"So Tatsumi, what brings you to the Empire's home?"

"Well, I live in a small village, not that it's much of a surprise, far to the north, lots of snow and mountains. Life is pretty hard up there, since it's so cold, our village has a lot of famines. I want to help change the future of our village. There were three of us to begin with, Sayo, Ieyasu, and I. We were the villages' only hope to begin with, we're the most able bodied at least, when it comes to being in the army. So we set off to join the army and make a name for ourself. I guess that didn't work, did it? Sayo and Ieyasu are dead, and I'm all alone," Tatsumi explained,

"Interesting, I think you'll fit right in with Night Raid."

"What exactly is Night Raid?"

"Well, we basically eliminate the scum of the Capitol while we wait for the Revolutionary Army to catch up," eyepatch lady explained.

"Catch up?"

"I assume you've heard of the Revolutionary Army?" receiving a small nod from Tatsumi, "We basically, are the small elite team of the Army. We exterminate what we can, without the true force of an army, though on our own, we do still pack a punch."

"So you kill the corrupt?"

"Yes, and when the time comes, we, Night Raid, will be the ones who assassinate the Prime Minister, the true reason this country is evil and corrupt. So what do you say, Tatsumi, will you join us?"

"You guys are like secret forces of justice!" Tatsumi cried in awe.

The room burst into laughter, "What we do is still murder, Tatsumi." Leone called from her place against the wall. Tatsumi's spirits dampened a little.

"I assume I'm killed if I don't join you?"

"No, but we can't let you go back. You'll be employed somewhere else in the Army, perhaps in the blacksmiths or stables. We'd have a use for you," the woman extended her metal arm, "What do you say Tatsumi, with that in mind, how would you like to join Night Raid?"

"I will."

"You know it is not guaranteed you'll be able to go back to your village if you join us."

"That's fine, if it means they will make it through the winters without famine or disease, that's fine with me!" Tatsumi's green eyes sharpened with determination.

"Very well, welcome to the life of carnage!" The woman sitting in the throne then turned to Kurome, "Kurome, you're in charge of training Tatsumi."

"Okay."

"Feel free to kill him if he becomes too difficult or misbehaves."

"Mmm," was her response, "Got it."

Kill me? Mmm?! I'm so, ultimately and thoroughly screwed!

Tatsumi was peeling potatoes in an unlit kitchen, the setting sun the only source of light, and it wasn't much at that. Kurome, his "mentor" was sitting on the island counter, opposite the sink, picking food to eat out of the fruit basket. She plucked a purple grape into her mouth contently, before grinning to herself. Time to have a little fun.

"Hey Tatsumi, can you please get that jar from the cabinet right about your head?" Kurome called innocently.

"Sure, no problem." Tatsumi grabbed the jar and was astounded by how much it weighed. He let it fall onto the counter next to the fruit arrangement, Kurome opened the jar lid, and found her prize. The jar was packed to the brim of cookies. It was the ultimate cookie jar. Inside were all assortments of filled cookies, some of them were chocolate chip, others oatmeal raisin, but most were a red jam filled cookie. Kurome grinned a grabbed a few and began chowing down on the cookies.

"Aren't you going to ruin your appetite?" Tatsumi asked, concerned.

"Mind your own business, and let me eat in peace."

"Are you going to help at all? You're supposed to be mentoring me! Not eating!" Tatsumi complained.

"Hey-o Tatsumi!" Leone cried waving her hand in greeting, "You got food ready? Need me to help set the table?"

"Yes I have the food ready, my "mentor" is supposed to be helping me, but uh she isn't," Tatsumi did, and unfortunately, Kurome was completely oblivious to the stress of his voice on a few of his words. She happily chomped on her.. grapes? Wait what? Wasn't she just eating cookies a couple seconds. Tatsumi whipped his head around and found the cookie jar out of sight. Hmm.. Suspicious

Tatsumi and Kurome were trudging up a large mountain before arriving at a picturesque view. Down below the edge of the path was a sparkling blue and turquoise lake. It looked to go pretty deep, so who knows what was in it!

Kurome dropped the basic off of her back, and suddenly tore off her clothes, much to Tatsumi's embarrassment.

"Why are you so concerned?" Kurome's voice asked, "Your face is turning an unhealthy shade of red, you know."

Tatsumi started fumbling of his words before he realized Kurome was wearing a red and black striped two piece bathing suit. "Oh never mind," he said sheepishly, "So what are we doing today?"

"We're going to hunt the fish that live in this lake. They make excellent dinners. On top of that, it's scales, when combined with the right ingredients, can make a delicious sauce for a cake recipe I want to try. The key is to hide your presence, like so." Kurome explained before diving perfectly into the water, seconds later three or four fish came flying out of the water and into her basket.

"Awesome!" Tatsumi exclaimed, Kurome might be rubbish help in the kitchen, but damn, she could do some pretty cool things. Tatsumi tore of his clothes hurriedly, "Let's do this!"

After three hours, Kurome's basket was over-flowing with fish, and she was sitting up at the cliff they first dived off from. Tatsumi, unfortunately for him, had managed to catch a single fish, and that was by luck.

Tatsumi's head popped out from under the water, "I'm never going to get this!"

"If you hide your presence, your basket will be over-flowing like mine is," why the calm reply.

"Do you want me to succeed?"

"Whether you succeed or not is by your own choice, but it's getting late, we should probably get back," Kurome called down.

The black-eyed girl stood up and stretched before putting her black sailor uniform and red side skirt back in place. She slid her red belt on, and made sure to fix her red gauntlets in the right positions before picking up her fish filled basket up. She made sure her hair was in it's customary twin-tail style before slowing walking back down to the Hideout.

Tatsumi cried out begging Kurome to wait for him, in response she called over her shoulder, "Tatsumi, your pants are own backwards!"

1 - Baozi is an Asian cuisine, served at all times of the day, but it's a common breakfast food. It can be filled with a variety of different things, usually meat and vegetables, as well as a red bean paste. Occasionally, there can be sesame seeds in it as well. It can be friend or steamed. Steamed is better, naturally.

We're finally getting into the fun parts of this book, where I can really put my own spin on this, around Episode.. I'd say 4 or 5 is when the story will drastically change, especially around Episode 8 (going by the anime here, though I did read the manga).

As always, rate and review please.