Chapter 2
Bulat had sat Ken in the dining room, and left to take a bath, along with Lubbock. Leone and Megumi were entrusted to look after him, until the boss arrived with the rest of team.
"What we do here is assassination work for the Revolutionary Army," Leone explained. "We mostly follow the Revolutionary Army's orders, but when we are not, we take request from civilians. We then receive payment and if there is confirmation on the guilt of the targets, we murder them. If you choose not to join us you can either join the revolutionary army on other front, or work for us. Any questions?"
"Uhm... only if there is confirmation?" he asked, cautiously.
"Yes, only if there is confirmation," she answered. "Any other questions?"
"No," he said shaking his head. There was a very long silence between them. Megumi was sitting to her right, her arms crossed over her small chest, which contrasted greatly with Leone's. Her brown eyes stared intently at the newcomer, who had suddenly become nervous after being left alone with them. Though her staring might have been possibly related.
"So. We were told you were a farmer?" Leone started with an attempt at small talk.
"Yes. I used to grow all my food, mostly. Since we were away from most towns and all," he said, fidgeting with his fingers.
"Huh. That's that's nice. What about meat? Did you hunt or something?"
"Yeah, mostly. I did the hunting for both families. In turn, they got me things like milk and eggs whenever they could, since they had a horse which made travel easier."
"Oh, that's why you were moderately skilled?"
"Uh, no. I actually trained in martial arts before becoming a sort of hermit," he said, confidence lacking again in his voice. It made sense more sense to Leone now, but she still wanted to dig a bit deeper in his personality before the rest showed up. If she were to be honest, she didn't actually know much about this guy, she just got a hunch that he would fit the group and decided to go with it.
"Cool. Any hobbies?"
"You're going to run out of all your small chat, Leone," Megumi interjected with a frown.
"Don't be a sour ass and let us talk," Leone said, sticking her tongue at her.
"Ugh, fine," she conceded. "But I'm going to make some tea, or my head will explode."
Leone knew she wasn't actually annoyed by the small talk. She just liked being a pain with strangers, for some reason. Normally, she was nice to be around. Leone even considered her a good friend, despite her... peculiarities. Megumi stood up and disappeared to the kitchen.
"So, hobbies?" Leone asked again, with a smile. She was decided to appear friendly and open, and she was glad that Megumi had given them some minutes alone. She hoped he would be less intimidated by her only.
"Uhm. Mostly reading I guess. And hunting, of course. There's not much you can do where I live. Or lived, rather," he said with a sad smile. Of course, the poor guy had just lost his home. He had good motives to be nervous, and he was taking it all considerably well. After all, just a few hours ago he was just a farmer living in isolation. He would probably never see his stuff, his neighbours, his house, ever again.
"Don't worry hun, you'll like it here. It's plenty of fun! Even if some of the girls are a pain sometimes," she chuckled, thinking about how Mine would react when she saw him. She was going to be even more angry than Megumi. There was a small silence, and Ken dared to ask a question himself.
"So... is this all the team? You four, and your boss?"
"Oh, no. The boss and four more are missing. Akame, Honzo, Sheele, and Mine. You'll meet them soon. They are pretty nice. Mostly."
"Mostly?" he asked, looking alert. But in that moment, Megumi came back with three tea cups in a little tray.
"Green tea," she stated, and gave each person a cup. She was still frowning. Leone was eager to integrate him in the group, and couldn't understand why she was resisting so much to the idea. He was a promising assassin, a nice enough guy, and pretty handsome on the top of it.
"So! Ken here told me he's a fellow bookworm. I'm guessing he'd get along with you! And we could take him visit Lubbock's bookstore someday?" Leone asked, trying to get her involved in the conversation. She was still looking at Ken, but upon hearing no answer she looked at Megumi, curiously, only to see that her right eye was twitching, and she was giving her a hell of a glare.
"If you want to blast your cover it's okay. Get yourself killed. But don't blast Lubbock's cover too." She said, trying and failing to contain her anger. "The boss is going to go crazy when she hears you're just giving away everyone. We still haven't confirmed he's not a spy!"
Now Leone was mad too. Megumi might not agree to revealing the information, but after all, he was already in the base. If he wanted to sell their heads, he was already able to do so. The fact that they blindfolded him meant absolutely nothing if he was a spy. She was just trying to figure out more about him, and if he ended up being a spy, they could just kill him off.
"Ugh, it's no big deal. If he's a spy, we will kill him, and corpses don't talk."
"No big deal? You are sharing all kinds of sensitive information with this guy! What if he escapes?"
"If he escapes a secret base with four trained assassins, we seriously deserve it," Leone stated. "Plus, he already knows where we are, regardless of the blindfold. He knows our names, our faces, and our Teigus. This guy had all that information the moment we rescued him. If he ends up being a spy, it doesn't matter if he knows a bit more or a bit less. So, why don't we assume he's friendly instead of being completely hostile?"
There was a pause, and Megumi threw up her hands in defeat.
"Okay," she said, "okay. You're right about that. But if he does something slightly suspicious, he'll get three arrows to the chest. Understood?" she asked, with a slight smile. However Ken couldn't see her face from that angle, and Leone saw his olive skin turn slightly paler.
"Understood," Leone said, barely containing her laughter. She just couldn't take her seriously, she knew she wouldn't kill Ken unless she was certain he was guilty. Just like her, she always needed to confirm their target's guilt. But Megumi was always profuse in her threats. She turned her head, and looked at Ken in the eye.
"Understood, Ken? If you do anything suspicious, you're dead. I'll shoot first and ask later."
"Uh... understood," he said nervously. It was weird how he had gone from completely determined in a life-or-death situation, to a nervous mess when talking to them, in just a matter of hours. Leone wondered if she had been wrong about him. Could she had imagined the feeling? Though, she had been certain at the time...
Bulat opened the door, interrupting her train of thoughts. He walked in wearing just his white pants and black boots. He was a very muscular man in his twenty somethings, and Leone thought he was a very handsome man. They had hooked up once, but he hadn't seemed really interested at the time. And besides, she'd rather keep her love affairs unrelated to her job.
"I'll take over, girls." Bulat said with a big grin, and winked at them. Ken looked up and blushed slightly. Even he probably thought Bulat was handsome.
"Sure, pretty boy." Leone winked back and stood up. She saw Megumi give Ken one last death glare before going through the door, and she followed her to the hot springs. They walked for a few seconds in silence, and she looked at Megumi. She looked deep in thought, and she just felt the need to interrupt her.
"What's up with being so grumpy, Megu?"
"Just, this guy. Doesn't sit well with me," she said, not looking at her. She was opening up a bit, and Leone seized the opportunity.
"Why not? Be honest," she pressed. Megumi didn't answer right away. They reached the hot springs and began undressing. She removed her green top and kicked her black shoes before answering.
"I don't know, sis. Too good to be true, you know? He killed two guys before you even got there. How long did that took?" she asked. Leone was already undressed and she began submerging in the springs, while trying to remember. The water was perfect, and it soothed her tired muscles. Megumi removed her black shorts, finished undressing, and followed her into the springs.
"I don't know. It happened fast, but we had to punch some bad guys before that."
"What was he even doing before they came? Did he have that knife in his hand already?"
"I don't know," she answered, thinking hard. How did the room looked when she entered? She was trying to remember... but all she could remember was the two bodies piled up, and the look of determination in his face. The bloody knife and the bloody cheek. But nothing else. She didn't even recall if there was a table in the room or not, even if she supposed there would have been one, as everything happened in the kitchen. She frowned slightly. "I don't recall anything in the house indicating what he was up to before that. Maybe Lubba remembers, but I don't."
There was a small pause and Megumi submerged herself up to her nose.
"I don't remember anything particular about what he was doing," Lubbock's voice said. Leone and Megumi shared a look of shock as his head appeared from behind a bush. He was blushing slightly.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Megumi asked covering herself. Leone, however, was quicker, and threw a wooden bucket at his head, with perfect aim. It hit him right on his forehead, and bounced back to the girls, leaving a nasty red mark.
"Ouch!" he cried, holding his forehead and looking away. "I wasn't peeking!"
"Like hell you weren't!" Leone said, grabbing a towel and preparing to hit again.
"Well I had a reason!" he cried, covering his head with both hands, and preparing to dodge a hit. "Ms. Najenda is back, and she wants to see you both about the guy we brought in."
"Boss is here?" she asked. She had her towel wrapped around her, and she was coming off the water.
"Yes, she is. She said you should come over now," he uncovered his head and looked back at her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and look reasonably upset. "I'll go now so you can change."
Note: As you can read, Bulat still hasn't come out. While it's not a main event, I'll try to be as tactful as I can with that. But if anyone wants to give me a few pointers on that experience I'd be more than glad.
This chapter was a lot of meh with no action and a lot of chatter but I promise I will have blood pouring soon :D.
