The rest of the way to the Empire's Gates was spent in silence. Akiko had her sword drawn and was spiraling shadows around it, as the shadows completely enveloped the blade, it vanished.
"Hey, uh Kenta?" Akiko asked, causing Kenta to stop and sheathe is own blade, "If I lost or broke a thousand year artifact, would anyone be mad?"
Kenta turned around and started at Akiko like she had grown two heads, "Yes, I would expec- Where's your katana?"
"Yeah, that's the thing. I just had it." Akiko drew one of her hunting knives and spun it around like she had Shadow's Army, "I was just doing this, and shadows were swarming around it. And then it disappeared!"
"Your sword disappeared?" Kenta said slowly, trying to process what was being said to him and as Akiko nodded he exclaimed, "My mom is going to kill you!"
"I am well aware of that," Akiko growled, "Could this have something to do with compatibility?"
"Maybe?" Kenta said, the end coming out in a question.
"Why Kenta, that was so helpful," Akiko said in irritation.
Kenta pouted slightly, "Try thinking about your sword. Maybe it's one of its abilities?"
Akiko weighed her options, not really wanting to listen to her cousin, but figuring that losing an ancient weapon was worth the humiliation, so she thought about her sword for a second. The shadows swarmed around her left hand and the katana formed into view.
"Cool!" Kenta exclaimed, "So Shadow's Army can disappear and reappear at will! I wonder what else it can do."
"Maybe it'll come to me in a dream," Akiko said sarcastically embarrassed that her cousin's idea actually worked.
-o-
When they got into the city, they had agreed to go get lunch and maybe find an inn later. As they were walking through the less important places in the city, Kenta noticed that many people were giving the pair strange looks. This caused Akiko to become slightly self conscious, assuming they were staring at her scar. He leaned over to Akiko and wrapped an arm around her pulling her to his side, an obvious sign of affection to the outsiders.
However, Kenta could feel Akiko's body tense, "Relax. Can I put your hood up?" Akiko understanding what Kenta was trying to do, she nodded. She felt the hood of her jacket get flipped onto her head. Kenta, ever the thoughtful one, made sure her weapons and hair were not disrupted by the hood.
Kenta noticed a street that seemed to have clothes. While people no longer stared at Akiko too much, they stared at him, "Hey, let's go over here."
"Why?"
"No why," Kenta said grinning and then dragged Akiko over towards to what looked like a clothing district.
He looked around and found what he wanted, an all purpose clothing store. He rummaged through piles of clothes when he spotted some trench coats over on the wall. They were all black, perfect. Kenta led Akiko over to the trench coats. He shrugged off his pack and grabbed Akiko's and rested them against the wall of the store.
"We're getting a change of clothes!" Kenta announced, "Don't give me that look. We need to blend in, well, kind of. We're no longer on the road, so there's not need to carry all this stuff that we have. Besides, the more stuff we have, the more likely we're going to get mugged."
Akiko stared at him in confusion, her cousin was being smart for a change, but nodded in agreement. She took off her jacket and trapped it over her pack. She grabbed one of the black trench coats. It was long, reaching the floor and black. It was slightly baggy in the torso area, which made it convenient for hiding weapons. It had a black hood as well, so Akiko could conceal her face. In the arms it was neither tight nor loose which allowed for easy movement should the need occur.
Akiko buttoned up the trench coat, "Well?"
"I think you need a mask," Kenta replied, "You look nice."
He passed two familiar hunting knives over with their sheathes. Akiko took off the coat and slipped the leather straps that criss crossed over her shoulders and buckled the knives into place. Akiko put the trench coat back over it, and button it back up. She grabbed the belt that she had her katana and threaded it through the jacket. Finishing the look, she positioned her hood into place.
She looked around for a mirror and smirked in appreciation, "I approve."
Kenta looked over at his cousin, and smiled, it fit her. With the way the sun was shining right now, it brought out the silver in her eyes and the scar on her face giving her slightly the scary appearance. Kenta considered it for a moment before he shook his head sadly, "You can't have your katana out like that."
Akiko looked down at the weapon and grimaced, the sword was too fancy and unique not to catch attention, "What do I do with it?"
He considered that for a moment before his eyes lit up, "Try making it disappear again," He whispered, "It might work. If you get good at it."
The silver eyed girl nodded and concentrated on the weapon in her hand, including the sheathe and belt. She imagined it disappearing, and so it did. Akiko watched as the weapon was surrounded by darkness before it vanished. She turned to her back and reach into it grabbing money and other valuables and storing it within the pockets inside her trench coat. She nodded to Kenta who had also sorted through his stuff and was wearing a similar katana. She had noticed his belt was hidden beneath the jacket.
"What about your katana?"
Kenta didn't answer for a moment before he realized he could hide the katana within the back of the jacket, the handle was peeking out, but it was ordinary enough that no one would question it. Besides, everyone here was armed. When they were both situated, they looked around the rest of the store. He spotted two thin scarves. He grabbed them without Akiko noticing and went up to the register to pay for both trench coats and scarves.
Akiko looked around the store once more before she gave her bedroll and on the road equipment to the store owner who bowed her thanks. Kenta did not pass over his bedroll instead waiting till they found the nearest poor looking person and giving it to them. They walked around till it was dark. They ended up in a district with lots of red lights.
"You know what we need?" Kenta said suddenly.
"No, what?"
"Tattoos!" Akiko glanced to the shop Kenta was pointing at, a fancy looking tattoo place.
"Absolutely not."
"We're getting the family ones."
Almost immediately, Akiko stopped and stared at Kenta before she walked off to a nearby alley.
"We are not getting the family tattoos," She whispered fiercely.
"Why not?" Kenta argued, "We've earned them. We're able to leave the village at will, we both have weapons of great power, and we're in the Empire."
"What does being in the Empire have to do with anything?" Akiko asked.
"If we get in trouble, you know those tattoos will get us out of it." Kenta whispered urgently, before pleading with his stubborn cousin, "Sleep on it."
If you still want them, we'll get them tomorrow. Well, you will at the very least. Now, we need to find a place to train and experiment before we go to sleep."
-o-
The pair had left the Empire's red lights district and headed to what seemed to be an abandoned church with a cemetery in the back. Due to the way they came into the place, they had to go through the cemetery. There were only a few bodies buried here. Akiko glanced by one of them and blew on it to help reveal the characters.
Here lies Gin
Group of Terror
Kenta had looked at it for a moment and then kneeled by a different one. This one was just as ordinary. The tombstones were all basic, no fancy inscriptions or quotes. No one seemed to take care of the graves either.
Here lies Remus
Group of Terror
The two cousins ended up looking at the other graves as well, curious as to why most of them said Group of Terror below one, but Akiko saw one that looked somewhat taken care of.
Natala
Prisoner of the Living
Friends till the end, right?
At the bottom of it looked liked some other characters, but they were scratched out by a weapon or something used to carve stone with, "Prisoner of the Living?" Kenta asked in confusion, "Who writes that on a grave?"
Akiko stared at the gravestone, "The current wielder of Yatsufusa? Whoever made this gravestone didn't want anyone finding out who wields the weapon today."
Kenta frowned before nodding his head in agreement. The users of Yatsufusa tended to be a bit disturbing and they could hold a grudge.
"Actually looks somewhat visited," Kenta replied before repeating himself, "Bit creepy though, what demented person writes "Friends till the end," on someone's gravestone?"
"A very disturbed person?" As they made it out of the graveyard, they couldn't help but feel like someone was watching them.
-o-
They spent a few hours experimenting with their new weapons. And after a bit of experimentation, the pair had learned a fair bit about their weapons. Akiko's katana gave her power of the shadows much the way Yatsufusa's did, in a sense. While she could not employ the dead as her servants, she could create things out of the shadows. So far, she had created quite the impressively small butterfly, but she had a exhausted after she created the butterfly. It could also reappear and disappear but they had yet to see if it could appear to Akiko if it was taken away from a certain distance and other similar circumstances.
Hell's Fire: Inferno, the ring, did a bit more than just heat one's bath water. It allowed the user to create and control energy in the form of fire. It did not have the versatility of Shadow's Army, as it could not create shapes. Kenta had discovered that Hell's Fire caused Akiko's body temperature to raise severely which meant she could die because her body temperature became too high. They figured as the body adapted to the change in temperature, Akiko would be able to use it without touching things. Kenta had discovered that it did not existing fire like a different ring his family made, so in a sense, it was very similar to a blood type weapon.
Ten Thousand Suns: Golden Katana controlled light and could bend light to the user's will. When activated, it gave the user perfect vision, so when they sparred that night, all Kenta saw was a beautiful summer sun, nice and bright. It's only weakness was the darkness that Shadow's Army created. Other than that, it did not do anything too spectacular that they had discovered, but it was a weapon of the day, so maybe the fact that it was night influenced it greatly.
Kenta's belt, Lizard's Colors: Chameleon Scales, granted the user partial invisibility. It could not go completely invisible like Incursio's Trump Card, as it left a slight shimmering to a trained eye indicating Kenta's presence. It automatically gave the user claws instead of hands and hard scales around the neck and face.
"Can we trade?" Kenta asked as they headed back to the district of the capital they came from, once again passing through the creepy graveyard.
"Absolutely not."
"I would've chosen that one too!" Kenta protested.
"That's nice." Akiko said uncaring.
"I hate you."
"I'm younger and I'm a girl, ladies first after all!" Akiko grinned.
"I hate you." Was the repeated reply.
When they got to the district with many red lights, Akiko noticed a red full moon, "Someone's being killed tonight." Akiko noted, before noticing the moon's shine on the tattoo parlor that Kenta wanted to go to. She sighed, "Alright, we can get your stupid tattoos."
Kenta cheered and fist pumped, "Great! Let's go."
"Tomorrow." Akiko finished before walking away to a reasonably nice looking inn.
-o-
The next morning Akiko was the first to wake up, surprisingly. She bathed and dressed similar to the way she had yesterday before she headed downstairs. Despite the time, the inn's guests were alive with murmured whispers. It was well into mid-morning, don't these people have jobs? She noticed the innkeeper cleaning the counter of his desk.
Akiko approached the man, "What's up with everyone?"
"Night Raid struck again last night. The Prime Minister's furious."
"Who's Night Raid?" Kenta asked, walking up to the two all ready to go.
"Night Raid's a local band of terrorists who commit assassinations at night, hence the name."
"Who do they kill?" Akiko asked.
"So far it's been the influential the wealthy. There are rumors that they're connected to the Revolutionary Army." Kenta and Akiko, despite the anger they felt, did not allow their emotions to show.
"Interesting," Kenta said conversationally, "Do you have two sheets of paper and a pen?"
The man gawked at Kenta, shocked by the sudden change of topic, "Yeah sure," He mumbled before passing over the asked items. Kenta thanked the man and paid for their rooms.
They left the inn and headed over to the tattoo parlor. Kenta passed over a piece of paper and the pen to Akiko as they walked into the shop. They saw the man giving a customer an intricately drawn tattoo and decided that this tattoo artist was capable of giving tattoos that would not insult the family.
The man nodded at the two and got back to what he was doing, an assistant told them to wait about fifteen minutes and asked if they had an idea about what they wanted. The two cousins nodded.
Kenta led them over to a table where they started drawing their tattoos. They were both black and simple. Akiko's was like a legionary eagle, but it did not give the detail of the feathers, with three dots above the eagles head. Above the three dots was a small bit of fire. Kenta's was a triangle with an eye in the middle. Above the eye, but inside the triangle, he had the same three dots.
"Couple tattoos?" The tattoo artist asked as he approached the two and looked at their designs.
Akiko looked horrified at the prospect, the blood draining from her face. Kenta actually covered his mouth and ran around looking for a trash can. Upon finding one, he promptly emptied the contents of his stomach in it.
"Guess not," the man said laughing in amusement.
"We're cousins!" Kenta exclaimed throwing his arms around.
"Sorry, sorry," the man said holding up his arms in defense, "So who wants to go first?"
The cousins exchanged looks before Akiko stepped back indicating that Kenta should go first, "I'll be outside."
"It'll take about fifteen to twenty minutes," the tattoo artist said, "Be back in fifteen, if you can."
Akiko nodded in agreement and headed back into the red light district. She walked around and noticed some paper in an ally way. Wanted Posters. She looked through them, "Night Raid." She whispered glancing at them.
She looked over the basic descriptions of each of them, before noticing the one in the middle.
"Akame."
So Akiko knows where Akame is now. Trust me, there is a reason to having these tattoos. I can't reveal everything, and it may seem out of character, but there is definitely a reason. I promise.
Also, to the reviewer who said that my Teigus weren't strong enough to be considered Teigus -
I'm sure that Leone and Lubbock, even Akame, learned everything about their Teigu immediately. I'm sure it took some tries and failures for Lubbock to figure out how to use his string efficiently. Incursio probably didn't come with an instruction manual. So let's just assume that Kenta and Akiko haven't figured out how to completely use their abilities.
As always, rate and review.