I do not own Akame Ga Kill.
Hi! I hope the story summary piqued your interest, because if it didn't then I don't know what did (It took me soooo long to figure out what to write as a summary). This story is hopefully one of the first of this idea, but if it isn't then oh well. I really wish I had a proof reader despite not knowing how that worked.
Enjoy reading.
(In the eastern plains of the empire.)
The sound of clattering hooves and rhythmic stomping sounded out against the cobblestone path as her large contingent of men headed toward the eastern empire. She spear-headed the large group of people, her subordinates following closely behind. "I still have no idea why we're heading east…" One of her subordinates said, "We're going east to see if we can broker a deal with the leader of the Eastern Cities Daidara." Another one of her subordinates said in reply.
"What for? Are they posing a threat? Why don't we just crush them?" Daidara asked, smirking.
"We've done this before Deidara and every time you ask the same question."
"Yeah because every time before this, we tried being 'political' but ended killin' em' all anyway. So why not save them the time and just cut to chase." Daidara said, holding a double-sided axe up to his face, smirking at his own reflection. "And besides, Belvaac hasn't seen some action is a while."
"You're impossible Daidara." Nyau spoke after a small session of quietness.
"Says the person who collects fucking faces. You don't get a say." She smiled as Nyau and Daidara began to argue. Her smile soon faded though as she heard a yell of her name.
"Esdeath-Sama!" The yell came from the back of the herd of horses and men stomping along the cobble road. The rider came forth before having to force his horse into a stop as a double sided axe came into his view. The man was breathing somewhat heavily despite the horse doing most of his travelling, the man watched as Esdeath spun her horse around to face him, his entire body stilled for whatever reason he didn't know, what he did know was that just the mere presence of this woman had given him a spine tingling chill.
"Yes?" She asked politely, smirking at the man. "What is it you need?"
He didn't speak for a bit, mainly because of the giant double sided axe being spun around in front of him and his horse but also wondering how a woman could have such an inviting appearance but then give off an aura that was unpleasant.
He opened his mouth to speak but it seemed as if his tongue was caught in his throat.
"Spit it out boy." A tall grey haired man spoke, watching as the man swallowed his saliva before looking back to Esdeath, a smirk still present on her beautiful face. Composing himself he reached into his satchel and pulled out an envelope that had a wax seal with a shield stamp on it and handed it to her. "It's a message to you from his highness."
"A message from the emperor?" Taking the envelope from the man, she looked at the official seal before tearing it open from the top and reading the message within. "This is interesting, very interesting." Re-folding the paper and placing it back into the envelope, she looked back to the man adjusting his satchel. "You may leave now." She said spinning her horse around and continued on the way she had intended.
"Didn't you hear her or are you deaf? Get out of here!" Daidara yelled at the man as he turned his horse round and began a gallop in the direction he came. Esdeath listened to the fading sound of the man's horse's footsteps. She looked down to her hand to the envelope, staring at the seal of the emperor , the request was strange, mostly because she had never been asked of this before, neither had she heard of anything like this before. Obviously the minister was behind this in an effort to strengthen their military force but she didn't know how it would go down. Calling forth three of her men, she waited for them to approach her before relaying the message within the orders she had been given.
"What I am going to ask of you three, is a direct order from the emperor, not me, but if you do not wish to take on the task, tell me now and you shall re-join the others in marching."
Not hearing a single word of pleading, she smiled, her soldiers knew of her belief of the weak were destined to die in order to make way for someone strong, and her soldiers wanted to prove they weren't part of the weak. "Good, now the mission's orders are written down on in this envelope, read it and follow the instructions. You head to the northern tribes so you may want to get a head start. I want you three back before we reach the Eastern Cities, which should be in about a week. Do this and I promise you riches beyond your own imagination." She spoke, getting a nod from the three, she handed the envelope to one of the three and they began a jog back to their horses before setting off towards the northern tribes.
"What did his majesty ask of you Esdeath-sama?" River asked, his horse coming up next to hers.
"Something very interesting River. This is going to possibly change everything."
OoO
(Three days after leaving – Northern Tribes, Tatsumi's Village)
The three soldiers stomped their way through the accumulated snow, every step they would go ankle deep into the snow, they had been walking for maybe a few hours through what seemed like endless white trying to find this village they had been told about by the other northern villages that they had visited. They had forgone their regular military clothing and instead swapped for a much more practical choice in choosing black parka's, long pants and boots.
They had forgone horses a long while back as the horses found it rather difficult to trudge through the thick layers of snow and without anyway to insulate themselves and despite how powerful an animal the horse was, it would be easy for them to drop right into the snow and die. They couldn't have that, they needed them to reach the Eastern Cities before this week was done, he needed to get to the Eastern Cities before the week was done.
The snow was not heavy, but rather gentle, cold but beautiful. How anyone was able to live out here was beyond him, but he guessed if someone like him could live in the Eastern Cities where most of the terrain was hot, seemingly inhabitable endless sand then it was more than likely plausible that people were able to live & thrive here in the beautifully, desolate snowy tundra.
As much as he thought that this place was beautiful and a sight to behold, he was starting to get snow into his boots and into places that he never really thought that snow would be able to reach, and it was really starting to grate on his nerves that he had no real way to get warm aside from trying to trudge through the thick snow. He'd probably be running to keep his blood pumping and his body warm, but it wasn't possible with the snow as well as the fact that his two companions were beginning to slow, the accumulated snow seemingly taking its hold on them. "You two hurry it up!" He yelled behind him, they were placed under his command as his subordinates by Esdeath herself. They were new and even though they went through the correct military training, this whole experience was new to them, this is where they would be tested. "If either of you- Hell even both of you drop, you're being left! You understand me!" He yelled again, adjusting the sword that was swung across his back.
"Yes sir!" They barked back their hands hooking into their back packs, heads low and began to stomp harder into the icy snow.
Waiting for them to catch up to him, they fell into line behind him following his large lunging steps. "Cadence!" He barked in order. "O'Hail O'Hail O'Infantry!"
"O'Hail O'Hail O'Infantry!" The two yelled in time with each other.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be!" – "There's nowhere else I'd rather be!"
"They took away my little shack!" – "They took away my little shack!"
"But now I carry it on my back!" – "But now I carry it on my back!"
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be!" – "There's nowhere else I'd rather be!"
"Than the Empire's Infantry!" – "Than the Empire's Infantry!"
The determination that they held in their eyes as they sang the song on repeat whilst marching through the snow was admirable. He wouldn't allow them to fall behind and what better way to get soldiers up and running than a cadence that most if not all within Esdeath's army knew by heart? Most of Esdeath's Army consisted of people out of the Infantry as she believed them to be the strongest in heart and mind with very few who were brought in that were not a part of the infantry such as her Three Beasts.
"Cadence clear! Cadence count!" He yelled cutting into their synchronized chanting. "Sound off!"
"1 2 – 3 4…"
OoO
(Tatsumi's Village)
"Swing Tatsumi!" A large gruff burly man yelled sitting on the stump of a tree, watching as the two kids sparred with each other. "You gonna let little ol' Ieyasu beat you around like that? Come on!"
The boy in question stepped back from his opponent, taking in large intakes of air as he lifted the sword up in front of him before sending a glare to the eye patch wearing man. "Shut up old man." Tatsumi snarled, and then refocused back onto Ieyasu who looked just as exhausted as he did. They were sparring as per what the man on the tree stump had them do on occasion; he looked behind the large man to see a girl with dark hair watching them spar as she held her bow ready to launch an arrow into the tree, she nodded at him, compelling him to continue the spar.
"Boy you don't tell me to shut up or will I make you do the Spartan training again?" The large man said, enjoying the cringing face of the brown haired boy. "Now spar."
Tatsumi gripped his sword handle hard before running at Ieyasu who directed his sword away from his body with his axe before smacking Tatsumi across the face with the butt end of the axe. "Come on Sumi-chan, at the rate you're going it seems I'm gonna get famous all by myself." Ieyasu gloated as Tatsumi held a hand to his cheek and spat out a small bit of blood. He entered his stance again staring Ieyasu down and rushed him again.
"Again?" Ieyasu questioned rhetorically as Tatsumi tried the same thing before he countered the same way again, but as he directed Tatsumi's sword away he didn't expect Tatsumi to follow through with his sword and be hit with a spinning elbow. Ieyasu stumbled backward as he felt the dizziness take over his mind as he fell back onto his behind, holding his head.
"That was good Tatsumi!" The large gruff man yelled ecstatically, before coming over to check over Ieyasu to make sure the boy was fine. Getting a nod from the axe user, the military veteran walked over to Tatsumi, he placed a large hand onto the much smaller boys shoulder. "That's what I like to see, improvisation." The man laughed heartily before turning around to face Ieyasu who was being helped up by Sayo. "Alright you too, training for today is finished." Both Sayo and Ieyasu opened their mouths to speak before the man cut in. "And no, Tatsumi can't hang out with you guys today, I'm running low on hands today at the blacksmith, so I need him." The ex-military man said, arms crossing over his chest. "Alright, go home. I want you two here in the morn-"
"-Hideki."
The large man known as Hideki looked over to the familiar voice and instantly recognized the village chief. Smiling Hideki stopped what he was talking about earlier and walked over to greet the elder man. "Chief. How are you?" The one eyed man said, latching onto the elder man in a hug.
The chief returned the gesture before smiling at the three kids behind the larger man. "I am well, Hideki, as I hope you are as well."
"Me? I'm great! Can't say the same for my little students though, we just finished training." Hideki gibed as he heard the three behind him growl.
"That is good, very good." The chief nodded, "but that is not what I am here for."
"Oh?"
"I need your help with something Hideki, rather urgently… If you would be so kind, I would explain on the way." The chief of the village said, turning around to begin walking back toward the village.
"Well yeah but, what about the kids?" Hideki asked.
"They shall come with us, but they will not listen to what we talk about." The elder man began to walk back toward the village again.
"Alright, we're doing follow the leader. Treat it as training, stay behind me."
OoO
(An hour before)
"From the Empires Infantry, Sergeant Juzo Aritomo." The man spoke, his head held high and his hands as stiff as wood at his side. "These two are my subordinates, Corporals Hide and Satsuma." The man raised his hand to indicate to the two heavily dressed men who saluted after their names being mentioned.
The Chief watched them incredulously as they introduced themselves to him and the two people behind him. He had never seen any kind of soldiers of the Empire act so professionally, usually they assumed they could do whatever they wanted, but these three seemed to be interestingly different. "Please, Sergeant Aritomo. There is no need to be so formal." The elder man said, smiling at the three men, "but to be courteous, I am Hata, Chief of this here village. The two behind me are my councilors; Sugi and Haru. It is a pleasure to meet you three." The elder chief formally introduced, even bowing slightly as he concluded.
"Not to be taken as an insult but, what are Empire soldiers doing this far North?" One of Hata's councilors questioned as he rose from his bow. Hata himself was going to pop the question as well, but with a bit more coaxing. His councilors were always much more blunt than he ever was, but despite how much even Hata wanted to know the answer to that question, he could not deny these men entry to their village, and judging from the pale faces and slight shivering coming from the two lower ranking officers, they also needed a warm cup of tea and a hot fire to warm up to.
"Firstly," Hata spoke before Juzo could open his mouth to answer the question, "I insist on you and your men coming inside to warm up."
"That would be... Most kind of you, uh-Hata-san?" Juzo said, unsure of how to address the elder man as they entered the village following the Chief and his councilors.
"Please, just Hata. I don't do well with formalities."
The military man just nodded as he looked around the village, watching as small kids played in the snow and adults walked around doing chores. He had noticed that there was a large number of women compared to the small amount of men and couldn't help but wonder where the other men were.
"Hata-san," one of Juzo's men spoke up, Satsuma, "Uh, where is all of your village's men?"
"Ah, they must all be busy outside of the village, some go out and collect firewood and some go and hunt for food to feed their families and anyone else within the village, whilst the women, stay here to watch over the kids, unless they decide to hunt with the men." Hata informed, nodding his head as he went along, before opening a door to a rather large estate.
As the three soldiers walked into the estate, they were enveloped within a warmth that they couldn't help but be attracted towards the source, a somewhat large fire burning behind a brick fireplace. "It's… It's so warm in here." One of Juzo's subordinates said, Hide, they had been to most of the places in the North but none seemed to be this warm, it was certainly a good change.
"Yes, this place is heavily insulated, along with the large fire burning, it is extremely warm." One of the Chiefs councilors explained, his old voice drawn out.
The three soldiers familiarized themselves with the place, removing their heavy jackets as the room was warm enough to be without it, they made their way over to where Hata was seated near the fireplace. "Please, sit." The chief offered, nodding toward the seats on the opposite side of Hata's own chair.
"We shall go prepare the tea and some things for you to eat." The two elder councilmen spoke as they made their way to what Juzo had to assume was a kitchen.
"Right," Hata announced, hands clapping together, "down to business then."
At that, Juzo sat up straight, hands coming to clasp in front of him. This was the part Juzo didn't like, he had done it multiple times with the other Northern tribes and villages but he couldn't seem to stop the nagging feeling that it was wrong. "Right…"
"So… Why are Empire soldiers so far North?"
"Well, originally, I and my General's army were headed toward the Eastern Cities, to discuss things that are un-related to this." Juzo began, "but along the way there, we were stopped and an order from the Emperor had gotten to us, commanding us to go north." Juzo concluded, leaving parts out intentionally, but Hata knew. He may have been old but he was far more experienced at this then Juzo. "And? That does not answer my question, why are you here."
There it was, straight out the pan and into the fire. "Me, Hide, Satsumi and others from different armies were all chosen to head here, to the North to implement a new law over the land."
"And that law would be?"
Juzo took a deep breath before releasing it and speaking, "the necessary and compulsory conscription of your most talented child."
The Chief stared at Juzo, processing the information, "and if I do not abide by this law?"
"If you do not hand the child over then you will be stripped of these lands, and in the case that you decide to fight back, you and your village will be… 'Put down'" Juzo concluded, his hands coming up in quotation marks.
The Chief sighed, scratching his balding head, "then I'm left with no choice."
"I do not wish to do this, believe me. But-"
"Yes orders are orders, I've heard it before," the elder man said, rising from his chair, "If you would excuse me, I need a moment to think things over." Hata then grabbed his cap, and walked out the door.
Juzo clicked his tongue, before looking to his subordinates who had been listening whilst trying to keep warm by the fire, before his attention was then drawn by the soft foot-falls of one of the councilors. "Tea?"
OoO
(An hour after, with Tatsumi)
They walked through the village noticing the lack of men, Tatsumi assumed that they had all gone to go hunting. One day he would also have to do the same thing, but only after he had completed his self-imposed mission of going to the capital and bringing his home out of poverty through the funds he would accumulate through the military. Ieyasu and Sayo had decided they wanted to join him in his endeavor when Hideki had come to the village as 'a home away from home' and that had been years ago, he had long since retired from the military after the loss of his left eye and, his first destination was here as he had nowhere else to go, at least not anywhere he felt comfortable.
Tatsumi had looked up the ex-militant when he had first met him, the man's tales of war and how he was respected and revered within the military as a high ranking officer had awed Tatsumi at the time and, he had wanted nothing more than to be just like Hideki, he wanted the glory, the stories and the respect he had earned. Tatsumi still wanted that, just his priorities had changed somewhat.
He waved at the small kids who were playing about in the snow and smiled at the mothers who carried wash boards at their sides and socialized with other mothers. His smile slowly dropped as he looked forward toward the Chief and Hideki, the two closest things he had to parents in his life. He didn't have a mother nor a father, but Hideki had become a somewhat father figure to him and the Chief a grandfather and, despite his own lack there-of parents, he would go out and fight for the kids of this village to keep theirs.
They neared the main estate within the village and still couldn't help the surprise that he felt whenever he saw the building, it was just so large and considering the state of his village, it was so out of place. Everyone in the village would gather here for festivals, dinners and anything the Chief felt inclined to inform them all about, but this time there was a strange feeling to it, rather than the regular happiness and exuberance that he would feel, it was much calmer and something else that was unknown to him.
"Come on kids." Hideki said, opening the door into the building, they all entered and were instantly hit with a familiar warmth they had felt time and time again. "You need to stop calling us kids, we're almost 17 and you still keep calling us that."
Hideki laughed, his large hand coming to rest on Ieyasu's shoulder, "I met you three when you were all kids so you remained as kids to me." Hideki then stepped forward past Tatsumi to the Chief and began to converse again.
The three people who were seated within the hall near the fire place didn't go unnoticed by him nor his two childhood friends. "Who are these guys?" Tatsumi heard Sayo speak from his left, her answer came in the form of a shrug, "they look like old friends of Hideki…" Ieyasu commented, watching as their pseudo master conversed and traded handshakes between himself and one of the three men.
Hideki then looked to them as he signalled them over, "kids, this here is one of my old subordinates in the military. Sergeant Juzo Aritomo." The single eyed man introduced to them, "I remember not 10 years ago when you were nothing but a recruit in the Empire when you were first placed under my command." Hideki relived, before clamping a hand on Juzo's shoulder. "But my how times have changed huh?"
"Yeah, I used to look up to you General, and even though I'm no General, I've now got people who look up to me." Juzo said looking over at his two subordinates.
"Boy! You saved my life, don't you dare discredit yourself, you're a war hero my friend."
"Sergeant!" The voice of his subordinate chimed in as Juzo looked over his shoulder at the two who were conversing with the Chief, "I suppose… These are kids that he brought with him huh?" Getting a nod out of his old comrade, the man sighed. "Let's get this over with."
Tatsumi was confused, what the hell where they talking about? One minute they're reminiscing on times long gone and the next they're talking about him, Sayo and Ieyasu. They followed after the two military men obviously, they had nowhere else to go and Tatsumi was just way to curious as to what was going on.
"Sergeant Aritomo… As per what we previously talked about, I have decided to comply with this new law, on the condition that only one child goes." Tatsumi was even more bewildered, where were they going and which one of them would be going.
"Which one?"
"… Tatsumi, come here." The Chief said softly, signalling him over as Tatsumi stood in front of the elder man, his gloved hands grabbed onto the sides of his shoulders. "These men here… They need you- We in the village need you to go with them."
Tatsumi looked at the man questioningly, "why?"
"Because the village… It will be lost if you do not leave with these men," the Chief of the village explained, his eyes locked into Tatsumi's green ones. "Do you understand?"
Tatsumi looked back into the eyes of the elder man, his eyebrows narrowing he shrugged off the man's grip on his arms, "yeah I understand…"
"Okay, so then it is settl-"
"What I don't understand is why me?!"
"Tatsumi you need to understand it's not a matter of who goes-"
"Then why am I going?"
"Tatsumi, listen to me-" The elder man tried to reason again.
"It doesn't make any sense for me to go!"
"Tatsumi-"
"Of all people in the village-"
"Tatsumi!" The loud and gruff voice of Hideki bellowed throughout the estate, commanding everyone's attention. Tatsumi's eyes widened, he had never heard his teachers voice be used so loudly.
"You would forsake all the training I put you under!"
"Sensei-"
"I did not train you because I believed you were strong!" Tatsumi's eyes widened even further, "I did not train you because you were adept at swordplay!"
"I trained you because I believed you were wiser beyond your years, because of your will to keep going forward, because of your selflessness. So boy you better stop acting like a child and start acting like the soldier I've been busting my ass off training you to be!" Tatsumi swallowed his saliva to wet his dry throat, he glued his eyes to the ground as he clenched his fists at his sides. "Tatsumi…"
He looked up at voice of whom he had all but forgotten were there with him. His emerald eyes met with the black and brown of Sayo and Ieyasu, they nodded to him and that was all he needed to make his mind up, but as he began to turn to face the three Empire men he felt a solid hit to the back of his neck before he felt his vision fade and he hit the floor. The muffled screams of Sayo and the loud questioning of Ieyasu, he could see the movement of their mouths, but could not distinguish the words being said as he blacked out.
The last thing he saw was of the Imperial man standing over him.
Yaaay, I made the first chapter! And It was awesome I hope, I felt it was.
Anyway, this story is something I plan on doing for long term – Maybe like 60 or so chapters – and so the updates will be erratic as with my other story and this, it may get clustered depending on the mood I'm in, but I can say for sure that I'm more excited for this than it may seem.
Anyway hope you enjoyed!
Grimmaced – Signing out.