5 years before canon

Takami Sahashi Journal Entry 112

Months of work have finally led to some of the systems, aside from life-preservation of the eggs and embryos, to be restored.

There are days this still feels like a strange dream. ALIENS. Aliens with technology the likes of which we've never seen. Aspirin and alcohol have been a common remedy while trying to wrap my head around some of what this ship can do. Thankfully, #01, Minaka and I all agreed that humanity isn't quite ready for this to be made public.

Until such a time comes that we can safely introduce them to the world, they need to be kept in the dark. We were lucky that the ship granted us access. If that cloaking hadn't been activated, it would have been unavoidable. Human curiosity and the fear of the unknown would have been the death of this species. I can't allow that.

#01 said something this morning, about how Sekirei were similar to humans. Appearance alone made that an irrefutable fact, though I think she was referring to more internal matters. Specifically, reproductive organs. With all the work going on here, no research has been done to verify that statement.

The look on Minaka's face was strange. It was close to the one when he decided to wear that ridiculous outfit from some kids show. Whatever was going on in his mind couldn't be good. If I didn't love … No, not even here will that statement be made. I'll just have to keep an eye on him.

End of entry

This is where she went wrong. Right. Here. The signs had been there, slowly escalating in their intensity. Strange and inexplicable mood swings, delusions of grandeur, the way he hardly slept. When she thought about how he stood on the roof and yelled into the sky, that had to be when the auditory hallucinations started to set in.

Couple that with an IQ that was nearly off the charts, discovering an alien spaceship, it gave those delusions of grandeur the ability to turn into something… despicable.

Even back then she couldn't say that she loved him, because somewhere in the back of her mind the words just didn't feel right. Infatuated perhaps but never had she claimed to love him. He on the other hand, had taken every opportunity to say it until she got annoyed and made sure he never vocalized that phrase again. By the time she pulled back, it was already too late. The damage was done.

Her eyes shifted over to the white picture frame on her desk, hoping beyond hope that her daughter would forgive her line of thinking. Yukari was not, and would never be, something to regret. The only child she had or was ever likely to give birth to.

Reflecting on notes of an experiment was a vital part of the process, helping to see where things went right and where they didn't. Flipping to a farther page of her journal, something that became one of her only ways to vent the stress of what her life had turned into, she saw it went directly to the start of what brought these two issues together. Children and regrets.

Journal Entry 137

The maturation chambers are a medical marvel that would revolutionize healthcare. #1 watched us move the embryos over to the chambers like a hawk watches its prey. High above the other, knowing that it could end the rodent's life at any time. It's obvious that she still does not trust us yet, but I find it hard to blame the woman.

Thinking on the procedure that allowed this to happen, it still doesn't sit quite right with me, I can't explain why. Never had I considered having kids, and the technology on the ship made the process so thorough and efficient that I could hardly feel an ounce of pressure.

If faced with almost certain extinction, would humans not push the boundaries of morality? Of course they would. Future generations could squabble and bicker about it later, but the fact would remain that they would be alive.

I've been repeating that in my head, over and over again just to squash down the sense that we shouldn't have done this. Somehow, Minaka managed to get Takehito on board. After the repetitive nudges from the two of them, #1 and I agreed. Though admittedly it was from opposite sides of the same coin.

#1 wants her people to survive, and the 108 carrying that DNA aren't immortal beings. Long lived according to her, but immortal they are not. They will need to reproduce. If what she said about the gender gap proves true, the most likely scenario is the introduction of human DNA unless they form some sort of cult-like sex ring. It didn't work out well any of the times in more recent human history, so I doubt it would for them.

And while I want them to survive as well, I'm not ashamed to admit that my curiosity is guiding my actions more heavily.

That academic desire has been lit more consistently since coming here then my entire year study on cancer cells. Limits need to be pushed, broken and re-established. It is how mankind has always made large advances.

But is bringing a child into the world entirely through artificial means really the best way to go about getting my answer? Should we have just let nature run its course? Based on the empty and yet somehow furious stare #1 gave me, the answer is yes. Or at least she feels that the child should have been carried the natural way.

Either way, it's too late. My egg had already been fertilized with the altered version of DNA spliced together through some means that the ship has at its disposal. By the time morals even came into question, Minaka had already managed to mix the Sekirei DNA sample in the ship with a measure of his that had the SRY gene, something #1 was adamant should be tried. #1 wasn't sure why there were DNA samples lying about, nor could she name the source of said DNA.

I will have to detach myself from referring to the egg as mine. Emotions will do no good in this instance. Project 81 as it has been dubbed, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, is to determine the outcome of the eventual mixing of Sekirei and human genes. Plus, given a few day's time, all of the eggs and embryos placed into the chambers will develop into fetus'. A few months after that, they will be "born".

No matter what happens, the being growing in that chamber is not, and will never be my son.

Minato was not conceived through the usual acts, either mine or from another. He will not grow inside of me, being nourished from my body.

I am not his mother. Genetically speaking he will be more along the lines of a first cousin once removed. I will likely need to revisit this entry over the coming year or so until he is matured fully. My mind is at war with… to be honest I'm not sure whether to say heart or body. The egg that is the base for Minato's entire existence came from me. Nothing has ever been so conflicting.

With the only instinct I've ever trusted being the one that tells me only to trust my own judgements, this almost overwhelming desire to say that he is my son shakes me.

I hate this. I am a woman of science, something either is or isn't.

And I am not his mother. I never should have named him, it was that infuriating sentimental side of me. No matter whose egg he will be made from, by no current clinical definition am I the mother. Sex was not the cause of his conception. He did not grow and bloat my belly. Minato has no mother or father, for all intents and purposes he is the first synthetic humanoid creature to have ever been brought to life on Earth.

P.S. I have found a way to calm the storm. Admitting my addition to his genes does not trigger the same reaction, and being that the growing fetus is of multiple origins, a hybrid status would do.

Henceforth Minato will now be referred to as f1 in accordance with all known hybrids before him, though none have ever been of a human nature before.

P.P.S. #'s 2-9 are growing on pace with a thrice accelerated timeline to human children whilst inside the chamber, as is f1.

End of Entry

The cold and calculative persona she could feel from the last two sections in this entry angered her. Takami didn't know, even though she should have, the effect they would have on each other. Her and Minato that is.

Impulse control had been somewhat lacking for the head researcher these last few months, shown in true form as Takami pulled a bottle of scotch from beneath her desk along with a glass. She liked it neat, and the room temp liquid never bothered her, it burned like hell going down no matter what she did.

That was fine, she didn't want to truly enjoy the drink. It served a purpose of giving her an unpleasant throat burn and the haze all alcohol eventually brought with it. This was a bottom of the barrel stock, as seen by the grimace as she downed the small glass and poured another with one hand, while the other fished a cigarette out from the pocket of her lab coat.

What disgusted her the most about this entry was the timeline in which it had happened.

How long had it taken her to go from nearly agonizing over the "birth" of a child that carried at least a portion of her DNA, to referring to him as a mere codename in order to dehumanize him?

Hours.

This last addition was made 2 weeks after some decent growth had been seen and noted about him and the other fetus'.

What kind of a person did that? Sociopaths? Psychopaths? Was she no better than Minaka, in all his delusions about gods and fate?

It was getting harder and harder to deny. Sure, she tried to make the Sekirei's lives a bit better, but the main problem still persisted.

Minaka.

Things were different now than they were just a few months ago. The "failure" of project 81 had escalated things to a degree she hadn't foreseen. Although, she had to wonder if that had been his doing as well.

F1 had been deactivated, leaving this glorious plan to shift its course into something that resembled a glorified gladiatorial fight. The new plan had only been slightly outlined for her, but it was nothing like they'd initially set out to do.

Unfortunately, she was between a nuclear warhead and a pit of despair so deep that she might as well take the first option.

She failed f1, odd how her self-induced conditioning made it so that she couldn't even think of the name she'd given him, she wasn't about to fail her actual child.

Seeing as she was already diving head first into the realm of her fuck-ups and miscalculations, Takami turned to another Journal entry.

"Because why the fuck not?"

Journal Entry 158

Slowing down the process for numbers 2-5 hadn't been an option, especially not after we caught wind of people sniffing around the island. These beings deserve the right to defend themselves from forces that would do them harm. F1, along with numbers 6-9 have been put into a state that simulates a normal growth period.

Minaka left the island for a week, and when he came back there was a newly formed company. Mid Bio Informatics, or MBI, a pharmaceutical company that he was the head of. Takehito seemed excited, the man looking for an opportunity to use the things we've learned to help humanity.

That was the day that we were finally able to release the first four from the chambers, fully grown.

#1 had mentioned that the maturation process was something that was only advised under dire conditions. We took that to be from a societal perspective, wanting their children to grow at the normal rate. The possible extinction of their race was most definitely under the category of 'dire conditions'.

What we hadn't expected, was for there to be consequences for this process, thinking that a space faring species would have perfected something implemented and meant to ensure their survival if need be.

The powers at each of their disposal is unstable from the rapid growth of their bodies and seemed to have developed certain quirks from the way the ship sent electronic pulses that literally shocked information into their minds. #1 says this was among the least damaging outcomes.

For #2, who's power was technokinesis, this came in the form of a quickly escalating fascination in anything sexual or niche related. Connecting her mind to the internet probably hadn't been the best choice in hindsight, but the information she could get would be invaluable.

#3, an elemental user with control over wind, was almost never seen without a bottle of sake in hand or otherwise on her person, along with anything she deemed romantic sending her swooning about something they called an 'ashikabi'.

#4 is a sword user, as is #1, and it worries me that she only seems to want to fight. Nothing else seems to interest this woman. Minaka seems to have taken a special interest in her as well. I haven't had the time to extract the details of this from him yet. But I will.

As for #5, the sole male of the group seems the most grounded, ironic seeing as he is a dual type. Earth and blades. Although where he obtained that scarf I have yet to figure out, but the damn thing hasn't come off since.

We now have a decently balanced group to defend those not yet "born". Minaka started referring to them as the disciplinary squad and, unfortunately, the name has stuck.

#1 says that she is by far the most powerful of them, though we have yet to see any truth to this claim and will lead the defense force. Hopefully her leadership will keep this group of newborns, no matter if they have adult bodies that's what they are, in line enough until they either stabilize in time or we can find a way to do it.

End of entry

And what a shit show that had turned out to be. Miya hadn't smiled or said a single word that hadn't been laced with suspicion at that point. Watching the footage of her slicing a Naval ship in half through the force of her sword had been… eye opening. Despite her growing perversion, Matsu had been vital in keeping any electronic signals known to them. Kazehana made sure that the seas remained choppy enough to have a good chunk of those on board hopelessly sea sick. Karasuba took care of most of the ones who made it to shore, and Mutsu used his earth manipulation to be the last line of defense along with his sword.

The end result was a death toll of well over a thousand people, acting on the orders of a government they hadn't been able to get the name of.

Where things started to really turn for the worst, though she hadn't known it at the time, was when Minato took his first breath.

Journal Entry 184

F1 was released from his chamber today, along with #8. Hopefully #2 is right about her abilities opening up more of the ships systems. We've been working with so little information, and it would be a great help if we had the archive of knowledge on Sekirei that's been locked down since the crash.

Except for #1, the squad has been getting more and more unstable. #2 loses herself in one strange daydream after another, #3 actually had her first hangover, which is something I had started to think impossible. #4 has done nothing but maintain that sword of hers, whispering about her next chance to draw blood. And #5 has started to disregard tasks assigned to him almost 50% of the time.

In one of her lucid moments, #2 was actually able to get into the system regarding the specific chamber contents. The complete analysis only took a matter of seconds when the current human tech would have taken an hour. It was a decision that was weighed for 3 days, but in the end, the 4 of us not slowly losing our minds thought it best to go with #2's recommendation.

If she's right, we may have just so happened to have created a being that will help get things back on track. Based on the analysis of his chamber, #2 suspects F1 to have unparalleled telepathic capability. Even amongst the Sekirei, who are all at least partially psychic, he seems to stand out.

#2 gave an account of how the neurons in his Frontal Cortex, Limbic system and Basal Ganglia are indicating that he will have an emotional aura control effect, along with the possibility of sending and receiving thoughts from other Sekirei. We decided to take him out of the chamber, let him try to soothe the others before they self-destruct.

As for #8 being released before full maturation, #2 thinks that the light based abilities will be able to restart the main power source for the ship.

With the development slowed, F1 and #8 both look to be near 10 years old.

My daily reminders of F1's relation to myself certainly helped me to maintain composure when he opened his eyes. The black hair could have been written off as a common feature. And the facial structure had enough minor differences to be a distant relative. I can say for certain that the happy expression on his face was one I don't think I've had myself for a long time. So innocent and naïve looking.

But his eyes… those are from me. Quicksilver iris' just like my mother and myself.

Takami paused her reminiscing as her phone vibrated in the pocket of her lab coat.

Taking it out and looking at the contact listed, she cursed under her breath. Takehito never called her unless it was important, the man knew how much she needed this time away.

"This better be good." Her voice was clipped and only slightly slurred, having only ingested enough alcohol to take the very slightest edge off.

-Minaka did something to the Jinki and now they're overloading! I think he was trying to get them to compensate for the one that Matsu stole!- Takehito's voice was higher pitched and more frantic than she'd ever heard.

There were a few things in there that set her from just about to hit the starting point of relaxation, to near boiling in rage.

"What?" It was the only thing that was able to come out of her lips for a few moments.

"What do you mean the one Matsu stole? And why in the absolute fuck did that moron think he could fiddle with the rest?! We've never made any headway on those damn things other than getting them to power the building!"

As she spoke, her voice gained volume until she was standing from her office chair and yelling into the device held to her ear.

There was a subtle pain behind her eyes that started to grow in its intensity. Pinching at the bridge of her nose, nor rubbing at her eyes did it any good.

-She must have gotten her hands on some of the details regarding the S-Plan after hearing about the adjustments. Minaka only just sent them to me minutes before this whole ordeal, I haven't had the time to look through the changes. She knocked out the security measures with just enough time to get in and get out before anything could be done to stop her.

Seriously… she'd been gone for almost 3 weeks, but how had things spiraled that far out of control?

"When did Matsu steal the Jinki?" Before her vacation, which meant coming back home and getting out of the city that was slowly becoming more controlled by Minaka by the day, she had been at the throats of nearly everyone in a flash.

These 3 weeks had helped, letting the calmer, slower lifestyle ease the tensions that had been present in her body for years now. Spending time with Yukari and her mother was a reminder of what was important.

No matter how much Minaka tried to push her in the direction he wanted, she wasn't going to follow his example. Family was more important than whatever game he was playing now. If F1… Minato, had taught her anything, it was to cherish your loved ones.

It was a stupid, cliché, blatantly obvious ideal, but one that she'd lost sight of. It should have been apparent to her when he…

No, don't go down memory lane right now.

-Has Minaka not kept you updated?

No, he hadn't. The last time he called when she was supposed to be on vacation, she'd made it very clear that he'd lose what physically defined him as male if he ever did it again. Sometimes she even hoped that he'd call her bluff.

-I don't have time to fill you in completely Takami, I'm almost to the Jinki. Here's the short version. Miya left with Minato's body. Yume and Karasuba are the new discipline squad, though #8 hasn't spent a waking moment without crying since she learned about Minato. Kazehana took off after talking to Minaka. And as of 4 days ago, Matsu vanished with one of the Jinki.

The headache of all headaches was approaching, she could feel it.

Everything Takehito just said was considered the short version. What the fuck was going on over there?

The part about Yume didn't surprise her. The two of them had been… close. To be fair, Minato had been liked by all of the Sekirei he met, even Karasuba. With him gone, it seemed that things were spiraling out of control. His abilities had been more widespread than anticipated and became a sort of crutch when dealing with the single numbers.

What they hadn't known upon releasing him, was that telepathy was a potential for any ashikabi. Minato's was just supercharged due to being a hybrid. His other ability was far more useful.

It was like some sort of poorly written drama series, with a strange and overly complicated romantic scenario. Yume was the closest thing Minato had to the childhood friend trope, while Miya was the calm beauty that ignored whatever feelings might have started to develop between them. Takehito was the poor fool who'd fallen head over heels for a woman who was clearly interested in someone else no matter how much the woman denied it.

Takami wasn't the sort to watch such trash tv, but that didn't mean she was blind to what was happening.

It had been Minato that she couldn't read, though that was more because she spent as little time around him as possible. It was obvious that he loved the two, but in what way remained to be seen. If Miya actually went and took his body, lying dormant in a coma-like state as it was, plus Matsu taking one of those damn relics…

Did they actually know how to…

-I'm heading in. And then the call was ended.

Takehito's voice only made her remember the last things she heard Minato say.

"F1 and 04 heading inside."

His voice only changed when there was something wrong, and the moment he heard about the kidnapping he'd volunteered.

It was almost like he…

"Son of a bitch…"

Minato knew didn't he? He had come to the conclusion that Minaka had been the likely source of information for the kidnapping to happen in the first place.

But if he was aware of that, then why did he still follow through?

Takami felt her almost non-existent buzz evaporate into nothingness as her mind tried to deal with the revelation.

Of course he would still go. He might not be full Sekirei, but as far as he was concerned that didn't matter. Someone needed help and he was able to do something about it. That selfless little shit wouldn't be able to just stand by and do nothing.