Hey there, Sooo it looks like I MIGHT be able to get these Chapters out a little more then once a month :P The plot still loosely of follows the main story line of both the anime/manga but don't worry its just taking some key bits to get everything going. I appreciate you reading this as its slowly turning into my imaginations child.

As always leave a review and tell me what you think :) Until then may your blade stay sharp, but your mind stay sharper.

Two days later at the Imperial Capital

Walking through the capital was always a struggle. Not because of the heat from the sun or even the people filling the streets up to capacity, it was mainly do to not understanding the layout. Some streets lead to dead ends while others just kept connecting to each other making it feel like you were walking in circles. At least that's what it felt like to Tatsumi. This wasn't his first time in the capital, but it was his first time roaming around the streets trying to complete a mission without a companion to guide him around.

*Flash Back*

"Tatsumi, our orders are to figure out the rotations and the routes the guards patrol for our mission to work." Leone said.

Looking at the busty blonde woman with curiosity; "Okay, but it could take some time to figure that out, with just the two of us it could take up to a week to properly document it all. Do we have that kind of time?." Tatsumi said while sitting down on the couch opposite of her.

Smirking Leone said "I already have a general idea of some of the smaller details, we have some people already stationed here gathering small bits of information for us. Human's are creatures of habit and they don't stray to far from what there used to doing. Leave the small details to me and you just figure out routes and times of patrolling."

"Got it sis, this shouldn't be to difficult, but damn this city is big. I wish Lubbock was here, he at least knows the layout of the city. Iv only been here once before and that was when I was trying to join the army." Tatsumi said thinking about the green haired assassin. "I'm guessing we will split up then so we can cover more ground. I think ill start in the market district."

Showing a white toothy smile that did nothing to hide the humor dancing in her eyes Leone said "Look at you maturing right before my eyes and thinking up strategy's like an adult. It makes me long to see what kind of man you will be in the future. Remember I marked you and you will be mine when the time comes." Laughing she winked at him causing a full on facial blush to spread across Tatsumi's face.

"I...I think I will get going then." Tatsumi stuttered out, while hastily getting up from his seat to head to the door of their temporary hideout. Turning around at the booming laughter coming from the blonde. "Don't get into to much trouble lover boy, we will meet back here at midnight."

*End Flash Back*

Thinking back to how Leone always managed to turn every situation into a joke, Tatsumi couldn't help but smile. He felt love for Leone sure but it was the kind of love you have for a sibling. The two of them had a strong bound and it only grew stronger the more they had to rely on each other to stay safe while traversing through the lions den that was the heart of the capital.

Looking around Tatsumi thought he was entering the market district as he came across more and more stalls of vendors trying to sell their wares.

Some of the stalls where smaller then others holding a smaller collection of trinkets and food. He could smell the fresh bread being pulled out of an oven somewhere, he heard the sound of metal striking metal as a blacksmith honed his craft, and he saw the way master sales men sold their wares gaining more money then what the items were worth.

*Grumble*

He looked down at his stomach and decided to go find that wonderful smell of fresh bread. Following his nose he couldn't help but feel like Leone a bit, and wondered how much her teigu "King of Beasts Transformation: Lionel" effected her outside of her transformations.

Coming up a large stall he bought a loaf of bread. Tearing it in half he wrapped the other half in a cloth and put it away for later. Walking around the streets he noticed a formation of 4 guards walking through the crowed and followed them while acting as a shopper, stopping here and there to look at vendors. He was so focused in trying to act normal that he found him self in a weapons shop. Loosing focus on his original goal he noticed the expert craftsmanship of the item on the wall and on tables set up in the front of the shop. He saw everything from small pocket daggers and brass knuckles to large halberds and everything in between, but what really caught his eye was a dark blue and light tan cloak that had metal woven through the fabric to add durability. The cloak was gorgeous and had a silver trim running along the edge and wove into an intricate design at the bottom.

"It's magnificent isn't it."

Startled out of his inspection of the cloak, Tatsumi turned to see a large man walk up to him. He was covered in soot and had small metal flakes covering his hair and beard and most of his shirt front.

Smiling with kind eyes the man took the cloak off the hook it was hanging on. "Try it on, its made from the finest materials I could find and the metal is as durable as any steel sword even with it being as fine as it is."

Eye's widening slightly Tatsumi took Incursio off his back and shrugged out of his worn and dirty cloak.

Handing the cloak to the smaller boy his smile grew even bigger as he noticed the cloak fit him perfectly with some extra room as the boy would surely get taller and maybe a little broader.

"Wow, it fits perfectly and its not as heavy as it looks and it even has inner pockets." Tatsumi said in wonder. Coming from a small northern village, good quality clothes were a little hard to come by so the fact that it had pocket on the inside was a marvel to him.

Laughing the older man nodded, guessing the boy wasn't from around these parts and seeing that his clothes were of the practical style to keep one warm he also guessed he was from the northern side of the empire.

"It looks good on you boy, my name is Grrom, I am one of three master blacksmiths here." Grrom said standing a little straighter with his chest buffed out a little more.

"Nice to meet you Grrom, my name is Ta..." Pausing briefly wondering if it was a good idea to give out his real name."Tatsumi"

Grrom grabbed Tatsumi's hand and gave it a hard shake.

Smiling warmly "Ill tell you what boy, I haven't been able to sell that cloak to anyone yet. No one up to now has been worthy enough to wear it, but seeing it fit you the way it does and that it looks perfect on your shoulders I'll make a deal with you." Grrom couldn't help but notice that Tatsumi had the potential for great things. Being an old soldier himself he could see the boy was used to fighting and using his wits to stay alive. Looking at the hand still in his big paw he saw small cuts and felt the roughness of his skin from callouses you get from using a sword. "You sign up for the tournament General Esdeath is sponsoring tomorrow and you win, Ill give you this cloak as a prize along with the prize the General is offering."

Eyes's widening again Tatsumi stared at Grrom in disbelief. "I couldn't take this cloak from you for free, this has to be worth a small fortune."

"You won' be taking it from me for free Tatsumi, YOU have to win a tournament to get it. I hear there are some great fighters signing up for the tournament and I am sure it wont be easy." Grrom said smiling at the younger man. "Show me what your maid of Tatsumi and that my intuition isn't wrong" Grrom thought to himself

"All I have to do is win, and I get this cloak?" Tatsumi said as he came back down from his shock at the proposal.

"Yes" Grrom said with a nod.

"Deal, where do I sign up." Tatsumi said, he didn't want anything to do with General Esdeath yet, but how could he pass this chance up and besides his village could use the prize money. As long as he didn't blow his cover of being a member of Night Raid how could this possibly go wrong.

Hearing footsteps enter the small blacksmiths shop they both turned around to see a young man enter.

"Hey old man, I came to pick up my items if they are ready." The younger man said with a wave of his hand.

"Wave, you didn't come a minute to soon. I just finished them this morning, let me go grab them for you." Grrom said turning around to head to the back of his open shop.

Approaching Tatsumi, wave healed out his hand with a warm smile on his face.

"My name is wave, it's nice to meet you." Wave said warmly.

Taking it in his own hand, "It's nice to meet you too, I'm Tatsumi." Tatsumi couldn't help but smile back to wave, this man seemed kind and friendly. The world especially the empire needed more kind souls in it.

Noticing that Tatsumi was wearing the cloak he slobbered over to one day buy Wave couldn't help but mention the fact that Tatsumi was wearing it.

"The old man is letting you wear that cloak?, he said it was off limits and it wasn't for sale?." Wave said loud enough for the older blacksmith to hear as he returned with a bundle in his arms.

"You are correct it isn't for sale, its going to be a gift if Tatsumi here can win the tournament tomorrow."

A sound that can only be described as shock, disbalief and wonder came from Waves mouth.

"What, you didn't say anything about it being among the prize's last time I was here." Wave said as he shut his mouth from hanging open any longer.

Letting out a booming laugh Grrom said "It's not apart of the prize pool, we made a bet. If Tatsumi here can win the tournament then he will have earned the right to claim my best piece of work for himself."

"Since we are on the subject could you show him were to sign up? I would do it but I can't leave the shop and it's to early to close." Grrom said motioning to Tatsumi.

Smiling once again, wave admitted his defeat and gave Tatsumi a warm smile.

"Yeah I can show you the way." Wave said.

Putting his own cloak back on, he handed the blue and tan cloak back Grrom.

"I have a fealing we will see each other again, Ill be watching you tomorrow boy." Winking Grrom took the cloak and walked away with it to put it in the back of his shop.

Leaving the blacksmiths shop with wave, he followed wave through the crowded streets.

"So tell me Tatsumi, what did you do to impress him enough to make that deal." Wave said while walking through the crowd towards a large coliseum.

"I have no idea, honestly. I walked in and the next thing I know I am promising to fight." Tatsumi said laughing. Everything happened so fast that even Tatsumi is still wrapping his mind around everything.

Laughing with Tatsumi Wave could only imagine how the scene turned out. "Well you're in luck Tatsumi, I am the announcer for tomorrows event."

Looking up at wave, Tatsumi raised one eyebrow wondering for the first time who this man could be. He didn't seem much older then himself and definitely didn't give off a negative aura.

"If you can use that weapon on your back efficiently you might stand a chance against some of the opponents that are signed up." Wave continued.

"We shall just have to see how I do then." Said tatsumi with a bit of confidence.

Reaching the front gates to the giant coliseum there was a stand with a man dressed in the Imperial soldiers uniform and as soon as he looked up from the paper work he said. "Have another fighter for us Jaeger?"

"Jaeger?" Tatsumi thought, wondering what that could be since he hasn't heard about them before in any of the debrief meetings Najenda made them all sit through before the start of every mission.

"Yes I do, is there still room for another fighter?" Wave said glancing down at the almost full sign up sheet.

"Yeah there is room, but he will be the last one." The soldier said going back to filling out some documents. "Sign your name here at the bottom then read our disclosure form. Report here first thing in the morning, the matches will start early and if you aren't present within 5 min of starting the first match you will be disqualified."

Tatsumi filled in his name and read the form, noting where it said death is on the person fighting and the empire would not be held responsible for any accidents. Any weapon may be used short of using toxins.

"Well this should be fun." Tatsumi thought to himself. He wasn't the least bit worried about the other fighters since he wouldn't be fighting for his life this time. Deciding he wouldn't use Incursio this would be a good time to brush up on some of his skills of hand to hand combat.

After filling out his name he looked to Wave. "So you are the announcer huh, how did you become so fortunate?."

Putting his right hand behind his head and grinning with a slight grimace wave said, "ehh I wouldn't call it so much as being fortunate as being forced into it ya know. General Esdeath can be quite persuasive when she puts her mind to it. I really didn't have a choice being a Jaeger and all."

"So Wave works under General Esdeath then, this could be trouble." Tatsumi thought making a mental note to report his findings to Leone when they met up that night.

"Well at least you don't have to fight and get the chance to watch it instead." Tatsumi said giving the man a fake smile.

"Yeah I guess your right, anything I can do to help the empire I will gladly do." Wave said with a smile back on his face.

"agreed." Tatsumi said with a different meaning behind his words then that of Wave's.

"Alright Tatsumi, Ill be seeing you tomorrow, make sure you don't miss the start of the fighting or else you forfeit that cloak and the prize at the end." Wave said with a wave of his hand as he walked away.

Deciding to get back to his original mission Tatsumi walked off back towards the market district thinking about the day to come and what it would mean, he wasn't to worried about the competition since Tatsumi was pretty sure he could take anyone on even without using Incursio. That Prize money was as good as his.

Little did our hero know that the day to come would be something much more then just a fight.