Sekirei: Flames of the Willows

Chapter 1: A Ashikabi and his Sekirei

" Aw damn! Why did Daylight Savings have to be today? I'm going to be late for work!"

People often mistook Kata Kano for being an idiot. He was tardy in school and at work, looked like a punk, and stuttered whenever he talked to people. But Kata was actually a very smart boy with an IQ of over 400.

Kata's appearance was what most people judged him about. He had short blue hair that had fringe of bangs, spiky blue hair behind his neck, wore a gray shirt, red jeans, and brown loafers which had holes on them. Kata had a skull earring on his right ear—his mother put on him—that he had ever since he was a baby. And whenever Kata was angry or crying, his eyes would change into two different colors: red-angry, gold-sad.

" I've got to make it on time! I got to make it on time!"

Kata turned a corner on the streets and headed forward. He stepped on people's shoes, jumped over tables, and accidentally created a strong breeze with the back of his legs that blew every woman's skirts up that he passed. They all quickly held their hands on their skirts and gave Kata an evil look.

" You pervert!" All the woman wearing skirts Kata passed would shout.

" I-I-I'm….s-so-sor-sorr….reeeee…"

Like I said, Kata stuttered. He stuttered when he was a child and he stuttered even now. When stuttering, it felt like slime was being rubbed around his guns and a sticky wall was created that stopped his voice from going through. Because of everyone thinking he's an "idiot", he had to stay in high school until his parents thought he was of a good age for college—twenty—then he got a job in retail where he'd stack merchandise and point people to different aisles.

One time Kata tried talking to a teacher about bullying going on outside, and it went…

" T-th-th….ther….ther—bu-bu-pu-pus…pull-e-e—"

SLAP!

His teacher slapped him so hard. So hard he bleeded from his face and cried the entire way to the nurse's office. The nurse asked " what happened to you" and he said, and he said clearly for once in his life " My teacher hit me!"

Since then Kata had never been able to say another word again. Because he had no voice from his throat, he explained everything he wanted through drawings, writing, Dragon Natural Speaking, and even PowerPoint presentations. Yet he could deny his own proneness: he wasn't like everyone else.

By the time he finally reached the store, he found out it was closed. He took out his phone and called one of his fellow employees. Kata knew he couldn't talk properly, so he had to text:

Hey, why is the store closed today?

And his friend would text:

Didn't you hear? The boss got his throat caught in a chicken bone. He's in the hospital trying to rest. Between you and me, Kata, I hope he never gets out. That fat tube of lard deserves what he got, lol. And maybe he won't be able to talk anymore. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Kata, who nearly cried at the last segment of the text, he texted back:

Yeah…that would be cool. At least for you. I better go. I have important, mute stuff I need to take care of.

Kata read the text his friend sent back to him:

Lol. I just remembered I have stuff I need to do too. Nice talking to you. Bye.

And after the "Bye" there was a picture of a smiley face. Kata never knew what was so great about a smiley face at the end of a sentence, but then again he never could smile to begin with. Kata sighed as he placed his cellphone back in his jeans and walked away from the store with his hands buried inside his pockets.

Kata didn't know what he was going to do. He really needed the overtime. He was already three weeks behind pay with his landlord, and he couldn't just go back to his parents. Even though they knew stuttering wasn't a reaction due to the brain, they also treated him like he was "special".

But what Kata wanted most was a girlfriend. He feared if he didn't have one soon he'd grow old, grow gray hair and then grow white hair, then he would wither away into unnourished bones and would crumble into a pile from the dead bones. But really…he just wanted to find someone he could actually kiss.

" There's just no room in this world for someone like me. No one cares about a person who stutters. No one can ever love a person who stutters. I'm just so useless. I just the lord would realize this and end me right now."

Kata's heart beat at the sound of footsteps. Thump, thump, thump, thump went his heart hearing the rumble of footsteps charging straight towards him. Kata shuddered at the sound of the footsteps, curled up into a ball, and he screamed in his mind.

" Ah, no, I didn't mean it! Let me live!"

From the shadows he saw a woman running towards him. She was a girl his own age who was fair-skinned and of average height and slender build. Her body sports a very developed and curvaceous body with a slim waist and flared hips. She has pink eyes and pink hair. Her hair was a hime-style; its bangs were short, chin-length strands surrounding her head and framing her face. Kata's nose gushed with blood as he looked at her well-endowed chest jiggling while she ran.

Her attire consisted of a red kimono with yellow string decorating it that resemble the traditional clothing worn by miko with the addition of a short yellow skirt, mid-calf brown boots, and upper thigh-high white stockings.

" You!" The girl screamed at Kata as she was running towards him. " Get out of the way. Get out of the way before she gets you!"

Kata didn't say anything. He didn't even move. He just watched as another girl ran up behind the pink-haired girl. She too was the of average height and had fair skin. She has long black hair, wore black stockings, and a black Chinese styled dress with one red vertical stripe in the middle of it. For some reason Kata was afraid of her.

Kata was more worried about the miko girl than he worried about himself. He tried running up to her to help her, but they just both banged their heads into each other. Kata fell back and the girl fell forward. The girl fell on top of Kata where his face became stuck between her cleavage. Kata tried mumbling something out while his head was trapped, but his words were nuzzled by her breasts.

" Ah!" The girl screamed at Kata as his face lost consciousness from his nose gushing out blood. " Are you okay! Please don't die!"

" You're mine, you Sekirei! The black haired girl shouted at the pink-haired girl. " Since you still don't have your Ashikabi, you're weak. But I have found my Ashikabi and I will use my powers to destroy you!"

A giant diamond the color of snow sprouted out of the black-haired woman's palm. She crushed the diamond in her hand, then threw the shards of the diamond at the pink haired girl. The shards travelled fast like a bullet, heading straight for the pink-haired girl and about to pierce through her back, but she ran as fast as she could to get away from her.

While the girl was running, she carried Kata in her hands. The confused, stuttering soon to be freshman college student's eyes spinned around while he was being carried.

" You can run but you can't hide!" The black haired girl shouted. " I'll take care of you before the games even start! And I will make you beg for mercy before I finish you off. I swear!"

The pink-haired girl ran nearly 100 yards away from Kata's retail store without taking a second to stop and catch her breath. After running that many yards, she finally stopped, breathed, and looked around for any sight of the black-haired woman.

" I think I lost her. Phew." The girl wiped her head from the sweat dripping down her face. " That was a close one. For a moment I thought I was a goner—what?" Without knowing it she carried Kata with her. His eyes still spinned around in circles while his nose was smothered in blood. " Ah! No! I didn't want to brag you into this! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

End of Chapter 1