A/N: Before I start the story, I just wanna say 'Thank You' to all of the people who followed, favourite-d, and/or reviewed thus far. I'll answer some questions at the end of the chapter, but for now, happy reading!
"You're such a bastard."
"I know."
"You do know… that you're just a sliver away from becoming a demon yourself, right?"
"That was the plan, Yami. Only monsters can defeat other monsters, after all."
Tatsumi groggily opened his eyes, not particularly liking the uninvited guest invading his dreams. He tried to recall what happened last night, and he could vaguely remember someone falling down to the power of his teigu once again.
"Ah, right. That brat, Aria I think." He yawned, actually trying to scan his surroundings this time.
The room seems pretty ordinary to him. An open window, dresser, a table. It was as simplistic as it could get.
The sound of clinking mechanisms made him turn to his left, and saw the infamous assassin from before, Akame. Closing the door behind her, she walked near the half-awake teen.
"I see you're up already." Spoke the red-eyed girl. Tatsumi noted the slight wariness in her voice.
"Good morning to you too, miss Sword." He rolled his eyes, flipping his leg to the left of his bed. He stood up, stretching slightly.
"Boss wants to talk to you, Tatsumi. Aria…" Her eyes furrowed, but she quickly erased it in a second. "is also waiting for you in the living room, though she refuses to talk to anyone."
"That's normal. You did try to kill her last night. I'm surprised you didn't finish your mission while I was asleep." He let out a small smirk, shrugging. "That would have been bad though."
Slightly quirking an eyebrow, Akame asked something. "You're a teigu user, aren't you?"
"Hep." He raised his hand to her face, while he shook his head. "Save the questions later, I need to take a bath first. Shoo."
'That's rude.' Thought Akame as she complied. 'He's a very weird person.'
The black haired assassin quietly entered the live hall, a small frown etched on her face. The first person to notice the normally calm and collected girl was their so-called 'boss', Najenda.
"Akame. I assume you're meeting with him wasn't good?" The white-haired woman chuckled.
"He's an eccentric person. His motives are still unknown, so we should keep our guard up around him." Akame monotonously said.
"I'm sure he wouldn't be a problem." A girl with long pink twintails spoke. "If he tries anything, I'll blast him into oblivion!" She raised an unusual gun-like weapon.
"Let's hope for the best, Mine." Bulat, a muscular man with a weird hairstyle said from the side. "If he really is a teigu user, then he'll be a powerful ally for us."
"I don't know Bulat…" Leone spoke from a couch, her eyes glaring at the air in front of her. "When I first saw him yesterday, my senses were blaring off. He's seriously not a normal country boy."
"Maybe you just drank too much again, Leone." Sheele, a bespectacled woman giggled.
"Forget about that guy," a guy wearing a dirty green coat stood up from his seat, then pointed at the silent Aria over the table. "what are we gonna do to this girl?"
The girl simply looked at him, then got back to what she was doing for the past three hours. Staring at the ground.
"See? I think she's gone nuts!" Exclaimed the green-haired boy.
"She was already nuts before, Lubbock." Leone deadpanned.
"You do have a point…" He scratched the back of his head.
Not long after some minutes, a quiet footstep was heard not far from the group. They all looked at the door in front of the hall to see Tatsumi, walking in as if admiring the flowers on a park.
"Hey, this place isn't too shabby." He smiled.
"Great, you're here." Najenda rose from her throne-like chair, a cigar lit up on her lips. "Have a seat, Mr. Tatsumi."
"Oh yeah, about that." He walked besides the silent Aria, sitting on the chair to the girl's left. "How'd you know my name? I didn't realize it earlier, but Miss Sword here already knows mine."
"The revolutionary Army keeps people with 'potentials' written on a secured master list. It's hard not to know you, Tatsumi." At that, the boy in question narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers to the former general. "Don't worry, only I know you're true identity. Akame and the others only know your name."
Tatsumi looked around him, studying each of their faces as he did. It does seem that nobody looks at him that weird, except for the pink haired girl. But then, they could be just acting. They're professional killers, after all.
"I'll believe your words for now, general Najenda." He casted aside the gasps behind him, proceeding. "Now, for your questions?'
"You already know me, huh." Najenda smirked. "First and foremost, you're a teigu user, aren't you?" Akame and the other assassins looked at him intensely, waiting for his answer.
"Well, that much is quite obvious already, no?" He rested his arm to Aria's shoulder, grinning. "This… teigu is special for me. I call it The Void's Gaze: Yami." He tapped the side of his right eye. Its sclera turned as white as the pure snow of the north, while a long slit of emerald halve the two sides of it from the middle.
"What a wastefully long name." Muttered Mine behind him. The teen just smirked at that.
"What are its abilities?" Lubbock spoke, eager to know the mysterious teigu.
"Now now! There's no fun in that if you know it this early!" Tatsumi laughed while hugging Aria closer to him. "If you really wanna know something, take Aria here for an example."
At the mention of her name, the girl looked up, fearfully staring at the boy beside him. What he said next shocked them to the core. "Aria, kiss me."
If that wasn't even surprising enough, the girl complied without even any resistance. The made out at the middle of the group passionately, Tatsumi's hand right behind her head, preventing her from any escape. Though from what they could conclude, they doubt she could even do that.
Akame's the only one who noticed how Aria's eyes glowed for a second.
The blonde girl got back to her seat, and with a gasp, she confusingly looked around her surroundings. "W-What happened…?" She quietly murmured to herself.
"I DIDN'T KNOW SUCH A TEIGU EXISTED!" Screamed Lubbock, a blood trailing down his nose.
Everyone was shocked to say the least, as the teigu was really quite weird. Also, the said weapon wasn't in any of their recorded teigus, so it is also a big find.
"Your teigu makes other people kiss you?" Sheele tilted her head.
Everybody sweatdropped at that, while Tatsumi answered. "Geez, no. Just figure it out for yourselves." He closed his right eye, a slight grunt sounding from the mysterious teen. When he reopened it, it was back to normal. "Maybe you'll discover it in a week or two. It isn't really that hard to learn it."
"Wait," Aria, for the first time, tried to speak. "you mean to tell I kis—"
"Shut up." Tatsumi glared at her, and for some reason, Aria lost her abilities to speak. The girl could only nod her head absentmindedly.
Mine would remark at that, if it wasn't for Lubbock. "I'm detecting someone in my strings!"
The atmosphere immediately changed, with everyone's expression taking on a serious look. Najenda wasted no time asking for some additional information. "Head count?"
"I'm getting nine— no, ten signals." As Lubbock talked, he was already tinkering with his own weapon. "One trapped, with the other nine escaping right now."
"Alright Night Raid." The eye-patched woman pointed behind them, her voice carrying the confidence and commanding aura worthy of a seasoned commander. "Search and destroy! Kill those spies, spare nobody! Go!" The Night Raid assassins nodded, running towards the exit of their hideout.
"Now, for you Tatsu-" Najenda turned to the boy, but was surprised to only see Aria sitting there. "Tatsumi?"
"He already ran outside when that green-haired guy said there were trespassers…" Said Aria, a small amount of fear resting below her words.
"Aria Grundel, right?" The older woman decided to have a little chat while everybody was busy. "Did you know anything about his teigu?"
The girl looked conflicted for a second, contemplating weather to answer or not. "I can't tell you, he might… do something to me." She looked down, her breathing slightly quickening.
Najenda raised an eyebrow. "Did he threaten you?"
Aria shook her head, looking straight at the eye of the white-haired woman. "No, but, I can feel it. He's… evil, like me."
Inside, the blonde teen added a grim thought. 'Maybe even worse…'
Najenda narrowed her eyes at that. That couldn't really be taken lightly, as it came from a very evil person such as Aria. For her to label someone like that… Najenda decided to keep her guard up around the enigmatic boy.
Tatsumi rested atop the building of Night Raid's base, overlooking the numerous battles happening below him. "Well then, let's see your power, Night Raid." Awakening his teigu, the familiar symbol appeared on his right eye. It searched around for some seconds, settling as it found its first target.
"Hmm, if I remember, her name is Akame, the wielder of the one-hit kill Murasame." The brunette hummed to himself, watching as the aforementioned swordswoman obliterated her enemies. The three grunts didn't even have a chance. "She's interesting."
Continuing his search, he spotted several more members showing their own skills, from Bulat's amazing spearmanship to Sheele's surprising talent in wielding a giant scissor. He especially liked the snobby girl, Mine. Her mastery on using her gun was simply remarkable to the teen.
"They're all strong. But the most important thing I've noticed…" His grin widened, heartbeat fastening as he thought deeper about it. "nobody's more 'dominant' than me. I guess that isn't surprising anymore, is there even somebody out there that's more evil than me?" He chuckled to himself.
"Even uncle Honest will look like an innocent girl compared to me."
After killing all the intruders in a record time, all of the sent out assassins came back to their base. The first to arrive was Mine and Sheele, as they were the nearest.
"Those guys were idiots." Spoke the girl in pink, her large gun slung to her shoulder.
"They were just doing their jobs like us." Sheele smiled, carrying a bloody Extase behind her.
The two girls noticed their boss talking to a target of them days ago, Aria. If it wasn't for Tatsumi, Mine was sure the little girl would be already dead.
"Ah, Mine, Sheele. You're back." Najenda greeted them, nodding.
"Didn't even break a sweat." Mine haughtily declared, smirking. Sheele could only laugh at that.
"Indeed, you were amazing back there." The unmistakable voice of Tatsumi said behind them. "I mean, a headshot from over 800 meters away? That was ridiculous."
Mine felt a surge on her pride hearing that, but refrained from reacting too much. "I wasn't even serious there."
"Really?" Tatsumi smiled, his eyes closed. "Cool."
Aria cringed at the feeling Tatsumi was giving off. He's hiding it very well, but the real intents and thoughts inside his head was so vile, that she could even physically feel it. Of course, she can only do so as she was acquaintance to the said feeling as she does it too very often before. She wanted to say something to the pink haired girl, but when she felt the raging emotions tilt towards her direction, she immediately shut up.
"Anyways, why are you trying to get close to me, newbie?" Mine asked out of the blue. Sheele was also about to ask the same question to the boy.
"Ah, no reason in particular. I just figured I should talk to my future teammates." He turned around, waving. "I'll be resting at my room. Bye."
"Oh, and also… Aria, come with me." His tone turned ice-cold there.
"Y-Yes…" The girl quickly ran after Tatsumi, her head bowed all the while.
"Akame's right, he's a weirdo." Mine remarked, walking to her room. Sheele promptly followed her friend.
The door behind Aria closed with a quiet thud. Looking at the teen in front of her, she tried to guess what he wanted to talk about.
"Tatsumi, right?" Aria cleared her throat, trying to avoid stuttering just from his presence. "What did you just do to me, earlier?"
"I controlled you with my teigu." Tatsumi smirked, looking at the girl from up to down. "Everything that's inferior to me will fall to my teigu. Just like you, Aria."
"Inferior in what, exactly?" As much as Aria noticed from his body, he isn't the fighting type of guy.
"in [Sin], Aria. My [Sin] far surpasses yours, to be honest." His eyes was foreshadowed, smile seemingly more terrifying than ever.
"So, for instance, I ordered you to do something… intimate for me…" He chuckled, watching as how the face of the girl slowly turned into despair. "You get my point, right?"
'I'm, I'm a literal slave to him…' Aria realized.
Tatsumi tried to stifle another laugh. "You don't have to worry about dying." He waved his hands at her dismissingly. "I still need your… talents for my plans."
"Don't think that you're already bailed out of your crimes though. You'll still be punished." His right sclera began to spin, while his left eye was closed. "And that's my job. Rest assured, I won't torture you like what you did to my… friends."
It was scary to think that no kind of warmth was felt when he said that last one. It was just like his every other word that he had said to her; they're practically seeping out the feeling of greed and misdeed.
Of course, it's not like Aria has any other choice than to comply.
"Night Raid will be the core of my plan… with a number of people from them, I'll be able to finish my goal. As you could have noticed, I'm starting with the person that's most suspicious of me. Mine, if I recall." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Just what is exactly your final goal…?" Aria managed to speak out.
Tatsumi grinned. "Conquering The Capit-… the world."
A/N: Once again, thank you guys for reading this story! FF sure is a lively community.
Now, for the questions.