Authors Note: Sorry again for the long delay, there's an explanation at the end if you care to know why.
Going forward, I am going to try to focus on characters other than Esdeath and Tatsumi. Don't worry though, there will still be plenty of them.
Only an instant after the words had left his mouth, Asger drew his blade. Lunging towards the group, his crimson and magenta blade glimmered in the dim lighting, it was iching to taste blood.
He went for Tatsumi first, aiming for the square of his turned back. He pulled back his sword in preparation for a thrust and went for the kill, but was intercepted by an enraged Esdeath.
"Tatsumi, get out of here so I can focus on showing our unwelcomed guest to his death," Esdeath said between parries.
"I can't leave my friends! Please, Esdeath, hold him off while I get them free!" Tatsumi called out.
With a disapproving grunt, Esdeath begrudgingly held off Asger.
The chaos had woken up the remaining Night Raid members, who were bewildered at the sight that lay before them. Their biggest enemy was guarding their ex-member while he freed them.
Tatsumi, now disregarding his previous cautiousness, sliced all the restraints off of the Night Raid member, splintering the metal as easily as he could snap a toothpick.
Back in the battle, Esdeath and Asger were trading cautious blows, testing the limit of their opponent. Esdeath currently had the upper hand in the battle, but not by much.
With each flurry of blows each opponent became more daring as their opponent's limits became more defined.
Even with all of Tatsumi's training he couldn't completely make out their movements, which reminded him of how difficult his goal was and just how much harder he needed to work.
What unsettled Tatsumi, was the grin that was plastered on Asger's face and the stereotypical one that was missing from Esdeath's. For once, Esdeath wasn't fighting for fun, it seemed, she was fighting to survive.
After Tatsumi sliced through the padlocks binding his friends' hands and legs, Leone and the others lept up while cracking their necks and rubbing their wrists.
"Catch," Tatsumi said as he threw each teigu to its respective owner.
"Tatsumi, how-" Akame started.
"There's no time for talking," Tatsumi cut her off, "we need to help Esdeath."
The four assassins gawked at him.
"Who's we?" Leone butted in.
Tatsumi glanced around at the group, who were all nodding their heads with furrowed brows.
"I say we kill the Ice Bitch while she's distracted." Mine growled.
The entire group took a step forward while readying their weapons in Esdeath's direction.
Before Tatsumi could talk them off the ledge, so to speak, Mine charged up Pumpkin and sent a crackling cylinder of pure energy directly at Esdeath's back.
To Tatsumi, time seemed to slow to a crawl as the projectile inched closer to Esdeath, as he activated his teigu, and dove at the beam to intercept. He created a shadow shield while mid-air. He stretched his arm as farm out as it could go and prayed that it would be enough. His effort just nearly deflected the beam before it collided with Esdeath. A large crater was created in the ceiling where the beam was redirected, sending rubble cascading down and filling the air with soot.
Now nearly back to back with Esdeath, Tatsumi pleaded with Night Raid to stop, while Esdeath was starting to struggle against Asger.
"Who's side are you on?!" Leone interrogated Tatsumi.
"This might be our only opportunity to defeat Esdeath, Tatsumi," Akame said before Tatsumi had a chance to answer.
"Look at what he's wearing," Lubbock gestured to Tatsumi's imperial uniform, "hes chosen his side."
"If you don't help us we're all going to die!" Tatsumi exclaimed, "And, a few moments ago Esdeath could have killed all of you while you were unconscious and tied up, but she didn't!"
The four turned what Tatsumi said over in their minds, and inspected the speed and ferocity of the battle.
Mine still starkly opposed the idea, and the way Tatsumi said "us" made her blood boil.
Tatsumi interrupted their thoughts by saying, "If you kill Esdeath now, you may win against him and live. Or you may lose and die. But if you help us,"
"There's that 'us' again," Mine thought, fuming.
"then you'll definitely live!" Tatsumi finished.
"Oh yeah, let us help the Ice Queen so she can slaughter us herself!" Leone exclaimed, getting into a fighting stance.
"NO!, I can talk reason into her, I promise," Tatsumi begged, "or take me hostage after the fight, or … please. Just, please."
Tatsumi on the verge of tears pleaded with the assassins for their aid.
"We should help," Akame said.
"WHAT?!" Leone shouted.
"NO!" Lubbock exclaimed.
"HELL NO!," Mine erupted.
"That is an order," Akame declared.
"Thank you, Akame, thank you," Tatsumi said as smile blossomed on his face.
Moving into fighting formation, Night Raid begrudgingly joined the battle.
Esdeath, noticing the situation, purposefully started to back up, creating space for the Night Raid members and Tatsumi to file in behind Asger and surround him.
"Hold on, is that-" Lubbock started.
"It is. Watch out! If that sword cuts you it will instantly make you pass out!" Akame exclaimed.
Immediately after being given this information, Esdeath switched up her fighting style. She couldn't allow a scratch to slip through, because based on the conversation Tatsumi just had, if she was incapacitated by that teigu, she wouldn't be waking up again if Night Raid had anything to say about it.
Asger noticed the formation that he had been surrounded with and grimaced, "Uneasy alliance, eh?"
With that, he tried to take out the weakest enemy first.
He whipped around and slashed at Mine, who was positioned to his right, but with some quick thinking by Lubbock, his sword was entangled in wire.
Mine took the opportunity and let out a violent shot aimed straight at the viking's head.
Freeing his sword at the last moment, Asger ducked and parried a strike from Akame in a split second.
Not giving him a break, Esdeath lauched a volley of ice spears while Tatsumi sent razor sharp shadow blades flying at him from either side.
Asger leapt over the shadow blade and masterfully sliced each ice spear before it could make contact with him, the rest imbedding themselves at several feet into the solid stone wall.
"For a ragtag group, you aren't bad. I can see how you'd be able to beat my star general, and even my son too. But even with six of you, you won't beat me," Asger said smugly.
"We'll see about that, Ugly," Leone snapped back.
The ferocious fighting continuted, Asger constantly had to parry Akame and Esdeath's sword strikes while simultaneously navigating the maze of traps Lubbock had set and the assortment of deadly projectiles Tatsumi launched at him. Along with Mine and Leone's shots and slashes, it seemed like they were going to win.
"You move well for an old man," Esdeath said, "let us see if you can keep it up."
Despite Asger's best efforts, they were slowly backing him towards the door, pushing him with all their combined strengths.
What puzzled Esdeath was the lack of worry that she sensed in the man. Even the most hardened of warriors would be showing some signs of distress, but there was nothing. They had Asger on the ropes and he was as calm as could be, fighting furiously, but calm.
The entire group noticed his vigorous perspiration and how he was ever so slightly slowing down, but he still calmly led them down the frosted corridor, up the jagged stairs and out into the abandoned courtyard, all while deflecting and avoiding all their attacks.
"Can't keep this up for much longer can ya, big guy?" Lubbock gloated.
Asger ignored the taunt and kept backing up until he was in the large clearing in the middle of the encampment.
Once he finally stopped backpedaling, Mine said,
"What? Not gonna run anymore?"
The group was now able to bear down on him with their full strength again since he had stopped retreaing.
Esdeath noticed that he was fighting incredibly defensively, even ignoring some opening that were left open by the group inadvertently. Something didn't feel right.
Tatsumi, also picking up on this, tried to create an opening, wanting for force Asger's hand before they could play into whatever he was planning. Instead of staying at range and using his shadows as projectiles, in one swift movement he closed the distance and slashed at Asger's turned back in an 'x' motion with his machetes.
Asger, forced to react to this, in a singular motion, ducked under Tatsumi's attack and swept Tatsumi's leg with his own, tripping Tatsumi. Asger quickly followed this up with a quick slice from his sword, cutting Tatsumi before he even had time to hit the ground. It wasn't a deep cut, nothing more than a scratch really, but because of the powers of the teigu, he was out cold.
Forcing Asger to crouch and enticing him with the opportunity to remove an opponent from the field, Asger over-committed and left himself in an unfavorable position.
The group, especially Esdeath, was distressed that Tatsumi was hit but, saw the opening he created for them.
Leone was the first to seize the opportunity, lunging at Asger, claws outstretched.
Reacting with inhuman speed, even by Night Raid's standards, Asger whipped around and landed a bone-crunching round-house kick to Leone's ribs and sent her flying. She skittered across the frozen earth and ground to a stop covered in snow and mud, knocked unconscious from the sheer force of the kick.
In the instant that the formation was broken, Asger leapt out of the middle of the circle, narrowly dodging a lightning fast shot from Pumpkin,and screamed, "NOW!" to an unknown party.
Before anyone in the group could comprehend what he meant, a large magical insignia appeared below the group and before any of them could react it rose from the ground sending all 6 to an unknown location, leaving only airborne particles of dirt and snow in their wake.
Tatsumi's dark vision began to illuminate when a bright light began to shine.
The light filtered through his eyelids, turning his vision a bright shade of red.
The light kept increasing in brightness, rousing Tatsumi out of his slumber. It became so bright that when Tatsumi opened his eyes, he had to shield them with his hands.
When Tatsumi's eyes adjusted to the over-exposed brightness, he lowered his hands, taking in the scenery around him.
He was surrounded by a void that was neither dark nor light, as colorless as it was empty.
The only things that were present in this void were on either side of Tatsumi. There was a struggle between intense light and intense dark taking place.
The dark and light each manifested themselves in physical forms. The light outnumbered the dark 4:1 but the darkness' form was at least four times as large.
The forces of light manifested themselves in the forms of how Tatsumi imagined Angels to be.
The 'angels' were beings made from pure light. Each had two pristine glowing wings emanating from their backs and long flowing robes that looked as if they were woven from the threads of a star. Their facial features while being too bright to discern, felt familiar to Tatsumi, each in a different way.
The darkness' form was similar to the lights' but instead of emanating light and warmth, it sucked the light and warmth out from around it, just like a black hole. It's wings were a mesmerizing shade of midnight black and a crown of darkness sat upon it's head.
He, himself, looked the same as he did normally, but was a dull shade of gray.
Tatsumi felt an attraction to both sides but from different places inside himself.
His heart pulled him one way and his head pulled him the other, the division inside of himself getting worse with each passing moment.
He looked to either side, each waiting for . . . something.
That something, Tatsumi realized, was him. He sensed that he would have to choose a side to stop the pain that the rift was causing, and to stop the struggle between the sides. He knew he had to do this but he also knew a part of himself would die when he did it.
Each side seemed to eagerly beckon him, the light with a familiar warmth, and the dark with a strangely comforting sense of safety and freedom.
With his mind feeling as if it were going to split down the middle Tatsumi made his choice and took a step towards the light.
He lifted his foot, and took the step. Immense pain erupted in his heart but his mind urged him to keep going, so he kept moving. Every step Tatsumi took increased tenfold.
By the fifth step, the pain was so great that it felt like the very fibers of his heart were being ripped away from him. Tears began to stream down his face, but oddly, not from the pain.
At last, when he had nearly reached the light he turned to look back on the darkness, which had only become colder and seemingly more bitter as he distanced himself from it.
With one last step, Tatsumi abandoned the darkness, joining with the light.
"TATSUMI!"
"TATSUMI!"
"TATSUMI! WAKE UP!" Mine screamed.
Tatsumi could hear Mine calling his name, but she seemed to be far away and he just wanted to continue his peaceful sleep.
The calls became louder and more clear with each repetition until it was too loud to ignore.
Tatsumi opened his eyes and sat up, a tear rolling down his cheek as he did.
The first thing that Tatsumi saw when he woke up was Mine's face not more than 6 inches away from his. The three other Night Raid members were standing with their backs to him, forming a defensive formation.
Tatsumi, still groggy from the effects of Asger's teigu, examined his surroundings.
It appeared that he and the others had been transported to a tropical island that had a forest at its center with a white sand beach perimeter.
It seemed that they had been transported into a different time zone, because when they were fighting Asger, it was the middle of the night, but here, the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in a beautiful ombre from blue to orange.
As he became more aware of what was happening around him he began to take in what was being said.
"Stay back Esdeath," Akame declared, readying murasame.
"You will step aside and give me Tatsumi," Esdeath responded coldly, "or you will die."
Suddenly the tropical air of the beach dropped below freezing as residual power from Esdeath's teigu leaked out.
The temperature drop snapped Tatsumi completely back into reality and he realized how dire the situation was.
He needed to start damage control, ASAP.
He leapt to his feet, ignoring Mine, and positioned himself between Esdeath and Akame, who were mere seconds from brawling.
"W-w-wait!" Tatsumi said, using himself as a shield with his back to Esdeath and his arms outstretched, "We don't need to fight!"
"They tried to take you from me Tatsumi, for that, they deserve to die," Esdeath replied.
"N-," Tatsumi was cut off.
"We didn't 'take' anything from you! Tatsumi isn't an object and he doesn't belong to anyone!" Mine yelled.
"Yeah, so back off Ice Bitch," Leone spat, while holding her broken ribs.
"Don't strain yourself too hard, kitty. I would hate for you to get hurt," Esdeath shot back, with an evil grin spreading across her face, while reaching for her rapier.
"Do you really wanna stay with this crazy bitch Tatsumi? I mean, I know she's hot, but yeeesh," Lubbock asked.
Leone smacked him in response to his idiotic comment.
Lubbock rubbed the forming bump on his forehead and decided that it would be better to keep quiet.
"Threatening me is one thing, but I will not allow you to threaten my friends," Akame said, getting ready to strike.
"EVERYBODY SHUT IT!" Tatsumi screamed, "We don't know where we are, how we got here, or how we're going to get back, and all you can do is get at each other's throats?! If you guys didn't notice, if we all didn't work together back there against Asger, we would all would be dead now."
While Akame's sword faultered ever so slightly after hearing Tatsumi's words, Esdeath only got more possessive.
Walking up behind Tatsumi, she wrapped her arms around his waist and planted a long kiss on his right cheek, much to his dismay.
"So much for defusing the situation I guess," Tatsumi thought.
"I don't know about you Tatsumi, but I think a little tropical vacation could be very romantic," Esdeath said before licking the inside of Tatsumi's ear, "if, these pests would let us have some alone time."
Tatsumi, now completely flustered, had a blush spreading uncontrollably across his face.
Mine, on the other hand, was gritting her teeth and clenched her fists so hard that her nails were drawing blood, trying to contain herself.
Right as Esdeath's hands were slithering down Tatsumi to make another advance on him as Night Raid watched, Mine exploded.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF TATSUMI!", Mine screamed, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT, HE'S NOT YOUR PROPERTY!"
Esdeath, grinning ear to ear, said, "Oh, someone has a little crush on my Tatsumi?"
Mine drew pumpkin, and pointed it at the Ice Queen and the Shadow Prince.
Esdeath didn't flinch and stared the short, pink-haired girl in the eyes like a predator waiting for the opportune moment to strike, daring her to shoot.
Mine could sense the bloodlust in Esdeath and her readiness to pounce and after a few very long seconds (to Tatsumi), she lowered her weapon in defeat.
"Are you really gonna let her treat you like this, Tatsumi?" Mine asked with teary eyes.
"Mine, I-" Tatsumi began.
"No," Esdeath cut Tatsumi off, "he doesn't let me treat him like this," Esdeath bit Tatsumi's ear seductively, "he likes it when I treat him like this."
Mine was about to rebut when Akame spoke up.
"This is going nowhere, we need to go set up camp for the night. Don't worry Esdeath, you and Tatsumi can have all the along time you want."
Akame and the others started to trudge away, but Akame turned back to say one more thing,
"And Tatsumi, I hope you don't regret your choice."
Esdeath sent the Night Raid members off with a sly smile, and just to piss off Mine as much as possible, turned Tatsumi around and gave him a long passionate kiss on the lips with lots of tongue.
Tatsumi gasped for air when Esdeath finally broke the kiss.
Tatsumi, feeling incredibly guilty and wanting to get his mind off how he had just let his friends be treated, asked,
"So what are we gonna do about Asger?"
Esdeath released Tatsumi from her embrace and grabbed his hand before she started walking across the beach, pulling Tatsumi with her.
"Well, I certainly think that he is a bigger threat than I imagined. But due to his age, he will only decrease in strength over time, so when the time comes that either of us should face him again, we will certainly defeat him. The problem is the damage that he could do during that time."
"Let me guess, after our 'vacation' we're going right back to the grueling training?"
"You're correct, but,"
Esdeath stopped and put a hand on Tatsumi's chin, forcing him to look up into her eyes,
"while we're here, we may as well enjoy ourselves." She said as a lustful grin formed on her face.
Tatsumi only had a moment to realize what was going to happen before it did.
He was going to say something to try and stop Esdeath, with his current conflicted feelings it just felt wrong to him, but as he examined his lover's eyes he noticed the raging storm below the calm surface.
Her eyes would look to be seductive and even playful to any other person, and on the surface they were, but only Tatsumi could recognize the subtle difference in Esdeath's mannerisms and body language.
She wanted Tatsumi to rebel, to protest, to refuse. She wanted him to do those things so it would be even more sweet when she made him submit, it would make his submission all the more satisfying.
Tatsumi knew this, he knew that even if he did resist, it was pointless. Esdeath always got what she wanted, always. Even though he knew this he needed to try, at the very least for his own conscience.
Tatsumi would try a diplomatic solution first, doubting his ability to break free from the grip Esdeath had on his hand and chin,
"I don't know Esdeath, I'm really tired and we're not sure what tomorrow will bring. Shouldn't we be well rested for when that happens?" Tatsumi reasoned.
Esdeath stared into his green eyes with lust and primal greed, recognizing what he was trying to do, and she wouldn't have it.
Esdeath pulled Tatsumi closer to her, pressing his body up against hers,
"Whatever comes tomorrow I'm sure I can handle and besides, an hour or two of lost sleep won't do any harm," Esdeath said with a sly smile before licking her lips.
Tatsumi acknowledged that Esdeath was playing along and thought for a second that maybe, he would be able to convince her.
"But what if Night Raid ambushes us while we're, um . . . preoccupied? I mean, you saw how they were earlier," Tatsumi said, trying a different approach.
"You're right about that, Tatsumi," Esdeath said, taking her hand off of his chin.
Tatsumi's eyes widened and he started to breath a sigh of relief.
But just as his hoped had been at their highest, Esdeath dashed them with a sadistic smile painted on her face. She swung her hand in an arcing motion, creating a dome of ice around them. Not only did this protect them from any would-be assassins, but also ensured Tatsumi couldn't manuver his way out of Esdeath's grasp.
"But, it has been far too long since we've been intimate, you're not getting out of this Tatsumi," Esdeath said sternly, as if it were an order.
Although Esdeath said Tatsumi couldn't get out of it, and he couldn't, she still wanted him to try. She wanted to make him submit to her, she wanted him to recognize who he belonged to.
Esdeath grabbed Tatsumi by the collar of his imperial uniform and pulled him into a kiss, her other hand releasing Tatsumi's and starting to slither under Tatsumi's shirt and down his back.
Esdeath's tongue relished in the familiar space of Tatsumi's mouth, it worked its way around his mouth. It inspected his gums and teeth, as if it were a dentist.
Esdeath felt the way that the muscles of Tatsumi's well built back reacted under her hand and the way Tatsumi, himself, reacted when one of Esdeath's hands crept down to his manhood. The other moved up to the back of Tatsumi's head, caressing his hazel hair and subtly pressing him into herself a bit harder.
Esdeath wanted, needed, Tatsumi, in an almost primal way, while Tatsumi only minimally reciprocated, as if by instinct.
Tatsumi, by virtue of his strong moral compass, was trying his best to not give into the temptation and pleasure of it all, holding out as long as he could, so maybe Esdeath would be discouraged.
But, as Esdeath's lips attacked his own and as his eyes slowly closed, he could almost imagine he was back at the palace, he could almost forget about Night Raid and all of the troubles that lay outside of their little ice bubble.
Tatsumi slowly began to reciprocate more and more, subconsciously at first, and as Night Raid and the Empire and the rest of the world began to slip out of Tatsumi's mind, his movement became more purposeful. Without his morality in the way, there was no reason not to.
Esdeath began to slowly stroke Tatsumi's member, causing the boy's breaths to turn from slow and steady ones to quick and uneven ones, even causing the subtlest of moans to escape Tatsumi.
But even the subtlest of moans wasn't enough to fly past Esdeath undetected, the sound of Tatsumi's pleasure riled Esdeath up, especially the part of her that wanted to subdue Tatsumi.
Tatsumi's hands, which had been laying by his side, were suddenly alive again, his rough hands snuck their way up Esdeath's muscular, but slender, stomach up to her breasts. While their lips were still locked, he began to caress her breasts.
Esdeath, now fully aroused, pushed Tatsumi down on the soft tropical sand, and broke their lips, a small bridge of saliva connecting the two for just a moment after their lips parted.
She couldn't wait any longer. Esdeath activated her teigu and bound Tatsumi comfortably to the ground. Quickly but carefully, she removed hers then Tatsumi's clothes, being careful due to the fact that they had no other clothes on the island.
Throwing the black and white uniforms to the side Esdeath gazed into Tatsumi's beautiful emerald eyes and said, "You're going to be a good boy for me tonight, right?"
"Am I?" Tatsumi asked, not wanted to submit to Esdeath so easily.
"Oh you will, whether you want to or not," Esdeath said with a toothy grin forming on her face.
Esdeath kept Tatsumi bound until she strattled him like she had done so many times before, shattering the ice shackles as she sat down.
Esdeath could feel the reaction that Tatsumi's body had to her bare skin. It quivered under her, begging for satisfaction. Esdeath knew he wanted it, she just had to make him say it.
"Well Tatsumi, what shall it be? The carrot," Esdeath reached her hand behind her and slowly stroked Tatsumi's exposed member, "or the stick?"
Tatsumi tried to avoid it, but she was too fast, sinking her teeth into his muscular shoulder, not only marking him as her own, but taking a part of him with her.
She greedily gulped down the blood that came pouring out for many moments before slowly removing her teeth, causing Tatsumi to wince.
Before Tatsumi could say anything, Esdeath began to shove her tongue down Tatsumi's throat. The faint taste of iron filling his mouth and the scent of rust filling his nose.
After a long drawn out kiss, Esdeath sat back up and asked again, "The carrot, or the stick?"
Tatsumi knew he should beg for the carrot, but still didn't want to give in, he wanted to win. Esdeath knew this, and she was banking on it. She wouldn't refuse to give her lover the carrot if he so chose, but she wouldn't get nearly as much enjoyment from that.
Tatsumi started Esdeath in the eyes defiantly, staying silent.
"The stick it is." Esdeath said as a toothy sadistic grin overtook her face.
Esdeath decided to skip the formalities, as she so often did, and went straight to the main event.
She raised herself up, directly above Tatsumi's manhood, it twitching with temptation and anticipation. She sat down so slowly it was almost excruciating to Tatsumi but, as she finally reached the bottom a wave of satisfaction rolled over the lovers, with much more to come.
Esdeath began to grind, forward and back, with each one of her hands on one of Tatsumi's shoulders, pressing him further into the sand, the grit of the sand contrasting the soft and lusciousness of Esdeath's skin and womanhood.
A moan of pleasure emanating from Esdeath as the one and only person she truly loved in this world was as close to her as he could be. As her pleasure increased, her urge to dominate Tatsumi increased with it.
Tatsumi's eyes opened when Esdeath stopped all her movements.
Esdeath stared Tatsumi in the eyes as she trailed her hand ever so lightly down his outstreched arm, across the side of his face and down his defined chest. Her gentle touch creating goosebumps on the boy's skin and sending shivers down his spine.
She was being tender. Almost too tender.
Without warning, about halfway down his chest, Esdeath's hand stopped and she sent out a miniature wave of ice, covering the upper half of Tatsumi's chest in a layer of frost and causing an audible whimper to escape his mouth.
Esdeath's signature sadistic grin mixed with pleasure grew across her face, fueled by Tatsumi's moans.
Esdeath let the frost linger as long as it could without causing any real damage to Tatsumi before she thawed him out, a sigh of relief to emanate from him.
"Ready to submit and eat your carrot like a good boy?" Esdeath asked, cupping the side of his face with her hand, obviously hoping for the opposite to happen.
"And if I'm not hungry?" Tatsumi snarkily responded.
"Oh you will be," Esdeath said, her sadistic hunger seeping into her words.
Esdeath paused slightly before she began to move again, slowly, a smirk sneaking it's way onto her face.
Esdeath sensed that they were being spied on by none other than the genius pink-haired sniper of Night Raid. Had Tatsumi's eyes not been closed, he would have seen the lightbulb appear over Esdeath's head.
"You must know Tatsumi," Esdeath increased her speed and placed her index finger at Tatsumi's solarplexius.
"that all pleasure comes with a cost. And the cost for this pleasure, is pain," she said as she moved her finger up his chest slowly, shredding the skin as she did.
Although he did his best to suppress it by clenching his teeth, Tatsumi slightly winced at the pain, invigorating Esdeath.
Esdeath continued to carve Tatsumi's chest while increasing the speed of her movements, Tatsumi's manhood beginning to twitch and shiver.
As they were both on the edge, Esdeath finished her illustration on Tatsumi's skin.
"Look at your chest, Tatsumi," Esdeath said dangerously.
Tatsumi, while still clenching his teeth, peered at his wound.
The symbol of the partas clan was engraved into his skin, blood trickling out of the wound.
"Now tell me to whom you belong, Tatsumi."
"you," he responded sheepishly.
"Sorry, I couldn't hear you."
"You." he repeated himself.
"I, what?"
"I belong to you and only you, Esdeath." he finally admitted.
"Louder," Esdeath commanded with a sly grin plastered on her face.
"I BELONG TO YOU AND ONLY YOU, ESDEATH!" Tatsumi screamed.
Just after Tatsumi's declaration, both cried out in pleasure as they reached their apexes.
"Good boy," Esdeath said as she kissed Tatsumi passionately on the forehead, fully satisfied with the domination of her lover.
Wave had been sitting outside of the door catching his breath and working up the courage to knock for nearly 5 minutes.
But, just as he raised his fist, the door swung open.
"Were you planning on standing there all day?" Kurome asked.
Wave, flustered and unable to think of an answer, changed the subject,
"Have you seen the general? We were supposed to start going over the plan for our next mission hours ago but she hasn't shown up. Shes late sometimes but never this late, do you think something happened to her?" Wave asked.
"I'm sure the General is fine, shes the strongest warrior in the Empire," Kurome responded plainly.
"Yeah, I guess so. But regardless, I was going to go look for her during my nightly patrol and I was wondering if you wanted to come with?" Wave asked, holding his breath.
Kurome, who had a small blush starting to form on her cheeks, replied,
"Of course, let me grab my teigu."
When Kurome retreated into her room to grab her weapon, Wave peered into the room through the ajar door.
It was exactly as he would have imagined it, the entire room was neat and orderly, the bed was made according to military standard and there wasn't a spec of dust in sight.
Wave quickly ceased his peering when he heard Kurome walking back across the carpeted floor.
"So where should we start?" Kurome asked Wave.
"I'm not sure, my usual patrols consist of waltzing around down in the slums and throwing some belligerents in a drunk tank." Wave responded, as they began to walk to the exit of the Yeagers' chambers, "No clue what Esdeath would be doing down there, and I'm not sure I'd want to find out if she was."
Kurome only nodded in response while munching on yet another cookie.
Wave, wanting to break up on the silence, said, "Anyways, I was thinking of patrolling the upper-city tonight, I guess I just want a change of pace. Is that alright with you?" while shrugging.
Kurome nodded in affirmation, letting Wave lead the way.
As they turned and left her quarters, Wave let out a silent sigh of relief.
Walking side by side, they made their way to the exorbitant front gates, waving at comrades and saluting any superior officers they saw as they did.
They saw many familiar faces and caught a few people giving them the side eye, though they had long learned to ignore it. Even within the upper echelon of the imperial army, there were still many who held distain for Esdeath and her crude and often barbaric ways. Of course, no one dared to say voice this to Esdeath, fearing the repercussions. But there was more wiggle room to take their frustrations out on the Yaegers, although they would always hide behind a reasonable facade. Despite the regularity, one figure caught both the Jaegers' eye. It may have been the fact that neither of them had seen this person before or just the way that she carried herself and the energy that she radiated.
The person in question, was between Kurome and Wave in height, but her leotard-like imperial uniform revealed, much to Wave's dismay, that she was far more muscular than himself.
"Holy shit, it looks like she could crush Grand Chariot's helmet effortlessly," Wave thought to himself.
Her silver hair looked like it would be long enough to reach her lower back, but most of it was braided and fastened in twin buns with a red ribbon. The rest of her hair was left as bangs almost long enough to cover her majenta eyes.
As she walked past, Wave refocused himself on the goal and steeled his nerves.
Nearing the gate, Wave raised his hand to wave to Kellin, one of the guards at the gate whom he was on a first name basis with, and accidentally grazed Kurome's hand with his own, causing a slight crimson hue to form on both their faces.
Wave cleared his throat and tried to act as unfazed as he could, but his heart was beating a-mile-a-minute made that a bit difficult.
Taking a silent deep breath as they passed over the threshold that divided the palace from the upper-city of the capital and began their patrol.
Wave tried to make small talk from time to time, but Kurome would only answer with single words or a head movement, so Wave gave up on it entirely.
After close to an hour of patroling with entirely no action, as to be expected of the upper-city, Wave spotted a sign and had an idea.
The sign read:
Aunty Marie's Bakery, "The Best Sweets in the East!"
Noticing that Kurome had yet to spot the sign herself, Wave said, "Hey Kurome, wanna check this place out?"
Kurome glanced at the sign and after a very brief period of consideration, she said "Sure!"
Wave noted her sudden enthusiasm and steered himself in the direction of the bakery.
As they opened the door a bell chimed, signaling their entrance, an old lady, presumably Aunty Marie, welcomed them. The store could have been the cover for a cottagecore aesthetic magazine and the smell of freshly baked cookies permeated throughout it. The walls were lined with shelves covering in baking ingredients, frosting, and of course, actual baked goods. You name it, it was there; cookies, cakes, breads, pastries, pies and even more. Aunty Marie herself was an older lady, looking to be somewhere in her late 60's, and was roughly the same height as Kurome. Her hair, which presumably used to be black, was now closer to salt and pepper and smile lines and crinkles at the corners of her eyes were wrinkled into her skin.
"What could bring two lovebirds into my quaint little bakery at this hour?" Auntie Marie asked.
Kurome blushed as Wave flusteredly explained that they were not a couple.
"Anyways, Kurome, what do you want?"
Kurome bounced back and fourth from display case to shelf to rack, examining every item in the store before trudging back up to wave and confessing,
"I forgot my wallet," in a depressed tone.
Wave laughed and said, "Thats fine, this ones on me!"
Kurome's face lit up as she thanked him vigorously.
The two left the store thanking Auntie Marie as she waved to them with a knowing smile.
Kurome ended up getting a whoopie pie, a cookie made with two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake with a creamy frosting sandwiched between them. Although, she only got one, not wanting to spend a bunch of Wave's money.
Kurome took a bite as Wave watched intently out of the corner of his eye.
"How is it?" he asked.
"Its really good!" Kurome responded, "I'm surprised we ended up stumbling into a shop that sells these. They're an uncommon cookie to see here in the empire."
As she was talking, she broke off half of the cookie from the side she didn't bite and held it out to Wave.
"What are you doing?" Wave said, puzzled.
"You paid for it, you should at least have some."
Wave smiled and gladly accepted Kurome's offer, sinking his teeth into it, eager to try it for the first time.
"Mmmph," Wave said with a full mouth before swallowing, "It is really good!"
Kurome chuckled and was about to say something when an explosion in the distance caught both the Yaegers' attention. They shoved the rest of their treat into their mouths and began running to the source of the explosion.
The young sun roused Tatsumi, filtering through the ice dome, creating small rainbows on the sand.
As his eyes fluttered open he was greeted by the sight of his lover, the Ice Queen, still blissfully sleeping with himself in her embrace.
He lay for a moment, content, letting his morning grogginess ware off. The fight against Asger, his escape, and the ensuing scuffle between Esdeath and Night Raid with himself in the middle came back to him as it did.
He knew he needed to go make amends as quickly as possible, if he were to even hope of one day being reunited with Night Raid.
But, that would be difficult in his current position.
Tatsumi was, as usual, constricted by the monstrously strong arms of his lover. He tried to scooch away from her ever so slightly, but her grip just tightened, her instincts just as sharp when she was unconscious.
"Is she even human?" Tatsumi thought.
He laid there for many more moments trying to come up with a plan to escape her grasp. Finally he relented and whispered,
"Esdeath"
Instantly, her pale blue eyes snapped open staring at the back of Tasumi's head.
Tatsumi shuffled around in her grasp to face her before she said,
"Yes my love?"
"I need to go to the bathroom, do you think you could, uh, let me go?"
Esdeath thought for a moment, then said "Fine, but if you're not back soon, I will hunt you down," with a seductive smile.
With a slight wave of her hand, a small arch shaped opening formed in the ice dome. Tatsumi thanked her as he exited the dome, the ice reforming behind him.
He brushed the sand out of his hair and off of his clothes and began to walk non-nonchalantly away from the dome. But, as soon as he was out of sight, Tatsumi began sprinting to the other side of the island, where Night Raid was most likely camping.
In only a few short moments he spotted a small plume of smoke just a handful of meters into the forest at the center of the island.
He slowed his pace from a sprint to a brisk walk and made his way toward the camp. He approached the camp cautiously, careful to avoid all the traps left in the forest from crosstail. Even though this was easy, it was time consuming due to the sheer amount that were laid, it seemed like they were not taking any chances with being ambushed.
"Makes sense I guess, with Esdeath being within a stone throw away and all," Tatsumi thought.
With the final stretch to the camp being trap free, Tatsumi walked slowly into the small clearing with his hands in the air.
All four of the heads sitting around the small campfire quickly turned to face Tatsumi.
"The hell you doin' here, Tatsumi?" Leone asked.
"You have a lot of balls to show your face to us after what happened last night," Lubbock added.
Mine only scowled at Tatsumi.
"Why are you here Tatsumi?" Akame asked coldly, all sense of familiarity and friendliness gone from her voice.
Although it tore Tatsumi up inside to hear his friends saying this, it only strengthened his resolve to put his plan into action.
"I've come to apologize," Tatsumi said, "for last night, for everything."
They sat in silence for a moment before Leone said,
"Then get to it, apologize."
Tatsumi took a deep breath then said, "I'm sorry, truly."
"For what Tatsumi? What specifically? Say it." Lubbock prodded him.
"I'm staying away from you all for so long, I'm sorry for getting captured, I-" Tatsumi got cut off.
"I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we couldn't give less of a shit about words. Show us with your actions. I'm willing to welcome you back into Night Raid with open arms, if you prove that you're still devoted to the cause," Leone said, "God knows we need the manpower."
"How,"
"When we get out of here, or hell, even before then, help us kill Esdeath."
Tatsumi opened his mouth but no sound came out. He shut it to think about the situation and before he could voice his response, Mine finally broke her silence,
"He can't,"
Akame, Leone, and Lubbock looked at her quizzically.
"or rather he won't," Mine continued.
"Last night I was taking a walk and just so happened to stumble upon Esdeath and Tatsumi's camp," Mine said with poison in her voice, "I got there just in time to overhear him say . . . what exactly was it that you said Tatsumi?"
Tatsumi stared at the ground knowing what was coming.
"Oh yeah, you said and I quote 'I belong to you and only you Esdeath' and you said that you loved her."
Tatsumi's gaze remained fixed on his shoes as he heard the reactions of the other Night Raid members.
The group began to berate Tatsumi for the person he had become, condemning him for his treasonous fornication with the enemy. They kept escalating, to the point of shoving Tatsumi and shouting at him to leave and to never return, but Tatsumi's eyes were glued to his shoes still.
A silent tear crept from Tatsumi's eye, rolling down his cheek, and splattering on the tip of his shoe. Tatsumi's last hope of rejoining Night Raid evaporated into thin air as soon as he stepped foot onto this island.
Just as the conflict was going to escalate further, the warm morning air's temperature sharply dropped below freezing.
Slowly and calmly, Esdeath walked out of the forest behind Tatsumi, stopping when she was equal distance away from him as he was from Night Raid.
"What are you doing here, Tatsumi?" Esdeath asked, her aura causing all of Tatsumi's instincts to yell at him to run and hide.
But he stood his ground, "I had to talk to them Esdeath, it may very well be the last time that I am able to."
Scowling, Esdeath responded, "Whatever the reason, you lied to me. When we get back to the palace, you will suffer the consequences," her domineering aura flaring up, indicating that she clearly was intending to follow through with her threat.
"Tatsumi," Akame spoke up, "if there were ever a time you were going to, this would be it."
Tatsumi understood what Akame was implying, but he stood there frozen. Conflicted on what to do.
But before he could give it any real thought, a glowing divination circle appeared under Night Raid and Esdeath, Tatsumi equidistant from both parties. The spells sent a calm Tahitian blue glow cascading into the brightening sky.
For all three parties, time slowed a sluggish crawl.
Akame outstreched her arm and yelled desperately,
Esdeath also reached out her arm to him and yelled with an equal, if not greater, sense of urgency,
"TATSUMI!" they said in the same moment.
Tatsumi flashed back to the bizarre dream he had when he had been cut by Asger's blade.
The battle between light and dark flashing inside his head, each side pulling at him, splitting him in half. He remembered the decision he had made to denounce the darkness and embrace the light. He remembered how the light had rejoiced while the darkness grew more bitter.
Most importantly, he remembered how it broke him. So, he knew what he had to do.
As the magic circles began to rise, starting their teleportation, Tatsumi kicked off the ground as hard as he could, flying towards her outstretched hand as quickly as he could.
A look of disappointment spread across her face as she looked at Tatsumi's back.
In mere moments, Tatsumi had covered the distance, and in the last second, their hands made contact and they were teleported.
Author's note: As for the explanation of the delay, I have a lot on my plate as of now with school and work and I simply don't have the time to sit down and write. I am lucky to get to bed before 1 am most days.
But, if there is one thing that I am, its stubborn. I. Will. Finish. This. Story. At some point anyways.
Gonna try and have another chapter out by the end of the year. Will that happen? No clue.
As always, likes, follows, favs, and reviews are greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think, was this chapter awful? Do you want more Wave x Kurome? Do you want more separate storylines or keep just the main one, as the story has mostly been thus far? I'm interested in hearing your opinions.