A/N: Is it me, or has anybody else ever noticed that whenever a non-important female is killed in the anime, they always go 'Eh?' as if it's this show's running gag? I always found that odd.

"What do you mean, she's gone?!"

Tatsumi's voice boomed across the room. Panic and fear were quickly settling in as many thoughts ran through his mind, most of them unpleasant and painful. She ran out to look for him, and he didn't want to believe that Leone and Najenda just sat there while an injured comrade of theirs was roaming around during a revolution.

But that's exactly what they did.

Najenda's gaze, still as cool as it was the day before, never wavered from his face, even as dozens of emotions played across his facial features. Missing was the usual smoke that came from the tip of her cigarette holder. In fact, the cigarette holder itself was also missing, and Najenda was holding up a fragment of Mine's Pumpkin.

"We hoped that she was with you. And then we got a note from one of our spies that she Jaegers ended up catching her."

A hot anger flashed through the young assassin. That foolish girl, suddenly chasing off after him yet again! "Then we don't have any time. We need to get Mine out of there."

"And then what?" Najenda asked plainly, before turning her gaze to angry Leone and flustered Akame. "We're not nearly at the same strength that we've had before. Esdeath just recently acquired more members to add to the Jaegers. Fighting that woman with Susanoo led to his death…we're down with just the four of us, and I am not in fighting shape after the last couple of days. Neither are you, Tatsumi."

He clicked his teeth. Once again, the rational words of Najenda threatened to make too much sense, and it wasn't something that he wanted to hear. The coliseum spectacle seemed like a while ago, and the soreness from dehydration in that prison hadn't fully worn off. The fight with Budo certainly left some lingering pains behind. His thoughts shuffled to news of the Jaegers. The tension in his muscles relaxed little by little.

"Do you understand now?" Najenda asked aloud, again looking around the room. "There is no getting around this…this is likely going to be a mission in which we could all very possibly die."

"Mission? Then, Boss, you-" Leone was cut off when Najendra rose.

"The Night Raid's mission is to break through the Jaegers and recover Mine."

Najendra stood and handed a slip of paper to Leone first. A long moment of silence passed as the three active assassins read the shaky words written on the paper.

Tatsumi grimaced. "They're moving her?"

"We can't discount the possibility that Esdeath is setting a trap for us. The only thing we have going for us is that Wave and Kurome will be staying behind in the Capital for a week. We're going to have to sneak there and get out."

"Isn't there a Revoluntary Army troop there?" Akame wondered aloud.

"They'll probably be slaughtered…" came the grim tone.

"Then shouldn't we warn the Army!" exclaimed Leone.

But Najenda shook her head. "I already sent the message, but right now, we need to move. I'm sure that the Army will order us there anyways, but it will take too long to get the message across. I've requested that they send a Manta Ray to transport us there, but that could take a few days. In the meantime, I need you to prepare yourselves for what could be our biggest fight. But we're getting Mine back."

"Boss…" Tatsumi started. "Thank you."

Najenda smiled.

Tatsumi knew that they weren't completely doing it for his sake. The actual reasons didn't matter. He wanted to move out now, but the Jaegers were probably already long gone. He stared down at his fist, remembering the feel of Mine's ribbon when he set out with Akame yesterday.

"I'll be back," he said.

There was always something he would do whenever he was thinking about somebody. Whether it was his old friends or any of the comrades that had been lost in their fight for a new Empire, it calmed his mind and helped him to regain some measure of clarity. As he stepped outside and away from Akame's worrying gaze, Tatsumi imagined the ribbon swaying in his palm. The field of grass where he would overlook the various landscapes across the distance seemed peaceful and serene, unlike the turmoil boiling in his heart.

"Please let this work out," he said aloud, tightly gripping the handle of the sword hanging from his backside.

A small prickling shook the young man from his thoughts. "What the hell?"

His fingers felt something hard and prickly at his neck. Pulling at it, ignoring the sharp pains that pierced his fingers, Tatsumi yanked out a thorny dart. "Who's there?"

"Fufufu," laughed the masochistic voice of Suzuka as she emerged from a nearby shrub. She was holding the empty tube where she had fired the dart. "I wondered if Night Raid's headquarters was nearby when I saw you last night. We're pretty far away from them right now, aren't we?"

'Shit!'

Tatsumi's thoughts were rampant – how was she still alive?!

"You weren't bad back then. And I hear that you caught Esdeath's eyes and I've been curious. Outside of your armor, I think I might see a little bit of innocence. Cute."

"What are you people doing to Mine?"

"Who knows?" Suzuka shrugged, tossing the blow dart to the side. "I just came here to give you that present. I was hoping to kill one of your comrades, but I guess they're too far away to hear us. What a shame."

"You think you can kill us?" Tatsumi said, drawing out his sword. "I'll finish the job this time."

Suzuka held up a hand. "No really, I just came to make sure you got the note. Not a fight. We can fight it out another time."

"Incursio!"

With the words leaving his lips, Tatsumi felt the power of his Teigu surging in his veins. The light grey armor materialized over his flesh almost instantly, the sword in his hand being replaced with the long spearhead aimed at Suzuka. The moment the transformation ended, he lunged at the Demon – the playful look in her eyes never faded, even as the tip of his spear came within inches of her body.

She moved unnaturally fast, reaching for the spear for a counterattack.

Tatsumi was prepared.

Their last battle went the way that it did because of inexperience. That difference still lay in place – but Tatsumi learned. He stopped his spear mid-thrust, watched for that split second when she would grab for it. The brief surprise on her face was all he needed to know. The spear slanted to the side, its very tip slicing across the skin underneath Suzuka's right breast.

She stepped back, smiling, a blush rising over her cheeks.

Unfazed by the masochist, he continued to press forward, stabbing at her abdomen and swinging high. Each strike was batted away as though it were a minor inconvenience. Every muscle burned with each movement, each swing of the massive polearm taking some stamina away.

One of the swings swept low to her ankles.

Suzuka leapt high enough to go over Tatsumi's head – her smiling, but determined expression belied the true intent behind the emotion. Her arms flicked to his neck, tugging hard as she came down on her bare toes, her hips thrust against Tatsumi's back. His body seized as his feet flew up in the air, carried by Suzuka's momentum.

The armor made such a loud thud upon impact – it was nothing compared to the pain Tatsumi had felt coming from his own body.

It wasn't a low groan that escaped his lips, but rather a loud roar of pain that escaped his lips. Fighting to keep his hand from clenching, he pressed his knuckles against his armor as if trying to grab his heart.

Suzuka grabbed his polearm.

Weakly, Tatsumi tried to yank it away, but Suzuka easily pulled it away and flung it across the field.

Again, he painfully roared quite loudly. His whole body went rigid as a throbbing pain circulated.

"Oh…that worked pretty fast. It's not even at its most potent yet," Suzuka murmured, pulling out a small bag. She touched at the bloody soreness where Tatsumi's bladed weapon sliced into flesh. It didn't hurt as much as she'd expected, but even this little bit felt better than anything the Empire's torturers could have given her. She dipped her bloody fingers into the pouch, pulling out green grains.

"W-What did you do to me?" Tatsumi choked through bated breaths.

"I wasn't even expecting a fight…I really was planning to just leave you alone. But, since I have an opportunity…the Prime Minister made this especially for you," she blew the grains directly into the face mask, "Tatsumi."

Tatsumi might've been confident that he could avoid inhaling anything that came to him. After all, he was able to swim a good distance underwater once while escaping Wave. It would stand to reason th-

A foul smell filled his nose.

"You breathe in oxygen from inside that armor, don't you? You think we would have this without taking that into account?"

"Tatsumi! You bitch!" Leone sprung into action, fully transformed into her Beast State.

"Shit!" Suzuka grimaced, taking a step away from Tatsumi. With just enough strength to fight back, he kicked at her leg and felt the impact of his metal foot against the side of her kneecap.

Suzuka's stance dropped just slightly, and Leone's clawed fist collided into Suzuka's jaw.

She spun a few times into the air before collapsing to the ground, somehow landing on her feet.

"So you're here," Suzuka laughed, wiping her bloody lip. "What now? We fight to the death at this point? Where's your little assassin at, hmm?"

Suzuka glanced around.

"Eliminate!" came Akame's catchphrase as the little assassin leapt from a nearby tree and descended rapidly. Suzuka took a step back in preparation for dodging the attack, but her knee buckled violently. A mixture of pain and pleasure rushed to her cheeks as she held up her arm, hoping that these assassins would take that as a sign of surrender.

Like her, they were also killers – and Akame's unwavering dive played right into her palms. With the flick of her other wrist, she fired her nails directly at the girl. Akame shielded herself with her forearm protectors, repelling some of the nails – but one caught Akame on the cheek.

She took a simple step back as the cursed sword narrowly missed carving into her chest.

The return swing nearly caught Suzuka, clashing against her breastplate. The thrill of such a battle emboldened her as her foot caught Akame in the gut, knocking her back. Leone came forward with a straight haymaker, and found her arm being wrapped into her hold. Suzuka wrenched the blonde's arm back, snapping the elbow joint as she jabbed four nails into the woman's back.

The sudden jolt of pain startled Suzuka as Leone's foot caught her in the injured knee.

She involuntarily released Leone, and Akame leapt into action once more.

"Eh?" the last Demon murmured.

The full length of the sword dragged across her body, her own blood staining the sword. Suzuka knew it immediately – she would be dead in just a few moments. Already, the cursed symbols were spreading from her open wounds, like baby spiders from a mother spider's back, covered her body with the writings.

"I never…got to experience Esdeath's…" she said, trying to speak through a throat that felt as though it were being crushed.

As silent as she had appeared to attack, Suzuka dropped silently to the grass – the last Demon perished from the world.

The Incursio armor faded, but the young man inhabiting the armor lay on the grass, clutching violently at his chest. His screams of pain faded into choked murmurs as he writhed on the ground, and not even the words of Leone or Akame could reach him. Najenda, standing in the background, scanning the area around her, could only bark commands as she continued to watch the landscape around them.

Tatsumi felt the blood in his veins boiling. The thumping of his heartbeat drowned out nearly everything else.

'Am I going to die?' he thought to himself as he could only lie on the ground helplessly as the poison continued to work its way through his veins.