I laid on the ground, looking at the sky. So much has happened in the 4 months I've been here, I've killed strong opponents, suffered much grief and pain and my life has changed completely. Never during my 17 years at my village did I ever think my life would become like this, but I have no regrets, I've been sending money to my village and I've been training hard, very hard.

It's been quiet for the past month, too quiet, the boss suspects something big is about to happen and the Capitol has been preparing. Because of that, I've been training harder than ever. In my battle against the 3 beasts I've discovered a weakness. Bulat, Leone and Akame have been helping me train. Bulat has been helping me increase strength, speed and agility, I've been dueling Akame every day and Leone has been helping in her own way.

"Hey Tatsumi! Stop slacking! Break's over!" Bulat yelled. I sat up and looked at him.

"Ok, next is doing 100 push-ups with 100 pounds on my back right?" I asked. He shook his head.

"We are upping the level, you're going to either have Akame or Leone on your back." He said.

"Akame, I'm not ready for Leone on my back yet." I said almost immediately and I was eating dirt the next moment.

"Tatsumi, sometimes you need to know when stop talking." Bulat laughed, Akame smiled. I laughed too, 4 months with these guys have changed me, I feel way more relaxed, more safe, and in quite a while, more happy.

I looked at the sky and my smile stopped. I get the feeling that this atmosphere won't last long, somethings about to happen, something big. I smiled again, might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

"Hurry up! Let's get going!" I heard and I stood up and walked over to them, to my friends, companions.

My family.

A young man stood at the entrance to the city, he had dark blue hair and was wearing blue, all blue. But what caught most people's attention was a huge bag of fish on his back, a huge bag, and all fish. It is obviously not something one would see in the Capitol everyday so everybody knew who this guys was.

As he walked down the street he heard a lot of comments, not good ones.

"Another country kid."
"He's from the country."
"He must be from the country."

He continued walking down the street wondering why he feels like everyone is looking at him funny. He shrugged his shoulders and looked his weapon, hidden under the bag and out of view.

A while later, he stood in front of the room where his new teammates were supposed to gather. This young man's name is Wave, a kid from the seaside that idolized the Imperial Navy and joined at a young age of 14, he spent the last 3 and a half years of his life killing pirates and aquatic danger beasts. He was invited the join the Special Forces squad and today was the day he met his new teammates.

He stopped in front of the palace. His head was spinning and his eyes were wide.

'How the hell am I supposed to find the room?!' For someone who hasn't seen a mansion let alone the Capitol Palace, this was too much.

"Umm…" He heard behind him. He turned around and met face to face with a girl around his age.

She had brown hair tied in a pony-tail, she wore standard military uniform and armor. The only thing that stood out about her is a dog like object that stood beside her.

"Are you lost?" She asked. Wave shrugged.

"Kind of. I'm supposed to meet my new team somewhere in this palace, but I have no idea where to start." She smiled and saluted.

"No problem! Tell me which room and I will show you the way!" Wave nodded and thanked her. He showed her the document that held all the details. She nodded.

"Alright! I am also heading to that room." Wave looked surprised.

"Your one of my new teammates?" She nodded.

"My name is Seryu! This is Coro." She said. Wave nodded.

"I'm Wave, if you don't mind me asking, what is Coro?" She smiled.

"Coro is the name I gave him. He's an organic teigu." She looked at the time.

"Oh no! We must hurry or else we will be late." She started running, Coro flying behind her like a kite. Wave quickly followed.

As they ran down the halls of the palace, Wave started wondering how the hell anyone could know where they were going. All the halls looked the exact same to him, it was like a maze.

Before long, Seryu stopped in front of a door that looked exactly like all the others. The only thing indicating they were in front of the right door was the sign that read 'Conference Room'.

Wave took a deep, preparing himself. Just as he exhaled Seryu slammed the door open and he jumped. Due to the action he started choking. He desperately tried the stop himself but ended up tripping on his own foot, face planting on the ground.

He curled up into a ball.

"What are you doing?" He heard a voice and looked up. He was met by a dead-pan look. He sighed and pushed himself up. He searched his brain for a good excuse.

"Uh, comedy skit?"

The entire room was silent. He gave up.

He walked to his an open seat and placed his head on the table. He felt the eyes of everyone in the room on him and looked up.

There were 5 members in the room, including him.

There was Seryu, a black haired girl that gave him the deadpan look, a creepy man with a very odd mask, as well as a man with glasses giving him a creepy look. He was just about to put his head back on the table when the door opened again.

A guy with blonde hair walked in. He bowed in a formal manner.

"My name is Run, a pleasure to work with you." He said. He walked to the seat next to me and sat down. I looked at him and he smiled back. I placed my head back on the table.

We all sat in silence, the only sound was chewing sounds coming from the black haired girl.

Wave was slowly falling asleep when the door slammed open. Everyone looked up and saw a women with blue hair and a mask walk in.

"Why are you all here?" She asked in a commanding voice.

Wave stood up.

"We were told to assemble h-" He couldn't finish as he was kicked in the gut by the women, he flew straight into the wall. The wall cracked as he felt his consciousness leave him.

She then engaged the Run and he managed to block her attacks, Seryu jumped at her with Coro, but she grabbed Seryu and threw her onto the ground, blocking Coro with ice that spawned out of nowhere. She then turned around and dodged the younger girl, Kurome's slash. But her face mask cracked and she smiled.

"Teigu Yatsufusa, an impressive blade indeed." She said. The crazy looking guy, Bols, looked shocked.

"General Esdeath!" Wave woke up. They all bowed to Esdeath and she told them to stand.

"General, everyone is here. Do we have any orders?" Run reported. Esdeath shook her head.

"No, there are 1 more. I had no need to test him so I have already ordered them to wait in a separate room, you are all going to change into formal clothes and we are going to meet the Emperor."

After a while, they all met in the hallway now in formal clothes, Esdeath wearing her normal uniform. Beside her stood a boy who looked around 17, with black hair that spiked backward. He had a flute strapped on his back.

"Hey! My name is Yoshiro and I'm one of your teammates!" He said and looked at each of them but stopped to stare at Kurome. Kurome looked at him oddly.

"I won't give you any cookies." She said and he smiled.

"You… you're Akame's sister right." He said and immediately Kurome's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He smiled.

"I used to be on Akame's assassin squad, the only other one to survive. That is, until she betrayed me." He said with a smile. Kurome looked at him suspiciously but their conversation was interrupted.

"That's enough chit chat. Now I will bring you to the Emperor in order to tell you our purpose, but I will give that to you right now. Our purpose is simple, protect the Capitol, take on missions, stop the rebellion and destroy night raid."

"We are the Special Task Force, Jaegers."

"Tatsumi, are you ready for this?" Lubbock smirked at me.

I stood behind Lubbock in a library, he was about to show me the location of the secret hideout, but why exactly are we in a library, I don't know. Lubbock put his hand on one of the books and he pressed it into the wall, the bookcase slid open and revealed a staircase. I sweat dropped.

"You read too much manga." I said. He span around to me.

"Shut up. It's good for me, I get tons of ideas on how to use my strings." I sweat dropped again and began walking down.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" He yelled and chased after me. I was met by a room with the Night Raid banner on the wall and it was well decorated, Leone sat on the couch and welcomed me. I just smiled and took out Mein's wanted poster and frowned.

"Mein has finally recovered, but she can't move around freely anymore with her face everywhere. Now it's just us three." They nodded.

"Boss went back to the Revolutionary Army headquarters in order to turn in the 3 teigu's you and Bulat collected, but she also wants to see if she can get any more members." Leone said

"Our bigger problem is the Special Task Force that everyone's talking about, the Jaegers, with Esdeath as the captain they were probably created to fight us." Lubbock said. I looked at him at the mention of Esdeath.

"Just how strong is she?" I asked. The mood darkened.

"Alright, I'll give you an idea." Lubbock said.

"A few years ago, a tribal group rebelled against the Capitol. In theory they would have been easy to deal with, but the special task force deployed were destroyed by the tribe's use of the terrain, nature's brutality and sneak attacks at night. The young Esdeath and Najenda where sent as reinforcements, she literally froze the mile wide river that separated them from the tribes village, the frozen river allowed the whole reinforcement force to cross the river and completely obliterate the tribe." I felt a shiver down my back.

A teigu capable of creating ice out of nothing and freezing a mile wide river in seconds. Seems a bit over powered.

"Not to mention, the Jaegars have another very dangerous person. Yoshiro of the assassin squad, the one where Akame came from." I had my eyes wide. He knew Akame.

"Tell me more." I said. They looked at me oddly.

"A few years ago, Akame's assassination squad, the elite seven, faced a suicide mission. Of the 8 people sent, the 7 members and the leader with Akame and Yoshiro among them, only the 2 of them survived. Akame and Yoshiro survived by the use of their Teigu, Akame had taken Murasame from the leaders corpse and Yoshiro had obtained his own earlier, they completed the mission but was not rewarded. Akame later came with us but Yoshiro continued in the capitol, making a name for himself as the second strongest in the Capitol."

I nodded, he was the second strongest in the Capitol huh? I smiled a bit, I could fight the second strongest to a standstill, but then I realized something. How can I fight Esdeath when I can't beat Yoshiro? They looked at me.

"If you want to see her yourself, you've got an opportunity. She is holding a martial arts tournament for one reason or another, there is prize money which you can probably send to your village." I thought about it, I've sent enough money for the village to use for a while, but the chance to check out Esdeath.

"I'm in."

The tournament was easy, 2 people fight and the winner moves on, the final is held in the audience of Esdeath and the winner gets a lot of money. I beat each opponent with bare hands easily, under the title of Tatsumi the hunter.

I didn't waste the past month, and I had trained harder than ever before and improved faster than I ever thought was possible.

The arena for the finals was huge, with a lot of people watching. I stepped out onto the floor and stood at the center, facing my opponent, who was a big man and looked like a bull, he looked menacing but I had no fear whatsoever, I have faced too many opponents that gave off a worse aura. I glanced to the side, there on the throne overlooking the arena was Esdeath, looking quite bored and beside him on one side was a blonde man wearing all white and on the other side.

My eyes widened, Yoshiro. Fear creeped into my heart, both from the feeling I got from fighting him last time, and the fact that he knew what I looked like. I shook my head, the fact he is looking at us and hasn't said anything means he either doesn't recognize me or forgot who I am. I breathed in, I need to focus on my opponent, Mein will never let me live it down if I lost to this guy. She had only just recovered and I am already suffering from her abuse.

"On the east side, Tatsumi the Hunter, on the west side, Kalbi the Butcher." The guy announced, he was a guy with blue hair.

"Oh? You know I'm a level 9 master of Koukenji and I ain't losing to a squirt like you." I just glared at him.

"Begin!" The guy in blue yelled.

At the signal, Kalbi charged at me and began punching me at high speeds, I saw each and every punch clearly, like time around me slowed down. I parried each punch skillfully and he raised his arm a bit too high, allowing me to swipe his feet from under him and I spun and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying, he tried to get up but I jumped up and did a summersault and landed on his back, sending cracks through the ground and he fainted.

"Winner is, Tatsumi." The announcer said, after a small pause as if trying to comprehend the battle had ended that quickly. The crowd cheered and I suddenly felt a bit warm and fuzzy, and couldn't help but give a small, genuine smile. I heard footsteps to my right and I looked.

Esdeath came down to the ring, I looked at her and had to force myself not to glare.

"Tatsumi… Right? Your performance was magnificent, I want to give you a reward." I closed my eyes and calmed myself, money is money, no matter who is giving it to me.

"Thank you very much." She approached me and I suddenly felt something click onto my neck, my eyes snapped open. I saw she had a collar around my neck.

"W-what are you…?"

"Shhh, from now on you belong to me."

"E-eh?" That's all I could get out of my mouth before she began dragging me by the neck.

"This place is too crowded, let's go somewhere else." She said. I tried to resist but she knocked me out. The last thing I thought was, 'what just happened?'

Then the world went black

Leone and Lubbock rushed back to the base and told the others what happened.

"What!? Tatsumi was taken away by Esdeath?!" Bulat.

"Did she find out that he was one of us?" Mein asked. Leone crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Don't know, he didn't show off any skills that might suggests being one of us. We watched as they went back to the palace and showed no signs that Tatsumi is in danger but, what do we do Bulat?" Leone asked the temporary leader.

Akame was panicking on the inside, her face showed worry. But she didn't say anything.

"First of all, we need to move the base farther away." Bulat said. They nodded, this place might not be safe anymore.

"What after? Don't tell me you want to go save him because that is stupid." Mein said. Bulat nodded.

"Your right, it's too risky. Akame, what do you think we should do?" Akame looked up. Why me?

She gritted her teeth, they were all looking at her and she couldn't avoid the decision. Should they go save Tatsumi? No, they might just be using him as bait, but the thought of Tatsumi dying made something burn on the inside.

"We… we won't make direct moves to save him, but he is a precious teammate and we will seize any opportunities to save him." Everyone smiled and nodded, Mein sighed.

The mood darkened again.

"Akame, there's one more thing, a very bad news." Leone said. Akame looked at her sadly, Leone nodded.

"Yoshiro, we saw him at the tournament, he matched the picture we got perfectly, and he is confirmed to be on the Special Task Force." Akame nodded, the burning feeling yet again creeping into her heart.

Why? Why did you not come with me?

Bulat looked at her sadly.

"There's no time to waste, Leone, I want you to keep an eye out on Tatsumi and report immediately if he is in danger. Akame and Lubbock, you two are going to help me move the hideout deeper into the forest." He said.

They all nodded and Leone head out. Akame closed her eyes one more time.

Don't die Tatsumi.

I woke up on a bed. A very grand bed, it was huge and soft and warm and immediately I knew this was not the hideout. What happened? I thought back and remembered everything. I narrowed my eyes, what did she want? I belong to her? What the hell? I shook my head and stood up and walked into the hallway.

"So you're up." I heard a voice. A familiar voice.

"So you do remember me. Why haven't you told anyone?" I asked. I turned around and came face to face with Yoshiro and his annoying smile.

"Heh, how do you know I haven't told anyone?" He asked.

"The fact I woke up on a soft bed and not in chains." I told him. He laughed.

"Ha! You're smart, and funny, I like you."

"Now tell me why." He stopped laughing and gave me a smile, but it was different, this was a regretful smile.

"Tatsumi… Is, is Akame safe?" He asked. My eyes narrowed.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Please." I looked at him oddly.

"Yes, she is safe." He smiled and looked out the window with a far away look.

"Anyways, I was told to wait until you woke up. You managed to catch Lady Esdeaths attention, she's fallen for you and now you are in for it." He said. I stood silent for a moment.

"Wait, what?"

"Didn't you hear me? She likes you." The world froze around me.

"What the hell?" Was all I could say before he dragged me away.

Only one thing echoed in my mind.

What the heck just happened?