Chapter 3
…
This picks up after the fight with Zanku and after both he and Ieyasu failed to connect with the Imperial arms.
…
Ieyasu had finished his training with Sheele and now it was Tatsumi's turn to do so, while Ieyasu trained with Akame. His wounds had fully healed so there was no need for Ieyasu to hold back, and he was tired of feeling left behind, Tatsumi had gone on several missions already and he was determined not to lose to him.
Tatsumi had to go through basic training, including swimming in armour, which he didn't like at all, the armour was too heavy, but he did get why he needed to know how, after all he might've had to sneak into somewhere and use a disguise, it could happen so he needed to know how.
"You sure he'll be okay having Sheele in charge of him?" Lubbock asked Najenda.
"He'll be fine, I think Sheele enjoys his company" Najenda gave him an answer immediately, while she took a bite out of an apple that she took from a basket left by Akame.
"What tells you that?" Lubbock asked her a little confused.
"Older woman like Tatsumi."
Leone jumped out of her seat. "I've got dibs on him next!" she said cheerfully.
"See?" she pointed to Leone. "It's his talent. Considering he's an assassin he's got to be a lady killer." She looked proud of herself, but the room went quiet, Lubbock had stopped his cursing and Leone was staring at Najenda with a blank expression. "How about that… I guess not, huh?"
…
A few days later Tatsumi's wounds had fully healed and he had been told about the vast number of Imperial arms, having tried on Spectator again and failed. He had asked about an Imperial Arms that returns the dead to life, but the answer was not the one he wanted.
He was sitting outside, upset by the news that he could never bring Sayo back to life, he would never see her again. "Tatsumi, you're still up?"
"Maybe… I liked thinking that someday I could bring her back… that it wasn't forever. I was keeping my hopes up… even the tiniest bit I still hoped… but now… It's just as a I feared…" he started to cry, but he tried to hold the tears back "I'm never seeing her again."
"Tatsumi" he suddenly felt Sheele's arms wrap around him. "I won't tell anybody, so it's alright for you to cry." She gripped him tightly and he did as she said.
"Thank you Sheele."
…
Leone and Tatsumi were walking side by side after their mission her with her hands behind her head and him with his hands in his pocket.
"What's going to happen to all those girls now?" Tatsumi asked her.
"That's not our business, is it?"
"But…"
She noticed the disappointed look on her face and came up with a solution. "There's a former doctor in the slums. He's old but still pretty good, so he can check them out. He also loves young girls so it's a win for us and him."
"Leone…"
"I haven't ruled out that there's no saving them."
"Heh Heh, you're such a softie Leone" he laughed innocently.
"It's only because I knew some of them as kids."
"I don't care what your reason was, as long as there's a little hope for them." At Tatsumi's words she blushed.
"Tatsumi… I've thought this for a while now, but that face you make…" she licked his ear sweetly, in a playful yet seductive manner "is so cute."
"Wha?!" he jumped back, his cheeks flushed.
"Heh Heh, I've marked you. When you're fully grown you'll be all mine." She then patted him gently on the back. "Now then, let's go back."
After he and Leone got back from their mission Ieyasu and Tatsumi decided to train together. It was mid-day when they started, sparring with wooden weapons. Tatsumi was stronger than Ieyasu thanks to his extra experience in the field and having had extra time to train thanks to Ieyasu's injuries.
Ieyasu swung his wooden axe at his head, but Tatsumi ducked and moved in closer, swinging his blade. Both wooden weapons collided.
*THUNK*
"Pretty good!" Tatsumi stepped back, he faked that he was pulling back all the way and instead dropped and kicked, but Ieyasu read his movements and blocked the attack.
Neither of them held back at all. Throwing everything they had at the other, sparring helped them to clear their minds, especially considering how fun it was to cut lose with your best friend.
When they had finished it was dark, they had been at it for hours and they were both shattered. Then the rain started to fall and a storm began. "Let's go inside."
Tatsumi followed Ieyasu inside.
"Do you think we could make a base in the city?" Ieyasu asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Something like a shop, one that's disguised well. That way we could stay there if we're collecting information. It'll be closer to the guards and the palace so we can have an easier time collecting info."
"You have a point, but we'd need the boss to give us the okay and we'd need to think of what the shop would be."
"That's easy. A blacksmith. We both know how to make weapons so it can be totally legit and we can make money at the same time. It'll be great. And it'll be like training since we'll build up muscle whenever we make something." Ieyasu had a good point, and it was pretty fun making weapons, they could even get clients that were in the military and use them as sources of information.
"Alright then, but we need to get permission first."
"I'll go ask now." Ieyasu ran off. There was another reason he wanted to make a shop of some kind, so that he could have a break from all the killing, a place that he and Tatsumi could relax, like old times.
Later Tatsumi heard that Mine had returned so he went to great the returning duo, but he and the others were all stunned when it was only Mine that came, she told them what had happened, she and Sheele fought against Seryu Ubiquitous and was killed.
"Sheele's death will not be in vain, now the kingdom too should know that it takes a Teigu to kill a Teigu. There will be more battles between users and that means that we'll have more chances to take them. Each Teigu that we gain means that they lose one, the more we take the better our chances, not to mention we'll need more capable users if we're going to beat Esdeath."
…
"Ah!" Mine exclaimed as she dropped the food that was on her spoon, struggling to eat because of her injuries.
"Mine" Akame used her spoon and picked up the food, holding it to Mine so that she could eat it.
"I can feed myself, I don't need you to do it." Mine said with a frustrated tone.
"It's getting cold" she said like she was pleading with Mine. Mine lowered her head slightly and sighed, before giving a grunt of success and eating.
After eating they were given another set of missions, Leone and Tatsumi were teamed up for another mission. It was a mission ordered by the revolutionary army and not by a civilian like most of the missions that they undertook. Their targets were the Kobore brothers, a couple of civilian servants who enjoy the riches overflowing from the minister. However, they were very capable at their job.
The success of their mission was key as it would undermine the Empire.
Tatsumi and Leone moved quickly, moving into the room they were inside, both were eating, sitting at a circular table. Leone punched one through the chest and Tatsumi decapitated the other.
Leone and Tatsumi left sperate ways, she had more duties before returning. "Daddy?!" he heard a young voice, stopping him dead in his tracks. "What was that noise just now?" the boy was tired and wiped his eyes as he entered the room.
His screams filled the house, the entire mansion and Tatsumi ran, not wanting to be there for much longer.
Tatsumi got black and started wiping his blade clean of the blood, but it was taking some effort. He was frantic trying to remove the stain. "Dammit! Even though he was a bad guy who took advantage of people he was still a good father to his son." He was tormented by the boy's cries and he had to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes.
"Those stains will never wash off no matter how hard you scrub." Leone said from behind him.
"Stains… huh…" he lowered his head in shame.
She then hugged him, taking him by surprise, shoving his head between her breasts. "You're an even bigger softie than I thought, I'm starting to worry about you. You… must have a tough conscience." She had genuine concern in her voice.
…
Later that night, Tatsumi was too distracted to sleep so he went to get drink. He found Akame in the kitchen. She had a plate of snacks. "Akame? Getting a midnight snack?"
"No, they were Sheele's favourite."
"They're an offering."
"We work in the shadows, so Sheele's name probably isn't recorded in the Revolutionary Army's records. I'm going to remember her, even if nobody else does. She was an airhead in a lot of ways, but she was the kindest of all of us."
"I know, she often brought flowers to Sayo's grave and she was always there for me when I needed her."
"Yeah…"
"I've got to say, your incredible Akame. You're taking the death of a comrade really well. You must be used to it… but I'm still having a hard time."
*CRASH*
Akame dropped her plate.
"'Taking it well, used to it' It's true that I've known plenty of people who've died… but…" she grabbed him by the collar and hung her head. "I just lost a precious comrade!" she looked up, tears pouring from her eyes. "I'll never get used to that pain!"
"But I can't let my feelings affect my next mission so I put on a strong front, we work in the shadows, if we can't handle incidents like this then we're dead. Then you… saying that I'm taking it well… you have no idea how loosing Sheele has…"
Tatsumi pulled her closely to him. She continued to cry into his chest. He knew what he had done was wrong, he had never seen her like this, so vulnerable, so innocent, and he remembered how worried she was on his first mission, he knew that she cared deeply for every one of her comrades and there's no way she wouldn't be hurting. "What am I doing? I shouldn't be moping around like this, I have to be a man and look to the future" He took a step back from Akame and hit himself in the face, knocking himself off balance in the process.
"Wh-What was that?! Are you okay Tatsumi?!" Akame rushed to help him, kneeling in front of him and trying to check if he was hurt by lifting her hand up to almost touch his cheek.
"Don't worry about it. I just flipped a switch is all." He then inhaled and took her hand. "More importantly Akame. I'm sorry that was insensitive of me. I'm renewing my vow. I'm not going to die! I won't make you mourn me!" he declared with a fire behind his words and his eyes.
"Tatsumi…" she squeezed his hand gently.
"We're going to see that new country and everyone's smiling faces." Akame smiled at Tatsumi warmly.
…
"DAAAAAAAAH!" Tatsumi charged at Akame, sword in hand he swung, but she blocked it with ease. She matched several quick strikes that he made before he jumped back to dodge her first offensive strike.
Without hesitation he dashed forward. He swung again, but she dodged and swung at him, hitting him in the stomach with the wooden sword and knocking him back.
"One… one more… time, Akame." He said while panting.
"…Shouldn't you take a break?"
"I can't rest right now, I told you, I won't die, so treat this like a real fight." He dashed forward again.
Before he could get close to her another fist came toward him with both speed and force. He barely reacted in time to block the attack.
"What the heck Big Bro?!"
"I'm impressed you blocked that, although you did only react out of instinct. But remember, you have to be aware of your surroundings in a real fight. You never know where the enemy might be hiding, right?"
Bulat was right, but with his words Tatsumi tightened his fist and gathered a small amount of dirt in his hand as he did.
"You're a lot more into this than usual. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just want to level up as fast as I can, I promised Akame that I wouldn't die and to do that I need to get stronger."
"Tatsumi…" Akame blushed. Ieyasu, who was watching the fight smiled.
"Heh, now that is handsome!" Bulat slapped Tatsumi on the back, it was hard but it was only meant in a friendly way. "You're growing up. If you want to be stronger then team up with me. I'll train you right."
"Big Bro…"
"Come on, our first lesson starts now!" Bulat ran off gesturing for Tatsumi to follow him, which he did. Akame watched as they left and mouthed the words good luck as they ran off.
Ieyasu then jumped down from the railing he was on and walked over to Akame. "Can I train with you?"
She nodded and they began to spar.
Tatsumi and Bulat ran up a mountain, then did some press-ups, sit ups, crunches, then sparred before hunting some danger beasts on the way back to base.
When they got back they were called to a meeting, including all the members.
Najenda was sitting with a serious expression so everyone knew that what was happening was serious. "Everyone brace yourselves, I have three pieces of bad news. The first is that we've lost contact with the regional team."
"Regional team?" Ieyasu questioned.
"The Empire is vast, so we focus our efforts on the capital, but there's another assassination team that works throughout the region." Akame answered his question.
"I'm looking into it now, but the most likely result is that they've been killed. Please prepare yourself for that. We have to bolster our defences just in case." Najenda resumed.
"Alright, I'll strengthen our defences." Lubbock volunteered.
"The second is that Esdeath has subjugated the north and has made her way back to the capital, she arrived a few days ago and has targeted us. It's a lot sooner than we expected, but we have to keep going, we have no time to falter. Although most of her men have remained up north to keep control of the north she and her elite have returned. Leone, you go to the capital and find out what she's up to. And lastly, there has been a string of murders targeting civil servants in the capital. So far the total killed is four, along with sixty-one of their guards. The problem is that whoever is killing is leaving behind these papers…" she lifted a sheet of paper with their logo on it, the same logo that Ieyasu had added to his bandana. "They've been left at the scene. "At first no one believed it, but they're starting to believe it."
"Why?" Tatsumi asked.
"Because in every case they had top rate guards, which means the only ones capable of killing them are us or someone of equal strength."
"If the culprits were equal in strength to us then that might mean they have Teigus." Akame hypothesised.
"They were all civil servants that were against the minister and his regime, which means he is the one targeting them and pacing the blame on us to eliminate the competition."
"Then it's a trap, they're trying to lure us out" Bulat suggested.
"Now that we know this is a trap I should tell you. They're the sort of civil servants that we need for our new nation, we cannot afford to lose any more of them. I think we should crush them, what are your thoughts?"
"I don't know much about the politics, but just the fact they're using Night Raid's name really pisses me off!"
"You said it Tatsumi! That's exactly right!" Bulat agreed with Tatsumi. Everyone else nodded in agreement and then Najenda smiled.
"Then its settled." She stood up and put on her coat "we'll show them what it means to use an assassin's name without permission. There are five likely targets, but from them we've narrowed it down to two, Akame and Lubbock, Bulat and Tatsumi, you will protect the targets respectively."
If you've seen the series the next fight is well known as it is when Tatsumi gets his Teigu, so I won't be covering it and well skip to after.
