Chapter 11: Impulsive

New location of Night Raid base

A month later...

Akame's POV

Akame never felt so scared in her whole life, except for her experience as an assassin. She looks at Shiki's room which is already shut while she expects either Tohno or...Nanaya wakes up before going psycho.

Luckily, he is still sleeping as if he is in deep sleep. Akiha doesn't know when will he wake up or not. In the worst case, he might be dead. But Akiha assured members of Night Raid that he doesn't die as easily than DAA. She remembers they had talks like weeks ago.

Flashback

"What do you mean he is sleeping? Isn't he supposed to be dead?" said Mine, feeling surprised as the rest of the members did.

"Hold on. What do you mean? We all saw his body was thrown out by a huge beast and he casually managed to make him disappear?" said Lubbock, still trying to wrap his head since they fought against Dr. Stylish.

"Let me tell you for one reason. First thing I would like to tell you a story about my Nii-san," said Akiha, ready to tell them their full story while she prepared for herself, "My nii-san, whom you met was Shiki Nanaya. Originally came from the Demon Hunter Organization. There are only four families that belong to are now inactive. Nanaya, Ryougi, Fujou, and Asagami."

"Hang on. That Shiki is from the Demon Hunter Organization? I thought his name was Tohno. Not Nanaya." said Tatsumi, remembering the day they first met.

"He was. Nanaya family does have their own specialized eyes, it's called, Pure Eyes. I personally never met them before until I heard they were really good for their assassination. They knew how to detect them with their bloodlust. Be it. Demons, vampires and whatever they are. The rest of the family are not important anymore because they are really...unrelate."

"So it's not Teigu. It's their...special abilities, right?" said Najenda.

She nods her head without a word as she already knows what she read from her father's diary. The rest of the members were all surprised as they learned about Nanaya's background since he does have more experience as an assassin. One thing they did not understand about Shiki's past.

"His father originally brutally assassinated the Saiki family and made his mistake of letting Kouma live, instead poking his right eye out and left him for dead. Kouma came to my family and sought revenge against the Nanaya family. My father agreed to help him complete his revenge. At night, my father hired a mercenary to wipe out every last of Nanaya left while Kouma managed to kill Kiri for his revenge."

"Did...Shiki escape?"

"No. My father nearly killed him and took him in as he became... a member of Tohno family," said Akiha, drinking her tea as the rest of the members were all surprised that her father took him in for reasons.

"Hang on. This did not make sense to me! Your father wiped out every last of Nanaya and now he takes him in? For what?" said Leone, still confused about Shiki surviving the massacre.

"Think of it. He acts as a failsafe because my family are half-demons. Whenever one of my relatives is out of control and Shiki can kill them without a problem. I was only a child who did not understand until I was old enough to know what happened."

"Wait...if you're half-demon, then why didn't your family-" said Tatsumi, interrupted by Akiha's explanation.

"I don't eat human flesh. This was my family's duty to kill them because they are hard to deal with. Luckily, my father took Shiki in so that he could kill them. There were only three of us as children."

"I'm assuming you, and Shiki are only children but with who?"

"SHIKI."

"Shiki?"

"No. SHIKI. Just SHIKI." said Akiha, making them confused with their two different names.

"SHIKI? Not Shiki?" said Mine, still trying to pronounce his name in difference.

"So..what happens next? said Najenda trying to pronounce his name, "Something happened to...Shiki?"

"One day, it happened. SHIKI's impulsiveness has gone out of control and he was about to kill me. Instead, Shiki protected me and he died in front of my eyes. He was only 8 years old."

The rest of the members of Night Raid were all shocked to hear Shiki died at 8 years old, one thing they still did not understand Shiki was still standing in front of their eyes.

"Let me guess...you used your life force to revive Shiki...as a puppet?" said Akame, remembering Shiki mentioned Akiha gave her life force to Sheele.

"I...wouldn't call him a puppet. Yes, I did revive him while my father threw SHIKI into the dungeon and starved him to death. I never made regret. Not even once a bit. Maybe less for me. We find out that SHIKI kept stealing Shiki's life and we had to keep Shiki far away for safekeeping so that he doesn't steal it anymore."

They were all shocked to hear Shiki's background that he once died and is now revived as a normal person. Still, they had many questions to ask.

"If you don't mind me asking you about your family, I remember you mentioned your own family killed their own, right?" said Chelsea a new member that she joined to replace originally Sheele's place, remembering her mentioning that her own family killed their own, "Isn't it a bit excessive?"

"It's true. My father gave me his control, including secret police to take care of everything. I never felt bad about my family anymore. Now I'm only the last one standing, waiting for it to happen to be killed by my nii-san." said Akiha, smiling at them as she knows she doesn't have regret anymore. Not ever since SHIKI killed her nii-san.

"I mean it is crazy to know what kinda of person is he. He is basically...corpse, like Sheele was. So he became.. a normal person, is he?" said Najenda, starting to connect her dots as she assumed things went fine.

"No. We gave him a new identity, altered his memory, and gaslighted him years ago. I thought it was supposed to be normal, instead, his sub-concussion still resides with him."

"Wait...if you did resurrect me, then you never altered my memory? Then how different am I?" said Sheele, realizing how Akiha resurrected differently compared with Shiki.

"You expect me to say how I altered your memory and gaslight you? Ha ha ha. Nope. Let's just say...a favor from Shiki because he saw how good a person you are. The real reason I need another maid to help out at my mansion." said Akiha, who started joking with her as they both chuckled.

"OK, one last question...Does Shiki have...split personality?" said Tatsumi, remembering they fought against Dr. Stylish. Until Shiki's side came out and managed to make Dr. Stylish disappear without a trace.

"I wouldn't call it a split personality. That is his instinct. More like flipping the switch because he doesn't come out unless threatened. So be careful, don't ever think you're going to flip his switch."

Flashback end

Akame keeps staring at the door as she sighs, didn't expect Akiha to explicitly tell them about Shiki's background. The thing is she did not know he was inbred from his own family. She finds it disgusting. One thing that she wants to know is his purpose is to hunt every vampire down and a rogue magus. One thing that she knew Akiha was lying in front of them because something else didn't make sense with Shiki and Tohno family.

She intends to find out his true goal as she opens the door to find Shiki is no longer on the bed anymore. She looked around before she notified her teams. Instead, she finds Shiki drinking his tea before he waves at her.

"When did he get here?" said Akame, surprised as he noticed a black cat stretch around Shiki's leg before purring at him.

"You're not Len, are you? I know you're trying to fool me," said Shiki, smiling at her while Chelsea's eyes widened as she transformed into human form.

"How did you know it was not me? My disguise is too perfect for everyone else," said Chelsea, still surprised how he knew by any chance.

"I can tell with looks. You almost had the same look as Len, but she never purrs at me. Ha ha ha."

She sighs as she accepts her defeat before asking him, "You know, Shiki. I have known you back 10 years ago when you assassinated my target because he was supposed to be brought to the Revolutionary Army for interrogation, alive. Why make him disappear?"

"You mean Klein's associate? Do you mean that guy, Geist? And yes, I killed him because they intend to summon...Holy Grail War."

Akame felt she knew the words coming from Shiki. But where? Right. She remembers she caught glimpses of a word from his notes back 10 years ago when she and her team were supposed to protect Gheist because he had vital information.

"I kept hearing from Tatsumi because he met Klein already when he was captured. So...what is Holy Grail War?" said Akame, taking her seat to get to know what it is.

"Think of it. It's like a competition against each other but with a battle royale. If one will win, he or she can get any kind of wish. Be it. Wealth. Power. Domination. By anything else." said Shiki, drinking his tea as he explained to them what is Holy Grail War is.

"Then... how does one would participate Holy Grail war?" said Chelsea, curious to know what the Holy Grail War is.

"Unless you are a magus or whatever you are. You have to summon your heroic spirit or legends. I'm not going to give out every name that I know of. I'll make up for them. Be it, Caster, Saber, Lancer, Berserk, Archer, or Assassin. However, they are not friendly because they have to kill each other." said Shiki, deciding to ask them for their wish, "Let me ask you...what's for your wish? Just curious, Akame," said Shiki, asking her what kind of wish did she want.

"To overthrow Empire. That's what I want."

"And Chelsea?" said Shiki, looking at her with his blindfold which she couldn't figure out with his expression.

"Ha ha ha. To be honest...I didn't think about it. Let's just say...my wish is to free people from Empire's hand." said Chelsea, starting to laugh a bit.

Shiki finished drinking his tea as he took his leave, "You sure both have noble goals. And Akame, you sure are something else. In this case, I have to go for now and maybe do some usual 'business'.

That was the last thing that she saw him leaving for his business, meaning to hunt down every vampire, including the Undead. Still...she doesn't understand Shiki's goal to hunt them down. She asks Chelsea about Shiki.

"What do you think about...Shiki?"

"I would say...he is more experienced as an assassin, but with odd cases. Last 10 years ago, our Revolutionary Army tried to scout for him but he easily disappeared into thin air. As for his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, we could use his ability to get the job done easily. The thing is, he made people disappear by using his eyes. I would say, he is the best assassin in this world than Night Raid."

"I wouldn't call him as best assassin. Last time, I saw him staring Zanku to death without doing anything else. He is nothing, but death. I believe his ability was called, Marble Reality, I think? Might be trump card."

"Luckily, I was able to meet him in person. I want to know what kind of person is he, instead, wearing his red bandage to cover his eyes and his small knife. I thought he was... well I don't know how to say it. We'll see how it goes." said Chelsea, turning back as she noticed Len was behind her at all times.

Len's face becomes disappointed at Chelsea before she writes on her paper as it says, "You took my form without my permission."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know about your form, but you are Len, right?" said Chelsea as she tried to pat her head. She avoids her as she walks away with her pout face before turning into her cat form.

"Oh. I didn't know she could turn into her cat form without Teigu," said Chelsea, being surprised to see her turning into her form.

Shiki's POV

Shiki walked into the market while some people were either buying or haggling their prices. He could see some people were smiling as if they were quite a peaceful day. And Shiki? He wishes he would spend his time with Arcuied in Millennium Castle Brunestud, instead of dealing with vampire threats. He could have taken his day off but Burial Agency doesn't let him.

Once he stopped outside of the church and went inside and met an old man which he knew his name was, Father Nork. He was taking care of funerals where they were once directors in catacombs inside of this church. He personally once knew her name was Narbareck, then gave her successor to Ciel, and so on. He pretty much lost his count since he never cared about church much.

Nork notice as Shiki arrive before greeting him, "Hello, Shiki. What can I do for you?"

"Just want to pay for my old friend here. You took care of it already?"

"Oh yes. If you may follow me, I shall take you to your dear old friend there," said Nork, making his gesture to follow him.

They all went down as they found no more than 100 tombs in each row. Nork lets Shiki walk as he finds Ciel's tomb whom she died long ago. He remembers the day Shiki once stabbed Roa's chest and made him disappear before Ciel managed to kill him. Now she lost her immortality and became human again.

Once he finds her name on her tomb as he puts his hand on it before making his comment, "Senpai, I'm back. How are you doing? How long has it been? 1,500 years ago?"

No reply came from Ciel's tomb as he knew what is he talking to.

"I'm doing fine. Arcuied is great and she's quite... funny, you know? I would have invited you for tea because...there are many things I want to tell you." said Shiki smiling at the tomb as the room became too quiet.

"Right now, I'm still hunting Valesti and Kelin. You could have seen his face because I took his eye out of it and he decided to hide like a coward. As for Kelin, he is currently in the Capital because he is doing an audience for the Prime Minister. And I shake the whole Capital down to scare them off."

Again with silence.

"If you're asking me, what if, I hadn't killed Roa and let him take over my body to use for. What if...I let Roa take over my body so that you can live forever? There are so many what-ifs that I've been wanting to talk about." said Shiki, who starts to chuckle a bit before he receives silence from her tomb.

Now he is finished paying his respect for Ciel as he approaches to old man, "I'm done."

"Wait. Before you go, I want to bring up another vampire who intends to take over Dead Apostle rank."

"Who?"

"Noel." said the old man, replied to him as he gave his information to Shiki.

"Done it already. I've taken care of it," said Shiki, smiling at him before the old man's face became shocked.

"What do you mean? Bu-" said the old man as he was interrupted by Shiki gave his smile to Father Nork.

"You don't need to know. I would rather bury it deep because...she is too annoying to deal with. If you may excuse me, I have to go back to Night Raid and get some rest there." said Shiki as he started to leave the church, leaving the old man wondering what he did.

Later...

At evening

Shiki came back to Night Raid HQ which they already moved to a new place after their location was exposed by Dr. Stylish. He was greeted by Najenda which she was waiting for, "Welcome back, Shiki. I assume you got your business done already?"

"Do you want to know?" said Shiki, smiling at her as she decided to drop her questions.

"Anyway, Shiki, we are preparing for dinner. Don't you want to join us to get to know each other?"

"I wouldn't mind and now I would love to know all of you," said Shiki as they both headed straight as they found three people sitting at bonfire which they were discussing.

They notice Shiki and Najenda approach them as Shiki sits on the tree stump before Najenda goes back to the house to write her report.

Trio becomes quiet before Shiki speaks up, "Don't you think it's quite...lovely beautiful night? By the way, I still haven't joined your band because my body needs to be healed for a bit."

"And you recently, finished your so-called business?" said Mine, still being suspicious about Shiki's plan.

"Just paying my respect to Senpai. Her name was...Ciel. She's a good friend and I have been with her for quite a time while I was hunting vampires with Arcuied. Now she is dead." said Shiki, staring at the fire with his blindfold before looking at them, "If you got something to say to me, then tell me."

"Wel...It's about Chelsea, she looked down on us because she was disrespectful to Bulat and Sheele. Thanks to you. Your sister brought Sheele back alive." said Lubbock, feeling a bit upset about the way she disrespected Bulat and Sheele. And now he is feeling happy about Sheele being alive while in Akiha's care.

"Don't mind her. She is a good person. It doesn't mean she disrespects Bulat and Sheele. I can tell her by her experience the way she has seen before." said Shiki, leaning toward the fire, "I can tell her eyes because she used to work with her previous group before Night Raid."

"Then how did you know about her? You know nothing about her!" said Tatsumi, standing up as he spats against Shiki.

"Tell you what you did not know about my eyes...I can look into someone else's past like Chelsea was," said Shiki smiling at them the way he revealed his other hidden ability.

Trio were all surprised to hear Shiki could look into someone else's past before Lubbock spoke, "Don't tell me...you used your eyes to look into their...past life from someone else? Does this mean...you can look into their future?"

"Ha ha ha. I wish I could but I can't tell you about your future. You don't need to know about your future because I'm not going to intervene in your fates." said Shiki, starting to laugh a bit as he made Mine being uncomfortable.

This was her last straw as she decided to leave without a word. Leaving Lubbock and Tatsumi behind with Shiki wondering what will he do. The duo becomes quiet as they all leave without a word before Shiki finds himself alone.

He looks up at the endless dark skies as he notices the moon has become full. He starts to reach the moon with his hand before making his comment, "This moon is so beautiful."

He stood up before stretching his whole body as he planned to head straight for Osen before going back to sleep. He goes straight to the bathroom and puts his towel on his lower half while he has numerous scars on his body. There are many scars that he fought against the Dead Apostles while he hunted with Arcuied.

He finds a huge pool of Osen as he intends to enjoy his bath. Once he dipped in as he felt his whole body become warm. Nogalstic hits him as he remembers back in the old days. He wish he had time to spend in Osen and drinking. He felt one person was being detected before he found a person behind a small rock.

"Let me guess...Chelsea?" said Shiki, did not know his own presence kept being hidden. He decided to let his presence leak a bit to let her know that he was there.

"Wait what, Shiki? And how did I not detect your presence?" said Chelsea, surprised as she came out from a small rock.

"Sorry. I did not know anyone got here before me. If you want me to leave, then I'll forget what I saw." said Shiki, taking his leave before Chelsea stopped him.

"Wait...Just stay here for a bit," said Chelsea as she sat on the opposite side before noticing Shiki had numerous scars, including a huge scar on his chest.

"Oh, my scars? Oh, don't mind them because I fought against Dead Apostles years ago. I say they were quite easy to deal with because they're weak." said Shiki, before looking at the moon again.

"I...never seen you got so many scars. Except you got huge ones on your chest," said Chelsea, being amazed to see how he became what he was.

"My chest? Oh yeah. I was killed by SHIKI, years ago. I remember the day I died while his impulsive had gone out of control while I was protecting Akiha. We were only children." said Shiki, remembering the day he died.

"I remember Akiha told us about your background. There are many things that I did not understand. First, you were originally from Demon Hunter family and you were taken in by Tohno family because they're...Mix-Blood?"

"Honestly, her father took me in because I was acting as a failsafe to kill them if their relatives lost their control. At the end, I was introduced to SHIKI and Akiha and I got along with them well for a short while."

"And SHIKI killed...you? And how are you still standing after you got a huge scar on your chest, aside from your numerous scars," said Chelsea, taking her eyes on his scar which he fought long ago.

"Yes. It was not SHIKI that I knew of. His name was Micheal Roa Valdamjong. He is known as Serpent of Akasha. He was the one who could be jumped into his body without warning. He was the one who can reincarnate into someone else." said Shiki smiling at her before she became too confused with his explanation.

"Then what was his goal?"

"He intended to steal Arcuied's power before I was able to wipe his existence away." said Shiki still remembering Roa explaining to him before he ended his existence, "Sorry. My story is boring to you."

"Ah no. It's not boring. I find it hard to believe how you brought it back after you died. Still...you're quite the most mysterious guy I've ever seen. Now I know your full background but not the full picture." said Chelsea, smiling at him as she took her leave.

"Before you go, I would like to apologize for peeking into your past."

Her face becomes confused as she doesn't know what it means. She again asks him, "Pulling my leg, are you?"

He shook his head without a word before she realized he had another ability to read someone else's past, "You're reading into my past with your eyes? Then how many abilities do you have?"

He counts his fingers as he shrugs which indicates that he lost his count, "Sorry. I don't know how many."

Chelsea's face became red as a tomato before she hurriedly left to her changing room, leaving Shiki in Osen. He looks up at the moon one more time again before wondering what will he do afterward his assignment. He can't see his future, but it's still blank for him. Whether it is up to him to forge his own path. He knew he didn't have time to become -.

To be continued...