Chapter 10...

Tatsumi's dog was still growling at the forest line. The three assassins decided to investigate. Tatsumi approached the forest cautiously and kept his hand on his Teigu.

"Someone in there?" He asked.

"Grrrrr!" The pup just maintained a certain distance from the tree line.

"Someone's hiding in the bush." Leone narrowed her eyes.

"You got five seconds before I slice up that bush." Tatsumi gave fair warning as he slowly drew his Teigu.

"Wait!" Suddenly the 'someone' in question popped up with their hands in the air. She looked to be a grown young woman with her armor nearly torn off. Tatsumi just narrowed his eye suspiciously.

"Eh? It's a soldier from the Revolutionary army." Sheele exclaimed.

"Please! I'm being chased! I'm part of the company that was transporting the rebel army's shipment. You're Night Raid right?! Please, I-!"

"Hold up a minute." Tatsumi said as he sheathed his Teigu. "Why should we believe you?"

"Do you have any proof that you're with the resistance?" Leone asked.

"I promise! I'll tell you anything you want! Just please-" She was suddenly saying when an arrow from behind her headded toward her back. Leone tackled her out of the way and the arrow came straight at Tatsumi. He merely leaned out of the way as it whistled past him and into the ground.

"Well they tried to kill her. I'd say that should suffice for now!" Leone said and picked up the soldier. "I'll get her to a safer spot! I'll leave these guys to you! Hang on, lady!" She said and leaped away from the conflict.

"This won't take long." Tatsumi drew his Teigu.

"We should try to use the forest to our advantage ." Sheele mentioned.

"Then lets go!" Tatsumi and Sheele dashed through the brush towards their opponents.

"Here they come! Archers!" One that appeared to be the leader ordered. They were in the trees as they took aim at Tatsumi and Sheele. They opened fire and missed. Tatsumi dived into a bush and had vanished. Sheele just charged forward and blocked all of the arrows with her giant scissors. She then opened them and snipped one of them in half. Their upper half sprayed blood everywhere while their lower half just dropped flat on the ground. She then spun around and slashed another guard. One of the archers were taking aim at her, but suddenly a blade of wind sliced through his bow, body, and tree and was cleaved in half. The last thing he saw was Tatsumi's cold dead glare before blacking out. Tatsumi dashed from bush to bush. He slashed through several guards before swatting an arrow out of the way. He looked in the direction it came from, and swung his blade to generate a greenish blade of wind that jetted straight for the archer.

"Storm Edge." He uttered before it cut the archer down. He looked behind him and quickly grabbed one of his throwing knives, and threw it toward one of the bandits that were coming at him with a huge sword. He dropped dead in an instant when Tatsumi's knife connected with his skull. He then made a look of realization. "Crap. I need one alive." He said out loud.

"Get off me...aarrg!" One of the bandits were in the midst of trying to get the wolf pup off his head as it bit his hair, making him flail around in a panic. Tatsumi just blinked with a blank look.

"...he'll do." Tatsumi then took out one of his throwing knives and then hooked it on to a little ring on his fake arm. He then threw it and it pulled out a wire as it traveled through the the air. It went threw the guy's leg, making him fall from the sudden stab. Tatsumi then reeled him in and the wire retracted as the guy groaned in pain. When he was at Tatsumi's feet Tatsumi planted his foot on his leg.

"AAAgh!" He yelled in pain.

"Where are you camped at?" He demanded.

"W-wait! Time out! I can't speak when you're-AAAWWWGH!" Tatsumi pushed his foot harder on his wound and his face turned even more cold.

"Not what I want to hear. Where is your camp?" He asked again.

"I'll tell you if you please release my foot-AAAAAA!" Tatsumi then stabbed his leg with a throwing knife.

"Let me tell you a little story. There were these highwaymen who were causing a fuss in my village. They kidnapped some of our women and children and wouldn't give them back unless we gave them a treasure that we were keeping secret. So I followed them to where they were keeping our villagers. I killed them all one by one, then afterwards there was only the leader left." He went on. Little did he know that Sheele was also there. "The villagers weren't there, so I had a little one on one like we're doing right now with him. He said he would tell me if I let him go. So I let him up and he told me they were in a remote location that wasn't far from them. So afterwards, I decided to not waste time and I let him leave. I went to the location..." He had an angered look on his face. "...they were there all right. Beaten bloodied, cut up, and strung up like fucking scarecrows." He eased of him. "At that moment, I realized how naive I was and to never trust a word my enemy said." He then looked back down at the bandit and made a glare at him.

"So if you lie to me, i'm going to take the leg clean off, haul your ass to a random part of the forest, and let the danger beasts deal with you." He threatened.

"No, I-I wouldn't dream of it. I'm forced to do this otherwise they'll kill my friends!" He pointed out. Tatsumi just had his hair covering his eyes. After a moment he took his knife out of his leg, and then suddenly the bandit threw some dirt at Tatsumi's face. Tatsumi blocked it with his arm, but the bandit was running for it.

"Heh! Shoulda' killed me instead! You're really naive if you think you can get the location outta me!" He smiled evilly as he rushed out.

"..!" Sheele was about to run.

"Let him go." Tatsumi said as he looked at his knife tip.

"He's going to alert his friends if we-"

"He won't get far."

"What do you mean?" Sheele asked curiously.

"That knife I stuck him with." He pointed out. "I took some of the toxin from a Grigor quill and a Red Striped Rattlesnake's venom and soaked my dagger in it all week. He should be dropping dead in two and a half minutes." He said as he sheathed the knife in his belt.

"He never intended on letting him live." She thought as she looked at him. "I guess you were thinking ahead." She laughed sheepishly. "By the way, was that story true?" She asked.

"I wonder~?" He smiled at her and then turned away. "Lets go check on the soldier." He said and sheathed his Teigu.

"..." Sheele just blinked and followed.

"A black market?" Tatsumi repeated as he and everyone sat in a circle. The wolf pup just rested at Tatsumi's feet while keeping a watchful eye on their new traveling companion.

"Hai. I heard one of them mention that they were selling it to someone on the black market." The female soldier explained. "That's why they were targeting this route for the past year. They go for the more heavy ordnance and then sell it back to the empire at a profit."

"So either way you slice it, the empire would get their crap back one way or the other." Tatsumi deduced. "Well, at least now we know that we're dealing with businessmen and not just typical bandits." He said as he stood up.

"These guys are probably hired mercenaries. They each had their own type of armor and weapons." Sheele noted.

"So we got ourselves merchants who deal in weapons and armor, and have intel on our army's movements." Leone deduced as she groaned. "Well that is definitely a problem we need to take care of."

"Where they based at?" Tatsumi asked.

"About three miles northeast from here. They have an encampment and a small army of mercenaries. Although, I should warn you about the captain that is organizing them. I've seen him before on the front lines. His name is Greve. He's earned a reputation of being the recent successful captain on the front lines." She warned them.

"Captain huh?" Tatsumi suddenly smiled. "Well this should be interesting." Tatsumi said as he dusted his coat off.

"Where you going?" Leone asked.

"Where do you think?" Tatsumi asked as if she were an idiot. "Northeast, right? C'mon furball." He said and began leaving with his pup in tow.

"Tatsumi~! Uuggh, this happens every time." Leone groaned. "I'll take her back to an outpost. Sheele? You go with him."

"Eh?" She made a sound of surprise.

"If you take her back, you might end up lost." She made a teasing smile as she picked up the soldier.

"Oh...yeah, you're right." Sheele agreed.

"At least retort or somethin'!" Leone had a bead of sweat going down the back of her head after listening to her response. "Well, be careful." She said.

"Mm, you too." Sheele nodded.

"One more thing." The soldier said. "There are about thirty soldiers that are locked up in there. If you free them, they'll be able to help you deal with the rest of the camp." She mentioned.

"Oh! There's an idea! I'll be back to help you guys out!" Leone said as she took off.

"Mm! Tatsumiii! Wait up!" Sheele ran to catch up with him.

Later...

"Hmph, what a bore." A man with an elegant face and wavy blonde hair said. "These female soldiers are really less attractive when they resist." He said as he walked away from a naked woman who was bound by ropes. "Do it."

"N-no-AAAAAAAghh..." As he snapped his fingers, the two ropes tensed up and suddenly puller her body apart like a doll. Her corpse just laid motionless on the ground as her eyes were left lifeless with a horrified look and tears drenching her cheeks.

"(Sigh), Guess i'll go find another one." He flicked his hair and got dressed. He was in full body armor and had a sword that was shiny and jeweled."Ahhh, it such a lovely day." He smiled as he came out of the tent and was in the middle of his encampment. One of the P.O.W.'s had been sobbing for the loss of her comrade. There was about thirty of the soldiers locked up in a large cage. They only had their clothes from under their armor as they sat down in the prison, cursing the name of the young man.

"Commander?" He called to one of the soldiers and they came over. "Has your scouting party reported back yet?"

"No sir, but they've only been gone for two hours."

"What? It's only been that long? Oh well." He then looked over to the cage of P.O.W.'s. A evil grin made it's way to his face as he eyed the female soldier who was sobbing. "I'll just go interrogate another one~!" He said as he approached the cage. Beyond the camp, we see Tatsumi and Sheele lying in wait in a tree as he looked through a telescope at the camp.

"Drawn and quartered. Not the best way to go." Tatsumi mentioned.

"..." Sheele made an angered look. "Tatsumi. That man needs to die." She bluntly said.

"I agree." Tatsumi narrowed his eyes as the gears were turning in his head. "Hold on...Yeah, I see about thirty of them in the cage. Looks like their morale has been shattered." He noted the expressions they had. "Normally I would have no problem charging in, and ripping that meatbag a new one, but we need to figure out how to do this in a way we don't get swarmed." He noted. "They got four watchers. Killing em' one by one won't work. They're in constant view of each other. You take one out, and the others are all over you in less than five seconds." He noted the watch as he eyed all the positions. "Hmmmm..." He thought long and hard. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Hey Sheele?"

"Yeah?"

"..Are you okay with this?" He asked in a more serious tone.

"With what?" She asked curiously.

"With me planning our strategy. I know I have a certain way I do things, but i'm just used to fighting by myself." He explained.

"I trust you Tatsumi." She smiled. "I'm not very good with that sort of thing, but you are very observant, and smart. An air head planning this sort of thing probably isn't the best idea." She scratched the back of her head while giggling. "Besides, you're part of Night Raid. You're a very special friend to me."

"..." Tatsumi was wide eyed at her response. She trusted him...even after all his blunders he made, she trusted him to decide how they should proceed. It felt kind of...undeserving. He felt a feeling that was tickled inside him that he hadn't in a while. Same as with Sayo...Sayo...

"Tatsumi?" She asked as she leaned closer to him.

"Uh, right. Umm.." He lost his train of thought and cleared his throat. "I think I have an idea." He said as he examined the positions. "...yeah, that'll do it." He smirked.

"..." One of the watchmen were keeping a close eye on the surroundings. He had the look like he was bored. "Man, I can't wait till this is over. (Yawns), in about two hours I switch." He said to himself.

(Whistle)

He whipped his head around and suddenly a figure shot at him with their blade drawn he was wide eyed and he blocked with his arms, but it just harmlessly passed through him.

"What the-!?" He looked around frantically. "I was sure that was killing intent! Where is he!?" He looked everywhere.

"Oi! Something wrong?" One of the watchmen asked him.

"I don't know! Something just came at me, then vanished!" He responded. "I'm gonna go check it out!"

"Don't go too far!"

"Yeah, Yeah." He responded and went to go take a look. After about ten minutes, he came back to his position.

"Anything?"

"No...I guess it was nothing. No tracks or plants are out of place." He said with a sigh.

"Are you feeling all right? Shift change is about to happen in an hour or two. Make sure you get plenty of rest."

"I'm not tired. I swore I saw something." He said as he turned back. He sighed, thinking maybe he was tired.

(Whistles)

His head shot around again and he saw the same thing coming right at him with a sword, he drew his blade and sliced them clean in half, but his blade just passed harmlessly through.

"W-what the hell!?" He exclaimed while looking around while sweating.

"Hey! Is something wrong?!"

"I just saw it again! It was like a ghost with a sword or something!" He said as he looked everywhere frantically.

"Say what?" One of them came over and looked. He wasn't sure what to make of it. "I see nothing." He shook his head.

"I'm telling you it's there!" He insisted.

"...Alright. I'll look with you." He said and the two were keeping a watchful eye. It had been a shift change and someone new had taken up the spot. They had been there for about a good twenty minutes. Nothing strange happened, but suddenly...

(Whistles)

His head whipped around to the whistle and suddenly he saw a figure charging him with their sword. He stumbled back and was expecting to get hit, but it passed harmlessly through him and he lannded flat on his behind. He frantically got up and looked everywhere. But there was no trace whatsoever to indicate that someone was there.

"Something up?" One of them came up.

"Someone just came at me with a sword and vanished!" He explained.

"Huh?" They both looked around. "That's the same thing the last guy said he was seeing."

"Do you think there's someone out here?"

"If there was we would have found them by now. Were you drinking before going on shift?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No! You know we're not supposed to!" He said angrily.

"Well, I don't see anything." He raise his hands up in defense.

"Urrgh...whatever!" He said and just continued to watch. He was a little on edge from being surprised.

"What?" Greve said as he stood in front of his troops.

"The men have been...seeing things in the woods. It's making them be on edge." The officer said as the men behind him looked like they were restless.

"Seeing things? Be specific." He crossed his arms.

"Well...it has the appearance of a hooded figure that charges at them, but it vanishes into thin air." He explained.

"..." He just blinked. "I trust you searched the area around here." He said with annoyance.

"Yes, there was nothing out of place or any indication that we had an intruder." He explained

"I'm sure you don't need to be reminded that this place must absolutely remain hidden. Cause if the general is unhappy, things tend to be blown out of proportion, and when that happens, I could get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, then YOU get in trouble." He pointed at him.

"I'm not going to risk losing our assignment, but they are my men. Their safety is my concern." The officer narrowed his eyes.

"Who do you think you are!? I am directly under General Liver! If anything happens-!"

"I know General Liver. He is a respectable commander in the empire. Some of my men even look up to him. So if anything happens, the worst is we get fired. You on the other hand, I don't even want to know." He scoffed.

"You bastard..!" Greve hissed. "Get out! Do whatever the hell you need to ensure the security of this camp!" He demanded.

"Hmph." The officer scoffed once more before bowing and leaving.

"Scum! Damn backwater mercs! Don't you know i'm the one in charge here!?" He had the look of something demonic as he threw a glass cup at the table. "USELESS! ALL OF YOU, USELESS!" He yelled angrily.

"Alright! If any of you start seeing anything suspicious, let me know! We'll switch out for anyone who is seeing these ghosts! Disperse!" He commanded.

"Yes sir!" They all saluted and returned to their posts. The officer in question was looking around the camp.

"Hmm...why do I feel a bit uncomfortable?" He wondered. Not too far from the camp, we find Tatsumi once again in a tree looking at all the watchmen.

"This is working a lot better than I thought." He said.

"What is?" Sheele asked from down below.

"After using my Phantom it looks like they're starting to get paranoid." He noticed.

"Phantom?" Sheele asked.

"Ah." He then jumped down and landed next to her. "It's what i'm calling that move. Looks like I can project an illusion by pouring out my killer intent." He explained.

"Wow. I didn't know you could use it like that." She said in awe. "That Teigu is really getting interesting."

"The idea came from fighting Zank. You often hear stories of wisps of wind that look like ghosts." He mentioned. "So one day, I tried it out, and I sent out a motionless clone that looked like me when I was taking my training seriously." He concluded. "But anyway, I think this tactic will tip the conflict in our favor." Tatsumi said with a smile.

"You want to use psychological attacks?" Sheele put a finger to her chin in confusion.

"I'm trying to get them to be so paranoid, they'll jump at the first thing they see." He explained. "They get nervous, they get paranoid. They get paranoid, they assume everything is a threat. Once they attack anything in sight, it'll throw them off. So this time, I won't use my phantoms on them, i'll just whistle." He explained.

"Won't that just make them more angry?" Sheele asked again.

"...More or less. I just want to screw with em' before we attack." He shrugged. "Once I do that, I can have them dancing in my palm for as long as I want. Then i'll kill all of them while their in a state of confusion...heheheheh." He had a dark aura slowly building around him.

"Tatsumi would make a great evil mastermind." Sheele thought with an innocent expression.

"But anyway, i'm gonna go put my plan into action. When it gets dark, we'll make our move. We'll take out the watchers at the same time, then free the prisoners." He said and then dashed off. "Okay furball, prone!" He ordered. The pup just moaned and then laid on the ground.

"Mmm..." Sheele looked down and the wolf pup. "I guess we'll just wait here." She said to the dog.

"Arf!" It responded.

Later...

Tatsumi had been setting the guards off with false alarms until it got dark. They were getting riled and angry at the first sound they heard. Couple of the times, they were actually responding to noise that wasn't Tatsumi, and accidentally hurnt one of their own. It was making them restless. Tatsumi was always watching them with a look of amusement. The more jumpy they got, they would be getting prone to attacking anything.

"I think it is safe to say that the scout unit isn't returning." The mercenary officer said to Greve.

"Perhaps they ran into trouble." Greve figured. "Well, lets put the whole camp on alert. Have you're men dig in and prepare for the worst." He ordered.

"What about the prisoners?" He asked.

"...kill them. They'll only slow us down." He shrugged.

"Are you sure? They'd be valuable sources of information for Esdeath to-"

"Just tell them that they rioted and we had to kill them. Works every time." He sighed in annoyance.

"...very well." He agreed hesitantly.

"I do not like this. It's like we're being toyed with." The Greve narrowed his eyes. The mercenary officer went out and two more joined him as he approached the prison pen.

"URK!" One of the watchers suddenly fell from a blade being thrown at his back. But he stood still as his head drooped downwards. One of the watchers were curious as to why he was in the position he was in. But the reality of it was, tatsumi's knife was attached to a wire that was hanging him upward.

"What with hi-ugh.." He was about to ask, but suddenly a sword stabbed him from behind. He coughed up blood and the blade retracted and he fell dead on the ground.

"WHA-!?" The third watcher was about to call out for help, but his body was cleaved in two from a large pair of scissors. Sheele was revealed and she dashed towards the fourth one who just noticed her.

"INT-" He almost finished his call before Sheele snipped his head off. Blood had splattered all over the place, but Sheele still had a calm expression. She and Tatsumi looked at each other from afar and Tatsumi nodded. They both met up with each other and had hid behind a thick bush.

"You got both of them?"

"Hai." Sheele nodded.

"Lets go free the priso-huh?" Tatsumi then noticed that they were gathering in front of the prison pen with about ten riflemen.

"Are they going to execute the prisoners?" Sheele narrowed her eyes.

"How about we go ask em'?" Tatsumi said as he pulled out his Teigu.

"Orders are to kill the hostages and dig in. Men, take aim!" He commanded. They all lined up with rifles and pointed them at the prisoners.

"What!?"

"Why are you-!?

"I thought we were going to be transferred!"

"What is going on!?"

"You bastards!" They all protested as they tried to break down the bars, but it was futile.

"I would not prefer this either, but it is the way the world is. Do not struggle, and your passing will be painless." He said scoff. "Ready!" He raised his hand. They all had the fingers on the triggers as the prisoners shied away and were making peace with their maker. Little did anyone know, the wind started picking up.

"FIRE!"

(Shots fired)

"..." The mercenary captain closed his eyes and began walking away, thinking that was the end of it.

"No way.."

"Nani!?"

"What the hell!?"

"Hm?" He turned around from the confused looks of his men. But his eyes suddenly widened from the sight he was seeing. The bullets were just floating in mid air!

"What!?" He exclaimed. Suddenly the bullets began spinning and spinning. He instinctively dove behind a crate for cover and the bullets shot back and killed and injured the riflemen as they stumbled back and hit the ground.

"Huh?" One of the prisoners wondered. Suddenly a person jumped down in front of the cage. Green wind danced around him like a protective barrier as he looked up with his sword drawn.

"Heh, I guess this sword ain't too bad.." Tatsumi said and glared at the mercenary captain.

"Who the hell are you kid!? What are you doing here?!" He asked before drawing his sword and charging Tatsumi. Tatsumi whipped his sword toward him and a arc of wind jetted toward him and suddenly split him in half, making blood shoot out like a fountain, right before the officer hit the ground in a bloody mess. Tatsumi looked up and saw more men approaching.

"..i'm here to kill you." He declared before readying another attack with his Teigu.

Hope it was good! Read/Review/Rate!

Laters!