Hello everyone! :) As you can see, I'm still alive x) And I have the pleasure of saying that I'm officially done with high school :D I know that it's not everyone who's interested in an author's life, but still!

Anyway, enjoy this chapter! More to come later!

Soul in the Dream

CHAPTER 9

(Normal POV)

For their fist mission, Leone had led Tatsumi and Hitomi in the Capital, near a bridge, where they would split up to complete their tasks.

"If you go straight that way, it'll lead you straight to Main Street.", Leone explained.

"Got it!", Tatsumi nodded. Hitomi just smirked and nodded as well. Leone looked at Tatsumi with a somewhat concerned look.

"... You wanna hear a story about Akame?", she asked.

"Huh?"

"Ooh! I wanna!" The lioness sighed, then began her tale.

"When Akame was young, her and her sister were both bought somewhere in the Empire. Well, you know... poor parents selling their kid is a pretty common story." At that moment, Hitomi's smile faded. He didn't know what it was like to have parents like that, but he knew it would be painful. "Anyways, her and another girl in the same situation entered assassination training together.", Leone continued her tale. "There she learned how to kill people... She survived, in that hellish situation. And she worked under the orders of the Empire. She was the perfect assassin..." The two boys listened to her story without interrupting. Even Hitomi was dead serious now. "But, each time she carried out her duty, she could feel more of the darkness within the Empire. "The Boss, who was her target at the time, succeeded in persuading her... to defect from the Empire, and join the Revolutionary Army that cared only about the people. By that time, it seems most of the comrades she had grown up and trained with are dead..."

"... I don't feel like joking about this...", Hitomi said with a sad tone. He then smiled. "I'll just make sure to survive, so she won't have to live through this! Come on, buddy, let's kill an ugly face!", he exclaimed dragging Tatsumi along.

"Good hunting!", Leone wished, back to her cheerful side.

Elsewhere in the Capital, Gamal was walking towards his chambers. Appearance-wise, someone like Hitomi could only refer to him as a walking tumor. "Hahh,", the merchant sighed. "I need to use the toilet. I wonder if I'll have to take it again."

"Don't worry... I'll give it to you, Gamal.", Leone said from behind him as she grabbed him by the neck.

"Ack!", he made before Akame appeared from the shadows and pierced his heart with her sword. "Gah!", he let out again before dying.

"You're lucky to have been killed by two beauties!", Leone exclaimed, grinning. "Well then... I wonder how the boys are doing with the tougher target..." Akame didn't respond, thinking about the possible outcomes of the boys' first mission.

Meanwhile, on Main Street, a large muscular man was slowly walking, clearly intoxicated by the alcohol. He had graying black hair, with four ponytails on braids on the back of his head wrapped in white cloth. He had a large star-shaped scar over his missing left eye, while his remaining eye was red with a black sclera. His teeth were also quite sharp. This man was Ogre, also known as the Demon.

"Sake is so good after a thorough interrogation.", he said to himself while blushing due to the alcohol.

"Ogre-sama!" Someone was calling him over.

"Hmm?" Before him stood two shady-looking men.

"We just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done.", one of them said.

"And thank you for the other day.", the other one said, smirking deviously.

"No problem.", Ogre replied, shrugging off the thanks with a hand. "Come to me with whatever troubles you have any time.", he said as he walked away from the smirking men. Ogre then smirked himself. 'I am the king of this city...!, he said in his mind. 'The highest authority. I can do whatever I want, as much as I want!'

"... Uhmm... Ogre-sama.", said a voice behind him.

"What?", the man asked, glancing at the figure, who was Tatsumi draped in a white cloak.

"I have something I would like to speak with you about..."

"What...? Spit it out, then."

"Talking about it in the open like this would be a little problematic..." 'I can't believe I agreed to do this!', Tatsumi cried in his mind.

(Hitomi's POV)

"Can you tell me in this alleyway?", I heard a gruff say below me. I was standing on one of the various balconies above the alleyway, waiting for our prey. I then saw Tatsumi walking in with an... ugly man behind him, looking impatient. I smirked.

'This'll do', I thought, looking each details of his face. 'This is gonna be fun...'

"Hey. This place is fine, right?", the man, who was probably Ogre, asked Tatsumi. My friend then continued his act and lowly bowed before the older man.

"I beg of you!", he pleaded, on his knees. "Please allow me into the Capital defense force! I must earn enough money to send back to my home in the country, sir!"

"Ha~~hhhh...", Ogre sighed deeply, scratching his head. "I thought it would be something like this. Then apply through the normal process, idiot!", he said before turning his back and walking away. I took this as my signal to attack. I drew my sword and jumped off the balcony.

"Surprise attack!", I yelled while aiming my swing at his neck. However, he was quicker than I thought and rapidly drew his own sword and blocked my attack.

"Who the hell would scream 'Surprise attack!' while assassinating someone..?", Tatsumi deadpanned as I fell beside him with an 'Oof!'

"Did you think... that I, Ogre the Demon... would really be killed by the likes of snot nosed little shits like you...?" ... Yeah, he was mad now... "The weak don't matter... Only the strong matter in this city..." Ogre now started to yell, baring his sharp teeth. "I PASS JUDGEMENT ON PEOPLE! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUDGE ME!?"

Silence.

"Huh?", I said, as if breaking from a trance. "Did you say something?", I asked. Ogre didn't say anything, just growled at me, slowly lifting his sword.

"Oh..? So that's how you're gonna be, brat..?", he finally said, smirking in anticipation. I smirked as well.

"We're talking about brats now? Speaking of young people, was it your mom or dad who beat you up when you were a kid?", I asked him, still smirking. Ogre looked confused by my question, but still kept up his guard.

"Huh..? What do you mean..?"

"I mean, one of them gave you that black eye, right?", I said matter-of-factly, pointing to his right eye, which literally had a black sclera. That seemed to anger him, but he controlled himself, much to my chagrin.

"Oh.. A funny one, I see...", Ogre growled. "You won't be like that for long!", he barked, charging at us, intent on killing us on the spot. I managed to get up and prepared myself to block, but Tatsumi quickly got between me and Ogre to intercept the hit. "HAHH!", Ogre yelled when the blades clashed. I was surprised when the ground below them caved in, overwhelmed by the Demon's strength.

"Holy hell...", I muttered at my enemy's display of power.

"I see..." Ogre said as he looked Tatsumi in the eyes. "You belong to that Night Raid group, don't you?"

"No shit, Black-eye.", I deadpanned. "Give him a medal, Tatsumi."

"Now's not the time, Hitomi!"

"So I was right...", Ogre pondered. "Who hired you to kill me? You happen to know a lot about me..." He then seemed to realise. "Was it possibly the bitch fiancé of the guy who was executed the other day?" Oh-oh... "I'm right, aren't I...?", he asked when he saw my reaction. "I knew it would have been best to kill her as well... No... It's still not too late to kill her!" He lifted his eye to the sky as he thought about the perfect plan. "First, I'll have to find her, of course. And then, I'll find the rest of her family, and arrest them as criminals. And then I'll force her to watch as they are executed, one by one...! But only after I've killed you!", he roared, glaring at Tatsumi, who was starting to struggle keeping Ogre's sword away from him.

"Yeah, how about no?", I asked from behind him.

"Whaa-!", he didn't have time to finish as I drove my blade in his neck, the tip appearing on the other side. While he was talking and bragging about his future plans, I sneaked my way behind him before he could notice.

"You sure about that?", Tatsumi asked. We were at my house's door front, the letter for my parents in hand.

"Of course I am.", I smiled. "It's for the best. They'll understand." I slipped the piece of paper under the door before turning to my friend. "Alright, I'm done here. Let's go brag, now!"

Good job on dealing with the target!", the Boss praised after we finished our report. "Excellent!"

"Thanks!", me and Tatsumi said, pleased with ourselves.

"Although...", the Boss glared at me, making me shiver. "Refrain from doing any more 'surprise attacks'. It could've cost you your life." I shrugged.

"Meh, I'm not hurt as you can see, so- Hey what the..!", I exclaimed as I felt two hands stripping me of my jacket and proceeding to take my shirt.

"Leone, Boss, take care of Tatsumi!", Akame ordered, my clothes in her hands.

"Understood." "Oh! This seems like fun.", they replied before grabbing my friend and stripping him.

"Wh... What's going on...?", Tatsumi stammered. "You can't possibly be wanting to have...!"

"Noooo!", I yelled as my pants went down. "I'm too young for thiiiis!"

"Thank goodness...", Akame said, surprising us.

"Huh?" We looked up and saw our normally stoic black-haired friend smiling brightly, with a relieved look.

"I've seen friends die from poison because they wanted to be tough and not report the wound.", Akame explained. "But you two seemed to be undamaged." She extended her hand for us to shake. "The mortality rate for those on their first mission is high... You did very well!", she concluded as she shook our hands.

"Th... Thanks.", Tatsumi said, not really sure what to add.

"Akame was hoping you two would live.", Leone added. "She would have been lonely without at least one of you."

"You know, you learn to communicate with your comrades while cooking.", the Boss said, ignoring the 'I didn't cook!' I added. "You learn to kill through a difficult hunt... Did you notice that everything you did in those days was beneficial to you?"

"Eh... Oh... Really?", Tatsumi asked, a little embarrassed. "Sorry, Akame... I... misunderstood."

"It's all right.", said girl replied. "From here on, please continue coming back alive... Tatsumi, Hitomi."

"Sure.", Tatsumi nodded.

"That won't be a problem.", I nodded, smirking.

"Please take care of us, Akame!", Tatsumi added.

"I wonder what his intentions are saying that while almost naked!", Leone chortled, looking as me and Tatsumi were, indeed, almost naked while close to Akame. I sighed.

"You guys are the ones who stripped us!", Tatsumi retorted.

"... Okay.", the Boss ignored our quibble and pondered on something. "Next, you'll be working under Mine, you two,", the Boss addressed us. "so do your best."

"... Geh?", Tatsumi made when he heard Mine's name. Oh, right, he doesn't like her at all...

"It's just one thing after another, isn't it?", Leone commented, fully knowing about Tatsumi's thoughts towards the pink-haired girl.

"I... have to work with her!?"

"I don't see the problem.", I shrugged.

Elsewhere, the team that went on a mission were coming back after their target was no more.

"For some reason I just got goose bumps...", Mine, who was in front, said suddenly.

Akame's backstory, a tumor getting killed, another ugly guy getting killed and the boys nearly getting raped! What more do you want for action? :P

Next time, shopping with Mine!