The sight that greeted the black-haired ashikabi as he went out of the bathroom was his wife bawling her eyes out as she clutched his jacket as if it was her lifeline. The look on the water user's face as enough to shatter the man's heart. Minato, not knowing the cause of his most beloved sekirei's distress, slowly walked up to her totally bewildered his current predicament; he was never good with women in tears with his instinct telling him to apologize to Tsukiumi.

Tsukiumi for her part had sensed when her husband, if she could still call him that, had entered their bedroom but instead of acknowledging his presence she chose to ignore him choosing instead to pour out the immense pain she is feeling. She hoped that he would just go away as his very presence was like a needle being repeatedly pricked on her still raw, bleeding heart. The water mistress even now couldn't understand why her ashikabi would do this to her; she has endured Minato having other sekirei knowing that he was only forced into taking them as his own, but this was his own choosing. According to her judgment which was shrouded by grief and misery he deemed her unfit to be by his side; this conclusion brought about a fresh wave of melancholy to wash over her.

"Tsukiumi-san, uhm, what's wrong?" asked the source of torment for the blonde, unknowing that he himself has brought the grief of his beloved. Upon hearing his words Tsukiumi looked at him with red, puffy eyes and a wounded look. She wanted to yell, to curse, to hurt him, but she couldn't even muster a reply.

Silence was not a good thing, the ashikabi determined and sought to press further in order to find out what's wrong with his love. "Please Tsukiumi-san, tell me what's wrong, I could-" was as far as the male could say because the water sekirei finally snapped and slapped him though the action lacked any real force but it still stunned the clueless man.

"Who…" Tsukiumi finally said in a low voice that Minato couldn't hear. The ashikabi meanwhile was still in a daze and proceeded to ask his sekirei what did he do to earn her act of hate.

"Why did you slap me Tsukiumi-san? What did I do?" he asked cluelessly.

"Who is she? Who is your harlot?" the water user finally found her voice, trying to hide behind her pride due to her weakened emotional state.

"Ne, what do you mean?" was the reply she got. She couldn't believe he could be one of them, she had thought that he was different from the other men that her adjuster told her about. She believed that Minato wasn't a cheater that would only say nice things to a girl just to get to bed, yet here he was lying to her face about his mistress.

"Please Minato, tell me why? Why would you cheat on me? Why would you go to another woman behind my back? Are the other three not enough for you? I have put up with having to share my ashikabi but not this. Not this…" the blonde broke down again, her wall of pride once more crashing down to reveal a vulnerability that was thought not to exist within sekirei number 8.

"I would never-" Minato started but was stopped when he was shown a piece of paper in Tsukiumi's hands. One thing was for sure, he may be an entrance exam failure twice but he was certainly not dumb. He pieced together the events and concluded that Miya had probably slipped him her number into his jacket with her scent being transferred to the article of clothing. "I guess you found out about Miya." He dejectedly said.

Hearing his confession, her remaining inhibitions cracked and she fell further into despair, desperate for comfort, for this nightmare to be nothing more than a nightmare. She wanted to wake up and look to her side to see her husband beside her, his body intertwined with hers.

"Do… do you love her?" she asked, maybe because she was so distraught she didn't know what she was asking anymore or she was secretly a masochist; the answer would only bring more pain.

"Yes." Like an arrow to her heart. "But I love you more Tsukiumi-san, more than anyone else." Minato continued. He knew those exact words were used by serial adulterers but those were the truth; she is and always will be his beloved. "Please let me explain." He continued, pleading that the misunderstanding between them would be solved. The blonde beauty proceeded to nod her head, she had the right to know anyway.

"Her name is Miya, she well, she is a sekirei, she's number 1 infact." He said as he verbally introduced his newest sekirei to his oldest. Tsukiumi's reaction was of relief and shock, another sekirei, she could easily enforce her status as Minato's one and only wife but with Miya being number 1, she didn't like her chances at all. As the ashikabi continued to tell his tale, the blonde slowly reigned in her emotions and started to logically process all the information without the clout of horrible feelings. At the end of the Minato's explanation she understood everything, though it didn't mean that she expresses great enthusiasm at his new acquisition.

"I'm sorry, I know you don't like it when I get a new sekirei, but I didn't-" he got the wind squeezed out of him as his wife encased him in a tight hug.

"Minato, please tell me I'm the only one in your heart." Tsukiumi pleaded, she needed the reassurance.

"I- gomen Tsukiumi-san, you can't be the only one in my heart but I promise you that Tsukiumi-san is the one I love most." He told her. She knew he would answer that way, he was to kind to shut out his other sekirei, but maybe, and just maybe she could keep the majority of his heart for herself. She looked up at him and with eyes as deep as the sea, the most beautiful pair in Minato's opinion, she kissed him making her wings of light appear.

"Thank you Minato, my husband." She said after she broke away from his lips. The two soon found themselves laying on their bed with the woman using her husband's chest as a pillow and her arms around him possessively. The pair initiated small talk but soon succumbed to the exhaustion that blanketed them.

Minato was having a good sleep when he felt that his phone was vibrating, he opened his eyes and retrieved his device to see that an unknown number has sent him a text.

'Go to the wharf' were the words shown in the screen. He looked to his wife and contemplated whether or not to wake her or let her sleep. The ashikabi reasoned with himself that she needed the rest and didn't want his other sekirei to wake up just for him decided to go alone. He slowly made his way out of bed, careful not to wake the water user, got dressed and went out of MBI building. He drove one of the vehicles allocated for the Disciplinary Squad to the mentioned wharf; but unknown to the raven-haired man he was in the cross-hairs of a marksman the minute he went out of his car.

"Is anyone there? I got your message." He called out into seemingly empty space. He was about to go back in his vehicle when a person appeared wearing an expensive looking suit. "Who are you?" Minato asked the mysterious person.

"I am Higa, an ashikabi like you and this" Higa motioned into air beside him suddenly appearing from the shadows a tan haired woman with a sekirei crest on her forehead "is Akizu." He introduced. Sensing that his life was in peril Minato tried to talk his way out of a conflict.

"It is illegal for a sekirei to hurt an ashikabi," Minato said.

"True, but the rules never said anything about this." "BANG." Minato dropped to the floor, a pool of his own blood starting to accumulate. Higa reached for his phone and congratulated someone; with a final look at the fallen ashikabi he laughed and disappeared from sight. Minato's own was fading until there was nothing but darkness.

AN: Hey guys, I know it's been a very long time since I updated and there really is no excuse for it. I have to admit that writing has become more of a chore for me but I'm trying to regain my muse. Please tell me what do you think of this chapter and the direction that the story is going in. See you in the hopefully not too distant future.