An: This story took me ages to post, due to the file getting corrupted on my old laptop but finally got around to rewriting it so here it is. Enjoy :) Hopefully there aren't too many mistake, its late and I'm travelling tomorrow/today technically so wanted to post it now. (And for those reading my other stories, I'm still working on them, just sometimes it helps to write other things to avoid too much writers block).

Wind swirled strongly atop the tallest building in Tokyo, whipping an orange scarf aggressively around its owner, yet it was unable to move the tall figure from his perch on the edge of the roof. He stared down at the tiny humans below, debating where to start his search and wondering if one of those tiny dots he could see would be his ashikabi.

"The offer is still open." A cool women's voice floated across the wind to the man's ear. "Unless you still plan on going through with this foolishness." She mocked.

Turning to face the tall grey haired woman smirking at him, he responded calmly, "I believe in what Yume taught. Our true ashikabi will strengthen us. Only through loving and being loved can we reach our true potential."

The women grimaced at the mention of loving an ashikabi. "Humans are weak and not worth our strength. I will prove that when I win this game without loving a filthy human."

He sighed before smiling somewhat sadly, "I hope you find the love Yume hoped for all of us." He turned back towards the horizon, knowing that his hope was unlikely to be fulfilled. "Thank you for the offer Karasuba but now that most of the adjustments are complete, I must join my brethren in the search for an ashikabi." He smiled at his sister who responded with a smirk.

"Fine have it your way Mutsu, we'll see how much stronger you are in battle with a precious ashikabi loving you." She almost spat the word.

"Until then." He nodded farewell then leapt off the building.

Emiri jumped off the bus, rushing along the sidewalk as she weaved through the particularly busy market street. She had missed her first bus and was running late for her planned meet up with a friend, so was near running as she made her way towards her destination. She normally liked to spend some time in this area, pick up some snack or money for snacks to last her till nightfall but today she didn't have the time. Maybe she'd come back later or maybe she'd find some change in the bottom of her satchel bag.

In her rush she couldn't avoid colliding with a tall man, almost falling over if he hadn't caught her. Lucky for her she didn't end up face planting the concrete, unlucky for him the collision gave her the perfect opportunity to reach round and slip his wallet from his pocket. She just couldn't help herself especially when the opportunity is presented so perfectly.

Quickly flashing an apologetic smile accompanied with, "Sorry sir." Emiri swiftly extracted herself and carried on rushing down the road, however partway down the path curiosity got the better of her so she darted down a familiar alleyway and plopped herself on a small wall that was positioned around the back of the building. A quick look showed the space to be empty and no one following her, so she pulled out the wallet to see what she'd got. Unfortunately, there wasn't much money in it, just some black unlimited card that was of no use to her. She didn't need anyone tracking her through it. Sighing she threw the card over her shoulder and considered what to do with the wallet.

"Thank you." A man's voice said, disturbingly close.

Her head whipped around to see a tall silver haired man holding the card between his fore and middle finger as if he'd plucked it from the air. Jumping off the wall and stepping away from the man, Emiri tried to figure out what to do next. "Hey," She started, "I er- I found that on the pavement and couldn't exactly find who it belonged to with no ID and such." She rambled. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."

"I'm sure." He said completely at ease, if only slightly flushed in his cheeks.

Yep, she was so screwed. The guy was going to turn her over to the police and all she could think about was how much she'd screwed up. She should have just let him be, but she couldn't resist what was such an easy pick.

He stepped forward slightly, most likely to stop her escaping but the movement seemed to cause an uncharacteristically laboured breath to exit his mouth. Well she assumed it was out of character, she had only known him for about a minute.

"Hey, er- you okay?" She asked, hoping to talk her way out of this or at least distract him enough to get past.

However, he just continued towards her, seeming weaker by the moment by still a huge guy compared to the teen self who barely reached 5'3''. She attempted to back up but only ended up hitting the building behind her with the guy still closing in.

"Hey what are you-"

He leant in for a kiss, briefly pressing there lips together but long enough for orange wings to sprout from behind his scarf, before he pulled away. "Earth of my pledge, spread to protect the territory of my Ashikabi." He recited. "Mutsu, No.5."

Emiri was shell shocked for a moment before yelling, "What the fuck! You pervert!" And pushing him away from her, though she felt like he let her move him. Taking a few steps back in response to the push, clearing the space for her and she took her chance. She ran straight to the other wall, running up it before grapping the edge and pulling herself up. Once up she kept running along the smaller buildings, not looking back and trying to put as much distance between herself and that weird guy as possible.

After running for a good 10 minutes, she dropped to the floor of one of the roofs she had ended up on, out of breath. That was the most intense running she'd done for a while. Unfortunately, her break was cut short as the man landed in front of her, as if fallen straight from the sky. Scrambling up, breathing fast and extremely concerned with who or what this guy was, Emiri noticed the sword held loosely in his left hand. She gulped at the sight of it.

"Hey, I don't know what you want but just leave me alone okay?" She said, looking around unsure how she could outrun this jumping jack.

He held up his hands in a sign of piece as he laid his sword to the ground. "I apologise for scaring you and for my previous actions. I should not have kissed you without your consent, I didn't realise how strong a true ashikabi' s pull would be but that is no excuse. I should have discussed it with you before winging myself. I am truly sorry ashikabi and I hope you will be able to forgive me." He said sincerely, looking disappointed in himself.

Emiri wasn't sure what to do with any of that or the title this older guy had assigned her. It sounded respectful, but she wasn't sure on its meaning. "Er, I'm sure all can be forgiven if you leave me alone forever." She tried, hoping to get him to leave.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, at least not until you let me explain myself." He tried to reason. "If you just allow me the time to explain everything to you and then if you wish me gone, I will do as you ask."

"Well I don't have the time so," She started before realising she really didn't and that she was beyond late by now. "I'm meeting someone so I've-" Just then the phone rang, probably her friend telling her how late she was.

Mutsu looked the bag where the noise was orientating and smiled slightly, "That's probably the professor now to explain part of it to you."

Looking extremely confused by that statement, she reached into her bag and brought her phone to her ear to answer it. "Hello."

"Hi, look Emiri I can't make the meet up today. Something came up." A male voice on the phone responded.

"Oh right," She said, disappointed that she wouldn't be seeing him. "No worries, I get it." She continued trying not to make her friend feel bad. "I'll talk to you later." He said his goodbyes and ended the phone call.

Looking slightly despondent, she returned her phone to her bag. "Guess I have the time." She muttered.

Matsu smiled somewhat though he was sad to see his ashikabi look so down.

"Okay so looks like you have time to explain this crap to me." She said louder noticing the guys frown at her cursing. "So, get on with it, cause the quicker you do this the quicker I get rid of you." "Hopefully" she added silently.

"Brilliant," He said before asking, "May I have you name before we start?"

Hesitating in revealing anything about herself, she decided just her first name wouldn't be a problem and answered. "My names Emiri, now start talking."