I Don't Want To Be A Criminal! [Sekirei]

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

Yeah, I'm starting my own Sekirei Quest. Despite the fact I know absolutely nothing about the series other than what I read in Soul of Fire and In Flight. Also I don't actually plan to read it anyway, just skim some wiki pages and read your discussion for clues while pretending I knew all along.

Edit: Have watched the first 2 episodes because I was bored. While I think I got a better grasp of Musubi and the lightning twins I really don't think I can stomach anymore.

Here's your status

Name: Kurimi Mami
Alias: Yowane Haku
Number: 81
Norito: The Siren song of my promise, lead my Ashikabi down the safest path.
Attack: Rhapsody Breaker
Equipment: MBI HD headphones: Can filter sounds (within tolerance), Record audio, act as a phone, store music, block all sound, look cool, and dispense breath mints.
Ashikabi: Takeda Satsuki/Tatsuki

Mami/Haku are the unchallenged weakest Sekirei to ever exist. Physically she is actually weaker than the average person and regarded as a nonthreat to even Ashikabi. She tends to be very depressed and drowns her sorrows in various sodas, which somehow against all logic get her drunk. Her power is altering her voice, when under Norito she can alter sound in the surrounding area as well. Her natural voice sounds like it's been put through a synthesizer.

Her Ashikabi is one of the 2 Takeda children though she doesn't know which and is reluctant to find out, though she prefers tell herself it was the boy. They live a large upscale apartment together and the two children think she's an angel/fairy and regard her as an older sister. She has no homemaking skills nor job skills but tries her best to help out around the house in what she can do.

Her hobbies are listening to music, playing videogames, and Internet. Ironically she hates singing herself. While she can perfectly mimic other people's singing when she tries to sing herself she unimaginably horrible.

Current abilities:
Vocal Dissonance: Change your voice.
Enhance hearing: Very sensitive ears.


Tricks:
HOGE!: A screech that sounds like a feedback loop mixed with rending metal and a jack hammer. Only worse.
Audio Rupture: A high frequency sound wave that damages the ear.
Listen to my song!: Your weapon is your song. It takes only 0.02 seconds before sound waves come out from the moment you open your mouth. The number of people you've felled is countless...


Notes:
Currently jobless and freeloading of gradeschoolers
Have yet to find out which twin is actually your Ashikabi
Still need to tell them just what you are.
The Lightning Twins hate you with the fury of a thousand suns.


Current status: Unconscious in the care of Dr. Nagisa
Possible concussion [Being treated]
Heavy bruising on upper body [being treated]
Stabbed in the side [being treated]

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

You stumble through the streets of the city you very reluctantly call "home" piss drunk. Normally such a thing would be next to impossible for someone like you, or more specifically anyone like you but not you, your ability to be able to cope with disappointment be getting blitz out or you skull was just another in a long list of failures. Oh god you just wanted to cry! This had become a regular occurrence in the past week since you preformed something that would prove you worthy of your title as 'Dead last Sekirei'.

You've lived quite a remarkable life in just how unremarkable you are. Put quite simply the evil corporation that had made you, had experimented with your species, had somehow fucked up with you yet were unable to find out how. You were likely the weakest Sekirei in the, admittedly very short, history of your species. A complete failure I every conceivable department, almost indistinguishable even to MIB from the average human on the street. In fact you sadly lagged behind them in several as well seeing as you were literally raised in a lab and as such lacked every skill a human your age should have and been completely out of your depth when you were finally released, not having even the most basic human knowledge of how to support yourself. You couldn't even throw money at the problem seeing as a month ago you had been mugged by a rag tag group of street tough children that you thought only existed in 1930's America and the little Oscar Wild looking punks took your fancy creditcard. Also your shoes, and drew some very inappropriate things on your face in permanent marker since they were jerks.

You stop and take a big swig of the cheap drink in your hand, key word being tried. Apparently you had long ago drained it's contents and you stare stupidly at it, drunk mind unable to connect the pieces for a few moments, When it does you immediately chuck the empty bottle of root beer at a nearby tree. It was at this point you realized where your feet had taken you without realizing it, you stand in front of a small wooded park you had recently called your home. Which meant that your new residence was less than a block away. You march off, feeling both relieved and anxious as your head clears.

You are a horrible excuse of a Sekirei. You weren't just in the bottom percentile; you defined the bottle percentile. Physically the weakest Sekirei yet and your actually ability, perfect control of your voice, was just as stupid as it sounded. It had not helped that the equipment that would subliminally beam the knowledge of how to use the ability had glitched somehow lead to you being for all intents and purposes 'Trapped in cyberspace' for a week. The next few years of intense therapy to repressdeal with the trauma and your new ...vocabulary had set you even farther behind your sisters. It's also why you call yourself Yawane Haku despite it not being your MBI assigned name.

You reach the fancy apartment building you now share with your new Ashikabi and let yourself in. It was far above what you should be able to afford on your 0 figure salary, and in fact as also above your Ashikabi's paygrade as well and belong to his parents whom he was living along with his sister. You ponder your Ashikabi while making your assent, remembering a time when your biggest worry about them would be that they might either be mean or, if you actually liked them, lost quickly due to your weakness. Now though your find yourself a secretly envying the scrapped numbers, at least they had closure and power. One bit of luck though was that your new in-laws where still in the dark about their new status, being kept busy at work and such and rarely being home (usually just sending one neighbors to check if the room hadn't caught fire or something.) saving you from the very awkward explanation of just who you were and why you weren't just some crazy lady pervert after their little boy. The sister never bothered questioning it, accepting it with ease.

Knocking on the door you look down at the bag in your left hand as you wait, your Ashikabi having called your cellphone to ask you to bring some groceries home when you got back. That was another thing, your kind Ashikabi was the one taking care of you, proving to be the more mature and levelheaded one in the relationship. Oddly this only depressed you that much more. The reason became obvious as the door opened to reveal your Ashikabi and his shy twin sister.

"Onee-chan welcome home!" Greets your Ashikabi Takeda Tatsuki with a smile. Takkun, 10 year old little boy who practically radiated an aura of Innocents, kittens, sunshine, and Rainbow unicorn puppies near constantly, "The bath is still warm and I'll start dinner when we're done."

As the two lead you away to clean up you really want to cry. This is not what MBI promised you at all!

You don't want to be a criminal!

~~~​

You are currently sitting at the table waiting for breakfast with your new little sister in law, Takeda Satsuki. Sa-chan. You don't feel too good, that root beer binge the other day gave you one hell of a hangover. You don't have much planned right now, and for the most part think about just staying home and watching TV while the little ones are at school.


[X] Yeah, just stay in the house where nothing bad can happen to you.
[X] Internet?
[X] Tv?
[X] Study?
[X] ???
[X] Walk them to school. It's important to have family bonding time.
[X] Go out around town. Anywhere specific?
[X] Find a job, it'd be boring staying at home and you don't want to be a freeloader.
[X] Write in.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Walk them to school. Bonding time with your Ashikabi.

As much as you would like to stay in the nice safe house where nothing really bad has yet to happened to you your conscious gets the better of you like it tends to do. That and Satsuki's face as she asks you to escort them. With a sigh your offer your agreement to cheer up the girl, and give a silent prayer that nothing really bad happened.

In next to no time breakfast is both served and devoured in large quantities. You take care of the clean up while the children make last minute checks and before you know it the three of you are out the door.

"Ah, Yowane-chan good morning~" You freeze as you feel a presence invade your personal space from behind while you turn to lock the door. Thankfully while it's much closer than you find comfortable it's not too close.

"Ah... Good morning to you Konoe-san," You turn to greet the much too friendly neighbor, how the hell had he gotten so close? You had not noticed anyone outside but the moment you turn your back he just seems to pop up far too close to you like some kind of ninja. You really wish you could just hit him for that but other than having no sense of personal space (and 1337 ninja skillz) the guy hadn't really done anything to deserve any violence being visited upon him. "I'm taking Sa-chan and Takkun to school today."

"Ah, such a dutiful cousin you are, to go so far for the little ones~ It does my old heart good to see such a loving family," Replies the man who looked no older than 25. Actually he was rather pretty for a guy, so much so you wondered if he might actually just be a very flat chested girl. Konoe Takato was a pretty good guy, he had initially been a bit suspicious when he first saw you exiting the children's apartment but had bought your story of being a distant cousin of Satsuki and Tatsuki come to watch them while their parents worked. That the kids called you older sister without prompting helped a bit. In the end he had been friendly if a bit overly familiar, "If you have the time later see if you can stop by the shop, I'll treat you to lunch as a reward!"

"I'll... see about that," You dodged the question and gave the man a respectful bow before ushering them down to the elevator. The two wave goodbye to their neighbor who returns it with a smile. When the elevator door closes you let out a sigh.

"Ne, Haku-neechan, do you not like Takato-nii?" Asks Tatsuki, looking up at you with big innocent eyes that made you feel like a cold knife had been driven into back at the brunt assessment. There's not accusation in his voice yet yous till feel like you've disappointed him somehow.

"Er, no! No, he's... okay I guess." A diplomatic answer.

"So do you like him?"

"...I, He's... He's not my type" Honestly you had you been unwinged you wouldn't have minded going out with the man, or even having him as an Ashikabi, he was a nice and respectful. Though since you are winged though, you needed to remain faithful, even if it was to a 10 year old. God, now you sound like some kind of creepy shotacon...

Which reminded you, you really needed to explain to the kids just what you are, and why you're staying with them. You been putting it off, not wanting to startle them. Well more than that, seeing as you had hung up the phone on The Director the few times he called. And changed the channel when he appeared on Tv while the two were watching anime. And how you kept the kids from any kind of technology more advanced than a rice cooker for the past week. For their own good of course, but even your denial has limits. The children seemed to believe you were either some kind of Angel or Fairy because of your wings, and you couldn't break their little hearts.

"Ah," mumbles the sister, even with your hearing it's hard to sometimes distinguish between her breathing and her actually speaking. You give her your attention, careful to lower yourself to her eye level so not to intimidate the poor girl. With a smile you try and get her to express herself, you soon wish you hadn't, "Wh-what is Onee-sama's... type?"

...Damn kids and their ability to ask the most awkward questions possible.

~~~​

Somehow you managed to navigate out of that mine field of a conversation. But not without an injured pride. Tatsuki had been very enthusiastic about the possibility of you going out with Takato which you found very irksome, while Satsuki had just seemed to get closer and closer to crying as the conversation went on. By the time you'd exited the elevator you were already regretting leaving the house.

The walk to school had not been any less awkward, though for different reasons. The two had somehow entered an argument on just what you were, Angel, fairy, alien, magical girl, somehow mermaid ended up in there too. They had repeatedly pestered you to show you of to their friends, show your wings, take them flying, go to your fairy kingdom, fly to space, look at that cat (yes it is indeed a cat), buy them candy (not this early), and only got more hyper as you approached the school building. Not for the first time you regret even leaving the lab.

You watch them enter the gates and meet up with friends. If you judge their pointing, shouting, and flailing arms, their talking about you to their disbelieving audience. *sigh* You had even told them the first day that they had to keep your existence a secret. Thankfully they were just kids, and who would take a kid saying their big sis was a fairy seriously? Then again them being kids is probably why they were bragging in the first place. You sigh, lower your face into your waiting hand and begin your trek home.

You're about halfway there when you feel something invade your personal space once again. Ugh, you aren't in the mood for this.

"Konoe-san, I-" You begin turning your head, which is the only thing that saved you. Barely catch a flash of a tall dark skinned figure that definitely wasn't Konoe-san before pain erupted in your face and you fly several metes away to land in an ally, fall thankfully broken by some soft trash.

You'd been punched hard enough that you're pretty sure your nose is broken. You can feel the blood flowing. You force your eyes open through the pain and see the same figure descending on you like a missile. You barely manage to roll out of the way in time, though unfortunately not completely out of the area. Just the shockwave of the impact nearly knocks you out, sending you tumbling with many new cuts and bruises thanks to the shrapnel from the now destroyed wall and sidewalk.

You curl yourself into a small ball for a few moments and waited. When nothing happened you open your eyes find your attacker gone, and you alone in the ally. With a wince you try, and just barely manage to stand. You stumble forward a few steps, punch drunk. Your vision is blurry and hearing dulled from both the head rattling and more importantly a lot of blood coming down from your scalp. You don't think anything major is actually injured though, it just hurts. A lot.

You'd just been attacked by an enemy Sekirei. You'd known this would happen from the beginning, it was and inevitability like death and taxes. You'd just not expected to pop up so suddenly and violently. Again like death and taxes. So was this how it was going to end for you? Just disappearing in one of the shady allies of the big city with no one noticing. The kids, you'll really miss them, it was short but fun.

"Hmmm, guess I was right then" You can't pinpoint the voice, it echos a bit and your ears feel like they've been stuffed with wet cotton but you think it was from above you. "#81 Kurimi Mami "The Failure Idol" Sekirei," It's far behind you now, "You're just as weak as they say, did that little love tap really hurt that much?." 5-10m up to your front left, the ringing in your ears is clearing a little, "I'm surprised a weakling like you survived this long. But don't worry, your suffering will be over soon." There! You can pinpoint it this time and whip your head around to see what appeared to be black hair and cloth disappearing into a shadow. Hope begins to rise, "#57 Yahan will be putting you out of your misery."

You didn't need good ears to know that she was right behind you now, you just needed to know how these things worked out. Hearing helped though. Shadowy ninja like opponent, not finishing you when she had the chance, villainous monolog, teleportning, to you it was obvious what would happen. The moment the last bit of cloth disappeared into the blackness you dove forward, by the time you hit the floor the swishing sound of a small blade passed through where your head had been. You can see the surprise on her face. Perfect.

You take in a deep breath as the woman realizes where you are and before she can do more than tense you let out deafening screech that staggers her for long enough so you could force your body stand up.

"HOGE!"

You eyes can't see straight but they can still see. You legs feel like noodles but you can still stand. Your head swims but it doesn't matter. The pain is still there but you can ignore it. "Failure Idol" or not you won't be dying here!

You lay your eyes onto your opponent, she's tall, lithe, and tan. Covered in lose black cloths, and holding two wicked looking curved knives. She also seems to be recovering, regaining her balance and glaring at you.


[X] Run!
[X] Into the ally behind you to find a place to hide.
[X] Into the street past her to find people.
[X] Into that broken window of to the side.
[X] Fight! What's your strategy?
[X] Write in.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Fight.

Yes. Fighting is unfortunately the best answer, as terrifying as that is to you. Running into an ally would do no good against a teleporter. Running past her to try for the street would likely end with you getting stuck in the back. And escaping into a dark abandoned building would likely end just as badly as going into an ally if not worse. So as outmatched as you are fighting would probably be the only way for you to get out of this alive. You hope.

You luckily have the perfect chance to strike, even though she was recovering remarkably fast from hearing such a nauseating sound you still had just under a of free action. You reach up to your MBI Hidef Headphones, given too you to augment your relatively meager ability. They're remarkable versatile, filtering out certain noises (necessary as otherwise you would not be able to function in the city), record audio, act as a Cellphone and iPod, and the most important function to you right now which is Mute. You hit the switch and in an instant the world goes silent.

Your supposed crippling of yourself was entirely necessary however, as you aren't immune to your own attacks. Sound is omnidirectional after all, and while you can control what sound you make you can't control sound itself. Anything you do to her would be just as, if not more, damaging to yourself without it. So now encased in your own little sphere of protection you attack. A deep breath and you let out a very high frequency keening noise, much much worse than your last screech.

The effect is as obvious as it is quick. Your attacker falls to her knees retching, hands clamped tight over her ears. It's sad, you can't move to attack without breaking the sound and even if you did you'd still need to break it to preform your Norito to terminate her. She empties her stomach onto the floor, not that you can blame her. Where your previous surprise attack had been like a punch to the face, meant to stun her, this one was more like getting an icepick jammed right into the ear. It was meant to rupture the inner ear, not only deafening her but robbing her of her coordination and thus ability to attack. You can't help but feel deep regret about what your doing, even if she attacked you. You couldn't practice with this for obvious reasons and had to try and find the right pitch to get the job done, and when you succeeded she'd be crippled for life.

And that's when the shit hit the fan. You attacker, who had seemed like a non-threat, shot her hand out and at the same time pain burst from your side. She had thrown one of her knives, thankfully off mark, which was now embedded into your stomach about a foot below where your heart would be. It had robbed you of breath, broke the spell, freed your attacker, and sent you tumbling a back to the ground from the impact alone. The woman melted into the shadows on the floor. You didn't need to be a genius to know what was going to happen next. You're about to get fucked. Hard.

And once again it goes without saying; not in the good way.



[X] Still time to retreat!
[X] Fight!
[X] Write in.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Fight or Flight.

Quickly you switch your Headphones back on. Blocking out your own attacks had no advantage now that you have nothing to attack in the first place, besides you needed to be able to track her to avoid getting stabbed from behind. You weigh your options and realize grimly that you probably aren't going to be getting out of this alive.

If you continued to fight her off you can see what would happen. She would wait until she had the perfect opportunity to drop you, most likily the moment you inhaled to let out another screech. You had caught her by surprise the first 2 times and she'd know not to give you the chance. You had no idea if she was close enough to hear you or waiting in some nearby building watching, so you couldn't just let out a continuous sound in the vague hope she would hear it. You still need to breath after all and the moment you stopped to take breath she'd be on you. Even if she didn't bother attacking you it'd be childs play for her to just wait you out until you lost too much stamina to continue, you'd been stabbed and are currently bleeding out quite a bit. You'd suffer a level 1 termination automatically if you pushed yourself to far.

Running also looked bleak. Again because of the stab wound. You're not a fighter, you don't really have much experiance playing through the pain. She'd catc you in no time flat. Or just send another dagger into your back...


[X] Fight
[X] Flee
[X] write in

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Fight or Flight?

It didn't come up often in conversation but you were a firm believer in the supernatural. You a freaking alien with super powers, who are you to be skeptical? One of the many things you believed in was Reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul to another body after death, an endless wheel of death and rebirth. You also believed that in a past life you were a great person of significance, proud and strong. So right now when you found your self with only two options you found the choice obvious.

1) Fight like a respectable member of your proud warrior species and go down in glory or 2) Run away screaming like little girl and hope you don't get shot in the back.

Yup #2 sounds great! It was definitely the number for you! It was your firm conviction you were once a brave heroic soul who unfortunately in this incarnation, has been given the body of an abject coward. And with any luck you won't get to see if you get luckier next life any time soon.

And with that you pull out the knife and take off at full sprint to the now unguarded ally entrance. Screaming of course. Oh God, please don't make me die today! Tomorrow would be so much better!

What? Cowards may die a thousand deaths but tat just means they live a thousand lives too! People tend to be surprised how beneficial pragmatic cowardice and apathy really is. Besides to you a coward is someone who's sense of self-preservation acts normally.

It hurts like a bitch to run. Not only from getting blasted into the wall but also from aggravating a rather deep wound in your stomach. Seriously it's like every step makes you relive getting stabbed. Which is why your screams for help were liberally peppered with expletives at a roughly 5:1 ratio and sounded like they came from a strangled cat/badger hybrid.

Somehow you make it out without any sign of opposition. Did she just leave? Did she actually just give up on terminating you? Experience says "There is no goddamn way you can be that lucky." but you just can't stop that desperate shred of hope from spreading. And you soon burst out into a large crowd gather near the entrance, no doubt having heard the commotion caused by the last minute or so of altercation. You nearly tackle a nearby woman into the ground as you charge at and grab her.

"Call, an ambulance," You huff out and take a moment to examine her while you catch your breath. Blonde, a green ribbon in her hair, and an outfit that looked quite a bit like a cheerleader uniform with a coat, "And the police. Crazy knife bitch... Trying to stab me."

Your legs give out and your head feels fuzzy, you practically fall on top of the startled girl. You look down at your legs to see just why they seemed to feel so numb.

"...That's a lot of blood."

You feel your support moving under you and you grab on try your best to adjust so not to fall on the ground. You feel an arm go around your waist to keep you up and she begins leading you somewhere.

"Crap crap crap... Look I don't think that's such a good Idea. H-how about you come with me I know someone who can help ya."

Huh? You're hurt why not go to the hospital?

"Err, It'll take forever to get here, traffic y'know... Look my friend lives pretty close to here, he's a doctor doesn't ask questions. I can take you there lickity split!"

You feel something is off about this and are reluctant, though you can neither pinpoint why nor work up the will power to refuse when she starts to pick you up bridal style at the moment. Probably the blood loss, you still squirm though.

"Whoa! Careful or I might drop ya! Look it's okay, would it help if I todya my name?" You squirm, though you're slowing down, getting very tired now. Kinda cold too, "It's Kuruse, ...oh shit, stay with me!"

Huh, the girl looks kinda cute panicking like that...



[X] Keep stuggling! Maybe shout to get some attention.
[X] Let her take you to her friend. Seems legit...
[X] Write in.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Stop struggling.
[X] Go with the stranger offering candymedical help to her windowless van an unknown location.
[X] Seems legit, what could possibly go wrong?


It's probably telling about the blood loss and possible concision from earlier that this plan of action seems entirely logical and intelligent. You simply relax in her arms and enjoy the warming comfort. You feel strangely sleepy too, though something tells you it would be a bad idea to succumb to the sandman just yet.

You begin to drift in and out, the motion of her running and jumping while holding you is quite comfortable. You aren't really sure how long it's been when she finally stops on a particular ledge, only that your pretty sure she probably could have just dropped you off at a hospital in far less time. She bangs on the glass shouting until a young man opens it, where she rushes in and dumps you unceremoniously on the couch, eliciting a groan. Your eyes are going fuzzy again, but you see the girl Kurumi? yelling at the man and the man speaking back calmly and something yellow and black vaguely man shaped off to the side. The words are clear to you, though for some reason the meaning seems lost to you.

You feel so sleepy... Maybe if you rested your eyes for just a moment it wouldn't hurt...

The yellow one moves and the two stop talking. Then your vision is filled with the girl's shouting face. She's shaking you and rears her hand back before the man restrains her, hands her off to the yellow one than lowers himself towards you. You absently not he has glasses.

The next few minutes are a blur of motion, discomfort, dull pain, blurring something, and all around unpleasantness. Like a bad dream from eating greasy food before bed. Eventually it stops, but the dull ache just remains. You feel the darkness invading on the edge of your eyes. One last thought occurs to you.

Should have just stayed home today.



[X] Continue?
[X] Intermission?

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

As your mind wanders your perceptions distorts. The boundary of fantasy and reality begins to blur as both become equal.

You enter the realm of dreams...

[X] Intermission
[X] Recollections (Part 1)


"Ahh! Why won't you crazy bitches stop chasing me!? Fuko daaaaaa!"

You are garnering a lot of attention you noticed. Under normal circumstances a high school age looking girl running down the street would not really garner much more attention than a the appreciative glace from the local boys. Neither would the ones giving chase, a pair of twin sisters wearing matching fetishistic outfits shouting things that could very easily be misinterpreted gain you much more than some odd looks and mumbles about keeping it in the bedroom. No what was gain so much attention was that your flight was constantly interrupted by the need to dodge mother fucking lighting!

You are a most unlucky sekirei. Most unlucky indeed.

"We'll stop when you just stand still and take it!" Shouts one, punctuating it with the sound of a sparky ball of death being summoned.

"Come on! I said I was sorry! Please I don't swing that way!" You don't look back nor show any sign of stopping your tremendous flight, dodging left to avoid being zapped, turning a corner, and ducking into nearby alley. Without the slightest bit of hesitation you jump into the nearest open garbage bin. Only the do you spare the chance to catch your breath and think about what's happening. You hear the sound of two people touching down gracefully from a rather high fall.

"Dammit where is that bitch! When I get my hands on her I'll teach her body why not to mouth off to her betters! Her ass is mine!"

"Hikari calm down, you're doing it again."

Shit. There was still two of them. Those two crazy bitches had been chasing you all over the city for the last 6 hours. Not continuously mind you, you'd been able to give them the slip a couple times for an hour or so total, it was just they just didn't quit! You have no idea how you could have possibly pissed of two Sekirei so much as to give up their entire day to hunting you down. Of course this was not something you could get yourself out of so easily as simply hiding in a dumpster for the rest of the day, these girls seemed determined to take your head. Or give you head, as you doubt anyone could make so many innuendo laced comments without realizing it. Honestly you aren't sure which you found worse.

Still the fact remained that you were being pursued by two rather strong Sekirei with questionable motives. Even 1 on 1 would be beyond your league in a fight between Sekirei as far as you were concerned. Two on one was firmly in the realm of crazy pipe dream. You hear them run off to continue searching for you, you still don't take the chance to leave your dumpster's safety. Early bird gets the worm; Second mouse gets the cheese.

You open the bag you'd been carrying and pull out an apple and take a bit. You were hungry.

The fault for all this lay in your stomach. It had been over a week since you'd last had a decent meal. You'd occasionally scrapped up enough money to by a burger or two but sekirei can't live of cheap fast food alone. Today had been the finals straw and you'd gotten desperate enough to do something drastic and disgusting you'd never considered before to keep yourself alive. And that was why you could be found that morning digging though the local dumpsters for food.

"Sweet!" You dumped the contents of a trashed fruit basket into pilfered backpack, you'd been finding more good things than you had thought. You were actually beginning to wonder why you had been so reluctant in the first place. After filling up your bag as several others you'd decided you'd done enough. For once it seemed luck was on your side after all! With such a happy thought in mind you decide to indulge yourself and grab the biggest reddest apple you can find out of the bag.

"Bon apatite~"

Jiiiiii~

You freeze, apple skin not even broken. Hesitantly you turn your eyes to the left fearing the worst. A girl, not much older than you, dressed in a rather... abridged shrine maiden outfit and what looked like knuckle protectors giving you a hungry stare. Sekirei, were her odd fashion not much of a tip off than her rather large... y'know what screw it, Boobs. She had giant tits, you aren't going to beat around the boat on that, girl had a pair or sweater puppies that were bigger than her head. LITERALLY! If anime and your own knowledge of Sekirei were anything to go by comically gigantic breasts almost guarantees Main Character status. That and lolis, it was an odd bell curve where the size of a girls breasts determined if one was strong, either sex bomb or prepubescent there was no in-between. And you were currently under the glaze of this girl who had a body that would make porn stars shed bitter tears, as if you were a delicious... Wait.

You move your hand to the left, her eyes follow. Right, she follows, left again. She follows still. You fight the urge to palm your face. Of course the food. Not even a single bite in and you were gonna get mugged (again!) and released from your hard earned prize. So you just wait for the inevitable attack....

Any second now....

"Um hello?" Why are you still conscious? By all rights a fist should have met your face a long time ago. She doesn't seem to realize you spoke, so intent upon the apple. "Hello, ya there?" You wave a hand in front of her face, which manages to get her attention.

"Oh! Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She bowed rapidly and froze when her own stomach let out a loud growl. Rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "I guess I was just a little hungry."

You blink. That was not what you expected at all. You looked at her continuing to give your held fruit a longing gaze as if it were an old lover and can't help but feel and can't help but feel pity for the poor girl despite your own situation.

"Seems more than a little," You hadn't meant to say it but it just came out. She just laughs and scratches her head again. You crack a smile at that, you don't know why but something about the girl just makes it hard to not like her. Besides you can sympathize with her a bit, hunger and all. It was nice to know you weren't alone in your misfortune. You toss the girl your apple.

"Awa, I can have it?" Something about her smiling just seemed deeply satisfying to you. Like looking a pictures of kittens, an almost addictive warm fuzzy feeling just fills you. It's what you blame for your next course of action.

"Yeah, matter of fact," You hold out most of the rest of your bags, "Feel free to help yourself! Just don't ask where I got that apple."

You figured it would be nice to have some friendly company while you ate. Besides it was 5 bags of fruit, you doubted she could eat it all...

~~~​

She ate it all. You looked down at the five empty bags on the floor, to the smiling girl who had wolfed it all down, to your own meager 1 child sized back pack still mostly filled with fruit. In the time it'd taken you to eat 2 bananas and an orange the girl had consumed her own weight in fruits, nuts, breads, cheeses, and several other miscellaneous food stuffs. By god she was like a machine! A Foodinator!

The two of you were sitting in the local park, next to the cardboard box that was your current place of residence.

"Thank you so much!" She smiles at you brightly, "I was so hungry, I haven't eat all day! How can I ever repay you?"

"'s not a problem," You could just go and refill those bags later anyway. "Just happy to help."

"Ah!" You jump a bit at her sudden exclamation, "I just realized you helped me so much and we haven't introduce ourselves! I'm Musubi nice to meet you!"

You hmm a bit, "...They call me Yowane Haku." Not like it'd hurt to be polite.

"Thank you for the meal Haku-san," She got up and stretched, "I hope my Ashikabi will be as nice as you."

"Er, hehe, yeah," You answer awkwardly. It might have been a complement but even the idea was ridiculous. A sekirei as an Ashikabi, absurd. You got up too and stretched, something about the action seemed infectious, like yawning.

"Well, I'm glad I got to meet you Haku-san! I gotta get back to finding my Ashikabi."

You opened your mouth to say something back. Perhaps your own good byes, perhaps an invitation to stay you aren't really sure which. It would have been nice to have another Sekirei around, even if not for the company than the protection. And the girl had to be strong, big appetites in MCs tended to indicate equally large power. But what ever you had to say was interrupted by a cold shiver going down your spine telling you to get the hell outa dodge! Before you even realized what was happening you jumped forward and tackled the ditzy girl out of the way. You latch onto her cloths and use your momentum to roll further from the site.

"Guwah!" An ominous crack was heard behind you along with a flash of light that thankfully you were facing away from. The weird burning smell didn't do much to encourage you what ever it would have been a good thing.

"Well well, so this is where you've been hiding number 88"


[X] Continue Intermission? (Part 2)
[X] Wake up.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

Your body begins to stir. The phantasm wavers around you as reality starts to solidify. You begin to awaken... Only to relax once more. The discomfort passes and the illusion of your mind solidifies back around you.

The dream continues...


[X] Intermission
[X] Recollections (Part 2)


"Well well, so this is where you've been hiding, #88."

"Too bad for you running and hiding won't do you any good."

The woman stands high above the both of you, looking down on you physically and likely figuratively as well. Beside her is her twin, the only difference being a calmer look, and more obviously the rather significant difference in bust size. Not that you care about that sort of thing! No, you weren't that kind of girl! It's just that the both of them were clad in matching outfits of a rather scandalous cut in Purple and pink respectively. It was simply that said indecent outfits emphasized the breasts, navel, and hips, so it totally wasn't your fault! The two just stand there looking down on you dramatically, showing no sign of stopping the two of you from picking yourselves up. Needless to say though, though you will anyway, they're Sekirei.

You waited for them to do something, attack, make a speech, backflip in, invite you to tea, really the list only grew with each second awkwardly passing. After about 30 you were getting hopelessly confused and desperate. Even Musubi seemed lost despite them calling her out. Gods the silences was horrible, you don't know how to deal with such awkwardness! You began to fidget and the Busty one seemed to grow annoyed, well more annoyed seeing as she'd been scowling since after the 15 second mark.

"Oi, dumbass!" You blinked. You looked at the glaring one not really understanding, then pointed yourself just to confirm what you just realized, "Yeah you, the useless looking bum. Get out of the way, we have some unfinished business with #88 there."

"Yes, this is between us Sekirei, nothing to do with you."

They think I'm a human? Well that was okay by you, you didn't think you could deal with a Sekirei battle. Still you tensed and edged back further from them. Better safe than sorry... "Musubi?"

"Yeah?" Musubi tilts her head to the side and looks entirely too relaxed for being called out by two Sekirei.

"Who are these two?"

Her eyes open then narrow as she scrutinizes the two above her. You can practically see not only the gears turning in her head, visualizing them as a little mouse running on a wheel, but also when the proverbial light bulb seems to go off even without the accompanying gesture of fist landing in palm (pomf~). She gave you a big smile and chirped her answer, "No idea!"

Face Faults aren't real. That was just something that happened in lame old anime, a worn old cliche like sweat drops and nose bleeds, something that could and should never happen. So when the twins fell out of their tree it was only because of a broken branch despite them standing near the trunk, and they landed quite gracefully and most definitely on their faces! And the wetness on the back of your head was simply accumulated moisture, like dew on grass...

"Did your adjuster drop you on your head!?" The BustyBossy one picked off some grass that mysterious appeared on her face, "We were chasing you all day yesterday before that masked asshole got in the way!"

"Hmm... Nope! Doesn't ring a bell, so who are you guys? Oh, did Takami-san send you to drop off my MBI card?"

"No, damn it! We've been attacking you nonstop since since yesterday!" The angry twin had made her way towards you two and byt the end of that sentence less then 3 meters away. Not good...

"Awa! That's not very nice, what if I got hurt?" Another meter, very not good!

"That's the point dumbass!" She'd invaded your personal area. Awah! You aren't good with these sort of things! "And you! move out of the way this is none of your business, it's between us and the girl behind you. If you try to be a hero..." Sparks began dance across her skin, erasing any doubts you may have had concerning her species, "just give me a reason."

"Hikari, you should calm down," The flat one replies... flatly. Her face speaks of exasperation over her companions antics. She locked eyes with you and her expression seemed to show a bit of sympathy, "We aren't supposed to hurt humans."

"We're also supposed to announce ourselves and only fight Sekirei who've been winged," The sarcasm in her voice was almost tangible, "But whatd'ya know, here we are hunting down Tweedle Dipshit over there behind Poorfag here," She laid a hand on your shoulder and roughly shoved you out of the way. "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I've been humiliated by that masked tranny again, and I haven't had a bath in two days," she stalked up toward Musubi, "This mission has just been absolute shit. I swear to God the next time something fucks with me someone, I don't care who, is getting an electrically charged fist shoved in an orifice. I'm not particularly picky which one. So Shrine girl, are you going to go down quietly or am I going to have to introduce you to The Shocker?"

"But I haven't met my Ashikabi yet! That's against the rules!"

"Screw the rules, I have had it with this bullshit!"

What happened was too fast and chaotic for you to track. What you could though was mostly in disconnected 'flashes'. The first was of Hikari rearing back and Musubi tensing. The next was simply an explosion that blinded you with dust. Finally was simply a bunch of attacks from Hikari and Hibiki who had joined in with Musubi barely dodging. Eventually though the poor girl screwed up and tripped on an empty bag and cornered by the two. It was unfortunate for her, but as callus as it may have seemed it was perfect for you, you'd be able to escape while they were distracted and probably be down one future opponent when you found your Ashikabi. It was horrible and unforgivable, but you didn't know any other way to handle that kind of situations. You tense yourself, 3, 2, 1...

"Musubi!" Huh? Who said that? And why were they looking at you? "D-don't worry Musubi!" Wait that sounded like your voice! But that couldn't be your voice! Why were you still there? You were supposed to run! "I-I'll protect you!" You aren't supposed to be a hero, you didn't know how to deal with that!

"Oh yeah, and who're you? Don't look like much to me."

"I'm Number 81 Kurimi Mami, 'Idol Sekirei'," There would be no turning back, you'd announced not only your species and number, but your real name. Twin sets of eyes widened and two faces lost a bit of color. They leapt to attack, charging up sparks and making to run toward you. You held no illusion that you could overpower them in any situation, nor out run them. Individually they probably outclass you by margin so large it wasn't even funny and right then the both were fully committed to taking you out. In a fair fight, you would go down. Hard.

"Now listen to my song!" You had no intention of fighting fair. The two hesitated for the briefest moment, torn between their committed attack and a reflex to dodge an incoming attack. It wouldn't matter either way, just that moment's opening was enough. And as much as you loathed to do it you opened you mouth and began to sing.

~~~​

You are a "Voice" Type, a Sekirei who uses songs to fight, though fighting isn't really their strong suit. In gaming terms, they were the supporting class to the Wizards and Warriors, buffing or debuffing was pretty much the extent of a "Voice" type's ability. They would sing songs to various effects, their voices calming, soothing, alluring in it's otherworldly beauty, like ambrosia for the ears they sang like angels the most most soul warming songs.

What exited your mouth for the next 97.6 seconds was quite possible the most disgusting, loathsome, profane sound to ever be heard by human or Sekirei ears. There was no real comparison to describe what it sounded like, it wasn't deep, nor light, nor sharp, nor flat all that could be understood was that it was simply pure undistilled horrible. The moment the first syllable left your lips was the same moment all fighting ceased. Birds dropped out of the sky midflight, glass in nearby buildings shattered, Milk curdled, food spoiled, local flora and fauna died, people in the park fell to their knees clutching their heads, bleeding from the eyes and ears, screaming in madness. Every word, every letter 10 times worse than the last, by the end of your ballad you could see what almost appeared to be a crack in the sky.

At Ground Zero the twins simply collapsed onto the ground rears held high overhead faces literally buried in the dirt, both having been desperate enough to through away dignity make like ostriches. Even Musubi, in a show of intelligence you are ashamed to admit you didn't expect out of her, who had shoved her fingers deep in her ears and tried to run the moment you opened your mouth was in a similar position, having flinched, tripped, and so ran face first into a tree at full sprint and lay as a twitching pile at the base. You had, in a single attack, felled 3 Sekirei, and in all truth you'd dialed it back alot from the last time you'd used it. That only filled you with nothing but a deep profound sense of shame and despair.

"Why does that always happen?"

You had first discovered that "trick" completely on accident. Your adjuster, who'd taken you in like her own daughter, had bought a karaoke machine for the two of you to sing too. When she got annoyed at how you could perfectly mimic every song you'd heard before she had then decided to play a prank on you. She had, while you went to get snacks, switched out the CD with one you hadn't listened to, one featuring scat and bebop and in the confusion you had slipped up, you had for just a moment not only used your natural voice but sang with it. You learned to simply use your ability to just copypasta the words of others rather than use your own voice as it seemed to give those who heard it migraines and nightmares. It was why you sounded like if your mother swallowed a tiny computer.

The result had been similar to what happened here, only worse. You sang the entire 3 minute song. Every Sekirei on the island had been rendered deaf for two days, some even being sent to the infirmary from self inflicted injuries, and for a week afterwards everyone's linguistic ability was reduced to zeros. You would have been skeptical of the rumors that followed about the Disciplinary squad having to fight of giant tentacled horrors from the deep were it not for the suspicious amount of squid that found it's way into all the meals afterwards.

Within a week Kurimi Mami had gone from "Least known" to "Most hated" Sekirei on Kamikura island, it was one of the reasons you went by Haku now, just to avoid anyone looking to get vengeance for that. Karaoka, and singing in general, became taboo for the next few years. You didn't even understand why everyone seemed to react badly to it, it wasn't that bad in you opinion! You really wanted to cry, singing had been one of your favorite activities before that fiasco.

With a sigh you walked over to your tent. You didn't bother hurrying, they would all be out for at least a few hours, you wanted to use that time to pack up your rather meager possession, drag Musubi off to somewhere safe, and then get the hell out of dodge. As you passed the purple wearing twin though you paused.

So things had sorta gone... not as planned.

As anybody had planned really. You didn't flee, the Twins didn't take out Musubi, Musubi had been unable to keep down her lunch.

All in all though, your screw up had ended up working out the best. Far better in fact than had it actually worked. You were still conscious, your friend was still in the game, and right then you had two enemy Sekirei completely at your mercy. Yet you still feel positively negative about it, having been forced to validate your supernatural ability fail so completely as a Sekirei. Perhaps it was your mother's influence but you couldn't help but feel some restitution was in order. You looked down at the twin before you, yes some payback would really help.

You looked to your "house" and ran through the checklist of items. Everything you'd need for your... idea was inside or in the clearing.

Ever so slowly you began to smile.

~~~​

You looked up from celebratory root-beer you were drinking on pilfered dime at the sound of a very justifiable scream of pure rage. You weren't worried though, not only were you on the other side of the city but they'd no doubt be heading home first before going after you, no mater how angered. Likely sticking to the shadows so not to be seen in such an embarrassing state.

Mother would be proud. Oh you were sure you'd come to regret that when it no doubt came back to haunt you. But frankly, at the moment you couldn't give a damn.




[X] Continue Intermission (Part 3)
[X] Something tells you you should probably wake up now...

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

[X] Wake up

You teeter on the precipice of consciousness, your thoughts and actions muddled, the world seems sluggish. You head is full of fluff, things poke it but don't leave an impression.

Something tugs your arm, the sound of electronic beeping is deafening and the scent of sterile air burns your nose.

Everything is just a chaotic mess of sensations that invade and flee your brain in the same instance.

Outside. Being carried? Moving forward, up and down. Soft and warm, get closer, warmer~ Hehehe... She asks a question answer without thinking. Tired

Your sense of time warps and twists into like something from the dreams of a madman, events bleed into each other, forward backward and sideways.

More questions. Talking. Buzz buzz buzz~ Softness under you? Warm... Bed. Rustling and tugging on you. Something familiar. Sleepy...

Cocooned in something soft and warm you drift off.

-------

Seriously, Fuck. My. Life.

Such dour thoughts weren't entirely unfamiliar to you. Nor the cause of such thoughts. Still today was particularly harsh, you felt the need to vent if even only in your mind.

The transition from blissful unconsciousness back to sentience was a subtle blur. Subtle, but not pleasant. Were before there was simply a void that had transfigured into the ball of pure "Fuck You" that was had seemed to have burrowed its way into your skull while you were out. It felt impossibly like each and every cell in your brain was on fire, overworked and stressed to the point of burning out. And for what seemed like an eternity you could do nothing but wallow in your own agony lacking even a single clue as to what you had done to earn this hell.

Ugh, too loud... too much noise.

It was like a crackling roar in every pitch and volume stabbing at your ear drums. It was just an overload of audio, painful normally absolute misery in your current state. Instinctively you bring your hands up to cover your ears and bury yourself deeper into your pillow to muffle it. It doesn't work, figures.

...

Wait... you shouldn't be able to do that, you never take off your ear phones. And you don't remember going to sleep...

Your eyes snapped open as the lethargic fog instantly clears from your brain courtesy of an adrenalin dump. The sudden return of memories hit you like a bitch-slap of cold hard reality and you jolt up throwing covers off you.

"Grk!"

Okay, that was a bad idea, The proof was in you poor abused stomach, which if you were feeling it right was leaking all over the sheets. You curled in on yourself trying your damnedest to squeeze yourself into a black hole. Your hands never left your head though, as the sharp pain in your gut was nothing compared to the ball of fresh hell that was occupying the space between your ears, Oh god I just wanna die.

"..."

You heard a voice speak up nearby, the words indistinguishable in the cacophony. You tried to focus on it, but you lack the will to wrestle against flood of junk data to zero in on it. You let out a pitiful groan as you felt someone grip your shoulder, trying to shake it off you. You heard more completely ineffective soothing talk you couldn't distinguish with the thousands of other voices speaking over it at once. For your own powers to actually be a hindrance naturally... some Sekirei you are.

It was the biggest drawback of your power, the sensitivity of your ears that was necessary to so perfectly comprehend a sound was anything but a blessing in somewhere as noisy as a city. All the screeches, grindings, thumps, bangs, and plethora of other audio in unlimited forms of pitch from piercingly high to nauseously low, a random chaotic mess violated your eardrums from every vector possible. You could stand if for maybe minutes, able to process the information given, but any longer and you simply cave in from the overload. It was why you wore the special Headphones that MBI had given you all the time even if they obfuscated your hearing, they filtered out all the white noise.

And you took them off. Now your (necessarily) delicate and sensitive ears were naked and exposed to all the noises produced from a very highly populated city without even the flimsiest shield to protect them from harm.

"..." Came the voice again.

You hold your hand out towards it without looking, careful not to compromise your little bubble messed bedding. After several seconds of no reply, positive, negative, or otherwise you decided to elaborate, "Haff..."

...Well you tried to, you'd intended to speak but nothing came out but a breathy croak. To give her another clue you retracted your hand to grope at the air around your ears and pantomime ear muffs. After several attempts you began to disparage until the plodding of feet on carpet met your ear, odd how that was recognized. It took about half a minute of rustling before plodding came back your way and a familiar weight was laid to rest in your waiting hand. You wasted no time shoving the expensive piece of electronics on you crown and powering it back on. The faint whirling of it's mechanics made you wince before all became blissfully silent.

You sigh in relief and relax, opening your tightly clenched eyes at last.

"Uh, hey?" Spoke tall blond girl who was standing by your bedside. She looked vaguely familiar, "Sup?"

"Whe-" You wince at the sound of your voice as well as the small lance of pain that comes from your throat. Ouch, your voice sounded, and felt, ruined, raw and dry. Neither was much of a surprise, you'd given your vocal cords a very harsh work out and likely had not had any water in at least several hours, a necessity to maintaining your voice. Thankfully your mysterious visitor seemed to understand, or else was looking for an opportunity, and handed you a glass of water and a few pills in small folded paper cup. Without hesitation, something you blamed on the pounding headache, you downed the pills and chased it with the water feeling much relieved the instant the cool liquid touched your soar voice box, "Where are we?"

The girl didn't answer at first, opting to break eye contact and look at a spot over your shoulder. You felt the buzz of paranoia begin to well up. Your answer did come, though just from a source you didn't expect.

"O-Onee-sama!" There, standing in the door to what you were recognizing as your room, was little Takeda Satsuki. Her brother instead of talking let his actions speak for him, rushing forward to give you a hug.

=====

It wasn't very long after that you'd all moved out of the somewhat cramped room into the living room. Your Ashikabi were sent out with your visitor sent out so as to both have them avoid seeing your state and for your to change. An exhausting affair, and you're exit was greeted with the sight of a group of blonds having fun.

Introductions were made, explanations interrupted, and excuses made up. Eventually you realized how late in the evening and tried to usher the kids to take a bath so you could perhaps make something simple for a late supper. The offer was met with protest, for various reasons, until Kuruse volunteered herself to cooking while they bathed. The kids tried to drag you along, but thankfully Kuruse intervened on your behalf.

"Me and your onee-chan were going to catch up, we'll take a bath after dinner."

The kids accepted that easily, and went of clean up. But rather than head to the kitchen the remaining blond quickly returned to your room. You sat confused into inaction for a moment though before you could ask she exited holding a mess of bloodied linnens. You felt a cringe at the sight. You pointed her to laundry hamper, intending to help but turned down by Kuruse. Dirty laundry out of sight she proceeded to the kitchen. It wasn't long until the gentle clatter of cooking intermingled with the soft background noises of the two children bathing in the other room.

You laid splayed on the couch completely exhausted. Thankfully whatever your guest had given you had kicked in turning all the unpleasantness from earlier into a omnipresent tickling buzz. Your skin felt like it was made of rubber and there was a disconnect between you and your body. Your arms were heavy and ungainly.

"Feels like 'm floatin," It tickled the inside of your mouth saying that, "Bzzbzzbzz~"

"...The hell did the doc give you?" The sound of cooking paused as woman in the kitchen questioned your mental stability.

You considered responding to her rhetorical question with something witty but passed on the impulse, sinking further into the comforting embrace of the couch. In the kitchen Kuruse began to hum a comforting melody you were sure you'd heard before but couldn't place.

[X] Start small talk
[X] Wait and chill~