Sekirei - The Beauty of Truth - IC - Reboot

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Izumi glanced at the stranger...her body was reacting to this kid...well she shouldn't call him a kid really, whoever he was, the guy looked not to much younger than herself. Then again she'd been alive for twenty six years or so now. However the other sekirei was the first one to notice what was happening. Her pale skin twisted in a panic as she grabbed her ashikabi. Izumi growled as she noticed she needed to do something about it but couldn't. "Hey Tsubara! She's reacting to that guy! Kiss me now!" the sekirei said as the man next to Izumi she supposed could only wonder what was going on. She herself was wondered what the hell was going too happen next as the other two embraced and kissed deeply.

Brandon watched in disbelief as these weirdo's started making out with each other. What the hell kind of situation was this...what the actual fuck had he just wondered into!? Brandon could only watch confused and then baffled as the girl started glowing a beautifully colorful redish orange as the girl next to him grabbed him with surprising firmness and forced him to look at her, "What the hell is going on!?" Brandon exclaimed as the girl looked up at him...was she....was she getting off on this or something because her face was blushing as she looked at him. Whatever the hell she was she looked extremely irritated about whatever...this situation. Brandon looked down at her and back at the other two over there. Exactly what in the blue blooded hells was going on?! "There's no time to explain what is going on right now...I'll tell you later though I promise that. But for now...I understand this sounds extremely strange...but I need you to kiss me..." the girl said as if reading his thoughts. She turned her head side ways and glared at the other two. Brandon grunted and wondered what exactly he had just gotten himself up to but he simply chuckled instead, "Fine I guess this counts as something I have no choice about anyway besides...you're not half bad looking. I'm just messing with you jeez don't look at me like that." Brandon said as the girl glared at him angrily but moved up and kissed him anyways as the two embraced he felt the girl's body suddenly twitch and he through his eyes he felt a strangely vibrant grey appear around the girl. When he opened his eyes she was swirled with energy and had big grey wings behind her back made from said energy as he was suddenly pushed back behind her, "Not bad kiss there boy. But now let me take care of this." she commented as she held her sword up in the air and pointed it out towards the enemy. "[BCOLOR=#000000]By the swift death of my pact, My ashikabi's enemies will be broken![/BCOLOR]" the girl exclaimed as the other one pulled out her sash and twisted it around her arm, "[BCOLOR=#ff6600]By the swift burning passion of my pledge, my ashikabi's fears will be forced away!"[/BCOLOR] the other girl shouted back as flames engulfed her arm and sash.

As the two sekirei squared off staring at each other furiously as if waiting for the other to make a move. "I am number sixty one. Azami is my name and I am the Burning Sekirei! I challenge you to a battle!" the girl called out to Izumi who laughed at the girl much to the girl's annoyance asking her what was so funny, "This isn't a battle...It was never a battle. You know what this is? It's a blood bath. But fair enough I am Izumi and my number isn't worthy of being known by some low class bitch like yourself." Izumi said with amusement. All Brandon Hunter could do was wonder what the hell was happening. A lesser man would have cringed away from the girl and or ran away but he wasn't about to abandon her. Whatever this was he was now apart of it like it or not. He may or may not have gotten in over his head but he wasn't planning on letting that get to him just yet. He did however cover his face from the oddly dull but luminescent glow of the girl in front of him. "Who are you?" Brandon asked in awe as the girl merely grinned at him and looked like she was amused by the question, "As I said my name Izumi and I'm your sekirei now. For good or ill we are now companions in this game." Izumi stated as suddenly the enemy girl unleashed a massive energy slash. Even from a distance Brandon felt the heat radiate from the slash. She then charged at Izumi who knocked Brandon out of the way of the incoming blow and simply dodged it by rolling to the side. Izumi breathed in calmy and then proceed forward charging at the girl. She could only block the blow Izumi swung at her with her sash parrying it, just barely moving out of the way of the next as Izumi's speed clearly surpassed that of the enemy girl. "Damn it! She's really fast!" the girl growled. Granted she already knew that but she had increased in speed since being winged. "Don't you dare treat me like a child you bitch!" screamed Azami as Izumi blocked a flaming punch by Izumi by using her blade. Izumi proceeded to brutally kick Azami's gut making her force out a pained grunt.

Izumi pushed her back and attempted to slash her across the sashless arm of Azami forcing her back but dodging slas attack Izumi used, only to leave herself open as Izumi kicked her forcefully shin and forced her to fall on her back. "I won't lose to you!" Azami managed to say in pain as she unleashed her special attack. It was a last ditch effort normally but this was getting ugly really quick. The sash turned into a super heated whip of sorts and went straight for Izumi. "Really? Is that all you have!?" Izumi said with an almost feral like menacing look on her face as she quickly moved out of the way of the attacking sash whip attack that had lashed out at her from the enemy's arm. "You're DONE! Pick a god and pray!" Izumi said as she brought her blade up...and stabbed down into the girl through the upper chest. It was a quick movement and the sound was absolutely disgusting. It sounded like a large stick was being broken, most likely the blade went through a rib, and the wet noise of the blade piercing organs and tissue. It didn't help that there was no sound from the actual blade itself. No sound of metal being twirled, no metal clang... The girl didn't even shout out in pain all she did was croak up blood in a horrifying display to her ashikabi whom could only look on as his sekirei crumbled back onto the ground with a thud. Izumi reached around and placed her hand on the girl's back and sighed but it was not pity that was in her voice but annoyance or was it apathy towards the girl? Regardless of what Izumi's thoughts were or how her emotions showed them it was the words she spoke out that made Brandon's blood run cold. "I warned you this would happen. But you kept going...and you tried to take me out. But as soon as I kissed that boy and made him my ashikabi... It all went down hill for you. Actually I'd say it was over once you picked a fight with me... You picked the wrong enemy. And you paid the price for you foolishness." Izumi told the girl as she twisted her blade making the girl growl in pain. But the thing Brandon noticed was that Izumi was expressionless and cold. She wasn't smiling nor was she upset...she just was....well indifferent. "...Now that I have someone I need to protect. It may be sudden but that boy is now my reason for living." Izumi said to the girl as she pulled out her blade and then kicked her over to her back. Izumi then proceeded to place her foot firmly on the back of the girl and cut open the girl's orange shirt...and she placed the back of her blade on Azami's neck...directly on the odd tattoo that she had.

"By the swift death of my pact, My ashikabi's enemies will be broken." Izumi said simply as there was a faint glow around the girl and then suddenly there was nothing...it was if a light had gone out in the world from Brandon's perspective. Too Izumi however...it was just another part of her life. "...Farewell Sekirei of the Flaming Sash." Izumi said calmly and it held some other emotion as well, not exactly kindness nor was it pity it was sadness and remorse. Brandon watched on from behind and looked at the other man. The man was shaking....and Brandon knew immediately what had happened. Whatever Izumi had done...this was the end of the line for the girl. Izumi picked up the girl laid the girl down on a nearby tree ignoring the ashikabi's pleas to stop. What Izumi's actions more shocking was the fact that she did it more calmly then Brandon thought was humanly possible. It was almost as if she was just moving a bag of glass. Careful with it but not exactly gently either. She had stopped glowing completely by the time she was propped up against a tree. Likewise Izumi's light was also starting to fade, and she stood there and looked at the Ashikabi and then nodded at him before walking away. Izumi looked up at a nearby building and frowned but when Brandon looked no one was there. The man rushed over to the woman and Izumi backed off wiping the blood on the nearby tree. The man wailed at the loss of the woman and shouted at her to get up. "I suppose I should stay to confirm my victory here....but I think 'The King' already knows." Izumi stated bluntly as she walked over to Brandon. "That was cold...I mean really cold. But it's not like she gave you a choice or at least that's what it looked like from my perspective. I won't hold this against you whatever happened, happened and beyond that...well I got nothing. But yeah I think we should go that guy doesn't want us here I'm sure...you are coming with me right? I assume whatever you are that you're going to be a friend to me from now on? Or at least that's what you said to her. Judging by how he's reacting is something that intimately involves us now correct?" Brandon said and asked to Izumi as he turned to he looking at Izumi and then to the other girl and he felt disgust well up inside of his body. Not at Izumi in particular but for whatever nightmare he had blindly stumbled into suddenly.

Whatever he'd make the best of it even if 'his sekirei' was pretty god damn brutal. But he couldn't fault Izumi from the body language she was trying to hide it was as plain as day to Brandon that she had no more love for doing that than the man over there did. "You'd be correct my little man. What happens next is going to be hard to deal with but together we will get through it or at least I have faith that we can. I'll explain it later but suffice to say you are an Ashikabi now. You've awakened something inside of me and vice versa. We're bonded more or less a bond that is not broken lightly. I will defend you to my last breath sir. And judging by the fact that you're not shouting at me and you haven't ran away yet I see that I at least picked a good ashikabi. Someone who understands that things aren't always in our hands. So what's your name?" Izumi replied and then asked of him as she sheathed her blade and walked away with Brandon. Brandon told her his name and the two decided that it would be best to listen to what this whole thing is about."Brandon. Brandon Hunter is my name and let's go back to my place we'll be ok there...at least until the cops come." Brandon said calmly as he took one last look at the pair before walking away as Izumi walked beside him back towards Brandon's apartment. She had one last thing to say to the ashikabi though, "I'm sorry it had to come to this. Take solace in the fact that she no longer needs to worry about anything anymore." Izumi stated to the man not looking at him. It'd probably be the last time she'd ever see him and she hoped those words at least gave away some measure of peace to the man. She doubted it though peace was not made by words but by actions.

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As Brandon and Izumi finally arrived at their house the light in the sky was practically gone and it seemed that everyone and everything around him were not just another part of the background. His legs hurt more than anything he had felt in a long time and his belly wasn't any better. After the things he saw today...and the fact that this would be a repeat occurrence from now on. It made his feel queasy. Even the owner of his apartment was able to see that he wasn't feel well as he didn't question him as why he took so long to get home. Luckily said the owner didn't mind if his 'cousin' Izumi stayed over for a bit while her parents arrived on a delayed flight from another country. Izumi on the other hand was just glad to be done with everything that the day had given her and was ready to sit down and just have something to snack on if Brandon had food to give that was. Izumi was given a small protein bar. Nothing really all that amazing but hey it was something that didn't require him standing up and Izumi didn't look like she was ready to cook either. Brandon sat down and breathed in deeply, "So let me get this straight....a dangerous and sometimes deadly competition developed by Magoichi Hanabi the CEO of HMTAI called the Sekirei Plan is currently on going and yo-we're a part of it now. There are some hundred sekirei or so wandering around the city and the one you just fought was your first elimination...This is plan is currently on going as a part of the first stage correct? Well I'd think that things would be going a bit faster after two weeks or so of this." Brandon Hunter said as he decided to go get a glass of water for both of them after he saw Izumi was licking her lips and was clearly uneasy. He also grabbed a candy bar he'd been saving for later and threw it to Izumi who nibbled at it hungrily but not quickly she took her time eating it. Izumi nodded briefly after she was done and politely thanked him for the food. Brandon sat back down and chewed his upper lip. This was getting out of control rather quickly..."I see...well then...this is going to be a lot to take in...so it's you and I against the world I suppose right?" Brandon asked Izumi who stopped eating and sighed. "Yes...as my ashikabi my only wish is that I beat the others...so that I can stay with you. Once a sekirei is beaten and his or her crest taken the sekirei is taken away to a place unknown. Unfortunate but it's the rules of the game set forth by the king. And this first stage will end..." Brandon asked as Izumi breathed in deeply; clearly she was fighting back sleep, "As I said part one will end when the majority Sekirei are 'freed' from their shackles and have found their Ashikabi for the process known as winging. This stage ended only when a great number of them have been winged. This will be sooner than you'd think. It seems that, if my hunches are correct, that Magoichi is behind what happened today. Please remember do keep the plan to yourself Magoichi has ties to many people and if this got out faster than he wanted to then there will be serious ramifications. As I told you the prize for completing this is unknown however given what I personally know about all of this I believe that there is a far more darker side than just this fighting." Izumi informed him. "What do you mean Izumi? Darker than cutting a woman down in cold blood? I don't think there's much darker things than that." Brandon commented as Izumi shrugged, "I could be wrong but at the end of all of this 'The King' will truly be the one holding the cards until we finish him, and to a lesser extent his bishop, then things will quickly spiral more and more into his favor until we get more allies, preferably more sekirei winged by you or not, then we should keep playing this foul game that is my own recommendation."
 
Sora awoke from his recuperative nap, groaning again as sore injuries rebelled against movement. He gave his shoulder an experimental roll, grimacing at the tightness there. Fortunately, none of the dings and scratches were enough to keep him down long. Tsubaki had left him to recover after his declaration to protect the dojo and her, so he was alone in his room, convalescing.

He stood and noted that his shirt and machetes were diligently folded and resting in a neat pile at the foot of his futon. The cool air bristled against his bare skin, and there was a significant amount of it, as he was barefoot and stripped to the waist. He gave his shoulder a second roll. It felt looser, this time. He walked over to the windowsill, threw the window open, and leaned out into the sunny afternoon light, taking in the scent of the city.

He had a little time to reflect on the last two weeks since he had escaped form HMTAI's laboratories. He had to fight his way out and went to ground immediately after. The Sekirei Plan was an atrocious, cruel thing in his opinion. It pitted kin against kin and threatened to separate bonded Sekirei from their beloved Ashikabi...all because HMTAI deemed it so. Sora had absconded with a pair of machetes and took to the streets with a haphazard plan in mind. As a skilled, unbonded fighter, he would keep the Sekirei Plan from coming to fruition, delaying its conclusion for as long as possible. That way, his kind could have as much as possible with their fated ones.

He had fought nightly, occasionally multiple times, since he began his one-man crusade two weeks ago. He interrupted Sekirei battles with cool efficiency and unprecedented ferocity. The name "the Steel Sekirei" had been branded onto him by his kin in respectful whispers. It had been challenging, confronting bonded Sekirei and their attendant power boost when he had no Ashikabi of his own. But through skill and no small amount of luck, he kept his head on his shoulders.

He had found in the last week that his responsibilities had expanded. An unforeseen consequence of the Sekirei Plan was the spread of rumors about beautiful young girls wanting to pair up with any manner of men. Sekirei and even normal human girls were being accosted on the streets at night because of such talk. Crime - especially violent crimes, battery, rape - were steadily rising in the last week. In righteous fury, Sora expanded his sphere of influence and began engaging the street gangs and thugs who would prey upon the innocent. Unsurprisingly, human men were significantly easier to fight than bonded Sekirei.

He had not anticipated finding a potential Ashikabi of his own. His patrols took him into battle with human men and enemy Sekirei, many of whom were already bonded. The likelihood of finding his own fated one was maginal at best. Destiny, however, had other plans.

Tsubaki was somewhere in the dojo, he was certain of it. Even out of visual range, her presence in the building set his face flushing, his palms sweating, and his heart racing. He was Reacting, and hard.

At some point, he would have to confront her about it. He couldn't fight like this.
 
Her life has changed so drastically in the past couple of hours and yet...Izumi's face didn't change much from her plain one that she had been wearing since the battle was over. She wondered....was it right of her to involve this man whom she had just met literally today? Was it right to make this man's life change? More importantly....would Brandon stay with her? She was winged now and she was his in all senses of the word despite how much Izumi disliked to say that her freedom was now gone. She may now be able to grow stronger now thanks to this Brandon Hunter but she may also end up being killed easier now. Ashikabi who die bring their sekirei to the graves with them. It was unfortunate but it was how things tended to end. And that girl Azami...she was gone as well. It felt horrid for her to say that but...also it brought up a part of her that made her feel more secure. She wiped that sekirei out with little trouble once she was winged...and she was tired as well when she had done so. Her thoughts snapped out of her as Brandon started talking again, "This place was reserved for only one person Izumi you can't stay in this apartment indefinitely. That's a problem because I don't intend on throwing you out on the street....hmmm." Brandon said as he smiled at her and Izumi's heart went from jumping into her throat to a heavy sigh of relief. It seemed she picked the right guy at least, "I'm sure we'll work something out. I can work to support a small apartment here if there is any room so it's not like we can't stay in the same building. So what do you do Brandon?" Izumi asked as Brandon told her he was a college student and Izumi wasn't surprised he seemed young. At least younger than herself as it would be.
 
Tsubaki kept herself busy by cleaning up around the dojo as best she could. It took a while to remove all the fallen debris from the main room, but the majority of it was finally dealt with and gone, dragged off for the garbage pick-up. There were some damaged sections of floor where some of the bigger pieces had fallen in, and of course the hole in the roof itself, but some things couldn't be helped. Still, it was at least cleaner. She'd have to at least get something up there to cover the holes, just in case of rain.

It was getting late, and she couldn't just stay at the dojo forever. She wasn't sure what to think of Sora's wild story, but if it were even partially true, she really wondered just who would even be able to manage such a thing. Superhuman Sekirei or not, the entire city had apparently been turned into a battleground, all without anyone noticing. That wasn't the sort of thing just anyone could do. And even then...just what the hell was the point of such a tournament? Her curiosity had been piqued, so like it or not, she'd just have to see how far this whole thing actually went.

She made her way over to the door to the room where she'd left Sora to recuperate, and knocked. "Hey, you awake in there," she asked, raising her voice a bit to be heard through the thin door. "I can't stay here all the time, so I'll be heading home soon." There was a long pause as she thought things over. "My house should have the room for a guest, if you don't want to stay here. Besides, I hear it's getting dangerous for young women to wander around alone, these days."
 
Sora opened the door, now dressed more appropriately. He was still a little ashen, but his strength was returning. He considered Tsubaki's offer. "I think that would be best. I did offer to protect you until this is over, after all."

The two walked to Tsubaki's home side by side. To the casual observer, they might have looked like a couple, a notion that Sora was uncomfortably aware of. His palms were damp and his heart raced. His head was swimming, as if he had imbibed one too many shots of spirits. Reacting was a damnably annoying phenomenon, in his opinion. There was a way to end these symptoms, but it meant consigning the young swordswoman at his side to the battle royale raging in the shadows of the city.

As they neared her home, he found himself wondering about certain...logistics. "Tsubaki-san...would your parents be comfortable with me staying at your place? Its not exactly proper for an unmarried young lady to have a male guest under her roof."
 
Tsubaki seemed lost in thought for a moment, before answering. "Father probably would have...but he's not an obstacle anymore." She was awfully dismissive of the man's memory, and didn't elaborate any further. "If I really need to, I can always call it an executive decision, but I doubt there would be any problems. It's not like I'd be trying to keep you in my own room." As she walked, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed someone. Probably calling ahead to her house.

"Hello, Junko-san," she said to whoever answered. "...Yes, I'm a little late. Some things happened at the dojo." Another pause. "I'll be arriving with a guest, so could you prepare a spare room for him? --Don't you start. Yes, 'him.' No, it doesn't mean anything. Just have a room ready." She listened for a while, again. "Yeah, we'll need another setting at the dinner table. Be back soon." She hung up, and grumbled something about maids being too interested in her personal life, then turned back to Sora.

"Well, that's more or less settled. At least, it should be, and you'll have a place to actually stay." She led the way to her house. As they wound their way through the streets and her home finally came into view, it became apparent that she was...fairly well off. While not exactly what one would call a mansion, it was still a large, traditional sort of manor, which was already unusual enough within the confines of the city. "Should we have a story ready in case anyone asks?"
 
"Let's say I'm a prospective live-in student at the dojo," Sora replied. He had not been exposed to Japanese culture or the outside world much, but he knew a few things from when he was experimented on and trained in HMTAI's labs. Someone, after all, had to teach him machete-fighting. It had been one of the coaches who taught HMTAI's private security force, an eskrimador from someplace called the Philippines. That crotchety martial artist knew everything about blades, from knives to swords, and while he preferred the dual-weapon style of his forefathers, he had exposed Sora to certain credos of the fighting world. One of them was the concept of the live-in student, a martial artist who paid his way in lessons by providing basic services and maintenance to the instructor's studio.

"That gives us a reason for me to hang around you without raising too many suspicions," he went on, "though I think the practice is in decline. Still, its a better story than the truth or the lie that I'm your boyfriend or something."
 
Before Izumi could continue on Brandon's TV turned on unexpectedly and Izumi immediately was frowning at the screen almost reflexively. At the screen was Magoichi Hanabi, also known as 'The King' by the sekirei, and he was grinning...that could only mean one thing. "Hello everyone who can hear me and may I say that I am SUPER excited to be speaking to all of you today! This is a message from 'The King' coming to all his little birds and their wingers! First off to anyone knew I'd like to say WELCOME to our little game! It is so nice to have all of you here! Don't worry about people nearby whom aren't players in this plan because this message is specifically tuned to those whom have awakened sekirei! To be a bit more clear is that others may be able to see me on the TV but only YOU can hear me per say. Now then moving on...oh and of course my lovely little ladies and boys whom are the main components of this game also can hear this! You know who you are!" Magoichi said clapping his hands and smiled. "Those who aren't near TV's have had their phones text messaged with this little speech or they're listening in on it right now, and those without phones....well I'll say they're missing this little major announcement. But before that I'd like to congratulate you on surviving the little 'wing or be eliminated northern challenge.
Those whom did not get winged I apologize for not warning you before doing that but it wouldn't be fair if the hunters had no game to go after. To those who got winged on that day good job on finding your partner I can say both I and The Bishop both are proud of you so very much! To those whom eliminated stubborn ones...well while not the most glorious event it proves your one stone cold badass and you've spared them the heartbreak of losing later! But the total number of eliminations were decent chunk, a total of seven sekirei were eliminated. Numbers 82, 29, 45, 98, and finally 53. I apologize to those birds but they're fates were sealed. The winner is a man named Hideyori Matsumodo and his eliminations of 82-29-98. His prize will be sent to him later! A consolation prize to be sent to those who were responsible to those who also eliminated the other sekirei! Also multiple ones were winged the past afternoon on top of those! So then until then stay frosty my dear players this is your beloved king signing out...have a great game!" Magoichi stated as he went to turn away from the camera but he stopped and laughed, "ALMOST FORGOT! From this day forward you are all to form alliances with other sekirei and ashikabi! HEHEHHEHE! If you don't form alliances that is your choice but I will pay any medical bills to those whom are allied with another group! Think of this as a way to make friends and make the game more interesting!" Magoichi stated quickly with relish as his face vanished from the screen or the call ended.
 
Tsubaki led Sora into her demanse.

To say that his potential Ashikabi was loaded was an understatement.

While he had not been out in Tokyo long, Sora was quick to pick up on a few details. Buildings and streets in the city were small, tightly-packed, and close-quartered. It stood to reason that space was at a premium. The Kisaragi estate, on the other hand, seemed to openly defy that space-consicous design. While not as large as Western palatial mansions, the demense was significantly larger than the vast majority of citizens.

A pair of uniformed maids bowed respectfully as Tsubaki led the way inside and Sora noticed the smirks they were carefully hiding as he followed close behind her. He groaned inwardly; he had the feeling that he was going to be the target of a few racy comments behind more than one closed door.

He was taken to an opulent sitting room with wide, comfortable chairs and an elegant dark wooden coffee table. A butler was seeing to refreshments and Sora caught the whiff of red tea being put to steep nearby.

There was a television screen mounted on the wall opposite the chairs, streaming the news. Suddenly, the broadcast was interrupted and Magoichi's spiel played forth.

Sora grit his teeth and dug his fingers into the armrest of the chair as Magoichi went on. He had only caught glimpses of the man back at the lab. All Sora knew was that the entire Sekirei Plan was his fault. The whole cruel game rested on that man's shoulders.

Though Sora new little about Magoichi personally, he brief times he had seen the man had revealed a tendency toward the melodramatic and mercurial. Magoichi's delineation and abrupt change in the rules of the Sekirei Plan fit right into his modus operandi. The fact that he was actively encouraging alliances gave Sora pause.

He's trying to get as many groups out into the open as possible, Sora realized. Alliances meant that the more conservative pairings or unwinged Sekirei would find strength in numbers...but at the same time, the more violent ones already actively searching for other battles would find ample opportunity to attack as various Sekirei and Ashikabi crawled out of the woodwork.

And if HMTAI's Disciplinary Division ever caught wind a large group of Sekirei banding together, they would be able to track them down far more easily than by hunting individuals.
 
"So what was that about?" Brandon asked his sekirei as she stood there looking like she was about to murder something with violent, malicious, and great contempt. He felt like he was in the presence of a mother bear who lost her cubs to a hunter and she finally caught up to him. But hey he barely knew the girl so what could he possibly know what she was feeling. Brandon sat down next to her hesitantly but from what he knew of this Izumi she wasn't about to break down in rage. She stayed calm and cut down a girl whom was able to control fire after all. Izumi looked at him, with contempt still on her face, and she sighed deeply before talking, "Something you need not concern yourself about Brandon just remember that he is not a good man." Izumi stated as Brandon nodded his head in agreement. He had never thought of the man as someone who would be considered a scumbag for lack of a better word. He never really found interest in the guy as he was always considered a bit eccentric if not harmless at the very least. He wrapped his arm around Izumi and leaned over to her, "I can see that no sane guy just comes on TV and proclaims a bloody battle royal in the middle of god damn Tokyo it isn't exactly a normal thing around here." Brandon stated sarcastically which Izumi chuckled at, "I would hope not because it would be a massive pain to deal with. But while we're here we may as well see about finding comrades...it seems that the good 'King' seems to want to jumble up everyone else's plans....or bring the walls down on stronger sekirei because they could be saddled with much weaker ones or younger ones. It brings an unwanted various dynamics and I hope that we can find some that don't bring us down in the hole so to speak. But free medical bills will be a big addition to any party...the ashikabi and sekirei can go to a hospital for them specifically made in the HQ of HMTAI but it still costs them some small fee...besides I wouldn't trust them of all people with my or your body Brandon. Only go to them if we have no other choice." Izumi stated before getting up and walking out to look over the balcony in the back of the apartment.

Brandon looked at the time as he suddenly realized it was starting to get really late and decided that if he wanted to go to school tomorrow now would be the best time to do so. He looked to Izumi and sighed deeply. "Well Izumi, darling, sweeth-" Brandon started as Izumi rolled her eyes at and then looked back to him and stopped him almost immediately, "No pet names yet Brandon please we just met and your my ashikabi by sheer chance of the situation let's see what the world brings forth to us that reveals if we are the true duo or simply two people shoved together by destiny's cruel hand. Not that I believe in hogwash like that." Izumi stated dryly as Brandon nodded his head and leaned back and waited for the oncoming question, "You only have one bed don't you...?" Izumi stated as if on cue and Brandon nodded painfully at which Izumi shrugged. "Well either one of us sleeps on the couch or both of us sleep in bed it doesn't matter to me." Izumi added on and said rather casually as if she already knew how this was going to play out but that last part smacked him on the side of the head like a baseball bat. "Well whatever I'll sleep on the couch just take the bed." Brandon said playing the gentleman's card but Izumi merely shrugged, "So be it but I don't mind sharing a bed with you in the future....in a strictly non-sexual way of course for the moment." Izumi said chuckling and Brandon shrugged he wasn't after anything like that anyways. Regardless Brandon went into his room to quickly grab some PJ's and then went to take a shower before heading off to sleep.

==

Magoichi sat on top of the tower as he looked out into the night smiling and grinning. His little stunt had proven a MASSIVE success and it certainly made the other un-winged birdies prepare to get winged before they ended up like those who got wiped out so many hours ago. He didn't really smoke, that was David's territory, and quite frankly he found the things disgusting to an extreme. But only because his parents smoked around him and he hated it. Besides that he'd have to pay even MORE money than he already did buying out this damn city if he was a chain smoker. Whatever what did money matter to him? He was already a massive success at this point so why bother with it himself when he had other people to do it for him? Magoichi sniffed and sneezed, "Well it seems that things are going to get interesting around here indeed...and people need to stop talking about me I hate sneezing all the damn time!" Magoichi shouted in frustration as he looked back at the elevator. "Three....two....one." He muttered as the elevator opened to the face of a rather disgusted looking David Summerset. "So why did you do it?" David asked him as he shrugged noncommittally, "Nice to see you too David are you that much in a hurry to blow me up into one billion different pieces." Magoichi said trying not to laugh at his friend's face. He was met with a cold stare by David whom pulled out a cigar from his coat pocket and lit it then leaned over the railing to look out on the city, "That was pretty low and may I say it's just like you." David simply stated at Mago who laughed and laughed and laughed some more and David waited until he stopped which was quite a bit, "Oh yes because I am a cruel man after all! But fine...I can't exactly be a 'King' if my subjects refuse to play the game and since my bishop is not going to make any moves for me I have to move myself." David looked at Magoichi again and then back into the city taking a long whiff of his cigar and then breathed it out, "So you killed a couple of them to make a point? Ruthless and efficient...but at least it got the job done. You motivated all of them do get ready. I'll allow it to pass this time old friend but don't keep messing with the pawns. I'd hate to send our enforcers out to wipe them out." David said plainly as Magoichi nodded. "Oh and one more thing David-" Magoichi started to say before he turned around, for two reasons one of which was to show David some respect and the other to get away from the smoke the whiffed across his face, "I know." David replied as he walked away.
===

Meanwhile....
The dark skinned sekirei finally arrived back at her ashikabi's home in that giant tower of his with a look of exhaustion on her face. She had been tailing these wingless ones all day long and it was starting to turn into one hell of a chore....all well it was fun to see a few of them get winged and she valued the challenge it would bring to her knowing that there was those out there without wings that she could possibly get to turn to her side so to speak. The challenge being that she'd need to find those who she'd be ale to trust. Well one way or another she'd probably have to get allies seeing as this damn tournament was getting more and more complicated by the day. Whenever The King decided to change how things would work in the tournament, as he usually did, things tend to get even more bloody or dirty which meant more work for her. "Oh come on..." she growled as she picked the lock to her master's bedroom. The thing was specifically made to be hard to pick by her ashikabi so that people didn't get into his private stuff. She didn't want to knock loudly and wake everyone up at this hour of the night, especially her master, and besides that she was sure that her companions may not look to brightly on being woken up either. After a couple of minutes she finally managed to unlock this ridiculously complicated mechanism before she opened the door quietly. "Hey you awake my prince?" She asked slyly as she giggled as the man groaned. He rubbed his head and eyes and then looked over to his sekirei. He was known as The Prince and his competitor, The Mastermind was always right beside him in the contest to outdo each other. It had been two weeks and the slug fest was starting to tire out even her ashikabi. He looked up at the girl and waited for her explanation, "Well nice to see you two I suppose I hope I didn't wake you from anything important? Well regardless I have the records you asked for." She said as The Prince nodded, "Good I hope it wasn't too hard? Just put it into the disk drive over there on that laptop." The Prince told his sekirei whom nodded. The girl moved quickly and got the disk into the computer as The Prince put on his glasses and looked at the screen, "Well it was fairly difficult I did have to move in and crack the HMTAI database after all. Damn discipline squad members were scattered around the building. Do they even sleep the pricks..." the sekirei growled quietly as the ashikabi acknowledged his sekirei's hard work with a kiss on the cheek and a grateful smile, "Good work darling." he commented as he looked at the computer and the list of sekirei eliminated....mostly by a man known as The Warlord....and the unexpected initiation of this new optional stipulation wasn't even logged onto the damn thing. "Well then there's no names of the other main competitors but we do have the most recently winged sekirei on the list correct?" The Prince asked his Sekirei as he scrolled through the piling amounts of data. His sekirei nodded as she pointed out a list of photos and locations on the list. The Prince groaned, "I was hoping to avoid working with others but this is pulling me back into the hole it seems....when Mutsu wakes up we get moving." The Prince stated as his sekirei nodded and then bid her ashikabi good night as she vanished through the threshold of the building.
-Timeskip next day 1:00-
Waking up Brandon wondered if this was all just some sick dream that his hormones had riled up in some way shape or form. But nope when he woke up in his bed the next morning he was laying next to the girl Izumi. She was snuggled up against him which made him feel awkward and he wondered if she fell asleep like that or she was that close on purpose. Regardless Izumi decided to wander around town for a bit before she could meet up with her ashikabi. She wanted to see what the status was around town after that little fight. She confidently had told him not to worry but he was anyway. HOW in the world was he going to explain this to his parents? You don't just score a girl like Izumi without reason like he had. Ah man this was going to turn out to be a mess. Regardless Brandon was done classes for today so he was just sitting down when Jake slapped him on the back, "Hey kiddo you feelin' ok?" Jake asked him as Brandon started to wonder....was he alright? "I'm a lot of things right now but OK isn't what I'd call it. Let's just say I had a hard night man I got involved in helping a person out and it went down hill quick." Brandon stated as Jake laughed, "You look ok to me man! Look just go to the cops if it's that big of a deal. Don't worry so much you're not some chump that just takes things sitting down I'm sure you'll be ok!" Jake said confidently. Brandon wasn't as optimistic.
 
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