Hey there, so I dont know about you guys but i'm getting excited for whats coming up. Like I said in the last chapter I am using bits and pieces and some scenes from the manga/anime to bring the story around to what I want it to be and its turning out awesome.
As the story gets deeper involved the chapters will slowly grow longer and longer.
Please review and if you have any questions ask them and I will do my best to answer them.
The day of the tournament.
The day of the tournament brought a mixture of feelings to Tetsumi, he was excited to finally be able to fight without worrying about killing or being killed and he was also excited at finally having some extra money to send to his village. Up till now he hasn't been able to send more then a few small bags of coins. Being an assassin for Night Raid had its benefits but extreme personal wealth wasn't one of them. The members of Night Raid usually put most of their earnings into helping pay for equipment, repairs or food for the entire group. Today would be his first chance at really being able to follow up on his promise and that alone made him excited.
After returning from his scouting mission of the guards last night he told Leone about the deal he made with Grrom and the tournament and meeting Wave who was a member of a new special task force called Jaegers. Leone thought that the tournament might be a good idea as it would give them a chance to maybe do some more scouting and maybe learn more about the Jaegers. She was worried about being him being in such a close proximity with Esdeath but figured as long as Tatsumi didn't use Incursio he wouldn't bring to much attention to himself.
Stepping away from the building that had become their temporary hideout Tatsumi looked up to the brightening sky and listened to the sounds of the capital coming to life. Pulling out the other half of bread he tore off a chunk of it and popped it into his mouth as he started walking towards the direction he thought the coliseum would be in.
"Uhh scuz me sir, would ya happen to have some spare change?."
Tatsumi turned his head to the left snapping out of his thoughts and saw a dirty little boy looking at him in raggedy looking clothes with a hopeful look on his face. The kid couldn't have been more then 8 or 10 years old to Tatsumi.
Smiling Tatsumi walked over to the kid and pulled out a coin, "What's your name?"
"Ma name is Jack." The kid said giving him a big smile that lit his face.
"Well Jack my name Tatsumi, its a pleasure to meet you. Where are your parents Jack?" Tatsumi said holding out the coin for him to take.
Smile gone now the boys face fell as he looked at the ground briefly. "My Parents died last year. They were soldiers and got killed."
The kid was to young and honest that Tatsumi believed everything he said.
"Do you not have anyone else here that can take you in?" Tatsumi said.
"No" Jack said with the sad look still on his face.
Not used to being in these kinds of situations Tatsumi felt uncomfortable with himself for asking a questions like that.
"Here you go kid, take the coin and the rest of the bread. I have some business to attend to but when I come back if I can find you again ill treat you to some food and we will see about getting you a place off the streets." Tatsumi said feeling another purpose to his plans come to life. Even if his long term goal meant cleaning up the corruption of the capital he could at least try to start by doing some good for it's citizens.
Looking hopeful again Jack took the bread and his Tatsumis coin and ran off but called back "Ill be around here Tatsumi."
Grinning again at the turn of events and how his day started, Tatsumi looked up at the sky again noted that the stars had disappeared and the son was already making its climb in the blue sky.
"Shit, I got side tracked" Sprinting now towards the direction of the coliseum he passed the blacksmiths shop and saw Grrom setting up his shop he waved at the older man and took off even faster not wanting to be late.
Sometime later.
"Alright, I'm going to start calling off names, when you hear your name say here. If you don't say anything I will mark you off and you will be disqualified so listen up." The soldier that was stationed at the front gates said. It took a awhile for the soldier to make his way through the list of names but as he got closer to the end he noted that he didn't see the last fighters face yet.
Smiling to him self the soldier thought, "We told all the contenders they had 5 minutes before the first fight to show up, but doing this now seems to be the best way to weed out those who weren't serious enough." Grinning even wider he looked down at the paper in his hands and counted at least 8 fighters marked and disqualified.
"Kalbi the butcher"
"Here" a bull like man said with steam coming out of his pierced nose.
Running into the room as his name was said.
"Tatsumi the blacksmith"
"Here" Tatsumi said holding his sides completely winded from sprinting all through the Capital.
"I got completely lost, I need to memorize this place better, were's Lubbock when you really need him" Tatsumi thought inwardly cringing at how bad he was at remember directions.
"Good, The first match starts in 20 min. When you hear your names called make your way up top. I suggest you be prompt with your response, I would hate for anyone of you to make the General wait at her own sponsored event."
With that being said Tatsumi took a seat one of the benches that had enough room on it for him to sit.
He looked around the room inspecting all the fighters present gauging there abilities and experience.
From what he saw most of the fighters looked to be farmers, men to eager to fight or street thugs. Only a few of them looked like they would give any real fight.
His senses didn't pick up anything to threatening from those around him, so Tatsumi closed his eyes and relaxed until his name was called while keeping his instincts on the alert for any funny business.
Up in the stands sectioned off from the rest of the capitals citizens sat Esdeath and next to her was Ran.
The pavilion they were in had a good amount of shade and had a perfect view of the fighting stage and behind her standing sentry were 2 of her own guards from her personal army.
Yawning widely Esdeath stared at the fighters fighting becoming increasingly more bored as the second ticked away. The current fighting had just started and she could already tell this was going to be a long day. Boring fighters lead to boring results.
"Ran" Esdeath said with another yawn.
Stepping forward Ran said "Yes captain?"
"I am going to take a short nap, you are to watch the fight and give orders in my place, understood?" Esdeath said already putting her head in her hands and closing her eyes.
"Yes captain, enjoy your nap." Ran said standing a little closer so he could see more of the stage.
"mmhmm." Esdeath murmured.
Ran took this time to study the woman, and not for the first time he wondered how such a beautiful woman could be so frightening. Up till recently he had never met the empires strongest fighter, but he had heard about her and the brutality she showed to those she considered weak. Since becoming a Jaeger his impression of Esdeath was that of a strong leader who cared about her subordinates but took great pleasure in torture and asserting her dominance daring anyone to challenge her.
He pitied the man who caught her eye, he would have to be cautious his entire life around her.
As the day went on with winners and losers being announced even Ran was finding it hard to really get into the fighting, but the crowed loved it, hooping and hollering when blood was shed or someone was knocked unconscious. After one particular fight ended the loud booming of voices from the spectators roused Esdeath enough that she woke up.
"Ran, how many more fights are there for today?" Esdeath said with a stretch.
Looking down at the program he said "We are coming to the close with this next fight."
"Good, no one has come close to being worthy enough for the prize let alone my attention." Esdeath said looking back at the stage. After today's boring events she decided she would join some of the trainees on the practice field and test them out to try to get rid of this boredom. The only good thing about today was her dreams from her nap, recently she was having a recurring dream ever time she closed her eyes. For the past 2 months she dreamed about standing in an open field of barely with a bright sky over head. A gentle wind would blow across the field sending up flowers and barely into the air and it would briefly block out a section of the field and when everything settled down a man would be standing there. Walking over to the man Esdeath would feel a calm piece surrounding her, it calmed every dominating instinct she had including her blood lust and desire for fighting. As she walked closer he would turn around to face her with his head tilted slightly watching her intently. Reaching out her hand to touch him she would then start to feel a vastness surrounding him, like a feeling of endless strength and potential could be reached. As her finger tips began to touch the stubble on his cheek the dream would end with 3 words resonating in her mind "you are mine".
Esdeath always awoke with her heart pounding and an unfamiliar feeling in her chest and a longing so great it would eclipse everything she thought she knew or wanted. It was then she realized what was missing in her life. The challenge of gaining someones love and affection and the possibility of having an equal to stand with her at the top of the food chain. Someone who could match her blow for blow and not crumble underneath her overwhelming strength.
"This next battle is the last match for today." Ran said bringing Esdeath out of her thoughts.
"Yeah." Esdeath said looking onto the fighting stage.
"Tatsumi. Kalbi. You guys are up." A man yelled down into the pit of men waiting.
Standing up first was Kalbi making his way to the stairs leading up to the stage he looked back at Tatsumi and grinned. "This is going to be an easy win for me."
Paying no attention to the bull man Tatsumi calmed his mind and his heart and headed for the same set of stairs. All he had to do was win and he would advance to the top of the leader bored and win. He did his absolute best to win each fight in away that seemed boring and wouldn't bring attention to himself ending each fight within a few seconds of starting by just throwing his opponent off the stage. As he walked up to the stage he heard a mixture of boos and cheers, the crowed was not thrilled with his fighting style.
"I hope you show a little bit more of what your made of instead of throwing people around Tatsumi." Wave said as he passed him by.
Smiling at wave. "Ill think about it."
stepping to the middle of the ring wave started the last introductions of the fights.
"On the east side we have Kalbi the butcher." Wave paused long enough for the crowed to cheer.
"And on the west side we have Tatsumi the blacksmith. You two know the rules, if you step off the stage you loose, if you die you loose, if you are unable to continue fighting in any way you loose." Stepping off to the side Wave announced the start of the match.
Looking down at the smaller man Kalbi grinned. "You're quite small aren't you, Guess that prize money is going to be mine after all. Ill make this fight quick by smashing your face into the dirt." Laughing now the bull man loosened up his guard not sensing any threat from Tatsumi and charged forward.
Tatsumi slowed his breathing down, and noted calmly that he didn't feel threatened in anyway, having been on the other side Akame's and Bulat's power and training this guy was nothing.
Kalbi jumped up into the air and pulled his big meaty fist back intending to smash in the face of Tatsumi, but as he brought his fist forward Tatsumi pivoted slightly making Kalbi's punch miss and over extending his body, which then caused openings for Tatsumi to exploit.
Thrusting his palm upward into Kalbis elbow he delivered a powerful strike hard enough to dislocate the joint causing the bull man to scream in pain then jumped back slightly getting out of range of the bull.
"Gwahhhh, you punk, FINE how about this then." Charging Tatsumi once again the bull reared back with his other arm and brought it down where Tatsumi was standing. Having expected something similar to the first attack Tatsumi used the movement of Kalbi to his advantage. Seeing in his mind how this fight would end Tatsumi grabbed the wrist that was aimed for his head and pulled him self into a swing using the downward thrust of the powerful fist and the upward swing of his own body he flew up slightly behind the bull man and brought the full power of his kick down onto Kalbi's head knocking him down with a grunt. Rising shakily to his feet Tatsumi saw that Kalbi was indeed infuriated. They both charged at each with Kalbi doing his best to land a punch on Tatsumi, but with his right arm being next to useless Tatsumi easily dodged or blocked all of his blows, thrusting his own body forward Tatsumi let loose a flurry of blows into the stomach of Kalbi pushing him back a bit. Jumping into the air again Tatsumi did a round house kick to Kalbi's face sending him flying into the concrete wall that protected the citizens from the fighting.
The crowed was silent but then erupted into cheers at the display of skill Tatsumi showed. Not even caring that he once again won a fight by knocking someone out of the ring.
"Well that was something Tatsumi." Wave said with a shocked expression on his face.
"That'll be all." Wave said raising his hand into the air. "The winner is Tatsumi."
Even more cheers from the crowed erupted almost becoming deafening.
Turning around Tatsumi who was so focused on the fight just now noticed the cheering, turning around looking at everyone screaming his name he blushed and gave a big smile "I did it!" throwing his fist into the air.
Unknown to Tatsumi or anyone else that smile and the display of skill he showed brought forth a small gasp. A gasp that would change the entire world and many lives as we know it.
Standing up Esdeath had a blush similar to Tatsumi's spread across her face. Her breathing was ever so slightly heavier and her eyes that only recently showed extreme boredom now had a light in them.
"We found him!." Esdeath whispered taking a few steps forward to descend the pavilion up in the stands.
Ran seeing the changes to Esdeath looked on with a hint of worry at the younger man on the stage, It would seem the general found what she's been looking for. "Poor kid" he thought.
Descending the steps Esdeath brought her hand to her chest and whispered his name "Tatsumi."
Seeing Esdeath walking down the stairs to him, Tatsumi gave a disbelieving look and frowned slightly. "Shit shit shit, shes coming to the stage."
Reaching the stage Esdeath stood before him and just looked at him. Feeling like shes met him before but knowing she hasn't. She was confused with the feelings surrounding him. He then tilted his head slightly looking at her intently and it finally smacked into her as her dreams gave rushing to for front of her mind. "Were my dreams premonitions to what's happening now?" Esdeath thought while taking a step forward towards Tatsumi raising her hand slightly. Just as her hand was about to touch his face a feeling of endlessness slapped into her and as she looked into Tatsumis green eyes she couldn't see his potential. She always listened to her instincts, as they were never wrong, she was always able to see the potential of those around her which is what lead her to being such a strong commander in being able to lead her forces into endless victories. A single word entered her mind as her fingers touched the stubble of his cheek "Mine!"
For Tatsumi he was overwhelmed, everything around him faded away and only the woman standing in front of him was his focus. He didn't understand the feelings coursing through him, but as Esdeath's cool hand landed on his face he felt a sensation that could only be described as coming home after a long time away and that scared the shit out of him. He knew who she was, she was his enemy. The person who slaughtered his friends and countless others for the thrill of war, but he couldn't shake this feeling as he gazed back into her dark blue eyes reminding him of the way ice looked as the sun set over the horizon.
"Tatsumi's... that's your name right?." She asked as her hand rested full on his cheek.
"Y..Yes, that's my name." Tatsumi said still gazing up into her face.
"It's a good name, You're win just now was magnificent and I'd like to give you you're reward." Esdeath said taking a step back as she reached into a pocket.
"Th..Thank you." Tatsumi stuttered snapping his gaze away from her face to look at the ground. Finally he would be able to send money to his home even if it comes from his greatest enemy.
*Click*
He immediately looked up as he heard the sound and felt a cold metal collar snap into place around his neck. "wh..what is this." Reaching up to touch it.
smiling at him with a blush spread across her face Esdeath put a hand on his shoulder. "You belong to me now."