Chapter One: A Firework-Assisted Escape From the Town He Had Loved.
A/N This is set in a alternate universe, one in which the capitol is actually nice place to live, Honest isn't evil and is actually doing good, helping the emperor run the empire wisely. I prefer writing more peaceful stories, you see.
So, for this book, if you could call it that (I wouldn't), I would be using my own OC, who is a boy with a similar background to Tatsumi, but with a quick and sharp tongue and is incredibly street-smart, is fast, but not a trained fighter (though he can fight quite well), and looking for work in the capitol after being kicked out of his village. His name is Koko. Well, Cyan (yes, I know it is a girl's name), but everyone calls him Koko, or occasionally "earphones", which is rarer. As for his appearance, imagine Lubbock with orange hair, glasses, cyan eyes, then mess up the hair a bit and have it sticking out at odd angles. He wears an orange hoodie with black designs on it (imagine some sort of fire tattoo), and a tracksuit. He also has earphones that are perpetually in his ears, though often without music playing.
That should be all you need to know - everything else should be explained.
"This has been the weirdest day." Cyan murmured.
He had arrived at the capital a few hours ago, and had immediately gotten lost. The labyrinth of streets, alleyways, and underground tunnels and bridges had been historically notorious for making new arrivals from the countryside befuddled and bemused, and, more often than not, completely and hopelessly lost.
Cyan sighed. It had been a draining day ever since he met her. That blond person with cunning eyes and an outfit that showed parts that most would rather keep hidden.
He had run into her in an abandoned alleyway after fifteen minutes of fruitless searching for a map or signs of some sort. There was something suspicious about her, but he was desperate, and there was nobody in sight. She seemed to know the way around. Sighing, he walked forward.
"Um, miss, do you happen to know the way to the Crossroads inn?" he said, immediately putting on his polite tone, which he used to hide his frustration.
She didn't respond. As he neared, it became apparent she was hopelessly drunk, and was still clutching a mug of some sort of drink. Suddenly, she lunged forward and tackled him.
"What-"
She grabbed him by his neck, dangling him above the ground, forcing a small, gurgling sound from his throat. She suddenly seemed a lot less drunk and her eyes focused, giving him an uncanny feeling of being scrutinised by a hungry lion.
"Urk-"
"What's you're name?"
Cyan choked, and sputtered something that sounded a mix between a cough, a gasp, and a gurgle.
"Oh, I was holding him too tight again." she murmured, as if it was perfectly normal to go around grabbing people by their necks and dangling them in the air. But she let him drop, and he was grateful for it as he refilled his lungs with air.
"So, what's your name?" she asked again.
"Why should I tell you that? You just tried to strangle me." Cyan replied, a little annoyed.
"Otherwise, I'll actually choke you to death this time." she said, and something in her eyes made him think she wouldn't hesitate to do so.
"Woah, let's not get to hasty here..." he said, quickly backing away. "Name's Cyan, by the way."
"Cyan?" said the woman, then looked at him closely, with a sort of curious look in her eyes. "You look like a guy to me."
Cyan sighed. This wasn't the first time people had bothered him about his name. Sometimes, he wished his parent had thought about the fact that he was a baby boy before giving him a girl's name.
"Long story." he said. "Don't want to talk about that. But you can rest assured I'm a guy."
She suddenly seemed to brighten up, as if finding something about this conversation very amusing. "So, you were lost?" she inquired, all hostility gone.
"Um... yeah. I was hoping you could lead me to Crossroads Inn?" said Cyan, too relieved to think about her sudden change in attitude.
"Okay... I can take you there." she said, twitching her ears. "Just follow me!"
She lead him through winding roads and dark alleys, until he was so confused he didn't know where he was anymore. The capitol really is a big place. Thank god he had someone to guide him... wait, why is she leading him into a dark abandoned alleyway?
"Wait, wait, are you sure about this? It looks like a dead end, and-"
... and that was how he lost all his money.
"I'm such a god-damn idiot." he muttered to himself. "Should have known better."
Long story short, that lion woman had knocked him out cold with her jug of something, took almost all his money, and left him there. He had woken up an hour later, alone, lost, basically broke, and thoroughly annoyed.
"God-dammit!" he said again, groaning as he slammed his fist on the table. "God-friggin-dammit!"
He was sitting at a cafe now, drinking herbal tea, which had been a staple of his diet for years. He still had enough money left over for a day, then he would be broke. He planned on spending the day looking for a cheaper place to stay (which would be hard), learning his way around the city (which would be harder), looking for a job he might actually be able to keep (him? keep a job? ridiculously hard.), and finding that blond and getting his money back (which would be impossible.).
"Um, sir?" said a waiter, who had brown hair and a pair of innocent, green eyes, and who looked like he was from the country, like him. "Please be quiet, people are staring at you, and I'm afraid it's bad for business."
Cyan ignored him, having sunk again into thoughts of vengeance and how he would survive in the capitol without money. He was brought back into reality by a hard slap across his face, which sent him toppling off the chair and onto the floor, almost turning the table over.
"That should teach him to be quiet." said a girl with black hair and a white butterfly hairpin, who was standing over him, looking annoyed. "Tatsumi, you need to be more forceful. You're too nice."
Cyan blinked.
"Sayo," groaned the boy, with a barely audible sigh. "Didn't I tell you not to cause a scene? Now you're gonna get us fired... again."
They seemed to be friends. Cyan blinked again, then dusted himself off, getting up and rubbing his face, where a large, red, hand mark was forming.
"My, you sure slap hard." he murmured, propping himself up using the table. "Even harder than my mother... and that's saying something."
This earned a chuckle from Tatsumi and another slap, which he barely managed to duck under. He suddenly felt at ease - this was a situation he was much more comfortable with. Alone, for all purposes (the cafe only had one other customer, who was an old woman and was very quiet), with two kids from the country, who were almost broke and probably having been fired at least twice before.
"You don't get a lot of business here, do you?" Cyan said, gesturing for them to sit down. He was bored, and needed something to take his mind off his terrible day. This would be perfect, and maybe he could make some friends while they were at it. This wasn't like him, but he was desperate.
The two people - Sayo and Tatsumi, were they? - looked at each other, and, reasoning that they had no work to do anyways, sat down. After an awkward pause in which Cyan sipped deeply from his mug, Tatsumi began the conversation.
"May I ask your name?" he asked, somewhat sheepishly.
"Cyan. Or you could call me Koko, if you want."
"Isn't that a girl's name?" asked Sayo, her curiosity piqued.
"Please don't get me started... maybe another time." he replied, trying his best not to groan.
Tatsumi whispered something to Sayo that sounded suspiciously like "Is he saying he isn't straight?"
"What brings you here to the capital?" said Sayo, ignoring Tatsumi's remark and seemingly wanting to change the subject.
"To be honest, I'm curious about that too. That fit you were having didn't look normal." said Tastumi, showing some concern.
"It's a long story." Cyan sighed, shaking his head. "But since I've got nothing better to do, I'll tell you."
Cyan had an idea.
It wasn't a good idea, or a well thought out idea, or even a fully formed idea. But it was an idea, Cyan was bored, and, when you are bored, an idea is an idea.
His idea was: Fireworks.
More specifically, fireworks from his father's supply room. They never used the fireworks, and Cyan had always thought that it was quite a waste. Those were good quality fireworks.
Cyan decided to try and have some fun before he left for the capitol.
The first thing he remembered was that tomorrow was the religious festival, and that there would be so much commotion that he wouldn't be spotted if he snuck into the warehouse.
The second thing was that there was an underground tunnel under the warehouse, which he could use for his escape.
The third was that he had no idea what to do with the fireworks. But he would figure it out in time, and that was a riddle for another day. He began making preparations for his heist, and went to bed feeling a new sense of purpose.
A thing you should know now was that Cyan was a very talented individual. So talented, in fact, that he had received a scholarship to the imperial academy. His parents were sending him there tomorrow, after the festival ended. They had it all planned out, and even his belongings were packed and ready to go by his bedside.
And that was what set the table for what he was about to do.
This idea had appeared as he was preparing for his trip to the warehouse. It popped into his head, and immediately made him go back and make arrangements. What was this amazing idea of his?
It was simple. There was a tear-filled, sad goodbye to be made that he was dreading. He wanted a goodbye that would leave people chuckling inwardly, with a kind of "that little rascal" sting to it. Knowing that the villagers all hated to see him go, he decided on a plan to avoid that tear-filled goodbye.
What did he want to use the fireworks for, then?
Simple. For the ceremony, a statue of the god would be put on a wooden platform on the top of an empty, old well that also linked to the underground passage from the warehouse. With enough power, the wooden platform would snap. It wasn't particularly durable, and quite thin. Thin enough to split in two if he set off one of those fireworks in just the right place...
"And that was how I got kicked out from the village." said Cyan, finishing off his story with a long sigh, filled with nostalgia and a sort of homesickness.
There was a kind of silence. The type of silence that you get when you have just finished a long book, a type of "ah, it's over now" silence. Eventually, Tatsumi broke it.
"Don't you believe in that god? Why would you go and mess up a ceremony like that? It's holy, you really shouldn't..."
Cyan chuckled.
"Well, my village was a weird place." he said, with a sort of a pained smile. "We believed that the statue of a god would bring us luck if we kept it around. That statue wasn't large, small enough to fit in my pocket. We believed that if we made a dramatic enough show of it, we would impress the god, and he would protect the one who had impressed him as long as he had the statue of the god on his person. After I cracked the platform, I caught the statue as it fell then set off my other fireworks. It was quite a scene. I thought it would be dramatic enough to impress him."
"But wouldn't your parents have been worried? What about the friends you had back there?" asked Sayo, genuinely curious.
"Oh, they were smart people, my parents. They knew I was the only one who could get in that warehouse and knew about the firecrackers. They knew me well enough to know that I wouldn't want a tear-filled goodbye." Cyan replied, with a mischievous grin. "I left them a note, just in case."
Silence.
Then, "Woah, that's so cool! Sayo, we should have done something like that!"
Sayo slapped Tatsumi on the face, sending him falling off the chair, though not without a chuckle at his (usual) brimming enthusiasm. Tatsumi retaliated by kicking the stool out from under her, and the two began wrestling on the floor.
"What was that for?"
"Tatsumi, you are a complete idiot."
"Hey! You're the one who blew all our money on a shopping spr-"
"Inconsequential. We survived, didn't we?"
Cyan turned away from the wrestling waiters to survey the rest of the cafe. It wasn't much, just a few tables. Then, his eyes set upon the other inhabitant - no, wait, inhabitant didn't sound like the right word - of the cafe. He had barely noticed her presence till now. But... he swore he had seen an old woman there before, not this... girl, who had appeared in a puff of smoke, like a genie.
She had bright, auburn hair, with eyes that glinted a bright amber, who was sucking on a lollipop, with a large pair of headphones seemingly attached to her ears.
She winked at him and waved his wallet in the air.
A/N Well, that's that... I finished Akame ga Kill a week back, then got bored, then decided to write something using those characters (I loved them) in a more peaceful setting. Although the anime wasn't exactly a jewel, I didn't mind the characters, so that's what got me here.
Please excuse any grammar mistakes that I missed, and if you don't understand anything, please say so. I'm not a particularly skilled Fanfiction writer, having only done small projects in collaboration with my friends, so I'm always looking for advice on how to improve.