Disclaimer: I do not own Akame Ga Kill or any of its characters.
Replying to reviews from the previous chapter
Ryuujin96: Glad you enjoyed it. I've much more planned now that Tatsumi has joined Night Raid.
Owl6295: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me.
NinjaFang1331: Thank you!
A/N: Before I go through this chapter, I know I've been gone for a while and I'm sorry. I had intended to get this chapter up sooner, but life stuff and school have been my priority. I just want to let you guys know that I intend on finishing this story no matter what, so don't worry about a burnout. I should warn you guys that the chapters might come out at a slower pace, still trying to work out my schedule.
So, I've edited the previous chapters and went over the minor mistakes that I said I would correct. Now I can finally move on to the new chapters. By the way, now that Tatsumi has joined Night Raid, I want to let you guys know that I might move some minor events that happened earlier in the anime (I never wrote about) in these chapters for 2 reasons. Examples: Night Raid's base being attacked by mercenaries, Mine taking Tatsumi to the Capital, Akame and Sheele training Tatsumi.
Firstly, don't worry, these are rather minor events that occur early on and don't have a major impact on the storyline. The reason I'm doing this is because these events happened when Tatsumi joined Night Raid in the beginning, but as you all know, I twisted the timeline so Tatsumi has now just joined the assassin group. This means that he didn't get the chance to go through those experiences so I would like to cover them if they fit in the story.
The other reason (and the more important one) is that I want Tatsumi to obviously grow as a character and begin building relationships and connections to the other members of Night Raid. Albeit these connections will start out rather slowly due to Tatsumi's cold exterior, these minor events will serve as a good starting point in developing these traits.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to mention. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
(Night Raid's Base)
"Good to have you with us Tatsumi" Bulat said cheerfully and clapped Tatsumi on the back.
"It's good that we have reached an understanding. I know that today has been pretty eventful for you, is there anything you would like to ask us?" Najenda asked.
"Yeah, just to confirm, you all have teigus right?" Tatsumi asked, and Najenda nodded in confirmation.
"That's right, everyone in Night Raid except me has a teigu. Would everyone please explain your teigu and what it does to our newest member?"
First one up was Akame and she held out her black katana. "My teigu is known as the 'One Cut Killer: Murasame'. This blade is coated with an immensely deadly poison that can kill those cut by it within seconds."
Next came Leone's turn. "My teigu is 'the king of beasts transformation: Lionel'. She said as she pointed to the belt she was wearing. "When activated, it enhances my physical abilities and gives me the ability of regeneration, as well as giving me animal-like characteristics." She explained.
Mine huffed but presented her rifle for Tatsumi to see. "This is the 'Roman Artillery: Pumpkin.' In contrast to normal bullets, this rifle fires highly concentrated shots of spiritual energy. If I'm in a pinch, they will get stronger."
Sheele wielded a giant pair of scissors. "My teigu is…" Sheele drawled off.
Thankfully, Najenda was there to explain in the airhead's place. "It's okay Sheele, I'll tell him." Najenda turned to Tatsumi. "Her teigu is the 'Cutter of Creation: Extase.' It is said to be able to cut through anything."
Lubbock said, "I use a wire teigu named 'Infinite Uses: Cross Tails.' It is an extremely durable thread teigu and can be used for offensive and defensive purposes."
Finally, Bulat was last. "My teigu is in the form of armour when released, however when it is sealed, it is in the form of a short sword," he explained as he showed Tatsumi the sword. "It is known as the 'Demon Armour: Incursio' and it provides an almost unbreakable defence."
"And that's all of Night Raid's imperial arms. However, since we told you our secrets, I suppose it's only fair if you tell us what your teigu's ability is, right?" Najenda directed the question to the brown-haired boy standing in front of her.
Tatsumi nodded. "Fair enough. My teigu is known as the 'Sword of Darkness: Elucidator' " He said and brandished his sword at them. Everyone in Night Raid, even Najenda, was curious at what the weapon would look like.
Elucidator was a black sword with a long blade. It had a black hilt connected to a hand guard that drops down on the right side. It had gold linings running around the borders of the hilt but apart from that, it was all black.
"Elucidator, as its description indicates, has the power to control and manipulate darkness." Tatsumi explained. "I mainly use it to direct focused attacks at enemies, such as in our first battle, Akame." He said nodding to the raven-haired assassin. "However, it has other uses such as strengthening my sword in a fight and I can use it as like a barrier to block attacks or a cloak to increase my speed to an extent."
"I see, that is definitely one strong teigu you've got there Tatsumi." Najenda praised. "I appreciate you telling us this information."
Tatsumi shrugged. "Since we are going to be working together, it would not be beneficial for us if we did not have a good understanding of each other's abilities."
"That's very true, Tatsumi" Najenda was inwardly pleased at Tatsumi's maturity. "But there is one more thing I would like to ask of you Tatsumi."
Tatsumi raised his eyebrows in curiosity and motioned for her to continue.
"All of the members of Night Raid have seen your fight with Akame and acknowledged your strength, however I want to see it for myself. I would like for you to bring your weapon and head to the training area outside." Seeing as Tatsumi didn't have a problem with it, she continued. "Alright, we'll see you in a few minutes, Tatsumi." Najenda finished before exiting the meeting room, followed close behind by the others.
(10 minutes later; Night Raid's training area)
"Alright Tatsumi. Akame will be your sparring partner since you both use swords as your main choice of weapon so your style of fighting would be closest to hers." Najenda turned to the raven-haired girl beside her.
Akame nodded and handed a wooden sword to Tatsumi.
"I want you to go full-force and no holding back. You'll both use wooden swords so no worries about inflicting severe wounds." Najenda told the two people in front of her.
"Are you sure?" Tatsumi asked with a bit of concern for the girl in front of him, since he knew that even wooden swords could hurt when used with enough force. "I just joined, and I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Oh, Tatsumi aren't you a sweet thing?" Leone teased the brown-haired boy.
Najenda smiled at Tatsumi's remark. "Sure, don't worry about it, the worst that can happen is bad bruises. Don't worry about this fight turning serious, as I said before, it's just to measure your combat abilities."
Tatsumi nodded and then slid into his respective stance as he faced Akame who was in a similar position in the training area.
"Excellent." Najenda motioned for the other members of Night Raid to step back to give the two assassins room.
"Tatsumi, you'll have two minutes to disarm Akame of her weapon and make her yield." She saw the boy nod in understanding.
"Right, BEGIN!"
Immediately, Tatsumi shot forward and was on the offensive, swinging his sword low to aim for Akame's kneecaps but Akame countered by deflecting the blow and swung upwards to his chest but Tatsumi leaned back just in time to avoid the deadly blade.
From the position of which his sword was at, Tatsumi swung at Akame's midsection and the blow connected. The female assassin stumbled a bit but regained her footing and attacked with very fast thrusts at Tatsumi. Tatsumi weaved through the many attacks with his sharp eyes and barely deflected the ones he couldn't dodge.
Noting that he couldn't use the power of his teigu to his advantage and it was all on him, Tatsumi eventually regained his ground and started pushing against Akame with faster speed to his attacks so Akame had to switch to a more reserved style of fighting.
The battle then became a test of speed and endurance, it came down to which assassin would be too fast for the other to see or which one would fail and make a mistake first. As the battle raged on, the other assassins saw blurs as Akame and Tatsumi fought, however it became apparent that while Akame's strikes were crisp and almost robotically fast, Tatsumi strikes were not as even as hers and a bit sloppier and slower as he struggled to match her speed.
The conclusion to the battle came soon. Akame's blade arced downwards to Tatsumi's head and when Tatsumi was forced block it, Akame managed to send his sword flying out of his grip and her blade collided with Tatsumi, who went to the ground. When he realised where he was, Akame was standing over him and her sword poised at his throat.
Tatsumi's eyes widened at his loss but he also acknowledged that he had lost the battle because Akame was currently stronger than him.
He hung his head in shame as the rest of Night raid approached him, feeling that he would get scolded for his loss. But instead to his surprise, Bulat was the first to congratulate him on the match.
"Well done Tatsumi, your swordsmanship is remarkable indeed! You are the longest person to have held off Akame for so long." He cheerfully said.
Najenda nodded. "Bulat's right. Although it looks like we have to work on your endurance and precision, you certainly have the groundwork of a strong assassin."
Tatsumi couldn't help but smile. Even Akame came up to him and offered him positive words about the fight and advice on how he could improve, which he appreciated.
"Actually, this just occurred to me, but do you know about the ancient prophecy?" Najenda asked Tatsumi.
"Ancient prophecy?" Tatsumi responded in confusion. "What's that?"
Najenda said, "I see, not surprising since it's faded into myth now, you'll basically only find it in old literature books, if the Prime Minister hasn't burnt them away." She wore a serious expression. "The previous emperor who was before the current one, had a wise advisor by his side and at that time, the Empire was not filled with corruption like it is now and instead the land prospered in peace.
However, when it became time for the new emperor crowned, the prime minister seized power and took advantage of the child who became emperor as the old leader died. The advisor, realising the treachery that had been committed by Honest and the consequences that would be spread from his actions, tried to warn the young emperor. Unfortunately, young Makoto was too young to listen and was already fooled by Honest's lies. The prime minister ordered the advisor to go away and never return to the palace.
Days later, the prime minister falsely accused the advisor of committing a crime and gave pieces of planted evidence to the emperor so that he would be convinced. Once Makoto agreed, Honest ordered the advisor to be beheaded. However, just before he was decapitated by the guillotine, the advisor looked to everybody that was watching his execution and spoke. However, what's strange was he didn't say wasn't some rambling or desperate words to convince the people of Honest's treachery, instead it was something that would be later called by the people, 'the ancient prophecy.' "
Najenda paused in her storytelling to focus on the words about the prophecy that she had read before but never committed to memory. Finally, it came back to her. Najenda turned to Tatsumi and recited the prophecy.
When the kingdom is dead
And fear is entrenched
One man risen from ashes
Wielding two mighty weapons of natural forces
Will overcome the power of ice
And restore eternal peace.
"Over the years, the people have forgotten about this prophecy and they have dismissed it as nothing but useless words from the advisor. I was wondering what you would think of it."
Tatsumi snorted. "It does sound kind of ludicrous to me. I mean, the line 'wielding two mighty weapons of natural forces' he's got to be talking about imperial arms right? There's no way someone can possibly handle the sort of power that would come from using two teigus."
Najenda nodded. "I thought you might say that. For the most part, I agree with you but for some reason, I just don't think the old adviser would just make that up as his last words."
Suddenly, an unexpected loud grinding sound was heard. Lubbock's eyes widened, as the wires extending from his device began to twitch.
"Boss, we've got incoming intruders!" Lubbock warned.
Najenda sighed. "How many of them are there?"
"According to my barrier wires, at least eight of them." Lubbock responded as he used his wires to sense where the infiltrators were approaching from.
"They must be pretty good to find our secret base." Najenda sighed as she pulled out a cigarette from her pockets. "they must be mercenaries from a tribal group" Najenda lighted the cigarette and put it in her mouth, blowing smoke in the air. "There's no other choice. This is an emergency operation. Don't let a single one of them escape alive."
Tatsumi immediately noted a chance in atmosphere in the room. "This sense of bloodlust, looks like these assassins know what they're doing." A smirk emerged from the edge of his mouth. "Well, I can't seem outdone by them." He thought as he released his own bloodlust into the air.
All of the other members of Night Raid were pretty shocked at this. Najenda thought "Looks like Akame wasn't wrong when she said he was strong. He's definitely killed before; you can see it in his eyes. He's something special."
"Go!" Najenda ordered, signalling the members of Night Raid to make their assault.
Tatsumi was about to follow suit when Najenda said, "Tatsumi, keep what I said about the prophecy to yourself. Whether it really is true or just fake, letting people know of it will only attract attention to yourself, you understand?"
Tatsumi nodded to the boss as a sign that he heard her, but then Najenda added while sporting a grin, "this is also your first real battle as a member of Night Raid. Don't let me down kid!"
Tatsumi turned his head back and grinned as well. "Yes boss!" He saluted and then took off in the direction Bulat had went.
(Forest surrounding Night Raid's Hidden Base)
"Hey Bulat" Tatsumi called out as he caught up to the big man.
"Huh?" Bulat said, surprised that Tatsumi was following him. "Oh Tatsumi! Do you wish to join me?"
"Yeah, I don't know the area around your base at all so I followed you, because I figured you were one of the more experienced members of Night Raid."
"Ah, I see. I like your thinking, Tatsumi." Bulat shouted with a massive grin. "By the way, can you call me Bro or Handsome?"
"No." Tatsumi flat out denied Bulat's request. "I don't see the point of giving you nicknames. We are merely allies striving for the same goal, not friends. There's a big difference between allies and friends." He said coldly.
Bulat frowned, he had witnessed his fight with Akame and knew that he had serious skills. But this cold side of Tatsumi was something he had only seen similar in Akame. "This cold and indifferent side of his shows the experiences and challenges he's been through to get to this point. What happened to you, Tatsumi?"
Bulat gave a silent sigh and decided to not pursue the matter at the moment. He flashed a bright smile to cover the awkwardness of the moment. "Alright, Tatsumi, if that's what you want. But anyways, at least let me show you something cool." He exclaimed as the pair of assassins stopped travelling.
"Take a few steps back!" Bulat said. Tatsumi did as he was told and moved back several feet. "INCURSIOO!" Tatsumi's eyes widened when an aura surrounded Bulat and when it cleared, the same set of armour he'd seen before formed around Bulat and obscured his features.
"I'll admit, that was pretty awesome." Tatsumi acknowledged.
"See, I knew you would see it too!" Bulat grinned. "But now back to business," Bulat turned to a serious demeanour, "I'm going to assign you your first job."
Tatsumi nodded. "I'm ready." He resolutely said.
(Half a mile south; river near Night Raid's base)
"If she's here, that means Night Raid's base must be close." A group of three mercenaries stared down Akame, the lone assassin maintaining a tight grip on her sword. "It was definitely worth following the long trail to get here."
"Yeah, not to mention that she's such a cute girl." One of the larger mercenaries licked his lips. He failed to notice Akame's eyes hardening and her bloodlust leaking out.
"Looks like we can have some fun after we finish her off," the third tribal man smirked wickedly. "Try not to cut her up too- " Before the mercenary could finish, Akame seemingly vanished. In the blink of an eye, Akame unsheathed her sword, and slashed through all three of the mercenaries' throats. The tribal men stared in shock at Akame, who appeared behind them.
"You three were far too relaxed in enemy territory." Akame said in an emotionless tone as she whipped her blade around and splattered the blood on her sword, onto the ground. "Maybe, then you would have had a chance of defending yourselves."
One of the mercenaries tried to speak, but blood filled his throat, and no words came out. *Gurgle* He collapsed onto the ground, his blood drying out on the ground on which he laid. A second later, his friend followed suit, and collapsed without the ability to speak. "How is…. she…so fast?" Was the mercenarys last thoughts before collapsing into darkness.
"Shit!" The last mercenary thought as he held a hand to his throat to stop the blood from spraying out. He raised his blade to strike Akame. "If I'm going down, I'm going to at least take this bitch with…" Suddenly, he was paralysed and couldn't move. The tribal's eyes widened as markings spread across his skin. "The blade was poisoned?"
"One cut spells out your death." Akame said, as she resheathed her sword. "All I have to do is knick you and you'll die." Akame turned away from the mercenary's fallen body. "I should probably check up on Tatsumi. I know he's strong, but he's part of an actual team for killing now. Hopefully he doesn't trip up or anything." Akame thought as she sprinted back into the dark woods.
(Another part of the forest)
A tribal was running through the forest. The man had seen several of his comrades get killed and decided that retreating was the best option. However, little did he know that there was a sniper taking careful aim on him from a cliff about a mile away.
"He's run quite far away." Mine said as she tracked the tribal through the scope of her rifle. "I'll have to risk exposing myself if I want to hit him. The pinkette took a steadying breath and took aim at the tribal's head. However, she heard rustling in the bushes behind her. "I hope you are in position, Sheele."
"I got you now!" A mercenary came rushing out of the bushes, dagger held within his arms and aimed at Mine's back. But he never saw the toothy grin that spread across Mine's face. When the tribal man was a few feet away from Mine, Sheele sprang out from behind a nearby tree and used her massive scissors to bisect the mercenary.
"I'm truly sorry." Sheele said, as the tribal fell to the ground in two separate pieces.
"Thanks, Sheele" Mine said. "That was a nice pinch right there," she said, noticing that there was a large amount of energy built up at the end of her rifle. A massive beam of energy shot out from her rifle towards the fleeing mercenary. The tribal turned his head to look behind him, only to see a beam of bright energy heading his way before he was incinerated.
(Leone's location)
A half a mile away south, Leone was stood on the bloodied corpse of a mercenary. She then proceeded to hear a large explosion in the distance and grinned in satisfaction. "Looks like Mine got one of these bastards, can't let her get ahead of me!" She exclaimed and went off to find her next target.
(Where Lubbock is)
In a cave west, Lubbock groaned in annoyance at the person who was caught in his wires. It was an attractive dark-skinned woman, the wires dragging marks across her skin from how tightly they bound her.
"I thought the weight on my threads were rather light," Lubbock sighed, "but it turns out it was just a girl."
"Please save me!" the woman cried desperately, "I will do anything!"
"No can do" Lubbock said, flexing his fingers. The wires tightened around her skin and tore into her throat area, suffocating her. "I once knew of a man who died because he fell to a woman's seductions." The woman gave one last, strangled breath before succumbing to the lack of air.
Lubbock turned and began to walk out of the cave as the wires holding the woman loosened and she dropped to the ground. However, before he left, he spared one last glance at the woman's corpse. The green-haired man groaned and scratched his head, "damn it, what a waste of such a beauty! Sometimes this job sucks."
(Back with Tatsumi)
"Well, this has been pretty boring so far." Tatsumi thought as he stood guard at the forest area that Bulat had told him to guard because it was a possible spot where the mercenaries would come to. However, Tatsumi hadn't spotted anyone so far.
*Sigh* "I was hoping to get some fighting on today but I guess-" Tatsumi's thoughts were disrupted when a mercenary came busting through one of the bushes. The grown man grinned when he saw a young boy standing there.
"Hah! I guess it's my lucky day! This will be easy." The mercenary swung his blade at Tatsumi, and his sword only got halfway before Tatsumi dove right in front of the man and slashed through his chest, creating a deep wound.
"Aargh!" He dropped his sword in pain and feebly tried to crawl away as he tried to stem the blood coming out of the wound with his hand.
"Pl…Please! I beg of you. If I die, my family…" Before the mercenary could finish, Tatsumi swiftly stabbed his sword through the mercenary's chest, silencing him for good.
"I'm not going to fall for your lies." Tatsumi said in an icy tone, retracting his sword from the mercenary's throat and sheathing it back into its scabbard. As Tatsumi stood over the man's dead body, some of the village chief's words about battle came back to him.
"Remember Tatsumi, you should always be wary on the battlefield. There is no honour when it comes to fighting and people will use all types of tricks to win, so be careful of treachery. Trust no one." That last sentence stood out the most to him, and it constantly echoed within the walls of his brain. Especially now, he couldn't afford to trust anyone. He couldn't show any sign of weakness. Not until he sliced…
"Tatsumi?"
Tatsumi was brought out of his stupor and he turned around to see Akame walking towards him. He saw that Akame was on guard and had her hand on the hilt of her sword. He then noticed that his hands were subconsciously curled into fists, so he took a deep breath and relaxed himself.
"Are you okay? You were radiating a lot of bloodlust; I could feel it when I was watching you fight." Akame warily, but also concernfully said.
"Yeah I'm fine now, thanks Akame. Just got a bit too caught up in my emotions is all." Suddenly, Akame's words registered in his mind. 'Wait, you said that you were watching me?"
"Yes, I was monitoring your fight to see if you would need help. I must say, I'm impressed. Not only did you defeat the mercenary in efficient time, but you also did not fall for his sob story. I was half-expecting you to fall for that, and that I would have to save you. But you proved me wrong."
Tatsumi rolled his eyes. "As if I would let that piece of trash take me down. I won't die, not until I take my revenge." He said seriously.
His eyes widened when he realized what he had just said. He looked to see Akame giving a confused look, but there was also a deep sense of curiosity lurking behind her eyes as well. Tatsumi became flustered and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, forget that last part" he sheepishly said.
"HIYA!" Both Akame and Tatsumi turned to see Bulat burst out of the trees next to them. "I know that the enemy came running here. Fear not, leave them to me."
"It's already been taken care of" Akame said, which didn't really surprise the large man that much since he knew of Tatsumi's capabilities, "Tatsumi took care of him."
"I see, good job Tatsumi! You are going to be a fine assassin." Bulat cheerfully said and slapped him on the back.
"Thanks," Tatsumi said, his stoic expression having returned.
"Alright come on," Akame said, turning around and walking back into the forest. "We should head back and report everything to the boss."
(Night Raid's base)
"Good job Tatsumi" Najenda smiled to the boy in front of him. "While I didn't think you would have had trouble, it's nice to see you do so well in your first real battle.
"Thank you boss" Tatsumi said.
"From what I've seen and Akame's report, you are definitely assassin material, but I think it would be good for you to be trained by each member of Night Raid. After all, there's more to being an assassin than just fighting.
Tatsumi nodded, he knew that he would eventually need to work with the other people of Night Raid so training under them would be a good way for him to understand them better.
Najenda took a puff of her cigarette. "So first thing tomorrow, you'll be paired with Akame and training with her. Is that alright with you Akame?"
"Mhmmm" Akame said, her voice muffled by the giant peace of meat in her mouth.
"Well now that's been sorted, it's time for you to get some rest. It's been a hectic day. Can you show him to his room Bulat?"
Before Tatsumi followed him, Leone whispered, "Be careful he's gay." This of course freaked Tatsumi out and he made sure to stay a suitable distance away from Bulat.
After Bulat showed him to his room and Tatsumi dismissed his flirting, he collapsed onto his bed, groaning as he came in contact with the soft material.
He slept soundly, but before he did, his thoughts drifted to his new place in Night Raid and about the prophecy that Najenda had told him about.
A/N: I want to address a few things now that the chapter is finished, and you've read through it (hopefully).
Before anyone says anything, I know that the part about the ancient prophecy isn't cannon to Akame Ga Kill but I did say I was going to put my own twist on it, and I hope you liked it. Don't worry, the prophecy will somewhat foreshadow the outcome of the series but won't have a major impact on the story and events (don't want to say too much). Also, I know that the prophecy didn't rhyme and while most do, I figured this one I wrote would be fine.
Few additional notes:
I want to mention that Tatsumi isn't completely cold to everyone. He just isn't trusting of anyone but I want to show that he is a normal kid as well so he will have moments where he is not completely emotionless, such as when he's embarrassed or something. Just wanted to put that out there.
Another thing I want to point out: Tatsumi lost to Akame because in terms of swordplay and skill, Akame has the upper hand with her whole background of being an assassin and her training. Tatsumi won the first time because Akame did not know the power of Tatsumi's teigu and she also had no clue how strong he would be. The reason I did this and didn't just make Tatsumi stronger than Akame, is because while Tatsumi is strong, I don't want to make him on Akame's level so soon. I feel like there should be some more growth to his strength now so that it will make more sense when he gets stronger later on.
That's about it, I know I wrote a lot of things in the author's notes but I just wanted to make these points clear to all of you now, so you won't be confused or anything. Like always, leave a review on your thoughts and I will see you guys in the next chapter. Bye for now!