Naruto x Sekirei - Part 7

Akitsu blinked sleepily as she woke up. As was often the case these days, she'd passed out from exhaustion in the middle of having sex with Xanna and Naruto due to her inability to keep up with their energy. A quick examination of her body revealed that the bruises around her wrists and ankles from the manacles were healed, her nipples didn't feel sore from the clamps anymore and her rear end had long since stopped stinging from the paddling. The only discomfort came from the soreness between her legs and that was a good kind of discomfort.

The night had been lots of fun and Akitsu remembered how loudly they'd made her scream with considerable embarrassment.

She noted happily that she was pressed closely up against both of them, with her and Xanna laying on top of Naruto's wider body. The horned goddess was taking up more room, but Akitsu considered this to be perfectly normal and was more than happy with the position. Especially since Xanna also had an arm thrown over her.

Akitsu was aware that Naruto figured that she would eventually want more than this, that she would want someone to put her first, but he was wrong. She'd never trade what she had now in exchange for something else. True, neither one of them had the same depth of feeling for her as they did for each other, but she was valued and had a place to belong and that was all she'd ever wanted.

A light dusting of pink spread across her cheeks as she indulged in one of her little guilty pleasures, staring at them as they slept. She was fairly certain that Naruto would tease her if he found out she did this, but she knew enough about them by now to know that neither one would really mind.

Naruto was much the same in his sleep as he was awake, save for the lack of that irrepressible grin that adorned his face so often. Akitsu had always liked how that grin managed to be reassuring despite his otherwise threatening features, though it could just as easily project a terrible menace when he was angry, such as when Yashima's Ashikabi had attacked them.

Xanna was a bit different though. With her features slackened in sleep, she didn't exude the same sense of aloof superiority. But even in sleep, everything about her spoke of arrogant perfection, a physical beauty that passed beyond mortal ability to obtain. Akitsu had wondered about that for some time, having deduced that it simply wasn't possible that anyone could have been born with a body and face so perfect, but she hadn't dared ask. Xanna had noticed her curiosity anyway and explained proudly that she had made countless adjustments to her body over the centuries until she had perfected it.

Lightly running her hand along the smooth skin of the horned woman's back so as not to wake her, Akitsu had to agree that it was perfect. Naruto had long since noted that Sekirei were less fussed about gender than humans when it came to the choosing of partners, but Akitsu was a little bit different. Having despaired of ever having someone want her, she was entirely indifferent. Which naturally meant that having one of each and both of them of such impressive phsysical stature was as good as it got for her.

The blush on her face deepening, she indulged in another guilty pleasure.

"Ah...love you."

The whisper was barely audible, as she didn't actually want them to hear her speaking the words to them, but she did want to say them. She knew that they didn't feel the same for her and didn't want to seem as if she was trying to wedge herself into their marriage, but she really did love them. Naruto had come get her off that cold bench and given her a home and Xanna had invited her to their bed. Sure it had come with the condition of being completely submissive, but that was exactly Akitsu's comfort zone anyway so she hadn't even registered it as being strange.

Maybe they would return her feelings one day, Akitsu was more than willing to wait for that to happen. And if it didn't happen, then that was fine too. She would still be able to love them and that was enough. Unlike many of her fellow Sekirei who had little choice in who they loved because of the winging that was so often forced on them or the reaction that Naruto had deduced was caused by MBI's meddling, her feelings were her own.

Once, the Sekirei crest on her forehead had been a source of shame for her, a mark that showed everyone how worthless she was, but now she took pride in it. The other Sekirei could have their wings and their human Ashikabi, Akitsu had found her place with the two deity's for as long as they would have her.

"ONII-CHAN!" Came the sudden and unexpected wail of Kusano as she barged into the room, uninvited and unannounced as was often the case with children.

Multiple things happened in that instant.

Akitsu twitched in sudden startlement, her face glowing a deep red as she instinctively worried that her silent confession of love had been overheard, no matter how unlikely it was.

Xanna opened glowing crimson eyes and growled angrily at the rude wake up call.

Naruto also woke up, instantly realised the danger of the situation, oozed out of bed and maneuvered his wife and Akitsu into a cuddling position, whispering an apology into Xanna's ear and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek as he did so. Next he materialized a set of pants to cover his nakedness and scooped up the child Sekirei, preventing her from making any more loud and irritating noises even as he carried her out of the room.

Xanna continued to grumble even as she wrapped her arms around the Ice Sekirei. "Idiot children, I don't know what Naruto sees in them."

Naruto thought that Kusano was cute and wanted to see her grow up. He had all sorts of plans to tease the hell out for her for the way she was behaving now once she was older.

Xanna thought that the child Sekirei was an annoying little attention seeker that needed an attitude adjustment. The fact that Kusano was only eight years old didn't really register as important to the horned goddess. If she didn't love her husband so much, she'd have probably killed that irritating brat already and put her out of her misery. She'd have done the same thing to Naruto when he was a baby if the seal hadn't prevented it after all.

Well, she'd have either left the area or made Kusano leave it first, but killing her was a close second option.

"When this ridiculous escapade of his is over, we are getting some living arrangements that allow for more privacy." She grumbled some more. Not that she was particularly fussed if anyone happened upon her or Naruto having sex, but she hated interruptions and being woken up before she was damn well ready to wake up.

Akitsu's face was still glowing red even though her worry of being overheard was assuaged. The change in position had ended up with her face pressed into Xanna's breasts because of the height difference between them, which she rather liked.

Knowing how much her mistress hated having her cuddling interrupted, especially in such an obnoxious manner, Akitsu decided to remedy the situation.

Xanna's grumbling turned into more of a purring noise when a delightfully chilly pair of lips and tongue started to squeeze, suck and lick one of her nipples, intersped with the occasional bite.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kusano glared tearfully at Naruto over the hand he was using to keep her quiet, upset that he'd carried her out of the room like that when she needed him. Especially when she needed him right now!

"Alright cutie, what's wrong?" He asked gently and removed the hand, making sure to block any noise from leaving the room. It was still pretty early after all and there was no sense in letting Kusano's outbursts wake up anyone else. It especially would not do to make Xanna any angrier than she was already.

True to his predictions, Mikogami's freed Sekirei had decided to move in to the various rooms near the penthouse now that the spoiled rich brat wasn't going to be providing for them any longer. None of them had wanted to go back now that they were free, but they didn't feel particularly safe being out in the city by themselves, so they had chosen to take advantage of Naruto's offer of protecting and providing for them. Most of them still went about the city, but they knew that they had somewhere to go if they ran into trouble.

With that many people living in close proximity, it got rowdy enough during the day when everyone was awake, no need to have Kusano waking everyone up this early and making them cranky.

Instead of answering, Kusano chomped down on Naruto's finger with all the force of her eight year old Sekirei jaw.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the miniature cannibal and waited for her to figure out that she wasn't hurting him. This was so going on the list of things that she was getting teased for when she was older.

After a good half minute, Kusano clued on to the fact that there were no screams of pain coming from her stupid big brother and let go with a pout. Shi-chan and Takami-nee had always screamed when she bit them for ignoring her, which sort of tied in to why she'd woken up so upset.

"You done?" Naruto asked, eyebrow still raised.

Kusano nodded, still pouting.

"What's wrong?"

"Kuu-chan had a bad dream about Shi-chan getting hurt, I miss Shi-chan." She whined plaintively.

"And 'Shi-chan' would be Shiina?" Naruto questioned, knowing that the two had been close while they were in the labs. Shiina had kept Kusano's powers in check with his opposing ones while they were both still in the labs and the two had become very close. Even if Naruto had stabilized Kusano's core so that her powers no longer ran rampant, he could easily see why she would want the Death Sekirei back in her life.

"Uh huh." Kusano responded, getting calmer now that she could see that her big brother understood.

"And you want me to get him for you?" He continued questioning.

"Uh huh." The Green Girl's eyes were big and hopeful by this point.

"Alright, I'll get him, but you have to promise me that you'll never just barge into our room like that again. Understand?" Xanna had been very patient so far, but he had no desire to see how far that patience extended if these kind of wake up calls kept happening. Besides, it was common sense to not make one's wife angry.

"Okay." Kusano said quietly, not really understanding why but seeing that it was serious.

"Good, I'll get Shiina around noon or so."

"But that's hours from now." The child Sekirei whined. "Why can't you go now?"

"Kuu-chan, it's not even five in the morning. Wherever he is, he isn't going to be awake right now and it's rude to wake people up this early." Naruto said back with some incredulity, mixing in a slight rebuke since she'd done exactly that just now. He might be a god and didn't need to sleep, but that didn't mean he enjoyed getting up at the crack of dawn.

Especially since he was sensing something very interesting going on in the bedroom and had every intention of joining it.

Kusano looked like she was about to start crying all over again and was already making a bizzare keening noise in the back of her throat.

Naruto poked her in the stomach to cut it off and make her giggle. "None of that now, you'll get your Shi-chan soon, just be patient."

Several minutes later, Kusano was sleeping back in her bed due to Naruto's use of his power to knock her out again and Naruto himself was joining his wife and Akitsu in their early morning wake up sex.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto rubbed at his face and considered the situation as he stared at the apartment building where Shiina was located. The problem was that the Death Sekirei had recently gotten himself winged, and to Sahashi Yukari of all people. He knew that Takami hadn't wanted either of her kids involved in this Sekirei business so it was delightfully ironic that both of them had ended up being Ashikabi.

Shrugging to himself, he decided to simply approach them and decide what to do then. If Yukari was a decent enough girl, he would take her along with Shiina and if she wasn't then there was another unwinging going to happen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sahashi Yukari started when the knock on the door came, having been busy staring at her new bishounen boy toy that had just now finished explaining that he was a Sekirei, as well as this Sekirei Plan. Though he had seemed rather uncertain about the plan itself, mentioning something about it no longer being in effect. He hadn't known too much about what was disrupting it, having fled the labs in search of his little sister Kusano. All he had to go on had been some vague comments from some 'lead adjustor' lady that had been too busy lately to properly explain things to him.

She opened the door and immediately stumbled back in surprise as she found herself face-to-chest with an enourmously tall demon of a man.

"Good afternoon." He greeted pleasantly and invited himself inside. "My name is Naruto and I'm here because I need to ask you a few questions.

"What kind of questions?" Yukari asked suspiciously once she had gotten over her surprise.

"Nothing too special, I just need to determine whether I'm going to allow you to two to stay bonded and take you both with me or if I'm going to unwing Shiina and take just him." Naruto explained honestly.

"Run Yukari!" Shiina suddenly exclaimed, desperate to save his Ashikabi. He hadn't known her long, but he'd reacted to her and he liked her. He might not like hurting people, but he would use his power of decay on this strange horned man to protect her.

Yukari did not heed the warning and only stumbled back and watched.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the glowing palm that the almost girly looking Sekirei had placed on his chest. It radiated a feeling of death, which he knew was this particular one's power and a great power it was.

"What a scary power." He quipped. "But I'm afraid it doesn't work on gods."

Shiina stumbled back, gaping in shock at the fact that his power had failed. It had never failed to decay anything before.

"Gods?" Yukari gulped, seeing the horns and predictably drawing all sorts of wrong conclusions.

"Yep." Naruto confirmed without explaining further. It was always funny to see what people came up with in these situations. Some people went with the religious explanation, some tried to break it down logically and some went into outright denial. He was not disappointed.

"A-Are you here to drag us to your lair of debauchery like in some demon manga?" Yukari asked with only a slight quaver in her voice.

Naruto gave her an extremely strange look and opened his mouth to say no, only to realise that he could not deny the exact literal truth of the question. He was going to drag them off whether they liked it or not and the penthouse was a lair of debauchery among other things. Any place that was hosting both him and Xanna qualified as a den of debauchery by default.

"I suppose you could say that, but it's not what you...think?" Naruto answered, only to trail off questioningly when the girl approached and started feeling up his bare chest. "What are you doing?"

"If I'm going to become some demon's harem girl, then I'm going to inspect the merchandise first." Yukari stated firmly, ignoring Shiina's protestations.

Naruto turned his eyes heavenward and had but one thought go through his head. One of these days, I'm going to find out why this sort of thing only happens in places where the people speak Japanese. It may not have been called Japanese back in the Elemental Nations, but the language was the same. Weird, but he'd seen weirder.

He could maybe see it happening in the Elemental Nations if you found just the right type of girl and both sets of Japan he'd visited so far were clearly capable of producing such individuals, but he couldn't imagine that he'd get this kind of reaction in America, which had been his and Xanna's last stop.

One thing about her statement needed to be corrected though. "You do know that you aren't the one that gets to 'inspect the merchandise' if you're getting dragged off to become a harem girl?"

"You're no bishounen, but all these muscles are pretty hot too." Yukari said with a perverse giggle, obviously not listening to a word he'd just said.

"So sorry that I'm not some pretty boy for your groping pleasure." Naruto said with vast amounts of sarcasm, wondering how long this girl intended to keep feeling him up. He'd have stopped her by now, but he couldn't help his own morbid curiousity.

"It's ok." Yukari said back absently, completely missing the sarcasm and only vaguely registering that someone had apologized to her, so deep was she in her perverted little world.

Naruto looked down at the girl with a look so incredulous it might as well have been used as a picture in a dictionary next to the explanation of 'incredulous'.

"Yukari-san, I think you should stop." Shiina said in a loud whisper for some reason, as if afraid that he would attract Naruto's attention if he spoke too loudly. Naturally he was ignored.

"Demons are always huge in ero manga and anime, I wonder how big yours is." Yukari was muttering to herself, this time drawing an amused look from the horned blond, who was wondering if she'd actually stick her hands down his pants to check.

"Yukari-san!" Shiina hissed urgently, trying to drag the girl off but finding her to be endowed with the strength of perversion.

"Oh my God! What do you feed this thing?!"

Naruto was even more amused. Clearly this was one girl that had even less control of her perversions than Jiraiya.

"Your mother."

That seemed to finally startle the young pervert out of her own little world, making her look at Naruto in surprise.

"You've got my mother in your harem too?!"

The blond rolled his eyes at the one track mind she was displaying, highly amused that she hadn't picked up even on that joke. "No, your mother still hasn't given in to my charming personality. But to get back to the point, I'm here because Kusano misses her 'Shi-chan' and I've come to get him."

"Kuu-chan is with you?" Shiina asked in surprise and hope.

"Yeah, she barged into my room this morning all teary eyed because she had a bad dream about you, so you're coming with me one way or the other." Naruto confirmed.

"What about me?" Yukari demanded.

"I don't know, what about you?" He said back, deliberately winding her up.

"Shiina is my Sekirei, you can't just come in and take him even if you are some kind of demon god." She huffed back.

"I can actually, but that's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

Instead of answering, Naruto swiftly slapped a palm on Shiina's chest and unwinged him before either could react.

"What did you do?!" Yukari yelled at him.

"Unwinged him." Naruto answered blandly.

"Why?!" Yukari yelled some more.

"So that he has the free will to make a decision on whether he wants you around or not."

"But I reacted to her." Shiina said weakly once he had snapped out of the slight daze he'd been in.

"That doesn't mean anything." Naruto rebuffed. "Now take a few deep breaths, calm down, and think about whether you really want her in your life."

Having no particular choice in the matter, Shiina did as he was told. A few deep breaths later, he was staring at Yukari and thinking, being fairly certain that Naruto wouldn't let him get away with instantly saying that he wanted her to be his Ashikabi again.

It was a strange feeling to be unwinged again. The adoration he'd felt for Yukari earlier was suddenly gone, replaced by a more simple desire to know her. He still liked her even though he wasn't her Sekirei anymore, though he felt strangely irritated and jealous that she had groped the horned blond earlier. That hadn't been there when he'd been winged.

"I would like her to be my Ashikabi again, but I would also like it if Yukari-san could tone down her groping." Shiina finally said after several minutes of silence, speaking the last part to the girl.

Yukari beamed at him and agreed to try controlling herself. She didn't actually understand how important the bonding was, but she had liked having someone so devoted to her. It didn't hurt that he was a pretty boy.

"Suit yourself." Naruto shrugged and reversed the unwingable state on Shiina. "You'll have to kiss her again though."

Shiina looked about sixteen or so and was more or less an adult by Naruto's standards anyway, so he wasn't going to stop either one of them if they wanted this.

One kiss and light show later, they were all just about ready to leave. Before they could though, the TV activated all by itself and showed an image of the white cloaked MBI director, his shaved head now sporting a decent amount of very short silver hair.

"Sahashi Yukari! Welcome to the...!" Minaka started with his usual enthusiasm but choked off the words rapidly when he noticed Naruto standing there.

"Hey there princess." Naruto greeted, making a veiled referrence to Minaka's castration.

"Naruto-san." The man replied with a certain degree of nervousness.

"You wouldn't happen to still be trying to keep the Sekirei Plan going are you?" The horned blond asked pointedly.

"Err...no?"

"Good good, we wouldn't want any accidents to happen now would we?" Naruto said with menace and materialised an exact copy of 'Amaterasu-chan'. "The Sekirei Plan might cause Amaterasu-chan to get...hurt."

Naruto punctuated this last word by squeezing the fake rifle, making it give off a series of creaking, cracking and metal stress sounds.

"Amaterasu-chan!" Minaka yelped, staring fearfully at his beloved rifle. "You've made your point Naruto-san, I will desist."

"Good boy." Naruto said snidely and put the fake rifle away. Minaka cut the connection moments later.

"What the hell was that all about?" Yukari demanded in confusion.

"It was a tale of love and woe between a man and a laser rifle."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Some minutes later, they were all back at the penthouse and Shiina and Kusano were hugging each other and crying in a display so sweet it could make your teeth rot just by watching it.

Yukari had bugged him some more about the thing between Minaka and 'Amaterasu-chan', but he hadn't been willing to explain. Telling a girl that he and Xanna were mentally tormenting/emotionally blackmailing her crackpot father with a fake laser rifle was just not something he was going to get into. He didn't hate Yukari enough to tell her that she was related to Minaka.

Speaking of Yukari...

The girl's fingers were twitching as she looked around the room at all the boobs, clearly dying to grope a few. She seemed to be having particular difficulty with Akitsu and Xanna, which Naruto considered only natural. Xanna was the definition of exotic beauty and Yukari's peculiar habit of comparing reality to manga was making it hard for the girl to stick to her promise about controlling her groping habits.

As for Akitsu...well her chest was simply huge by the standards of humans.

"I can't take it anymore!" Yukari suddenly proclaimed and launched herself towards Xanna with clear intent to grope. Apparently the desire to find out how firm the breasts of a goddess were had overcome the young pervert.

Naruto could only shake his head when his wife smacked the charging pervert across the room when she made it into range.

"Yukari-san!" Shiina cried out in worry for his Ashikabi.

"She'll be fine." Naruto said dismissively, knowing that the girl was still alive and would only have a minor bruise for her trouble since Xanna had held back a lot. "Lay her down on the bed in that room over there, that's also where you'll be sleeping by the way." He said, pointing out the last empty room in the penthouse.

Shiina nodded gratefully and carried his unconscious Ashikabi to the indicated room.

"Where do you find these kinds of people beloved?" Xanna asked, equal parts amused an annoyed by the attempted groping.

"I've been wondering that myself." Naruto said back dryly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was once again lurking over the city, looking for another Sekirei to talk to/unwing/save from her fate. Or perhaps something new.

Unlike his usual solitary trips, Akitsu was by his side this time, having asked(in her usual hesitant and fidgety way) if she could accompany him.

In the distance, he felt an unstable Sekirei core going out of control before being suddenly pacified by the use of some opposing power from another nearby Sekirei. The unstable one was quite familiar and he'd observed the other one before as well. Homura and Tsukiumi.

Naruto grinned. This should be good. "We've got something Akitsu, lets go."

"Ah...yes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A drenched, miserable and slightly burned Homura stared up at the Water Sekirei in exasperation. Her rants about being the strongest and hating all Ashikabi got a bit repetitive after a while.

"Well well well, if it isn't Sparky. How you doing Sparky?" A familiar and far too amused voice rumbled from above.

And now this guy... Homura sighed internally, looking upwards and having to do a double take at the sight.

Naruto was standing on the wall, completely parallel to the ground as if gravity originated from inside the building instead of the Earth. To make it even stranger, Akitsu was sitting on his back as if he was a bench and looking subtly pleased with the position.

"Who art thou to intrude upon mine conversation with Homura, fiend?" Tsukiumi demanded.

Naruto blinked in surprise at the silly old style speech pattern and proceeded to ignore the chesty blond in favor of asking the Fire Sekirei another question. "Why is she talking like that, is there something wrong with her? Is she one of those people, you know, the ones who take role playing a little too seriously?"

Homura snorted in amusement and was about to answer but was beaten to the punch by the volatile water user.

"Water Celebration!"

The pressurized water attack was reflexively blocked by a shield of ice by the impassive Akitsu. After the attack was blocked, Akitsu decided to chastise her fellow Sekirei for the attack, even if Naruto couldn't be hurt by it.

"Ah...bad girl." She'd heard Naruto using that chastisement on little Kuu-chan a few times when the child Sekirei had thrown one of her tantrums.

Naruto snickered, prompting Akitsu to grab hold of him tighter since her seat was shaking.

"How darest thou treat me like a child!" Tsukiumi snarled and launched another water blast at the two of them, only to gape in shock as it reversed direction and drenched her instead.

"How darest thou try to initiate a wet T-shirt contest without getting thineself wet first, not to mention that I don't wear a shirt." Naruto said back mockingly, snickering most of the way through his sentence because he couldn't keep a serious face while using that outdated speech pattern.

"Beast, thou wishes to violate mine body, do thee not?!" Tsukiumi snarled again. "I shall not allow it!"

"Well in that case, I guess I'm not going to be violating your body." Naruto said flippantly, restraining a shrug so that he didn't shake Akitsu off his back.

"Ah...master, you can violate my body." Akitsu offered with a note of hope in her voice.

"You say the sweetest things Akitsu."

The Ice Sekirei bashfully looked away, her face flushed with pleasure.

"Why are you here Uzumaki-san?" Homura asked tiredly. The byplay had been all sorts of amusing, but all he really wanted to do right now was go back to Izumo Inn and sleep off his latest set of burns.

"Why, I'm here to ask if you're done being stubborn of course!" Naruto chirped with far too much cheer. It came off as really creepy coming from a man like him.

"About what?" Homura evaded.

"About your unstable core you twit, what else would you be stubborn about?" Naruto said sarcastically, accompanied by an eyeroll.

Homura winced. He hadn't wanted to go to the horned man for help with that even if Uzume couldn't stop praising him for the way he'd saved Chiho.

"Actually, I was hoping to find a suitable Ashikabi first, but it looks like I'm running out of time." Homura said in defeat.

"Actually, you're already reacting." Naruto pointed out. "But you knew that didn't you Sparky?"

The Fire Sekirei winced even more. He had a very good idea who he was reacting to and he was not happy about it.

"Yeah I knew, but I just couldn't believe it. How can my destined one be a man? I'm not even gay!" Homura said in frustration.

"I thought you were over your stupid phase Homura, but I guess not." Naruto spoke in a disappointed tone. "The reaction has nothing to do with your so called 'destined one'."

While Homura aimed an irritated look at the horizontal blond for insulting his intelligence again, Tsukiumi re-inserted herself into the conversation, her attention drawn by Naruto's latest statement. She'd stayed quiet for a while, intimidated by the obvious power that this horned man had, not to mention that his flippant and unconcerned behavior had caught her somewhat flatfooted, but her pride would not allow her to flee.

"What would a fiend such as thee know of the Sekirei?" She demanded.

"What would a Sekirei such as yourself know about the Sekirei?" Naruto asked back with a grin. "I've been investigating the Sekirei for a while now and I've learned a thing or two."

"Tsukiumi, please." Homura said to the Water Sekirei pleadingly, very much hoping that she would shut up for a while and stop interrupting what promised to be yet another significant revelation. "What does the reaction mean if not the presence of our destined one?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Homura and Tsukiumi echoed in bafflement.

"Nothing." Naruto repeated with amusement.

"Then explain why we react if it doesn't mean anything." Homura challenged with just a hint of accusation in his voice.

"Chakra resonance." Naruto replied instantly.

"What is chakra? Speak plainly!" Tsukiumi demanded once again.

"It's the energy that makes up your Sekirei core."

"And this chakra resonance?" Homura prodded cautiously.

"The longer that a Sekirei spends in the presence of an Ashikabi, the greater the chance of a reaction being triggered. There are various factors that decide how long that time is, such as the strength of the Sekirei and Ashikabi in question, as well as how similar in spirit they are."

"But wouldn't a 'similarity in spirit' as you called it mean that an Ashikabi and Sekirei are compatible?" Homura asked almost desperately.

"Nope, it just means that good natured Sekirei tend to gravitate towards good natured Ashikabi as a rule of thumb. It doesn't mean that they're going to be compatible and even the nicest of Sekirei would react to the biggest scum of an Ashikabi you could find if they spent a long enough time in close proximity. Of course, the instant love that the bond forces on the Sekirei makes compatibility a moot point anyway."

"This can't be right, Sekirei can't just react to everyone like that." Homura shook his head in denial.

"But they do." Naruto refuted, amused. "Minaka's meddling with your cores has left you all in this condition and it has suited him just fine because this way he could force everyone into his ridiculous Sekirei Plan."

Homura cursed, angry at the demented MBI CEO all over again. He had no reason not to believe the horned man, he'd proven himself more than powerful enough already that he didn't need to lie in order to push an agenda.

"Homura, thou believe this fiend's words?" Tsukiumi asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I do."

"Why do you keep calling me a fiend anyway?" Naruto asked the water user.

"Thou looks like a fiend." She stated flatly.

"Do I really look like a fiend Akitsu?" Naruto asked his passenger.

"ah..." Akitsu gave off an air of deep contemplation for a few seconds. "yes, a perverted fiend."

"Fair enough." Naruto conceded with a grin. He actually kind of liked that. "Soooo, Sparky...want me to fix you up now so that you don't need to get winged by a guy in order to stop burning yourself?"

Homura sighed, both in defeat and in irritation at the nickname and nodded.

Making his way to the ground, Naruto deposited Akitsu on her feet and placed his hand on Homura's chest.

"Oh my, looks like you've been turning into a regular she-male because you reacted to a man." Naruto snickered, much to Homura's embarrassment.

"Shut up!"

Still grinning, the horned blond reversed the physical changes, noting the strange malleability of the Sekirei body as he did so. Perhaps another thing worth looking into, or perhaps not. Meh, he'd decide later.

When Homura was fully male again, Naruto stabilised his core and blocked off the winging ability. He also went and healed the recent burns while he was at it.

"Thank you Naruto-san." Homura said once it was done, realising just how much better he felt now that his core wasn't acting up all the time.

"No problem." Naruto waved off and turned towards Tsukiumi again. "You want me to make you unwingable too? You are reacting you know, and to the same guy as Sparky ironically enough."

"So that dream was a reaction!" Tsukiumi stated angrily, obviously upset by this.

"Dream?" Naruto asked, his gaze suddenly sharp.

"Hey that's right, if the reaction doesn't mean anything then what about when Sekirei reach out to an Ashikabi in a dream?" Homura said in realisation, having forgotten about that while he was arguing with Naruto earlier.

The horned blond wasn't listening however, as he had already moved closer to Tsukiumi and was peering at her in an attempt to suss out the mysteries of the long distance reaction which had puzzled him for the past few days.

"Stay away beast!" Tsukiumi warned, already preparing her water for an attack in case he tried anything.

"Calm your tits Sprinkles, I'm not going to hurt you." Naruto told her as he approached, idly slapping aside some of her water.

Tsukiumi fumed at the blatant disrespect, but kept still. For all her claims of being the strongest, she knew that she wasn't. Not yet. But this fool would rue the day he disrespected her so once her strength became greater than his. Rue!

"Oh I see." Naruto snickered.

"What?" Both Homura and Tsukiumi asked.

"Looks like long distance reactions are a specialty of certain types of elemental Sekirei. You've got lots of chakra dispersed through the water vapor in the air, which increases the range at which you sense Ashikabi. Minato just happened to be the closest one and the one most well matched to you on top of it. Kusano must have reacted at a distance because she has chakra threaded through the plants of the city. The dream is the easiest part to explain, it's nothing more than a weak mental connection created by the forming bond."

"I will kill the monkey and free myself!" The water Sekirei declared.

"If you try to come near him, your reaction is going to get stronger and you probably won't be able to do it." Naruto pointed out, grinning. "And even if you do manage it, the backlash of your half formed bond to him will force you to feel guilty about it, as if you'd killed a dear friend or long time lover."

"So am I supposed to just allow this monkey to paw me like some possession?!" Tsukiumi demanded indignantly.

"For one thing, the only thing needed to create a full bond is a kiss. For another, while Minato is a wimp, he's a decent guy and wouldn't touch you unless you allowed him to. Thirdly, he's so weak willed that you would walk all over him. And finally, I can make you unwingable if you want, just like I did to Homura."

Tsukiumi opened her mouth a few times in an attempt to speak but nothing would come out. He'd just shot down pretty much every misconception about winging that she had, along with every reason she had for resisting it. On top of that he had also offered to completely remove the possibility of it ever happening.

"Homura, can he be trusted?" She asked the Fire Sekirei, considering the offer.

Homura nodded firmly. He was ready to trust the horned blond by now, he'd done enough to warrant it already.

"C-can, thou restore my ability to be winged later?" She asked of Naruto, cursing her slight stutter.

"Naturally." He responded easily, raising an eyebrow

"Very well then, make me unwingable...but thou must promise that thou will restore me if I demand it!"

"Of course, I promise."

One minute later, during which Tsukiumi had demonstrated a great deal of blushing and stuttering that was quite unlike her previous forceful demeanor, it was done and Naruto was just about ready to leave. Tsukiumi was really something else, she acted like she was the toughest girl out there but in reality she was actually pretty nice, very proud though. He'd have to keep an eye on the tsundere Water Sekirei so that she didn't get herself in trouble when she inevitably went looking for another fight.

"Lets go Akitsu, we're done here."

The Ice Sekirei nodded silently and moved closer to him.

"Wait just a second!" Homura said quickly, just as they were about to leave.

"What?" Naruto asked curiously, wondering what the fire user wanted.

"Miya has asked me to extend a dinner invitation to you and your wife. She says that she would like to speak to you about the future of the Sekirei."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the roundabout way that the woman was trying to get them to pay her a visit. "Well you can tell Miya that she'll just have to wait her turn, unless she'd like to make an appointment. Snatching up her feathers is busy work and I've got nearly thirty Sekirei to watch after now."

Homura made a choking noise at the idea of anyone telling Miya, Sekirei #01, to 'wait her turn or make an appointment', especially for the reason that Naruto had just given. Then the last part of the sentence registered.

"Wait, thirty?! When did you get that many?" Homura asked incredulously.

"Xanna paid that little shit in the south a visit and unwinged almost all of his Sekirei, they're living with us now." Naruto explained with a shrug.

Homura felt satisfied upon hearing that. More than one of the Sekirei he had tried to protect had been forcibly winged by Mikogami.

"One last thing before we go." Naruto continued. "Tell Miya that I might be convinced to stop by sooner if she were to send me a pair of her panties, provided that they had been worn for at least a day and that she took a bath before putting them on."

Homura struggled to contain his instinctive terror at the idea of telling Miya that, but failed and ended frantically checking the area as if she was going to show up at any moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto smiled to himself as he watched the sunset. Another day gone, another day closer to being done with his business in this city.

Honestly, he could have been done a long while ago, but there was no rush and he liked doing things slow. Though he quite honestly didn't like any of the big cities on this planet, too much concrete and steel and barely a hint of life aside from humans and the odd animal. Well that wasn't entirely true, the sewers were practically swarming with rats and insects, but he seriously missed the presence of plant life.

He wasn't too enthused with what he had as a solution for keeping all of these Sekirei he'd taken in safe, but he honestly couldn't see any alternative. Ironically enough, Xanna had been the one to suggest it and she was somewhat more in favor of the idea than he was, but for altogether different reasons. No government could be trusted to leave these girls alone. No matter how many times they were told that their power couldn't be exploited for their own use, they'd keep trying until they either succeeded or killed them all with their attempts.

Except of course, a government under his and Xanna's control. On a planet under their control.

The idea of proclaiming himself the emperor of some planet out there didn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but he had sort of backed himself into a corner when he'd gone and started collecting super powered alien little sisters. If he wanted to keep them safe without smothering them, he didn't have a whole lot of choice. He hadn't exactly been 'thinking ahead' while he was picking up little sister all over the place and by the time he had bothered to think ahead, he'd already check mated himself. How embarrassing.

Well, there was the option of asking them to simply keep their powers hidden, but he didn't believe for a second that several dozen highly beautiful women(some of them hopelessly naive), would be able to keep a low profile.

That was another reason why he was basically procrastinating when he could have been done already. If he was going to end up with his ass parked on a throne soon, then he was damn well going to drag his feet about it. Xanna thought it was funny how he was delaying and taking entirely too much delight in his displeasure at how he had accidentally maneuvered himself into a position where he was forced to take a position of leadership. Tsunade would probably hack up a lung in laughter considering how he had resisted her attempts to foist the position of Rokudaime Hokage on him.

There were still plenty of minor things to be done, but none of them were strictly necessary. They were either going to be done for fun or because of curiousity, including the upcoming conversation with Miya.

The only big thing that was really left to do was to dispose of Higa and his minions and then convince his Sekirei to accept his protection. Oh sure, the man had a lot of Ashikabi on his payroll, but most of them were down on their luck young fools that had gotten themselves into a bad situation and couldn't get out. Many of them would probably end up keeping their Sekirei.

The winging was an interesting thing like that. While it didn't prove anything to the effect of 'destined love' or anything similarly trite, there was one aspect of it that he couldn't help but like. If the Ashikabi saw their Sekirei as a partner/girlfriend/wife, then the bond would also act in such a manner and the Sekirei would be as free as any other woman in that kind of situation. It was the only part about the Sekirei core that was actually 'flexible'.

Which explained why Higa and Mikogami had so much less trouble controlling the psychos of their groups in comparison to someone like Sanada. Their Sekirei were slaves for all intents and purposes(with the sole exception of Mutsu).

It showed a lot of decency on Sanada's part that he didn't treat any of his Sekirei like possessions, but in this case it seemed to be the wrong thing to do, go figure. At least in the case of Chiyo, Yuuna and Hatae that was. Those three were going to slip the leash soon and try going on a little rampage, he just knew it and then he'd have to kill them.

Trying to 'fix' them wasn't an option. Not because he didn't want to, but because whatever was causing this bloodlust in them was definitely connected to the Sekirei core and both he and Xanna had already failed in their attempts to neutralize it without killing them or outright removing their core...which was also fatal. Normally, even that wouldn't be a problem since they could simply be resurrected right after, but they literally couldn't live without it. Trying to bring them back without a Sekirei core simply wasn't possible, their spirits- the thing that Minaka and MBI in general referred to as their 'Tama'- was inextricably linked to their core and might as well be the same thing.

Musubi was a special case in the fact that she had Yume's Tama inside her as well as her own, but that was a result of the attempts to remove her power when she'd been kidnapped as a child. Before meeting Musubi he'd been intending to extract Yume and restore her to her original body(which had long since rotted to nothing but bones, but that was no problem for someone like him). He'd known that it wasn't going to happen when he'd met her though. Musubi's core was a mess and Yume was acting like duct tape by holding it together. Either he or Xanna could have fixed it, but it would need constant oversight or else fall apart again. Maybe another semi-intelligent Fuinjutsu of the type he'd made for Pamela back in the previous dimension? If was worth a thought if he could figure out how to actually separate the two of them without tearing one or both of their souls to shreds. He wasn't too optimistic about it though, everything he'd learned so far indicated that this entire Sekirei thing was too rigid to be bent and twisted the way that he'd been able to do with things back in the Elemental Nations. It was actually pretty amazing that Minaka's blundering hadn't killed them all. Aside from being very smart in the book sense kind of way, he was also stupidly lucky.

He was going to have to leave the self-titled Sekirei of Fate(and wasn't that an absurd moniker) where she was.

It had to be a pretty miserable existence for Yume, doing nothing day in and day out except keeping Musubi alive, but the woman had clearly thought it was worth it and Naruto would respect that. He knew that he would have certainly been pissed if someone had tried to tell him to just let Xanna die when she'd been dependent on him for survival.

At the very least reviving the Sekirei who had been 'deactivated' before his arrival would be easy. Just provide a jolt of energy and they'd be right back up as if nothing had happened. They would be unwinged if they had happened to be winged before, but that was actually the simplest thing to meddle with about their Sekirei core. That was fairly suspicious in and of itself, but he was waiting until he spoke to Miya before bringing that up. She was the only one that could possibly have answers for that little mystery, and it was not the only mystery either.

He now had a theory on why certain Sekirei were so violently disposed and why it appeared to only happen with close quarters types. Granted, it was a theory based almost entirely on guesswork and the most ridiculously circumstantial evidence you could imagine, but in combination with everything else, it seemed plausible enough to him. Once again a topic to lay on Miya. That woman sure did like her secrets, not that he could blame her when Minaka's stupid face had been one of the first things she'd seen when she woke up from stasis.

Surprisingly enough, Karasuba was not among those Sekirei who were driven to insatiable bloodlust by their own power. Her desire for battle and the occasional bloodletting was of a more mundane variety and all the sadder for it. It should be exceedingly obvious to anyone if they put some thought in it and it Naruto found it endlessly amazing how dense and stupid people could be when they didn't put things together. It wasn't even as if anyone was trying to keep it secret, people just...didn't think about it. He was pretty sure that it would have taken him a grand total of three seconds to figure it out if he'd heard of it instead of having Xanna pass it on to him after ripping it out of Minaka's skull.

That was no doubt going to be an interesting conversation between him and Karasuba and one that was going to happen soon as well, if her presence hovering in a nearby building was any clue. Looks like the Little Crow had finally decided to approach him again, though he hoped she would wait for a little longer. He wasn't sitting on this particular building without a reason after all, if he'd really wanted to watch a good sunset, he'd have picked a building on the west side of town instead of the east.

She'd probably wait and see what he was up to though,he had transformed and made a clone in her field of vision after all.

Anyone that looked at him right now would see a lanky twenty-something man with a black ponytail hanging between his shoulders and a silver haired woman at his side. Silver was not a normal hair color for humans so anyone that saw him (*cough* Higa *cough*) would assume that she was a Sekirei and he an Ashikabi. The predictable little idiot would no doubt send his gopher Kakizaki to approach him with 'an offer he couldn't refuse'. The moron thought that him putting an end to the Sekirei Plan and generally hurting MBI was somehow a good thing for him. Dumbass, he wouldn't have lasted a week in the Elemental Nations, where instead of phrases like 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' you typically used 'the enemy of my enemy is my enemy'.

Naruto held back a sigh at the fact that Kakizaki still hadn't shown up and considered just crashing through the window. He had wanted to do things a bit differently for a change, but so far it was only serving to remind him why he had a fist first philosophy.

Deciding to give it a little longer, he returned to his wool gathering.

His recent thoughts about Karasuba led to the other two former members of the now disbanded Disciplinary Squad.

Both Haihane and Benitsubasa were a good deal more controlled than the various psychos among the Sekirei, but still enjoyed a good fight which was why they'd been chosen for it in the first place.

His lips twitched into a smile at the memory of his spying on Benitsubasa some hours ago. The pink haired berserker had been predictably infuriated when she found the strapon on her bed, which had been worth a few grins all by itself. Even funnier had been when she had started gnawing on her lip nervously and eventually grabbed it, rushed to her gay Ashikabi's room and put it on.

Naruto had nearly bitten his tongue off multiple times at her clumsy seduction attempt with that thing protruding from her waist. He'd also learned that she had apparently already offered her back door to Natsuo, only to be refused, which had no doubt prompted her to think that he must have been the one taking in the ass in the relationship with his now dead lover.

Predictably, she had been refused again and had stomped off in a fit of humiliation driven rage. She had also forgotten to untie the strapon, which had not helped her humiliation when she'd run into someone.

He felt bad for her when she got back to her own room and burst into tears though, so he'd resolved that he would leave her a present tomorrow. Serious anger management issues she might have, but he hadn't intended his little joke to upset her that badly and it wasn't her fault that her Ashikabi was fruitier than a fruit salad.

The slight smile turned into a full grin when he thought about who had almost been chosen as the fourth member of the third generation Disciplinary Squad.

Musubi.

After meeting her in person that was just funny beyond words.

It had actually been Karasuba who had suggested her and the ditzy fist fighter had almost been accepted. Only the fact that she was way too happy go lucky and massively resistant to all attempts at making her a bit more mature had prevented her from being chosen.

"Lovely sunset, isn't it Ashikabi-san?"

The oily voice broke him out of his thoughts. Damn but he was getting good at deliberately not paying attention to his surroundings if a weasel like Kakizaki had managed to sneak up on him. Though he had to give props to whoever maintained the hinges on the door that led to the roof, those things were silent as the grave. Maybe he should tone down this whole 'ignore everything in hopes of getting surprised' thing? Wouldn't do to have random civilians sneaking up on him.

Turning around, he saw the expected Kakizaki along with the semi-expected Toyotama and Ichiya. Higa's favored bloodhounds were already staring at him and his transformed clone hungrily. He didn't even need to read their minds to know that they really, really wanted an excuse to kill them both.

"Who the hell are you and why do I care?" Naruto asked rudely, keeping up the act.

Kakizaki frowned at the rudeness but continued anyway. "I am Kakizaki and I work for Izumi Higa. I have an offer for you."

Getting up on his feet, Naruto stomped over to the man aggressively, making him step back and the two Sekirei with him to tense expectantly.

"Yeah, I bet you'd like me to become another of Higa's bought or blackmailed Ashikabi wouldn't you?" He asked with a vicious grin.

Kakizaki froze in surprise. Both he and Higa had assumed that the man must be a fairly new Ashikabi if he didn't know that the eastern section of the city belonged to Higa. This foreknowledge however proved otherwise. And why hadn't the man's Sekirei moved yet?

"Who are you?" Kakizaki asked with concealed unease.

Instead of answering, Naruto's teeth sharpened and he suddenly gained a great deal of mass, as well as horns. Before the stunned secretary could react, his arms were grabbed and pushed painfully into his body as he was lifted into the air.

"Uzumaki." Kakizaki gasped and saw with dismay that Ichiya and Toyotama were already wrapped in chains that had somehow formed from Naruto's now bare chest.

Naruto's grin widened. "You done goofed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Some minutes later, he was sitting down again, this time in his true form and there was no transformed clone at his side. The two vicious Sekirei were dead and Kakizaki had been dumped into the Interdimensional Storage Locker for later. He had told Uzume that she could be there when he killed him and Higa after all. Actually, since there was nothing really in there right now except for Kakizaki and a bunch of deactivated Sekirei, maybe he should be calling it the Interdimensional Meat Locker? Nah, he'd just have to rename it again once those were out and they started putting some other stuff in there.

A blade laid against his neck from behind interrupted his deep, deep thoughts and this time he only smiled. She had been expected after all.

"Hello Little Crow."