the thought of it.

"My apologies for being blunt but that has got to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard." Shirou said to the shock of Uzume. Takehito on the other hand had a hidden smirk on his face.

"Shirou...do you not want to stay with me?" Uzume asked with teary eyes. She was legitimately afraid that her Ashikabi would just abandon her after one day even though she knew that Shirou wasn't that kind of person in the back of her head. However, the bond between them as Ashikabi and Sekirei had transmitted Shirou's feelings of disgust, causing the misunderstanding.

"Ah, it's not like that." Shirou reassured Uzume, his facial expression softening as he did so. Uzume had sighed in relief when he said that. "It's not the first part of this plan that I'm against. It's rather romantic after all. I just can't see the purpose of this battle royale for a prize that we could attain without needing to fight."

"It appears our way of thinking lines up Shirou-kun." Takehito said with a smile. Shirou raised an eyebrow at the change of referral. "Like you, I'm also against the Sekirei fighting each other as well as some of the other things Minaka-kun is trying to do. I want the Sekirei to be free to find the ones they're destined for."

"I suppose that means you have a plan?" Shirou inquired. He didn't know when he was going home but if he could prevent similar tragedies from happening, he wouldn't mind helping for as long as he could.

"You could say I have a few things in motion at the moment though I admittedly haven't gotten it all planned out." Takehito said in response. "However, I won't be able to do it alone. Minaka-kun has all of MBI and practically the city itself under his thumb after all. On top of that, some of the stronger Sekirei are his guard dogs that take down those that oppose him. I'll need help to deal with them especially."

"So you need me and Uzume to deal with them?" Shirou asked that question more like a statement. He wasn't too surprised by the outcome. While not doing as much as his alternate future self, there were a good deal of times he had to be called to action.

"I don't need you two to actively go out and find them but yes, dealing with them if necessary would be helpful." Takehito replied. "Seo and Matsu as well, it'd be helpful if you two chipped in." He looked towards the conspicuous rubber ducky with glasses as he said that. So that really was a surveillance unit of sorts. Shirou thought to himself.

"You're already bringing me into the fold? Well, not like I mind. You'd force me into it anyway. But at least wait until I get my own Sekirei." Seo resigned himself to it lest suffer Takehito's demonic wrath.

"With that decided, I declare the formation of the Izumo Alliance!" Takehito declared cheerfully before switching gears and digging back into his food. "Well, not like we can do much anyway at the moment. Better for us to bolster our own forces while I finish my work over at MBI. So Kaoru-kun, go out and find your Sekirei!" He pointed his chopsticks at Seo while acting like a commander.

"Got it got it, I'll go out and see if I run into one." Seo said with a sigh, scarfing down the rest of his food and getting up to leave. "I got work to do but I can still wander around and hope I get some chance encounter." And with that, he was out the door, leaving the actual residents to finish their breakfast.

"So what are you two going to do today?" Takehito asked the Ashikabi/Sekirei pair as he began finishing his own meal.

"I was thinking of going into town and finding a part time job." Shirou replied. One of the times Zelretch had punted him to another dimension, because there was some difference in the flow of time, the magus ended up spending a couple of months there before getting found by Rin and brought back. And since it seemed like he wasn't going anywhere soon, he might as well make sure he could support himself. "Besides that, I might get some training in. I don't know what we're up against when it comes to the other Sekirei so I might as well get myself prepared."

"Ah, I'll go with you then. We can help each other train!" Uzume said cheerfully.

"Ah yes, now that I think about it, this is an unusual situation. The way it's all designed, the Sekirei fights while protecting their Ashikabi. They're much stronger than a normal human after all." Miya noted which reminded Shirou once again of the Grail War's Master/Servant system. "In this case however, the Ashikabi is capable of fighting alongside his Sekirei. This would open up some possibilities in battle."

"It appears Minaka-kun made a miscalculation then. There are no rules that the Ashikabi can't join the fight because he never thought one could stand a chance against a Sekirei." Takehito added on with a smirk. "Though before it starts, you two need to work on your teamwork. Getting in each other's way and then arguing with each other in the middle of a fight isn't exactly the best strategy after all." His smirk grew ever so slightly wider when he saw the pair in question look bashful about it. It couldn't be helped though. That was their first battle together and neither of them were all that used to working as part of a team. Shirou preferred to fight alone so he wouldn't drag others into the battle while Uzume simply didn't have much experience in a fight.

"If it's okay with you, I'd be happy to help by sparring with you two." Miya suggested. "I feel like the lack of practice has made me rusty so this also helps me." Despite Miya's playful smile, Uzume began to go pale in the face.

"Sure, that'll help if it's not too much trouble." Shirou replied, oblivious to his Sekirei's look of horror. To Shirou, it was a chance to reinforce his swordsmanship without relying too much on his magic. Using a traced Noble Phantasm was cool and all but they were a strain on his body if used too much. It didn't help that he had to rely more on his pitiful magic reserves since his left arm was mostly sealed. "I look forward to learning from you." Miya nodded with another smile before going off to do the dishes which prompted Uzume to snap out of it and whisper something into Shirou's ear.

"Shirou, what are you thinking!?" Uzume exclaimed while maintaining her hushed voice. "Miya is the strongest Sekirei out there. She'll decimate us!"

"I think you're exaggerating… And besides, it'll only be a sparring match, not a fight to the death." Shirou said with a nervous chuckle.

"There have been rumors circulating about her as the strongest Sekirei among us lower numbers and the stuff I've heard is insane. I remember one where she supposedly cut down a battleship with just the shockwave of her sword slash!" Uzume tried to drive the point home that this was a bad idea.

"Now that one I'm sure is an exaggeration." Shirou said before being interrupted.

"Actually, that one is true. I saw it myself through footage. It was from a long distance too." Takehito confirmed Uzume's fears. It also made Shirou raise an eyebrow out of surprise. If that was true, Miya at least could match a Servant, maybe even Saber if one didn't count the usage of Noble Phantasms. "But I wouldn't worry about it too much. She can hold back her powers enough to not kill you…..maybe." He said with a laugh, trying to play it off as a joke though it didn't comfort Uzume at all.

"In a way then, that makes it all the more better. We'll get stronger training under Miya than if we were to just train on our own right?" Shirou said in an attempt to convince her that it would be a positive endeavor to which Uzume nodded albeit reluctantly. Also, anything that sets me further apart from that asshole is a win in my book. The red head normally used Archer's combat style because it was effective but he felt that if he just stuck with the path laid out in front of him, he'd end up the same as his future self. He had to make it his own.

"Glad to see you two are up for it." Miya said cheerfully, coming back from the kitchen. In her hands was a bokken or wooden katana. "Now then, let's work off breakfast with a nice spar."

"Don't go easy on me now." Shirou said as he traced Kanshou and Bakuya with their blades altered to be dull. He got up and followed Miya to the yard out back. Takehito followed suit, wanting to see the battle capabilities of their new residents first hand. Uzume was the last to get up. With Shirou's back turned to her, she now displayed a worried expression as she remembered the darkened expression that was on Shirou's face. It was only for a moment, but their bond clearly conveyed his feelings of regret and sadness, even some anger.

Shirou….I don't know what happened that made you make that face and I hope in the future that you'll tell me what troubles you. But as your Sekirei, I'll stay by your side and make sure you don't have any more reason to feel that way. Strengthening her resolve, Uzume grabbed her veil and followed after her Ashikabi.

Yay! I'm finally done with this chapter and it only took like 3-4 months. Sorry again for the wait and sorry that this probably felt more like an exposition chapter. Doesn't seem like it's worth the wait eh? As I said, I do plan on continuing this fanfic. I just need to figure out a more regular writing schedule, something that'll be annoying to figure out due to both work and college. It doesn't really help that I'm starting another story for another of Alex's contests. I will make it this time! So for this next month, I will be more focused on that entry than this fanfic but I will work on the next chapter inbetween writing for that one. I repeat, I am not abandoning this fanfic.

Well then, please review or pm me to let me know how I can improve this fanfic outside of the pacing issues that I am already aware of or suggestions. Until next time! Thank you again for your support!