Akame, Tatsumi, and Mine were sharing a cottage that Akame had found while traveling the country. Akame was cooking dinner with Mine while Tatsumi was outside training. "So Mine, how have you and Tatsumi been? It's been such a long time since I've seen either of you." she asked. "We're doing great Akame. Things couldn't go any better in my opinion." Mine replied.
"Actually, Tatsumi got two whole months off of work so we could stay with you and then travel the rest of the countryside. Also, I got Extase." she explained. Akame froze where she stood and slowly turned to Mine with very wide eyes and asked, "What did you say?" Mine gave a soft smile before she explained to Akame what happened the night she was cleaning Sheele's old room and how Extase chose her to be their new owner.
Akame was stunned to say the least, but she was happy that Mine got the closure she needed. "So, how long have you had Extase? Have you used them at all yet?" Akame asked. Mine replied, "No, I haven't had a chance to really use them yet, and it's only been a month." Tatsumi came inside the cottage and informed the girls he was going to take a bath.
After about an hour, dinner was ready and everyone sat at the table and ate together like old times. Akame of course, ate enough food to feed an army in a matter of seconds, leaving both Mine and Tatsumi with shocked faces and sweat drops running down their heads. After dinner, Mine went to take a bath while Akame and Tatsumi cleaned up the dishes.
"Have you been treating Mine good Tatsumi?", she asked. "I know that things aren't always easy with her, but I hope that you're good to her." Tatsumi didn't even hesitate to answer, "Things with Mine are never dull. I respect her almost as much as I used to respect Bro. I give her space when she needs it, but when she really needs to be held, I'm there in a second."
"I love Mine more than anything in the world. I'd give anything to make her happy, even if it meant giving up my life to protect her. I will never break the promise I made to her the day I asked her to be my girlfriend." Akame had a look of surprise on her face, and thought to herself how happy she was that Tatsumi had matured in such a way since she first met him.
"You've really grown Tatsumi. Bulat would be both proud, and jealous of you.", she told him. Tatsumi smiled and nodded as they finished the dishes. Mine soon came back from her bath in her usual nightgown and headband. Akame said she was going to take her bath then go to bed but told Mine and Tatsumi to make themselves at home.
Mine and Tatsumi sat on the couch in the living room cuddling up to eachother. Mine lifted her head from Tatsumi's chest and gave him a deep, passionate kiss on the lips before putting her head back on his chest. "What was that for Mine?" he asked. "I heard you and Akame talking, and I heard what you said about me.", Mine ansered.
She continued, "I know I can be a handful, and that I get on your nerves sometimes. Frankly I'm still amazed that you put up with me." She lifted her head again and looked Tatsumi in the eyes and said, "But I'm glad that you do. I love you so much Tatsumi, and no matter what, I'll always be thankful, and grateful for all that you do for me." Tatsumi smiled at her and kissed her for all that she was worth. Which to him was more than he could ever express.
A week later, Tatsumi and Mine said their goodbyes to Akame as they set out to see the rest of the Countryside. They traveled several miles on foot before night fell, and they had to set up camp. The next day they packed up and continued their journey taking in the sights and avoiding Danger Beasts as often as possible.
One day, they were sitting at the top of a very large hill, watching the sunset together, when suddenly a very large dragon-type Danger beast came from out of nowhere and tried to attack Mine. Tatsumi shoved her out of the way and took the full brunt of the attack himself, sending him rolling down the hill several feet.
"TATSUMI!", Mine yelled. She turned to the dragon, with a very pissed off look and said, "You bastard! You're gonna pay for that!" She took Extase out of the sheath, and prepared herself. "This is the first time, I've ever got to use these, so I better make it count. For Tatsumi, for Sheele!" she thought to herself. The dragon ran towards Mine, screeching loudly as it did so, and Mine just stood there waiting for the perfect moment.
She took in a deep breath, and yelled out, "EXTASE!" A bright light shone off of the giant scissors, blinding the dragon, leaving Mine a perfect opening, to run up, and slash it's throat wide open. After successfully killing the dragon, Mine put Extase back in the sheath and ran down the hill to see if Tatsumi was okay.
She got to him and saw all the blood draining out of his back, and immediately went to work patching up the wounds. Once finished, she tried to wake him up. She gently shook him several times while calling his name before he finally regained consciousness. Tatsumi tried to sit up, but found that he was in great pain from his wounds.
"Don't try to get up. You got wounded pretty badly on your back, and you lost a lot of blood.", Mine said in a calm voice. Tatsumi looked up at Mine and realized his head was on her lap, but since he couldn't move, he asked her what happened. "When you pushed me out of the way, you got hurt really bad, and went rolling down this hill, and I wound up using Extase to kill the beast.", Mine explained.
Tatsumi was amazed that Mine managed to kill the Danger Beast so easily. Especially since it'd been a year since Mine actually used her combat skills at all. Mine used all her strentgh to lift Tatsumi and walk him back up the hill sitting under the tree they were originally sitting under. Tatsumi ended up putting his head back on Mine's lap while she ran her fingers through his hair.
They continued watching the Sunset while Mine subconciously kept running her fingers through Tatsumi's hair, relaxing him. After the Sun had set, Mine told Tatsumi to stay put, while she went to gather some wood for a fire. When she came back, Tatsumi was already asleep. She smiled at the sight, and very quietly made a fire to keep herself and Tatsumi warm for the night.
After making the fire, Mine gently cuddled up to Tatsumi as close as she could without hurting him, and fell asleep soon after. The next morning, Mine woke up earlier than usual before Tatsumi so she took to removing the blood covered bandages and replaced them with new fresh ones before Tatsumi woke up.
"Damn, what a night!", Tatsumi said as he did his best to stretch without hurting himself. Mine and Tatsumi went about walking for the day until they came across a village. Tatsumi recognized it as his village. He grew very excited because a lot of his old friends still lived in the village, as well as his old Sensei.
"Mine, this is my village!" Tatsumi said with excitement in his voice. Mine looked with surprise at Tatsumi's small home town. She didn't say anything for fear of hurting his feelings. "Come on Mine, I wanna show you around." Tatsumi said as he started to run. Mine ran after him yelling at him to slow down.
Tatsumi showed Mine to everyone in the village. Some of the girls were jealous because most of them admited that they used to crush on him, but Tatsumi explained to them that as flattered as he was, he was more than happy with Mine, which made her blush ten times over.
After touring most of the village, Mine and Tatsumi heard a deep, almost demanding voice from behind a small building that Tatsumi recognized as the old blacksmith shop. "Tatsumi, you lousy no-good-swindler! You got a lot of guts coming back here after what you pulled!" Tatsumi's old Sensei came from behind the building, and ran towards Tatsumi with sword in hand.
Tatsumi expected this, and took out Incursio's key, which was a unique sword, and blocked all of his old Sensei's attacks and nearly landed a few blows onto him in return before they locked blades at a stand still.
Tatsumi's Sensei looked into Tatsumi's eyes and smirked before saying, "Hmph, you've gotten a lot stronger since I trained you, you no good slacker." Tatsumi answered, "You could say that, you old windbag." "Hahaha, you always were quick-witted with comebacks even back then."
Mine just stood there looking very confused by the event happening before her eyes. Tatsumi and his Sensei took their swords back from each other, and re-sheathed them before the Sensei hugged Tatsumi like a father.
"It's good to see you Tatsumi. I am very proud of the things you've accomplished since you left for the Captial a year ago." Tatsumi smiled and said, "Well, I had a lot of help with some very good friends who all gave their lives valiantly for the sake of humanity. Oh! I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Mine."
Mine, who was still confused, bowed out of respect and said, "It's nice to meet you. I assume you're the Sensei Tatsumi told me about." Tatsumi's Sensei laughed and turned to Tatsumi, "You told her I was just your Sensei you little brat?"
Tatsumi went to Mine and took her hand, "Mine, this is not just my old Sensei, this is my Father, Blade." Mine had a surprised face as she replied, "WHAT?! This man is your dad?! He tried to KILL you!"
Blade laughed, "That's how I trained Tatsumi how to fight. His mother wanted me to make sure our boy turned into a man before he left the village. Sadly his mother died about a year before Tatsumi left. She would be proud of how far you've come my Son."
"Yeah, my mom would've loved you Mine. She was kind, and sweet, and had a real sassy attidude.", Tatsumi said. Mine chuckled at this. "Sounds like my kind of woman. So, If you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"
Blade got very serious when he answered. "A group of bandits came from the Eastern Tribe, to raid our village. They tried to steal our valuables, and some raped some of our women. My wife, was one of them. She was in the middle of being raped by one of the bandits when Tatsumi and I got back from hunting. But before Tatsumi and I could do anything, the scumbag slit her throat after he was done with her with us watching."
Tatsumi was trying not to cry from the memory. Mine was shocked by hearing this. She couldn't imagine how a guy as sweet as Tatsumi could witness something as horrible as that. She was about to say something when Tatsumi spoke up. "After, that happened, I lost all control and started to charge at him. I had just gotten him in my grip when my Dad took me off, and slashed him into pieces."
Blade finished the story, "After I killed the bastard I told Tatsumi to remain with his mother while I finished off the other bandits. When it was all said and done, Tatsumi and I buried his mother as well as the other people who were killed in the raid."
"I'm so sorry Tatsumi, I had no idea you could've witnessed something so horrible." Mine said, trying to console Tatsumi. "It's okay Mine, you didn't know. I cried for weeks after she died. I couldn't train, I couldn't eat, I was a wreck. Finally Dad decided he was going to attack me one day, and it was exactly what I needed. He snapped me out of it, and I never cried again until I joined you and Night Raid."
"Speaking of which, Tatsumi I was so proud of you when the village got word that you became an assassin for Justice. I always knew that you were destined for good things." Blade said. "Thanks Dad. I never would've done it if it hadn't been for Mine and the others training me the way they did. Mine here was actually a really good shot with a gun-type of Imperial Arms named Pumkin. She was a Badass Sniper Genius!", Tatsumi replied.
Mine blushed big time at Tatsumi's praising her. "Tatsumi!", she exclaimed slightly embarrassed. "I've heard of Imperial arms" Blade said. "I heard the legends about them, that they were forged originally for the First Emperor more than a thousand years ago."
"That's right Dad, there were 48 of them. Now, there's no telling how many are still out there. I have one myself actually." said Tatsumi. "Oh? You have an Imperial Arms?" Tatsumi took Incursio's key out. "This is the key to Incursio. It was handed down to me from the last owner, and my mentor, Bulat. He was amazing in battle, and he taught me so much, and when he was dying, he gave Incursio to me."
Blade looked at the sword, inspecting it before asking, "Well, what can it do?" Mine smiled as she said, "Show him Tatsumi." Mine was always proud of Tatsumi ever since he got Incursio, so now that Tatsumi's father was about to see it for himself, she was even more proud.
Tatsumi held the blade upside down and yelled with all the fire in his soul "IIIIIIIINNNNCURSIOOOOOOOO!" The next thing that happened, shocked Blade. He saw a suit of armor seemingly come from nowhere out of the ground before it inveloped Tatsumi, forming to his physique like it was another layer of skin. When it was done, Tatsumi was fully armed with Incursio and had the hidden Polearm, Neuntote in his hand.
"Well, what do you think Dad?", Tatsumi asked. Blade was stunned, amazed, any word he could think of to describe how he felt seeing his son weilding one of the most legendary Imperial Arms in history.
"Tatsumi, I don't know what to say except that I am in awe of your armor. I can't believe that you are the one who wears that legendary Imperial Arms."
"Well I am Dad. This armor has gotten me through more battles than you can possibly imagine. I never would've gotten it if it wasn't for Bulat. I respect him more than anyone else in the world because he showed me a whole new way of fighting, and he taught me the way he did, because he chose me to take his place as Incursio's weilder.", Tatsumi explained as Incursio disappeared.
Blade was more than impressed. He then offered the two to stay the rest of the month in the village, which Tatsumi gladly accepted and Mine went along with it because she wanted to see what living in Tatsumi's village was like.
to be continued...