I have read NRG latest chapter at the very moment and I sure as hell feel sad for that chapter, I on my part I am glad that I can carry all those feelings into this fanfic to make it a bit loose on the part of sad things.
Chapter 6: Kill the Three (Yep again).
Reira felt Goosebumps as she was looking at the window thinking about Lubbock risking his life to find about her sister, Scheele noticed that.
"You can tell us what is worrying you, Reira."
"It´s probably that rotten bitch of your sister, I will give her a lesson next time I see her." Mein added feeling irritated of losing to her upon shocking at seeing her face.
"Well, my sister does worry me, but I am much more worried about Lubbock"
"Ehh, that pervert? You really have a gross taste if you are worrying about that pervert comedian" Mein stated, making Reira blush a little.
"I-I-He is nothing of that sort—" She replied
"Ehh, D-don't tell me that you really, really have feelings for that guy, I was just battering around you know?" Mein asked after seeing her act like that.
"W-w-well, he teach me a lot of things, also, I was saved by her, so, so, I-I" She began but then changed subject, as she couldn't say it openly. "My sister, is really mischievous and manipulating" She said coldly.
Lubbock was dumbfounded as he stared at the body of their group´s target, her eyes, had such presence in them, that a cold sweat rolled from his cheek and crashed into the ground.
"Ohayouuuu!"
Her voice came high-pinched as she closed her eyes and gave an awe-inspiring smile, completely crashing the thoughts of a fearful enemy he had in his mind, she seemed to be, completely… childish.
"I am looking for a book"
Not even noticing her, Lubbock couldn't feel, not even tell when she had moved from the door to his side, not matter her lips were at a very dangerous short distance from him. He could even see her breasts more clearly from this distance and gulped hard as she was really just wearing bandages below that thick brown cloak.
"E-evening customer, what may I help you?" He asked, backing a little as doing so, feeling his face blush a little for the sudden approach from the girl. "Is this fucking adorable girl really the one that pushed us back!? The one that Reira fears about!?" Were his thoughts as the girl simply tilted her head and pressed her finger
"I am looking for war books, the bloodier the better" She said giving him a genuine smile.
Lubbock heard her voice and then noticed something, there was a really good book about war, but it was called the Bloody Revolution, since it was a forbidden book, he had hid the mechanism for the Capital secret base there, he gasped and looked at her with new-founded fear, was that girl…
"Miss costumer, I-I do have the book that you are looking for, b-but, seeing you in that clothes, I don't think you can afford it" He said again blushing while the girl instantly took her cloak off, showing her silk-like body.
At distance, the shape was already tempting for his eyes, her body was really similar to her sister, but her skin seemed to be prettier. He knew that as he had spied on her in the past and recognized such toned figure, but it wasn't her body what actually made him blush harder, it was her attire behind the cloak.
Her most sensitive parts were covered, but now their appeared to be more delicious for his sight, after all, only three strip of bandages conformed her top, covering only her generous chest, it didn't lack, and it didn't surpassed, but it tempted him really a lot.
Her lower clothes weren't less charming, there were exactly seven lines of bandages that formed a hand-made short that sadly, left everything well covered so that no-one could spy her most private part, but it would be a lie if such a sight didn't give him a hard moment to calm himself, minutes that Nova enjoyed gracefully.
"Cover yourself, really" he said as a nosebleed almost escaped from him and he threw his apron at her to hide such distracting sight. "She keeps distracting me all the time!" He thought as he gave her a little glimpse again, just to find her sweetly blowing air at his ear.
That made Lubbock fall to the floor but first in surprise, how could she move that fast without being noticed was just one of his fears, but this terminating cuteness was the hardest obstacle he had to face, but soon he realized his mistake, as she raised her foot and pushed it against his chest, pinning him to the ground, softly.
"Mister, you are so full of my body, that your true colors are showing" She said still carrying the same smile until she opened her eyes and the cold stare pierced the wire-user again. "I have money that I received from killing Zank the beheader after all."
Her voice come now colder, Lubbock realized late, that the whole childish play was actually fake, and what she was aiming was to toy him, he confirmed that she was in fact, Nova Argos, Reira´s twin sister, and the one who understood people, to the point of being able to read them as open books with just a glance at that person. He was glad at least that she hadn't-, no, he couldn't think about that or she would know it.
"The book is at the furthest corner, you may need the stair case to reach it." He stated trying as hard as he could to not think about anything else.
The girl simply nodded, but instead of moving there she simply looked at the books in the center and grabbed a book from the middle surprising Lubbock at the book she grabbed was the book that contained the mechanism.
"You better down your dagger, Lubbock" She said coldly as she was reading the book cover.
Right behind her, at millimeters of her, a dagger was pointing at her neck, but it stood froze as the owner shake, just from her voice he had to stop, or things will get bad, he would plant it as thief trying to steal from him and then kill her, but her voice killed every hope.
"I know that too, you want to mask this as a thief robbing your place, but, being honest, look at my clothes, smell the air, people will notice that I already planted another story here, what will you do if the men posted at this block corner come here, they are imperial policemen, probably looking for the culprit that killed that girl with the imperial arm. Yes the one you beheaded, and foolishly you brought your Teigu with you today so if I were to be found with this book here, and the story I planted, you know what will happen, no Lubbock?" She said and then asked softly without facing him.
Lubbock stared at her with amazement as he now realized, he gave her his apron, he probably shared scent with her so the possibility of her being a thief was already out, a servant, would do the job, but then if she were to die, and people came here rushing, they will see and question the book on the floor, he wasn't able to bribe policemen as this place mostly worked as a second hideout, so they would confiscate everything, and luckily just close his shop, but if it was worse then—
"You are really a calm and collected person, which is interesting." She said as she closed the book and placed it back at the stare case before facing him again.
Nova slapped his hand with such strength that the dagger was sent flying and stabbed at his desk. Lubbock was silent as she approached him nearer until she was simply one step away.
"I am free to do as I please, so, since I wasn't asked to kill any of you by the people I live with, I won´t kill you" She said as she simply left the place.
When her presence vanished Lubbock kneeled and breathed heavily, somehow she knew where they were, and he needed to inform about that to the others, they needed to move to another base as soon as they could, or at least to a campsite away from there, she was, like Reira had said, a frightening person.
Nova covered herself with her cloak again, she felt actually hot because of the apron she was wearing alongside her clothes, but she kept it with her, she had actually heard noble things from the people from the slums about Night Raid, as well as lies of people that said that they were merciless killers tormenting the people in the capital.
Yet there she was, in the middle of all this mess of a world, really knowing what people thought was a pain in the ass for her, when males with weird intentions approached her, she would brush them off, but there were some of them who were really pushy, like Captain Ogre from the Imperial police, she had never knew about somebody as corrupt as him, but as well, for some reason, the sick bastard approached her with the true, which surprised her a little.
The male simply pestered her to enter in the Imperial Army, but not as a loyal soldier, like he had to pretend to be the whole time, but as a little special-force within the empire that would act as spy inside of them. At first the thought was outrageous for her, but after being a few weeks in the capital, she was about to accept, when she heard about his death.
Only a few times Nova had felt anger in her short life. That was one of them.
She returned to the slums, were Captain Ogre´s family, the real one, lived, it was a very brought down house, the walls were made of crude material, all that he could afford to do without letting his second marriage knew about them, in one of their meetings Nova had the chance to know his fake wife, what her eyes saw inside of that person made her vomit that night.
"To think that those guys are actually, charming, it makes me want to join them, but, I have my proper plans" She said to herself as she entered in such house, just to be greeted by three children who hugged her tenderly.
"Mommy, Mommy" They said as they grabbed her bringing her in. "Nova-nee-chan is here"
A woman appeared at the entrance almost instantly, she was wearing dirty clothes and had bags below her eyes, probably produced by countless night deprived of a peaceful sleep, her hair was dirty black, she hadn't even take a bath properly. Nova took of her cloak and the apron, giving it to her.
"I may be a girl that lack clothes, but you should rest a little, I have avenged your husband, haven't I?" She asked taking the woman to a sofa.
"Nova, you should stop, you already took revenge from my husband. There is no need for you to continue working in our sake." She started.
"Save the sermon, ok?" She said as she sat in front of her, just to have the children grabbing her hair playing with it. "I was asked by him to take care of you if he were to die, and I always put my promises priority, also, you don't have to worry anymore, I found out that the prime minister is looking for people to make a special group to seize Night Raid."
"Well they commit murder, soon enough the Prime minister would do something about them" She responded looking at her. "Don't tell me—"
"I will try to join them." She told, simply, looking calm as if there was nothing special about it.
"What the hell are you saying!"
Upon hearing her, the woman stood up and grabbed the girl by her shoulders shaking her like crazy as if the idea was already the very description of madness, until Nova stopped her kindly.
"I won´t let you sell your body, your children need of their mother as well as you need of them to keep going, so, I will do my best to protect you, and all of them."
"But Night Raid, isn't a normal assassination squad, not only they are powerful, but also, they fight for our cause, for the weak" She would say trying to make Nova stop thinking of hunting them.
"I will do, what I need to do and now, I will leave" She said as she stood up, grabbing her cloak again.
While she did so, Nova grabbed a small bag from inside her bandages, hidden between the strips that were fixed on her hips and she laid it on the table.
"Here is a little money I got from hunting Zank last time, use it wisely until I get a pay-check or something of that sort" She would say as she left covering her body with the cloak before setting a foot outside, after all, showing off her alluring body would only increase the amount of burdens that will molest her.
The girl roamed a few hours around the slums, looking at its people as well as doing one little help after another to anybody that needed her, she was a bit fond of this place, specially how people in here fight to live day after day, which seemed to be difficult as the empire was such a rotten place that she could feel the thoughts of revolution, aching in their heads.
Nova wasn't so comfortable with the idea of revolution, after all, there would be an enormous blood-shed in this place, involving innocent people that struggle in their daily lives, she preferred, a more subtle way, achieve power was just the first step, but the next was the ideal of dictating new laws to protect poor people, providing equal taxes based on their standards, as well as improving the jobs of the poor, and killing every single bastard that dare to oppose her weaker survival tactic.
She was focused in this thought when she bumped into another person making her fall, but first on the ground. "Ouch, ouch" She groaned as little protection give the bandages that covered her body.
"Oh, excuse me, I wasn't paying attention"
The voice reached Nova´s ears and immediately, she recognized something in that voice, it was, like hers, faking feelings to other people, she could even deduce that that person was already looking down on her, after all an seventeen years old girl wasn't that great as a middle-aged woman, or somebody that could impose their presence much more than her, when she wasn't trying of course.
Nova rejected the offering hand and softly stood up, slapping her cloak to get rid of all dust on it, then she gently looked at the blond-young man, who for an instant, looked really surprised of her reactions but without a second he returned to wear a smile on his face.
"This girl is just a whore that works from the slums, it´s a pity, she is so young, her eyes look like mirrored ice, for some reasons…are you really looking into my mind, it´s disgusting stop it"
Those words weren't from the mouth of the young man, but Nova´s, with every phrase she said the look on Ran´s face distorted almost completely as he never thought of meeting a girl with such ability roaming the slums.
Quickly Ran closed her mouth with this hand to stop her voice, giving her a nasty look as if she were just a piece of shit and nothing else, clearly, the little mind reading that Nova did infuriated him, to the point of pressing his hand violently against her mouth, as if trying to make her eat them, marking his fingers on her cheek.
Nova grabbed his arm and slowly removed the stranger´s hand from her mouth, he wanted to talk back quite a lot to him, but resisted the temptation, after all, reading his mind proved to be a useful thing for her making her smile kindly to him in response to his glare filled with disgust.
"Gomen, I think I overdid it, but, as for what I saw, I didn't want to look like a mere poor person to you, as, our intentions seem to match" She said and then yelped as Ran pressed her against a nearly wall, hiding themselves in a small alley and again pressing his hands on her mouth.
"Simply, shut up and listen, who else knows about everything I planned?" He asked, his voice now coming full of hatred and worry.
Nova started to look a little irritated from the sudden assaults of the young man, clearly saying she wanted to snap his hand off, but she couldn't bare herself to do that, after all she saw in his mind, the pain and resolve he had within him, more to say, she wanted to comfort a male like him, not even knowing, she started to feel pity for him.
"mmhf mhhehfh mhsfff!" she tried to talk but the hand on her mouth prohibited that action, and the alley was so small that when she realized the proximity of their bodies, for the first time she worried about her clothes.
Noticing what happened quickly. Ran removed the hand from her mouth and separated from her moving to his side, so they both could face each other, yet making a few feathers from his Teigu to appear, treating her by showing off their ability to pass through the wall bricks, cutting them with ease.
"You better tell me, or I will have to use them on you, after all, you won´t be missed" His words came as a treat, but those weren't what made Nova blush a little and for the second time in her life, feel ashamed. "Please be honest, I don't desire to dig your grave"
This stranger, caring for her to that point, wishing for her voice to come out in the form of a reply, did she needed more to feel ashamed?, her clothes were only threads of bandages that merely cover the essential parts, she noticed it, even with his mask full of liars, she could sense and notice, his worry.
"I am the sole person with this curse, since my birth, I can read people, more to say, it´s like a complete understanding of them" She replied. "As you can see, my eyes become different when I am not looking at you, it´s something I can´t really control, Ran."
Ran was dumbfound at hearing her, but it had to be true, there was enough evidence for him to believe in her words, or she was a spy for the Empire and they already knew his plans, he needed to be sure.
"I know, that you want to use me, to find that person who murdered your students, and I know that too, that you believe I am a spy send from the Empire to eliminate you." She replied to his way of thoughts, sending him on the believing on her route again.
"Will you accept?" He asked simply. "There is no need for me to tell you everything. After all, you know everything, isn't it?"
Nova nodded and Ran relaxed making his feathers disappear, then he approached her and lifted his hand and pressed the top of her head gently, with this, some form of society formed between them, just like how she formed one with Ogre, out of disgust from the current empire.
Ran´s wave of thoughts dashed to the point of making Nova stomp one of his foot with slowly, but making sure the pressure bother him, enough to pay attention to her. As Ran looked at her, he found her pouting, but that didn't surprise him, instead it was the reason of her pouting what bothered more.
A few males were covering both entrances of the alley, they weren't the occasional people that would like to know what happened, not even gossipers trying to sell information or trying to know about everything they could, those males were simply thugs, scum of the society that would take advantage of the situation and if her words about them being equals were honest, then those guys, probably were total scums.
"It would be a problem to fight them in this closed space, shall we endure it?" He asked but Nova could see, that Mastenma was already producing a few wings, it made her smirk, they were really alike.
"Close your eyes and count to three every scumbag here shall disappear" She replied and her voice actually made him blink in surprise.
One second, she had already jumping backwards and having pressed her feet on the nearer guy face, digging her talons on his eyes, then she pushed him outside the alley along with the other that was behind him, the blood that came from his face spoke on its own, he was already death.
Ran blinked again in sheer surprise as he, and that summed another second to the count in which she managed to use the impulse from the first guy she attacked to pass up him and reach the guy nearest to Ran delivering a powerful kick that cut the wall just to make space for the attack to go in and buried the guy´s face onto the other wall.
The third second and blink came, as Ran was now mixing horror and a little of awe in his new little partner as she in the last second she had asked for, managed to grab the last guy by his neck and crush it on the floor in a light, swift motion.
That wasn't sheer destructive force, it was a calculated act, a very cold and calculated one, same as for her next actions.
Tears.
Nova kneeled in front of Ran as people gathered to see what happened, such noise wasn't normal in the slums, and of course gossipers would like to know all the story as Nova started to cry while her hands wiped the tears that came to her face.
"I am glad, that you were here, you saved me from these guys, I am glad" She repeated, giving all the information Ran needed to complete the act as he gently covered her a bit, using her own cloak to hide the bruises on her legs and arms that she had made on herself while attacking in such a crude way.
A soundly wave of claps filled the silence alongside Nova faked hiccups and sobs, while inside her she was grinning playfully, having read the last wave of thought in Ran´s mind.
"This girl is unique"
On Night Raid´s base, Lubbock had returned from the Empire, his face resembled the fear he had faced, alongside a bit of humiliation for being tricked by her, and the idea of Nova looking like Reira that much didn't help the matter at all.
"Calm down Lubba, you are not the only one that feels that way" Akame said trying to cheer him up as he was in a really gloomy state.
"Even Lubbock came in contact with her, she seems to be really somebody we must care about, and us even got notice of Esdese arrival to the capital" Najenda said smoking in the dining room with the healthy members of Night Raid as she read some papers with information regarding other parties inside the empire.
"If those forces were to join, it would be really bothersome, we need to eliminate her fast" Bulat announced.
"I agree, but first we should do other things" Najenda said as she showed a paper with the emblem of Night Raid on it.
"Boss, that is…" Tatsumi said looking at the poster. "A nice poster to claim for our actions?"
Immediately Najenda punched Tatsumi for his stupidity. "No, these are fake posters, it seems that as soon as Esdese returned from her mission she assigned her personal squad to kill members of the council that favor people and they are trying to make those actions look as ours" She added as a few drafts were picked by Bulat, who clenched his fist immediately in the sole disgust of the images.
"Understood, then we will prepare to depart and protect the potential targets" Akame said.
"I will pair with Tatsumi, I may use this opportunity to teach him a few things" Bulat said as he combed his hair.
"Hai Aniki" Tatsumi declared gripping his sword firmly.
Akame turned to see them a little shocked, but quickly returned to her normal expressionless demeanor as Lubbock pushed her back a little. "Then it seems we are going to be together"
"After you return we will move to a safe-zone, so try to do the job quickly and professionally. We can´t allow people like them to perished in the claws of this empire." Leone said and they nodded.
A few hours later, Tatsumi and Bulat were in front of a huge ship with dragon emblems, inside it, a soft music was being played. The melody was calm and relaxing, and the charming scent of the food indicated that in the place a party had started.
Tatsumi dressed in a white suit, with a wine-colored shirt and a black tie, he didn't carry his sword due the importance of mixing with the crowd, his attitude, however, reflected that he was a country boy instead.
On the other hand, Bulat was wearing his Incursio armor already in stealth mode to pass un-noticed, he was also, reflecting on the events and how much Tatsumi would be the key for their victory. His mind also drifted, from time to time, to the other new member of Night Raid, he had trained her every morning since she arrived, with the exceptions of the presents days, as she had to recover her left arm.
While he was thinking about those individuals, his sight was fixed in Tatsumi and as soon as he noticed that the ship was actually ready to sail he pushed his shoulder to surprise the guy who looked everywhere trying to find him.
"I am here Tatsumi." Bulat said with his arms crossed. "You need to be on guard everytime and mind your surroundings. I know that I couldn't teach you much about it, so this would be a nice opportunity for you to learn quite a lot from me.
"Hai Aniki!" He exclaimed marveled with Bulat determination.
"And if you get hurt I will surely carry you to the infirmary" Bulat added with the well-know flowers aura behind him while blushing softly.
"Please deny that already" Tatsumi thought with an annoyed face.
Instants later Tatsumi was rounding the grand hall inside the ship, there were a lot of recognizable people, lords, counselors, all people of such fortune and fame that Tatsumi wondered if there weren't a few corrupted ones deep inside their core, but he couldn't see inside their minds, so he simply surveyed them, he had to find the culprit that tainted Night-raid´s name.
Old geezers, old women, the casual grannies, young fiancés, little boys and girls, everybody seemed to be really normal, he couldn't sense not even a little pint of bloodlust from any of them, so he decided to go outside he would like to exchange information with Bulat.
Outside the ship, Tatsumi looked around to see if he could spot Bulat, but even with being a little accustomed to Incursio´s stealth mode, he couldn't spot him, was he really that lame in the end?
As he was sighing heavily a soft melody started to play, it was weird for him as he supposed that there was no-way for him to hear the music from grand hall, what was worse, it seemed that the music, was soothing him to the point of weakening his body greatly.
"Is this the power of a Teigu, w-when did this melody start?" He asked to himself holding his head.
Tatsumi realized that he didn't have a sword to fight with him, something that really worried him, if the enemy appeared he would be totally unarmed and will probably be a burden for Bulat, if he hadn't clashed with the enemy and meet his end, no, he couldn't think like that, Bulat had proved to be a really strong warrior and master, he needed to believe in him.
Soon heavy footsteps reached Tatsumi´s hear and he turned around to see the source meeting with a very large and bulked up man. His eyes were totally white and he wore a black leather jacket with black trousers and boots, his arms, carried a pretty large obsidian-colored double axe, probably a Teigu. He wondered how that man could move that easily with the music still playing on the background, on the other hand, the soothing effect really reduced his movement, were all Teigu users that great?
"Oh, it's quite interesting to see that there is someone still awake, you must be a member of Night-Raid, right?" The man asked, walking towards him, and impressive bloodlust showing his intentions.
"And you must be one of the fake members, to be framed by the likes of you. Night-Raid is not a group of vermin, like your group!" He stated furiously trying to shake off the effect of the melody.
"Heh, I see, you really like to run your mouth kid, my name is Daidara, and killing you will prove to be a really good experience!" The other male stated as he lunged at Tatsumi swinging his large axe downward at him.
"Not a chance!" Tatsumi stated jumping to his side and bringing his force to deliver a powerful kick on his arm, a bad movement.
Daidara bulked his arm to deflect great part of the kick making Tatsumi retaliate and quickly swung his axe trying to sever his stomach which Tatsumi barely evaded ripping part of his suit and shirt, revealing a little of his naked abdomen.
"Pretty good reflexes, but as soon as my friends arrive here you will die" He declared separating his axes in two tomahawks styled ones. "That is if you survive enough for them to arrive here first."
With that phrase the larger male launched his weapons which Tatsumi closely dodged by rotating in the air while jumping, then he could feel that they were returning to his owner and skillfully back-jumped to dodge them again, he was kind of glad that watching Akame and the others dodge this kind of attacks really paid off, as the previous he would naturally die in an attack of that kind.
Daidara whistled impressed by those reactions, well, he at least expected that somebody of the supposed strongest group of assassins should be able to dodge those attacks, but, not having a weapon, his opponent had really made a huge mistake.
Tatsumi remembered what Akame said to him about fighting opponents when you didn't have your weapon, and his breath grew heavily, he had to somehow dodge those things during next time so that he could reach him and change the combat to close quarters and he had to hurry if he wanted to avoid the enemy´s comrades to arrive at the scene, but his plan failed as soon a high-pitched voice was heard.
"Ehh, so you haven't finished the enemy yet, Daidara?" A young blonde boy asked.
Immediately the voice made Tatsumi raise his head and he quickly saw them, one of the other strangers was an older man around his forties, he seemed to be the leader of the group while the other merely looked like a child even younger than him, he carried a flute on his hands so that was probably the melody he had heard all the way during the fight, hopefully the effects will end soon and he would fight accord, but now he was against three Teigu users by himself.
Daidara launched at Tatsumi to continue his attack backed with the other two, who, to Tatsumi´s surprise were forced backwards by the swing of Bulat´s lance, which made them collide with the ship´s wall, harshly breaking it, as a few slashes were heard and a green haired silhouette appeared from behind Tatsumi jumping as she rolled in the air and brought her tonfa blade against Daidara who used his Teigu to block it, surprised of the amount of strength that arm had.
"It was really mean of you two to let me out of this, I told you baka-tsumi that I am your knight right" Reira said cheerfully, having her left arm bandaged and only missing her hand already.
"R-Reira! What the hell are you doing here!?" He shouted, dumbfound at her presence in the ship as she smirked softly.