Upon Silver Wings (Sekirei x Angel Reader)

A Surprise

Well, Azrael had not been lying when he said about the storage capacity of F/N's bag, and from its contents he had been able to create a rather formidable set of defences. F/N had to admit to himself that he was lucky - as an angel, sleep was only really necessary if the body he was possessing was severely injured (as had happened after the days-long fight which had permanently damaged the nerves in his leg) - this had the happy side effect of meaning that his 'bedroom' needed no bed, allowing it to be more akin to a magical workshop.

A rug bearing the Circle of Solomon took up the centre of the room; beneath the windows: a bureau full of specialist paper and pens for written spells; upon the wall with the door: a glass cabinet filled with more substantial casting tools - rings, wands, black mirrors, athame, a focus-stone, and the like. Standing against the blank wall opposite the wardrobes was a rather large cuneiform tablet, which was integral to the defensive spells around the room. Finally the wardrobes, within them were a plain white featureless mask, several copies of the black suit he almost always wore, and an array of scarves and shirts in different bright colours. Either side of the wardrobe, two large obelisks stood, gifts from the elder goddess Isis for the time he spent in Egypt in the Gods-war. Not even the walls were free from his touch. Every piece of blank wall space was covered with a picture frame, each containing a freshly made paper charm. Normally he would have painted the charms directly onto the walls, but given Miya's warning, he would probably be needing a new body if he did, and he had got rather comfortable in this one.

The only signals that this was a room which he intended to live in were an old wicker chair in one corner, and a small painting of a magpie by the door. John Dee had painted it for him, as payment for dealing with a particularly irritating wandering ghost. Right from a child F/N had enjoyed the company of corvids, and if the seal did not stop him from releasing his four wings, they would be seen to have a magpie's pattern. Most people who knew him called him "Magpie," Azrael being the obvious exception, as the old Seraph called everyone by whatever name they were currently using in the human world.

His reminiscing was broken when he suddenly felt a presence watching him from above. Wheeling around looking at the ceiling he saw no one present, but upon expanding his aura out and around he snagged on something. There was a small camera watching him from the top left corner of his room. This simply would not do. He pulled a little on the well of angelic magic within, ignoring the nausea caused by the seal on his power bucking and rearing against him. With a firm stare the magic congregated in and around the camera, melting the wiring within. From what 'Hito had told him, Magpie knew that Miya was not above using "Duck-san" to listen in on her tenants, but was not the type to use cameras, meaning someone else, likely one of the other residents, had a privacy problem. These kinds of people tended to be too curious for their own good, and would usually try to quickly replace their devices, giving him an idea. He tapped on the three of the logograms on the large tablet, making them each glow with a faint blue light, before stepping out of the room, and closing the door behind him. With the trap set, now was an excellent opportunity to reacquaint himself with the local gods and yokai.

It took only a few minutes walk through the cool evening air for him to find a shrine to Inari. The place was small but well maintained, with an old sacred tree on the grounds.  However, the moment Magpie stepped across the threshold onto the hallowed ground he fond himself staring down a sword blade.

"State your purpose for coming here!" Looking down the blade Magpie saw a girl with dark brown hair, matching fox ears, and three tails.

Again she spat out a demand "Why are you here!"

Taking a moment to think, Magpie replied calmly and gently "I'm here to see an old friend."

She hissed a little "You who reek of venom and death will find no friends here. Now get out befo-"

"Stand down Tsuru." Toned a light voice.

"I-Inari-sama?" Tsuru dropped to one knee. Standing behind her was an androgynous individual with long silver hair.

Inari turned to address magpie "Salutations, old friend."

"Hello Foxy. How's life been treating you?"

"Fairly well. I see you have gained a new body since the last lime we met, and by your aura it seems you have had it for a while."

"Oh, yes! I got it a few weeks after we last met, do you like it?"

Inari put on a mischievous grin " To quote you when I possessed that girl 'Ok so far, but I've only seen the face.'" The two immortals looked at each other for a second, before bursting into laughter.

"You right twat," Magpie spoke through chuckles "I'd forgotten I ever said that."

"My leige?" Tsuru asked, wearing a confused and concerned expression "Why do you let him talk to you like that?"

"I've known Magpie here since the turn of the 1st millennium AD. He is an angel serving under Azrael, which explains the smell of death, and although he has never acted like it, he is technically my senior. Albeit by a few decades."

At the sound of those words, Tsuru's eyes widened, and the poor fox, who's aura showed an age of less than 300, knelt down in full dogeza in front of Magpie, muttering apologies.

With a small wince the angel crouched down to her.

"Kid, you are way too highly strung. I've made far worse balls-ups than you just did, so chill."

"Is there anything I can to to amend." She pleaded.

"Well, that rather neatly brings me onto my main reason for coming here." Magpie turned to Inari "I take it you are aware of the Sekirei plan?"

Inari replied with a sour expression "Of course, Hiroto Minaka has even tried to rename Tokyo to Shinto Teito for his so called game."

"Then you'll understander why I've decided to infiltrate said game, and why I'm about to ask you for spies."

Inari raised an eyebrow "Spies?"

"Yes, I would be fine for an information network in England, or Israel, but Japan is your home turf not mine, and I need eyes both inside and outside MBI, to report on the plan."

"Then it is in the best interests of every entity in Japan that you get what you need. Come here at sundown in three days, Tsuru will take you to a private realm from there, Sojobo and Nurarihyon will also be present."

"Thank you." Magpie gave a bow, and suddenly felt a very specific energy signature  "Now I would love to stay for a cup of tea and a chat, but somebody has just sprung a 'surprise' I left for anyone going through my things, so I'd better be off."

Inari chuckled a little "Knowing your surprises, you probably should go. We shall meet again soon, Goodbye."

"See you in three days, Foxy."

With that Magpie turned on his heels and walked out, and Inari evaporated into the night, leaving Tsuru alone in the shrine.