Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter for you! This is actually the longest chapter I have, so please praise me :P I'll tell you right now, Hitomi absolutely loved this chapter, you'll see why!
In any case, on with the chapter!
Soul in the Dream
CHAPTER 14
(Hitomi's POV)
A few days has passed since our clash against Zank the Executioner. Lucky bastard Tatsumi, who only had some scratches on him, was dispatched less than an hour after coming to our infirmary in the hideout. As for me... well... I was supposed to stay in my room to rest for a few days. However, knowing me, the Boss gave up on arguing when I said I didn't want to be copped up and do nothing for days. But she did make me promise I wouldn't do any physical activities until I was fully healed. That's where Bulat comes in! Since he's in charge of cleaning, I asked him if I could help with that until my wound healed.
"Are you sure you should be moving around with that wound?", the pompadoured man asked me as he pointed to my bandaged chest. He was mopping the floor as I cleaned a window next to him with a piece of cloth. "The blade nearly cut your lung, I would be surprised if it left no scar."
"I'm alright, don't worry!", I replied with a smile. "I mean, two more millimeters and the answer would've been different, but it's not the case!" I cringed a little because my wound still stung, but I knew I would be perfectly fine. "Hey, when I think about it, where's Tatsumi? Is he training with someone?", I asked Bulat.
"Hmm, I think he's with Sheele.", the man replied, his chin between two fingers. "Knowing her, she's probably making him swim around in this heavy armor." A chill went up my spine as my comrade mentioned that.
"O-Oh... S-Swimming, huh...", I stuttered, an uneasy look on my face.
"Yes.", he nodded with a bright smile. "Swimming while donning something heavy will only build up physique! I can't wait for him to show me his growing muscles!", he finished while flexing his arms. I couldn't help but notice the small blush on his face.
"You should see your face right now.", I let out a small laugh as I remembered that Bulat 'swung that way'.
"Hahaha! Sorry about that.", he laughed along. "Speaking of face, you should've seen the face Akame was making when she brought you back here the other day." I couldn't remember that part because I seemed to have fallen unconscious in Akame's arms when we were nearing the hideout.
"She was making a face?", I raised an eyebrow. Akame was usually so calm and collected. I doubted someone like her would panic over seeing a single wound on a comrade.
"Yeah, she looked terrified.", Bulat said with a more serious tone. "She was sure Zank's attack got your lung, or worst, your heart. I honestly never saw her react like that to someone's wound. She must really care about you.", he added with a smile. I knew Akame was often hiding her caring personality, but her to freak out about a wound on my chest?
(Akame's POV, after killing Zank)
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me towards the hideout, Hitomi in my arms. Being faster than Tatsumi, I lost him a while ago, but I couldn't care about that right now! My precious comrade has been wounded by a Teigu user and is probably on the verge of dying! A few seconds passed, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw our hideout. Ignoring and stepping on Lubbock's wires, which were scattered everywhere to detect intruders, I bolted in the entrance's direction. When I reached the meeting room, I saw everyone have returned after their night of patrol.
"Oh, hey~ Akame!", Leone greeted me with a smile. "How was your- Oh shit! What happened to Hitomi!?", she yelled in concern as she saw the unconscious young man in my arms.
"I'll explain in details later!", I said, panic evident in my voice. "We need to patch him up, quickly! He may have been hit in the lung, or the heart!"
"It does look pretty deep...", the Boss grimly stated as she examined the wound. "Come to the infirmary, we can make it." That said, I followed the Boss to the hideout's infirmary. Even though we didn't have a specialised medic in our ranks, the Boss had gathered knowledge about clinic work in her past, so I eased up a bit.
"Is he going to be alright?", I asked after the Boss disinfected his wound and bandaged him up.
"He's lucky.", she sighed. "The cut is very close to his lung, about one or two millimeters.", she explained, making me sigh in relief as well. "But he'll be fine.", she smiled. "Can I ask you a question, Akame?", she asked me. I nodded in response. "It's the first time I've ever seen you react like that to one of your comrade's wound. Why's that?"
I pondered for a while, thinking about what to answer. Truth is, I didn't really know why I was so worked up... But I shouldn't think much about it. Being concerned for a comrade is a good thing, even if we had know each other for a short time. I was about to give my answer when we heard Hitomi groan as he slowly woke up.
"Hitomi!", I called his name and he looked at me. "Are you alright!?"
"Hmm?" He looked down to see his chest was all patched up. "Well, I didn't die... so yeah, I guess.", he said as he gave us a sheepish grin.
"I told you to be more careful in fights.", the Boss sighed as she scolded Hitomi. "You should really try to stop insulting your opponent in each battle."
"Tatsumi told me what happened.", I told Najenda. "He said he didn't insult Zank or brag about his skill when they fought him.", I explained, making the Boss' eye widen in surprise.
"So... yeah.", Hitomi spoke in a weak voice. "Just... let me insult people.", he said with his trademark smirk."
"*sigh* Just take some rest for now.", the Boss shook her head and got out of the infirmary, probably to update the others on Hitomi's recovery. I smiled at him a last time before following Najenda.
(Hitomi's POV, back to the present)
"Why would she care that much?", I asked, making Bulat give me a puzzled look. "I mean, we're comrades, I understand that much, but I didn't really noticed we were that close..."
"Hey, don't try to hide it.", Bulat smiled while giving me a small nudge. "You can't fool us with your bragging and 'I don't care' personality. We know you're probably one of the kindest and loyal soul there is. Your presence here changed Night Raid, whether you like it or not.", he continued with a wink. "You and Tatsumi may be new, but you're as much Night Raid assassins as us!"
"That speech felt so cheesy... ", I sweatdropped. "Good to know I'm wanted here... in a good sense."
"But how about your parents?", Bulat said in a concerned tone. "Didn't you say you were good with them?" The subject changing to my parents made me breath out a sad sigh.
"I told everything when I joined, remember?", I said with a sad smile. "Life was good, but it's because they spent all the money they made on me. They lived through hell and I didn't even notice... Now that I have an opportunity to keep them from spending on me..."
"I understand.", my friend nodded. He then switched back to his brotherly smile, showing his glistening teeth. "Well, let's continue cleaning! The dust won't go away on it's own!"
"Y-Yeah, you're right!"
Another few days have passed and the pain in my chest finally subsided. God... I know I act like a child sometimes, but recently I've really been treated as one while I was recovering... Anyway, the Boss has summoned each of us in the meeting room.
"Hitomi... Your wound is pretty much healed, right?", Najenda asked me, to which I nodded.
"Yep!", I chimed with a bright smile.
"Good. We retrieved the Teigu Zank possessed.", she told us as she opened her mechanical palm, revealing Spectator. The eye was closed for some reason...
'Maybe it just isn't activated.', I shrugged off.
"I want you or Tatsumi to try using it.", the Boss said, handing the Teigu to Tatsumi, who was closest to her.
"Wait, really!?", I yelled in excitement.
"No one else wants it!?", Tatsumi added, overjoyed as well to receive a Teigu.
"It's one Teigu per person.", Bulat said with a smile.
"Because it takes considerable mental and physical strength to control them.", Lubbock explained. After a moment of contemplation, Tatsumi put the closed eye on his forehead.
"There was nothing about it in the book.", Najenda spoke. "But it's a Teigu after all, so I'm curious to see what it does..."
"It has the ability to read minds, right?", Akame asked, raising a finger. "Try reading me."
Tatsumi nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate. But after a while, he started to stumble on his feet. "Wh... What's going on...?", he asked in a weakened tone as he clutched his head.
"Oh no, it's rejecting him!", Lubbock exclaimed.
"Hurry and take it off!", Akame ordered me. I quickly obliged and Tatsumi fell to his knees.
"I suddenly feel tired...", he muttered.
"It's the compatibility...", the Boss sighed. "It seems this Teigu isn't suited to you.", she added.
"You were thinking about how uncool it looked or something, weren't you?", Mine asked with her hands on her hips. "The user's first impression of the Teigu is important, you know?", she huffed.
"Impression, huh?", I repeated, staring at the Teigu in my hand. "Okay, my turn!", I said in a loud voice, surprising everyone as I put the eye on my forehead. After a few moments...
Nothing. Until...
"Oh, look!", Leone exclaimed. "The eye is opening."
"It is?", I asked, tilting my head. I didn't really feel it activating... I looked at Mine's face, awaiting a confirmation or something. While she didn't say anything, the way her face looked, the position her facial muscles were in, I had a strange feeling.
'Pfff, with that on, he's really starting to look strange...'
"Hey, don't be rude, Mine.", I pouted, surprising everyone.
"H-Huh? I didn't say anything!", the pinkette stammered, backing up a little. "Wait... are you saying...?"
"Is it working?", Akame asked, her eyes having widened a bit.
"I... think so.", I replied. I finally realised. "Holy hell, it IS working!", I exclaimed, pumping my fists in the air. 'Wait, it's supposed to have five abilities, yet Zank talked only about four...' When I thought that, I felt like a small tingle in my head as the Teigu seemed to respond to my will. I closed my eyes and reopened them, but I quickly felt blood rush to my nose in reaction at what I saw. The three girls that were facing me; Mine, Sheele and Akame, were suddenly in their underwears, looking as if they didn't notice...
"Oh shit!", I yelled as I fell backward in surprise. I had a raging blush on my cheeks as I witnessed Spectator's wonderful ability...
"What's wrong?", Mine asked as she bent over to face me, which gave me a clear view of her... yeah. I quickly recomposed myself when I noticed she was asking me a question.
"J-Just don't give this to Lubba.", I answered, confusing the green-haired teen.
"Huh?"
"Wait...", Mine seemed to ponder for a bit. 'Wait, can he see under our clothes?!', she thought, feeling anger rising inside her. 'That would explain his blushing! That pervert!'
'Shit! I said too much!', I yelled in my mind after having read hers. "Bye!", I hollered before bolting out of the room with a speed I didn't know I had, followed by a very, very angry Mine.
"Come back here, you pervert!", she yelled as she ran after me.
"Guess you could say I stepped on an active land-Mine!", I joked as I ran away from the raging pinkette, my newest Teigu safe on my head.
(Normal POV)
"Well... that happened.", Najenda raised an eyebrow after watching Hitomi being chased by Mine. "However, pervert or not, we have another Teigu in our possession, which will greatly help our cause."
"While we are an assassination team,", Akame spoke to Tatsumi. "collecting the lost Teigu is one of our sub-missions."
"When we run into enemies who possess a Teigu, like Zank did...", Najenda continued, "we take them... Even the weakest of them are invaluable..."
"The more we have, the stronger the Army becomes or something, right?", Tatsumi asked, rubbing the side of his head.
"Correct...", Night Raid's Boss then took a book which was resting on her chair and handed it to Tatsumi. "You should read this book of the known Teigu."
"Wow... so many..." Tatsumi was really surprised by the amount of different weapons present in the book. "And this is just a small portion of them, right?", he asked Najenda.
"The ones in this book are only the Teigu we know about.", Night Raid's Boss nodded. "I'll have to fetch Hitomi later so he could help me write an entry about Spectator.", she pondered.
"That bastard already have a Teigu not even two weeks after joining...", Tatsumi sighed, a grain of jealousy apparent in his tone. "Speaking of, which Teigu is the strongest?", he asked the silver-haired woman.
"Their use and compatibility change...", Najenda replied. "But if I had to say..." She instinctively put her mechanical hand over her eye-patch. "The ice manipulation Teigu... is what I think. Luckily for us, its user is currently busy conquering the northern tribes."
"Because the people of the North are very strong.", Lubbock added. "They even have their own hero."
"Oh! Even I know about him!", Tatsumi exclaimed.
The hero the assassins were talking about was named Numa Seika, Prince of the northern tribes. With his spear in hand, he's never lost a battle. A brilliant tactical genius who the northern people have absolute faith in. Currently the Empire's greatest threat. His powerful army uses the country's most fortified city as a base of operations. They've even become strong enough to invade the Empire! Therefore, in order to keep that from happening, the Empire dispatched an expeditionary force to subjugate the northern tribes.
"But there's no reason to worry yet.", Lubbock stated. "Even with that woman, it'll take at least a year or two to take the North."
"Fu... Fufufufufu!" Tatsumi laughed gently as he heard about this dangerous Teigu user. "The stronger the enemy, the better! We're collecting more and more Teigu, after all."
"You're suddenly cheerful, huh?", Leone noticed. "Why is that all of a sud-"
"Hello! What did I miss?", Hitomi suddenly spoke, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He looked proud of himself and his new Teigu was safely attached to his head.
"Oh, you're back.", Akame spoke in an emotionless tone. "Where's Mine?", she asked the blonde. He laughed and he pointed at Spectator on his forehead.
"When you can read minds, predict movements and see through walls, it's really easy to run away from someone!", he laughed. Najenda seemed impressed by the powers Hitomi mentioned.
"I see, it's a powerful Teigu, that's for sure.", she mumbled. "And you seem to already control its abilities pretty well, I'm impressed.", she praised the rookie assassin, who gave a smirk and a thumb up.
"So? What did I miss?", Hitomi repeated.
"Tatsumi is being really fired up about the Teigu.", Leone smirked. "I bet he can't wait to have his own."
"Of course!", Tatsumi said, pumped up. "With this many different Teigu, maybe... just maybe... there may be a Teigu that has the ability to bring dead people back to life!", he shouted, thinking about his friends Sayo and Ieyasu, who died before he joined Night Raid. "R-Right..?" His tone dropped when he saw the dark look in everyone else's faces.
"You can't." The one who spoke was Bulat, who was leaning against the wall.
"... Bro...?"
"A Teigu that can resurrect the dead doesn't exist.", Bulat continued. "In this world... you only get one life."
"... How... How can you know that!?", Tatsumi yelled at his mentor, angry that he would say something like that. "You can't! Not until we've found them, right!?"
"The current Emperor is a good example.", Akame said in a grim tone. "If such a Teigu existed, the first Emperor would still rule."
"It was because he knew that he would someday have to die,", Bulat added, "that he created the Teigu in the first place, right?"
"Don't hang your hopes on that.", Akame said to Tatsumi, who looked devastated by what he just heard. "If you do, an enemy will use that weakness of mind against you. And you will be killed." The brown-haired boy didn't say anything, but the clench in his fists were good indications as to what he was feeling. Without a word, he leaved the meeting room and went upstairs into his room.
Around that time, in the North's fortified city, everything was silent, like a storm just finished passing through. Buildings were demolished, countless numbers of people were either laying in a pool of blood or frozen solid. There was only one survivor of this massacre; the northern hero Numa Seika. Except that he was naked and was on his knees, licking the boot of the one who defeated him. A tall, beautiful slender woman with long light blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a General's apparel with long sleeves and high-heeled boots. On her chest was a strange, black tattoo.
"The northerners were defeated in a blink of an eye. That's our General for you!", praised a soldier.
"Their army, people and pride were so easily crushed, huh...", the woman sighed. "And this is their supposed hero...? How worthless.", she said, looking at Seiko, who was panting like an animal at her feet. "Die, dog!" He kicked Seiko's head with such force, anyone could hear his neck shatter like glass.
"Somewhere out there... Is there an enemy that can satisfy me...?", the Empire's strongest, Esdeath, said in a sadistic tone.
God, the content in this chapter... Hitomi got himself a Teigu and there was actually a different POV except Hitomi's and the third person view... plus a flashback, but meh.
I'm in a desperate need of reviews right now (not really), so tell me, guys... What do you think Hitomi can do, in a fight or not, to completely abuse Spectator's abilities?
