Revised Beginning
"Haa… Arg… Ha…"
*stomp, rustle, Thud*
A young boy was leaning on a withered tree; brown hair was sticking to his forehead. His green eyes were frantically scanning the surrounding forest.
"Ah… Can't stay here, gotta… keep movin"
The boy tiredly continued his journey through the woods while still looking out for dangers. Unfortunately he didn't have to look for too long before he found it. His breath hitched and he paused for a moment before pivoting around and dashing towards a different direction. The boy was letting pure instinct drive him at this point and his instinct was screaming at him to not stay near that creature, for he would surely end up dead. Sadly traversing a dense forest is not the easiest of tasks, for the ancient trees, in their effort to keep growing blocked most of the light from reaching the forest floor. Their roots also didn't give a damn where they were going; they just needed to cover as much ground as possible. These two factors lead to the boy firmly planting his face into the damp dirt.
"Aack!" He cried out.
The boy forced his arms to push body back up, he needed to move or he would die. The chill of death was seeping into his body but he refused to give up. He scrambled back up, but the sight in front of him made him want to drop down. A lone Gifnora Wolf was prowling slowly towards the boy. But the Wolf seemed more feral than the average beast. Its grey fur was matted and was splotched with blood. The mouth of the beast was pulled into a snarl and saliva was slipping out from the gaps of its spear like teeth.
He unconsciously shuffled away from the wolf; his eyes couldn't look away, because in the back of his mind he knew that if he were to look away the Wolf would immediately strike. The boy felt his back lean against something, probably a tree, and the boy didn't bother to check, for that meant looking away.
"Haha… So this is it huh…?" The boy chuckled dryly.
The boy bitterly smiled. The Gifnora wolf didn't acknowledge the words spoken; the beast just continued its path towards the boy.
"Why did it have to be this way?!" The boy choked out, closing his eyes and fists angrily. The wolf growled and started to charge at the boy. The boys mind started to wander back to past, to the events leading to his demise.
'It looks like it's might rain today' the boy glanced up at the turbulent clouds, "I should hurry…"
The boy started to jog, dodging the few people walking in the street. He was approaching his destination; an impassive stone building standing isolated from the rest of the village. The boy dashed right up to the door and went straight inside. He navigated the cold hallways of the fortress-like building and headed towards the backyard.
"Old Man! Oi, where are ya?" The boy called out once he stepped onto the desolate field. "OLD MAN!"
"Knock it off you brat! I'm trying to sleep!"
An grizzled, greying man stepped out from a wooden building at the back end of the field. His face was unkempt; stubble was growing on his chin and his hair was a greasy mess. His black shirt was wrinkled and had tears riddled throughout the material. His brown trousers were in a better state albeit dirty. (Think of ogre but fewer muscles and two eyes)
"I should beat you up right now for disturbing my beauty sleep!" The Man started trudging over to boy, rolling his neck a few times.
"No offense Old Man, but no matter what you do I think nobody will be able to look at your face longer than 10 seconds; even that is pushing it" The 'brat' shook his head condescendingly.
The old man just punched him 'lightly' on top of the boy's head; causing the boy to fall to the ground and clutch his aching skull.
"Owowowowo!" The boy was crying anime tears. "WHAT YOU DO THAT FOR YOU GEEZER!" The boy waved his fist at the adult while still rocking back and forth in pain.
"You really need to learn how to respect your betters brat; else you're just going to be in a world of pain" The man jokingly polished his knuckles across his shirt.
"Whatever, I'm here for more training not to be taught life lessons" Grumbled the boy.
The boy got up and walked back to the building where the old man was sleeping. "Are the shinai at the usual place or did you make a mess as usual?"
"Yes, in the back." The man replied.
The boy walked into the building and saw the set shinai where the man said it was. He grabbed the one he favored the most, the left most one. He then stepped into the center of a circle laid out on the dirt floor inside the building and waited for his sensei. Once the man came into the building and grabbed a shinai, both of them assumed a wide stance. Their stance and posture were almost identical, though the boy couldn't quite imitate his teacher. Then they proceeded to trade blow after blow. Both student and teacher went at each other with the intent to get the first strike, but the difference in skill and prowess was too much for the student to overcome. The man struck at the boy's subpar defense and broke through; knocking the boy off-balance. Next he unleashed a flurry of attacks at the surprised student. The match didn't even last 5 minutes.
"Ughhh… You don't have to hit me so hard you geezer…" The boy moaned, clutching his aching stomach.
"If you don't want to get hit learn how to block you amateur! The pain is a motivator!" The 'geezer' barked out, annoyed that his teachings were being put into question.
The boy bit back a few choice words, knowing that he would get a bigger beat down as a reward. He gradually got back to his feet while his instructor patiently waited for him to return to a stance. They were about to begin another match, but the door to the dojo was opened. There stood 3 men around their late 20's. Two of them looked more like a mass of muscle then human and the last one was of the thinner build. The lumps of meat in the back looked like twins, both bald and and eyes of coal. The twins just stood behind the thinner man, staring straight ahead; it reminded the old man of guard dogs, passive until given the order. The thinner man was blonde and had sickly green eyes.
"Hello, how are both of on this fine morning" The thinner one rasped out in a nasally voice. "Sorry I know you two are busy but we have business with the young man over there, he will be coming with us."
"What is this? What are you doing on my property and what do you mean you'll be taking the brat?!" The old man yelled, gesticulating crazily to show his fury.
The blonde man sighed, "I have no patience for this… Rex! Marcus! Take the boy by force!"
The recently named statues behind the man immediately went to work and dashed towards the old man.
The young boy was petrified by a combination of surprise and fear. Surprise because he was told he would be taken by random strangers, and fear because the old man, the one who was training the boy moments before was now being pummeled vehemently by the twins. The old man couldn't withstand the onslaught of the 'guard dogs' and was unconscious before he even hit the ground.
"Well, that's the end of him… hmm could have been better." The blonde man snorted.
"Sir, what should we do with the brat?" One of the twins grunted.
"Knock him out, we need him healthy enough to take the test Marcus, be gentle" The blonde man smirked and pivoted towards the door "I'll wait at the wagon, come Rex!"
"Sir!" Both twins responded, Rex marched out with 'Sir' while Marcus went to the boy.
The child hadn't move from his spot since the men got here, and didn't even noticed Marcus until he was standing in front of him.
"Sorry kid, hopefully your luck turns around soon, you're gonna need it…" Marcus sighed and shook his head, then put the boy into a choke hold.
The boy clawed frantically at the 'bear's' arms, but couldn't even phase the adult
"Ack… N-nghh…" The boy was losing consciousness; he knew he won't break free, his last thought was 'Why is this happening?!'
The boy awoke from his blank slumber and was surprised when he smelled the musk of decay and noticed the abundance of green around him. He immediately checked what he had on his person. But sadly, all he had was the brown cloak that he was currently wearing. Then, a slip of white fluttered out of his cloak, some letters were roughly scrawled on the square. The boy was glad the old man bothered to teach him how to read and write, else he would have been doomed if he ever decided to leave the village. He was doubly grateful to the old man because the paper simply instructed him to 'head to the camp'.
'Hopefully the old man is okay, I need to get back to the village' the boy thought.
(The reason why he is so calm is he was probably raised in a hunting village and was being taught by both the other hunters and the old man how to be calm, survive and get out of tough situations.)
"Well, this is a great; I need find where this camp is… Hopefully these trees are easy to climb." The boy muttered while looking up at the tree.
The child luckily pulled himself up the tree safely and once he broke through the crown of leaves, he was in awe with the sight. The sun was peeking from east, there were impassive mountains to the west and the camp was a speck in the distance in the north.
The boy, elated that something was going right, descended swiftly and ran north. Sadly the path wasn't as safe and clear as the boy thought it would be…
"Why did it have to be this way?!" The boy choked out, closing his eyes and fists angrily. The wolf growled and started to charge at the boy.
"HAARGH!" A scream pierced the silent forest. Next there was a muffled thud near the boy. Then silence reclaimed its place in the forest.
'W-what was that?!' The boy was absolutely shaken by the turn of events. 'Why am I not dead?' The boy opened his eyes, and was once again taken aback by what his eyes told him
The beast was dead or about to be as seen by the ever-growing pool of blood around the wolf. But on top of the animal was a young girl. Her hair was straight and barely reached past her shoulders. She was a bit shorter than the boy and her brown cloak was almost identical to his. But what really got the boy's attention were her eyes. They were red, but were not of the threatening shade. They reminded the boy of smoldering embers; still radiating a gentle heat but still could hurt the boy if he wasn't careful.
"Sis! Are you alright?! Why did you leave me?!" Then a younger girl came barreling from behind a tree and then put the red-eyed girl into a bear hug.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Your big sis won't leave so soon Kurome!" The longer haired sister patted her sister's head gently.
"But you just did!" Retorted Kurome
"Ahh… well… I didn't want someone to die if I could help it…" The older girl softly said.
"Just don't do it again… Hey you!" She stabbed her finger at the boy "You should be thanking my big sis for saving you! She risked her life you know!"
The boy stared at the duo a bit longer, and then his brain registered what Kurome said.
"Thank you so much! I'm really glad you decided to help me. If you didn't…" The boy ran his hand through his hair and shuddered. "Can I have your names? I would like to know who saved me." The boy gave a weak smile, still shaken up.
"Yes, my name is Kurome and this," She stepped back a bit from her sister. The boy finally got a good look at Kurome. Her Smokey black hair was the same as her sisters, but it was shorter; reaching just to her chin. "This is my favorite sister, Akame!" She flashed a radiant smiled at the both of them, causing them to smile as well. "So what's your name stranger?"
"Oh almost to forgot, my name is- What was that?" The boy twisted around.
Howls could be heard in the distance behind the boy.
"I'll give you my name later but first we should get away from here, the Gifnoras can smell the blood around here. Follow me!"
The boy ran in the direction of the camp. The girls hesitated a bit, but they knew they didn't have a choice, so they both nodded to each other and ran after the boy.
After trekking through the forest at a frantic pace for what seemed like an eternity, they collapsed at a clearing.
"I think… we out ran… them…" The boy managed to pant out, desperately to give his body oxygen. "It should be safe… here."
The two sisters didn't seem to be faring better but nodded and tried to regain their breath. After a few minutes recovering, the boy noticed the encroaching darkness.
" I think we should stay here, I don't feel like tripping over roots because of the dark." The boy stated, looking at the girls to see if they approved.
The sisters looked at one another, seemingly having a conversation with their eyes, then after a moment they turned back to the boy and nodded.
"Great! It's getting cold so I'll go grab some wood for a small fire ok?" The boy moved to go collect some tinder but was stopped by Kurome's voice.
"Hey, wait a minute; we still didn't get your name!" Kurome huffed and crossed her arms.
The boy paused, his eyes widening, then chuckled. "You're right, sorry, my name's Tatsumi, I hope we'll get through this together." Tatsumi smiled boyishly and offered both of his hands to the sisters.
Akame and Kurome laughed and shook his hands. Then Akame said "Okay, Tatsumi, let's work together."
To be continued
Disclaimer, don't own Akame ga kill.
AN: Hope this will get good reviews, I'm looking for criticism on the content of this chapter more than the technical aspects but feel free to point out any and all mistakes I made. I'm working on the next chapter after this is posted so see you guys next time.
