Hello! Back again with the latest chapter!
From here, it won't be far away until we reach the ending. I hope you are enjoying this work and I am still making this story sensible :sweat_smile:
Anyway, here you go!
"Daddy! Come here!" Sheele was shouting from the middle of the beach.
The day was hot, really hot actually. He missed it for years already. The days with his comrade were mostly passed under blazing sun, just like this time. It was the time that Tatsumi thrilled with adventure, giving him sentimental feeling being in this weather. The weather reminded him to his friends, those who he held dear in the past.
But for these 4 years, his usual days were always snowy. Sun shining from above was something he could only dream about. On the worse months, he could barely see the sun for more than an hour a day.
Another thing that he missed a lot; the grass. Where they were right now had the ground covered by grass and sand instead of snow. It was a good feeling that his barefoot could feel the warmth of the day. Back in north? It was absolutely out of question.
And the sky. The sky was blue instead of grey. The sky was blue only on summer on the north. When it reached another season, the clouds would always cover the sky, and if it was not snowing, then it would be dark.
He finally fulfilled his promise to his daughter. He brought his family to the southern islands, where beaches was all over the place. This was a new experience for his daughter, as she had been spending all of her life on the snowy plain. Now she enjoyed her time to the fullest.
He was sitting on the sand when he heard the sound. The beach was not that crowded, but many people from the town nearby was also enjoying their free time on this area.
Sheele was playing with Mine, not too far away from the place he was sitting. Sadly both of them could not swim, so they were playing with balloon to help them float. He smiled looking at them. Mine small figure made it more like sisters playing together instead of a mother and her daughter.
He was gazing around, not wanting to go swimming with his family, but instead looking at other ladies trying to show off their arousing body.
"Daddy, we made ice shave!", another sound suddenly came from behind.
He then saw his other daughter running with cups of shaved ice, while her mother following from behind. She was gorgeous, wearing a bikini that would put other women to shame. The curve on her body was like a vase; enchanting. As if that was not enough, she rolled up her blue silky hair to make her neck looked even sexier. Tatsumi could never understand why woman with this caliber could fall in love with a country bumpkin like him.
"Ester, don't run. You will trip down and ruin our dessert", Esdeath tried to slow down their daughter. She failed miserably as the kid kept her pace and approaching her father in half running.
"Good girl, listen to your mom. Come here sit together, I will call your sister", he slowly rose up and walked toward the beach, trying to call Mine and Sheele.
"Sheele, Mine, come here let's eat ice"
The pair followed him and slowly heading back to where Tatsumi was. He chuckled looking at them trying to get to the land.
Slowly they gathered together and five of them sat together, enjoying the ice that was made by his older daughter. Not sure where they got the ice from, but it would not be a problem if the ice queen herself was there.
"Ester give me some moree!", Sheele had finished her ice, but she wanted some extra. The portion for the kids was already big enough for them, but that apparently was not the case for her.
"Sheele, you are going to get sick if you eat a lot more", her step mother warned her.
"But it was so good! I wanted a second one, pleasee!"
Esdeath looked at Mine as if she gave it up to her to decide. She did not take a minute to say, "no Sheele! Your mother was right. I don't want you to be sick. We are in the holiday, right? If you get sick now then we have to cancel our holiday."
"Hfft, Fine!", Sheele pouted
The rest of the family just laugh and continued their dessert time.
Tatsumi smiled to his heart. This was truly the time he enjoyed the most. Spending the time with his beloved ones, all five of them live happily as a family. Supporting, loving, and caring each other. His daughters accepted both of their mothers as their own, and the mothers were loving to others' daughter.
They finished their dessert soon after that and they were ready to get back to the water. His wives and daughters went to the water right away, while Tatsumi was still cleaning the mess they made. He could hear them playing in the water. At a glance he saw Esdeath showed her amazing ability swimming flawlessly like a mermaid. Mine and their daughters were just admiring how amazing she was.
He turned his head before suddenly he heard scream, scream from his family.
Then he saw they were separated. Esdeath and Ester on a far left, while Mine and Sheele on the far right. All of them looked to be in trouble.
"Help! Daddy help!", he heard Sheele screamed.
"Help us Daddy! Help me and mommy", almost at the same time he heard Ester shouted from the left.
"What the hell is happening!", Tatsumi stood frozen, could not comprehend what had just happened. Every second he wasted while thinking about it, each of his family was getting closer to their doom. He simply had to choose.
"Tatsumi…", he heard Mine's voice faintly from afar.
"Darling….", another one from Esdeath.
Darkness slowly fading from Tatsumi's village. Birds chirping to let the villagers know it was the time for them to wake up. The morning was cold, thanks to snowstorm on the night. The village gradually became livelier, with kids running on the snow covered streets. The adults were preparing a lot of stuffs to start their day. Some prepared their hunting gear, while others prepared their journey to trade what they had in other places.
Akame barely slept that morning. She could not do it right after Tatsumi left. She did not know how to deliver the news to Mine, at least to soften the damage. She wanted to tell her in a way that she could understand and accept. But there was no easy way to achieve it. Not with Mine, as she knew how stubborn her ex Night Raid fellow assassin was.
She got up early, before the cock crowed. She had not found the answer, but the body could not resist the exhaustion. Her stomach growled asking to be fed. She rose to the kitchen, taking anything left from the kitchen. She was unfortunate enough that Tatsumi did it earlier than her. Nothing really useful right now left, so she was just sitting on the dining room, dozing off to push away her hungriness.
She was still there when suddenly loud sound was heard as the door from Mine's room was opened by the occupant. Akame turned and see Mine's face looked worried.
"Akame where is Tatsumi?", Mine asked her. Angry, worried, surprised, all feeling was heard from her voice. Akame could not bring herself to tell Mine right away.
"Mommy! What happened?", now Sheele woke up and got out of her room while rubbing her eyes.
"AKAME! WHERE. IS. HE?", Mine tone raised, impatiently asking for an answer.
"Mine, calm down. Let's talk on your room", she said calmly. Sheele looked confused, but she knew the tension was high. It won't be a good idea to barge in right now.
Mine was about to burst from her anger, but Akame slowly lead her to get back in to her room. She told Sheele to get in, and then closed the door.
Tatsumi jumped out of his house full with spirit. But the raging snowstorm outside was not an easy opponent, even for the mighty Tatsumi. As soon as he was outside, he was frozen and regretted his hasty decision to jump out without any protection. But he knew he was racing against the time. Every second wasted could mean he lost his only chance to get back his family. If Esdeath decided to go right now, he was sure he would not be able to find them anymore. Not as long as they did not want to show themselves to him.
He strengthened himself and walked slowly toward the west forest. The snow was much thicker and every step he took was heavier that it used to be. His vision was blurry, and his condition was not better with little energy he had left. He barely ate anything for the whole yesterday, and he thought it was kind of miracle that he could do this right now.
After struggling to walk about an hour or so, he finally reached the edge of the forest. Again, it was much calmer when he reached the trees, but his body had already refused to move forward any longer. He could barely walk, always leaned on the trees to keep his pace.
Right before he thought about giving up, the dream came back vividly in his mind, fueling his spirit to stand up and walk to where he wanted himself to be. He managed to drag himself for almost another half an hour. He went straight to the center of the forest, not knowing if it was the right decision, nor following his instinct. He just wanted to go deeper to the forest, as much as his body would allow him to.
Unfortunately, his limit had passed. His vision went black. He could feel nothing, he could see nothing, he could hear nothing. All was just black. He collapsed, and laid down on the snow unmoved.
"Uh…"
Tatsumi woken up by the tempting delicious smell from a roasted meat. His stomach reacted violently to this smell, forcing his mind to wake up and search for its whereabouts. But his heart was stronger when he saw his beloved Esdeath and their daughter was the one who were roasting the meat. He jumped to Esdeath and hugged her in tears.
"Tatsumi…", she blushed, embarrassed, but smile was wide on her lips and tears flowing down from her eyes. She felt happiness just looking at how much Tatsumi was seemingly worried about her and jumped as he saw her. She had given up, had accepted the image that Tatsumi would leave her behind and never going back to them. Now what she had was the complete opposite, where Tatsumi came and loved them more than as she would ever ask.
"Mommy… Daddy…", Ester did not want to miss this moment and came to hug them together.
"Why did you leave me? Don't torture my heart to ever leave me behind", Tatsumi slowly moved and their eye connected.
"But Tatsumi… You don't love me, right? I don't want to force you to be with me…", she slowly lowered her head, but failed after Tatsumi's hand held her cheek and raised it back.
"I said I won't love the sadistic, chauvinistic, over prideful Esdeath. But I think that Esdeath had left, died long long time ago. I only see Esdeath Partas who had stolen my heart, who was the part of my soul", he looked deep into her eyes while saying this.
"I… I…", Esdeath was unable to say anything. She really felt like a love stricken weak and powerless girl, and happily accepting it, as long as it mean Tatsumi would embrace her, loving her.
"Come with me, don't ever leave me behind anymore. I swear to never leave you. Please promise me to stay being this Esdeath. Promise me to leave your old life"
"But..."
"There is no but, Esdeath. Just please promise to me. Promise that you will be this Esdeath forever, from now on"
"Tatsumi,... For you... I will ...", she could not finish her sentence but Tatsumi had jumped to her, kissing her deep and full with love.
"Awww…", Ester blushed, trying to cover her eyes but curiosity top her mind and she peeked through the gap of her fingers.
Both was surprised and realised that their daughter was looking at them. Slowly they moved back and blushed, looking to other direction avoiding eye contact.
The awkwardness was strong, but then broken by Tatsumi's growling stomach. It was violently asking for something to digest, and they laughed before Esdeath handed him a piece of meat. He ate it greedily, and it tasted as the best meat he ever had, better than Akame's speciality. His lover and their daughter was just looking at him happily, enjoying the view of their loved one devouring their dinner.
"I love you daddy", Ester hug him. Tatsumi smiled and replied her.
They sat in circle now, after the meal was finished and the carcase had been put away. There was another thing that was still on Esdeath's mind, and she could not let it go. She had to ask him.
"Tatsumi…"
"Hmm..?", he looked at her
"What about your other family? Your other daughter?", she looked worried, could not disguise it properly.
"Don't worry, I have made my resolution", he smiled gently and hugged her.
"NO AKAME! I WOULD NEVER ACCEPT THIS!", Mine clearly did not favour Tatsumi's decision. Not at the slightest.
"Calm down, Mine", Akame could only try to soothe her rage. Mine had been crying so much the day before that she would not want to do it anymore. Now what was left was denial and anger. Anger that Tatsumi had rejected and left her for another time.
"If he decided to get that ice bitch, then he can forget about me and Sheele forever. I would not let him come near us anymore", Mine talked with lower tone, but the voice was stern and determined. Her eyes fueled with rage, but sadness was shown in between.
Akame sat in silence, but slowly she reached Mine and hugged her. Mine was a bit resisting. Akame kept on hugging her until she was just sat motionless, accepting the comfort from her friend. Behind the door, Sheele was standing in horror. Her face shown that she could not believe what she just heard. She ran to her room, crying and missing his beloved father.
It was almost noon when Mine had recovered, and able to control her emotion. Akame still sat beside her, not talking a single word for the whole time. Her stomach growled couple times already, protesting her for not eating for so long. But no one responded, just both sat in silence.
"Let's have lunch, you seemed to be starving", Mine forced herself to smile.
But somehow, another thing clicks in Akame mind. She determined to tell Mine their untold promise with her nemesis.
"Mine, I need to tell it to you", Akame spoke slowly.
"Tell me what?"
Slowly she raised her head and looked at Mine on the eye, "our debt"
I have been trying my best to find the most suitable place to put the title on the script. Finally! Yes! I did it hahahah
Soo next chapter will uncover another part of the story, which edging us to the conclusion. Hope you enjoy it... And till next week!