The following morning, Haru was out practicing his sword technique with Bulat. Once he had gotten over the mild awkwardness he felt around the guy, he discovered that Bulat was an excellent sparring partner. The fact that he favored a spear while Haru used a short sword made for interesting fights. Currently, the two of them were shirtless and sweating rather badly. They had been trying to knock each other down for almost an hour now and neither of them had so much as taken a bad step. As they began to exchange blows again, Haru noticed movement behind Bulat. It was Leone and the kid they had picked up on the last job, Tatsumi. This distraction, however, was exactly what Bulat had needed. Taking advantage of it, he brought one end of his staff up and broke Haru's grip on his training sword before bringing the other end up and stopping it just before Haru's chest.
Breathing heavily, he hung his head and accepted his defeat. Smiling, Bulat brought the staff down and took a deep breath himself before noticing their company. "Hey, you're that kid from yesterday," he said, walking over and introducing himself. Haru counted down silently in his head, and right as he got to zero he heard Leone say, "He's gay, you know." For whatever reason, she enjoyed dropping that little bombshell on people. Watching at how Tatsumi struggled to respond to that, Haru decided to give him some help. "You shouldn't be so mean to people, Leone," he said as he walked up to join them, "Especially if you intend to recruit them." Extending his hand, he said, "My name's Haru. It's nice to finally meet you properly." "Uh, yeah, you to," Tatsumi replied, still trying to get over what Leone had said, "I'm Tatsumi. Um, why are you…?"
"Blindfolded?" Haru finished for him, "Because I made a mistake almost a year ago, and it cost me. Besides, I don't like flaunting my scars to everyone I meet." Leaving him to mull that one over, Haru grabbed his shirt and went to clean himself up. Say what you wanted to about Bulat's romantic tastes, the guy was a powerful opponent even if he wasn't trying to kill you. After he had cleaned up he went to grab a snack, since he was freaking hungry, and just so happened to run into Mine. "Hey, you see the potential new guy yet?" he asked. Despite how she tended to act, Haru had made it a point to at least try to be friendly with her. "What, the useless one?" she said, "Please, he only wishes he could become one of us." "In other words, he's sure to make the cut. Got it," Haru said, laughing softly as he walked past. He could just imagine the glare she was shooting him. Mine didn't like it when people called her on her bluffs.
After grabbing a loaf of bread, Haru walked out to one of the balconies and enjoyed the view their hideout afforded. It was a castle/mansion built into the base of a cliff. While they had a large forest out in the front, the upper levels of the hideout gave them a commanding view. That, combined with Lubbock's tripwire net out in the trees, gave them a decided advantage should anyone try to take this place. Of course, they would have to know it was there first, and the members of Night Raid took great pains to make sure that never happened. A few minutes later, Haru was joined by Lubbock, who had brought along a cheese wedge and two cups of some kind of drink. Haru had never learned the name, but the taste was so good that he didn't care. Accepting the offered drink, he split the remaining loaf between them while Lubbock did the same with the cheese.
They then proceeded to look out at the landscape as they ate. The two had formed an odd sort of friendship. Nothing had ever really been said or done between them. Haru had just come up to the balcony one evening over a month ago to enjoy the view, and Lubbock had decided to join him. It had become something of a ritual, especially after one of them had completed an assignment. "So, what's your opinion of the new guy?" Haru asked finally, downing the last of his drink. "He's naïve," Lubbock responded without hesitation, "But… I don't know. There's just something about him…" "You can tell he's got potential just from looking at him," Haru finished for him. He had felt the same way when he met Tatsumi, and it was both encouraging and a little scary.
"So, you finally catch Leone with her guard down?" Haru asked, smiling as his friend sighed. "Nope," he answered, "She's as careful as ever, even when leading the new guy around." "Wait, she caught you trying to peep with the new guy?" Haru asked, trying hard not to laugh. However, when Lubbock grimaced at the memory, he couldn't help it. After he had collected himself, he said, "Man, I told you already; it's a side-effect of her Imperial Arms. Cats are crafty critters. Just give it up." "Not until I see them. Even if it means I'll die!" Lubbock said, clenching his hands and trying to look serious. Haru just laughed again, having learned a long time ago that beneath his womanizing exterior was a good guy. Before he could give Lubbock any more grief over the subject, Akame walked up behind them.
"Najenda is back and wants to see us," she said simply before leaving. Sighing, Haru collected the cups as they followed. He had never been able to get any kind of read off that girl. She acted indifferent to him every time he talked with her, and was fairly 'simple' when it came to conversations. This, combined with the fact that she had an almost unhealthy obsession with meat, had made it hard to try and make friends. He was pulled from his thoughts when he entered the main hall and saw everyone gathered around Tatsumi. I guess it's time to ask the question, then Haru realized as he stood next to Leone. Najenda had apparently just finished listening to Akame's report on the last job. Turning to Tatsumi, she said, "Alright, I understand. Tatsumi, would you like to join Night Raid?"
"You'll kill me if I decline, right?" he asked, looking a little nervous. "No, we won't. But that doesn't mean we can let you leave," she responded, smiling, "We'll simply employ you in our workshop. Bearing this in mind, what is your answer?" "I…I was supposed to come to the capital to save my village," he said, "But, the capital is so…" "Tatsumi," Bulat interrupted, "The country suffers because its core is rotten. Don't you want to attack the problem at the root, as a man?" As the conversation continued, Haru tuned out the words he had heard before. He was already well familiar with where this particular conversation was bound to lead. The capital was the heart of the poison that was killing this nation, and they were here to cut it out. It was all something that he had learned to take as routine. However, what the kid said next took him a little by surprise.
"I see, so the killing you're doing now is finding the bad guys and taking out the trash," Tatsumi said, getting fired up, "In other words… You're assassins of justice!" While the others got a good laugh out of that one, Haru just smacked his forehead at the kid's naiveté. That's going to get him killed he thought, sighing. What came next was the inevitable answer from those that had long ago realized the nature of their work. "Tatsumi," Leone said, "No matter how you spin it, we commit murder." "There's no justice in something like that," Sheele continued. "Everyone here could die at any moment," Bulat finished, "As retribution for our actions." Before Mine could speak up and ruin it with her attitude, Haru stepped forward. "Take this warning to heart, Tatsumi," he said, "Because if you join and remain ignorant to this fact, then you will die."
"Each of us has a reason to fight," Najenda said, "But we're all prepared for that possible end. Do you possess the same resolve?" To the kid's credit, he definitely gave it some thought, which impressed Haru. He had been sure that Tatsumi would rush into this blindly, and that he or someone else would get stuck pulling his newbie ass out of the fire. "I'll be properly compensated?" he asked finally. When Najenda nodded, he replied, "Then I'll do it. Allow me to join Night Raid!" "Then it's decided. Welcome to the life of carnage, Tatsumi," Najenda said, "This meeting is adjourned for this evening. Akame, you'll be in charge of training Tatsumi." "Got it," she replied without hesitation. While Tatsumi tried to come to grips with this new little development, Najenda added, "Oh, Haru, Leone? I need to talk with you in private." Noticing that Leone was more interested in teasing Tatsumi, Haru grabbed her collar and dragged her along with him. "You really need to act like less of a child," he scolded, "Especially in front of the new blood." "But acting mature is no fun!" she protested, trying to break his grip.
She had calmed down by the time they reached Najenda's private rooms. Knocking first, Haru waited until she invited them in before opening the door, while he was sure Leone would have preferred to just barge right in. "I have a special assignment for the two of you," she told them as they sat down, "Three days ago, a courier was intercepted heading north. The orders he carried were rather routine, but in them was a summons to the capital." "So, who was being summoned?" Haru asked, already trying not to think the worst. There was all of one person in the Northern provinces that would merit an Imperial summons, and if she was coming here, then their work was about to get complicated. "You know who I mean," Najenda replied, her mechanical arm clenching unconsciously, "We were able to forge the orders to prevent a premature recall, so we've bought ourselves some time."
"So, what do you need us to do?" Leone asked, finally getting serious. "The officer that sent the orders will realize the forgery once the reply returns," Najenda continued, taking out a cigarette and lighting it, "He needs to be dealt with before that can happen." "You need the two of us to do something this simple?" Haru asked, stunned, "Hell, the new kid could handle this." "If it were just another soldier, I'd agree with you," she continued, "However, this particular officer has made a name for himself among certain crime rings. They say that the man can produce flawless forgeries. We acquired some of his merchandise for ourselves. Take a look." With that, she dropped two folders on the table. They contained travel papers that would allow a person to bypass any Imperial checkpoints and searches, no questions asked. They were also documents reserved for the elite of the elite, so criminals having access to them was practically unheard of. Leone and Haru spent almost 15 minutes trying to determine which set of papers were the fake, and failed. "Alright, I give up," Haru said, closing his folder, "Which are the fakes?" "That's just it," Najenda said, "When I got these from our source, even he couldn't tell the difference. The folder with the blue tab is the genuine article, but the other is flawless, and that's not supposed to be possible."
"So, you think he's got some kind of special trick up his sleeve," Leone said, setting her own folder down, "Maybe even an Imperial Arms?" "I can't imagine the purpose behind an Imperial Arms that can reproduce documents like this," Najenda said, taking an angry puff on her cigarette, "But it could just be idle use of a more powerful weapon. We can't be sure, so…" "So, you want two of your heavy-hitters to go in, just in case," Haru surmised, standing up, "Not a problem, Boss." "We'll have this done by lunch tomorrow," Leone promised as they left. "Good, I'll hold you to that," Najenda replied, getting a shiver out of Leone. Closing the door, Haru turned to Leone and asked, "You just had to give us a deadline, didn't you?"
"It just slipped out," Leone replied, smiling sheepishly, "Anyway, we'd better get going if we want this one done." Nodding, Haru went to grab his weapons while Leone waited for him at the entrance. The downside to his Imperial Arms when compared to the kind she used; his required a focus for it to work properly, while she was her weapon. After they had geared up and said their various goodbyes, they made their way to the capital. It was an easy journey, and one they had made hundreds of times on routes that had been proven to be safe time and time again. However, the notion of that woman possibly coming to the capital kept eating away at Haru. Esdeath was known far and wide as one of the most capable military leaders in the Empire. She had never lost a war, or failed to put down a rebellion, although it was rumored that a few of them had been caused by her actions. While Haru only knew of her through reputation, what he had heard was enough to make him whisper a quick prayer to any God that might be listening that she stay occupied with her current task a little longer.
Once they had arrived at the outer districts, Haru and Leone split up to try and track their target down, agreeing to meet at a favorite inn of hers. Once again using his 'blind beggar' disguise, Haru was able to set up close enough to one of the guardhouses to eavesdrop on the conversations inside. It was mostly idle chatter; soldiers talking about late nights, poor pay, long shifts and the occasional sexual encounter. These last ones Haru paid no mind to, although he made sure to memorize the voices of those complaining about their pay. He kept a rather generous coin pouch on hand for 'conversations' with people like that. Almost two hours into his little stake-out, Haru caught sight of someone leaving the building. He wore the unmistakable uniform of a courier, and Haru figured this was as good a chance as he was likely to get.
"Excuse me, sir?" he called out, getting the man's attention. Upon seeing Haru, the courier's face soured slightly, since it was likely he was expecting to be asked for a handout. "Sorry, but I don't have any money to spare," he began, walking by. "No, it's not that. I was wondering if you could deliver something for me," Haru said, pulling a letter from a pocket, "My sister is in one of the coastal cities. I was hoping you could get this to her?" "I handle military letters and packages, kid," the guard said, crossing his arms, "Use the regular services." "Well, you see, this is rather urgent," Haru continued, pulling a few coins out of his pouch, "I need it to get to her quickly, without going through the official processes." Showing the gold to the man, Haru saw the familiar glint of greed in his eyes. If this man knew their target, or knew how to contact him, then he'd know how to bypass the regular systems. "Alright, I'll see what I can do," he said, taking the letter and the money before walking off.
Counting to 10 in his head, he let the man get a good enough head start before following. Thankfully, the man wasn't the careful type, and he led him to one of the main offices in short order. Of course, it could have just been his place of work, and not where their man had set up shop. But someone in there was bound to know who they were after, and where he was staying. Not much of a lead, but enough of one to work with. Shrugging, Haru made his way to the inn to wait for Leone. To his surprise, she was already there waiting for him, and had several empty mugs next to her arm as well as a few empty plates. This is what I get for loaning her money Haru thought as he sat across from her. "So, any luck?" he asked after he had ordered.
"Oh yeah," she replied, smiling like a kid, "Turns out, our guy is well known for human trafficking. I posed as a criminal on the run and I found three different people who were more than willing to smuggle me out of the country, and who promised flawless papers." "So my money actually went to good use," Haru said, smiling slightly, "Good to know." "Like I'd spend all of that on food!" she replied, sounding offended, "It cost me all I had to meet with them. Which means lunch is your treat, right?" "Wait, what?" Before he could try to argue the point, his own food showed up, along with a rather lengthy bill. Sighing, Haru considered ripping into the woman before he saw her smiling sweetly at him. While he had his own tricks for manipulating people, she had hers, and there was no question which was the more effective.
As it turned out, the man they were looking for had set up his shop in an abandoned building not too far from the office that Haru had found. When they scouted it out, they also learned that this guy had enough money for some private security. While there was nothing obvious outside the building, judging from the sounds Leone heard and the trash in the alley, there were easily a dozen people in the building. Not exactly encouraging odds in a confined space, especially since one of them might have an Imperial Arms. "So, what's the plan?" Haru asked, coming up with nothing. "Well, we could just charge right in," she offered, smiling at Haru's apparent glare. "Maybe something less obvious?" he offered, "You said you talked with some guys about smuggling you out of the country. Maybe we could go through one of them?" "We don't know if he actually meets with the clients, though" she said, finally looking focused, "He might just handle the paperwork." "Good point," Haru agreed, "I'd like to avoid wasting more money. So brute force it is, but we go in through the roof."
Smiling, Leone activated her Imperial Arms while Haru unsheathed his sword. No matter how many times he saw the transformation it was still impressive, and a little funny. Her hair grew down to her waist, her hands became that of a lion and she also sprouted a pair of cat ears on her head, as well as a tail. Grabbing Haru under his arms, she leaped onto the nearby roof before releasing him. Getting in through the upper floor was easy enough, since no one had locked any of the windows. Who would try to get in through the roof, anyway? Answer; assassins, that's who. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Haru and Leone made their way through the upper floor, searching the rooms they came across. After four empty rooms, they found several of the guards asleep in one of the bedrooms and decided that dispatching them now was better than leaving them be. There were five in total, and when they left there were three blood-stained beds and two that held men with crushed necks.
It proceeded like this as they searched the house, finally clearing the ground floor before looking at each other in confusion. None of those men had seemed to be the one they were after, and they had searched the entire house. "Maybe he's not here?" Haru said, causing Leone to blanch. "Well, crap, now what do we do?" she said, scratching her head. For whatever reason, seeing her doing that in her lion form was incredibly funny, and Haru had to struggle to keep himself from laughing. To distract himself, Haru walked around the main room and examined everything closer. Catching onto his idea, Leone began going through everything again. They opened all of the closets and cupboards they could find, but they didn't find any obvious switches or hiding places. Walking through the dining room, Haru tried not to look defeated as he went to rejoin Leone. They would just have to stake out the building and wait for the guy to return. God only knows when that'll be he thought.
However, halfway through the room he heard a distinct creak under his boot. Stopping cold, he lifted his foot and brought it down again, triggering the creaking again. Shifting a few steps to one side, he did it again but heard nothing. Back to the first place, and the sound was back. "Leone, here," he called out, still trying to be quiet. Kneeling down, he prodded the boards with the hilt of his sword, and sure enough there was more give on them there should be on a ground floor. "So, this is his hole," Leone said, leaning down and grasping two of the boards. She ripped them up without much effort, revealing a ladder down to a small room. A few more boards and Haru was able to make it down the ladder and look around. It led to a simple tunnel that had a slight downgrade. "I don't suppose we could just turn around and say we didn't find him, rather than travel down this creepy hole," Haru said, knowing full well what the answer would be.
Smacking his back, Leone replied, "Oh, man up. You're the one with the fire, so give us a light." "Yeah, I'll get right on that. It'll make us lovely targets in this darkness," he mumbled as she took the lead. Another bonus of her Imperial Arms; she had very good low-light vision. While he did trust her instincts in case there were any traps, Haru kept an ear open for any suspicious noises. After a few minutes of walking, they saw a faint light. "Are you getting a funny feeling from this, too?" Haru asked, swallowing. When Leone nodded, he knew that there was something up since she wasn't the type that spooked easily. Entering the room at the end of the passage cautiously, they saw it was a rather large storeroom filled with crates and barrels. Clearly, it wasn't just a place where someone forged papers; this was the heart of a serious trafficking setup. In the center of everything was a rather plain-looking man sipping tea from a cup. In fact, now that Haru looked closer, he saw that it was the same guy he had met earlier.
"Well, well, I thought it was suspicious that someone blind had that kind of money," he said, setting the tea aside, "Seems I was right. So, who sent you?" "That's our business, buddy," Leone said, getting ready to attack. "Oh, you think you'll actually be able to take me, do you?" he asked, laughing, "Sorry to say it, but you're outnumbered, sweetheart." Looking around, Haru prepared himself for whatever this guy had. He wasn't, however, prepared for what he saw. Almost two dozen men armed with various weapons moved out from behind the crates and surrounded them. Their looks were devoid of any emotion or obvious thought, but that wasn't the disturbing part. The disturbing part was that it was the same three faces on the men. Judging by how Leone's back stiffened, she'd noticed it as well. Turning so they were back-to-back, Haru tried to steady his nerves as his mind reeled.
"What, you didn't notice when you killed the guards upstairs, then?" the man taunted, leaning back in his seat, "Your employers must really learn to do their homework. Then, they'd know that no one picks a fight with me and lives." "So, this is your Imperial Arms?" Haru asked, just barely keeping his voice steady. "Not that it matters to a mongrel like you, but yes," he replied, "Simply put, it's called Infinite Creation." Taking a second look at the desk, Haru noticed what looked like a sculptor's knife on the desk. Nudging Leone, he nodded in its direction. When she nodded, he knew they'd settled on a plan. If they could get to that knife, they could at least destroy this army he'd made.
"Oh, you can try for the knife," he said, noticing this little exchange, "Not that it'd do you any good. Your kind really needs to learn some subtlety." "I think I liked you better when we met before," Haru commented. "Well, of course you did, because before I was pretending to be part of the common rabble," he said, sounding irritated, "I'm myself now, a superior being who got stuck with a commoner's job. This Imperial Arms will give me the wealth and prestige that I deserve, and I won't let you or any other lowly peasant stand in the way of that." With that, his clones charged.
Blocking the first slash, Haru cleaved the man's head in two before ducking under a spear point. Judging from the crashing he heard behind him, Leone was tearing into them as well. A sword just barely missing his chest brought his focus back to his opponents. Too much unknown material here to let fire loose now Haru realized with a grimace as he blocked another attempt at his head. For all they knew, some of these containers held gunpowder or explosives. Hell, for all he knew there could be bags of rice just waiting to explode if he let his flames dance. Turning the blade aside, he took the man's left leg before stabbing him in the back. However, when he turned to the next target, he felt a whoosh of air and just barely ducked under another sword. Looking behind him, Haru froze as he saw the first one he'd killed standing again. His head still had a clean slash down the middle, and the two halves weren't exactly touching each other, but he was on his feet again. The second one was unable to stand due to the loss of his leg, but he was as upright as he could be.
"You thought they were as flimsy as normal people? Please, what do you take me for?" the man said, laughing. Sure enough, the ones that Leone had been taking down were getting back onto their feet as well. This was made even more disturbing considering several of them had crushed necks and limbs at odd angles. Nevertheless, they got back on their feet and charged. "We need some distance on them!" Haru called out, kicking one of them clear. Using the downed clone as a stepping stone, Haru leaped onto one of the crates before turning around and taking the head off of his pursuer. While the body went down, it was still moving and was getting back onto its feet as Haru climbed higher. Leone joined him a moment later, her hands dripping with blood, but still no actual kills. "Alright, now what?" she asked, looking pissed.