Wheeew... Nearly 3000 words guys! xD Compared to the puny 800 you had in the first chapter, I'd say I did a good job ^^ But in any case, enjoy! :)


Soul in the Dream

CHAPTER 4

(Normal POV)

"They're targeting this place as well, just because they're wealthy!?", Tatsumi exclaimed, not understanding why a nice family such as Aria's would be targeted by professional assassins.

"Look below.", Hitomi said. Tatsumi lowered his gaze and saw some of the mansion's guards running towards the group of killers.

'What do we do!?', thought Tatsumi, while sweat dropped off his face. 'Should we go assist them... or go protect...!?'

Meanwhile, Night Raid saw the small group of guards coming in their direction.

"Three bodyguards.", noticed a blonde girl, smiling. "They're targets, Akame-chan.", she said to a black-haired teen beside her. Her hair was long, reaching her knees and her eyes were red. She wore a dark sleeveless mini dress with a white collar and a red tie under a long, dark coat. She also wore a red belt with a red sideskirt cover. She wore it with long black socks, black shoes, red gauntlets and black gloves.

"Eliminate.", was Akame's response. She tightly gripped her sword, a katana, and jumped away from the strings, followed by a person in a full body armor. It was white, with a grey helmet, shoulder pads and breast plate. It had a long white cape and was equipped with a long, red-tipped spear.

"... Listen,", said one of the guards when the two assassins landed on the ground. "Don't touch that katana, not even one bit." He didn't have the chance to continue speaking as Akame rushed in, slicing and killing him. One of the other guards didn't have the chance to process what happened when he got skewered by the red-tipped spear, thrown by the person in the armor. The third guard, scared out of his mind, quickly ran away.

"What are these people...!? They're too much like monsters!" He hoped he would get away, but an energy bullet went right through his head, killing him instantly.

"That's pathetic. Running away in the face of an enemy.", said the culprit, a small, pink-haired teen, who was standing on the strings. The big firearm she had in her hand was still fuming from the shot. Her hair was tied in long twin-tails on each side of her head. She had big, pink eyes and sported a pink outfit, consisting of a longsleeved dress with sorts of cloth shoulder pads.

"Well... you'd normally run from that.", sweatdropped one of her comrades, a young man with shoulder-length green hair, green eyes and red goggles on top of his head. He wore a long green jacket with a fur trimmed hood over a white and red ringer shirt, complete with blue jeans and brown shoes.

Needless to say, Hitomi and Tatsumi now both had second thoughts after seeing the guards get killed in a single moment. 'In one moment... annihilated!?' The teens then nodded to themselves and started running. '... At least... At least I have to protect Aria-san-!', they both thought.


"Guh... ugh... h... help me...", struggled Aria's father. He was being held into the air by the blonde assassin who was on the strings a few moments ago. Except her long blonde hair, her hands and ears seemed to be those of a lion. She also had a golden lion tail. The man continued his pleas. "I have... I have a daughter...!"

"Relax", the blonde calmly said. "You'll meet her soon where you're going."

"Even my daughter...", the man gasped. "Have you no mercy!?"

"Mercy...?", the assassin repeated with a dark tone. "No idea what that means." Moments after, the sound of a neck breaking could be heard all across the hallway.


"My Lady, over here, hurry!", a guard said while dragging Aria by the hand towards the forest near the mansion. He had an automatic gun strapped on his back.

"What's happening!?", Aria asked in her confusion.

"Just go to the far-off shed for now! It'll be safe over there!" Aria and her bodyguard then heard a familiar voice calling for the Lady.

"We found you! Aria-san!"

"Tatsumi!", said Aria, smiling a bit. "And Hitomi, too!"

"You two came at just the right moment!", exclaimed the guard. "We'll run to the warehouse and wait for the guards to come! You stop the enemy for us in the meantime!"

"... Wait, what?", Hitomi did a double take, lowering his sword to the ground level. "We're meat shields now..?"

"That's crazy...", Tatsumi agreed, dumbfounded. The sound of someone landing on the ground interrupted his thoughts. The two teens looked towards the source of the sound and saw...

"Oh, crap... the black-haired chick...", Hitomi mumbled, taking a step back and raising his sword. He then sighed. "Oh, well..." He started to run in Akame's direction in hope of clashing with her. However...

"... Not a target.", He heard Akame mumble. She nimbly dodged Hitomi's strike, then jumped on his shoulders to give her a boost further towards her target, Aria.

"Oof!", Hitomi made when he hit the ground. "Why so rude..."

"... Fuck!", groaned the guard when he saw the black-haired assassin get past Tatsumi and Hitomi. "She's coming over here!" He proceeded to draw out his rifle and started to shoot at Akame. The girl swiftly dodged the bullets while approaching the guard.

"Target...", she started, putting a hand on her katana's handle. "... Eliminate!", she finished, slicing the man's body in two. She then approached Aria, who was starting to cry, and raised her sword. "Eliminate."

"WAIT, DAMMIT!" Akame quickly jumped back to avoid Tatsumi's attack. She analyzed the boy who was standing between her and the target.

"You are not a target...", Akame plainly stated. "There's no need to kill you." Tatsumi, however, didn't like her answer.

"But you're planning to kill this girl, right!?"

"Uh huh", Akame nodded.

"Uh huh!?", Tatsumi repeated, shocked at her answer.

"I'll kill you if you get in the way, you know.", the assassin warned. But Tatsumi wasn't having any of it.

"Like I'd run because of that!", roared Tatsumi, drawing his sword and pointing it at Akame.

"It's a pretty good reason if you ask me!", he heard Hitomi say from behind Akame.

"Now's not the time, Hitomi!"

"I see...", pondered Akame, looking at Tatsumi. "Then I'll eliminate.", she said darkly. Tatsumi couldn't help but shake in fear.


The blonde assassin, who revealed herself to be 'Onee-san', sporting the same face and clothes, walked out of the mansion to see how Akame was doing. She then noticed four people; her teammate standing off against a brown-haired teen who was protecting the target, along with a blonde teen, sitting on the grass behind Akame. "That's rare for Akame, she hasn't finished them off yet." She then noticed the identities of the two other people beside her target. "... Wait, huh?... Oh geez~ How unlucky can these guys get..."

'At the very least...', thought Tatsumi while he and Akame were waiting for the other to make a move. 'She's not someone I can currently beat... but... I can't be worrying about that! Besides, there's no way that a guy who can't save a single girl-' he then rushed towards Akame. '-can save a village in the first place!'

Akame's katana and Tatsumi's longsword clashed in hope of finding their way towards their opponent's flesh. Tatsumi tried to deliver an horizontal slash, but the black-haired girl jumped above his attack and sent a solid kick on his shoulder. Using his shock to her advantage, Akame quickly pulled her katana back and plunged it into Tatsumi's heart.

"Tatsumi!", yelled Aria and Hitomi, the latter getting up from his grass seat. He was about to draw his sword and rush towards Akame, but he noticed his brown-haired friend slowly getting up. 'Wait, what..?', thought Hitomi.

"You won't even let your guard down and approach me?", Tatsumi asked as he brought his hand into his shirt.

"I didn't feel it bite flesh.", Akame stated.

"Hehe...", Tatsumi chuckled as he pulled out a cracked rock statue from his shirt. "The guys from the village protected me."

"No way...", mumbled Hitomi, surprised. "The statue given to him by his village elder... The fact that he randomly placed it here saved his life..."

Meanwhile, 'Onee-san' was watching the whole fight. 'Hmmm... To think he'd still be living after facing off against Akame's katana... that lad's pretty good.'

"Eliminate.", said Akame as she ran towards Tatsumi, in hope of finishing him off. The teen held his hands back in shock.

"Wah! Wait a second! You guys are after the money or something, right? Please let this girl go! We're not even on the battlefield, yet you're trying to kill this innocent girl!?" Akame didn't seem to listen to him and was about to strike at him with her katana when...

"Hold up.", 'Onee-san' said as she grabbed Akame's collar, pulling her back.

"What're you doing?" Akame asked her comrade.

"We still have time, right?", the blonde assassin replied. "I owe this young lad a favor. I wanted to pay you back.", she winked.

"Wait a minute...", Hitomi said as he approached the girls. "You're..."

"You're the boob...!", finished Tatsumi, shocked. The blonde girl laughed at his reaction.

"Yep, the beautiful onee-san from that time~" She then took a darker tone. "Young lads. You told us not to kill an innocent girl." She then walked towards the shed nearby and broke the lock with a swift, but powerful kick. "But can you still say that after seeing this? Take a look...", she said, giving the boys space to see. "This is the darkness of the Capital."

The teens' eyes widened in shock. "Holy hell...", Hitomi muttered.

Bodies. There were bodies everywhere in the shed. Some were on the ground, some were hanged, some were dismembered, some were not, some were dead, some were still breathing...

"...Wh... What is this...!?", Tatsumi yelled in shock. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hitomi was silent, watching the scene before him with disgust.

"They lure unidentified people who came from the country with their sweet words and subject them to their hobby of torture and toy with them until they die.", explained 'Onee-san'. "That's the true nature of those of this household..." Tatsumi wasn't listening to the blonde assassin anymore, as he saw the body of someone familiar to him. It was a girl, and she had burn and knife marks everywhere on her body. She was even missing her right leg.

"... Sayo?" He began to approach the hanged body. "Hey Sayo... Sayo-...!"

"So there was someone you knew...", concluded 'Ones-san'. Meanwhile, Aria was using the discussion taking place before her to escape. Her hopes went away as she felt a clawed hand grab her collar. "Nuh uh, you're not getting off the hook by running away, little lady.", said the blonde assassin, the small girl in tow.

"The people of this house did this?", Tatsumi asked, still in shock.

"That's right.", 'Onee-san' nodded. "The guards were keeping quiet about it so they're similarly guilty." Aria began shaking in fear.

"It... It's a lie!", she said, sobbing. "I didn't know there was a place like this! Are you going to believe me, the one that saved you, or these guys, Tatsumi!?" Hitomi raised his hand to get everybody's attention.

"Something's wrong here.", he said, turning towards Aria. "When this guy was still in one piece, he was about to hide you in there, right?", he continued, referring to the now sliced-in-half guard. "I'm pretty sure that if you didn't know about this, he would have tried to hide you somewhere else, am I wrong?"

"N-No, that's..."

Hitomi was about to continue when everyone heard someone from inside the warehouse calling for Tatsumi.

"Ta... tsu... mi... Tatsumi, right? It's me..." Tatsumi's eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

"I... Ieyasu!?" It was indeed Tatsumi's friend. He was covered in burns, cuts and dark patches on his body. Anyone could tell he wouldn't last for long.

"That girl invited Sayo and me...", Ieyasu weakly explained, panting. "And after we ate, we lost consciousness, and we were here when we came to. Th... That girl... She tortured Sayo to death...!"

"I rest my case.", Hitomi said, crossing his arms.

"What's so wrong!?", everyone heard Aria say as she freed herself from 'Onee-san''s grip. "YOU'RE JUST WORTHLESS HICKS FROM THE COUNTRY, RIGHT!?", she started yelling. "THE SAME AS CATTLE! I SHOULD BE FREE TO TREAT THEM HOWEVER I WANT! BESIDES, THAT GIRL WAS SO IMPERTINENT FOR HAVING SUCH STRAIGHT HAIR FOR A FARM ANIMAL! EVEN THOUGH I'M TROUBLED WITH SUCH UNRULY HAIR! THAT'S WHY I AGONIZED HER SO METICULOUSLY! IN FACT, SHE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I TOOK SUCH GOOD CARE OF HER!"

"A family of sadists that takes the guise of samaritans...", 'Onee-san' spat. "Sorry for getting in your way, Akame..."

"Eliminate..."

"Requesting permission to kill...", said Hitomi, gripping his sword. He never even thought of killing someone in his entire life, but right now, the temptation was too strong.

"Wait.", said Tatsumi, surprising everyone else.

"Are you still trying to defend her?", asked Hitomi, genuinely confused. "Even your friend said she's guilty..."

"No... that's not it...", replied Tatsumi. He then drew his sword and cut through Aria's belly like if it was butter. "I'll kill her.", he said. Hitomi pouted as Aria's body fell limp.

"... Kill stealer..."

'Hmmm... She was hateful, but to kill her without hesitation...', thought 'Onee-san'. She glanced at Hitomi, who was faking crying over Aria's body. 'This one isn't even shocked of his friend killing someone. He's even mad because he didn't get the kill...'

"Hehehe...", Ieyasu weakly chuckled. "That's Tatsumi for you... That felt great..." He then began coughing blood all over the floor.

"What's wrong, Ieyasu!?", asked Tatsumi, rushing to his friend's aid.

"It's the last stages of Lubora disease...", Akame explained. "The mistress here enjoyed putting people on drugs and writing how they were doing in a diary... He can't be saved anymore."

"... Tatsumi", panted Ieyasu, capting everyone's attention. "You know, Sayo... she didn't submit to that fucking girl, even to the very end... It was so cool... So for my death, this Ieyasu-sama here will also... keep it real..." Ieyasu's last breath was held in Tatsumi's hands.

"He was already in a state where he was hanging on by willpower alone...", Akame stated.

"... What's wrong with the Capital...?", Tatsumi asked to no one in particular. He was crying at his childhood friend's death.

"Let's go.", said Akame as she turned back.

"Hm~ Hey, why don't we bring these lads back with us?", proposed 'Onee-san'.

"Hm?", Akame and Hitomi asked.

"Our hideout's always shorthanded.", she explained, grabbing the still-crying Tatsumi's collar. "Don't you think they have luck and guts... and skill as well?", she continued, dragging poor Tatsumi.

"Lemme go! I have to dig their graves!"

"Ah. I'll bring their bodies to the hideout later, so don't worry."

"Whaat!?"

Hitomi chuckled to himself as he obediently followed.


Later, at the top of the mansion...

"So they're finally back.", said a manly voice coming from the armor.

"It'd be bad if we don't retreat soon.", added the green-haired, holding a watch.

"You're late!", pointed out the pink-haired girl. "What were you doing!?" She then made a blank face. "Wait. What is that?", she asked, noticing Hitomi standing beside Akame and Tatsumi in 'Onee-san''s arms.

"Two of us.", the blonde replied, while Tatsumi was trying to wiggle his way out. He stopped struggling.

"What!?"

"Huh? I didn't tell you?" She then smiled gleefully. "Starting from today, you two are with us! Congrats on your inauguration to Night Raid!"

"What the hell's up with that!?", Tatsumi yelled.

"Give it up.", Akame said. "Leone won't listen once she gets started."

"As expected of my bud, you know me well~", 'Onee-san', known as Leone, patted Akame's hair. "Bulat, I'll leave this guy to you." She gave Tatsumi to the man in armor, who took him and put him under his arm. Leone then looked at Hitomi. "You'll behave yourself, right?"

"Yes ma'am!", the blonde boy saluted.

"Lemme go!", yelled Tatsumi. "I have no intention of becoming an assassin..." The man in armor, Bulat, turned his head towards Tatsumi's.

"It's okay.", he said in a gentle voice. "It'll get better soon."

"Mission complete.", said Akame. "Let's return!"


Next time, we're finally gonna include our boys in the assassin group! :D About time...