Author's rant: Well, this fic even has a rougher start than my 'Sarishinohara' fic. Thank you for my friend that had draw an illustration for my OC, which is also the cover image of this fic, even though she based on utaite Rairu instead of my description TT_TT . Anyway, I will continue this fic a little bit more then. And for some unknown reasons, I couldn't add Kratos into the characters list in the summary. Just what the hell is happening?

Anyway, enjoy the show, minna-san.

Chapter 1:

"Death ... Are you sure that death is the end of everything? Have you ever thought that you could be in a worse place after death? And have you ever thought about receiving a fate worse than death?"

[The Capital]

"Awww, why the bar doesn't open today? I want to drink that Summer Whiskey and have some of that Cheese Cabbage again!" complained a certain busty blond hair assassin who had golden eyes, short blond hair with two long bangs framing the sides of her face as she was clad in a revealing outfit consisted of a black tube top, pants, brown combat boots and a white scarf around her neck.

"Really, Leone? You still want to drink that wine even after it made you become so drunk that you nearly rape Chef before it knocked you drop-dead while you used Chef as a hugging pillow?" said her companion, a young man who had short green hair and red goggles on the top of his head, in disbelief as both of them were currently standing in front of the 'Closed' sign which was hanged on the door of a simple-looking bar with a sign said 'Ichiryu's Bar'.

Ichiryu's Bar, a rather modest bar located at south of the Capital where many of the poor lived, which had been opened roughly about two months ago by a young man who was called by the name 'Chef ' by the customers, yet had been quickly acknownledged by both the poor and the rich thanked to sellings various of very high quality drinks and dishes that only the bar had with rather low prices compared to other bars in the Capital. But that wasn't the main reason made the reputation of the bar rise quickly in just roughly two months.

It was the bar's unique rules as well as its unique open time that made the bar became famous.

Firstly, 'Ingredients choose customers'. The customers absolutely had no say in what kind of dishes they were going to have when they came to the bar as their dishes would be decided by the ingrdients that 'choose' them after they gave Chef their names. Arcording to Chef, if a customer was chosen by no ingredient, that customer wouldn't be served no matter what.

Secondly, the bar only opened in three random days each week. No one could know what days the bar would open or close, and reservation meant nothing to the young Chef. And more importantly. In three days of a week, there would be a special serving day that the customers would be served food free, though they would still have to pay for their drink but of course, that didn't made the bar in the special serving day become less crowded

And finally, 'All are equal' and 'No violence in the bar'. All the customers that the ingredients had 'chosen' were treated equally, regardless of their position in the society. Of course, this rule made the bar lose quite a number of customers coming from the rich and the noble since many of them refused to eat in the same room or table with the poor but it seemed the young owner didn't really care about it. Also, all kind of violence or threats were prohibitted in the bar. These two rules along with a rumor (which Chef denied) that the young owner of the bar had single-handedly kicked a bunch of Imperial Police out of the bar for threatening a poor customer in a special serving day made the bar become even more porpular with the poor and low-class citizen.

"Shush, Lubbock. I don't mind hugging him even a bit. He has a very firm body along with a very nice smell" said Leone with a dismissive wave of her hand along with a flirtatious smile on her face"And it's not like that Chef minded me using him as my hugging pillow anyway."

"That's not my point. And it's more like Chef is too untalkative to voice a complaint." Deadpanned Lubbock "And even if he wanted, he couldn't complain because you literally had his head buried in your chest."

"Why? Why don't Chef open the bar everyday?" moaned Leone as she completely ignored what Lubbock had said, making the green hair assassin sighed in defeat.

"Anyway, I'm off to my bookstore." Said Lubbock but before he took his leave, something on a wall quickly gained his attention

"Hey Leone, take a look at this." Lubbock's call quickly snapped Leone back to reality "It seems the reputation of 'The Black Smoke' has surpassed Akame's reputation."

On the wall that the blond assassin was currently looking at, a wanted poster could be seen along with a drawing of a human silhoutte covered in black smoke. And not exactly a good drawing.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

'The Black Smoke'

Feature: Having a screen of black smoke covers the body

Reward: 10.000.000

"Pffft... Hahahahaha!" Leone couldn't help but laugh out loud hard after reading the wanted poster "What kind of idiot would think this poster could help catching this one? And really? 'The Black Smoke'? Who is the idiot gave this name? I can think half a dozen of nicknames that sound way better than this 'The Black Smoke'!"

"Name aside, having a reward that even rivals with the reward for Boss's head meaning this person isn't the kind to be taken easy." Whistled Lubbock after he read the number of the reward

"It couldn't be help. After all," said Leone as the busty assassin shrugged her shoulders "arcording to Boss's information source, this person is the one who brutally killed the Vice-Prime Minister and somehow turned the Secretary along with his family into a state that similar yet much worse than persistent vegetative state last month. "

"Really? But how? Is there such a Teigu that could do that?" Groaned Lubbock "Anh more importantly, is this guy an ally or an enemy to us?"

"To be honest, even Boss doesn't know. All she said were 'For now, try not to cross path with this person at any cost.'." Said Leone with a shake of her head and this made Lubbock feel a chill ran through his spine. If Boss had said that, then it meant this 'The Black Smoke' was very dangerous. But there was something kept bugging him...

"Wait Leone, but if this information is so important, why haven't I heard this thing from Boss? " asked Lubbock as he turned to his side only to find his companion had mysteriously disappeared with a paper left on the ground. Curiously, the young ma picked up the paper only to have his eyesbrows started twitching after reading said paper.

'That day you had to stay at your bookstore in order to keep your cover and I forgot to tell you, ooops.

Anyway, I'm off to have some drink. See you at the HQ later.'

Tearing the paper to pieces, Lubbock shook his head as he also took his leave. He hoped the blond assassin would remember that tonight they would have a mission needed to be carried out.

[Scene change]

"Do we have all the groceries we need, Sheele?" asked Akame, a young girl with long black hair that reaches down to her knees and red eyes as she wore an outfit consisted of a dark sleeveless mini dress with a white collar, a red tie, a red belt that had a red side skirt cover, long black socks and black shoes. In her left hand was her trusted Teigu, Murasame while in her other hand was a bag full of groceries.

"I believe we have enough, Akame." replied her companion, who was a slender woman with long purple hair and purple eyes with a pair of glasses and a faint scar on her right cheek. She wore a revealing sleeveless lilac cheongsam with detached lilac arm sleeves and white boots.

"Then let's get back" said Akame curtly as Sheele had a small smile on her face. Usually Akame was tasked with hunting and gathering food in the forest but today, the red eyes girl was tasked with helping the clumsy purple hair female assassin buying groceries for the Night Raid. And anyone who knew about the reward for Akame's head as well as her big appetite for meat from danger-beasts and fish could easily guess how annoyed Akame could be when she couldn't go hunting, given that she always ate a good chunk of her hunting before brought them bback to the headquarter.

"Have you made sure that you didn't mistake sugar for salt?" asked Akame again which earned a nod of confirmation as well as a small laugh from Sheele. "Then let's head ba..."

Suddenly, the usual serious and stoic Akame that Sheele knew suddenly went stiffed as her eyes widened for a second, much to the purple hair young woman's surprise.

"Akane? Akane, What's wrong? " said Sheele as she tried snapped her friend out of her state

"... No... Nothing... Perhaps it's just my imagination. Let's go back, Sheele." said the black hair assassin before taking her leave, much to Sheele's surprise and confusion. Shaking her head slightly, the young woman followed Akame. Perhaps it was really just the imagination of Akame, thought Sheele to herself.

But unbeknown to Sheele, on the other side of the street there were two girls stopped dead in their track as one of them spoke quietly

"Hey Tsukushi, I thought I just saw Akame" said the taller girl who was a young girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was clad in a long white shirt with black pants and shoes. She also wore silver hoop earrings.

"Maybe it's just your imagination, Cornelia." said the slight shorter girl who had short light brown hair with a small ahoge and a small flower hairclip on the bang of her hair. She wore an outfit that similar to the taller girl though her shirt color was brown.

"Yeah... Maybe so..." said Cornelia with a small sigh before she turned back to Tsukushi "Anyway, do you still have the address he gave us?"

"No worry" said Tsukushi with a very bright smile as Cornelia could feel her eyebrows started twitching "I can remember anything as long as it concerned about my dear darling~!"

[Short timeskip, scene change]

On the pave of a street, a young man who was clad in a simple grey shirt, black pants, black combat shoes and a grey trench coat could be seen sitting with his back leant against a lamp post drinking something from a white metal flask. He wasn't exactly handsome or dashing. The bang of his ivory hair dropped down his forehead nearly hid his right eyes from other people's view. There is no charisma or charm could be seen on him as his face held a look of neutrality while his eyes never left the scene of the sun that was gradually going down.

'How is the taste of Rainbow Fruit Wine, Kratos?' thought the young man mentally before he received a grunt coming from his mind

'Very good. The flavor changes seven times. It really reminds me about the Nectar that I used to drink.'

'... Hey Kratos, the latest dream that I had... was that...'

'It's a part of my last moment if you want to know, child.' came the short answer of the spirit resided in the young man before he could finish his question.

Nodding his head in acceptance, the young man continued to drink the wine in his flask. If the spirit lived in him decided not to elaborate more then he wouldn't push it.

Chuckling quietly to himself, the young man started reminscing his past. This day ten years ago, it was the day he had first met the spirit living in him.

[Flashback, unknown place, ten years ago]

Run.

The instinch of a ten-year-old boy was screaming at him, yelling him to run away from the huge beast in front of him.

But he just couldn't move. His exhausting body and his injured legs refused to obeyed his mind.

Devouring a life and give its life to other beings. It was just a simple rule of nature: Eat or to be eaten. And he knew in the eyes of the beast in front of him, he was just a prey, waiting to be devoured by the predator.

The paw of the huge beast was raised high as the beast let out a growl, as if it let out a victory cry.

Was this the end of his life? No, he couldn't except it!

The village was waiting for him to bring back something to eat yet he was going to become food!

He didn't want to die now!

He wanted to survive!

He wanted to live!

As the beast slammed its paw toward him, the time around him seemed slow down to the point it was nearly stopped.

And that moment, the ivory boy swore he saw an image of muscular man with a long red tattoo appeared in front of him.

Who was that man? Was his mind tricking him?

'Perhaps I will lend you my power for a short time, container. Just don't die.' sneered the man before he dissipated into the air.

"GRAAAHH!"

Before he could understand, he could feel a sudden burst of energy ran through his body as he unconciously let out a loud cry. Purple cold flame exploded around him and knocking the huge beast back. Feeling his hands were holding something, the boy looked down only to find he was holding a pair of claw-liked hooks attached to two long chains that draped around a pair of forearm armors on his arms. But that wasn't what frighten him.

The purple light that was emitting from the hooks. The stench of rot and decay, the faint odor that reminded him about a graveyard. The feeling of holding onto something akin to 'Death' itself. Those feelings made a cold chill ran through his spine.

"GRAAAHH!"

The beast, now fully standing up after being knocked back by the blast earlier, let out a huge angry roar and jumped at the boy with his mouth full of sharp teeth open, intending to devour its prey.

Before the boy could think, his instinch had already taken control and he rolled to the left side, narrowly dodged the jaws of the beasts. Growling, the beast turned its head to its prey only to find a hook was thrown to its left eyes

"Graaah!" the beast cried out in pain but before it could do anything, the boy forcefully pulled the chain and slammed the beast's skull into the ground with a newfound strength that amazed the boy himself. But what amazed him more was the fact he knew how to use this weapon even though this was the first time he saw it, let alone holding it in his hands.

"GROAHH!" the beast violently shook his head in an attempt to shake off the hook in his left eyes, lifting the boy into the air due to the chain attached to his right forearm armor. Holding onto the chain as firmly as he could with his right hand, he threw the other hook in his left hand and hooked it into the top of the beast's skull. As the beast was staggering and roaring due to the new pain inflicted onto it, the boy swung around the beast by the chains and loosely wrapped the chains around the beast's neck before he crashed into the ground. Gathering all of his remain strength, the boy shakily stood up and violently pulled the chains, intending to choke the beast to dead.

But he didn't prepare to see a silver silhoutte of the beast was being slowly pulled out from the beast's head before it was abosrbed into the pair of hooks which had returned to his hands as the beast slowly dropped to the ground unmoving.

Letting out a tired grunt, all the strength slowly left the boy as he collapsed onto his knees and fell to ground before his vision turned black.

[Flashback end]

"Hey, hey are you okay?"

A strange feminine voice snapped the young man out of his train of thought. Looking up, a young girl who had blue eyes and short blonde hair with a fluffy blue hair accessory was looking at him with her curious eyes. Judging from her attires, the young man could hazard a guess that this girl came from a wealthy family. But he could easily feel there were something more behind that kind smile the girl was having on her face.

Ever since the day he first used Claws of Hades, he had somehow slowly gained a strange ability that helped him detected negative emotions around him. And the girl in front of him... he could feel the hatred, the cruelty and the bloodlust and sadistic were emitting from her.

"I'm fine. I'm just taking a break." Said the young man politely. Since he had no idea about this girl's intention, he decided to play along for the time being.

"Are you a traveler?" he nodded. Turning his eyes briefly to the two that were standing behind near a carriage, he could feel the twisted and hatred emotions similar to the girl coming from them. This was clearly not a good sign.

"It's getting dark now. If you don't have any place to stay for the night, would you like to come to my home and spend a night?" the moment the girl finished her offer, the young man could feel a rise of negative emotions in the girl.

"... There is no need for that. I can stay here. And more importantly, why would you invite me, a complete stranger, to your home?" said the young man in his usual neutral tone as he decided to test how persistent she could be and more importantly, to check whether her negative emotions would rise or not

"You should accept her generousity." Came the voice of one of the two people standing near the carriage, making the young man slightly raised his left eyesbrom

"Lady Aria just can't ignore people like you" came the voice of the other person with a small twisted smile that didn't escape the eyes of the young man.

And at that moment, not only he could feel the rise of negative emotions, he could feel another thing that he was too familiar with coming from the girl.

The feeling of a predator, waiting to jump out from where it hid and devour its prey.

"So, what would you like to do?" asked the girl now name Aria with a smile as she stood up straight from her current position and waited for his answer.

So in her eyes, he was like a prey to her, snorted the young man mentally. He could clearly feel a trap was waiting for him to step in and why he didn't really worry about that, what bothered him was the fact he still hadn't found out her intention when she had offered him a place to spend a night. And assumption was not exactly the best way to figure it out. Perhaps...

'... If you don't mind then fine." Said the young man as he stood up with his backpack

... he would humor this girl for the time being. And this would be his chance to find out more about her nature and her motivation. And if things went into the worst scenario, ...

"Splendid! Oh right, my name is Aria. What is your name?" replied Aria with an obvious fake smile in his his eyes

" You can call me... 'Chef'." Came the short reply from the young man as he decided

... perhaps the reward for his head might increase sooner than he had expected.

(Chapter end)

Author's note: Cornelia and Tsukushi are not OC. They came from the prequel Akame ga Kiru: Zero.

Anyway, please read and review. We authors live by your reviews after all.